this week in ck land

sunday i got up at 4am (y'all KNOW how much i LOVE mornings) for my 7am flight to san antonio. the only other time i've been there was about 20 years ago when i was in college and two of my high school friends and i met there and stayed w/ our other high school friend who lived there. it was the first time i ever saw a fuddruckers (and was naively appalled by the name--yeah, me, who loves to say the word fuck now). we visited the river walk and the alamo. yawn. i was under impressed w/ it.

ditto and i were travelling there for work, first attending a mini-conference and then hosting our own. driving to the airport that morning there was no traffic on the highway and i realized that driving 60mph seems sort of fast when you're the only car on the road.

sunday-tuesday went ok (the mini-conf.) and the resort we stayed at was lovely. it was beside fiesta texas, which of course was closed until tomorrow. i intended on blogging while out of town but obviously that didn't happen. even though i got back to my room most nights by 9pm i was so wiped out i ended up going to sleep by 10:30 or 11.

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tuesday kicked off my conference. normally i'm a nervous wreck over my conference but this year i wasn't as keyed up. i don't know if it's because of the attitude i have about work now or the fact that i felt very confident about the agenda/speakers i'd lined up. the queen of evil descended upon us tuesday though, and she causes stress wherever she goes. i think the thing that bothers me the most about her is that she is condescending and loathe to give a compliment, even when it is warranted. i had an epiphany while i was there, one i think i've had about her before. she is very much like my dad. even though i cannot stand her and don't understand why she's so mean i strive to impress her. wednesday was a full day of speakers/panels and about midday, when i had a feeling that things were going well and the attendees were happy and the speakers were good, i made the mistake of asking her what she thought. "it's fine," she said begrudgingly. at that moment i thought, yep, she's my dad. you could get straight a's, be the model kid, whatever, and the only positive reinforcement was given begrudgingly. and even though i know that's the way they both are, for some reason it hurts me not to impress them or to be accepted by them. but, this year at least i knew what to expect so it didn't bother me as much as it could have. it's odd but when people i know tell me i did a good job or compliment me i assume they're telling me that because they're my friend/family/are obligated but i still want that validation from people i know i'll never get it from. weird.

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while i was out of town the girl got strep (the hubs took her to the doc and she's on meds and back in school) and my gma (80 yrs old) got double pneumonia and is in the hospital. i got home around 7 last night and went to see her. she doesn't look well at all. she's incredibly weak; she goes in and out of being lucid and not. last night she argued w/ me that she was 89; she said when you're in politics and running for office you have to lie about your age. then she said they wouldn't let her in the senate because her eye sight was so bad. i'm headed back up to the hospital today; wondering if she'll ever come home.

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i've spent a lot (and i mean 24/7 a lot) of time w/ ditto these last three weeks and though she still frustrates me at times, i've started to feel sorry for her. i still can't stand the fact that whatever you say she has to top it--if your kid is sick, hers is twice as sick; if you worked late, she worked 5 hours later than you, etc. she brings a lot of her problems on herself, but even w/ that i feel sorry for her. from the one sided phone conversations i hear, her husband (who's about 10 yrs younger than her) is a total ass. i don't think he's decided what he's going to be when he grows up. her kid also got sick while we were gone and her husband said she could take him to the doc when she got back in town, even though the job he has is not a 9-5 and he in fact isn't really working right now. nice. so she's got the stress of work plus no safety net when she comes home. i don't know how many times this week she told me i was lucky i had such a good husband : ) don't i know it.

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speaking of the hubs---all the tests he had last week came back ok, however he's still feeling bad and the lab work shows an elevated white blood cell count which could mean infection. i've left a msg this morning w/ his cardiologist because she hasn't indicated what the next step is. yes, good that those tests were clear, but obviously SOMETHING is wrong and we need to get to the bottom of it.

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also while i was away, the little kitty jasper decided he has a bread fetish. the first night i talked to the hubs he said jasper got up on the counter and pushed a loaf of bread off, opened it and shredded the bread. then the hubs put it in the bread box. jasper opened the bread box and shredded another loaf. the hubs put a loaf in one of the upper cabinets. jasper got in the upper cabinet and shredded another loaf. wtf??? we might have to start keeping it in the fridge.

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my dear friend trish called me a few times while i was away and even though i missed the calls because of work and just got the voice mails, they made me smile. trish has been there for me and the hubs so very many times. even before we knew her well she helped us out when the hubs' mom was sick. she's a constant, good friend and it meant a lot that she called me this week, knowing that i was stressed about the hubs and my conference.

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that's my week in a nutshell. i'm glad to be home. glad to be back in the bed, sleeping beside the hubs. glad to cuddle my kids. glad to watch little jasper curled up here beside me right now making his funny kitty noises. i'll be around soon to read all of the blogs i've missed.

sex, drugs and rocknroll

wordly wise

i was surprised by the responses to my use of goat rodeo--i assumed this was a common phrase, but apparently not. that got me to thinking about other phrases/words i like and i thought i'd share them w/ you. some of them i stole from *sherry, who needs to write her own urban dictionary ; )

*asshat

jit aka cum (apparently the hubs made up jit because when i asked friends about it they'd never heard of jit; jism, yes, cum, yes, but not jit)

*douche canoe (this one has made it out of blog land and i have introduced several people to this word)

*cunt punching

*twat waffle (the hubs and the bro thought these were hysterical)

goat rodeo aka circle jerk and cluster fuck--i use these terms a lot as they apply to the work environment

up to my ass in alligators aka putting out fires--the hubs uses this a lot as it applies to his job

thrown under the bus (when someone betrays your or stabs you in the back) also use this term a lot for work

what are your fave unusual words/phrases?

almost lost time and other stuff

it is almost time for lost. this makes me happy : )

thank you sweet people who've asked about the hubs. we saw his cardiologist today and had some tests done. (he had a stent or is it stint? put in about 6 yrs ago) he's wearing a 24 hr monitor, took a stress test and blood work, etc. so, we'll see what's next. we really like his cardiologist, she's very good. one of my IRL besties trish hooked us up w/ her (they're friends). just one of the many things i'm grateful to trish for (she also introduced me to van morrison) and has always been there for me when i needed her. she was one of the 10 laid off in our office a few weeks ago. i miss her terribly, even though it seems like over the last year i hadn't really been able to spend a lot of time w/ her at work.

while we were waiting for the hubs to be called back for his blood work i saw the biggest look of surprise cross his face. i turned to look but missed seeing the guy walking down the hall peeing on himself. nice. he was carrying a specimen cup, perhaps they didn't properly explain what he was to do w/ it?

work today was the biggest fucking goat rodeo i have ever been part of. yesterday we had a half day meeting to discuss and plan for this big mtg we're having tomorrow. each segment of our business has to give a powerpoint presentation. yesterday (nothing like waiting until the last minute) it was decided what format we should all follow; what info we should all provide, etc. ok, no problem. i finished my part of our presentation, ditto was working on her part today and then i was going to do the final polish. at THREE this afternoon they decided we needed to have another meeting about the mtg tomorrow and look at every one's presentation. omfuckinggod. somewhere between yesterday's mtg and this afternoon's mtg changes were made in what information we should have in our presentation and oddly enough this was not communicated to ditto and me. hmmm. i'm seeing a trend here. so i worked late, finished it up and am just ready to get this over with.

i came home to the hubs (looking like a borg w/ his monitor on) he he making shrimp alfredo and we had a yummy dinner.

a sign i am such a dork

time life commercial---romantic classics of the 70s. omg, i want to fucking buy this thing! tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree; baby baby don't get hooked on me; (complete liner notes!) southern nights; angie baby (helen reddy rocks); 5 easy payments of $29.99 each; my eyes adored you (but wait! a free bonus cd--have i told you lately that i love you; stuck on you; that's a total of 10 cds, 156 hits (lady, kenny rogers). holy crap, if i order in the next 17 minutes i'll get free shipping and handling. don't go breaking my heart; Kiki dee is ugly; you don't have to be a star baby; reunited (peaches & herb--i was in middle school dudes); love will keep us together; baby, i love you to want me (lobo); afternoon delight (elementary school at the skate rink in wv w/ my teenage aunt); lonely people (america); it's the right time of the night; ohhhhhhhhhhh---david soul (the blond from starsky & hutch) just when i needed you most; three times a lady; you and me against the world; you needed me; annie's song (we sang that at summer camp when i was in 3rd grade); you're so vain; time passages. ok, only the 70s could give you a name like englebert humperdink! delta dawn--i played that one on the juke box when my grandma took me to the vfw. i ate peanut butter cups, sat at the bar and pumped the juke box full of quarters : )

sigh---officially a dork now.