The Homecoming

Grace in Small Things for Friday Jan. 29th
62/365

1) Was given an office of my very own! For the past two weeks I have been sitting/sharing the reception area. Upon Boss from Ohio visit, I was given a larger than life room (no windows but what the hey!). I have not had my own space in a ling long time. Remember when I shared a 10 by 10 room with the Smart Alec's and the Hunk?

2)Text messaging.

3) "Me lady" (have not come up with a nick name for her yet) buying my lunch at the China King. (I love Chinese Buffets!)

4) It snowed this afternoon and is still snowing. It was a delicious anticipation all day long. I do not work at Biscuit Bucket tomorrow - can enjoy the weather.

5) The computer came home today. I have a new hard drive. It means I have lost everything, all my programs, all my documents, all my music, all my pictures. But - I backed up the pictures long ago! Yea! Bonus GiST - the stick (what do they call those things?) that I transferred six years of pic's to!

Grace in Small Things

Number 62/365 Thursday Jan. 28

1) Ohio Boss (guy who strung me along for five months and then hired me) in town for a visit.

2) Another vivid dream about long ago.

3) A gift left on my desk - a discarded coffee mug saved by the Dumpster Diver extraordinaire!

4) Received a great e-val from Heather Be Thy Name!

5) Found the snack food Bugles at the Dollar Tree! Yum! comfort food from my younger days.

January 27, 2010

Grace in Small Things Number 61 of 365

1) Sharing Baked Ruffle Potato chips

2) Sharing my Ruth Montgomery information.

3) Thank God for Walmart and the fact it is right across the street.

4) A chicken biscuit given to me for breakfast! - (my GiST certainly has a lot about food...)

5) Leaving the egg salad sandwich I made for lunch in the car (very cold outside like a refrigerator) and thank the lord I did that because the sulphur smell about knocked me over! I would have hated to stink up the office.

Tuesday and I am still Julia Childish

GiST's 60 of 365 January 26th

1) Walked the Mall and met half the tenets and chatted about "things".

2) While looking up Biker Shows I went onto Face Book and had a great chat with Coochie (from 'the good old days'.....we agreed on that).

3) Heather Be Thy name was a no show for my e-val. Thank God, my Julia Childish was wearing off by then.

4) Finished book number 7 of the year, "The Widow's Curse" by Phillip Depoy. It was a wonderful find! A new mystery personality, this one named Fever Develin. Great easy fun read.

5)Got home in time, after being forced to take some computer classes at Biscuit Bucket about being held up by robbers and how to suggestive sell - an odd combo,to watch the UK game. Dang it if they didn't get beat and it made me sad. I felt it coming with about three minutes left. But, better now and get it over with. Better to loose now than in March (if you know what I mean!).

Make me more like Julia Child

or GiST's Number 59 of 365 - January 25th

1) Hearing Flock of Seagulls on Muzak. A real trip down that old '80's memory lane.

2) The sky was so dramatic on the ride into town. Black and turquoise with a cold front pushing in.

3) I made a tuna sandwich (because I decided not to go into town the day before and buy peanut butter) and it reminded me of the tuna sandwiches I had to endure as a child that my Mother made. She loved butter on her sandwiches (all of them) and so whenever she made one for us kids.....oh jeez. But the memory of those tuna and butter sandwiches opened up a door in my mind that had been closed for awhile.

4) When I awoke that morning I prayed that I would be enthusiastic about my new job at the Marketing office of the mall. I asked God to help me be more like Julia Child, as portrayed by Merryl S. in Julie and Julia. Enthusiastic and full of energy! And he listened!

5) While at work at the Mall, L. said some very irritating things, but I must have had some left over grace from my "let me be more like Julia Child" prayer and I just was very kind to her thinking she was having a bad Monday morning. ("I am sooooooo holy" as my little Bridget use to say after going to church...lol).

Number 58 of 365

January 24th - Sunday's GiST

1) Was planning a trip into town to buy things and then stopped myself. I really didn't need to buy anything! Cool.

2) Instead took a luxurious bubble bath.

3) Then made some butterscotch brownies (because someone who shall remained unnamed ate all my semi-sweet chocolate squares!).

4) Had a weird strange virus during the night that miraculously was gone by 4am. Yuck and Thank goodness.

5) Cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and they were sparkling clean. Beautiful.

Number 57

January 23, 2010
grace in Small Things

1) Finding a quarter in the car for the cart at ALDI.

2) Joe selling an item to a friend and not backing down on his price. Usually Joe's motto is "buy high sell low".

3) Bought a bunch of tulips, pink tulips. Can't remember buying flowers for myself in a long long time.

4) Finished book number 6, God's in Alabama by Joshlyn Jackson (I have taken a stab at her name) and it was refreshingly good!

5) UK Beats Arkansas and goes on to 19-0.

January 22, 2010

56/365 Grace in Small Things

1) Changing Colors on JAHG and making the font larger and it was so easy. And I can change it back so easy too!

2) Getting "hipped" that there is a antique shop that I would love to investigate in town and fairly easy to find, though it is a little off the beaten track.

3) A free night! No work at Biscuit Bucket!

4) Fit into a pair of pants I bought way back in 2004 (I think) !!!

5) Watching Conan O'Brian's last Tonight Shows on TV. They are hilarious, irreverent and down right vicious. High entertainment. And then there was Pee Wee Herman!

January 21st

55/365 Grace in Small things

1) Seeing someone who looked quite a lot like Joe's brother at Biscuit Bucket and for just one moment I forgot he had passed away. But then I remembered it couldn't be him.

2) Making dinner and having a sit down with Joe!

3) I think I have the perfect biscuit recipe. Get a box of Bisquick (did I spell that right?) and pour a sizable amount into a bowl. Get some butter - must be butter - and slice off about a tablespoon or two and cut it into the Bisquick. Add sugar. I throw in about two tablespoons. The add the milk until it is a good consistency (I know, I know, but I do not measure when I make this - a good consistency is when it sticks together). I spoon drop it on a slightly greased cookie sheet (means I spray it with PAM or something like it) they are about the size of a hockey puck. Bake at 350 for about 10 minuets.

They look like hell, but OMG. They fall apart good. They are so good I think I may have already mentioned them in my GiST - oh well).

4) Getting out my earring collection (for lack of a better word) and being able to wear them again. Biscuit Bucket has very strict guide lines on what types you can wear. i wore some dangley ones last night while working there! Don't tell Heather Be Thy Name.

5) Fabulous and startling streak lightening on the drive home last night.

Number 54

January 20th Grace in Small Things

1) Strange dreams that stayed with me all morning. My mother as a young woman and myd daughter as a three year old. Strange but gratifying.

2) Attack of insomnia that allowed me to squeeze in an hour of reading.

3) Calling my daughter and having a good heart to heart.

4) Got my teeth into a good satisfying project.

5) Did not split my pants all day (??)

January 19th

53/365 Grace in Small Things

1) Grabbing a Sharpie that works.

2) Being given a bag of orange slices. Delicious juicy.

3) Muzak that is different from the soundtrack of Biscuit Bucket.

4) Writing down a phone number not knowing that I was certainly going to use it to find the drug testing place (no I did not have to study)! Thank God I had that number.

5) Goofing off at a meeting at Biscuit Bucket with my girl Rita.

January 18th

52/365 GiST

1) Lunch at Burger King - Love a Whopper.

2) What a rush meeting new people and "pegging" their names in my brain.

3) Beginnings are scary but exhilarating. New beginnings.

4) Finishing Book number 5 this year, the Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg. it was Ok. My least favorite title I have read of hers.

5) Fog fog everywhere this morning and it is beautiful in its spookiness.

January 17th

GiSt Number 51/354

1) Found my light purple earrings on the floor after saying a prayer to St. Anthony, the patron saint of finding lost things. (i kid you not, this old Catholic voodoo really works).

2) Went into Walmart in the midst of a rain shower and all the carts were wet. A young guy was pulling towels from a dispenser they had on the wall to wipe off the carts, and with a smile gave me his handful.

3) Made a house out of a $4 large plastic storage bin for the black and white cat. Th cardboard box we put out there for his residence did not survive the rain showers.

4) Being able to check bank balances via telephone (b/c the computer is still in the hospital, more like being held for a ransom).

5) Joe ironed my shirt for me.

Bonus Grace

6) My Dad with me while I am driving b/c he taught me to drive and I hear his advice all the time in my head just like he gave it to me all those many years ago.

Number 50

Grace in Small Things - January 16th

1) Using the computer at Joe's office.

2) Waking up at 130am because that darn three legged cat wanted something that couldn't wait and Joe and I talking for hours like we were on a sleep-over.

3) Getting my clothes lined up for my new job.

4) Having a good day at Biscuit Barrel because I realized that I really enjoy the job, especially now that I don't have to do it, I choose to do it. (make any sense??).

5) UK beat Auburn in a real nail biter.

Getting Caught Up (maybe)

Grace in Small Things 45/365 January 11th

1) Went on a guilt free shopping spree. Actually the guilt was just stalled for a little while.

2) Found a 15 qt. soup pot I thought I could not live without.

3) A bag of Pepperridge Farm cookies. White chocolate with macadamia nuts.

4) Bean soup made in the new soup pot. Some in the freezer for later.

5) My thick (horrendous) orange afghan that is so heavy and so warm that even a Zero degree night we stay cozy under its protective warmth.

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46/365 GiST January 12th (maybe)

1) Flirted with by two different guys at the retail store. Nice!

2) Cut my bangs over the sink and they look good.

3) Found a Bubble Tea recipe.

4) Worked four extra hours because Rita was indisposed (need the money).

5) UK beat Florida on ESPN and it was a nail biter.
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47/365 January 13th

1) Found two Moon Soap samples

2) Joined the local Health Club. They are so nice and enthusiastic that I could not help but be psyched up too!

3) Made my best batch of brownies ever and Joe took them to his employee appreciation lunch/cookout.

4) Finished book #4 of the year, the Liars Club by Mary Karr. It was pretty good but disturbing in that most of the children point of view books I have read of late all are centered around sexual abuse. It makes me cringe that all good memoirs and stories are based on sexual abuse because it sells. I shudder.

5) A thank you note from my sister Kitty.
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48/365 January 14th

1) Survived the assessment and once through the training circuit at the Athletic Club.

2) Thought I was expected at work at 11am and on a second thought called and found out it was 2pm! Three whole hours of free time!

3) Received my Organic Gardening magazine in the mail and made me think that Spring is right around the corner and then I got sad b/c I no longer have a yard (per se) to dig and plant around in.

4) Joe brought home some hot chili from the employee appreciation day and it was very good!

5) Fifty degrees and spring like.
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49/365 January 15th

1) Raspberry Chocolate hand lotion. I wanted to lick my hands all day.

2) Received a sample of Gevalia Kaffe in the mail and it was soooooooooooo good.

3) Coming home I spotted a legion of motorcycles all lined up at the corner gas station. Looked like a lot of people taking advantage of the spring like weather.

4) My building excitement over starting the job at the Mall on Monday.

5) The sock footie's that Heather-Be-Thy-name gave me for Christmas with the built in aloe. Oh, they are so nice. How does the aloe stay in them after a wash?

January 9 & 10

Grace in Small Things

43/365 - Saturday

1) Preference by Loreal. Youthfulness in a box.
2) The Food network and Mango & Mint & Orange salad. (and a little bit of sugar)
3) Another Saturday off! This makes one day per week end the last three weeks!
4) My fur lined boots bought at the now defunct Valu City. How oh how will I find boots at an affordable price again?
5) Catching snowflakes on my tongue.

44/365 Sunday

1) Biscuit recipe memorized from cook book at work and they were wonderful!
2) Finished third book of the year, Hot House Flowers" by Margot Berwin, checked out of the library on a whim and it was very enjoyable. Gobbled it up in two sittings.
3) Meeting two women at Biscuit Bucket and having a nice informative conversation on where to shop and save the sales tax on food (its Almost 10% in Tenn! Well I never!)
4) Watching UT beat the #1 basketball team Kansas. (very good for UK)
5) Having C. so excited for me and the new job. C. is a 22 yr. old college student at Austin Peay who is majoring in communications hoping to get a job in marketing. She has been an intern for a charity this last semester and has worked with the Mall. Anyway, I loved it.

Grace in Small & Big Things

January 8, 2010 42/365

Small things first

1) Geek Squad - I was unable to successfully rid myself of the insidious virus that continued to take over my computer and operating systems. It refused to launch the Rkill program on the SD card. I could use the computer with Mozilla but I was continually bombarded with messages that my computer was being attacked by a virus and I needed to run their security scan. Man I could have killed someone named R myself. But, I am back at the library and my computer will be at the hospital for several weeks. Oh well, what can you do.

2) My CD played in the car. How soothing that something works.

3) Khol's taking payments at the customer service desk. Makes life easier and efficient.

4) Very slow at work so I went home early and watched Joe's favorite all time movie THIEF with him, even though I have seen it a hundred times with him, he never tires of it.

BIG THING

5) While leaving the Goodwill store (and the paperback book that I was hoping was still there b/c I was too cheap to purchase it last week and it was! another GiST actually) it was very icy in the parking lot and I was thinking that I needed to be very careful with my footing b/c I did not need to fall.......and I saw out of the corner of my eye a person to my left slip and fall. I turned as she began to scream and cry. I hustled over there (still making sure I didn't slip myself) and asked that age old dumb question "Are you alright?" Or course she was not!! I squatted down beside her, it was very cold, around 20 degrees, she had no gloves on and a short jacket and her head wrapped in a warm scarf. She waved towards the island, she had fallen next the curb that held the green space for a single tree and some scraggly grass, and gestured towards her cell phone, "My Granny, I was talking to my Granny". I picked up the phone and handed it to her. She concluded the call all the while crying and saying, "I heard something POP in my knee". By this time a kind gentleman had emerged from the Dollar General store and was standing by asking if there was anything he could do. I dialed 911 and handed the phone to her to explain her injuries to the dispatcher. She was 21, (thank God). Another lady emerged from a parked vehicle and was calling 911 also. I commented that I wish I had a blanket in my car for her, she was sprawled out on the pavement and it was very icy and snowy. The gentleman said he worked a the Goodwill and shot off for a blanket. He returned and draped it over her. In the background we heard the ambulance wail as it made it's way to the Shopping Center. I waved the EMS truck over to the island and when they got out of the vehicle to begin helping her I patted her on the shoulder and said something like, "You will be okay, they will take good care of you." She reached up and looked me in the eye and grabbed my gloved hand and thanked me. I was very moved, actually. As I returned to my car I remembered the tv programs I had seen about people rushing by other people in distress, at one time even a small child crying on the sidewalk. It heartens me that not only myself made a bee line to help this woman, but several other people also.

Humanity still lives and thrives in Clarksville.

And the EMS vehicles are very very fast.

January 7, 2010

GiST 41/365

1) Finally after five months I was offered a job at the Mall as the Asst. Marketing Mgr. I begin January 18th. It pays peanuts, but bigger peanuts than Biscuit Bucket. I am going to stay on at BB for a couple of hours a week. I love the discount! And I truly like all the people I work with. Well, almost all of them. I can not impose another loss on myself.

2) First snowfall of the year! If you can call the dusting we received a snowfall. But, I heard if you see a cat's paw prints, then it's a snow. I shake my head thinking of the snow falls of North East Indiana! First snow was eight inches. And no excuses from the Southerner! Be at work as usual! Only time snow was a factor and not a way of life was the Blizzard of '07 and the city shut down the roads to all except emergency vehicles. I have pictures somewhere of snow up to the windows. Now, that's a snowfall!

3) Made this heavenly soup called Ribollita from an Italian Cook Book I have laying around. Spinach, cabbage,pancetta, carrots, fresh basil, celery, northern beans, squash, tomatoes, sourdough bread and finished off with Pecorino Romano cheese. It was a taste explosion that defies description.

4) My Mother called to tell me that an old friend had published his second book and that she and I were included on the dedication page! How cool is that!!

5) Joe got out several of the old photo albums and we had a trip down memory lane looking at the trips to Ireland, Cancun, Dublin Irish Festival, and countless other adventures I documented with my trusty camera.

Number 40 of 365

January 6, 2010

Grace in Small Things

1) Driving down Wilma Rudolph Dr. (the main artery of Clarksville) and hitting all the green lights! (Imagine hitting all the lights on Nicholasville Rd!)(during rush hour).

2) Slipping on a new pair of Playtex gloves to wash dirty dishes. How I hate plunging my naked hands into dishwater. Yucky! How I miss my diswasher.

3) Having a major argument with Heather-Be-thy-Name and not getting fired, even though I was told I could be fired listening to Rita talk about K. (WTF) (she hates her guts) and for bad attitude (because I have to be handled in a certain way 7am in the morning! Not barked at and reprimanded like a 4yr old!)

4) I called a lawyer's office for a consultation and was consulted by the secretary over the phone and given sound advice before seeking professional help, (thank you Martha). I am going to try and take on TransUnion over an incorrect and misleading report on our credit rating. I have tried to clear it up it to no avail and have submitted my 100 word challenge which does not appear on the report! I'm like David taking on Goliath. My sling shot will be my pen.

5) Found a signed 2nd edition of Come and Go Molly Snow, one of my favorite books. I feel a re-read in the future.

January 5, 2010

GiST 39/365

1) We have a black and white cat that has been hanging around for about three weeks. He/She (I truly believe it is a she b/c Three Legged Cat tolerates her) She sits on the window ledges and calls for TLC during the day and disappears at night. I know she is homeless and so skinny compared to Big Bad TLC. Joe tells me not to feed her that she will never go away. Last night I fed her and made a home from an old cardboard box and an old rough blanket I had in the closet. It made me feel very good to be taking care of this poor unfortunate. It is suppose to be very cold the next few days. TLC went crazy when we laid out a bowl of food! And I believe he checked out her house before she was allowed inside.

2) Joe found a rosary under the bed. Ted gave it to me years ago (2004??) after a trip to Italy. "What was Ted doing in Italy?" J. asked, "Seeing the Pope obviously!"

3) I sashayed into Walmart to pick up a few things and ran into three people I have met via Biscuit Bucket! It's almost unsettling to realize I am becoming settled in this small big town.

4) Made a batch of Chicken-N-Dumplings for dinner. Oh, how I love that dish!

5) In years past, many years, I have used any flat drinking glass that is handy when it was time to roll out dough for pie crusts etc. On a recent trip to Louisville/Jeff I found a wooden rolling pin at the Salvation Army that is old, "weathered" and perfect. I used it for the first time making the dumplings last night and it was divine! I have missed out on this unique pleasure for too long and wonder how I ever got along without it.

January 4, 2010

Grace in Small Things 38/365

1) Even though it was a long miserable day and not once did I jot anything in the tiny notebook, at the end of the day I forced myself to write down anything of merit that occurred and I ended up filling up a page.

2) Even though I have a cold that insists on not releasing me from its bondage and rears its ugly head all snotty day long, I have never lost my sense of smell or taste.

3) I wore my sapphire earrings today and they made me feel marvelous.

4) I finished my first book of the year, Juno and Juliet. I truly enjoyed it at the beginning but it began to weigh down in the middle and lost that smart ass sharp tone after the first quarter, I finished the book to a satisfactory ending. I had a bad habit last year of reading a book almost to the end and then tossing it aside, thereby totally ruining my book count for the year. (barely tied last years mark).

5) Running Mozilla Firefox on the computer since the malware that has taken over my hard drive has disabled Explorer.

Grace in Small Things

January 3, 2010 37/365

1) Breakfast of Country Ham, country bacon, biscuits and red eye gravy (my version w/o coffee b/c I had consumed all of it!), scrambled eggs and a big thank you to SIL Liz for the Christmas gift.

2) A long soak in the tub with my Mary Kay salt stuff also a Christmas gift.

3) Going to Bowling Green to visit Flealand with Joe. Found a great Coach knock off and spent most of the ride home examining it to determine if it really was a knock off or a reject! It's big, big enough to carry my Nikon with plenty of room to spare. I love it!!

4) Picking up a Courier Journal newspaper to read all about the UK verses UofL game from Saturday. (It was not a pretty game! Lot's of excitement and the best outcome. Being a UofL graduate its a no lose situation for me, but growing up 10 miles from UK I have been a life long True Blue fan, so there was no "throwing myself in the snow bank" Saturday afternoon). (Coach Pitino's comparison of UK and U of L fans. If UofL looses the state rivalry game they shrug and say, "We will get them next year". If UK looses the fans stagger out and throw themselves in a snow bank"). (very funny and sooooooooo true).

5) Wearing my chandelier silver earrings! Another Christmas gift and I love them!

From My Computer to You

Have I fixed the virus without having to wipe out my Hard drive? Guess time will tell. I had to download this rkill program (at a romote computer, Joe's at work) to a stick and that did not work. So in despair I put my SD card in Joe's computer at work to download some pic's of the grand kids and the TLC (Three Legged Cat) and it asked if I wanted to download the program to the SD card - well, yea!

So, here is crossing my fingers that the "patch" or whatever you call it works. I was able to go back and restore my computer. (I have learned so much about DOS and the such these past 10 days)

So - TA-DA!

Grace in Small Things

34/365 December 31st, 2009

1) Dr. Scholl's gel inserts (need I say more).

2) Finishing Eliz. Berg's book and tying last years book count.

3) Puff's with aloe (I have a cold).

4) Alka seltzer cold plus knock off (I have a cold).

5) While driving home from working at Biscuit Bucket I was stopped at a road block (NYE) and instead of waved on like most the cars ahead of me I was given the light in the window treatment and asked if I knew my right head light was out, "Yes sir, I have a receipt here from VIOC where they replaced it in November1 I just realized it was out yesterday (lie, it was the day before) and I think I have a short". And as I pulled open the glove box and began to hunt for the receipt, and mentioning that I just got off from Biscuit Bucket, they sighed and waved me on saying "Get that taken care of." Oh, thank God!

35/365 January 1st, 2010

1) Scoop Away cat Liter.

2) Excellent buy on hot chocolate and mug at Biscuit Bucket.(next day found out it as a fluke! 70% off was incorrect. Hahahahahahah!!)

3) Hot chocolate with marshmallows for a night cap.

4) Full moon shining like a beacon on the ride home.

5) Looking for philosophical meaning each day - Thinking that every day you can find something to bitch about, to complain about. Making the decision that I would not do that. (I was standing outside the stock room door when Rita was on a rant about another co-worker that she has it in for. The door flew open and Heather-Be-Thy-Name emerged and dragged me backwards and got in Rita's face that this kind of gossip/back stabbing would not be tolerated! When she slammed the door she let me know in no uncertain terms that I should have nipped it in the bud - and in after thought I realized I had on two occasions instructed Rita to keep her voice down when trash talking K.)

36/365 January 2

1) Nettie pot (still have a cold)

2) Oatmeal with honey.

3) Suede gloves with fur lining (19 degrees outside).

4) Chili sauce from Viet Nam (about a 50 on the 100 scale!) in the chili.

5) A very nice chat with one of the young kids at work.

New Years Resolution - 2010 Style

While reading Elizabeth Berg's book last night I ran across a passage that has attached itself to my mind and will not leave.

And I am paraphrasing, "A Navajo Indian told his Grandson, 'Inside of me I have two wolves fighting. One is the bad wolf, lazy, inconsiderate, mean and without compassion. The other wolf is good, generous, willing and kind'. The grandson asks, 'Which wolf wins?' and the Grand Father replies, 'The one I feed.'"

This is my hope, that when ever I find myself in a situation I will try to ask myself, "which wolf am I feeding?"

Far too many times I am feeding the wrong wolf these days.

This must change.

I carry around a small notebook to write down the GiST observations and feelings I encounter on a daily basis. I find that I am searching out the good. Sometimes it is difficult and I have to reach really deep to overcome the depression I am immersed in. But, I am prevailing and on certain days I am happy. And because I am on the look out for such small and often overlooked events, I am climbing out of this dark stupid hole I have stepped in.

Happy New Year one and All.

December 30th

GiST 34/365

1) Next day mail delivery service from USPO (even though they piss me off most the time). I refuse to go to the small PO in Tiny Town because of Lurch, the counter person, who is very impersonal (mean) and charges me more for 1st class shipping than other PO's.

2) The most fashionable thing I own, Kate Spade sun glasses, given to me by my style conscious husband long ago (and have not lost nor have had stolen in over two years!) (lost a beautiful Channel pair on one of the cruises by leaving on the lounge chair - I'll never hear the end of it)

3) Finding $1 in change (two quarters, one dime, one nickle and 35 pennies) in the car, under the seat, fallen between the bucket seats and under the floor mats, to pay my fine at library so I can use the computer (mine is still very sick from Internet Security 2010 virus).

4) Out of the corner of my eye, as I was driving to Hop-town, I saw a horse in a field, laying on its back, rubbing itself in the grass with its legs straight up in the air! As I turned to get a really good look, he jumped up and began running joyfully across the field.

5) Finding a box in the cluttered bedroom that contained my favorite pens! A gold Cross pen presented to me as a Christmas present when I worked at WU. A wonderfully balanced pen that I received as a "major award" from the Dale Carnagie public speaking class (I was voted as the most moving speech that day). And the Schaeffer pen that Joe gave me as a surprise! I knew they were missing, and finding them was a burst of my own joy! If the bedroom had been a field, I would have jumped up and ran.

December 29th

Grace in Small Things 33rd edition of 365

1) Deciding that looking for "the cutest baby of the day" contest that I will hold in my head and announce the winner only to me is a perfect way to make the creeping crawling time pass by now that the Christmas rush/push is over and things are almost back to the vaguely boring routine at Biscuit Bucket.

2) Finding a beautifully designed simple white bowl at Goodwill for 59 cents.

3) How delicious it is to read a Eliz. Berg novel.

4) My blue and white Vitoria Secret bath robe that is a hundred years old and so comfy.

5) Laying on the couch with my legs entwined with my husbands and nodding out for a few minutes during the ESPN coverage of the UK game. He nodded out too, (we won by a million points).

Bonus # 6 - Having an anonymous comment on my "Love affair with Candy" entry about Blue Monday candy bars.

December 28th

Grace in Small Things 32/365

1) Christmas presents to yourself. Who knows you better?

2) Dionis Vanilla Bean hand lotion and Lip Balm (yup, that was my present)

3) Rita's wild plan for a business venture of which I am the partner (sounds like fun and a winner...time will tell)

4) A blissfully wonderful shower with lots of fragrant soap and foamy shampoo.

5) Finding a "fix" for my computer virus that seems to have at the very least, has me back on line at home. Thank you Public library and all the free diagnostic and clean up programs out there. (still needs a lot of work, but wiping out my hard drive is a distant horror....)

Long Time Comin' - (CS&N)

Grace in Small Things Deluxe version

Brought to you courtesy of the Public Library

December 23rd 27/365

1) Downloading Swing Music

2) My new bra! Makes me look like I have lost weight.

3) Phone call and e-mail regarding Mall position (still alive)

4) New make up from Kohls

5) My computer catching the Internet Security 2010 virus and shutting down. Making me rethink the amount of time I spend on the computer. Maybe not having a computer stealing my time is a good thing.
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GiST
December 24th 28/365
1) Cindy's cookies at work! Great since I forgot my lunch.

2) But wait! The break room is full of goodies too! Sugar overload. How sweet it is.

3) Beginning to clean out the storage unit in a fit of anger trying to locate the Mack Daddy virus killer software.

4) Behold! Finding the cache of CD's titled Jazz Masters. Wow! Some good listening there.

5) The fat baby dressed up in the Santa outfit including black Santa booties and Santa hat. Too cute.

6) Bonus item - the wrist jingle bells. Loved them. Hate to retire them for the season.
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GiST December 25th 29/365

1) Watching The Christmas Story ......all day long!

2) Christmas with the Grand Kids.

3) Baby Nash dancing to "Put a Ring on It" - too funny. That kid's got the moves.

4) Listening to B.'s story about the true meaning of what's important and what's just stuff/b.s/irrelevant. Brought me to tears.

5) Being a very good designated driver.
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GiST December 26th 30/365

1) Realizing that I have gained remarkable stamina being around people.

2) Listening to Crosby Stills and Nash while rolling down the highway.

3) UK insignia's everywhere on their way to Nashville. Felt like home.

4) Watching old games from the 1996 championship team on the road to the NCAA title.

5) Being able to stay up until 3am!
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December 27th 31/365
1) What a gorgeous sunrise on (count them) third trip back to Central KY in five days (I must be mad)

2) My sister noticing I have lost weight (did not tell her it was the new bra!!)

3) Poinsettia drinks - yummy yummy. Cranberry and champagne.

4) Family memories. Each person tells a story they have written (does it surprise anyone that my family is an army of writers) about a family memory. It was wonderful.

5) Another group picture of the grand kids - making memories for them to pass on (in time)

6) Bonus GiST's. Sweet potato casserole. OMG. Double marshmallows this time.

Sometimes I cry, somtimes I fly like a bird - (Boz Scaggs)

December 23 GiST edition 26/365

1) My music on the MP3 makes the long (well short comparably) drive to Louisville easier

2) Seeing hills!!!!!!!! (did not realize how flat this area is. Not as flat as NE IN, but flat)

3) Seeing a bona fide SKY LINE!! (Ah Louisville how I miss you and your lit up cathedrals)

4) Christmas shopping with Bridget (good thing? Ha!!)

5) Schimpff's Confectionery in Jeff. (OMG!)

December 22

GiST 25/365

1) Joe scraping the frost off my car windshield for me in the morning.

2) Having health insurance and RX coverage.

3) Salvation Army bell ringers and having an extra buck to toss into the kettle.

4) Rita bringing treats to work including bourbon balls - yummy.

5) ESPN's coverage of the UK2K last night. It made me proud to be a Kentucky fan and knowing that all across this mighty USA hundreds of thousands of UK fans were feeling it with me.

December 21st

GiST 24/365

1) Waking up very early for some me time.

2) Washed dishes sitting in the drainer. Ah, all is well on the kitchen front.

3) Bag of sliced oranges.

4) Rediscovering Bit-O-Honey (hated as a kid. Love as an adult!)

5) Being told a joke by an old lady at work...."Two old ladies in church listening to the preacher go on and on. One leans over and whispers to the other, ""This lecture is so boring my butt has fallen asleep", "I know", she replied, "I heard it snore twice."

December 20th

GiST 23/365

1) Excellent nine hour day at work where everything was clicking and the three of us working together were in a groove. Had 3 one-thousand dollar hours back to back and missed the fourth by less than 70 bucks! Darn..

2) The thrill of expectation of a snow fall.

3) Finding the misplaced Disney Reward card. Found it right where I hid it months ago.

4) Christmas party at Golden Corral.

5) Having that moment where I realized I was happy and taking note of the glorious feeling.

December 19th

GiST 22/365

1) Opening the front door and there is the Three Legged Cat waiting to come in after an evening of romping with his "girl friend" (TLC is fixed, girl friend may or may not be a girl, but I suspect she is)

2) Finally being able to use my "Sleeping with Alan Jackson" sales pitch and having it work!!

3) A tall glass of water with lemon slices.

4) Rita bringing me an Angus Burger from Cosco for lunch. Obviously she thinks I need to be fattened up (smile inserted here).

5) Finishing Thirteen Moons by Charles Frasier. Definitely one of the three best books I have read this year. I read it slowly so to savor every word. There was something magical to this book. I read Cold Mountain over ten years ago and I remember sobbing at the end. I had read reviews about Thirteen Moons and how it was no Cold Mountain. I suppose it would be like Martha Mitchell's second book if she had ever followed up Gone With The Wind.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks

GiST 21/365

1) Being in possession of an ice scraper.

2) Smiling at the sight of two girls posing on the trunk of the huge pink elephant that sits at the cross roads.

3) Finding my candle making stuff in the storage shed! Making a candle and failing. Finding a video on You Tube and re-melting it on the stove (vs. the microwave) and better the second time but still a wick failure! Lesson learned - nothing is as easy as it looks.

4) Flipping the heat on in the house.

5) Missing Survivor last night because I had to work, but knowing I can watch it on the Internet later today (maybe tomorrow).

Lunch Box

Brought to you by {W}rite of Passage

(Written in fifteen minutes!)

Grammar School Lunches –

You must know,number one, the school was a two room Parochial school that taught maybe sixty students in eight grades located in the living quarters of the Nuns of Divine Providence. We had no cafeteria and we ate at our desks during most the school year. Weather permitting, we went outside. I vaguely remember picnic tables along the south end of the yard.....only vaguely.

Anyway. Lunch was an important affair when taking place on the playground. When allowed outside the four walls of formal education, it was a mass sprint to acquire the best spots the play ground had to offer. The best being, sitting in the shade under the sliding board. This was not typical namby-pamby sliding board, but the mother of all sliding boards. I can close my eyes and still see it, still feel its cold metal under my hands. It was 10 feet tall (at least!), made of solid iron, its steps pitted for traction and worn silver by the millions of trips us kids took to the top of the magical tower. You could see the entire grounds from atop.

But the best of times was when the weather turned very cold and icy, so cold that the ground was frozen and ice formed on the blacktop. We would polish the board with wax paper until it shone and was as slick as snot. Then we would carry buckets of water from the water fountain and toss it in front of the bottom of the slide making a hazardous path towards the merry-go-round (which was like a monstrous tilt –a-whirl top!).

You would climb the steps to the top, crouched on your haunches facing downwards waiting to be shoved with herculean effort by those behind you to descend down, hair flowing behind you, hats taking flight, a steak on the the greased death slide, hitting the child-made frozen path and steer your self by keeping hold of your knees, as far as you could go careful to avoid taking out a first grader or some goof ball not paying attention. Many a child’s life hung in a suspended balance as they failed to fall sideways before sliding, at breakneck speed, under the crushing jaws of the Merry-go-round! We would scream , shout and cheer as we ran towards the bone crushing monster and stopped it moments from smashing in the head or obliterating the bones of the greatest slide of them all. Or at least that day.

Lunch? Everyday, without fail, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich lovingly folded in wax paper accompanied by a tiny bag of Frito’s and two cookies.

Lunch was wolfed down and the cartons of milk tossed back quickly in anticipation of that precious hour of bone chilling, death defying, bone marrow crunching, dare devil and double dog dare playground time after lunch.

GiST #20

1) My knock-off Movado Museum watch in motion again.

2) Releasing the unmistakable aroma of Gain detergent as I unload the dryer.

3) The self-serve station at the post office to avoid standing in the long long long long and then long again line.

4) The V-6 in the Sonata, vvvvvvvvvroooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmm

5) Remembering it's garbage day and getting the container to the road before the truck arrives (5amish!! Can you believe it???

Number 18 Number 18 Number 18

GiST

1) Coffee - the nectar of life - first thing in the morning.

2) Ability to remove myself, if only for just a few hours, with a short journey/adventure to parts unknown.

3) A pen that feels just right in my hand and writes with a smooth flair.

4) Small towns without even a four way stop.

5) An Amish buggy tearing down the two lane highway! I have not seen such a throw back sight since leaving Ft. Wayne over two years ago. I knew the Amish/Mennonites had settled around this West KY area, but I had yet to see them. They are a fearless people.

Number 17

Grace in Small Things 17/365

1) Awaking to the distant chords of The Nutcracker Suite playing from the television turned on in the living room and being overwhelmed with the image of taking Bridget, as a very young child, to the Louisville production every year.

2) Christmas lights glowing in the black darkness.

3) Joe ironing my shirt.

4) Bob's Old Timey peppermint candy.

5) The season finale of Dexter. Wow, never saw that coming, (though I should have).

Grace in Small Things

16/365

1) Being told by a second party how the first party brags about how wonderful/good you are!

2) Zac Brown Band.

3) Finding the perfect Christmas gift.

4) CBS Sunday Morning segment about Paul McCartney and the Beatles. (I'm a long time Beatle fan)

5) Joe bringing home a Courier Journal (Louisville's Pulitzer prize winning newspaper).

Number 15 - 350 to go!

Grace in Small Things

1) Small pocket notebooks

2) Honey made by local beekeepers.

3) My new friend Rita - Who has these little nervous tic's like Rodney Dangerfield

4) Joe coming home from a short trip to Central KY

5) My sonic toothbrush.

Grace in Small Things

14/365

1) Getting a paycheck every week! I use to get paid once a month! What a difference (in so many ways).

2) The scent of candles

3) The beautiful fleeting 4pm sun drenching the bedroom.

4) Babies with bows in their hair (little wisps of fine baby hair)

5) Vivid dreams starring friends from long ago.

Careful what you wish for

What seems like a long time ago, when I first "retired" from the Beverage Company I hoped that the next job I found would be less stressful.

I figured that I would take it easy for awhile. My father was very ill and I had been away from home for over two years and wanted to spend time with family. My Mom's 80th birthday party was planned for that summer and relatives from all over were coming in for the celebration. There was plenty of time "later" to look for a job.

I began to envision the career I would seek out. Less stressful meant I could leave it at the doorstep when I went home. I did not want my cell phone ringing 24/7 with problems I had to smooth over or find a way to resolve. I wanted a job where I could sleep soundly at night and not toss and turn until the sky began to lighten and soften from the blackest of night to the gray of a winter morn. I wanted to not bolt upright from a sound sleep when my subconscious remembered I forgot to download my orders the evening before because I got distracted. Or bolt upright from a sound sleep when I remember that today is the day I am suppose to turn in a lost equipment report which I have not even started. I wanted to not feel myself become worried senseless because I have upset a customer with some regulation that is outside my realm of authority and those higher up could care less. I wanted to leave behind forever the mini anxiety attacks being brought on by some Big Wig from Atlanta that was going to hop in my car and spend the day with me visiting the Bengal Camp. And on and on and on.

I wanted a job where I did not have to recall what I wore last week so that I would not wear the same thing twice to visit an account.

I rolled it over in my mind that wearing a uniform would be good. Very good. It would be heaven to not think about clothes!

And my wish came true. I iron my pastel button down oxford shirts and laugh at the absurdity of my never having worn much less owned such a shirt before. My apron with my name and lone star makes me ponder irony.

As I fall into bed and sleep soundly and without a single honest work related care in the world, as the frustrations of too much responsibility are replaced by the frustrations of ego...

As I wake at 330am in the morning after a deep six hours of sleep I also marvel at the power of the invisible hand coupled with the fickle finger of fate that can make a dream a reality.

This is Harder than it looks

GiST part 13 of 365

1) Pancakes with cherry preserves (more of the food theme)

2) E-mail from Gayle (hi G.!)with picture of childhood buddy.

3) Pumpkin spice flavored coffee

4) Making it home in time to see most of Survivor.

5) Finding a $5 bill!

12 of 365

Grace in Small Things

1) Lip gloss

2) Talking to Mom on the phone

3) Receiving first Christmas card

4) Having a nice conversation with an elderly lady in the line at the PO that made the 20 minute wait tolerable.

5) Chicken-n-Dumplings at work (there is a pattern of food stuff in my GIST's!!)

extra! Extra! UK beats UCONN in a thriller and I stayed awake for the whole thing!

GiST 11/365

1) For some crazy zen like reason, I enjoy ironing my cotton long sleeved shirts with the can of starch.

2) A pb&j for lunch

3) Reading an article on line about the lack of jobs and professionals taking retail jobs for the Christmas season and how the retail industry was remarkably improving because of it! Better customer service----hello.

4) A well deserved afternoon nap.

5) Fortune cookie "Your problem just became your stepping stone. Catch the moment."

Offical Kick Off of Write of Passage

Character.

Working with the general public all day long exposes you to the entire spectrum of personalities and character types. Serial shoppers , mean people, deformed people, challenged people, rude people, warm people, hyper people, people who allow their kids to run wild, people who are amused, people who are bored, people who just want to eat, people who just want to shop, people who want to eat and shop, people who hold purses for their wives , people who just hold purses , people who help their mates to the bathrooms, fat people, skinny people, people returning from cancer treatments at Vandy, people with no hair, people with too much hair, people with seeing eye dogs, people without an arm, people without sight, people without shame, people without compassion ,people who want candy, people who want pies, people who express gratitude, people who express impatience, people who want gift wrap, people who tell you how to do your job, people who are grateful you know how to do your job, people who want bows, people who want boxes, people who want an uncrushed box, people who want what is on the top of the highest shelf, people who like snowmen, people who are afraid of the weasel chasing the ball, people who look good in wraps, people who look short in wraps, people who ignore you, people who call you by name, people who smile, people who scowl , people who hum, people who talk to themselves, people who touch everything, people who bark at their children not to touch anything , people who look lost , people who are lost, people who rush to the bathroom , people who do not flush, people who line the commode seat with tissue paper and leave it behind, people who miss the trash can, people who refuse to touch the door plates and open with their elbows arms crooked like a doctor entering the OR , people who startle easily, people who enter the wrong bathroom, women who scream when seeing a man in the women’s bathroom, little boys in the women’s bathroom , sad looking little girls exiting the men’s bathroom, old folks on walkers, young folks in wheel chairs , broken arms in pink casts, broken legs in blue casts , crutches , canes, and XXXL “do you have anything larger” people, Tennessee orange , Alabama red , Florida orange and blue , Kentucky Blue, Austin Peay Red, Western Kentucky red, tall athletes, bus loads of retires looking for Horehound drops, basketball teams, volleyball teams, cheerleading teams, little league teams, coaches, People with books, people with newspapers , people with Bibles, people with brief cases , people with notebooks, people with lists , people in groups, people alone, people together, people kissing , people hugging, people kissing passionately , people rocking , people expounding on religion, people preaching politics, people talking about mission trips, men and women in fatigues, men and women in dress uniforms, people attending weddings, people attending funerals , people traveling , people passing through, people stuck, people yanking children by the arm, people with twins, people with four day old babies, people carrying baby carriers, babies laughing, babies crying, children running, children throwing tantrums, children playing in the toy department , children in Uggs, children in cowboy boots, children barefoot, children with a white streak in their hair (natural), children living with their grandparents , children visiting their grandparents, grandparents visiting their children, soldiers returning from Afghanistan, newlyweds, married 64 years, those who love, those who do not love, those who are affectionate, those who are chatty, those who are sour, those who are happy ,those who are sad, those who are lonely, those who are in a hurry, those who linger too long ,those who want something from six months ago ,those who want the last one, those who will not take the last one, those who wait until it goes on sale, those who don’t care what it costs, those who tell you how wonderful you are, those who tell your boss how wonderful you are, those who burst out the door shouting how rude you are, those who touch, those who grab your hand, those who tell you secrets, those who tell you dreams ,those who tell you “thanks” and not mean it, those who tell you thanks and mean it, those who dress like hookers, people who do not wash and smell bad, those on spike heels, those in combat boots, those in work boots, those who run out on the check, those who checks will not cash, those who return (used) merchandise, those who steal merchandise, those who argue about merchandise (that is clearly marked 25% off!!), those who want the manager, those who run out of gas, those who need a jump, a phone book, an aspirin, those who need a slap in the face, a course on etiquette, a bath, a kick in the ass, those who are too sweet, too young for motherhood, too young for fatherhood, too young for military service (they look like they are 12 sometimes), and then there are those who make you cry with their stories, who make you laugh with their witticisms…….

How in the world could I make up stories about the character of the people I meet and greet in a typical day?

The reality is enough.

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This post was written in response to a writing challenge from {W}rite-of-Passage, a "...group of writers seeking a challenge, getting critique, and finding community."

10/365

GiST

1) Walmart having monitors on sale

2) Getting into a check out lane with no one in front of you!

3) Working a shift with Rita - who loves to gift wrap (yea!)

4) Finding a peppermint in my purse.

5) Finding "Tales of the Scale" at the Salvation Army store - a book written by a blogger who use (notice the past tense) to have a great blog called Lose the Budda.

9/365

Grace in Small things

Double header

1) Downloading the newest Neil Young.

2) Sirius Radio

3) Successfully selling Joe's golf clubs on Craigslist

4) Chocolate chip cookies recipe courtesy of Foodnetwork.com

5) Arriving two hours late for work because you read the schedule incorrectly and everyone covered for you and no one knew!

Second Week - GiST

8 of 365

1) Having a Saturday off!

2) Having a Saturday off and finding out UK plays UNC on TV at 11:30!

3) Living in central time zone.

4) UK playing awesome 1st half and I was jumping up and down and then they played a mediocre 2nd half but they WON!! Great game!

5) Finishing my first draft for (W)rite of passage.

GiST

7 of 365

1) Realizing I was watching a sunset and it was beautiful.

2) Not burning down the house. I remembered I had left the oven on earlier in the day when I rushed off to work! I had thawed out several chicken breasts and they had been in the refrigerator tooooo long and I thought I would cook them before leaving for work. Great ideas gone bad! Joe home at 330 and turned off oven! Chicken burnt to a black glob. That's what happens at 350 degrees for seven hours!!

3) Thin crust deLITE pizza from Papa Murphy's.

4) Money grams at Walmart - too easy and a Christmas discount.

5) The end of a trying day that was coupled with my out of sorts mood.

GiST

6 of 365

1) Andrea Bocelli singing "Because God Made thee Mine" makes me cry it is so beautiful and fills me with memories of my Dad singing the song to my Mom.

2) My MP3 - Andrea Bocelli and some other guy singing "Because we Believe" because it gives me chills (and brings tears to my eyes too, it's so beautiful)

3) That I made it to the gas station this morning before running out of gas. I cut it way too close this time - almost.

4) Unexpected trip to Trader Joe's!

5) Message on the answering machine regarding job at the Mall ????????!!!!!!!!!!1

Grace in Small Things

Five of three hundred and sixty five

1) Waking to the sound of rain.

2) Smell of brownies cooking. Yum yum.

3) AT&T cell tower finally (after seven months living here) turned on! Cell service in Tiny Town! Yessssssssssssssss

4) Employee appreciation days - 30% off the merchandise. That makes Buy one get one half price very sweet.

5) Getting a doctor appointment with a specialist immediately! Unheard of!

4 of 365

Grace in Small Things

1) Satisfaction that comes from completing a task! Even if it is only cleaning out the cupboards and refrigerator.

2) Libraries - thank you Ben Franklin for dreaming up the concept of a free library. With computers and DVD's, music CD's, old books - new books and everything in between.

3) Finding a four leaf clover.

4) A cute little boy pushing miniature shopping cart at Kroger (I go to market quite often..lol)

5) Hearing laughter and looking north and seeing the playground covered with children! Flashback to Ft. Wayne and a playground next to the Little Caesar's covered with a recent heavy snow and the seemingly hundreds of colorfully clad kids frolicking on the equipment.

Grace in Small Things

3 of 365
1) Christmas Carols on the piped in music to sing along with.

2) Finding exactly what I'm looking for in the stock room.

3) Two Amazon orders in one day.

4) Southern Comfort Egg Nog! (Hooray!!) at Kroger's. (boo Walmart).

5) Cat sleeping in my lap in yellow checkered blanket.

2 of 365

Grace in small things

1) Good laugh about cat sitting on the back porch of the new neighbor - who owns a dog!

2) Finally making the telephone call I have been creading for some time and it turned out OK.

3) Reading "just one more chapter" while lounging on the bed - just like I did as a kid in my upstairs bedroom with the pink walls and the deep burgundy rug.

4) Being told that I am #2 in sales for the week, #1 for the month. I modestly say that it is a group effort but inwardly my heart is doing the dance of joy.

5) Aspercreme - what a great invention!

Grace in Small Things

One of 365...

1) White fences of central Kentucky

2) Kentucky almost beating Tennessee in over time

3) My sister understanding when I shouted "You're like Cartman singing "O Holy Night"!! Who knew!" (talking about her prowess at Corn Hole!)

4) My mother finishing up the grace before the meal by saying, "And thank you for food, friends and family...and everything that begins with the letter F" ... a one beat of astonishment at the table and then snickering and then laughter and then.."Football!" "Fruit"...etc. etc. etc. (though we were all thinking one thing...) and she clarifies, "Good things that begin with the letter F.."

5) Family together

All the time in the World

My hubs went to Memphis for several days beginning last week. Last Tuesday. The few days stretched into a few more and now he will return tomorrow. it has been like a mini vacation! Only I am the only one to feed and let the cat out in the middle of the night.

When he left last week I thought, Oh Boy! I can lay around and read as much as I want and eat what I want and no fighting over the tv programs!

The reality is this, I started a book I could not get into...Little, Big. I am just not much of a "fantasy" fan. I enjoyed the imagery of the prose (...His hat looked as if it had been in a fight....) but I could not for the life of me get interested in the story. I would begin to read and find myself asleep. So much for reading.

I made my current favorite dish, Chicken Pot Pie. I have discovered the joy of using my eight inch iron skillet as a pie pan! Golly gosh (this is how I cuss these days because of my career at the People Pleasing family oriented Biscuit Barrel and their three strikes you're out cussing policy)it makes for a flaky crust! I might buy another one just for fruit pies! Anyway, something happened to my broth. I'm not certain what I did, maybe not enough chicken stock and onions. I used the Barefoot Contessa recipe as a guide instead of just winging it. It did not have the usual "Hamburgers! that's good!" kick to it that it always has when Joe is around.

And I thought I would breeze through a project I have been working on, off and on, for several months on the computer. Guess what? Never looked at it.

What I have done is sleep a lot, eat a lot and not read a lot. Download a ton of music from the MP3 program and work a lot of extra hours. And not care a fig about tv. (Anyone watching Survivor? I love that guy Russel from New Orleans. What a peacock!)

And it all ends tomorrow. I have missed him. Life is sweeter with him around, if not more hectic and demanding.

Farmer in the Dell

Early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy wealthy and just a plain old bore.

Actually, the damn three legged cat begins walking across my chest around 3am. And he is heavy! I am able to steal another 50 or so minutes of sleep before giving in and feeding that lard ass cat and then letting him out into the neighborhood which is his jungle.

It's 4am and I am awake. I like the very early hours. It's quiet and I feel like I am the only one awake....besides the farmers.

A lovely quiet. A delicious quiet.

I did a short four hour stint at Biscuit Bucket yesterday and not much happening of the unusual sort. A kid with a broken foot hobbling around on one of those foot boots, "What happened?" I asked as I have found people love to talk about their injuries, and since she was a young kid of about nine I added, "Did you kick a boy?" She laughed and told me she was going to tell everyone from now on that's what happened because it sounded better than tripping over her wiener dog.

The only other good action happened over by the Alan Jackson display. A young couple had taken the hat (Stetson knock off for $49.99. You too can look like Alan Jackson!) and she was taking a picture of him with her cell phone.

I swooped down on them and slipped one of the red and black cowboy ostentatious shirts with embroidery and snaps galore and said, "Here, slip this on, put the hat back on and hold up the back of the CD! " I was recreating the back cover. "Tilt your head down. You will look just like Alan Jackson." They loved it! "Are you sure we can do this?" I looked all around and put my finger to my lips, "We won't tell the sales person on duty what you are up to."

"Brilliant Face Book photo!" he laughed, "Now, who is Alan Jackson?"

They were not from around these parts. I laughed, they laughed and the older couple standing in the clearance corner laughed.

"You're next!" I called to them.

The older couple ended up buying several John Deere head gear hats.

I'm good.

In The Groove

I have about twenty minutes to kill before heading into work and I thought I would dust off the keyboard.

I meet the most interesting people on a daily basis at Biscuit Bucket. On the whole, very nice folk, but there are those who are a bit testy. I love hearing the stories that pop out of their mouths. The type of stories that you tell perfect stangers that you will never see again. Probably, you hope, never again.

It's my job to entice people to at the very least consider looking at our merchandise. I talk to everyone. Men or women, young or old, angry or sad. You just never know who will respond and in which way.

Headed on thier way out the door last evening I thanked an older couple for dining with us and that hopefully on the next trip they would look at our new Alan Jackson stuff! She turned to me and began to tell me all about her trying day. She went to town to find wall paper. Did I know they don't sell wall paper anywhere in this town?!! (It does not surprise me, the town with no used book store nor a Fresh Market). And that she went to Walmart because a friend had told her that she bought a do-hickey that you put around your pie edges and it prevented them from burning. No one had heard of such thing at the Walmart!!! The they went to the doctor and found out they both had high cholesterol!! High cholesterol!! And she can't take the medication! Fish oil pills! Can't take those either (try freezing them and then taking them! "Does it work? No burping back up the ...fish?" "Guaranteed!")

"Have a nice evening. Maybe you will find something nice the next time you come back in."

"I doubt it, he is tight as a tick! Never should have married him. Hummphhh" and out the door she went, a full five minutes behind him. He was probably revving the engine and restraining himself from tapping on the horn.

Everyday I have three or four encounters like the one above. People just spill their guts to me. I should write a book!

Autumn of your Life crisis

My dreams have been multi-faceted, richly textured, incredibly entertaining, all in living color as of late. My mother is young and handing my younger sister (who is a baby of about two) a Pez candy dispenser in the form of Bozo the Clown. My father, also young, is smiling from a passing car. There is my old grammar school friend, Flea, running down a dark street that is pocked with spectacular glass shards as he calls to me to wait for him. I run on pain free knees. I run very fast! I am weaving my way through a bistro, people gathered and laughing, waving interesting cocktails in shades of chartreuse and ruby. I carry a shopping bag. My cell rings and I step out onto a back patio to answer and enter a zoo with swimming dinosaurs and toothy snakes!

I awake, feeling the comfort of my hot-dog bun mattress bed, with my three legged cat lifting his head to gaze lovingly and beseechingly at me (because he knows its about chow time) and I think....

I finally understand! Mid-life crisis!

Since I can put a name on it everything falls into place. Only, I am well past mid-life! So, it's post mid-life crisis. Autumn of my life crisis. Maybe I can accept the condition I find myself in, the circumstances so appalling and so embarrassing...maybe it's time I just close my mind to the "what-ifs" and the "I should haves" to the peace of just being where I am and not fighting it.

Break it to me gently - The End

Part IV

After four interviews and spending $25 at Fed-Ex Kinko's, putting together a killer proposal, day dreaming for two and a half months, mentally putting together sales proposals for partnership solicitation for the children's center, making a list of the organizations I would join and the publications I would subscribe to, putting together my resignation letter to HeatherBeThyName and visualizing her begging me to stay ...after asking my Mother to have her prayer circle pray for me(!) and even taking a talisman with me the last two meeting. After having three "off the record" interview encounters at the Biscuit Bucket...I did not get the job.

Because it would not be doing me a favour to offer me a position when I had minimal exposure to managing a Mall. The learning curve is too large, too something or another (I was zoned out at this time realizing I was OUT) and would I consider taking the Assistant job.

Certainly. I had also contemplated this offer. It had to pay better than slightly above minimum wage at less than 30 hours a week.

I could be Robin to her Batman.

I should have realized that I was too - overqualified - for the second banana job. Under experienced for the first, too much for the second.

But, in some half assed way they offered it to me. That was last week. Last Monday. Almost two weeks ago. I had to "interview" with the girl/woman they gave the job to to make certain we jelled. ("The temp we have really wants the job and I told her to go back to school! That she would have plenty of opportunities in time.")She was to email him and let him know we hit it off okay.

Still, nothing from him.

I call - "I've been out of town, as you know, and have your paperwork her in front of me. I will get it together and hand it over to HR by tomorrow or the next day."

"OK, I will not panic until Wednesday after noon."

He laughs.

It's Saturday afternoon and I have not heard from them. Hope evaporates and I have not ever known the depths of depression and frustration as I feel now. Calling him again is out of the question.

It feels like ashes in my mouth. I never knew what that meant before, but I feel like I have ashes in my mouth.

What a terrible place this is to be. Maybe they will call. I feel like the teenage girl sitting by the telephone waiting for the call that never comes.

Break it to me Gently - Part III

Today I was called into the back of the office - again - and told that one of the area VP's, the head bitch of the Retail Department in this area, had entered our Biscuit Bucket and "observed". One of the things she "observed" was that when I came out of the bathroom and squirted some hand lotion onto my raw chemically seared hands, I just sashayed off and did not "greet" her and Great Heaven to Betsy, did not try and sell her any hand lotion.

"Don't freak out" my Amazon manager told me, "But later she stated that she saw you again in the "clearance" area and once again you did not greet her or acknowledge her in any way."

"Great!" I thought to myself, "I'm going to get canned from the dag gone Biscuit Bucket."

Truth of the matter is I was selling my ass off all morning! I had it going with this particular display, which was 40% off. Anyone came near that display, I was on them and showing them "my favorite" thing, a basket that is the perfect size to put in a pie or a casserole dish. Dazzle everyone at those family gatherings or pot lucks!

Feature and benefit, baby. I sold about eight of them. I only had about two people who could resist me!

I had it going yesterday too. I sold the Hell out of our Halloween merchandise. No one could resist my powers yesterday. And today.

I am a selling machine.

But...always the big BUT....I can not do it for six straight hours. It's torture. People every where, blocking the aisles, lugging along babies in carriers, some people pissed off because the wait is 35 to 40 minutes, talking on cell phones, giving you the "I don't respond to sales people" cold stare as they brush by you ...

....(and I hum the Rolling Stones song in my head at these moments...

Who would believe you were a beauty indeed
When the days get shorter and the nights get long
Lie awake when the rain comes
Nobody will know, when you're old
When you're old, nobody will know
that you was a beauty, a sweet sweet beauty
A sweet sweet booty, but stone stone cold) ..........

Because 9.9999 out of 10 they are a young woman who sneers at you.

Because I do not talk to everybody. I just can not. Will not. I do not have the emotional energy.

Anyway. This comes after another set back last week when another VP came into the store (are they any other Biscuit Buckets in the area!!) and was not "greeted" for 30 minutes. The manager on duty took me aside that day and began his spiel to me, "You have great potential........." The kiss of death when someone begins a "pep talk" that way.

Man, Retail sales is not Rocket science! It's harder!

(P.S. we have been breaking sales records and setting new ones for the area. You'd think they would have something positive to say, wouldn't you?)

Break it to me gently - Part II

I dragged out the two containers of coffee I use every morning to make my one pot of the delicious nectar of life and discovered I barely had enough to last the week.

Running out of coffee is not something that is easily remedied. I do not run to the local Walmart, Kroger or even ALDI to pick up a new pound of freshly ground. No, I must plan my escape - I mean my trip to Nashville to visit Trader Joe and grab another canister of New Mexico Pinon Coffee which is only the best coffee ever!

I practically smile all day long knowing that not only will I grab some fine coffee, but I will also grab some Cranberry Oatmeal cookies. Yum Yum.

I'm showered and out of the house before 9am. I am in Trader Joe an hour later and happily munching cookies ten minutes after that wondering what to do with myself now - the whole town at my beck and call.

I make a run to the farmers market and find a 44 ounce jar of Wildflower honey made in Tennessee. I am a honey convert. A fine supplement to the sweet nectar of life is the sticky nectar of life.

After that I ponder my options and decide to find the Goodwill. I wander around town quite a bit, finding the hole in the ground where it use to be and a large sign telling me where it now resides. So I head off in that direction and after a couple of erroneous starts and backtracks I find the Mack Daddy of Goodwill stores all but hidden in a maze of back streets, clearly visible from the expressway, but difficult to maneuver.

As I stand in front the wall of hard back books I know all the trouble has been worth it! I begin on the left and work my way to the right.

I find treasure right off the bat. A first edition of an American translation.

Two rows down another find, 1st edition of The Fabric of Memory by an Eleanor Robson Belmont. I have not a clue who she is, but it was published in 1959, the book is pristine and the pictures reveal a magnificent woman in old turn of the century garb. I realize she is the Belmont of The Belmont race track. Yes indeed!

I find a lot of 1st editions and my arm becomes strained trying to hold them as I continue to read through the titles. I decide to park them on an end table positioned behind me. I keep my eye on them as I feel another person begin to study the books to my left, going through the titles just as I was doing.

I pull out a cook book or two and set it on my pile becoming more and more wary of the guy next to me with his long yellowish white hair, pulled back in a foot long pony tale. Obviously well dressed in pressed jeans and a corduroy jacket. "A dealer?" I think to myself.

As he gives up his search he walks behind me and toward the doors. He leans sideways and reads the titles I have set aside.

"Do you like John Updike?" he asks me.

I hesitate a moment and then say, "Sure, I like him."

He returns to the book case, pulls a book that I have already passed and hands it to me.

Rabbit at Rest.

"I see you enjoy good literature" he says, bows slightly and walks away.

As is my habit these days, I flip it open and look at the copyright page.

A first edition. Unread, perfect condition.

I place it on my pile and turn to repeat the thank you. He has vanished.

I was stunned when I researched the value of that book.

All because I needed coffee.

Break it to me gently - Part 1

I think no one cares why I don't write anymore. Yet when I come across the thoughts from someone else concerning why they no longer write (blog/journal on line) I find myself reading it, no devouring it with an obsessive curiosity. I try and find the similarities between us and usually they are there.

I miss writing down the hum-drum threads that make up the drama's of my life. I do not live with high expectations that I will ever be among the lucky ones discovered in the Blogosphere. Not now, not with the millions and millions of bloggers out here. Maybe when I started, over six years ago, it might have been possible. Maybe if I had not hitched my wagon to AOL...??

Anyway, I will never get my book deal.

I am a little fish in a big pond that gets bigger every single day. Just yesterday I was browsing and killing time at Borders and saw a book about Tweeter. Tweeter for God's sake! Blog creates writers who become celebrities, as does You Tube and I suspect Tweeter is not far behind.

So, I concede. I will ramble on about the boring aspects of my boring life and years from now when I am wondering what I was doing the first of October 2009 all I have to do is flip over here and....there I am.

Oeufs en Gelée

From his usual spot at the foot of the bed, in the left corner, the cat lifted his head made eye contact with me and blinked twice. I laid my book down (Julia and Julie, turning out to be quite a disappointment after a wonderful movie and a marvelous "My life in France" read) and listened.

A strong wind is blowing in from the west. At first I thought it was my husband, fallen asleep watching the UK-Florida game (as equally disappointing as the Julie/Julia book) stumbling around seeking the bath room in a semi-conscious state. "Joe!" I called out then remembering the last time catching him only moments before he confused the front door with the door to the bathroom, the cat and I rushed to the living room.

He was safely and peacefully sleeping through the trouncing.

I opened the front door and the cat and I stepped outside. A brilliant half moon lit up half the sky, the other half shrouded with the hastening rain clouds. The wind bringing dry brittle leaves to dance at our feet, the weeping willow tree across the street throwing her long arms up in and down, around and around in a frenzied gyration.

The humidity that I have been living with for months and months blown away to the east. Autumn is making her entrance.

The cat refuses to come back in.

I sit down at the computer and write this post and think about Julia Child and the horrible description of aspic and wonder why anyone would want to eat cold jellied chicken when you can have luscious pan fried chicken with white gravy......

The dishes call, the cat remains outside, the book lies on the bed waiting to be taken back up and Joe talks in his sleep.......

Suckers!

The bookcase hugged the whole wall with the aisles holding several more. Ah, the wonderful aroma of old musty books at the Goodwill. I began to touch the spines while quickly reading the titles and moving down the row when my fingers found "Kentucky Hospitality". My interest was piqued and I pulled it down. Pay dirt! A 1976 recipe book, sans cover, but filled with stories about making hooch in the "hills" and Mint Juleps in the parlor. $2.99 - a bargain!

Further down the same bookshelf I found another discarded jewel, the Farm Journal's Country Cooking, 1959 - also sans cover, but at $2.99 I had to have it.

I was distracted by a couple in one of the aisles with a baby nestled in one of those carriers. I smiled as I heard them laughing softly and as I turned to get a better look at the baby my smile froze.

That couple were working together, one pulling books from the shelves and the other hitting them with one of those ISBN scanner guns. The hair on my neck practically stood on end.

My impression is that these are not book lovers seeking treasure, but treasure seekers only. I shuddered and began to quickly scan the books working diligently before they hit that wall.

Christ, I don't know why it aggravated me so. They are only trying to make a living off of true book collectors. Maybe beginning a college fund for the baby. Yet, something is so wrong about that picture!

Later on I picked up a book, The Golden Key, published in 1976 - a reissue from the 1967 first edition with new reproductions of the pictures. It was small and appeared as if it had sat unattended and unread, untouched for a very long time ending up as junk at the Goodwill. The spine was a dingy color, different from the dust jacket. I liked the illustrations and I especially like the words of J.R.R. Tolkien on the inside book jacket. No ISBN. 50 cents. I added it to the small pile in my arms.

When I got home I felt compelled to look up the value of the book on Abe's Books.

$75.

I chuckled when I imagined them picking it up and putting it down unexamined because it did not have a visable ISBN.

Suckers! That smile returned to my face.

Just a Chance Encounter

I stand in the corner away from the lights of the displays, my nose in a regional cook book trying to memorize the ingredients to a Peach's & Cream recipe when I look up and lock eyes with him.

He begins to amble towards me, holding out a slip of paper with a single word scrawled on it "Sha kon o hey". He begins speaking to me as if we had just resumed a conversation - "...means blue smoke in the mountains Sha-kon-o-hey, it's Indian. It's how they saw the Smoky mountains. It's a Dolly Parton album and I have been looking and can not seem to find it."

I pulled our special and exclusive Dolly album from the carousel and began to run down the list of songs, "Nope not on this one, you may have to jump on the Internet to find it."

He was at least 75 years old and I was tempted to suggest one of his children or grand kids find it on Amazon. Something about his wispy raspy voice made me lean closer in to him to understand his soft words.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm from central Kentucky. Where are you from?"

"I'm from West Virginia, I have an Uncle who practiced medicine in Lexington, a GYN guy, his son too".

For some reason - I do have this effect on men - he took out his wallet and began to show me photographs. "This was me in 1950", a very good looking young man with an "I know it all" smirk on his face, dressed in a military uniform. "Korea?" I asked, "Yes, both Korea and Viet Nam."

More pictures of a striking young man leaning against a spiffy old car! All in chrome. "I bet you wish you had that car now!" I exclaimed. "It was my Aunt's. Know how much she paid for it? 1800 dollars. People thought she was crazy. But it was loaded with chrome.

"Ever see a tin type?" He pulled out a small two inches by two inches and handed it to me. It had some wear and tear to it, I flipped it over and there was the date, some time around 1850.

"Your Grandparents?" I asked trying to do the math quickly in my head - "Yes, Grad Dad fought in the Civil War. He was in the Calvary. Fought in Gettysburg. Old Jeb Stuart(!!!!!) finally arrived and he brought my Grand father with him. Grandpa was captured and spent the rest of the war in a prison. Treated him real bad, those Yankees didn't feed them much. He got scurry. Got out two days after the war was over. He didn't care too much for Lincoln."

The door to the front area flew open and his wife came in and collected him. I followed him to the door.

"Be on the look out for that album" he said he was lead away.

Wow! You never know what stories reside within people.

LIBERATED

It was the final months of 2001 when my then boss (who was a big old Bear we called Biggie G and/or Coochie and/or Pockets depending on how we were feeling,unusually it was Cooch)(now that was a boss!!) called me back to the office for an important meeting!

We handed over our beepers and in return had placed in our hands cell phones!

Cell Phones!!

We had only been begging for years to have this ultra fast link to customers, our voice mail, to each other(!) and our bosses (Ahhh, rethink this!) alternative to the dreaded beeper going off with Cooch's number and 911 snuggled tightly behind it, maybe four or five times. The agony of driving around in a panic looking for a pay phone (remember those) to call, using your calling card which was an extremely long 10 or 127 string of numbers only to have his phone ring busy. And busy and busy. Voice mail hell.

Ah, the coveted cell phone. The link to humanity.

Years later and as many models (Gosh I hated that Nextel thing that would go off and interrupt my stream of idle day dreams as I tooled down some God forsaken back country road, making me jump and swear uncontrollably) I now find myself Cellphoneless.

Why?

Because Joe dropped his in a puddle of water and needed one pronto.

Why didn't we just go out and purchase him another? Good question! Could it be that he did indeed get a new cell phone last summer and extended his contract - only to destroy that phone (I think it was smashed when it flew off the top of his vehicle and run over) and was doomed to purchase the rattiest cheapest phone available from the store that day. Only he hated that phone! No one understood him. He would call and the first thing out of your mouth after he began talking and then it was your turn to respond was "What?" or "Huh?..........". So I bought him a new phone on fathers day and that is the phone that drowned in the puddle several weeks ago.

And his company is going to supply him with a Blackberry. We just don't know when. Could be today, maybe tomorrow, and hell maybe next month. Gosh, I hope it is not next year. So he took my SIM card out replacing it with his and thus I am liberated.

At first it did not feel that way. It took me a couple of days to realize I was not going to have it returned swiftly and I just accepted it, called my family and let them know what was going on.

As the days slowly turned into weeks - I find I am hardly missing my little friend any more. I made a trip to Nashville on the sly last week and left the guilt behind! I did not have to pick up the phone, explain I was in Nashville and then explain why! It was so cool! I just did it!

I did not realize what a ball and chain that portable link to the world really is.

Reign of Terror

She is an overbearing piece of work. And I refuse to allow her to get under my skin - at least no more than she already has. Thank God she is off to Florida for a vacation, when she mentioned in a "sales training meeting" (i.e. "Sell the way I tell you to!") I commented, "Hurricane season.", to which she replies, "Doesn't bother me, I was in Florida when Katrina came through".

"Bitch!!" I though in my head, "You don't know hurricane until you are evacuated form a shelter as a Category 5 is tearing the roof off and being driven off to God Knows Where on a bus with semi hysterical people in 140 mile per hour winds as pieces of buildings are hurtled in the path in front of you! And then, you have to get off the bus and run like your life depends on it....." but, I only said it in my head.

Yesterday, she changed the schedule before leaving and did not contact anyone. I was lucky because one of the "twins" ("They're twins!!They look nothing alike!!" but after almost two months, they are beginning to resemble one another.) called me to come in early because poor Wilma did not come in at her assigned time, which had been changed.

Wilma was beside herself when she showed up at the pre-change time. She was so concerned about a second write up, this being her second time "late" due to a schedule change.

Have I mentioned the Wilma is about 75 years old and a little dynamo whom I love dearly.

If it wasn't so tragic and tearing up peoples lives, it would be funny. But it is not even amusing anymore.

Everyone please pray and send positive thoughts my way as I am in the second phase of the interview process of a really cool job!!

Teenage Angst Redux

I know you have seen them. The couple who do not speak. Barely acknowledging each other. One with a book, maybe a newspaper. The other with a dreamy look, stirring the coffee. Or an expression of loneliness lost in thought. A comfortable/uncomfortable silence that engulfs a relationship.

Because I am slightly neurotic I have moments of panic when getting into a car with my husband for a long trip. Not only do I have to worry about the usual things like fighting over the radio (all the time), or getting lost (Boston) or God forbid, having to drive on the "wrong" side of the road (Ireland)or just the long boring drive (Memphis)I often fret over what I am going to talk about.

Because I have a tendency to babble and I have a slight flair of the dramatic I love to recite the plot's of my favorite South Park episode that I have discovered (Cartman and Butters partner up to hold hands during a field trip to a Living History Park and Butters' will not let go even when Cartman wants to sneak away to visit a Fun Park next door and Cartman is riding the bumper cars dragging Butters along side...).

The most recent babble session centered around a book I read many many years ago. I found this book sitting on my nephews book shelf once day last summer when I was scouting around for something to read and yes, I stole it! I finally got around to re-reading it last week. I doubt I was assigned to read it in High School because of the whole Catholic thing, but I did read it when I was a teenager.

The Catcher in the Rye.

Haunting and disturbing. I wonder how I processed this book when I was 14? As I discussed Holden Caulfield with Joe (who said, "I wish I had read the book and not the Cliff notes!")I found myself choking up about the kid who threw himself out of the window rather than be beat up by the bullies. I was describing Holden as a young boy who felt things so deeply that he just cracked up.

I read the book in two days and have been thinking about Holden a lot since then.

Too bad I will be taking a four hour drive by myself this morning.

How Long until I get Fired.

I have always had this problem. In retrospect it may be why I never I have never risen very high in any Corporation.

It's my attitude.

I try and keep a straight face when I am told how important it is to make sure the door closes behind me when I enter the stock room, because one time along time ago in another store, someone was followed into the stock room!!

I'm like, "Okay they were followed into the stock room and what? Held at knife point? Made to hand over the rubber duckies? Raped among the Yankee candles? Someone stole a box of Moon pies? Exited the building through the back door (alarms people!) and skipped out on a meal?"

"Please get into the habit of telling someone when you are leaving the floor." (OK! ASHLEY ASHLEY!!OVER HERE! I'M GOING TO THE BATHROOM TO CHECK ON THE MESS THAT OUR CUSTOMERS HAVE MADE! OK!!)

"Please do not talk to the cashiers/hostess/other sales clerks when there are customers on the floor. They need to be chatted up." (Give me a break!)

And it goes on and on. Ridiculous stuff that adhered to makes someone rise through the ranks!

At times I feel bad about my reaction to the totally absurd.

Take yesterday. We (me and the other new hire) were given the assignment to set up the new display of all the Thanksgiving stuff that just arrived. But first, we had to clean the area. Sweep the floor, wipe off the display case, dust off the wood burning stove, bring out all the new merchandise to the floor.

She took cleaning the wood burning stove.....30 minutes later she is still cleaning out the inside of the stove while I have swept the floor around the display, and the area around the store, wiped off the "ladder", brought out most all the items, and have begun to set up the window side of the display.

Before this torturous exercise was finished I learned, I do not play well with others. I would have preferred to have done the entire thing myself. Not that she was a slacker or anything like that, she was the opposite! She was too anal! I had the entire window side set up and then she starts giving me orders!

I also realize I do not like to take orders.

From anybody.

I give myself another month at the most.

Work Work Work Work!!!

And then get a check for $232.36.

I have no idea how people survive who work for minimum wage. This does not cover a car payment!! Let alone rent and food and gas and car insurance, utilities and clothes. No wonder people knock over banks all the time, apply for assistance and food stamps.

And I am working harder than I ever did for the beverage company!!

Go Figure.


My boss is too delicious not to TALK about. It has been my experience that working for a woman is equivalent to being locked in a room and listening to Motorhead until my ears bleed. I know this is a huge sweeping generality, but I would much rather work for a man.

Yet, this woman hired me, gushed over me (I loved it!!) and wondered why my application even sat for a day without someone contacting me immediately!

"I might be able to get along with this chick!" I thought to myself, "She really has it together!"

I bet if you asked her to name two things she knows about me personally, she might say I'm married and moved here from Louisville and that would be it.

On the other hand ask me what I know about her and I could write a book. The best eye popping tid bit I over heard her conversing about to the group of labor we confiscated from the dish room, was that she had been rear-ended in automobile accident six times.

That is SIX times people. As in S-I-X.

She is delicious! She is a fraternal twin and her brother has an IQ of 170. He took the SAT's while in 4th grade and was operating on a college level. While I began to ask questions, like did he enter college at age nine? Did he take advanced classes? Did he skip any grades? (which I already knew he did not because they are attending a 20 year High School reunion later this summer so the math tells me he did not).

A few days later I learn that she too is a genius, a functioning dyslectic, spent nine years running a book store, then 10 years in the apparel industry! "Good Lord" I exclaimed, "When did you start, when you were 12?"

No, she was 17.

She was not considered "smart" because no one knew she had dyslexia. Finally they tested her with an IQ test, not the kind a normal person takes for an assessment, but one that has six parts! She scored 150-170 on every part except distraction. She is very distracted.

I have noticed that. Not that she is a scatter brain, ("People think I'm ditsy and I like that. Allows me to get my way.") But she does many things at once and tends to walk away quite a bit. But, when she's focused - it's a little weird, because she walks away a lot again, but returns with a vengeance.

I could go on and on about her. I like her because she is so entertaining!

Yesterday we were doing a shift change and this little college kid comes in to take over the floor and Big Blond Amazon (because she is like 5-10 and wears these CLARK boot type shoes that make her tower over everyone!!)(and she has the most beautiful long natural blond hair you have ever seen!)asks me to "chat her in" but as I am meeting this person for the first time, I am obviously not traveling down the correct path for the BBA she decides to take over.

"We are having an excellent day! Excellent! $1,000 over last year! I have changed our stretch goal from $2400 to $3000. Now!! How are you going to accomplish this?"

This little girl scratched her chin and said, "I don't understand..." (she is a college student and I think is just being obstinate and resisting)...."I'll do what I usually do."

"No, that is not good enough! Things are going to change around here. You may have been use to non-customer service with A. but that is in the past."

"A. never implied that we ignore customers!....."

I walked away and let them tango for a full 15 minutes!!

A little later on the college kid told me she hated retail and wanted to wait tables but they needed her in retail.

I'd hate retail too if I had BBA breathing down my neck!

Anyway, it's interesting and ........

The pay sucks.

Be Prepared! Be Very Prepared!

Believing I had a job interview scheduled for Thursday I was surprised when I checked my e-mail late yesterday afternoon and there was a request to change it to - gasp!!@@##@**- today! I had a lot of scrambling to do because being the procrastinator that I am, I thought I had plenty of time to be prepared! The Girl Scout Motto, isn't it? Be prepared? I think I have made a mistake, along with long history of my mistakes, and it is actually the boy scout motto - but it fits. Always be prepared. Good words to live by. And die by.

I was not prepared to go to a job interview early in the morning. I thought I could find a hair stylist today or tomorrow. Yet, I found myself in front of the bathroom mirror trimming up my hair. Thank God the chopped unsymmetrical look is not all that uncommon.

The jacket I was planning on wearing looked good, but when I slipped it on I realized it was so very, very, very 1990-ish. All the way to the puffy padded shoulders. I whipped out the trusty scissors again and snipped out the pads and the jacket entered the 21st century, even if it now looked a little big one me. Looking big is better than padded.

In some weird bizarro world way, I really like the retail job I am working in the meantime. It allows me to be extremely nice to people, which is my true nature anyway. And the folding and refolding of shirts and tee's is very zen-like and relaxing. There is always something to do. Check the bathrooms, fold some tee's, face the candles, sort the stuffed animals, clean the finger prints off the windows. I'm a natural.

But, the pay stinks.

Maybe this other job will fall into place.

After all, I was prepared.