What a Week & Other Mindless Wanderings

So, I missed posting last week, especially Wordless Wednesday, but it's been a crazy week. I'm so glad it's over! Let's hope this week and the next few weeks are better than this past week.

I woke up early Tuesday morning from a disturbing dream. I dreamed that I was beating my husband! I'm not a violent person by nature, so this really alarmed and upset me. (Not to mention, I DON'T hit my husband!!) After discussing things with him, I realized that I was mad at him for something really stupid, and it came out in my dream. This brought on lots of tears and crying which brought on a headache and dry eyes for the remainder of the day. Then, I realized that the reason I was so emotional was because I was PMS-ing Several years ago, my doctor diagnosed me with PMDD mainly because I cry easily, I get very angry and have really drastic & quick mood changes, insomnia, food cravings, and extreme tiredness. In addition to some diet changes & lifestyle changes, my doctor put me on a very low dose of Zoloft (25 mg) the week before my period. I generally don't need the meds the entire week, but most months I take them for at least part of the week. It makes all the difference in the world!! I can function and am pleasant to be around. The med doesn't totally take away all the symptoms; it just reduces the severity of them and takes "the edge" off. All of this to say, I've been "hormonal" and non-communicative this week. Also, if you think you suffer from PMDD, talk to you doctor. You don't have to live with "the monthly crazies".

On top of this, things at work picked up. That's a very good thing! I work in a Christian book store and the busiest time of the year is just ahead. The days go by quicker and it's just more fun. However, you do get some weird requests. This one was on Thursday. A customer came in and wanted to purchase a Bible. She found one that was about $70. She gets to the registers and was frustrated because she picked up the ONE color that wasn't on sale. She griped that the signs didn't mention colors or any kind of product number or anything. The associate went and pulled off the signs and showed the customer where the colors were listed and it was obvious that the one she chose was not on sale. (Oops! Guess it's too much to expect a customer to actually READ the sale signs.) They got that cleared up, then she tells the associate, "Well, my friend who's coming here to shop later this afternoon has a 30% off coupon. Can I get her discount on this purchase?" Ummmm...let's think about this for a minute....NO! The audacity of the woman! She was not happy that we wouldn't let her use her friend's discount. Seriously! Then, yesterday, a gentleman comes up with a flier that has the pictures of 4 or 5 DVDs that are on sale for $5. He has a huge stack of various DVDs, none of which are the ones shown, and wants them all for $5. Again, let's read the flier, folks!!

As you head out to do your Black Friday shopping and future Christmas shopping, please remember that the person behind the counter is a human being who is just trying to make a living. Please treat him or her with the respect and dignity any human deserves. Remember to treat him/her the way you would like to be treated. You wouldn't want to be called names, yelled at, cussed out, demoralized, or otherwise treated inappropriately, so please don't treat the associate that way. In most stores, store personnel are not in charge of product acquisition and stock levels. Most of that is handled through a corporate or regional buyer. Many times, manufacturers can't meet the stock orders of the customers due to delays in production or shortages of materials needed to make the item. Please remember these things before you take out your frustration on a store associate, store management, or even corporate management. Patience, humility, a smile, and a kind word will go much farther than a harsh word. I'm much more willing to bend over backwards to help a pleasant customer than to do anything for a grumpy, demanding customer.

I did bake a cake this week. This is my all-time favorite chocolate cake. It's sinfully delicious. I could eat the whole thing by myself and not feel guilty at all!! I grew up calling this simply, "Fudge Cake". It wasn't until I was in my 30s that I learned the real name of it is Texas Sheet Cake. I'm telling you, it's to die for!


We harvested more tomatoes this week, including our first Green Zebras! Pretty green tomatoes that are hard to tell when they're ripe. I had to keep squeezing them for ripeness! LOL We also decided to harvest Mr. Lumpy Pumpkin since his vine was pretty much dead from the recent cool nights. He's still a tad green, but he's enjoying the sunshine on my kitchen window sill. I don't think he'll be ripe enough to eat for Thanksgiving, but soon enough, he'll be ready.


Here's a close up of the Green Zebra tomatoes. There's also another large tomato there, but I don't know what variety it is. It's either a Ponderosa or Homestead.


We've probably got a dozen or so more Green Zebras on the vine and probably 6 or 8 regular large tomatoes. What ever will I do with them all?!? LOL

I have been stitching on my Brrrrr It's Cold exchange piece. I had it finished, then decided I didn't like one of the colors, so I ripped it out. Now I've just got to go back and re-stitch it in the new color, iron it, get it packed up and ready to be mailed off tomorrow!!

A Belated Progress Pic & Meanderings

I realized this morning that I hadn't posted my progress on LHN's Heart of America since I spent my week of vacation stitching on it. Here's what I got accomplished between planting my flowers from the plant swap, helping to build and then plant the veggie garden, and catching up on some much needed rest and down time. I'm enjoying this piece immensely. The fabric is wonderful and the colors really stand out nicely on it.

Because it's garden planting time in Texas, I've not put one stitch on this or any project for the past two weeks. In addition, my husband has gone back east (to Tennessee, not very east but east of Texas) to visit family this week, so I've been doing some extensive de-cluttering, cleaning, and reorganizing of his junk. I've made significant progress and I think he'll be happy with the results when he comes back home, mother in tow. Between work, gardening, the extensive cleaning, listing items on Freecycle , and managing the household all by myself, I've been too pooped to stitch.

Let me tell you about Freecycle. It's an awesome way to get rid of your junk and/or stuff you no longer need. Click on the link above and see if there's a group in your area. If so, you'll need to join the Yahoo! group for your area and wait for approval. Freecycle is truly the epitome of the phrase, "One man's junk is another man's treasure." You list the items that you have to give away and then people email you and request it. You can then pick whoever you want to "gift" it to. Then, and this is the awesome part, they come pick it up!! No lugging it to the car to take to Goodwill or the thrift store or some other organization. No carting it to the curb for an organization to come pick up. You can either arrange to leave the item on your porch for the individual to pick up, agree on a time for the individual to come pick it up at your door when you're at home, or you can agree to meet in a neutral location (preferably a public place) to exchange the goods. It's awesome! I've gotten rid of several boxes of miscellaneous items by simply listing them as "OFFER: Box of Misc. Garage Sale Wannabes, ZIP CODE". Those things go like hotcakes! Of course, you have some people who will email you and ask for everything you've offered. I ignore those greedy people. I click the little "delete" button in my inbox when I see the list of 15 things they want. I mean, really people!! Get a clue! While it is frustrating to know that greedy people haunt the site, it's nice to be able to get rid of things and not be filling the dump with our junk.

Here's what I accomplished yesterday in approximately 2 hours of cleaning before I had to leave for work. All of the contents of these 4 bins plus a trashcan, a paper sack for papers to be gone through, and a small box for paper recyclables got sorted into appropriate places.



This is where the above contents came from. The dresser, which had 2 boxes of crapola in them plus a plastic green expandable folder blocking access to the drawers, and part of the corner desk which will be going SOON if I have any say-so in the matter. This thing is hideously huge and doesn't belong in this room. DH just "had to have someplace to put my stuff." Uh huh.



The rest of the corner desk area. Please note there is one disassembled CPU on the floor under the desk, one computer (no idea if it's working or not) on the floor, and one partially disassembled, but working CPU on the desk. Really!! Do we NEED all these computers?!? Most of the stuff in those totes is computer parts, pieces, tools, and software disks. Seriously.



This is where I will begin today.


Hubby tells me last night, "Those boxes in the corner are semi-organized." Right! I'll get 'em organized alright! LOL

Then I'll move on to this:



See those boxes? Mostly DH's books from school that he probably hasn't looked at in TWENTY YEARS!!!

And I'll finally tackle this, though it might not be today:


Aren't those computer parts boxes on top lovely? They are just so.....decorative!!

Wish me well. I'm goin' in!! But first...first, I go to the chiropractor for an adjustment and then to the massage therapist for a soothing, relaxing massage. Priorities. It's all about priorities. Who cares that my mother in law will be here next week?!?

Please visit my gardening blog, The Haphazard Gardener , to see what's cookin' in the garden.

Of Life, Old Friends, and Facebook

I have the wonderful opportunity to work with a bunch of kids. Most of them are in their early to mid twenties and are in school, either college or seminary (graduate school for people who want to enter into the ministry). Many of them are from other parts of the US and move back to their hometowns or home states upon graduating. Sometimes they leave our store and take ministry positions at churches in the area. I'm always hearing from my co-workers how this person or that person is doing and they found out on Facebook. So, several weeks ago, I took the leap and joined Facebook. I joined mainly to catch up with former employees, but little did I know that I'd also find 4 cousins and scads of friends from school!!

Even though I grew up in a big city, I was fortunate enough to live in the same house for the majority of my growing up years. In fact, my dad still lives in that house. Many of the people I graduated high school with I'd known since 2nd grade. We played softball together or against each other. We were in Girl Scouts together. We swam at the local pool together all summer long. We had sleepovers and birthday parties together. Still others, I'd met and befriended, or at least knew who they were, in middle school, which was 6th-8th grade at the time. So some of the people in my graduating class I went to school with for 7 years. Then there were those who'd gone to a different middle school and I didn't meet until my freshman year in high school, so we only spent 4 years together. Add into all of this the fact that I had an older brother who had a whole group of friends that practically lived at my house, which meant I knew many people in his graduating class as well.

I must confess that while I knew the vast majority of people in my graduating class, I didn't really have a lot of close friends. I only kept in contact with one or two after graduation, but that stopped as soon as life happened. You all know how that goes. I've always wondered how some of the people in my class turned out. Did they grow up? Did they get their acts together? Have they married, divorced, had kids, become productive members of society? Do they still live in our hometown? You know, all those normal things inquiring minds want to know.

Little did I know that when I signed up on Facebook, one of the first questions asked when setting up your profile is the high school you attended and the year you graduated. If you include this information in your profile, you're added to the list of graduates for that particular high school as well as the list for your graduating class. I perused the list for my HS class (TR '84!!) and really didn't find anyone that I was just dying to know how their life had turned out, so I proceeded to find family members and former/current employees. I was quite content with my Facebook experience.

About a week into my life on Facebook, lo and behold, someone from my graduating class sent me a friend request! I was quite shocked and surprised because I didn't really figure anyone would want to know what had happened to me. After all, we hadn't kept in touch over the past 25 years. I recognized this girl's name, thankfully she used her maiden and married names, so I approved her request. Come to find out, she lives about an hour south of me! Soon, I found several people I'd know since elementary school! If you know anything about Facebook, you know that once one person finds you, everybody and their dog will find you. I've been able to reconnect with lots of old friends. Some of them we go way back, all the way back to the playground at the elementary school. It's been so much fun catching up with them and seeing how their lives have turned out. I've also come to realize that I really did care about these people more than I wanted to admit. Now, I'm really hoping we can pull together a 25 year class reunion (yikes!) so that I can hug all these people's necks and talk with them face-to-face. I'd really like to see them in real life, not just chat via inbox messages.

The one thing that really bothers me is a comment made on one of my pics. This was my 4th grade school picture.



He says, "Absolutely cute! That's how I remember you." We then spent the next 6 years together. It disturbs me that he doesn't remember me like this, my senior picture.



Guess I wasn't as "cute" then!! LOL LOL LOL I must admit, I really like that 4th grade picture, especially my hair color. What I wouldn't give for that color now!

(o: