Category Archives: life

Super Quick…

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I’m home.  I got home late – and I do mean late, like 3:30AM kind of late, on Friday.  Overall, the trip went well and was quite uneventful.  I was able to get my father set up on every service possible (or at least we applied for those services).  I spent mass amounts of money getting him stocked up on food and other things that he needed around the house.  And I was lucky enough to be able to meet not only one of his doctors (at least until he gets on Medicaid), but also his physical therapist.  So basically, I did all that I was able to do.

I was also lucky enough to be able to visit with friends.  Which of course, was exactly what I needed in the midst of all this chaos.  So that part was great. And I got a couple of fun photos while I was away.  I’ll post those once I get a chance.

Now, I’m just lying about like a slug, trying to shake this wracking cough and cold that I seem to have picked up (my understanding is that it’s taken at least GA, CO and NM by storm – all the shelves of cough medicine are empty it’s so bad).  And as great as it is to be home, I’m just a little saddened that I can’t kiss my husband since I don’t want to give it to him.  But the boys are sticking close and offering up snuggles, so that’s nice.

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

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You know, I can’t decide if I like the red eye or not.  On one hand, it’s great to fly out at night and arrive in the morning.  On the other hand, it means I only get about 4 hours of sleep (so not enough for this gal) and arrive exhausted.  In rush hour traffic.  The other thing, I feel like I spend so much time throughout the day just waiting for when it’s finally time to leave.  It does give me plenty of snuggle time with the boys though.

So the week in Herbie’s office was pretty uneventful.  I never got to talk to anyone famous (outside of Herbie, that is).  But I did take some important calls:  Elton John’s office called regarding his Oscar party, Al Gore’s office called and Quincy’s office called.  So close, yet so far.  I thought Herbie was actually going to call Al Gore while he was in my car (taking him to the garage to pick up his car), but he called back into the office to see why AG’s office called instead of calling directly.  Again, close, but no cigar.

I did get some Grammy-related swag.  I got the leftovers from the In Style party and got to play with the actual Grammy swag bag once it was delivered.   Some cool shit comes in those bags.  But some crazy ass shit comes as well.  Either way, it’s fun to play with!

And now, one final love-in with the boys and we’re off.  Oh, did I mention that the other day, while working on our bookkeeping at Johnny Rockets (don’t ask) I saw Dog, the Bounty Hunter and his skanky wife? Here he is in all his trashy glory…

It's Dog, the Bounty Hunter!

Workin’ For a Living: Day II

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Yep, still hanging out at Herbie’s answering the phones – and it’s pretty low key here.  No, I haven’t gotten to speak with anyone famous (other than Herbie himself, that is, but that’s nothing new for me).   For the most part really, I’m just answering the phone and taking messages.  Good to know that my time as a telemarketer and phone sex gal has come in handy – I give good phone 😉

His computer is driving me crazy.  I don’t have hot corners set up on my Mac, but he does.  So anytime I’m anywhere off the Firefox window, the computer starts freaking out and wants to give me one of this hot corners.  It just keeps freaking me out man (but I’m crazy like that).

Otherwise, I have nothing much to say.  Oh, I forgot to say that I the other day, while working on our books (at a local restaurant) I saw Dog, the Bounty Hunter and his skanky wife.  I took a picture of him, but I haven’t done anything with it yet.  Which is a shame because it’s Wordless Wednesday and I miss not participating in Wordless Wednesday.

And now, I must start thinking about the roundtable sessions I’ll be leading on SEO and blogging (in two weeks) *eek*  Did I mention that I’m not really trained in either, but I have experience and a little knowledge that I’ve gleaned from reading lots of blogs and biz books.  Think that’s good enough?

Life Lesson:  Do NOT inhale right before answering the phone or you may be struck by a coughing attack.  A painful one at that…ow!

Workin’ For a Living

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While grocery shopping today, I got a frantic call from my friend.  She’s in dyer need of someone to answer the phones back at Herbie’s office.  So here I am.  For the next couple of days I’ll be answering the phones here.

For the most part, it’s pretty uneventful and some might say even boring.  It’s fascinating to hear them try to arrange an upcoming European tour as well as plan the all the upcoming TV events – The View, Leno, Kimmel, Letterman, etc.  Tomorrow I’ll be here while he’s doing the Tavis Smiley show.

Funny little story…while my friend was telling me who she’d accept calls from without question.  Of course, this was your standard list…lawyer, publicist, agent, blah, blah and then she goes on to tell me that if Quincy or Stevie call, then they go right through.  Cracked me up, like anyone would be stupid enough to not pass Quincy Jones or Stevie Wonder directly through to her.  Silly lady.

Okay, back to answering phones and creating a workshop list for my LWL round tables.

Herbie Won Album of the Year!

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This is absolutely awesome news!!  Of course, since the news has gotten out, his website has crashed every couple of minutes.  Of course, this meant we had to leave dinner in a rush to get home to fix it.

I guess you know what I’ll be doing for the next couple of days…approving new members on his site and approving new comments and friends on his myspace.  Should be a busy couple of days, but all worth it in the end.  I even volunteered to drive out wherever in the middle of God knows when to pick up our friend so she could enjoy her birthday and Herbie’s win.

Is it Wrong to Love a Trash Can?

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If it is, then I’m just so wrong!

I got tired the other day of coming home time and again to find out that the dog (and his partner in crime, the cat) were getting into the trash.   If (and this is a big if), if I remembered to fully close the closet door, we were fine.  Sadly, that didn’t account for the hubster remembering to secure the door.  It also didn’t account for the fact that more often than not, the trash was over-flowing. I’ve now realized that it was so often over-flowing due to the poor design of the container.

So after 1) the pupster devouring an entire chicken carcass (this was a couple weeks ago – no ill side-effects) and 2) picking up the trash far too many times for my taste, I broke down and headed out to the mecca, Bed, Bath & Beyond.  As much as I love those shiny Simple Human cans, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend the money – especially not knowing if it would even fit in the little utility closet we have.  So instead, I picked up one of their less expensive, plastic versions.  With a lock!!!  Yes, it has a little lever you can slide to actually LOCK the lid so certain little, four-legged household members would be deterred.

Needless to say, I love my new trash can.  I mean, I full on, puffy-heart, l.o.v.e. the stupid thing.   The lock, what a joy!  The shape, is perfect.  Not only does it actually hold our trash (meaning it can hold a full week’s worth of garbage, not a mere couple of days worth like the other piece of shit can we were using), but the design seems to stop the little guy in his tracks (at least for now).

Who knew a simple trash can would make my day?

Some Folks Are Tough to Shop For

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One of my husband’s oldest friends (and a close friend of mine) has her birthday this Sunday.  Luckily (for me at least, since I was totally unaware it was this weekend) she’s crazy booked with Grammy stuff.  In fact, her birthday is the day of the Grammy’s so she’s booked solid from the early morning until late at night.  This of course, leaves me plenty of time to figure out what to get her.

She makes good money and really wants for nothing.  I mean, she’s the type (like many of us, as we get older) that if she sees something and she wants it, she pretty much just gets it.  She doesn’t wait around for folks to buy her something.  This of course, makes it quite difficult to get her gifts.

Typically, I focus on the smaller, trivial, lower-priced things that I know she loves – such as her favorite Yankee candles that are discontinued, or her Coffee Bean addiction.  Sadly, she’s caught on to my ways and is now full-on stocked with  her Coffee Bean supplies and has far more candles than she knows what to do with.  Square One, what surprise to see you again.

So I’m considering getting her a wardrobe/image consultant or stylist.  Because of the industry, she’s always needing to be ready for one special event (award shows, black-tie galas, dinners with heads of state, you name it) or another.  And many times, it’s multiple events, like this weekend or when she goes to the White House or whatever.  So I’m thinking that having someone come in, look over her wardrobe, make some outfits, and maybe force influence her to wear clothes that fit instead of shopping for her size 10/12 bottoms and 3x tops (and no, she’s not busty, but she will buy tops in sizing larger than this plus-size gal will buy her tops in).

Thing is (and there’s usually a thing, isn’t there?) a service like this doesn’t come cheap.  So, I have to figure out if she’d commit to whatever she’d need to follow-up with on her end.  In other words, we could pay for the initial consultation and an additional hour or so, but that leaves everything else up to her.  Which makes me wonder, is this then a great idea for a gift, or a horrible waste of money?

*sigh*

No, I don’t expect any of you, dear readers, to know the answer to that important question – I’m merely thinking out loud.  But if anyone should have a fabulous idea for a gift, I’m all ears (and no, nothing beauty service or spa-related will work).  Man, some folks sure are tough to shop for.

What a Way to Start the Day

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5:00Am this morning the phone rings.  I answer it, no one there.  I turn over, it rings again.  I realize from the caller ID that it’s a GA call.  Uh oh.  I answer it. It was one of my dad’s neighbors.  My dad was just taken to the hospital.  Needless to say, there was nothing I could do since it would be hours until anyone would be able to give me an answer.

I finally, 2 hours later, fall asleep after my mind is spinning and spinning in every which direction.  First attempt, he’s still in ER and hasn’t been admitted.  The operator transfers me, the ER gal transfers me and after 2 or so minutes of ringing, I hang up and start again.  This time I get a gal in ER and she tells me that he’s being admitted and he’s okay, but she can’t tell me more over the phone.  I explain that I’m in CA and there’s no other option but to do it over the phone.  She double-checks and finds out that he’s admitted upstairs.  I get transfered.

The 3rd floor nurses station answers and transfers me to his room.  He sounds fine (though it’s a very fuzzy connection).  Turns out he had a neurological stroke of sorts that took place in the part of his brain that controls balance.  He doesn’t know much more as he hasn’t yet seen a doctor.  So I have to call back towards the end of the day to see if we can get any answers.

What a horrible way to wake up.  And what a horrible feeling.  It’s not like I can just pick up and head over there (I tried a while back to get a last minute flight for my maternal grandfather’s funeral and it was over $1000).  Toss all this in with the waves of guilt for not being able to take care of him (or in his case, throw money at his problems that still wouldn’t fix anything – long story) and I’m just all in a funk.  Is it any wonder that I have a migraine coming on?

I’ve Been a Very Busy Gal

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That’s not exactly a surprise, I know.  Hell, I’ve been posting about my busyness for the past couple of weeks now.  Thing is, I’m thrilled.  Again, not a surprise, I know.

Today I met with yet another future blogger for lunch – though I think she’ll be more of an occasional topic, than an actual blogger (if that makes sense).  Much like Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray Love fame, she too wrote a book about her personal journey to find answers.  So I’m now the proud owner of a copy of her book and I’ve secured one to giveaway on the site to correspond with our future interview.

I also heard back from two other people interested in blogging for the site.  Whew, who knew this would all come together so easily.  I mean hell, when we originally set the blog up, we asked our own membership to write for us and that was like pulling teeth.  This is SO much easier – and much more fun!  I’ve also been in contact with yet another author to interview to discuss her current projec.  At this rate, I’ll be ready to reach out to mainstream authors in no time 😉

And speaking of books, I think I might have mentioned that I’m involved with Elle magazine to read three fiction books and review them for their May Reader’s edition.  I thought this would be fun.  First, I’m so glad that I started with the Jennifer Weiner.  Even though it had a slower start than I’d have preferred, it was good.  Really good.

Now, I’m reading Wit’s End by Karen Joy Fowler (of The Jane Austin Book Club fame) and I can’t get in to it for the life of me.   I’m half way through and I’m just hoping and praying that it gets better.  If this was something I was reading on my own, I’d have given up already.  It’s so sad, but the best parts to me, are the ones that discuss how the movie, Lost Boys was filmed in the same town (Santa Cruz) or the brief mentions of the online and blog communities.  Otherwise, it so doesn’t do it for me.  I’m actually thinking of leaving it and going on to our third book Meg Wolitzer’s The Ten Year Nap (since I have to have all write-ups completed by the 18th).  Hopefully this one will grab me and I can have a little fun with it.

And of course, while in Borders today, I just had to poke around. They didn’t have the book I wanted on social networking (mail order only) and I needed at least a $5 purchase to cover my parking.  I decided to peruse the cookbook section and yes, I came home with yet another cookbook.  This time I picked up Everyday Food’s Great Food Fast.  I enjoyed the recipes in the magazine so I thought the book would be fun (I’m one of those weirdos that reads cookbooks more than I cook from cookbooks).  I love how it’s broken down by seasons and it tells  how how long it takes to make something.  Very helpful.  While I pretty much have all the time in the world to cook, the hubby doesn’t quite come home at a regularly scheduled time, so I tend to still shoot for easy and quick meals.  It could be a keeper – all hell, I know it’s a keeper, but it could actually be a cookbook that I cook from.

So tomorrow, believe it or not, I have the whole day to myself.  Well, almost to myself.  I do need to take the dog to the vet for his rabies shot.  But that’s it.  I’m thinking that I might run over to Kohls to see if I can find new bathroom floor mats or something fun.  Oh and I’d like to pick up a chalk line leveler thingie.  I’ve been meaning to hang some shelves in the bathroom for nearly a year now, but I’m the worst when it comes to using a level (even a laser one).  So I figure with a chalk line level, I can make little cross-sections so I know exactly where to drill the whole.   It sounds like a good idea.

Okay, enough rambling.  I’ve got a cookbook and two and a half books to be reading!

Be Careful What You Wish For

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A while back I’d been wondering to myself how I could defrost our small, stand-alone freezer (more than once). Well, on Thursday, it died a sudden (and stinky) death. I just now finally got around to emptying the thing.  We must be throwing out at least $100 or more of food (yes, tons of meat).  Talk about wasting stuff.

Now I need to contact a repair guy to see if it’s cost-effective to fix it, or to just run down to Costco to buy a new one.  This time though, I’m going to keep a list on the side of the freezer to keep track of what’s in there.  I totally forgot some of the stuff that we had in there and could’ve eaten – turkey burgers, lasagna, chili, stew, leftover roast – all vacuum sealed.

*sigh*

Our words and thoughts are very powerful.  So be careful what you wish for (or think out loud).  I guess this means that I can clean up over by the cat’s litter box and feeding tower since I can finally get in there now.  Oh joy.

Freezer Mishap