Toe Socks and New Book Days

Toe socks!  Keep each individual toe snuggly and warm :)  I'm not sure if it's funny or weird or pathetic but finding a pair of toe socks tucked away in the back of my sock drawer just made my whole day.  Now each one of my toes is being loved by its own little toe blanket.  Yep, I think I'm going for weird on this one.  I don't care though, it's always the little things that make me happy.  Post-its in fun shapes and colors, rainbow sharpies, coloring books, giant crayons, pink shoes, you get the picture.  I relish in little things that make me smile and I try to surround myself with as many as I possibly can.  The only thing better than relaxing on the couch, reading a good book, drinking a cup of coffee, is relaxing on the couch, reading a good book, and drinking a cup of coffee wearing a pair of toe socks :) 

Yesterday was "New Book Day", a day I don't get to celebrate as often as I would like.  "New Book Day" is the day one book gets finished and I get to go through the process of picking the next epic adventure to embark on.  And yes, I actually do celebrate it every time I finish a book and pick a new one.  If you don't want to believe me, you can ask Dustin how many times he's heard "Guess what!  It's NEW BOOK DAY!!!".  My saying this is often followed by loving comments about my nerdular nerdience (made-up words that he read in a Penny Arcade comic years ago that have now evolved into a  term  used to refer to my love of books and  science). 

Sometimes the process of picking out a new book to read is long and thoughtful and sometimes it's quick and dirty.  This time there was little to no effort at all.  Yesterday I had finished reading a text book on folklore, which was actually more interesting than it sounds.  It followed how stories are passed from generation to generation from one place to another and how they change from culture to culture.  Needless to say, after reading that one I wanted to read something a little lighter and with an actual plot.  So anyways, as I was putting away "Studies in Folklore" I looked at my bookshelf and just sitting there, not even in line yet was "The Hunger Games".  This series of books has been sitting on my "To Read" list for a little while now (OK it's been since the release of "The Hunger Games" two years ago but who's counting).  I had brought this copy home shortly after my surgery when Dustin not only told me to buy it, but also that he wanted to read it.  As this does not happen very often, I jumped on it like a ninja and bought the book before he could change his mind.  The combination of its convenient location on my bookshelf and the hype surrounding the recent release of "Mockingjay" sparked my interest at an optimal time.

So my "New Book Day" choice was one of the easier decisions that I've had to make lately, hopefully it turns out to be a good one, unlike that "Twilight" one a few years ago (comments from Tracy and Christine to follow).  Oh and  don't forget each one of my toes is nestled into it's own snuggie.  It's a wonderful day!

OCD and the "Pre-Work" Shirt

Yet again my wonderful morning has started with a nice hot shower, nice clean clothes and then a nice big coffee stain on my effing shirt (and yes Dustin has already teased me about it)!  Grrrr...  I was thinking that I should maybe invest in some coffee bibs and then after watching the Jersey Shore I came up with the "pre-work" shirt, something I started doing my first day back to work.  Having a baby means your clothes don't stay clean long whether it's from slobber kisses or spaghetti hugs.  And given my tendency to spill coffee everywhere I have adopted the "pre-work" shirt, which is really just a shirt that I change out of just before dropping the Muk Muk off to play for the day (similar to the "pre-club" tank tops that the guys on the shore wear).

Yesterday my boss sent out a work wide e-mail joke about employees wasting time, he even marked it as an urgent read.  Not too sure if it was funny or ironic, but I laughed pretty hard.  I should have saved it to post here as well, but I pushed delete as soon as I finished reading it.  I like a nice clean inbox, no e-clutter.  I'm happiest when all of my stuff is nice and organized and where it should be and labeled and all lined up nice and pretty.  I have wondered if I have OCD or if I am just really organized.  I took an online quiz thing once.  The total was out of 36 and anything over 25 was supposed to mean that you have OCD.  I scored a 28, which, given that it was an online test, to me is pretty borderline (30 might be a better indicator).  I do wash my hands a LOT, but I don't bathe in Lysol or anything weird like that (and I commonly sport coffee stains on my clothes).  I find myself checking multiple times that the door is locked, but I don't feel the need to flick the lights on and off three times every time I leave a room.  I get anxious if things aren't done right and I have troubles delegating to others because I'm worried that things won't be done to my standards, but I do still delegate.  Regardless of whether or not I have OCD it doesn't really impact me in a negative way, in fact I find it quite helpful.  How many people can honestly say that they have 40 gigs of perfectly organized music on their computer?  

Anyways, I digress.  I have now spilled coffee on pants as well as my shirt.  The only problem with the "pre-work" shirt is that it doesn't help with all the coffee that I spill on myself once I get to work.

Coffee to mouth and other impossible feats

Every time I tell someone that I don't like potato chips, chocolate bars or ice cream, they look at me like I just sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead.  I have always heard about people's guilty pleasures when it comes to food, but mine aren't so guilty.  I LOVE berries and fruits of all kinds.  So much, in fact, that one time I ate a whole flat of strawberries to myself in

Penguin sharing my morning coffee

just over 24 hours, needless to say I am no longer allowed to buy by the flat.  I could live on sushi.  Those delicious little rice/seaweed cakes are so...  delicious :)  But, coffee, sweet sweet java java, is probablymy biggest "guilty pleasure" in terms of being not-so-good for me.  I love the java.  All kinds.  It's usually a 2 pot a day habit in my house and I'm the only one here all day long.  Those months that I was pregnant and I wasn't allowed to have any coffee were absolute hell. 

Dustin always teases me because I am physically incapable of drinking coffee without spilling it on myself.  When we were in college, every morning, I would fill up my travel mug before heading out the door for the 10 minute walk from our apartment to the campus. And then every morning, even though the cup had a lid on it, I would arrive at my first class with a great big coffee stain down my front.  In the winter this was OK, because I wasn't going to wear my jacket inside anyways but in the summer I got teased an aweful lot, not only from Dustin buy my peers as well.  I can pour acid out of a 4 gallon glass jug into a 15 mL test tube without losing a drop, but get coffee from a travel mug to my mouth without spilling it on myself?  No way.  Where is the logic in that?  Needless to say, my love of coffee vastly outweighs my need for a shirt that looks clean every day.

In college I always got stuck with 8 am classes, so when I got to school everything was just waking up.  Coffee kiosks were just opening, and students were catching a few last minutes of sleep in the hallways before classes started.  The walk to campus was refreshing and when combined with a steaming hot cup of coffee was just the wake-up that my body needed before trying to focus on differential calculus (why they are allowed to even have calculus classes scheduled that early is beyond me).  So, today I started my morning off right and relived some of that moment, I woke up early, poured nice big hot cup of coffee, and took my dog for an early morning walk :) 

Epic Return :)

Today is the day.  My epic return to the workforce has finally arrived :)  After a year hiatus I am anxious to return to the world of computers, chemistry, and accounting.  I'm a little nervous because even though I've been back to visit several times, I'm not sure what will have changed and what will have remained the same.  I know there have been a few position moves, some leavers and some new people, and I know one part of my job was put on hold until I could pick it up again and another part has been done by someone else for the past year, but I have no idea how the changes will affect me and how my return will affect others. As with my meeting last week to discuss my return I'm probably just over-analyzing the situation again.  It's not like my job position has changed or anything.

I work for a company that makes rubber flooring out of recycled tires, so yep on the side of nature :) and my job there was created special for me.  I amalgamate with their chemist, system administrator and accountant to keep everything running smoothly.  My background in chemistry lets me do some testing, research, and LOTS of documentation of processes, products and applications.  My background in accounting puts me in a position where I get to deal with money, invoices and banking and my above average computer skills are useful in working with their ERP system which is a great big computer program that has all of the stuff that an office needs to run (sales, accounting, production, etc).  So my job is a little bit of a mish-mash.

Last week I sat down with my CEO and my controller and we came up with a list of projects that I will be focusing on, as I will only be returning part-time to start with.  One of these projects is going to be to develop a new quality control process and design all the testing that goes along with it :)  I'm super pumped to be using my brain for something other than working out how much food/diapers to pack for a day trip to Vernon. 

So, today is the day!  My epic return has finally arrived and it is time to once again become a functioning member of society.

Technlological dependency

We finally found a free weekend this summer and went on our first camping trip of the year.  Yes, I know it's already the middle of August, but summertime is very busy for us and we don't get many free weekends.  So Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning and packing up our super-cool Estavilla with all of the camping essentials (food, games, bedding, and beer) and then Friday afternoon we were off.
 
After our three day commune with nature, I have come to realize that we are waaaaay too technologically dependent at home.  I would like to atone this to the chaos of summer, but really, come on!  It takes more time to program important dates and appointments into my cell phone than it does to grab the pen and scribble it down on a calendar.  There has always been something "on" in our house (unless of course we aren't home).  During the day I've got music on and in the evening Dustin has the TV on, not to mention the computers.  Lights not so bad, all of the other electronics give us enough light to see by when it's dark out.  We are terrible!  My biggest dependency stems from my hatred of summer, I hate being hot and for some ungodly reason I was convinced to move SOUTH!  Three months of the year I get cold and snow, that's it!  Three months where it's icy and you can see your breath and I LOVE it.  The rest of the year it's rainy, windy, and hotter than hell.  My biggest technological dependancy -> AIR CONDITIONING.  Best thing ever invented :)  

So why the eff would I want to go camping out in the heat???  Two reasons.  First, escaping from all of the technology is the most refreshing feeling ever.  No cell phones, no computers, no TV, no plug-ins at all.  I actually really prefer the "rustic" life.  I think writing on paper is way funner than typing on a keyboard, and I'd way rather be reading a book than surfing the internet.  Unfortunately the "real world" that I live in thrives on e-mail and web-sites.  Second, my love of water far outweighs my hatred for the heat, especially when you can swim outside in a freezing lake! 

In the end, Our weekend was a compete success.  Our site was in the shade and still very close to the lake, the glass cutting 1 am swim was a success (even though a few had some troubles making it till 1am, you know who you are), we almost completed our list of games to play (we didn't quite make it to bocce, but we did play spongebob volleyball), and lastly I think everyone had a LOT of fun :)  

Oh, and I didn't miss my e-mail or facebook updates one bit!

Expressions of happyness :)

So, it's Saturday night and I'm sitting at home...  Alone.  And despite what anyone might think, I LOVE it.  Baby is out for the night and I'm free to do whatever I want (granted it doesn't involve too many sudden loud noises, though consistent loud ones are OK).  I'm happy to say, I'm enjoying a cold one, I've got 3 furry pals snuggling as close as to me as they can physically get, and my book is waiting for me.  I've also been informed that Mr. Awesome will be doing the early wake up with my Muk Muk (Muk Muk is the term that we affectionately refer to our baby as), so I also get to sleep in tomorrow.  Perhaps my one cold one will turn into two or three or four :) 

So, yep perfect night, nice and quiet, cold beer, good book, nobody needing me for anything :)  This is my happy place, a place I am regretful to say I don't get to spend much time in.  Usually it involves a bubble bath as well, but given my recent health issues (see recent blog post here), I'm not supposed to over do the bubble bath part so I skipped it tonight.  I must say the not being able to have bubble baths was/is my biggest piss-off during the whole having a baby and recovering from surgery time and the whole not having a baby and recovering from surgery time.  I usually spend a LOT of time in the bath.  I LOVE it!  Our giant tub was even the selling feature of our house for me.  Dustin and the real estate agent were checking out bedrooms and I was trying on the tub (yep, they came into the bathroom and I was sprawled out IN the bathtub trying it on for size...  It fit perfect btw).  

Needless to say my today has been near perfect.  We ate a giant breakfast, drank coffee, played cards and then we packed up and headed to Vernon.  We found sweet ass baby clothes for low, low prices, I bought some new tops for my epic return to work (YAY!  Not only am I excited to go back to work, but my pre-baby clothes are a little too big), I enjoyed a venti, double cupped, caramel macchiato with an extra espresso shot, and then stuffed my face with sushi for lunch <3  EXCELLENT DAY!  So now I'm off to top off the excellentness, with some more of my favorite things, cold beer, furry pals and my book :)

Preserving the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons.

Once upon a long, long time ago I used to religiously spend every single Saturday morning up at the crack of dawn because that was when all of the good cartoons were on.  Once a week Transformers, He-Man, Gummi Bears, Care Bears, Wuzzles, My Little Ponies, She-Ra, and Rainbow Brite were my very best friends and I was always rather upset if I missed one of my favorites, keeping in mind that this was long before the invention of the Digital Video Disk and the era where one could just walk out and buy whole seasons of their favorite television show (hell, the remote control was barely invented).  Over the years I have noticed a decline in the content of Saturday morning cartoons and years ago I made it my mission to try to preserve that small, but very important, part of my childhood in case the impossible happened and I had a child of my own (it was also an excuse to re-watch my favorites in the privacy of my home).  So now, in our house, Saturday morning has migrated it's way to Sunday, and for several years Dustin and I have spent many, many of those mornings eating waffles and watching episodes of She-Ra, The Transformers and Fraggle Rock, all in the comfort of our PJ's.

I have been continually amazed at the deeper essence contained in the cartoons of my youth.  When Optimus Prime was first aired on TV, I was too young to understand the full context of a phrase like "Every sentient being has the right to freedom", instead I just thought that it was really cool that cars could turn into robots and shoot laser guns.  Re-watching many of the Saturday morning shows of my youth has given me a deeper understanding as to where some of my own morals may have stemmed from.  My beliefs in things like sharing, playing fair, treating others how I would like to be treated, and faith that good will always prevail, are continually visited throughout the wonderful lands of Cybertron, Eternia/Etheria, and Care-a-Lot.  I have also found that there was a LOT more going on in those shows then I could have ever comprehended.  My understanding was always that the bad guys did something bad and the good guys came in and stopped them.  I didn't understand the planet raping of the Decepticons, or the tyranny of the Horde, I just understood that they were bad and Optimus Prime or She-Ra would come in and kick some ass and it was always awesome :)

Needless to say, I spent a large part of my childhood pretending so very hard that the stick I had found outside was really a magic sword that would turn me into the Princess of Power.  I had My Little Ponies and prided myself on knowing ALL of their names and I knew all of the Care Bears and their cousins.  Though I can't quite remember them all now, I do know the good Transformers from the bad and I know that He-Man lives in Eternia and is constantly fighting with Skeletor and She-Ra lives in Etheria and is combating the evil forces of Hordak.  In fact I can rattle off the introductions to both of these quite well, as I spent many hours holding that stick up high and shouting "For the honor of GREYSKULL!!!" and then nothing would ever really happen, but in my mind mists would swirl and sparks would fly and then I would get a magical flying unicorn pegasus.  Best Days Ever.