Company Christmas Parties

Last night we went to Music Man's company Christmas Party.

I didn't really want to go mainly because we've had a few issues with the company but as a member of management, Music Man felt it was important we go. I tried to convince him in the days leading up to it the cat would be an awesome companion but he didn't believe me, so Miss Goofy and I went with him.

It was at a chain restaurant that we'd wanted to try but hadn't yet done so. Kind of an upscale Chuck E. Cheese, complete with video games and a bar, only more expensive and they don't serve pizza. Sadly, we weren't allowed to make use of the bar, since it was a company function and for some reason drinking at their functions is banned.

I did get to at least see a bunch of people Music Man works with. We didn't talk to a lot of people. Mainly cause, well, I'm pretty sure no one really wanted to be there. Music Man works for a corporation that has several used car lots in the Midwest and they're expanding into the South. This party was for the lot where my husband works and it's satellite lot. There were probably sixty people there, including the Area Operations Manager, Music Man's boss's boss and the HR Lady. Both of whom didn't really seem to want to be there but it seemed Music Man's boss, we'll call him, Big D, pestered the heck out of them to get them there.

See, Big D has only been at the lot for 10 months. I know cause he said so last night when he gave a little speech about how wonderful the lot was. Anyway, at last year's party, (I really hope kids weren't present) there was alcohol. A lot of alcohol. And then there were the gifts. Oh the gifts. For some reason this company now frowns on adult toys being given at an office Christmas party. Personally, I'm thinking last year's party was way more fun than this years. Needless to say, heads rolled, people got fired and this year the General Manager, Big D, was a nervous wreck and harangued people from corporate into coming to the party so there was no hint of impropriety.

The AOM (that's the area operations manager), is well an aggressive piece of...dog doo. Not a nice man. He came over to Music Man and started asking very abrupt questions. "Where exactly have been this week?" (He'd been to several lots recently) "What'd you think of the GM?" "He spends too much time in his office, doesn't he?" It went on like that. Needless to say we were not impressed with his lack of professionalism.

The HR Lady didn't really talk to anyone except Big D and the AOM. Music Man said bye to her as she was leaving and she turned briefly, said bye and walked away. We'd be worried but she had a guy with her that no one had ever met. I hope she had a lovely night. After last year's party, she earned the nickname "The Grim Reaper" cause if she was on the lot it meant someone was getting fired.

We spent the night talking to one of the salesmen. A lovely older gentleman, who I'm only going to call Mr. C. He was so sweet and lovely to talk to. He's only been with the company for a short time and he lives about an hour from the lot so for him to have driven in and attended the party was a bit of hassle for him. I'm glad he did though. We chatted briefly with the other salesman Mr. A although he's pretty young, so I'm not sure I like the Mr. part of his name. He had his lovely wife with him. She was a sweet and quiet thing. Not sure what she thought of the party or the company. They left pretty quickly after the party.

The other person we talked to used to be a salesman at Music Man's lot. He's now in the manager-in-training program and at a different lot. He's a hoot and his wife is just as wonderful. She's funny and reminded me a lot of me, down to the bleached hair that needs to be done again. Anyway, MIT L, that's what I'll call him, asked if he could borrow Music Man for a minute. He told me he was trying to get Music Man to start smoking.

I have to interrupt myself here to say, Music Man and I both grew up with parents who smoked. Neither of us do now and we're quite proud of that fact. To us it's a waste of money. However, Music Man and this particular work buddy have had a running joke about my husband's lack of smoking. It seems nearly everyone here smokes. That said I have to add that one of the women Music Man works with had smoked for her entire pregnancy. NO ONE HAD TOLD HER IT WAS BAD FOR THE BABY!!! I asked Music Man what about her doctor? He said he didn't know. Anyway, she found out after she had the baby it was bad for the child and quit. I'm so impressed with her for that. I hope she has quit for good.

Back to what I was saying, MIT L had asked to borrow Music Man and had made the joke. I said, if you get him started smoking, I'll have to kill you and I know where to hide the bodies. He laughed, his wife laughed, Music Man laughed. Everyone was laughing. MIT L then said, "As long as it's painful, bring it on." More laughter. His wife smiled and said about the same time as his comment, "I like her." I stuck out my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Micki." She introduced herself and we all joked a bit later when we were all trying to leave.

So to summarize the events of last night. We went to Music Man's company Christmas party. It was interesting in the kind of way that a car crash is interesting. I don't think I'd like to attend another one, but you never know what's going to happen. We had a good time if you think watching a bunch of people who are so afraid they're all going to get fired that they sit stiffly in their chairs and laughing is frowned on the way it is in church is fun.

The best part of the evening and possibly the most interesting: The GM's wife didn't come to the party. Her parents were in town but to me this spoke volumes. Why not bring the in-laws too? There was plenty of food. I'm just saying it was interesting.

Music Man

Some of the comments this man makes while playing World of Warcraft with his boss are...well they would be odd if it wasn't my husband.

Tonight his comment was, "Damn it I set myself on fire again."

My thought, "For real or in the game?"

The barbecue may have gotten him a few times in the past.

You Know You've Been in Oklahoma Too Long When...

1. You tell people you like both kinds of music; Country and Western and you are able to give examples of both.

2. In a restaurant you no longer have to ask if something is fried, you know it is.

3. You know you'll have your choice of tables in the nonsmoking section.

4. You start contemplating financing a tattoo.

5. You keep wondering what happened to everyone's accent.

6. You no longer nap during NASCAR.

7. You no longer think of environmental causes and try to find an answer, instead you start blaming them. After all, they are causes.

8. When you drive past a spot where a skunk sprayed and your out-of-state relatives react, you have no idea what they're talking about.

9. You know which casinos pay the best.

10. College football and God. In that order.

11. You long for a carrot that's not deep-fried.

12. Road kill. It's what's for dinner.

13. You see lost cow posters.

14. Even the Mexican's can't cook Mexican food.

15. You finally achieve your life-long career goal: disability.

16. You see lost cow posters and recognize the cow.

This Blog Entry is 100% Miss Goofy's Fault

A few minutes ago, Miss Goofy was looking on Ebay. Probably not a good past time for the child who used to watch infomercials with rapt attention then come running and repeat word for word the entire commercial to me ending with, "We need" then whatever the item that was being advertised was.

Anyway she was saying she was contemplating sewing some scarves to sell online. I said that was a good idea and maybe we'd set up an etsy shop. So she then named several items she could sew and sell. One of her thoughts was doll clothes. Something in the way she said doll clothes brought a tear to my eye. And two memories to the forefront of my mind.

When I was girl my dad's mother and my mom's mother did a lot of sewing for my sister and I. One day while my dad's mom was so engaged my mother called her. When she asked what my grandmother was up to, Grandma responded, "Just sewing some doll clothes." A few days later she showed my mom the dresses she had been working on. They were for my sister and I.

She's the same grandmother who used to get mad when people called my sister and I spoiled. She'd look at the person and tell them, "They're not spoiled, just well-loved."

Thank you, Grandma. Your love remains in my heart and memory.

Makes Me Miss California...

So this morning at 9:06 local time (that's 7:06 in California) there was an earthquake 10 miles east of Norman, Oklahoma. Norman, Oklahoma is right outside of Oklahoma City and is where the main campus of the University of Oklahoma is located. It's a pretty little city.

The earthquake measured 4.5 on the Richter scale, which by California standards is a big truck going by. Or if we're talking about Tehachapi, a train.

Our apartment shook slightly and I mean very slightly. Miss Goofy said it startled her and she nearly fell out of the chair she was sitting in, I was in the kitchen and thought I stumbled as I opened the fridge cause I was tired.

Miss Goofy left to go do laundry and I turned on the television to occupy the dog, (otherwise he barks cause he hears stuff outside) and sure enough Good Day Tulsa is reporting an earthquake in Norman.

Mostly I wrote this to let my family know yeah, we had one. No, it wasn't a big deal. Thanks for your concern. We love you! And let's hope for aftershocks!

ETA: I remember in California it sometimes taking days for an earthquake to be reviewed by a seismologist. At the USGS website each earthquake report lists whether it's a computer generated message meaning the seismographs have detected movement and someone needs to review the data or it will say this event has been reviewed by a seismologist, indicating it's already been looked at. This earthquake in Oklahoma, reviewed within a half hour. Kind of funny, huh?

9/11 We Won't Forget--Unless We're At an OU Game

I recently "friended" a woman on FaceBook. She is a really sweet woman who is going through a terrible time. Her husband was a Marine and he was injured in Iraq. The man lost his leg and his life due to the war. She's in mourning, he died this past April. Having lost my own father many years after his return from Viet Nam to an agent orange related cancer, my heart went out to her. We emailed back and forth a few times and friended each other on FaceBook.

Then my husband told me about the OU- Florida game that was played on Saturday. I know it's all over the news, radio, internet, but I just want to add my two cents worth. It's shameful to yell out during a moment of silence. I don't care where you are or why you're there. It's rude. As for the National Anthem, well, I always thought it was disrespectful to talk during the anthem. I can only offer my opinion that it's just as rude to change the words to honor your school.

That said, I hope OU fans will be better behaved next week when they play Air Force. I however, will be watching and rooting for UCLA.

So We Went To The Cabin Yesterday...

Music Man is working. He's working very hard in fact. However, he's not working for a company he's particularly fond of and he's not in a job he really likes. Needless to say, he's been looking for a new job. So this past Wednesday, he received two calls to schedule interviews for this coming Wednesday. Kind of cool since we hadn't heard from anywhere about any jobs we've submitted his application for.

For one of the interviews, the lady told him to bring his social security card. Always a good sign, we think. Now, we both took our social security cards out of our wallets and put them in a file box for safe-keeping. Just to make it a little harder to steal the number. Good plan, right? Well, when Music Man got the job he has now, I had to find that file box and his social security card. I found it and everything was wonderful.

Until he got the call on Wednesday and suddenly, I can't find it again. Now I do need to explain one detail, we had to get him a replacement card a few months ago because the corporation that he'd worked for had laid him off and wanted to bring him back through a temp agency. The temp agency needed his card for their files. We couldn't find it.

Fast forward roughly a year and I'm tearing apart the apartment trying to figure out where I put that damn card. I remember seeing it in my desk. The desk sitting in Miss Goofy's room. It's not in the desk now. I took the card out when we moved the desk. I know I put it somewhere safe. Tragically, "somewhere safe" turned into "somewhere unknown".

So we went to the cabin to look for the card cause I knew it wasn't in the apartment. Saturday night as we were settling down to go to sleep I told Music Man, I was pretty sure I knew which box it was in. Then I said a little prayer that I was right and went to sleep.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early and despite us wanting to be on the road by nine, it was after 8:30 before we got up. So it was more like ten before we left. After a moment of panic as we got onto the turnpike when I thought we didn't have the cash on us for the toll, I found the change in my purse, and we had a fairly quiet drive.

We got to the cabin and walked in, after a moment "Eww, it smells stuffy in here," I turned to Miss Goofy and said, "Go look in that box, I need to use the restroom." And here is the point of this story. Music Man went with her to look in the box. A box overflowing with books. She had been arguing about looking in that box. Her exact words were, "there's no paper-like things in here".

Music Man smirked. I heard her arguing, finished my task and walked into the living room as she said, "Wait, it's in this book." She opened the book and triumphantly removed his social security card. She had remembered putting it in there when we were getting ready to move the desk. I'd handed it to her and asked her to put it in the box with the books. She had even told me she put it in that book. She'd even teased Music Man about it being in her sparkly vampires book.

I looked at her and smiled as she handed the missing card to her father. I asked the only thing I could as I stood over that overflowing box of books. "Did she just say there's no paper-like things in here?"

Music Man grinned and said, "Yes, yes she did."

That's my daughter. We home school her good.

P.S. You may have noticed that the words Miss Goofy are a link. It goes to my daughter's blog. You should check it out.

P.P.S. Are you happy now, Miss Goofy? I plugged your blog four times in one article.

Lately I've Been...

I don't read a lot of blogs that belong to other people. The simple truth is I don't have time to read a lot of people's complaints and whines. So I pick and choose. And I don't check all the blogs I read every day. Which works out good cause most of them don't update every day. However on one of the ones I do check fairly often the author occasionally posts something she calls, "Lately you might find me..." Then she lists five things she's been doing recently.

I liked this idea but I don't want to completely steal it so, I'm changing it to "Lately I've Been..." and the the number of things I write will probably vary.

So without further ado...

Lately I've Been

• Obsessively listening to Duran Duran (I was totally crushed when the lead singer got married)

• Writing a romance novel

• Vacuuming a large amount of pet fur

• Watching Burn Notice on USA

• Staring into space with a confused look on my face (usually when working on romance novel)

• Cooking dinner (except for last night when I made Miss Goofy and two nights ago when I made Music Man buy us pizza)

• Rocking out, dancing around and causing Miss Goofy to roll her eyes (really enjoying Duran Duran again)

So that's what I'm up to. What about you?

Things I've Learned In Oklahoma

If you live in Oklahoma or have lived here in the past, you can probably ignore this post. If you've never been to Oklahoma and enjoy drivel, this might be the post for you. This will of course be in list form.

1. Although crickets in the house are supposed to be good luck, you really don't want to have them jump on you at three in the morning.

2. Even the biggest, bravest dog will be terrified of a thunderstorm.

3. Oklahoma humidity will make you appreciate the mild climate of California.

4. Oklahoma humidity is way better than Georgia humidity.

5. The wilderness is very noisy.

6. Oklahoma isn't just flat desert. It has gorgeous forests, beautiful lakes and vibrant cities.

7. I much prefer the city to the country.

Thank You!!!

So, I talked the other day about having moved. It was a long trip from California to Oklahoma. We traveled in a caravan. Well part of the way.

Music Man, Music Man's Uncle and Aunt, Miss Goofy and I, oh and Courage and Thatcher were traveling. Music Man and Thatcher traveled together, they bonded in Music Man's truck. Music Man's Uncle and Aunt pulled a trailer with our stuff. Miss Goofy, Courage and I spent the better part of a week in a Saturn on the I-40.

For the record, Courage has a terrible time with digestion when he travels. Translation: he gets awful gas.

However, I do want to take a moment and thank two people who helped Miss Goofy and I a lot. These people helped us by keeping track of weather and road conditions and sending us text messages warning us of changes and possible problems. As well as providing us with jokes and cheerful notes as we drove.

Thank you DolphinLady and TheWeatherGod! You helped us make what could have been a difficult trip much easier.

For the record, I've wanted to post my thank you for a while but I had to wait until I had internet. Now that I have it, I'll be posting more often.

Where Have I Been

You might be asking yourself that question. Then again you might not. This might be your first time to my blog and if so, welcome. Or you could be an old reader and just happy I finally decided to update.

While I don't have a good excuse for not updating between Jujubee's birthday and the first of May, I do have one for since then. And it's really good.

You see I left my little mountain in California for the forests of Oklahoma. No I wasn't drunk. No I didn't get lost. Yes there are forests in Oklahoma.

As you may have heard unemployment in California is very high. Where we lived it was running close to 20%. Here in Oklahoma we're at 7%. Go ahead and do the math. I'll wait.

Yeah see, more opportunity for a job in Oklahoma. Way less competition. So we made the choice to move. And it's gone, well let's just say it's gone. We've had a few challenges on the way and I'll blog about those when I stop having nightmares. Just kidding, I'll blog about them later though.

However in moving sort of suddenly, we didn't have things as nailed down as we should have. So, we've been staying at a cabin owned by Music Man's uncle. It's shelter. For insects and us but mostly for insects. Let me tell you, the only thing that startles me more when I wake up than a cricket on me, is waking up with a spider crawling on me. Ewwwww!!!!!

But crickets in the house are supposed to be good luck so we've caught them and released them outside. Or nearly all of them. I can't be held accountable for the first one that hopped onto me in the middle of the night and I beat to death with my slipper. Nor can I be responsible for any that my cat has tortured during their "play" time.

The cabin does pose some amenities that are unique for me. There is a wonderful mosquito colony. Not to mention all the good luck from all the crickets in the house. Um, it's about four feet off the ground so if the river floods we should stay dry. Anything in the shed will be ruined but the house should be okay.

Unfortunately, there is no internet. Or cable. There are however lights but I have been singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island for about six weeks now. Slightly changed though to "no web, no phone, no cable, not a single luxury. It sucks to be like Robinson Crusoe. Get me out of here!"

Oh that was the other thing, our cell phones don't always work well. But it's pretty. I'd show you a picture but I don't have my camera with me and I'm sitting in a Barnes and Noble in Tulsa hoping my laptop battery doesn't die before I finish this post.

Hopefully we'll be able to move in the next few weeks and have internet again. We'll see. Music Man did find a job and he's working so there's always hope. Course he just started this week and I have no idea how long he has to be with a place before someone will rent to us. Hopefully, they'll rent to us without any problem. We'll see soon.

Happy Birthday Jujubee

It's Jujubee's Big Day!!!

Happy Birthday Sissy!!!

I love you lots!!!



From Nora and her Herd

Joy

Simple things in this world give us joy. As adults it can be anything from a bite of chocolate, the wind in our hair, the sun shining on a cold winter's afternoon or sleeping in while the kids are at Grandma's for the weekend.

As a mom I've always tried to see the world through my daughter's eyes. She has always found joy in the simplest things. Twirling in a circle until she was so dizzy she fell down, chasing bubbles in the yard, the dog kissing her cheek until she's laughing so hard she can't stand, these are the things of her childhood. I hope she will remember them with the same joy I felt watching her experience them.

Now I have a new one to add to the list: passing the written test for her learner's permit. It took most of the afternoon for that one to sink in. But when it finally did, the giggles coming from her were exquisite.

I took her out for a quick driving lesson after we got back from our four hour trip to the DMV, which I didn't even mind this time. We were in a commercial neighborhood with no traffic. By no traffic I mean, there is a gas station, a Denny's and a hotel, about four streets and maybe six stop signs. I had told her on the way over I wanted her to get her speed up to 25. She'd been driving around our mobile home park at all of 10-13 mph. So I wanted her to really drive this time. She did and after her lesson, we parked so we could switch places and I could drive us home. I got behind the wheel and she giggled and said to me, "I went 27." The joy on her face made me want to cry. So happy, such a little thing, but it made her so happy.

So I called her a speed demon and got on the freeway to come home. No way I was going to let her know how much it makes me want to cry. Then I blogged about it.

She's still a speed demon.

New Resolutions

Okay, so I've been thinking about last year's resolutions and I've come to a conclusion.

When you aim low it really is easier to attain your goals. With that uplifting thought, I've decided to make new resolutions for this year. They are a bit more lofty. By the way the only ones I didn't really achieve last year are numbers 7 & 8. And well, I doubted number 7 would happen and I was really just dreaming with 8.

1. Listen to obnoxious music. (It worked well last year, thought I'd stick with a winner)

2. Participate in a 100 lbs in 10 months online weight loss challenge. Details to come later.

3. Participate in NaNoEdMo. This is in March and if you wondering what it is then you need to see the site. I've already chosen my novel to edit.

4. Participate in NaNoWriMo. This is the one I'm really excited about. It's National Novel Writing Month. It's in November. I think it will be a lot of fun. I might have a practice run in the next few weeks.

5. Schoolwork. I think this is self-explanatory.

6. Learn to play the flute at least a little. I was in band in fourth grade. I was able to play three notes. I'm up to five now, so I'm already doing better. I also have a better flute.

7. Blog at least once a week. Glad this is done for this week.

8. Exercise daily. This will help with the 100 lb in 10 months challenge.

9. Establish and maintain some routines. My life goes much better when I have some basic routines in place.

So have you made any resolutions? Wanna tell me about them? I promise not to laugh, but I may email and see how you're doing.