The Many Faces of Music Man

This is Music Man happy:

This is Music Man mad:

This is Music Man being pestered:

This is Music Man killing zombies:

The End!

Lately I've Been...

Bet you thought I'd forgotten all about you! And this exciting list!

Never fear, although I frequently get distracted by streaking cats and bright shiny things, I also eventually come back to doing what I started six years ago. Not that my blog is six years old but can you imagine if it was?

Twenty minutes later

So, I seem to have gone off into a fantasy land. What was I saying again?

Oh yeah, my list for this...week?

• Watching my cat randomly streak from room to room and then stop to lick his paw

• Laundry (duh, I have these wonderful new toys)

• Hugging my sissy who I got to see for the first time in over a year last Friday

• Scratching flea bites (I am so bombing the apartment this weekend)

• Asking Miss Goofy if her schoolwork is done yet and why she hasn't turned it in to me

• Finding really good Mexican food (happy dance!)

• Melting in the heat and humidity

• Laughing at Miss Goofy who keeps kicking the fan in my room and then saying, "Ow! I keep kicking that stupid fan!"

• Playing Zynga games on facebook

• Procrastinating instead of doing any housework

I know I've done more stuff, I just can't remember what it was. It kind of reminds me of a essay thing I read about how busy a person was all day but when they look around they can't see what they've done cause nothing they set out to do was finished. Yeah, that's me.

Well, I have things to do that I'll probably avoid and instead spend my time watching shiny butterflies out the window or watching the cat to time how long he goes between scratches. You know something completely and totally beneficial to my life.

Laundry Saga Update

So today, eventually, maintenance finally came by the apartment. They have to order a part for the water valve in the laundry room.

He did, however, say it was okay to go ahead and use the machine for the weekend since it wasn't leaking much by this evening and any leaking it did do was back down the drain anyway. And he did fix the dryer vent issue. At least for now. They will have to tear apart a piece of the wall to fix the water valve issue as they have to replace the whole thing.

That being said, I have now washed three loads of laundry, dried two, have the third in now and Miss Goofy washed and dried a load. I have at least two more loads of clothes, one of sheets and one of towels and table linens to do tomorrow. I'm just so excited to have this wonderful tool for completing my household chores. It makes it so nice!

Well, I have to go fold towels now! It's so nice not having to go to the laundry room!

Aren't They Beautiful?

So here is my wonderful anniversary gift from my wonderful husband! No more lugging laundry to the laundry room of the complex! No more laundromat!

I'd love them even more if the water valve for the washer wasn't leaking and the hose that's built into the building for dryer exhaust wasn't too short! Hopefully maintenance will be here early to fix the issues and I can use my new beautiful machines. I love them so much! And that bookshelf is totally coming out of there later tonight!

Something Big is Coming on Thursday

Sometime between noon and 6 pm on Thursday the 26th of May, something big will be happening at my house.

Tune in this week for pictures...

A Favorite Author

Okay so it's not a secret anymore that I've been working on a romance novel or two (possibly twenty). I've enjoyed writing them and reading other people's work. I'm of the firm belief that just because I have the same basic premise, doesn't mean I'm stealing the author's work. After all, how I picture the story turning out and how they do is invariably different.

On that note, I was poking around online for a bit today and went to one of my favorite authors sites. I swear I didn't write this, but I could have except for a few minor changes. For example, while I like several of the same authors as she does, I haven't read some of the others work . And while I like the occasional country song, I'm not sure I'm comfortable saying I like country music although the music they now call country sounds a lot like what we called pop when I was a teenager.

I can totally get into the diet Mt. Dew thing though. Yes, that's possibly my deepest darkest secret. I like Diet Mt. Dew. *Sigh

I'd rather have a Butterfinger than a Hershey bar with or without almonds though if that's all you got I'll take it. I'm really not into the Rob Pattinson or Twilight thing. I read part of the first book and watched the first movie. All I could think at the end was I wanted them to stop whining. I remember when vampires were cool. Anyone else remember, Interview with a Vampire?

I'd rather watch the Simpsons or Law & Order: Criminal Intent than the Gilmore Girls. Though Dog the Bounty Hunter is cool if you don't take it too seriously. Don't get me wrong, I think they do a good deed and it's not a job I want but seriously if you can't carry a weapon due to a felony conviction in your past, bounty hunting may not be for you.

I totally agree with her assessment of teen years and the reality of being older and having responsibilities. Sometimes, you have to run to the store and don't have time to perfectly apply six layers of make-up.

Her thoughts on why she likes her job are totally true for me. Seriously I get everyone of them. Oh and the part about liking Nickelback, they are so in my playlists for all kind of my stories.

Thank you Rhonda! You made me feel so much better about myself today!

Promises

So when my husband and I decided to move our family to Oklahoma, a number of factors went into the decision. Concerns about our families, our future, our dreams and goals, costs and what we were willing to give up. It took years before we made a decision.

And then we didn't tell anyone what we'd decided. For a long time.

I won't go into all the thoughts we covered right now, we had a lot of things to think about but some of the issues included being there for my grandmother while she nursed my grandfather, who was dying from Alzheimer's, whether we even wanted to surround ourselves with Music Man's family when they haven't had anything to do with him in years and finally, what to me seemed like the most important: air conditioning.

I knew we weren't going to leave while Grandpa was still alive. I needed to be there to offer whatever help I could and to make sure Grandma was going to recover before we left.

Music Man knew we weren't going to live in the small town he was born in and we probably wouldn't see much of his family.

We both made our peace with both situations and when the time came, we moved.

A lot of my friends have asked why a California Girl would be willing to move to Oklahoma. When we first arrived here we stayed in his uncle's fishing cabin which has since made me very frightened to read Henry David Thoreau's Walden after Music Man commented one day on the similarities. I had no idea it was a horror story. ; )

One of the biggest things that had worried this very California Girl, was the heat. And the humidity. I don't tolerate heat well. I tend to bloat and swell up like a balloon. As long as I have air conditioning I'm okay. Music Man promised me we'd have air conditioning. He's so sweet. Or he didn't want to see his wife looking like a puffer fish and to be honest, I think it might be the latter.

At the cabin, we purchased two window air conditioners. One for the bedroom, one for the living room. I survived while we were there. I even managed to stop killing crickets at three in the morning. I learned to just casually flick them off me and then wake Music Man who would capture the offending insect and escort him outside. I'm still not sure why the crickets loved me so very much.

We've been in our apartment since July 9th. I had maintenance out to fix the air conditioner at least four times last summer. I went to turn it on a week or so ago just to check and make sure it was properly functioning. It isn't. I put in a request to have maintenance to come fix it again.

I'd say I'm sure they'll fix it properly, but four times last year...

Oh Dear

My husband is a bit of a nerd. I love him but he is what he is. Well, I'm pretty sure I've now lost all ability to laugh at his nerdiness.

While he was looking at the Think Geek website and showing me all sorts of things he "needs", I spotted my downfall. It was an R2D2 pepper mill.

I am officially a geek.

So A Funny Thing Happened Today...

Okay it really wasn't funny at all.

We had a blizzard here in Tulsa this week. It's made it impossible to get out of the parking lot at our apartment. So my wonderful husband has been home the past two days.

Our apartment complex has signs they put out occasionally that read "Freeze warning, let your faucets drip". Now, we lived in snow country in California. If you properly insulate your pipes, you really shouldn't have any problem with them freezing. To be safe, we did leave the faucets open if it was going to be especially cold. So when we saw the signs the first time we thought, "uh oh, we might have a problem."

Blizzards include wind, just in case you didn't know. When your water heater is outside and there is a blizzard coming, there is a good chance your pilot light will go out. No amount of running water will keep the water heater from freezing. Not with the wind and snow collecting under the heater.

So when maintenance accuses you of not leaving the water on, it's a bit irksome. Especially when they've already had a fit over the screws they put in the outside door to the water heater rather than fixing the door.

When the head of maintenance brings his entourage of four guys and they don't bother to wipe their boots off outside and track snow all over your living room, you tend to get a little annoyed. Especially when you realize they did the same thing this past summer only it was oil from the asphalt they tracked in.

Then the head idiot proceeds to damage the door to your a/c/heater unit, the one that is a safety issue cause it also opens directly to the water heater closet and when you woke up in the middle of the night one night to the dog having a meltdown and look outside you see the outside door is open and realize someone was trying to break into your apartment through the connecting door you had your husband screw shut the heater door and then called maintenance in the morning and requested they repair the outside door so they didn't have to clean the apartment after removing your dead carcass and maintenance only screws shut the outside and tells you that's what they would have done to the inside door, it's a little insulting. Especially when they damage the inside door and you know they're going to charge you when you move out.

What was my point in telling you all of this? I don't know, Music Man thought I needed to rant. If you're looking for an apartment in the Tulsa area, email me and I'll tell you where NOT to move.

What the Hell?

Okay harsh title I know but I believe I am justified. I was watching the news and saw a news story about the drug being used for death row inmates in Oklahoma. I was concerned as you might imagine so I googled "Oklahoma death row drug" and this article came up. In case you're too busy to read the whole article let me explain. This is a drug that the news story on television said was the same drug that they use to euthanize animals! Now the AP article said it was chemically related to the drug used on animals.

I understand there's a shortage of the drug usually used to kill death row inmates. I'm not sure however how good an idea it is to use a drug that clearly states it's for canine use only. This would probably be a good place to talk about alternatives to death row but I have to say I do believe that occasionally putting someone to death is the only solution.

I was a teenager in Los Angeles during the time of the Night Stalker. My grandmother was a very good friend with one of his victims. Her murder was gruesome and the stuff of nightmares. There are people in this world who choose to commit evil and atrocious crimes. Sentencing them to death is sometimes the least costly solution. Housing them in prison forever is impractical and I understand that.

And while I'd love to discuss solutions for prison overcrowding I'm not an expert nor do I feel like it's something I have enough information on to offer an opinion. But when the manufacturer says don't do this and we do it anyway, then we've got a problem.

Two news articles later and I hear something about state flower, state rock and now someone wanting to choose a state gun.

Hmm, maybe I do have a solution to the prison overcrowding problem...

The Year of Thin Waists and Fat Wallets

So that's what I've dubbed this year. So far, well, we're working on it.

Mostly I've been playing facebook games like CityVille. It's addicting. Seriously, I'm going to be seeking a 12 step group for it soon.

"Hi, I'm Micki, I'm a CityVilleaholic."

"Hi Micki."

Sorry, just imagining the meetings.

I started reading "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien last night. I'm enjoying it a lot.

What else can I say...oh, it's cold here. Like it's been in the single digits cold. Like wow that's not a misprint, 5 degrees is really cold.

Mostly I just needed to check in so I have a more recent post than Miss Goofy. Now I can harass her.

Thanks for being so patient with me.

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.