Triumph!

It sounds overly dramatic, no? Here at the front desk we have a pretty tight group and preggers coworker for....forever...has been in charge of doing our schedules. That being said, she IS quite pregnant and will be leaving in a couple weeks and somehow the task of working out who's working when kinda fell on my shoulders.  Well, truth be told, Coworker This started piecing ideas together because we need to have our crap together lest Le Boss takes over the job and makes us ALL miserable...right till she drops it like a rock and leaves us to deal with it.

In the end, I decided to treat the night audit as their own lil entity. In away, the main and relief can get with me on if there needs to be any changes to their set schedule and it should all be good. That just left Coworker This and Coworker That and yours truly to piece together. Beyond a couple needs in regards to shifts, there were only a couple points of contention, one being that there was the potential that one person would always be shorted a shift and that nobody likes working Saturday 3-11. In the end, the tentative work around is that the two day shifts of Saturday will be rotated around so that ever third weekend, the person with the shorted week is different.

It seemed to go over well with Coworker That - so hey, this was a win!

Let me bask in this moment before it all goes to hell in a hand basket...

The Land of Good Intentions

Don't even get me started about new years...I don't know what happened but it just didn't feel special or significant this year. Anybody who knows me, knows that I tend to start on about how I don't do resolutions and all that crap. Maybe I should have just to liven things up a bit. *laughs* Ok, maybe not.

You know, what I did do was cook. The original plan had been for a bunch of nibblies for what I had expected to be a movie fest but with the weather being just icky, I really didn't feel like making the extra trip out just to get the mats that I had in mind. Luckily it was perfect for making a big pan of baked ziti! The Diva was also quick to remind me that I promised a new years cheesecake. Why? Because the Christmas one was a bit of a wash. I had no graham crackers and tried to improvise with a cereal crumb crust which was....jagged. Pretty tasty, but a hazard for tender palates. The girls pounced on the cheesecake way too soon out of the oven and declared it something along the lines of like eating rice pudding...without the rice. This was a very good thing! It was pretty damn good cold too so huzzah! My cheesecake skills never let me down.

Looking back in the year of my bloggery, it's been disheartening to see how little I do it. Good intentions is what came to mind when it came time to considering this post. I hate when I'm the one who had them and don't lead them on to fruition.  I didn't want think in terms of resolutions but what resolutions should be - habits formed. I always vow to do more writing. I should maybe consider myself a writer but I don't. Is it something I need to work on? Is it a mind state I don't feel or even feel I deserve. I don't know, to be honest. That being said, I'm going to try writing - be it here, in journal or thoughts in an email every day.

It's funny, saying that, when I know I pretty much didn't do it yesterday. Already I've missed and failed. No! No I haven't! I've picked up the next day and embraced the challenge because I'm here now. Trust me, there have been too many times when I've become discouraged too easily and given up. Now that, my friends, is a habit worth breaking.

Where am I going to go from here? It's hard to say - there's definitely this fear that my scattered mind also has the dark cloud of worry that things I want to share are really just too stupid to share. Like the very childlike ornaments I made for Christmas. Do I dare share them, are other things I've made too...basic for public viewing. I think I must have a really shabby chic decorator's eye.  No, make that no eye - I'd like to change that. I'd like to embrace holidays I enjoy and show it in the house. I want to come up with ideas to better organize my house, make it a place I'm comfortable with people entering.

In the end, it all comes round to wanting something....what is that something...maybe it's order in the chaos of my mind.

Oh the Meh!

This is really bothering me so hopefully getting things off my chest will make things right in the world...that is until everyone affirms that my customer service mojo is just all kinds of wrong. That happens, there may be tears.

My dislike of 3rd party bookings is probably well documented. Really, they're horrible. Lately a lot of them have been coming in via fax without actually being in the system. How the heck does that happen??? It's not that I mind manually putting them in, but crikey - it's going to cause a huge issue some day, that's all. And really, that's neither here nor there in regards to this problem guest. Beyond the fact that yes, 3rd party. Now, there was an issue where the housekeeper missed that they had taken down their DND and so their room never got cleaned  - clerk on duty scrambled and made a quick pick up job of it which made them happy.

Apparently not. Actually - at check out, the gentleman who came to the desk was amiable enough about it all - he thanked us for taking care of the room, I apologized and we were good. Went on my merry way - no huge issues which makes for a very good day! And then this harpy of woman comes up - nothing was right...the lobby toilet wouldn't flush, it rained, oh wah-wah-wah....I honestly think this woman was gunning for a freebie.  So she throws down this "we won't be staying here again" gauntlet.  Not only are my hands tied, but since you don't want to stay here again, I can't really offer a discount of any sort for a next stay - not that she wanted it. She wanted to stay for free. So...good riddance.  There really wasn't a point in explaining 3rd parties to her cause, really, she wouldn't care.

Still...it bothers me to the pit of gut.

 This afternoon's been pretty quiet so far but I got a call that makes me think it's me sometimes. Reservation wanted, best deals and all that great stuff. I work out a discounted rate and the caller's a freaking travel agent...if you can get better deals as a professional, go for it. Why harass me about it? She was a bit difficult to understand too - I'd say either drunk or on something. Really leaning towards her being on something. Not a great time to go around reserving rooms.

She could have saved us both a lot of trouble by saying she had a set rate with us.  Though now that I've talked with her, I'm going to find out why. She doesn't stay with us a lot and really comes off like a nasty person. We have enough of those here paying better rates!

Ugh...there goes my gut again.  Please be kind!

Just Freaking Snapped

I'm a bit of a mixed bag right now and hopefully the memory is a touch fuzzy now that I'm home and properly medicated with a cup of froyo.  Is there such a thing as medicinal froyo - raspberry tart on top of NY cheesecake with graham sprinkles, walnuts and coconut, I might add.

Before we got to that point, I really was having a good day - honest! But then I get this call for a guy who wants five rooms, preferring five queens, even though they were for only two people.  Not really odd - plenty of couples prefer two beds or a company has two people sharing rooms...that's nothing to raise eyebrows over. There was something about this guy though.... Anyhow - he didn't like my price quotes and said he was going to just go through that famous 3rd party that in the past has featured...a famous face. Ha! Did I give myself away?

Anyhow, that gut feeling went through the charts - he was going to say rooms for two people, get put in king rooms and then expect us to put him in queens. No biggie?  Well yes, there's a difference, even on a 3rd party site, you're paying more for a room with two queen beds than you are for a single king. Even 3rd party rooms show that a king room with a couch is going to be more than a standard king.

So of course, he makes the reservations that way - saying only two people per room and gets put into king rooms.  Shows up...not only with adults but a passel of kids.  Jerk didn't even count them.  Doing that would have put him in his precious two queen rooms...at the two queen room rate.

Ass...he thought he was going to get those room as a free upgrade.

I'm so glad he didn't.

 

Used to Love Summer...

Sometimes I think moving to Texas really changed my opinion on favourites in regards to seasons. Truth be told, I hate cold, snowy winters and yet, the rest of me doesn't do so great in scorching summers. That being said, winters aren't too bad here and I actually kinda like them...if you discount the fact that another thing I dislike about winter are the short days. Summers....thank god for air conditioning!

It's really not so much the heat that drives my dislike for summer anyhow but the industry in which I work in. Ahh...tourism - the bread and butter of what makes us get to keep on doing what we do around here. Some of the people, though, drive me nuts. When I really take a moment to think about it, I realize we all fall susceptible to the sink hole of negativity. Years ago I worked at another job that was customer oriented and they said that a person is more likely to remember a bad experience and spread it around than they are to do the same to a positive one. How sad is that?

On that note, I'm finding that I feel that way on the other end of the desk - the representative suddenly aware that she's dwelling on the negatives rather than all the positives and even humourously off the wall that happens. Just in the last couple of days there have been cute and smiling kids, regulars with kind words and conversation, tips (booyeah!) and even a stranger who continued with the flattery, even after I'd already come through with a discounted room for the night.

Fears and worries have a way of eating at us inside, I know it does for me in a big way. I'm glad on a cracking busy Sunday morning, I can take a moment to sit back and smile - and to realize the good there is around me.

And that maybe summer isn't all that bad...

Omg, You Look Like a Corpse!

Is something I never thought I'd ever say at work, unfortunately, it was true. Not that I was being purposefully mean or hurtful, but The Boss put in new bulbs above and in front of the desk. I think he's going for a brighter light and contemporary look but quite frankly, these lights wash us out. They're also very clinical feeling - light wise.

Call me crazy, but I swear they're giving me a headache! My eyes HURT...and twitch...it's very odd. The research I've done says this is normal for the cool white CFL bulbs...so I'm hoping with gentle persuasion and mass revolt, the lights will go back to the nice warm lights they were before. I didn't think it was too dim in here  - the softer light was much more welcoming.

Gods help me, I wish I could do this job with my eyes closed...

Odd Things That Come to Mind

When reading..... We actually went to the library over the weekend but before I can start on anything I've gotten, well, seriously so since I've been peeking at the crochet book, I've had a book I needed to read.  Only cause the Carrot Girl needed me to read it before...May 12th, I think. The day it's due  back at school before the close down the library for the summer.  Can you believe summer break is almost upon us? 

Anyhow...once shared, I realized the book's actually been made to a movie and a website I frequent had a lot of posters that think it's a very twee book. Something like that...I see the beauty and pain in the story and it's one that really touches me.  Or so says the pile of tissues I've been going through. Don't ask me why, but it brought some thoughts that, at the time, seemed somewhat profound, typed up, I'm sure they're just the same silly thoughts I usually have.  I'm sharing though cause...ha, I can!

It's said that I have a pavlovian response to The Undertaker's entrance. Regardless of what's happening, I go still tot he sound of tolling bells. My head lifts before giving a slight tilt as eyes gleam with the glee that rises from a smile. This may  have even happened last night from a dead sleep.

Years and years ago, I grew up enough to realize that I'd never get to marry the first love of my life, Optimus Prime. It would have never worked out with him being a Transformer and me walking that thin line with my strange admiration for Soundwave.

Where does The Undertaker come in all this? I have idea where the notion came that he was, likely is my human Optimus. Now I realize this is just a character in the male soap opera of "sports entertainment"...listen here bitches...wrestling is about as real as crap like American Idol so screw already....

It's something the height, the size they have. The inherent grace one must have to walk along a top rope. My personal thing spats and long coats and dramatic hats. Perhaps I'm simply touched by long embraced forays into macabre imagery. Long ago I lost the point to all this....what I describe is more on a physical plane. I don't know what's on the inside but in my own deluded mind? It's filled with all sorts of good things.

*wry laughs* I grow tired of trying to sort this mess out so I'll leave with a fleeting thought.

I want to take care of people in a most greedy way. Not to be a scapegoat or selfishly used but in hopes of being taken care of in return. To be loved, uniquely so by the ones I care for most.

No Mas Fiesta!

This makes me so sad - I wrote notes for this post and totally threw it away! Does anybody else do that? Make notes for a given post, I mean - not actually throw them away.

Yesterday, when I started this entry, I would say we're all still recovering from last week...well, maybe the weekend. For the last three weeks, Fiesta has been going on. I've never actually been but from what I can tell, it's an extended party downtown...must be since it lasts for THREE WEEKS...actually, I think that's a first time thing and years past it's only been two weeks.  Which really? That's an awful long time for a street party to last. I know there are parades, notably, the Battle of Flowers which apparently has every school district (except for the girls) either on an early dismissal or out for the entire day.  There's also tons of music, a carnival and some sort of...I don't know if it's a clam bake or scallop fest...who knows, a college puts it on. Anyhow - it brings in tons of people.

Last weekend marked the culmination of activities AND there was a regional track meet nearby so as you can imagine, we were hurtling towards a crazy weekend.  I'd say by Thursday, we were well on our way. We had fairly gnarly ratio of teens to real people...ok, I kid, I kid - teens are people too...when they're not stampeding the place like a pack of elephants. That's practically the call that came down to the desk that night:

Irate guest with a 4am wake up call: "Excuse me, Miss, did you just check in a herd of wild elephants for room upstairs?"

Local Friendly Front Desk Clerk: "Oh no, Sir, sorry about that - we have a lot of HS track teams staying with us and one of them have just gone up and should be settling for the night. If they continue to be a disturbance, please let me know so I can notify their coaches."

Honestly, they had JUST gone up, so I thought it was fair to give them a moment to disperse to rooms and since I didn't get a call back, I think I was right.

A couple friendly tips and ideas came to mind while working this weekend:

A 3pm Check In does not mean that you must absolutely posolutely be here right at 3pm. I promise, we're not going to be counting noses and taking names and promptly DROPPING your reservation.  Can you imagine the hell it would be checking in if we required everyone to be around at the same time?  That would be crazy!!! Where do people get this crazy idea??

On that note, though, do pay attention since some hotels WILL drop your reservation if you're not in by 6pm.  Personally, I think that's crazy. There is no harm in calling to let a hotel know that you're going to be late coming in. I always make a note if someone does that so any clerks on duty know not to drop them.

If you don't make a reservation directly with a given hotel and want, say...a top floor room, call them up to make sure they know about the request. I know, extra work for a traveler but I've found that these special requests don't always get conveyed to the desk.

Now this is probably repeat from any major event or holiday - if you're going to a major tourist area during these times, plan ahead! Yes, you and everybody else wants to be at Fiesta or Spring Break so don't be surprised if every room is taken up except for some fleabag hotel that has their last room available for the low, low price of $700 for the night.  Think I'm kidding? Ha!
Omg...so happy it's over!

Inspiration and Easter

So how long have I been gone...oof, way too long! You could say a lot's gone on since I last posted. - things at work, kids all getting taller than me, towels toppling - so on and so forth. The biggest thing wasn't really me directly, but a health issue that came up in the family. In the interest of keeping it on the down low, the cathartic to have shared things that were going on.

Inspiration has struck me, though, in the form of a 16 year old who decided to start her own blog. Oddly enough, cause of me...go figure! My lil Carrot Girl...all grown up and blogging...sorta...maybe...ok, we'll see how this works out.  No, really, so far, so good - it's going to be interesting to see where it takes her. Oh - while she's going by that name, I did want to clarify, this is the Elfling we're talking about.

Easter evening and I'm here at work. It's been quiet and I have to admit, I'm feeling this side of tired. It started pretty early with at least one excited girl...I think she got me up to watch a movie but we wound up with Amer Hor Story - hey, did I get that right?? That show is it's own post, let me tell you!

Anyhow...*grins* my tradition with the girls is making up an Easter basket for each of them. I like to do a pile o' candy (of course) but with a couple non-candy treats like lip gloss or pretty soaps. This year it was really cute, mini notebooks with purple pens and Hello Kitty bandaids. They went over like a dream so, hey, a win!

Ham is usually the big thing around here but since I had work at 3, I decided to try something new. When dealing with a big honkin' piece of meat is no longer the plan, what do you do? Brunch, of course..duh and or hola!

Inspiration came in the form of Ina Garten - I've always, always, always wanted to make her smoked salmon frittata....course...I didn't today cause...let's face it, my budget doesn't allow for it and my grocery store had no fresh dill.  No dill..what the heck!?! Regardless, I thought I made a nice lil spread - it was perfect for the three of us - here's what was served in Haus der Fae:

Smoked Sausage Frittata

Fried Polenta

Fruit Salat

Joghurt

Granola (of my own doing!)

Carrot Cake w/Cream Cheese Frosting

Seriously - given the Diva went to town, even after being a total glutton with the candy all morning long, you know it had to be good! This was the first time I've made fried polenta that held its shape while being fried - I hope it's something that can be replicated cause I have a feeling it's going to be requested once again in the near future. 

 As the day trickles away - I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Fight or Fly

I just got back from my weekly trek to the grocery store and omg...had a lesson on human instinct to either fly or fight situations.

Anyhow, I was doing my thing - yakking away to E when we reached the end of our aisle.  I went to turn onto the main thoroughfare when this old man suddenly appears.  You guys know how these stores are - coupled with a cart, it's a bit of a blind turn sometimes.  Same case here - he had the right away, so I backed up and offered an apologetic smile. Alright, I may have said I was sorry too - don't really remember.  The guy STOPS, looks at me and goes, "This is the second time you've nearly run me over."  WTF???

Just a lil back story here - while in the parking lot, *I* nearly got run over by someone in a car who swooped in to park (illegally, I might add) next to us.  We were in a legitimate handicap spot, he was on the lines for the spot ahead of us.  It would seem - this was the driver.

Back to where I was standing amoungst collections of oils and packaged cake mixes.... I really was taken aback and found myself ducking my head, apologising once again.  Cause really, I don't make a habit of running down people at the store.  HONEST!!!   So he went on about how it happened in the parking lot and that we zipped by him and were totally speeding.

Seriously?  I have no idea where we would have "zipped" by him but E was not speeding in the parking lot.  Have you guys seen the people that aimlessly walk those places - no speeding there unless you're looking to kill someone!

At one point he was going about if we could tell he was kidding or not... Generally, I don't mind, actually like randomly talking to people but this man?  Totally creeped me out.  It seemed like his comments were directed at E, so I fled the scene.  Quickly.

E and I were talking about it on the drive home and he reflected on how funny it was that my instinct was to flee while he stood his ground - like he was protecting me  It's a sweet sentiment but part of me thinks I also fled cause I was about thisclose to snatching E's cane from his hand and beating the guy down with it.  Not a nice thing to do and I really don't want to see what it's like to get arrested.

Ugh...I'm so full of nervous agitation today.  Thank god, I'm getting my Jedi on...or is that Padawan?

Chasing My Thoughts

Seems that's what I'm doing today.  It would have been quite a post if I put it all down in one post - but this is really continuing on thoughts I had from Monday.

As I mentioned in my last post, The Elfling and I stormed World Market in search of a birthday present.  While there, I couldn't resist a few treats.  Nothing really big - a pair of fans for the girls (cherry blossoms, of course!). Till we get to the chocolate at least....but really - I get dark chocolate so it's health food, right?  

Ok...so it wasn't all dark chocolate.  For years I've tolled a particular restaurant website and on the message board I've read so many accounts of chocolate syrups of yore that for some odd reason I couldn't resist a delighted yelp when I came across a bottle of Bosco.  As you can imagine, the first thing I did when I got home was mix up a glass.  Oh...my...GOD....it's so freaking good...I don't know why.  I tried to compare the ingredient lists between it and Hershey's and would you believe - Hershey's doesn't list their ingredients!  

Ah well...whatever it is, Bosco is so good, I bet it'd make even skim milk taste good!

For a lil bit now, I've  been promising that I'd make Spaghetti Carbonara and Sunday night  I finally did.  This isn't a first for me though I think it may have been one of my more sucessful attempts.  I used a recipe from allrecipes with minimal changes.  For example, I used less onion because E outright hates it and I used Canadian bacon because...well...just cause.  I didn't have bacon on hand and it's perhaps a preference.  I also reserved a cup of pasta liquid in case things got too dry while I was cooking.  I'm not sure it was as creamy as it's supposed to but the girls ate with great gusto. 

Served with a lovely salad and a glass of vinho verde it was a lovely meal.

No...I don't know what's up with me and all my linking as of late.  I think it's kinda fun, though!

Inspiration and Impulse Buys

About midweek, last week, The Elfling realized that her friend's birthday was this week and for the rest of the week we half-assedly tossed out gift ideas. Said friend apparently is big on cows...or seems to be going with that theme in her room these days. The Elfling's comment on that was “why can't she have a normal teen theme like zebra stripes?” It was seriously funny considering I'm pretty sure there's not one lick of zebra stripe in her own room...mind you....she's not really that much of a “normal” teen. Too much like me, I fear.

The weekend plea was for a trip to WalMart, where to be quite frank, she had no idea what she was going to get that was fitting of her friend's theme. On a Saturday afternoon during my day off, the very LAST place I want to be is there. Seems E was in agreement since we never went. I may have suggested better luck on Sunday, after work. Who knows why, but I don't mind going when I've been at work all day....go figure.

So on Sunday, I had a quiet moment and was pondering the whole gift situation...I did some searches on cow gift ideas and luckily didn't get actual gift ideas FOR cows....sent an link to the Elf via email for her to check out – hoping to inspire her so we'd have an idea where to go and not wander about cluelessly. A quick check of my email showed that I had a coupon to World Market so I mentioned we might go there and see if we can't find something neat...cowish. And so the plan was set!

Except....she made no mention to E about our plans...yargh! With the Elf in tow, E comes to pick me up, expecting a nice ride home only to find that we need to make a stop. There was a bit of grumbling on his part, a quick call to the Diva to let her know we weren't heading straight home and a mini-lecture to the Elfling about letting E know plans when leaving the house so he can put on shoes instead of schlepping about in slippers with the knowledge he'd be coming straight home.

Have any of you guys been to World Market? My first time there was a Christmas, where even before I went in, I felt like I should have had papers that indicated I was....ritzy... enough to go in...which I wouldn't be. The MacAuthur Center is maybe the first and last time I seriously felt that way – as a side note. Regardless of that, I think it has a lot of really neat things! First time there, I got this gorgeous dark chocolate and cayenne pepper bar – it was tiny but took a few days to get through. Such bliss! I've been wanting to go back and get a couple more and this was a perfect opportunity to do that.

So with the promise we'd hurry along, the Elfling and I headed on in and started poking around where we found....not a bit of cow to be found. Luckily, looking around really let us come up with a couple ideas for gift baskets. We wound up settling on a sort of bath pampering basket in shades of pink (the bday girl's favourite colour) and really got some cute things. It was inspiration!

 

Of course....then we come to the dreaded impulse buy....My coupon was contingent on spending 30 bucks to get 10 off....so I picked...a few things to help our purchase along....and wound up spending $50.....

On the bright side, the bday girl LOVED her gift basket. And I have another post I'll share with youse tomorrow.  

Not So Deep Thoughts....

My mornings start quietly...or well, today would have been relatively so if I'd been able to shut my alarm off. For some odd reason, no matter how much I hit “dismiss” on my phone, the damn thing would not shut up. So much for letting E rest in peace, eh? But still – after getting dressed, it was to my great relief to find the hammer was no longer laying, marooned on the middle of the stairs. Even seeing it, I'd likely trip over it and fall to my death...well...mangling, since it was more the middle of the stairs and thus, the fall would not have been that bad.

How'd the hammer wind up there? It was my fault, actually. There's a sort of half-wall (ok, I'll be honest, I don't know what the hell you'd call it, but it makes for a sort of shelf/landing spot that goes along the hallway of the 2^nd floor, following the stairs down. Anyhow....there was a bag of toiletries waiting to be put away so I grabbed it...apparently dragging said hammer along with it. In the dark, I didn't see it and had no idea what dropped RIGHT near my foot but it bounced on down said stairs. Yeah...I was too lazy to go down after it BUT...I did warn E. lol

So yes, hooray for an unimpeded trip! After a my morning meditation (farming in Northrend this morning), I popped into the kitchen to get lunch together. Flipping on the kitchen lights, was a bit like flipping on the light in my head. My kitchen was tidy. I think Flylady talks about how our habits and routines can lead to peace within the house. For the first time, it really made sense to me. I could see progress....feel peaceful, calm while getting on with my day.

Right now I can sit here at work and realize a few really important (to me) things:

• My kitchen is tidy.
• The laundry isn't piled up.
• Dinner is planned out for tonight (and the rest of my cooking week, actually)
• The downstairs bathroom is clean.

It's a small start, I know...but realizing those four things shows me that for the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm making strides in moving out clutter and gaining better organization.  

Thank God It's Over!

No, not my trip to NC...Spring Break.  Good god....what a pain in the ass last week was - just unrelenting, non stop chaos.  Or so that's how it felt.  But first off...let's talk a little about my trip....

I was thinking back on last week when it hit me how dismayed I am to not have gotten pictures of my furry brother (can we just go on and from now on call him MFB, since I haven't got a clue how to spell his name and let's face it....MFB is just faster to type anyhow) while there?  He really is an adorable pile of fluff...even if he did bite me.  I totally deserved it.  While in NC, my dad came home one afternoon to find me with MFB and his furry little head resting contently on my arm....it seemed a delight to him that we got along.  For me, it was a bit of a comfort to have a pet around since I was missing Freya...though perhaps not as much as she was missing me, since she'd spend nights looking for me while crying.

Leaving was bittersweet - hard to say goodbye and go....desperate to get home to my family and the normalcy of life.  Flying, I've decided, it a huge trial for me...hell, it is for just about everyone but for someone like me?  I've mentioned it the survey Delta sent me but I think it bears stating here - that all the staff that I dealt with was absolutely wonderful.  Coming home, I decided it was worth asking if I could pre-board the plane so I could settle into an empty plane and not freak out about the close proximity of people.  This was granted on both legs of my flight with no issue at all.  Greatest thing ever....if you don't take into consideration how uncomfy airplane seats can be.  It was still worth doing....definitely helped my nerves.

It was my first time in Detroit - mind you, just the airport.  My god...I don't know how it measures up to Atlanta but it was absolutely massive.  At least by account that I had to get from the far end of one terminal to what seemed like nearly the far end of another.  With what turned out to be seriously heavy baggage.  My flight from there was a great comedy of errors but I think we took it all in stride and I can always appreciate humour in a situation.

Welcome to Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Airlines indeed....they didn't break the plane so it was actually very funny!

You know...now that I've gotten this far...seems I had more to say about my trip than I do about Spring Break.  The big thing about that is this:

When it's fucking spring break and you want to go somewhere.....make bloody reservations!  We were busy all week, for certain but Friday night?  We were sold out.  Every hotel along the I35 corridor from Austin past San Antonio was sold out.  No...I don't have any rooms I'm holding back.  I'm sorry you're old and only need a bed - I don't have anymore.  I know, it's late - traffic's bad and your kids are tired.  I can't pull rooms out of my ass and sell them to you...though...what a racket that would be!  lol

So yeah...I had to work Friday night...it was a mad house.  I'm so glad it's over.

They Broke The Plane!

It's a touch of home away from home!  To be honest, I was going to wax poetic about a grey day - hot soup, good, Portuguese bread AND the comfort of a lapper to keep touch with the world...but my flash doesn't seem to be working on my phone so this is what you get.  My lapper and some really pretty flowers from mom's shop - really lovely smelling ones, I might add.  (:

Of things to dread, one is that flight back home...I'm supposed to land close to the 10pm hour and I have work in the morning...that....I'm not looking forward to.  I really should have planned for a better time to return home but really?   It's not something to dwell on - I'm tapping here from NC where I'm at my parents house visiting for the first time in eight years.

It boggles me, even this morning...how different and yet how the same things can be.  To me - everybody looks pretty much the same, which I suppose is really a bit of a compliment cause I'm saying that my parents and Grandma haven't aged a day since I last saw them.  But it's more than them...I don't remember the airport being so damn  big...the layout threw me for a bit of a turn since i didn't notice any real security area separating the terminals from...everything else...though i suppose there was since it's not like my mom came rushing down to see me....I guess the officer would have had to stop her and what a bugger that would have been - having to her bail her out and all.  lol  But seriously - they all look good.

The area...it boggles me - I wish i'd been able to take pictures of the ride from the airport.  Seeing places like Mcduffie's still around - still the same and yet all this new crap around it...it's somewhat surreal - the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The whole ride pretty much went that way, to be honest. Same with the house...pretty much the same - especially my sister's room...I think I spied Blueberry Muffin tucked away with her huge frog collection.  It was about 2am so I didn't explore it much beyond that...I'll need to...maybe snap a picture so everybody can be sated on their curiosity as to just what the hell I'm talking about.

I hear my "furry" brother making noise - going to check that out!

Oh wait...I did mention the plane....coming from Atlanta, they packed us into a plane and we're preparing to leave (to the point I'd turned off my phone) when the plane made three bumps.  Turns out the hitch or something broke.  The guy behind me actually was going into great detail to his seatmate about what was that meant.  It only made for a 10 minute delay while the mechanic decided it wasn't going to kill us upon landing...but crikey...lol

I May Be A Prodigal Son* But....

I feel more like a fatted calf....

My Grandmother has been visiting (living?) with my parents for some time now and originally the plan was that she and Mom would head this way for a visit.  Somehow I've either been talked into...or this weird moment of logic hit - you guys can decide....  And I'm headed East to NC to visit my family.

To put it mildly....I'm nervous.  How sad is that - you go almost a decade without visiting family and suddenly are a big pansy baby about it.  It's silly, I know that and yet ...meh....

I suppose I'm really just a homebody - I like being able to go home from work and just get into the rhythm of my family.  To minimize issues at work, I'm going on what would be my days off from it....unfortunately, that means all the stuff I get to do on my days off can't be done.  My days off are prime days to spend with E, who spends far too much time on his own - they're also the days I get to make lunches and fix hair - the moments of mommyhood that I miss out on with my early to work schedule. That being said, I take care of everyone in my family...leaving them just....feels very wrong.  Even if I did slave about getting some meals tucked into the freezer for easy prep so E or even the Elfling know what's available for dinner (without having pizza every night I'm gone) and can put it together easily.

One of my biggest hurdles to overcome with this trip is dealing with the travel.  I'm not so much afraid to fly as I am of small areas filled with people. Sounds funny coming from someone who's traveled overseas, right?  But I'm sure it's documented that I do NOT use on board loo's....that small an enclosed space....just thinking about it makes me queasy.

Nonetheless, my backpack's got the essentials - lapper, charger for my phone and emergency chocolate rations and my carry on's got some clothes.  After work, it's straight to the airport!

Who knows - maybe I'll have something new to add about going through security.  After all, I've got liquids this time.  Following that 3-1-1 rule, of course...god, I hope.  I may break into loud weeping otherwise.

*Btw, I realize I'm a daughter, not a son, but come on - you know what I'm talking about here.... (:

Resolutions...ha!

I can't believe I last posted January 1st and here it is,the last day of the first month of 2012 and I'm just now making it back.  On the bright side, it's mostly because I've been pretty busy around here and today I'm writing in pretty high spirits - hooray!

Generally, this is a quiet time of the month here at...the hotel... but we've had contractors afoot around here.  They're definitely keeping everybody on their toes - everything from faxes to out going mail to laundry services.  I'm kinda liking it though cause a busy day makes for a short day....woohoo!

The big thing that happened this month was Mom came to visit.  This was really a momentous event cause E hasn't seen her in 14 years, the Elfling and I in 13 years and the Diva was just getting to meet her for the first time.  In a way it kills me to sit here and realize what lost blog moments this visit was as we had a lot of lost time to make up for.  A few highlights go a bit like this:

I hope seeing her at the airport is a memory that is forever embedded in my mind.  We were all waiting down near the baggage claim when E suddenly took off into the crowd.  I haven't seen him move that fast in years - to meet his mom.  They hugged for the longest time and it was just...this beautiful moment - mother and son together again after such a long time.  Till she loosened her hold on him, smiled and then playfully tugged his beard saying, "Oh, I think it's cute!"  If I hadn't had a reason to laugh, I may have wept from the moment.

We had soo much FUN!  With no plan for what to do - everyday seemed a new adventure regardless if it was hanging out or hitting the mall. I had to work for most of the stay but coming home was always so exciting - who knew what we'd cook up or work on.  This visit was such a great chance to reconnect.

Now I may blog about this, but mom's super creative and she really helped leave her mark on the house in two arrangements we made.  Every time I see them, I can't help but grin.  She's also drawn a picture - one that's part of her series on fish - this one's my own, personal Angry Fish - totally cool looking!

Her leaving was the worst of it - and it seems even Texas was reluctant to let her go.  We watched her make her way through security before heading out to what turned out to be an incredibly foggy Friday morning and went off to run some errands.  Finishing up with them, she called to say that they delayed her flight...cause of the fog!  Oh...and then her plane broke down and needed to be towed back to the gate.

Regardless, we're already planning for another visit sometime this year (fingers crossed)...I can't wait!

It's a Redux!

How did you celebrate New Years?  I've never been one to go out and party and this year was no exception.  In fact, I'm here at work, bright eyed and bushy tailed...though already my sinuses are bothering me.  Yeah I know...winter and I have allergies brewing? Go fig...  However, it was a nice evening in with E and the girls.  We snacked on appetizers and watched movies.  Come midnight, I was already in bed, feeling old...cause seriously - I'm in bed??  I was awake but still...ugh...can we blame it on the fact I get up at 5am and am at work now?  With all the fun of last night, my thoughts wandered to here.  It's been two months and I'm going to shove aside the shame I feel at neglecting my postings and move forward.

I was looking over my past entries to see if I've ever hit a New Years sort of post and found I did one two years ago.  Two weeks after the year started.  I've still maintained a belief that resolutions tend to lay to rack and ruin. With me at least. I was very vague about what the ones I kept silent on were and I have to say.  Two years later, the big one in my mind wasn't a total fail and it's one I can and do keep going to.

This year I'd like to change my stance a little - perhaps they are resolutions but I'm not going to call it that.  These are things in mind - some are things that I have been working on, albeit, sporadically and other things are ones that I have wanted or need to do.

My big resolution two years ago was in regards to using Flylady and it's been really touch and go.  Since then, I've taken some of the advice to heart and work on the habits the system tries to instill. It's really frustrating how hard it is to maintain a good habit but this year I'm really going to try to keep at it.

For quite some time I was a very steady writer and, in truth, have amassed a small stack of small notebooks with my scrawl in them.  I'd like to start devoting some time to figuring out what I've got and organizing.  This extends to here as well.  There have been times when I had things to share and didn't for one reason or another.  I'm hoping with 2012, to release some of my restraint and deluded idea of perfectionism and post here more.

Another big thing I'd like to touch on is walking my dog more.  While she has a ginormous yard to run riot in (and trust me, she does), I think that walks would do us both good.  Shes' very much a pack animal - one that's never far from my side when I'm home and as her most favourite person in the world, I should take her out more.

The last thing that's come to mind is that I really need to go through my massive recipe collection.  Ever since the early days of marriage, I've been gathering from various sources and have some that I use, some I've used that didn't turn out and some that I'd like to try and yet plenty that I think are fantasies - like when am I ever going to get to make a tiered cake?  lol  Anyhow - with the Elfling old enough to cook and the Diva getting there, I'd love to have a collection I can share with them, one that they could take with them when they're older.

So those are some things I want to keep in mind for the year 2010.  I hope that everybody has a very happy new year - good fortunes and luck for all.

Frustrations

I know my situation isn't a unique one so if I come off as bitching like I'm the only one who has to go through this, forgive me, skip the post, whatever.

This morning I got a call from someone at E's neurosurgeon's office because they couldn't get a hold of him.  No biggie, he generally doesn't answer the phone unless he has to so I figured he didn't recognize the number and ignored it.  So I call to relay the message and *I* can't get a fucking hold of him.  Argh!  So frustrating. 

That is the story of my life these days.  I work all day, come home to a housework, dinner, homework with the kids and quite frankly?  I don't do as good a job of it with ANY of it.  Fuck, I feel like a failure. I'm sitting here bored at work and right now it just has me in tears.  I SHOULD be at home.

 My home is a house - a messy house that I'm too freaking tired to clean properly.  After school, I should be there - I want to be there to have a snack with my kids, to be there for homework time - to suggest an article for the Elfling to do her weekly current events paper on - to nudge the Diva into writing about a book she read to turn into her class.  Dinner shouldn't be some frantically thought up thing based on something that E hopefully took out to thaw.  Yeah, in light of a time when we hear of so many people who's dinners come from fast food day in and day out - thank god I'm cooking...but I just wish it weren't so frenetic and depressing all rolled into one. 

I know, I know...baby steps and setting up routines is the way to go but what do you do when you're too bloody tired for even that?

And You Smell Like One Too!

So yesterday was the Elfling's birthday and it seems today's title was our battle cry of the day. No longer is the traditional birthday song good enough for this family - we sing birthday ala Futurama!  It wouldn't be complete with that line, as added by Fry.  Ironically, my sister was subjected to the same raucousness exactly a month ago.  lol

Despite all the singing, the day was a pretty quiet one - we try to stay with the tradition of the birthday girl (or guy, I suppose) of having the dinner or restaurant of their choice.  The Elfling, of course, made a choice that E nixed right off the back because of his back.  Well, that and he doesn't particularly care for the place, but mostly, they have horrible chairs that are hell on his back.  I searched in vain for an acceptable substitution (for Chinese) and failed.  It really is sad how lacking we are in really, really good Chinese; though after the awesomeness of what was our favourite place in Sindelfigen, I'm not sure ANY place will ever reach such heights of amazing.  *sighs*

Plan B turned to Plan C when the (apparently) still brand new Cheddars was jam packed at the very beginning of dinner (we're talking, like, 5pm) so we wound up at the same place we did last year.  This is not a bad thing, given we all like steak and birthdays were made for streak.  Or Chinese.  I couldn't help but smile with the joy of the secret of the Elf's gift as she lamented about our house rule of "no zombie games".  But I also couldn't help but fondly contemplate her first birthday.

Her first birthday was also on a Saturday Never mind...her birthday was NOT on a Saturday but we celebrated on a Saturday...Or maybe it was Friday...or Halloween.  Regardless, at that point E was in the Navy - we'd been living in the Chicago area for less than a month and so our idea of a party for a one year old?  A pile of underage drinkers!  I made her cake that year, decorated with hand piped gel frosting frogs...maybe a smiling sun.  But definitely frogs.  I don't remember what toy(s) she got but I'll never forget the outfit.  It was 3 piece set of warm red and blue plaid pants, a white long sleeved shirt with a red and blue flower and a red and blue jacket.  Seriously cute!  Soon after cake and the crash that followed her sugar high, she was tucked into bed and the remaining party goers got drunk.  Good times...good times.

Thirteen years later, we're a bit beyond that.  It was a nice dinner out where everybody was too full on that addictive brown bread and appetizers to finish dinner and yet surprisingly not when it came time to drag out the cake.  Remember that house rule on no zombie games?  This year I mentioned it to E that just cause they scare the crap out of us, we don't have to play the game so why not get her one that she wants? 

My ears are still ringing from that excited scream she gave when she unwrapped Left for Dead.