Groceries::chore

Deodorant::I live in the desert

Psychic:: not so much

Cherries::yummy

Spooky::halloween!

Yogurt::snack

Kitchen::a happy place

Nothing personal::you know it

Be Nice::I try

Delivery::Pizza

Pre-punishment?

I'm looking forward to October. 

I get to turn another year older. 

Metallica will be in town. 

I am hoping to run a 5k with my dad. 

One of my best friends is coming down for a visit. 

I am going to Disneyland with the famdamily. (Do they serve beer at the Happiest Place on Earth? I'm looking forward to walking around the park drinking with my parents.)

Halloween! 

While my friend is in town, I'm going to work half-days since I'm using all of my vacation for the Disneyland trip. Getting off of work at noon will be sweet. 

The payment for all this? 

My boss is having surgery tomorrow and I expect him to be out for at least a week. The warehouse manager at my store is on vacation starting tomorrow and will be gone all of next week as well. I've not done any of the reports/reviews in the month that I've been at my new post due to my manager wanting me to build a rapport with our customers. Guess what I get to start doing tomorrow? Yeah, all those reports and reviews. I actually brought one of the reports home tonight. It's still in my truck. I have to have it done by tomorrow at the end of the day. 

I must bleed Blue. 

This sucks. 

Horribly awesome.

My neck has some sort of knot in it. Not in the back part of the neck, no, towards the front, by the ear. Yeah, there, by where you can feel your pulse. If you're not a zombie. 

People are weird. 

It tried so hard to storm in the East Valley today. Nothing but dust wind. 

This made me laugh.

Happy.

My mom drove down from Babylon for a quick visit this weekend. 

It was fun being a grown-up with my mom. We had a few adult beverages, we played golf on a beautiful Saturday morning, I made her breakfast, we took a nap, and she ensured that at least my down-stairs neighbors will hate me with the installation of the speakers and amp. 

I think she fell in love with Oddie. After Sweet Pea, The Psycho Kitty from Hell,  you tend to lose what little faith (if any) you have in feline-kind. Oddie redeems the species a bit. He's a 19 pound lovie watch-dog type of cat that mom thinks needs a salt-lick. 

"You can't pick up chicks in a tank!"

My boss is going to have to have some sort of emergency surgery. He's generally okay but not okay enough to avoid surgery. 

I'm hoping I get to play in the company golf tournament this year. I'm not a hack but I'm not great. I muddle through and usually enjoy the frustration that is golf. Hopefully, we'll play best ball and it will all work out and be fun. 

My favorite vendor done screwed up, yet again. I again made a phone call to let them know of the issue. Fortunately, it was a mistake that we (meaning mainly the warehouse guys) were able to fix with no major headaches but plenty of belly-aching by my warehouse guys (and I don't blame them for bitching, not a bit). Happily, a manager at this vendor's office, had some DBacks tickets available. I was able to score two pairs for our trouble. I had the warehouse manager pick a game he wanted to go to and I picked for the other pair. 

Our branch is also getting lunch courtesy of this vendor. Long story short on that one? While in town visiting our branch, a manager for this vendor spoke with one of the more vocal warehouse guys, the manager left his card with the warehouse guy. The warehouse guy called that manager and expressed his dismay at this recent screw-up and we are now getting pizza for 15 people. 

Yay?

Why is it that most every weekend, I'm searching for things to do and this weekend I've been invited to do 10 different things?? WTF?  I don't mind though, my mommy is coming to see me! Hopefully, we'll get to play a round of golf too! 

Poor Oddie

Last night he suffered the indignity of a bath.

I have a really awesome smelling jarred candle that lives in the middle of the coffee table. When I light it, I leave it there. I figure the cat is at least smart enough to stay mostly away from the candle.  Up until tonight, Oddie has done me proud in that assumption. The cat might be smart enough, but tonight, his tail wasn't. 

The candle is still burning. I'm now trying to cover the smell of burnt hair. 

Poor dude.

One Year

One year ago today, my dad went into surgery for prostate cancer. 

He's doing well. He's a strong and stubborn man, my father. 

A few weeks before the surgery is when he told me had cancer. It was after we had played a round of golf. We were sitting in front of the pro-shop at the executive course by the fairgrounds. He was standing up, cleaning his sunglasses and I was sitting down on the bench when he told me, "Rach, I have cancer."

It took a second to process and then I started to cry. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe it, it had to be some crazy Yaqui Indian test. 

I told him, "NO. You don't."

"YES, I do." he replied. 

I know that there were other things said; questions asked and answered. He told me to stop crying. I did. Mostly. 

I was scared. Not for me. For him. Okay, maybe a bit for me.  

We drove down the road, in our own vehicles, to the Denny's by the freeway. I sat facing the window. In the parking lot that the Denny's shared with the hotel there were Florico dancers and Mariachi's getting ready to go somewhere. We talked about treatment. It would be surgery. I stated that I would move back home with him while he recuperated. Six weeks, six months, I didn't care, I was going back home to be with him. We ate breakfast, drank our coffee, talked about business. I teared up but didn't cry. It was almost normal.

We went our separate ways. 

I called my mom. I started crying again. You know that cry where the sobs are wracking your body and you can barely breathe? I was fighting that type of crying. I told her, I told my step-dad (who has been in my life almost as long as I can remember and who has been nothing but wonderful to me, despite the amazing asshole I was while growing up.). He offered words of encouragement and made me feel a little better before he handed the phone back to Mom. Mom also gave me words of encouragement. She heard me crying and asked me "Where are you?" 

"I'm on the freeway." I replied through my tears. 

"You're driving?"

"Uh-huh."

"And talking on the phone. And crying." 

"I'm multi-tasking." I say, laughing a bit through the tears.

It's been a year since The Surgery. Dad says he's going to start training for a 5k in October. It's on my birthday. 

I'm a lucky, lucky girl. 

The Brown Castle

Hey old girl.

I knew you once. I recognize you but you're not the same.

I've walked the halls and you're no longer the school that I grew up in. 

The stairwells and halls that I walked as an intimidated freshman and as a confident senior. 

The lockers in the basement with the locks that always gave me grief, the windows where friends would meet in the mornings and lunch to discuss the day, music, the people, the events and non-events alike. 

The Bowl where I had to bring 300 fellow cadets to attention with only my little lungs.

The courtyard where I was able to salute our Flag while hearing Taps played by two trumpets and a 21 gun salute that never failed to bring tears to my eyes. 

The courtyard where I jumped into a fight and got my head slammed into a bus. 

It's all there but the minutiae that was part of the memories is gone. 

You've been given a facelift, your insides have been re-arranged, you've been given the chance to continue to be a part of history. Personal and otherwise. 

sad but true

I'm listening to the rock radio station in Seattle. 

I'm playing bejewled. 

Metallica has announced North American tour dates. 

I am a content girl. 

I will be super happy if I can score tickets to the show in October. 

*Happy Dance*

I ran the race this morning. 

One of my coworkers picked me up at the butt-crack of dawn. The sun was still waking up while we were driving to the race site. This race was at South Mountain park, it's a beautiful park and there's been enough rain lately so the smell of creosote was pretty strong. I'll take the desert smelling like creosote rather than dust like it usually does. 

My dad met me at the park, it was nice knowing there was someone there to meet me at the finish.  

For not ever running a race before I'm pretty proud of myself. I kept my own pace and thankfully my body didn't give me too much grief (during the run anyway, tomorrow could be a whole other ball game). 

My official race time? 34:23. 

I did it! 

Trying to relax

1. Month to month :: bills


2. Adjusted :: back


3. Prank :: not so much


4. Mop :: of hair


5. Clarity :: mind


6. Parenting :: not for me


7. Glenn :: forest


8. Fingerprint :: just me


9. Pineapple :: juice; daycare


10. Attorney :: no life

The race is tomorrow morning. I'm ready as I'm going to be. I feel that I will do well, depending on the overall outcome, I may be running an even longer distance in January. 

Random

"If we cuss, are you going to turn us in?"

I had this asked of me when I visited the store I was going to be working at when I first started with this company. I had just been introduced to the three or four warehouse guys, on my way in to meet the counter guys and store manager. The guy who asked it? A guy about my fathers' age, give or take a few years, who worked in the warehouse.

All I could do was laugh. I told them of course not, I had grown up around the military and I had dated a sailor. I can cuss a blue-streak with the best/worst of them and occasionally forget my manners and do. Out loud. 

Mom, I know you're proud and Wood, I learned half of the choice phrases from you. I think mainly from when you were driving the Bug. ;)  

Who wants this with their toast?

Only in the Desert

There's a nice steady rain here in my part of the Valley. 

The thunder is rolling in the distance, the lightening flashes in the sky, not at all a menace but a welcome gift. 

I'm getting ready to sit on my porch and enjoy the weather. 

Only in the desert do people sit on the porch to watch it rain. 

Cap'n Obvious

Cabernet Sauvignon does not go so well with a de-constructed sushi bowl.

White Knuckles

I've been pretty industrious today.

I went to the gym, did some laundry, started making breakfast sausages, took a nap, went to my hockey game (my line had 0 points, go us!), went to dinner with my dad and long time friend Stevie G, and came home. Once home, I finished making the breakfast sausages (I doubled the recipe and ended up w/ 19 patties) and made my lunch for tomorrow. 

If I don't fall asleep quickly tonight, I'm gonna be upset. 

Crazy Saturday.

Another list.

1. Crankiness :: I'm getting better

2. Backpack :: Miss it (not the 40# of it, but what it represented, pursuit of knowledge)

3. Clone :: wars

4. High Ground :: moral

5. Dreams :: bittersweet

6. Lovingly :: held

7. Mistake :: several

8. Carson :: daily, nevada??

9. Errand :: a few

10. Dozen :: eggs

...Damn it! I'm out of beer. 

It never fails.

This still cracks me up. To the point where it's hard to breathe, I'm laughing so hard. This has made me laugh since I saw it over a year ago. 

I don't get it either. 

Thanks to my friend Queen Claudia for sending this to me, it made a long frustrating day a whole lot better.