I don't have good junk

We had a garage sale yesterday and it was a bust. I know that holiday weekends aren't the best for garage sales, but that's when we had time to do it. The good thing is, even though we didn't have that many customers, it wasn't a total waste of time because we both worked in the yard while we were waiting. And afterwards, we took all the unsold stuff to Goodwill so at least they were out of the house.

My "girl" stuff (nicknacks, kitchen stuff) didn't sell that well except for the Tupperware. A put out a tool box and work light; both drew a lot of attention. He sold them for less than hoped for. Hardly any of my scrapbook stuff sold except for miscellanous stickers. Who knew, lol! I'll be taking the scrap stuff to a crop to give away and then whatever they don't want, will be donated somewhere. I can't, can't, can't let it back into my stash!

I don't know how people can sell hundreds of dollars of stuff at a garage sale. Do they just have better stuff than I do? I can't believe that my stuff is that crappy, lol.

So what's five pounds to you?

I joined a new website, SparkPeople.com, in the hopes of improving my eating habits and losing five pounds. Not that I have bad eating habits, mind you. I like the food tracker so I can check the nutritional mix of what I'm eating. In some ways, I'm doing much better than I thought. No problem with the cholesterol or sodium, except when I hit the fast foods. It is hard to avoid that when going out to lunch with my coworkers. But as hard as I try, I just can't seem to up my fiber intake. I've even taken to snacking on high fiber cereal. Unfortunately, some of the high fiber foods I like are also high sodium. I defintely don't have any blood pressure problems, but I think health-wise, I'd like to avoid as much sodium as possible. Miso soup provides half the amount of daily fiber needed, but 5X the sodium. Unfortunately, I don't think it is a good tradeoff.

I'm a bit discouraged with people say, oh, you're so thin, you don't need to lose weight. Well, my five pounds are like the last five pounds that are so hard to take off. It has been a real struggle and yes, I do need to lose those five pounds. My clothes don't fit right and it is five pounds more than what I weighed last year. Five pounds is almost another clothing size on me. So please, try to encourage my efforts instead of discounting them.

Am I invisible?

Sometimes I just don't feel the love on the message boards I frequent. I know I'm not part of the "in" crowd, but I thought there were people who might miss me or respond to my posts or something (not that I've been posting that often). Maybe I just need to be less of a lurker and more of a leader? I am soooooo not the leader type (despite what my job title at work says, lol).

A lack of topics

Since I've put a couple of major aspects of my life off limits for my blog, sometimes I feel like I can't blog about anything. I don't blog about work because I'm afraid of being "dooced." (Look up dooce on wikipedia.com if you don't know what I'm talking about.) And I won't talk about family online either because of privacy concerns. I don't feel like adding to the immigration controversy or discussing the state of the economy. And I deleted my one big vent a couple of days ago (did anyone catch it before I deleted it?).

Stay tuned. I'll think of something to talk about soon, lol.

Wow, I have a reader!

Those of you who blog know how motivating it is to receive comments. Thanks S! Of course, if I blogged more often, it might motivate you to leave more comments, lol.

Happy Mother's Day!

And since it is Mother's Day, I'm full of advice...even if I'm not a mother. ;)

First, Trader Joe's is a great place to buy Mother's Day flowers. We were there yesterday and their buyers and merchandisers obviously planned ahead. In addition to the usual display of cut flowers and potted flowers, there was a large multitiered table of orchids and another table of potted arrangements. They also had some nice potted baskets, but I only know that because shoppers were carrying them. There weren't any left to buy.

Second, grocery shopping on Mother's Day morning is a breeze. I got a late start and usually when that happens, the store is mobbed--there aren't any close parking spaces and all the sales items are picked over or worse, sold out. But today I didn't have any problems. All the sale items I wanted were available and I got out of the store spending less than I thought I would, even with splurging on an issue of Real Simple.

Third, don't forget to call your mother!

How does your garden grow?

I've been spending my weekends working in my garden and unfortunately, I don't have much to show for it. My carpooler asked to see my yard so I brought him out back. Boy, it looks pretty sad. Fallen tomato cages everywhere, garden tools here and there, big patches of dirt. Hopefully, everything will look more impressive in another couple months. By then, the tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash will have flowers (or even fruit!) and the beets will be ready to harvest.

At last the front yard looks nice. My roses are bigger than ever! The largest I've ever seen them and the white frequent flyer has already bloomed twice since I planted it last year.

Do you have a garden?

My not-so-good week continues

So this morning, I'm preparing something to eat and decide I'll use up some leftover Mexican food to make a burrito. Unfortunately, I think it was starting to turn bad so I decided not to risk it and tossed everything.

On to plan 2...as I was rummaging through the freezer, a bag of frozen peas came open and, you guessed it, all over the kitchen floor. Maybe this is a subconcious effort on my part to clean the house? First the bathroom and now the kitchen?

So I put together a snack and it needed to be steam cooked. I just checked the pot and the water wasn't even boiling. What the heck!??!!! Yep, I didn't turn the burner on. Yep, I'm starving. Yep, I'm NOT in a good mood, lol.

It is soooo not my week

Last week, I took a road trip to see my folks and left a day earlier in the hopes of seeing my SIL. But she had to leave the day before I got there because of the weather.

I was going to help the ladies at my mom's church make dumplings for their fundraiser, but they got a late start and I could only help one day. And I could not change my plans and stay longer because I had to be back in the office since my boss was on vacation and the other dept. lead is still on maternity leave.

Every day there was a crisis in the office. Usually, I can handle them just fine. But with being short-handed and every crisis having big ramifications, I was quite stressed.

Yesterday, I got a call about a family crisis.

Last, but not least, I've come down with the flu. So I've been miserable in bed all day (except for some computer time). Orprah wasn't even interesting today.

I decided to treat myself to a bath. Unfortunately, I knocked over the shampoo bottle, which in turn knocked over my water. Then I ran out of hot water.

Thank goodness tomorrow is another day!

Crop and money woes

I should be working (yes, even at this hour), but I took a break to check out my favorite scrapbook site (lifetimemoments.com). There is lots of chatter about the big November crop. I want to go and DH is okay with that (I missed last year's so I really want to go), but I'm freaking out about money. We just don't have any extra with his job change and my potential cut in income.

I decided to depress myself by calculating my bonuses and pay increases for the past ten years. Of course, during the internet boom years, everyone did well, no matter where you worked. But now? Well, with the company deciding to go with a new employee evaluation system that I can't figure out, plus the current US business model of do more with less, it looks like I will have to work harder than ever to not make as much money. Do you know how depressing it is to work the hardest you've ever had at a job and know that you might make less money per year? We haven't had any reorganizations in my department, nor RIFs (reduction in force), but we have had two people move on and only one of them has been replaced (so far). Add to that someone out on long-term leave and we're all under a bit of stress.

So now the big dilemma. Spend the money or not? It isn't a matter of saving up for the trip. Those of you who know me well, know that saving $ isn't a problem. I always live within my means. But should I spent the $ on something as frivious as scrapbooking or should I replenish my savings? Sigh, sometimes I wish I wasn't so darn practical.

Update your blogs!

I finally added a post to mine. Now how about you? L and K, I see you updated yours so you two are off the hook, lol. But one of you hasn't updated in a month!

Fat or not?

I know I'm not fat, but why do people think that I have a mental or emotional problem if I want to lose some weight? Not a lot, just a few pounds. I don't really care about the number, though I would like it to be less. I'm running out of close that fit and my "fat" clothes are now my everyday clothes. So yes, my current weight is a problem. And why do people think that if I'm not heavily overweight it should be easier? Proportionally, I have more weight to lose than a lot of people. Wish me luck.

2006

I can't believe it is 2006. Sometimes I still write 2005, even three months later. I finished a scrapbook page and dated it 1995 instead of 2005. I must be in denial about growing up.

Remember when you were a kid and vacation seemed so long? That there seemed to be all the time in the world to do anything you want? Now I'm always rushing from here to there, scheduling this or that. I can't keep up with everything that needs to get done so something always get left behind (usually the laundry and housekeeping).

It seems that all my planning is for the future and not taking time to enjoy the present. I don't know how to change that. :(

Easy come, easy go

I played bunco this weekend and boy, did I make up for all those months of not winning anything. I had high score and most buncos! Of course, I took the prize that paid out the most, which was most buncos. Woo hoo! $45! Doing the happy dance!

Sunday, we went grocery shopping and got our usual $50 cash back (gotta love that Discover card). Later that afternoon, A couldn't find the cash. He thinks it fell out of his pocket at another store. I sure hope the lucky finder appreciates his good luck.

I'm tired

These 9, 10, 11 hour days are killing me. Add in the commute time and lunch and I'm gone more than half the day. And we're just starting our "busy season." Is it time to look for a new job? Or should I just suck it up and be happy I'm employed?

This wasn't the Academy Awards

The professional organization I belong to has an annual competition. This competition is important to my profession. If you win an award, it looks great on a resume or personnel review. You get kudos from your colleagues. It can open doors (it is how I got my current job). So it is just like the Academy Awards. Actually better. When you show up at the fancy dinner, you already know you've won an award. You just don't know which one; it could be one of three levels.

My department is fortunate that the company pays for several entries each year. It is good publicity for the department and company. So each year, just like the Academy Awards, there are hurt feelings, cries of why wasn't my work submitted, why wasn't my name on an entry, and in general, much whining before and after the competition. First of all, I don't make the rules. The professional society and competition organizers do. Second, I don't pick the names on the entries (we are limited to three and many projects involve more people than that). My manager does that. Third, just grow up people! If you don't like what's being done, you take care of this next year!

Since we are limited to three names on an entry (thus better than the Academy Awards), the three main contributors should be listed, right? But that's where the hurt feelings come in. If a project was based on a previous project, who gets credit? You might have done the work this year, but was it substantially different from the original project? Who contributed the most (and what does that mean anyway)? And if you didn't get to submit last year, do you get to submit this year? Sometimes, names are added as "sympathy" entries for whatever reason (just like the Academy Awards). And it really pisses me off when those people win.

RSVP?

Do people think that that's on the invitation just to take up space? I've been to several events in the past month where people either showed up without responding or said they would come, but didn't. In the first case, there weren't enough seats for everyone and the restaurant staff had to scramble to squeeze everyone in. Yes, the events were casual, but seating arrangements still had to be made. Of course, the non-respondents were oblivous to the trouble they caused since they couldn't be bothered with thinking about anyone but themselves. In the second case, the hostess purchased extra goodies for the kids and extra food for everyone who didn't show up, thus spending more money than she needed to. I hate thoughtless people!

Breath in, breath out

Sometimes my coworkers drive me crazy. Unfortunately, I don't feel like I can vent about it here or on my favorite MB because I don't want to be "dooced." It is sooooooo frustrating!

Today is Tuesday?

Opps! After a whirlwind long weekend of scrap classes, family visits, and running errands, I forgot that today was Tuesday. What's so special about Tuesday? Nothing really, except the Olympic women's figure skating competition starts tonight.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the skaters. It is times like this that I wish I had cable and TIVO. I'd like to see more coverage and watch at my convenience, not the network's.

The Olympics

I'm suffering from lack of sleep. The Olympics are on way too late, plus I can't get anything done while they are on. What I really need to do is prepare just like the athletes do. Freeze some dinners so I don't have to cook. Make sure the laundry and housekeeping are all caught up so by the time the Olympics finish, I'm not living in a pig sty. Okay, so I have two years to prepare for the Summer Olympics, lol.

I was disappointed that Michelle Kwan had to drop out. I don't think she would have won a gold medal, but perhaps she could have won a bronze. And even if she didn't, she could show those young whipper snappers what artistry in skating really is.

Some people don't like the Olympic medals this year, but I do. They are creative, attractive, unusual. MSN had a poll of the favorite Winter Olympic medals from the past 11 Olympics. Lillehammer came in first and Sarajevo came in last. Turin came in third. You can also vote for your favorite Olympic medal.

I love the Budweiser commercials. The little colt with his big dreams brings tears to my eyes every time. Yeah, I blubber at all the Hallmark commercials too.