However Although Thus Several Several

I think it's neat how

1) Because he's still just as precious as ever, I'm not embarrassed to say that I had the BIGGEST most ridiculous crush on Donny Osmond when I was a child.

2) Taking a class or two can make me forget (for a moment) to dread going back to work the next morning. 

3)  Acquiring a MacBook Pro can make life so much easier. Oh, Apple. Sigh.

4) The snake on our porch knew better than to show up when I was around.

5) There are college kids around here (mostly male) who impress me daily with their wisdom, intelligence and maturity. (Maybe a total of 3?)

6) I haven't killed any of the ones who don't fit in the above category - yet.

7) Smucker's Uncrustables now come on whole wheat bread.

8) Macy Gray doesn't give a flying rat's ass what anyone thinks about her.

9) Kelly Osborne can even get out of bed - much less ballroom dance.

10) I have so much free time I can spend my evenings watching such nonsense rather than reading the 75 chapters and 92 articles I've been assigned to read.   

That's all for now.

Reality getting in my way

The real reasons I haven't written more lately:

1. Work: I'm insanely busy with nothing that matters and completely overwhelmed by all that does. There are people and situations there (as I'm sure I've mentioned before) making me crazy. There's nothing I can do about it right now other than just continue to try to improve my reactions to said people and situations. That's much more difficult than it sounds. I promise.

2. Television: Both good and bad TV sucking me in lately. I hate to even say that, though, because I watch far less TV than most people I know. I'm on a bit of a reality show kick. I'm sure that says something about me and my reality, but I would like to skip that discussion for now. I've become obsessed with "Ruby." She's adorable. I catch myself slipping into her accent every now and then. I'm also digging "Police Women of Broward County." Andrea reminds me of Bobbie Jo in many ways. Clean House makes me both disgusted and giddy. And I've loved "Big Medicine" forever. I know what you are thinking - I'm a huge nerd. I know there are some great shows out there right now. I hear y'all talking about them, see you tweeting about them. I know I can't even start watching it (True Blood) or I will be hooked forever. I can't make that type of commitment right now.

3. Grief: Still working though my emotions surrounding my mom. Some days are better than others. I had forgotten that this time of year (back to school) would remind me so much of her. So I've had some come aparts lately - mostly in the school supply aisles of random retail establishments. Although a little embarrassing and inconvenient, I imagine that will be how it is for a long while.

Just thought you might want to hear my excuses. What's keeping you from writing these days?

I come by it honestly

My dad is retiring from his longtime news anchor gig this month. I'm having a hard time believing he is old enough to retire...but he insists it will be just fine. As part of the celebration / remembrance of his career at the TV station where he works, the evening news has featured stories lately on his favorite things. Naturally his dogs won the "Who are Daddy's favorites" competition. Even though my human sisters and brother and I aren't even mentioned in this story - I like it.

This just in

Thought I would let you know that However365 is updated now. I know you've been worried about that.

And guess what? I won a prize in this Photojojo giveaway on I Heart Faces! How cool is that? If you have never experienced Photojojo, then I suggest you go there now and sign up for the newsletter. And then once you get all the tips and tricks and schtuff to take some boss photos, head over to I Heart Faces and enter one of the contests. It's a really fun site.

OK - gotta go watch Idol. It's Motown night!

Fret / Tweet Overload

I've decided that I am overwhelmed by social media. Twitter and Facebook are the main culprits. Probably Twitter more than anything. I discovered TweetDeck and I am obsessed with keeping up with the timelines and the columns and the @replies and the DM's. It's crazy. And don't even get me started about blip.fm. (Let's just say I'm an awesome DJ. Can I get a w00t w00t?)

I imagine my fascination and exploration will come to a grinding halt when I return to work on Monday, but I've had a great time "meeting" folks and finding new peeps to follow and picking up followers. So I mean "overwhelmed" in the nicest sense of the word. I think I've read more articles and stories as a result of tiny URL's in the last three weeks than I read all of last year. I feel so educated and enlightened...but alas, I have bills to pay, so I have to go back there. Back to work. And it's worrying me...for several reasons. Let's explore those reasons together, shall we?

Reasons I am worried about going back to work Monday

Reason #1: I have to wear a bra for at least eight hours in a row.

Reason #2: I don't think I can install TweetDeck on my office machine without getting someone else involved. And that someone else really doesn't need to know that I would be playing on Twitter at work. Not that he even knows what Twitter is. He just knows it isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. And he will tattle.

Reason #3: I will not be able to continue my role as Clover's personal assistant. Who will jump up and go running to her every single time she sits in the kitchen making that high pitched dog cry? She needs me.

Reason #4: Pajama pants are not appropriate business attire.

Reason #5: I have very little use of my left arm still. How will I carry my misto and use the Tweetie app on my iPhone while walking up and down the stairs at the Ferg?

Reason #6: How will I keep up with Ashton Kutcher and John Mayer? Not to mention, Ellen. Dear God, I almost forgot about Ellen.

I think I will stop there. I'm getting more and more depressed. Truth be told, my main worry is that my educated and enlightened self will be fading away come Monday. I would like to think I will return to work full of ideas and optimism and energy, but it's just not likely in my current environment. And yes, I realize I could be to blame for that. But I'm just not sure what to do about it. That's what worries me the most, really. That and the fact that I will have to wear shoes.

i can haz life back plz?

So I can't take Lortab. It makes me crazy. Like at one point I woke up thinking I was Bullwinkle and it sucked that my rack wouldn't fit through the front door at Zaxby's because I sure would like some boneless wings for lunch.

Yeah.

Crazy.

By Sunday I was sitting on the sofa in a full on come apart sobbing and sweating and freaking PJ the eff out.

So I quit it.

Cold Turkey.

And let me tell you, the pain is intense. It's the kind of pain that makes you dizzy and nauseous. But it's really nice to have my mind back. I'm taking Darvocet now, and although it makes me really queasy and I still have hot flashes, it helps some. My choices of pain relievers are limited due to my gastric bypass surgery in 2004. I know. Wah wah wah.

I'm making progress in physical therapy they say (something about my range of motion improving), but yesterday I had to stop mid-exercise because I was suddenly overcome with the pain and nausea. I made a mad dash for the tiny little bathroom to vomit my guts out. I'm sure every patient heard me since you can even hear people peeing in there, but they all acted like it wasn't a big deal when I came out a few minutes later having washed my faced and stared at myself in the mirror until the nausea passed. Luckily my therapist decided we should try a different exercise - something less painful - and I was fine in a few minutes. I felt like such a pathetic baby when I left that I went to my favorite meat and three for comfort food and then came home and went to bed.

Sometimes I forget why I did this. Did my shoulder really bother me enough to warrant this? Probably. And I feel like I'm through the worst part, so I'll be fine. I'll be much better when I can stop all pain medication and feel like I can have a logical train of thought that doesn't include trying to remember what time Ellen comes on and what station Oprah is on and should I wear flannel pajamas or knit pajamas today.

This is my life right now. Complex and cosmopolitan as usual.

Now if you will excuse me - it's at least 768 degrees in this room...I need to go stick my head in the freezer.

Breaker, breaker

Sometimes people get on my nerves. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I just got snippy with the cashier at Publix for no particular reason. Just because he was there, and he was on the other end of the piece of crap debit card machine that was making me late returning from my lunch hour. I probably should go back and apologize to him...maybe another day. If I went back today there's no telling what would happen or what I might say. For now, he's better off without my apology.

So there's this big dog and pony show happening here tomorrow and I'm having a hard time conjuring up any real concern over it. I'm not even dreading it like I typically dread any and all meetings. I just don't really care about it. That, my friends, should be a LARGE red flag. It could be the calm before the storm. I'm due for a complete hissy fit and who knows? It might just happen tomorrow during this all day fiasco. Stay tuned.

Speaking of tomorrow - it's my last day of work for a good long while. I am having shoulder surgery Wednesday and won't be back at work until after spring break. (Can I get an "amen?" Sad, I know.) It's a minor surgery and the physical therapy should be the worst part, but I'm so ready for the thing to quit hurting that I would do just about anything at this point. For the last two nights I have had strange dreams that relate to the upcoming procedure. For instance, in one dream, the surgeon thought he was supposed to amputate my arm so when I woke up I only had a shoulder remaining, and the shoulder was still hurting - so I was pissed. Not pissed because my arm was missing, but pissed because my shoulder still hurt.

I updated However365 last night. I'm totally impressed with myself for keeping up with this project. I would be even more impressed if I took every photo with the Nikon, but I'm trying to make it easy, so some of them are taken with the iPhone...not the best quality, but still a glimpse of the rock star life I lead. I know you appreciate the inside scoop.

Thanks so much for all of your sweet comments about Hank. Sissy even called to tell me I have such sweet friends. I already knew that, though. I really appreciate your support and encouragement for all of us, but especially for her. Thank you.

I may be absent for a bit due to my surgery and resulting torture physical therapy, but I will try to tweet every now and then. I'm thinking Jen Lancaster is right when she says, "Twitter is the new CB radio." I'm getting hooked even though I don't say much. I do a whole lot of following and a good bit of researching trends and looking at tweets that my GPS finds near me. It's all fascinating. Especially if you are a big nerd like I am. If you're on Twitter, let me know in the comments so I can follow you. You can follow me, too, if you want: @howeveralthough, but like I said, I'm a little quiet. Not sure what that's about. I imagine that will change soon enough. (Insert same calm before the storm theory.)

Hey, does The Bachelor come on tonight? I think so! My mood just improved. (Even sadder, I know.) Maybe I should go see that cashier after all. Poor thing. He's probably still wondering what he did to make that woman with the Cheez-its and People go bat shit crazy on him.

(Yes, PJ, I bought a People just for you.)

Word

I almost forgot that I got this award from Lisa last week. Work is nuts right now so I filed it away to come back to later and when I saw it today I was happy all over again. Thanks, Lisa. I love your blog, too. And I love how you can always cheer me up. I'm looking forward to seeing you and the other Scrap, Etc. DT girls tomorrow night! It has been too long.

If I understand correctly I am now supposed to answer the following questions with a one word answer. I rarely answer anything with just one word so this could be tricky:

1. Where is your cell phone? purse

2. Where is your significant other? work

3. Your hair color? several

4. Your mother? gone

5. Your father? interesting

6. Your favorite thing? iPhone

7. Your dream last night? books

8. Your dream/goal? writer

9. The room you're in? ugh

10. Your hobby? scrapping

11. Your fear? death

12. Where do you want to be in six years? nothere ;)

13. Where were you last night? sofa

14. What you're not? satisfied

15. One of your wish list items? Greece

16. Where you grew up? Huffbuck

17. The last thing you did? vent

18. What are you wearing? boring

19. Your TV? heavy

20. Your pet? two

21. Your computer? Dell

22. Your mood? irritable

23. Missing someone? sure

24. Your car? reliable

25. Something you're not wearing? yamika

26. Favorite store? many

27. Your Summer? hot

28. Love someone? absolutely

29. Your favorite color? green

30. When is the last time you laughed? earlier

31. Last time you cried? earlier

 

Now I have to pass this award along to other worthy bloggers. Since Lisa already named some of my faves, I am going to award some of my other fave and different peeps:

Queen Vanna because you are the craftiest person I know.

Katie B. because you are the cutest person I know. (PJ, please don't be mad.) And her little daughter is really a vampire which has caused them to be banned from the gym and well, it's a long story...but I swear, she's CUTE.

And Kindredly because you are the funniest person I do not know. I can't remember how we even found each other, but I'm glad we did.

So now you all have to answer those questions with one word and then pass along the award. See how it works? Or you can just skip the work and bask in the glory. I'm used to people around me doing just that.

 

And I have to tell y'all about this artist I discovered - Allison Strine. She is amazing. We have decided (actually, I decided and she is going along with me because I think I scared her with my fan mail and web stalking) that we are really twins separated at birth. Of course, she's the twin with all the talent. Check out her work. See if you notice that she and I love the same things. Seriously. I can't decide what to order first. I wish I could buy one of every single thing.

 

OK - back to students who can't remember where they put the receipt for that $300 book but they would like a full cash refund, please.

Hope floats

I think this is a beautiful picture. It makes me hopeful.

 

You may leave a comment, but in the words of Bon Qui Qui, "Don't get crazy."  If you can't say something nice, move along. I'm enjoying my newfound optimism.

And what does it say about me - the fact that I love this photo and I love the Bon Qui Qui video? Don't answer that. As I said, move along.

Holidays old and new

I went back to work yesterday, and it was still work...and I was reminded of the hardest thing about death - the fact that everything else just keeps going. I was hoping someone would cancel all of the upcoming holidays and my upcoming birthday...but it looks like we're still on.

Sigh.

For those of you that don't know the history, my mom and dad divorced when I was 5 or 6 years old. I've remained close to my dad despite the efforts of my mom, grandmother, aunt and other women in the family who thought he should be punished forever and ever and ever. Anyway, I don't want to get into that now...but I will tell you that I also love my stepfather very much, and he's done an excellent job of being a father, grandfather and friend over the 33 years that he and my mom were married. I have no idea how he survived me as a teenager, but he deserves a medal for that alone.

So, back to my dad...just when I thought yesterday was probably the worst Monday I had ever had - I found out it was Bill Markham Day! Way to go, Daddy!  I'm so proud of you. Here's the video of what happened on the news live yesterday. You might notice a similarity or two. Those of you who went on and on at the funeral about how much I look like my mom might be changing your mind now that you see my dad...as a child, every single time I saw my grandmother she would say, "You are Bill Markham made over."

He's cute, isn't he? ;)