Thursday Morning & Giving Thanks

I woke up this morning with a sinus headache and what feels like the beginning of a cold- NO NO NO I cannot be sick this weekend. I have far too much to do. My first draft of my thesis is due in full on December 6th and it's not like I have unlimited time between now and then.

Tyler - if you are reading this is why I didn't call last night.

So my mom is recovering quickly but she still has to stay at home. She is not a stay at home person and being stuck in the house is killing her. A result of this is that she has become overly interested in my education. All of sudden she wants to know why I'm not getting a MBA. Are you kidding me? Could a Masters in Social Work and a Masters in Business Administration be any different? I have absolutely zero interest in anything business related right now. I"m going to talk to her today and ask her to find another pet project. I know she loves me and everything and she is just looking out for my best interests - but I don't need another thing to think about.

So on with the Thanksgiving List-

1. I really am grateful for all of my relatives: sister, mom, dad, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, outlaws you name it they are all great people. I mean it's not as if we don't have our issues - but our issues are what make us pretty god damn funny. We are Irish, loud and love to party. What more could you ask for.

2. My friend Elise and her boys. I am so lucky to have met this family. They have given me something in my life that I didn't even know was missing. I know that Elise thinks that she's lucky to have people that come over and help, but really we're lucky that she shares her life and her kids with us.

3. My friends. I have absolutely fabulous friends. All ages, sizes, colors etc. The one thing they all have in common is that they are all intelligent people - that and of course that they like me.

4. My job - I'm not happy with it right now but because of this job I have a new used car and a great condo.

5. My brain - I'm grateful that is still works after all the shit that I've done to it over the years.

That's the short list of things - I'm sure I'll come up with more later. I have to go get ready we are having Thanksgiving Brunch. I know I know what the fuck is that? I don't ask questions I just show up at the place and time with whatever the tell me to bring. This year the only thing I'm bringing is my laundry.

Have a good day everyone!

Oh yeah 8 more days
See how I slipped in that NASCAR reference when you weren't looking??

9 More days

Yeah - I got the same call this morning from my sister. Only luckily I was out of my office so she had to yell into the phone...so much better.

OK so today 9 more days takes on a whole new meaning. 9 more days until I'm 40 and 9 more days until this fucking NaBloPoMo is over. As it says in the labels NaBloPoMo is killing me.

It's 4:54 and I'm outta here - a nice long weekend of...SCHOOLWORK. Isn't my life unbelievably exciting? Eeessshhhhh.

I am going to meet a few friends for a drink and then heading over to my friends Kim's house to hang out.

Tomorrow I'll do my thankful list. Thanks to everyone who sent me what they are thankful for. If you want to check out a great list of things to be thankful for go visit ADW.

The Final Countdown

My sister called me this morning and screamed into the phone 10 MORE DAYS. It seems that she is more excited about me turning 40 than I am about it. Of course for her it's just another thing to give me a hard time about (love you Aimee).

I had the BEST thing told to me yesterday. I've written about the two boys that I take care of a couple times a week. Jamie is 16 and John is 14. Both non-verbal but they have great comprehension. I love them both - but John has quickly become my favorite. He is just the best kid and so much fun. We sit and watch Nascar together on Sunday's and just generally have a good time. So yesterday in school the teachers were going over Thanksgiving and what being thankful means yadda yadda yadda. So they went around the room and asked everyone what they were thankful for. When they got to John he gave the sign for Jenn. Luckily one of the aids knows John's sign language really well and knew what he was saying. His mother called me last night to tell me - I seriously almost started to cry. No really, I did.

So even though it's early in the week. What are you all thankful for?

Mike Lowell

I'm a happy, happy, happy girl!! The Red Sox signed Mike Lowell to a 3 year 37.5 Million deal. Read about it here.

Thank you Theo - you did the right thing. I am most certain you will not regret it.

Trogdor

I can't believe I've never posted this here before. Take the 3 minutes or so and watch. It's freakin hysterical. I love Strongbad but this is by far the best one.

Unexpected Call = Unexpected Hangover

I worked on my thesis all afternoon yesterday. And because of that I now feel pretty confident that I could file a claim with the VA successfully. The amount of paperwork that is expected is ridiculous. The fact that we expect men and women who have come back from war physically or emotionally damaged to manage this situation is unbelievable.

So I had just taken a break and was visiting with my niece when my cell rang. A friend of mine greets me with "Vinny is in town - want to come over and get really fucked up?" Now how could I say no to that? I never see Vinny and he's a funny bastard - I always have a great time.

So I head over there - by 10pm I'm trashed. I started drinking Vodka and when I ran out of that I moved right on to the red wine really REALLY bad idea.

My niece had left so I was there without a car - which means obviously there for the night. My friends had just gotten a new 65 inch flat screen. We were playing music videos - Tommy Shondell, The Band, Elvis, Bee Gees and Bruce Springsteen and dancing our asses off. I had no idea how much I needed to let off that steam.

Well when I opened my eyes this morning...I was a hurting puppy. Headache - upset stomach the works. The best thing is the Vinny and Pat were in just as bad shape. I made them drive me home and I was thinking I hope no one sees me getting out of this truck with the two of them - we all looked like we had been holed up for 48 hours doing god knows what.

I showered quickly (or as quickly as I could) and headed over to take care of my boys. Luckily they were complete angels - I was starting to feel better too so everything was looking up.

I came home and made the mistake of sitting down and it all washed over me again. I am now eating the great American hang over meal. McDonald's cheeseburger, fries and a coke. Right now it's just sitting like a big lump in the pit of my stomach. My next stop is the couch - wrapped in my Pendelton Indian blanket. I'm going to finish watching the race (nap actually) and then watch the Pat's at 8:15.

Last night was so totally worth the hangover - I haven't had that much fun in a while. School has totally taken the fun quota out of my life.

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I only have a three day workweek this week, yayyyyyyy!

Ladies go here, you won't be disappointed in this optical illusion.

Decisions Made

So I had given myself until yesterday to make a decision about my school/work/loan situation. I have decided to not take the loan - the interest rate was too high - it was a variable rate and with the market the way it is who knows what the rate would have been when it was finally time to pay this back. The other factor was it was taking forever - so by the time I gave my notice December would have been over anyway. That was the really important month.

I do however have to do something about my job. Ironically enough I was contacted last week by an agency looking to place me in a benefits administrator job. I spoke to the woman and it looks very promising. What I want is 3-4 days a week on a contract position. I'm looking at MSW programs and one of them that I like alot starts in June. I can't change jobs now and then have to quite in 6 months. I could have done that in my 20's but as we all know I'm about to be 40 - so I'm a bit more responsible now.

I've done all the legwork and got a message from the woman at the agency. The client will be looking at my resume on Monday and I'm hoping they will want to see my next week. If I could go in on Monday 11/26 and give my notice - it would be the best birthday present ever. We'll see - keep your fingers crossed for me OK?

It's a typical fall into winter day here in New England. I love this time of year. I love that it gets dark so early and I love the chill in the air even when the sun in out. Call me strange - it's just my favorite. Right now I'm sitting at my desk wrapped in my Pendelton Indian blanket working on my thesis. I feel like I'm getting lots done.

Have a good afternoon everyone...

Mike Lowell & Other Things

So this is the latest I have posted for NaBloPoMo - but I said I was going to do it and dammit I am.

It was strange day. I haven't been at work due to my mom's surgery since last Wednesday. So today I arrive at work (10 minutes late of course) and just as I'm plugging in my computer all of the power goes out. I wait a second and it's clear it's not coming back on. I mosey on out to the plant and it's all dark too. Now the fun thing here is that my office is the only one without any outside windows. So my office was pitch black.
I soon find out a transformer on a telephone pole behind us blew up and power is not expected to be back on until 3-4pm. So I do what I can and then head out. I was taking a half day anyway - so I left at noon. I had all these great plans for getting school work done and well it's around 10:45pm and I'm just getting home...I won't get into that.


I'm thinking that the Red Sox are not going to sign Mike Lowell. I know Theo usually makes the right decision but I can't help but think signing Mike is the right decision. According to the announcers during the Celtics game - we should know something this weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

When I Came Home

I just watched When I Came Home which is a documentary about homeless war veterans. The major story is the Iraq vets but they also speak about Vietnam. It's heartbreaking to watch a man who fought for our country do everything he can just to get a roof over his families head.

The hardest moment of the film is when he looks at the camera and says "I didn't fail my country, my country failed me." Because we did and we are. We are failing these men and women who come home physically and mentally wounded - we leave then to fend for themselves. It's just not right.

Go to the website and buy the DVD - when you do $5 will be donated to one of the groups on the list. It's really the least we can do.

I cried pretty much through the whole thing - I have NO idea how I'm going to get up and do a 45 minute talk on this stuff in March. I doubt I'll be able to keep it together.

Paul Rieckhoff who wrote the book Chasing Ghosts that you see in the side banner was also featured. He is the founder of the largest Iraq/Afghanistan Veteran group in the country. Go to their website and check out what they are doing.

"The one thing that was keeping me motivated was the thought that I was going to come home to everthing."
-PFC Herold Noel
US Army
Iraq War Veteran

Presents

Got my first 40th birthday present in the mail today from my good friend Maria. She got me a beautiful Native American vase and Native American ornament. I love them both (the thank you note is in the mail!). We've been to New Mexico together and she knows I love Native American things.


I'm starting to get excited for my birthday but am having one small issue.

People keep saying "so what are we doing for birthday"?? How do I get it through their heads I don't want to plan it!

It's my birthday - I want someone else to do the planning for once. I want to be surprised and most of all I want to be taken care of.

I was chatting with a blog friend last night and gave him the advice that he needed to find someone to take care of him instead of always taking care of other people. That's what I feel like now. My job - my 2nd job and my tiny little personal life all seem to circle around taking care of people. I'm only asking for one night or maybe the weekend - I don't think it's too much to ask.

Do you? Am I being silly? Please tell me if you think I am.