Once upon a time...

I had a job that became unbearable and I quit.  Before I did, though, I had three years of working in an office that looked like a ski lodge and had floor-to-ceiling windows all the way around the first floor.  In winter, it was like working inside a snow globe.

Driving to and from work, I passed a cute little mid-century ranch with a breezeway connecting the garage to the house and sighed over it.  Three years after quitting the job, I saw a for sale sign on the house and bought it.

The daughter of one of my co-workers at the apartment complex replaced me as Mom's assistant when I went to work for Hyphenated Corp.

So there were a lot of complex emotions roiling around inside me when I heard about this:

Fire rips through apartment complex.

And when I saw this:



I sent one of the property managers an e-mail telling her to let me know if I could help, but I don't know if the address is even still valid.  *sigh*

Beautiful day for a road trip

Mom and Dad picked me up at 6:30 yesterday morning for a quick trip to Columbus.  It was my first time riding in Dad's new GMC Acadia, and it's a nice car, but the leg room in the back is really minimal!  Anyway, we made it to Powell in time to see the younger of my nephews test for and get his orange belt in Taekwondo, and then go out for brunch.

My elder nephew has celiac, and because he didn't want to make his brother choose a different restaurant than his favorite, he ate at the house before we went.  This is pretty typical of The Awesome Nacho, who is very considerate of others.  This is in complete contrast to his grandfather, who pitched a hissy fit about how expensive cigarettes are when I bummed one from him and then said he'd like to spend $10/month for a cell phone that would live on Mom's bike just in case she needed it.  He also made us late leaving for brunch and late leaving to come home, because it's all about him.  He was a little surprised and offended when we stopped at Starbucks on the way back and I refused his offer of a coffee.  After the little display in the car earlier, I was not going to spend any of his money!

The important thing, though, is that SuperDoughnut did very well on his test, got his new belt, and got brunch with his family on a beautiful day.  :)

Why I spent every free minute of the last four days...

reading the same book twice.  That book was Blackout by Mira Grant.
It's a sci-fi / horror / political thriller / love story / action movie novel all rolled into one, and it is intense.

Okay, thing one about this review--spoilers.  I'm not going to put them in individual spoiler tags, I'm going to spoil-code everything after thing two and if you keep reading, on your head be it.

Thing two--you need to read these books in order.  If you haven't read Feed and Deadline, stop reading this review, get your butt to the library or bookstore and read them.  Come back here in a week, when you've read both books and then had a meal, a shower and some sleep.  Trust me, you will only take time away from these books with great reluctance.

Spoilers ahoy!

Tomorrow...

will be the three year anniversary of Stormdog's death. This morning, on the way into work, I heard about a couple who paid $155,000 to have their dog cloned. I said three years ago, that if cloning ever became inexpensive, maybe I'd do it. But now I know that I wouldn't, even if it was only $155 instead of a hundred times that. I miss Stormy, I miss him every single day. But he was the dog he was not only because of his genetic makeup, but because of the experiences he had in his life and where I was in my life and the roads we traveled together. I could not be the same person I was eighteen years ago when a half-grown, all-legs, sweet-natured and much too smart puppy came into my life, and I don't want to be that person. Stormy will never be equaled in my life or in my heart, but I cherish his memory and try to be the person he thought I was. Until such time as Stormy and I are reunited, if such time ever comes, I will give the dogs in my life all the love and care they deserve, and honor his memory that way. I would not cheapen what Stormy and I had by buying a replica.

Ouch on several levels

My feet, my calves and my wallet!  After a long week at work, Mom and I had nice dinner out and then went shopping.  We went to two shoe stores with no success, then Burlington Coat Factory, Big Lots and Gabriel Brothers with a great deal of success.  Mom got red, white and blue pillows for the lake house, several cute tops, a pair of capris and a pair of shoes.  I got light summer dresses for wearing around the house, a pair of cute oxfords, three shirts, two pairs of pants, a grapefruit-scented candle, three Godiva chocolate bars and three new cushions for the wicker chairs on the breezeway.

The best moment was probably when I had found the two pairs of pants at Gabe's--one light aqua and one medium purple, both linen-look, for $3 and $8.  Mom said "I need some tan capris" and I reached over, looked at a tag, said, "Size 10?" and Mom said yes, so I handed them to her--$3!  She was thrilled, and called me this morning to tell me they fit. :)  She also liked her early Mother's Day gift, a necklace and earrings I made with nail polish:

The set is based on a lovely spring jacket of Mom's, which is white with pink and orange flowers, but it would also go with the orange shirt she got last night!

On the way home, we discussed our bargains and what new clothing we were going to wear with clothing we already had.  Mom helped me bring in all my bags of loot and then headed home, and I took a quick bath and collapsed into bed.  This morning, I tried everything on and it all fits, and now I have leftover Mongolian beef to have for lunch.