MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FORTS

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! We had what felt like a whirlwind Christmas weekend down in Houston. Ate a lot of food, had a little booze, got some presents and some good old fashioned cash and headed home to be at work today. Christmas continues for us when my parents roll into town on Friday. I can't wait!

Have a great short week at work if you have to work like me!

Today's BONUS Post...

You might be your office's Dwight Schrute if...

1) You use the phrase "Let's have it done by Turkey Day" when talking to your team.

2) You use the phrase "okey dokey" when speaking to people you supervise.

3) You own a Christmas tie and you don't have any kids at home that forced it on you.

4) You wear a suit to work every day and you work in a business casual environment.

5) You have a laugh that the entire office can hear, no matter where you are.

6) You smoke cigars at work to hang out with the "cool kid" smokers.

7) Your boss has told you to "shut the F up" in a meeting and you still think he likes you.

8) You share an office with another person, but have decided that the flourscent light hurts your eyes so you turn off the overhead light, leaving your office mate in the dark.

9) There are people in the office that choose to work from home so they do not have to deal with you.

10) When a major issue comes up with a client you refer to it as "we made a little boo boo"

11) You wore a cape at your wedding.... so did your wife.

12) You and your wife have matching BMWs, but you couldn't do your Christmas shopping until your wife got her bonus because you are SO in debt.

13) People have started to not make eye contact with you in order to avoid talking to you.

14) You speed walk every time you have to go anywhere in the office because you might miss your boss looking for you.

16) You take every call on speaker phone so everyone in the office knows what you are working on and how much control you have over the people you manage.

17) You have a sign on your desk that says... "It's hard to be humble when you are as great as I am"... oh yeah I'm serious.

Unfortunatly for me this Dwight works right here in my office. When I'm not finding him completely annoying, he's actually a little bit of comic relief.

Here's wishing you all a Dwight Schrute Christmas!

You say it's your Birthday...

I was given this idea by fellow tribemate http://www.wildermetaforce.com/ but thought it was pretty interesting..

Wikipedia/Birthday Game
1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the Search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. Choose three events that happened on your birthday.
4. Choose two important birthdays and one interesting death.
5. Post it.

My birthday is on the 30th of October.

Events:
1922 - Benito Mussolini was made Prime Minister of Italy
1944 - Anne Frank is deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
1950 - Pope Pius XII witnesses the "Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican"[1]

ok three more because they are so interesting...
1961 - Nuclear testing: The Soviet Union detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 58 megatons of yield, it is still the largest nuclear device ever detonated. Nikita Kruschev announces that the scientists had planned to make it 100 megatons, but had reduced the yield so as to avoid breaking all the windows in Moscow.
1966 - The Zodiac Killer kills his first victim, 18-year old Cheri Jo Bates, in Riverside, California.
1974 - "The Rumble in the Jungle": Muhammad Ali knocks out George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire to regain the World Heavyweight Boxing championship.

Birthdays:
1218 - Emperor Chukyo of Japan (d. 1234)
1945 - Henry Winkler, American actor

Deaths:
1979 - Donna Rachele Mussolini, Italian, wife of Benito Mussolini (b. 1890)

I seem to be pretty connected to the Mussolini's it seems.

Very interesting!

Ten Things I Learned While Taking Ice Skating Lessons

1) I love to learn
2) You can't be afraid of falling
3) It feels good to laugh at yourself
4) Gliding on ice is an amazing sensory experience
5) Skating backwards is not as hard as it seems
6) Olympic ice skaters have insane skills!
7) Little boys start taking hockey lessons now at 3 years old!!!
8) The hardest thing to do while skating is to trust yourself
9) If it's hard today remember it'll be easier the next time
10) Wear gloves!

I totally enjoyed the class and will graduated to Level 2!!! I'll be starting back in January.

I Come to Work to Rest

Lately I've been going a million miles a minute... but not at work. Between Christmas shopping, puppy kindergarten, ice skating lessons, cookiepolooza 2006 and keeping up with the house, I find myself using work as a resting spot. Of course being at a receptionist style desk I cannot actually sleep, but I can read, surf the net and every once in a while rest my eyes for a minute at a time.

Not so bad.

I DON'T LIKE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO!!!

I have finally figured out why I don't like my job, or the job before it. It's an epiphany that really changes everything.... I don't like being told what to do. I've never liked being told what to do... not as a child and not as an adult. I enjoy doing things for others that are not asked of me, charity work, baking cookies for the office, cleaning the house, but if you tell me I have to do these things, I'm not interested.

This does not work in a task based job like I have... all it causes is frustration on my part, but understanding what triggers the frustration does seem to help me put it all into perspective.

Common tasks I'm asked to do:
Can you make a second pot of coffee?
Can you call the garbage people and see why they didn't come today?
Can you go fetch me a sandwich at Subway?
Can you transcribe what I'm about to say into an email and send it out?
Can you make copies of this for me?
Can you print this for me?
Can you find "so and so" and have them call me?

It started with "pleases" and "thank yous", but after 6 months all of those have gone away and I am left feeling completely frustrated.

I just got in trouble from one boss because I wasn't at my desk answering the phone... I wasn't at my desk answering the phone because I was fetching a sandwich for my other boss. F em!

Maggie's First Snow

Yesterday Roger and I both got to come home early and enjoy the snow from the safety of our house. We watched Maggie play in the snow, curled the puppy and kitty up next to a roaring fire and made Beef Stroganoff. It felt VERY domestic and very good. I love married life.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

This was one of the most fun Thanksgiving weekends I've had in a long time. We drove to Houston on Wednesday night with Maggie the puppy, for a 6 1/2 hour road trip (yes I know it only takes 4 to get to Houston, but not on Thanksgiving weekend) she did AWESOME! No accidents, no crying, and ALOT of sleeping.

We stayed with Roger's parents all three nights we were in Houston and it was awesome to spend some time getting to know them better. I never felt bored or restless, just content to be with my extended family. After Thanksgiving lunch at Roger's brother's house we headed to my uncle Jerry's property in Hockley, Texas. He has a beautiful house that is a replica of LBJ's boyhood home. They have 4 golden retrievers so Maggie was right at home.

Friday I found myself in my pajamas at NOON! I haven't done that since college. It was great! Later in the afternoon my parents came over and Roger's brother, his wife and the kids headed over for everyone to meet and for the kids to tell us all about their Christmas lists. It was so much fun. Roger's niece is pretty shy so I decided we should make iced cut out sugar cookies to get her involved with the activities. She was up for it and we had a great time.

Saturday we said we were coming home at 9am, but ended up hanging out with Roger's parents until 11:45. They are just so easy going. We drove home, did our normal weekend activities and headed back to work today.

It was such a nice break... It overwhelmed me with thankfulness.

I'm Bored

I'm closing out on an entire week of being bored at work. This is the opposite of what it's normally like and I should just sit back and enjoy it, but I've been so bored that I actually googled the word "boredom". I've looked at every website I like, searched for new employment opportunities, learned how to train my dog (she mastered lay down last night), made a list of things I need to do (none of which can be accomplished while I'm at work), I've emailed old friends, and kept my blog up to date. This is what boredome looks like!

Send me links people of things to look at!!!

I made it through...

I made it through yesterday without being negative, but it definitely gave me some room to think about my situation here. There are some major changes stirring and I honestly can not tell you that I will have the same job or even a job at all by the end of the year. Things are way too hush hush around here and I don't know if I'm on the list or not.

Tribe tribe... please keep your eyes and ears open... Executive Assistant Will Work for Food... Preferably in the Irving/Mid-Cities area.

Today...

Today I will have a positive attitude at work. I will not get frustrated, stressed or snap at anyone. I will smile and be happy that I have a job that while not always the most rewarding, allows me to live life with very little overtime, a commute less than most and on some days very little work at all.

I've been very unhappy here lately... but not today.

I'm Finally 30...

I say finally because I've felt like I should be 30 for a while. It never felt right that I had already been married and divorced and married again in my 20's, but these things happen. Also it doesn't seem like as much of an age difference between Roger and I now that I'm 30... 30 and 37, no big deal.

Ever since Leia posted the list of all that had happened to her since her last birthday my mind has churned over what my list would look like... so as a nod to Leia and because this past year has been fascinating and transitional, here is my list....

What I did in year 29 of my life....

1. Left my dream job... it was the right thing to do, but I hated to leave
2. Got engaged...
3. Walked out on job number 2... literally hit send on an email and walked out the door!
4. Quit job number 3 because my boss was a jerk and the company was failing
5. Went to Vegas for the first time
6. Got married
7. Completed my provisional year of Junior League
8. Moved twice... lived in 3 different counties
9. Finally settled into job number 4, which seems to be sitting with me ok
10. Bought a house
11. Colored my hair dark blonde, then blonde, then brown and now dark blonde
12. Had my cat Georgia from my first marriage pass away
13. Finally got the last of my stuff out of my ex-husband's attic & quickly added it to my new husband's attic
14. Went on an awesome belated honeymoon to Playa del Carmen
15. Had my loving cat of 10 years Sam pass away
16. Got a crazy kitten named Callie
17. Got a crazy puppy named Maggie
18. Started a new BLOG
19. Took up ice skating

Happy birthday to me! May this year bring me less transition and more stability. Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me through it all... especially Roger, I love you!

Maggie Mohawk, Mags, Magnolia, Maggie Moo, Shaggy Maggie, Waggy Maggie, Magpie, Magsimillion, Magnificant, Maggie Mae

Roger & I's lives changed forever on Saturday when we went and picked up our new child Magnolia Fort. She's a purebred 8 week old Golden Retriever and she is a handful! It's amazing how much more attentions puppies need than kittens. She looks up at me like "what's next" when all I can think of is "where's the couch"! I think she will be good for my exercise level and will instill in us a little discipline that will help once we start a family of the human variety.

We look forward to introducing her to all of our tribe friends and dressing her up for the white trash party!!!

One of my first dance performances in The Nutcracker


What have you always wanted to do... and can you do it before it's too late?

I grew up a ballet dancer. I started at 3 and danced through my 20's and even still performed with a company 3 years ago. I loved to dance, but I didn't have a dancer's body. What I did have, was an ice skater's body. Unfortunately for me there were no ice skating rinks in Corpus Christi at the time. The closest was 4 hours away at the Galleria in Houston. Everytime I'd go see my grandparents we'd go to the rink and skate. I loved it.

This love turned into me teaching myself some pretty amazing tricks on roller skates during my preteens and teenage years. When I'd get upset I'd go out to the garage and skate and twirl and turn the music up super loud. Even today when I hear a piece of music that inspires me my head turns to choreographing ice dances instead of ballet pieces.

I've been in the Dallas metroplex for 11 years and not once have I thought about pursuing my dream of learning how to ice skate. It Yesterday I looked online and found adult beginner classes at Dr. Pepper Stars Center in Euless, 5 miles from my house. For $100 I get eight 30 minute adult classes and free ice time before and after class and rentals. I'm so looking forward to realizing my dream and feeling that incredible feeling of gliding on ice.

Why Start Another Blog?

Almost two years ago I met a blogger and his blogger group of friends and started blogging. At first I didn't tell them that I was blogging and I wrote a "Sex in the City" type blog with witty perspectives about dating. After we started dating exclusively my "Sex in the City" days ended and I didn't feel as though I had anything to blog about. I don't want to have a "I had a cheese sandwich today" blog and I knew people didn't really want to hear about how happy my relationship was (how boring!). So I stopped blogging.

I'm happy to say that I'm now married to the blogger and although he does not actively blog anymore either, most of his friends do. Every morning I go through my list of their blogs and read updates on their life. Sometimes they go a month without posting, but I always feel more connected to them when I'm done reading.

The past year has been full of change, good and bad, and I am already able to catch a glimpse of what's around the corner for the next year and see more change on the horizon. I know I will feel more grounded if I chronicle my experiences.

Welcome to the journey... we'll see where it leads.