And today makes four

It's hard to believe it's been four years since Cory and I got married. It sure doesn't seem like it's been that long.

We wanted to go out to a swanky place for dinner tonight but we don't be able to because of my work schedule.

At work, another person wanted to leave early today too. My supervisor said since only one person can leave early, neither person gets to because she has no business saying who's plans are more important than the others. That seems completely fair to me. I would hate to be put in the position to have to choose as well.

We decided to go do something Saturday instead but we haven't decided what. We are talking about going to a restaurant we like for fondue. Yum!

Happy Thursday!

Photo: Amanda Simmons/Our wedding 2005

Monday and still no update?

I've been meaning to post on how the Funky Finds Spring Fling went this weekend but I came home ill and have stayed that way since. I'm feeling a little better now.

I thought when I came home on Saturday I was just exhausted from the heat as it normally does that to me. Then Sunday came and I felt like I had been dragged under a bus. Body aches, chills, hot flashes, lack of appetite and nausea when I ate...

Today I felt just as bad and decided not to go into work. I ticked my boss off by calling in sick but since I've been walking on eggshells around her the past few months I'm not really sure how much weight that holds for me anymore.

The doctor said I have a sinus infection. It shocked me a bit when he said that. I've never had one kick my ass quite like this before and never without a headache. I guess there's a first time for everything right?

I slept pretty much all day Sunday and the same today. I started feeling better around 7ish this evening. I'll upload pics from the show soon.

Lack of Variety in Artwork

Are magazines, workshops and online forums causing artwork to lose it's variety?

Last weekend I was browsing through the latest edition of Somerset Studio and chose not to purchase it.

For the past few months I have been growing disinterested in the publication. The same goes for Cloth, Paper, Scissors as well.

Each month there have been one or two articles to catch my interest and I purchase the magazine. The rest of the magazine leaves me wanting more.

It's not that I feel the magazines are lacking in quality or the artists featured are inferior. This is hardly the case.

I just feel it's the same type and style of artwork month after month. At times I feel like I have read the issue before I pick it up.

Is it just me? What are your takes on the subject?

Photo: March/April 2009 Somerset Studio

Twilight

When the movie Twilight came out in theaters I had every intention of renting it. I heard good things about the books when I was on Jury Duty from one of the other jurors. The juror was a teacher if I remember correctly.

I had planned on reading the book but never found the time. I have always had a huge interest in vampire and vampire/werewolf movies. To this day Underworld is still one of my favorite movies.

I instantly fell in love with this movie. So much so I'm a little embarrassed to admit I went out and bought the book afterward.

Cory bought the blue ray for me when he was at Best Buy and now teases me mercilessly when he sees the lead actor, Robert something or other, on the cover of the magazines.

In hindsight, I'm glad I didn't get a chance to read the book. I think I would have built the characters up too much and been disappointed in the movie. This way it's like an extension of it.

Reading up,

All is not lost

The start of the second quarter has been much kinder to me than all of first quarter.

I have got the vast majority of things I needed to do done and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my back.

I haven't done a lick of artwork but I have started taking up reading a little bit again. I forgot how much better I sleep after I read a bit.

I'm still refusing to take on anything additional until work slows down. Hopefully after the next few months I will be able to balance things out again.

Texas Wildfires Kill 3, Scorch 100,000 Acres

I should really watch the news more often. The sky was a yellowish brown when we were looking out the windows of my office building yesterday evening.

I thought it really odd this morning when I left for work and it smelled heavy of something burning outside. I brushed it off as someone burning something in their fireplace and went on to work.

I didn't hear of the wildfires until I got into the office and overheard some coworkers talking about it.

Apparently there are wildfires raging about 50 miles north of Fort Worth. The heavy winds from yesterday and the recent drought made the fires hard to control.

More than 100,000 acres were burnt yesterday and three people have died. Today many of the fires have now been contained but they have not release any exact numbers yet as far as total damage.

(CC) Photos: Sam Salyer, Georgia Butler, and cdb3

So much to do, so little time

It feels a little weird having the whole weekend off. I keep feeling the need to rush through things to make sure I get it all done today.

In reality, I have way too much to get done even with two days but hopefully I can at least put a pretty big dent in it.

I'm behind on too many things at the moment and feel a bit overwhelmed. I am seriously thinking about backing out of the Spring Fling but I can't.

Just a few of the things on my list:

Bills

• Make overdue car payment
• Find and pay overdue dentist bill
• Find and pay overdue doctor bill
• Find and pay overdue allergist bill

AFA

• Leave Itraders for all players in Mid-January PAT
• Swap cards for Mid-January PAT
• Drop all swap cards off at post office
• Gather overdue prize package for last months winners
• Gather prize package for this months winners
• Bio for staff page

Home

• Purchase some spring/summer clothes for work (damn weight gain)
• Find product for deterring stray cat from marking our house
• Buy groceries

Spring Fling

• Order wall grid
• Order propay
• Order prints and packaging for products
• Order banner
• Take inventory of current product
• Figure out where to go from there

I need to get back to it. I stopped back home for lunch and now I'm procrastinating.

(CC) Photo: Diabloooz

The first day of a new quarter

Powerpuff Girl

So after my whining a few posts ago I took a step back and thought about things at work. I decided to try to look at the last few months as just having "a bad first quarter".

Regardless of how much I bellyache, my hours are going to suck for the next few months. I am going to try my best to take it in stride and keep my attitude from going into the dumps.

I plan to use the extra money from all my hours to pay off bills and to take care of all the things that are breaking around here - the furnace, the trees and as I was told this afternoon, our dryer.

As far as the overtime issue goes, I am still strongly opposed to the decision that was made. I think it's setting things up for resentment and animosity between coworkers. Unfortunately, as opposed as I am to the decision, it's not mine to make.

The Happy Giraffe

I ended up going into work a little after 8am Sunday morning. I decided I am not going to burn myself out trying to fight for money.

If people feel the need to come in and work 8 or so hours on Sundays when we are already pulling over 60 hours Monday through Friday then they obviously are needing the money a lot more than me at this point in time.

Plus, I barely get to see my husband during the week, I'm not going to fight to stay away from home more. I'm afraid my hours will put a strain on our relationship again if I'm not careful.

Harry

The downside of coming in to do the work on Sunday was that we had absolutely nothing to do during the day on Monday. We didn't really get any work to do until around 4pm.

I doodled on post-it notes, browsed the internet, chatted with coworkers, talked on the phone and went up front to help with packaging so I could take a break from my desk.

I have so many things I could be doing with that free time but I can't do any of it while I'm at work. I'm sooooo excited to have this weekend off!