Thanks to my friends at In Stitches for the nice shout-out… 🙂
Wow! I’m almost famous.
June 18, 2012
11 things…
June 10, 2012
Ok. I’ve been in a blog funk as of late (quite obviously…). Tax season never seems to end, and when it did officially, there was a bunch of stuff with Mom to deal with. It seems like I never get a break, and I just come home at night and stare at the TV and surf the net. That’s not really exciting, so I don’t feel compelled to share it with everyone.
My friend Heather tagged me in her post to answer 11 questions… and since she so kindly geared one of them specifically for me, I figured I should probably respond. So here goes:
If you could choose any profession other than your current one, what would it be?
Hmmm. I’ve done a number of things in my life, and srsly, I’ve been the best at accounting. But it would be kewl to be paid to be a singer or comedienne.
What craft or hobby would you try if money and time were no obstacle?
Interesting question. I’d probably buy one of those huge, room filling looms and learn to weave. Or, I’d indulge in a grand piano and see if all those lessons I had as a child actually took.
What is the first movie you remember seeing at the movie theater?
I am, in fact, older than dirt. I remember going to see The Sound of Music (1965) with my friend Lynne when it was first released at the First Avenue Theater in Rome, Georgia. It was a very big deal. You got dressed up to go to the movies and everything. I also remember when you got dressed up to fly on airplanes, instead of the “bus with wings” they are today. Gak.
What was the last video game you played?
On what? The computer, Wii, PS3, iPad or iPhone?? Probably Angry Birds. Stupid pigs. I hate it when they laugh.
What are you good at? In other words, what makes you unashamedly yell, “I can do that!”
I understand that this was meant as something other than what I do for a living…. but I’m a damned good accountant. Plus, I don’t get why people think the needlework I do is so flippin hard.
What is your favorite vacation that you’ve ever taken?
My honeymoon with my husband. We went to Disney World. From the people at Delta who upgraded us to first class when they found out we were newlyweds, to the people at the hotel… everyone treated us really well and made sure we had a special, if short, trip. We were just out of college and flat busted broke, but we had fun.
If you could have unlimited money to spend at one store, where would it be?
I’d hate to think of what I’d come home with at an Apple store with no budget…
What’s the best book you’ve read recently? (For Jean,nonfiction. =)
Recently? I just read Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970, by David Browne. Long title, but an excellent book about the demise of the Beatles, the rise of the singer/songwriter as seen in the context of the turbulent times. Next up? Some political books that’ll probably offend half the people who read this. 🙂
Star Wars or Star Trek? Why? (NOTE: You must pick one. Flip a coin if you have to, and I will be appropriately dismayed. 😉
Dude. That’s like asking Kirk or Picard (For the record… Picard as captain, Kirk in a bar fight.)
What’s the best Halloween costume you ever wore? Or, if nothing sticks out…the best one you ever saw.
This would be a toss up between the Blues Brothers costume my husband and I donned at the church fall festival a couple of years ago, and the pit lizard costume Teresa and I wore to A Stitchers’ Gathering when people I’ve known for years didn’t recognize me. I’d post a picture here, but Teresa has paid me a significant amount of money not to.
If you had to leave your home quickly what 2 items (besides family, pets, and necessities) would you take with you?
The pictures of me and my husband as well as my parents that were taken at our wedding and which hang in what passes for our living room… along with my wedding ring.
I’m gonna answer one more… just because if you don’t know me well, I think it’ll tell you all you need to know.
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
There have been two things. One I’m not yet ready to talk about, and it happened just recently.
The other was when we had to say goodbye to our precious Oscar, our dachshund, at the age of 15 1/2. I told him I would never leave him, and I didn’t. I stuck with him to the very end, and he passed to the Rainbow Bridge in my arms. I miss him to this very day.
Ah… now to tag victims people…
Let’s see… how about….
Jen at The Magpie Knitter
Ria at Short Attentionspan Theater
Jackie at Jackie Casts On
Mel at Wooley Thoughts
…ok…. I don’t read a lot of blogs… If you’d like for me to tag you, leave a note in the comments and I’ll make sure I get you.
Randomness
March 25, 2012
Things on my mind… in no particular order.
1. This tax season has been one of the worst I’ve been through. All my clients appear to be waking up late (“geez! It’s almost April!”), and some of the corporates dumped a year’s worth of work at one time without complete information — and I’m still trying to get out from under that. Gak. I’d say I can’t wait for it to be over, but then I realize there’s a lot of late nights and weekend work ahead.
2. I have decided that this will be the year of rainbow colored Chucks. To that end, I have acquired green, turquoise, and aqua colored ones. When my purse recovers, I’ll go after some purple and pink.
3. An old friend and I made amends over a spat we’d had. I’d missed her, and it’s good to have her back. Anytime you’re in a relationship with someone, you’re going to go through ups and downs. It’s how you get through them that counts.
4. I have a small needlepoint finish – the first of the Raymond Crawford “dog bones” I’m working on….
Bow Wow
I hope to get it to the finisher sometime soon, but realistically, it’s not gonna happen till after tax season.
5. Pollen sucks.
At least I’m not a slow learner
March 16, 2012
Some of you may recall the Great iPad debacle of 2010 (subtitled “How I learned not to believe FedEx when they said they were delivering something”).
On March 7, the “new iPad” was announced. Now, I’ve been operating off that original iPad for a couple of years, and I had decided it was time for an upgrade. Right after the product announcement, I found myself driving home from a client site, and as luck would have it, I passed right by Perimeter Mall which houses an Apple store. I dropped in to pre-order a new iPad.
Only they wouldn’t take my order. Said they couldn’t. But I was welcome to use one of the public computers there to log onto the Apple Store and leave my credit card information.
Uh, no. I didn’t fall off a turnip truck yesterday.
So I continued home and sat down at my trusty Mac… and with what seemed like the rest of humanity, tried to get onto the Apple Store website to order. We’ll just say it crashed. A lot. Which makes me completely regret the fact that I don’t own any Apple stock, but that’s another matter. But, I’m persistent like a dachshund, and I eventually got through and ordered my 64G 4GLTE model.
This time, however, I was not going to be trapped at home and at the mercy of a FedEx driver who decided he just wasn’t going to deliver. I took advantage of the fact that I have an actual business address with actual receptionists who can sign for a package any time. Learning from my previous experience… it shipped to my office.
The next freakin’ day, Apple sent me email and told me it had shipped. I started tracking the package from China. It went to Hong Kong, then Anchorage, then it sat in Louisville for 5 long days till it decided to head to Knoxville, then Atlanta yesterday. This morning, it was out for delivery. I had to head up to Rome to grocery shop for Mom, but I had the ladies at the office on alert.
Around lunchtime, I tracked the package. Success! Called the office, and indeed, my shiny toy was waiting on my desk. I can’t tell you how much better this was than screaming at FedEx.
The new toy!
Isn’t it pretty?? Tomorrow I have to go purchase a new case for it…
Happy Birthday Penny!
March 12, 2012
! 
Our little girl is 3 today!
It seems like yesterday that we picked up that little furball from the breeder. From the first moment we met her, she started giving us kisses, and she still gives us (and anyone who will hold still long enough) puppy kisses any time she can.
Her main job (other than constant companion) is Watch Dog. She takes this very seriously and lets us know if anything is out of the ordinary in her world. We are alerted to birds, cars, fax machines, telephones, doorbells on the TV, ants farting, planes overhead… you know… anything that might indicate Danger. Of course, she doesn’t want to confront the actual Danger; she prefers to bring up the rear and let us check it out first. Girl’s not stupid.
Penny has a healthy appetite. While her parents were a petite 9 and 10 pounds, the Pennster is rockin’ the scales at a whopping 19. I can relate to the battle of the waistline… but she seems happy and healthy… and we have ramps *everywhere* in the house to try to avoid any back issues. As a matter of fact, Penny never learned to go up or down a flight of stairs. She gets to them and then just looks at us to pick her up.
We’re absolutely crazy about our dog… I just can’t imagine how empty our lives would be without one. So Happy Birthday to our little Penny! We love you, even when you hog the bed. I’m sure there’s some goodies in store for dinner tonight.
Beginning of a beautiful friendship
February 27, 2012
I’ve been recovering from a three month case of bronchitis. I got sick in December, shortly after Mom got out of the hospital, and I’ve pretty much stayed sick and was too stubborn to go to the doctor till this week because I knew what was going to happen. I knew I was going to have to take a round of steroids, because when I get sick like this it flares up the asthma and takes awhile to recover. (And I’m talkin’ legal stuff here, so don’t get the idea that I’m going She-Hulk or anything like that).
I don’t know how many of you have had the pleasure (and I use that term loosely) of a heavy round of steroids to reduce inflammation, but with me, the side effects go to sleeplessness and a nice dose of paranoia to go along with the lack of sleep since they kick your system into overdrive. I’m not going into these for sympathy, but to set the scene for what happened last night.
As many of you know, Oscar, our dachshund who passed three years ago, was my little soul mate. I could look at him, and he knew my mood, my feelings, my state of mind and reacted accordingly. We were connected in a way I didn’t think was possible between a human and an animal. I’d yet to experience anything close to that with Penny. Some of it I’m sure has to do with her age — and with the fact that she’s a completely different dog. She’s more of an independent soul… not a cuddle bug… wants to do her own thing.
But about 3:30 in the morning, when I was laying awake because I couldn’t sleep, thinking of everything bad that could possibly happen during the next several years (remember – I said paranoia, tinged with my trademark obsessive compuslive traits)… well, suddenly I felt this wet little nose pressing against my cheek. And there was Penny. She had decided to come see what was the matter… gave me some doggie kisses, let me rub her belly… then snuggled up right next to me (with her facing the door, of course, because that’s part of her “watchdog” duty). She looked over her little shoulder as if to say “Relax, mom. I got this”, and then proceeded to stay with me through the rest of the night. When I finally got up because it was useless to try to get back to sleep, she followed me out to the great room and stuck to me like glue.
The behavior was stunning in that it was so different. It was a breakthrough for us.
Penny will be 3 next month. We’ll just say she was a difficult pup. But, just maybe, all that work is gonna give us one heck of a dog.
The power of social media
February 23, 2012
I am constantly amazed by how important social media has become in my life. From a quick glance at Twitter (or a snarky Tweet at how long it’s taking me to get through the grocery line at Kroger because a speshul snoflake isn’t getting corn flakes at the price she thinks she should… really… I was about to just buy her the corn flakes)… to keeping up with Facebook, where I have connected and re-connected with people from so many parts and phases of my life… to Ravelry, which I consider my “safe place” and my online home among fellow craftspeople and my NASCAR board in particular.
This power has never been so well illustrated as this morning. I awoke to a call from one of my mom’s caregivers who told me that the lights at her house had been out since the night before when the bad storms moved through. Now, at my house, we had had a brief rumble of thunder (enough to rouse Weatherdog Penny), but we had some rain and that was it.
Evidently in Rome, things were much, much worse. And once again, the eye of the storm was around my mom’s neighborhood. Keep in mind that I live an hour away.
I posted on Facebook asking for information, and within a couple of minutes a friend of mine posted that he’d driven by my mom’s house and everything was ok. Some trees were down in the road near her house, but this time her house was unscathed. While I know the caregivers would have called me if anything bad had happened, it was really comforting to have that reassurance. Unfortunately, my friend’s mom who lives a couple of blocks away wasn’t so fortunate and had some damage to her house. As it turns out, an EF1 tornado touched down nearby, and I’m laying odds it flew over Mom’s house on its way to wreak havoc at the next touchdown.
I’ve asked for recommendations through Facebook messages for electricians from folks who live up there and whose opinions I trust, and they all return the same name. Guess who I’ll be calling? I’m looking to get a generator installed since everytime someone in Rome sneezes, my mother’s power goes out.
Mr. Zuckerberg, I know you’re making a crapton of money from Facebook going public (and I really wish I were your accountant). I know that some folks (myself included) have a few problems with how you mine data off your site. But you know what? Today, I’m thankful it’s there.
A Ravelry friend of mine contacted me for some tax help. She recently lost her husband after a lengthy illness, and she and I were discussing the fact that Casey and Jess really probably had no idea when they concocted the idea for Ravelry that they were building more than a convenient place for knitters to swap ideas. She found a lot of support there during her husband’s last year. I have a lot of great friends I chat with every week on the computer who I’ve never met in real life (you may insert any commentary about me needing to get out more here).
When I was little, I couldn’t imagine any of this happening. I can’t tell you how incredibly kewl it is to me. As for the kids at church, who see it as an everyday occurrence — I can’t help but wonder what they’ll be marveling at when they’re my age??
Entering busy season…
February 8, 2012
So, maybe once a month is adequate for posting, eh? And considering the number of spam comments I appear to be attracting lately, it’ll give the spammers something new to look at.
The winter is always a busy season for accountants. I’ve been aflutter with W2s, 1099s, 941s, 940s, and a lot of other seemingly meaningless numbers that annoy business owners and cause them to seek out my services. The month of January was complicated by the fact that my allegedly “professional” writeup system elected to seriously torque up one of my client’s files and cause his payroll reports to be inaccurate. Considering I get billed everytime I called tech support, and considering they wanted an exorbitant amount of money to fix a problem I didn’t cause, I elected to transfer my files to another system – so I had to re-enter a whole lot of data. I accept data entry as a necessary evil, but it does not make me happy.
I was delighted to spend my birthday with DF Teresa and Ann. Altho Teresa and I had varying amounts of illness (I had a level of crud from mid December till late January that I just couldn’t shake), we had fun just hanging around the house, stitching and knitting, visiting, and watching TV and movies.
On the knitting front… I have a couple of small finishes:
These are socks made from Malabrigo Rasta – free pattern from KNITfreedom.
Same socks, made from Lion Brand yarn. Both pairs of socks were for Mom.
Not a lot of progress on the stitching front. I was fortunate to take a class with Julia Snyder at In Stitches last weekend. In these classes, Julia takes a canvas you bring in and designs a custom stitch guide. If you don’t have threads, she’ll go through the shop and select the appropriate fibers to make the most out of the stitch patterns she’s put together for you. If you enjoy needlepoint, I strongly suggest that you take one of Julia’s classes if you ever have an opportunity.
Until next time, I leave you with another gratuitous cute dog photo….
Why I haven’t been blogging…
January 2, 2012
Well, it’s complicated.
First, I had to get the business moved and set up in a new spot.
Then, Mom was having problems. A lot of problems. They culminated in an 11 day hospital stay in November, and we now have 24/7 care for her in her home. I’m just praying that we can keep it that way even though she’s feeling much better physically.
Subsequently I’ve been tired. Really tired. I come home and sit down, browse the internet for a bit, then generally fall asleep on the sofa with the wiener dog. Exciting, eh?
Plus, I haven’t been doing that much stitching or knitting, and I don’t have that many pictures to show you. Blogs tend to be a bit boring without pictures, right??
But it’s a new year. I’m going to try to do better. I’ll try to get some pictures and insert some pithy commentary along the way.
How about this cute pic of Princess Penny to tide you over?
Amusing your credit card company
July 23, 2011
As I have mentioned previously, my mother is a smoker. At the age of 83, she has no intention of quitting. Nor am I going to ask her to, since I figure if she’s made it to 83 smoking like a chimney…. well, good for her.
The problem is that she smokes a brand of cigarettes that is, as they say, “old school” – True Kings, non-menthol, thankyouverymuch. Very few places carry this brand any more. As a matter of fact, nobody in the town where she lives carries them.
Enter moi, who lives in the metro-Atlanta area. I periodically have to go on a cigarette hunt to a variety of convenience stores, scoring every bloody carton of True Kings in the cities of Marietta and Kennesaw.
As it turns out, buying tons of cigarettes at convenience stores is typically what crooks do when they’ve stolen credit cards. Who knew? I found this out one time in the pouring rain, standing outside of a QuickTrip when my Visa card had been declined. Bank of America was calling my home phone at the same time to tell me someone had my credit card. Once I was dry and had it all sorted out, I told them no, it really was me, I really was buying all those smokes, and please don’t cut my card off again.
I’ve now taken to pre-emptive calls when I have to go on a cig hunt. One such conversation occurred yesterday when I called Bank of America…
The woman who answered the phone was very friendly and polite — as well as shocked that I’d been a cardholder since 1976. Yeah. I have the grey hair to prove it.
“What can I do for you today?”
“Well, you see, I have to buy cigarettes for my 83 year old mother, so I’ll be visiting a variety of convenience stores in quick succession. You generally cut off my card when I do this, but I’m calling beforehand to tell you it’s really me, so please don’t cut me off.”
(muffled laughter)
“You have to buy cigarettes for your mother?”
“Well, yeah. They don’t sell her brand where she lives. Look, I’m not really thrilled about buying carton after carton of cigs when I don’t smoke ’em, but you do what you have to do for your mom, right?”
(more muffled laughter)
“You’re going to convenience stores?”
“Yeah, generally QuickTrip. I may make a side jaunt to a Publix, because my dog needs some Brie, and they occasionally have the cigs there.”
“Your dog needs Brie?”
“It’s a long story. She won’t take her heartworm preventative without it.”
(laughter becoming more prominent)
“What kind of cigarettes does your mother smoke?”
“True Kings. Really, she won’t smoke the 100s. I don’t know what the difference is.”
(extreme laughter)
“You’re a good daughter.”
“Yeah, I know. Just don’t cut off my card.”
“We’ve got your account noted. Have a good weekend.”
“Thanks. I appreciate the help.”
….and as I was hanging up the phone, I heard “Sarah! Quit laughing at me!!!”
I have a feeling this story will make the rounds of the call center for awhile.
Baa Baa Knit Stitch 