TGIF 1-10-14

Nearly here (55 mins to go!). Sorry to gloat. But there has to be at least one reason to be a Brit, right?

Howdy, Tina!  I'm not busy here.  I'd offer to help with the AmEx statement but those things are the worst.  Not to mention, It' s too cold in MI for me to want to make the trip.lol

It's drizzly but mild temps.  They keep saying the sun's going to come out but so far they've been wrong.  I hope the weekend isn't yucky drizzly.  

I just heard Hall and Oates are coming to town next month.  DH loves them so I might see about getting tickets.  They must be as old or older than we are. Hope they can still sing.  Daryl Hall has some sort of show on TV that DH watches.  I think he has visiting singers on.  I like them too but not sure I want to spend a ton of money to see them perform.

A couple more hours to go to 5:00! Busy here making the day go nice and fast. :)

The Pacific coast workday began an hour ago, so I've got a few hours until 5pm yet!

Jackie, I bet the Hall and Oates show would be excellent.  I'd go in a heartbeat!  I've seen Daryl Hall's show many times.  It's called Live at Daryl's House.  He lives in this gorgeous restored home from the 1700's right on the NY/northwestern CT border.  The barn is a full-fledged studio where they perform.  He has visiting artists from all kinds of music eras (from Smokey Robinson to Grace Potter), and they perform the visitor's material, as well as old Hall & Oates stuff.  Super good.  He sounds and looks great, and his band is excellent.  Don't know if those are the same guys he tours with or not.  Let us know if you go!

It's my birthday weekend, so I'm starting the mellow-ish festivities with a movie tonight.  My friend and I will see "Enough Said" with James Gandolfini.  I know it'll make me teary to watch him in what must be his last role, but it got great reviews.  Tomorrow I'm having breakfast with a friend at our favorite bakery, and tomorrow night will be either pizza or Thai take-out at home with our friends while we root for the Patriots.  Go Pats!!!

OK, so the 10th of the month is when I process the primary batch of invoices for one of the companies.  Today was the first batch of 2014.  I wanted to stamp each invoice with the paid date, and I discovered that my rotating date stamp doesn't have a year beyond 2013.  I went back and looked at the first year it began with when I bought the stamp:  2001. 

I have been at this job way too long.  

Happy Birthday Tracy!!! It sounds like you've got fabulous plans to celebrate. Wish I could join you.

I saw Hall and Oates in Germany in the mid-80s and it was a fantastic show. I'm always blown away by artist I saw that long ago who are still performing. I think it'd be fun to see them again and hope you go and can tell us all about it.

When we hosted Christmas Eve dinner here, I realized I didn't have much in the way of table linens. We just don't do that kind of entertaining very often.  When I saw Cost Plus was having a huge sale after Christmas I ordered a bunch of stuff at 1/2 price or better and it all just arrived. I feel like a little kid oohing and aahing over all of it. Who wants to come for dinner? :)

Me!  

We don't have nice table linens either.  It's so rare that we have more than 2 guests at a time, and usually it's something last minute or casual, so I stick to my dorky looking place mats and plain beige napkins I got at Pier One a million years ago.  Did you get something basic and traditional, Cathy, or some kind of pattern or design?

I have an assortment of table linens, but at Christmas time I realized  most of them are now the wrong size!   Now that I have expanded the family by 4 grandchildren, I had to put another leaf in the table.  Any more and I will have to get a new table!  Or house!  I did find a really nice $70 holiday tablecloth after Christmas for $12.50 at Tuesday Morning though.  Will have to search for some all purpose ones though.

Happy early Birthday, Tracy.  Have a great time this weekend celebrating!   Bummer about your time/date stamp.  I have a stapler at work that's got to be forty years old.  It still works.  :)  

I found out Hall and Oates is one night only and it's a Monday night.  ugh.  I guess I'll leave it up to DH.  I'm such an old stick in the mud that doing anything late on a work night always has me fretting like an old person who is missing their soap opera.  

We may have a cat.  I set out some old dog kibble to see if the squirrels would eat it.  It disappeared, so I set out more.  Today, I looked out and saw a big black cat eating the kibble.  It then hit the raised heated bird bath.  Couldn't quite get it, so it tried the on ground water bowl.  Drank a lot.  Wondered around a bit, then appears to have visited the old kennel to check out the dog house.  I really hope there is not a litter of kittens in there.

Visited the pet store a few days ago.  Rescue day.  They had a little yellow lab, about 60lbs, one year old, that I think I could live with.  A family was looking at her, but she leaned right into me.  Licked my hand.  Now, how can I hide her long enough to use the 48 hour rule.  May mean getting a new wife also.  Decisions.  She is still available (the dog).

To anticipate the expanded extended family, we got an Amish built table a few years ago.  We had it built narrower than usual, and you can get up to 10 leaves in it.  Talk to each other by cell phone.  We only got the standard 3 leaf set up.  Amish must have big houses.  We just mix and math linens.

It is misting out.  About 30ºF, with slush freezing a bit on the road.

Ok - Floor-da had it's 10 minutes of winter and now it's back to 75-80 but the big downtown buildings have turned their heat on and don't want to turn it off.  So it's gotta be 85 in my danged office today.  Sorry -- this carries "it's always hot here isn't it"?" to ridiculous extremes.  

Tracy you made me laugh -- I was just thinking this morning "WTH?   My notary expires THIS year??  c'mon -- I Just frigging renewed it .. in ... 2011 ... yeah, I've been here too long.  At this point time tolls like "wait a second .. last time we did this for them was just after we moved to *this* suite but it was when Lxxx still worked here ...."    Thinking of things in the actual "year"  just makes it seem like I've been here an eternity.  Not complaining other than how old it makes me feel. LOL

Yup, Callie -- I do the same thing, calculating time's passage by thinking in terms of when we moved into this house, when we moved into this office, when so-and-so was our neighbor, and (sadly) if it was X number of years before or after Tonka died, etc.  There are so many reminders of how old I'm getting.  One of them being my good friend's daughter turns 13 this week -- I remember CLEARLY when she was about 2 weeks old and I first held her.  Oy.

Doug, as one of those wives who was very reluctant to get a dog when DH wanted another one, I think you'll have your work cut out for you with convincing your wife.  But, speaking for myself, a very cute, furry face does a lot to wear one down, so if you could somehow sneak the pup into your home and get it to snuggle up to your wife, you'd be on your way to winning the battle.  As for the kitty, I hope there aren't kittens to go along with it, but I'm glad it found it's way to your door since it sounds like it needs some care.

I have to say I'm envious of all of you who have gatherings that require so many table leaves!  We took out the leaf in our table.  It sits 4 comfortably, or 6 fairly well on the rare occasions we have visitors.  Having no leaf means there's more room in the dining area when Ruby does her zoomies!

I'm a live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes me!! :)

did you miss me?

I cannot tell you what the past few weeks have been like AND I don't have enough energy to do so, suffice to say it has been very busy.

I hope everyone is well!

Tracy Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hall & Oates. Ugh. DH likes them, they just have never done it for me.

Weather was miserable today - we like many were hit by extreme cold (which true to form my nearly hairless dog thought was fab) and tomorrow is supposed to hit 72*.

Now I know many of you are like, wow what I wouldn't do for 72*. Well after it being 9* on Tuesday and barely creeping up all week, it rained heavily today and tomorrow the only way we are getting to 72* is through intense storms and potential tornadoes. Personally, give me 9*

My tip for the day is: no doubt each of us at different times has gotten caught up in petty stuff at work. The project team I am working with has two women that embarrass all adults with this crap. I have never been one to get involved with this crap and I can assure you if you witnessed this you would never do it again either. Whew. so glad I can get on with my own thing!

Tracey,  happy birthday! Tina, I do not envy you with the AmEx statements! Karen, it's good to see you. I think your weather is headed this way--warmer temps but really high winds, too. Doug, I am glad the cat found you--and the Lab, too!

There's not much to report from here. I'll try to stay up for the Patriots game tomorrow night. I am taking a month-long professional development course that starts Monday--it's all online, so that should be good.

Happy weekend to all!