Our little cat has been looking a little puffy for the past month or so. We didn't think much of it as she was still moving around okay and eating and such. Plus we had quite the stretch of hot weather so we thought it was somehow making her retain water or something. But on Wednesday she wasn't looking too hot. By Friday when we had her at the vet, we were wondering if we were going to have to have her put down. Not because she seemed to be suffering great deals of pain, mind you, but due to the huge $$ of treating a severely anemic cat with a raging blood infection. If we had done to date everything recommended to us, we'd be looking a bill of roughly $1000. It is a difficult decision many pet owners face, and we will not be the last to do so. Right now she's on a considerably more affordable oral antibiotic as, wonder of wonders, she started improving without costly medical intervention over the weekend.
= = = = = = =
Now there are some drivers who are just stupid. Coming into the town where I live, there has been road construction going on for the past few weeks, meaning two lanes of traffic heading in has been reduced to one. Well this afternoon someone suicide passes! As in we're all in the right-hand lane and they passed us on the right-hand side! Yikes! I hoped they met a police officer and got a nice ticket. Not to be mean, but c'mon! But there are times when I have been incredibly impatient and made dumb driving decisions, so I can't say too much, I guess.
= = = = = = =
I read fan fiction centered on the American version of The Office. (I highly recommend all stories by Cousin Mose, time4moxie and Wendy Blue over at Fanfiction.net.) Now some, like the aforementioned, are really well-written. But there are many fan fictions out there (in many categories) that need to quit doing something. Namely this: Realize that people can still breath when they kiss. There is no need to break the kiss because 'the need for oxygen became too great'. Unless, I suppose, the person has consumed a large plate of raw onions and garlic and the receiver of their kiss is trying not to choke on the fumes. Other than that, we have noses for a reason. Even fictional people get to use them.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Good Timing
I arrived at work this morning after having Monday off and found my desk sort of in order. There were papers here and there, mentions made of X not getting done and some other what-nots to sort through. All in all, I was stressed for a little bit but by the end of the day, things were getting back on track.
But as I am at times inclined to do, I was thinking about all the things I haven't done yet (ranging from around-the-house stuff to school assignments to relationships) and feeling a bit discouraged. Until I went to my church's weekly prayer meeting, that is, and after praying for things I knew I needed dealt with beforehand and things I discovered there I needed dealt with, my pastor did a short teaching after on Proverbs 16: 2-3:
Now we humans like to think everything we're thinking is a-okay. But God weighs the spirits or, in other words, what is motivating our hearts. Now my pastor did some word studies which I should really look up as I can't 100% remember how he explained this verse. So in order to not mess it up, I'll just leave that one alone for right now.
In verse three, the word "commit" means in the original Greek that we are to 'roll off' our works -- the things we do in our day-to-day lives -- onto God and then our thoughts will be correctly established (this last part ties into the previous verse, which (again) I'll have to do some studying on). Much like a camel would lower itself down and tilt to one side to roll off its heavy burden, so are we to kneel down before God and roll off onto Him the heavy burdens we are carrying. Then our yoke will be easy and our burdens light.
I'll add more on this when I can, but what I did share really touched me and encouraged me tonight. Sometimes I get really frustrated with myself and/or others and/or (I'm sorry to say) God. Then something like this happens, leaving me so thankful to know a God who knows my heart so well.
:-)
But as I am at times inclined to do, I was thinking about all the things I haven't done yet (ranging from around-the-house stuff to school assignments to relationships) and feeling a bit discouraged. Until I went to my church's weekly prayer meeting, that is, and after praying for things I knew I needed dealt with beforehand and things I discovered there I needed dealt with, my pastor did a short teaching after on Proverbs 16: 2-3:
2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
But the LORD weighs the spirits.
3 Commit your works to the LORD,
And your thoughts will be established.
Now we humans like to think everything we're thinking is a-okay. But God weighs the spirits or, in other words, what is motivating our hearts. Now my pastor did some word studies which I should really look up as I can't 100% remember how he explained this verse. So in order to not mess it up, I'll just leave that one alone for right now.
In verse three, the word "commit" means in the original Greek that we are to 'roll off' our works -- the things we do in our day-to-day lives -- onto God and then our thoughts will be correctly established (this last part ties into the previous verse, which (again) I'll have to do some studying on). Much like a camel would lower itself down and tilt to one side to roll off its heavy burden, so are we to kneel down before God and roll off onto Him the heavy burdens we are carrying. Then our yoke will be easy and our burdens light.
I'll add more on this when I can, but what I did share really touched me and encouraged me tonight. Sometimes I get really frustrated with myself and/or others and/or (I'm sorry to say) God. Then something like this happens, leaving me so thankful to know a God who knows my heart so well.
:-)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Signs
There is road work going on just outside of the town where I live. And because where I live is not where I work, I get to drive through the construction zone twice a day, five days a week. No, wait . . . hubby and I are in the city often on the weekend, so it would be two times five plus three more . . . no, wait . . . four . . .
Yeah, I drive through it a lot.
And it amazed me one morning how many people put off getting into the correct lane. There are signs, big signs letting motorists know there will soon be the one lane of traffic. Yet many a person will pull out from behind you, go speeding off and then basically budge in front of you because (surprise!) there is now only one lane of traffic.
Then I was thinking how often do I do the very same thing when it comes to doing the things God has planned for me. I see the signs where He is telling me to slow down, wait a second (or however long) yet I go barrelling on ahead only to end up having to wait. Or things are mucked up because I had to budge in. (Then there is the reverse, where you wait and wait and wait (aka procrastinate) until you have to go speeding off to try and catch up. Only to be thisclose to your destination and delayed further because you're getting a ticket.)
So the trick is to read the signs. Then obey them. It will really safe you time, frustrations and (depending on the circumstances), cash.
We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.
Proverbs 16:9 (MSG)
Yeah, I drive through it a lot.
And it amazed me one morning how many people put off getting into the correct lane. There are signs, big signs letting motorists know there will soon be the one lane of traffic. Yet many a person will pull out from behind you, go speeding off and then basically budge in front of you because (surprise!) there is now only one lane of traffic.
Then I was thinking how often do I do the very same thing when it comes to doing the things God has planned for me. I see the signs where He is telling me to slow down, wait a second (or however long) yet I go barrelling on ahead only to end up having to wait. Or things are mucked up because I had to budge in. (Then there is the reverse, where you wait and wait and wait (aka procrastinate) until you have to go speeding off to try and catch up. Only to be thisclose to your destination and delayed further because you're getting a ticket.)
So the trick is to read the signs. Then obey them. It will really safe you time, frustrations and (depending on the circumstances), cash.
We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it.
Proverbs 16:9 (MSG)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Dude Returns
I returned to work on Friday from a lovely lunch with my older sister and her daughter, which in turn was preceded by a near-miss with a truck pulling a flatbed trailer, to receive a phone call from The Dude mentioned about two posts back.
I had just started freshening up my lipstick (Remarkaberry from Avon -- my favourite) when said telephone rang. "Hi, this is The Dude. I'd like to pick up x bags of product y." It was not the best day for such a request. Our plant had been running 24/7 to get some last-minutes shipments taken care of and I wasn't seeing how we could get some stuff together for someone else, much less The Dude.
So I told The Dude I would have to put him on hold for a minute. I then applied my lipstick, called my boss on the 2nd phone line and explained the situation, asking if I could tell The Dude "No." My boss, being more sensible than I am at times (hence, he's the boss) said I could patch The Dude through to his cell phone. The Boss had to explain Monday was not a good 'some day' to pick things up as it is Christmas Day and we're closed until the new year. The Dude is coming in the new year for his stuff.
I can wait.
I had just started freshening up my lipstick (Remarkaberry from Avon -- my favourite) when said telephone rang. "Hi, this is The Dude. I'd like to pick up x bags of product y." It was not the best day for such a request. Our plant had been running 24/7 to get some last-minutes shipments taken care of and I wasn't seeing how we could get some stuff together for someone else, much less The Dude.
So I told The Dude I would have to put him on hold for a minute. I then applied my lipstick, called my boss on the 2nd phone line and explained the situation, asking if I could tell The Dude "No." My boss, being more sensible than I am at times (hence, he's the boss) said I could patch The Dude through to his cell phone. The Boss had to explain Monday was not a good 'some day' to pick things up as it is Christmas Day and we're closed until the new year. The Dude is coming in the new year for his stuff.
I can wait.
Lost in the Translation
Planning a story is great fun until I need it to have a specific purpose. Or maybe I do have a purpose, but in my mind it lacks a certain je ne sais quois which, when translated, means it lacks a certain degree of literary greatness which will then translate into a contract and sales. Or something to that effect -- my French is a bit rusty.
Anyhow, it then follows that my story has no purpose. I think that is why National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for the initiated) holds such an appeal for me. I can just dive in with the vaguest of ideas and character names which I hope to remember two chapters in and run with it. Literary greatness, sales, and getting a publisher are no where near my 'to do' list. Okay, they're lurking at the edges but if they make too much noise it's the time-out chair for them!
And, darn it, my NaNoWriMo story is never lacking in purpose. It must not peter out before I reach the 50, 000 word mark or exceed the 30-day deadline.
If that's not overflowing with je ne sais quois then I don't know what is.
Anyhow, it then follows that my story has no purpose. I think that is why National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for the initiated) holds such an appeal for me. I can just dive in with the vaguest of ideas and character names which I hope to remember two chapters in and run with it. Literary greatness, sales, and getting a publisher are no where near my 'to do' list. Okay, they're lurking at the edges but if they make too much noise it's the time-out chair for them!
And, darn it, my NaNoWriMo story is never lacking in purpose. It must not peter out before I reach the 50, 000 word mark or exceed the 30-day deadline.
If that's not overflowing with je ne sais quois then I don't know what is.
The Boss is Away and . . . Things Happen
Oh, it's just great fun (and I use the word 'fun' loosely here) when the boss goes on holidays. Throughout the region, little 'boss-free zone' radars go off and, suddenly, people are confused . . . perplexed . . . forgetful . . . and/or just plain grumpy.
Forget the fun and sun in California. Back at my office, in the wind, sun, snow, and, well, wind is where the real party is!
Take some mix-ups had with a shipment. I thought everything had been worked out. X didn't happen, so there was no hope of Y coming to fruition. Someone Who Had to Know knew this. But the next day the boss is gone and *poof*. Confusion. So I, the still-a-newbie-shipper was asked to find out what happened. Someone Who Helped Organize Stuff said it was a problem on our end before adding they could not quite recall the event in question. Lady in Another Time Zone became a bit . . . snippy when I requested an e-mailed explanation of our earlier phone conversation. "We have done nothing wrong and do not need to send a written explanation." (Translation: "No way are you tracing this back to us.") A few other people said "Do Z, because of X and Y will be taken care of." Someone Who Had to Know called after a brief e-mail conveying Z, X and Y. Didn't leave a message.
Thankfully, I was able to take a breather after talking to a few Higher Ups. Low and behold, after some time (the weekend) and a perusal of the notes compiled during the investigation into X and things made a bit more sense. After hearing from The Fence Post that Someone Who Had to Know was looking for Someone to Crucify, I whipped off another e-mail (after relaying when the boss would be back) and have not heard a thing since. Is no news good news in this case, or is something going to hit the fan come Monday?
But the fun and excitement doesn't end there! No siree-bob!
A Dude had been calling, wanting a price on a bag of seed. Now I don't know how things are where you come from, but when someone asks me for a price on a bag of seed, I take it to mean they want just one bag. So a price was procured for the one bag for the Dude. He came in the following day to pick it up. At the time, I was on the phone in regards to Situation X, the other lady in the office was also on the phone. Okay, so I should have said "Be right with you." My bad. But before I knew it, the Dude was gone, having gone through the door marked "Employees Only", grumbling about being ignored for an hour and broken bags.
A Fellow Employee took up the call, letting the Dude know his bag of seed was ready, here is the invoice and here is the seed. Well the Dude must have been operating with some sort of new math because he wanted 40 bags of seed. Fellow Employee makes a call to obtain the price. It was $5 more per bag than the price quoted for the single bag. This made the Dude mad. He grabbed the invoice, waving it in the air as he began to rant about wanting the price to be honoured which is on the invoice; he's a shareholder in the company, by gum (not a direct quote) and he won't be delivering anything to our company again. Fellow Employee told him the price on the invoice was being honoured -- one bag of seed for x amount of dollars. I piped up with the fact that any time the Dude had talked to us, he only mentioned the one bag, not a pallet with forty.
This did not placate the Dude. He obtained Fellow Employee's name, the name and number and location of one of the Higher Ups and off he went. I secretly hoped we would never see him again.
Ha, ha!
He came back for more seed, was accidentally given a deal, and then in the process of trying to invoice it for him, I asked Two . . . Folks for help. Two . . . Folks proved to be not good folks to ask, as it was later revealed they were making fun of my not knowing how to to something I have done only once or twice (and minus the Dude) since working for the company.
But things are smoothing out a bit. Fellow Employee was a bit stressed earlier this week for saying Yes to Too Many Things. And today Supplies Were Low which may not help us with Someone Who Helped Organize Stuff.
The boss is back on Monday.
I can hardly wait.
Forget the fun and sun in California. Back at my office, in the wind, sun, snow, and, well, wind is where the real party is!
Take some mix-ups had with a shipment. I thought everything had been worked out. X didn't happen, so there was no hope of Y coming to fruition. Someone Who Had to Know knew this. But the next day the boss is gone and *poof*. Confusion. So I, the still-a-newbie-shipper was asked to find out what happened. Someone Who Helped Organize Stuff said it was a problem on our end before adding they could not quite recall the event in question. Lady in Another Time Zone became a bit . . . snippy when I requested an e-mailed explanation of our earlier phone conversation. "We have done nothing wrong and do not need to send a written explanation." (Translation: "No way are you tracing this back to us.") A few other people said "Do Z, because of X and Y will be taken care of." Someone Who Had to Know called after a brief e-mail conveying Z, X and Y. Didn't leave a message.
Thankfully, I was able to take a breather after talking to a few Higher Ups. Low and behold, after some time (the weekend) and a perusal of the notes compiled during the investigation into X and things made a bit more sense. After hearing from The Fence Post that Someone Who Had to Know was looking for Someone to Crucify, I whipped off another e-mail (after relaying when the boss would be back) and have not heard a thing since. Is no news good news in this case, or is something going to hit the fan come Monday?
But the fun and excitement doesn't end there! No siree-bob!
A Dude had been calling, wanting a price on a bag of seed. Now I don't know how things are where you come from, but when someone asks me for a price on a bag of seed, I take it to mean they want just one bag. So a price was procured for the one bag for the Dude. He came in the following day to pick it up. At the time, I was on the phone in regards to Situation X, the other lady in the office was also on the phone. Okay, so I should have said "Be right with you." My bad. But before I knew it, the Dude was gone, having gone through the door marked "Employees Only", grumbling about being ignored for an hour and broken bags.
A Fellow Employee took up the call, letting the Dude know his bag of seed was ready, here is the invoice and here is the seed. Well the Dude must have been operating with some sort of new math because he wanted 40 bags of seed. Fellow Employee makes a call to obtain the price. It was $5 more per bag than the price quoted for the single bag. This made the Dude mad. He grabbed the invoice, waving it in the air as he began to rant about wanting the price to be honoured which is on the invoice; he's a shareholder in the company, by gum (not a direct quote) and he won't be delivering anything to our company again. Fellow Employee told him the price on the invoice was being honoured -- one bag of seed for x amount of dollars. I piped up with the fact that any time the Dude had talked to us, he only mentioned the one bag, not a pallet with forty.
This did not placate the Dude. He obtained Fellow Employee's name, the name and number and location of one of the Higher Ups and off he went. I secretly hoped we would never see him again.
Ha, ha!
He came back for more seed, was accidentally given a deal, and then in the process of trying to invoice it for him, I asked Two . . . Folks for help. Two . . . Folks proved to be not good folks to ask, as it was later revealed they were making fun of my not knowing how to to something I have done only once or twice (and minus the Dude) since working for the company.
But things are smoothing out a bit. Fellow Employee was a bit stressed earlier this week for saying Yes to Too Many Things. And today Supplies Were Low which may not help us with Someone Who Helped Organize Stuff.
The boss is back on Monday.
I can hardly wait.
So There I Was, Furiously Brushing My Teeth
Oh, I was mad when my husband came upstairs about an hour ago to ask me how my assignment was coming. He found out pretty quickly it was not going well at all as I shut off the computer and stomped (yes, I was feeling particularly mature) off to the bathroom to get ready for bed. Fan fiction is like crack, people! For procrastinators anyway . . .
*ahem*
Anyway, by the time I brushed, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed again, and smoothed on some moisturizer (what does it mean to age gracefully, exactly?), I had decided Jim and Pam from The Office were not going to win and I was going to write my freaking letter. I dug through one of the piles still decorating the computer room, and found . . . squat. Remembering I had actually filed some stuff, I quickly found the letter I had written for my first course (and also in a time crunch if memory serves correctly) and got to work.
I now have two story ideas to work on. They sound so great in my head, but are currently looking sort of sad and limp and lifeless on paper. Of course, if I wrote more than "Novel Idea #1" along with a one-line synopsis, things might be looking better. Seriously, all this late-night writing and caffeine-fuelled mornings is making me think the National Novel Writing Month challenge will be fun! Isn't sleep for caffeine-deprived people anyway?
*ahem*
Anyway, by the time I brushed, rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed again, and smoothed on some moisturizer (what does it mean to age gracefully, exactly?), I had decided Jim and Pam from The Office were not going to win and I was going to write my freaking letter. I dug through one of the piles still decorating the computer room, and found . . . squat. Remembering I had actually filed some stuff, I quickly found the letter I had written for my first course (and also in a time crunch if memory serves correctly) and got to work.
I now have two story ideas to work on. They sound so great in my head, but are currently looking sort of sad and limp and lifeless on paper. Of course, if I wrote more than "Novel Idea #1" along with a one-line synopsis, things might be looking better. Seriously, all this late-night writing and caffeine-fuelled mornings is making me think the National Novel Writing Month challenge will be fun! Isn't sleep for caffeine-deprived people anyway?
Some Favourites
Hello!
I don't know if it was the set up or or the content or the fact I like fiddling around with the templates, but it was time for me to move, as it were, and set up a new blog. (I was formerly at the now-deleted scribblings06.blogspot.com under the title of Scribblings.)
Following are a few posts I enjoyed, anyway, from my 'old home' and I hope you enjoy them as well.
:-)
I don't know if it was the set up or or the content or the fact I like fiddling around with the templates, but it was time for me to move, as it were, and set up a new blog. (I was formerly at the now-deleted scribblings06.blogspot.com under the title of Scribblings.)
Following are a few posts I enjoyed, anyway, from my 'old home' and I hope you enjoy them as well.
:-)
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