Crazy Week

So just this week, I've already had my sister's birthday, and today is my father's birthday. On top of that, my counterpart at work, Diana, is out of the office for two and a half weeks while she goes to Hawaii on vacation. So this week has been beyond crazy. Boyfriend Jon was a sweetheart and mercifully rubbed my feet since i had hardly sat down all day.

I made my sister a cake, which was decorated in less than an hour and a half with icing that was too thin, because i couldn't cool it properly before i started working with it. So rather than covering her cake in icing roses (which decided to flop off the rose nail), i settled for leaves trailing down the sides, and hot pink rosebuds around the top perimeter. I ran out the door and was a few minutes late to dinner. And i was SO rushed out the door, i forgot my camera and cell phone....which could have been used to take a picture. I'm sorry.

My dad, the baker in the family, was very impressed at what i had managed to throw together, and he says he has passed the torch onto me. But for his birthday, he has requested cupcakes. If you read back to my friend's wedding last summer you'll know that i swore i would never do cupcakes again. After two hundred and having to borrow cupcake pans.....yeah, never again. And i'm not breaking that stride yet. Dad doesn't know this, but i'm purchasing cupcakes from a local store instead. We only need three. The thought of having to clean my kitchen, make two dozen cupcakes, make icing, decorate and clean again....i don't have the energy.

This week at work i've been doing the work of two people who are already overloaded. Not to mention i'm helping people who seem to leave their brains at their desk when they come to see me. There is a bright florescent orange arrow on my desk at the entrance that is labeled and points to my inbox. They are still putting things on my chair or on my keyboard...and it's stuff that can wait. When i asked them if they saw the arrow, more than one said "Yes, i saw it, but i didn't understand what it meant". Tell me...does this look like they need the Rosetta Stone?

Yes, this is true. And no, i don't understand it either. Someone reminded me..."no matter how idiot proof you make it, somewhere there's always a better idiot."

The plans for the weekend involve being out in the sun at all times. FINALLY, we're getting a sunny weekend in the Pacific Northwest! Hallelujah! I'm going biking with or without Boyfriend Jon. If there's sun i intend to be out in it.

When Facebook was for college students

When Facebook was for college students:

Friending wasn't a guilt trip.

• Yes, obscure relative, we are related by blood, but that doesn't mean i want to know what you did in FARM-VILLE every day (even if it's not the AP that's loading the status). Nor do i want you to hear about the dirty joke that was between my friends that you're going to write me an email about how crude you find it. 
• Your parent's had no idea what it was and were content to leave you alone about it. Now they want to be your friend and if you don't accept, it's grounds for them being mad at you. No mom, just because i write that i'm out with friends doesn't mean i'm an alcoholic. 

No friend requests from 10 year olds

• You are not 19. No way no how. I went to your birthday party and it was a Zero, not a Nine next to that one. Also, you're in elementary school. I don't care when the next Justin Beiber concert is. STOP POKING ME! No, i will NOT friend you. Because i don't want you subjected to the topics you're too young for, and i don't want to have to censor myself on the off chance that you might see it. 

Lots of games that were visible, distracting, and fun for hours on end. 

• Now they're hard to navigate to so it's not as enticing to play.

It wasn't blocked by company filters

• Facebook whenever you want!

People you want to talk with.

• The only people on there were other college students. Talking about things college students find interesting or humorous. People who respond to a political joke with an appropriate Lol, instead of taking it personally and then berating you about your all of your political views are wrong. Yes, i'm thinking of you Uncle R!

You are not reported by your friends to your parents for using the F word. 

• Yes, this happened to me. And led to a several month long grudge from my parents because I embarrassed them. 

I know it won't happen, but i wish Facebook would go back to the way it was(especially because i already graduated). I guess it's time to beef up my privacy settings again. 

Resurrected from Geek Heaven

I stopped by my parents place yesterday because dad had told me to come by so we could finish up my coffee table which is in the home stretch, building it wise. What i didn't know when i arrived was that he had wrenched his back not an hour before and he was not inclined to be on his feet anymore down in the cold shop.

My mother was busy fussing about him and trying to put away the remaining Christmas decorations (yes, they were still out a few days before easter). I told dad to take a load off, and then opened up the access to the attic where the Christmas stuff goes. Dad, incorrigible as ever, refused to let us women get the boxes upstairs by ourselves so he started handing things up to me as i was hunched over in the short attic. 

Mom however, suddenly remembered that she had forgotten something and took several minutes to pack it away. Dad left the bottom of the ladder to help her and told me to stay up there for when they were ready. So i sat down and started looking around. There were a few boxes that were open up in the attic, so i got nosy.

I found the silver dishes my grandmother gave me, and a stack of piano music that must have been over a foot high. I also found Grandma Anne's cane and the electric race car tracks. My two brothers didn't really seal up the boxes that contains their treasures, so those were among the boxes i looked in. I let out a gasp when i saw this tangled up with Nerf guns and GI Joe's:

Enterprise D from TNG

In case you missed the signs before: I AM A TOTAL GEEK!!!! I got nuts for Star Wars and Star Trek things and i was always more obsessed with Star Trek than any of my siblings. 

I couldn't let this sit up in the attic! I just couldn't! I didn't care if it was my brother's or not. I carefully detangled it and set it aside. In another box: I found this and was so relieved because mom said she had gotten rid of it:

SOOOOOOO Not for sale. 

From the original 1970's era Millennium Falcon cutaway model. I don't have exact dates, but i wouldn't even consider selling either. My oldest brother put this together and had it sitting in his closet for years before mom finally cleaned out his room after he left the nest. And it's just been sitting in the attic ever since.

No one was around but when i got a glimpse of the cockpit and the recognition finally hit my brain, i'm certain that i made some kind of bug-eyed, unintelligible noise of OMG!!!!!

So far, i have not been able to locate all of the pieces, but dad assures me that he has seen the cut-away cover, and the figurines recently, and that he would never let mom throw them out. After Easter, I'll be going back up into the attic with a better light to locate as many of the remaining pieces that i can find. 

I took what i had home and gently cleaned them up with some warm water, and now they're back to a more appropriate luster. The plastic has tinged yellow with age, but I'm still so excited to have it. If you ask me, it looks even more authentic since the Falcon was "a hunka junk!" according to Luke. 

Bonus: 1970's Storm Trooper PEZ dispenser...which you can kinda see in the smuggler's hold. 

At least the dryer isn't eating socks anymore

It's this one but in silver

I'm going to gush a little bit:

For our one year anniversary Boyfriend Jon did GOOD. Aside from being perfectly charming, romantic, and sweet, he bought me the most beautiful necklace I've ever owned. It is only rivaled by the black hills gold my father got me when i was ten.

This necklace is beautiful and just my taste. I love wearing it, and only rarely take it off. We even got a special chain for it so it would hang in the perfect spot on my chest.

I can't say it enough...I LOVE THIS NECKLACE! So when it went missing a couple days ago, i was really upset! I though i searched everywhere at my apartment thinking it was the last place i had seen it. I had just about convinced myself that i had left it at Boyfriend Jon's place (which has happened in the past) when i heard a soft clunk as i was pulling laundry out of the washer.

It was one of the pair or earrings i had been wearing when i had lost the necklace. With dread slowly rising in my stomach, i pulled out every single piece and shook it vigorously. I found the matching earring...and two dollar bills (honestly, i thought i checked all the pockets!)...but there was no sign of the necklace. As i scooped out the last of the socks on the bottom...i heard the sound of metal on metal. I dove into the half size washer, somehow cramming myself in until i could reach the bottom in the back and felt around.

There was something small there, and after several minutes of trying to get the tips of my fingers on it, i pulled the pendant back out. But there was no chain. I set the pendant aside after kissing it for happiness, and felt around again. I quickly fond something that felt like a chain, but when i pulled it up, the chain was only two inches long anymore. Feeling around some more only yielded a few more chain links. I'm not too upset: I have the pendant, and chains are cheap.

I guess my washer has developed more expensive tastes than socks. I'll have to be more thorough in my pocket searches.

Frolicking and Fake Flowers

I know that if i really wanted sunshine, i could move a few states south. But i'm a Pacific Northwest girl through and through. Right now, however, i miss sunshine more than ever. My brain tells me "It's spring! Go out frolic in the sunshine!" Except this is a record sunshine-less year. As of today, we tie the latest day of the year that we haven't reached 60 by. And the forecast is projecting more 40's and 50's degree weather for the next week at least. There's even snow again today...in April.

I'm should be watching crocuses pop up and opening up my apartment for some serious sunshine therapy and a stiff breeze to carry out the dank of winter. There is so little light that enters my apartment. I barely managed to salvage some of the Wandering Jew plant. It was so desperate for light that I ended up putting it between the vertical blinds for my sliding glass door...and the door itself. This way, it can glean what sunlight is available throughout the day without jeopardizing my security.

I've never lived without plants before. I stole a section of our back yard as a kid to build my own garden. My first roommate Katherine had COVERED the entire deck with pots, most of which had dead plants in them (to the point of not being able to walk anywhere on the deck without moving pots). I took the time she wouldn't and cleaned away the dead sections, and even planted a few bulbs with her permission. With roommate Kelsie, we had a few plants also; leafy green ferns. I never realized how cold a room looks without some plants about. It's not a feng shui thing...just missing some signs of spring i guess.

Never the less, i resorted to fake flowers. With a pair of wire snippers in hand, i corralled some fake dogwood some kind of long green branch and apple blossoms paired up with fake potted grass-like plants. I've begun strewing them around my apartment and so far, the effect on my mood is noticeable.