One year ago, Stuart Pierce Glendinning joined us.

He didn't stay long, but he taught us a lot.

It feels simultaneously as if it's been only a few days and also like it was part of some other life 100 years ago.

We miss you every day my little man.

Happy Birthday

Darwinism, where art thou?

I am absolutely amazed that one of my cube-mates hasn't yet appeared in a headline that reads "Tractor accident tragedy!"

Christina, Christina, Christina...

When you write the lyrics next time around, please remember that you simply cannot rhyme "You've got class" with "Shake that ass."

Thank you.

Funny World

My boss has two kids that keep her running, and she always says how jealous she is of my free time. How I can go get my hair done whenever I want, paint my nails, or read a book non-stop if I wanted.

And this whole time I've been thinking how jealous I am of her busy-ness. How I would love be doing homework, worrying about the money for the field trip, or picking out an outfit for tomorrow.

National Symbol of Scotland

I think I know why the Scots chose the thistle. Picture with me if you will two gardeners somewhere in the Highlands.....

Gardener 1: Ach! Bugger all!
Gardener 2: What's the matter Alistair?
Alistair: It's these blasted thistles. I can't get the whole thing out. How 'bout you Dougie?
Dougie: Aye. It's the same wi' me. Hey Alistair I've a grand idea! Let's tell everyone they're our national symbol! Then we won't have to pull them up.
Alistair: Are ye daft? Who would believe we'd pick these wretched things as our national symbol?
Dougie: It's worth a shot don't you think?

The faint sound of bagpipes wafts through the air....

Happy Four Year Anniversary!!!

So, I've been blogging for 4 years and didn't notice. The funny thing is when I went back to my very first post in which I had nothing to say. And said so.

I still don't seem to have a lot to add to the world of blogs, but a lot of what I would normally write about (my day-to-day experiences) have been very personal lately. I don't mind sharing with the world, but some things just don't get to cross that boundary.

I'll be getting back into the swing of things soon, so that those of you who do read my blog will have something new to read once in a while. I'll also be moving to a new website. Don't worry I'll let you know when that happens. It'll be just as soon as Andy gets me all hooked up and I figure out how to use it.

How do drive me insane

1. Leave me for 5 days to go to a conference
2. Leave your PalmPilot behind
3. Leave all your alarms on PalmPilot on
4. Hide your PalmPilot somewhere in the depths of your laptop case, thereby ensuring that I can't find it for 3 days and continue to wonder where the hell that incessant beeping is coming from.
   

I'm not as good a wife for my techno-geek as I thought...

I'm not a technical person. I could be, I just don't want to. It doesn't excite me. Andy on the other hand...So I've learned some basic geek-speak just so that I'm not completely out of touch.

He left for South by Southwest this morning. I asked him last night if he was taking his laptop with him. He stopped. Stared at me for a few seconds. Then said "Of COURSE I'm taking my laptop. That's the point."

Apparently it would be like going to a camel convention and forgetting to bring your camel Mr. Humpy along.

Giant Plastic Smock

I need to be swaddled in plastic. I've spilt about 80 things on myself today not the least of which is coffee and spaghetti sauce. I've decided the only solution was to buy and eat two candy bars to make it up to myself.

Tomorrow I'll be coming to work like this.

Now I've got Jesus!

Last night I came home to a FedEx package with a large label that said "King Cake inside." Gosh, who could it be from? T had once again made my day. And she was totally right. It DOES look like Mardi Gras threw up.

I asked her what I could do to thank her for the wonderful gesture. Her response this morning made my day, yet again.

"Theoretically, the appropriate gesture would be to tether Jesus to your computer monitor in solidarity to the other baby Jesuses in the world.
Theoretically. Of course."

A day just isn't a good day without T in it!

Got Jesus?

My oldest, bestest friend ever sent me some emails today that absolutely made my day. Below are the excerpts, hope you enjoy them as much as I did...

"Had a king cake at work today. Ever seen one? ICK! It looks like someone barfed Mardi Gras. It is REALLY cool though! It has all sorts of stuff smushed into it, like goblets and a crown, and a mask. Best part is THERE IS A BABY JESUS HIDDEN IN THE CAKE! Can you imagine anything more sacreligious than chomping on the Lord! I already put dibs in for the kid. Technically, whoever finds the Saviour whilst chewing the hideous mass of sugar and cinnamon gets good luck and the responsibility of bringing the kings cake the following year. But our little Christ is popping out of the cake (oops!) so it isn't a surprise.

Gotta go check on the status. I might have a baby Jesus waiting for me!"

And then 2 minutes laterthe ultimate email...

"SCORE! Got JESUS!"

Thank you T for always always always making my day :)

Ok I'm a sucker

I never really could pass these kinds of things up so here goes my Four Things...

Four jobs I’ve had

1. Lifeguard
2. Retail clerk at Bath and Body Works
3. HR Coordinator
4. Data Manager
   

Four movies I can watch over and over

1. O Brother Where Art Thou
2. Bull Durham
3. Fried Green Tomatoes
4. The Incredibles
   

Four places I’ve lived

Hrmm this will be hard since I've always lived in Maryland, so let's do cities

1. Laurel
2. St. Mary's City
3. Columbia
4. Olney
   

Four TV shows I love

1. Top Gear
   
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. Good Eats
   
4. Mythbusters
   

Four places I’ve vacationed

Again very hard, but only because we like to travel.

1. Australia (Just the Southeast corner, we're going back some day for the rest...)
2. Slovakia
3. Russia/The Ukraine (They spilt into bunches of little countries now, but they were all still Russia when I was there)
4. Scotland (because it's still my favorite)
   

Four of my favorite dishes

1. Chicken South of the Border (secret family recipe)
   
2. Nillson Chicken (same as above)
3. Lasagna
   
4. Anything Andy cooks so I don't have to
   

Four sites I visit daily

1. Dooce
2. Amazon
3. Yahoo's Most Popular
   
4. Petfinder (I like looking at pictures of the puppies)
   

Four places I would rather be right now

1. Edinburgh, Scotland
2. London, England
3. Dublin, Ireland
4. San Juan, Puerto Rico
   

Four bloggers I am tagging

1. Danielle
2. Laura
3. Angie
4. Andy (Sorry babe, you don't really have to do it)
   

Sometimes I wonder...

Why on earth did Andy pick me?

He's amazing with computers. His Dad is amazing with all sorts of musical instruments. His Mom is a world-class bag-piper. His middle brother takes the most wonderful pictures. His little brother writes fantastic poetry....

I sort of stick out like a sore thumb.

I guess I can always smile and look pretty.

Feelings are like pantyhose, once they've been stretched out they're never quite the same...

I've always tried to keep my feelings under control. All nice and neat in a little box so that they can be released appropriately.

Since we've lost Stuart I feel like the box I was keeping them in has exploded and bits and pieces have gone everywhere. I've been trying to pick them up and put them back into a new box.

Unfortunately, it seems like my box has shrunk, and now it's like trying to get the pantyhose back into the little plastic egg they came in. Once you've had them out, they won't go back in.

I keep losing little pieces of Sad, Angry, and Frustrated all over the place. They pop out when I don't want them to and I have a much harder time putting them away again.

So my apologies for being so random with my feelings lately. I've got L'eggs but I don't know how to use them.

I've done it

I dressed up a little more today than I usually do, tights, heels, skirt, etc. I also stopped and got a cup of coffee on my way in to work. As I was going in to the shop, an older man in a nice suit and tie stopped in his tracks and gave me the hairy eyeball.

Ladies and Gentlemen...I've achieved MILF-dom!

I never knew...

How many different types of sympathy cards existed.

How short 45 days could feel.

How someone so tiny could touch so many people.

How many people there are out there that care about us.

How badly this was going to hurt.

How badly it would hurt me to see Andy in so much pain.

How good it would make me feel to think back on the time we did have together.

How I could learn to love one tiny person so much, in such a short amount of time.


Thank you sweet little boy, you've taught me so much already. I'll keep trying to learn.