My Wonderful Day

I had a wonderful day today thanks a great deal to DH. He took the kids over to his parents for 3 hours while I did anything I wanted.

I called a friend and we met a Starbucks for coffee. It was nice just to sit and talk with another woman about work, children, shoes, and jewelry. Then we went to the mall and I introduced her to the jeweler I like buying from. We spent 45 minutes talking and looking at jewelry, particularly David Yurman.

It was good to have a nice relaxing time because it made me better able to handle LB when I got home. He didn't take a nap and around 4:30 turned into a beast. Everything upset him. Finally, while we were driving around he fell asleep in the car. After he woke up he was in a better mood. When we got home he watched his new favorite show Spongebob Squarepants. Then he and Michael roughed around alot. Surprisingly, Allison slept through the loud yelling and laughing but woke up while I was quietly folding clothes.

Family Photos

Of the nearly 700 photos taken of my family over since August 2004, about 10 of the contain me and Ben. I'm being generous with that number.

Michael pointed out that the one time he took a photo of me I wasn't happy with it. I replied that it wasn't that I was unhappy with it, it was he sent a photo of me without makeup and my hair a mess to all of our family members.

Knitting a scarf

I've been knitting a scarf since the end of October. I joined in the second and last ball of yarn over the Thanksgiving holiday. At this rate, this scarf won't be finished until the end of December. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen such an involved pattern for the first time.

A co-worker gave me a link to a cool knitting site with lots of wearable free patterns and great articles about knitting. After the scarf, I'm going to make a hat, then I will embark on my first sweater, I decided on this one. I promise to my DH I will not even think of buying the materials for the sweater until I'm at least half way through the hat.

I have a bit of a knitting dilemma. On one hand, I believe it is best to support the local yarn shop (lys) but on the other I have found better prices with online stores. The local yarn shop is about a 15 minute walk from my office and convenient to the best coffee (and hopefully bagel) in the DC metropolitan area. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and will listen to my stupid beginner questions. Their prices on the other hand are about 2 to 3 times what I have found on the net. This could be because they are in a high rent district. My compromise is I will order and purchase my yarn from them, but purchase my supplies (needles, notions, and storage) on-line.

My husband expressed his opinion concerning the sweater. In short he says, "It's ugly."

I am getting old

I went shopping with my mom yesterday. We went to foot locker so I could get a new pair of running shoes. All I could think while I was there was, "The music is loud and they should really turn it down."

Roll It Out

In anticipation of the rollout I came into work a little late. I stopped in at Ralph Lauren to exchange a pair of boots -- the box was marked with the right size but the boots were not. They were very good about finding the correct pair and even gave me a store credit for the difference between the full retail price and the sale price. In the end, I ended up getting another pair of boots for $100 dollars (the spectacular boots are here).

I haven't done this in a couple of years. A major server upgrade. We're leaving behind our RAID arrays and moving to a SANS.

2:00 AM - We are still doing the rollout. Replication is giving us a problem. The drive containing the snapshot folder continues to fill. Our workaround is to use a different drive for a coupel of the publishers. It is still slow. We can't start all the snapshots at the same time; we have to wait for one to finish and be applied to the subscriber before going to the next publication.

5:00 AM - I just walked in the door. I'm tired but I feel good. I accomplished something today.

2:30 PM - I went to bed from 5:30 to 10:30. DH took the LB to breakfast while I slept. When he brought me a bagel. After I ate it, we went to the grocery store. All is quiet so far but I won't be surprised if we are busy Monday morning.

Just Trying to Keep Busy

Okay, I found two more hobbies. Bento and knitting. Michael says I'm not allowed to start making Bento until I finish the scarf I started knitting two weeks ago.

Doing my penance

The wages of chocolate are Balletone classes. Balletone is the new craze sweeping America. It is a sculpting class based on the principles of ballet (cause you know, ballerinas don't have flabby thighs). They are usually taught by a skinny, well built blonde whose name usually ends in either a "y" or "i". My aspirations of being a ballerina ended at the age of four when I couldn't graduate past step-step-clap. They threw second clap in there and I couldn't hang. Anyway, I'm holding this pose where I'm balancing on my left leg, extending my right foot to the side, and doing side lifts for about 5 million counts. Mindy or Cindy or Muffy says, "This hurts me just as much." Oh, really. I'll show you hurt when the feeling returns to my left leg.

Position Description: Mom

Because I don't like forwarding emails, I decided to post this to my blog for all to enjoy.

POSITION :
Mom, Mommy, Mama, Ma

JOB DESCRIPTION :
Long term, team players needed, for challenging permanent work in an, often chaotic environment. Candidates must possess excellent communication and organizational skills and be willing to work variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call. Some overnight travel required, including trips to primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities! Travel expenses not reimbursed. Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :
The rest of your life. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily,until someone needs $5. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly. Also, must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from thebackyard are not someone just crying wolf. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zippers. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next. Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices. Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :
None. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :
None required unfortunately. On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :
Get this! You pay them! Offering frequent raises and bonuses. A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent. When you die, you give them whatever is left. The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is thatyou actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :
While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no stock options are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth and free hugs for life if you play your cards right