Happy Halloween....and welcome to Cinco de Goofball

What goes on at the Goofball, Stays at the Goofball - well, almost!

Thanks Bug & Gnat! The Goofball was a BLAST! I attended this party a couple of years ago and it was a great time, and I couldn't wait to get to it last night. Let's see, a couple years ago the party was hosted by Elvis and Priscilla. I went with a bunch of people, rock stars, a granny, and Elvira. But in the past couple of years, I wasn't able to attend. I had kid things to do and then I guess we were worried about drinking and driving. My sweetie doesn't like to be away from home too much, but he's getting better about venturing out, as long as we're going to be safe. So, we determined that we would be safe last night no matter what. And we were.

The winds yesterday were unreal, it was more like the prairie than Cincinnati. All afternoon we had 50+ MPH winds kicking everything up, blowing all the leaves and walnuts off the trees and gusting winds through the house like crazy. Meanwhile, at the Goofball preparation, they set up tents for the music, beer/food, and just some coverings, just in case it rained. During the wind storm the tents were blowing over and things were in general looking like the fun could end before it started. But fortunately for all of us, the winds died down, the tents were secured, the electric still worked and it was warm out! An absolutely beautiful night for a haunting :)

The party invite said it started at 4 pm, we arrived at 6:30 and I felt like I was late, even though we were not. The hosts of the party this year were old Jerry Garcia and a Deadhead Groupie. There were so many interesting characters there: young, Jerry Garcia, God's Gift to Women, a robber, a monkey - Spank the Monkey! - you have to see the pictures of him, Dieter the Porn Star, a Pirate, the Great Pumpkin, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Madonna and of course Elvis! There were dead banditos, zombies, and the Prince of Darkness was present in a few of his many forms - obviously going for the confusion factor :) The coolest of all was the Leprachaun! His costume was totally amazing! There was a cow, with udders, a construction worker, a couple of guys with beer bongs as part of their costumes, and many, many more.

We were a Priest - Father Alcoholic and a Nun - Mother Superior. Father Alcoholic told everyone at the party that they should not drink or smoke even though he was. He asked if anyone had young sons to attend his summer camp - starting next week - haha :) It was really amusing, in bad taste and totally funny. I came equipped with a ruler, actually a yard stick, which was the stick of correction. I didn't realize how many people wanted to be spanked. I spanked quite a lot of the guests there, many of which I see everyday, all in jest!! I met so many of Bug's friends, who knew of me, and told me all the nice things that Bug says about me. I was flattered and complimented. Of course, the feeling is mutual for Bug and Gnat.

The beer was freely flowing. Hundreds of jello shots showed up with lots of great flavors. In fact, the jello shots ended up being a team building activity :) The monkey brought "Frooze" - Fruit (pineapple, mandarin oranges and ??) and Booze and not just any booze, it was Everclear the fruit had been soaking in - WOW. I ate quite a few of the pineapple and mandarin oranges - yummy, yummy, ooohh! The first person to pass out was the robber. I guess he nodded around 8:30, but was back at it about an hour later.

There was also a smorgasbord of wonderful food. Bug and Gnat made chili - very spicy hot and tasty - served with cornbread. There were mixed nuts - not the characters at the party but really Planters mixed nuts - and salsa and chips. The Dead Lady of the Cantina brought a great dip - in fact, I'm gonna make it today - it was butternut squash (and you know I love it!) with refried beans, green chilis, black beans, whole kernal corn, and I am going to add jalepeno's and taco seasoning to spice it up a little. It was really yummy with tortilla chips. There was brownies, cookies, and mini cupcakes. Plenty of food to compliment plenty of alcohol.

There were pinatas hanging all over: Bush, Cheney, Skull & Bones, Pumpkins, and my favorite - Derek Jeters. (They made that one for me because I love the Yankees and Derek Jeter and they don't like the Yankees at all - I take a razzing over that all the time!) Inside the pinatas were army men, $100 bills, a pair of Red Socks - can you guess which pinata they were in :). Billy makes the pinatas and they definitely add to the festivities.

Many people brought tents to sleep on Bug's property. It's a good idea because there was too much drinking going on, don't want to have people driving out of there. We were only planning on staying for a while because of the dogs, but once we got there and started having fun, we decided that driving was not an option. So the party was ON! Bug and Gnat gave us a guest room and it was very comfy, nice warm comforter in the upstairs of their house. I love their house. It's nicely decorated, lots of color. I really liked that. The kitchen is plum, the living room and the guest room are forest green. The living room is such a cozy room, very inviting. I noticed the other guest room has sky blue walls with clouds. Very nice. There are french doors that open to a small stoop from Bug & Gnat's bedroom. Very cool. They have a nice, roomy deck on the back of the house. It overlooks the back yard. Nice.

On their property, they have trails, a pond, a creek, fire pit, clearings, cherry, peach and apple trees, a walnut tree, a fenced in garden - which is a great idea to help keep the deer out of it. It's so quiet and peaceful and it makes me really want to start looking for a new place by next summer. Don't know yet where to look, but I would love to live out where we could have more property and more privacy. The privacy is most important. There were lots of people at the party, music playing and between the music and the crowd it was louder than I could have at my house. My neighbors would have the police at my house so fast, it would make my head spin - LOL!

We sat around the firepit, playing music, singing songs, I played a bongo for the first time ever. We joked and laughed and had the best time. Everyone was in character, which made it even more enjoyable. There is a "punishment" for not wearing a costume - Bug gives you a costume and a job - Beer Bitch and you have to wear the Beer Bitch hat and serve everyone at the party beer. Don't want that job - it's too busy!

I had a chance to spend some time with Billy and just chat. We don't get to do that too often. You know, I have known these guys since 1999. They are a great bunch of guys. I'm thankful to have them in my life. Hey, how can you not love 'em - afterall, they named me Metal Mom! I'll always be friends with them.

Overall the party was a huge success, everyone had a good time and that's what matters. Thanks Bug and Gnat, for such a great Halloween. I won't miss another.

Saturday At Home

Is there ever enough time?

I spent the day at home today, partially because I don't have a choice and partially because I didn't feel like going anywhere. I was going to tackle my "things to do" list, but I didn't do that either. Instead, I spent time doing something that I really enjoyed - working on my website. I think I've added quite a bit and cleaned up the code so it looks ok in IE and in Netscape & Firefox. Ever since I started using Firefox, I realized that I have to use HTML correctly. And since I rarely get to, it's been a challenge. But I plugged through the table structures and got it together.

I should be doing a host of other things like reading my work emails, studying for my PMP exam, cleaning my house, fixing my other computer, helping him to finish cleaning out the basement, and work outside in the yard. I also have items to post on eBay to sell.

But, I wanted to finish this chore first. Tonight we are going to Doug's Halloween Party - Cinco de Goofball - I can't wait. I know we will have a great time. We have funny costumes, priest and nun. But the priest is especially funny - he's kind of a perverted priest :) I'll take my camera and get lots of funny pictures. I haven't tried on my costume yet, but have to start getting ready.

I missed blogging this week, but some days I just couldn't get the energy to spend time on this. I have had to awaken every morning extra early to accommodate my daughter's school schedule. This way I can just be ready when she gets up and go to work early each day. Then, when I get home, I cook dinner - because there is no eating out anymore - then I just am too tired to do anything. Gee, I should start exercising for more energy. That means cleaning off the treadmill and using it :)

Well, it's time to get ready, I'll post party pictures later.

web design

and who's idea was this anyway?

I am very fortunate and spoiled. I have been surrounded by very creative and wonderfully talented web designers ever since I've been in the business. In fact, I can only think of one time that I rejected the coding of a site in 6 years. I did have the team recode the html and recut the pages. The team worked over a weekend and still made the customer deadline. It was very stressful, but in the end everyone was happy. And that was the last time that anything like that happened again.

I have very high work and acceptance standards. I do expect for things to be successful in my projects. I expect to have satisfied clients all of the time - or at least the Largest Majority of the time. Sure, there's the occassional time when a client needs a nudge to be happy. As a consultant the number one most important thing is to keep my clients happy.

I just want to thank my local team for all their hard work and excellence in quality. I would say that they can implement just about anything - got a project or idea! Send it our way, you won't be disappointed.

I did it!!

my website is up and completed (for now!)

I finished something that has been on my plate for a long time and it wasn't work! That's so great! I feel so good about it.

I'm gonna send out an email to my friends announcing my new site. I hope everyone checks it out and is totally honest about what they think about it. It will always be a work in progress, but most of the work is done!

Yippee!

Tongue and Groove

DIY: Upgrading My Kitchen

I have talked about this for 4 years, ever since I bought this house. My kitchen is ugly - it's outdated - the original kitchen in a house that's about 50 years old. I have yellow linoleum that doesn't have a bit of shine to it's name. I don't want to have to scrub the floor, and I really mean scrub it - like with brushes on knees. I want a floor that looks clean when I mop it, you know, maybe even use one of those new Swiffer Wet Cleaners. And when I wash it I want it to look clean. Is that so much to ask??

Well, since I tend to procrastinate, I guess it is. And I don't know anyone that can install it for me, like a friend who's a professional that would do this small job on the side. So, we are going to learn how to Do It Ourselves. Sometime in the next few weeks, we will begin the work. Once we begin the work, I'll keep you posted with daily photos of the progress on my site. The only thing that we don't know how to do is install the floor. Any kind of floor, so if we're going to learn how to install a floor, better to be laminate tongue and groove floor than linoleum.

I'm going to be bold in my kitchen and paint 2 different colors, a deep, rich red on two walls and a nice, calm sage green on the other two walls. And the nice thing is, if it doesn't look right, gee, it's only paint and can be changed. But I think that I will love it!

Right now, the walls are white, the counter is a yellow/green kind of color - close to a sage or celery green - oak cabinets, stove top, double ovens built in, and then a nice big wall that's home to the fridge and an island with cabinets on top. I definitely need the cabinet space, so I'm happy with all of that. I could use more storage, but who couldn't? I'm gonna keep all the cabinetry and appliances as is for now. Therefore, I want to make a small investment for the time being. Anything would be an improvement over my current look. If that's what you want to call it :)

I'll add some links and get the page ready. I have already taken before shots, now I just have to start the work sometime in the next couple of weeks so I can have the mid- and after- shots to show off.

Lessons Learned

but why are they so hard?

I want to write something totally profound about life and lessons learned. But, I'm probably not going to quite get there, at least not the "profound" level of insight and wisdom. I could borrow what other wise people have said, but we've all heard it before. You know, it's really hard to learn a lesson from someone else's mistakes. I mean, if it really were possible for "me" to learn from "your" mistakes and life lessons, then what would my life be like. Would I really understand right from wrong, choices and consequences, good and bad, righteous and evil?

I've had one of those weeks that life just throws at you when things are going wrong or right, quiet or changing. It doesn't matter....it's just one of those times when a life lesson was supposed to come my way - IN A BIG WAY :)

Have you ever looked back after one of these BIG lessons happen and wonder what was I really saved from? Could I have been injured, hospitalized, paralized, or even worse, dead as a result of some behavior that I was engaging in? Sometimes, it's revealed to us, but most of the time, it's not we just have to believe that everything happens for a reason and try to learn the reason by living the by product in our own life. Thus, LESSON LEARNED.

This week I learned that my family really means more to me than anything else. I mean, I already knew it, but sometimes it's taken for granted that everything is the 'status quo'. My kids are more important to me than anything. My oldest daughter lives pretty close to me and works alot, but it's nice to know that she is only minutes away. My son is in college, a good achiever, a faithful believer and is a total pleasure to be around. My youngest daughter is a senior in high school, has her whole life in front of her and still needs my guidance. It would be so sad for all of them if something happened to me at this point in our lives - when their lives are just beginning and my life is just opening up to a new chapter.

Then there's my wonderful partner. Relationships need to be worked on DAILY, not just occasionally. When couples find themselves extremely busy they have to make their relationship a priority, otherwise some of the affection and closeness suffers as a result. I'm the busy one - working more than I should but as much as I have to to keep up with the workload. Then, I want to have some time to spend with my friends. I have spent my entire life devoted to my children, however, I'm at the point where they are busy and don't want to spend as much time with me as it was. So, I want to spend time with my Girl Friends!

But, when the chips are down and I really need someone to help me out, my partner is there to pick up the pieces, not chastise me, but to really help and love me. Now, that's what I'm talking about :) The love shows through no matter what.

As a result of this 'terrible' week, he and I are stronger than ever. One of my friends wisely observed that perhaps he sees me as a 'little less than perfect' and it makes me more human. He has put me on a pedelstal, treating me like a queen, doing anything I asked him to do. And in return, I have not been so polite all the time, kind of crabby and critical at times to be sure. But this week has renewed something in the relationship. The kinder, gentler side of me, the stronger, leadership side of him. He's treated me wonderfully, been extra nice to me and shown me that love conquers all. At my age, it's a nice affirmation.

Several lessons learned this week:
1. life is fragile, don't take it for granted. Love my family, spend time with them, support them, they are the core of my life.
2. respect my partner. He deserves it, afterall he does live with me (does put up with me :)
3. practice what I preach. If I give advice to my children, then I should live it as well.
4. my actions affect so many others. Think about it, there's my partner, my kids, my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors. All of the people that a person touches and doesn't realize the impact that their life may have on them.

Well, I'm off to deal with the reality of a terrible week; work through the issues because I always do; solve the problem because it's been identified; and vow to have better weeks!

working too much

A 17 hour day

Geez! Am I nuts? It's been a 17 hour day and I've worked all day and all night long. I totally lost track of time and just kept working. You know how it is. After a while, you just keep pushing through so you don't have so much to do the next day. I'm exhausted....more later.

Cooking

Healthy Diet

I have been learning to cook a healthier diet than ever in my life. Been attending weight watchers and am really motivated, plus learning to cook 'better' has been a real plus. I've been learning to cook with spices and drawing extra flavor naturally! It's so cool because I'm really learning alot and my recipes are turn out great!

Thanks to Democratic Girl for suggesting trying inari with my sushi. I'll definitely pick it up and try it. The pic was helpful, so I know what it's supposed to look like.

I love soup and I have end of the season veggies coming out of my garden now, so I've got some soup recipes that I'm gonna try, then I'll post them here if they turn out as good as I think they will. Some of them I'm creating and some are already posted on other websites. Plus, I have apples from my apple tree, so I'm off to experiment with some pear and apple recipes. yummy! Amd the best part is that I'm cooking better than ever and losing so much weight! It's a great trade-off - feel AND look better!

The kitchen is calling....homemade Beef BBQ for my football lovers to watch the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cleveland Browns play....then low-fat chili, apple 'something' and lots of fun :)

Great Week

Busy but Great!

It's Thursday night and the work week is almost over. I've got meetings all day tomorrow and have to go downtown to attend them. They aren't in the same location, so I'll be running from one side to another and only have about 15 min in between to park and arrive on time. It will be fun :)

But it's really been a great week:
> I golfed for the first time and experienced sore wrists, as a result. But the golfing was totally fun and I didn't do so bad for my first time. My shots were straight and I didn't end up in the water, woods, or rough. I didn't hit trees. I hit the ball pretty straight and my longest drive was about 124 yds - pretty good!
> I didn't lose any weight due to so much wonderful food that was served at the golf outing and I think that I drank a few too many for the week. Gotta watch it this week.
> I am behind in a few deliverables to my manager - but will give it my best to complete them on time. But all my client deliverables are good to go!
> Got compliments for my team from our clients :)
> But my favorite moment was 'mending a fence' with a favorite person. I am the "peacemaker" and I just can't stand it when there is some sort of discourse. So now, it's just such a wonderful feeling - it's made my week! Celebrate, happy, happy, joy, joy :)

It's late and I gotta crash, but not till I celebrate one more time! Yeah!

My web site

Time to get organized

Organization - according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary it means "Something made up of elements with varied functions that contribute to the whole and to collective functions; an organism." To someone like me, organization is the very fiber of everything that I do. I was a project manager long before I knew what a project manager was :) When I was young, my room was organized in such a way that I could always find everything and anything that I was looking for. I read books in alphabetical order from the library. I organized my albums and now CDs in alphabetical order by genre. My file system at work and at home is neat and tidy so that I can lay my hands on everything that I need when I need it.

Clutter - "A confused or disordered state or collection; a jumble". I can't stand clutter! I have to have a neat and orderly existence. So I am publicly 'fessing up that I am on a quest to regain my previously organized state. My blog is going to be about organization until I get there. I have thought quite a bit about this lately while I have been on the journey to organization.

Things that hamper me from being organized:
#1 time. I don't have enough time to undo the mess that I have allowed to creep up on me due to lack of time. It really takes less time to be organized than it does to be disorganized and I already know that. However, I am finding that it takes quite a bit more time to get organized if you are disorganized.
#2 lack of space. I have small closets and between all of us, we have lots of clothes and my daughter has lots of shoes :) I'm sure if I sort through them, I will find ugly clothes that I will never wear again so I can get rid of them.
#3 that feeling of being overwhelmed by it all. Basically, I would be able to organize my closets if I knew what I was doing and had the right kinds of containers for my closet. I bought some containers and I'm gonna give it a shot.

Things that I have accomplished over the last couple of weeks:
#1 cleaned the basement storage room. I sorted through everything in that room, donated SOOOOO much stuff and still have things to go. It wasn't so bad, just have to bring the success upstairs.
#2 started the website and this blog. I have wanted to do this for so long. I have to admit, it's still in dire shape and needs to be organized and have content added.
#3 getting caught up at work. I'm working on it, have more to do, but I made great strides today. :)
#4 no matter how out of sorts I have felt, I stuck to my diet. :)
#5 started ready a novel. I worked hard and had enough time to actually read. That was wonderful and the book is great! Thanks StylePhyle!!

Speaking of reading, it's that time...I'm off to read some more and get rested up. I have a day at the golf course tomorrow, so I have to scoot!

Back at it

Monday Mornings

It's Monday and I'm back at it. Working already before I can ever leave home for the office. I have meetings at the end of the day and lots to do in between including compiling a report that will take me about 2-3 hours to complete! 100 emails again.....not sure how many I will actually be able to ready through. So you can see, it's going to be a busy, busy day. I'm working from home this morning and depending on how much I can get done, I may just stay here until my client meetings this afternoon. A new person has joined one of the brand's teams that I manage. I will help her get acclimated to the work and help her understand the process. Sometimes it can be a bit confusing, so I'm glad it is documented and I can leave it with her to help her in the future. The nice thing is that I have become the senior member of many of my brand teams over the past 3 1/2 years. I can't think of one where it's the same people managing all parts of the business for that long.

I'm off to read emails, write reports, and confirm my meetings. Have a SUPER Monday!!

"Fun-day"

football, cooking and fun!

What a "fun-day"! Went to a friend's garden and picked mustard greens, collard greens and 2 types of kale. It all looks so good and fresh! After that we stopped by to see a couple that I've known forever! I went to grade school with her and then high school with both of them. In fact, I lost track of them and a mutual friend (we all went to high school together) would see them all the time. I didn't even know they knew each other, dated or got married!! I have been wanting to stop to see her for the longest time, but it never seemed to work out. But today was the day :) It was fun, she looked the same and sounded the same after all these years. (and it's a long time since we've seen each other, believe me!)

Then we hung out for a little while, before I had to get going, more errands to run! It's a beautiful day, so I wanted to get rid of a few more things. I had boxes of book in my car, so that was important to get them out of the car. When I got home, I started cooking the greens. The second batch is in the steamer right now! Plus I have everything ready to make sushi, just waiting for the shrimp to arrive to build them. Gonna make California Rolls, should be pretty good. I hope I remember all the steps from Wed night.

I've really done good getting rid of my extraneous stuff. I have a car load ready to go, and I have more closets to clean out. But I am definitely making headway. The guy at St. Vincent de Paul was thrilled to get my old stereo, dvd player, and 5-disc CD changer. Made me wonder if he would just buy it...why not! It would make sense to me, if I was working at that sort of place, I would want to be able to buy some of the nicer items before they hit the floor.

Anyway, it's been a long weekend for me, I took Friday off to work on the house. I'm really glad I did, I just needed a break and I didn't do any work over the weekend for work :) That's wonderful to me. It was a much needed break!

I'm off for now....gotta get some laundry done! Wow! what a day :)

Clean Sweep

Days of Organization

Why do we buy so many things for our houses? I have lived in my house for 4 years and still have boxes in my basement that I have never unpacked, so guess where those are going? They are 'outta here'.

We have spent all day yesterday, into the night, cleaning out the basement and still have tons to go. We have so much to give away and quite a bit to sell on eBay - games, glasswares, apothecary jars, game systems, sport memoribillia, magazines, vintage clothes and MORE. Plus, we have a toy store near the house that actually buys old toys, so anything that doesn't sell on eBay, can be boxed up and sold there. I'm selling software and books to Half Price Books - I really don't care what they give me, I just want to get rid of it. Whatever they don't buy from me, I will donate the rest. Furniture, beddings, curtains, clothes, pictures, ad infinitum :)

The best part of cleaning out for me is that it's so liberating to my soul. I feel better when I don't have all these possessions holding me down. There is no need for clothes in my closet that are 10 years old or more, shoes that don't fit, comforters that are never going back into the bedrooms, drapes that will never be hung, knick-knacks that will never be displayed! Why have all that stuff?!?

And the key to keep the clutter at a minimum is two-fold - re-evaluate every 6 months, clean out and toss PLUS only buy what I need. I'm really trying hard to curb my 'frivolous' spending because I have college bills, house and car expenses. That's plenty! Instead, keep the things that I really love and the collections that mean something to me.

So, I'm off to the basement, more boxes to fill and toss!

Wine Wednesday

Sushi and Carbernet Sauvignon

A group of my friends get together nearly every Wednesday for "Wine Wednesday". They try different wines, fix some lite meals, hang out and talk. I don't get to go much at all because alot of the time I'm working. But I have heard about how much fun they have and finally a couple of weeks ago my schedule permitted, and I went over to join in the fun. And it was lots of fun, laughs, stories, catching up, wine and sushi.

Tonight, I invited the "Wine Wednesday" group to my house. Unfortunately, it was an off week, most of the group had to work, so my friend came over and gave me a cooking lesson. Tonight's lesson: SUSHI! yummy! Now not sushi with fresh fish, because we are not sushi chefs, but vegetarian sushi - rice, avocados, carrots, boiled eggs, green onions, purple sweet peppers, sesame seeds, ginger and wasabi - what could be better??!? We added a wonderful, crisp, fresh salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. WOW! what a great meal!

Topped it off with a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and it was totally sweeeeeeeeet! That was my first time making maki rolls, but definitely not the last. And for those counting weight watchers points is was approx 2-3 pts for the maki rolls, salad was 0 pts and 2 pts for each glass of wine. I think my dinner was a total of 6-8 pts!! So it was very satisfying and great tasting. Later this week, I'm going to make Miso Soup and more maki rolls. It's a great way to eat, so if you haven't tried it, I highly suggest it. FANTASTIC!!

And I can't say enough about the company! We've been best friends forever and we had a gab-fest to boot! good food, great wine and a best friend! Thanks for coming over!

Maybe by the next time it's my turn to host everyone, I'll have a new kitchen - counter, bright colors on the walls, and floor, it's definitely time!

g'nite!

Politics

Vice-Presidential Debate

Well, I was always taught by my Mom not to discussed politics or religion in public, but my uncle taught me to stand up for what I believe in and not to fear voicing my opinion. Well, for those of you that know me, you can see I followed by uncle's advice. I watched the debate tonight and have mixed reviews. Parts I would think were won by each of the VP candidates.

I'll write more later on my political views....

new browser

Firefox

Ok, I'm convinced, this is a great browser. So far, I've managed to view everything just fine and pages that load so much faster. It's great and it's only my 2nd day using it. I have so much more to learn about it. There are lots of extensions to add to make the experience more personalized. And there is the ability to view web pages in a tabbed format! That's every better. One instance open with multiple web pages up and ready to go at any time.

Today, I added quite a few shortcuts to the search box. It's great, I can pull up a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, search engine, ebay, amazon and search on them instantly! What a great design improvement.

I know I will learn much more about this, so in the meantime, it's a new fun toy!

Going Crazy

crazy days !

Do you ever have one of those days? Today is one, but it's ending up being ok. I decided this morning driving into the office that I was going to get a lot of "little nagging" tasks done. You know the ones...the ones that end up wasting more time thinking about than actually doing them. So, I created mental notes of things that were quick and I could get done fast. I am happy to say that I knocked off quite a few, but still have some more. But I'm making great headway.

But that is at work, what about home? How many episodes of Clean Sweep (my fave show!) do I need to watch to know that I need some help at home? Closets busting out, basement that used to be usable for fun parties, now cluttered with stuff that needs to be tossed. Too much furniture in the house, I'm just seeking a minimalist point of view. Something easy to clean and maintain.

But then there's my kitchen. So for it, I need a makeover, nothing too expensive, but definitely a makeover. So for my kitchen I need to call the great folks at Trading Spaces! I need to have a new kitchen floor put in and to paint the walls. I would love to have new counters, but I can live with new paint and new floor for the time being. I have the paint picked out, I can visualize the floor, but have procrastinated getting started. Eventually, the entire kitchen has to be gutted and started over. But at this point, it's very overwhelming and I am not up to the task. I am going to the Greater Cincinnati Kitchen, Bath & Design Show this weekend hoping for some inspiration and to meet a contractor. Anyone wanna go with me? I'm going armed with a budget in mind, measurements and a drawing of my kitchen, and possibly some photos to give someone a good idea of what needs to be done.

Every night for the rest of this week, I'm not only doing my quick 30 minutes of cleaning (vacuumed and mopped last night), but I'm also going to tackle an area of the house to "clean sweep". Tonight is the basement, tomorrow the kitchen closet and family room closet (it's also Wine Wednesday, so I'm having people over for homemade vegetable sushi and wine), then on Thursday the clothes closets, Friday morning, I'm tackling the basement storage room - listing things on eBay and selling what I can. I'm going clean the furniture that I'm getting rid of and get everything ready to put outside and IT'S NOT COMING BACK IN :) I'm going to follow up with a yard sale next week. Pretty aggressive, but doable. I'm motivated!!

So, I guess crazy days are worthwhile. They can light a fire under us and get us going in the right direction! So thank God it's a crazy day :)

Loving my friends

Friends

It's so nice to have friends at work :) Over the past several years, I kept a distance avoiding the personal interaction with my coworkers. As a leader in the organization, I have attended all functions - promoting attendance among my team, but still tried to keep my personal life separate from my business life. However, that's changing and it's really ok. I have made some good friends here and am comfortable with them outside of work. I think the deciding factor is that they work as hard as I do - I have a great deal of respect for creativity and hard work.

My friends outside of work are great! They have been my friends for a long, long time. One of them since kindegarten, one since 7th grade and one since my first child was born! basically FOREVER!! We have stuck it out through thick and thin, good and bad, various boys that we've known, careers paths gone wrong and right, and kids: plenty of children's escapades! We can NOT say a word, but with that say volumes, that's a true friend.

So, thanks to all of you! I know you'll be reading this because I'm gonna send out an email announcing it to everyone!

Mondays

Mondays
Well, it's Monday and a typical one at that. I was slow moving this morning, and am still trying to get down my coffee! But one thing is for certain - I'm wearing that lipstick - color = fetish (nice)!! It's a great color and I do love wearing it, in fact, today I was careful wear clothes that compliment it! It's a total look and I do feel great now that I'm wearing it. It's been a while since I wore much makeup and I still don't a little eyeliner, mascara, blush and fetish - yummmmmmm.

I know that when I see my email, like now, that I'm going to be instantly overwhelmed. I'm sure it's over 100 plus meetings that I have this morning. But hey, it's Monday, I can handle it. Well, work is calling....gotta go!

Heavenly Thoughts

Sunday Night

Today, I managed to set this up and learn about this tool, got my website started, and believe me, it didn't take much for me to do that. We worked in the garden today, repotted the chives, stripped the basil and terragon off before a freeze, repotted a few other plants to get them ready to bring back in. We still have the love plants, avocado tree, lots of house plants and need to have room for them :)

I want to have a yard sale, possibly this week, but more than likely the following - before it gets too cold. I have to lighten my load, get rid of a bunch of 'stuff'. I will probably put some things on eBay, so I'll be sure to update this with the links to my eBay auctions, just in case you are interested.

It's time for me to plan for my week. I hope it is not as busy as the last two weeks, even though I had an extremely good time. I know I have lots to do this week, have to get caught up, but I can do it. Plus I plan on taking Friday off so I can do some things around the house.

I read a great article in Woman's Day about easy steps to keep the house clean. I know what you must be thinking....and YES, I know how to clean my house, but this article was packed full of ideas to save time cleaning. Great tips like:

• use car wax every 4 or 5 months on the shower walls and door to save time cleaning on a weekly basis


• once a week, drop a cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl to help prevent stains


• use disposable toilet cleaners that reuse the handle and throw away the cleaning pad


• use a hepa filtered vacuum cleaner - I have one and I love it! Did you know that it picks up 99.97% of air-borne dust and hair including teeny tiny particles. I have dogs and this is REALLY important. After I vacuum, I just can't believe what it pulls out of the carpet.
  
• use a better furnace filter than the "cheapies" - I use Filtrete, change it every 2 months and it really helps to cut down how much dust I have in my house.


• clean a little bit everyday - like 30 minutes - pick one thing each day instead of spending all day or all weekend cleaning


• keep all the cleaning supplies in each bathroom, kitchen areas, etc. so you can clean as you go. It helps prevent toothpaste or grease build up

just to name a few ideas :) great tips, pick up the magazine !!

Well, I'm gonna have fun with this blog, I can tell. Hope you enjoy it and please let me know what you think.

My First Blog

Hi, my friend has a blog and it seemed like so much fun that I thought I'd start one too! Hers is about fashion, but I'm not quite the fashion aficionado, in fact, quite the opposite :) But we do share some things in common, including our careers. We are both web project managers, we both specialize in the interactive marketing aspect, but she concentrates mainly on usability and I concentrate on implementation.

Today is a fun day, because I started my website (it's very basic right now) and this blog.

It's been a fun last couple of weeks even though we had some incredible deadlines. A coworker had a candle party a couple of Friday's ago and afterwards we went to a new restaurant premier, The Restaurant. StylePhyle and I met Jimmy Gherardi for the first time! It was thrilling! We had a great time, great food and wine plus wonderful company, what else can you ask for?! I had the chance to sit down with him and his wife and discuss my favorite topic: work! And ever since that night, my boring-mundane life has not been the same!!

I've been to Main Street Ventures networking event this past Wednesday in Cincinnati at Club Clau. I've never been to Club Clau, so it was an adventure. I met lots of new people and ran into some that I already know, like the technology editor for the Cincinnati Business Courier and one of my friends that is a Walnut Hills graduate, too! It was fantastic!! The food was even being catered by Jimmy, how coincidental is that?! It's been a long time since I went to any networking events in the city and I missed it sooo much.

Then StylePhyle's birthday followed in a couple of days. And after another long day at work, it was another fun night out, meeting new people and going to the The Restaurant for dinner! That was interesting! Again great food, great company and yummy wines! I am loving it!! I can't wait to see what happens next.