8/24 Yeah I was right

I was right. It's more fun to be a participant than to have to work the tournament. I loved helping last year when Milwaukee hosted...but must admit that drinking beer and lying in the California sun is more fun.

Yesterday, continued--My first workshop was Telling the Truth About Yourself given by Sam Bennett. She works with Sam Christiansen who is well-known, apparently by everyone but me. The two hours we spent with Sam were magic. It was all about knowing who you are and being that person to the nth degree. In comedy we can play up our "faults" all the way to the red zone and it will be hilarious because we are basically being ourselves, just amped up. We went through exercises that left us with a pretty good description of ourselves. Then we practiced walking in to meet a casting director and using some of our descriptors to answer the question, "Hi, how are you?" Lots of fun.

The second one I attended was Improv Your Life that Lauren Pritchard from CSzLA held. Delightful--both Lauren and the workshop. She took the improv "rules" and applied them to everyday life in order to be more successful. Another well spent few hours.

Last night was scrimmage, and it was a highlight. People just jumped up on the stage when they felt like it and it was fun playing with other people. Mine was Dueling Soundtracks. I needed to get up on the stage because the photographer from the Times was there and shot photos of everyone Andy had interviewed.

Then we just did scenes instead of games and you could measure the fun because Bron was taping and you could hear her higher pitched laughter throughout; likewise with my lower pitch laughter. Kind of harmony.

I sat by Jill Headen from Dallas (a really nifty lady) and I think she's probably bruised because I kept elbowing her.

We did experience a little cultural dissonance when Bron was the Tab Ghost and ultimately displayed anger that someone had brought in Diet Tab. She didn't notice her redundancy until someone told her after the match.

Dick arrived during the evening and of course everything stopped when he was acknowledged. He doesn't like fanfare about himself and said a few words, then scurried up to the balcony to watch the show.

The other three Brits (Stephen, Ste and Rachel) all did well in the scenes too, Bron captured the evidence on video.

After the srimmage, CSzLA presented a Usical, based on the life of an audience member. This time it was Tony Marcellino (Portland)--the day he won a bear in the claw machine. Omigod, I almost lost control of all bodily functions. That group was freakin' amazing.

Afterward we went to the designated bar of the evening (Daddy's). I stayed for one drink and Luke (Portland) walked back to the hotel with me since we both were meeting the bus at 6 AM.

EXCEPT--I'd walked everywhere all day and my knee was causing problems. Didn't sleep a wink all night. I dreaded standing in line for hours. It saddened me, but I decided I needed to spend a day off my feet. So at 4:45 AM I wrote a note and took it down to the valet parker (almost wrote ballet parker, I'm so inundated with CSz). I didn't want Jeremy or Luke to worry about me because we'd been talking about this for days.

I did sleep from about 5:30-7 and when I woke up found a voice mail from Jeremy at 5:55 saying, "Dammit, Jer, we are going to carry you. Now get down here!" Such a sweetie, but I make about 12 of him (hyperbole, exaggeration for effect). Can't wait to hear how they did and how many of them made it on the show.

I walked across the street for coffee and a muffin and sat by the pool eating and drinking. A beautiful morning, which helped my disappointment somewhat. Then after Rach and Bron left I changed into my swimming suit and went down to the pool. Beautiful people or no beautiful people, I was going to show them an overweight, grandma body--because I LOVE to swim. Also thought it might be a nice easy way to exercise without putting any weight on the knee.

After a while the pool became busier, and most of the folks were CSz. I loved that. Brian Green and Angelo Farina arrived while I was on the phone with a friend. I said, "Gotta go. There's some guys I gotta kiss." So Milwaukee's group is here now. For a few days I was the only one. Others are Dick Chudnow, of course, and Tim Higgins, Nicole Devin, Amy Lukow, Matt Garnaas, and Lynna Knurowski (sorry if I messed that up).

Tonight a group is going to Improv Olympics--it's free, and then a bar afterward. Can't remember the name, but it's featured in the Daily Groaner, a new bar every day. Great idea.

I know I'm forgetting lots of stuff and hope others will fill in the blanks.

(Personal note: Yesterday morning a FedEx arrived for me. It was a card from my daughter, Jill, with a sizeable amount of money in it. The note basically read that she loved me and wanted me to have a great time at WC without worrying about money. Wow--somebody raised that girl right.)

8/23 Workshops begin

Today was fantastic, as were the workshops. I'm knackered right now and I need to get up at 4:30 AM so I can do my best to be on The Price Is Right. I'll skip the Jimmy Kimmel Show tomorrow night and will sleep and catch up on details...and there are plenty of those.

8/22 Universal Studios

Today I went to Universal Studios with a whole herd of folks. My roommates (Bron and Rachel didn’t go. Neither did Ste and Jools who were suffering a bit of jet lag after flying in last night and immediately going to the bowling party.)

We did indeed have a great time. One of my favorite incidents happened after the Jurassic Park ride. There was a Japanese guy holding a dinosaur up to his right cheek, pretending it was kissing him. His wife was taking a picture. Big Von from Dallas leaned in and kissed the guy on the left cheek. The guy felt the kiss but waited patiently while his giggling wife took the photo. He then turned and saw that he was being kissed by a six foot thousand inch African American dude and he burst into such a beautiful spate of laughter. It was an amazing sight. We continued to laugh long after we left that building.

Luke from Portland kept saying that he wanted to stop at a hat store he noticed earlier. So on the way out we stopped and he tried to go in, only to discover it was a fake store. He was the butt of laughter too.

On the metro trip back to the hotel, Betse Green (Portland) said she wanted to issue a subway challenge to everyone, to stand upright without touching anything from start to finish of the ride. I was busy whining about my knee so I sat and reffed. Von gave me a whistle and everything. I blew that whistle a lot because I knew it had been in Von’s mouth and it was kinda sorta like kissing him. (tee hee)

Six of the group completed the challenge successfully.

As we went up the escalator Stephen Bennett (Houston) ran up the stairs instead, accompanied by the rest of us doing the Rocky theme. We got back to the hotel with just enough time to leave for the dinner and party at CSz LA. They definitely know how to host a party. The dinner was superb…a Mexican feast with plenty of food for vegetarians (thanks, James). Three different kegs of beer—Bud Light, an ale of some sort, and Dos Equis—plus a bar where Rick Steadman served up some yummy drinks. A mariachi band played during dinner and afterward there was an Eagles cover band called the Long Run. I thought they were excellent. I’m a real Eagles fan and these guys knew what they were doing. Lots of us danced and almost everyone sang along.

Which brings me to why I’m not at the Pig and Whistle with everyone else. I’m icing my knee so I can enjoy tomorrow.

A reporter for the LA Times was there and I was interviewed extensively. Don’t know why they chose me—perhaps because I was one of the few grey-haired lovelies there. J
Doesn’t matter. It was cool anyway.

This has been a riot so far. I’m anticipating no less for the rest of the week.

8/21 IT BEGINS

Jill and kids drove me to the Hollywood Roosevelt and stuck around a little while to meet some of my friends. Bron didn’t make it while they were still here, so that was a little disappointing, but Rachel Wareing from the UK, and James Bailey from LA got to meet them. I was happy that at least someone met my daughter and grandkids, so they know I wasn’t having a “pretend” family—Jill, Kayla and Hunter are real. J The kids loved running around the big hotel and they helped me find the pool, which was the setting for part of the movie, Catch Me if You Can. Lovely place.

We walked across the street to Graumann’s Chinese Theatre and Hunter was THRILLED to see Spiderman there. We took a picture of Spidey holding H, and of course had to tip Spiderman for the privilege. Kayla saw a Mickey Mouse but didn’t want a picture until it was too late.

Then we walked across the street to a Baja Fresh for lunch and Spiderman was sitting outside with his mask off smoking a cigarette. The “other” Spidey was still across the street, so we told Hunter that the real one was there, and the one smoking was a fake superhero. He bought it.

They left soon afterward for their trip back to Castaic. I hate it when they leave, but at least I have some fun to look forward to this week. And they’ll visit me in October for a whole week, so that’s a great treat for the future.

Other CSz’ers kept arriving and we had a pool party. The place is so ultra-trendy that not even one of us went into the pool. But many enjoyed the view as the pool is bikini top optional, and some of the sunbathers were taking advantage of that rule. J The pool cabana was very cool, and very modern. We enjoyed bowling that evening at the Lucky Strike. Had a great time—and most of us bowled. Just for the record—I sucked. But that’s because I’m not a Milwaukee native. (Twisted my knee as well, and I’m paying the price as I type.)

After bowling, a large contingent went to sing karaoke, and apparently they took over the place, which didn’t surprise anyone. Some of us played Apples to Apples in the lobby. It wasn’t the Jack Reda version but still was tons of fun.

The Blossom Room is off that lobby and it’s where the first Academy Awards were held—over lunch. We poked our heads in to check it out—the door was open and it was empty. A guy in a tuxedo yelled at us. Well, when James found out about that, he was NOT a happy camper. He said anyone who wanted to see the room should follow him in there. And they did.

8/20 Los Angeles/No Sleep

I woke up at 2:30 AM (12:30 AM Pacific Time) for my flight. So I had three hours sleep and it wasn't enough. :) But I was so excited to see Jill and family that I had lots of adrenaline. As usual it was a thrill to hear those sweet voices yell, "Grandma" when they saw me at the airport. They just keep growing...

Last night we went to a free concert at a huge park. It was Atomic Punk--a Van Halen cover band. Thousands of people were there and lots of little kids so it was a lot of fun.

It's late but I'm still awke--everyone else is sleeping. I'm so happy to be here. Tomorrow they take me to the hotel. I'll be so sad to leave the kids after only one night, but I'll see them in about six weeks in Quincy. :) That will be for a whole week and will be lovely.

Now--let the CSz party begin.

8/19 The Countdown

I'm frantically trying to finish up some projects prior to leaving tomorrow morning at 5:50 for LA. Not easy when my desk is piled high.

Am chomping on part of a Subway party sub. The company sprang for subs to celebrate us winning the Beyond the Paycheck award. There's a humongous cake too.

Have to finish editing a rather large journal, plus write a few letters for the Pres. Time's a fleeting.

(But I'm so damned excited about my vacation.)

8/18 Fun and anxiety

Last night we had a workshop at CSz. Out of 9 people there were three of us who weren't professional players. It was good and I learned a lot. But for some stupid reason I was stiff. Hate that.

Guess I'm glad the bad performance happened during a workshop instead of a Rec League performance.

The reason anxiety is in the Title is that I began to get really anxious about my vacation vs my workload. When there's no one to do your work while your gone, a vacation can elicit some worries. So I've definitely decided to take my computer and do a little work. The days will be crammed with fun, and I'll be able to enjoy the fun a lot more knowing I'm checking my email and doing other odd jobs while I'm gone.

8/17 Missed yesterday

Yesterday flew by, and it wasn't until this morning that I realized I hadn't blogged.

Finally finished the article for the February RCY. It used to surprise me how early magazines and journals need the articles. But now that I'm an editor and publisher, I totally understand.

I ended up with something I really liked. Because the person I was writing about was unavailable for further discussion (Europe for three weeks, or something like that), I used some of my journal notes that I'd made from 2000-2001, when I volunteered with Prison Performing Arts. After it gets published, I'll get permission to reprint it on my company's website and will post a link here. The title of it is Crime Is Easy; Shakespeare Is Hard. It's a quote from Danny who played the ghost of old King Hamlet.

Today, it's back to writing legislative blurbs for the Creative team, and copyediting the current RCY, which goes to the printer next week. The JSM is at the printer now, and I have to assign articles for the Forum newsletter. Plus I may take a bathroom break at some point.

Oh, I forgot, since I'm gone all next week I need to finish one of the online newsletters this week. Have I started it yet? Nope. Will I meet my deadline? You betcha.

8/15 Luncheon

Today ten of us went to the "Beyond the Paycheck" award luncheon. I felt proud when Jude walked to the stage to accept our award. Nice feeling.

Today was also Kayla's first day at kindergarten. Jill sent me a picture. Adorable. K was very grown up and didn't want mom taking her; she wanted to take the bus from daycare with her friends. So Jill, and other mothers, are going to follow the bus to and from school. Cute. Jill took the day off from work to do that.

8/14 What a wild, wonderful weekend

I didn't blog yesterday because I didn't get home until almost 3 AM. I went to Chicago with Michele and Bron. Bron had performed Friday night at the Milwaukee CSz and last night with the Chicago troupe. It was a riot, seeing the people again that I'd met at last year's World Championship (hereafter WC). Plus Nate from Portland was also there, and sat with Michele and me while we watched Bron on stage.

Even though I'd only met these folks for a week last year, we know each other better than that because most of us are active on the CSz forum online. So I can't wait to regroup with tons of people in LA. I leave next Saturday.

Laughed my ass off last night (of course I wish that was literal). And it was fun getting to know Michele a little more. She's a class act, and a funny lady.

I did make the mistake of having two alcoholic drinks--a margarita with dinner and a vodka on the rocks later. My stomach killed me by the end of the trip. I'm not supposed to drink at all (stomach woes) and I usually don't. And if I want something I'll have one beer all night and that doesn't cause problems. But I learned my lesson last night about drinking.

Today I swam laps for 45 minutes and am working on an article that's due tomorrow (it's still tomorrow until after 11:59 pm Monday). And also am catching up on TV shows I'd recorded. This day is quiet and superb.

8/12 Chomping

I'm chomping on a Subway Veggie Delite and am especially enjoying the jalapenos today. Wow!

Have my door closed all day at work with a Do Not Disturb Sign. Am writing an article for a rather scholarly journal...and since you read my blog you know that's not the way I normally write. So it's taking a lot of time and concentration.

It's a topic I love, so it's worth the struggle.

Tonight I work at CSz. Bron is performing, so that will be fun.

8/11 No time

Wow. It's unusual for me to be posting so late in the day. But today was nuts. I got my hair cut at lunchtime. And at work it was deadline after deadline.

Tonight I'm going to try to go to CSz to watch the Rec League winners play against the pros. That should be good. But I'm tired... I'll have to make my decision within the next hour. If I'm not asleep by then I'll probably go to the match.

zzzzz zzzz zzz zzzzzz

8/10 Weekend

I wasn't scheduled at all for CSz this weekend. Highly unusual. Normally the only time I'm not scheduled is when I'm out of town.

At one point I was supposed to go to Chicago with some friends, but some miscommunication (probably on my part) put the kibash to that. I'm invited to an all day picnic/party at other friends' home, and it sounds fun. Lots of activities, which I love. My bruises and stiffness should have gone by then. And I can make more on the volleyball court.

I also plan to finish Harry Potter. I'm such a loser. Have had it since the 16th of July and am still not finished. Don't get me wrong--it's an exciting book and I love it. Just haven't put any effort into reading lately. But Sunday I plan to sit by the pool and read.

This morning at the gym, I decided to do something other than the elliptical. Swam laps for 30 minutes. Could have done more, but had to get to work.

8/9 Love to travel

Wow. I just booked another flight and am in travel heaven.

8/20-8/29 Los Angeles for my daughter and family, the CSz World Championship, and Joanne's and Lynn's birthday party aboard a yacht.

9/24-9/28 NYC to do a COA site review in Brooklyn (and visit friends).

10/9-10/15 Quincy and will join Jill and kids, visiting our family.

11/6-11/7 Mohonk Mountain House in the Adirondack Mountains.

Then there's Christmas and New Year's in Quincy. Wow, I need more vacation time.

And of course if Rob and Beata make it to the states sometime this year, it goes without saying that I'll take time off (without pay?).

8/8 Jane's birthday

Today is my little sister Jane's birthday. Younger than me by seven years, but a good friend of mine. I especially love it when someone asks which one of us is the older one. That's one great thing about chubby cheeks--stretches out those wrinkles. Happy birthday, Jane Alice!

As for me--wow, who knew my desk could hold so much "stuff." I'm late on two articles. One goes into the journal I edit, but I still can't be late. The other is for a small Canadian weekly newspaper. I hate being late.

The one for our journal was due to the editor (me) by 8/1 and due to an office in South Dakota by 8/15, so I do have time to write it. Except this is a scholarly journal, full of references and such. It will take me forever. Forever. I'm not exaggerating.

My bruises from the dunk tank look so much worse today. One stretches about 3/4 of the way from my wrist to my elbow. The rest are randomly scattered. There's nothing to be done about them except cover them up. That was hard to do at the gym this morning. So I pretended they weren't there.

8/7 Quiet Sunday

I stayed home today. Swam awhile, but not for long. I guess my sinus infection has returned, and so I didn't overdo anything. Tomorrow morning I do plan to get up early and go to the gym.

Okay, so this is boring. Sorry.

8/6 I didn't win

The company picnic was so much fun, but I didn't win any of the three grand prizes. I was so sure I would win--an all-expense-paid trip anywhere our company has a presence--probably more than 15 countries. Airfare, hotel (six nights), $1,000 spending money, and income tax paid as well. Amazing. Generous. Loving. The three employees who won were understandably absolutely thrilled. It was fun to see their joy.

And there were 25 other nice prizes (because of our 25th anniversary this year), ranging from a flat screen TV to $150 gas cards to Packer Tickets to Playstation 2 to digital cameras to portable DVD players and on and on. It was a hoot. I didn't win any of those either, but it was fine. At the end of the drawings, they gave all the non-winners a new 25th anniversary stainless-steel coffee mug which contained a $50 Target gift certificate. So we all won.

I served my time in the dunk tank...it was lots of fun but I have so many bruises all over my body. Yet I did laugh through it all...and got really mouthy which made more people plunk down their money. All the money went to a charity that the staff voted on. The COO of Cathy's House came to accept a $5,000 donation from the company as well. It was very moving.

The food was catered by Saz's and was unbelievable. They had a whole table of hot dogs and hamburgers and such for the kids. And they had ribs and baked potatoes and tons of salads, and another table with lots of seafoods. But my favorite was the dessert table which also contained an ice cream bar. Tons of drinks as well. I drank lots of water, and a few beers.

I'm very happy to work where I work. What a blessing.

8/5 Fun with Bron

Last night was so much fun. Bron (from the UK) and I met for dinner at the African Hut, which as usual was yummy. I love taking people there, because it's not the kind of restaurant you find just anywhere.

Then we went to CSz where Bron got to meet up with some old pals. She wrote about the evening on her website. And she posted some pictures too.

I'll see her again next weekend, and after that at the CSz World Championship in LA. Can't wait for that.

8/4 Friend visiting...

Bron is visiting from the UK. She's in the US because of the CSz World Championship (WC) in LA in a few weeks. But her folks live near Madison WI (her dad got transferred here--they're from the UK too), so she always hits Milwaukee wheneve she comes to the states. We're having dinner tonight and then will go to CSz to watch a show tonight. She'll probably perform with them on Friday or Saturday of next week.

We're going to the African Hut. One of my favorite restaurants in Milwaukee. Yum. I went out for lunch today too. One of my colleagues has resigned and tomorrow is his last day. Today is definitely NOT a good eating day.

A memory just made me smile. When Jill and the kids called me on my b'day, three-year-old Hunter said, "I want to sing a Happy Birthday to You song for you, Grandma." And he began to sing... "Happy birthday to you dum dum dum, Happy birthday to you dum dum dum, Happy birthday to you dum dum dum, ..." After about 10 repititions I tried to get a word in, and he began again, "Happy birthday to you dum dum dum, ..." I laughed so hard the tears were streaming down my cheeks. It was adorable.

8/3 Day after my day of birth

Got up early and went to the gym. Was on the elliptical for a little more than a half-hour. Felt good. Drove by the office to pick up some work to do, and on the way Robbie called from Japan. While I was talking to him another call came through but of course I didn't want to switch to it, so I just let it ring.

It was nice to hear from Rob and he apologized for being a day late with my birthday greeting. I told him I didn't expect a call at all since Beata was visiting her family in Denmark and Poland. After we finished talking I discovered the other call was from Beata, calling from Europe. Amazing that they would call at the same time from halfway around the world.

I worked from home today because the air conditioning guy had to come back. The new motor he put in yesterday was so noisy that you could feel the vibrations through the floor all through the condo. But at least the place was cool. The motor he put in today wasn't any different. So he took the whole blower system back to the shop. And I got a motor twice as large for the same price. Amazing. It's quiet and it works well.

When the summer is over, he'll come back to check on the leak in the unit that's outside. But there'll be no service charge on that, since he came out a few months ago, added more gas and put colored dye in it so he could find out where the slow leak was.

I'm so happy. And cool.

8/2 Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is a very strange day. First of all my air conditioner broke again. This time the fan. And I can't afford to get it fixed or--god forbid--buy a new one. I've got a 10-day vacation in a few weeks in LA. A few days with Jill and family and the rest at the CSz World Championship, and another day at a friend's b'day party in Orange County--on a freakin' yacht. So I don't want to miss any of that.

But it's really hot here--95 today. So I have to do something. Here's hoping it can be repaired and that it won't cost too much. (Laugh with me now. Ha!)

And another thing. I'd expected my office to be decorated--people here always go overboard and it's so fun. But I'd forgotten that a few months ago people decided to stop doing that, and to stop bringing in tons of treats. Now the birthday person brings in stuff.

Well, I did do that. Brought in some yummy high-fat stuff from Great Harvest Bread Company. But I was still surprised when I saw no decorations. But I got a great card from people. And my boss and another female manager took me to lunch. Delicious. Way too much food today.

And I heard from several relatives and friends, so that was nice. And I'm sure my grandkids will call me. Of course, that will make my day.

Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed about the air conditioner. More later.

8/1 Three in a row

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and got to the gym by 6:20. I did 16 minutes on the treadmill and 20 on the elliptical. The ellipticals were in high demand so when one became vacant I jumped off the treadmill asap and jumped on the elliptical. Maybe tomorrow I'll just yell, "I got dibs."

Because of work I didn't stay as long as I wanted to. I kept sweating even after a cool shower. And my face stayed red until long after I arrived at the office. Damn that northern European heritage.

Don't know if I'm going tomorrow or not. It's my birthday and I might treat myself to sleeping in a little. Or perhaps I'll go to the gym anyway and treat myself to better health.

This gym is really good. Has a nice pool (I love to swim laps). And tons of space and equipment. The usual complement of gorgeous men and stunning women. But this one also has some old folks which thrills me.

7/31 Gym again

This time I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and 15 on the elliptical. Not too bad for the second time.

Yesterday it felt good to swim, but today the pool is a little crowded, so I'm not going out. But I'm sure getting my dose of relaxation today and it is wonderful.

We'll see if I can drag my butt out of bed early to go to the gym before work. It will be crowded there at that time of day, but I know myself, and if I don't do it in the morning, I just won't go. But I've promised myself that if I don't go to the gym, I'll at least walk.

7/30 To the gym

My first trip to the gym in a few years. I'd forgotten where things were located and had to ask. But it felt really good. I spent 33 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the elliptical. Tomorrow I'll spend more time on the elliptical. Want to build up some endurance. I believe that's my favorite machine. No strain on the knees. It's great.

Anyway, I felt pretty darn virtuous. Really hope I continue. One day down, and the rest of my life to go...

7/29 Lunch, yeah!

Went out for lunch with my friend, Bill. It had been a while since we were able to talk. It was great--sitting outside eating and chatting. When he was finished eating, and I had barely started, we both knew who had done the most talking. "Okay, Bill. You talk now. I'll eat."

I work tonight at CSz. Last week I had a great time, and expect the same tonight.

7/28 Writing and more of same

Right now I'm writing an article for a journal and I'm editing an entire journal and three newsletters (two of them online). And I need to draft several letters for others in the company. It's a lot of writing and editing.

Don't get me wrong. I love doing it. But is it any wonder that I'm not working on my manuscripts at night? After 9-10 hours of writing and stuff at work, it's difficult for me to generate excitement about sitting in front of my computer at home and doing the same thing.

Any ideas on how to jumpstart my mystery writing again? Help!

7/27 A new development

I'm now assisting in getting a keynote speaker for our International Conference. Calling and writing letters to famous people is kind of fun. And it's not considered stalking.

7/26 Writing continuum

I'm fortunate that I get paid to write and edit (among other things). There are so many types of writing though.

There's the fiction I write (mysteries), emails to family and friends (chatty and unedited), business emails (less formal than letters, but still more formal than ones to family), my blog (informal ramblings), articles for publications (informal to formal/scholarly, depending on which magazine/journal I'm writing for), legislative letters (formal), sales letters (formal but chatty), testimony for legislative/regulatory hearings (don't write this often, but it's very formal), and there's more--but you get the drift.

A lot of the above pays the bills, so I have time to write the fiction I love.

I've come to the conclusion that I may never get my manuscripts published, and that's okay. I can be happy that I'm fairly well-published in my field. That's something unexpected. And cool.

But those articles just aren't the same as getting a mystery published. Nose to the grindstone time.

7/25 Back to work and happy about it

As usual, I'm so busy and feeling overwhelmed. But also, as usual, I love it. The job allows me to be creative and mostly self-directed. Writing and editing are tons of fun. So I can easily put up with some of the lesser-fun tasks.

I miss my family. The "boys" got together at the cabin over the weekend for a marathon Texas Hold-'em tournament. Wish I could have played.

Spoke to Jill and my grandkids Thursday, but not over the weekend. Don't know why.

Rob's emailed a few times. Bea has gone to Denmark for three weeks, so he's probably a little lonely. For whatever reason, it was wonderful to hear from him.

Yesterday I posted pictures of our family reunion from last weekend. Such fun! When Jill and kids come to Quincy in October, I so hope that Rob and Beata will be back in the states. It's so unusual for me to have both my kids with me at the same time. I'll be in mommy heaven.

7/24 Wonderfully wasted day

It was too hot to even swim today. So I stayed in and wasted the day. Well, it wasn't a total waste. I came in second in a small poker tournament and won $25. I came in 250th in a HUGE tournament (over 2,000 people) and won $3--which was cool because the tournament only cost me a dollar to enter. Other than that, I didn't do much of anything.

7/23 Of course there's no sun

I'm home on a weekend, looking forward to swimming in the pool right outside my door. And of course, we're going to have a thunderstorm. I'm resigned to that being the case on the rare weekends I'm home. Lord knows that we don't have a long summer here in Wisconsin, but what we do have is PRIME. Except for the not-infrequent thunderstorms.

I love thunderstorms actually. But not when I want to swim. And this weekend is Festa Italiana at the lakefront. The good news is that tomorrow is sunny. Did I say good news? There's a heat advisory and it's going to be in the mid-90s. Not something we experience a lot. But at least I can swim.

So guess I better get some work done today, so I can enjoy tomorrow. I watched Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this afternoon instead of working.

Oh-oh... lots of thunder and lightning. Guess I better turn off the computer.

7/22 I love my life

I know. It's weird. But every now and then I have this absolute feeling of wellbeing and that all is well with me.

It started at the opthamologist's office yesterday afternoon. My eyes haven't gotten worse. After nearly 3 years. That's good news. And I don't have to buy new glasses. Even better news.

Told him that I take my glasses off at work, especially when using the computer (which is always). He said that it's perfect. The distance from my eyes to the monitor uses my optimum vision.

Plus he's just an adorable guy. I told him I can't call him "Doctor" because he's so young and cute. So I call him Doug. And it's all I can do not to call him Dougie.

Tonight I work at CSz. I haven't worked in a month because of being out of town so many weekends. So I'm really looking forward to it. And this is the only night I'm working, so I'll have Saturday and Sunday totally free.

There's so much to do at home--I really need to dig in. And if the weather's nice, perhaps I can actually use the pool. That would be a nice change.

Lots to do here at work, so I better get busy.

7/21 Big Nosed Ugly Guy

He's a cyber-pal of mine and an interesting guy with an interesting blog. I added his blog to my links on the right side of the page, toward the bottom.

Anyway, he lives in London and writes eloquently about the situation there. He also turned me on to a website called We're Not Afraid. It's superb, and I'm going to contribute a picture. Check it out!

7/21 An odd day!

The day started out normally, except I got here really early--sometime between 7:30 and 7:45 AM. After our all staff meeting at 8:30, the Creative Department put out six bundt cakes. They're having a contest to see which graphic artist made the best bundt cake. The new Creative Director is doing lots of fun things like that. They had a Sponge Bob Square Pants contest where each one of them had to use Playdoh and make a character. Interesting. Anyway, I've done so well on my eating plan lately, but blew it today with the damn bundt cakes. But I'm under control again, so no big deal. (Hope so anyway.)

Then suddenly the sky turned black and green, and scary looking. And sirens started going off. So we all had to go into our safe rooms. But then we heard an announcement saying it was just a severe thunderstorm watch rather than warning, so back to work we go. The sky is a little bit brighter now, but not much.

An interesting day. Interesting bundt cake too.

7/20 What a day!

Had a really good day. From 11-2 I did a disaster drill with a company that handles aviation disasters and other mass casualty-producing incidents. When I walked in--there sat my friend from a million years ago. When I was a vice-president of a child welfare agency in Illinois, she was also a vice-president at another child welfare agency. We had to go to many of the same meetings, and even though she lived in Chicago and I lived in Quincy, we became close friends. She's retired now, and still living in the Chicago area. Because she's a licensed clinician like I am, we both are doing this disaster and trauma work but hadn't seen each other in years. It was a great surprise. So after we finished, I had a meeting to go to and Ann waited at my office. We then went out for a quick lunch (the agency where we had the drill, didn't have any vegetarian food), and caught up on each other's lives.

What a wonderful treat!

7/19 Stomach woes

I've been on meds for several months now, but last night had lots of pain. This morning too. I'm waiting for the new prescription to arrive for stronger meds. We'll see.

One sign of a compulsive overeater is someone who eats even when in pain. (Who, me?)

As a kid I was never fat, but was never thin either. When I had to have throat surgery in 7th grade, the night before I could barely swallow--my throat was so swollen. But I ate a breaded pork tenderloin, french fries and a chocolate shake. I knew there would be the dreaded Jell-o for a few days, so wanted to eat some "real food." It literally took me hours, but I finished every bite. Now that's a compulsive overeater, ladies and gentleman. I was so physically active that it didn't affect me much.

The following year I had my tonsils out, and don't recall an eating frenzy prior to that. Good girl, Jer.

7/18 More from the weekend

Know about the Red Hat Society? It's from the poem "when I am old I shall wear purple." Women "of a certain age" wear purple clothing and red hats. Sounds like a hoot, but I don't think I'd do it. I do love to run in packs, but want to be an individual while I do that. Anyway, as I wrote these notes in my journal I was sitting at Union Station in Chicago. About 30 women just got off a train, all in a Red Hat Society. About 20 minutes later another train discharged even more. Must be a convention...or a sale on red hats.

Sunday 7/17 Up at 4:30 AM, but feel okay. Jan woke up long enough to say good-bye. She's a sweetie. I drove her car to the train station and she and Tim will pick it up later. I was so sweaty even though it's so early. So hot and muggy. The train left at 6:15 AM. As usual business class was great. Don't know if I slept, but I sure relaxed.

Something I forgot. My niece Jessi went to the bookstore Friday night to get the new Harry Potter book (mine was delivered to work on Saturday). She was standing in line, waiting for midnight and the book sale to begin and she chatted with a woman behind her in line. The woman kept saying, "You'd be perfect for my son, Barrett. You sound just like him." She asked Jessi for her phone number so her son could call. When Jess told the woman her last name, the lady said, "Bozarth? Are you related to Jeri Bozarth?"

Jessi said, "That's my aunt." The woman introduced herself and said she went to high school and college with me. When Jess told me I couldn't believe it. Linda H. and I hung out together when we were young. For some reason she doesn't come to the reunions so I haven't seen her in quite a while. How cool!

On the way down to Quincy I did final edits on the printer's proof of the RCY. That felt good. Then I went through POUNDS of paper that had edits on my novel dating back to 1998. That is horrific. Has it really been that long since I took my first book seriously? Then I remembered I had a critique group here in Milwaukee in 2003, but still hadn't checked out the suggestions from my group in St. Louis in '98.

I'm going to give the book one last edit and then send it off to agents. I only sent query letters once and it was in '97 or '98. I have the rejection slips. One of them was a "good" rejection. She liked my writing style and wanted to see my second book. Promising!

The book isn't the same book--it's changed significantly since the first draft was started and finished in 1995. Ten years ago. Wow.

Now that I write and edit for a living, my fun writing (murder mysteries) has just about ceased.

It's time to change that.


7/18 Monday
The photographer from the Business Journal was here today and took photos for the August 12 edition. I'm really excited about that.

7/17 Weekend summary

Just didn't have time to blog over the weekend, but now that I'm home, it's a priority. :)

7/15 Friday

The business class part of the train has been updated. I love it. Seats turn into quasi-beds. Wonderful and so worth the $14 one way.

Jan and Tim picked me up. The train was a little late and we were tired. Went to bed about 11. I had no food with me for the picnic tomorrow and forgot my auction items so I needed to go to the store on the way to the picnic.

7/16 Saturday

Awake at 6:30, got up at 7 and showered. By the time I got downstairs, both Jan and Tim were up. We sat on their expansive wraparound porch and enjoyed our coffee. I love their home--lovely, warm and welcoming. Just what Jan wanted it to be.

Jessi woke up and we decided I'd go to town with her, and Jan would go to Kris's to pick her up.

Jessi and I had a nice talk on the way to town. At Hyvee Food Store I saw my friend Rose. So good to see her after just being together last weekend for our class reunion. (Later I remembered that last weekend I said I'd go to her house this morning to connect her computer--I hate that I forgot it.)

After buying some food, we went to the Dollar Tree to buy some trinkets for the kids to bid on at the auction.

The family reunion was a hoot. Aunt Millie and Uncle Tom's kids and grandkids hosted. They always have the best games. As usual we ate well--not necessarily healthy but well. 'Nuff said.

Afterward, the games began. They did a great job of planning The Amazing Race. They drew names to form six-person teams. We had to name our teams and choose a captain. Omigod it was hilarious.

The first game was BALLOON TOWERS where we had to build a tower out of balloons and tape. Second game was having your team walk with LOGS on their feet. Third game was SCRABBLE where you had to pick up these huge tiles--as many as two team members could pick up in ten seconds. Then the entire team made words out of the letters. The fourth game was the OBSTACLE COURSE. It consisted of running over some hula hoops making sure you stepped in each one. Then people held some small hula hoops upright and you had to crawl through them (although the more athletic folks dove through). Then we had to throw a whiffle ball through a hanging hoop. Then run around a tree, grab a bat, lean over and put your head on the end of the bat and circle five times. Then run like crazy back to the beginning where you tagged your next teammate. That last bit of running when you're incredibly dizzy was the funniest bit ever.

Then we had the auction--everyone brings "stuff," we auction the items, and then we draw names to give away the money made during the auction. I spent $14 but won $5, so I did okay. Then they chose two-person teams for the final game--Old Fart Jeopardy. My team came in second. A really fun game.

Afterward we sat and visited. It was so incredibly hot and humid, but they had two big fans which helped. Here's how hot it was--I drank six bottles of water and one beer, and didn't go to the bathroom the entire time we were there--six and a half hours.

My family then went to niece Kris's house. We ordered pizzas and nachos from Gem City Pizza and Mexican (I love that name).

Then we laughed,and I do mean laughed. My brother Joe kept doing his Joe Cocker impression and it killed. We did all kind of requests, Joe did Walter Brennan doing Joe Cocker. John did Katherine Hepburn doing Joe Cocker. But Jane mistakenly requested Audrey instead of Katherine Hepburn, and someone started singing "I could have danced all night" a la Audrey Hepburn, but really Tippi Hedren.

The above will definitely find a place in one of my books. Finally about 11 I said I had to get up at 4 AM so needed to get some sleep. By the time we got back to Jan and Tim's it was about 11:30 and I packed, and got to bed by midnight.

Am too tired to write about today--Sunday--but will fill in that blank tomorrow.

7/15 In a rush

I'll leave work at 2 to catch a train to Quincy. But just because I leave the physical spot called "work," doesn't mean I'm leaving the massive pile of stuff called "work." I'm taking lots of stuff on the train, most notably the printer's proof of the RCY (journal) and a few legislative letters.

And (BIG NEWS) I'm also taking a hard copy of my manuscript to do some editing. It's been forever since I've worked on the final draft of the novel, but I'm doing it. Going through edits from my old writing critique group. Haven't touched this in many months, but I'm psyched about doing it.

That's what I love about trains.

That, and the fact that you can drink and ride.

7/14 Full of doughnuts

We had a special occasion here at work--hence, the doughnuts. A colleague, who is in the Army Reserves, was called up and sent to Iraq last year. He's home on leave for two weeks, so he and his family came to our all-staff meeting this morning. Also, his commanding officer attended. Our owner presented Bob will a neat poster designed by our graphic artists and signed by all the staff. Then the colonel gave our company a nice award for our support of Bob. It was really touching.

This made me think a lot about war (macro) and individual soldiers (micro). I hate war (most people do). But I hate THIS war. Yet, I appreciate Bob and his family's sacrifice. I can't imagine being pulled out of my regular life to go to war for more than a year.

But saying, "I hate the war, but I support the soldiers" has become cliche'. I hate the war, and I don't want our people to get killed. I don't want Iraqi people to be killed. Yet, I do appreciate the sacrifice individuals make. Omigod, I could go on and on and on.

With my son in the Special Forces, it's even more difficult to sort out my feelings. I love Robbie passionately, and am also passionately proud of him.

I hate our country's cowboy attitude. I dislike President Bush and his policies. I love our soldiers.

7/13 I'm boring

I know I am. Right now there's nothing interesting happening. Well...unless you want to hear about the Sales Meeting today and all the legislative letters I've drafted today to get read for it. No? I didn't think so.

A good friend of mine could be singing the old song, "Torn Between Two Lovers." Yeah, you're all too young to remember it. And it's not memorable anyway. Except for the title. I really feel for my friend--you wait around for the right person and then two right people show up in your world at the same time. It's like God playing a joke.

"Gotcha, kiddo. You say you want a sweetheart? How about two?"

Then there are those of us who God isn't even teasing at the moment.

Back to work. I'm confident, productive, and smart here. In the other part of my life, not so much...

7/12 Another day at work--Yay!

But it's a good one. I finished a lot this morning. Am now eating a great casserole with fresh zucchini and fresh tomatoes, both from my sister's garden. I added onions and mozzarella cheese. Tasty stuff!

I finished the newsletter and one journal. Then I began another Journal. This one will be more difficult, but still worth it, because it's going to be excellent. I received some great articles from authors, plus I have permission to reprint another article. So I'm feeling good.

At least feeling good about the editing part of my job. The PR/Media and sales stuff--wow, I'm so far behind. But having lots to do gives me job security at least.

Thursday we're having a photographer from the Milwaukee Business Journal come. We're being honored in the Beyond the Paycheck section of the Journal on August 12. I'm pretty psyched about it all, especially because I nominated us. It feels good.

7/11 Working again

I've been buried under a load of editing. Didn't do it over the weekend because I was busy writing and re-writing a comedy act for the class reunion. Worth it though.

I changed my California trip in August to be one day longer, and can now go to Joanne and Lynn's birthday party. It's on a boat off Newport Beach in Orange County. How could I say no to that invitation? I'm quite excited about it.

7/10 Home again

It feels good to be back in Milwaukee (but I still wish Milwaukee was closer to Quincy).

The class reunion weekend was total bliss except for one incident with one person. I'm so very proud of how I handled the situation. Very cool, very sophisticated. I liked me.

But other than that one tiny thing--it was awesome. Our class was small enough that we knew everyone, so I got to visit with so many people. And at our age it doesn't matter if we hung out with the person in school or not.

My favorite part was talking to the classmates from my grade school. What fun to speak to folks who still called me Jerilyn. Two guys especially said things like, "I can say what I want to you, Jerilyn. We've known each other since we were five." Another one, "Jerilyn, remember kindergarten?" It was marvelous discussing just about anything with folks.

I spent time with Donna--my best friend in grade school, and Amanda--my best friend in high school. There's a comfort that's still there, even though we don't see each other much.

As I sat after dinner, I looked around and remarked how I just loved this group. It's amazing. I'm already looking forward to the next one in five years.

7/9 Class reunion is over for another five years

I loved my class reunion. What a great bunch of people. The most difficult part all night was getting the damn class picture taken. Took forever, it seemed, but it will be worth it. Then Steve (the photographer and a classmate) took pictures of each group of folks who went to grade school together. What a great time that was. My friend Bill had a picture taken by himself because he was the only kid who went to St. Joseph's grade school--way out in the country. The other kids who went there, went to high school in Liberty rather than Quincy. All except Bill. His wife, Donna, was my best friend in grade school. We lived in the same neighborhood. Our grade school always has the biggest crowd. St. Francis had huge classes. We graduated 100 boys and 100 girls--the same number that graduated from high school with us (approximately).

Another country school had five women and one guy. He sat on a chair and the gals just hung all over him. It was absolutely hilarious. I can still laugh out loud just picturing it.

And, as for my comedy routine, it went over so well--I actually believe it was the best yet. I'd added quite a bit of stuff, and subtracted quite a bit of stuff. What I added was from some fun conversations last night--that mostly revolved around the nuns who taught us in grade school. I liked almost all of them, but there were two that made my life hell. In fourth grade Sr. Nicholas made me scrub the classroom floor with a toothbrush because I kissed a boy. Actually I chased him around the classroom and kissed him.

Then in 8th grade, Sr. Miriam Francis kicked me off the cheerleading squad because of "talking in ranks." But the coup de grace was that she gave me an F in conduct also. That was because one time she was just nagging at me and wouldn't shut up. Drove me over the edge.

Well, I'd found out what her "real" name was. In those days, we weren't allowed to know. I won't say how I found out because my methods may have been illegal. But anyway, she wouldn't shut up so I lost it and said, "Keep your pants on, Betty." Omigod I thought she would stroke out she was so mad at me. I had straight A's and an F in conduct.

Makes great comedic fodder.

7/9 It's Saturday already?

I just got in from the Friday night shindig. Guess we old folks do know how to party after all. Friday was fun--I slept late because I was up late last night. Jan, Jane and I had lunch at a Greek restaurant. The salad was superb.

Then I went with Jan to her house in Missouri since some cousins were coming over to see the place. Jane, Pete and Jordan came over too, as well as Kris, and we had a wonderful pasta dinner. I appreciated it more as the night wore on, because I didn't eat any food at the reunion.

We had a blast at the informal get-together. It was just plain fun. Lots of laughter, lots of silliness. Some really great connecting with old friends.

A bunch of us went to the Coach House for an early breakfast. All I wanted was toast, so felt pretty virtous. A friend from CA and I were flirting and silly all night so I told the server that he'd pay for my meal. Turns out he's staying at his brother's home which is on the same road as Jane's. Funny guy...I enjoyed spending time with him.

Tomorrow is mass (for those interested), dinner and fun. And I was asked to do my little comedy bit, so I said yes. But now I have to rehearse tomorrow instead of editing those journals. Ah well, it'll be fun I think. We'll see.

7/8 Love it here...

Yesterday went by much too quickly to post. It's been a while since I missed a day.

I worked from 8-12 and still had to bring some editing projects (a journal and a newsletter) with me. I left the press releases in Milwaukee though and will do them first thing Monday.

The drive took exactly 6 hours, and I listed to a book on CD the whole way. This is the first one I'm not impressed with. My fault because I bought it. Or maybe it's their fault because they didn't tell me the writer was an amateur. I know my first one is better than this. Anyway...

Got to Jane and Pete's house at 6. Jane was at a meeting. Sarah is at camp. So I talked to Pete and Jordan for a while, checked my email, and then just sat for a little bit. Exhausted.

Turned out no one but Amanda and I could make it last night to Instant Replay. But we had our share of $1 long necks--her Bud Light and me Miller MGD. Funny--Quincy is only two hours from St. Louis so most loyalty goes that direction. We did have a great time catching up, so it's probably good we were by ourselves.

I'm having lunch with my sisters--Jane and Jan--at 12:30. They both are only working a half day today. Jane is a nurse practioner and Jan is a nurse at the same clinic. They always have lunch together anyway. That's another thing that makes me jealous and homesick.

Need to buy some new sandals for tomorrow night so I'll do that today.

Tonight is the informal get-together at the Quincy Boat Club. It will be great. The time when we just stand around, drink or no drink, and talk, reminisce and laugh. Sometimes we have such a good time we'll go to someone's house afterward and continue the party. Probably not anymore. We're old now. :)

Then tomorrow night is a party at the Elks. It's a nice place, new. We'll have dinner, dancing and a program. I'm almost scared they'll ask me to do my comedy routine, and if so I'm ill-prepared. So hope that doesn't happen.

That's it from Quincy for now. Haven't seen any of my other relatives and I'm not sure I will. But am coming back next weekend for a big family reunion. My family gets together constantly, but this is my mom's side of the family and it's huge. We do this once a year--it's such fun. We do this with dad's side of the family every year too. Not as many people, but still fun. I didn't make it this year for that one.

Oh, I know I'll see Jan's husband Tim. She and Tim are going to crash my reunion. Tell you about that tonight or tomorrow. Gotta run.

7/6 Still working

Went from one meeting to another, to a haircut, to getting my picture taken, to a meeting, etc. And I got interrupted so many times by customer calls. Customers never call me. They usually email.

Anyway, I'm done whining now. Have a little more to do today. Not much. Then home to pack. I leave at noon tomorrow.

Several of my high school chums and I will gather at a local watering hotel tomorrow night to have a pre-reunion reunion. A place that has longnecks for $1. God, I love Quincy.

My picture, taken outside...



It's not good enough for my professional headshot, but it's good enough for my intranet bio and for the Mohonk brochure (for the presentation I'm giving in NY state in October).

7/5 Sleepless in Brown Deer

I stayed awake until 1 (on purpose, not insomnia) and got up at 6. So I'm yawning. But my car's in the shop getting readied, and I'm getting lots of work done.

Yesterday was so stormy and rainy and cloudy--really affected my mood until I watched The Fokkers. Then I laughed most of the day. Amazing how one silly movie can cheer me up.

I left files laying about the house, still have more pitching to do. But I doubt I'll be awake enough to do any work when I get home. I'm beat.

But there's one thing I'm wishing and hoping and praying for...I hope some of my relatives have some ripe tomatoes for me to devour (and to bring back to Milwaukee). Quincy is about 6 hours south, so I'm thinking this might be a timely visit. Fresh tomatoes--one of God's wondrous gifts.

7/4 Fourth of July Celebrations

Yeah, I celebrated by cleaning out some files, putting some items on eBay, and overeating. Blame my weight gain on thunderstorms. It was a pitiful day.

Tomorrow I have to get up at 6 because I have to take my car in for repair before my trip to Quincy on Thursday.

7/3 At work again

Got in at 9:15 again. Guess that's what my internal clock says is the right time to begin working. Well, not really. It's only because I stayed up until 2:15 playing online poker and chatting with two of my brothers who were also playing.

Jay and Jim had me laughing so hard. So of course I didn't win anything. But I played in one $3 tournament and four $1 tournaments. So it's still cheaper than going to a movie. That's how I justify any of my frivolous spending. If it's cheaper than a movie, then I can do it.

We'll probably play again tonight. For $1 you get $1500 in poker money. So it's quite a bargain. :)

Last night Jill IMd me while I was playing. She said, "You've certainly gotten addicted to poker." Or something like that. I replied that the poker wasn't important...I was bonding with my brothers.

I have lots to do here at work, then will go swimming again. I don't want to "sun" but I do want to get a little color for my reunion next weekend. Can't wait for that.

I just reviewed the to-do list for this weekend. All that's left to do is ready more items for eBay, drink a beer on my deck, and SLEEP.

7/2 Quiet day but good

I slept until about 8 and got to work by 9:15. Worked until 1:30 and got so much done with no one else there. I'm going in either tomorrow or Monday for another 1/2 day and I'll feel really good by the time Tuesday arrives.

After work I came back here and swam a while. Just two other people in the pool, so that was nice. Then watched a movie I'd rented--Sideways. I enjoyed it. Have more to watch over the weekend.

My family is getting together twice this weekend. Once at John and Paulette's and once at Jan and Tim's. I'm jealous.

7/1 Summerfest and summer fun

But I'm not going to Summerfest this year. I do have two free tickets if anyone wants them.

My three-day weekend will consist of:

1. Swimming in our pool
2. Drinking a beer on my deck
3. Giving more clothes to Goodwill
4. Readying some more items for eBay
5. Coming into the office 2 out of 3 days
6. Thinking about what my sibs are doing on the 4th
7. Sleep

It's not exciting. If it were I'd have to change the name of my Blog.

6/30 Downhill

Can't believe the year is half over. Time really does go faster when you're over the hill.

Felt really stressed today so I walked during lunch in 90 degree heat. But at least I remembered to bring a T-shirt so I wouldn't get my good shirt all sweaty. (Just my bra, underpants, slacks...)

Found out I'm not scheduled to work at CSz this weekend, so I'm going to catch up on a lot of work at CPI and perhaps relieve my stress a bit.

Shoot--Jill just called. She's taking the kids swimming and can't find their floaties. I guess I left them at Debbie's pool. It's a 45 minute drive from Jill's so I'm sure she won't be able to go get them. The kids have a dork for a grandma.

6/29 Yikes, so much to do.

There's so much piled on my desk. But I just found out that I'm not scheduled to work at CSz this weekend, so I can put in some extra hours at my regular job. That's a good thing.

Wonder if my sibs are getting together this weekend. Probably. I'm going to be working or else hanging out at my pool--when no one else is there. I'd go home, but I have to go home the following two weekends, so can't stretch that to three. It would stress me out.

Want to see another picture Kayla took? Of course you do.



I miss the kids already. Even though they wear me out when I watch them for a long time, they mostly are so energizing. And beautiful. And loving. And sh!t, I'm crying. (No, not boo hoo hoo, just a few tears.)

6/28 Tons o' pictures

I posted many pictures of my trip to LA. However, most of the photos were actually taken by Kayla. She did a great job, especially since it was her first time and she's only five. A few examples:

6/27 Flight Woes

I'm not complaining at all about the flight delay that got me home at 11 PM instead of 9 PM. Stuff happens. And I got bumped to first class again on the ride from Burbank to Dallas/Ft. Worth. BUT I am complaining about the nose picking, talking out loud freakazoid who sat next to me. He picked his nose the entire trip, and in two hours drank four beers and a huge glass of vodka. While he watched a movie on his individual dvd player he talked to it. The movie was "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." I remember it from the 60s and it's a hilarious classic. But I'll forever remember it as the movie the nose-picking, talk-to-himself guy loves. Oh, and every time he sneezed he directed the liquid results in my direction.

I had to pretend I was asleep or I would have strangled him. And I'm very grateful he didn't touch me with his snot-enhanced hands. Ugh. (PS: the plane was full so I couldn't move.)

6/27 Personality Defects

On a pal's blogsite I saw a test that looked like fun. It is about personality defects rather than "feel good" stuff. She ended up as a Psychopath and I ended up a Televangelist. The test measures you in four areas: rational/intuitive; extroverted/introverted; brutal/gentle; arrogant/humble.

I'm intuitive/extrovert/gentle/arrogant. Yep, that's probably true.

Televangelist You are 14% Rational, 81% Extroverted, 5% Brutal, and 71% Arrogant.

As the Lord as my witness, I swear upon the good book that you are indeed the TELEVANGELIST! Characterized by extreme arrogance, self-assurance, and extroversion, you would make a very charismatic leader (or a very despotic one). On top of that, you are also more intuitive than rational, predisposing you to a more spiritual or emotional outlook on life. Thus, you are thoroughly irrational. You also tend to be rather gentle and considerate of others' feelings. Clearly, you would make the perfect televangelist. Emotional, extroverted, arrogant, and gentle, you annoy the hell out of people who have to listen to the feel-good, intuitive shit spewing from your mouth. Not only that, but people may look down on you as a self-centered asshat. So while you are gentle and genuinely care about others, it is quite clear that you still care about yourself MORE. Why is your personality flawed? Because you are too damned extroverted, emotional, and arrogant. So preach your irrational message, brotha-man! I assure you, no one will be listening! To put it less negatively: 1. You are more INTUITIVE than rational. 2. You are more EXTROVERTED than introverted. 3. You are more GENTLE than brutal. 4. You are more ARROGANT than humble. Compatibility: Your exact opposite is the Spiteful Loner. Other personalities you would probably get along with are the Hippie, the Starving Artist, and the Robot. * * If you scored near fifty percent for a certain trait (42%-58%), you could very well go either way. For example, someone with 42% Extroversion is slightly leaning towards being an introvert, but is close enough to being an extrovert to be classified that way as well. Below is a list of the other personality types so that you can determine which other possible categories you may fill if you scored near fifty percent for certain traits. The other personality types: The Emo Kid: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Starving Artist: Intuitive, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Bitch-Slap: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Brute: Intuitive, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hippie: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Televangelist: Intuitive, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Schoolyard Bully: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Class Clown: Intuitive, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Robot: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Humble. The Haughty Intellectual: Rational, Introverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Spiteful Loner: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Humble. The Sociopath: Rational, Introverted, Brutal, Arrogant. The Hand-Raiser: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Humble. The Braggart: Rational, Extroverted, Gentle, Arrogant. The Capitalist Pig: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Humble. The Smartass: Rational, Extroverted, Brutal, Arrogant.

Link: The Personality Defect Test written by saint_gasoline on Ok Cupid

6/26 Heading home

Todd is cooking breakfast, Kayla is taking pictures with my camera, Hunter is playing with his new toys, and Jill is in the shower. As I started typing that was the situation. But since I typed the first sentence things have changed. We've all finished breakfast, both kids have told me not to leave, and I'm almost at the crying stage. Am trying to hold off until I actually have to leave.

It's so hard to leave them.

This is one of Kayla's first pictures she took. That's Hunter's hand pointing to the beetle he squashed. The reason his finger is black is because of the icing on the Spiderman birthday cake.




On the right you'll see Kayla and Hunter with Debbie. As K saw this pic again this morning she said, "Oh, I love Debbie!"

Will follow with more pictures when I get home, and I'll make sure they're bigger on my website. For now I need to pack and shower and get ready to go. Sigh.

6/25 Happy Birthday, Hunter!

We had a great day. All day long Hunter would say, "It's my happy birthday. Did you wrap my sword?" Yep, that's what he wanted from me. And it ended up his favorite present. Less than $5. That's always the way. He was so cute. The sword is bendable rubber of course, but he told me to be careful because it was very sharp and I could get hurt. Gotta love 3-year-olds.

His Spiderman cake gave us all purple mouths and black teeth. Sure made us laugh. And we had a super dinner with homemade taco salads. We ate outside on the patio. The weather was perfect. After dinner and cake we went to Starbucks to let the kids play in the small ampitheatre while we enjoyed our coffees. Kayla asked if she could take a picture with my digital camera. She really did a good job, so much so that I let her continue taking pictures. We have some that I'll definitely save...two were funny as well. One was a close-up of a beetle that Hunter had squashed. And the other was when she took the sleeve from a Starbucks coffee cup and put it on a doll as a crown. She put the doll on top of the toilet tank and took a great photo. I think she's got a good eye--especially for a five year old.

This has been such an awesome visit. I am ready to go home, just because I have so much to do. But it's always hard to leave. K said, "I think I'll cry this time too, Grandma." That's because I always cry when I leave.

6/24 A memorable, fun day

Kayla slept with me last night and Hunter woke us up at 6:15 AM saying, Grandma, it's time to get up. So we did.

It's been such a fun day. After baths, and picking up, we went to Starbucks for breakfast--their choice. Kayla said the only thing they can have is a bagel there, but I told them they could have anything they wanted. So Kayla had milk and chocolate covered graham crackers. Hunter had milk and a cinnamon roll. Then they played a while in the small ampitheatre. Afterwards we went to Walmart and got H another birthday present for tomorrow.

At 11:15 AM we left Santa Clarita valley for my friend Deb's house in Thousand Oaks. What a great day. She's prepared all this gorgeous and tasty food and invited other friends over. Some of these women were on the weekend cruise I took a few years back. We laughed and ate all afternoon. The kids and I did swim for a while, then they played with the "big boys"--Deb's son Cole and his friend Brendan. K and H had a ball.

Deb made chocolate fondue and we had strawberries, bananas, mango and pineapple to dip into the chocolate. And we have lots of pictures of K eating tons of strawberries with chocolate all over her face. H only ate one (because K ate the rest), but he seemed to love it.

I'd wanted to leave by 3, but we had too much fun so I'll stay until the traffic dies down on the 5. Los Angeles traffic reeks anyway, but on Friday night I'd hit all of it going up north.

One of Debbie's friends is Adrienne, who was on the TV show Frontier House on PBS. She's from Ireland and a lovely and delightful woman. Debbie and I were talking about being shallow. Debbie's really good at being shallow and I'm the deepest shallow person you can meet. Anyway, Adrienne said to the group, very sincerely, "I'm from Mailibu. You are the deepest people I know." That elicited a laugh from all of us. Loved it.

And Kayla said a good one too. Brendan said they were watching a movie and there was a bad guy on it. Kayla said, "Why is he bad? Did he forget to say 'excuse me' when he burped?" Love that one too.

In an hour or so we'll head back to Jill's. Jill and Todd are going out tonight and I'm babysitting, but I have a feeling the kids are going to be very tired. Grandma too.

6/23 In LA

Boy oh boy am I tired. After about 3 hours of sleep I woke up at 3 AM this morning to catch a 5:50 AM flight. Slept on part of the first leg, and part of the second. On the second leg, from Dallas to Burbank CA, I was bumped to first class, and sat two rows behind Jennifer Love Hewitt. She was absolutely adorable. And very sweet as well. I didn't speak to her, but other people did and she was quite gracious.

When I arrived, there was the usual rush of pure joy as Kayla and Hunter ran toward me screaming, "Grandma! Grandma!" Is there anything more wonderful?

And then of course my own darling, Jill. She just gets more and more beautiful. We stopped for lunch at an Olive Garden in Burbank because the kids love the area...lots of things to play on outside, plus they love the chocolate mint Andes everyone gets at the end of the meal.

Now we're at their house. They got their presents I brought and are now napping. Jill's at the store ordering Hunter's birthday cake for Saturday. Todd's on the couch with a virus. I'm wearing garlic around my neck and have a cross and a silver bullet so I don't catch it. No sense taking chances.

6/22 Poker marathon

Last night I was a bit bored, so I got into a $5 tournament on pokerstars.com. For the first time I got into a really big tournament. There were 1700 people entered and top prize was $1,000. The top 99 placers got some money.

Well, 3 1/2 hours later I was still playing. I ended up in 19th place and was paid $26.24. It felt like a million though. At the end I made some stupid plays, but I was tired and really wanted it to end. It was sure fun though. I'm sure I'll do it again.

Am sitting here eating a vegetarian tamale pie and listening to the Knack's My Sharona. Okay, it just moved on to Bob Marley's One Love/People Get Ready. I love all kind of music from Enya to Gwen Stefani to Talking Heads to Mary Chapin Carpenter. iTunes and iPod are so cool.

Yesterday was weird. I told my doc that a new med I was taking for my stomach was making me spacy, dizzy and nauseated. (Okay, spacier than usual...) Got really sick and went home and slept for two hours. Happened quickly and was over when I woke up from the nap. This morning I was fine, but now the symptoms are starting again. Can't wait to get this med out of my system.

Have two meetings this afternoon. Luckily I'm prepared. (Wild wild life by Talking Heads is on. That's one of my favorite songs. I think it's because the video was so cool.)

Tomorrow--off to LA. I'll post after I get there.

6/21 Doctor visit

I had to see my doc as a follow-up to a sinus infection I had several weeks ago. While I was there she also talked to me about my recent stomach problems. No big deal. But I can't have caffeine, chocolate or tomatoes. Three of my favorite things. And maybe I can't have citrus but we haven't really checked that one.

Aarrrgggghhh! Me--with the cast-iron stomach. All my life I've eaten anything I wanted and only had indigestion once or twice.

At least I can still eat jalapenos. And can have a beer once in a while. Hallelujah!

6/20 Late lunch

Time slipped away from me. But I got a lot done. (Besides emailing Michele about 10 times.) Finished the first edits on a hardcopy newsletter that goes to about 20,000 people in 8 or 9 countries.

Now I'm starting second edits on a Journal. That usually takes about 8 hours each time. But the articles are so interesting that it's an honor to do it. And this is the edition that contains articles by Desmond Tutu, Laura Bush and me. Wow. I'm in heady company in this issue.

Then I have to edit all the articles in another Journal where I'm the only editor. Everyone turned in their pieces, except one guy. I hope I have enough to fill the Journal. Oh, well, I'll take another slug of Maalox and write another one myself if I have to. :)

Then two press releases. I bet I won't have all this done by Wednesday. That's my self-imposed deadline because early Thursday morning I'm flying to LA for the weekend. It's Hunter's 3rd birthday on the 25th. It's neat because I was there for Kayla's in May also. First year that I've been able to be there for both.

AND--> about what I wrote yesterday. I've decided to be a free agent in the Rec League, since two out of the four on the team haven't decided yet. I'm not going to wait on answers like I did last time. That caused me some problems. So this time I want to be on a team where someone else is anxiously trying to get a decent team together. I'll be that team's handicap, but they won't mind because they'll appreciate what I do. WAIT--I've gone too far... Let's just leave it at: I'm going on the free agent list. And if no one chooses me, that's life.

6/19 Last match

Tonight was my team's last match in the CSz Rec League. I thought the match was good. It certainly was fun.

I got a lot of good laughs. But didn't hear anything positive when we got notes afterward. Only what I did wrong.

Kind of made me sad, until I talked to other players who felt the same way.

Overall, it was a lot of fun--the whole experience. I'd like to play again, but two of my team may not return. So perhaps I should just become a free agent. Don't know.

Matt doesn't know what he wants to do and Jules says she has to check her finances. Sounds like neither really want to commit. It's hard to be on a team that's second to last. Probably every single player thinks he or she is better than that. I know I do. :)

We'll see...

6/18 I hate it

I hate disagreements. A young man I work with at CSz wasn't doing his job--at least that's what I thought. And I spoke to him because I can't do both my job and his.

He told me I was talking to him like a child and he didn't have to listen to it. I thought about what he said, and then apologized, because that wasn't my intent--even though that's the way it panned out. When I asked him to forgive me, he wouldn't do it. Said that he won't hold it against me, but he wouldn't forgive me and that's just the way he is.

That's when it hit me that the reason I spoke to him like that is because he is a kid. I sure don't want to be disrespectful to him, but that must be the reason I did it.

He said the owner is his boss and has never told him that--insert what I said here--was part of his job. I said, "Yep, that's why I asked him to talk to you about what your job duties are." He said that was a good idea.

It had been a good day until this situation happened.

I'd never had a disagreement with this young man before. But I've always noticed that he sits at the bar and talks instead of doing what the other employees in that position do. And I've always thought that it was because he's not trained.

A few weeks ago the ref came running out of the arena two or three times looking for this guy because he had work to do. But still no one spoke to him about his work behavior.

That's too bad, because this kid started with such energy and enthusiasm. But it's quickly disappearing.

It appears I'll come out to be the villain in the melodrama, and that's okay. Many people talk about his job performance, but so far I think I'm the only one who's talked directly to him about it. Trouble is, I'm not his boss. I'm not anything except a co-worker. So I guess I'll shut up from now on.

I know the owner will take care of it now.

But damn, I hate disagreements.

6/17 Almost weekend

Tomorrow will be a good day. When the birds wake me up with their incessant singing outside my window, I can turn over and go back to sleep.

Priceless.

6/16 Back to normal?

I wanted to post yesterday, but I didn't get home until after midnight. Yep, the flights were delayed. Of course.

The experience was a really good one however. The team worked well together, and we enjoyed each other's company. That always helps.

Jan, Tim, Craig and Meghan drove back to Jan and Tim's house. Jan wasn't ready to leave Craig yet, so they went home. I guess Craig and Meghan are staying until Sunday. We're all so grateful that he's doing well. Yep, we believe in miracles.

I nominated my company for a Beyond the Paycheck Award a few months back. We just got notified that we're one of the winners. I'm quite excited about this. It will be in the August 12 Milwaukee Business Journal. Someone will be visiting the company in a few weeks to take pictures and do interviews. Nifty.

6/14 Still in Detroit

I'm spending my last night at the Hyatt. Packing up and getting some work done as well. I've had a good time here, working with Joyce and Dennis.

Plus we've had some fabulous food. Last night we ate at a Middle Eastern restaurant--so many great vegetarian choices. Tonight we ate at Adiamo (Italian for "let's go"). Wow. It was delicious. It will be hard to go back home to my grilled cheese and popcorn.

Haven't heard anything today about Craig, so I assume that means things are going well.

6/13 Craig's home

Craig's home from the hospital. But I guess it was a lot worse than I'd heard--including his life flashing before his eyes, and the whole white light thingy. That's pretty scary.

He's so grateful that Meghan's dad was there--as are we all.

Things can happen so quickly that may change a person's life forever. We're very lucky that he'll be okay.

And that's enough excitement for our week. I want to be bored now.

(Written from a Hyatt near Detroit.)

6/12 Family matters

My nephew Craig has been in an accident in Columbus OH. He was working under a car, and the jack gave way. The car fell on him. He passed out, but luckily someone was with him and was able to jack the car up right away. We don't know much yet. He definitely has bruised lungs, but I don't know about any other injuries. If horrible and painful bruises are the extent, we are so very lucky.

He's one of my godchildren.

Right after Jan and Tim moved back to Quincy and built a new home, this happens. Craig talked once of following his parents closer to the "family enclave." Maybe he will move now. Don't know. But right now all I care about is that he'll be okay.

I should hear something tomorrow.

6/12 A special song

If you've read my blog before you know about my friend Bruce. He's a musician, writer, and all-around talented dude. He's the nice guy who asked me to open for him in Vegas in April. Okay, enough intro... Bruce sings mostly his own songs/music when he performs but he does do a few covers. When we saw each other in Vegas I told him about Van Morrison's version of Have I Told You Lately That I Love You. It's my favorite song (at the moment). I thought Van Morrison's and Bruce's voice were so similar. When I got home I emailed the song to him (.wav file).

So I'm stranded on the tarmac at O'Hare and since we were going to sit for another hour I turned on my cell phone. Message from my friend, Joanne. She and her boyfriend Lynn were in Santa Ynez CA where Bruce was performing. She kept the message going so I could hear Bruce sing my song. And he even put my name in it.

I had been bumped to First Class, and I sat there with the biggest grin on my face. It's nice to have friends. :)

Thanks, Bruce.

6/10 Crazy day

Was at a training until 12:30--Advanced Social Work Ethics. My license is up for renewal and you need four hours of ethics training to be renewed (as well as 26 other hours of training). Got back to the office at one, wolfed down some lunch, began going through my email, then realized I had a meeting at 2. Just finished that, and now must prepare for my trip to Detroit.

I leave tomorrow (Saturday) and return Wednesday night. Lots to do. But the good thing is that I'll be in an air conditioned hotel room for four nights. Cool (in more ways than one).

6/9 From the big loser

Well, I didn't win. Thanks for your votes everyone, especially to those who voted early and often. The winner of this semi-final round is Dunes.

I think I'll go eat worms.

6/9 I bought a fan. Yes!

Bought the biggest fan in the known universe at Home Depot. My daughter and s-i-l had thoughtfully given me a gift card for HD. (Does any other old lady LOVE Home Depot like I do? A new Lowe's is going up about a half-block from me. I am anticipating the pure joy of the grand opening.)

So my condo was nicely cooled. But the fan made so much noise I had to move it to another room. Luckily, it's so big that it cools the entire place no matter where I put it. (Thanks, Jill and Todd, for the gift card.)

I'll find out by 5 PM whether I won the blog thing or not. I'm wondering if I should buy a fancy dress and prepare an acceptance speech, just in case.

6/8 Blog stuff

Today's the last day to vote for my blog as Blog of the Millenium.

Okay, Blog of the Ten Week Period. Wish they'd give it a good title.

Thanks for your vote.

Working hard today. Trying not to think about going home to the hot condo. At least by 11 PM it cools off fine in the place, so no real complaints. At least I can sleep well.

6/7 Build a bridge...

and get over it. So I'm going to get over the fact that my central air conditioner stopped working yesterday and it's supposed to be over 90 degrees today.

---

Avon Breast Cancer Walk continued...

Saturday night was quite comfortable in our snug little tent. Jan put in her earplugs and went right to sleep. After walking a marathon I imagine she was a little knackered. I didn't sleep well at all, but it was okay. I lay there with no anxiety about needing to sleep; it was so relaxing.

For the first year I didn't hear anyone snoring. Loved it. Sleeping on the ground is a little uncomfortable sometimes when you're older, yet I just love it. I have a decent sleeping pad, and a wonderful sleeping bag. No reason for not sleeping. Except hearing the wind pick up, then dying down, then rain literally assaulting us, then stop, no wind, then the wind picking up again. Interesting. And we were dry and I felt safe.

When I got up once during the night to go to the bathroom I could see without using my flashlight. It was so quiet. Then I saw other figures wandering back and forth--some with flashlights, some without--but all in their sleeping clothes. I didn't see anyone's faces, but they all looked like women and my thought was that they were probably middle aged or older. We tend the be the overnight bathroom people.

Once again Jane and Deb had to be up before Jan and I. But we got up at nearly the same time because we wanted to have breakfast with them. They slept in the next tent, but they didn't sleep well either. But they had a very good reason since their sleeping bags were wet and they slept on plastic. If I'd known ahead of time I could have given them my bag and just slept on my pad. I didn't cover up anyway. But hindsight is 20/20 as they say.

Jan met some neat ladies as she walked on Sunday. She said they'll stay friends. We took tons of pictures of Jan crossing the finish line with her new buddies. Then we staged one of her crossing the line alone. We're already thinking of pictures for her next year's web page. Took photos of us three sisters in our Victory Shirts too. Plus some with Debbie.

Closing ceremonies were short. Everyone was beat. And it's always hard for me to stand still after being on my feet so much in two days. I could still walk well, but standing was difficult.

My favorite parts of closing ceremonies:

They talk about how every three minutes someone in the US gets diagnosed with breast cancer. And every three minutes during the walk, they randomly choose someone to get a huge pink ribbon around their neck that says Every Three Minutes...

This happens every three minutes even during the night because "cancer doesn't sleep." But during the night the ribbon is enclosed in a plastic bag and put in front of someone's tent.

I've gotten a ribbon each year. It's very moving to know that you're representing someone who was diagnosed.

The other thing I love about Closing Ceremonies is a video on the jumbo screen. It's just people saying thank you. Over and over again. One person after another. And you know you are helping to save lives.

I have to close on that.

6/6 What a way to spend a weekend

I can't help but smile when I think of spending the past weekend with my two sisters and our friend Debbie. Powerful images of valiant women keep roller-coastering through my mind. Women pushing other women in wheel chairs. Women with shaved heads marching beside other ones who are there to show support. At the Closing Ceremonies seeing a sea of pink as we wear our Victory Shirts...and seeing how many of those shirts are a different color of pink, signifying the person is a Survivor. Ah, but I'm skipping most of the story by starting at the end.

On Thursday evening Jan, Jane, Debbie and I stayed at our brother Jim's house in Aurora. He and his wife Karen love to have visitors and it shows. Felt bad about staying there because Karen's mom is in the hospital, but they insisted, and I'm glad they did. We had such a great time, including two visits to the new outlet mall there. I bought some bargain Christmas presents. We had dinner at the Red Tavern Inn. Omigod, I just had sides but was so full--Tavern Salad, baked sweet potato and grilled asparagus. Oh, and I had some onion rings as an appetizer and part of this table-sized key lime pie. No wonder I was full.

And when sibs get together, adolescent humor abounds, at least in my family. Jimmy showed us possibly the funniest video I'd ever seen. Someone on the internet did it. It involves a preacher and gas. I can't even think about it without laughing.

On Friday I was up at 6:30, I was pretty excited about the coming weekend. The four of us went to IHOP for breakfast and then into Chicago. We checked into our hotel about 12:30 and then went to the Avon Walk registration. It was fun seeing people we knew from the Walks from other years. And I got lots of hugs from staff members. My job on the weekend involves me working with staff, so I get to spend lots of time with them.

Some of the T-shirts were pretty funny. Some folks form teams for the 2-day, 40 mile walk. One team's shirts said Save These (and an arrow pointed to their breasts). Another shirt said on the front--Random Acts of Walking and on the back said--Random Acts Save Boobs. The word boob gets used a lot. Another set of shirts on a group of beautiful young women--Babes for Boobs.

But there was a serious tone too. "I walk because I cannot walk away." And a woman with no hair sported a huge smile and a T-shirt that said, "I stand because you walk." My tears started when I saw those latter two.

Yet, I laughed much more than I cried. Whenever anyone said anything about being mad or upset, our friend Deb said, "Build a bridge and get over it." Pretty funny. But even funnier was Jane's interpretation. She'd say, "Build a bridge and cross it." Then she wouldn't understand what she'd said wrong. Of course we built upon the mistake time and time again. We'd sing "Cross over the bridge." I said, "Build a bridge and jump off of it." And so on.

Just remembered my favorite T-shirt. Women wore tank shirts that said, "Tanks for the Mammaries."

We spent Friday night at the hotel and had some laughs there too. Jane and Deb had to be outside at 4:30 AM to catch the shuttle to their location. They provided medical services on the route. I had to be at work at 6 AM, so Jan and I both "slept in" until 5.

Opening ceremonies were moving, as usual, and it's always heart-touching to see so many walkers leave the staging area together to begin the Walk. There were more than 2400 women and men walking this year. (Plus there were over 600 crew members.)

My job was much easier this year than the last two. The two staff members I worked most closely with--Tanisha and Traneeka--were both professional and fun. After they introduced themselves, I said, "I'm Tajeri." Luckily they had good senses of humor. It only took a few moments for me to get their names/faces straight. As a team leader I worked closely with four other volunteers--Charmaine, Beth, Catherine and Jennifer. They were all wonderful, and willing to do whatever was needed. We didn't have nearly as many incidents this year as last, so that was a blessing.

Saturday we were drenched with intermittent thunderstorms and my poor sister Jan ended up walking through HAIL! They almost had to call a halt to the walk, but luckily didn't have to, as the storms moved through rather quickly.

Unfortunately, Jane's and Debbie's duffel bags were soaked (as were mine and Jan's), and they'd forgotten to wrap their stuff in plastic bags (guess who didn't forget). So they had to try and dry their things out. They never were able to get their sleeping bags dry, so they slept on a piece of plastic. Or rather they tried to sleep.

I think I'll stop for now and will continue in tomorrow's blog.

6/5 Home from Chicago

I wish I'd had my laptop computer with me on the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. But then I probably still wouldn't have had time to use it.

What a superb weekend! I'll write about it tomorrow. Right now I need to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

(My sisters and I already signed up for the 2006 Walk.)

6/2 Hit me, Bloggy, one more time!

Just discovered that the winners of Blog of the Week (MKEOnline) for the past ten weeks are now in a hotly contested race to see which blog is Blog of the--what? Blog of the 10-Week Period? Whatever it's called, I'd love to make a respectable showing. Voting is allowed from June 2-8.

Problem is that I'll be on the Avon Breast Cancer Walk (and preparing for it) from tonight through June 5, and won't be able to campaign too much. So I'll put this notice here, plus will put it on two forums I frequent. And I'll email it to everyone I've ever met, and anyone I've never met. A billboard, a TV commercial, time spent on talk shows...yeah, I think it's doable.

And if I win, I will change the name of my blog. Because if I win, my life WILL be an adventure, because I'll be blogworthy.

Vote for me, please. www.mkeonline.com/people/blogcontest.asp

My slogan--a vote for me is a vote for me. Catchy, don't you think? Jer

6/1 Fun stuff, I think!

So busy at home getting ready for the Avon Walk. I'm doing a pretty good job of preparing. Still a lot to do tonight. And I don't know what we're doing tomorrow. We'd planned to say at my brother and s-i-l's house but her Mom is in the hospital and we don't want to be an imposition. Other options are to go to a motel or have Jan, Jane and Deb drive on up to my place and stay Thursday night here. Hope I find out soon--I'll need to change my sheets and empty the trash if company's coming.

And I just looked at the CSz website for registration for the World Championship in August. The LA folks really went out of their way to develop a website that is exciting and user-friendly. That week promises to be a lot of fun.

Right now, gotta run. Have a teleconference in three minutes.

5/31 General "stuff"

My home looks a wreck. The living room is full of my sleeping bag, huge duffel, and sleeping pad--plus other assorted things I need for the Avon Walk this coming weekend. And my bedroom has many "stacks" of clothing on the floor. Several stacks for Goodwill. And some for eBay that I have to take pictures of, and then post and write descriptions. I'm really trying to clean out my closets.

But for the daytime hours I have plenty to do here at work. So I best resturn to it.

5/30 eBay

Okay, I can now confess. I'd never been on eBay. I have a brother who's a pro at it. He buys something and sells it as a profit. He has a real eye for those things. Not me.

But I'd bought some new walking shoes that hurt my toe. No point in enduring that kind of pain when I'm doing something that's supposed to be good for me. I only wore them once. So I put them online and I actually got a bid. Quite exciting.

I'm thinking I found my new addiction.

5/29 Jill's birthday

It seems impossible that another year has passed and it's Jill's birthday again. In my mind she's still that tiny little beauty that didn't want me to leave her sight. Now she's 31 with a husband and two kids and the wonderful life she's always wanted.

Even though Jill lives in Los Angeles, thanks to the wonders of the internet we still talk all the time. I appreciate that so much.

Today I called to wish her a happy birthday and of course I spoke to the kids. Hunter, as always, was so excited he kept yelling into the phone. He's always so eager to tell me everything and I barely understand what he's saying. I love it.

And Kayla was adorable as always. She had Jill mail me a letter and some pictures she colored. They came in the mail yesterday and it was a great surprise to cap off my day when I got home from CSz. So I thanked her for the surprise, and we talked about everything. She's such a grown-up five.

Last time we spoke I told Kayla that I got her some Princess stickers that I knew she'd love. Today she remarked, "Those stickers are sure taking a long time to get here." I said, "I didn't mail them; I'm bringing them with me when I come out again."

Pause.

Kayla added, "Or you can mail them and surprise me."

I love the way that girl thinks.

Jill, a great big Happy Birthday, and thanks so much for the gifts you've given me over the years--especially for Kayla and Hunter, the best presents of all.

5/28 Working

Wow, it's a beautiful day. Still only in the 50s but the sun is shining and it's definitely spring. Elsewhere they're swimming and sunning. Here, we're just grateful it's not snowing.

I'm in the office today trying to play catch-up, since I'm taking Friday off for the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. And this evening I'm working at CSz.

But Sunday and Monday are all mine. ALL MINE!

5/27 New photos

Last night I posted the Relay for Life photos. It was an extraordinary time with the family.

Speaking of extraordinary times, I was up most of the night vomiting. I'm not pregnant, so I either gave myself food poisoning or I have a virus. The former is much more likely than the latter.