So, on Dec. 22nd I headed out for my parents' house in NJ to spend Christmas there.  I overnighted at Peg's; we exchanged gifts, and I picked up the gifts TRgirl had left there.  (See, when I told her I was stopping a Peg's on the way up, she said, "How am I supposed to get my presents to NJ?"  So, my family thinks I am a dictionary, a reference book, and a courier.  Oh, the hats I wear.) 

Anyway, I told y'all about the first part of the trip already.   What I did not tell you is that Casper, my parents' cat, hates me.  With the fire of a thousand suns is how much this cat hates me.  But he loves my dad.

Also, if you think I am a dork, this picture of Bud proves it to be a genetic condition.

Anyway, I left NJ on the 29th, and met Erica (Erica!) at Klondike Kate's  for lunch.  We hadn't seen each other in about 3 years, so I asked our wonderful and patient waitress to take a picture. 

Then I headed down to TRgirl and the BIL's for dinner.   It took me 2 hours to get from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge to Fredericksburg.  Oh how I hate NoVA.  Anyway, finally made it to Richmond, where The BIL said, "Did you do something different with your hair?"  TRgirl:  "Um, it's straight??!!" 

Finally made it back to Raleigh at 1130, was at work at 0730.  Forgot 1800 riding lesson that night.  D'oh!

And thanks to my Christmas money and the Eddie Bauer white sale, the redecoration of the bedroom and bathroom is nearly complete.

Here's wishing y'all a wonderful 2005.

at WeightWatchers?   And also the gym?  Yep, that'd be me.  Getting the fitness plan back on track.  Will help me reach some of those 101 in 1001 goals. 

I walked into work today at my usual time, 0730.  I noticed that my laptop was not in the docking station, and my first thought was, "I don't remember taking that home."  Also, the monitor stand above the docking station (which does not, in fact, hold a monitor) was askew.  I told Kimmy (my office mate) that my computer was missing, and she said, "Maybe [our IS guy] took it to upgrade it?"  I thought it unlikely, but called his cell anyway.  He didn't have it, so I called our Facilities Manager.

Watergirl:  Hey [Facilities manager], it's Watergirl.  My computer has been stolen.
FM:  You're joking.
WG:  Yes, I called you on your cellphone at 0745 because Kimmy and I are playing a joke on you.

We thought until about 0830 that mine was the only one gone.  My office has an outside door to it through which many people pass, but it doesn't always latch.  I was thinking crime of opportunity.  However, as others started to come in, it turned out that more were missing. 

This bothered me a lot more that I would have thought that it would.  I didn't lose a lot of data, I was able to do labwork today, and it wasn't actually my computer.  Still, I was uneasy for most of the day.  I've forgotten my cellphone at work in the past; that could have been gone as well.  I sometimes work on the weekends, and now will every little noise make me jump?  I don't know.  I was angry at the person(s) who did this , and angry with myself because I knew that this could happen, but I didn't take my laptop home every night (as we are now supposed to do) because I got complacent.

Today was also a riding lesson.  I rode Bruno, who is a big 1250 pound baby.  We worked on pushing forward into the trot and making him light on the forehand, pretending that we could do canter pirouettes.  By the end of the ride, all was right again. 

I was a little nervous about last night's weigh-in.  I felt like I hadn't been a good "weight-watcher".  Turned out that I am down 2.8 lbs.  Just gotta stick with it to the end this time.  Y'all are going to help me, as I will be reporting my progress.

So, when my laptop was stolen last week,  I also lost my glasses.  I don't think the laptop thief stole my glasses (unless he needed reading glasses with prisms in them); I think when he ripped my laptop out of the docking station, the glasses got knocked into the garbage.  I do know that both the Facility Manager and I crawled around on the floor looking for them.  Not there.  (Also, my Metallica Black CD was in the CD-ROM drive, and seriously, my laptop, my glasses, and Metallica?  What is wrong with you people?)

Right, topic.  I use the glasses when I do computer work.  Currently, I am spending a lot of time doing computer work, because I am also doing data entry for my mom (well, for her boss actually, but whatever).  Oh, the headaches.  Now, I had planned on buying new glasses this year anyway (the  lost pair was about 3.5 years old) and had put the money in my flexible spending account (Sidenote:  If you are offered this as a benefit, say yes.  It rules!), but didn't actually have the layout money yet.  But I need the glasses, so I had to do some creative financing.

So, I went to the eye doctor this morning,  and after a long conversation about his well (this was after I told him what I do for a living.  Also, the man now thinks that he should have his well tested for USTs, even though I told him at least three times he means VOCs. ) , we did the eye exam thingy.  The good:  no puff of air glaucoma test.  The bad:  The glaucoma test involved some numbing drops in my eyes.  Which, although you don't think your eyes feel much, numb ones are strange.

Anyway, I got my new prescription and picked out frames (frames I loved) at the office, but when they told me the price , I informed them that I had a $75 coupon to a nationally known, glasses-in-about-an-hour chain.  So, I got my prescription and drove to the chain.  Found some OK frames, all set to purchase, total cost about $100 more than at the doctor's.  Also, because of the prisms, 2 weeks to get them (the $100 was before the coupon, and if I could have gotten them quickly, I would have paid the extra).  So, I drove back to the doctor's (pride or money?  always money.  pride schmide.), ordered glasses with the frames I love, and they should be here in about a week.  Until then, if I seem cranky, it's the constant headaches.  After that, I'll think of a new reason. 

So, when I saw today's  For Better or For Worse, I was reminded of my Mom.  We've faced a similar situation. 

On February 8, 2003 I drove out to the farm for a riding lesson.  That night was the Water for Life dinner, and I had some errands to run before heading out to Chapel Hill that afternoon.  I had been mostly riding bareback in my lessons, as Heather felt I needed to improve my seat.  Solie is an old man and has a cushy back, so I rather enjoyed riding him bareback.  That day was chilly but clear.  I was wearing my favorite UMass sweatshirt for warmth.  The lesson was going well, and we were working on using the reins less and more seat when getting him to whoa.  I was riding in the A-F-B direction, and as we came through the corner at M, Solie sped up.  In Castle Farm's ring, there is a slight downward slope in that direction, so this was not abnormal.

I tried to get him to slow down without using my hands and lost my balance.  I came off his left side, but remember at one point looking up at his neck and the sky.  I don't remember any pain when I landed, but something made me look down at my right leg.  It was bent above my boot.  (My boots come above my ankle.)  I said, "Heather, I broke my leg!"  She said, "Do you want me to call 911?"  I assured her that this was a good idea, and entered into that eldest daughter someone-else-is-freaking-out-so-I-must-be-calm-mode.

I had Heather get my purse out of my car, because I would need my insurance card.  She grabbed my phone and asked who she should call.  I couldn't think of anyone at first; my best Raleigh friend (at that time) was not home that weekend.  Then I remembered that TRgirl had recently moved to Richmond, so Heather called her.  (TRgirl answered her phone and almost hung up on Heather, because she thought at first it was a telemarketer.  Luckily, she realized my number had popped up on the Caller ID.)   Heather gave her directions, directions I knew would not get her to me, but I couldn't help. 

In the meantime, the ambulance had arrived.  Solie, much to my surprise, stood quietly while the ambulance raced up the lane, lights and sirens on.  The ambulance was followed by a fire truck.  The paramedics came out to me and introduced themselves.  One said, "It's nice to meet you."   I told him, "No offense, but I wish we weren't meeting."  He laughed.  I begged them not to cut my boot off, as they were rather expensive.   I was told they wouldn't cut it off if while they were taking it off I didn't scream.  I am certain they expected I would.  I didn't.  Those boots cost a lot.

They put me on a back board and loaded me into the ambulance.  TRgirl called Mom (I knew she would) and said, "I'm going to Raleigh.  Watergirl fell off a horse and hurt herself and she was crying."  She remembers hearing me cry over the phone, and that's when she knew it was serious. 

As they were working on me, I was aware that one of the younger students (I now know who she is) had arrived for her lesson and was watching all of this.  I was very worried about her, and kept asking Heather to tell her everything would be OK. 

They loaded me into the ambulance, and I was aware that some woman I did not know was going to follow me to the hospital and that Chris, Heather's husband, would meet me there.  The mystery woman was his mother, who had dropped by the farm unexpectedly (and fortuitously).  She would pick up Dylan so that Chris could stay with me. 

Before we left for the hospital, the head paramedic asked me if I needed morphine.  I told him I was OK.  He said, "Looking at your leg hurts me.  You're getting morphine."  He then asked which hospital I wanted to go to, and told me where he would want to go if it were him.  A good thing to do here is take the paramedic's advice. 

Off we went to WakeMed.  It was a long, bumpy ride.  They wheeled me into the ER and the hospital immediately took my insurance information.  I argued with the nurse about cutting off my sweatshirt, my argument being "I broke my leg."  However, since I was involved in a fall, I was strapped to a board and they wouldn't unstrap me until they did a C-series.  The nurse compromised and cut off only my sports bra- it was my riding bra with the underwires (still haven't replaced it). 

I was wheeled into X-ray, where I kept laughing at the tech because they X-rayed my ankle last.  I found that very funny.  I know I was in X-ray for a while, but I don't know how long.

When I was wheeled back into an exam room, Chris came in.  He said, "I had to tell them I'm your brother."  I remember telling him I would have to cancel my next lesson and hoped that I wouldn't be charged, in accordance with the cancellation policy.  He reassured me I wouldn't.  He held my hand (or rather, he let me crush his hand) while they set my leg.  They couldn't do surgery that day, because some guy in Holly Springs had shot his mother and them himself, so there wasn't an OR free. 

By that time TRgirl had arrived.   She made sure the hospital gave me pants (they had cut mine off), and she and Chris loaded me into the back of her Pathfinder (the same one Bud just crashed).  She drove me home, went grocery shopping, and protected me from the boys jumping on my leg (Seriously, that was all they wanted to do.  Very helpful.).  She had a soccer game the next morning, and Mom wouldn't be there then and didn't want me left alone.  So I called Cdub, who at that point was really more of a casual acquaintance than a good friend, and is still not a morning person, but she agreed to come over at 0700 the next day to stay with me. 

Mom came, there was surgery eventually, lots of PT, and I am back to almost perfect now (well, anklewise).  But the reason for this post is to say that although this seemed like a bad thing, it actually had some very good outcomes.  TRgirl got in the car to come help me without even knowing where she was going, just knowing that I needed her.  Mom dropped everything to come and stay with me for a few weeks.  Cdub took very good care of me when they all left, and has become an amazing friend.  I lost my job in one of our offices, but convinced another one to take me on.  I am much happier at work now.  And oddly enough, the work Heather and I had to do to get me riding again has made me a better rider.

(Clay Aiken's "Invisible" comes on the radio)

Watergirl:  I hate this song for so many reasons.  It is a bad song.  But the number one reason I hate it is its misuse of the subjunctive.

Cdub:  Wow.  And I thought I was a geek.

This week I lost 3.4 pounds.

Total lost:  6.2 lbs.

All this in a week where I got to go to my favorite restaurant.  Yummy!

Overheard in the hallway at work:

"Basically, what they are doing is not buttering all sides of the clock."

Don't you just hate that? 

I am stuck at work!  We had about 1"-1.5" of snow fall today, and the highways are just parking lots.  South+snow= funny.

Update:  I left at 10:45 and was home by 11:15.  One of my co-workers, who doesn't live far from me, left at 4 PM and did not get home until 10:20.   Pictures here.

For those of you who do not recognize the title, it's a line from Bridget Jones's Diary, which was on last night.  I identify with Bridget especially in the beginning of the movie.  I do have a good group of friends (Well, I do lack the gay male friend.  Applications for this position are currently being accepted.). (Also, if any of you ever cause me to be thrown into a Thai prison, I WILL CUT YOU when my barrister ex-boyfriend negotiates my release.), but am looking for that person who likes me "just as I am".  Maybe I'll find him, maybe not.  Who knows?

Weigh-in today.  Another 1.2 lbs gone.

I've not been lurking on the internet in a few days- I've been busy.  First, work?  Crazy!  Then that second job I took working for my mom, where she told me I wouldn't have deadlines?  Well, internet, I must tell you that my mom is a LIAR.  A lying liar who lies.  So, I go home from my crazy job and type on my computer for hours, and then I don't so much feel like updating.  Also, I had riding lessons on both Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday- warm.  Thursday- Friggin' cold. 

Dear Paige,

You have now been in this world for a full day.  Although you seemed reluctant to join us, we're glad you're here.  I know the world seems big, scary, with insurmountable problems -  sometimes it is.  There is also a lot of beauty, kindness, and love. 

I'm going to talk to you about your daddy.  Nothing against your mama; I just don't know her very well.  Your dad and I, we work together.  He's been with our company exactly one year longer than I have.  He's good people.

Your daddy was very excited about you.  When he shared the news with us he was grinning from ear to ear.  He has spent the months since reading about pregnancy (he knows more about it than at least one of his female co-workers (not this one!)) and shopping for baby things.  Little girl, you have been loved since the moment you were known.  Remember this always.

Now, some advice for dealing with your dad.  He likes schedules.  He does not like things that don't go according to schedule.  You can either a.) learn to live by his schedule, or b.)  teach him to not worry about the schedule quite so much.  Trust me, Option A will be much easier on you. 

Your dad will be very overprotective.  At times you will find his level of protectiveness stifling.  (Trust me; my own dad is a cop.  I know from overprotective fathers.)  Remember that he does this out of love, and the desire to keep you safe and happy at all times.   He will do his best to protect you from all injury (physical and emotional); the most difficult lesson for him to learn (and learn it he must) is that he can't. 

Remember that your father's taste in music is suspect.  (Dude, Clay Aiken?)  Follow your mother's lead on that one.

As for me, well, you should treat me kindly and with respect.  I know several cute boys around your age, which won't matter to you for a few years, but in time will be very important.  We have the boy with the horses, the German boy, and the boy who won't actually join us until April.  If those don't work, I'll keep my eyes open. 

Little girl, I hope you always find beauty and happiness.