Catch-Up Time: Best and Worst!

Helllloooooo!  First things first.  Yes, I know I've been seriously MIA 'round these parts. My apologies to those who give a flying fig (you know who you are!). I've been busy trying to change my (work) life, which is a lot harder than it sounds, so I let the OOBH slide a bit.  Still love ya, though, and I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things pronto.

So, let's catch up! I thought I'd review the best and worst stuff that's been going on in my little corner of the world. I'll do my best to keep this brief, but I can't make any promises.

The Best

Tina Fey's book.

Holy shnikeys, this woman can write. The book is simply awesome. She shares little bits of wisdom that she's picked up over the course of her career as a writer and entertainer, but she's not obnoxious about dropping this knowledge.  She's infinitely self-deprecating and aware of how fortunate she is, while also acknowledging the hard work she put in to get where she is.  I learned a lot, and most of all,  laughed a lot.  This is stay-up-late-laughing-out-loud-by-yourself-in-your-silent-living-room good.

Learning to shut my pie hole.
I've been working hard on another personal goal lately, and that is to stop giving such a tremendous fuck about everything. I've been much happier. Now, when someone says something childish or annoying to me, I restrain myself and don't respond.  This is huge for me, because previously I'd get into it with them and get myself all worked up, which really helps no one.

Something else I learned from Tina Fey--when someone acts badly you have to ask yourself if s/he is standing in the way of what you want.  If not, ignore them and go about your business. You're not going to change their mind, so why bother?  If they are in your way, find a way around them -- over, under, around!

Seriously, read the book.

The Worst

The ticks

I'm not sure if this is a sign of the impending Rapture or what, but the goddamn motherfucking TICKS have already started their campaign to rule the world.  Is it a bad tick year for everyone, or just ME?  It started about two weeks ago when my youngest son wandered up to me with a tick attached to his chest.  I was totally skeeved out, naturally, but I plucked that sucker off of him and took great pleasure in squishing it till it couldn't be squished no mo'.  Little did I know that that tick had a legion of friends in low places.

A few days later, Jim took the dog for a walk and came home covered... and I do mean COVERED... in disgusting, crawling ticks.  This is how I got the honor of searching my naked husband's nooks and crannies for creepy-crawlies, which was highly unpleasant for us both.  Later that night I found three more of the stubborn bastards on the dog despite being freshly dosed with Frontline, and worst yet, the next day as I sat at work I felt something tickling my arm under the shirt.  Sure as shit, there was a tick crawling on me!  And this was after TWO showers! This morning I found another one on my pant leg.

As a certifiable arachnophobe, this WILL NOT DO.  I've cleaned my house top to bottom, done all the laundry in HOT water, and am one step away from setting off some sort of chemical bomb in my home to make sure I never see another blood-sucking fuckazoid again. FML!

The Day Job
At the risk of being dooced, which is a chance I'm clearly willing to take, I will say that things have gone from bad to worse at my day job. 

Let's put it this way: if you could choose between sitting 4 feet away from a micromanaging boss with no concept of personal space OR an elderly cat lady who chatters like a deranged squirrel all day, which would you choose?  Tough one, innit?

I'm not about to jump into another crap job that might turn out to be worse than this one, so until the perfect gig comes along, I'm sticking it out. But I'm working on it every day and outwardly maintaining my usual sunny disposition, which is all I can do.


The Rain
It has been gray, overcast, and raining steadily for a week now.  I'd make a joke about building an ark and all that, but frankly I'm too tired.  I'm either suffering from SAD or Lyme disease, both of which are super-duper awesome, right?  

Don't act like you're not impressed.

So there you have it! I have so much more to say -- we didn't even get into the whole Arnold Swartzenegger diddling the maid thing or the fact that Hanson has a number 1 song on the charts again (a sure sign of the impending apocalypse)! But I've got work to do, so I'll sign off even with all of this unfinished business.

What have YOU been up to? What's the best and worst stuff happening in your life?