Archive of Marcia's Musings -
December 31-January 6, 2002Sunday, January 6, 2002
The Big Day/Night
Remember me telling you about John giving Brian and me a Christmas gift of dinner out to the most expensive restaurant in the Bay Area? Well, tonight is the night!! We're going out to dinner to a place where he has to wear a suit but, he's doing so without complaint because he's not the one paying the bill. Angela, John's receptionist, confirmed with me on Friday that all had been taken care of so we just have to sit back and enjoy!! We'll give you details tomorrow, I'm sure but today is spent in preparation.
Beside that, I'm working the quilt and the afghan although I ended up taking a bit of a rest on both last night. Our friends, Pat & Nathan, had been trying to find an opportunity to come over and meet Sally for weeks. Between their schedule and our schedule, nothing had worked out until last night. They called about 7 and were over by about 8:30-- we spent the night chatting away while Uncle Nathan learned how to pet Sally. She is, of course, a very patient teacher giving him hours of time to learn.
It was midnight before we were in bed and, as a result, slept until after 8 this morning. Brian's off to make the Costco run on his own and I'm working the quilt a bit today. I've at least got to work hard enough to warrant a nap this afternoon, right?
Perhaps more later but, if not, have a nice day and evening!
Saturday, January 5, 2002Not Too Busy
I don't want to do much of anything this weekend. I want it to be a restful weekend for us. As a result, the only thing we did of any import today was the laundry. That may be a bit of a stretch since Brian made a run for a new toy to Fry's but I took a nap so maybe we did do something other than laundry.
In between that, I've been busy cutting the pattern for the appliques for my quilt-- 40 leaves of varying types and colors. I also did some experimentation with the stitch that I would use to sew the appliques onto the backing. Turned out to use a different stitch than originally thought simply because I like the look better. I know, I know-- My class starts next week with a basic quilt and here I am doing a complicated one already. The thing is that there are no time requirements on this one and, it is being done with the idea that when it is done, it is done. In the meantime, I can work on other stuff. My hands are starting to hurt from the scissors though so I'll probably work on the afghan tonight. Then, tomorrow when my right arm hurts at the elbow and shoulder and my right hand is killing me at the knuckles, I'll work on the photos. See? There's a method to this madness!!
As I write this, Brian is bathing a very unhappy Sally. She is starting to smell like dog and besides, now that she's finished with her ear medicine, she really needed to get her ears cleaned good. It appears that we'll need to bathe her every couple of weeks to keep her skin moist using the oatmeal soap. She'll get used to it and not hate it (or him) so much after awhile-- eventually.
So, although short, this is all that there is to report tonight-- Brian's been having fun setting up a different kind of camera in his office. Sometimes I'm truly amazed at how easily he is amused.
Thanks for coming by-- as always. Keep in touch (its always great to hear from you) and enjoy your weekend! Have a nice evening!
Friday, January 4, 2002Tired
I think just knowing that I have a three-day weekend this weekend has made me extra tired. We have only ONE thing planned and that's not until the middle of it but, as I write this, my eyes are becoming droopier and droopier and its not from wrinkles!! Its cuz I need a nap so, I'm going to go snuggle on the sofa with Sally.
By the way, there's a new picture up on Sally's Home Page. Brian had the webcam on her for a bit today so I snapped an image to save from those few minutes.
More later if I muster the energy and, if not, then tomorrow.
Have a nice evening . . .
Thursday, January 3, 2002So Far, So Good
I don't know about you and, frankly, I can't count on this yet but having to type or write 2002 isn't going as bad as I thought it would. I've actually found myself struggling to remember the month more than the year in the last couple of days. Then again, I've also decided that I'm brain-warped and just plain burned out so what do I know? I think my stress level has gone into over-drive and the things that are supposed to be messing with me aren't as a result. Yeesh!! Ah, well, this too shall pass, right? No? Hah!! We'll see!!
Sally-Cam
For those of you "watching" Brian's webcam site, first, you need to get a life but, this afternoon you would've seen Sally. She was hanging about at her Daddy's feet-- adoring him again. Yes, it is truly sad, I know but she's so cute when she does it. She looked at the camera (and at me, Mommy) but then, off she went-- to la-la-land and yet another nap. Don't laugh too loud: it was after she and Brian had been for a walk so at least she had a good reason for napping.
Brian discovered something that was interesting last week one day when he went to the store: Sally gets on our bed when we're away!! This is not a good thing and, certainly, not something we want to encourage. (Frankly, it was one of the selling points when we first met her because she had and loved her own bed.) So this week, when we've been leaving to go to work, last one out of the house closes our bedroom door and, so far, it has been working-- at least until she figures out the opposing thumbs trick and opens the door herself.
Tomorrow I have a doctor appointment at 7:45 and then, I'll swing back by the house and pick her up to take to work with me. Auntie Nina has been asking about her along with everyone else at work.
By the way, it has happened: I no longer have an identity of my own-- I'm Sally's Mom. All I hear all day is "Is Sally with you today?" "When will Sally be here?" Fine!! Fine!! I'll bring her with me, people!! Of course then, they all say: "Hi Sally-- how are you? How's Auntie _____'s girl? Oops, oh, sorry to ignore you, Marcia-- how are you?" I tell ya: You just can't upstage dogs and kids, huh?
Possible Recipe Update
This afternoon I received an email from Nora who found my site because of our mutual love of the Chinese dish called "Almond Boneless Chicken". Apparently, it is a dish native only to the Chinese restaurant world of Michigan but, she too is in search of the perfect recipe for the "Wor Su Gai". This afternoon, after writing to me and letting me know that she was as hooked on the food as I was, Nora went back out on the web and found a recipe for it! Once she tries it, if it works, she's going to let me know and then, I'll publish it on my Recipe Page as a "Reader Recipe". That'll be the first in a long time, but not for lack of trying on my part!!
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On the agenda for the evening is some work in the Photo Studio-- the program not the location and then, on to the quilt. I think the crocheting has every muscle in my right arm screaming "UNCLE" for awhile!Have a nice evening!
Wednesday, January 2, 2002That was fun . . .
When Brian had his "WebCam" set to 20-second intervals, so when I called him and went to the site at the same time, it felt like I was talking to him "Real Time"! Of course, now he's re-set it so it is set to longer intervals (60 seconds) which is still nice but not nearly as much fun as before-- maybe I can talk him into 40 second intervals? Hmm, I'll have to see what I can do about that!
Alone again . . .
Today was the first time in more than 10 days that Sally had been completely alone at home. Since December 21, she hadn't been alone for more than a few hours at a time. When we got home from work, she was beside herself with glee-- after Brian woke her up to let her know that he was home!! We've now determined, since we can call her name from one end of the house and have her come to us in that other room which was completely out of sight, that her hearing has improved a great deal since using the ear drops. She can hear but when she's in a deep sleep, like when Brian came home today, she can't hear you come into the house. You have to be careful to wake her up slowly or she'll jump and scare herself half out of her skin!!
Progress is Made
Beside progressing on the afghan that I'm crocheting-- please, I've already heard all the jokes-- I'm making progress on the quilted wall-hanging, too. And, in case you forgot, yes, I'm still working on the family photo album. "Relaxation" at our house has a very odd meaning, doesn't it? Brian thinks that "YAIOS" (Yet Another Install Of Something) is fun and I'm constantly working on some project or other.
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Brian's out to SVLUG tonight but I've got a pan of stew on to cook for his lunches and our dinner one night this week. Nummy!! More crocheting so that I can be with Sally-- she likes when we're in the living room together (last night we watched a chick-flick together!).Have a nice evening!
Tuesday, January 1, 2002Happy New Year!!
Alas, the struggle begins anew: remembering to type and say: 2002.
That's the worst part of changing and moving on into another year. Okay, as the years turn over, we age which is also not a Good Thing but it isn't as painful as trying to remember what year to type or write for the first few weeks of the year. I hate that part!!
Other than that . . .
I've done little more than iron fabric all day-- I'm preparing my first wall-hanging project which has been expanded by a little more than double. A woman at the fabric store yesterday asked if I was going to hang the wall-hanging that I was making over the bed. I wasn't so I told her but, ever since that conversation, I've been re-thinking and, if I modify the pattern and make adjustments for the borders, etc., I could do it. So, its not bad enough that its my first quilting project and it is an applique quilting project, it is now a whole lot larger than it was to begin with, and although a bit challenging, it should be fun. It'll also take awhile to finish so don't look for a picture of it next week. (I will put up a picture of it eventually, when it is finished.)
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Tomorrow is back-to-work for three days and then a three-day weekend for us. We're going out for dinner on John and the Southeast region on Sunday night and, even though neither of us drinks enough to make it a problem, we're going to take the next day off because we can. Seems like a good enough reason for me.
Sorry nothing major to report today-- have a nice evening!
December 31, 2001Working From Home Worked!!!
I don't know when or why but for some reason, about two months ago, I stopped being able to access the office dial-up feed. This stopped me from being able to get into the office email network and the whole nine yards making it, obviously, impossible for me to work from home. A few weeks back, Sean installed a "home.bat" file but we never got far enough into the "training" on how to use it because before I could get into it, the laptop would stop me from using the dial-up.
Today, I decided to "try" Sean's home.bat file even if he never gave me instructions for it. I double-clicked it and it ran the script and told me to close the window. I went to the dial-up and got on without a problem-- the kicker has always been starting my emaill. Whenever I've tried to start Outlook after getting on the dial-up, it has killed itself and the connection within very little time. With the exception of approximately 15 minutes, I've been up and online since 6:34am!!! It is working!!! Yeah!!! Yes, as strange as it may sound, I'm happy to be able to work from home-- completely!!
I've been using a Microsoft webmail application which is fine except when I haven't mailed a document home to myself before the weekend or whatever. I couldn't access documents on my hard drive and send them to myself without an online connection. While the webmail access was a work-around for getting into my email, it wasn't efficient for working with a document. At least now this problem is resolved and, yes, I am a very happy camper.
No Huge Plans
The rest of today will be spent fairly calmly-- I'm going to go to a fabric store to get the fabric for a wall-hanging and dresser-top set for our bedroom that I'm going to make. Brian's going to cook dinner for us and we'll spend the night, relaxing and watching a movie. Leah & Tom Syroid gave us "Pearl Harbor" for one of our Christmas gifts and we've been saving it for New Year's Eve.
Stats!!
I've gotta tell ya-- as of this writing, you have set HUGE new records for stats on my site!!!
12,256 Page Reads
3,711 Unique Sites
68,949 Hits -- More than double the previous month!!
65 Countries
1,002 Search StringsWow!! So part of this is probably due to the new Christmas 2001 page but, color me amazed, surprised, pleased and flattered!! Thanks so much for coming by-- From the emails that I've been getting, I know you all like the pictures from our adventures and the fact that we spoil our dog, Sally, silly. I enjoy the communication and the friendships that have been developed through this page's outreach.
Thanks soooooo much for stopping by and please continue to come back-- I appreciate the patronage and the friendship.
More to come if things arise as interesting . . .
Have a happy and safe New Year's Eve!!. . . and, if not, see you on the other side of tonight.
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