You would think, “Hey, it’s Thursday. Just another day at the office.” Which is true in my case, except for the 60 gallons of water seeping in from every angle. That’s right! I had the pleasure of walking in on this so early in the morning. Immediately I can see the day flash before my eyes:

- I’d end up cleaning all of this alone. Check!
- Everyone that walks in will ask “What happened?” & assume I did it. Check!
- My boss will pretend to take charge and get involved in something that’s being handled. Check!

Literally, that is how the day went. It also seems that when an incident occurs, oh wow, do people transform into rejected MAD TV actors and start spurting out terrible jokes. Luckily for me, earbuds were activated.

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It’s been rather cold here lately. The low for tomorrow is 24 degrees, and OMG is everyone freakin’ out. Cold weather in Texas is a bigger news story among locals than the 9/11 incident. And, of course, news stations are running hard with the story – causing a frenzy! It’s good to see the word getting out, because some people are completely dumbfounded when it comes to common sense. I’m not saying I won’t take this seriously. Just another cold night over here.

Yesterday, out of the blue, I decided to move stuff around and finally get the office desk set up in a more user-friendly location. Probably not a big deal to those that are reading, but when I increase my working space by 47% it must be acknowledged. This is only temporary though because all my efforts will be reversed, and re-exerted again once I decide to paint this room. Orange. Not sure which shade, but pumpkin butter is staring me in the face.

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Another park visit with the girls, but this time their grandma came along. I think all three of them were really excited to spend the day together. Marla and Sookie had so many things to show this first-timer, like which trees to sniff … dogs to bark at … the watering-hole that we don’t visit. You know, typical teenage girl-dog stuff. Although we didn’t have very many pictures this go-around (because handling the pups is a full-time job) there were a lot of interesting dogs this time. One that stands out is Dylan, a black and white collie. Could easily been over 100 lbs, and Marla looked like a little ant next to him. We sprinted, okay okay, slowly walked about 4 laps and then dumped the girls at home, not without getting their favorite treats first.

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Howard:

Hmm, a couple times a year. I usually have a 3 shoe cycle: going-out shoes, work shoes, mowing the yard shoes. As you can see this is how the life of my shoes progress. Although, sometimes I have special purpose shoes for only running or only playing tennis, etc.

Summer:

I would have to say almost never!!!!! The last time I bought a new pair of everyday shoes (my converse) was around when Howard and I first met. So that’s over three years ago that I had new converse. And the cool thing about the whole deal is that I still have those shoes! I wear them everyday to work. The shoe laces are all chewed up because when Marla was a baby she loved to chew on the aglets. Now my shoes won’t stay tied and everyone is telling me to tie my shoes. Yes, I KNOW they untied. But they’re just concerned for my safety. At least I hope. Haha. In the end I need new converse.

Sometimes the thought process of others perplexes my brain and send me for a loop. Yes, you guessed it … another day at work. Only today is the last day of the year. The day when people finally say to themselves “I’m going to stop doing that, and I am going to stop doing that” and then about 6 days later, after the hangover vanishes they follow their old ways because that’s all they know how to do. Creatures of habit. No joke. I don’t believe in letting time dictate my life and choices. I’ll do thing when I am ready, and able … not because a clock strikes 12.

Of course, time is just a counting system – numbers with meaning attached to them – isn’t it?
- Fingerling; The Number 23

Anyways, back at work at the end of the year there is the tax form, W-4, that has to be refilled out. This isn’t my first rodeo, so I kind of know what to do. Well, with the form is another piece of paper attached – contact update information. Now by the title alone tells me that, hey, nothing to update? Don’t fill it out. Not at my job, apprently update means retell us everything that we already know and create more work for everyone. That part wasn’t a big deal, actually none of this was, but it was just a lesser headache to manage. At the bottom of the paper were 3 simple instructions for the W-4. This confused me. I mean for something so simple, why would there be instructions? It’s like when you’re asked “What is 2+2?” The answer is so easy, that you start to second guess yourself, and you may even need to count on your fingers. Now, I am stickler for rules … I always use my turn signal, always. I never go to the express lane if I have 21 items, and I pass in through doors that someone spent time to label Enter or Exit. Why? Hell, I don’t know … because it makes sense? Some would even call it common sense. The paper said:

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