Blood Loss

Nope, nothing exciting like vampires or medical trauma. Nope - good ol' fashioned blood loss through...wait for it...mosquitos. I was outside for a whopping ten minutes and I have eleven mosquito bites. That's more than one a minute! How completely absurd.

I mean really, why do mosquitos even need to exist? They spread disease, not to mention misery to millions each year. Truly, when God and even Noah were making the big decisions on what stays and goes, how did mosquitos beat out the unicorn.

How did that conversation go?
So, you think we should take the beautiful, graceful creature with the unique horn? This animal can provide transportation.
Nope.
Okay, how about that small buzzing, annoying, bloodsucking pest that could infect dozens of animals and people with disease? They also release a chemical that causes irritation and large, raised, unattractive bumps.
Definitely. Gotta take that one. In fact grab two so they can reproduce - a lot.

On another bloodsucking note - if you didn't know this already. Twilight is amazing. I recently re-watched the movie and was reminded what a great story it is. Highly recommend! Had to throw in a minor vampire reference if talking about blood, right?

So on that warm and fuzzy feeling - good night to all - watch out for mosquitos!

Bad Blogger and Bad Mom!

Bad new blogger! A whole month without a post! Eep. Sorry to anyone that was looking (not sure there was many of those).

A crazy couple of weeks with work and everything. But we're almost halfway through the year. I can't wait for that milestone. It also marks my six month anniversary with the new gig. Looking forward to that too. So thank you for your patience on my blog faux pas.

I had one big goal last night...My sweet Olive needed a bath tonight. Picture this - two full grown adults and one wet dog. Two competent, educated adults...soaking wet and covered in fresh scratches! But we now have one fully, fluffy puppy. Mission accomplished. We keep telling each other that she'll get used to it each time. Promises, promises.

However, I have to admit, she now has a bald spot...and it's my fault. In a fit of laughter and cuddle with Olive time, I laughed out a piece of gum. Into her fur. I'm a horrible puppy mother. I supposed I could force the blame to Hubby as he did cause the laughter. I was able to keep her still long enough to trim out the offending item. And then collapsed into laughter. Ah well. So take it from me kids - gum and puppies do not mix.

Our beloved puppy continues to prove her absolute worth as a paper shredder. The ultimate feat is that she has discovered the roll of toilet paper will in fact unroll if pulled on and streamed into other rooms. The best is Olive amidst a cloud of toilet paper, gazing doe-eyed up at you with paper hanging from her lip. Of course, it wasn't her fault.

Moving on...I'm so "that person". We've purchased a car-seat for Olive. She prefers to ride in the driver's seat. I.e: IN MY LAP...this has proved challenging for a number of reasons, not to mention incredibly unsafe. We're going to try it out this weekend and she doesn't love it so far, but I think it will be great.

And lastly, my husband is awesome. Hubby bought me a new camera. My old camera blew the flash! Remember those old camera's with the five flashes stacked up that were one use only? Yup, it was just like one of those! Not very useful for most shots. So off to photo taking, busy days and Puppy car trips. What an exciting life I lead.

How many?

"Three"
So all joking aside, this is what I followed to work one day this past week. It made me giggle and picture that little cartoon owl crunching down on a yummy tootsie pop and decide that three was the magic number. I've always heard that if you bit on a hard candy before it's all soft and ready to be crunched, it means you're a very type A personality. So what does it say about my personality if I follow a truck full of them with no further incident for over 15 minutes?!

"Twenty"
I have a huge family. Not as big as some of course, but on one side I have something like 27 first cousins. That's a lot of people! So when we have a family get-together and our two bedroom apartment becomes the locale, you can imagine my slight concern that folks would be hanging from the balcony and police would be at the door demanding silence. Alas, no such excitement. Twenty attendees fit wonderfully in our home and we all had a good time. Lots of laughs, food and even a few bottles of wine. And at the end of the day a new friend for me, I think.

"Seven"
Nope, not the number of days until God created the world, although that is true and my congrats and appreciation! A minor ailment has plagued me since Tuesday - this has resulted in a call to the Dr., a prescription, a visit to the emergency room, another call to the Dr., an office appt. and two prescrptions... Apparently I'll be cured by Tuesday. At least I'm not part of the media and medical world craze of swine flu, right. Thank goodness for small favors.

"One"
And one great Mom, that I want to wish Happy Mother's Day to! Thank you for being an awesome Mom, always providing the essentials and so, so much more. For being a great mentor, leader and above all my friend! Love!!

High heels and happiness

A great night! The event was a great success. The team did an amazing job. Completely seemless for our guests! And I think we broke a fundraising record for the event!!

My feet may never recover. I didn't even wear the high heels. I wore the wedge heels. Those are supposed to be better, right? Hubby always teases that they are meant to be torture devices and that he doesn't understand why women wear them...but nonetheless we do. And surprisingly enough after ten hours in them my feet hurt even the next day. But my legs looked better than they would have in flats!

Dawn of a new Kate

Professionally: first event as a team "manager" and not the direct planner. It's a different experience. To be part of the moving pieces and machine, but not the cog. I'm incredibly proud of the amazing work the events team has done and can't wait to see it all in action tomorrow. Just a new and different moment today being the one to sit back in the office and still be busy (of course) and helping with various pieces, but not the main point. Regardless, my team rules and the event will be a great night for all.

Personally: I'm that person. The person that treats their dog like a child. Hubby called me earlier today worried about needing to board our sweet pup since we'll be gone all evening - gasp! Yup, a night out without the pup!! I've decided that the dear pup can brave the horrors and ravages of her crate for the night. What with the awful cuddly pink bunny and terrifying sounds of her ticking clock and oh - horror of horrors, treats!

We'll just keep her out more during the day and give her a bunch of extra love. Hopefully the puppy Gods will forgive me!

For those that haven't seen, here's a picture of the doll! Her Easter haircut! There were two bows, but one didn't survive the quick walk home. (The other didn't make it much past this photo either!)

The Phone Story (and a side note on the return of Dori!)

Dori is back! I was finally able to pick up my car this morning. Unfortunately, I have not been able to study the handiwork as it's pouring. But alas, I suppose April showers...

But on to the main event... Below is the one-sided conversation that I enjoyed the other evening. Our television, phone and Internet froze - went out and was offline for about 15 minutes. It then rebooted and was working again. Hubby felt the need to notify the provider so that we would have it on record, since we've had such impeccable service to date.

Hubby: Hello
...
No
630-555-5555 (our phone number)
...
No
...
No
...
NO!
...
630-555-5555
...
Yes
...
Technical Support...
....
technical support...
.....
technical support....
agent...
service...
...
live person
...
help.
....
No
...
Technical Support
...
Yes
...
Connection...
...
HOW CAN THE OFFICE BE CLOSED?! Technical support is closed?! It's 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday!!!
...
Operator...
...
Technical support
...
Yes
...
No
No
...
NO
...
NO!!!!
...
No
...
Yes
...
(Conversation with the technical support)
We had an interruption in our connection to all services.
Yes, we've had service without interruption for four whole weeks (note we've had service since December, you do the math).
No we didn't change anything.
No we didn't do anything new.
No...
No...
(I take OLIVE(our fabulous puppy, who apparently could sense the tension) out for a walk, per bell ringing. Upon my return, Hubby is checking to be sure the other TV is working.)
Yes, everything is working now.
What were you able to do?
No, but what did you do?
...
Oh...so you've reset it then?
Okay. Thank you.

So what praytell did they need to do? They needed to reset our hardware's (system's) time clock. Because at 2:00 a.m. it occasionally does a random reboot to catch any updates or other needs. Why, you may ask, did this occur at 6:00 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Well...wait for it...the system is set for Samoan time. Yes, you bet, Samoan time - the thriving metropolis of Samoa. ** I am certain that this is because Samoa is by far the largest single user of technical services from this great provider and/or the number one purchaser of the hardware that would be needed for these services - so it would make perfect sense to be defaulted to Samoan time. Hubby was able to refrain from any damage to the technical equipment. Ugh!

**I mean no offense to anyone from Samoa or the nation of Samoa itself. I do find this an extremely ludicrous explanation from the provider...and thus comical too. I apologize to any Samoan individuals that are offended.

Origins

And it begins! I've been wanting to start a blog for months...realizing full well that I am not necessarily that interesting and it's possible, just possible mind you, that the stories and occurences that crack me up - they may not be quite so interesting either.

Ah well, it's worth a try. Worst case scenario is that some poor person will read this and lose a few moments of their life. I promise you an occasional story as well.

So please be patient as I post! Here's to the first!