For Josie

http://veryjosie.blogspot.com/2014/01/ahem-its-very-josie.html

I don't do this often but everyone who reads here please follow the link.
I'm pretty sure that all my readers are a small cross segment who ended up here because of somewhere else that has already posted the same link, but just in case I can send one person that way who wouldn't have normally found it....


thanks from the bottom of my grrouchie heart

(also, because this is my 2nd post today - a link to my first for those who might have missed it)

The Best of - The Worst of - Times

I just got back from Disney and had an amazing time.
Some things I used to love I fell in love with again and I grew closer with my fiance and child and am looking forward to spending the rest of my life with them.
Not having them in the same room with me this evening is going to be very lonely.

I will throw some pictures up and do a write up at a later date.
However....


Two days ago I checked my Facebook and saw that I lost a friend.
Those who know me know I have talked a lot about Splitter and his writing.
When I first discovered him we used to talk a lot and I felt like I really got to know him.
He fell ill and it ended up being cancer.
Two days ago he lost the battle.
For those who pray please send them towards his wife who has lost her best friend and soul mate.

Turkey Day Part duex

Yesterday was quite an amazing day.  My lady friend (I need to create a Rob type fake name for her so I can stop using other terms to reference her - Any suggestions out there?  I should make her sound exotically Asian and talk about how she spends all my money) came over last night for our delicious Lamb dinner.

This stuff was (to use a phrase I hate) the bomb.  It was delicious and juicy and succlent and everything was holy and good about it.  The sides were good as well with corn, peas, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  For desert there was a choice of cheesecake or pumpkin pie and BOTH were amazingly well done.

Afterwards (and before) I played a bit of Skylanders with the kid and then I started trying to get him into other games.  I introduced him to Jak and Daxter via the HD collection on the PS3.  He quite enjoyed it and in fact called me up earlier today to ask if I could bring it along when I came over for dinner so he could play it afterwards.

Then I introduced him to Marvel vs Capcom (3) and of course he really enjoyed Spiderman (his Favorite Super hero) but told me that Deadpool was annoying because he talked too much.

When I informed him that Deadpool was much like spiderman, only more awesome he looked at me like I was fucking retarded and called me dumb.  Whatever, I love Deadpool.

There will be no video games tonight, however there will be Turkey and Rice.  I'm bringing over a freshly baked (Jell-o No Bake) Cheesecake as my divine offerings to the "make nice with the family" gods.

This will be the first real sit down dinner I have had with her family (I have gone over to watch boxing with them and brought pizza, but that doesn't count) so I'm curious to see how this goes - perchance might even become a bit nervous.

I'm putting on some fresh duds (read not my everyday hobo wear) and even semi shaved today.  Oh yes, it's that type of day.

I've also finished up some more Xmas Shopping by hitting up Walmart who already had their "8pm" video game and blue ray prices in the system.  I didn't buy any movies though - yes, I bought something for myself.

That's how I roll.

Next up on my radar is the big birthday date as I'm taking the little lady out on her birthday to a nice fancy dancy restaurant that she has never been too before.  I've still got to pick up some form of a gift and I don't really feel that an extended battery for her phone screams I Love You very much so that might have to be a throw in Xmas gift instead.

My 3 days off have all been great, nothing to be grrouchie about.

I want to hit up Best Buy tonight at 8pm or so and see if I can luck out and get one of the PS3 3D Displays that they are CLXing out for $99 (they were $499 when they first came out 8 months ago).  This would be a nice edition to the game room - the kid can watch 3D movies or play some games in 3D and be utterly amazed at how awesome I am.  Does it get any better than that?

Tomorrow I work the closing shift and as such I should miss out on most of the actual holiday traffic and maybe have a nice quiet evening where I can get some work done instead of having to actually talk to customers my whole shift.

Only time will tell.

Happy (actual) turkey day folks.

Hope your holiday has been as amazing as mine!

Booze blondes and boobs

A friend in town this week and tonight is her last night, so instead of blowing her off for her whole trip to Vegas I'll be hanging out and reliving the good times (you know, like two months ago).
I've also got another buddy coming along so it's going to be a threesome of disaster.  Or a Dastardly meanage-o-jaeger.

I'm quite looking forward to it because I don't believe that I have punished my liver enough over my lifetime - shit, I didn't start drinking until I was almost 22 after all.

The only minor draw back is that this whole 6 am shift at work tomorrow morning is not looking very appealing.  I'm 97% positive that by the time I get home from work tomorrow I'll be taking a nap before starting my weekend.

Speaking of which - my weekend plans are not 100% set yet either. I've got some feelers floating out there (unfortunately none of them involve me doing any of the feeling) and I'm sure it's going to be a fun time no matter what.  I want to at least meet up with Rob while he is in town at the very least for burgers somewhere. That will be discussed more after payday though.  I need to look at my finances and see where I stand heading into the beginning of June.

If things go the way I'd like them to go then I'll hopefully be hitting up a poker session with him at his favorite locals joint and, only if the gods smile down upon us, maybe playing with his favorite female poker player Prudence as well.

Oh - I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener

so everyone could eat me.

Retail

As some of you may or may not know, I work in retail.  For the most part I actually like my job.  Much like everything else there are ups and downs to it and certain aspects of the job that I could do with out.

What I really love about what I do is getting to know people and helping them out with their projects. Getting them from the thought process to the finished results and seeing the excitement and joy in their faces from a project well done.  Whether it's just getting them the product that they need so that they can tackle the project themselves or coordinating the whole project with them and our installers.  It is this interaction that got me hooked when I first started working retail at Sam's Club and it's this same interaction that has kept me working in retail for over a decade now.

At my current company I have two sets of customers that will come and see me for every single project that they are working on no matter what.  Most of the time they call into the store to find out if I am working or not before coming in.  I have helped these two sets of customers with numerous projects over the past 2-3 years and with very few exceptions every major purchase that they have made as gone through my salesman number.
Multiple flooring installs, closet remodels, security doors, windows, dishwashers, fridges and hot water heaters. It's one of the greatest satisfactions that I have.

Even when they are not working on any major projects, when they are in the store they seek me out just to chit chat about what is going on in their lives.  If I am not around they get another employee to track me down.  One couple has put most of their projects on hold because they are saving up for a cruise this summer.  The other now has the sister-in-law buying everything off me me as well since she just moved into town. In the past 4 months I have hooked her up with a $1600 fridge and a $5000+ flooring install.  I enjoy every day that I get to interact with these people and I look forward to even just the conversations in passing whether or not there is a sale attached to it.  It's people like this that make my job worthwhile.

I bring all of this up because I wanted to talk about something positive even if it's all just pretty damned vague. It's positive and lately I could use more positive in my life.  I came to this blog mere minutes ago intending on writing about work and all the changes that are going on and it was going to be a decidedly negative blog post. I'm sure that I will get to all of that in the near future because it's all weighing on me very heavily right now and judging by the way this turned out I either didn't want to talk about it at the moment or I still need time to take it all in so that I can bitch about it in a more informed manner.

So, everyone who's reading and dealing with a bunch of negative shit in your life I'd like you all to just sit back and for five minutes think about something positive going on in your life.
If you are one of my fellow bloggers I'd appreciate if instead of posting something negative you sit back and post something positive or inspiring instead.  Just once - feel the love instead of the hate.

I know how much life can suck at times, but no matter how bad it gets there is usually some drop of positive substance out there somewhere and that's the kind of shit you need to latch on to in order to dig yourself out of the muck.

I'm grrouchie and I'm a negative-a-holic.  I have gone 10 minutes from thinking negative thoughts!