Riding in North Georgia

Another day in the mountains for me. This time it was for work training stores in North Georgia country.  I left home in the wee hours of the morning and saw the sunrise from Appalacia. It was a strange, foggy drive with winding roads, and a wonderful feeling when the sun decided to wake up to join me.

After I finished, I was  near my youngest daughter’s college, so we had dinner together. Then, back to the long, twisted road home. It was beautiful.

I have to confess to being a little tired tonight, so I will let the band who kept me company on the ride home close for me.

My voice is a little hoarse, not from the countless spiels I gave, but from singing at the top of my lungs all the way home.

Now I know why my Mom was so pissed…

…when we didn’t do our chores.

My Mom worked in the Emergency Room in a hospital outside of Detroit. She worked the standard hospital schedule. Seven in the morning until 3 in the afternoon, or three p.m. to eleven p.m.. She was that irritating lady who asked for your insurance and did all of the necessary evil paperwork to get sick and injured people back to see a doctor. After spending a day with delightful people yelling at and bleeding on her, she headed home sweet home.

My Granny and I were responsible for the household chores while Mom was at work. Granny cooked, I had the dishes and k.p.. After enduring a meal with four Hellions (my brothers and I having dinner contests involving not using our hands) my Granny deserved to not have to pick up another chore. Granny affectionately called us “the Devils from Hell”.

I wasn’t the best at cleaning the kitchen. I had other interests in mind. Listening to the radio, stealing and smoking cigarettes, general unspecified teen angst and getting out of chores. I hated to clean the kitchen.

Mom would come home and, whatever the hour, she would express her displeasure at my horrendous cleaning skills. I thought she was just being a bitch. My Granny gave me the nickname of “Ambitious”. I didn’t appreciate her sarcasm.

Still, it was better than my brother’s nickname of “Snake in the Grass”

Now that I am a grown up woman, I know the importance of a clean kitchen. It is both symbolic and hygienic. Why or when it became a perceived womanly art, I can’t answer. I have girlfriends who keep either an exceptionally tidy kitchen, and I know others whose dinner invitations are politely declined.  Truth of the matter? Yes, I judge. I know it’s not right, but I can’t help myself.

So, this grown woman now has a job that is keeping me away ten to twelve hours a day. And guess who is pissed when the kitchen sink is covered up in dirty dishes? Karma comes around and bites me in the ass, and deservedly so.

Sometimes, it’s little ways that we show our appreciation. I know that I show my family love when I cook and keep a clean house. When I have their favorite things waiting for them. It would have been such a small gesture on my part to have done as Mom would have if she didn’t have to work. Maybe Granny didn’t need to witness “No Fork Friday” .

The lesson that I learned is you can’t metaphorically beat people into showing their appreciation for you. Throwing things across a room is only momentary gratification, (oh so gratifying) and no one likes to do things for a bitch.  It has taken me many years to realize that I can be am a bitch.

Sometimes people show appreciation in different ways than me, I have to learn to see them.  And hire a maid.

disclaimer: not my kitchen. You can’t handle the truth

Almost Easter almost iPhone disaster

Happy Easter all!

I hope the holiday finds you enjoying your loved ones and I hope some spring finds its way to you. Today is a lovely GA Spring day, sun is out and I’ve eaten too many jelly beans.

This afternoon I’m checking in at the Little Cantina that Could, hoping that my affluent neighbors will feel like celebrating with tacos and margarita rather than the traditional ham. If not, I can hope for an early closing!

Yesterday was my day off from every job, my little family and I drove North in search of waterfalls. This is one of our favorite activities when the weather is nice and North GA and the start of the Appalacians have many waterfalls to explore. We decided to revisit Tallulah Falls and Gorge in Rabun County. We’ve been here before when my son was younger, but wanted to return when he grew to be steady on his feet and more mature to appreciate the sights.

After a quick stop at the Visitor’s Center (where they have many taxidermy animal displays)

it was down to the Gorge and the Hurricane Loop Trail we go.

Down wasn’t too bad, but you have to know that walking down 1099 stairs ascending 100 feet, you know up won’t be a pleasure cruise. The Gorge Floor trail was closed for water run-off so we dead ended at a suspension bridge.

After our strenuous trip back up, it was time to attempt another trail, the North Rim Trail that offered a great view down 750 feet into the Gorge. There is one of those viewfinders there (you know…where you put in a quarter?) My son wanted to peek and we had a quarter…It took both my husband and I to lift him and position the viewfinder. During this precarious operation, the iPhone I carried on my right hip came in contact with the iron fence. My butt knocked into the fence at the perfect angle to hit the otter box mechanism that secured my phone.

That’s right. My iPhone popped off of my butt and flew on to the wrong side of the fence.

I would show you a picture, but I was taking snaps with my phone. Fortunately, it landed on a ledge near where we were standing. Almost close enough to go get it…

This is my husband last fall when he went off the trail.

After debating about letting my husband retrieve it for less than a second, he hiked back to the visitor’s center where he fetched Ranger Jonathan. While he was gone, a group of eight college students came upon our vista and spied my phone. I fessed up that it was mine and that we sent for a ranger. I didn’t want one of them to be heroic and make an attempt. We shared a laugh, although it was a bit at my expense.

Ranger Jonathan came back with Hubs armed with a rake and a large set of tongs. The rake almost reached the phone (almost…isn’t). Our heroic ranger jumped over the spiky iron fence and used the tongs to fetch my phone. He says things like this don’t happen often, but they do happen.

Lessons Learned:

• Cardio. Got to work on that, those stairs kicked my butt.
• Leave my damn phone in the car. If my butt is so big that I can pop off my phone on an adjacent fence…then why am I eating jelly beans today?

Happy Easter to you all!

It’s 3:30 in the morning and I want a popsicle

I can’t sleep. I got out of bed this and headed for my living room, only to find a snoring little blond boy on the sofa. The Dog of Thunder followed me from his spot on the floor next to my bed to a new spot on the floor next to Blondie’s couch.

The rain outside is like the rain that you would hear on a soundtrack that one might buy to help with insomnia. The fan in the window has it’s own gentle hum that suggests a nap. Obviously, I’m not paying attention to those signs. I get to read posts in these early hours and eat the last popsicle in the house. Because sugar never interrupts sleep, right?

It is crazy to see how many of my WordPress friends are awake too. Some because of geography, others because of insomnia. The world is not a lonely place at this hour, and that gives me comfort. If I had any popsicles left, I would share.

Back in the game. Sales Baby!

Whew! I just finished up day three at my new grown up First Choice Job. I can’t share too many details due to a confidentiality agreement. I can tell you that I work for a company that sells a certain high ticket item out of a Big Box store. I have two customers, the first being anyone who wants to buy my item. The second are the employees of the Big Box store, who I have to train to be my sales people. I have 12 stores.

I couldn’t be more excited for this opportunity. Everyone that I work for/with, has nothing but praise for the company and management team. I am so excited to be on board with such a dynamic team.

Since this is a new contract with this retailer for the company. we’ve spent the last few days traveling around Georgia giving our stores some product knowledge. It’s been interesting to see how receptive everyone is to our product.

I am now only working at my Plan B job one day a week, not that it is at all lucrative, but I feel a responsibility to them. I will talk more about that later in the week.

I can say that I miss my Bloggy Buddies, I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting you! I expect that I will be posting a bit less, but I still intend on checking in to catch up daily. Everyone be well!

Five Photos, Five Stories: Story One, North Dakota Bound

Ritu from But I Smile Anyway invited me to participate in this challenge.

Five Photos, Five Stories. It sure makes thinking up content a little easier, at least for my next five posts. Like most challenges, it isn’t without rules, or better said, a loose set of guidelines.

The Rules (which are made to be broken, or bent, or adhered to)

• Post a photo each day for five consecutive days
• Attach a story to the photo.  It can be fiction or non-fiction, a poem or simply a short paragraph – it’s entirely up to you.
• At the end of each day, nominate one other blogger to take part

For my Day one nomination, I’m going to nominate the latest blog that I’ve followed, so I’m calling out Queen Aej from Conquering My Own Castle.

Photo One: This is my son and I a few years ago hanging out at Walmart. This wasn’t just any old shopping trip. We were outfitting my husband for his new job in the oilfield.

If you don’t hear from me…We

I’m at jury duty! Timing being what timing is, my day to serve happens to coincide with my first day of work at Plan B. Since I never elaborated, Plan B is bartending. My shift starts this evening at 4, jury duty gets out at 5. I’ve notified my Plan B boss and he understands.

Springing into work!

Things are looking up at Casa Mia!

Today I managed to land a position that I’d been hoping to grab. I’m not going to jinx it with too many details, but we will suffice to say that it is a sales management job as a vendor inside a big box store. Whew! That is a lot to say.

My Day with HGTV

Oh my!

My husband is out and about for the afternoon, I get a break from B-movies, Fox News or any sport that is being broadcast. Normally, I like things quiet and I leave the television off. Today, however, I am feeling a bit antsy so I flipped on my companion channel HGTV (Home and Garden TV).

Now, I’m sitting at my kitchen table,

Hunnedo blues

As many of you may have heard, I’ve been goofing off with a side project, Hunnedo.com. I am doing most of the work myself and using it as a learning experience. It is turning into a learning experience fueled by coffee and tutorials.

I’ve monkeyed up the order of my menus and still trying to change the background color on a few pages.