Fall in Virginia

The trees have been changing color over the last couple of weeks. I'm thinking that the peak will be sometime over the long weekend.

This is a shot I took at the carpool lot of all places.

Just a post

Well, I just decided to post because I'm tired of seeing my own Mary Kay pictures posted every time I go to the page. Ha. However, it is a good way to find out what people thought about the different hair styles. As a result, I'm actually going to cut some of my bangs just a little shorter and swing them to the side just to see if the style actually looks good. Hey, all it took was three blog comments for me to take action. Perhaps I should put other decisions up here that I need help making.

Otherwise, this has just been a week. I've been tired...even though I've actually slept about seven hours a night and I never sleep seven hours a night. I've made the carpool every day and we even got to work at 6 a.m. one day instead of 6:30 a.m. It was a good day, but not sure I can keep that up! Luckily, I enjoy my carpool and the time always seems to go pretty fast. 

Work is ok. The meetings are picking up and it's the end of the fiscal year. So, an unreasonable amount of time is spent creating "charts" and I'm not talking about amazing excel spreadsheet packed with equations that are exported into another workbook page type of charts or anything like that...No, we like to put every possible kind of status into Powerpoint which renders it useful only for "briefings" and not for any practical data sorting, updating, etc. on a day-to-day basis. Yes, we have this urge to be Powerpoint Rangers. Wait, why am I writing about work on this blog? 

As far as friends are concerned, it's been a good week. About four friends have had babies in the last week, or I should say last two weeks. One even had twins. I've got a couple of boxes of diapers in the car to give to them. That is my standard gift now because it's just plain practical! Now, hopefully the unexpected heat this week won't melt the diaper tabs together. I'd better check on that.

Another friend is realizing her life mission is to help people perfect their personal appearance through personal coaching, training and working for Nordstroms. (-: I'm confident she will quickly move up the food chain. I am hoping I gain the confidence she has to move forward on a dream. But, they always say that you will end up making just as much doing what you love, right?

I am awaiting some photo books I created over the weekend from http://www.mypublisher.com  and that would be my little confidence building activity for the last few days.

Ok, well, like I said...this is "just a post" and so I should probably think about going to bed even if it's just a thought. Plus, mission accomplished...the MaryKay photos are now lower down on the page.

Good-night, r

Hair and Make-up Mary Kay cont...

 
 
 

Hair and Make-up with Mary Kay

So, another idea from the carpool...

My carpool friend told me about the Mary Kay site and I finally went and put my head on it. I attached different hairdos and make-up to it. The make-up didn't show up too well,  but the hair styles were fairly interesting. I saved the best, but that's not saying much. I need to go back on there and get the really funny ones, but perhaps anyone seeing these will think it's funny.

Try it out at http://www.marykay.com/whatsnew/virtualmakeover/default.aspx

This exercise actually proves that I should never have Zena bangs. I left some of the surrounding choices in the picture as a reminder of all the hair styles that are available.

Pretty fun.

 
 
 

 

Restless and cancelled appointment

Today I cancelled an appointment that I had made at a clinic that supposedly does every kind of test on you in one day. You know, kind of like those body scan places, except this is supposed to be for executives and the membership is good for a year. I was going to shell out a few thousand bucks and find out every possible thing that is wrong with me. When they sent me the packet for my visit it only showed them doing a couple of scans that I could easily get done through a doctor AND for a lot less! I cancelled the appointment and asked if they would spell out everything they were actually going to do like they had on the website. I haven't heard back from them yet. I must be one of those people they just write off. That's not a good idea. After all, I am blogging about it right now. I won't share the name until I give them a chance to explain themselves.

So, as a result of this appointment, I wasn't actually supposed to be at work today. I went in anyway. After two meetings and finishing 6-7 tasks that I had on my to do list....I just left the office around 1 p.m. It's a good thing that I didn't ride with the carpool today.

I'd been gone for over four hours and so the bug bombs I had put around my house had enough time to sink into the nooks and crannies. (I found one of those thousand leg bugs last night and I have no tolerance for little living creatures in my home). It is giving me a little bit of a headache though.

I've checked emails a couple of times and now I'm going on a walk. Sometimes I just need a mental break. It's just too much of the same every single day. Ugh. I've never been in the same job this long. But, it's stable and I should be grateful for that. Now it feels like this is an entry that should be about my job complaining blog (you have to ask me specifically for that address - it's hidden).

My boss may be surprised that I've taken some sick time this week, but I've got a few hundred hours saved up and I'm sure we are allowed to use some for unsettled minds, necessary relaxation and escape from Meyers-Briggs personalities that start with an E.

We'll see how it goes.

Breathe Right Nasal Strips

I finally tried a product suggested in my carpool - Breathe Right nasal strips.
This was the best night of sleep in years! It's amazing how one little strip can make breathing so much easier. Perhaps I'll wear one all day one of these days.

Secret Happiness - turnaround from Secret Sadness

It's official! A little note has arrived in the mail saying that there is a tube to pick up at the post office. This must mean that Becca House has officially arrived! Yea!

Now, if I were just in this part of town during post office hours...

The carpool comes first and foremost, but at least I know that the tube has made it within 5-6 miles of my home.

It is great when secret sadness's turn into secret happiness's.

(-:

Stock Market and Housing Crisis

Today the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's of the world are having big time trouble. I had purchased some Fannie Mae stock months ago went it got down to $28 a share because that was such a bargain. These government backed organizations are thought to be the last to fall in any mortgage downturn. But, this week we see that they've fallen from graces too. However, the government will most likely help them with at least a little bail out.

Today Fannie Mae opened around $7.50 a share. Horrible drop in price! Luckily, I hadn't purchased so much, but I know more than a few people that invested around $40,000 in that stock. Yikes! And thus we see the benefit of diversifying our portfolios.

As a result of this news...I made an extra trip to Costco to buy more food staples for my emergency supply. I happen to have a very stable job, but the food prices may jump even more drastically than they have in the past two months. Wheat and corn products value has gone way up and we will all enjoy this as a cost passed on to us.

Apparently, there continue to be more foreclosures this month as well. Entire neighborhoods falling culprit to intruders and robbers of house items - like toilets, sinks, etc? See, I knew all this a few months ago and finally just turned the tv off so I could have a break from all the turmoil around me. Now it sounds like I'd better be a little more aware.

I guess our spending is coming back to haunt us. Now is the time to get creative - and I'm not just talking about carpooling - but going after that Big Idea that Donnie Deutsch is always talking about on MSNBC. There's always something that benefits in recessions and depressions and I'm thinking that some of us should band together and figure out what "that" thing is.

Any ideas?

Carpooling - driving 2 days a week

So, it is interesting that we are all getting paranoid about expensive gas. However with change in behaviors, like carpooling, I think I'm actually going to spend less on gas now than before. Sure, it requires some earlier commutes and less freedom, but instead of $65 a week it will be about $20-25. I used to spend $45-50 over the past two years.

This will also keep the mileage down. Instead of about 350 miles a week, I will probably get 180-200.

Nice.

Carpool

Have I written about carpooling yet? I'm not sure. However, one of the carpoolers has now seen my blog. Yikes! I had to hide a couple of posts before I sent the link for viewing. Why? Well, nothing is written about said person, but said person might know other persons that could find out and do some research and find some links to some of my other blogs. Another yikes!

Actually, this is a good thing. Really thinking about all the possible people that could get to your blog is good practice in containing the writing a bit.

However, enough about the blog. Carpooling is great. I now leave the house a wee bit early (5:35 a.m.) to meet the carpool at 5:50 a.m. We meet at a mutually agreeable parking lot and drive the next 20-25 miles together. We try quite a few different routes just to see if the shared experiences equal a shorter commute time. At least we know quite a few back-up routes if the situation should arise. We all have great excuses at 3:30 as well. We must "catch the carpool" and so all meetings must be cut short at that time.

Hopefully this endeavor will cut down on the gas a bit as well. I might even spend less than pre-gas gouging.

Now, let's see if some of the carpool antics get part of more blog posts. But, I have to be careful because "what is said in the carpool should stay in the carpool." And this is exactly why you don't know how old, young, tall, short, fat, skinny, male, female, fun, rude, mean, etc. the people are that I ride with to work everyday. However, I will say this...the fact that I'm actually riding with people everyday says they can't be too bad because I do have a motto for people that I feel don't add value or high self-esteem comments to my life - "There is no time for people like that."