Maryland - Day Three

Another crazy long day!

Started early. Awesome first visit with one of my favorite departments. We were there a lot longer than I expected, but it was good. I got a tour and helped them with something they're looking for. My rep was doing the same thing with the other Quartermaster. Super productive.

Next, we went to a coffee shop and worked for about an hour. I'd worked for about an hour before left, but was able to take care of some pressing things for my other rep (I have three) and get some other stuff taken care of.

Then off to visit my buddy. This guy was apparently someone no one ever wanted to work with before. I don't understand that. He's awesome and we have a great relationship. My first interaction with him back in the day was when I was brand new and I accidentally sent him another departments order. He just laughed and after that, we developed an amazing working relationship. He asks about my personal life and I ask about his. Sometimes when nothing is going on, he just emails me to check in. He's retiring soon, and that's going to suck, but I imagine we'll keep in touch afterwards. I've met his wife and he knows That Man's name without prompting from me. He's like a cool uncle.

We went to lunch at this awesome pub. The food was amazing and so was the conversation. But, seriously, I have laughed so hard the past few days my sides are sore. My rep has some crazy work contacts who crack me up.

After that, we hit up another person I was excited to meet. This guy has worked exclusively with me for the last four years. He wasn't fond of my previous rep (not the last one, but the one before), but we managed to forge a routine and a good working relationship. (Even after he called and yelled at me the first time I talked to him.) Ha! We got a tour of the department, met some other people, saw some cool stuff, and he hooked me up with a coffee cup and a key chain. Awesome!

Made the long trek back to my hotel. Total exhaustion. I worked for about an hour and then started organizing my stuff. I'm heading out to meet my other rep in this area pretty early tomorrow. So I threw some stuff in the car and I think I have everything ready to go in the morning. Scheduled most of the bills to be paid, too. Bailed on dinner. I'm not hungry and my rep texted to say he wasn't feeling great and was exhausted, too. Not a problem. I could go get some food if I wanted to, but I am still not hungry.

Now it's hours later. I've been on the phone since the last paragraph - three hours ago. Talked to two kids, That Man, and my boss. Boss call was the longest. I've missed many things at the office this week.

And I have some words to write and then sleep.

That is all.

Behave!

Maryland - Day Two

This was a super, super long day.

Thirteen hours on the road. Long appointments. McD's for lunch (ouch) and we ate in the car because we were running late. But it was so good (the day, not lunch)(Okay. Lunch was fine. We wouldn't have chosen there if it wasn't). Our appointments went far better than I expected. We spent two hours at our first one, which was awesome. I got to see super cool stuff and hear super cool stories and it totally helped the way I take care of this client. And, it seemed, that my new rep was totally accepted, which is the purpose of this trip. I met people I usually only interact with over the phone or via email, got hugs (lots of them), and learned a whole bunch.

We ate at a little hole in the wall for dinner, which was so delicious and awesome. My other rep in this area joined us and is was super good to not talk shop and just talk about whatever. But... it was a long, but good, day. And I refused to work when I got back to the hotel. No way. I do dig that both of my reps down here have a healthy balance for work and personal life.

I've been back at the hotel for maybe an hour. Talked to K4 and That Man. And now I'm going to work on my antho story. I'm so freaking close to being done with it!

Tomorrow is a lot lighter and closer than today. But I do get to finally meet one of my favorite departments and have lunch with one of my most favorite-est. And then more of the meeting of favorites. It's going to be good.

But I have a story to finish...

Behave!

Well... Here I am in Maryland...

I made it! I'm in a pretty much brand new hotel in the middle of nowhere!

My room smelled slightly musty and when I entered, the toilet was filling and the water at the sink was hot, which tells me someone came in to freshen while I checked in. The carpets absolutely look brand new and the air conditioner is slowly getting the musty smell out. But whatever. I'm really absolutely not complaining.

This area is in the process of building up, so things are random. And they charge you 5 cents if you want your groceries bagged. Weird. So... You see no physical evidence of a reusable bag on my person and yet you still ask me if I want a bag for my sodas, chips, and sandwich? Weird.

I should have done something different for dinner, because the grocery store deli sandwich is pretty damned gross. I've taken a few bites and don't know if I can take another. I have some Sun Chips though, so I'll just eat those until time for breakfast. This hotel has free breakfast, which is awesome.
And no one down here drinks regular diet coke? Seriously? I was going to buy a twelve pack or a six pack or even a two liter, but nooo.... I had to pay out the butt for three 16 ounce bottles from the register refrigerators. Really?

I worked the day job for a little when I got back from my journey for food. Talked to three reps, one of them not mine, which is fine and awesome. Also talked to one of my clients because he'd left me a voicemail and I couldn't hear it. (He's my first appointment tomorrow) I emailed him and gave him my cell number and he called me. I'm excited to meet him tomorrow. We've been talking for two years now and this will be the first time I'll been face to face with him. I'm not supposed to give my personal information to clients, but I would do it again...

I'm going to write now... I tried to eat a few more bites of my sandwich but I thought it would be better if I didn't have food poisoning tomorrow... Yeah... It was that bad. The Sun Chips seem to be safe though...

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up...

It's, once again, Sunday night... Boo!

Sleeping in Saturday was good, though, I don't sleep in much past my normal wake up time anymore. Whatever. I also was in bed before ten, so that probably has something to do with that. Also, sleeping with the windows open and no ac. Awesome! Sweatshirts are also awesome. I didn't sleep in at all this morning, though I really wanted to.

K4 and I got our shopping trip in yesterday. I got some shirts and a pair of pants for my work trip and she got a few shirts and a jacket. Then we hit the grocery store. She wasn't feeling well at all, but she was a trooper. Between the two of us, we zoomed through the store and made it home so she could take some meds and rest.

We made the dinner for That Man's work daughter and delivered it. She wasn't there, but we had a nice conversation with her mom and sister. And we had nice conversation on the way there and back.

That Man brought these awesome doors home that were bound for the dumpster at work. They are seriously awesome. Eight glass panels, and huge! We're installing them between our dining room and living room. He's currently pounding plaster off the walls to find the header so we can mount the barn door hardware. The dining room is our next project. There is way too much furniture in there and it's making me crazy. I offered my niece my hutch. I'll keep the sideboard because it's awesome for gatherings. The one cabinet will go to my office as storage, and the dresser that was That Man's mom's will go to our bedroom. I was using it for storage down here and it's just not working out the way I wanted it to. So that's what we'll be doing for the next few weeks on top of continuously working on the yard. That Man got a lot done while K4 and I were shopping, and I'm pretty glad I missed out on it. Ha!

So, I didn't get much writing done this weekend. By last night, I was all achey and felt crappy. This morning wasn't much better. I did manage to do the laundry, putzed around in my office, and started packing for the week. That Man made the dinner and I put gas in K4's car for the week before she went back to school. Let me just say... College kids are expensive. Oh and I don't think I'm getting what K4 has, even though I'm still a little achey and sneezey.

That's all I have for now...

Behave!

Feel Good Friday!

It's list night!

1. Friday! Duh! It's been a brutal work week!Seriously. And I think it's about to get ever more brutal. Just saying...

2. Sleeping in tomorrow. Yay!

3. K4 being home! She's sick - as in snotty, headache, and achey. And is currently laying on the couch kind of moaning. Though she's happy to have had pizza for dinner and ice cream in the freezer. No. She's not spoiled at all.

4. Shopping date with my girl tomorrow. Hopefully she's feeling up to it. I think she will be. I mean... shopping? Yeah. She's going to want to do that.

5. Ordering food for dinner. Yay!

6. Writing this weekend.

7. Work friends delivering mini-fridges for the college dorm and hooking them up with tires and laughing on the patio. That was fun!

8. Upcoming work trip. It's going to be a long week. I'm gone from Tuesday afternoon until Friday afternoon. I'm excited about getting to do my job on the road and introduce my reps to my departments. But I get to hang with my super cool reps and meet the people I've only ever talked to on the phone. Awesome. That Man will be in charge of the house and the animals. I know he's looking forward to it. I can't tell you the last time he's had the house to himself. I mean, really. It's probably been years...

9. Hopefully getting some house stuff done this weekend. Hopefully.

10. The not so fun thing is that we're taking dinner to That Man's work daughter this weekend. Her husband tragically died this week. It's super sad and horrible. They have a young daughter, too.

That is all I have for now...

Behave!

Almost the End of the Week...

Woah! Thursday!

I made it through about half of my "to do" list tonight. And there is so much more to do. I've been dealing with some major work stress, a headache that would not and still has not quite, crazy evenings, and a major lack of sleep.

I have not written a word this week. That's terrible. But it will be rectified this weekend.

We did take the animals to the vet tonight. That was tons of fun. Luckily, we were able to borrow a cat carrier, after we realized (at 10pm) last night, that we weren't prepared. Ha!

Little Max is 5# now! Last month, he was only 2#! He got two shots, his nails trimmed, and his appointment to have "his little boys" removed.

Elsa is 85#. She got two shots too, but no nails trimmed. She hates that so much and the vet would have probably gotten bit. She said her nails were fine though.

Both animals are in great shape. The vet was super pleased.

Okay. I have more stuff to do.... Until tomorrow!

Behave!

The Weekend is Almost Over...

I am old. 

We spent yesterday going up and down the attic stairs and climbing up and down ladders. Painting. Cleaning. 

I hurt. 

But...

Since the kid was supposed to stay on campus this weekend, we figured it would be the perfect time to get her bedroom done. We hauled all of the house guests remaining items up to the attic, cleaned the room, painted the room, and then moved K4's stuff over. 

Then we had an event to go to, so we showered and did that. 

Came home and moved my desk into K4's old room... I now have AN OFFICE! Holy crap! I've been waiting for this for so very long. 

Look at it! I mean! My very own office space! 

I am beyond elated. 

It's a work in progress. I have many things I've been saving for just this time. I'm finding them all and slowly getting things organized. I will post a picture of the ridiculous amount of sombreros I hung up later. (These are the sombreros we brought home from my uncles last summer - the ones we didn't have a choice but to accept. Ha!)

That picture on the wall is from paint night with my girl. I also have another paint night picture hung, and some original prints from the bestie. 

K4's room turned out awesome, too. I didn't take any pictures of that, but she has a nearly identical picture hanging on her wall. (Hers is way better than mine)

So anyway. She came home this weekend since the dorm room switch won't happen until this coming week and she was bored on campus since everyone else went home, too. She hung out with her brother and cousin last night, so that at least gave her a little time to finish. She thought we were mad at her for coming home. Once she saw what we did, she understood why we seemed annoyed when she called to tell us she was. ha! 

Today is laundry and writing stuff. I spent several hours upstairs organizing, so things don't look exactly like they did in the picture. I still have stuff to put in there and am weighing my furniture options for storage. I need to find more stuff for the walls, too. Like I said, it's a work in progress. And I love it. 

That's all for now. 

Behave! 

Feel Good Friday!

Friday is here! Yay!

Let's hit the in-no-particular-order list!

1. Dinner with the kid this week! She's staying on campus this weekend to move into her new digs with her friends. Still on campus, but it will be a much better situation than she's currently in. She and her current roommate are on different planes of existence and that's okay. K4 likes her, but they're not compatible as roomies. Their schedules are vastly different and so are their tastes in pretty much everything.

2. That Man removing the annoying boxes left in the living room. Yay! I have my whole living room back! There will be more rearranging of stuff this weekend and potentially I will have my office very soon.

3. Lunch with the big boss today. We had this program a few years ago and it was awesome, but some things changed and it wasn't feasible anymore. I hadn't planned on attending because I'd already been to one, but my direct boss said I should go and my work load was light enough that I could justify it. It was nice to get out of the office and hang with a few coworkers and just talk to the big boss. We sat in an outside venue and had awesome food and conversation. He wants to know what you're thinking about the company and what's going on and he listens to what you say. He always has had an open door policy, but it's nicer when it's outside of the office walls.

4. Signing up for a book festival in December! So excited! It may be lame to some, but I have three events lined up for the rest of this year. And I just got a big old box of books today! Yay!

5. Friday! It was a reasonably light day at the day job, though I did a lot of running around, organizing, and stuff you can't measure with our system. That's okay though. My stats are just fine.

6. Easy dinner after a quick trip to the grocery store. Why is it that you run out of all of the expensive stuff at the same time? Dog food. Laundry soap. Cat food. Ugh!

7. Sleeping in tomorrow. Even if it's for a little. That Man and I have stuff to do.

8. Getting a decent amount of writing in this week. And more to do this weekend.

That is all for now!

Behave!

Dinner With the Kid

K4 had to come to down for a doctor's appointment today. Instead of her driving the whole way back to the house, we met her at this little pizza place we enjoy. That Man and K4 arrived way before I even got off work. They ordered the food, and the second I sat down, the waitress brought me my soda. Nice.

We had a nice discussion about school, stuff going on there, the weather, and 9/11. She doesn't remember 9/11. At all. She wasn't quite two when it happened, so she has absolutely no perspective. She knows it was horrible and knows it was a vicious senseless attack, but she's never known a world without the events of 9/11. It's interesting to hear her perspective on it. I think in my life before this day, the worse things I remember is Elvis dying and Three Mile Island.

She doesn't remember there being no planes in the sky. At all. Or the run on the grocery store with people stocking up on canned goods and non-perishable foods. She doesn't remember the Antrhax scare. She doesn't remember the shocked silence of walking into a public place and seeing the fear on everyone's faces. Or the way people came together to help and support each other. She doesn't remember all of the neighbors gathering in the backyard to discuss what happened and talk about what we would do if our Naval base was hit next. I remember though. I won't ever forget.

I heard something today about making this date about doing something nice for another person - no matter how big or small. I like that idea.

And now we're watching as our favorite place in the whole world faces down what could hit landfall as a category five hurricane. Florence needs to stop and go back out to sea. We don't have plans to go down this year - the stars didn't align like we needed them to, which, considering what kind of damage potential they have down there, is probably for the best. But still... That Man and I just talked about doing hurricane relief, but we're not in a position to pull that off this year.

That is all. It's time to write. I need to finish up this story so I can critique an important project for a friend and then get busy on my next book.

Behave!

Weekend Wrap Up

Weekends go way too fast.

The next thing you know, it will be Monday morning and there will be tears. Ha!

Yesterday was so nice. I slept in. Rearranged some cupboards. Cleaned the house. Mostly. Made a huge pot of chili and some cornbread. Got to see my grandson for a little bit. We had a fire in the backyard and just hung out. Nice.

It started raining. Hard. And it hasn't stopped yet. I'm okay with that. A rainy day can be perfect. I'm still in my jammies. I threw a turkey breast in the oven. The house is in decent shape. I have candles lit. K4 is here doing laundry and putting her new welding helmet together. Her and That Man have been working on car switching.

A nap is in my future. Following by writing. Once K4 is done, I will finish up my laundry. I'm not sure what this week will hold. More craziness at the day job is a given. Writing is also a given.

That's all I have.

Behave!

Feel Good Friday

Hello, Friday! You are amazing! Well, you are now since I'm out of the day job for a few days. Earlier you kind of sucked as I trudged through yet another day at the office.

What was good about this week?

1. Having Monday off. That's a no-brainer.

2. Writing every night this week except one. Whoot!

3. Air conditioning.

4. Cooler temps now. Thank goodness.

5. Sleeping in tomorrow. Yes!

6. Not having weekend plans except organizing and writing.

7. Dinner out with That Man. We went for burgers and fries and they were amazing.

8. Running around with That Man. We had to gather some stuff for K4.

9. Having the ability to lock down K4's debit card. Especially good since she lost her wallet tonight and is freaking out. Ugh!

And I'm out of here.

Behave!

Well...It's Thursday...

It's not so hot right now, which is awesome. And it's not supposed to be hot again at all this weekend. Yay!

It did, however, rain like hell shortly before I left work. Luckily, a guy from my work helped me put the top up on the Jeep about fifteen minutes before the storm hit. (He's my Jeep help guy. He can get my top up in seconds, which is awesome. It helps that he used to own a Jeep like mine) I didn't have my doors or sides, but putting up the top helped some. I still had to wipe everything down and my butt was soaked, but it didn't actively rain on my way home.

Wrote a bunch last night. Plan to do the same tonight. Just about there.

That Man and I were just watching a show that gave me some spectacular ideas for a book. Oh! I'm excited.

Tomorrow is Friday. Thank goodness! These short weeks always seem to be the longest.

This weekend should be a relaxing one. I hope. Sleeping in is a given for both days! That Man has to work on Saturday, which means, I will be writing and cleaning and organizing. The kid will be coming home at some point to do laundry. Don't know when yet.

That's all I have. It's writing time.

Behave!

Another 200 Degree Day...

Gah!

I'm so tired of sweating all of the time! Between the heat and the mosquitoes, I am just done... We watered the plants and my legs from the knees down are covered in welts. That's unusual for me. Typically I don't get bit. But dang! I did tonight! Evil little buggers. Supposedly, we have one more day of brutal temps this week, and then a cool down. I hope so.

K4 did come home yesterday. She had an orthodontist appointment and came to hang out afterwards. That was good. She hit the road after dinner. I think she's coming to do laundry at some point this weekend, but we'll see. Her schedule is filling up with stuff, which is awesome.

There's stuff coming up! I have a booksigning at the end of the month at my favorite local bookstore! Excited for that. I'm also traveling for work soon, which is always exciting and fun. Next month, I'm attending an author event in Maryland, which should be awesome. I've never done this one before, but friends have and I'm rooming with a super cool fellow writer.

That reminds me... I should probably order some books. Oy!

The writing is going. I love the way this story is coming together. It's kind of gritty and dark, but not overly so. It will have a happy ending, but that doesn't mean it will be a happy "in love" ending. We'll see... I'm digging it though.

What else? I can't think of anything at the moment. It's time to get to the writing.

Behave!

Labor Day Monday...

We are back from our weekend in The Wilds!

That Man took off early on Friday and we packed up our gear, hit the grocery store, came back and packed the food in the cooler and waited for K4 because she asked us to (for like ten minutes and thankfully she made it through the roads that flooded out about ten minutes prior to the flooding). As soon as she was packed up (we had zero room for her gear), we hit the road. I was ready after having the morning to get crap done. It was good.

We had a wonderful time. There was a ton of laughter and camp fires. Not much sleeping in, but that's okay. It rained Friday night, which was actually good. Especially once it started really raining and put me to sleep.

Woke up at normal-weekday time on Saturday. Decided I was going to my writing meeting even though I'd said I wasn't because of camp. I woke up feeling very strongly about going. I'm so glad I did. The meeting was productive, if not a bit sad, but that will be taken care in two months. That's pretty much all I'm going to say about that.

Got back to camp to "cowboy breakfast" or "brunch". Delicious. Decompressed from the meeting and enjoyed conversation with family and friends. K1 came down with Mr. B. He hung out with us while K1 worked on his car. Mr. B is hysterical. He's digging kindergarten. He insists my name is "Becky" no matter what I, or anyone else, says. Ha! He begged to stay over and, of course, we said yes.

He ran around like a crazy person and was exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around. We tucked him in and I wrote while he settled in. He was asleep within five minutes, but I continued to write for about an hour. Nice and perfect!

Sunday morning, the kid has us up - okay, me - That Man is always up early - at an earlier time than I wanted to be. We made hot chocolate and bagels and hung out with the family. Mr. B has decided he doesn't like to eat things with holes in them. The bagel hole offended him (even though he'd already eaten the first half) and then, later, he refused to eat anymore of his Ra-ra's strawberries because strawberries have holes when the stems come out. I don't think he remembers that doughnuts have holes. He might change his mind once he learns that. Ha!

Anyways. Holiday Sundays are picnic days in The Wilds. Friends and family come for the day to eat food and hang out by the creek. It's a pot luck event. Sometimes we have six crock pots full of baked beans, or twelve platters of chicken - you just never know what you're going to get, but it always works out. This picnic was a bit different because my brother-in-law's parents - the ones who take care of pretty much everything for the event - were on their way to their vacation, which left my brother-in-law and sister in charge. We were their helpers, but unfortunately, the dish we picked to make for the picnic took freaking forever to get ready and it was super labor intensive. It was That Man, me, K1, and J in my sister's kitchen preparing the homemade taquitos. We barely made it in time and we didn't get to help as much as we wanted.

K4 did the general run to the store for supplies after coming home to check the kitties and then got back and made some banging stuffed jalapenos. Seriously. All of the food was good, but her poppers were amazing. That Man and I did very little to help. I gutted the jalapenos (and my hands burned for hours.) and That Man grated her cheese, but she did everything else. There was nothing left on the pan when the picnic was over.

And... as little as we had left of said taquitos, I know our flour tortilla version was far better than the corn tortilla version, so there's that. I will make them again, but the recipe will be tweaked a lot. The vegan version, in my opinion, was far better. (Yes, we always try to make a vegan version of whatever recipe we try for these events. It's just what we do. Our family is very vegan friendly because we have several vegans.)

The guys got into the creek to build the dam up. I really wish I would have taken my creek shoes so I could have helped, but after they found this sharp scythe-type thing, I was happier to take the kayak out and relax on the water. That was amazing and my arms, sides, and stomach ache, but in a good way.

We were in bed stupid early. Seriously stupid early. I was almost asleep when we heard people on the water. In the pitch black dark. Freaky. That is the first time that any of us have ever experienced people on the water after dark. It freaked me out. In a huge way. They were very clearly hammered and no threat, but this writer's mind went in directions that kept me up for hours. Not just that though. I had one of those nights were the old brain just would not shut the f**k up. I then spent the next five or so hours running ridiculous scenarios through my brain.

I got up to use the bathroom and the dog had basically kicked me out of bed. There was no way I could even being to think about squeezing in between her and That Man and the dog was so tired that she would not wake up enough to even move an inch. (She was in the creek all day - swimming in the current, chasing things, and generally wearing herself out). I went to sleep on the other end of the camper and it still took me hours to actually fall asleep.

I was still up at a normal time. Oy! We had some coffee and some creek watching and then broke camp. We made it home about the time I thought we would. I thought I would get a nap, but that didn't happen. Though the laundry is all done and the house is in good order. K4 was planning to go back to school after dinner. We'd planned to order subs from our local pizza shop and then remembered they were closed on Monday's. Went through a bunch of options and then decided to give "Grub Hub" a shot. We've used them at work with good results and I was excited to try it at home for future use for That Man and I...

What a freaking joke! We ordered our food at 4:32 and were told it would be delivered by 5:37. Our driver picked up the food at 5:37, but did not deliver it until 7:15 or so, and then it was just 1/3 of our order and it was stone cold. I was online with the service from the time I got the email that said our food would be delivered an hour from pick up. I was told our food would be here in 10 minutes. Twenty minutes went by and still no food. And then another ten minutes went by with no food. I contacted them again - at the two hour mark and was told it would be another 25 minutes until our food would be delivered. I got a $10 coupon, but we're not doing that again. They are supposed to be refunding me the full amount of my order. Seriously. The restaurant we ordered from is 11 minutes from our house and it took hours for them to deliver, and then it's not the full order and it's cold?

We ended up going to the diner down the street so we could have a family dinner before K4 went back to school for however long it will be before we see her again. (seriously, it could be tomorrow, it could be next week or two weeks... no one knows... not even K4) Food was good. Service was good. It was a better option, though it would be better if my Grub Hub money was already refunded...

Now I am going to bed. Work is again tomorrow and I am so not looking forward to it. I have no idea what is going on this week yet...

That is all...

Behave!