Just Rannin' Around

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Food poisoning!

About two years ago I had food poisoning. I thought I was going to die. Of course someone had to tell me what it was because I had never before experienced it. Well last night it took me a minute, but at 11:00 last night when that twisting, intense pain hit my stomach, I figured it out.

I spent the night in my bathroom. A few times I was brave and decided to venture back to my bed, but that never lasted long. So the blanket just came in with me. I was sitting on the toliet and had my head over the bathtub. In between I would lay my head on the tub and just cry. There is nothing worse than being sick and not having someone there to hold your hair back out of the way and rub your back and then play with your hair while you await the next series to begin. Every independant bone in my body leaves when I am sick. I just want to be taken care of, is that so wrong?!?!

I finally started feeling a little better around 4:30 this morning, so I pulled myself out of my bathroom and and prayed that I would be able to make it to my bed. I drifted off about 5:00 after finding one semi-comfortable position in which to sleep. Stupid alarm went off at 6:30 reminding me that life didn't stop because I had a bad night. I am thinking that an hour and a half of sleep is not really working for me, however since I have 6 closings today there was no way that I could pulled the sick card.

I just ate lunch and it seems to be sitting fairly well, so I think the worse has past. Good thing since I have a flight to catch in 8 hours.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

At times in ones life it is all about being random and spontaneous. Frankly, I don't do it as often as I should.

New Year's Eve has never been a holiday to scream about for me. I have always had plenty of places to be and people to see, but I have never had that one sparkly kiss at midnight. Okay, okay to be completely honest I have never, that's right never been kissed at midnight on New Year's. I know that being kissed at midnight isn't everything, however I do find myself being a bit extra jealous in these moments about those people who do have that special someone at their side. Holidays have a way to make the single person feel somewhat more lonely.

In reality do I really have anything to complain about....no. I have had a very productive, wonderful, exciting, adventureous life. However that doesn't mean that I have to put myself through anther New Year's Eve being in a place that reminds me of my singleness. So, go somewhere fun and new. Where no one knows me and I don't know any of them. My poor mom hates that I am so comfortable just being in a strange place with people I don't know, but that is some of what makes life exciting. I love to see and talk to people and wonder about what their lives are like and how they interact with their environment. I could and do sit for hours watching people.

Anyway, the story goes that I hopped online and checked into places that I haven't been and booked a flight. Off to Portland, OR I go on Thursday night after work. I have a great friend that has decided to join me on this new journey and it will be a grand time. After all, there are new people, new streets, new restaurants, new sounds and smells. I love an adventure and learning. Who knows what is waiting, but I am ready, bring it on.

Monday, December 27, 2004

I made it home alive.....barely.

I entered the airport about an hour and a half before my flight was scheduled to leave which I figured was plenty of time since I was leaving at 7:45 in the morning. However I soon discovered that the line for check in was an amazing three hour wait. Good thing for E-tickets and self check in. I was through the check in process in 15 minutes and headed up to security. It took me another 30 minutes to make it through security and made it safely to my gate in plenty of time to sit and read for a few moments.

The plane ride (all 55 minutes of it) was very uneventful, well at least until the last 10 minutes of the flight. The gentleman sitting next to me was out for the count the entire flight which saved me some embarassing moments. The plane hit some turbulance that I have never felt in my life. I felt the plane drop and come back up in a slit second over and over again. The first time it happened I was very unprepared and almost landed in the man's lap next to me (thank goodness for seatbelts). I could feel myself coming up out of my seat as the plane took each dive and my stomach was following the bounces. Had I anything in my stomach, it wouldn't have stayed there. Luckily it only lasted about 5 minutes and the rollercoaster was over. I am almost positive that if I had a mirror my face would have been green.

We landed on the top of the mountain and I felt like a little kid again. Do you remember when you were little and your dad found it so funny to take the car as close to the edge as possible to freak out everyone in the car? If you haven't had this experience, thank your lucky stars, but if you have you know exactly what I am talking about. As the plane was slowing from landing, the edge of the cliff was approaching faster than I would have liked. We circled just at the very edge and I started breathing again. This really shocked me because I love a grand adventure, but I didn't like this one so much. Oh well I got over it quickly. I loved that it only took 55 minutes to get there and when I walked outside, blessed be the weather because it was warm!!

Christmas was great!! I didn't open any of my gifts because I had two nieces and a nephew that needed to help me. They are the cutest little people ever so I didn't mind at all. I spent the entire time just playing with my family and it couldn't have been any better. I love down time with the family (I took a well needed three hour nap on Christmas Eve). The plane trip home wasn't bad at all, thankfully.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and had the time to reflect about the true meaning of the holiday.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Bobby's Dime

Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas gift.

He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend,"

Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far. What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the house hold in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother.

Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing. Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.

Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime. Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment.

As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with only a dime.

He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift.

The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you."

As Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.

The sound of the door closing as the last customer left jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid. Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white box.

"That will be ten cents young man," the shop owner said reaching out his hand for the dime.

Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime!

Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"

This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son,"

As he returned inside, the shop keeper's wife walked out. "Who were you talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"

Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just a few minutes ago, a little boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one small dime.

"When I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a poor boy with nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew, stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten dollars.

"When I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put together a dozen of my very best roses." The shop owner and his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all.

May this story instill the spirit of Christmas in you enough to pass this story along. Have a Joyous and Peace-filled season.

~"Bobby's Dime" by Thomas Pucci~

May everyone have a joyful Christmas!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Good morning to you too Sunshine!

There is nothing unusal for me to walk into the office at 8:00 in the morning and have a phone call waiting to greet me. This morning was no different, however they typically aren't so entertaining.

"JRA there is a phone call on hold for you"

"Fabulous! Give me a second to put my stuff down and transfer it into my office please."

I put down my purse and slip off my coat and pick up the phone.

"This is JRA."

"This is I Woke Up On the Wrong Side of the Bed. I am working on the Kelly file. I need you to do this and that and I need it right now, actually I needed it as of yesterday, but evidentally you go home at 5:00 at night."

"Not a problem, I will get that stuff right over to you. Give me 5 minutes and it should be on your fax machine," I replied as friendly as possible.

"We are on huge time constrants on this file and we are trying to get it closed either tomorrow or Friday."

"Thursday is looking fairly open right now if you would like to schedule a closing time, but Friday our office will be closed in observation of Christmas."

At this point I am thinking....if you are under such huge time constrants, why in the world is this the first time that you have even contacted me. Then I remember, oh yeah, it isn't an emergency until they make it one and then I am expected to jump. I normally just accept this as part of my job of pleasing clients and will do it gladly, however this is the point the conversation went from him being cold and demanding to a jerk with a trucker mouth (which is very professional might I add).

"Who in the f#@!*!$ !@*% made Friday a f#@!*!$ holiday!!"

"Well sir, the County, the Courts, the Recorder, Lenders, ect., ect... will all be closed and therefore so will title companies because we can't do anything without them being opened," I calmly reply.

"This is just f#@!*!% great! So if it has to close on Friday who is going to do it?"

"We will be closed on Friday. No body will be here to close it. I will be flying home for the holiday that morning. I'm sorry for the inconvience."

My comment was followed by a string of expletives from his mouth that had I not been at work in a professional setting, I would have hung up on him. No worries however because he soon became so angry that somewhere in there he said bye and hung up the phone.

Ode to the beginning of a fun day at work!

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

"You may be feeling a great deal of expansiveness right now in relation to your outer-directed activities. Don't hold back with your feelings or actions. Joining forces with others can be extremely beneficial for you at this time. Communication is key. Just be aware that hardships having to do with love and romance may result. Don't take this as an indicator that you shouldn't follow your dreams, but realize that adjustments in the love realm may need to be made."

So I was killing some time before my next appointment came in and so I went to read my horoscope. It makes me laugh, not as hard as I was laughing last night, but nonetheless, laughing is great!

Monday, December 20, 2004

This weekend was full of friends, both old and new.

I attended a wedding reception of a friend that I have known for years. I was so excited to see people that I haven't seen for over 3 years. Honestly, who stays at a wedding reception for two hours when it isn't a family member?!?!?! Well, all of us did. It was time to catch up and laugh and laugh and laugh. Memories are grand things.

As I was thinking about the whole situation later I realized that people mean so much to me. Every single person that has been a part of my life has such a special place in my heart. The reflection made me miss a lot of people that haven't recently been an active part of my life. I realize that it is impossible to keep up-to-date with everyone that has been involved in my life, but the thought is a good one.

There are reasons that each person enter into my life. I can't even begin to name the innumberable and priceless lessons that I have learned from others. I miss having those people in my life. I miss sitting and talking to them or just sitting with them knowing that everything is okay because they are there. My door and my arms are always open to them and I hope that they know that.

Friday, December 17, 2004

I am positively giddy today! Just sayin'......

Thursday, December 16, 2004

I finished my Christmas shopping.

I think this is the earliest that I have ever accomplished getting my shopping done. I am one of those people that end up out and about on Christmas Eve trying to get those last few items. That is never a good thing because it means that I typically end up settling on something that I really don't think is a good enough gift.

I really enjoy giving gifts. It is something that makes me feel sparkly inside. I am not a shopper unless it is for someone else. I love to look and look until I find that perfect gift that will not only just be some sort of material item to put in their house, but something that I know will make them light up when they open it because they have wanted it or it has personal meaning to them. It is all about making mental notes while people are talking to me.

Christmas is a little different than birthdays however because there are so many gifts to give that I have a tendency to place people in groups and do the same thing everyone in that group. For instance, I made a scarf for each of my nieces and nephews. Along with that however they are each receiving a book. The books are all different depending on their personality. So it is basically the same gift with just a small difference to make it slightly personal. Then for my friends.....ha ha just kidding you don't get to know what you are getting until you open it.

Now all I have to do is wrap all of them. Maybe I could bribe my baby sister to do it for me.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

I am determining that as I get older, I am becoming a bigger wimp.

My family lives in St. George which is only a four hour drive south from where I live. Well, it is supposed to only be a four hour drive. The issue is there are two moutain passes that one must go through in order to get arrive in the final destination. These passes become pure ice sheets during the winter months. Travelers during Thanksgiving this year going one way or the other were meet with a eight to ten hour drive because of the weather and road conditions on these passes.

I have lived in Salt Lake now for almost 11 years. I have made the journey home in such conditions, by myself, more times than I want to count. It has never bothered me before and this year I even have a SUV that has 4-wheel drive. This year I decided that it was just too dangerous for me to be out on those roads, by myself tempting the universe to prove that I wasn't stong enough to do it again. So I purchased a plane ticket home this year. Pretty much it is a 45 minute flight in a aircraft that can only carry 20 passangers that lands on top of a mountain in St. Geroge. It doesn't stop fast enough, down you go off the side of the cliff. Doesn't that sound like an adventure?!?!

Monday, December 13, 2004

Act 1: Friday

Scene 1: All day at work. It wasn't too busy due to the fact that most of my clients have decided that it is December and they take more time off than they work. Grief, that is why January is around.

Scene 2: Movie with friends. We went to see Finding Neverland. This is one of my new favorite movies. I was sucked into the story line from the beginning and then proceeded to take me through every emotion possible. It was an enchanting movie.

Scene 3: Meet up with some additional people and went to get desert and then back to my house to play. After waving goodbye, I was upstairs and NyQuil became my best friend. The stuff knocks me out, but with this cold I have been fighting it allows me to breath.

Act 2: Saturday

Scene 1: The work Christmas party. This year was a bit different from all the rest. We had brunch at the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. It was nice because the season is so incredibly busy anyway that tring to fit one more thing in during the evening hours is almost impossible. I really enjoy the people with which I work. There is such a diversity among us, however that is what makes it interesting. Christmas bonuses are always the best.

Scene 2: Took my sick body home and took an hour and a half nap. I love naps!! Even as a child, I never fought when it came to taking them. Of course it probably helped that I have a mom that would lay down and take them with us. All in front of the tv with a blanket and full from lunch.....those were the days! Then I was up and running. I finished my scarf project....15 of them to be exact and almost finished my Christmas shopping. My day was already full, but not quite done.

Scene 3: Beauty and the Beast at Pioneer Theatre. I am a huge Broadway fan. I adore getting dressed up and going to see a play. I had yet to see this play and it was fabulous. I wouldn't put it in my top 5 favorites, but it was a toe-tapping, try really hard not to sing along with night of fun.

Scene 4: I know it was late, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. After the play I went over to a friends house to see him. I knew that I have needed to spend some time with him for a while now, but circumstances have just not been conducive to the timing. Sometimes I know that I am a horrible friend. I have spent many hours on the phone with him as of late, but sometimes the presence of a friend is what is really needed. So I made the small journey with all the time of the rest of the night to give my full attention to him. When I got there I was greeted with one gigantic hug and was wisked away from the company that was at his house so we could talk. After having a heart to heart about things occuring in his life and a few tears, a girl appeared in the doorway of the room to announce that she was going to leave. He introduced me to her and told her we were almost done and not to leave yet. She went back downstairs to wait. He then explained to me that this was a girl that he had dated about 2 years ago (which is why I recognized her), but that was still while he was not doing the things in his life that he should and she was an incredible girl that made him really think about decisions he was making in his life. He hadn't talked to her during those 2 years, but had run into her at a party and they had just started things again. I have been through a lot with him in the long time that we have been friends and this time, things just seem to be in place. If he can hold on and work through this current issue, he will be ready for her. I love him dearly and I am so excited to see him finally moving forward. For the selfish part, I realize this is the time that he stops calling me first when he needs someone. I have always had the phone call first, even before the girlfriend of the moment, but this time it is different. I have been through this so many times with so many friends, that I just know when the situation is the one that is going to work. Friendships change at this point because he will have a new eternal best friend. I have had years and years of memories, can't complain about that.


Blah, blah, blah.......wow sorry about that blog today.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

I love candy canes.

I like all the new flavored ones that are now showing up on the store shelves, but there is nothing like the regular red and white peppermint candy canes.

They make me happy.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

After spending some time talking to a friend, she encouraged me to write two lists. One that I haven't done since I was about 15, that being a list of qualities that I am looking for in a boyfriend/spouse and another list I always have with me in my mind, that being an account of my weaknesses that are causing me not to move forward.

The first list actually took me longer than I expected and was quite different than the ones that I had written in my teenage years. There wasn't any mention of height, hair/eye color, age, or income. Instead it moved to how I want to be treated, how he makes me feel, where God is in his life and the progression we can make together.

It amazed me as I have poured over this list that every quality on it are things that can be worked on and gained. They involve choices on the part of the individual. For example, it is really important for me to be with a gentleman. I want my doors opened. I like him to find out what I am going to order at a resturant and order for me. I like to be complimented. I want to be lead into rooms with his hand on the small of my back. Call me old fashioned, but I like feeling like a lady. In return, I will say "thank you" without downgrading the compliment. I will light up when I see him across the room looking at me. I will leave him notes and treats to let him know I appreciate his kindness. He will know that he is the most important thing in my life when I feel that I am his.

The second list has been, as I have not yet completed this assignment, a bit harder. For the most part, I know my weaknesses. I have written down a list and have asked family and long time friends to give me honest feedback on how they view me and what they feel are my shortcomings. It has been an interesting week. I have discovered that there is a very tight line that I need to learn to walk. I am stubborn, but I think that I will be able to take these suggestions and fine tune a weakness or two so they won't be so ugly. I am grateful that people love me despite things they have to overlook about me that they don't necessarily enjoy.

Life is a learning ground. When it comes right down to it there are only two people I have to please, myself and my Heavenly Father.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Christmas.

I spent some of the weekend cleaning (the vacuum worked great and there was no death by hairball) and decorating for the upcoming holidays. Friday night a group of friends came over and we went out to pick out a tree. Sorry to the local treehuggers out there, but I always insist on a real tree. We then brought the tree home and decorated it as it filled my home with the fresh smell of pine. Then I put up one of my nativity sets and all the finishing touches around the living room, including the stockings.

The only thing that didn't make it up were the outside lights which are still sitting on my floor. It was just too blasted cold here to be outside on the ladder fumbling with lights. I know, suck it up and get it done.

Anyway, one of my favorite things to do is sit on my couch with nothing but the Christmas tree lights on. So after everyone left late that night, I jumped up the stairs to my room, threw on my flannel pjs, grabbed a blanket and pillow, and made myself comfortable on the couch. It is good down time for me to ponder the happenings of my life over the past year (not to mention that it just makes me happy).

I woke up the next morning to a flash of a camera. My roommate told me that she came downstairs and couldn't help it because I looked like a little kid who fell asleep waiting for Santa to come. She said she almost put a present under the tree so that I wouldn't be disappointed. I told her that I was still waiting for the one gift under the tree that I had yet to receive. After all, you have to grow old, but you don't have to grow up!

Thursday, December 02, 2004

She stepped back and sat on the arm of her couch looking at the project she had just completed. She had it in her closet for a few months now, set aside for it was meant to be a Christmas present that would now, with the circumstances never make it as such. It had been an extremely long, emotional day for her, but she knew that she had to finish this one last thing in order to sleep through the night.

There had been some information that had been shared with her earlier that day that filled her with mixed emotions. It was incredibly exciting, happy news and she even shed tears of joy after finding a quiet corner so that nobody knew. However, with the news also came the pain of not understanding and knowing that she once again in her life was left to cheer silently from the shadows.

She knew it would eventually happen for she knew the person. She knew the strength and potential that merely needed to be discovered by the person. Things that she had seen from the beginning. They would never know just how much she cared, for it was better for her to stay silent and out of the way.

She carefully set the hammer on the table, took one more look up at the new painting adorning her wall, turned off the lights and slowly climbed the stairs to her waiting bed.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

I had to buy a new vacuum today.

I can't believe that I am going to admit this, but my other one died about 2 months ago and it is way past time. The thing about it is that this is the third vacuum that has died on me in the last five years. I know exactly what is killing them. There was only two options: cut all my hair off my head or buy a vacuum that could handle sucking 3 pounds of hair off the floor each week.

Since the first option would probably cause myself and those that have to look at me much distress, I opted for the second option. So I headed into the Hoover store. Mr. Personality (or lack thereof) asked how he could help me when I got there. I told him that I needed a vacuum that would not succumb to death by hairball. He showed me a few, of which one I purchased, that according to him the hair bypassed the engine and so it wouldn't effect the life of the vacuum.

He could have been feeding me full of crap and I ended up spending about three times the amount I typically spend, but if I get to vacuum my carpets tonight, happy am I.

I really should learn more about mechanical things.


 

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