If You Liked 'A Child Called IT'...

If you enjoyed the book, "A Child Called IT" by Dave Pelzer then you would also enjoy a book I recently finished called, "A Stolen Life" by Jaycee Lee Duggard.  She was kidnapped at the age of 11, imprisoned for 18 years, raped, and forced to have two children by her captor.  It is written by the girl who it actually happened to, and offers insight into why she didn't try to escape.

I thought it was an interesting read, even though I wanted to shake the kidnapped girl at times and tell her to use some common sense.  I suppose we never know what we would do in a given situation if we haven't experienced it ourselves, but I'd like to think that I'm far too stubborn and possessive of my own freedom to allow someone to have control not only over my body but my mind and my future as well.

Stupid Intelligent Question of the Day

Okay, so I'm an inquisitive person...sometimes a little too much.  I ask a lot of pointless questions, and in turn I learn a lot of random facts, which applies nowhere else in life except when I watch Jeopardy (and kick ass by the way).

Here is my Stupid Intelligent Question of the Day:

If a human is submerged in fresh water (except for their head) and they are not allowed to drink any water, will their body absorb enough water through their skin to not die from dehydration?  (I randomly thought this while in the shower...lol)

I don't know the science of the body enough to know the answer to this question.  Will I ever encounter this problem...no, but I'm just damn curious about the answer!

If anyone has some thoughts of what the answer might be, feel free to share your thoughts.  I'm always up for some mind-bloggling-thought-provoking ideas.

Hurry Christmas, Hurry Fast

In the words of Alvin and the Chipmunks, "Hurry Christmas, Hurry Fast... We can hardly stand the wait, Please Christmas don't be late!"

I'm one of the goofy individuals who adore everything about Christmas.  The lights, the tree, the ornaments, the cookies, the food, the songs, the wrapping, the gift giving, the gift giving, etc - you get the point.

However, this year I just want it to hurry up and be over already.

The rush of orders at my workplace is amazingly overwhelming - which added to the business practices (or lack thereof) cause more work and much more stress.  I've been working 6 days a week at an average of 10 hours per day.  Needless to say, I'm tired and ready for it to be over.  Christmas doesn't hold any joy because I haven't had any time to really enjoy December.

No time for leisurely listening to Christmas music on the weekends.  Fighting for time to decorate the tree and house.  No time to think about what gifts to give others, so I've only just started my Christmas shopping this week.  I haven't even had time to bake... and I love baking, especially Christmas cookies.  *sigh*

My job has consumed me.  My husband,  God love him, has been helping out the best he can.  He's been cooking more meals, helping with more laundry, cleaning the house by  himself, and even opening my garage door for me in the evening.  I'd be so overwhelmed without him.  I keep making an extra point to give him more hugs, kisses, and just generally tell him how much I appreciate the help.

"We've been good, but we can't last.  Hurry Christmas, Hurry Fast"

You Have a Low Inventory...of Brain Cells

The decisions made at my workplace by individuals above me seriously make me doubt their intelligence level and ethics.  These decisions, of course, affect my job process, and usually in a negative way.  Allow me to explain...

We have an insufficient way of managaging the inventory of our products.  Okay, lets be honest, the person "in charge" of managing our inventory and purchasing more doesn't pay attention to it at all.  Therefore, WE notify HER when we are out of something.  THEN we wait THREE MONTHS for it to come back in-stock.  Common sense would tell you to pay track of which teams and products sell and how many sell, therefore, you could order them BEFORE they go out of stock.  It must be a hard concept to understand because my workplace hasn't figured it out yet.  (I've started to keep track of lost sales due to this, and it amuses me the higher it gets... so far we've lost close to $15 K in orders due to out-of-stock product in 9 days)  Plus, I know that number is much higher, since I only see a small fraction of sales.

As you can imagine, this creates some havoc around Christmas time.  Therefore, our genius of a President decided to make the executive decision today to change customer's orders without notifying them or the vendor.  

For Example:  You ordered your a game with your NFL team on it with a football background.  Our company has run out of the football background games, so we are sending you a game with a blank background.  

Hmmmm, I wonder if the customers will notice?  Hmmmmm, I wonder if they'll be upset?  

Guess who gets to deal with the angry customers when the backlash comes?  Me.  I get the fun job of trying to explain why my company decided to make that shady decision and pretend like I think it's fine.  I get to try to talk down the angry customers and respond to their angry emails.  Does the lady who doesn't manage inventory have to talk to them?  No.  Does the president who made the decision to send them something different have to talk to them?  No.  

Who has to deal with the backlash?  Me.  My fellow coworkers and I are beyond pissed.  It is to the point where we are AMAZED by their business practices at this point.

Sometimes I just wish the vendors and customers would take their business elsewhere, so it would force my company to become more morally sound in their practices.  It's hard to swallow your opinions of what is right and wrong and just "do your job".  I'm given my job orders and I should complete them, but it is becoming harder and harder to bite my tongue.  It's hard to follow orders that you don't believe are right.  It's hard to suffer the consequences of  bad decisions when you know you could do a better job than those who are above you.

*le sigh*

Free Show

There is nothing I hate more than answering people who come into our office.  Usually they are men, and usually they look at me like I'm some kind of free show that they are entitled to watch and comment upon.  It boils my blood.  I have a brain, and yes, I do see you openly and awkwardly gawking at me.  It might be considered flattering if you were somewhat descrete about it, however, when your eyes roam my body like you have a shot at getting with me then I am absolutely NOT flattered. 
First of all, this is a place of business and you are here for that purpose so be professional.
Secondly, females are not ignorant of how blatently you stare at them, and it is not flattering.
Lastly, I am married, so have some respect.

I am not dressed provocatively.  I'm not flaunting myself.  Heck, I'm not even flirting with them.  I'm just asking who they are and who they are here to see.  It doesn't warrent looking at me like I'm some kind of eye candy soely put on this earth for your pleasure.

ARGH!  Sorry, it's just been an annoying morning....

Don We Now Our Gay Apparel

A tradition that I grew up with was that 'St. Nick/St. Nicholas/Santa Claus' would come on December 6th (Saint Nicholas Day) to fill your stockings with goodies.  In my family that is when we would set out milk and cookies and our letters to Santa (usually telling him about how good we had been, what we had done wrong, and what we would like for Christmas).
I've continued this tradition in my own home, granted I don't have children yet, but my husband sure seemed to enjoy it.  My stocking remained empty, alas he didn't grow up with this tradition, but I bet he'll remember it next year.  I don't mind though, since it was fun to fill up his stocking while he was sleeping.

Husband's Stocking:
-Reeses in a Candy Cane shaped container
-Pepperidge Farm Geneva Cookies
-Christmas Hershey's Kisses throughout the stocking
-A new Burt's Bees chapstick (since he always tries to steal mine)
-A Silver Coffee mug (matches the one he steals of mine, except mine is PINK!)
-Two new pairs of cute socks (don't tell him that they are 'cute' though)
-A pair of fleece plaid Pj pants

Our dog, Lula, a wheaten terrier doesn't have a stocking yet.  I imagine I'll buy one for her after Christmas.  However, she did get a gift too, although I don't think she enjoys it too much.  I bought her a cone and an inflatable cone :-)  Talk about 'gay' apparel...

Our Lula

The poor thing is a hypoallergenic dog, but SHE is allergic to everything.  We have her on special expensive food because she is allergic to 14 top food ingredients found in dog foods (beef, pork, corn, etc.), which we found out through a $300 vet visit to test her blood.  Needless to say, we've spent a ton of money so far to make our "Itchy Bitchy", as we affectionately call her, not so itchy.

NOW, she's biting, licking, chewing at herself again.  This time we think it's due to her being bored when we aren't home.  Therefore, she has to Don her Gay Apparel until her bald spots grow back in....really...she has BALD SPOTS from this.  However, she is giving me looks to kill right now as though I am making her wear this thing to embarrass her.  Her prideful 'terrier attitude' is in full force at the moment.  Lord knows she's plotting ways inside that rotten head of hers of how to get me back...

Giving me a 'Look'

Jeesh... wait till I have actual children... I'll think having a dog was a breeze.