Jeanine Holquist's Blog

Dreams of a TV Addict

2009-07-29T15:50:00.000-04:00

As extremely pathetic TV-junkies, my sister and I were having a conversation at lunch about how we really wished that TV programs would develop a kind of iTunes strategy – where you could download just specific episodes of a show. I don’t usually want an entire season or seasons of a program – but there are certain episodes I could watch again and again. So, we got to making our wish lists. Here are ten I’d buy (sadly, among many others)….what are yours?

Comedy

(1) Turkey drop – WKRP in Cincinnati (Turkeys Away, 1978)

(2) Laura reveals that Rob’s boss wears a toupee – The Dick Van Dyke Show (I’d Rather Be Bald than have No Head at All, 1964)

(3) Rhoda and Mary go to a party at Mary’s college-aged boyfriend’s house – The Mary Tyler
Moore Show (Angels in the Snow, 1973)

(4) The dad teaches Malcom how to roller skate – Malcom in the Middle (Rollerskates, 2000)

(5) The muffin-top episode – Seinfeld (The Muffin Tops, 1997)

(6) The kids open a bed & breakfast – Family Ties (4 Rms Ocn Vu, 1984)

(7) Gob gets himself put in prison to perform a magic trick – Arrested Development (Key Decisions, 2003)

(8) Frasier challenges his friends/family to do something daring/spontaneous – Frasier (Look Before You Leap, 1996)

(9) Larry and Balki take karate lessons – Perfect Strangers (The Karate Kids, 1987)

(10)Dana gets inside information on the sale of the network – Sports Night (La Forza Del Destino, 2000)

Drama

(1) A mysterious woman from his past returns – Due South (Victoria’s Secret, 1998)

(2) The final episode – La Femme Nikita (A Time for Every Purpose, 2001)

(3) The X-files gets serious and the mythology really kicks in for the first time – The X-files (The Erlenmeyer Flask, 1994)

(4) Michael gets a job at DAA/Michael quits his job at DAA -- thirtysomething (Michael Writes a Story, 1989)

(5) The final episode, season two – Veronica Mars (Not Pictured, 2006)

(6) The Christmas episode – China Beach (X-Mas Chn Bch VN ’67, 1988)

(7) Hour 24, season one, you watch the usual conventions of the hour long drama disappear – 24 (11:00 pm – 12:00 am, 2001)

(8) The first episode, a major WHOA – Heroes (Chapter 1 “Genesis”, 2006)

(9) A flash-forward into the life of Becca (and Jesse) -- Life Goes On (Bec to the Future, 1992)

(10) Dozens of Chinese stow-aways are found in a shipping container in L.A. -- The West Wing (Shibboleth, 2000)

(11) Sydney Bristow is at her spy-girl best when she wonders if she’s found her supposed-dead mother – Alias (Almost Thirty Years, 2001)

(12) We learn what the whole St. Elsewhere story really was, and wow, what a shocker -- St. Elsewhere (The Last One, 1988)

It's Been Awhile, But I'm Back...Again!

2009-07-20T10:26:00.000-04:00

Things I Learned This Week-End:

1. If you take a paddleboat out on Kimball Lake with your niece and sister-in-law, you might as well go ahead and also take the tunnel over to the other lake and hang out over there too. Because there's nothing that makes you feel more like a kid again than knowing you're out of the "moms'" binocular range -- freedom!!

2. If you've got a choice between mashed potatoes and cheesy potatoes...go ahead and take some of both.

3. Langston hate, hate, hates the water but has no problem balancing precariously on the edge of the dock.

4. If a 1/2 full baby bottle has accidentally been left outside for a week it's best to just throw the whole thing away.

5. The homemade kettle chips at the Claddaugh Pub are really, really good. But do yourself a favor and stop there. Because if you later get a scoop of ice cream at Baskin-Robins, it will put you over the top and your stomach will hurt.

6. If the Cubs get an eight run lead they will probably win the game.

7. I could probably buy at least one thing from every aisle at JoAnn's Etc.

8. Sometimes Violet is crabby just because she wants to be rocked.

9. When I'm power-hosing off the plastic outdoor toys, Langston likes to have his feet sprayed...Violet kind of doesn't.

10. If there are no other toys for Violet to play with, she will make do with a blue plastic lid.

I'm Back! Highlights - Halloween Edition

2008-11-05T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, Halloween is now over. We’ve all got chocolate smears around our mouths, candy wrappers litter the floor and the empty shells of costumes are slung over the dining room chair. Sigh.

Violet was just the right size for Langston’s old pumpkin costume. I can’t believe it was 2 years ago that Langston wore it…it seems like yesterday! We are really getting our money’s worth out of the $5 Jeff’s mom spent buying it while I was still pregnant with Langston. It is my plan to just continue dressing Violet up in Langston’s hand-me-downs until she becomes old enough to say for herself, “Hey, I don’t want to dress up as Batman!”

Langston dressed up as a dragon. Jeff called me from Costco and said that they had costumes for $10 and should he get one for Langston. Heck yes! It was actually very cute and we felt sure that the “2-4 year” size would fit him, as even though he’s big, he’s not as big as a 4 year old. Well, I guess these were sized for Chinese children because when we finally put it on him it was substantially too small. To the extent that about 4” of leg showed out the bottom, he had a massive wedgie and we had to cram the hood over his melon. But, rotten parents that we are we figured that he would only have it on for a short time and it wasn’t worth the trouble of returning it and trying to find another one. So, he went as a crammed in dragon.

First we went to Jeff’s mom and dad’s because Jeff’s mom is recovering from knee surgery and is still housebound. We thought it would cheer her up. We zipped both kids up in their costumes and took them outside for photos. Violet’s face pretty much told the tale of resignation and demonstrated a grim effort at quiet dignity. Which is hard to achieve when you have a pumpkin stem on your head. We did manage to get some cute pictures of the kids, though….particularly ones of the 2 kids together. It seems so weird that I now have 2 kids!

Langston then ran off wildly to the jungle gym and defied the constricting constraints of his costume and climbed all over, went down the slide, launched himself up the ladder…basically insured that when we unzipped his costume we would find him awash with sweat and stink J

Then we went home for some trick or treating. I had really been looking forward to this. I couldn’t wait to just swell with pride at my sweet darling boy and watch him thrill at the fun of his first time trick or treating. We drove separately, so I was waiting on the front porch when Jeff and Langston arrived home. They had stopped at Jeff’s sister Jill’s house since she had a little present for him. It was a Thomas the Tank Engine pillowcase for candy collection. I think he was more excited about that than anything else that happened that night. Anyhow, I knew we were in trouble when I could hear Langston wailing as Jeff opened his door. “I just want to go home! I don’t want to go to houses! I don’t want to trick and treat!” Oops. Um, sorry kid…you’re going and you’re going to have the time of your life!!! After a lot if cajoling and empty promises and what amounted to dragging him out of the house, we began our exciting night of trick or treating.

Langston is fascinated by our next door neighbor’s dog, so meeting Dizzy got the night off to a decent start. I don’t even think Langston had any idea what was going in his bag…he was too obsessed with “talking to Dizzy.” “Bye, bye Dizzy…I will see you later!” he yelled as we headed off down the street. This began the night’s fixation on what pets he would meet next. We went to about 6 houses (we had to keep promising Langston, just a couple more houses and then we’ll go home, I promise) and he had more fun getting to know the cats and dogs around the house than anything else. And, of course people appreciated this squashed little dragon petting their pets saying, “Don’t fall down, Maxwell…I’ll see you later, Snickers…etc.” So, he got massive amounts of candy.

We finally consented to let a glum little Langston go home…Jeff put him up on his shoulders and I just about teared up at the sight of Jeff toting our own little dragon through the fall leaves. So sweet.

He was so relieved to finally be unzipped from his costume…he ran around the house with glee. But you should have seen the look of joy on his face when we dumped out the bag onto the table…his eyes glazed over in ecstasy. We agreed he could have 4 pieces before bedtime and in between bites he told his Aunt Julie (who had stayed home with Violet, who had said “uh-uh” to the prospect of going out with us) all about his adventures…Dizzy the dog…boys who “scart” him…riding on daddy…brown suckers! And then he went off to bed while the adults helped themselves to left-over candy.

I can’t wait for next year when Violet gets to wear Langston’s old dragonfly costume…and who knows what Langston will decide to be (I mean what his cheapo mom and dad find on sale).

Thursday Highlights, April 24, 2008

2008-04-25T09:09:00.000-04:00

Well, the day started out fairly good. After Jeff woke me up on the couch (yes, the snores had once again exceeded the volume of the fan by my head and the sound protection of the ear plugs in my ears) I struggled into the shower and into my clothes (Only took two tries today! I typically have a daily clothing crisis that usually means trying on like 3 different outfits to find the one I think I hate the least...today I had outgrown shirt #1 - shoot - but shirt #2 actually worked, so, cool.) and then back into the rainforest of a bathroom to complete my power pregnant look. I always forget that as the weather gets warmer the bathroom gets hotter and steamier...can't we both just take cold showers?...to the point where by June I've got a fan blowing on me and still sweat my way through "hair and make-up." There must be a better or cooler way.

Then it's time to save Langston from the torment that is hanging out in his crib while he KNOWS both his parents are up and having fun without him. His protests gain force and volume as time goes by. But, all is forgiven and he gives me a long hard snuggle...head on my shoulder, arms "tucked in", saying "mah-me...mah-me..." and then "dah-dee...dah-dee" (the little traitor!) Whoa! Skunky stinky diaper this morning! It took the curl right out of my hair! The anti-biotic he's on is doing a bit of a tatoo on his tummy and the results are in the diapers. How many more months until potty training begins???

Langston is more than happy to head out for the car, toting 2 puzzle pieces (he always has to bring one or more friends with him on his rides). He gets a little frisky on me and starts heading out to frolic in the lawn. I lure him closer by holding out his blue beaded necklace (hey, he's a metrosexual in training!) and he get's just close enough for me to pounce. Oh Langston...maybe one day this won't be true, but for now I'm more cunning, stronger and bigger! So with a few shouts (either from me or him...I can't remember) he's clamped into the seat.

Drop off goes fine as he seems willing to abandon his dear mom with the promise of cheerios (I laughed as I watched him go up to a set of chairs that were stacked 3 high, wrestle off the top chair and carry it over to the breakfast table...I forget what a macho baby I have).

Then I headed off for my last appointment with the physical therapist. She reassess me to find that while my flexibility has improved, my pain level has actually gotten worse. We both think it's because the baby is growing and putting more and more pressure on that nerve. I'm almost a little teary when I realize that there's nothing really that any of us can do about this and that more PT is not going to solve anything. I think I'm also a little depressed because while it's somewhat awkward to have the lovely, tiny Nancy pushing on my butt to relax the muscles, at least she's a paid professional and kind of HAS to do it...it's harder to get anyone else (yes, I'm speaking to you Jeff Holquist) to push on my butt for 15 minutes. Or even 2 minutes. My poor butt.

Work was basically tomb-like. Our boss is gone and a couple people are traveling and the rest of us are apathetic. And, it's about the last gorgeous day we're going to have for awhile. I pulled Laura over and told her that we're both fools if we work from the office this afternoon. We'll see!

I then met with our vendor for our NeoCon press kits. We've worked with them for years and they wanted in the worst way to bring us lunch. So, Laura and I each got a random sandwich at our meeting. Whatever.

Then, since I "worked through lunch" I took my lunch hour and went home to quickly do some chores. Jeff and I bought one of those booth/nook dining sets off of craigslist last night. It's really nice quality and we think it will be a better solution for the random space we have to eat in now that the dining room will become the baby's room. We had not really intended to be a full on family in this house...but then the real estate market totally tanked and we decided it was a better idea to try to wait it out a little bit. So, we're having to get creative with space. Anyhow...it needed to be moved into position and some other things moved around...vacuuming, neatening up for our Bible study group to come over tonight. I was kind of glad to get that done this afternoon because now I can come home from work and just relax for a little while with Jeff and Langston - maybe even take a walk. Even though it's windy, it is warm. Which we may not be able to say tomorrow :(

And then I headed out to the car wash for a full on cleaning of the mini-van. Pulled all the carpets out, climbed around inside, just went nuts. And oh how it sparkles! It looks just as fancy as when I bought it :) Oh Odyssey...I -heart- you!

Now I am sitting at Grand Traverse Pie Company, drinking ice water, nibbling on some apple pie (hence the desire for a pre-Bible study walk) and using their free wi-fi. I love laptops. I love working remotely. I love pie (even Felix Pie on the Cubs...he got a homerun the other night!). I've sent all my emails, updated my calendar, made some lists...and am finishing my highlights for the day.

Sorry it's been so long.

Thursday Highlights - March 27, 2008

2008-03-27T15:40:00.001-04:00

-There is really nothing better than those malted milk eggs they sell at Easter.
-Langston doesn’t really enjoy going in to get his picture taken. I kind of think it’s that he feels he’s grown too sophisticated in his tastes for trips to JC Penney – so, next time I may try Walmart just to show him that it can get worse and he should just suck it up and stop being such a snob.
-After all the snow melts, your lawn and yard look really, really gross. I didn’t realize, for instance, that under all the snow in the backyard was a big empty Kirkland diaper wipes box. I was blissfully unaware it was there all winter, but now that it’s all exposed, I think the neighbors will expect me to actually dispose of it.
-Those city trash containers you can get are really awesome. And the secret of getting Jeff to enjoy dealing with the trash. He now gleefully trots out there all during the week with little random trashes chortling every time how much he loves the new curby. Before, he used to weep tears of bitterness as he grimly gathered up the trash on trash day literally minutes before the truck was due to arrive.
-There’s no better way to start Easter Sunday than going into Langston’s room first thing in the morning and bellowing out the old hymns of my childhood – Up From the Grave He Arose…and Christ the Lord is Risen Today. He listened politely and even applauded and gave me a “yay!” when I was done. He’s such a nice kid.
-No matter how many new varieties of day planners I have tried in search of perfection, about this time every year I will realize that the one I’ve got “isn’t it either.”
-Any time that it takes an hour to get from Woodland Mall to the stupid Applebee’s on the Beltline you know that you’ve just crossed over some kind of very scary line. Stupid snow storm! Stupid traffic! Stupid me for soldiering on to actually go through with this utter waste of time, when anyone with the brains God gave a goose would have turned back.
-Those new refrigerator pickles that Jeff got are really addictively yummy. Langston agrees.
-It appears that my butt doesn’t like to be pregnant. I got sciatica with my first pregnancy and it has roared back again with the second. Many people get pregnancy sciatica in their legs or back…I am one of the outliers who actually gets a nearly constant burning/piercing pain deep within the butt-cheek…making it quite literal when I say that pregnancy is a pain in the butt.
-I just realized that my dentist is really pretty. I went and got my teeth cleaned this week and when she came in I was kind of blown away. Of course she’s younger than me and also much cuter. When I told Jeff that I had just noticed today how pretty Dr. Dial is, he said…You just noticed that?? Apparently I am slower on the up-take. No wonder Jeff never complains about going to the dentist any more.
-To Langston, raisons are crack cocaine.
-In Jeff’s warped, geek-like mind he has come up with some kind of home-computer network-bridge device that, when completed, will enable us to save our TiVo’d programs onto the network and download them to our Ipods. I didn’t even know what to say, except that sometimes my husband is really smart.
-If you’re feeling sick to your stomach, eating over-easy eggs will only make you feel worse…much worse.
-Getting a mismarked bottle of contact lens cleaner for 6.99 instead of the 11.99 usually charged makes me feel really rich.
-If I get up early and think I have all the time in the world to get ready for work, I will end up late. If I oversleep by half an hour and tear around like a freak, I will usually leave for work right on time.
-There’s nothing that feels much better than getting our tax return checks!
-There’s nothing that spends faster than our tax return checks!
-No matter how many times I clean my bathroom, it will need to be cleaned again.
-If both Jeff and I are sick with the very same virus, believe me when I say that Jeff is sicker.

Yesterday's Highlights Today - February 22, 2008

2008-02-22T15:41:00.000-05:00

I seem to be falling into the nasty habit of waiting until the next day to hit the Thursday highlights. Oh well. At least that way you get the full day and not just backwards from whenever I felt like typing.

So, here’s how it started. I started by taking Langston over to the Staybridge Suites to pick up Tricia (who is visiting from Chicago and works for our PR agency, Peppercom. I have worked with her for the nearly 8 years I’ve been at Steelcase, so she is a friend as well as a “colleague.” She always wants to check in with Langston, so I thought this was a good opportunity to have her see him but not do anything too prolonged where I might worry that Langston will puke on her, or start screaming, or similarly embarrass me.) We got there a little early so I took Langston in and we checked out the hotel together. Langston was totally jazzed by this. He could wander up and down the long hallways…only occasionally trying to knock on a random room door or steal the USA Today from the front of another…and then going “boneless” when I tried to steer him back to the lobby. Good times.

It’s a pretty nice hotel. We checked out the breakfast bar (tasty!) and the TV room (comfy!) and the library (plants! chairs!) while Langton squealed with delight at each new thing.

Tricia found us and after hugs and squeezes, we all headed out to drop Langston at daycare on the way to our morning PR meetings.

After all the excitement, Langston wasn’t so excited to go into his classroom. He didn’t cry…just the boneless treatment again…this is becoming a nasty habit.

We visited the Learning Center breakfast bar (blueberry bagel…and donut “nub” – if you just hack off a bite, does it really count? - …and glass of ice water…ever since I became pregnant I crave ice water…seems very strange to me, but I guess I’ll just go with it) and then the meetings began. We are spending a couple of days meeting with all the product groups, service groups, design teams, research teams, etc. to find out what will be going on in the next year that will require PR. Without my blueberry bagel to comfort me it would have been a pretty long morning I tell ya.

And then our meetings were over and it was lunch time! Yay…it’s chili Thursday at the Learning Center!!

After lunch, Tricia headed for the airport and I headed for the doctor’s office. It was my first real appointment of my pregnancy…two weeks ago I met with the nurse, but that’s just for health history, blood work, etc.

So, the first thing I had to do was get weighed. Of course. Blech. It has been a tough first tri-mester…where basically the only thing that kept my nausea at bay was, curiously, eating, so I was fearing the worst. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. Turns out I am 10 pounds heavier than I was before getting pregnant with Langston. So, not great…but not to despair levels yet. There’s plenty of time for that. Especially since I spied my records and I could clearly read the notes made during my previous pregnancy “watch weight gain.” Sigh.

Then the nurse took my bp and the doctor came in. First of all, he says, what’s up with my high bp? Oh good grief, are you kidding me??? I don’t know if you remember last pregnancy, but my last tri-mester I got this insane bp that resulted in me having to spend 3 weeks on bed rest, having an oxygen mask on me during my whole labor, and having to “push” while laying on my left side…and after all that having to have a c-section anyway. Good times. Anywho, two weeks ago when I met with the nurse my bp was perfect – 120/70…today, it was over 140. Eek!!! Yeah, the doctor was concerned that with my previous history and that it has gotten this elevated prior to 20 weeks…well, they are going to have to monitor it very closely. But, there’s not really anything I can do to stop it. It’s gestational hypertension and I’m hoping it was just an aberration and that it will be normal at my next visit.

Next he tells me that I now have some new antigen in my blood that I didn’t have at my pre-Langston blood tests. This means that I got it from either a) being a prostitute or b) getting a blood transfusion. Since I could honestly rule out a), that means that the transfusions I got after Langston’s botched c-section came with a little something extra. He was going to do some additional research on this “E-antigen” but it seems like it’s something similar to having negative blood when the baby has positive blood. The danger lies in my and baby’s blood crossing…I would view the baby as an invader and start attacking it. Again, it looks like it’s just something they are going to have to monitor with a bunch of blood tests throughout the pregnancy to keep track of the levels.

It seems like my body does a bait and switch with me…on the one hand it can’t wait to get pregnant but then as soon as I do, it starts making things as miserable as possible.

Oh well. At least none of this appears to mean much risk to the baby, so that’s a good thing. Mom will just have to be tough. And complain a lot. And require more than the average dose of chocolate…and pity.

I also got to see the baby since I looked to be “higher” than seemed right for my current due date – he thought I might be further along than they originally thought. So, they pulled out the ultrasound machine to measure the baby. Hey! There’s really a baby in there! And, thank you Lord, just one! But there it was just breathing and heart beating and floating around…hard to believe that he/she is only a few inches big at this point. He wanted to measure the “head to rump” distance but, as he is not a professional tech, was having a little difficulty being totally confident he had found the rump…so, he took the measurement several times just to account for his “fudge factor” and, I’m actually right where they thought I was…about 14 weeks. The real ultrasound will be at about 20 weeks…so in about 6 weeks I hope to know if we are having a boy or a girl. When I told Jeff about it he asked if they could tell the sex yet…I said, Jeff, the man wasn’t sure he could find the butt…I doubt he could hone in on the various pieces and parts J

Back to work. Nothing happened. I got scheduled for a 4:45 conference call on our aviation department…web surfed while “listening” in on this riveting conversation. Then headed home.

Fabulous microwave dinner followed…lasagna and garlic toast…hey, I got home late, sue me!

After dinner Langston got a bath (which he LOVES) and then ran around the kitchen in his pajamas…literally in circles…he was reminding me of a dog chasing its tail. He was holding on to a favorite truck, running in circles until dizziness forced a fall, then some wailing, then back up again to repeat the whole thing. It was hilarious. He is in a phase where the more tired he gets the punchier he becomes. By the time our Bible study people showed up he was dancing around the living room laughing maniacally. Of course he cried when I put him to bed. But only for a few seconds…then his eyes lost their focus and he practically fell asleep in front of my eyes.

Bible study pooped me out. Long day, I guess. The apple cinnamon bread Mike brought was yummy. Took the plates in to the kitchen. Washed my new “old fashioned hot dog roller grill.”

I bought this on a whim for something I wanted to do for Jeff…I was trying to be a good wife and give him some extra TLC (I think the last few months have been hard on him too). I know that he is bummed that he is not going to make it to Spring Training to watch a Dodger’s game their final spring training at Vero Beach (before they move to Arizona) this year. So, I thought that on the date of the final game at Vero Beach I would try to create a “baseball experience” to commemorate it. So I bought this grill thing. But now it looks like that will fall through anyway…so, I had decided to take it to work for Friday’s (today’s) summer themed potluck. (Can I say that the thing worked like a charm? Very fun. The roller things worked, the hotdogs were great, the aroma of sizzling hotdogs filled the office. What could be better?)

And then off to bed. Boy, sleeping sure feels good. I could just do it for hours.

Yesterday's Highlights - February 14, 2008

2008-02-15T14:29:00.001-05:00

I guess better late than never...here are yesterday's highlights:

Well, the morning started early. Way too early. I had an 8 o’clock meeting that I was leading across town and I also needed to pick up some things for it on the way. So, I ended up at headquarters at 7:15 and then wanted to stop and pick up some pastries for the meeting on my way there. When I was about 10 minutes from my final destination, I got a call from Brad. He had heard from 2 other people that they couldn’t come to the meeting now and should we just cancel. Um…hello…I got myself to work at o’dark-thirty and picked up treats and we are DEFINITELY having this meeting. I was also kind of peeved that these people didn’t let me know – since I was the meeting convener. I just thought it was rude. But, the meeting proceeded with those who could attend and it actually went very well. A reschedule with the other 2 people is now on for next week. But I’m not bringing treats. Ha.

Then it was back to headquarters and one of the worst discoveries I’ve ever made at work. It nearly devastated me. My heart was in my throat and for the first time in 8 years I seriously considered quitting my job. It was Sherrie who broke the news to me: our favorite website, televisionwithoutpity had been blocked by our IT department. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! What will I do now with my lazy afternoons? The long, boring summer? Ack! My favorite work time waster is now gone. In a total fit of hysteria I wrote to Jeff to tell him that I might have to quit my job. His “don’t panic” email gave me several suggestions of how he might help me beat the man and live to indulge my time waster again. I can only hope. Really.

I lost all motivation to go out to lunch and ended up just reading a book downstairs in the cafeteria. But not before I had gone out and moved my car to a better parking space. I’m just that petty.

After lunch I looked out the window and despaired at the snow. Spent a few more minutes wondering how long it will be until summer…I settled on about a year.

Long meeting followed where I was told that the VP of a certain department was really struggling to come up with a viable global strategy for his area and that maybe as his communications person I could work with him and help him develop one. My answer: Um…he’s a VP making like 5 times what I make…can’t he come up with his own strategy for his own department? Good grief.

Even though the afternoon crept by, eventually it was time to go get the little boy. I stopped first at Ludema’s floral to get some flowers for my sister, from Langston. It was PACKED!! And was apparently being highly promoted on the local Hispanic radio station. They were doing a live remote and the place was full of Mexican guys. And also full of incredibly overpriced flowers. Jeesh. What a rip off Valentine’s Day is. I decided instead to get her a flowering plant, which was less than half of the price of the cheapest vase of roses.

Then it was on to CVS. I wanted to get a couple of valentine’s candies for my friend's kids when they came over after dinner. I have never seen such bare shelves! I had no idea how much people bought for valentine’s day…there was literally tumbleweed blowing down the aisles! I found a couple of sad strawberry cream hearts…who even knows if they’ll like them…but it was either that or the one last bag of store-brand conversation hearts. Oh good…they also had one last coconut cream heart too…my favorite! Sure, I’ll be my valentine!

Then I picked up Langston from daycare. He just looked beat! Apparently the wild valentine’s party just did him in. And, if his clothes were any indication, there was a significant amount of candy involved as well…so, I think I caught him during his sugar crash. Did I mention Langston’s hair? Yeah, last week I noticed his hair was getting pretty long and so I just trimmed it quickly back over his ears…giving him…yes, a mullet. I had no idea what I was doing! Poor little guy is “this close” to having a rat tail hanging down his back. That’s it…he MUST get a real hair cut this week-end! Otherwise people are going to start calling him Jimmy Bob, and that’s just not acceptable :)

I got home planning to make something really simple – omelets and fruit salad. Yeah, over an hour later I was still chopping fruit! Why must it be so hard to eat healthy food??? So, my “simple” meal ended up dirtying just about every knife, cutting board, aluminum bowl in the house and it took about an hour and a half to make. Sigh. But the fruit was really good. At least there was that.

Then everyone started arriving for Bible study. I lit a quick paper log in the fireplace (it’s nice even for the effect), Jeff got the coffee started, and I heard from my friend that there was a “lice incident” with her daughter – several girls from school all got it…including her. Oops. It brought back my own lice incidents from childhood. I was a repeat offender…or carrier…or victim…whatever. I remember that my parents discovered it once when we were up north…since we were quite a ways from a town they decided to go with the old fashioned remedy….wait for it…kerosene. Yes…they doused their small child with a can of kerosene. Imagine how nice that felt on a flea-bitten scalp! And massaged through my waist length hair. Good grief…there are camp fires up there! What if a stray spark had ventured near – my whole head would have exploded!!! And sometimes I doubt if I’M a good parent.

So, I involuntarily shuddered for a couple minutes and then it was on to more chatting and then to more serious topics.

Once everyone left and I got the place cleaned up and Jeff & I had finished watching Survivor (OK, it’s our one guilty pleasure…so sue us!) I decided that I missed my son. So, I went and pulled him out of bed (still sound asleep) and spent some time rocking him. He’s such a big boy! It’s a lot different rocking a 30+ pound toddler. But still so sweet. He just smacked his lips and sighed and snored and fidgeted and at one point broke into this huge smile.

And then some reading for me and off to bed. All in all a good day.

Friday Highlights - February 8, 2008

2008-02-08T16:26:00.000-05:00

I don’t know if you heard but we had a huge snow storm on Wednesday! It was totally fun and for some reason filled me with unwarranted happiness as I drove home in it from work. Once I got home I was compelled to take Langston outside with me. I thought I might shovel the walk and maybe part of the driveway…I just felt inspired. Probably because I am a new parent and always think that I’m doing something wrong, I had not really taken him out for snow frolicking. But Wednesday I just had to do it. Well…he LOVED it! He was literally spinning in circles giggling. It was very cute. He ate the snow…he blew on it…he sat in it…he punched it…he caught snowflakes in his mouth…he marveled at the neighbor’s snow blower…he got soaking wet and freezing cold and still bawled when I brought him in the house. It was probably the first time that I’ve seen a glimpse of how fun it is going to be to really play with him as a kid. It was probably THE highlight of the week.

My friend brought a blueberry cobbler over for our Bible study on Thursday and it was AMAZING! It was at least half cobbler…which I am a total sucker for. And there was even ice cream to put on top. I was in heaven….cobbler heaven.

I was invited/mandated to attend an all day meeting with an advertising/marketing firm that is going to be handling the messaging and collateral on our new product launches. I didn’t have a problem accepting…I mean, nobody looks forward to an all day meeting…but it did seem like I needed to be there. Then I found out that the meeting is in SANTA MONICA!!!! Oh baby. I’m not sure anything at my job has ever made me happier. I have been so bummed and depressed this winter and there really wasn’t a way presenting itself for Jeff and I to have a little sunshine escape and remain within our “do not exceed” budget. So, we checked and Jeff can get a free airline ticket from some frequent flyer miles he had…and with me being out there for work we will only have to cover 1 night’s hotel. It will be a very quick trip…but so incredibly nice to be in the sun for even a little while.

I heard from my very random hair stylist that he had changed styling locations. You may or may not know that my relationship with this guy began about a year ago when, downtown dropping off some reporter at the Amway and filled with despair, I thought to myself, if I encounter a hair salon between here and home I’m just going in and getting my hair cut. Well…I happened upon this place and they took me as a walk-in and I’d been working with Eddie ever since. I always felt like he was perhaps one hair cut away from being homeless. His stories were always very alarming and entailed things like chauffering someone who had lost their license due to a DUI because they would let him use the car and he couldn’t afford one of his own…or sleeping in someone’s closet because the rent was cheaper. I really felt like I had no choice but to keep going to him. Plus, he gave a pretty good cut. Well…my ill advised decision to grow my hair out one more time had left me lank, aged, depressed, totally lacking in sass. So, when I heard from him that he had switched salons but was moving but was also available to cut my hair…well, I gave him a call back and scheduled a life changing cut. Turns out that he is no longer working at the old place and trying to get out of his new place and possibly moving to another city…and the long and short of it is…could I just come to his house for the cut. Well…of course I can. So, I headed to the house he shares with like 8 other people and was met with a kitchen chair alone in the center of the dining area…next to it…a single pair of scissors, a comb, and a cape. I washed my hair in his sink (although he did offer to shampoo it for me…that just felt way weird in an already sketchy situation) and he commenced cutting. There was a lot of “stand up,” “turn this way,” “sit down”…cause, you know, it was just a kitchen chair. Then there were the stories of how he had lost his last job at the salon because they thought he was stealing…and how they were now telling all his clients that he was a cocaine addict…and, oh Eddie. Oh my. And, of course, there was also no mirror. So, I had no idea how this mood altering, whole new ‘do was coming along. He went upstairs to retrieve a hair dryer and some aqua net hair spray (his own?) and commenced styling. Of course he told me that when I do this at home I should definitely use a round brush and some product…but “Lucky you…I can do this without all that…” Anyhow, this other random guy came in toward the end, waiting for his cut, and he assured me that it was looking “very nice” …as only a random 50 year old man sitting in some strange guy’s living room watching a stranger get styled could say. Well, I walked over to the hall door, where a mirror was mounted, and actually liked what I saw. He did a great job! It is a whole new me! Although Eddie assured me that even after he moved he would likely be coming back every month or so for his clients here…I just sense that this was perhaps our last strange encounter.

So, those are the highlights for the week.

Thursday Highlights, January 31, 2008

2008-01-31T16:29:00.000-05:00

Well, here I am again, back on Thursdays. Although, I wouldn’t exactly expect that these particular highlights are going to rock.

I overslept this morning. Almost a little on purpose. It’s just so cold out and bed was so warm and cozy…and Langston was still asleep…and I just couldn’t bring myself to get up. Jeff had the same problem, so we didn’t exactly help each other get motivated. It was just a lot of, “Oh man, I don’t want to get up.” “Yeah, me neither.” “I’m so sick of how dark it is in the morning…it makes me want to sleep in.” “Yeah, I agree.” Hey, I didn’t say it was interesting…just the ramblings of those postponing the inevitable.

Finally got out of bed and threw Langston in the shower with Jeff. Little boy is just a riot with that! I woke him up asking if he wanted to take a shower with daddy and he practically scaled the crib rails. When I picked him up, his feet were literally peddling, like Fred Flintstone, to get to the shower. So, I laid him down to strip him and he gets all worried, thinking that all of a sudden we stopped heading for the shower…and he’s going to get gypped of his shower…wild thrashings ensue. Finally I get his clothes off and I carry a dancing and giggling little boy to the bliss of the morning shower. It really is pretty funny.

Then when I got him out of the shower I had a genuine “awww” moment. I wrapped up this wet, naked little boy in a fluffy white towel and he just put his head on my shoulder and snuggled in…oh…does it get any better than that???

Laughter quickly turned to tears as I wrestled him into his clothes for the day. Cooperative he was not. He ended up with 2 stern warnings and then a firm crack on the thigh. Welcome to Thursday.

After dropping off Langston I was looking forward to driving to my meeting at the Learning Center. I hadn’t had time for breakfast (that oversleeping will kill ya) and I thought I could grab a quick snack there before my meeting. Well…about 2 minutes later I get a call from a co-worker asking where I was – our meeting was supposed to have started 15 minutes ago. Uh…wha? Yeah, my Learning Center meeting had been cancelled and I hadn’t put the new meetings in my schedule. So, no breakfast…I race to this meeting only to find that the 3rd person hadn’t even shown up yet. The guy finally gets there like 45 minutes late and the meeting goes just long enough that my stomach begins semi-audibly growling (it was like 10:00 at this point). I say semi, because I definitely heard it but I’m not sure anyone else did.

Thank heaven that meeting finally ended and I could have one of my new favorite special K bars…nutty honey. Fabulous.

Blah, blah, whatever, work, yeah, email, answer a call, blah, blah…when do I eat again? Oh yeah, I’m meeting a friend at a great new restaurant. And it was delicious! I had a cup of tomato soup (a winter classic) and a Michigan harvest salad and we topped it off by splitting a piece of Zingerman’s pecan pie. Oh, delish! And the conversation was great too. I’m so fortunate to know such smart, fun people.

And then back for more work. Interview here. E-mail there. Press statement here. Catch up on the on-line celebrity gossip there. And the day is drawing to a close.

Hmmmm…what should I make for dinner????

Wednesday Highlights - January 23, 2008

2008-01-23T16:13:00.000-05:00

Since I have been terrible at keeping up with Thursday highlights lately, I thought I would get a head-start this time and go with Wednesday instead.

This morning I woke up on the couch. Jeff’s snoring had hit an ultimate low (or high, I guess) and sighing dramatically I flounced to the living room with my blanket and pillow and huffed loudly as I laid down on the couch. This high drama was wasted, however, since Jeff snored through the whole thing. But, at least it made me feel a little better. I get to sleep in an extra 15 on Wednesdays because Janice comes to the house and I get back the time it takes to get Langston to daycare. Jeff, however, doesn’t get an extra 15 because he actually has to get to work at 7:30 these days because of a sick co-worker. This morning he actually lost 15 because he was still snoring away when I went in the bedroom at 7:10 and woke him up. Oops. Well, because he was late that meant I started to run late because the whole delicate balance of the morning schedule was now out of whack.

And then Janice called to say she was going to be a few minutes late. All this insane snow we’ve been accumulating daily makes for extended commutes. This would be fine on any other Wednesday. But, I was supposed to facilitate an interview at 8:30. And it was now 8:20. Again, oops. So, she finally got there and I went flying out the door and …insert banana peel whistle sound here…fell down our snow covered front stairs. I ended up on all fours in a snow bank in our front yard. Very nice. At that point I wanted to go back in the house, lay down and cry for a few minutes. Instead, I kind of whimpered and limped to the van. I think what was mostly hurt was my pride…but I did kind of hurt my foot too and it’s been bugging me all day. But, since it was now 8:35 I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself, I had to connect those 2 fools via my cell phone and hope the connection held.

Imagine you are watching the second hand of a clock. Around and around and around it spins…ticking off a minute every 60 seconds…imagine watching the hand sweep around 90 times…because that’s what I was doing as I listened to this endless interview on my cell phone of all things. 90 minutes? Are you kidding me? Really? You’ve got that much to say…and ask???

And, I was starving. I hadn’t had time for breakfast and I thought the interview would be 30 minutes max and I could have a snack. Um, not so much. By 10:00 I was ready to eat my own arm off.

Thank you Steelcase for having a cafeteria. I went downstairs and toasted a blueberry bagel.

Next I worked some on a power point for one of the breakout sessions for this year’s Strategy Forum at work. I am not a designer. I am not a power point genius. These things are kind of hard for me to do and, in the end, produce a product that is barely above average. Not very fulfilling work.

Then it was off to lunch at Tokyo Grill. Mmmmmm…ginger hibachi….very yummy.

Then off to a meeting at the pyramid building. As NeoCon gets closer and closer there are more and more weekly meetings to get the product launches queued up. Fascinating stuff. I brought my laptop so I could surf a little bit to stay alert during the meeting.

Driving back to headquarters, shivering in the old Odyssey, waiting endlessly for the heater to warm up from 2 degrees to the 88 I had set it to, I couldn’t help but to ponder how freaking cold it is outside and wonder when and if it’s going to let up. I set a very limited budget for Jeff and I for vacation this winter – if we can make it happen for that amount, then cool. However, the longer this cold snap endures and the more and more and more snow we get…I feel like, forget it! I’ve got to get out of here!!! Is there anywhere in the world where the sun is still shining??? I saw a great 24 hour sale for AirTran out of Flint…maybe we can make something work with that. Otherwise, I may have to go into hibernation for a few weeks.

Well I guess my plans for tonight are to put on my flannel pajama pants nearly immediately upon getting home, throw on a polar fleece pull-over, fuzzy sock and earmuffs (if necessary)….build a fire in the fireplace and watch American Idol and Project Runway. Perhaps I will also cuddle my young son for as long as he’ll let me…and maybe occasionally hold my husband’s hand….if I can pry it off the mac. Is it really only Wednesday???

Holiday Highlights - January 3, 2007

2008-01-03T15:43:00.000-05:00

Well, since I’ve been absent for so long (which one of my possibly three, readers remind me of) it seems like I should begin the new year with a short list of holiday highlights:

*The Christmas carousel. After Christmas 06, dad Holquist passed along an old carousel he had found in his basement. You plug it in and it lights up, the horses go around and up and down, and about 10 carols repeat. PS, there is no way to disable the carol portion of the experience, which will make sense that I noted as you continue to read. So, I brought it upstairs with the rest of the decorations, thinking that Langston would get a kick out of it. I plugged it in and turned it on in front of him…and I witnessed Langston falling in love for the first time. Yes, the carousel inspired the first fiery, all-consuming love that Langston has ever known. He woke up in the morning thinking of it....running into the darkened living room to sit in front of it, turn it on and gaze lovingly at it. He went to bed crying to be separated from it. It was never far from his thoughts. He could sit and just watch it for like 20-30 minutes at a stretch -- I'm not kidding. It also played those blasted Christmas carols over and over and over - so, when Langston was out of the room or occupied, I would sneak over and turn it off. Mere seconds would pass before Langston would crook his head towards it...run over, and turn it back on. The slightly off-tune, tinny, calliope Christmas carols were the soundtrack of the Holquist holiday season and beyond. Sometimes at work I think I can hear it. I’ll wake up in the night sure it’s still on only to find that I’m losing my mind. It's the one thing from Christmas we haven't been able to put away yet...I hate to think of the drama when we finally do!

*Christmas presents. Jeff and I wanted to exchange one nice gift. Nothing outrageous. Nothing too budget-busting…just something kind of nice and thoughtful. We finally confessed to each other that we couldn’t think of a single thing to buy for the other person. When we changed tactics and thought to combine our resources and get one thing for us to share, we still came up empty. How pathetic is that? So, we ended up just buying just some smaller items and at least having something to open on Christmas Eve.

*Christmas Eve at the Holquist’s. It was a long and busy day. Langston was becoming increasingly not himself…with lots of crazy running around and screaming and flailing around when I tried to corral him a little…not his finest moments and not mine either as I was really starting to lost patience. So, I was already clinging to the end of the rope when after dinner I happened into the small office adjacent to the living room. They have a lovely cream colored wall-to-wall that went from the living room into the office. And I happened to notice a nasty glob of mustard on the carpet. We had just had dinner – with sandwiches included – so I wasn’t totally surprised, but a little shocked that someone had just glopped some mustard and walked away…then I noticed another blob…and another…and then, in horror I realized: THAT’S NOT MUSTARD!!! And I saw the back of my young son with smears of yellow poop from the middle of his back down to his little poopy buns!!! Like my life flashing before me I could picture this wild, out of control spazzy boy throwing himself down on the floor and rolling around (NO!) or flinging himself onto the sofa (NO!!) or running crazily through the house dripping poop behind him like Hansel and Gretel (NO!!!) So, I shouted, “Langston, freeze!” and then ran up to him…picked him up…held him at arm’s length, and ran through the house to the bathtub and dropped him in it. Of course he was not excited about this and was twisting and jerking all around and yelling. As was I. After a VERY difficult clothing extraction and then wash down and diaper removal and further washing down and then rebuilding (good thing he got some clothes as a Christmas present)…I was all…that’s it…we’re going home! Christmas Eve is officially over.

*Christmas Day with the Hills. Everyone came over to our house, which should have made everything easier. And it did…but I just didn’t feel myself (see next story to follow)…extra tired, extra crabby (which I tried to hide) and just a little extra impatient. But even I had to laugh at this…while Langston napped we (Julie, dad and I) decided to do a puzzle while we watched Elf. It was just a 300 piecer and we thought we had plenty of time. Which, it turned out, we did. Except, we were missing a piece. Augghhh! How can that be? It’s so unsatisfying! We looked under all the furniture…looked in other rooms of the house…got all disgusted at the cheap manufacturer who missed a piece and probably loaded the puzzle with lead paint, too. This continued until Langston toddled in from his nap, went up to his grandpa and placed in his hand, the missing puzzle piece. We just cracked up. Turned out Jeff had stolen a piece at the very beginning and kept it for when Langston woke up. He’s a sick man.

*Day after Christmas….5:00 AM. I wake up…Jeff’s not in bed…but, he’s had a bad cold and lately gets up if he can’t stop coughing, so I’m not surprised. I also realize that I am horrifically nauseated and noting a distinct rumble in my tummy that means all is not well. After an extended visit to the pink palace bathroom I lurch into the living room and mumble to Jeff that “I’m really sick…” and he returns the comment. Seems he’s been making his own visits since about the same time. We were both in total intestinal agony. And then we heard Langston wake up! Thank goodness he was not sick…but his cheerful energy was almost worse. Realizing that neither of us was well enough to care for him we were praising the Lord for daycare. But that meant one of us had to actually take him there and get home without getting sick. Neither of us felt at all confident. But, Jeff took pity on my crashing waves of nausea (getting worse by the second – and in fact, I did puke my guts out about 30 seconds after he left…so it was a good thing he volunteered) and took Langston in. We spent the remainder of the day in bed. Then there was the fight of who had to go pick him up! Jeff is quite the husband (or I was quite pitiful – either could be true). We found out the next day that 80% of the Holquist family was similarly struck down at the same time…we have racked our brains to determine if it was a virus or food poisoning. Based on what we’ve been able to figure – it looks like a nasty virus. Yuck. What a way to end the holiday season.

*New Year’s Eve. Dave (my brother-in-law) got free tickets to the Griffin’s hockey game, with parking pass and food coupons, so we joined their family for a night of very minor league hockey. Although the people watching was worth the price of admission. We also enjoyed the cover band that performed during the period breaks. This was a very family-centered crowd so we puzzled a little when they broke out with “50 ways to leave your lover” (Mommy….what’s a lover??) and then really laughed when they had the crowd “sing along” on the chorus. Is this really a message we want to send to this crowd of happy families? Hints that they should ditch? Not much singing along, but a lot of laughs. But, the fireworks were fun and it was something nice for the family to do (I have to keep this in mind now) together. Bring on 2008.

And now here I am back at work. A new year. Major post-holiday blahs. No resolutions. Just hanging on. You?

Thursday Highlights - December 13, 2007

2007-12-13T16:48:00.000-05:00

Overslept a little so had to sacrafice shaving my legs to the cause...I love winter and the thick opaque tights that go with it! I swear I could go 2 weeks without shaving before the forest would eventually break through these tights. Yesterday at daycare their "sensory exploration" time was hair gel, so a morning shower was definitely a must for Langston. He is hilarious in the shower with Jeff - he totally loves it. I hear him in there just whooping and giggling...he loves putting his hands in and out of the spray. And then it's very fun to wrap him up in a big fluffy towel and take him back to the changing table for the big dry-off. He especially loves when we towel off his hair. I don't know why...strange kid, I guess. Sigh.

The past few weeks have just held daily clothing crises. I hate everything I own, I don't know why I bought any of it, it's all wrong, I'm too fat. It's just exhausting to try to put something together from what lurks in my closet. I keep reshuffling the clothes thinking I will come upon some gem...and I never do. I settled on an old denim skirt that never gets a negative review and my tall boots. Of course I was regretting the skirt by mid afternoon when it kept coming unzipped (!) What is with that?? I swear it's not even tight...just another reason to be in crisis.

As soon as I freed Langston from his crib (where he is warehoused while Jeff and I finish getting ready) he beelined for the living room and his Christmas carousel. His "papa" (Jeff's dad) gave him this old plug-in carousel that plays Christmas carols. He is obsessed by it. He will sit and watch it for like 15 minutes at a time. Let's just say I'm glad that he enjoys it so much, but I'm quickly tiring of its "play-list" -- I mean really, Handel's Messiah? -- on a department store toy carousel? -- isn't that reaching a bit? Anyhow, even though the living room was totally dark, he bolts in there and sits down in front of it, willing it to start turning and singing -- too funny. As I retrieved him I promised that when he got home we would play with it again.

While dropping Langston off at daycare I noticed the sign for the dreaded Christmas party. Oh really, must we? I'm so not interested in watching some Christmas program by my one-year-old's classmates. You know I love my son to death, but I don't love those other kids...and if I'm going to take an hour from work, I would prefer to just hang out with Langston. Anyhow, I did not sign up to bring treats but I did sign up to bring a book for the gift exchange. Good heavens...the kid is ONE YEAR OLD!!!

Work was pretty slow. I went out at lunch and shopped for the United Way family our department adopted. Looking at their list of requests I was struck by the simplicity of the needs. Things I take so for granted. Good grief, when I had to fill out my sheet listing my "wants" for the family gift exchange I was hard pressed to come up with anything that I wanted - let alone needed. There are so few "wants" that I've not already satsified. It was such a good reminder of how much I have to be thankful for. I had fun picking up things for the mom and daughter. Although I thought I was buying silver gift wrap and when I got back to work and started to wrap I realized I had bought clear cellophane...uh, what do you think THIS present is huh? Big mystery. Good thing someone else had bought some.

Then this afternoon I gave a presentation to a group of Steelcase salespeople about our PR strategy and resources. It's kind of fun to be on the firing line sometimes. They were hitting me with questions, questioning our tactics, looking for resources, etc. It's definitely a good exercise to be in the hot seat - I got kind of fired up over the whole thing.

And now I'm back at my desk. DesignTex sent me a pie (yum), DVS (a vendor) sent me an extremely random cd of their employees singing Christmas carols (I'm totally not joking) and a basket of homemade Christmas cookies and I found two new friends on Facebook. I love it!!

This week-end Jeff and I leave for Chicago to celebrate Jeff's birthday - which should be a total blast. We are staying at a B&B within an active monastary! Can't wait to see what that's all about.

Thursday Highlights - November 29, 2007

2007-11-29T16:57:00.000-05:00

Well, today started bright and early at about 2 a.m. with Jeff attempting to cough up a lung. The old “dry, hacking cough” was not only frustrating Jeff – but was shaking our bed like an earthquake and keeping me from my own sweet sleep. I tried handing him a lozenge, but no dice. He finally struggled out to the living room to just sleep on the sofa. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Oh poor you…you have to leave and go to thezzzzzzzzzzz” I was filled with compassion.

Morning started again with my alarm and I hopped out of bed, eager to get to my breakfast meeting with my friend Lisa. We planned to meet at Real Food Café. All that stood between me and some steaming hot coffee and conversation was getting myself and little boy ready to go. Fairly easy for me…a little more complicated for him. But, he showed a good appetite today, wolfing down some yogurt and applesauce with a big glass of milk. He seemed to be in good spirits too….smiling and laughing and ready for the day. I felt bad as I squeezed a teaspoon of his anti-biotic into his waiting, eager, innocent mouth...it’s such a strong prescription it is wrecking havoc with his digestive system. The things I’ve seen and cleaned up and that have run down his leg are too grisly to report here. And yet, we just keep giving him more! I feel like, “Open up Langston….time for your diarrhea!” Well, I got him fed and popped back into bed so that Jeff could get him dressed and off to daycare. We felt hopeful when we heard some grunting from the crib…perhaps if it was taking a little effort to expel the package, it wouldn’t be quite so soupy…I later found out that our assumption was incorrect…Jeff confirmed that it was indeed a nasty watery mess so bad that Jeff himself ended up having to change his own shirt!

Well, after a lovely pecan and cherry pancake and aforementioned steaming coffee and lovely conversation, I headed into work.

Once at work I was just on fire! I was a cleaning machine! I decided to clean out my workstation and files. Basically, this just means tossing into the trash all the things I thought someone might want from me at some point…I realized that I typically immediately throw away materials that hordes of people want the very next day and keep materials that no one ever wants to see again. Sigh. But, it’s clean, clean, clean!

I even found a very special storage location for my award for completing the company’s “mission critical leadership curriculum.” At a “special ceremony” at my desk (the day before Thanksgiving, 2 co-workers present and jeering) my boss presented me with this precious memento commemorating my program completion. I was able to choose my gift and all were amazed that I chose the ginormous calculator/clock/calendar combo with the huge Steelcase logo. Oh, and it’s missing one of the rubber feet, so it also wobbles. And beeps with every button you push. What they didn’t see were the 2 other lovely items I could have chosen….a lapel pin (for those of you attending the Rotary Club in 1978) and a clock/business card holder combo for my desktop. Because people are constantly wandering up to my desk looking for the time and/or my business card. It really was the least of the evils. My one co-worker, who has 2 classes yet to go before “graduation”, said that the gift selection had actually demotivated him to complete the program.

Then I broke down and bought a 20 ounce diet Coke for a meeting. Can you believe that thing was $1.50!!! I hate the man.

Lunch was chili at the Learning Center. Yum yum. I also had a chocolate chip brownie. OK, so I was weak! It just looked so good sitting there…and I had a free meal card so I didn’t even have to pay for it…the man owed me one for the diet Coke.

After lunch I cruised over to Employee Sales to pick up my 2 chairs (for me) and desk (for my sister). It was blissful to just pop the seats out of the mini-van and glory in all the open space. This would be one time in the 7 years that I have been stuffing items into cars that Paul, the Employee Sales merchandise loader, would not repeat, “That’s NEVER gonna fit in there!” over and over (while I forced it all in anyway). And Paul didn’t say it wasn’t gonna fit. And it all did.

Meeting…blah blah blah…gale force winds at the CDC….drive back to HQ….blah blah blah…one more call…and now it’s 4:51! Gotta love that.

Tuesday Highlights, November 13, 2007

2007-11-14T15:11:00.000-05:00

Since I have a few minutes I figured I would catch up on my highlights. OK, they’re not Thursday highlights – but I can’t vouch for what Thursday or Friday is going to look like…or, for that matter, even today…which is why it’s Tuesday highlights. Bear with me here….I’m sitting in the Santa Monica showroom biding my time until my PR presentation to the West Coast sales team at 4:00. It’s presently 11:15. Hence, the available time to contemplate highlights.

Tuesday morning started off crazy. Jeff had taken his car into Honda the previous night because of some kind of gripping or clutching…and not in a good way. So, we had one car between all of us which meant we all had to be ready to leave at the same time…and a little bit early to compensate for all the ferrying around. I got up early enough to pack my back for California and get myself ready. Although, I would find out later that I apparently did not have enough time to pack my toothbrush…for the second trip in a row! What is wrong with me? Why so forgetful of my teeth? Anyhow, Jeff was a gamer and got little boy all dressed and ready to go. He also sprayed down the boy’s bed-head hair and slicked it down. Which looked hilarious…sort of like a Swedish Alfalfa…but I digress. Even though I had plenty of time to pack, get ready myself, forget my toothbrush, and smooch Langston, I still found myself running around like a maniac and leaving the house later than planned. That seems to always be the case.

Anyhow, as we drove down the road I realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses (I would say “also” forgotten, but I wouldn’t find out until later that night about the toothbrush thing, so for now, it was just one known lapse of memory) and had to squint in agony at the sun directly in my face. How does the sun know how to always be just below the rear view mirror and completely out of the reach of the flip down shade? It’s just maddening.

Langston was given this “American Idol” hot pink microphone that plays an extremely appealing (sarcasm my friend) 2 measures of “funk” that loops when you press the button. Langston is in love with this item. His face literally beams with joy when it is handed to him. And believe me, you will get tired of the funky rhythms far, far sooner than he will tire of pushing that button. Anyhow, we hadn’t noticed but it had gotten pretty quiet back there. Jeff turned to look and cracked up…apparently the microphone is also a sucker! The little darling had figured out how to take off the top and was greedily scarfing down some kind of deadly strawberry sucker that was who knows how old. Nice. Joy turned to sorrow as it was promptly taken away. How could we be so cruel?

But, when I dropped Jeff off at work he ran inside and taped it all up and returned it to literal squeals of unbridled joy. Sometimes being a parent you get the privilege of making another human being so happy – really unable to contain their pleasure. I don’t get that feeling too much in my other roles.

Anyhow, after dropping Jeff at work and Langston at daycare (he’s now in the toddler room – how did that happen?) I made it into work.

I knew there would be a bit of a firestorm awaiting me. It was the day of the Diversity Forum at work. This is an internal meeting for leaders to inspire them to action around diverse issues and inclusion. Let’s just say that a lot of things had been put off to the last minute on this and the whole team was really starting to feel the pressure. I had a thin line of sweat already at my hairline and I was just walking in the door. We had to do a technical run-through with the technical team…then a full walk-through with the presenters…then make sure the stage was set correctly and we had all the mikes we would need…and get the registration tables set up (I’ve never seen such heinously ugly name tags – just all CAP names on a ginormous white sticker…blech) including name tags, books that were being given out, magazines that were also being handed out, and the event booklet. And that booklet was the source of my angst.

The agenda, speaker bios, last year’s updates, etc. were all to be provided attendees in this super cool attendee booklet. Remember the old “last minute” thing – well, we still didn’t have the booklets. After the 5th person came and asked me if the booklets had arrived and after the 3rd time that one person in particular had asked, I just about lost my grip! Auugghhh! Where are those stupid books??? After my third call to the design firm who had created the books I got a firm drop-off time of 12:30…and the event was due to begin at 1:00. Gulp.

Well, of course the booklets arrived, of course the sound and technology went fine, of course the box lunches were in the room for the speakers as planned, of course the program got started late, and with all crises averted I was able to head off for the airport.

The plane out from Grand Rapids was brand new! It was so nice…I was in the exit row and almost had TOO much legroom!! I could barely reach my bag. But I was not complaining.

Arrived in Minneapolis and walked about 14 miles to the next gate, bought a bag of pita chips and had a pretty easy time of it to L.A. But I always forget how pickin long it takes to get there. The flight from Minneapolis was almost 4 hours and it felt like every minute of it. Probably especially for my row-mates when I started chomping on those chips.

Got a cab pretty easily to the hotel and $50 later I was checking into the Huntley. What a beautiful hotel. And I felt like I fit right in wearing my yoga pants and sweatshirt…they probably thought I was a celebrity on the down-low. I get that a lot. While I was checking in I think I may have had a celebrity sighting. But it is unconfirmed because I couldn’t recognize anyone. All I know is that a little gaggle of about 5 impossibly thin, ridiculously blond, fantastically sparkly and mini-skirted young chicks came in the back way, with some paparazzi in tow, and headed straight for a special elevator. While I gawked, the desk clerk tried to ask me a couple of pertinent questions…after saying “huh?” distractedly twice as I tried to identify a famous person, he was kind of like, “listen up, sweatshirt, I don’t have the time for this…put the binoculars away and deal.”

Then I indulged in a very rare treat…since it was almost nine at this point I went ahead and just ordered room service. There’s really nothing more wonderful than noshing on a chicken sandwich, sitting on a down comforter-covered bed while wearing your pajamas, as ocean breezes blow in through the open window, and you watch Bones on TV. It was quite spectacular.

After some fruitless web surfing and finishing the puffy-shirt episode of Senfeld, I pulled the covers up and went to sleep – realizing that I would likely be waking up again before dawn. Which I did.

Thursday Highlights - November 1, 2007 edition

2007-11-01T15:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I wish that I had a better day to share my stories…if I had my act together earlier I could have talked about my family vacation to Disneyworld (I don’t think that I would recommend a big trip to Disney as the ideal family vacation with a 1 year old) or my exciting adventure in New York City (launching our new product, the Walkstation, on national TV on Good Morning America)…even my crazy drive home from Chicago at 2:30 in the morning (got home at 6:30) would have been more engaging than the report of today’s activities you are about to read…but I press on regardless.

I do have to back up just a little bit to last night. I had just gotten home from Trick-or-Treating with Langston (who was a huge big sport even though he was baking like a potato in his very well-insulated costume and kept getting wedged into his car seat as we drove from stop to stop) and after tucking him in bed I decided to call my parents and give them an update. Well, I was super cold for some reason – so I changed into my comfy clothes and started the call…well, I added an afghan…and then my fuzzy sox…and then another blanket…and I was still just one massive goose bump. When I started physically shaking and chattering I rung off. I called to Jeff who brought me a heating pad cranked up to “high” and yet I still could not get warm. This, of course, is very unlike me who finds a way to work up a sweat in the dead of winter. But, anyway…I went right to be with a fever of 101.5 under about 8” of blankets.

Now it’s this morning. The phone ringing actually woke me up. It was 9:15 and my boss was asking if I was going to make it to our 9:30 meeting. Oops. Still pretty achy – definitely sweaty -- not ready for work at all. I took my time getting ready…pausing to pop into the USA Network Law & Order: Criminal Intent marathon and watch the last 30 minutes of an episode. I only ever watch that show in re-runs, but it gets me every time! With my hair almost dry I called my friend Tina for lunch. Her birthday was yesterday and it had been forever since we talked.

So, our favorite place, the Red Geranium at 11:30 it was. It seemed a serendipitous choice when I saw that their special of the day was tomato soup…um, add a half grilled cheese to that and I’m in heaven! I wish that I had my full appetite back to really enjoy it…but, it was pretty tasty nonetheless. I also love stopping in at the Red Geranium because they have the Advance community newspaper there and I love the crossword puzzles in that paper, so I took the opportunity to snag one for later.

While there, our waitress gave me a catalog for some gourmet food party thing she “hosts” – is that really a legit thing to do when you are waitressing somewhere? I don’t know. I left the catalog on the table. Jeesh.

Then back at work where I tried to catch up on some things for our Diversity Forum, sending out emails to a bunch of people asking if they’d be willing to be voice-over talent for a part of the presentation and got many “witty” replies…including a guy who wonders if he can do his in the voice of Howard Cosell…everybody’s a comedian.

And fever or no (I’m not sure if I still have one) I am ROASTING!!! Shirt sticking to me…hands sweating…internal oven throwing out flames…I think I’ll go home early.

Well, I’m off to pick up my stuff at the dry cleaners (I had a coupon that expired yesterday so I made a mad dash to the 24-hour martinizing place to make use of my $5 off before it was too late) and then home to toss Jeff’s meatloaf in the oven. For some reason he felt compelled last night to make a meatloaf for dinner tonight. When contemplating a meal choice to whip together I can’t say that meatloaf is the first thing I’d think of…but, whatever floats your boat. I also think it shows that I did not truly have the flu because if you can make it through the smell of frying onions and not barf, you must not be sick.

Finally, the day will wrap up with a Bible study at our house tonight. It is my turn to lead and this group is about to be wowed with insights into John 2. Woo hoo!

Monday Highlights, Kind of, October 15, 2007

2007-10-15T16:59:00.001-04:00

Well, it has been one of those weeks…weeks where all of a sudden it’s Saturday and I remember it didn’t even cross my mind on Thursday to send out some highlights. It’s been one of those weeks where I look around my house in quiet despair, not even knowing where to begin to get things restored to some kind of order. I settled for asking Jeff to please, please, please take the fans that have populated our non-air conditioned home all summer, downstairs. He looked at me like, THIS is the thing you want me to do? This is the best ya got? In my current frazzled condition – yes.

It’s times like this that I think of the characteristics I see in other women and wish I possessed.

A “STYLE.” I don’t think that Tim Gunn would consider someone digging through piles at Goodwill and Value City…or, if it’s a really special occasion, Marshall’s, really pursuing “style.” Neither do I. Every season I think, this is it…this is the season that I get my act together and finally develop a wardrobe that adheres to some rule of fashion. As opposed to the one rule I am currently following – cheap. Well, I’ve taken a big first step: I have gone through my closets and given away 3 giant garbage bags full of clothes to Good will (a certain kind of “circle of life” don’t you think?) and now have not much more than empty hangers clanging around in my closet. So, first step done…next step means budgeting some money to refill it…and then, the critical step, not immediately repopulating the closet with crap. That’s the part where I always seem to drop the ball. POSSIBILITY OF ATTAINING: 65%

THE FEMININE ARTS. I have a friend who cans. I have a sister-in-law who cans. I have a mother-in-law who cans. I don’t can. I have never canned. I think I once made freezer jam, but that was like at least a decade ago. What could be a better example of providing beautiful things for my family than lovingly canning delicious foods? I can just picture the scenario…fall leaves blowing past the window…a fire crackling in the fireplace…a pot roast in the oven…and I say, “Hey honey, would you hop downstairs to the cellar (of course it couldn’t be a basement) and grab a jar of applesauce?” I feel like I may be further from accomplishing this than the wardrobe thing. I mean, it’s a struggle for me to get the casserole (um…not even a pot roast) in the oven instead of stopping for take-out on the way home. I feel I’m doomed to failure in this and it’s best to commit it to fantasy. But, whenever I hear these women talking about their canned goods, I still dare to dream. POSSIBILITY OF ATTAINING: 1%

MANICURED NAILS. My hands are a national tragedy. Constantly either all cut up or in some state of healing, my hands are not the hands of a pampered office worker. I mean, how do I do it? It’s not like I’m a farmer…but my hands look like I am. I don’t have beautifully trimmed, shaped and polished nails. I have hangnails and unpolished nails and a frightening amount of hair that grows on my knuckles. Surely I could do better. I’m not even hoping for some kind of acrylic set up that is always perfectly polished…all I want is some decent shape and to stop biting my hang-nails. You’d think I was 12 years old. POSSIBILITY OF ATTAINING: 50%

“I MADE IT MYSELF!” Oh man…the accomplished seamstress or cook or scrapbooker or quilter or woodworker just brings me down. I love looking through those “how to” books and in my fantasy life I can do ALL of these things. I love to receive them. Sometimes I even half-heartedly try to do these things…and sometimes I even have limited success. But, it seems like when it comes down to a competition between watching Survivor or learning to quilt, Survivor always wins. I could try to come up with all kinds of excuses…but, at the end of the day I have come to the conclusion that I may be missing the obvious…I’m just kind of lazy! Well…if wishes were changes…you know the rest. I must get more focused! It’s ridiculous! Just wait til this winter…I swear I’m busting out my knitting needles…just you wait! And, my sewing machine is still all set up downstairs just waiting for me to stitch up some pillows…or that torn apron I swore I’d fix a year ago…or, well…you know. POSSIBILITY OF ATTAINING: 75%

Monday's Highlights on Thursday - October 4, 2007

2007-10-04T16:32:00.000-04:00

Well, today was actually kind of boring. The kind of day where I ate my lunch in my car with the windows down while reading a decorating magazine (a whole magazine on storage…really, what could be more inspiring) and listening to the Jim Rome Show on the radio.

So, I’d hate to serve up the bland dish that was today when a steaming serving of activity it sitting back there on Monday. So, here are Monday’s highlights on Thursday.

I got a call on Friday afternoon that the CEO would like me to go with him to Indianapolis because he was “nervous” about being interviewed by INdiana Business Today. See, he’s going to Indy to help our oldest dealer celebrate their 85th anniversary in business and in partnership with us. I can see why this would be terrifying. When I think of all the heads of state, celebrities, and glitterati that Gerry Dick (host of INdiana Business Today) has interviewed, I can see why my boss would be apprehensive. It sounded like a really good use of my day. Of course I agreed to go.

We all met at the jet at 7:45 a.m. on Monday and upon touching down in Indy headed to the zoo (really), where the dealership’s employee celebration was taking place (in the dolphin house….really). So, with lots of water but no dolphins in sight I settled in for some weak coffee and shellacked pastry (really, this dealership owner makes millions – he couldn’t spring for some better grub?) and listened to the parade of speeches and the presentation from the zoo director and then the CEO provided his “colorful” remarks. Then the big employee drawing! What was on the line? Airline tickets? Electronics? Gift Cards? Um…no…Zoo tickets!!! Woo and Hoo!!! I mean, I like a good zoo as much as the next person but again, could they come up with nothing better?

Then I hop into the car with the CEO and the dealer owner to head to the dealership for the big interview. Sitting in the back seat while the men talked and, understandably, ignored me, I felt like I was on a business trip with my dad. I guess I’ll always feel like I’m 12 years old in these kinds of situations. We arrive at the dealership and as we walk in the door I’m assaulted by waves of cologne…not hideous cologne…but aggressive nonetheless. Who is the drenchee?? None other than Gerry Dick!! Live and in person!! Oh my. Cologne AND a golden tan. Love it. Hand shaking, back slapping, mutual admiration, and game faces ensue. After a 15 minute interview that is so softball the interviewer is actually throwing underhand (it’s a good thing I was there to help out in this stressful situation), Jim and everyone else leaves for the rest of the day’s activities. Except, see, I don’t have any other activities. It is 10:45 a.m. and all my activities are done. Of course I have piles of activities back at the office that are begging for completion. But here in Indy, I got nuthin. Oh, and since it’s the big 85th, they gave the employees the day off, so it’s a totally empty dealership.

Is it downtown where I can maybe walk around or find a coffee shop? Or even near a strip mall for a bagel or something? Um…not so much. It’s in an industrial park…by the highway.

The first 15 minutes just flew by.

The next 300…not so much.

The business owner and his wife (wife #3…the former receptionist, now VP of Marketing…but, whatever) were kind enough to take me out to lunch. However, at this lunch I was informed that “nobody cares about the environment – it’s just a bunch of hooey…really, it’s all just the flavor of the week…why do they keep pushing the environment?” And then he several times identified people as “minorities” – as in, “you know who I mean…Brian…the minority.” Oh my.

Later in the day I took a scenic stroll around the industrial park…oh, those distribution centers are certainly lovely…and check out the loading dock on THAT building! That just takes the cake! Oh, I just love interacting with nature as I’m serenaded by the hum of the expressway.

At 5:00 the cocktail party celebration for customers began. Realizing I would have absolutely NO ONE to talk to at this thing I hid in the empty conference room until 5:30. I just didn’t know how long I could survive as the wall flower. At 5:30 I came out and took a little shrimp cocktail. So beautifully presented. A little bowl with one giant shrimp skewered on a fork, gently nestled in a dollop of cocktail sauce. So elegant...so charming…and, with the help of that fork, so easy to eat! Right? Um…not so much. I took one bite and couldn’t quite bite through it…and couldn’t get it off the fork…and then it flopped off the fork and dangled from my mouth as I tried to break it off, and I tried to hold onto the little bowl, and the fork, and with the other hand pull off the shrimp…it was a powerful way to start the party. I think it really established me as a playa. People looked at me and were totally impressed.

Small talk, small talk, small talk…toasts aplenty…the CEO got up to speak again…and Gerry Dick joined the group on-stage to present some general thoughts on Indiana business (which he read off a card…tsk tsk)..and then, at 7:00…back to Grand Rapids. I watched a show I had downloaded to my iPod while the power brokers broked around me on the plane…and finally was back at home.

Thursday Highlights - September 20, 2007

2007-09-20T16:02:00.000-04:00

Well, as I sit here looking out the window at a perfectly perfect Michigan September afternoon I have to admit I’m having trouble concentrating on the task at hand. Or any task. What I really wish I was concentrating on was a book, as I sat outside in the warm – but not hot – sunshine, sipping the season’s last lemonade.

Boo.

I hate this desk job.

Today I actually woke up basically ready to face the day. The windows were open, so the air was just the tiniest bit chilly, but refreshing. The hardest part was really that it was so dark – the worst part of fall.

I would like to say that I was highly motivated by my work for the day, the opportunity to contribute to helping Steelcase be the most powerful contract furniture brand in the world, or even the chance to be a loving example to the most adorable baby boy in the world. But no. What got me to throw back the covers and hop in the shower was the prospect of a morning meeting at the Learning Center where I could get free coffee…and that someone on our team is celebrating a birthday, so there would also be free breakfast snacks. That’s a little pathetic. But hey, it worked.

Langston was playing coy and just kind of looked at me when I went to pick him up out of his crib. He was all…yeah, I’m awake, but don’t expect me to cheer for you. I got some extra delicious snuggles in before stripping him down for his shower.

He’s taken to rubbing his hands in his hair as he’s eating. That meant that last night’s cantaloupe and avocado had given him some nice matted sections to his hair. Into the shower with Jeff he goes! He actually doesn’t mind this too much – except for the part where he goes under the spray to rinse out the shampoo. But oh my word, when I grab him out of the shower with a big, fluffy towel he is irresistible. I just can’t stop myself from pinching those adorable buns and smooching the bottoms of his pink feet.

After dressing him and feeding him and throwing him back in his crib so I could finish getting ready, I turned on the Mary Poppins soundtrack. Since we play music for him at night when we put him to bed, I purposely turn on his “morning music” loud, keep the light blaring, and try for something more danceable, so as not to confuse his “cues.” Man, I should write a book or something. It’s this kind of thoughtful parenting that is making Langston the well-adjusted child he’s become! Anyhow, whatever I play for him in the morning will be in my head for the rest of the day. So, all day I’ve been hearing “spoonful of sugar” in my head.

Work started with an intro to Second Life. Steelcase has a “store” there and one of the guys who works on this gave us an intro to not only Steelcase’s store, but the concepts behind Second Life. OK, that is whack. The fact that millions of real dollars are being spent in this “virtual life” is just crazy! But, it was pretty interesting to hear about – even if I do still wonder why we care if a bunch of freaky virtual lifer’s learn about Steelcase. But, then again, I’m old.

Mmmmm. The French Roast coffee was so good. So was the coffee cake at the birthday party. Yum, yum.

I went back to my desk to log onto the earnings conference call only to remember that I had organized a conference call of my own for the same time. OK, I’m officially a moron. Fortunately, everyone else was late, so it seemed like everything was planned. Jeesh, get it together, Hill.

Lunch was the weekly order of chili…sitting in the sun…thinking that I should have maybe just gone home and started dinner. I’m not very good at providing good, healthy meals for my family. Pretty much, the dinners have been feeble.

I went through phase of cooking crock-pot meals in an attempt to not only make a good home-cooked meal, but also to not have to come home from work and cook an entire meal. That resulted in several week’s of meals with very similar scorched, mushy, unappealing results. So, I gave up on that.

Discouragement led to many take-out meals, turkey sandwiches, jars of spaghetti sauce, and frozen pot-pies.

But I’m back, folks – with fresh enthusiasm and a new plan. I went on the Southern Living “freezables” recipe site and printed off like 10 that looked good. I figure that if every other week I make 4 meals…and eat only about 1/3 of each meal at a time and freeze the rest, then I’ve cooked 4 meals and got 12 for my efforts!!! Pure genius, I tell you. In just a few week’s time the freezer will be packed with nutritious, delicious meals!! So…last night I made a big pan of macaroni and cheese and tonight I am planning to get home and make some meatloaf. I can’t guarantee that I will be able to maintain this energy level – but, like I said, this could be the key to one week of work yielding three weeks of meals. We’ll see.

Since it’s so beautiful out I am also hoping for a long walk with baby and husband. This time of year I feel like we can’t waste even one nice day.

PS - it's my wedding anniversary on the 23rd -- so the photos are in honor of the blessed event!

Thursday Highlights - September 13, 2007

2007-09-13T17:06:00.001-04:00

Well, I’m back in the office after my 4 day trip to Boston. I have to go to a professional development conference/seminar each year and in the past I have pretty much stuck to ones that focused on communications. This year I decided to do something different and go to a class on investor relations. Since I support that department I thought it might be helpful to learn a little bit more about the subject – or at least get to know the vernacular enough to fake it better in meetings.

If you’re anything like me, when I’m at off-site classes, I am certainly not dressing up for the occasion. Hey, I don’t know any of these people, I don’t work for them or with them, we will likely never see each other again – who am I trying to impress? Um…not so much with the finance types! Out of the 120 or so attendees, at least 80% of the men were in full suits…I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve been around a bunch of men in business suits – as you know, the man’s wardrobe here in GR consists almost entirely of different colors of khaki pants (the rainbow of colors that lie between “desert stone” and “nutmeg.”) paired with short or long-sleeved golf shirts. It was actually kind of cool and I found myself enjoying the care they took with this more formal approach, that indicated a respect they must have for themselves, their work, and those around them. I was kind of digging it.

But then, just as I’d settled my black cropped pants-clad behind into the ballroom chair and pressed my knit shirt against its back I took a look at the women! I would say that 95% (the percentage of the total women in attendance minus me) of them were dressed to the NINES! Pencil skirts in muted tones drew the eye down toward what had to be $300 shoes with ice-pick thin spike heels. Their clear polished nails nonchalantly toyed with strands of pearls or thick gold ropes. Tailored blouses were perfectly tucked in over flat stomachs. Smooth, conservative hair styles framed powdered, unblotched skin.

Let’s just say that I was not only the most casually dressed person there (even the wait-staff wore formal uniforms) but I was definitely among the most full-figured. Frump-o-rama in both attire and physique. Boo!!! I hated those women who are not only named Barbara and Lynn and Elizabeth and Carolyn but work out for 3 hours after nibbling on a dressing-free salad…this was definitely not my crowd.

I immediately hated and regretted every item of clothes I brought with me, wondered when I last even cracked open a package of pantyhose (I think it was in 2004 for a wedding), realized I had a hand full of hang-nails and that I could no longer breathe from sucking in my gut so hard. I also took off my name-tag as I didn’t really want anyone to know exactly who I was or where I was from.

I knew I hated numbers…why did I have to go to this seminar and discover even more reasons to hate them?

Oh well. Inner poise…confidence that comes from within…this would be my mantra for the next three days. That, and a refusal to make eye contact.

At least I had Jeff. He found all kinds of great places to explore in the evening and, in total Jeff style, we took subways, busses, hiked, all over town to get there. Among other things we ate “the best cheeseburgers in the world” in Harvard Square, souvlacki on Newbury Street, and Cuban sandwiches in Jamaica Plain. We also did a little shopping, took a tour of the Samuel Adams brewery (I’m not a beer drinker but it was kind of interesting to learn how it’s made), and watched the Cubs baseball game. He also kept me from taking things too seriously (No, you’re not a frump! No, you shouldn’t throw all these clothes away…Yes, finance people DO stink…really).

For some reason we got on the topic of “red eye” in photographs and I told him that I’ve never “red eyed” – that my eyes are just too dark – that it just has never happened. Of course he didn’t believe me and spent the whole trip trying to catch me off guard and get a picture of me with red eyes. Not only did this produce a number of wildly unattractive photos (which isn’t helping the old self-esteem, buddy) but it also meant that I saw a lot of Boston’s sites through the veil of flash-bulb after-effect (thanks, Holquist). And, I’m happy to say – he was never able to do it. He was beyond perplexed – I finally just confessed that I am, in fact, an alien and that finally explained the mystery.

Also, every time we left or returned to the hotel we had to greet/say good-bye to Catie, the hotel dog. She was a beautiful black lab, I have to admit, and sweet as could be. The hotel rescued this service dog that developed cataracts. You can take her for walks…play with her…it was actually very cute. Jeff is such a sucker for a pet.

And we had really good luck coming home. We got bumped onto an earlier flight to Chicago – and bumped into exit row seats (which on United you usually have to pay for but provide leg-room extreme!) and we also got moved to Economy-Plus (the plus is for legroom, baby) seats on the Chicago flight to Grand Rapids. I can’t really complain.

Things I learned at my seminar:

1- where the New York stock exchange is (11 Wall Street)
2-that PR people are “jealous” of IR people (PU-LEEZE! As if…)
3-that NASDAQ is totally virtual, with no trading floor at all
4-what an 8K, 10Q, 10K and proxy are
5-the importance of transparency, disclosure, compliance
6-the meaning of “buy side”, “sell side”, “ask”, “take” and “shorting”

..totally worth it, huh?

And, things I learned about Boston:

1-they love their rain boots. I can honestly say that in all my fall/springs in Michigan I’ve seen maybe two people, total, sporting the rain boot. There, it was literally every other woman! Every time I pointed it out Jeff would say, “But it’s raining!” and I would then have to say, “But it rains in Michigan and no one wears them there!” -- Riveting conversation, eh? Anyhow, I actually think they’re pretty cute and would try to start a fashion trend here in GR except I’m afraid they would be one more thing that would painfully grip my calves in an unattractive way.

2-their subway system is the oldest in the nation and I am not at all surprised. I felt like I was riding a gutted underground city bus…it lurched and squeaked and moaned and shuddered and bounced from side to side in these super narrow tunnels…I pretty much just had to close my eyes and pray for the best. Although it didn’t help when Jeff added, “and they have the most accidents as well…debris falling from the ceiling, hitting the sides of the tunnel or other trains…” Again, not surprised…and thanks, Jeff.

3-there were just tons and tons of people of Asian descent. I couldn’t really tell if they were Asian or Asian-American - just that there were so many of that ethnicity. I was really surprised – I just hadn’t realized that Boston was such a hub for Asians. Interesting.

And now, I’m back at work and happy to return to routine and, particularly, the most adorable little boy in West Michigan. I love the smell of him, the sound of him, the sight of him, the touch of him…oh, it’s good to be home!

No Highlights....None at All...September 6, 2007

2007-09-06T15:33:00.000-04:00

I have to confess that there is NOTHING to report today. Literally nothing has happened. I could talk about the excitement of my foot falling asleep so I moved it. I could mention that I'm on my second Rubbermaid jug of water of the day. Would you be curious to note that I received and reviewed the agenda for my investor relations seminar next week? How about the fact that I changed two pictures of Langston I keep on my desk? Cause that's all I've got. Oh, and I had a bowl of chili for lunch. Um...yeah...that's really.

So, I was surfing the website of a band I like and they had these very cute little bios for each band member. I decided to copy their format and fill it in for Jeff. I mean, I'm always talking about me and Langston...but what of this mystery man I married? So...here it is...a little insight into the man I love:

BACKGROUND: A South-East GR boy by birth and pleasure, Jeff grew up the oldest of two. After challenging the sanity of the teachers at the area Christian school district, he moved on to provoke the professors at Calvin. Four years of elaborate pranks with Mardi quickly passed and he wound up at RBC Ministries, where he has remained for fifteen years. Many fix ups followed. His mother despaired. His sister donated to Goodwill all the baby clothes she was saving for a niece or nephew. Then, out of nowhere he heeded Mike’s advice and “made a move” on his friend Jeanine. The tortoise became a hare and within a year he was married and expecting a baby. Now he spends his evenings playing with his son, surfing the web, watching the TiVo, walking with his wife, and wondering what he ever did before :)
NICKNAME(s): Jeffrey, Jeffrey Lee, J-Lee, Holquist, J-Ho
EDUCATION: Degree in poly sci from Calvin College…a future county water commissioner perhaps??
ATTRIBUTES: Good cook. Family man. Determined. Funny. Home tech expert. Loyal friend.
PUNCTUALITY: His hair may still be wet and his shoes untied but he’s technically on time.
SAMPLE QUOTE: “Little boy, little boy, little boy…” often spoken to his son Langston to, depending on tone, express love, slight frustration, or a warning. “Shelly Belt, Shelly Belt!”…when you need to shut up or book it out of there.
FINEST MOMENT: Less than a year after he met her, my grandma died. The circumstances surrounding the time he knew her made it all the more shocking when he was the one, out of all of us, who cried at her funeral.
MOST LIKELY TO: Keep something. Correct your mispronunciation. Snicker at what he’s reading. Stop for a diet Coke. Turn on the sprinklers. Defend all things Apple. Sleep through anything. Consult Zagat’s. Make it from scratch. Share his opinion. Turn on the air. Quote a relative. Think it through. Go to Vegas. Buy it at Costco.

Thursday Highlights - Friday Edition - August 31, 2007

2007-08-31T11:47:00.000-04:00

Well, Thursday got away from me so I had to wait until today to contemplate yesterday.

I guess the big thing that happened was that I learned that Langston does not share my enthusiasm for bike rides. Or at least he did not share it last night.

I love a good ride around the neighborhood – I’m not militant, but when I’ve got This American Life in my ears I can’t hear my own wheezing panting (which depresses me when I do other forms of exercise)…also, I feel like a 10 year old again when I’m screaming down a hill at a million miles an hour, and have to resist the urge to really lean my head down between the handlebars to really get streamlined…and, it does give me a great opportunity to monitor the action on a variety of abandoned houses around SE Grand Rapids (oh ho, there’s a notice from the city on 1942 Plymouth….look at the height of the weeds on 321 Orville, that house must be abandoned...I see they finally posted an eviction notice on the house on Mulford…etc.) So, I had been thinking all summer of getting Langston out there with me. He enjoys walking around in the stroller so much I thought that he would REALLY get a charge out of riding along in the buggy!

So, after being donated a tow-behind buggy from a friend and buying a baby helmet and getting all the tires inflated, buggy cleaned, etc. – we were finally ready to go.

Of course nothing is as easy as it seems. I tucked Langston into the stroller while I got the whole bike contraption ready to go. I thought it would be so easy. Langston tried, unsuccessfully, to not be judgmental of my efforts as I struggled, tugged and despaired while bumbling my way through attaching the buggy to the bike. Two bikes, one wrench, one cut finger, numerous splashes of sweat, and one hammer later it appeared that we were at least equipmentally ready for action.

Langston’s confidence level seemed low as I wrangled him around into the buggy. Not really sure of which straps went where I pretty much just used all the straps available to pin him in. He was particularly unenthusiastic about the helmet. But I was not to be deterred…this was going to be fun! We were going to ride like the wind…laughter and joy were mere moments away!!

The first thing I noticed as we set out was that towing about 40 pounds does add an element of difficulty. I’ve been riding all summer…but I never had to start out in such a low gear just to get going. I was sure that it would get easier as I got used to it. Bwahahahahahahaha.

The second thing I noticed was that Langston was not, shall we say, loving it. For the first 3 blocks or so he alternated between grim endurance and wails of protest. But again, I was sure that as soon as he got used to it he would LOVE IT!!!

Yeah….as I started up the big hill at Plymouth that extra 40 pounds was really kicking in.

Yikes…am I only about a quarter of the way up? I’m dying here!!!

Oh man…I’m only half way there and I’m already in the lowest gear…the audible sound of my panting is stopping traffic.

Yay!!! Gasp…gasp…gasp….we…gasp….made…gasp….it….gasp….gasp….Lang…gasp….ston….gasp...whew…gasp.

I never realized how uneven the sidewalks are until every major break we went over made Langston bellow out in despair every time we went over one. So, for every 30 seconds of resigned silence there was another 30 seconds of loud complaint…and that doesn’t even count the piercing cries every time we stopped to cross a street. If we were moving, bump-free, then he could somehow stand it…but dare to stop or go over a bump and you’re gonna hear it, mom.

I kept looking back to see if he was OK and he was just kind of slumped…alternately crying and silently begging for mercy.

I kept thinking that he would start to like it….and that I would somehow get used to being the horse in the horse drawn carriage scenario…I kept waiting for it to become the idyllic vision of my imagination…when I realized it was just not ever going to happen I turned around and slowly headed for home.

About a mile from home Langston realized that he would have to amp up the complaints…so his irritated yowls of displeasure turned to shrieks of rage. So, imagine me sweating, beat red, muscles shaking…towing this buggy of howls…and having to pass my neighbors out for walks, children playing in their yards, families at the picnic tables eating ice cream…let’s just say they weren’t nodding and smiling in approval.

When we finally got home Langston had passed through despair and rage and was now just limp. The river of snot that had poured from his nose was now flowing all around his pacifier and into his mouth…his face was all blotchy and hot…his eyes were swollen and empty…all he could muster was the occasional “sniff…sniff………..sniff” as he noodled into my arms. I felt just terrible!!! Bad idea!!! Langston had a horrible time!!! I’m a rotten mother!!!! I tortured my child!!!!

After a glass of cold milk and some animal crackers the light started to return to his eyes. When his dad came in he gave him a grateful smile and lots of hugs and snuggles as Jeff took him to put on his PJs. He brought him out to give mom and hug and a kiss….and Langston wasn’t quite ready for that yet. He gave me a small, forgiving smile…but he wasn’t quite up to surrendering to my care at that point….his expression said, I think I’ll stay with dad right now if it’s all the same to you.

Um…maybe I’ll just take some solo bike rides for the next little bit.

Thursday Highlights - August 16, 2007

2007-08-16T16:47:00.000-04:00

Well, today began with a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday sung by Jeff and me to our little baby one year old! I can’t believe that Langston is a year old. Although, while feeding him this morning I looked at my watch and cringed remembering that a year ago at that time I was being wheeled into surgery! Eek! But, how could I have known what a super fun and wonderfully amazing little boy I would now know. Yay!

After dropping him off at daycare I sped off to In the Image. I took a volunteer opportunity to hand out free shoes to Grand Rapids public school kids this morning. It’s actually a pretty great thing that Steelcase lets its employees do – volunteer on company time. So, I worked with families of school-aged children…helping them each get a new pair of shoes for school. Every family I worked with was Hispanic and in all but one family, only the children could speak English. It was very interesting – and very fun to send off these kids with brand new shoes. Although, it was boiling hot in there and by the end of my shift I was a total sweathog. One poor elderly woman I was working with was literally dripping with sweat. It really isn’t the heat…it’s the humidity….and the heat…that place was stifling.

Which wasn’t a good thing because after the volunteer gig I was going to pick up Langston to go get his (our) picture taken for his one year birthday! Since 99% of the time I am the one taking the pictures, I am never in them…based on our photo collection any stranger would guess that Jeff is a single parent. I had this wonderful vision of these adorable pictures of Langston (his first professional shots) and then a few thrown in there of him cuddling with his dashing, sophisticated – yet approachable - mommy. So, I stopped at home to perk up. I put on a plain black ¾ length sleeved shirt and a black skirt (see “sophisticated” above)…touched up the make-up to make my eyes pop and diminish my wrinkles (What? You’re his mother? You look MUCH too young!) Then after picking out some outfits for him to wear and his new toy truck (a FAVORITE hand-me-down from his cousin Justin) and a couple of his books I headed off to Appletree to pick up the birthday boy.

After an uneventful ride over to Pure photography (http://www.purestudiophotography.com/) we were ready for our close-up! Things started out so great….I had changed him into his totally studly khaki shorts and blue checked linen shirt…he was sitting adorably in front of the backdrop…smiling, cooing, charming the sox off all of us….oh, it was all working out so well….it was just like my vision!! Then the photographer suggested getting out the truck for him to play with. Oh my word! He just lit up…he started playing with that truck and it was like he was on fire he was so excited! Then the photographer suggested a change of scene…maybe a few with mommy (oh…well….only if it’s OK with YOU!!!) and that’s when the wheels fell off the truck, so to speak. He loves the truck so much that his only passion, from that moment on, became locating and reuniting with the truck as soon as possible. He was like the Terminator…nothing could sway him from his mission. So, pretty much any time I picked him up he started writhing and screaming….and basically became Langston crazy man for the rest of the shoot. So, I now call the event Sweathog II as I chased after him, tickling, chasing, cajoling, pulling away from the lights and cords, bribing with teddy-grahams, and then starting all over again. Oh my word…I just hope that she got a decent picture or two….I particularly hope she captured the beautiful moments of me “cuddling” Langston while he squirmed and squealed…really, he does like me…really, I promise.

After loading him back up in the car seat and turning the air conditioning on full blast I started counting down the minutes to the Heath flurry I decided to reward myself with. In the all the hub-bub I forgot about lunch and by 2:00 I was cranky and starving and convinced that every picture I’d just paid an arm and a leg for would now feature a crazed lunatic child with his sweaty, flustered, nutjob mommy.

And now…I’m in the peace and quiet of work…I’ve already written to my husband to let him know that I will not be whipping up cashew chicken for him tonight…I just don’t think I’m up for it. Which shouldn’t bother him because He is very excited that the 3 foot Costco birthday cake he bought is ready for pick-up.

I stole an idea from a mall photo studio and we are going to attempt to duplicate it tonight. Get a ginormous cake decorated…dress your kid in his skivvies…plop him in front of the cake…and fire away. They’ll probably end up being cuter pictures than the ones I paid someone to take. Oh well. It should be a pretty big riot at any rate.

So, that’s the day…oh man…I can’t believe it’s already been a year!

Thursday Highlights - Friday Edition 08/10/07

2007-08-10T13:29:00.000-04:00

By mid-day yesterday nothing had happened, really, at all. So, I couldn’t bear to write a recap. So, I decided to wait until today and see if Thursday evening picked up at all. Actually, it kind of did…

All day Thursday I was in the final day of a 3-day class at Steelcase’s learning center. It was the last class in a series of classes my boss asked me to complete. Really the only thing that kept me going was realizing it was the last class and soon I would be done, done, DONE!!! This class was called EXECUTE and it was all about leadership and coordinating and synergizing and leveraging and A3s and Gibson’s Grids and FMEAs and objectives and SIPOCs…can you see why I felt like I had nothing to write yesterday? Did I mention that I’m now done with not only the class but the series??? You can’t see me but right now I’m doing my own interpretation of Jeff’s signature “Vegas Dance” which includes a shimmy, some fist pumping, and a soundtrack of ya duh dun duh duh dah!

The class actually broke a little early so I had time to book it out to a shoe sale…buy one pair, get 2 pair FREE!!! Of course I felt obligated to get 3 pair of shoes…but one pair was for Julie, so I feel like I was spreading the love.

I left right at 5:00 so I could get home in time to make a picnic dinner since we were planning to head out to Fredrick Meijer Gardens for a concert.

When Jeff came home he said that the refrigerator people could deliver the new fridge that night (Yes, our fridge died the previous night… it’s never fun to reach for the fudgcicle you are craving and get a handful of mush in return…fortunately we could haul up grandma’s mini fridge from the basement so we could save important things like milk, yogurt and jello! That thing has really come in handy…you just never know when you might need the services of a mini fridge…and it’s very exciting when you remember, hey, we’ve actually GOT a mini fridge!). This was good news but also bad news since it meant we had to totally clean out the old fridge (running at about 50 degrees) so they could haul it away. In a way it was very freeing. I mean, what a wonderful excuse to get rid of the 12 bottles of salad dressing with only 2-fingers of dressing left in the bottle…GONE! The jar of pickles where only 2 pickles remain…GONE! The jar of chocolate fudge sauce with the caked-on lid and 2 spoonfuls of sauce…GONE! It was actually quite a relief. But, it did add a pretty big job to an already limited time schedule.

After totally racing around with no time to catch our breath, Jeff’s mom and dad came in to babysit Langston. He was napping in his crib, woke up, and just started screaming…as if on cue. So, then I did some running around trying to pull together milk, food, diaper change, etc. And I felt bad that we were then essentially leaving the parentals with a very unhappy baby.

Sorry mom and dad…um….we’re off….uh…have a good time!

It was a pretty sticky night, threatening rain, hot. We didn’t think there would be a big crowd to see Dar Williams and Over the Rhine. And we were right. We walked right in and got a nice seat, met Julie there, started our snacking and then, kind of randomly this woman takes the stage with a guitar and starts singing. I am sorry to say that none of us knew who she was. Was she an opening act? Someone who just saw her opportunity and wandered on stage to serenade us? What was up? After about the 5th song we decided, hey, this must actually BE Dar Williams (this was about 2 songs after Julie had said…hey wait…that’s a Dar Williams song…but, this girl doesn’t sing nearly as good as her…so, I don’t know…) Oops. It was about this time that we noticed the woman in her 40s sitting right by us in a very determined lotus position. She seemed very proud of her flexibility given the many, many, many times she felt the need to bend at the waist and pick up something (what?) in front of her. She also knew every single song that Dar Williams sang (and there were many….most what I would classify as “complaint folk”) and sang along loudly and with a lot of expression and hand motions. I am not kidding. She was also the first and loudest to laugh at anything that Dar Williams said that even resembled wit or humor….including thigh slaps, head thrown back, and then, the inevitable bend forward to bang the ground. It was pretty fascinating. And annoying. We bet that this woman followed poor Dar Williams from venue to venue, sending love notes, filling albums with news clippings and photographs…and is possibly on the receiving end of a restraining order which necessitated her present viewing location at least 250 feet from the stage.

We also became pretty fascinated by this very sketchy looking guy who was just kind of roaming around everywhere. He would kind of mosey up to the stage. Then kind of stroll around behind. Then he would head off into the crowd. He was wearing this oversized baseball cap, weighed at least 400 pounds, seemed to do a lot of sidling up to security cards, etc. Imagine our surprise when it turned out he was “Juicy” the sound engineer for Over the Rhine! Too funny.

We really liked OTR and wished that they had been the opener. Dar was just kind of a downer and that crazy woman was just too distracting. But, we only stayed for about 30 minutes of their act because it was getting damp and dark, we thought our baby might be going wild on his grandparents, and it had been a long week.

But, there really is no better place to watch a concert. So relaxing.

We got home and heard that although he had been pretty cranky for awhile, a healthy dose of Tylenol had seemed to do the trick (he finally has his appointment with the ENT on Monday) and he had played hard, taken a long walk with “Papa”, and fell immediately to sleep.

After they left and Jeff drove our cast-off groceries over to his aunt’s house (they have curby pick-up today) I was alone in the house and wandered into the nursery to pick up sleeping Langston. I rocked and whispered to him and prayed for his future and our wisdom and snuggled him until the cares of the day melted away to nothing. With many smooches and whispered “I love yous” I put him back in bed.

A good end.

Thursday Highlights - August 2, 2007

2007-08-02T15:48:00.000-04:00

This morning I woke up and went in to get little boy out of his bed and was greeted by a wall of stink. I had to part the odor like a beaded curtain to get into the room! It was slithering down the walls and hovered like a green cloud just below the ceiling. How could Langston be smiling and playing in his crib? Didn’t he realize that he was projecting a skunk-like plume of reek right at me??? As much as I love him, I almost didn’t want to pick him up…I was afraid of what might shoot out of the diaper onto my freshly showered self. But, I was the mom…I went ahead and picked him up. I tried to lay down some prep work on what I knew would have to be tactical perfection in order to remove, dispose of, and clean up after this explosion. I put several cloth diapers down on top of the diaper changing pad, flipped open the baby wipe container with wipes at the ready, pulled out a fresh diaper…and cautiously laid him down. His newest fascination is a flashlight…so, I turned it on and plopped it in his hand and gingerly started the diaper removal process. So far, so good….it was a crazy, freaky, ridiculous amount of bright orange slush…but I was super proud of myself as I used wipe after wipe without contaminating myself with even a droplet of ooze. Hey, it was actually going pretty well. After about wipe number 10 I thought I was ready for stage two of the process…onesie removal. Slowly and carefully I started shifting it up his little bod…and was just about ready to start the sleeve transition when…oh no…not really…oh come ON…yeah, unbeknownst to me a very generous amount of sludge had actually shot out the top of the diaper into a fat pile in the back of his onesie…precisely where I had put my hand to take it off…are you KIDDING me??? So, all my hard work had been for nothing…the diaper pad got all crapped on, I won’t even speak to you of what was going on in my hand…and I still had to get the thing off of him! Gagging and blowing and shifting on the balls of my feet I was finally able to free him. At which point I hollered for Jeff. There was no way I was finishing this on my own. After about the 10th yell (he's no fool) he came in and helped me wipe down Langston’s back, shoulders and neck…yes, neck…what kind of projectile offal was I dealing with here??? And then took Langston into the shower with him because no amount of baby wipes could remove all the traces of that load. Yikes. Yikes. And again…yikes!!!!

Utterly exhausted I gathered up all the offending materials…diaper containing Chernobyl-like fall out, 35 used wipes, 2 cloth diapers, and the onesie and headed into the kitchen for bagging.

Then I toweled off and dressed the now super clean baby (traces of the stank still lurking in the air…kind of like smoke damage after a house fire) and got him dressed. Lately, he is pretty happy to just be popped back in the crib to be warehoused while I finish getting ready. As long as I turn the lights up, throw in some toys and put in an energizing cd -- (these days we’re playing the broadway cast version of Guys and Dolls…he particularly enjoys “I’ve Got the Horse Right Here”…and this morning he got a bit of a giggle out of the line “call it hell, call it heaven, it’s a probable 12 to 7 that the guy’s only doing it for some doll”…I kept singing that line as we left the house and he kept bouncing and giggling…show tunes…oh, his father would be so pleased) so long as he doesn’t think I’m putting him to bed, he’s good to go.

We left the house in a flurry (as always) and shot off to Steelcase employee sales.

I bought two small pedestal/file cabinets to replace the ones I’m currently using as bedside tables in our bedroom. The new ones I bought are shorter by a drawer – which will allow for my new lighting concept per the bedroom update I’m working on. I needed some more vertical space and I think these new cabinets will be perfect. This week-end I hope to paint them white and glue down the tops. Anyhow, I had to go and pick them up. I really can’t wait until I get my mini-van (could be any time!) so I don’t have to keep facing the baleful expressions of the guys at employee sales who have to maneuver my purchases into the Buick. If I had a quarter for every time Frank sighed, “that’s never going to fit in there” and then magically, with some additional pointers and suggestions, was able to fit it all in…well, I think I’d at least be able to buy myself a decent meal. Anyhow, they got all loaded up and off we went to Appletree.

Langston really seems to like it there and was smiling and laughing and scooted off to play as I told Miss Carrie and Miss Amy why I had brought Langston an extra set of clothes for the day. Apparently this is going around…a little intestinal bug. Since Langston’s been on anti-biotics for about 30 days, I am not surprised that he is extra susceptible to viruses. They said they have a 3 strikes, you’re out policy on “loose” diapers…but, no phone call yet…so, he must be doing OK.

I then headed off to the Speedway for a pop…and….well….I have to make a confession: trash pick up day isn’t until Monday…and it’s just way too hot to put that in the garage…and no diaper genie in the world could possibly contain that diaper….so, I took my double-bagged sack of spoilage and tossed it in the gas station trash can. I’m not proud…but I just didn’t know where else to turn!

The rest of the day has passed fairly uneventfully. The heat drove me to try a new, and possibly sketchy hair do. I put part of it up and flipped the back. I’m not sure if I’m working it…or if it’s working me. I had a very long meeting where the end result was a list of people to invite to another meeting. I printed out a visitor’s guide to Door County, Wisconsin…which I have pitched to Jeff as a potential spot for our family “mini-break” in August. I got the world’s most annoying sales call. I checked out televisionwithoutpity’s recap on So You Think You Can Dance.

Tonight I am going out with Jeff and Auntie (Jeff says to me this morning…I didn’t realize that was a ME, you and Langston thing…I thought just you and Langston would go with Auntie…um….no) because Auntie wants to buy Langston some shoes for his birthday (which I can’t believe is days away). That’s actually very nice of her. Of course we are not headed for Value City or Target…we are going somewhere at Breton Village Mall. Should be a riot.

Thursday Highlights - July 27, 2007

2007-07-27T14:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I just kind of ran out of time yesterday to get this out, so I will just have to give you yesterday’s recap today.

First, I must back up to Wednesday night. My very good-natured son has handled his two ear infections with minimal complaint – which almost makes me feel worse. Like, please, at least put up a fuss so I can try to comfort you instead of watching you gamely trying to soldier on. Anyhow, then he got this full-body rash (either an allergy or a virus…no one can tell which)…and still tried to keep a stiff upper lip. Well, last night he took this late nap and when he woke up he was just bawling and wouldn’t stop. So, I think…maybe he’s hungry…so we put him in the high chair…still bawling…and start feeding him. It would go like this…bawl, bawl, bawl…then a very brief pause while he moaned his way through a bite of food and then immediately start bawling again…it finally got to the point where the food would just lay in his mouth while he sobbed. It was about the most pathetic thing ever. Finally, my sister said…you know, this is not him, he’s obviously in pain…what could it be? So, we think…hmmm…maybe he’s cutting a molar. As he continues screaming I hold his head still as if in a vice and Jeff roots around in his mouth looking in there with a penlight…and, sure enough…hugely swollen, bright red gum. Oops. At least we did have some Orajel on hand that really helped.

So, based on the previous night’s despair I thought I better plan to stay home with him on Thursday.

He slept great – didn’t stir at all until almost 8:00 (he usually gets up at around 6:45ish). I was almost worried. I kept checking on him to make sure he was still breathing! But, when he got up, it was like we had Langston back. He was laughing and jabbering…so much happier. Literally and figuratively like night and day. But, I wanted to be sure, so I decided to stay home for the morning. Since I was staying home and all, I thought, why not take a walk? So, without even combing my hair I threw on a tee-shirt and shorts and loaded Langston into the stroller for a little adventure. And thought nothing of it (I will return to this later).

After a long and peaceful nap and waking up just as happy as when he went down, I decided that it was fine to take him into daycare and head into work. So, I dropped him off and he crawled madly for the toys and gave me a big giggle and I grabbed a bite to eat and went into work.

Waiting for me at work was an email from the President of Steelcase. He wrote that he had an early breakfast meeting and saw me walking down the street this morning. Augghh!!! I kept replaying my ratted up hair, no make up, the gigantic tee-shirt and blue tee-shirt shorts. Yikes. Not at all the way that you want anyone you work with to see you. Especially not the president of the company. Crap. Another career expanding event.

The afternoon sailed on by without incident. Then Jeff and I and Langston headed off for Lansing to visit my parents. Jeff is so sweet because at least half the time he is the one who suggests that we should drop over for a visit. So, the grandparents got some Langston time and I had a particularly good serving of nacho chili dip…delicious. And, we got home in time for me to watch a show I had Tivo’d, which I now love, called Damages. That Glenn Close is so chilling!!!

So, kind of a boring recap, but, such was my Thursday.

Thursday Highlights - July 19, 2007

2007-07-19T15:27:00.000-04:00

Well…it’s been quite a day! I woke up to the sound of what I thought was an airplane taking off. Turns out it was just Jeff cranking up the window air conditioners and series of fans he has “circulating the air” throughout the house. We hollered our good-mornings and the day began.

Langston was pretty grimy from yesterday so I decided to give him a bath/haircut combo. He was getting a little shaggy over the eyes and I thought that the piles of hair were also probably pretty hot. I swear he’s the only 11 month old you could use a pair of thinning shears on…but, I guess it’s better than being a cue ball. Well, I bring him out to the sink…strip off his jammies, lay him down to whip off the diaper and as soon as I pull the tabs I realize it is LOADED with some very “loose stool.” Crap! All those anti-biotics he’s been on…they always warn on the label that it could cause this…but so far we’d gone unscathed. Um…not anymore. So, I kind of “gathered” everything back together and made a run for the changing table. None of this has phased Langston in the least, by the way. After the toxic clean-up we headed back for tub time…even more necessary now, I might add.

Well, the bath did kind of distract Langston while I took mad snips at his hair…but, he doesn’t make it easy. I think that I did better than last time’s scraggly disaster…but, let’s just say that his hair isn’t going to be getting in his eyes any time soon. Tee hee. Fortunately, Langston has no idea these things are going on around him. He was most concerned that “little Langston” was still in place throughout the experience. Any freedom from the diaper and he must immediately make VERY sure that all his pieces and parts are still intact. A lifelong concern, I guess….and endless fascination.

I scurried around getting him dressed because I had an 8 o’clock conference call. I had the number with me so I could just call in from home. But, of course time goes so fast. Especially when combining Langston’s morning prep with my own. And, the fact that there was about 1000% humidity in the house wasn’t helping either. I had a fan in the bathroom blowing directly on me and I was still all sweaty along the hairline. Yuck. I just hate that.

So, the call went on…with Langston jabbering and talking in the background. I’m sure everyone appreciated how he howled when I took the remote control away from him. I quickly left the room to somehow preserve the integrity of the call (yeah…I’m not calling in from home…yeah, I’m not distracted AT ALL!)…when I returned…like 3 minutes later he had literally gotten into EVERYTHING he is not supposed to. Books and magazines were scattered all over the floor…he had pulled the vcr off the shelf…he was sitting among a stack of cds and dvds, chewing on Jeff’s shoe. I’m such a good mother.

Well, after a totally breathless race around the house with my arm hooked under his arms…toting him around…stuffing things into the diaper bag, putting the dishes in the sink, stuffing my stuff in my purse, grabbing a bottle of water…FINALLY we got into the car and headed off. I had the air conditioning on high and guzzled said water as we cruised down the road. It was only 8:45 and I was already exhausted. I really don’t know how single mothers do it.

When I left him at daycare he was sitting in between two other kids (poor, sad little expressionless blobs) in the group high-chair table…he had a fistful of cheerios in one hand, a sippy cup of milk in the other, laughing and talking…so cute.

Work has been really quiet. So, I’ve been wasting a lot of time. A lot of web searches (can anyone explain to me how I can have full and total access to televisionwithoutpity.com but the moment I try to enter in my “pampers points” on the pampers website I get the access prohibited screen? What is with that?). Returned some phone calls. Updated my calendar. Cleaned out a drawer. Watered my plant. Boy, is it already 10:00??? This day is FLYING.

Anyhow, then I had lunch with my friend Sharon. That soup and salad combo at Olive Garden is pretty good. Although we both agreed that while the breadstix and soup were still terriff…the salad was getting a little lackluster. A lot of big, white chunks of iceberg lettuce…the dressing seemed a bit watered down…you know.

Then I got a phone call from the Grand Rapids Press. Turned out that the reporter was writing some story about Steelcase being listed on an application for a charter school from GVSU. This is true…but, it’s a long, tangled story and I’m not really thinking that we want to start talking about it right now to the media. Her deadline was early afternoon and I told her that I would try to track down the guy she wanted to talk to. Well, after a bunch of tracking down I finally get an email from him that he’s at some board meeting up in the UP and isn’t available until Monday. Actually, I’m pretty relieved. So, I call this girl back and tell her the sad tale of the board meeting and that it doesn’t look like we’ll be able to make her deadline…and I apologize. She says, “It doesn’t seem like you’re very sorry at all…and you haven’t tried very hard to help me” and hangs up on me. That just means I’ll be so much MORE likely to help her when she calls back again. I just had to laugh…boy, she sure told ME! What she doesn’t realize is that after my time working at the cable company, when all those sleazebags hosting porn sites with their cable modems would call and cuss me out when the service went down…I got a pretty thick skin. I mean really, once you’ve heard it from Herb the porn purveyor can Beth at the Press really make me feel bad?

Well, now I’m starting to think about how nice it will be to get home for the day. It’s been a long week. Mostly just because not much is going on. Everyone’s on vacation I guess. My phone has only rung once today – and it was hateful Beth at the Press, so it doesn’t really count.

So, I will spend some time thinking through some projects I want to do around the house…maybe make some preliminary plans for Langston’s birthday party (Can you believe he’ll be a year old in under a month? I can’t. Actually, you probably haven’t given it much thought…some friend.)…maybe check out some photographers on-line…or hopefully, scoot out of here early so I can get a head-start on the night. You have to take advantage of these things when you can. We are going to Lansing to have dinner with mom and dad tonight. That should be fun.

Thursday Highlights - July 12, 2007

2007-07-12T17:02:00.000-04:00

Well, the old “get up and exercise, fatty” alarm went off at 6:05 this morning…and I don’t even remember turning it off. The next thing I knew it was a quarter to seven and little boy was hollering for some attention. But before you judge, let me at least try to win some points by telling you that I had already gotten up and exercised the 3…yes 3…mornings previous! Yes, I have finally reached critical mass (and I do mean mass) on my need to get back in shape. I’m very sick of the majority of my clothes still being tight. So, no more excuses! My strangling waist-bands tremble in fear! My straining zippers are ducking for cover! The 2/3 of my closet that I dare not venture into because it’s too depressing are crooking their fingers and beckoning. Soon, my old friends…soon we will be reunited!

Ok, that paragraph exhausted me.

Back to the day. Well, I scrambled around getting some stuff done around the house before I left, because the Bible study BBQ is back on….at our house tonight. So, I squeezed in some light dusting, put away some toys, put light bulbs in the paper lanterns I will be dramatically strewing throughout the branches that hang over our patio, and put some tea lights in the votive holders I hauled up from the basement to twinkle on the tabletops. I can’t help it…I just love parties…and any excuse to strew and twinkle! Poor Jeff spent all last evening creating his ka-bob “experience.” I call it an experience because in my world you cut up the vegetables and drizzle with some lemon juice and olive oil, you cut up the chicken and marinate it in some soy sauce and vinegar and call it good. That is not Jeff’s way. First there was brining the chicken. Then he had to mix up this special Greek marinade with all kinds of pestling of spices, careful measuring of fresh squeezed juices, then all the pounding and slicing and smelling and sieving….maybe that’s why I’m on “decoration” duty.

Then it was breakfast with our beat writer from the Press. It turns out that after 7 years covering Steelcase he has quit his job to go and work for an on-line industry rag, the Monday Morning Quarterback! This is the publication that has been the thorn in my side every since I’ve worked here. The publisher has this major hatred for the CEO and does really juvenile things like posting pictures of his cottage, photoshops pictures of our company sign with the words changed to say something pathetic, etc. So, I was actually kind of happy to hear that this guy was joining that publication. He really wants to mend fences and knows that it’s not professional for the publisher to be doing stuff like this. Plus, he said that he doesn’t want to ruin the relationships here that he has built at Steelcase over the years. So, I’m hoping that this will make my life easier in the future.

Blah, blah, blah…work, work, work…and then it was off to Forest Hills Foods to get some dessert for tonight (again…if Jeff had been in charge of this portion of the meal he would still be hand-shaving chocolate) and some lunch for myself. Delicious purchase by the way. I got this spicy 7-grain salad that was totally delish. I had to get some lunch because I had to go to a noon-three meeting – that asked us to bring a sack lunch! What kind of person schedules a lunch meeting, at the Learning Center (where you can oh so easily provide a meal ticket for your guests) and tells you to brown bag it? So, I did. But, when I got to the meeting he was all chagrined, because I guess someone had informed him of his gaff, so he did give us all meal tickets. Since I already had my lunch with me I just pocketed the old “bon appetit” card for use on a rainy day.

The meeting was on the company’s launch process. I had not originally been on the invite list for this gathering but my boss’ boss found out about the meeting and inserted me. I don’t really know why. I don’t believe that I added anything more than the one or two forced “yes, I’m not just a bump on a log, I am adding this modicum of value” comments. But, since it was on a topic I know nothing about it was actually a good learning experience.

Then I got back to my desk (after the meeting went nearly an hour long) to find an email from the IT group telling me that my new Blackberry would soon be ready for me. New Blackberry, you say? What of this? Well, I have been having trouble with my pancake-sized, early model BB – it occasionally refuses to dial into voicemail. Much like when your car is making a funny noise, of course it would never refuse to work when I was showing it to our tech group. Well, when I noticed it was doing it again I ran down to the IT department to show them. There I ran into the VP of the department. We’ve always been friendly – when we’ve been in meetings together I’m usually the one who is asking him some important question like how to turn on the “back light” on my device or how to change the font on my email. Anyhow, I ran into him and when he asked, I described the problem. So, he tries to fix it…trying a number of different things…I’m saying, Bob, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on this…you have more important things to do! Finally, he relents and I go back to the tech department where I’m told that it’s just some bizarre quirk with Nextel and that even Nextel doesn’t know why or what to do about it. OK. So, I just take out the SIM card and move on. On my way out to the grocery store I run into Bob! He asks about the BB. I give him the short answer. And he says, can I ask why you’re using such an old BB? I say that it’s really not that old – it’s less than a year old – it’s just the only one that the company allows you to order. He says that’s ridiculous and I need a “cooler” model. I tell him this one’s fine and that it’s no big deal…but he says he’s going to do something about it. Of course I don’t believe him. But there it is! I will be getting a cooler one! Bob came through for me! And, as my friend Sherry says, now the people in the tech department know that when I have trouble the VP comes down from on high to fix it. I love it!!!

So, now I wait for 5:00 when I will go pick up my sweet mop top from daycare. Lately, he’s been all the time doing this very exuberant “gasp.” Like all the time. When I bring him his anti-biotic he gasps with joy. When I put him in his high-chair he gasps with joy. When he sees me opening the applesauce he gasps with joy. It’s super cute. I hope that he continues to see this much excitement in all the little things in life.

Thursday Highlights June 28, 2007

2007-07-03T10:08:00.000-04:00

I woke up and went in to get little boy up and for the 3rd day in a row he was already awake. What cracks me up is that he will be sitting cross-legged in his crib reading a book. When I walk in, he just looks up as if to say, “what’s up mom…just sitting here getting a little reading in.” Oh my word. He is going to be such a nerd! I love it! I predict glasses by the first grade. When I took him to his new daycare this week they asked if there was a particular comfort item he liked to take to bed – like a blanket or a stuffed animal – I had to tell them that his bedtime comfort item is actually a book. So fun.

Then I had to race into the office. Important meeting? Deadline to meet? Big workload? No…I had to come in to the quarterly departmental birthday breakfast with our senior VP. Because nothing says happy birthday like coming into work 45 minutes early. In my bitterness I ate a bear claw. And drank 3 cups of coffee.

Then I started just madly hacking off items on my “to do” list. Just a crazy level of checking off tasks completed. Let me give you a sample. Item #4: Check and see if there are any Michigan wine tours for the fall. I thought that might be a fun way to celebrate our wedding anniversary in September, since we did some Sonoma Valley wine tasting on our honeymoon. Since our anniversary is in September it is critical that I start my research now. Critical, I tell you. I actually found out that on our anniversary there is some kind of “stomp the grapes” event in Leelanau county…might be worth checking out! See! I’m so productive!!

Next I signed up for an investor relations conference in September. Boy, I am really tackling those September to-do’s! It’s in Boston and should be a blast. Yay…number crunching in autumn…it doesn’t get any better than that.

Then I heard that our Bible Study reunion BBQ was cancelled. We had decided to take a hiatus from Bible studying in the summer. But, we thought it might be fun to get together once a month purely to eat. Because eating really knows no season. Our first one was to be Thursday night. And what a great night for a cook-out…gentle breeze, warm sunshine, low humidity. But, the host husband came down with a kidney stone and was busy puking all afternoon. Strangely he didn’t really feel up to hosting friends for a cook-out. He’s so selfish. We’ll have to tackle that issue when our Bible study reconvenes. I didn’t care for his self-centered attitude.

I picked up little boy at daycare – smiling and laughing and eating a toy (him, not me) – he makes me so proud. On the way home we stopped at the greenhouse for the super clearance sale. I got 2 big hanging plants for $1.50 each. I love it! For once I was a good mother and actually determined ahead of time that if I put these plants in the back seat Langston would eat them. Proactively I stuffed them into the front seat and hoped for the best.

I got home to utter bliss. Earlier this season I had an excuse…I had wrist surgery and couldn’t really use my hands very effectively. Then I was in rehab and really supposed to take it easy. Then everything was healed but I realized I was just a super lazy person. Um….I’m speaking of weeding the front flower beds. Which are quite big. And get very weedy. Especially when you don’t ever weed. So, back when I had the surgery excuse I hired Tina's employment training juvenile delinquents to come out every other week to weed. What a wonderful way to spend $25. Anyhow, I was feeling guilty now as I noticed how many weeds there were, how terrible it looked, how lazy I am…and determined that I actually had to take action and just get out there in the soil and work. I decided I would start this week-end. But, as I mentioned, utter bliss…I came home from work and noticed immediately that the kids had been out and the weeding completed! Oh, I’m so happy. It looks wonderful and I did nothing more than come home. No bending, no stretching, no back cramps…I love being lazy sometimes.

We later decided to cheer up our kidney-stone-friend’s wife by bringing over some of Jeff’s special recipe margaritas. Yum yum. I also brought her one of the hanging baskets. Turns out that Thursday was her actual 10 year wedding anniversary. Spending it helping her husband puke wasn’t a very festive way to celebrate. She very much appreciated the margaritas and hoped that their week-end plans wouldn’t be ruined by the kidney stone. She feared she was being selfish. Please. He’s the one with the problem! No, really, we all felt very sorry for him. He looked like death warmed over. I have heard that it’s about the worst pain you can experience. So, hopefully he is feeling much better now.

Home to watch the results show of So You Think You Can Dance (Jeff and I are both hopelessly addicted to this show….I don’t know what to say) and we enjoyed all over again the recaps of our favorite dances.

Is the day already over? When did I work out? When did I read something thought-provoking? When did I challenge myself to be a better person? Oh shoot. I guess there’s always this week-end. Now that I don’t have to weed I really have no excuse.

Thursday Highlights - June 14, 2007

2007-06-14T16:11:00.000-04:00

Well, here’s what’s happening this Thursday.

First, I kind of woke up when my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. (remember all those early morning work-outs I’m going to do??) I think it went off for about 5 minutes while in my sleep fog I tried to figure out what was making all that racket (in my defense, when we were in Chicago for 5 days the only alarm clock I needed was Langston, who did not adjust to central time and thus, woke me up at about 5:45 every morning. At home when he wakes up before 7 he just plays in his crib, jabbering and hollering away until I go in and get him at my leisure…but since we were in a very small hotel room and his crib was not only right next to the bed but also likely near the sleeping forms of our hotel neighbors, I actually had to get up and placate him…boo.)

Anyhow, obviously I did not get up at 6:00. Bwahahahahahahaha!

I dragged myself out of bed at around 7 and started to hunt around for all the stuff I needed that was still locked away in the suitcases. Hmmmm…maybe I should have actually unpacked when we got home last night…but I was so tired…the couch was so inviting…the house seemed so big and luxurious (after very small hotel room as mentioned above)…I just want to loll around. So I paid, as I rooted through a week’s worth of junk (Why did I bring all those press kits with me? I never used even one.) to dig to the bottom of the suitcase for some clean undies.

Shower felt very refreshing.

Cuddles with Langston are always fun. His slobbery kisses just kill me.

Left for work with – and I jest not – 4 bags of crap. It’s ridiculous. I can’t even bear to tell you (nor do you want to read) all the junk I crammed in and took to work with me. That’s it…no more…this stuff is just going to have to stay there!

It was very quiet when I got to work. Post-NeoCon slow down, I guess.

I was very excited to get a free 6-pack of diet coke. Leftovers from yesterday’s employee day trip. Woo hoo! The spoils of being in the right place at the right time, I guess :)

On my lunch hour I ran to Target to do some errands. My plans to spend about $20 on diapers and diaper genie refills very quickly turned into $100…including father’s day cards (one for me to my dad, one for Langston to Jeff, and one for Jeff from me) – am I the only one who starts reading cards like this and becomes a blubbering mess??...and a father’s day gift for my dad (he got a bunch of nifty “storage solutions” which I felt were perfect gifts given that I was really struggling to come up something that he would want and also want to store in their very small apartment…so what serendipity that I had this frustrating thought right by the storage area!) Although, I was regretting how casually I threw these items into the cart when one fell out on my toe…of course I was in sandals…and it hurt white-hot. When I could finally see straight I could see that it was bleeding a little bit but only enough to whine about, not anything serious at all. But I digress. I also bought a bunch of travel snacks for my trip to Chicago this week-end to celebrate my sister’s birthday with a group of girls. And I guess maybe that’s it. Boy, $100 sure does add up fast.

This afternoon I have munched on my Jimmy John’s sandwich while I worked and desperately tried to finish my boss's rough draft presentation for his speech at the annual shareholder’s meeting on the 21st. When we met to start working on his remarks he told me that he didn’t want to do anything like a typical powerpoint presentation. He didn’t want bulleted text on a slide…he wanted only powerful graphics…a storyboard…a dramatic, artful presentation. Yeah…that’s going to be easy. Anyhow, after sweating my way through “storyboarding” his remarks (what does that even mean??) I finally got a draft off to him, legal and a design vendor I’m having buff up what I’ve done.

And now I’m starting to think about heading home. Auntie will be back again tonight (in her purple sunglasses I hope!) to watch Langston this evening. Jeff and I both forgot that we had agreed to go out with his mom and dad, and David and Jill to dinner and the theater tonight…I remembered like today at noon! Yikes. Jeff called to tell me that not only had he remembered about the theater tonight he had also called Auntie to save the day at the last minute (in a very funny side note, he first called Jill...who informed him that she and Dave were also going tonight...tee hee).

Thursday Highlights - May 31, 2007

2007-05-31T16:13:00.000-04:00

Hectic morning once again. Langston is simply precious in his drool covered yellow onesie. More drool? He can’t possibly be cutting more teeth…good grief he already has 8 and he’s only 9 months old!

The house is stuffy because it’s summer and we don’t have central air, so I work up a sweat trying to blow-dry my hair in the bathroom – still fighting the effects of the steam from 2 showers. I always forget what a pain that is.

Langston loves rolling around in the bathroom while I get ready – he’s currently mesmerized by the springy door stop thing on the bathroom door…it goes BOOOIIIINNNNGGG when he flicks it…which he loves. He repeats the activity over and over and over and over…giggling every time. It’s nice having a simple child.

I left the house carrying two overstuffed plastic bags of recyclables to put in the bins in the garage, a piece of toast wrapped in a paper towel, a bottle of water, a book (in case I need it over lunch), my purse, and my keys. Sticky, fumbling around juggling all this junk, nearly exhausted I collapse into the car and off for work.

Looked up some houses for sale on-line. Julie is thinking of getting a house so Jeff and I are in hot investigative mode. Found a great one. Actually quite jealous that it looks like a better house than mine, yet is cheaper than what I paid. I guess it’s just a buyer’s market. Keeping that in mind might keep me from hating her. Maybe.

Felt pudgy in my outfit.

Got my oil changed at Valvoline. I had gone nearly 3,000 miles over the recommended 3,000 limit. Was waited on by not one, but two Jeremiahs. How strange is that? Was inundated with orders…step on your brake, turn on your turn signals…right, now left, now right again…now put your foot on the brake and put your car in reverse…now turn on your right turn signal again…now start your engine….now turn it off…and the questions! Do you want a new air filter?...would you like regular or max oil?...would you like air in your tires? Good grief it was exhausting! Who knew there were so many decisions to be made just to get an oil change!

Had an impromptu meeting with my boss to discuss the fact that “events staff” at our NeoCon showroom this year will get to expense any outfits they need to buy in order to fit the dress code. That’s ridiculous, we agreed. That’s just wasteful and inappropriate, we wailed. But mostly we were just jealous. I’m sure I’ll feel pudgy in whatever I decide to wear to NeoCon this year.

Made a list of snack foods to buy tonight to reward people in my department who are helping Laura and I stuff 400 press room bags tomorrow for NeoCon. A definite excuse for a trip to Costco for kettle corn. Oh, it’s so addictive!

Thought about whether or not I should take a bike ride tonight after Langston goes to bed. Now that the days are getting longer I have fewer excuses for my laziness.

Realized that pudgy feeling might be directly related to my overall sedentary existence. Filled with resolve I raised my desk to standing height for increased mobility. I already feel more refreshed.

And with that…it’s almost time to go home!

Garage Sale Season is On!

2007-05-18T11:39:00.000-04:00

Now that garage sale season is in full swing I feel that, as a devotee, I must make some comments.

I am always puzzled by particular items that seem to be a staple at nearly every sale. For instance, there’s always a card table covered with a variety of mugs. In my own collection I have a mug from the 2006 PRSA convention, a Dodger’s mug, 2 Cubs mugs, any number of mismatched Christmas mugs that were originally given to me filled with Hershey’s kisses or Reese’s miniatures or the like, several “souvenir” mugs from vacations (either my own or relatives’ who felt they needed to bring me back a memento), and mugs commemorating things like my high school graduation (Trojans, 1988), Jeff’s employee appreciation day in 2002, and the 2004 Steelcase shareholders’ meeting. So, what I absolutely do not need to do is spend even 25 cents on strangers’ mugs celebrating their various conventions, favorite sports’ teams, Christmas gifts they received with candy inside, graduations (high school, college or grad school…not their children’s either), vacations, etc. Does anyone? Is there anyone in the entire greater Grand Rapids area who feels what they are really short on is random, mismatched mugs? And no, Goodwill doesn’t want them either because even the poorest, neediest person probably already has more than enough mugs. There should be some kind of melting pot where we could all take our old mugs to be melted down and re-made to commemorate future events requiring a cheap give-away.

Don’t ever be lulled into purchasing any “as seen on TV” exercise equipment at full price. I guarantee that every Saturday you will come across dozens of people happy to unload the gazelle, thigh-master, ab-roller, ab-lounge, door gym, or stamina body dome they made three easy payments to obtain and then used once.

Are you grossed out by your own torn, sweat-stained, misshapen work-out tees? Fear not! You can replace them with the dozens you will find at every garage sale featuring the rips, sweat and stretch-marks of strangers! And you can usually get each one for only .25-$1 (hey, you have to pay a premium for torn, sweaty, stretched-out “designer” tees).

Boy, what I would give to have access to the wit, wisdom, advice, chicken soup, and blessings that were compiled into books I threw out that were specifically aimed at graduates, mothers-to-be, fathers-to-be, golfers, grandmothers, new parents, home-schooling parents, parents of scholar athletes, parents of strong-willed children, parents of lazy children, parents of wild children, parents of children you want to grow “God’s Way”, single parents, only children, children of alcoholics, co-dependent spouses, spouses with no “love language”, etc. But wait…one stroll down a street participating in a neighborhood garage sale and you will amply restock your supply. I can’t believe people are getting rid of these! Don’t they still have a need for wit, wisdom, advice, blessings and chicken soup? I know I still do.

If I could were the Garage Sale Czar for the city of Grand Rapids, I would:

1-demand respect. Come on….do you really think that I, your customer, am so low and desperate that I want to paw through your unsorted piles of crap? At least show me the courtesy of putting up a few tables, sorting your items, pricing them…making some effort at merchandising. If you just dump your stuff on a table for me to dig through, I will feel your disdain and move on. I mean, I do have my standards.
2-forbid garbage. Again, do you really think that ANYONE wants your a) half-filled and cracked snow globe, b) old tee shirts (see notes above), c) used underwear (I can’t bear to say more…even if they were from Victoria’s Secret), d) puzzles missing pieces, e) rusty spoons, f) teal stiletto pumps from 1985, g) crock pot missing the crock, h) used make-up, or i) half-filled bottle of lotion? Sadly, I could have gone on and on. Gross.
3-insist pets be confined in some way. Do you really expect me to concentrate on making purchases when your mutt is sniffing my rear? That’s an immediate walk-away.
4-forbid overcharging. Your paperbacks are not worth $5 each just because they were “only read once.” Your child’s old boots are not worth $10 just because they were originally bought at Macy’s. No one in their right mind is going to pay $20 for a used fondue set. You’re just embarrassing yourself and wasting my time.

All that said…I can feel it in the air…garage sale season is back on…and the deals, deals, deals, deals, deals await!!

My best deal so far is 3 books I bought last week. My boss Deb and I have been desperately looking for copies of the book that Steelcase produced in celebration of its 75th anniversary. We were down to our last copy and couldn’t find any more anywhere. It seemed a little scary to be the corporate communications department and down to our last book. Can you believe I came across 3 of these books, still in their wraps and boxes, for $3? I love it. Where else but at a garage sale?

Things That Are Currently On My Desk…and What They Say About Me

2007-04-17T11:06:00.000-04:00

I am the type of person who longs for a pristine and clutter-free work surface. I imagine that in my ideal work space my utterly clean desk would just sport a single stalk of bamboo in a clear glass cylinder…or maybe one perfect picture of Langston in a teak frame, his eyes shining with love for the photographer (me).

What I do know is that it would not display the current assortment of oddities:

1- Four neatly stacked random cds. Two of which are photo cds of Steelcase executives from January photo shoots. These pictures need to be loaded onto our company shared site but I don’t know who our vendor for this is anymore, don’t have the software needed to view them, and my unanswered and unasked questions have led me to just postpone any action. I don’t even know what the other two cds are.
2- A certificate from Omaha Steaks inviting me to buy their “limited time offer” Celebration Pack of assorted steaks and burgers. If I act before the end of the month I also get a set of steak knives and a cutting board….plus 8 additional burger patties!!! This offer does seem to be too good to resist. So, it sits here…just waiting to be sent in….and waiting. Maybe I’ve procrastinated so long because it just didn’t seem like spring here. I couldn’t imagine firing up the grill for anything other than a heat source in the frigid weather. But now I just know I’ll act on the offer before the end of the week. I know it. Bring on the meat!!
3- A blue paperclip holder guy. This was a stocking stuffer from Christmas. I thought it would be really helpful since sometimes I find myself searching for paperclips. But for some reason he has not entered my conscious mind because I continue to search high and low for paperclips…only afterwards do I remember, oh yeah, I’ve got that blue thing right here. If I never use the paperclips he endlessly presents does he have a purpose? Without a purpose does he have a function? When no one’s around does he stop grinning?
4- An index card box with alphabetical dividers. What a clever way to keep business cards and important numbers at my finger tip! However, I have neither added to this collection nor retrieved information from it in years. Yes, years. How do I know this? Well, one boring afternoon during spring break I actually started looking through it and found cards identifying my healthcare providers when I lived in Lansing (7 years ago), reporters for publications that have since gone out of business, my blood donor card from when I worked at American Red Cross, a recipe for a bourbon chicken casserole I never made (and doesn’t really even look all that tasty), a business card for a woman who makes Raggedy Ann dolls (for a gift I gave, must have been 10 years ago, to someone whose name I now can’t even remember – let alone her kid).
5- A desk fan. Working here in the hermetically sealed office work the air flow can sometimes bring me down! Cold in the morning…hot in the afternoon…a girl’s gotta have a little air movement…I don’t care what facilities says…they’re not the one expected to work in this oven! OK…along with the stalk of bamboo and the devastatingly cute picture of Langston I’d really have to keep the fan too…forget sophistication – who am I kidding?

So, what does all this say about me? What kind of window into my soul have I just flung open?? I guess the big revelation is that I’m lazy. Pretty much all of this clutter could go if I just quit procrastinating, opened my eyes and possibly the trash can, and just let it go. And maybe I’ll just do that…yeah…maybe I’ll take care of it today…you just watch me! Except, of course, for the fan.

The Holquist Fam Best Eats in GR List!

2007-04-02T14:18:00.000-04:00

Best Bagels: Bagel Beanery (Jeanine); Panera (Jeff)

A Nice Place to Take the Folks: The Gathering Place (Jeanine); Bentham’s (Jeff)

Best Breakfast: Real Food Café (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Chocolate Chip Cookies: Wealthy St. Bakery (Jeanine); just make ‘em yourself (Jeff)

Best Deli Sandwiches: Cherry Street Deli (Jeanine); Schnitz Deli (Jeff)

Best Desserts: Barnes & Noble (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Lunch: Red Geranium (Jeanine) ;

Best Place to Eat Out with Friends: Bonefish Grill (Jeanine) ; Blue Water Grill (Jeff)

Best Place to Go if You Have to Pick Up a Dessert (tie): Forest Hills Foods and Paris Cafe

(Jeanine); Arnie’s

Best Restaurant Bread Basket: Charley's Crab (Jeanine); Pietro’s (Jeff)

Best Restaurant Location: The Blue Water Grill (Jeanine); Rose’s (Jeff)

Best Restaurant Splurge (tie): The Heritage at GRCC and The Melting Pot (Jeanine); Charley’s Crab (Jeff)

Best Restaurant to Just Sit and Talk: Bob Evans’ (Jeanine); No answer from Jeff.

Best Restaurant to Take the Kids: Red Robin (Jeanine); Kabookie’s (Jeff)

Best Ribs: Z's (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Salad: Rose's (Jeanine); Panera (Jeff) – although he says a salad is just a salad to him.

Best Soft Serve Ice Cream: Cone City (Jeanine); don’t eat soft serve (Jeff) – yes he does…he eats at Cone City whenever I suggest it.

You Can Always Get in on a Saturday Night: Sundance Grill (Jeanine); No answer from Jeff.

Most Overpriced for What You Get (tie): Zoup and Olga’s (Jeanine); San Chez and Noodles (Jeff)

Most Overrated: The BOB (Jeanine); Bar Louie (Jeff)

Best Pizza: Big Bob’s (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

Best Chinese: Seoul Garden (Jeanine and Jeff agree)

How Does it Stay in Business: Carlos O’Kelly’s (Jeanine) ; El Arriero (Jeff)

Best Burger: Rose’s (Jeanine); Cottage Bar (Jeff)

I’m So Sorry it Closed: Donato’s Pizza (Jeanine); Three Crowns Bistro (Jeff)

Best Local Joint: Real Food Café (Jeanine); Yesterdog (Jeff)

Oh, I WILL get it done!

2007-03-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

Well, I am back after an exhausting 3 weeks of travel. I was in Dallas, Texas; New York twice; Marco Island, Florida. Only the Florida trip was for fun. Hopefully I am back now until Chicago in June – but you never know.

As winter is starting to slowly turn toward spring I am getting the itch to be more personally productive. I have begun some aggressive list making. Achievement seems just within reach.

So, I share with you some of my personal “to do” list. And then provide what I am quite sure will keep me from completion.

1. At a garage sale TWO YEARS AGO (with the newest season’s garage sale season coming soon) I bought an old fashioned diaper changing table. Does it mean anything to you to realize that I bought this thing the summer BEFORE I got married and now am married and have a child and still haven’t completed this project? I am shamed by my own procrastination. Anyway…I had seen this great project in a do-it-yourself magazine where you convert a changing table into a drink cart. It was charming. It seemed serendipitous when weeks later I saw a changing table just like the one in the article for only $5. It still sits in the basement today waiting to be transformed.

2. When Jeff and I were working on selling his house (again, this will now be two summers ago) a neighbor of his was hosting a garage sale (I’m sensing a trend) and had an old bike for sale. It was one of those kind of old-fashioned models with the basket and the 3 speeds…sure, it was kind of broken down…but it was only $2 and I felt sure that with a little TLC it could just be charming! I could just see myself tooling around, kind of Martha’s Vineyard-esque with my straw hat, Bermuda shorts and pastel bike (with a bouquet of freshly picked daisies in the basket). This is much like the vision I had of myself mowing my lawn with an eco-friendly reel mower in a white dress and hat (another trend) before setting up the croquet set for an impromptu match (Jeff quickly vetoed this purchase…he said that it would more likely be him sweating through a Cubs t-shirt during the first 10 minutes of a 3 hour job in the boiling hot sun slaving behind an instrument of torture …something he wanted no part of). Anyhow…the bike is still limply propped up in the garage unrestored.

3. I don’t know why I never noticed it before, but whoever painted our ceilings before we moved in did a crappy job. I don’t even know if there’s one coat of paint on those things. It would be really nice to re-white those nasty ceilings. I also have to say that I made a number of my own mistakes painting the walls when I moved in…so, this would give me the chance to right those wrongs too. I have already bought some instant stripper to fix the paint boo-boos on the trim (OK, the stripper has only sat on the counter for 3 weeks…but I’m REALLY going to do this).

4. When I moved into the house the basement was beautiful. The floor had been freshly painted grey…it was awesome. It’s pristine condition moved me to love. Now it’s dirty, dusty, and fairly gross. It needs a good sweep and some serious mopping. I’m ashamed at how I’ve let it deteriorate.

5. I won’t even mention all the boxes in the crawl space I was blessed with when Jeff moved in. Suffice it to say that these boxes contain “treasures” like old yellow pages books, mugs full of old pens, LL Bean catalogs, etc. Shhhh…it’s a secret….don’t tell Jeff….but a purge is forthcoming.

6. The garage is a disgrace.

7. I’ve always wanted a party patio. I’ve got some kind of cool items now…I just have to integrate it into some kind of coherent, elegant yet playful, outdoor hangout.

I’m just so happy looking at that list! Life would be so wonderful if I got that stuff done. I can’t even tell you.

But, here is what will inevitably keep me from this bliss:

1. Hey, it’s the cast of Lost on Oprah!

2. Oooh…the Sephora catalog arrived…

3. All of a sudden I’m compelled to rearrange all the closets.

4. Anyone feel like ice cream?

5. Look at my toes…boy do I need some polish!

6. Is that a new episode of To Catch a Predator???

7. Oh, I’m just so drowsy…a quick nap won’t hurt anything…

8. I wonder if there’s anything new on You Tube?

9. I’m almost to the end of the book…surely it will only take me a few minutes to finish (an hour later I’m still reading)

10. OK Langston…mommy will lay on the floor and tickle your tummy (I don’t really think this counts)

Grieving a Tree

2007-02-26T10:35:00.000-05:00

When I first visited the house I would eventually buy, my first thought was how much I loved the gigantic oak in the front yard. It was impossibly tall, dappled the sunlight over the lawn and flowers, gracefully arched over the entire house.

To me, there really is nothing more lovely than a tree.

I didn’t even really mind all the leaves in the fall. Well, to be honest, I hired Tina’s crew of juvenile delinquents each year to do the raking for me. I’m as lazy as the grave.

So, imagine my sadness when I noticed a split in the trunk the other week. I called in the tree doctor and after a lot of careful evaluation and examination another split was discovered on the other side and the verdict was not good. Although it was a perfectly healthy, probably 150 year old tree, that could easily outlive me – it was failing. The fear was that once the leaves came in the wind would start to twist the tree and put enough stress on the trunk that the tree would fall over…demolishing either my house or the one next door. The only decision we could make was to take it down.

It actually hurt my heart to see the crew sawing off all the branches and feeding them into the chipper. I finally had to just leave – I couldn’t watch any more. It makes me sad to think that something God created back when the area was nothing but a farmer’s field could be so quickly reduced to dust.

I had to leave the afternoon of the chopping for a business trip so the first time I saw my now naked front yard was at night after a long flight home. I couldn’t believe how the whole approach had changed. It was a lot brighter (very strange) and you could definitely see more of the back yard and the neighbor’s house (not overly excited by either of these developments).

The tree bordered the driveway so I always had to take extra care when backing out of the garage to accommodate it. I instinctively made the same twist this morning and felt bad all over again when I realized that the driveway is now totally open. Sniff.

Jeff says that we will do something new this spring to commemorate the loss. I know that eventually I will forget what it was like when the tree was there. I hope not.

It's Vegas Baby!

2007-02-12T16:55:00.000-05:00

Four Thirtysomethings in Vegas Learned That:

A tub for two isn’t all that romantic when the water is boiling hot

It’s really easy to get lost inside the Caesar’s Palace Forum Shops…really…it could happen to ANYONE…it doesn’t mean you’re dumb or anything

In-and-Out Burgers taste even better in a limo

If the bus has a lot of people in it, your husband is going to refuse to get on it and make you walk a mile and a half down the strip…and yes, your feet will hurt

There’s really only so much you can eat off even the best buffet

Going back to item #1…if you put a tablespoon of bubble bath in said tub for two you and turn on the Jacuzzi jets, you will create an erupting volcano of bubbles that will not only tower between you but will also cascade onto the floor beside you in waves

Slots-a-Fun hotdogs are the size of a baby’s arm…but a bargain at $1.49!

If getting a cheap flight means leaving for the airport at 3:00 a.m. – pass

There’s nothing better than eating a cup of gelato while watching the Bellagio fountains

Even good Baptist girls can catch gambling fever!

Mountain Climbing

2007-02-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

I am working as a "communications coach" for a couple of presenters at my company's annual leadership conference. Mostly that means that on top of whatever other reponsibilities I have, I will now add a series of 4 hour meetings to my week (thank goodness for wireless networks) and help an executive (or 2 in my case) bring their thoughts to "life" with power point, video production, wordsmithing, design assistance, etc. It makes for a long couple of weeks. The conference begins on Tuesday morning...it is Thursday and I have just received the 3rd "brand new concept" from my presenter. I don't have any words of response to this.

But enough of my complaining...because really, the above paragraph was just to serve as a segue into what I really wanted to talk about. And I didn't even get to the part that was going to segue into the segue. So, here we go again.

My presenter is working on the "inspirational" portion of his speech (oh dear) and he is using a metaphor he got out of a recent business book (oh dear II). It's all about looking at your business like a mountain and employees like climbers. What follows is an exerpt from the speech: "Permit me to explain what I mean by daily commitment with a comparison to climbing. A book entitled The Adversity Challenge separated climbers into three different categories. First are “quitters.” Quitters plan to reach the peak. They’ve got all the right equipment, the desire and the skill. But, they are not prepared to conquer the impediments along the way to success. They go part way – and then quit.

"The second group are “campers.” Campers work hard, apply themselves, and overcome enough obstacles that they feel at ease planting their tent stakes and settling in – they’ve done enough, have attained a certain level of achievement and are comfortable camping out in their comfort zone.

“Climbers” are the rare breed who continue to grow, strive, push, battle, focus, and improve – every day – until they reach the peak and know they have given it their absolute all. No achievement other than the ultimate achievement will do.

"According to a poll of more than 150,000 leaders across all industries worldwide, nearly 80% of the workforce is camping. I am challenging you to climb."

OK...do you feel inspired, you pathetic quitter/camper??? Are you ready to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to help Steelcase succeed????

This cheesy "inspirational moment" couldn't help but cause me to reflect on other ways that mountains have been used lately as a metaphor in my life. And I thought of two.

At our Bible study last night we were talking about when Paul and Silas were imprisoned and how their prison cell became a place of ministry. Which led to a conversation about trusting God's will in both the good and bad times. We agreed that our "mountain top" experiences rarely led to a time of spiritual growth. When life is easy and times are good, it's easy to lose the imperative to pray and grow...I mean, what are we praying for or growing towards? If everything is going great then what would we need to ask of God or get from Him?

It's usually the "valley" experiences that drive us toward a desperate call to God. We question why, we ask for answers, for faith, for endurance, for wisdom to face the challenges we are experiencing.

When I look back over the landscape of my personal history, I have experienced the most spiritual growth, was the most dependent on God and ultimately gained the most from valley experiences. The mountain top is where I want to be -- but it's in the valley that I am closest to God.

My friend Sharon put it another way. She read a book that talked about the comparative beauty and majesty of plains and mountains. We all want to be in the plains...consistent, almost blah in its predictability...life is good in the plains. But, the mountains -- unpredictable, buffeted by winds and weather, carved out by the beating of water and the shifting earth -- have the greater majesty.

And just like literal mountains, when hard times leave their marks on us, when the unpredictability of weather and the ground moving beneath us changes us, it makes us more beautiful, more majestic, more awesome.

I don't generally veer into this type of reflection here -- but when my presenter started talking about mountains like a "successories" poster (http://www.successories.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.home/successories_country/USA/home.cfm?CMP=KNC-GOOG&gclid=CNjhp83SjYoCFSoIFQodmlXNRQ) it actually inspired me in a totally different way.

So, does that make me a climber, a camper or a quitter?

Getting Lean

2007-01-25T15:29:00.000-05:00

I have a friend who is a home workout queen. She’s got all her favorite work out gurus. She contributes to message boards, trades workout dvds with other devotees, has a new dvd mix for every day. She’s got a monster sound system, all the equipment, and loves nothing more than the rush of completing a massively difficult routine. Of course she’s also got a pretty fab body.

I think it says a lot about my own level of commitment to fitness that I am writing this while eating a strawberry frozen yogurt.

Well, I’ve been working to shed off that extra baby weight and I’m pretty darn close. But, I still have a ways to go. So, I’ve been making use of my own little home workout room and FitTV on the TiVo and the result is a menu of work-out choices on any given day to tone my body and melt that fat.

There’s “All Star Workouts.” I started to do one the other day that looked like fun. It combined “easy cardio moves with the added excitement of the exer-ball.” I actually have an exer ball. OK, the last time I used it I was about 8 months pregnant and I laid on it to ease my aching back. So, it hadn’t actually been in active service for awhile. Well, I soon learned that I would not be completing this particular routine…due to lack of use my exer-ball had deflated to the point that when I bounced my butt on it for the first “combination” I practically sat on the floor. It was like trying to bounce on a bean bag chair.

There’s “Gilad…Bodies in Motion.” I have a soft-spot in my heart for Gilad. Back in the day they would air his show during the wee hours on ESPN…so, I would video tape it and workout in the creaky upstairs of my parents’ house. I think I had about 10 square feet in which to work my power moves…but I did it just the same. Gilad’s full body spandex, the hot pink belt, his high-top Reeboks and indeterminate accent…such fun. And I am still motivated by his little catch-phrases…like, “Keep going…you’re getting strong!....Getting lean!!” Yes, Gilad I was! I totally was! So, I was pretty excited when I saw that FitTV had added Gilad back into the line up. I did one of his episodes this week. He was on some beach in Hawaii…he was still in the spandex pants…his mom was right next to him giving a shout out to the retired set…some random baby wandered into the frame…I just love how low tech his stuff is…makes me feel like I’m just working out with friends.

For awhile there I was very into “In Shape with Sharon Mann.” Boy, can she ever kick your butt. But, it was all just getting a little old. All the jumping, the crazy pace, the “fast-jacks”, the “knees up”…it just seemed like such a re-tread lately…and it doesn’t help that she recycles like the same 5 songs over and over and over in all her episodes. She’s still on there…but, we might just need to take a short break. Plus, the last time I did one of her workouts I inadvertently backed up to the point where while doing one of many “fast-jacks” in this particular routine, I smacked my hand on the elliptical machine (more on that instrument of torture later) causing a big bruise. You might say it has made me a little gun shy.

I was feeling a little sluggish so I was very enticed one morning by a show called “Slowrobics.” The same aerobics moves done at like 1/3 the speed. I yawned and thought that 1/3 the speed sounded about right that morning. Well, it may be 30% of the speed but it is at least 100% of the burn. They promised it would provide a cardio work-out and it did. Man, just try squatting about 200 times at half the speed. Jeez, I could barely get out of a chair for the next week.

Of course, there’s the old stand-bys…the elliptical machine and the treadmill. Sometimes I feel kind of energetic and I’ll try some kind of circuit with abs, running and the elliptical. It seems like a good idea until I am about half way in…then I am gasping for air, can barely make that dumb elliptical even move…my butt is in agony and I’m sweating like a pig. Plus, it has some bad energy around it. It was after one of these particularly energetic workouts that some guy I’d gone out with a couple of times “dropped in.” Yeah, I never heard from him again….so, it does bad things to me…it really does.

I guess that all I can say is that I wish I were like my friend and enjoyed working out. It would make it so much easier to strap on the old tennis shoes and haul myself downstairs every day. But, mostly I do it because I don’t want to go out and buy all new clothes (thanks, baby Langston) or have a heart attack at age 40 (leaving Jeff all broken hearted and pathetic…an easy mark for some bimbo to swoop in and raise my son).

So, that’s where I’m at. My next weigh-in is tomorrow. Sigh.

Not Much Going On

2007-01-18T14:57:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've been here at work forever. I had to get into work at 6:00 today. Totally stinks. We had a photo shoot with our new CFO this morning at 8:00 and the photographers needed someone to let them into the building to set up at 6:00...dang. It's funny but when I had to do stuff like this before it was just a pain in the neck for me. Now it's a pain for Jeff too because he has to get up early to feed Langston and get him ready too. Although, I didn't really give him too much pity...I mean...Jeff was still sleeping when I left, so no tears for you Jeff Holquist. He sent me a note this afternoon to update me that cracked me up..."Langston was his usual happy self this morning until I went to put his outfit on. It went over his head a little more slowly and with a bit more pulling than he really likes so he fussed a bit. The fussing continued through the oatmeal and really didn’t stop until he was able to drink deeply of the delicious elixir that is his formula. He celebrated the completion of the bottle by barfing down daddy’s sleeve." Way to go Langston!

I went to the wrist surgeon yesterday and my left wrist is pretty much better -- I just wear my hard cast at night. The right one is still causing me a lot of trouble so he moved me to a new soft cast for a month and then if there's no improvement he will operate. Apparently solving this kind of thing is a lot of trial and error. He was giving me a lot of, "Huh...so the cortisone shot didn't really help? Well...sometimes they do and sometimes they don't...you just never know...Hmmm...well...we could operate now or we could try the soft cast for awhile and the hard cast at night....I don't know if that will work....but, you could try....what do you think?" Not exactly confidence inspiring. I am not sure how a soft cast will work if a hard cast didn't...but then again, what do I know? I guess time will tell. At least the soft cast is easier to live with.

I am officially a terrible mother. I mean, there have been some subtle hints in that direction (the unbranded formula, the bottles I bought off of ebay labeled "Katie" and "Abby", to name a couple) but yesterday it was confirmed. I was sitting on the couch after work and Langston was laying on the cushion next to me. I was working on my Bible study lesson for the night and needed a pen. I didn't even think...I ran to the kitchen to get a pen...and heard the big thump followed by the crazed screaming of my poor child. Oh my. Oh yes, when I dashed back in the living room there was poor Langston, face down next to the couch, screaming his guts out. I felt SO bad! I could pretty much tell from his cry that he was more scared than hurt...but I gave him a thorough looking over just in case...the whole time Langston continued to scream with this look on his face like, "How could you fail me this way???"

I joined the "biggest loser" at work. Four of us who want to lose weight partnered up to compete for a month. My boss Deb Bailey is my partner (so I nick-named our team BayHo). Last Monday we had the group weigh-in...I've never really openly shared my weight with a group of random people before. But, even though I didn't want to do it (obviously) it was kind of freeing. I mean, honestly, no one really cares about any weight but their own and it just kind of felt honest and open...there was no judgment (at least vocally...I'm sure on the inside they were like, jeez girl...get it together!) and we could all laugh about our own insecurities. At the next weigh in I was that week's "biggest loser" -- yay! Since we each threw in $20...$50 for the winner and $30 for the winner's partner...I am highly motivated to continue this streak. Plus, I've still got 8 pounds to get to pre-baby weight...and I'd like to drop some beyond that as well. I've been working out a lot more and just generally trying to watch what I eat. I've also been making more dinners at home. Even though it's easier to just pick something up on the way home from work, I've found that I eat better if I make it from scratch.

Work is going good. I was just put in charge of a new "cross-functional team" (you've gotta love corporate speak) to plan for Steelcase's 100th anniversary. When is this anniversary you may ask? This year? Next year? Certainly not 2 years from now if you've already started planning....uh...yeah...it's in 2012!!!! Can you imagine? Um...I think that 6 years gives us PLENTY of time to order the t-shirts.

Long-Term Pregnancy Side Effect

2007-01-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

Well, I was told that there could be a number of long-term side effects of my pregnancy. "You know, your feet are going to grow don't you?" my husband taunted me (didn't happen). "You'll never get back to your pre-baby weight" challenged many (still to be seen...I haven't given up the dream yet). But no on warned me that my compulsion to write letters to businesses would still be driving me 5 months after Langston's birth.

Full of irritable pregnancy, my first letter was to Duncan Donuts. There I was, at the drive-through one sultry evening, following-up on a craving for mint chip ice cream (make mine a double!) My math skills aren't the sharpest but even I can calculate the tax on $2.99. So, when the high school clerk at that window charged me $3.39 I cried foul. "That's just not right," I said. "Uh...what?" the brainiac replied. "That isn't right...tax should be 18 cents on that purchase...the total should be $3.17 not $3.39." "Um...well...when I put it into the machine it comes up $3.39...so...uh...that's what I have to charge you." "But it's not right...that's an overcharge!" "Well...um...that's what the machine comes up with...um...yeah...some other people have complained too." I continued to sputter that it just wasn't right even as I counted the coins into his hand (I mean...it was a pretty serious craving). Even with the help of the ic cream my temperature continued to rise. It was against the law is what it was. It was cheating. It was totally wrong. It was 22 cents ripped off! Even when Jeff said, "Darlin...get some perspective...it's just 22 cents" I could not be satisfied. So, I wrote the parent company that franchises the Duncan Donuts outlets to complain. And they sent me an apology and a coupon for 2 free ice cream cones. I was hooked. I can't say I've gotten any more coupons but I have to admit that I totally understood when a friend took the time to complain on-line to the owners of the Moe's franchise...seems that their catch-phrase, "welcome to Moe's!" was being called out in a less than welcoming way upon his entrance. Hey, just saying it doesn't count. You have to say it like you mean it. Or at least fake it better. In fact, the more I think about it, the sorrier I am that I didn't think to write in first.

I thought it was just the pregnancy hormones making me more irritable, compelling me to write a complaint letter. But, it's not just complaints I couldn't help writing. I was also driven to write a charming letter to Value City. I bought a formal dress there for an event I had to attend on behalf of Steelcase. It was a simple red dress that was not only tasteful and elegant...but it was only $19.99! I thought I wrote the cleverest note. It was a gem of a little thank you note that included just the right balance of humor and appreciation. I thought that maybe they had a monthly contest for the best customer letter. Maybe they would post it on their website. Maybe they'd send me a coupon or ask if they could quote me in a catalog. I got nothing. Not even a confirmation that they'd received my letter. Makes me want to write again and complain.

After 5 months my hormone levels should be back to normal but the compulsion to make my opinions formally known remains. I still have a pretty long list of letters to write. I could start with the Grand Rapids police department. I live near an intersection that I have to go through several times a day -- going to work, coming home from work, going shopping, etc. It's pretty much unavoidable. The thing is, the shameless red light running is going to get me killed one day. I've never seen a light that is so red that one or several boobs heading east or west (or both) through the intersection won't run it. I mean, it's ridiculous. The light had turned green for me and I was the first car to head into the intersection one morning. Even after counting like 3 beats after the light turned green and after looking both right and left I still barely avoided being slammed by some SUV speeding through the red. I know that catching a speeder is an easy ticket. But really...is someone going 45 in a 35 really posing that great of a threat? Is someone likely to be killed or even maimed because of it? Not really. But, if some semi burns through a red light and buries my poor Buick...I'm likely not to walk away from it. And talk about an easy ticket! Just sit there at the Chow Hound on the corner and sharpen your pencil!

And then there's Dick's. The Saturday before Christmas Jeff and I are in this miserable long line at Dick's sporting goods and out of nowhere the cashier tells us all that she is leaving for a little bit to go back to the stock room and pick up some boxes. Are you kidding me? Was there any value added to that proposition? We were all incredulous. I find it hard to believe that there was anything more important to Dick's than their minimum wage clerks ringing up the sales that day. Out of protest we changed lanes. Even if it ended up taking longer we at least made a statement. But, we were walking out the door and the cashier was still MIA. Good grief. That's customer service.

And what's the deal with stores demanding everything short of a blood sample to give you a store credit? Jeff was returning a couple of items to Macy's a few weeks ago. We had the gift receipt, the items had never been used and still had the tags. We were told that he would be issued an in-store credit. But before she could issue it she would need his driver's license number, address and phone number. WHY? We had the receipt, the items were obviously unused, no cash was changing hands...what exactly was the risk to Macy's? None. It was just to add our name to some mailing list. I hate that! Why does a store get to know all this personal information just because I'm shopping there? The letter practically writes itself.

And that's just the beginning. My pen is inked up and ready to make my complaints known or to share the love (should I actually have a good experience!)

Have you had a bad experience and need to gripe? Or even a good experience but you never took the time to write in? Give me a holler. Maybe I'll just write the letter for you. Hey, if I get a coupon I'll share it with you.

Have Baby Will Travel

2007-01-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

November 15, 2006

We just got back last night from our week-end in Salt Lake City. I had a conference to go to and Jeff and Langston tagged along. Our tickets for the flight out weren’t the same, so I had Langston the first leg by myself. It seemed so easy! Jeff took charge of all the luggage so all I would have to worry about was the diaper bag, my purse, the umbrella stroller and Langston. Well, I managed to make a complete idiot of myself all over the Grand Rapids airport. And beyond. I went to check in at the computer kiosk and thought to put L in his stroller. Um…yeah. I bought it but hadn’t taken in apart yet and the security tags were still clipped on holding it firmly together. Oops. So, I had to check in while holding him and ask the lady at the counter for some scissors. She came around to help me and when she clipped the tags, the wheels fell off. Hmmm. We looked blankly at each other and she said, do you know if that’s supposed to happen? I was all, uh…I have no idea. Some woman from the check in line called out, The wheels fall off but they clip right back on. Yeah, easier said than done. The NW clerk and I struggled with the wheels long enough that someone came out of line to put the wheels on for us. Pathetic experience #1. Then we were off for the security line. Well, you have to put the stroller through the Xray machine with all the rest of your belongings…toiletries in a separate plastic baggy, shoes, coat, bags, etc. in their own bins. I stepped out of the line as I got to the front since I knew that I was going to take some time. Also to give those in line a really clear view of my ridiculousness. Once I got everything in bins I took L out of the stroller to collapse it. He starts crying. I have one arm at this point to try to collapse the stroller. Yeah…I can’t do it. I start sweating…I keep trying to collapse it…I can’t do it…L is screaming…I’m sweating more…people from the line start calling out suggestions….I go and get a security bin and put L in it so I have two hands…still no go…finally this man comes over and collapses it for me. The performance is repeated at the other end of the security line. Pathetic experience #2. We finally get down to the gate and on to the airplane. I asked the stewardess if she would keep an eye on L in his stroller while I put my bags at my seat and then came back to deal with the stroller and get him in the baby carrier (I had brought along the front back pack -- that’s the best way I can describe it – so that he would have a secure place to be during the flight and I’d have my hands free…great idea, huh?) So, I come back and the stewardess is helping me and L get him settled in the carrier…we are both all thumbs and it takes us WAY too long to accomplish this. And, Jeff was the last one to use it so it was bigger around the waist than I am, so when L was in it, his butt was down around the top of my thighs…but, WHATEVER, at least he was in it. The stewardess and I then turned to the stroller to collapse it to go on the plane. Can you believe, yes, can you BELIEVE that we again couldn’t collapse it?? The guy loading the luggage into the plane finally came up and said that he had 4 kids and could fold it down for us. At this point, the stewardess looked at me and said, are you sure you’re really this kid’s parent?? Pathetic experience #3. Exhausted, sweating, foolish, I finally get settled in the seat and we’re ready for take off. I had pre-packed the formula, the bottle, a bottle of water in the diaper bag so he could eat during the flight. The only problem is, the bag was under the seat in front of me…Langston was in my lap and the seats were so close together that his back is like, pressed into the seat in front of us. So, I attempted to get all the stuff I needed out of the bag with my feet…no lie. Lots of flopping around, near misses, contortions and muttered curses followed. But, I finally got him fed and we successfully landed in Minneapolis. I forgot that pretty much every passenger on the plane had seen my expert parenting on display as they got on the plane and during flight, so, when I let everyone get off the plane ahead of me when we landed (so I could have some modicum of privacy when I attempted to reassemble everything) I got a lot of, hang in there…you’ll figure it out…don’t give up…etc. from those departing the plane. Glad to know that no one noticed.

But, Jeff joined us in Minneapolis and everything went MUCH better. We both thought that Salt Lake City is a dump. No wonder they had to bribe the entire Olympic committee to get the Olympics there. Very disappointing. But, we did make it up to Park City for one dinner (it was 50 degrees in Salt Lake and 30 degrees and snowing up in the mountains…very cool) and L did very well on his first travels.

It was quite a culmination to the end of my maternity leave!