thotlady.com

Monday morning

thotlady — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:32:51 +0000

Mondays are always difficult for me. A crashing end to the weekend, then going back to the rat-race that is work. My department is in the process of hiring an associate dean. This has been going on for a year. This is the third iteration. Hopefully we will hire one from the four candidates we are interviewing.

I am in charge of creating and setting up the agenda for each candidate’s visit. We bring them in for 2-1/2 days of interviews, campus tours, meeting with faculty/staff/students and giving them a tour of the city. A lot of work and logistics are involved. Needless to say not a lot of other work gets done. On top of that my boss is traveling to the West Indies soon and I am in charge of scheduling her flight, lodging and itinerary to three campuses in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad/Tobago. Also a lot of work.

Well, we are on the third candidate for the associate dean position, we have the fourth coming in on Wednesday. So by the end of the week, we should be finished.

So, Monday is not my favorite day of the week. But, my mom would say…at least you have a job. Yes mom I know.

-thotady

How crazy is this…

thotlady — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:25:40 +0000

I am applying for a new job at the university where I work. Of course I filled out an application for the position with human resources. At the end of the application there was a note that said you will also have to fill out a supplemental application from the department itself that they will send you.

Okay, so I finally received the supplemental application in my email. I begin to fill it out. They ask for 5 personal references, which cannot be your family or previous employers. Five seems like a lot to me. But I asked five of my friends if they would be so kind as to be my personal reference. Sheesh.

Then at the bottom of the application I have to list every job I had in the past. Name of employer, address of employer, phone number, supervisor, dates of employment, salary, description of work, why I left…HELLO…all of this information is on the main application with Human Resources not to mention it is duplicated on my resume. Three times, they get this information.

Now I ask you. Is that really necessary? How crazy is this…

-thotlady

P.S. And at the very bottom of the application they ask for a copy of my high school diploma and my birth certificate. I don’t even know if I still have my high school diploma, since I received it 35 years ago…you heard me…35 years ago. Can I retire yet?

Charlotte my sweet Charlotte

thotlady — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:01:28 +0000

I can’t stop thinking about you…

…why would I even want to my precious, precious baby…

your sweet little paws…

…you went through so much…

I am just not whole without you.

…you are my inspiration…Charlotte.

-thotlady

Who makes the decisions in your family?

thotlady — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:50:08 +0000

I have been married for almost 13 years. Bogie and I met in 1994 while we were both teaching at a private school in Wisconsin. I was teaching Math and he taught History. But I digress.

I was 38 years old and had been making my own decisions about my life for 20 years. Probably more, if truth be told. When we got married in the summer of 1997 I was 40 years old. Yes, it was my first marriage. So needless to say, I had lived 20 years of my adult life alone. By myself. Making my own decisions. I thought of myself as very independent.

When two people get married, all that changes. Overnight, decisions you make involve two people not one. If you have a good marriage (does anyone even know what a good marriage is?), you make decisions jointly, when possible.

At the beginning of our marriage together it was easier to compromise. You are in love, the whole world seems wonderful, so whats a little give and take. We did agree on most things.

The one area we have always struggled with in our marriage is…money. No surprise there, isn’t money the number one cause of divorce in this country? Bogie is, shall we say, frugal. I am cautious with our money. On a scale from 1 to 10, if frugal is 10, then cautious is 6 or 7.

What does this all mean you ask? Well, if I were to tell you the many conversations we have had about money, it would take until 2025. So, I will just give you one example on how we differ when it comes to money.

Recently, I had a small car accident with our SUV. I backed out of our driveway into a poorly parked car. My left rear bumper and the spare tire cover was damaged. The parked vehicle had its front right bumper damaged. Now our car insurance policy, like many all car insurance policies, has a deductible. Our deductible is $500.00. Since this accident was my fault and if we wanted to get our vehicle repaired, we would have to pay the deductible.

Yesterday I took the SUV to a repair shop to get an estimate on what it would cost to repair the damage. The total isn’t important to this story (ok, it was $1,200). Last night Bogie remembered that I had this appointment. He asked about it. I told him what the cost would be to repair the vehicle.

Bogie: We would have to pay the $500 deductible right?.

Me: That is correct.

Bogie: That seems like a lot of money just to repair a small dent in the rear bumper.

Me: I appreciate your input.

That was the end of our conversation on the matter. For last night anyway.

It has taken me almost 13 years to get to a place where my response to this type of comment is I appreciate your input. I think I have grown a great deal. This is the type of decision I used to make all on my own. Back in the day.

So, I have a question for all 5 of my readers…repair the car, or don’t repair the car?

-thotlady

Happy Valentine’s Day

thotlady — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 05:01:15 +0000

love

bogie

brammy

charlotte

bronte

tuna

yarn

floor fans

slippers

volkswagen beetles

boots

snow

wisconsin

dad

chocolate

smiles

puppies

books

giraffes

fiscal responsibility

teddy bears

chocolate chip cookies

red heads

i love lucy

dragonflies

mom

knitting

cathy

connie

joe

pillow talk

tiramasu

weekends

family

charmed

-thotlady

thotlady — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:06:10 +0000

FRIDAY NIGHT!

nuff said

-thotlady

thotlady — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:38:57 +0000

We have had a lot of snow this winter. Last weekend we had more snow and the city still hadn’t plowed our street from the previous weekend’s snowstorm.

It snowed again yesterday, the roads were a mess, very icy. I went into the university where I work and at 10am they decided to cancel classes and close down the university. The staff who made it to work were mad. I only live five minutes from work so it didn’t affect me as much as the others in our office. I stayed until 3:30 and then left a little early. Most of the university went home at 10am.

Well, Survivor began tonight. The 20th season…Heroes vs Villains. I watched the first hour and taped the second. The first hour was pretty good. I always tell myself I am not going to watch it because it is such a time commitment, but then…it begins and I get caught up in it all over again. I guess I would miss hearing those immortal words of Jeff Probts…The tribe has spoken, now beat it! Well, I added that last part. You know you want to say it to some of the castaways.

I have been working on two new knitting projects. I just finished a sweater for a co-worker who had a baby on Jan 5th. I used some leftover yarn from a hat I made this winter. It turned out pretty well.

This photo does not do justice to the beautiful burnt orange color.

I also am working on a pair of fingerless gloves, here is 1/2 of the pair.

Oh, and last weekend I had a small accident with our Rav4. I backed out of our driveway into a van, which was parked to close too the middle of the road, because there was so much snow on the side of the road. I dented the left rear fender on our vehicle and the right front fender on the van. The man was not happy. I can’t say that I blame him…I wasn’t very happy either.

Happy Valentine’s Day…a little early.

-thotlady

A Walking Shadow…Signifying nothing

thotlady — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:10:26 +0000

Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying…nothing.

I love this quote from Macbeth. Shakespeare was a playwright genius. This quote speaks to me. I don’t know why. It’s probably best not to explore the whys and where fores, just enjoy the poetry of words.

Snow, snow and more snow.

thotlady — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:12:14 +0000

It started early Saturday morning about 3:30am. It snowed all day Saturday. I tried to make a quick trip to the knitting store, but I got stuck right after I backed out of our driveway. So I pulled back in and resigned myself to being stuck at home all day. I love the snow, but do not liked to be cooped up all week-end long.

Bogie and I decided to walk across the bridge (about 2 miles) to the nearest Starbucks on Saturday afternoon. It was very windy and cold walking across the long bridge, in snow almost up to our knees, only to find out that Starbucks was closed. So we trudged back across the bridge. As soon as I got home I made a big pot of warm coffee. Hazelnut creme. Delicious.

I did spend most of the weekend knitting. I finished a pair of fingerless mittens for a girl I work with. Now I am going to start on a pair of fingerless gloves. A little more challenging. Bogie wants a pair, so I thot I would give it a try. And I did make it to the knitting store today. I called first and they were open so I braved the snowy roads to pick up some more yarn. The main roads were pretty clear, but they haven’t plowed our neighborhood yet.

Bogie was so good. He shoveled our driveway, then he went down to a neighbor, who is 91 years old, and shoveled her sidewalk, and also helped our next door neighbors shovel their deck and sidewalk. The husband injured his shoulder and is just out of surgery, so Bogie was generous enough to help them with the shoveling. I almost forgot, he also helped the lady across the street shovel a path so she could get her disabled dog out to go to the bathroom.

Needless to say, Bogie is soar. But don’t feel too sorry for him, he gets another day off…his office is closed tomorrow due to the snow, unlike my work…which I just found out, is business as usual. Darn. It would have been nice to have a three-day weekend.

-thotlady

Knitting

thotlady — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:33:19 +0000

Well, I have been spending most of my free time knitting. You probably think…Boy, she must have a lot of knitting projects completed since she has been gone so long!

Well, I completed this…twice

Here is my version.

I also made a pink version of the same hat. I love the design. I made them a little too small though. There is always a learning curve when you first knit a pattern. The size is determined by the needle size you use and the weight of yarn you select.

I completed these before I made the hats. I really enjoy making socks.

Then I moved on to fingerless mittens…these are also very fun to make.

Here they are on my friend…the recipient of the fingerless mittens

I am now knitting my fourth pair. I don’t have pictures of the other two completed pairs.

So, just in case you have wondered where I have been. As you can see, I have been very productive.

-thotlady