Karrie's Box of Thoughts

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Karrie, you just lost your job after 22 years. You’ve been kicked to the curb starting December 5th, what are you going to do now?! I’M GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!

No, not really. But I and the family are going to Denver for Xmas with my family. And though it will be nice to spend the time with them, my present is ………. THE OTHER JOE!! *happy dance – happy dance*. I get to see Mr. Joe Sakic, #19, center and Captain for the Colorado Avalanche play at home! Usually we’re in Denver during the summer and only get to go the Pepsi Center to buy Av’s gear. But this time we’ll be there during hockey season and I get to go the Pepsi Center and see a game. *Happy, Happy Dance!!*

Other then that………nothin’. Been doing the kid thing. Taking them from here and depositing them there and then we repeat. But it’s all good. Except the weather, which is still crappy.

I’ve taken a couple of days off work because frankly, I’m getting sick of it. You’ve got one side with the “Business as usual” mentality. This camp consists of upper management that knew about the layoffs months in advance and lined themselves up new jobs within the company before we got the final word. Then you have the “F*ck you, what are you goin’ do? Fire me” mentality. This camp is mostly made up of the normal group of whiners that have been bitching about everything since day one and now some how feel vindicated. And then there’s us in the middle. Those that just want to get the job done and move on. We had our bitch session and moved on. Nothing’s going to change, it is what it is so let’s just do the job and be done with it. We in the middle are sick of the other two sides and are unfortunately the ones doing most of the work. Oh well, keeps us busy and we’re the better group for it. As of today, only 8 more working days……

So that’s about it.

Take care all and I’ll see ya around the WWW.

As told by moi12:20 PM ...

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

This and That.......

Let’s see….. Em has started physical therapy – she’s had a problem over the last couple of years with her knee popping out once in a while. It’s happening more frequently now so we had her checked. Patello-Femoral Syndrome is what she has. Her knee cap is moving all over the place. That along with her fallen arches is unfortunately the result of all those years of dancing. So now I have one more place to drive her to weekly. She’s has managed to work hockey and boys into the equation – the therapist she sees is the sports therapist for the Everett Silver Tips hockey team (bitter rival of my beloved T-Birds!). But they’re hockey players and she’s in heaven. I’m soooo pleased *sigh*. Other then that the big excitement was Jackson High winning the food drive for a Seattle radio station and having Frankie J do a concert at their school OH*MY*GOD – How Super exciting! They did raise 3000 lbs of food for Northwest Harvest, so that was cool.

Speaking of the Northwest – We’re under water. Glub, Glub, Glub….. Worst rain and flooding in 10 years. And more is expected. There was so much water in one river that it actually changed the course of the river. Gooood Times. Some of the views from around here:

Glenn – Glenn – Glenn – Glenn…. I love Glenn. I love the fact that 11/2 was Glenn’s birthday and his father HAD to buy him new ice skates and a helmet. $300 ICE SKATES and $120 HELMET!! Most of you know the story of Hockey/Hockey gear vs Def Leppard in my house so I won’t bore you (if you don’t I’m sure if we meet and I’ve had a few, you will). So anywhooooo – I get a call from hubby saying he wants to get skates and a helmet – cool, sounds good. So he sez “okay, skates will be around 299….” I’m sorry, did you say $29.99…. “….nooooo $299.00? WTF??!! Are they gold plated?! “No, but there Vapor 30s and there really cool! Oh and I found a killer Bauer Helmet too!” Are you 11 years old too? And then it hits me and I hit him with it –Did I tell ya DL might not tour the US next year; they may do Europe….. “Oh…really?” Yes, so when you see my renewed passport in the mail…NOT A PEEP out of you!! “…….Um, gotta go! – click.” Hehe. So the girls at work are asking me if he’s actually going to buy the gear. Hellooooo! Dude knows me, dude knows I’m hitting the road and hookin’ up with the girls at some point. Of course he bought them! I love Glenn’s birthday presents (and so did he!) and I’M SET!!! Lol!.

Au revoir pour l’instant!! (I’m practicing my French!)

As told by moi1:04 PM ...
Monday, October 30, 2006

Friday Night Lights

So this little story is a week old, but oh well. So you know (or should know by now)my passion is hockey. But coming from a football town growing up, I still get the twitch for it. Well last Friday I was twitching like crazy! It was homecoming for Jackson High School and as a freshman; Emily got to be a part of it. So off we went to Memorial Stadium.

Now I personally have not been to Memorial since I was in high school! It was kind of odd and the memories came flooding back. It was weird being there as a parent as my parents were back in the day. Same freezing wind, same crappy bathrooms, same PA system that you can’t understand – although I swear the guy doing the announcing was the same dude that did the games back in my day! But this time is was Em. The dance team performed Michael Jackson’s Thriller and KICKED ASS! They had the moves down and the crowd loved it. It was cool to see the kids cheering them on. The team got to hang with the cheerleaders and the band and hold the banner that the team busted thru at halftime. It was fun to watch Em be a part of it like her mom (I was a band geek – but a REALLY COOL one!) I’m thrilled she’s jumped right in to high school life and is enjoying it. It can be a stressful time and I’m glad she’s gotten a good start. And it seems that her little brother is doing things the way my little brother did too. A lot of the kids Em goes to school with have younger brothers and sisters Glenn’s age (just like me and my brother), so they spent the game bugging the older kids – yup just like in my day! My mom really got a kick out of that – another chance for her to point out what goes around, comes around.

So now along with hockey, it looks like football will be joining the line up and we are going to do the all American ritual of Friday night lights. There’s a buzz that they’re going to do the basketball games as well *sigh*. I can smell the gym socks now....

As told by moi11:45 AM ...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Good GAWD! It's alive!

Yeah, it me. So yeah, it's been awhile and I won't start from my last post and bore you with all the details. Here's a few highlights and lowlights.

So the traveling continued. Managed to catch 8 DL shows this summer. Would have been 9 but I wasn't able to go to the show in Ames with Jules. And that I'm truly sorry. This summer was an east coast thang and I had a blast. I honestly had no desire to hit the east coast before, but now can't wait to go back! I do believe I managed by the second time around to figure out the toll booths, the obscure signs and the Dunkin Donuts vs Starbucks ratio (Jules, there's hope for us yet!)

Starbucks.... I have caved to the man! The last time around at the Mohegan Sun there was just enough downtime and reading opportunities that I hit the Starbucks grab my books and enjoyed. Now I've joined the masses and made the stuff part of my morning routine - Bastards!

The morning routine includes the mom taxi to school (with enough time in between to hit Starbucks). For Em it's being a freshman in high school *shudder* and she's loving every minute of it! No worries there about her fitting in. She made the dance team and was hanging with the girls at camp and school all summer, so she just slid right in like a pro. She's been practicing like crazy because they will be competing at the state level at the first of the year and are performing at the prep assemblies and football/basketball games until then as practice. They're doing Michael Jackson's Thriller for Halloween and the Homecoming game and I have to say, they're pretty good. Glenn is in last year of grade school. Because of his late B-Day (November) he's a year behind most of his friends who went up to middle school. But he's still having fun "ruling the school". He made the peewee rep hockey team so he and dad start their travels in November. He's very excited and we're super proud of him making it as a '1st year'. They start checking in peewee and that's something to get use to! Glenn got moved to offense and it's a little weird seeing a defenceman pop him one.

Hubby - Hockey, Hockey, kids and hockey, work. 'nuff said.

Me, well good and bad. The trips and shows being the good and the great. But other then that it's not been too fun for me this summer. I came back from the first trip out east to a mess at work and myself in a mess physically. The combination pretty much had me in tears and buried under the blankets for the rest of the summer. Personally, things are much better and I won't dwell on it. Professionally, I can't say the same. Effective Dec 5th, I'm out of a job. The office I work at is being closed. 140 plus people will be out looking for new jobs. I'm one of them, I have 22 years with the company but we all know that means nothing these days. And honestly, there's nothing internally that I'm interested in. I have 20 weeks of severance and with the cash savings plan - I've got about a year. I'm looking at other options and not going to jump at the first thing. It's not the pay I'm focusing on, but the flexibility. That's what I'm going to miss the most. After 22 years, I (and the family) have gotten use to a certain amount of vacation and leeway to work around outside activities. And yes that means my summer DL trips. Bottomline (to a point), I'm going to be selfish. I don't want to give up those things that I've come to love doing and I'm going to try and find a way to save it. If I can't, I can't. But I'm going to give it a hell of shot first! We'll see.

Of course I'm not going out quietly. I have already sent out a memo telling everyone to drag out every decoration they've got and get them up. We won't be around for Xmas so lets do it now. Any and all holiday decorations are out and about. It looks like a Party City store vomited!! I love it. Also planned is a monthly potluck (we have so many different ethnic backgrounds at work, we have great potlucks!) and I have planned the "Pink Slip Party" for a club the weekend after we close. We have two guys at work with bands and another who has a friend with the club to party in!! I've never done things the conventional way and I'm not staring now!!

Toodles for now!

As told by moi8:06 AM ...
Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Howdy!

Just got off the road from the first shows of the DL tour!
You guys are in for a treat!!

Enjoy! *I'm now going back to bed*

As told by moi2:30 PM ...
Thursday, May 11, 2006

Happy Mother's Day

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with

sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with

Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's

okay honey, Mommy's here."

Who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end

soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with

spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses

and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies

and sew Halloween costumes. And all the mothers who

DON'T.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies

they'll never see. And the mothers who took those

babies and gave them homes.

This is for the mothers whose priceless art

collections are hanging on their refrigerator doors.

And for all the mothers who froze their buns on metal

bleachers at football or soccer games instead of

watching from the warmth of their cars, so that

when their kids asked, "Did you see me, Mom?" they

could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for

the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in

the grocery store and swat them in despair when they

stomp their feet and scream for ice cream before

dinner. And for all the mothers who count to ten

instead.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their

children and explained all about making babies. And

for all the (grand)mothers who wanted to, but just

couldn't find the words.

This is for all the mothers who go hungry, so their

children can eat.

For all the mothers who read "Goodnight, Moon" twice a

night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one

more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children

to tie theirshoelaces before they started school. And

for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to

cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for every mother whose head turns

automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a

crowd, even though they know their own offspring are

at home -- or even away at college.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to

school with stomach aches assuring them they'd be just

FINE once they got there, only to get calls

from the school nurse an hour later asking them to

please pick them up. Right away.

This is for mothers whose children have gone astray,

who can't find the words to reach them.

This is for all the step-mothers who raised another

woman's child or children, and gave their time,

attention, and love...sometimes totally unappreciated!

For all the mothers who bite their lips until they

bleed when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

For all the mothers of the victims of recent school

shootings, and the mothers of those who did the

shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who

sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their

child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children

to be peaceful, and now pray they come home safely

from a war.

What makes a good Mother anyway?

Is it patience?

Compassion?

Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and se w a

button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it in her heart?

Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or

daughter disappear down the street, walking to school

alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed

to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a

sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M.

when you just want to hear their key in the door and

know they are safe again in your home?

Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your

child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a

child dying?

The emotions of motherhood are universal and so our

thoughts are for young mothers stumbling through

diaper changes and sleep deprivation...

And mature mothers learning to let go

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for you all. For all of us. Hang in there.

In the end we can only do the best we can.

Tell them every day that we love them.

And pray.

As told by moi2:38 PM ...
Friday, April 14, 2006

Happy Easter!!

As told by moi3:14 PM ...