I have Nerdy glasses

...and I know because a little man at the Thrift Store today told me so.
Went to pop me some tags...ha! Love that phrase. Thank you Macklemore!
I still prefer to think of myself as a rag picker.
I digress.
Toured the store...ending in the front where the artwork and jewelry are. Little man was looking at the framed stuff. I meandered into the same artwork area. What I noticed...loved...there was a cart behind him of finds. When I came into his space...he just backed up and put his arm on the cart. He was the watcher of the cart. Get it. Made me smile at him.
Him: (big smile and giggle) You have nerdy glasses!
I looked at him and kind of laughed.
Me: I do.
Him: They're nice!
Me: I'm glad you like them. Thank you!
He made my day.

Our Christmas Tree...

...told us it was time time to take it down. It fell over last night at about three in the morning.
I know the because I was having a latent college moment of sorts.
 Had inventory at the store the next morning...had to be there at 5:30 a.m. Closed the night before...tried to talk myself into tired. I was wired. Got to a point...I'm up. All night. Something about it felt like being young again...can't quite explain. It felt both lovely and desperate at the same time.
Inventory...we were less about 500 units quoted. We have 4300+ units of product in the store.
WOW.
Because it never seems to quite be what someone's looking for.
sigh.
So back to the tree.
If it had been up to us think it would have been there til mid February.
Last night it told us...I'm done. Just toppled.
Tonight I collected ornaments (not one broken in the fall) and wound the lights off the tree.
I hugged the tree...thanked the tree...and cried.
This was a tree my Dad would like. One he would've selected.
I cried because I realized that my Dad will never again be in our house at Christmas.
...or ever.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

It didn't occur to me...

...until yesterday...when my husband told me he read my blog...that maybe other people did too.  
First off...he reads my blog? Did gobsmack me.
We had to post pictures to our profile page on BOSS...the corporate system. Mandatory. Do have to say Joyce and I had fun getting a good one of me. We laughed our butts off.
I'm not so photogenic.
Years ago I worked on a video project for a student at OSU...Cinda Ehman was the director. Don't remember what degree it was towards...just remember that it was a big deal for her...a REAL BIG DEAL.
Shot the video at the Ohio Penitentiary over three months...
Memories from the shoot...
Bill Potter and I did not do well going down steps while saying dialogue well. Jay's words: "You call that acting?" Up the stairs...and down. Again...again...again...again.
I am not good at opening doors and entering a room. Have to say that most of the rooms that I entered from were small really stinky disgusting bathrooms. Entrance do over...again...again...again.
My favorite words in the setting up of a shot. The videographer...looking through his lens at me..."Oh God no. We can't shoot her straight on. Whoa!" Yes Mama...I am a pretty girl.
Learned to sing harmony on Going to the Chaple with Bill and Sheila. We had some times much time between shots and had it nailed.
Bill and I went into the infirmary building ...and it totally creeped me out...mostly the top floor. Could just feel stuff...didn't want to be there. Overwhelming.
In the chapel...on the wall...there was the most mesmerizing painting of a dark skinned Jesus with azure eyes.  It was serene and disturbing at the same time.
I got cast kind of by accident. Don't remember quite how...but it was by accident.
When I was 29 going on 30...I got a little sad. What happened to my dreams? What happened to all the big things I was going to do?
When I took stock...
I wanted to be an actor...and I was. I was fortunate to be cast more often than not...and worked with great inspirational people.
I wanted to get paid to be an actor...did a couple of murder mysteries and got paid. Ta Da!
I wanted to be in a movie. I think shooting at the Ohio Pen for three months counts...and I was the lead.
The dreams I had...the things I wanted to accomplish? I had done them. Perhaps not on as grand a scale as I had once dreamed of...but accomplished none the less.
And yes...occasionally I "Thank the Academy" while moving the store around.
We are nothing without hope and dreams.

I never thought...

...that anyone would ever read what I wrote on my little page in the hyperspace of the internet.
Gobsmacked today that my husband reads my blog.
He told me I was being mean about my boss...took me back.
She's feeling overwhelmed at the moment. I get that. Frustrating for me...things I can figure out how to make happen...I can't bring to completion...because I'm a peon. I'm management...but not when it accounts for anything.
I've interviewed and hired people in the past...as an assistant manager. Two great...one not so much. At the time I feel Joyce left it up to me. Background...our store manager was out on disability for six months. Joyce and I were at the store whole lot. She had Mom stuff to deal with. We did what we needed to do.
What I miss...feeling like a team with Joyce.

The Brothers are watching football history

...and I'm typing away in another room.
I am not a football fan. Don't understand anything about it...and if truth be known...really don't want to.
This was a big frustration to my son when he played football in high school. Before each game the child had to put up with...
Me: What position do you play?
Cory and Ed rolled their eyes at each other at my cluelessness.
Him: (A VERY HEAVY SIGH) I play....(maybe a running back? Corner back?)
Me: And what does that mean?
Him: (ANOTHER VERY HEAVY SIGH) It means that....(he was fast)
From the voices drifting from the other room...
things are going well.

Tis the Season...

...for much change.
My Dad has gone off the rails...a bit...a lot. Depends on perspective.
Dad fell getting into the car...on a trip to come to visit Columbus.
Started the vortex.
He's was in and out of the hospital...in a rehab place...back home...the Senior Behavioral Unit at Good Sam...and now in a nursing home facility.
After he had his bypass surgery 4ish years ago he some issues with Sun

Feeling a bit of a turmoil...

...may be New Year jitters. On New Years Eve fell asleep watching "Pretty Woman" and woke up to 12:00 exactly. Feel it's a good omen.
First concern...because it's what I was with today. Joyce isn't doing her job as a store manager. I think she's feeling WAY over her head it is caught up with her. Hired a lovely person who has such potential...but she actually wasn't as shown as hired in the system...because Joyce doesn't follow up on stuff. I made a call to the help desk and could've gotten it taken care of ...but alas...I'm an assistant. I'm nothing useful.
Funny thing...asked Joyce a day later if she called to get a number for the new person...seemed easy peasy. Her response..."I didn't feel like doing it."
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME????
Toni let it slip that the comment was made by Joyce "It must be nice to sit home and get paid."  Yes Joyce...I chose to have surgery to make your life uncomfortable. The scar on my neck reminds me of how selfish I have been to you.
I understand the loss of her PTO and taking what she can before she loses it.
But she shown her underpants.