Depressed, down and out or whatever you call it

My worst working nightmare was realized 3 weeks ago when the bank that I work for failed!  That's right kiddos, FDIC walked in and shut us down.  It was a horrible, horrible experience because they show up at 3:30 but I can't tell my staff what's happening until after the last branch closes at 6....do they think we're all morons....hello, business suits walk in on friday, come into my office, shut the door and duh....no one is suppose to think anything is out of norm?  Anyway, it's an experience that I'd gladly do without again, thank you very much.  I've been struggling with depression for about 8 or 9 months now and just thought that maybe I was turning the corner when all this happened.  Now, I'm not stupid I knew that it "had" to happen because we were hanging on the edge of the cliff for way too long but still it's a blow.  We were lucky because another bank did purchase us and we've been fortunate that no one has been terminated but still it's more change.   The one thing I could do without now.  Anyhoooo....we're all just struggling to get thru the day without actual blood loss right now, I'm here just about round the clock reassuring customers and staff but hey, who's gonna reassure me?

So enough whining, the dr started me on some new meds and made me promise that before I see him later this month I would start doing things that I once enjoyed.  So of course, I'm still stitching but also made arrangements for my parents to come visit for a week (something I have been putting off for over a year now) and I've started reading again.  I've been a reader since I was 3 and ued to plow thru 4 or 5 books a week but as things got worse I just shut down that aspect of "me".  Now, I'm not sure why I gave up reading because you'd think that would occupy my thoughts instead of dwelling on everything else but instead it just felt like one more deadline to me.  I stocked up on books last week at costco, went for a massage and even bought more Blackbird Designs patterns so maybe I'm back to finding "me" again.  Now I just need to start reconnecting with my friends again which is kinda the hardest for me right now.

Mark and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary on Sunday.  I'm still shocked and really need to collect serious bucks from his frat brothers that swore we'd never even make it 1 year.  I know when we were engaged there was a pool going on so I bet we'd shock some of those guys now with 23 years under our belts so to speak...ok maybe that's over our belts since things are sagging.  We painted our tv room and bought Mark's dream tv.  We started saturday just going to look at the tvs, then  maybe just buy a tv, ok but we really should paint the room since we're going to be hanging thetv on the wall and well, we've changed the furniture in there anyway to HUGE, Fullblown project weekend.  What were we thinking that re-doing an entire room in 2 days is a romantic weekend????  But the color is amazing and the room is starting to all
come together just as I had imagined.  It's not as prim as I'd like but maybe more mission styled but Mark likes it so I'm not griping at all.  He was trying to show me the tv Sunday night but he was watching golf so I was less than impressed so he said wait a sec, he then turned on Criminal Minds and I was hooked!  The pic is amazing!

Alrighty, I've got to get off this computer and figure out what we are having for dinner tonight...hummm...
5 guys cheeseburgers and fries? No maybe not, Mark has his sleep study tonight so I'd hate to send him up to the hospital so full they might think he's gonna explode.  Ah, I get the whole bed to myself tonight with only Clarice and me snoring too loudly.  Wahoo!

Who'd have thunk it?

Who would have ever imagine that this hard rockin, headbanging metal princess would ever have become this middle aged, conservative banker? Certainly not me....now instead of partying all night, I look forward to making an appearence at the party then scurrying home to relax with my kitty and stitch! Now I get excited about a trip to the local xstitch store, getting my carpets re-stretched and most exciting of all was buying a new vaccum last week.

I'll gush on about just how wonderful the "Ferrari" of vacs is if you want the details.....what choice do you really have....you're already reading this post....I got the newest Dyson and it was the deal of the century. As you know, I'm a bargin hunter but this may be one of my best deals ever. Target listed the Dyson 25 with orange ball at $349 but ad stated supplies were limited and there would be no rainchecks....the model has been updated and now has a red ball. We stopped by the store just to see if they had any left and there was the display model only. I grab it and go off to hunt for someone to get the box, paperwork, ect for it. We're still standing around back there when a manager walks by so Mark asks what's the differences in the models and why the sale is limited when they clearly have several in stock in red....She said the ad is misleading so I'll honor it and you just take this one up front for the same price. If you've priced these you know it's a $499 vac and they NEVER go on sale! I'm just thrilled with it and would tell everyone it's worth the $$$$.

We did the neighbor's party last night and it was fun. He puts on a fireworks display better than any city one I've ever seen. He spends over a $1,000 each year, has food brought in, keg, ect so it's always a great party. I look forward to it all year. Everyone usually brings along some sort of dessert or side dish to share and last night mine was the hit of the party. I saw in the Semi Homemade magazine a clever little recipe and I tweeked it to make it mine. Buy sugar cookie dough in the fridge area, raw sugar, slivered almonds and a plastic sandbucket. Put dough into the freezer until it's firm enough for you to slice, arrange slices on cookie sheets and put 5 slivered almonds arranged in a sand dollar shape, sprinkle with raw sugar and bake 8 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool then place them in a new sandbucket and carry to the party. What a fun display for the buffet table not to mention they are melt in your mouth good.

I'm trying to figure out how to chnage my background, add pics like everyone else in blog land and hope I can make some changes this weekend. I'm going to enjoy 2 days off in a row by doing nothing! Got the house work and laundry done Friday night so now it's all about me!

Hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend!

TGIF-never sounded quite as good as it did today

Well another week done and only 2 more vacations scheduled for next week. This year with the HUGE staff that I have, vacations are just kicking my butt. I swear I spend all day flipping between new accounts and teller then factor in a little lender time and I'm wiped out every night when I get home. I'm still working on my Blackbird Designs SAL and I love it more and more everyday. I'm actually enjoying stitching on evenweave and think I just might be getting the hang of it now.

Mark listed some "extra" speakers, amps, ect last week on Craigs List and he made $1200.00 in one day.....wow, he just might get that new tv next weekend at this rate. I'm still hunting the media console I want to use and really need to get the extra furniture moved downstairs and listed on craigs list so I'll have the $$$ tobuy the perfect console when I find it. I'm still listing on ebay and wow, it's time consuming when you factor in writing the info, taking pics, listing items then packing it up and mailing it. I think a flea market booth would have been a little better solution but hey, live and learn.

Mark borrowed a powerwasher this weekend so guess I know what we'll be doing tomorrow....yucky! I'm trying to convince him that we need to head over to the Mall of Georgia so he can look at more tvs, I can pick up my makeup which just so happens to be at The Stitch Store since Terri's selling Mary Kay and gee, it just so happens that the newest Blackbird design was released last week. What a perfect day especially if we have lunch at P F Chang's and pick up a couple of Krisy Kreme doughnuts for Sunday's breakfast.....like they'd ever make it long enough to be breakfast the next day.....I seem to take on the personality of Homer Simpson where....ummmmm, Doughnuts are concerned.

Well the sleeping pills are kicking in for both of us so we'd better toddle off to bed before Clarice has to put us to bed. Have a great weekend!

OMG, It's freakin hot!!!!

This past weekend the air conditioner decided to go on the fritz and of course, it peaked at 100 degrees here! The guy finally got here Monday nite only to tell me that it was frozen and nothing he could do about it until it thawed. So $100 later after I buried his remains in the backyard....I found out what we'll probably need is a new unit. He can't come back until tomorrow night and he already has 90 appointments for Tuesday but he'll get to me...yea right! When I got home from work Tuesday, it was 92 degrees upstairs. I thought I was gonna pass out just walking up there to change my clothes. Poor little Clarice wouldn't even go up then stairs...smart kitty! We've spent the last 4 nights sleeping on the couch in the basement and it hasn't been pleasant. Think about it....2 sets of stairs if you need anything from the bedroom, the basment doesn't have a "tv" just a projector that Mark doesn't run unless we're watching movies and he just didn't feel like doing that...whatever! But the worst part was having to go upstairs to shower and get ready for work. I was sweating my makeup off as fast as I was slathering it on. Anyway, the guy showed up after 8 last night, charged the unit and said let's just run her until she gives up the ghost then we'll replace her. Now I'm thinking the unit is only 5 years old so why would she be giving up the ghost at such a young age....well it seems it's just another thing the builder cheaped out on. I'd like to strangle that guy but I guess the state of the building industry around these parts is doing that job very well for me! Revenage is best served cold along with a dirty martini! LOL!

So my ebay has taken on a life of it's own. Today I thought this is great I've made $242.50 then I started thinking...hmmm...postage, supplies and ebay fees reduce that to about $100 which I was lucky enough to spend on the air conditioner guy. This isn't fair. Never thought I'd get rich selling my stuff but factoring in my time, I've gotta be losing money. Maybe a garage sale or a flea market booth would have been a better idea afterall. I've decided that I'll stick with it for a couple more months and continue to purge just so I'll have more closet space.

Well mark's just arrived home so I'm off to wow him with my culinary skills of dialing the phone to order pizza.

Mondays never go my way

It was a extremely busy weekend and it flew by without me even getting one spare minute to stitch. That sure didn't improve my attitude this morning when the alarm went off. I decided to finally start selling on ebay all the stuff that has just been collecting dust and it was an all consuming task all weekend long. I have collected so much "stuff" that is just sitting in cabinets, drawers and closets and I finally had to decide that any $$$$ is better than none so I listed a ton of stuff. Then today after a horrible day at work I came home and purged even more. I guess I'll spend all next week packing stuff up and mailing it out but atleast I might get enough cash to offset the costs. And I might even pick up some new cross stitch stash to clutter up more space...LOL!

While I was waiting on stuff to load on ebay so I spent a lot of time catching up on reading blogs. I always found lots of great giveways that of course, I signed up for. Check out Jennifer's giveway for 2 great summer pattern giveways. Her blog is always fun, interesting and so full of great ideas. I finally figured out how to follow blogs so I signed up for a lot but Jennifer's Feathers in the nest is is one of my faves.

I have now inspired Mark to clean out some of his stuff so he's listing a ton of high end audio equipment that he has collected over the years. Of course, some of it he got at reaaly great discounts when he worked for JBL and best of all he'll be clearing out boxes from the storage area. Wahoo! More room for my stuff...LOL!

Well the new season of American Pickers is starting on the History Channel tonight so I'm off to marvel at everything these guys find by just knocking on doors. They are living my dream except the part of maybe finding snakes, rats and shudder...spiders in these buildings.

Wow is it really June already?

The good news is that I found a sofa. It was the exact one that I wanted from Pottery Barn and ......get this....paid $350 for it and sold my set for $325! It was just meant to be! The really funny thing is that I found it on Craigs List and called the lady to say I want it sight unseen so she'd hold it for me. We drove into downtown Atlanta at rush hour with a Braves game happening no less to pick it up. Mark wasn't a very happy camper! But 2 hours later, we're at the lady's house and she's not home. Oh no! She drives up about 15 minutes later and many choice words later about me not double checking with her today to make sure the sofa was still waiting on us. Her little doggie comes running up to greet us and low and behold, it's name is Clarice. Now what are the odds of me having a kitty named Clarice and her having a dog with the same name?

Now I'm off a re-decorating spree which is driving Mark nuts. I redid the bedroom last week when he was in Germany but he really does like it a lot so that worked out. But he has forbidden that I even mention Craigs List or have the website up where he can see it. LOL! He got off a plane Sunday and I picked him up at the airport with a generous offer of stopping to eat at his fave mexican joint on the way home but he wasn't interested. So I finally had to confess that I bought a primitive antique cabinet and needed to pick it up on the way home. He wasn't happy but willing to stop by the lady's house if I made it a quick trip. She was so nice and had a log cabin in her backyard that was full of great prim items that she was selling so I had to go take a look. OMG! I think I died and went to heaven. She's gonna list more things as she sorts thru them but I could have stayed there all day just looking around. Of course, I rushed because I knew he was tired, hot hungry and very cranky but I hope to go back really soon to look around.

My mom retired last week at the ripe, ole age of 62 and she's enjoying herself a lot. My daddy won't retire until August so she's keeping herself entertained shopping. hmmm...less income but she's shopping 'til she drops....what's wrong with this picture? Anyway, they are planning a long overdue trip here in August and I can't wait. It seems like forever since I saw them and they won't have to rush back home for work so they can really relax and stay with us for a couple of weeks (if Mark asks it will only be 2 days...LOL) They are going to all of Zared's home games and were asked to be the team parents for the fall baseball season...again I ask what is wrong with this picture....he has parents! I swear my brother will never grow up. Zared's twice as mature as his folks and that's a shame. He's living my brother's dream of playing college ball but Jeff can't be bothered to go watch him. After all these years of pushing the kid to be a better player and now when he's really shining you can't be bothered to attend his games. Jeff should be popping the buttons off his shirt with pride at what the kid has accomplished. I know I am.

Where the hell does the time go?

I swear yesterday it was April 22 so how come the calendar today has May 12th as the date? LOL! Things have been crazy around here as usual. Let's see work continues to be an adventure everyday but hey, the doors are still open and that's good news nowdays. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect sofa on Craigs List but I do have Mark's blessing to find something and I have a buyer for the leather set. I had a Pottery Barn sofa cornered but the gal seems to be a bit of a flake so I've stopped trying. There have been a few that fit my general ideas but nothing that really thrills me...yet!

Mark's headed back to China the end of this month and I've decided that will be perfect time for a total beedroom makeover. Donna (next door...I know too funny that we're both Donna and live next door to each other) has agreed to help me paint so now I need to narrow down the color. Martha Stewart has a greyish blue that I'm really leaning towards and I found the perfect quilt on markdown at JC Penney. That American Living brand that they are carrying is really great. Someone told me that it's Ralph Lauren brand but I haven't confirmed that with anyone. I got a little carried away online and ordered 4 different ones so I may be redoing the guestrooms as well. You should check out the website if you are in the market for new bedding.

Well it's time for American Idol and Bon Jovi is performing so I'm off to drool a little or make that alot.