What's the kindest thing a stranger has ever done for you?

THIS POST got me thinking.

Mine might not seem like much to some but I am convinced that my guardian angel's name is Joe.

I used to sell copy paper and office supplies door to door for small businesses. It was a terrible company... I made zero money, my back account was probably in the hole at that time and here I am driving my car with no gas reimbursement. I was in "the field" having the worst day and then noticed that my gas light was on. I figured that I'd finish up my street, get gas and head home. As I'm thinking this I turned the corner and my car puttered to a stop. Awesome. I happened to be right outside a high school as kids were getting out and walking home. Fighting back tears of anger, frustration and embarrassment, I asked this kid where to get gas and then I started walking. In the wrong direction. For about a mile and a half. I stop in a dry cleaners and this nice woman tells me she'll just drive me to the gas station. When we got there, to use their gas can, I had to pay a refundable fee of $10 in cash. All I had were checks (who uses checks anymore?) and my debit card. Overhearing this conversation, a man walks up, hands the attendant a bill and tells me to "fill it up" and walks out. I swear to you he was wearing a white shirt and drove away in a white car.

I filled up the can, the woman took me to my car and said goodbye and I go to return the can and get my gas with my debit card. The attendant holds up a $20 and tells me that he didn't mean "fill up your can," he meant "fill up your tank." (Keep in mind that this was a few years ago and you could still fill a tiny car for about that much.) I asked her who this man was, if he was a regular, if I could leave a card and money to pay him back. She says that she notices lots of regulars and he isn't one of them. She gets and idea to look at his receipt because he paid by credit card. I looked at his signature is disbelief with tears in my eyes. JOE. That was it. His kindness will never be forgotten.

Where is my head today?!

Seriously? I feel like an idiot. I was so proud of how productive I was last week. I felt like I got so much accomplished. Mondays are usually pretty slow for me but today I've already been reminded of 100 things I need to do or have done today. Ggrggrrrr..... get it together, Pamela!

There is a point to this story, I promise

I know a few of my readers have probably read this on STLwed but I thought I'd post it here too.

I never thought I'd not notice my pet was missing....

Last night my husband and I made a fire in our fire pit. We got sleepy and he went out a few times to pour water on it and put it out. We made sure BOTH Pete AND Oliver, our kitties, were inside since they both like to escape into the backyard. They were. Michael and I watched a little tv in the living room and went to bed- we sleep with the door shut so they don't crawl all over our heads.

We had nothing to do this morning so we slept in and woke up to Pete trying to karate kick the door down and he was meowing like crazy! I just figured he was hungry but I thought it was odd that Oliver didn't come running so I called him.... nothing. I looked everywhere and didn't see him. Panic set in, I woke Michael and got dressed. We were standing in the kitchen and we heard the saddest, most forlorn meow ever and I realized HE'S OUTSIDE! I ran out expecting to see him chasing bugs, digging (he was a dog in a former life, we think) or sunning on a chair. Nope. Then I saw his collar, open and laying in a corner near the sunroom. Our sunroom is raised and there is that lattice all around the bottom to keep animals out and somehow he got stuck under there (or maybe just stayed there for safety.) When I found him he just melted in my arms like he always does and I brought him inside. Poor little guy! We've let them out a few times while we keep an eye on them in the daytime but they are really inside cats that don't go out very often. I don't know if they just choose not to or don't know how but they've never gotten over the fence and out of the backyard so that was a little comforting to know that he was most likely in our yard... but still!

How did this happen?!!? How did he get out? Here's what I think... when we went to bed it was a nice night so we had our bedroom window open. It can open from both sides and the screen slides and since it had been so long since we opened the windows we must have forgotten the screen was on the other side and and Oliver must have jumped out! (We only have one floor so the ground wasn't far.) Thank goodness it was a nice night and not rainy or freezing and thankfully no creepy animals tried to get him or he didn't eat some toxic plant and get sick. We took him to the vet right after we found him and they said he was fine but I was so scared and I felt terrible. They said he probably didn't sleep at all and he's been sleeping all day long.

If you're still reading this crazy long post from The Cat Lady, there is a point to this rambling story and promised! Make sure all of your pets are vaccinated and up to date (UTD) on all types of flea medications, shots, etc. and make sure they are microchipped! He popped his collar off but any vet or shelter could have told someone where to return him. Also- if they are microchipped, make sure the address is UTD or tag it to your vet. We would have been devastated had he been truly lost.

Relax!

Easier said than done, right? I think I need a little help here. This might be hard to believe (she says sarcastically) but I have trouble unwinding. At work, some days are non-stop GO and other days are pretty slow. The slow days are the worst, I've found because I sit and think of all the other things I could be doing like working out (for once!), cleaning, cooking, decorating or adding things to my other blog and a possible side project I'll discuss at a later date. Instead of staring at a computer until I go blind, I could be drinking wine on a patio while relaxing with a friend or my mom. Or my husband! Then, thinking about all of these things takes a nasty turn. I go from dreamy relaxing thoughts to stressful frantic thoughts about how much I have on my millions of project TO DO lists and before I know it I'm sick to my stomach.

The work day ends and I'm off. I have about 25 minutes to myself in the car. I usually drive in silence because I'm sick of all my playlists and radio commercials give me road rage. It's true... So whats worse? Being alone with your chaotic thoughts while three different songs that have been stuck in your head since Thursday play simultaneously or listening to the radio with non-stop commercial hour and songs that no one, I mean NO ONE likes any more like Tubthumping by Chambawamba. Though call...

I apologize if this post is like one run on sentence after another but sometimes that is truly what my mind is like so here's my point. (Yes, there is a point.) How do you unwind? My perfect plan would be to come home, go running, cook dinner, clean up a little and go to bed at a decent hour. For me, a decent hour would be before 11:30. I really don't think this plan sounds like too much and millions of people do it successfully everyday. Why is this so hard for me? I have never really enjoyed working out so that's not much of a stress reliever and honestly, on most days I think I need to unwind before I do anything. I do have my super energetic days where I think I can do it all and by the end of the night, I'm so revved up that it takes forever to fall asleep. I do the suggested things almost every night: turning down lights, turning t.v. or music volume down or off, limiting my visual stimulation and focusing on breathing. I swear to you, some days I feel like a fidgety six-year-old that drank too much Mountain Dew.

Am I missing something? What relaxes you?

Crap... I'm an accidental hypocrite!

I didn't realize my other blog had the CAPTCHA... sorry! Now I'm kind of embarrassed....

Just call me Susie

Susie (Suzy?) Homemaker that is, because last night I cooked a meal. I cooked it all by myself- without any recipes! (No, it was not a frozen pizza. Smartass.) This may seem incredibly trivial and silly to some but I am not a cook. I can barely boil water without it overflowing. Here's the thing- it was good. I swear! My husband ate it all in seven minutes. What was this meal? I will tell you. It was not difficult at all so even I can't completely understand why I feel the need to blog about it.

I made baked salmon with a light sour cream, fresh dill and red onion spread. For sides I sauteed asparagus and red onion and garlic mashed potatoes. I don't know why but I just feel like this is a milestone in my domestic bliss. This is actually the third thing I've made in the last few weeks. I'm taking baby steps. First, I baked fresh mozzaerella on tomato slices with balsamic vinagirette and basil. It was kind of like bruschetta- but better. Then I made a chicken noodle soup. I don't know how I did it and I probably couldn't even give you a recipe for that but the fact that I did it made me (and my husband) proud.

Deep Thoughts by Pamela Quigley

CAPTCHA. Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart.

I understand the purpose and the intentions are great but man, is it annoying. Sometimes it is really easy- like four letters FHND. Other times it seems to be about 18 letters long with squiggly marks on it and the T looks more like a 7 and after the third or fourth attempt I just give up.

Just because I don't comment on blogs or frequently leave comments on myspace doesn't mean that I'm not reading. I am. I just probably got in a captcha fight and lost.

Seriously? Who does that?

My dentist and I are quickly becoming very VERY close. Why, you ask? Well, two years of not ever going has taken quite a toll on my mouth. Gross... I needed a lot of work done so I've been seeing her about once a week or so for about a month and I've got about two more appointments before we're done. (Not counting actually getting my wisdom teeth pulled... that will happen in January. DO NOT tell me about any of your experiences, I BEG you! I am already scared enough.)

Yesterday I went in for two fillings. I suppose I'm getting used to being shot with novocaine and such because half way through the prodedure I fell asleep! I swear to you. I woke up to her telling me to open my mouth. I guess I was tired and she numbed me up really well and well.... I dozed off for a few seconds. Seriously. Who does that?

Another Blog?

Why not? I'm going to still keep this one for random rants and raves but this one is about a specific interest of mine. Hope you like it.

McDonald's Sucks

I had a doctor's appointment last Wednesday morning (nothing serious, just routine) and since it ended earlier that I expected, I decided to hop on to over McDizzle's (you probably just call it McDonald's) for a breakfast burrito. I look at my clock. It says 10:12. Perfect. That should be enough time to get through the six cars ahead of me and place my order. Just as my clock says 10:26 I pull up to order- angry that it's taken that long in the first place. (We all know that they stop selling breakfast at 10:30.... ) I don't know why I felt the need to ask but I did.

"You're still serving breakfast, right?"

"No- it's lunch time."

"What!?? seriously? It's 10:26!"

"Our clock says 10:30."

"On the dot??"

"Yes."

"What is this? Is it on bar time!?!?"

So I drove away. Angry. And hungry.

I still had an entire four minutes! I KNOW my clock in the car isn't that off. And WTF!?!? Who wants to eat lunch at 10:30 in the freaking morning?!! I can deal with it at 11 but not 10:30. I hate that place and those breakfast Nazis.

If they mated....

I stumbled upon this website that takes your picture and your husbands and then somehow generates what your baby will look like. My husband and I have a pretty good idea what our future children will look like- curly (probably red) hair, blue eyes, round nose, freckles... Of course I wanted to try this and see if our predictions matched a computer's! The few that I saw seemed cute and oddly possible. Well.... then I got our results.... tell me what you think.













Not quite what I was expecting....

I don't know what to title this post

but look at what I found! Ok, ok- in all fairness, I found it on someone else's blog but isn't this fun?

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You can make your own at Wordle. I used the lyrics from At Last which was our first dance. I actually wanted to do something similar with those lyrics but maybe I'll just do this. My other idea was to use black paint and put it on a white canvas. Ehh... who am I kidding? I'll probably do both! Hope you like it.

Two years ago today...

I met my Husband. If you would have told me a week and two years ago that I'd meet the man of my dreams and marry him, I would have probably laughed in your face! If you ask him how we met, he'll just tell you that I showed up on his doorstep one day. Actually, I worked with his roommate and knew he had single friends. His roommate called one night and asked if I wanted to hang out and I jumped at the chance. He said that a cab would be there in 20 minutes and in 20 minutes I was ready to go, he was waiting on the curb and shaking his hand. To be totally honest- I almost didn't give him my phone number. Actually, I was about to give him the rejection hotline! I figured that this guy was way out of my league and to avoid disappointment altogether, I should just walk away. As I was writing it down, I decided to take a chance. I am so glad I did.

We didn't date for long before love came and smacked us in the face. It is so true when they say, "When you know, you just know." Almost six months to the day after we met, he proposed. It was perfect. Sixteen months after that, we were married. I know that not many couples remember or celebrate the day they met but we do. That day seriously changed everything!

He is so awesome. He even sent these to work today! I'm the luckiest.

Pamela needs...

Reading through my blog roll, I came across a little game. Type in "(your name) needs" and see what comes up. Interesting....

Pamela needs:
-a sperm donor. Really? No thanks.
-a lesson in fashion. Hmmm..... I bet they're talking about Pamela Anderson....
-help. Yep- that seals the deal. All of my needs are about Pamela Anderson.

Nonetheless, here are some more:
-a hug. Yes, that would be lovely.
-an easier life. Don't we all?
-to go home. Oh, Google, how you taunt me so. I would love to go home and take a nap. Especially after the day I've had...
-another $50,000. Another $50,000!?!? Where was my first $50,000?? Never mind, I'll take it!
-to trust her talents and instincts. Yeah... That's like saying, "follow your heart." Thanks...

You have GOT to be kidding me

So I'm walking through Hobby Lobby (yeah, that's right! I love that place!) and I'm checking out the summer decorations to potentially hang on my front door.




And then.... there it is.......
an entire two aisles dedicated to
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS.



You have got to be kidding me!!!! Seriously?!? In JUNE?!?! We haven't even celebrated the 4th of July, Columbus Day or Labor Day! I thought Thanksgiving was early but I can handle it. Then the tall, fake Christmas trees started making appearances around Halloween.

But JUNE!?!? This just stresses me out! Well if they think I'm going to start my Christmas shopping in June, they've got another thing coming.

My Husband, My Hero

He really is. I'd be so lost without him.

I consider myself a morning person after I have gotten out of bed.
That's the thing... actually getting up and running is the hardest part.

Every morning he helps me decide what I'm going to wear and chases down my blue flip flops or my missing UGG as I recreate the scene from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" where she learns how to put contacts in. As I run out the door, he hands me my keys, a Bolthouse and my cell phone and waves to me as I pull out of the driveway. What a perfect way to start my day.

Pamela vs. mxq

Just in case you're curious....

My husband and I share an email account. We both comment on very different types of blogs. Depending on who has used it last, you might see my picture with mxq tagged to it. He didn't comment, though. I did. He likes dogs and nail polish. Just not enough to comment about them.

Stay tuned. We will work through this kink together.

Deep Thoughts by Pamela Quigley

I know this has been posted on other blogs that we all frequent but I have been thinking and I just wanted to say that I've come to the realization that you guys (from stlwed) probably know me better than my real friends. Seriously! I feel like we talk about way more stuff. I can post any thought I have in my head (like i am right now) via blog or thread and half the time, when I see my "real" friends, the thought is forgotten or I just don't think to tell them. I know we've had this discussion before at the GNOs (Girls Night Out) but honestly, most of you have become my real friends. I wouldn't have it any other way. See? Look at how much fun we have!

Ok... enough with the sappy talk!

I GOT A NNNNNEW CAAAAAAR!

I usually try to be more humble than this but I am just so excited!!! I got a new car!!! It is an Audi A4 Quattro- which means it has 4-wheel drive- which makes me feel so much safer in our crazy Missouri weather.

Now... I know what you're thinking.... "but Pamela, your Honda was so wonderful! What happened to it?" Well, I will tell you. Michael always drove an Audi but his lease was up. Mine doesn't end until October 2009 and since I'm climbing up in the miles (and we live 3 miles from his job) he's taking the Honda and I get to drive the new car. Sweet deal, right? I thought so!


PS This is my first post including a picture. Proud of me?

It has been a while

It has been a pretty slow day and to be honest- I haven't felt all that witty lately... I stole this from Teresa's blog:

1- The number of how miles I can walk in heels before I start complaining.
2- The number of times I have gone #1 today.
3- The number of flower girls we had in our wedding.
4- The number of co-workers I'd like to kick at any given time in the day.
5- The number of fingers on my hand.
6- The number days I can listen to one playlist before I go nuts and have to make a new one.
7- On this day, God rested.
8- The pounds lost for my wedding. (Also- the number of pounds gained since my wedding)
9- The amount of interviews I scheduled for today.
10- The number of times I checked my email from work today- but add another zero or two.
11- The amount of open positions at my company that I need to fill. YIKES!
12- The number siblings my parents have combined.
13- The number of times I rolled my eyes at a stupid resume today.
14- I'm tired of this game....