That's All

Manager? Yes. But not of Stress.

With as many talents as I have, I have to say that stress-management is not really one of them. I'm about 2 challenges away from a large dose of Prozac! Haha.

Today at 8:30 I have a phone orientation that should last anywhere from one to two hours. I'm going to be taking over my parent's little drug testing business they have here in the Valley. They haven't had time to take on a lot of clients and grow it. I plan to change that.

I have an appointment in Idaho Falls at 2. I hope the roads are okay.

At some point I need to call ISU and make sure I'm all set to enroll in my classes on Sunday/Monday. (I'm not exactly sure which day. Just one more reason I need to call them.)

I start work back up at Targhee tomorrow. I haven't purchased a shuttle ticket yet and my tires are baaaad. I am a little nervous about the drive in the morning.

I need to call and schedule a total of 11 drug testings and the majority of those have to be done on Saturday between whenever I get off work and 5 p.m. Then I have another one to do Monday morning at 7 a.m. I may just need to ask for Saturday and Monday off at Targhee so I can get those drug testings and school all taken care off.

I desperately need to fast today. (I must've eaten something not gluten free yesterday and I'm all bloaty and hurty.) With all this stress, though, I'd give my right arm for some dark chocolate and/or sushi.

I know that little list doesn't seem like a lot, but I was up a lot throughout the night thanks to various nightmares that all had to do with that stress. Ahhhhhhhhh!

The Forgotten Garden

I finally finished my book today. As I was reading it I kept thinking to myself, Wow, this is taking me a reeeeaaaaallllly long time to get through. Maybe my reading skills have slowed way down.

It turns out that I'm still a perfectly functioning speed reader. The book I was reading just happens to be 648 pages long in its paperback form. (And since I'm reading it on my Kindle, I had no idea.) Hence the couple of weeks it took me to get through it.

Anyway. The book I was reading was "The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton.

O. M. G. ("g" for "goodness", of course.)

Never before have a fallen so deeply in love with a book.

Never before have I felt so kindred to a character in a story as I did to Eliza Makepeace.

And never before have I immediately started a book over upon its completion until "The Forgotten Garden."

I loved it. The writing style is perfect. It was a very smooth, easy read that was filled with dimension and intrigue. Kate Morton found a way to create a story that has a truly fascinating plot, and write it out in such a way that there is not a dry page to be found in all of its 648 pages.

As always, I was saddened to reach the end of the book (there's nothing worse than realizing a story you've grown so fond of has finally come to an end), but it's a sadness that cannot sustain because the book's ending is the story's beginning! And by reaching the end you are reminded of the beginning. I don't dare say anymore than that because if you intend to read it, you'll be sorry that I did.

The story is about a very old woman on her deathbed who is encumbered by both a secret and a mystery. Both of which are resolved in a most pleasing manner throughout the book. The story bounces back and forth between three different time periods, but follows a single family plagued by secrets and scandal.

You can Click Here to read an official summary.

If you enjoy reading at all, I would highly, highly recommend this one. Though the story may not reach out and touch you in quite the way it touched me, I can still guarantee you'll enjoy the journey!

Wipeout!

Today was the perfect day for curling up by the fire with a book . . . And that is exactly what I did. It's been snowy the past couple of days--and cold--so it felt amazing to grab a blanket, my little dog, my excellent book and curl up for a few hrs on the couch and just enjoy a good read. Seriously, is there anything better than that?

Aubrey and I also played a little "Wipeout" on the Wii. Have any of you ever played that game? It's pretty friggen hilarious. So we spent about an hour this afternoon in stitches--laughing so hard over this game. Then we exchanged back massages while watching the newest Vampire Diaries episodes.

I <3 days like today.

Perks of . . . Hypothyroidism??

Today I discovered a little perk (if you can call it that) of having suffered from hypothyroidism for so long. I was browsing through my movies at about 7:00 this evening because I was bored and decided I would watch yet another movie (it's really growing to be a bad habit). I decided I'd watch Superman (the newest one).

I KNOW I've seen it before--probably multiple times, but it was like watching a brand new movie. I recognized none of it. And it got me thinking about the fact that I have quite a few movies in my collection that I probably don't remember a thing about. Since watching movies is something I really enjoy (when I can find the time), I think this little fact is actually kind of cool. :)

It may be small . . . but I'll take it as something good coming from all that time spent on my "death bed". Haha.

Also . . . while I'm on the subject . . .

. . . You would think owning as many dvds as I do would be pretty awesome (and it is, I guess), but it has its downsides. For instance: I almost NEVER watch any of my dvds because I can NEVER pick one. Ha! Ironic.

Well . . . I'm off to bed with Kate Morton. ;) (Seriously, this book I'm reading--"The Forgotten Garden"--is absolutely fabulous so far. If you're a reader and you haven't checked this one out already . . . do at some point!)

Too Much TV.

As you are all well aware . . . Obama won the election. Ugh.

But enough about that. I have a confession. Today I caved an made some gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. And they weren't that great. (Probably because my little sister talked me into adding peanut butter. Not a fan.) Anyway, despite the fact that they weren't that great, I ate not one . . . not two . . . not even three . . . but FOUR of them. Yikes. They aren't huge cookies, but they aren't super tiny, either. Needless to say, I had a pretty epic sugar buzz going on for a while. I think Levi took the brunt of it. I kept rubbing his head and commenting about how small his brain must be.

I really need to get some writing done. I haven't done any in more than a week. Yikes. And I have no real good reason for slacking. I've watched a bunch of movies. I can honestly say that I have watched more movies in the past month than I did in the entire past two years put together. Honest truth right there. Here's a list of some of the movies I've seen this month:

-Battleship (I thought it was okay. Might not watch it again for awhile, but I did like it.)
-Snow White and the Huntsman  (Liked it quite a bit.)
-The 3rd and 4th Underworld films (The 3rd is the best of all of them)
-Dark Shadows (I couldn't help myself . . . Love the cast . . . Loved the movie. Big Eva Green fan.)
-War Horse (Not really my favorite genre . . . so not my favorite, but still a good flick.)
-Jane Eyre (Loved!)
-What to Expect When You're Expecting (Cute show.)
-21 Jump Street (Meh . . .)
-Wrath of the Titans (Enjoyed it quite a bit.)

And I'm sure there may have been one or two more than that even. Tsk tsk . . . That's a LOT of tv. Too much. School starts in a little more than a week. I need to give up the tv and get back to reality!

 

Hulkshare

"Top of the World" -Slightly Stoopid

P!nk

I've always been a pretty big fan of Pink's, but my love for her has grown since I've done a few of her songs on karaoke. It wouldn't be fair to call them "easy", but I find them easier to sing than some other songs.

I've been thinking about hiring another vocal coach and seeing if I can get my voice back to what it used to be pre-cancer. I used to bring the heat, baby! Seriously though, I used to be able to really sing well. Now I'm just mediocre . . . and that makes me a little sad. Especially since I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Anyway . . . I didn't title this post "P!nk" for no reason!

 

HACKED!

Sooo . . . today I hacked Becky's SingSnap account and sang a song. But not just any song. It was a vulgar song. Haha. And she doesn't know it yet, but I fully intend to periodically hack her account and sing more vulgar songs. I'm thinking I'll do Lily Allen's "Not Fair" next. :)

Anyway, this song is full of pitchy moments and my voice sounds weak. This is because there are people in the room next to me and I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of them hearing me randomly screaming "Peacock cock cock cock" at the top of my lungs at 11 pm. (I use headphones, so they wouldn't be able to hear the music to make sense of it all.)

We had a fairly funny little dialogue going on in her comment thread about it. You can click here if you want to read it.