Full Disclosure

Otherwise known as the weekend in review.

So Friday was insane. We (my department/work) have been in preparation and planning for a Showcase/Gala event (a museum-like library-wide exhibit) since we returned from the holidays. (A bid to stump for some donations.) I hadn't really been asked to participate much beyond pulling some materials and covering the department while everyone else went to meetings, etc. But Friday was D-day as the event was Saturday.

So Friday was intense. And well, actually, I still felt like so much mud on the bottom of shoes because...well, I got the impression that I was handed all the menial tasks because I'm not smart enough to do the really important stuff. And I swear, I thought if I got my "back patted" one more time for doing something as mundane as attaching ribbons to foam core I was going to scream. Honestly, though I look it and often times act it, I'm not retarded. I can handle tasks that involve thinking. And while, yes, it is nice to be told, "job well done" it isn't necessary to praise me in the same manner I praise Emmy when she draws me a picture.

And I know all the menial tasks had to be done. And it isn't as though I hated doing it. I didn't. I liked feeling useful and contributing (since I'd been left out of the planning) but I feel as though I was set aside so the "smart people" could do the important stuff. They were just keeping me busy and out of the way. Fine. So whatever. I'm too stupid to live. Whatever. I don't care.

Except, I do. Especially since at the very last second Saturday night I was taken off of the area I was supposed to work because it "got too complicated." Instead I spent two hours as a glorified greeter (smiling and saying "good evening" while the student workers were entrusted with the more involved areas. Were it not for the fact that I was in an area with friends I might have been tempted to just leave and pretend I wasn't even supposed to be there. Which I may as well not have been.

Yeah, so I'm not as passionate about this stuff as some others are. Doesn't mean I don't know or can't learn how to fake it! They want us to give our thoughts and opinions about how we think the even went and I'm quite tempted to give them a piece of my mind. Slow as it is.

But anyway, I'm jumping ahead. lol

Friday night Mama and I stopped at Dollar General to pick up some puppy chow and I kid you not--the guy working the check-out was a dead ringer for Eminem. You know, the rapper? Kid. You. Not. Looked just like him. Sounded kinda like him, too. Weird.

I spent Saturday morning grocery shopping. Went to Wal-Mart because I had to get my Slimfast and Sis1's birthday present. Ended up running into a co-worker a couple of times. The first time was in the dog treat aisle. No biggie. There's no shame in being caught buying rawhide chewies for the Devil Pup, right? But then, the second time she ran into me was as I was staring dreamily at the newest wedding designs they have in the crafts department. How embarrassing! Like I'm some desperate dingbat. Which, after last week's diatribe ya'll might think I am but honestly, I'm not. I just like to plan stuff like that. That's why I had so much fun planning Sis2's bridal showers and stuff when she got hitched. Would have loved helping her plan the wedding had her MIL not been such a thorn. So I like to look at that stuff and plan and...okay, so I admit it, yes. I do think of it in terms of "If I were the bride" but don't all women do that? Anyhow, I was embarrassed. I don't think she noticed.

I spent the afternoon playing with Libby and trying to decide what to wear for Saturday night. The dress code was "business dress" which made no sense to me. I intended to wear a new skirt and blouse I'd bought specifically for the event but decided at the last minute that I could get away with wearing the blouse and a pair of pinstripe dress slacks. Put my hair up. Did my make-up (well, eye make-up and lipstick) a little heavier than usual, wore jewelry, etc. I think I blended in well with what everyone else was wearing.

I got there ridiculously early but I hate being late for these things. Plus I was anxious to get it over with. I was supposed to meet our student workers at the staff entrance at 6:30 to let them in. Only had one show up...because the others had gone in through the main entrance! Bah! But anyway, my boss was heading out to go change and she came through and said, "Oh, so and so are already here and by the way, we've moved you from A) to B) because the A) exhibit got too complicated" before she swept on through. (And this was the second time my location got switched!) The lone student and I made our way to B) where neither one of us were quite sure where we were supposed to be or what we were so supposed to be doing. So we faked it as the "welcoming committee" to our department's part of the exhibit. Basically just smiling, answering questions about which way what exhibit was and goofin' off when nobody was watching. It was actually fun even if I was/am a little insulted that I wasn't trusted with anything more taxing than smiling.

But I've been told I have a great smile so maybe I was doing exactly what I needed to be doing... lol

I did get asked once if I were the "old pottery" listed on the program to which I replied "who're you callin' old?" and I did have one couple who refused to enter our department until I stepped out to get refreshments. (I swear I didn't growl at them!) I also had a brush with fame...sort of. Morgan Freeman's wife, Myrna Colley-Lee (we just recently received her costume collection) was there and she was very friendly. She smiled and said hello as she came in. Asked a couple of questions. Teased me about the lack of signage on some of the political photographs. So I feel special. hehehehe

Anyway, though all I did was stand, smile and say hello for two hours (and then help put away some items for 30 minutes after) I was too pooped to pop when I got home. (Around 10pm) I can't take all that late night stuff. (Gosh I'm old!) Unfortunately I couldn't go straight to bed as I had to let the Devil Pup out and snuggle with her for about an hour since she'd been left alone all evening. I took some Advil Liqui-gels (Thanks Gigi for introducing me to those little miracles!) and went to bed somewhere just past 11:00.

Slept like a log and woke up to...Rain? Again?

Ugh! Yeah, I'm sure we needed it but my yard had just dried out from the last little bit 'o rain. I seriously considered staying under the covers but with a dog needing to pee and a spiritual life needing some growing I had to crawl out and face the world.

Got to church and the preacher was out. (Kidney stones...Ouch!) Instead, we had a guest preacher. A guy I knew as a child. ( he was a teenager back then) Until recently, I hadn't even known he'd surrendered to preach but he's apparently been pastoring a church a couple of counties over for quite some time. He and his wife decided to resign that church, though, due to the typical problems that seem to plague churches.

He was flabbergasted to see me. I didn't know him all that well and as I said, he was a teenager when I was a child but it was still funny to see someone from my past. It got me to thinking how my life seems to be coming full circle. I'm back in the church I grew up and was baptized in, though the congregation is largely different than it was in my youth. Who says you can't go home?

You know, I spent a lot of time resisting doing just that. I didn't want to go "home" though I was searching fruitless to find just that. I just never expected to find it where I knew it would always be. If that even makes any sense. But I'm at peace now. I've found my church home. So what if it's the place I started my spiritual life? So what if I'm back to going to church with my parents. I also get to attend church with my grandparents--something I had sorely missed in the three years we attended separate churches. It means that I get to see them on a regular basis and spend quality time with them.

Anyway, I'm getting off point here, again. lol

So after church I did the whole parental thing. Mostly I laughed at Libby and read magazines while my parents dozed. Then my mom had to go and try out this new alleged Asian style pork chop recipe. And I say "alleged" because there wasn't anything Asian about it. It was actually pretty yucky. Would have been okay if she'd left of the alleged Asian "sauce" which was actually just a thin brown gravy. Jana hates brown gravy. Blech! Is it horrible that I told my mother I didn't like something she'd fixed? I was just scared that if I lied she'd fix it again another time and I. Could. Not. Handle. That.

When Libby and I finally got home she passed out in her crate (on her own! I didn't put her in there, I swear!) and I pored over a book. If you've not yet read anything by Terry McLaughlin (a Harlequin SuperRomance novelist) I suggest you get out there and try one of her books. Any of them. Though this is only her third, I think, she is an awesomely talented author and even with the just three books, she's now on my autobuy. I haven't yet finished her latest, The Rancher Needs a Wife, but I'm halfway through and it rocks already.

I had to forsake it, though, to watch Desperate Housewives. Is it just me or has this show lost it's sparkle? I mean, last season was lackluster and this one is only marginally better. I don't think I'd cry if I missed an episode like I would have during it's first season. (And like I did Friday night when Ghost Whisperer got pre-empted by the Billy Graham special...or Wednesday night when I realized my timer hadn't been set to tape Medium.)

Anyway, this morning when I got up (after I showered) I weighed and...Are you ready?

Not only are the three or four pounds I gained during Christmas gone...an additional pound is gone! I'm finally past that plateau number I'd been stuck on FOREVER. LOL (since before Thanksgiving, I guess.) Thank you God!

And then I was outside with the Devil Pup trying to convince her to do her "business" instead of eating sticks and I nearly slipped in the mud. Strained my "bad" knee. It didn't pop it's cork or anything (so to speak) but there was a definite pop and now it's kind of achey and weird.

With the sweets come the sour, right?

Anyway, this morning started off hectic but have (thankfully) settled into something more akin to normal.

And that's all of me. I think. For now.

;-)