A Mixed Bag

Thank you amazingly supportive readers!  You politely told me that I have not jumped the shark, and to stop my whining.  (I swear I was not fishing for comments!)  I will chalk my dark mood up to Pre Daylight Savings Time Blues.  Rest assured I am snapping out of it.  It is still raining in my world (I think we are on our 50^th day of rain in two months, and last night we got 2".  STOP the gutter thoughts!) it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home, and it currently is a mere 37 degrees. 

But I’m not going to let it get to me!

Here is a little tidbit that might make you smile:

Next Door to my office is a factory that makes musical instruments.  This factory must have at least 200 cars in its parking lot every day.  Can you believe that the musical instrument business is doing so well?  If I could afford to buy the kids an instrument and pay for lessons, they would be making my life miserable with bad notes right now.  

In the early summer the factory workers went on strike.  I do not want to get into the politics of why, but watching this strike from an on-the-other-side-of-the-fence perspective, I have to tell you it’s a strike unlike any I have ever imagined or at least seen in old 70’s movie scenes.

They have a pod.  You know those on demand storage containers.  Their pod is like home base, I am fairly certain they have made a kitchen and living room in there.  There are always at least 10 to 15 people jammed inside playing cards, doing each other’s hair and eating home cooked food.   Then they have some really nice portable tents outside.  There are usually a dozen people sitting under them continuing the party from inside.  I have seen them play catch, corn hole, hoops, and once I thing they were doing a conga line.  As it is getting colder they now have a fortress of wood stacked up – wood that would last an entire winter.  They light fires in old metal garbage cans.  This is about as authentic as they get. 

The company has had to hire security.  One guy who sits in his car all day long.  He does get out and walk around periodically to mingle with the party goers under the tent. 

The strikers don’t yell.  They don’t shake their fists; they actually don’t even look at you when you drive by or if they see you watching from your office window. They have a few signs and the only obnoxious thing they really do is park on the side of the road.  They have some nice cars, these strikers. 

I would say at least 150 parking spots have filled back up at the factory, so I’m not sure how successful this particular strike is.

Sometimes I try to rally my 6 co-workers into striking.  I think it would be fun to play corn hole and warm our hands over the garbage can.  I wonder if our neighbors would let us borrow some firewood?

And finally check this story out: http://www.kcci.com/r/29528191/detail.html

If this doesn’t either bring a tear to your eye, give you hope and inspiration, then I think you may have the blues worse than I do…..

Fine, How are You? Year in Review

I have BIG plans for 2011, my blog and my writing, but before we get to that, I thought I’d introduce my NEW-er followers to the blog:

January, February and most of March 2010:

I was MIA. I had recently ended five years of work that took 80 hours of my life per week. I was in recovery still. I had started my current position and last job I will ever land and was getting accustomed to working a normal 40 hours per week. I was thinking about writing, I was gearing up. It took me awhile.

So the first post back was NEWLY MOTIVATED. Nothing spectacular, just me bragging about going on vacation, but I have to note it because it’s the first of my blog. (I had other blogs, but they never really went anywhere)

Skip forward to May. I must have had a great time vacationing because I was gone for awhile. I wrote two posts and they may have meant something to me, but sadly, they do nothing for you as a reader. Looks like it took me half the year to really get in the swing of blogging. I was probably still trying to get my point across on Facebook.

In July, I wrote what I would say was the first REAL post of this blog. ON A WILD RIDE. There are parts of the writing that make me cringe, but at the end of the post, I wrote this:

So I'm back on track heading up a slight hill just coming out of a dark tunnel and I can see the light, but my hat flew off while we were in the dark. It was a very nice hat, one I'd had for a long long time that traveled with me from house to house in a box and was only worn twice. As it flew off, I was sad to see it go, but I didn't need it, the girl in the very last seat of our car might catch it and use it more than I ever could...


At this point I am averaging less than a post a month. But in August, I posted 38 times.

Domestic was a post that is SO me it isn’t even funny. I baked. It wasn’t a disaster .

In REMEMBERING, I posted this about my Grandma: Then we laughed because Poppies was known and Mr. Lucky Pants as he wore the same jeans and always won every game we played. I told her she must have somehow gotten into Mr. Lucky's Pants and we roared with laughter some more until the men told us to get back out there so they could beat us at our game......

Getting Ready – I write about my fear of Deer and when I slaughtered one on the roadway.

I wrote about the disease I have in TEENITIS. (it’s currently in remission, because of Christmas and all but it WILL be back in oh, about 6 days from now)

In Random Statements My Dad has Made, I am certain you will find one that YOUR Dad made to you. For Example my favorite: If you slam that door one more time, I’m gonna slam your head in it.
(it would have been nice if the DOOR didn’t weigh 100lbs and had a spring! My friends appreciated this statement too. You should have seen the looks of horror on our faces when we remembered at the last minute they were the last one out the door and..... TOO LATE- the door just slammed shut.)

Finally, in light of my Grandmother’s funeral I wrote Got Etiquette? Rule 17: Tell children the body is only a vehicle. (Good advice. I’m hoping they don’t bring pennies)

Around this time in my blog, I started gaining momentum and followers. In September I wrote Not in MY Pond when a large Goldfish was pictured on news sites everywhere and I tell my own story of largish Goldfish:
The size and sheer amount of poop that came out of the fish in my tank at their size was mind-blowing and well, absolutely disgusting. Let alone what must be coming out of the fish pictured?!! The poop would be wrapped around this guy’s legs like a rope cutting off his circulation.

At this point I am blogging AND reading all the blogs I am following DAILY (yes, I was up REALLY late most nights) one post by another blogger really bothered me and I responded in Buttons Resolved, not that the writer was ever going to know.

In October I wrote a cautionary tale but VERY true story: Don’t Let it Expire. Let’s just say it involves The hubby, the DMV and accidental cleavage.

I also shared what I say to Inanimate Objects out loud.

In November, I added to my slowly growing series of tearing up advice columns found on the front page of YAHOO. My Take on the Yahoo article:10 Shocking Secrets of the First Year of Marriage.

I also shared my delight in finding myself playing cards with naked men in Guess What I Saw??

You can tell its WINTER in my world in Why it’s so Much Better in the Dark.

In December, I got the bright idea to write a post a day on the gifts given in The Twelve Days of Christmas which was quite the undertaking. 12 days staying in character was hard, and the hubby was ready to get rid of my so called EX. You can read the first in the series here: http://imfineu.blogspot.com/2010/11/why-its-so-much-better-in-dark.html

All in all, 2010 was OK for this blog, but 2011, watch out my followers, I’m excited to blow you away with my talents… (cough, cough)

My most read post was Advice Review – Time Management. And I truly have no idea why.

I owe the blog: The Pop Eye for referring most of my followers, check her blog out if you haven’t already.

And I owe the following bloggers for talking back, listening, and making me feel like I am not talking to an empty box on my dining room table:

What’s on My Mind Today            Crab-Ass Mom                         Tickets for Two

The Middle Side of Life                 What’s on Your Mind Monkey Butt?

Butts and Ashes                            RotDuJour                                Kelley’s Breakroom

The Blog O’ Cheese

That’s it for this blog and 2010. But stick around for 2011….. (I beg of you on my knees from a pile of yellow snow, wearing only shorts)