All in the Family

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but I work with my sister. On the whole I view this as a positive thing. We keep each other entertained, we always have a buddy at work functions, I have someone to snicker with during meetings, and I have someone that knows exactly how frustrating some coworkers can be.
But, sometimes I’m less than sure it’s a good thing.

Once upon a time we happened to be on the same team. At the beginning of every team meeting we would do an icebreaker, and we had to tell a story on whatever the subject was that time. I arrived late as I was stuck on a call, and they had started. I took my seat and my then-manager (Smaaron) said that we were all telling stories of practical jokes that we had played.  Knowing Britney, I knew exactly the story she had told. I turned to her and said “Please say you didn’t tell the story.” To which everyone burst out laughing. This particular story is quite embarrassing. Quite. She said she didn’t tell which sibling she had played this joke on, but anyone could figure out that it was me.

That was a couple years ago and I still get coworkers reminding me of that.

A couple weeks ago I thought she needed a reminder as to how lucky she is to have a bright and delightful sister to work with. So I drew this on her whiteboard at her desk:

I thought she would be happy to know that I was the light of her life.  When I saw it next she had altered it, and I tried to fix it and the changes kept coming until now it looks like this:

Let me translate.  Her flower was wilting and lit on fire under the heat of the sun, so I then drew myself as the rain to put her out.  How sweet of me.  Then she drew me as a lawnmower set on mowing down her flower.  So I put her as a cambells soup can, breaking my mower blade when all I wanted to do was mow weeds.  For good measure I drew myself as a bee, out to pollinate her flower.  In retrostpect that sounds a little dirty.  For some odd reason Smaaron got in on the action and drew my foot about to step in dog poo.  Rude, to say the least.

Today during a meeting I was slightly bored and drew a heart on her ankle.  She in turn drew this on my wrist:

I was horrified.  She tried to explain that it was a heart that was falling (hence the lines I guess).  Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but that's not what I see.  She then realized that it looked like something else entirely and drew the arrow in.  Now it just looks like a peircing.

I'm glad that I have a sister working with me so she can draw pierced joobalies on my hand.

Pretty Excited Slash Hoping I Don't Die

I'd like to say I go to the gym frequently.  However, that would be a bold lie.  Of course, that's the joy of having my own treadmill, I can do my exercise in the comfort of my own home, and not have to go to the gym.  But a treadmill can only do so much for you and yesterday I registered for the Utah Valley 5k.  Oh boy. 

You're probably wondering why someone as ridiculously out of shape as me would do such a crazy thing.  I'm actually with you on that one.  But, now I have something to work towards.  I have a month and a half to get my rotund bum into shape.  I'd like to get to the point where I could ride my bike to work again.

Yesterday I kicked off my newfound passion to get into shape by making an appearance at the gym.  Me and the sis went to a spin class.  To say it was difficult would be a complete understatement.  The hardest part wasn't the spinning, but the seat.  Why the fuddilymudd would they make the seats so cussin' small?!  Nobody's bum is that small!  It was like perching on 3 inch rock!

After the spin class we went to water aerobics.  I actually haven't been to the gym since this delightful post (that's right, suck it hacker- I got my posts back!).  This post talks about my visiting teacher that took me to an aerobics class where I momentarily lost my will to live.  Ironically, this same visiting teacher was my water aerobics instructor.  I actually really enjoyed the class.  I have always been a water baby and any type of exercise where I feel weightless is fantastic in my book.

I'm excited to go back, as me and my sister are planning on making this a Monday & Wednesday night habit.  But let's just see how it takes before I get bored.  The other people in the spin class told me my bum would get "used" to the seats, although I'm not sure how, and the water aerobics was fun.  So with luck I won't be the first casualty at the 5k.

Tying Lives Back Together

The past couple weeks I have been involved in a new charity project for my company.  I was the lead for this project, and any time that happens it's extra stressful 'cause if it goes badly then it's on my shoulders, and I look like a tard in front of the entire company.  Which I can imagine is less than fun.

For this project we're tying blankets and donating them to The Christmas Box House, and The Center for Women and Children in Crisis.  These two organizations take in kids that have been abused, and neglected and can sometimes come in with just the clothes on their back.  A soft and fuzzy fleece blanket means the world to a kid whose world is upside down.

We did this project last year and it was a huge success.  We did 150 blankets, and this year we decided to do 250.  We purchased the fabric and enlisted the employees' help to cut and tie them.  I thought it would be easy to get people to tie the blankets, as that's something that they can do at their desk, or take home to do.  The biggest obstacle was going to be cutting them.  I organized a working lunch, where you can come and cut some blankets and get some delicous pizza.  That worked out marvelously and we were able to get all 250 blankets cut in two days during lunch.

Once the blankets were tied I set the blankets in the lobby and sent an email out letting people know they could pick up the blankets, tie them and return them.  And I waited for the mad rush.  By noon, it didn't look like the blankets were touched and I was in a little bit of a panic that I had bitten off more than I could chew.  So I sat in the lobby tying a blanket , and encouraged people walking by (mostly with the help of an incredibly outspoken coworker) to tie a blanket, and assured them that all the cool kids were doing it.  Word got 'round, as it often does and by the end of the day most of the blankets were gone.  HU-RAY!

Here is a delightful pic of (most of) the finished blankets!

I'm excited for these cuddly scraps of comfort to find their way into the arms of the chitlens.

Earth, You're Just Swell!

Dear Earth,

It's your day!  How exciting for you. 

I'm so happy that we have an entire day dedicated to you, but I think people should recognize your beauty every day.   You sure are pretty, and I'm not just saying that. 

Remember that one time I lived in Washington?  Your beautiful scenic views made the whole experience better.  True story.  When I was feeling lonely and missed my family I could go to my dock, or walk through the forest and instantly felt better.  And no, I don't hold it against you that time I was attacked by an entire swarm of bees.  And my bestest friend Maggie came to visit, and we went on a hike and slipped into the mud.  That was fun.

Remember that one time I found a giant tree sticking out of the canyon?  That brought me a lot of happiness.  It shows how strong you are, that you're able to survive no matter what.  I admire that. 

When I was little I loved to climb trees around my house and neighborhood barefoot and pretend that I was a wild animal.  Or I would pretend I was a slave on the lam from my owners hunting me, and I would hideout in my apricot tree.  They were never going to find me there.  I hope my kids have the opportunity to climb trees and use their imaginations.

Earth, don't feel bad that not all of you is gorgeous, that's mostly our fault.  I'm sorry we don't take care of you like we should.  I'll try harder. 

Love,

Bre

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It seems that Jordan and I have had quite the string of bad luck.  Years ago I used to believe that when bad things happened to me, they happened in sets of threes.  So I knew if two bad things happened, I was prepared for the third.  I had forgotten about that until recently, mostly 'cause I'm wondering why it didn't stop at three this time.

I'm not going to go into the list of less-than-awesome happenstances that have cropped up lately, 'cause #1, the point of this post isn't to whine and complain, and #2, that would take a long time.

The point is to say how incredibly grateful I am for all those in my life.  We have been fortunate enough to have friends that are like family, and family that are our friends.  It's true that when you're down you know who your true friends are, but I've always known who my true friends are.  However, it's been great to hear the support from a few of you that I don't always get to keep in touch with.  The responses to my hacker posts, and my broken kitty posts make me feel warm and fuzzy inside to know that people care about me. 

I just want to say thanks.

And for those that are interested, Kloe is doing great.  She tries really hard to walk on her bad leg, but sometimes gets around using a helpful hop technique.  She's not supposed to be too active, but you try telling a cat that.  The vet said she shouldn't be jumping 'cause she needs both back legs to push off, but she keeps jumping using just the one back leg.  I'm just glad that she's doing well.  And she is taking comfort in her favorite thing:

A cardboard box.

Also, the part of her leg that they shaved for the surgery is so much fun to pet that I'm considering having her entire body shaved for the joy of it.

8 Lives Left

Yesterday we had a terrible accident in the Day household. 

This is Kloe.  She's a doll.

She also broke her leg yesterday.

I never really thought of such a thing happening to any of my animals, especially since they're all inside pets.  But apparently it was quite easy.  Her and our other cat Kea love to get into our linen closet and lay on the towels and blankets.  They could lay there for hours.  The shelves in this particular closet are like racks, much like an oven rack.  Kloe's foot had slipped in between two slats and when she tried to jump down her body went, but her foot stayed behind, caught in the rack.  She flipped upside down and her leg snapped against the edge of the shelf.  I can't even imagine the kind of pain that she was in. 

Luckily both Jordan and I were there to try to dislodge her mangled leg, but she was in so much pain that she was thrashing around and scratched us up somethin' fierce.  She also granted me with this little gem:

She bit my forearm, and did a nice job doing so.  If you've ever met Kloe, you'd know how out of character this is, and I certainly can't blame her.  Luckily Jordan got her foot dislodged.

I've also determined that there's no way I could be a mother.  The panic that overcame me as I rushed to get her to the vet was debilitating.  We were able to get her into an Urgent Care Vet and as we were waiting I tried to be optimistic and said we're probably just over-reacting, maybe it's not broken.  They took x-rays to be sure, and this is what we saw:

Yeah, it doesn't get much more obvious than that.

The vet said that it was such a bad break that she would need to have surgery.  She told us like it was an option.  I didn't want to ask what the other options were 'cause I'm sure they included putting her down or leaving her with a broken leg. Is that even an option?  So obviously we said go ahead and give her the surgery.  A lot of people at work were surprised when I told them my cat was having surgery.  Mostly because when I said my cat had broken her leg the response was "Oh, so you had to put her down?".  Why do people have pets if they don't give them the love and care they need?  They would drop serious cabbage on a car, but not to fix a pet's broken leg?  (Sorry for the min-rant)

Anyway, they kept her overnight and did the surgery this morning.  They put a metal plate in that she will have a souvenir for the rest of her life.  She is now home  and great albeit relatively annoyed at the bandage and the fact that she can't really use that leg.  The poor thing is on two different pain meds and they are both making her act crazy, but I'm relieved that the surgery went well and that we have our kit back!

I Win

I got my blog back!  The last week and a half has been really busy with work, so I haven't even had the time to try to get things back in order.  Now that I've had a breather, I was able to (quite easily, it turns out) get my blog and facebook back online.

I have had an overwhelming desire to post a long rant claiming my victory, but I'll keep it relatively simple.

You really should have stuck to my facebook, that I can overlook, my blog was another thing entirely.  Second, I get the feeling you don't know who I really am.  You put my picture on my fake facebook's profile as if to announce to the world that I am in truth that person.  You are right, but everyone already knew that.  Going along the same flow, I have to assume you thought I was this other random girl, since you put my photo on her profile as well.  However, I can say with the utmost truth, I am not this other girl.  I don't even know who she is, other than a girl who happens to be friends with my fake facebook guy.

You also made several mistakes.  Yes, quite a few.  My personal favorite is that you hacked into things I only use on my WORK IP.  That's unfortunate for you.  My IT team are very aggressive when it comes to hackers, as we are a huge company that withholds a massive amount of sensitive information.  They recovered your IP address, and I have the option to press charges.  You should probably pray that I don't.

Lastly, it's really unfortunate that you deleted my posts.  That was quite rude.  However, I'm smarter than you, and they will be restored once I have the time to do so.