"No Miss"

Of all the things I do at work, one of my favorites is telling new employees about our "No Miss" guideline:

"If you have kids/family/etc with school programs/graduations/plays/etc, you may not use work as an excuse for missing the occasion. If you just don't want to go, that's one thing; but don't tell yourself, 'I can't, I have to work.' We don't want you missing important milestones in your families' lives.

Pay attention to the things that are truly important (good, bad, whatever). Make your decisions accordingly. We will accommodate you (within reason, of course ) to the best of our ability.

Remember to practice a good work/life balance! If you are out of town on business over a weekend, have spent a lot of late evenings in the office, etc., please remember to make it up to your family."

Real Life Is Not Like the Sims

I love the Sims. I can play for hours.

My Sim girl is successful - top of the career ladder. She's mastered cooking, guitar, painting, and (very soon) writing. She's owner of a theater, a bookstore, and a partner in a diner. There's money in the bank. She's lucky, has a sense of humor, and people like her. She makes friends easily. Her house is small, with just the essentials. I've found the simpler I keep it, the easier it is to play.

Now, I look around my own house...... stuff everywhere. What compels us to collect so much?? Would life be easier - like the Sims - if I got rid of most of it?

Books I've Read Lately in 10 words or Less

Serial - Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch
Disturbing, with a strangely satisfying ending.

Home Safe: A Novel - Elizabeth Berg
Co-dependency takes center stage.

Hide in Plain Sight - Marta Perry
Romance. God. Amish country. Suspense.

Dexter in the Dark - Jeff Lindsay
Serial killer loses then regains his muse.

The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Alien takes over, human fights back.

UR - Stephen King
Evil pink Kindle. What else to say?

Vinegar Hill - A. Manette Ansay
Dark, depressing tale of failed marriage.

A Reliable Wife - Robert Goolrick
Period story of family dysfunction and arsenic poisoning.

I Feel Old

Date: June 1, 2009 12:57:58 PM CDT
To: Local
Subject: NKOTB

As part of a season concert ticket package, I've got 4 tickets for the 6/26/09 New Kids on the Block concert in Tinley Park.

Uhm. I don't plan on going.

Is there anyone here that is interested in going?

My response: "Gee, is there anyone who'd ADMIT it if they were?"

Humor of the Day

Today, I sent the following email to our office:

Subject: Missing Training DVDs
Date: May 29, 2009 10:28:55 AM CDT
To: office@

If you have the Ergonomics or Sexual Harassment dvds, please let me know.

Responses I received:

"I wouldn't be surprised if (the IT guy) has them and hid them :0"

"Wow, really? People are holding on to these?"

"I wanted to learn how to do Sexual Harassment in an ergonomically correct position"

When I was a kid, all of our family vacations were spent camping on family land outside Volga, Iowa. Getting there took between four and five hours of driving, including significant portions through northern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. Rolling hills of farmland - cows, corn, soybeans - with a few unique landmarks mixed in.

By the time we neared Platteville, Wisconsin, we had been peering out the windows for at least half an hour looking for this: the "Big M." When we saw this, we knew we were closer to our destination than we were to home.

There were two things that were notable about entering Prairie du Chien: Hardee's and the bridge across the mighty Miss. We didn't have a Hardee's in Rockford until the 80's, so stopping for a Hardee's cheeseburger was a huge treat. It was a fun, positive stop that got our minds off of crossing this old suspension bridge. By the time they were building the replacement, there were flagmen at each end limiting the number of cars crossing at any one time. To a kid of six or seven, that bridge was simply scary. It was high above the water, and rattled as you crossed.

There was another notable sight once we crossed the bridge: Pinky the Elephant. What's better to a kid than a huge pink behemoth overlooking the river?

Painting - walls, not canvas.

My husband and I recently decided to paint our bedroom. We've hated the original mint green color since the day we moved into the house. It didn't help that we chose the color - we thought it would be more of a sage green than it ended up being.

Well, this time we chose a dark clay-colored paint. It's been awhile since we've painted; I think it's been about five years. We used red then. Unfortunately, we forgot how difficult it is to get coverage with a red tint. This spice brown color we chose this time contains a lot of red.

We primed the walls with a tinted primer. It took two coats of primer. We started with the spice brown color on the walls. The weather was fantastic - sunny, breezy, 50's into the 60's. Of course we didn't finish it during the weekend, so it was put on hold. Now, it's cold. We're under a winter storm warning. It's supposed to start snowing within the next hour. I refuse to paint if I can't open the windows.

Lessons learned?

• Don't use paint with a red base.
• Remember to use low or no VOC paint.