Tea Tuesday

classy cup :)

What are you most thankful for this year? My friends (new and old), my family, my health ... cheesy perhaps, but all true. Could things be better? Yes. However, they could be worse too. I have a very supportive group of loved ones, including some phenomenal friends.

Today is definitely a good day for tea though. I'm in need of some comfort ... I'll probably be thinking of and hoping for need a few positive changes. Here's hoping they are coming along with the new season that is right around the corner!

::fingers crossed for a new, wonderful job and some more positive vibes::

Tea Tuesday - all the good we do won't get done if we're not around. So, take a minute to relax with me at some point. :)

5QF

I'm not sure where the holiday found you, but I woke up at my boyfriend's and headed home to help cook. On the drive home, I kept hearing "clink, clink, clink", but didn't see anything and nothing was hitting the windshield (like rain). I was completely confused until I got home and out of my car only to realize it was hail/snow that was making all the noise! Flurries on Thanksgiving! I was shocked and awed at the same time. Trust me, I don't like the clean up and all the shoveling that comes with snow, but it is absolutely beautiful to watch fall.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.


1. What is your favorite part of a Thanksgiving meal? My mom makes this absolutely fabulous sweet potato dish with marsh mallows on top. Yum!!!

2. Are you a host or a guest for Thanksgiving this year? I'm still home helping with the farm and my dad, so I'm kind of host and guest. My mom makes most of the meal, but my sister and I help out with other things like stuffing and pumpkin pie.

3. When you think of one Thanksgiving tradition, what comes to mind? Good family together. It's always been about family getting together - we all bring something, there's good conversations, a sit down meal, etc. My great uncle also comes, which I really enjoy. Not when he's 3 hours early and we're not ready (or showered) when he pulls up, but I like the time with him in general.

4. You have two pieces of pie in front of you and you HAVE to eat one...do you choose pumpkin or pecan? Pumpkin pie, absolutely. I make that in this house and it's gooood, if I can brag a bit :)

5. Are you a Black Friday Shopper? Not at all! Give me my internet and some good online deals. I can't stand searching for a place to park and all the crowds. That's too overwhelming for me.

wordless wednesday

Tea Tuesday

cuteness, tea, tattoos, sweetness, hand holding ... there are some great things going on in this photo

Are you happier when you kick back and relax or kick up your heels and see what's out in the world? Well, it's Tuesday, you know what I want to be doing - being lazy with tea! However, I can't say in general that I'm one or the other of these options. I like to think I'm a bit of both. I love my relaxing moments, but I love my time out dancing with my ladies or romping around taking pictures on the farm.

Book quote: "On the way home, Jonny paused in front of the school, checking out the stairs that led up to the front door. It was only a few days earlier that they'd stood as an insurmountable obstacle. Now they didn't seem so scary. A moment later Jonny was pulling Cohen up the steps. If he was Scooby Doo at times -a flushing toilet had sent him scrambling earlier that day- he was Rocky Balboa now." -The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs And Their Tale Of Rescue and Redemption

Tea Tuesday - all the good we do won't get done if we're not around. So, take a minute to relax with me at some point. :)

Rules for Tea Tuesday are quite simple - there is a cute tea picture, a question you can answer (like I will be doing) and a quote from my current read. Participate at whatever level you wish to from reading a post, commenting on several posts or adding your own link.

dad

My dad is a nightmare today! He just keeps trying to go outside. I already had the neighbors call because they saw him standing in the middle of the road and cars were honking and going around him while I thought he was still out back moving dirt. I need to shower and I'm afraid he's going to wander off...

5QF

I have a cat curled up and wedged in between me and the side of the sofa ... well, she's more lying on my upper shoulder pretending to be tortured, wedged and highly put out. Brat! That brat would be Candice. Dorie is curled up on the arm of the sofa by us. I love this quiet, this peace ... and it is peaceful or else crazy, afraid-of-the-world Dorie would not be so relaxed, let alone out. How's your Friday going?


1. What Christmas song do you loathe? The chipmunk one. It's a great kid's song, don't get me wrong! I'm not sure if my little record of it as a kid got stuck on repeat or something, but I cannot hear that song more than once. Once, that's enough. Over and over again is just overwhelming with those high-pitch voices and "Christmas, Christmas" - no thank you


2. Do you and your significant other cuddle at night or sleep on opposite sides of the bed? A little of both ... cuddling until one of us gets fidgety or too hot and then we'll roll over. Personally, I get cold at night and he doesn't like sleeping with a ton of blankets piled on (my bed has sheets, a blanket and two comforters!), so I like to cuddle particularly for the warmth :)

3. Have you ever had surgery? Yes, once to repair a broken (shattered) elbow when I was about 5 years old. Then, another surgery a couple years ago to remove my gallbladder.

4. When do you typically have your holiday shopping done? I like to get it done early (like I just got several things delivered in the mail today) so that I have everything ready ... but I'm usually rushing to get everything wrapped in time.

5. If money were not an issue (and you HAD to pick something), what would your ultimate luxury item be? A spacious (though not extravagant) home in the mountains of Virginia that I could travel to whenever I wanted (and since money is no object, it'd be completely paid off lol). It'd be quiet, I could take pictures, watch the wildlife, it'd have a giant, claw foot tub to soak in, trails nearby to walk dogs on ... and I invite the people I love from FL to CT since it's kind of in between.

We Interrupt This Dogs On Thursday...

We interrupt this Dogs On Thursday post for a fish story! Please forgive me, but Dogs on Thursday always makes me think of my aunts and this story is to brag for them.

Some people question me when I say I've been a vegetarian for 10+ years, but I eat fish. "That's not a vegetarian," I get or sometimes people will start throwing out all the different terms for depending on what you eat. People don't understand I would have starved if I did not continue to eat seafood. It was nutty enough in my mom's mind that I wasn't eating "meat" let alone if I had cut out seafood. Seafood was not just a good past time of getting friends/neighbors together to crack open crabs or steam up pots of clams ... it was a way of life for my mom growing up. She and my aunt literally caught dinner some nights. So, seafood was included in a lot of the meals my mom made growing up.

Anyway, I digress. My aunt invited me out fishing this past Sunday and, at first, I did object. It was going to be her last boat trip out though (and, again, keep in mind how much this side of my family loves the water), so she was really disappointed when I said no and made one last attempt saying I could get some good photos. I gave in and went out. There's worse ways to spend one last beautiful day, right? Sunny, not too windy, 65F out or so ... you don't get too many days like that in November and usually my aunt likes to drag me out when it's cold/cloudy, rains off and on and the water is so choppy sea life (like rays) are coming to the surface of the water (this is not an exaggeration, it's a true example of a day she took me out!), so I went... and I did get some gorgeous photos! There were birds in the reeds as we were going out into the bay including this beautiful Great Blue Heron which let us get pretty close for some good photos. Some are definitely worthy of maybe even selling, I think.

Anyway, after hours of driving down there, heading out into the bay, casting the lines out, putting on fresh bait (those things my aunt actually does for us) and waiting ... my mom got a nip! She said, "Oh, here we go" ... and then the fish was gone along with her bait no less, darn it! I had a line my aunt had baited with some blood worms and had reeled it in a couple times after it felt like something was messing with it. I reeled it in yet again to find this little perch. My aunt barely had time to brag about how she'd never heard of a perch being caught in the bay before when my mom said, "Sally, the line!" The other pole I had out by me obviously had something on it...

My aunt made me grab the pole, my mom grabbed all my stuff off my lap (my purse, my camera, my cell, etc). As I'm reeling and this fish is just running, the water breaks like you see in swordfish fishing and I just saw a huge splash - my mom and aunt saw the fish though and started freaking out! It went under the boat, to one side, to another and just as I was sure it was close enough to net/me to actually see under the water, it'd pull the line out again. It was a tough fight, I thought I was going over the side of the boat and into the water with this fish several times. The boat hundreds of yards away, stopped everything, came to the front of their boat and just watched! Let's just say, it's getting harder and harder for me to brush off my aunt when she's complimenting up a storm about me and fishing now.

After fighting for 25 minutes and a lot of cursing, this thing got in the boat thanks to my aunt's giant net which you could probably fit a small child in ... thank goodness because that's about how big this fish is! A 45 - 46 inch striped bass! It didn't even fit in the cooler!!! When we got in to dock, the entire place started talking about our fish. One man even pulled his truck up to ours and said, "You go out alone?" Ugh, yes sir, these three women just caught the biggest fish of the lady, thank you! Also, I'd like to say the cursing was entirely necessary, it took a day, but I have discovered several bruises on my thighs and a cut from the pressure of holding on to that pole.

My aunt said after cleaning it, that she got two 30 inch fillets out of the thing! My mom said she cut it and froze 11 large dinner portions out of it!! Ok, yes, I'm all about releasing (it's what I did with the perch) but this fish was as exhausted as I was, if not more. If I had released him, he would have just died. Wait... Dear Aunt Dianne, this fish recovered well in the cooler like you suggested and is living the good life in our fresh water lake out front. :)

Here's me, my proud aunt and the fish its self (because you gotta see it to believe it)...

lyrics

There's this song I'm hooked on...



It's beautiful and painful ... and though I can't relate to what the song is actually about, the chorus got me. This line: "Just gonna stand there and hear me cry" That line makes me think of my dad and the way he can "just watch" us cry now. Breaks my heart every time I hear it.

Well, now apparently there is a part two out which starts with these lyrics:
On the first page of our story
the future seemed so bright
then this thing turned out so evil
I don't know why I'm still surprised
even angels have their wicked schemes
and you take that to new extremes
but you'll always be my hero
even though you've lost your mind

Oh my goodness, the first time I heard this and those bolded lyrics, the tears just started pouring.

That whole part gets me though too now that I've heard it a time or two ... again, not in the manner of what the song is really about, but for what me and my family are going through with my dad. That's it - some awful, wicked, unjust twist of fate to lose him and this way. There are moments when I see him, like first thing in the mornings, where for a split second you forget since he's right there, but he's not, not really. My dad's pretty much gone and yet his body is still here wandering around to break our hearts all the time.

Ugh, I miss you, miss you, miss you....

Tea Tuesday

This photo is tea related and also a very good tip to keep in mind on a daily basis! Right now I'm sipping some warm green tea with honey and reflecting on my actions recently. I believe I was positive, I believe I supported my friends well also. Those are very important characteristics in a person, I feel. I'll write more on that later though. Right now I'm just trying to enjoy this tea. :)

A wonderful book I finished up recently was The Lace Reader. It was a wonderful book, which for the first time in awhile was able to surprise me. I love that! It also had this interesting great aunt who was thought to be a witch and she also taught etiquette classes. I found that so ironic and liked it. :) This question from it keeps spinning in my head. It's quite appropriate this week too: Appropriate dinner conversation might be to turn to the person next to you and say, “I like soup. Do you like soup?”

This week's question...
What is your favorite kind of soup (canned or home-made)? Oh my goodness, in a can would be Progresso's Tomato Basil soup. Living alone made me predisposed to this soup. It's delicious in general ... but the lazy girl's fancy dinner? This with just a bit of fun shaped pasta mixed in so that it's still soup and not pasta with "sauce". It's delicious. Home made would be this really light soup my mom makes with white beans, spinach and vegetable broth. It's wonderful and good for you ... it's also a recipe I'm yet to perfect.

Tea Tuesday - all the good we do won't get done if we're not around. So, take a minute to relax with me at some point. :)

Rules for Tea Tuesday are quite simple - there is a cute tea picture, a question you can answer (like I will be doing) and a quote from my current read. Participate at whatever level you wish to from reading a post, commenting on several posts or adding your own link.

Dogs On Thursday

Happy 11/11 and Veteran's Day! Thank you to the countless soldiers (including military animals) who allow me to live freely every day!

I've got two special shout outs for another day today is high-lighting, Dogs On Thursday :)

1) A post about Sgt. Stubby, New England’s Most Decorated Canine War Hero.

2) and here's "Adopting a Pit Bull":

Tea Tuesday

the mug is a nice, friendly reminder :)

It is becoming increasingly obvious that this Tea Tuesday thing is not taking off ... and yet I'm a stubborn brat. The linky blog hop link is below, it is being monitored (no spam links or comments, please) and I will be continuing Tea Tuesday in a new fashion: adding my blog post each week to the blog hop so you can look back on them and, if you are inclined, join in. There will be a tea picture, a question you can answer like I will be doing and a quote from what I'm reading. Participate at whatever level you wish to from reading a post, commenting on several or adding your own link to the blog hop.

What was your favorite family vacation when you were a child? Why?
There are so many I enjoyed when I was younger. I'd have to say that our vacations to Shenandoah were my favorite though. We'd drive down and meet our friends from Florida who would drive up. There were marshmallows and putting quarters to turn on water to shower, pumps for water to boil over a fire to make dinner and trails that led to gorgeous views or waterfalls. It was so much fun! Good company and good times too, plus obviously it was pretty good for us with the hiking and such.

Tea Tuesday - all the good we do won't get done if we're not around. So, take a minute to relax with me at some point. :)

Rules for Tea Tuesday are quite simple - there is a cute tea picture, a question you can answer (like I will be doing) and a quote from my current read. Participate at whatever level you wish to from reading a post, commenting on several posts or adding your own link.

I should be working

It's not uncommon for a post of mine to be scheduled to pop up sometime while I'm working. However, this post is going up while I should be working ... and I'm not. Instead, I'm in my bath robe working on my resume and trying to decide what to do from here aside from "just move on" after being (insert gloomy, doomy music here) fired!

Yes, Thursday evening after my co-worker came in and I was no longer alone for hours like I had been in the morning, I was asked to follow my new manager and she led me into the E.D.'s office where the "controller" and another manager waited (not the E.D., by the way, which I found odd). From there, I can't really give you much reasoning or explanation. I was accused of "misrepresentation" ... which is outrageous.

(Insert quote from friend who wonderfully summed up the crazy/confusing situation:) "I did a google search for "misrepresent" and found this -
mis·rep·re·sent (ms-rpr-znt)
tr.v. mis·rep·re·sent·ed, mis·rep·re·sent·ing, mis·rep·re·sents
1. To give an incorrect or misleading representation of.
2. To serve incorrectly or dishonestly as an official representative of.
ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Verb 1. misrepresent - represent falsely; "This statement misrepresents my intentions"
belie
sentimentalize, sentimentalise - look at with sentimentality or turn into an object of sentiment; "Don't sentimentalize the past events"
distort, falsify, garble, warp - make false by mutilation or addition; as of a message or story
dissemble, feign, pretend, sham, affect - make believe with the intent to deceive; "He feigned that he was ill"; "He shammed a headache"
represent - serve as a means of expressing something; "The flower represents a young girl"
2. misrepresent - tamper, with the purpose of deception; "Fudge the figures"; "cook the books"; "falsify the data"
fudge, fake, falsify, wangle, manipulate, cook
chisel, cheat - engage in deceitful behavior; practice trickery or fraud; "Who's chiseling on the side?"
juggle - manipulate by or as if by moving around components; "juggle an account so as to hide a deficit"

So my question is this - HOW did you allegedly "misrepresent" the shelter?
Did you tell people they could get their car serviced there?
Did you embezzle the payroll?
Did you say you were Nancy Pelosi?
It would seem to me that a cause for firing should describe what that cause is."

I was then asked to sign some paper which in hind sight I regret signing. Who signs something they don't understand?! Well, me, I guess. I was accused, confused and shocked. Combine all that and I'll do just about anything you ask because I'm not sure what else to do to get away.

The "meeting" to fire me was ended with: "You know, we're not going to say anything about the circumstances involving this, so whatever is said is up to you."

The sugar on top of that final "You know, we're not going to say anything about the circumstances" statement was that the very next morning, all staff was paged to the front lobby where the controller announced that I was fired to everyone and why (which apparently confused everyone else as much as it did to me).

I'm confused, I’m angry, I'm hurt and I don't know where to go from here. I'm trying to look at this in a good way. I'm trying to acknowledge the fact I hated the politics/policies there and wanted out ... but not this way. :( Who wants to get quetionably fired and then bad mouthed? I'm trying to stick with this good motto (maybe some higher up's shoulda watched more Disney when they were little!)


I'm hoping this is for the best. I hope the people that know me (even a little) know better than to believe any of the "excuses" being given. That's all I can really do...

I found this quote when looking for some words of support: "Keeping a positive work attitude can be one of the most challenging things you do. Especially, when you are impacted by negative influences in the workplace. One of the ways to keep your attitude positive is to think of your work as your business. If it was your business and more importantly your money that was being put into the workplace how would you act, what would you do to make the workplace, the product or service better." I'm keeping those words in mind with my next job. Hopefully it'll be a more positive environment and, either way, there's always room for self improvement, right?

Caturday: Halloween

Not that Halloween ... no, this Halloween!!

For the life of me, I don't understand why she's still here: she's affectionate, adorable and highly adoptable. FIV+ cats not living with negative cats is all pish-posh too. So not true! Halloween (affectionately known as "Weenie") is spayed and very friendly. She lived with other cats before and seems to have no problem interacting with my kitties through the window, so she wouldn't be starting fights with a proper introduction.

Honestly, I'm feeling horrible that she's here still as well. It's getting so cold outside (there was frost outside in the morning this week!) and she's on the porch, which has no insulation or heat. I refuse to bring Weenie in though because then she's going to be our cat forever for sure, which means I'll get blamed for another cat ... even though she's my sister's friend's former cat. I can't just toss her outside either though because she's so sweet & FIV+ - she deserves and needs a safe, inside home that'll spoil her and keep her as healthy as possible for as long as possible.

You see the tough spot I'm in? She needs a home! In the mean time, she'll continue to be on the enclosed front porch and I'll spoil her as much as possible - good food, toys, snuggly blankets, beds and, soon enough, a heat lamp set up for the winter nights that are just around the corner.

Did I mention she needs a home? Anyone interested in this doll baby???

5QF

1. If you could have any talent and turn it into an occupation, what would it be? Have you seen that show "Lie to Me"? I want that talent and occupation! Just to listen to people and so easily pick up on tells and such. That would be awesome! And I'd be so usual to lawyers, security, the police, parents of teenagers :)

2. Would you rather have a house at the beach or a cabin in the woods? The woods with all the critters for sure. The beach I like the view and all, but you get burned and there's the flies that bite and the sand gets hot, etc. Yea, definitely the woods like Snow White :)

3. Is there any meaning or reasoning for the names you chose for your child/children?Well, Mea means "mine" in latin, she's the first kitty I named. Oh yea, I'm talking about my fur-kids because I don't have any tiny humans yet. Winchester is ironically named because I got him after someone found him shot. Little Dani looked just like Big Dani did as a kitten and he was suppose to just be a foster, but he stayed. So now there's no Big Dani and Little Dani. Wilson came with his name (after the volleyball in Cast Away), but I always thought of Home Improvement's Wilson ("Howdy, neighbor"). So, when I got Wilson a friend, I named him Norm after our neighbor who used to say the same thing over the fence to us where I lived growing up. :) Oh and I named one of our sheep Penny after my latin teacher because the sheep was born on the Ides of March. :) The rest I didn't have much say in helping with their names.

4. What is your guilty pleasure? Just one?! Well, right now, hmmm ... I'll go with being lazy. I shouldn't be, there's so much I should do or that I could be doing, but there are moments I catch myself being absolutely lazy.

5. Do you live in a house that is deep cleaned or straightened? Both. Can that be the answer? :) It's deep cleaned about once a week or so and straightened the rest of the time.

Wordless Wednesday

Fog is rising off the lake and the fields are covered in whispy white frost. It's a gorgeous morning!

Tea Tuesday

Two days late, but I couldn't resist this photo for Tea Tuesday!



Today is crisp and cold outside ... and inside the house it is too! There's something wrong with the hot water heater and so we've had to turn it off. I spent a good part of last night vacuuming up water and banging on some little lid thing. According to my cousin (he does heating/cooling), something was probably loosened the first time we turned on the heater this year, which was last night. So, my mom and I are tapping, vacuuming and splashing burning hot water all over in an attempt to unloosen or at least get the pressure out to stop the leak ... while my dad stands around behind us. Needless to say, none of this really worked either. Every time the hot water heater kicks on now, it starts to leak again. Hopefully someone is coming out today to fix it because I'm at my wits end.

Here's this week's question:What do you think would be the hardest thing for you to give up on? Books! You should see my room - it's filled with books. Books I've wanted to read, so I bought. Books I've read and enjoyed or want to read again. Books highlighted with lines I love or interesting character descriptions. Books people have recommended or were bargain priced. Romance novels, silly short stories compiled, books on finance, books on genetics, books about animal rescuing, etc. I love books! "I just take a book with me everywhere. It's a habit" - Gilmore Girls :)

Book quote: In the nineteenth century, a different breed of dog was consider so vicious and insidious that it inspired almost universal fear and loathing. That breed was the bloodhound... -Jim Gorant's The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick's Dogs and their tale of rescue and redemption

I hope you're enjoying your Tea Tuesday


Tea Tuesday is reminder to you too, my friends and wanderers that found your way here. Remember that all the good you do won't get done if you're not around. So, take a minute to relax with me at some point today.

Tea Tuesday prep

To get more people involved, a single question for you to answer about yourself has been added to Tea Tuesday posts. The linky is now open until Thursday too so you can answer it now or think on it tomorrow while sipping, then come back and add your Tea Tuesday post to the linky. Above all else though, enjoy - the moment to yourself, your cup of tea (or coco) and the answers that come to you. Have a wonderful week!

Here's this week's question so you have time to prepare for tomorrow:
What do you think would be the hardest thing for you to give up on?