Monday, June 30, 2008

Special visitor

My brother-in-law Mike has owned a small gas station for about the last year. It's one of those Clark stations that has a wide store area across the front of the station that's only about six feet deep. On warm spring days, as he perched on a stool behind the counter at one end of the space, Mike loved to prop the glass door wide open to get some fresh air inside the store. Until the day he had a visitor.

Mike was watching a program on his little TV one day between customers when he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. As he turned his head, he saw that a squirrel had come in the open door. The squirrel ran across the depth of the store to the candy rack, considered his choices for a moment (just kidding), and then grabbed a king size Snickers bar and took off. Without paying!

About ten minutes later, he snuck into the store again and stole another king size Snickers! How he knew that those candy bars had peanuts inside and the Milky Ways didn't, I'll never know. He came back again the next day and snagged another candy bar before Mike realized that he was going to have to close the glass door and put on the air conditioning to defeat his furry thief.

For about a week afterwards, Mike says that the squirrel would come to the glass door almost every day and look longingly towards those sweet, sweet decadent confections, now beyond reach. I know what he was thinking too--how can I sabotage the air conditioning?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Quite the businesswoman

Allie seems obsessed lately with running her business. Yes, I'm talking about her lemonade stand (newly expanded yesterday). She started her business two weeks ago and had good initial results, cut short by a spell of bad weather. Last weekend, she went out on both Saturday and Sunday and raked in some more cash. She stood out on our corner for a good two and a half hours, waving at potential customers, dancing and talking to herself when there were none, and being polite when someone stopped by. Her cups of kool-aid were $.25 and she frequently got $.75 tips.

This week, her daddy suggested expanding her product line and she grabbed on to the idea like a true entrepreneur. So yesterday morning, between conversations about her supply of "Product," we baked and frosted cupcakes and added sprinkles. In about an hour and a half (before more storms rolled in), she sold 8. We had made 24, and later in the day, she got upset when her daddy and me said we wanted one for dessert. She got a lecture about the importance of family over the importance of "Product."

Today, it's barely 70 degrees outside and even "the businesswoman" agrees that it's too cold for people to want to buy lemonade. To say she is disappointed is a huge understatement. I'm thinking when I lose my job, I'll just rely on her earnings!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

It sucks

So I'm losing my job. Last week, my boss (for the last six months) came to see me and told me I was being removed from my position. Oh, and the company had hired a replacement. Oh, and she was coming by to take my staff to lunch in a day and a half. Oh, and we don't want you to actually leave, we love you blah blah and we want you to stay. I'm shortening the story up, obviously. He wasn't quite that blunt but I'm not too far off. I said, stay as what?

My company's been in a real change pattern for the last seven or so months and I guess this is a continuation of that. They've also been in a significant downturn for over a year. We've had a significant number of people on improvement plans for performance issues and we've let a bunch go. That's in addition to the 220 laid off last year.

I have not been one of the people told to improve my performance. I've never been told that there were any problems with my performance at all, or that I should be focusing on anything other than what I've been doing. Oh, the unfairness of it all goes on and on and I won't bore you with more detail. Let me just sum it up by saying that I'm leaving. I won't be done until August 1--32 more days of work--but I'm getting out. And I'm excited.

I keep thinking that I'm probably going to get a job at a place that doesn't have a leaking roof every winter. A place where I don't have to worry about mold in the insulation. A place where I might have a window where I can see outside. A place that's growing and stable instead of declining and maybe dying. And a place that wouldn't do something like this to someone like me, who's been a stupidly loyal, dedicated employee for almost 11 years.

Oh, I'm bitter. But I know this is a good thing. I'm getting out. I'll miss the people I've worked with. But I sure won't miss the people who decided to do this to me in this way. 32 more days. And counting down.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Really. That's the best you've got?

In Madison, Wisconsin, there's an agency called the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS, get it--isn't that annoyingly clever). They like to take surveys and weigh in on stuff and some of it is mildly interesting.

Today, I heard on public radio that one of their researchers has a new proposal to lower our carbon footprint or some such worthiness. Ban drivethru lanes.

Got sleeping kids in the car and just wanna grab some McDonald's? Wanna grab some joe to get your get-up-and-go going? Too bad. Park, get out of the car into the (sometimes) -20 weather, walk into the restaurant, order, pay, and then juggle the whole mess as you climb back into your car. Start the car up again and finally head off again.

This is the best strategy they've got?

A change of view

I've been wearing glasses more than contact lenses for the past few months, but I'm slowly changing back to wearing lenses more. Now I have a new factor to consider.

The other day, I was cleaning my glasses and one of the clear plastic nosepads ripped. I went to the optometrist to have it replaced and the nosepad they put in is just a bit thicker than the old one on the other side. This means that my glasses sit further off my face and higher.

This slight difference has completely changed the way I view the world and it's taking some getting used to. Do you think we should try this in Washington?

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Waiting for a biopsy result sucks

I mentioned awhile ago that I had a sore in my mouth that my dentist was concerned about. I went to the dentist because it hurt and got an antibiotic. It didn't get better. I went back to the dentist and he said, hmmm, come back in two weeks and we'll see if that's completely healed yet. I went back in two weeks and it was still there.

So at 7 a.m. last Monday, the dentist said he thought I needed to see an oral surgeon for a biopsy. And oh, by the way, you should have it done in the next day or so, so my office will call for you so you get in faster. Gulp. Okay, Dr. Anderson.

Six hours later, I saw the oral surgeon, who took a look, numbed me up, and carved out a cone-shaped chunk of my hard palate (from the roof of my mouth). They showed me afterwards. It was a little less than a centimeter long and a millimeter wide at the top, then tapered.

Then I started the longest week and a day of my life. I read up on oral cancer (damn the internet). I learned that most oral cancer occurs in people who use tobacco products (I've never even put a cigarette to my lips, ever) or those who drink heavily (I have a drink about once every three weeks or even less frequently). I also learned that in just over 25 percent of cases, there are no risk factors. Could I be one of those unlucky people?

It took until Tuesday morning, but the surgeon called and said that what I have is sialometaplasia. It's a benign inflammatory condition that looks just like squamous cell cancer (hence the doctors' concern). So my sore will go away, over maybe another month or so. And I'm fine.

It's been two extra days now and I realized that after obsessively looking at the roof of my mouth for four weeks, I didn't even look at it yesterday. Tonight I did, and the sore looks better. It doesn't hurt. And what I mostly see is the place where they took out the biopsy. I'm fine.

Thank god.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

She's got a good eye

My family watched "Hairspray" this weekend. The girls like musicals and Greg and I enjoyed it too.

Julia was sitting next to me on the couch with her blanket as we watched Tracy Turnblatt talk to her mom, Edna (John Travolta). Then she spoke up, "Is that a boy?"

I guess John left a little five-o'clock shadow or something?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Hearing out loud

We let our girls "play" on the internet just a little. Julia likes the Polly Pocket website (the U.K. version usually) and Allie likes Barbie.com. I've had the talk with Allie about navigation, telling her that we will continue to help her get to the Barbie website because there are awful people on the internet and kids need to be careful (none of you, of course).

Saturday morning, Julia asked if she could visit Polly Pocket and I got her set up in the big chair in our bedroom with the keyboard on her lap. She started mousing away. I was doing something else and walked away, so when she called for help, I sent Allie. All was well. I went downstairs, Allie came downstairs, Allie went back upstairs--who was paying attention.

Then Greg came downstairs and joined me on the couch. Suddenly, we heard the loudest imaginable racket from the computer upstairs. Allie, apparently, had decided that Julia needed to hear the website better, so she turned the speakers all the way up. Julia was crying and screaming, Allie was screaming for help, and Polly was telling everyone that they needed to help her with her pets. Greg and I rolled eyes at each other and he headed upstairs to calm the troops.

Just another morning in the Lee household.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Dad

Impressions of Dad:

- Learning to iron by making his handkerchiefs as perfect as possible
- Watching for him to come buzzing home from work on his bicycle
- Smelling the sawdust on his work clothes
- Polishing his black dress shoes as he prepared to go dancing with Mom
- Watching him laugh when he found out that his three girls each bought him two bottles of Afta for Father's Day
- Seeing him smile when he figured out that we organized a surprise 50th birthday party for him
- Learning from him that medium prime rib is the way to go
- Seeing his happiness when we moved when I was 11 and he finally had a garden of something other than clay
- Giving him a gift of a pilot's lesson
- Learning from him about the joy of travel and the knowledge held in maps
- Loving the fact that one summer he made all three of us stilts (and started a neighborhood craze)
- Giving him some truly awful ties that he wore anyway to church on Sunday
- Swinging on the tire swing in the tree while he played horseshoes with his own dad

I love you, Dad! Happy Father's Day!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

We're all gonna die, except Dora!

We've been under a tornado watch all afternoon and will be until 8 this evening. The tornado sirens have gone off three times and there's more storms coming. So far, the weatherman is saying that a funnel cloud/possible tornado went to the north of us and there's another one due any minute that should go to the south of us. Well, at least to the south of our house, and that's all I care about right now.

We ran to Culver's to grab some food just as the clouds thickened (quote from the back seat--"Mommy, why is a car a good place to be if you get struck by lightning?") and then we ate in the basement. Now, we're actively switching channels to hear different meteorologist opinions of what's coming next. Unfortunately, it seems that we're going to have this type of storm activity all evening.

Meanwhile, Allie and Julia are enjoying playing with their basement toys and Dora the Explorer is happily asking us if we want to buy more things at the grocery store. I'm sure the house could come down around us and she'd still be asking if we wanted to "compra" more stuff.

Uh, no thanks. Unless Dora sells concrete reinforced storm shelters.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

They kill me


Last night, we sent the girls upstairs as usual to brush their teeth. Greg promised them they could come back downstairs for a few minutes after they finished. They seemed to be taking a long time, but that's not unusual. They get distracted with the toothpaste or they play with the soap and we have to tell them repeatedly to get moving on their teeth.

Then we heard them coming down the stairs and they were both saying, "Oink! Oink! Oink!" A minute later, they came around the corner, both with Dixie cups taped over their noses, with pig nostrils drawn on the bottoms of the cups. Allie's inspiration. Greg and I laughed and laughed.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Feeling puny

We have experienced wave after wave of severe storms in the last few days, including a fun one that included hail on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, my car was damaged with little chips of paint missing all over. Fortunately, I have zero deductible on comprehensive, so it won't cost me anything but time to have it repaired. Still sucks.

It stormed Friday, but it stopped by the time I drove to my parents' house. It stormed Saturday, but we still had a wonderful morning and early afternoon at Bay Beach Amusement Park beforehand. It stormed Saturday night and today and it will tomorrow.

Mother Nature is definitely in charge these days. Duck and cover!