shenanigans continue.

As mentioned in my prior post, the upstairs crew was attacked by the youth staff with nerf guns. Accordingly, we (Courtney, Katherine, Cookie & I) retaliated.

After they had left for the day, their nerf-gun weaponry somehow found their way into our hands. Weird, no?
We coordinated our stealth wear, and went home to rest up.

The next morning Courtney came in with "the final word" a 12-loader nerf gun. We got our plan ready (entrance, attack, and exit plans). Then it was time. We snuck down...there was crawling to avoid detection...then GO.

See our stealth wear...

And then I accidentally shot boss-man in the face (side-note: having been shot a few times in the face, I can attest that it doesn't hurt [in my experience at least]. It just smarts for a second and mostly just surprises you!).
I already exhibit behavior that can be called "jumpy." That behavior is now amplified in that whenever I hear anything (door open, something fall) I'm jumping and getting ready to duck and cover.

here's today.

Just one of those days. You know. One of those where by 4:30 p.m. you ask yourself, "what just happened?"

Let's begin at the beginning.

6:20 a.m., out of bed, overslept a wee bit. Remember I have to be at work an hour earlier than normal, and realize I am awake too early to have to be awake for getting to work early, and awake not early enough to exercise. Instead of doing something productive, I hop back in bed to read the news.

6:40, working my way through the U.S. news, see something about a tropical storm. Oh wait, another story. About it being a hurricane. And then the newest story about how it is the first hurricane expected to make U.S. landfall in 3 years, and potentially on the east coast. Gulp. Beach trip this weekend that I've been working towards for weeks (and hoping for for months) is on my mind.

6:50, say a prayer for the areas affected (I'm disappointed at the idea of loosing this vacation, but know there is a lot more at hand), and go to get ready. While getting ready I flashback to a conversation with my travel buddy when we were booking our hotel a few weeks ago:

Nutan, "do you think it'll rain?" Me, "you can't control that, but it'd probably pass quickly anyways."

Now, it's a stinking hurricane.

8:00, get to work. Watch the news blurb on the storm, decide to stop stuffing my feelings, frustrated cry a bit, and carry on. Sorta. I wasn't too perky for a while.

Program planning staff meeting for 2.5 hours. And that was short. (Seriously).

Meeting ends, call hotel to talk about cancellations, work, break for lunch, print and share this hilarious article about printers that I saw on my friend Erika's facebook while at lunch, work, listen to a Nerf gun war outside my office, introduce some of the boss-folks to Pintrest, work.

Hear about the earth-quakin in Virginia and help a boss lady with finding out information about her daughter who goes to UVA.

Participate a little in the nerf gun shenanigans.

Try to work again on the to-do list that hasn't finished itself yet. Decide this is the perfect time to wipe off my desk. See how dusty it is behind the computer monitor and while I'm swiffering the back of the desk, I loose my internet and mouse connection. Literally. I sent those stinkers (routers) flying off the desk. They hit the wall and immediately fell between the wall and my desk (which is about 1,000,387 pounds and unmoveable). I climb on top of my desk (the desk is huge) and I'm getting my arm good and stuck when a coworker comes to my office to tell me she's going to go get some peace and quiet by pulling attendance pads. Did I mention that I'm on top of my desk, stuck against the wall when she comes to tell me this?

Everything gets set back up and I get to working. I have also decided (reflection note, maybe I should have stopped making decisions at this point) to sit on the giant medicine ball instead of my desk chair--it is supposed to be really good for you if you have an office job that requires lots of computer work. Coworker comes back, and a couple other coworkers stop and are talking with me outside my office. I go to pull my hair into a ponytail while we're talking, forget I'm sitting on a freaking ball, completely loose my balance, and go sliding under the (huge) desk. I slid so fast that I am now stuck under my desk. And don't forget that people had been talking to me so I had plenty of witnesses to all of this. Which I was later thankful for, since I was literally STUCK (and their assistance freed me!).

Things settle back down, and I get to copying and get those copies to the folding machine. Stay about an hour late at work, but for all that went on today, completely feel like it's necessary. Go for a walk. Go into Trader Joes hungry and without a grocery list. Leave without a lot of damage done and go home to make savory scones-spinach and cheddar and cheddar and bacon. Get the bacon to frying. Can't find my savory scone recipe. Remember that I've never made savory scones, just savory muffins. Also remember that I don't have spinach. Can't locate an acceptable looking savory scone recipe so I make 50+ cheddar-bacon biscuits.

And here we are.

picture bonus

I had some serious camera loving on Friday night, and when I went to put the pictures on my computer I realized that I had more on there than what I thought. Wee!

Storms!

Roommate has been at her dad's house helping him out for a while, so I've been home alone a lot. Nothing out of the ordinary is going on, it's just a lot quieter than normal (since I'm just reading most evenings). But one night I decided, 'hey, I want to watch a movie!' Then a storm came and knocked out the power. I went to the back wall of windows to check the sky out (because when I went to the front door I got pelted with rain) and I was shocked at the color difference in the sky. The top picture on the right was the right side of the sky, and as I scanned across it went to black.

That being the case, I pulled up the desk chair and watched the lightening for a while.

Oh!

And then friends came to town:

(And they were back in town again last night. Yay!)

I baked another Joy recipe this month...Mississippi mud cake.

I do not like food that has names that are associated with what I consider gross things (for instance, I hate and will not eat gummy worms because of the "worm" bit. Sick.), but this was a very good exception.

And per mentioned, I had a lot of camera loving this weekend when I had a photo shoot with a family who I just love. I have a ton more photos, but I will leave with this one...

Copier thinkers

At work we have a black & white copier/printer and a color copier/printer. We had gotten in the habit of sending a lot of our black/white things to the color copier (which is nicer), but we needed to curb that behavior to extend the copier's life.

One morning this week I went into the copy room and I saw some new teachers in the room who were using the color copier for their black and white items. I kindly explained the copier differences, they warmly received it, and we all carried on. A couple hours later I see one of the same teachers back using the color copier for her black/white copies. I say, "oh, are those black and white copies?" To which I get a response of, "YES. But they are going on COLORED paper."

...

Me, "...um..."

(silence; thoughts racing of "how do I not sound like a smart-*%& in respondingto this" and "really?!")

Finally, me, "color paper goes in both."

Then I ran to the other program assistant offices to share the story.

Early morning.

Last night I went to Publix at around 8:30 p.m. to get a couple of cake ingredients (I keep a stocked baking pantry, but definitely do not keep buttermilk in house). As I was checking out the cashier asked me, "do you know how to cook?" One, I was caught off-guard. I was already pretty exhausted (why? I do not know.). And I was going back through the (same) line again because I had walked out of the store without buttermilk (which was #1 on my list). And as I tried to sputter an answer, of "huh?" she said, "your cookbook in the cart, The Joy of Cooking." OH! Yes. I think I replied with an "oh yeah, I can...new recipe...thanks and bye." And then I fell asleep immediately after putting the eggs and buttermilk (ha!) into the refrigerator. So this morning I woke up at 5:30 to make said cake.

I finished the cake.

Made the frosting.

(Two new recipes, thanks Joy. All 1,000+ pages of you continue to make me happy).

Went to work (because I forgot to do two things on Friday. And I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to run in in gym shorts and a t-shirt. Of course EVERYONE would already be in).

Went to Target (and BTW, apparently they forgot to turn on the automatic door sensor because I cruised right into them).

And it's still before 10 a.m.

Woo-hoo!

Eww. Eww. eww.

Warning: This is the grossest post that I have ever written. You have been warned.

I was hesitant to share a story from this morning. I definitely wasn't going to put it as a Facebook status. It's pretty, no, really gross and I didn't want EVERYONE to know. And it wasn't going on Twitter, which I'm only really using these days as a way to enter in contests, look at local restaurant specials, and make sure my roommate is still alive. But the saying I told myself is worth sharing, and what better avenue than this one?

Is your curiosity on high, or have I lost you?

Well, here is what I said to encourage myself today, "any day that you have dog poo splattered on you by 9 in the morning can ONLY go up."

Yes. That happened to me this morning. And yes, I just gagged again reading it and remembering it. But it's true. The day wasn't off the charts, but having such a eww-low so early really bumped everything up a bit.

The story...I had been asked to run by a friend's home to let their dogs out before I went to work. Immediately upon getting inside I was hit with the vilest smell ever and though, "oh-no." Then I saw it. Dog diar...I can't even type it. I couldn't leave such a mess for the poor homeowners to come home to, so after all the dogs got outside I grabbed the roll of paper towels and a plastic bag and tried to clean it up. I have no freaking idea how it happened, but when I went to clean the mess (from as far away as possible) it splattered. Onto my leg. (Gag again). I still have no idea how that happened. I just know it was disgusting. And that I scrubbed off part of my tan with Clorox cleanser.