happy is as happy does

SPRING FORWARD, FALL BACKWARD

Don't you just LOVE fall?! I can identify with the season...we're both straight breezy. The acorns are beating up my roof, while the leaves are falling to the ground. But guess what? My leaves are falling on my NEW GRASS. Hells yeah!!!

**LB singing, "Laaaaaaa, laaa, la, la...wait til' I get my lawn care right. Laaaaaa, laaa, la, la...then you can't tell me nothing right. 'Scuse me, is you saying something? Ah, uh, you can't tell me noth..." Kan.ye snatches mic.**

Of course, the lawn still has a ways to go. But I'm sure my neighbors watch me and J through their windows as we stand and marvel at the sea of green blades for 5 minutes before I unlock the door. I think that we're both in disbelief that after a year's time that this is even possible. But now, we actually have a view when we have our cheerios on the front porch.

I have to make my way over to Micha.el's and pick up some fall/halloween decorations. I'm on a very tight budget, so we may be limited to some styrofoam pumpkins that J and I can doctor up and place on my steps.

YOU MUST PURIFY YOURSELF IN THE WATERS OF LAKE MINNE.TONKA

J wants to be a skeleton this year. I'm shocked, but that's a pretty inexpensive costume so I'm down. It looks like I'm FINALLY going to be Prince for Halloween. I was originally gonna pick up a costume from Party Ci.ty (think Cleo.patra) and just fade into the background like last year...although I didn't really fade into the background b/c I was a Greek Goddess and it drew more attention than I thought it would. But apparently, royal purple must be the new black b/c New.port News has a lot of clothing in that color, so I ordered some velvet pants, a blazer, some boots, and a white ruffled shirt to top it off. I'm going to borrow J's guitar and walk around with it strapped to my shoulder. The trick will be in curling my hair to match Prince (circa '84) on the cover of Pur.ple Rain and doing my eyes up really pretty...oh, and carefully sketching in a light mustache. I'm kinda excited about honoring THE best that ever did it. If only I can convince a dude to dress up as Appoloni.a or Van.ity.

WHO'S HOUSE? HELL'S HOUSE

My old church does a play every Hallo.ween, called Hell Hou.se. It's similar to walking through a haunted house but in each room, there is a different life situation acted out. The purpose is to scare young people straight and to bring souls to Chr.ist. Well, when I participated in it 2 years ago, I was only supposed to be a nurse in an abor.tion clinic. However, (you know how church folks are) I got stuck playing the main character having the abortion. Let me tell ya...that mess wasn't fun. All that screaming made me lose my voice and then I caught a serious cold and was miserable. The only highlight of the play was that I had a scene with Choir Boy, who played Je.sus. I barely remembered my lines b/c he's so pretty. Anyway, this lady from my old church started calling my home and cell phones all crazy b/c she wants me to reprise my role. Had it been anyone else, they would've been met with a swift "HELL NAW!" I told her that I had too much going on for the month but that I would get back to her. Church folks will...use...you. And I don't care how pretty Choir Boy is...I'm gonna pass on this one.

THANKS FOR THE MAMMARIES

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Every year, I participate in a run/walk in honor/memory of my mom. Last year, I did the walk with my cuz and J. Both of them got tired in 5 minutes, so I power-walked to the finish line alone. Only to find them already there, snacking and smiling. They had apparently cut the course b/c 3-5 miles was too much for them. This year, it looks like my team is 5 strong. I'm hoping to recruit some more before the 19th. In the meantime, I look forward to the event. To be surrounded by hundreds of survivors and their loved ones does my heart good. I hope that I can raise a decent amount of money this year. I set the team goal rather low, so we'll see.

TO THE MOON, ALICE, TO THE MOON

Yep, that's right...the honeymoon is over. The company has been in the new spot for about a week and a half now. For the most part, I can't complain. However, they have me sharing a space with this guy, whom I can only stand in small doses. He tore his draws with me when I was on the phone one morning and he had the gall to swivel around in his chair and ask me who I was talking to. I had to blink twice before I politely responded, "Nunya." I forgot about the huge difference between dating someone and living with them, so if left alone, partnah was about to be knocked unconscious with a water bottle...an empty water bottle. Do the math and see how in the hell THAT can happen. I do not like it when people invade my space. I can be the sweetest person in the world...but I can be funny about my space. On top of that, there is this part-time inter.ior des.gner, who moved her computer to my side of the table and then had the nerve to tell me that she may need some of my shelves. This broad works 4 hours a week...you gets no shelves, homie. She got the blank stare as my catalogs STAYED on the shelf in question. And as of today, this guy (who has come out of retirement) brought all of his drawings back in my area. Then I started wondering, "How in the hell did I get stuck back here with a bunch of part-timers and CAD techs.

Technically, we were supposed to wait 30 days before we request to be moved. But I couldn't take the chance of them hiring more people and taking up all of the good cubes. I went straight to one of the principals. Now, I can play the game with the best of 'em. He thought that he had satiated me with his "I'll look into it" response. I decided to become a pest. Then, it seemed as if he wanted to give me the run-around. So, I went to my immediate supervisor...and just in case he decided to brush me off, I reminded his a$$ again that I wasn't going to let this die without a fight. I got the email by the close of business stating, "your request has been approved." Fugging right it's been approved! I didn't bust my a$$ for 5 years to advance anybody else's career but my own...and I've most certainly worked hard enough for 3 friggin' walls. If I didn't get the desired results, I was going to talk much sh*t at my annual review. A lot of times in the engin.eering field, it's a man's world. Well now, I'm going to be in my own little world. I might just have a Ma.rdi Gra.s themed cube-warming. Bustas!