Highlights of the week

It has been a very busy week, not to mention an incredibly hectic summer. As it is improbable that I could record the happenings of this entire summer, I will be content with shedding light upon some of the events of the past seven days.  The first major highlight happened last Wednesday at our monthly Board meeting. After the meeting had ended, I stood and went to stretch, when my left foot decided to both give out and fall asleep at the same time.  I slow tumbled backwards and, although I did manage to save my ass from getting unnecessarily beaten, I was unable to prevent my left arm from getting a large purple bruise. The bruise ended up being so extensive that it looked more like something that one would find in a spousal abuse case than as a result of a slow motion fall.
The next event happened later that same evening, when I learned that my husband has landed the role in our fall play, Boeing Boeing.  It is a comical farce in which the lead is juggling three different fiances who all work in a different Boeing Boeing plan as stewardesses. The comedy begins when there is a faster Jumbo Jet introduced and the perfect schedule he was working falls to chaos. It is a good thing that I am the type of person who was more excited and proud of my husband than worried that he is going to be making out on stage with three separate women; none of them myself.
The third highlight I feel the need to document happened on Friday.   We got a call from one of our close friends around 4:30pm and she said that her husband and herself had found a cat in the back of their apartment complex and we needed to come take it. I should interject here by pointing out that the reason they could not keep the cat was that they have a very large, hyper dog, making the environment non conducive to a scared feline.   What we found was a 7 week old kitten, who we promptly put in a cat carrier, took to the vet (just in case) and then went to PetsMart on the way home to get some kitten chow.  She has been huddled up under our bed for the past two days and, though she comes out to eat and drink, she is content to be under the bed and has not yet allowed us to gain her trust.  Hopefully, with this being a calmer environment, she will eventually come out and realize that we only mean the best for her. Her name is Ballista.

My own personal beeswax

As many of you have figured out by now, I am a librarian and work in a downtown public library. This means that every day is a unique blend of surprises; not all of them good.  It is common practice to walk around the library every so often to ensure that nothing is happening that would be unscrupulous or otherwise behaviorally unsound. On one such round today, it was discovered that a half empty can of Beeswax was sitting open on a table. This Beeswax also had a few human hairs mixed into the wax.  A coworker of mine often says the phrase "my own personal beeswax."  Today, we found someone else's own personal beeswax and it was definitely not all we wanted it to be. The owner of the beeswax never did come forward to claim his or her lost item. However, on a lighter note, the finding of the beeswax did spur a discussion on How much money would it take for you to eat one spoonful of this beeswax?  It was decided by many that there is no amount of money that could pay for such a degrading act.

Poor baby!

My poor hubby, he has a fever and couldn't even eat Grampa's steak. I hope he feels better soon.

A restored faith in humanity

Many service-based jobs can be incredibly thankless most of the time. In those rare instances when someone does bother to thank the service provider, that person tends to hold on to that sentiment as her or she has no idea when the next one may come along.  In the midst of those people complaining because they either have not gotten what they want, or got what they wanted too late, or they couldn't accurately express what they wanted in the first place, leaving the service provider completely unable to fill the request.

At any rate, even more rare than the actual service provider getting praise, is when an outside person who is not at all involved in the situation, steps in and offers assistance without expecting anything in return. This person is often called the "Good Samaritan."  Today, I first hand witnessed such an event and it went as follows...

A gentleman came to the desk to ask if he could get a new library card (shifting to my specific service profession, being a librarian).  After looking him up in the system, I discovered that he was still in the system and that he owed $17.60 in late fines. I informed him of this, and updated his account with his correct contact information, etc. (This is not the uncommon part, this happens every single day I am at work.) Meanwhile, a lady was using one of our self-check outs to get her books. On her way out, she slapped $20 down on the counter and said "This is for his fines." Before I had the chance to say anything, she had left. I informed the gentleman what had just happened and promptly printed him out a receipt for the expense, got him a new library card and explained the policies of the library to him.  He came up three times after that to thank me and to say that he must have a guardian angel, and that he told his wife and she scarcely could believe the whole story.

Every once in a grand while, if you keep your eyes peeled, you will find these types of situations. They do not come by often and they often occur in the blink of an eye, but they are there. It is moments like this one that remind me that humanity is not all bad, that there are good people in the world, and that I can run into them when least expected, if only I remember to keep my eyes peeled.

Pizza creation

This is my version of a pizza recipe that had chicken sausage, Gouda cheese and fennel. My version replaced the Gouda with shredded Mozzarella, the fennel became chopped green pepper, and we cooked the sausage with chopped onion and the green pepper. Top it off with the cheese and a sprinkle of crushed Ted pepper flakes. This is a sauce less pizza I would gladly make again...yum!

SAD

Started last night after work. Woke up nearly in the hour all night so no sleep there. Thank goodness I don't have to work today. Poor hubby didn't get much sleep last night either and he did have to work.

A most horrid accident

Tonight, after an exceedingly long day, I settled down for some dinner and wine with friends. At this point in my day, I had worked from 8:30-6 and then gone grocery shopping; successfully procuring food for the upcoming week. Nearly halfway through my meal, I accidentally spilled my wine. In my efforts to spill the wine, I managed to launch the vast majority of my glass's contents across the room, successfully covering the carpet, furniture and many other objects in the dark red substance. Immediately after this fiasco, my husband shot up from his chair to grab a towel or two and assist me in remedying the situation. The end result being that neither furniture nor person alike was affected in the long term by my clumsy nature. We were indeed left to enjoy the rest of our evening without interruption.

SAD

Had SAD today. It started mid yesterday and caused me to not sleep well at all last night. Ugh.

Surrendering to relaxation

Today after dedicating most of my day to community theater, I have surrendered myself to relaxation. I have a glass if red wine, comfy bed, and a sweet brown striped cat by my side. I'm also watching a movie while hubby plays games on his system. The movie is The Secret Life of Bees.

Crazy weekend relief

Ridiculously long weekend full of library work craziness. Time to settle in with wine and loved ones and watch the Oscars. I am do glad I'm not famous. I would not want my life broadcast like that.

A most intelligent conversation

Patron: "I don't think I have a pin number, I never signed up."
Librarian: "You do, and if you give me your card, I can look it up for you and tell you what it is."
Librarian: "Your pin number is one nine five four (1954); would you like to keep that number or change it to something that you can better remember?"
Patron: "I better change it."
Librarian: What would you like to change it to? It can be any four numbers you like."
Patron: "I would like to change it to nineteen fifty four (1954). I can remember that."
Librarian: "It is all changed for you. Have a nice day!"

For those of you reading this, yes that actually happened.

Elevator crisis

Today I got stuck in the elevator at work. It wad only a brief terror and I was the only one on it. My coworkers were able to rescue me. Now it is just a hood story to tell amongst friends and wine.

Anhauser-Bush

Went today to tour the original Anhauser-bush factory in St. Louis, Missouri. I think I have a new found appreciation for beer.

Theater issues

Today I got off work early at 1:30.  I had to go to the bank to make a deposit and then to the vet to get special kitty food for Princess.  She is so far doing pretty well with the special kidney food, but I know she doesn't like it as much as the regular stuff.  Steve has been sick yesterday and today.  He had a bad fever yesterday and a sore throat.  Today he still feels sick, but I think his fever has gone down a bit, so that is a good sign.  
It has been crazy at work lately.  We have had four people leave for various reasons and that has left us very short handed.  Also, there hasn't been a day in the past week and a half that at least one person hasn't called off sick.  I guess it is the crazy changing temperatures in Ohio, but I keep counting on not getting sick myself.  When I am there I am constantly using the Germ-X in order to not get infected.  
After getting home from running errands, I cleaned up around the apartment and made a new recipe for dinner.  It is called Clean Chicken and Vegetable bake, but I think it is just chicken, potato and broccoli in a casserole dish.  Settling down now for a night of relaxation and writing.  
I have been pretty busy with theater lately, and I guess that is why I haven't written much.  For the past two years, I have been the Treasurer and on the Board of our community theater group and it has been quite a ride.  This year is my third year as Treasurer on the Board.  I am also the Producer for our upcoming show, Of Mice and Men.  This is the first show I have ever produced, so it has been interesting.  I have assembled my team of who will be doing what, and now I just have to meet with people, get them any supplies they need, and make sure that everyone is on track.  Last year, we hit our first snag when one of our leads; the guy playing Lennie, had to back out due to a scheduling conflict.  At an annual Christmas party, we were lucky enough to run into someone who could fill the role.  Our next (and more recent) snag came when the dates we were promised to perform in the school had to be switched because the school feels that they can break their promises.  We are currently trying to figure out if we are going to completely switch location in order to keep our original dates, or if we are going to switch out dates and keep our same location.  I think there is a good chance we will end up changing our dates, but not the location.  More on that later.  Lastly, I am in charge of getting T shirts made for the show so right now I am in the process of figuring that too.  Time to kick back for the evening and have a glass of wine.  Until another day.