How is it already mid-January? Yeesh. At least we’ve actually had a winter here. Though freezing temperatures without snow are pointless. So if we could just have a flurry here while I’m home at the same time the boys are, that’d be great. Thanks.
We had a busy weekend – the boys had a sleepover Friday night for a friend’s birthday, then Saturday night one of their friends slept over, then Sunday we went to yet another birthday party. (Fortunately they had Monday to recover.)
Random pictures of kids stuck to a wall from the Sunday birthday party:
I also did some baking over the weekend. Make pizza dough for the boys’ dinner Saturday night, then made a king cake for breakfast the next day.
I used this recipe, but halved the yeast. (In the past, the king cakes I’ve made have tasted too yeasty.) It came out pretty well. I should have baked it at a lower temperature, I think. The outside was getting dark, but the inside was still possibly not cooked as much as I’d have liked (but not raw.) I could just hear Paul and Mary critiquing it. But everyone else liked it, so I’m going to stop pretending I’m on the Great British Bake Off. (I do have some other ideas on how to improve it for next time…)
In other news, I ordered two fun things from Amazon that I’m excited about.
Hair straightening brush. This is magic! My sister has one and I used it when she was in town, so I treated myself for my birthday.
CHECK THIS OUT!!! That’s before – I didn’t touch my hair this morning after washing it. No brushing or anything. That’s totally air dried. And the after is from six minutes of brushing with the magic brush! Insane.
Usually straight hair involves blow drying (pfft no way) and then flat ironing for 15 minutes while I curse the hard to reach hair at the back of my head. This was just brush, brush, brush, avoid ears because last time I burned the crap out of the back of my ear. I mean, this thing gets hot, but as long as you’re careful, it’s fine.
I read 90 books in 2016, so that means I read 38% more books in 2017! Want to see what I read?
(I think that’s only 125 covers, but I remembered another book later that I forgot to record, but it was really a novella so it’s okay. Maybe I should say I read 125.5 books this year?)
In any case, this year I’m going to be more organized and instead of just saving screenshots of the covers (since 99% of the books I read are on my phone) I’ll use Goodreads like I should have all along. (I used Goodreads to generate these graphics, btw.) (You can follow me here, if you like.)
The books are shown in the order I read them in so you can see that sometimes I’ll find an author that I enjoy, and then read the crap out of whatever the library has. Some authors I devoured everything I could get my hands on either because I loved their books (Tana French, Jenny Han) or because I couldn’t find anything better to read (Nancy Thayer, Sarah Morgan.)
I read a lot of YA this year (Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, Geekerella.) I was surprised at how much better The Nightingale was than most of Kristen Hannah‘s other books, though many of them were very enjoyable. But I mean, what, did she take a writing class before writing that?
I also read a surprising (to me, when I look back over the year) numberofmemoirs. Probably the first half of Shrill was my favorite. I spent most of Cat Marnell’s book on edge and feeling very nervous for her.
You can also see that I read a lot of fluff (unapologetically) which probably explains why I can read 126 books in 365 days. I’m also happy to say I think I purchased only one of these books, and it was the aforementioned novella, and the proceeds went to charity. Libraries FTW!
Cutting for Stone (super happy I picked this up again. It was one of the first Kindle books I ever bought, eons ago, and just couldn’t get into it at the time. This time, I adored it.)
Low points:
All the books that I know I read but can’t recall at all.
The two Danielle Steel books that are the books I am ashamed of reading. They were just so terrible. I get these from the library when desperate. But they’re the only two books I’m embarrassed for you to see here. I should have stopped reading three pages in.
The latter of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series that I read. I enjoyed the first one, but my enjoyment lessened the further I got into the series. They were kind of a slog to read, but I was desperate for more dark mysteries after I’d finished the Tana French books.
A book you won’t see listed – Into the Water. I just could not get into it. I hate not finishing books (see Danielle Steel, above), but life’s too short.
Overall, though, it was a good year for reading. On to 2018! I don’t have any quantity goals but I’d be happy to match 2017. I’m currently on book #8, so I’m on my way!
Yesterday was my birthday! (I thought about taking a monthly picture, but no one was home to take it when it was still light outside, but that’d have been funny, eh? Darn, missed opportunity there.)
Anyway, even though this year I was at home and not gallivanting around the world in, say, San Francisco or Barcelona, I had a great birthday. In fact, one of the better ones, I’d say. It wasn’t particularly eventful, but just overall a lovely day. Well, except for the weather. I’d appreciate a sunny birthday more often, but sadly, January is gray and yucky too often to hope for that.
It started out with waking up with the boys and bringing them to the bus stop so I could see Ann Frances (my birthday buddy, you know.) Then I went to Orangetheory and thought at one point in the workout that it might end up that I would last exactly 43 years on this planet, but alas, I survived the workout. Stopped at a neighborhood coffee shop for a hot beverage and a pastry (apple turnover) and then went home to chill for a bit. (I took the day off work.)
January 9 buddies
Kiki had sent me a pile of presents, and I wanted to spread them out throughout the day. So I opened one – a White House Christmas ornament. Earlier I’d opened one that had some face masks and cream in it.
I got on the ferry a little while later and met up with Heather and Steph for a fancy lunch at Antoine’s, one of those old traditional New Orleans restaurants in the French Quarter. (The oldest, in fact, having been around since 1840.) It was lovely, even if the service wasn’t the greatest. Then again, our waiter had been there for 50 years, and so what if he kept bringing me screwdrivers when I asked for martinis? (Part of the lunch special is 25 cent cocktails.) Anyway, I’d have been on the floor if I’d had three martinis, so perhaps he knew best.
After a delicious lunch of oysters, steak, and a meringue dessert, Heather drove me home, and I relaxed for a while until it was time to go get the boys. (I also opened another gift from Kiki – a copy of the Smitten Kitchen cookbook that I’ve been wanting. Yay!) I was going to let George pick them up, but I wanted to get a birthday cake. Kind of pathetic, having to buy my own birthday cake, but if I wanted one, I’d have to buy it. So I went to the grocery store and found a yellow cake/chocolate frosting number, and here’s where it gets even sadder.
I asked them to put “Happy Birthday” on it, but when she asked for a name, I just said, “no name, that’s fine.” I’m sure it seemed odd, but not as pathetic as it would have been if she’d realized Pam was me. What if I went to check out and the cashier noticed the name on the cake was the same as the name on my debit card? I know it’s a long shot, but I didn’t feel like risking it. Usually, that kind of thing doesn’t bother me, but I just couldn’t make myself do it. So my cake remained nameless.
Also my Ron Swanson came in the mail!
When I went to pick up the boys, Miles informed me he’d made me a card!!! This is all I ever want from the boys, and I was thrilled. It was the sweetest card. Ack!
Oliver posted a Happy Birthday on Instagram that morning, which was indescribably sweet. It was a terrrrrrible picture of me, but that’s kind of okay, you know? Like, he doesn’t think it’s a terrible picture. He just sees Mom. So sweet.
(Yeah, nothing from Linus, but I did get plenty of hugs at least.)
When we got home, I opened my gifts from George (another lens for my phone – this one a telephoto) and a glow in the dark cockroach that I gave back to him. Thanks, dear. Ellie called me to say Happy Birthday, too.
Then we ordered dinner (pizza for the boys, pasta for me) and had cake. Later, I went to the pub for a birthday drink with Jenn and Terry and Steph, and came home way too late. So I’m tired today, but it was worth it – a nice day filled with friends and food and presents and love. What more could I ask for?
What the heck? How can this be the boys’ tenth Halloween? I suppose we could say it’s their eleventh. Ten years ago at about 28 weeks pregnant, I dressed up as a magic 8 ball, which was pretty fun. I wish I had better pictures of my costume, but this is the only one I have…
2007: Magic 8 ball
The costumes improved a bit after they were extracted from the womb…
2008: Candy2009: Monkeys (and a bunch of bananas)2010: Woody(s)! And Jessie.2011: Construction workers2012: Superheroes! (Note Ironman’s feet)2013: Power Ranger, Anakin, Power Ranger2014: Hulk, Wyld Style, some Transformer, Mario2015: The Pokemon year2016: Ninjas2017: Little fox, vampire, brown raccoon (named Darcy)
Up bright and early(ish) to go with Stephanie to City Park. We have a mutual friend who works there, and she needed people to be in the background at the amusement park for promotional materials for a Christmas event. Let me tell you, it’s not easy to find Christmas accessories at this time of year. Normally I’d be grateful for that. But not when I really needed it.
ANYWAY, Big Lots came through for us and I picked up a few sparkly headbands and light up necklaces.
It’s been a fairly eventful couple of weeks lately. Let’s see….
Went to the Pink Prom (I mentioned it at the end of a post a while back) and wore a dress I got for fifteen dollars at the thrift store, and I gotta say, I felt quite a bit more glamorous than I usually do.
Had a great time going with friends, but my neck was literally bruised from that halter the next day. Ouch.
The end of last week was taken up a lot by the thoughts of Hurricane Nate. We went back and forth about evacuating, as it was headed straight for us, but it wasn’t supposed to be strong. And we had plans Saturday that I didn’t want to cancel, which didn’t help with the decision-making process.
So after planning to evacuate and stocking up on water and various Chef Boyardee products for George (who would stay behind no matter what) we eventually just decided to stay. And…it was nothing. Barely any rain, and just some nice breezes.
Saturday morning, the boys had an audition. I don’t even know for what. Kind of strange, but they had a great time. I made their hair dark again so they’d look more alike, but I don’t think it worked. Maybe if they combed their hair the same and smiled the same?
Afterwards, I headed to my friend Jordan’s baby shower. You know I love any kind of shower. The food is the best. And this shower did not disappoint. Angela made the cakes for my own baby shower ten years ago (almost exactly!) and made most of the food for this shower too. Yum!
So I started two write this post a few days ago, as you can tell by the title. Now I can add even more fun stuff!
We went to visit Grandee and Larry for a night, it was pretty low-key. I was going to take the boys to a pumpkin patch, but the temp has literally been close to 100 (well with the heat index) so I gave up on that plan. Ugh.
One thing we’ve been working on is bike riding. I know, they’re almost 10, but there just aren’t great places to ride bikes in our neighborhood (sidewalks are terrible, and the levee is just too terrifying to contemplate.) We brought the bikes to Baton Rouge and check out Miles!
Wednesday night, Linus had his first solo sleepover at Ethan’s house, which he loved. And then yesterday, I took the boys to Laser Tag for the afternoon. And it was free! You may see their pictures on the Laser Tag website at some point. I was able to sit in the cafe and work while they played arcade games and ran around the laser tag arena. Would have been perfect if I had my noise-canceling headphones.
(They never showed up. I HATE YOU WHISTLER HILTON.)
I also spent a ridiculously embarrassing amount of time taking pictures of myself so I could have a new profile pic for work. But look at my hair! Heart eyes!
In other exciting news, I’m going to England for work in a couple of weeks! We’ll be super busy so not a lot of time for sightseeing or anything, but as long as I can stock up on Winter Pimms and eat some toad in the hole, I’ll be happy. And walk in Kensington Gardens, since we didn’t get to last time. Sadly, I’m probably more excited about the cool weather than anything else. (That’s a lie. I’m more excited about toad in the hole.)
This weekend should be fun too. Grown up time at City Park, the boys have A DANCE AT SCHOOL (really it’s just a Halloween party but they’re calling it a dance so I am too!) and Sunday is the NOMB Halloween event. Good times!
I haven’t posted a normal post in a while, just an update on what’s going on in the world. So let’s see…
The boys are a couple of weeks into fourth grade. So far so good. Except they’re not super fond of the bus driver, who is apparently very strict and gruff. Which is exactly how bus drivers should be, I’d say. Well, except for last Wednesday when he forgot that school got out an hour early so we waited at the bus stop for over an hour. Fortunately, the bus stop is the mall, so I dropped into Ulta and made an appointment to get my hair did. Fun colors to come!
Speaking of fun colors, last night, I put in some extra-orange color (blood orange, to be exact) into Oliver’s hair because it was getting too hard to tell him and Linus apart at a glance. Better now. Pics later.
I have a work trip coming up in a couple of weeks, to Whistler again. I’m super excited to see everyone, but the forecast for the next ten days is not making me happy. I need some autumn weather while I’m there, dammit! I’ll get there a few days after the end of the forecast, so all I can say is, a cool front better arrive before I do.
Speaking of weather, it’s very weird here, thanks to Harvey. Pouring one minute, clear blue skies the next. Can’t complain, though. Seeing what’s going on in Houston makes my heart hurt. Just sickening.
I made pesto (no nuts, George is allergic to most of the ones that would go in pesto) out of the basil I grew this summer. First time it really thrived, probably due to the very wet summer we had. It was not bad, but maybe I’ll put one fewer clove of garlic in it next time (sorry person I worked out next to this morning!)
A good thing this week – Evan and Ellie are in town! I love seeing that girl (okay, both of them, really) and I can’t believe how grown up she is! (Look, we’re both bigger! Hahaha)
2005
2017
Ooops, I went down a rabbit hole looking for old pictures of Ellie and me, and found this…gah!
One last cute thing…Ziggy now has his https://www.instagram.com/ziggymcziggerson/ so you don’t have to look at boring pictures of my kids to see what you really want – DOG.
Good stuff: My coworker Sarah’s new podcast. I love it. It’s funny, smart, and random. My favorite things. It’s called Hey, Bestie, and Kristina and I have already bugged her for a guest slot. (Which doesn’t even exist yet, but I already even came up with the perfect title for the segment: “Hey, Guestie!” so I think we definitely deserve to be on.) There’s a new episode that I haven’t listened to, and I am doing my best not to listen because I hoard podcasts I like.
Bad stuff: I mentioned Miles was going to be in an episode of Claws last week. Well, his part was cut. I was super sad, but Miles was like, “oh well.” He’s obviously more cut out for the cut-throat world of showbiz than I am.
Good stuff: This apple slab pie I made for the fourth of July. As usual, a Smitten Kitchen recipe. This was my first pie crust, I think! It wasn’t easy (mostly because my bowl was too small) but it came out pretty well. No one complained, anyway.
Bad stuff: I’ve been terrible about blogging. I’m working on finishing up a post about Kristina’s and my adventures at Epcot, so hopefully I can get back on a roll.
Good stuff: The boys start camp tomorrow! And it’s the only week of camp they’re doing all summer. It’s at the same performing arts school where they take guitar lessons. Hoping they’ll have fun.
Bad stuff: We all put our bathing suits on and it immediately started thundering. I think I could probably help out in areas that are susceptible to drought by just getting the boys excited about swimming and putting our bathing suits on.
Good stuff: Our new grill. I have been using it a ton, and it turns out I’m a natural at grilling. I’ve made pizza (okay, on a storebought crust – homemade crust is next), pork chops (divine), hamburgers, hot dogs, veggies, corn…and all delicious. What can I say? I have finally found my calling.
Bad stuff: My allergies have been horrific this summer. What is up with that? Not fun. I’ve been sneezing constantly for the past six weeks.
Good stuff: Kiki’s visit! I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half. Not good. Not good at all. It wasn’t a long visit, but we’re going to Virginia in August so we’ll get to spend more time together then. (And also to see cousins!)
Bad stuff: The job I have been doing at keeping the boys engaged and off screens. We just bought a Circle (recommended by Deborah) so hopefully that will help with managing that. They’ve been doing a little reading and a little guitar practicing, but not as much as I wanted. Work has been extremely busy for me, so I just haven’t had the bandwidth to monitor them as closely as I should have. Sigh. MOTY.
Good stuff: Speaking of MOTY, I bought 15 Lunchables for the boys’ camp lunches. Yeah, that’s good stuff. Not having to make 15 sandwiches.
More good stuff: Seeing babies! So far this summer, I’ve gotten to snuggle a coworker’s adorable baby, my cousin’s new son, and Lindsay’s little monkey. And there’s another cousin’s new baby yet to be snuggled!
Even more good stuff! Slumber parties for the boys! Getting rid of the climber in the backyard! Making fun tank tops for working out! Blueberry jam on toast from the coffee shop down the street!
Two days ago, I rode in a Mardi Gras parade! I feel like the whole process is shrouded in mystery, so I am here to BLOW THE WHOLE THING WIDE OPEN!
Just kidding. Am writing it here because that’s what I do.
So I think two years ago I filled out a form for the Krewe of Nyx in the hopes that one day I’d get to join. My friend Megan had been riding in it for a while, as well as my friend Mary. Last year not long after Mardi Gras I got an email saying I was in, if I wanted. So I paid my dues (I mean literally, I sent them a pile of money) and then not much else happened for a while.
In the fall I officially found out I was on a float with Megan and Mary, yay! I figured I should start working on my purses. Nyx’s signature throw is a glittery purse (think Muses and their glittery shoes and Zulu and their famous coconuts) and we were allowed to decorate and throw 20 of them. I couldn’t even think of starting until after we got back from our trip to the UK, so not long after we got back I went to a Mardi Gras supply store and bought 20 cheap glittery purses and a shitload of glitter glue, feathers, plastic jewels, and other random bits and pieces.
Yeah, really not my strong suit, decorating purses.
Meanwhile, Megan and I decided to share a package of beads and throws, so she took care of ordering that.
In early February was the first big event with Nyx, the ball! I’ve already written all about that, but let’s look at the glamorous picture of Pam again, shall we?
There.
Next was costume pickup. We had to go to a warehouse to pick up the satin tunic, wig, mask, and headpiece we were to wear on the floats. These all had to remain TOP SECRET until parade day.
Finally, it was nearly go time! The day before the parade, I went early in the morning to bring a cooler and some other throws I’d bought and put them on the float. It was exciting to see it up close and to go on a float for the very first time.
Later that day, I needed to go back, so I brought the boys on the way home from school. They got to climb up to the top deck where I’d be riding and look around. Cool!
Up on top
Miles
In front of the float (theme was Belly Dancing)
The next morning, after I brought the boys to school, it was finally time to get ready! I put on my tunic over some Mardi Gras leggings I got from my friend Mary, my glittery sneakers I’d made for the parade I marched in last weekend (more on that later) and the wig. I mean, typical outfit for a Wednesday, right?
Then I glittered up my eyelids and waited for Megan to come over so we could ferry over to the pre-party.
We stopped on the way for some food and daiquiris, and then it was time to go into the pre-party! Booze flowed and I found some friends who were riding on other floats. Not easy when everyone is wearing wigs and elaborate headpieces!
Checking my glittery eyelids.
Wig! I kind of want a perm now. JUST KIDDING. But I really loved the wig.
At the pre-party with Megan (left) and Marie, wigless at the time.
After getting the headpiece (which was quite heavy) ziptied to my head (not joking) and finding some tylenol because it was squeezing my brain and giving me a headache, it was time for our float to get on our floats!
It was pretty early, maybe 3:30 or so when we got on our float? Keep in mind the parade wasn’t supposed to start until 6:45 and we were the 41st of 42 floats. So we were going to be on that float for a long, long time.
It’s hard to describe how full of beads and other throws and women and coolers the float was. We were on the top deck (no shade up there, but at least the sun was on the way down) so we unloaded our throws while sipping on the daiquris we brought on board. I talked to some of the other riders, including a twin mom that I had a lot in common with. That was fun, meeting some new people!
A sea of women on floats.
Megan with our stuff.
I’m sure we were stone cold sober in these pics.
After a few hours, it was time to go! It had rained quite a bit the day before, so our float got a bit stuck in the mud and it took a bit to get out of it, but soon enough we were on our way! Well, on Tchoupitoulas, the road I drive on every day on the way to get the kids from school. That’s where the floats line up before the parade. It was so beautiful with the sun going down, the cool breeze blowing through my polyester curls, a daiquri in hand…
The kids waiting for me to get there.
We were on Tchoupitoulas for three hours waiting to get going. We hung out, read books (thank god for the Kindle app on my phone), chatted, went into a bar (we were stopped so long we got off the float), and reorganized our throws for the tenth time. Finally, we turned the corner onto Jefferson, then hit Magazine Street. We were off!
Tee made this one for me!
I had made a list of the friends I had along the route. I looked for signs and threw beads and purses and bracelets and spears and about a million Nyx-branded throws.
The best parts were seeing the people I knew, but nothing could beat seeing George and the boys and a bunch of my friends. We waved and yelled and I gave them a huge bag of fun stuff, and we blew kisses and the boys were jumping up and down giddily and too soon, we had rolled past them and they were out of sight. (Just as well, it was 10pm by that point and the boys had school the next day.)
Megan did a photo burst as we passed everyone. Yay!
A pic of me throwing stuff:
The rest of the parade was more throwing, more waving at friends, more and more fun. My neck was killing me so I had to take the headpiece off.
A video I took as we rolled down St. Charles Avenue:
Near the end, as we passed Gallier Hall:
I really loved it when we got down to Canal Street at the end. It seemed to be a lot more tourists down there (which makes sense, it’s where the hotels are) and they were very grateful for whatever you threw them. Uptown, people wouldn’t bother to pick up anything off the ground. Argh. THAT WAS A PERFECTLY GOOD KOOZIE SIR. That kind of thing was what I yelled a lot.
So after it was over, we got off the float and…went home. Kind of anticlimactic, but it was midnight at this point and I was exhausted. Would I do it again? Probably not. I had a fun time, but to be honest, it’s a lot of pomp and circumstance that isn’t really me. Also the expense and the time, I dunno. I’m really, really glad I did it once, though.
And now I can enjoy the rest of Mardi Gras with no stress!
This post is part of a series describing what Automatticians do on a daily basis. You can read more posts like this by following the tag #a8cday on WordPress.com and Twitter.
Back in October 2014, I wrote a post describing a typical day at work. Since then, my job has changed quite a bit, so I’m writing an updated version.
6:05ish: I hear the boys getting up and getting in the shower. Yes, they are now taking showers by themselves in the morning. Hallelujah! I doubt this will last very long, but I’m enjoying having clean children and not having to nag them to bathe. I lie in bed and play Two Dots and catch up on my email until the bathroom is free.
7:00: Everyone troops downstairs. If I’m driving them to school that day, I’ve showered, but usually I don’t. So I’m still in pajamas. I make my coffee, they make their lunches, put their shoes on, and get their stuff together. I pour cereal into bags for them to take with them.
7:30ish: The boys get picked up and I grab some breakfast and go upstairs to my office.
The biggest difference between my job in 2014 and now is that instead of primarily providing support to WordPress.com customers, I now hire more Happiness Engineers to provide support to our customers. And now WooCommerce is part of the Automattic family, so we’re hiring HEs to support WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce.
So I sit at my desk and the first thing I do is go through my email. When I did support work, email wasn’t a big part of my work at all. But in Hiring I use it a lot more. We get applications via email, we send out interview requests, tests, and of course rejections via email as well. We use Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to send out most of the emails, but the replies come in to our normal mailbox.
It would probably help to explain the hiring process a bit here.
First, we get emails from applicants, which we import into our ATS. The various members of the team review each application twice. The rejections get emailed back and the ones that pass the reviews get a small project.
If the project is done well, we schedule a first interview, which is done via Slack. If the interview goes well, we send another small assignment, which may or may not lead to a second interview. Assuming the second interview goes well, we may offer a trial.
The trial lasts from 3-6 weeks and is paid. (My trial paid for work on our house. Yay trial!) Usually we follow someone through from the first interview through the trial, but occasionally we’ll pass them along to someone else on the hiring team to run the trial. Right now, I’m running four trials, and it’s likely I’ll have a few more starting up over the next few weeks.
So I spend a good part of the morning checking on my trials. How much work did they get done the day before? (They either answer support tickets or do live chat with customers.) How was their feedback from users? How are their answers? Their tone? Are they interacting with other Happiness Engineers?
Every trial also has a buddy, so I may have some feedback from the buddy or other HEs. All of this gets fed into our ATS so we can review it easily.
Once I’ve looked through the trials, we may have applications that need reviewing. I may have gotten some projects back so I’ll need to review those as well. If they go well, I’ll send out interview requests.
Another big part of my job is organizing new hire Support Rotations.
Every new Automattician who doesn’t work in Happiness starts off their tenure with three weeks in support. So they are trained how to use our tools and how we provide support for two days alongside HE trials and then are let loose. So I keep track of who is starting and when, and get their training set up and a buddy for their rotation, and all that good stuff.
Oh, and training. How could I forget training? I also organize Happiness training. Nearly every week, we have either trials or support rotations starting at Automattic. And since we all work remotely, we can’t ask someone in Australia to train at the same time as someone in Europe and someone in the US. So we have a few different trainings. I schedule Happiness Engineers to do those training sessions, and make sure everyone gets trained on time.
So this all takes up most of my day. But if I get through all of that, I try to spend some time doing support tickets or live chat. It’s incredibly important that I not only help out the team, but also that I always know what’s going on in support. How can I evaluate a trial’s live chats if I don’t know how accurate their answers are? If I don’t know how to use our tools (which are ever-evolving?)
Right now my coworker Deborah and I are getting ready for a recruiting trip to Australia and New Zealand so I’m also helping to get our accommodations sorted out, swag sent to the hotels, and events set up. We’ll be speaking at WordCamp Auckland so we need to get together to work on our talk as well.
So that’s my work stuff. I might also go work out at Orange Theory at some point during the day.
3:15: I log off and go pick up the kids from school. If traffic isn’t terrible I’m home around 4:30 and I log back on to finish up anything I hadn’t done before.
5:30: Log off. Get dinner started. Nag boys to do homework.
This weekend, I went to a ball! Oooh, fancy. Well, I’m riding in a Mardi Gras parade this year for the first time (one of those things to check off the ol’ bucket list, if I were the type to use the phrase “bucket list”) and part of being in a krewe (no, that’s not a mispelling) is that there’s a fancy ball.
There are all sorts of rules like you have to wear a mask and you have to wear a floor length gown. FLOOR LENGTH GOWN? This was sounding expensive. Fortunately, my friend Lorie had a dress that I could borrow. I was skeptical, since Lorie is about 6″ shorter than me, but magically, it fit me perfectly!
Anyway, I had the dress. I ordered a mask off Amazon. Terry’s daughter was coming to braid my hair to put in an updo. My friend Jenn was lending me some jewelry. I joked that I felt like I was Cinderella and they were the little birds and mice coming to dress me.
In the end, I felt more like an glamorous screen siren than a princess, but whatever.
We had a full on photo shoot while some of the residents of the assisted living facility looked on.
Soon, my chariot arrived (Jenn’s Jeep, that is) and I was off to the ball!
Now just some random pictures:
If some are blurry, it’s because there was an open bar.
Anyway, in true Cinderella fashion, I was home by midnight. Only because I’m at least twice her age, and I couldn’t hang that long. But at least my glass slippers (er, black flats) both made it home safely.
Yesterday was (relatively speaking) exciting. First I got a text from my cousin’s wife who works at a local tv station. The medical reporter was looking for someone to talk to on air about the stomach bug that’s been going around. Katie knew we’d battled it, so, well, long story short, this happened:
The house was a mess and I was in the middle of interviewing someone and they wanted to come over right away, so I called Terry and yelled, “COME OVER RIGHT NOW” and she got the boys’ beds made up (I knew they were going to film them, as they had been the scene of one of the crimes, as it were) while I frantically put on make up in between asking questions.
After Terry left and I was waiting, I got a message from a reporter who wanted to interview “normal” parents of triplets after some famous people announced they just had triplets. So I sent over answers to her questions and voila:
Good stuff: Kiki’s visit! I hadn’t seen her in a year and a half. Not good. Not good at all. It wasn’t a long visit, but we’re going to Virginia in August so we’ll get to spend more time together then. (And also to see cousins!)
In early February was the first big event with Nyx, the ball! I’ve already 
It would probably help to explain the hiring process a bit here.
pyjammy dot blog 