Thursday, February 19, 2009

Another Day, Another Chocolate Chip Muffin

I have made it through almost half of my work day, and as of now I'm not that tired. That's a bonus for me these days. My throat is a bit raw today; which has me thinking that I'd better not be getting this nasty chest cold that has be making it's way through the office.

I picked up a taco dip tray - small enough for me, myself, and I. It's from Pick-N-Save, so I know it will be salty but I'm not too concerned about that. I also picked up a 4 pack of Chocolate Chip Muffins. The first one is gone already and it was amazing.

Nothing new to report today. I wrote five or six thank-you cards last night, and sighed as I viewed this list of possibly a hundred plus that still must be sent. When life gets too tiring, we now cure that with a bit of Rockband 2. Although, I didn't play last night. Laura did and I watched and typed away on my pink laptop. I'm still a bit nervous about something that needs to be handled and I'm not sure how it will be. I received the meanest most character attacking email ever a few days ago, and I'm waiting to see how it will pan out - all the while I am wondering what the heck I have ever done to make someone so angry with me.

Apparently I'm only nice and respectful to people that I love and care about. Otherwise, I'm just a complete jerk and don't give a crap about you. That's news to me. I thought I was pretty nice, but apparently that is not the case.

Taco dip calls to me from the refrigerator.
A chocolate chip muffin cries out to be devoured.
The clock keeps ticking, and I keep typing.
Oh the joys that a weekend will bring...

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

What's Going On Around Here?

The time span of Oct. 2007 to Oct. 2008 was, quite honestly, one of my best years ever; followed by (or perhaps led by) 1998-1999 - when I lived in St. Louis. Having said that, I was well aware for the whole of that time that things in my life were, well, good! I regularly looked at all of the aspects of my life and realized that I was blessed and was walking in the reality of those blessings daily. But, like all things in life - eventually they come to an end.

So, for your entertainment; I bring you the "Heidi Highlights" that perhaps you've missed over the past 4 months. You're going to love this!

**Mom got a "cold".

**My frog, Andre, dies.

**My Aunt Lu (Dad's sister) dies.

**Laura's cat, Vache (aka my niece) got sick

**The day before Thanksgiving Vache, my cat's sister, died.

**Thanksgiving day; I had the flu, Laura went to Geno's, my mom was sicky with an ear infection and what we thought may be pneumonia, my Dad ate Thanksgiving meal in the living room, alone - I was upstairs sleeping, feeling absolutely horrible, and my mom was on the computer in her room.

**Flat tire at work.

**Roommate issues that result in a mandatory meeting with the people who oversee the house.

**Two days later, my mom gets immediately checked in to the hospital for low platelets and anemia.

**The following day I am scheduled to leave for a wedding in TN. Even though it's clear that it may be cancer, the family decides I should go.

**Return flight is delayed for over 3 hours in Nashville - unloaded and reloaded etc. Lot's of sketchy things with that flight, including the ice storm we flew in to and thought we may crash. Awesome.

**Drive home in ice storm, only to find out my mom has cancer and is beginning chemo.

**Arrive home at midnight to find a flat tire on my car, in a freezing ice storm - same tire I just had fixed.

**People come to fix my car and completely ruin my car key - can't drive till Laura gives me her copy.

**Roommate has surgery and I take care of her and the every increasing snow - with no thanks, of course.

**Repeatedly have to shovel a space in the back for my car. My roommate had people volunteer to plow and shovel for her during the winter - apparently mentioning that the slab in the back had to be parked on was not important. Every snow emergency I had to shovel not only the fallen snow, but the snow that was plowed into that spot - with no help of course.

**Mom went to the hospital in Milwaukee. Visited almost daily, if not every other day...

**More roommate issues.

**Pulled over by the cops when I was trying to take pictures of trees in fog.

**Check engine light comes on in my car and had to get that checked out. Who has money to fix these things, or time? Not me.

**Dad enters deep depression - Laura and I have to worry about that.

**Stay the night in hospital with Mom the night before we get the worst news ever - in the middle of which the bed they gave me completely tried to break my back and crashed my head onto the floor.

**Mom came home to die.

**Flat tire across the street from my parents house in yet another freakin' snow storm.

**Constant calls from people "needing" of me and my time for the most trivial of issues, in light of what I was facing...

**Mom catches infection - Laura and I spend every minute with her right up until she goes to be with the Lord.

**Funeral planning, finances and other festivities.

**My mom's funeral.

**My Dad, brother, that I get the flu - seriously?

**Inform roommate I'll be out by March 1st.

**Begin moving stuff immediately after Mom dies - who wants to even touch her stuff yet? It still smells of her... but I now am forced to haul my crap into the dining room during lunch times.

**Good friend Eddie's cancer gets worse.

**Eddie's dad dies

**I'm completely behind and swamped at work.

**Massive roommate issues that result in my family intervening and cousins, aunt and sister help move all of my belongings (apart from large items) into random bags and boxes (completely unorganized) into my cousins basement - just to get me out of there.

**Just complete drama with living situations - completely not needed in light of the fact that MY MOM JUST DIED!!!!!!

**Oh, then today at lunch Laura and I went to bring baked goods and thank you cards to the people in Kenosha who took care of my mother before she died. Afterwards we got lunch... I broke a tooth while eating a salad and had to get it fixed - $227 later I am wondering what the crap is going on!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sleeping With the Enemy

As if my life hasn't been jam-packed with enough fun times already this year - now I'm faced with the continuing saga of roommate issues. I've done my best to cover my roommate and just deal with things as they come and go, but these past few weeks have been a whole new adventure that I am struggling daily to deal with.

When my Mother realized the gravity of her diagnosis, she began to plan ahead and take care of things in advance for her family. One of those loose ends being the finances; which caused her to ask me that if she were to die, would I please move home for a short time. Of course I said "yes".

I'm 29 years old. I have been out of my parents house for over a decade now. It's not the thrill of my life to move home with my Dad, but it's a needed move and that is what family does for each other. On top of that, my Mother just went to be with the Lord - I've got a few things going on right now; wouldn't you say?

Let's just say that after this experience, I'd much rather (after leaving my parent's whenever that may be) live alone with a cat and a dog and no people ever again. Although, according to friends at work, my future husband may not be delighted in the fact that I'd ask him to get his own place. We'll just worry about that when the time comes, I suppose!

I do not like to paint people in bad light, nor do I ever want to be known as a gossip; so the issues we've had I have not shared. So let's just talk about one of my all time favorite movies; "Sleeping With the Enemy".

Remember this one? Laura (Julia Roberts) is married to a charming man who provides the world for her. Only, we come to discover that this man is a total abusive control-freak of a man. Laura's only hope is to plan her escape and to get the heck out of Dodge.

She has to get as far away from this man as possible.

Success is hers! Laura establishes a new life, meets an amazing theatre guy - with beautiful 80s hair, and she begins to settle in to her new life. Albeit a bit jumpy, she starts to realize that there are nice people in the world who will love her and care for her...and let her steal apples from their yard to make pies.

Could Mr. Nightmare ever reappear?

Yes. And how does she discover this? Well, by the towels, at first!


Ah the towels. She takes pride in the fact that life need not be "perfected" any more - and that is precisely when she notices that her towels are straightened!

Running to the kitchen, she flings open the cupboard only to reveal....*gasp*....that everything is organized to perfection!

At that point the scary music plays. The hero comes in to save her and get beat up; there are gun shots and Laura kills her husband. Then theatre man and Laura live, possibly, happily ever after.

Only, in my scenario there are no guns or anything nearly that dramatic. Well...take that back, there is a lot of drama, actually. And the few of you that read this are very aware that I am the least of the drama-filled lives that are out there. I love drama: aka, the theatre; but when it comes to drama in life, I tend to gravitate away from that.

Not so much these days - which is extremely taxing and frustrating to me. I mean, really. Really? Can't you give a girl a break? My Mother just died for cryin' out loud!

On top of all of that, I broke a tooth at lunch, while I was eating a salad. You're joking right? What is going on around here?

Friday, February 13, 2009

Things that scared me as a child.

1. The pitch black closet in Candice Buggs’ basement. I knew that if you walked far enough in to it, you’d fall to the center of the earth and no one would ever know.

2. Falling asleep lying down. For a long time I had to fall asleep sitting up because I was convinced that if I fell asleep lying down, I’d throw up.

3. Freddy Krueger.

4. Ms. Brehmer. I had to go into her classroom for Reading in first grade and she scared the crap out of me. I used to cry every day before school because I was terrified of her.

5. Laura’s psychotic friend Becky Pacman, who tried to suffocate me with a pillow once.

6. Any limbs hanging over the edge of the bed while sleeping. I knew that if your arm or leg hung over the edge, the little tiny people would see it. Then they would put their ladders up against your bed and tie you down while you slept. Either that or a giant blade would swing by and chop it off.

7. The ventriloquist dummy that was sitting in front of the closet door mirror at someone’s house when I was a kid. I only saw it once – in fact, I think I was only in that house once - but that was enough for me! I can still picture it, the evil little minion.

8. The upper attic at Sarah and Christina’s house. It’s haunted. Deal with it.

9. The Boogeyman. He lived in the basement; and when I didn’t want to sleep, he’d be dancing at the foot of my bed.

10. Being chased in tag. The worst feeling to me was when you would run around the corner of a house (or something like that) and you would glance back to see that the person chasing you was RIGHT behind you. *shudders*

11. Amie’s Grandma Jerri.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

What's In A Name?

Sometimes I just think about things.


I think about random things.

When I'm bored I make lists.

Random lists.

Lists of who I'd have to invite to my wedding.

Lists of cousins, aunts and uncles.

Lists of what I need to do, or what I need to buy.

Lists of all the home groups I've been involved in.

Sometimes, I just think.


Today I am thinking about names. What's in a name? Well, I think that names say a lot about people. In our culture we've become so creative and spontaneous with giving names to our children, that often times the actual meaning of the name is never really considered in light of the sound or the uniqueness of the name. I myself have had a daughter's name chosen for years (one that actually HASN'T been used yet!) that I haven't told a soul, simply because I love the name. Funny thing is, it has no meaning. None. I've searched dozens of times and I assure you that it doesn't. I've even considered making up my own meaning if and when the time ever comes!

When my best friend Naomi gave birth to my godson, Cameron, I was thrilled. Cameron is a really cool name - shortened to "Cam". The meaning: Crooked Nose. Really?

Shakesphere said....well... actually it was Juliet who said it: ""What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

But is that true?

Probably.

But in my deep down guts I honestly believe that finding out the meaning of names can tell you a lot about a person. Well, in most cases.



If you search Google images for "Heidi Ervin", this is what you get:




Apparently Heidi Ervin has written a rather popular musical called "Underwear: A Space Musical"

Right, well then. I can't say that I've seen that Musical but I'm sure it's, um, entertaining?

As for me, I was named after my Mom's youngest sister. She was born "Heidi Marie Becker". She was as beautiful as a porcelin doll. Sadly, she only lived but a few days. My Mother, the oldest of 10 children (14 had the other 4 survived), fell in love with Heidi and eventually had one of her own, me!

Heidi: German diminutive of the Adelheid. Heidi means "noble one". Of noble birth or heritage.

My middle name is Ruth. Named after my Grandmother, my Mom's Mom. I never got to meet her.

Ruth: Hebrew name. Ruth means "loyal friend, companion" Interesting enough just now I have learned that when Ruth was translated into English, it changed also it's meaning and added "compassion, sympathy, mercy".

Names are fun.



Monday, February 9, 2009

What the fire?

Sited Source: MSN Homepage 02/09/09

Fire Forces Evacuation at Billy Ray Cyrus Concert
Feb. 7, 2009, 10:40 AM ESTEntertainment Tonight
ET confirms that a Billy Ray Cyrus concert being filmed for "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" ended prematurely when a fire erupted nearby.
A rep for ABC tells us a chimney fire broke out during the shoot, but there were no injuries and all the spectators were safely evacuated.
The rep says the "Extreme Makeover" cast and crew's thoughts are with Jim and Gail Hasty, who hosted the event at their Boulder Creek Ranch property in Hesperia, Calif., and lost their lodge in the fire.

My Response:

Hey, Extreme Home Makeover, I'm pretty sure you have the money and the resources to fix this guy's lodge that burned in the fire. What the heck? I mean, Jim and Gail Hasty let you host some Billy Ray Country extravaganza and the biggest news to come out of it is that the poor family lost their lodge? Are you kidding me??