Egrets, Ibis, Alligators and my own personal Discovery Channel...

I've started to get used to this nice relaxing view I have... It's very calming to see all the various comings and goings of the local 'wildlife' . The main traffic is the ibis' (or is it Ibiss, maybe Ibises?)... They look great from a distance, but up close they are kind of dirty faced scoundrels...

So the birds come and go... Taking the periodic dip in the 'lake', plucking the unseen bugs from the ground with their long beaks, and just hanging around...

And then there's the alligators...

The woman at the association office was very eager to school me on the 'ponds-edge etiquette', as there had been sightings of the elusive alligators in our calm waters. Which I wouldn't have believed until last weekend, when I almost ran my car up onto to the golf course because I was too busy watching one of these creatures climb out of the water and neglected to pay attention to the curve in the road...

So, the other night, after I had spent some time unpacking boxes, shifting boxes, and filling cabinets,,,, I was standing on my new balcony-patio-porch-thingy and looking out over the lake-pond. It was about 9:30pm, dark outside, but one of the lights from the parking lot was shining through the buildings onto the waters edge. It was a very peaceful night, the water was calm, and there were actually 3 ibis walking right along the edge of the water looking for their evening snack. As one stopped, looking at me on my new balcony-patio-porch-thingy much the same way I was looking at him,,, noticing his new neighbor... But I was drawn to the other two, who for some reason had started to put a distance between themselves and their dining companion...

And then it happened... In the quiet of the evening, a BIG splash, my eyes dart back... and the odd man out, is now the odd man ate... GONE... The splash was not that of a splashing fish, as it jumps for a bug just above the water... This splash was Discovery Channel worthy... and although I am glad I didn't actually see it happen,,,


As the water calmed back down, and the other two ibis went back to dining on grubs as though their friend had never existed, I found myself actually disappointed that I had looked away, and possibly missed my one opportunity to witness natures survival of the fittest from a front row seat....

And then I realized that although my TV has a remote, that allows me to flip the channel when these brutally honest moments in nature are about to take place... My new balcony-patio-porch-thingy does not... So I am sure to have to sit through a re-run in the near future...

I'll keep you posted.... Later gator!!!

Breaking the last link: A Photo Essay

Feeling Good... I swear Michael Buble wrote that song just for me !!!

The things you find...

I tried to pretend that the reason I didn't throw things out this time (while packing the house) was because it had to be done in such a hurry... 3 and a half, 4 days to pack up a house get it into a couple PODS all the while filtering out the things I just had to have for the next few months...

Since I had lived without most of these treasures for almost 6 months, I decided it was time to purge. I have had a 4 day weekend and had GRAND plans of emptying all the boxes and having things put away so that when I came home from work on Tuesday, it would really feel like coming HOME... Grand plans they were...

Now, I have filled a few big boxes with items for Goodwill, and have also gone through a box of garbage bags and been very thankful that trash shoot was just around the corner... but I haven't gotten nearly as much done as I would have liked... Why??? Because I started going through boxes... Boxes from 1986, 1996 and 2006 and so on... Then I came upon a box in a box in a box,, it was a set, you know the sturdy kind that look finished/decorative with silver handles and corner covers,,, and inside the smallest box (that wasn't very small) I found the reason I hadn't done anything with these boxes in the last 8 or so years....

I found the remnants of my marriage... All there in a nice box, chronologically stacked, dried flowers, love notes, ring boxes, letters and cards from when my husband was out of town, or in town and working late,,, or just because... Letters from when my husband was my husband and from when my husband loved me.... My first thought was "wow, I thought I threw this out a long time ago" ... then I started to go through it... Not the mistake you are thinking it may have been,,, I believe it's always good to know that someone loved you that much... enough to profess it over and over, card after card, letter after letter.... But then I sadly realized I no longer believe it, any of it... I think that's probably the saddest part of divorce,,, well, at least my divorce... I no longer have the joy of believing that that person loved me as much as they said they did (for he told me it wasn't true)...

So this time, after all the other times of finding this box (I've packed the box 5 times and moved it 5 times in 8 years) I decided I am done, even though I thought I was done years ago... the only thing that will come from me finding this box again in a couple years is the same reliving of a sad moment (even though some of those cards did bring a smile to my face, he was clever when he wanted to be)...

Somehow, it just doesn't feel like that baggage belongs in this house... I doesn't go with my new decor...

Face glitter... I'm not kidding....

So, I know yesterday's anti-Mother's Day post may have seemed a bit, oh I don't know,,, bitter?!

Well, today made up for it... Monday's are always a bit hectic... Catching up on weekend emails, planning the week, etc, etc, etc...

I finally got time with my boss today at about 4:00... There I was, going over my project quote with him before I send it out to the client and I look up....

There, on his right cheek,,, an ever so small piece of silver glitter! I'm not kidding!!! I got this grin on my face, it was all I could do not to laugh. He is a very straight laced kind of guy, never anything out of place... So I took a little breath and very tactfully pointed out the glitter...

To which he replied... "Oh, must be from the kids Mother's Day cards... They worked so hard on them,,, I swear there's glitter everywhere!"

We laughed as I helped him locate, remove and dispose of the pesky piece of Mother's Day left overs....

Inside, I was wishing the glitter was on my face...

The glass is half full,with sour grape juice...

Because I have been way too upbeat lately,,, here's a flashback to the former self's perspective...

Mother's Day, schmother's day...
Big deal, so you grew another human being,,, people have been doing that since the beginning of time... Today you will eat burned pancakes, undercooked bacon, and drink coffee that tastes like tar... All at about 6:30 in the morning cuz the critters are too excited to actually let you sleep in... You will get cards stuck together with glue and glitter (that will fall off at the slightest touch; you will still be finding that random speck stuck to your face at Christmas)... and you will still have to clean everything up later...

What do those of us who don't have children get to do today? We slept in until we couldn't sleep any longer. We still get to have someone make us breakfast,,, after a short drive, they are always glad to take our order and happy to make that Sausage McMuffin, to order, and the coffee is always HOT... We get to do whatever we want, laundry, go to the grocery store, clean... and the remote is always ours...

But for you... YOU actually grew another human being... 9 months of hibernation, and then went through what you had to go through to bring them into the world... You will sit up in bed, as the little feet run into the room to smother you with kisses and hugs and cards... You will gladly eat the burned pancakes, undercooked bacon, and tar like coffee,, because they tried so hard and are oh so excited to be doing this for you for a change... you won't even notice the mess in the kitchen... 6 months from now, you will look in the mirror and see a random piece of glitter stuck to your cheek, and you will realize it's the same color that was on your Mother's Day card, and you will smile,,, even though it will take you 5 minutes to actually remove it, and dispose of it in a manner that will ensure it won't show up again... As you clean that mess in the kitchen, you will be smiling to yourself about the effort they put in, even though it took three times as many dishes, utensils and broken eggs as when you do it...

But for me... My Sausage McMuffin was fantastic, just the way I like it,, hot with a little of the cheese stuck to the paper... My coffee was great, even though it was so hot I couldn't really taste my McFuffin to the fullest extent of its goodness... I will have the laundry mat to myself today, I will breeze through the grocery store with no wait in line... I will watch LifeTime all day if I want....

I would trade my hot McMuffin for a pesky piece if glitter any day... Even if I had to get up at 6:30 in the morning and eat burned pancakes to get it....

I can't wait....

I can't wait for this week to be over....

It has sucked the life out of me. I am totally overwhelmed. This project I am working on is all I can think about. It's huge for our business unit, huge for the company,,, which means it is weighing on my shoulders with the weight of the world.

I can't wait to feel like I know what I'm doing....

Does everyone have moments where they feel like they are fooling everyone around them? Even themselves? I don't feel like it's something I am doing intentionally, as in, Oh, I sure do have the wool pulled over their eyes, hahaha... It's more of a, what were we all thinking, putting me in this position?!!! Most of the time, I feel OK with what I'm doing,,, this week, the finger nails are scratching at the dirt as the rest of me is dangling off the cliff.

I can't wait for May 15th....

Why you ask? My furniture as well as a good portion of my worldly possessions will finally get delivered to my new apartment. The second POD will be delivered on the 22nd, and then I am sure I will be complaining about unpacking,,, But I will finally be settled... I have been in 'transition' since, ohhhhh let's see,,, August? That's when I first started talking to my boss about this job... Left everything behind in December... It will feel good to sleep in my own bed...

I can't wait for my first cup of coffee....

I'm sure the day will look better after I have been able to down a good 12 -24 ounces of caffeine laced goodness.... It will look even better tomorrow morning, and better yet the day after that!!

Afternoon Plans...

Yummm..... Should be fun!