Went 'shopping' last night...

... Shopping as in visiting an online store I do some shopping from. Came out pretty good, a pair of new shoes, a new coat, two over-sized jumpers and a cowl that follows one of the jumpers.

I've never really been a fan of shopping for clothes in actual stores, too many people (I'm claustrophobic and hate crowds) and having to try everything on in the store. I prefer shopping online, try it on at home and return whatever doesn't fit.

Shot off a couple of emails to Kiri to show her the shoes and coat, there was purring heard from Virginia over both items. The shoes are wedges and they have the same style as my newest pair of boots that I ordered from the same place about a month ago. I decided I needed the shoes too as boots aren't always the best choice depending on the weather.

The coat is for when the weather gets a little colder than what it is right now. This weekend has given us the best weather in a few weeks. It was even good enough to hang some laundry outside, not bad in itself as I have no room for hanging laundry inside and would have to use the dryer, which draws so much power, it isn't even funny.

These are the boots I bought about a month ago, very comfortable to wear.

These are the shoes I ordered last night. Should be as comfortable as the boots.

I love over-sized jumpers, these are a greyish purple.

Slightly different and Black.

The cowl that goes with the first jumper.

The coat! Don't think I need to say too much about this one...

Not too much else to report. I'll just let Kiri know where she can get the whole shopping-list I put in last night, and leave it at that.

Here Kiri, Kiri, Kiri...

Sshhh... Be wevvy, wevvy quiet, I'm hunting for Kiri-shaped friend...

Yeah, I found my way back here, too bad Kiri hasn't been enticed to make a comeback yet. I'm not giving up, though, far from it. I'm a stubborn wench, make no mistake about it!

I fear Kiri's work situation remains shaky. This meaning that she's stuck temping again, and unable to keep regular hours. I hate this situation she's in and wish it didn't have to be like this, but with things being the way they are, work-wise in the US, I'm afraid it might be a long while until she can be lured back in here.

I see her on Facebook, from time to time, but never having time to chat. Too busy at work and not allowed to poke her head out of her tasks long enough to say 'Hey!'. Kinda sucks seeing as I miss her and need my playmate.

The Empress has grown to her full size now, and yes, she's a big, heavy girl. Though, she's still able to look kinda on the skinny side. Don't ask me how she does it, I have no clue, but I'd pay good money to learn her secret. She remains playful and attention-seeking and her sable claws are still lethal!

I'm no longer a scratch-post for her to trim them on, but I remain her favorite chew-toy. Thankfully, she never bites down hard, so there's no blood loss anymore.

Summer is singing on its final verse here in Norway. Today was sunny and warm, but the wind told me that Autumn is coming. I'm not ready for that, summer was too short and rainy this year. Not to mention the fact that I spent all three weeks of my vacation-time in bed, sick. No fair!

In other news, I need a new keyboard... again... Keyboards do not like being laced with The Empress' fine fur and keeps locking up. I had to go back to an older one because the newest one just up and died on me. Those keys were still in good working condition, not so much on this one!

My jaw locked up on me one week into my vacation, and have remained stubbornly locked in place ever since. This is week five with that painful condition. I think it's a tendon that tightened itself up, and it's not showing any sign of loosening up again anytime soon.

I should really make an effort to come up with topics to write about, but I'm no newshound, nor am I particularly political. I'm the type that look through the different agendas around electiontime and pick whomever have the most topics I agree with. In a pinch, I'll go with whomever I disagree the least with. I don't follow political debates and I get my news in online newspapers. I rarely go to the movies, so I can't even write about that. I do tend to go for nostalgic walks down memory lane with old TV shows I used to follow. I get my hands on them now to see if they still capture med as they used to. Sometimes, I'm left with an aghast feeling of 'Did I ever actually follow that crap?' Other times, as the case was with the A-Team, I get right into the old groove of it and enjoy every second of it. So what topics to write about?

I still bitch, moan, ramble and complain. Sometimes quite coherently, other times... not so much... I hope I'm not mellowing out already, I was hoping to save that for when I got really old!

Trying to get into Airwolf again, but I don't feel the same about that show as I did back then. It's not a bad feeling, just that it's not quite how I remembered it. again, not bad, just... Not the rush I used to get from that show.

Time to get my attention elsewhere, it seems... The Empress just tried to eat my ring, in her 'Ooooh shiny!' way. Time to give her a little attention again... it's been all of fifteen minutes since the last session!

Long time, No see...

Wow, it's been a ridiculous long time since I was in here.

Let's see, what have I been up to...

I've been busy at my Live Space, doing stuff in my own mother tongue for a change. I've wound up on Facebook and have discovered that it's really not that scary there. We're doing multi-skill at work, which means I know answer questions on all products. That included a pay rise, so I'm not complaining. besides, we have all these sweet guys there ready, willing and able to help when a particularly tricky problem rears its ugly head.

Kiri has not been seen in months... I miss her terribly and hope she gets back into the swing of things soon. This must be killing her, not going to work. It's nice enough to be at home for a few days, but then you start to miss being useful. At least that's how it was for me when I was out on sick leaves.

The Empress has grown even more. Georgia would probably be dwarfed by her if they were ever to meet.

It's Easter Holidays here, so I have five days off from work. Well, including the weekend which I always have off anyways... I have canceled my ADSL and upgraded my cable Internet to the max, which is about 20 MB, have I noticed a difference? Oh yes! All for the better!

I've been visiting ShadowRider's blog a few times, she does write a lot about horses, which is all good, I love horses, even if I haven't ridden in years.

I find myself spending more time on Facebook than anywhere else, these days. Some fun games to be played there, and most of the people I work with are there. But someone is missing... Yeah, Kiri!

So, Kiri, my sweet and wonderful partner in crime, if you happen by... Know that I miss you... Loads!!!

Missing my Kirishaped Friend!

Wow! That's all I can say, and sorry! Sorry is meant exclusively for Raina i.e.: my Kirishaped friend!

I'm heading full speed into the last weekend of my three week vacation, and I realize that I've been lax about updating here.

Three weeks flew by too fast for my liking, my only consolation is that I have two more weeks to do with as I please before the year is up!

Poor Kiri have seemed so swamped lately, that I have chosen not to initiate conversation in fear of getting her into trouble or distracting her. Figuring that I'll let her initiate if she has the time. Obviously, she's not had any of that for weeks. The result is a two way deal;

1. I miss her, terribly! But feel proud that I'm not bugging her when she's busy...

2. I feel like a bad friend for being quiet!

First week of my vacation saw me and my sister, Catwalk, heading to Sweden for a shopping trip on Friday. We didn't really pay attention to the time, so when we got to my place afterwards, we couldn't believe how late it was, it was well past 9 PM - we had left around 2 PM...

Someplace around 11 PM, I drove her back out to her boyfriend's place for the night. I was home well past midnight...

Saturday saw Catwalk showing up at my place again. In desperate need of a shower, as her boyfriend lives in a modified barn, and therefore lacks said convenience. I had offered her the use of my shower, so it's not like she wasn't expected!

She's as slow getting into gear as I am, so it did take some coffee, playing with The Empress and yet more coffee before she finally headed for showergels and hot water. We'd already decided that due to her boyfriend being even harder to get into gear, we wouldn't be able to visit our Grandmother at the nursing home like we had planned. That sucked big time, as Catwalk had been looking forward to that, not having seen her in a long time now.

My second week of vacation was spent being lazy and recuperating from the marathon weekend with Catwalk. The Empress has been getting a lot of attention, and loves every second of it, and I've been watching a lot of movies!

Only thing I did last week, not designed for laziness, was visiting my Grandmother with my mom, and then taking my mom out grocery shopping, as it's difficult for her to get everything she needs when she has to drag it to the bus, for then to drag it from the bus and home.

This week saw me getting all the bills paid and consequently getting broke before I'd even gotten to enjoy having money in my bank account! Wasn't a lot left when I was done!

Yesterday, it was off to visit my Grandmother with my mom again, and getting some of her shopping done again. I got a sudden inspiration late last night, and wound up scrubbing the kitchen counters and the stove. Today, I have big plans for cleaning the rest of the apartment.

My original plan for hosing down the bathroom fell through. It's been rainy and miserable, so I haven't been able to clear everything out in order to get the scrubbing I planned done.

The Empress has been hard at work, hunting down whatever comes in through the open veranda door, keeping the number of flies and such to a bare minimum. Good girl! She's at it, even now...

In addition to bad weather, I have new neighbors above me and to the side. They've been drilling in the walls, hammering and generally making as much noise as possible throughout my vacation. Not to mention that the roadwork on the old bridge is going nearly day and night, making sure I don't get to sleep in in the mornings. Fun!

So, there you go. My vacation so far, and seeing as it's over as of this coming Sunday, there you have it!

Kiri, my sweet, if you do get the time, let me know there is life on your end would you? I really do miss you!

Holy crap I'm lazy...

Isn't it amazing, just how lazy one can get when it's hot and sunny? And when it's raining so much you get depressed? Doesn't matter, really. When you're lazy, you're lazy, and there are a multitude of excuses. 'It's too hot, I can't be bothered doing that...' 'It's raining so much, it's depressive, I don't wanna do it now...' I openly admit to being lazy, of late. Too lazy, even. So today, I've made an effort to get some shit done.

I've laundered two machines worth of clothes. They're swaying, oh so, gently in the mild breeze, almost dry, already. I've updated both my Live Spaces with new posts. And I have a clear plan to get the vacuum out. Today, I plan to be efficient, without stressing too much, I don't want a relapse of yesterday's migraine.

The Empress has been knocked on her ass by the hot weather, today. She's passed out on her platform. She went for a 'daredevil' run on the veranda yesterday, in the shower we got. Huge raindrops, heavy enough to knock her silly. She left it at that one run, thankfully, as she sprayed everything shaking the rain out of her fur.

She's posed a little in front of my new webcam, in order to let my sister see her. My sister, in turn goes nuts wagging her finger back and forth in front of her own camera, going 'Kitty, kitty, kitty.' The Empress ignores her every attempt at seduction. 'If you ain't here to pet me, you don't exist!' So, she proceeds to investigate everything on the desk, exept the image window on the screen, showing her aunt trying to get her attention.

Earlier this week, before the new camera was hooked up, I activated the old one in a chat with Kiri. I was planning to scare her, a little, but she was anything but intimidated. She did get a couple of eyefulls of Her Furry Highness, though. So all was good in the land of Kiriness.

For some reason, I keep getting error messages when I try to visit Kiri's blog, here on blogspot. I have no idea why, but it's put a dampener on my mood and willingness to blog, as of late. We'll probably figure it out, eventually. It's not as if this is the first time this has happened.

It's vacation time at work, leaving me swamped. Don't get me wrong, I like being a little busy! It makes the day go faster. But there is busy, and there is too damned busy for words. It's the latter, that's been the fact this week at work. And my own vacation time seems too far away to be any comfort.

I've been back to working full time, again, since May 25. There are days when I feel it more in my hands than others. I prefer the days when it's not quite so painful. Gee, wonder why?

Well, if not for anything else, today has seen me updating three blogs. Not a bad days work, if I do say so myself...

Aaahh... Blogspot!

I kinda feel like I've been neglecting this blog. Been so busy over at Live Spaces and getting into blogging in my own language, this place has seen few updates lately.

Come tomorrow, I'm back to work 100%. About freaking time, is all I'm saying. The arm is far from 100%, but I don't care anymore. 80% has been going good enough that I don't wanna wait anymore.

Kiri has opened up a Space too, but she hasn't done much with it. She ran into some of the same problems my sister did, though she did manage to snag the horoscope service that my sister is still in hot pursuit of. Told my sister, she was aghast that Kiri had managed in one try, what she has been trying to do, but failed at for weeks.

I kinda feel like I've neglected Kiri too, seeing as my blogging at Spaces is in Norwegian, which she doesn't understand. Maybe I should start a second space, in English?

I didn't get to see Def Leppard Friday. The plan that most of the team at work was going dwindled out into nothing, and for some reason, I wasn't informed. They all thought I knew, which I didn't until two weeks before the show. Too late for me to nag anyone else into coming with me, and I really don't like going alone. Too bad too, as the show had raving reviews!

As it turned out, one of the girls was invited to a wedding this weekend, and felt that the wedding had to take priority, which I totally agree with, don't get me wrong. But as she was the one that insisted she'd get all the tickets together, I'd have liked to be informed sooner than I was. I really wanted to go...

After that, one by one fell off the 'wanna go' wagon, and I was the last to be informed. Sucks!

In other news, I've put in an application for another job. This would be a new field for me, but one where knowing customer care can come in very handy. It's at the local consumers office, and there's nothing I like better than solving problems. I really hope they'll consider me, it'd mean better pay and more challenges in my work. I crave challenges, these days. There's really not a whole lot of it where I am now. Occasionally I get a tough case, but they are few and far between, these days. I guess I'll just have to wait and see. It's pointless calling them to ensure they got my application, as it was done electronically, and I've already received confirmation they've got it.

Received an envelope from FedEx, Friday. Four packs of Ranch dressing for my enjoyment. Thank you Kiri, I haven't gotten around to mix any up yet, but I plan to! And now my sister is demanding a taste too...

I need to get a care packet ready for Kiri soon. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. I'll think of something. I know she likes my preferred brand of coffee, so there'll have to be a couple of packs of that too.

The Empress is relaxing out on the veranda today. She got no joy yesterday as it was pouring down with rain, but today, the sun is back!

Oh well, time I got my ass moving a little. Things to do, even on a Sunday...

Meh...

What a rough last couple of weeks...

For a while there, I was worried my ME had come back to bite me on the ass. I've had no energy aside from crawling out of bed and going to work. I've been hibernating every chance I had to save up strength and energy. This has, of course, pissed The Empress off to the point where she took dumps outside her litter box, just to get some amount of attention. Kiri hasn't 'seen' me at all, aside from a tag here and there on her blog, explaining my absence. I think it's getting better now. I can honestly blame a lot of the lethargy on my cough medicine, which is laced with Morphine, leaving me with a morphine hangover for nearly two weeks. Even though I only had to take it at night to be able to sleep through all the coughing. I've had a couple of nights now where I've been able to sleep without it, and I can feel the lethargy peeling off. Bliss!

The Empress is now seeming to forgive my lack of attention and willingness to be her favorite chew toy, and has been visiting her litter box, dutifully, again. She's currently hanging out on the veranda soaking up the summer temperatures. I know, she's staying in the shade, but still. She does take regular trips inside, to make sure I'm still here to serve as her chew toy. Then, satisfied that I am, she heads back out again.

My mother and her siblings (two younger sisters and one little brother) have been busy cleaning out my grandmothers apartment. With the blessings of said grandmother, seeing as she's not going back there. At 99 and in her weakened state after her illness last winter, she's finally agreed that she's no longer capable of taking care of herself.

I drove my mom to pick up some of the larger stuff she was keeping, pictures and paintings and whatnot, then I noticed that no one had claimed her lemonade set. It's a lovely green set, that I have loved since I was little. My mom got one of her sisters on the horn, and was informed that if I wanted it, I should grab it, no one else had said anything about keeping it. So, now it's sitting pretty in my cabinet!

Glasses, plates, a bowl and the pitcher. Oh
and some of my crystals...

I did get a scare last week, when on the very day of Kiri's day off, three (yeah, not one, not two, but three!!!) twisters hit Virginia. As I'm not quite sure of the geography of Virginia, I have no idea where on the map Kiri actually is, so I had a near panic attack. Day after, she was back at work and could tell me over the IM that they hit nowhere near her and to start breathing again!

I've had two weeks at my new desk at work, and I can only say... I freaking hate it! I want my old desk back, I get no peace where I'm seated now, and the distractions are twenty times what they were back by the wall. Also, I miss my three sweet boys! They kept the distractions to a minimum and only bothered me when they truly needed a quick answer. Bless their hearts, they kept me entertained with their constant (good natured) bickering, and they were easy to tune out when I needed too. The noise level where I am now is harder to tune out. There was no noise by the wall, just a hum... At least my team leader said it wasn't permanent and that there's always a chance I can get it back, just not yet. They needed my desk for the two new ADSL boys that came over from the other call center, y'know, the one I was at before? Yep, they came over from cellular solutions, private market and wanted to learn ADSL. Hence, I had to vacate my desk.

Even here at home, I don't get to keep my desk to myself... As evidenced by this:

Take note of how carefully she blocks my access to my keyboard!
This was taken just last night, so it's the most recent picture
of The Empress.

I've also been preoccupied with the online newspapers, covering the Incest scandal in Amstetten, Austria. I'm just horrified that a father can do something like that to his own child. It angers me that it happens, and I feel a sense of hopelessness that I have no power to do anything about it. It's been a heavy topic at work, I think we all feel the same way about it.

Today, I have big plans to do some cleaning. I've been lax about it during my flu and the last couple of weeks worth of morphine induced lethargy. Just to avoid temptations, I'll turn the computer off and get to work... Later!

Thank all good forces, it's Friday!

Early Friday morning in Norway. It's raining again... Heavy fog too. Hope it clears up like it did yesterday, which turned out sunny and kinda warm seeing as the icy wind let up.

I've been doing my tagging duties over at Kiri's place, and now I'm just sitting here, wrapping myself around my second cup of coffee.

I'm up to working 80% now. First day was yesterday. Told my esteemed team leader right off of bat; 'I'll be taking it nice and easy today. Just so that you know. I'm easing myself into this.' That was no problem for her, she expected me to and would probably be annoyed with me if I went full steam ahead after adding 20% to my workday. Not that any of us saw much of her all day, anyway.

I made it through my day, avoiding doing myself more harm, so that's a good sign. At least I hope it is.

Kiri is going gaga over the Iron Man movie about to come out. I'm eagerly awaiting The Forbidden Kingdom starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li. Should be interesting. From the trailers I've seen, it looks like old school Kung Fu, movies. With magics and fighters flying gracefully around. As I adored Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and loathed Kung Fu Hustle, this will be more to my taste.

After watching the Iron Man trailer over at Kiri's, the one thing that stuck with me was; I could hear Ozzy towards the end saying; 'I Am Iron Man!' Sweet.

Well, no time for more ramblings at this time. I really need to get ready for work, later!

Sweet Relief!

Seriously, it's a relief - and it's sweet!

Got our tax returns this week, well, mine arrived today. Last year hurt like a bitch, wound up owing back taxes for the first time in my life. I've always gotten refunds, what gave? The arm thing, that's what did it. So I wasn't very optimistic about this years returns. I even debated with myself whether or not to open that damned envelope. 'I'll just take it over to my mom, let her open it and break it to me gently!' Then thinking better of it, 'Nah, she'd never let me live it down. Take your damn medicine and open the thing!' Obedient as always, I did what I was told and opened it... Jackpot! I'm getting a refund!!! ::Does a happy dance::

I've been carrying a giant knot in my stomach, waiting for the tax returns - convinced I was going to end up owing back taxes again. I felt the knot loosen up as I was calling my mom to give her the good news. I was wiped by the whole thing. Maybe tonight, I won't be plagued with heartburn, as I have been every night since last Thursday, when they started sending these things out...

Yesterday, Kiri posted a message of concern, I'd been quiet again, no bugging her on Monday. Well, I was watching the Triple H - King Of Kings DVD, and completely forgot to turn off my IM's invisibility setting. Dang! Off it came and I gave her a holler. Turned out she'd gotten a little too much work done, and wasn't having any of it!

Wrestling, you say? Yeah, I'm a bit of a fangirl at times. My inner geek comes out to play watching the action. Of course, my inner geek comes out to play a lot at times. Movies, comics, TV shows I can't do without... and wrestling!

Work has been good, my arm is getting a little better, I think. Could be because my two main areas have been fairly quiet, so I've been on the phone a little more. I like being on the phone at times, especially when I can actually provide assistance and take care of a problem for a customer. I hate getting yelled at for no reason other than being the poor sap that got the caller, but I'm no different than anyone else on my team, in that respect. Good thing for me, I don't take crap, and I let them know; 'Wanna yell, fine! It's not gonna get your problem fixed. Wanna get the problem fixed? Fine, shut up and let me ask the questions!'

Fortunately, on business solutions, we have very few screamers calling in. Though, we have noticed that there are a lot of people so stupid, they shouldn't be allowed to own a freaking business, least of all a cellphone or a computer!

My hellweek, week after Easter gave some interesting feedback from my team leader. She'd been getting feedback from the other team leaders about me, as they had gotten it from just about everyone that had been at my desk asking questions about this and that. Turns out, I'm just so cheerful and nice all the time, they had to tell their team leaders, who in turn told my team leader when she got back from her Caribbean cruise. And here I was worried I had been bordering on crabby from the giant workload I had to take care of alone. It was, it seems, all in my head. Good, I hate being crabby when people ask how to do something correctly. I'd rather tell them how to do something right when they ask, than having to fix the mess after they bungled it because they didn't ask in the first place. So, I did manage to be nice and friendly at all times - Yay me!

Well, I'm gonna bask in the glow of getting a tax refund and go bug Kiri now... Later!

Saturday Morning Reflections

This last week at work was nothing, if not stressful. Talk about cramming a shitload of work into 4,5 hours. Got the results for Wednesday, a whopping 109% efficiency delivered. Acceptable results are actually 65%. Yeah, we get measured on efficiency at my workplace. Unless we deliver, the client can fine us for not doing a good enough job.

Apparently, no one had anything to say about my performance, in the face of, apparently, unbeatable odds. I worked my ass (and arms) off, and they knew it!

I was fortunate enough to be allowed to hide under my headphones, with my own choice of music blaring in my ears. Thursday was all Korn, Friday was a little bit of Korn and a whole lot of BLS. Yep, I love working with music in my ears. I work faster, I'm not bothered by chatter around me and the only thing I have to fight is the urge to get up and dance...

The other veteran was back at work, yesterday, meaning I had a normal day again. It was heavenly! I only had my own shit to worry about, as he was up to his eyeballs in his, as usual. I still had to take whatever came form the main office, though, as he was pressed enough for time. Thankfully, it was only one case that required my attention, so it was dealt with accordingly.

Kiri was extremely quiet yesterday. But then, so was I. I opted not to bug her too much, and wound up not bugging her at all. See? I can be quiet and considerate!

Today, I plan on staying off the computer, mostly anyway. I have a load of new DVD's that's been begging for my attention. I'm gonna have to answer that call and declare a movie marathon, of sorts. I'll just have to step outside and get some more Ginger Ale (only sugary beverage I drink) and a new batch of microwave popcorn... Preferably buttered! I'm already set with chocolate...

I know I'm gonna be watching the Transformers movie. Also I should probably watch Extreme Justice, as I had a hard enough time hunting it down. Even harder to Find was Striking Range, had to get them both from the US. Thank the makers of zone free DVD players! Or in my case, Harman/Kardon. Punch in a code and off we go on zone 1 movies, punch the code in again, we're off on zone 2 (Europe) movies. I love my DVD player, it's old and trustworthy. This is the first DVD player I bought, and I dread ever having to replace it. It's a player, not a recorder, so in that respect, I'm way behind the rest of the DVD world. I'm still happy with the quality of sound and picture it offers, so until it goes on the fritz, it stays where it is!

It started raining yesterday, just a light drizzle. It must have intensified during the night, because there's no trace of snow any longer. I'm not complaining. The snow came late, and had everyone groaning. We were so ready for Springtime, it was almost ridiculous. It's still raining, though...

My arms are still angry with me for the punishment I put them through this week at work. Another good reason to stay off the computer today.