She's in a better place.

Today was my maternal grandmother's funeral.

Yesterday was the memorial service/viewing.

It's been a pretty awful week (she passed on the 17th), and an especially emotional and draining weekend. My grandma turned 100 last year, and would have been 101 yesterday. I still can't believe she's gone; and even though everyone tells me she's in a better place (and I do believe she is), the pain is still so powerful.

It hurts even more when family drama takes a seat at the head of the table. It's the type that's been brewing for years and years, but came to a head yesterday. The dagger to my heart throughout the process - well one of the daggers - was when I stated that I had written a little something to read in memory of my grandmother, and the pastor of the church - who happens to be my uncle/my grandma's son stated that 'the tribute list was just so full already', and that 'we don't want the program to run long, so...we'll see'. Yeah, it never happened. I was provided a pre-approved scripture to read, and time was made for multiple members of the church community to tell stories, read letters, sing songs with seemingly unending choruses, and read statements from local counsel members who never even met my grandma. All this while the other children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were allowed to...just sit there.

I said some of the words to my grandma at her graveside today. It was during a quiet moment after most everyone had left, and while it was not the same as being able to share it with everyone at the memorial, I'm sure she heard me from up there and hopefully she smiled :)

For Grandma J:

 

 

For those who don't know me, my name is R. I am [my mom and dad's names here] daughter; and I want to say a few words in memory of my grandmother.

 

It's difficult to put into words how much my grandmother meant to me. She was a strong, intelligent, spiritual woman. She was loving and caring and had an amazing voice, a beautiful smile, and these wonderful cheekbones... She passed a lot of wisdom, conviction and strength down to her children, including my wonderful mother (who is a spitting image of her mother), who I am happy to say passed those traits on to me and my sisters.

 

I didn’t get to spend as much time with my grandmother as I would have liked, but even though our time together was too brief I felt like we had a strong bond. She was the only one to call me the special nickname she gave me, and observing her kindness and faith since I was a child has had a great impact on how I've viewed and treated others throughout my life.

My grandmother loved LIFE. She loved her family, and she loved God. No matter what situations life presented her with - no matter how challenging - she was able to overcome it with a wonderful attitude and belief in the love and power of the Lord. Not once did I witness her giving in to...pettiness, one-upsmanship, guilt...or having to downgrade the worthiness of others around her in order to make herself feel better, or appear better in the eyes of others... No, my grandmother showed me that no matter what happens in life, if you remain calm and positive, and keep your FAMILY and your FAITH in your mind and in your heart, you can overcome it. It was lessons like that...especially her emphasis on the importance of always nurturing each other and being there for your family...that I will remember the rest of my life. 

 

I love my family with every ounce of me. My parents, sisters and my husband travel with me in my heart every second of every day; and I count my grandmother as one of the inspirations for showing me how important love for family is, and what strength that love provides during both the happy AND sad times. It is incredible what an open mind and a kind heart can do.

As long as I can remember my grandmother shared with me the importance of faith. She was a very religious woman, who showed me how a belief in God helped shape her life. She did not feel the need to force anyone to follow a specific path; but instead knew that everyone has to follow their own personal journey to the Lord. I owe my grandmother immensely for my passion and faith in God, and I hope that I can live my life with the same honor, grace and respect that she did.

My grandma often spoke about how wonderful it would be when she would get to meet the Lord again; and while we were blessed to have her with us to celebrate the milestone of her 100th birthday here on Earth with us last year, He called one of his best creations home to celebrate with him this year. Happy 101st birthday Grandma. You will always be loved and remembered; and you will forever be deeply missed. 

Thank you.

Well, I'm exhausted and am going to take a nap. I hope everyone was able to have a more relaxing weekend than I did, and that the rest of the week gets better.

Congratulations Class of 2012!

Congratulations (again) to Sis 2!!! She graduated college on Sunday :) I'm so proud of her.

It was a lovely ceremony - the speech to the class from the honorary degree candidate ran quite long, but it was full of good messages for the graduates. But seriously...it was like an epic poem.

It was lovely having the day off yesterday - I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day as well - and having today off is like the icing on an amazingly delicious cake. If only I would win Mega Millions tonight and not have to go back to that viper's nest at all. I called in to check on things, of course, and P let me know that she'd already heard the assistant's telling a few callers that I was out today. Can't wait to check those annoying messages tomorrow :( And why is it that the rest of the work week always seems longer when you have Monday and/or Tuesday off?

Well, whatever, I've still got hours of my day off to enjoy. If only I had an air-conditioner, because this fan isn't doing the trick. If it's this hot already, this summer is going to suck!

Stay cool everyone, and have a wonderful rest of the day!

I took a vacation and came back to a mountain (of paperwork)

Hey everyone...I missed ya :)

Sorry I've been away for a bit, first consumed by work, then on a much needed (albeit too short) vacation with the fam, then again with work. I'm back at work now, and am so happy that I was able to take the week's vacation with my family as my colleague and I were pretty much told that we were going to be so busy this summer that we shouldn't plan to take any time off for the next two or so months. It is going to be a long, hard summer.

Enough of that though. How are all of you doing? My family and I were lucky enough to rent a house in the Poconos for a week. I took a bunch of pics and enjoyed a lot of fresh air. It was a simply wonderful week, and a perfect family trip.

A fun park where we enjoyed mini golf, a driving range, batting cages, laser tag, the arcade, and (the best attraction) go kart racing!

The amazing backyard of the house where we saw an unbelievable amount of deer.

Some wild turkeys

The week was just so wonderful that, yes, it was that much harder to get back into the work groove. I'm still trying actually :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

See Paperwork Sit...

That's all it does. More and more of it keeps finding it's way into my office, and it just sits there. No matter how much work gets done, the piles still grow. I would send out a rescue flare, but imagine the fire hazard.

My boss actually had the gall to come into my office last Tuesday, look me square in the eye after glancing (with disdain I might add) at the literal piles of files and paperwork on my desk, filing cabinets, and floor, and say 'I am re-assigning these files to you. One has a 6/1 deadline, and another doesn't start until July...but it needs to be done by this Monday. The last one will be a problem and the guy will need some hand-holding through the process (to be read TIME CONSUMING) but I gave it to you since I knew you could do it.' She failed to mention the three other projects whose files where hidden in the middle and also have early June deadlines. I'm all for being a team player, but come on!

I would have said thanks for the confidence, but they are always giving me the problem files. Always. Did she immediately put all the paperwork towers that I've got going on out of her head? There is no possible way that I can stay on top of everything as it is, and then she drops the rest of the bad news bomb - the woman whose work is being re-assigned might be out for an additional 2 or more weeks. She already told me that she'd be back in 2 weeks to re-assign some more projects to me. Oh happy day.

Oh...and it gets even better :)

The next day, I was called into a meeting in which I was informed that yet another project was being re-assigned to me...with a deadline of last Friday. I quickly reminded the bosses that I would be out of the office on Friday, to which they responded that the deadline for me would be Thursday. One day to get everything done, on top of everything else that I already have going on. I could feel my blood pressure start continue to rise, but I just put on a poker face, said "No problem", and headed back down to my office. What else could I say? Much as I wanted to say "Well [bosses], much like the Inn at Jesus' birth, I'm all full up. So thanks, but no thanks!", I felt my actual response was more workplace appropriate.

The lady we were filling in for actually surprised everyone and showed up today, so I just gave her all her files back. We'll see if she works the full week. I have my fingers crossed :)

All that made me so frustrated with work last Wednesday, that I sent this e-mail to the mail room supervisor (who also periodically fixes our copiers when they act up) regarding the copier breaking down just when I needed it:

'Hello,
The copier is jammed. Again. Sorry in advance.
It, of course, chose to start behaving like an insolent little child at exactly 6:40pm, leaving that wonderful surprise for everyone to walk in to in the morning.
Thanks'

I hope he had a laugh, or a least a chuckle, when he read it.

My man also came to the City to have lunch with me last week - it was the highlight of my workweek :) On the way to the restaurant we see this...

Morbid, but true.

This week has to be better. I just have to take deep breaths and keep looking forward to the long weekend. Anyone have any Memorial Day weekend plans? I will be attending Sis 1's college graduation!!! Wow, time really flies :) I am so excited for, and proud of, her!

Now, back to work. Have a great day everyone!

The three-hundred-and-eighth to three-hundred-and eleventh days combined...

This weekend went by entirely took quickly. My man and I saw Book of Eli on Friday. It was okay, but either it really dragged at times or I was ridiculously tired (I think it was a combo of both) because it seemed like it went on forever. They jammed about 4.5 hours worth of movie into those 2 hours.

My parents and I took my sisters back to college yesterday, so Saturday flew by. It was freezing in Scranton yesterday.


I was wearing so many layers - including double layered gloves - and my teeth were still chattering every time I stepped outside.


We, of course, went to Quaker Steak and Lube for lunch. Yea, wings :)

Today was all about school work. I feel just as tired now as I did on Friday. I really hope the week goes by quickly and uneventfully - I'm already looking forward to next weekend :)

Have a great night everyone!

A whole lotta days combined...Happy New Year Everyone (a little belated, of course)!

Happy New Year everyone!

I cannot believe that it's 2010 already :) Sorry for being out of touch for quite a while, but I decided to try and stay away from the computer for a bit during the holidays - true much of that decision stemmed from the fact that I was sleeping like it was my job. It was wonderful :) A week and a half off from work filled with family, friends, food, presents and sleep = Lovely. My New Year was pretty mellow and amazing. How about all of you? Any fun parties? Was anyone actually in Times Square for the ball drop?

I snapped this pic as I stepped out of the house one night last week to run an errand. I prefer to think of the plane as an early evening shooting star :)

I have already seen two movies in 2010 - off to a great start. I saw Sherlock Holmes and Avatar. I enjoyed both of them, though Sherlock is in the lead. I just thought the Holmes/Watson relationship was adorable and hilarious. I feel like I was laughing at things in Avatar that weren't supposed to be funny, but I still found it enjoyable. If any of you have seen either film, what did you think?

Anyway, yesterday was back to work, and I'm already exhausted. I fell asleep at like 10:30 last night. I made sure to force myself to stay awake to watch my two hours of Heroes (love that show), but after that I was done. It'll probably take me the rest of this week to adjust to being at work again. Then next week I am flexing so that I can have Tuesday off so I'll be working extra long hours the rest of that week. Joy.

It was cool to see that I'm today's Featured Punkysite. It made my morning a bit brighter.

I love the Punkymoods icons :)

Well, back to work for me. I just have to keep in mind that it's already Tuesday. Only three more days (after this one) until the wonderful weekend - and on Friday night my man and I, accompanied by P and L, are going to the 2010 Professional Bull Riders Madison Square Garden Invitational :) I've never been to anything like it before but, thanks to Goldstar's discount tix, I'm going now! Should be interesting - hopefully even fun.

Happy New Year again everyone! Here's to an amazing, happy, healthy, safe and prosperous 2010 :)

The hundred-and-eighty-fourth day, hundred-and-eighty-fifth day, and hundred-and-eighty-sixth days combined...

Hey everyone :) Sorry for my MIA status, but it was family weekend at my sisters' college. Friday night to this afternoon was family time (awesome!).

Some pics :)

We arrived at the campus on Saturday morning just before registration closed down, but still early enough to catch them inflating the bouncy houses for the kids.

Some of the other games :)

Plenty of families and students were in attendance

One of the statues from the campus

This beautiful little leaf found it's way into our trunk

Mission Accomplished!

Yes, we did go here again - and yes, it was just as amazing!

We saw these at the CVS counter. Why would anyone make these, let alone buy them?

Yuck!

One of the campus buildings. I wish it was my house though :)

Some shopping at the Dollar Store...

and the Christmas Tree Shops...

and we caught a movie, of course :) We saw "Surrogates," btw (it was okay)

Some signs from the science building (we had to wait for my sister to start an experiment so I wandered around for a bit)

It was a wonderful weekend with the family. If only I had Monday off to recuperate :)

Have a wonderful rest of the night everyone!

The hundred-and-eighty-second day...

There was a demonstration across the street from my office this morning. The MTA building is across the street, so I'm thinking it had something to do with them. Workers on strike maybe?


It happens every so often, but it's always interesting to hear and watch - especially if the alternative is facing work e-mails and phone calls.

I have been a mix of tired and excited all week. School and work are wiping me out, but this weekend is family weekend at my sisters' college, so I'm amped about that. I miss 'em quite a bit throughout the school year, and love going to visit them. I won't lie...I'm also hoping to go back to Quaker Steak and Lube. Heaven help me, I loved those wings!

In my haze I wandered into Jacks yesterday and saw this. I actually got super so excited because I thought it was a real world atlas.


I immediately felt that much dorkier, but what can I say - I love maps. Turns out it was just one of those secret safes. I never got safes like these. Seriously, everyone knows they make them and if a burglar comes to your house and sees it, the fact that he or she doesn't know your combination won't stop them from just taking the thing (and all the goodies located within). If I was investing in a safe, I would get one that would actually stand a chance of keeping my things safe. This thing could be dropped in a purse. Crazy.

Enjoy the rest of the night everyone! I'm off to finish up some care packages :)

The hundred-and-twenty-fourth day...(a little belated)

I am once again flexing this week. As a result, I was even more exhausted that usual last night. So exhausted, that on the way home I was convinced that I would fall asleep as soon as I walked through the door. I was almost prepared to collapse behind the door and fall sleep right on the floor. As it turns out, I got settled in for a bit and then lay down on the couch for an hour and a half while watching House Hunters, House Hunters International, and Three Sheets. I actually fell asleep halfway through Three Sheets. I woke up about an hour later - just in time to go to bed.

When my family and I went out this past weekend, we ended up having lunch at Boston Market. This happens every so often, but this time we got this ridiculous amount of food.


We ordered the meal for 5 (whole chicken, 5 sides, and 5 corn breads), and then 2 more individual sides as I wanted to taste the creamed spinach (it was okay) and the baked beans (yummy). My mom also had a coupon for a free whole 2nd chicken. I love rotisserie chicken. The meal was delicious - if a little too salty - and there are still leftovers in the fridge.

Just in case anyone is interested, the other sides we ordered were mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing, and green beans.

Have a great day everyone!

The forty-third day...The first lunch swap

So, some of the ladies at work (myself included) decided to do this lunch swap kind of thing. Every two weeks, one of use brings in lunch for the group so that 1. we get to taste different kinds of food, and 2. we can have at least two days each month when we don't have to either bring our own lunch or spend an arm and a leg in midtown buying lunch. Today was my day, and I asked my dad if he would be so kind as to provide the meal. I know, I know, you asked what?! But, 1. my dad's a chef, 2. it was the first lunch swap day so I wanted it to be extra special for everyone, and 3. I promise that I'll cook when my next turn comes around - well I'll cook at least one thing :)

My dad went ALL out - as he always does :) [Tangent: He and my mom are such great cooks. The Sisters and I are tremendously lucky. Now, if only I could learn to cook that well.] He made food upon food. There are only 4 four of us in the group - well 5 now (My boss sampled the food and immediately wanted to participate :) - but he made enough for 10 or 12 people. I wanted to take pictures of everything, but I kid you not, once the containers were opened, people descended on the food like hyenas on a wounded gazelle. It was a sight to see. P actually had to wipe the table down with furniture cleaner afterwards. Messy peeps. After we ate, I first opened it up to my department and then put the extra in the kitchen so any other hungry soul could take what they wanted.

Do any of you guys have anything like this in your workplaces?

Anyway, on to the menu:

• Chicken Francaise (with a mushroom/onion sauce on the side);
• Saffron Rice;
• Steamed Asparagus and carrots;
• Tossed Salad (with 4 different dressings on the side);
• Apples;
• Dutch Apple Pie; and
• Individual ice-cream cups (assorted flavors).

He also provided bottled water, plates, napkins, and utensils. Like I said - he's awesome and I thank him to infinity and beyond for doing this!

It made me happy to see that everyone loved the food (it made a dreary rain soaked day that much brighter). We all conference called my dad afterward to say thank you :) Another of my co-workers, N, actually made him a little gift as she joked that she wanted to be my adopted sister so she could eat like that everyday...

So cute :)

...but, sorry N. My dad already has my mom, my sisters and me in his life, and we love him to bits :)

Have a great day everyone. Stay dry- again!