Post-it note therapy: To everything, turn, turn, turn......

...there is a season, turn, turn, turn.

Hey folks...it's me....Nej! You remember me, right? I used to post multiple times a week.....and now, apparently, I haven't posted for almost an entire month!!!!

I think I had hit a blog posting wall.

Kinda like the runners wall at mile 20....except energy drinks and gels don't help. :-)

Speaking of, I've started running, but I may have already told you that. But.....now I'm running outside! Yep, was finally cleared by my physical therapist to give it a try.....and now I can't stop!!!

It might be more difficult to run off of the treadmill....but it's a ton more enjoyable to leave the gym and run in the great outdoors.

I can check out the houses in the neighborhood, talk to and get all the neighborhood dogs barking, wave at people on the curb getting their mail.....etc, etc. I have a point that I'm running to....and if I stop before I get there....well, I'd be sleeping on the curb about a mile away from home. :-)

On top of this new found hobby......it's summer.

Well, maybe not officially for a couple of weeks, but once the A/C comes on, it's summer in my book.

And, I've been pretty busy here at work. Me, busy, at work.....go figure!!!

So...my blog reading and posting has suffered.

And, dear reader, for this I apologize! Please don't forget about me. I have a month's work of weekend pictures to upload from my cameras. And I'm going to get to it.....next week.

Tonight we have dance lessons (oh yeah, Mot and I started taking ballroom dance lessons, if I hadn't mentioned that already).....and then a movie with a friend of ours. Tomorrow night I'm hanging out at the Relay for Life grounds, lending support.....Saturday is a camping trip with Mel and Sheila....Sunday I'll come home from camping, maybe hit the driving range with Steve (oh yeah, I actually got my clubs out for the first time in 7 years last weekend!), and then a show downtown with Natalie for her birthday.**

(whew) I'm tired just thinking about it all.



** (shhhh...don't tell anyone, no one is supposed to know it's her birthday...but I know I can trust you)

Post-It Note Therapy: Back Breaking Work

If you haven't seen any of my other post-it note therapy posts....feel free to take a look here, here, here, here, or here. :-)
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Omaha recently received an early Christmas gift from Mother Nature herself.

Ms. Nature needs to hire a personal shopper.

Actually....I love the white stuff....I really do. I love driving in it, I love being outside, and I love sitting inside watching it fall.

And I normally enjoy scooping my driveway.

So, let's say I get home from work early Tuesday afternoon, because the city is shutting down - it's blizzard time!!!

I'd spent that morning driving to work on tires that were nothing more that rubberized skis....convinced the tire shop across the street to put new ones on....drove home busting through snow drifts....walked in the door, and changed into my most flattering scooping outfit.

And, by flattering I mean "hide the children, avert your eyes, oh my god the horror" of an outfit. Brown insulated overalls, camo waterproof rubber boots, fleece camo coat, grey hat (with balls)...

You get the idea....fashion icon I was not!!!

I spend 90 minutes scooping 6 inches of snow off the driveway, all the while thinking to myself "did my driveway grow since I left this morning? have we always had enough room to land small aircraft? I don't care how far I've gotten, 90 minutes is all I'm doing!" and lastly "that hawk has been circling overhead for 20 minutes now, should I be worried?"

I made it 3/4 of the way...and figured the end of the drive could either be scooped later....or we could just drive over it....I was honestly beyond caring!!

I put the shovel away, patted myself on the back for a job well done, and hid inside the rest of the evening watching mindless TV and eating some reheated tamales I'd brought back with me from my last trip to Mexico.
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When I wake up the next morning, I can hear the wind howling.

Hmmmm....oh no. Say it ain't so.

I got out of bed (ignoring the screams of agony from my lower back).

Pulling back the living room curtains, I'm humming "Let it snow, let it snow, let it......

&#$%(*#^%&^)(#*%)#*$!!!!!!

Where did the driveway go???"

The 6 inches I removed the evening before was replaced by 12 more...in the form of 3 and 4 foot drifts.

(sigh)

The coat and overalls I'd worn the day before were a might bit chilly. Maybe just piling them on the floor inside the back door wasn't such a good idea?? :-)

From the front porch, I find the snow is drifted halfway up the outside of the door. You can cross that emergency exit off the list!!

As the garage door opens a few minutes later, snow comes cascading in. Guess I'm not going out that way either.

I grab the shovel and head for the sliding glass door. The drift against the door is 2 foot tall.

(sigh)

After placing towels on the floor, I take a deep breath and open the door.

Have you ever used a shovel to scoop snow from your dining room floor??

I have.

After an hour of scooping a path across the deck, around the dog kennel, and a small "landing zone" for the Jeep in the driveway, Mot makes it home....and I pass off our ONE and only shovel.

Two "sessions" later, the driveway is finally done.

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My back was a little stiff yesterday.....but today....I feel as though I've aged by about 40 years. I can only imagine what Mot feels like today.

Post-It Note Therapy: This is a paperless society??

Short weeks are always good.

Long weekends are awesome!!!

But....the amount of work that crosses our path doesn't decrease...we merely have a shorter time to get it done.

Life just isn't fair, is it??? :-)

Post-It Note Therapy: Paper Cut Suicide

The doctor is in. Post-It Note Therapy, session 3.

(if you've missed the first couple, you can see them here....and here)

Have you ever noticed how working in a paperless society has actually created MORE use of paper? Email means we can send even more information to each other...and in an office, that information usually gets printed out on the other end. I'm not sure how many trees a year I kill....but I'm confident my carbon footprint is Paul Bunyan sized by now. :-)

One of those sheets of paper bit back today. The smallest of cuts hurt the worst.

And, with the stress-induced mood I've been in all week, my mind immediately went to this burning question......Could I actually paper cut myself to death? If anything, the attempt would land me in the loony bin.

Anything to get an afternoon off. :-) :-)



I know, I know...two post it posts in one week?? It's been a bad week. :-)

For those of you who may have noticed my comments to your posts have been lacking....well...you're right. I haven't had a chance to log on and read one blog entry all week. I've got some catching up to do!! :-)

Post-It Note Therapy: Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

It's time for another session of post-it note therapy. Brought to you by your friendly insane (workman's comp claim anyone?) blogger, Nej.

If you've missed any of my other artwork, you can see it here.

It's nice outside in Omaha today. And when it's nice out, it's horrible inside. I'm sure, at some point last week, someone was cold and wussed out. They cranked up the heat when no one was looking.....and now, we're all suffering.

I was out of the office all last week, in Mexico, for work. The ugly Mexico. Kidnap central Mexico. While driving a red Ford Mustang.

Have you ever seen the movie The Mexican, with James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt, and Julia Roberts??

You see, in the movie, the cast continues to visit Mexico (for reasons I won't say here - although, the movie is 8 years old - go see it already!!)....and every time they rent a car, they trade it in for something "more authentic." And, the trade in they are given is always an El Camino. Tricked out, chrome, fringe, the works.

When we all walked out to the rental car parking lot last Tuesday....and saw, parked in spot #46, our rental....a bright (arrest my law breakin' ass) red Ford Mustang.

The three of us just stood there and looked at each other.

We had to drive across the border and through Reynosa in this??

I started giggling. I couldn't help it.

Well, anyway, we made it...alive and well, and back in Omaha.

But, this week is hell. The week after being gone a week is always hell.....and now it's hotter than Hades in here on top of it all.

(mjenks - tell me, is Hades really hot, or is that just an assumption made because it's the Greek underworld?)

I turned my fan on.....and then had a vision of what would happen if the blades started spinning the wrong way.



Is this a cry for help? Yeah, I think so!! :-) :-) :-)

Post-It Note Therapy: Gifts from others

Usually, my post-it note therapy is "artwork" I've done myself. But this week, it's something that Mot left me...when he came to see me at work, but I was in a meeting.



Isn't he sweet????? :-)

Post-It Note Therapy: But whenever Monday comes, you can find me cryin', all of the time.

OK, hold onto your hats, I have another masterpiece ready to add to my collection.

Here is the post where I unveiled my first (of what has now become a series) of what I'd like to call........"post-it note" therapy.

For any of you that missed it the first time around, or those of you that don't want to click on that link....here it is again......



I've entitled it..."Call me again, please."

Today's therapy session started out as an idea of me, bashing my keyboard, over my own head.

Unfortunately, yet again, my artist talent (or lack there of) comes shining through.

In reality, it ended up more like this......



It appears I'd just gotten through channeling the Hulk, had ripped my keyboard in half, and was now ready to shove it where the sun won’t shine gently place it back down on my desk, and walk away from calmly and quietly.

I'm calling it...."Send me another email, please."



P.S. I'd like to throw out thanks to my buddy Badass Geek, for providing the inspiration. Drawing these things actually makes me feel a little better. And having them there in front of me to look at, makes me giggle!!! :-)