30 Songs in 30 Days, Day 6 - A song that reminds you of somewhere

Mom took this awesome picture at a game we went to in 2006

Sorry, yall.

It's officially basketball season. Tonight was Big Blue Madness. I only have one song I can possibly choose. 

It's the song we sing at the end of every Kentucky basketball game and before every Kentucky Derby.

It reminds me of my home. 

It's 'My Old Kentucky Home', written by Stephen Foster.

My cube...no, really...

So, this is my desk at work. Doesn't it look cozy?

It has all the comforts of home: my astronaut, my kitty and NWF calendars, my UK stuff (Big Blue Madness is coming up and it'll be time to change out my poster-yay!), my diet Pepsi and of course my daughter and kitty pics. 

There's a weird thing about working in cubicle-land. We spend half of our awake time here, with our only reprieve the weekend. We spend more time with work people than we do with most of our friends and loved ones. 

If I need to remember something, I put it on my work calendar. If someone needs to email me something vitally important, I give my work email. I'm pretty on top of things at work. It's just the rest of the time that I'm such a disaster. 

I really love my job, my company and my co-workers, and it's really a dilemma. In the past couple years I've seen four of my friends get fired. FIRED! And these were all people with 20-25 years of seniority in the company. 

Granted, the firings were just. But now I'm so paranoid about everything I do, AND I look around at my friends and wonder, who's next?

(For the curious: 

Friends 1 and 2: Friend 1 borrowed a controlled substance. Friend 2 gave it back to her when she got her Rx refilled. ILLEGAL!, and this all happened on company property.

Friend 3: Missed work approximately 485 times in a 6-month period and got 484 warnings. That last time did her in. 

Friend 4: Her second job was as a realtor. Spent lots of time at work looking up listings, doing realtor stuff, etc., on company time. Big no-no.)

So yeah, I'm trying to be very good. 

I probably shouldn't be writing this at work. 

Oh my gosh, there's a bad person living inside me. 

I'M ON BREAK! I'M ON BREAK!

I have to go now...

I'm ready for the madness...

Music: The Cure - Just Like Heaven

I'm going down to Lexington tomorrow to stand in line for my midnight madness tickets... only it's not midnight madness anymore, it's BIG BLUE MADNESS, and for the last few years I've had my tickets given to me by friends and I haven't actually earned them like a REAL fan by standing in line all night like you're supposed to... It's time for me to Earn My Tickets.

Of course if I was a real, raging lunatic fan, I would have gone down there Tuesday with a tent like my friend's husband did... But since I don't have any vacation days because I used them all up by the middle of February, that wasn't really an option.

I should really be going to bed now, since I'll be up all night tomorrow... but I'm just so excited...

It has to be said, I can't help it, even though there's no game, and not even a practice, it's still basketball time, so...

Go Cats!

Drowning in blue...

I left the house this evening for a quick trip to drop my RX off at Walgreens...then to get gas, pick up dinner, and go back home...
Dropped my prescription off.  Everything went bad after that...
I ran out of gas in the gas station parking lot.  If only my car had made it just a couple more feet to the pump...
So there I sat, stranded at the gas station...And of course, there must be a run on gas or something, because cars were lined up all around...and everyone was giving me dirty looks for not getting my car out of the way...
I called D, no answer.  My grandparents, no answer.  My brother, no answer.  D again, no answer.  I called home to let C know what happened, and she is, of course, online, so I couldn't get through.  Finally, I called my mom at work...there was nothing she could do, of course, being at work, but she could at least listen to me cry out of frustration. 
She told me to try to push the car.  I tried, but I couldn't get it over the hump.  She told me to go in and ask for help.  I told her that I only saw one worker in there, who was extremely busy with the hundred people who decided to get gas between 7 and 8 p.m. tonight.  She said ask a customer for help...
I couldn't possibly have done that...First, because I'm shy...Second, because they were all giving me dirty looks since I was blocking everything...and Third, because I live in a melting pot neighborhood and I swear I didn't hear anyone that could speak enough English to understand me, and my Spanish doesn't extend beyond numbers...
Finally, someone approached my window and asked if I need help.  Guess who?  Out of all the hundred MEN that came in and out of the gas station parking lot and heard me trying to start my car, after twenty minutes, it's the one and only WOMAN customer who comes and offers help...
So the two of us WOMEN were able to push my car over the hump and out of the way...
Go, girl power...who needs guys anyway?!
...
I left work early yesterday because I was SICK, and didn't go to work today...I went to the doctor and he gave me an antibiotic and told me to stay out of work until Monday.
But then I wouldn't be able to go to Midnight Madness on Friday, and I couldn't possibly miss that...so I'm going to try very hard to get all better tomorrow. 
Very hard.
...
I took my daughter out of school last week and told her she wouldn't go back if she didn't want to.  I then received opposition from all sides, including...
My mom, who kind of agreed with me, but says it was too sudden...
My grandma, who told me I was ruining my daughter's chance for a good education...
D, who told me that I should have at least made her stay in until fall break (which starts this Monday)...
The really bad part was that, on the very same day, C had her first appointment with her new therapist.  Dr. W said that homeschooling would make his job infinitely more difficult...because the last thing socially 'immature' children need is to be completely isolated...etc etc etc.
Well, I hardly think being 'isolated' for a few months would make a huge difference, but anyway...
C and I discussed it and she agreed to go back to school for one more day, so that she wouldn't have an absence on her record, while we went in and spoke with the principal about our issues.
New principal this year.  She's really nice.
The next day, C informed me she was going to stay at school after all...mean kids and all...because she wants to go on the eighth grade field trip to Washington D.C.
She's serious, too.
I had no idea a field trip could carry this much weight. 
(I should, though, because I still remember my eighth grade field trip...we went to Space Camp...so, so cool...)
So what do I do?  She's still miserable, but she actually WANTS to stay.
So I let her go back this week...the principal said she would make some changes and...she actually did...Principal called the ringleaders down to her office individually and 'talked' with them...Principal changed the rules at lunchroom and C can now sit wherever she wants...
Things have been marginally better since then.  It encourages me to see these changes being made, just for my daughter.  I was looking forward to homeschooling her, but also a little apprehensive about what it meant for my daughter getting into a good high school next year, and how effective I would be at it, seeing that I work full time.
So I guess now I'm just going to wait and see.  I hate when life gets like this, and you have no idea what is the best thing to do...
...
Did I say, 'Who needs guys anyway?'
I take it back...this weekend, D paid to get my brakes fixed...$280.  I guess I do need my guy!  :)
...
So far in the last two weeks, I've had to get the fuel pump replaced and the brakes fixed.  The brake people said I need four new tires, too.  I'm supposed to try and get those Friday before going to LEXINGTON for MIDNIGHT MADNESS.
All this for a car that is barely three years old.
(sigh)
It's a Ford Focus.  Be warned...

Cold, oh so cold...

I haven't turned my heat on yet...and it's so, so cold in my house.  I have an old-fashioned floor furnace, and I have to vacuum it out before turning the heat on.  I meant to do it today, but of course I procrastinated all day long and didn't get it done.  Well, really, it's called "laziness".
I got caught by surprise last night by how cold it was and ended up sleeping with extra clothes on, and double blankets...I got so cold I put my bathrobe on as well, and nice warm socks.  This morning, when I got up, I turned on the stove, left the oven door open, and had to sat in front of it for a half hour before I felt warm.
I promise I will clean the furnace out tomorrow.  It has to be cleaned out before it's turned on...I made the mistake once before of getting too cold and turning it on in the middle of the night when I hadn't first cleaned it, and was promptly followed an hour later by the piercing sound of the smoke alarm.  It's very scary being woken up by that!  But at least I know it works...
Midnight Madness was ALL THAT and more...(Friday night - the first official college basketball practice for the University of Kentucky)...thousands of crazy UK fans milling around downtown Lexington in the middle of the night...huge roar from the crowd as they opened the doors to Memorial Coliseum.  All kinds of fun events inside led up to the 12:01 a.m. appearance of this year's team.  By far the most applause came when Ashley Judd (UK basketball's most famous fan) was introduced and walked into the stadium...she got a standing ovation...I think people were more excited to see her than they were to see Tubby Smith!  Well, okay, that's understandable, because you know, she's ASHLEY JUDD, but still...hello, basketball?...never mind. 
I had to take my daughter to acute care today, she is not feeling well at all...the doctor said they have seen quite a few patients there in the past few days with the same thing and it should clear up in a few days.  She went through stages allday, where she would feel really good and get out puzzles or start cutting paper...and then she would feel bad again and lay down for a while.  I wish she would have just rested all day, but it wasn't going to happen!
Tomorrow is parent-teacher conferences and her follow-up appointment (not for being sick, the other doctor).  I'm a little apprehensive, about both...
I hope this week goes well!