My 80's Band name would have been "A Flock of Flamingos"

Well another birthday has past. And again, I feel blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thanks to everyone who stopped by last night...much wine was drunk, much food was eaten, and we discovered the name of my 80's band...

This year's theme: Pink-A-Licious. Which, by the way, only came about because when I asked the helper at the local party store if she had any pink birthday plates, she took me to their new display of "Pink-A-Licious". It was fate. I had to.

Pink-A-Licious entrance to Chez Jenn's. The joke all night was whether you could come in and shut the door without getting the pink strings caught in the door.

My long time friend Julie. She actually signed my letter of employment into GeekSoft way back when - 1993....

We all know this character: Blueberry was, of course, there.

My pal Mega-roonie. She and I go back to the days at the Cat Shack. She's all grown up now and doing quite well as a big wig HR person...she would disagree in the "big wig" part. Mega-roonie brought me this little glass indicators that were little suction people. If you look close you'll see I have several on my glass. The quote of the night: "Just lick him". See they kept falling off and every time they did, someone would say, "Just lick him".

Chickenlady! One of my favoritest people. Friends with her thanks to a car accident way back when in 2000. Holy Cow...we've been friends for almost 10 years. Here's to another 10!

Claudia is responsible for the Flock of Flamingos. Her and Blueberry were whispering one night after they left my place, and me thinks this might have been what they were whispering. Still, the Flock of Flamingo candle holders were a smashing success to me and now Claudia gets left-overs for life. Once I start cooking again that is. Although, she did have a thought last night. She suggested I just cook and put them in the freezer for her. I just might have to now.

PhotoGirl and the Yank both made it. Brought a fantastic bottle of wine I hear. I was too busy drinking my Barbera...nummers. The Yank became the photographer most the night. I needed someone I could trust to take photos to document what I may or may not remember.

Oh, lifetime Geeksoft friends Kim (on the left) and Julie (previously mentioned). Kim's a riot and I just love being around her. I'm going to make a goal of spending more time with her next year. My sides generally hurt after spending time with her.

Ahhh, Mr. Volleyball. Just look what he did! He carved my name out of rice krispie treats...I'm so blessed. The rice krispie treat story goes way back - and so its a standard now. Thank heavens he spelled my name right though, how embarrassing if he hadn't.

Part of the gang: PhotoGirl, Blueberry, Mr. Volleyball, the Birthday Girl, The Not-So-Newlywed and Jack the baby.

In the end there were several others there who I did not get pictures with...fooey! BigBro and Seattle SIL were there, Mrs. Geek from work was there, and Queen PopUp and her king were all there and managed to escape a photo op with me. I'll get you...just wait.

For those who didn't make it, you're forgiven. I still love you.

Seriously though, thanks to everyone. I needed a good fun party and you all stepped up to make it just that. There's enough wine left over for a few other parties...so I'll see you all sometime in the new year...dinner at Chez Jenn's.

Its my birfff-day...

Yes mam, I am now 41. Wow. How'd that happen? I'm excited though, I feel pretty darn good for being "in my forty's". And after all life begins in your forty's right? As Patron Saint told me today 41 is a prime number and therefore I'm in my prime. I'd better make the most of it.

We're going to start the celebration off with appetizers and wine tasting at Chez Jenn's. Several friends are coming over tonight for the great celebration. It should be a blast. I've got homemade olive tapenade, teriyaki meatballs, pistachio cheese log (minus some of the pistachios - we had a small kitchen mishap in which I dumped most the chopped nuts on the floor...Me good.), shrimp/cream cheese spread and of course wine. Lots of wine.

In other exciting news, I selected my cruise excursions last night. Not too surprising almost all of them are visiting mayan ruins. And I managed to stay under my budget! WooHoo! That just means extra $$ for drinks on the cruise ship. That cruise ship that is going to leave in T-minus 10 days. Not that I'm counting.

Now I have some birff-day candles to blow out....

Happy Christmas to all....

Ahh Christmas day. Filled with so many glorious memories. This Christmas is odd for me in that I'm not with my parents. We choose to not fly down to Tucson because we'll be seeing each other in January for our cruise. Not to mention the finance of flying during Christmas. If I could have found a cheap ticket, I may have surprised them.

Still, I find myself thinking of Christmas' past. And trying to recall fond memories. I have a few, quite a few actually. Even when the $ was tight, us kids always had a Christmas to remember. We may not have received the gift of the year, but we always got gifts filled with love.

One memory that leaped out to me this year was that of my Grandma Miller. She had a unique gift wrapping skill. She used foil papers and decorated our gifts with what we loved. The photo below is of Gma Miller and some of her gifts. The frog gift was for my Aunt Toad (no that wasn't her real name, but she collected Frogs).

This photo below is one of my favorites. We're in Trenton, NJ - I must be about 3 or 4. Like my hair doo...? I know, right? Hot. I don't remember what I got that Christmas. I'm sure it was great and I'm sure I played with it, and/or the box it came in, for hours.

Then there are the Santa photos. I only have 2 that I'm aware of. The first is in New Jersey in 1071 and the second in Albuquerque in 1972.

Last, the sister's photo in front of the tree. I never realized how 70's our trees were in the 70's. The first in Minot, ND (BRRRR) and the second in Great Falls, MT in 1977. Just look how stylin' my sister and I are...

Still, I find myself thankful for each and every Christmas. The one's filled with family and the one's spent without. Its hard to remember, with all the hustle and bustle around this time of year, that it is a time of year for love.

My New Boyfriend

It’s no secret to anyone that I’m a coffee fan. I can’t prove it but at one point in time Starbuck’s ran through my veins. Starbuck’s has been my BF for years. Until now. A new BF has blown into town and pushed Bucky’s to the side. I’ve been stalking this BF for a couple of months and only recently found my confidence to see him up close. It didn’t take long. It was love at first sight. I had to bring him back to my home.
Once back home he fit in quite well. And now, I don’t think I can live without him. Meet my new BF.

Now some would say I’m a coffee snob and so would also be surprised at this new relationship. But I gotta tell ya, I was blown away by the quickness and precision of the coffee maker. One perfect cup of coffee in less than 15 seconds. WOW! Not only was it quick, but a quality cup of coffee (Disclaimer: I believe it has everything to do with the fact I purchased the Tully’s Kona coffee cuppettes as my coffee for my BF to make. And “cuppettes” is my term, not theirs). And as a former Bucky’s addict fan, it surprises me just a little that I now prefer to make my own coffee at home. I’m now addicted to a new way to get a cuppa Joe.

In other non coffee news, my belly button is leaking. I don’t think my BB will ever heal. Ever. Apparently, the stitch that was inside has decided to go rebel and get all infected. Now, lucky me gets to wash it three times a day, antibiotic cream and I get to take antibiotics. I’m so luck! I was also scolded by my doc about not recognizing that I am not yet healed. She told me that 3 months, minimum to heal and I just need to get that through my “thick” head. Me? Thick head? Hah!

One more “working” day this year. Our office shuts down the last week of the month and so as of tomorrow at 3pm I’m supposedly on vacation. Although, lucky me, (again with the luck? How’d I get so luck?) own a program that doesn’t shut down and will have to “work” occasionally. Not real thrilled about that. In fact, find myself getting somewhat bitter over it. But it is what it is.

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes, how do you measure, measure a year?

Normally I'd measure my year by the number of coffees I have taken in, yet this year it doesn't seem appropriate considering I'm not doing coffee now.

Side Note: I did have a really, REALLY bad day at work yesterday so took off at/around lunch time. Not being hungry I went to my other safe haven, Starbucks. I ordered my normal Grande Vanilla Americano with xtra room. Added my cream and sugar. And about 30 minutes later I was the speediest of typists. I'm thinking perhaps jumping back into a triple wasn't such a good choice.

Right, back to measuring.

I could measure it by the number of people I did not kill.

Or I could measure it by the amount of love and support I felt throughout the year.

Or even still I could measure it by how often the local weather forecasters are wrong.

Nah. I think I'll measure it by a LIST OF 40 NEW THINGS

Yes, my faithful readers, the list is complete. (if you get my Christmas card you are 1) very lucky and 2) already know the list). Still there are others who really are dying to know what's on that list.

So without any more goofing around...drum roll please...

My 2009 List of 40 New Things

First let me say that if you don't 1)like, 2) think its not new, or 3) have any other negative opinions about my 40 new things, I'm returning your Christmas gift.

Ahem

Starbuck’s Instant Coffee – anyone who knows me knows Starbuck’s runs through my veins - or well it did. Instant Starbucks! My life had been changed forever.

Bosses for dinner – having people to dinner isn’t anything new. But having my boss and my bosses’ boss to dinner was new to me. I BBQ'd and ran out of gas...thank heavens they like their meat rare.

Podiatrist – What? There was never a need before. And I can't say it was all that helpful cuz - *clears throat* someone didn't follow all the doctor's orders.

Photograph a 5K Run – PhotoGirl asked me to assist in photographing a 5K run at a turnaround point with Seattle in the back ground. It was a blast. Tiring holding up the camera for so long, but fun all the same.

Grease the Musical – Grease is the word!

Roller Derby – A whole different crowd to watch and a whole new sport to learn and appreciate. I think I should have been a roller derby girl in another life. I think I actually came up with a roller derby girl name too...Jenicide I think.

Photograph Susan G. Komen Gala – Fancy pants gala event in which I was asked to photograph the SGK volunteers. Had to "search" for a formal and then remembered by I didn't like formals...itchy, uncomfortable, and too much work.

Moved to a townhouse – Moving isn’t new – I mean if you know me, you know moving isn’t new. But moving to a town house is. And having three floors of goodness is new. That's three whole floors full of cat fur. Yes mam.

Read 100 books – I didn’t manage to read 100, but 73 instead. Still I’ve never read 73 books in a year. So it counts. And I got turned onto a very cool site called GoodReads. It allows you to track the books you've read and want to read. I have 272 in my "want to read" queue. And no I won't be trying to read 100 next year. Maybe I'll shoot for the remaining 27 (did I do my math right? 100-73 = 27 right?)

Volunteer at Getting Started Meetings – After participating in the 3Day last year, I knew I wanted to volunteer this year. So I started by helping at the Getting Started Meetings. It was a blast and yes I cried every single meeting thanks to the overly moving video. Yes, I'm going to volunteer again this year. That should be interesting. I'll break out blubbering at the opening music...watch, you'll see.

Pampered Chef Party – Also no “new” but I hadn’t had a party in 10 years, therefore, new. Anything you haven't done in 10 years and re-do is new. Jenn's Law #45. What? You don't believe me. Well, Jenn's law #46 says, Jenn does not have to care if you believe her or not, so there.

3Day Expo Volunteer – Again, my chance to participate in the 3Day without walking. But being allowed to hang with some extraordinary men and women.

Photograph Race for the Cure – I got to wander around the R4TC and take photos of the volunteers. They give so much and I was so thrilled to be a part of it.

il Divo – Wow. And Yum.

Dueling Pianos – It is what it sounds like. Two pianos going back and forth - well dueling - playing and singing. The bar was sketchy, but the company was fun.

Seattle Duck Tours – Goofy? Definitely. Worth it? Most certainly! I mean I met my soul mate on the duck tour...the driver playing really bad 80's songs - surely my soul mate.

Black Bottle Restaurant – What? I have never been there. And for the record for all you Seattle folks...Yum. If you go, get the Blast Broccoli. ZOMG sooo good.

Photograph a Wedding – Nerve wracking! But worth it to learn more about photographing people. Not sure I'd ever do it again, maybe drunk I would.

Volunteer for Survivor Brunch – For once I actually volunteered instead of photographing the volunteers. And I won, I mean Blueberry won, a free cruise on Holland America.

Try 100 new recipes – Again, didn’t get to 100, but got to 67 – and I’ve never tried 67 new recipes in a year. A few friends appreciated the endeavor. One friend concerned that I'm not eating and therefore not cooking and therefore she doesn't get left overs. She'll survive....maybe. Almost all are on my cooking blog. Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.

Carve a white pumpkin – I didn’t even know there were white pumpkins, but I carved one for my Great Pumpkin Carving Party. It had white guts even.

Have an Ultra Sound – Yep. I had to have an ultrasound. It’s not what you think.

Had a Hysteroscopy – yah, ick.

Visited an OBGYN Oncologist – there was concern of some pre-cancerous cells found during the hysteroscopy. Had to go to an oncologist for my options.

Had a Hysterectomy – this was my option. A robotic laparoscopic hysterectomy. But you know all about that. BTW, the belly button incision is almost all closed. Thanks for asking. The stitch that was still in it fell out. I thought I lost my umbilical chord again.

Took Percocet – in the hospital they gave me Percocet as the pain killer. Weeee!

Had a catheter – 'nough said.

Estrogen Patch – well taking out the girly parts means I needed something to help “balance” me out. Notice I didn't say make me normal? Yah I know the peanut gallery pretty well and they'd contest that in a heartbeat.

Giving myself injections – because of blood clot issues in the past, and now being on estrogen, the doctor thought giving myself injections of a blood thinner for 21 days post surgery would be a great idea. I hated it. Nightly tried to talk myself out of it. And yet, 21 nights in a row, I managed to put a needle in my tummy. It's amazing what you can do when you have to.

Hot Flashes – Oh yah, these are fun. Even being on the estrogen patches, it’s a low dose and so some of the menopause side effects will come through. My own Personal Summers is one…and I cry at the drop of a hat. Wheeeee!

Program Manager – I was promoted shoved into being a Program Manager. Its hard work, and a bit discouraging at times, but its fun and new and I’m learning a lot.

Lead a Quarterly Business Review – Being the Prgm Mgr I was the lead on the business review for the first quarter. Lots of hard work, and a bit unnerving, but I put on my ubber confidence pants and prevailed. Didn't even get yelled at. So that's a plus, right?

Straight No Chasers – If you want to hear a 10 man acapella group, search for these guys on YouTube and sit back and be amazed.Go to Benaroya Hall – Straight No Chaser performed in a local theater I’ve never been in. It has a huge Chihuly glass chandeler above the stairs (look to the right of the picture)...I wish I would have brought my camera...

Super Diamond – Whoa! Went and saw a Neil Diamond tribute band. I had no idea what songs Neil Diamond did that I knew. Of course Dudley opened for them, which was the real reason I went.

Saw New Moon – What? I’m a Twilight fan. Go Team Jacob!

Bought and iPod Car Stereo – Love it. I get to skip past songs quickly. In my 4 mile commute I can listen to 30 songs...

Cracked Windshield – yes the Mustang has a boo boo. But in all my life, with all the cars I’ve owned, I’ve never had a cracked windshield. Honest! And this one apparently I'll have for a while. Every time I go to replace it, some financial catastrophe happens and it has to wait another month.

No one’s every asked me if I’d eat a triscuit off the floor – my office mate was helping me come up with one more. And in fact I've never ever been asked that. Who knew this list could produce such wild abandonment?

And the 40th New Thing: Never before (and never again) have a made a list of 40 new things.

The other thing I love to do this time of year is re-read my blog posts for the year. I don't read them all, but I skim through them and I gotta tell you...I'm all shades of surprised you all are coming back to read. There's some weird stuff in this blog...but it's all me, and all friends, and apparently almost nothing is off limits.

Hitting the Panic Button....

I hit the panic button today. I had a wee little panic attack today. I got another medical bill. It won't end. And as I added it to my spreadsheet of bills, I double triple checked to make sure it wasn't a duplicate. And when I realized it wasn't my heart sank.

I knew what I had to do. I had to call the momunit and tell her I forfeit the $$ I've put in for the cruise, but I can't go. The $$ I was saving for that cruise would have put a small dent into the medical bills.

Then after thinking about how the MomUnit would respond (most likely by saying "Put on your big girl pants and deal with it!) I realized the small amount I'm budgeting for the cruise really won't put a big dent into the medical bills. At which time I decided - "Meh - I need the cruise."

Crisis averted. Phew!

Today was move day at work. I moved from my comfy office with PMDude to back out into the new "bull pin" we've created for the program I'm supposedly managing. Poor PMDude, he won't have anyone to bring him random 80's songs all the time. Nor will he have someone constantly yammering on and on to her computer. He'll be bored. I'm concerned for his well-being.

Nothing overly exciting for this weekend. Meeting some Husky friends tomorrow night for dinner. (Side Note: Almost cancelled the dinner too for above mentioned medical bills). Then I'll be sitting all warm and cozy in my apt as we wait for SNOW to supposedly arrive on Sunday. Yes, Snow. As if the frigid cold we've been experiencing isn't enough. Blech! Snow.

Its too cold to type...

Its 16F outside right now and I swear to GOD I'm frozen solid. If I were to slip and fall on the pavement I'd break into a thousand pieces. We'll have temp records break tonight. The record was 21F in 1972 and tonight it'll be 17F in Seattle. I mean lakes and ponds are frozen around here...the who? the what now? Ponds don't freeze in Seattle. Hold Please.

My pond is frozen! Ice skating anyone? Oh wait, that means I'd have to go out. Never mind!

I know you want one, so I'll give you a food update. 16lbs. That's what I've lost since the surgery. I'm finding that I almost have to force myself to eat something. I used to laugh at all those skinny girls who used to say, "Oh I forgot to eat." I always wondered, "Who forgets to eat?" That so wasn't within my vocabulary. And now, I find I forget to eat. It's insane. I miss food. I miss eating.

On a plus note, I have a bunch of new clothes I get to wear for the cruise. You know those clothes? The ones that get pushed to the back of the closet because they don't quite fit. Yah, well I get to move them back to the front again. Woohoo! Too bad most of them aren't sweaters or long johns.

I got my Christmas cards done yesterday. Its been weird for me to not have them done by Dec 1. Still, they're done. My letter is basically the 40 New Things list (which I'll post here eventually). My little tradition is the last card I do is for my parents. The first is for my Aunt Jean so I can get it to her before hers gets to me (family race every year). I was marking my X's and O's on the letter when I saw it. A typo! Dagnabit! Oh well. You''ll survive. If you don't like it let me know and I'll drop you from the list.

I'll end this on a happy note. My heart grew 10X yesterday. You may have heard that we had 4 local police officers shot down two weeks ago. It's hit the area hard and the outpouring of support for the families has been overwhelming to see. One local pizza chain, Papa John's, is donating ALL the proceeds of pizzas purchased yesterday and today to the families of the slain officers. I drove by two Papa John's on my way home yesterday and was stunned at the lines. The stores are mostly delivery and are usually empty when I drive by. Yesterday, the line for one was out the door and around the store. I get all teary thinking about it. Tonight they are saying that if you didn't get to buy a pizza (they ran out of dough and what not) you can buy gift cards and they'll put that money toward the donations too. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause.

Throw your arms around the world at Christmastime

I couldn't resist. This is my second favorite Christmas song. Why? Well, why not! It is, after all, full of 80's singers...so are you really surprised?

14 lbs, in a month. That's the amount of weight, officially, that I've lost. I had my post op dr. appt today. I was an hour and half early (wrote the wrong time down apparently). Thankfully the NP took me early. She's a delight by the way. As she called me back, I stepped on the dreaded dr. scale (which by the way its well known the dr. scale is 5 lbs heavier than my own scale and it has nothing to do with me "adjusting" the scale). She looked at the number on the scale. Flipped a page in the chart. Looked at the scale, and stated, "It appears we have something to talk about today. 14 lbs in a month - not bad. Not good, but not bad."

Turns out I'm completely normal (no comments from the Peanut Gallery).

She had a little heart to heart to me about this whole surgery thing and said that she thinks I need to come to grips with the reality that the surgery I had wasn't "simple". According to the inner workings of my body it was a major change. My body is trying, as best it can, to get the balance back. She asked me to think hard about the "loss" if you will and focus on the healing and not so much on the side issues.

The lack of appetite, fatigue, and general feeling of not wanting to do anything is part of the left over from the general anesthesia. She said in some people it could take 8 weeks to work it's way through. IF I'm having this same issue at the end of January then I should come back in and we can discuss options. And by "options" she means anti-depressants. Which I want no part of - thankyouverymuch.

I asked about the weepy-ness and hot flashes too. Apparently because I'm on such a low dose of estrogen some of the menopause side effects will still be present. In a much smaller manner, but they will still be there. She told me that as for the weepyJenn that I should consider a couple of things. First, my body is trying to find the balance with out the testosterone and estrogen from the ovaries. And second, it is the holiday season and sometimes we're a bit more emotional this time of year. That's all good and fine, but I am tired of crying at the stinkin Folgers commercials. Damn you Folgers! Oh, and that dang Anhauser Busch commercial with the troops walking through the airport. One person starts to clap, then another and then another. Before long everyone is applauding the troops...oh god...make it stop!

Anyone want to step up and pay my medical bills? You'd be my BFF. No? Really? Hmph! Fine.

37 more days until the cruise! Not that I'm counting or anything.