In Memoriam

Note: In the U.S., Memorial Day is traditionally about honoring veterans. I do want to post about my grandfather's WWII service at some point. But I wrote this last week, and it just seeemed the appropriate day to share it.

The song Homesick, by MercyMe, has been posted about a lot recently. For those of you who don't know it, it's about being homesick for heaven, homesick for the people we won't see again until then. For those of you who do know it, you probably have a specific person you think of when you hear it. For me, it's my cousin Kevin.

It's been three months since we lost him, but sometimes, it's like my heart is being broken all over again. Maybe it's because his little sister Alisa is about to graduate, and she'll have to make her way through her life, always in his shadow. Or when I look at Austin, so full of life and promise, so much hope for the future, so much in the now. I know I'll see him again. I know that. But I can't help thinking that I want him here. I want him back here on earth, back in the life that he loved so much and lived to the fullest. When Kevin died, it tore me apart in a way nothing has before. I don't think anything else ever could. But I do know where he is. He's happy with his Savior, and he's laughing.

So Godspeed to you, my Kevin- we're going to have some fun when I get up there. And I hope you know just how much you are still loved. Always, my cousin, always. I've never been more homesick than now....

Austin on the Lake

My Memorial Day weekend celebration? OK, folks, you know the drill- I post pictures of my nephew for everyone to drool on. This is beginning to scare me. I think I may be turning into the electronic version of those psycho old ladies who carry billfolds' worth pf pictures of their grandchildren and force everyone to look at them. He's 5 weeks old today. We gathered at my sister's in-laws' vacation house, which is actually in South Carolina. Less of a drive, on a lake named like everything else in this state. Much better than my original plans for today, though, which up until Friday consisted of an SVU marathon. "Want to come down to the lake house and see the baby?" "What kind of a stupid question is that?" Both his parents are getting much less paranoid, but it still hurts me to hear him cry. Cause he's just so beautiful!

You Love The Meme Thing

Hey, I just realized that "meme" is equivalent to "me, me". Awesome. OK, so I'm easily amused. This one may look familiar, but hey, I can come up with new stuff, can't I? And I'll add a few of my own...
If I could be a scientist...
If I could be a painter...
If I could be a doctor...
If I could be a farmer...
If I could be a gardener...
If I could be a missionary...
If I could be a lawyer... I'd be a prosecutor. Cause I want to get the bad guys.
If I could be a professor...
If I could be a writer...
If I could be a llama rider...
If I could be a bonnie pirate...I'd sing to my little captives like they do in Muppet Treasure Island.
f I could be an astronaut...I'm spacey enough as it is. OK, that was really bad.
If I could be a world famous blogger...
If I could be a justice on any one court in the world...
If I could be married to any one famous political figure...Uh, that's not my forte...
If I could be a circus star...
If I could be a poet... I consider myself one already. At least on a small scale.
If I could be a musician...
If I could be a chef...
If I could be a rodeo star...
If I could be a ruler of the world...What are you talking about? I thought I already did that.
All righty, tagged by Blair, and my victims are Rob, Rhonda and Adventure Girl. Yeehaw!

Musical Chairs

Actually, I was never good at that game. But I have been enjoying this meme as it has worked its way around the blogosphere. This particular time is thanks to Rhonda. And KEF, too. Cause I'm just cool like that.

1. Total volume of music files on my computer? 2348, all in Windows Media Player. I'm something of a freak about this and save everything to my computer.

2. The last CD I bought was? Amy Grant's Rock of Ages....Hymns and Faith. It's even better than her first Hymns and Faith collection. And for point of reference, over 150 of those files are Amy Grant ones. Not that y'all really cared to know that.

3. Song playing right now? Dido, Don't Leave Home. No great significance behind that, I just like Dido.

4. Five songs I listen to a lot or that mean a lot to me? Point of Grace, Blue Skies. For when I have hope in nothing else, I have hope in Him. Over It, by Anneliese Van Der Pol. I fell in love with this song the moment I first heard it. Let It Be, by the Beatles. A good philosophy for life, if you think about it. Place in This World, by Michael W. Smith. I think we've all felt that way, sometimes. And, Witch Doctor, by the Chipmunks. Somehow this has managed to sneak its way onto about half of my mix CD's...

5. People I'm passing this baton to? Becca, just cause I like to give her these things. Stacy, since I know she likes music...and havoc. Johnny Crash- he is a musician and he enjoyed finding out about me. And Edwin, so he'll have something interesting to put on his blog.

A Bunch of Things About Me

Jammin'

Isn't that the most beautiful face?
Originally uploaded by Mistress Tootie Belle.

I took 130 pictures. It would have been more except I forgot my extra memory stick. I put a selection up at Flickr and No, Seriously (different sets). And yes, I am a bit obsessed, but he's just so gosh darn cute! (Now I'm sounding like you, Becca.)

For a change, I didn't watch SVU tonight. Instead, I am going to reveal my geekdom even further...I watched The Muppet Wizard of Oz. You still can't beat the the original, but hey, everything Muppetous is special. I taped it, as I did everything else, so perhaps in a few days I'll put some quotes from it on the bottom. Of course, that might disturb some people who don't like change...

A Short Post

...to contrast with the long one from yesterday. Periodically at Bath and Body Works, we get representatives in from our third-party brands to teach us about their products. Today it was Mustela, which is a line for infants and mothers-to-be. The rep was really awesome; she didn't take too long and didn't mind that we were talking. I was talking a lot, cause I wanted to get some of the stuff for Melissa. I mentioned that my sister had just had a baby, and at the end when the woman was handing out samples, she was going, "This won't be applicable to you, but you can try it, see how you like it." And then she asked Harmony is she "could give her some presents for her sister." And she gave me all this stuff. I was floored. I love people!

And on that note, I am heading down to Georgia early tomorrow to see Austin again. I am psyched. My lucky colleagues; they're probably sick of hearing about it. But they'll get to see more pictures! As do y'all; I should have them up by Friday. Can you tell how excited I am to be seeing him again?

The Cranky Post

Since you asked- Yes, I DO get cranky. Among other things...

*I hate insurance companies. One month they fill my prescription with no problem, I go back to renew and I'm told I need "Prior Authorization". Make up your minds already. Because I hate playing insurance company phone tag.

*Idiotic customers. For example, I had a woman trying to find a pear scent. "Pearberry?" "No, it was green." So I call my manager over to see if she can figure it out, so the customer can look for it at the sale. And Jen goes, "It was probably Pearberry." And the customer goes, all cheerful, "OK!" I'm standing there going, "But, you told ME it wasn't Pearberry." And, "Thanks a lot, lady, for making me look like a fool in front of my boss. Great."

*When DVD's don't come with subtitles. When I get the season sets of Dr. Quinn, I want subtitles so I can flip them on and know what everybody's saying!

*When someone forgets to turn off the shower thing. So when I turn on the water to get hot and expect it to come out the faucet, I instead get sprayed by a showerful of COLD water.

*The new season of Strong Medicine. The whole premise of the show, and indeed, Lifetime itself, is that it's for women, about women's health. So why are they bringing in a man to replace Patricia Richardson in one of the lead roles? In my opinion, it's a betrayal of Strong Medicine's spirit.

*People who leave their turn signals on for miles going down the interstate. What, are you turning left into the concrete barrier? No? Then turn your freaking signal off!

*When I bring home a nice new expensive body wash from work...and it makes me break out. Something that smells so good, and it makes me miserable. That's just not cool.

*Those times when I'm just barely on time for work and I have to choose between getting gas or getting dinner. Needless to say, I got no dinner.

*Along those lines, getting hollered at when I go inside to pay for the gas. There should be a law against creepy old guys who hang around outside gas stations. That really made me cranky.

*You know, sometimes I don't feel like cooking. So I'll go to make a nice Croissant Pocket, zap it for two minutes like the directions say. Only when I go to eat it, the middle is still frozen. So either I zap it some more and end up with the sauce everywhere and my lunch hot enough to burn, or eat a half-frozen Croissant Pocket.

*When I go to turn on the Golden Girls and they aren't there. I really don't care about some princess reality show. I want my Golden Girls. And I want my Law and Order: SVU too. Why is that so difficult?

*Why do two cans of blueberries have to be so difficult to open? I just wanted blueberry muffins, folks. I didn't want to chase blueberry juice all over the kitchen floor.

* TV commercials for diet stuff on TV. Where do they get those creepy women to hawk their products? And more importantly, why do people buy them?

*OK, there y'all are . Thirteen things that Make Nettie Cranky. Took me two days. I'll probably get lots of comments from the peanut gallery on this, but hey, you wanted to know...

What Makes A Geek?

*Dropping ice cream on the keyboard and licking it off?

*Waiting in line for hours until midnight just so I can be one of the first to see the new Harry Potter? After attending a party with other like-minded peoples?

*Blogging endlessly about my job and people who don't read me to people who will never meet those I write about?

*Putting up curtains cause I don't like the sun to wake me up?

*Buying a package of chicken to cook on the George Foreman and eating it all in two days?

*Having incoherent convesations early in the morning- why do I answer my phone at 7:15 A.M. anyway?

*Taking pictures of utterly random stuff cause I think it's funny?

*Looking forward to summer vacation for months- and then wondering what to do with myself cause I get bored within the first week?

*Running three IE windows, two Word files, and Windows Media Player all at once as I flit back and forth among programs?

*Blogging at 2 A.M. with posts that may be forever relegated to the draft pile cause I decide in the light of day that I don't like them?

*Until the day two days later when I ponder writing a really cranky post and decide against subjecting my adoring public to that in favor of a "geek list"?

*Oh, well. Guess I'm doomed...

I Do Read Outside of School, Ya Know

1. You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do you want to be? I think I get to choose several? Oh well, I will anyway. I was a good memorizer as a kid, haven't tried it recently.

*The Bible, King James Version. Specifically, the four Gospels, Psalms, and Revelations.

*I don't remember what it was called, but this giant book of fairy tales I had.The real ones, not the Disneyfied versions. Seriously, it was as big as one of the middle Harry Potters.

*Speaking of which, I have them half-memorized already, so the Harry Potter series. Everybody needs a little magic.

*Animal Farm. There is so much there beneath the surface. Classic.

2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Uhhh....next question...
All right, maybe Luke Skywalker...

3. The last book you bought was...? You mean actually bought and not stolen...erm...borrowed from someone? The Rising. I love Left Behind enough to purchase the whole set. And can I do one I'm going to buy? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm one of those people who goes to midnight parties and stands in line happily for an hour, then goes home and devours the whole thing by morning....Yeah, I'm a geek.

4. The last book you read was...? I just finished Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series. Excellent stuff. Before that it was, unfortunately, pretty much textbooks, which apparently don't count...

5. What are you currently reading? *James Herriot's Every Living Thing.

*The Edge on the Sword, which is an account of a 9th century warrior princess.

*And a thriller, Cold Hit, which reminds me of SVU.

6. Five books you would take to a desert island...

*The Merck Manual. It would probably come in handy and it's fascinating.

*My great-grandmother's King James Bible. It's one of the few things I have of hers and I've always loved the language of the KJV.

*The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tolkien is genius.

*To Kill a Mockingbird. Another book I've pretty much worn to bits.

*And Ella Enchanted. Best version of the Cinderellla story ever- I HATED the Disney version- although the movie doesn't compare.

7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why? Well, Blair sent it to me. I shall pass it to Becca and Jen. No pressure though ladies!

Summer in the South

Heat. Sticky, muggy heat. 88 degrees and it's only the middle of May, heat. Everything moves more slowly, in the heat.

Traffic crawls- "Come on, Harvey baby, Mommy promises she'll get you gas after work if you'll just get me off this interstate."

Minds begin to fry- "Where was I supposed to turn? Oh, wait I'm going the wrong way. OK, I'm turning around. Now I'm going the right way. But where am I going again?"

Training stretches out indeterminably-"Wait, this was only supposed to be half an hour. So why is it 3 already? I don't have an attention span anymore....Hey, I'm going to miss my show...Oh, this product lightens and brightens, fascinating....What time does the library close?...Wait, we're still here?"

The sun's rays are having their cruel effect- "It was 88 three hours ago. Now it's 96. Well, at least Bath and Body Works's A.C. is working." "It feels good out here. It's cold inside." "Are you insane?"

Why Are Your Feet Two Different Colors?

Apparently y'all enjoyed the chicken post. I didn't think it was that interesting myself, but all right. Whatever floats your collective boat...

I think my colleagues believe I am in something of a style rut. They got all excited when I wore a new pair of shoes to work. I was like, "I have worn the same pair of shoes for five months. I wanted a change!" Naturally, this would be the night I start out on register...but end up in the stockroom. But I still managed a change and climbed the shelves in my bare feet. I'm sure I will get used to them and stop tripping and almost falling flat on my face. But wait, I do that anyway, so what's the big deal?

"Your feet are two different colors." "Yes, they are." "Did you do that on purpose?" "Yes, I did." "Um, OK." New person, same conversation. Alisha: "Nettie got new shoes. Aren't they cute?" Harmony: "We already discussed that. Why are your feet two different colors?" I go, "Why not?" Harmony just stares, until Alisha chimes in: "Because that's Nettie!" Yes, somebody gets it! After all, the BBW dress code just says our feet have to be kept and toenails polished. It says nothing about conventionality...

Chicken

Chicken
Originally uploaded by Mistress Tootie Belle.

Made with a George Foreman grill. Cheap, took me five minutes, and great with some Ranch and broccoli. I think I'm hooked on this cooking thing.

V-E Day

Dachau Gate
Originally uploaded by Mistress Tootie Belle.

60 years ago. May 8, 1945. Victory in Europe Day. Germany does what it had said it will never do- surrenders. Unconditionally. Hitler is gone, Italy has fallen, and now there is the death of millions of Germans, British, French, American, Dutch, Russian. More than that, it is the death of an ideology. An ideology that fosters a culture of death, the idea of a master race, child turning in parent, brother against brother. 6 million Jews are murdered. 5 million other undesirables- Gypsies, Greeks, mentally ill, physically handicapped, elderly, the "unwanted". In Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Dachau, death camps in which survivors are greeted by troops who cannot believe their eyes. They must forget these horrors in order to survive.

60 years ago. Hope comes once again to Europe, and to its remaining allies. The work of rebuilding the Continent has only begun, and before the end another insidious horror will claim numerous more lives and minds. But on this day, a victory. A hope for the future, a hope for a better world, for an enemy has been conquered, and a people has been set free. The battle continues, in the Pacific, and at home the battle for hearts and minds is still being fought. But today, there is rejoicing. Rejoicing for the boys who are coming home, and sorrow for the ones who did not return. Today, there is victory. Victory in Europe, and hope for the world.

60 years ago. May 8, 1945. May we never forget.

The Nettie Learns to Cook Experiment

What is it about being on a ladder that makes people suddenly need help? "I know you're busy...." "Oh, no, ma'am, that's what we're here for." Just cause my manager told me I have half an hour to make a wall of giftsets look pretty out of nothing, and I'm trying to help twenty thousand clueless men find presents for their wives that the day after Mother's Day are all gonna get returned, and helping all the new associates with horror stories about how Christmas was so much worse...But I'm never bored. "Marie, Kathleen thinks we're strange sometimes." Does Woody Woodpecker impersonation. "Sometimes. Sometimes I do. Now stop corrupting all the new people." The insanity never ends. I love it.

Everyone keeps laughing at me when I tell them I'm teaching myself how to cook. But I haven't made anything explode, burned the place down, and I injure myself much more at work ("Quit running over your foot with the cart, Nettie") than I have so far in the kitchen. Of course, I don't know how much making pasta and ravioli counts, since both have directions on the box and require little more than boiling water. Even I can do that. It seems like a lot of work for something that takes me two seconds to eat, but price is a definite upside to it. A box of pasta is 78 cents and it should be enough for four dinners. Add some Parmesean cheese and I'm good. My more ambitious projects will be chicken- although I got one of those Banquet meal-in-a-box things to start- and eggs. I like them over easy. Hopefully I will not make them explode. But I will probably stick with the Chocolate Lucky Charms for actual breakfast, since I don't want to have to go to work covered in the remains of an experiment gone bad...

But Seriously, Folks...

How long did you think I could stay away? Tuesday night I made myself go to bed, after making twenty thousand trips down the steps of my dorm (but I made my friend David carry my computer) and then making twenty thousand more trips up the steps to my new apartment (which my new roommate Michelle helped me with). My cordless mouse decided it was going to be evil and not work anymore, so I then had to buy a new, regular one. But here I am again. And I don't know what to do with myself.

Actually, I managed to accomplish quite a bit in the last few days (decide for yourself what that says about me). I had my first night doing registers at work after they finally trained me. Christy had to keep telling me, "Don't look so scared!" But I didn't screw anything up, and I had Kathleen, Kiernan, and Christy to help me, so now I really can do anything. At BBW that is.

I also decided I need to learn how to cook. I had a conversation with my new roommate Danielle that went like this: "You're going to cook for breakfast?" "Yeah, I don't have anything else." "Well, you can have some of my Chocolate Lucky Charms." "No, I don't mind." As I head off to my room, her voice echoes incredulously after me: "Chocolate Lucky Charms???" Oh yeah.

I bought pasta today. I can't possibly screw up pasta, right? Just boiling water, I can do that. I think. If anyone has any suggestions for expanding my repetoire beyond brownie mix and Chef Boyardee, I'm all ears to anything that can't be screwed up or prove lethal.

I Told You...

that I wasn't making any sense...

*I am so excited that the Backstreet Boys are back together. I love it, and their new song, "Incomplete". And yeah, I'm a geek, but hopefully y'all know by now that I don't care.

*I love Christmas music. It has to have words though. I can't stand music that doesn't have words in it.

*I'm hungry. I packed all my food already. Everything but the candy.

*I told myself I was only going to do a short post tonight, with no links. Oops.

*Have you seen Meet the Bloggers yet?

*More to the point, has anyone seen my sanity?

*Oh, well, it's not like I miss it.

*I like to mouse left-handed sometimes. Just because.

*My room is all empty now and it echoes when I sing.

*Except I sound like a frog when I sing right now. I always get sick at exams.

*I have the conclusion to the week from, uh, you know where, tomorrow. I get to finish packing my car in between taking two exams (and yes, I should have taken the computer apart tonight, but I just couldn't stay away), and then I may have to go work for a few hours, after which I move to a new apartment. And more to the point, find some FOOD along the way.

*So if I'm not around for a few days, continue to feast your eyes on some gorgeous pictures featuring my beautiful nephew. And should you get bored, rummage through my archives or something. I'm sure there's plenty to amuse you there. But if anyone happens to find my sanity....keep it. With my blessings. What has normalcy ever done for me anyway?

What Does May Mean?

Meet the Bloggers is now up. Jeff thought it up, and Stacey, Stacy, and I provide a triple dose of girl power. Go check it out. It's amusing AND thought-provoking. Woo-Hoo!