I have read the following things on the web this week and they have either made me smile or cry – thought you might like them too:

1. Sweet Juniper – could I relate any more to this story?

2. Blurbomat – I want this photo so bad. Jon is an amazing photog.

3. Finslippy – This was so real to me that I had to stop for a second and remember that it wasn’t me going through this again. Miscarriage SUCKS.

4. Want sooooo badly to go to this conference but with the pending move, my life is just to crazy to fit it in.

5. Oil Execs can suck it. It cost me nearly $80 to fill up my car last week. That is just ridic. (that is my new shortened version of ridiculous – I’m hoping it catches on…)

Standing in line at Costco – I am the annoying person on their cell phone because seriously I never have time to talk to friends and sometimes multi-tasking is my only chance to catch up with my BFF.

So, I have two items in my hands. Just two. Lines are everywhere and I am behind a woman who easily has $600 worth of bulk product on a pallet. I hear a clerk announce that a new line is open. I am busily chatting with my BFF and I attempt a “quasi” run to the open line, in heels…with my hands full….on the phone…

Out of the corner of my eye I see a lady with a cart and two children in tow heading for the open line. She is focused on being the next person “helped”. Before I can get out of the way, she almost clips me. I fumble a bit and then step back into line behind Pallet Lady. Because I am talking to my BFF and I sometimes forget how loud I talk, the following occurs:

Me: Gosh people are so rude! I only have 2 things! That lady has so much stuff and she just has to be in front of me!

BFF: You should know better than to cross a stay at home mom who is rushing to get home in time to make dinner.

Me: Brutal. People suck.

Pallet Lady: (turns around) You can go in front of me if you need to…

Me (to Pallet Lady): Oh, no! I wasn’t bitching about you – it was the other lady!!!!

BFF: Oh my gosh who are you talking to? Did you just say that OUT LOUD?

Me: Yeah, um, gotta go…am total public jackass right now.

Okay Internet, here’s the scoop:

I am mostly retarded when it comes to the technical. If it weren’t for the hubby, this site might not be here at all (I know, I know, the sheer sadness at such a thought). Anyway, I have a big fancy camera because I like to take pictures. I have a nice computer because the hubby likes computers.

What is missing you say? Well that would be a program that a certain girl might use to edit her pictures. (hence my super lame header up there…look up, yeah that one!)

So, I am on the verge of purchasing Photoshop for Dummies, aka Photoshop Elements. I just don’t think I need to go to the expense of the full Photoshop suite because – who am I kidding – it’s not like I’m RAW editing or anything. (i hope that means something) I just want to play around and make some cool headers for my site – or maybe even create a picture in which I am hugging Obama, whilst wearing THE T-SHIRT.

So Internet – your thoughts? Should I just buy the Dummy version and be satisfied? Or should I save my $$ up and get the full blown Photoshop?

From this morning’s roundup:

MORRIS, Ill. (AP) – Got milk?Police say a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos has overturned, spilling the cookies still in their plastic sleeves into the median and roadway. Illinois State Police Sgt. Brian Mahoney says the truck’s driver was traveling from Chicago to Morris on Interstate 80 around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median.“The boxes came out of the trailer and boxes were ripped open,” he said.The crash about 50 miles southwest of Chicago remains under investigation. Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed while authorities remove the cookies.

Can you imagine? You screech to a stop behind a truck that has just jigsawed and spilled its contents on to the freeway. You strain to see what is now covering the ground – toxic chemicals? Animal parts? Tires? Feathers?

No baby, it’s your lucky morning – grab your coffee and start dipping!

People, I do not know if you have ever had to leave a job after a significant amount of time but it is pretty hard.

I have been with my current employer for 7 years. Given that I only graduated from college 9 years ago, one could say that the majority of my professional career has been at this one place.

As I prepare for this big move, one of the things I have to do is clean out my office. I am not quite to that point yet, but I am trying to clean out old emails and documents from my computer (you know to hide all of the non-work related stuff I have NOT been doing).

As I went about cleaning out my sent emails a weird thing began to unfold.

First of all, I have to say that I.T. would KILL ME if they knew that I have 12,559sent emails in my outbox. More accurately they would tie me to a chair and make stare at the “blue screen of death” while they make “stupid average user” jokes about me like “hey that’s an I D 10 T error.  (that is how computer geeks talk, I know I am married to one… hi Kevie!).

I know, I know. It is totally lame that I have so many sent emails in my outbox. In my defense, I am lazy….

Anyhow, as I went about cleaning them up today I came across some interesting emotional hurdles.

First off, there are emails sent to people in that outbox that have since passed away. There are emails in there to people, whom for whatever reason,  are no longer a part of my life.  It made me realize that a lot has happened in the 7 years since I accepted this job.

One particular set of emails – occurring with one person over a multi- year period – were particularly jarring to my psyche. This person was once family. He was once one of my best friends and he was once the Uncle to my child, whom he adored. However, life happens and he is no longer in the picture. As I read the emails and I could remember what it was like to talk to him, to be so familiar with him I couldn’t help but cringe. He would be a stranger to me today if I saw him on the street. Clearly, I still have grief over this issue and these emails brought this to light.

How do you let someone go from your life that was a part of it for so long? I think every photo album in our house has pictures of him. Am I supposed to take them all out? Am I supposed to let him be the stranger that he wishes to be?

The question however, that truly plagues me is, how well did I really know him in the first place, if he now is totally fine calling me a stranger? I wish I could ask him how he does it. How does he push all of those years and memories aside? He was there when my son was born. He was there when Kevin and I lost our first baby to miscarriage. He was in the house when Kevin’s mom passed away from cancer. We were there for him, we chose him, when the going got tough in our family. And now he desires to be just a ghost in our past.

Life takes some crazy turns. This one I never expected. As I pushed the button and deleted all of the emails, taking the time to only read a few, I realized this move is truly cleansing.

We are leaving a whole host of good memories behind here in the Valley but there are some moments, some pieces frozen in my mind that I wish to walk away from with a fresh start.