lucy_76

lucy_76 @ 2009-10-09T20:41:00

2009-10-10T00:46:01Z

Not that I ever posted much to start with, but I know I'm posting much less than I really should be. I feel like I'm an air plane, in a constant hold pattern. We're getting ready to move to the UK, and I'm doing everything I can do before we move, but it just feels like everything is moving in slow motion. My visa, Curtis visa, moving company, what will we take vs. what will we leave here, where will all our plants go? Random shit that I've never had to think about before with a move. For the last 15 years, I've only moved within the same city. Now I have to move outside the freakin country?!?! Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhh! But I am excited. And scared shitless.

lucy_76 @ 2009-08-25T16:39:00

2009-08-25T20:42:58Z

I love having friends with a new baby. Babies are so much fun to play with and hold! And since I'm not the momma, I don't have to do diaper changes! Woot! How great is that?

Me + Baby = Happy

lucy_76 @ 2009-05-21T13:43:00

2009-05-21T17:44:08Z

I just opened a Twitter account. It feels weird, but maybe I'll enjoy it. On it I'm lauralucyk if anyone is interested :)

lucy_76 @ 2009-03-28T18:31:00

2009-03-28T22:31:38Z

Ben has bitch tit due to a nipple injury

Brief update for the interested

2009-03-27T14:46:02Z

On Monday, my dad was admitted to the hospital for an irregular heartbeat. The man has more health issues than I thought could afflict one person all at the same time! I drove down to Columbia, SC, where he took a job a few weeks ago, to see him and take some of the burden off my aunt, his little sister, who lives down there. Next week is his official move (he had already arranged to have movers come and pack up and move his shit because he has a bad back and leg) but since he's been so ill, and has a follow up doctor's appointment on the day of his move, I'll be supervising everything. It's actually a good thing that I don't have a job right now or else this would really be a royal clusterfuck! Anyhoo, that's my life at the moment. So this weekend, I'm going to enjoy my husband and our house before I have to go driving all over God's creation next week.

Job seeking

2009-02-12T15:36:51Z

So I had my first interview yesterday since losing my job in December. It's pretty rough out there and my interview opportunity was all thanks to komejo. Thank you!!! I thought I rocked the interview, had good answers for all the questions and appeared professional and experienced the entire time. Of course with the economy the way it is, they have a bunch of other great candidates so I won't find out until next week (at the earliest) if they want me to come back for a second interview. The suspense is killing me!!! This sounds like a really cool opportunity that I could totally kill if given the chance!

US Economy = Suck

2008-12-30T17:34:45Z

I am now among the ranks of the unemployed. "How did such a thing happen?!" you ask. Quite simple actually. The other offices of my company aren't doing as well as our office, and our office had a customer stiff us for several thousand dollars worth of invoices, legally. Long story short: I didn't see this coming, but I wasn't surprised by it either. My only real concern is health insurance. After seeing how easy it was for Ben to go to the doctor and get antibiotics in England, I'm supremely jealous of the national health care system in the UK. If we lived there, I would only have to worry about things I could really afford, like my car payment and student loan payment and rent. COBRA, on the other hand, is something I need, but don't really know how we are going to pay the premiums. I suppose all I can really do at the moment is put my resume out there and hope to find something that I enjoy doing every day. I'm actually grateful for the break, and it's not the worst time for us, but it's still sucky. Such is life!

lucy_76 @ 2008-11-07T14:19:00

2008-11-07T19:19:42Z

I want to be just like Mr. Rogers when I grow up :)

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/5943

At least some crusty old Republicans have figured shit out

2008-11-06T20:04:39Z

This was all in an e-mail my dad, Bill, just sent to me. Almost all of my family are Republican and have been Republicans forever (including me, you're reading a post made by the former Chairman of the College Republicans at Peace College). This year I did vote for Obama because I believe he is the right man for the job. It's so nice to see that some of my fellow Republicans got the message as well.

This country now belongs to the younger generations. We are the past, for better or worse.
And that is the way that it should be. This is a little scary for me, to have a president like this guy. But I am now a 56 year old man brought up in a different era. I remember when my high school was integrated in 1966. That was scary too. What now? Who knows? But for better or worse, we are along for the ride...

Bill

Obama Will Be One of the Greatest (and Most Loved) American Presidents

By Frank Schaeffer (The Huffington Post)
________________________________
Great presidents are made great by horrible circumstances combined with character, temperament and intelligence. Like firemen, cops, doctors or soldiers, presidents need a crisis to shine.
Obama is one of the most intelligent presidential aspirants to ever step forward in American history. The likes of his intellectual capabilities have not been surpassed in public life since the Founding Fathers put pen to paper. His personal character is also solid gold. Take heart, America : we have the leader for our times.

I say this as a white, former life-long Republican. I say this as the proud father of a Marine. I say this as just another American watching his pension evaporate along with the stock market! I speak as someone who knows it's time to forget party loyalty, ideology and pride and put the country first. I say this as someone happy to be called a fool for going out on a limb and declaring that, 1) Obama will win, and 2) he is going to be amongst the greatest of American presidents.

Obama is our last best chance. He's worth laying it all on the line for.

This is a man who in the age of greed took the high road of community service. This is the good father and husband. This is the humble servant. This is the patient teacher. This is the scholar statesman. This is the man of deep Christian faith.

Good stories about Obama abound; from his personal relationship with his Secret Service agents (he invites them into his home to watch sports, and shoots hoops with them) to the story about how, more than twenty years ago, while standing in the check-in line at an airport, Obama paid a $100 baggage surcharge for a stranger who was broke and stuck. (Obama was virtually penniless himself in those days.) Years later, after he became a senator, that stranger recognized Obama's picture and wrote to him to thank him. She received a kindly note back from the senator. (The story only surfaced because the person, who lives in Norway , told a local newspaper after Obama ran for the presidency. The paper published a photograph of this lady proudly displaying Senator Obama's letter.)

Where many leaders are two-faced; publicly kindly but privately feared and/or hated by people closest to them, Obama is consistent in the way he treats people, consistently kind and personally humble. He lives by the code that those who lead must serve. He believes that. He lives it. He lived it long before he was in the public eye.

Obama puts service ahead of ideology. He also knows that to win politically you need to be tough. He can be. He has been. This is a man who does what works, rather than scoring ideological points. In other words he is the quintessential non-ideological pragmatic American. He will (thank God!) disappoint ideologues and purists of the left and the right.

Obama has a reservoir of personal physical courage that is unmatched in presidential history. Why unmatched? Because as the first black contender for the presidency who will win, Obama, and all the rest of us, know that he is in great physical danger from the seemingly unlimited reserve of unhinged racial hatred, and just plain unhinged ignorant hatred, that swirls in the bowels of our wounded and sinful country. By stepping forward to lead, Obama has literally put his life on the line for all of us in a way no white candidate ever has had to do. (And we all know how dangerous the presidency has been even for white presidents.)

Nice stories or even unparalleled courage isn't the only point. The greater point about Obama is that the midst of our worldwide financial meltdown, an expanding (and losing) war in Afghanistan, trying to extricate our country from a wrong and stupidly mistaken ruinously expensive war in Iraq, our mounting and crushing national debt, awaiting the next (and inevitable) al Qaeda attack on our homeland, watching our schools decline to Third World levels of incompetence, facing a general loss of confidence in the government that has been exacerbated by the Republicans doing all they can to undermine our government's capabilities and programs... President Obama will take on the leadership of our country at a make or break time of historic proportions. He faces not one but dozens of crisis, each big enough to define any presidency in better times.

As luck, fate or divine grace would have it (depending on one's personal theology) Obama is blessedly, dare I say uniquely, well-suited to our dire circumstances. Obama is a person with hands-on community service experience, deep connections to top economic advisers from the renowned University of Chicago where he taught law and a middle-class background that gives him an abiding knowledgeable empathy with the rest of us. As the son of a single mother, who has worked his way up with merit and brains, recipient of top-notch academic scholarships, the peer-selected editor of the Harvard Law Review and, in three giant political steps to state office, national office and now the presidency, Obama clearly has the wit and drive to lead.

Obama is the sober voice of reason at a time of unreason. He is the fellow keeping his head while all around him are panicking. He is the healing presence at a time of national division and strife. He is also new enough to the political process so that he doesn't suffer from the terminally jaded cynicism, the seen-it-all-before syndrome afflicting most politicians in Washington . In that regard we Americans lucked out. It's as if having despaired of our political process we picked a name from the phone book to lead us and that person turned out to be a very man we needed.

Obama brings a healing and uplifting spiritual quality to our politics at the very time when our worst enemy is fear. For eight years we've been ruled by a stunted, fear-filled, mediocrity of a little liar who has expanded his power on the basis of creating fear in others. Fearless Obama is the cure. He speaks a litany of hope rather than a litany of terror.

As we have watched Obama respond in a quiet reasoned manner to crisis after crisis, in both the way he has responded after being attacked and lied about in the 2008 campaign season, to his reasoned response to our multiplying national crises, what we see is the spirit of a trusted family doctor with a great bedside manner. Obama is perfectly suited to hold our hand and lead us through some very tough times. The word panic is not in the Obama dictionary.

America is fighting its 'Armageddon' in one fearful heart at a time. A brilliant leader with the mild manner of an old-time matter-of-fact country doctor soothing a frightened child is just what we need. The fact that our 'doctor' is a black man leading a hitherto white-ruled nation out of the mess of its own making is all the sweeter and raises the Obama story to that of moral allegory.

Obama brings a moral clarity to his leadership reserved for those who have had to work for everything they've gotten and had to do twice as well as the person standing next to them because of the color of their skin. His experience of succeeding in spite of his color, social background and prejudice could have been embittering or one that fostered a spiritual rebirth of forgiveness and enlightenment. Obama radiates the calm inner peace of the spirit of forgiveness.

Speaking as a believing Christian I see the hand of a merciful God in Obama's candidacy. The biblical metaphors abound. The stone the builder rejected has become the cornerstone... the last shall be first... he that would gain his life must first lose it... the meek shall inherit the earth...

For my secular friends I'll allow that we may have just been extraordinarily lucky! Either way America wins.
Only a brilliant man, with the spirit of a preacher and the humble heart of a kindly family doctor can lead us now. We are afraid, out of ideas, and worst of all out of hope. Obama is the cure. And we Americans have it in us to rise to the occasion. We will. We're about to enter one of the most frightening periods of American history. Our country has rarely faced more uncertainty. This is the time for greatness. We have a great leader. We must be a great people backing him, fighting for him, sacrificing for a cause greater than ourselves.

A hundred years from now Obama's portrait will be placed next to that of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. Long before that we'll be telling our children and grandchildren that we stepped out in faith and voted for a young black man who stood up and led our country back from the brink of an abyss. We'll tell them about the power of love, faith and hope. We'll tell them about the power of creativity combined with humility and intellectual brilliance. We'll tell them that President Obama gave us the gift of regaining our faith in our country. We'll tell them that we all stood up and pitched in and won the day. We'll tell them that President Obama restored our standing in the world. We'll tell them that by the time he left office our schools were on the mend, our economy booming, that we'd become a nation filled with green energy alternatives and were leading the world awa y from dependence on carbon-based destruction. We'll tell them that because of President Obama's example and leadership the integrity of the family was restored, divorce rates went down, more fathers took responsibility for their children, and abortion rates fell dramatically as women, families and children were cared for through compassionate social programs that worked. We'll tell them about how the gap closed between the middle class and the super rich, how we won health care for all, how crime rates fell, how bad wars were brought to an honorable conclusion. We'll tell them that when we were attacked again by al Qaeda, how reason prevailed and the response was smart, tough, measured and effective, and our civil rights were protected even in times of crisis...

We'll tell them that we were part of the inexplicably blessed miracle that happened to our country those many years ago in 2008 when a young black man was sent by God, fate or luck to save our country. We'll tell them that it's good to live in America where anything is possible. Yes we will.

lucy_76 @ 2008-10-28T15:06:00

2008-10-28T19:08:19Z

Since we now have Fallout 3 at our house (apparently), I fear it might be awhile before I see my husband resurface. Also, one of my best friends, Steph, just moved to Pittsburgh, PA. In light of my newly open social schedule, anyone up for movie time or shopping?

Moms - WTF?

2008-08-22T16:46:47Z

I had dinner with my mom last night. She's still pissed that I eloped to Vegas. WTF? We talk about that for a while (she claims she's trying to "understand" why I would run off and get married instead of having a real wedding). Then we get on the subject of my brother (who has gotten his girlfriend preggers). My brother was kind of a screw up in high school, but then he went into the Army, got his shit straight, fought for our country in a war he thought was pointless, and came home a real live MAN! The pregnancy wasn't planned, but he's still super excited. I always knew he'd make a great dad :) He and his girl are closing on a house this Tuesday! I've been telling everyone about my nephew and how I can't wait to meet him!! Then my mom tells me that she's only told about 4 or 5 people (all family, no friends) that's I've gotten married and she hasn't told ANYONE about her soon to be first-born grandchild!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF?!?!?!?!?! What soon to be grandmother isn't shouting from the rafters to anyone that will listen about her grandchild?! I then tell her "thanks for being ashamed of us Mom" and she says "Your welcome". I think I'm handeling all this pretty well, until I get home, put my car in park, and promptly burst into tears. I'm not a crier. I cry maybe once or twice a year. Until my ex-fiance told me "I'm no longer interested in you and I don't want to marry you" my closest friend from college (whom I had known over 10 years at that point) had never seen me cry. So coming home to my husband in tears is a HUGE FUCKING DEAL! I'm a good person, I pay taxes, I have a college degree (something Mom insisted on) I have a good job, I organize and participate in charity events for my company, I have a wonderful husband who loves me dearly and treats me like gold, hell, I even have good credit!! How could a mother possibly be ashamed of a daughter like that? Mom's approval was never something that was really important to me, but knowing that she loved me, was happy for me and supported me was important. That unconditional support is what I feel like I've lost. How can anyone act like this?

I liked eva prawn's so I copied

2008-06-26T14:12:47Z

Rules: Post 3 things you've done that you believe nobody else on your F-list has done. Indulge in remorse if someone calls you out on a listed item.

1. Had Tiger Woods literally bump into me at the Augusta National Golf Course. Very polite and excused himself immediately.

2. Been to Belarus, the last dictatorship in Europe.

3. Fell asleep at an Atlanta Braves baseball game.

drugs are good m'kay

2008-06-19T20:44:50Z

To all of the scientists who have done research to advance drug development, I would like to say THANK YOU! If it weren't for psychiatric medications, I would either be a worthless drooling mess with nothing to contribute to society or dead. I'm feeling exceptionally cheerful today and I know it's because I got my presciption renewed. One the one hand, it's kinda sad that I need to drugs to feel normal, on the other hand, it's a blessing to live in an age where such things are available.

Life's tidbits

2008-05-22T14:25:53Z

Judging by the posts I'm seeing, there is a lot of change going on in a lot of lives. Must be something in the air. I am wanting to make changes in my life as well. Is there something about your early 30's that demands a radical shift in the way you live your life? Work has never been a major part of my life, I never really even wanted a career, but I'm finding now that work is becoming an even lower priority than before. I want to enjoy life and my husband and my pets and family and all that good stuff. Obviously, I should have been born independently wealthy ;)

lucy_76 @ 2008-05-08T16:39:00

2008-05-08T20:40:08Z

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24502967/

I can't wait to hear your comments on this article :)

Lunch

2008-05-04T21:13:03Z

Today Ben prepared a wonderful lunch for me. Vancouver crab in a ginger and spring onion sauce and cockles in an onion garlic white wine sauce with whole wheat bread. It was amazing!! We went to Grand Asia market in Cary and got some wonderful stuff, then came home and he made this amazing lunch. Outside on the deck, eating with your fingers is really where it's at!!! Of course, being that it was Ben, there were copious amounts of drinking involved and now I'm a little drunk. He's turning me into a drunkard, I swear!!! I might be going along a little too willingly, but there you have it :) I wouldn't normally say this sort of thing, but MY LIFE IS BETTER THAN YOURS!!!! All in jest my friends, but things are going well and I'm happy. I would like to see all of you more, so call Ben and set some shit up yo!!!

WTF Chick-Fil-A?

2008-04-11T12:56:30Z

This morning I went by my local Chick-Fil-A (which I happened to work at Chick-Fil-A in high school and I STILL eat the food there, so that should tell you something about the quality of their practices) and ordered the #4 combo, which included chicken, egg and cheese on a multigrain bagel, hashbrowns, and a small drink all for $4.69. I placed my order, and was told the final price was $5.27. Now I know taxes are high, but they're not THAT high, so what's up? Chick-Fil-A has raised their prices since I've been eating breakfast there in the past few years, so I thought maybe they raised the price and hadn't updated their sign yet. Not so much. Turns out that even though the combo comes with a small drink, they go ahead and give (and charge!) everyone for a medium drink. When I asked why, I was told that EVERYONE wants a medium drink, so they just go ahead and ring it up that way, and if you want the small drink, then you have to request it. WTF?!?!?!?!?!?! The combo comes with a SMALL drink and I have to specially request it?!?! People irritate me.

OMG OMG OMG!!!!

2008-04-08T13:56:04Z

OMG! I just found out this morning that my brother's girlfriend is pregenant!!!! The reason for the shock is this: NO ONE IN MY REBUPLICAN, CHURCH-GOING, CONSERVATIVE FAMILY WOULD DO THIS!!! Allow me to give a little background on my family. My mother's father was a Presbyterian minister and English teacher who taught at a seminary in Virginia in his "retirement". My mother's mother was an elementary school teacher from Americas, Georgia who still wears her wedding ring to this day, even though my grandfather has been deceased for close to a decade because she believes in forever. My father lives in Carrboro and when he went to register to vote, he registered Republican, even after the lady helping him asked "Are you sure?".

When I asked my brother if he had told Mom, he said yeah and I asked what she thought and he said "I think she was still in shock when we got off the phone an hour later." My brother just moved in with this girl in February, after he got out of the Army and after meeting her on the internet. Don't get me wrong, my brother is WONDERFUL with kids and will make a GREAT dad. But I haven't met this girl, she's been married before, already has a daughter, and I'm just afraid my brother is falling into the same trap our own dad did when he married his second wife, after knowing her only 4 months (what a disaster that turned out to be!) This girl has no interest in getting married, even though my brother would like to. Sweet as he is, my brother has the WORST taste in women on the planet and I'm just afraid that this girl is going to use and abuse him and dump his ass then sue him for child support. That being said, let me give you a little background on my brother's choice in women. When he was in high school, my brother had a credit card from my mom to use for gas. He ended up racking up $10,000.00 worth of crap on that card for this girl and her family. Her family was not a well off as ours (we weren't rich, but Mom got the bills paid) and my brother couldn't stand to see them suffer when he thought he could help. I realize my brother is mostly to blame for the situation and the debt, but if that girl hadn't manipulated him, he never would have gotten into that mess in the first place, so she is partly to blame in my book. But this is the kind of girls he dates. The evil kind of bitches that use men for everything they have, then dump them when they're finished. Hence my apprehension.

Going forward, I'm not sure if I should be happy for him, or apprehensive, or what. But still, OMG!!!!

My Monday

2008-03-31T18:31:18Z

Raped by car place for fixing my car - check
Bitched out by former consultant, even though I was just the messenger - check
Dumped with more tiny questions that I have to research and answer than should be allowed by law - check
Cold and dreary day that deserves nothing more than snuggles on the couch with my sweetie - check
People not telling me shit when I asked them 10,000 times to keep me updated - check
People getting mad at me because they took it upon themselves to do something unpleasant that I didn't ask of them - check

Most of this was before lunch :(

Does this mean I need a new job? Cause 4 out of the 6 things on my shitty Monday list are work related, and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Why I consider myself a productive member of society

2008-03-26T17:42:49Z

rambles

2008-03-25T14:56:12Z

Marriage is interesting. It's so different from single life. Getting used to thinking in terms of "us" instead of "me" is taking some time. It's wonderful and weird and exciting all at the same time. Hopefully this will all sink in and I can feel more settled soon.

Oh, and can someone explain what Steampunk is to me? I have no idea if it's geeky or not but I'm trying to learn more geeky type stuff, example: last night Ben had to explain to me that when you put the music from CD's onto your iPod, it's an "upload" as opposed to a "download". Of course, when you stop and think about it, I guess it makes perfect sense, but I've pretty much just getting by with computer type stuff until recently. Trying to make my much-more-geeky-than-me sweetie proud of me is hard!!

People not like us

2008-03-18T14:38:35Z

I'm up here in Cincinnati for work, and last night I had my first White Castle experience! It was awesome!!!! The little onions are so sweet and delicious and that over processed white bread bun is just heaven! The White Castle I was taken to was connected to a gas station. While my friend was filling up, an obviously homeless man came up to her and asked for money for food. She didn't have any cash so she offered to buy him something. He took her up on it, and placed his order at White Castle just after I placed my order. All he got was a coffee and two burgers. His total was just shy of two dollars. But he was so grateful for her generosity, it made me feel bad that I don't do more to help those less fortunate than myself. I must take steps to correct this matter. But I shall have to think on how do it so that I'm helping people make their life better, not just giving them a handout. I am a Republican after all :)

But on to my point... This morning, one of the consultants in the Cincy office brought in what he calls "pork candy". It's basically bacon coated with brown sugar and cooked all crispy. He brought it into our Tuesday morning meeting and tossed it on the table for everyone to enjoy. However, everyone at the table (save myself) looked revolted by the offering. I left it there just in case anyone was brave enough to try a piece. Once the meeting was over and no one had so much as made a move towards the pork candy, I pounced on that bag like a kitty on canned tuna! I couldn't believe that no one else was excited about pork candy! Pork is one of God's great gifts to mankind, I don't care what the Jews think. So the pork candy will be coming home with me tonight when I return to Raleigh as a love offering to my wonderful husband. He wanted a gift from Cincy and since all they have here is yummy food, what better gift?!?

lucy_76 @ 2008-03-14T09:22:00

2008-03-14T13:23:14Z

Thank you Z people for coming over for dinner last night!! A wonderful time was had by all AND we now have a monster tv in the den! Woot!

lucy_76 @ 2008-03-09T16:31:00

2008-03-09T20:35:56Z

So I've lived in my house for four years now, without a computer and without internet. My lovely husband hasn't lived here a week and we already have internet up and working!!! Plus we bought a huge fucking television yesterday. I've never bought a tv in my life and now I'm the proud owner of a 52 inch LCD 1080p HiDef monster! Ahhh how marriage changes you.

Wii

2008-02-28T16:06:02Z

Is anyone out there looking for a Wii? A friend of mine has a brand new one, never taken out of the box. He's asking $330 or best offer.