I am working from home today. Cue the Fifth Harmony jam. My car needs to get serviced because the maintenance light
won't go away. I also have a couple appointments so what better way than to flex my existence in the office.
I am actually wearing a hoodie for the first time this year. It is that cool this morning. I picked up iced coffee
from McDonalds and have my s'well bottles ready to go. I also have my second laptop up to have a second screen.
I am highly dependent on that second screen now. The weather finally dried up, but it is still cloudy today.
I feel like I am working at a startup in Portland. It feels nice to not worry about coming into an office.
If given a choice, I'd work from home any day. You can get up from your laptop and grab a snack in the pantry.
Actually, you can do the same thing when you're at the office. I am almost done with "Atlanta". It is super hilarious.
It's like a black man's version of "Broad City" and "Girls".
September 27, 2017
A big thank you to Paul for organizing such a fun party. He managed to find everyone's email addresses. He also texted
a few people here and there. There were a couple instances where he texted my friends, which I thought was a bit odd
but they had their reasons for texting. I didn't question after that. Excellent job on the execution. I really
had no idea what was going on. Really? Another bathtub issue at the Shelby house?
Chang and Stephen came in from San Antonio. I thought this was the only weekend he could take off.
I later realized that he has the weekends off. He doesn't really
work on the weekends. Tammy and Alex were the only ones who came all the way from New York. I'm glad they got to stay
with us on their last night in Oklahoma City. They also put together an amazing video compilation of bday wishes
from folks who couldn't make it. Sham and Anh Quan came in from Dallas. Sham left her baby boy at home so she can party
it up. No wonder Anh Quan had no desire to visit OKC knowing that he had to come for the party any way.
Same goes for Sham! Chi Hang came from Houston. Yes, she survived
Irma! Taylor and JC drove in from San Antonio. I had a bag of goodies to give to Chang to give to Taylor. Little did
I know I could have given the stuff to Taylor myself. I'm glad they came over on Saturday night to hang out a bit.
Thanks for making that drive despite your busy tax season deadlines! To the local folks: Bullard family, Bullard cousins,
work friends, and non-work friends, it was a big surprise to see you all in one place. I am still shocked that Paul
organized such a fun and memorable night. I will never forget my 40th!
September 26, 2017
I don't even know where to start. Just when you think it's enough, he comes out and says some more ridiculous things.
I am glad Jerry Jones and the rest of his team kneeled in protest to Trump's comments. It's not disrespecting
the flag. It's their way of protesting against Trump and what he stands for. Sarah Sanders could not answer any of the
questions the press threw her way. She kept repeating the same answer for everyone. You can see she was clearly
uncomfortable defending this guy and his stupidity. I had some crazy ideas this morning about decorating our house
for Halloween. The house always looks eerie as we drive up to the house at night. Although there are porch lights,
the white color against the dark backdrop makes it look like a haunted house. I'm thinking putting up tombstones
in front of the house or maybe just put a big ass spider on the side of the house. I need something scary, yet
creative. Last year, I couldn't do Halloween because we were driving back from Taylor's wedding. The wedding was
amazing and I'm glad we did the road trip. Marci and I were happy to see our little Taylor walk down the aisle.
This is the year we need to do it right for Halloween since I have about a month to plan.
September 25, 2017
Hooray for NASCAR for standing with Trump. Trump praised them for not kneeling or protesting by way of the
national anthem. Great way to keep the country together, Trump! He really doesn't get it. He calls NBA and NFL players
sons of bitches because they want to protest peacefully. He doesn't understand that there is still racial injustice
in our country. His loyal followers continue to embrace his trivial tweets when there are people
struggling to survive in Puerto Rico. These are Americans! America owns Puerto Rico and those residents are still
Americans, yet he has made no plans to visit the devastation. New York Governor Cuomo visited the island territory
last week to deliver aid and to assess the damage. Where was Trump? Too busy creating chaos with North Korea and Iran and
going off on black athletes and their moms (their moms are bitches). He is a child and will always be a child.
The guy feeds off of attention and loves chaos in all forms. He doesn't understand the true meaning of being an
American. I still do not know why stupid people continue to support him. He's a fat kid at the playground who will
continue to bully others because he has self-esteem issues. Perhaps it's his small hands that he needs to overcompensate
for.
September 21, 2017
Breakups are certainly hard. I've been through a few myself, even with the same person. It's a give and take...
push and pull until that one final moment both parties give up. Or at least, one person gives up and the other
person has no choice but to give up as well. I have a couple friends who are going through difficult breakups.
I won't name names but I think we pretty much know who they are. Some things will never change and just when you think
they will change, the problem resurfaces a couple weeks later. It's never an easy thing to go through. I don't know
the situation up close and personal because I am not going through it myself. I check in with them to see how they
are and whether they can get through the day. At the end of the day, if you are productive and can maintain some
kind of sanity to plow through your responsibilities, that's all you can ask for.
September 20, 2017
My Hillary book came in yesterday and I finished reading a couple chapters of the book. I had to put The Handmaid's
Tale aside to make way for my girl Hillary. The first chapters talk about how she felt right after her loss up to
inauguration day where she sat there with Bill to witness Trump getting sworn in. It was definitely a
slap in the face to sit through it all. There were a lot of honest thoughts coming from her which felt genuine.
I appreciate her candor as she talked about her surprising loss. I attended the Home Tour Committee meeting, which
is fast approaching. The tour is more than two weeks away. We still have a bit more to do. My focus is on publicizing
the event on the website. I just realized that we are supposed to dress in period clothing if we are volunteering
for the event. I remembered last year's volunteers all dressed up as if they were from the 1920s and 1930s. I'll
defer to my "Newsies" costume from a few Halloweens ago. Speaking of Halloween, we should stay back at home this year
and host a gathering. Apparently, it's a big deal in our neighborhood. Ellen said to buy eight pumpkin buckets
and fill them with candy. When the buckets are empty, you are done giving out candy. At this point, it will be
dark and approaching 8:30pm. I asked why buy eight buckets? She said she does this every year and it is about the right
amount of candy to give out. They also mentioned a flash mob that took place a couple years ago where they danced
to Thriller. Okay, I think that is going a bit far. Paul is off to Round Top and I'm home alone in a haunted house.
Alex said he saw the rocking chair in the guest room rock by itself. He came in the room and saw it rocking back
and forth. He also felt coldness in the room. I'm sure there are spirits in the home considering it's quite old.
Someone or a bunch of folks would have died over the years!
September 19, 2017
So, I got played. Sheryl wished me happy birthday on Friday but admitted it was a mistake. She said she got me
confused with another friend. People have been really quiet and short with me the past few weeks. People don't really
respond to my texts unless there is a question posed to them. Otherwise, it's just crickets and nothing else.
Paul really stepped it up and I am thankful and grateful for all he has done. The kicker here is that the surprise
took place a couple weeks before my actual birthday, which really threw me off. For those who couldn't make it,
I was happy to see them on full blast on the tv screen. I'll have to step it up for the next celebratory event!
September 14, 2017
It's nonstop today. Yes, I'm Vicki. I think the Vicki comment is getting old. In the more recent seasons, I don't
see her working at her office much. She's too busy stirring up trouble with Tamra and Shannon. I have a quick 10:30am
call followed by an 11:30am lunch. I can't pick up Chang and Stephen so Paul is picking up my slack. There's also
a 2pm call that should last about an hour. After that, I have some time to breathe before heading to Tulsa at about
4pm. I won't be back until 11pm tonight or so. Stang will just have to do without me for the time being.
I have off tomorrow and am looking forward to a relaxing weekend.
September 12, 2017
It's been a whirlwind the past few days. We didn't get invited to Shannon's football viewing party so we got to tag
along with Charli and Kaci's to Charli's parents house. It was funny because right when I got out of the car, I saw
older couples walking into their house bring casserole dishes and trays of food. At this point, I was like...crap, it's
an old people's party. I was right. Everyone had gray hair except for Don and Candi. All of the men wore collared shirts.
Paul and I were the only guys wearing tshirts. The viewing party was actually a lot of food. People grazed
the food during commercial breaks. People really get into these football games. It's like their life depends on it.
Men and women were both cheering and booing as if it's the Super Bowl. It's only a college football game. Well, not
really...the game between OU and Ohio State was a big deal. Ohio State killed OU last year in OU's home turf. It was
OU's turn to pay back this time around so OU needed to win. On top it, OU moved up the rankings to #2. Kaci explained
it to me and I still didn't care.
September 7, 2017
Today is only Thursday and I'm ready for the weekend. I am off to Tulsa tomorrow for a full day of meetings.
Right after that, I'm off to Sarah's to decorate cookies. We have three separate orders to be delivered Saturday
morning. I hope we can use some of the same colors for all three batches. This will save us a lot of time and headache.
On top of this, I need to bake a Yelp cake for our community manager's baby shower on Saturday morning. Marci wants
cookies for her two girls in New York as well. It's busy season here at Sweet T's!
September 6, 2017
My goal is stand up all day today. I think I only stood up once yesterday. It really does wake me up if I'm falling
asleep at my desk. Having to keep your legs straight and standing upright force you to be extra alert. Irma is on
her way to Florida. Right behind her is another hurricane. The world is coming to an end. You have North Koreans
threatening to blow up the US and its allies. In response to that, Trump reacts with the same harsh language
and wants to beef up the border between North Korea and South Korea. The Myanmar military is killing civilians in
its fight to kill off the insurgents. The US media and other western media outlets barely report about this massacre.
Why? It's because the US has no economic interest in this country. Oil? Natural gas?...nothing; therefore, the US
could care less about the genocide that's happening. I'm glad the Muslim countries are standing up against Myanmar.
You would think that Nobel Peace Prize recipient is siding with humanity but she is standing on the opposite. She
is killing off Muslims in her Buddhist majority nation. It's just sad. I lost all respect for her. She is
in the same category as all the other idiots out there who claim to care about the common folks, but not really.
Yes, I'm looking at you Ivanka. Get your ass out of the White House and get back to your family-sponsored
companies where you can pretend to work with your brothers. Trump should just resign and follow his daughter's
lead.
September 5, 2017
Hilaire and I were the only ones in the office on Friday. She left early in the afternoon to start her long weekend.
She's actually out all this week for vacation too. Anyways, I left right after her and worked from home for a bit.
We loaded up on snacks and food for the night as if a hurricane was approaching Oklahoma. Carrie and Tess stopped by.
Blain followed thereafter. No more Celine Dion megamixes and Fifth Harmony mashups are in order. Saturday morning,
Jesus came by and fixed the right column on the porch. It is now standing at 90 degrees. We went by Lauren and Coby's
for the OU game and stayed there until early evening. We were supposed to go out but that didn't happen.
On Sunday, we had breakfast on the rooftop at Packard's and stopped by the elder Bullards for a quick visit.
Then we were off to The Rink and Crest. I baked some snickerdoodle cookies and made a seafood pasta salad.
I swept the sidewalk and driveway. I sprayed the lawn with insect repellent. Half of the Bullard family came over
for dinner and to hang out on the lawn. Yesterday, I baked all of the sugar cookies we need for this weekend.
They are all packed and ready to be delivered to Sarah's house. She will start on the flooding. We will then come in
on Friday to decorate them. I then made brownies and called it a day and night. Dinner consisted of the usual Hot-n-Ready.
I was in bed by 9:30pm and am now wide awake. That completes my weekend. The video below is in response to Tess's
singing from Sunday night.
September 1, 2017
I could not get up this morning. I'm starting to think Fridays are my late days now. My goal is to get all five early
days in before the weekend gets here. I am hoping for a slow day today. This week has been dragging for everyone.
Everyone I talk to asks when the weekend will get here. I forgot about the three day holiday weekend until Hilaire
mentioned it a couple days ago. It doesn't feel like a holiday weekend since I can't remember the last time we had
a long weekend. Now that I think about it, it was Fourth of July. We actually had two days off for that weekend because
the holiday landed on a Tuesday. We didn't get an extra day off for New Year's so it sort of worked itself out.
Summer is coming to a close and I cannot wait for the cool Autumn weather. The forecast for next week calls for a
high of 80 degrees. It hasn't been that bad this summer. We had a few weeks of 90 something degrees but nothing too
drastic.