Queenie was back at work today complaining about how sick she was yesterday. She said that she had to have her tonsils scraped. (?) She was laughing and talking all day long. Wow! What a miraculous recovery. She brought brownies. Who would want to eat food brought by someone who was sick? Ya'll probably think I am so catty, but she drives my coworkers and I crazy. Her boss's think she is great and wonderful. She is probably the most protected person at work. My boss even jumps on the catty comment bandwagon. Whenever I mention her name, he just rolls his eyes. I have a cobb salad from Newk's. As soon as I finish reading your blogs, I am going to eat it, drink a diet peach tea Snapple and finish watching this week's installment of "Pride and Prejudice" that is on PBS. Don't you just love Colin Firth?!?! He is the perfect Mr. Darcy.

Queenie was not at work today. She was sick. I wonder if she stirred up too much dust while she was cleaning. A lot of people are out with a bad cold or flu. There are some people who were at work with their ailments. I wish they would stay at home. I sprayed with lysol in our area. The smell sort of got to me, but it is better than having the flu.

Sometimes I wonder about my coworker that I refer to as "Queenie". I wonder if she has good sense. Today, the CEO of the bank that has acquired our bank, was in town to speak at the Kiwanis Club. While he was in a meeting in our Chairman of the Board's office, her sister and her set of 5 year old twins show up. They keep laughing very loudly. CP, the Chairman's secretary, encouraged the sister and twins to go to the breakroom. In about 5 minutes here comes Queenie with sister and the twins. CP went over to her and put her finger to her lips and said "Shhhhsh!, Mr. C is here". Queenie responded "I know" and kept on laughing really loud. I would have been mortified if that were me. I went to vote this afternoon. I was in and out in less that 10 minutes. There weren't that many people there. It is supposed to storm tonight. I hope it doesn't get too bad.

I finished reading the Audrey edition of Life magazine today. It was a very well done publication. I understand why we all idolize her. She was a class act.

IT WAS MONDAY

Both of my bosses were gone today. I was so lonely. It was too quiet in our area. But I did get a lot of work done. After work I went to Target to get a couple of things. While I was there, I saw some cute preppy bermuda shorts on sale for $14.99. I may have to go back before they are all gone. They also had some cute preppy totes for $9.99 I just love Target, but I have to stay away sometimes. I buy more than I need.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

I am finally winding down on my used car sale at work. The checks are in and I am in the process of doing title transfers and bills of sale. I'm glad that this project is coming to an end. "Queenie" was in a bad mood today. She had some work to do that kept her busy for about an hour. She has gotten on a kick of wearing a black vest with black pants almost every day. Different black vest and different black pants, but it's almost like a uniform.

It's really raining hard here. I feel for all of you that live up north with the ice and snow. If that were here in Birmingham, the city would close down. Down south, there are no snow plows to get rid of the ice and snow, so we just have to hang out until it melts.

It's raining outside right now. We need it bad. I stopped by Barnes & Noble (in the rain) to get the Audrey edition of Life Magazine. They have been out for awhile. I may try and order it online. I should have bought it the day that I first saw it. Oh, well.

"Queenie" was whining today about all the work that she has. When I went over there, she was sitting with her chin propped on top of her fist with nothing to do.

For some reason, I was expecting something major on "Gossip Girl" last night. I watched it anyway...every minute of it. I think I may start reading the books.

Do I Look Like a Used Car Salesman?

The bank is doing away with company vehicles. They are offering them to the person they are assigned to for book value. My boss asked me to contact these people and find out yes or no if they were purchasing their company owned vehicle, that's all. Now, I've turned into a car salesman. I am having to keep an inventory of the cars that are turned in and contact a large dealership to possibly take them off our hands. I don't know the first thing about dealing with these cars and I am getting no guidance from anybody. I guess it's job security.

The Pink Pelican is offering 20% off with the code VIPSPRING through Saturday.

THE WEEKEND IS FINALLY HERE

Even though I only worked 4 days this week, it was a long week. Yesterday, it was real quiet and I played on the computer all day. It's been so busy lately, I felt like I was due a play day. Yesterday, "Queenie" had on a sheer pink blouse with big ruffles - just like the aqua one from Wednesday except in a different color. Underneath she had on a tank top that is cream with purple and brown polka dots - big wonder bread polka dots. I wonder if she doesn't own a mirror. "Queenie" is also the coworker that I refer to as the "coworker who doesn't work".

I worked at the store last night. This young woman came in with jeans tucked into knee high white boots. These were not off white boots but WHITE boots - nurse white #3. When does one wear white boots? One would not wear white shoes between Labor Day and Easter, and I don't think one would wear boots between Easter and Labor Day. And if I were half as pretty as she thinks she is, I would have a big crown on my head.

The coworker with the bad outfit was dressed okay today. She had on black pants, black vest and a mint green satin blouse. When did satin come back in style...was it ever? We call her "Queenie" because she acts like she thinks she's the "queen bee". She is also the person that I refer to as the "coworker who doesn't work". Today "Queenie" got mad because she had to change the toner in the printer. How hard is that? She has a good heart and can be very nice. Her situation is kind of aggravating. Her husband has not worked in over 15 years. He is not disabled. He is just waiting on the right job to come up. She's always bragging on how smart and talented he is. Yes, he's smart, he has his wife working to support him. He brings her to work every day in HER car. What he does from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, nobody knows. He turns off his cell phone so that she cannot get in touch with him. He is such a know it all. Nothing he says makes any sense. It is a game at the company Christmas party trying to avoid him. We'll see tomorrow what she has on or what chore irritates her.

Dressed for Success??

I hate to make fun of one of my coworkers, but she dresses inappropriately most of the time. If her attire is presentable it usually doesn't match. Today she had a full skirt that is brown with an aqua and beige circle pattern on it and it was hiked up in the back. With it she had on a white tee with a tight aqua (not the same color aqua) sheer blouse with big ruffles down the front. She had on brown tights and black shoes. Neither the blouse nor the tee were tucked in. The tee was about 2-3 inches longer than the blouse. What really set the outfit off was a belt out of the skirt fabric that was double wrapped then tied in a bow worn over the blouse. What was so bad was today was board day, and at lunch she took a guest to eat in the executive dining room. This woman is the secretary to a market president. Sometimes she wears tank tops with nothing over them. And, she is a full figured woman. Bless her heart, she really tries. She buys her clothes from major department stores, she just doesn't know how to pick out things for work. She has two satin camisoles that she wears a lot. They look like trashy lingerie. Even if you have to buy your clothes at Walmart, you can still look polished.

Williamsburg Marketplace is having a 25% off jewelry sale. Use E81014C in the promotional code box upon checkout. They always have beautiful classic jewelry.

Boring Day

This morning when I woke up for some reason I looked out the dining room window. I saw a dog walking from across the street to the building where I live. I thought, "Someone has let their dog roam unattended." Then I noticed that it wasn't a dog, it was a deer! Then he/she just strolled off.

As I'm typing this, I'm watching St. Elmo's Fire on tape. For twenty years, I've never figured out why Leslie won't marry Aleck.

Not much has happened to me today. Sorry for the lame post.

NO SNOW AGAIN

The weather man is playing with us again. We were supposed to get 1-8 inches of snow last night. I'm sitting here looking out at the brown grass. It's just as well since I have a shopping trip to Chattanooga planned for tomorrow. It's suppose to get down to 16 degrees here tonight. I don't want the roads to be icy tomorrow. I have to work at the store today until 2:00. If the weather is bad the girl that comes in at 2:00 will not be able to get here since she lives on the mountain and has to drive down a curvy road. I'm not in the mood to have to work until midnight.

Let me tell you about the liquor store. My father sold preppy men's clothes for over 25 years. When the economy here took a downward turn back in the 80's, he decided to open a convenience store. He owned a couple of C-stores until about 12 years ago. He decided since he was getting older, and since he had a massive heart attack and open heart surgery in 1989, he wanted to have something easier, so he decided to open a spirits store. At the time, more people were smoking and he had cigarettes discounted. He probably sold about 700 or 800 cartons a week. That was before all the lawsuits against the big tobacco companies. Now we sell about 200 at the most a week. He also sold liquor and imported beer. After a couple of months he had to add domestic beer. He had a pretty profitable business and was well respected in the community. Two years ago this month, he suddenly became ill and he passed away about a week later. My mother, sister and I decided to keep the store open. He always told us if anything happened to keep the store open as long as we had good help. We have a lady, Carmen, that we've known since she was about 13 years old (she's 38 now). We didn't like her as a teen, but now she is like a sister. When she was younger, she was bad news. One day she decided to turn her life around. My father believed in her and gave her a chance. She's good at her job and knows how to manage things very well. We had a worker named Sharon that was a godsend, but she went back to work at a previous employer. She helps us out from time to time. Our nighttime worker does her job, but she can be a drama queen. She always has to have some ailment which she talks about excessively. For right now, I think we have a pretty good crew. My sister and I help out as much as possible. We want to do a few touch up renovations to the inside. After that we are going to increase our wine selection. Around here, people think Boone's Farm is fine wine. We sell a train load of Sutter Home and Berringer White Zinfadel. MD 20/20 is popular also, but we try to keep a very low stock of it. We are planning a wine tasting soon so that people can experience some of the better wines that our distributers carry.

Still no snow. It's time for my morning TaB. I'll report back about my finds in Choo Choo town.

No Snow

We didn't have the snow that the weatherman planned. Just a light drizzle. The weatherman says snow for Friday night. We'll just have to wait and see.

Lisagh over at Grosgrain Garage had a virtual party that was very well attended by bloggers. Lisagh throws a great party.

Thanks to all of you that have stopped by my blog. If you are not in my lists of blogs that I read, I will add you in the next few days.

I'm going to Chattanooga on Sunday. I'll report back with all my cute preppy finds.

Why is it that the people who don't work can delegate the most? Today when I got to work, I had an email from my coworker that doesn't do any work asking me to go to HR and get the paycheck stubs and distribute them. I was extremely busy. I emailed her back and said that I couldn't. About 11:00, I was over near her desk and noticed that it was clean. All afternoon I noticed that she didn't have anything to do. I don't think she can multi task. She probably had 2 extra emails that was going to monopolize her 15 minutes in the morning. I was put out all day. With the merger getting ready to close in a few weeks, our department is extremely busy. Who knows what the next few weeks will bring.

I met a friend for dinner at a new place called Newk's Cafe. I think it is a small chain out of Oxford, MS. I had the Cobb Salad. It was so good and so huge. I couldn't finish it, and I have a hearty appetite. If there is one in your area, I highly recommend it. I think that they are in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee. Every thing in the salad was so fresh. We went to Paper Affair. I bought 2 boxes of Caspari Christmas cards for less that $3.50/box. The ones that I bought have Scottie dogs on them. Even though I don't have a dog, I love pictures of Scotties. So does my mother.

The weather man is predicting wintry weather for tomorrow evening. I'm not going to hold my breath about a snow day. Every time I plan chores for the snow day, it rains. I need a snow day so that I can clean house early and then lay around in my pj's and watch TV and drink hot tea.

I was out of town this weekend and didn't get to post. I worked at the liquor store Friday evening and Saturday until 2:00. You would not believe some of the characters that come in there. We have to act like they are normal. You would not believe the people who always have a cold or someone in their family has a cold.ALWAYS. We don't care as long as you buy it from us.

I finally got my December Vogue over the weekend. For some reason my postman would not deliver it. Vogue had to resend it. Go figure. I had the address changed to my mother's address so I don't have to worry about it. I may have all my magazines changed to her address.

I ordered two of the fine gauge cotton cardigans from Lands' End - red and jonquil (yellow). They were on sale. I started to pass, but I decided that I would probably regret in when spring gets here. I work in a deep freeze so I have to wear a sweater every day, even when it is 100 degrees outside. My boss keeps the thermastat on 62. BURRRRRR!! The fine gauge cardigans come in handy. They always look nice and you can wear them with anything. I have a kelly green one that is monogrammed in pink. It is too cute!

Tornados

I spent the afternoon dodging tornados. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to leave on time, but at quitting time it was just raining. Of course we desparately need the rain. I wanted to get home in time to do my chores and kick back and watch "Ugly Betty". I loved how she talked Daniel into having a fashion show with "healthy" models.

I've been thinking about ordering some penny loafers. Since I can't find Bass Weejuns, I think I may order the Classic II from Eastland. They look a lot like the Weejuns that I wore many years ago. And they come in narrow widths. I have a hard time finding narrow widths, especially in a size 6 1/2. I think I may order them in burgandy. Anyone else wear penny loafers? I thought that they would be good to wear with jeans or with outfits that I just can't find the right shoes. I hope nobody makes fun of me.

Tomorrow is Friday. Yay! I'm going to wear my black Talbots cords from a few years ago, a red LL Bean turtleneck and black Talbots penny loafers. I'm going to be comfortable. Oh, and I'll have on my pearls, of course. I wear pearls everyday, remember.

Today was fairly uneventful. I had a horrible headache when I got to work, but it went away in about an hour. Hats off to LSU, the new NCAA National Champs. Another SEC team.

What is it with this crazy weather? Last week at this time it was 21 degrees. Today it was 75. Go figure.

In case you didn't hear, Shu Uemura, the cosmetic guru, passed away on December 29. Love the products.