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.

SPACED OUT

I don't know if I have ever mentioned it, but I grew up in Huntsville, AL a/k/a "The Rocket City". It was called that because NASA headquarters was/is in Huntsville. Although I don't get into a lot of the science of space, I have always been fascinated by it. When my father sold men's clothes, the late Dr. Wehner Von Braun was one of his good customers. My father said that he was one of the nicest men that he ever met. He could talk about any subject no matter how everyday it was. Even though he developed the V2 Rocket for Hitler, he did a lot for Huntsville. I always heard he was a very fair employer. He referred to the workers as a team. One of the customers at the store is the son of the first POW/Rocket Scientist that was taken in Germany. He knows that people hated the Germans but he doesn't care. I grew up around them so I was always sort of oblivious as to their background. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the United States launching a rocket into space. For the past 10 days, Huntsville has had a lot of activities commemorating this and I have been trying to follow it in the news. Last night, the daughter of the main designer of the Sputnik rocket spoke at an event. Tomorrow night there is a gala at the Space and Rocket Center. There was a picture on al.com of the tables set underneath a real Saturn V rocket. How cool would that be to eat under a rocket...and they've even cleaned off the rust.


I feel like one big wardrobe malfunction. Tonight when I got home, I got my pink cashmere turtleneck out of the closet so I could wear it to work tomorrow. On the left sleeve I noticed two small holes where moths had gotten to it. I've never had problems with moths before. I keep cedar blocks in my closet. Well, I'm wearing it anyway. I have too much invested in it. Hopefully nobody will notice. I just finished sewing two buttons on my Burberry navy wool coat. I'm falling apart. I had to replace missing buttons and you would not believe where I found identical replacement buttons - WALMART. Mr. Burberry, what were you thinking?

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.

Chattanooga Shopping

The weather held out and I was able to go to Chattanooga on Sunday. Time passed so fast that it seems like as soon as we got there it was time to go. I did get a few good finds at Belk's. I was interested in the Lilly that was on sale, but they were down to just a few pieces and I believe that those few pieces will still be there this time next year, they were so ugly. I did get three Jones NY tops on sale. One was only $5. I also bought a dark green Lacoste, Ralph Lauren pillows and hand towels and a Lilly Pulitzer soap dispenser. I am going to use the soap dispenser in my kitchen. It matches the pink and green accessories that I bought at Williams Sonoma. At Staples, I bought an Andy Warhol shoe calendar. At the Little Debbie store, I stocked up on oatmeal and raisins for me, powdered donuts for my sister and sugar free creme wafers for my brother-in-law, who is a diabetic. It was a fun trip. When I got home, I just laid around and read magazines until bedtime. I hope everyone had a good long weekend.

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.

SNOW?!?!

The weatherman is predicting snow and sleet for the area. The coworker that does not work was on pins and needles all day long. All she did was watch the weather map. It was 48 degrees outside today. Even if it does snow and sleet, it will melt as soon as it hits the ground because the ground is still warm. I told BFF MAB that we'll feel funny if we wake up with snow and ice. MAB's coworkers were acting the same way. I'll report back tomorrow on the big "snow". Gotta go and get my chores done so that I can watch "Gossip Girl". I know it is a rerun, but maybe I'll catch something that I didn't see the first time.

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.

Work was slow today. I am in the process of working on a report, but I have to wait on others to give me their reports in order to finish. I mentioned that I work for a mid-sized bank. Well, we are being acquired by an extremely large Canadian Bank. As a matter of fact, it is the largest bank in Canada. They are keeping as many people as they can, but like in any merger, many will lose their jobs. So far, I will be able to keep my job. I try to keep a low profile, it's better that way. My boss will be going from being the CFO to being a market president. New things for both of us to learn. I have a coworker who doesn't do very much. She was told when the merger was announced to keep "doing what you do". We haven't figured out what it is that she does. She sits with her hands folded 95% of the day. The other 5% of the day, she is "swamped".

Last night about 9:30, it started raining and it rained for a long time. We really need the rain.BAD. Everything looked so nice and clean this morning.

I had to stop by Publix today. I was out of a few things including my new night time treat, Canfield's Diet Cherry Fudge Soda. It is wonderful. It tastes like Hershey's chocolate syrup and creme de marachino mixed together YUM!!

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.

Welcome to my blog. Most of you know me as Tammy B from posting on your blogs over the past couple of years. Please be patient with me until I get things like I want it. I'm new at this.

First of all, a few things about me.
I live in North Central Alabama.
I graduated from Auburn University.
I work as an executive secretary at a mid-sized bank.
I have been on a diet off and on since I was 16.
I dress really preppy.
I swoon at the site of pink cupcakes and I drink an insane amout of TaB...yes there are still a few of us TaB drinkers left in the world.

So get the word out and stop by for a visit.