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Today my Grandmother Myrtle E. Johnson (Nelson) better know as Mrs. John O. Johnson, would have been 90. Each year since my Grandmother’s death my Mother sends an email with a remembrance of her. I miss my Grandmother…she was what I think a Grandmother should be…kind, caring, willing to come over and clean your apartment I remember one holiday, I think it was Christmas or Thanksgiving…I remember it was cold, and I didn’t feel well. Instead of making me go to church with the rest of the family my Grandmother made me toast and cut it into moon and star shapes. She brought it to me while I was laying on the couch in her living room. She was a cleaning freak and that made her hands rough. She used to come up at bedtime and scratch my back and tell me a story about the mouse that lived in the house. After she died I swear there was a morning where I felt her hands on my back and she was telling me everything was going to be okay.

She had a wicked sense of humor. One summer when my brother and cousin were visiting they were in her kitchen letting farts. The story goes that she came in and told them that if they kept it up she would let one that would blow them both out of the room!!! I wish I would have been there to actually hear her say it!

Thirteen years before she died my Grandfather John, who was her spouse for over 50 years, passed away on October 17th. My Grandfather went into the hospital first and we thought he would be fine, then my Grandmother went into the hospital the next day and we thought we’d loose her…well, my Grandfather died and my Grandmother pulled through. She used to tell me that she would see him in her dreams but was unable to talk to him. She also always told me she wanted to live a little longer to see the great-grandkids get bigger. The last thing she said to me was that she heard that I had an I-talian boyfriend and a huge rock on my finger. She died 3 days before Charley and I had planned to visit her. I like to believe that we get to be with those we love when we die, and I have this feeling that my Grandfather said to her, “Myrtle, I’ve been waiting 13 years for you!” It was September 11th, 2003 when she died.

Miss you Grandma.

Update:  Found Grandma’s original obit

So I have spent the last few weeks working at the company where my husband works. They are building a Sharepoint Site. I was so lucky that they needed an extra set of hands when I was out of a job. They have been very flexible with my schedule to allow me to interview. Of course the process starts with every recruiter grabbing a copy of your resume off the job sites…well, I did not go on one interview generated by one of them. I did get three interviews. The first I found on Craig’s List, the second was through a friend of mine, and the third was a company that found my resume on Dice

Company number two and three just made me competitive job offers…but ultimately number two wins. I have never felt like this before….I tried to keep my emotions out of it…but it was really hard. The funny thing is part of the reason I decided to leave the theater was to be able to negotiate my own salaries. I would say that I have finally made my goal of earning more than I did during my best year on Broadway. Wow…

So, stay tuned…more good stories to follow.

It’s April. 

This picture is from Central Park.  I was fascinated by these swans.  So serene.

I’m still looking for a job.  I think, I hope, I am close to finding one.  I have had a few really good interviews.  What has been interesting for me is the process.  The questions, how much more I know now vs before working for CG.  How much I prefer being a consultant vs. working at one place.  So, we’ll see what happens.

I started my career in IT by attending The Chubb Institute in 2005. I left my 15 year career in the theater as I was sick of the hours and the diva chorus girls who treated me like shit.

Last fall I landed the most incredible job with a consulting firm found here …unfortunately they had one big client that just went belly-up. Along with that my company cut 20% of the workforce. 5 members of my team alone were layed-off…including me.

It was a shock and I am very sad. But I must keep in mind where one door closes another opens. I have a strange way of always landing on my feet. I just have to keep that in mind and take away the great experience that job was for me.

I miss you guys…

I work as an IT consultant in New York City.  I travel to different clients during the day and meet different kinds of people.  There is one client I go to on a regular basis and at that client a woman who I have great admiration for.  I haven’t seen her in a few weeks as she was in a bad accident.  This woman is inspiring to me.  She is a breast cancer survivor, and in the past few years has lost 100lbs.  She is about 5 foot 2 so I can’t imagine what she looked like with that extra 100lbs.  She has osteoporosis (my grandmother died from complications of that) and short platinum blond hair.  To me she looks like a former Broadway Dancer…even though she was not…but her Mother was a performer.

More on Andrea’s accident.  She was waiting for her dentist and decided to go get a cup of decaf coffee.  She tripped over a raised piece of floor, smashed her face into the ground, passed out, bleed all over, and was taken by ambulance to one of the Manhattan hospitals….that does not take her insurance.   So my poor dear friend, with a smashed orbital bone and the threat of going blind, now has to battle the insurance company to cover those bills.  Her insurance also at first was refusing to cover the surgery to save her eye.  She had broken the orbital bone so her eye had no support…she now has a titanium implant to support her eye, double vision every morning from the swelling, she has to use artificial tears 20 times per day.

She also has to cancel a trip to Italy that she had been planning with two friends for over a year.

I just think it is disgraceful how she is being treated by her “health” insurance company.  I truly hope she wins a million dollars and can rest.

Your Political Profile:

Overall: 25% Conservative, 75% LiberalSocial Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Fiscal Issues: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal Defense and Crime: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal

How Liberal Or Conservative Are You?

The other day one of the guys at my company posted the story of how he came to the company (he was one of the first employees) and that it was the company and his 6 year anniversary.  This got me thinking.

I am one of those people that remembers dates.

January—8th, the day we moved into our new apartment (07), 31st, moved to NYC (99), Last Day at Beauty (05), Last Day at Chubb (06), Adopted the Dogs (05)

February 17th—Got married (04)

July 3rd—-Mom and Dad’s Anniversary

September 11th—the day that changed the USA and NYC (01), the day my Grandma Myrtle died (03)

October 17th—the day my Grandpa John died (90), 11th–the day Peter Socci died (05)

Holidays, Birthdays, Anniversaries…all mark the passage of time.   Life seems to go faster and faster the older I get.  And, I remember my father once saying that he still felt like a 25 year old in a 50 something body.  I think I understand what he meant by that now that I am nearing 40.

Passage of time leads to the passage of pain and the healing of wounds.  And sweet remembrance of what was dear about the event or the person.  I need that.   Especially during the dark days of winter when battling the grey clouds away is more difficult.  So I remember the people and the events and that bad times and bad moods do pass.

Which Movie Mom Are You?

My Result: Freaky Friday’s Tess Coleman

So you might not be a psychiatrist…and you most definitely haven’t switched bodies with your kids (right?), but when it comes to parenting, you’ve got a lot in common with hardworking Tess Coleman. You’re passionate and driven about your family and your career, and you do everything in your power to make sure that your family has it all.

Even when you’re juggling a million responsibilities, you take most things you do very seriously. But you can certainly find that kid inside and cut loose when you need to. You just have to remind yourself every once in a while that doing cartwheels in the backyard can be just as educational as homework. Give it a whirl!

Take this test>

We headed to Connecticut on Friday night to spend the weekend before Christmas with my mother-in-law and the kids.

We heard a thump, that of course I ignored, and when we were going from the Hutch to 287 over to 95, the front passenger tire blew out.  I was able to get to the side of the road with no problem.  Charley jacked up the car and started to remove the blown out tire.  The jack broke as he was about to get the tire off, the car went crashing to the ground and we ended up having to call 911.  The really surprising part was when we first broke down a guy stopped and put out some flares for us.  After we had called 911 a state trouper, who set out more flares, stopped to make sure we were ok, and then the tow truck finally arrived.  He was able to jack the car back up and change the tire to the donut.  We drove on the donut 50 miles per hour all the way to CT. 

Once we got there we had a lovely time.  We had gotten our tires at the Sears so I took the car back there to get a new tire.  To my surprise we had a type of insurance on the tire so received a $53 credit toward the new tire.  Yeah Sears! While I was at the mall I went to a Christmas store and found an artifical tree for 50% off!  Score!

Lily had purchased a “meal in a box” with a spiral ham, mashed potatos, butternut squash, dinner rolls, and two pies.  It was really fantastic food and I ate ham for the next day, as we packed it and brought the leftovers to New York. 

We came home Sunday evening and I set up the tree.  It’s so pretty. 

I think it was after we had eaten dinner I decided to make a batch of cookies.  I cracked the egg into the batter and it was bad….really bad.  I tried to separate the spoiled egg from the rest of the batter, and then threw it all away, but somehow ended up getting myself sick.  It took a few hours until it completely took hold….then my stomach emptied with such violence that I felt like I was in a horror movie.  I ended up getting a fever and staying home from work. 

On the up side, Charley bought me a Panasonic Lumix camera which I have been having fun with.  So, even though there were some blowouts, it was a happy Christmas after all.