Niles was the one who put the fruit on my car!  He also placed several pieces in the driveway, too.  I guess kids are throwing it at other kids or something — he said he almost got hit by an orange one day.  And he had read my posts about it, and thought “Oh, I bet Robin would like an orange on her car!” (and boy did I!)  He stopped by this afternoon to say Hello, and he told me about his shenanigans.

Macy*s is going well.  I enjoy it.  There’s a GSM position opening up (full time, General Sales Manager) because Kaleena is leaving to be Assistant Manager at New York and Company in Auburn.  It’s much closer to her home, and just makes more sense for her.  I’m debating about applying for it, but I’m not sure if they’d let me do it only temporarily.  Or, I don’t know if I even WANT to do it.  I start my internship in September of 2009, and would probably be interested in doing it until then.  But, should I instead look for a job in my field that would be only part time (or, I guess it could be full time)?  Next semester, I have only one class on Mondays nights, from 5-10pm.  It is a six credit class, Case Methods, and we have a mini internship (a practicum) of 35 hours.  With Macy*s, I know I could get days during the week off for school and for my practicum. My regular internship is 600 hours!   But, I’d also like to have a Monday through Friday job where I don’t have to worry about working weekends.  But I should find out how often the managers at Macy*s have to work weekends.  I’m not really sure what to do.  My friend from class, Heather, says there might be a part time position available with her counseling place, You, Inc.  Should I apply and inquire about both?  I wouldn’t want to start at You, Inc until January, once I’m done with Macy*s for the season.

Here’s my ideal life:  I would live in an apartment with two cats, and work a job that I absolutely love during the week.  My hours would be 9-6.  I would have several really good friends, and perhaps a roommate who would stay up and watch movies with me and drink wine.  I would read one book a week, and have time and energy to exercise every day.  I would cook fantastic meals for dinner, and enjoy every bite.  I think I live in the city. I would recycle everything, be really conscious about my trash, and try to do without paper towels and tissues.

I am very frustrated currently, because my life is very, very far from that.  The only thing that I do right now is exercise every day.  But with Thanksgiving and Christmas here, my gym is closing (I use the one at Fitchburg State), and that means I either do cardio outside in the cold, or not at all.  So that is worrying me, too.  I’m not a happy person lately, and I’m going to start going back to therapy.  I don’t really think Erin (my counselor) will be able to help me, but it will probably be good for me to go anyway.  I’m back to the point where I never want to do anything, and I just want to sit and mope on the couch watching TV.

Brew Year’s Eve is one of the only things I’m happy with.  I enjoy the meetings, and I look forward to them.  It is coming along nicely.  We’re averaging about two meetings a week, which last at least two hours a piece.  We’re finally getting stuff done, and the website www.beersforgood.com is up and running, and it’s finally done.  Well, done for now.  There will always be things we need to change, but we’re happy with it.

Here’s Liz and Trevor during Sunday’s meeting.

I was getting ready to meet Liz and Trevor about the Brew Fest, when I looked outside and saw an orange nicely placed on my windshield  (I’m hoping it was nicely placed).  The fruit is back! This orange went straight into the compost because I was right next to it.  Plus, it was about 30 odd degrees out, and this orange was probably too cold to be any good to eat (plus I wouldn’t trust it in the first place).

We met at a local business, Advanced Print Technologies to talk about ordering our pint glasses.  We wanted to see what we could get for our money, and what the label would look like on the glass.  For a regular 16 oz. pint glass, we have 3inX3in of space for our label.  With a 16oz glass with a handle, we would only have 2inX1.5in.  Just the difference in label size alone (plus, the one with the handle was $1 more a glass) made us want to stick with a regular pint glass.  The ones with the handles would be cool because they’re different, but it just didn’t seem that it would work out well with our label.  One of the guys at APT comes in to Destare occasionally, so he knew I had an iPhone.  He’s interested in getting one, so I let him play with mine, and showed him how to use it.  I forgot he had taken this picture until I was scrolling in my photo album and was confused at how I had taken a  picture of myself.

Christmas is almost here, and with it, comes Macy*s BIGGEST ONE DAY SALE OF THE YEAR!!!!

Now, Macy*s has sales ALL the time.  Seriously.  There is maybe one day a week where there isn’t some sort of sale going on.  But, I know from working at Macy’s for so long, that you will find the absolute best prices at Macy*s during a One Day Sale (ODS).  Things are just cheaper then.  It’s the best time to buy.  So obviously, with the BIGGEST ODS of the year, things are going to be cheap.  I got to work an hour early, cause I had done some other shopping at Kohl’s and Target (and by shopping, I exchanged a sweater at Kohl’s.  I had bought a striped one-I love stripes-but hadn’t worn it yet.  I lost my receipt, so I exchanged it for a black one that I can wear to Macy*s).  Then I wandered around Target, but didn’t find anything.  Once I got to Macy*s, I saw all the rediculously priced merchandise.  All of the clearance racks were $4.99 or 75% off.  I just had bought a bunch of sweaters that were $8 for me after discount (they were 50% off at the time), but now they were on sale for $4 (after discount).  I did price adjustments on two of them (so I got $8 back), and bought two more.  I’m not sure if I should keep them (do I need them?), but they’re $4 sweaters!!!!!  I also returned some things that didn’t fit - a wicked awesome sweater in the Misses department that was a Small, but still too big.  This lady obviously has it clipped in the back, because there is no way that is how a small looks on her.   But anyway, things were super cheap, and I went a little crazy.  Well…. I bought two more of the sweaters I had already bought.  One in light grey, and one in grey and blue striped.  They’re long cardigans, so they can be worn on top of other shirts, and light enough to be worn in the summer.  Perhaps I’ll change my mind and return them… but right now, they’re $4 sweaters!  This should motivate me to clean out my closet, and throw away things I don’t wear.

Worked all weekend at Destare.  I always work every Thursday, Friday and Saturday,  It’s starting to be a bit much because I never have any free on the weekends to do anything fun.  It stinks! (said in the voice of Jay Sherman)  I don’t want to just have random Friday and Saturday nights off, because then I might end up sitting at home not doing anything, when I could be at work making money!  But I’d like to be free to do something.  I would LOVE to have a Monday through Friday job that I love, and then work the occasional Friday or Saturday night, and that will be my fun spending money.

Here’s another message I got on a credit card receipt at work.  This guy left a number AND his name (but I cropped out the number when I took the picture). Most of the doofuses only leave their number, and no name. Geniuses.  It wasn’t even a 20% tip, so he mustn’t have thought I was THAT cute. Plus, he left it on the credit card receipt that I have to pass in at the end of the night. Note to all guys who leave numbers to girls, DON’T put it on the credit card receipt!

Saturday, I worked till 2:30am, then had to wake up and go to Macy*s on Sunday.  After working the full day, we had our Christmas party that night to get ready for the busy holiday season.  We always do it on Sunday nights, cause the store closes at 7.  That way, even people who work can still get to the party. But once we get closer to Christmas, the store is open later on Sundays, which is why we had to have the party so early. Jenny and I got our makeup done by Lori at Clinique.  It was fun, but I don’t like wearing so much makeup.  It made it very obvious that I was wearing makeup.  I like wearing enough that the color in my face is well blended,  but I don’t look made up or anything.  You can’t really tell from the picture, but my eyes were pretty made up.  Notice my thyroid scar?  Yeah, it’s pretty awesome.  Everyone at works keeps asking about it, and they think it’s a scratch!  But then I tell them it’s a scar from surgery. Oh, and I just found out that one of the guys at work was gay (he’s on the right of the picture of Jenny getting her makeup). He was talking about some hot guy he saw at CVS, and I thought “jigga what?!” I had no idea. Then I told everyone that I didn’t know, and they all made fun of me. Kaleena said I had bad gay-dar.

This is Coleen, Jess, and Jenny at our table at the party.  We had a ton of fun, and danced the night away.  We did all the crazy group dances like the macarena, the electric slide (which I don’t know), the song that says “now glide to the left…. cha cha cha”, and of course, the YMCA (as seen in the picture). I got a cute Christmas tree decoration that has my name on it. I also did an awesome 17,000 by working all day and then dancing!

On a final note, I must be seriously stressed out or worried about something, because I am absolutely tearing my nails apart.  This is a picture Nicole took of my hand after she did my nails.  She went to nail school and she did my nails a couple times to practice.  After the nails grew out a bit, I decided to take them off because I didn’t want to have to pay for them.  However, now that they’re off, I can’t keep them out of my mouth.  I’m biting them so much that they’re bleeding, and they HURT.  I think I’ve decided to just get them on again, at least for the holiday season while I might be overly stressed (2 jobs, babysitting, school, and planning the Brew Year’s Eve party).  But I’m going to do a simple thing so they’re cheaper.  However, with babysitting, I pull in $50 a week, so I figure that can be my free money to spend how I please.  I know that fake nails are stupid, and pointless, and a waste of money, but when I have them, I keep my fingers out of my mouth.

Biting my nails was a HUGE deal when I had my radiation.  Because I drank my radiation, my mouth was a major hot spot (it was mixed in with strawberry Kool-Aid - seriously).  I couldn’t kiss anyone, share utensils or cups with anyone because my mouth was considered hot.  When I put my fingers in my mouth, I would get the radiation on my fingers, and then, of course, anything that I touched.  It was a big deal, and a bad way to contaminate things.  I got yelled at by my radiation safety officer for putting them in my mouth right in front of him.  Oops!  Being wary of that has not made me change my habits, though.  And so, the only way I know to keep them out of my mouth, is to put fake nails on them.

Holy steps.  I worked my first shift at Macy’s today as a Christmas Manager***.  It was only a five hour shift, but I walked a whopping 12,000 steps.  SIX MILES!  Holy crapola.  I don’t do anything like that at Destare… sometimes I’m lucky if I do around 3,000.  I’m still hesitant as if I’m excited to be back, I love the job, and I walk around all day smiling (seriously, all I do is walk around)…. but I’m not sure if I want to keep going back week after week.  It’s only a 7 week gig, so it’s not terrible, and it will put some extra money in my pocket.  The woman I babysit for called me today, and she’s opening up her own acupuncture place in Leominster (hopefully, she’ll work on me for free!!!).  She’s asking if I can work for her every Wednesday starting in December from 12-5 or 1-6.  Sounds good to me!  That’s even more extra money.  Just from babysitting, that’s at least an extra $50 a week.  Awesome.  I was thinking that with all these jobs (especially with the extra babysitting money) that I’d have Nicole do my nails again.  When I don’t have acrylic nails on, I bite the crap out of my real nails.  Seriously.  They bleed sometimes.  I just can’t help it. Plus, the money would be going to Nicole, which is cool.  BUT, Nicole went and got a job at VH1 in New York City, and she’s moving away this weekend.  Damn her!  But seriously, how freaking awesome is that???  I’m super jealous, but I’m sooooo proud of her.  That is absolutely the best thing ever.  “Oh, yeah, I work at VH1.”  Niiiiice.  But now I’m sad that she can’t do my nails, and that we can’t hang out anymore (this is the Nicole I ran the 5k with, and hung out with Saturday night).  Blast it!  Oh, and she’s going to be the Production Assistant on the show “Top 40 Celebrity Divorces.”  Hilarious.

And now that my day is over, I have walked a total of 19,346 steps.  10 freaking miles.  I wonder if I can beat that tomorrow?  I’m working the same 5 hour shift.  Challenge!!!!

There were two wonderful things about Election Day yesterday.  First, we elected a wonderful new president.  I have absolutely great, high intentions about Barack Obama.  Last night, I asked Niles, “Wow, I wonder what the next four years are going to be like.”  One of the people on my buddy list has an AIM away message that says “Ugh, get ready for $5 gallon of gas.”  I’m okay with that.  In Europe, they pay $6-$7 for gas (Megan, is that about right?).  And they walk a lot.  A LOT.  And they use public transportation.  We should be more like that.  I am okay with $5 gallon of gas.  I bought gas on October 8th, and paid $34.  I have not gotten gas since then, and it is November 5th.  If I hadn’t had to go get Dylan (damn him!), I would be able to go a lot longer without having to get gas.  Another friend of mine has a message that says “I’m moving to Europe.”  Ok, first of all, I think they are MORE liberal and more anti-Bush/McCain than we are here!  What good is that going to do?  And there, you will definitely pay more for gas.  Wow, these people are morons.  They’re all people I went to FSC with a long time ago.  I think their comments alone are reason enough to take them off my buddy list.  Plus, I haven’t talked to them in years.

The second wonderful thing about Election Day, was the ALL DAY marathon of House, M.D on the USA network (USA!  USA!).  ALL day long.  It was absolutely wonderful.  I watched 3-4 episodes yesterday, and taped 4 more when I left for work.  I would have taped more, but I was worried that I would run out of room on the DVR.  I was really surprised at how many episodes there were that I had never seen.

Oh, and that tree atop the new Fitchburg State building?  I guess it’s something called a “tree topping ceremony.”  It’s normal to do that for new buildings, I guess.   According to Google, the tree topping ceremony follows from an old pagan ritual to honor/appease tree gods for providing the building material for construction. Pagan ritual!!!  Awesome.  So it’s not a “Christmas” tree, but really, it is.  Well, it’s the same kind of tree as a Christmas tree is.  Balsam Fir?

In other awesome news, I just saw an ad for The Snuggie!!!  The blanket with sleeves!  (Warning, the link opens up a video).  Now, I have my own blanket with sleeves that I got last year as I was recovering from my surgery.  It was awesome, and I waddled around the house in it.  But it was not as awesome as the Snuggie.  However, mine looks thicker.  But the Snuggie has a built in turtle neck!  I want one.  Sersiouly.  If they had  a black one (cause black is more chic), I would wear it out of the house, too.  Throw on my fake pearl necklace, and my fake Ugg boots, and I’d be a fashionista!  Oh yeah, I’d do it.  Too bad they don’t come in black.  Curses!

There is a Christmas tree on top of the new Mara building at Fitchburg State.  I noticed this a week or so ago, and thought it was odd.  It was October still, and I didn’t understand why it was there so early.

Since then, I’ve been in Macy*s and saw their  “Holiday Lane” - all their Christmas trees and such. Also, in CVS, all of there Halloween stuff is gone, and their flyer (and stores) are filled with Christmas items, and red and green colors galore.

On TV, they’re also going Christmas crazy.  I just finished watching a 9am viewing of Fresh Prince of Bel Air about Christmas.  A few days ago, it was a Christmas episode of Home Improvement.  At the gym, I’ve been watching How I Met Your Mother, and I’ve gone through Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  I would imagine that Valentine’s Day will be coming up soon.

At Macy*s last night, I heard Christmas music.  I guess they started playing it in all of their stores on November 2nd.  Seriously.  I, however, posted on Facebook that I started listening to Christmas music on October 15th. Yup.  I love Christmas music.  Not the traditional Deck the Halls, or Jingle Bells, but more modern songs (like songs from Love Actually).

I think that this year is going to be a very easy Christmas for me, present wise.  I already know what I’m getting my dad, I already bought my mom wine racks from Pier One (she was looking for new ones, and I found nice ones, and she said “Oh, well, this can just be my Christmas present from you”.  I’ll get her something else, too.  And then Dylan and Megan. That’s it.

I’m kinda excited about working at Macy’s again.  Well, I’m torn.  I don’t want to work, because I would rather have time to do other things.  I’m in charge of looking into books for the library, we’re going to buy $1200 worth of books for the library off of their Amazon.com wish list.  I wanted to price check at Barnes and Noble, because I want us to get the best price possible on the books we buy.  Plus, I’m helping to plan the library fundraiser Brew Years Eve (Beer for Books).   But anyway, I’ll only be part time at Macy*s, and I still know a lot of people that work there, so that’s good.  It should be a lot of fun, and I could use the money. I’m also happy that I’m working at Christmas time, because that’s when it’s the busiest.  They do 30% of their business during this time, and I learned last night that in November and December, Macy*s East will make 3 billion dollars.  The Herald Square store, on 34th Street in New York City (the one featured in the original Miracle on 34th Street - which I own, and got for free from Macy*s!), is hoping to do one billion dollars on their own.  In one store!!!!

But anyway, with it being busy, that will be better, cause I’ll have more things to do.  If I’m going to be working 9 hour days, I want to be non stop busy, so the time will go by quickly.   Also, with it being Christmas, people are generally pretty happy because of the season. I also love looking at all the decorations and the trees, because they’re beautiful.  I’ve also heard some pretty good Christmas music, and discovered one of my favorite songs there, The Holly and the Ivy by Roger Whittaker.  I heard it two Christmases ago, and loved it.  It played over and over again, and it took me forever to find on iTunes.  But I found it, and love it!  Also the song Mistletoe and Holly by Frank Sinatra (Oh by gosh, by golly! . . . . Oh by gosh, by jingle!)  How can you not like a song that has the words “by golly” in it?

I’m just hoping that I’m not going to regret my decision to go back.   I don’t mind working during the day, during the week, cause I’m not doing much else with that time. I don’t want to give up any more of my nights, however, because Mondays are for class, and Thurs, Friday and Saturday I’m at work!  That only leaves me Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday to do anything at night.  I know that I said I wanted to work Sundays, and the store manager has me scheduled for every Sunday (yay for time and a half!).  He put me on the later shift, cause he knows I’ll be out late Saturday night, which is nice of him (kinda, I’d rather do 11-8) or 10 -7).  But then I’ll be closing the store, usually 1-10.  So there goes Sunday nights!  I’m left with Tuesday and Wednesday.  That blows.   I don’t mind working Black Friday, because it’s always an exciting day, and usually the store does fun things for us managers (free lunch!)  Plus, the crowds themselves are insane, and fun to deal with.  But with Megan coming home, I don’t want to be forced to work when she’s around.

However, the super nice thing about my job at Macy*s, is that I’m not a sales person.  My job is to walk around and help people that need help.  We were told last night in training that when we see a line of people at the register, we’re not suppose to just walk by!  We must do something!  But we’re not suppose to jump on the register.  We find either another associate to jump on, or we move the customers to another area where there isn’t a line.  They said if we jump on the register, we will get stuck there, and then we won’t be able to do the other stuff that we’re suppose to be doing!  How great is that?  I don’t have to ring!  I get to walk around and tell other people what to do, and look important!  Sweeeeet.

Happy November!!!!

Amazing, I can’t believe it’s November!  Holiday season is here, which is very, very exciting.  I like holidays because I love spending quality time with my family and friends.  Plus, I love the decorations and everyone being excited about things.  It’s a nice feeling. I wish that I had a large family to spend Thanksgiving with.  I was just reading someone’s blog, and they’re cooking for 25 people.  My Thanksgiving dinner usually consists of 9 or so people. Usually my family and family friends.  I want a big Thanksgiving.

With November here, Buy Nothing Month is over.

Here’s what I bought in October:

• Groceries (lots and lots of fruits and vegetables)
• Gas (ONCE!!!  $34, on October 8th. I still have a bit over 1/4 tank)
• One beer at the 2nd presidential debate.  $1 at the college pub, $2 after tip
• My thyroid medicine ($42 for two months worth!!!)
• Three bottles of Charles Shaw wine at Trader Joe’s ($3 a bottle)
• Vitamins (women’s daily multi - $8, BOGO free, so I got two)

But now, I’m a little worried.  Throughout October, I stayed away from all stores and malls  (except for in Florida, because the mall was a part of our hotel), because I didn’t want to be tempted.  I have Macy*s training on Monday down in Auburn (I’m going to be a Christmas manager).  Starting November 9th, I’ll be in a mall for about 30 hours a week.  I should continue on with Buy Nothing Month, so I won’t be tempted to buy crap I don’t need. It’s really hard when I see a cute sweater for $10, or something in the Home department for $3 (like a muffin tin, or Fiesta Ware).  I do think, however, that I will be more conscious about the things that I buy.  I also think it’s important to not waste my money when I don’t have to.  Instead of buying a bottle of soda at the mall, I’ll try to keep a pack of cans at Macy’s (they have a storage room I can probably use - they’d freeze in my car!).

I’ve decided it’s absolutely impossible for me to do “Buy no plastic month.”  But I am trying to cut back on my plastic. I no longer get a straw with my drink at work, and I’ll try not to out at dinner, either.  I’ll also try to bring tupperware with me when I go out to eat, so I can take my meal home with me and not use styrofoam.  Also, I am helping to plan a Brew Years Eve fundraiser for the library (Beers for Books!), and I’ve told everyone that I want absolutely no styrofoam to be used with the food.  I’m trying, but I can’t cut back completely, it’s just not feasible in Fitchburg.  Oh, and I’m still buying organic milk in a carton!

I’ve been having to eat dinner alone the last two nights, and I made whole grain penne with pesto, grilled chicken with garlic, and grilled zucchini and summer squash.  It was delicious.  I just found out that I have to eat alone tonight, as well.  It’s hard to think of good, healthy meals for only one person.  I don’t want to make an abundance of food.

How do you feel about not having a pumpkin for Halloween, and instead making a Jack-O-Lantern out of a watermelon?  This blogger did it, and it looks fun!  It’s definitely different, and I never would have thought of that.  I would enjoy eating the insides of a watermelon more than the pumpkin.  It would also be less gross.

A long time ago, I was at Hooligans with Bill eating spaghetti, and my neck felt really weird.  I reached up and touched my neck, and I felt a huge lump on it that I had never felt before, and so I asked Bill, “Does my neck look weird to you? It feels really weird.” But no, it did not look weird.

After a bit (I don’t remember how long) the lump went away. Then, about a week later, it came back, and it has been there ever since.  I started going to doctors about it. First, I went to an Ear, Nose, and Throat person. Then I saw another E, N & T person to get a second opinion.  They both agreed that it was a benign nodule on my thyroid (after doing a fine needle aspiration and an ultra sound). One person suggested leaving it there, and the other person suggested getting it removed.  Nice.  Then, I decided I wanted a third opinion, and in October 2006, I went to a Thyroid surgeon in Boston. She looked at everything, did her own ultra sound, and agreed it was benign. Good.

Then, a month and a half ago (September 2007), or so, I was drying my hair in my mom’s room, and I happened to see a note on her dresser from my appointment with the surgeon. It said “See surgeon again after 6 months.” It had been a year. Oops. So I made an appointment. This time, she did another ultra sound, and another needle biopsy. She said, “Call me in a week to get the results.”

Two days later, she called ME (5 minutes before I had class), and said “The cells look suspicious. We want to do surgery to get it out of there, and there is a 65% chance that you have papillary thyroid cancer.”

Ok.

So then I went back again to meet with her, and she explained everything to me: why she thought it was cancer, why they can’t be 100% sure, what the surgery is going to be like, what my recovery is going to be like, and how we’re going to treat the cancer.

She first wanted to do a total thyroidectomy (remove the entire thing), but then we were talking, and she said they can remove only the left side (the side with the tumor), but that means if it IS cancer (a 65% chance), then they will have to do another surgery to remove the other side. But I decided that I would rather take the chance that it is NOT cancer, and leave the other side intact. Otherwise, they will remove the entire thyroid, and then they might come back and say “well, it wasn’t cancer” and then I’ll be stuck taking thyroid hormones for the rest of my life. I would much rather take the risk, and then possibly need another surgery.

My surgery is scheduled for December 17, 2007 ( a WEEK before Christmas)…. but it will leave me with a week with nothing to do, and I can just watch Christmas movies and not worry about school. The other appointment option was for Dec. 7th, but then I’ll be recovering during finals, and that’s no good. Also, Megan will be home from England on the 21st, so she can hang out with me while I am recovering. I will be in the hospital for two days, and then home, and I hear the first few days are really bad. I will be on a “soft foods diet,” and I won’t really be able to move my head at all. The incision is right at the base of my neck, where all the muscles are. I’m not allowed to drive for at least one week, and I can’t work for at least two.  I have to get all of my Christmas shopping done, and all of my homework and studying done by the week before (my finals were scheduled for the 17, 18, and 19, so I have to take them all early). I’m more worried about Christmas presents though…. I’m going to have a busy month of December.

And I also have to decided definitely what I want to do about the surgery. Remove all of it, or just part of it. I’ve been reading up a bit, and it seems I may still have to take hormones even if they remove only half of it. I need to see a few more doctors to help me make my decision.

Nice.