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Wednesday, September 21, 2005
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Happy Birthday to Valerie!
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Last night after ending a phone conversation with my mom and brother, I stood in the kitchen in my nice warm leopard slippers and my favorite comfy pj's, waiting for the microwave to go off and supply me with hot water for making my favorite beverage. I was all set to go to bed early and catch up on some sleep that I had missed in the morning. However, plans change. Alicia walked in the door and stated that I had to help her make something for the birthday party for Valerie, which had been planned for 10 o'clock the next day. "Oh," I thought. "Well, what should we make?" She started to pull things out of the cupboard, naming them off as she went. "Flour, sugar, salt." She moved to the fridge. "Butter, apples, milk..." Here, I interupted her, for it sounded to me to be the fixings for apple pie. "Oh! What a great idea!" After deciding that tarts would be much more in line with the tea party theme, we fell to work; she on the crust, for I am terrible at them, and I to the apples and spices.
We spent an hour in the kitchen, peeling, slicing, mixing and talking. She brought out her guitar as we waited for the oven timer to go off. Alicia plays the guitar very easily. I guess it is rather unusual to sit at the kitchen table and play any instrument, but she didn't seem to think so.
What should I see upon entering the office this morning but lace and white lights set up in Valerie's office! Everyone seemed to have the idea that chocolate cake was out of line for such an occasion, for among the goodies laid out on the table were cookies, scones, peach cobbler and even a glazed vanilla cake in the shape of a sand castle! (Gotta get one of those pans.)
Last evening, as business hours ended, Elizabeth and I discussed with the two fellows in our department the neccessity of dressing in sage and/or lilac attire for the day's festivities as everyone else had agreed that these were the most Victorian colors we could wear at the office. Jarod and Jared, after a lengthy conversation as to just which shade of purple lilac was most like (wisteria or violet), and thinking these colors too feminine, set out on a quest to find the more masculine choice of bow ties. They came in this morning with matching ones, red with white dots. They looked very festive. :)
Apparently when you work at HQ and have a birthday, you get to choose the way that people sing Happy Birthday to you. Valerie decided she wanted it short and backwards. Of course, being the literalists that we are, we turned around so we each had our back toward her, then knelt down so we were shorter than her and then sang Happy Birthday.
Well, right now I am surrounded by construction workers. They are practically on top of my desk. Indeed, the man here has moved me from one desk to another and they have already had me move furniture, wall hangings and computer keyboards out of their way. I expect to be asked to leave the office at any moment, but as lunch is scheduled soon, this will be no very great trauma. The fellas are fixing the sprinkler system so as to be up to the fire code. As one man goes around pulling apart ceiling tiles and making a mess on the floor, another guy comes along with a vacuum cleaner to make the office smell funny. Elizabeth has already wiped off her desk twice, in addition to the times everyone else comes by to say something and wipe off her desk, looking at her as though it were entirely her fault that her desk was a mess. At least the fellas have one guy assigned to clean up after everyone else. There are three or four guys on our floor alone working on this project today and after having seen the ceiling dust all over the floor, I'd hate to be the one vacuuming and dusting after them. |
posted by cori
9/21/2005 12:37:00 PM
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| The ShugaBowl |
| Sounds like some kind of sports thing, but in reality, the ShugaBowl is just a little hideaway for me, Sugarcube herself, to let loose my thoughts and occasional creativeness. |
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