I subbed for a court reporter yesterday & it was a big deal. Well I had no idea how BIG of a freking deal it was. Oi!

I was in Mag today and this reporter came down and asked me for things in a panic, and that is putting it mildly. She held my hands and looked deep into my eyes and said how I should "never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever leave with exhibits." wtf? If you had left me ANY instructions I would have known. Never mind that I had them with me & left her a note saying that I wasn't sure what to do with them & would be in the building the next day with the exhibits and wanted to talk to her. She interrupted me while I was in Magistrate Court. Crazy X one million. I was embarrassed that she even felt compelled to hold my hands and talk to my soul. Michele, my office manager, made me feel better saying that veterans sometimes forget what it's like to be green. She did say I was a nice sea foam green. I love her!

The folks in Mag totally take care of me. They made me feel better & we went to Santos for lunch where we had fried chicken. This place has no menu. Only opened Wed-Fri for lunch & you eat what he's making. He's kinda a big deal with some higher ups in FTW. There are signed pics of them all over & it's an old house turned into a restaurant and I say restaurant loosely. One table and six booths and an old cigarette machine with the price at $2.25. It's so awesome.

Now my husband is passed out and it's 7:06pm on a Thursday. I love him.

I'm working nonstop. Which is awesome. My firm finds me at least two jobs a week & I still have that online gig. So between the two, I'm a workhorse. I love my job! It's the bee's knees. I got my very own office key & I've been paid twice. I actually have tomorrow off from both jobs. I can't wait.

Today I did a Sexually Oriented Business committee. Yes, an S.O.B. hearing. It was awesome. I got to swear in witnesses for the first time as a licenced court reporter. I also admitted exhibits. Totally rad.

Friday night we celebrated Paul's Birthday at Byblos a Lebanese restaurant. It was deelicious food, good friends, and belly dancing.

Saturday night, Dave had a show in the Stockyards. It was an amazing night for them. Couples were dancing and a lot of friends that we haven't seen a few years.

And this morning, TWO baby goats! Yup, Annie had her babies last night. They are freakin' adorable!

Katie & Lainey came in town on Sunday. Yay!!! Tiffany & Jessica came over to hang out on Monday. We had a blast.

Then on Tuesday, I had an interview with a firm in downtown Fort Worth. So I'm somewhat nervous, but pretty much know it's in the bag, because I had two former classmates who work there vouch for me. I go to the interview & get the job right on the spot. Awesome! Dave, Katie, & I go and have lunch to celebrate & do some shopping.

Then when we are driving home at 3:00 that same afternoon, I get a call from my new J-O-B that they have a job for me the next morning at the Fort Worth Justice Center in court. Holy heart failure, Batman! I wasn't prepared to work so soon. During the interview, she said it was slow & I would most likely get only 1-2 days a week.

So the next day I do a full day in court & everyone was super nice to me. This court was awesome! You start at 9 a.m. you get a two-hour lunch and you're done by 4 p.m. & get paid very handsomely. I only had one hearing to write & it was only 7 pages. I was told that hearings never get ordered so it would be "easy breezy". Nothing to worry about. Wrong-o!

Some hoodlum was in jail for aggravated robbery & attempted to break out of jail with two other geniuses. During the jail break attempt, 2 correctional officers and 2 maintenance workers were injured. So now he has charges of attempted escape & injuring a public servant. Which is just as bad as being a pedophile or baby killer in jail. He is claiming that his lawyer is not talking to him. So they have this official hearing where his lawyer talks to him in front of a judge and the district attorney. He is told that the DA is offering 40 years & he does not want to accept the plea. And an added waste to taxpayer's money is wanting a trial.

So with this going to trial at some point, I thought I better get the attorney's information. So I approached them and say, "At some time this hearing is probably going to be ordered; am I correct?" And the DA says, "Oh, yeah. He is going to be appealing this for the rest of his life." The cool thing is that one day in probably 3 years this will get ordered & I will remember my first day as an official court reporter!

Here is some info on the escape attempt:
http://cbs11tv.com/local/attempted.jail.escape.2.799497.html

Dave is the best at picking people out of a commercial and can name all the other commercials they are/were in. He says he's a genius. I say he making the most of his attention span which is 30 seconds long.

Also going on: I'm being a little shit. Dave, however, is in the best mood.

From now on, I will be Melissa Sherrill, CSR. That sounds so freaking awesome!!!!

http://www.crcb.state.tx.us/examstats.asp

Sometimes I wake up David in the middle of the night. Not always for naughty stuff. But because I grind my teeth in my sleep. He has to nudge me and say, "Stop grinding your teeth, you loser"! Over the past year, occasionally when I wake up my jaw only opens up about half an inch. But then my jaw will pop & all is well.

Not this time. Last Tuesday I woke up with my jaw only opening up halfway. It wasn't painful, just making it very, very, very hard to eat. Then my neck & shoulders tensed up to point of constant pain. The pain only goes away with a big pain pill & a muscle relaxer, but that is not always an option. Now my jaw hurts when I try to open wide & is sore. And the pain in my back has gone down further to the middle of my back.

I am chalking this up to stress. All though I don't feel stressed. I've been in such a good mood that every morning birds dress me & I barf rainbows. (I love my crazy meds.) I have the best outlook for my test results; which will be 4 weeks this Saturday. I don't want to go to the doctor. No way, Jose! I looked up TMJ stuff on-line & some people have it so much worse. I'm just going to rest my jaw, eat soft foods, and cut back on caffeine. As well as take my vitamins. Oh, and I've been sleeping with that plastic mouthpiece thingy. If it still hurts after I get my test results, then I'll go to the doctor.

The end.

It was icy outside today. That really doesn't affect me or Dave right now since we are working from home. But it still put a damper on the day. I shouldn't complain. I finished work fairly early & decided to rot my brain with wonderful television! I started watching The Secret Lives of Women. It was the one about plastic surgery. One girl, who was 21, was wanting to "stick to her latin roots by getting a boob job. Because all latin women have curvy figures." I wanted to smack her in her latin face. Ugh. She was ridiculous.

Then another woman wanted to get an Asian eye corrective surgery. I'm not sure if that's the official name for it, but that's what she kept referring to it as. She was teased as a child because of her eyes & she obviously has emotional issues to work out. But she felt that this would make her feel better. The other two women featured were older and seemed more down to earth about the reasons they were getting corrective surgery.

Then I got up and made Dave some dinner like a good little wife should. Ha!

Okay. I got my super test outta the way & now it's down to business.

1. I gotta organize my craft room. It's a cryin' shame the shape it's in.

2. I want to make some stuff for Staple! I know I'm gonna make some felt softies of Science & Religion. But I wanna, if time permits, make other stuff. I have an idea, but not sure if it will go over well.

I love the theme songs from the Mighty Bee & The Drinky Crow Show!!! I sing them while doing various things. They are also really good shows. So if you have kids, expose them to Amy Poehler NOW!!! And when you put them to bed, watch some Drinky Crow.

I like to go and hang out with the goats and chickens in the afternoon. I saw the goats, the rooster, and 3 of the hens. One of our leghorns was missing & I looked all over & even called Dave to come help me. I was afraid that one had been eaten. Dave pointed out that the hens have been laying in an old feeder.




Isn't she cute!!! How adorable. So later that day when I went to put the animals to bed I checked the feeder.



And that's how we get our eggs. It's so rad.

Jane McGary is one of our local news anchors. She somehow snagged an interview with George W. Bush. Now, I'm not sure if she got to ask him more than one question or what. But they only showed the one on the news today. I found it amusing and it went like this:

Jane McGary: You've said before that you remembered the fallen every day. Did you ever have a sleepless night?

George W. Bush: There's nights when I -- you know rolled over and worried and thought about things. Uh. Yeah. You know one of the most comforting things -- this is going to sound very counter intuitive, but the very comforting times of my presidency was when I have met with the families of the fallen. *insert smug grin here* The comforter in chief becomes the comforted.

A few years ago I heard Alice Sebold on NPR talking about a book she wrote, The Lovely Bones. I went that day to the library & checked the book out. It was amazing. I strongly recommend it if you haven't read it. I wish I owned it so that I could re-read it. After that I read Lucky, which is a memoir of hers. I read that book in one Saturday laying in bed with the window open.

Anyway, I'm so excited to hear that it is going to be a movie! Usually, after a read you're pretty apprehensive to see it on the screen. But Peter Jackson is directing and wrote the screenplay. There are some awesome actors that are in it, it's in post production. I can't wait to see it.

Yesterday was the best! I had my CSR test & I totally rocked its socks off! I was in a completely different mind frame. Instead of being anxious and nervous, I was excited. I couldn't wait to be at the test site and ready to go.

The test was in Houston, first time in history that it was not in Austin. Going somewhere new that I have never been to normally would have made my panties wad. But not this trip. My mom won one of those navigation systems at her work Christmas party. She asked if we would be interested in it because she has no interest in learning how to use it. Heck yeah, we'll take it! It turned out to be amazing. I don't think we would have ever purchased one, but it's so rad.

Dave & I spend every hour out of almost every day together. Sometimes we need social interaction and how. So it was a good thing Tiffany & Ted had a NYE, as the cool kids would write, party at their house. We had a swell time of beer pong and Rockband. We saw all of our very good friends. We drank a lot of stuff and then we, and when I say we I mean Dave, passed out on the floor. It was a good thing Tiffany washed some blankets, with her awesome smelling Mrs. Myers Basil Fabric Softener, because an hour drive was out of the question.

Dave and I were home for a bit when he had to go back to Ft. Worth. Some kids broke into our For Sale house and he needed to go back and fix the door. That's my awesome handy husband. So after spending a few hours there he is heading back home and realized, or Buck called and said, "What the fuck, dude?", that this is the first week of them moving practice to a different night. So he has to go straight to practice, but his mandolin is at home. He call to say he's sorry that he'll be home later tonight. Who goes to practice with no instrument? Dave Sherrill, that's who. I'm so jealous of his determination and dedication. So even when we are enjoying our time apart, I miss him like crazy & can't wait till he gets back. Gross, I know.

Now I'm going to watch House of Saddam part III & IV before he gets back.

So my sister is hooked on that old time religion. And that's fine with me. But stop e-mailing me about it already.

I've never come out as a non-believer. Hey, if it works for you & you're happy, then I'm happy you're happy. I mean, I get it. Your husband almost died. I've been in that same situation. Only we knew within 24 hours that he was going to be okay minus the brain damage that he deals with on a day-to-day basis. You feel that prayer got you through the weeks of waiting for test results. That's awesome. I'm happy for you. Whatever gets you through. I had lots of cigarettes and coffee. But when you say that your New Year's resolution is to read the new and old testament to find your place in the Word. Well, I just don't think you're gonna like what your place is. But we'll see. I hope it works out for you. Either way I'm sure you'll let me know in your latest e-mail.

I love my daily Craft e-mail. sigh.



http://www.paranaiv.no/content/behind-undead

i caught a horse mackerel all by my lonesome & then i went and sold it to Nook ! take that dave sherrill!

I cut my hair short. I am making meatloaf tonight for dinner. Dave says I'm a grownup now.