The hardest thing that I'll ever have to live with.

To all of our friends and family, we wanted to let everyone know, that our mother, Elizabeth Vinson-Hopwood, joined her mother, father, brother, and countless other loved ones in heaven today. This is an extremely difficult time for our family, and on all of those whom loved her. We appreciate the love and support we have received during this time, and that which we continue to receive. Thank you. We love you all and know that our mother was greatly loved, because she was the very best and kind-hearted person that we have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She will forever be in our hearts and will continue to live on through us and her grandson, in spirit, strength, and unconditional love. ❤️

A typical Monday conversation with UR. ❓❗️ (Mondays are not our friend).

*come Monday morning, confusion from last week and the weekend have culminated*

UR: I need to talk to you about some billing.... one of us have messed it up pretty bad.
Me: Ok.... what's the project name?
UR: Ok.... me, I have it messed up. Let me just go get it, I'll be right back.
***ten minutes later***
UR: Here it is. I have this amount, but the subcontract has this price. Why do we have AIA's that say differently?!
Me: Because there was a change order increasing the original contract amount to what we have billed.
UR: But, not everything has been billed.
Me: Yes, it has. You're missing a invoice.
UR: Oh.... that makes more sense. So, what about these other two projects? Have all three been billed out? I'm needing to know to make sure that I haven't gotten any projects criss-crossed.
Me: Let me check on all three of them. I'll need to look in our system and then pull some bills and I'll let you know.
***ten minutes later***
Me: Yes, all three projects have been billed out complete. I sent the company all the billing between November and December.
UR: That's great! Thank you!
Me: You're welcome. Anything else?
UR: Yeah, quick question.... why did we bill the jobs out complete when we have haven't even started one of them?
Me: ................ UR: ................ Me: ................... UR: .......................

Confessing my literary sins. (And other news in the TMI section).

I got this idea from Brinton's blog post. Well.... technically I got it from Disa Chantel's blog post that segued into Brinton's post. Either way, now I'm here and there's no turning back.

At least there's no turning back for me, because I've already thought of at least three things, which comes in real handy when you consider the fact that I have about fifteen minutes to kill and at least six of those are going to be spent deciding on which picture to use.

So, here it goes, my short and not well thought out literary confessions:

#1: I never finished To Kill A Mockingbird. 
Yes, I know it's a classic and that Scout has changed millions of lives and it was revolutionary for its time, but.... no dice. Most people think this is insane and once they find out they feel the need to try to not only talk me into giving it another go, but also kind of shame me for it? Either way, like I said earlier.... no dice.

#2: I had to use Google when I read the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy.
First off, I should probably never confess that I actually read all three of those books (and I didn't hate them), but the fact that I had to stop in the middle of sentences and paragraphs and climaxes *pun intended* just to type into my phone to know what was actually happening is too true not to admit. (Ps: no, I have never watched any of the movies and have no desire to and these books made me realize how much of a problem I have with thinking and saying out loud, "that's so damn unsanitary").

#3: I have lied and said, "I read the book" when I have only ever seen the movie.
I am "one of those people." I don't discriminate when it comes to books or movies, I feel like if you enjoy it, then you do you. But sometimes, you just don't want to finish a conversation with someone, or for that matter, have any sort of conversation to begin with and it's just easier to nod along.

Bonus confession: I actually bought Lena Dunham's book a couple of years ago.... and still have not even ever opened it to attempt to read it. Did I have the intention to when I bought it? Probably yes. Do I now? Eh.

I'm going to be making a German Chocolate cake this evening. ❤️❤️❤️

(Today is D's birthday and I like to consistently remind him that he's old compared to me.... you know, since his birthday is a little bit less than a month (around three weeks?) before mine.)

Happy Birthday to this dude. The one who’s been dealing with my sarcasm for nearly half our lives and just laughs at it. The one who knows he can reach LITERALLY EVERYTHING, but doesn’t dare try to get something off the top shelf at the grocery store, because he’s heard “I am a strong, independent woman and I’ve been climbing to reach the top shelf my entire life, BACK UP” on loop. And finally, the one who binge watches “Deadly Women” with me and is only mildly terrified that I’ll smother him in his sleep after we go to bed one night. I don't know what I did, but I certainly got lucky and I'm gonna go with it. Why? Because when you have a winning hand, you don't f*cking question it. You just thank your cards and collect the reward. I may be your bitter half, but you're undoubtedly my better half. Love you, Pook. ❤️ 

And while I would like to say I stayed up past midnight just so that I could be the first to wish him happy birthday, I would be lying if it wasn't honestly due to my poor time management skills and insomnia.

But, the point is, it's his birthday and I have to make a cake this evening. And I'm good with it.

Obviously my first selection is Harry Potter.... and I have no regrets. ⚡️⚡️

Dani gifted me Audible for Christmas (she's so much better at gift exchanging than I am), and to be honest, I had no idea where to start. With the membership she gifted me, I get one free credit a month (you buy the audiobooks with "credits") and you can listen to any of the "Audible Originals" for free.

There are a million books to choose from (you buy audiobooks for Audible through Amazon) and to say that my "Book Wishlist" was long would be an understatement.

I originally decided that my first listen would be "Dear Mr. You by Mary Louise Parker" because I have loved her since she played Ruth Jamison and since it had been on my wishlist for a long while, I thought it would be a good place to start.

Yeah.... I got about 35 - 40 minutes and gave up. I just couldn't get into it to save my life. The cool thing is though, I didn't "waste" my credit, because if you get a little bit into the book and you don't like it, you can return the book and they'll return your credit without charging you.

Since I was so disappointed with my first choice, I had no clue what my next selection should be. So, I went with my comfort zone and chose.... Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The fact that I love Harry Potter is universally known by all my friends and family (and some strangers, but that's not the point) and honestly, I can't believe I didn't think to start there to begin with, as it seems like such a no-brainer.

You see, even though I LOVE Harry Potter, I haven't ever read the first book (I know, treacherous), and I haven't even watched the first movie since Manda's Pa took us to see it in theatres when it first came out (and we were ELEVEN years old). Therefore, starting from the very beginning, and then continuing in chronological order, seems to make the most sense. I've been listening to it for one day (at work while I have the office to myself and prefer it over the radio tenfold) and I'm already almost through chapter nine and onto chapter ten.

If y'all need me, I'll be elbow deep into audiobooking HPATSS and probably watching the movie sometime in the next week. Afterall, I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good.

❤️ #2018BestNine ❤️