I know, I haven't written for a while. It's been a crazy week, and most nights, I've fallen into bed exhausted. I haven't spent much time enjoying life, that's for sure. Between work. And work. And work. So much to do, so little time to do it, and I am stressed. I'm leaving next Sunday for a week-long trip, and my to do list is so long that there are to do lists within my to do list.

And, I've gone back to my "thank God Tony has a job...Thank God Tony has a job" chant the past few days. You know the saying "when it rains it pours," right? Well, I've been getting poured on. It started Wednesday morning when I walked out to the small freezer in my garage to grab a cup of ice, and discovered that instead of a bag of ice, I had a bag of water. I have no idea when my freezer bit the dust as I hadn't been in it for a few days, but the trash dumpster now contains the following: A roast. A bunch of cooked ground beef. A whole salmon. A package of pork chops. 2 ziploc bags full of frozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookie dough. Can you imagine my tears? And for the first time ever in my life, I wished it was winter. Why couldn't my freezer conk out in the middle of January instead of in the midst of a September heat wave?

As if that wasn't enough, when I was on my way home from picking up my children and two others from cross country practice, I noticed that the air conditioner in my car was not working. I actually laughed about that and thought how lucky I was that if my a/c had to quit, it did it on the first day of fall. But oh, no...things can never be that easy...I happened to notice at the same time that the temperature gauge in my car was in the HOT zone. I was so afraid the rest of the way home that I was going to end up on the side of the highway with steam rolling from under the hood of my overheated car...I made it home, and LONNNGGG story short, Tony discovered that some hose was broken and all the coolant had leaked out. And no he couldn't fix it, because he couldn't get to it. So we drove it to the guy who fixes our cars, and while it only required a $10 plastic part, because of the labor involved, cost nearly $400 to fix. $400!! $400!!!!!!!!!! To fix a $10 part. Is it just me or is there something messed up about that? Even that cloud had a silver lining…Tony has been doing some side work at our vet’s house, and he got paid yesterday…you guessed it, almost $400.

That's enough venting. I'll tell a little story now that may make you laugh. Or at least smile.

Tuesday night, I ended up in a situation that is quite honestly, one of the situations I have most dreaded being in for as long as I can remember. I'd like to think my boss was totally innocent of knowing what she was expecting of me, but knowing her, I'm sure it was more likely that she wanted to use this as one of her moments of "encouraging"/forcing me to step outside my comfort zone. She is very good at conning me into doing things that she knows darn good and well I won't feel comfortable doing by not giving me all the facts before I agree to doing whatever it is she wants me to do.

Confused much?

She asked me on Monday if I wanted to go to a "networking" meeting with her and our PR director. She told me there would be free food and drinks, and she really wanted me to go. It was being put on by a professional organization that had chosen Share as their charity to donate money to this month. She said I wouldn't have to get up and talk, and that sealed the deal for me. Not having to stand in front of a crowd of people and talk...free food...sign me up!

Well, I should have known there was more to the story. Much more.

First of all, she told me we needed to dress up. So, I did...nice dress, heels, dressy sweater...I don't dress up much, so I enjoy doing so when I have the opportunity.

First thing she didn't mention...although in her defense, I don't think she knew this ahead of time because she wasn't really dressed appropriately either...the event was held outdoors on the tent-covered patio of a Scottish pub bar/restaurant in St. Louis. No problem, except it was SOOOO hot and humid that day. I mean July hot...in the 90's, sweltering HOT. And the free drinks consisted of one option...Blue Moon beer. I am not a beer drinker. And I had no money with me since I thought food and drinks were free. At least the ice water was free.

But the worst thing that she didn't mention was this was not a dinner. Maybe she thought I knew what a "networking meeting" actually is, but I did not. I do now.

So while I was just glad I wasn't going to have to talk in front of a crowd of people, I didn't know that what I was going to have to do instead would make me wish I was talking to a crowd of people. Instead, I was instructed to "work the crowd." The three of us had to walk around this group of probably 60 20-something professionals, introduce ourselves, ask what they do, tell them about Share, exchange business cards....YIKES.

Now I like to talk, and I don't think anyone who knows me will dispute that. But, I tend to be more the wallflower type when I am in situations where I don't know anyone. I don't even mind being with someone I know in room full of people I don't know, as long as that person knows that I will stick to them like superglue.

But...me...in a room full of people I don't know, not having someone to stick to like superglue...well, that's something so far out of my comfort zone it's not even in the same galaxy. And it certainly didn't make it easier when the 2 people I was with are the 2 biggest social butterflies I know. Within a few minutes of arriving, our PR director was flitting around talking to everyone, definitely in her element. And I might add, wearing a cute strapless dress and sandals with her cute hair pulled back into a cute ponytail, while I was melting in my dress and sweater and the humidity was making my hair look like hair should never look. You may be wondering why I didn't just take off my sweater...well, while I love this particular dress, the straps tend to fall off my shoulders showing my bra straps, and I didn't think that would be a good look for a "networking meeting. I followed my boss around for a few minutes, and then she saw a lady sitting at a table by herself and said to me, "I'm going to go to talk to her, you go meet some people!"

Can you imagine my "what the hell do I do now?" look??

So, I turn around and see two friendly looking people standing there, I offer my hand and introduce myself, and say that I work for the organization who they are donating money to this month...so far so good...and then they both look at me like they have absolutely NO clue what I am talking about. Turns out, they really didn't have a clue what I was talking about. It was their first time at an event like this too, they had just joined the organization, and were just as nervous as I was. They had no idea the organization donated to charities. Too funny...

This story has already gotten way too long, but to sum up my evening...

*I sweated like I haven't sweated in a long time, and I looked (and felt) like holy hell by the time I got home.

*I felt insanely jealous of the waiters…and wished I had their poise. I mean, it must take a great deal of self confidence for men to wear skirts and knee socks. (Remember…Scottish pub…all the waiters were wearing kilts).

*I exchanged business cards with maybe 10 people, while my coworker in the cute strapless dress, collected probably 40 or more.

*I spent 20 minutes talking to a guy who at first glance seemed very nice and attractive...kind of a yuppie type...and who made me want to run away screaming by the time he finished giving me a lecture on what is good art and what is bad art. And which museums are known for housing crappy art. He also kept dropping names of all these artists, and all these art museums, none of which I have heard of as I know nothing about art...not sure if he was trying to impress me...and then, he told me about his latest art project which is a clear glass head wearing a gas mask...and he is trying to figure out a way to make it look like there is an atomic explosion going on inside the glass head. And how he wants to attach a ring of flowers to the gas mask. I felt like saying "Dude, you are creating an atomic explosion inside MY head!"

*The most depressing part of the evening was talking to this young gal who writes children's books, which is something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember.

So what is the point of all this? And how does it relate to my being positive blog posts here? There isn't one. And it doesn’t.

I'm sorry. I'll try to do better the next time.