So my friend, Happy Wife Happy Life, over at http://mommimusings.blogspot.com has tagged me to do the meme, 7 random tidbits about yourself. Here are the rules, do the meme and tag 4 others to do the same.

So without further ado, here are 7 fascinating and random tidbits about me...

1. I sleep in either the middle or left side of the bed. I cannot sleep on the right side of the bed, no matter how hard the cat tries to push me to the right.

2. Although I am not always watching it, the tv is always on in my house. Living alone can be lonely and creepy at times. The tv provides background noise.

3. I have many guilty pleasure tv show: Dirty $exy Money, Real Hou$ewives, Grey$ anatomy, Say Yes to the Dre$$...

4. My friend Jenn and I speak on the phone every night, often watching the aforementioned guilty pleasures together, on the phone.

5. I drink coffee in the morning on my way into work. I would kill a small man for that coffee most mornings.

6. My worst nightmare is recurring from childhood. I dream that a Vampire is levitating above the bed, only inches from me. I always wake up with my heart pounding and usually cannot go back to sleep.

7. I love stovetop stuffing but the stuffing on thanksgiving grosses me out. Something about being cooked inside the bird skeeves me out.

I tag whomever would like to play along...

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in our house is always a hectic experience with preparations that we all bitch about and then dinner is served and we gather around the table and a sense of peace ensues. The conversations fly around the table with three or four going on at the same time. Laughter rumbles around and eventually the dinner ends and those who must go home leave and the rest lapse into a slow coma...

The fact is that I would not trade this for the world. If and when I marry, I hope that my beloved will be willing to accomadate my need to be with my family on these days. There is nothing that I would rather do on these holidays.

Here is hoping that all my bloggie friends have had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent with loved ones.

How could it possibly be 16 years ago, today,

that my grandmother died?

Because in my mind, she is still waiting in her warm, cheerful kitchen, with a huge hug. I see her in the kitchen window watching us come in the gate and meeting us at the front door. Of course, her mountain of a dog, Saki, is still in the yard running to meet us.

I miss this graceful, classy, wonderful woman every day. And as I write this, I am crying in my office... I got dressed this morning, knowing what today was the anniversary was. I can still see my mother coming in the front door to tell us she was gone. I put on the Winnie the Pooh necklace she gave me and hoped it would bring me a good day. It is a cold, snowy day. No snow accumulating but it is the biting cold that reminds me of Christmas at her house. Appropriate, don't you think?

Anyway, it seems like yesterday that she was with us and we all miss her, terribly. So much so, it seems, that I am having a hard time articulating it.

The Flat Tire Was a Sign

The flat tire on monday morning was just an indication of the rest of the week. It is only wednesday and I am already exhausted. The life of the Nurse Specialist in Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine can be rather depressing at times.

In the past three days, I have informed 3 families that their loved ones had less than 6 months to live. Two of those families will probably not even get to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

I love my job and find it largely rewarding, just not this week...

Not a Good Start to the Week

Monday started like any other day. I was assaulted by a starving (NOT) cat once the alarm clock went off, I got out of the house 10 minutes late, I spilled coffee all over the driveway, and traffic was horrendous. As I drove over the river, I thought my car felt a little off but figured it was the grating on the bridge. A couple miles down the road, I heard that unmistakable flapping noise. I pulled over and confirmed the obvious - I had a flat tire. I called AAA.

AAA: AAA, this is Alan. How may I help you?

Me: AAA, Amanda here. I have a flat tire and need to be rescued by a tow truck driver in shining armour :)

AAA: Uh, OK.

The tow truck driver arrived, not in shining armour, but a nice guy all the same. In a matter of minutes, he had the donut on the car and we were on our way.

Now, I was only a mile from home. I am about 30 miles away from my job and the donut was not going to cut it... I headed to the nearest Pep B0ys and was suprised by the idiocy I found working there. I waited in an empty store for 15 minutes before the manager of customer service asked to help me. I explained my situation, gave her the make and model of my car, and smiled nicely. She looked up my car and told me that they did not carry my tire. I had already explained that I would need 2 tires, so we were looking at around 400$. I asked her if they would be able to get my tire that day, that I was willing to wait. "I told you we don't carry that tire" (insert obnoxious eye rolling and teeth sucking). I lost it and became the angry white woman in the Pep Boys.... I told the manager of customer service that she had failed her job requirements and that I would make it my mission to dissuade everyone I knew from providing them with business.

I wound up at the Firestone store, where they had 5 tires in stock. 2 hours later and I had 2 shiny new tires on my car. I came home today to a nice card from Firestone thanking me for my business.

Moral of the Story: PEP BOYS BAD! FIRESTONE GOOD!

Back in the Saddle Again

For the past several ( too many) months, I have been seeing the ex again. He reappeared with promises of successful counseling to repair the damage of being stupid enough to marry someone in need of greencard (she played him like a fiddle), increased maturity, and undying love. Things were going fairly well and then last week he decided marraige and children were not for him. Uh yeah, I am not budging on those two things. Yellow house vs blue house, Italian vs Chinese- fine. Children and Marraige- NOT OK. I cried, I yelled, I walked away.

Yesterday, I renewed my Match.Com subscription with a renewed sense of determination. I am 35, funny, and a damn GOOD catch. We will see- the last try was a disaster and I swore off online dating forever. However, with guidance from friends, I have updated my profile and narrowed my requirements. I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't give any requirement for education or income. (It may explain the poor response I recieved.)

Pray for me. I may swear off dating if this doesn't work and become the crazy cat lady...

Piglet is giving me the high five to restart Match.com :)

My Other Family

I have been blessed in that I have found a job that has me working with phenomenal individuals. The doctors, although they will drive me insane some days, are marvelous human beings who treat me with respect and love. I am one of their family, as they are mine. We go above and beyond for each other. Here is a prime example.

It was going to be one of those weeks. It is the CHEST conference, here in Philadelphia, and the docs were attending. This left me with one doc a day. The hospital is insane, as is the office. We would be running short and running long days.

My cell phone has assigned rings to individuals (because I can) and the docs all have the same one. I did this so that I would know to answer it when they called without looking. On sunday, I was getting ready to leave the shore to head home when my cell phone rang. It was GSW.

-(GSW) I have a big favor to ask. I am at CHEST tomorrow and was wondering if you could go in early so that HTL is not alone.

- (ME) Not a problem

- (GSW) Good. I have another big favor. It is a big one and will take alot of your time. It might be a big inconvenience.

- (ME) ok, spit it out.

- (GSW) I have a ticket to game 5 of the World Series for you.

- (ME) silence

Ok, so for those of you who are not baseball fans. Game 5 was a 2 night affair of rain, sleet, cold, suspended play, and then a second night of cold excited fans who witnessed the Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series for the first time in 28 years. It was INCREDIBLE. It was a once in a lifetime experience and they included me. I bawled like a baby when they won. (So did HTL...)

In any case, you can see what I mean. These guys work with me day in and day out. We bicker, we joke around, and we worry about each other. I could not have picked a better group to work with....