Category Archives: Kellie St. James

Apr2

A Day in the Life…

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Wednesday Randomness is here again! This week we are welcoming a new member to our little group, everyone say hi to Jenny Trout!

Today we are walking through a day in the life of…us. Check out the blogs of Bronwyn Green, Jess Jarman, Kellie St. James, Kris Norris and Jenny Trout to find out out how we spend our days.

I’ll do my very best not to bore you with this description of my daily activities, but most days I feel like a hamster on a wheel.

But, you know, one of those flesh eating hamsters that kicks ass.

Anyway, my day starts with me pulling my zombified self out of bed. A morning person I am not. Usually there is a bit of tripping over my cat while I get ready and that’s the excitement in my morning, followed by a half hour drive to work. A nice drive in the summer, a horrific drive up the lakeshore in the winter that makes me feel like I live north of The Wall.

I then proceed to spend the next 9 1/2 (sometimes less an hour for lunch) in front of my computer manipulating Excel spreadsheets. Now don’t get jealous everyone, I know you would all rather be in my place. Admit it.

I suppose I may be exaggerating a bit, but I do spend the vast majority of my day playing with Excel in my duties as a senior financial analyst. And that folks, is all I’m going to say about my job. We don’t want to go down that rabbit hole.

It’s after my half hour drive back home that the fun really starts. That’s when I get to do the stuff I love. Sometimes I cook, depending on my mood. I actually like cooking, I think it’s fun in a weird way. There is something satisfying about taking raw ingredients and turning them into a meal.

Then I usually spend some time reading or writing, depending on my mood. Sometimes I binge on a new favorite tv show (Supernatural is the current obsession). Every once in a while I tackle a home project. And I try to exercise a few times a week, at least a walk on the treadmill. Oh, and I can’t forget practicing the piano for my weekly lessons.

Then it’s bed.

These are my days during the week, pretty boring and fairly repetitive. Things change some depending on the season. In the summer, I spend time in the garden.

My weekends tend to be all over the place. My husband and I have a lot of freedom since it’s just the two of us, but that will change soon when our puppy finally comes home (yay!). And, I’m starting an online fiction writing class this week that will, if nothing else, force me to write on a daily basis.

So, that’s a day in my life. For better or worse.

What about you? What’s a day like in your life?

Mar26

Phobias and Fears and Scary Things Oh My!

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This week’s random topic is phobias and fears, so I’m probably going to freak myself out just writing this. I’ll keep not too scary though, no nightmares here!

To check out what the other Wednesday Bloggers are afraid of, click on a name below:
Bronwyn
Jess
Kellie
Tess
Kris


Okay, fear number one. And this is probably one of my biggest fears if not the biggest. Tornadoes. I am terrified of them. When I was a kid and there was any sort of tornado warning four counties away, I immediately hightailed it to the basement and sat there until it was over. The street I grew up on was a dividing line for two counties and whenever there was a tornado watch or warning in the county that was the other side of the street, my dad would tell me “It’s fine, we don’t live in that county.” But I was on to him.

Fear number two…snakes. I hate them and everything they stand for. I once ran across a little garter snake (is that even what they’re called?) while hiking with my parents and some other people. I can honestly say I totally lost my head and screamed bloody murder until somebody made it go away. That is the only time I have ever run across one in the wild and I hope it stays that way.

The next would have to be things that jump, like frogs and grasshoppers. You never know which way they are going to jump and suddenly they are attached to you. No sir, I don’t like it. Bunnies are okay though. Even with their hoppy legs and twitchy little noses.

One more animal one and then I’ll move on. Bats. We had a bat in our house once and one appeared in my husband’s family’s cabin, and I think you could safely say I also lost my head both of those times. I’m not good in a crisis. At least not animal related crises.

The fear of looking stupid. I don’t know if this quite fits with the theme, but I have an extraordinary fear of looking stupid to others. So much so that I almost never speak up in meetings or classes unless I absolutely have to. I’ve overcome it some in recent years, but sometimes I still revert back to that person I was in college where I could go a whole semester without uttering a word in class. It’s hard to have this kind of fear when you work in a professional environment because you are expected to contribute in meetings, but I’m always afraid of what people will say about my ideas. Or that I’ll say something backwards and everyone will know I’m a fraud and that I don’t belong there.

One last one and then I’m going to try to find something fun to do to dispel these evil thoughts.

Lightning. I am terrified of lightning. And really thunderstorms, in general. I like rain, I find it soothing. But the noise of thunder and the power of lightning (and the fact that it could fry me where I stand) scare the stuffing out of me. To the point where I can’t sleep and usually make my husband stay up with me for awhile. And I hate being home alone during storms. Its panic-inducing.

Okay, I’m done. I need to find some happy thoughts now. But feel free to share your phobias in the comments.

Mar19

OMG Pet Peeves!

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It’s time for Wednesday Blog Randomness and we have another new person joining! Say hi to Kris Norris and check out her blog!

Click on a name below to visit the blogs of everyone involved:
Bronwyn
Jess
Kellie
Tess
Kris
This week we are talking about our pet peeves. I thought this would be an easy topic for me considering how often I’m irritated (just about every day it seems), but I had to think long and hard to come up with some specific pet peeves.
First and foremost are people who don’t use their turn signals. I know that’s probably a common one, but I get so road ragey anyway, when I come up against someone who is turning (and taking their sweet ever-loving time about it) without a turn signal on, what comes out of my mouth would make a sailor blush. It’s not healthy.
Bending the covers or pages of books. It makes me want to stab someone with an ice pick. Most of my books like they’ve never been read, even though many have been read more than once. I refuse to let my husband read any of “my” books because he rips covers or dust covers, he cracks the spines. He has learned not to dog-ear pages because that means instant death.
I don’t know if this qualifies as a pet peeve, but it’s something I deal with regularly. I’m not quite sure how to word this succinctly… People who behave one way part of the time and then change their behavior 180 degrees the rest of the time. I’m not talking about anything as serious as bi-polar. I’m talking about someone who is a witch to you most of the time and then every once in a while will be super nice so that you are constantly on your guard waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s exhausting to be constantly vigilant. It sounds dramatic, but those “nice” periods make me think something is being plotted behind my back.
Okay, this one tends to be mostly work related for me, but people who don’t read past the first line of an email. I mean, I went through the trouble of typing it for a reason and if I type a longer email it’s on purpose. It’s because whatever I’m trying to convey is easier to get across in writing than on the phone or in a voicemail. Read it! Don’t then come back and ask me a question answered in the third line of the email!
Deep breaths, deep breaths.
One more and then I’m going to stop, both for the sake of my blood pressure and for the fact that if I don’t cut myself off I might go on forever. Once I opened the dam it doesn’t seem to want to close.
This one I get a lot from one particular person. I’ll get a text message that says, “Call me as soon as you can.” The person never tried to call me. Just sent a text. And then, I call and the reason for the request was either something totally not important or can’t be remembered by the person who wanted me to call. Those always give me the urge to chuck my phone across the room.

Those are some of my pet peeves, just a taste. How about you? Everybody has them. What are some of your pet peeves?
Mar12

What Can’t I Live Without?

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This week the Wednesday blog group is looking at the top five things we can’t live without.  We have some new people joining us this week, welcome to Kellie St. James and Tess Grant!  

Click one of the names below to read the other posts:
Bronwyn
Jess
Kellie
Tess

Okay, so five things I can’t live without. I’m going to stay away from the serious things, family members, friends, pets, etc…. I think those are kind of a given.


So, here we go:

     1. Books. I can’t imagine a life lived without books and hopefully I’ll never have to.

      2. Unfortunately…my phone. I never wanted to be a person that relied on their phone, but apparently I do. I text mostly (talking on the phone is practically a phobia for me) but I also check my email and social apps obsessively. I’m not sure if it’s out of boredom most of the time or if it’s really a desire to know what’s going on.

      3. My Converse. I love Converse shoes; the classic, old school Chucks. For some reason I always feel more like myself when I put them on. I wear them year round, except for when we have four feet of snow on the ground because they aren’t very good cold weather shoes. I have a few pairs, but I always seem to stick with black or purple. My two signature colors.

      4. Ponytail holders or anything I can use to get my hair out of the way. Occasionally, I try cutting my hair short and it bugs me because I can’t pull it back. However, the minute it gets long enough, I rarely wear it down for a whole day. I think I look more like myself with my hair pulled back, if that makes sense.

      5. My purple, crocheted afghan that my husband’s grandmother made for me for Christmas the year before she passed away. Purple is my favorite color and the blanket is soft and big enough to wrap around me and I just love it. I rarely let my husband use it, which he says isn’t fair because his grandma made it. Too bad.

      So, those are the five things I can’t live without. What about you? What do you have in your life that you can’t imagine being without?