Had a weird dream last night. For whatever reason, I was living in the home I grew up in on the outskirts of Mt. Olive, Corner, that area. I remember that there was some sort of catastrophic event and somehow the house was suddenly near the sea (maybe Gulf Coast?) — things and people have an odd habit of changing places in my dreams. Something caused a flood, but it was no normal flood. It was more like a tsunami. I remember that the waves would creep up, then recede outward, then come rushing in again very quickly. I remember being inside the house and seeing the water level rising, covering the windows. (which is odd in itself because this was a two-story house!)

I distinctly remember the color and smell of the water. It was dirty, almost muddy. (think Mississippi River banks in New Orleans, pre-Katrina) In my dream, I was trapped inside the house for some reason and remember panicking when the water broke through each of the windows and started pouring into the house. I don’t remember much else, except that towards the end of the dream I was standing at the water’s edge on the shore and someone was explaining some new anti-wave barrier mechanism to me that had just been put in place. I remember telling them “it’s not enough, they will still come.”

Weird.

I’m not sure what it signifies, but it’s one of the first dreams I’ve been able to remember being that vivid since going on the Amitriptyline. Usually I’ve forgotten my dreams by the time I wake up.

I’ve thought about it off and on all day. Something that struck me was when I was watching the water cover the land in my dream, I thought about how odd that it was covering that amount of real estate so quickly! However highly unlikely that we’d ever experience this kind of event up here in B’ham, it was still kind of creepy.

Every Sunday morning, I:

• look forward to the new Post Secret submissions sitting in my Google Reader
• have a good cry
• have my hope of faith in humanity restored
• and feel not quite so alone in this world

Thank you for this.

~ Nicki

Ok, now for the catch-up — am trying to remember where I left off …

Jim and I had found our reception site. The booking is pending, no big thing, but due mostly to discrepancies between the original quoted terms and the actual written contract we received, so we’re awaiting word from the Marriott rep. No deal breakers or anything, but mainly that the contract contains wording that reads as having additional costs which were not in the original quote or we were told that would not apply to us. Lesson learned long ago: Get it in writing! Jim and I don’t want any surprises (financially speaking) so we are being particularly anal about getting every single thing in writing “just in case.”

We had tried booking it last weekend, but their system was down. (Something about some kind of bar code verification equipment they were replacing, so the invoices couldn’t be printed or something like that…) No biggie getting the contract later via email gave us a chance to sit down and really examine it.

I’ve been having nightmares almost every night … just about all are wedding-related (or family-related). I dreamed last night that a particular party who isn’t invited to the wedding showed up anyway, and was stinking drunk (very true to his “real life” form). So I guess I’m obsessing and worrying about every little thing. I know, I know, I should relax — and everyone else is telling me this, LOL!

I was supposed to go work out last night, but didn’t because I had so much to do, and am feeling a little guilty about it now. Jessie left last night to go over to Jim’s mother’s house. They are riding down today to go see Jim’s brother and his family. Both Jim and I had really wanted to go with them, but taking off work just wasn’t feasible. (And it’s nice to have an extra “night alone” once in a while!)

I’m enjoying the new phone mobile device.

Jim and I spent most of the 4th looking at various places for Bluetooth headsets, but found little in stock (or that we liked). After looking online this week, we’ve settled on the Plantronics Explorer 350. Jim likes the Discovery 655, but after researching each, it looks like the Explorer 350 will be more comfortable.

I did manage to get a nice case for my Ocean. CompUSA was one of the places open Wednesday. They had several foneGEAR models that I liked and their Leather Case for Blackberry 8700 fit the Ocean perfectly.

This particular case has a magnetic flap and the magnet activates the Ocean every time I open it. (It was designed for this very purpose for the Blackberry and the Motorola Q … yay it works with Helio devices too apparently!)

Work is going well. I’m up to my elbows in SharePoint documentation at this very moment and am already scheduled to take several programming classes, so I’m really looking forward to that. I’ve also started on my web developer’s certification — it’s mostly remedial stuff, but the classes are free and it’ll be another piece of paper I can add to my resume. (A funny thing I think, but I don’t have ANY degree or document certifying that I can actually do my job, so this will be nice!)

I’m finding that I sit in meetings more than anything else, and a good bit of the time it’s for projects with which I’m either not involved, or cannot even start on yet. *shrug* I sat in one earlier this week for an OCR project that one of my coworkers had been working on. It was kind of nice because my MACESS experience came into play for that one. It seems they were having some trouble with the bar code verifier and a manager of another department had wanted to get a hold of some bar code verification software, so I was able to help out there.

Got an email from a realtor I had contacted about a year or so ago, looking at lake houses. I’m not at all fond of beach properties, but lakes I can do.

Check out this listing Branson real estate just sent me:

It’s 3 bedrooms, 2 baths. I’m not crazy about the layout or the color of the exterior, but it’s got a great view and it’s just under 90 grand. That’s not bad!

However, they said nothing about the local schools; and not to mention the area population. If I had to guess it’s very rural, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I grew up in a rural area, and it was ok. However, I think we’ve been spoiled by having everything so close to us. Where we are right now is far enough out that we’re not crowded, but close enough to the city so that anything and everything we want or need is just a short car ride away.

I’ve been having really vivid dreams lately … when I do sleep that is. For whatever reason I’ve woken up at almost exactly 3am every night for the past 2 weeks. I can’t for the life of me figure out why … I go to bed around the same time, get up at the same time, have even tried staying awake late to “tire myself out” and nothing seems to have helped.

That aside, I’ve had recurring dreams about Hobie. Night before last I woke up and realized that I was leaning over the side of the bed looking for her. In my dream, I could hear her but couldn’t find her .. she was softly “growling” the way she would do in her sleep. I always liked to think she was dreaming about chasing prey or something like that. She was a little she-devil diva and expected to be treated like royalty, but she also used to LOVE to go outside every once in a while and chase things. It didn’t matter what it was — from preying on squirrels, chipmunks and birds to chasing off neighborhood dogs.

It never ceased to amaze me how fearless (and territorial! LOL) she was.

Anyways, I woke up saddened because at first I couldn’t find her, then realized that she had already passed away. Even though it’s been several months, I still find myself lying in bed at night and listening for the pitter-patter of her little paws on the kitchen floor, or moving around gingerly in the dark so that I don’t step on her.

Old habits die hard, I guess.

Like I said before … I’ll be glad when dream contents become as everyday a commodity as say, soap.

Mr. Sandman, I’d like some Tuscany Villas for next week, please.