Subject: RE:
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 10:22:39 -0500
From: "Vanesky, Emily" <evanesky@***.com>
To: "Carla Hales" <carlahales712@yahoo.com>

Carla~

I am proud of you for making a difference. I hate to sound cheesy but seriously. Your job is awesome and you are good at what you do.


THANK YOU!! I have had a very emotionally trying and draining day. I have felt ineffective in my job and like I have no idea what I am doing. I had my first chance to sit down, twenty minutes before I was supposed to leave work. I was feeling overwhelmed and useless....then I read your email. Those three little sentences were all the reassurance I needed, especially coming from you.

You made a difference in my life today!!

If you did not see Al Gore on SNL this weekend, you MUST watch this!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=AHM7iyjMAnw&search=al%20gore


Even you crazy conservative republicans (wait...I don't think I have any of those on my friend's list) will find this funny!!

And I am WELL AWARE all of this wouldn't have happened, but that doesn't make it any less humorous!

http://www.courttv.com/news/2006/0505/activist_ap.html

My hero!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

I got my first tattoo yesterday. It is on my left wrist (the inside). I got the symbol for strength. I have been through a hell of a lot in the last two years, and I realized that I have more strength than I was aware of....hence the reason for choosing it. It barely hurt at all. I thought for sure I would be in tears. It was the fear of that pain that held me back for so long. But it was NOTHING!! I was pretty proud of myself for finally doing it!!

http://www.courttv.com/people/2006/0420/virginbride_ap.html

( Daughter )

One of my co-workers sent this to me. Enjoy!!

George W. Bush and a secret service agent are taking a stroll when they come upon a little girl carrying a basket with a blanket over it. Curious, Bush asks the girl, "What's in the basket?" "New baby kittens," she replies, and she opens the basket to show him. "How nice," says Bush. "What kind are they?" The little girl says, "Republicans." Bush smiles, pats the little girl on the head and continues on.

Three weeks later, Bush is taking another stroll, this time with Karl Rove. They see the little girl again with the same basket. Bush says, "Watch this, Karl -- it's really cute." They approach the little girl. Bush greets her and asks how the kittens are doing, and she says, "Fine." Then, smirking, he nudges Rove with his elbow and asks the little girl, "And can you tell us what kind of kittens they are?" She replies, "Democrats." Aghast, Bush says, "But three weeks ago you said they were Republicans!"


"I know," she says. "But now their eyes are open."

May your blessings outnumber
The Shamrocks that grow
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Today - for the first time in the several months he has been gone - I forgot my father was dead.

I woke up a bit dazed from some dream that was just fading into the corners of my mind and remembered: It's Saint Patrick's Day! I smiled, as I thought of the traditional storytelling Dad was going to tell me about the meaning of the day (the same story EVERY year), how he would be teasing me about the fact that I don't drink a "decent stout" and then how he would try to force that dreaded corn beef and cabbage on me. And he was probably going to....oh wait....and that's when I remembered....there will be no storytelling today...there will be no teasing and no corned beef...because there is no Dad.

Wherever souls/spirits go, when they leave the physical vessel that houses them, I hope my father's is lazing today in the meadows and rolling green hills of Dublin that he so enjoyed from his childhood.

Erin go bragh, Daddy!!

I had to take my little dog, Fox, to the vet today. I would post a picture of her, but she always hides from the camera. She is easy to describe though - she's only nine pounds and looks like a tiny blonde Fox (hence the name).

I had noticed that she wasn't eating much and that she also wasn't jumping up on the couch to lay by me or into bed to sleep with me (which she ALWAYS does). She was having difficulty with stairs, a problem she has never had before. Then I noticed she was shaking uncontrollably for no reason. She will usually shake, when a storm is coming and even more so during one, but never "just because."

I brought her in, feeling slightly like an overprotective mother (which I cannot help being with her, since she was horribly abused, before life with me became her home four years ago). I have such a wonderful vet. He figured out the problem right away. Apparently, she managed to hurt her back, which makes sense with the way she's been acting. He gave me some pain pills to give her twice a day for the next week, that should make her feel better, while she heals.

On the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some turkey dogs to hide her pills in (she HATES pills, and I always have to trick her). An elderly man with a name tag reading "Len" (such a cutely perfect grandpa name!) was working the check out. A tall, crusty, beer reeking man was checking out in front of me. He kept sighing very loudly, obviously trying to indicate he was in a hurry. All of a sudden he remembered he needed something to make him smell even BETTER: cigarettes.

Len left his counter and walked (sort of hobbled) over to where the cancer sticks are kept, as Crusty McBeerstench shouted his request. Within seconds Crusty yelled, "Would you HURRY IT UP?!?!" I could feel myself shaking with rage. I wanted to shove my turkey dogs right up his ass!!

With a smile on his face, Len walked back as quickly as his arthritic legs would allow him, and politely counted McBeerstench's change out to him. As he started to tell him to have a nice day, Crusty cut him off and said, "Isn't there a law saying what age you can no longer work?" I couldn't take it anymore and burst out, "Isn't there a law against drinking before 10am?!?!!!" I don't know who was more shocked - me, Len or Crusty! Luckily, he walked away in a big huff.

Len chuckled, as he rang up my turkey dogs and asked if I had a Copps card, since "these are on special today, sweetie". I handed it to him and said, "I wish people weren't so rude." Len counted my change into my palm, gave it a squeeze and winked at me. "Have a good day, miss," he said.

You'll never believe what I found inside my grocery bag, when I got home. A red lollipop!! Len managed to sneak a lollipop into my bag!!

:) :) :) :) :)