Hired and Fired

Highlights of the past few weeks of Holly's life:

*My brief employment at Ziggy's Ice Cream
*Having my open house at church
*The purchase of the new Harry Potter book
*Attending Sarah's open house
*Grandma Z.'s 3-way bypass

*Glances nervously at date of last diary update* Holy guacamole, has it really been that long? Well, I s'pose I'd best get 'round to updating then, hadn't I? Let's see, where shall I begin? I guess I'll start with Ziggy's...
I'd been wanting to work at an ice cream place for quite a while, so when my aunt Barb got me an interview with a friend of hers who just happens to be the owner of Ziggy's Ice Cream, I jumped at the chance. I got the job immediately, and started working, but only for a couple of hours a day, while I was in training. I practiced swirling soft serve ice cream into cones (they all tilted unsteadily to the side), mixed up various kids of flurries (I always seemed to punch a hole in the bottom of the cup), and got zapped horribly on the blended fruit machine. Customers yelled at me, my co-workers snapped at me, and I went home crying more than once. I can't say that I wasn't surprised when my boss called me and told me I was just too slow for that kind of job. And so, I am, once again, unemployed. *Sigh*
Two Saturdays ago was my open house, which turned out peachily, thanks to my awesome mom and grandparents. We had lots of fun decorating the church with colorful Japenese lanterns, picture-laden poster boards, and Mom's beautiful giant paper flowers (I "entertained" my mom by continually singing "Paaaaaper flowers!", a lovely part of Evanescence's song, "Imaginary"). I created my only real decorative contribution: a concoction of pastel jelly beans in champagne glasses. *Beams proudly* I stole that idea from a magazine! *Nods happily* The open house that followed the decorating party was quite wonderful as well, as I played my Open House Mix CDs and greeted lots of folks, some of whom I never thought I'd see in the same room together *COUGHmyparentsCOUGH*.
In honor of the release of the new book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I purchased a new outfit, including a blue tank top that Harry and Hermione have been ironed onto. I sat up all night reading the last few chapters of the Goblet of Fire so the ending would be fresh in my mind the next day. As an open house present, Mom had reserved me a copy of the book, so at 7:30 the next morning, I drove my poor tired Mom to Target to get the book. When I spotted it on an end cap, I squealed and ran to the cash register where a Daria-type rang up my book, eyeing my Harry/Hermione shirt and huge grin with obvious distaste. The book was wonderful, although I admit to hysterical crying toward the end... and that's after peeking ahead!
My grandma Z. went into the hospital for a 3-way-bypass this past Friday. My dad, grandpa, aunt Barb, and cousin Lindsay were all with her right before she went into surgery, so I think that put her mind at ease about it, a bit. As soon as they'd wheeled Grandma away, Lindsay broke into sobs, just like she does every New Year's Eve when Grandma and Grandpa leave for their winter Florida trip. We stayed in the Family Waiting Area where a loud, huge, annoying family took up nearly the whole room before a nurse came in to tell us that Grandma was going to be okay. And she should be home tomorrow! Hoo-ray!
--Holly :-D