2007: A RETROSPECTIVE

Last year when I wrote my first year retrospective, I'm afraid I did myself a disservice. I summed up the entire year of 2006 as a year that sucked. Granted, a great deal of things went badly, but I somehow managed to overlook everything good that happened and dwell on all of the unfortunate things that went on. I don't want to do that this time.

I'd like to think that I've grown a bit this past year. Not only emotionally, but spiritually and mentally as well. I'm not going to say that 2007 was a perfect year, because it wasn't. However, that doesn't really bother me when I step back and look at the big picture. I've learned that if every day is perfect, then perfect becomes commonplace. If you never have sadness, you will never know happiness. So yes, a great deal of things sucked this year, but without those things, I don't think I could truly appreciate all of the good things that happened as well.

My 29th birthday came and went, still as disappointing as ever. I'm guessing a lot of my disappointment stems from the fact that I have terribly high expectations when it comes to happiness. Try as hard as I might to have fun, the highlight of my day was a Cracker Barrel hamburger and a nap. But hey, I had another birthday, the hamburger was great, and who doesn't love a mid-day nap?
For the first time in my life I traveled alone, flying from Huntsville to Miami to visit my friend in the hospital. Yes, I got trapped in the Charlotte airport for 14 hours all alone, but I learned that I am not as helpless as I once was. I not only made it to Miami successfully (if not a little later than I thought I would), but I got to visit my miracle friend and made it home all in one piece!
I graduated in May, which was fantastic, and my parents and some of my best friends in the world were there to see me get my diploma. Mom and dad were so proud of me, since I was the first person in our family to get a degree. My dad even kept the picture of him, mom and me on his desk at work, and the picture of me holding my diploma in a frame on his night stand. If nothing else in the world had happened, I'm so glad that my father got to see that and had the chance to be so proud of me.
I got to visit New Orleans, LA; Texas, Nevada, Utah and a bit of Arizona. All of these places were as hot as hades, but totally worth the sweat and fear of prehistoric plastic scorpions!
My father passed away, and try as I might, I just can't find the silver lining in that. I miss him so much every day. I hate seeing my mom so miserable and my family seems to be so lost without him sometimes. But, I honestly believe that all things happen for a reason, even if we aren't told what it is. However, when he died, I realized how many people in my life are willing to stand by me and prop me up. Friends came with food and flowers, a shoulder to cry on, a card with a note of support in it, a joke to make me laugh, and one or two of them were just there for whatever I needed. I can't even express how much all of that meant to me then, and still means to me now.
I've made some new friends and I've lost a few. I even have some friends who seem to be waiting patiently by the door holding my hat and coat, ready for me to leave, but not willing to ask me to go. Josh moved off to Colorado to become a priest and I miss him terribly. Even though I'd have him back if I could, I'm so proud he's finally found his calling. He's neither lost nor here, but I didn't know what category to put him in.
I have had to face the fact that some things are just out of my hands. No matter how much I want something to happen, or don't want it to, there are just some things that I can't do anything about. I'm still struggling to deal with that, but maybe in 2008 I will come to some sort of peace with it. I also know what it feels like for your heart to completely break. That sounds melodramatic, I suppose, but that isn't a lie or an exaggeration. I hope it heals one day, even if the cracks still show. Hopefully if it does, the memory of how much it hurt will only make me more grateful that it is fixed.

So there you go, folks. My 2007. I have been blessed, very blessed as well as tried and beaten down. I hope you have been just as fortunate as I have.

YOU CAN'T CATCH ME, I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN...

OK, so I said I'd put up these pictures mainly because I'm frightfully pleased with the way they came out. Here are the gingerbread folks I made for Christmas!

1) These were my practice ones. I call them Milton and Queen Latifa.












2) This is Marilyn and Cleatus. I was very happy with the way Cleatus' overalls came out.












3) By request, here is Han, Chewy and Leia. Well, actually, Han Solo was the only request, but since I was ashamed that I didn't think about making themed cookies, I went ahead and made the others so Han wouldn't get lonely. Chewy doesn't really look like himself, but I know I'll do better next time.












4) Luke and Yoda












5) These were just for me: Capt. Kirk and what was supposed to be Harry Potter until I realized that I couldn't remember what Harry wore, so I made it into a non-descript nerd cookie. Look closely at the sweater vest. I placed each do-hickies on there individually. It wasn't until after I was done that I realized all that trouble was just going to get eaten. Oh well...

Oy, what a Christmas!

Don't worry, that is a good "oy" and not an "oy" followed by "vey." :)

This past holiday weekend was so busy! I honestly don't remember Friday night. I'm sure it was all last minute shopping and possibly wrapping gifts, but it's a complete blank to me at the moment.

Saturday I did laundry and a mountain of dishes. It was also the day we celebrated Steve's birthday with his dad and Grandma. That night we went to Mr. Lee's house and ate a great deal of very good food and one of his Grandma's dried apple cakes. Mr. Lee wouldn't let me help at all with anything, so I sat around feeling quite useless. I don't know what was wrong with me, but I was sooooooo clumsy that night. I kept knocking things over, dropping my fork, and I believe there are probably some croutons lodged under the refrigerator after I shot them off of my plate while trying to eat a salad. Those suckers flew! I also managed to drop a whole lot of other people's forks while clearing the table. Seriously, I'm lucky I didn't hurt myself or anyone else. One of Mr. Lee's photography friends joined us for dinner that night as well, and we all spent the evening looking at 3D slides of a trip they had taken to Utah. It was a lot of fun. :)

Sunday was church, of course, and it was also Steve's birthday! I couldn't remember how old he was going to be, but it turns out he is 33! OLD MAN! My mom invited Mr. Lee and Grandma to lunch with us and we had Steve's birthday lunch with everyone. It was a lot of fun, and once again we were fed like prize cattle. I felt like a puffer fish after it was all said and done. I didn't go to church that night because I was in charge of dessert for our Christmas eve lunch with my Dad's side of the family. I spent hours and hours putting the finishing touches on gingerbread people, baking cookies and spilling sugar all over the place. I also made cupcakes. I didn't sample anything while I was cooking, but I think I inhaled enough powdered sugar to almost go into a diabetic coma. Since it was Steve's birthday, I also spent the evening watching "The Empire Strikes Back" at his request. I had to watch a lot of it from the kitchen while I was baking, but that didn't seem to bother him at all.

Monday was Christmas eve, of course, and we went to Mom's house to have lunch with the Martins. I didn't know how it would be without Papa there, so I was apprehensive about how I would handle it. I really missed him, but I enjoyed spending time with my cousins and their thousands upon thousands of children. Well, in reality, there were only 7, but they were as loud as thousands upon thousands of children. One of my cousins had just given birth two days before and I didn't think she'd be there, but she was. Her baby was even still in the hospital, but he was undergoing some last minute baby things and they were going to go back and get him later that day. Yikes. My family will someday be as numerous as the tribes of Abraham, I think! Heeheehee. I think I walked into a discussion the other women in my family were having about whether or not I was ever going to punch out a couple of kids. I only think this because I went to put something away in the kitchen and everyone got quiet and looked at me. I probably wouldn't have noticed, but the last thing I heard Angie (my sister) say was "I really don't think so" and when I looked over at her she said..."What?" Angie doesn't exactly have a good poker face. At least they know that *I* don't like to be asked that question, so I don't care a bit if they were talking about me or not! :) We went from there, back over to Mr. Lee's house and we went to dinner with some of his friends. We had Chinese food. Fa ra ra ra ra...

Tuesday we went back to Mom's house and I helped her fix lunch. We had gifts and played one of Seth's games. It's now official, I am NOT as smart as a 5th grader. :( We were having so much fun that it was time to go back to Mr. Lee's house that night and have dinner and gifts over there. Steve and his grandma watched that soul sucking movie "Christmas Comes to Willow Creek," but I plugged into my iPod and ignored it. We were exhausted and over stuffed by the time we finally came home.

All in all, it was a very nice Christmas. Yay.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Eve!

May your days be merry and bright and all of that!

I've been baking for two days. I'm actually very tired of sugar right now. However, I have managed to bake and decorate my very first gingerbread people cookies! I took pictures, but I'll show them when I have more time. I've also learned to make vanilla butter cream icing from scratch and cookies from a recipe that Steve's grandma gave me a long time ago. I haven't been able to figure them out before. However, now I don't want to eat any of the things I've worked so hard on. The thought of it makes me gaggish. I just hope everyone else likes them!

We will spend the next two days with our families and other people who happen to be around.

To be honest, I'm not feeling very Christmassy this year. Oh well, I have faked it before and I can do it again! Don't worry, I'm not going to follow that up with "Bah Humbug." I like Christmas, I'm just not in the mood. I've learned too much about some unpleasant things in the past couple of days to make me feel very joyful. However, I'm determined not to bring anyone else into it with me! ONWARD TO THE JOY, PEOPLE! ONWARD!!!!!!!

Oy.

Note to self...

Proof read your e-mails BEFORE you send them. Sometimes the lack of important words can change the entire meaning of what you're trying to say.

*shame*

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) OK, who is the man I'm living with, and what did he do with Steve? Last night he decided he couldn't wait any longer to give me my Christmas gifts. I totally understand, because I'm exactly the same way. In fact, I had given him his birthday gift last night even though his birthday isn't until Sunday! He handed me a large envelope, and for a moment I was afraid he had gone and had some boudoir photos made. : ) Inside the envelope was a gift certificate for dance lessons! It was probably one of the most thoughtful gifts he's ever gotten me, and normally his idea of a thoughtful gift is a RAM upgrade! He knew how much I wanted to learn to dance and said he'd be willing to go along and learn with me so that we could dance at his Christmas party next year. All together now: Awwwwwwwww! It's basically for 3 introductory dance lessons which we can choose to continue if we enjoy them. I'm so excited! I love it when people put actual thought into gifts! It means they care enough to pay attention to you. Yay, Steve!

2) I decided a couple of nights ago that I wanted to make chocolate baklava for the marketing department's Christmas brunch. Making baklava is a very time consuming thing that involves buttering dough that is as thin as tissue paper, grinding up nuts, layering all kinds of stuff and making a sugar syrup to pour over everything once you've baked it. One weird thing you have to do to it is cut it BEFORE you bake it. I guess that's because phyllo dough is so delicate that it would probably shatter if you cut it once it was baked. Well, everything went swimmingly except for the fact that one box of my dough was the wrong kind, but I had enough of the phyllo dough to make up for what I didn't have. I chopped, buttered, blah-blah-blah. The sugar syrup is tricky because it has orange and lemon juice, honey, and sugar in it and it has to be boiled for a long time to reduce it. What you have when you are done is basically a very tasty glue that you pour over the finished pastry. Well, I did all of the pouring and left it to cool, but when I went back a couple of hours later and moved the pan it was in, I realized that when I cut the baklava before I baked it, I punched holes into the bottom and sides of the aluminum pan! The very tasty glue had leaked all over the counter and into the grooves between the tiles where I haven't finished grouting! ARGH! Well, at least the baklava tasted good. : )

3) I had to go buy toys for some of my little kid cousins the other day. I know NOTHING about the kinds of things kids like. I didn't even know how old most of them were! I was afraid if I got something too grown up, they'd break it or not enjoy it, but I was afraid if I got something too baby-ish then they would turn their tiny little wraths upon me. I can only hope that they will just be so excited about getting presents that they won't really pay attention to what they got. Most kids are like that, right?

4) I miss Josh. I got a call from him the other day and he seems so happy. I'm very glad that he's happy, but I can't help being selfish enough to wish he was still around. I got to talk to one of his "Brothers" and Josh seems to be very popular with everyone. Apparently he made them all crack up during evening prayers! At least he hasn't changed much since joining the order!

5) I don't like wrapping gifts. At. All.

That is all for now!

*bangs head on desk*

OK, we all know that I have a habit of wardrobe malfunctions. Some of them are horribly embarrassing and some are just inconvenient. Well, I have no idea what to file this one under.

This morning while I was getting ready, I realized I wanted to remind myself that I can look like a girl and wear a dress to work. As it was chilly, I wanted a pair of tights to go under it, but the only pair I could find looked small for me. I had worn them to church not long ago and spent most of the morning tugging them up. This is not a particularly attractive action, but when the tights start to slide down, it is a necessity. I figured I must have gained weight and that was what caused the general migration of the tights, but as they were the only pair I had on hand, they were going to have to do. In a fit of inspiration, I decided that since I'd be wearing my most awesome knee-high boots, I could do a little surgery on them without anyone being the wiser. So I snipped the ends of them off so my feet could go through. At first, everything seemed to work just fine, but beginning after my department meeting this morning, the migration began again.

I suppose I should pause here and mention that when one feels too fat for their clothes, it can be a downer for the day. No one wants to feel as if their clothes are too tight, but that's what I was dealing with. So periodically, and by the grace of God alone no one saw me do this, I was able to just flip my skirt over my head and give the 'ol tights a tug.

As the day went on, this began to be a problem. I was pulling them up every ten minutes or so. At about 4:30, when I had just about decided to just pull off my boots and cut the damn things off at the knees, I realized why my tights kept slipping down. It wasn't because I had gained weight, thank goodness, but for another reason that should have been much more obvious to me before I even put them on. The tights were not for adults. These were children's tights that I bought because I needed the stretchy material for some kind of project that I never wound up doing. I was basically trying to wear clothes that were meant for a child of about ten. I should probably write a letter to the company that produced them to compliment the elasticity of their fabric or something. I'm hardly the size of a 10 year old, after all. I have no idea why it didn't dawn on me before then, but it hadn't.

Seriously, I need someone to dress me in the mornings.

WEEKEND UPDATE!

FRIDAY: Friday night was the annual choir and
music ministry dinner at church. I should have gone over to the church
much earlier than I did, but when I came home and changed clothes, I
lay down for a couple of minutes and wound up sleeping quite soundly
for a couple of hours! I felt so bad. Selena, the head of the hostess
committee, probably had to deal with the cooking and set up all alone.
She did a great job, but I felt bad that I didn't come and help her!
Even though quite a few people were missing, it was a success and I
believe everyone had a really good time. Mr. Lee did his one man show
and he was really funny.

SATURDAY: Saturday wasn't all that
eventful, but I did have to go grocery shopping. I was scared. As you
know, I hate going shopping at places like Target and Wal -Mart during
the holiday time, but I had no choice since I had to pick up a
prescription. Luckily for me, though, I somehow managed to get in and
out of Target perfectly in between when they opened and when the first
crazy shoppers arrived. I even got to park close to the front of the
parking lot! Go Me! The only draw back I had was that when I got back
to the car with my purchases, two old people sat in their cars and
waited for me to get my things in the trunk and pull out. I hate
Parking Lot Vultures! It makes me want to just say screw the milk and
whatever else needs to be refrigerated and walk back into the store
just to piss them off. I don't think it would bother me so much if they
didn't pass up perfectly good parking spaces and back up traffic just
to wait for me to leave so that they could park three feet closer to
the entrance. BOO! I came home with my purchases and had lunch and I
watched an honest to goodness scary movie. I'm kind of jaded when it
comes to scary movies these days. There aren't that many that are truly
spooky. They are gross and violent, but if you've seen one half-naked
chick get decapitated for not being smart enough to run in the right
direction, you've seen a million of them. No, the movie I rented on On
Demand was "1408.' It's based on a Stephen King novella which was good ,
but not his best work. Stephen King stories sometimes don't translate
well from book to screen, but this one was awesome! It's too long to
really explain, but it had me balled up on the couch and hiding behind
a pillow. I NEVER do that when watching "horror" movies. In fact, I
don't even know if you can consider 1408 to be a horror movie. It was
more of a psychological thriller-suspense movie. Needless to say, I
think you should watch it yourself if you like those kinds of movies.
Only one spoiler - The Carpenters have never freaked me out more! : )
That night, Steve and I had dinner with Anthony at Bonefish
Grille. The food is good, if you like seafood that is, but it seems a
little over hyped to me. We had a good time, though. I firmly believe
that even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are delicious when you eat them in good company. : )

SUNDAY: Sunday was Church, of course. We didn't have normal services that morning because the choir was doing their Christmas cantata.
They did excellently, in my opinion. I volunteered to video the musical
for a man who is in the choir, but unfortunately, he didn't have a
tripod for the camera. I did the best I could to hold it still, but
there is going to be some movement. Oops. The camera also ran out of
memory about 30 seconds into the last song, but that wasn't my fault! :
) We had lunch with Mr. Lee and Grandma and then went home to
accidentally fall asleep on the couch. There is something almost
perfect about lazy Sunday afternoon naps. Unfortunately, I spent all of
my own nap having violent nightmares! I sang during the evening
service. I was nervous because I haven't sung during worship service in
so long. I found a version of "O Holy Night" that I really liked. It
was the version that Mariah Carey did on her Christmas album. I am fully surprised that I could sing it since she has a 5 octave vocal range, but I've realized that I don't have to sing all 5 octaves, even if she does! I have a three octave range like most normal people, so it worked out.
It
was hard for me to sing for more personal reasons, too, though. I've
mentioned before that I was supposed to sing at my parent's church in
October, but then papa died so suddenly. He was so excited about
hearing me sing, and I didn't get a chance to do it. But right as I got
up to sing, I had the nicest feeling that he was listening anyways, so
that helped me get through it. I kept crying when I'd rehearse, but I
got through the actual performance without crying at all. I just miss
him so much, I guess. It'll take a while before singing doesn't hurt so
badly.
I was also broadcast via satellite (or cell phone, if you
want to get picky) to the girl whose wedding I'm singing at this month.
I suppose she was a little worried that I might sound like Kermit the
Frog or something, so her aunt came in and called her and held up the
phone while I was singing. I almost started laughing! I've never had
that to happen to me before!

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I miss Fat Dog. Fat Dog is a dog who lives up the street from me and I used to see him and his owner, Fat Guy, walking every morning. Well, Fat Guy isn't so fat anymore because he's been walking Fat Dog regularly for about three years now. However, Fat Dog never seems to get any thinner. From what I can tell, he's a gray and white border collie and he looks like a really furry barrel with legs. He's so funny to see waddling along on his leash! Lately, though, I think I've been missing them on my way into work. I had gotten used to saying "Oh, look, there's Fat Dog!" I'd even sometimes sing a Fat Dog song to the tune of the "COPS" theme. I guess they've changed their walk time. :(

2) I'm so tired! I don't know what is going on with me lately. Either I can't sleep at all, or all I want to do is sleep. Right now I'd love to take a nap. I keep nodding off while I'm sitting here. Hopefully I won't go completely out and fall out of my chair!

3) This is my new co-worker, Andrew. He's a pirate! He's also really nice. Don't be scared.

moar funny pictures

Sorry about all of the lolanimals lately. They just make me happy.

WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I miss Lost, and The Office and Chuck! I want my TV shows back, DAMNIT!

Ahem. That is all.

I know exactly how he feels today.

I've been booked to sing at two more weddings! Once girl I don't even know, but I know her aunt. Apparently, I was recommended. Now, I just need to locate the CD she wants me to sing and we'll be all set. Her wedding is at the end of December, so I don't have much time!

The other wedding is not until November of next year, but the girl who asked said she has wanted me to sing at her wedding for the past five years. Wow. Bless her heart, she's been so anxious to get married that I'm not altogether sure she didn't tell her boyfriend that if she didn't marry her she'd break up with him (or murder him, rather.) I don't think he really wanted to get engaged, but I suppose when the whip is cracked, the weak man will bend. That sounds kind of mean, I suppose, but I find it hard to respect a man who can get talked into getting married. I just hope that being married is as blissful as this girl thinks it's going to be. I have no idea what I'm singing in that wedding, but since she's been planning her wedding since she met this guy, I'm sure she had a long list to choose from! : )

I have recently begun getting a subscription of Town & Country magazine. Normally I don't go and buy that magazine, but I had some Coke points to use up before a certain date and I decided to use it for that. I like to read it because it's basically a magazine for the filthy rich. That sounds kind of funny to say, but literally it talks about things that no lower, middle, or even upper-middle class folks probably ever think about. I think it's a fun read, mainly because I know I'll never be able to buy any of those things and it makes me laugh to hear about the obscenely frivolous things that some people spend a LOT of money on. Of course, that let me to ponder a question:

If someone of my solid middle-class upbringing suddenly had millions upon millions of dollars, I'm talking about the kind of bank that makes it possible to never worry about money again, how long would it take before they started spending their money on expensive, yet impractical, things. I'm not talking about paying off bills, loans and mortages, or even that first splurge of spending that I'm sure would happen to anyone who came into a lot of money. I'm talking about $3,500 handbags, $80,000 earrings (both of which I saw in the magazine) or $200,000 home sound systems. I suppose the correct term would be "Luxury" items. The thought of spending that kind of cash all in one drop, and not buying something important, kind of takes my breath away.

Granted, I'd love to be loaded and be able to pay off my bills, take care of my family and pay for my nephew's college educations, but would I - personally - ever find myself browsing through Tiffany's for a necklace that cost more than some people make in a year just because I had the money to do so? Would I drive a super expensive car or a gigantic house? It's an interesting thought. I'd love to hear your views on it, too. I don't really think there would be one all-encompassing answer for this.

WEEKEND UPDATE!

FRIDAY: Work on Friday was very relaxing. I literally had nothing to do. This time of year it's always like that. Since my boss was not there, I worked on the baby blanket I've been crocheting. Unfortunately I ran out of an important color of yarn, so I decided to use up the yarn I've had in my office and make something cute. I've seen tons of patterns for "amigurumi" which are small crocheted toys. I've never tried to make any of them because I don't really have a reason to make toys, but it's so much fun I think I'll start doing it anyways! I decided to make a stuffed eel, but unfortunately all I got done was the body and it was unfortunately very phallic looking. I had to hide it under the desk while I was working on it so my co-workers wouldn't think I was a complete pervert.
Greg was coming over to stay the night and he and Steve were telling manly stories when I got home. They don't get to see each other that often, so after dinner I just left them alone to do man-stuff. I got pulled in a couple of times, but mainly I sat back and finished my eel. I had to. Greg made fun of it, so I had to finish it. It's got a face and everything now, so it doesn't look as perverse as it did. : )

SATURDAY: This was a full day! I sat around and talked with Steve and Greg for a while and then drove out to E.L. to have lunch with some family members. A cousin of mine, who I used to spend a lot of time with as a kid, his parents and his wife were staying with my mom that night and he wanted us to get together. We didn't get along very well as kids, mainly because he was an only child and I was the youngest child and we had conflicting issues of wanting attention, I guess. We got along much better this time! Heeheehee. He reminded me of the time that we got in a fight over something and beat the snot out of each other with badmintonrackets. Ahhhhhh, good times. : ) I didn't get to stay very long because Steve's corporate Christmas party was that night and I had to get ready for that as well as sew buttons on a jacket for Steve. Buttons suck.
We had a great time at the party, even though Steve STILL refuses to dance with me. We sat at the geek table with the other IT guys and their wives. I got to meet Scott, the new guy, and I like him a lot. I also got to see the ladies who put the party together (great job, by the way!) and I met the president of the company again. I don't think he remembers me because I think this was the third time he's introduced himself to me. Oh well. There were a lot of silly dancers out there. Drunk exectutives are a fun bunch to watch. : ) I refused to buy anything new for the party this year because I didn't know how long we'd stay. Last year I spent a lot of money on a dress and shoes and everything and we stayed an hour. Boo. I think I looked OK though. I was having a great hair day, I know that. My dress, unfortunately, was cut a little low, so all night I felt like I was wearing a blinking sign that said "My Boobz! Let me show you them!" There was a lot of neckline tugging. After we got home, Steve and I played his new X-Box game. Normally I don't care for video games, but this one is fun. It's some kind of Lego Star Wars thing. I kick butt when driving an AT-AT, but I'm not so good on the speeder bikes. : )

SUNDAY: We had church, of course, but we didn't go to lunch anywhere. It was kind of nice being able to come home and relax. We played more of the video game and took naps. Church was that night and then dinner with Grandma and Mr. Lee.

Monday isn't exactly part of the weekend, but I woke up feeling sick and I didn't go to work. I spent the day making another crochet animal.

That is all.

moar funny pictures
Yeah, and stay off his lawn, too.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Zee house, she is clean. Well, clean-ish. I've decided that I really don't care for cleaning, especially bathrooms. I really hate cleaning our front bathroom because whatever post WWII company that threw our subdivision together decided that white tiles on the floor and halfway up the walls was a good idea. Granted, it was probably lived in by some family that had a housewife who spent a great deal of time scrubbing the tiles and making them look lovely, but it isn't so convenient for a chicka who works full time and is usually too tired to hands-and-knees scrub the floor. Hastared contractor.

2) My hands are cold and I can't find my gloves or mittens. My mom gave me a great pair of leather gloves a couple of years ago and I have inadvertently packed them away somewhere. I also bought myself a pair of convertible mittens that you can fold the over-the-finger part back and button them to the back of your hand. They had gloves underneath without fingertips so I could still have my dexterity in case I had to do outside signage in the winter. I just saw them the other day, too. Grrrrr. I am usually hot natured, but my hands and feet always get painfully cold during winter. I guess I could always just start wearing socks over my hands or something. Don't worry, though. I'll find them. : )

3) I did some Christmas decorating last night! Normally I don't bother with anything other than the Christmas tree because bric-a-brac just gets in the way. Over the past two days, though, while I haven't been busy at work, I've been making 3D paper craft snowflakes and they are now hanging over the door. They are really pretty, but a pain in the rear to make. Lots of cutting. LOTS.

4) I almost had a throw down with one of the VPs yesterday. Well, I say that, but I never could get them on the phone. They are so unorganized! For some reason they think we can design signs and displays without having any information about what needs to be on them, where they need to go, and when they need to be done. Plus this particular guy - whom is referred to as The Pointy Haired Boss by some - never tells us directly what he needs. He always sends a message through someone else and it's never clear what he's asking for. It makes me want to slam my own head repeatedly into my keyboard.

5) You know, I thought I had strange co-workers. However, I just got trumped. My source, who shall remain nameless, works with a woman who comes into work and takes of her skirt and just sits there in her slip. She will drape her skirt across her lap, but she doesn't wear it. Maybe she has good reasons for this, but I can't even begin to understand what they could be. Seriously, that is deranged. Not only that, but someone who works with my source had to go into her office once, and the lady just stood up and held the skirt in front of herself. The guy who had to go in was also disturbed at this, for good reason. I know I've threatened to take off my clothes and work in my underwear when it gets 80 or 90 degrees in my office, but I'd probably never actually do it. Yikes.

Sigh.

I am so sick of getting SPAM messages at work. Seriously. While I was gone two weeks, I got almost 5,000 messages - those were just the ones that went into my deleted files. I had to go and delete even more of them from my inbox.

I am still uncertain why anyone thinks that this is a good marketing strategy. I mean, it's cheap, but most people don't even open the message. I would assume spam killers would get rid of most of it, anyways. I wish there was a way to design a real nasty computer virus that could be returned to whomever sends these things and physically blow their computers apart. Of course, something like that could be used for evil purposes, but I'm willing to chance it.

However, I will post an open letter to all of the SPAM dealers out there who have decided that my work e-mail is fair game.

Dear Spam Senders,

I do not need any prescription medications that a doctor hasn't personally given me. I do not want a Rolex, a new mortgage, life insurance, or stock tips. I do not need male sexual enhancement and I do not care if you are a lonely girl who "Just want talking to you for fun." I also do not feel the need to fill out surveys for free gift cards and I certainly am not interested in hiding your eighty billion dollars in my bank account until you and the prince of South America can call me and get it back. I'm also not sure what the paragraphs of misspelled nonsense means, but if I read it out loud and it summons a demon, the first thing I'm going to tell him to do is find your information server and nuke it, right before I have him club you to death with your own severed leg. I hate you and want you to die.

Kisses!
Kelly

Oops! I totally destroyed my plastic measuring cup! I wanted to make oatmeal in my office microwave and I didn't have a plastic bowl to make it in. I did, however, have a plastic measuring cup that I use when I have to resort to the "just add water" kind of lunches. I put that in the microwave for 4 minutes (a minute less than the directions called for) and when I took it out, it looked like this:

Not only did I destroy my cup, I destroyed my oatmeal. Boo.

This is why I can't have nice things. :(

This is almost frightening!

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I want a cat. Well, more specifically, I want a Scottish fold cat. I love their ears. Of course, I can't have a cat of any kind for three reasons: A) Steve hates cats. B) Any animal smaller than a cocker spaniel will be a satisfying snack for my dogs and C) Most cats don't like me. They know I'm a dog person at heart and they hold it against me. I've only met two cats that have ever liked me. One is my furry nephew Duke and the other is Chairman Meow, which lives in Georgia. Otherwise they avoid me like the plague. :(

2) I did a face plant in my yard Sunday morning. I was going around the side of the house to pet my doggies and the heel of my boot got caught in a gopher hole. It wasn't much fun for me, but I'm sure seeing my purse and bible fly out of my hands like projectiles was great fun for the neighbors! Even the dogs laughed at me!

3) I love Christmas music. I love all kinds of it, even the secular stuff, but my favorites are Christmas hymns. They are very spiritually satisfying. Is there any better song for the holidays than "O Holy Night?" It always gives me the shivers.

4) I picked up a magazine the other day called $100,000 Quilting Challenge because I have been thinking about trying my hand at making a quilt. I know, I know, like I need any more crap in my art office. However, apparently the magazine I picked up wasn't just about quilting, but a special magazine that is published as part of an actual competetion for quilt makers. I thought that I would be pretty good at quilting until I looked at the ones that are finalists in the competetion. Then I thought to myself...ooooooooh, yeah. Probably not going to ever be this good at it!

More later. Maybe.

I would LOVE to get this Christmas tree!

I'm not allowed to be that non-traditional, though. Steve will only let me go so far. : )

Let's play the hypothetical game!

Let's say you are one of the managers of a rather large and rather famous tourist attraction. For funzies, let's say it's a space museum! Now, this imaginary space museum is building a large and rather impressive addition to hold a really large exhibit...like a Saturn V rocket. Now tell me, would you ask your graphics department to go down to the new addition and decide about the kinds of signs the new building will need BEFORE the sheet rock has even been added to the walls?

Yeah, that does sound kind of silly. : ) Not to mention that a contractor will be making most of the signage anyways. That almost deserves a "Bless Your Heart" award. Heehehee

My weekend was very normal this time. Steve and I did put up the Christmas tree, though. It's the first time in two years that I have been able to help with that. Poor Steve almost got electrocuted by a broken bulb, but thankfully he only got the crap shocked out of him. I would say that it was funny, but I hated that it hurt so badly! We got Griswold out of his box in the garage and turned on "Christmas Vacation," which is easily the funniest Christmas movie ever made. Turns out that putting the tree together and decorating it takes exactly as long as the movie lasts! Go us! I'm so glad we have an artificial tree. I've never liked real trees in the house. It seems sort of perverse to me to kill a tree just to bring it into the house for a couple of weeks and watch it fall apart. Also, I like symmetry and real trees hardly ever have that. Of course, I am not what you would call a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas anyways, so I'm sure that my opinion is not shared by many. I can totally dig that.

Saturday was also Butler's 5th birthday! My dog is getting old! We gave him french fries (of course, they are his favorite) and as a party favor, we got a rawhide bone that was about 2 1/2 feet long. Butler didn't seem interested, but Bear decided that he couldn't rest until he'd gnawed it to death. We had to physically remove the dog from the bone, and even then he chewed at the bars of his kennel trying to get at it. It was really strange. We left it outside the next day and Bear spent the whole day chewing it. I'm afraid he isn't going to have any teeth left when he's done.

Sunday was church and lunch with Mom. After evening service, we went to eat with a bunch of people from our church and someone brought Steve's grandma an ice cream cake for her birthday. It wasn't out of the freezer for long when they gave me the task of cutting it. Imagine trying to cut a rock hard wedge of dessert with a plastic knife! The first one snapped and almost blinded me and granma with flying chunks of plastic. Then someone finally handed me a big pocket knife and we sort of got things moving with that. Nelson, the Smartest Man Alive, finally told me how to cut it to where we wouldn't have to wait for the whole thing to thaw and it worked! Yay! Of course, by then I was sticky up to my elbows and had bits of ice cream melting in my lap. Sometimes you'll do crazy things for your Grandma, won't you? Good times, good times.

I feel compelled to do this. Why? Because I don't want to start working on a new sign right now.

I got this at A Yank Gone South. Go read it, won't you?

The Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself .

3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. --Yeah, I'm not going to do this, but feel free to paste and post it if you want. I'm a rebel.

RANDOM KELLY STUFF

1) I get very irritated when unimportant things begin to get complicated. I like things to be decided on and then carried out. I Can. Not. Stand. to sit around and listen to people waffle about what needs to be done when easy answers are the best answers. This is not to say I am particular about what the answers are, I just want the answer to be decided on without undue talkage about them. If I have an opinion about something, you're gonna dang well hear it, but I'm easy going enough to go along with anything most of the time. If you start making a big deal about whatever it is, I'm going to start wanting to harm you emotionally. : )

2) I have a whole lot of friends, but only a few close ones. I kind of like it that way. It's not that I'm against making new friends or meeting new people, but good friends -really good ones, the kind you want to hang out with and tell secrets to- have to click. I really hate it when I'm told I "need" to meet more people so I can go out and do stuff more often. If I don't feel that specific click with a person, I'm ok not being their best buddy and am usually uncomfortable hanging out with them. I can do it, and I will, but I'm probably going to end up acting weird and awkward. My circle may be small, but it's quality. At least I believe it is. It's also not exclusive to anyone who isn't already there, so please don't think I'm a snob for feeling the way I do. This is probably going to sound cheesy, but finding a really close friend is like finding a piece of your inner puzzle. You know when you meet them. Did any of that make sense?

3) I HAVE to push the cart when I go to the grocery store. I don't know why. I won't let Steve touch it if he's with me. It gives me a sense of control in an otherwise crazy world, I guess!

4) I can perform in front of really large crowds with no problem. Small crowds unnerve me. I have sung in front of crowds as large as 2,000 and did a fine job. I sang for a group of 12 and sounded like there was an earthquake going on inside of me.

5) In a similar vein, one of my most guilty pleasures is to go to those booths where you can record your own CDs and make one. I don't always sound very good, and I very rarely let anyone hear the results, but I love to do it, and have spent way too much time and money on them.

6) I buy evening gowns for no reason what so ever. I don't spend a lot on them, but if I find one I like on clearance and I can afford it, I will buy it. At last count I had 5 or 6. Maybe I'm just hoping I will get a chance to wear one someday! I'm an optimist.

7) I wish I could dance. Really dance. Not the kind you do at your prom and corporate Christmas parties, but dance. Tango, waltz, rhumba...all of that stuff. Someday I'm determined to learn.

A BRIEF PEEVE

I know that I'm technically at the mercy of everyone else at the SpRocket when it comes to signs and displays. It's my job to take the requests they give me and produce legible, correctly spelled, and sometimes creatively designed signage within a reasonable time frame. I can totally dig that. HOWEVER, just because I can do that doesn't mean that they should call me at the last. freaking. minute. Maybe I've spoiled them in the past by being prompt. I don't know. But when someone asks for something rather complicated an hour or even a day before they need it, I begin to choke on my own hate. All I ask for is a reasonable amount of time to complete a job to the best of my abilities. If I don't get that, the requester is going to have to be content with whatever garbage I can cobble together in the time I was given. SUCK ON THAT, ADMINISTRATION! SUCK ON IT!

Ahem. That is all.

ASK KELLY: THE REAL WORLD GUIDE TO PROPER ETIQUETTE IN SITUATIONS THAT ARE CONFUSING, AWKWARD AND INFURIATING.

OK, so maybe I'm being a little pretentious by saying "I" know what the proper etiquette in all situations would be. But hell, at least I'll be honest with you if you ask me what I think, so it can't hurt too much for me to give advice. : ) I mean, I usually do anyways, whether or not anyone asks me. I'm opinionated. Bite me.

Actually, this came about during a conversation I had with Anthony last night when we were discussing many worldly things, such as the Regan administration, Transformers, Christmas, and of course, proper etiquette in different situations. He thought my answers were practical enough, and he suggested that I share them with the world, i.e. the five or so people who read my blog. Lucky to be you, huh? So in the future, if you have a question about how to deal with a situation, feel free to let me get all up into your business. I can't be any worse than Dr. Phil, after all, right?

My first question comes from Anthony from Huntsville, who asks:
Q: WHAT IS THE PROPER TIME FRAME FOR GIVING BIRTHDAY GIFTS?

A: I believe that you have a grace period of a month either before or after the person's birthday. Any earlier and the person will think you didn't know when their birthday was in the first place, any later than that and they'll know you just forgot the birthday and no amount of trying to explain will convince them otherwise. Of course, this doesn't count for people like myself, who tend to get so excited about giving gifts that they will just pick a random date during the year and give the gift to the recipient if the gift has already been purchased. However, you have to make mention of the fact that you just couldn't wait. That way they aren't confused. Also, never give anyone a bulletin board for their birthday, especially if it's obvious that the bulliten board was something you have bought for yourself, but are giving it to them because you forgot it was their birthday. That's just asshattery to the twelfth degree. No seriously, it is. You know who you are.

I've been inspired! Again!

For Thanksmas, my very awesome cousin Amy gave me a very rare, very limited edition copy of the book that she wrote for NaNoWriMo. Signed, even! So I think I'm going to try and do that next year. I mean, it is a whole year away and by then I could be climbing Mount Everest for all I know (stop laughing), but I am planning on it! I've always wanted to write, but I tend to have such a short attention span that I've never finished anything. Maybe now, I can join this thing and finally finish one, for better or for worse. : )

Go me!

Heh...

The school cheer of MIT is: "Cosine, secant, tangent, sine! 3 point 1 4 1 5 9!"

Math cheers.

?

This is going to be a weird thing to ask, but did anything important (good or bad) happen to any of you today, November 27th? If so, what was it?

Please don't think I'm strange, but last Monday I was sitting in my living room thinking about life and stuff and suddenly the date November 27th popped into my head. It felt bad, like when you think you've forgotten to turn off the oven, but you can't do anything about it because you are too far away from home to go and check on it. I'm not trying to imply I'm psychic or anything like that, but it was such a specific, yet random thing to pop into my head and paired with such a specific feeling...well, it bothered me.

Maybe something great happened to you and I'll be jealous or something, I don't know. I just know it made me feel bad. Anything?

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1)Since I haven't mentioned it yet, I now have another TV show that I love.

I love Chuck.

The creator of this show has to be a genius. I'm not saying this because the show is so very watchable, I'm saying it because the freaking premise of the show is so smart. Not exactly realistic, but smart. Let me give you a rundown in case you've never seen it.

Chuck is your normal, everyday computer geek who works for a "Geek Squad" type organization inside an electronics store called "Buy More." He's actually way overqualified for the job, but he had been kicked out of Stanford after being accused of cheating by his room mate and one time best friend. One night he gets an e-mail from this former best friend which Chuck opens and gets blasted with thousands upon thousands of subliminal images that embed themselves into Chuck's mind (apparently Chuck has an almost Rain Man-like ability to perceive and retain these images). Not knowing what the deal was, Chuck goes on about his day as a smart, geeky life. The next day he is asked out by a gorgeous blonde who turns out to be a CIA spy and is soon also joined by a big, beefy dude who happens to be a spy for the NSA (he's the guy who played Jayne on Firefly). Apparently his old room mate had been a rogue spy who had access to a supercomputer that held all of the government's most secret of secrets (the blast of images he sent Chuck) which was destroyed in some kind explosion. Therefore, Chuck now has the government secrets buried in his subconscious and can recall them if he sees trigger images or people involved in the files. So Chuck turns into an unwilling spy who is constantly placed in dangerous situations and hilarity ensues. Oh, and he's got the tingles for his hot-chick CIA bodyguard who poses as his girlfriend.

Anyways, the reason the show is so smart is this: Owing to my up-close-and-personal knowledge of the geek lifestyle, I've seen that the geeks, nerds and technoweenies like sci-fi so much because they want to be like the heroes in the movies and comics. It's not that they believe that they are going to get super powers, but because a lot of them lead such normal lives, they want to identify with someone more heroic and awesome than they believe that they will ever be. Here you have a random geeky guy who suddenly becomes a believable hero. Instead of flying space ships and beaming lasers from his eyes, you've got a person who you can honestly identify with (well, except for the computer in his brain) that is the everyman version of 007! Add in the beefy dude who makes all of the funny, snide comments and the hot-chick secret agent and you have all of the elements for a geek happy meal. It's a really good show!

Plus, of course, the guy who plays Chuck has a gorgeous smile. He smiles, I melt. Don't judge me.

2) OK, so my theory about after Thanksgiving shopping has been added to. : ) Don't these people know that even when you get approved for a credit card, you STILL have to pay it off eventually. Morons.

3) I have a LOT of yarn. A lot. Seriously, ask Steve. I have two whole storage units, plus some satellite boxes crammed full of it. I don't mean to collect it the way I do, but if I see some on sale that I like, or if the texture and color are arresting, I will buy it. My only problem is that when I want to make something, I rarely have enough of one kind to make what I want and I have to go out and buy more of the kind I need. It's a never ending cycle. That happened yesterday because I'm making a baby blanket for a cousin of mine and I didn't have enough blue and brown to finish it. One of these days, I'm going to sit down and just make everyone I know something out of yarn so I can clear some space in my office. Be prepared.

4) I'm a little hyper this morning. I need to go run around the museum a couple of times to git rid of some of this energy!

Oh, yeah, and this:

Just FYI: Sharks scare the hell out of me.


















That is all.

Well, I'm back home from Georgia, where I had Thanksmas with the family and I'm back at work after a two week hiatus. It was really nice not to have to go to work and to do other things that I wanted to do, but I realized if I didn't work outside of the home I'd probably go insane. Even I can only take so much of my own company, I guess. : )

We always celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Georgia family while we are out that way. After a day of much food on Thursday, we had another evening of yumminess and togetherness at Greg and Kristin's house. I ate so much I thought I would explode, plus there was a chocolate fountain with all sorts of things to dip in it for dessert. I am quite surprised I didn't go into a diabetic coma, but it would have been worth it! HAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAA! I got a lot of it on tape, of course, so I'll be able to revisit it as soon as I find my camera again. Steve happened to get me on tape before I covered my head with a box lid, but luckily for me I can edit the sucker.

Good times, noodle salad.

This morning I had to go through the silly HR mess again to re-establish my employ here at the SpRocket. I'll give them some credit, at least they have kind of streamlined the process for those of us who are returning employees. We used to have to completely redo all of our paperwork from soup to nuts. Now we only have to fill out a few things that might have actually changed since the last time we did the paperwork. My only peeve this morning was that I was asked if I had my drivers license and social security card with me. I don't carry around my social security card for obvious reasons, but I know for a fact that they have it on file. I mean, I've worked here for the past 5 years or more! I know the number exists over there! Alas, I still must get the card from its safety box so that they can reaffirm that I am who I say I am, I guess. Grrrrrrrrr.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hola, Y'all! I hope everyone had a magnificent Thanksgiving day full of family and food. I was up cooking all morning, but it was a lot of fun and totally worth it when we all sat down to eat. I was glad to have family around, but I really missed my dad today.

After dinner, I sat down to look out of the window at the leaves falling around my aunt's house and ended up waking up a couple of hours later. Apparently I just sort of fell out. The tryptophan apparently dumped into my blood all at once. Good thing I was clutching my video camera where no one could get it! I've become the unwelcome videographer at these family get togethers and if Steve could have gotten a hold of my camera, I would have become a part of the video itself. I always feel better if I am not actually seen on film. I don't photograph well. That's just how I roll. : )

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to sit up a bit more and listen to everyone play cards or if I want to go to bed. It's been a good day.

One of my little cousins told me what her family was thankful for and she said her dad was thanksful for "Football and Jesus." Hopefully not in that order, of course. Heeheehee.

Some of the family may be going shopping tomorrow, but I'm not going to go with them. Shopping the day after thanksgiving scares me. If I do leave the house, I'm going to places very, very close by. The last thing I need is for someone to beat me over the head so that I don't grab the last holiday barbie or whatever is popular this year!

Hmmmm, well, apparently Steve doesn't read my blog anymore. I mean, I can't blame him, really. We live together after all. What could possibly go on in my life that he doesn't already know, right?

However, since I'm slightly evil, I'm going to make fun of him as a punishment!

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

Steve has a gigantic head! He collects Han Solo dolls! He can quote entire Star Wars movies worth of dialogue!

There will be more later...

WEIRDNESS!

OK, do you want to see something really weird? Let me give you the story...

Today I went into the bedroom to put some things away. I turned towards the bed and saw something was on my pillow. My first thought was..."Oh! Gross! What is that?" So I picked up the pillow and tried to brush it off. Whatever it was wouldn't come off. I thought, WTF, mate? So I put the pillow down and stepped back from it and saw this:

It's my face! My face has been burned into the pillowcase! I have the pillowcase of Turin!

I'm not kidding, that isn't makeup or anything. I tried cleaning it off of the material and it's like my profile is bleached into the thing.






If you can't make it out, here is the outlined version:

Seriously, I don't know what is going on. This has never happened to any of my other pillowcases, so I'm not sure how it happened. I mean, I know I've had hot flashes before, but I didn't know I was putting out radiation!

Too bad it's not an image of Elvis or the Virgin Mary. I might could make some money off of it. : )

I SWEAR, IT'LL ALL MAKE SENSE BY THE END OF THE POST...

I didn't date much in school.

I'm not saying that I never dated at all, but I wasn't exactly the kind of girl who's dad had to polish his fire arm collection in the living room while interviewing a string of beaux who were over to ask me out. In fact, from junior high to my first year of college, I only dated 6 guys total.

Wow, I just died a little on the inside when I typed that.

Anyway...I said all of that to basically say, I had a lot of time on my hands. Of course, I could have just said "I had a lot of time on my hands," but I thought that was a much better way to begin this post. Don't judge me.

Ahem. With so much time on my hands, I did the only thing I could think of that didn't involve crime, illegal substances, or going outside. I was a reader. I read anything and everything I could get my hands on, and I somehow found myself in possession of several then-age-appropriate, but in retrospect very, verrrrrrrrrrrrry crappy books written expressly for girls my age. I had really completely forgotten about them until I stumbled upon this website: The Dairi Burger. This site is a riot. The writer seems like the type of person who I would love to go to the mall and sit in the food court and make fun of people's clothes with. Granted, some of you guys may not be able to relate to what she is talking about, but if you've ever read a Sweet Valley High book or any other YA series geared expressly towards girls who are only interested in lip gloss and boys, you'll like it.

*KERBLOOWIE!*

That was the sound of my head exploding from sheer delight!

I had such a fun day yesterday!

In a rather uncharacteristic move on my part, I decided to take advantage of one of my days off and drive down to Birmingham to visit the Museum of Art so that I could take in the exhibit on Pompeii.

It. Was. AWESOME!!

I'm afraid I'm going to have to geek out for a minute and gush over the fact that I was thisclose to things I studied about in one of my art history classes. I've always been interested in archeology, but Pompeii has always held a special interest for me. The body casts are one of the most amazing, but terribly sad, things I've ever seen. I was amazed by the jewelry, personal items, frescoes, mosaics...gah....everything! I had never realized just how seeing some of these things up close and personally would affect me. I've seen quite a few of these artifacts in books I've read and studied, but to see them in person really brings it home that these things actually belonged to someone. That someone cared enough about them to try and save them from disaster. I don't know if it is the intensely personal stories that arose from such a tragedy or if it is just the fact that I am amazed at the preservation of the things uncovered after such a terrible natural disaster. Well, whatever it was, I was in a constant state of on-the-verge-of-pants-wetting excitement while going through the exhibit.

A moment of silence for the death of whatever marginal coolness I might have once possessed.

I also had enough time to check out the other exhibits that the BMOA had to offer and I was in awe of the paintings and sculptures from the 13th-18th century artists from Italy and France as well as the Native American things, African stuff and hell, even the display of Wedgewood ceramics blew my mind. It was so much fun.

And to top it all off, I got to spend the evening with my very favorite Kenny, who took me to see the Vulcan statue! We sat and talked for a couple of hours, had an interesting discussion about the moralities of cloning, and got to act silly in the rain. I also went ahead and gave him his birthday and Christmas gifts, because I have no self control and was too excited about them to wait another month. When it was time for me to go he led me back to the interstate. Unfortunately for me, however, I took a wrong turn and wound up going SOUTH on 65. Huntsville is, of course, is in north Alabama. I drove quite a ways south before being able to turn around, but everything worked out in the end. I made it home before 10:00, so the Marines didn't have to be dispatched by my mother to find me.

My mom will forever believe I am 15 years old, but I'm glad she loves me enough to worry. :)

To whom this may concern, everyone else mind your own business... ; )

10:45 tour. I'll call when it's done.

My Mission, If I Choose To Accept It.

I got this from my cousin Amy, so I said... "OK!" We can always use a reminder about the things that make us happy, right?

*The rules are easy, just post 6 things that recently made you happy.

1) This dog.











2) Hearing my mom laugh.

3) Knowing that after 7 years I still haven't found a good enough reason to beat Steve to death while he sleeps, no matter how much I sometimes want to do it anyway. :)

4) Remembering that if you want to be happy, you can't rely on others to make you that way. True happiness isn't about the things that others can do for you, but for the things you decide to do for yourself.

5) Cashew Macadamia Nut Crunch from the Chocolate Gallery.

6) Having good things to look forward to, even when you know they won't turn out as great as you hope they will.

Today is my last day of work until after Thanksgiving! I'd say yay, but it kind of sucks because it's the mandatory lay off/rehire thing they do every year because I'm not a "full time" employee. I'm not going to complain too loudly, though, because at least I know I'm being rehired this time. : ) At least, that's what they're telling me so far!

I've got plans for my off time, oh yes! Wild times for sure. I'm going to see an exhibit on Pompeii in Birmingham at the art museum. I'm also going to clean my house and take frequent naps. Then I'll go on to see family the week of Thanksgiving. I'm a wild woman, you see.

Because I'm not going to be here at the office on Thanksgiving, my office mates and I wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you and the people you love!

YES, CHEWING!

I hope you aren't tired of hearing my adventures with the Japanese candy I got, because I'm not even close to being done with telling you about it yet! Granted, it IS just candy, but it's weird candy. This information should be shared!

Over the past couple of days, I've been trying out the gum that I ordered. You'd think that gum is just that - gum. However, I don't think this is the case in this situation.

This gum is just funny. I have seen it on websites like ThinkGeek.com and such. It's got caffine or something in it, so chewing it is supposed to give you a boost. I don't know about it being caffinated, but it tastes like a strong mentholated cough drop in chewing gum form. Blech. When you get the first good taste of it, the menthol or whatever it is, mae it feel like someone is hammering a large icicle into your nose. It's also an appetizing gray color. However, as I've already told someone, it traveled across the world to get to me, so I'm going to darn well chew it! My favorite part is the packaging, though. I have no idea what the rest of the lable says, but the words "Yes, Chewing!" make me laugh. : )

This gum is supposed to taste like apples. It doesn't. It smells heavenly, though. When you open the package, it smells exactly like red delicious apples. When you chew it, however, it tastes almost exactly like the Black Black gum. Plus, it's also gray, which does nothing to help matters. Pleh.


This gum had a funny name, so I got it as well. I don't know what I was expecting, but these tasted like Pledge flavored Chickletts. They weren't as bad as the Xylish apple flavored gum, and they weren't gray, but they weren't kiwi flavored, I do know that. Of course, it says it's "Magic Kiwi" so maybe I've just never eaten a "Magic Kiwi" before. Meh.

Believe it or not, this gum was actually good. It was freaking sour, but good all the same. It's flavor is something like lime and yuzu (some kind of lemon or something) so it's very citrusy. It made my face pucker up, though. It's got some kind of goo in the middle that squirts out when you bite it, so it is a surprise.

So, there you go. Most Japanese gum sucks.

OK, I ate some more of my candy last night and realized a couple of things:

1) I now know why I don't make a habit out of eating candy. Granted, I probably sound like all I ever do is eat, but just a little something sweet normally suffices for me. I get sugar rushes like you wouldn't believe! On the plus side, though, I was hyper enough to do the dishes last night.
: )

2) I don't have any idea what this is.
I know it's supposed to be sour, which it is, and I know it's supposed to be some kind of gummy candy, but that is where my knowledge stops. The box itself perplexes me because it doesn't give me any indication about what the stuff is supposed to taste like. On a lot of the other packages, there are at least pictures of fruit or something. This box just has a picture of some kind of blobby thing wearing a lab coat, reading a math book, and has a puckered up mouth. The box also has the letters "IQ" on them, so maybe this candy is supposed to make you smarter or something. Another thing that bothers me about the candy is that I can't decide what the flavor is. It's kind of grape-like, but not at all grape like. I don't know. I'll just say it's Japan flavored. The pieces are small, cone shaped, purpleish gummy things that have a thin, sour coat of candy on the outside. The texture also bothers me because the gummy part plus the crunchy part make it feel like I'm chomping on a gummy worm with gristle in it. It's very strange. However, no matter how I felt about the texture and taste, I was helpless to stop eating them. I felt compelled to eat them, and had to physically restrain myself from eating all of them. It was very strange.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1)Last Saturday, we had some staff giving out information about Space Camp at the Alabama/LSU game. One of the things they had at the info booth was an astronaut helmet with the "A" on each side to make it look like the football helmets. Technically I know the dumb Alabama helmets have numbers on each side, but don't even get me started on that!

Anyways, some lovely University of Alabama students stole our helmet! On the pretext of having a picture made by some landmark or other, they took the helmet and did not return it. If you happen to see it, could you please beat the students with your shoe and remind them that stealing is a BAD thing?

2)My Japanese candy came yesterday! Woo-Hoo!
Unfortunately, the box came crammed with candy, but no packing list. Every one of the packages were, of course, in Japanese. Except for the packages with Engrish on them, I had no idea what kind of candy was in the pouches! I had to find my order form and make uninformed guesses as to what I was tasting. Steve also taste tested these with me, so I think between us both and a little internet surfage, we figured out what we got.


This is something called Mikakuto Juntsuyu, which is also called "Pure Mist" candy. It's like little hard pieces of love and happiness. There are two different flavors in the package. The lighter ones taste a little like cotton candy or slightly caramelized sugar. The darker ones taste like sweet tea. I'm not kidding. A sweet tea hard candy! If love had a taste, and it wasn't chocolate, it would taste like these things! They are the perfect size and they seem to last forever. My only problem with these is that you can't seem to buy them anywhere in the United States, not even from Japanese grocers. It would happen that my favorite of the whole lot is the one that I can't get unless I order it from Japan. BOO! Another proof that I always want what I can't have. : )

There was a great deal more taste testing, but I'm going to stretch it out so I have something to talk about later.

3) I have been having the weirdest dreams lately. The other night I dreamed that William Shatner tried to kill me. I don't even know why! Certainly I didn't do anything to him that I know of. Luckily, Steve saved me and killed Shatner in the process. I wasn't sure whether or not to be pissed or greatful. I also had that weird dream about the wedding again. It was the one where I'm serving cake at the reception and I cut my heart out and stick it to the table with the cake knife. I even did a drawing of it. Behold, my first dream inspired work of art. : )

I fear my subconcious!

No need to watch the video, but I thought it made appropriate theme music for my news.

The co-worker I always complain about got a new job.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!!

I hope you will indulge me for just a moment so that I may have a small rant.

I am most heartily sick of something that has been crammed up my nose on a constant and regular basis for the past couple of months. No, it isn't anything even particularly personal on my part, but it is something that I think should be whacked with a newspaper and told to get off the couch. What is it? Well, for want of a better way to express it, I am tired of hearing the word "Green" and everything that goes along with it.

Now, don't get me wrong here. I don't want to offend anyone who honestly wants to do better by the world by conserving, recycling, and hugging trees or whatever. If it's one of your personal ideologies, I say more power to you. What bothers me, though, are the people who have jumped on the band wagon so hard and fast and suddenly the gospel according to Al Gore is being sung from every rooftop and network across the country. Personally, I think the whole idea of "Going Green" is both stupid and a high-brow way to pretend that people (the Hollywood types mostly) who really don't care a bit about the environment are doing something to save the world. I'm tired of hearing about things being "green." I am tired of hearing the words "global warming" and I'm tired of hearing the words "carbon footprint." I think it takes a lot more to help something than to make public service announcements and turning off your lights. I think if you really want to change something, you need to actually go out and DO things to change it. I want to watch Heroes without that stupid little green peacock emblem in the corner. I want to listen to the radio without having to hear celebretards talking about how everything that is going on in our planet's climate is caused by not driving a Prius or whatever trendy hybrid is popular these days and not because the world *GASP* has climate fluctuations. I mean, we should probably not look in the past and see the ice ages and things like that, because none of that counts. It's because we have lights and cars and garbage. Let's ignore the fact that most companies in America have cleanliness standards that have to be passed before they can be cleared to function. Let's pretend that cars don't have to pass emission tests before they can be driven. Let's also forget that in the past thirty or so years that most industrial factories have been using electronics and even digital technology that once might have needed coal or other polluting fuel to operate.

I'm not saying that harmful things aren't going on these days. However, what I am saying is that I'm tired of people talking about it. If you live a "Green" lifestyle...huzzah for you and your people. However, if you are a celebrity and suddenly feel that this is the most important thing to ever happen and we should change everything RIGHTNOW, shut up about it already.

Oh, and I'm tired of hearing about the Bee Movie, too. Shut up. Jerry Seinfeld.

THIS IS FUNNEEEEHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

WEEKEND UPDATE!

FRIDAY: Friday night we had dinner with Anthony at Red Robin. I don't think we've been out to eat except once since Josh left for Colorado! I didn't realize Josh was our social director until this weekend. : ) We had a great time, a fairly un-smart waiter, and a heck of a time trying to get the check worked out so that we didn't end up paying for the food the next table over had eaten. It all worked out, though. Afterwards, Anthony came back to the house and he told us about a new show that he likes called "Big Bang Theory." Don't worry, it's not about anything that will corrupt the young and rot the mind, it's just a sit-com about physicists. It's actually really funny. We were able to watch the episodes online and we wound up watching all of the episodes. Anthony also brought me a snow globe from Vancouver, where he had attended the IMAX convention thing! It was very sweet of him to think of me, wasn't it? Of course, it probably helped that I saw him right before he left and said "Snow. Globe. Damnit!" Good times.

SATURDAY: I was going to be on my own, and was determined to do something useful, so I awoke much too early and didn't do anything more productive than surf the net for a couple of hours. Sigh. However, I did do a bit of laundry and some folding of afore mentioned laundry, so it wasn't a total waste. I wanted to check out some of the shops in downtown Huntsville that I never seem to get a chance to see. Unknown to many, there are several small shops scattered around that locals run and they are amazing. I picked a place called Signature Gallery, which I have driven by for 7 years and always wanted to visit, but never had. Once I got inside, I realized why I've never been in there. It's basically an art gallery/dealership and I couldn't afford anything inside! I was both intrigued and scared, let me tell you. So I adopted my "hands-behind-the-back" posture and looked but didn't touch. I was so afraid I'd knock something over and have to mortgage the house to pay for it. The lady who ran the store kind of followed me around, too, which I hate. I know she was just wanting to be near in case I decided to drop a couple of grand on something, but still, she made me nervous. Luckily for me, they had just recently expanded and the next house over (these shops are in old houses) held items that I could reasonably afford. I was looking for a christmas gift for my mom, and I was able to buy her something there. I think I'm going to be going back there one day to get a few things for myself! I love knowing that something I get was made BY someone else and not just mass produced. That's not to say I'm a big snob about mass produced things, but hey, I'm an artist too, so I know how important getting your stuff out there is! I also stopped by the mall and looked around for a gift for my nephew. He's a HUGE Alabama football fan, so I stopped into some store that sells all things SEC related. I was scared. I've learned never to go into one of those places on a game day. Never. Again. *shudder* So I got some lunch and took it home, only to realize that I had forgotten something important I needed, so I had to run back out after I ate. I went to the Target shopping place to get it, and was immediatly sidetracked by something called Splash Dogs!
Of course, there were labradors EVERYWHERE, so I decided to go and see what the deal was. I wish I had my camera, because it was so fun to watch and there were some really beautiful dogs out there. I even made a new friend, whose name I never learned. He was a young yellow lab that someone had tied to the barrier fencing. He looked so sad that I reached down to scratch him and he adopted me on the spot. So I sat on the ground, watching the bigger dogs jump into the pool (please follow the link above for a better explanation than I can give) and I scratched all over that puppy. I wanted to steal him, but Steve would have made me take him back. :( So after I could tear myself away, I did my shopping and stopped by ColdStone to get some ice cream! Someone very generous gave me a gift card to the place when I graduated, and this was the first chance I had to use it! Unfortunately the guy behind the counter was new and didn't know how to ring up a gift card. FAIL! Oh well, that just means I need to make more time to get ice cream, and I will...oh yes...I will. : )

SUNDAY: My mom's church was having a dedication service that morning for the newly renovated church sanctuary and they were going to dedicate two windows that had been installed my dad and another lady who had recently passed away. I went to that. Then I went home and slept until this morning.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) BOOOOOOO! Sara had to be flown back down to Miami because of her recent clotting issues, so she is back down there getting treatment again. Get Well Soon, Scary!

2) Reason number 534 that I have a strange job. Today I spent most of my time working on giant, padded bowling pins for the Huntsville Havoc Hockey team. Space Camp is the sponsor for the "body bowling" segment of the evening. Although I've never seen body bowling, it was described to me as children being flung from a sling-shot out across the ice to see how many of the pins they can knock down. Unfortunately, because the business end of our sponsorship didn't close until this morning, the pins look kind of ghetto and I'm going to have to redo them next week. :( I also had to apply Bama decals to an astronaut helmet that will be at tomorrow's Alabama game. In my attempt to carry these things downstairs all at once and give them to the people that needed them, I had to drag two of the giant bowling pins across the museum while wearing the helmet. I am so glad no one took my picture.

3) A couple of weeks ago, I placed an order with a company for a bunch of different candy from Japan. I somehow stumbled across the website by accident and couldn't resist trying some of the weird stuff that they offered. I'll probably tell you more about it once it comes in, so be ready! Unfortunately, I can't track the package because it is actually coming from Japan and not an American company that sells Japanese products like I originally thought, so I have no idea when I will get it. Oops. Oh well, everyone needs something to look forward too, right? Mine might as well be candy.

4)I have finished more than half of my Christmas shopping! Go me!

Feliz Dia De Los Muertos!

Ole, ya'll.

Halloween was not very eventful this year. I was supposed to work at the Tunnels again, but I wasn't feeling well and honestly, I was not in the mood. I know how that sounds but with everything that has been going on, and my frame of mind, it just seemed sort of stupid. I went home and watched "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" on Bravo. Since I wasn't planning on being home, I didn't buy any candy, but I was able to find a container of Elvis Reeces Peanut Butter and Banana Cups in the cupboard, so I was set. After the first two kids that came by, I realized that if we had many more kids to come, we wouldn't have enough candy, so I scrounged until I found some Halloween themed candy bags and I filled them with the rest of the chocolate and boxes of Tic Tacs. Thankfully we only had three more children stop by, because I was afraid that if I ran out, I'd have to start giving them tea bags and Mott's applesauce!

Today would have been my dad's 60th birthday. It's been exactly a month since he died, and it seems just as new as it did that day. It's funny, I thought I would handle it all better than I am. I mean, I'm not wearing black and clutching a hankercheif all day, but it just nips at me when I'm not prepared for it. I know that time is all I need, but there is just this big hole that seems so empty. I don't know. I'll never get over it, I guess, but I know I'll figure out how to deal with it eventually.

The other night, Steve and I recorded a documentary on the History Channel (I heart the history channel, by the way) about the "Lost Book of Nostradamas." It was quite fascinating, but then, I've always liked to hear about guys like Nostradamas and Cayce, who say they've predicted the future. Actually, I saw the show before Steve did because I was home when it was originally aired. So when Steve watched it, I was able to go back and pick up on some of the things I missed before.

What a load of poo.

You know, I like to think I'm more open minded about this sort of stuff than I used to be. I could even go as far as believeing that there are honestly people who have the power to see into the future, but I'm not so sure that Nostradamas was one of them. The more I listened to the "experts" talk about his predictions and about what the book meant - it was a book of pictures instead of quatrains - the more silly it all sounded. Granted, these people are much more educated than I am, and apparently there are real-life symbologists who can decode things a la the Davinci Code, but something about these people seemed slightly desperate in their attempt at decode the pictures. So, just in case you are wondering, Nostradamas predicts (according to the experts) that the world might possibly end in 2012, there is going to be a bad Pope (I believe it will be Josh) and aliens will come to earth in silver tubes to teach the children of the people who survive armageddon how to use their special X-Men like powers. If you get a chance to watch the documentary, please do, because if nothing else it was entertaining.

Personally, I think it was just a 16th century comic book about SuperPope and his sidekick Snake-Man. I'm almost positive I saw a ninja in there.

Oh yeah, and another thing about it drove me nuts. You'll have to pardon me for being such a nerd about this, I beg of you. All through this documentary, they had these 16th century pages that they were leafing through that made up the book. These pages had been painted on with watercolors and were in almost pristine condition. They maybe had a little darkening of the paper because of age, but that was all. These so called "experts" were flipping through the book with their bare hands! You don't do that!!!!!!!! One lady even rested her arm on it while she was talking! I know that probably sounds like a stupid thing to be upset about, but really. The acids from your skin would eat through that vellum like crazy, not to mention that it would get stained! Even if it wasn't by Nostradamas, it's a beautiful old book and these people were treating it like an old newspaper. It made me sick to my stomach.

I took this picture and I liked it. So I thought I'd share. : )
Yes, it's a broken church window.

I was seriously going to give blood during the blood drive they are having here today. Granted, I have the needle issue, but I was going to try and get through it so I could help some people.

I had to change my mind after last night.

Part of our ongoing mission to get life insurance was that we had to get a short physical where they planned to take blood pressure, height/weight, urine, and blood. No big deal, right? The nurse was waiting on us when I got home yesterday, and since Steve was caught up at work, I went first. Everything was fine up until the blood draw. The nurse was really nice and she was talking to me through the whole thing, which was keeping me calm when the needle came out. She stuck it in my left arm and filled a vial that seemed about the size of a hot dog. Then she reached for a smaller vial and stuck it onto the needle and nothing happened. She said 'What?' and started pushing at the place in my vein that the needle was sticking in. Still nothing. Then the needle slipped out of my arm. Lovely. So she apologized and grabbed another small purple vial, but had to insert a new needle into my right arm. She jammed it home and STILL nothing happened. We were very confused. So she started apologizing and telling me it couldn't possibly be anything wrong with me since she had already taken my blood with no problem. Then she proceeded to slip the needle almost it's full length into my vein, and then start to push on it. Still nothing. I could see blood coming up around the needle, but none of it seemed to be getting into the vial. So she took the needle out of my right arm and got another small vial. By then I was about to faint, but I felt so sorry for the nurse because she honestly seemed upset that these vials weren't filling with blood. So she went back outside and got another sealed pack of implements and brought them in. She then stuck another needle into my left arm, which started to pull my vein and really hurt, and still, the blood didn't go in. at that point I was starting to get nauseated, and the nurse's hands had started to shake, so she took THAT needle out of my arm and got yet another pack of needles and vials and went to work on my right arm again. She stuck the needle into the same spot that the last needle had gone in and FINALLY the vial filled up. Apparently she had gotten a shipment of blood vials that didn't have a correct vaccum seal from her current company, so she had to get one of her original packs from another company and do the blood test.

This morning my inner arms look like I've been on the road with the Rolling Stones. If someone came at me with a needle for any reason at this point, I'd probably go Karate Kid on them.