Sparkle! :{

I'm not sure why, but I have this great desire, nay, a great need to stand on my desk and really belt out "We Are the Champions" by Queen. I want to gesticulate grandly and sing into my water bottle.

I feel kind of like I did that day when I wanted to sing "It's All Coming Back To Me" by Celine Dion, but without the need to turn the fan onto me so that my hair would blow around my face.

I probably won't do it, though. Gracious, what would the roofers think?

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I had a dream last night that I was back in college. Apparently I had missed the last class and was asking what we did in class and my Art History professor told me I had a 20 page paper due today. I woke up in a panic, trying to figure out when I would have time to work on it. Then I remembered I graduated 2 years ago. I'd never been so glad to be out of college before.

2) Steve and I stopped by Starbucks this morning on our way to work! I ordered a latte with no whipped cream, thinking it might not be as fattening. I took a sip and almost barfed! I forgot that no whipped cream also means that the latte won't be sweet. HORF! I love coffee, but only if it has sugar in it. That'll learn me!

3) OOOOH, speaking of Starbucks, they have this thing that I've never seen anywhere else before that probably shouldn't impress me as much as it does. It's like a coffee stirrer, but it has a bit of molded plastic at the top that you can use to plug up the opening on your travel coffee cup lid! It's brilliant! It is one of those things that you would never imaging needing, but realize how useful it is once you have them. That link doesn't go to the exact same product I'm describing, but it's the same concept. I am amazed when people think up these things that seem like such basic common sense, but didn't exist before. I wish I had a smart. :(

4) Our church potluck went well yesterday, thank goodness. We had a TON of food! Of course, we usually do, but I always git a tiny niggle of fear that we aren't going to have enough to feed everyone. As far as I can tell everyone ate as much as they wanted and we didn't run out, so that is always good. We had a lot of people just forget to pick up what they brought, so we ended up throwing food away, which I hate to do. However, most of the places we could otherwise donate food to won't take it if it's leftover from a big meal like we had. I guess I understand that, but I hate to see it go to waste.

5) Halloween is this Saturday! I wish I had a reason to dress up, but alas, I do not. I need to check and see if we even have any candy to give the few kids who come to our house and trick or treat. I'll probably just give them a handful of the weird foreign candy we bought from World Market if we have any left. If not, we will probably have to turn the lights off and hide. We have no shame. :)

6) I watched a couple of episodes of House last night, and I've decided that I like that show. I've figured out the formula for it though. Ahem...

Someone comes in with a weird illness that looks to be one thing. The doctors treat it and make it worse or the patient gets worse on their own. The doctors sit around and talk about what it might be, only to have Dr. House make fun of their stupidity. He tells them to run some kind of dangerous test, they argue about it, but almost always do it anyway. The patient doesn't get better. House snarks to the dark haired lady or the other man doctor. While he's talking to them, they say something that helps him figure out what is wrong with the patient. This in turn causes him to rush back to his team and tell them what to do just in time to save the patient. Ta dah!

House. Good show. About as predictable as a Scooby-Doo episode.

Sigh.

I can't decide if I am bored, or boring.

Steve had to go on a business trip last Wednesday, and I absolutely did nothing of note or merit the entire time he was gone. It wasn't because I didn't want to do anything, I promise. It was because I couldn't think of anything to do!

Usually when he has to go out of town, I do things he doesn't like to do. This time, though, I was completely useless. Well, not completely useless. I did laundry. I tried to make cheese straws. Well, let's just say that if Fail was cheese flavored, it would taste like my cheese straws! Heeheehee. I also made cupcakes for the pot luck we had at church on Saturday. They weren't pretty, but they at least didn't catch on fire or anything.

I think I've lost my will to be interesting. I don't know. It's disheartening. I'm 31 and I've run out of things to do!

Oy.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Yikes. Yesterday I realized that I have finally caught up with everything on my "To Do" list at work. I'd even finished the stuff I'd been putting off because it sounded boring and/or complicated. So today I come into work with a kit for a papercraft model of the Haunted Mansion from Disney World to keep me busy until someone requests something. I know how that sounds, but since my job in an "On Demand" kind of thing, I will sometimes spend my free time making stuff so that my idle hands can't be used as the devil's tools. :) You guys already know this, though, right? OK, so I sat down at my drafting table and started putting the model together. I had bits of paper and glue scattered all along my work space and I was in the ZONE! Out of nowhere I heard the voice of our COO coming down the hall and there is absolutely nothing I could do about my paper model stuff all over my table. I thought briefly about diving under the desk and pretending I wasn't here, but there was no time. Plus, I'd be pretty easy to spot crouching under a table. Apparently once you hit a certain age, covering your eyes doesn't make you invisible anymore. Bummer. He walked in and talked to me for a minute before going outside to see how the roofers were doing and he didn't say anything about what I was doing. Of course, he would probably go to my boss if he had a problem with what I was doing instead of saying anything to me. It would do no good for me to try and explain the nature of my job to him, nor would it do any good to tell him that I'd regularly been checking to make sure I hadn't gotten a work order. I've got to hope that he thought I was doing something for work. Please? Curse my need to keep my hands busy!

2) Speaking of the things I do in between graphics jobs: I have been working on a remembrance altar for Dia de los Muertos. It sounds kind of grim, but I like the idea behind them and I thought it would be a nice thing to have. Since I don't have a lot of space, I decided to make a mini version of one: I know it looks crazy, but there is a formula for how to make them and they have to include certain things. Therein is my problem so far. Since it is a small version of one, made in an Altoids box, no less, I can't exactly light candles on the tiers in it and any real flowers or food would completely dwarf the thing. I'm going to take it home and make all of the other stuff out of clay, I think. It's the thought that counts, right? I've been having fun snapping apart my dollar store skeletons and hot gluing them back together in new positions. Of course, now I have a pile of plastic bones sitting on my other work table, so there is no telling what people think if they come in here when I am not in my office and see them. Oh well. What are you going to do?

3) Today my co-worker Andrew showed me two hilarious commercials. They are 100% real and made by an outfit that specializes in local commercials. Please, please, PLEASE watch these. If they don't make you laugh, then you have no soul. NO SOUL, I SAY!



I think the whip cracks are what sell it for me.



There are no words...should have sent...a poet...

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Steve was a hero this morning! Yay! I was sitting at the computer this morning when the phone rang. Phones that ring so early in the morning are usually bad news, so I snatched it up and answered it. It was our neighbor across the street, who is an elderly man. I like him. He talks like Foghorn Leghorn.

Anyways, he asked for Steve, who was in the shower, and I asked him if there was anything I could help him with. He didn't sound upset, but he said his wife had fallen down (and couldn't get up) and he needed Steve to come and help him get her up. I was all "?!" so I told Steve and he got out and went over to help. I was afraid that maybe the lady had been hurt, but once Steve got back he told me that everything was fine. The lady had just had a hip replacement and she tripped over her walker. Her husband is over 80 and couldn't help her back up because he is old and has back problems. So Steve picked her up and put her in her chair! Yay! Steve was a hero!

2) There are men outside fixing the roof on the SpRocket, and they are using my office as a hallway so that they don't have to climb up the side of the building on a ladder. They are nice guys, but they have been knocking things over all over my office. Also, they come in and explain to me what they are doing, and I have no idea what they are talking about, so I just smile and nod. I'm just grateful that they are fixing the leaks! So far so good. There is only one leak left and they are concerned enough about it to make an effort to fix it. It's nice to meet a contractor that is actually trying to finish on time AND do a good job. Of course, we have our COO coming up here every other day to oversee them and I think he makes them nervous. They're probably just trying to get away. :)

3) The cat has been back, and I guess that I might as well admit I've halfway adopted her. I still hope she has a real home, but she now has food and a toy at my house when she wants them. She still can't live inside, but only time will tell on that. I'm such a sucker.

4) I was hungry this morning and I ate my lunch for breakfast. Now what am I going to do?!

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2009

Going Home

I am beginning to lose faith in the the human race.

Yes, I can make such sweeping statements because I have just had to deal with airports today. Oy vey. Anyone who flies kind of loses hope after a day of traveling, though, right?

OK, so nothing specific or terrible happened, I guess. I'm just kind of shocked at how selfish strangers can be to one another when their own comfort and convenience is at stake! It's just little things, but those things matter when they are so obvious. Remember that, frequent travelers!!! Be Warned! People blog about your rudeness later!

So, we left Port Orleans this morning after breakfast. I love the way they handle your luggage from the Disney resorts, because you can actually check your baggage before you ever get on the bus to go to the airport! No long lines at the airport to hand over your stuff! Yay! Well, not entirely. We still had to stand in line a bit because the flight number on our connection flight from Atlanta to Huntsville was changed and we had to get new boarding passes for that leg of the trip. It wasn't bad, though. We got our tickets and went to one of the stores at the airport I wanted to visit.

It was actually a store called LUSH that I visited once, years ago, in Toronto. The stores have finally filtered down to the US over the past few years. Of course, there are none in Huntsville or even close so I wanted to go when I had the chance. Anyway, the sales people were super nice and helpful, but they followed me around almost the whole time I was there and I do not like that. They were so busy being helpful that they wouldn't let me browse at my leisure. I didn't mind them wanting to help me, but I quickly wanted them to leave me alone so I could shop. I was trying to catch a flight, after-all, and I didn't have the time to chat. I made my purchases and finally got out of the door and we breezed through security (thank goodness). I've finally figured out not to wear a belt, take off my glasses, wear shoes that are easy to slip on and off and carry easily recognizable items in my carry-on. As long as my under-wire doesn't start setting off the metal detector, I should be OK.

The gate was really crowded and there weren't many seats available, but Steve and I finally found two of them together. I sat down while Steve went to get a soda and I placed his back pack on his seat so no one would sit there. While he was gone, a little girl came and sat down in his seat, practically on his back pack. I know it wasn't her fault for sitting there, she was only a little girl, but her mother didn't say a word. I kept thinking that her mom would tell her to move, but she didn't. Oh well, I just picked up Steve's backpack and when he got back, we had to sit on the floor. Nice. I also noticed that the reason there weren't that many seats available was because a lot of people had their bags on seats. It wasn't that they were saving the seats, they just didn't want to put their stuff on the floor. Rude!

Our flight was completely full and I was stuck in a center seat again, but at least this time I was next to Steve. There was a nice Latino gentleman on my other side and he didn't spill over onto my seat. He also fell asleep practically immediately, so it was much more comfortable on the flight back. The flight itself was fairly uneventful except for the lady in front of me who decided that she should lean her chair back on me. Maybe she was air-sick, I didn't know, so I didn't say anything. Also, when they gave me my little bag of peanuts, the bag was kind of hard to open, and when I finally managed to open it, peanuts flew out and landed all over Steve. I was so glad he wasn't a stranger! :) When we landed and were waiting to get off of the plane, a woman behind me started complaining. A lot. She couldn't wait to get off of this plane. The flight had been horrible. She wanted to go home and etc. It went on and on and got old really fast. Then she got on her cell phone and started bitching (pardon that word, but it is apt) at someone on the other end kind of loudly. It became clear that she was talking to her mother about being sure she (the mom) had the unity candles. Not just the candles, but the candle holders and she'd better made sure she had all of them! Other things were said, but by that point I realized that this woman was on her way home from her honeymoon and from the way she was behaving, she hadn't had a very nice time. The complaining got so bad that I came within an ace of turning to her new husband and wishing him luck, but I refrained. My mother raised me better! :)

Our flight to Huntsville wasn't bad, although it was cramped. We got stalled out on the runway for some reason. There was a guy on our flight who got on his cell phone and started talking while we were stalled, and he was so loud. There are a lot of people who seem to feel the need to yell into their cell phones, and this guy was one of them. He wasn't really supposed to be on his phone at this point anyways, but he didn't seem to mind. Once we were cleared for take-off, he finally put his phone away, much to everyone's delight. Seriously, he was loud.

It's kind of dark, but that's my foot looking plaintively out of the window. It was an advanced yoga move to get my foot to that point.

Once we touched down, and before it was allowed, Mr. Loud Talker got his cell phone back out and called someone. I thought that he must have some pretty important business to take care of if he couldn't wait the 5 minutes for us to get out of the plane, but that wasn't the case. He just called someone to chat. Loudly. It was like he really needed to show off that he had a phone or something. It was weird.

We finally got inside, and I realized how glad I was that our airport is so small. A lot of people complain, but I didn't mind. It's nice to get home and not have to elbow your way to baggage claim or take a tram from one gate to another. We got our bags and went home.

Thus endeth our vacation. Whew.

THURSAY, OCTOBER 1, 2009

Downtown Disney and Less Stressful Things

Whew.

Today was a day set aside to rest after the non-stop exposure of the "Happiest Place on Earth." We still had things to do, of course, but none of those things included getting up early to catch a bus to a theme park! Yay!

Of course, in true Kelly fashion, I awoke early, even though I didn't want to. Apparently my internal clock thought it was funny to wake me up way before it was necessary. Stupid internal clock. After a time, I just couldn't stay in bed anymore no matter how much I might have wanted to. I got up and got ready for our day, and eventually Steve woke up as well. We spent some time getting our suitcases in order, packing away souvenirs (of which we had a lot), and trying to decide what we would do.

Our first order of business was to get breakfast. I was determined that I would finally be able to finish a muffin before we had to go someplace. See, the Port Orleans resort has this big dining hall that has all manner of delicious food. Each morning, I had gotten what I am convinced is the best banana muffin on the planet. They were tasty, but huge. Since I have to take my time eating, I was usually not quite done with my muffin each morning before we had to leave. Granted, I wasn't being rushed or anything, but I just eat so dang SLOW! I can't help it. Anyways, I finally got to eat the whole muffin! Yay, me!

After breakfast, we caught the ferry boat and rode down to Downtown Disney, which is basically a small village of shops and restaurants. The shopping is almost exclusively Disney centered, even though there are a few other things sprinkled in. I thought my feet and legs had finally gotten a respite from hurting, but after half an hour or so of walking, they hurt just as badly as before. I was pretty much used to it by then, though. We walked through a whole lot of shops, but surprisingly didn't buy very much of anything until we got to a place called "The Art of Disney" which was a place where you can buy both one-of-a-kind pieces of Disney art as well as posters and other things. We finally found a poster we had spent all week looking for, which was a really awesome, retro-style, travel poster for Tomorrowland. I also got a small print of the Haunted Mansion (I said don't judge me!) that I liked. We took our leave from there and went back to the resort. I was just too damn tired to want to do anything at this point, so once we got back to our room, I fell asleep while Steve went to the pool. I don't know how he had the energy, but I guess he found it somewhere. I woke up when he got back and it was late afternoon, almost evening, by that point.

We had reservations at "Kouzzina by Cat Cora" at another resort area for dinner, so we got dressed up nicer than normal (I still had to wear my flip-flops, though, because my feet were in no shape to wear heels. Classy, I know.) and went to ask someone at the resort how to get there. The guy at the info desk told us to take the bus to Epcot Center and then take a boat from there. We had no idea what he was talking about, because we hadn't seen any boats while at the park, but he works for the place and had to know what he was talking about. Right?

Wrong. We got there and found out that we needed to actually go to Disney's Hollywood Studios and catch a boat from there. So we waited in another long line, in the hot sun, for another bus to come and take us to the right park. I felt bad that we had dressed up, because we were hot and sweaty by the time we made it to the boat that would take us to the Boardwalk Resort where the restaurant was.

We finally made it there, and it was awesome!! If you don't know Cat Cora, I guess you could consider her a celebrity chef. She's one of the ones on Iron Chef America (which I love) and it was a lovely place. It wasn't fancy, but it was nice. We ended up having to sit on the same side of our table, which was weird for me, because the family next to us had pretty much taken up all of the room around them, but it wasn't that bad. The food was good, even thought Steve didn't like what he ended up ordering, but I enjoyed mine immensely. Since this place was included on our dining plan, dessert was included on our tab and I think somehow my dessert became some kind of Mickey Miracle. A true mousekateer stigmata, if you will. I ordered yogurt sorbet, with berries and mint syrup. It sounded fussy, but was actually very good. The berries and syrup were served separately from the sorbet in a small wine glass off to the side and you were supposed to pour them onto the sorbet. I did, and I swear that I didn't arrange any of the berries to do this but:

Three Words: Mickey. Mouse. Head.

I wouldn't have put it past the "Imagineers" at Disney to somehow distort gravity to cause this to happen, but I hope to God that there are some things they can't manipulate. Impressive. :)

After dinner, we made our way back to the resort and finished packing for our trip home tomorrow. We also watched TV while we did this, and did you know that at a Disney Resort, there are approximately 300 channels of nothing but Disney shows?

My feet are still killing me, and I am ready to go home, but it hasn't been a bad trip at all. I promise!