What Now

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I sang at morning services yesterday, and my mom, Grant and Tommy all came to hear me! I was so glad to see them! It was the first time mom had heard me sing since before Papa died, and the first time Grant has ever heard me sing at all, so I'm glad I didn't screw up too badly. I sang "Ain't No Grave," which I love, but I kind of cringe every time I have to say "ain't." I know, I know, it's part of the song, but still. I probably could have sung something a bit less...bouncy, I suppose, but that particular song had been a request. How could I say no to my fans? I'm totally kidding, it was our music minister's little girl who wanted me to sing it, so I obliged. Anyways, they finally got to hear me and we got to have lunch together. It was lots of fun.

2) Speaking of singing... I can't remember if I've mentioned this before (and if I have, forgive me) but I bought something a while back called "Singers Saving Grace" which is a throat spray that is supposed to help keep your throat clear. I haven't used it much, but whatever I'm allergic to in the fall has started to bloom or go to seed and I had already had a coughing fit after practicing my song before Sunday school, so I pulled it out and sprayed some in my mouth just in case. The stuff is DISGUSTING. Seriously, it's foul, but if it follows the rules of medicines, the worse it tastes, the better it works, right? Well, after I sprayed some and struggled over the taste, I noticed that the smell of the stuff was pretty strong, like Absinthe. I turned over the bottle to read the ingredients, and along the list of various herbs and plant extracts, the bottle says it's 65% grain alcohol! Holy cow! I happened to say to Steve that it smelled like liquor, and he said, "Yeah, I noticed when I sat down next to you." I had only used a little bit of the stuff, and it smelled like I had been doing shots! It was a cloud around me. Oy. I tried drinking some water, but that didn't help. I was so embarrassed, because one of the deacons came over and hugged me and I knew my breath smelled like I'd been drinking. I had to avoid everyone until I could get to our classroom where I finally got some gum and that got rid of the alcohol smell. The smell went away, but the shame lingered.

3) I made a batch of lemon-strawberry jam, and it actually jammed! I didn't think it was going to, because I checked it after several hours and it was still really liquidy. I was disappointed, because I had worked really hard on making it and hated to throw it away. The next day, I was getting ready to move the jars out of the way so I could empty them and saw that the jam had finally set up! Nice! Of course, now I'm going to have roughly eleventy thousand jars of jam and stuff this year. You will probably get some from me. You have no choice in the matter. I'll be the jelly fairy. Every time I go someplace, there will be a jar of jam left behind. AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!

4) You want to know something embarrassing? When I first saw the section of "Organic" veggies and fruit at the supermarket several years ago, I was confused. I said out loud "Organic? Of course it's organic! It's carbon based, right?" I got some weird looks. Stupid words with lots of meanings!

5) This morning when I was at the gym a lady walked in who looked visibly pregnant. I didn't think much of it, I mean, even pregnant ladies need to exercise, right? However, when she got closer to me, I saw her face and she looked...old. I mean, much too old to be pregnant, not exactly MeeMaw old. In this day and age of medical assisted pregnancy, women can wait longer and longer to have kids, but geez. I tried not to stare, but it was difficult. It was even more difficult when she got on the elliptical machine next to mine. I kept looking sideways at her, pretending I was looking at something else. I couldn't help it! It was weird! I just wanted to stop, grab her by the shoulders and ask her WHY! Why did she want to be pregnant at her age? Does AARP cover pre-natal care? Did she want to knock another one out before menopause hit?! POR QUE?!!!!! I didn't, though. I'm fairly certain that I would be asked not to return to my gym if that was the case, and I don't want that to happen. I guess I could be wrong, of course. Maybe she isn't that old, but goodness...if she isn't, then she needs to get a good moisturizer or something.

6) I'm sorry if that last bit sounded rude. I'm not usually this judgmental and catty this early on a Monday. I blame it on my lack of sugar so far today. My apologies.

7) I got some business cards! Well, actually, they were sample cards I got from MOO, because I'd heard good things about their printing and I wanted to see what it was like. I paid a very small fee to keep the Moo logo off the back and I love how they turned out. They are very well done, shiny, slick and thick. My only problem with them is that I didn't put the business name or logo I do my freelance work under on them and I used my home number instead of my cell - but all of that was my fault. I'm not too bothered, though, because these were just samples. I'll give these out to people I know well, and order more with all of the right info on them later on.