A KELLY PRATT CONSUMER REPORT: Coca-Cola Blak

I have a manic desire to try stuff with unusual flavors. One of the great joys in my life is to stop at some out of the way store and come across a drink or candy that I’ve never tried before. Granted, it’s not always a good thing, but what can I say? I want to make everyday an adventure if I can, right? So during my lunch break today, I stopped in to Target to grab a South Beach wrap when I came across a new beverage. This drink is called “Coca-Cola Blak” with a curvy thing over the “a”. The bottle states that it is a “carbonated fusion beverage”. It was a little expensive, almost $6 for a four pack, but I had already decided that six dollars wasn’t too much to pay to try something new. Besides, they weren’t selling them individually. I had read about these before somewhere. A Blak is a mixture of Coke and Coffee. That is correct, you heard me, Coke and Coffee. Granted, that sounds a little disgusting, but I was willing to be the guinea pig. You never know when you’ll find something you really love. Anyways, so I grab one of the bottles and bring it into the office to try after I ate lunch.
When I was actually ready to try it, I kind of just carried it around for a while. It was like when you have to take medicine and you’re pretty much convinced it’s going to taste like battery acid, so you put off doing it for a as long as you can. That was me and this little brown bottle. I finally walked down the hall to Ed’s office and asked if he had ever had one. He had not, but he seemed just as intrigued as I was. We looked at it for a moment and talked of other things, but I finally opened the cap and sniffed it. It didn’t smell bad, just maybe a little strange. It had kind of a fruity-coffee smell, like when you go into a coffee shop that sells pastries or something. When I finally worked up enough nerve, I tasted it. Do the words “HOLY RUSTED METAL, BATMAN!” mean anything to you? It. Was. Gross. Ed tried it, and he had the same reaction. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t unbearable (which is good because I now have to consume the entire 4 pack so as not to waste money) but the taste sort of sneaks up on you. It’s like a coke float made by the demons of hell, or at least like one of those things you create when you’re a kid when you’re “cooking” with stuff you pull out of the fridge and mix together. Not only does it taste bad, it leaves an oily feeling slick on your tongue. I guess that could be the coffee extract or something, but I’m not sure. The only truly positive things I can say about it is it is low in calories and carbs, the packaging is nice, and after about 10 minutes the caffeine kicks in and you feel like you’re skin is crawling off. Trust me, anything to take your mind off of the taste. Ed, who only had one swallow of it, and I both had to scavenge for other things to eat or drink after this experiment to get the taste out of our mouths.
I think maybe someone ought to go to Atlanta and check out the Coca-Cola folks who came up with this. Something tells me that they knocked back a few of the OLD cokes that still had cocaine in them when they were brainstorming for new flavors. I’m not going to tell you not to try it, but I am going to advise you to keep a packet of Wet-Naps handy. Not because I think you’ll spit out the Coca-Cola Blak and need to clean up, but because you’ll probably need to eat one afterwards to take you’re mind off of the taste in your mouth.

NO THUMBS UP. GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER…

These are a couple of pictures from Friday. The bottom one shows what I was actually doing. I had to make the large Air Force Emblems (which I hate to do) and after we applied them, we had to pop the air bubbles. The top photo is my Dr. StrangeKel shot, only slighty retouched to remove unsightly ladders and light poles! Sometimes my job is so much fun!

WEEKEND UPDATE!

This weekend was rather eventful, so I'm glad I will have something to write about!

Friday evening was frustrating! After work, a bunch of us had planned to go see "The Da Vinci Code" at the new Rave theater. Steve usually gets our tickets on Fandango, but he had offered to help a friend of his here at the Sprocket put together the new IMAX film, and he wouldn't be able to access the website here. Oh yeah, Steve used to be a projectionist here, in case you're wondering about that. But I digress.

Anyways, I went to the theater to pick up tickets for the 9:40 show. I think there is some kind of wormhole to another dimension exactly where that theater is. It is huge and completely out of place in the middle of the cotton field it was built in. Imagine a rural-ish area at the base of a small mountain, trees, subdivisions, cows, a Target shopping plex built to compliment the surrounding area - and then a big, honkin' theater right behind that. Out of place is an understatement. I go in, ask for the tickets, but the girl behind the counter says "Oh, we don't have a 9:40, but a 9:45" I don't feel like giving her the eye-roll, so I just say that is fine. Well, I do a little shopping and go home to meet Steve as we are having dinner with everyone before the movie. We go to Chili's and the waitress comes around and says "Ya'll, I'm gonna be honest, our computers are down and it could take a really long time before you get to eat. Just letting you know so you can leave if you want to." So we debate for a while before deciding to just stick it out and luckily the computers came up about 20 minutes later. So we eat and as we finish, Josh gets out his ticket and says "Kelly, you bought tickets for the 6:45 show." I, of course, stare at him blankly. I remembered very clearly the ticket-girl saying "9:45" so I thought he was on crack or something. Alas, sure enough, the tickets were for the 6:45 show. Steve was ready to go over there and be assertive (a nice way to say, yell at someone) about that. Granted, it was a dumb mistake, and thankfully it wasn't my own mistake, but I didn't think it was worth blowing out an O-Ring over. So we get to the window, and the 9:45 show is sold out. Steve begins to get assertive and discuss our options with the girl behind the glass, when I just ask for my money back. Steve was not happy, but quite honestly, I didn't care. I didn't feel like standing there listening to Steve argue with a high school girl about why I was given the wrong tickets. It wasn't that big of a deal to me, so I stepped in and got the cash. That didn't go over well, but we got over it quick. We ended up going to Barnes & Noble and just hanging out there for a while.

Saturday was busy! For some ungodly reason, I woke up at around 6:00 or so and couldn't go back to sleep, so I let the dogs out and started laundry and other daily chores that I refuse to do on a daily basis! : ) I mowed the lawn and did a few other things, and once that was done, I settled back with a ball of yarn and did a little crochet work from my new book "The Happy Hooker" which is a book of crochet patterns. You know, I'm not going to lie, I bought it because the title made me laugh! However, it does have some really cute patterns in it, so expect me to be making a lot of stuff out of yarn this summer.

At 3:30, I had planned to meet Brian for ice cream. I had met Brian through Kenny, who works with him. Although we've spoken on the phone and over the computer, we had never actually met in person. He and his family were coming to Huntsville to visit his parents, so we decided to get together. I know that probably sounds weird because I'm not in the habit of meeting people I know from the internet, but he's a nice guy and I was carrying a weapon, so it was okay! : ) It's kind of funny, because Brian had no idea what I looked like! When I walked into Coldstone, he looked right past me. I had seen pictures of him on Kenny's blog, but he had never seen anything but a picture of my foot, so for a brief moment I was tempted to mess with him, but I refrained. We talked and had ice cream, and I found out he is a lovely person in person! : ) We didn't hang out for very long because he had to get back and fix his wife's car, but I had a great time.

During these events, Steve called and told me he was at a car dealership and wanted me to bring the Durango so that we could get a trade in estimate for a car he found. In case I haven't mentioned it, Steve has been diligently searching for a car for me to replace Rudolph. We'd decided that $62 a week in gas is a bit steep. So he finds this car he likes at a used lot, and we drive over there to look at it. I think we were there for two days trying to get everything straightened out, but we left with a 2004 silver Seabring covertible. I have a sexy-mama convertible! Steve hasn't let me drive it yet, but I'm sure I'll love it once I get a chance. : ) After we left the car place, we met Josh for dinner and FINALLY got to see "The Da Vinci Code." It was a great movie! I mean, the book was better, but they did a great job adapting it for the screen. It was very much as I had imagined it while I was reading it, so I wasn't disappointed. I can honestly say I can see why some folks might have gotten upset by it, but only if they couldn't keep faith and fiction seperate! I have two particular opinions about it I'll mention and then leave it alone so as not offend anyone unduly for what they, themselves, might think:

1) The big thing with the movie was that people had a problem with was that it was stated that Jesus and Mary Magdaline were married and had a child. While I don't believe that myself, the thought doesn't bother me. I mean, at least they say they were MARRIED and had a child. I don't see how that would have affected His ministry and ultimate sacrifice. It is my opinion that there could be much worse things said about Jesus than that he was married.

2) The funniest thing they kept saying was that "Jesus was mortal, so he couldn't have been divine!" Um, yeah, He was mortal. God in the flesh of man. Sent to earth to live as a man and die as a sacrifice. Granted, I think maybe what they meant was that He wasn't God's son, or that it wasn't possible for him to be God's son because he was mortal, but that in itself is just an opinion held by some people. It's already well established that some people don't believe what I as a Christian believe, so I wonder why it was so shocking.

Anyways, the movie was really great, and although I think Tom Hanks wasn't the best choice for Robert Langdon, he did a good job in the part!

Sunday was church, and Steve and I went out to lunch with some friends from our Sunday School class instead of going to my parent's house. That was a lot of fun! My allergies were still trying to kill me, and my voice was going out, and I felt like garbage, so I took the rest of the day to rest and try to get better so that I wouldn't have to miss any more work for a while. Steve and I fell asleep when we got home. I was right in the middle of a strange dream about Kayne West, Spongebob Squarepants, and the Ya-Ya Sisterhood when Steve woke me up. He said, "Is somone screaming?" I listened and I heard a weird sound, but it didn't sound like screaming. I got up and looked out of the window and saw our neighbor lady sitting on the ground. Please understand that I was still in the midst of waking up, or I would have acted much quicker, but I stood there and peaked through the blinds as she sat there and rocked back and forth. From my vantage point, it almost looked like she was holding a child, so I thought maybe one of her kids was hurt and crying, but she unfolded her arms and I saw that she was alone. I saw her shaking and thought she could have been laughing, but that was weird since there was nothing out there. It wasn't until I saw her grab her leg that I realized that she must've fallen off of the short wall that surrounds some flower beds and hurt herself. So, finally my brain engages and I get ready to run out and help her. I say get ready, because I was wearing a pair of cropped lounging pants that I have decided no other living mortal outside of the ones who live in my home will ever see me in. I'm honestly too short to wear any kind of cropped pants. They make me look like an Oompa-Loompa. So I'm scrabbling around madly for a pair of jeans that I just knew were in the laundry hamper, but not finding them. I had a rather unchristian thought as I was arm deep in dirty laundry, so please forgive me, but all I could think was "Why do these people always have crying females out in their yard that I have to attend to!" It was a breif thought, and I'm ashamed of it, and it made me feel more responsible for that lady! I was on the verge of just jumping back into my Oompa-Loompa pants and just throwing vanity to the wind, when Steve said she heard someone else out there. I peaked out again and saw her husband come and see what was wrong. So me and my Oompa-Loompa pants were off the hook. I don't know what bothers me most about the whole situation: the fact that it took me 5 minutes of watching this lady rock and cry before I knew what was going on, the fact that I felt the need to change into something more presentable before I went out to help someone who was, by then, obviously hurt, or the fact that Steve heard a woman crying and woke ME up to check it out. Oy vey. : )

I seriously need to get to work!

As promised, here is the picture of Josh, Steve, Amy, and Jon on the Goliath roller coaster!


WHAT I DID AT WORK TODAY

As I mentioned yesterday, I was going to have to climb on top of the SR-71 Blackbird today to apply a set of Air Force decals. I was hoping to get out of it because I'm scared of heights. My legs start to shake and I get sweaty. It's one of those panic attack kind of fears. I'm not a proud person, I'll admit that to anyone. So I get in this morning and immediately have to go out there because it's supposed to rain this afternoon. As I get to the plane, I realize it's not so far off of the ground, but it IS surrounded completely by asphalt. So if I fall, I'll probably have to have all kinds of things realigned. I climb up and get jelly-legs in about two seconds, but it's okay, because I had Kenny, the son of the curator and museum volunteer, up there to help me. Believe me, if I started to slip, he was going to be dragged off with me. So we get started, and the decal wouldn't stick. The metal was too cold. I had forgotten that the vinyl had temperature issues. So we at least got it applied, but decided to wait a while before peeling the protective front part off of it. We go on to the other side and apply the other decal, and this time it sticks because the sun has been shining on that side of the plane.

One problem we have with applying vinyl decals is that sometimes they get air bubbles behind them, and since you can't peel them up, you have to poke holes in them to let the air out. Since the Blackbird doesn't exactly have a great deal of foot room where the decal was located. So I climbed up on top of the plane and had to lie down on the "spine" of it to be able to reach. About the time I'm spread out up there like a poor man's pin up girl, about a dozen tour busses full of people drive past. I'm not in a position to really move for propriety's sake, so I just waved. Thank goodness I wasn't wearing a dress. Also, since the Blackbird is one of the things that the tourists take their group photos against, my backside is now in several family pictures. I'm sure they will be thrilled! : ) I did actually pose for the curator while I was up there. She was taking pictures of our progress for the Annual Report or some such thing, so I sat up and she took a very "Dr. Strangelove" photo of me as I rode the back of the plane. I think I dislocated my left hip getting off of it, though. Maybe girls are supposed to ride spy planes side-saddle or something.

At any rate, we got finished and it actually looks pretty good! I was proud. The only thing that sucks is that when the sun came out and heated up the skin of the blackbird, I burnt my hand and my elbow! Soon I will have the pictures to post on here. : )

I've noticed an alarming trend beginning lately.

I know that sometimes we all like to be comfortable. We like to dress as if we could head home, slip off our shoes and crawl into bed without bothering to change and not waking up with the indentions of jeans rivets in our flesh. However, I am going to have to put my foot down about this.

Leggings.

Sorry folks, but these are not cute. They weren't cute when I wore them in 1991, in the seventh grade, with my black and white baby-doll dress and big, wide headband. They were not cute in the eighties. They shouldn't be worn as going out to dinner pants. If you must own a pair of leggings (which I do, but let me finish) wear them and wear them ONLY, if you are sleeping in them, working out or doing yoga. This is the only time that leggings will be acceptable. If we start wearing leggings, it begins the slippery slope back to stirrup pants, and NOBODY wants that to happen again. No One.

Thank you and good day.

Well, I finally finished the wedding program for the girl downstairs! Yay!

Bless her heart,we could have been done a long time ago, but her wedding just kept getting bigger and bigger. I'm honestly surprised that we were able to get everything on one sheet of paper. Now she can get them printed and her mom can calm down.

Another crisis averted by GRAPHICS GIRL!!!!!

I was supposed to start putting the decals on the Blackbird this morning, but it rained and the plane was wet. So, we'll do it tomorrow, I guess. I don't want to put them on the plane! What if something gets crooked? I'd see it everyday and feel the shame of a thousand...uh...people who feel shame. Yeah, need to work on that metaphor.

Had dinner last night with a simply irrisistable friend on mine. We couldn't decide where to eat, so we just drove around until we ended up two resturaunts down from where we met. We weren't familliar with the place, but we got to drink out of big mason jars and they had corn nuggets, so it wasn't bad at all! : )

When I got home, Steve was gone. How unfair is it that I leave him at home for once and he STILL gets home after me?! : ) He was fixing Anthony's computer again. I swear, I think Anthony breaks it just so Steve will have to come over and they can watch TV together!

So I'm going to watch the Will & Grace and That 70's Show series finales tonight. I never really watched Will & Grace, but I'm kind of weird about wanting to know how the show ends. I was the same way with Sex & the City. I really didn't like that show, but I wanted to see how it ended. Eh.

Well, I have some laminating to do!

Greetings, lovely friends and readers of unknown origins!

I'm sorry for the lack of entries the past couple of days. I'm not going to lie and pretend I was out saving the earth from flaming comets or chicken flu or anything like that. It was just your boring, everyday stuff that kept me away. My weekend was too simple to really give an update on it, so I'll give you the Reader's Digest Condensed Version of it:

Friday: Dinner with Anthony and Josh after work. Started feeling yucky.

Saturday: Cleaned, folded, mowed, washed, dried, swept, vacumed, straghtened and etc. Had dinner with Steve and Mr. Lee. Yucky feeling continued.

Sunday: Church, lunch with family for Mother's Day, Church, Dinner, Grocery Shopping. Yucky feeling got worse and then abated a bit.

Monday: Awoke with renewed yucky feeling. Stayed home and slept most of the day. Felt much better by evening. Watched "Sky Captain" and "Dr. Who" with Steve.

See, nothing too interesting. : )

In other news...we have a new guy working with us up here in Graphics now. He took Jason's place. He's a guy I went to school with named Ed and he is really super awesome. However, he doesn't shoot me from the hallway so I still kind of miss that. :(

I am really stupid! In the past three days, I have gotten over 200 Spam e-mails to my work address because I used it when I signed up with an internet site. I thought my spam filter would take care of them, but it doesn't! Now I get the "You've got mail" sound a dozens of times a day, and it's all junk. I would like to find the company who sold my address and send them a virus! Not a computer virus, but like...Ebola or something! Why do they think that Spamming is a good marketing tool? It's annoying and the quickest way to keep people from wanting to have anything to do with a company! It's like telemarketing! No one wants to have to deal with that! Not to mention the lame "Congratulations, you've just won a $6 million dollar Diamond from the English Royal Monarchy! But only if you act now and get involved in all of these time wasting, inbox cramming offers!" How stupid do they think we are? Geez.

Well, back to work with myself!

You know, I think I might have to attempt this.

"Pimp My Snack" is a very unusual website dedicated to people who make giant versions of everyday candies and such. I suggest you check this out.

Sleep is becoming unknown territory for me lately. I don't think I've been able to go to sleep before 1:30 any morning this week. It isn't that I'm not tired, I am, but I can't seem to actually go to sleep. I get too wired. I don't know why exactly, though.

Sigh.

Tonight I watched TV and I cleaned the living room. We had so much laundry piled up that you couldn't sit on the couch without an avalanche of socks and things going everywhere. I finally got those folded, but I ended up having to rewash some stuff that was so wrinkled that I couldn't even tell what it was until I untwisted it. Wow, could I have BEEN more bored? I don't think so. Steve's been gone almost constantly for the past few days. I'm beginning to think he doesn't like me very much, or you'd think I'd see him more! I mean, re-read the first part of this paragraph. How can he stay away from a party animal like me? : )

Well, I am going to attemp sleep now.

AMY GET'S THE COOKIE!

Lao-Che is indeed the owner of Club Obi-Wan, or as I will now refer to it,
Club Obi-Knob.

Yay for someone who knows Indiana Jones as well as I do!!

The vinyl cutter is taunting me from across the room. I'm afraid only one of us will make it out of this office before the day is done!

Because he is my new nemesis, he needs a name. He shall be called Lao-Che. I know that is a Japanese name, and even though the cutter gives me my error messages in Korean, the name is sufficently Asian to do the job. If you can guess the reference, I'll give you a cookie! ; )

I'm having a hard time typing today! Last night I got bored and put on a set of fake nails (French Teeps, for hose of you keeping score) and they are much longer than I had intended them to be. I mean, I cut off a lot of the length, but they still tend to hit the keys first and go skidding in between them. Being girly is way overrated sometimes. :(

I get to go home at three today! I had made some plans in which I woul.d have to leave a little early, but they fell through, and now I suppose that I could stay but I just don't want to. It's too nice a day to deal with work! I think I'll go home and clean. Well, I don't really want to do that either, but I saw a cave cricket in my office this morning and I'm determined to clean enough so that the bug people can come and spray. Cave crickets give me the major heebs.

Speaking of heebes... Last night I happened to catch Final Destination on the Sci-Fi channel, since it comes on after Ghost Hunters - I love those guys. Anyways, that whole dream scene on the plane is like my worst nightmare come to life! Something about that movie just scared me silly. Of course, then the power snaps off right after a rather tense scene too, and that didn't help matters! I walked around with my flashlight after that!

And finally, what did I do to deserve this?

As some of you know, I went through a period of crocheting hats earlier this spring. Just little boggin-like caps, nothing fancy. I was trying one on the other day, and I looked into the mirror, and guess who was looking back at me? Meg Griffin, from the "Family Guy" cartoon. I already have a freakish resemblance to Velma, why do I also have to look like Meg Griffin!? So unfair...

MY 500th POST

Isn't that exciting? Uh....sure.

Anyway. You know how I posted yesterday that my vinyl cutter was dead? Well, apparently my boss is Fonzie in disguise, because all he had to do was come in here and basically snap his fingers at it and it started working again. I had been messing with that thing ALL DAY LONG and couldn't get it to work! I must have looked like a complete idiot. Every time that cutter goes on the fritz, I can do everything imaginable to fix it and nothing. When Sam comes in my office so that I can show him what's wrong, it starts working again.

I think it's toying with me. Hastared Korean vinyl cutter...

Today after work I skipped going to the gym (again) and went to the ghetto Wal-Mart (because it's on the way home) to pick up a few essentials. The radio said we were under a tornado warning, but since it wasn't even dark or raining, I decided not to worry about it. As I get to the checkout counter, the whole place shuts down and they lock us inside. We are directed to the center aisle (ladies apparel) and told to stay there until we get an all clear.

All I could think of was that I could die in Wal-Mart surrounded by low, low prices.

What kind of screwed up country song death would that be?! Killed by a tornado while shopping at Wal-Mart!

It was as if I could hear Jeff Foxworthy giving my eulogy. Luckily the threat of the Funnel-Of-Death passed and I was able to get out.

Next tornado warning, I'm going to Target.

I have the dubious honor of being the bearer of the news that my vinyl cutter, the one that would only give me error messages in Korean, the one that has caused the destruction of close to 500 feet of white vinyl in the past month, has gone the way of the Commedore 64.

Rest in peace, little man, rest in peace.

WEEKEND UPDATE!

Good Monday, everyone! I hope you are all wearing your good-luck, red underwear today!

I had a very lovely weekend. I was going to post some pictures, but I realized I had the wrong cord to transfer my images into my work computer, so forgive me if I post those later.

FRIDAY was a super long day! As I mentioned, I had to redo the welcome sign in the front of the museum, so that's pretty much all I did that day. I had no idea it would take me that long to get the old letters off and put the new letters on. It had finally stopped raining, but it was still chilly and damp outside when I started working. I had to use a razor blade to scrape the old vinyl lettering off of the sign and because the letters had been on for so long, they were baked onto the metal. Because the handle to the razor scraper was long gone, I ended up cutting myself on the bare blade, so that was fun. It took me about 5 hours to get the thing almost done. About the time I was able to get the last decal in position to stick it on, some school group of little kids ended up coming to where I was and using me and my sign as "base" in a game of tag. Apparently the adults in the group decided that they did not need to tell these kids that they should stop doing that, so the sign was getting bumped from behind and they knocked some of my tools around. I was so angry. Please understand that it wasn't as if the adults didn't see this happening, they just weren't stopping it. I ended up getting the decal crooked and had to rip it off of the sign and run inside and make another one. I think when they saw me having to do that, they got control of the kids. Wow, you guys, thanks. :P
After finally getting that sign done, I went home at 4:00 because we were going to visit the Pucketts and McGees in Waleska. Steve, Josh and I got on the road at about 6:30 or so and drove out there. We ended up getting there kind of late, but we had dinner and talked with Amy, Jon and their daughter, Katie until we couldn't stay awake anymore. :)

SATURDAY everyone else was going to Six Flags, but as we all know I don't care for amusement parks, so I had plans to visit with Aunt Brenda and Uncle Garry for the day. Amy, Josh and Steve ended up getting a late start because of a misunderstood phone message, so Katie and I got dropped off at about 10:00 am. We had a very good time. Aunt Brenda and I looked through a box of old pictures, then we all went on an adventure down to their creek so that I could take some pictures. We ended up staying outside for a long time and I had forgotten how much I like to explore. Poor Katie lost one of her flip-flops in the creek, so we watched it sail down the creek until it disappeared. We were all filthy by the time we got back, so we showered and sat back to relax a while. I had my art stuff with me, so I drew while everyone watched TV and played with dolls. It was kind of late when Steve, Amy, and Josh got back. Apparently Steve missed a turn, so they ended up in another town! They had a great time at Six Flags and they were all very excited about the new roller coaster, Goliath (?). They had bought the picture of them that was taken when they were coming around a turn, and it is priceless! I'll have to scan and post that one as soon as I can. Steve had his eyes closed and his tounge sticking out, Amy looked like her hair was about to take off, Jon seemed to be laughing and falling out of the seat at the same time, and Josh had his hands up over his head, and his shirt was filled with air, so he looked like the Sta-Puft marshmallow man! We were all so tired by the time we got back to Amy's house that we only talked for a little while before we fell asleep.

SUNDAY Jon made us breakfast and we ate together, and then Steve, Josh and I went back to Aunt Brenda's house to look at the pictures of Rhonda that we had found. After that, we went to see Greg and Kristin's new baby, Collins Roy Puckett. He is so sweet and very tiny! He wasn't even a week old. I was still too scared to hold him, but Steve wasn't, so I got to get a good look at him at least.

We headed home at around 3:00, I think. I started getting queazy from riding in the back seat, so I took some Dramamine and it knocked me out! I woke up with the buckle of my bag pressed into my face! I was only glad that I didn't drool all over the place in the meantime. : ) Steve and I didn't get home until about 7:30 or 8:00 last night, so we just relaxed.

It was a great weekend!

This probably shouldn't tickle me as much as it does because I know I'm not OLD, but...

I stopped down at the Dome to bum an icee from Anthony. He walked me through the lobby and while we were standing there talking, I noticed that he looked behind me like someone was needing to speak to him. I turned around and saw a girl who has worked here for a few years, so I waved. She laughed when she saw who I was because she thought Anthony was over there flirting with a teenage guest. I've always known I'd be 16 inside forever, but I had never thought to be mistaken for teenager on the outside again!

Hmmmmm, interesting bit of trivia. Did you know that at my weight, it would take 189.58 cans of Sun Drop to kill me?

I found something called "Death By Caffine" and it will take your weight and soda of your preference and tell you how much of it you would need to consume before the caffine would kill you.

Neato, huh?

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

In a strange twist of luck, my "te amo" Valentine's day shirt has come in handy as my cinco de Mayo shirt as well. I was once told that "te amo" meant 'I love you' so if that isn't correct and my shirt really says something rude, it's not my fault! In honor of this holiday for my Latino brothers and sisters, I will be using my Pamplemousse accent all day. Well, except for with my boss because he is hard of hearing and may not understand what I'm saying.

I was attacked by the Space Camp Ninja on my way to my office this morning. This time he used his umbrella as his ninja sword. One of these days I'm going to learn Kung Fu and give him some kind of Vulcan Death Grip when he does that! : )

I was going to be reparing more outdoor signs this morning, but it's raining pretty hard out there today. Maybe it will clear up later and the Welcome sign can be a little less ghetto for the weekend guests. If not, well, it's been ghetto for this long already...

TODAYS WORDS OF WISDOM:
Never underestimate the power of a bin full of stupid hats.

Okay, you know what?

The Da Vinci Code is fiction. It is not real.

It is not intended to be thought of as the truth.

It was a book, now it is a movie.

If for some reason you don't agree with it, don't go see it.

If you liked the book, please do go see it.

For the love of Pete, this shouldn't be such a big deal!

Imagine, if you will, me sitting down at my home computer to check some e-mail. Suddenly, the quiet of the house is broken by a scream and a thump.

Of course, the first thing I think is that my arachnaphobic spouse has come across an 8 legged creature. However, when said spouse doesn't come running into the room with me and demand I kill the thing, I start to worry. I wait a minute, thinking that certainly Steve will come walking into the room any second to tell me what happened, but he doesn't. Still waiting, I call out his name, but get no answer. Immediately my mind fills with images of finding him unconcious and bleeding because he fell and hit his head. I also had a weird, horror-movie feeling that I might get to our room and not find him at all! So I start walking down the hall and the door to the bedroom opens, and out comes Steve, Butler, and Bear. Steve has a look of horror on his face, and Butler seems to be laughing at him. Apparently, Steve was shaving with his electric razor and the dogs snuck up on him. Since he couldn't hear them walk in, he was blissfully ignorant that two very mischevious animals were sitting behind him just waiting for the right moment. As soon as the razor turns off, he hears a muffled "murf" sound and a cold, wet nose rubs up the back of his leg. He screamed like a girl and had to have jumped ten feet into the air for the sound of his landing to have been that hard. Butler, Bear and I thought it was funny. Steve wasn't as amused. : )

I also watched Herbie: Fully Loaded last night. I've never been a big fan of the love bug myself, but since it was on, what the heck. I have one major problem with this movie. I can look past the sub-par acting, the obvious display of Lindsey Lohan's chest, and the lame-ish plot. It was a Disney movie, after all. These are the same people that created an empire on a talking mouse. What I can't get passed, however, is the fact that this car, this obviously self-aware car, didn't freak the heebies out of everyone who comes in contact with it! Seriously. There is only one car in the history of cars that is allowed to be self-aware and David Hasselhoff has to be the one driving it. KITT I can stand, he's not scary. Herbie, he scares me to death.

One last thing, and then I shall get to work. Steve and I stopped at Coldstone for ice cream after dinner last night. I ordered something with the words Strawberry blonde in the name. I read what it would have in it, nothing scared me, and I watched the girl make the thing. Then she does the unthinkable. She mashes a banana in the middle of my ice cream! There was no banana in that list of things that go into my ice cream!!! I kept thinking maybe she had made some kind of mistake and that she would start over, but noooooooo. She packed up that stuff filled with mashed bananas and handed it over to me. I didn't know what I should do! I felt bad saying anything because I guess I could have stopped her from putting it in there, but I thought maybe I had misread the list of stuff and she wasn't doing anything wrong. A "My Bad" situation, if you will. So I payed for it and walked back past the board with the flavors on it. I was right, no bananas! I suppose I could have taken it back and been a heifer about it, but I don't like to do stuff like that. Of course, I didn't want to eat anything with bananas in it either. I hate bananas. I fear bananas. However, I also ate that banana last night because I'm not going to let good ice cream go to waste. I just closed my eyes and thought of England. Aside from the banana, it was really freaking good!

I'm off!

I always thought that when you unburden yourself to someone, it was supposed to make you feel better, not worse. Oh well.

I have my final-final this afternoon in history class. I fell asleep in the middle of studying for my third essay question (there are 5 in all) last night . Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Oh, yeah. Joseph, The Technicolor Ringworm is finally rubbing off of my arm. Whatever that blue spray paint is made of is certainly fantastic. Maybe I should write a letter to the Krylon folks and let them know that "Fusion" is some pretty spectacular stuff. If it'll not come off of my arm for almost a week, think of how long it will stay on your lawn furniture. (this message brought to you today by Krylon. Almost as permenant as a tattoo.)

Also: woo/hoo that this is the last day of the semester. Had I the energy, I would attempt the dance of joy.

Tuesdays have no real purpose except to keep the weekend from getting here sooner!

I had a doctor's appointment this morning. It went by so fast I don't even know if my doctor learned anything useful about my health. However, it was kind of nice not to have to sit for an hour and change waiting for anyone to come see about me!

I finally finished the main section of decals for the SR-71 (wrinkles and everything, oy vey). All I have left to do is cut out some big letters and slap the suckers on. Woo-Hoo!

There is really not a whole lot going on today, so I have nothing important to write. However, I will leave you with some wisdom from Steve:

You can shave a wookie, but it's still a wookie.

One Down, One To Go.

Indeed, folks, I turned in my final project for ARS 431 today! Woo-Hoo! I finished it at about 9:30 last night, for better or for worse. Now I have to get busy studying for my final exam in history. If I weren't so tired, I'd do a happy dance! Go me!

WEEKEND UPDATE!

Friday night was a low key dinner with Anthony at Moe's. We had never been there before, but it was pretty good. It was one of those build-your-own-burritto places. I forgot to tell them to leave off the tomatoes (yuck) and so I spent most of my time digging them out before I would take bites. It was a tedious process! Afterwards we went to Books-A-Million and goofed around. Poor Josh was going to come with us that night but he called and said his tranmission had comitted suicide. He drives the Chick Magnet (Eclipse) and has had nothing but grief from the day he bought it. He told Steve that he was going to go with American cars from now on! Steve had to be the one to break it to him that most of his car was already made in America. Heeheheee.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling horrible. Apparently, I have become immune to my normal allergy meds. However, I had a full day already planned and I wasn't going to cancel anything! I was determined! So I medicated myself liberally and drove down to Cullman where I met Kenny and Lauren for lunch. It was the first time I had ever gotten to meet Lauren, and we had a great time. : ) We ate, made fun of mullets, teased Kenny about the lady who kept staring at him, and made food sculpture! We sat and talked for so long that the poor lady who waited on our table had to come and ask if we could please pay our check so that she could go home. Oops! I kind of hate that I was fuzzy on allergy medicine, because I'm usually much more fun than I was on Saturday. I"m beginning to think that drugging me a little before I meet someone for the first time may not be such a bad idea, for them. That way, they can get used to me before I behave normally. Anyways, (because I know she will read this eventually) SORRY ABOUT THAT! Kenny was charming, as usual. I gave him his graduation gifts, amid the reminders that I don't have to do that. I had to remind him that I'm going to do it regardless, so there!
We found out that Elvis is alive and living in Cullman. We ate at the table next to him! I also found out that Yankee Candles do indeed come from up north (I asked a real, live, yankee!) and I was able to say Massachusetts on the first try! All in all, it was a good afternoon. Oh! I almost forgot! During lunch I realized that I had been able to make it through a whole meal without once using my Pamplemousse Perez accent and I was so proud. I was in the car, just about the shut the door when I heard Kenny call to me across the parking lot. When I climbed out of Rudolph, I was then asked to do the voice! So much for being on my best behavior! ; )
By the time I actually did get on the road home, my medicine was messing with my head and I honestly don't remember large chunks of the ride back! I was in Huntsville in what seemed like 15 minutes, but I knew that couldn't have been the case because my CD had cycled all the way through and then some. Since I still had someplace to be that night, when I got home I just lay down and went to sleep for a while.

Saturday night (even though I didn't want to wake up after my nap) I went to the Coffee Tree again to hear my friend's band, but this time there was an added bonus: Mr. Harris, my very favorite teacher ever, father of Jason, and my former FFA advisor, was coming to hear Jason perform a song Mr. Harris had written! I was so excited. It had been a long time since I had gotten to talk to Mr. Harris and I had always liked him so much, I couldn't pass up an oppourtunity to see him again. I also got to meet most of his family that night. The song that Mr. Harris had written was about his recently deceased father, and everyone wanted to be there to hear it. For a little while I thought I must've met these people before. I did date Jason for 2 years or so. They all talked to me like they knew me, but when I asked later, it was confirmed that I had never met any of them. They were just really nice. : ) I also realized something about Jason's band that night. Every time I've been there to hear them, they play the song "Trashy Women", which is a country song I remember being popular when I was in high school. I realized, due to the fact Jason said so, that they play that song in my honor due to the lyrics: "You should've seen looks on the faces of my dad and mom, when I showed up at the door with my date for the senior prom." If you aren't familliar with the song, it goes on to say she was a cocktail waitress in a dolly parton wig and to extoll her desirable trashyness. I am not really sure if I am honored or not. I can say with conviction that I was NOT a cocktail waitress at the time of said Senior Prom! Whether or not I was trashy...well, I'll just have to hope not! : ) By the time I got home, I was exhausted.

Sunday I woke up dreading the fact that I had to sing that morning. I still wasn't feeling well and I was afraid my voice would go completely crazy while trying to sing. However, the minister of music forgot that he had asked me to sing and scheduled another lady to do it. I wasn't too disappointed! : ) After church, we went to my parent's house (Mr. Lee came along despite his own allergy problems) and had lunch. While looking for an old scrapbook of mine, I came across an old box full of junk, letters and cards from years ago. I had forgotten I had a band letter! I also found letters from an old friend of mine who was at Auburn for his first semester in college. You know, he used to get bored enough to write me without me having to send him a letter first! *ahem youknowwhoyouare!* ; ) After we dropped Mr. Lee off, we went home and I finished up my final project and Steve and I ended the day with two new episodes of Dr. Who!

Good Times, Noodle Salad.

Okay, just because so many people have both asked AND assumed they knew what I was talking about in another post I made (the one about being addicted to someone) let me clear this up. I am sorry if in that particular post I didn't specify.

That was a random thought. It didn't mean anyone or anything specific. I am not saying that I, Kelly, am in any way addicted to nor wonder if I could be addicted to another person. Is this clear to everyone? Good.

I've also wondered if you went back in time and payed Van Gogh to paint a picture, could you bring it back and sell it, an unknown painting by an otherwise well known artist, without anyone accusing you of fencing art that had been stolen by Nazis at some point. I also haven't done this.

Please don't take everything I write on here seriously, especially if it doesn't seem to make sense. Sometimes I'm just writing to stay awake or because I have weird thoughts.

That is all. : )

9:15 a.m.

A large piece of sticky vinyl just detached itself from something I was cutting out and slapped me in the face. It has stuck to my afore mentioned face and pulled my glasses off. I have carefully unstuck them from the vinyl and they are now safely on my desk. I can't see more than two feet in front of me.

So THAT'S how it's going to be today...

7:53 a.m.

Walking into the cafeteria is like wandering into the internal workings of an ant hill. Kid are freaking everywhere. This shouldn't surprise me, I do, afterall, work at a camp. After carefully picking my way through small, bewildered groups carrying precariously balanced trays loaded with french toast sticks and hash browns (we love our carbs here) I make it to the hot water tank and get my morning cup of water for tea. After once again weaving my way through the forest of children (and wondering if it would really be a bad thing to carry a Nerf bat with me to whack people out of my way), I climb the stairs to find that I'm the first if my office to arrive, and therefore will have to unlock the door. While searching for my keys, my cup of hot water crashes to the floor, drenching everything within a three foot radius. I was seriously unknowledgable about the fact that an 8 ounce cup of water would cover so much floor space. I rush up the stairs only to find that the only available paper towels are the brown rolls in the bathroom, and they have no absorptive powers at all. After running up and down the stairs several times, alternately holding wads of dry and sopping, brown paper towels, I realize that all I'm succeeding in doing is spreading the moisture to an even larger area. I search for and locate a broken folding chair, which I sit squarely in the middle of the spot in hopes that none of my immediate co-workers slip and break a leg in the mess. I finally make it to my office where I realize the heater is on, and therefore I must take off my shoes and sit very still in the stream of my fan so that I don't get ill from the opressive humidity which has already begin to accumulate within.

I hear a noise, I will write again soon.

FINALLY! An online quiz that got it right! It's amazing! How did they know! Heeheehee!

Your Celebrity Match is: Johnny Depp

That's what I'm talkin' about.

Another Hazard of my Job

I'm sure there's a good "blue hand" joke out there, but I've just inhaled a lot of spray paint and my brain isn't processing stuff as efficently as it should be, so I can't think of it!

I also managed to spray paint my wedding band, but with the help of currosive sticky-stuff remover, I got that cleaned off. I am not going to spary that on my hands, though.

Mamma Mia, Here we go again...

I have a new found fascination for the movie Mommie Dearest. I just recently finished reading the book for the second time and I was a little appalled that the movie was almost completely fiction. In reality (or at least according to the book) Joan Crawford was actually worse than she was portrayed by Faye Dunaway.

Of course, we all know that the movie was WAY over the top. Even that crazy heifer probably didn't walk around with that "I'm ready for my close-up now, Mr. Deville" look on her face all of the time. At any rate, for your viewing pleasure, I shall link to something called "Mommie Dearest Remix" or "ABBA vs. Mommie Dearest". If nothin else, it's pretty darned funny.

NO WIRE HANGERS, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend Update!

You'll have to excuse my day-lateness on my weekend update here, folks. I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I did. You know, I would imagine most people think I have some kind of severe chemical dependancy because of the way I forget stuff. However, I assure you that I am just forgetful! When I was in high school, I dated a guy for two years and couldn't ever think of his name. I ended up just calling him Punkins so as to not offend him. So be assured that this forgetting thing isn't a new thing for me. : )

FRIDAY

Friday evening Steve and I went to the home of a couple we go to church with. I stopped by Coldstone and bought another cake to take over there (this time it was the strawberry one: to DIE for) and we played a card game called Phase Ten. I realize that the game is not new, but I had never played it before. I'm not a big card player because I forget rules too quickly (see above paragraph) and can never remember what the symbols of the cards are. Luckily these cards just had big numbers on them, so I didn't get incredibly confused. Actually, I won the game! Go me *spirit fingers*! It was kind of late when we left, and I felt bad we had stayed so long, but we were having too much fun to leave!

Saturday was supposed to be a full day for me, but it went all haywire. Here was my plan: Get up, print the pictures of the Ordination service and print some lables, pack some books, run to Target and a couple of other places, visit a friend, go to a class reunion committee meeting, go home. I had it all very planned out and organized. Did it work that way? Not so much. I did get up...that part went as planned. As I sat down at my computer and started making prints of the pictures, I realized that for some reason the paper I was using wasn't working. It was as if the surface was cracking every time the ink would dry. So I tried some more things to make it work...only to make it worse. I still don't know what was going on, but I did find ONE sheet of photo paper that acted like it was supposed to. Printing lables on my Mac is impossible because no program I own has the software to do it. Not only that, but when I finally figured out how to format a spreadsheet to print the darned things, I found out that my PRINTER isn't formatted to print lables. I could have just spit! Steve and his dad were outside doing some yard work, and I think knowing that they would see me was the one thing that kept me from flinging the computer, printer, photo paper and everything else in arms reach, out of the window. I was two tents. ; ) At any rate, the computer problems kept me busy all morning. So I had to rush to Target to pick up the prescriptions I was there to get and rush home to drop them off before I went to Athens. Actually my trip out there was the one thing that went right that day! I went to visit Sara (hey!) and take her some books. I know I looked like I was moving in when I dragged that bag of books into her house, but I wanted to give her a selection. There is very little worse than books that you try to read and find nothing interesting. We also sat around and talked of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. As I was leaving, the class reunion meeting was canceled, so I just went home. Well, I got lunch and went home. Steve had planned to go to dinner with Anthony, and since I had JUST eaten, I went to the coffee place to hear Pete's Corner play. That's my friend, Jason's (Punkins), band. I learned something important that night. If you ever want to find out what a goober you were in high school, talk to an old boyfriend/girlfriend! : ) We had such a good time talking about all of the stupid stuff we did back then. I never realized how completely embarrassing I was back then. I suppose when you're 14, you don't realize how over-reactive and dramatic you behave, but it is surely obvious when you look back on it from someone elses point of view! I'm lucky that he will still associate with me. Heeheehee. Anyways, that was fun.

Sunday was church and we had a special service of music and baby dedications in the morning. Once again, I was called upon to take pictures, but I didn't feel quite as bad for snapping during the baby dedications because it wasn't as serious. I'm also hoping the pictures turned out better than last time! : ) I used the mom's camera this time and I didn't mess with any of the settings, so we should be okay. After church we went to my parent's house to celebrate Logan's birthday. He's 12 now, so that makes me old. I kept thinking of when he was born and I had thought to myself "Well, when he's my age (16) I'll be 32." Of course, back then 32 seemed a hundred years away. Now it's only 4 years away. I'm going to have to have an early-to-mid-life crisis to get over this. You guys pick it: A tattoo, a sports car, or run away to New Orleans and become a tour guide at the cemetaries? Anyways, at night I had to stay home and work on my presentation for history class and that was the end of my weekend!

Very excitng, no?

THINGS I LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF THIS WEEKEND

1) I can tear up a piece of ice cream cake.

2) No matter how young I feel on the inside normally, my nephews can still make me feel OLD.

3) Also, they (my nephews) think I'm weird. I realize I'm okay with that. : )

4) Card games can be fun as long as you don't have to remember the differences between the suits.

5) I could live to be 105 with no major disasters and there will still be someone who thinks I'm capable of being manipulated by the passing words of a stranger.

6) I'm not allowed to have harmless, Non-Sequitar (?) thoughts without someone thinking they have some hidden and serious meaning behind them.

7) I hate computers. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Well, unless they are working the way I want them to.

8) I am more ready to graduate than I thought.

9) Weird things can make me feel incredibly self-concious and ill at ease, but the things that SHOULD probably bother me just don't.

10) I used to be incredibly thoughtless.

AND THIS ONE JUST CAME TO ME:

11) I should be working! I'm signing off!

OK, who is going to buy me this?

Come on. I totally deserve it.

Let's face it, sometimes saying "I Love You" is expensive. : )

...and so I said to myself, why not?

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Sheena, Queen of the Dwarf People...my friends call me Kelly.
Birthday:	I don't have one
Birthplace:	Huntsville, Alabama
Current Location:	Huntsville, Alabama
Eye Color:	Dark Brown
Hair Color:	Dark Brown
Height:	5'3" or so
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right
Your Heritage:	Swedish/Native American. Just call me Stands with Heidi.
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Black Cowboy Boots
Your Weakness:	Chocolate and Puppies, but not at the same time.
Your Fears:	Bugs, Heights, Dark, Smothering, and Bananas.
Your Perfect Pizza:	I don't really care for pizza, thanks.
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Pay off some bills
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	"Leave me alone" or am I the only one who gets that?
Thoughts First Waking Up:	Bears!!!! Wait...what time is it?
Your Best Physical Feature:	My mom says my eyes, Steve says my hair. I don't really see one.
Your Bedtime:	11:30 pm or so
Your Most Missed Memory:	?
Pepsi or Coke:	Either, I'm not picky.
MacDonalds or Burger King:	Burger King
Single or Group Dates:	Steve doesn't like it when I date, but I'll go with single.
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Red Diamond
Chocolate or Vanilla:	CHOCOLATE
Cappuccino or Coffee:	both, at the same time, with a little more caffine added in.
Do you Smoke:	yuck, no
Do you Swear:	like a sailor, unless my mom is around, then no.
Do you Sing:	All of the time!
Do you Shower Daily:	Usually
Have you Been in Love:	Yes
Do you want to go to College:	I want to graduate college...badly...soon.
Do you want to get Married:	Again? Maybe. Depends on what happens to Steve.
Do you belive in yourself:	Yes. I can touch me, so I know I'm real. Right?
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Easily
Do you think you are Attractive:	Not really. I have a great personality!
Are you a Health Freak:	Heh...not so much.
Do you get along with your Parents:	Very well.
Do you like Thunderstorms:	Obsessively, as long as they don't turn into Tornados.
Do you play an Instrument:	Sort of. Clarinet, Piano, Xylophone.
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	No
In the past month have you Smoked:	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	I'm on drugs every month.
In the past month have you gone on a Date:
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	Yes
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	I don't care for Oreos much, but I think I've had some.
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	*gag* no
In the past month have you been on Stage:	Yes
In the past month have you been Dumped:	I don't think so.
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	It's not possible for me to go skinny dipping!
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	No
Ever been Drunk:	I plead the 5th
Ever been called a Tease:	I don't think so
Ever been Beaten up:	Just by my sister.
Ever Shoplifted:	No
How do you want to Die:	Saving the world from a flaming comet...when I'm 105.
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	Happy
What country would you most like to Visit:	Greece or Italy
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color:	Blue
Favourite Hair Color:	Brown or black...
Short or Long Hair:	either
Height:	tall
Weight:	eh, don't care.
Best Clothing Style:	I don't know! I'm hopless!
Number of Drugs I have taken:	Legal, a lot. Illegal, none.
Number of CDs I own:	maybe 10? I don't know.
Number of Piercings:	5
Number of Tattoos:	None yet, but only because I'm a coward. Don't judge me.
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	2, but I'm sure there is more if I think about it!
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

I had to take a few moments away from the vinyl cutter before I threw it out of the window!



I'm helping to refurbish the OUTSIDE of the SR-71 Blackbird that sits outside of the SpRocket. You know, the big, black plane right outside of the lobby? Apparently sitting outside for 15 or so years with little to no maintenance has taken its toll and now it's been decided to make it pretty again. I've been cutting out the vinyl graphics, and the cutter went haywire and ruined about 5 or more feet of white vinyl, which we just got in yesterday. It's frustrating. I also wish I knew Korean so that I could read the digital display and be able to tell what is wrong with it! FLARN!

OK, enough of that!

I have some very exciting news! A very good friend of mine just completed all of his Masters Degree work and will be graduating soon! Yay, Kenny! *spirit fingers!* Normally, I would secretly lothe him for achieving this while I am still yet an undergrad, but he's worked hard and I'm very proud!

Steve and I went bike riding on Tuesday and I remembered why I both love to ride and also why I hate it. Mainly it's the bugs. The Greenway is located along side a creek that seems to always be covered with swarms of stuff. If you talk, you eat a bug. Very nice!

Yesterday was a critique in my Flash class and I am so mad at myself! Our assignment this last time was a choice between an "art animation" or a "moving ad" for the business of out choice. I had to originally ask for an extension because of everything that had happened, and I received one (along with the rest of the class), but I was having trouble thinking of anything to do. I came up with a couple of ideas for the art animation, but I was afraid that it wouldn't be what the teacher wanted. Finally, the day before class, I worked out an ad that was passible and thought I put everything together. Alas, although I remembered almost everything, I forgot to put in a copy of my thumbnails with my disk. SIGH. That's an automatic lots of points off! Anyways, we sat and watched the submissions, and all of the stuff I thought would be too lame to submit was exactly like most of the things everyone else turned in! Not that their stuff was lame or anything, but I just had a different idea of what I thought the teacher was asking for. I could have been done with the stupid assignment SUNDAY!

I hope it rains.

Back to work with me!

This has nothing to do with anything, but here is a gratuitus dog shot!




This will probably sound a little bizarre, but do you think it's possible to get addicted to another person?

I don't mean that in a porny way and I also don't mean being dependent on someone, but more of like addicted to them like some people are addicted to cigarettes or booze.

I think it's possible.

I wonder if you could get a patch to help get over it? : )

WEEKEND UPDATE!

Well, I passed yet another non-impressive weekend, but I still had a good time doing it.

Friday after work we went to dinner with some friends of ours. It's the first time we'd really been out with everyone for a few weeks, so we went to Chili's and had dinner. Shannon and I spent most of the meal acting like lunatics, but at least we weren't asked to leave! : ) After dinner we decided to walk over to *dramatic pause* Coldstone! It had been so long since we had gone over there, and Greg and I were in severe withdrawl for some good ice cream, so we made the trek. Apparently everyone in Jones Valley had the same idea because it was packed to the door. Since we were stuck next to the cooler with all of the cakes, Greg decided that it would be smarter to just buy one and take it home to share with everyone. An exellent idea, as it turned out! We got something chocolate-chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake-more chocolate. It was sooooooooooooo wonderful. So we all sat around the table and joked and ate ice cream cake. I was a little embarrassed because I kept smelling something bad in my kitchen and I didn't want it to gross anyone out. However, I couldn't ever find out what the smell was! I think it was something in the sink, but I was never sure. I lit one of those oil burner things to make myself feel better, and that seemed to work just fine. I hate having to play "Find the Bad Smell"!

Saturday we spent the day with Steve's dad. The funeral director came by to do some final details, and he was annoyingly smarmy. He was so smarmy that I could feel the smarm oozing around the house. I was in the kitchen doing some things for Mr. Lee while he talked with the guy, and I suppose since I wasn't involved in the conversation directly that I was able to hear that guy being kind of manipulative. Granted, I know he's a salesman and his job is to sell, but geez. He was using stories of his own "past losses" to push stuff off on us. I'm glad Mr. Lee was anticipating this because he didn't get talked into anything he didn't want, but I couldn't believe what I was hearing! I've always heard that death is a good business, but I don't think I'd ever understood why until that day! I had to catch up on some homework (I'm still about 2 weeks behind) while Steve and his dad ran some errands and then we had lunch together. I fell asleep pretty hard once we got back to Mr. Lee's house. I just sort of narcolepted out in the chair! Steve had to wake me up when it was time to go and I staggered around for a while before I was fully aware of where I was and what was going on. After that we ran some errands of our own and went home.

Sunday was, of course, a beautiful Easter day! We had church in the morning, along with a whole lot of people I didn't know. As the preacher started giving his sermon, I started to read ahead a little bit in the scriptures, and before I knew it, I totally missed half of the sermon! I don't know what happened! I don't think I'd ever read about the crucifixion in the book of Mark before, so I was engrossed. I knew I could get into a book, but good greif. That afternoon we went to my parent's house. My mom had invited Mr. Lee, so he got to expirence the nephews first hand. Thank goodness they behaved themselves! My mom always has an easter egg hunt for the boys, but Seth got sneaky. He went outside and found where they all were so that when the hunt started, he would be able to find most of them. Of course, then he told us since he knew where they were, he had to hide them again. He hid them from himself! That's quite a feat! Mom let them look for the eggs she had hidden, and since there was a fair amount of cheating going on, she asked Steve and I to hide them again in the back yard. We hid 55 eggs, and hid them fairly well. Well, that's a lie. We kind of ran out of hiding places and just started tossing them into bushes and everything, but the boys still had a time finding them all. Steve was kind of mean at one point because he put an egg in the fork of a tree as high as he could reach. Seth saw it, and started to cry because he couldn't reach it. Mean or not, that was funny! At the end of it all, there was still one egg missing and as far as we know, it's still missing. Neither Steve nor I could remember where we hid everything! Mom said the lawnmower would probably find it later! : ) At the evening church service, we were going to be having a ordination service for the new associate pastor. It had been a while since I had seen one of those, and since Josh is always interested in seeing new and exciting Baptist events, he came along. Since I'm the church historian, I was armed with my camera and took pictures all during the service. I felt as if I was being rude, but everyone assured me that it was fine to take the pictures. I got some really great shots, but it didn't make me feel any less like holy paparazzi! The new associate pastor also got to baptize his own little boy after his service, so that was sweet. I had thought Josh had seen a full immersion baptism before, but afterwards he asked "What was up with him holding his hand up? Is that normal?" I told him it was, but he just said that he thought that maybe Bro. Ken got confused and held his hand up in the classic "I Don't Know" pose. Silly Catholic! ; ) There were still a billion flower arrangements left over from Ms. Rhonda's funeral service, so I had to bring them home with me. I had a giant peace lily, a giant something called a Chavallier (or at least sounds close to that), an azaelia bush, one basket with an arrangement of various green things growing in it and another giant basket with a calla lily, another unidentifiable green plant and a pot of ivy. These are just the ones we took home that night. We still gave some away before I loaded Rudolph. Driving home with a whole ecosystem of plants in my car was an expirence. The azelia kept falling off of the seat and I was all but choking on the pollen flying around. My head is STILL stopped up from that ride home. Allergies aside, I think it's beautiful that so many people loved Ms. Rhonda so much and wanted to give plants in her honor. I hope that when it's my time to go, my family gets a garden half as big! Now I just have to figure out how to plant these things and keep them alive. We all know how inept I am with plants, but I'm going to try hard to keep these kicking as long as I can.

That's about it!

MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

*I read an interesting article this morning about a man who is being sent to prison for extorting money from an elderly Amish man. Apparently, this man knew that the Amish man had once solicited a prostitute and had convinced him that if he didn't give him money, pictures of both of them would appear on the internet. So Mr. Amish man payed him the hush money. You know, I'm sure I'm not the only one to think this, but why was the Amish man worried? It's not like anyone in his community would see them. They're AMISH!

*The weather radar lied to me yesterday. I checked the weather online and it said "partly cloudy", so I decided to go outside and apply the decals to the nurse's van (like I should have done weeks ago). Apparently, their idea of partly cloudy means no clouds in the sky and pounding sunlight and heat. Granted, it was only 80 degrees or so, but still! I can't help it. I'm a weenie when it comes to being hot. I can't stand it.

*Today is Jason's (the Office Sniper) last day with us here at the SpRocket. He is moving on to another graphics job somewhere in Decatur that pays him more and where he won't have to deal with everyone second guessing what he designs because it "Doesn't fit in with the market research we payed someone way too much to conduct." I've seen many of his very, very nice designs go to waste because VP didn't think it was cheesy enough (That's the only reason I can think of anyways). So, good luck, Jason! I'll miss having to dodge imaginary bullets!

*When I worked in the call center, I had brought in a microwave for the office to use. Two days ago, the call center staff was movied into a new area which didn't have the space for the microwave anymore, so I moved it up to my office. It doesn't look it, but that mother is HEAVY. I had to carry it across the parking lot and up two flights of stairs. I ended up with cuts on my forearms and sore muscles. I seriously need to go back to the gym! Of course, while I was carrying it up to the office, I came microwave-to-face with about a thousand camp kids. Honestly, it was the first time that the counselors asked them to move out of my way! I'm beginning to think I should carry heavy appliances more often, if to only get to my office a little easier. : )

Just a small bit of advice...

Let's pretend you are going to make, say, a smoothie. You grab your blender, look around for the top, and proceed to cut up all of the yummy fruits that you plan to smooth (or whatever the proper smoothie verb is). After the said smoothie is made and you begin to drink it, if you have a straw obstruction, please see what causes it right away.

I did not look to see what it was until I was almost done with my drink. Apparently, a piece of plastic shrink wrap had fallen into my blender while it was in the cabinet. I didn't ever notice it, even when I started putting things into the pitcher. I unknowingly proceeded to drink little pieces of plastic along with my smoothie this morning. It wasn't until I was almost done that I noticed something that looked decidedly unlike a strawberry. When I pulled it out, it was a crumpled up piece of partially shredded plasic wrap. Granted it could have been something much worse, like a roach, but still.

Yuck.

Well, things are starting to get back to normal or at least as normal as they are ever going to be. Everything went well this weekend,and most of you were there, so if you don't mind, I won't rehash.

There is one thing that I actually expirenced last week that I do want to share. For the first time in my life, I actually stood outside during a tornado! When I lived with my parents, I was basically slung into a bath tub and covered with pillows until the weatherman gave an all-clear. Now really, covered with pillows? As if a throw pillow is going to do much good when the very forces of God are swirling about you. I never understood it, I never questioned it, and I refuse to begin now.

Anyways. My dad was always the one standing outside watching the storms, sometimes accompanied by my big sister, and I always heard about how awesome it was after it was all over. So this time I went outside with the men-folk and we watched the storm. It was amazing! I mean, it wasn't as if a tornado was right over us or anything, but the sirens were going off, it actually hailed (first time to see that, too) and we all stood outside and watched it. Now I understand why people are storm chasers! Okay, I take that back. I don't understand why people actually get into cars and drive after the tornados, but I do understand the fascination with them.

However, I did have one moment of shame that I feel is only fair to tell you about. All of my life, I've heard that a tornado "Sounds juss like a freight train." Since I have always been cowered underneath something when any of them had been near our house, I just took that little fact for granted, or at least I understood that a tornado had a rushing, loud sound. So as we were all standing out under the church porch-thingie, I was watching the southern area of sky. All at once I heard this rushing sound coming from behind that I couldn't identify. Immediately, adrenaline surged through me. Steve's cousin, Greg, just happened to be standing next to me, and I honestly almost jumped onto him like Scooby-Doo jumps into Shaggy's arms when he is scared. Had I not turned around at that moment before I jumped, Thanksgiving would never again have been the same. Apparently it wasn't the murderous, funnel of death that I heard coming straight towards the church. It was a Domino's delivery van.

Yes, I almost clobbered Greg because a delivery van passed by. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to take my uncomfortable moment into another room.

We are all back home and it's still very difficult, but we are working on trying to get everything taken care of. Steve has been really great with his dad, even though it's obviously very hard on him too. They are away right now, speaking with the funeral director about the last minute stuff. In case you don't already know, Ms. Rhonda's funeral will be on Saturday at Valhalla Memorial Garden. Visitation will be at noon until 2 and her funeral service will follow directly after that. Mr. Lee didn't want to have a graveside service, so I don't know what will happen after the funeral service, but once again I just ask for prayers for us all. Poor Mr. Lee is taking this so hard. It's totally understandable, but it's a terrible thing to have to see. He just wanders around picking things up and putting them down again. He'll be fine and then he'll be in tears. I'm not altogether certain that he even slept last night. He is going to need a lot of support from us and everyone who knows him. He and Ms. Rhonda were best friends as well as being married, so he's lost a lot more than just a spouse. Steve is also walking around in a daze. He just keeps thinking about everything his mom will not be here for, and it's almost like it's too much for him to process.

Grief is a very weird thing. It's one thing to see if from the outside, but completely another thing to expirence it. It's like time has no meaning and you find yourself staring at the wall for a long time without knowing why. All kinds of little things make you cry and then you're laughing about something you've remembered the next minute. It's a little like being bi-polar, I would imagine.

At any rate, we are working through it. It will be a long road, but one I know will eventually be a little easier to travel on.

Ms. Rhonda has passed away. She died this morning at 1:25 am. She was fighting it the whole way, but right up at the end she finally just let go. Although we will miss her, all of us are convinced she's in a much better place and finally feeling better. Thank you so much for the prayers and well wishes. The whole family appreciates it. We will be helping Mr. Lee with the funeral arrangements and we hope to have some information for everyone soon.

Thank you again.

An Update.

I got a call from Steve about half an hour ago. The medical staff feels it's best not to do anything more for Rhonda and to let her pass peacefully. They will no longer be giving her any of the liquid nutrients and it was decided not to put her on life support to prolong her suffering. We don't know how much longer she will be with us. It could be hours or days.

I don't think I have to elaborate on how this makes us feel, but I did want to ask for prayers for our family from those of you who pray and for those of you who don't keep us in your thoughts.

I'm going to be with Steve and Mr. Lee soon, so please pray that I can get there safely and give them whatever comfort I can. I don't know how much good I will be able to do.

This is very hard, but we've all prayed that God's will would be done. We may not understand why things worked out this way, but it isn't always our place to understand. Personally I think that part sucks, but then again, sometimes it's best if we don't understand everything in life.

Thank you for all of the prayers and good wishes. Please just extend them a little further to get us through this rough time.

Not such a good day yesterday. Mr. Lee called us early (about 9:00 am) and told us that Ms. Rhonda had gotten sicker in the night and that they might have to consider the possibility of putting her on a breathing machine. Steve and I both knew that she wasn't well, but we didn't realize that it had gotten that bad. We went down there to be with them for a while. Ms. Rhonda really doesn't look good. She labors to breathe, but she can still breathe on her own and she is still alert enough to know what we are all saying. However, she's incredibly weak and with all of the medications she's on, you can't understand what she says when she talks. Poor Mr. Lee and Steve. Lee can't really talk about any of this without choking up and it's hard to see Steve, who doesn't exactly express emotions freely, cry. I think they are preparing for the worst at this point.

I just feel so helpless. I want to be strong for both of them, but I'm a basket case. I'm always trying to cheer people up and make things better, but there is nothing I can do in this case. There is nothing that I can do to make this better. There is nothing I can do.

Pratt, Kelly. "SOMETHING THAT IRRITATES ME." Blogger. Volume 1. PP: 1. 2006.

I know I don't have very much room to gripe about unimportant things. What with war, poverty and illness going on. I'm not being held captive like Patty Hurst...uh, I mean, Jill Carroll. I'm not jobless or homeless and I own the two cutest dogs in the world. I'm blessed. I'm blessed way more than most people and I know it. No one needs to remind me that things could be worse. I know this. I see this every day in many, many ways. Maybe that's why the things that irritate me aren't serious things. I like it like that. I truly hope that doesn't ever change.

All that being said, I still have human emotions that get the best of me sometimes. Sometimes people do things that get under my skin and I can't help what ultimately is a knee-jerk reaction to ignorance. Therefore, I am going to gripe about something that bothers me. It's a small thing, granted, but I'm still going to complain. You have been warned.

I have noticed a new trend that makes no sense at all to me. My job takes me to many different parts of the SpRocket where most employees don't go. I sometimes have to go into Hab 1 & Hab 2, I'm on the MCC, I'm upstairs in the admin. offices and all through the museum. My point is that I'm eventually going to run into a counselor at some point. We have a whole new crop of councelors, both chicks and dudes. I don't normally interact with them other than a smile or a wave because they have a wall of loud, running, children that they are trying to herd together to get from one place to another. However, there are times when I'm working somewhere and one of the guy councelors will come up to me and say something, usually, "So...having fun?" I always try and be nice, because you never know when you will make a friend, you know? It's usually at this point that they look to see what I'm doing and notice the *Horrifying Scream* wedding band I wear. They don't think I notice, but I do. When I turn around to say something, they are gone. Is it just me or is that kind of insulting? Yes, I'm married. Yes, that means if you were going to sleaze on me I have a viable excuse to rebuff your sleaze. However, just because I'm married, it doesn't mean you can't still talk to me or be nice. I AM allowed to have friends who are men, you know. Steve has given me permission. : ) I was just talking to a friend about this yesterday, and it wasn't long after that that it happened to me again. So, they can't ask me out...they don't talk to me. Nice. Real nice. Thanks!

Oh yeah, and this is completely off topic. The word "Chaperon" wasn't mispelled. Also, you don't capitalize every word in a sentence. I know this, yet, I still have to make the sign that way because you think it looks better. No, that's fine. I don't mind having 8 people tell me it's wrong. I got the memo...my TPS reports will be fine after this, I SWEAR. Sigh. Look how shouty that made me!

Whew...I feel better now. : )