And I'm freeeeeeeeee- free fallin'...

I wasn't sure I was going to write about this, but after careful scrutiny of the situation, it WAS kind of funny. So at the expense of my dignity (again) I'll tell you.

When I got to work today, I had a billion things to do. Apparently, missing a day and a half in my job is BAD. So this morning, I was trying to get some things done, and I was in a hurry. Someone had left a big bag of laminated posters in my office, and I wanted to know what to do with them. So I grabbed them and was on my way to take them to my boss and find out what I was supposed to do when I tried to walk through the door to the hallway. I say tried to walk through the door, because the big, stupid bag caught on the doorframe, and I went down like a ton of bricks. I don't know what happened. I can only assume that the laminated posters were so stiff that when they caught on the door, they also caught my leg and tripped me. All I know is that suddenly I was on the floor...and I was in PAIN. Now, in the fraction of a second I was on the floor, several things happened:

1) I had some really embarrassing flashbacks of falling down in the lunchroom/football field/hallway/& Etc. at school and everyone laughing at me. I'm so freakishly clumsy. THIS is why I won't hold babies.

2) I think to myself, "Is my leg broken? I think my leg is broken. So I'm going to have to lay here like a dead roach until someone comes out and checks on me! Wait, no, it's not broken, but it hurts like hell. I wonder if anyone saw me! Oh, how embarrassing! I need to get up!"

3) I realize that I fell right outside of the office of one of my co-workers, and he had a guest. I heard someone say "Oh my God!" and then I hear footsteps.

In that next second, I gather enough of my senses together to get up on one knee (the one I hit when I fell) and pretend that I'm just down there picking up the bag of posters. The guy in the office ran out and looked at me on the floor and asked me if I was okay. Since I couldn't talk, I just kind of whispered/squeaked out that I had just caught my shoe on the door and dropped the posters. Now, I don't know if he believed me or not, but he walked back into the office. I'm going to vote for Not believing me because there were only 7 posters in that bag, and I doubt that they come anywhere close to sounding like a Kelly my size hitting the floor. Anyways, I go in and ask what I needed to do, and limp back to my office. I was so embarrassed. I didn't even notice how bad I hurt my leg until I had been sitting down long enough for the shame to go away. Don't worry, it's all better now, but it's going to take a couple of days for the bruise to my ego to go away. : (

As an off topic note, I just had to kill a spider the size of Steve's head, and in case you don't know my husband...his head is HUGE!!!! I had to flush it out from under the blue chair, which required me to do the "Spider-In-The-House" dance while I looked for a shoe. Then I had to scare the dog while I repeatedly hit the chair with the shoe and move all small objects that the hastered spider could hide behind out of the way. When the spider didn't emerge, I sat back on the couch, knowing that there was no way I could go to sleep knowing something that big and uninvited was in my livingroom. So, I go on a hunt for some kind of bug spray, any kind. All I could find (once again) was the fruit and vegetable pesticide which I sprayed liberally around the doors, under the chair, and around Bear's kennel. I really hope that it doesn't make his fur fall out. Anyways, so I sit back on the couch, eyeing the chair and trying to decide whether it would be worth it to burn it while it's still in the living room, when the giant spider comes running out from under the chair and I grab the shoe and proceed to chase it around until I corner it and kill it. I am the spider killer!!!!! I felt like Bravehart! You can crawl uninvited into my livingroom, but you'll never take MY FREEDOM!

Well, I'm back among the land of the living...sort of.

I'm back at work after a day and a half absense, and feeling a little bit better. The only big thing right now is that I can't talk (much to the delight of everyone I work with, I'm sure). I can whisper, and every once in a while a voice eerily like Kathleen Turner's breaks through, but other than that I'm relying on everyone's lip reading abilities and my own version of American Sign Language. I'm saving the latter for insults, though. My knowledge is fairly limited. I was supposed to sing this Sunday morning, but now I'm not going to be able to! This sucks. The last time I was asked to sing was July, and the same type of thing happened. The minister of music is going to think I just don't want to sing anymore!

Yesterday I thought I was feeling better, but I was wrong. I had to go to my first class, math, where I found that I failed my test. I don't think I would have done so badly, but that was the day I started really feeling bad, so I'm going to blame it on that. : ) Anyways, I ran an errand, and came home and fell asleep until about 4:00. The only thing bad about it was that I had one of those water filled eye masks on that you put in the fridge. I had it pushed up to my forehead and I had forgotten about it, so when I woke up, I reached up and touched my head and freaked out and started clawing at my face until it came off. I didn't realize what it was until I had it pulled off! Yeah, I'm not that lucid when I first wake up. It's best to nudge me with a long stick until I know who you are and can talk rationally. Steve can tell you some horror stories. Heehehee.

Other than that, nothing exciting has been going on.

Note to self..and everyone else

The orange cough medicine has codine in it. Even if you think the warm fuzzy feeling will go away before it's time to drive to work, you are wrong. It's also hard to try and listen to the lady from NASA talk about stuff when her earrings are suddenly so sparkly. Steve warned me, but i didn't listne. I'm [robabyly going to fall asleep soon, so call same and tell hhim that it's becuase of the drugs.

Someone put me out of my misery...

I'm still sick and it looks like it's not getting much better. I don't mean to complain, but this is all I need right now. I still haven't finished my latest lithography project, I had an algebra test yesterday that I wheezed through (while also having another blank out session, even after studying until 3 that morning), and I haven't touched my history project in two days. Oh well, when it rains it pours, I suppose. If I go to the Doc-in-a-box, they will do what they always do, give me a shot, an antibiotic, and the orange cough medicine. We still have some of the orange stuff left from when Steve went last, so I'm self medicating. I figure, I've been in school long enough to be a doctor, I might as well. : ) Besides, I don't need the shot, and I'm kind of afraid of antibiotics unless I'm super sick. Oh, well, this too shall pass! If not, I'll be in the process of making my Captain Kirk video will. Who wants my collection of weird socks with the individual toes? Huh? Anyone?

I finally got my little scavenger hunt booklet back from the printer, and I'm so proud! Once I fixed all of the mistakes, it came out really good (for an amature, you understand). I'll scan in the cover and post it one of these days. : )

Steve is going to a sleep clinic tonight, and I hope they can help him out. He's been extremely tired lately, and they are going to check and see if he has sleep apnea or something. I hope whatever it is, that he doesn't have to wear one of those CPAP things. I can't imagine turning over one morning and coming face to face with Darth Vadar! *whooooooo-purrrrrrrrrr* Kelly, I am your husband. *whoooooooo-purrrrrrrrrrrr*

I embarrassed Steve last night by walking into Publix wearing my big fuzzy slippers with the dragonflies on them. I needed bagles, and I didn't care. One of these days, he'll get used to me. I mean, we've only been married for, what, 5 years?! : )

Maybe it's just me, but has anyone else ever wondered if the cast of Grease 2 is embarrassed? I watched it again tonight, and it was...well, it was unfortunate. I mean, maybe it wasn't meant to be an Oscar (tm) nominated film, but you'd think that with the pull Michelle Pfiffer has in hollywood, she would have had the Motion Picture Archives purged of that little flick. Yikes.

AWKWARD AND WEIRD

Have you ever gotten the feeling that you suddenly don't know how to talk to one of your friends anymore? I mean, you can still talk and everything, but it's suddenly weird and awkward? It's like something subtle has changed, and you weren't notified?
You start talking with them and you don't know any differently, and you might make a joke or say something that has always been a funny between you and they don't laugh or you try and talk about something that you've always talked about and they change the subject? It's like you just told a dirty joke to the Pope or something. Then you want to ask if something is wrong or if you've suddenly started making them feel awkward and weird, but the question it's self makes YOU feel awkward and weird because you know they are going to lie and say no, even if you do. Then you feel even more awkward and weird and it gets to the point that you don't talk to them anymore just to avoid the feeling and then suddenly you realize it's been years since you've talked to them and then you miss them, but the feeling you make them feel awkward and weird never really ever went away, so you don't try to contact them and the you find out they've died or something and then it's too late to do anything and then you spend the rest of your miserable life wishing they had just told you the truth about whatever changed in the first place and saved you the trouble of freaking out over it?!!!!

SIGH.

Why can't people just be honest?

Prepare to be amazed...

I actually went out and did something social on friday night! Anthony H. had a birthday on the 13th, so a bunch of us went out to Silver Point in Madison and had dinner. I swear, that was the first time in so long I'd been out of the house that I almost didn't know how to act. : ) We had a nice time, but I was so tired by the time we went home that I just went to sleep. I am a party animal!!!

Saturday I worked again. Apparently my customer service skills are in high demand! Heeheehee. Actually, customer service is still really understaffed, and they needed someone to smile and put armbands on the guests. You would be proud of me, there was absolutely no people I stared at! In fact, I was a little bored, but I was getting paid, so I can't complain too much. After work I went home and started working on my research paper. I didn't get any of the actual paper written, but I started getting my information amassed, and that will be very healpful. I finally got my angle for the paper, so I will be writing about *fanfare* The Last Judgement Fresco of the Arena Chapel in Padua, and the affects of Scrovegni's religious and political connections on the work and artist, Giotto. Well, I'm sure I'll think of a better title, but that's what it will be about. Sounds exciting, huh? Steve was gone to a cornfield maze with our church class, so I had several hours of blessed silence in which to research. It was kind of depressing! At any rate, at least I'm on my way to getting started writing it. I will be so glad when it's over. That night I started getting sick, and I haven't felt well since. Can someone please explain to me why you have allergy problems in the fall? Everything is dying, not blooming! This used to happen to be a lot when I was younger, but it was always a bad cough and nothing else. Now my head is all stopped up, my nose is running, and I want to sleep all of the time. I probably looked drugged at church Sunday morning! : ) Well, gotta keep the other Baptists guessing, right? : )

Everyone keeps saying that they never see me anymore, and I didn't realize how true it was until yesterday. I've sequestered myself in the house every night to work on homework and I haven't gone to church at night in a month or more so I can have that extra time to study. You'd think my grades would be better...

I have a favor to ask you. If you see me toting around one of those purses that are covered in those big, round, sequins - just shoot me where I stand. Yuck.

Steve and I have noticed that 80's styles are in style again. It was bad back in the 80's, why do they want to bring it back? I just-JUST got my hairstyling time down to 10 minutes in the morning! I can't go back to the "Mall-Hair" days...I just can't! I'm also not giving up my flaired jeans and I will not buy anything florescent. I refuse.

Something doesn't want me to do my research paper.

I know this because every time I sit down to do it, I get sidetracked. A few blogs ago, I said I was going to start writing, but I never did. I had even decided that I would work on it when I had some free time during work, but I have not had any free time because of one thing or another. I haven't been busy for the past three weeks, and now I get busy. I have made myself promise myself that tomorrow night I will at least have two pages written! This is ridiculous. I have never had so much trouble with getting school work done. I think it's because my body is saying "Kelly, you're 27. College should have been OVER by now. I demand that you be lazy!" My mind trys to rebel, but it's a very weak thing, and it doesn't put up much of a fight. I suppose it doesn't help that I've already got the attention span of a jack russel terrier with ADD.

I'll cook dinner for anyone who wants to do this for me. Please!

About two weeks or so ago, I finally felt enough shame to e-mail that guy I used to date and admit to getting accidentally signed up for his class reunion website. I figured since he had been class president, he would be the administrator for the web board, but apparently not. Now, I'm just plain embarrassed! I come out of the blue to correct what I thought was a mistake, and it just made me sound weird.

Well, at least he said I never came across as being a stalker, so that's a plus for me. : )

There is going to be a Sangeet at the museum tonight, and I really, really want to see what goes on. A sangeet, or "night of music" is a rehersal dinner/wedding party for people of the Hindu faith, or so I'm told. Everyone wears their customary dress and they eat and drink and apparently drop it like it's hot. : ) The general consensus is that Hindus know how to party. I was at work late yesterday trying to make menu plackards for the buffett. I only recognized three things on that menu, and two of them were rice. I'd love to sit in the background and watch the party, but that seems kind of intrusive to me. Eh, intrusive-schmentrusive. I might just "work late" and happen to walk by and see what's going on. I am SO sad. Heeheehee.

Something both weird and funny happened to me today. There is a guy named Anthony who works in the marketing department. I've only spoken to him, maybe twice, ever. We had just left our obigatory wednesday meeting and gotten back upstairs when I turned around and Anthony was there. He said he was about to embarrass me, so I was intrigued immediately. As I started to ask him what he was talking about, he looked at my left hand and said "Oh! You're married." I was all, huh? Apparently, he has a friend from Birmingham who he is trying to set up. He's an internal medicine doctor, or some such thing. I told him if I had known he was going to try and set me up with a doctor, I wouldn't have gotten married! Anyways, maybe I was taken aback because I no longer think of myself as someone anyone would want to date, or maybe it's because I've only spoken to this guy twice, but why in the world would he think of me? Oh well, I got a good giggle out of it. : )

Oh yeah, my friend is FINALLY home from the hospital. She still isn't feeling well, and I'm supposed to go and see her at some point, but I have no idea when. She is supposed to be getting back with me to tell me how to get where she is staying, but I haven't heard from her yet. Keep up the prayers for her, because it will still be a long road ahead until she is well, but at least she's on the right track. : )

Long time no blog, huh?

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I have a few minutes before I have to dive into the fascinating world of medieval frescos, so I thought I'd catch up on my self centered talking-about-myself! : )

Saturday was the day that I had offered to work for a special function in the museum. It's been about three years and change since I had any face to face customer service expirence, so I was afraid that I had forgotten what to do. I didn't do so bad, actually, except for when some smart alec asked me some technical questions about the SR 71 Blackbird (which is a spy plane we got from the CIA some years back). Now, when I worked in the museum, I might have known the answers to such questions, but now I have no clue. The dude just looked all smug and walked away telling his buddy that "people who work here should know about stuff like that". It was all I could do not to jump over the information desk and snatch the hair off of his fat head! I mean, HELLO, even if I did work in the museum, how am I supposed to know how the tracking system of a CIA spy plane works?! Trust me, when you get paid minumum wage, you don't take the time to do research on such stuff. Something tells me that he already knew the answer to what he was asking, but he was just showing off for his friend. Wow, Mr. Smart Guy, you knew more about the spy plane than the graphic artist, give you a cookie. Anyways, all I really had to do was tell people where the bathroom was and give out movie tickets, so I did fine for the rest of the day.

The only thing that made the day uncomfortable was that it was hard not to stare at people. Now, I'm not a rude person, and I don't usually just STARE at people who look different, but there was A) a little people's convention going on and they were meeting in our museum. I would have been fine if Shannon hadn't started singing the Oompa Loompa song earlier that day. Yes, I know that is horrible, but the seed was planted in my brain, and I had no way to keep it from growing. B) There was a guy who had apparently been in some kind of horrible accident and had, at some point, had the top of his head taken off and stapled back on. I looked up and immediately looked at his head. I looked away, and then my eyes went back to his head. I answered his questions, and COULDN'T STOP LOOKING AT HIS HEAD!!!! I was horrified at myself! I mean, I've seen scars before, but nothing like that. Ever. C) This last one was extremely uncomfortable for me, but I know for a fact that I wasn't the only one who stared at this lady, so I don't feel quite so bad. There was a woman who had obviously had...enhancement surgery...to her chest. She was wearing a low, low, low cut top, and she had a tattoo on her right breast. Now, as a woman myself, this shouldn't have been anything I haven't seen before, but when you see them pushed up under someones chin with a rose growing out of her cleavage, they were like magnets. She was also kind of tall, which put her chest right about eye level with me. I really tried to look at her face...really. I finally just had to look at the top of the desk and answer her questions. It was horrifying. Pretty much after that, I got groceries and went home. That was as exciting as it got.

Monday night, I got so sick. I was doing my homework and I noticed that my eyes were getting really blurry. I took off my glasses, thinking that I was straining my eyes, but I started getting a headache. Not a bad one, but it was uncomfortable. As I did more homework, the headache got steadily worse. At first I thought it was a sinus headache, unplesant but not unbearable, but the longer I waited to take anything, the more huge it got. It finally got to the point that I couldn't think without my brain pounding against my skull, and it was making my stomach do flip-flops. It was like being severely car sick, but I wasn't moving. I called Steve in the room and asked if he would bring me a piece of candied ginger (because this stuff is magic! If you get nauseated, eat a little bit of that and all the yuck feeling goes away. Try it.) Well, he brought some to me, but it didn't work. I got up and stumbled to the medicine cabinet to get some Excedrine, and I went back and laid down and wrapped my head in a blanket to keep out the lights, but the medicine didn't help either. Suddenly, I knew that I was about to be sick, so I had to get up and once again shuffle to the bathroom. I was trying to talk my body out of rejecting dinner, but it didn't work. That was the first time in almost 7 years I have thrown up (TMI time, huh?). After that, I started feeling less nauseated, but the headache wouldn't go away. So I didn't get to finish my homework, and I went to bed. I still felt like trash when I got up the next day, so I had to call into work, and I just went to school long enough to drop of my math homework and take my plate to the printing lab. I came home and slept for hours. I felt much better by that night, and I'm glad. Apparently I either had a true migraine or someone shoved an ice pick up my nose and was stabbing the right side of my brain. I hope this doesn't happen often. Yuck.

Well, that's about it! Aren't you glad I took the time to write about that?! : )

YUCK

Pina Coloda lifesaver + Lemon Ginger lip balm. I don't recommend this.

Yesterday I talked about how my first little booklet didn't have that many mistakes? Well, I was right, there weren't many. However, until I looked at the little booklet, I didn't realize two whole pages were missing!!! Yikes! I thought at first that the printer must've screwed it up, but when I started looking through my files I realized that I didn't include the missing pages in the original disk I sent them. Oy, vey. Well, it's fixed now at any rate. I was having trouble with replacing the logo on it's cover today, so I spent all morning and the first part of the afternoon tearing my hear out trying to figure it out. One of my co-workers said they would help me, and for a second I thought that he was going to tear out his hair too! However, he figured out that the version of software I was using wasn't able to do what we needed, so he fixed me up. I'm so glad it wasn't just me being stupid. I think my boss already thinks I'm an idiot. He doesn't say it (cause he's way too nice), but sometimes I see that look in his eyes.

I found out something that disturbs me. My dad likes watching Desperate Housewives. That show makes ME blush, so my dad shouldn't be watching it! It's just...wrong! Wrong in SO many ways. : P

I don't care what anyone says, chocolate can indeed make everything better. For a while, at least.

Godiva, I am not worthy...

I am an utterly low and common person. I know this because I've stepped back and analysed my feelings and realize that there is nothing good or honorable about any of them right now.

I wish I could elaborate, but it would involve revealing a side of myself no one knows about. The one that talks like Gollum (thanks, Jason), looks like Medusa, and would possibly boil a bunny if coerced in just the right way.

Sorry about that last one, I saw Fatal Attraction the other day and that seemed to be a particularly evil thing to do.

I need chocolate.

Anyway, on a nicer note: I got a proof back from the printer of the scavenger hunt booklet I did for Guest Services, and it actually looks pretty good with only a few very minor changes. I will have to replace two page numbers (because I reversed them), replace the logo (because it pixilated when it was printed), and there is a blank page at the end, a common problem with saddle stitched booklets, that I will add a graphic to. All in all, not bad for my first little publication. Go me. Whee.

Steve and I, and possibly our entourage, will be going to Carrabbas for dinner tonight. I'm so hungry, I could eat a moose. A Whole. Frikin'. Moose.

Speaking of Mooses... Monday night I was in the bedroom studying, and Steve called me into the living room. You will never guess what is hanging on our wall. A moose head. Oh, but not just any moose head, an INFLATABLE moose head. Apparently while hunting in the big, plastic forest, he snuck up behind that sucker with a needle and deflated the poor beast. Well, at least we have the majesty of his big, inflatable head to remind us of the wilderness. I swear, I would have fainted if it hadn't been so funny. I can't bring myself to ask him to take it down, yet. I mean, it's such a great compliment to our Big Mouth Billy Bass that sings "Take Me To the River" and our set of Dale Earnhardt commemorative plates from the Franklin Mint! ; )

Somewhere, Martha Stewart is writhing in agony...

Dear Soccermom,

Why is it when I see you on the interstate or even the highway, you will speed up, cut me off, or even practically run me down to get ahead of me in your giant Mini-Van or Hummer, but when I see you driving down the ONE street I need to get onto so that I can get out of the neighborhood, the street where I have very few windows between cars the evil crossing guards let through, you slow down so that the cars coming the other way are too close for me to get out by the time you pass? Is my SUV cammo not working anymore? Does the lack of magnetic soccer balls on the back of the Durango tip you off that I'm not really one of you? What did I ever DO to you people?!

Love, Kelly

Geez.

In other news, I shocked myself by offering to work this weekend for guest services. Nothing big, but they are short of staff and some company is having a picnic here, so I will be handing out the movie tickes and arm bands to those guys. So if you want to come by and see me, I'll be one of the two behind the guest info desk. Wow, it's been five or six years since I stood behind that desk. I hope I remember how to be perky. *shudder*

I took a quiz in Algebra yesterday and completely bombed it. I know for sure I did this time. I studied and everything, but the quiz was given at the end of class, so by the time she handed out the sheet, I was confused with all of the stuff she had talked about earlier in class. My brain was not meant for numbers.

Tomorrow starts our fall break from school...all two days of it. It was weird not having to immediately do homework when I got home yesterday. I didn't know what to do with myself! I finally cut out the picures from Florida and taped them inside an album, but I'm going to have to redo them because it was a sloppy job. Tonight, if nothing happens, I will work on my lithography projects and get them ready to print, and do dishes. I've decided to take the original lithograph (you know, the vulgar one) and water color it as is. Then I'm going to wait until spring and enter it into the student art show! : ) I'll make up some lame artist-rant about how it's symbolic or full of angst. Who knows? That might work. Nothing else I've turned in has ever been accepted. It wasn't "edgy" enough! I mean, I'm edgy, aren't I? heeheehee. I'm about as edgy as a pillow.

You've GOT to be kidding me. Look at the kid's name...

Cage Is a Dad Again


Hollywood star Nicolas Cage is celebrating after his third wife Alice Kim gave birth to their first child together yesterday. The Oscar-winning actor, 41, and Kim Cage, 21, welcomed their son Kal-El Coppola Cage in a New York City hospital yesterday morning. The Leaving Las Vegas star's publicist Annett Wolf confirmed, "They are healthy and happy and it's quite lovely." Cage and Kim wed in July 2004 after a whirlwind six month courtship. They met when the actor visited the Los Angeles restaurant where Kim was employed as a waitress. The actor has previously been married to actress Patricia Arquette and singer Lisa Marie Presley. He has a son Weston, 13, from his relationship with ex-girlfriend Kristina Fulton.

It's not safe to be an old person...

Have you noticed lately that a lot of old people are dying in really horrible ways? First there was the retirement home in Louisiana that flooded and killed 35 of the people left in there (and just for the record, I hope the people responsible for that are placed in a large glass tank filled with those bugs that clean flesh off of bones for forensic teams). Then there was the awful bus fire that happened while trying to get the elderly out of Houston before hurricaine Rita. Now I just found out that about 49 of the people on that tour boat in NY were senior citizens on a pleasure cruise. How freaky is that? Note to self: When I get old, I'm not leaving the house.

Anyway. I had a plesant weekend, sort of. Friday night after work, I went home with the express purpose of working on my proposal. I fell asleep for a while, and then I got down to business. Steve was out to dinner with some friends of ours (I had to beg off to study. I swear, if I don't get out of school soon, I'm not going to have any friends left!) so I had the house to myself. I got quite a bit of work done as far as research, but I got sleepy again and so didn't get it finished.

Saturday I was going to finish the stupid thing in the morning, but I got caught up watching a marathon of Smallville. I really like the show, but I get frustrated easily with it because it contradicts its self so often. I usually just walk out of the room so as not to try to get into a deep philosophical conversations about the inner workings of Superman. It's really not worth it! That night Steve, Greg, Shannon and I went to see The Corpse Bride, and I really liked it. Much like other Tim Burton movies, it was plesantly macabre. I found out that it is based on a legend based on a true story, of sorts. I mean, the story told isn't true, but apparently once upon a time anti-sematism was so bad in this one place (Russia, maybe?) that some people would waylay Jewish wedding parties and kill the bride and bury them on the side of the road in their wedding dresses. Ew. That is where the original legend was born and THAT is what the movie was based on. Anyway, it was actually cute, in a Stephen King-ish sort of way.

Sunday was the norm. Church and my parent's house for lunch. I got totally burned by my 11 year old nephew, Logan. I wouldn't normally think it was funny, but it WAS funny coming from him. He was sitting there eating and said "My face hurts!" I think he had a sunburn. I looked at him and said "Well, a face like that ought to hurt." He laughed and said "Does your face hurt, Aunt Kelly?" I said no, and he said "Well, it sure is killing me." I was not expecting that! Spoken like a true smart-***. : ) I also threw a football with my dad, and I've come to realize that I might not have been half bad with sports if I had ever had the inclination to play them. I mean, my 7 year old nephew is better than me, but I'm not totally hopeless. I went back home to finish the paper, and I finally did in time to watch MORE Smallville (on DVD) and have dinner. I really, really hate MLA style bibliographies. REALLY!

That's about it I guess. It wasn't a bad weekend at all, but it would have been a thousand times nicer if I didn't have the homework! All life is like that, I guess. It makes me wonder if I really want to go back and get my masters, after all!

I can't believe it. I've been Lizard Kinged again.

Anyway...

Well, I didn't start on my paper last night. I was going to take a power nap before I got started, and it raged out of control. Oh well, I had done an outline (look at me being all organized) so hopefully doing the actual writing of the paper will not be so difficult. It's just a proposal, after all. The actual research paper will be what will take so long. Good thing it's not due until December.

I've been sitting here are work looking at the pictures that I took in Florida earlier this year. I want to be back in Key West! I wish I had the ability to snap my fingers and just be wherever I wanted to go. I'd go to Key West for lunch, and be extremely rude to the snotty people at that cafe where Steve and I ate that day. Then I'd go shopping and visit Hemmingway's house. After all that, I'd watch the sun set with my feet in the water.

How awesome would that be? You could go anywhere on a whim, and still be home in time to see CSI! Eh, oh well.

Isn't it enough that I can't go and see a movie without having to sit through one of the commercials? Now there is a giant billboard on my way to work, featuring the asinine FANTA girls. Well, it isn't so much the girls on the commercials, it's the freakishly catchy jingle: "You look hot in all that plaster, drink some FANTA, faster, FASTER!" Oy vey...

I'm freezing! Guess who walked out of the house today wearing a sleeveless top? Steve said it was cool, but I thought he meant it's "cooler" than it has been. I didn't know we would be getting a brisk northern wind that has required me to wear the only jacket I had with me, my paint stained lab coat. I look really cute in my nice office clothes and my smock. : )

I'm going to be starting on my research proposal tonight. I think I've finally got everything pinned down. I hope so anyways. I don't think this semester can end soon enough for me. I'm weary...not just tired, weary. Not only that, but I've been too tired to wax my eyebrows. You can always tell how busy I've been by the state of my eyebrows! People are beginning to yell "Heeeeey Burt!" at me when I walk down the halls. heeheehee.

I haven't heard from my sick friend lately. Her dad said she was comming home last friday if nothing happened. I don't know where she is or how she is, so I hope I hear from her soon. I would call her dad, but I'm too embarrassed. I called one morning and pulled him out of court. His phone isn't very loud, so I didn't hear him say he was in court, so I just kept on talking to him. He had to cut me off and tell me again what he was doing. He probably thinks I'm a half-wit. : ( Keep the prayers up for her, if you don't mind. As soon as I know something, I'll let everyone know.

OH! Yesterday I found out that the maintenance crew will be buying a couple of small fountains for the SpRocket, and they want me to paint them! Granted, I'm just turning what used to be golf balls into planets, but I'm still excited! I've always wanted my work to be in a museum. Funny, this isn't exactly how I pictured it...

Random things going through my head when I should be working...

1) In the movie "Day After Tomorrow" something bothered me. Well, besides the obviously unreal premise of an ice age developing in 24 hours. What really bothered me was the fact that the people who stayed in the library were burning books, which as we all know are made of paper and vellum and burn rather quickly. However, it seemed to escape everyone who was gathering books to burn that there were literally hundreds of tables and chairs made of wood that would have made better fuel that lasted longer AND saved the rare books that they burned.

2) I think I have the flu.

3) My computer was new in 1998. I know this because it's registered to someone who was fired in 1999, and she had used it for a long while. The software I run has had at least 5 upgrades since it was published, and the OS has been upgraded to a completely different format than I currently have. I have to reboot my computer every time I plug the USB memory stick into the keyboard, and if I'm running two programs at the same time, and I get an e-mail, the computer freezes and I have to restart it. Now, think of all of this, and please tell me why they STILL haven't gotten that new computer that's been dangled in front of my face like the proverbial carrot for two months.

4) I was looking at some pictures of DragonCon on the internet, and I'm now fully convinced that all it is is a contest to see who can be the most naked in public without getting arrested. Also, I think I saw my art history teacher in a dominatrix outfit on the website. I might be wrong, but I'm certainly not going back to make sure. *Shudder*

5) Why is it that when I'm at church, the one song that never fails to get stuck in my head is the song "Shanty". It's a Jimmy Buffett-esque song about smoking marajuana that is played occasionally on the radio station I listen to. Needless to say, that isn't a song a southern Baptist church needs to have sung while I'm picking up the attendance records!

6) I bought a pair of pants from the GAP that I think were originally conceived as a cruel joke. I like to call them "Combination Lock" pants. Apparently, it's not enough to have a zipper and a button like most pairs of pants, OH NO! We have to have 2 hooks, a flappy thing, an inside button and a zipper. It's like breaking into Fort Knox whenever you have to go to the bathroom, not to mention the added obstacle of wearing a belt. I have to know an hour ahead of time when I've got to go to get everything unhooked. DRAT THE PANTS!

7) Speaking of the GAP, they also seem to have a whole lot of these "Ultra Low Rise" pants that are basically just the leg part of jeans. I believe in the west they are called "chaps". I don't know, maybe I'm just a little bitter that I'm not so dainty that I can wear these things, but when I go to school and see the girls who's pants don't come up far enough, it makes me want to buy an industrial strength container of butt crack spackle and seal them all up. Civilized people shouldn't have to deal with gratuitus butt cracks on a daily basis.

That is all, now back to work!

Weekend Update!

Steve and I left early from work on Friday so that we could take a trip to GA to visit his cousins. It seemed to take us forever to get there, but we finally made it to Canton by 10:00, I think. We stayed with Greg and Kristin and their little girl, Grace. We had a very nice time. Saturday, we went to a thing called Riverfest, which is an arts and crafts festival, similar to Panoply, but not nearly as big, and we went to Williams Brothers BBQ for lunch. Poor Kristin was sick the whole time because she is pregnant and for some reason stays nausiated. I felt bad for her having to be out! When we got back, Greg and Steve grilled hamburgers and we ate while we watched the Georgia/MSU game. I know, I know, I threatened to stab my eyes out if I ever watched another football game, but unfortunately for me they have a small child and don't leave sharp objects just lying around. : ) Actually, it wasn't that bad. Greg is fun to watch when a Georgia game is on. Kristin also lent me a book, so I kept myself entertained. After the game, we attempted to play a game, but we were all so tired that we didn't stay up for long. Sunday was a lazy day until the afternoon because we had a small birthday party for Katie, Amy and Jon's little girl. It was good to see everyone again, because I probably won't get to see them until Thanksgiving due to school.

Grace didn't know what to think about me at first. I look a lot like her mom, so the first thing she said to me was MA-ma? It was funny. The rest of the day she just looked out of the corner of her eyes at me and said "Hey". By Sunday morning, she had decided I wasn't dangerous, so she let me hold her and we watched TV together some.

They also have a herd of bulldog puppies from their dog Petunia. They were so cute! I tried getting one into my luggage, but it was too wiggly. They were like little wrinkled paranah, all traveling in a group and gnawing the heck out of anything that stood still long enough!

At any rate, we really enjoyed our trip!

I DON'T WANNA GROW UP...

Last night we had so much fun.

Steve, Josh and I went to dinner at Carrabbas at Parkway Place mall and completely acted goofy during the whole meal. Normally at least Steve will retain some dignity, but even he was being silly. We had some good food, we laughed, and we even got the waitress in on it. Somehow, something got messed up with our order, so we got a free dessert that we all shared. It was so nice to just not have to worry what anyone thought. Unfortunately, because I went out, I didn't do my Algebra homework, so I skipped class today. See, I shouldn't be allowed out on a school night! SIGH.

I also got a call from an old friend, Jordan, whom I haven't spoken to in a really long time. He was calling to check on our friend who is STILL in the hospital. We ended up talking for a long time, and it was nice to catch up. He now has his PhD and is a professor at Jacksonville State University, and married with two kids. Yeah, he made me feel both old and unaccomplished. Oh well, I always knew he'd be successful, so good for him!

I got my haircut last night, much to the chagrin of my husband. He doesn't like short hair on women, but after I explained that I was just getting the dead ends cut off, he calmed down. I've finally got all the black dye cut out, thank goodness. I don't know what I was thinking when I dyed my hair that color! I'm probably going to color it again sometime, but it definately won't be black ever again. I'm too old to look goth.

Speaking of goth...I took my Medieval Art exam yesterday and I think I did okay. I mean, I don't think I'm going to be making straight A's, but hopefully I'll pass it fine. I remembered all of the churches and relicquaries and whatever, it will just all depend on weather or not my teacher will like my essay style. Keeping my fingers crossed on that. I think I've also found a subject for my research paper, but I will have to see if I can find some good scholarly articals on it. The southern wall fresco in the Giotto Arena Chapel in Rome will be what I work on unless I can't find any acceptable information about it. Let's hope that isn't the case.

Well, I need to get to work!

Just a suggestion, but if you are going to be trendy and wear a super-short mini skirt, it might be best if you didn't ride a bicycle.

Please.

Oh yeah, and just in case you're wondering, the jello is all about me. Not you. I want to make that clear before someone asked or assumed they knew what I was talking about.

I'm supposed to be studying for a history exam I'm having tomorrow, but I keep going off on tangents. I shouldn't have had that caffeinated grapefruit juice. Yes, it does exist.

As a study guide, I've been looking up stuff on the Book of Matthew and the Infancy Gospel of James. The book of Matthew I'm familliar with, the other one - not so much. Isn't it strange how certain things made it into the bible, and other stuff didn't? I guess the IGJ didn't make it because it didn't directly deal with the formation of Christianity, but it was interesting.

I've also decided I'm going to Conneticut! Well, okay, I'm not actually going, but I'd like to. Apparently at the Yale Univeristy Art Gallery, they have the remains of one of the first Christian worship houses there. I'd love to see that. Of course, I sincerely don't see myself going to CT ever, so I'll probably just have to look at it on the internet. I think I'll be okay with that.

I haven't been very productive since I got home today. I've painted my toe nails and finger nails, watched a show called "Bones" and talked to my cousin Cheri on the phone for a while. Apparently I'm not meant to study, but I'll get it done before I go to sleep. I hope.

I had such a frustrating day! I thought it would all be gravy, because everything I had left to do at work is on hold while I wait for supplies. I'm thinking, cool, because I had class and knew it wouldn't be a very productive day anyways. The first thing I got was a forwarded e-mail that someone had sent my boss asking for more labels for plasma screens that were donated to the SpRocket. Needing more lables wasn't the problem, but the subtle insinuation that I had asked someone else to do my job was what bothered me. I can't help it that I'm short and don't have the proper keys to open exhibits. Dang it Jim, I'm a designer, not an exhibit maintenance man! So I have to explain to my boss that I wasn't being a slacker. Then one thing after the other comes in with the wrong word on it, or a word that was seperated, or a misspelling. Suddenly I'm eyeball deep in stuff I've got to fix, and no time to get it done before my printing class. I think someone, somewhere out there, has stolen my good day mojo. I will get it back, oh yes, I will get it back!

Okay, enough of this. I need to get to work.

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES, SIR.

If you guessed I just came back from Algebra class, you'd be right. This time, I know I wasn't the only one confused. The teacher came in about 15 or 20 minutes late, and talked a mile a minute practically without stopping to explain what she was doing, and then she told us that being told how to do it wasn't going to help us learn, actually doing the work would. The majority of the class just sat there glassy eyed until it was time to leave. I've already got an idea for a t-shirt I'm going to make to wear to this class: CAUTION Art Student Please do not confuse.

That which does not kill me, only makes me more creative. : )

Speaking of class...I'm horrified at what I did to my lithograph. I finished my first project on friday evening so that I would have it done by today. I know this will not make sense, but I didn't really look at my drawing closely when I finished it. I put on the finishing touches, said "There" and printed the thing, still not looking very closely at what I had done. I knew I wanted to watercolor one of them so that I could give it to a friend of mine, so I snagged one of the extras off of the drying rack before I walked out the door, but I still didn't look at it until I got home. As I sat down to get started, I noticed something that has scarred me forever. I had somehow, totally inadvertantly (please believe me), went a little Georgia O'Keefe on my drawing. If you don't know what that means, you have my permission to e-mail me and ask, but I can't write it here. I had to bring the one I was going to paint to work with me today so that I could...um...tone it down before we had our critique. The thing that bothers me the most is not so much that I drew it without realizing it, but that 15 copies of it were on the drying rack for everyone and their grandma to see. Oy.

The rest of the weekend was a little less eventful. Saturday morning, I slept in, which was nice, and Steve and I slothed around until about noon. We were suppoed to pick his parents up from the airport at 5 and he was going to mow their lawn if it needed it, so we packed up and drove across town to hang out at their place until it was time to get them. When we got there, the lawn didn't need to be mowed, and Steve didn't want to stay there for 4 hours twiddling his thumbs (even though that's what he was going to do at home), and so we used another quarter tank of gas to drive home. I've also learned that when Steve knows I'm irritated, he buys me ice cream. I don't know if it made me less irritated, but trying to get a milk shake from Brewsters to come up through the straw certainly kept me too occupied to complain. I was going to have to study history that night, so I got my two books and started to read. Eventually I woke up with my face nose down on my text book and Steve gone to get his parents. Then it dawned on me that I didn't even know what I was supposed to be studying because my exam guide was in my car, so I run out to get it and find that Steve had taken my Durango. He came home breifly to bring my backpack to me before he left again to hang out with Josh, so I was finally able to get a little studying done.

Sunday we were having our church picnic, so I stayed in the kitchen during service taking care of the barbeque. We went to Ditto Landing, which is a lovely little marina on the banks of the Tennessee River, and we ate and had a very nice afternoon. I served lunch to what seemed to be a thousand people! I was glad so many people showed up. After lunch was over, I put on my other hat of "Church Historian" and took pictures for the scrapbook. At some point, I got myself involved in a volleyball game, and apparently I am pretty good at serving. My team won both times...GO US! *spirit fingers* ; ) Later on that afternoon, I tried to get some more studying in since we were going to have dinner with our friends, and once again found myself waking up with my face literally stuck in a book. I had to get up and changed, and we met everyone at Beauregard's (yum). It was Steve and I, Joos, Twan, Chani and Bud (or Josh, Anthony, Shannon and Greg, if you prefer). We ate and then went to BAM and sat outside and talked. It was a lot of fun. I don't have much time to do that kind of stuff this semester, so blowing off a little steam is a relief.

For those who care, I am finally on my way to being all Zen again. In the past couple of posts, I've been sad for no forseeable reason, but I've finally realized what has been bothering me. It's nothing that anyone else would give a fig about, so I won't elaborate, but I've picked it over in my brain, prayed about it, and now I'm learning how to deal with it. It's not that it will bother me less or be any less disappointing, but I've decided that I'm not going to let it be something that will color my mood in every other part of my life. I'm learning that sometimes, you have to seperate things into little compartments, like a lunchroom tray. It keeps the peas from getting into the mashed potatoes, and the salsbury steak doesn't get jello on it. I refuse to let the jello get out of it's compartment! In a couple of weeks, the jello may be everywhere, but right now, it's where it needs to be. : )

Well, I need to go find some work to do.

Jason, the magnificently talented graphic designer I work with (you happy now?), and I showed up for work today pookie dressed. Jeans, sneakers, and navy blue t-shirts. Awwww, we're so cute.

This just confirms my fear that he has hidden a camera somewhere in my home.

You know, I like "She Bangs" by Ricky Martin and I don't care who knows it. I like it LOUD and I like it often, and the only thing that makes it better is car dancing to it on my way to work!

I finished the HR stuff I was working on, finally. I skipped class this afternoon to get it done, and I'm kind of glad I did. I felt guilty for getting so far behind! Now I just need to get my prints done and think of a subject for my paper and I'll be all caught up. At least until my next assignments come in.

I got my test back today and fortunately I didn't fail. I did make a 75, so that's good, but I wish I had done better. The teacher said the class average was a 70, so maybe it wasn't just me freaking out over a test. I found out that a girl in my class has a husband in Iraq right now, and she was worried about him the day she took that test because he told her he would have to take a class on "How to be a good Hostage." I was all, huh, well, that trumps me being tired, I guess.

I'm still feeling weird and sad. I wish it would stop because there are two things I do when I"m sad: Shop and eat. I can't afford to do much of either of them! I did both in abundance today. Yesterday I felt it necessary to go to Cold Stone Creamery. That place has the best ice cream in the world. At least I've cut back to once a month at that place. I could eat there every day if it wasn't liable to put me into a sugar coma. I've GOT to stop eating so many sweet things.

Yeah, like that's going to happen. : )

The world has turned to boogers...again.

I had my first math test today, and I can honestly say that I probably flunked it or at least got a lower grade than I should have. I don't know what happens to me with math tests, I just go completely blank. It's like, "Interger...what's an interger?! Numbers? What are Numbers!!! FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, WHERE AM I?" I left school feeling sick.

I think it was partly because I was feeling weird today. I can't really explain it except to say it was like I had gotten mind numbingly bad news and couldn't fully process it. I mean, I didn't get any bad news at all, but I felt like I had lost my best friend or something. I was really sad, on the verge of tears a couple of times, but I didn't have a real reason to be. Just weird. Who knows, maybe it's the barometric pressure or something. Heh, if that's the case, next I'll be freaking out right before thunderstorms. : )

I started my lithography project today. I've gotten everything done except for printing. All I need is 10 good prints, so hopefully I won't screw anything up too badly and I can get it done quickly. Anyone want a lithograph of a drawing of a sea shell?

I'm working late tonight to get some things printed before tomorrow. I've gotten way behind because of school, and I feel bad. I don't like looking like a slacker unless I mean to be a slacker! I just don't want my boss to regret hiring someone who is in school. There is another firework display here tonight, so I may stick around to see that...or not. I don't know. I should probably get home and fix dinner or something. Lord knows Steve won't do it. He's in school until late and he doesn't usually have any more time than I do.

Does anyone have an idea on what I can do for a research project in Medieval Art History? It can be anything that isn't too broad of a subject. I need some inspiration. I've been thinking of doing something on Santa Costanza in Rome or some kind of thing about funerary art in the catacombs, but I'm having trouble pinning something specific down.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.

York Peppermint Patty: 9.5 on the nummy scale. Had a very linear and Sci-Fi channel worthy nightmare that wasn't too scary, but was definately disturbing. Well, all but the end anyways, and it was kind of funny. I'll skip everything until right before I woke up. I was captured by the general of whatever army I was a part of and I was kneeling in front of him with my hands tied in front of me. I know I was scared to death, and the general was pointing some kind of weapon at me, and I knew he was about to kill me. As he was raising the weapon, he looked down at me and said "You asked about your father...I AM YOUR FATHER!" I looked up and said, "That's not true, that's IMPOSSIBLE!"

I woke up laughing, and had to wake up Steve and tell him about it. What a time to have a Star Wars flashback!

It's official.

I'm so tired that I've stopped fully functioning. I'm the kind of tired that means I might cry if someone is mean to me or I get frustrated.

I severly underestimated my school/work load this semester. I've only been in school for three weeks and I've already somehow fallen behind. I swear, I just found out about an exam in my history class, and I'm thinking "Over what?" It doesn't seem like we could possibly have learned enough of anything in that class to warrant an exam.

I've got to go home tonight and study Algebra for a test tomorrow. I'm scared. It's been so long since Steve has had this kind of algebra that he doesn't remember most of it.

I hope make it through this semester without getting committed.

But hey, let me look on the bright side. My house didn't wash away, I can walk, I can see, and I have a job. All in all, I don't have it so bad. : )

I learned yet another thing about myself this weekend. It's something I've been struggling with for years, and it's painful for me to admit, but I feel it's important to let everyone know.

*dramatic pause*

I really, really, really, really, don't like football.

Maybe it's the fact that I don't understand it, maybe it's the constant marching band flashbacks it makes me have, but I can finally say it without waffling. I DON'T LIKE FOOTBALL!!!!!!! Thank God that Steve has buddies who will watch it with him because I think if I ever have to sit through another game...ever...I might actually come to the point where I grab a sharp object and poke it as far as it will go into my eye socket. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's stupid to watch and like football, it's just my personal feelings about it. Maybe if I had gone to a college with a team, I might feel differently, but I doubt it. As a child, I always cheered for the team my dad cheered for (Alabama) and as I got older I cheered for the team from the college where most of my friends went (Auburn), but now that I don't have any type of emotional attachment to any college (at least until one of them gives me a freakin' diploma) I couldn't give less of a hoot unless I just didn't hoot at all. I have finally stoped hooting! Steve and I painted the living room on saturday, and he had a succession of college games on all day: Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, and I think he even went searching for LSU. I listened and kept up with what was going on, and except for the really awesome catch by the dude from Alabama, I don't think I could tell you anything that happened. The only thing that I enjoy about watching a game is seeing the yellow line that they put down on the field to keep up with downs (I think). It's just amazing to me that the players can step on it and it doesn't go over their feet!

Anyways, enough about that. I truly hope that all of my football fan friends will forgive me for that.

As for the rest of my weekend, it was...busy. Well, friday night wasn't so bad. Steve and I went to a birthday party for the girlfriend of a guy he works for. I was so out of my element! I didn't know anyone except for the birthday girld and her boyfriend, and at one point I looked up and was absolutely alone! Something happened at his work, so Steve, boyfriend, and other computer guy were gathered around a laptop and everyone else knew one another so they were talking. I was in the middle of a circle of empty chairs! Heeheehee. I think girlfriend felt sorry for me so she asked me to move down and she and I chit-chatted about stuff until Steve was ready to go. We also went to dinner with Josh and had coffee at BAM. I finally found another place that will make a coconut mocha latte, and a great one, at that.

Saturday was busy with painting and cleaning. The living room looks lovely, the kitchen and dining room looks much better, and the bathrooms are a lot less scary. I also worked on my lithography project as much as I could at home. That's pretty much all we did on Saturday.

Sunday was church and I left Steve behind to have lunch with my family. I love my family! They let me be weird without telling me to be quiet. I spent most of the afternoon looking at a coffee table book of seashells with my nephews. Towards the end of the time I was there, they had me giving personality to the shells in the pictures by doing voices in different accents for them. After a while of that, all of my accents start to sound like Rosie Perez! I left their house and had to get groceries and stuff at Target, and when I got home I did Algebra homework. I am now officially the most boring person alive.

At some point, I did actually start working on the new format for my home page, so hopefully that will be done soon.

I've got to get back to work! Ciao!

In an unprecidented move, I have actually updated one of the web pages on my web site without updating the Home page. Call me lazy, call me busy...heck, call me George! Anyways, I added a few new quotes to The Board.

I actually have a few more to add, but I can't seem to remember what they were right now!

Enjoy!

HOW TO MAKE A GREAT ESPRESSO

1) Grind your own coffee beans. In fact, grind them so finely that when you open the top of the grinder, you inhale a lungful of powdered coffee.

2) Spill most of the coffee in the sink while trying to get it into the tiny little coffee filter thing. You don't want to pack it too tight after all.

3) Take the time to clean up all of the coffee you spilled since you know once you've actually achieved making an espresso, you'll forget to do it.

4) Snap the little filter thingie into the machine and turn it on. Please don't fool with the milk frother thing because it will get HOT.

5) Stand around and wait until you see a thin stream of muddy looking water drain into the carafe. Get excited because apparently, this is what espresso looks like when it's being made.

6) Suddenly remember that you forgot to get a cup of milk for the steamer so that you can dilute the evil looking coffee. Grab the closest clean mug and fill it to the top.

7) Run back to the Espresso machine and try to put the mug under the steamer. Realize that the mug you picked is too tall to put under there without spilling milk everywhere.

8) Slide the working (and hot, don't forget) machine to the edge of the table it's sitting on so that you can get the mug under the steamer. Get discouraged when the steamer doesn't work.

9) Remember that the steamer won't work until you turn the steamer knob. Turn the knob.

10) Stand there screaming as the steamer causes the milk to froth into a cloud that overflows the mug, spills down the side of the espresso machine, into the mixing bowls, oven mitts, and box of Top Ramen noodles. Don't let it dawn on you until it's too late to simply move the mug out of the way to prevent this mess.

11) Squirt some chocolate into the giant latte mug you got out of the cabinets and pour in the
milk that is left in the container. Notice that the latte mug is less than half full.

12) Add the shot of espresso. Notice the mug is still less than half full.

13) Clean up the milk that foamed out of the steaming mug. This will take a while since you have to move everything in and around the table. Crawl along the floor looking for where the rag dripped on the way to the sink. Clean that up with a second rag.

14) Taste the drink which is now cold. Shudder. Decide that since you went through the trouble to make it, you'll soldier on.

15) Realize that a latte is supposed to be one part espresso/three parts milk, not the other way around.

16) Decide to get your lattes at Starbucks until you practice more on your new machine.

So let me get this straight...

George Bush is the cause of all of the suffering in New Orleans? This because he cut funding for shoring up the leavee that burst? A leavee that has, for 45 years been known to be too weak and hasn't been replaced or reinforced in all that time? Apparently, Louisiana was waiting until he was in office to fix it. Well, that only makes sense, I suppose. He's easier to blame if something goes wrong than the public works department, or anyone else that might have gotten it reinforced in the past FOURTY-FIVE FREAKIN' YEARS!!!

Or it could be that he's the whole cause of it because he hates black people. We all know he does, otherwise he would have jumped into the nearest phone booth, pulled on his Super W suit and flew straight into New Orleans and single handedly rescued all of the people there. Otherwise he would have crossed his arms and blinked his eyes and immediately fixed the breach letting all the water in. OTHERWISE, he would have taken a loaf of bread and five fish and fed the multitudes, right?

Or it could be it was because he didn't immediately end the war in Iraq, fly all of the soldiers home and arrange a search and rescue in the 45 minutes after the rain stopped.

Puh-leeze.

Micheal Moore, thou art a jackass.
Jesse Jackson, thou art a bigot and a jackass.

That's all I've got to say about that.

Never in my life has a soft bed and air conditioning been so uncomfortable. I don't know if what I'm feeling is some kind of survivor's guilt, or what. I woke up this morning at 3:00 am, and all I could think about were those poor people who need help. I had to get up and otherwise occupy my mind.

I don't want anyone to think I'm playing the oh-so-sensitive heart bleeder here, because that isn't it. I guess I'm just wondering why I was blessed enough to live in a place where our biggest inconvenience was a few downed limbs and a power outage, when there are babies and old people suffering down there. I don't really feel that it's fair. I don't at all mean that I would want to be in their place, and I hope I never am, but somehow it doesn't seem fair. I guess widespread terror and devastation rarely does, though.

UPDATE

The sky has finally cleared and the sun is shining again...up here at least. I can't believe the utter devistation that has happened along the coast. What makes it even more dumbfounding is that so many people stayed behind. I'm sure they had reasons, and I hope they were good ones. I'm not judging, you understand, I'm just completely bewildered by it. I kept thinking that I wanted to do SOMETHING, but I didn't know what. I'm too terrified by needles to give blood, I didn't know where to donate money, and I'm usually not good in any kind of crisis, so going down there to help was out of the question. My question of what I could do was answered in an e-mail from the employee association. They wanted donations of personal items, baby stuff, and pet food. Therein, I found my niche. If nothing else, in a crisis, I can shop. I still feel like I should do more.

We didn't sustain any damage, really. We lost a few branches from the walnut tree, and leaves were EVERYWHERE. It looked like fall came early, only all of the leaves were green. We lost power for a few hours, too. Steve and I would have never thought about getting up Tuesday morning if he hadn't gotten up to go to the bathroom and noticed the clock was off. I had to go and find my MP3 player, which unfortunately, has a pair of headphones attached that I used when I worked at the radio station (i.e. the Princess Leia hairbuns) to listen to the time and the weather. It was physically impossible to lay down with the headset on, so I decided to go ahead and get up and get ready for work. A lot of places had closed for the day, but not the SpRocket. I swear, on Judgement Day I'm going to have to ask God if he can wait until 5:00 for me to get there, because we WILL be open. Steve and I had enough hot water to take showers, but no lights to see about getting ready. I was trying to find clothes that matched and put on makeup, and I couldn't dry my hair, so I got to work looking like Edward Scissorhands. I'm not sure why being darker than normal might have cause this lapse in judgement, but I put on this shirt that I don't normally wear because it's not big enough. I suppose in candlelight, everything looks better, so I didn't think of the ramifications of wearing a button up shirt that was too small. By the time I got to work, I knew that I was in some kind of trouble. To put it delicately, a deep breath could have caused dangerous button projectiles. I kept my lab coat/utility jacket on until I had to leave for school, and I had no problem at first. When I was walking out, a security guard stopped me to ask a question, and while I was talking to him, I noticed a breeze. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what happened. I can thank God that I was holding the proof of a sign, so I just held it up and kept my composure. The last thing I wanted to do was bring attention to my...plight. Before I went to school, and it made me late, I had to go to Wal-Mart and buy a shirt to put on. It took me all of five minutes to buy it, but then I realized I didn't have a place to change, so I figured I'd do it in my car. Trying to be suave about it, I pulled the t-shirt over my head and over the shirt I was wearing. That being done, I had to figure out how to get the other shirt off. Let me just say that if anyone tells you that they were in the Wa-Mart parking lot, and they saw a woman in the front seat of a Durango who looked like she was having a fist fight with herself, that was me. I finally got situated, and I think I will be burning the evil shirt that started the whole mess.

Anyways.

As for the weekend, it was busy. We were having the Saturn/Apollo Reunion here at work, and I was slammed with sign requests. It wouldn't have been so bad, but two of the printer heads on our fancy printer went out, so I had to figure out how to make decent signs with only yellow and magenta ink, and vinyl. It wasn't easy. I was busy at work, and then ran to church to help serve the dinner for the Teacher's Appreciation thingie. Hardly anyone came, shame on them, but we had enough there to actually feed. After cleaning, I took the balloons and sucked the helium out of them and sang Ella Fitzgerald songs. I'm sure that the other ladies wished I did more cleaning. : )

Saturday was a series of unfortunate events for Steve. It didn't start out that way. I think we will have to give him the fourth Bless-His-Heart Award. We spent the morning cleaning the living room and working in the yard. I was doing the living room, and I was doing a meticulous job, starting in one corner, moving furniture, hanging pictures, and dusting. By the time I got to the other end of the room, it looked great. Steve decided he would work on filling in the doorway that he sealed up, so he taped a sheet of plastic over the electronics nook and started sanding...with a power sander. While he was doing this, I was happily ignorant doing my homework back in the bedroom. After a while, Steve came in COVERED with white powder. He told me he needed help cleaning up because he had made a mess. I told him I was doing my homework, and he'd have to do it himself. I will spare you the blow by blow, but after he came back in and told me I HAD to help, and I threw a fit about never finishing college and spending my life cleaning up his messes, I walked into the living room and saw what had happened. Apparently, it isn't possible to vaccum up plaster dust because the vaccume cleaner will suck it up, and blow it back out with the exhaust all over the place. Our living room looked like your stereotypical haunted houses, covered in thick dust and hazy. I will still mad at being made to clean up when I had other things to do, which in turn caused Steve to get more mad at me for fussing, and in his haste to get away from me and into the garage, he shattered the window on the kitchen-to-garage door...and he was barefoot. So there he is, trying to clean up glass, and just as he got it all up, he opened up the door again, and a shard of glass fell and stabbed him in the arm. By this point, I realized that trying to clean the living room when stuff is still flying about in the air and resettling, was moot, I went to help him clean up the new glass while he cleaned up his arm. After that, he was completely out of it, running into things, spilling things, and etc. I was glad when we finally got done and left to see his parents. I was afraid he would kill himself. All together now: BLESS HIS HEART!

Sunday was pretty uneventful, save for the fact I forgot that wearing black pants is bad when all things in the living room are coated with white powder. I had white handprints on my rear-end where I was looking for something in my pocket. Nice.

...I'M JUST LOOKIN' FOR SOME TUSCHE

Don't get scared, tusche is a type of lithography material. When Mr. Crouse was talking about it, I couldn't help but think of that song by ZZ Top. I guess I should be grateful that I didn't start to sing it out loud!

School is actually kind of scary this semester. My Medieval (I can never remember how to spell that) Art class is going to be a lot of reading and researching, and we have to do a research paper and presentation. She gave us an assignment on our first day which was to read the first 12 pages of our textbook and the book of Matthew. I was all, Huh? I've never been told to read the bible as an assignment! Math is...evil. I don't even want to think about it. Lithography seems like it's going to be both interesting and HARD. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it better than I did intaglio. It's just going to be more time consuming, but what else do I have to do in my spare time? : )

One of the things I've liked about going back to school in the fall is to see the new freshman coming to school in their new clothes, looking all scared. It's so funny to see those girls trying to slog from class to class across campus in their skimpy little dresses and pointy, high heeled shoes. It's even funnier to see them by the end of the semester when most of them end up coming to class in pajamas or have embraced some kind of Goth subculture and have tattoos and strange piercings. College can warp people fairly solidly during the freshman year.

In Other News...

I am actually so horrified by something I've recently done that I can't tell you what it is. I know you're wondering why I even brought it up on my blog if I'm not going to tell you what it is. My answer to that is because I need to vent a little. However, since I can't be specific about what I did, it isn't going to be very cathartic. The reader's digest condensed version is that I assumed something...and, well, made good on the old cliche about assuming things. I wish I could climb under my desk and hide fr a couple of months.

I can, however, tell you another embarrassing thing that I've done lately. You may not see why I'm so embarassed, but I am. As I've mentioned before, sometimes if I get bored, I will plug in names of people I haven't seen in a while to see if I can find anything about them on the internet. I know that's sad, but we all do weird things when we are bored. Anyway, I found this friend on a web site for his school's 10 year reunion. I thought it might be nice to see if I could get his e-mail address and drop him a line, just to see what was going on. Well, when I clicked on the link it said I had to become a member to access the information, which was on a Yahoo message board. Well, I have an e-mail address for Yahoo that I never use because I had created the account to play a joke on a former co-worker and so I plugged that in and hit submit thinking I could just jump in there and snag the address and jump out. It said since I hadn't used it in a while, I'd need to change a couple of things, which I did to regain access, and it basically told me that it had sent my request to join the XX High School Reunion group to the administrator for access. My friend (or used-to-be-my-friend) would be one of the administrators. It wouldn't be so bad since I didn't have my name on the e-mail account and the address is something that doesn't even remotely describe me, but my "secondary" e-mail address is one that I have had since I knew him back in the day. Now instead of just getting his address (which I now have access to) I'm too scared to do anything that might draw attention to myself or my screen name because I don't want to think I am stalking him. I also don't know how to remove myself from the list, and even if I did, I don't want to send another e-mail in case he recognizes me. What is the problem, you ask, since your original intent was to get the address anyways. It would be one thing if I had just been able to get his address and e-mail him on my own, but now it looks like I'm trying to be sneaky or something by joining his class reunion board. How in the world do I get into stuff like that?

UGG!

I talked to my friend's dad, and he says that her life is out of danger. Can you say "Whew"? Although she isn't doing well at all, she has gotten passed the worst part of he sickness and should be on her way to recovering. Her dad said she had three surgeries within three days, and will probably have to have a couple more. I'm glad she's doing better, even if she isn't well yet.

I felt like a complete idiot while talking to my friend's stepmom. I called their home number to see if I could get Sara's cell phone number (her mom was carrying the phone). When I got in touch with her, I kept stumbling over what I was trying to say, called her by the wrong name, and almost hung up before she could tell me how my friend was. I can't believe I used to have a job where I talked on the phone for a living.

I've got to leave for school in a little while. I have my history class today, and my other two classes tomorrow. SIGH.

I've also got to go outside and replace some signs, but I want to put it off until after I get back from school because I don't want to show up to class looking hot and sweaty. I hate summer.

Apparently, Steve likes his new bed. He was putting it together before I made it home, and I got there just in time to see that he didn't hurt himself dragging the matress/box springs across the hall. Actually, I got there in time for him to literally pin me against the wall with the matress. I guess he thought it would keep me out of the way! : ) Before I got a chance to put any sheets or anything on it, he had already lain down and fallen asleep. I figured he would wake up in time to have dinner, so I made burritos (one of his favorites). He didn't get up. So I put on a movie, BeetleJuice, and watched it as I ate. I figured he would wake up eventually, so I worked on the church scrapbook (sadly far behind because of me), and desperately tried to figure our how to make the pages look decent. I don't think I'm doing a very good job. It's weird. I am a graphic design artist, but I can't get the hang of scrapbooking. Eh, it's a soccermom past time anyways. ; ) At any rate, he didn't get up, so I had to throw away most of the food that had been sitting out for several hours. Wasteful hastered. I don't really HAVE to spend time with him I guess... heeheehee.

I called the hospital in Birmingham to check on my friend. She is still in SICU. I hope that's just precautionary. I tried e-mailing one of our friends who lives down there and see's here more often than I do, but I haven't heard anything back yet. I suppose it doesn't help that I've never e-mailed him before. I hope he doesn't think I'm spam.

School starts back tomorrow, and I've already started to dread it. I have to take algebra (again). Steve spent quite alot of time trying to explain the reason for variables. Did I understand it? What do you think? Mr. Lee also tried to give me an example of why we need variables. He said it was like having a dinner party, but not knowing how many people would be there, so you have to do the math to see how much food everyone should get. I just told him if that was the case, I'd wait for them all to show up, and then order pizza. I hate math.

Otherwise, I have Art History: Medival Art, and Lithography. Three down, five to go. I am so tired of being in school.

Weekend Update.

I wish I could tell you that I had an eventful weekend, but honestly I didn't. If you read my last post, you pretty much know about the most eventful thing that happened. As for that, I don't have a clue if anything has changed for my friend. I believe that if anything bad had happened since I talked to her mom, someone would have called me, but it's still kinda bad not to know. I supposed I could call the hospital, but I don't want to bother anyone in case she's in a room and sleeping and everything. I'm sure I'll hear something soon.

Friday night, in an attempt to help me not worry about my friend, Steve took me to Cheeburger Cheeburger to have dinner with Josh, and afterwards to Sweet Dreams Cafe where I preceeded to eat a piece of cake the size of my head. I truly, truly wish I cold be one of those people who lost their appetite when they were upset. We were also going to see the Dukes of Hazzard movie, but the projection system for that theater was busted, so we went home.

Saturday was one of those fabulously boring days where you don't really have anything to do, so you putter around. I love to putter. I spent most of the day trying to shovel the junk off the bed in the guest room. Angie has given Steve and I her old bed, which is bigger than the one we have now, so we are going to have to switch out mattresses. I never did get the whole thing finished. I never realized just how much junk can accumulate in a room that no one ever uses. While we were eating lunch, we watched a movie called "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zizzou" or something. I had heard it was hysterical, but it was really only mildly funny. One scene in particular made the whole thing worth watching, but I'll let you find it yourself. We had also rented "Saw" which I've heard is good, but we haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Anyways, Steve had fallen asleep after working in the yard, so it was kind of late in the evening when we decided to go out. I wanted to start my christmas shopping, so we went to Marshall's and then we finally got to see The Dukes of Hazzard. In a few words, I liked it, but not in the same way I liked the tv series. My favorite line:

Big Guy: Hey, Hillbilly!
Luke Duke: We prefer the term Appalachian-American.

Maybe you just have to see it to find out why that's funny. : )

We had church the next day, of course. After church last night, we went to the SpRocket Center and watched some fireworks that were being put on for a group of people who were having a party here. Steve and I got to watch them from the roof since my office has roof access. I'm a sucker for fireworks. I wish I had had my camera, because from our angle, I could have gotten some great shots of fireworks going off by the Saturn V. When we left there, I had asked if it would be okay to go by Wal-Mart to get some stuff we needed. I expected a fuss, because Steve hates to shop, but he was oddly willing to go. I was really only going to get a couple of things, but I ended up getting a cart full of stuff. I was going to price espresso machines, because I had looked for some the other day, and the cheapest one was $299. I actually found a small one for $24! I love Wal-Mart. I've had dates there, I've found bargains there...it's a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, we ended up staying at Wal-Mart for a long time, and didn't get home until midnight. We fed the dogs and put them to bed, and before we went to bed, I had a big glass of Ovaltine. I'd never had Ovaltine before, and in my opinion, it has crack in it. It was really good, but after I had it, I couldn't sleep. In fact, I was wired. It was after 2:00 am before I fell asleep, which caused me to be late for work this morning.

I'm not so sure I am having a good day after that. Observe:

After being late, I struggled in and remembered that I had a task that needed to get done fairly quickly, and for some reason it took me all freaking morning to complete. I still hadn't given my boss my school schedule, so I printed that out for him and realized right then that something didn't look right. I was under the impression that I was going to have a class at night twice a week, but instead it's during the work day. Therefore there is another three hours of work a week that I'm going to be missing. It's too late to change the schedule and I need these classes anyways, so I decided to keep what I have. It still makes me mad though. I wasn't going to take a whole hour for lunch to make up for the time I missed this morning, so I went to the Off Campus Book Store to get my stuff for school (which starts wednesday). I had to go get my books for school which didn't take that long, but when I stopped at another place to get a gift for someone, I ended up standing in line for a while, realizing that it had begun to pour rain, and my windows were open. So I get back into the car and end up sitting in a puddle. When I got back to the office, I hadn't heard from my boss about the draft of a project I sent him, so I've been kind of twiddling my thumbs. I'm probably forgetting to do something as we speak.

One good thing did happen, though. I got my Campus Trial Pack when I bought my books. I know this is sad, but I love samples of stuff. I've decided that the only reason I'm still in college is to get the Campus Trial Pack once a year! : )

It's 2:03 am and I can't sleep. It has nothing to do with caffine or chocolate tonight, but it has everything to do with being afraid.

When I got home today, I had a message on my machine from the mother of a very, very good friend of mine. She called to tell me that my friend is in the hospital in critical condition due to a rather sudden, and severe, medical problem, and that things aren't looking very good for her.

Deep down inside, in the places where the sun never truly reaches but things are still very clear, I believe she'll be okay. I have to believe it.

All I can think about is that I never sent her a birthday card. That doesn't make sense to me, exactly, but it won't leave me alone.

Her mom said that at one point, they gave her a 50/50 chance, but they're doctors, right? They can fix just about anything. I have to believe that too.

I have a lot of friends, close friends, but I've only had a few that I could tell anything to. She is one of them, and those ranks are already getting thinner every day.

All I can do is pray. Please do the same.

Why is it when I ask a purely hypothetical question, people think I have a hidden agenda? Last night we went out to eat with Josh and Anthony. I decided I wanted to play the "Hypothetical Game" and I asked "If you were going to tell someone something that would make them morally uncomfortable, how would you do it?" No one seemed to get what I meant, so I used the example of "If you were in love with a married woman, would you tell her and how?" All at once they start asking me what married man I was going to tell that I was in love with. Even Steve...STEVE...asked me who I was talking about. I don't think they believed me when I told them it was just a question. I forget that most men don't watch soap operas. One episode of Days of Our Lives, and they would have never questioned my motives. *sound of disgust* I have yet to meet anyone who is fun to play the "Hypothetical Game" with!

You know what I think is funny (besides saying Nibby Bar)? When you run into someone who you know slightly and they don't have a clue who you are, so they desperately look you over while trying to remember where they know you from. This happened to me when I went to pick up some signs. A guy I had a class with was working there and I smiled my friendly I-Know-You smile and said hello and asked how he was. I could tell he recognized me, but didn't know from where, so as he answered me, he's raking me over with his eyes for a clue to figure out how he knows me and he spies my badge. A couple of seconds of staring at my badge, which is on my chest, he realizes that maybe staring at my chest may be a little worse than not knowing my name. After that I decided to let him off the hook and just ask for the signs. He seemed relieved. : )

Do you remember when I told you about my troublesome thumb? At first I thought that I might just be getting old age pains, but I've finally figured out what has caused it. I have a repeatative motion injury, kind of like tennis elbow. Except my injury didn't come from anything quite as noble as tennis. I got it from crocheting. I have a crocheting injury. That is the saddest thing I've ever heard.

Hershey's Special Dark Kisses - 2 on the nummy scale. No nightmares, but I do believe I got mild food poisoning. I had forgotten how old those things were. I'm still not sure how long I've had them, but I believe it's going on two years. *shudder*

Wow, I'm busy today (she says as she stops everything to write a blog entry)! Actually, I'm busy, but I can only go as fast as the plotter can print, so I have a few minutes. I got slammed with a rather sign saturated night function job that requires 7 signs and I haven't been able to print any of them yet because my boss is printing giant "First To The Moon" License plates for some kind of kick-off thing.

I finally got to see the pictures I took in California. You probably think that's weird since they were digital, but Steve has had them on his lap top, so I wasn't able to see them until yesterday. If I do say so, some of them turned out excellent. My favorite ones are the ones from Bodie, NV, which was the ghost town we visited. They are a little over exposed looking because the sun was BRIGHT, but it gives them character.

My friend Jason (or Father Hatfield as I will think of him from now on) and I were just talking about that sci-Fi channel show "Ghost Hunters". If you aren't familliar with that show, it follows TAPS, or The Atlantic Paranormal Society (I think) who are people who go into supposedly haunted places and try to determine if there is actually any ghosts there. I'm both fascinated and scared by it. Steve fell asleep early and left me all alone to watch it by myself, and it was scarier than usual because the big guy on the show even got spooked, and he is never shaken by anything. I was also doing dishes and running back and forth to see what was going on, so I missed some stuff. Jason was filling me in on what I missed. Then everyone went to lunch, leaving me alone up here. About the time everyone leaves, WTAK starts playing "Don't Fear the Reaper". Nice timing, you guys. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to start calling Jason during Ghost Hunters so that I can be safe, and if Jason hears me scream and drop the phone, maybe he'll call the police. With Steve being alseep, he wouldn't hear me. He sleeps like the dead.

Sherffin-Berger Nibby Bar (heeheehee) - 5 on the nummy scale, produced nightmare that didn't scare me, but freaked out everyone I told about it.

This has been a freakishly long day. I keep thinking that it's almost time to go, but when I look at the clock, only about 15 minutes will have passed.

Last night I went home and mowed the lawn. It looked like a jungle since we weren't able to mow it last week. I had looked at the weather online before I went out to mow, and I saw a bunch of the color splotchies headed our way. It was still far enough off that I knew I could, at least, get the front done, but I was going to have to hurry. I was doing pretty good (and getting all Zen again, which I tend to do when I mow) but I noticed the sun was getting dimmer, and I just knew it was going to rain. So I put the mower into one of the highest gears and start playing Death Race 2000 with the grass. I had no idea that the riding mower could pull so many Gs! So I'm finally done and I race into the garage and get everything put away...and I realize that the light was getting dimmer because the sun was going down, not because it was fixing to rain! How embarrassing. At any rate, it did rain, finally (a few hours later!)

Steve and I watched the movie White Noise last night. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't scarier, but the EVP stuff was creepy. Out of just about everything ghostly, the EVPs scare me the most. I know in my head that it could be anything making noises that "sound" like words, but I get heebed out about it. The movie, however, didn't make much sense, so even what did scare me was neutralized. Eh...

GRRR.

Why is it when I think I'm all Zen about life, something suddenly comes along to un-zen me? Why is it that these un-zenning things are things that I have no control over, and therefore can not fix or change?

I'm too old for this.

And please don't ask.

PURELY FOR THE SAKE OF SCIENCE

I'm sure I mentioned it a while ago, but for those of you not in the know, I have discovered an actual negative aspect to eating chocolate: Nightmares. *excuse me for a moment while I regain my composure*

Ahem.

Anyways, I had almost forgotten about this because I haven't had any plain chocolate candy (like candy bars or boxes of chocolates) in the house for a while, or at least none that I was eating close enough to bedtime to expirence this side effect. However, on my recent trip out to San Francisco, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit a magical place called Ghirardelli Square. Other chocolate lovers will recognize this name immediately as the second best producer of chocolate in the world (the first being, no surprise, Godiva.) As we were walking down the street, we were handed Ghirardelli coupons that would entitle us to 15% off of any purchase in the official store. Of course, I was not going to be content until I got to go in. It was like Charlie visiting the chocolate factory, without the added bonus of Johnny Depp, but that didn't make it any less wonderful. Of course, Mr. Lee being the generous guy that he is, loaded us up. Since we've returned, we have this chocolate lying about and I can't insult Mr. Ghirardelli by not eating it (even though I had to finally restrict myself to only one square after dinner so that I wouldn't go into sugar shock).

But I digress.

For the past three nights, I have had various levels of nightmares that made me remember that eating chocolate too late in the day plays havoc with my subconcious. Now, luckily, these aren't the kind of nightmares that trouble me all day. These are just mildly disturbing ones that bother me for a moment after I wake up and then start to fade immediately. Well, except for the breif edge-of-sleep one I had two days ago about the children in the Donner Party, but that is another post all together. At any rate, relizing this has given me a desire to preform an expirement to see what kinds of dreams different kinds of chocolate make me have. I know, I know, you're probably thinking that it is very gallant to sacrifice myself in such a way, but I'm willing to do this so that others may benefit from it. Heeheehee. Yeah, right. However, I am actually curious if it is true of all kinds of chocolate, or just the better grades of it, or what. If any of you can give me some chemical information about different grades of chocolate, I'd truly appreciate it. Darn it, Jim, I'm a chocolate lover, not a scientist!

So far, I have gathered this information in which I have placed the chocolate on the Kelly's Nummy Scale and it's dream inducing effects:

***
Godiva - A 10.5 on the nummy scale. Causes violent nightmares that not only scare the poo out of me, but follow me all the way through the day. Has not, however, scared me enough to stop eating it. I can't imagine anything less than finding a roach in one would do that.

Ghirardelli - A 9.5 on the nummy scale. Causes mild nightmares that are somewhat troubling, but start to fade as soon as I wake up.

After 8 Chocolate Mint hot chocolate - An 8 on the nummy scale. Didn't so much give me nightmares as made me have dreams that made me mad. Also, made me feel like I had a hangover when I woke up. Not quite sure why.
***

Next I shall be working with the Scherfin-Berger Nibby Bar. I can't see that this will be too bad. Just saying Nibby Bar makes me laugh! : )

I'll keep you updated!

Well, the Grizwalds are home! As most of you know, Steve and I accompanied his parents on a trip to California last week. We just got in last night, and there is a LOT to tell. I tried recording everything we did on Steve's laptop while we were out there, but I'm not exactly Jack Keroac. It will be too much for me to write as a blog entry, so I'm going to have to create a link from my web page to explain everything! However, I will tell you a few things I learned while traveling this past week:
A) Big cities scare me. I don't care how provencial that makes me sound. Give me Huntsville over San Francisco any day!
B) My prayer life gets way more active when Mr. Lee drives in the mountains.
C) Apparently, when frightened, I curl my toes almost all the way under my foot and make a squeaking noise that no one but Steve seems to hear.
D) Fresno sucks.
E) Apparently, Mono Lake is for lovers.
F) California is the most beautiful place I've ever been.
G) The story about the Donner Party is way more disturbing than I thought it was going to be.
H) The intent to send post cards doesn't always mean I'll do it.
I) I'm not normally agile, but I have the ability to climb large rocks with no problem (with a camera in tow, no less!)
J) People ruin photographs of scenery.
and lastly,
K) It really IS a dry heat!

I'll try to get my trip diary up and running asap! We had a great time and I saw so much! Woo-Hoo!

Weekend Update!

Well, the weekend started out very well. After work I met some friends at a resturaunt where we ate dinner with my former boss, Cathy. It was so good to see her again, because she was always so much fun to work for. we were having a great time, but I think we annoyed some of the other patrons because we were LOUD! I ended up having to leave a lot sooner than everyone else so that I could finish up some pressing things that needed to be done at home, but I had a great time with them. By the time I got home, Steve wasn't there. He had gone to play trivia with some other friends of ours, but he didn't get back until I had already gone to bed.

Saturday was somewhat eventful. My mother's side of the family had a family reunion. I don't normally go to them because my family makes me nervous. I wish I could explain why, but I can't explain it. Anyways, Steve and I drove to Scottsborough and couldn't find the community center, but we had a hard time locating anything that even closely resembled a gathering place. We drove down Broad street for a while until finally something looked familliar. I was drawing on a memory of a place I haven't been in about 14 years, and suprisingly I was right. This is kind of suprising seeing that sometimes I forget what I'm talking about in the middle of a sentence! Anyways, we went in and my Aunt Peggy started introducing us around. I got to meet a lot of people I've heard about, but never knew. Poor Steve starts off by embarrassing himself because he introduced himself as my wife! Heeheehee. I got to hug a ton of people (my family members are notorious huggers) and we had dinner. Steve and I finally made our way out and we visited the Unclaimed Baggage store (where I found a truly beautiful book of fairy tales that was a special printing and I'm sure whomever lost it was sad) and went to a small flea market before coming home. By the time we got home and settled, I got a bad headache and pretty much medicated myself and sat around for the rest of the night and played with the dogs.

Sunday was church and we went to my parent's house and celebrated Seth's 7th birthday. I love my nephews a whole bunch, but I'm seriously thinking that parents should make it a habit to drug and hog-tie children. And people wonder why I am reluctant to spawn any of my own! I also had another bout of "Kelly Can't Dress Herself" sunday morning. When we got home from morning worship, Steve came into the room while I was changing shoes, and he looked at me weird and said "Your earrings don't match." Now, I know for a fact that my earrings matched. I picked out a pair specifically to match what I was wearing and remembered putting them on. The first thing I thought was "Stupid men..." but I said, "They do too! I picked them out on purpose." Well, he reached out and took a hold of one of them and started laughing. He said "Well, they would match if this wasn't in them." Apparently another dangly earring had gotten caught in the ones I was wearing, and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING!!!! Thinking back, I was wondering why one of them was brushing my shoulder and one wasn't, but I thought that maybe my head wasn't straight or something. SIGH. Oh yeah, and Steve stepped on the hem of my skirt when he stood up to sing, and when I stood up I almost mooned the people behind us. I'm glad I got a hold of it before I embarassed anyone, or myself.