BLOGGED ALONG THE WAY: SAVANNAH, GEORGIA EDITION

PROLOGUE: This is the story about our trip to Savannah and what we did there! It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. It was also very, very hot, and I believe that I finally, honestly earned the title (given to me by Greg P. in 1997) as the "Showerin'-est Taking Person" in the world. I think it's just Georgia, because I don't feel the need to shower twice a day at home. Also, forgive me for the rambling and for leaving out some details, because it was a long and busy trip, but if I remember anything later on, I'll tell you about it! Enjoy! :)

FRIDAY JUNE 19, 2009 - We almost overslept this morning! I apparently learned to turn off the alarm in my sleep, because Steve and I both woke up about an hour and a half later than we had intended. We had a lot to do today, and I was afraid we had gotten off on the wrong foot. Luckily, we didn't do too bad. The first order of business, of course, was to take the fuzzy ones to the "resort". Although we had a little trouble at first, surprisingly they acted nicer than usual, except for a brief moment where a new dog came into the waiting room and I got super-nosed in the butt. That was no fun at all! Butler was also going to have his teeth cleaned, so we had to meet with one of the surgical interns to sign some paperwork. We didn't tell Butler that he was getting dental work because he still doesn't trust us after the last time that they pulled his tooth! We had a major buzz kill while waiting to be taken back to see the intern. This older lady comes in with a chihuahua wrapped in a towel, and the lady was crying. She had brought the dog in to be put down, but we didn't hear why. Steve and I felt so bad! :(

My phone died last night, and I couldn't find my charging cable anywhere, so in a quick Wal-Mart dash to find a new one (which didn't happen because my phone is so old and outdated that they don't carry that kind anymore) Steve got me a new phone! Shut up, we were desperate. It's a Razor phone, or something like that, and I have no idea how it works or what it sounds like yet. Also, since my old phone was completely dead, I couldn't get into my address book to copy any numbers to the new phone. Steve transferred the old SIM card to the new phone, but none of my numbers transferred over. Luckily I had gotten a text from Kenny the night before and that showed up on my phone, so at least I had HIS number. Of course, his is the most important, right? :) I played around with it for a while while we drove, but I still don't know much about it. I hope I learn before I have an emergency. I don't even know how to actually make it dial out a number, but I'm not going to worry about that yet. I'll figure it out.

Today was the day that we drove across Georgia to get to Savannah! I've been wanting to come here for a long time, but we had never gotten around to it. Now, however, we had a really good reason for the drive because Kenny and Lauren were getting married here! Driving across Georgia takes a long time and we got stuck in a TON of traffic in, you guessed it, Atlanta. I needed to be here at 7:45 pm so that I could eat dinner with the collected friends and family of the bride and groom, and we made it just in time for me to shower, change and get skanky before I had to be there. Steve drove me to The Lady & Sons, because I was too afraid to drive myself at this point, and I ended up being a little bit late and they didn't go in until I got there. I felt so bad! I got to meet a lot of people I've only heard stories about, so that was a lot of fun. The food and the company were both great, but I was beat. I don't know if it was my new allergy medicine or just the toll of the day, but I was a zombie by the time I was done with dinner. Thinking about it now, I'm kind of afraid I came across as rude or something, but I hope I didn't offend anyone, I was mainly just tired. Before I left, though, I caught Kenny for a second and got a chance to carry on the "Best Man" joke that is a tradition in our family. Since Kenny isn't having a Best Man, I got to be the one to offer him the keys to the car for the last minute dash. Of course, he didn't take me up on the offer! Good man! :) I declined joining everyone else at Savannah Smiles, a piano bar close by, and called Steve to come and pick me up. After that we came back and I changed into my jammies, and now I'm writing this post. The wedding is tomorrow, and Steve has all kinds of things planned for us to do while we are here. We've decided to stick around for a few days and make a vacation out of it, so there should be lots more stuff to come!

I dreamed a terrible joke last night:

Q) What did Admiral Akbar say to the gastroenterologist?

A) IT'S A TRACT!

I'm sorry, but I had to share that. I can't believe my subconscious wastes its time thinking those things up. It sounds like something my high school Agriculture teacher would have come up with.*

*He was notorious for the bad jokes.

WHAT I'VE LEARNED DURING MY SUMMER VACATION... (SO FAR)

1) I am completely incapable of applying self tanner! Since I'm going to go to a destination wedding this weekend, and it's going to be as hot as hell in Savannah, I didn't want to have to wear hose with my dress. My main reason for even wearing the God forsaken things is that my legs are so very, very pale and I will not risk skin cancer by going to a tanning bed! A lady at my church told me about a fake tan spray that is supposed to work really well, so I bought a bottle of it. I thought I was following the directions, but apparently I missed a step, because my legs look like I waded through a vat of Cheetos! It's quite unattractive. However, I am going to suck it up and show off my orange-streaky legs with pride! I just hope I don't clash too badly with the flowers at the wedding! :)

2) If I were a stay-at-home wifey, I'd get bored of it very quickly. I like the sleeping late and being able to do my housework in a leisurely manner, but I need regular interaction with other grown up people.

3) Laundry sucks. It sucks a lot. I may get a small sense of accomplishment when I finish folding a basket of clothes, but it's quickly displaced by the knowledge that everything is just going to get dirty again! It's a never ending cycle! Also, I've realized we don't have enough room to store all of our clothes, especially when all of them are clean at the same time.

4) I make awesome brownies!

5) Even when I don't have to go anywhere afterwords, I won't go to the gym like I will on days when I have to go to work after. Apparently I am just not waking up on time to go first thing, and the longer I'm awake, the less likely I am to go. I'm not happy with that at all, so I'm going to have to work on it! Boo!

I work with a guy that scares me a little.

Don't get me wrong, he is a really nice guy, but he has this quality about him that makes me nervous. Before I actually got a chance to meet him, I just saw him around and thought that he was kind of sinister. He's a really tall man who walks hunched over a little, and he has the smile of a super villain/serial killer. I nicknamed him (as I do almost everyone who's name I don't know) Flesh Coat, because he kind of made me think of the bad guy in Silence of the Lambs. I could actually imagine him throwing someone in a pit and telling them to "rub the lotion on the skin." I know that's bad, because we aren't supposed to judge someone by their appearance, but I was powerless to stop it. I actually got a chance to meet him later on and while he still looks kind of scary, at least I'm fairly sure he isn't a serial killer. He is an unusual guy though. He is one of those people who complains a lot about the younger women who talk to him or like him, but you know he's secretly thrilled that they pay attention to him. He also talks a lot about the things he's good at, as if they are kind of burdensome, but you can tell he just wants to let you know what he can do. I've also been told by other men that he works with that he's a complete pervert , but I've never heard him say anything like that. Of course, that may be because I'm WAY too old for him. Not that he's a pedo or anything, but I think I'm about 10 - 12 years too old for his tastes (BTW, he's 6 years older than I, so that makes it creepy).

Anyways, yesterday Steve had to stay at work later than usual, so I got to spend an hour with that guy. A whole hour. We talked, or rather HE talked, a lot. I never really know how to talk to this guy because sometimes he doesn't realize when I'm being silly or sarcastic, so I just spent that hour listening to him, not knowing how to respond/react to him, and praying that Steve would hurry up and get there. At one point he did something strange, and while Flesh Coat's back was turned I leaned over and whispered to the girl sitting next to me that I thought the guy was really weird. I think he heard me. :( I may think he's weird, and he may make me feel uncomfortable, but I certainly didn't want to hurt his feelings! I felt bad. I also realized, too late as it turned out, that while I was talking to him, I had leaned over to look out of the window and the neck of my shirt got pulled down. Way down. Like, super way down. I accidentally flashed Flesh Coat. I'm scared he's going to think I did it on purpose, or worse, tell people I did that on purpose.

*shudder*

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I stayed with my brother Friday night while my mom and her husband went out of town for their anniversary. Things went well! I didn't burn anything down or have to call 911 at any time, so I'd say it was a success! :) Since it's a brand new house, and I have only been there a couple of times anyways, I wasn't familiar with anything or know where anything was. I felt like a burglar most of the time because I had to go through drawers and closets to find things. I like to snoop as much as the next person, but when it's not actually snooping, I feel guilty! I found almost everything I needed, though. Poor Tommy, I don't think he trusts me very much. Any time I would try and do something for him, he'd get this look in his eyes like "Oh, Lord, she's touching me again!" Granted, by the time Angie came to stay with him on Saturday, he was probably sick of me. I can't lift him by myself, so getting him in and out of his wheelchair, or into bed was a chore. I managed it, just barely, but if he could talk, he would probably have cussed me a few times! :) In the process of attempting to lift him, I managed to pull several of the muscles in my back and legs, so that was fun. I've been walking around like Quasimodo since I got back! However, he is still alive, so I didn't do too badly, I don't think!

2) I was so sore Sunday morning, that when I got to church, I needed to take something to help with the pulled muscles. All I had in my purse was Excedrin, so I took that and hoped I'd feel better. I had forgotten that because of the caffeine, Excedrin makes me really shaky, and that was bad because I was supposed to sing the special music during the morning service! Ack! I already get really nervous when I sing, and I get doubly nervous when I sing in morning services because I know the choir is sitting behind me and can see me get shaky. It was really bad this time, though, because of the Excedrin, and no matter how much I tried not to shake, it just kept getting worse! At one point, I grabbed on to the pulpit to keep my hand still, and that helped a little, but I looked over at the pulpit microphone and saw it was bouncing up and down. I almost laughed, and I had to let it go. Luckily, though, my voice didn't shake and I hit all of my notes, and people seemed to enjoy the song...so there's that! I love singing, I just wish I didn't get so nervous!

3) I helped to host a baby shower yesterday afternoon, and it turned out really well! The girl having the baby is in my Sunday school class, and she is just the cutest thing. She's a tiny person, and now she has this big belly. She's having a little girl, and so everything was pink and frilly. My main contribution was carving a watermelon into a baby carriage and filling it with fruit. It was a lot of fun to do, and it turned out really well! I wish I had taken a picture of it before anyone had eaten out of it, but I didn't get a chance. Everyone thought it was cute. :) I'm glad I can do stuff like that for people! I did have one problem with it, though, and that is I HATE melons of every kind. I like carving them, and I enjoy making melon balls (it's fun), but I cannot stand the way they smell or taste. By the time I was done with this particular carriage, I had watermelon juice and seeds and rinds all over my kitchen and all over me. Fun stuff. I like to make those, but I hope I never have to eat any of them.

4) Josh is home for a couple of weeks! He came to church with us last night wearing his white robes, but no one seemed phased except for the little kids. He's still driving his mom's BMW two-seater convertible, which I think is hilarous. Vow of poverty, indeed! :) He's lost a lot of weight, but he looks good! He's also started wearing glasses and let his hair grow out a bit, so he's starting to look a little like David Tennant. We all know how I feel about DT, so I try not to think about that when Josh is around. I will NOT let him ruin my crush on The Doctor! I won't! Hopefully we'll get to hang out a bit while he's in town. I miss Josh! :(

5) I have been listening to the audio novel of Jaws lately, and coincidentally it was also on TV this weekend. I hadn't seen it in a long time, so I decided to watch it again. The book is good, but Jaws is one of the instances where I believe the movie is actually better. There is a subplot in the book that kind of pulls down the tempo of the story. Anyways, I had forgotten how much that movie terrifys me! I know it isn't real, I know the shark looks fake, but my feet itch and my legs feel all weird and I can't breathe when I watch that movie! Sharks are really, really scary! Getting eaten by one would be decidely unplesant!

YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I'm currently upset at the ultra-fabulous Le Creuset company and their fine, enamel coated cast iron pans.

About two years ago, I got a Le Creuset skillet for a birthday gift. I had a crush on that brand for a long time, and had hoped that eventually I'd be able to buy a whole set of these kinds of pans because they are supposed to be practically indestructible and last forever. Of course, I quickly realized that buying a whole set of enamel-coated cast iron pans was going to cost WAY too much and take way too long to save up for, so the fact that I had just one made me love it all the more. I've used it constantly, and I'm fairly certain that I never mistreated it in any way, but a month or two ago, I noticed that the inside of the pan had some chips of enamel gone. I was unhappy about this, and had planned to send the pan back to be replaced, but knowing how way leads on to way, I never did it. It wasn't causing me any problems and I was still able to use my pan, so I forgot about doing anything.

Monday night, I was in the process of making dinner. The pan had been heating for a few minutes while I got the porkchops ready, and when I put the first one in, it immediately started popping. That's not too weird, because food will do that when it gets hot, but then it started popping out at me and it hurt. I thought that maybe the olive oil was splattering out on me, but I didn't have that much in the pan to begin with AND the temperature wasn't up that high. So I spent the next little bit trying to keep my porkchops from burning. Normally I'm pretty good at this, but for some reason, things weren't going so hot for me at the time. Anyways, when the food was ready, I noticed that the porkchops were black around the edges. It wasn't bad, but it was enough for me to notice. I was hungry, so I didn't get picky about anything, I just dug in. At first I didn't notice anything, but soon I realized that there was something gritty in my food. At first I thought it was a seed from some blueberries I had eaten earlier that might have been stuck in my teeth, or some kind of spice in the rice I'd added as a side dish, but it got worse. I had eaten almost a whole porkchop before I realized that it was not just gritty, but it felt like I was chewing on sand. I went back into the kitchen and looked in my pan, and realized that the black stuff that had been on my food wasn't because it had been burnt, I had been eating bits of the black enamel coating that had popped off of my pan and stuck to my food. Not only that, but I realized that when the pan was popping at me earlier, it was bits of the coating that were hitting me! No wonder it hurt! I ended up having to throw away all of the food I had fixed, because even the rice had gotten the black stuff in it somehow.

Indestructible my ass.

Now I'm worried about how much of it I actually ate. It probably wasn't much honestly, but all I can think of is that I've got bits of sharp stuff floating around in my body! I hope nothing gets punctured! :( I'm going to have to go through a rigamarole trying to get the pan replaced now. I thought it was just as easy as sending it back, but apparently not. You have to call them and get their permission to send it back, and THEN they decide if you will be able to get a replacement. Normally I woldn't worry about it, but it was way too expensive to just toss away. It's also been a really good pan up until it tried to kill me.

I guess we'll just see what happens.

Dear This Summer,

Please be better in every conceivable way from last summer.

Love, Kelly

For your Monday enjoyment, I give you the best Yip-Yip video ever made! Well, it's my favorite, at least. :)

Ok, apparently I was wrong on all counts about my candy order from Japan.

Even though I specifically asked that they hold my entire order until everything was in, they sent part of my order early. That is why I have had two conformations from the company. At least it better be the case because the candy I originally wanted to order, the special, delicious candy that had to be special ordered, wasn't in the box that came today!

I will give you some advice. If you ever decide to order candy through the mail, don't order anything gummi or chocolate during warm months. I wasn't thinking about that when I placed my order, so some of my candy was completely melted when it got to me. BOO! I'm still going to eat it, damnit! I'll use a spoon if I have to! I'm not proud!

Of course, I'll be doing my regular candy reviews as soon as I can, but they will have to wait until the melty stuff solidifies again.

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I hate screws! Yesterday I had some very good intentions of fixing the signs on one of the exhibits on the museum floor. I'd been putting it off for a while, but realized I had to eventually get off the pot if I was ever going to get the thing fixed. I went downstairs and began to remove the screws from the sign frames (there are two that have to be replaced) and on each frame there is one screw that will NOT COME OFF! I stood there, hunched over the barrier, trying to unscrew the darned things, but they would not budge. I thought I was going to be able to get the things apart and upstairs in just a few minutes, but I ended up taking way longer than I needed and having to screw the stupid things back down again until I could scrounge up some tools that will allow me to hold the nut still while I turn the screw. How come Mr. Harris' shop class didn't prepare me for this frustration?! :) Meh, well, I at least learned to arc weld, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!

2) I almost passed out at my desk yesterday! Sometimes if I stretch a certain way, I think I pinch a nerve in my neck or something, because I get that "tingly face" and tunnel vision feeling that means things are about to go dark. Normally if I just sit still for a minute, I'm fine. Yesterday, however, I was dizzy and tingly for a long time after that. When things didn't get better right away, I thought maybe I was having a low blood sugar issue, so I ended up eating several of those embarrassingly-shaped Hannah Montana gummis that I had hidden in my desk, but that didn't work either. It took about two hours for me to feel normal again. I still don't know what was going on, but I hope that doesn't ever happen again! No, I'm not pregnant, so don't ask!

3) Scarlett Johannson, bless your heart. Stop singing. Seriously. I normally would never say something like that to anyone, but I'm trying to help you out.

4) I think I'm going to have a moral dilemma soon, and I need advice. I don't know what's going on at this point, so I'm not sure if I'll actually have the dilemma or not, but this is just in case. It's not serious, so don't get scared. OK, a couple of weeks ago I placed an order for some candy from a company in Japan. Shut up, it is candy you can't find anywhere in the US and even in Japan it has to be specially ordered from some region I've never heard of. I had a jones for it. Anyways, when they ran my credit card the first time, it was declined either because I had forgotten to add "SE" to the end of my billing address, or because it was an unusual transaction. They sent me a message about it, and I told them that I still wanted the order to be processed and asked what I should do to make it happen. I had already gone in and fixed the problem with my address, so I didn't think anything of it when I got another message on May 20th saying that my order had been processed and was being shipped. Me = Glad. A day later I got a message confirming that the box was being shipped and would be shipped to me (hopefully) in 7 to 10 days. Again, Me = Glad. So color me surprised when I got an identical message this morning saying that my order (same order #) is being processed and shipped. I thought maybe something from my original order had to be shipped separately from the first box, but then I remembered that the reason it's been taking so long to have it shipped in the first place is because they were waiting for part of my order to come in before they shipped in the first place. So I went to my account information on their website. In the order history, it shows the steps they take to get the package out of their hands, like, "We have packaged your order" and "We have printed a shipping label and mailed your package." I now have that same series of things entered twice on the same order history. At this point, I've got three different ideas about this: A) I don't know if I've been processed for two different orders, charged twice and am being sent two separate orders of the same things. B) I have been charged only once, but am possibly getting two separate orders of the same things. C) It's possible that the two different order conformations I got is a mistake and for some reason they sent my conformation again for the same package that they supposedly sent last week, or my original order wasn't actually shipped until today and the first set of conformation e-mails were sent by mistake.

Here is my possible dilemma: If "B" is the case and I do get the two packages, but wasn't charged for one of them, do I contact the company and see about sending one of the packages back, or do I keep it because it was not my mistake? On one hand, it's kind of a pain to deal with their customer service because we are 14 hours apart, and it can take up to two days to get any kind of answer from them if you have questions about anything. Even then, you usually get an automatic message of some kind instead of an actual reply. If "C" is the case, I'm afraid if I contact them at this point and tell them to cancel that second order, it's going to somehow screw up my original order, so I don't want to say anything until I know for sure what's going on. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'll feel right keeping something that I didn't pay for. If it wasn't for the huge pain in the butt that comes with shipping a package internationally (and the almost surety that some, if not all, of the candy will ruined by the heat if they are shipped around for too long) it wouldn't even be an issue. However, who doesn't love free candy? I need some people to sit on one shoulder or another and tell me what they think I should do.

Oy.

Seriously, I had the hardest time waking up this morning. I think I hit the snooze button 42 times before I had to force myself out of bed. I didn't stay up very late or anything, so it must be that I'm getting old. :( I knew it would happen one of these days.

I was *ahem* given the day off yesterday. I offered to come in, because that whole "getting paid" thing is fun for me, but my boss told me to stay home and have a holiday. I was nice, although not nearly as productive as I had hoped. Well, we did do some laundry, mowed the lawn and planted a tree (which I'm afraid I might have killed) but we spent the rest of the day watching old Dr. Who episodes and taking naps! I've also got a game of the Sims 2 going, and it had taken over my PC for a while. Quite frankly, I enjoyed the laziness of it all!

I think I actually had something to write about this morning, but I can't remember what it was at the moment. I'll be back later when I remember, or rather if I do. Maybe. This getting old thing is rough. :)

I need a new pair of shoes.

The other day I ordered a dress online, and I didn't realize at the time that I didn't have a suitable pair of shoes to match it! Ok, well, that's not completely the truth. I do have a pair of shoes that look fine with the dress, but they don't want to stay on my feet. I literally have to tie them on, and they aren't the kind of shoes with laces! I actually have to find a ribbon or something to attach around the back of the strap and tie that around my ankle, and I STILL wobble around like a new born giraffe. It's not at all graceful.

You know, I have misshapen, Ewok feet, and trying to find decent shoes that I can wear is a nightmare. It isn't that I can't find shoes that fit exactly, but I need shoes that won't pitch me over sideways or deform my toes for life. A) I can't wear pointy toed shoes. Not only are they ugly, my toes are almost all the same length, so my actual foot stops way before the end of the shoe, and therefore I have all this extra shoe to trip over when I walk. B) I can't wear narrow shoes, because my feet are too wide for them. C) I can't have super skinny heels on my shoes because I have no balance and I have actually snapped the heels off of a pair I really liked just by standing on them. D) I can't wear really high heels, because let's face it, I'm not a dainty woman. That would be like making a hippo walk on it's tip-toes. It might be able to walk a few feet like that, but it isn't something that she'd want to do for any length of time.

So, what I was looking for was a reasonable sized heel, dark brown, relatively comfortable shoe that would not look weird with my dress. That shouldn't be that hard to find, right?

I went to DSW to look for them because I figured that in an entire "warehouse" of shoes, I'd be able to find something easily. I had never been there before, so I was actually dazzled by the number of shoes on display. However, it wasn't long before I realized that most of the shoes weren't for me. In fact, I'm not sure those shoes were really suitable for anyone. I mean, sure, there were sneakers, flip-flops and sandals, but the dress shoes were kind of ridiculous. Seriously, I think shoes can say a lot about a person, but the majority of the shoes I saw either said:

I spank people for a living!

or

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't want to come across as either type of person, so I was out of luck.

I wondered through the aisles for about 45 minutes, looking and re-looking at different things until I found something that even remotely looked like something I could wear. You know what? They didn't have my size. Not only that, but I couldn't even find an employee to ask if maybe they had some in the back. BONED! So I walked out of a giant shoe store sans shoes.

I'm sure I'll find something at some point, but thus far I'm not impressed by this season's offerings of shoes. If not, I'm just going to have to find color coordinated bungee cords to strap my other shoes onto my feet. Sexy.

MONDAY'S RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

Note: I know that there have been a lot of the "Random Acts" lately, but my life has become less dynamic of late. I'm not just being lazy! :)

1) It's official, I'm socially retarded. Last night we had 2 Mormon guys visit our church during the evening service. I'm not exactly sure why they were there, but since I saw them give one of their Temple cards to an elderly member of our church, I doubt they were there to be converted. However, I digress. I was feeling rather welcoming, so during our shaking-hands-time, I walked over to tell them hello. The first guy shook my hand and said "How's it going?" Instead of saying "fine" or "good" I just put on my big smile and said, "HI!" I don't know why my brain decided to lock up then, but I didn't have time to say anything other than that before I got to the other guy to shake his hand. I'm sure they didn't realize I felt like an idiot, but I was embarrassed. After church, I just happened to be standing near them before I walked out of the sanctuary, and I decided to make up for my earlier gaffe. I walked over and said, "I'm really glad you could be here." and one of the guys shook my hand and said thank you. Then I said "I hope you have a good weeken... Oh, wait, I almost said weekend, but that's over. Have a good week, I mean." They just smiled and I took that opportunity to walk away. My guess is that as I walked away they were wondering why someone let the special-needs chick off of her harness. Ugh. I'm never speaking to strangers again.

2) I also embarrassed myself this morning at the gas station. When I pulled up to the pump, I realized that I had somehow parked on the wrong side of where my gas tank is. I never do that anymore. Seriously, I've had the car forever, and I think I really only had that problem when I first got the car a couple of years ago! So I got back in and pulled over to another tank, and when I got out, I was STILL parked with the wrong side of the car facing the pump. In a fit of frustration, I jumped up and down and let out a string of what I can only describe as Yosemite Sam type mumblings, and then I looked up to see a man peering at me over the pump. "Park on the wrong side?" he says. I babbled something and jumped into the car again to finally get to a pump on the right side of my car. This time I made it. So, not only did I embarrass myself in front of a random stranger, I also parked at a pump on the wrong side of my car, not once but twice. This doesn't bode well for the rest of my Monday!

3) I went to see "Star Trek" with Kenny and Lauren on Friday night! We had a great time. Well, at least I did, anyways. They are both much too polite to say they didn't have fun, so I'm going to speak for us all and assume that we did! :) Kenny and I have gone together to see all of the Star Trek movies that have come out since we met (except for Nemesis, but it sucked so neither of us count it) so we were carrying on with our tradition. Lauren had never been with us before, so she got to experience the sheer power of our combined dorkatude when we see a Trek movie together. The movie was much easier to see on a regular screen, and I didn't feel like vomiting this time due to the motion of the ships in the battle scenes. Good times!

More later. Maybe.

visited 22 states (44%)
Create your own visited map of The United States or website vertaling duits?

...and miles to go before I sleep.

CHARMING

Prologue: I wore my old charm bracelet on Sunday for the first time in many years. I don't know if I've even worn it since I've been married, which may be why Steve asked me about one of my charms. It reminded me of this story.

When I was in the 10th grade, I was voted "Class Favorite" and also voted in as a class officer (I don't remember which one, though.) These were mainly honorary titles that didn't matter very much except that you got your picture in the yearbook on the opening page for your grade section. At the time, I was thrilled, of course, because who wouldn't want to be everyone's favorite?! I was also kind of confused. Seriously, normally I wasn't the kind of person to have been voted anything, except maybe for class weirdo. I'm not kidding. Go ask my classmates, I'll wait...

*waits patiently*

See? Told ya.

Anyways, later that year for my birthday or Christmas, my mom got me two charms for my charm bracelet that had those two uh...achievements (probably not the best word, but you get what I'm trying to say) engraved on them. I was tickled over it all, and I wore them proudly, as only an adolescent and rather naive girl could do. It's not that I flaunted the fact that I was apparently secretly loved by my classmates, but I didn't mind being reminded of that fact myself. Shut up! :)

I didn't wear my bracelet often, because I'm clumsy and I break things. Since the bracelet originally belonged to my mother when she was a teenager, I didn't want to destroy it, so I usually only wore it on special occasions. When I became a senior and began to dress up more often (can't remember why that was) the bracelet became something I wore more often.

One day while I was wearing it, and talking to one of my classmates, he took notice of the charms and we started talking about them. When we got to those two charms, I happened to mention that I had no idea how or why I was voted as a class favorite or class officer, because I didn't become "popular" and I had even heard someone once say "how did SHE get voted as THAT?" (Yeah, nice, right?) The guy I was talking to kind of looked embarrassed and admitted to me that in the 10th grade he had a crush on me, and since he was asked to help count votes he fixed the numbers so that I came out the winner.

Oof. Yeah, humble pie is incredibly bitter. :)

I have to admit that it was an incredibly sweet gesture, but it would have been nicer never to have known that the whole thing wasn't real. I mean, I appreciated his honesty, but I was left feeling kind of dumb. Even now I feel slightly guilty that, even though in reality they were stupid, meaningless titles to hold, that the person who really deserved it got cheated. For me it was an unexpected surprise, for some of those other girls it was probably way more important.

So there it is the story of the mysterious, discordant charms on my bracelet, and my one shining moment of "popularity!"

EVEN MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Mother's day went well this year. I had bought her a gift that I realized too late would be hard for Mom to "get", so as a secondary gift we got her a really beautiful purple-blue hydrangea plant. Well, it was beautiful when we bought it, it was beautiful on Saturday, however, on Sunday it was all floopy. Seriously, I can't even babysit a plant for two days without harming it. I hope she's able to make it unfloopy! This was also the first time we had seen her new house since it was all finished, and it was really nice! I liked it very much, but it hasn't reached the "homey" stage yet. It's a lot smaller than the other house, but I'm sure she'll be glad not to have to clean as much.

2) I had to go have blood drawn this morning for a doctor's appointment later this month. That was lots and lots of fun, let me tell you. It wasn't that the lab visit was complicated or anything, but I hate being pierced with needles. When the nurse stuck me with the needle, it felt like it went directly into my spinal cord. How can a needle that was placed in my inner elbow reach all the way to my spine? I don't know, but that nurse managed to do it. Yipes. She also wrapped my arm so tight that it cut circulation off to my hand. When I managed to rip the bandage off (quite a chore) it left a hickey-looking thing on the inside of my arm. Very attractive! :)

3) My boss is still rearranging my office, and I still don't know why. He said it was so that I would have more room to manuver, but it's my belief that he is just a bit OCD or something. Granted, my office looks nicer, but it's a pain not to know where some of my stuff is. It's like someone coming into your bedroom and cleaning it for you. I mean, it's nice that someone else took the time to do it, but then you realize they've thrown something important away, or broken your expensive bottle of perfume and then it's not so nice. Hopefully his fever has passed for a bit.

Operation Low Maintenance isn't going so well for me as of yet. :)

You know I'm not a dainty person. I mean, I wish I was, but God had other plans for me in that department. However, ever since I was in the 6th grade and my parents let me start wearing makeup, I've always liked getting up in the morning and getting ready to go places. I know that sounds disgustingly girly, but it's just how I roll.

Anyways, I've been trying to streamline my getting-ready situation lately because A) who do I really have to impress up here and B) Steve and I carpool almost every day, and it sucks for him when I'm running behind. Since I've gotten my new haircut, I've realized I don't have to fuss with it as much as I did my longer hair. In fact, yesterday I didn't even blow dry it! It looked fine without the extra work! I thought that things would be much easier! By the time my hair dried completely, I realized something bad about my hair. My father had curly hair growing up, and even though I inherited stick-straight Native American hair from his side of the family, I also inherited one patch of hair that curls straight outward in what I've come to regard as a "bird." When my hair is long, no problem. However, now that it's much shorter, if I don't blow-dry or curl the bird into submission, it looks like my hair is trying to take off. *SIGH*

So, until I can figure out how to tame the bird on my head, I'm not going to be as streamlined as I had hoped. Oh well...I'll just have to muddle through being girly. :)

A QUICKIE:

When I was 17, my date for the prom bailed on me about a month before the dance. I was so upset that I ate an entire barbecued chicken.

I had totally forgotten about that until just now. How funny!

MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I hate oysters. I hate them. They taste bad and they feel weird when your chewing them. If you ever see me out someplace, thoroughly enjoying a big platter of oysters, it's probably a pod person and you should kill it with fire!

2) I got invited to my old high school's annual FFA banquet! It'll be great to see Mr. and Mrs. Harris again. I haven't seen them in about 3 years or more. I believe he'll be retiring next year, so I'm going to try and make it out there. I just hope that I'm not expected to wear my official dress. I dare say it would be a tight squeeze! It's a shame, of course, because I look good in National Blue corduroy! Don't laugh, you know I do! :)

3) This morning I had Greek yogurt and honey for breakfast, and it was really delicious! I was a little scared I'd hate it and wind up hungry all morning, but happily I was wrong. If you like yogurt, I advise you to try it Greek style. It's far better than any other kind I've ever had!

4) I wish I was at the beach right now. I'd settle for being there even if I couldn't swim or if it were rainy. I need a change of scenery! Yeah, I know, I just went to Texas, but to be fair...every place in the south looks pretty much the same!

5) I'm currently listening to a Jodi Picoult (?) book called "19 Minutes" and it's very good. It's about a Columbine style school shooting and the events that led to it as well as the aftermath. I'm not that far into it yet, but it's really a good book. If you like to read fiction, I recommend this one.

6) Oh, and speaking of reading fiction! If you know me well at all, you know my favorite author is Stephen King. Granted, his more recent books haven't been as scary as they once were, but I'm giving the guy a pass on that because he almost died. I'm pretty sure being run over by a van is a lot scarier than a sewer monster! Anyways, I think that I have finally found the creepiest part of any book he has ever written! I can't really explain it here, because I'd basically have to write it word for word, but if you ever pick up "Pet Semetary," read the part where the old neighbor, Mr. Crandall, tells about the soldier that was killed in action and buried in the cursed ground beyond the pet cemetery. I've read almost every book by King, and that one particular story is the one that STILL scares me every time!

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I got to see the test run of Star Trek last night! I really, really liked it! It wasn't what I was expecting, and I'm fairly sure that a lot of the more serious Trek fans will commit seppuku when they see it, but if you can see it for what it is (a reboot of the original story) I think you'd enjoy it! I do have one word of advice, if you are going to see it in IMAX, specifically an IMAX Dome, the first 10 minutes or so are kind of vomitus, so be careful. There is a lot of J.J. Abrams trademark "shaky-cam" shots. After the initial battle scene, it gets easier to focus. It was also funny in parts, and the writing was very clever. It was really good! Two thumbs up! I'll definately see it again!

2) It rained in our offices again last night, but luckily (or unluckily if you work on the other end of the hall from me) the water stayed out of my office. It DID leak on the other side of my wall and also in my boss' office, but my supplies live to fight another day! They have a carpet dryer in front of my office door, and it's driving me insane because it's so loud. Imagine sitting behind an airplane engine and trying to work!

3) Speaking of rain, we got over 5 inches this weekend and I think our dogs are mildewed. Every time we'd let them out for even a little while, the rain would start back up again. I don't think they've been properly dry since last Thursday, even after being in the house a lot during the weekend. Butler's fur looked like Rod Stewart's hair this morning because it was all spiked up. Bear has shorter fur, so he only had spikes on his head. Poor boys. I'm hoping the rain will hold off for a while today so that they can dry off a bit and pee in peace!

4) Speaking of hair! I got my hair chopped off yesterday. I've never tried Mastercuts (shut up, they're cheap!) on a Sunday, and I don't think I'll try it again. It wasn't a terrible wait, but it was much longer than I'm used to. The poor girl who cut my hair had a migraine, and she was barely able to stand. I was scared when she told me about her headache, because I know from experience that a migraine will freak your stuff up. I kept imagining her vision blurring and me walking out with a mohawk or something (I pity the fool!). Surprisingly, my hair turned out good, or so people are telling me. It's possible they are just being nice, I guess. It's shorter than I thought it would be, but that's my own fault for the hairstyle I picked out. It's called an angled bob and the back is shorter than the front. I've had a very similar haircut before, but this one is much shorter. It feels weird in the back. Also, when I tuck the longer front bits behind my ears, I look even more like Velma from Scooby Doo than usual. Jinkies, Y'all! I'm hoping I get used to it in the next few days.

5) Mom and Grant moved into their new house this past weekend. I'm excited about seeing it with carpet, furniture and light fixtures. They picked a really lovely place to build it. I'm going to miss visiting the house I grew up in, though. Oh well. We've all got to move on at some point, right? I was just hoping I'd be in my 80's before that was necessary! :)