The Elusive 4th Knitting Needle

Deep breaths..........relax..........stretch........more deep breaths......

This has been my tactic to avoid going crazy over not finding my 4th knitting needle I need to use to knit my friggin' sock =/ I have my friend, A, be kind enuf to write down the pattern for my 2nd sock earlier - as I had it written on so many scraps of paper I had myself confused. And now I don't have all the needles I need. Its been months since I made the first sock, and it seems destined to be the ONLY sock I make at this rate. This kinda crap always happens to me - I am a shameful, sad excuse of a knitter gal. I am an embrassement to our knitting group lol Oh well, at least I provide ample opportunities for amusing entertainment with my sad knitting stories.

So now I sit here, watching the movie 'Band of Brothers' with my husband and wishing for a distraction to the bloodiness of the movie. The movie kinda makes me think that the soldiers could use some dry socks. I bet they would know how to knit some in no time at all if they had to - I bet they don't lose their friggin' knitting needles if they do lol

Merry Christmas Ya'All!

Ya know, I was dreading this day - but so far, I can say this Christmas has not been bad =) My older dachshund looks positively 'perky', my younger dachshund is snoozin' and behaving herself and my husband did pretty darn well at the gifts he got me. And if I look outside, I can see the sun shining - wahooo! It will probably change tomorrow, but at least today doesn't look depressing outside.

We got to spend Christmas Eve with my husband's daughter and should be seeing her tonight also - which is better than we had previously thought we were gonna see her for. Plus, we got to go over to L & C's for a bit last night and drink some good wine, and enjoy some awesome company. C even has a stocking for her cat - I feel bad I didn't get my butt in gear and get some for my dogs now! I feel inspired for next year now, tho =)

We have been pretty lazy so far today, and I will be surprised if we manage to make it out of the house - especially since my husband's foot is really swollen today. But we are allowed to be lazy on Christmas right? Shall we ask my M&M dude sitting by me in bed? He has a beanie cap on and an arrow to twirl around with answers on the cap such as 'Lookin' Merry', 'Ho,Ho...Don't Know' and a few others =) Once upon a time, he did have mini M&Ms inside of him, but alas! some greedy gal by the name of Lisa Marie gobbled them all up *Lisa tries to look ashamed*

Altho I just asked Mr. M&M dude if everyone was having a Merry Christmas and he said 'Ho, Ho...Don't Know', so I am not sure its worth asking him anything, if he can't even answer a simple question like that lol

What's Important...........

I got done watching a show where a guy was reunited with his Dad after 20 plus years. Apparently, his father did not treat him well when he was younger - and the little verbal contact he had with his father during those years was not good either. The reunion went really well, and his father seemed repentant and eager to reconcile with his son.

I sat there wondering how realistic that is to expect, can it really be that easy to forgive and forget? Would a father who was so cruel all his life suddenly realize the wrong he did? Was it just because he was so old now that he was afraid of passing away without making amends? I know my Dad has not been eager to do so, but maybe I have the 1% of fathers out there who do not care so much about reconciling with their children. This guy was clearly relieved to have seen his father, and to have put it in the past. I suppose I would be too, altho a small part of you would always be suspicious I would think - wondering if he actually meant it, if he would follow through on what he said. Or maybe that's just me being paranoid lol

Seriously tho, it really gets you to thinking about what is important to you. What can you not go without? What makes your life happy? I watched this show (yes, I am watching WAY too much TV lately) where there was this gal and her boyfriend who lived together - with three other roommates - all guys. She helped them out alot by picking up after them, making breakfast, etc. etc. So they all decided they wanted to show their appreciation and throw her a party. In the end, her party was incredible and she was really touched they went to such effort - saying they feel like family to her, and it was nothing to do a little laundry here, cook breakfast there sorta thing. And I agree with her, friends to me are my family - I do not think twice about doing stuff for them. They have been there for me more than my own family.

So what is important to ya'all? What makes life 'complete' for you?

Going Back To My Roots

I am sitting here, waiting for my hair color to be done 'processing' - so that I can wash it out. I am pretty darn tempted to wash it out already, as its getting DARK . But I figgered it was time to go back to more my natural haircolor - if there is one at this point lol I have colored my hair so much over the years, I am not entirely sure what my 'natural' haircolor was or should be. Last time I knew, it was an ash brown - which, judging from the darkness on top of my head, I can understand why I have been coloring it any other color for years and years *sigh*

OK, I *must* think of something else - or at least think of this as a 'new' me. I will be a different me in 2008, a better - newly improved me. One that does not care if her hair makes her wanna cry when she looks in the mirror. A me that will say to myself 'I have been uglier than this' and go about my day. And a me that will embrace this color as a sign that I AM brave.......

Is it just me that stresses over hair color this much? lol I have only wasted 3 minutes so far - so I have 7 more to go before I should rinse. Funny how time flies by when you don't want it to, but drags when ya just wanna get it over and done with.

At least my younger dog is not sitting there and staring at me bewildered like she doesnt know who I am anymore. As usual, she just sits on the couch with her blue ball, looks at me, drops the ball on the floor and looks at me again - waiting for me to play with her. Dogs sure have it nice, they dont have to worry about their friggin hair color lol

Headin' Back Home

Shew! We are out of NYC and in Ohio now - so we have made some pretty decent time today to get back home. It started sleeting this morning in NYC, and the weather forecasted it to do that and more the rest of the day. So we decided going home wouldnt be a bad idea - we get to pick up our dogs, sleep in our own bed and I have us scheduled for massages on Saturday afternoon - which we are both already looking forward to!

Its amazing how many things happen to me on vacation that normally do not happen to other people, tho. OK.....its not JUST on vacation, its pretty much an everyday occurence for me, but....

For instance, we go to a deli place called "Maxie's" in NYC the night we got there. We eventually get menus and I start studying it to figger out what might be good - altho we had pretty much decided on trying their really huge reuben sandwhich and splitting it. We agree on that and I hand him my menu........well, I TRY to hand him my menu! The pages are bound with a spiral plastic binding and I manage to catch the end of the spiral around my ring. So I get frustrated and end up having my husband untangle it from my ring. 'Cuz, umm......I guess that sorta thing is beyond me lol

On the way to NYC, we stop to get gas and I get excited because I thought I had just saw a blue bird, almost like a toucan sam kinda bird. I think this is unusual and tell my husband about it, so when we drive back by the same place after getting gas in the truck - I show him where it was at. Turns out the bird was a blue Wal-Mart bag that had found its way into the tree and stuck there! And here I thought my eyes were seeing alot better since my lasik a week ago! lol Of course my husband has to point at every sign, bag, etc etc after that - saying hey! there is a bird! Uh, nope! Guess it was a bag......Guess it was just the stop sign.....*uggh*

Well, anyway! I better quit telling ya'all about how goofy I can be! I probably need to get to bed anyway and rest my eyes, so I quit seeing things that arent there lol

Never Stop in New Jersey

We just got done eating at a place called the 'Muddy River' something or the other in Portsmouth, NH and we feel terribly ill after splitting what they called the 'Squealer'. I think they are trying to insinuate that whomever can eat the whole plate is somewhat of a pig lol The plate was covered with ribs, beans, pulled pork and a half of a chicken - all smoked, BBQd, etc. Maybe we coulda made more of a dent in it if we hadn't had an appetizer called 'Fowl balls' too. And just to clarify what the appetizer was, it was round pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon - and they were surprisingly good =)

So here I lay, typing away atcha all! I did not make matters any better by eating 3 choco chip cookies the hotel offered in their hotel lobby either =/ But hey! Its our vacation, I guess I am allowed to do so - right?

I hated our stop in New Jersey - sorry to any New Jersians sp? who might possibly be reading my blog =) But if you were a Kansan who ended up eating at an Applebees, only to have to be rushed to a bathroom in a matter of 5 minutes after leaving the restaurant, you might feel the same way. Thats all ya say? Heck NO!! My husband drove around and found a Dunkin Donuts and then 5 minutes later a CVS Pharmacy, cuz yes.......one trip to the facilities was not enuf for me. Both places had REEEEAAALLY disgusting bathrooms, an if I had not been in a situation where I urgently needed one, I would have refused to use them. CVS Pharmacy even outdid Dunkin Donuts with overflowing trashcans, mildew on sinks, toilet paper on the floor, and.,.....well, I will stop there cuz I don't wanna be that descriptive now with the way my stomach is flip flopping already from eating too much. CVS Pharmacy was kind enuf to provide a homeless oriental dude outside of their building, who was rapping up quite a song. Despite their ability to provide farwell music for us, I was not impressed. There is a reason I have not heard many oriental rappers on the radio.

After that, we head to a gas station so we can fill up the truck and get the heck out of NJ. My husband just got in the truck and was about to take off when an employee who works there knocked on his window. He rolls the window down to have the guy ask him if he hunts.

"No, " my husband replies and then laughs and asks, "Why? Cuz of the Montana license plate on the truck"? (we are driving his company truck)

'No," the guy replies back with a grossed out look on his face' " I think I just found a deer leg in the trash can and it looks like it has been skinned and such."

AND to which my husband says, 'Nope, not ours! Sorry dude!" He then rolls up his window and takes off.

OK. Lets all take a minute to think on this situation. EVEN if he thought we hunted, which if he took one look at me, how would he ever think I could be with someone who killed Bambi's Mom and left her leg in a gas station's trash can, I dunno.......BUT seriously!! What kind of question is that to be asked? Even if it was ours, do you think we would say, "hey, yeahhh......sorry dude, that deer leg was ours, thanks for asking, we didnt mean to throw it away!"

Needless to say, I do not like NJ and it will probably take alot of convincing to make me think otherwise now lol

Somewhere Between a Cry and a Laugh

I am not sure my title will have anything to do with my blog post today, but after texting my friend L about a Sarah Buxton song, my husband and I decided to tune in to her CD on our drive to NYC =) And there was that line in one of her songs that I thought was somewhat profound - so I figgered that should be my title for the day!

Hopefully today goes a bit better then yesterday, as we weren't off to a good start for our anniversary trip. Considering our anniversary is today, I am hoping this day in particular goes well lol Altho, I did spend at least 10 minutes digging thru 2 bags trying to find my perfume. I almost said the heck with it, I shall stink today! But I really didnt want to start out our anniversary day that way lol Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to find the one thing in your bag you just saw, you can't? Granted, I had lasik done the other day, but I could still see - and even if I couldnt see, I could still feel around in the bag. Aimlessly wandering your hand around your bag trying to find something really peeves me off! *uggh*

We took Karma, my oldest dog, back in to the vet the other day and she may have pituitary Cushings disease =/ I hope not! The veterinarian we took her to was not the same as in years past, as she took a different position now and no longer practices. This veterinarian gave us more info then the last, but was a lot more 'clinical'. He mentioned there is a place in Europe they can cure the disease for 14,000 - to which my husband said he would spend that money. And to which the veterinarian looked at him like he was crazy for trying to cure a 15 year old dog. But I don't think he understands that Karma is more then just a dog to both of us - and any extra time we have with her - well, not to quote a mastercard commercial, but its 'priceless'.

We will probably need the mastercard to pay for the surgery lol

My Eyesight, Some Artwork and a Goofy Dog

OK, I figgered since I still have some energy in me and I can finally see, I oughta add a new post on my blog =)

Ya know, your eyesight is something I think most people take for granted anymore. Well, at least I did until I had to go without my contacts for a week so that our optometrist can accurately test my eyes today. And of course, the glasses I had were realllllly, realllly old. They were better then nothing - but they gave me more headaches then going without. Soo....needless to say, I spent a week pretty much blind =/ Which was really crappy when we hung out with my friend, A, and her husband this last Saturday. We headed to the Plaza to see the John Lennon art exhibit and I was really bummed to not really see any of it. The ones I did see I was standing so close to that I am sure I probably peeved off the other people there to gawk. On the bright side of things, it was harder to see the price tags on the painting/pics lol

It is really funky to have your eyes dilated by the way. I felt like only my eyes were on speed or sumpin'. My pupils were friggin HUGE!!! Ironically, I was tired - but if ya took a look at me, it looked like I was ready to tackle anything. I shoulda took a pic of my pupils for ya'all to really appreciate what I am talking about =)

But anyway! I have been sitting in a chair in front of the TV for, well......for, like.....umm......for like pretty much since I got home lol I did get up a couple of times for leftovers from Turkey day, but otherwise my butt has went pretty darn numb from the inactivity. So I have sat here, laptop on, err.....lap....and watching our youngest dog bein' the goof she seems to thrive on being. I did tune in to the Nature channel where they were showing lion cubs playing for a bit. That was quite fascinating for our young dog - she stops with ball in mouth on the couch and stares at the TV at the lion cubs. She does this for about 5 minutes while my husband and I are almost crying - we are laughing so hard lol Maybe thats the problem with our youngest dog, she watches too much TV and thinks certain behavior is ok and gets freaked out by other things she sees. She IS a bit paranoid and scares easily - she is just a big baby wanting to be loved and reassured all of the time. Not to say I can't understand that, but....

I live in the real world where I know that won't happen *sniffle*

Just goofin! =)

To ask or Not to ask?

This day has went quick - despite all the hiccups along the way =) Our day started out at the optometrists - as I had an eye appt. 'Lil ole moi is going to get lasik pretty darn soon, so had to go thru a round of tests to get ready for that day. I don't think my eyes appreciated it, as I had the most horrid headache for the rest of the day, but.....

We headed back home, as we had a 'stager' coming to our house to say what should be moved, what else should be done, etc etc to sell our house. My husband decides that he will see how observant the gal is and sets 2 magazines on our brassiere table in our living room. These are not any ordinary magazines - one is titled 'Prison Life', and the other is 'Modern Drunkard'. Please do not ask where, why, how he got these mags in the first place lol All I can say is that he does not have an alcohol problem and he has never been in prison. I personally think he just got them to save for days like today, but....

So the gal arrives, she looks our house over, suggests some things and mentions others. But she does not say a single word about the magazines. We know she had to have seen them - as she looked directly at them several times. The last time was when she suggested moving the brassiere table, bent down to start pulling it, looked in the middle of the table at the mags and promptly let go and declared it could wait. She then went to get her purse to get ready to go, mentioned a few other things and departed. Needless to say, I had a REALLY hard time not just bustin' out laughing - especially with my husband looking at me when she laid her eyes on the mags.

My husband said we actually did not do as bad as he thought, we wouldnt have to correct or change too much - which is good. But I have to wonder if she was too scared to mention that much stuff to us after seeing those mags lol Honestly, how could you NOT say something? Is that the kind of thing that is better not to ask? I can understand being polite and all, but I would have to remark on the mags myself if they were in someone elses house I would think.

But I guess if I would quit drinking so much and not be so understanding of the prison time my husband has done, maybe I would know better not to ask lol

An Empty Tank of Gas

Not a good Saturday for me so far =/ I wake up at 6 AM to get to work by 7 A (yeah, was working on a friggin Saturday *mwaa*) and about 3/4 of the way there, I run out of gas. Granted, this was my fault entirely, but I was hoping that maybe, just maybe......I would have enuf gasoline to get to work at least and worry about filling up the tank after I put in my 4 hours. I was already running 'late', and did not want to have to stop and deal with it. If I had been rational at all last night, I would have filled up the tank then, but..... needless to say, I found out that when my jeep runs out of gas, it is totally, beyond a shadow of a doubt, OUT OF GAS. I desperately tried several times to start my jeep, and it died instantly.

So anyway! I was right past a major intersection and had managed to pull off onto the 'merge' lane - but still was in the line of traffic so to speak. I gave my husband a call and he was on his way with a can of gasoline. As I was sitting there, it occured to me that no one was stopping, no one was slowing down, and that no one seemed to care that I was stranded on the side of the road. The more I sat there, the more it started to disgust me that no one cared enuf to see if I needed help. There were numerous things that *should* have made them stop:

1. I had my hazzard lights flashing, so it was obvious something was wrong. Just being in the line of traffic, at a dead stop, should have given people a clue. They had no idea it was that I had run out of gas, my jeep could have died for entirely different reasons. I think the considerate thing to do would have been to stop and ask at least.

2. It was 7 A on a Saturday - surely not everyone had somewhere to be, surely not everyone had work to go to. Did everyone have something more important to do then to be considerate enuf to see if someone else needed help? Does it have to be a car accident before someone will actually stop or slow down?

3. Granted, everyone nowadays pretty much has a cell phone, so it is easier now for people to call someone to come and help them out. But how did they know for sure that I did have one? Some people don't........and sometimes, people even manage to forget their cell phone at home. I was not ignoring the people that passed by. In fact, I am sure IF anyone managed to take time out of their busy morning, they would have noticed a pretty forlorn, sad gal sitting in her green jeep. I was not scowling at everyone, altho I certainly felt like it after sitting there 15 minutes with NO ONE stopping to see if I needed help.

I just don't understand what happened to the days that people did stop and see if someone needed help. I can remember several times when I was younger and my parents' cars got stranded on the side of the road, that people stopped and asked - and helped if needed. Several people in fact......even if there was already someone there helping us.

I mean, really......WHAT HAPPENED?

*sigh*

Step One: The Making of Caramel

I can now make caramel - woot, woot! lol However, the making of caramel did not help me finish my cooking project the other night like I had hoped. Despite having horrid results the previous night with the making of caramel, and having my husband tell me I can NOT make anymore - EVER- I decided to give it a try again =)

I had found a recipe for caramel/chocolate pecan spiders to make for Halloween and decided it was now time to branch out from my typical choco chunk cookies and occasional brownies to something a little more complex. Needless to say, the first pot of 'caramel' looked and smelled awful. But.......thinking I was being too critical of my cooking, I had my husband come and look at it. He looks at it, looks at me and I ask him 'So, does this look ok?'

It was met with an immediate 'NO' - so the pot got put in the sink with some water to deal with in the morning. The morning comes and I am running late for work and my husband decides to clean dishes. AND he decides to text me that I was not allowed to make caramel anymore lol It was pretty darn awful tho - it was basically a hard black rock of burnt smelly stuff =/

But anywhooo......tried again yesterday and was elated when the caramel actually started to look like caramel. Step One was now completed and I can move on and complete these edible spiders that I refuse to let get the best of me. However, the black licorice for the legs was not the 'string' kind and my husband ended up sitting at the table cutting pieces of black licorice into numerous skinny pieces to appease his adoring wife =)

I managed to get the pecans coated with caramel, the legs stuck on and the chocolate drizzled over the all of that without too much fuss. They sat for a bit and I decided to try one of them. I pick the first one up from the wax paper and set it on a plate and proceeded to pick up the others. However, the rest friggin STUCK to the wax paper *uggh* So there was a thin layer of wax paper on the bottoms of the spiders.

*SIGH*

So, yet again, the spiders proved to be difficult for me to acheive. I figger I will give it one more chance eventually (after my husband forgets what a pain in the butt hardened caramel is to clean out of a pot lol), and if that turns out bad - no more spiders for me thank ya very much!!

I have to say, some recipes are sure misleading - they act like creating a spider out of food is the most simple act ever. I would like to see whomever made the recipe make them - as they must have a secret I dunno of!!

The Candy Bar Debate

Yesteryday night my husband and I got into a disagreement about what should be classified as a candy bar. This was brought on by the fact that I decided to snack on an almond bar. He asked if I could bring him a candy bar as well, and I corrected him - telling him that I was getting an ALMOND BAR, not a candy bar. As I give the almond bar to him, he still insists that it is a candy bar. Soo.....

What classifies something as a candy bar exactly? Shouldn't it be something you find in the candy bar aisle at a gas station, grocery store and such? If an almond bar is located in the granola bar aisle, it should not earn the title of a candy bar - in my opinion. Besides, there is no chocolate, no caramel, etc to be find in the almond bar. It is comprised of almonds and nougaty-goodness. Notice my last word??? Goodness??? It is friggin healthy for you, I tell ya! A candy bar is labeled as a candy bar because it is unhealthy. For example, in a Snickers bar, you may have peanuts - but it is covered in caramel and chocolate.

My husband argues that an almond bar is a candy bar because it has sugar in it *Lisa rolls eyes* However, if we deemed everything that had the slightest bit of sugar in it a candy bar, what is there left that is healthy for us to eat? According to my husband, even a granola bar is a candy bar. And I find this rather aggravating - cuz then I have to feel guilty about eating more stuff. When something gets labeled as candy bar, you immediately know that the consumption of too many will make you add on pounds. In my mind, eating something like a granola bar or an almond bar should not make you feel guilty, you should be proud of yourself for avoiding the other things that are bad for you..........like friggin CANDY BARS *uggh*

So have I managed to put myself in a bubble where things like almond bars are fine to eat, or is my husband just trying to get a rise out of me? lol

When MSN runs out of things to write about......

.....you get articles like this to read lol

http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100172524&GT1=10514

I am flattered =)

My husband has decided to take a poem that I wrote (inspired by him) and make it into a song =) Altho, the poem does not have the same 'structure' that he would like for a song, so he is amending it a bit. So I have been sitting here for the last 30 minutes hearing my poem sung and played on his accoustic guitar over and over and over and......lol

He has now shown me some of the amendments, and they seem fairly good. They change the poem a bit, but I don't care - as it makes it more his song that way. And I am just flattered he deamed it good enuf to make into a song. Besides, he knows when it is a hit song, I get 60 percent of the profits and he gets 40 percent! hehe

Movies

I did not get much sleep last night =/ Let's all take a moment to feel sorry for Lisa lol

I am sitting at my laptop last night, after finishing my blog post, and decide that I am tired myself and will go to sleep. Instead, I sit there and think about the movie, 'The Lakehouse' that I watched part of yesterday. If anyone has not seen it, its basically about how a guy and gal communicate with each other via the mailbox at the same place of residence - but they are in two places in time - 2 years apart. They decide to meet on Valentines Day - which is 2 years more to go for him and the next day for her. And well......I won't say how it all ends, as I don't want to spoil it for someone wanting to see it, but all I could do last last was overanalyze the possibilities of that theory even being plausible, how the story works, how it doesn't, where they messed up, how they could make it better, etc etc.

Typically, I am not that sort of person tho - altho that type of movie gets you thinking a bit. I can sit and watch a movie and just take it all for granted. After all, it IS just a movie - made for entertainment purposes for the most part. Movies are made for the people watching it to feel something more or less - they do not necessarily thrive on being accurate in their facts. Even a movie based on a historical event tends to ad lib parts in, add more characters in, that would make the watcher be more interested in the story line.

Would people actually watch a movie that was 100% accurate? Can any movie be that way, even if based off of facts? I think the only way that can happen is if the person/or people that the movie is based on is/are alive. But then, you are taking their version of the facts - to someone else who might have known the person/people it was based on, their version could be totally different.

OK, maybe I should figger out something better to do with my Saturday morning than sit here and overanalyze movies huh? =)

Surgery, Nurses and Meds

My husband is doped up on pain meds and is snoring away, so I figgered I would blog atcha all for a bit =)

Its amazing the things you take your husband for granted for when he is not there to help ya. I am glad I ended up taking off work on Friday - as I would be so stressed out about how he was doing and getting other things done that I wouldn't have done well at work. For not being at work, I was still pretty exhausted by the end of the day, tho. I mowed the lawn, called and made a F/U post op appointment for my husband, called and refilled other meds for him, made lunch, washed a dog, called and got a guy to come out to look at our ceilings/windows for an estimate on repair work, emailed Singer on how to get a new bobbin case for my sewing machine, and...and....and.... lol

I did end up falling asleep for about an hour during part of the day. Ironically, depsite the muscle relaxer my husband took about 30 minutes prior to my nap - he stayed awake as I snoozed. Must make sure he is asleep first next time, so I can keep an eye on him if he is awake =) He can be a stubborn patient, altho I don't blame him for being grumpy with the nurses and such while he was at the hospital. Well, I shouldn't say nurses - there was just one nurse in particular who took her job WAY too seriously. It seemed like everything he wanted to do, had done, or hadn't even thought about doing - she had an opinion for. I was afraid when I left, I would get a call from my husband saying he took out his IV and was waiting for me to pick him up at the main entrance because she pissed him off.

Thank goodness it was just the beeping of the machines and just being checked on every hour that bothered him that night lol

*&%^$$^&*#$#%%^^**$#

I hate the people in our subdivision. OK, maybe not ALL the people - but pretty darn near all of them. I do like this one couple who has a daughter that waves at me and I wave at her everytime I go by in a vehicle. I do like the older couple next door to us in our cul de sac that has a part daschund/part beagle dog. But I do NOT like the teenage boys who insist on playing ball in the street at 5 P - when most everyone is heading home from work every day. They do NOT move and if they do, they do it slowly, like they think its funny. And then they yell 'SLOW DOWN' *arrgghh*

And speaking of being yelled at to slow down, I was told that again today. This time it wasn't by the boys, but by the husband of the gal who was rude to me as soon as they moved in to the neighborhood. She made the trip down to our block with her kid in the stroller and interupt us working on the rose bushes (which I also hate btw lol) to say that I was driving at least 50 mph thru the neighborhood earlier and that I should really slow down *arrrggghhhfrigginnarrgghh*

It is NOT possible for me to go 50 mph in my jeep around the curves in our neighborhood. If the moronic woman knew what driving a jeep was like, she would realize that going at that speed would possibly tip my jeep over. Also, I wasnt going that fast - I was going 30 mph - 5 mph over the speed limit.

So now what do I do? Go out of my way to get into the subdivision some other way to avoid these people? I have done that once before and was pissed off that I was, that I quit lol But I am NOT gonna have someone tell me how to drive, when I was not driving bad to begin with. I am REALLY tired of kids in the street - they take the 'pedestrians have the right-a-way' way too far. If you are gonna be dumb enuf to be in the street at the busiest time of day, then be respectful and move!! Don't act like its the best joke ever to take your time to get out of someone's way. Don't be rude and shout things to the person who had to stop to let you slowly get out of the way. These friggin people do not understand that there are sidewalks I guess? Front yards? Back yards? I was never allowed to stand out in the middle of the street like that when I was younger.

I should hush.......I could go on forever about this =/ I just hate being messed with like that, as my husband could drive down the same road, the same speed and not be shouted at at least =/ =/

*SIGH*

Anyway! Maybe I will be more relaxed about things tomorrow after my husband gets his surgery done. Only about 5 1/2 more hours until we have to be at the hospital - only 5 1/2 hours till my husband has a brand new modified back that hopefully will cause him alot less pain =)

Ack! A hair in my food =/

Well, we head out to our typical Mexican restaurant tonight and get our typical stuff to eat - altho we did have an atypical surprise in my taco =/ A VERY long blonde hair was found and grossed me completely out *uggh* I thought maybe I had got one of my own hairs in the taco, but it was pretty evident how it was wrapped around the sauce, fish and stuff that it was NOT mine.

Excuse me.......must go puke now lol

It is ironic that we are so grossed out about hair in our food that isn't ours. I think we are more accepting of ours - well, for the most part. I don't think I could eat my own food if it had a hair in it. If it was a cookie, I might give it another chance, but thats cuz there are other cookies - totally seperate from the cookie you just ate to sample and enjoy. With a taco, you are kinda screwed - once grossed out, you can't just bite into the same taco and enjoy. You look at it like it was full of worms or sumpin'. Technically, hair isn't the 'grossest' thing you could find in your food I guess. Thats assuming the person who left it there washes his/her hair on a regular basis =) But my husband and I have found alot worse than that before!

We used to go to an Oriental place that we liked because they knew us well, and they had decent food. But the last time we were there, we started eating the free appetizer noodle things they bring out initially - and ended up finding a huge ant-like big bug creature in the bowl.

Excuse me......must go puke again lol

Seriously tho, we have not been back since =/ Its a shame, cuz you knew the waiter was horrified at us finding something like that, but.....it certainly has left an impression on our memories - and not a good one!

Ozark Trip

Egads, the days fly by sometimes! We should be headed for a somewhat 'slower' period fairly soon - what with my husband having surgery on the 17th and all. I hope! He doesn't need to be pushing it anyway, and I could use some rest. Gotta be physically and mentally ready to deal with him ya know? lol As I type this, he is just finishing getting a cam shaft out in the garage so he can sell it *uggh* But luckily, I managed to get him to wear a back brace - so maybe he won't be AS sore as he usually is when he gets in these 'gotta get something done even tho I shouldn't physically be doing so' moods =)

This last weekend was great, tho - we headed down for our annual 'Rentreffen' in the Ozarks and had an awesome time. I can't say enough what the group of folks we hang out with there mean to us - it feels really good to know such sincere, enthusiastic and giving people. Between them and the friends I have made within the knitting group, I am VERY blessed. I will never take for granted the friends I have, they all mean alot to me. Altho, I better start talking about something else, or I am gonna get all weepy on ya'all lol

Lets see......I actually scheduled myself an appointment this weekend for a pedicure too. My very first one, and I will have to do it again! I basically had the 'quickie' pedicure - but it still was relaxing, and it makes ya feel really pampered. Altho, I was a bit ticklish on my feet as the gal used the emery board =) I don't think she thought it was as amusing as me, but darnit! my toes do look quite beaaauuuutttiful now!

I am a Power-Washing Queen

Put that line to the music of 'I am a love machine' and thats what is going thru my head right now lol Don't ask me why - I guess if you spend about an hour outside power washing your deck, you are bound to think of some really goofy things =)

I do think the power washing did not help my energy level at all *sigh* I really should exercise, altho according to my husband, I should be able to call that exercise - I wish! I suppose it does help your arm muscles, but it doesn't really get your heart rate up much. I do know if I manage to exercise tonight on the Nordic Track, that I am NOT gonna use the pulleys and use my arms. I will just 'ski' away - armless - my legs doing all the work. If I used my arms also, I don't think they will be able to move tomorrow =O

Speaking of my husband, I was a bit disappointed in him the other day. We were driving somewhere and there was a moth on the windshield of the truck. We traveled quite a ways and I remarked how strange it was that the moth was still on the windshield. My husband then turns on the wipers and KILLS the moth. Its little guts were smashed all over the windshield. And of course, it was only on my side of the windshield - so I had to sit there and stare in horror at the moth's demise for what seemed like an eternity. One look at my incredulous face, my husband looses it and starts laughing uncontrollably. Meanwhile, I was still in the state of 'how could you?' and 'oh my gawds' - which did not help him regain any sort of composure whatsoever. To his credit, he did say he was thinking the moth would fly away - that he didn't think it would sit there waiting to be smashed. But anywhooo! My husband pulls off the road and I start asking him what he was doing. He replies that he is gonna show me how much he loves me, and pulls in to a gas station. He then gets out and gets a wet squeegie thing to clean the windshield with and cleans off the moth guts =)

Ya know, sometimes its the little things like that that really mean the world to ya!

A little about Goofy Ole Me

Alrighty! I figger I haven't posted something in a couple of days, so I better do so =) Yayy for the few blog fans I have lol

I have several 'goofy' things happen to me lately. Or maybe its just me thinking they are goofy, but I thought I would share anyway! Like tonite.....my husband and I go to our typical Mexican food establishment to eat dinner. Last time I was there, tho, I was told by the waitress when I ordered the 'Wahoo' taco that it was the fish taco. This stumps me for a few seconds and I reply, 'well, I always thought it was chicken, it tastes like chicken!'. I had no margaritas in my system at that point to blame my stupidity on lol But, of course my husband wanted to know if it tasted the same when I did get it, and yes - it friggin did!! What the heck?? And still, I was determined to prove that someone was playing a trick on me today when we went there to eat tonight. So before I order my taco, I google wahoo taco on my cell phone. And every SINGLE friggin LINK had something about fish *sigh* Egads, sometimes I am overwhelmed by my own stupidity lol

On Sunday something kinda funny happened too, tho =) Ya know the days you wake up and you wonder if you brushed your teeth or not? My husband was really kind enuf to help me figger out I hadn't lol I stood by the mirror - toothbrush in hand - wondering if I had done it already that AM. So I figger I would go ask my husband - so off I walked to the bedroom and asked him to smell my breath to make sure I had done so LOL Needless to say, he did not want to, but had not backed far enuf away when I blew my skanky morning breath on him. To which he coughed and replied, 'oh no, you haven't'. I said, well gee thanks and went away top brush my teeth =)

OK, enuf goofiness for the night I guess! Don't want ya'all to think I am weird or sumpin lol

Stoned and Drunk

My friend - L- helped inspire this blog =) So if ya don't like my ramblings on it, blame her lol Just goofin!

First of all, to address the question of WHO is Amy Winehouse - she is the super skinny one with the long black hair and extravagant eyelashes. Her music is motown soul-ish and as far as I know, she is fairly new in the music industry. She actually has a decent album, but either was out of her element singing 'Beat It', or like L mentioned - she was trashed. Which brings me to my topic of choice tonight!

I once had my X husband remark to me that he could drive better while he was intoxicated. Things seemed 'clearer' and he was more aware of things going on around him. And I know alot of musicians, actors and such that claim the same thing about their music or acting. Personally, I think drugs, alcohol and such do not make one more creative. I think that anything created while drunk or high is something that could be created when sober. The person just needs to tap into their creativeness without fear of what something may sound like - and I think any sort of drug helps one 'loosen up' so to speak so that they can do so. When a person is drug impaired, they are less harsh on themselves - and anything can sound good lol

Altho, there are some that are unable to sing or write without something to help them. I personally have to really 'feel the emotion' to be able to write a new (good) poem. Otherwise, things seem too 'forced'. Altho, I don't drink or do drugs to do so lol Women tend to have that ability to tap into their emotions a bit more then men I think. Hormones are good for something I guess =)

I think your singing, writing, etc. needs to mirror who you are and how you feel. Compromising on that makes one feel frustrated - as there are still so many things he/she wants to be able to do that they aren't, just to make others happy. I imagine this is why alot of singers have a hard time in the music industry - as any label tries to mold you into what they think the latest image of a star should be. And being someone you are not can make anyone unhappy - so alot of them turn to drugs and alcohol to cope.

As far as my X husband and his ability to drive better when drunk? I believe that was all in his head lol Yes, things do seem 'clearer' at a certain stage of drunkness - but they also seem surreal. One feels like they are in a dream almost at that stage, and the world around you is not the world others are seeing. Which is the real world that has yellow lines not to cross and such =)

Anywhoooo, just had to put my two cents in!

Is it just me?

Or is Amy Winehouse singing off-key? lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vfdl7-E80Q

The House is Creeking

And its really freakin' me out lol I suppose I should turn on some music or something, as I am sitting here for the last hour or so completely absorbed in my own thoughts, but...... the neighbor guy just started up his lawnmower, so that kinda helps =) But since I have time and am antsy, I will blabber a bit!

I had someone leave a voicemail yesterday on my cell that made me laugh. It was obviously someone who got the wrong number, as he started off talking about the car we had for sell (which we currently do not have one for sell, altho at the rate my jeep is falling apart, maybe we will be getting rid of it lol) and it was a number I did not recognize. He starts off by saying that he went by the other day and looked at the car and he thinks the car is a pack of &^%$ and that he wouldn't give two nickels for it. OK, chuckle number one =) He then hastily retreats on what he saying, as he must be calling someone he knows and teasin', as he then remarks:

'Unball your fists, Tatertot. This is Norm'

hehe

I am hungry all of the sudden lol Seriously tho, I am REALLY hungry, I have been waiting for a bit for my husband to call me from the shop he is working on his daughter's car on so that I can bring him lunch and then get me something to eat in the process. Men can be REALLY bad about letting you know about some things ya know? *uggh* He should know better, as I can be quite grumpy if I don't get to eat in a timely manner.

Which makes me think I better call and see whats up! Wish me luck =)

Some Stuff to Think About

Egads, I exercised tonight - for like a whole 25 minutes! *uggh* Whats wrong with me? lol I probably should be grouting, cuz yes, I did NOT do that yesterday like I had planned *Lisa looks ashamed* We are just days away from putting our house on the market tho - wahooo! Hopefully all goes well and we are able to sell the house fairly quick and start concentrating on building our new house =)

At the risk of offending anyone, I am getting really sick and tired of hearing about Amy Winehouse and how messed up she is. Granted, she hasn't been in the headlines as much lately - but sometimes it feels like celebrities like that use their 'sickness' to further their career somehow. Or at the very least, get some publicity out of it. At least Owen Wilson has not made any public statements or tried to publicize his suicide attempt. Not that one should try to 'fix' things that way, but......at least you feel his pain is more genuine and not some publicity stunt.

I just did a google search on Owen and found out that he is resisting rehab. He has hired someone who will be sober 24/7 to be around him every day to keep him in line instead. Of course, a 'source' has to say that:

''Unless he checks himself into a real rehab clinic, he's not really dealing realistically with his demons''

I honestly think he is dealing with his 'demons' at his own pace, whether that seems realistic to others is none of their business. I have read about numerous celebrities that go into rehab and once out in the real world, they end up failing miserably.

OK, enuf serious thought for the night. I have a puppy on the couch across from me yipping in her sleep and my husband snoring away beside her =) Kinda hard to be serious when thats going on! lol

Yayyy!

I just finished mowing our yard =) One less thing to worry about this weekend! I am surprised I got it done at all, as I quit for a bit after work cuz I had a kid staring me from the deck next door as I mowed. When I mowed to the right of the yard, he moved and stared. When I moved to the left, he moved and stared. I was like, umm........ok, maybe I will just quit for a bit and not give him anything to stare at. That was a bad idea, as then his grandparents came out and sat on the deck and then started grilling *ugghh*

When my husband got home, I met him outside and he asked me if THAT was the kid that was staring at me earlier - ya know, the move your eyes thing so only you know they are getting talked about lol He had got to hear me gripe about it when he called me on my cell on the way home =) Well, my husband now thinks I am a goof - as the kid is about 5 years old, and he thought it was a teenager making googly eyes at me. He said thats what kids do, and yes, I agree, BUT........darnit! When I am sweating and covered with grass, I dont want anyone watching me or seeing me that way! Maybe I should reconsider getting exercise by working out with my friends I guess lol

The rest of the night will be spent working on finishing the grout for the kitchen tiles *feeble yay* Maybe I will actually even drum sometime tonight, too =) I really need to be more 'strict' with myself on practising on the drums - maybe a half hour every night. I have been trying to exercise at least 3 times a week already on the Nordic Track - and its amazing how much 25 minutes a night makes time fly. Well, its more like an hour - as I spend the next 30 minutes afterwords recuperating lol

Friends and Bugs

First of all, I just want to say I have AWESOME friends! =) Thanks to all of you who responded to my last post - it really helps to know that I have a great group of friends who care about me. You all are like family to me - but a family that doesn't peeve me off lol Seriously tho, I truly do appreciate ya'all cheering me up.

Life has been rather hectic around our house lately it seems. It probably would help if we would quit tearing apart our house and replacing stuff lol Right now, our kitchen and hearth room looks pretty chaotic. I didn't like the pergo we had, but at this point, I am almost wishing it was back! *uggh* My husband did quite a bit of the tiling on Sunday and Monday, so I feel pretty guilty. Altho, I know he understands why I have been worthless - as 30 chigger bites on a person's bod makes one INCREDIBLY itchy, and the Benedryl I have been taking nonstop for several days makes it really hard for me to stay awake! I think that is their cure - make the person go to sleep and forget how much of their bod got munched on by some friggin small bug that leaves horrid, huge, swollen, itchy marks that probably will forever scar me cuz I haven't done well in not itching them the last 2 days, and ..... and... and.... lol Obviously I haven't taken my Benedryl yet tonight huh? =) If I had, I may not be bloggin this very moment, or if I was, it would probably be fairly lame. Kinda like, yeah.....hey ya'all.....I got bit.....alot.....am kinda sleepy....will blog later *snore* hehe

It does seem like I have attracted bugs of all kinds lately, too. I found another wasp in my shower yesterday - which makes a grand total of 7 now I believe. I have to say, I broke my rule of being kind to him and just scooping him up and putting him outside. I sprayed some chlorox cleaner on him and then drowned him with a bunch of water lol Then I scooped him up and put him outside. He *looked* dead at that point, but it could be he was pretending and when I was close enuf, he would attack =)

OK, gotta stop blogging - am itching like crazy again *uggh* I really wish I had a little syringe of cortizone I could stick into every single bite to make the itch go away. As it is, I may need to use something harsh like bleach or peroxide - it may burn, but its better than itching lol

Family

Sometimes I think I expect too much out of people. Sometime I think I shouldn't go to the mail box because it makes me think I expect too much out of people lol

Seriously, tho.......every day for the past week, I have checked the mail in hopes of finding a birthday card from my Mom and sister. I even gave them until today before I really started griping about them, as the mail could have been slow, they could have put it in the mail a day or so late, etc. But I have received no phone calls or cards acknowledging my birthday and it peeves me off. Not to mention, it really hurts my feelings that they can't do something - if they can't afford the card or stamp, then could they at least call me? =/

I have always sent them a card for their birthdays. I have always called my Mom on her birthday. I have not called my sister, as she was ignoring my calls for quite awhile and would only pick up the phone when I called when it suited her mood. So I told her I wouldn't call again until she called me. Well, now it looks like they both do not want to have anything to do with me.

How can you forget your daughter's birthday? I just don't understand that =/ My husband tells me that they are the ones with the problem, not me. He tells me that I need to live my life, to not care - and in the end, that will bother them more than giving them the satisfaction of knowing I do care.

Unfortunetely, there is a little part of me that still does care *sigh*

Day of Weirdness

Yes, today has just been plain ole weird lol I woke up this morning and got in the shower - cuz I do that from time to time so I don't gross people out with my stench =) I was in the shower for about 3 minutes when I look down at my feet to see a wasp by them. So I spazz out - as any normal gal would do if they saw a wasp in their shower. But I was also a bit grumpy, as this is the 3rd time there has been a wasp in my shower in the last 3 friggin days! Wha da heck?

OK, I know what you are asking yourself! Did I kill the wasp? Did I have my husband kill the wasp? Umm......no and no lol I did not kill the wasp the other 2 times either, so maybe thats my problem. Being a gal who would feel guilt ridden for smashing a wasps guts in my shower when he was leaving me alone to begin with, I scoop him up in a small box - put a lid on it - and put him outside.

I have to wonder if it is the same wasp? Does he have a crush on me? Or is he just telling his wasp buddies to come hang out there as well? =) I dunno what the heck is going on, but it MUST stop. I think I am gonna start having heart problems if I continue to find a wasp in my shower lol

But on to non-waspish stuff! =) The day goes on and the work day gets over with and my husband and I decide to go get something to eat for supper. We end up at this place that was originally a Cajun place, but is now a Brazilian place. Sooo.....we say, ummm ok, lets try it. BIG mistake! Not only is the place expensive, but annoying and weird. They have a buffet like area to supplement their 'regular' course of stuff - which included having them come to your table and shaving off different kinds of meat for you to try. Now this wouldnt have been weird, except:

1.) The waiter gave us a 10 minute dialogue of the place, the menu, what to expect - and we didn't understand a word he said.
2.) The meat 'shavers' were dressed in 'pirate' like clothing and were constantly at our table, along with our waiter - who seemed way too concerned with how we were doing.
3.) There were probably a total of 3 women in the whole restaurant. The music being played reminded me of some pop disco stuff - the tune 'bammm chickey baaalmm baaallmmm' sticks in my head for some reason - which reminds me of something a gay guy would listen to.

I think one would have to go there to experience the whole aura of the place. And perhaps I am just not the right kind of person to truly appreciate that sort of place, but.....I ain't going back darnit! lol

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeeeeee........

Ya know, this has been a pretty darn good birthday weekend =) I honestly did not think it was gonna be - since it started off being in Salem, MO. Yes......you read right, SALEM friggin MO *sigh* Scott calls me at 10 A Friday at work, telling me he has to go there for work and he *hopes* to be back by tomorrow (Saturday) morning sometime. So needless to say, this did not go over well, as I was pretty down in the dumps anyway. But then he calls back to see if I can ask if I can come along, and what do you know? They said I could leave! How mighty nice of them to let me go to Salem, MO lol

Honestly, tho.....at that point, if I had stayed home by myself on my birthday weekend, I would have been SERIOUSLY depressed instead of SERIOUSLY bored =) So anyway! Off we go Friday afternoon to Salem and make it there about 4:30 P - which is amazing, as it was pouring down rain almost the whole way there. And of course when we get there, the other guy Scott needs to meet there still has 2 more hours before he is gonna be there.

We visit WalMart.......then Sonic.......then WalMarts parking lot......then McDonalds.....then finally back to WalMart to meet up with the guy. We promptly head there, and what shoulda been about an hours worth of work turned into four hours *uggh* And lemme just say, sitting in a work's parking lot with one street light, in the pitch dark with the rain coming down like it hasn't rain in ages is pretty darn creepy. Thank goodness for 'People' magazine......I read that and then wrote a few words down for a poem, then knitted a bit - until I realized it was getting dark quick. I then fell asleep and woke up sweating like crazy - and realizing that about 2 hours had went by.

So what does a gal do in the dark when she knows she is in it for the long haul? Well, since she has a 'Blackberry' phone, it makes things a *bit* easier. So I check email.......then I check my blog for new messages.....then I click 'send and receive' and check email messages again....then I check my husband's wrenching board......then I click 'send and receive to check email messages again lol Grumpy after 15 minutes of this, I fall asleep again and am awakened by Scott tapping on the window - which freaks me out.

BUT then we were driving out of Salem, MO to home - wahooo! We get home about 3:30 A and don't wake up until 10:30 A. Just in time to start getting ready for what I *thought* was a knitting/cooking party - but one of my friends secretly conspired to make it a birthday party =) That was awesome! Great food.......hanging out with cool and spiffy people.....snazzy presents.....what more could a gal ask for? Well, maybe to not gain any weight from all the great food? lol

Today my husband gave me my presents and we had dinner at a place called Pierponts in Union Station. Its pretty much been a tradition for the last 3 years =) We had my friend - A - and her husband join us there to celebrate. They actually had something to celebrate themselves, too! 'A' is pregnant!!! woot, woot! I can imagine how happy she is, as I know she has wanted kids for quite some time, so it was almost like another birthday present! I personally don't want kids - but my friends can get knocked up if they want. And if they wanna be, I sincerely hope they do - as its hard emotionally to want something that badly and not be able to have it.

Well, I am getting a HUGE tired spell now - so I guess I better quit blabbin' atcha all! Plus, my husband is in a talkative mood, so I better make the most of it - I am not sure if he is humoring me cuz its my birthday, if its the muscle relaxer and painkiller he has had for his back, or what! But this gal isn't gonna pass up her husband's talkative mood - especially on her birthday lol

Laterz!!

Doodley Doooo....

Why is it my husband insists on waiting till this afternoon to buy me my birthday gifts? *uggh* We have a cooking/knitting party to go to in about an hour - yet, he insists he should get my birthday gifts now, cuz he might not have time later. He claims I snoop and thats why he waits till the last minute to shop for me. I have no earthly idea what he is talking about lol

OK, OK......maybe I DO know what he is talking about =) But I have gotten a little better about it. I am a pretty intuitive person - for the most part anyway, some things can surprise me, tho. He did surprise me last year with a new Coach purse *wahoooo* hehe I would never have spent that kind of money on a purse myself, and both him and his daughter did an AWESOME job picking out a great looking purse.

Acckkk........just called my husband and we have friends showing up at our house in 30 minutes, so I better clean lol Dont want them to think I am a slob or anything =)

More laterzz.....

PS Thx D for your comment about my doxie!!! =)

Doggie Update

Wow......I must have been pretty pathetic last time, as not even my best friend, A, commented on my last blog entry lol

My husband did take our older doxie in to the vet this morning - as she had another 3 accidents, which is REALLY unusual for her. Vet says she is fine, tho - just getting older and aging a bit in the brain like we all do as we get older =) Well, I won't when I get older - I am determined as heck to be forever young in the mind! I think all people should strive to be. Not that I haven't had my problems with aging.....as I know when I turned 30, I was a wreck. Almost 3 years into the 30s and I have that milestone tackled - now it will be the 40s!

But anywhoo! Vet says older doxie needs a special diet to help her mind bounce back a bit - think there is fish oil or sumpin like that in it. She seems spunky already - altho I doubt it could work that quick. Vet does seem impressed with her - as she acts like most 10 year old doxies, not a 14 year old one. Yayyy! =)

Now I just hope all her blood work comes back great, too!

Random Stuff

I am not quite sure what mood I am in really, I suppose it depends on what I am thinking about. I guess if you want to summarize it up - its an analystic mood. I am WAY overthinking things right now, which is not good for some things and good for others. I have been quite fixated on why people mow for one lol I guess after you have spent yesterday sweating and letting yourself back in the house sore as heck, you wonder what started it all. What makes people think its necessary? I suppose there is some place I can google that will tell me exactly that, but so far I havent found it. It just gives me the history of the lawnmower or landscaping. I dont want to know how they were built, how they evolved......I want to know how we, as human beings, evolved into people who found it necessary to mow our lawns. Surely, once upon a time, we didn't right? Sometime in our past lives we didn't think it was necessary - and just (for lack of better description) lived WITH the land - like the American Indians. Or were we always the 'civilized' people who insisted on having perfectly manicured lawns? I seriously think there were better things for us to do, like weed our gardens, than to make sure our grass was not more than 1 inch high in our front yards.

But that is just one of the many things going thru my brain right now. The other is rather sobering. I would say its more life and death than cutting grass, but....I just read an excerpt from the 80s that held the caption 'Grass have feelings too' Interesting that people acknowledged that grass IS life even then. BUT I digress......back to what I was originally wanting to say =) Tonight, my older doxie blatantly has accidents right in front of us - 2 times. My husband thinks she is getting old and is confused, which has me terribly sad =/ In some sense, I suppose he is trying to prepare us for what will eventually come, but... my older doxie embodies the VERY being of who I am, I want to be, and who I was. She has been with me for 14 years now - longer than any dog I have had, and longer than I have known my husband, or even X husband. Her passing away will forever close the door of who I was and continue to be. She IS the 'kid' I don't have - and I love her more than anything =/

In fact, just typing this really hurts......so I will go on to other things. Like the past.....my husband and I brought up during dinner how we might not be moving if we had bought the house we rented before we bought our first place together. There was simplicity there - you were more 'isolated' from your neighbors, and I suppose everyone wonders what would have happened if they had stayed or done something different. Not that our life isnt great, but you wonder what a different sort of 'great' it could have been ya know?

Wow.....look at me ramble and overanalyze everything huh? lol

=)

The Weekend

I really should be in bed right about now, but.....actually, technically I am - as we have the wireless network and I have my very own laptop. So I am sitting in bed bloggin away - just not snoozin away yet! =)

It has been quite the weekend! I hosted my very first baby shower this weekend, and judging from my husband's comments since then - my last baby shower I am hosting lol Luckily, I had several friends who helped me decorate, clean up and such. And I had one friend bake an awesome cake for it! So many yummy layers to it - it was like heaven in every bite =) If there hadnt been an evil, lurking lady who bossed us around afterwords when we were trying to clean up, the occasion would have been perfect!

Pretty much the rest of the weekend has been consumed by home projects, since we are trying to sell our house soon. So too much work and no play has worn this KS gal out! Thank goodness for energy drinks, MT Dew, coffee drinks and such - otherwise I dont think I coulda done it all lol

It was kinda funny on our way to Lowes the other day for more house stuff, tho. We were driving down a residential street and there is a young boy out in the middle of it riding his bike. OK......young boy musta moved once we got closer right? Uh, noo...... we thought he was going to for a minute, but he stayed in the middle of the road. Once we were close, my husband rolls down his window and tells the boy he might want to get out of the middle of the road, as its dangerous, and the kid replies:

"You have cool hair"

Needless to say, I think my husband was inwardly flattered but still irritated with the kid for stupidly being in the middle of the road. So again, he tells him to stay out of the road and we drive away.....

So anytime he has started to get grumpy, frustrated or sumpin this weekend - all I have to tell him is that he has cool hair and he is happy again lol

Things that Sparkle

It is really funny sometimes how a certain day, nite almost has a 'theme' to it. For me, it seems to be tonight =) I am sitting at my laptop covered with glitter. No, I did not get childish and pretend that my glitter was fairy dust and sprinkle it over me lol And no........it was not for anything uh, err.....sexual. I was in my office attempting to glitter some decorations for a baby shower I am planning for Saturday. Needless to say, while the concept of using glitter may seem user friendly in your head, when you do attempt to actually glitter something - its a pain in the butt =/

Everything got glittered just fine - in fact, there was plenty of glitter to go around. My office floor is now covered with glitter *sigh* I thought I was being smart when I glittered my pieces - as I laid down a piece of cardboard sp? to catch what doesnt hit the intended mark. Everything went fairly well until I was done, and with a happy sigh and a smile to myself that I was pretty darn smart to think of laying the pieces on cardboard - I then thought I would save some of my glitter on the cardboard and slide it back in the bottle.

This did not happen. Instead, it slid TOO quick and landed in a big, thick blob of glitter on the carpet. Not to be deterred, I tried pinching up the glitter from the carpet, so that I could put it back in the bottle. Not only did I manage to pinch glitter, but carpet fuzz as well *grr* I decided that I did not want fuzz in the bottle so I reached over to get the piece of cardboard again, and the glitter bottle dumps over to make the glitter carpet fuzz pile even bigger *ugghhhhhh*

So out came the vaccuum sweeper =) What an awesome invention that thing is lol Now if only I could 'sweep' off the glitter stuck to my hands, arms and legs!!

But anyway! I log in to my email account and am greeted by a knittersreview.com email with the subject line 'Socks that Sparkle'. Ummm......ok, either they are really good at marketing their stuff and wait for the ideal time to send emails like that OR God is having fun with me lol

Back to the sparkle socks tho =) If ya get a chance, you should check out the below link on it. Looks like they are adding thin strands of sterling silver to sock yarn! Methinks I just may have to get some! I may not be a sock knitting pro, but I can at least gloat I have some pretty spiffy yarn lol

Here is the link for ya'all!

http://www.knittersreview.com/article_yarn.asp?article=/review/product/070816_a.asp

Fortune Cookies

My husband and I have noticed that fortune cookies have deviated from their original purpose. When we got lunch at a Chinese restuarant earlier today, we were presented with the typical fortune cookies at the end of our meal. Mine read:

"Let your social instincts off the leash and talk to everyone"

I smirk after reading mine and hand it over to my husband for him to look at. He then cracks me up by saying, "Thats not a fortune cookie, thats a suggestion cookie". And all joking aside, it is.......as it doesn't predict anything. Isn't that the original intent behind a fortune cookie? Kinda like reading your horoscope ya know?

Just sumpin' to ponder upon for ya' all =)

Ever wonder why?

Anyone ever wonder why you start some projects? lol After spending hours today trying to finish the tile in our second bathroom, I seriously wondered that myself. I wasn't as much help as I was hoping to be - but I did manage to tear up the linoleum, trim and the stuff that the linoleum was laying on - uhh.....wood? =) I am thinking so - as the friggin' stuff splintered as I ripped it up *grr*

But I did manage to complete the bathroom demolition project - and now my husband is impressed I can tear up a bathroom so well *happy sigh* After his nervousness at me taking charge and telling him to go do other things, I was relieved at his admission of my superior ability at doing so lol

So then went down the 'backer' board - which was fairly uneventful. But then came the tiles.....or rather sheets of tiles with this mesh like stuff behind it. The tile pattern in white hexagonal tiles with occasional black diamond tiles interspersed throughout. So a bit more difficult than just laying down one tile at a time. Suffice it to say, it was quite a mess with the mortar? we had to lay down to get the tiles to stick. It was everywhere =/

Now my lower back hurts, and I am propped up on the bed with 3 pillows and feeling sorry for myself. I dread to see what my body feels like tomorrow morning *uggh*

Al's Oasis

Ya know, it never ceases to amaze me how people can label something with such a grandiose name as 'Al's Oasis' and have it be anything BUT an oasis. I think there should be a law against naming your establishment something so misleading, but perhaps maybe I am being too critical.

Ummm......then again, maybe I am not lol

The day started off well with a trip to 'Bear Country USA' and the 'Mostly Chocolates' store which we make a point of frequenting everytime we are in that neck of da woods =) Seeing all the baby bear cubs romp around, climb trees, splash around in the small pond and capping it off with a trip to a place that dedicates itself to chocolate is like heaven to me. Even my husband has to admit he secretly looks forward to going both places!

But all good things must come to an end, so we left to get started on our trip back home. Numerous signs pop up for this 'Al's Oasis' place, and by the time we reached where it was located at - my husband threw caution to the wind and decided we should be adventurous and try and get something there to eat - as they had a restaurant as well. Its pretty much a strip mall sorta place with a restaurant at the end....

But anyway! So we walk in and are seated in fairly quick order. It takes a few minutes to have the waiter stop by and take our order, and when he does - he is horrid at doing so. Seriously.....how in the heck can you mess up taking someone's order? Just write what they say down verbatim. But this waiter acts like he can't understand what my husband is trying to order (which is simply a salad with their 'famous' buffalo burger), and really earns brownie points with my husband by asking 'is this all on one ticket'?

Umm.....ok, did we act like we didnt know each other well? I find that hard to believe, but....

So we are sitting there waiting for our order to be served to us (which takes an extremely long time I might add), and I notice their 'decor' in their restaurant. There is a ledge all around the wall, near the top of the ceiling, that has endless amounts of dead.....stuffed....animals. Not that I haven't seen this type of decor at other places, but the animals they chose to display should make them ashamed of themselves.

For instance, in one corner is a swan. Now I may not know much about taxidermy, hunting, etc., BUT that is just stupid to stuff a swan. Did they run out of deer? Can you really brag about killing a swan? What in the friggin heck possessed them that day to kill such a beautiful creature? Of course, like my husband said in their defense - it was a really big swan.

Gagggggg...

It wasn't just the swan either that helped kill my appetite there. There were deer, some sort of wild cat (more like a kitten by the size of it), and as I took a look behind me - there is a stuffed porcupine. AGAIN......why?? Was this its punishment for spraying a handful of its porcupine needles at someone? I just don't get it....

To make a long story short - I found it so disturbing that I left there without touching my sandwhich much at all. So we stopped at a gas station and I grabbed a bag of peanut butter M&Ms. Yes......chocolate......the 'feel good' food lol

We finally did make it home about an hour or so ago, which was a relief. When you are sitting in the passenger seat and lifting your rear end up and down to see if the 'air bag' light will go on and off - you are seriously bored =)

So now we are off to get the dogs from their 'doggie spa' and spend the rest of the day at home. Yayyy!!

Am worn out! =/

Who knew taking a vacation could be so tiring? I guess if we were 'normal' people, we would fly to places and save time and wear and tear on our bods, but......neither my husband or I can be classified as 'normal' lol

We took off yesterday morning-ish for Cheyenne, Wyoming and actually ended up making it a little past there - but turns out the hotels were all booked up. And being that it was about 1 A by the time we were there - we pulled over at a rest stop and slept for the nite in the truck. That was NOT fun =/ I started off sitting upright, woke up and managed to push the seat back and curl up on the floor and lay my head on the seat for another hour or so, until I woke up again because I was too cold *uggh* My husband felt sorry for me and turned the truck on for a bit for some heat, which helped - so I ended sitting upright again and fell asleep. At this point, the cycle started over again - scoot seat back and lay head on seat, wake up cuz cold, husband turns on heat, sit upright again, etc etc. So needless to say, we got an early start on the road this morning and felt pretty grimey by the time we got to our next destination (Billings, MT). I recommend anyone who even thinks about the possibility of having to sleep in their vehicle to take blankets, pillows and enuf muscle relaxer to make your bod not mind the funky positions you might find yourself in lol

Even tho the nite wasnt the greatest, tho, today has been a bit better =) It has been amusing to see some of the road signs along the way - like one labeled 'crazeywoman'. We have also seen numerous antelope and even just sitting in the parking lot of the hotel we have checked in for the nite - I saw a gopher sitting upright, looking about. He almost reminded me of our doxies at home, when they 'sit up pretty'. Altho, our doxies are doing it to get something (i.e. attention, food, etc.)

So now we are off to find interestin' stuff in Billings, MT to check out! =) Wish us luck!!

Sometimes planning things out.....

..... just isn't worth it! lol Yesterday, we had every intention of getting out of bed at a decent time, doing the things that we needed done, and hitting the road for vacation. But, it didn't quite happen that way. Oh well! It IS nice that we are still at home, having the dawgz dote on us and just being plain ole homebodies. If I hadn't been quite the optimist about getting on the road today, I would have headed to our knitting get together in Lawrence, tho. VERY rarely do I miss one - and I have to say, I miss seeing the gals! If ya' all knew the conversations and fun we have, then you would understand =)

Anywhoo! Got the lawn mowed today and that about did me in. Of course, mowing it in incredibly hot weather is slightly stoopid, but when you are as stubborn as me, triple digit weather doesn't keep you from doing stuff like that lol The only thing that makes me feel good about my sore, worn out bod - is that #1 I probably lost weight and #2 I don't have to do it for another week. Sometimes its REALLY tempting to hire someone to mow it, tho.....

I amazed my husband today with my vocabulary of words again, too lol Actually, it may have been last night that I did that - but its an ongoing thing with us pretty much =) I stated something in a matter of fact way, and he retorts 'why thank you, Captain Obvious'. Soooo.....not to be one to let it slip by, I argue with, 'actually, I don't think a gal can be a Captain can she? Isnt there a feminine version of the word you can use'?

Needless to say, I get an incredulous look from him - which I take as a cue to supply him with a version of the word to use. I look back at him and ask, 'Can't you use Captainness or sumpin'?' - which is met by another incredulous stare and snort of laughter.

Hmmm.....I dunno.....was it sumpin I said? lol

Seriously, tho, I DO know that is NOT a word. But darnit! It should be - or at least someone should humor me and let me use that word if I wanna! But, then again, my husband is the kind of guy who does not like Rachael Ray (TV cooking gal) saying 'sammies' for sandwhiches. So maybe he is just trying to nip those tendencies of mine in the bud before I become another Rachael Ray and annoy the heck out of him =)

Yayyyyy for Friday!

I have been REALLY ready for this Friday since about, ummmm......20 Fridays ago lol I am now officially on vacation - wahooo! Not to mention, my husband made it home tonite from Ohio/New Hampshire after being gone for about 4 days. And not to sound too sappy - but I missed him pretty bad =/ Even if we are just sitting in the same room checking email, its amazing how comforting it is to have him near.

Anywhooo! I will stop being all lovey dovey - don't wanna make ya all gag with my pathetic-ness lol (is pathetic-ness a word? =)) I did have a great night out with the gals yesterday. We went to see the latest 'Harry Potter' movie in the theatre, and I was impressed. I am not saying I am gonna rush out to watch the other movies or anything - but it certainly was NOT boring.

After the movie, we hung out a bit and chatted and then each headed home. Unfortunetely for me, about 5 minutes from home on K7, I get pulled over for speeding *uggh* So, ummm......I now have another ticket to worry about *SIGH* The first thing out of the cop's mouth is 'Do you know how fast you were going'? And the first thing out of mine was.....'70'. He promptly tells me that I am wrong and that it was 75 - which I grumpily ask myself, 'then why the heck did he even ask me?' *grrr*

Needless to say, for some reason today, all I could think about was those 5 measley miles per hour difference. And all day today I constantly thought of the movie 'Forrest Gump' - in which his Mom is trying to keep her son from going to a special school because he was 5 points below the normal range. She quotes 'surely something can must be done' in her very Southern voice. And thats how I feel about my ticket darnit! lol Surely I didnt HAVE to get the ticket did I? Surely he could have given me a warning, couldnt he? Surely he could have seen I was tired and contrite, right?

Altho, thats where the similarity ends I think - as after Sally Fields says that in the movie, the next scene is her son sitting on the porch hearing the guy have sex with his Mom. And THAT was not an option for me! I just wanted out of the darn ticket lol

Nuthin' can stop a dawg

I swear, sometimes I think my dogs know just when I need a bit of humor in my life lol Today, for instance, I came home after a somewhat stressful day at work. I let the dogs out of their 'corral' area (which is a gate hooked up to the back door, which conveniently has a doggie door for them to go out to do whatever they gotta do) and went promptly upstairs to relax and check email.

After a bit, I decide the dogs have waited long enuf for me to reappear - so I open the door to the bedroom to find both of them sitting there waiting on me =) I am somewhat amazed no whimper escaped their yappy mouths, but...... anyway! We all head downstairs to do what is expected of me - to feed them. Since the corral was still up, they had to run around it to get to their food dishes. In the process of this, the youngest one rounds the corner at breakneck speed and slides on the pergoe floor and promptly falls over with a thud. While I am doubling over with laughter, she hurriedly rights herself up and proceeds to the food dish as tho nothing has happened lol

Maybe its something ya got to see for yourself to truly enjoy, but that young dawg just made my nite =)

Wacky Ole Wednesday

Well, its not really wacky - but I didnt particularly care for my Wednesday or really hate it - so it seemed like a nice neutral adjective lol Work wasn't the greatest - due to having a meeting to sit at for an hour of it today, work to get done before I take off for vacation next week and one of the new gals hired in our department next to me constantly saying 'Buh Bye' ......I, ummm.....felt a bit hostile and grumpy by the end of my work day.

I seriously do NOT understand the necessity of saying 'Buh Bye'. Perhaps it is a big pet peeve of mine, but can the gal possibly sound any more immature and condescending with that word? *uggh* I can't stand that she has just finished her 4 year college degree and thinks she is full of wisdom now - at least thats how she comes across. Her tone......her attitude....her friggin 'Buh Byes'.....they all make me wanna vomit =P I am sure she thinks 'Buh Bye' is somehow more appropriate to end a work conversation with than my plain old 'goodbyes' - if only I had a 4 year college degree, I would know that I guess. But, alas! I only have a 2 year degree lol

OK.....must stop venting I suppose =)

Buh Bye

LOL

Wahoooo! My first Blog entry =)

Gee, this is almost overwhelming! The pressure to say sumpin' good is upon me lol

OK......well, I want to dedicate this blog to anything that comes to my mind. I know, pretty frickin' general topic huh? =) But thats me........my mind is a vast array of stuff I find interesting, amusing, exciting, sad, etc etc etc. And since I have been encouraged to start a blog for a little while, I think that might be a hint from my friends to take my weirdness elsewhere hehe

So, let that be a warning for all who check out my Blog =)