Elf Yourself!

Check out my brother, sister-in-law, their cat Loki and dog Raja as elves! Click HERE!

Jesus Doesn't Like Cutters

In case you didn't already know, Jesus doesn't like cutters. I learned this on Sunday night when my family made the traditional annual trek to the Our Lady of the Snows Shrine. My mom, dad and aunt were in another car, and my hubby and my sister-in-law and I were in our car.

We approached the Shrine's entrance, patiently waiting in the line of cars. The line had to be at least a mile long, barely moving. We inched closer and closer to the entrance. Then, from the lane to our left, a car slowed down (having not patiently waited in line like the rest of us) and turned on its blinker to enter our lane. From the back seat I hear my sister-in-law Chelsey say, "Don't let him in or you'll go to hell; Jesus doesn't like cutters, you know."

So, the driver of the silver mini-van in front of us is going to hell. Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas House

Here's what our house looks like for Christmas:



Just kidding! That's the gingerbread house I worked so hard on. OK, so it's not super duper, but boy did it taste good! Here's our house for real:




Our cruise is only two months and two weeks away. Yay! Oh yeah, in case I haven't told you, we're going on a cruise in February. Can't wait.

The Most Amazing Video

Yes, Morgan and Jessi, this video is TRULY amazing.




Enjoy.

You've now had your mind blown. Courtesy of a real rocket scientist (Dr. James Rice)I listened to tonight. You're Welcome.

New Christmas Tree Pics

I am so proud of my honey! Our beautiful tree came with a super cheap tree stand. So we found a better one at Home Depot.


We now have our tree installed in a cast iron designer tree stand. Technically, it's for live trees, but we figured it would be heavy and heavy duty enough to handle a 9' tree.

See my gorgeous decorated tree?

Take a close look at the bow on top... I made that. That is only the second bow I've ever made. Good huh? I'm only slightly proud of myself right now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Please go check out thebigmacs.blogspot.com for a funny post....

Funny stuff

Tonight while watching football, we were discussing the green dots on the QB helmets. So I went online looking for the "true" answer for the dot. This is the funniest answer I found.

What are those green dots on the back of NFL football helmets for?
I keep seeing these green stickers on the backs of NFL player's helmets and I don't know what they are for. Anyone know?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
It's part of the Quarterbacks new religion. I think its called a Bindi. They think that with that dot they can communicate with higher beings from upstairs.
Incidentally the Saints were unaware of this and the reason Drew Brees was wearing one is because they went into a college type system. He got a sticker for every good play he made.

Aidan and stuff

Today I got to take care of my pseudo-nephew, Aidan. He's three months old and cute as can be! Five hours of practice at being a mommy! Whoopee!

Last night was our annual trivia night fund raiser at work, and it went well. I inadvertently cursed (I tried to say "bid sheet," but "bid shit" came out instead, oops). The really funny thing is that there was a giant sign that said "Profanity Free Cafeteria!" Not anymore! LOL

I guess I need to go shopping... David's birthday and Christmas are coming up and we have to send the package this week in order to get it to him by his birthday in a couple of weeks. I can't believe that he's only a few days from officially being in Iraq. He's been in Kuwait for over a week now. 15 months and counting down until he's home.

Godspeed

My brother is now on his way to Iraq. He'll stop over in Spain, Ireland, or Germany then head of fto Kuwait for two weeks. After that, he'll be in Iraq for 15 months. So please pray, meditate and/or send all the good karma you can find over to him. He'll be missed and thought of quite often.

Guess what I just saw...

The ISS!! For real! It flew right over my house tonight at 6:43 p.m. Ben and Jessi were there to see it too. It was freaking awesome! I've never seen it before.

And so my two week long bout with space dorkiness begins with seeing the ISS.

Oh yeah, in case you weren't watching the news, the shuttle Discovery lifted off successfully yesterday at 10:38 a.m. It is being commanded by Pam Melroy, only the second woman astronaut to command a shuttle mission. At the same time, the ISS is being commanded by a woman, Peggy Whitson. This is historic people!

Yeah, I know, I'm a dork. But it's cute, right? Ok, maybe not.

In Case You Didn't Notice

Just in case you didn't notice, I've added another blog over in the list of blogs that I read. It's called The Big Macs. This blog will be for my family, my brother, his wife and my aunt to keep in touch while my brother is deployed in Iraq for the next 15 months. If you would like to read the blog, I'm cool with that. For those of you who regularly read my blog, I know that you probably know my brother, and I know that he'd love to hear from you. Please make sure that you follow the rules when posting comments, though. Read the rules HERE.

I'm really enjoying my time here in Georgia. My brother and his wife are both a lot of fun, and they seem to be really happy together given the circumstances. We spent today at Tybee Beach. It was beautiful! What a good choice they made taking us there. Here are some pictures from today:

Cheslsey, David & Me

Chelsey & David play in the ocean

David & Chelsey walking off into the sunset

I'm the Big Sister!

Me, Jessi, Chelsey & David @Dolphin Reef for dinner

Funnies from Our Adventures in Fort Stewart, GA

My mother, sister Jessica and I arrived in Fort Stewart, Georgia, last night at around 9:15 p.m. EDT. We got out of our car at our "hotel." As we stepped out, we were hit by a wall of stench. Apparently, the civil engineers who planned out Fort Stewart decided to place their beautiful new Army Lodging facility less than a quarter mile from their waste water treatment plant.

After we checked in and unloaded our car, we followed David Andrew to his house on post. As we're driving away, Mom says, "Girls, pay attention, we have to get back here tonight."

My smart-ass response? "Mom, we can just roll down the windows and follow the smell." The three of us laughed until we cried. And if you know the three of us, you know how we can get when we're laughing all out; red faces, barely breathing, high squeaky noises.

Then today we got to spend more time with David, Chelsey, Raja, Prince, Loki and Isis. Raja and Prince are both Rottweiler mix dogs, each are about a year or so old. Loki and Isis are their cute kitty cats, only a couple months old. Loki is the most laid back cat I've ever known. He doesn't hiss, scratch or fight when you pick him up. He lets you hold him like a baby, and even truly seems to enjoy it. I swear, I could catnap that kitty he's so sweet. Isis, on the other hand, is a skittish kitty with a penchance for scratching you if you pick her up.

Loki (orange and white tabby) & Isis sleep

Raja smiles pretty while Prince stands behind him seeking attention from Chelsey

Aren't their animals cute? And the dogs are trained pretty well, also.

Great Pic from Georgia

We're at Ft. Stewart, GA, visiting my brother and sister-in-law. Here they are with Jessica showing them her blog.

I Get "It" Now

Surprise, surprise, while watching Oprah I heard something that made perfect sense to me. The episode had Sinead O'Connor on discussing her bipolar disorder. She was discussing the thoughts of suicide that she had for years.

Now, suicide has never been something that made any kind of sense to me before. I've never been that depressed, I've never been that far down, so that's understandable. What Sinead said that really resonated with me is that she deep down did not want to die, but that she truly wanted that depressed part of her life to die and be reborn as a happier human being.

I get that. Now if only we could point that out to people who are in the midst of depression, "No, you don't want to die, you are probably just wanting that sadness, the darkness, the hopelessness to die. You want to be happy, to feel peace once again."

I love light bulb moments.

Seriously Funny

I found this at my friend Mary's blog.... enjoy!

Using the "alphabet" below, spell your name.

A: You like to drink

B : You like people.

C : You are really silly.

D: You like to drink

E: Awesome in bed

F : You are dead sexy.

G : You never let people tell you what to do.

H : You have a very good personality and good looks

I : You Are Great in bed.

J : People Adore you

K : You're wild and crazy.

L: Everyone loves you.

M : Best kisser ever

.N : You like to drink

.O: Awesome kisser.

P : You are popular with all types of people.

Q : You are a hypocrite.

R: You are easy to fall in love with.

S : F***in crazy.

T : You're loyal to those you love.

U : You really like to chill.

V : You are not judgemental.

W : You are very broad minded.

X : You never let people tell you what to do.

Y: Best bf/gf anyone could ask for

Z : Always ready

So my name is:
J : People Adore you
E : Awesome in bed
N : You like to drink
N : You like to drink
I : You Are Great in bed
E : Awesome in bed

How funny is that??????

0 and 5

Chris G., Karl, Ben and I went to the St. Louis Rams game today. Unfortunately, they lost... AGAIN. I'm losing faith y'all.

One highlight for the day at the game was the halftime "show." Today was Breast Cancer Awareness Weekend in the NFL. The NFL had over 100 breast cancer survivors bring out a giant pink ribbon.

Hell Must be Getting Cold...

1) I got a new, yes I said NEW, computer at work. I figure that I will be getting at least an additional 10 minutes worth of work done instead of spending time waiting on my slow computer.

2) I have now blogged more than my sister in the past two weeks. And she has no excuse. Ha ha!

Kids Who Don't Know Adult Stuff Are Hilarious!

Ben and I were at my nephew's 10th birthday party tonight along with many of my sister-in-law's sisters and their kids, who are all about Brad's age. Later in the evening, my sister-in-law turns on "Desperate Housewives." No big deal, right? WRONG. And of course, wrongness led to hilarity.

I turn around in time to see Nathan Fillion walk into an exam room with Terri Hatcher. Turns out, he's her new neighbor who is also now her new "princess doctor" (as Morgan calls them). He tells her to put her feet up into the stirrups.

Oh yeah, here's the important part. My nephew's 8 or 9 year-old cousin, Emily, is in the living room while this scene is playing on the television.

"What's wrong with her feet?" asks the innocent little one.

Yup, sweet little 8/9 year-old thinks that there is something wrong with the woman's feet. This girl knows not the loveliness that is the "princess doctor."

I swear, all of us women in the room laughed a good five minutes on that line. We couldn't stop laughing long enough to explain why there was nothing wrong with her feet. God, I hope her mother explains it to her later.

William Sledd

My new co-worker, who is from Paducah, KY, knows William Sledd. I just think that's really cool. She says that he has picked out about half of her wardrobe.

That's all. No, really, that's all I wanted to say tonight.

Reba and Justin

OK, for those of you who know me really well, you know that I am not a huge Justin Timberlake fan. I'm not opposed to him, just not a major fan. Well, now I will be purchasing an album for a song written by Justin for my ALL TIME favorite singer ever, Reba McEntire.

The YouTube Video from their Oprah appearance.

The song is beautiful. As I was listening to it, I thought, "This sounds like a good mother to child song." Which then got me thinking about my mother-in-law and Ben, and I cried. It is a GREAT mother to child song. And I know that Millie is up there watching over us and she would so love this song. She may not have been a Reba fan, but she would love the lyrics.

So, I will probably be making a stop at Best Buy or Target for Reba's 31 st album, "Duets."

All About Me (and my Hubby)

I snagged this from Jessi who snagged this from Pink Lucy.

1. Who is your man? Benjamin Michael

2. How long have you been together? July 2001

3. How long did you date? 9 months until we got engaged, 18 month engagement

4. How old is your man? 33 y/o

5. Who eats more? He does

6. Who said “I love you” first? He did, I was afraid to say it because I thought it might scare him away.

7. Who is taller? He is, by about 6 inches

8. Who sings better? We're both pretty good, but I like to sing more than he does.

9. Who is smarter? Hmmm... I don't really know. I'd like to say that we're pretty well matched IQ-wise, but in different intelligence areas.

10. Whose temper is worse? His is pretty bad when he's hungry or if he's playing a game.... I have a VERY long fuse, but when its gone, you better watch out. My brother really knows how to cut that fuse way short. He's probably the person who has seen my worst the most.

11. Who does the laundry? We both do. One of us usually starts it, then we help fold and transfer.

12. Who takes out the garbage? He does.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? While laying on the bed, Ben sleeps to the right.

14. Who pays the bills? He pays his bills and our bills. I pay my bills.

15. Who is better with the computer? Duh, he's the computer networking guy. You figure it out.

16. Who mows the lawn? He does. But I do the weeding/gardening.

17. Who cooks dinner? I do, when we're not eating out or at Chez Jessi.

18. Who drives when you are together? He does, but that's mostly because he hates riding in my Honda Civic.

19. Who pays when you go out? Ben usually takes care of the bill, but sometimes I do.

20. Who is most stubborn? We can both be kinda stubborn, although I can be more so sometimes.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? See previous answer.... because I'm slightly more stubborn, it's hard for me to do it, but I'm often the one admitting that I'm wrong. I'm trying to get better at not being wrong in the first place, though.

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Well, that would have to be mine since they live 1 mile down the road and both work with him. My father-in-law is only 25-30 miles away, and we just went and had breakfast with him this morning.

23. Who kissed who first? Hmmmmm..... I think we kissed each other on the first date.

24. Who asked who out? I asked him out. Then he asked Justin for "permission" to date me. If you don't already know the story, post a comment....

25. Who proposed? I did... then he did. I wanted my late grandparents to be a part of our love story, so I proposed while we were back East for them to meet him. Then 6 months later, he proposed to me on Christmas Eve.

26. Who is more sensitive? I definitely cry more than Ben. But I think Ben's more in tune with relationship stuff than most men, so he can be sensitive, but in a good way.

27. Who has more friends? I think I do, but it's kind of a moot point, we both get along with each other's friends really well.

28. Who has more siblings? Ben does. Four brothers and three sisters. I only have two sisters and one brother.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Most of the time, he does. We are pretty well in agreement on most things anyway, though.

30. Come up with a question for us to answer............

Imagine This

The other day, I was driving home down the East-bound express lane. I checked my rear view mirror (huh-huh, rear view, which will be much funnier to you at the end of this post...) and I saw more motorcycles barreling down on me and my little Honda than I have ever seen before in my entire life. As they fly past my little car, Morganarama (my passenger) goes "Ooh, their jackets are sparkly!"

Then, we notice a bike with a passenger leaning forward, holding tight to her honey... and her a$$ crack is hanging out the top of her low ride jeans. That isn't even the funniest part of this story! About 20 or 30 bikes later (that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you catch my drift), we see two or three more chicas with a$$ crack hanging out, but their crack is punctuated with thongs. One of them was a red sparkly thong.

Huh-huh Rear view. Told you it would be funnier now.

In Memoriam

Painfully, I'm having to announce that my mother-in-law, Millie, passed away on Friday, September 7. Her death was not particularly expected, so was doubly difficult. She was 71 years old. She will be terribly missed by her husband, 8 children, 6 children-in-law, and 20+ grandchildren.

Millie was a phenomenal mother-in-law, I couldn't have asked for anyone better. She never was judgmental of me or my marriage to her baby. She was fun, funny and very smart. It's really hard to believe that she's really gone. Whenever we walk into my father-in-law's house now, we go into the kitchen and she's not sitting in "her chair."

It just makes me very sad that my children will never know her. She was so looking forward to meeting her baby's babies. She'll just be looking down from above and watch over them for us when we can't be around.

Millie, I know that you know that you were (and still are) loved very much. We miss you already.

View From my Room

This is what I can see from my 30th floor hotel room in downtown Seattle:

The wide view

Zoomed in on the Space Needle

Off to the west, the "ocean" and mountains behind it at sunset.

It's a beautiful sight. I'm so lucky to have this room.

The Home of Starbuck's

I am safe and sound in my hotel room in Seattle, Washington. I am now officially farther west than I have ever been before in my life. And tomorrow, I will be going farther west, out to the Pacific. I super excited. I really hope that I'll see some killer whales in their natural environment. That would kick butt. Even better would be if I get a picture of said whales. If I am lucky enough to get a photo, I'll post it when I get a chance. I know I always say that, but with my new laptop, all I have to do is insert the camera memory stick in, grab the picture and post.

I've ordered a gourmet pizza with cookie dough Ben & Jerry's for dessert. Awesome.

UPDATE: Apparently, Seattle is NOT the home of Ben & Jerry's. But I did end up going to The Original Starbuck's. I've got pictures to prove it.

Two Things...

First, I fly to Seattle on Saturday for a conference for work. The conference doesn't technically start until Tuesday, though. Sunday, I'm going on a whale watch with the gal who did my job before me and a couple other people. Monday is a Boeing Factory tour, which I am pysched about. I've been to the Boeing Prologue Room here in St. Louis like a million times, so getting to actually see some planes get made will be awesome.

Second, I was turned onto a REALLY funny blog: mom2my6pack.blogspot.com

Now, If you're not a mom (which I'm not, yet), someone who grew up with a few siblings or a teacher, you may not appreciate this blog the way I do. But this mom is So funny... she put up an eBay item for bidding because her kids got her to buy it without her knowing. It's a pack of 40-something Pokemon cards that one of her 6 kids threw into the grocery cart while she wasn't looking, and then she missed picking them out of the cart when purchasing all her other items. So she's selling the cards because her kids were little buttheads. I LOVE it! I would SOOOO do that if my kid pulled that on me. AND, the money would go to charity. Ha, little buttface, your little trick just got some kid a Christmas toy.

Karma Hates Us

Especially my hubby, apparently. Lightning hit our house (possibly the HD antenna or satellite dish) Monday morning at 3:26 a.m. I know this because it was the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life, and it woke me up forcing me to check my clock.

For those of you who don't know me well: You should know that I can sleep through a college marching band parading through my bedroom. So to say that I woke up for a thunderstorm is impressive. That lightning strike was seriously one of the loudest sounds ever.

The lightning seems to have fried the following items in our house:
*two DirecTv DVRs (luckily the Tivo in our bedroom appears to be fine, but the satellite dish isn't getting/sending signal)
*satellite dish
*HD antenna
*VCR (I know you're wondering why the heck we even have one anymore, but we do use it from time to time)
*wireless router
*computer switches (I don't know what they are, but Ben says we need them to use the internet)
*garage door opener (at least I'm getting a little workout every time I leave and return home)
*all of Ben's gaming system consoles ( ALL of them )

And the last one listed up there... that's why Ben and I have determined that karma has it in for him right now.

We keep telling ourselves that at least the house didn't burn down, that we're safe and sound, that Kitty is OK (well, I'm happy for that at least).

Ben has been working with our homeowner's insurance company to get everything fixed and/or replaced. He's awesome. I know it cannot be easy to deal with insurance claim adjustors, especially after many of them got ripped off after Katrina, so I just want everyone to know how much I truly appreciate Ben for taking that task on.

I've got the best husband in the world (even if karma doesn't like him right now).

P.S. I joked with him that this was karma's way of saying "Get busy making babies!" He didn't laugh. Post a comment if you think that was a funny joke... back a girl up here!

Baby Aiden

Baby boy Aiden
Aug. 9, 2007
6 lbs, 2 oz, 17 inches

New Baby in Our Midst

My friends Scott and Robin have been going through an adoption process for the past few months, but were trying to keep most of it under wraps so as not to jinx it. But now, Baby Aiden was born today. He was 6 lbs, 2 oz and 17 inches long. Congrats to the new Mom and Dad!

I'll post pictures as soon as she sends me some.

Home Sweet Home

We arrived home early this afternoon. The flights home weren't bad at all. They certainly were not the fiasco that Friday night turned out to be.

The memorial service for Grampa was nice. Those of us there have collectively agreed that there is nothing sadder than bagpipes at a funeral. They are guaranteed to cause crying as soon as they start up (that is if you were at all close to the deceased). Case-in-point: Got to the church, saw the bagpiper standing in the shade of a large tree at the front of the church. Knew he would be playing. Got out of the car, got halfway across the street and he starts playing. Teared up immediately. Got into the church, couldn't hear him very well in there, then he moves to the door closest to where most people are coming in, and starts playing "Scotland the Brave," my grandfather's favorite song. Both my mom and I start crying. Finally, the end of the service, bagpiper starts playing and the ENTIRE front pew either teared up, began weeping or just outright sobbed. I know that I will not be able to hear bagpipes live and not tear up. It doesn't matter if it's at a wedding or funeral for a complete stranger, because I've now heard bagpipes at both my grandparents' memorials, they will forever be associated with deep sadness.

Anyway, it's nice to be home. Kitty cat has missed us a lot. Which kind of surprises me, but she has been in the same room with us since we walked in the door. Every once in a while, she walks past us just to rub up against us. It's cute. But she'll get sick of us again soon. :)

Back East

Ben and I arrived in Connecticut late Friday night. The flight was a pain in the rear (and a workout to boot), but we got here safely.

We went out for breakfast at Dunkin' Donuts this morning... a highlight for a tough weekend. After that, we returned to the hotel to clean up before going to Grandpa's apartment to go through his things.

While getting showered, I consciously made an effort to steel myself for what I knew was going to be a difficult trip to the apartment. Then, I realized that he had moved to a new apartment, it might not be that bad. Yeah.

When we arrived at the apartment, it wasn't bad until I saw his chair. Empty. I crumbled like a cookie and started bawling. Luckily Ben was right there and could easily comfort me. Of course, that got Katie going as well. After that, though, I did OK. I teared up a couple of times while there, but overall did pretty well.

Also, your thoughts and comments are appreciated. Mary, I'll pass on your hug tomorrow.

Update: NASA launched the Mars Phoenix Lander tonight. Yay! Another successful Mars launch.

In Memoriam

Today, my grandfather passed away. He was 86, almost 87 years old. Bill Carew was a stickler for the rules, but boy did he have a sense of humor. He's now joined his wife, Helen, in the after life.

Have a Manhattan for Bill and Helen. God knows they are! :)

Sorry it's been so long...

Hello all (you know, all 5 of you the read this...)!!

Happy Anniversary (1 day late) to Morgan and Mike!!! 3 years you guys... that's awesome.

I was going to write this big long post... then my computer lost it all. So Happy Anniversary! I love you guys!!

Remember When?

Remember last year when I went to CLC National Conference in Houston? Do you recall how geeked out I reported being EVERY SINGLE DAY that I was there?

Well, my friends, Space Camp has now topped Houston. It has been a truly amazing week. I've ridden the 1/6th gravity chair, the multiple axis trainer, and talked with Apollo and shuttle era astronauts and rocket scientists from Apollo and Ares development. I'm seriously in geek heaven.

I will be posting pictures when I get home and can utilize my cool memory stick port on my laptop (which I did not bring with me... darnit).

I know this is a short post, but I have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for our water training. This will involve being attached to a "parachute" trainer that simulates a water dump from a shuttle launch. We also will be going through a helicopter dump. In this simulation, we will be in a "helicopter" that is going down in water and we have to swim out and away from the helicopter. I'm terrified. But excited at the same time.

Also, I am seriously contemplating a career change now. I'm looking into the possibility of this and if it is a viable change, I'll let you know. But for now, I'm keeping it between my husband and me. Hint: It does not involve me becoming an astronaut.

Space Camp

This next week, I will be at Space Camp for Educators. SCE is in Huntsville, Alabama, just like Space Camp for kids.

Luckily, I am familiar with at least two of the other teachers from St. Louis that are also going on this trip paid for by Boeing. By the way, THANKS BOEING!

I am very excited about this week. I know that I will be taking classes on Martian Math, Hydroponics (growing plants without soil) among many other fun spacey lessons. One of them even includes a pool. This oughtta be fun.

I do not know if I will be able to blog during this week, but if I have access, I will try to blog at least once. I will have my digital camera with me, so I will definitely be posting pictures when I get back next Sunday. In case you don't hear from me until I get back, have a great week!

Morganarama!

This has been a whole fun-filled week with nothing but Morgan!! Morgan came into town so she and I could work on our presentation that we will hopefully be giving this fall at the Science Teachers of Missouri Conference. But of course, while she was in town, we had hella fun. Because that's what we do when we get together. That is our super power.

I love my Morgan, and I hope she drove safely and carefully today to get home to her Mike.

Transformers Movie

Went to see the Transformers movie Tuesday night.... Drum Roll Please.... It Rocked!!!! The CGI was pretty good (with the exception that Optimus had lips... sorry, you just can't talk me into liking how that looked). The acting was superb. Shia LaBeouf was phenomenal. Totally believable as a 16/17 year old nerd kid just trying to get some. He's probably so good at it because when he was 16/17, he was the Holes star, just trying to get some. Not to say that I believe he has been untoward towards any female, but you know what I mean.

Megan Fox was good, too. She reminded me (and a friend of mine) of Jennifer Connelly back in her Labyrinth days. (Seriously, now I'm just challenging myself to see how many movies I can reference in one post).

John Turturro (from O Brother Where Art Thou, Mr. Deeds and The Big Lebowski) was hilarious, as always.

If you want to know whether or not I recommend that you go see this movie, I would say you should. It is definitely worth your $10 and two hours of your time. The action is heart pounding and the story is interesting. You actually care about the characters that you are supposed to care about.

So go see it, Bee-Otch! (This last line will be much funnier when you actually see the film.)

Dangerous

What is dangerous you ask? My husband going out of town and my sister and me going shopping almost everyday that he's gone.

The first night he was gone, we hit Target where I purchased a few things I needed for when I go to Space Camp next week. That trip was somewhat expensive.

Yesterday, we went to Garden Ridge where I bought items to decorate our home, a hubby pillow (mine is literally falling apart), and bath rugs for our basement bathroom.

Today was the mall. The Mall. JCPenney for a couple of camisoles and New York and Co. (my all time favorite store for clothing) where I bought a few things for work, and a pair of shorts for when I'm not at work.

All told, I think I spent about $300. But, I did return some curtains that we didn't end up using, so really, I only spent $225. That sounds better, right???

Space Stuff

Seriously, my NASA TV addiction is sickening. Only one or two more days of it, though. I honestly feel bad for Ben, cuz I know the guy has got to be sick of it. But I can't help it.

Even at work, I have NASA TV running on my computer 24/7. But it's so neat getting to see live video streaming from space. I feel like I know the awe that people must have felt in 1969 when Neil and Buzz landed on the moon. It just is so cool that we have this technology, that we live in this day and age. Too bad that so many people just don't even have a clue. But I know the interest is there, because when I tell people what I do, I always get a barrage of questions asking me about astronauts, the shuttle and the space station.

I just wish the media gave more attention to the space program, but since they don't, people don't know much about when missions are ongoing. I understand that people have lives, and hobbies and other interests. I know how hard it is to keep up with all the information that comes from NASA, but these are your tax dollars at work, how can you not pay attention to something so fascinating? How often do you find something that you pay for with taxes interesting? Almost never.

Oh well.... maybe when we go back to the moon people will pay attention again. If not, at least landing on Mars will catch their attention. (I hope.)

Racing for the Cure a la St. Louis Style

I'm still waiting for final numbers, but it was predicted that at least 64,000 people participated in this morning's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis. Here are some of the awe inspiring pictures taken during my time in the "Fun Run" (during which no actual running occurred on my part).


Ben and Me

The crowd stretching out in front of us

The crowd behind us

Near the finish line

(From left to right: Jennie, Craig, Ben, Jessi and Tiff)
UPDATE: According to ksdk.com, the number of participants for the Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure is over 65,000! Read here.

Also, check out this guy's commitment to finding a cure:

You're supposed to be looking at the guy in the center of the picture, just below the sign "Friends of Jenn."

Sad Day in Science

Yesterday, Don Herbert, best known as Mr. Wizard, passed away. I watched his TV show on Nickelodeon when I was a kid. It was great. He showed all kinds of great science experiments and explained the science behind them in a way that a third/fourth grader could understand.

RIP Mr. Wizard

Housewarming Party

It's been six months since Hubby and I moved into our new house. So, we' figured it was about time for a housewarming party. We also made it a M-I-L birthday party, since his mom's birthday was this past Friday.

The party was a typical June BBQ. We had grilled garlic butter shrimp, bratwurst and burgers. There were all the normal BBQ party sides, plus my yummy cute cupcakes. I forgot to take a picture when the cupcake holder was full, so you'll just have to imagine it full.


Top View

Side View
The cupcakes are Pillsbury Funfetti. The frosting is Pillsbury Classic White Extra Creamy. The sprinkles are daisy shaped, and super yummy. Finally, I got the cupcake holder at my local grocery store (Dierberg's). It also has a top that locks the whole thing together so you can carry the cupcakes wherever you want to go! Since they weren't all gone by Sunday night, I took these (plus the four that got eaten today) to work with me. I'll just have to bring them back tomorrow so Ben and I aren't stuck eating all of them. Although, we will be having cupcakes for dessert tonight.

Oh yeah... the best part is that I made these cupcakes in silicone baking cups. That means they are reusable, so they're better for the environment than throwing away more paper baking cups. I hope the FlipFlopMamma approves.

Miscellaneous

Well, it was another good weekend. And it's not even over yet.

It started with our friend Bob staying at our house Thursday night so he could see a doctor for his Vitamin D stuff. Also, we were going to be leaving that day to drive to Louisville, Kentucky to see my bro-in-law graduate. The drive down was uneventful until we got to Louisville and realized two very funny things (they're funny now, but they weren't funny at 11:00 p.m. Friday night).
1) Louisville city planners apparently really like making people search high and low to find street name signs. They are not posted uniformly around town. So it's a real pain in the butt to figure out where on God's green Earth you are to figure out where you're supposed to be going!

2) Our hotel is the same dumpy hotel that we swore we wouldn't stay in ever again. Granted, we made this promise to ourselves about two years ago, the last time we visited Louisville with Mattito. Next time, we're totally staying at the Marriott.

So, my bro-in-law graduated Saturday morning and he is now officially a doctor. Not the medical kind, the kind that tries to fix your head. A psychologist. After graduation, Ben, Matt, Bob and myself went to Wal-Mart and Target to find the Optimus Prime voice modulating helmet. We found it at Target, and had a hell of a lot of fun with it. First of all, it makes you sound like Satan. Secondly, it looks hilarious on people. And we've only had adults wearing this thing. Ben sang me lullabies with it on while I was trying to take a nap on our dumpy hotel mattress Saturday afternoon. That was really funny.

We also have decided to see how the cat reacts to it. I'll have to update you all on that front later. Ben is currently out at Toys-R-Us to return this helmet for one that has Peter Cullen's voice instead of Garry Chalk's. If you don't know who they are, don't worry, I didn't either until I met Ben. They are the two semi-famous gentlemen who have voiced Optimus Prime over the past 20-odd years. Here's the helmet ad picture:


Here's what it looks like on people I know:


The top picture is my father. The bottom picture is the newest doctor in our family reading the card I got him (with the voice changing microphone turned on). I'll try and take a movie of someone talking in it to post.

Here's a YouTube movie with the voice changer on:

Cheeky Jewelry Contest

I was turned on to this contest by the Flip Flop Mamma.

Go check out Cheeky Jewelry!

If I won the gift certificate, I'd probably get a nice necklace. I really am in need of a nice gold necklace.

Thanks for hosting the contest, AdventuresinBabywearing!

Guess What...

I'm typing this blog entry on my brand new laptop!!! Ben surprised me with it last night and actually presented it to me this evening after he improved it by putting my preferred apps and software on it.

I've seriously got the best husband ever. Just wanted you all to know that. The laptop surprise doesn't make that true, it just strengthens the argument that he is. With all he does for me, he's the best.

Talk about scary

What a way to make you take inventory of your life and health....

This past weekend, my 37 friend had a heart attack. This is a guy who runs miles, bikes for more miles and swims, too. He's what most would say would be the last guy to have a heart attack. It just really goes to show that high cholesterol IS really bad for you.

Luckily, though, he's in good health, and the attack sounds like it was minor, for a heart attack. He should be home tomorrow.

Seriously...it just blows my mind that someone that age can have a heart attack. I understand that this is possible, you just really don't think that it can happen that young.

And now for the funniest thing I've seen all week...

A day late for Wordless Wednesday, but this is AWESOME!

I've seen a million faces....

Finish it.... "And I've rocked them all!"

!!!!!!!American Idol SPOILER ALERT!!!!! (Just in case you're like me and don't watch AI right away)

So, tonight Ben, Jessica and I finally watched American Idol from this week, and whew... Blake is still on the show! He totally kicked everyone's butt with his version of "You Give Love a Bad Name."

Check it out:

Funny Names of U. S. Cities

While reading a news article about James Doohan's (Star Trek's "Scotty") ashes being launched into space, I noticed that the rocket lifted off from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

How the hell does a town get a name like that? So that had me Googling to see what other funny names were out there. So here are a few of my personal favorites in no particular order:

Monkey's Eyebrow, AZ (do monkey's REALLY have eyebrows?)
Yeehaw Junction, FL
Zook, KS
Krypton, KY
Dry Prong, LA (is there a Wet Prong nearby?)
Cummaquid, MA (I don't want to know....)
Gay, MI
Hell, MI (how close are those two towns?)
Blue Ball, PA
Intercourse, PA (the previous town was named after this one disappeared... not really, but I like to think so)
China Grove, TX
China Grove, TX (apparently there are two of them....)
Chocolate Bayou, TX (I want to live there if there is one!)

And the winner is:
(drumroll please........)
Beaverlick, KY

Luggage Update

They found our luggage! Woohoo! Although, I guess I shouldn't celebrate yet since we have no clue what condition our bag is in, but I'm sure hoping it's going to be just fine.

Compare and Contrast

So here's the dealio, I'm going to compare and contrast this past cruise with my previous two cruises.

Comparisons:

1) Jessica STILL believes that every guy on board the ship is totally in love with her (even and especially the gay ones).

2) Jessica still gets way frickin' hilarious when she's wasted.

3)Same Caribbean born Cruise director from my very first cruise.

Contrasts:
1) Mucho luggage problems this time (soaked suit bag on day of arrival, lost bag on day of departure). Still no word on that bag.

2) Loads of friends on this cruise, including two new friends from Austin, TX. I'll post their pic later. They are Too cute for words.

3) I got sea sick AFTER coming home from this cruise! What the hell? For about two days after I'm off the ship, it feels like I'm still there, but now I'm actually getting dizzy and sometimes a little nauseous. Not cool. Bigger ships from now on.

It's Cruisin' Time, Baby!

Woohoo! In less than 48 hours, I will be on the ship, enjoying a frozen alcoholic beverage of some sort. I cannot wait.

Wish y'all could/would join us.... I bet cruises are uber cheap this close to sailing.

New Blessings

1) Friends to go cruising with

2) Healthy parents

3) Cruise ships on which to go cruising.

People in Big, Flashy Cars

People in big. flashy cars really like to flip me off, especially when they are the ones who are the assholes. You've heard about my previous flip off experience (back last April... the highway 70 debacle). Well tonight, after a successful shopping trip to get a new cruise dress, I was driving home with my sister. We're driving down the main drag to get home, and a big huge truck looks like it's not going to stop as it comes off a side road, almost completely onto the main drag.

So of course, since the entire front end of his truck is in the road where I'm trying to drive, I tap the brakes to make sure he comes to a complete stop. Then I honked to let him know he should stop sooner, you know, before he gets onto the road where I have the right-of-way?!

He had his left blinker on, but instead turns right to follow me for a few blocks. He turns on his brights as soon as he gets behind me, but I had my mirror turned up, so I didn't even notice, my sister told me. Then as I moved over to the left turn lane, he flips me off! Like I'm the one who did something wrong!

Oh well. I'm going on a cruise he's not. Sucks to be him.

Six days and counting....

Only six days until my vacation officially begins. My cruise is in 9 days. I SO can't wait for this. I haven't had a "real" vacation since my honeymoon back in May/June of 2004.

I've purchased a new bathing suit that will keep other cruisers from freaking out at my kidney scar and some new clothes (skirt, some cute tops, two pairs of WAY CUTE sandals). I still have to get sunblock for the week, a bikini wax (cuz I'm so sure you wanted to hear about it), and get my hair cut. Dang, I have a lot to do. Better get on that.

Not the Head of NASA yet....

Remember I ordered that SpaceStation Simulation game a few weeks ago? If not, I did.

Anyway, I finally got around to installing it on one of our gaming computers last night. I started by playing the Tutorial so when I played for real, I would know what I was doing. My astronauts abandoned my practice space station!! That did not bode well for my self-esteem with this game... but I'm now building a "real" space station, and I've already kept my astronauts happier and healthier than I did in practice, so we'll see how long I can keep this up. I think part of the reason that I failed during practice is because I wouldn't let my astronauts fall in love. The guy astronaut was from Russia and my female astronaut was American. I didn't think that public opinion would approve of space love, therefore denying my space agency money with which to continue building my space station. But by keeping them apart, they left.

I'm sure my practice astronauts are now eloping in Vegas. Mr. and Mrs. Dropov.

Ah-nold would be proud...

Last week, I did 6 push-ups.

Today, I walked about a mile with my sister and husband.

Tomorrow, I'll do about an hour of yoga with a co-worker.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention.... after my walk today, I went to Steak-N-Shake for dinner. Single steakburger with cheese and a Fruit'N'Frozen Yogurt Milk Shake. So healthy, right?

I think that I have worked out more in the past week than I have in a really long time. Like, since before I donated my kidney (which was almost a year ago!!!!!).

I can't believe that my one year anniversary is coming up. I think I'll send Shennie a card. She and Lefty are so happy together. Plus, Lefty got her to quit smoking. What a motivator.

Blessings:
1) Optimism

2) Good sense of humor

3) Great friends like Bob, Karl, Scott, Robin, Brett, Justin, Cheryl, Scott (not the same one), Lisa, Morgan, Mike, Greg, Nick, Lisa, Erik and many more (so, that includes you if my exhausted brain couldn't think of anyone else to add)

Blessing #4 for today

Found this little nugget on thesuperficial.com:

David Hasselhoff "Hooked on a Feeling" Cracked out Video

This makes me smile and feel blessed that I am not the little angels in this video who will be mercilessly tormented in middle school and high school for appearing in the video. Gosh, I sure hope they aren't his kids for real. That in and of itself must be torture.

P.S. Blessings

I forgot to add my blessings at the end of my last post.

1) my sister living so close by

2) a close relationship with said sister

3) my eyesight (I'll have to explain that one later.....)

Beauty and the Geek

OK, so I'm a bit behind in the times, but I just finished watching the tail end of Season Three of "Beauty and the Geek." What a great show. Seriously. Ashton was right on with this "social experiment."

They did start out with gals who were beautiful, and they were kinda ditzy in the beginning. I don't think that it's because they were actually airheads, though. I think that they have been socialized to act dumber than they are because society tells them that men can't handle smart women.

And the guys, well, they were really geeky. But you all know me, and should know by now that I love geeky guys! By the end of the show, the guys were much more socially aware of themselves. And a vast majority of the girls had improved themselves to the point where they were allowing the true, smart part of themselves show. With the exception of one shallow gal, Cecille. She started out the show going after the money. SPOILER ALERT!!!!! So, since all she cared about was the money, she didn't take any responsibility for the fact that she was a major bee-hotch to many of the people on the show, male and female. At the end, she thought the reason she lost the money was because everyone else was retarded and just didn't like her. Well, uh, no shit they didn't like you, you said mean things to them and never felt remorseful for anything that you said or did. DUH. Cecille did not change at all. And hopefully Nate was right, maybe in a week, a month or a year she'll finally realize that not ALL of the people on the show were wrong, the common denominator was her. She must be the one who needed to change.

Although, in watching the reunion show, I could see that even 6 months hadn't changed her perspective on things. So if losing $250,000 wasn't enough to teach her a lesson, I don't know what will.

Oh, and I so hope that Nate and JennyLee are still together. They were SO cute, and he is truly a good, nice human being. I think more people should be like him. He intentionally went around to all the judges and told them not to vote for him and Cecille because he felt that losing might teach her a lesson. He sacrificed $250,000 to try and help someone become a better person. Cecille is a money-seeking whore bag. Sorry, but she is.


Here's a picture of her. She's such a bitch that no one has pictures of her online. This is the best picture that Google Images had for her. Just goes to show, doesn't matter how pretty you are, if you're a mean person, karma will stop you in your tracks.

New Blessing

The US Postal Service.

I got my passport in the mail today, which means I get to go on my cruise!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!! Also, Ben got his, so he's going with me! Double Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the Deal

OK, so I brought up "The Secret" a couple of weeks ago, and now it's time to start something in Blogland that I don't think enough people are doing. I'm not (yet), and all the blogs that I read don't do this regularly, either. So here goes:

Part of "The Secret" is that in order to have a better life, one must be grateful for what they already have. This applies to people, their life situation, or things that they have. Now, in my journal (you know, the one where I write the things I don't want everyone in the world to know), I've kept a Blessings section. Every time that I write in that journal, which is usually when something really tough is happening, I end the entry with 3 Blessings. Each time, I try to write 3 new blessings, although, I can't always think of three new ones. But at least I think of 3 good, positive things/people/situations in my life at that rough time.

So, now Blogland needs to start doing the same. What are your Blessings? Here are my first three:

1. My family (my parents are good people, and my siblings are too, finally) *wink*

2. My husband: He's the best. He's sweet, loving, takes care of me when I'm sick, and works hard so we can continue to live in this phenomenal house.

3. My house: It's just the right size for us now. It doesn't require a lot of work to make it liveable. It's so cute!

Whatcha Think?

So here is the temporary fix to my boring ol' blog look. It's just a new template from Blogger, but will do for the time being. My sis is over helping me make this even better.

As for the blog title, I really want that to be the sous-name. So if you can come up with a cooler title than "Space Cadet," (my first title idea that was shot down mighty quick) please suggest away. You may suggest multiple ideas, all ideas will at least be considered.

HELP ME!

Now that I have no voice... I've been looking at blogs all over the 'net. I have the most boring looking blog EVER!!!! No wonder I have like five regular readers. It's white with like two animations. And my gamer tag card (thanks sweetie!), and my ticker (thanks jess and Ben).....

I want a cool header like the FlipFlop Momma, or AnnaBananaRocks, or my sis, Lackdaisical Motivation. And I need a cooler name. Morganarama is such a great name. "Jennie's Blog" just ain't working no mo'.

So, here's my call out to the world. I have absolutely no html or website writing skills at all. I need someone out there to help me out with designing a cool background/theme/whatever the heck it's called.

And, I want to have a naming contest. Based on what you have learned about me in the past year via this blog, what name should I give my blog?

Hell hath frozen over.

I have now gone over an hour without saying a word. And I've been awake. Mostly it's because I have no voice. When I talk, all that comes out is squeaking. I can whisper, but barely. I never thought that it would be this hard to go without talking. I feel for people who cannot speak. The fact that you can hear everything that is going on without being able to adequately communicate your thoughts into the conversation is so frustrating. I have to rely on the patience of others while I write my thoughts or just stay quiet.

Grrrrr, argh.

Dinner Party

I've now had my first official dinner party at my new house. I invited my parents, sister and two friends over for a homemade dinner.

I made steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade italian bread, italian salad.

For dessert was angel food cake with strawberries.

Apparently, I've got the steak and potatoes dinner down to a tee. Now it's time to try making something new....... Off to the cookbooks I go.

Oh yeah....

Tonight, we had a redneck dinner. Corndogs and mac-n-cheez. Note the "mis-spelling." That's because it wasn't even Kraft, it was Dierberg's. Although, we didn't notice enough of a taste difference to go back to buying Kraft. So 2 for $1 it is.

Then, Ben asked if he could go play with Justin, and of course I said yes. How can I say no to my sweetie-kins (God, I'm disgusting....)? So I drew a bath, lit some candles, and turned on Delilah. Finished the night off with painting my toenails.

Life is good.

By the way, have you heard about "The Secret?"

Show Me Your Mamma!

FlipFlop Mamma just set a "challenge" of Show Me Your Mamma! In case you're wondering, I've added FlipFlop Mamma's blog link to the right. I read her blog regularly, and I want to share her with the world. She's awesome. But I digress..... So here's my mom... and my dad and my brother and my sister-in-law. My dad reminds me of Henry Winkler and Alan Alda. Don't ask me why, but he always has. And that is my mom's NATURAL color. Her nickname isn't Red for no reason.

BTW, I'm so proud of my brother. He's just made Specialist grade in the Army!! Go Army! And my sis-in-law is preggers!!! She's due a couple weeks after my 30th birthday. Can't wait!! I'll be a "real" aunt. Technically, I'm already an aunt like 17 times over, but I inherited them all at my wedding.

Ghost Rider

Went and saw Ghost Rider last night with friends. Good movie. Nic Cage wasn't bad at all. Some Elvis like looks during that movie, tho. Kinda funny. Eva Mendes, eh. Not bad, not great. Donal Logue rocked like always. Love them funny redheads. Peter Fonda was really good. I'd recommend this movie.

BTW, Happy President's Day. I sure hope you have tomorrow off like me!! :) (Sorry Morgan...)

Do You Believe?

Today while catching up on laundry and relaxing, I watched an Oprah show about psychics and mediums. Her central question was "Do You Believe?" I cannot honestly say that I believe one way or the other. I've been having a bit of a spiritual crisis for a few years now. With me being a scientific minded person, I find it hard to believe in God. Part of me thinks that perhaps there must have been a God that started our whole universe, but now mostly stands on the outside looking in.

Because of my Christian upbringing, I find it hard to deny God as well. Part of me fears that in not fully believing, that will damn me to hell if/when I die. But another part of me feels that a God would not want people to just blindly follow, but come to their faith through careful and thorough consideration. Faith should be a journey, I suppose. I'm just walking that line between belief and disbelief.

As for the psychic and "otherside" beliefs... hmmm... once again, I don't know. The scientific part of me says that once those electrical impulses stop passing through your body, that's it. You're gone. No other side. Life is over for you. The more spiritual side of me feels that physical life is over, the the soul continues on. That part of me believes that souls do keep watch over their loved ones.

I've had two experiences that make me feel more like "life" continues after death. The first one happened when I was in college. There was a ghost story of a young lady who had been killed in the 1970's. Supposedly, her ghost continued to look over the college kids in our dorm where she had been the head Residential Adviser at her death. One day, as I walked into my room, the radio on my clock radio began playing. I checked it, and it was set to "Off." The alarm was not set, and in fact the volume was set low, yet it was REALLY loud. A little freaked out, I went to my suitemate's room, and her boyfriend told me to go back in the room and tell Joan (the ghost) to not do that, it scared me. So feeling a little silly, I returned to my room and told her to not do that, it scares me. The radio turned off at that moment. I later found out that a more sensitive friend of mine had seen Joan's apparition in my room the previous semester. To my knowledge, Joan had not lived in the room I was in. But I often heard odd noises, like marbles dropping on linoleum floor in the room above me, but when I'd pass that room to go to a friend's place, that room had carpet. It was weird.

The other experience I've had is that there have been times when I have felt my late grandmother with me. Out of nowhere, I get thoughts, feelings that she is with me. It's weird. And comforting.

What about you...do YOU believe?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Here is a beautiful photo of a rose for all my readers. Have a sweet day!

P.S. While searching for a nice pic, apparently Google Images believes that Viagra photos make for good "Valentine's Day images." Try it. It's fun finding out what people/software lists as an appropriate image....

Ksdk

So this morning's Question of the Day on Today in St. Louis (our early morning NBC news show) was "what are your favorite childhood memories of snow?" So I wrote in about my time in North Dakota as a kid. My letter made it on the air!! I'll have to have my hubby make a video of it and help me post it. I've now been on KSDK like four times (not including re-runs of Show-Me St. Louis)!!

Here is a link I found (with the help of my friend Bob):
Jennie on KSDK

Now, that isn't video, I'll still have to make a video.... but that's the article with all the submissions that got sent in. Mine was one of two read on the air. Woo hoo!!

Four Things

Four things you may not have known about me....

A) Four jobs I have had in my life.

1. McDonald's worker
2. Food Service provider at Panda Express
3. Camp counselor
4. Camp Director

B) Four movies I would watch over and over.

1. Just about any Disney movie (except Pocahontas, that one sucked)

2. RENT
3. Steel Magnolias
4. Spaceballs

C) Four places I have lived

1. Waterbury CT
2. Belleville, IL
3. Minot AFB, ND
4. West Harwich, MA ( we lived on Cape Cod with my grandparents for three months while my parents tried to find a house in Maine)

D) Four TV shows I love to watch

1. Heroes
2. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
3. My Name is Earl

4. The Office

E) Four places I have been on vacation

1. St. Maarten (Dutch/French Virgin Island)
2. DisneyWorld
3. Yellowstone (while it was burning)
4. Houston TX


F) Four of my favorite foods

1. Steak
2. Chinese
3. Ice Cream
4. My mom's cooking

G) Four places I would like to be right now:

1. on a cruise ship
2. on a beach
3. Paris France
4. Space Camp (which I get to go to this summer!!)

H) Four people I think will respond

1. Jessica
2. Morgan
3. Katie
4. Bob

No pressure y'all... just e-mail your responses to me, or blog them.

Laptop is fixed!!

Go Ben!! My honey is the BEST!! Seriously, all my female friends who check this on a regular basis have nice husbands/significant others, but my husband is the best. He was able to switch out the hard drive and configure the whole thing within a few days.

So now I'll try and blog more regularly again.....

I hope that you've all missed me.... I've missed you!

P.S. Note that I've added a Bloglines subscription button on my sidebar to help you all add me to your bloglines list! If you don't have one, you should. It helps me keep up with all my friends' and family blogs (winks out to Morganarama, MellyvStomach, Lackadaisacal Motivation, Bobbio, and the FlipFlop Mamma!)

Sorry for the long wait...

Laptop crashed.... using my sister's 'puter to let you know. Hopefully will be up and running by the weekend.

In Memory of....

George A. Hill, Jr.

George was my Aunt Shennie's best friend. She met him through Susan, a gal she met at church a few years ago. Susan was George's wife. Susan died from cancer a few years back, and George and Shennie became good friends. Everyday after work, she went to his house, or he came over to hers. They'd watch the news, she'd try and get him to watch an episode of MASH with her (her fave tv show), they'd eat dinner. While she was sick (before I gave her Lucky Leftie), he kept her in good spirits. I got to meet him while I was in Boston last year. He came over one night and we all had a great time. A couple of nights later, he came back and brought gi-nor-mous shrimp with him. I have never in my life seen shrimp this big. He had them in his freezer, wasn't planning on making them anytime soon, and the day before, I had mentioned that there was no good seafood in the Mid-west. So he brought me his huge shrimp. They were amazing. I kept meaning to send him an Omaha steak to pay him back, but I waited too long. George died last week. He was an older gentleman, but had emphysema like you wouldn't believe. Wore an oxygen tube, dragging one of those oxygen tank carts with him wherever he went. His daughter has asked that no flowers be sent, but that donations be made to a Flyfishing camp in Maine. So that is what I'll do. George was an avid flyfisher, and he loved to teach kids how to tie flies, and he organized youth fishing tournaments in his area. So, I want to donate to this camp, hopefully allowing them to help some disadvantaged younster go to camp, or buy a new rod, or supplies. Something. They will best know to spend the money.

George, sorry I didn't send you that steak. I hope that the camp donation makes up for it. You were a great great man, and my aunt was lucky to know you for so long. Godspeed, George.

MLK Day Update

Ok, so last week I made a shallow joke about getting my cut to memorialize MLK Day. Well, I just happened upon this story that makes my little joke seem very silly, comparatively.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,246884,00.html

How stupid can people be?? I mean really. Kids these days don't think about how anything that they do affects others around them. Boy, aren't I the old-timer?! Ha!

Sick and Tired of....

being Sick and Tired.

I have a theory. According to mom, I've never had a fever. Never. The only times I can remember having a temperature over 98 degrees is after my two surgeries. Apparently when I'm in a buttload of pain, I get a fever. Not when I'm sick. I had the flu a couple of years ago and the doctor was flaberghasted because I had no fever, but all the other symptoms of flu.

On to the theory. When I get sick, I get really, really tired a day or two before. And I stay tired until I am over the illness. So the theory goes that my body is different from other people. Others get fevers to fight infection, I must sleep through infection.

I was sick over the weekend, and yesterday I came home from work a litte early so I could get some more sleep (hint, hint). I woke up with the sniffles. As of last night at bedtime, I almost had a full blown cold. Sniffles, coughs, sore throat, etc. I'm still exhausted despite the fact that I left work early by three hours today, just slept for at least three hours, and I'm still tired! WTF?! I just got over a stomach bug, and now I've got a cold? This sucks.

Poor, Poor Pizza Guy

My weekend started out pretty normally. Went to our friends' house for fondue and Zombies (a role playing type game). The guys played while Cheryl knitted and Robin and I talked about anything and everything. I love this girl. I enjoyed one glass of White Merlot and a half glass of Karl's uber-expensive, but very good, Gerwurtztraminer (really really sweet white wine).

Saturday morning, I woke up nauseous. And then it got worse. Soon, I was spewing out of both ends (which I'm so sure you wanted to hear about). That's when it occurred to me. My boss' son made me sick. She had to bring him in for a little bit on Thursday while she got some work done. I played with him for like 5 minutes then ran off to my meeting. That five minutes must have been enough for the little petri dish to pass his germs on to me. Great.

My entire menu for yesterday (and today so far) has been Saltines and Gatorade. It seems that is all my body will keep down. The anti-nausea pill I took yesterday didn't even stay down. Stupid anti-nausea meds that don't work. D'OH!

Onto to the poor pizza guy. Late this morning, Ben decided that he wanted pizza to eat while football is on. Cool. I have no interest in pizza, but sure. He orders it then makes a quick run to Target to pick up a couple of things before football starts. Luckily, Ben thought to leave me money in case the pizza showed before he did. The doorbell rings. I stand up from the love seat, straighten my robe, check my visage in the mirror. I look like a really, truly sick person. Great, oh well, the pizza person will just have to deal. I open the door, and I'm sure that's he's expecting someone with clothes on. I mean, it is 1 p.m. on a Sunday. Nope. A zombie looking late 20's slob opens the door. Talk about deer-in-the-headlights look. So I give him the money, he gives me the change and the pizza. And Ben STILL isn't home yet.

Bruises, Bumper Cars and Beef Stew

I had such a great weekend! My best friend Morgan and her hubby drove to our new house on Friday afternoon. Now, they are truly good friends. They left Friday at 12:30 p.m. from the Kansas City area and arrived in St. Louis around 7:30 p.m. Normally, that is a four maybe five hour drive! Not that I wanted them to risk their lives or their car to make it out here, but how much fun is it to get snowed in at a friend's house?!

We hung out and relaxed Friday night, then we were lucky enough for my boss to cancel my workshop on Saturday (granted, the weather wasn't good). So a bunch of my friends from college all came over to my house for dinner. Spaghetti Night LIVES!

Sunday was Demolition Ball. Demo ball was so much fun. I have the bruises to prove it. I'd gladly pay to play that again. All I have to say is: bumper cars rule. After demo ball, it was off to Nick's house for beef stew and Battlestar Galactica.

Finally, I honored Martin Luther King, Jr., by getting my hair cut. What is the connection from MLK to hair cuts? MLK would have wanted a cute gal with way cute hair to be driving over his bridge each day. I was being disrespectful to his memory until yesterday by not having way cute hair.

OK, I'm just kidding. I didn't cut my hair to honor MLK. I did it because I wanted to. My hair was damn long and needed to be trimmed. In the end, I took off five inches and it's STILL below my shoulders!

Anyway, Thanks to Mike and Morgan for coming out to visit. I had such a good time and I know Ben did, too. We can't wait to have you back in town!

Almost Lost It Today

Got home from work and I see that the voicemail light is flashing on our phone (which means we now have phone service!! Thank God!). So I listen to the voicemail and about threw the phone across the room halfway through the message. It was my old landlady leaving a message saying that she didn't think that my cleaning lady shampooed the carpets. I thought for sure that this meant she was going to try and screw us out of our deposit.

I took a deep breath, relaxed my shoulders and dialed the phone. Luckily, she believed me when I told her that my cleaning did in fact shampoo the carpets; I saw her unload the machine from her van early in the morning then saw her wet socks later that day. She had taken her shoes off to keep from dirtying the freshly shampooed carpet.

So, it looks like we'll be getting our deposit back, which is nice, because it means we aren't losing any money. It cost money to have someone clean the house, but I sure didn't have the time to do everything that was on the list of requirements to get our deposit back. And Ben mentioned something else we spent money on for that house, but his thought escapes me at the moment, but I remember the jist of the conversation being that getting our deposit back would mean we'd break even on the house.

I thought about doing a Wordless Wednesday blog yesterday, but that would have meant trying to find our digital camera, and I just didn't have energy or drive to do that, it'll have to wait until next Wednesday. Hopefully, we'll have found it by then.

Whatta Day...

Oh my goodness.... I worked my tail off this morning, had a mission with a really rambunctious group of kids, then something went wrong with something in one of our simulators. So, that led to me staying at work until 8:30 with the wonderful Bobberino who worked his tail off trying to fix the problem for us, until I got too tired and begged him to stop. I still had a 30+ minute drive home. I'm certain that he could have fixed it with enough time, but I'm exhausted.

Luckily, though, my honey kicked some major antenna butt and got our HD antenna set up and was even able to get it to recieve channels we couldn't get at the other house.

So, I'm going to go enjoy the cookies I break-n-baked while they are still warm. Then I'm going to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

You Make It Liveable...

I make it loveable. In other words, Ben gets the things we need to and for the new house, I get the things that make it more home-like. For example, he got the stuff we needed; furniture, clothes, etc. I bought the things that make the home, i.e. the little basket thingy for the master bathroom, the bath rugs for the master bath, the mirror to go above the fireplace mantle.

It's coming together ladies and gents. Satellite TV is hooked up, and furniture for the bedroom and dining room have been delivered. I am typing to you now from my brand new bed. Yay! Now it's bed time so I'm not a freaking zombie tomorrow at work.

Check out THIS side boob....

OK, not really side boob, but my sidebar has a new inhabitant. Just in case Jessica, Morgan and my blogs are not enough hilarity for you, I've been turned on to this freakin' gut-splitting blog. This Melanie gal cracks my shiz-nit up! She kinda reminds me of Morgan, but way more sexual and out with her body (which I never thought could be possible....).

She, much like myself and Morgan, is not into hiding her cursing and outright sexuality. Although, I do try and keep it somewhat tame in case my boss or family other than my sister happens upon my blog. Anyway, when you have time, I highly recommend you check out Melanie's Kick-Ass Blog.