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.