Closet Organizers Suck

Way too complicated for my head today. Information overload.

364 Days Til the Big 3-OH!

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me!

So I turned 29 today. Doesn't feel much different than 28 or 27 for that matter. Now there's just that impending 30th birthday to look forward to, which is rather ominous. But I can deal. They say 30's the new 20 right? Or something like that anyway.

Today's been off to a good start. Got up and did the normal routine (with no mention of a birthday I might add...sniff!) but when I got to work my cubicle had been decorated with streamers and balloons. That was nice.

Then I logged in to my email and there were messages from family, friends and co-workers. I think that in a 5 minute span of time I had over 35 emails come in. It just goes to show how popular I am. Of course.

Here's one from my sis:
Speaking of my sis...My sisters and I went to Seattle last weekend. Kind of in honor of my birthday, but really we just wanted to see Wicked at the Paramount and we decided to make it into a 2 day junket. We did a little bit of shopping. Little bit of eating and of course a little bit of drinking. Nothing too drastic. Just drinks with dinner (at Red Robin!) then before the show we stopped into a bar near the theater that was serving "Wicked-tinis" so we tried them. They were pretty good. I got to meet up with some great friends while I was there. If ONLY I could have spent a couple extra days, but alas I had to come home to my babies.

By the way? Wicked was....wicked! Wickedly awesome that is! I highly recommend it to you if you get the chance to see it. In honor of how totally cool it was, today's post is written in green. If you know the story, you'll understand. If you aren't familiar...get there! ASAP.

But back to the day at hand. I don't really know what the evening has in store for me. Tim is pretending not to care. "oh I totally forgot" he says in a faked shocked voice. So we'll see.

I did get flowers though! No. Not from Tim...that would have been too easy. From my good friend Rebecca. You remember her right? If not, read this. I love her for it, well I love her anyway. But... They were beautiful of course.

I have to get back to work folks. I know it's been a long time, and I'm aching to catch up too. But I should really be working. Once my internet is installed this weekend at the new place I PROMISE to write a blog-worthy post. What? I didn't tell you? We bought a condo! Surprise! More on that later. In the mean time, TA TA!

She Would Be 49 Today

Happy Birthday Mom!

I miss her so much.

Nap Time

She fell asleep in the car. Exactly like this. Isn't she funny? I love my goofy princess.

A Blustery Day in the Neighborhood

I was on my lunch break this afternoon and I decided to just sit in my car and watch the wind and rain. It was kind of relaxing, if my phone would allow me to send recordings longer than 30 seconds I would have recorded a lot more. But I guess you get the point. I actually fell asleep in my car. Weird I know. I actually woke up when I heard someone's car door slam shut. Thankfully that happened or I would have kept right on sleeping!

Now, most of you know how much I hate winter. But I actually really like this time of year. Yeah, it gets a little rainy and blustery like today. I just like the crisp air and cool nights, I don't even mind the overcast skies. I usually don't start hating the weather until about December, possibly November. Depends on the snow load.

Until next time-keep on keepin' on!

Miranda...oops! I mean Melinda

I'm sitting up late and waiting for my laundry to get done. I've considered leaving it in the laundry room overnight and going to bed. But I've had my skivvies stolen (no joke!) on more than one occasion so I don't really feel like taking that risk tonight. For a funny true story about stolen underwear go here.

So here I am, googling aimlessly and checking my Facebook (add me!) every ten minutes. I'm on my fourth second cup of coffee (of course) and I am getting rather bored.

Tim's still up with me, he's sitting over there in the living room watching CNN. Naturally I've heard the same 3 stories now two or three times. You know how CNN is right? It's all on rotation. Currently I'm listening to one story that I am so sick of hearing about. You've probably already guessed, but that story I'm referring to is the Michael Jackson's death investigation story. Man. That Larry King is sure eating it up too. You'd think that Larry, being as old and (seemingly) distinguished as he is, would have better things to talk about. Like oh I don't know, the war in Iraq/Afghanistan?...maybe the 3 hikers being held in Iran or even the reality show murderer guy... at least Anderson Cooper talked about those stories right before this. But nope. Instead Larry, looking meticulously fastidious in his usual suspenders and colorful tie, is questioning some unheard of dude about one of Michael's many doctors that may or may not have had something to do with his death. ugh!

*stepping off my soap box*

Guess what I'm listening to? Apparently Third Eye Blind has a new album. Didn't know this until about 20 minutes ago. It's called Ursa Major, it's pretty good, as far as Third Eye Blind goes. I used to listen to them a lot, so this brings me back to my "college days". One thing is for sure, you can definitely tell who you're listening to. Stephan Jenkins has a distinctive voice, and Third Eye Blind in general has a pretty distinctive sound. The song Summer Town on Ursa Major, definitely has a beat that is reminiscent of Semi-Charmed Life. Which I don't really mind so much because that song rocks my socks! OK........

...crickets chirping...

I left for a moment but I am back. I've gone and found Semi-Charmed Life to rock out to. I can't sit here and talk about that song without hearing it! This song definitely strikes the memory nerve. When I moved to Seattle for school, I encountered many things for the first time. One thing that is odd, but I think is cool, is my first experience with REAL radio stations. Good ones compared to Juneau's offerings. I found a station that played top hits (of course) and I listened to that station a lot. This song was on a seriously heavy rotation at the time...

*cue the dream sequence*

In college I shared an apartment with two girls from Moses Lake, Washington. I wasn't arriving in Seattle until 2 days before orientation. But their parents were driving them in a week early to set up the apartment. (side note: AIS didn't really have dorms, they leased apartments around town. I got placed in some apartments about 20 minutes from the school. The funny part? My particular place happened to be one of about 15-20 apartments leased by AIS in a complex made up mostly of retirees and middle aged professionals. haha those poor old people) My two future roommates called me one day before I left Juneau to ask what things I'd be contributing to the new digs. My answer? pretty much nothing, I had a microwave. This didn't seem to upset them. Apparently their parents were providing the essentials.

Actual apartments people!! I googled them!

Now, I'm not sure you can tell from my previous history lessons on me. This information will be needed at a later point in the story so pay attention: I might have been what you would have called "preppy" or maybe even "girlie". My personal tastes at the time included the colors purple, pink, blue and white. So when I'd gone to Bed Bath & Beyond with my aunt to pick out my new bedroom supplies these are the colors I went with.

Finally the big day arrived and I walked into my very first apartment. I opened the door and met my new roommates. Melinda and Megan....and their parents....and their siblings...and their boyfriends. I only got a few moments to drop off my stuff in the entry way and then we ALL went out to dinner. (It's funny. Now knowing Seattle the way I do, it turns out that we couldn't have picked one further away. I didn't realize how absurd this was at the time, but we went to dinner about 40 minutes away...because we just drove until something looked good. It's a wonder we found our way back.)

After the families dropped us off and left for their hotel, I finally walk into my new place and get my the tour. They kindly let me have the second, smaller bedroom for myself. Being the best friends that they were, they decided to share the master bedroom with 2 beds in it. Awesome. Sort of. I really liked that I got my own room but for some reason my room had a weird wall. Let me explain: this wall wasn't really a wall, it was an accordion style door that ran the entire length of the wall against the living room. I am not really sure why this door existed but it did.

Speaking of the living room. As soon as entered it I got a taste of my new roomies' preferences. On the wall above the fireplace was what would be Halloween decorations in any other person's home. However we were a month away from said holiday, and just to clear things up? The plastic spider and web were still up when I left for Christmas vacay. Our couch was a chaise style (kinda cool actually) black and I think beige...but the actual color escapes me now. I was able to deal thankfully I didn't have to live with the rest of the decor that clued me into their "goth" style. Most of the skulls and other nonsense was in their room.

Megan dated a nice guy named Lloyd. He was kinda quiet like Megan, and compared to Melinda they hardly made a sound. She was loud and obnoxious (nice most of the time, but obnoxious). Melinda's boyfriend I never saw after the first night because he went back to Moses Lake.

I remember I'd begun to get settled in and Melinda apparently had a problem with my "perkiness" and the brightness of my belongings. I couldn't help but overhear her complaining to Megan outside of my open bedroom door (hard to miss, which I think was her point). "She's just so bright! I mean look at her room it's like rainbows and sunshine! blah blah blah!" haha it's kind of funny now but at the time I was offended. It wasn't like I was imposing my style on them (cough cough), it was all confined to my room. Thankfully, Megan felt the same way as me and told Melinda to cool off.

We got along fairly well, I don't want to decieve you with such a silly story. That was just one of my funny anecdotes about Melinda.

Megan wasn't my roommate for long. She got "sick" after breaking up with Lloyd and decided she missed Moses Lake. She dropped out and it was just me and Melinda. and.... Lloyd. Apparently in Moses Lake, it's OK to share your bff's bf. Because Melinda and Lloyd hooked up and he practically moved in. We didn't get a new roommate since we were still only about 2 or 3 weeks into school and no one new was enrolling at that point.

Which leads me to story number 2:

I began to get comfy in my surroundings. Lloyd, as I mentioned, was thuper nice. He always made a point to include me in what ever. I'm not sure Melinda appreciated that. Lloyd hung out a lot and the two of us would play Nintendo together while Melinda was at work or even if she was there. I usually tried to give them some space....

So one evening I was playing video games with him and we were having friendly conversation when Melinda came home. I decided to leave them alone and head off to my room. He told me there was no reason to leave, but I never liked the whole "third wheel" feeling, so I declined. A few moments later I was lying in my bed about to put my headphones on when I hear the two of them talking. I missed the first part of the conversation, but came in somewhere around Lloyd saying "she's not so bad"....silence....and then Melinda shrieking/laughing "You like her don't you?!?!" followed by a hissing shh sound. Lloyd didn't appear to like her tormenting teasing him about this considering the short proximity (remember, weird wall/door folks?). This convo piqued my interest so I perked up, but alas, her shriek had all but ended it. All I heard after that was "you do don't you?" and "shut up".

Just to make another thing clear, she was teasing him because she found this hilarious. She wasn't threatened, or at least didn't sound it at that moment...

Alas, my friendship/roomateship with Melinda ended not too long after that. I went home in December for winter break and came home to a new girl, Andrea. I walked into my apartment to find that Andrea was moving my things into the big bedroom, in fact she was just about finished when I walked in. She appeared normal in the looks department, and it didn't look like I'd be hearing any complaints about my color choices... however, the bitch was touching my stuff! I asked her what was going on, and where Melinda was.

Apparently Melinda dropped out over break, and being the beginning of a new semester the school was moving her in. Andrea had actually moved in over the break as Melinda was moving out. Maybe as one last dig at me (or maybe she was jealous after all!) Melinda told Andrea I'd wanted the big room all along so to go ahead and move my stuff.

Really I didn't mind too much. I got over the initial shock of it all, and it didn't look like we'd be getting a third roommate so I got the big room to myself (whew!). Plus I was actually excited to meet her because she seemed more like me.

Little did I know that I'd soon really miss Melinda...

But that my friends is a whole other story.

*side note*

About 4 years ago I walked into Pagliacci Pizza on Mercer Ave in Seattle. I was pushing my baby boy in his stroller, he must have been just a couple months old at the time. I walk up to pay for my order, and who should be the cashier??? MELINDA! Of course, I couldn't quite remember her name (I called her Miranda...oops!) in fact I started typing Miranda several times in this post before I realized my mistake. haha. She recognized me, but couldn't recall my name, so I reminded her. She actually came over to my table shortly after. We caught up for a minute or two. Turns out after she'd dropped out she'd never gone home to Moses Lake. She got married to someone a few years before our encounter and she also had one or two kids. And yes, I asked whatever happened to Lloyd (I couldn't resist!)...she looked at me weirdly "Lloyd? Wow I haven't thought about him in years!" She didn't know what had become of him.

*end side note*

I mentioned to Tim earlier that it is sad I have no pictures to document this short time in my life. I moved to Seattle in early October and was gone by the following February. And even though this was a rough period in my life emotionally, I still have some fond memories. I didn't make life long friends with my first roommates, but I will always remember them. I have only one picture of my dear roomie Melinda. It is her senior picture that for some reason she felt the need to give to me shortly after we'd met. Sorry folks, outta respect for her I won't post it. Since I don't speak with her I can't get her permission. Too bad for you, cuz it's a doozy!

Night y'all!

I Love Christina

And here's why:

Christina Aguilera - New Music - More Music Videos

My list of totally unrelated topics that I happen to love at the moment

I feel like listing everything that I'm totally feeling (ie: into. digging. want to cover in kisses) these days. For whatever reason, I'm not really feeling up to the seriousness of a meatier topic. Bare (or is it bear? eh. evs) with me all you carnivores, those posts that you used to savor will return! You have my word!

Without further adieu, I present to you MY LIST of totally unrelated topics that I happen to love at the moment:

1. OK, apparently lists are something I can't get enough of. My last post was a list. This is a list. I've been known to make a list or two. Could there be more in the future? Stay tuned!

2. Is it weird that I am totally infatuated with Kim Kardashian and her sisters Kourtney and Kloe? I can't help it! Their just so gosh darn pretty (aw shucks!). I am obsessed with Keeping Up With the Kardashians (for you slow pokes, that is their reality show on E!), I've seen just about every episode and I am now patiently waiting for the new season to start. Not only that, but Kourtney and Kloe Take Miami also premieres soon! woot woot! Double the Kardashian silliness!

Today I was looking at the gossip websites working diligently and I came across the fact that Kourt is preggers! Didn't know this, but apparently she is about five months. So that will add some fun drama and extra craziness! Looking forward to it!

um also, I totally love Kimmy's (yes. I like to refer to her as if I personally know her. You got a problem?) blond hair! That's the hotness! meow! (over compensating for my jealousy)
3. Beyonce's HALO. Love that song. Can't get enough of it. Well. That's not entirely true. I play it on repeat about 100 a few times and then I have to change it...you get what I'm telling you son!?!

4. Tiger Week. (see previous post or go VISIT MAXIE after you're done here of course) Damn cuddly ass tigers and their obvious bad assery!

5. My Timmy Tim Tim. He's just so gosh darn cute. Right now he's playing his gey-tar and that makes him kinda sexy too. Have you heard his music yet? No? Well WTF are you waiting for? Get the hell outta here and go listen to his MySpace page! The linky is up in the top left of my pagey-poo. Oh. wait. don't go. I'm sorry if I was rude. I just get so worked up over these things, I didn't mean to yell. I promise.

6. Coffee! Late night coffee is great!!! Well it's great anytime...But that's not really a surprise now is it? I'm drinking it right now if you must know. Got the hazelnut creamer in it. Want some? Too bad, I drank it all.

7. Really digging this whole blogging scene. Meeting new bloggers and reading what they have to say. or. not to say. It really depends on the person.

8. Ice Cream. Not just any ice cream but MINTCHOCOLATECHIP!! Is there any other? Tim's been on the same kick as me. We've gone through like 3 tubs in the last 2 weeks. Now that is cray-zay!

oh hello 10 pounds! where'd you come from? I'd like you to meet the other 40 I gained in the last 3 years. (hey! don't judge. I have 2 kids dammit)

9. Friends re-runs. I love this show (Chandler's such a cutie puh-toot-ie) and after it ended I went for a few years without watching it. Recently I came across an episode (you know the one with the chick and the duck? classic) and I've been hooked on them. again. ever since. I really need to pick these up on dvd.

10. Kung Pao Chicken. Only the best Chinese dish ever. There's a place in town that makes an awesome version of it... trust me, I know better than to eat this all the time. But a girl can dream can't she? I happened to eat it for lunch today with one of the cuz's. I'd been wanting it for weeks! finally I succumbed to temptation.

11. Princess tails. My daughter's version of pig tails or pony tails. Her hair is getting long and plum ripe for the tails. Only problem is she wasn't having any of it...until mommy got crafty and called them by her alltimefavorite name (princess. duh.). Now she wears them with no fussing/tearing them out by the root. And she looks so gosh darn cute in them. See? (look down)
12. Alvin and the Chipmunks. There I said it. My kids have played the damn cd incessantly until the cover of Livin' on a Prayer is burned in my brain!

Now it is just plain adorable to hear my little tots sing along to the 'munks version of Journey's Don't Stop Believing. They're counting the days til the Chipmunks Squeakual I might add. *squeeze*

13. ANYTHING cooking and/or food related. (are you surprised? no? me either) My personal faves? Chopped, Iron Chef America, Throwdown With Bobby Flay, The Next Food Network Star (over. BTW.), 30 Minute Meals, Unwrapped, and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives....just to name a few.
Can I make it to fifteen?? We'll see!

14. Facebook and more specifically. the Sorority Life app on FB (GD to H-E-double hockey sticks...I need a life!!). What is it about social networking sites that draw me in? And I normally hate. HATE! adding apps to my shiz-nit. But the Sorority Life is so flippin' addictive and I can't help myself. I need help. Follow me on Facebook? Please? Go there. Now. or later. whichever. it's up to you, I'm not forcing it. BTW you can click on my face over there up and to the right---> just in case you needed assistance in finding me.

I am proud to say that I have YET to sign up for Twitter. *no applause necessary* thank-yooou.

15. The FUTURE! I've been obsessed over a number of things future related lately. No details yet. But things are totally looking up in a number of areas. Go ME! Trust me, you'll hear about them when the time is right.

16. Colored eyeliner. Specifically violet and blue. I think the violet suits me better, but the blue is kinda tacky funky. Me likey.

YEEESSSSS! I made it past the glorious fifteen!!! woooooo hooooooo! 16. I so rock. So did this captivate you long enough? No? Well I believe I gave you numerous options to look into. So go do those things now, okay?

LOVE YOU all.
And I really have no idea why I uncapped the word "all" but now that I've mentioned it, I'll leave it that way. OK? OK. *waves*

Good bye.

See ya!

Get outta here!

Oh! PS. Maybe I'll make a list about things I totally AM NOT digging on soon. We'll see. Or maybe I'll get started on that meat... To meat or not to meat...? You tell me. Please weigh in on your opinions. I live to entertain YOU. *hugs*

Tigers 10, Sharks 0

What I am going to love most about this post is the fact that random people will stumble upon it and say "WTF??"

The top ten list that proves Tigers are better than Sharks is as follows:

10. The Tiger is chosen as mascot 100x (no joke!!) over the shark. The list is so long that I will not repeat it, but wikipedia does a nice job for me. Google says the shark has one. Just one. The San Jose Sharks. It's an NHL team. Go figure.
9. While much is unknown about the mating habits of sharks, there is some information regarding the rituals of the tiger shark (what a co-inki-dink!). Wikipedia says: "The male uses its teeth to hold the female still during the procedure, often causing the female considerable discomfort." ouch!

Whereas the mating gestures of a Tiger are much gentler. Tigers have been known to use different positions as well as experiment with location, OK experiment is a stretch... but! Tigers have been known to do it anywhere the mood strikes, whether in a tree or on a rock or behind the bush... Both genders actually vocalize (moans and roars) during mating, in fact it's been documented that a female has roared 69 times in less than 15 minutes.

Now you tell me, which sounds like more fun? Sounds like a night at my place... what?

8. Sharks have gills. Gills are ugly. Tigers have a cute breathing apparatus called a nose.

7. Tigers have the ability to look scary or as cute as a button whenever they feel like it. Sharks on the other hand always look scary. See? Nothing cuddly about the guy on the left. He's butt-ugly!

6. In the 1983 film Scarface, the protagonist, Tony Montana, aspires to obtaining all the exterior trappings of the American Dream, which in the character's opinion included keeping a pet tiger on his property. Did he want a shark? Hells to the no!

5. Tigger, Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes), and Tony the Tiger ... nuf said. Umm sharks, well, all I could find was Sherman from Sherman's Lagoon.

4. Can you think of any famous people, let alone normal people, with the name Shark? I didn't think so. Boo-ya!

3. Tiger cubs are totally dependent on their mommas until about 18 months of age. Baby sharks are on their own from day one. Tigers know that mommy knows best! Leave it to the shark to abandon their babies...sheesh!

2. Tigers are open minded and don't discriminate. They'll cross breed with other big cats. Ever heard of a Liger or Tigon? Gotta give props to the Tiger for lovin' on the Lions cuz these big buggers are cute!

(also, and this could be it's own spot on the list however, I don't want people to think I'm weird cuz I focus too much on Tiger sexual habits. But Tigers are known to masturbate and females can have orgasms by themselves!! I mean come on right?!? Speaking from experience...that's just awesome.)

And last but not least, the number ONE reason the Tiger rocks over a shark:

1. You can't cuddle with a shark. You can try, but I wouldn't recommend it. Yeah sure, Tigers aren't always friendly towards man...but they have been known to be kept as pets. So there is potential.

Ok, if you really MUST know WTF this was all about. Go say hi to Maxie and check out Tiger Week. You can learn a whole bunch of reasons why Tigers deserve more love than Sharks.
DOOO IT!!!!

And remember: "He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount." ~Ancient Chinese Proverb

The Break Room (another TAT adventure)

Keeping in tune with my last Totally Awkward Tuesday post I am going to talk to you about another awkward moment from my days at the movie theater. Today is a two-for you lucky ducks you! I've decided that since I have TWO fantastical moments pertaining to the same room (read on, I'll get to explaining soon), I will go ahead and share them both with you today. This is actually more for me. I'd like to spare myself the agony of rehashing old memories that quite frankly, aren't looked upon fondly (I say that, but really, they do make me chuckle...now).

As you know, well you WOULD know if you read my blog regularly. ahem.

As I was saying, as you know I worked at one of Juneau's two movie theaters. From about the age of 15 until I was 18 (with a brief stint at 19 when I came home from college, but I digress. I do that often in case you haven't noticed.).

I started out working at the theater in the concession stand. Later I was promoted to usher duties and then I got to work the coveted box office. These were not monetary promotions, the only raise I got was in my pride. We hated working in concession, for obvious reasons (the smell of popcorn was permanently scorched into my nostrils, for one).

My first supervisor (I won't name names. You never know who'll come across this blog!) was rather creepy, OK maybe creepy isn't very nice. Well, yeah, creepy. There's no mincing words here. I'll explain: He was a dork, to put it bluntly. He was tall and lanky, had big square framed glasses and held his too tight black jeans up with big belt buckles while tucking in whatever polo shirt he was wearing for the day. On top of that his jeans were tapered...ew. He was older, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s. Think: D&D, Magic and trench coats. This supervisor tried desperately to fit in with his employees which only served to drive him further away from us.

To make a weird situation worse, he appeared to have a crush on each of the girls at one point in time. So occasionally we'd catch him staring. Once while I was washing the nacho cheese cooker in the back he rubbed up a little to close for my personal comfort as he passed behind me to get by. *shudder*

Eventually he was transferred out to the larger theater in the valley (we all had a huge sigh of relief!) and my buddy Sky became the new supe.

*Side note* I hear he married one of his employees from the valley theater. She is a girl I went to high school with. No joke!

None of us actually came into work already dressed for work. The uniform was black pants, button up white shirt and a maroon vest (later they added bow ties, THANK GOODNESS that was after I was outta there!). Most of my cohorts were like me, we kept our uniforms in our lockers upstairs in the break room and brought them home every couple days for a washing. We would lock the door and change there.

The break room was dingy and at the top of the stairs right next to the entrance of the 2nd story theater. The door to the break room had those hinges that automatically swing shut behind you, so if we weren't careful the door would slam loudly behind us (we were constantly being told never to forget this while a movie was showing in the upstairs theater, apparently movie goers found the loud BANG disturbing). The room consisted of decades old recliners, a wall of small lockers and an old desk. The walls were lined with old movie posters and the carpet hadn't been changed since the 1960s (my guess, but really it could have been longer). At one end of the room was the "cup room." A door that usually stayed locked until we needed to get more cups for the concession stand.

It was in this room that my two stories take place.

Awkward Story Number One:
I bounded up the stairs in my usual happy-go-lucky way. It was a great day to be alive, I was 15 and it was summer time. The fact that I had a crush on one of my co-workers made me LOVE coming to work, well at least on the days we worked together. Today was one of those days and I was on top of the world. I was humming some song to myself as I let myself into the break room. As usual I locked the door behind me and walked to my locker. I noticed the cup room door was open but didn't think anything of it because we'd been doing monthly inventory the night before.
I pulled out the usual pieces of clothing needed for a night on the job and tore off the summer frock I had on. I proceeded to sing to myself (it was roughly 1995, I'm guessing it was either a Salt N Peppa tune or maybe Boyz II Men, I really dunno, this is purely speculation at this point). I got dressed and headed back downstairs to flirt with my crush before the shift started.
I had just arrived at the bottom of the stairs when I realized I needed to talk to my supervisor about a shift swap but no one knew where he was. Oh well, I'll talk to him later I thought to myself. About 30 seconds later we hear the break room door slam shut and said supe starts walking down the stairs carrying a stack of....cups.
Wait wuh?
That's when it hit me. Crap! I'd just gotten dressed while creepy guy here was in the next room with the door wide open! He never admitted that he saw me. But I swear later on that night I heard him humming the same tune I'd been singing to myself earlier.

OK, so that was more "freaky deeky" than awkward. But my face was burning as my coworkers figured it out for themselves what had happened.


Awkward Story Number Two:
I had just opened the door to the break room to get dressed for my shift. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, a moon of a guy which was really his rear!
"Holy crap!! Get outta here!" Is along the lines of what I heard.
It took only seconds to realize I'd walked in on my coworker (Dumb, from my previous TAT post. Look it up.) getting dressed. He had his pants down around his ankles and as he screamed (like a girl I might add) he yanked them back up.
I quickly made haste and retreated to the safety of the hallway. Shutting the door tightly behind me as I quickly burst into a fit of laughter.
Of course it was slightly embarrassing to walk in on him that way, but I was no where near as embarrASSed (couldn't resist) as he was at that moment. Being the teenager I was, I quickly ran down to share with my coworkers the f*n funny moment I'd just witnessed.
The one thing none of us could figure out was why did he have his underwear down too? Did he change those with each shift, or was there another reason? We decided we didn't need to know.

I've just decided that the latter of these two stories makes up for Dumb calling me Wrecking Ball. He got his in the end. hehe

I totally want a gnome like this!

My pal over at Secret Life of Tova Darling talked about one of her awkward school girl crushes this time, it's a hoot so you should check her out! If you would like to partake in this weeks installment of Totally Awkward Tuesday, leave me a comment with a link back to your post. I'll put it at the bottom of this one so everyone can see!

Until next time. Peace out yo!

Flowers and sleep

My baby picked me flowers...and then fell asleep holding them. Ain't he sweet? *squeeze*

She Really Was The Glue

Where to start? There's a plethora of news to share. Well, news isn't quite the word I'm going for. But information. Things are changing. A storm...is brewing...or something mysterious like that.

First things first. *sips my coffee* How are things? It's been a while, this I know. I really don't have an excuse other than the norm. I'm busy, I'm lazy, well I'm a lot of things and diligent isn't one of them. Sorry 'bout that.

Let me bring you up to speed on things. I have been increasingly unhappy with my current place of employment. I actually quite enjoy my job, or at least I enjoy learning about the industry. My job title is Loan Closer/Processor II, the actual duties of my job are quite mundane. I basically accept loan applications, process them (gather info and run the background/credit check) before sending them to a loan officer for approval/denial. Once an approved app comes back, I create the legal docs and docs for recording etc. Send them to the borrower for their signatures, about 90% of my clients are not in Juneau, I deal with rural Alaska and so their loans are processed via mail. I do a few other tedious tasks throughout the month, but that is the gist of it.

On top of the boring aspect I work in an office of workaholics. My boss and the woman that has seniority over me in my section rarely miss a day of work. My boss will take the occasional mental health day, but the co-worker does not. She got married last year and didn't even take a whole day, just a half day. I mean come on! Oh but her cat died a few months ago and she took two days off... go figure.

Neither of them have kids like I do, in fact they've expressed dislike for children in general. I've heard on more than one occasion: "and that is why I don't have kids" add a seriously disrespectful tone and you've got one offended mother (that'd be me). Due to my children and my own health (among other unforeseen circumstances) I have missed work here and there. Nothing too horrible, but I hate the feeling of missing just one day and coming back to the silent treatment. I'm sorry, but I refuse to sacrifice my own health or the health of ALL my coworkers (like some people. ahem.). I absolutely get so irritated when my above mentioned co-worker comes to work with bronchitis or flu symptoms or other things that she frequently does. This is why we have 5 weeks of leave per year people! jeez.

OK so I'm not a workaholic, that is clear. The other thing that bugs me in the office is the buddy buddy nature of the two people I previously mentioned. My boss and my co-worker. They chat constantly about everything. Not only that, I've learned things about my other co-worker that I shouldn't be aware of. These are things that should be kept between him and our supervisor. But our supervisor shares these details with the other girl who then proceeds to try and gossip about him with me! I put my foot down about this recently and she stopped for a while. But that doesn't mean they have stopped. And it makes me wonder what gets said about me behind my back.

The catty nature of the office is enough to make me miserable. Add in the other few things and I'm downright irritable these days. I finally bit the bullet and looked at other state jobs online last Monday. Turns out there was this one job I am super qualified for and I'll make a tad bit more than I do now, plus there's travel involved which seems exciting. Not to mention I would actually have interaction with the clients! I think that is what I've been missing, I spent soooo many years in customer service that this job was a drastic change. The application period happened to close that same day, so instead of taking time to think about what I was doing...I did it. Now I'm just waiting to hear about an interview. My sources say I am a shoe in, that this department has been waiting for someone like me for a while now.

So we'll see.

On top of all that, I felt a bit unsure about looking for work right now. The reason being is that Tim and I have been considering relocating back to Seattle. It's going to take quite a bit of planning. My worry is that I apply for this job and get it...then we decide "ok! let's do it!" about the move...then I'm leaving the new job high and dry. We have good jobs and family (and a potentially better job in the works!). I really want to be back in Seattle, but at the same time I'm realistic. So even though we want it, well it's on the back burner for now...

Just to push the dream of Seattle a little further down the road we've decided to put an offer on a condo. Tomorrow. Tim's idea is we'll buy this condo and stay in it for a short time building equity while we continue to save for our move then when we sell the condo for what we buy it for, we'll have a bit of moolah for a down payment on the RIGHT place. The problem I keep bringing up is that I want to move like yesterday! lol. Buying a place means at LEAST another year here and realisticly? Probably more. In order to build enough equity, we'd need to stay a substantial amount of time. You know how it goes. I mean we won't be in it forever, the main reason being it's a condo the size of our current apartment. And it's only two bedrooms. We will eventually need to migrate to something with three cuz the kids will be needing their own space one day. So conceivably we could be back in Seattle in about 4-5 years with a pocket full of cash from our sold condo and be prepared to buy the house of our dreams...

You tell me, what do you think of this plan? Yah I know, on paper it seems good. Sounds great! But I miss the friends I have in Seattle, I'm pretty lonely here save for Tim, the kids and some family. I rarely see anyone these days unless it's a holiday.

It's sad but everyone seems to be going their own way these days. My sisters both talk of leaving town like I do and have their own lives. I see them occassionally and talk to them via email mostly because we're too busy to see eachother in person. The aunts keep to themselves with their own families and friends seeing us on certain occasions. And they've all hinted at future endeavors outside of Juneau. It's like when my mom died, so did the rest of the family, or at least the the family time. It's been said before, and now I say it too...she was the glue that held this family together. There are no more game nights, rarely do we get together for birthdays (ok well maybe we do lunch for those), less phone calls...everything just seems so. broken.

I keep waiting for something to change but part of me has been thinking that all these things I talked about are signs from my mom telling me to stay in Juneau for a while. She loved it here. She loved the family. The current state of affairs would probably have her in pieces.

It's a lot like this printer on my desk. I got it from my mom's house when she died. Every once in a while (when it's turned off) it makes a sound like it's trying to start up or do...something. It clicks to life for a few seconds and then it's as if nothing happened. Tim and I joke that it's my mom's spirit trying to come out of her printer to tell us something.

See? Maybe there is such a thing as a sign.

Tell me what you think. Do you believe in signs? Or are you a realist like Tim? He doesn't believe in signs. :)

Nighty Night!

Yay! for Sun!

I can't believe this weather!

This 'n' That But Not Much Else

Howdy folks! Wow I'm so sorry about the time lapse. It has been so sunny and gorgeous outside here in Juneau that I just haven't had the motivation to think up something creative.

It's still sunny out, well not right now because it's 11:24pm, but it is still darn warm. It's been more than a week with consistent temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s. And just for the record, I still haven't come up with something creative!

On Tuesday I played hooky from work and Tim had the day off so we took the kids over to Twin Lakes for some swimming. It felt so great and I didn't even go all the way in! Tim took a dive into the water and the kids sat in it, but I only went up to my thighs cuz I didn't want to take off my shorts to reveal a swimsuit. Eeyuck! You don't want to see that! lol

After some swimming we went to Costco for some smoothies because let's face it, Costco has pretty good smoothies for less than $2 and there's a ton in the cup! We''re in an economic crisis here people!

Other than the couple hours we took the kids out that day, we haven't done anything real exciting.

Let me get you up to speed since it's been like 3 weeks since we've talked....

1. Found a new day care for the kiddos, they seem to really like it and they like having other children their age to play with. I'm still crossing my fingers that we made the right decision.

2. The fourth of July:

We took the kids to the fireworks on the 3rd (yes. Juneau rolls like that). This was a mistake cuz they don't start til midnight and we had a real cranky young man the next morning.

On the 4th was the parade downtown. However, since my son was cranky enough to punch me, he stayed home with his daddy while I took Fia to the parade. That right there was pretty odd. I didn't like the feeling of leaving some of the fam behind. I guess he shaped up after we left, so we all went to the beach after the parade to attempt swimming. But the tide wasn't out far enough and the beach we chose is really rocky and covered in barnacles/seaweed which is slippery and sharp! So no swimming. The kids were sad, but they got over it. haha I'm so mean.

hmm let's see.

3. Reagan has continued to be aggressive and surly. No real news there, just more of the same.

4. Sofia is SOOO close to being potty trained. I can't tell you how excited I am to get rid of diapers! Not too much longer for that wish to come true. Yay!

5. Um, did I mention the sun? Yah, it's super sunny everyday and warm! Actually, I could go for just one day of rain as a reprieve. Then we can get back to the summer weather. I'd be good with one cloudy/rainy day a week just to break up the heat a bit. Also, I got a sunburn...it's faded now, but I looked like a lobster from the chest up.

6. Had our last Relay for Life team meeting on Wednesday this week. Well it's the last before the actual Relay. I can't believe it's next week! Ack, seriously slacking on the fundraising. As a team we've raised a bit more than $1500, but personally I've only raised maybe $30 on my own. I need to get crack-a-lackin!

7. Tim and I have talked and talked about where our lives are going. I really want to move back to Seattle some time in the next year, but Tim seems to want to stay here. We're working on it.

8. I was talking with my co-workers today that it's already mid July! Crap, it's almost fall, which means it's almost the holidays...ok that's a stretch, but fo' realz yo, it's coming up fast!

9. I've been reading the blogs of all my pals via my mobile phone. I can access google reader on the go! Yippee! So even when I'm out playing or waiting in the car while Tim runs into a store I can keep up with all the happenings without actually turning on the computer... I think this may be a partial contributor to my laziness when it comes to blogging.

10. How could I forget? My favorite artist/entertainer/musician MJ passed away. Luckily I got to check out the televised memorial (and cry my eyes out) on the day I played hooky...hehe. That wasn't planned, but it worked out well for me. I am still saddened by the loss, and I am really getting tired of the media coverage, let the man rest in peace. It's sickening really. Whatever the cause of death was doesn't matter to the world that loved him. Let the family deal with it and focus on the sweet children he left behind. Poor kids.

Ok. I'm done on that rant...sorry I digress.

11. Lastly, I'm applying for a second job. Actually I have an interview Monday. In some serious need for extra cash due to new child care being more than double what we used to pay, and I have bill collector's breathing down my neck. So for now it looks like I'll be picking up a couple extra shifts somewhere soon. Very soon. Well, hopefully.

So I think that now you may be all caught up in my life. This is thrilling stuff I know. Can't contain yourself? Tell me about it. Please! I'm longing for some exciting comments. Also just to keep you from being bored, here's a list of some of my fave blogs, check 'em out for me, tell them I said "hi":

• Angie at A Book A Day (witty, funny and great book reviews! This crazy chica actually finds the time to do just what the title implies...she reads a book a day...)
• MyLittleBecky at I'll Go Eat Worms (hilarious, check out her out..she cracks me up!)
• Maxie at I Hate So Much.. (Check out her Too Much Information Thursdays! It'll make you crap your pants...ahem. figuratively speaking of course)
• A shout out to my sis, she doesn't keep up on her blog (she's slower than me!) but she always comes up with something witty, clever and funny! Oh You Pretty Thing....
• And of course, I've told you about Tova at The Secret Life of Tova Darling, she's still awesome.
  

Not sure if some of the other peeps in my fam dam want the recognition or not, but I enjoy their posts too. For more interesting people (that must be cool, cuz I read them!) check out the list up and to your right. ------->

Peace out my homies! I'm in a silly mood and need to get off this thing before my eyes pop out of their sockets! I leave you with something to make you laugh (trust me, this wasn't the worst shot, but I'm not going to humiliate myself for the sake of a laugh)...

Totally Awkward Tuesday!

Have you ever had an awkward moment? You are probably thinking who hasn't?... But how many of you take your awkward moments and then tell the world about them? Well, I'm about to do just that, I'm going to follow the lead of one of my really awesome friends out there in blogger-land. Tova has taken your average Tuesday and turned them into Totally Awkward Tuesdays, which is an idea that I really like because let's face it: I have many awkward moments. Many of them would probably create much amusement for you all, so consider yourselves lucky! If this works out well, I may just do it on a regular basis.

For the last couple of weeks Tova has actually gone back in time and talked about awkward moments of years past, specifically middle school crushes. And oh. my. gosh! Were they funny. But guess what Tova? I have one of those too! (and by the way, I had the same creepy stalker type crushes as you girl! But those stories are for another post)

A post or two ago I briefly mentioned a long time (my all time favorite!) crush I had on D.P (I will never forget him... You think I am still too obsessive about him don't you?). The crush developed in 6th grade when we reunited in middle school (we'd previously been in the same 2nd grade class, but I didn't have those feelings then).

D.P was the ultimate. He was popular, super cute (in my opinion) and totally unattainable (for me). He was going out with a girl named Gretchen (bane of my 6th grade existence).


Jeez! Hold on, the awkward moment comes soon, I'm just giving you the back story!


So a couple years go by and we're in 8th grade. Every couple of weeks the school threw what they called weekenders, which really were just after school dances with half the gym reserved for basketball and the other half for dancing...don't question it, that's just how it was. I religiously went to these weekenders hoping to score a dance or two with anyone willing...within reason (of course). I had this one fantasy about D.P that went something like this:

D.P walks up to me in the dry ice infused smokey air. At the same moment that D.P reaches out his hand to ask me for a dance, Brian Adams' Everything I Do starts playing (um hello? All time most romantic song! duh. oh BTW? This was roughly 1993/1994). D.P smiles as I take his hand in mine and we dance for a glorious 5 and a half minutes (if you haven't figured it out yet, I also chose this song for it's length...if you're unfamiliar with it, the song has the longest instrumental ever!). As the song comes to an end, D.P doesn't quite want to let me go. So he holds on to my fingers until the last possible second, lingering for just a few more seconds...

And (dramatic pause) end scene...

Okay, so this fantasy had pretty much been going on in similar form since 6th grade, and I'd given up hope of it ever happening.

Flash forward to the 8th grade prom. It's some kind of masquerade theme or mardi gras... some such thing, you can picture it can't you? I'm as decked out as my mom would let me get at that age, and I am going solo (well, with my best friend and her boyfriend...if being a 3rd wheel counts). So I'm sitting at a round table with a group of my girl friends, gawking at all the beautiful people. Scope out D.P and pretty much stalk him with my eyes all night.

A while into the dance I notice D.P walking toward our table.


I'm sitting next to a girl named Shelby, and I lean in to whisper loudly "Oh my gosh, D.P's heading this way! Hyuck!"


Yes, I used the Goofy laugh because that's how I imagine it sounded.


D.P stops at our table and says "Would you like to dance the next slow song with me?"


I stare at him for what seems like an eternity, waiting for Shelby to answer him. I hear nothing so I slowly turn to Shelby trying to figure out why the hell she's not answering him! I mean come on girl!


Only when I turn to face her, she's staring at ME like I'm the crazy one.


Then it hit me.


Oh. My. God. (did he mean me?!)


So I say it out loud... natch.


Did you mean me? Hyuck! (yes..I did)


D.P is probably not sure what he's gotten himself into at this point....but he nods his head.


"Oh sure! Yes. Great!" (Did I really just say Yes! Great!??? I might as well have said You Betcha! Okee dokey!)


So D.P says "ok, see you on the floor for the next song."


So at this point my girlfriends are like, "what are you WAITING for?" And I'm not sure, but I think they may have had to pry me out of my chair.


A minute passes like molasses, it's so slow. But finally. FINALLY. It's time.


So I walk out onto the floor feeling extremely out of place because I may have gone out a tad too early. Also, the thought of him ditching me on the floor isn't entirely far fetched as I picture him doing exactly that. What other reason would he have for asking me?? (to this day I still don't know why...just in case you are wondering)


But thankfully, there he is. He smiles and walks up to me, at the exact moment the song starts. (perfect timing!). And just what song do you think starts playing? Yup. You got it. Good ol' Bryan Adams.


So we start dancing (there IS a God!). And I find myself thinking 3 minutes into the song, that yes. This could very well be the best moment of my life. Look at all those people, his friends, staring at us. I am sure most were wondering why he was dancing with me, as was I.


*But he did, and here we are, so there! *


So the song ended and he said to me "thanks for the dance." And that was it.


*Sigh*

So you're probably wondering where the awkwardness comes in. I mean sure, there were some awkward moments, but where's the real awkward stuff?

Well. Being that this was the prom, it goes without saying that this was the end of the school year. Hence, yearbooks. So I get my yearbook and like most young girls I go through it with a pen and make notes on the pictures. Or maybe this is just me...


*Get to the point...*


If you were to look past all of the "have a fun summer, see you in high school" notes (and one that says Bologna tastes good with mustard...I kid you not) and find the P section of the 8th grade part of the book you would see D.P's head with a big pink heart around it. From this heart is an arrow pointing to the margin of the page. Now friends...this is a direct quote (yes I did go and find my 8th grade yearbook, just for this post you lucky readers!): "He asked me to dance at the prom 5/20/94. And I did!! It was awesome, I think I am in LOVE!"


Silly right? Harmless right?


Well, like most kids, I carried it around to all of my classes with me that week. Hoping to get as many signatures as I could.

So what do you think happened? I leave it in my English classroom. I don't even notice that it's missing till the next period. I quickly get permission to run back to the other room to get my misplaced book.

I knock on the classroom door as I enter the room, while I'm thinking to myself how lucky it is that I sit near the door so I won't have to walk into the middle of the class to get the yearbook. As soon as my eyes find the desk it should be on, I realize it's not there. In fact it is a few desks away, in the hands of several other students and they are reading the EXACT page I quoted from a minute earlier. The worst part? D.P was sitting in the same classroom I was standing in at that moment. And these kids were reading ALOUD... aloud! I about died as they started snickering when they saw me standing there... I calmly held out my shaky hand and asked for my book back. The girl that had it, said "why don't you ask D.P for it?" And she handed him the book. *Biatch* (oh yes I went there!)

He barely looked at me as he handed back the yearbook...silently I might add. And I got out of there as fast as I could.

Talk about your awkward moment! As I sit here thinking about it, I remember it fondly, even though that is only because of the near perfect dance scene! The embarrassing moments I could do without though.

Now it's your turn to shine! Or not to shine...that IS the question, isn't it? Talk about one of your awkward moments on your own blog, then link back to mine. THEN tell me about it with a link to your post in my comments section. I'll then post your link at the bottom of this post for all to see. It's one big awkward party folks! Sorry it's almost the end of Tuesday, for some of you it might already be.... I'll let it pass if you want to have Totally Awkward Wednesdays...

PS. I am TOTALLY going to scan some pics from the 8th grade prom tomorrow. Yes as a lot of you know, I keep everything. So I still have them. Woo Hoo! Stay tuned for those, you won't want to miss them!

*udpdate 7/13/2009*
Sorry for not actually posting any pictures folks. I found them, but my scanner at home leaves something to be desired. : ) But guess what? Someone participated! Check out my friend and her awkward moment!

Tiffiny

She Never Sits Still!

My beautiful family. Unfortunately Sofia has a hard time holding still for longer than 2 seconds, hence the slight blur of her face. It's a great picture none-the-less.

I Don't See the Silver Lining Here

"Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think." ~ Bill Clinton

I am currently finding the above statement to be true. I am currently so stressed that I literally am having a hard time thinking, yet in my current situation that is not going to be of any help at all. Let me explain:

It has finally gotten quiet in my small apartment, for this is the 5th consecutive night in a row that my son has thrown a hissy fit (and that is being generous) over one thing or another. If it's not about bedtime, it's about the choice in bedtime stories or his pajamas not being the right pair. And it's not just whining...it's full blown screaming, kicking, crying, and....punching. Not really sure where he learned that one, and I don't like it one bit. For the last several nights he has fallen asleep between 10 and 11, more than two hours past his usual bedtime. Which leads to the newest addition to our good times - this morning he didn't want to wake up and get dressed because he wanted to sleep (vicious cycle!). When we insisted that it was time to GO, he refused to pick out his own clothes, so we did it for him. He wasn't having that so he threw another tantrum. He ended up being carried to the car in his shirt, socks, and underwear because he refused the pants we chose (and I was NOT going to play musical pants) then he also decided he didn't want to go anywhere (he wanted to stay home alone) so he refused his coat as well. So I put his jacket, pants and shoes in the backpack and hauled his little behind to the car.

Yes. It was a long drive to the babysitter this morning. The kicker? Tim called to check in on him this afternoon and he found out that immediately after I left Reagan had put his pants and shoes on as if nothing was wrong as he sat down to breakfast (oh! where is the justice?!).

On the way home tonight I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple dinner ingredients. Since it was a quick stop, Tim stayed in the car with the kids while I ran in. Reagan wasn't happy with that because he wanted to go into the store too. When I returned less than 5 minutes later, Reagan and Tim were out of the car, poor Fia was patiently watching from her booster seat as Tim lectured Reagan on how to behave. Well at that point we had to actually put him in the car to get home. Yah, that was fun. Let me just say "thank goodness for child safety locks".

Reagan spent most of the evening in his room until he decided he wanted dinner (which I really tried to withhold for bad behavior, but I have a such a hard time doing when he says he's hungry...I always cave on this threat when it's been used). Also, he has NO TV or favorite toys, this is something I won't budge on....however I'm not sure it's working because as I said, it's been 5 nights now. By the way, he hasn't seen a transformer in almost a whole week. Most of the evening went ok after he stopped crying, he even went to bed with no arguments...yet all good things must come to an end, right? Tim went in to tell the kids to stop talking and go to sleep around 9, the tantrum picked up where he'd left off.

I have to say, I am exhausted. It literally drains me to the point of exhaustion. I end up getting so mad that I spank him, which is a futile effort. And then I have to leave the room because I am getting so angry that I am afraid I'll spank him more, and I hate spanking to begin with (I always said I wouldn't do it...but that was before my son hit the "terrible fours" And by the way? He NEVER even went through the "terrible twos" I heard so much about). It is starting to make me sad, and I've also started to question my abilities as a mother. Talking to him doesn't work, yelling doesn't work, reasoning? there is no such thing with a four year old. So what do I do? Is this going to pass? I have no idea, I've heard "it's just a phase" a million times. That may be, but this phase is taking it's toll on me.

We can't even do anything fun as a family because something always triggers his anger. We tried going for a walk last night after dinner and everything was fine, the kids were having fun. But when it was time to turn around (Fia was getting tired and didn't want to walk anymore, and hey! she's heavy.) Reagan freaked out the whole way home.

Tomorrow is my Division picnic, and I'm concerned that my child will throw a fit over something while we're there. Is it strange that my two year old is better behaved than my four year old?

I keep hoping that this stage in his development will end soon. I see glimpses of my sweet, soft spoken, kind hearted little boy, right smack dab in the middle of his emotional tirades. I miss that part of him more than ever right now. I really need him back.

I also need a massage.

A New Day...(or) A New Layout!

Gah! Well I finally managed to find a layout I'm happy with. Let me tell you folks, it's not as easy as it looks. I had to play with the HTML (which isn't that bad, I rather enjoy learning more about it) and then the "shopping" around for a background I actually like. I found several that were great, but for some reason once I had it on my blog, it just didn't mesh well. I think I'm happy with this though. But since it took the better part of last two evenings (and admittedly, part of my work day today) I'm beat! I don't have a lot of time to post anything real tonight, but I wanted to let you know I have been fervently working on my blog in other aspects.

Since I'm here and talking about blog makeovers, I suggest you check out these awesome sites that I came across in my travels, so to speak:

These 3 are all about backgrounds and banners and such:
Banner of Blessings
The Cutest Blog On The Block
Hot Bliggity Blog

These blogs actually helped me figure out the layout and HTML stuff:
Moms Who Blog

Blogger Buster

Tricks For New Bloggers

These are just a few that I ran across, but I actually utilized all of these sites. Hope they help! I am now off to bed! See you on the next go 'round!

Weird isn't it?

Sorry my friends, I guess I have to come up with a new layout for this blog. I'm getting unsightly bandwith messages as you can see. Must be the source for the Layout has too much good stuff or something! So I'll be playing around with it later today. Bare with me folks!
Also I will try and post something new tonight!
Now I get to go "shopping" for a new layout! How exciting! Stay tuned to see what it turns out like!

How Old Are You Again? No Really.

Last week the candle factory burned down. Everyone just stood around and sang, 'Happy Birthday.' ~Steven Wright

It’s getting late right now, and I can’t imagine going to bed yet. I’m not tired in the least. I want to write something. Anything. I just don’t really know what I want to write about. I figure that if I just start typing, something will come to me.

So let’s see….well, tomorrow is my little sister’s birthday, actually, she’s not so little anymore. She’s going to be 27? 28? Gosh, I should know this. I probably won’t get to see her tomorrow since I have to be at work. She’s got the day off so she’s going out to play in the sun (*yes. it’s still here, shocker!*) with our cousin. I would buy her lunch, but she’s already made plans to eat lunch downtown with our aunts. So I’ll have to wait and see her on Friday night. We’re getting together at the Canton House, here in Juneau, for dinner with our other sister and a group of 17! Talk about a large group. In fact, I had trouble making reservations for a group that large. You’d think that the business would welcome a big group considering each person will drop at least $20 for dinner and a drink…am I right? Oh well, it’s their loss.

I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve for the birthday festivities, however, since she reads my blog I am going to resist temptation to tell you about it for now. I don’t want to spoil the surprises…well ok, only one surprise. But that’s all I’m telling you!

Have I mentioned my new favorite blog? It is so ingenious it makes me wish I’d come up with it myself. The Secret Life of Tova Darling is the title, I became hooked as soon as I read her side bar. It’s really very intriguing and her posts are just as interesting as her side bar. Really. Check it out k?

So anyway, after dinner, my uncle has rented a limo to take my sister and my cousin (who, by the way, shares a birthday with my sis. And happens to be visiting from AZ for the month) and a few friends. So the limo is taking us to go bar hopping around 10 that night. Should be fun, I got an aunt lined up to take the kiddos for the night which is an added bonus for me and Timmy.

What else? Anything interesting going on with you my followers? How is your summer faring so far?

This post is turning into a rambler. But that’s ok. I’m allowed that once in a while.

Oh, well I sent an email to my buddies I mentioned in the previous post. I wanted to let them know that I have a blog, and yes I use it. Haha. Well I sent them the link to yesterday’s post just to share it with them and it got great reviews. SO that makes me happy. It also makes me happy to know that they too consider themselves my friend even after all these years. I haven’t heard back from all four of them, but 2 of 4 say it’s a must read, four outta five stars (the missing star is due to my overuse of run on sentences. But really...I am thinking of taking some grammar class or SOMETHING...do they have Grammar for Dummies?). I must say that I was apprehensive about sending them this email because even though I have a few followers (and a couple are family members), I like to keep a bit of anonymity due to the sensitive subjects. Not that yesterday was sensitive, but I wasn’t sure how people would react to reading about themselves. But I guess as long as I keep it light and airy, I should be ok. Hmmm. Maybe this is why Tova's blog appeals to me. Ya think?

So a few of you are MIA lately. Did I do something to offend you, or are you just busy like me? I don’t know what I expect, truly, I mean I go on temporary hiatus from my blog for a week or two because I’m lazy, then I come back and what? Expect you all to be waiting with bated breath for my next post? I guess we know that my head has just deflated a bit don’t we? Well if I lost the few of you that I had due to my own negligence, I’m sorry. I am already trying to make it up to you by posting three times in less than a week! I hope to make you all proud. I look forward to many plucky comments very soon.

Ok, now that it is officially after midnight, I will now turn off the Pandora Radio (my new favorite music site, really, I just started getting into it. It took me a while eh?). Maybe, just possibly I will go to bed. Even though I don’t wanna. Oh! If only I were still a teenager on summer vacation with the whole night ahead of me and the whole day to sleep tomorrow. Lol, ok, that is extreme, but being able to stay up late when I feel like it and NOT feel the effects in the morning would be pretty awesome.

Sorry for the uninteresting post. The next one will ROCK to make up for this one.

Until next time, ME.

**This amendment was made on June 12, 2009:

As soon as I mentioned that the sun was still gracing Juneau with it's glorious presence, the sky opened up. Well, not at that very moment because that would have just been freaky! But the next morning it did start to pour. Needless to say, my sis did not get to partake in the aforementioned swimming. That is all. Thanks for listening.