List 31 - The Final List

March's NaBloPoMo theme of Lists ends today so I'm going to do one of those fabulous lists that get emailed around all the time. My mom sent me this one today so here we go.

1. Were you named after anyone? First name, probably not; middle name, my paternal grandma
2. When was the last time you cried? Earlier today but only for a brief moment.
3. Do you like your handwriting? Not really. When I print and take my time it looks okay, but this is really why I took up typing at age 8.
4. What is your favorite lunch meat? I'm not a big fan of lunch meat but I usually eat turkey or chicken when I do.
5. Do you have kids? None that I know of.
6. If you were another person would you be friends with you? You betcha.
7. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Define "a lot".
8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes
9. Would you bungee jump? No, I have a tremendous fear of falling. I'd stand on the ledge and look out though.
10. What is your favorite cereal? Golden Grahams and Lucky Charms
11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I do unless I'm in a hurry. When I was in high school if we didn't untie our basketball shoes before putting them in our locker we got reprimanded from our coach.
12. Do you think you are strong? Muscles, I need to get to the gym. Emotionally - not so much.
13. What is your favorite ice cream? Baskin Robbins Daiquiri Ice
14. What is the first thing you notice about people? Their smile
15. Red or Pink? Are these the only choices I get? Blech. Red.
16. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My sappiness, and my waistline right now.
17. Who do you miss the most? Dad but since he won't be back, I also really miss HRM
18. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? Blue jeans, no shoes
19. What was the last thing you ate? Kashi three cheese pizza
20. What are you listening to right now? "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS
21. If you were a crayon what color would you be? I always choose Persimmon because I like the word, but I don't think I'd actually like the color if I was it.
22. What are your favorite smells? Mowed grass, spring, movie popcorn, cookies and pie baking, sawdust, Ralph Lauren's Romance cologne, Drakkar cologne, fresh laundry, and other stuff
23. Who was the last person you talked with on the telephone? A rep from the Guthrie wanting money, I mean, donations
24. Favorite sport to watch? Baseball!!! the Indians, baby!
25. Hair color? Brown in the winter, Auburn in the summer (the sun brings out the natural red in my hair)
26. Eye color? blue
27. Do you wear contacts? When I'm not feeling lazy.
28. Favorite food? Really? I have to pick one? Pizza, cookies, pie, Chicken!
29. Scary movies or happy endings? Depends on my mood. Knowing that I'm a sap I'd probably cry at the end of both.
30. Last movie you watched? Today? In reverse: The Producers, Hairspray, and Someone Like You
31. What color shirt are you wearing? black, natch, and a 'cigar' colored zip-up hoodie
32. Summer or winter? Summer right now (I'm sick of snow), but usually fall.
33. Hugs or kisses? At this point in my life I'll take whichever I can get
34. Favorite dessert? My Apple Pie
35. What book are you reading right now? The Mezzo Wore Mink by Mark Schweizer
36. What is on your mouse pad? I don't have one at home, but at work it's Marvin the Martian
37. What did you watch on TV last night? Ocean's 11
38. Favorite sound? My phone ringing with an awesome friend on the other line.
39. Rolling Stones or Beatles? The Beatles
40. What is the farthest you have been from home? Israel
41. Do you have a special talent? This is a PG-13 blog...I can't list it here.

And now the list theme has ended, but don't be surprised if I find another list to do sometime in the future. Next month's NaBloPoMo theme is Letters. I already have one ready for Thursday (it's awesome!). See you then!

They won! They won! They won!

So the awesome Indians just won their home and season opener against the Chicago White Sox, 10-8. Awesome game! I wish I could have seen it live, but mlb does have this Gameday pitch-by-pitch function that works well enough (I can use it at work too). So it was kind of like I was there.

And I will be there in June! I can't wait to see them play live at home! It'll be so awesome. I need to upgrade my Indians gear. YAY!

I hope I didn't jinx the boys with this post. Keep up the great work, guys. This is your year.

Snow

I woke up to snow this morning. Not just a dusting, but SNOW. I thought this was over?

I won! I won! I won!

I never win anything, but a week ago I signed up for this give-away. And last night I got an email telling me I won. I'm so excited. (Here's proof, just in case you don't believe me.)

This also brought me smack dab in the middle of my youth. I loved the Mr. Men and Little Miss books. I can't remember if I have any of these but I'm very tempted to buy the set. Of course that's way more money than I have right now, but I'd still like them. They were so fun to read. And apparently they have a cartoon on Cartoon Network now. I'm going to have to do some scoping today and see if I can find them.

Now the promotional pack that I'm winning I'm supposed to give to my kids (i.e. niece and nephews) so I'm thinking I'll give them the Noddy stuff. They'll like that. Then I can keep the Mr. Men and Little Miss stuff for me. :) I'm so selfish.

Yakko!

As a big fan of Animaniacs, I have to share this. I haven't figured out how to embed videos (I really am computer illiterate...I wish people knew that). So here's the link!

List 30

I'm making a plan, and to make a plan you need to make a list. So here's my list. But first my plan.

I stupidly signed up for a marathon that happens in 6 weeks. I signed up back when I was on my marathon high and now I really want to see if I can complete it. RW tells me I shouldn't even attempt it but if I'm going to then I should plan to run conservatively. I do that anyway so maybe I'll be okay.

But to make this happen I need to get into a zone and I need a game plan. So here we go:

• Sundays: Long run day; Wash clothes, iron uniform, shine boots and pack up work stuff for work - i.e. shirts, socks, undies. Also set up second set of running gear - socks, bra, shorts, tees, purple shoes, undies; measure out Endurox and Accelerade for week
  
• Mondays: Off day (maybe); groceries; Take uniform, boots and stuff to work and pack in locker. Also take extra workout gear sets; Also take Endurox and Accelerade (and bottles); Make hard boiled eggs for breakfast for week; Make lunch for next day (repeat each night); Pack jeans and shoes to go home in.
  
• Workday mornings: Get up at 5 - contacts, pull hair back, get into workout gear, grab lunch; be at work at 5:30 to run back road and run 20 minutes out and back; at 6:20 head in to shower and get ready for work, be at work at 6:45 - eat eggs and bagel
• Workday middays: Change into second set and either run or do cross-training - 30 minutes out and 30 minutes back; shower and eat lunch.
• End of Workday: pack up both sets of icky clothes, change into jeans leaving uniform there for next day
  
• Evenings: make lunch for next day, do laundry as needed, and pack to return the next day
• Saturdays: Medium run, some cross training, begin planning for the next week

I know this seems insane, but for 6 weeks I think I can do it. Looking ahead I have two conference conflicts but I think I can still get my runs in - maybe not quite as intense but those can be kind of rest days.

The odd thing is, I really like running at noon, but I used to really love running in the mornings. With the former it broke up the day, I was able to de-stress for awhile and then face the rest of the day with a fresh look. But with the latter, I can start my day with exercise, fresh air and clear my head to start the day. Plus I can get in at least one workout for the day just in case something comes up and the nooner falls apart. Lord knows at the end of the day I don't want to do anything (though I do like evening runs sometimes too - clear my head of the troubles of the day and go to bed with an empty mind, though some say I usually do have an empty mind).

So I'm going to try this this week. Tomorrow I'm going to clean up my locker and put in the stuff I'll need and get ready. Tuesday morning (knock on wood) I'll be running at 5:30 am.

Here's hoping.

Sometimes things work out

So Happy Birthday to my Mom today. She turned 39, again. Amazing when she has a 43 year old son and a daughter older than that...

Anyway, let's see...a little run down of the day. I went to church this morning which was hilarious. Yeah, church isn't supposed to be funny. Sorry, but it was just a cluster this morning.

It all started with the Kyrie which was a new setting, which the leads to a new setting of the Hymn of Praise. Well...this setting of the HoP starts like our normal one we do all the time so as BigO started to sing he just launched into the regular version. and the organist, God bless him, launched into that version too (I'm not sure if this was out of habit or if he is that good that he grabbed the new version while BigO was vamping). Anyway, this was totally off from what was in the bulletin. BigO looked around with confusion (all while singing), he looked over to his associate and just shrugged his shoulders, then he started cracking up (though I give him credit for not bursting out into all out laughter like I could see was on his face).

Well we finished singing and he looked up, grinned and said, "I commend you all for your excellent memories. Let us pray." After church I complimented him on his great work and he said, "Well, you've had those moments I'm sure and you know you can't say 'Oh shit' at the altar." I said, "Well I said that in church once but I was in the basement so I think I'll still make it to heaven." He busted out laughing and wished me a good day.

There were some other moments too, like when the associate wanted us to sing a hymn after the Gospel since it read Anthem in the bulletin but the choir was nowhere to be found. So BigO had to step in and say that the choir was singing during communion so he could just continue with his sermon. Then his sermon had the "That was easy" Staples theme and at one point he joked with BigO about "having trouble writing a sermon?" and "Having trouble with your associate pastor?" to which BigO replied, "Not anymore" and we all laughed.

All in all a good day. I also got to see some of my surrogate parents from high school. Their son was in my younger older brother's class and their daughter was two years older than me. She and I played volleyball and basketball together.

Then I went home and waited for Mom to call me back with her decision on what she wanted to do for the afternoon. I knew she had a dance tonight at 7 and we had talked about going to lunch and then a movie. Well...my mom is notorious for not making decisions well. So finally after the 3rd phone call she asks me what I was going to do today and I said that all I have to do today is run. So she told me to go run and then she'd have a decision when I got back. Well, 90 minutes later she still didn't have a plan so I finally got fed up and told her I'd just come up.

Part of the conversation was giving her two options: 1) we could get together for dinner, my treat, before she had to go to the dance or 2) she could just spend time at home and I'd leave her alone. I mean it was her birthday so it's her choice.

Well she says, "You shouldn't have to take me to dinner."
so I said, "fine, have a great birthday."
"Well, now you're pissy."
"No, mom, I'm mad that every time I offer to take you out to eat you turn it around that I shouldn't have to take you out to eat. I'm not offering because I feel obligated to buy you dinner, I want to. But like I said, if you'd rather not, that's fine. I'm not going to be upset one way or the other."

She hemmed and hawed so finally I said, I'm coming up. I'll be there in 45 minutes.

We ended up having a good afternoon. We got subs at the local convenience store, ate 2 week old cake after I made her blow out the candles I had arranged into her age, and then played cribbage. It was fun.

And now I'm at home, surfing the blogs I read and trying to make a plan. More on the plan to come...

At least it was a good day. And despite my original plan of all of us getting together (and I still feel we should have done that) it turned out okay.

Nail me to the wall

My dear friend K wrote about this site. I clicked on it and if she thought the law had its hold on me with my list of books to read, well, holy crap. This list totally nailed me to the wall.

First I have to say the whole concept of the list is hysterical, because it really is true. So many of these things are right on the money. I find myself on this list way too many times.

#55, #25 (and while I did hear David in person read from his upcoming book, I don't always find him as funny as some do), and #9 are hitting me hard today. Oh and I'm leaning to becoming a #61 except I really do want to use it to get to work because gas prices are killing me and I need to save all the pennies I can for my multiple vacations and marathons this year. (Oops...there's another one.)

That's just a few of them on me. Do you fall on this list?

List 29

This is probably cheating but I found another good list online, so once again I'm posting it here. Maybe tomorrow or Monday I'll come up with a list of my own.

This from 21 Suggestions:

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that’s worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistence, persistence, persistence.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power or prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you’ll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don’t do anything that wouldn’t make your Mom proud.

Family Fun

Tonight I went with mom to see my nephew's spring concert. They did a little musical of sorts - spoken parts and some dancing and singing. Pretty cute for elementary kids.

My nephew was adorable (don't tell him I said that). He was so into the music and dancing away...not in a flashy way, just really having fun. He's such a cutie.

It's always fun to spend time with my family. I do love them, despite some of my perhaps venting posts earlier. This is birthday weekend. My BIL is tomorrow, Mom is Sunday and my SIL is Monday. I had talked once about us all getting together to celebrate - partially for the birthdays, partially because we haven't all been together since Christmas. But I don't think it's going to happen. My sis said she needs Sunday to get ready for her work week (she's a teacher) since she's going to spend the day with her hubby for his birthday tomorrow. I haven't heard from my brother and his wife, so it looks like it's just kind of going down the tubes.

The other day a co-worker and I were talking about family relationships. He made the comment that it's the parents job to care and look out for their kids, it shouldn't be the way around - at least until it has to be. In some ways I really agree with that.

But then these days come around, and mom's alone and it makes me wonder if that feeling should be true. I know she feels hurt that we won't be spending time with her (I think she and I are doing lunch and a movie), but then I think about all the times when my brother has asked her to watch his kids and she's had to check her dance schedule first or her work schedule (she is retired). I don't know how to find the balance.

I sit here watching Phenomenon and think about how short life is. How one or all of us could be gone at a moments notice. We know this in our family...we had to deal with that with Dad, but it didn't seem to really change our attitude about things. Or maybe it did for awhile but since that was 14 years ago we've become accustomed to this mess and this is all we know and remember.

I don't know. I feel guilty because we're not all getting together and I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to guilt my siblings into anything because we get that enough with mom (that Norwegian Lutheran mom guilt - it's the best.) But I still feel like we should be doing something.

Am I expecting too much? Should I not make such a big deal about this? I mean, I don't celebrate my birthday, so is it too much to expect us to celebrate hers?

I don't know. I'm just confused right now. Maybe it's the timing of the night. I tend to get crazy after 10.

Something's coming...is it spring?

Spring is closer at least.

The way I have my office set up my windows are to my right. They used to be to my back which freaked me out, and caused problems for people visiting me because they'd be looking directly into the sun to see me. Plus there would be a glare on my computer screen.

So I moved my furniture around. It actually opened up my office a lot more than before. I remember walking in to this room long ago and it just felt small. The way it was laid out just sucked. Yeah, it was welcoming to a point. My predecessor was facing the door so as you walked in she was right there in front of you. But the rest of the furniture just felt boxed in.

You've seen my pictures. Well, now with the sun to my right and spring inching its way closer, each morning around 8am I have my very own sun shower. It peaks over the neighboring building and shines upon my face (read: in my eyes so I'm blinded and can't see). It's great. This morning I needed that extra heat since I was a little chilly. But I'm always chilly so that's nothing new.

It just felt good to have that sun on my face again. Maybe spring is here.

List 28

I'm home for lunch and stumbled upon this site. Too funny so I had to copy here.

LEXOPHILES (LOVERS OF WORDS):

1. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

2. A will is a dead giveaway.

3. Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

4. A backward poet writes inverse.

5. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

6. A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

7. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.

8. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

9. Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

10. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

11. The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

12. A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

13. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

14. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.

15. He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

16. A calendar's days are numbered.

17. A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

18. A boiled egg is hard to beat.

19. He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

20. A plateau is a high form of flattery.

21. The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison: a small medium at large.

22. Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

23. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

24. If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

25. When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

26. Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

27. Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.

28. Acupuncture: a jab well done.

29. Marathon runners with bad shoes suffer the agony of de feet.

Oh...

And it was snowing this morning - a couple inches at least - and continued to snow on and off all morning and early afternoon.

It was gray skies until at least 3:20 this afternoon.

Then the sun came out and the skies were blue and the snow on the roads and sidewalks melted.

This state drives me nuts.

Hey Mother Nature: pick one!

Anger Management

I may have made a mistake Tuesday afternoon.

Last week after I got my thank you gift from the VIP who visited, my mentor and I were talking about the day. He commented that since he helped me (somewhat with the lunch) that he should get to share the gift since he didn't get one of his own. I, being the fair person that I am, agreed and we determined I'd have it that week and this week he'd have it. Then we'd just keep switching off until he retired or we forgot about it.

Tuesday afternoon I ran over to his office to deliver the gift. It gathers fingerprints easily and I didn't have a good case for it yet so I wrapped it in a paper towel and took over to him. It's fairly small but it does have a little weight to it. He was talking with someone else so I just set it, still wrapped in the PT, on his desk. He tried to give it back but I insisted we share it because that's what we had agreed to.

Yesterday morning our mutual friend, RRR, called and I told him to call my mentor and ask him about the gift "he" got. Soon my mentor called me.

"You took back your gift, didn't you?"

"No, didn't you tell RRR about it?"

"Well he started talking on and on and I thought he was talking about my own version of it (he actually has one of his own that he gives out to other people) so I started describing that. RRR got confused and I got confused until he said that it was the one I was given. So I had to correct him but that got me wondering what you did with it."

"I left it on your desk while you were talking to Chad. It was wrapped in the paper towel so it wouldn't get smudged."

"Oh, no."

"You didn't throw it away did you?"

"I didn't but I think someone else did. I'm going to have to go through the trash."

This continued all day long. I kept laughing about it because knowing him he would tease me about this and then suddenly hand it to me when I least expected it. And really, if he did throw it away, it's not the end of the world. Granted it would have been nice to have it longer than a week, but still. It's just a gift.

Well, my mentor kept asking me if I was angry. I kept saying no. And then he asked me, "Do you ever get mad? I've never seen you mad." He determined that I wouldn't get mad, but I'd get hurt - having hurt feelings and all since I'm so sensitive, but I wouldn't get mad.

It got me thinking, because I don't know that I've ever really been hands down, voice raised, pissed off, yelling mad. I vent, and my voice goes up at times, but I don't know if I've ever really been mad. I just don't get mad. Life's too short to really get ticked off.

Of course friends who have heard me talking on occasion during rush hour traffic in the cities or any traffic in this town would disagree. But even then I yell out once and then I laugh about it.

Anyway, here's an interesting story about anger. I wonder if not getting angry is a bad thing too. Maybe I'm just so lazy I don't want to exert the energy it takes to get pissed off. Or maybe I'm just really that mellow.

All without yoga. :)

And I still don't know if he found the gift or not. I guess I'll have to wait that one out.

List 27 - Post-it List Envy

The end of the work day came quickly today, again, and yet it seemed to drag at times. Boss1 and I were catching up on things toward the end of the day and he starts shaking his head.

"Moe, I started this week with a list of six things I had to get done by the end of the week. Do you know how many I've completed?"

"I'm guessing not many from the look of dismay on your face."

"Not.A.One. Many are started and in progress, but I haven't been able to cross off a single one yet."

"I totally understand, sir. I have a huge list for this week and I think I was finally able to cross of two of them today."

*Collective sigh* from both of us.

He and I have similar traits in the workplace. Besides the list thing we're both addicted to post-its. Usually he writes down what he needs to do on a post-it and then once he's finished he chucks it in the recycling bin. I do the same thing, except it takes me longer to complete mine so they end up sticking all over my desk. A few weeks ago one of my co-workers stopped by while I was gone and he left a sticky on my computer screen (!) that said, "Do you think you have enough post-its?"

There were 17.

List 26

Continuing from List Your Self: List all the people you aren't talking to anymore.

Now before I start, let's maybe set some parameters. I'm not going to give explanations why I'm not talking to them anymore. And I'm not going to be able to remember everyone, or maybe even list everyone, but I'll do my best. This should be interesting. I wish I knew how to do columns here but I don't know how so you'll have to bear with me with one long list.

• David E
  
• Mary A
  
• Jim T
  
• Beth D
  
• Chenoa (I do wonder where she is now. I'm not sure why her name even popped into my head.)
• Jason W
  
• Justin V
  
• Mike T
  
• Vicki
• Grant
• Rachel D
• Dolly
• Tara
• Tim B
• Heidi F
• Tom B
• Michael S
• Bud L
• Else
• 
  

Wow, I thought I'd think of more names but I can't right now. There are a lot of people I don't talk to anymore...some I wish I could, or at least once to catch up with them. Life is weird isn't it? Especially how people float in and out of your life. Why? Why do they come in? Why do they leave? It's just weird.

Shout outs

First I want to say Hi to ericjay and Kat (who did a LOT of catching up last night). :) Thanks for all the comments, girl!

Today was a crazy day. The weather was beautiful today and the most I got to enjoy of it was from 7:25-7:28 on our walk to a meeting, and then again from 8:40-8:45 (I took my time getting back). After that, it was a whirlwind. If you could see my desk right now, that would be all the proof you'd need.

I like busy days because they do fly by, but I also get frustrated because I never get enough accomplished. This afternoon I ended up in a 3-hour meeting, which while it was good and informative, we didn't get much decided. It aired out a few details but when I had to deliver the Reader's Digest version to my boss afterward it came down to, "Well it's all up to you Boss1." Which is basically the decision no matter what. But, like I said, it was informative. Maybe someday we'll be able to sort it all out and come to a happy medium.

But that 3 hours, added to the 90 minute lunch meeting (also informative) and then running to get the mail basically brought me up to the end of the day. Suddenly it was time to go and my desk looked like a disaster area. I should have stayed to clean it up because I know walking in tomorrow morning will just start the day with stress, but I just had no mind to stay today. My brain was fuzz. I called a friend to see if I could hear about their day and get my mind off mine, but they didn't answer so now I'm just trying to unwind.

*sigh* Bed sounds good. Maybe I should just go to bed. Oh wait, I need to do a list first. standby.

You crazy ho-arder

I light of yesterday's list, this article that Chad sent me today makes me really nervous. The article talks about how hoarding is a brain function or abnormal function or something. It seems like our brains have adapted to cause this problem in people - though it doesn't say if it's hereditary or not. I think my grandma had this and my aunt and possibly my mom. Can this be passed on like bad genes?

I'm not a complete hoarder, but I could easily see myself become one. I don't seem to get rid of things as well as I would like. I have receipts from purchases that I've kept because I was told once that if you itemize everything you could get a tax write off on the sales tax. I don't know if it's true or not because last year when I turned in my spreadsheet with everything itemized my tax guy said it wouldn't help so I didn't even try to turn them in this year even though I still kept every receipt from every purchase.

So now I'm still keeping every receipt and I'm wondering why? I'm meeting with him next week so hopefully I can find out the truth on it. But why am I keeping all this other stuff?

It is the time of Discardia and it lasts until the 5th so I still have time to do something about this. Wish me luck. I don't want to be a hoarder even if it is a brain function.

List 25

I don't know why it took me this long to remember that I have this book, but man I wish I would have found it at the beginning of the month. Years ago Tre gave me a book called List Your Self. I've written in it once - back in 2004 when I had a momentary relapse in judgment. Reading some of my answers now just make me laugh.

But tonight I thought I'd randomly pick a page to fill out here, since it is the month of lists. Tonight's list: List all the things you've lent that have come back broken.

I can only think of one thing. One summer while I was at sem, I had loaned J. my tape (yes, VHS tape) that had 3 awesome movies on it back to back: Caddyshack, Caddyshack2, and Hamburger: the Motion Picture. (yes, we all know I'm a dork - let it go.) I loved this tape. I could put it in any Saturday or Sunday afternoon and clean the house, do homework, bake, or even sit and watch the movies and I loved every minute. It was the best.

But like I said, I had loaned it to J. to watch because he hadn't seen Hamburger and this is an awesome movie for anyone who's ever worked in a fast food restaurant. Well, I didn't get it back, I didn't get it back, and finally I asked if I was going to get it back. I had a hankering for a Hamburger weekend and I had it bad.

Well, J. returned it, but when I went to play it Hamburger had been taped over with... Friends. Now, normally I wouldn't have cared since I do love Friends ever so much, but you can't find Hamburger anywhere. I had taped it off HBO back in the day and I couldn't find it.

Needless to say, I was pissed. I think this was the one time I really got mad. I don't normally get mad - ask anyone. I get annoyed and occasionally vent, but I don't get mad. But this time...whooo...I was not a happy camper. It's sad to say that this was all over a movie, but at the time it was a big deal.

Well, J. made it up to me. He went on eBay and searched and found a VHS copy of Hamburger to replace my copy. That was nice of him and I did thank him. I just wish it hadn't been needed.

And I don't usually loan things out anymore. It makes me nervous, but I am trying.

List 24

I wasn't going to list tonight - I haven't been in the mood. But as I started getting ready to end the day I looked around my apartment and found an interesting, yet mildly worrisome trait.

For as excited and fulfilled as I feel when I've completed a project or event, I have a lot of projects around my place that I have yet to finish (or even start).

1. My "clothes to Goodwill" project
2. My second PIF
3. Two different scrapbooks (one from my Alaska trip and the other of my races)
4. All the filing - heavens! The filing!
5. Going through all my boxes in storage from the move

This is just a few of the projects I have. I'm not even going to think about all the books I've started and haven't finished. I can see several right now on my bookshelf with bookmarks in place where I've stopped.

Will I ever finish these projects or will my Aries nature win over and they'll always be hanging over me?

I haven't checked the mail yet

It's been a weird day. I slept in, which was great even though I had a really weird dream with Nicholas Cage. No, it wasn't weird...it was just wrong. I don't want to talk about it.

But the rest of the day felt a little like a Saturday - I didn't need to run any errands today, so I didn't go out like I normally do on Mondays. Instead I watched movies, did laundry, basically stayed in and read all day.

Yep, for once I read all day. I had started The Soprano Wore Falsettos last night just before falling asleep so today I read the rest of it. The liturgical mysteries by Schweizer are short, pretty calm reading. I did figure out that the publisher has a bunch of links that go with the stories. Click here and then you can pick through the books at the bottom. There are a couple that have actual musical scores (download link on the left) from some of the songs and one with the pirate service (which would be awesome to recreate).

But besides all that, I really wish I lived in the cities. Today I would have called Keith and begged for an hour to get rid of my messed up neck and back muscles right now. I don't know if it's from all the reading or because I slept funny last night. Or because I haven't had any caffeine today and my headache is inching down into my neck and causing me oodles of pain. Hmm... yeah, I'll just blame it on that and go get a Dew.

List 23 - Happy Easter!

Today is one of my favorite holy days of the year. I think in order they'd maybe be:

1. Epiphany
2. Easter
3. Good Friday
4. Christmas
5. Pentecost
6. Advent as a whole
7. My baptismal day. :)
   

Anyway, today is great...it starts out early with sunrise services shouting Christ Is Risen! and Alleluia! over and over again. Then there are the great hymns. A lot of churches bring out the brass this day - nothing says a miracle has happened with a man rising from the dead than a brass choir, in my book.

Today was fun. I've been running on 5 hours of sleep all day (added to the fact I was actually awake all day yesterday even after running the 5K) having made it to the sunrise service at the church I frequent, then zipping up to my brother's for church with his family at the Touchdown Jesus church. (Cinda - do you know that one? Erica was here for awhile before she got married and moved south.)

The rest of the day was spent with my niece and nephew, playing random games, coloring a lot of pictures, tasting and sampling a lot of pie and feeling awful when leaving.

It's so hard to leave. If the kids would both take naps we could sneak out then, but that doesn't work since the nephew doesn't nap anymore. And by the time we are getting ready to go the boy comes up with another idea for us to do. I don't see him near enough so it's hard to tell him no. I really need to make a better effort to get up there and see the kids.

But now, I'm tired. So I'm eating popcorn and watching The Sound of Music. Then I'm going to go to bed. *yawn*

I hope you all had a happy Easter. Christ is risen!

List 22 - God bless gift cards

A few weeks ago ericjay was lamenting all his gift cards he had received because many don't work for him anymore - they've expired or the company has had problems, yada yada yada.

Well, tonight Tre and I hung out at B&N and I decided to utilize my GC's instead of letting them go into that commerical world of death (i.e. not using them before either they start losing money or you lose them in general, which has happened to me many times during moves). I had a $32 one from last year's b-day and then a $25 one from K&R when I watched their kids one night last summer. Ah, this was good.

I ended up whittling my choices down to four books (like I need more books): Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman, Blaze; Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith; Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island; and Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir.

I had several more in my hand which I opted to wait on but I did pick up a little hard cover Easter story for my niece and nephew to share. All this with my B&N membership discount came to a grand total of...

$57.98

And there was much rejoicing. I paid 98 cents out of pocket for 4 1/2 books. How awesome is that?

Of course this just adds to my already long book list which I had shortened down. Oh and slight note on that - I have read of the liturgical mysteries: Alto, Baritone and Tenor. I'm now on to the Soprano version. It's good to read these all in a row, I'm learning. The stories do pick up off of the others.

Anyway, I'd stay up and read now but I must sleep for tomorrow AM comes early with Jesus rising and the Easter bunny laying eggs.

Back on the track

So I'm still alive.

I know most of you weren't too worried about that - maybe some of you were wishing I wouldn't be - but anyway, I'm still alive.

This morning I ran the St. Patty's 5K. Yes, I know it's not St. Patty's Day but it was snowing pretty bad here that day so they postponed the run to today. Funny, since this morning when I woke up it was snowing again!

The trail was a little slick but not bad. I paced myself behind two girls who ran the 5 miler 2 hours earlier. It worked out pretty well. I wasn't sure how it would go since I haven't been running since...well...October. Not truly, but not consistently since then. So I really figured I'd fall over by the time I hit the falls.

But I didn't! In fact, I didn't walk (it was a 5K run-walk) until the last corner, and then for only 20 feet or so. My lungs were getting tight but I forced myself to get running again since there wasn't much left of the course. My pace was 11:30 and I finished 35:44. Not bad for not having run at all lately. The girls really helped me. I didn't have my normal pacer this run. I tried listening to my iPod shuffle - music and Navy SEALS cadences - but those didn't really help other than background noise. Though they did block out my heavy breathing.

Anyway, it felt good to get out there again - and the rewards like hot showers and Endurox are always fun to enjoy after a good run. I'm really happy I didn't walk more than I did. I think if the girls hadn't been running in front of me I would have been walking a lot more. God bless them.

Oh and I did finish DAL. But whatever, at least I finished.

List 21

What to do this weekend

1. Sort through my clothes for Goodwill
2. Laundry, natch
3. Clean up my apartment
4. Make chicken - I need chicken!
5. Finish #2PIF
6. Run 5K
7. See Tristan und Isolde
8. Easter with Kev!
9. See Juno!
10. Take down recycling
    

Eating disorder

A few weeks ago I made a conscious decision to not eat out as often. For awhile I was eating out for lunch almost every work day, and then weekends I'd run errands and do the same thing. It was taking its toll on not only my pocketbook but my waistline as well.

So I stopped. Not entirely but not as often. And that's a good thing. I'm proud of myself for not eating out all the freaking time. But now I have a bigger problem. I'm not eating very well at all.

In the last few days the only real 'meal' I've had has been odd things - Tuesday and Wednesday night I had Manwich (I'd been craving it for some stupid reason). Then Thursday for lunch we had a chili party for a guy who's retiring. And this afternoon I finished up the Manwich. Joy. Any other meal has been popcorn (Dale&Thomas or air-popped) or nothing.

First off, this is way more red meat than I normally eat in two months, let alone a week. I'm a chicken girl (I've told my co-workers after a bird flu seminar that they better take care of themselves because most likely I'll be the first to die from it since all I eat is chicken). Second, the popcorn thing is not a good thing. It's not horrible for me but it's not good either.

It sucks cooking for one. I like to cook but doing it for one means either your eating frozen dinners because those are preportioned for one person, or you're making a normal meal but then eating leftovers all week (hence the Manwich). I've tried making meals and then freezing the extras to eat later, but I end up forgetting about them and then they get freezer burn and that's a waste too.

I'm not sure what to do. I can't go back to all fast food all the time. I suppose I could hit the SB meals again like I used to, but that gets old too. I just need to take the time to actually cook, I guess. And suck it up and eat the leftovers.

List 20 - Roller Coaster

It has been an up and down sort of day. Very strange.

Up: I woke up feeling refreshed and didn't even need to snooze past 5:30 a.m.
Down: I did make my Starbucks run this morning because I just wasn't feeling all that happy to be going to work.
Up: No line at Starbucks and the lady loved my car, which always makes me happy.
Down: My to-do list at work was insanely long and I had no motivation to do any of it because Boss1 - the energy giver in the office - was out sick.
Up: Working with Mungie Boy on a presentation
Down: Totally screwing up a photoshop attempt - I really need to take a class on this.
Up and Down: A very intense conversation with Boss2 about 3 different topics which were good to have but very stressful.
Up: Popcorn for supper, again.
Middle: Maundy Thursday service.

Okay...need to expound a bit here. It's Holy Week here in Lutheran land and tonight's service is always deep. BigO talked tonight about the other words surrounding the story - not the verba - but the disciples question after Jesus said one of them would betray Him, "Is it I, Lord?" Like BigO said, shouldn't they have known? But then again, who really does know what they are going to do in an hour, or next week, or next month. We all are sinners, and we will sin, but do we know how we are going to sin? Maybe, maybe not.

But despite that - despite that we are going to sin and Jesus knows this - He still invites us to the table. He still invites us to be saved. And that, my friends, is the Gospel.

And my final Up of the night - Thank you, Kat, for those awesomely sweet words. You made my night. :)

Bad habit forming

Yesterday I took a different route to work since I had ample time to get there. Waking at 3:18 am and getting up at 4:30 allows for extra time for experimentation.

On this 'new' route I discovered a handy-dandy Starbucks around the corner. I'm not normally a Starbucks fan but since I was up at the butt-crack of dawn yesterday I thought a chai would be helpful to keep me going.

This morning, because of my short night the night before, I overslept (I slept extremely well, thus oversleeping) and was extremely tired. I learned in college that I could pull an all or late nighter but the day that would kill me would be the day after - not the immediate next morning of the late nighter, but the next day. (i.e. late night Wednesday, Thursday can keep going, but Friday would be tiresome.) I'm not sure why I needed to explain that but just be thankful I didn't draw a diagram to go with it.

Anyway, today was my "Friday" per the example above, so I thought a chai might be needed again. This is not a good habit to start. A, it's expensive; B, it's not needed; and C, stupid people use the drive-thru for multiple drinks when they would be better off for everyone involved if they would just go inside.

So, I'm heading to bed now to try to sleep and awaken at a decent time because I have a lot to catch up on tomorrow. Tuesday was shot with the VIP guest and today was a mess since I was exhausted and couldn't focus worth a crap. Tomorrow I have to get a lot done. Cross your fingers for me!

List 19

Work highlights of today:

1. Hearing about the continued luggage adventure
2. PT&A wav file relating to the luggage adventure (unfortunately I left it at work so I can't link it here)
   
3. Discovering that I'm not an oddity - that others do love their jobs too and there are other awesome bosses out in the world. I am so very blessed.

Life highlights today:

1. Talking ever so briefly with a friend I haven't talked with in a while
2. Finding Dave on a podcast - and a great sermon to boot
3. Finding K on another awesome new website I'm really excited to read more
   

AI

Was it just me or did anyone else feel like tonight's performances on AI were uninspired?

List 18

Highlights of the day:

• Meeting Buck and Norm - awesome people and I hope I get to meet them again
  
• Losing the luggage (not really a happy highlight, but it kept things interesting as a running gag)
• Lunch - Ball, Rob and Casey - holy crap, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time
• Being the time keeper - "You have nine minutes, sir."
• Cheesecake - yummm
  
• Ball giving a drink token
• Pulling an Italian Job moment going through the gate
• Hearing Cowboy say "We're all on a first name basis here." uh..smart to say? maybe, maybe not.
• Having Buck as my answering service and confusing Matt
• Bruce being accused of cross-dressing
  
• Learning about the Blue Light Specials
• Norm wondering what, if anything, he was scratching anything when he learned about the security cameras
• The burst of laughter from everyone when Jeanne told him that they turned on with movement (motion activated)
  
• Ron asking for my number because I'm an "important person who knows what's going on"
• Buck laughing at my eye roll when he gave me $1 as a "tip" (for the parking fare)
  
• Getting coined
• Dave holding Norm's garment bag for me then giving it back right away - you had to be there.
• Being told that everything went great today because of the work I did (am I bragging too much? - tough...this is what people should get at their job when they do a good job - they should get compliments. We need to do this more!)
  

Same story, new tune

I Love My Job!

Yeah, yeah. I know you all are sooooo tired of hearing about this but I really do. Today was no exception. Actually, today was an exception because it was an exceptional day.

We had a VIP guest today and this one was awesome. In our organization there's always some skeptical feelings about bigwigs - are they snobby? do they actually care? will they listen? This guy broke all those thoughts.

Not only was he not snobby, but he was so down-to-earth it made the day phenomenal. He actually listened to the questions and concerns from my co-workers, asked pertinent questions of others he met, and made promises to look into issues we asked about. And if he's anything like he was the last trip, he'll have started working on those tonight and we'll start getting emails this week.

I got to hang out with his aide all day which was a lot of fun. It by no means was a perfect visit - plane problems, luggage problems, scheduling shifts (leading to a very late lunch - but so worth the time), and a sped up version of everything we had planned. But we took it all in stride and kept laughing our way through.

We really kept it clipping along. I had worked with the aide over the last week, setting up the meetings and tour, arranging and setting up lunch and attendees, and rolling with all the punches. Boss1 came in today after traveling all last week and everything was set up ready to go. We picked them up, headed to lunch, went on the tour, went to briefings and back to the airport - all in the space of 3-hours. It was great.

I have so many emotions right now, that I'm not sure how to state them all. Plus I'm not sure all that I can state - security issues and all. I got a thank you gift from the bigwig and I really want to show it here but I have to check if I can or not first. It's really awesome and I'll treasure it forever.

Sooooo let me just say - today was freaking awesome and proof once again why I totally love my job. Despite waking at 3:20 this morning, I'm still so ecstatic about today. So I'm going to have the Guinness that I had intended to drink yesterday and downshift. It's going to take a little bit though... *sigh* :)

Early morning

This is starting to get annoying. Last week I kept waking up at 3 or 3:30. I'd lie in bed trying to fall back asleep or at least nap until I had to get up. I'd end up falling dead asleep around 4:30 or 5 only to oversleep my alarm and be late for work.

This weekend I took advantage of not having any appointments, per se, and slept until I woke up. It was nice. I felt rested and ready to go for the day.

Well, this morning it happened again. I kind of knew it would happen because today I have a lot going on at work that I don't want to mess up, but because of that I really need my rest.

I woke up at 3:18. Finally about 10 minutes ago I said screw it and got up. Tossing and turning in bed isn't going to help. But now I'm yawning and could really use a nap, but I don't dare go back to bed now. Crap. I guess it's a chai and diet coke day.

List 17

Things I thought about today:

1. Napkins! - crap
2. Lemons
3. Cardstock paper
4. Running
5. Knitting
6. Cake
7. Cupcakes?
8. Ironing
9. Laundry
10. Dishes
11. Guinness! mmmm
    

Exciting life, no?

Let them eat cake!

It's not surprise to those who know and love me, and even a few of those who don't, that I'm not a big fan of cake. That is, of course, except for Angel Food Cake. I loves me some Angel Food Cake - with confetti candy sprinkles.

I only have AFC once or twice a year but my pan has got rusty throughout the years of use and the multiple moves where it stayed in a box for the last 8 years. So I bought a new one.

Charles & Marie had this cake mold on their site a few weeks ago. I've never tried a silicone pan of any kind but this one intrigued me. It came in the mail last week and today I attempted an AFC in it. It turned out surprisingly well - though I should have baked it a bit longer.

This pic is what my cake looked like coming out of the oven. I love that it's wider than a normal AFC pan. My favorite part is this part here - the crunchy part. Again, I should have baked it a bit longer but it turned out okay. And it only flowed over the middle section which wasn't too bad.

This is what the cake pan looks like. Don't you love that it's portioned out into different size slices? I love this concept! Plus, I don't have an electric knife so this helped a lot with my little serrated knife that I do have. You can see here how it kind of flowed over in the middle.

Here's what it looks like out of the pan. Now, here's the difference. The pan directions say to let it cool for 5 minutes before twisting the cake out. The AFC directions say to let it cool on a pop bottle until it's completely cooled. I'll have to play with this one a bit. I went with the pan option so we'll see how it settles. I don't think I could balance this on a pop bottle, but I could let it sit upside down longer. I don't know how that will play with the removal from the pan.

Anyway, it's still tasty. Yay, cake!

Guinness is Good

And today is a good day. Not only is it a Guinness Day, but the 5K was postponed until Saturday due to snow.

You have to love this state. Yesterday it was 36, sunny, a little wind, but clear skies and felt a little like spring was looming. Then today we have 2 inches of snow, it's still 34 degrees, but it's foggy and cold. As we say here, "If you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." It's so true.

So because of this quirk of the state, I don't have to run today and I have a few days to prepare. YAY! I can also drink Guinness without feeling too guilty. It's a good day.

List 16

More of my favorite t-shirts. I really do love these. :) Again, no links, but feel free to type them in!

From superherodesigns.comFrom dietdetective.com "Stalker"

From dietdetective.com "Spicy"

From threadless.com "War and Peas"

Yes, I wear t-shirts a lot nowadays. I used to wear them on rare occasions because my main job required me to dress nice all the time and I worked 5-7 days a week. Now that my job has a uniform and is only 4 days a week, my nights and weekends consist of jeans and t-shirts. Truly a more comfortable method of living, if you ask me.

Remember the Sabbath

Maybe God rested on Saturday, not Sunday. And God started building the world on Sunday. Hmmm...At least in my world it feels that way. It seems my Saturday's are the days I do nothing. I sleep late, I read, I knit, I watch movies...but doing actual errands or work - nada.

Not that this is a bad thing. With the 3-day weekends I still have two days to complete my weekend tasks (as long as I don't stretch the Sabbath into a 2-day event) so vegging for one day is okay in my book. Though, I should have ran today. I really should have dragged my ass out to the trail and ran.

There's really only one reason for this - I'm running the St. Patty's 5K on Monday. The bad thing is that at last count there were less than a dozen signed up (they didn't open up registration until Thursday this week) and I'm feeling heavy and slow so I know I'll finish DAL. Not a good thing. The other bad thing is that I haven't been running much lately. I'm not afraid that I won't finish. I have enough determination and stubbornness to complete the run, I think I proved that with the marathon, but it won't be pretty. For that reason alone I wish it would be a packed crowd. But I suppose since it's an actual workday for most of the world that's why it's not as busy. We'll see.

So tomorrow I must run. It's Palm Sunday so I'll do the church thang, then head out for a good run. I have to pick up my packet with my bib and chip and maybe run some errands. And I have to prepare for our VIP visit that's coming faster than I would like.

Tomorrow should be a good day. After all, it's a brand new week.

List 15

Okay, here are a few of my favorite T-shirts which I wear all the time. I'm not putting links here, so if you're interested in these I encourage you to open a new tab and type these in. More tees to come. :)

From Despair.com

From Dooce.com

From shorthandpress.com

From Despair.com

From fussy.org

Sap

Do you have any movies that you watch when you just need a good cry?

Well, I'm a sap so I cry at most anything, whether a drama or a comedy. Tonight mom and I went to see P.S. I Love You. Holy crap...I'm totally adding this to my list of movies I must watch when I need a release.

Sarah had forewarned me and in hindsight I probably should have waited to watch it until I could buy it so I could make a fool of myself in private. But no, we sat in the middle of the theatre and I did my best to just let the tears roll instead of sobbing (at points) like I wanted to.

This was truly a movie for me to sob along with. I just wanted to let go. But I didn't. Have you ever done this? I get headaches when I hold back. And on top of it my head fills up and I have to downshift for at least an hour before I try to sleep it off or I'll not sleep well.

Anyway...I'm just rambling. It was such a good movie. And it probably didn't help that I'm exhausted and emotions running high with everything going on at work. But it's all good. Once I can settle my head I should sleep tonight.

List 14

126-150...

• I love math games, brain teasers, logic problems, Mensa and IQ tests. I don't always do well on them but I love the challenge.

• I taught beginning band and middle school band for one year. I loved the students! Hated the administration.

• When I was a teacher I had the only 5^th grade beginner playing bari sax in the state. He was awesome. (I know you shouldn't start a student on that, but he rocked the gym!)

• I hate being in debt – whether via money or favors or whatever.

• I hadn't subscribed to cable since 1998, until I was forced to because the town I now live has zero antennae quality.

• My TV is a 13 inch from 1993.

• My favorite Christmas was the year my oldest older brother bought dad a big box full of brown jersey gloves and I got dad a nose hair clipper.

• I used to line up all my gifts from Christmas and take a picture of them to keep.

• I love taking pictures, and finally bought a good SLR digital camera last summer.

• I like journals – those ones that are really pretty that you can buy at small funky stores – but I never buy them because if I bought them I’d have to write in them and that would ruin the prettiness of the journal itself.

• I have never smoked pot though I sometimes wish I would have before I joined the military just to try it.

• I used to smoke clove cigarettes – but only on rare occasions.

• I don’t like giving things up for Lent – though it is a time of sacrifice I feel people make too light of it, giving up only chocolate or swearing or whatever. So I just don't give up anything.

• I don’t like to pray out loud in public.

• I am training for another marathon. I'm insane.

• Maybe I’ll change my mind on the praying out loud in public when I’m running the marathon again. The last time it was all I could do to breathe since the humidity was so high.

• I used to want a real globe. I finally got one as my 3-year anniversary gift at LS.

• I like Salvador Dali's works.

• I also like Didier Lourenco.

• I want to take Biblical Hebrew again to learn it.

• I love popcorn. Of course every time I eat it I can't help but think of E's favorite SB saying, “No popcorn. Eat cheese!”

• I have Jonathan Adler sheets. :)

• I want to learn yoga.

• I often wish for the impossible.

• My favorite baseball team is the Cleveland Indians. It's not because of Major League.

I think I'll stop now.

List 13

I'm super tired today so you're getting the next installment of 100 things about me - it's been extended - the super deluxe director's cut version. Enjoy.

101-125...

• I once thought about becoming an architect after a drafting class in high school.

• I learned how to type when I was 8.

• I used to memorize the line we were testing on in my HS typing class (yes, I'm old enough to have actually taken a real typing class – with typewriters and everything!) and then I'd just focus on typing it.

• I still do typing tests for fun.

• I took Adv. Chem in high school with 2 other people. We made a hovercraft out of a board, canister vacuum/blower, plastic and duct tape (it’s the cure all!). And it worked.

• In college I started off on the wrong foot with the dean by insisting that I take Algebra&Trig versus College Algebra. (5 credit course vs. the 3 credit course – I got a B). He didn't want me to take it because I “didn't need the credits.” It didn't matter to him that I wanted to be challenged.

• I continued to buck the system by insisting on taking Philosophy and numerous history courses and working toward a drama minor. I was constantly told to not waste my time with the ‘extra’ courses as they wouldn’t help me when I was teaching string lessons at some small school in Michigan (a myth they continued to teach us).

• I dream in color and vividly.

• I love playing with a guy’s hair. I love it more when he plays with mine, esp. on the back of my neck.

• I love the smell of fresh grass, gasoline (not a lot of it), fresh snow, rain, popcorn, cookies baking, sawdust and sweat, smoke (cigar, fireplace, occ. even cigarette), clean skin, and other stuff.

• I’m a procrastinator. And indecisive – but only when it comes to my own stuff.

• I hate it when people won’t make decisions. (That includes occasionally hating myself.)

• I once dressed up as the Mirror from Snow White for Halloween. No one knew who I was.

• I have a hard time articulating aloud what I feel or what I want – I am much better on paper this way.

• This list was really hard to do until I decided not to stick to just the 100 items.

• I have been friends with Tre since the first day or so of college. She came to my room to get my number to figure out Gail’s number next door and ended up staying for 3 hours talking. Instant click. We have been close ever since.

• I love to kiss, even just for fun, though it is best with someone you care about. :)

• I love toy stores like this one.

• I like to go into expensive stores of distinction and pet the clothes. Feel me up clothes are my favorite.

• I have very dry skin and am often applying lotion or lip balm.

• I own hundreds of CD’s but a lot of my favorite music is still on cassette.

• My first introduction to Bill Cosby’s comedy was via 8-track.

• When I was very young, I traded my oldest older brother two 8-tracks for my blanket. When I tried to trade back I discovered he had thrown it away and it had all been a ploy for me to be rid of my blankie. I still own both 8-tracks (the aforementioned Bill Cosby and the original Broadway cast of Grease – Lord, help).

• I chew gum when I’m getting a massage because I hate having bad breath when I get up.

• I like to think I’m wise with my money but lately I’ve been feeling like I’m not.
  

Maybe tomorrow I'll be back to normal...sleep and running would help.

Sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away

I do love this weather. (Don't worry, Karen, I will still move to a rainy, dreary place with you - my favorite days are gray ones.) After months of cold, wind and more cold and wind, finally Mother Nature is being nice to us and giving us warm weather. In fact we even had a spring shower today! It actually smelled like spring!

But soon, MN will bring back the crappy cold because we're just not worthy of sun yet, apparently. Ah, it's okay. Soon it'll be here and life will be fine.

I don't really know what to write tonight. I've been having weird dreams, waking up in the morning and thinking that Quinton told me that the photo credit had to be 9.5 points so it could be seen and I was saying it's supposed to be 6 so that it's more attached to the photo than a stand alone. I shouldn't be dreaming about these things!

And then seeing that we had a huge photo faux pas in our recent issue (that's at print right now) and I'm pissed we missed it. UGH. We even had people proofing it other than the two of us putting it together and I just saw it today. Sheeit. That's all I'm going to say. We'll have to re-run the photo in the next issue which messes things up. I hate simple mistakes like that. Those are avoidable. But getting pressed for time and wanting to get it done just messed it up.

So despite the beautiful weather, I'm not entirely happy. I do get to have lunch with RA tomorrow which will be fun. And my car is washed and filled with fuel, so that's good. There are good things in the world. Focus on the good, right? Tomorrow is another day.

List 12

Continuing...76-100

• I am a baker (a GREAT one) :) – cookies, pies, bars, flat bread, krumkake, etc. I can cook to a point – but I have to follow a recipe, I can’t just fly by the seat of my pants though I'm working on that too.

• My hands are always cold. I can warm them up and in 5 minutes they’ll be cold again. In fact, there have been times where I've had gloves on and when I take them off my hands are cold and my fingers are bordering on white. So I also like to keep my hands in my pockets a lot.
  

• I sometimes try to put myself into the heads of others (not literally) and look at me and try to figure out how they see me. Maybe this stems from my paranoia of wanting people to like me and needing to know what they thought about me.

• It took me 10 years to finish a cross-stitching project.

• I long to find my passion.

• Brisk, fall days that are slightly gray are my favorite.

• I love thunderstorms.

• I collect quotes.

• I order like Sally. “I’d like the BBQ burger but with no bun and I’d like the sauce on the side. I’d like a side salad without croutons, onions or olives and I’d like the dressing on the side.” On the side is very important to me.

• I feel self-conscious when I eat in front of other people and no one else is eating – especially if I’m eating crunchy food like lettuce or chips or celery.

• I hate it when people are eating and talking on the phone with me – or even drinking water. Ugh.

• I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled at once. I got Novocain and the gas – they had to wake me up to pull my teeth.

• My favorite ice cream is Baskin Robbin’s Daiquiri Ice.

• The most I ever weighed was 170 pounds. It scared me.

• The lowest my adult weight ever was, was 136. I long for those days. *sigh*
  

• I love the power I feel when I run, even when I’m tripping over my feet or out of breath – there is a power in my body that is just phenomenal.

• If she were alive, I would stand in line for as long as it took to get tickets to hear Ella Fitzgerald sing.

• I would love to be the next Ella.

• I love warm sheets, but a cool pillow case.

• I have to be on my back to fall asleep, but wake up sprawled all over the bed, often doing the scissor cut with my legs.

• I love my bed.

• I love to flirt.

• If I would have been born a boy my name would have been Christopher Paul.

• I once picked out the names for my future children and my sister used both for her kids. So now I don't know what I'll do.

• I had a huge crush on the elementary principal in my hometown when I was in high school. Keep in mind he was only 28.

Well...I'm at 100 but I still have more to go. I may continue and bore you some more. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.