Rasp or Raz?

Okay, I was looking at my profile (just because) and the question posted at the end (that I have never answered) is "Why does the color blue mean raspberry-flavored?" You know, this is a good question and here is my answer: Because blueberry flavored isn't that popular and every shade of red and pink were already spoken for by strawberry, cherry and watermelon, so like me, raspberry got the short end of the stick and got blue by default! But here is another question I'm now wondering -- why is it spelled raspberry. I have always pronounced it razberry. I have never heard anyone pronounce it with a "p".

Here is another question -- is it "hayride" or "hay rack ride"? I bet I can tell where you're from by your answer!

Moron Alert!

Went to Taco Bueno today to pick up lunch for me and a co-worker. I was sitting in the drive thru when my car started to smell like cigarette smoke. My car was pulling in the outside air and the guy in front of me was smoking and the smoke from his cigarette was filling my car. But this was not the totally moranic part. I'm watching him and all of a sudden it dawns on me that our state in under a burn ban, it's windy today, so we're under an extreme fire danger warning and this brain child is flicking his ashes out the window with a HUGE grassy field not 50 feet away!

I'm already in a mood because it looks like I'm going to have to work on Saturday, so I was so tempted to go impart wisdom on this man. But obviously he's an idiot and I'm sure nothing I would say would have done any good.

Memorable Valentine’s

I’m not exactly the biggest fan of this holiday. Never have been. I don’t hate it, just indifferent more than anything. Trying to run errands the last 2 days has made me REALLY not fond of this holiday though. I mean, seriously people. They’ve been running Valentine’s ads on TV since Christmas! It’s not like this holiday snuck up on you!

Well, I could go on for days, but all of this Valentine’s stuff has gotten me to thinking about my most memorable Valentine’s Days. In third grade, there was this boy in my class named Brent Bogdanovecz. We’d gone to school together since pre-school, but one day (for a brief moment) I decided that maybe I liked him. My big mistake was telling my best friend who told our gym teacher who shared that info with our whole class. I was trying to cover my bases, so I told everyone it wasn’t Brent, it was Blint. Not too good at covering my bases in the third grade obviously. Well, I thought the whole thing has passed till Valentine’s Day when he signed my Valentine “From Blint”. Yeah, I was busted.

My sophomore year in college, I was on a serious anti-Valentine’s kick and on the calendar in our dorm room put a big heart with a slash through it on February 14 and wrote “death to anyone who gets roses.” Well, one night shortly before Valentine’s Day, I answered my friend Melissa’s phone and got into a conversation about the whole thing with her friend Jeff. He asked me what I would do if someone sent me roses and I told him I would cut all the buds off. On Valentine’s Day, I get a delivery at the receptionist desk. Someone had sent me a dozen long stems, no buds, in a vase with baby’s breath. The card attached had a calendar drawn on it to match my own calendar – but no name. I knew it had to be Jeff, but I wasn’t sure. I thought it was the funniest thing anyone had ever done for me (still my best Valentine’s Day ever). He called me that night to find out if I was mad (which of course I wasn’t), and gave me the scoop. Seem he had gone to get roses for his girlfriend and the florist was making corsages, and he asked her what she was going to do with the stems. When he told her what he was going to do, she felt bad for me and threw in the vase, greenery and baby’s breath. His roommates and co-workers thought he was the biggest jerk, which then made him reconsider what he had done, which is why he called. But I seriously thought it was so funny!!!!

I guess last year deserves honorable mention. Even though it was really awkward time and I really just wanted to get the whole holiday over with, it was the first time I had actually gotten flowers (buds intact) for Valentine’s Day from anyone other than my parents.

All the rest of them were pretty much like any other day (even when I’ve had boyfriends). I seem to attract practical men, not romantics. Oh, and then there was the year I had the chicken pox. That was memorable!!!

This year, Valentine’s is being spent hosting Bible study at my house and frankly, I’m not too upset about that fact. Tomorrow, it will again just be another day.

Oh No!!!

I was driving up Bryant earlier today (which is the street I live off of) and what did I see on the side of the road? A dead raccoon!! I don't know if it was my raccoon trying to make it's way back to my attic (which I still don't know how it got in because I'm too scared climb up there), or one of his relatives.

BUT I want the record to show that he was already dead when I drove by. I will not be held responsible for it's untimely demise. I'm not a raccoon hater or killer, I just didn't want it living in my attic!

I Want To Be a Bought Cow

Last night I was at Chili’s with a group of friends and we were having a very “deep” conversation. One Jason was handing out dating advice to the ladies at the table. His insights were humorous and fearfully accurate I hate to say.

All of this lead to “analyzing” the a relationship of one of the girls at the table. We were giving her a hard time about not making this male in her life step up to the plate. I then jokingly added “why by the cow when you can get the milk for free.” That’s when this girl (who will remain nameless) announced, “I want to be a bought cow!”

Of course we all bust out in laughter, but it has really stuck with me. I want to be a bought cow too! I know the phrase that sparked this comment was meant to refer to “putting out”, but I think the meaning could go deeper than that.

I am guilty of making things too easy on the guys I date. I don’t express my feelings, instead I just make myself overly flexible -- almost a doormat in a sense. Too often I tend go out of my way to try to meet their needs, but don’t usually get my needs met in return. And even worse, instead of saying “hey, I need more than this from you” I just smile and nod and pretend that everything is fine because I don’t want to be one of those whiney, demanding girlfriends.

In doing this I’m almost saying “I’m giving milk (i.e. their needs) away for free.” And you know what – I’m tired of that. I’m tired of being someone’s sounding board when they need one, but getting nothing back in return. I’m really not trying to sound like the world should revolve around me. I LOVE to be generous with the people I care about. I love for them to feel like they can talk to me and that I’m there for them, but it gets tiring when you’re not getting any of it reciprocated. I believe that relationships aren’t always 50/50. Often their 80/20 and I’m okay with that as long as I’m not always the 20.

So I guess what I’m getting at is that I agree. I want to be a “bought cow!” I don’t want to be a free milk giver! Well, that is unless their intention is to butcher me. Then I’ll pass on the whole thing!

I'm Still Cracking Myself Up!!!

I don’t know what got in to me today, but I am seriously making myself laugh. My ribs hurt. I keep sitting in my office, just laughing – out loud. Sometimes there is no immediate reason (I am usually still laughing at something I did 30 minutes before) and sometimes it's because of the following email exchange. It all started with my previous post. I told Suzy and Susan to check out my team page before I posted it on my blog and this is what followed:

Stacey: “Okay, I’ve been busy and am just now getting around to actually setting up my team page. Check out my picture! I crack myself up!”

Susan: “Well, Suzy if this doesn't make your day then I don't know what will!!! That is the best thing I've seen ever!!! Who wouldn't want to donate to that beautiful picture!! Now all you have to do is send out those emails!! It really just takes a minute or two!!!”

Suzy: “That is awesome! Really you kind of look like her anyway. I would kill for that waist!!!!!”

Stacey: “I’d kill for her boobs!”

Susan: “Oh my!!! You two have to stop!! That is the funniest thing I've heard in a while!!!”

Suzy: “I just had a thought. Susan we should try and do what Stacey did on our main team page. Get Andrew to be Rhett and Stacey can be Scarlett and we can use other people in the movie as well.”

Susan: “That would be awesome! I really don't know how to do that...if only we had someone with that talent and access to our church directory pictures... Hm.... Think Susan!!”

Stacey: “Hey, if I had pictures, I could probably do it. It would be a crack up!!!!”

Suzy: “I was also thinking that Andrew actually looks more like Ashley Wilkes and not Rhett Butler. Brett could be our Rhett could he not Susan.....get it Brett/Rhett. Come on it was a little funny.”

Stacey: “Oh, brother!”

Susan: “I think it should be Stacey that sticks to the jokes today! No offense of course!!”

Suzy: “Ouch. I'm funny. Dad gum it and people like me. Susan you knew I was fragile today and yet you still felt it necessary to hurt me like that. Like putting the "no offense" disclaimer was going to help.”

Susan: “I only did the ‘no offense’ b/c you did earlier! I know you're funny. That joke earlier was just a little stretch! You are one of the funniest people I know!!!”

Stacey: er

Suzy: “Someone seriously give this girl something to do. I can't see through my laughing tears! Stinking hilarious!!!!!”

Stacey: “I’m so making myself laugh today! My ribs hurt!!!!!”

Susan: “I don't know if I can believe you anymore when you say you're always swamped at work. I know this might be a rare occasion but still!”

Stacey: “It is a rare occasion!!! I’ve been spending all day (besides this) getting caught up. You should see my desk! You can almost SEE my desk!”

From there it went into a discussion about the state of our desks. If laughing is good exercise, I definitely lost a couple of pounds!

I Crack Myself Up!

Okay, this is SORT of a shameless plug for the Edmond Relay for Life, but more than that -- it's showing off my wonderful photoshop skills. Check out my personal page on our team site. I make myself laugh. I was going to use this picture, but the resolution was too low and it didn't look good on the page. I still think it's funny. This alone should make you want to donate to the American Cancer Society! And for those of you who don't know who on the team to donate to, you can donate to the team in general. It's all for the greater good! ;o)

My Dad

Yesterday would have been my dad’s 66th birthday. It’s still so strange to think that he’s been gone for five years now and that it’s been seven since his accident. In some ways it seems like it was a lifetime ago. In others it seems like just yesterday.

I was definitely a daddy’s girl when I was little and I definitely had him wrapped around my little finger. I was fortunate to get to spend a lot of time with my dad when I was little. He and his twin brother owned an International Harvester dealership when we lived in Anthony and my dad would occasionally take us to work with him (never both at the same time though – which was smart on his part). He also used to take us on service calls with him when we weren’t in school. I think I spent more time playing on farm equipment than on playground equipment growing up.

My dad had a great sense of humor and very ornery (yes, for those of you that know that side of me, that’s where I got it). He also was a great story teller. I guess that explains a lot too. I loved for my dad to tell us stories about when he was growing up. He was also a funeral director and that definitely gave him some good story telling material. He was also had a great voice. He & his twin brother actually decided into the funeral business (yes, they did everything together) after singing at a funeral. My sister probably inherited his vocal talent because my brother and I didn’t.

Even though I was really close to my dad when I was little, our relationship was really strained during my teen and early adult years. Some of that was due health problems that affected his personality, some of it was due to the fact that he had this need to be depended on and unfortunately he had a very independent daughter, and some was due to the fact we both pretty stubborn. It really bothered him that I could take care of myself. He wanted his little girl to find someone to take car of her and get married. Oh, heavens, he’d be a total wreck now if he knew his little girl STILL wasn’t married.

Although he drove us NUTS the last 13 years of his life, I also know that it was because he loved us – sometimes too much. And despite it all, I miss my dad. There are all of these little things you take for granted, like how he would always gas my car up for me before I headed home, how he’s scrape my windshield and warm up my car for me in the morning during the winter. How anytime I had something that needed repaired, he’d make a day trip just to help me out. Even how he’d go to the store late at night when I was little because I needed cookies to help me sleep. ;o) And you all wonder why my expectations in my men are so high.

Groundhog's Day

Our mail server is down again and I’m running out of stuff I can do. Actually thinking about going home since I don’t feel all that hot anyway. I’d be okay to stay if I had work to do, but since I don’t at the moment, why not take advantage of the fact I fill blah and call it a day? I just might!

Anyway, I was surfing the Net and found this article on Groundhog’s Day on the MSN homepage. Actually pretty interesting. Groundhog’s Day has never really made sense to me anyway. If he sees his shadow, then the sun is out, shouldn’t that make him think spring is here? As the writer explains (and I guess I knew this) the temperature is actually warmer when it’s cloudy (clouds hold in the heat).

I’m actually ready for spring. I’m not a big cold weather fan anyway, and since Oklahoma weather can’t seem to make up it’s mind this year, I think it just needs to call it quits and give us spring. When you’ve had more 60 degree highs this winter than 30 degree highs, you’ve forfeited your right to winter weather. In my book, the only way Oklahoma weather can redeem itself is to give us a REALLY good snow storm. One that keeps me from having to go to work for at least a day or two. And honestly, I’m not complaining about the lack of cold weather. Anything that cuts down on my gas bill is fine with me!

So, happy reading and happy Groundhog’s Day!

Let's Try This Again Tomorrow

Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to go back to bed and call it a day and start over tomorrow? I had one yesterday.

I started out not feeling too hot to begin with. I’ve really been trying not to get sick yet (I need that to wait till the end of February), so I wasn’t thrilled to wake up feeling blah. When I get to work, things start out pretty normal. THEN the mud slide called “my day” begins.

All of a sudden, our mail server goes down. Granted there are some things that I kind of needed my email for, but I could live without it. The reason this is such a bad thing is not because I can’t email, but because my co-workers begin calling me saying “my email doesn’t work”. I reply, “I know, nobody’s does and we don’t know when it will be back up. I’ll let you know when it’s working.”

It would seem logical that they not call me again till I tell them its working. Oh, no. We’ve been down this road before. They will continue to call me every half hour to find out if email is working again. Did you try it? Was it working? Then the answer is NO!

I leave the server room knowing this is going to be a long day, but nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I walk back into our office and was notified by our receptionist that one of the elders is trying to reach me. Come to find out, the elders want an article in the bulletin on Sunday and one of our ministers not only failed to tell us this, but also told him deadlines are at noon on Wednesday. I’ll spare you the details of bulletin preparation, but this isn’t exactly accurate. So now, I have an irritated elder who wants his article in the bulletin and my only option is to make a bunch of phone calls and ask people to now cut the length of their articles so I will have room.

At this point, because I don’t feel good, I really just want to cry. In the scheme of things, it’s really not that bad, but I feel like crap and my day is going downhill fast. That’s when I learned that we also can’t print and our database is down. Seems email isn’t the only thing on that particular server.

Since I can’t do much in the lines of work at the moment, I decided to take an early lunch run an errand out at the mall. I’m about to get on the turnpike when my check engine light comes on, my car starts to rattle, and it smells like something is burning. I actually by this point have to just laugh because it would figure today would be the day all of this would happen.

I manage to get my car back to the church (my car stalling on Memorial Road would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back) and call Woody (head of our Transportation Ministry) to see if he can determine if it is safe to drive to the mechanic. As far as he could tell, it was but there was definitely something seriously wrong. He does tell me though that there is some corrosion around my battery and quote “I should probably get my boyfriend to clean it off for me.” And who does he suggest that is because if he knows, I have a few other “honey-do’s” for that boyfriend!

Anyway, I call my mechanic and he doesn’t answer. Seems he’s building a new shop, so he’s closed for a few months. Luckily, a mechanic I know from church had time to look at it. Seems I needed a new spark plug and new spark plug cables. It could be worse – I could need a new engine! So, I’m now $180 farther away from replacing my stove, floors and furnace than I was (which was already quite a ways away).

There were a few little glitches through out the rest of the day, but nothing else major (which was good because I might have shown up on the 10:00 news if anything else had gone wrong.)

Today, I still don’t feel great, but we have email and can print, so things are off to a better start. Let’s just hope it stays that way.

Birthday Rundown

The highlights of my birthday actually started the evening before when I got a package in the mail from Tonna. Her package containing what she referred to as “ooh-la-la pajamas” really made my day. Now I must say, they’re not THAT “ooh-la-la” but they’re red and super cute and I guess if you’re 7 ½ months pregnant, you probably would consider that “ooh-la-la”. (Love ya T!)

Birthday morning – my brother called while I was in the shower. I guess he thought he was going to be sly and wake me up early for my birthday. Maybe he should have tired calling before 6:30 a.m. I didn’t hear the phone, so instead I got a “happy birthday” voicemail. I’m just impressed he remembered to call at all! Also got really good news later that day that it doesn’t look like he’s going to have to have surgery on his heart after all! As long as he does everything the doctor says, things should be fine.

After I got to work, Nancy (our events coordinator) and Janice (one of our volunteer receptionists) sang “Happy Birthday” to me in the lobby and gave me a hug. This was followed by a VERY cute little 2-year-old who came into my office and brought me a balloon and a “treat bag” filled with Chewy SweeTarts, Reese’s cups and a Diet Coke. She knows me well (at least her mom does). Couldn’t get her to sing to me (too early in the morning I think) but I did get a hug. I also received several entertaining e-cards (by the way, Suzy, I finally pinned the tail on the donkey!) The afternoon was kind of slow, so I also finished my taxes (paying a little out to federal, but getting some back from state).

At 4:30, I got a call from Randy wanting to see if I wanted to go to dinner. He remembered my birthday was the 26th (which actually surprised me since he claims he has a difficult time remembering his own family’s birthdays), but didn’t realize that Thursday was the 26th. I didn’t really expect him to remember anyway, but was thrilled that my “birthday dinner” didn’t require the eating of PB&J or going to the grocery store.

Friday night, my friend Rachel took me to get a pedicure (I’ve never had a real one since the beauty school in Chickasha doesn’t count – nightmare day). I now have pretty pink toes! After that, we had dinner with a couple of friends and then went back to my house to eat cake (which was awesome!). We had the intention of watching a movie, but we were too tired, so instead we talked and watched HGTV (I know Jason was thoroughly educated).

Saturday I went out to eat with my friend, Jenn. We were going to try to go see a movie, but there really wasn’t anything we wanted to see that evening, so we went shopping instead. I still want to open a booth in The Market someday. Anyone wanting to give me interest free start up money?

Sunday night Suzy, Rachel & Randy came over and watched Flight Plan and helped me put a bigger dent in the birthday cake. The movie was good till the very end. Very corny last 5 minutes. But the rest of the movie was good. Oh, and I must give props to Suzy for the Lowe’s gift card! It’s becoming my new hangout and I’m definitely excited to use it. Just have to decide on what. I also have Pottery Barn and Target gift cards to use too. I’m one of those people who likes to put my gift cards to good use and not spend them frivolously!

So, that was the birthday in a nut shell. I’m just thankful that I wasn’t sick this year!

Garmin Nuvi

I just have to give props to my friend, Jonathan! I got an email from him today telling us that this project he's been working on this last year has been nominated as the Top GPS Device of 2005. Check it out. It's pretty cool. You can even go here to nominate it to win this award. Way to go J.T.!

Birthday Observations

I got this email from Shelleye this morning and it just seemed appropriate. =)

-------------------------------
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead. "How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16!

And then the greatest day of your life .. .. you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!! (Actually I didn't do anything at 21 that I couldn't have done at 18. Now 25, that was monumental - my car insurance went down! YESSS!!!)

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away.

Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would! So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there.

Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them". (My theory: I'm only as old as YOU think I am!)

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's. (Does pocket Tetris count?)

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets,keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9 Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Good Point!

My aunt sent me this email about why the U.S. Navy is better than the Iraqi Navy. This made me laugh!

US Navy

Iraqi Navy

Final Eviction – I Hope

Well, on Friday I finally gave in and got a trap from Jay (our maintenance supervisor) in hopes to catch our non-rent paying resident. The big question from everyone at work was what we were going to do when we caught it. We resolved this by offering to make Randy dinner if he would come get it (I think by Saturday night, I had guilted him enough he finally gave in).

By time I got home on Friday, it was dark, so decided to wait to Saturday to catch us a squirrel. Now this was a chore in itself. First, we had to figure out how to set the trap (which we finally did), then we had to put it up in the attic. When I say “we” I mean Melissa. I was not going up there for anything as long as there was something living up there. Putting it up there was not as easy as we thought it would be. Turns out our step ladders were not tall enough for anyone to actually climb up there and the crawl space was too small to actually lift the trap directly up into the attic, so Melissa had to turn it on end, feel around to find a good spot to put the trap and then set it up there. THEN we had to get the bait in there. Since the bait had to be put in the back of the trap, this was really tricky. We didn’t want to set the trap off in the process, but since our ladder wasn’t tall enough, there was no way for her to reach all the way to the back of the trap. She ended up having to stick her fingers through the holes in the trap and working the bowl of bait towards the back (very impressive I must say). Once everything was in place, we closed up the hole and waited.

I got home before Melissa on Saturday night, and I didn’t hear anything when I got home, but by time she got home, she could definitely tell we had caught our non-rent paying resident. I didn’t know this till after church Sunday morning. I guess it had kept her up all night trying to get out of the cage. When I got home, she opened the crawl space back up and tried to see if she could see anything. Her first comment was “I see fur.” Then she looked again and said something I didn’t expect – “it’s NOT a squirrel.” She saw ears and at first thought it might be a cat and then looked a third time and concluded it was a raccoon! She even stuck her digital camera up there to confirm it.

So, here was our dilemma. Though Randy offered to take the squirrel out of our attic, wasn’t sure that offer would apply to a raccoon AND he was in Enid and I didn’t want to leave that thing up there any longer than necessary. So I called Jay since he’s all about anything that has to do with wildlife. As you can see, we weren’t exaggerating. We really did have a raccoon in our attic. It was really pretty tame for a wild raccoon. Jay said he kept trying to play with his shoe laces when he took him out to Lake Arcadia to let him go. Tame or not, I did not want him (or her) living in my attic.

So far, I think we’re resident free, but not 100% sure yet. We need to get a taller ladder so we can peek up there and see if we can tell where it was getting in at. THEN I’m hoping my brother will come visit me and patch up the entry spot it it’s on my end of the unit (if it’s not, the land lord for the other three units will be getting a phone call.)

Oh, and I must apologize to the squirrel that I blamed for living in my attic. I'm sorry Mr. Squirrel, but let this be a lesson to you -- you move into my attic, you will get re-located.

The Squirrel Has GOT to Go!

I’m sorry, but it’s either that furry woodland creature or me! This waking me up at 4 a.m. thing has got to stop. And this morning was the final straw. I swear he’s (or she most likely) trying to make a nest ABOVE MY BED! I laid there for a good half hour or more just hoping it didn’t fall through the ceiling. I could hear the plaster making these cracking noises and all I could picture was the panic and chaos that would take place if that thing came through my ceiling and landed in my room – or worse, on my BED! I mean, picture it… that thing running in circles, trying to get away and me SCREAMING and trying to get the thing out.

I’m sure you’re reading this and laughing, but seriously, this is a quandary for me. If it was just a matter of putting a trap in the attic – I could handle that. But as Suzy pointed out, it won’t do any good unless I know how it’s getting in and fix the situation. As I have mentioned before, I’m scared of the attic. The thought of doing anything more than poking my head through the opening in Melissa’s closet (which I would have to psych myself up for), freaks me out. I’m pretty self-sufficient and getting good and fixing things myself, but I don’t do attics. It’s times like this that I miss my dad the most. He would be down here in a second and would repair the situation for me. I could ask my brother, but it would be a few weeks before he could make it down and I’m afraid of what kind of damage that “thing” might do between now and then. I seriously need a knight in shinning armor!

Regardless of when and how the removal of the squirrel takes place, I’m getting it on tape because I have a feeling it won’t be without incident!

Close But No Cigar

Yes, it did snow this morning, BUT it has seriously fallen short of giving me the snow day I requested. Snow Day means that it snows enough that I don't have to go to work. Nice try, though.

Word of the Day

The word for today is STOP!

This goes out to every customer service person I talk to who doesn’t actually take the time to look at the account I’m calling about to realize that yes, there is a problem.

This goes out to the people at ONG who still have yet to send me my gas bill!

This goes out to ever person who walks into my office wanting me to do something that they’re too lazy to do themselves.

This goes out to the postage meter people who failed to mail us our postage meter update, even though I called them last Tuesday to tell them we still hadn’t received it.

This goes out to everyone out there who likes to grip about the way something is being done, even though they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to put in their input.

This goes out to every person who thinks they are more important than they really are.

This goes out to the wildlife creature who is trying to become a non-rent paying resident. You’re not being sneaky. I can hear you tapping loudly on my wall and I can see where you’re trying to make a hole. STOP! I don’t want to hurt you. Please make your abode in the many trees I have provided for you in my back yard. They are all yours!

Yes, I’m cranky. Yes I’m tired of playing nice only to get slimed in the end! I NEED A SNOW DAY – CHANGE THAT A SNOW “WEEK”! And is a 16 oz cup too much to ask for?!?

The Song of the Day

I've decided this is my theme song for the day - well, the "I wanna go home" part at least. By the way, my birthday is coming up and I would live to have this CD ;-)

"Home" Michael Buble

Another summer day

Has come and gone away

In Paris and Rome

But I wanna go home

Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel all alone

I just wanna go home

Oh I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you

Each one a line or two

“I’m fine baby, how are you?”

Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough

My words were cold and flat

And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane

Another sunny place

I’m lucky I know

But I wanna go home

Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home

I’m just too far from where you are

I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life

It’s like I just stepped outside

When everything was going right

And I know just why you could not

Come along with me

But this was not your dream

But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come

And gone away

And even Paris and Rome

And I wanna go home

Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by

A million people I

Still feel alone

Oh, let me go home

Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home

I’ve had my run

Baby, I’m done

I gotta go home

Let me go home

It will all be allright

I’ll be home tonight

I’m coming back home.

Snow Day Please!

I need a snow day, maybe even 2! I’d be happy with a good ice storm. Just something that allows me to keep power, but keeps me from being able to go to work for a day or two. I’m having trouble getting everything situated in my house and there just isn’t enough time in one weekend.

I was thinking yesterday that I would like to have powers like Samantha on “Bewitched” or Jeannie on “I Dream of Jeannie.” After discussing this in depth with a friend, I think Jeannie won out. 1) I can blink and nod my head easier than I can twitch my nose and 2) Samantha’s husbands (there were two Darrin’s you know) had issues. One was a drug addict (though not his fault) and the other one played for the other team. Now my friend pointed out, Jeannie lived with a man that she had to call “Master” and he never married her, but I have since learned, he did eventually marry her. Some guys just don’t know a good thing when they see it and it takes them a while to clue in.

Totally random side thought: I find it very funny that when I pulled up my MSN home page today, the very top bar said “Find: engagement rings”. Sure I can find one, but buying one for myself just isn’t the same. It needs to say “Find: man to buy you an engagement ring.” MSN is kind of jumping the gun here! Now how’s that for random?!?

Joining the Crowd

It started with Lindsy, then Suzy followed suit, and NOW I too get to join the ranks of those with a squirrel living in my attic. Or, that’s what I hope it is. My first experience (though I didn’t realize it at the time) was right after I moved in and I something woke me up at 5 a.m. I figured it was just the house creaking because nothing else I could think of that could be up there would be making that much noise. But come to find out, though small, squirrel’s can sound quite heavy when walking on the beams above.

Since the first incident, I hadn’t really heard anything till Tuesday night. At 12:43 a.m. something wakes me from my sleep and I sit right up in bed. I had been dreaming that something was coming through my ceiling. I knew I heard something, but after a few minutes, thought maybe Melissa had just gotten up for some reason. It took me a little bit to get my heart to stop racing so I was just laying there waiting to go back to sleep when I heard it again…something climbing up my wall and moving above me. I could even tell when it moved from the rafters to the insulation. No doubt there was something up there, but there was nothing I could do about it at the moment, so I went back to sleep.

The next day, I pondered what to do about my unwanted, non-rent paying resident. I wasn’t going up in the attic, that’s for sure. I’m scared of the attic. And really not just may attic – any attic. The only way I will even consider entering an attic is if it has the pull down stairs. I’m not sure why that makes a difference. Maybe I feel that if it’s just a crawl space in the ceiling, than it really wasn’t meant to be entered (and for those who have seen The Grudge, no jokes about creepy Japanese kids who live in the attic).

I finally decided to plug in this thing I had in my old garage that puts out ultra sonic noises to keep the mice away in hopes that maybe it would work on the squirrel. So far I haven’t heard anything the last two nights, but I’m not getting my hopes up at this point. I think as long as he doesn’t do anything destructive in my attic, I might just let him be!

December Observations – 2005

Here are some things that have crossed my mind this holiday season:

1. There is only truly one “Singing” Salvation Army Bell Ringer. Many of you know which one I’m talking about. I usually see him at Wal-Mart on 33rd, but he does move around some. My first thought is always, “what a freak” but at the same time, he’s not too bad and really cheerful. Puts all the other Salvation Army Bell Ringers to Shame. On that same note, I was at Gordman’s Monday night and their SABR was trying, but it wasn’t the same. His two biggest down-falls 1) he can’t sing and 2) he was singing something I think he wrote. Not a Christmas song I have ever heard, and after all my years in choir, I’ve heard and sung them all. If they had an American Idol, Salvation Army Bell Ringer Edition, he would be on the ones who didn’t make it episode.

2. I was so impressed that this year, I had not seen a single decorated car. I really had hope that my fellow Oklahomans had finally realized how STUPID it is to decorate your car for Christmas…then I went to Sonic. There as a Lexis (yes, a Lexis) at Sonic with magnets that looked like Christmas lights stuck to the side of the car. As disappointed as I was, at least I still hadn’t seen a car with a wreath tied to the grill. Of course all hope was lost when I went to Kohl’s and saw as car, sitting in the parking lot, with a very sad looking wreath tied to the grill. PEOPLE!!! Just say NO!

3. I have not once heard the Hippopotamus song this year (except for the day Wanda Neel was whistling it at work). It’s just not Christmas without it. What’s the deal?!?

4. I am a Christmas slacker this year. I’m so sorry to everyone I normally send cards to, but haven’t. For those I usually give baked goods to and haven’t. And for those of you I should have done something for and didn’t. My family is lucky to get gifts this year. Why? 1) I just moved a month ago and I haven’t had the time to do anything and 2) I keep having to write $45 checks to the warranty company because little things keep breaking (did I mention I need to replace a shingle – this might just have to be a episode 1 of the “Stacey’s Home Improvement Video Diary”). By the way, I caulked all my own down stairs windows the other night. I don’t know if I did the most profession job, but the caulking is clear and there is no longer cold air blowing in my window.

5. This really isn’t about Christmas exactly, but I thought it was funny (at least my Aunt Beverly has gotten a good laugh about it). Anyway, when I moved in with Jeana, our condo already had a washer and dryer, so since Suzy had just built her house and needed a washer and dryer, I let her “store” mine for me. Well, what I thought might only be a year or two ended up being five. When Melissa decided to move in with me, she also had a washer and dryer she didn’t want to get rid of, so I just sold mine to Suzy since she was already in possession of them anyway. Okay, I tell you all of this to preface this story… until Thursday, I hadn’t had a washer and dryer in my house. Yes, there were plenty of people that would have let me do laundry at their house, but there never was a convenient time. So, with the exception of going over to Jason’s one afternoon a few weeks ago to wash jeans and towels, I haven’t done laundry in 5 weeks. My Aunt Bev’s comment was, “you have a LOT of clothes!” My response was “No, I have a LOT of underwear.” Some things can be recycled (depending on how long you wore them and what you were doing) – but not underwear. I never really knew how many pairs I had, but I officially have enough to last me 37 days if I’m really desperate (40 if I resort to swim suit bottoms – which 2 former roommates who will remain nameless have been known to do). I know you’re glad a shared, but I just thought this was really funny.

Okay, I’ll spare you any more of my thoughts on life till after Christmas (that’s always eventful). Have a Merry Christmas!

My Quiz

Yeah, I was feeling left out. So here is my quiz...

Stacey's "I Sure Get Hurt A Lot" Quiz

The Christmas Quiz

I decided to just post this instead of sending out like I was instructed. =)
-------------

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate w/ whipped cream and chocolate chips

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Both. Once he just parked it in the garage.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White lights only

4. Do you hang mistletoe? Well, kind of. I hang it on the door knob, so it’s kind of hard to stand under it.

5. When do you put up your decorations? As soon as I can after Thanksgiving.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Turkey, Dressing, Mashed Potatos and Green Bean Casserole

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? My brother and I always had this thing about wanting to be the first one up. Thing was, once I got a little older, I didn’t want to get up too early, so after he went to bed (knowing he slept like a log), I would change his alarm clock so that it wouldn’t go off till after I had mine set to go off. That way I could still be the first one up!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think it was when I found the empty box for my gift from Santa hidden behind the garage. Matter of fact, that box was for my baby doll carriage that my brother ran into with his bike a few months later and broke the wheel. I never got to play with it again!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Not always. Just depends on everyone’s schedules. Even growing up it would change. Sometimes one, sometimes all, sometimes not till the next morning.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him? Sugar Cookies, until Santa became diabetic – then he got veggies.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Only on Christmas!

12. Can you ice skate? I used to be able to. The last time I tried wasn’t too pretty.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Nothing really stands out. I’ve had a lot of great gifts though (and some really random ones).

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? The Christmas sugar cookie!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights.

17. What tops your tree? Nothing this year (nothing Christmas at my house). I don’t think I own a tree toper.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Giving

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol? I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas

20. Candy Canes? They’re pretty, but rarely eat them.

What We Believe

A few of my "blogging" friends got this same email, but I thought the quiz referenced would be interesting to take. Here is the story itself and below are my results.

What We Believe

by Chris Stinnett

From the very beginning of the Internet, there were strange sites found. At one time, from anywhere in the world, you could log on and discover how many cold sodas were in a particular vending machine on the second floor of a building at UCLA. Now, of course, things are much more sophisticated—or at least, flashier.

For example, at a website called BeliefNet, you can take a quiz to discover what religion most closely matches your beliefs. Just navigate here and you can take a 20 question quiz that will reveal your basic faith structure. (Of course, they note at the top of the quiz that they are not legally liable for the ultimate fate of your soul!)

I couldn’t resist. I logged on and took the quiz, submitted the answers and found that I am: 100% Eastern Orthodox, 100% Roman Catholic, 95% Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant and even 88% Seventh-Day Adventist. Apparently, I am more in line with Orthodox Judaism (74%) than with Liberal Christian Protestants (70%), and better suited to Islam (65%) than Mormonism (63%).

This is a spiritual counterpart to early computer dating. They examine your existing beliefs and match you to a group that will mirror your convictions. Of course, this is exactly backward to the impact our faith should have in our lives. God expects to change our faulty thinking and confused beliefs so that we learn the truth and live in actual righteousness with Him.

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:2-4 NIV).

Jesus calls us to become humble, not childish. We must accept the fact that our understanding is limited. We accumulate convictions and beliefs that are based on false and incomplete knowledge. We need to have convictions that are based on fuller facts And that is what God offers us in His word.

When we hear the truth of God’s word, our false beliefs and shallow convictions are challenged and confronted by the truth. From that moment, we must choose whether we will accept God’s word and change our lives or remain in our former ignorance and reject Him.

What we already believe is not important. What we come to believe on the basis of God’s word is crucial. The work and ministry of the church must reflect God’s call for holiness, not America’s call for comfort.

We must gain and hold a faith based on the truth of God’s word. He accepts responsibility for the fate of our souls!

My Results:

1. Eastern Orthodox (100%)
2. Roman Catholic (100%)
3. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (99%)
4. Seventh Day Adventist (95%)
5. Orthodox Quaker (83%)
6. Orthodox Judaism (79%)
7. Islam (71%)
8. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (66%)
9. Hinduism (63%)
10. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (61%)
11. Sikhism (56%)
12. Jehovah's Witness (51%)
13. Bahá'í Faith (50%)
14. Liberal Quakers (42%)
15. Reform Judaism (39%)
16. Jainism (34%)
17. Unitarian Universalism (32%)
18. Mahayana Buddhism (25%)
19. Theravada Buddhism (25%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (25%)
21. Scientology (20%)
22. Neo-Pagan (19%)
23. Nontheist (18%)
24. New Thought (16%)
25. New Age (11%)
26. Secular Humanism (8%)
27. Taoism (8%)

One Word Responses

I received this email from a co-worker and so I decided to send it out myself and post the responses on my blog. Feel free to add your own if you like.

“Describe me in ONE WORD...just one word! Send it to me only then send this message to your friends and see how many strange things people say about you! This could be fun! Just hit reply and send me my word back. Then forward this message on to your friends (including me) and see what they say about you! INTERESTING!”

Thoughtful
Random
Safe
Tenacious
Mature (2)
Christian
Unique
Unlucky
Quirky
Fun

Now, some of my friends have failed to respond. Does this mean that their “one word” isn’t a nice one, but they’re too nice to tell me what they really think? Hmm…

Always Makes Me Laugh

There is one item used in home improvement that never fails to make me laugh. I crack up every time I ask our maintenance guy if I can borrow it. Know what it is? It's the "stud finder!"

For those of you unfamiliar with what this is, it's a device you used to find the studs in your wall so that you know where to best anchor nails. You run it across the wall and when it comes across a stud, it lights up.

Works on men too, I have found. I once ran it past our interns (in the Seth, Bart & Jeremy days) and it didn't light up at all!

I think I might need to ask for a stud finder for Christmas!

Baptism by Fire

I have always had the worst luck, so I don’t know why I thought my venture into home ownership would go smoothly. I know everyone keeps telling me how much I’m going to love it, but right now, it’s just draining my wallet. Don’t get me wrong, I like my new place and I’m looking forward to being all settled in and having everything fixed up the way I want it, but it hasn’t even been two weeks and I’m starting to wonder what the heck I was thinking! Let me give you the run down:

Thursday, Nov. 17 – Closing Day
The closing went pretty smoothly and quickly. I was excited to find out the day before that I had gotten a new dishwasher out of the whole deal. Things were looking good to go. I leave the closing and run by the new place to drop off a few things and make sure nothing needed to be done before we started moving in. When I went to leave, my garage door wouldn’t close. I finally got it down manually and had to make my first homeownership repair call. Luckily the repair guy was able to fix the problem pretty easily, but I will eventually have to have some work done on the garage door. Yeah me!

Sunday, Nov. 20
Sunday morning I’m getting ready for church when I start to hear a strange noise. I knew that mostly likely it’s nothing and that I was just being paranoid because I’m in a new place, but I decided to check it out to be on the safe side. I turn off the T.V. and I definitely was hearing a noise – and not just any noise, it sounds like there is someone in my kitchen. Okay, now I’m really freaked out. So I dial 911 on my cell phone and have my finger over the call button and head to the top of the stairs. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do next because I had nothing to protect myself with – it was all downstairs. So I stand at the top of the stairs a few moments longer and definitely – there is a noise coming from my kitchen. Then I hear a noise on the front porch, so I gain the courage to peek out the window. It’s the painters!!! The seller didn’t tell me they were coming and the noise I heard was them setting up their ladders – which sounds like they’re in the kitchen.

So I get finish getting ready for church. When I go to leave, they’ve taped a drop cloth to my garage, so they had to lift it up. Great – now they know that for the time being, I live alone. Very comforting – NOT! So, I decide to take my time coming home from church hoping that MAYBE they’ll be gone when I get home. No such luck.

As I’m pulling onto my street, I notice 3 police cars parked in front of my house. My first thought, “Lovely, they tried breaking into my house and he neighbors called the police.” As I get closer, I notice that they have arrested a woman in my front yard. I have no idea why, but I’m glad it’s not because she was breaking into my house. I think she’s the daughter of one of my neighbors – sure hope she doesn’t live there!

Then Monday morning, I wake to hear a noise above me. My first thought that it was just Jeana, until I woke up enough to realize that Jeana doesn’t live with me anymore and there is no one above me… I’m on the top floor! It was probably just the house settling, but it was 5:33 a.m. and I was WIDE awake. Needless to say, I’m now overly paranoid about EVERY noise I hear and I’ve had to start turning on the sleep timer on my T.V. so that I can fall asleep. I keep thinking I need to get a security system, but if it accidentally gets set off (which I hear they do) that will only freak me out even more.

Tuesday, Nov. 22
I’m working on trying to get things unpacked when my doorbell rings. It’s my neighbor and he came over to ask me if I knew that water was coming out the side my house through the foundation. Went outside and sure enough…there is water coming out the side of my house. So I go inside to investigate and low and behold, there is half an inch of water standing from behind my fridge to about halfway into the dining room. I pulled the fridge and everything else away from the wall and start finding towels. As I found out this morning, there seems to be a leak in the pipe that attaches to the fridge – if you have an ice maker, which I don’t. So the plumber disconnected the pipe and if I ever get a fridge with an icemaker, we’ll just run a new pipe. Much cheaper than tearing out the old one and finding the leak.

That same night, I started hearing this loud humming noise every so often. Come to find out, my heater wasn’t blowing hot air. Thank heavens for the home warranty because the motor was out on my heater. I would have much preferred for the heater to be out completely so that I could get a new one, but as long as I don’t have to pay for the repairs, I’m good.

Wednesday, Nov. 23
I finally get around to changing the locks on my house. I was so proud of myself because I managed to take the locks off myself and take them to the locksmith to get them changed out. Only cost me $22.50 instead of paying $65.50 to have them come out. Problem was, my mom was “helping” me and she popped the whole thing out instead of just letting me take the core out and when I went to put the deadbolt back on…it wouldn’t go back on. I tried everything I could think of for 3 days. Finally I called our maintenance guy here at work and he came over and whittled out enough to get it back on. I hope this is the last time I have to change the locks!

Thursday, Nov. 24 – Thanksgiving Day
The traditional “turkey day” was spent painting the insides of my kitchen cabinets. We decided by doing it that way, if we didn’t get it all done, we’d at least be able to put my kitchen stuff away. Lesson I learned from painting the kitchen cabinets: Make sure the house is open when you use Kilz, be sure to wear some sort of head covering when using Kilz (doesn’t come out of the hair easily) AND when painting over dark wood, use more than one coat of Kilz to avoid doing 4 coats of white! I think the cabinets will look good when I get done, but “done” is the operative word here. I was going to Kilz the outsides yesterday since I had the day off, but it was way too cold and windy here to do that. Hopefully there will be another nice day sometime soon.

Monday, Nov. 28
After spending a long afternoon and evening unpacking the kitchen, I went upstairs to get ready for bed when I noticed an orange stain on my bathroom rug. Seems my toilet is leaking at the base. As we speak, I’m waiting for someone with the warranty company to call me back and let me know when the plumber is coming.

I have to say, it kind of makes me laugh. Things like this always happen to me. Whether it is cars, homes or relationships, anything I touch inevitably fall apart. I could whine about it, but it won’t change things, so I’ve just learned to expect it and laugh -- and realize I will be in debt the rest of my life because of it. Which, if anyone out there would like to donate money towards the “Stacey’s Debt Reduction Fund”, let me know. I take cash or checks (and would take credit cards if I had a way to scan them.)

Funny Story Behind this Email

The Center for Disease Control has released a list of symptoms of bird flu. If you experience any of the following, please seek medical treatment immediately:

1. High fever
2. Congestion
3. Nausea
4. Fatigue
5. Aching in the joints
6. An irresistible urge to poop on someone's windshield.

Here's what's funny, on Monday I went to lunch with my friend Jenn and parked too close to a tree. When I came out, my car was COVERED in bird poop. I had to go wash my car before I could do anything else.

This has kind of been par for the course during moving week. I have had more glitches this week than I can even begin to mention. I've decided it's a lesson in rolling with the punches...something I've normally been good at, but I guess I must be slacking and needed a refresher course.

So, tomorrow is the big day. I do a final walk thru this afternoon at 4:00 and we close tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Tomorrow night, I will go to sleep in my new home. A little nervous, but here goes nothing!!!

Tag

I think this time, I have taken randomness to a whole new level.

1. I’ve decided that packing peanuts are my favorite thing to use when packing. Not cheap, but they sure are easy. I’m the opposite.

2. I left the chicken I cooked to add to tonight’s dinner out all night, so I have to go buy canned chicken at lunch

3. My neighbor to the south has his nipples pierced and he’s hairy. I don’t like seeing him with his shirt off (which seems to be his attire of preference.

4. At least one of my neighbors to the north smokes in their back yard, which I hate because if I open the door to come or go, it pulls the smoke into our house and it makes it smell. =(

5. I’m in the process of moving (hence comment #1).

6. My best friend is having a boy in March.

7. I want a smooth haired Dachshund someday and I want to name him Roscoe.

8. You should use Kilz before painting over woodwork (helpful tip from Aunt Bev).

9. I’m thinking about darkening my hair – temporarily.

10. I have lots of bruises on my legs right now (sorry no pictures).

11. I need to clean off my both of my desks.

12. I have contemplated getting a tattoo someday, but I’m too afraid of getting a bad one.

13. It annoys me when random people try to use my blog to sell stuff (yes, I mean you!)

14. The older I get, the more skittish I become about spiders, bugs, rodents – anything that bites or carries germs. I guess the same could be said about kids.

15. I can’t decide what color to paint my kitchen.

16. I don’t know what I want for lunch.

17. I need to clean the polish off my toes.

18. I don’t think I have anything to do this afternoon.

19. I love chewy Sweetarts.

20. I have till January to use my free movie ticket.

Now I am supposed to tag 10 people to write their 20 random things, but I’m not going to.

Annoying

I get an email today from a co-worker saying “I hope this doesn’t make you mad at (name withheld)” and she forwards me and IM between her and her boss. Here is their conversation:

Secretary says: so, on to the bad news...
Secretary says: your CAP finally broke the color copier
Secretary says: I was up here on Saturday trying to complete them, and it just started shooting out pages that looked almost melted
Secretary says: It got worse and worse, and i finally had to pull all the paper out of the copier to get it to stop
Secretary says: Stacey tells me that we're going to have to pay off this broken copier before we could even propose getting another one, and even at that we might not get approved for the purchase
Boss says: Sorry it's caused such a problem for you
Secretary says: It's a problem for everyone.
Secretary says: We can't make our own color copies any more
Secretary says: ANYTHING in color will need to be outsourced
Boss says: Is it totally dead?
Secretary says: Yes
Boss says: That could have happened with any document
Secretary says: Yes, it could have happened with any document, but typically, we don't print multiple copies of 75 page documents

Here is what annoys me. I just had the copier serviced on Thursday and it was working GREAT – better than it has in a long time. Also, this secretary failed to mention that her child that actually broke the copier, which was why it wasn’t working on Saturday. She’s pushing it off as a copier problem when actually it was a user problem. Even if she didn’t want to mention that her child broke it, all she had to say was “there was a copier malfunction and your job didn’t get printed.”

Granted, I know our copiers can be a real pain sometimes, but she’s making it sound like the machine it completely unusable when that’s really not that case. And I didn’t even get mad when she told me before this IM that her child had broken the copier. I was able to fix it and it told her it was no big deal. But now I’m kind of irritated. Oh well.

All Kinds of Stuff

Yes, I know. I have seriously been neglecting my blog lately. Part of it is because summer is over and my work load has increased. Some of it has just been lack of inspiration. It seems that when something worth writing about takes place in my life, by time I get around to writing about it, it’s no longer interesting.

So, in an attempt to pay some attention to my blog, here are some things that have been taking place in my life lately…

Well, first of all, the biggest thing in my life right now is that I bought a house. A townhouse actually, but it’s still mine all the same. It’s been a real emotional rollercoaster for me. At first I was really freaked out about the whole thing because it happened so fast and I was starting to wonder if it was the best thing for me. The owners accepted my bid two weeks ago today and the next several days following were just awful. I was doing the whole “what if” thing. I finally had to remind myself that I had been praying about it a lot and praying that if it wasn’t the right decision for me at that time that things wouldn’t work out. I don’t close till November 17, so there is still time for things to go south. And if they do, I will be quickly looking for a place to live considering that my roommate is getting married November 19 and we have to be out by November 20. If I have your email address, you’ll be getting an invitation to the moving party because I’m going to have to do it quickly.

I found this video today on my friend Fletcher’s blog. He’s teaching English in China, so I know why he put this on there, but it is really funny.

This brings me to another thought…I think I need to invest in a video camera. I do some of the stupidest stuff sometimes and I’m so accident prone that I think that a “Stacey’s Home Improvement Cam” could help me finance some of the things I want to do if I turn it in to America’s Funniest Home Videos. Even if that doesn’t happen, it would give you all something to laugh at. Be glad I’m wearing hose today, or you would be getting new pictures of my latest injuries. I have a HUGE bruise on each of my knees, another HUGE bruise on my left calf and all kinds of little bruises from my trip to New Orleans.

Ah, New Orleans. This time last week, I was completing day one of probably the most disgusting service projects I’ve ever done. I have never seen so much mold! In case you’re wondering, I went to New Orleans with a group from church for a few days to do disaster clean up. The pictures can’t even begin to describe what we saw and did. I had never been to New Orleans before, so this was my first experience. I don’t know that I can say it was fun (though there were some “fun times”), but it really made you appreciate what you have and also made me seriously consider throwing out everything I know I don’t need. I also learned another valuable lesson…don’t keep anything in your home that you wouldn’t want some stranger finding when they’re cleaning out your house. I’ve also discovered that you learn a lot about people when you travel with them and especially when you’re trying to keep them from falling asleep at the wheel. I’d share more but, “what’s said in the van, stays in the van!” I’m just glad that I wasn’t the one in the driver’s seat when we played 2,220 questions. =) Sorry, I was going to include pictures, but it's not cooperating!

Well, on top of everything else, I have found myself again this year planning a Halloween Party with Lindsy. Not that I don’t enjoy doing stuff like that, but things have been a little hectic this year, so it’s been hard to put a lot of thought into it. Until we went to Target last night, I still had no idea what I was going to be for Halloween. I have a great Snow White costume, but I was Snow White last year and my hair is longer this year, so I really needed to do something else. I had a pretty good idea, but I really didn’t have time to pull it off (not sharing because it might be next year’s costume). So, last night while we were at Target, I found a pair of orange and black knee socks and that did it! I’m going to be a cute witch! =) I went to Wal-Mart after I dropped Lindsy off and bought a hat with orange trim, a cape and I already had the black dress. Not the most original idea, but by far the easiest – which is WONDERFUL!

So, until next time…

Old Crazy Dancing Lady Returns to the Gym

I think I’ve written about the crazy dancing lady at my gym before, but for those who haven’t heard about her, I’ve got this OLD lady (late 60’s, early 70’s) who comes to my gym and “shakes her thang” all over the place. I swear she used to be a pole dancer somewhere and who knows how many times she’s had to replace her hips based off the way she moves. It is a toss up on who is my favorite person to watch…Old Crazy Dancing Lady or Middle Aged Anorexic Ballerina.

My gym attendance hasn’t been the greatest lately and even at that, OCDL and I haven’t always been on the same workout schedule. BUT last night, she was back. She was sporting jazz shoes, dance hose, shorter than Daisy Duke’s short shorts (with butt cheeks hanging out) and a tight black crop shirt. The outfit alone was enough to make you snicker, but to see her dance. I wish I could describe it properly. There was a lot of shimmying. It was almost like Dirty Dancing meets Golden Girls. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud. Oh, and at one point, she decided to make use of the chin-up machine. I think the chin-up machine might have felt violated after she got done. And she LOVES to watch herself in the mirrors. That woman is all over the place.

Towards the end of my workout, I went to do crunches on one of those boards that hold your feet. Just as I’m walking over there, she walks in between the two boards that they have and begins talking to one of the fitness instructors. Well, there was no using it till she moved – which became evident wasn’t going to happen for a while – because she dances while she talks (the woman NEVER stops moving) and I didn’t want that image in my face while I was trying to do crunches (plus there isn’t much room between the two boards and I thought it would be rude to ask them to take their conversation some place else so that I could work out). So I sit down on another machine waiting for their conversation to end.

The conversation was almost as funny as OCDL. She was telling the instructor that she didn’t go to bed to 5 a.m. because she was up all night dancing at some dance club. Also is telling the instructor that she was just out there dancing by herself and 5 guys came up and all started dancing with her (and she was demonstrating how she was dancing – again, Dirty Dancing meets Golden Girls). The whole thing was just hilarious to me. Too bad she’s not there when I am more often because watching her is much more distracting than watching the TV. Thirty minutes on the elliptical just flies by.

So there you go Lindsy, a new post. Sorry, it’s not that I haven’t had stuff to write about, but it’s stuff that I still need to keep under wraps for the time being (I don’t want to jinx it). I know you’re curious. You’ll just have to tune in later.

Not Sure What to Title This One

I got an email today from a co-worker that was full of pictures. She sent it to me because of the last 3 pictures. After seeing them, I felt compelled to post them.

Two things come to mind when I see these pictures: 1) if I found this in one of our printers, it would completely freak me out; 2) talk about having a bad day. I don't like mice, but his face in the last picture is just so pathetic, I feel really bad for him.

For those of you that are concerned about the mouse, I'm told he was still alive, just stuck (of course, if he makes a habit of climbing into toner cartridges, his days might be numbered.)

I STINK!!!

I don’t know what it is about City Bites, but my clothes always reek after I leave. Needless to say, I had lunch there today and I smell awful and I just want to go home and change clothes. I don’t understand what it is about City Bites. I could understand smelling after leaving a BBQ place or some place that has a smoking section…but City Bites is a sandwich shop. What is up with that? Anyway, just thought I would share that I smell really bad right now and I can’t wait to go home and change and I will definitely be doing that before I go to my Relay for Life meeting tonight! Did I mention that I REALLY STINK!!!

Ramblings – The End of Summer Edition

Since nothing that has been going on in my life deserves an entire blog entry of it’s own, here are some of the highlights of my life in the last month.

Six Flags
A few weeks ago, I took Monday off and went to Six Flags with my friend Jenn, her daughter Kayla, and Jenn’s parents. It was the first day back to school for Dallas schools, so it was a great day to go. We never had to wait in line more than five minutes and that only happened twice. Jenn and I did discover that we have gotten too old for Six Flags. We had a blast, but the rides that we used to love really freaked us out this time. You should have seen us on the Sombrero ride. Not long into the ride, we looked at each other and said “this ride can end now.” We saw the word “inverted” on the Mr. Freeze ride and decided against that. Taking Kayla on the Log Jam was the highlight of the day. She loved it and kept saying “again, again”. So, if you ever want to go to Six Flags, I suggest taking a day off and going after Dallas school are back in session.

The Painters
They have been painting our condos lately and the painters really creep me out and they suck! Besides the fact that they painted our front door closed (yeah, that wasn’t fun), but when they painted in our backyard, they tossed all of our pots and anything else on the patio into the middle of the yard, BUT hung my wind chimes back up and moved the grill to a spot that was more in their way than it’s original location. This isn’t why they creep me out (I’m not posting that story), but it is why they SUCK! Oh, Tams! So wish you were still here!!!!

New Lock
I came home Friday at lunch and there was a new door knob and lock on my back door. I’m not sure why this is. Hmm…

Jilinda
My friend, Jilinda, called me Wednesday night and she’s getting married!!! I haven’t met him, but he sounds like a really great guy. His proposal was super sweet and definitely one for the record books. The sad thing is…I’m loosing my Dallas weekend shopping partner. Not that I can’t still go see her and go shopping, just not the same when there is a husband in the picture.

The Allergist
On Thursday, I went to an allergist for the first time. If you’ve never done that, quite an interesting experience. Good thing I’m not afraid of needles because I sure did get pricked with a ton of them. As a result, they determined that I’m highly allergic to cedar, ragweed, two types of mold, and dust mites. This would explain why I get sick at camp every summer!!! Luckily, allergy shots are not deemed necessary at this point. I do though have to shoot all kinds of stuff up my nose several times a day. Also learned that I have a deviated septum and something else up my nose that might need to be surgically corrected – but we’ll cross that bridge later (hopefully much later). I would tell you more, but my doctor was foreign – and though very nice – I couldn’t understand half of what she said. She also wrote down the directions for me on what I need to be doing over the next few months to try to help my allergy symptoms, but she’s a doctor, which means I can’t read her hand writing. I figure that doctor’s office will be hearing from me again.

Another Bombshell
Okay, I’m saving the best for last. If Jilinda calling to tell me she’s getting married wasn’t a big enough shock for my week...my best friend, Tonna, called me this morning to tell me she’s pregnant! The reason for my shock is that she and Kael always said they weren’t going to have kids (though I suspected they might change their minds eventually). I’m so excited to finally get to be “Aunt Stacey!” Okay, I’m still in shock, so that’s about all I can say about that for now.

Two Truths & A Lie

How well do you know me? See if you can tell which two are true and which one is the lie.

1) I can be dared to do just about anything.
2) If I could spend my life doing only one thing, it would be scrap booking.
3) I spewed green Hawaiian punch all over Jason’s house last night – twice.

A Reason to Rejoice

For the first time EVER in my bulletin printing days at MRCC, I was able to print the entire bulletin (all 2200 copies) without the copier jamming once!!! First time in over 3 years! This is a major accomplishment. I feel the need to celebrate!!!!

Momentary Lapse of Gratitude

Lately I have been feeling like I’m trying to run up the down escalader and getting no where. I’ve been so busy at work and working really long hours, yet feel like I’m getting no where. So, last night all of that frustration kind of came to a head and started feeling sorry for myself because on top of it all, finances have been really tight lately due to an abundance of unexpected expenses. And then it hit me. I started feeling like such a heel. I had just earlier been watching reports on TV about everything going on in Louisiana and Mississippi and how quickly I had let my own “self woes” let me forget how fortunate I actually am. I have a roof over my head, I have clothes in my closet, water in my faucet, and though they might not be the most appetizing combinations, I could survive for at least 2 weeks – maybe 3 on what is in my cabinets right now. These people have NOTHING right now. Definitely not one of my prouder moments.

Re: Request for a New Post

Yes, I have been neglecting my blog, but that's because I work with people who can't plan ahead and I have had 6 weeks worth of work to get done in 2. I do have some things to post (though I don't know how relevant they will be by time I find time again). I hope to return to blogging world by early September! (Sorry Tams, this will just have to do for now. Even sorrier that my last post was my opinion on Cheez Its.)

FYI

BBQ Cheez-It crackers are NASTY! Hot & Spicy are highly recommended though.

Falling Apart

This is quite appropriate when you consider the rest of my posts this week. To fill you in, I’ve had a sinus infection for the last 3 weeks and pretty bad sinus problems for the last few years. On Monday, I went back to the doctor because things just weren’t getting better. My doctor decided that my sinus problems were chronic (duh!) and that I should see an allergist. To speed up the process, my doctor decided to go ahead and schedule the CT scan that the allergist would do anyway.

So yesterday morning, I went in for my very first CT scan. Not bad at all – with the exception of having to lay still for so stinking long! Well, modern medicine is fast, because my doctor’s office called this morning and I have a sinus disease! It’s some long name followed by sinusitis. Next course of action is antibiotics for a month. Sure hope that works because if it doesn’t I will have to go see an Ear, Nose & Throat doctor to have my sinuses cleaned out and I don’t know what that entails, but it doesn’t sound like much fun!

Most Memorable “Accident Prone” Moments

When I was talking to my mom Monday night on the phone, I told her about my shaving accident from earlier that day (which seems to be healing well) and she brought up some of my past injuries, so I thought I would list the most memorable ones for you:

The curling iron burns (yes burns, more than one) to the head region. I’ve had marks on my ears, forehead and neck. The most memorable of those was the day of Jill & Dan’s wedding. The night before at the rehearsal dinner, the guys were talking about how they hate it when girls get hickies and blame them on the curling iron. Low and behold, the next day while I was getting ready for the wedding, I burnt my neck on a curling iron – badly I might add. Ended up with a 3rd degree burn that required a visit to the doctor.

The black eye my brother gave me when he threw a shoe at me. I started my 8th grade year with quite the shiner and was given the nickname “Spot” by my art teacher (senior year in high school and he’s still call me Spot when he saw me).

The curling iron burn to the palm of my hand. Never pick up a curling iron by the barrel unless you’re sure it’s not hot. Just because the light is off in the bathroom, doesn’t mean the curling iron hadn’t been plugged in all day and that it hadn’t just been unplugged right before you walked in to pick it up. Also, when your hand comes into contact with something that hot, it seems to like to grab hold even tighter. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to let go.

The car door slamming on my nose. Windy day and a sloping driveway at the Shoemaker residence in Wellington, KS does not a good outcome make. I don’t think I could re-enact it if I tried, but it gave Rachel a good laugh. I’m just glad I didn’t break it.

Broken pinky toe. I know a lot of people break their little toe, but how many have broken it while doing a handstand? Takes talent!

Branding myself with a hair dryer. Oh yes, it can be done and it takes YEARS for it to go way. How does one do this you ask? Try dropping a hot, running for 15 minutes, hair dryer on your leg barrel down.

Steam burn on fore arm. Who would have thought that reaching over a steaming coffee pot two years ago would leave a faint, yet still visable scar to this day?

The infamous “shaving accident.” Want to know more, read the post.

The infamous “waxing” accident. I’ll spare the details since I posted it previously, but still haven’t touched the stuff since. Luckily, the scaring is so minor, that unless you know where it is, you don’t even notice it (and make up completely covers it up).

Grapefruit size bruise in Jamaica. This actually is also my most embarrassing story. To make a long story short, we were in Jamaica when I was in college and the guys decided to throw one of the other guys in the pool. Not wanting his watch to get ruined, I was trying to take it off of him when he grabbed my ankle with the intention of taking me with him. Since I was wearing a dress and didn’t want my camera to go into the pool, I was trying to hand my camera to someone in our group while the guys try to use me as a human tug-o-war rope. Before it was over with, I’m in a straddled position with my dress was around my waist and ended up with the biggest bruise on the back of my leg from the near by rail.

The missing toenail. This is pretty gross, but I had a toenail just fall off one summer while I was talking on the phone. It didn’t bleed or anything, it just popped off. It didn’t look like anything was wrong with it, so I don’t know what happened. But since it was summer and I didn’t want it to be obvious that there was a toenail missing, I would just paint the skin. It grew back by the next summer.

And the best, yet STUPIDEST way I have ever injured myself…

The bruised ribs that I got when I fell on/out of a tree. I’m glad my mom doesn’t read this, but if my sister-in-law still does, I might be busted because I’ve never told my mom the real story. When we first moved to Hutchinson, we lived in a duplex on a dead end street. At the end of the street was a green belt that we used to hang out at. One afternoon, my friend Kelly and walked down there after school. It had been raining earlier that day, so everything was wet. I was wearing loafers with slick soles. The story we told my mom was that I slipped and hit the trunk of this tree that had fallen. The REAL story is for some STUPID reason (don’t remember why) I decided to climb a near by tree that was wet from the rain, in these slick soled loafers, and slipped (wonder why?) and fell out of the tree and landed on the tree that had fallen. I didn’t lie about the slipping and falling part, I just left out the reason why I slipped. Nope, I’m not a candidate for Mensa.

Tip of the Day

Bad Move

NEVER shave your legs when you're worked up about anything. The result, a 2 inch gash on your leg.

And for those of you asking why I chose to wear a skirt with such an injury...because I took the time to iron it last night and didn't have time to iron anything else because I spent the morning doctoring myself. If I ever start a list of what I want in a husband, good medical insurance will be on the top of the list!

The following is the running email in our office today…

Stefanie:
“I have an OB appointment AND ultrasound appointment at 1:30 on Monday. Because it is two appointments, it’s very likely they’ll take the entire afternoon, considering all the waiting room time. If it goes quickly, I’ll try to come back to work. If not, I’ll just see ya’ll Tuesday morning.”

Sarah’s Reply:
“And I have a doctor’s appt. on Monday at 10am and an ultrasound on Monday the 22nd at 8 a.m. I think collectively we are the doctorinist group of people I ever met!!!”

Debbie’s Reply:
“Ha! I’m not pregnant and not having an ultrasound. Just wanted everyone to know. If I was there would be pending funeral arrangements for one man I know.”

Linda’s Reply:
“Yeah, some of us are going to the doctor because we’re old and falling apart, and those who aren’t old are getting pregnant!”

Sarah’s Reply:
“Which category does Stacey fall in??”

My Reply:
“EXCUSE ME! I DON’T THINK I FALL INTO EITHER OF THOSE CATEGORIES. Just bad genetics!”


I’m telling you though, and I’ve said it before, it does not pay to work her and not have children. And I know Cochran (yeah, I still don’t like calling you that) has volunteered to “knock me up”, I believe I will be passing on taking anyone up on that offer anytime soon!

A Totally Bizarre & Gross Story

For those who have weak stomachs, you might want to pass on this one.

My mom called me last night and she was telling me that these friends of ours from church had gone on vacation with their whole family to Breckenridge last week. While they were there, they decided to take the kids to ride the Alpine Slides. Anyway, Cathy was coming down the side when her toboggan thing flipped. Since her grandson was right behind her, she didn’t want him to run into her, so she flipped it back over really quick on continued down. When she got to the bottom, one side of her face was covered in blood and she couldn’t figure out why. Turns out she had almost completely cut her ear off!!! My mom said it took a ton of stitches, but they were able to reattach it. How gross (and freaky) is that!?! I told my mom to tell Cathy I can beat that, I’ve had both ears cut off (of course mine were done by a surgeon).

Anyway, I thought that was totally bizarre. For my Colorado traveling companions last summer, this is the same slides we went down! Good grief, my only concern was hitting a chipmunk along the way. Never would have dreamed of loosing an ear! I hold on to my ears every time I think about it!

Lunch Hour Observations

The following (though VERY random) were a couple of observations over my lunch hour that made me go hmmm... and well, just had to share!

Useful Information:
I saw the following message today on the side of a Budget moving truck in front of our condos: “Moving Tip #48 – Packing tape should NOT be used as a painful practical joke.” Really? That’s one of my favorite ways to use packing tape. Duck Tape on hairy legs...laughing just thinking about it! My mission is now to track down Budget Moving trucks and find out the rest of the 47 (or more) moving tips!

Get A Room:
As I was exiting my back door to head back to work, I saw something I had NEVER seen before...2 wasps mating. I didn’t appreciate the miracle of life too much though. The first thing I did was reach for the can of wasp killer. For those of you who don’t believe in killing any living things, don’t worry…they were gone before I got the lid off and I don’t know where they went. I was quite disappointed because it's been my hobby this summer - killing wasps. And this would have been a double bonus...2 at once!