Ridding the World of Pests, One Gnat at a Time

For months now, I’ve had a gnat problem in my house. I have done EVERYTHING possible to try to get rid of them, and though I have lowered the count considerably, there are still some stragglers. What’s even more frustrating is that now they’re showing up at work. Am I bringing them with me…possibly. Not sure how exactly. Regardless, they are becoming quite annoying.

Since treating my house plants, getting rid of all fresh fruits and vegetables in the house, pouring Drano down my drains, and putting out bowls of water mixed with vinegar and dish washing soup isn’t ridding me of these pests, I have resorted to hand to hand combat. I have in fact begun slapping at them in the air and killing them by hand. I have already gotten 6 today at work and 4 at home last night.

There has to be a better method, so I’m open to any and all suggestions.

This is NOT the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I feel I’ve done pretty good keeping Scrooge at bay this holiday season, but today just about did me in.

Because I am doing a little traveling over this holiday season, I decided to take my car in before Christmas and get the oil changed and the tires rotated. My $20 oil change just turned into an $850 one (Tamra, I’m feeling your pain now).

They first called to say that they couldn’t rotate my tires because the steel was showing through on one of my tires (of course it was the cheap tire that I purchased to replace the blown out tire I received on the float trip several years ago.) If that wasn’t bad enough, they told me that all of my struts need to be replaced because they’re leaking grease. One would be tempted to get a new car if it weren’t for the fact that no roommate = less cash flow.

I think what really got me is when I realized that I could replace my stove for half of what I have to pay to fix my car. I guess its better that I found this out BEFORE I took my trip, but it still stinks. I keep telling myself that at least I have a car, and at least I have the money in savings, but I hate taking that much out of savings (of course, that’s what it’s there for). Can you write car repairs off on your taxes? =o)

Don't Get Excited

Yesterday I spent my entire afternoon looking at wedding rings. Normally, when a single person says something like this, it's supposed to be an exciting thing. Instead, I was looking at wedding rings for a billboard I'm working on for a marriage seminar. There is something very dangerous about asking a single person to design a billboard for a marriage seminar. I'm actually taking a break from said marriage seminar billboard because I still don't like it and I'm hoping taking a break from it will inspire me somehow. I'm not holding my breath.

I Bet You Never Thought You Would Hear Me Say This

To anyone who knows me WELL, you will find the true humor in all of this. On Saturday I made a purchase that I honestly never thought I would make in my entire lifetime…I bought a gun. A Remington 870 20 gauge Youth Series to be exact. My cousin called me on Saturday to see if I could do them a favor. McKensi wants her own gun for Christmas and since her little brother has two they decided it was only fair. Problem was, the one they wanted was on sale this past weekend at Academy and they don’t live near an Academy and couldn’t make it to the city to get it themselves. So it was “Aunt Stacey” to the rescue. =o) I think what is even funnier is that she’s getting this from Santa Claus.

We had some laughs at work because I said if the word got out that I’m now armed, this would probably put the nail in the coffin and confirm that I will be single forever. Mark & Andy pointed out that if I put an NRA bumper sticker on the back of my car and gun rack in the back window, it could possibly help my chances.

Have any of you ever purchased a gun? For obvious reasons, there is a lot of paperwork you have to fill out and a lot of procedures you have to go through. First of all, they asked if my address on my license was my current address – and it wasn’t because I never got it changed after I moved. So I resolved that by making a quick trip to the DMV to get it changed. I know that I did not have any ill intentions for my gun purchase, but still, it seemed a little too easy.

Then I had to fill out all of this paperwork and answer all of these questions asking me if I have a mental illness, or if I’m a stalker, etc. I almost started laughing while I was standing there because I just kept thinking, “If I did/am would I really admit it?” Now granted, they did do a background check on me so if I had incorrectly answered some of those questions, they would have discovered it then (I hope). I really liked the look on peoples’ faces when they saw ME trying to purchase this firearm. Actually, if they really knew me they might have been a little scared. =o) But worry not, I didn’t buy any ammo. I’ll leave that up to her daddy!

As big of a laugh as I’m getting out of this, I will be glad when it is out of my possession and I no longer have a gun registered in my name.

When Life Give You Lemons...

I had one true goal the day after Thanksgiving…purchase dishes at Kohl’s to add to the ones I already have. I was a little terrified of the crowds, but I thought since Kohl’s opened at 4 a.m., if I waited till a little later in the morning (7 a.m.) then it wouldn’t be AS bad. I’m not sure how accurate that really was, but my dishes were on sale AND I had an additional 15% off that, so I getting my dishes at a really great price. The only problem was that I couldn’t decide on a color. The ones I have already were cobalt blue. At one time I thought about eventually getting 3 different colors…cobalt blue, cranberry, and yellow. But close to Thanksgiving I had started rethinking that decision. So that morning at Kohl’s I was in a quandary which color to get. My mom was kind of pushing the cranberry on me and since there were less cranberry than blue, I decided to purchase the cranberry and think about it a few days and exchange them if I changed my mind.

After a week of indecision, a friend convinced me that if I really couldn’t decide, then I must be leaning towards the blue (she knows me well). So, last Thursday night, I took the sacks of dishes and put them on my kitchen cabinet so that I wouldn’t forget to take them with me on Friday to return them. Friday morning, I went downstairs to leave for work and much to my dismay, the sack with the bowls in it were lying on my kitchen floor. I just stood there afraid that my fear of four broken bowls would be a reality. I finally reached down and felt the outside of the wrapping of each bowl and sure enough. All four bowls were in pieces.

I have no idea what happened. Since I live alone, it’s not like someone else could have knocked them off the counter (though a co-worker tried to convince me I have a critter in the house). I can only assume that one of the bowls wasn’t completely level and must have fallen over at some point (likely aided my by neighbors who slam their front door all the time). Regardless of how it happened, I now had four broken bowls that could no longer be returned.

I was about to throw them out that afternoon when I got home (and had finally come to terms with my loss) when I got the bright idea that I should turn them into some sort of broken dish mosaic like you see on all the design shows. Problem is, I know myself well enough to know that I would never actually get around to doing that. Then I got bright idea #2…sell them on eBay. Jay Leno is always showing random things that sell on eBay for crazy amounts of money. So today I listed my broken bowls on eBay. If they sell, great…maybe I’ll get enough money out of them to replace them. If they don’t, I’m only out $0.40. Wish me luck!

Too Tired!!!

Last night, when I went to bed I turned on my reading lamp with the intention of reading my bible before I went to sleep. It appears I fell asleep before I reached for my bible (yes, I was THAT tired). But that’s not the “I’m a dork” part. I kept waking up during the night because the light was on, BUT it took me till 4:30 a.m. to comprehend that if I would just reach up and flip the switch, the light would go off. What a concept!!!

Thanksgiving Highlight

Saturday my mom and I went to see my cousin and her family. Here are a few pictures of the weekend...

This is the newest addition to the family, Remington, with his "Aunt" Stacey. The kids have always called me Aunt Stacey, even though I'm actually their cousin. McKensi is finally old enough that she was trying to figure out how I fit into the picture.

Isn't he just the cutest? He was a month old on Saturday.

Bundled up for our car ride to go look at the river and the countryside (they live in a small town in Southwestern Oklahoma and that's about it for excitement). =o)

Colton in his hunting gear. He hasn't managed to get a deer yet, but was quite proud of the wild pig he shot.

McKensi getting ready to go out for an evening in the deer stand with her dad. She was insistent that she was going to shoot that buck they had all been trying to get all week. I somehow doubt that happened. =o) And yes, those are deer hanging on the wall and camouflage furniture. They are REALLY into hunting. ;o)

You would have to see the scene leading up to this to find the true humor in this picture. Colton was goofing off and just being the six-year-old boy that he is and tripped and fell and landed in the baby carrier. You had to be there, but I included the picture anyway.

You Might Want to Think Twice

You might want to think twice before drinking out of hotel glasses. Personally, I may start traveling with my own after seeing this. This gives me the heeby jeebys!

All I Want for Christmas Is...

Not really, but a friend sent these to me a LONG time ago and I had been saving them in my email folder because I thought they were funny and decided with the holidays approaching, it was a good time to share. ;o)

For the Record...

...I like eating at Mimi's because I like their muffins (but their pancakes are good too).

...I don't like the new outside doors at my place of employment. They're heavy and hit me in the elbow every time I try to come in. I also don't like that my key doesn't work in them yet and I had to call and have someone let me in the other day.

...I will like it when the handicapped button is installed on said doors because it will make getting in with my arms full so much easier!

...I like that the trees are starting to change colors.

...I need to get a flu shot.

...for some reason I'm itching to put up my Christmas decorations (hurry up Thanksgiving).

...Magic 104 (that's KMGL Krista) was playing a Christmas song Friday night and it's WAY too early for that!

The Golden Compass

This disturbs me, but the source is pretty reliable. I keep meaning to do some additional research of my own, but haven't had the time lately (hence the short posts).

This is a Sport?

Have you ever heard of cup stacking? Apparently, this is a "sport" and ESPN even covers it. Today we had a bunch of home schoolers (who don't follow directions very well) showing up at our building for a cup stacking tournament. I'm quite baffled by the interest in this particular "sport".

Best Joke Ever

This is my favorite joke in the whole wide world!!!

Two fish in a tank.
One fish says to the other fish,
"How do you drive this thing?"

This Could Be Addicting

A friend sent this to me yesterday and it seems the first place either of us went was to find out where Data from "Goonies" is. Have fun!

Weekend at a Glance

This weekend I was given the opportunity to attend the Highland Plains Leadership Summit for Relay for Life. Honestly, I went because I knew the information would probably be helpful, but I was not looking forward to it. Spending my entire weekend listening to people lecture was not my idea of fun. Thankfully, it was not near as bad as I thought it would be and the lectures were interesting enough that I didn’t find myself looking at the clock on my cell phone every five minutes. Here are the most notable things to come out of this past weekend…

The HOV Lane: I LOVE the HOV! Broadway Extension needs a HOV lane. It easily took 30 minutes off our trip on the way there. It’s the greatest thing ever!!!

The Executive Suite: Don’t know how (and no I didn’t flirt with the desk clerk) but Susan and I ended up with an executive suite. It was so great to have an extra room to watch TV in or to get ready in.

Extreme Stair Master: Twice on Saturday I decided (with others) to take the stairs to avoid the EXTREME elevator congestion to and from break out sessions on the 37th floor. The first time, our staff partner, Sara, and I decided we would just walk down the stairs. Down should be no problem, right. Problem with down was that we started getting dizzy going round and round the stairwell, so at the 22nd floor, we decided to try to jump onto an elevator…it worked. After lunch, Susan and I decided that we would go down to the lobby and jump on the elevator there (everyone else was on the 2nd floor.) Problem was, the elevator never made it down to the lobby. So we came up with bright idea #2 (along with a few other women). We decided to take the north tower elevators up to the 29th floor and then jump on to an elevator. That didn’t work either…elevators were too full. So, we then moved on to bright idea #3…take the stairs. It was only eight floors. It wouldn’t be that bad. We didn’t take into account that 1) we weren’t in THAT great of shape and 2) there is an altitude difference that high up. After the 3rd flight, I thought I was going to die. By time we got to the top, I was sure of it. We did let some people think we walked all the way up 37 flights of stairs…it impresses people more. =o)

Nanotechnology: I won’t even begin to try to explain this, but here is one of many websites that helps to explain its importance to cancer research. Definitely one of the most encouraging things I’ve heard in the stride to fight cancer.

Big THANKS to Susan for being a great co-pilot! I might still be stuck in Dallas if it weren’t for her help (and to anyone we might have cut off in our instantaneous lane switching…sorry, we couldn’t help it.)

Notables This Week So Far…

First of all, I was told yesterday that (and I quote) “…you’re much less pathetic in real life than you make yourself out to be on your blog.” So my goal is to do my best to make myself sound less pathetic, but there is only so much this girl can do. ;o)

Second, my toilet exploded last night…sort of. I flushed it, it made a weird noise (the kind that makes you think that what ever is supposed to go down is about to explode out). Then water started spewing out the top of the tank. I quickly took the top off, but couldn’t exactly figure out why. So what did I do…I flushed it again. Seems the hose that fills the tank with water came loose and when I flushed the toilet the hose shot around and started spraying me in the face (it’s okay to laugh, I’m sure it would have been funny to observe as a bystander). There is a little hook on the side of the hose and it appears to have come loose, but I don’t know where it was originally attached, so I attached to the first thing I could find. It works…that’s all that matters, right?

Third…toe vs. door frame. Jury is still out on exactly who won. My choice of shoes today may be giving the door frame that upper hand. I don’t think I broke it, but it sure does hurt!

Finally, my chiropractor told me I looked like Couisn It today. Sadly, it was probably deserved (oops, did that sound pathetic?). I need a haircut REALLY REALLY REALLY bad, so I’m getting one tomorrow (the appointment was made before the Cousin It comment…only because I was having the same issues yesterday as today.) Don’t expect anything earth shattering. I still don’t have a new roommate, so I won’t be doing anything that requires regular upkeep.

Someone Thinks They Are SOOO Funny

I don’t know if I ever actually wrote about this, but approximately a year ago, I started getting Men’s Vogue in my mailbox. At first I thought it was a trial offer, but I kept getting it every month. Since I have a hard enough time reading the magazines I do get, I would just throw it away…mainly because I didn’t feel like spending the time trying to get off the list. The trash can was faster.

Well, today I check my hotmail and I have an email telling my by preferred member subscription is about to expire. Funny that I was a preferred member since I never signed up for it in the first place. And since there aren’t a lot of people out there who have my hotmail address, I’m curious who played such a prank (and thank you for not using my work address). I’m sure I had it coming because I helped a co-worker play similar prank on a college friend of ours (Jim, was this your doing?).

Now the question is, why Men’s Vogue? Maybe my mom did it during one of her sleep walking (or sleep web-surfing) episodes. Hmmm…

Random Stuff

Mystery Dinner
Earlier in the week, I noticed I had a container of frozen soup in my deep freeze, so I decided to heat it up for dinner last night. It was raining and it was a little chilly outside. Perfect soup weather. Thing was, I didn’t exactly know what kind of soup it was. I wasn’t sure if it was chili or beef stew…either way, it worked. So I proceeded to heat it up in the microwave. When I took it out, it looked more like chili, but it smelled funny (not bad funny, just not like chili funny). So I took a bite. It wasn’t chili. It was spaghetti sauce! Not really what I expected. So instead of chili for dinner, I had spaghetti. Good thing I had spaghetti noodles on hand.

The Less Likely Option
As some of you know, my roommate will be getting married very soon and I have yet to find a replacement for her. It probably wouldn’t be so bad, but I have a furnace that could go out at anytime, so any additional help with expenses is quite appreciated at this time. So, I’ve decided at this point that at least one of four possible scenarios needs to take place in the next 30 days (preferably less):
- Find a new roommate (ideal for more than just financial reasons).
- Find an enjoyable part-time job (if I’m going to be working that much, I want to not dread it).
- Be tonight’s Deal or No Deal’s lucky $1,000,000 play at home winner (not holding my breath).
- Get married.
Of all of these options, marriage is definitely the least likely to take place. My mom thinks ruling out marriage in less than 30 days is a pessimistic attitude, but I’m not exactly the type to jump into something like that, though I guess I could always change my mind. =o)

I Hate it When I Do That!
This weekend I decided to rent two movies to watch since I had no other plans. I rented You Me & Dupree which was better than I expected and Vacancy. I knew Vacancy would be scary, but with Luke Wilson in it, how scary could it really be? Well, I couldn't tell you the answer to that. I decided to watch it Saturday afternoon so that I would have time to watch something else and get my mind off of it before I went to bed. I got 30 minutes into it and started to psych myself out thinking "what if it's scarier than I think because I'm home alone this weekend." Needless to say, I turned it off and ended up having to return it before I found someone to watch it with me. That's the funny thing...I like scary movies, I have just discovered that I don't like watching them by myself. There was $4 wasted. =o(

On a Serious Note…
I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot this last year, but something I heard on TV this morning has me thinking about it more in-depth again. How is it that multiple people can hear the exact same conversation and pull totally different meanings out of it? I’m constantly amazed how people can get bent out of shape over something they really shouldn’t be that upset about? To me it seems that person or group (and let me clarify…I’m sure I’ve been guilty of this myself in the past) is already sensitive towards the person speaking or about the particular subject matter and reads into it what they want (or technically don’t want) to hear. What ever happened to taking things with a grain of salt or being quick to listen and slow to speak? I don’t know. Why can’t we just all get along or at the very least agree to disagree?

I Guess it's Time I Admit It

I've never really fessed up to it...maybe I didn't want to believe it, but there is no denying it anymore. I have become a TV Junkie. What can I say, it's a cheap form of entertainment. I never really thought I was that big of a TV Junkie until this summer when I had nothing to watch on TV in the evenings. To save money, I cut back my cable to the very basic, which doesn't leave you with a lot of channels to choose from. TV pick'ins were slim. But last night was the night I had been waiting for all summer long...the beginning of Premier Week!!! I'm disappointed that Crossing Jordan didn't return, but that's okay because I have added Dancing with the Stars to my viewing schedule. My VCR is primed and ready to pick up the slack if I'm not home or am interupted during a show. Yes, sad to say...I have become a TV Junkie, but I'm balancing it out by reading during the open time slots. =o)

What Does It Take for a Girl to Get Some Flowers?

Obviously, for me it requires the building manager to decide to take out some rose bushes. Some of our rose bushes at work had become overrun by a vine that was killing the bushes, so our building manager decided to rip out the bushes and start over. As a result they cut off all the existing roses and brought them into our office. So I currently have a vase of white roses on my desk.