Christmas, Christmas! November 9, 2009

So, my friend Renee just blogged about Christmas music and I thought it was pretty awesome. Here’s a link for you to enjoy the merriment, too. And remember – “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”

http://reneesrandomrantings.blogspot.com/2009/11/three-camps-of-christmas.html

Observations from the Blue Recliner October 19, 2009

Today I woke up and felt horrible so I stayed home from work. Here are a few observations from my sick bed recliner.

1.  Ice water is the most amazing beverage EVER.

2.  My coffee table isn’t really in the middle of the room like I thought it was.

3.  It takes considerably more effort to kill a spider when your nose is running and your throat is on fire. Maybe the spiders could give me a bye week or something?

4.  Fruity Pebbles make everything better. They have colorful, magical properties.

5.  Oprah’s gotten old. And why is DREW CAREY on The Price is Right?! What happened to Bob??

6.  I really need to vacuum.

7.  Texting is like a window into the outside world. I miss people but I’m thinking the feeling isn’t mutual…

8.  I’ll never take clear sinuses for granted again. I swear.

9.  Digital thermometers are the best invention of all time. I can read the numbers realllll clearly.

10.  I miss my mommy. Is that okay for a grown woman to say? Whelp, too late now.

I’m going to bed and will hope to see the light of day tomorrow…

Gotta Love American Futbol October 11, 2009

Whew! Well, right now I’m watching the kick off of the Colts vs. Titans Sunday night game. Gotta love that Peyton Manning. Also, I have to say that I’m really enjoying the fact that the Southwest Airlines commercials are poking fun at the ridiculous bag charges of all the other airlines. In fact, I think a convincing argument can be made that the best commercials happen during football games. Especially the Sports Center commericals. And anything with Peyton Manning and Justin Timberlake has an excellent chance of being freakin’ phenomenal.

 

But all in all it’s been a great day on the football front. A couple reasons for that:

1.  Lots of close games, two of which went into overtime. And let me just take this opportunity to brag on my 5-0 Broncos that won one of those OT games! I feel I owe a big apology to Josh McDaniels, whom I unfairly judged on the whole Cutler/Orton debacle of 2009.

2.  In tribute to the old school Haddock ritual of watching football on Sunday afternoons, I made chocolate chip cookies. It used to be my “job” at home and I’m pretty sure that rekindling this magical combination is what helped the Broncos win. Also, the fact that it looks like this outside didn’t hurt matters.

Football season just makes my heart happy. I’m currently slugging out my fantasy football game with Todd’s team and can’t wait for Monday nights game to see if Mark Sanchez can pull in the points I need to stay undefeated in my league. I guess we’ll see, eh? There is one point of contention that I’d like to bring up to the Denver Broncos, though. Would it KILL you to draft a good looking QB? I mean seriously. Exhibit A and B below.

Jay Cutler – dashing, isn’t he?

Kyle I-Need-A-Better-Haircut Orton

But, at the end of the day, I guess all that matters is that we win, right? Right.

Maintainance October 5, 2009

This morning on the way to work I moved a piece of paper containing directions off of my dashboard and discovered that underneath my odometer, my beloved Saturn was trying to give me a message. The message was short, but sweet (just like me) and said “Change Oil”. Well. That was a pretty clear directive. And I wondered why my car had been dinging at me since yesterday.

I lost no time in calling the service center to make an appointment for today. Here’s how the call went.

Service Guy: “Hi, my name is blah blah (he kind of mumbled this part). How can I help you?”

Me: “Hi, my name is Amy. I need to schedule an oil change.”

Service Guy: “Okay. Well, it looks like we’re all booked up for today. It’ll have to be tomorrow.” He proceeds to list all the available times.

Me: “Well, I’d really like to bring it in today. Is there no availability at all? I can be flexible on the time.”

Service Guy: “Oh. Well, would you like to bring it in in the morning or the afternoon? I have openings at 9, 10, 10:15, 10:45, 3:00, 3:30, 3:45…”

[Hmmm. No availability today, eh? I think someone's being a bit lazy...]

Me: “I’ll bring it in at 3:45.”

Service Guy: “Sure. We have a semi-synthetic oil change with afdsl;jka afjk;asfj  jfasdfks;j dfawofeksa (this is what it sounded like to me) for $24.99. Do you want that?”

Me: “Um. I don’t know (the semi-synthetic thing was kind of throwing me off). If you put that in my car will it continue to run and will the “Change Oil” message turn off? That’s really all I need.”

Service Guy: [long pause] “Yes, ma’am. This is what most people get.”

Me: “Great! Let’s do that, then.”

You’ll be happy to know that the oil in my car did get changed but you probably won’t be surprised to learn that they “found” lots of things that could spiff up my car. Yeah, they saw me coming from a mile away.

Wakey, wakey! :) October 2, 2009

Why am I awake and blogging at this hour? It’s a perfectly valid question. I’ll tell you, but first let me just say that I am definitely a dog girl. This doesn’t mean that I’m fit for the circus (thought I do a nice trick of switching a rubberband from two fingers on my hand to the other two fingers that is pretty hard to figure out.)  I just really like dogs. Now, the really yippy ones aren’t necessarily my favorite, but as members of the “dog” family, they get a free pass.  Four of my good friends in my fair state have dogs that I really like. I’ve often thought of rescuing a wee pup from the pound and giving it a good, loving-yet-firm, home. But here’s the deal…it comes down to the fact that I’m not ready for the responsibility. After all, if I can’t take care of a blog, I certainly can’t take care of a dog. And I should also probably take care not to confuse the two.

Which brings me to the fact of why I’m awake. Or actually, it doesn’t connect at all but what do you expect at this hour? I should probably develop better sleeping habits, I know. But in my defense, I tried to go to bed at my normal hour. A few things delayed my shut-eye. Namely, three.

1.  My stomach. I went to bed, tossed and turned only to realize that my stomach was growling. So, I downed a few saltines, washed them down with a swig of water and had high hopes for my rest. But…

2.  My pillow situation had other ideas. I just bought a new pillow from Target. I think it’s an amazing pillow and instead of using the flat pillow and stacking a small throw pillow that I’ve been laying my head on, it’s only one pillow. That’s just more efficient! Problem being, we haven’t developed that cozy lay-my-head-down-and-go-right-to-sleep relationship yet. We’re still in the “get to know” phase. ‘Nough said.

3.  The spider. I think by now you all know me well enough to know how I feel about these creatures. After some more tossing and turning, I remembered that I needed to charge my cell phone and got up to find the cord and plug it into the wall socket. After fumbling around, too stubborn to turn on the light and wreck what little “sleepability” I had, I finally succumbed and flicked on the light. I spotted the cord right away and leaned down to pick up the end of it and was eye-level with a spider. Luckily for me, I’m kind of messy and had a shoe nearby. If I’d cleaned my room like I was supposed to last night, my shoes would have been a few yards away in my closet. Yards are like miles in spider killing measurements.

I grabbed said shoe and put it on my feet to give the stomp a little more gusto. But the creepy arachnid edged closer to the wall making it nearly impossible for me to crush him like the bug that he is. He headed for the space between the wall and my bed. I tossed off the shoe, dropped to my knees and made a few more attempts on his life. He got away and I could feel the panic rising…if I couldn’t kill this spider, I wasn’t sure what my options were but I can tell you that sleeping in my bed was not one of them. With a valient effort, I lunged forward and the spider met the underside of the shoe. Safe!

I have to say, though, that the day I find a spider in my bed is the day that I buy a bunk bed and sleep on the top level. I know they can get up that high, but all the spiders I’ve found in my room have been on the floor. I’m just sayin’. The top level of a bunk bed is not generally the safest place for my person, especially in the morning. Let’s just say my consciousness awakens fully at approximately 9:05 AM and leave it at that. So, needless to say I’m really holding onto that option as a last resort.

But now, this blog post has done it’s job (it’s better than warm milk or counting sheep!) and my eyes are sleepy. So, I’m going to go now and hope that you don’t feel used. After all, what are friends for if not to help other friends fall asleep post spider-trauma?

Sweet dreams!

Fun at the Office September 30, 2009

So, today my boss took us to lunch which not only improved our department morale but also lead to a conversation about YouTube videos (as office lunches are wont to do). I’ve seen this one a few times and having enjoyed a few pedicures in my lifetime I thought it was HILARIOUS.

You know, I’ve never really caught on to the whole manicure thing. I mean, I’ve always (hypothetically) wanted long nails, so you’d think it would be a slam dunk. But in reality, it bugs me to have my nails clacking on things…the computer keyboard, the piano keys, etc. I remember growing up that we had these press on nails that I begged my friend to put on me. She did, and within 24 hours they were sad little debris in various trash cans along my daily path.

As kids, my sisters and I had a set of nails that were plastic fingernail tips. Those worked okay for our dress up occasions and were easy to get rid of after the fact…maybe a little TOO easy since we could rarely find more than 3 at a time. 

But back to the video. For those of you that get your nails done, you’ll get what I mean. For those of you that don’t, it probably won’t seem as funny to you. But trust me, it is. You’ll have to take it on faith.

Kris Allen’s New Single! September 17, 2009

Maybe it IS just 20 seconds and maybe it is kinda like a version of torture, but I ran across this on EW.com and had to share it. YAY!

This post will change your life… September 9, 2009

…or at least it changed mine.  And I’m telling you, if you love books and haven’t heard of this before it’s gonna be like you’re a kid in a candy shop. Trust me.

What is it? Since this post has been so long in coming, I’m not going to leave you hanging Ryan Seacrest style.

The name of this delightful paradigm shifting website is www.paperbackswap.com. Maybe some of you savvy people already know about it. I myself was introduced to this gem of a site by my lovely and savant-like roommate, Liz.

Here’s what it is: PaperbackSwap.com a website that allows you to post books from your shelves that are in good condition on a community website to trade books with other members.

Here’s what it means: That book that you got as a gift that you already have? Swap it for one that you want. The book that you read once and have no desire to read again? Trade it to get something that you’ll love.  Want to read a book but you’re not sure if you’d like it? Swap for it, give it a try and put it back on the site if you don’t like it. This site is a great way to expand your reading horizons without emptying your wallet. Have a book that borrowed from a friend or read from the library that you want to own but you don’t really want to spend full price because you’ve already read it? This is the perfect solution.

Here’s how it works:

• Sign up and log in at www.paperbackswap.com
• When you send a book and it’s received by the person you sent it to, you get a credit.
• All books (hardcover or paperback) cost 1 credit, audio books cost 2.
• If you can, post 10 books that you want to trade and this will give you 2 credits to start out
• If you can’t post 10 books, that’s okay, you’ll just have to wait for someone to request a book before you’ll be able to “shop”
• All books (hardcover or paperback) cost 1 credit, audio books cost 2.

People will request a book from you and you’ll pay to ship it to them media mail, which usually costs about $2.23. The site provides the shipping label that you can download with the person’s information on it. Then you can browse the site for books you want and use your credits to “purchase” books that other members will pay to send to you.

Here’s why I love it:

• Well, I love to read (duh.)
• I’m usually very particular about what books I read because I don’t want to buy something if I don’t know if I will like it. I’m kinda like that at restaurants, too. What can I say? I stick with what I like! This site allows me to try things for a minimal cost and I’ve discovered some pretty awesome authors that I never would have picked up otherwise.
• I love to re-read books. I know not everyone does, but I do. So, those books that I’ve borrowed from friends/the library? Now I can own them and re-read them for a fraction of the cost.
• I’ve made my overflowing bookshelves work better for me – sure, I have roughly the same amount of books that I had before, but all the ones that I didn’t care about that were taking up room have now been replaced with books that I genuinely want to own. Case in point? The Emily series by L.M. Montgomery. I read the series when I was younger and LOVED it, but never bought it.
• The site has cookbooks, medical books, novels, non-fiction, children’s books…etc. Sure, it doesn’t have everything, but they have a “Wish List” option where you can be on a waiting list to receive the book you want when it comes available. Even if you don’t have any credits at the time, you’ll be able to purchase credits for less than it would cost to buy a book in a bookstore.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m a girl on a budget. This just makes good cents! (lol)

Now, I’ve painted a pretty picture for you, but let me share with you some harsh realities that I’ve had to come to grip with after joining this site.

• I’m never going to catch up on all that I want to read. If all the books on my “to read” list were stacked in one towering pile, well, first of all I couldn’t or it would fall on me and I would be no more. But if I did, it’d be way taller than I am and that’s pressure I just don’t need in my life. I’ve had to let it go, and if you join the site you’ll probably have to let it go to. In the words of the Black Eyed Peas, I’m just bein’ honest.
• It’s probably not a great idea to post 30 books at one time unless you’re prepared to spend a LOT of money on shipping all at one time. Ahem. Maybe that’s a story from my personal experience and maybe not. But it’s real advice and you’d do well to heed it. I’m just sayin’.

So, there you have it. Hope it was worth the wait, but I have a tendency to exaggerate so maybe I’ve let you all down. That’s just something I’ll have to live with.

Weekend Wedding September 7, 2009

So, this weekend my friends Grace and Payton got married. They’re such a great couple and I was thrilled for them.  I volunteered/was volunteered to do the flowers for their wedding. A few things:

• It’s not as easy to “do flowers” for a wedding as one might think. Sure, it sounds easy peasy to toss some flowers together and tie a ribbon around them, and I suppose that’s a legitimate option…but mostly trying to get the right shape/look that looks simple can actually be quite difficult. For instance, dealing with daisies. I did the flowers for a wedding where the bride just wanted bouquets of daisies for her and her bridesmaides. Sounds simple, no? Well, daisies, as you might know, have a single stalk with several flowers stemming off from it. Imagine trying to attain a rounded dome look when all the flowers are different sizes. Cutting the single flowers off is sometimes an option, but then again, the stems have to be long enough to reach water and be taped with the other stems. It can be quite the undertaking.
• Florist tape and double sided tape are my favorite things of the weekend. I heart them.
• All those people who want to be more “casual” and have the groomsmen wear something without a jacket? It’s their wedding and I get the look, but it’s really so difficult to pin a boutonniere on a shirt without sticking the person. Come to think of it, there’s no better way to either get acquainted or endure a long and awkward moment as when you pin a boutonniere on someone.
• Also, guys don’t really seem to understand what a boutonniere is. While assembling and pinning many a boutonniere I often hear one groomsman call to another and say “You have to come and get your flower!” That happened this weekend again and I smiled to myself. So the third and final groomsman came in to get “pinned” (different connotation than the ’50’s, guys) I thought I’d have a little fun with it. He came in and said, “I’m supposed to get a flower” (he seemed really excited about it). I jokingly said “Otherwise known as a boutonniere?” chuckle chuckle. Dead silence. Longest 30 seconds of my life. He looked at me blankly like I was speaking a different language. I let it go. After all, it’s not my job to educate the masses.

All in all it was such a lovely day and a great time to celebrate with dear friends. I love going to weddings where you know that the two people who are pledging their lives to each other make more of an impact for the kingdom of God together than they do apart. I only got a few pictures, but here they are.

Grace’s sister and bridesmaid

A close up of the flowers

The beautiful bride wearing the groom’s coat. What a gentleman.

Another close up of the flowers.

2 things that made me smile this morning… September 1, 2009

…and you have to know that since morning and I are mortal enemies, that’s a feat!

My cute little niece, Karis, taking a bite out of her stroller.  I love this picture so much I put it as my desktop background yesterday…it makes me smile every time! I mean, c’mon. That’s committment.

My wonderful parents went to the American Idols Live! Tour concert and sent me a signed Kris Allen photo to my work! It was the highlight of my day yesterday, though I have to say that I felt a little like a teenage girl. Oh, well. You’re as young as you feel, right?

Anyway, maybe one or both of these will make you smile, too and then my master plan will be complete (whaaa haa haaa).

Happy Tuesday!