Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Is this thing on?

Is there anybody out there. I know I am a comment whore, but not a single person wants to guest blog? Hmph! Pft!

I'm going to go pout now.

How Sag am I

You are 80% Sagittarius





Stole this from 4 Non Blogs

Guest Blogging

I will be going to NM to visit my Mom and sister this weekend. I will be away from a computer for 4 whole days. I have already got one guest blogger lined up, but thought I would do a little poll to see if anyone out there would like to guest blog also.

Since I am a blogger member, I haven't figured out how to have multiple people sign in and guest blog. If you know how I could do this so all of you could guest blog, let me know. Otherwise, I will have to pick one of my blog friends to be my guest.

So who wants to guest blog? If you want to guest blog, answer the following question. I will pick the "winner" on Thursday morning.

What has been the single most important influence on your life and why?

May the best blogger win! GO!

Oakey

Me: It's (wine) kind of oaky. smooth.

Him: Oakey

Him: oakey dokey

Him: oakiehoma

Him: oakey dokey

Him: yeah, oakey

I love Him.

Monday, November 29, 2004

The good old days

In response to my email:

Me: Ours (Thanksgiving) was good. We packed most of the day on Thursday and then went
to my family's for dinner. Friday I worked. Saturday we moved and
yesterday we cleaned the old apartment. I'm exhausted!

Friend from College: You sound like you should be in a coma.

Me: I'm at work and got up at 5:45 in order to get to work by 7:30 this
morning. Yea, me!

Friend from College: Somewhere there is a young Jazzy laughing because she used to go out until 3:30 am go get breakfast until 4-5 am then go sleep off some type of drunken
stupor whether it was alcohol involved or just a high from having a great
night then rise early in the morning about 8 or so and off to school and the
start of another day. Always smiling....

Oh, the good old days...

Aunt Jemima

My dozen roses came just now (yes I know I am going to get flowers for my anniversary, awww) and the delivery man said that they were for Jemima. Not only do I get roses, I get laughter too. No, my name is not Jemima. LOL

Answers to your questions

Sorry I didn't get around to answering the questions on Friday like I said I was going to do. I was actually quite busy at work if you can believe it. So here you go, and contrary to what Em said, it is all the truth, I did not make any of it up.

Helene asked, "What is your ideal day?"
My ideal day would be waking up whenever I felt like it and getting breakfast in bed that neither myself or hubby had to cook. Breakfast would be eggs and hashbrowns and sausage with coffee and orange juice. We would then spend time "snuggling" in bed. Next we would go for a walk in perfect 75 degree, no humidity weather with a slight breeze. Upon return from our walk, we would go have lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. (We have so many, so we would have to wait and pick at the time.) We would then come home, take a nap for as long as we wanted. For dinner we would go to a fine dining restaurant and enjoy good food and wine and dessert. We would eat all we wanted without getting so full we are sick, but full enough that we are no longer hungry. We would then come home, take a bubble bath and fall into bed completely content.

Lizt asked, "Do you remember your first kiss? Then, spill it."
I honestly don't remember my first kiss. I think it was some time 5th grade and it was during a game of truth or dare. One of those, I dare you to kiss so-and-so for 5 minutes, where you sat there with your eyes open and your lips locked, no tongue, pretty boring kisses. My first real kiss with a "boyfriend", was probably in 6th grade also, but it was still just a peck. If I had to guess, my first real, knees knocking kiss, was probably in 8th grade with my first real love. And the rest is history as they say.

Sara asked, "What is your happiest memory? What is your greatest fear?"

My happiest memory is probably my wedding and honeymoon. I have a lot of happy memories, but in my recent life this is definitely the happiest. I was happy that day for many reasons. I was glad it was finally going to be over with. I was so happy that I was lucky enought to be marrying a man that was truly my best friend and all that goes with it.

My greatest fear is probably not being able to have children. As I get closer and closer to being ready to start a family, I am terrified that I will not be able to concieve. My friends that are parents already tell me that this is a natural fear. I am also very fearful of being attacked. I have always been this way and when a member of my family was attacked when I was in high school, the fear manifested itself even more.

Nathan, profound man that he is, asked, "Do you think that SPAM (the canned, psuedo-meat of the 70s) will ever make a comeback, given the fact that it's name is now used to refer to undesired, bulk email?"
I don't even know how to begin to respond to this. I have never in my life eaten SPAM and hope that I am never forced to as it makes me sick to even look at it. As for the fact that unwanted email is now called SPAM, well perhaps there is a similarity between the nasty looking "meat" and what we get in our inboxes spewing viagra and rolexes and bigger boobs and such. I haven't kept a close eye on SPAM sales, but I imagine that although it probably still exists, the mass amounts of food choices we have now would come before the choice to ingest SPAM. That's just my opinion though.

I think that's all of them, but if I missed yours, let me know.

Snoozeville

So much to talk about today.

We are finally in the house. We have a lot of unpacking left to do, but we have spent two whole nights there in our new King size bed that feels like you are sleeping on clouds. Heavenly sleep under a down comforter. Still getting used to the down as we live in Texas and it just hasn't gotten that cold yet. The move went well and we are pretty much exhausted, but happy to be in our new home. Thanks to all of you who sent well wishes.

The new house is about 15 minutes farther from work than our apartment was so this morning I woke up at 5 OMG 45 early. I'm not used to this and I am already beginning to fall asleep and it's not even 9:00 AM yet. Snooze.

Today is hubby and I's one year anniversary. We are looking forward to breaking open the wedding cake and toasting with wine my parents brought us yesterday. A new house is the best anniversary present I think we will ever get. This past year has been wonderful and I can't wait for the next 50, 60, or 70 years. We were meant to be together and that shows everyday. I love you CH. You're the best a woman could want. Sorry, kids that's all the sap you get as the rest is reserved for hubby.

Have a happy Monday! I know that's paradoxical, but try.

Friday, November 26, 2004

Giddy with holiday cheer

I am giddy with holiday cheer. Some of this may be due to the 3 cups of coffee had today. I normally drink one. Add to that a little peppermint syrup from Starbucks and mmmmm. I am at work today, but it is a great day. We move into our house tomorrow and I will be sitting in said empty house waiting for a brand-spanking-new washer and dryer and king sized bed and I don't care if I don't have anything to sit on.

I am also seriously considering going to buy a Christmas tree and setting that up while I wait in the empty house. This is odd for so many reasons. Normally I am a week-before Christmas type of gal. I don't want to listen to holiday music before a week before Christmas. I do very little shopping before the week of the holiday. I don't have holiday cheer until the week of. But this year is different.

This year we are in our first house. This year is our one year anniversary. On top of that, the lobby of the hotel I work at is decked out and ready for the holiday and it is so absolutely beautimous that I smile every time I walk through it and I cannot wait for Christmas. This is the life.

I am sitting at my desk blogging, listening to the Texas vs. Texas A&M game, (Hook Em! Go Longhorns!) and counting the minutes til my event tonight when I can see the spirit of the season in the eyes of children.

Hoping you are having as blessed a day as I am. Here's to holiday cheer!

Turkey Day and all that Jazz

Well, yesterday was a pretty mellow day. Hubby and I spent most of the day packing and cleaning up. Laundry and such so we don't have to lug dirty duds to our new digs.

We headed into town about 3:00 to visit with Great Aunt B and then headed to my families Thanksgiving destination for stuffage. Hubby and I in our packing frenzy only stopped long enough to scarf down two Eggos each so we were starved and thankful for food of any kind by the time we got the my family's house.

It was calm and casual and I managed not to stuff myself beyond comfort. I only ate dinner in order to get my Stepmom's pumpkin pie. After dinner and dessert I was told I was a grown up (really?) and could have dessert first if I wanted it. What a waste! Not really, everything at dinner was delicious.

We stopped by my MIL and saw Nana and MIL. Watched a little Grinch and then headed home.

I'm at work today and trying very hard not to work. I have an event this evening so it just made sense to work the whole day. Trying to catch up on my Blogroll which is getting out of hand.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a great weekend.

We are moving into our new/first house tomorrow and I am jumping out of my skin with excitement. I can't wait to wake up that first day in our new home.

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for:
our first home
a year married to my wonderful husband
my wonderful family
my friends
that I have a job that I love (most of the time)
that I have a roof over my head and the means to play as much as we do
that I have a car that runs (I hope I am not tempting fate with that one)
and much more...

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Happy Turkey Day

I'm getting ready to leave work early! Yeah! I have the best boss. Poor woman has a meeting, but she told all of us we could go. I will be back in on Friday, bummer.

Wishing all of you in Blog world a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.

Enjoy family and friends and bring back lots of blog fodder.


I'm Worthy

I'm worth $1,766,688.71! How much are you worth?

Found this at Ms. Dell's Diner.

There's no place like home

We finally closed on our house yesterday. After moving the closing date 5 times, it was surreal when we finally finished signing our life away. We are officially homeowners now and enjoy all that comes with that. We had a pretty bad storm last night and the sellers called this morning to tell us that one of the trees in the front yard got knocked over. What a bummer, but at least it didn't hit the house. So we will hopefull be moving into the house by Saturday. Yippee! I am so glad that process is over.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Pondering

It seems that in helping others you have to be willing to sacrifice some of yourself.

No House

No house and the saga continues.

I'm still taking questions. I will answer any and all questions on Friday. Yes, I will be at work on Friday.

From the previous post, my answers are:
1. Houston, TX
2. I deathly afraid of dying in a car accident.
3. I want my house deal to FINALLY go through. Also a digital camera.

Ask your questions... Ask away... What? I can't hear you. Ask again?

Monday, November 22, 2004

Where are you?

So as I read through blogs and get a little hint of where all you bloggers are I wondered about my readers. Even if you don't normally comment, go ahead and break the mold today. So, tell me:

1. Where do you live? If you don't want to be specific in city, just tell me a state.
2. Something interesting about yourself that I can't read on your blog.
3. The gift you most want to receive this holiday season.

Boopy Tales

I have been slacking on the weekly boopy tales (See left side bar titled Boopy Tales) because, well, it didn't seem to be of all that much interest to readers of my blog. I will try again and try again though, cuz I'm no quitter. Before I start a new story though, I need some feedback. Should we do a new story each week? Each month? Or a continuing story that we start and finish when it is finished? An ongoing story that goes until we see fit that we have reached the end? Tell me your thoughts and we will begin a new Boopy Tales.

Friday, November 19, 2004

coffee and tea all for me

I just mixed coffee and tea together with ice and I'm drinking it!

That was not my intent!

I think I deserve a new pair of jeans. 27 more minutes til 5:00 and I don't know if I will make it.

NEWSFLASH

I'M A DORK

I know this. Most of the people that know me, know this. I still feel the need to re-affirm it every damn day.

This thought just ruptured my brainwaves...
"Bite off my head and call me Shirley"

I HAVE NO IDEA!

Blah and Questions

Snotty, yucky, blah...

I'm still taking questions. Come on, you know you have a question.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Guess what time it is?

Time for Boopy Randomness...

I just said, "I get good options." to a co-worker and it somehow sounded dirty. Still laughing...

This is the lady I renamed Lula, because well it fit her better than her real name. She renamed me Atty. I had to ask why. Because of my attitude. I have a very short fuse for stupid people. And childish ones also. And lazy ones. Did I mention it feels like I babysit 7 managers (grown up ones) on a daily basis?

Next weekend will be my one year wedding anniversary. What have I learned in the one year I have been married?

  • I've learned that sometimes neither of you are right and neither of you are wrong, you are both just in a bad mood.
  • I've learned that sometimes it's the situation not the person that annoys you.
  • I've learned that what I imagined love to be for 28 years was not nearly as good as the love I have experienced in the last 2 years.
  • I've learned that I hate seeing my husband stressed.
  • I've learned that if I scratch his neck, he will forever be grateful to me. If I do it every single day, well then he doesn't complain and whine.
  • I've learned that I can drink a half a bottle of wine and not be hungover.
  • I've learned that there is no one I have more fun with than my husband.
  • I've learned what it is like to be told "I love you" in the middle of the night, almost every night.
  • I've learned what it is like to be told I am beautiful in the middle of the night. (No we are not doing THAT, nor is he trying to get THAT.)
  • I've learned what it really means to be taken care of by someone other than my parents.
  • I've learned that I can always be a better person and he makes me want to be everyday.

Collective Awwwww

sigh

Onward with the randomness

For some reason at lunch yesterday I was reminded of a high school experience with a bed.

Not THAT kind of experience! It was my junior year in high school and I was part of BBYO (no, not Bring Beer of Your Own) but B'nai Brith Youth Organization. Yes, half of me is Jewish. The other half, well I haven't found it yet. So anyways... In BBYO there are like 5 girl groups and 5 boy groups and the girl groups nominate boys from the 5 boy groups to become there Beaus. Each year, 4 boys are picked as Beau Nominees and get to be spoiled and such by the girls and at the end of 6 weeks or so (I don't remember exactly anything) the girl group votes for one of the boys to be their Beau. Said boy is then Beau for the next year and gets to hang out with a bunch of girls all the time. What more could a high school boy ask for? On the flipside (did I really just say flipside?) the boy groups nominate 4 girls for Sweetheart and said girls get to hang out with group of boys for 6 weeks (yea!) and at the end of 6 six weeks the boys vote for their Sweetheart.

You still with me? You in the corner, wake up, you're drooling!

Anyways, my junior year, I got nominated for Sweetheart. Normally when you get nominated you find out by the boys surprising you at some ungodly hour in the morning and kidnapping you to go pick up the rest of the Noms (nominees, stay with me). Well, mine wasn't so much as surprise because, long story short, one of my good friends did not get nominated and her mother felt the need to call my stepmother for some mean reason that I can't remember now, and for some other reason I can't remember now, my stepmother told me that I had been nominated. I think she was just so excited and was worried that my friend might say something so she told me first.

Moving on with boring story... The morning of Nom pick up I had trouble sleeping. I had picked out my prettiest/cool/I look good in the morning pajamas and I was ready! At 5:00 AM that Saturday morning, I lay in my bed as I heard the bus stop outside. As I pretending to sleep, I heard 30 boys "sneak" into my room and before I knew what hit me, they all jumped on top of my bed. And then the bed broke! I hadn't even done THAT yet for the first time, but here I was with 30 boys in my bed and the bed broke. Only now does the irony hit...

I'll leave you for now with that sordid little tale.


How to pick up chicks

On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together. One day the two were playing, when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink.

Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help! Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor.

Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley. Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off with a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life.

Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's bike, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse!Happy and proud, the chicken rode the Harley back to the farmhouse and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned.

The friendship between the two animals was cemented: Best Buddies, Best Pals.

A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon, he too, began to sink and cried out to the horse to save his life! The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle. Looking underneath, he told the chicken to grab his hangy-down thing and he would then lift him out of the pit. The chicken got a good grip, and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life.

The moral of the story?

"When You're Hung Like A Horse, You Don't Need A Harley To Pick Up Chicks...........

Today's the Day

I don't have much to say today, yet...

Today is the day we should find out for sure if we get our house. Our first house. Hubby and I are stressed to no end and are close to biting each other's heads off. And not the kind that praying mantis do after, well, you know. So if you are a prayer, please say a prayer for us today that we finally see an end to all of this stress that has been going on for 2 months now and that we get the house if we deserve it. Thanks.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004


I'm bored so I have been playing with photoshop. Since I am paranoid freak and don't want any stalkers, I have blurred one of my bridal portraits. Enjoy. Posted by Hello

I know, I know!

Wondering about me? Have a question about the universe? Your man/woman? The workings of the inside of a toaster? Anything at all? Ask me anything! I will answer to the best of my abilities and if I don't know an anwer, well, I'm pretty good at making shit up. If I don't know an answer, I'll make up a damn good one for you. So ask away...

Awwwwww

Money is a little tight this year and I think most of our holiday money is going to go towards new stuff for our house (hoping we have a house, should know by Friday). I've decided that this year, I am going to write letters to those people that are important in my life. I realize this is reaching high, so if you don't get a letter, don't get your feelings hurt, I probably just abandoned the whole idea altogether!

Lighten Up

Okay, my last post was depressing and blah, so I am going to lighten up the mood now.

First, my dear friend Em is feeling a little down as well. Go give her some love.

Need a good laugh? Go here and click on Watch Movie. I got a good laugh from that one.

I forgot something funny that happened on the way back from our girls weekend last weekend. We were driving home on a back road when all of a sudden with no warning, there sits, blocking our entire whole lane, a road block sign that says, "watch for water on road." I think we should worry about the fact that going 60 miles an hour we all of sudden come upon a sign that takes up the whole road. Forget water on the road, watch out for big ass sign. We came across 3 separate signs. They were only on our side of the road though. The other side of the road was open. So apparently water was on only one side of the road. We figured after the first one that teenagers might have done it as a joke, but three separate signs?

On a positive note, my hubby took me to lunch today. What a treat!

Snazzy Title

Really don't have much to say, for once.

I have been feeling disconnected from my life lately. Going through the motions, but not really accomplishing anything. Just getting by. I am really ready for the whole house thing to be done. I need to re-organize my life. Find some direction. Does that make any sense? I don't know.

At times in college, I would get this disconnected feeling. I would usually start each semester with a clean slate. I would buy a new calendar with every intention of keeping up with it. I would maintain it for a couple of weeks if that long. I would clean, I would pay bills that needed to be paid, etc. I can't really clean the apartment right now because it is all in boxes and what isn't, well I just don't care. I paid the few bills that I have to pay yesterday as an afterthought, since hubby pays most of the house bills.

I have been lacking motivation at work and going through the motions there, doing just what I have to in order to get by. This is one of the busiest times of year at work and I am having to work extra, sometimes nights and sometimes weekends. All I really want to do is read blogs.

I guess I could attribute my feeling to depression. I try to ignore depression, especially now, as my life is better than it has ever been. Yet, I fall into the pit sometimes and have to acknowledge the depression in order to crawl back out. It is also possible that the change in the season is causing some of it. I'm not really depressed I don't think, but then I have times where I just feel like crying. For no reason. I got frustrated yesterday with work and with hubby and with small things and it put a crinkle in my day. It doesn't help that I am not feeling well and haven't been since Saturday. Just yuck in my head.

Sorry for the depressing post.


Tuesday, November 16, 2004

You're Killin' Me

You guys are killin' me.

Okay, like I said, I probably have at least one embarrassing moment a day, but here's the high school story.

I walked into English class one day, I think it was my junior year, and sat down like I always did. I immediately found myself flat on my back with my desk attached to my ass and my skirt over my head. One of the boys in the class had switched my desk with a desk that had a bent leg so that when I sat down, the whole desk fell over, with me in it. Since I was wearing a shortish skirt. I couldn't hold my skirt and get myself up so I just had to lay there humiliated until some of the boys picked up the desk with me in it. The class got a good laugh, I got a red face and wanted to cry, but I think I was able to just laugh it off.

I remembered another very embarrassing moment, so you guys get two now. You better spill after this. The year I turned 21, my best friend thought it would be fun to surprise me with a stripper. I am not the least bit interested in strippers. I worked in bars for 5 years in college and saw my share of strippers and they just never appealed to me. But my best friend thought it would be a hoot to hire one for me. Partially because it is very hard to surprise me and partially because where she had him show up was extremely embarrassing. My birthday is in the middle of December and somewhat close to Christmas so Mel thought it would be fun to have the stripper dance at our holiday Christmas party. Mel and worked at the same bar and we always had the holiday party at the bar. So there we are, surrounded by about 50 people we WORK with and in comes this stripper. So I see him and I think, who in the world is getting a stripper. Me! They put me in the middle of the dance floor (keep in mind, this is a country bar with a dance floor the size of a skating rink) by myself and put me in a chair. The guy starts to do his thing. Not only is he not really attractive, well, just ewww. He tried to get me to slap his ass with his belt. Every picture of me there is, I have my hands up by my head in a, "please don't touch and me and don't make me touch you" stance. It really was embarrassing to have to sit there by myself as all of my co-workers laughed at me. Mel got me and she got me good. Come to think of it, I don't know that I ever got her back for that. Hmmm.

So there you go, not one, but two embarrassing moments in my life.

Oh, the embarrassment

The question was asked this weekend, "What is your most embarrassing moment?" I had a hard time answer this question. Not because I don't have embarrassing moments, but because I am constantly embarrassing myself and therefore, rarely get embarrassed anymore. I am a self proclaimed clutz and am constantly providing entertainment for those around me when I fall over unexpectedly or run into a wall or trip over my own feet. I had to dig back to high school for the only really embarrassing moment I could remember.

What is your most embarrassing moment?

Monday, November 15, 2004

Monday Madness

Stolen from Brandie:

This week we'll choose one or the other of the following....

1. bar soap or shower gel- shower gel- Victoria's Secret Vanilla Lace
2. cd's or cassettes- cds
3. television movies or documentaries- tv movies
4. wall calendar or desk calendar- both
5. dsl, cable, or dial-up- I'll take anything at home. Preferably cable though.
6. summer or winter- Summer
7. city or country- country
8. camping or stay in a hotel- I like both, but prefer hotel
9. gold or silver- silver
10. fiction or non-fiction books- non-fiction
11. mashed potatoes or baked potatoes- mashed.
12. ranch, italian, or catalina dressing- ranch
13. solid or spray deodorant- solid

Weekend Recap

Well, I will do my best to recap the weekend.

"The Girls" decided to plan a fun filled weekend at one of the girl's parents' house in Fredricksberg. So on Friday at 1:00, six of us all piled into one Tahoe and managed to pack in all of our stuff. We piled in and began the 5 hour drive from Houston to Fredricksberg. The ride there consisted mostly of talk about kids, and pregnancy and breastfeeding and the like. Out of 6 of us 3 have kids. Of the other 3, one isn't sure she wants them at all, one is probably going to have them, but isn't ready just yet, and me, well I can't wait. Tam may never have kids after all the things she heard this weekend.

Anyway, I will pretty much recap the quick version:

Stopped at Sonic (First stop) barely out of town and got food and drinks. Couldn't find Sher's drink even though she was sure Laurie had it. Called the waitress back and finally found the drink - in between Laurie's legs. Blond moment.

We had lots of instances of Laurie forgetting she was driving because she was paying so much attention to a story being told.

We sat around the fire on Friday night and drank wine and talked. L opened her birthday presents and we ate awesome lasagne that S made. S and B and I stayed up until 3:00 AM. Saturday we walked around and shopped in Fredricksberg. I didn't buy too much, and L didn't buy anything, but the other girls bought and bought. Eventually, L and I were done with the whole shopping thing and kind of just walked ahead of everyone freezing our butts off. We headed back to the house and stopped off at the Wagon Stop (for the second time during our trip.) Laurie thought it would be fun to buy six scratch offs and give one to each of us. We get back in the car, scratch off the first set and between the six of us, win 6 dollars. So I get sent back into the store to use our 6 dollars for 6 more tickets. Back to the car, scratch, win 8 dollars. I trek back in and buy 8 more. At this point, I am considering moving into the Wagon Stop. Buy, scratch, win 5. Trek, buy, scratch 1$. We decided to donate that 1$ to gas money. I was done going into that silly store. Then we went to Lukenbach, Texas. Not quite what I expected. We were the only girls in the place really except for one burly looking girl. We had to walk through this little bitty bar where people were just sitting around playing guitar in order to get to the bathrooms which were outside. Anyway, I went to Lukenbach, I bought a T-shirt, I took a picture.

Saturday night we went out to Mamacitas for Laurie's birthday and had the whole restaurant look at us when we walked in. We weren't dressed for downtown Houston, but I guess you could say we were dressier than the rest of the restaurant. You can take the girls out of the city... We then went to a local Beer Garden (It sound better when Sherri tries to say Bier Garten in a German accent) and were entertained by a band called the Gypsy Cowgirls. We thought the lead singer was a man until Tam and I ran into "her" coming out of the bathroom. We were also entertained by a girl who danced on her chair to almost every song. She eventually came over to talk to us and ended up bugging the crap out of us all night by saying, "loosen up, it's your birthday," to Laurie repeatedly and trying to get her to dance on her chair. We also got the pleasure of watching one of crazy girl's friends pull the bartender into the bathroom. Good Times.

Things that were said this weekend, things that will make you go. WHAT?

I never get to do me. - Bekah
Crack kills. - Tam
When I was mounting... the car. - Sherri
Do you mind if I pull your pants down? - Sherri (No it's not like that, get your mind out of the gutter)

There are more of those quotes from the weekend, but I can't remember them right now.

Well, that's the quick recap.

I'm BAAAAAACCCCCKKKK

I'm back from the wild girl's weekend in the Hill Country, but don't have time to post all the wonderful funny things that happened yet. I am catching up from taking a day off from work and I am feeling like crap. Bekah and I both got sick this weekend so that is what I brought back from the hill country.

Will post as soon as I get caught up. Thanks to Em for guest blogging for me. And despite that post, she deserved every bit of forgiveness I gave her. Everything happens for a reason and her and her husband were meant to be together. I'm just sorry we lost about 10 years of friendship, but we are making up for it all now.

Friday, November 12, 2004

Hi! Em here for Jazzy!

So Jazzy asked me to keep her blog up and running while she is gone for the extended weekend. While I am more than glad to do this I must say I am sad that I'm not with her. See she and I belong to the same bunko group and everyone that could is going away this weekend. I had planned on going but some personal stuff got in the way and now I'm staying home. But the good news is - you get to read my posts on Jazzy's blog! Aren't you excited!?!?

She has given me a couple of suggestions of what to write while she's away because I threatened to put up old pictures from high school so she decided that rather than give me free reign over her site she would tell me what I could put here. BUT ... she's gone until Monday so you can read what I put up here and then I'll change it before she gets back. Okay no, I wouldn't do that to Jazzy! I do have my own blog I'm trying to keep up so I may or may not post as often as she does.

She suggested that I either tell you about our high school days or give her some advice about having a baby. I guess since she is starting to think about it and I've already had three - she thinks I might have something to say about it. But let me start with this.

WARNING: This story makes me look like a much more terrible person that I am. Even Jazzy would tell you - I'm not this evil - but the story doesn't make me look too good.

Jazzy dated my husband before me - I mean immediately before me - like there was probably less than a week between the time that she asked me to give him a note to break up with him (yes, I know what you are thinking - but we were in high school and we did stupid things) and the time that he and I started dating. Boy did she hate me for that. Looking back on it I really can't say that I blame her. I'd probably have hated me too. What kind of evil person was I? She and I parted ways after we graduated and I married him. It wasn't until our 10-year high school reunion that we talked. I couldn't believe she didn't still hate me - but she was very much in love with her hubby (fiance at the time) and was so incredibly sweet about forgiving me. Honestly, you guys, I didn't deserve her forgiveness. She had every right to hate me and keep on hating me. I had been a terrible friend to her. But do you know what she said to me?

She said that we couldn't worry about things that happened in the past. She said that we are who we are now because of those past experiences and good or bad they are what they are.

Okay - say it with me now... "Aw...that't so sweet." Seriously though - that's just Jazzy!

Have a very happy Friday! Do your "It's Friday" dance if you have one - sing your "The Weekend is Here" song if you have one! I'll post throughout the weekend and I suppose if there's something you'd like me to write about or questions you have about Jazzy - feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll answer as we go!

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Away we go

Well, it's closing time and it's my Friday! I'm off of work tomorrow and am off to the hill country for a girls weekend. Wineries here we come. During my absence, don't miss me too much, my dear friend Em is going to guest blog for me. Be nice to her, she is GRRRREEEAAAAAT!

Babbles will be back on Monday with lots of fun stories about this weekend.

See Ya!

Blog It Forward


Posted by Hello
So in sharing in the blog love, and running through my way to long blogroll, I found this neat little tidbit here. The idea is to list a few links from your blogroll that you particularly like to read and why. So I think I will start with the first couple of blogs that I found when I first started blogging for the first 3 on the list. I will add 3 more of those that I have found since and that I must read everyday.

1. Giggling Universe: My dear friend Em. I have known her for about 15 years and she is the one that created the blog monster that I have become. She talks about the daily escapades in her life and she loves her some quiz stuff.

2. Ms. JuJu: Miss Jen was also one of the first blogs I found that I liked and we have been slowly growing our blog friendship. She has a great sense of humor and makes me laugh on a regular basis.

3. Dooce: If you don't read her already, go now and read. She tells it like it is. And she cracks me up. She is one funny girl and she has a beautiful soul. And a beautiful family. I think almost everyone in the blog world reads her. Check out her hubby too Blurbomat.

4. Rude Cactus: This man is funny and takes great pictures. He always has something funny to say. He also has a great wife that I read, So the Fish Said, and I read her everyday also. I cheated and got two in one.

5. Genuine: Nothing like a family man that loves his wife and tells the whole blog world. They have some adorable kids and again this man makes me laugh.

6. Woulda Coulda Shoulda: Ms. Mir is a storyteller. She tells us her daily life in such a way that even though she is too hard on herself, she is one funny lady. Go tell her you like her new glasses.

Laughing is apparently the main thing I look for in a blog.

Guest blogging

I done did my posting for now over at Rude Cactus. Go see. I am apparently better able to write over there.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Do I offend?

*Disclaimer: I am a little low, a little PMSing, and a little ultrasensitive right now.

It seems all of my readers have gone away. Where, oh, where has everyone gone? Have I said something offense or have I just bored everyone to tears and they are off sobbing in their respective corners. Anyone?

Won't anyone let me know they are still here?

Mini Rant

I am so frustrated today. It's probably silly really, but it is driving me crazy.

I work in an office with 6 sales managers, myself (the marketing person) and 3 admins. I don't have an admin per se, I just ask for help when I need it. We are also in the same office space as 13 other people with 3 more admins. The admins are supposed to help each other out when the phones ring. The sales admins all have all sales phone lines. Each person has two lines. The managers are supposed to answer their own phones if they are there. If our conference department lines are ringing and one of their admins can't pick up, one of the sales admins does. Still with me?

I started here as an admin and took my job very seriously so that I might move up. Even though I am no longer an admin, I somehow have still stayed on the "phone answering circuit". I am a very loyal employee and feel that regardless of what is "my job" I will answer the phone because that is a client on the other end and at the end of the day, that's who pays my salary. We have a rule at our company that the phone should not ring more than three times before it is picked up. I look at the phone as soon as it rings almost every single time so that I can see 1) is it my line ringing, 2) if it's not, is it one of the two public lines ringing, and 3) is the line ringing that of someone that is on their other line? I tried to take all the phone lines off my phone at one point and just have my lines ring (that is how all the other managers lines are), but when the admins are short staffed, I need to help with the phones. (again because I seem to be the only person that will)

So we have two of our admins that will not look at the phone period until it rings 3 times. Even if it is their own line! Agh. It drives me crazy when the phone is ringing and I know that there are two people sitting there not paying attention. The managers do this also and will be talking to each other and not answer their phones or be sitting at their desk and not answer their phones. Why should I have to pick up your phone? You don't pick up any one else's, so why should I pick up yours.

So my dilemma is do I go directly to my boss and complain or do I go directly to the culprits and complain? I am sick of picking up the slack here.

Quirky Quirks

Okay, well I have one person in my peanut gallery and Giggles wants to talk about quirks. I copied this fun concept from Chris, give credit where credit is due.

So we're talking about quirks, fears, strange habits, heck what ever you want.

Here are a few of mine:

I can't stand hearing other people cut or file their nails. This is as bad as fingernails on a chalk board. I also can't stand fungus commercials. Gives me the heebie jeebies.

At some point in the last 10 years I have become somewhat of a germ-a-phobic. I can't touch stair rails or escalator rails and don't like touching door handles.

I like a clean bowl in the bathroom.

I am a total clutz even though I was a dancer and gymnast. I do wall ping pong a lot (i.e. run into walls and bounce off them)

I always put on my left sock and then my right sock.

I hardly eat any salt. I put salt on chips at a Mexican restaurant and on really bland food and that is it.

On the weekends, I almost always change clothes at least 3 times a day.

I hate haunted houses. I haven't been to one in over 12 years.

I love chocolate but don't like chocolate ice cream or shakes. Same with peaches and strawberries.

I don't like hairy men at all, don't like looking at them at all.

I had hernia surgery when I was 11.

I've never (knock on wood) broken a major bone in my body. Just toes and nose.

I'm afraid of heights.

I'm claustrophobic. Some times are worse than others.

Toilet paper must pull from the bottom, not the top.

I cuss a lot now (hubby calls me "cusser") but I didn't start really cussing until I saw my little sister do it in front of my mom.

I have never been in a tanning bed.

That's only the beginning folks. What are some of your quirks?




Guess what I have?

Randomness yet again.

I have been very introspective lately. Thinking about a lot of things. I am making a list and will hopefully have time write about each one. So here goes:

The Long and Short of It: memory and that which is lacking

Depression: The beginning and the sort of end

Personal Quirks

Taking an active part in life

That is what is keeping me awake at night. So where should I start?

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Because I love Randomness

Tuesday Randomness to follow:

My favorite number is 13. I was born on Friday the 13th. bwahhaaahaha

I lived in Mexico when I was four. I spoke pretty good Spanish then. I don't anymore.

I am half Jewish.

I love anything vanilla, lemon or lime. Mostly Vanilla.

I was recently told about a Vanilla Beer. I want to try it.

I know I am boring today. Get over it, most of you are only here for 30 seconds anyways.

Things on my desk: a stuffed pluto, year old jelly beans, 2 digital cameras as I am the only one in a company of 500 that seems to know how to use them. I have had not training on said cameras.

I will 30 a month from Saturday. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

On that note, things I wish I had done in my life so far:
traveled more, nationally and internationally
moved to a state I've never been to
taken a vacation by myself (I probably wouldn't like this, but it would probably be good for me)
gone scuba diving

I am sure there is more, but I am pretty happy in my life the way it is now and I have no regrets. In fact, I am very much looking forward to the next 30 years. I have a wonderful husband that I hope to start a family with soon. I cannot wait to be a parent and raise a family with my hubby. Sap splat!

Time to change the subject again, because, hey, that's how my mind works.

I miss my mom and sister. I am going to see them in NM in 3 weeks and I cannot wait. My sister is currently about 7 months pregnant with twins and I can't wait to see her. My baby sister with babies, wow, I don't think it has really hit me yet. I am going to be an aunt to two baby boys.

Stop the babble.





Duh





You Are a "Don't Tread On Me" Libertarian



You distrust the government, are fiercely independent, and don't belong in either party.

Religion and politics should never mix, in your opinion... and you feel opressed by both.

You don't want the government to cramp your self made style. Or anyone else's for that matter.

You're proud to say that you're pro-choice on absolutely everything!




Doncha know?

Know what? I don't know either. It just popped into my head as the title field came up so that's what you get.

For all of you hanging in the balance about what I drank with my wings last night, well you can't let that breath out. I had both. I had beer with my wings and then switched to wine. Wine makes the bill grow badly. No more wine at BW3's. Too expensive. We keep telling ourselves that when we get the house we won't be going out as much anyways...

I am off this Friday for a girls weekend to the hill country. It really is going to be great fun. Bummed not all of my girlies can go, I have convinced one of my work friends to go and I am excited that is going to cross over to the "other" friends.

I have always been weird about all my groups of friends. Weird really isn't the word, but it'll do. I love all of my friends so much that I want all of them to know each other. I am the type of person that will invite anybody to anything that I am doing. I want everyone there. I am a very social person and thrive on being around other people, especially ones I care about that make me laugh. And that is the end of my thought.

I am a little disconnected these days. Just running through my routine of work, go out, pack our house for unknown move date, etc... I'm not really lost, but not really active in what's going on in my life right now. Tonight all I want to do is read my book curled up on the couch with my hunny right next to me.

Sorry that I have bored you to tears today. Maybe my creativity and personality will be back tomorrow. Or later. I am a moody lady.

Chooseday

tuesday is chooseday


    Would you rather:
  1. join a band of rebel fighters in some south american country for three months OR a tibetan monastery for a year? tibetan monestery
  2. wake up and find your name tattooed on your bicep OR find all your body hair shaved? Hair shaved, hair will grow back, no tattoos please
  3. find a time machine that only goes back to ancient egypt OR only goes back to 1920? Ancient Egypt I think, can I take a computer with me?
  4. have the ability to smell as well as a dog does OR see as good as an eagle does? See as good as an eagle

Monday, November 08, 2004

Girls, Girls, Girls

In yapping back and forth with Ms. JuJu, (go see her, wish her well) we were discussing girls and the delicacy of being around large groups of them. Plenty of girls love the company of other girls and have always been happy surrounded by babbling, screaming, loud girly girls. Not me.

I spent the majority of my childhood as a loner. We moved a lot, I never made friends or kept the few I made. I had my head buried in a book most of the time. The couple of long term friends I did have, well we rode bikes and climbed trees and jumped off houses. I was a tomboy of sorts. I was quiet child. I was shy and didn't usually speak unless spoken to. I never voiced an opinion if I had one (yeah, I know that has changed, shush). Perhaps all of that is the reason I have trouble with large groups of girls and sometimes, just one or two particularly bawdy ones.

My first year in college, I had gotten all of my paperwork for housing in late and therefore got stuck in temporary housing. "Temporary housing" was actually 4 bunkbeds crammed into a 3rd floor study room along with 4 dressers and some tables and chairs. I did this for about a month before I was assigned housing. My assignment, whether I chose to take it or not: one of the two all girls floors. Oh, hell no. I marched right into my RA:

Me: "I absolutely CANNOT LIVE HERE."
Her: "I completely understand."
Me: "You can't possibly understand. See, I do not get along with girls."
Her: "No. I really do understand, but there is nothing I can do."
Me: "No, I really do not get along with girls. At. All."
And on and on. There was nothing she could do. So I went to the housing board and tried to no avail to get my happy ass moved. Nothing doing. So I was stuck on an all girls floor, with boy "curfew" and rules and such.

Through out that first year, I became best friends with my RA, and found she did really understand. I also lucked out in getting the best roommate. She was a smarty pants, studied all the time, never went out, wore no make up, pretty much the polar opposite of me. But we got along great. She was a tomboy of sorts as well and pretty soon we corrupted her. I had girls night out with girls from the floor. Mel and I had lots of fun. Looking back, I am glad I lived on that floor. I learned how to get along with girls. I may not like all of them, but hey not all of them like me and that's okee dokee by me.

I recently got back in touch with a bunch of girl friends from high school. We have girls night about once a month and I am realizing how much I now treasure my girl friends. I can get along with girls now. As long as they aren't screaming OH. MY. GOD. at the top of their lungs or screaming for no reason. I love girls. Girls are good. Just don't yell in my ear.

Wings and Wine and all that's fine

I forgot to mention, Hook Em'! How about them Longhorns?! I missed the comeback though as I was watching... I don't remember.

Going tonight to have wings and wine. Sounds like a great combo doesn't it? Well, as hubby and discovered last week (not for the first time however) we are much more hungover when we drink beer thank wine. I mean lots of wine vs. a little beer. My only roadblock was how well wings would go with beer. The thought of walking into our local hangout, where we have beer waiting for us by the time we get to the table, and ordering wine, well, I'm not quite there. But when hubby said, "Let's do the wine thing," my only response was, "I will if you will." Such a little follower I am. Here's to wings and beer, I mean wine.

Random Rant: Why, every time I want to comment in blogger or add a post do I have to sign in. EVERY TIME. Why?

Lazy Meme

Monday Madness taken from here:

Name 3 (or more, or less!) things...

1. ...you cannot live without. My husband (awwww), comfy jeans, my health

2. ...you CAN live without, but cannot seem to part with. blogging, books I don't read anymore, dust and dirt

3. ...you wish to accomplish this COMING week. finish packing up my apartment for the move into our first house (fingers crossed)

4. ...you have accomplished this PAST week. Started packing up apartment and got rid of 4 pairs of shoes that I have either never worn or worn once.

5. ...on your holiday (or non-holiday) 'wish list.' A digital camera, new furniture, a grill, a washer and dryer, healthy nephews

6. ...you would like to change about yourself. I wish I would take more risks in my life, like following a dream or doing something I have never done before. I am stale.

7. ...you like about yourself. my neverending journey to making myself a better person. Always being honest with myself in this journey, even when I may not be completely honest with others.

8. ...you should be doing right now instead of what you ARE doing. Working

9. ...in your life that could use a little more organization. My desk, my home, my life...

Random Monday

As you have probably figured out, and me, slow person that I am, have figured out, I love the word random. If I had to describe myself in one word, random would be a good word. I am random. Completely.

So today we will call Random Monday because that is all my brain can handle. Stick with me if you can...

Random Rant: I have an opinion, you have an opinion, there is no reason for us to get nasty and no reason, we, as civilized people, cannot agree to disagree. Let's all play nice kids, okay? We can't all be right, and yet, in our minds, we are all right.

My brain is so asleep today, I can't figure out whether to explode my brain with BlogExplosion, trying frantically to receive more than 3 random free credits or catch up on my neverending blogroll. I am currently doing both, but not very well.

I am however avoiding work rather well.

I wish I were in bed reading my book.

Hubby and I have been discussing all of the things we will need to buy for our new house and finally agreed on an entertainment center. That was until I realized what was really important and the absolute first thing we had to have for our new house. A grill of course. Must have grill.

I have my annual review, 2 months late in 15 minutes and I am just now starting to freak out. AGH! Am I preparing? No. I am blogging. AGH! I have a problem.

Confession: I have started printing blogs out and taking them home so that I can keep up.

Monday Morning zzz...

I can't seem to wake up this morning and my brain is apparently still in bed. I had a great weekend and I'm sure that is part of my I am dragging this morning.

Friday we had dinner with friends and it was nice to sit and talk and catch up. Thanks for dinner Nik. Saturday I had to work an event, but it wasn't so bad. Hubby and I stayed home Saturday night and packed. Our apartment is slowly starting to look empty. It is very difficult packing up your home when youdon't know for sure where you are going next.

Yesterday hubby and I had an awesome day. In the 4 years I have known my husband, he has never been off on a weekend. Ever. He took yesterday off and we had a blast. We got up and went to Cheesecake Factory for Brunch. Mimosas make my head spin. We joked that we were on vacation. The weather was absolutely beautiful so we sat outside. We then went to the dirt bike track and hubby rode and I sat and watched and read my book. It was so nice to spend the day together and to get to enjoy beautiful weather. The track was packed, but hubby still had fun riding. All in all, a great weekend.




Friday, November 05, 2004

Dream Job

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?

Believe it or not...

I'm Walkin' on Air...
Not really, but it seemed to follow my thought. Believe it or not, I have been busy working today.

I got home last night and hubby had packed most of our study. It is a little strange to me to start packing when the deal isn't final. I can't really get into it, but I better start!

We're going to some friends for dinner tonight. I haven't seen them in awhile and I am very excited. I have to work tomorrow, but the rest of the weekend is for packing.

What do you have planned this weekend?

On hold...

I'm on hold with a local venor and have been for 5 minutes listening to bad music. In Spanish.

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Random Babbles

Well, since blogger is on blog vacation right now, I am posting randomness into Word. So Word Up! I know, that was horrible.

I haven't posted anything on the house saga recently as I don't want to jinx anything, but I wanted to give you all a little update. I looks like we might get our house. The original one we really wanted. So that said, prayer, cross fingers, talk to dead people, whatever you might do. Here's to hoping we are in a house by the end of this month for our anniversary. That is what I want for our anniversary.

I was thinking about it the other day, with the election and all and realized that the majority of my friends in real life are all republican including my husband, yet 95% of my blogroll is democratic or liberal. My family is all democrat, but the fact that almost all of my friends are republicans is really strange to me.

Oops

In a alchohol induced stupor last night I told my husband that I would rather have internet access than tv. Oops.

If you had to choose, would you choose internet access or tv?

Thursday Bookworm

Week Two of Thursday Bookworm

"All books are either dreams or swords,You can cut, or you can drug, with words."--Amy Lowell

This week, the Worm is discussing those that wield the "dreams" and "swords" we read... the authors.

1. Do you have a favorite author? Who is it, and which of their works do you recommend that we read? (If you have more than one, feel free to list them!)
Nicholas Sparks is my favorite Author. He wrote The Notebook, which is my favorite, but I enjoy all of his books. My next favorite is his latest which is more of a memoir called Three Weeks With My Brother. I suggest you read some of his others first as Three Weeks With My Brother talks about how his life shaped some of his books. Some other books of his include, Nights in Rodanthe, The Rescue, A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle, and The Wedding. I also like Dean Koontz and Patricia Cornwell.

2. Who would you consider your least-favorite author? How many books have you read by this person, and why do you dislike them? (Again, if there is more than one, list away!)
I don't really have a least favorite author. If I don't like a book, I won't read it and certainly won't read any others by that author.

3. Do you ever purchase a book solely based on the author's name, without even knowing what the book is about? Have you ever been disappointed by something they wrote? Nicholas Sparks and Dean Koontz. Never been disappointed by either.

4. Have you ever met one of your favorite authors, such as at a book signing or a reading? Did they act as you had expected, or were they completely different from the way you had pictured them? Nope.

5. Do you check out your favorite author's website or blog on a regular basis? No.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

I'm apologizing now for this political post

Sorry, but I have to do it, because it is all heavy on my mind as it is in so many others today.

I just received this email from a lady at work who I believe to be republican. I am glad she forwarded it to me as it put into words a lot of what I am feeling. Sorry it is one long rant, but I just didn't have it in me to space it out. Yes, I am lazy.

This was an interesting read.

Dear Friends,
I am sad and depressed. I am also angry. Angry at the pathetic Democrats. They couldn’t beat a guy who openly lied about WMD's leading us into an unjust, brutal, civilian-slaughtering war. A smirking idiot, who defied the UN and enraged nearly every other country in the world, making us the most hated and least respected nation on Earth. Someone needs to found a new party.....today! The Democrats have completely lost their relevance. If they couldn’t win this one, when the hell will they ever win? The House, the Senate, the President and Supreme Court are all red now. The fucking end is near! We are left to wait and watch as one by one our liberties will disappear, and our Country will continue to fall into the hands of these greedy pigs as we are forced into a climate of fear and distorted, misappropriated Christian values. How does Canada sound now? I have never felt this desperate and disgusted and heart-broken all at the same time. It is not just a nagging my-team-just-lost-the-game disappointment, it's a sinking, pulling, tearing explosion that has decimated my faith in humankind. It is becoming increasingly evident that enlightenment and compassion are punishable offenses in this country and aggression and ignorance are the wave of the future. Well that future starts today.Think about how old you will be when this ignorant, violent, war-mongering, short-sighted, puppet leader of this dictatorial, fundamentalist regime will be out of office, its positively terrifying.Who can we blame? Only ourselves, for not demanding candidates who represent what we think. Real liberalism, real humanitarianism, not this made-for-TV, watered-down centralist bullshit. John Kerry was truly representing the anybody-but-Bush mentality and we bought it. We went for the lesser of two evils, some of us even deluding ourselves into thinking Kerry was actually who we wanted, as opposed to what we wanted In my mind, the Democratic Party is dead and gone, it is high time for something new. I will never cast a vote to left-center field again, no more one size fits all liberalism for me. It was a war, and common-sense lost, compassion lost, humanitarianism lost and most of all we lost. Time to rebuild the ship and find a new route.I wish I voted for Nader.

Yours in terror,
Joe

And my response to her:
Definitely interesting and I have to agree for the most part. Unfortunately when faced with bad, worse and worst, you are forced to vote for Bad. Also, in voting for anything other than Republican or Democrat you are pretty much assured, with the system as it is now, that your vote for sure won't count. Thanks for passing this along.


This being the first ever Election that I have voted in, I am dealing with a huge mix of emotions that I think began that horrible morning of September 11, 2001. Before that date, I never really gave much thought in general to patriotism, to our government (other than I don't like it), to our military or to who was president. I pretty much had always had the mentality that my vote did not count, especially living in Texas.

I was raised a liberal/democrat if we are talking in labels. To me I was raised to be openminded and accepting of others. I was raised to respect not just my elders but all people regardless of race, religion, or opinions. You respect me and I will respect you. I am the type of person that can almost always see some part of both sides of an argument. I am a "what if" person to some extent. "What if" such and such happened to me? How might that change my opinions? For example, I am not wild about the death penalty for the whole reason of killing a person who killed a person is not an example of what is right to me and is really just hypocritical. But what if someone raped and brutally murdered someone very dear to me? How might that change my views?

Since September 11, 2004 my patriotism has risen to the top. I finally could understand why someone would choose to be in our military. I was finally, utterly thankful to the men and women that choose to defend our country. I, for one, could not do it, but I am so very thankful that these people sacrifice all that they do to protect my freedoms and my homeland. I cry whenever there is a tribute to our soldiers or our police force or our fire departments. I have paid attention in the last four years to what was happening in this country and to the choices our President has made. I do have a voice and I should use it for no other reason than people have died and fought so that I might have the right to vote.

So I voted. I was nervous driving to the polls with my husband. I was nervous standing in line. I was nervous because I was doing something I had never done before and had the fear of "what if I don't know what I am doing?" I was nervous because I knew as I voted, my husband was canceling out my vote. But I voted, because there are people in this world today that do not have that right.

Yesterday I sat in my office with my door closed. (the majority of my office is republican, like 99%) I went to lunch and listened to people around me rave about he who I was not voting for. I listened to news casts while all I could think of was, "I am so tired of listening to bullshit. I can't even make an informed decision because everything I hear or read I have to wonder if it is even true. How much of this crap is true? 10%? I don't know, but I am tired of it." I had a pit in my stomach all day yesterday and even worse today. I couldn't help but thinking that regardless of who go the most votes, that Bush was going to win. I felt/feel hopeless. It makes me even more scared to have children. Yes, it is all in God's hands, but part of me feels like, "Maybe God is testing us and we are FAILING." What if...?

I don't know if it is the fact that I am PMSing or what, but I feel like crying. I can't imagine something like this, which I have never chosen to participate in, could affect me this much. I read in a blog, sorry I can't give credit where credit is due, "democracy bubble". That is exactly how I feel. This is a farce. So many people (I really hate to stereo-type and judge) talk about moral values and God and acceptance and compassion. Where is it? I don't see it at all? How is compassion blowing up another country? How is acceptance all the mud slinging and name calling that has been all over this Election. Where are the moral values? What happened to integrity and truth and justice and the "American Way". The American Way seems to have gone to the majority that says, "my way or the highway."

I will stop now, but I am truly feeling betrayed and sad today. Sorry again that I did indeed, "Go there."

The Bitch Book


Oh, this is so me! Thanks Ash for sending that to me! I needed a laugh!

I'm a Bitch
And I know and I'll be glad to show it.

I never told you I was a nice person.
Bwaaaaaaaa Posted by Hello

Not gonna do it...

I am posting things I am thankful for right now to overshadow one big thing that I am not thankful for and that is all I am going to say for now.

Things I am Thankful for:

- I am thankful that despite our difference in political opinion, my hubby and I agree to disagree peacefully.
- I am thankful for my wonderful husband for so many reasons.
- I am thankful that the weather finally feels like fall in Texas.
- I am thankful that there are people out there that have integrity and can have class when they lose.
- I am thankful for my job.
- I am thankful for friends, personal and now blog friends to share times like this in.
- I am thankful that I have a family that loves me.
- I am thankful that so far my sister's pregnancy is going well.
- I am thankful that it looks like we might actually get the house we wanted.
- I am thankful it is Wednesday and that much closer to the weekend.
- I am thankful that life will go on, regardless.

What are you thankful for?

Concerned

Waiting not so patiently for the outcome of this Election and not feeling too good about the whole thing. It's almost like your baseball team losing. I am happy that so many people choice to vote this year. What a wonderful thing. Patiently waiting...

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Jail Time

Blogging for Books #5: Choose Your Own Adventure (Guest Author: Debbie Farmer) In past Blogging for Books, we've asked contestants to write a blog post on a specific theme. This month, we've decided to mix it up.

For this month's Blogging for Books, choose one of the three "starter sentences" listed below, and use it as the beginning of a blog post totalling no more than 2,000 words:

Just when I thought my life couldn't get any crazier...

Before I had kids, I thought ...

I enjoy reading the stories in your magazine each month, but I never thought something like that could happen to me until a few nights ago, when...

Creative nonfiction essays are preferred, but we won't go to absurd lengths to ferret out skilled liars. Write your essay and post it to your own blog; then come back to this post and leave the URL to your post as a comment. You have until 6am (Pacific time zone) on Monday, November 8th to enter. The top seven finalists will be chosen next week, and then guest author Debbie Farmer will choose the Grand Prize Winner, who will receive a signed copy of her book Don't Put Lipstick on the Cat!

Here's my story:

Just when I thought my life couldn't get any crazier...

He went to jail.

My life changed when I met him. Roy (name changed to protect the not so innocent). It was a Tuesday night and my roommate and I were hanging out at our favorite place, Dance Across Texas. It wasn't enough that we worked there; we had to hang out here too. Tuesday night was pool tournament night. We didn't care about that really, it just happened to be one of the few nights we didn't work.

Roy was there playing in the tournament. Long story short, Roy and I started dating and moved along quickly in our relationship. I was only 19, young and naive and still recovering from my last relationship somewhat, but plenty of time had passed, so I thought I was ready for a big girl relationship.

About a month into our relationship, we were going to make the 4 hour drive from Austin to Tyler so I could meet Roy's parents for the first time. We left around midnight, after I got off work and made the late trek north on I-35. On the way, some of Roy's past began to come out and red flags should have been lining up like voters on Election Day, but no, not for young naive me. Stories of hot checks and warrants and such came forth. We discussed how we (yes, stupid, we) would go about paying these off.

It's 4:00 AM and we are driving through Hutchins County in the middle of nowhere when we see the lights in the rearview mirror. Yes, red and blue lights. Roy was driving, which now I can't remember if he even had a valid driver's license. We had borrowed a friends' car and had tried to clean it out as best we could, but the police searched the vehicle and found a beer can -- And numerous warrants for Roy's arrest. It's now 4:30 AM and they are taking him to jail. I have never experienced anything like this in my life. Police have always made me a little nervous, but I was scared out of my mind.

They will not let me follow them to the jail. What am I supposed to do? I am in a car I know nothing about with almost no gas, it is 4:30 AM and I have to call this guy's parents, whom I have never met, and tell them that their son is in jail. Fun stuff, let me tell you. This is what dreams are made of. I mean nightmares. I'm a good girl. I don't date boys that go to jail. I don't do drugs, I do not pass go, I do not collect $200.00.

I drive until I find I gas station. I have no choice, I have to get gas. I get on the pay phone and dial the number Roy gave me for his parents. Thank God for small miracles, he had already called them. They gave me directions to their house and I finally made it around 5:30 AM.

I met his parents and stayed for about an hour and a half before his father and I turned around and made the drive back to Hutchins to bail Roy out of jail. I spoke with Roy once and he was crying and begging me to come get him out of there. Wuss.

The entire ride Roy's father and I discussed how we (I) would bail him out. During my phone conversation with Roy, I learned the cost of freeing him from that jail. $2000.00. I didn't have that kind of money. I soon learned that Roy's parents had no money. So I called my best friend and begged for money. And she gave it to me. Against her better judgment she gave it to me. Even after discussing the consequences etc and me assuring her that I loved this man and I had to get him out of jail, and she would get paid back. Roy's father assured me that I would get paid back. I believed him.

The wait was excruciating while we waited for the money to get wired. We finally sprung Roy and off we went for a nice family gathering. No red flags here, none at all. After all, I am just a dumb 19 year old girl. What do I know? I just knew I loved him.

A week later when I couldn't find Roy when he was supposed to pick me up from work, I started calling every one of our friends. I'll give you one guess where he was... That's right. Jail. Again. Did I leave him there? One guess... No. Another $800.00 later he was sprung again. He was driving without a license. His truck got impounded and we never saw that truck again. Did I dump him like a smart girl would do? Oh, no. I loved him, I needed him, I would do anything for him. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The best part was how he re-paid me. After we moved his 16 year old sister in with us and I bought her clothes and helped find a job for her, his thanks was cheating on me. I knew there was something wrong when he disappeared from a party at our townhouse and didn't come home for two days. Did I call all the hospitals? Oh yes, but only after I called all the jails. His excuse was lame when he finally did show up and we ended up ending our relationship for a reason I can't remember other than I knew something was not right.

Did I find out about him cheating on me? Oh, no, not until 3 months after we broke up. He blatantly cheated on me right in front of my face too. With our boss.

Regardless, I moved on with my life and I am certainly better for it. Now, I am sure the obvious question is did he every pay me back? Not a cent. Am I bitter? Not anymore. I learned plenty from that relationship. Boyfriends to follow Roy would learn early on that if they found their butts in jail, I better be the last person they called. I don't care why you're in jail; don't call me, cuz I ain't coming.

I finally was able to pay back my best friend this year. 10 years later, but I promised it would get paid and it did. Better late than never, so they say... Live and Learn.

Random Babbles

I voted for the first time in 30 years and I didn't get an "I Voted" sticker. I've been jipped!

I cut over to the far lane this morning on the freeway going about 2 miles an hour with plenty of room between me and the car behind me, but apparrantely the Suburban behind me did not want me there. The lady started waving her hands and yapping at me, I just raised my hands like, "what?" So she rides my butt with her brights on for a whole 4 miles. I just smiled and thought about her seething in her car. I flipped my rearview mirror up, smiled and prayed that God would keep me safe in the case that she was a raving lunatic with a gun and went on my merry way. Calmness is not normally one of my virtues, nor is patience, but this morning, I was all over it.

Have a fantabulous Day!


Monday, November 01, 2004

Confession #2

Is it bad that I constantly look at the clock and get upset the closer it gets to 5:00 PM because I haven't even made it through a quarter of my blogroll and I don't have internet at home?

Confession

I haven't been to the gym in at least a month! I really want/need to go today, and I promised my gym clothes that have been in my car all this time that they would get some air, but it's raining. I don't like to do anything in the rain. On the other hand, if I go to the gym, I will miss some of the traffic. Encouragement please...

Random rant: If you are trying to sell me something, shut up long enough for me to talk back to you. You talking for 5 minutes straight without a breathe means that I have quit listening.

Rainy Monday

Well, it's raining cats and dogs here and I am still drying off from walking into work. My feetsies are cold too! The weekend was fairly uneventful and over way too fast.

First I would like to apologize for grossing everyone out with my feet stink post. I won't do it again.

Friday, Hubby and I went to vote. It wasn't too bad. I found going over there though, I was nervous. After all I am almost thirty and have never voted. Would I know how to do it? We waited in line about 15 minutes and then walked inside. The whole wait I spent pondering whether I was going to vote a straight ticket or just vote for President as I didn't really know enough about any other candidates to intelligently vote for or against them. I won't tell you what I did, because frankly it is none of your business, but I am very glad that I voted. In an earlier post I joked that I was voting to cancel out my hubby's vote. That is really not true. I think my main reason for voting this year was that I realized the importance of being able to vote. So many people do not have that right. It regret that I have not voted every year I had the chance. I am free to voice my opinion in this country (as long as I don't drastically disagree with our government ;-)) and I should use that right. I have taken that right for granted and will not do it any longer. If you haven't voted, get off your butt and vote. Now.

Saturday we had a wedding. They met through me. I met D, the groom via internet dating. We never actually dated, but became friends and would hang out a lot. H was a friend and colleagues sister that I invited to live with me at one point because she was commuting an hour and half to work every day. We lived together for about 2 years. We all used to hang out and H and D became close and eventually started dating. They are a beautiful couple and their wedding was great. Hubby said it was the best wedding he's been too. The ceremony was humorous. The officiant, the bride's grandfather, was leading too many lines at once during the vows and the groom finally looked at him like he was crazy and couldn't remember all that he was trying to repeat. It was funny. The wedding was all in all a great event.

After the wedding we were staying at the bride and groom's house to take care of their pets. 3 days, a bird and a fish. It took me an hour to get their great dane back in the house so we went to bed around 3 AM only to be awakened at 6 AM because I forgot to cover the bird's cage and it was talking up a storm. I finally went out and covered the cage and caught a couple more z's between the occasional squak and the great dane's big tail slapping the floor.

Sunday I was a complete bum. Took hubby to work, came home and went back to bed. Watched Farenheit 9/11. Disturbing to say the least. I am a cynic when it comes to politics and government. I think we get about 90% BS and 10% truth. This goes for media as well whether it is the nightly news, 60 minutes or a documentary about politics. the American people are not stupid (in general). Give us the truth and let us form our own opinions rather than shoving our opinions down our throats.

This isn't about Bush or Kerry, this is about our country. We are all on the same side supposedly so why the name calling and backstabbing. We want our children and ourselves to be safe. We want our freedoms, although with so many people trying to take our freedoms away, I am unsure if that is still what we want. Why after all these years are we trying to change what this country was based on? I don't get it and it all just makes me sick to my stomach.

I'm done with the rant, have a happy monday.

Oh, one more thing, Brandie is awesome and great for adding on to the Boopy Tale! Go read it! She is a great writer and I want to read more. I will add on in a little while. Feel free to add your own part of the story.