Back to the Grindstone

Joy, joy. Definitely feeling the Garfield feeling this morning. Made it back home safely about 5:30 yesterday afternoon. I was in bed by 8:30....couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. Traffic was pretty heavy coming back yesterday....feels like we spent two days in the car...wait...I guess we sorta did. LOL.

I took a few minutes this morning to resize some of the pictures I took while we were gone, but blogger doesn't seem to be wanting to upload anything today....so I might just have to come back later to post those. I got a few good ones....and we had a really good time....for the most part. *grin* There are always going to be those "moments" that want to slip in and spoil the fun, but ya just gotta ignore those. It'll all come out in the wash. =)
Okay got them to work...at least some of them. #1 *deleted* #2 friend's cute kid that we visited while we were in Springfield #3 blurry picture but its our choir singing. #4 cool building we passed up in OH #5 friend and mother of cute kid

I heard a new song that I want to try to find to use for a fresh music video for this blog....if you hear something different than usual...then I found it...or something else I liked better...LOL.

ETA: Didn't find that song I wanted, which was Lessons Learned by Carrie Underwood, but I changed the video to another song by her. I really wanted the Lessons Learned, b/c it feels like she wrote it about me....LOL....here's the lyrics....

There's some things that I regret - Some words I wish had gone unsaid
Some starts - That had some better endings
Been some bad times I've been through - Damage I cannot undo
Some things - I wish I could do all all over again
But it don't really matter - Life gets that much harder - It makes you that much stronger
Oh, some pages turned - Some bridges burned - But there were - Lessons learned.

CHORUS:
And every tear that had to fall from my eyes
Everyday I wonder how I get through the night
Every change - life has thrown me
I'm thankful - for every break in my heart
I'm grateful - for everytime
Some pages turned - Some bridges burned - But there were lessons learned.

There's mistakes that I have made - Some chances I just threw away
Some roads - I never should've taken
Been some signs I shouldn't see - Hearts that I hurt needlessly
Some roads - That I wish I could have one more chance to make
But it don't make no difference - The past can't be rewritten - You get the life you're given
Oh, some pages turned - Some bridges burned - But there were - Lessons learned.

And all the things that break you - All the things that make you strong
You can't change the past - Cause it's gone
And nothing's gotta go - Because they are gone - Lessons learned.

CHORUS:
And every tear that had to fall from my eyes - Everyday I wonder how I get through the night
Every change - life has thrown me
I'm thankful - for every break in my heart - I'm grateful - for everytime
Some pages turned - Some bridges burned - But there were lessons learned
Oh, some pages turned - Some bridges burned - But there were lessons learned.

On the Looney {lady} Tunes....I brought my camera to work today but I forgot that classes are out for two weeks...so guess I'll have to get a picture of her later. The episodes will return when she shows up again....or in two weeks...whichever comes first. She's likely to get bored now that school is out and decide to come back and pay "her boys" a visit so they won't forget about her while she's gone....Bwahahaha!

Okay....blogger upload just gave me the error message...i'll try one more time and if it doesn't work I'm just going to head off for now. Hope ya'll had a wonderful weekend and I'll catch ya....

LATER!

I'm back....

So we're in the hotel now and its 11:33pm. Unfortunately, I can't get any pictures up tonight...so maybe later.

I'm soooo tired....*yawn* I really should go to bed. I'll just make this brief.... =)

Quick recap of Episodes I & II of Looney {lady} Tunes (since its so late I need a quick reminder of where I got to...*smiles*):

70-ish - grandmotherly type body shape - fashion diva wannabe - been going to college forever - possessive of her RTV boys/men - doesn't like women - doesn't like me ---- and that brings us to the end of episode II....

..."don't worry, none of us believed her, we just thought that someone should tell you."
So then he says................

"LL is telling all the guys in class down there that she followed you home one day and she followed you to the Rainbow Inn and watched you...um....*take guys in for money*"

I don't remember exactly how he put that last part, but I remember my face heating up....then I had to laugh....I was like, "where is the Rainbow Inn?? I don't even know where that is AT...she must have followed the wrong person...either that or its her imagination!" {side note here that I think I found the place she was talking about...this sleazy lil pit over on main st in *the town where I work*....*shuddering*...one of the places you wouldn't catch me DEAD in, much less doing the things she was saying I was doing...SHEESH}

It seems like she was saying something else about that, too, but I really don't remember what it was....that was the gist of it though. I couldn't help but laugh...I mean...sheesh...come ON...hel-lo...i was all of like 16 or 17, barely driving myself to work, living with my parents who would flip out if I didn't call to let them know if I was running five minutes late for the daily family meal at suppertime. Where in that scenario do you get me even finding time to slip away to see a friend, much less MULTIPLE GUYS. Yep, definitely an overactive imagination at work here.

She's definitely got something not working right up there......

Stay tuned...more to come....probably Monday. Might see if I can use my spying camera lens to get her picture without her seeing me....ROFL....is that legal? I think maybe since its in a public place it would be....or maybe I'll just walk up and tell her I'm making her famous and I need her picture.....BWAHAHAHAHA.....um....she'd probably be happy about that though....or maybe I'll just take her picture and blur out her face for privacy.....hehe. If I might step aside for a psychoanalyzing moment here....I think she has attention deficit disorder....and not the kind where you can't pay attention, I think she feels like she is deficit of the attention she feels like she merits...bless her heart. If she only knew......

Okay...its midnight and I'm turning into a pumpkin....oh wait, thats not right....wasn't it the carriage that turned into a pumpkin at midnight? What does Cinderella turn into at midnight?

Told you I was tired....LOL.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.....

Later, ya'll!

Friday

Well...I made it. Aren't you proud of me? (LOL) I promised I'd come back and post today....its just taken me forever to get to it. Sorry....we were kinda unavailable for most of the day. Got up at 5am and had the car loaded by six and on the road. So its kinda been a long day...long ride...but we made it safely (thank the Lord)....only got run off the road once....(eeps)

I'm seriously tired and its only 9:35 so if I make no sense...that would be why. We are at some friend's house up here in OH...and everyone is out in the living room visiting and I decided to sneak away and post....they have high-speed internet....I am SOOOOO jealous!!! ROFL.

My friend's sister who lives across the street was showing me some of her pictures....she does photography professionally....and WOW! How totally cool. I wish she had her stuff on a website and I'd link to it, but I don't think she does....she did tell me about this cool site to get awesome pics printed on....can't wait to try THAT out.

SO.....I know you're just DYING to hear the next installment of Looney {lady} Tunes, but unfortunately, me being at a friend's house....i need to get back out there and visit. So...I might possibly come back tonight (if i'm not dead) after we get back to the hotel and post that next episode....(by the way...i had to crack up when I saw the comments on that last post....BWAHAHAHA...thanks, ya'll)

If I get to come back after we get to the hotel....might bring some of the pics I snapped from our trip so far....maybe. If you're lucky...LOL. =P Or maybe not so lucky....*grin*

Anywhooooo....guess i'll catch ya....

LATER!

Busy Day

Wheee, today has flown by. Probably b/c this is technically my "friday" since my weekend starts tomorrow. YAY! And sorry for all of ya'll who have to work tomorrow. =) I'll be thinking about you. (and laughing....JUST KIDDING...LOL)

So lets see....nothing really exciting happened today...just stayed very busy and I'm not going to say what I was busy with b/c it wasn't anything important....just work. {yippee}

Not a whole lot to talk about today, so I guess we'll just pick up the Looney {lady} Tunes: Part II
(If I can remember where I left off yesterday....hmmm.....)

So when I first started working here many moons ago, I was a single chica that -- for unknown reasons -- attracted a lot of attention from the almost completely male RTV classes (she was only in her like 60's somewhere then) and she did NOT like me (still doesn't as a matter of fact, but we'll save that for episode 5 or 6...ROFL). Her main reason for not liking me I guess was because up to that point she monopolized all their attention and no one had ever encroached on her "territory." Oops. Then there was me. Single, skinny, not exactly stylish (but compared to her, I guess I looked liked a runway model), shy, young, naive, long-legged chick who pretty much politely ignored the males she came in contact with....pretty huge contrast when ya think about an old, retro, in your face, losing her mind, LL. So really, having...let me count...around six guys constantly coming up with reasons to walk down the hallway to hang out at my desk was really not that big of a deal, it was just a lack of options. Not my fault. Well, SHE thought it was.

One day my boss tells me that LL stopped her in the hall to say something in reference to my character....something about me being a "fallen woman" to put it in cleaner terms. My boss said something along the lines of, "that is so not true and you need to leave her alone." (Sidenote here that LL also thought my boss was a "fallen woman" and didn't care too much for her either...ESPECIALLY after she stuck up for me. {LOL})

Not too much longer after that...one of the six guys....don't remember which one it was now, I think maybe John came down the hall and was talking to me and then asked me if I'd heard the rumor. Of course I hadn't, so I asked, "what rumor?" He says to me..."don't worry, none of us believed her, we just thought that someone should tell you."

Okay, if that doesn't make you cringe....LOL....(by the way, in case you care, I only went out with a couple of them a couple times...never anything serious....cross my heart!)

So then he says................

To be continued. (BWAHAHAHAHAHA....yep, I'm evil....guess you have to come back later to find out......)

On that note, its almost quittin' time.....i promise I'll try to come back and post the next installment of Looney {lady} Tunes tomorrow. =) =)

Oh by the way....today LL had on an INTERESTING midcalf skirt that had it been worn in a normal position, would have been a floor length skirt and the print was about as crazy as she is. LOL....gotta love someone who provides that much humor every day!

Later!

Hump day

And today it REALLY feels like a HUMP. The day is seriously dragging. Doesn't help much that today I'm looking up folks in the database from pages and pages of contest entries and that is making my eyes cross. YUCK.

We watched Pink Panther last night and OH MY GOODNESS, is it FUNNY! I thought I was going to DIE laughing. Especially at the little car/big parking scene. Steve Martin is HILARIOUS. I do NOT know how he acted those scenes with a straight face. ROFL!

A bit of random insanity for today....sometime I amaze myself. I just killed a fly buzzing in my window by launching a 4x5 inch scratch pad missile at it. Yes, I AM easily amused. LOL

Speaking of easily amused, let me tell you about this elderly lady that goes to school here at the college where I work. This is a long saga so today will be part I of Looney {lady} Tunes. I could let her annoy me, but I can always use a laugh, so thats usually what I choose to do whenever she starts acting up.

Lets just set the stage by telling you about her as a person. She's somewhere in her 70's, not sure which end of the 70's. We will refer to her as LL {loony lady} {Names have been changed to protect the innocent...BWHAHAHAHAHA}. LL is a lil over five foot and has your average slightly overweight grandmotherly type body, however, she has not realized this latter fact and consistently wears such clothing as leather skirts, fishnet stockings, prissy sandals, tight clothing, and etc. She is unmistakably a bottle blond with extremely large and thick glasses which accent the fact that she is obviously one of the main consumers of classic blue eyeshadow. She seems to be single, although its rumored that she has a husband that doesn't live with her. (Not that I would blame him...LOL)

LL has been taking classes here for many, many years (long enough that she is getting close to having completed all the available classes in all areas of course study) and she is a retired school teacher. She is not taking any classes in my building at this time, however, it remains her favorite hangout for studying and snacks....mainly because she has a huge crush on two of the RTV Instructors (one is married and the other recently widowed) both at least half her age, and both of whom she is wildly possessive. She does not get along well with any woman and targets the women in this building in her "dislike rotation." This is so widely known now that its become a joke among the staff here. But only in the last couple of years has she expanded her horizons to other women in this building....the actual targeting (to my knowledge) started with me many moons ago.

To be continued..... (its now five....and time to go)

so....
LATER!

*SIGH*

Sheesh...how can one person be SO tired and do SO little? I don't get it. Stayed pretty busy at work today and didn't have time to post, but thought I'd hop on and blog a minute while KC is out....doesn't normally happen in the evenings b/c he's using the phone line for work.

In the midst of little aggravations of the day...a few bright spots:

• Got a sweet email from DW first thing after I got to work this morning
• Completed the hated task of getting the oil changed in my car...now I don't have to worry about it for another few weeks.
• My tasty morning Dr. Pepper fix....
• Got some extra brownie points at work today...with very little extra effort (gotta love THAT!)
• Picked the first pepper off my plant when I got home tonight.
• Tasted the sweet satisfaction of....having unexpected visitors drop by and not having to kill myself to straighten the house up in only a couple minutes...it was already nice and presentable.....thank you flylady! (bet you thought I was going to say the taste of the pepper huh??? Since I'm a pepper freak an all....LOL).

Yah, guess thats about it. And KCz back now. Gotta run....

Later, ya'll! =)

Best time of day

Nothin better than 10 til 5 on a Monday afternoon. What a wonderful time of day. And I'm sooo ready to go home. Today I am REALLY happy to be going home because my home is nice and clean and there isn't any piles of laundry laying around. What a great feeling. I am attempting to jump on the "flylady" train and so far, it really seems to be working. And boy does it feel good. The laundry is what she's working on right now and I only slipped up once this weekend by leaving a load in the machine....but I couldn't help it cuz it ended while I was in the middle of those pictures. Anywhoo....except for that, it seems to be working well. Yay. Thanks to Susan for putting me on the flylady trail. =)

Not a whole lot of news for me today. Mailed that mini album to my grandma....didn't get a chance to post pictures of it. Oh well. It turned out well, and I hope she likes it.

Oh yeah, before I forget, yesterday morning at church was AWESOME. I don't know exactly what he did differently, because our pastor isn't in the habit of being constantly negative, so I can't say a "positive" message was out of the norm, but yesterday's "sermon" was very uplifting and encouraging. It was great. It's not that it was any less challenging, but it makes it easier to keep going in trying to reach high goals when you hear a message like that. Sheesh, I don't even know how to explain it. Guess it just felt like God was saying, "you can do it, just hang in there...keep trying, you're doing okay." And that was good to hear.

It's five now....so have a great day and I'll catch ya....

Later!

Fun with the new 50mm lens

Played with it on Saturday during an engagement shoot. I need some more practice, but I think I'm going to like it. My biggest problem was getting the focus right....kinda hard with two people and that lens. But I think some of them came out okay. The other problem was getting them to smile and look like they meant it. LOL. I did get some good ones....after a whole lot like this (which are cute and fun, but not exactly portrait quality...
Anywho....gotta scat here...need to finish getting ready for work. I'll probably be back sometime later today.

soooo......
Later!

YESSSSS!!!!

IT DID COME!!!! WAHOOOOO....I can already tell its going to be WELL-USED. These are the first pictures and they are straight out of the camera....all I did was resize and add the border. How COOL is that?!?! Blogger puts these pictures on here weird, so I can't get them in the order I want. The clock is the time the UPS truck was here...I had the lens on my camera before he even got out of the driveway. (course, he did sit in the driveway for about 5 minutes...LOL...long enough for me to take a picture....that one is down there somewhere). The flowers are....flowers. The cat is Jango and the peppers are my little front-porch garden....they don't even look THAT good in real life...I can't WAIT to try this thing out on human subjects. Unfortunately for my poor kitty, there are no humans besides me here tonight. Oh I'm SOOOO happy. This is AWESOME! I should have asked the UPS guy to hang around and pose for me...LOL...JUST KIDDING.

















Off to play now....catcha....

Later!!!

Hmmmmm

Guess what....its Friday!!!! Yay. And it's almost time to go home. Double Yay! But I am thinking that my new lens isn't going to make it to me today after all...it appears to be sitting in Raleigh and not moving. WAHHHHH! I'm so bummed. And UPS doesn't run on Saturdays.

Anywho...found this survey here. They have a lot of dumb stuff, but a few cool things too....

THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR( things you can't live without)
Something important on your desk: A BEAUTIFUL can of Dr. Pepper (LOL)
When you sleep you wear: Ummmmmm....it all depends. *GRIN*
If you could afford it at the moment, you would buy: A bigger house
Something you don't have a lot of: Patience
If your house was burning and you could only save 3 items what would they be: My camera, computer, and cats. Cuz the computer has all the pictures on it.

MORALS
If there were no side effects, you would enjoy being addicted to: Ummmmm....plead the fifth? =)
A time when you purposely hurt someone emotionally: probably when I wrote a nasty note to the very chubby kid who kept pulling his pants down in front of me...how gross
A time you accidentally hurt someone emotionally: plead the fifth again
One person you have killed in your thoughts: there's been a few....LOL....

FRIENDS:
Three traits you look for in a friend: Sense of Humor, NOT clingy, trustworthy
Who makes you laugh most often: KC
A friend who you can tell anything: Kelly & KC
A friend you can go to for advice: there's several of those....depending on what kind of advice....
The best piece of advice you have been given: don't give up
Two closest friends: do I have to pick two? I can't pick. I'd have to pick more than two....
The friend who uses most of your energy:Casey

EGO
Your 3 best qualities: skinny, easy to get along with, sense of humor
Your 3 worst qualities: impatient, klutzy, forgetful (why is this one so much easier to answer than the first one?)
Describe your Ideal self: dunno....
A compliment that makes you blush: pretty much any of them....I need to learn how to take them gracefully
You are embarassed when: I do something stupid or klutzy in front of an audience
The greatest physical pain you ever endured: I guess I've been blessed not to have any really serious physical problems...nothin to complain about.
The greatest emotional pain you ever endured: hearing the specialist say: "have you thought about adopting??"....and then driving home alone, hearing that echo in my head over and over for the hour and half drive home. That and then hearing people announce their accidental or unwanted pregnancies....
Moment you are most ashamed of: August 22, 2005 -- About 8:30 PM
Your best physical feature: my hair
Who/What makes you happy: KC/scrapbooking
Who/what makes you sad: nobody in particular/tear-jerker movies

EMOTIONS
Emotion you hide most: Fear
The emotion you tend to experience most: guilt
The emotion you are feeling most lately: um....dread
You have a huge amount of guilt regarding: February-August 2005
When you are angry you need: to be alone
When you are sentimental you need: a sappy movie and a tissue....and KC
When you are in love you need: definitely KC

MEMORIES
One of your most peaceful memories: Summertime in Central, SC - being a kid
One of your most tragic memories: Sitting in the playhouse one Sunday afternoon when I was around 11 and the EMS walking up asking for my mom/the person who called 911 and I followed him to find my dad holding my mom crying cuz Papaw had passed away in his sleep.
One of your angriest memories: when my "ex-best friend" stole the guy she knew I had a crush on and rubbed it in my face....totally stupid now and we're even back to being good friends now, but I was FURIOUS then. LOL....all that is so dumb once you get older. LOL
A memory that makes you laugh: Our Wedding......um.....plead the fifth....ROFL
A memory that makes you happy: valentines day 2006 when KC came back from his business trip

LOVE
Something someone can say or do that you find extremely attractive: Growl (LOL....but only if its KC)
Something someone can say or do that you find unattractive: Cuss
A personality trait you find appealing: Sense of humor
Your secret passion: yep....you guessed it....the fifth
What you enjoy most about having a committed relationship: being there for each other no matter what

RELATING
Do you have a bf/gf if yes who? Well, I'm married....to KC
I'm deleting the rest of these questions on this topic....they make me blush....LOL

FINALLY>>>>>>
If you had more time alone you would: scrapbook more
If you had more patience you would: be a happier person
If you could change one thing about your physical appearance what would it be: definitely a nose job....i HATE my nose...its too long
If you had no commitments what would you be doing: probably going back to school, riding a motorcycle, traveling more often....i don't know....i like my commitments....
If you could have one super power what would it be: oooh....there are a FEW I'd like to have....I'd like to read minds for one...a little superhuman strength and energy would be nice, too.
If you could start all over....: I'd do a lot of things differently

That's it for now.....
Later!

WELLLLLLLL....wonders never cease

Look, look, look....pictures...with my REAL camera instead of the stinky lil (but handy) camera phone. Theees, me friend, is my lovely house. Oh yeah, it's KC's, too....LOL. My porch is COVERED with potted plants. I think I went a little crazy. I was telling my friend, Susan, about my many pots....and I counted them up when I was telling her....SHEESH...no wonder I spend so much time watering....I didn't realize I had THIS MANY POTS. And this picture really doesn't even show all the pots on the steps or around the side and next to the garage. Yikes. I think there's upwards of 35-40 pots....most of them are alive an well.
I say most b/c a couple look like this. Not because I haven't watered them (although KC doesn't believe me when I say that) but because they're OVER CROWDED. Out of this lovely pot of dying plants, I threw away about 4 plants, planted a mum in the center and 3-4 plants on each end and then planted some "rescue attempts" in another flower box down below the next picture. Sheesh....can we say claustrophobia?




So this is the pot AFTER removing about 10 plants and adding one. Looks much better, don't ya think? Actually its not the same pot, b/c I forgot to take before and after pictures, but since I've only done two of the four, I used one of the "not done" pots for the before and they're the same size and have the same number of plants...so its not REALLY cheating. *GRIN*
And this is the rescue attempts. Don't know if they'll survive, but we shall see.......maybe I have the makings of a green thumb after all....



Thats it for now....might (yes MIGHT) come back later and post again. I just wanted to post these pics for Susan and whoever else might be interested in my flowerpot fetish. LOL.

Later.

Ooops...been naughty again

Missed another day. Bad me. I hate being that busy. Obviously I didn't ever come back and post pictures of my projects....here's one from my cell phone of the frame I altered....i hate pictures with my cell phone, they're so fuzzy and yucky, but its much more convenient to post on here when I can email it to myself to upload rather than have to go through the memory card to computer upload and then resize...bla bla blah....yeah, I'm lazy.

Anyways, work's been busy...but thats okay...the days past faster that way.

Yesterday I ordered this. I'm sooo excited...hope it gets here before Saturday cuz I really really really want to use it for the engagement pictures I'm supposed to take for my cousin and his fiancee. And I know its not a REALLY expensive lens...I've researched it an all that, but according to what I've read on it, you get a lot of bang for the buck and yes, its made out of plastic, but what isn't these days? I'll be careful....long as I'm careful, hopefully it will hold up. And the pictures I've seen that were taken with it....well...I'm SUPER excited to try it out. Yahooo....can't wait.

Yah and last night I played in the mud all evening. Got two flower boxes replanted....got two to go...I might post pictures...(yah right....LOL. Well, I'll try anyways). I'll have to take before and after pictures of the next two....they were pretty sad looking. (oops).

Today I had a dentist appointment....and NO CAVITIES....YAY for me. So last appointment I had no cavities and then got a speeding ticket on my way to work. Sorta ruined the no cavity thing for me. Today I set my cruise within range of the speed limit and puttered by the cop that was sitting on the side of the road waiting for me...probably the same one that got me six months ago. Then when I got close to work, I decided to stop at Sonic and get a meal to reward myself for not getting a speeding ticket OR cavities.

My Sonic drink of the day was an Orange Cream Slush. That one gets a check mark. DEEE--lightful!!!! Yesterday was lemon fruit slush and it was yummy, too. MMM...mouth is watering thinking about it.

Speaking of drinks....this is day two without caffeine or Dr. Pepper. Not intentionally, I just have had other things to drink and didn't have anything with caffeine or pepper flavored in reach....so hmmm....wonder how long this will last. Not long, I'm sure.

Time for a meeting....catch ya.....

LATER!

Oh My

Bad blogger me. I have been meaning to post all weekend and never got to it....now I've been meaning to post all day and never got to it. Until now that is....and its almost time to leave work. I cannot believe how FAST today has gone by. That's not bad for a Monday....except the things on my to-do list are not the things that got done today. GRRRRR!

Here's something that made me happy today though. My lovely Dr. Pepper (which a little bird tells me, DOES come in caffeine free...somewhere....somewhere that's not here...*sigh*....at least its out there) and my sweet little piece of heaven, a strawberry fruit slush.

So Friday I got a watermelon slush from Sonic...well...too bad, but it didn't even come close to the strawberry. I pull away from the drive thru and take a big ol' sip....and think...hmm....wonder if they'd exchange this? LOL. My advice....skip the watermelon.

In other news, I had a very busy weekend. I'd say I'd come back later to tell ya about it, but ya know...there's a good chance that might never happen. =) Life is just too busy. I did some projects at a crop I went to on Saturday, that if I get motivated enough, I might take pictures and post on here later...maybe. The crop was fun, there were like 10 of us this time....total blast. Plus I got a LOT done...I was super proud of myself. Anywho, going to the crop didn't help me get my laundry done or clean my house (although it was much more fun) so I spent the rest of the weekend (around church services) trying to get caught up....oh that and PMSing (according to my dear KC....LOL)

OH well. Anyways....my friend is waiting on me.....so I guess I'd better head out.

Later.

the pepper confessions

#1 Nothing is a suitable replacement for a Dr. Pepper. Nothing.
#2 Never attempt breaking the caffeine habit before breaking the Dr. Pepper habit.
#3 You might be able to kick the caffeine habit, but a Dr. Pepper will ruin the kick every time.
#4 It's been approximately 6 hours and 26 minutes since I caved to the Pepper craving in the gas station this morning when I stopped to get a little gas on the way to work.
#5 It's been approximately 3 hours and 33 minutes since I finished the last precious drop and sorrowfully laid the 20 oz bottle to rest in the trash can.
#6 It had been 2 days and 2 nights without caffeine before I caved.
#7 Dr. Pepper is the only true Pepper. Mr. Pibb is a completely unacceptable imitation.
#8 It's true. I'm in luv with my Doctor. My Dr. Pepper that is.
#9 If I give up caffeine, how will I cope with this loss?
#10 I just can't do it. I'm addicted. Somebody PLEASE create a caffeine-free Pepper!!!! PLEASE.

Only one more day

Till my favorite day of the week....or did I change my favorite day of the week? I forget. See??? There I go again. This is getting rediculous!!!!!

Anywhoo....tonight is supposed to be Sisters Night Out at church....I'm hoping I can get out of here in time to get to the meeting spot before they leave. I could use a night out. =) Not that I have any money to spend, but its just fun to go out with the girls and hang out...

Not a whole lot of stuff I feel like talking about today. I had a list of random topics somewhere, but GUESS WHAT! I forget where. I HATE THIS! This really stinks. On the other hand it might be good....I can blame my procrastination problem on my forgetfulness....oops...was that due today? I FORGOT! ROFL!!!

Well, I need to get back to work if I wanna get out of here early. I'll leave you with this lovely picture of my updated workspace. Thanks to my dear honey who bought and put this hutch together to go on my desk that was way too full. <-- Yes, that is a terrible sentence but who cares? I forget proper grammar. (BWAHAHAHAHA) Okay so here's my new digs:

Oops

Missed a day. Gotta watch out or I'll end up being a stale blogger. ;-p

So, thanks to the commenters...and if they're reading this...just wanted to say thanks for letting me know you're out there. To the folks who commented on Great Expectations....Yes, its very comforting to know you're not alone in these kinds of situations. I hope you guys come up with some happy results soon and if you ever want to chat, my email is over there in the sidebar.

On other things, I do think its kinda strange that I always get a couple comments after I've missed a day or two...interesting...I don't know that I want to really think about that one too much. LOL.

I had a good topic for a random blog entry but I don't remember what it was now. My life is boring lately, so there's not much to talk about there. Gotta figure out what the deal is with my memory. 23 is not O L D. I should not be this forgetful. I'm telling ya...I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached. Its a wonder I survive. I spend 90% of my days feeling like I'm forgetting something important. The other 10% is spent remembering what I forgot and trying to figure out a way to keep a hold of it until I can take care of it. *sigh* Is there a fix for this? I sure could use some.

Blah blah blah...I just don't feel like writing today. So if I feel like something important is coming back to me, I'll come back and post it. Chances are, I'll forget about it and I'll just be back at the usual time tomorrow. LOL.

Later.

The Little Things in Life

Today I experienced the true delight of a strawberry fruit slush from Sonic. AAHHH...pure joy. If anything has ever hit the spot, its got to be this little bit of sweet stuff right here. MMM..good. I'm sure you're thinking...hmmm...doesn't take much to make HER happy. Yeah, well, sometimes in life you just have to stop and smell the strawberry slush. Or roses...whatever. Just enjoy the little things...cuz if you wait for the big things, well...you might be waiting awhile and who wants to be unhappy for that long in between times.

Fiddlesticks...a strawberry particle just got stuck in my straw.....hmmm...on closer inspection, it appears as if we might have a camel trying to go through the eye of a needle situation here. *sigh* Ah well...it was yummy while it lasted. Guess I'll have to use my straw as a spear if I want to eat the last little bit. LOL.

And there you have it. A perfectly meaningless and totally random blog entry. Sorry folks...I used up a few days worth of meaningful text on yesterday's post. My mind only puts out so much....then you have this. LOL.

So....
Later!

Great Expectations

"This is my One True Wish

If you had asked me 3 years ago, I would have instantly replied, "a new car," "money," "a bigger house," but now my answer has changed. I no longer care about the new car, the bigger house, or even the money. I want a baby. I don't care if it's a he or a she. I don't care what it looks like. I want the aches and pains. I want to be fat and bloated. I want morning sickness. I want the crazy ups and downs of pregnancy hormones. I want to be moody and grouchy and hot all the time. As crazy as it sounds, especially coming from me, I want to go through hours of labor. I want to feel the pain. I want to want pickles with my ice cream. I want to shop for someone other than me. I want to spend my money on diapers and formula. I want people to stop assuming we hate children because we don't have any after 9 years of marriage. I want them to stop treating me weird once they find out why. I don't want them to hide their pregnancies from me. I'm not going to freak out. I don't want to hear, "You are so lucky you don't have kids." We aren't lucky. I don't want to hear another person say, "I hate having to drop everything every 3 hours to feed a crying baby." Do they not understand that I would give anything to be in their place? I want to do 2 a.m. feedings. I want to go to work tired because I was rocking a fussy baby all night. I want to give up my "me" time. I want to have to take super fast showers. I want to learn to do everything one-handed. I want to eat with a baby in my lap. I want a reason to give up my Trans-Am. I want to have a reason to drive slower and eat healthier. I want the doctors to stop saying, We can't find anything wrong. Just give it some more time. I'm tired of being disappointed month after month. I'm tired of being obsessed with numbers and dates and temperatures. I'm tired of trying to be happy for everyone that accidentally gets pregnant. I'm tired of just being "Aunt Brandi." I want something more. Is it too much to ask?"

Journaling by Brandi Pitts
Published in Simple Scrapbooks - May/June 2006 on page 67

*NoTe: according to the magazine, Brandi's first child is due this month*

Wow. Do you ever have moments where you read something and it hits so close to home that it hurts? This article was one of those moments for me. Change a few of the details and it's not only my story, but it's all the feelings that go along with it. I don't know who this Brandi is, but she summed it all up very nicely and I can totally relate. Is it okay to scrap-lift journaling? I don't submit pages for publication, it would just be for my personal album, but I love how she put all the struggles of infertility into words.

Actually, I really enjoyed that whole article (Write from the Heart). It's a scrapbook article, but the writing can go for anything...this blog, a journal, whatever. It's really hard to do that though...we get so used to hiding how we feel that it's hard to put those hidden feelings into words. Especially when we're hiding them for a reason; maybe because we're afraid of what people would think of us if we revealed our true and honest thoughts, maybe because they are negative or wrong, but it all boils down to...at least for me...fear of what people would think if I said things out loud. Ah, but that's why I have you, dear blog.

So, if you know me personally, could you please stop reading here so that I can type out all my honest secret feelings? ROFL!!! RIGHT. Like, that was a dumb question...like you could stop reading after a statement like that. Okay, so I couldn't if I were reading someone else's blog (even though I might try...MIGHT...hey I'm being honest here). Okay...we'll make a deal...you can keep reading IF: #1 You don't get even the least bit offended at anything I might spew out and #2 You don't think I'm a terrible person...

Well, after all that, I still don't know that I could be completely forthright about my innermost thoughts right now, b/c I know that somebody would get offended. Maybe I'll just change the subject. Hum. What else besides...you know...my secret thoughts...could I write from the heart about...

Thinking...thinking........

I'm so not good at this. Most of my deep feelings are more like vents and I'm sure there is a psychological problem behind that...suppressed anger maybe? I really don't want to vent today. I'm digging for some hidden feelings that don't require capital letters or exclamation points to get out. *GRIN*

Okay...previous rules still apply if you're gonna keep reading.

Have you ever felt like a huge failure? Like you were sure if God was saying anything to you at all, He'd be saying, "You need to get your act together." Like most of the time you feel like He's just watching from a distance to see what kind of trouble you're gonna get into. And like the distance isn't Him, it's you, but despite all efforts to resolve the situation, you can't quite seem to get there, regardless of how many times you've asked Him for help. And in the middle of it all, there's a fear that He doesn't want you any closer because you're such an awful person and nothing you do will ever change that. Like you're just living the life you're supposed to live, being the person that, according to the Bible, God wants you to be, but somehow, it's just not good enough. And not only that, you'll never be good enough.

This is me. I'm struggling. Not to do the right thing, b/c I dont have any problem doing that (not that I'm perfect, but I do learn from my mistakes), but with inner things. Something doesn't fit. Why? What am I doing wrong? Why do I feel like no matter what I do that something is out of place in this picture? I feel like if I dig deep enough, there is something down there but there is a huge fear of finding it and not being able to work through it. Something under the surface is threatening to drown me and I don't know what to do about it. If I knew for sure what it was, maybe I could face it, but I have too many demons in my past to want to go digging up things that I've buried. I'm not sure whose expectations of me are greater, mine or God's. If I knew that mine were greater than God's, I'd lower mine so that I could have some peace, but I'm afraid to do that for fear that His are greater than mine and I'll never reach them.

I've heard that writing things down helps. I hope this is true. I don't see how people can say that a true Christian never struggles. I know what I am and I know what I want to be, but it only makes sense to say that if you're not struggling with Satan, he's already got ya, so I guess this means that I'm still in the battle. I will get through this. I will go on.

Everything's gonna be alright
The night's almost over
The sun is gonna shine again
When the morning comes
And everything's gonna be alright
Victory is on the way
I'm gonna lean on Jesus
And everything's gonna be alright.

Later.

A BEE C D E.....

Here's another interesting fact. Bees gross me out and scare me to death. I'm sure glad KC didn't tell me how huge this nest was underneath our porch before he started the extermination process. I would have flipped. So looking at the picture on the left, it looks kinda innocent...like a rock or something. NOT!!!!! And it may have been knocked down, but there are still a few hundred hardy survivors of the mean ol' homeowner's attack.

I'm not sure if this little nest over on the side was inside the big nest or if it was maybe the doghouse for the bees who made the queen mad.

I know the bees in it were still very active and if you look at the picture, it kinda looks like there are some bees in eggs that are about to hatch. Oh THERE's a lovely thought. EWWW. My camera has a great zoom. I think in this case it picked up TOO much detail. You should have seen the picture before I resized it to fit on here! Discusto!

Yeah and these last pictures are a bunch of dead ones. How many hundred do you think died from inhaling poisionous fumes in the chemical warfare part of the mean ol' homeowner's attack?

Funny....for these guys I have no sympathy. This stems mostly from an incident that happened when I was around 11 or 12 years old. I was standing on the front porch at my aunt's house minding my own beeswax when suddenly a bee divebombs into my hair from a hole in the wood above me. Naturally I am flipping out and swatting at my head and running around the yard when the little bee dude calls 911 and all his buddies come help him out. So picture me slapping my head with a swarm of bees behind me and my dad running after me and the bees trying to knock them away from me. What happened next I don't remember...its sorta blank....but the next thing I know they have gotten the bees off me and I'm in the house covered in icepacks and they're counting all my bites and stings. Mom doesn't remember exactly how many there were, but it was somewhere between 35-50 all over my scalp, neck, shoulders, and arms. I remember being covered with some kind of benadryl spray all weekend. To this day the smell of that stuff discusts me. Man, that was painful. I shudder thinking about it, and I want ALL these guys and ALL their stinkin eggs D. E. A. D.!!!!!!

Back In Luv With Blogger!

Hey would ya look at that?!? Its posting pictures!!!! Yay...my blog likes me again. Woohoo. Okay I know its really bad to get that excited about being able to post some pictures, but my blog has been so dull without some illustrations...

Not that this is a great illustration or anything...I mean, it was taken with my phone and is totally not a great picture, but at least you can see SOMETHING. This is the missing picture from the post about Kenny and Amanda Smith Band a couple days ago. They were AWESOME! Totally cool. Wish the picture was better, but hey...oh well.

Okay...the Thursday blog challenge over on SJ was to write about the hardest question you've ever had to ask and the hardest question you've ever had to answer.

Nothing comes to mind for the first question...I can't really think of a really really hard question I've had to ask unless you count the ones I ask myself. LOL. Which I don't count and even if I did, I can't think of what the hardest one would be.

The second question...well, there's no doubt in my mind about the answer to that one, but its not exactly something I can post on here. Intensely personal and definitely not something I'd ever want to post in a public forum. I'd die. Yah, you didn't think I had any deep, dark secrets, didja? ROFL. Well...now ya know better.

So thats a lot of talk about a challenge but let me sum it up for you...I appreciate the challenge but I can't answer the questions. Bummer.

Anywho....thats about as random as it gets today folks. I think I'm gonna wrap this up now and try to get those other missing images to show up on the right posts....*crossing fingers*

Later, ya'll.

PS Guess what tomorrow is?!?! Woohooo!

Feels like Monday!

I am sooo tired. Its just a day like that. I actually went out to my car at lunch today and took an hour long nap in the parking lot here at work. It was a good day for it...I rolled the windows down and the breeze passed through, it was kinda cloudy and not too hot. And I slept like a rock. I have this queensize pillow in my car and it makes it super comfortable to curl up and sleep. MMM...I was totally tempted to take a 2 or 3 hour lunch. LOL.

So I hope everyone had a good holiday. Mine was pretty decent. I had two appointments to do photography yesterday morning but they both cancelled, which was perfectly okay b/c I woke up not really feeling all that great and I was pretty happy about not having to get everything set up and all that. So it turned out cool and I had the day off...except for I did go down to the festival again and work in the booth another 4 hours last night since they needed some help. Speaking of the booth....now THAT was fun. Especially when this storm blows in suddenly and downpours for thirty minutes and then moves off as fast as it showed up. Especially since while it was downpouring, it was also thundering and lightning really close. Especially since during the downpour, the wind blew one of the staked down tents away and festival folks had to go bring it back and we all stood there holding the tents down so they wouldn't blow away....and the tent frames were metal and it was lightning close by. And the rain was blowing in the sides of the tent and drenching us and our chairs. Yeah, it was fun.

So my day:
Good: Didn't have to work Bad: Didn't feel good
Good: Got to lay out on the deck and get some sun Bad: It was super hot and the tan faded already
Good: Got close parking at the festival Bad: The booth was moved back and not close to the stage when they relocated uptown for the fourth and fireworks
Good: Got to hear more cool bluegrass Bad: It rained
Good: Got to see the fireworks Bad: Didn't have the good camera

Okay so its five. Gotta run.

Later.

SHEEESH

I am having some serious issues getting pictures to post here. It ACTS like its going to do it but then nothing appears. GRRRRRRRRRR. I HATE that. Well...guess it will just be more plain ol blog entries until I figure out why blogger doesn't like me anymore. *GRIN*

Okay so anyways...while I'm here I might as well post really quick. Yesterday was busy as usual...had choir practice between services, so that pretty much filled up the only empty spot of our Sunday afternoon. I was kinda grumpy, too, cuz I had a headache and I didn't get much of a nap. *sigh* Yeah I know...poor ol spoiled me. You feel real sorry for me, don'cha? I knew it. LOL....whatever.

Not much happenin today 'cept just making it a short day cuz I am working the booth at the *music* Festival in *a town* tonight....so I'll still be getting my time in, just not all in the office. *grin* I kinda like that. It will be fun, too. Our booth is close to the stage...so its good seats...LOL. So if you're there, you should stop by and see me. (SM, it'd be cool to see ya down there...its been quiet without ya here at work today and by the way thanks for commenting...I had to smile when I saw the comments. *GRIN*)

Alright...well...I'll try to keep ya posted even though my free time is rapidly (VERY) disappearing. *SIGHHHHHH* Anywho.

Later.

What a DAY!

So I wake up with a stinkin headache this morning at SIX FIFTEEN. That's like fifteen minutes earlier than I usually get up for work...and today was my day off. Do you know how irritating that is? I tried to go back to bed after I took some headache medicine but no such luck.

So finally about 9ish it goes away and then one of my friends calls and wants me to come over to the flea market cuz she's sellin some stuff at one of the tables. (I should insert here that I was on my own today since KC was over at a friends house helping him put up siding.) So I get dressed and head over there and hang out for about an hour....then another friend that was over there happened to "lose" her girl and couldn't find her so we walked over the place to find her. I say "lose" but the girl is 12 and wasn't really lost, she just was walking around with a friend and stayed gone a little too long and a little too far away. Which kinda worried the mom. Understandably so. Worried me, too, since I happen to know what kind of perverts are out there. Anyways, all is well that ends well but we spent at least 30 minutes looking for her and panicking before we did find her. =)

Back home again finally, and still alone, (poor me...LOL...actually, not b/c I got a lot done) I work on my computer for a few hours and get the photoblog rearranged a bit which takes a couple hours. That was kinda fun...I was really not expecting to have any free time today since KC told me to leave my schedule open for us to do something today (although he didn't specify what). So I didn't schedule anything and he ended up being busy which left me with a free day. Kinda nice actually. Okay I'm sidetracked here.

Anyways, so then I call KC and find out that he's not going to be home for awhile, so I run some stuff for work over to the festival for the booth volunteers and end up hanging out in the booth for about an hour or so and listening to a couple local bands playin bluegrass. Pretty fun but toasty out there....

Back to the house again and finally realize that I might as well just fix meself something to eat since its around 3 now and all I've had is half a lil debbie cake and a rootbeer (probably why I got a little, teeny-tiny bit lightheaded at the flea-market earlier in the day...oops....sorry mom....i'm still working on my eating habits). Anyways, KC gets home and gets a shower and then he lays down for a nap while I work on some lovely laundry and read a book. (The book was fun...remember when I said I'd rather read a book than do my chores? LOL)

Bout 5:30 or so, we're ready to go again and head back over to the FeStIvAl on the Greenway to hear....dum da da dummmmmm

Okay the picture isn't posting. Don't know what's up with that. How irritating since I finally have a picture to post. GRRR. Ah well...I'll just tell ya...

The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. And they were AWESOME! We stayed through that and then Mountain Heart came onstage...they were cool, too. I thought I was going to DIE though when these two rednecks got right up in front of the stage and started "dancing." Not that I call what they were doing dancing...it was really really REALLY disCUSTING. Glad we were sitting in the booth off to the side and not the middle of the front row. I'd have HAD to move. YUCK. Wouldn't have been so bad if they'd been maybe 150 pounds lighter and a little less....um....jiggly...and if the jiggly part wasn't hanging out as far. ROFL!!!! Not to mention the fact that when they started slow dancing I felt like telling them to get a room. EW. What was really funny is that the guys in the band even made a couple of smart comments about it and they didn't even get embarrassed. Everybody was cracking up....

Other than the sideshow, the bluegrass music was pretty fun (until it started storming right before the end of the show...oops...somebody forgot to inform the weather). I'm supposed to be in the booth to actually WORK on Monday night from 5-9 and the Grascals are going to be there then...so that should be pretty fun. Although, while I was in the booth today, I actually got put to work a couple times when people had questions about station business stuff and all that.

And that my friends is my weekend thus far. Maybe I can get that picture to post later. *sigh* Irritating that it won't since I have a serious lack of pictures on this thing (they all seem to migrate over to the photoblog...LOL....duh...guess that is why its called a photo....). Anyways. Maybe later.

On that note.....

Later!