Hilarious

Post over at MamaLikey. :) Check it out.

Updates

Ok, so i've been more than a little slack with updating my blog. I'm kind of hitting a tough point at work right now. We're in our busy time, and this year it seems like a few extra projects are being thrown into the mix to test our endurance. Between that and some family obligations I feel a bit frazzled already even though it's barely gotten into full-swing. I'd hoped to take a class this summer, but have put that hope by the wayside, and am going for survival. Anyway, so take that as my wee bit of explanation of why those pics don't seem to be uploading themselves, and the stories aren't getting told. I'll keep trying.

Things that I plan to keep trying to fit in:

Time with my family.
Workout time.
Time with the girls, to share pictures, stories, and chill (eating and drinking would be good thrown into that mix I think). Also time to catch up with some of my pretend internet friends. In real life. :)
Gardening. (that was on my poster plotting out my year). I did plant a few pumpkin seedlings tonight. Randomly of course. Seems that this will be another year to pass with a less than formal garden. Oh well, pumpkins and tomatoes are still pumpkins and tomatoes no matter where they grow, right?
Reading.
Time with my honey. This will be a challenge now that both of our schedules are ramping up.

Anyway, for now I just wish someone would cook me dinner, pour me a glass of wine, and pull up that episode of The Office that I missed a few weeks ago. :) Instead i'll go fix dinner, pull up to the computer and hammer out another page for work, and then go to bed.

Give Life?

Ok, so another link for you. From now until the 19th of May you can join the bone marrow registry for free. You don't even have to pay for tissue typing, they will send you a swab kit to your home, with a postage paid mailer to send it back. Anyway, check out the link and think about it. It took about 15 minutes to fill out the registration form. You could get called for marrow or blood cells, but you always have the right to say no, it is a multi-step process before you've agreed if they think you're a match.

Anyway, now i'll go back to killing. Ants, that is!

Wisdom and Cookies

I just read a post over on Brazen Careerist, Penelope Trunk's blog. Check it out here. Interesting post on looking at your childhood to see what you should be doing now. What do I remember from my childhood? A vivid imagination, a desire to teach people things, reading until I was forced to play, loving plants and exploration. Hrrrmmmmm............


In other notes, I had Chinese food with grandma. Buffet food, don't ask. However, that means I have a fortune to share with ya'll!

"You will be fortunate in the opportunities presented to you". :) (it really included that smiley face at the end.......since when did fortunes have emoticons?)

Tidbits from the Tired

I'm tired. My allergies are going nuts, and work has worn me out quite a bit (sadly it is only Tuesday!). So I'll be a bit lazy with this post.

I found this post over at My Open Wallet to be quite interesting. I love Moleskine notebooks too. In fact one of those traveled with me for the infamous Belize trip. Kept track of money (we traded money around the group a bit depending on who had the proper currency of the moment), made some notes to aid my swiss-cheese memory, and just used it to contain my randomness for the week. Didn't fill it by any means, so it will continue to travel with me every day. Handly little thing.

I don't really know what is going on with my last travel post. I have tried to make it all line up and be readable. If you feel like deciphering those randomly skinny sections go for it. Otherwise, the short story is that we had fun. 2nd half of day one involved a cookout for St. George's day, meeting my friend's new army friends, seeing some dude dressed up as St. George, and having some entertaining discussions. Slept in a cute hotel with a great view for really cheap. They turned the power out on us at 10. We sailed on. Spent a day at Caye Caulker, missed our bus b/c our boat ride was distracted by some scantily clad tourists. Spent the night in Belize City on a PCV's floor (thanks!), and then off to Cayo. I'll continue from there soon enough. The picture attached to this post is of our hotel in Cayo. I'd be torn to pick Cayo/San Ignacio or the Cayes if I had to pick where to live in Belize. :)

Oh, and don't forget to check out http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/ if you get a chance. There are a lot of people in need out there tonight. They were among the first to provide aid in Myanmar, and often do the same around the world.

In times of need......

Given current world events in Myanmar and China I'll throw out my quick pitch for Doctor's Without Borders. www.doctorswithoutborders.org or www.msf.org if you aren't in the U.S. Just a thought.

Pretend internet friends

So this weekend was a bit eventful. I took Friday off work, so I'll define weekend a bit broadly. Thursday night I had dinner with my grandmother and step-mother. They dropped me off, and continued home. With my cell phone in the back seat of step-mo's adorable little bug. No biggie, right. Except I have no land-line, and as soon as I turned the tv on a Tornado Warning popped up. For those who don't experience those, a Warning means that a tornado has been sighted. A watch means there is the potential for a tornado. Ok, talk about a freakout. I have no way to tell anyone that i'm safe, and then a touchdown is reported on boyfriend's street corner. What's a girl to do? Email her "pretend internet friends". You see, i've been posting on a forum for years. That forum has become a great community for me. I've met a few members in person, count one as a neighbor, and can usually find an answer or advice on anything that crosses my path. So, I posted, and found 2 women who would make phone calls for me. The first, a woman in Chicago that i've never seen in real life called the restaurant and coffee shops that i'd been in that day to narrow down that it was in fact with my step mother. Then as the storm worsened she called my step mother to reassure her that I simply had lost my phone and had not been swept away to Oz. After the touchdown near the boyfriend her and another friend in Colorado took time to call my boyfriend at home and cell repeatedly to check and see if he was ok and to let him know of my phone woes. His number didn't work at first, but they finally got through and left a message. He was already heading my way, having evacuated his 2nd story apartment. I'm not sure that i've ever been so relieved or thankful. So, anyway, this is my shout out to them!

And we're drifting........

Me, ignore the bottles all around me. My camera was taken at this point under the premise of taking a picture of me. It then made a grand tour of the party without me. Most of those pictures will not be posted, and in fact have been destroyed. I particularly loved the random pictures of beer bottles!

The view from our room on St. George's. Split down to $12 US for each of us it wasn't a bad deal, even if the power went out at 10!
Looking back at the hotel from the

boat as we left for our 2nd day adventure.....another post.

Alli. Totally in her element on the whole trip! (Oh, and if you ever need a tour guide to Belize you should bribe her....well worth it!)

Alli's friend Catherine and a Scot she met at the party. Catherine lives in the very beautiful Cayo district, which you'll see if we ever make it to day three of the journey. :)
Alli and her friend Steve. Sorry, that's the best pic that I caught. Alli knows a suprising number of people named Steve, which often confuses me. So far they all seem nice.
Ashley and Monty. I really think this is a perfect picture of Monty. Not sure I could explain why. ;)

Hanging out at a cookout on St. George's. We were a bit tired, but it was still a riot.
One of Alli's friends, who dressed up as St. George. It was apparently St. George's day. Who knew. Small children cried, but my favorite reaction can be seen by looking at Ashley's eyes in the lower right-hand corner of this picture. :) That may have been mid eye roll!

Just another snap. That costume apparently included a Dolly Parton wig.

So, you think those pics were good? We really did have a good time on the trip. Took a few days to calm down to "Belize time", and I'm not sure i'll recover from that!



Anyway, after the sandbar party we traveled on to our hotel room on St. George's. Nice view. We got ready and attended a little cookout party at the local army camp. Yup, odd thought. Peace Corps partying with the British Army. Diplomacy all around. A bit hesitant, but we really did meet some cool folks. Fish and chips and drinks. Discussed the best places to retire/live. Consensus among the Brits seemed to revolve around Spain, Greece, and Cyprus. Having never been to any of those places I'll have to take all their words on that. I was simply thinking Belize felt nice. :) Long hike back to the hotel and some headlamps to see by and we crashed for the night. Now mind you our hotel told us there was no checkout time. "Stay as long as you like" they said. Or, maybe just until we turn off the electricity around 10am. Because you'll have very little circulating air and it will quickly top 100 degrees in your room. Hurry up and shower girls, we're moving on! Anyway, didn't catch the name of the hotel, but our little room had a ton of beds, we fit 5 girls in, so it ended up being about 12 dollars US each. Not bad for the first night's budget!

Stories to tell in years to come......

Ok, so I flew to Belize, with some of my closest gal pals. Sounds fun, right? Less than an hour after getting off the plane we were on our way by boat to a sandbar party in the middle of the bluest ocean I've ever seen! Hosted by British Army peeps. Memorable moments include changing under a sarong on the boat. Right beside the volleyball game. Dropping a steak into the ocean was entertaining too. Met some great people, and got to see my good friend in her element. She's a PCV (peace corps volunteer), and I really enjoyed seeing her there. Anyway, enjoy the pics, I'll post more later, after all this is just from the first half of the first day. 6.5 more days to go! Caving, Mayan ruins, skeletons, Ohioan tourists torturing snakes, jungle cruises, and the most ghetto hotel I've ever slept in. All soon to be seen on this blog. :)

I'm back!

Belize was fabulous! I'll try to post about the trip soon with trips and stories. Until then I'll leave you with a quote:

The time is always right, to do what is right. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Don't forget to vote ya'll!

Green

Ok, the NYTimes magazine has a green issue today. Available online, and worth a look if you have the time.


Other thoughts on consumption here from the Happiness project. I'll be trying to follow this as much as possible when I get back from my trip. I need to spend less, pay down debt, and declutter my home and life. Small goals, right? :)

Superstitions

Ok, I like to think that I'm not superstitious. Until I notice myself touching the roof of my car after kissing my hand because I just ran through a yellow light. Or I skip a step so that I won't step on the crack in the sidewalk. (I'm getting better at this one. Kind of. )

Today I mowed the lawn. I took a momentary break and heard my neighbor calling my name. She wanted to know if I wanted a few "railroad lilies". If you haven't heard of them they are those orange daylilies that often grow on the sides of roads, in drainage ditches, and apparently (i'm guessing from the name) near railroad tracks. My answer? "Sure". I never turn away free plants, particularly in the "year of the garden". This is my year to focus on the exterior of my house and make my backyard, in particular, a welcoming place.

I started to thank my neighbor, and here is where the topic of superstitions comes up. According to M., if you thank someone for giving a plant you guarantee that the plant will die. M. got this from her mother.

I thanked M. again, and this time it was for her company. A few hours later and I had several groupings of lilies, I'd planted a daylily that I bought last year and never planted, planted a mystery plant that I picked up on a road trip with Lizzy from the Harbour (see my blogroll), finished mowing my lawn. Not a bad day at all. :)

Anyone got some plants to share/split/seed share? I'll gladly accept, and in turn I won't thank you!

Quote for Ya'll

"I'm always doing things I can't do, that's how I get to do them." - Pablo Picasso



food for thought I guess. i tend to let fear hold me back, sometimes on the most mundane of things. :) Hope ya'll had a good saturday......

Ow! Ow! Ow!

Just being a wuss here. 3 shots and two prescriptions later I'm almost ready for my trip.

Where am I going? Well, one of my guidebooks uses the phrase: "south of paradise, north of frustration". Intriguing? I thought so, at least enough to drive me to the doc for my travel vaccinations and prescriptions.

Now i'm packing my new backpack to see if it will fit everything I need to bring and leave room to pack treats for friends. It might work better if I weren't randomly throwing things into the bag. Maybe tomorrow while I'm accompanying Grandmere to her doc appointments I can make a list. Hmmmm.................... I'll need to order the larger pack tomorrow if this one doesn't work to make sure it arrives before I depart for the tropics!

Any ideas for packing?

Forgive Me, I Have Sinned

Ok, after untold number of years boycotting Walmart for various reasons I slipped up this week. I bought a 14 dollar pair of pants there while accompanying my grandma. They were perfect for my upcoming trip to Central America. I feel dirty. I'll be donating 15 dollars somewhere, and renewing me resolve. Dressed in my new pants. ;)


In other news, i've managed to watch another season's Idol Gives Back, this time without bawling, but with a renewed urge to adopt all African orphans. That family of boys with no grownups? Heartbreaking. *sigh*. Maybe i'll send one.org or doctorswithoutborders.org a donation this week, and think about little boys who don't get much opportunity to laugh and play like I did as a child.

Theeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyrrrrrrrrrre Heeeeeeeeere!

Ants. The darn ants are back. Between that and a not so joyful email this evening i've been contemplating climbing into bed a few hours early and just sleeping until the first frost. Ack!

Dear Mr. Cardinal,

Good morning! I just wished to check on you. Thought your head might hurt a bit today. After all, you did attack my car yesterday. Ok, I admit that it is red, but seriously? Did you really think that it was a giganto cardinal that needed to be sent packing? When this happened last week I tried to be forgiving. Even after you decided to poo upon my window. This week, well, I thought you might have learned. Apparently not, as you continued to peck at my car in the drenching rain, forcing me to move my car to another spot of the parking lot. It was apparently satisfactory (not near your "territory" or baby mama perhaps?), and yet was much further from the door. Thanks!

Your friend,

NFTGS

And He Shall Be Called....

Compost. Yup, finally named my goldfish. Final choice? Compost. Because I've managed to kill him, and that's where he ended up. Prior to that name he rotated through a variety of choices, including: Zucchini, Joy, and Sushi. Perhaps my inability to settle on a name was a sign that Compost was not long for this world? More likely that I'm overworked, and super tired this week and last week. I'm sorry dear Zucchini. I didn't mean to hurt you.


Oh, and dear readers, hope you don't mind but I turned on the comment moderation. I promise to try to stay on top of it. I just want to make sure that I can read all comments, and those Asian languages ones? Yeah, not so much. Let me know what ya'll think, 'kay?

Darn Laundry!

I wanted to be in bed sleeping 10 minutes ago. Unfortunately that was about the time that I discovered that my sneakers were dirty. The sneakers that my boss so graciously announced that I could wear tomorrow. Argh. Wonder if I can sleep through "sneakers in the dryer"?

Anyway, check out this story about Dooce's dog and a raccoon. The pictures are worth the click!

Sounds like Heaven........

This does, really. I seem to like the idea of creative escapes. Hrrrmmmmm......... this or a cute little cottage in the backyard? Or both? One day.......

If you get a chance check out Saturday's Happiness Quote over at the Happiness Project, here. That might be a book I need to add to my Goodreads list. Have you seen the movie Finding Neverland? Truly a favorite.

Now, let's see, what have I been up to? Went to Virginia for a little racin'. (You have to call it "racin'" not racing. At least in my head that is the way the rules work. Up to Martinsville, VA for a little Nascar fun. Hard to believe that I'm falling for that racing stuff. Swore I wouldn't all my younger days, then I get taken to one race 3 years ago, and here I am. Sitting in frigid temps, in misty, sleety, drizzle. Watching cars turn left for a few hours. ;) Fun, I promise.

Ok, that's enough updating for now. Gotta get to bed. Early days for much of this week, and I'm not yet rested from last week.

Me.

I was that kid for a period of middle school. Mostly on the bus. My classroom was mostly safe, although a few that road my bus tried to stir it up. 5th grade too, I got switched to that class late because of overcrowding. Did that make me different, or more vulnerable?

I hope this kid's parent win the suit, and that he finds peace.

Have You Had Enough?

I've got another quote for you:

"If you don't know where you are going, you'll end up someplace else." -Yogi Berra

So true, and perhaps perfectly describes my life. :)

Credit revolution

Thought this was interesting. Especially since I'm now one of those people who got their interest rate jacked up recently. No apparent cause, and no they're not dropping it. I'll be closing that account, am working out a way to do that right now. I'm tired of it.

Who Else?

Who else is grateful that it is a Thursday that might as well be a Friday? I'm thrilled. Now if I can just make it through today. On par for the weekend: family time, maybe some weeding/garden prep work, and reading more of my book.

How about you?

Quote

Started to clean out my bag today. Didn't finish, mind you, but I started. Anyway, among the oddities that I found at the bottom was this quote:

"Insist on yourself. Never imitate." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thought it worth sharing. No fortune cookie to share. I left it on the table at dad's house. Maybe it will be there when I go over later this week.

Links, always with the links.

Go read this article at My Open Wallet. About an Irish dancing program at a public school in the Bronx. Maybe send them a check. Think of it as a tax deduction with a purpose, mmmmkay? Very cool stuff.

Spring in the Step

I'm totally loving the weather this week. Sunshine, and warm air. Aaaaah.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm totally addicted to Pandora. www.pandora.com is a pretty cool online radio station that you create yourself. Type in the name of a fave artist or song and you create your own radio station. You can rate the songs or artists that pop up, and the station changes according to your loves. Really loving it. Pop in the headphones at work and the production level goes up immediately.

Anyway, got some stuff to get done before sleep. Still not sleeping very well lately. I could sleep now, but these are things that must be done before I sleep.

Ciao!

Confession

I read this section of the NY Times online every week. Not the whole thing, and sometimes I don't open any of the links. However, I always check to see if they've got a good one. Must be the voyeur in me, I guess.

Just call me "Nerd"

I want one of these in my town.

Dear Mr. Sandman..........

Please let me sleep tonight without all these tiring quest-like dreams. 4 nights in a row of long dreams that involve travel, a problem to solve, or a job? Really?! It's too much, and makes me want to go back to bed when I should be getting up for work.

I Really Love.......

That Dooce does a monthly commemorative post for her daughter. Kind of a Happy monthly birthday kind of thing. She's a great writer, an amazing photographer, and her kid is cute too. Check it out when you get a chance.

Seen on Saturday

*A woman in sandals. Aaaah, spring is coming!
*Kernel Kustard. Perfect place to eat on a spring-ish day. Carolina dog with fries (fries were mediocre), and followed up with a Turtle kustard. Mmmmmm.
* My hyacinths are starting to look blu-ish. Yay, pretty hyacinth smell near my door very soon.

What have you seen today?

Sunny Saturday

I'm still piddling along with this cold. Doc says rest and fluids are the key. How boring, eh?

Anyway, it is a beautiful, sunny (if a bit windy) Saturday here. Tad bit chilly, but nice. Found out that granny got sprung from the nursing center last night and is getting settled with my dad. Yay! I will say that the speed with which they kicked her out of the place, after the doc gave the ok, is a bit frightening. Thank goodness my illness free relatives move fast!

Plans for today: loan the mini-suv to boyfriend so that he can move some furniture. (I washed it this morning, and it is amazing how quickly I forget how pretty it can be when shiny. Thought it best to get the salt spray that I got hit with (direct hit while trying to make a turn and happening upon the rear end of a sprayer truck) last week off the car before it started eating the car. Straighten up the house a tiny bit. Read. Catch up on reading my google reader. Try to decompress.

The last of those is probably the key one for today. I'm quite tense. Between work, family illnesses, my own cold and following isolation, impending rounds of more family visitation, and just general life, I have noticed today that I'm kind of "wound up". Not hyper, but tense. Aware. Ready to pounce. Leftover fight or flight I guess from the happenings of past weeks. Wish I felt up to a walk around the neighborhood, that usually helps, but i'm a little too out of breath for it today. Maybe tomorrow.

What are your plans today?

Random Thoughts On Thursday

1. Girl Scout Cookies need to be a year 'round event. Mmmm, love me some Samoas. (also known as Caramel Delites depending on the year/region/baker)
2. How can tissues take up so much room in the trashcan?
3. I'm sick of being sick.
4. I'm really sick when I know that the new episode of Lost is playing and I'm not watching it. I hope boyfriend's DVR is working. Thank goodness the writer's strike is over, so I can watch it online if necessary.
5. I left my book at boyfriend's house, and although I probably wouldn't make any progress on it tonight I'm annoyed that it isn't here.
6. I wish someone would take care of me, and that I could just lay out tomorrow and rest.
7. My fortune cookie last night says: "Failure is the mother of success."
8. I'm going to go find a magazine and curl up in bed. I probably won't read the magazine, but I will feel productive.

'night!

I Need You to Dance

Kind of like a rain dance, but instead you'll do a dance to keep me from getting sick. I'm not how the dance goes, but I hope you'll do it anyway. I just don't want to miss out on visiting and can't get her sick.......... (please, please, please don't let it be that i've already infected her!) Anyway, I'm faintly coughing and just a tiny bit fuzzy heades, so i'm going to bed. Keep dancing until I'm better, ok?

I'm Loving This

Go over to Esbee's blog, Life In Forsyth, for a post on Southern kitchen staples. My brain isn't working, but I'm determined to add to it. It is sooo true.

I'm thinking cream of tartar. I was always told to use it to scrub pans. What else..................?

Hideaway

After perusing the New York Times online, I suddenly want someone to build me a mokki. Sweet!