Oh la Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday! And Brady's, too. I don't usually make a big deal out of birthdays, mostly because my birthday is so close to Christmas that I've never really been able too, but it's just not that big of a deal for me.

So yesterday my best friend and I went a ran a few errands/went shopping, and then B and I went to dinner...


...at Texas Roadhouse.

Then we headed downtown. During the winter, there is an ice rink set up downtown in the middle of everything in our version of "times square". It was a swell idea...



...until we noticed that the sign said "admission closes 1 hr prior to rink closing." The rink closed at 10, and we got there at 8:50 and didn't get in.

So we took a few pictures of the things around us in the square...




...and went home. Ha!

But it was a good birthday. B got me some roses and an Everlon Diamond Knot necklace (that I told him I loved, but didn't want him to get when it wasn't on sale and it wasn't...men apparently think you aren't being serious when you say that haha). It was a lovely day, and tomorrow is new years eve so good times are still a-comin!

Happy Belated Kwanzaa

...Hanukkah and Christmas. It seems like it's been forever since I've posted anything. Also...I have to say that I found it funny that like 3% of bloggers make posts on Saturdays, but 85% of bloggers posted on Christmas. Awesome.

Christmas around here was awesome. I got a new camera, which was exactly what I wanted, and it is AMAZING. It's a bit slow on the action shots, so most of the pictures I took of Brady on Christmas were a bit blurry. But the focus on this thing makes me want to kiss a frog. Check out this picture focus:



It doesn't get much better than that with a point and shoot camera.

B and I were also granted a Wii. I have since kicked his butt in every WiiSports game and WiiPlay game. I bought The Biggest Loser the other day, but haven't tried it out yet. I love Wii.

B was the proud recipient of a PSP (from yours truly) and a point and shoot camera from my parents--he's needed one because all he has now is an SLR and that's hard (and risky) to lug around all the time. He also got some clothes. Because he needs some, and he won't buy himself anything, so I took the money other people were going to spend on him and bought clothes with it. He loves them, and my honey is lookin' good.

Brady got a powered "quad" from her Nana and "Gupa" and slammed into things around the house with it, loving every second of it. She ran into the couch and promptly demanded "move da couch!"



B's mom also granted all of her kids and her kids significant others marshmallow guns. And spent a good half hour cleaning mini marshmallows out of the corners of her living room ;)

Tomorrow though? Tomorrow is my birthday! And it's also Brady's birthday--because putting that much awesome on two different days wouldn't really be fair to the rest of the world. She'll be 2 and I...won't...and we're be celebrating!

Googlisms Part Deux

In honour of the fact that I have done nothing exciting enough to talk about lately tomorrow is Christmas Eve, I thought I'd visit a few googlisms. For those of you who are not hip to the slang I use as if it actually means what I think it means have here on the blog, these are phrases people have googled and ended up on my blog somehow.

So...

is there wax in now and laters?
is there? because that would be good to know. that would be a very convenient truth.

Teyem Akrona
I'm thinking that doing a weird spelling of "tim akron" is probably not going to get you...well...anywhere except on this blog apparently.

casual suicide
there is none of that here. and I'm not sure how suicide can be "casual"...pretty sure it's the exact opposite of casual.

clown porn
i guess i was wrong. this is, apparently, a problem.

These last two need to be attacked together:

wedding dress with horses on it and wedding dress pictures flamingo
um...no. just no. trust me on this one.

Stained Glass Cookies

This was a fun recipe. And by fun, I do mean that it looked great on paper but made me want to fork my own eyes out in actuality.

Cut outs and I? We are not friends. Never have been, never will be. I don't even like the taste of cutouts. But these were just so pretty!

Ingredients were pretty simple. Jolly ranchers and cutout dough (in my case, homemade--unsalted butter, flour, one yolk, sugar, and vanilla).

According to the recipe, the prep time for this was 15 minutes. If someone can make all of this in 15 minutes, I'd be calling the world records group.

Step 1: Make dough, if doing so. Shape into 3 discs. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours. Then roll out.


Step 2: Using a large size and small size of the same (or different, I suppose, if you want) cutout, do cutouts from your dough (first with the big one, and then cut out the middle of the big cutout with the little cutout) and put them on a piece of parchment paper just big enough for a cookie sheet.

Step 3: Separate colors of jolly ranchers. The recipe says "red and green only." I don't know about you, but I can't remember the last time I've seen color specific packs of jolly ranchers, so I did all five colors in one original flavor bag and had wayyy more than enough.

Anyway. The next thing the recipe says to do is put the jolly ranchers in a food processor. I'm pretty anti-breakingthebladesonmyfoodprocessor/cleaningmyfoodprocessorbecauseihadtochopupjollyranchers so I put each color in a separate lunch bag, went out to the garage, and hit them with a hammer until finely chopped.

Here, I learned something: jolly ranchers stick together, even when finely chopped/hammered, even when only left for 10 minutes. I suggest doing one color at a time, because it become a royal pain to rehammer everything.



Step 4: Pour crushed ranchers into individual bowls or saucers or whatever you want. Then, using a tiny spoon (or a metal baby spoon, which worked great for me), spoon some into the middle cuts on your cutouts. The recipe says "level with the cutout"...I say "higher than the cutout" because level left a few holes.


Step 5: Bake. Recipe says 8-10 minutes "or until golden brown". If I cooked them for 8 minutes, they would have been black. 4 minutes and 30 seconds was just about perfect for me. It also says to let them cool on the cookie sheet, but I took them off (ON the parchment paper) and set them aside so they wouldn't continue to cook.

The recipe, supposedly, makes 36 cookies. I made probably a good 50, maybe more. Most of them were in my first few attempts at this and were burnt, broken, ugly, and thrown away. But hey...some of them turned out awesomely so it was worth it!


...and I'll never be making them again.

Too Much Into It

I have decided that I'm getting too excited about the world of cupcakes. I saw this recipe today, and the first thing I saw was "use fondant" and I'm all...eh, I'm not professional, fondant is just not for me.

And then I realized you can buy it on Amazon. AND edible ink pens. I don't really know where I thought professional bakers got these--I guess from the Private Professional Baker Store that I did not have access to--but Amazon? Rockin'. I added them both to my cart, but haven't bought them yet (I need $14 to get free shipping haha).

I'm getting too into this baking crap.

And I'm not sure I want to stop.

This recipe is super adorable. But, I'm not sure I can even make it because one of the things the baker used was a time specific thing from 2008. I have one of them, but I'm not sure I could find them this year. Either way, though, they won't be done for Christmas.

The stained glass cookies, however? I'm about to make the dough :)

Final Fantasies

I thought of that title before I wrote it down...and then I realized that it sounds more like a movie of continuous death than a week of finals. But, then I decided these finals could lead to death, so it may be appropriate anyway and kept it.

This is finals week. It's also final papers week. Personally, I think a class should have one or the other: a final paper, or a final exam. But, apparently the professors are not all of my side for this so most of my classes have both. And this week has gone as follows:

Sunday: Worked 9-4. Wrote 6 page research paper on Your Baby Can Read software vs. Linguistic Abilities. Accomplished zero studying, as paper took all night.

Monday: Worked 9-4. Went straight to campus. Studied for about an hour, ignored 250 definitions and 4 out of 6 chapters while doing so. Took linguistics final at 620. Got home about 845pm and started working on a Brit Lit paper.

Tuesday: Spent entire day writing 6 pages on the concept of chance in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Thanked sparknotes theme page. Turned in final at 615pm, returned home. Went to the mall to finish getting B's gifts from other people (the man will not buy the things he needs so he'll never be allowed to get cash as a gift).

Wednesday: Worked 830-330. Currently working on a 5 page paper about allegory in The Inferno (due 10am thursday). Really the easiest paper I'll have all week, but can't focus so instead I'm blogging. When completed, must study for the exam in Western Literature at 10am Thursday.

Thursday: Take exam at 10am in Western Lit and turn paper in. Drop by bank. Do take home final for Students with Exceptionalities. Study for in-class exam of Students with Exceptionalities.

Friday: Take Students with Exceptionalities final at 10am. Attend staff party at a place I don't work on the other side of town (:D), and work 3-930. Revise Linguistics final.

Saturday: work 10-5. SLEEP.

At some point, I have to sell my books back to the school for 10% of what I paid for them.

Needless to say, this week I HATE being an English major. Next semester? Zero English classes. Aha.

They DO!

Do you remember this post in which I described proper guest towel etiquette after our guests used the only towel not neatly in a nice clean pile?

Well, they visited again this weekend.

I got smart, though, and kept my own towel out of the bathroom. Ha. Beat that, suckers.

However, do you also remember me making a wise crack about them using my razor because it wasn't where I left it? Do you also remember that I was positive they had just knocked it off and put it back because of the shelf it was on?

They DO use my razor!

I put it up this time out of the way to where it was impossible to knock off, and both days I found it flipped the other direction on that spot. Does anyone else find this gross? Because I do. Ew.

One thing's for sure: I won't be using my scrubbie (known to the civilized world as a shower puff) anymore. Time for a new one.

Ew.

Life's a Beech!

First, there's this:


FACEinHOLE will be the death of me.
(Those of you not eagle-eyed, ehmm, that is not brangelina but is infact B and I)

And then there is retail at Christmas, in which my coworker and I were called "beeches" by a french guy today. Really doesn't strike fear with the accent. Really just makes me ache for some sand! And makes me laugh. Five hours later :)

And, a couple days ago, I bought some of those "earbuds" headphones that everyone loves now just to try them because I got a good price. I've never been more aware in my life that the hearing in my left ear is horrible. I hate them haha.

Also, on the calendar. I checked out Outlook and actually find it kind of awesome! But I checked out google, and that's awesome too. And if they could blend to make one perfect one, that would rock.

So far, I've found this about the two of them, which I'm only listing in hopes that you'll all tell me that there is a way to do this that I'm not finding:

Outlook:
-I can't put my tasks on my calendar and have to go to a separate spot to find those--which basically means I'm still using two calendars.
-One of you guys said something about color coding? And I'm wondering how that works, because so far the only thing I'm able to add to the calendar are "appointments" so I'm not sure what could be color coded. But I would like to know. Because I love colors!

Google:
-I can add a task to the calendar, but I can't add reminders to them.
-I can add events to the calendar, but everytime I try to click on it to edit the time on it, it never loads and therefore only holds an hour time slot when something (like work) is really 7-8 hours. But I LOVE the colors!
-How do you add the "events" on the bottom left side where it gives you a "suggested list" like "US holidays"? I see them. I want them. I can't get them on the stupid calendar!

Thanks for your help!

Calendar suggestions??

I have two calendars. One is on the back of my door. It keeps track of my work schedule and occasionally birthdays. The other is my school planner and, when I feel like adding something to it, it keeps track of my school due dates.

However, I don't really use either with much functionality. My most accurate and most used organizational system? Post-it notes on my desk overhead.



They don't stick very well. But, that's not the biggest problem. The biggest issue is that they don't smack me in the face and remind me when I have something due. (Dear Post It: Please create face-smacking notes. Thanks, Via)

What I really need is a desktop calendar for my computer. One of those where you enter all kind of things (like appointments, schedules, assignments due, etc) and you can set a "reminder" for an hour before, the day before, the week before or whatever you want that will pop up on your computer automatically on that day at that time.

Does this exist?

Keep in mind that I'm not fancy and I'm still working on XP and Microsoft 2003. I think something like this exists on the Vista, but I don't know. And it's irrelevant since I'm "ancient" here.

I really, really need it.

I used to not need one. I used to be able to keep things in order with my memory. That skill apparently flew out the window sometime this summer because it's long gone now. Geez, losing my memory already!

I'd really appreciate some suggestions!

Giveaways of Glory

There is this group of people giving away a number of one thing. It's awesome, and I never win anything but I always indulge in pretending like I'm feelin' lucky (right, google?).

So these awesome bloggers are indulging me this week with their giveaways:
MckMama
Kelly
Stephanie
BooMama
and Steph and NieNie.

But you should absolutely definitely not look...because you prefer that I win ;)

PeaceCorps

I have considered, for many years, a stint in the PeaceCorps. And if B and I hadn't gotten together, I probably would have done it. After my experience in Africa, all I wanted to do is travel and do service work. I would do it for my job if I could (and B could go with me). I even had a dream this week that I was getting ready to "just run down to Kenya for a week" (my words in my dream, like I just did that all the time and it was no biggie).

Because, who doesn't love toting 2 month olds around like this:



But things are different now. I do have B, and he'll be in and out of the country all the time already, and I don't want to be away from him for two years. But this is something I really wanted to do before starting a family (which is a big part of why I'm not against waiting four years to do so). I'd really, really love to do something PeaceCorps-like for six months or a year. You know, if I ever graduate. The kicker is that it has to be something that pays me. Not to sound selfish, because it's not about me getting paid to do it, it's about me not being able to pay to do it. I used that account on Kenya (which I wouldn't change if given the chance, just saying that it's gone).

And I want to do it in another country. There are things here that I can volunteer for, and I do when possible, but it's not the same as going to another country. Going to another country lets you experience a completely different culture than your own while helping out, which is such a fabulous thing to do.

I'm kind of looking into doing a teaching stint abroad, but it's hard to get into that and find one that pays you--but not impossible.

But that's not really PeaceCorps-like. And I'm open to suggestions if anyone knows anything that is and is more like six months...? Hmm?

Stories from the Phonotographer

Since my camera broke a few weeks ago (sad!) I have been taking just a couple photos with my cell phone. Which are horrible, by the way. But tell a good summary of things that have been happening lately...



The best game of Jenga ever played. At work. Yea...we work hard.



My sister's "crosseyed chinese cat." He fell off this table immediately after this picture. He's so awesomely random.



There is a bridge here. With iron walls and a ceiling. You can't see it because of the ridiculous fog. ...not that I took this while driving, or anything...



This crazy guy hangs out on my campus. He rants about completely random and conspiracy theory things. This time he was yelling about sports drinks causing alcoholism. He calls himself "Magician of 1" ....yea.



We bought some of those "growing capsules" at the dollar store the other day and tossed them in a bowl of water. Chase was fascinated.



This is why I never fill the truck's gas tank. I usually stop at $20. In the end I spend the same amount, but spending $50+ on ONE gas run makes me feel incredibly poor.

I also put up christmas and took a picture of it, but apparently that pictures doesn't wish to appear in my email. Sad!

World AIDS Day

Today is world aids day. Today Devil U pulled off the only awareness stunt I've ever been impressed with from them. They basically had a bunch of random students in the middle of class change put duct tape on their mouths and hold signs with AIDS facts on them while frozen in motion, as if they were just walking to their next class. It was awesome.

It reminded me of this, where 200 dances nonchalantly broke out in a huge dance in the middle of a train station in Belgium:



But AIDS is more than just a stunt.

33.4 Million people currently have HIV/AIDS.
2.1 million are children.
2.7 million people were newly infected in 2008.
.48 million were children.
2 million died of AIDS in 2008.
.28 million were children.

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.
Africa has over 14 million AIDS orphans.
At the end of 2008, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide
In developing and transitional countries, 9.5 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 4 million (42%) are receiving the drugs.

HIV/AIDS is a preventable disease.

Something has to happen...

Confessional Smeshional (Some Part...)

I just realized that it's been forever since I've done one of these. And I feel that the last day of November needs a post...so here goes!

First, though, did you know that November is National Adoption Awareness month? Most of you probably didn't. But you should. And now you do.

Hokay,

-We plan 100% on adopting a child. It was the number one condition that I had in any relationship with anyone. I made sure as I was dating, even before B, that these guys knew it was a priority for me and that if they weren't on board with it then there was no reason in us being together.

-I think bumper stickers are tacky. I don't think window clings are tacky.

-I like facebook better than myspace in large part because I can type "face" with one hand, and then it predicts where I want to go and I never have to use my other hand.

-The only calendars I buy are the $1 desktop calendars from Target. I put them on my bulletin board to keep my work hours straight.

-I just bought a Schwinn bike computer for my bike. It tells basically all the things that a treadmill computer tells you: speed, distance, calories burned, etc. I like to know how far I go, so I never ride anywhere without a "mile" track. Now I can.

-Until this year, I had no idea what the crap "cyber monday" was. Or that the day before Thanksgiving was one of the "biggest party nights of the year." I must have lived under a rock.

-I hate coffee.

-I really don't like online shopping. I want to see something, test it's quality, and THEN make the decision to buy it. Pictures don't really do anything for me.

-The fact that my weekly work hours are unpredictable really gets on my nerves. Just over the past six weeks, they have been (in order): 10, 10, 12, 29, 14, 34. Really. Just pick an extreme.

-I've lately fallen in love with the name "Farrah." With zero relation to Farrah Faucet.

-Today I waited at the window of Gold Star Chili for my chilidog for 5 minutes. I was the only person in the drivethru line, they all knew I was sitting there since every one of them looked at me at one point, and none of them even opened the window and said "just a second." So I left and went to the Wendy's next store. I was through the line and with my food in less than 60 seconds there. I do not feel bad about it.

-I can't wait to make stained glass cookies, peanut butter candy, and a sugarplums this year. But first I'm making deviled eggs, because I missed them on Thanksgiving!

Oh, and this kid? She's freakin' awesome.

Chase

Thanksgiving. I love it. You just can't beat the food.

This year, I realized I'm going to miss my dog so stinking much. That's weird, right? When we move, he's not going with us. He is my dog, and my mom wouldn't care at all if we took him, but my dad would be heartbroken and I can't do that to him. Even if that means I have to leave Chase here :(

We've had many dogs in the past. A bichon, a golden, a pomeranian, and my father has a minischnauzer (who is awesome as well, but not up to par with Chase). The bichon disappeared from our yard one day (there are suspicions of the neighbors down the street here), our golden died, and the pomeranian was more like a foster situation and now lives on a farm with another pomeranian making baby pomeranians. And we have Chase: our shiba, our rescue.

But both sides of my family go out of town for thanksgiving, and since I always have to work it's just me and Chase.

Chase, who doesn't bark (well, almost never anyway).


Chase, who hates the lake and water and can't swim but will sport a lifejacket anyway.


Chase, who will let the babies (and only the babies) play with his tail.


Chase, who still tries to run through 15 inches of snow.


Chase, who wears a seatbelt in the car because he gets so excited that he can't sit still.


Chase, who doesn't understand why I take so many dang pictures of him.


Chase. Who I can't help but stinking love more than I think is healthy for a person to love a pet.


I'm going to miss him. Even though we're planning on getting a dog of "ours," it's just not the same.

It's not Chase.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year, with all of my parents out of town, we spent the entire day with B's family and it was wonderful!

Working at a ten hour shift at 430am tomorrow, so must go get some sleep!

Little People and Ninjas

Yesterday we put up Christmas allll over my house. And then I wrapped a million Christmas gifts. Even though I usually have all of my shopping done by Thanksgiving, I never wrap anything until Christmas week. So that was exciting.

And then I settled down for a couple hours and watched "Little Parents."

And decided that they were the little version of Jon and Kate. But with 7 fewer children.


AND I saw an infomercial on this. I don't watch infomercials. I turn them off. But I couldn't turn away from this...


I sooo want it. And if it's bought on the promo site, we get 2 for $60! Who wants to go in halfs with me??!!?? Hmm?!?!?!

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

B's normal response to things when he doesn't know what else to say is "it happens." What can I say, the guy doesn't like to leave a conversation hanging. Usually this phrase works. Tonight, it didn't. But it was soo funny.

We were talking about Garth Brooks coming out of retirement today while waiting for our movie to start.

I said, "I liked Garth Brooks until he cheated on his wife with Trisha Yearwood."
B shrugged and said, "It happens."
...I quickly turned the death stare on him and said, "...it WHAT?!"
B almost jumped out of his skin, "TO OTHER PEOPLE! TO OTHER PEOPLE!"

Haha. I knew he didn't really mean it like that, since it's just a response he says to everything. But I'm totally holding it over his head for awhile. And telling everyone. Because I thought it was hilarious.

P.S. The Blind Side is a FANTASTIC movie. See it! Seriously! It could be the best feel good sports movie...ever. :)

Themes and Things

Our wedding gained a theme this week accidentally. Don't ask how it happened--I have no answer. Welcome to the theme.



Decided on the cake: 3 tier, and then 14 dozen cupcakes. They are cheaper than cake slices, but taste better than sheet cakes--plus I have a small cupcake obsession.

Ehmm.

On the up and up, we've also gained a 16-pc set of pots and pans, a 12-serving set of silverware, and two other pans. Macy's had a sale. My grandma and mom enjoy bargain hunting for crap for us. I don't mind it, of course.

However, we have 2 showers and a 300 guest wedding worth of items to register for. And most likely a two-bedroom apartment to put them in. They should probably stop buying us things! :D

Christmas shopping yet? I am. Presents to go: 3 and a half. Everyone else is done. And I'm out of money, so it's a good thing!

Plus I ordered the bridesmaid gifts today!

Let me see that tootsie rollll....

Camera Shopping & Baby Stevie Wonder

Friday night my camera died. It was a sad day. I've had that camera for 5 years. It was not an expensive camera: just a little point and shoot kodak easyshare. Within the first month of me owning it, Little Man threw it down the stairs. It lived with no issues. After that I let the kids play with it. Brady chewed on it all the time when she was little. I've spilled things in it. Not long ago I accidently took it for a swim while taking some photos. Last year it lived through many rough and tumble Kenyan children who have a love for taking photos, particularly with my camera since I was the only one who would let them touch their camera.

But now it's gone. It actually still takes photos, but the screen is busted so you can't see them. It was really time for a new one anyway, but it's just so sad. Especially for the kids, because when I get a new one they will not touch it. Sorry, lovelies.

I think I'm going for a canon this time. The only issue I had with the kodak was it's lack of close focusing. The canon, even the point and shoot, seems to do a pretty decent job of that. Of course, not nearly as well as any SLR will do, but B has a canon SLR and we really can't afford another one right now nor do we really need one. A point and shoot will do. I'm hoping to rope my mother into getting one for me for Christmas :)

Onto more exciting weekend things!

This weekend was my first born nephew's 9th birthday. This nephew and his sister will hereafter be referred to as Tile and Noodle. These are not nicknames I gave them, just for the record. Tile gave Noodle her nickname, and Brady gave Tile his. Other than these two I do actually call these children by what I call them on here--I hate real names, they are boring. Brady is called Brady. Little Man is called Little Man occasionally, but I usually call him E. I call Boo by Boo and Cabbage by Cabbage. Tile and Noodle have other nicknames that they are called, though. But I won't use those on here because they are too close to their actual names.

Anyyyway. B (who I do call B. there is another person in my family with the same name as him, and it makes it easier to use "B" to clarify) and I took Brady to this party for Tile. Tile doesn't usually celebrate his birthday here, as he lives a state away, but this year he did. Brady and Tile do not belong to the same side of my family: my parents are divorced and Brady is my niece by my mom and Tile is my nephew by my dad. Therefore, Tile and Noodle had never met Brady. So what did they think of her?

Instant Love.



This is Brady sporting some sunglasses she found.
Noodle is here and was thoroughly attached to Brady all night.
That thumbs up for approval? That would be Tile.

About ten seconds later Brady turned around and was showing her sunglasses to all the adults and they were telling her how pretty they looked. She lifted her arms in the air and said: "Thank you, audience!"

Brady will only be two years old just after Christmas. She's got the most ridiculously awesome personality!

My nieces and nephews are simply the best ever. Sorry, but it's true!!

The Hiney Flu

I went to lunch today with my grandmother and my mom. I am still laughing from this simple conversion:

Gram: "Let me tell you this funny story. You know that hiney flu?"
Mom: "...the what flu?"
Gram: "The hiney flu. You know, that one that used to be swine flu? That's what everyone is calling it now"
Mom: "You mean H1N1?"
Gram: "No, it's hini."
Mom: "Mom, it's H1N1, not hini."

I have no idea what her funny story was about, but it was absolutely irrelevant because my mom and I could NOT stop laughing before she even told it! Hiney flu! ;D

Another funny. My Gram and my nephew Little Man, who is the "aisle runner" at our wedding, were talking about the wedding the other day. My niece, Brady, is mixed race caucasian and african-american. Little Man does not have much racial diversity in his life and he's only 8, so he doesn't quite get it. What he does get? Dora.

Little Man: "I might have to help the flowergirls too."
Gram: "Who would you help?"
Little Man: (who is not great with names) "...that little girl. She's kind of brown. I think she speaks Spanish."

Lol! Gotta love kids!

Also, found some serving and place settings I do believe we're going to get. I texted B about them so he could check them out. What I meant to say was "I found some plates on clearance that are really cool." Apparently "plates" and "slaves" use the same numbers on texts, so what I really said was "I found some slaves on clearance that are really cool."

...that solicited a quick phone call from my dear fiance haha!

What do you think? They are color-pop-awesomeness, in my book. They are also $85 for 8 place settings and a serving set, which basically means "I want them, because when I get sick of them I won't feel guilty throwing them away and getting new ones."

Blahblahblah

Do you ever have those days when you are just blah?

Today and yesterday have been those days for me. I don't know why, there's no reason, I've just been blah. You know? You know. Right?

And I've been thinking. Thinking is usually where I go wrong--blah moods cause this and are caused by this at the same time, I've come to realize. Brains...they just get you in trouble.

But I've been thinking about honesty. I'm not typically the kind of person to not say what she's thinking, which is both good and bad, but there is a difference between thinking someone's shoes are ugly and thinking that someone is ugly. Not that I would ever tell someone I thought they were ugly, just that honesty has a different meaning and a different set of rules depending on what you are being honest about. ...that was a bad example. Did anyone make any sense of that? I don't think you're ugly, I swear. Hmph.

There are a few things about me that most people don't know. Some things a few people know, some one person knows, one no on knows. It's not an accident that these things fall into these categories. I put them there. These things are not "your shoes are ugly" type things. But even B doesn't know most of them, and I'm torn between whether or not that's okay.

It's not his fault--they are not things that would "come up" in conversation, no matter what the conversation was about. On one hand, I feel like these are my things and that they don't involve him and there is no reason he ever needs to know about them. On the other hand, I feel a little like "what's mine is yours" and that they do actually belong to him and that he should know them. And then I'm torn between the good that would come of it, like maybe him making sense of some of the things I do for what (now) seems like no reason, and the bad that would come of it, like B not knowing if he can/should say or do something that he would have previously said or done without a second thought because I promise that would happen. Sometimes I wish he just knew them magically, without me having to tell him. But then I start to think then I wouldn't really know how he really felt about it because that initial reaction is a true reaction, everything after it could be fake. But I almost feel like I'm protecting him in a way, too. That's stupid, I know. My brain is ob. nox. ious.

Does your husband/boyfriend/fiance etc. know everything about you?

I don't know.

See? Blah.

Engagement Photos!

We had our engagement photos last week with an amazing photographer, Bridgette Davis! They were a blast! I just picked up the disc today (which led to my car breaking down...again...but at least I got the pictures!). The CD came with 103 pictures on it. I picked 50 to put on facebook. I'll try to knock that down by 40 for you guys haha! It helps that I'm excluding all the ones with B's uniform nametag showing, and also that the uploader is being obnoxious tonight. :)

Thanks, BDphotography!

ROTFL...Literally

Oh the things your find at flea markets and outlets.

These are called "chuckle buddies." Yes, that is them laughing.


Need a shoe? Need a purse? Perfect solution.




As thought, I am completely over yesterdays fiasco. Thanks for your understandings! But, I suppose, as my mom put it "Honey, he's a guy. You can't expect him to get it without help."

And that, my friends, is why I love my mother. It's also why I suspect woman fall for gay men before they know they're gay.

Christmas gifts: 2.5 down, 20.5 to go. Current plan? Done by Turkey Day.

We'll see.

Because You Said So

So, this is going to be one of those times where I get whiney about B. Where I sound controlling, girly, and selfish. And even though I'll probably be over it tomorrow, I'm going to complain about it tonight.

Last week was mine and B's anniversary. It was Sunday. B requested on Friday that we not do anything on Sunday because he has PT on Monday morning. We never stay out past 1130, and when I have to get up at 5 I'm still out with him until 11 but...whatever, that's not what this is about.

So I said fine, and we made a plan on doing something the following Saturday instead. So we go out tonight, and B had told me earlier in the week that we'd go downtown to the river and eat and then go on a carriage ride. We get downtown, park, and walk to the river to find somewhere to eat. We try to decided where to eat and B says "Let's see how much the carriage ride is going to cost first" Okay, cool. So I say "How do we do that?" He goes "I don't know. I thought you knew."

Why the hell would I know that?

I even though to myself earlier this week, 'maybe I should look and see where these rides are' and then I decided 'nah, it's his plan, he'll know.' So we ate and went home (because what were we supposed to do? walk around downtown just hoping to run into a carriage? we'd have a better chance of becoming homicide victims than finding the carriages).

Not that this is about not getting a carriage ride because, even though the weather tonight was 100% perfect for a carriage ride and it would have been awesome, it's not about the carriage ride. It's also not about the fact that it was our anniversary, because honestly I don't think it's really that necessary to make a big stinking deal about an anniversary. It could have been a Tuesday for all that matters to me. It's about the fact that this was HIS idea, but he didn't figure it out on his own.

In our entire relationship, B has had to plan two things on his own: the proposal, and this night. B's idea of a memorable proposal is on my driveway at midnight with no one around, with nothing else going on cutsie or lovey or anything. Which is why I've never written about it. I love him, so of course the kind of proposal would never change my answer, but it's not a story I'm particularly excited to tell. On our wedding website, the "Our Proposal Story" section is still blank. It's the only part not filled out, because I can't bring myself to write it. I don't know how to not make it sound lame. Because there was nothing special about it.

I hate being the one to always plan everything for us. But I also hate when nothing is planned--which seems to be the only other option to me planning things. I want to know that I can trust him to figure things like this out. To do things that I don't have to tell him to do. But I also want to be able to have a conversation with him about this stuff, and not have him just "fix it" by doing what he should have done in the first place.

In fact, I don't even want to take the damn carriage ride now--I don't want to have to 'make up' for it. The only way he could redeem himself with the carriage ride would be to show up at my door with a carriage, in a funny outfit--which is completely ridiculous, and I would never expect him to do that.

I'm sure I sound ridiculous and whiney, but I really can't help it. At least not tonight.

I just want him to take initiative sometimes.

Let Them Eat Cake!

We met with our baker and chose our basic cakes design yesterday!


[this design by Carlo's Bakery]

It will be this sort of design, but in our colors of course. The flowers will be different (and not sugar, because we are not rich) and less "HI I'M A FLOWER"-like. We will be ditching the twigs.

We also haven't really decided how many tiers we're going to do. If we did 5 tiers, it would be 240 pieces. Our guest list is 330, and our reception hall holds 280...so we're just going to be a bit tight (or...we're going to kick people off the guest list...mean, but so true!). Our other option was to do a 3 tier cake and get some tasty sheet cakes for the rest of it (3 tiers=120 pieces) to save some money. The 3 tier would be cheaper, but this cake is great tasting so we don't really know what we'll end up doing yet.

Our flavors? The greater of the tiers (either 2 or 3) will be chocolate cake with chocolate fudge and fresh strawberries (I could eat this all. day. long.). The lesser amount of tiers (either 1 or 2) will be white cake with a tasty berry compote.

Not that I like berries...ehmm.

What do you think?

Stop Clown Porn!

Yea. That's right. You read right. In class today this random website came up in discussion (not really sure how it ties into Western Literature, but hey...).

Stop Clown Porn Now (.org)

Yea. This definitely means two things:

1. Someone saw some clown porn and thought "Hey, that's a problem. We should do something about that."

and 2. Someone actually makes clown porn.


Yea, soak that up.

On Being Pissed at Dead Dudes

Is it wrong to be so pissed at a dead guy that I'd actually like to bring him back to life just so I could yell at him? It probably is. If not a sin, at least morally repulsive. But, oh well. It doesn't change the fact that I am downright infuriated (yea, big words and all) at the ex head of my department who did my initial meeting when I transferred to Devil University.

The same guy that caused all the problems in this post. The same guy that caused me to have to take summer courses because he didn't tell me I needed that class. The same guy that didn't even slightly hint that I could have classes reviewed for credit, which caused me to take 9 credit hours worth of courses I did not need to take. The same guy that had me working off an outdated Gen Eds sheet. Now, it appears, I yet again wasted time in a language class I didn't have to take. More on this later, though, because I'm honestly just too pissed off right now to even type it up. I just spent the last ten minute chewing on a plastic tubing or some sort that was just lying around here furiously--it did not help.



Plus, they decided over the summer to switch the program our school works off of. Which would be fine and dandy, except for it wasn't ready to be used. None of our records are on there (How many credits do I have? When can I register for classes? No one knows), there are no itemized bills, the registration reserve cart doesn't work, nothing works on Firefox, the log off button doesn't work, and you can't even get the course catalogue from it. It's fantastic. Way to go, Devil U.

I'm trying to set up a meeting with the new department head for this week some time and maybe he'll actually know what's going on. I'm hoping that, before then, I lose a bit of my seriously bitterness towards this college so that I'm nicer...because I know it's not his fault, he didn't screw me over. The dead dude did. But bitterness has a deep root and everytime I turn around and something else if effed up with my education it gets deeper. Like the ocean. Where Rose dropped the heart of the ocean and it sank. Like that.

BUT. moving on.

B and I bought a table on Sunday. It's a new table, black and wooden. At a flea market, because that's how we roll :) It's not the one we went to get, but it's nice. It came with chairs that were basically free because the table would have cost the same with or without the chairs. They didn't match the table, needed feet on the legs, and were at one time upholstered but aren't now. We sanded the crap out of them and spray painted them black and now they match and they actually look pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

Plus it's kind of nice to have the first thing we've bought for our place as a couple be a little project of our own.

We'll get some cushions for them eventually, but there's really no hurry at the moment. We bought feet for them, so that's done. And they probably need one more coat of paint, but we'll do that later...I think. They really do look good, though. We're very happy with it!

Pictures to come, eventually!

Nothing

Today is a day of nothing. I have nothing to do today until a halloween party at 9pm tonight.

In fact, I slept 11 hours last night. I was asleep by 11 and didn't wake up again until 10 this morning. I, seriously, have never done that in my entire life unless I was sick. Seriously. I didn't know it was possible. But I guess, when you're tired enough, it is.

This is the first day in as long as I can remember that I've had nothing to do. I don't have work, don't have class, don't have any assignments that are crucial to complete today.

I have a few errands to run, but they really aren't necessary. I may get an early start on some Christmas presents--we know from this post that I enjoy getting my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. But, then again, it's 2pm and I'm still in my PJs so...we'll see.

Can you believe that in less than 2 weeks this blog will be one year old? Crazy!

Can you believe that tomorrow is mine and B's anniversary? Our big plan for the day is to purchase a kitchen table. I know, we need to stop--we're just two party animals.

Happy Halloween!

Natural Halloween Decor

Today I'm taking part in Writer's Workshop hosted by Mama Kat's Losin' It. I may or may not be trying really hard to win myself a kickin' video camera this week.

Around here, we don't do much decorating for Halloween. We never get any trick-or-treaters unless they are related to us, and those who are related to us aren't allowed to travel around our tiny little, one-lane road neighborhood because it's honestly not that safe anymore. So, really, there's no point in decorating. We'll go all out for Christmas because we have an annual Christmas party, but Halloween? Nope.

We put a couple fake pumpkins on the porch, a scarecrow or two, and we're done...most years. But, this year, we have an addition!



This is one of about 10 spiderwebs on three bushes. Apparently, we made friends with some spiders recently and they decided to halloween-up the place for us! In the morning, when it's cold and dewey, the spiderwebs glisten and they are absolutely creepy...and it looks like we did it on purpose.

So this, of course, if my favorite piece of home decor. Thanks, Charlotte. That's "some web."

The Power Ranger that Wasn't

This week I'm participating in Wonderful Wednesdays hosted by Seven Clown Circus.


Power Rangers were the shit when I was growing up. Le shit. Sorry, but there is just no other way to put it. Everyone knew everyone in power rangers. We acted in out in pretend play. You know you loved it, too.

But, I never really played by the same rules as everyone else. All the other girls loved Kimberly--they wanted to play Kimberly, dress like Kimberly, and kick ass like Kimberly. Me? I loved the yellow ranger. I wanted to kick ass like Trini Kwan.

However, since I was seemingly the only girl who wanted to be the Yellow Ranger, it was impossible to find a yellow ranger costume. So I ended up being something else for halloween. I don't even remotely remember what that was.

That Christmas, I was still upset about my yellow ranger costume failure. So I gave in--or rather, my mom gave in for me--and went to the pink side. My mom bought me a pink ranger costume for Christmas, and I wore that thing alllll day. The gloves made kungfu sounds! And if you put them together, they made the "morphing" sound! I was in heaven! And I didn't care one bit that I was wearing a costume on Christmas. I think Jesus understood.



I still have faith in the Yellow Ranger. I will always love Trini the most.

That's right, Bekah. I said it. :D

Pumpkin Cake

I found this recipe probably in family circle as well, but I honestly don't remember. If doesn't matter, because other than the general idea I completely ignored the recipe and did whatever I felt like doing.

Like using box mix for Chocolate Fudge Cake instead of making my own blend of pumpkin cake. And using a smaller Pyrex baking bowl than they suggested (who knew those bowls we always mix in were actually baking bowls??). It turned out okay for the presentation, but the cake itself is amazingly delicious! So here it goes:

When you bake in a pyrex bowl, this is what it comes out like.

You have to use the same size bowl to make each one, and I baked them for 45 minutes each. Both halves.

And then you have to level the tops of each so that they meet closely when placed on top of each other.

Mix yellow and red with vanilla icing to make orange, and use that in between the halves to keep them together and on the outer edge to smooth it.

Then ice the rest of it, but I suggest doing one section at a time because the icing gets funky. Cut a hole in the top of the cake for the "stem". Cover the icing with reese pieces (it said M&Ms but they don't have an abundance of yellow and orange in them) in the pattern you want and put some kind of chocolate bar in the top hole for the stem.


Voila!

It worked well until I went to move it. Then things started to move. But it was a good thought. Next time I'd probably use a bigger bowl to make it easier, decorate on the presentation dish instead of the wire rack, and more red in my icing. But it's still at least kind of cute :)

Spider cupcakes on Saturday I think!