Thursday, August 07, 2008

Crazy Internet...

My friend Molly urged me to join Facebook.  Because I love so many other time-sucking features of the interweb, I obliged.  Suddenly, I am chatting in the middle of the day with a girl (I suppose we’re aren’t really girls so much any more) that I have known since kindergarten, but who I had not really stayed in touch with since high school.  Hi Heidi!  We lived about a quarter of a mile from one another growing up, so we spent many, many days playing together, riding bikes and swimming in her pool.  When we were older, we spent a lot of time “watching movies” in her basement with our boyfriends.  We were wrestling cheerleaders together, so I have all kinds of embarrassing photos of us in our uniforms.  I may have to spend a little quality time with my scanner this evening.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Rummage Sale!

To raise money for my MS150 team, I’m holding a rummage sale on August 15 and 16.  I love rummage sales; going to them and organizing them.  I also like having the opportunity to go through all of our crap and purge some things from the “office” and spare bedroom.  There is a desk in the room that we refer to as an office, but there are also the pieces from every Halloween costume we’ve ever worn, my sewing table, an embarrassing number of dead Japanese beetles and every single thing that doesn’t have a specific place in the house.  It is really too bad that we don’t let the participants in our scavenger hunt start in that room. 

Under Construction

I’m slowly, as I figure out how to do things, making some changes around here.  I am sorry that the colors are funky and that things seem half done, because that’s exactly how I left things.  I expect to finish the cosmetic improvements this evening.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Heat Playing Tricks

It has, of course, been really hot outside.  We stopped at the grocery store earlier for meat & beer and I started sweating seconds after I stepped out of the truck.  I also noticed a really familiar odor, but I couldn’t immediately place it.  Suddenly, I had visions of the zoo in Madison and realized what I was smelling.  The black bed liner, which had been roasting in the hot sun all day, smelled just like the Mold-a-rama machine* that I used to get gorillas out of (my cousin often got the lion).  I do hate the heat, a lot, but I was grateful for the moment of nostalgia that it offered.

*Thanks to Mimi Smartypants for the link.  I would never have come up with the name of the machine if she hadn’t posted the link recently.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Off to a Good Start

I have locked my keys in my car many, many times.  I have locked my keys in my running car a couple of times.  This morning, I found a new and exciting way to trap my keys that I hadn’t even considered.  As I shut the truck door with the hand that held my keys, they got caught on the closing mechanism and became trapped between the door and the body.  I couldn’t reach them, the door handle was rendered useless by their position and nothing I had handy was thin enough to fit in the gap to pry the keys out.  I spent several minutes trying to figure out who one calls when one has rendered the door useless, when it occured to me to try the inside handle.  I let myself in the passenger side with the spare key that I always have on hand these days (I have easily spent $400 on locksmiths in the last few years.  I’m a slow learner), crawled over to the interior handle and it popped right open.  I don’t take this as a good sign that the rest of my day is going to go smoothly.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

This is Getting Embarrassing

I discovered Momo Fali’s blog just a short time ago.  I have commented a few times and all I can seem to say, in one fashion or another, is, “Me too!” I feel a little stalker-ish.  I rarely comment on the site’s that I visit regularly and I don’t necessarily have a lot in common with the people I enjoy reading the most, so it just feels odd to read post after post that make me nod and smile in recognition.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lengthy List

I have updated my Blogroll and it is much longer.  Poke around and see if you can find someone you like.

Torn

My job is good, very good.  I love what I do and am getting better at it all the time.  I am slowly mastering the design software and am getting better at asserting my opinion when given a poorly executed design.  The downside is that I just don’t make enough money, so I’m thinking about getting a second job.  I don’t have a lot of free time as it is, so I’d probably have to cut back on some of my more entertaining activities to manage it, but I’m willing to make some sacrifices to keep gas in my vehicle and (new) shoes on my feet.  I guess it is time to check the classifieds. 

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Dedication

Let it never be said that I am not willing to go the extra mile.  It is 7:00 am.  I am at work.  I am not “on the clock”.  I am adding the finishing touches to t-shirts that Tom and I will be wearing to the river today.  I got up at 6:00 am on the first day of a long weekend off to make sure that our novelty clothing was finished to perfection.  Yesterday, I delivered my finest work yet.  Friends who are renovating their house keep finding girly mags and hand-drawn porn in the ceiling and walls.  The teen boys who shared the basement room were, apparently, horny little imps, but not great artists.  The drawings were so awful, in fact, that I couldn’t resist putting one of them on a t-shirt.  I present to you Pleasure.

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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

July Float-tacular

We are once again river-bound this weekend.  Kate will be here from Florida (hooray!) and we will be a very small group.  In prior years, July was always the Big Float, sometimes with as many as 30 campers.  Due to babies, scheduling conflicts and injuries, this year we are having the Small Float.  Big was fun, but Small is my preference.  The usual group camps and canoes well together.  We know what we like to do, when we prefer to do it and no one wakes up at dawn with an unwelcome guitar and vocal version of Delilah.

It will be hot and humid, so we will be spending quite a bit of time in the spring-fed river.  So much time, that we almost bought a remote controlled, floating drink caddy at Linens ‘n’ Things the other day.  If the current down at the Current (is it a coincidence?) were not so strong, I’m pretty sure we would have done it, but I was afraid we would watch forty dollars get whisked down stream while uselessly poking at the remote. 

I have a few modest goals while we are camping; remember to apply sunscreen often, win a couple of games of washers before I get too drunk to play, touch zero snakes and not drown.  Those should be a piece of cake.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Clarification

Before I get any more comments from the locals about how I look fine and that I’m not at all fat, I think I need to clarify my position.  I didn’t say it because I was looking for compliments.  I didn’t say it because I was looking for anyone else’s opinion.  I was stating a fact.  I currently weigh 40 pounds more than I did when I was a nice, healthy size eight.  I weigh 70 pounds more than I did at my lowest adult weight, which wasn’t healthy, but it sure did look good in a swimming suit.  The other day, I had to buy clothing in a section of a department store that I don’t even want to think about.  Perhaps people do think that I look just fine, but I don’t feel just fine.  My weight is making me unhappy and taking me in a very unhealthy direction and that’s all I have to say about that.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Bike Away the Pounds?

Tom and I handed our bike’s over to one of the local shops for tuning and, in his case, cable replacement.  We are readying them for the MS 150 ride in September.  My bike needed the attention and so, unfortunately, do I.  I have confidence that my ride will make it 150 miles, but I’m not so sure about me.  I’m not exactly in the best shape of my life and, as I keep saying without actually doing anything about it, I’ve grown kind of fat. 

Training for the 150 will start bright and early tomorrow morning.  I’m hoping that preparation for the event plus a little more care for what I use to fill my pie-hole (hint: less pie) will take care of my little pudge problem.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Volleyball? Hell, yes!

We finished up our volleyball league in last place, which is exaclty what I was expecting.  We never practiced outside of the games and we had a group of 8 people who had never before played together as a team.  What we did have was attitude and enthusiasm.  I am willing to bet that we were the most fun team to play.  I call the season a success.

That being said, the game that we played today beat league play by a mile.  We played three games of mud volleyball (thanks Big Brothers and Big Sisters, super fund-raiser) and it was absolutely fabulous.  I am fresh from the shower, but I am certain that there is mud hiding in places that I didn’t think to scrub.  There will be pictures soon and they are pretty spectacular.  It wasn’t just the ankle deep mud (or the mud that was much, much deeper) or the fire hoses that rained down periodically.  I think the highlight was the earth worms.  I’m used to the little river fish nipping at my ankles, but I’ve never experienced an eight inch earth worm wriggling its way ‘round my leg.  Thanks to modern medicine, age and perspective, it didn’t send me into a hardcore case of the heebie jeebies.  Instead, it was really amusing.  It was also amusing when Donnie entertained the kid-folk by holding them up to his nostrils like long, skinny boogers.  Maturity, who needs you?

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Going Home

For the holiday weekend, we are packing up and heading to Wisconsin.  We will start with a picnic that will be attended by family that I very rarely see.  It will be nice to spend time with them, but I always feel like we have to get completely reacquainted.  In the evening we will be heading to Sweet Allyn Park in Shopiere, the same park that I spent every 4th of July in during my formative years.  I always run into people from high school and look forward to the surprisingly pleasant encounters.  On Saturday, we’re going to Milwaukee for Summerfest.  I want buy some roasted corn, a funnel cake and perhaps a hand-tooled leather belt.  Well, two out of three of those, anyway.  I’m not familiar with many of the bands playing during the day, so I’m hoping to stumble upon something new (to me) and wonderful.  That night, while my dad and his wife are watching Tom Petty, I will be watching my third live performance by Cheap Trick.  I can’t help it; I like them and I am not ashamed.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I Love My Job

I am in charge of making the mix CDs for our long-delayed grand opening.  Hello, Tom Jones.

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