bahahahahaha

hahahahahaha (pause to gasp for air) hahahahhahahahaha!

oh. and I saw a real life roadrunner today. stalking me. from my driveway. Kettlecorn?

and this is just awesome. maybe cos I'm a chick, and a "soft girl" at that (R teases me when I get weepy over kodak commercials), but just check it out.

blah blah blog

ahahah isn't the english language funny?

anyway. nothing really to comment on here, unless you want yet *another* earnest tirade on the depth of human idiocy and ingratitude. Attention people who shop retail: The people who work in those stores have lives too. They are human beings, and deserve your kindness and respect.

Anyway. I love wrapping gifts. I tend to acumulate (sp?) stuff for people throughout the year because a) it's more in the spirit of things--seeing something someone would like and picking it up then--than doing a sudden, frenzied rush of shopping and b) I lack the bank account to do the sudden frenzied rush of shopping--I like to spread the spending. Makes it seem...less.

Anyway, when it comes time to wrap gifts, I have a couple of boxes in the spare room that are just *full* of gifty things. I simply pull out the boxes and start unpacking all the fun stuff that I've accumulated (that's it!) over the past year. I get to sort it all out, thinking about the people I bought it for, or the adventure that led me to that particular item (an arts & crafts fair? a vacation?). And then of course is the purely girly enjoyment of picking out the wrapping paper and tags and bows and dressing the thing up. I was never much into dolls, so I guess this is as good as it gets for the Tomboy that I am.

All this, and I have to confess--I have wrapped one gift so far. The anticipation though....it's killin me!

Winter

So, Arizona experiences winter. For the past several days, it's barely been above 60, and last night temperatures dropped into the 30s. This thrills me because, even despite the lack of snow, I can pull out and wear my silly winter hats and wear Russell's yummy sweaters (there's really nothing better than a boyfriend sweater, is there?).

Just a week or so ago I recieved an L.L.Bean catalog in the mail and was getting all verklempt at the thought of never again having to don long underwear or silk gloves under my wool gloves under my mittens. And while this little cold snap hasn't required such dire layering, it has allowed me to wear scarves and hats and gloves and such.

Oh! And the food. Winter food rules. I made tortilla chicken soup. I'm planning on making turkey black bean soup (one of my favourites, thanks mom!). I've been drinking hot cocoa and glogg by the gallon. Thinking about whippin out the bread machine for some nice home made chunky goodness. ahhhh...

Yeah. I miss winter. And if this is as good as it gets here in Phoenix, then I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth!

Weekend of Firsts!

I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for the first time. By myself. It took two days, but I managed a Turkey Breast, rolls, sweet potatoes (yes, with marshmallows, tyvm!), Fatty's Mashed Potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce (which was meant to be cranberry relish but, with a Vitamix in lieu of a full-sized food processor, it turned out a bit more on the...liquid side), green bean casserole, and Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes, courtesy of Paula Deen.

And you know what? It all turned out okay. I even had it all (mostly) hot and ready to go at the same time. Of course we destroyed in less than 20 minutes what took me so long to prepare, but it was totally worth it. I loved every minute of the preparations. I'm not a great cook, but I do enjoy it. Blame my mom for that. *She* is a great cook. I would have much rather had her homemade stuffing than the boxed type, and her green beans are better than any mushroom soup/fried onion combo could hope to compare with, but all in all, we were both plenty pleased with the results of my first attempt at Thanksgiving.

The other crazy thing we did this weekend? Got up at o'god thirty on Friday morning to go out and see if we could find a Wii. We'd both read reports that many places had been restocked for the holiday weekend, but that proved not to be the case. At any rate, it was a fun adventure to see just how many people had camped out at Best Buy (about 300) for...whatever reason. Thing is, with all the wandering around we did, I never saw any deals that were worth getting up that early for. There were some nice sales, but nothing really earth-shattering. It was pretty disappointing, really. Well, that and the fact that *NO ONE* had any Wii's. We were home by about 7am, and promptly fell asleep on the couch. It proceeded to be a wonderfully lazy day of lounging and leftover munchin.

Anyway. It was a good couple of days. Happy Thanksgiving!

Damn you, Shanny!

She tagged me. :(

The Guidelines: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog.

1. I can't stand to watch anyone shave. It completely makes my skin crawl. I have no trouble shaving myself (although I did go razor-free for about 12 years..perhaps that should have been another item on this list...), or other people for that matter (I used to work with adults with developmental disabilities, and had to shave the men's faces), but I can't watch it. Gillette commercial comes on and I have to cover my eyes or leave the room.

2. I like to make lists. Shopping lists, to do lists, things I want lists, etc. Sometimes I'll even add something to a list while shopping or running errands, just so I can cross it off and feel accomplished.

3. I love my scars, and I have a fair few. They all have stories--some more animated than others--and I love that I have them to tell.

4. Delilah, our lovely little girl, sounds like a wookie when she gets riled up. I keep meaning to take a video/audio clip so I can share it, but haven't yet. Obviously. It's a crazy bizzare sound, and seems to escalate with our laughter.

5. I can pop my feet. Not my toes...my feet. Not my ankles. My feet.

And as far as tagging 5 people goes, the only person's blog I read that I actually *know* is Shannon, so I'm not sure where to go with this. I guess I'll say that the following people need to email me--or post in the comments of this blog--five wierd things about themselves:

Kimbra.....Mom and/or Dad...Russell....Chris....Dean

Go!

Never post when you're grumpy....

I had a really bad day at work on Sunday. Suffice it to say that I had a series of angry, violent dreams that night, culminating with visions of holding a body down in a creekbed while stabbing it repeatedly in the face.

It was one of those odd things where it was actually someone else doing the dirty work as I watched. But I knew...*knew* that it was really me. You know?

So that's why I didn't come here and write about my day.

You understand.

the blogger gods hate me

I did try to post last week. I did. I wrote it up, I created links to another great Ze Show...and Blogger shut me down. Poof!

So I was meandering around the internet just now and came across This Guy. Pick any song. They are impossibly catchy, and clever to boot. Hooray, singer/songwriters!

Drivin with the windows down...

The wind rushed in, bringing crisp, wet smells of asphalt, dirt, and grass.
My hair went Yahoo Serious,
and I grinned wickedly at the decadence of it all.

Happiness Is...

A trip to the home improvement store.

I had to pop into Lowes tonight to try to get a replacement garage door opener, since I so carelessly smashed to pieces my previous one (not really--it fell out of my pocket on a bike ride a couple days ago and the diode broke is all...but it sounds much better, and feels psychologically better, to imply that I willfully smashed it). I didn't get a replacement yet, on account of being completely clueless about whether we had an Intellicode system or not. Who knew you can't just take in the old one and say "Here, make it better!"? I'll go back tomorrow, now that I've done my homework, and pick up a nifty new remote that I will take much better care of now that I know how expensive they are.

Anyway. That second trip back will just allow me to bask once again in the glow of home improvement. I don't know if it's a "memories-of-the-house-in-OK"C thing, or just some wierd genetic "get things done around the house thing" from my parents, but I LOVE...LOVE...going into these types of stores. It's better than a candy shop. Better than a shoe store. Better, even, than an arts/crafts supply store. I love the smell of cut wood and paint and industrial strength cleaning products. I love to browse the powertools and make mental lists of stuff I want. I love to think about having our own house again and all the "customizations" we can do.

Tomorrow I may have to spend some quality time browsing. Although, I'll probably be too excited about coming straight home and programming my new Garage Door Remote. Good times. Good times.

...huh?

Creepy!

hrm. well. the page I initially linked to didn't require any memberships or secret handshakes. Basically, a genetically engineered to be less likely to cause allergies cat is just wierd. wrong. unnatural. google search it. you'll see.

Thanks Shannon!

Find your own pose!

She always has the crazy quiz links, but I gotta say....It's true! It's true! We snuggle and chit chat, but when it's time to sleep--to the sides we go! Wacky stuff, this.

I'm back!

From a jaunt to KCMO. That's my excuse for not writing, you see. Getting prepared for the trip, making sure the hounds were ready for the kennel, making sure all the loose ends were tightly bound. You know how it goes. But I'm back now, and I took notes (YES!) on Things I never Realised I Miss:

1) Giant fuzzy caterpillars crossing the highway. Giant. As in, "easily viewable from an oncoming car at 65mph", really really big, fuzzy, caterpillars. I think they're poisonous too, but that's a different list.

2) Barns. Real barns. Old barns. Barns with lots of hay in them. Or lots of rotting wood. I love and miss old barns

3) Redtailed Hawks. One on every highway sign, it seems. They are just a nice reminder of what is wild and just out of reach.

4) Not just green. Olive green, lime green, pea green, teal green...every colour of green you can imagine (and some I never would). And oranges, reds, and yellows. Fall had just started to happen in Missouri, and it is a lovely sight.

5) Everywhere ponds! Water water everywhere. Little ponds, big lakes, creeks, streams, you name it. It's pretty. It's wet, and it means FISHIN!

6) Wierd livestock. I'm sure there is some around here, but in Missouri you can't throw a rock without hitting an Emu or an Ostrich or some other form of exotic livestock. It's both completely disconcerting and totally natural at this point.

7) Roadside produce/nut stands. All along the highway--yes Interstate 71, even-- there are tiny little "stands" that farmers set up to sell their tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, pecans and whatever else they happen to grow. Often the "stand" consists of little more than the tailgate of the pickup and a patio umbrella. I've never stopped at one, but man I miss seeing them.

Things I Don't Miss:
1) Billboards. I never really realised it, but there are no billboards in Scottsdale/N. Phoenix. At least not on the main highway. North Kansas City has digital billboards now--aren't they swanky? I was pondering the fact that we don't have any digital billboards here when Russell pointed out that we don't have any billboards period. And there was much rejoycing.

2) A church every 100 yards. There are a LOT of churches in Missouri. You really can't get out of sight of one before you see another looming up. I'm all for people being able to worship as they please, but when there come to be that many churches you start feeling, well, put upon, you know? One house actually had the 10 Commandments attached to its mailbox. Another town was advertising "GIG Fest". Dad and I were thinking they were going to go down to the creek and gig some frogs, but no...it's "God Is Good Fest". That is something I don't miss--having religion shoved down my throat at every turn.


It was a great great trip and I wish I was back there now. It's a glorious sunny day here, and I've been for a bike ride and trimmed the bushes in the front yard already, but I'd sure not mind sitting on the deck at my folks' house, mosquitos or no. Or hanging out at Casa Leatherbury with my best friend and her crazy baby that I love so much.

11:11am. Time to make the day happen.

Shannon!

You must make some of THESE!

Oh. my. gosh.

Channel surfing on the net will get you anywhere.

Commute

This is what filled my field of vision on my drive home tonight.

What, exactly, is The Pillsbury Doughboy doing moonlighting as a chef teddy bear with loose morals? I'm intrigued.

Try this:

The Scribbler

Ze strikes again. Amazing.

Ha ha ha

So in last week's kickball game, I went up to the plate and made a crappy kick. The ref called it a bunt and, although I would have made it to first base on that crappy kick, I had to go back and take a re-kick because we'd called no bunts at the outset of the game. Thing is, tho, I just got a really really crappy foot on the ball. It was never intended to be a bunt, it just didn't go very far. Apparently, though, it made a little history:

Ignominy!

nothing new under the sun

Or in my brain, for that matter. Just figured I'd post a few words so my oh-so-few readers wouldn't have to resort to the normal indignant emails of "Why haven't you posted?"

I'm off for the next two days, and I'm feeling joyful about that. I always enter my "weekend" with big plans for all the stuff I want to get done: Clean the house, work in the yard, take long liesurely walks with the hounds, work on my bike, clean the car, sort through the junk on my desk, etc ad infinitum... And what I ususally do is start strong and take what I intend to be a short break. Then the short break turns into 3 hours surfing the net and/or playing WoW, or watching episode after episode of makeover shows on TLC and Discovery.

So far today that's exactly what has happened. I got up and did a load of laundry *and* a load of dishes and then thought to myself "I should go email our itinerary to my folks and Kimbra". So far I've done everything online *but* that, but I'm getting to it!

It doesn't really matter what I spend my time doing, I suppose. The important thing is that I have two days off...IN A ROW. I can relax. Right after I get that itinerary sent... :P

bahahahahaha

My Kickball Team is Number One!

We just won our big game against the only other undefeated team in the league, putting us in first place. Yes, I play for Off Constantly. And our win tonight just goes to prove that you can't beat.... well you get it, right?

Terms Of Endearment

Maybe it's because I spent a lot of my "formative years" in the south or near south, but I enjoy it when someone calls me "hon" or "dear" or "darlin". I stopped off at Starbucks (it's less than a stone's throw from my PT's office--and hey, I deserve every sip of that Mocha Light Frappacino goodness!) and the girl at the window handed me my drink with a "Here ya go, dear." I know a lot of places poo poo that kind of familiarity, but it made me feel instantly warm and welcome.

Your thoughts?

Be Afraid, be Very Afraid....and as an aside...You're Kidding, right?

So today my boss goes on vacation for a week. Our AGM is in Tennessee for a new store set. So about an hour before he leaves he pulls me aside and says "By the way, you're in charge for the week." He claimed it to be a combination of "most reliable and capable" and seniority, but I think mostly it was an opportunity for him to watch me in mini-meltdown mode. Me. In charge. Of a $100,000 a week store. During the transition from our biggest clearance event to the receipt of the bulk of our holiday gourmet selection. Oh, and we just did inventory with more than a few discrepancies, no thanks to the morons employed by the contractors we brought in to do the job. Lots of spreadsheets and notes floating around about all the stuff that needs to be fixed. Gads. I'm more than a little nervous about the entire thing.

And more good (!?) news...the service company actually found a replacement ice maker for our 30+ year old fridge. I'm not kidding, although I wish I were. They are coming out tomorrow to fix it. Maybe the transplant will be rejected and we'll still get a new fridge. I'm not holding my breath.