Project pantry!

So hubby actually helped me put away groceries Sunday after our fun fun trip to Walmart. He was quite frusterated with the amount of cabinet space I have for food (2 cabinets more or less) so he starts grumbling that we need to move and I grumble that he needs to make more money then he gets a strange look in his eye and starts looking on our back porch. Last night he started destructing the back porch and supposedly this weekend I will have a pantry out there. This girl is excited! I'm thinking I can put my mixer and blender in there since I don't use them a whole lot and just rearrange my entire kitchen! Life in my house will never be the same! I wish I had taken some 'before' pictures.

March for Babies

I was very honored this weekend to be a 'Cheer Volunteer' for the March of Dimes March for Babies. It was such a great day, everyone was so enthusiastic for the cause and even though I was stationed towards the end of the walk, everyone was still smiling. A big congrats to a very good friend of mine who's team had such a great turnout. Mallory's Marchers had a whole bunch of happy families walking for a great cause. I am so proud of my girl Nikki for carrying around an almost 7 months pregnant belly for the entire 5.8 miles and still having a smile at the end!

As the 'keeper' of the hand sanitizer for people using the porta-pot at my station, I loved this email that I got the following day: here's to you Mrs. hand gel sanitizer giver-outer.....because of you....we can stop the outbreak of the clap and other VD's.......and we can march on knowing that our hands are cleaner than ever before!

Sunday night Wal-Mart Extravaganza!

So, went to walmart last night, try not to go too often because it's hard to budget a trip to walmart, especially when hubby is along. So hubby is going to start trying to pack his lunch because the guy that works for him does, I give this 2 days. So I was the good little wifey yesterday, made him some jello (he wanted jello) and cake (yup, craving cake too). That conversation went something like this:

Hubby: I'm hungry... I want cake
Me: We have food, we have candy... what do you want?
Hubby: Cake!
Me: *walk to the kitchen, clank clank clank for about 15 minutes*
Hubby: What are you doing?
Me: making a cake.
Hubby: nuh-uh, really?
Me: you said you wanted a cake, I'm making a cake...
Hubby:You didn't need to make a cake.
Me: well, there's no icing, so plain funfetti cake will have to do
Hubby: I told you from the start all I wanted was cake icing!!!!! I don't care about the cake, give me frosting!!!
Me: go to the store and get some fucking frosting then!
Hubby: *pout*

So you can see how a nice deed in my house can escalate into an ugly ordeal. So, this morning I packed hubbys lunch and I can only imagine all the things he's going to find wrong with it. I had it all neat in his little cooler when he got out of the shower and next thing I know he has it all back apart and is moving stuff and grabbing more stuff out of the fridge. This is why he says eating out is cheaper, his lunch contains:

1 - 52oz. bubba keg of Laura's super sweet tea
2 - slices of rye bread
1 - container of lunch meat (honey ham, pepperoni, swiss cheese)
1 - container of orange jello (store brand actually)
1 - apple
1 - orange
1 - tangelo
1 - pearsauce
1 - package of butterscotch crimpets
1 - package of kandy cakes
1 - baggie of trail mix
1 - can of cashews
1 - piece of funfetti cake (with icing thankyouverymuch, made it with crisco, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and it was freakin awesome)

I have noticed on my past few trips to walmart though, that our thinking is going more 'green'. It's all about the baby steps. Our standard light bulbs have been replaced by the compact florescent, if only they made them dimmable. We've been more concerned with the packaging of things and we've been trying to buy things that are more reusable rather than just use and toss (ie. paper towels, ziploc bags).

Only in Delaware...

Of course I didn't have my camera with me, this would have been the best picture ever! Hubby and I went to Lowe's yesterday morning to look at windows and siding and on our way home we come across an interesting sight. Alongside the road, standing in the ditch, is a Jamaican man, a white woman and an infant (not judging the couple, just drawing a visual picture). So, the two adults are standing around a scooter like this one. The difference is, they're strapping a bike seat to the back of it. So putting a child, in a bike seat, on the back of a scooter like what is pictured above. Probably without a helmet because it is Delaware. And there's 2 adults, and they aren't near any homes so both of them and the infant are getting on the scooter together and they have gotten to this location somehow, so the child was probably on a lap, or perhaps the bike seat had come off and they were resecuring it, at least they were that smart! By the way, don't know the grinning kid in the picture, just found it online.

Don't I know you from somewhere?

So hubby got me this awesome photo scanner for Christmas and I've been burning it up! I hate having pictures laying around, they get ruined, they fade, you have to store them.... So, I've been taking all my photos and scanning them and tossing them, it's wonderful, I feel so efficient. So, I came across this picture this weekend of me in 1989 camping with my parents. There is quite the similarity between the kitty in this picture and my buddy Shorty. John and I both have been gawking at this picture for a week now, and we can't find any differences between this cat and Shorty. So maybe we are kindred spirits.

spring has sprung! and pictures of the kids...

My deep purple lilacs, beautiful! Not quite in full bloom.

This gorgeous snowball bush in my backyard, I wish I could post the smell with the picture!

Those crazy purple things that grow randomly in your yard.

Killian, looking for her next kitty to stalk!

Up close with Molly Moo, she's teetering on the edge of the fish tank, her favorite place!

Starsky, about to attack me for some attention

Daisy, she's so photogenic but hates it when I get the camera out!

Shorty, lookin sly

Trying to figure out who has the right to that spot.

This bee was buzzing me the whole time, so I figured he just wanted his picture taken.

Book of the week

This is what I've been reading most recently. So far I would definately recommend it, I'm on like page 70. It's by the same author who wrote 'The Kite Runner'. I haven't read that one yet, but if it's anything like this one, I would definately read it!


Update: 4-25-08 I just got to part 3 and it's really making sense now, I couldn't figure out how parts 1 and 2 went together but now I don't think I'll put it down all weekend!

Update: 4-30-08 Part 4 now and I can't say enough what an excellent book this is!

6 words

I've seen this several places recently, so I was laying in bed last night and came up with a few of my own. Ernest Hemingway bet someone that he could write a life story in 6 words. Those six words: "for sale, baby shoes, never worn". Kinda deep I think, but mine aren't nearly so much, I'm sure my life in general isn't as deep as Hemingway's either. So here's a few of mine.

Dog shit, can't housebreak, drink instead.
Once again, the diet starts Monday.
Shouldn't have chosen career at 18.

I'm not worthy!

So a good friend called me yesterday and asked me to be a reference for her husband to adopt her kids. Believe it or not, I'm nervous about this! Not about him adopting the kids, but about being a reference, it's a really big deal, to me anyway! It's just such an honor that they asked me.

I'm so darn green!

Happy freakin earth day. I don't really think it's earth day, but, I want to say that I want some of those bags... you know:

reusable grocery bags. This is certainly one of the cutest ones that I've seen, but it's only available to special california yuppies. Picket your local Target and tell them that we want the cute target tree bags too! So anyway, I don't want the bags because I just *lurve* the environment, I just feel like maybe I need a dozen or so new bags in my life, all at once. If being a friend to the environment gets me more bags, count me in!!! Now about the earth day shoes.....

If not for the $12.99 price tag, you sweet wonderwoman bag may just have been the one...

Idol

So I am an american idol junkie! I was doing well at not getting completely over-obsessed with it this year, but now that my buddy Bill has been calling me almost daily with the Idol scoop, I'm getting back into it. Last night was Mariah Carey night, presumably because she's dropping a new album this week and some extra promo doesn't hurt. She looked incredible and really gave some good advice. So, here's my opinion of how they did.

Huggy-Bear - When you Believe - I just felt awkward seeing a 16 yr old boy in leather pants.

Syesha - Vanishing - wasn't feeling the love. Would have totally loved to hear some 'Emotions' or some 'Vision of Love' out of her.

Carly - Without You - she could have nailed it, but didn't.

Kristy the cow catcher - Forever - just cannot tolerate the weird hand thing she does.

Brooke - Hero - I was expecting her to sing that Jackson 5 song, in the same manner though. She seems bummed about missing her sisters wedding, she should just go home. She just kept going faster and faster, it was weird.

Rocker David - Always be my baby - just like everyone else watching, I was genuinely scared for him, but it turned out quite pleasant, I was really wondering what he was going to do on Mariah night. If he was to release full length versions of every song he's sang on Idol this season as an album, I would buy it. Tomorrow.

Dread-locked hottie - I don't wanna cry - wow, it was like a whole new song, I was so glad he stepped out and did something original, it was definitely his night.

Who should go home? Huggy Bear
Who will go home? probably Brooke

A guy walks into my office...

Him: You know, I finally figured out this whole server thing is your fault...

Me: How?

Him: You corrupted the database on the server.

Me: How?

Him: By restarting it this morning...

Me: But that's what you told me to do, it was locked up.

Him: Well, you didn't do it right...

Me: *frown and gape*

Him: But I'm not blaming you...

Dinner with friends

Had a great time at the waterview last night with a couple girls that I don't get to see nearly often enough! Amanda intruduced us to this great website where she bought that beautiful necklace that she's wearing from Tibet. Your purchases there helps to eliminate hunger from the world, you can also choose breast cancer research, child health, literacy, rainforest or animal rescue as your cause, they have some great products and what she had was very high quality.

Keep yourself safe.

I love looking at my neighborhood sex offenders. It's just wonderful that you can pull up a picture of them and their address. Now someone has taken that to a whole new level. You type in your address and you can see any convicted felon living in your vicinity. No pictures, but you know where they are and what they've done! Enjoy!

senior thesis on life...

I'm kind of a deep thinker about certain things and lately it's been about teenagers and why sometimes they turn out the way they do. There's a lot of stereotypes I would use to describe todays teenagers: lazy, unmotivated, just to name a couple. There is a tremendous amount of drug use in this age group, I'm not saying it didn't happen when I was that age, but things are getting a lot scarier now. Mostly because of the synthetic drugs that are out there: meth, heroin... So, to kind of put this together, the lazy, worthless teenagers are turning to the same drugs we used in school, pot... but instead of it leading to finding a life within a few years, it's leading to coke, then acid, then meth, then heroin. Maybe not in that order, but you get the idea. Since I've been thinking about this so hard, I've been looking at the differences between people who I know who I would consider to have turned out *OK* and people who really haven't gotten too far in their lives, as well as people younger than me in both situations. Here's the difference: passion. The people who actually succeed in life, instead of staying worthless have a passion for something. It doesn't have to be anything as deep or as complicated as life or their job, it could be as simple as having a nice house or a nice car or their pets. Lots of people have a passion for helping others, these are also people who usually wind up not falling into the pit of worthlessness. So that's it, do yourself a favor if you have kids and your not worthless yourself, get them involved in something, keep searching until you find that thing...

Todd's 30th birthday party.

John and I at Ruth's Chris


Todd and Diane

Thanks so much for having us last night, you definately outdid yourself Diane!

I thought I had a little butterball kitten...

But it turns out that I just have a skinny, lanky teenager. Little Molly got spayed yesterday thanks to my local humane society. I didn't realize that she had quite as much pregnant weight as she did. Poor little girl, she's just as thin as a rail now, she's workin the post pregnancy body though!

There is no cure for a cold but....

We can trace that this dude died because the person who he got his donated liver from was infected with a virus from a specific hampster at petsmart. I feel like I need to draw a pie chart or something to go along with this, some sort of visual picture. Here goes: person A goes to Petsmart and buys a hampster. Person A later dies of a stroke having nothing to do with said hampster. Person A donates organs including a liver which goes to Person B. Obviously if Person B is receiving a liver transplant from someone, he's no spring chicken and it's quite possible that he has had his share of alcoholic beverages in his life, not judgin, just sayin.

Back to the story. Person B becomes extremely ill from the liver and they trace it back to determine that it is because of this poor little hampster that was sold to Person A. Now, money talks, it would certainly make sense to sue Person A in this case, she's the one with the hampster fetish, right? Oh wait, she's dead! Maybe it wouldn't be nice to sue the dead person who donated their freakin liver to you anyway! Person A didn't have to give you her liver!

Anywho, you ain't getting much from the dead person, so maybe you should sue the hampster, take his wheel or something... maybe those cedar shavings in his cage are worth some money. Oh no! We aren't suing Person A or the hampster because they don't have enough money for Widow B. Let's sue the huge corporation in the middle of this clusterfuck. I'm sure they have some money that they want to just toss around. Look how much money they just throw away each year! I understand that they are a big business and they are out for profit, but I'm sure you could find a way to sue the oil companys instead... Maybe Mr. Hampster got his disease from riding in a vehicle with the wrong octane gas, huh?

Water or Piss? You be the judge

So they were giving away free life water at the gas station next door today. I haven't actually tried it, but I figured I would give it a shot. I can't quite describe it. You initially think that it has no flavor, then this fake sweetener (even though the second ingredient listed is sugar) taste just slams into the back of your throat and makes your eyes squint. It equates to passionfruit piss in a bottle. Bottoms up!

I think a few comparisons would make this even more fun... Life water is to tasty, refreshing beverage as shit is to smellilicious! or as watching porn with your in-laws is a great sunday afternoon family activity. maybe even as waxing your bikini line is the ultimate in relaxation procedures.

Heaven in a bowl

Dude, what the fuck is up with that white shit that they give you with the tortillas at a mexican restaurant? Not the gooey cheese, I'm talking about that spicy ranch-esque stuff. OMG! Went out for Mexican last night and now I just can't get my mind off of it. We were dipping everything we could find in that white shit. Fries, rice... I was tempted to dip my fingers in and bite them off, but I had just done my nails... Maybe I could be marinated in it when I die, or give birth to a child in it or something symbolic to show my love for it! If anyone knows what brand of crack they use to make that stuff, please let me know!

Going to church doesn't make you a christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.

I have a love/hate relationship with hypocrites. I hate that they exist in the first place because it's one thing to lie to other people, but they just lie to themselves. I love it when they're brought out in the open though. This week specifically it's religious hypocrites. So unless you've been living in a hole for the last week, you've heard all about the raid on that creepy-ass Warren Jeffs' compound.

We know now that there was nothing *good* or *God-like* going on at this place. It was nothing but sexual predators disguising themselves as a religion in order to justify their acts. Gross. It was accepted because the women were scared to leave and it just perpetuated the cycle. The girls were married to their 60 year old uncles as soon as they started menstruating and were forced to have sex with them. What kind of religion should *force* anyone to do anything? Or for that matter, keep you from doing something. If you want to cut your hair, what does God have to say about that?

So anyway, I'm very glad that while they took about 420 children out of this compound, 123 women left on their own accord. This says that even though they stayed there, they were afraid to leave until they knew they were protected and their children were safe. Unfortunately, they will never be able to fully integrate to society. It sucks, some of the younger kids might be okay, but the ones with kids of their own and the adults will never truly feel 'safe'. Not that they did before, but they've been raised with a distrust of society in general. On that note, my feel good thing of the day is: Be accepting today of someone who is different than you, you never know, they may have gone through something similar.

I got my oil bill, get the defibrilator ready!

So I got my oil bill, yeah, apparently I normally use 100 gallons of oil a month, but in February, I decided it would be fun to use 200 gallons. At 3.79 a gallon, that means like $800!!! I'm thinking maybe new windows is the answer? I just don't know.

7 years...

Tomorrow, April 8 will be 7 years since I lost my mom. That means I was 21 for you math whizzes out there. Of course I still think of her every day, fondly for the most part. It would be selfish of me to say that she left me too soon, she did, but it was definately her time. For that reason, I'm not one of those people that cries on peoples graves, whether or not I belive in an afterlife aside, I think that leaves for an unsettled soul when a loved one is constantly begging them to come back. I'm a little more realistic than that.

Sometimes I wish for her guidance, but I had 21 years of it, thats more than some people got. I assume at this point that I received all the guidence from her that I needed and that's why she was able to go.

A coworker asked this morning when I mentioned this anniversary that it probably feels like so long ago, but at the same time, yesterday. I can't honestly say that in any way it feels like yesterday. In fact, I feel like it was a completely different lifetime. I feel like a new person with a new life and new skin, not that person I was 7 years ago tomorrow.

News Rant!

Okay, so we've all heard about the female Marine who had a relationship with her superior officer, wound up accusing him of rape, then was found dead in his yard 8 months pregnant. Well, the entire time they were searching for this girl, the 'mother' was going on TV saying that Maria (the daughter) was a chronic liar and the guy didn't really rape her and she just needed to come out of hiding and tell the truth. This made me so angry when it was going on. Regardless of the background between the mother and daughter, when your child is missing, you need to do everything you can to find her, not go on national television and accuse her of lying, it just makes you look like an ass... especially when she turns up dead.

So now there's this on the news today. Mommy's claiming that Maria's rape allegation against her superior officer wasn't taken seriously, well duh... you didn't take it seriously mom, what makes you think your daughter was going to convince anyone else to take it seriously? I'm so sure that next she's going to sue the Marines for not better protecting her daughter.

Meanies!

So I get to work this morning, catch up my morning stuff, read Karen's blog (I big puffy heart you Karen!) and then reload my own so I can see how purdy it looks. I realize that OMG my Natalie Dee pictures are gone!!! So I clicked where one of them should be and realize that my company has blocked Natalie Dee... BLOCKED NATALIE DEE!!! First, I've had to live without Perez at work, that's okay, I just get caught up at home, but now Natalie?

I also think I brought a blank CD to work today instead of my new mix CD from a couple posts down... sucky sucky!

Why wouldn't you?

So here's your mission, find out: What was the name of Sherman's dog on the Rocky & Bullwinkle show. Just google it, or better yet, I already have, it's Mister Peabody. Don't you want to find out random stuff and help kittys and doggies and baby seals? Go here ... You know you were looking for a new way to waste time today anyway.

Everyone know's I'm a huge fan of shelter or stray pets, I think I've proven it with 2 dogs and 5 cats. Please please look at this recap from Oprah's show on Friday. Just reading it and looking at the pictures I was a mess, it is truly a sad situation that we have created with our desire for 'designer' dogs. Almost all local shelters provide low cost spay and neutering, if you haven't already, do it! Thank you thank you thank you Oprah for bringing my favorite cause into everyone's living room!

What a wonderful thought for the day....

So as I'm browsing for a new beater honda/VW since hubby has claimed mine, I fell in love with this:



nataliedee.com

Mix CD for April

So while John was off on his goodwill mission last night (lighting for local band blah blah blah) I made myself a new mix CD, here it is!

Chris Cornell - Billy Jean (because I loved David Cook's take on it)
Madonna + JT - Four Minutes
Ferras - Hollywood's not America
Lupe Fiasco - Superstar
Mariah Carey - Touch my Body
Leona Lewis - Bleeding love
Flo Rida - Low
One Republic - Stop and Stare
John Mayer - Say
J. Holiday - Suffocate
Puddle of Mudd - Psycho
Matchbox Twenty - These Hard times
David Cook - Eleanor Rigby
Fall Out Boy + John Mayer - Beat it (hadn't heard this before but I like it!)
Natasha Bedingfield - Pocket Full of Sunshine
Linkin Park - Shadow of the Day
Plumb - In my Arms
David Cook - Hello
Sheryl Crow - Love is Free
Seether - Fake It
The Eagles - Too Busy Being Fabulous (I don't know if this is new or old but it freakin rocks!)

And just a note that again, I hate hate hate ITunes!!! I got a couple songs on there the other night, and while I can convert my MP3's to their M4P format fine, it won't convert the other way, which means I can't burn my ITunes songs onto a CD with my MP3's because I've only found one CD burning program that works with Vista... DRAMA! ITunes, you can come over here and kiss my fat white ass!

I hate waffles

So last night, I thought I would be a good little wifey and make some waffles for the hubby. Got my batter, mixed it like the directions said, even bought some canned blueberries to add because everyone knows blueberry waffles are the bomb.com. So, anywhow, wound up with one freakin disaster... couldn't get the shit out of the waffle iron, no seriously, it took an act of god to get the mostly cooked waffle shit off the iron. I even tried burning it just short of lighting my house on fire and still wasn't budging. So of course I get pissed, hate the husband (because he's left on a 'goodwill' mission) and fucking hate the waffles, iron and everything involved with it. Throw the batter in the fridge because hubby says maybe he'll make them this morning instead. Yeah, they turned out a lot better than mine... asshole.
nataliedee.com

Why hasn't this happened before?

Like every other curious female in the world, I watched Oprah yesterday. Yup, a dude's having a baby. Dude, not chick. But he was born a chick, a very attractive chick might I add. Decided he wanted to be a man, had his breasts removed, took testosterone and grew a penis and now he's a dude. Finds a woman, gets married and they decide they want a baby. She has problems and can't carry a child so since he hasn't actually had his female parts removed, he gets artificially inseminated and now he's knocked up. Wow, it's so shocking. I just don't understand why this hasn't happened before, it seems like this guy cannot be the first person who's undergone a sex change (partial I suppose) and then decided he wanted to carry a child. Yeah, it seems kinda weird, but is it really that odd in 2008? England is creating a Human/Cow embryo, and we're calling this guy a freak?

Power Bowling

Discovered the power bowling last night on the Wii and hubby is officially addicted! I told him he couldn't stop playing til he broke 600 but after like 3 hours he was whining that his arm was tired, so I figured I would be nice and let him quit ;o)

Critter Updates

No kittens yet, little Molly is just getting wider and wider, and more uncomfortable. Killian is still coughing like crazy! It could take up to 7 days for the antibiotic from the vet to kick in though, lets keep our fingers crossed.

Just like every other family in our age group...

We bought a Wii. I refused to pay the internet price, so when I saw that WalMart has them for $250, I decided after we sold some furniture from my parents house, we would buy one. No waiting in line, video games are so not my thing so I wasn't going overboard on this stuff. We went to WalMart Saturday, no Wii's, they would be getting them in at midnight. I called the next morning, all gone. I called randomally yesterday, and they had some. What are the odds of any still being there by the time I get off work and get over there? Actually pretty good it turns out, there were 2 more left after I bought mine. I really enjoyed the games that came with it. I don't have the hang of the tennis yet, the golf was fun and the bowling was fun. I've heard that the power bowling rocks so I will be trying that this evening. I don't have any pictures of us playing with the Wii... sorry.

In other pet news....

I have a sick dog. Little Killian has had a cough since we got back from Hawaii the beginning of March. I know it's kennel cough, duh, she got it from the kennel. Yeah, she was vaccinated, yeah, up to date on everything else, it's just one of those things that happens. The bordatella vaccine is like a flu shot, it gets most of the strains, but not all of them. Anyway, she's had this cough, she almost stopped completely like 2 weeks ago, I thought I was home free, that's what Daisy did when she had the cough. Nope, now it's come back in Killian with a vengence! So Tuesday night I called, got her a first thing appointment with the vet and I'm set! Until John wakes me up from my extra 15 minutes of sleep Wednesday and lets me know that *You have a problem*. Uh..... sometime during the night, Killian also got the poops. Lesson for the day: Poops and coughs = not a good combination for a doggie stuck in a crate all night. Yeah, so I got to give her a bath, then me a bath, then off to the vet. So, $144 later, we have 2 meds for the belly, 1 for the cough and the promise from the vet that 'the worst is yet to come' with the poops. Goodie... Here's a *pooped* Killian.

Newest Addition

So our friend Rebecca talked us into feeling sorry for this little stray that's been hanging around her house. She hasn't been treated very well by the people living next to Rebecca so she didn't want to keep her herself. The bad news is, I believe she's 'with kittens', my little Molly is getting to be as wide as she is long. I have an appointment with the humane society to have her fixed next week, we'll see if she can hold out that long before I have kittens. If you're wondering, the gestation period for a cat is around 60 days. Of course this picture was taken with my phone, so it's not wonderful.