You know, I just wrote a post almost as long as Gone With the Wind about our Thanksgiving, but the stupid computer freaked out and now it's gone.

If you'll excuse me, I'm going to throw the pc out of the window now.

HEY!

Greetings, everyone! Here I am, a day or two back after Thanksgiving and FINALLY updating my blog. I was going to update while I was in Georgia, but I didn't get around to it! So, I'm sure you're just dying to know about our trip (meaning those of you who weren't actually there, of course), aren't you?

Wednesday I was able to leave work at 4:00 because apparently no one knew we were open. We were SO slow that day. Steve and I got our last little bits of things together and got on our way. We had to make a couple of stops before we really got going, but finally we were able to get out on the road and start booking it towards Waleska. We got to listen to the new Rick and Bubba CD, and I swear, I laughed until I thought I was going to be sick. It was great. By the time we made it to Aunt Brenda and Uncle Garry's, it was about 9:00 est and we sat and talked to them until Amy, Jon and her two kids got there. I have no idea how long we sat up and talked, but it was fun.
Thursday morning I got up and started helping Aunt Brenda with the big lunch. Well, actually I didn't know it was going to be lunch, so I didn't bother to take a shower or change my clothes while I was working because I thought I would have plenty of time to do all of that later. Not so much. : ) Everyone got there and they all looked so nice, and there I was in my PJs with hair like Don King, covered in mayonaise after an unfortunate squeeze bottle incident. So I had to run to the back and get "purty". Lunch was fabulous, of course, and afterwards we had our early Christmas with that part of the family. I got some really great stuff, and I had fun watching everyone else open their gifts as well. We had gotten Greg a gag gift, a VHS of a Menudo concert or something, and we made Greg believe that was his gift. I wish I could have seen him open it, but Steve said his expression was priceless. : ) HOLA, MENUDO!!!!! I honestly don't remember what happened after that because I kept dozing off. I felt like one of those old people who sit around watching Matlock. I did that alot while I was there. My allergies were kicking my tail, and any time I'd get still, I'd go to sleep. I bet everyone thought I was being rude! Sorry, guys.
Friday, I don't remember at all. I think we mostly watched TV and I know Kristin and Amy came over at some point, but details are spotty. I don't really remember Steve being there, but that doesn't make sense at all. I promise I wasn't on crack or anything!
Saturday, after I had breakfast with Steve's paren't and Aunt B and Uncle G, I sequestered myself in the back bedroom and did some long overdue homework. I had no idea that I had been in there as long as I actually was. In fact, it didn't dawn on me that I had been in there for more than a couple of hours until I went to the kitchen to get lunch and realized it had been about 8 hours. Amy and her kids had gone home and it was just me and Brenda and Garry (they really need a single word that can describe both an Aunt and Uncle so that you don't have to keep typing that out, don't they?) I decided that I would just bring my laptop in there and put some finishing touches on my work and eat and after that we just sat about and watched TV. Steve and I were supposed to have plans, I think (I never knew for sure what, when or where), but he and Greg had gone to the Georgia/Georgia Tech (Go Dawgs, Woof) and were so tired by the time they got back that Steve went straight to bed and we didn't do anything else. I hung out with Brenda afer Garry went to bed, and we watched Haunted History (God bless the History Channel) and for some reason after Brenda went to bed, I was still awake. I couldn't sleep at all. Steve woke up about 3:00am and we stayed up and talked until about 4:30 before I just literally fell out asleep.
Sunday we left there and stopped by Greg and Kristin's for a few minutes to drop off some stuff Greg left in the Durango and then we headed back to Alabama. We got the dogs and went home. I was tired, but we stayed up and watched the DVDs of Smallville that Steve got as a gift. I love Tom Welling, by the way. : )

Now I'm back at work and still falling asleep everytime I get still enough. I was a complete Pez Head yesterday at work, and I've got to go to school tonight. I'm so glad that this semester is almost over. I won't get much of a vacation for the holidays, but it will be a welcome change not to have to go to school for a couple of weeks anyways.

Is it REALLY considered stalking?

Do you ever get bored and go to those web sites where you can find people, like WhitePages.com or USSearch.com? I do sometimes, if we're slow at work. I usually look up people I went to school with or people I've known that I haven't seen in years. Anyways, the other day I happened to type in a name of a guy I dated when I was fairly young, and definately haven't talked to in years, and I found him. I mean, it gave me his address, his phone number, directions to his house....everything. I only know it's him because he apparently never moved out of the house he lived in with his mom. So here I am with all this info, and I suddenly feel like a complete stalker. Of course, I could just forget I ever saw it, but it wouldn't make me feel any different. I'd love to call him and catch up, but A) that would be weird B) he probably wouldn't remember me C) he would ask me how I knew he still lived at that house D) what in the world would we talk about and E) I wouldn't want him to think I was being anything but friendly, and let's face it, when an old girlfriend calls you out of nowhere, you're probably going to question her motives.

Anyway...now I feel all creepy. : ( Icky, thy name is curiosity.

Oh, and by the way, I am not scared of all thumbs (see yesterday's entry) I was just scared of my own thumb for a splot second. Steve, quit giving me thumbs up! : )

I'M SO LAME

This morning after class, I was driving to Hobby Lobby to pick up some presentation board when I realized that my rearview mirror was crooked. As I was trying to adjust it, I saw something weird in the reflection that scared me and I screamed. As soon as the scream was out of my mouth, I realized that it was just my thumb being reflected from where I was adjusting my mirror. I felt like such an idiot! I started laughing, but then realize that I must look crazy driving and laughing like a loon. SIGH, I think I need medication...

I had a lovely weekend for the most part. Friday night Josh came over to help me cook for the Thanksgiving dinner we made for some of our friends. He had a whole menu worked out, so we were chopping and mixing all evening long. It was fun, but I was kind of scared at how some of the food was going to taste. Luckily for us it all turned out great. For all of you keeping score, there was only a few sparks and the fire alarms only went off a couple of times due to overflowing pecan pie filling. No actual fires this time! SCORE!

Saturday, Steve and I cleaned and I went shopping for a tablecloth and some flowers for a centerpiece. Since it was Iron Bowl Saturday (and I'm more apt to cheer for Auburn rather than Alabama, much to Steve's chagrin) I decided to instill my subtle rebellion into my decorating scheme. We have a red and white kitchen, but I bought a blue tablecloth and orange flowers *evil grin*. I'll post a picture as soon as I can. Anyway, Josh came over and we started on the turkey and all of the other stuff. I swear, we were busy from about 1:30 till we ate at 7:00. We had a great time, but everyone was stuffed from the appetizers we'd had before, so we had TONS of leftovers. We also watched Elf, which was funny, and Shrek 2.

Sunday I woke up feeling ill (and NO, it wasn't a hangover...thankyouverymuch). Apparently I have allergies or severe sinus problems that make me feel horribly dizzy, and my throat felt like it was closing up on me. I didn't make it to church because of it, so I laid about reading and watching Lifetime "Weekend of Deceit" movies or something along those lines. It was the staple, woman-loses-everything-but-prevails-in-the-end type movie. Once Steve got home, we got thre puppies ready and took them to my parent's house. I felt bad leaving them because I miss them when they aren't at home. : ( We had dinner with my parents and then came home.

All in all, it was a nice weekend! : ) What did you do?

YUCK!!!!

*shudder*

I went to the switchboard to answer a call while the operator was away, and the call was from a lady I knew so I sat chatting with her for a few minutes. Well, you know how you just fiddle with stuff around you while you are talking on the phone? I saw what I thought was a piece of gold lace or something and without thinking I reached for it and had it in my hand before I realized it was her RETAINER!!! UGH, and it was WET! AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGH!

I kind of threw it down in disgust. I hope I didn't break it! YUCK!!!!!

Contrary to popular belief, I have not been abducted by aliens! No, I've just been a complete slacker this past week. We had a long, wonderful, productive weekend (marred only by an onset of violent sinus headaches and such sunday night) and this week has been used to recover from that. Steve and his dad finally installed the new sink. It looks amazing, as do the counter-tops. I've been working to get the tiles grouted, but it's a long and winding road to get that done. I've almost gotten the big parts finished, but I've still got to go and fill in some holes. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can. I'll try and make them smaller than the one I posted last time! : )

I found a new coffee house that I adore. It's called Aromas and they have the best coffee. I finally found a place where you don't have to put sugar in the mocha latte! Woo-Hoo! Also, they have awesome croissants and other yummy things. I think I'll become a regular.

Steve and I are now in the process of getting ready to go to GA for Thanksgiving. I have to clean out Rudolph so we will have room for the bags and stuff. I should probably start that today. It's amazing how much more stuff that the Durango will hold than the Neon did. Well, it's not so much that it holds more, but that it holds bigger stuff! heeheehee. We're also going to put both dogs in it for the first time so that we can get them to mom and dad's house before we leave. That should be fun!

Oooh, I bought a roaster. It was on sale at Target and I was thinking how handy that would be if I was to ever roast a turkey, it would be a no brainer to use that and leave the oven open for other stuff. Yay! I'm also going to use it to make roast beef from now on so that I don't end up with a crock pot full of onion soup mix that I don't have anywere to discard.

Speaking of shopping, I got my dresses for the various Christmas parties this year. One was VERY on sale at Marshalls (from $134.00 down to $20) and it is so pretty. It's a simple black dress with short, sheer sleeves, and the top of it crosses across the chest. It's classy and I'll be able to wear it to a lot of different things. I'll wear this one to Steve's party because the lady who wrote him and told him what kind of stuff to wear made me nervous. I may have to get a tiara, though. She kept joking about me wearing one, so I'm tempted. : ) The other dress is my favorite one and I'll wear it to the SpRocket christmas party. It's a navy blue "flapper" style dress with no sleeves, a draped neckline, and a hankercheif hemmed skirt. It's really cute. I don't like that it doesn't have sleeves, though. I hate my arms. OK, enough girly stuff.

I actually had a longer entry planned, but I keep fazing in and out of paying attention. I'll try and think of something more interesting to talk about later.

A SAMPLE

I decided that since I talk about my printing class so much, I would post a sample of what I have been doing. This is by far my favorite print, even though it's the most simple one I've done so far. It was created using the posterization technique and a photo emulsion stencil. The image was made from a picture Kenny took of me a while back. I titled this: "Why So Negative", which is only clever when you see the reversed image print I did of this, but didn't have time to scan. : ) Enjoy.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, BABY, I GOT YOU ON MY MI---IND!

Steve said I was late on my weekend update! I actually forgot to do it! Can you believe that? The sad thing is, I don't remember much of what I did over the weekend, but I'll do my best. : )

Friday night Steve, Josh, and I went to Surin of Thailand and ate dinner. I loooooove that resturaunt! I usually only eat one of two things, but it doesn't make a difference. After that we went to Books-A-Million and sat around talking about politics, and the dehumanization and destruction of world wide culture based on the spread of technology. I'm not kidding.

Saturday I had to work, but only from 9-1. Steve was busy working on our counter tops (which look awesome, by the way), and so I went to Sam's (which I love. Where else can you get 36 packages of Top Ramen for under 6 dollars?!) and got a few things before going home. I want to say that I took a nap or read a book or something that afternoon, but I don't remember. I do remember, however, that we went out with our friends to see "The Incredibles", which was indeed a great movie. I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. A fine family film.

Sunday was church, of course, and I actually made it to Sunday School! After church we went to my parents house, and then we went back to church. I sang in the evening service and we had an awesome guest minister from Africa.

So far this week I finished yet another of my assigned prints, which puts me WAY ahead of schedule, and I've worked on my graphic project. I got the teacher to sit down and tell me EXACTLY what he would change about it before I would continue working on it. I figure that I can stand being a sell out to get good grades. I'm not proud. If I do this exactly as he tells me and I still get a C, I'm going to hunt him down, tie him to a tree, and tickle him until he pees on himself.

Last night Steve and I went to get the rest of the wood that he needs to finish the cabinets, and got a hamburger from Hardee's. I threw a shameful tantrum when I got home because they screwed up my order. That is one of my biggest pet peeves right there. I mean, it's not rocket science, it's getting the right hamburger and the right fries in a bag. I would have even understood if they had been busy, but we were the ONLY PEOPLE THERE. I did feel bad after having a rant, because for all I know, it's really hard to work at Hardee's or maybe the hamburger lady was having a bad day or something. So Hamburger Lady from the Hardee's on Drake Avenue, I'm sorry for getting mad.

Tomorrow is November 11th! Guess what day that is?!! It's Veteran's Day! Woo-Hoo! Oh, yeah, and it's mine and Steve's wedding anniversary. : )

I got my christmas present last night! Steve couldn't wait to give it to me (because he's cool like that). I was so surprised! He got me a violin! I've always wanted one of those!!! He found one on e-bay for a really low price, and it was shipped yesterday. Do I play the violin, you may ask? No. It doesn't matter though, I'd really like to learn. Thanks to the internet I already know how to rosin the bow and fix the strings. Now I just have to learn to make more than screeky, angry cat noises on it. It's so awesome! I've named it Lenny. : ) So, Steve, I take back all the nasty things I've said about you this week...heeheehee. ; )

I'm at work this morning answering the bellows of soccermoms and not doing my homework. I've been such a slug this week. Hopefully the funk I've been under will be completely gone by next week and I can get back to normal. Whatever my kind of normal is, anyway. : )

Steve is replacing the counter tops this morning. Yeah, I know we just did that last year, but because the counters weren't a normal size, the tiles wouldn't fit and we were having to cut them. A lot of them were broken and chipped and frankly looked horrible, so we're starting all over with a clean, and standard sized, slate. We may even finish them this time! He's going to also replace the sink, and I'm going to paint a design on the cabinet doors. Maybe one day we'll finish redoecorating that house. I mean, we've been married and living in that house together for almost 4 years (November 11th is our anniversary), so you'd think we'd be close to done by now.

SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY

I went to Wal-mart after my class this morning to get something to drink, and while I was walking through the produce area, I saw a man vacuuming the onions. I swear.

I also saw a sign that said "Take the 5 a day Challange", which is telling you to eat 5 or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day, and you'll lose weight and look better. It was hanging over a whole stack of caramel apples! : )

CRIPPLING MOMENT OF SELF DOUBT?

Yes, please. Hey, just for funzies, how about two?

SIGH, I've had the worst mental week ever. It started on Sunday with a minor irritation, and has swiftly rolled downhill from there. Of course, I'm wondering how I can go from worrying about gaining a little weight to the ever popular "I'll-never-amount-to-anything-and-I'll-die-alone-and-no-one-will-care-until-they-notice-the-smell" kind of thoughts.
Hmmmm, let's consult the timeline:

Sunday: Realized I gained five -FIVE- pounds in a weeks time. Lovely.

Monday: Web registration wouldn't work. We waited up until after midnight to get the classes we needed, but no matter what we did, it wouldn't let us in. So there was stress about that. Steve's truck quit, so I had to pick him up, making me late for a mid-term (which I freaked out about) that didn't even take me 20 minutes to complete, therefore I freaked out about nothing. --we did eventually get registered, so no worries there.

Tuesday: My graphics teacher all but said that I was untalented and didn't know what I was doing. So I just get up and leave. I'm sitting out back, elbow deep in a bag of chex mix (because if this was turning out to be a comfort food week, I was jumping all over that) wondering if I was doing the right thing by majoring in Graphic Design, wondering if I was going to be able to find a job even if I DID ever manage to graduate, wondering what was going to happen if I am as bad as my teacher is implying, and just plain wondering what was going to happen to me. We didn't have much to do in the print studio that night, so I went home early, once again ate more than my fair share of comfort food and then couldn't sleep. So I watched the election coverage, and for a while there, I thought Kerry was going to win. That right there would have pushed me over the edge.

Wednesday: Nothing specific happened, but I suppose all of the negativity starting off the week had taken it's toll on me. I just got this horrible feeling that my life is not going to turn out anything like I want it to. I'm afraid that by the time I'm able to graduate, my bachelors isn't going to be worth the paper it's printed on. I'm going to be working in a job I hate, if I can get hired anywhere to begin with, watching people not even half as talented as I am getting promoted over my head by bosses like my teacher. I'm going to end up fat and unhealthy (because, let's face it, I can't keep eating everything around me whenever I have a bad day!) and no matter what I do, I'm always going to be awkward and socially weird. I'm going to end up getting pregnant (my worst nightmare. Oh, and thanks to everyone who keeps freaking asking when we're going to have kids. I JUST LOVE HAVING THAT CONVERSATION BY THE WAY! PLEASE, ASK ME AGAIN! I LOVE TO SEE THAT LOOK ON YOUR FACES WHEN I TELL YOU THAT KIDS ARE THE LAST THING I WANT RIGHT NOW! NO, REALLY, IT'S NOT AWKWARD AT ALL!!!) and having to put everything I've ever wanted to do on hold while I watch myself get so wrapped up in PTA and soccer practice that I forget who I was in the first place. Steve's going to die and leave me alone and I'll just have cats and dogs with me until the day I fall over dead and the abandoned animals have to eat me to survive. Yeah, Wednesday was fun.

Thursday: Today hasn't been as bad as yesterday, but as you can see, I'm actually venting today. I am, however, the only person who showed up for work today. The only bright spot in that, is that I have an excuse to miss my graphics class. SIGH.

I wish I'd taken the blue pill and stayed in the Matrix.

Am I the only one who didn't know there was such a thing as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force? Now I've got this most unholy mental image of a bunch of women with mullets holding bats and drag queens wearing WWII era USO uniforms. Eeek.
CNN.com - Same-sex marriage bans�winning on state ballots - Nov 3, 2004

I wanted to go ahead and give out my second "Bless Your Heart" award today. The truly deserving recipent is none other than Ralph Nader. It's not even necessary to explain this one.

Don't you just want to give him a hug? Maybe a cookie?

All together now: BLESS HIS HEART!!!

Go here: Monterey Bay Aquarium: Sea Otter Exhibit - Otter Cam

It's so cute! I feel kinda like a weird Animal voyeur, though. : )

EEEEK!

I just got a great picture of my friend Sara. She's the one on the far right dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein! I was just surprised that she didn't do anything special to her hair ; ) *evil grin*

She looks so great!






In other news, I voted this morning. It took us an hour to get through the line. Steve said that he'd never seen so many people at the polls that early. I can say now that I voted for George W. Bush. Yeah, yeah, make all the jokes you want, but I honestly believe that he would make the best president between him and John Kerry. I know a lot of people are angry that he's sent troops overseas, and the media makes him look like an idiot by their biased reporting and half-truths, but I can say with no qualms at all that I believe that he is doing what he feels is best for our country. It's not my place to say whether or not he's right about the things he's done, because I'm not in Washington dealing with all of these problems and policies, but all we can really ask is that the president do what he thinks is right. No matter who he is.

So any of you who think I'm an idiot for voting for Bush, you can...well, you can do lots of things (some of them illegal in this state and others) to yourself, but I hope you will just respect my decision and leave me alone about it and I'll do the same for you. I prayed that the right man be elected, be it my choice or not, and I have faith that it will happen.