The Dog Ate My Homework

No really, that's what happened to my post from yesterday, it had nothing to do with the fact that I apparently forgot to hit the post button. I'd go a head an post it except I'm afraid of the the NaBloPoMo police - you never know when they might catch you cheating.

In other news, my New Year's Day was spent as many Americans prefer to spend it - slightly hung-over, watching the Rose Parade and a lot of football. I even went to bed at 9pm (that might have had something to do with being up til 3am the night before) - all things considered it was a restful day, just the way to start the New Year.

Today I spent ALL day cleaning our photos - tossing a bunch of really bad ones, getting other ones sorted for scrapbooking and organizing all the negatives, cds and film cartridges. Even though it really did take me way longer than I had hoped it feels really god to have it done. Of course since I didn't finish my task till late I didn't help Scott with his (ripping up the carpet downstairs), so he pretty much didn't get anything done.

Oh, did I forget to tell you? Our basement flooded. Yep, Sunday night our little river turned into a ginormous river and decided to find it's way into our basement. Happily we were able to get most everything out or up high enough, so all we lost was the carpet. But if it hadn't been for the help of an awesome friend and the young and burly Firemen that came over with tons of sand bags it would have been much worse. Yeah, 2008 ROCKED - so I'm very, very glad to see the back of that year.

Even though I've already failed on the whole NaBloPoMo thing, I am trying for another picture a day this year. I really enjoyed it last year, so I decided to have another go at it - in fact I've recruited my sister, a friend and her daughter (and possibly one other friend). Come to think of it, I need to get a finder's fee or something.

That's enough randomness for now, but just because I goofed up yesterday doesn't mean I won't try to do the rest of the month - just think of it as NaBloPoMo minus one.

Current Music: Blame it on the Bosa Nova - Edie Gorme (hey, I could blame my missed post on that too)

Nobody Likes a Tease

I hate to say bad things about my girl, Mother Nature. I love her, but she is a serious tease.

This was Monday, all was right with the world:



And then Tuesday happened:



Wednesday was the bringer of all things spring, the sun was out, the birds were chirping, there were signs of green in the lawn and the piles of snow were melting. I was absolutely sure that spring was here for good.

And this is what I found when I left the office tonight...



Seriously - I am a California girl, when you promise good weather, you can't mean for the next ten minutes!!!!

Current Music: California Sun - Jem

The Morning After

After springing forward that is.

Don't get me wrong, I love Daylight Savings Time, mostly. I love the wonderful long evenings. I love that we can't set off fireworks till 10pm. There's lots of things to love about Daylight Savings Time but this day is always one of my least favorite days of the year.

I figure I lose at least at least 3 hours of sleep and am probably about as unproductive as I can get (well and be at work).

Now, falling back an hour - that's good stuff. Rested, relaxed and ready to go to work on Monday, it's all good! I'm going to figure out a way to only fall back, then run for office - I think I could go far on that platform!

Current Music: Lily Dreams On - Cotton Mather

Folding Our Tents

KimmyK and FADKOG have the right idea - we're getting out of dodge! Well, we're leaving the house for a bit anyway - just heading across town till the plumbing resolves itself. Our friends have a summer cottage and they've offered it to us till this shit storm blows over, so we're packing up the kitties and the pup and heading over there.

Last night we thought we could get through it, paper plates aren't so bad right? After one day of those paper plates (and everything else) we weren't feeling so positive about the possibility of making it through the week.

Then came the last straw... I expect that we are like most working couples, and we do laundry on the weekend, and of course it's hard to have laundry day without the washer and dryer. Happily, our friends were kind enough to offer the use of their washer and dryer (and shower) today, so we started driving the laundry down the street. Half way through the laundry (a load in the washer, a load in the dryer, a load in the basket in the car and a load left to go) we decided that there is just no way we could make it till mid- to late week.

To get back to the whole list theme thing, I thought I would close with a list of things I miss about not having indoor plumbing:
1. showers
2. flushing the toilet
3. the dishwasher
4. the washing machine
5. shaving - a short shower means I'm starting to look like a yeti!

I'm sure there are more, but those are the top ones!

Current Music: I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor

Sick

I was feeling fine this morning, still finishing off the cold I got on the plane, but no big deal. Then I took a bit of Robitussin to help with the cough - that was the mistake.

Let's just say that it tastes pretty bad going down, and there's no improvement going the other direction! So I've been laying low today - a few saltines and some Vernor's, and working from home.

On the bright side, I've finalized the design for our holiday card - so now all I have to do is make a billion of them and get them out within the next two weeks! No prob!

Since everyone else is doing it, and really what's a few more when you're making a billion cards, I'd be happy to swap cards with any one that's willing! Just email me at mandylou_who@yahoo.com and give me your data and I'll add you to the ridiculously long list of family and friends that don't really deserve a handmade card (no - not you, you totally deserve a handmade card).

Current Music: Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies

And the Gross Goes On

Ok, just when you thought it was safe to go to the Tiki bar again! One of my friends that also gave out her business card got this email on Friday...

"How are you? This is ***** from the Tikki bar few days back. Just wanted to let you know, ***** and I had a very good time. You were all very mellow down to earth...solid people. Hopefully we can do it again (I think we are going there tonight actually)."

The good news is that this guy was one of the single guys, the bad news is that she was one of the married girls (the even worse news is that he was one of the least attractive of the bunch).

Apparently we won't be frequenting the Forbidden Island for a while.

Current Music: Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

Eeeeewwwwww

Creepy-Gross Stalker moment!

Wait, let me set the story up right...

Friday night was our Girl's Night Out. As seen in the picture, there was a fair amount of drinking involved. We started off with dinner and Mojitos then we walked to a really fun (and very busy) tiki bar for the rest of the evening. We were into our first round of cute umbrella drinks when we finally managed to get a table. The table happened to be on a long bench, and there were other tables along the bench - we had been hoping for a booth, but on a Friday night you take what you can get.

A couple of guys were sitting at the next table over, so we stuck the single girl on the end (the rest of us are married so we sacrificed her!). As the evening wore on, they joined our party - it was fine, they were fun enough and a couple of them were single, we were all feeling no pain and enjoying the evening. Later in the evening the married guy starts hitting on me a bit - nothing I couldn't handle, but eew! I mean I'm married, he's married and he wasn't even close to cute enough to get over either of those hurdles. So I head out side for a bit, try to get a little fresh air and get away from him - and end up getting hit on by the bouncer! At that point I went back in and kicked my sister out of her seat so I wouldn't have to fend off the creepy married guy or the bouncer for the rest evening.

Not long after, (around 1 am) we called my brother-in-law to pick us up, it was getting late and all the drunk guys were getting a little hand-sy. As we're leaving, all the guys were asking us to stay and for our numbers - so I gave one of them my card. I figured, I'd be home in Michigan before any of them realized that I didn't live in the state!

So here's the creepy-gross part - I get in to the office this morning and my boss says there was a message for me from a name he didn't recognize (we both work with most of the clients here - so he usually knows the names). After staring at the name and number for a bit - I realize that it's the creepy married guy calling me!!! Yuck! Not only did he take my business card from his cuter single friend, but he actually called me here.

Feeling all kinds of gross now - I'm heading home to take a shower.

Special Musical Treat: (cause it's just sooooo very appropriate!):