Day 31

This was just moments before Kyle decided to destroy the snowman. He said Frosty needed to melt. Bully.

Day 30

Doris the cat

Day 29

Day 28

More Things I Don't Need

1. Barack Obama Posable Action Figure
2. Sarah Palin toilet paper

3. Potty Putter

This one is really for Troy. I think he'd like it.
4. Runny Nose Shower Dispenser

5. Mr. Rogers Talking Keychain

6. Vincent Van Gogh Action Figure



Now with two heads!

Day 27

For as rarely as Kyle eats, I sure do seem to have a lot of pictures of him eating.

Day 26

I'm not exactly pleased with how this photo came out, but it was late and I needed to take a picture so I could go to bed.

Days 24 and 25

Day 23

My beautiful brown-eyed boy.

Days 21 and 22

I didn't have time to post my picture yesterday, so here are yesterday's and today's pictures.


Day 22. I stayed late at work today and snapped this picture from the parking lot.

Day 21. This bike drawing was carved into the hillside in late summer, and now the snow settles inside it to make it even more defined.

Thursday Thunks for 1.22.09

1. Obama tattoos. What do you think of people who got one?
This is the first I am reading about them. I think they're pretty silly.

2. How many blogs do you read a day, and do you always comment?
I can't even count them. A lot. And no, I don't always comment. I only comment if I feel I have something worthwhile to add.

3. Do you know to swim?
Not really. I can tread water and do the back float, so I think I'd be okay in certain situations, but I never really got the hang of the basic crawl. I hate putting my face in the water.

4. Describe your favorite shirt.
I hate all my clothes right now.

5. What is one thing that is ALWAYS on your grocery list? Extra points for imagination and creativity.
This isn't very imaginative or creative, but my answer is chocolate milk. Kyle drinks the stuff like it's going out of style, and it is a major catastrophe if we run out.

6. Have you ever done any acting?

I was in several plays in high school, including one of the leads in The Glass Menagerie. Then I went to college with the plan to major in theatre arts. I was in a few black box productions and one summer musical. But it took me nearly three years to realize that theatre isn't really the best fit for somebody with extreme social anxiety.

7. I just made a delicious smelling dinner with mystery meat. Will you have some?
If it smells and looks good, I'd probably give it a taste.

8. If you are driving in the rain and you see a person walking along the road, do you intentionally try to splash them?
The thought may go through my head, but I would never actually do it. Not intentionally. I've been on the splashed end of that scenario, and it is not fun.

9. Yearbooks- do you still have any from school?
All of them. I even got out my senior yearbook just a few weeks ago to refresh my memory. I couldn't believe how many people had faded from my memory.

10. What kind of shampoo do you use?

Right now it is Garnier Fructis. I go for the cheapest I can find. I prefer a combined shampoo/conditioner because I'm too lazy to use separate ones.

11. And just to counter Ber's first question from last week.... What's the hottest temp you have experienced?
That would probably be Vegas in July--I think it was over 110.

Day 20

Fire and ice--these are the dried remnants of the mums from our garden. I love the color.

10 Things That I Don't Need But Would Totally Make My Life That Much More Awesome

As I was surfing the internet the other day, I discovered this fabulous store: FredFlare. Check out this awesome stuff:

1. Mr. T keychain

I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to tell people, "Don't give me no backtalk, sucka!" at the touch of a button. I pity the fool who messes with me and my Mr. T keychain.

2. Banana cell phone holder

Excuse me, I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear! Hilarious!

3. Peanuts scarf

I don't really have anything to say about these. I just thought they were really fun. And winter needs to be more fun.

4. Silly Face Stickers

Because staplers need to be more fun too.

5. Frozen smiles

I remember once on vacation when Grandma Edna couldn't find her dentures for a whole morning. She could have used these ice cubes.

6. Retro cell phone receiver

For those days when I feel like rebelling against technology.

7. Pick your nose party cups

If only these were ceramic and could be used over and over again.

8. I Love You toast stamper

Every time I tried to tell you, the words just came out wrong. So I'll have to say I love you with my toast.

9. Self-adhesive mustaches

Why not?

10. Crazy cat lady action figure

Someday I want to be a crazy cat lady too.

Day 19

Loki is so very hard to photograph. He usually turns out to be just a black blob. I'm not saying this is a great photo of him, but at least you can tell he's a cat.

Yes We Can!

I just have to say I am so excited about the inauguration tomorrow. I've been counting down the days and hours until Bush is no longer in office. I really hope that Obama lives up to his promises, that he can bring about true change, that this is really the beginning of something great.

I am so proud that during my lifetime I have seen another color barrier broken. May Obama open the door for all future leaders, elected on their merits, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, religion, or any of the other ways we humans try to separate ourselves from one another.

(To make your own groovy pics, go to Obamicon.Me)

Day 18

A weekend's worth of videos.

Day 17

Super Kyle to the rescue!

Day 16

For today's photo, I didn't have anything specific I wanted to take a picture of, so I decided to play with the macro setting on my camera. This is a close-up of Troy's famous popcorn. Can you just see all the fabulous butter?

Day 15

According to the radio, the temperature was actually -26 degrees this morning. Brrr!

Day 14

The two spaghetti monsters.

Thursday Thunks for 1.15.09

Another Thursday, another meme. Thanks, Thursday Thunks, for giving me something to write about today.

1. What's the coldest temperature you've experienced?
Umm... I think that would be this morning. -26. Yes, kiddos, that's a minus sign. And that doesn't include the wind chill. Actually, it's probably been this cold (if not a little colder) before, but I don't remember the specifics. When Troy carried Kyle to the car this morning, Kyle had a look on his face that said, "You're effin' kidding me, right?" and "Ouch, I think my face just froze this way."

2. What's for dinner tonight?
Since school is closed today (wusses), Troy has the day off. So I vote that he handles the dinner arrangements tonight. I'm thinking that it will involve browned hamburger in some form. That's because I browned a pound of burger last night before my sister called and invited us all over to my mom and dad's for a spaghetti feast. Now there's a pound of browned hamburger waiting to be Hamburger Helper-fied.

3. Would you consider this job in Australia?
Yes. Yes. A million times yes. I'm sitting here in -26 degree weather and you're asking if I would consider a job where all I had to do was hang out on a beach? What kind of crazy do you take me for? True, I don't swim, so the whole snorkeling thing could be a problem. But for this, I could learn.

4. What was your favorite subject in high school?
English. Big surprise, eh? I was one of those geeks who actually enjoyed diagramming sentences. Of course, I've completely forgotten how by now. It's true, you never really need to know that stuff in real life. Even if you're an editor, which I am. It's not like we have to sit here and diagram all the sentences in our books before they can be published.

5. How many hours a day is your tv on?
A whole freakin' lot. We're really bad that way. The house always feels a little empty if we don't have the TV on. But we don't always just sit and stare at it. We're usually doing other things while the TV is on. Like eating junk food. Just kidding. Not really.

6. Have you ever received an award?
Why yes, yes I have. There were all the speech and debate trophies I won in high school. And there was the "I Like Myself" award I got for a godawful attempt at bowling at a company "party" (In my defense, it was my first time ever and I didn't want to do it). But my one semi-legitimate award was winning a poetry contest, one of those poetry contests you find in the back of some magazines, where you can get published in an amazing poetry anthology (if you buy said anthology for the low, low price of $185.95). Only I was smart enough not to buy the book. And for some reason (the judges were drunk, maybe, or they pulled my name out of a hat), my poem still won the Grand Prize--$2000! I still call it a semi-legitimate award, because I suspect the prize had more to do with luck (and drunk judges) than it did with the merit of my poem on a literary level.

7. What does your mousepad look like?
At work, it's just a boring old circle with one of those ergonomic wrist pads, although I turn it so I don't actually use the wrist thingy because it bugs me. The pad is kind of grungy and has a few crumbs from chocolate bars and other various snacks. And at home, we have a rockin' Las Vegas-themed mouse pad. Because that's how cool we really are.

8. Do you think Bud should do the Thursday Thunk meme?
Never heard of him. Don't really care.

9. How many browser tabs do you have open right now?
Three. That's nothing. I usually have at least five or six going. And then Firefox freaks out and I have to restart.

10. If you are a parent, have you or did you ever put Vicks VapoRub on your children under the age of 2?
I think we probably did. I know we had the infant kind for awhile, but I think that got old and we replaced it with the regular stuff. But I know whenever I used it, I did so very, very sparingly.

11. If you had to pick one insect to infest your house for 1 day and after that day they would just suddenly vanish, which insect infestation would you pick?
Lightning bugs. How totally awesome in every sense of the word would that be?

12. What color is your underwear that you are wearing right at this moment?
Pink.

13. What was the last thing you watched on tv?

Well, Franklin was on this morning while I was getting ready for work, and I guess I stood and watched it for a minute or two before realizing I was actually watching Franklin. The last programming I watched that wasn't dictated by a 4-year-old, though, was American Idol.

14. What are your plans for the 4th of July this year?
Heck, I dunno. A little fireworks, a little BBQ. The usual.

15. Tell us about one absolutely wonderful thing that happened to you as a teenager and every time you think of it, it brings a smile to your face.
Gosh, I can't think of anything. It's not like my teenage days were so godawful, but they weren't exactly a John Hughes movie either. There was that one time in seventh grade when I saw the hot Mexican exchange student (a senior, no less!) in the hall and he looked in my general direction and I nearly melted to death.

16. What product could you sell someone based on your love for it?
I'm going to go with my Nikon D50 DSLR camera. Totally worth every cent I spent on it. I love it so much I'm practically married to it. It's even sitting on my desk right now, whispering sweet nothings into my ear. Sure, it doesn't clean the house or do the dishes, but you can use it to take a picture of the one time that you actually cleaned the house and remember it for always.

Day 13

A coworker brought her puppies to work today, and I fell in love.

In Honor of My 34th Birthday, 34 Random Facts about Me

1. I was born in a blizzard.
2. I can't decide what my favorite color is.
3. I plan to live my whole life without ever riding a rollercoaster.
4. I don't drink alcohol.
5. I hate driving, especially with other people in the car.
6. I'd love to go on an African safari.
7. If I didn't dye my hair, I'd be mostly gray.
8. I love eggnog.
9. I designed the homecoming button my junior year (at least I'm pretty sure it was junior year--all those years are starting to run together), but I misspelled Faribault (the opposing team) as "Fairibault", leading to much embarrassment. (ETA: Now that I found the button, I realized it was my senior year, not my junior year.)
10. I prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate (but I would never turn down any type of chocolate).
11. I once saw five Broadway shows in four days.
12. My major is in creative writing.
13. My minor is in theatre arts.
14. I used to have an imaginary friend named Thor.
15. I was at the 7th game of the 1987 World Series when the Twins won.
16. I love black licorice (and black jellybeans).
17. My first job (not including babysitting) was at Tas-T-Shoppes, a small grill/cafe at a dying mall.
    
18. I actually own a copy of the Brady Bunch cd.
19. I was in love with the New Kids on the Block during junior high/high school. I saw them in concert several times (I can't remember the exact number anymore).
20. Other bands/performers I have seen live: Billy Joel, the Monkees, Simon and Garfunkel, Sheryl Crow, Kenny G, Bob Dylan, Sting, Dixie Chicks, Indigo Girls, William Hung, Wayne Newton
21. I was co-captain of the speech team in high school.
22. I didn't go to prom because nobody asked me.
23. I played the french horn in high school.
24. I met my (future) husband on Halloween.
25. I have worked for my present employer for almost nine years.
26. I am very interested in graphic design and would love to take some classes.
27. According to Wii Fit, I am very unbalanced.
28. I am the youngest in my family.
29. I used to have a huge birthmark on my forehead, but it faded.
30. I miss my bright orange '72 VW bug with the rainbow sticker in the back.
31. I would love to take piano lessons. I took them when I was much younger, and can still remember enough to figure out bits and pieces of songs. I can play the introductions to several songs, including "Piano Man," "Seasons of Love," "Desperado," and "Right Here Waiting for You."
32. I don't like spicy food.
    
33. Some day I hope to live in a house with a turret.
34. Ever since my jaw surgery in 1998, I have had little to no feeling in my lower lip.
    

Day 12

I stayed home today with a sore throat. Nothing soothes a sore throat quite like mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Day 11

Kyle thoroughly enjoyed his serving of Cora's birthday cake.

Day 10

I didn't do much today because I don't feel well. So today's photo was an easy target--my cat Doris, sleeping soundly on the couch.

Day 9

This was just before bedtime as Troy prepared to carry Kyle up to bed.

Day 8

These are my brand new glasses. Only one person noticed them today. Troy hasn't even said anything about them, which I take to mean that he doesn't care for them. Oh well. Tough.

Thursday Thunks

I found a new meme called Thursday Thunks, and I thought I'd give it a try. It's just a list of random questions. Should be pretty easy, right?

1. Are you a celebrity news junkie?
Somewhat. I don't go out of my way to watch Entertainment Tonight or anything, and I think TMZ is pure evil, but that hasn't stopped me from getting sucked in on occasion. I'm fascinated by the celebrity world.

2. Have you or anyone in your family ever had braces? Yep, all three of us. But I'm the only one to have them twice. Once in high school (as required by law) and again in college when I had my jaw surgery. The kicker? My teeth still aren't straight. Four words: Wear your retainer, kids!

3. Name 4 things in your garage that you don't think anyone else has in theirs.
This one is tough. I don't think I have strange things in my garage.

1. a bag of tulip bulbs I bought but never got around to planting, maybe four years ago. Do you think they're still good?
2. a diaper pail (empty). It's broken and we plan to get rid of it during spring cleanup days.
3. not one but two broken floor lamps. Also destined for the curb on clean-up days.
4. a changing table. We don't use it anymore.
   

4. Do you order Girl Scout cookies?
I would if I could. But they're kind of expensive, especially considering the short amount of time they actually spend in the house before being devoured. I've splurged a few years. Thin mints are to die for, with Samoas a close second.

5. If you have a cat or a dog, what brand of dog/cat food do you feed them?
Loki and Doris (cats) eat Purina One, either the hairball remedy or the kind that prevents urinary tract infections.

6. When you cook, do you use measuring cups/spoons?
Almost always. But I do feel comfortable enough with my mad macaroni and cheese skills that I no longer measure the milk. I know, I'm such a rebel!

7. If you were stranded on a desert island, how many sand castles would you build? I would build a single huge sand castle. And I'd live in it. (I don't think I'd last too long on a desert island, huh.)

8. What's one thing you own too many of?
Plates. I have the ones in my cupboard, plus holiday ones, plus a set I bought at a garage sale because it was such a good deal, plus some saucers that I picked up with the intention of smashing to make into mosaics, not to mention the decorative ones hanging on my walls. And I still visit the dishware aisle at Target and gaze longingly at the table settings. Oh, they are so cute and pretty! Is it really possible to have too many plates. Mom, what do you think?

9. If given the chance to go to the moon, would you?
I think so. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't be scared. But seriously, who would really pass on the chance to go to the moon? "Wanna go to the moon?" "Nah, I'll just stay here. I was going to shave my legs tonight."

10. Talk radio - listen or not?
I listen to KFAN sports talk radio occasionally, but not by choice (unless the Vikings game is on and I can't be by the TV). It's Troy's radio station of choice, and I've got to let him win a few battles here and there, right?

11. When you put silverware in the dishwasher or in the drainer to dry, do you put the handles up or down?
Down. And then when it comes time to find my cereal spoons (I like the big ones for cereal), I inevitably lift up at least seven forks and/or knives before locating the proper spoon.

12. Video Games for kids - good or not?
Depends on the game. If it is intended for a mature audience, then no. Kyle does like to watch Daddy play Resident Evil. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but then I realized that Kyle actually believes Troy when he says he's just tickling the zombies. Once Kyle is old enough to actually recognize the violence, then I'll put the kibosh on that. But kid-friendly video games? Sure. They're good for hand-eye coordination. Maybe if I had played them more as a kid, I wouldn't be such a clutz. But sadly, a traumatic Pac Man experience led me to avoid them until only recently. I don't like to talk about it.

13. Share a website with us.
Every "Best of 2008" list you could ever think of...

14. Water - bottle or tap?
Tap water. It's ridiculous to spend so much money on something you can get for free from your kitchen faucet.

15. Have you ever eaten a giant jawbreaker, the ones that are the size of the palm of your hand, all the way to the end?
I don't think I've ever eaten a giant jawbreaker, period. And I don't think I've ever eaten a jawbreaker of any size all the way to the end. Heck, I don't think I've ever even sucked a Life Saver to the end. I'm a biter. (That's what she said. )

My Snow Test

Your Snow Test Says You're Independent

You feel like something good will happen to you in the next few weeks. You don't really like to work, unless work feels like play. You only are successful when you are doing what you love. You are an independent, individualistic person. You thrive when you're doing your own thing. Your biggest worry in your life is your health. You tend to be a bit of a hypochondriac. When it comes time to relax, you really indulge. You are all about your favorite comforts.

The Snow Test