Best Laid Plans...

Hoss told me once I had enough material for several posts but I crammed
it into one itty bitty post, so I can't do that tonight. I have enough material for the rest of the week, all wrapped up in a 24 hour timespan. I am mentally exhausted!! I have fixed a flat tire, watched my daughters first basketball game, got groceries, got a new library card, did my bills, took a trip to the post office, typed 1300 lines of medical blah-de-be-blah, took my sicky Archie to the vet (which made me very sad), four loads of laundry, waited over an hour at a restaurant for my food, and tried to figure out the point of my existence all in one day. Maybe all this happened because I did not haiku. That's what I need.


Good eats, place burns down.
Owner rebuilds, starts over.
Kinks not ironed out yet!

I am taking the advice of debutaunt and turning the bitter into sweet, so I'll have another go at the haiku. I was tired and crabby so I need to just let it out...isn't haiku the best way??

What took it so long?
Not a tough thing I ordered.
Grilled chicken salad.

I'm not mad, but sad.
I used to love to eat here.
Next time Taco Bell.

Turn bitter to sweet
I went to the library
New Tom Robbins book!


Ahhhhhhh. Much better.

D-D-DivaStarz

I told my daughter Rug today that she could go to Build-A-Bear to use the gift card she had gotten for her birthday. She told me that since she had more than her older sister, that she would give her card to her sister, and just buy herself an outfit. I was completely blind sighted
by this generosity, and was waiting for the 'catch'...but there wasn't one. So score one for me in the parenting game, woo hoo.

Around 11 I made her get dressed, and my first surprise rang the doorbell...her best friend Mc was at the door, and I told her she was going with us to the mall, as a little surprise. She was thrilled, I probably could have stopped there and she would have been just as happy.

We got to the mall, and I let them browse around Limited Too for a little while, and we 'sauntered' over to Libby Lu...we walked in and the girl welcomed us, and I said, "This is Riley." And the girl behind the counter said, "Oh, would you like to come with me and get your makeovers started??" Rug couldn't believe it!! "Mom, ohmygosh. Ohmygoshmom, are you for REAL?" She she, Mc and her older sister Al got the diva treatment: makeup, nails, hair, even outfits to wear. They got to do a dance in front of the store, and had an absolute blast. Rug was shaking her thing for sure, so I am guaranteed she will have a lucrative future in SOME career, hopefully that will not be the one she chooses but I'm not picky.

As the three of them walked out of the mall, hand in hand, giggling, excited about the fun they were having, Rug noticed, even though her legs were shivering from the cold, that there was a limousine parked outside the front of the mall. I told her maybe she could ask the driver if she could look inside. She started gasping, and said to the driver, "Is this...this isn't for me is it?" He says, "Are you Ms. Rug?" "Yes," she replies. "Oh, well, they didn't tell me I was going to be driving around a famous rock star today. My name is John and I will be your driver, go ahead and hop in."

I thought she was going to burst!

We drove around and ended up at Crown Candy Kitchen for lunch. They had milk shakes and banana splits and gummy hearts and chocolate covered pretzels. Yeah, and then I stuck them BACK in the limo for the ride home, they were BOUNCING like pinballs from the sugar!!!

We arrived back at the mall, and we actually did go to Build-A-Bear so Rug's sister got the boxer dog, and she got a pink outfit for her build-A-Bear at home, and our glamorous day as rocks stars was over.

limo

limo
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

In the end, it was an awesome day. I certainly hope she remembers this forever. I know I will.

100 Things

I started this post over an hour ago. I can't believe it took me that long to think of it! But I did it all in one setting, and I'm sure I'll want to go back and use other things, but this is it, all there is to know about me. And then some.


100 Things About Me

1. I have tried to keep every note anyone has ever given to me since 5th grade. They are in a Rubbermaid tub in my basement.

2. I also have kept all my journals since high school, same tub.

3. The first concert I ever went to was INXS with Public Image Limited. It was wonderful, I will never forget it. I wore red Converse high-tops trying to be cool, but paired it with Coca-Cola sweatpants (How establishment!)

4. I really wish I could do more volunteer work. I mostly just volunteer at my kids’ school.

5. My grandpa was killed by a drunk driver when my dad was 10. I have no respect for people who drive drunk. I have driven drunk.

6. When I was little I wanted to be a mermaid or a make-up artist like the ones in Fangoria.

7. My mother wanted a foo-foo girl, and would buy me Bonnie Bell sets. I would mix the perfume and lotions together playing “Mad Scientist” in my laboratory. Mwahahahaha.

8. I am not, and have never been, a foo-foo girl.

9. My youngest daughter, yeah, she is totally foo-foo. I wouldn’t allow anyone to buy pink for either of my daughters when they were little. Now that’s all they want to wear. Serves me right.

10. I met a boy at a park one time when I was 10 who was from Michigan. He told me we’d definitely meet again and get married. Obviously that didn’t happen.

11. I smoked cigarettes for about one week in high school, menthols at that. My boyfriend at the time took my pack of cigarettes from me and said, “Come on, you know that isn’t you.” He was right. I never smoked again.

12. I have a strange habit of counting letters, in groups of three. Everywhere I go. It’s my little secret. For example, the word “insane” would be good, ins-ane…but I would have to break up something like ridiculous…it would be rid-i-cul-ous. Seriously, it drives me nuts sometimes.

13. I have to sleep a certain way at night or else I can’t sleep. LP is the only one who knows about it, I can’t tell anyone else!!! It is a total neuroses of mine.

14. You’re starting to think I am crazy. I know. I think so too.

15. My husband has more shoes than I do. There, I said it. I need three pairs of shoes per season…one black, one brown, one tennis shoe. That’s it.

16. I cannot stand the way I look. It took me a very long time before I could look into a mirror completely; if I had to do my hair I’d look up, I even put mascara on with out a mirror.

17. This stems from having really bad skin as a child. It still makes me cringe thinking about it. My skin is still really bad. Okay, let’s move on!

18. I love broccoli and asparagus. I also love brussel sprouts if they are cooked right, and I love peas!! Mmmmm peas.

19. The first guy I had sex with was also my first love.

20. He was one of my Dad’s former grade school students.

21. When my dad found out I was dating him, he yelled and screamed and freaked out and said I was not allowed to date him.

22. We dated for almost a year. My dad actually started to like him.

23. My mom drove off the road and called me a whore when I told her I wasn’t a virgin.

24. She also cried and said I ruined my life when I told her I was pregnant.

25. I am not a whore, and I certainly did not ruin my life.

26. My mom and I had a very, very bad relationship for a long time.

27. It only got better when I moved out of the house to live with LP.

28. She still drives me nuts, but I can’t imagine a day going by without talking to her. She would do anything for me and I love her very much.

29. I lived in the dorms throughout my 4 years of college.

30. I couldn’t afford not to.

31. I didn’t realize how poor I was growing up until only a few years ago.

32. My dad was a grade school teacher. He also tutored at night, so we didn’t see him much during the school year.

33. Over the summer though we would go camping and go places around St. Louis.

34. I have lived in the St. Louis area all of my life.

35. This was not my plan.

36. I am pretty happy here though.

37. One of the kids who relentlessly teased me in grade school killed himself last year. It really freaked me out, and put things into perspective.

38. Did you ever see “Big Fish”?? the analogy that most wolves are very lonely really struck a nerve with me, and it always makes me see angry/mean people in a different light. Mostly they are lonely. I try to remind myself of that.

39. I can’t cook. Seriously.

40. I can bake though. Only by a recipe. And not all that fancy stuff.

41. I have a huge, irrational fear of flying. I flew to DisneyWorld with my grandparents when I was 7, and when I got home I swore I would NEVER set foot on an airplane again.

42. I didn’t until I graduated college, and I went to New Mexico for the weekend by MYSELF. It did not cure me of my fear.

43. I wore a size 8.5 shoe until I had kids, now they’re almost a 9.

44. I have an abnormal amount of music knowledge, mostly of 80s music.

45. My dad has over 1,000 45s, so that has a lot to do with it.

46. I think my iPod is one of the best things I have ever owned.

47. I also think I fell in love with LP’s CD collection before I fell in love with him. It was also one of the reasons I FELL in love with him! :)

48. I quit the newspaper when I was a sophomore. My mom thinks it was because I wrote a story on a Colombian girl and she got mad that I stated cocaine was a Colombian export. I really quit because I wanted to spend more time with my boyfriend. (see #19)

49. I was in dance from Kindergarten until 8th grade. I had a love/hate relationship with it. But now I’m glad to be able to say I was a dancer.

50. I quit because my teacher bumped me up to a more advanced class, and they ostracized me for being younger.

51. Obviously I cannot handle pressure very well.

52. My first car was a Plymouth Champ, which was actually my mom's. You had to keep your foot on the accelerator otherwise it would die. Took me a long time to un-learn two foot driving.

53. My mother found my rolling papers when I was in high school and I said they were someone else’s. She believed me.

54. My older brother scored a 30 on his ACT. He still lives at home.

55. I cannot seem to get this around my head, and it drives me craaaaazy.

56. I almost cut my little toe off when I was 5 in the Kaskaskia River on a glass bottle. I remember the experience vividly. I remember the feeling when I cut it, and all the blood, and my dad holding down my shoulders while I watched the doctor sew up my foot.

57. My epidural did not work with my second child, and it hurt like hell.

58. But I remember more about her birth than I do the first one.

59. When LP and I got married, we lived in a 2 bedroom house that I still miss, even though it didn't have an attached garage. Once someone tried to steal LP's cell phone from his car, but Al woke up and started crying which startled him and he ran off. Our neighbor found the phone in a ditch by her house and called us to pick it up.

60. I love being barefoot. I really hate shoes.

61. I have self diagnosed myself with Social Anxiety disorder. If I do not feel comfortable, I will totally clam up and be quiet. I don’t initiate conversations, and I have terrible ‘small talk’ ability. I think everyone hates me, but I don’t have low self-esteem. I struggle with this on a regular basis.

62. I would wear sweatpants 99% of the time if I could.

63. I usually do.

64. I have a degree in Psychology. I really, really wish I had my Master’s.

65. My dad was the head counselor of a scout camp when I was little, and we would live there over the summers in a cabin that had no bathroom.

66. I worked at a summer camp my senior year in college in Minnesota. It was fun. I had to stay away from the water though, because I can't swim.

67. I used to work at a daycare, and one of the kids in my class was suffocated by his mother with a pillow.

68. I also worked at a center for abused kids, and it was one of the best and worst jobs I have ever had. During that time I got peed on and spit at and punched and kicked, but that was much better than the abuse we received from the administration!!

69. I love nature. I could go on hikes and walks in the woods forever. My dad instilled this in me. He always takes time to watch the sunset.

70. I have never been to Mexico.

71. The only bone I have broken is my second toe when I was in 6th grade tripping over a manhole cover. Heh, I said manhole.

72. In college, I never missed an episode of “Beverly Hills 90210.” However, I could not tell you what one episode was about if you asked me. (Okay, I do remember Donna was a big ol virgin, that’s it though!)

73. I used to love, love, love making tapes for people. I still make CDs, but it’s not the same.

74. I don’t like roses. I don’t like their smell. LP sent me roses on our 1-year anniversary and I got upset that he didn’t know me well enough. Wish I could go back and tell that little weenie girl to shut up, your husband just sent you flowers.

75. I love lilies. He sends me lilies now.

76. I went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. I was 5 months pregnant so I don’t feel like I enjoyed it as much as I could have. I would love to go back but that airplane ride…..

77. I dated a guy for 3.5 years that I had no intentions of marrying.

78. One of my most favorite things to do is go on float trips. We used to go every year. Missouri has great rivers to canoe, and I make a cooler full of Jell-O shots. I found a website with all these great recipes, and the cooler is always GONE by the end of the day. I hope this year we can go on another float trip, it’s been awhile.

79. LP hates to go camping. This is a huge problem for me. I love it and would go every weekend in the summer. I’m hoping one day we can buy a camper so he can have his air conditioning and bathroom. The first time I took him camping it rained and he got poison ivy from peeing in the woods!

80. I swore when I was in high school I would never let my hair turn dark. After I had Al, it did, so I immediately got it highlighted. I’ve been highlighting it ever since.

81. My eyebrows are naturally blonde though. Yeah, and the carpet matches. Perv.

82. I get along better with boys. Whenever I’m at a party I usually end up talking with the men than the women. Especially if it’s about music or movies. I hate girlie talk, especially gossip. Well, most of it.

83. I can’t believe I typed this straight through without stopping!

84. I never thought I would be married with kids. I always thought I’d be the single ‘auntie’ to all my friends’ kids who had her own place and did what she wanted. Boy was I wrong.

85. I have never broken up with anyone. They’ve always broken up with me.

86. I think Steve Carell and Steven Colbert are two of the funniest people. Oh and Lewis Black, and Jon Stewart and Dave Attell. Guess they're three, four and five.

87. I love the movie Clerks, but I don’t like Chasing Amy. I love Reservoir Dogs but I don’t really care for Pulp Fiction.

88. I hung out with the stoners in high school, but I didn’t really smoke that much pot.

89. The worst thing I ever did was not attend my dad’s graduation to get his Master’s degree. What a little brat I was.

90. I also killed my neighbor’s hamster when I was in 6th grade. Not on purpose, I accidentally left the lid open after I fed it. 6th grade was a bad year for me.

91. It was also the same year I got picked up by the cops after curfew. I was at a slumber party and another girl and I didn’t want to go T-P-ing so we lagged behind and of course we got busted. My mom had to pick me up at the police station and yeah, she was PISSED. The other girls of course insisted we were the only ones that were out and so the girl’s mom always hated me after that. I was grounded the entire summer, and seriously, my mom still brings it up.

92. I will watch Saturday Night Live, no matter how sucky it is.

93. My most embarrassing moment was in 8th grade when I ran an entire 200 meter race on a false start. I thought I was kicking ASS!! And everyone was cheering for me, when in the sad reality, I was the only one running and they were all yelling at me to get back.

94. I was seriously, honestly, sick the day we learned about parallel parking in Driver’s Ed. I got an ‘A’ in the class portion though so I didn’t have to take my behind the wheel test to get my license, so it didn’t matter! Well, until now when I need to parallel park…

95. My mom calls me every year at 9:39 a.m. on my birthday.

96. This is much easier than I thought, but there’s so much more to share!

97. I think my toes are the cutest thing on me, and I love to wear toe rings, and paint my toenails. My fingernails are never painted though. I hate that.

98. As if you didn’t know, I am allergic to milk. Lactose intolerant. Sometimes it’s better than other times, but I absolutely cannot eat ice cream without bad consequences.

99. I seriously try to make everyone I meet happy. I hate people being sad.

100. I think everyone has a little good in them, sometimes it takes the right person to bring it out. Okay, and that is it!!!!

Making me Laugh

Parrot busts cheating girlfriend.

Tuesday Haiku

Gametap dot com love

Centipede, Space Invaders

I am addicted.

(www.gametap.com)!!!!

Day off, I think not

I discovered this morning I need to get a babysitter the next time my daughters have the day off and I do not. They. Bug. Me.

Now, they have both been carted off for a few hours and what am I doing with my time? Blogging. I really need to get more work finished before the yapping yappers come home. But I am not complaining, Rug is at her friends house and I have to pick her up by 3:30 so her friend's mom can go for radiation treatment for her breast cancer! So I think it's safe to say whining on my part would be pretty ridiculous in this situation.

Al had her first ever Instant Messaging conversation today. I am not at all familiar with this technology, due to my not knowing anyone else who does it, nor am I in high school. A friend of mine was telling me her daughter does it, so I thought Al would enjoy talking with her. I was a little afraid, I certainly don't want her talking to weirdos. Apparently you can monitor who she can or can't talk to, and as long as she is talking to her one friend, I'm okay with it, as the conversation went something like this:

Al: whatsup

Z: nothing.

Al: You are funny. LOL

Z: (smiley face, laughing face, crying face, confused face, mean face, angel face)

Al: LOL Hahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaha.

Z: Oh yeah blalblablagalsdfkjasldfkjasdflasidfjasflkja

So, as you can see, I have nothing to worry about.

Saturday night we went to our friend's house to play dominoes (no, we weren't setting them up and knocking them down, it's a game and it's a lot of fun, and I should have won, but I got 2nd place so that makes my soccer mom ego feel better). All the adults were in the basement, and suddenly a few of the kids ran downstairs and said there was a policeman in the house shining his flashlight. We all ran up there and when we looked outside, there were three cop cars on the street. One of the cops came up and apologized, as they had the 'wrong house' and meant to go to the next door neighbors, who had a bunch of 8th grade girls there home alone and who had called the police after hearing 'noises'. Needless to say the kids were freaked out the rest of the night!

On the soccer front, I was a proud mamma this weekend. Al scored a huge goal with 50 seconds left on the clock and they won 4-1 to a team we tied last time, and Rug scored two goals and the last one was the winning goal with 12 seconds left on the clock!!!! I was shaking in my soccer mom jogging pants.

This morning, I asked both my girls who Martin Luther King Jr. was and why he is an important individual. Rug says, "oh I know, he played piano, and his teacher would hit their hands if they played the wrong note." What are you talking about? I asked her, and of course, her older sister had to correct her, etc. etc. but she got really upset and she said she SAW it on the teacher's computer, so I looked and found THIS. She told me the same story verbatim. I guess that is what amazed her the most, probably because she takes piano lessons at school. Perspective.

spfriday

spfriday
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Sorry I'm a little late on this, if you read my previous post you will know why. I am feeling a little better, but still very tired. I ran out of work though, so i have some time to blog!

Today Kristine's SPF theme was Friday the 13th, and it was such a good idea I really wanted to play along. Again, be forewarned, I am in a melancholy mood so it may be a bit too sappy today. I promise, next week, more sarcasm, less corn. Let's get on with it!

* Something you are afraid of (besides sock monkeys, of course)

* Your lucky charm

* Something Friday the 13th ish

Something I am afraid of

IMG_0930
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

The day they don't need me anymore.

luckycharms

luckycharms
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

They're magically delicious! Well I really don't have any lucky charms per se, I'm pretty unlucky, except in love I guess (awwwwww). My wedding ring is my lucky charm, I never, ever take it off and heavens knows its brought me joy anyway. Is this a blog entry or a 16 year old girls' diary? Anyway.

I got the bracelet for Christmas from a very good friend of mine. It has my family's birthstones, and I am pretty lucky to have my family so I guess this is as good a lucky charm as ever!

Friday the 13th-ish

demonarchie
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Archie is my very large, but very schizo cat. He is where the term "pussy" came from...you can sneeze too loud and it will send him running under bed. Everything scares him.

Except me. He loves me.

I feed him, duh.

friday13th

friday13th
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

This is what it looks like out my window RIGHT now. Can you get any more drearer? And isn't that totally the Poltergeist tree? One one thousand...two one thousand...

Down with the sickness

I may participate in SPF later on today. I had a pretty bad night. I've been having 'issues'...lower abdominal pain, cramping, etc. and last night it was at its apex. I almost had LP take me to the ER but the thought of it just made me cringe, I feel better today. I have gone to both my OB-GYN and family doctor and both have prescribed me pills to cover the pain and not cure the cause, and now the pills are not helping...BUT anyway. I'm feeling better now, but I need to work while I still have my energy, I know I will have a short supply of it working on 3 hours of sleep.

As for the one lie....Y'all were WRONG!!!

My ex-boyfriend, when we broke up, had 7 tattoos, the last one being my name.

My cousin Molly totally won one of those cars on Oprah last year, and paid a LOT of taxes.

And actually, my best FRIEND was related to the Cardinal, but it wasn't me!!!!

Answers!

Very good class. Might I add that 'stilettos' weren't even ON the list, bravo to you.

1. Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, snowshoes, slippers, skis, stockings.

2. As Cat said, dwell, dwindle, dwarf.

3. Strawberries! (not schnozzberries)

4. Lettuce.

5. Boxing!

So I wish I had some cool prizes but I do not. Maybe next time I will come up with something great. Those bacon Band-Aids are very cool, and would make a great prize.

Last night was one of those "Geez Louise!" type of nights, in which everything goes wrong but not catastrophically so, just enough to send you into a spiral and finally collapsing in your bed. I'm recovering. I have a lot of work to do today, and as much fun as blogging is, again, it does not bring home the bacon, or, in this case, the bacon Band-aids.

I am currently working on my 100 things about Me list, because someone cares, and daun has inspired me, since I think 38 of her things are going to be on my list. Seriously.

But since I have little time, we can always play the Lie/Truth/Truth game, or the Truth/Lie/Truth game, or the Truth/Truth/Lie game. Whatever, I'm tired.

Which one is fake??

1. My ex-boyfriend has my name tattooed on his chest.

2. My great-uncle was Cardinal of Chicago.

3. My cousin won on of those cars on the Oprah giveaway last year.

Good luck!

dune buggy

My uncle is the coolest. When we were little, he had a dunebuggy, therefore cementing his coolness to us. We used to drive around in that thing around town, standing up, no seatbelts, no roof, it was excellent. Why he had a dunebuggy in the middle of town, I'll never know.

Anyway, my brother started calling him Uncle Beedy Eyes. Not 'b-e-a-d' but 'b-e-e-d'. I don't know why, granted, his eyes were squinty but my brother also called me Miss Moo as a kid, not because I was fat, I was the skinniest kid on the block, but because he believed I was in a past life a cow living on Farmer Jaffee's farm. Seriously.

So I'm sure my uncle realllllllly appreciated his nieces and nephews calling him this, but he just laughed. It was always nice going over to their house, he had the first Apple 11e I saw. We spent most of the time over there fighting over whose turn it was in "Summer Games".

Uncle Beedy Eyes was over this weekend, and he had several entertaining things he brought with him. First he brought his own version of "Left Right Center" and when I told him it was a drinking game, I thought I'd punched him in the gut. But his version was fun too! Then he had a list of questions, like trivia, but when I asked for the answers, he just started laughing. He didn't have them!!!

Today he finally found the answers for the questions. So without further ado, test your knowledge with these Beedy Eye questions:

1. Name 6 things you can wear on your feet that begin with the letter 's'.

2.What three words in the English language begin with 'DW"?

3. What fruit has seeds on the outside?

4. It's the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked or in any other form than fresh. What is it?

5. There is only one 'sport' in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends. What is it?

Condensing

On Mondays I really have a lot of work to do, so my blogging suffers. Don't my bosses know where my priorities lie? I must blog, and work gets in the way. But blogging definitely does not help pay for that 50 inch TV in the den, so I must work.

This weekend was nice, I had my dad's side of the family over for a get-together, and my cousin and I DDR'd it until we collapsed. Although the children, THEY wanted to play along too, what the heck was that all about? Don't they know toys are not for kids??

We, well, meaning the girls, had two soccer games this weekend, one at 7 a.m. and one at 4 p.m. And no, I didn't get a nap in dammit. Rug's team got slaughtered by a bunch of mean 7 year olds, but AL scored two goals and they won 6-1.

I have begun my Vegas trip planning. Next year is the Vajanaland-coupling's 10 year wedding anniverary. (yes, AL will be 10 next year, why do you ask?) We decided a long time ago that we wanted to renew our vows in Las Vegas, have us a real party since our last wedding involved a shotgun and a not-so-white dress. No, that's not true. It was really more of an antique white.

Anyway, I have started my research, and since LP has never been there and I only spent the night there in a parking lot (Long Story), we don't have too much experience with it. Neither one of us are gamblers. I have slimmed down my hotel choices to the Mirage, the Venetian or Treasure Island. If anyone has any recommendations, ideas, suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated!! I did see we can get our vows renewed by Rodney Dangerfield or Tom Jones, so that's a total bonus.

Okay, and last of all, to finish off my Monday post, one of my All Time Favorite Toys was voted #16 on PCWorld's list of top 50 gadgets from the last 50 years!!! Woo hoo!

spfriday

spfriday
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Wonderful Friday to you all!! I was going to try and be creative with the before/after idea, but since I am the Queen of the Before and After of 2005, I figured I'd cheez out and show more pics of the house. Cuz I'm a cheezer that way.

The categories please:

* Before

*After

*Your New Favorite Thing

I chose to use two before/afters because I realize I have not shown you my new dining room table, and it is Must See Tv baby. Enjoy!

Before-Front Room

IMG_0895
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

This was at the early stages of our Renovation. Notice the 70s baseboard and railing, and the dying plant, and the awful broken rocking chair. Please, someone remind me to tell the rocking chair story another day.

Here is the After:

No pictures on the walls just yet, but a huge improvement, no?? (Got rid of that dying plant at least!)

Before-Dining

IMG_0881
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

How could I keep food down eating in a room like this? We purchased this table before Rug was born, and within 4 weeks AJ had drawn on the cushions with permanent RED marker. LP attempted to re-upholster them, with eh results. I should have really taken a close up shot of the carpet. They were very, very disgusting. Once I got mad and threw a bottle of MUSTARD across the room (just a wee bit of stay at home frustration, I was alone, so it's OK, no one got mustardized) and yeah, mustard, does NOT come out.

And After:

I love this table. Not as much as my husband, but it is definitely up there on the list. At our New Year's Eve party someone suggested playing "Spoons" on it. IdonTHINKso.

My New Favorite Thing

DDR
Originally uploaded by Vajana.

Dance Dance Revolution!!!

When we were buying our Ginormous television, while at Best Buy the girls played with the demo the entire time. I knew it must be ours. And now it is. What other thing allows me to shake my groove thing, all at the same time telling me to 'stay cool'? Assuming I am already cool, and to stay that way!

Feel like Delilah looking for Sampson

I can say this post is completely inspired by Kristine. First she wrote a post about insomnia, something I hold dear to my heart, and then another about first heartbreak. So last night, I sat up, with insomnia, THINKING about my heartbreak. And not just the first one, oooh noooo. I had a whole night of SLEEP to waste.

After going from 6th grade to the time I met LP, I was exhausted. Then this morning, I started thinking about the songs that would make me feel the best after a breakup. I realized though, there is more than one type of break up song. There is the angry one, when you are PISSED off and need to vent and assure him yeah, you will be FINE without him. Or then the sad, sappy songs, that make you remember the good times and you can cry and hold onto that Snoopy he won you at the carnival...cry the tears you have to. Or then there are the breaker upper songs, when YOU are the one to blame and need to assure said person that you can change, or that you screwed up, so listen to this song like I am and you will totally take me back. (note: they never do, or if they do, it never works out so don't bother.)

With that in mind, here are my top 5 breakup songs, broken into sub categories: PISSED OFF, BROWN EYES BLUE, and WHOOPS I MESSED UP TAKE ME BACK.

Oh and ***disclaimer*** these are not THE top 5, these are MY top 5. And I'm a bit off.

And second ***disclaimer*** I got most of these songs from: Break-up Songs and Azlyrics.

Top 5 Pissed off cuz we're broke up songs:

5. "Don't Shed A Tear"- Paul Carrack
4. "Hit 'Em Up Style" - I don't even know who sings this, but it's a great revenge song
3. "Kiss Off" - Violent Femmes
2. "Hit the Road jack" - Ray Charles
1. "I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor (boys: if you ever see a cluster of women singing this at a bar, DO NOT APPROACH)

Top 6 "Brown Eyes blue" Break Up Songs: ( I had to add 6, couldn't stop at 5)

6. "Without you" -Harry Nilsson
5. "Black" - Pearl Jam
4. "Different Corner" - George Michael (okay, it's Wham, I admit, but great song)
3."Crying" - Roy Orbison
2. "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes"- The Platters
1. "I can't make you Love Me" - Bonnie Raitt

Top 5 "Whoops Take Me Back" Songs:

5. "What Kind Of Fool Am I?" - Rick Springfield, naturally
4. "I keep forgettin" - Michael McDonald
3. "Most Beautiful Girl" - Charlie Rich (this reminds me of my dad...I remember being a kid feeling so sorry for this guy singing this song. I would have totally forgave him.)
2. "I Miss you" - Blink 182 (I think this is a break up song, if it's not, well I view it as such)
1. "The Reason"- Hoobastank

Final thoughts, by Vajana: Those of you with freshly broken hearts...don't let it keep you bitter, keep your heart open to love, it will come!!

Term Paper

Well I playing around with the Glitter Maker I found on Mrtl's site, and apparently left some residuals. Now they're gone. I had wanted to put "I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER" all glittery and pretty on my blog, but right now that ain't going to happen. Suffice it to say, even sans the glitter, I still totally love peanut butter.

Yesterday was the last day of Christmas vacation. I took the girls and LP to the "Mills" for some ice skating. It was fun. Best thing about this place is that their food court has SUSHI and that's a rare find here in Middle America. In fact, it is so rare that one will travel pretty far to get to it and will not censor themselves when eating it and moaning in ecstacy when the sushi touches their lips. Hey, just cuz they're eating Chik-fil-A doesn't mean I have to. (oh--if that offends any CHik-Fil-A eaters, I'm sorry.)

I digress. I could go on, because this was really good, fresh sushi, but I won't. be glad.

The ice skating was fun, but Rug got tired of it pretty quickly, her being only 5 and all, and the teenage boys impressing their cute little girlfriends would not SLOW THE FUCK DOWN and I think that freaked poor Rug out a bit. So we went and ate Haagen Daz ice cream and life was good.

We went to the bookstore where LP surprised me with buying David Beckham's autobiography for me. Thank GOD there are pictures.

I also tried on Nike Shox, cuz I need some new running shoes, and they weren't real comfortable to me. I am an avid fan of New Balance running shoes, but since they stopped making my favorites, I am afraid to purchase them without testing driving them. Anyone have good luck with running shoes???

And lastly, we took the to the Nascar Speedpark, cuz that's what good Middle Americans do. They got to ride some goofy up and down ride, and they were happy. So were we. Life, still good.

So, in conclusion, it was a good day.

And that's what I did on my Christmas vacation.

Okay.

The End.

Something clever I have not

I'd like to say I have something interesting to say but I do not. I am still recuperating from Friday night's puke-o-rama and have yet to regain my senses. I appreciate all the well wishes from my blog friends, it did cheer me up. But I so do enjoy ringing in the new year not toasting to it, but eating toast. And drinking a lot of Sprite. I will, forever and ever, endorse Sprite as the one who brought me back up when I was at my lowest.

We still had our party though, even after staying up until 3:00 throwing up and grabbing on to the floor for dear life all night. Thing I hate about those kinds of puking episodes is that, there was no drinking involved beforehand, so there was no glimmer of jubilation, no fun before the storm, it was all just darkness. Bad, bad mojo.

I was headed to the grocery store to get supplies for Mrtl's crab dip when it hit me, and I had to leave the store immediately and pray I made it home without hurling all over the Grand Caravan. No one likes to witness a soccer mom throwing up all over her chariot, I assure you.

I did make it home, but the next day I couldn't even THINK of going near food, so LP ended up getting little weenies and stickin' em in BBQ sauce, and he made some guacamole dip that pissed me off cuz I couldn't eat it. The party was nice, but like I said, I felt on the verge the entire time and it was ugly. And yes, someone DID bring Velveeta dip, I stand defeated. We played Pictionary, because that is what soccer folk do at parties, and the gals lost, being unable to properly draw "Muggsy" the dog or "Albania" for our team. Oh well.

So today I am chillin' like Bob Dylan and will resume tomorrow with more upbeat and lively material. For today, have a great 2006 and see ya on Monday. Go watch some football.