25 Random Things


I was tagged with this on Facebook, but it was an awful lot of work to just post it there, so I'm posting it here and not tagging anyone specific.
  1. I love fairy tales, but only the ones that are kind of dark or sad. (Which is most of them, before Disney gets to them.)

  2. I really want a big dog, like a French mastiff, but I worry that it would hurt Marlowe.

  3. I watch House like it's a game show, trying to figure out if I can guess the diagnosis first. Sometimes, I win.


  4. I wear flip-flops all year, even during the winter when my toes turn blue because I think feet should look like feet.

  5. I sing myself to sleep every night.

  6. I always cry in the shower, even when I'm not feeling sad. If I don't cry, I don't feel clean when I get out.

  7. If a song doesn't make me feel happy enough to dance around or sad enough to cry, I don't like it.

  8. My dad dressed in a clown costume and pulled me in a wagon in a parade when I was 18 months old. A picture of it was in the paper.

  9. I know the entire script of Annie by heart, including all the lyrics to every song and every line by every character.

  10. I don't feel like college prepared me, in any way, for an actual career, even though the places that hire me think that I'm qualified.

  11. I seriously hate Jello, especially the green, yellow and orange flavors.

  12. The first nickname I've ever had was from Justin. He calls me Bumblebee.

  13. Speaking of Justin, we have a secret handshake that we do every night before bed, even when we're not together.

  14. The best haircuts I've ever had were ones that I gave myself.

  15. When I talk on the phone with my mother, even if it's not a serious conversation, I get really stressed out and pace around the house like a crazy person.

  16. I am comfortable with the fact that I don't want kids, but it still hurts my feelings when people get offended if I mention it.

  17. I love pictures (paintings or photographs) of trees, especially if they're silhouettes.

  18. About once a month I always crave something disgusting like those little wax soda bottles filled with kool-aid or Cadbury crème eggs.

  19. The meanest thing my dad ever did to me was throw my hot pink crayon out the car window on a road trip, but he doesn't remember doing it.

  20. I love Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and I'm a total Snicket pusher. READ THEM.

  21. My favorite food is strawberry shortcake, Texas style, with angel food cake, not sugar biscuits.

  22. When I was a little girl, I always prayed at bedtime that my bicycle would turn into a unicorn before I woke up.

  23. I think all flowers should be yellow, white, orange or green.

  24. Every time I go anywhere (grocery store, restaurants, clothing shops) for something specific, they are out of whatever it is that I left the house for.

  25. I'm a nice girl. I don't like it, and I always wish that I could be one of the cool mean girls, but it never works out that way.

Obamicon

In an attempt to further delay getting dressed and out of the house, I made myself an Obamicon.

They give you a list of words to choose from, or you can make your own, but I picked 'progress' because that's what I feel like I'm making in my life right now. Okay, now I want to see yours so go do it!

Powder Your Nose

Justin and I were at Wal-Mart tonight to purchase razor blades and rice cakes. (Yes, as a matter of fact I do try to keep my shopping trips alliterative.) I was wandering around the cosmetics section, because I'm always on the look out for a miracle makeup that will apply itself to my face without me actually having to get out of bed and do it myself. While I was over there I saw this makeup bag:

Isn't that weird? I mean, did some designer seriously think it would be cool to put a photograph of a not-very-cute-bunny and patchy grass on a makeup case? Has a former 4H-er taken over the design section at Kaboodle? Then I found this one:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is a horse's nose. O--kay. Justin has a thing for animal noses, and he really wanted me to get this one, but I didn't, because I haven't completely lost my mind, yet. Later, on a different aisle, we found this one:

WHO IS DESIGNING THESE BAGS? Are farm animals the new Prada? Come to think of it, I did see a Coach bag with a picture of a horse on it the other day...maybe I missed out on a fabulous new trend? And why is it a horse nose, and a pig nose, but the entire bunny? Aren't bunny noses cute on their own? I'm way more bothered about this than I should be.

Okay, so I didn't get back as quickly as I thought I would. Last weekend was great, lots of hanging out at home and watching mindless tv and sleeping late. Friday, Justin took his TEAS test, and he totally blew it out of the water. He scored in the 99th percentile on the math portion, 85th in reading and 60th in grammar. (Because he has no idea how to use a comma. Oh well, punctuation was never my strength either.) The nursing recruiter told him that he had a higher score than anyone from last year's class, so obviously we have no worries about him getting into nursing school.

Sunday night we went to a concert with my aunt and siblings, which was amazing. Justin and I sat in the second row. I've never been that close at a concert before and it was....well it was loud, but also really, really cool.

I've been working regularly and I'm absolutely loving subbing, even on days when my class is bad or I haven't had enough sleep. It's excellent and I feel like I've found some of the self-confidence that I've been missing for a few years. I returned the fabulous ring that I mentioned in the previous post. I started to feel like I'm not in a place yet where I can wear a giant fancy ring without seeming fake. Instead, I got a new camera. (Justin was adamant that I get something nice for myself.) It's a Nikon S210, it's tiny and plum colored and it makes me really happy. The picture quality is so much better than what my old camera (the one that broke) and the replacement camera were producing. It's actually almost too good...I don't need photographic evidence showing exactly how puffy my face gets the week of my period. (Sorry guys.) Anyway, here are some pictures that we took yesterday.

It was icy and cold all day yesterday and I thought the branches of this weeping willow looked really cool.Me, in my favorite coat and sunglasses in the cold.

Justin, deciding if he likes the way the camera works when taking a picture of himself.

Not MIA

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've subbed every day this week and then run errands in Lubbock until late in the evening all the same days. I'm exhausted and cranky and achy and I'm headed to bed. Generally, it's been a good week, but I really need to rest. Hopefully I'll post something more interesting in a few days. Also, Justin got me a FABULOUS ring last night. I can't do it justice in this post right now so stay tuned...

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Vent Monster

For about a week the heating/air vent in my bedroom has been making a tiny little rattling noise. If I'm reading or talking or doing anything in my bedroom, it's not noticeable at all. However, when I'm trying to go to sleep it drives me crazy. If I actually manage to fall asleep, it wakes me up every 20 minutes, or however often the air comes on. It sounds kind of like someone rolled up the amount of tin foil that covers a Hershey's kiss and put the little foil ball up there. Absolutely maddening. So, I've finally managed to complain about it enough that Justin took the vent off the ceiling to check it out. You know what was there? The tiniest little piece of popcorn ceiling that you could imagine. Like the size of fish tank gravel. I have no idea why it didn't just slip through the vent and stop driving me crazy to begin with, but it's gone now and I'm finally able to sleep. The end.

Yes, I know, my life is a series of non-stop thrills and excitement.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Crayon Physics

I'm totally buying this game. You *must* watch the video, it's really lovely.


Crayon Physics Deluxe trailer 2 from Petri Purho on Vimeo.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Peep!

G.I.S.T. 45:365

1. This set of pictures is *so* much fun, so go look at it!!


A Day in the Life of a Peep

2. Finding little notes from Justin all over the house that say things like "Hey good lookin'!" Sweet.

3. Sour cream and cheddar flavored snack crackers. Seriously, has there ever been a greater invention than snack crackers? *grin*

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

"Sports" Injury

I went last night to play various Wii games with my siblings. Because I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, I'd pulled my bra straps back and together so that they didn't show. This caused the underwire to be situated in a slightly different location than it usually is, but it hadn't bothered me at all during the day. However, something about the way that I had to swing my arm caused it to hit the underwire. I was having so much fun that I ignored the pain and just kept playing. So yeah, the softest, tenderest part of my body, the inside of my upper arm, was repeatedly mangled by my bra all because of Wii sports. Don't believe me? Photographic evidence:


See the lighter part in the middle? See those tiny red spots? Yeah, it's oozing blood.


The Wii is an excellent arm workout. And, if my elliptical was able to make me keep going through this sort of pain, I'd weight about 75 pounds. Gotta get a Wii to live at my house!!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

G.I.S.T. 44:365

1. Friends that actually think that, eventually, I'll be able to get my sh*t together.

2. The fact that this bird exists in the world:

It's a blue-footed booby. His feet are my favorite color, which naturally means that I MUST HAVE ONE.

3. The mating dance of the blue footed booby looks *exactly* like the sort of foot shuffling that goes on at middle school dances. How can that not make you smile?



Also, the person making that video has a pretty great voice. And he's clearly as excited about the bird as I am.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

G.I.S.T. 43:365

1. The Food Network

2. My toenail polish, which is called 'Sweet Nothing' and is exactly what I'd imagine the color of naked fairies to be.

3. Knowing that when I finish the book I'm reading, I'll have two more new ones to choose from.

4. Sonic Drive-in's dollar menu, which includes ice cream cones!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

A Prize!

So, last night, in addition to mentioning that she thinks I have kick ass hair, I received a Lemonade Stand award (as in 'life gives you lemons...') for my blog from Matilda over at Blogging Matilda.

This is very exciting! I've never received a blog award before, I've certainly never been listed among such prestigious bloggers as Heather Armstrong, so yay! Also, apparently my Grace in Small Things posts have tricked Matilda into believing that I'm a positive person...I guess I better keep that up then!

Anyway, I'm passing the award along, as the rules state:

  • **Put the logo on your blog or post.
  • **Nominate at least 10 blogs which show GREAT ATTITUDE and/or GRATITUDE!
  • **Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
  • **Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
  • **Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.
Terroni : Not only has this girl been my rock on several meltdown occasions, she's the busiest person I know. Currently in med-school and running all over the country for residency interviews, she still manages to post a seriously hillarious blog and take care of me when I'm sad.

Amanda M: Not only is Amanda the best example of a truly good person I can think of (no, really!), she says things like "I put Eli into his skull sweater to go to church." That is possibly the best sentence ever written in a blog. She also manages to laugh about things that would force me into a fetal position on the floor.

Christine: Christine has 5 children, several with special needs like tourettes and reactive attachment disorder. She writes really open and honest posts about how difficult life can be while keeping a smile on her face and hope in her heart.

Whitney: So, Whitney teaches middle school, every day and hasn't wandered into traffic. If this doesn't deserve an award, I don't know what does. She also blogs about her cute kids and keeping a strong marriage with her husband (a pilot) who travels a lot.

Priscilla:
Her blog centers around knitting and crafty things of all sorts. She spins her own yarn. If anyone can make lemonade, it's this girl.

Angie is the author of a blog called Bring the Rain. It chronicles her journey in finding out that her unborn child won't survive, and the ways that she's dealt with the crushing loss. Throughout it all, Angie never loses her sense of humor and her faith. Start at the beginning and bring tissues.

Annabel teaches high school speech and debate. (If reading that sentence doesn't put you in awe of the amount of work she does, you've never run a speech tournament.) She's a single mom, in a long distance relationship, and has a serious addiction to roller coasters. Annabel lets us know that there's always something else to do, and it's better to grin and bear it than complain.

Schmutzie:
I got the idea for Grace in Small things from this blog. Unlike me, she manages to actually post some every day. She's currently writing about withdrawing from mood stabilizing drugs, and she is able to do so with humor instead of dread.

Dana writes Mamalogues. She's also a frequent and incredibly funny contributor on Momversation. Everyone should go congratulte her for not eating all the Christmas candy.

Alice writes Finslippy, also a contributor at Momversation, she writes about exceptional moments in parenting, such as letting her child listen to the Star Wars soundtrack as he falls asleep every night and being confronted by his pre-school teacher when he turns into a cranky pants. So, so funny!

Giyen , at Bacon is My Enemy, just agreed to let CNN follow her weight loss journey. I'm pretty sure this would send me straight to the FBI in order to enter the witness protection program, but she's cool, under control and incredibly funny.

Check back later for GIST, since I'm sort of required to keep writing them now. Thanks Matilda!!

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Bangs!

I cut some bangs tonight. They're not across the forehead schoolgirl bangs, because I'm not ready for that level of commitment, but they're shorter than they've been in a long time, as in, I can't pull them back with my ponytail. Let me know what you think. I'm posting one picture here, there are two more on my Flikr. Over there --->


G.I.S.T. 42:365

1. Proving that my mother was wrong when she told me that I should never, under any circumstances cut my own hair.

2. Lunch with my siblings, aunt and Justin.

3. Fitting into jeans just out of the wash, without them feeling tight.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Dysfunctional Candy

I'm a total candy heart addict, and so when they finally start selling them around Valentine's Day, I try to get some every time I'm at the store (and remember). I found this website today where the candy hearts say things like "u left seat up" and "mommy issues." Anyway, they're called bittersweets and I'm SO ordering some. Since I'm delicate little flower (insert heavy southern accent there) this one is my favorite:


Grace in Small Things to resume...sometime.
Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Resolutions

I'm not very good at this. I don't actually remember what my resolutions for last year were, although I'm sure I posted them on my blog. This year I'm giving myself a break. I'm keeping the resolutions simple and vague.

1. Lose weight. Not a specific number of pounds, just in general. This way, at the end of the year, if I haven't actually lost any, or (heaven forbid) I've gained some, I can go on a crash diet for a week, lose 3 pounds and say that I succeeded. Tricksy, no?

2. Stop being bothered. I'm taking a break from feeling like everything matters so much. If it's not going to matter in a year, if it's not life threatening, I'm just not going to dwell on it. Since I'm a stress eater, I suspect that this will assist me in achieving resolution #1. It will also make the lives of people close to me so much easier. There will be no more fit throwing if the top I wanted to wear is dirty or my face is broken out or the phone doesn't ring when I expect it to. I'm just going to take a deep breath and let it go.

3. This one is more concrete. I want to finish an afghan by the end of the year. And if I don't...I'll probably have forgotten that I said that anyway.

4. See more movies in theaters. Since I only saw 5 movies in theater last year, this should be easy...and fun!

I just went back and looked at my blog from January 2008, and as it turns out, I didn't post resolutions. The beginning of the year last year was so hard, with my grandmother being sick and then her death, a family friend's death, as well as some other personal crises, that it just didn't seem important. Which brings me to:

G.I.S.T. 41:365

1. Perspective.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

G.I.S.T. 40:365

1. Marlowe feels that it's necessarily to be as close to me as possible, at all times. This mostly involves sitting on top of me and blocking the laptop. But it's nice to feel loved.

2. Paperback Swap.

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

G.I.S.T. 39:365

1. This cartoon (click to make it big):

2. The fact that Marlowe can't seem to get close enough to me today. He keeps pressing his whole body against me.

3. Zyrtec


Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Papillon

My Grace in Small Things today (38:365) is the song that (hopefully) automatically started playing when you got here. It's Papillon by Rilo Kiley. I know that it's obnoxious for blogs to auto play music, so I'm not leaving it on forever, and if you want to stop it, scroll to the bottom of the page. I love it.


UPDATE: Decided that the auto play was too obnoxious, even to me, so I took it down. You can listen to the song by turning it on here:

Papillon - Rilo Kiley

Wage a battle against embitterment and take part in 365 Days of Grace in Small Things.

Couldn't Resist

I'm not ready to get back to regular posting yet, but I absolutely had to share this. So, this is me a couple of months ago making my "pouty and French" picture face:

And this is my niece, Hannah, doing her (much cuter) version of "pouty and French."

She wasn't even really pouting, and just look at the follow through with that hand on her face! She even has a hat!! I have never been more proud.