Famous Footwear

I learned something new about FF. Not only do they send you a $10 gift certificate for the month of your birthday (If you belong to their frequent shopper program) but if they don't have the size shoe you want, they will mail it to you for free! This is awesome! I can remember many times I've passed on a shoe because they didn't have my size. Now that I know they can just mail it to me, I won't ever have to pass up a shoe I desire again!

I really liked these Steve Maddens, but they were $80, and too cheaply made for that price. Not even real leather. So I resisted the urge to waist my money on them (Even though someone else could totally waist their own money on them for me.)

Instead I bought these.

Which are also not real leather, but for $39 ($49-my $10) I can live with it. They will be appearing in my mailbox within 7-10 business days thank you. Then I can get rid of the pair that I almost broke my neck in last winter with a lose heal. I really thought I was gonna go down that day. But I didn't. I have great balance you know. Then, because they were having a buy one get the other 1/2 off sale, I bought these.

These I'll be wearing tomorrow.

Shoe shopping alone isn't 1/2 as much fun as it used to be when CR and I would take off after work to shoe stores around town. He'd always wind up with more shoes than me (All looking curiously similar), but it was always a lot of fun. We'd walk in, part ways, and meet up again to show e/o what we found. It's just no the same with my husband. It starts out the same, we walk in, part ways, and but then he really doesn't care what I've found in the end. Then I wind up spending an extra 1/2 hour looking at some stupid boot that he doesn't know for sure if he should buy or not. Most of the time, I walk out with 2 pairs, and he walks out with none. He needs to learn how to purchase. I'm working on that. :o)

This reminds me of another story too. A couple weeks ago, I bought myself a new handbag. (Impulse buy at when I was shopping for Christmas gifts) I figured that DJ wouldn't notice it because I have many purses that I change out frequently. It was sitting on the steps when he came home, and the first thing he says to me was, "New purse huh?". And since I had just gone off on how broke I was going to be this Christmas season. My first instict was to lie to him. Instead I told him, "Maybe it is just new to you. I have lots of bags you know. and if you're keeping track of all my handbags, then I have to wonder about you." So, well, that's not really a lie. It was more of an observation. Neither accept or deny the accusation. That's what our politicians motto is isn't it?

Body Worlds Exhibit Anyone?

This weekend DJ is making me go to the Museum of Science to see the Body Worlds exhibit. If you haven't heard it's about 200 real dead bodies that are preserved in a process called Plastination. Some or most (I guess) are posed in different "active" positions like running, jumping, playing chess, etc. I saw one on the news that is standing up, muscles exposed, holding his/her skin. I have a feeling this is going to be hard for me to get through. I'm not too keen on the idea that they are real dead bodies. Even if the people really did donate their bodies to this cause. It's just creepy. Maybe I can find out why the hell my thumb hasn't stopped throbbing since I lopped the top off 6 days ago.

Checkout the Gallery. It's interesting, and creepy all at the same time. I'll give a review after my visit.

Gallery: http://www.smm.org/bodyworlds/gallery/
Video Introduction: http://www.smm.org/bodyworlds/video/
Official Website: http://www.bodyworlds.com/index.html

Weight Watchers?

My office is sponsoring a Weight Watchers program.  The total cost for the 13-week program is $156.00 per person. My office is going topay for $65.00 of the total fee. This breaks down to only $7.00 per week for 13 weeks. I'm thinking about doing it.  What do you think?  Anyone done WW with the group and all?  What can I expect?

 

Here's reasons why I'm sceptical

1. It's with co-workers

2. Do I really want co-workers knowing how much I've lost or not lost?

3. Everyone will know I think I'm fat, (Even though it's pretty obvious I am fat.)

4. What if I lose nothing? Then I'm out money, and still fat, and my coworkers will know I'm still fat.

5. What if the program is stupid?  I don't want to sit around and talk about my inner demons or anything like that.

 

So I guess really, I want some insight.  Anyone got any?

Appreciation for the Thumb Tip

Since my incident on Thursday I have really developed an appreciation for thumbtips.
First of all, since I have no thumbtip, my sensitivity has skyrocked. If anything so much as flutters past my thumbtip, it hurts like hell! So here is a short list of things that are nearly impossible to do without a thumbtip.

Almost Impossible to Do:
Wipe. I'm right handed. Not very talented with the left in this category.
Put on earings.
Shuffle cards.
Zip.
Put on a seat belt.
Start my car.
Pick up a pen.
Carry anything in my right hand.
Get something out of my pocket.
Use a scissor.

Very Hard to Do:
Type.
Write.
Shampoo my hair.
Brush my teeth. Again, I'm a righty. Hard to do with the left.

Traveling with Fifteen Turkeys

I made these cuties to take with me to my in-law thanksgiving feast.

I thought they were too cute.

Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Happy Post Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your Thanksgiving was everything you wanted it to be and more. Mine on the other hand was less than stellar. I woke up at 9:00am highly motivated to clean and cook/bake all day. Are you ready to hear what I did? OK. Here goes.

All was well until about noon, I had cleaned my bathroom, rolled the meatballs, cleaned jax's cage, and decided to work on Saturday's Crab Salad before I vacuumed. So I whip out my handy dandy QVC Pro Chopper Plus. Bran new and fresh out of the box (After washing out of course). I blend the onions & peppers together, and then decide to get all fancy. (Do you see where this is headed yet?) I decide that since I have all these fancy slicing blades, that I'm going to cut my carrots differently. I am going to slice them instead of chopping them. So here I go. One baby carrot in hand. Slice. Slice. What the?! Thumb goes to my mouth. Oh my God DJ! I just sliced off the tip of my thumb! Shit. shit. shit. Then I feel the blood in my mouth. It's not just few layers of skin. It's like my whole tip of my thumb! So I run to the bathroom and hang my thumb over the toilet expecting to see a bone. Couldn't see anything through the blood pouring out into my toilet. So I grab some TP, wad it onto the tip of my thumb and stand there with my thumb higher than my heart. (I think I read this somewhere that if you do this it helps slow the bloodflow or something.) So DJ walks in to look at me. I take the TP off to show him, and blood is still gooshing. So I grab a fresh batch of TP and look at him. What do we do? Do we go to the ER and get stitches? Not like you could stich on the tip of a thumb, but maybe they can do something. So we decide to wait and see if it clots on it's own.

We go back to inspect the salad. Somewhere in there, my thumb tip is sitting. Luckily it never made it into the salad. It was still sitting on the blade. We dump out the ingredients anyway, and start over. DJ at the helm this time because I'm still spewing blood. What would have taken me 10 minutes tops to make, it took DJ 30 minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes. I'm still bleeding away. So we decide to go to the ER to get them to stop the bleeding. We find a walk-in clinic and head out. Luckily, there is no one waiting and we get right in. The nurse took my blood pressure, which I think was stupid because of course my blood pressure is going to be high because I just lopped off my thumb! It was something like 148 over 180. The doctor comes in and tells me he has to numb my thumb before he can stop the bleeding. So I'm like, "Sounds good to me!" He takes out a needle, and proceeds to shove it in my thumb. TWICE (That I know of) Yowza! This is the most pain I have ever felt at a doctors office. I have a pretty high threshhold for pain, and my whole body tensed up, and I almost screamed. I was so happy when the numbing kicked in. Then he applied some sort of acid to my finger to stop it from bleeding. My fingertip is black, but I don't care. It stopped bleeding and I could go home and enjoy my meatballs. The doctor said that it'll take about 3-4 weeks for me to start generating new skin.

My thumb is still throbbing today.

One interesting thing, is when I told the doctor what I did, he brought up that it could be a lawsuit. TWICE. WTF? Why is a doctor suggesting to me that I sue? Aren't they the most sued people in America right now? Anyway, as soon as I am able (mentally that is) to change out the bandage, I'll post a picture. It's not as bad as I've described now that it's all clean and not bleeding. But I'm definitely missing some thumb!

The culprit.

The wound. (My finger is white because of the bandaid.)

Happiest Place in the World

In the issue of Self Magazine that hit stands today, Fargo-Moorehead was named the Happiest two Cities for Women. Isn't that interesting? Aren't you girlfriends jealous? I get to live here, and you don't. Nah nah nah nah boo boo! I totally feel the envy as you continue to read through this post. There's no need for you to hide it. I already know.

As I was waiting in line to get to the condiment tray at Qdoba, right there, on the front page of the Fargo Forum was this headline, "So, Are you Happy?". "Why yes I am", I replied to my inner self. Why wouldn't I be? I had a huge ass burrito in my hand, it wasn't windy outside, and it was up to a whole 56 degrees!

Who the heck knew that these people were actually happy up here. Then I thought to myself. Well, I'm actually about 95% happy, so I guess it is possible.

I posted the article here so you don't have to follow a link.

So, Are You Happy?

By Erin Hemme Froslie

The Forum - 11/21/2006

Smile, women of Fargo-Moorhead.

In the issue that hits stands today, Self magazine names the two cities the happiest in the nation.

Low crime rates, low unemployment and short commutes are among the top reasons editors at the popular women’s health and fitness magazine declared our community a nirvana of sorts. Because of its size, residents also get to know each other, and families tend to stay nearby.

“Having a sense of community and a sense of belonging is very important to feeling happy,” said Jessica Kaster,
a psychologist at Lakeland Mental Health Center in Moorhead who is quoted in the magazine package. “If you need support, you can find it here.”

Area women we talked to agree with the findings in Self, which boasts more than 5 million readers.

Happiest cities
1. Fargo-Moorhead
2. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas
3. Nassau-Suffolk Counties, N.Y.
4. New Haven-Meriden, Conn.
5. Boston

Unhappiest cities
1. Las Vegas
2. Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla.
3. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
4. Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah
5. Jacksonville, Fla.

Key the music…

Da da da. Another one bites the dust. Da da da. Another one bites the dust….

(FYI: I've tried to post this post for a few days now. Finally. I got it to work, but it's a couple days old. So where were we? Oh, yeah Da da da. Another one bites the dust...)

One of my high school best friends told me some happy news yesterday. She even thought she was being clever by predicting what I was going to write in my blog. Well, she was only right about one thing that she wrote for me. She has crossed over to the darkside. (I hear that Darth Vader needed a few more recruits anyway. Better her than me!) I’ve lost another married without kids, to Babyland. Hopefully she won't join the world of “prego-zilla”, which is an even darker place than Babyland. I'm sad that I can't be there to help keep her sane from all the crazed in-laws.

I’ve already filled her in on a few things she could do to keep her loved ones posted. Like starting a prego blog that can also share images, etc. but locks out anyone that doesn’t have a password. She’s not very far along, but I can’t wait to see the first images of little alien lilababe. Congrats again to you and lilaboy. I guess you better go replace your broken camera and quick!

Here’s what iVilliage has to say about what's going on with her right now:
Your baby's head is quite big, due to the rapid growth of the brain. The upper limbs resemble paddles. Your baby-to-be's heart begins to separate into four chambers, and blood is circulating throughout the body. Intestines form within the umbilical cord, but will later migrate back into the abdominal cavity. In the next few days, foot plates, with the beginnings of toe rays, will appear. The external ears are now present. Your baby is now 10 to 13 millimeters long -- about the size of a cherry. The cells that will become either testes or ovaries arrive, but there is no obvious sign of gender yet. Muscle contractions are beginning, but these early "movements" are not yet perceptible.

The first trimester is especially important when it comes to your baby's healthy development. This is the time that most parts of the body are formed and rapid brain development occurs. It is important to consume neither alcohol nor tobacco products. Speak to your practitioner about the safety of continuing prescription medicines and herbal treatments. Reduce or eliminate caffeine intake as well. Recent studies have indicated that more than a few cups of coffee a day may be linked to an increased risk of miscarriage.

Today's News

Well, I just got finished being mind raped. I took the final two of my office tests today. Turns out they are all weighted the same, so really. I think I’m screwed. ApApparently need an 80% to pass or else I have to do it all again. Considering I am not a good test taker. Fact in the fact that I just don’t care about this test, (Anything I feel I need to know, I will learn or look it up. There is no need to commit everything to memory now is there? I think not!) and I am going to go ahead and guess that I will not make that 80%. Oh, and factor in a third element that on the last test I got a 65% on because I totally blanked out. Even though I studies. I just could not remember anything. And these are those tests with no word banks, or multiple choice. You just have to pull words like “proantocyanadins”, “mthylsulfonylmethane”, “conjugated linoleic acid”, straight out of your butt. So ummm…. Yeah. I think you’re feeling my pain now. And if not, well, then you’re just not very good friends!

I’ve heard some bitchin’ about not updating my blog the past couple days. I’ve been studying, and neglecting all after hours web activities. My office has fallen into quite an interesting oxymoron of convolution. The web team, has been blocked from many many things in the online world. Basically, somone in MIS is on a power trip and disgising it as internet security. The irony in this is that we are the web team. So there is a big battle between little itty bitty power trip boy, and my manager. (Plus some other key players but I’m not going to get into it here.) The current situation is that we will be opened back up for a “test period of time” and everything we do will be reviewed weekly to prove that we are worthy. It’s a bunch of stupidity. However, I’ve decided to take this time to stop blogging while at work due to the fact that they will now be reviewing the sites we visit, and I don’t want to draw attention to my URL. Not that I’ve said anything damning. But my website is a personal site, and the people I work with are not people I share my personal life with. Know what I mean? So anywhoo. If you’re a faithful reader, waiting for an updated post. I plan to continue to post regularly, but my times will change. Instead of whenever the fart tickles me, I’ll be posting in the evening.

I'm Lonely! Oh, So Lonely!

There is no one in my office area. No one but me. I've run out of things to do. Well, I suppose I could be researching some stuff. But I just don't feel like doing that right now. I've got a call in about 10 minutes. So that is good. I will have the guy on the other line to keep me company. It's totally quiet in hear. It's starting to bug me. At first I was loving it, but now I'm feeling like I could be doing what I'm doing now from the comfort of my living room. Then I could also take that nap I've been coveting. It's been getting dark here at like 5:00 so when I go home I don't want to do anything but sleep. :o( Totally bites. No one is online right now either. Tried to email a couple people. Nothing. Tired to IM a couple people. Nothing. Where is everyone today?

Well... I'm going to go wait for my conference call. Maybe cat nap. Sorry I'm not more entertaining!

My Actual Birthday Celebrations

Well, you're all going to be disappointed. Last night was quite a bore. (I guess that's what happens when you get old.) I wound up doing my laundry, and waiting for the man to show up. DJ is working hard in the fields so he didn't leave until 6:30 or somewhere in there. He didn't get to my place until 8:00. We didn't even go out to dinner. I ordered us a pizza and we watched Nip Tuck. We didn't even do "it" because he was so tired. Poor guy. I'm not too upset about it though because the weekend was so much fun, and I know that he's really tired and stressed right now. Since it was a Tuesday, I really didn't mind doing nothing either. Snuggling with my man on a weekday felt really good. Can't wait until January when he actually lives with me! Woo hoo!

I just got back from my eye doctor. My eyes have not changed a bit! Wow! That's exciting for me because they always get worse. I started taking a supplement for them, that has Lutein, Bilberry, Zanthethin (sp) and a bunch of other crap good for your eyes. I know my left eye was getting better because things were less blurry. So I'm totally excited! My Insurance paid for my contacts in total. Unlike my crappy old job that only paid for 2/3 of them (Bastards).

Saturday Part II

After I finished with DJs laundry, I decided to stop over to my Grandma’s and see what she was up to. My cousin, my aunt, and she were fixin’ to watch a movie, so I decided to stick around. I hung out with them for a couple of hours.

Hint #1 that something was going on: I call him around 3:30 to see what he’s up to, if he wants me to come out there, or what. So he tells me that he thinks he’ll quit around 5:00, and maybe we can go to dinner or something. This is weird because he NEVER quits working this early during harvest season. Especially since it was so nice out. He tells me he’ll call me when he decides to head into town. So I say, “OK” and we hang up.
Hint #2 that something was going on: He calls me at 5:01pm. He NEVER calls me exactly when he says he’s going to call. Usually he calls me 30 minutes, 40 minutes, an hour later than he tells me. So when he called. I knew for sure something was in the works.
Hint #3 that something was going on: Once he gets home, and cleaned up, he’s already ready to get out of the house and off to dinner. It was only 5:38! He doesn’t eat that early. In fact, he’s always giving me crap for being hungry around 6:00. So I just KNEW that people were waiting for us at the restaurant.

We get to the restaurant, where I am expecting to see my family sitting at a table. Instead, I see my 3 girlfriends from the Cities! I was so excited! I almost cried. I was so excited (and a little embarrassed at the same time, since the Big W is not very exciting this time of year. I wasn’t sure if they’d have any fun or not). So we ate dinner and headed out on the bustling town. Ok. (Maybe we were the only people out.)

One thing I wasn’t expecting was for DJ to organize getting my cousins and have them gather at the Legion. Usually in a small town, we all wind up drinking together anyway. So I was expecting to see some of them anyway. But turns out, he made sure to call everyone and have them come out. I had a blast. It was so much fun having Jordan, Sara, and Charlotte around again. I could post a whole separate blog on just that topic. I have a feeling my in-laws saw a whole new side to me!

Now, I KNOW for a FACT that Jordan had a good time, and I am somewhat sure Sara and Charlotte did as well. Like I said, not much to do in a small town but sit around and drink. And drink we did! Especially me. A girl who’s breaking out a new decade of life can’t turn down drink that were bought for her. Who knows when a man other than her husband will buy her a drink again? Probably never actually.

Anywho, I had a blast! It was the best birthday gift a girl could ever get from her closest friends! The gift of them! What they don’t know is how much I really loved seeing them. I can’t even try to put it into words. I’m very happy that they decided to risk their lives in someone’s silver bullet, just to come little ole Podunkville me. Thanks Sara and Charlotte for leaving your babies to come see little ole me. (ephasis on the ole now) My husband is also super fabulous, because he actually spent some time helping to coordinate this, and he's been working 18 hour days to get his crop in. I feel very blessed to have such good people to call my friends!

Oh yeah, stay tuned for photos from the evening too!

Saturday Part I

Saturday, 12:00pm: You’ll never guess where I am right now. It’s a place I have NEVER been before. I’m at the public laundromat. It’s so foreign to me, I didn’t even know how to spell it. Thank goodness for spell check. I thought it was laundry-mat, but apparently it’s laun-DRO-mat. What really sucks is that I have to poop really bad (and I can’t hold in my poop very well). There are bathrooms, but I don’t want to go to the bathroom because I’d have to bring my stuff in with me and that’d just be gross. I AM NOT taking my laptop into a public restroom. It hasn’t even made it into my personal one yet! I’m going to wait until it’s about to fall out, then run in there really quick. I don’t want to sit and push. That’d take WAY too long with my stuff unsupervised.

Want to know why I’m here? DJ’s washer broke down about a month or two ago, so he’s been bringing his cloths to my house to wash on weekends. Well, since he’s been farming, he has created quite the pile-o-cloths. So I decided I’d do his laundry. Luckily no one is in here to see my ignorance on this whole process. Did you know it costs $1.50 to wash your cloths these days? When I was in college it cost me $.75. And $.50 to dry. Wow. The world is ripping us off everywhere. (Ok. I really have to go, so talk to you in a minute…)

OK. I’m back. That wasn’t so bad. I inspected the BR’s and the women’s is much nicer than the men’s. If you are interested in a big dick though, call this number 320…. No, I’m not REALLY gonna give it to you. Should I write next to it, “Hey! That’s my husband’s phone number!” That’s funny to me. Tee hee.

Know what’s cool about this place? It actually has those baskets with wheels on them so you don’t have to actually carry your laundry from place to place. You can just roll it. I thought that was only in movies and TV shows like Friends. So what is the process of laundry-ing anyway? I thought when the spin cycle happened, you’re laundry was done. All 5 washers have already gone through spin, but they are still going. What up with dat? I’m so glad I don’t usually have to sit and wait for my laundry to be finished. I think I’m going to go edit some photos. Anything you want to see on my photosite? Let me know. I haven’t posted anything since October.

Stay tuned for Saturday Part II. You'll be glad you did!

Woo Hoo! The Weekend Is Here!

Have I mentioned that I'm happy the weekend is here? I've totally been burned out so far as sitting in an office goes. I'd much rather be at home tinkering away on some of my many projects. I wish I could get paid for all the things I have going at home. Maybe someday I will, but for now, there just aren't enough hours after work to get things done. Especially if I don't go straight home to start on them. Last night, I turned my computer on, tinkered for a while, and then decided enough is enough! I'm done! I'm doing nothing. So I sat and watched Earl without doing anything else. Then I got bored, and decided to start knitting a scarf (someone I know suggested I make one for her daughter...) Next thing I know, I'm half way through Grey's and I haven't even been watching, just listening. So then I decide to put down the needles. But then I picked up something else. Maybe I have developed ADD in my old age.

What does everyone do when they get home? Do you lounge around? Do you bake? What are other people doing? I want to know. Am I normal?

Birthday Celebrations

So I've decided something really fun to do for my birthday. But it won't happen because what I want to do happens this Friday. And all my fun friends live 3 or more hours away. :o( The Thunder Down Under are appearing at the casino 1/2 way between here and the big W. They'd totally be awesome to see! They are hotter than Chipendales, and these guys have accents. Which we all know, any guy with an accent is automatically hotter than a guy without one.

It'd totally be a good time if I could get my cities friends to come down/up/over (Did I cover them all for you Jordan?) But I think the one friend who'd really appreciate this sort of thing is out of town on business this weekend (J), and the other two I think I'd have fun with (S,C) I don't really have any place to house them if they could make it. My town home would be alright, but DJ's house is closer to the casino, and his place is just embarrassing. I don't even let relatives in that place. So I guess whoa is me. Even though the casino does have hotel rooms attached to it.... Well... either way, it's a little bit short notice.

Dang! I just tried to go to their website to grab some photos and I've been "Websensed" due to sex and gambling. Dang! Websense sucks. If I remember, tonight I'll post some pics of them when I get home. I'm totally bummed because I wanted to see if there was anything going on at the casino on Saturday because that's where I think I'm going to make everyone go instead of sitting in the local bar staring at each other.



Here's one I pulled off of ticketmaster. (Enjoy if you can see it.)