Christmas Already???

Let me begin by saying that I love the idea of Christmas in July. Really, I do. And, I adore Christmas celebrations. Boy do I. Christmas parties, wrapping presents, spending time with friends and family, donning a Santa hat or the whole suit as the case may be(yeah, that's me last year at work in a Santa suit just being silly.). I am cuckoo for cocoa puffs about the whole shebang. I swear. But, I have one hard and fast rule when it comes to Christmas. I do not begin any planning of anything Christmas(with the notable exception of picking up gifts for friends and family which I sometimes do throughout the year especially when you find something that's just so perfect that you may never see it again like the ladybug vase on clearance for the ladybug lover in your life) until November 11th. That may seem like a pretty random date to those of you who don't know me well, but it will make perfect sense in a few minutes. My birthday is November 10th. My father's is the 12th and grandmother's also falls in November. For some reason, growing up a large portion of my friends were also November babies. I grew uncomfortably accustomed to having to share my birthday with others. On top of that since my birthday falls a little to close to Christmas for comfort, I have fallen victim to the this present is your Christmas/birthday present. That all stinks. I wanted my special day that was supposed to be all about me just as much as everyone else. So, I created my rule as an adult that there is no Christmas discussions until after my big day has passed. I also like celebrating all holidays. I look forward to Labor Day cookouts, Halloween Trick or Treaters and Thanksgiving gorging. As commercial industries keep pushing up the time when they bring out holiday ways earlier and earlier each year, this task becomes more difficult. Usually, I have come to expect to be annoyed around Halloween to start seeing the Christmas items hitting the shelfs. I was bewildered today when upon entering the Dollar Store searching for supplies for a bachelorette party project which I promise to make a tutorial for over the next few days to see Christmas items prominently displayed near the front of the store. I tried to avert my eyes and pretend I didn't see it, but alas it was too late. It's well over 90 degrees here. School has yet to start. I'm ready for some grilling. I'm simply not ready for summer to be over much less for Christmas to be here.

Stop standing in the middle of the street

To continue on my Dennis Miller like tone this evening, I live on a quite narrow road which barely has room for two cars to pass when there aren't vehicles parked on the side of the road which there always seem to be ending in a dead end. In fact, tonight as per usual with cars parked along the sides of the street it was impossible for more than one car to easily pass along the road.

Now, possibly some of what I am about to say comes out of my growing up in the country on a dirt road. Cars only came past our house when the people who owned the summer home below us came down for an occasional weekend during the summer. Needless to say I lived on a less than busy street. Due to it being a dirt road lined with shells, it was simply not possible to speed down our road nor was it possible not to be seen from a distance coming down the road often in a large cloud of dust. We were hence pretty safe riding our bikes on our road or walking to the end of the road without fear of being hit or causing much hold up to traffic(Traffic in all honestly was almost a foreign concept to us.).

Tonight being a typical evening especially a Friday night cars were piled up on the side of the road making it difficult enough for me to get down the road. Imagine my dismay when in full cover of darkness to see the road filled with a mass of 20 or so kids which is way more kids than houses filling up the roadway. I always back slowly out of my driveway especially since we have random cats that wander our neighborhood. I know why the kids were standing around sadly. Someone in all their infinite wisdom has decided to place a basketball hoop on the side of the road. I may be the only person apparently who thinks this is unsafe since the kids seem to continue to play unsupervised after dark, and they range in age from I would guess about 2-13. There is no lighting for them to be easily seen. It just all seems dangerous to me. With the parked cars, it makes it hard to see when they dart out to get the ball. I am always so worried someone will hit the kids. I know our yards aren't tremendous, but they certainly seem a safer place for the kids to play especially after dark. Or, there is always the playground to the church which is adjacent to our street. The kids playing in the street just makes me so nervous and a bit annoyed I will admit as well when I am driving. When I am trying to get to work or even just run to the store, the last thing I want to do is wait for them to slowly move out of the street. I swear I've seen turtles move with more vigilance and conviction than my neighborhood kids when they are standing often idly in the middle of the street.

Some people don't know when they are blessed

A local man was charged today with 2nd degree murder as a result of the death of his 7 week old son. The child suffered injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome. I do not live in a big city necessarily which is why it seriously irks me tremendously that reports of children dying from shaken baby syndrome seem to be trickling in at an alarmingly increasing rate. And, it always seems like it is a parent not even a sitter who is the one committing the atrocious act of ending the life of the infant. Now, I am not, of course, aware of all the details of the case. I am a believer in the judicial process of innocent until proven guilty. I am just talking about the generalities of the prevelance of shaken baby syndrome not this specific case. What I do know in my heart of hearts is that there is never a reason to shake an infant much less shake a baby to the point of murdering it. There is nothing anyone can tell me that will make this act less vile or despicable. I have never had the joy of being a mother. I have infertility issues and perhaps for this reason find the idea of having a child of my own as so much more of a blessing as perhaps these ungrateful parents do. But really, I can't imagine a level of frustration so great with a tiny, innocent infant that could be so great to bring a human being to harm an infant with the hope of making the crying stop. I know human depravity exists. I am certainly no innocent naive enough not to be aware of it. Somehow in my mind though the insanity that must exist to allow serial killers to do what they do seems less horrifying to me than overtaking a 7 week old child. I can't imagine how people are incapable of seeing a healthy just possibly cholicky baby as anything other than a blessing. I know life can be stressful, but never stressful enough to take it out on a precious baby. And, honestly if you don't think you can handle being a parent there is a guaranteed way to ensure that won't happen; don't do it. I don't know where the mother was. No details were available in any of the news I heard or read about that. There are a million possibilities as to why she didn't stop him like simply not being there(like gone to get medicine or herself being incapacited ie in the hospital). I know the way things work around here and had she in any way been able to stop this murder and didn't, she would have been charged. I just get so rilled up when I hear about the deaths of babies which so easily could have been prevented especially when there are so many people who so desperately want to have a child of their own.

As a sidenote, I must say it was disturbing to read a local news article that was so poorly edited that it read the man was charged in the "alleged death" of his infant son. Really. I mean I doubt the death was alleged. I am sure they mean the alleged murder. I know this was just a local write up, but poor editing like this just drives me up a wall and makes me laugh a bit as well. I know I am sick, sick former English teacher.

Today I feel like running away

It was just one of those days were everything I touched seemed to turn to doo doo at least at the beginning of the day. I walked outside to find that my house had been egged, and the other person who lives in my house had traipsed off to work without giving me any warning leaving the mess for me to deal with. Frankly, I don't get the fun in egging people. I was a kid once, and I guess we were a bit less destructive. We took joy in sporking our band directors yard. While it may have been a bit time consuming for him to remove the sporks that we so lovingly planted in his yard. I don't think it was nearly as damaging as trying to wash away eggy mess off a house before the paint was damaged. And, there wasn't that nasty cooked egg smell thanks to the lovely high heat and humidity we are currently dealing with in this part of Virginia. Maybe I was just cranky about it because it was my Monday morning. Then, due to transportation issues, I was late to work and we had apparently been swamped due to a large carryout order, an unexpected bus, and additional volume due to it being tax free back to school shopping weekend. I'm not really complaining. I wish I had been there for the rush, but it left my coworkers already spent by time I even arrived. So, I see a table sitting already looking quite annoyed when I arrived. By time I found a manager to clock me in so that I could enter anything into the computer since we recently went to computerized everything at my work, I am sure that table had sat another 5 minutes. Of course, the table was passed off to me. Just the way I love to start with customers who are upset. I go to make their drinks and someone knocked over my tray not only spilling the drinks but breaking glass everywhere. When several of the customers had less than legitimate complaints about their food(like the gravy which is never frozen having ice crystals in it) all I could do was fix the problem and laugh(of course, no where that a customer could hear.). It was just the beginning of one of those days.

Things got better I suppose or at least I just didn't let them get to me as much as I could have. Like when a manager telling me my replacement wouldn't be coming in, so I would have to stay late. I could have been annoyed knowing that I am already picking up an extra shift this week. Instead, I just looked at it as another opportunity to make a little extra cash. I am by no means perfect when it comes to this. At one point, I caught myself saying I wish I could run away.

We've all seen episodes of TV shows where one of the kids packs a suitcase with his or her most prized possessions cause they are going to run away with no real intention of leaving. But, I must admit there are moments when the idea of just leaving it all passes through my mind. Starting over in some new town with nothing but the dream of something different then the way things are here. Now, I know wherever you go there you are to be true meaning that you still will bring your emotional baggage with you. But, a change of scenery does seem awfully tempting at times. I wouldn't even know where to go or if I could leave my stuff behind and just take off to no where in particular. I do have some ideas I suppose of my dream towns. I've always looked quite kindly on Athens, Ga, Burlington, Vt, Austin, Tx, Savannah, Ga, Portland, Or, and Seattle, Wa. They all seem to have an artistic, college town vibe. Could I do it? I doubt it especially with only a few friends in any of those towns. But, sometimes it certainly sounds like a good idea.

Happy Thoughts

For some reason, I have been a bit high strung recently. I have been allowing myself to get all worked up when people say stupid things which for some reason seems to be happening a lot these days or perhaps always happens a lot and just only gets on my nerves at times like now. The boy blames it on PMS or just me being crazy. Sadly, both could be partially right. Luckily, me getting worked up as I call it just amounts to me kvetching to a friend or friends which is really harmless but a slight downer. In fact, hold the presses but I think douchebag has become one of my new favorite words to describe certain people especially 3 in particular. So, one of my friends has taken to saying happy thoughts when I get on a rant. It has so influenced me that today when I was going a bit off the deep end I tweeted that I needed to think happy thoughts without being told. The funny thing is that when he says to me think happy thoughts just him saying the phrase is enough for me to change the subject, but I don't actually bother with the actual process of thinking happy thoughts. Well, being the kind of girl who has been through rehab and lots of therapy, I know this is actually a tool I could be using to refocus to more positive thoughts and calm myself down. After some self analysis, I remembered making a list of happy thoughts many, many years ago which has been lost who knows when. So, I decided to redirect my negative energies to more positive ones and think about what I consider happy thoughts. And, while this may seem a bit like Sound of Music or other silliness, I think it also is a bit telling about me.

Some of my happy thoughts:

soft fleece

the cold side of the pillow

slurpees

cheese

hot baths

kitties and puppies, alright all baby animals

shoes on sale

baked goods straight from the oven so soft they almost melt in your mouth

bubbles

cashmere

fireworks

Hmm, so many of my happy thoughts are based on basic viseral, tactile responses. I was surprised that my tweeting which also updates my facebook status lead to some surprising happy thoughts quite unlike mine. And, I was wondering what are your "Happy thoughts?"

Out of the mouths of babes

I am not yet a parent, though I dearly hope to be someday. The restaurant I work at is family friendly, so I get to see tons of kiddos everyday. Today, two incidents occurred reminding me just how difficult it must be to be a parent these days.

The first incident happened around our checkout area. We happen to have a gift shop like area set up with toys, candies, books, etc for customers to purchase. While I did not see the buildup to the child screaming as I had my back turned making drinks for one of my tables, I can figure out easily what happened. Suddenly, out of no where, I hear a child yell at quite a loud volume especially considering we were packed with two busloads of people at the time "You're a bad mommy!" I immediately turned my head to see the child devolve into an absolute tantrum rolling on a bench wailing. I am sure the child wanted a toy or candy which mommy had no intention of purchasing. The mother continued paying the bill and simply looked over at the child angrily until she had finished signing her card. She quickly grabbed the child by the arm and escorted her out of the restaurant while her other child followed dutifully. I doubt the child throwing the tantrum was more than 4(hence, my picking a picture of myself at 4 to top the post.). This lead to several of my coworkers and I talking about how our own mothers would have reacted to a similar situation. We all seemed to be in agreement that had we lost our minds and been insane enough to say something like that in public we probably still would have problems sitting in any sort of comfortable position. Times change though. I do not necessarily condone corporal punishment. It seems though amongst those of us of my generation it seemed more the norm. When I babysat, I saw how quickly times had changed to timeouts. I do not know which works better personally although I tend more to be of the belief that violence begets violence. I can say that even though I know that kids say hurtful things to their parents as a way of asserting independence I think I still would have been overcome not only with embarassment but extreme hurt.

The second incident is less than humorous. Two children and their mother were seated at the counter eating dinner. I missed the part of the conversation that predicated one of the girls asking their mother what CPR was. The mother stammered I assumed trying to find a way to explain in easily digestible terms for her preschool age daughter CPR. Much to my surprise, I overheard the mother give a clearly incorrect explanation of CPR. Now, I am sure she was talking about the CPR used to resucitate those who have stopped breathing as she gave a medically based explanation basically describing the Hemlich maneuver. I know there are times when parents must deal with having a highly intelligent child and reaching a point where information may be beyond what they know. However, to simply be wrong about something I assumed to be pretty basic knowledge when your children are still so young nearly stopped me in my tracks. Kids thanks to the a multitude of media outlets in the information age are exposed to an enormous amount of things that lead to curious questions. I know I asked my mother as a very young child how a rainbow was made. My mother with her science background probably gave me a more detailed explanation than I was expecting. Whatever would this poor mother do in that situation which lead me to think is it difficult to be a stupid parent or is it simply blissfully ignorant? Will I be wise enough to ask for help finding the answer to give my children when I don't know the right answer something my mother firmly believed in or will I be responsible for my children repeating mistaken information?

On a sidenote, my father found it funny to give my brother and I misinformation for his own amusement. This though was generally harmless and usually only served to gross us out. I remember him telling us that Mountain Dew was goat pee. Even though I am well aware and have been since probably the age of 7 that Mountain Dew is not goat pee, the combination of the memory and the odd quite unnatural color of the beverage has prevented me from drinking it without being grossed out. There were several other stories like this including his comedic explanation of hemrhoids which while even outlandish to us as children was so funny and gross kept us on the edge of our seats until his explanation reached its ridiculous conclusion. This is what I now refer to a dad humor, usually goofy often pulling a child's leg in a way that only older children and adults can see but not in any way meant to demean the child. It also includes guys telling corny jokes. To me, when I see a male who has what I refer to as dad humor, I immediately note that he either already has kids or probably will be a good dad someday.

Thoughts on MJ

This week has been a bit on the wacky side with several celebrities passing away, but far and away, the one that took me the most by surprise was the passing of Michael Jackson. I was getting ready to go the monthly PRIDE meeting with friends when I received a text telling me Michael Jackson was dead from my friend, Paul who is a Michael Jackson impersonator. In fact, the picture above is of Paul and I at a Halloween party this past Halloween. I was so shocked I had to search online to verify this wasn't some sick joke. When I finally saw the confirmation online, I have to say I was even more awed to realize he was 50. Part of me will always remember as the King of the Pop from the 80s. If drugs were a factor in his passing as the media is indicating is a possibility, I am especially saddened.

Over the last few days, all forms of media seem to be focused on Michael Jackson. I must admit I have found myself watching numerous tributes on TV. I just can't stop watching. Watching the tributes especially the 80s videos takes me back to my childhood. I remember being told by my mom that the Thriller video would give me nightmares, and it would have. I remember being a Brownie and having one of our calendar campaigns having a theme based on Beat It. For the longest time, we would sing We Are the World on the bus riding home from school.

Despite all of the wackiness that made him fodder for the tabloids, I want to remember the MJ of the 80s. I will not be crying over his passing. I just can't bring myself to do that over any celebrity. However, as a child of the 80s, I will easily say the King of Pop will be missed.

being crafty truly is fab

picture from biography.com
I mentioned in a previous post that I've been reading Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford, the heartwrenching tale of the tumultous relationship between Christina and her adopted mother, Joan Crawford. Trust me, the movie does not do these painful relationship justice nearly the way the book does.
And, even though, the divine Ms. Joan Crawford may have been bat shit crazy, she still was a bit or perhaps insanely fabulous. She certainly was the height of Hollywood glam in her day. In all of the horrors I am reading, I am filled with glee every time I read mention of Joan Crawford knitting. I must admit it makes me feel like I am in on something the cool kids are doing. There is even talk about modern celebs knitting such as Rosario Dawson and her super hot boyfriend Jason Lewis of Sex and the City fame. So, pashong on those people who say knitting is old fashioned or country, even the rich and famous do it.

it's all in my head

I suppose sometimes it doesn't take much to really tick me off. last night and most of today, i have been overcome with being hurt at what in reality was not a huge slight. however, to me, i made it a huge deal. a friend and i had plans last night. i was supposed to call around 6pm, and my friend would get directions to my house. I called, got voicemail, and left a message. I knew we needed to be where we were going by 9pm. So, when I did not receive a call back by 8:15ish, I texted with a simple message asking if we were still on for our plans. By 9:30, I still hadn't heard from my friend and got super upset borderline devasted that my friend had forgotten or was avoiding me. I had the opportunity for other plans which I put off due to these plans and was a bit pissed. I would rather have spent time with my friend then gone to an alumni event. However, I felt I missed out on my alumni event for what ended up being nothing. All day I allowed myself to stew on this slight by my friend. I became more and more upset discussing it with friends who are really mine but know this other friend though not enough to divulge my feelings. I texted this friend again asking to talk feeling we needed to discuss how utterly rude I felt this individual had been. I was spinning this whole situation more and more out of control. How typically me truly making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Finally, this evening, my friend contacted me to ask me if I was okay and apologize for taking so long to get back to me as my friend had been ill in bed. I was absolutely horrified. I immediately felt like the crazy person I am. And, for a moment, I felt like I had become my mother. Now, I am sure she will never admit this; but I remember quite clearly as a child listening to my mother spin out of control when my father was late from work. He was in an accident and dead or massively injured by the time she had talked it through in her head. Luckily, my father has never been in an accident. There was always a simple solution like traffic, or him stopping by to visit his mother. I know I am barreling out of control in my mind, but I just don't seem to be able to make it stop. I am not sure if this is learned behavior, or as one of my girlfriend says typical female behavior, or just part of my mental illness. I realize I need to surround myself with people who recognize me acting like a crazy person and are willing to tell me I'm being insane. I had done a good job of creating such a network in the past, but as time has gone by, I think I may have lost some of them to death or just lost the ability to make time for these good friends. I know now after this incident how much I need to work on these connections again. I just needed to vent and get it all out where I could see it in writing. I guess I have moments where I use blogging almost like journaling spewing out my feelings like a way of pyschologically vomitting. I have gotten away from journaling, but blogging is now a huge part of my life. am i the only one who does this?

I've been reading Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford the daughter of Joan Crawford. She talks about how Joan Crawford despite being seriously cuckoo for cocoa puffs never saw a shrink. She viewed her daily phone calls to a practicioner of Christian Science in New York as her therapy while she vented. Now, clearly Ms. Crawford was clearly out of her bleeping mind as anyone how saw the movie Mommie Dearest would agree and I doubt that was enough for her. (No, wire hangers. That line was beyond brillant.) But, in the program, they always say problems shared are halved. Maybe this is what I am trying for. Who knows. I just need to share.

why are men so squeamish?

I just don't get it. I know I've mentioned before that I have irritable bowel syndrome. I was first diagnosed back in college. What gets me is that I can't say anything other than I am feeling sick or the boy begins in with ewwwwww that is so gross. Now, I am not saying that I go into outrageous details describing every pain or bowel movement. I am saying just saying I am having stomach issues sets him off. No offense, but these are natural bodily functions. And, its not just me. Heaven forbid a cat gets sick. I will be awoken at 3am to clean up that mess, and the poor cat will be shunned for about a day. Men fart and burp and take pride in it. How dare any non male do something less than dainty. What is the deal? I mean really. I know traditionally it has been women who get stuck changing diapers and cleaning up kids puke. But, I guess I wonder why men don't man up about these things. And, why are these topics so taboo?

twitter is driving me bonkers

twitter was supposed to have scheduled maintenance at 5pm est. i understand it is a free service, and i'm sure maintenance is necessary. but, why at 5pm? why not at like 3 am when less people are trying to tweet? and, i was totally in the middle of a conversation with dear annette. and, so much crap is going on that i want to tweet about right now which isn't always true; so of course it has to go down. the message on twitter said it would be down for an hour. hour was up, and twitter came back up albeit running super slow. then, bam, as i was in the middle of tweeting, it went down again. no cute message like i normally get like this:

oh, no, now internet explorer just tells me oops! this link appears to be broken. why can't it just work? i know i have my last nerve plucked in general, and that's why i am being driven to the nth degree of frustration with twitter being down. perhaps, this is all merely a sign of my twitter addiction. or, my need for some serenity now. perhaps, i need an aa meeting, or a slurpee, or hot bath, or something anything to calm my nerves.

anywho, if twitter is working, you can follow me at rebos2003. i'd love to tweet with all of y'all.

magic or what we do for love

i love freebies, and i remembered my boyfriend had told me that as a boy he played magic the gathering. so, when i saw a free offer to get 2 decks of magic the gathering, of course i ordered them. i was at work when they arrived in the mail. seeing the company logo on the package my boyfriend decided to open it and see what i had gotten. frankly, i find this to be an annoying habit of his as it takes the pleasure out of me handing him a present even if it didn't cost me anything. the decks that i got for free are apparently starter decks that have combined only the amount of cards for one person to play. so, he felt inspired to stop into the gaming store beside his work and pick up more cards, so we could play together. initially, i was a bit taken aback not only that he had spent money even if it was less than $10, but also by the idea of playing anything that could be found in a gaming store. i've had several friends who played dungeons and dragons or mmorpgs like uo and wow. i don't get them. sorry, i just don't. my best friend loves wow. i've sat there with her ensconsed in conversation while she does her thing. she has tried for years to get me into it to no avail. so, in my real lack of knowledge of what magic the gathering was, i blew it off as being in that vain. but, then, i thought to myself if a supafly professional poker player like david williams was once a magic player, how bad can it be? plus, i've learned in a relationship, i have to try things i may not like just because he likes them. so, i gave it a whirl. turns out its like a complicated strategy board game just with cards. turns out and please do not laugh at my utter and complete dorkiness here, but i had a lot of fun. in fact, i kept wanting to play. and, since doing something together even as simple as playing a game together helps keep us together, i'm on board to play it more. i will not be playing in any tournaments or shopping in gaming shops anytime soon.

bigotry is alive and well on capitol hill

i was visiting some of my commenters blogs, and came to me and the blue skies. this is something i always try to do since its a fun way to meet people around the blogosphere. and, i was horrified by this post on his front page. now, you see mr. blue skies is witty and smart. love him. no, somehow i slept on the news since friday. you see i'd like to think that bigotry doesn't exist, and people are as open minded as men. but, i get smacked in the face by news like this and am awoken to the reality that there are still a lot of ignoramuses out there. i'm not sure right now whether i want to scream or cry or both. mainly, i want to make people aware that this crazy lady (and i don't mean crazy in a good way) not only exists but is an elected official. republican congresswoman virginia foxx of north carolina was ballsy enough to say in regards to the hate crime bill on the floor friday that and this is a quote from the associated press:

"We know that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay," Foxx said during debate. "The bill was named for him, the hate-crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills."

for more, read this article from the associated press.
i am so disgusted. how horrifying. it is bad enough that there are bigots that would kill someone just because he was gay, but then to have someone not only attempt to take away the little bit of meaning from matthew shephard’s death in that hate crime laws have now popped up throughout the country and then to take it a step further by defaming his memory and label the victim as a criminal. her statement literally turns my stomach. after hearing about foxx’s comments, i have searched high and low on the web to see how she could have possibly come up with this wildly insane conspiracy theory about shepard. amazingly, the only mention i see of robbery is that shepard was robbed in addition to being pistol whipped, tortured, tied to a fence and left to die. in addition, his murders found his address and were intending to rob is home. i cannot believe she is now trying to get out of this statement by saying it was a poor choice of words to use hoax. i certainly hope that this woman does not win reelection. i wish i knew more people or any people for that matter in her district. oh, i am so mad now i am wringing my hands. the only good thing i can think of out of all of this is that the house passed the act.

how did the toilet become my area of expertise?

i am far from one who believes in "traditional" roles for men and women. i have always been the annie get your gun kind of anything you can do, i can do better kind of girl. i have discovered one thing that i wish i didn't do better, the toilet.

today, i was greeted by a clogged toilet. why my boyfriend is unable or unwilling to use the plunger himself, i have no clue. for some reason, this falls into my purview. i mean dealing with bugs and spiders (of course, except for wasps and hornets) which he has a ridiculous fear of i'm completely fine with, but toilets are pretty gross. why, i ask you why me?

last week, my toilet duty reached a new high, toilet repair. nothing can compare to having the boy yell out to me the toilet doesn't work. immediately, i do a mental check as i made my way to the bathroom. water bill paid, yep. so, we take the lid off when he explains to me that the toilet won't flush but the sink is working fine. upon close inspection, i note that the platic piece which attaches the chain from the lever which you hit when you want to flush to the flapper which opens to allow water into the toilet when you flush is broken. well, i don't want human waste sitting in my toilet. joy, oh, joy, i get to reach my hand into the water and manually lift the flapper to flush the toilet. now, i'm a renter. so, i could call the landlord and have him come rectify the problem. of course, i would want to clean the whole house ensuring it is spotless before the landlord arrives just to ease my conscience which would take hmm well too long. or, thanks to a therapist assignment to teach me independence a few years ago, i could go down to home depot and plunk down about $5 buy the replacement part solving the problem in a matter of minutes allowing me to put off a complete cleaning of my house. i, of course, opt for the second choice. now, here is where i will sing the praises of home depot or at least the one in my town. i have never and i mean never been in a chain store with better customer service. as soon as i entered the aisle, there were not one but two employees who immediately came over to help. as much as i would like to flatter myself and think it is because i am quite the vixen, one was a nice lady who i am positive had no such interest in me. they were super helpful. not only did they help me find a cheap option, they directed me to one that had an adjustable ball that allows me to determine how much water i want to be released whenever the toilet is flushed. bonus, this water conserving flapper was the same price range as all the other options and cheaper than most. when i installed the new flapper, i started with the lowest setting and was informed that might not be enough for his sessions(our term for his insanely long bathroom visits. why anyone wants to spend time on the throne reading for 20 minutes to a half an hour blows my mind. does anyone out there know why men do that?), so i went with a mid range setting that is still less than we were using before.

and now, i am officially and regrettably queen of the throne.

to eat or not to eat swine

now, as a vegetarian, my choice is easy. i obviously don't eat any pork products. but, with the ignorantly named swine flu pandemic(i say that as it really is a mutation of flu combining swine flu, avian flu, and human originated flu never before seen.), i have noticed a lot of people are eliminating eating pork products. my work has posted a notice advising correctly(i have linked an article explaining there is no danger as verified by the cdc.) that eating pork can not cause the swine flu. despite this notice which patrons should easily be able to see, i have overheard patrons commenting that they shouldn't eat pork now because of the possibilty of catching swine flu. i want to shake these people as i find this level of ignorance and misguided decision making based on misinformation beyond aggravating. i am not trying to advocate the eating of meat. however, i feel people should make decisions for the right, most informed decisions.
and, of greater fear to me is the shocking and drastic drop in our business the last few days; and that as a restaurant known for serving pork the unfounded fear may be the reason. when i say business has dropped, i mean from being slow to being a ghost town. monday evening, we had over an hour without customers.
even sadder to me is a story about semi local potential h1n1 pandemic, the name the us government is now recommending using for the current swine flu pandemic to prevent decrease in sales of pork products in the us. i caught a bit of the 11 o'clock news about the 8 potential cases of the pandemic in maryland. 3 of these specifically involve children. parents are calling for the kids names to be released. note that these cases have yet to be confirmed. all of these children are currently hospitalized awaiting cdc confirmation of a diagnosis. the only death in the us due to the current pandemic is actually from a toddler who was visiting from mexico. and, the cdc has found a combination of tamiflu and relenza effectively combat the virus once infected. its bad enough the torture children can inflict on one another. the last thing these sick children need is to be vilified by parents too. from what i can tell, schools are notifying parents and the media that the potential occurs and doing their best to disinfect schools. one school has a crew of 20 people cleaning the school tonight. names are not needed. one should assume the possible risk once one kid could be infected without needing to know the kid's name.

a sobering reminder

financial woes as well as personal drama have been stressing me out this week. and, i'll admit my the monkey on my back has been haunting me. i have thought of going taking a cab to a bar and drinking myself into oblivion. of course, i would have some difficulties with the execution of these thoughts. many of the of the bartenders at the local bars know me. i have partied with many of them before and since my sobriety. some i consider to be my friends. and, as much as they i am sure could use the tips with the slow business we are all experiencing, they simply would refuse to serve me. in reality, this is a blessing of course. however, the knowledge is a bit discouraging to my fantasy.
last night, though, i was struck with a real dose of reality. i have only a handful of friends from my drinking days. they are not people who drank "with me". as in, people who couldn't or didn't even desire to keep up with me. of this group of friends, one is my friend kevin who is like a baby brother to me. he also tended to play the role of the "sensible" one who would try to both prevent and clean up my messes at least when he was aware of them. there is a fabulous story about him trying to help me out after a blackout involving him, a zebra stripe painted van, and a drag queen. but, that's not important now. kevin, chris, and i were outside with a friend of theirs who i had just been introduced to. we were the only ones outside at the time. somehow the topic came up of me being a recovering alcoholic between kevin and their friend whose name honestly escapes me. i was in a conversation with chris when i overheard kevin tell this friend that its ok despite me having not had a drink in almost 6 years that i drank so much back in the day that i'm probably still drunk. wow. talk about a shot to the gut. i still don't know that kev knows that i heard it. i certainly pretended i didn't.
but, it certainly puts things in perspective to how my nonalcoholic friends perceived me. and, when the thoughts of drinking came back today, i thought back to kev saying that and the hurt overwhelmed my desire.
in case anyone doubts after what i've said, kevin is a good friend. as a person, i appreciate people who are that honest and these are the kind of people i prefer to surround myself with as sometimes i can't see myself clearly.

viva la raza

i got just about the best compliment ever today. maybe not ever, but it certainly was meaningful to me.
the other server working with me told one of the hispanic women who works in the kitchen that we needed rolls up front. the hispanic woman is someone i have a ton of respect for not only for her general pleasant disposition(i have never heard a cross word come from her mouth much less a complaint prior to this conversation in the 2 years i have worked with her.) but also her amazing work ethic(she has never missed a single day of work regardless of her health, works insanely hard doing anything and everything asked of her and often not asked. when she is not busy, but sees others are she jumps in to help learning how to roll silverware on the fly for instance.). the other server telling her to bring us rolls is lazy and rude. to begin with, it is the servers job to bring forward bread to warmers as needed not the kitchen staff. and, we really were far from busy. i think at most we may have had 2 tables each, but i doubt we even had that. in the time it took her to tell the kitchen worker, the server could have easily done it herself. plus, i am big on asking people to help you when you need it not telling other people what to do. in my world, please will get you far. telling me what to do is likely to get my dander up to say the least.
well, the kitchen worker brought the rolls forward, but surprisingly turned to the other server and in her broken english said "you lazy, not like rebecca. she no lazy." (my hispanic coworkers are my only coworkers who call me rebecca not becca.) i honestly think i blushed. coming from one of the hardest working coworkers at my job, that was one heck of a compliment.
and at the same time, it made me feel guilty. you see many of my hispanic coworkers do much more than their fair share of their work. most not all, come in every day without fail, smile and work hard without stopping the whole time they are there. they make a lot of employees look subpar when compared to their effort. they often do the work that none of the rest of us want to do and usually with a smile and rarely rewards like employee of the month.
i have read most of anthony bourdain's writing including some of his fiction. and, i can say i have seen most of his shows such as a cook's tour and no reservations. one thing that i can say is an underlying thread in his work is mad respect for the hispanic workers in restaurants who are the backbone of the restaurant industry in the united states. customers may not see them, but they toil tirelessly to ensure that restaurants keep going. i stole my title from anthony bourdain's use of the phrase viva la raza. in fact, it is a title to a chapter in one of his books. please don't ask me to recall which one after such a long day(i worked a double.) literally, it means long live the race specifically mexican. however, he uses it generally as a cry of thanks to those unsung kitchen heroes. and, i concur.

i'm so not down with the lingo these days

as we have been having computer problems with our desktop computer, my boyfriend and i have been sharing my laptop. this really sucks since both of us spend way too much time on the computer, me with blogging, and him with making and posting videos about videogaming. tonight, he is working on a video. this process takes hours much to my chagrin. while he was working on his dinner/taking a break, i got to have the laptop for a quick bit. so, i decided to work on my today's free stuff post for the day. as y'all know, i love freebies. hence, i have a few of my fave freebie sites bookmarked for quick searching. one of my sites is thunderfap.com. now, if you're already laughing, then you are much cooler than i am apparently. when i handed him back the laptop, i left this site up as it was the last one i had happened to search. in case, you decide to check it out, this site is hit or miss whether i find anything good, but i like to be thorough. my fave freebie site is actually the forum at freestufftimes.com. back to the story already in progress. sorry, i do have the habit of meandering off subject. he picked up the laptop, and immediately got a puzzled look on his face. you see the top of the website just has the logo, and this is how the conversation went:

him: what were you looking at?
me: what do you mean?
him: oh the obviously don't know what fap is? laughter
me: huh?
him: i have to tell my friends about this. they are die when they see this.
me: acting quietly confused
him: wait, you know what fap is, right?
me:no
him: its leet speak for self gratification(ok, he used a different phrase. but, i'm censoring this to be less graphic.)

he then went to a chat room and had to tell all his friends about this site and got a good laugh especially at my lack of being in the know. alright, i guess i am officially old. like the signs weren't there before, but each time it gets thrown in my face like this, i think a little bit of me dies. and, yes my boyfriend who happens to be 5 years my junior is still giving me grief hours later about this faux pas.

i thought it was 1995 all over again

i hope some of you were wondering where i have been this week. i was i could say i was on spring break or even working tons of hours due to everyone else being on spring break. and, i swear i was trying to be lazy or reclusive. no, i was suffering from a slow and i mean turn back the clock back to 1995 when the net was relatively new to me kind of slow. '95 may have been cool cause i was finally going away to college, but surfing the web was more boogie boarding in a child's swimming pool than surfing. the situation was beyond frustrating. my boyfriend tried to download a 13 minute long video(normally something that would upload basically instantaneously with our connection), and it took him almost 2 hours. the slow down began gradually over the weekend and ground to an almost stand still over the last 2 days. i could barely even pull up my own blog to check to see if i had any comments. by the time i could even get a page up, i would give up.
i still have no idea what started this whole debacle. i may not be up to date when it comes to using xml to code my blog layout, however i can usually diagnose computer problems. i spent the better part of today doing anything and everything i could think of including but not by any stretch of the imagination limited to running virus scans with multiple virus scan programs, decreasing my cache, eliminating toolbars, restarting my laptop, and unistalling widgets(ok, so that was just the morning.) i was completely befuddled to the point at which i had given myself a severe headache making the watching of survivor(one of my fave shows, hold your laughter please) a much less than pleasant experience. even a midday break with my dear friend travis for a corn muffin and soda, since of course the icee machine was having maintenance perform right when i needed one stat, did little to aid me in coming up with a solution. i was ready to head to the nearest mcdonald's to try and plug in to their wi-fi as i was convinced this was all a big scam from verizon to get me to pay more and switch to their fios. i mean i'm not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but assuming a big name corporation would try to sucker me for more money is far from conspiracy mongering these days. so, i reported to my darling boyfriend my lack of progress upon his return home from work. then, he did the one thing i in my over vigilance hadn't thought of. he restarted the wireless router. boom. back to good. i always think its idiotic when you contact customer service, and the first thing they have you do is restart everything. and, i feel prey to forgetting the basic solution and got to hear my boyfriend who relies on my to solve our computer problems gloat about how he fixed it. erggh.
eating my fair serving of crow, i'm back baby. so, i expect i will be overloading y'all with posts over the next few days. i found some great deals at goodwill, am thinking of starting my own etsy site, and prepping for easter just to begin with. hope you enjoy.

the big 200

in honor of my 200th post(my last one was officially my 200th post.), i am going to share 200 things about me. some will be mundane, but maybe some will be interesting. just some fun facts about me. 200 is a lot of things. hmm this make take a while. hopefully, by the time i make it to my 300th post, i can get together a giveaway. don't be sad at this rate, it will probably only be in a month or so.

1. i am a vegetarian. and have been one since new years of my junior year in college. it was a totally random new years resolution. i think its probably the only new years resolution i've ever kept.



2. i am a recovering alcoholic. my sobriety date is june 24th, 2003.



3. my hair started going white(never gray only white) at 14. by now, its almost completely white; so i dye it incessantly.



4. i love my middle name, autumn; and loving it always sign my full name.



5. i briefly did stand up comedy, but only at stand up open mics.



6. montel williams came to my hometown to do a show on teenage violence, and i was not only in the audience, but also got a comment that made it on the show. unfortunately, since the trial of the girl from my geometry class who along with her boyfriend and his friend killed 2 members of her family had yet to take place it never aired in virginia.



7. i am getting ready to have my 10 year college reunion and quite nervous about it.



8. i missed my 10 year high school reunion since my then best friend from rehab killed himself the day before. i was too distraught for any festivities.



9. in middle and high school, i played the clarinet and bass clarinet.



10. i am a karoke junkie and once worked at a karoke bar.



11. i taught high school english.



12. i used to be a bartender.



13. i held a pet snake as he had a seizure which lead to his death the next day.



14. my favorite show in high school was homicide life on the streets and taught my dad how to work the vcr to tape it since it came on friday nights and i was gone a lot of friday nights as i marched in the marching band at the football games.



15. my favorite colors are lime green and red but not together.



16. my mom taught me to knit, but i can only do one stitch. despite that, i have knit afghans and scarves.



17. i double majored in political science and english, linguistics, and speech.



18. i discovered my allergy to tape adhesive when i felt burning after being taped to a bench during junior ring week in college.



19. i've won a chili cooking contest despite it being vegetarian chili for spiciest chili and of course best vegetarian chili.



20. i am the eldest child of 2, and am totally have the personality of an oldest child.



21. i am brutally honest to a fault.



22. i am bipolar.



23. i was a state bible drill champion in middle school.



24. my first pet completely of my own was a beta fish in college named gilbert. despite my belief that beta fish should have drag queen names, i named mine gilbert after gilbert blythe from anne of green gables series. it was my favorite boy name, but i knew no man would ever let me name a son gilbert. so, i named my first boy pet gilbert.



25. my first cat of my own was belle who followed me into my door of my townhouse. she is still with me today and has been pictured in several of my posts. i then got jax, so belle could have a friend when a coworker was trying to find his kittens good homes. jax was the last one and so cute in the rain i couldn't say no. i named him jax after a character from feeling minnesota just because i thought it was a cool name. i then got talked into getting tara a cutie manx a year later when another coworker needed a home for his unexpected kittens. i couldn't have more than 2 cats when i moved out of the townhouse, so my parents now have tara. jax passed away of a sad battle with a terrible illness. about a year and a half ago, i got talked into taking in kitty named as such by my boyfriend.



26. i was not a cat person as a child. we had a dog named putt putt. when he passed in my junior year in high school, i asked that we have no more pets til i went away to college. but, mouser adopted our family; and i became a cat person.



27. my first car was an oldsmobile cutlass supreme in cornflower blue. it was a graduation present from college. i had to take over payments for it when i graduated.



28. i didn't get my drivers license until after i graduated from college.



29. i am the tallest female in my family.



30. i am proud of being exactly average at 5'4".



31. i am severely allergic to opiates as i found out recovering from ankle reconstruction surgery.



32. in band, i played the clarinet and bass clarinet. yes, i was a band geek.



33. i've only had stitches once after my brother threw a rusty rod into the back of my leg because i beat him in a bike race. my mom had to extract the rod from my leg. i missed swimming at our end of the year school party because of the stitches.



34. i played in the peach bowl half time show in high school with my band.



35. i have a birth mark on my hip.



36. i have to have an epipen for my hornet and wasp allergy which i didn't discover til my mid 20s.



37. my boyfriend and i have been together for 3 years as of this month, but we have no official anniversary date.



38. i am a scorpio, and if you believe in the horoscope hype, i think i fit the profile to a tee.



39. when i was in middle and high school, i kept a quote notebook where i cataloged all my favorite quotes i would find. it was quite large, and i wish i had kept it.



40. i abhor coffee with a passion and have never had a coffee maker in any house i've lived in. i won't allow it. yet, i serve it at work like crazy as i work the breakfast shift.



41. i learned to cross stitch from my mom in elementary school. i loved samplers. in high school, i entered one of my samplers in competition.



42. i have never lived outside of the state of virginia.



43. i won a texas holdem tournament at binions in vegas the home of the world series of poker.



44. i was a poker hostess for a bar poker league which is where i met my boyfriend.



45. i love photography. its my latest passion. i take tons of pics of events with friends. i've shown some of my photography at an art show, and entered one photography contest. i hope to enter more this year.



46. i always dreamed of being a writer and started novels twice.



47. i've been a maid of honor in a wedding, but i got to wear a dress of my choosing.



48. i am a grammar fanatic and have a problem with verbally correcting people's misuse of the english language. its rude; i know.



49. slurpees are one of my favorite things in the world. when i am feeling down, my friends know to bring me a slurpee. my favorite slurpee flavor is coke and icee is orange dreamsicle. i like it when i'm in a good mood too though.



50. my favorite ice cream is the mint cookie by ben & jerry's.



51. i almost always have a book sometimes several stashed by my bed to read. right now, i am working on a mercy by toni morrison and as seen on tv by sarah mlynowski.



52. cheese is my favorite food. part of the reason i can't be a vegan.



53. i can't do roller coasters. i get motion sick too easily, and am scared of heights.



54. i have dyed my hair almost every natural hair color there is and several not so natural ones. i have been platinum blond to jet black and several in between, but my favorite is always auburn.



55. for the longest time, i was convinced that i had a huge nose and would use makeup tricks to try and make it look smaller. i have since given up on that.



56. my family never took a vacation when i was a child. so, my first vacation was at 28 to vegas.



57. most people call me becca, but i didn't pick up this nickname until college. my nametag at work even says becca.



58. i have recently realized i have an obsession with commas. i possibly overuse think, but i don't think so.



59. i love my laptop, and hate using desktop computers.



60. i love bubbles and am so proud of having taught my cousins who to use bubbles.



61. the first concert i attended was the indigo girls in college.



62. i still live in the same town where i went to college and am less a few miles from my college.



63. my favorite hair accessory is my sunglasses. i need them with me at all time. i even tend to have them on my head at night as i can't stand to have my hair in my face.



64. i still find coloring to be relaxing and fun.



65. latin was my favorite class in college.



66. i lead a bible study my sophmore year in college.



67. my first experience with sports was gymnastics as a small child.



68. my senior year of high school, i went to a governor's school half a day for physics and technology. i had a mentorship at the virginia institute of marine science studying the effects of creating artificial marshes on benthic creatures. i missed my original presentation for my mentorship, because the bridge that i had to take to get to the governor's school was shut down as a cow escaped from a truck.



69. in college and high school, i was a debater and continued to judge and coach debate after college.



70. i was a girl scout. i still love girl scout cookies especially thin mints.



71. when i was a kid, i went through a phase where i hated regular chocolate chip cookies and would only eat ones made with mint chocolate chips.



72. i went through a phase in college when i wouldn't wear shoes unless i had to when entering a dining facility. what can i say it was cool in college to go sans shoes. now, i am obsessed with shoes.



73. i broke my ankle repeatedly but only my left ankle. i spent a lot of time on crutches for breaks and sprains. i've had 3 pairs of crutches through the years since one pair got broken and the other pair was left at my parents house several hours away from me when i needed crutches as an adult(but that was for a knee injury).



74. i become giddy like a child at the mere sight of snow.



75. my must have makeup product is mascara. i really believe it opens up and accents the eyes.



76. i love baking and cooking even though i don't get to do it much now since my boyfriend was a chef and hogs the kitchen.



77. i have pretty much given up on wearing shorts in public. i did make an exception for last year's county fair. i didn't want to give anyone a free show, but it was too hot for pants. in general, i wear skirts and dresses during the summer.



78. i love the water. i grew up on the water. now, i get happy when it rains; and being at the water whether it be river, ocean, or pond calms me.



79. i love buying a wearing coats and jackets, but can't stand driving with one on.



80. as a child and until college, i was a morning person. i would annoy my band director entering my early morning band class singing oh what a beautiful morning from the musical oklahoma. he swore i would get my comeuppance as an adult. boy did i. i hate mornings now, and hit snooze multiple times.



81. i still love getting my picture taken with santa and have the last 2 years.



82. in college, i worked at our speaking intensive center helping people with public speaking. of all of my fears, public speaking is not one of them.



83. i've never been on a blind date.



84. i spent a week in the crazy house as i was suicidal.



85. my favorite flowers are daffodils, tiger lilies, and sunflowers. daffodils were my county flower, and we had a festival every year called the daffodil festival.



86. i won't eat cherries, butterscotch, licorice, beets, or coconut.



87. i was scared of the dark well into high school.



88. my least favorite college course was art history. i only took the 2nd part leaving me a bit confused. i am not catholic and did not know that mary had seven sorrows much less that there was a flower that represented them. additionally, it was a morning course taught mainly in the dark by slideshow. needless to say, i had dificulty staying awake.



89. i want to be a mother one day, but due to my polycystic ovarian syndrome, having a child of my own may not be a possibility.



90. my favorite football team is the dallas cowboys despite and possibly because i live in redskins territory.



91. i am proud of being a grit(girl raised in the south).



92. my favorite holiday is my birthday cause it a day just for you.



93. i started learning spanish in the first grade since one of my classmate's mom was from ecuador and gave us spanish lessons.



94. i am a liberal.



95. i was the first grandchild on either side of my family.



96. i always have a beverage. if i don't, something is wrong. i feel a need to have something with me to drink at all time. and usually, its diet coke.



97. i was an adult the first time i ever said a cuss word in front of my mother and of all things it was the f bomb after waiting for hours at an endocrinologist office.



98. when i was a kid, we missed more time from school for flooding than snow. i even missed trick or treating one year due to flooding.



99. when i was baptized, the water had such high iron content that it looked dark brown. they told me to wear my oldest bathing suit under an old choir robe they only used for baptism. and, my preacher wore hip waders.



100. my best friend is 3 years younger than my parents yet we have so much in common. i love her dearly and wish we spent more time together.



101. i have no fear of bugs unlike my sweetheart who is terribly afraid of spiders.



102. i personally know all of my friends on facebook.



103. i have wavy hair and hate it.



104. i have only told 3 men i loved and i meant it every time.



105. i never had a real boyfriend until college.



106. my 6th grade boyfriend is one of my friends on facebook.



107. i shave my arm hair and have for several years.



108. i am a night owl. even when i have to work at 5 am, i'm still up at midnight or later.



109. i absolutely abhor housework. i avoid it at all cost.



110. i used to find ironing relaxing as a teen. weird i know. and, now i don't even own an iron. i have an ironing board, though.



111. i have never been outside of the continental united states.



112. the street view of my house on google maps shows the empty box from the lawn mower we bought. how embarassing.



113. i never got detention in school.



114. i have a different schedule from most people where my work week ends on tuesdays and begins on fridays. yep, its a restaurant schedule.



115. i only wore glasses for a year. i had an astimgmatism during puberty, and it corrected itself. but, i needed the glasses to read music.



116. i have never riden a motorcycle. i was always too scared before. now that i'm over my fear, i no longer have any friends who ride motorcycles.



117. i prefer baths to showers. i find them relaxing. we took baths as children, and now i generally take baths.



118. my favorite concert i attended was aerosmith as a christmas present from a friend. and, we had amazing seats. the energy at the show was insane.



119. i've tonged for oysters.



120. i had a poem published in the local paper as a child.



121. i edited a congressional report when i worked for a subcontractor of the dept of education.



122. i don't wash my face with anything other than water because my skin is not only dry but extremely sensitive. i went to a mary kay party where i had a reaction to their sensitive products. in high school, i tried noxema on my face since my mom was a noxema devotee and ended up with severely red skin for days.



123. i got sun poisoning when i was down in orlando on a band trip. i can't sleep in a moving vehicle, so i didn't sleep on the 14 hour bus ride down there. when i arrived after a brief romp in the ocean, i fell asleep on the beach and apparently rolled over in my sleep. i ended up with blisters on my face, chest, and back. they burst the next day waiting in lines at universal studios. it was extremely painful, gross, and painful.



124. i sleep on my stomach or side. only in the last year have i managed with severe back pain have i been able to sleep on my back with a heating pad. when i had my ankle surgery, i still slept on my side with my leg still upright.



125. i was an over 25 the first time i had a cadbury egg. i found it to be way too sweet and rich for my taste though.



126. i had my tonsils removed when i was in the 3rd grade, but they grew back. i had my aednoids removed twice.


127. i am obssessed with technicalities. if a drink is supposed to be garnish a certain way, it better be or it irks me to no end.


128. i love crossword puzzles.


129. i love a theme. i love to dress up for holidays and ear holiday candy. or, i wore baby blue to a baby shower since it was for a baby boy.


130. i'm great at match but can't shoot pool to save my life. it combines 2 of my weakest skills hand eye coordination and spatial reasoning.


131. i love making lists although this one is becoming more of a task than i planned.


132. homegrown tomato sandwhiches are one of my favorite summertime treats.


133. i have a weakness for baked goods especially bread. it stinks that we have such good bread at work. i regularly have at least a roll or biscuit when i work.


134. i abhor white walls yet that's all i have in my home; actually ours are more cream or ecru. but, its a rental; so what can i do.


135. i prefer modern design and mid century modern design.


136. i like toile but not in decorating. i want a toile skirt, shoes, or a handbag.


137. my cell phone is pink, and i like it that way.


138. i have princess tendencies, and an ex of mine gave me the very un-pc nickname of jap.


139. my taste in music is extremely ecclectic everything from country to reggae to opera to broadway musicals to drum and bass to oldies; just to name a few.


140. i hate toweling off after a shower or bath. i prefer air drying.


141. i once held my elemtary school's v sit an reach record.


142. i have a raised mole on my neck which my dad is all the time mistaking for a tick.


143. my favorite towns i have been in other than where i currently live are athens, ga and burlington, vt.


144. i love ladybugs. a friend gave me one for good luck several years ago, and they've been my thing ever since. i hate that i lost my ladybug earrings my mom got for me.


145. the far side by gary larson was my favorite comic strip, and my mom used to always get my far side calendars.


146. i hardly ever wear jewelry these days other than earrings. i prefer big jewelry.


147. my favorite season is autum(never fall which is such a boring word) with the crisp air and changing leaves.


148. as a child, i learned to play the piano though i doubt i remember how to play a single song now.


149. i ask a ton of questions all the time. i like specifics and clarification.


150. i was 19 before i had my first alcoholic beverage.


151. i prefer my fries with anything other than ketchup like ranch, honey mustard, mayo.


152. my eyes are my favorite feature, but i'm starting to appreciate my lips now too.


153. i love the beach, but hate swimming in the ocean. the salt water stings my eyes.


154. i was scared to death to go trick or treating the first time my parents tried to take me, because i was painfully shy as a child which is the opposite of what i am now. now, i am an extrovert once i know you. i still get nervous in groups where i know no one.


155. i hate running or jogging.


156. i wish i have gone sky diving. the one time i tried to go sky diving the weather turned bad, and we couldn't go.


157. i used to collect teddy bears. i am so over that now.


158. i kill houseplants. i incessantly forget to water them.


159. i am terrible with routines and forget to pay bills.


160. my favorite actor of all time is andre braugher. i think he is amazing.


161. i love heels despite the pain. i will even admit most are painful after wearing them for hours.


162. i despise perspiring. it disgusts me to no end.


163. i've never had a guy buy me jewelry.


164. i hate receiving roses. i think they are too generic and mean that someone wasn't willing to put thought into knowing what type of flowers i really like.


165. i haven't worn a watch in 7 years.


166. i let my cats sleep in the bed with me and often on me and love it.


167. i've never had servers sing happy birthday to me at a restaurant. and, i wouldn't be embarassed.


168. i've never cheated on a boyfriend or a test.


169. i failed my first driver's ed test. i didn't know how to park.


170. i bruise easily. i am all the time finding bruises, and i have no idea where i got them.


171. the first time i flew i was in college headed to burlington, vermont for debate institute. i was 20.


172. i can't even remember the last time i owned any items of clothing that were yellow. but, i like yellow accessories


173. i am daft when it comes to working blinds.


174. i really enjoy spicy food.


175. i have no tattoos. but, if i did i would get either a ladybug or a scorpion.


176. the first horror movie i saw was candyman 2 first halloween freshman year in college. i watched it peering over a blanket in fear.


177. i watch way too many tv shows thanks to my dvr. and, i can't stand commercials now either.


178. my favorite candies are peppermint patties and andes mints.


179. i sang in a talent show in high school, but only placed 3rd. i sang the greatest man i never knew by reba mcentire. its the only time i've had stagefright.


180. pretzels are probably my favorite snack food especially dipped in peanut butter.


181. i was in almost every club in high school including debate, spanish club, math league, drama club, happy club, junior classical league, marching band, philosphy club, fellowship of christian athletes, science club, beta, key club, forensics, chrome, bible club, and sca.


182. i never liked steaks.


183. when i was a kid, i always dreamed of having an older brother.


184. i've only mowed a lawn once. someone else has always done it for me.


185. i don't drink mountain dew. when i was a kid, my dad told us that moutain dew was goat pee. even though i know it is far from true, i always think of it; and it grosses me out.


186. i hate driving. it bores me. and, long trips tire me out now that i'm older


187. i am super protective of my friends and family.
188. after i turned 30, i developed hay fever.
189. i did not drink on my 21st birthday. i hate an exam that day, and a paper due the next. so, no big night out for me.
190. i cannot fall asleep easily. i toss and turn for what seems like forever before i finally doze off. my mind races even when i'm terribly exhausted.
191. i hardly ever send emails. i mainly communicate electronically via ims, facebook, twitter, text, or my blog.
192. i've had way too many auto accidents especially for someone who used to be a claims adjuster. ok, i'm a bad driver.
193. i cross my ankles when i sleep unless i am really hot.
194. i sleep with a fan even when i'm cold. i got used to the noise in college since i always lived on the 3rd floor of dorms which were always hot. now, i need the noise of a running fan. but, that is the only noise other than snoring i want when sleeping. i can't stand a radio or tv when trying to sleep. and, i need darkness when sleeping.
195. i save any boxes just in case i need to move again.
196. i had to have my dad cut my toenails until i was out on my own. i didn't have the hand strength to do it myself.
197. i was in an abusive relationship, and i swear i will never allow it to happen again.
198. i was on a coed adult softball team, and we never won a game. i was the catcher and can't catch. the referee started wearing a cup because of me.
199. i don't have a credit card and glad for it with my shopping "problem".
200. i can't believe i made it to 200. i was about to give up around about 126. ok, so number 200 is i once lived in a house on an old plantation and had to drive on an airstrip to get to my house.