BATTLE!!

I just stalked a Spider...

Seriously.

This was no ordinary spider, this was one of those Spiders that looks like a tiny tarantula. Hairy and ugly. I have a sneaking suspicion it is the same Spider I saw climbing up the outside of my window the other day. He was caught between the window and the screen. He must have heard my *sigh* of relief and silent laughing at his plight and came back for revenge...

I'm trying to upload a video I took, I doubt it will work...

He (or she?!) was climbing up the door frame, I was trying to file, but just couldn't bring myself to have my back facing this monster. For goodness sakes, I saw it JUMP!!

Now, I could have asked one of the guys in the office to dispose of it for me, but why do they need to know how much of a wimp I am?

I watched it for a while. Thank goodness no one saw the look of utter horror on my face as they walked past. I tried to get a picture of it, but it was moving so jerkily and quickly that all I got were little blurs with many, many legs. Oh my, so many legs.... so many....

*cough*

Sorry.

So it was climbing so fast and so high, I, being the stupid girl that I am, decide to blow at it to see if I can get it to stop...

That little fucker dived off of that door frame and nearly landed on me!

I look down and he has disappeared into the multi-colored carpet.

"Bad plan, very BAD plan."

Now it's on the floor, I can sit in the chair and finish my filing with my feet off the floor looking like an idiot, but he could still climb up the legs of the chair!

So I get down on the floor, searching with my face as close to the floor as i dared and searched for the damn thing. I would find it, stand up to step on it and it would be moving so quickly that I couldn't even kill it with my big ol' feet!! (seriously, they're huge)

I started looking for it while bent over instead of actually being on the floor and that damn Spider was STILL too fast for me!! I would think I squished him, but there wouldn't be any spidey guts on my shoe and when I would go to look for them on the floor, I would catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye. It was like a weird kind of dance and I would much rather never learn the rest...

We went back and forth like this for a good few minutes. I chased him out of the office, but for the rest of the day, I will sit in MY office, scared to death because this is the direction he was heading when I couldn't find him anymore!

Spider: 1
Me: 0

*sigh*

OH GOD IS THAT SOMETHING CRAWLING ON MY LEG?!??!

Love YOU!!

Well, I believe we have broached the topic of 'love' before....

As I recall, I was not very upbeat or optimistic about the whole subject. I never was one of those girls who gushed over a guy. Never had smarmy nicknames like 'Schmoopie', or 'SugaDumplin'SweetiePie'....

Never liked those stupid, "I love you"-"I love you more!"-"No, I love YOU more!" games (Still don't!) That just wasn't my style.

I have actually cringed when a guy called me his girlfriend(we hadn't discussed anything of the sort) and have corrected another for telling me he loved me after only three weeks or something ridiculous like that.

I will admit I have been cynical. Heck, I already have!


Well, kiddos, today is a post of a different color. Or perhaps it is more black and white:






This is my profile picture on my facebook.



Yes, I took it myself, I take all my own pictures, you ought to know that by now! Sometimes I wish I had photoshop for real so I could do lots of cool stuff, but I'll settle for this, for now.



This is me, kissing.... wait for it.... wait for it.... my boyfriend. (Wait did I really say it out loud? We're in a facebook relationship, so it must be real, right?!) He says this is the universal sign that you are in a relationship, when the girl puts up a picture of the two of you kissing. That's when it's official. If you're gunna freak out and run, do it now cause there ain't no turning back! ;D



I know, in the past, I have had a severe allergic reaction to this type of affection... but somehow, this is different. Very different. This is not some guy who has fallen instantly in love with me. This is a guy I have known for 10 years. Can't say he doesn't know me, can I? He knows exactly what to say and when to say it. When he says these things, there is no urge to vomit. (That's a pretty thought, huh?) When he says he loves me, there is no hesitation when I respond with "I love you, too." I know he means it. As do I. When I send him a heart symbol through text messaging, my own heart longs to be the one on it's way to him.



I can't help it. I am that girl. That gushing, nickname calling, "I love you whole bunches!" kinda girl. He brings out the smarm in me and I love it.



I've been trying to write this post for days. It's been in my head for a lot longer! I mentioned this to him and offered him the privilege of choosing his own alias. His first suggestion: God.



I vetoed that one.



His next suggestion? Jesus the Lord. (J.L. for short, of course!)



Sorry. Next?



This is where he asked my opinion. I told him that if he didn't choose, I was just going to call him The BF.



He offered me more variations on his first two suggestions. (Jesus Christ, J.C., The Lord Our God (The L.G. for short). I was not amused. Blasphemy is not one of my favorite subjects.



He suggested I call him The Dude, but I fear that is just too close to The Guy's alias. What a mess that would be if I got the names confused!



The next thought he had was 'Jeff'(Andonuts) a character from the video game, 'Earthbound'. While the character fits (intelligent, creative, glasses and a blond chili-bowl haircut like the one he had when he was younger), It is not a good alias as it would be very confusing using an actual name. Well, it would be confusing for me, at least!

We finally decided on 'The Joker':


A fitting alias. I approve! He went as joker for Halloween last year and I wish I could have been there to see it, or help him make it, or even been there when the tread came off his tire in the middle of nowhere so that he wouldn't have been alone. I wish I could have been there to make things better.

Well, I loved his costume in pictures!

Aw Hell, I love him.

*daydreamy sigh*

Now if only he didn't live four hours away! What a punk!

(Love you, Baby!)

I <3...

I started receiving these e-mails from iheartdaily.com about a month or two ago. Don't ask how I stumbled upon the site, because I really have no clue. I remember signing up for them, but that's about it. I'm very glad I did.

Every morning, I get an e-mail from them about something the authors (or guest authors in some cases) have found that they love. Each article ranges in spectrum from fashion to books to news to music. For example, I have learned about t-shirt prom dresses, The Sledge Grits Band, and affordable glasses that use water to adjust the strength of the lenses.

One of the things I gave up during Lent was purchasing unnecessary clothing. My will-power was strained to the breaking point when the link to Sock Dreams showed up in my I Heart Daily e-mail. I have a deep affinity for unique socks. The only plain socks I have in my sock drawer are white ankle socks for work and even some of those have a ring of color around the cuff. Even now, I am drooling over this website.

Now you know my dirty little fashion secret. I have even been known to wear fun knee high socks with my Capri pants. Yes, yes. Fashion disaster, right here. If I hadn't had to throw those Capri pants away because I popped a button (*gasp*), I would take a picture so you could see how I rock my fashion statements!

My point for telling you about I Heart Daily is not just because I think you should subscribe to their daily e-mails, 'cause really, you should. It's like a ray of sunshine in my inbox every morning. I mean, their tagline is "You’ll never hear about stuff we hate, just stuff we heart. We’re nice that way." You can't go wrong with that!

The real reason I am giving you the background on I Heart Daily has a lot to do with what I got in my inbox from them this morning. Today, I Heart Daily hearts an etsy jewelry designer. Her shop is called yellowgoats. In particular, her $15 version of the seller's original Good Time Ring. It is a picture frame for your finger! I Love it!

I had heard of etsy before, but I had never felt the need to check it out, really, but I just had to check this seller out. I clicked the link and soon decided that I had to sign up so that I could add this seller and some of her pieces to my favorites. My favorite piece from her store is a small matchbox necklace. The handmade box, which is stamped with the words, Perfect Match, actually slides open to reveal two small matches inside. A bit out of my price range, but still absolutely wonderful.

So I created an account and decided to browse. I didn't really get a chance to look at much. In fact, I only looked at one other seller. One of her pieces was displayed under the gift guide and I fell instantly in love. Her shop is called KeysAndMemories. She creates wonderful jewelry from vintage typewriter keys. My favorite from her shop is this XO earring set.

As I searched through all of her listings, I found that she does not only make jewelry from typewriter keys. She also makes beautiful Glass Tile Necklaces. My favorite being the Wonderland XO Glass Tile Necklace. I'm debating whether or not I should ask for a JS (my initials) necklace like that one. I am slightly impulsive, but the past 6 weeks of limited spending seem to have inhibited my impulse buying habits... We'll have to see. ;)

I'm a flake, it's ok, everyone else knows, you should, too.

I'm sorry I haven't written anything in a while. *smack hand* I know, I know. The trip to Florida was good. I haven't done anything with any of the pictures, I need to get on that... *blush*

I'll catch up with some stuff from the past three months in a little bit later. I'm here today to bring you a story from the past week that has had me in agony from the pain of shin splints. You, however, will probably be laughing at my misfortune! Shame on you!

I get shin splints every time I run. I don't run regularly, and am in no sort of shape. Just for the record, you know... I honestly blame colorguard and marching band for introducing me to this pain. Seriously. I believe the constant laps I had to run for my being late are the initial cause. I often wonder if I would get them so often now if I hadn't gotten them for that first time in high school...

What's that you say? Maybe I should have been on time? Well then my nickname of 7:20 would not have made sense, so shove it!

Okay, okay, enough complaining, here's your story for the day!

I was in a hurry. I parked the wrong way in a parking lot of angled spots at the post office. I was just going to jump out real quick to put a FedEx envelope in the drop box, so I left the car running. I got out of the car and closed the door behind me as I ran up to the drop box.

When I got back to the car, I realized that I have programmed myself to lock the doors whenever I get out of the car. (If I don't do it every time, I forget for days...) This time was no different.

Yep. I had locked my keys in the car with the engine running.

Along with my phone, my purse and any number of enticing and useful items...

I couldn't call work for help, most people were gone already anyways. I was supposed to meet up with The Guy cause he owed me money; I couldn't call him and tell him what was up. There was no one else in the parking lot that I could borrow a phone from, not that I would know any numbers anyways, I have become way to dependent on my phone knowing the important numbers. [expletive deleted]

I briefly debated grabbing the trashcan/ashtray in front of the post office and breaking a window. I decided against it. With my luck, the thing was probably plastic.

So I ran back to work.

It wasn't far, a couple or three blocks.

Big G., the only guy who hadn't left work for the day, drove me back to the post office. He called a few friends to get an idea of what to do, left me with his phone and went to his house to grab a wire coat hanger and some tools. I called work and had the office manager look up the number to the daycare to call them to tell them what was going on.

Big. G returned a few minutes later and I am amazed at just how easy it was to pop that damn lock, especially for someone who had never done it before! Shit!

So, since I paid the car off a few weeks ago, I had a spare key at home. It is now here in my desk at work. Things could have been so much worse. I'm glad they weren't.

And, of course, the story was all over the office the next day. "Do you know where your keys are?" was a very popular phrase...

*sigh*

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hanukkah!

I started losing my voice a few days before Christmas and I still haven't found it. Well, at least I haven't found mine. I seem to have stumbled upon the voice of a very large, emphysematic (yes, I just made that word up...) biker who has smoked 3 packs a day for the past 45 or so years, though. I imagine that he has a balding head, a long black ponytail with a touch of grey, a fully grey handlebar moustache and a big studded black leather jacket with matching pants. Can you hear it? I can.

This happens a couple times per year, this losing my voice thing. Last time,I couldn't remember what my voice sounded like normally, so when it finally did come back, I wasn't sure it was really mine!

I will be leaving Wednesday morning for Tampa to visit my Mom and Gramma. We will be gone for the better part of a week.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years Eve!

Until next year!

Picture FUN!!

I had been trying to get Christmas pictures done for over a week. I was planning to do them this past Saturday while The Guy was working.

A couple days before, he informs me that him mom and his aunt really want to watch The Baby while he is working. I told him I was planning on taking pictures and he asks me why I can't do them on Monday after work. (Three days before Christmas) If I put it off again, it won't get done, I had been trying to do it after work all week!

We agree that I will take her for the afternoon and bring her back for dinner so I can get the pictures done. I woke up excited Saturday only to find a txt message on my phone asking, once again, if I can wait on the pictures because now his sister is coming home to see her.

So I called him.

"If I don't get to do these today, then I want you to bring her back early tomorrow and help me with the pictures."

"Ok, yeah, I guess I can do that."

So, Sunday rolled around and what did he do?

He put her down for her nap an hour and a half late, brought her back on time (not early, he was actually 5 minutes late if we're going to be technical about it) and dared to tell me that it doesn't take that long to take pictures.

*exasperated sigh*

Thank goodness I had everything set up! The back drop was set, the lighting was good, I cleaned the white chair so that it actually looks white. We were ready!

I made up a plate of chicken, mashed potatoes and basil pasta for The Baby. (Leftovers from our company Christmas party this past Friday.) I cut up her chicken and stuck it in the microwave. I already knew The Guy would be hungry and was already making his plate when I asked him if he was. (He got the last of the left overs.)

FINALLY...

Both plates were clean, it's time to get The Baby dressed for what promised to be an exhausting ordeal.

The guy dressed her, tights and all, all by himself. I was quite impressed!

We set her up on the chair. I got the camera out, ready to start snapping...

WHAT?!?!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE BATTERY IS DEAD?!?!

I took the battery out and stuck it on the charger . I was going to give it about 15 minutes and I hoped that would be long enough to get a few good shots before it died again. Then I figured we could charge it again while we changed her into the second dress! Perfect!

To keep her entertained while we waited for the battery to charge, we both started snapping pictures with our phones. If only my phone had better than a 2mp camera on it, I swear some of those pictures turned out really cute!

Of course, she used most of her cute poses on the camera phones and by the time we got the regular camera back out, it was all silliness!

She grabbed a TY lamb off the bed and I let her use it in the pictures. Good thinking Baby! A Prop! Too bad her next choice was a rock that she had brought in from the driveway last week....

Well, the battery charging plan worked just as I had hoped and we got some good pictures. By about 8:30, somebody was getting cranky so we had to stop. I think we wore her out good because she went down for bedtime really easily. Thank Goodness!