:: Always the Freak ::

:: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 ::

Random Things

Sooooo... in case you care. I put up pictures from November on my picture page. Not much there, though. I'm going to put up December soon. It's uploaded, I just want to give November a week or so before hiding it with December!

I decided to go cold turkey on my Tylenol with Codeine addiction. It sucks, but I left my bottle at home today... along with my cll phone. I'm more worried about the Tylenol part since it apparently is bad for your liver. Maybe my doctor should just give me STRAIGHT Codeine. I'd feel better being addicted to a narcotic without liver damaging results. But, instead, I'm laying off for a while. Bleh.

I don't think I ever talked about the new Ren Faire, did I? We're going back again this weekend. It's actually bigger than I expected and the site is pretty nice in general. The only thing I'm not liking is the layout is sort of a one-way road. You go to the back and then come back the same way. Sort of boring. I don't expect them to be there again next year, though, so I guess it's okay for one year. My biggest problem, though, is my bodice. I've gained a little weight over the last couple of years... okay, a LOT of weight and my bodice does NOT fit! It was so tight I finally ahd to remove it, but we were leaving around then anyway. I have a bigger bodice, but silly me, I loaned it to a "friend". I'm going to try to swing by her place this week to pick it up. We'll see how it goes. I rewally don't want to fork out $100 for a new bodice for ONE day! No bueno.

Okay, I have lots of work to do, so I'm off to do it. Work has been a bear. I have hardly any time to take care of personal business! I even forgot to send my car payment on time! There is light at the end of the tunnel, though! Vacation is next week!
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:: Jenn 2:34 PM [+]

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Guess the Google

Oh, you've probalby already heard of it, but I found Guess the Google over at Bacon & Eh's today and it is FUN!!! I dare you to play and not get addicted. I think you have to have a really fast computer and net connection in order to get a really high score. My high score is 359. Go play. It's fun.
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:: Jenn 1:15 PM [+]

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A Few Answers

To a few questions. The painting technique is from a kit that you can buy at Home Depot that has a roller with two sides to it that is dipped into a paint tray with a divider in the middle. This allows you to paint with two colors at the same time. I used one from TexMaster and the kit looked like this

As you can see the rollers were actually sponges. The whole point was to do a glaze, but as I mentioned in my previous post, the thing about the glaze is that it is very "see-thru" so keep that in mind if you want to do this sort of effect. I started with purple walls and then did some random sponging of the gold paint and after that was dry, I used the special roller/tray to paint on two different shades of wine. One very dark and one a little brighter. I'm REALLY happy with the outcome.

ALL of the fabrics on my walls and windows are actually THROWS that I purchased at Target last year. The ones on the walls above the bed are striped on one side with the colors you see and in different fabrics: satin, silk, velvet, embroidered and the back side is a gold patterned satin. I used 1x2s screwed into the ceiling to hold the fabric up so it won't sag (I had tacked it before and it started getting saggy). I used two throws for above the bed, with the top one going up the wall, and over the ceilnig 16", then hanging down for a 6" valance. On the sides of the bed I bought two red/gold sheer window scarves (also at Target) and hung them from 2 halves of a curtain rod that matches my curtain rod over the window. The "curatins" are actually purple and gold tapestry throws that I used drapery clips to hang. I got the gold rods with the sun finnials from Expo. I LOVE them!

So most everything, I sort of bought and threw together. Everything was "no-sew" and my dad did the sawing and drilling, while I did the painting and staple gunning. It wasn't too hard, just a lot of work to do it all three days. Well, 2 days actually, since Thursday I did not work on it at all. Oh, the border across the top is actually ribbon. I originally was looking for a metallic jacquard ribbon but could not find any on short notice that was a good pattern, enough length, and affordable, so I ended up at my last hope and found a huge markdown of ribbons at Beverly Crafts and picked up that along with some other cloth ribbons. I got 25 yards of that ribbon for $5. It was hard not to buy MORE than the 5 spools I bought. But, how much ribbon do I need anyway?

The masks are the beginning of my mask collection. I got the giraffe mask at the Ren faire and it is imported from Africa, the elephant I picked up in Venice, Italy and the other two are from New Orleans. I would love to have a big mask collection someday, but I really want them to be from places that I go to, not just masks I like. And, I don't just want some tourist thing. I want masks that have some signifigance to where I go. I guess that is why my collection is so small!

Okay, no more about the bedroom... moving on.

PS Mr. San Diego started his own blog!!! But, it isn't like a real blog, it's all about a certain item. It's more like using a blog as a webpage. We'll see how it goes.
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:: Jenn 6:06 PM [+]

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My Bedroom

I'm going to try a test here using thumbnails to show you my very cool bedroom project. We'll see if it works!


It was a hell of a three days to get it all done. I felt like i was in one of those TV shows where you have a deadline and my feet are KILLING me, but it was worth it. I'm really happy with the outcome. All that's left is to have our floor to ceiling wall unit installed (uh, and purchased) on the wall where our raggedy old dressers are now.
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:: Jenn 8:27 AM [+]

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Finally Posting

I've been keeping my plan for today quiet for a while. Mr. San Diego has headed out of town on business today and won't be back until Friday. SO... I decided to take advantage of him being gone and re-painted my bedroom finally. He didn't want me to do it and I think it was more about having to deal with the smell, sleep in the living room and deal with me being a bitch while I'm working. So, I figured I'd do it while he was gone and have everything put back together - and put back even better by the time he gets home.

I was up by 6:30 and getting the room cleaned out. I had to move everything myself so it took a little while, but the room was empty by 8:30. Then after an hour and half trip to Home Depot I was back with the paint. My original plan was to use a glaze with a double roller and two colors. However, the glaze was a lot more opaque than I realized so I ixnayed that and used straight paint. The only thing I kinda blew was that I sponged gold paint on first, thinking I would go over it with the other two colors (shades of wine) and it would peek through here and there. Well, I'm here to tell you that gold shows through pretty much anything. Keep that in mind. Luckily, it actually looks pretty cool. Oh, and if you didn't already know, my walls were a bright purple before I got started, which is why I wanted to change it. I let Mr. San Diego pick the shade of purple last year and once it was on the walls, I realized it wasn't right and for the last year it's been driving me nuts. My bedroom is decorated sort of in an Indian look with tapestry curtains (that I made from some purple and gold throws from Target!) and a "headboard" of material previously tacked on the walls, but that I'm going to frame up on Friday. This material is also throws that I bought from Target and is in rich colors of wines and golds in velvets and silks. It's PURTY, but it was all kind of thrown together haphazardly, so my goal is to put it together right this time and I bought some sheer gold window scarves that I'll be hanging down from the ceiling on each side of the bed. It should look cool when it's done. I'm hoping Mr. San Diego will not be mad at me for doing it, though! The only hitch is I have a small gap around the walls at the ceiling where rather than messing around trying to get the paint right, I planned to do a "Moulding" or a sort of woven ribbon in wine & gold. It will look neat and I've wanted to do that from the beginning, but I'm having trouble finding the right ribbon, so until I do, it's going to look crappy up there.

I don't know why I'm blithering on about all of this. Who cares. I'm exhausted, though, and sleeping in my living room AND this is the first time EVER that I am spending the night alone in my own house. It's kind of weird, but not really. It's more weird that I've never slept here alone before.

Anyway, my hands hurt... my feet hurt... everything hurts. I'm going to go lay down and watch Food Network & HGTV until I fall asleep. Good Night.
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:: Jenn 9:23 PM [+]

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The diet thingy

Okay, so day two. I weighed myself and was 1.5 lbs less today than yesterday... even after two 16 oz bottles of water. This is a good sign! But, I'm REALLY hungry now, so I will have to get some lunch soon!

So, two new folks are joining the challenge:

Jes at Bohner Time
and
Laura at Fattyboo

In some ways I feel sort of ripped off because my original (and still) plan was to go back to the Weight Watchers life after my vacation, so trying to start before vacation sorta sucks. I'm so going to eat good stuff on my vacation, though. I'll be in San Francisco for several days and want to try some Good Stuff! I definitely plan on doing some Dim Sum because I never have and that's supposed to be the place to do it. We'll see though. Mr. San Diego is not the most adventurous eater. He's pretty happy with Jack-in-the-Box most of the time. We'll definitely be doing some compromising on the big road trip.

Speaking of adventuring into new foods. We have added venison to our diet. A friend gave us some elk and it's pretty good. We've had the ground meat in sloppy joes and spaghetti and I made the Porterhouse steak on Sunday, which shrunk more than I expected but was delicious... of course it might have been the brown sugar and fresh ginger marinade that made it taste soooo good. If you've never sugared your steaks, give it a try. It seems to tenderize them if you let them sit in the brown sugar for a little while. I usually use the brown sugar with pepper but this time I sliced fresh ginger and then let the sugar and ginger sit on em for a bout 15 minutes (I did make a couple of stabs into the meat with a knife, through the ginger pieces), added a little salt and pepper and threw them on the grill. It was tasty. I was surprised how much of the ginger I actually tasted. Okay, now I'm making myself hungry. Bleh.

I have lots to say, but I've been so busy at work that I'm tearing my hair out. I guess you'll just have to sit around waiting impatiently =)
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:: Jenn 11:44 AM [+]

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Day One

So, today begins the Blogger Weight Loss Challenge. I guess the part I'm liking is there ends up being only five of us (unless someone else decides to join in today!) so now my chances are better than I expected! Except, I suck at dieting. Plus it just occurred to me that Im going on vacation right in the middle of this thing. Actually right at the end. 30 days is NOT enough... SIGH. But, I'll do my best and while I may eat more on vacation I also get lots more exercise!

So, here are the folks participating:

Brooklynn of Southern Secrets

Bruce of Outhouse Rag

Goldberry of Silver Linings

Lee Ann of One Fat Chick

and me. My picture's up there at the top, I just weighed in and I'm (UGH) emailing my weight off to Bruce so he can keep tabs on how fat I am! I'm actually hoping this can be a fun way to get myself back on the diet track. 2 years ago I lost 20 pounds in 2 months, but I've put it on plus more and I want to fix that. I KNOW I can do this, I just have had a little trouble being motivated. Looking like shit in all of my clothes might be just the ticket, ya think?
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:: Jenn 7:52 AM [+]

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A Whole New Life in the Works

I've decided I want to move to Cancun. I was simply driving south on the 215 Freeway on my way home from work, listening to A Salty Piece of Land when it hit me. Here I am stuck in one place. The thing I never wanted. But, as I thought about it, it occurred to me that there are ways if you want something. So, I have formulated a plan. I would like to move to Cancun for a couple of years. Not forever, but a few years. Mr. San Diego's company has a location in Cancun that not only would provide him with a job, but would provide him with advancement opportunities that he would NEVER have if he stays here. Well, okay, not never. there would be other options, other places he could transfer to, but he won't advance if he stays in the location he is in. That's about as much as I can talk about his employment. So, in six years, I can retire from my job. I'll have 20 years in and while it won't be getting 100% retirement, it would be a nice chunk when I actually started collecting. Not to mention that when I moved back, if I wanted to return to my company, that would be an option for me. I've already considered that 20 years would be a good point for me to look into alternate employment, so it really wouldn't be a huge deal on either of our ends, employment-wise.

The biggest obstacle I see, is talking Mr. San Diego into the plan. The second obstacle is teaching him Spanish. He has NO bilingual skills at all, nor has he ever had the desire to learn a second language, so this would be a challenge. I, on the other hand, can stumble through my rudimentery Spanish. If I lived in Mexico, I would easily and quickly build on my foundation and I expect be speaking fairly good Spanish in a short amount of time. When we were in Peru, I was suprised how well I did and that was only for 2 weeks!

I was planning to go to Amsterdam next year for our vacation, but now I think we should go to Cancun, so Mr. San Diego can get a taste for it. The only worry I have is the heat. He doesn't like extreme temperatures and it's hotter and humider than Hell there. But, if I can sell him on the good points, I might have a chance of making this work. That will give him like 4 years to learn Spanish and prepare for applying for a opening in Management down there in his company. I can see this. I can dig it. I'm really excited about it and hope that somehow, I can convince him. He says he'll think about it, but he may just be humoring me.

It might sound nutty, but I think I could really use a couple of years as a beach bum, essentially. Oh, don't get me wrong, I'll get some type of job, but it won't be full time and it would be something I enjoy doing. But, I want to do something amazing and different and have an opportunity to life a different lifestyle if only for a little while. Plus, my dad says he'll rent our house and pay our house payment! I got it all figured out.
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:: Jenn 11:01 AM [+]

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WTF???

I was wondering if anyone out there could explain to me the function of a store, or more exact WHY someone would HAVE a store in the first place. See, I always thought that the purpose of opening a store was to make money, but alas, I must be wrong.

Did you know that you could go into a store and head up to the cash register with a shopping cart full of Hot Wheels and be told there is a LIMIT? Or how about when the stocker has 3 brand new cases of Hot Wheels but won't put them out on the rack for the guys standing around just hoping for a chance to buy something new because they don't like these guys who show up when the store opens to buy toys. Or how about the manager who tells these same guys "Hot Wheels are for kids".

WHO CARES WHO BUYS IT???? As long as an item is selling, why do they care who is buying it? I don't get it. They are there to sell items, to make money. Why wouldn't you sell something if you could? If the customer doesn't get it there, they'll go to the next place and that place will get their money. Where is the logic in this business practice? How bizarre is it to not let a customer buy a product? I can see if it's packed up in the back room and would be a pain so you tell them you arne't able to bring something out, but if the case is sitting right there and there is room on the toy pegs, WHY would you refuse to put out new toys? I am so boggled.
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:: Jenn 10:43 AM [+]

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Another One?

Okay, the scale said another pound, but to be fair, I'm wearing Doc Martens today. They are BOUND to be at least a pound, right?
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:: Jenn 10:35 AM [+]

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That Went Well

So, I'd say the first day of my diet was a flaming success! I only gained like a pound (okay, a pound and one half)! The day started out well, but I guess the downhill slide began about the point in the afternoon where I started eating PEEPS. It continued through dinner, which consisted of a salad (orange-ginger chinese chicken salad), but also a baked potato with butter and sour cream, corn bread, and of course, birthday cake as it was my Grandma's birthday and all! I'm going to try to do a little better today. Really. I swear. I mean about the try part.

I'll also try not to post about what I've eaten! I can't believe I just did that! What a dork. But, I had a good reason and all THIS time.

You love me... suck it up.
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:: Jenn 9:37 AM [+]

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New Author in my life

So, I recently listened to The Crush by Sandra Brown and I REALLY enjoyed it. It had suspense and romance, bad guys and good guys, comedy and tragedy... you know, all the stuff ya need for a good story. It was about a hired killer who did not get convicted due to lack of evidence and he becomes obsessed with one of the jurors. An "ex" cop has a settle to score with the killer and finds the juror easy to obsess over, himself! It was a good story and written well. It's a 7.5 on my scale and I ran back to the library and picked up another of her books, Envy. It, too, was good. This one was about a writer with a score to settle and also mixes romance with suspense. Again a 7.5. Are they fluff? Maybe. But, I enjoyed them very much and plan on getting more Sandra Brown tales from the library.
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:: Jenn 10:06 AM [+]

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Bloggers Weight Loss Challenge

The below post is word for word from OuthouseRag.com. I'm joining this, but I'm workin' out a deal with Bruce so that I can send him my weight and not post it here, because, damn it! I'm too embarassed to do that!!!! But, I'll post the plus or negative result each Monday (god, hopefully negative!!!) And that li'l picture up there is going to be my "face picture". Do I bend rules? Hell yes.

"Bloggers 30-Day Weight loss Challenge" – Part 1

Do you need to lose weight or better yet do you need an incentive to lose weight? How about joining Goldberry of Silver Linings and Bruce of the Outhouse Rag in the challenge. The "Bloggers 30-day Weight loss Challenge" was set up for two reasons; 1) Decrease weight and 2) Increase traffic to your blog. There are no rules to your exercise program or to your diet. But, we do have rules to enter and compete in the Challenge.

Rules:

1. You must have a blog.

2. Post these rules ASAP and prior to April 15th with you intentions that you are going to participate in the "Bloggers 30-day Weight loss Challenge" inviting others to participate linking them to this Post.

3. Email both Bruce and Goldberry that you are participating by noon (Eastern Time) April 15.

4. On April 18th you must post your current weight and picture of your face.

5. Post links to all participating bloggers (we will provide you with the list on Sunday, April 17th along with a BWLC post) on Monday April 18th

6. Post your new weight each Monday (4/25, 5/2, 5/9 and 5/16) morning with links to all participating bloggers (This will allow other bloogers to compare their weight loss success as well as increasing traffic to your blog)

7. If you drop out, you still MUST post the winners post on Monday, May 23rd.

We will continue until Wednesday, May 18th (30 days) and the person that loses the largest percent of body weight wins ((starting weight - finished weight)/starting weight). Picture will be used as evidence of reported weight loss. The winner will be announced on Friday, May 20th. The winner of the challenge will get to write a post for each of the other participating blogs to be posted on Monday, May 23rd, Think of it as free advertising. Invite as many bloggers to participate as you want, as long as they can hang with the rules. If you lose, You must pay up! Or a wrath of bloggers will make many nasty comments on your blog about what a loser you really are! lol

So please join in the fun "Bloggers 30-Day Weight loss Challenge" – Part 1 and lets see that weight drop and your blog traffic increase.


To commemorate the beginning of a little weightloss challenge, how about a SONG!

SARAH THE WHALE
In Rehoboth Bay there lived a whale
She swallowed oysters by the pail, by thimble,
by teacup, by bathtub, and by schooner.
Her name was Sarah and when she smiled,
she just showed teeth for miles and miles
And tonsils, and spare ribs, and things too worse to mention.
Now what do you do with a whale like that?
Now what would you do if she sat on your hat?
Or your tooth brush? Or your counselor?
Or anything that's helpless, like that? (point to someone!)
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:: Jenn 9:37 AM [+]

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Monday AM

1. I am sick... puked this morning way too early after not sleeping.
2. I'm up now, but obviously not at work.
3. While Blogging, I discovered a new site that I LIKE!
4. It is OuthouseRag.com
5. Go there. Read it.
6. I'm not in a blogging mood at the moment. If I change my mind, I'll be back.
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:: Jenn 11:42 AM [+]

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Updates

I was in a class Thursday - it was pretty good, "Dealing with Unacceptable Employee Behavior". All of our sups were at it.

Then yesterday I was off. A day off was very good, except I had to get my car repaired and that was $350!!! Yikes! Well, a repair and some much needed maintenance on it. The guy at the dealer seemed to REALLY like me. It actually started feeling a little creepy after a while. He made me promise to stop by to see him if I needed a car wash. Yikes!

Got a little yard work and house work done and had time to compute. But, I neglected my poor little blog.

TOday we're headed out to the desert to visit a friend of mine and her family, do some hiking, play some board games, stay the night and head home tomorrow after visiting OTHER friends. Gonna be a busy weekend, so I better get started!
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:: Jenn 10:10 AM [+]

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How I Change from Day to Day

Sometimes I have a whole head full of ideas and thoughts and just STUFF that I can't wait to write down here. Other days, my brain is like a fresh, white, blank sheet of paper just wishing there was something I could think of to write. Weird. Strange. Bizarre. Yeah.

I guess this could be a good time for an audiobook review. I recently listened to a Jonathan Kellerman book that WASN'T an Alex Delaware book. It was The Conspiracy Club. The thing about this "mystery-suspense" novel is that while the idea was pretty good and our psychologist-hero rushes around to solve a mystery by putting together a bunch of pieces of a puzzle fed to him by a colleague, the whole book felt like it was a set up. By that I mean that The story felt like it had the beginning or the "set-up" and then it concluded. There never seemed to be a middle and the set up was WAY too long. It was a prety good story. I enjoyed it, but the style that it was written in didn't really work for me. I'm still giving it a 6.5. Not Kellerman's best work, but not bad for leaving all of our favorite characters out of one of his books!
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:: Jenn 2:29 PM [+]

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When We Were Dorks

Thinking about he song referenced below reminded me of when my brother and I were young'uns. We were DEFINITELY dorks. Seriously. I'm not trying to say that now we AREN'T dorks, but back then? Oh yeah.

The particular memory I was conjouring was of when many moons ago our family would go up to the mountains, where we have a little piece of property, and camp for a weekend. The piece of property is at the end of a dirt road (well it was a dirt road back then, but I bet it's paved now) that was QUITE bouncy! For some reason when we got there, my brother and I would jump in the back of the truck and attempt to "surf" our way to the end of the road. Yeah, I told you... dorks. We would stand up and get into surfing stance with armes outstretched and sing Surfing USA while attempting to keep our balance until we got to the property. It wasn't a long way, but we had fun. When we were done singing Surfing USA, we'd start in singing Romeo and Juliet, a silly camp song that I had taught my brother. SO here you go! The infamous Romeo and Juliet song:

My Sweet Cream Soda Pop
Romeo and Juliet
(to the tune of "I'm a Nut" or "I'm a Little Piece of Tin" - Personally, I don't know either of these songs, but okay.)

Romeo and Juliet
On a balcony they set.
Scram you guys, I got a date.
Shakespeare coming in a '48.

CHORUS:

La de dah, my sweet cream soda pop.
La de dah, my sweet cream soda pop.
La de dah, my sweet cream soda pop.
La de dah, La de dah, La de dah, dah, dah.

Henry Ford was a grand old man.
Had four wheels and an old tin can.
Put 'em together and the darn thing ran.
Henry Ford was a grand old man.

CHORUS

(The following verse was NOT one that I was aware of, but I left it in for the hell of it)
...Grampa's beard is getting long.
...Getting longer day by day.
...Gramma chews it in her sleep.
...'Cause she thinks its shredded wheat.

CHORUS

Coca-Cola came to town.
Pepsi-Cola shot him down.
Dr. Pepper fixed him up.
Now we all drink 7-up.

CHORUS

Call myself ont he telephone
Just to see if I was home
Ask myself out for a date
Pick myself up half past eight

CHORUS

Love myself and think I'm grand
Go to the movies and hold my hand
Wrap my arms around my waist
When I get fresh I slap my face

CHORUS

Now, THAT is a great song. Seriously.

So, what stupid thing did you do when you were a kid? C'mon, don't be shy! 'Fess up.
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:: Jenn 8:20 AM [+]

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Secret Links

This is a pretty cool website that my friend sent me the link to. Apparently the writer asked peopel to send postcards (anonymously) with their deepest secret on them and they are posted on this site. Check out POSTSECRET.
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:: Jenn 7:11 PM [+]

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Peep Peep

As some know, I have an obsession with Peeps... the little marshamllow chickies that come out every easter. So, I have bought an assload of Peep merchandise during the target after-holiday markdown extravaganza. I now have PLENTY of Peep baskets and Peep paraphenalia. I also just discovered this little contest that I missed out on! DARN IT!
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:: Jenn 6:43 PM [+]

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Being on Top

I'm going to tell you why I know that my new assistant and I are going to get along fine. Besides the fact that she hums the same do-bee-do-bee-do tune that I hum, yesterday when I hadned her a stack of paperwork, instructing her to intersort it with the things I've already given to her to handle later, she replied, "I'm right on top of that, Rose." If you don't know where that's from, well... pity. But, it's something I say ALL the time, being a great line from a great movie.

In honor of being on top of things, yup, you guessed it! Another Camp Song.

On Top of Spaghetti
(to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey")

On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese
I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed

It rolled off the table and onto the floor
And than my poor meatball rolled out of the door

It rolled into the garden and under a bush
And than my poor meatball was nothing but mush

The mush was as tasty as tasty could be
Then early next summer it grew into a tree

The tree was all coveted with beautiful moss
It grew lovely meatballs with tomato sauce

So next time you eat s'getti all covered with cheese
Hang onto your meatball and don't ever sneeze!


I'm sure at this point, you're likely asking the question, "How long is she going to keep up this song crap?" Well, if you know me... as long as I possibly can, until I get bored and find some other thing to entertain me =)

I CANNOT believe that I do not have A SINGLE APRIL FOOLS DAY JOKE TO PLAY! I am so bummed. So unprepared and bummin' about it. I LOVE April Fool's Day. Maybe I'll come up with SOMETHING by the end of the day.
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:: Jenn 10:49 AM [+]

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