Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Denied

A few days ago I was treating myself to a box of macaroni and cheese for lunch. While I waited for the water to boil I noticed there was a game code on the inside of the box. A contest?! I'd seen the contest ad on a few previous boxes of mac and cheese but never gave it a second thought. But, as I've been home with no work on the agenda I had nothing better to do and thought I might as well give it a try and see if I win, I was feeling lucky.

I brought up the official game website and as I was a NEW user I had to create a login. So, I created my login and password. Then the site asked me to enter my birth date. I found the year I was born and thought nothing of it. After hitting enter, the next thing that popped up was some one liner about "Sorry, you're too old." Little did I know you must be between the ages of 6-14 to enter! Then why, might I ask, did they have my birth year and many more past mine to choose from?! It might have been a letdown but I didn't have a meltdown. I'll just never know what could have been. I'm SURE I had a winning code.

There goes my free Jungle Weekend at Busch Gardens and other cool prizes.

Oh well, I'm still a strong supporter of the blue box.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Picture This

My mom and I were chatting about something this evening and moved our conversation into her bedroom. She was leaning over her bed doing her mom thing of skimming through her coupons and I was leaning against her bed when I noticed something dark climbing up her wall. I leaned in for a closer look and saw that it was a baby cockroach. Ick. I quickly grabbed a tissue and went in for the kill. Mom was oblivious to my actions. I had my tissue balled up, ready to squish the gross little bug and at that moment---two things happened at once.

I made my move to squish the little roach with the tissue while I started to say, "He's about to die.........." Well, something happened that I DIDN'T plan on. The baby roach moved faster than anticipated (its like I was moving in slow motion and couldn't keep up with him) and the next thing I knew he was running in front of the balled up tissue, onto my hand, over my hand, and then onto the floor where I flung him. And at that point the phrase I had begun turned into more of a, "He's about to dieeEEEEEEEEEEEAUGGHHH!" My mom whipped her head around and had a look of concern running across her face. THEN she informed me ever so seriously that I scared her with my freaked out version of the word "die". It probably didn't help anything that my voice already sounds a little deeper due to this cold I have, so the extra syllables I threw onto the last word sounded more like a meat grinder. Pahhhh!

Scary.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

O' Christmas Tree

I was putting the lights on our Christmas tree this morning when I nearly torched it.

I had connected one strand to the previous strand and only half the lights came on. After a quick deduction I found the culprit, a lone bulb had been broken. I knelt there by the tree picking up the broken bulb pieces and wondering what the possible quick fix would be. I needed those lights. Anywho, there I sat with the broken strand of lights. I thought back to my days at my previous employer where it was my job to set up the company Christmas tree. I remembered that we also had a broken bulb on one of those strands as well and I remembered that when I forced the two wire thingees (filaments?) in the broken bulb together, the strand would work.

So, as I sat there I thought to myself, "Hmmm, why not try it....." I looked at the broken bulb before me with the two wires sticking up and I gently began to ease them over towards one another. Perhaps I should have unplugged them first because the next thing I knew---a spark flew up between the two wire thingees and nearly shocked my socks off. Mom was sitting on the couch nearby but I'm not sure if she caught that flash or not. As I was too afraid of blowing up the whole electrical chord and torching the tree, I immediately unplugged the broken strand and took it to the garage to replace the bulb with a spare.

Probably what I should have done in the first place, rather than nearly scare myself to death. Electricity scares me when I don't know what I'm doing. Pahhhhhh!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Rock Bottom

When you've reached rock bottom, the only place to go is up.

That is my encouragement for the day. I was called in to sub for 7th grade this morning and all I can say is---I survived. I reached my destination and found that the absent teacher had left NO LESSON PLANS for me. My first day subbing and that is what I'm given. What are the odds?!

First hour went by smoothly, but the big turning point in my day was third hour. Not only was I winging it on the lesson plans and secretly hoping the students wouldn't catch on, but I was dealing with half a room full of students that felt they needed to be the center of attention among their peers. Attention deprived? I think not.

Needless to say, I resigned from teaching 7th grade again. What a first day. It can only get better from here!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Freight Train Coming Through

How is it that I wound up with the loudest cart at the store?!

As soon as I selected it I knew I picked a special needs cart. The wheels were wobbly and with every rotation of the four little wheels came a horrendous shaking metal sound that can only be described as a freight train. As I meandered up and down the aisles I noticed that I was drawing stares left and right. I felt like I needed to explain to them that it WASN'T me, it was the cart. Blame the store. No matter which direction I turned with the cart there were people throwing glances my direction as I walked by. Awkward. No doubt they wanted a look see at what all the commotion was as it sounded like a forklift was buzzing up and down the aisles.

I even tried to reduce the noise by lifting the cart handle slightly as I pushed it along but it didn't make any difference. There I was, roaming around the store with the noisiest cart banging around going clankety-clank with each spin of the wheels. Probably didn't help much when I put a set of tins in the cart either.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Name That Smell

We (brother, mother, and I) were on our way to meet my sister for lunch and my brother so graciously offered to drive. As I climbed into the backseat I was accosted by the strong sent of cologne. I wasn't sure if he was using that to cover the musty boy smell or what, but the car smelled "funny". As mom and I were being jerked around in our seats I decided to put on a little lotion and when I opened the bottle I had a mini explosion on my hands. Guess I squeezed the bottle a little too hard. Anywho, I asked my mom for a napkin and used that to wipe up the excess lotion that I didn't need. As there was no trash can around I wadded it up and left it on the floor mat figuring I'd take care of it later.

After having lunch with my sister we said our goodbye's and prepared to enter the car that smelled of "boy". As soon as the car doors were opened I was hit head on with the sweet pea fragrance. My brother climbed in and said, "Whoa, this car DOES smell funny." And Mom said something like, "Hmmm, what is that smell? It's sweet."

I knew exactly what it was that had caused the smell but they had no clue, and they had no idea why I was laughing my head off. I was close to tears! As I sat there in the backseat listening to their comments my brother piped in with, "It smells like Michael's in here." (You know---the craft store.) As he was laughing and raving about how his car smelled like a craft store, I think Mom said something about "potpourri". Listening to their comments bouncing back and forth between them regarding the "smell" brought on a whole new round of uncontrollable giggles from me and I finally had to tell them where that heavenly smell was coming from.

By the end of the drive home my brother was asking me to leave that wadded up napkin in the car as it worked as a good air freshener. Just writing this story has caused me to once again erupt in a fit of laughter. If only you could have been there!

warm car + napkin w/lotion = craft store fragrance

Shady Business

My brother was driving my mom and I around today when we passed a particular business area and he voiced a concern of his. He said, "I think there's some illegal dealings going on at that furniture store. There's always motorcycles and lifted trucks outside."

I have come to know that business area rather well as I used to pass it everyday on my way to work, not to mention the fact that our aunt and uncle live on that corner. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at his comment. I thought it necessary to inform him that there's a bar located directly across from the furniture store.

Always good for a LAUGH! FYI-it pays to be observant.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

My Teeth Are Tired

This evening I made a chicken broccoli casserole for dinner and it just so happened that the broccoli towards the top of the casserole didn't get as soft as normal. It was rather crunchy and of course the first one to notice was my dad. The whole meal he was commenting about how he had to chew all that crunchy broccoli and I continued to tell him that not ALL the broccoli was crunchy. With an ornery smirk I told him to get over it and be thankful we had food. Tahhhh! Besides, the crunchier the healthier. (Anything to get his mind off the broccoli.) During dinner I heard comments from him like:

"This broccoli is crunchy."
"Better bring your teeth to the table."
"How high did you cook this?"
"Haven't you made this before? What happened?"
and the real kicker at the end of the meal..........
"My teeth are tired."

And guess who went back for seconds?!

Oh yes, the big man himself, pahhhhh! Go figure. I'm sure with all the laughing I did during dinner I burned off all the food I ate. Oh how laughter is good for the soul!

Thanks Dad.