July 29, 2005

Karaoke Friday

Today's intro will be short, sweet and to the point. I present my rendition of Sarah McLachlan's Ice Cream.

this is an audio post - click to play


Oh hey, I just noticed that my brother, the other Korean Celt, has hijacked the boat below for his own amusement. That's cool. I needed some new blood to pump a little energy into this old broad.

Good Morning Korean Celt fans!

This is Guy Birdly here making a guest post for the hostess with the mostest. I got to work early this morning in order to finish some software testing and do the write up so I can leave work early and go to NYC. I have decided to take a break and temporarily take over my sister's blog! So. As my sister has probably told you all I'm going to be getting married in a couple weeks! Pretty cool huh. Well I have to tell ya, who'd a thought that a wedding was such a pain in the A$$!!!! no I'm kidding for the most part its been pretty fun its getting a little more stressful as we are getting closer to the day but thats all good. Today I am going to be leaving work at 2:30 to go to NYC on the SARS express. (if you don't know what that is its a really cheap bus that goes from China Town in DC to China town in NYC) I'll be traveling with a few of my friends to go and celebrate another fortunate friend of mine who is getting married. For his bachelor party we are going to drink copius amounts of booze, go watch the Yankees play, Drink copius amounts of booze, and play wiffle ball in central park. Now my ability to be a drunken a$$hole has diminished greatly over the last couple of years. Something that I'm actually quite grateful for. Granted I fear that I'll probably realize that the talent is still latent within me when I get there and am knee deep in it. One of the guys that will be there I really don't like at all to be honest with you. If I were to get REALLY drunk and he acted his usual arrogant bastard self I'd probably Stomp him into the ground just for the fun of it. So my goal is not to get that drunk. But there are never any guarantees in life. If the shots are flowing and his asian jokes frequent and tasteless. . . But lets not dwell on oafish behavior and talk about more entertaining things. Like Christina and I are going to go Sky diving on our honeymoon!!! what What! thats right fans. granted I don't want to have someone strapped to my back when I do it. They said I have to. when making the reservations I told the guy on the phone "Seriously how hard can it freaking be! you fall you pull the cord and you fall more slowly! done!" He then started babbling about training this and that blah blah blah!" So I said fine as long as I get to jump out of the plane, you can hang on. I said we have better do some tricks then if you're going to be strapped on my back! He didn't answer me there just asked for my credit card information. Anyways I have to get back to my work. So I can get out of here and on the SARS express. so this is Guy Birdly signing out. And remember San Diego Be Good !

July 28, 2005

I'm tired.

I'm really sleepy today and I don't know why. I got a good night's sleep, but I've been muddle-headed ever since I woke up. I've discovered it's really boring at my house when my daughter is gone. I've not really been wanting to go home after work because there's nothing to do. I never realized before just how engaging my daughter was. Speaking of the kid, she experienced her first earthquake the other day. I guess there was a small earthquake in a town south of Missoula, and everyone at my sister's house felt the tremor. My daughter said she wasn't freaked out at first because she didn't know it was an earthquake until my nephew told her what it was, and then she was freaked. Apparently, all it did was shake things up a bit, but nothing fell or collapsed or anything like that. Man, it is such and clear, beautiful day outside today and I am HATING being in this office right now. It sucks when you can't enjoy a nice day like this.

Hey, does anyone have any ideas for good picnic games? Every year that I've worked on planning the parish summer picnic for my church, we always end up doing the same games because I don't have any other ideas. We do the typical wheelbarrow, three-legged, egg in a spoon races. I'd like to try and shake things up a bit this year with something new and exciting and possibly death-defying. Chime in with any suggestions.

July 27, 2005

Meme Day

I'm lacking in originality today, so I'm copying Cesca's meme for today's post.

5 snacks I enjoy:
Cherries (and I'm sad that the season is almost over), popcorn, Cheez-Its, kids' cereals like Froot Loops or Corn Pops, ice cream.

5 bands that I know the lyrics to MOST of their songs:
The Police, Eurythmics, (Wow, this is hard. I'm having a hard time thinking of more. I know the lyrics to a lot of songs but I don't know that there are a lot of groups where I know the lyrics to most of their songs.)

5 things I would do with $100,000,000:
First I'd pay off all my debt and the debt of my immediate family members; I'd put away for my daughter's education and set up some kind of trust fund for her; invest a good amount of it; pay off the remaining buidling debt at my daughter's school, which is also our church; set-up some kind of foundation to help orphaned, abused and neglected children.

5 locations I would like to run away to:
This is a hard one because I don't know if there are any places I'd like to run away to; however, places I'd definitely like to visit before I die are: Australia, Korea, entire British Isles, Antartica, and France.

5 bad habits I have:
pick/ bite my nails, procrastinating, and I'll have to think a little bit more on this one. I'll get back to it. Bad habit update: Still haven't thought of anything more.

5 things I like doing:
Reading, watching movies, traveling, sewing, exercising

5 things I would never wear:
a thong, star-spangled rodeo outfit, any sort of clingy or revealing evening gown, crotchless panties, 70's leisure suit.

5 TV shows I like:
Any of the surgery shows on Discovery Channel, Iron Chef (original Japanese version), Surreal Life, Will & Grace, Crocodile Hunter

5 movies I like:
Dune, Blade Runner, Lady Jane, Room with a View, The Waterboy

5 famous people I would like to meet:
Sting because I've been in love with him since I was 15; Hillary Clinton so I can tell her what a joke I think she is; Sandra Bullock just because I think we'd get along pretty well; Michael Jackson so I can try and figure out why he is such a freak; Barbara Bush because she seems like a cool lady to me and I'd like to have a conversation with her.

5 biggest joys at the moment:

My daughter. That's it really. Everything else is just normal life.

5 favorite toys:
Karaoke microphone, sewing machine. That's it for that one, too. I don't really have any toys. Well, the kind proper to mention, anyway. I wish I had an iPod, though. Then that would be one of my favorite toys for sure.

5 people to tag:
I don't really understand what it means to tag someone, so I'm going to have to leave this one blank.

July 26, 2005

Early morning excitement.

My husband and I were watching the news this morning when they switched over to an in-progress, high-speed car chase taking place in Los Angeles. It was pretty much the same sort of stuff they show on these police chase videos until the runner made a turn the cop car behind him couldn't quite maneuver and plowed head on into the side of a brick building and busted right through the wall. It was really shocking. As it turns out, the officer in the car was fine and they finally caught their man. It just makes me wonder at how stupid people can be. Like the unfortunate fellow in London who was killed by police the other day. It's obviously a tragedy that an innocent man lost his life, but you've really got to wonder why in the hell he ran when the police told him to stop. Considering the climate in London right now, I can't think of a better way to get yourself shot and killed than by running from police and jumping turnstiles into the subway to get away from them. I mean, seriously, it's just not the smart thing to do. I have to assume he was up to some kind of illegal activity to have reacted in such a way. Really, in a lot of ways, he contributed to his own death through an astounding lack of good judgement.

July 25, 2005

Missing the kid.

Now entering week four sans child and I'll fess up to missing her. I find myself looking at her pictures in my office. It'll be another two weeks until we see her again. But it's all good because she's having a great time. I'm now berating myself for telling my brother what I planned on getting him for his wedding gift because now I think I want to get him something that will be more immediately useful to both him and his wife. I told him I planned on getting him this laser miter saw that he put on his Home Depot registry, but they're living in a condo and I don't see the need for major power tools for a condo. I could be wrong, but now I'm thinking I'd rather get them something for the kitchen like their mixer or something like that. I think I got a little excited about the miter saw because I really want it for myself. It's a cool miter saw. So now I don't know what I'm going to do. Will he be really disappointed that he doesn't get the miter saw or will it be OK that he's still getting something they asked for? You'd think this would teach me to keep my mouth shut, but I never learn.

July 24, 2005

Sunday, Sunday, and Stories That Make Me Laugh Everytime, Vol. 3

It's a Sunday morning and I'm up earlier than I want to be and I've just finished the current trashy romance novel I was working on and my husband is still asleep and I'm bored. Perfect circumstances for posting on the ole blog. So, I figured while I'm at it, I'd bring a new story that makes me laugh everytime.

A Marker Should Take Care of It
The summer between my junior and senior year of college, I helped my boyfriend at the time move down to Florida for a job he'd just accepted. While in Florida, I met one of his new coworkers and the coworker's wife. The wife's name was Madonna (which is pretty hard to forget), and I can't remember the coworker's name at all, so let's call him Dave. Anyway, Dave and Madonna were newly-weds and had just moved down to Florida themselves from New Jersey, I think. They were a pretty funny couple just because they were, but one night at dinner, Dave starts talking about one of the first times Madonna had done laundry after they'd been married. It seems Dave had a favorite shirt, that was also his lucky shirt. It was a white button-down with gray stripes. Madonna knew this was his favorite lucky shirt and it would seem she made the fateful decision to wash Dave's favorite lucky shirt the day before he was to have an important meeting with his boss. Being as new to laundry as she was to wifehood, she poured bleach in with the load that included the favorite lucky shirt.

"When I took it out," Madonna explained, "it had sploches all over where the bleach had wiped out part of the stripes."

Needless to say, Madonna panicked because she new Dave was planning on wearing the shirt to the meeting the next day and didn't know how to break the news that she'd ruined it.

"I was really scared," she said, "because I knew he was going to blow his top when he found out what I'd done to his favorite shirt."

In a moment of inspiration, Madonna decided she'd could fix the shirt by coloring in the bare spots with a gray magic marker. So, she did just that. She carefully drew in the stripes with a marker and hung the shirt in the closet and didn't say anything. All was good in the world again.

The next morning, Dave gets up and, predictably, pulls his favorite shirt out of the closet, puts it on, and heads out for work. Dave explains that he didn't notice anything until he got into the meeting with his boss, which he'd been nervous about, which subsequently caused him to sweat a bit. While he was in with his boss, he looks down at his shirt and notices that the stripes are looking a little bit funny, in fact, he notices they're starting to look smudged.

"I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't pay attention to what my boss was saying anymore because I can see the lines are bleeding in the areas where I'm sweating, so I'm starting to get really embarrassed about it," Dave said.

Anyway, Dave went on to say that his shirt is swiftly turning gray as the stripes bleed outward and then he took a really good look at the shirt and noticed that some of the lines are a different shade of gray than other parts of the stripes and that they're crooked. "It looked like someone had drawn the stripes on freehand," Dave said. "And then I knew what had happened."

I can't remember if Dave said whether or not his boss had noticed his incredible color-changing shirt or not, but he called Madonna and asked what she'd done to his shirt and she was forced to confess. In the end, I believe Dave got a promotion as a result of the meeting, and he and Madonna were able to overcome this minor obstruction on the path of marital bliss.

July 22, 2005

Karaoke Friday

Well, here we are at Friday again and it's time for a new song. Today's song is a little different than the past few. This time I've recorded off my stereo's karaoke function rather than directly from my karaoke microphone, which I've talked about before. So you'll hear me singing to the originally recorded song with the original singer's vocal track subdued. However, you can still faintly hear the original vocal track which means it sounds as if two people are singing, which is in fact the case. So for this week's listening pleasure, I present Lisa Loeb's Stay.
this is an audio post - click to play

Is this chicken or fish?

As you know, my daughter is spending the month with my sister and her family in Montana. Before I left my sister's house after dropping off my daughter, I explained to her a couple of quirks she should know about when dealing with my daughter. The first quirk being my daughter's love of "the rules," and how very distressing she finds it when people don't follow "the rules."

"Her head will explode," I explained to my sister, "if people aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. It bothers her that much."

"OK," my sister said.

The second quirk is my daughter's very picky appetite. That's not really a quirk as much as it is the bane of my existence, but I explained to my sister that my daughter is very, very, very hesitant to try anything new. As a result, she now thinks all meat is chicken. This is my fault because she likes chicken, so everytime I offer her a meat dish that she's unfamiliar with, I tell her it's chicken so she'll at least try it. Anyway, I explained to my sister just tell her it's chicken and she'll probably eat it. So the other day my sister calls me to tell her about their previous evening's dinner experience:

Sis: So I made Mahi Mahi for dinner but when I put it on the table, I told everyone it was chicken. And all my kids knew it was fish, but they I told them it was chicken, so they were all confused.

KC: So did she eat it?

Sis: Yeah, she ate it but everyone kept saying, "This is really good fish, Mom." And then she'd ask, "Is this fish? Because I don't eat fish." And I'd tell her, "No, it's chicken."

KC: So she liked it?

Sis: Yeah, she liked it but everyone kept slipping up about it being fish and she kept asking, "Are you sure this is chicken?" And I told her, "Yes, it's special chicken of the sea called Mahi Mahi. But it's chicken."

KC: But she kept eating it, right?

Sis: Yeah, she kept eating it because she liked it. She even said it was good chicken. And then at one point I commented that the mango relish I made to go with the Mahi Mahi went really well with fish. And the she asked, "Don't you mean chicken?" And I said, "Yes, yes, I mean chicken because that's what we're eating right now."

KC: So basically the entire dinner conversation sounded like a bad replay of Jessica Simpson dialouge.

Sis: Yes, that's pretty much it.

July 21, 2005

Burning Question.

I've noticed something odd about some of my frozen Weight Watchers "Smart Ones" meals. It involves the meals that have creamy sauces. When I take the meals out of the box, I notice that the sauces are somewhat translucent in appearance; however, after cooking, the sauces become creamy and opaque. I just want to know what unholy chemical reaction is taking place between the sauces and heat to create such a dramatic change. It scares me.

What in the world is going on?

So my husband and I were watching the coverage this morning about the new explosions in London today and I just couldn't believe it. Well, let me change that, I could believe it but was astounded that they happened so soon after the other bombings. All I can say about the people responsible for the attacks is that they are nothing but a bunch of rat bastard cowards. I just wonder what it is about their religious beliefs that foster such a lack of respect for life, because they obviously value their own lives as little as they value the lives of others. What God calls for this sort of disdain in his followers? I don't get it. Seriously, it's not possible to care so little for innocent people and still think there are other lives worthy of salvation. Do they really think this is what God would want? Really, I'm at a loss for understanding. I wish someone could give me a little insight on this.

July 20, 2005

New Tires

We went to Sam's Club last night and got new tire's for my husband's car. Do we know how to have fun or what? This is the only complaint I have. We get there and there's a huge sign in front of the auto center saying if it takes longer than 59 minutes to change tires, the installation charge is waived. So we go to the counter and the guy says it's probably going to take about a hour and a half because of the back up so I'm like, "So there won't be any installation charge?" And he's like, "Yeah, probably not."

But you've got to pay for it up front when you pay for the tires. Anyway, we go walk around for a little over an hour and then go back to the counter to check if the car is ready and our keys are on the counter with our paperwork and I look at the sheet and they have the service time clocked in at exactly 59 minutes. Of course I know this is crap because the guy told us from the get go it was going to take longer than 59 minutes. So they put a false time on the sheet and then ran and hid so I couldn't confront them about their lies and deceit. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Sam's Club because it's just Costco's whoring little sister and just can't compete? We don't have a Costco here, so I have to settle for Sam's Club, which stinks for me.

This is something I want to know about the Wal-Mart company in general is why do they keep up with the ad campaign about how great their employees are when everyone knows it's a big, fat, stinking lie? Wal-Mart employees are like the bottom rung of service-oriented staff. I have yet to go through a Wal-Mart and have someone treat me like anything other than scum. You know, it's like they're angry at me (all customers) for having such a sucky life. Hey, it's not my fault the best you can do is being a cashier at a crap company like Wal-Mart. Be glad you have a job, punk. Know what I mean? Anyway, I can sympathize because I've worked as a cashier before when I was in college and it is a crap job, but I didn't treat customers like shit because of it. Well, I wasn't nice to the customers who were rude to me, but that's another story altogether. Oh, that does remind me of this one time that this guy came through my line and all he was buying were Trojans and KY Jelly, which isn't a problem. What was gross about it was that this guy was so yucky. He was greasy and dirty and fat and looked a lot like Peter Lorre...playing Igor in Frankenstein. Anyway, this guy comes through and I'm thinking, "Who wants to have sex with you? Eeeww." He glared at me the entire time like he knew what I was thinking, so I just kind of snorted derisively when I put his purchases in the bag. Yeah, I am a bitch, but he was asking for it.

July 19, 2005

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (major spoiler alert)

OK, I'm going to talk about Harry Potter now, so if you don't want to know what happens in the new Harry Potter book, stop reading this post. If you continue reading this post, you're going to find out what happens in Harry Potter. So, again, stop reading if you don't want to know. If you do want to know, go ahead and keep reading. But if you don't want to know, you should stop reading....now.

So Dumbledore is dead, which was a shock and I almost started crying when the book gets to the part where Dumbledore's picture is now on the wall of the headmaster's office. Anyway, Snape kills Dumbledore, which is really a shocker. Of course, the great question now is whether or not Snape is actually on the good side or the bad side. As I see it, it's possible Snape told Dumbledore everything about the Unbreakable Vow and Dumbledore knew at some point either Malfoy or Snape was going to have to kill him. I would think Dumbledore would prefer Snape kill him in this situation because Dumbledore probably knew Malfoy wouldn't be able to live with the thought of having done the deed himself. However, even if Dumbledore gave Snape permission to kill him, Snape has definitely got a problem letting go of whatever animosity he has towards Harry, which doesn't make too much sense in light of the fact that he has to know Harry is the one who must defeat Voldemort. So, basically, Snape's deal is still up for grabs. I wasn't so surprised with Snape being the half-blood prince, though. I started to suspect it was him, but the only thing that kept me from going full-force with it is that the book is 50 years old and that seemed too old a book for it to have been Snape's while he was in school. But if it originally belonged to his mother, then that explains that. This is the one thing I've never understood about the books, though: Why doesn't Dumbledore ever tell Snape to cool it? Surely he knows Snape is a jackass when it comes to how he treats Harry. Why doesn't that ever seem to give Dumbledore any insight into what really motivates Snape?

What will really surprise me is if come the next book Harry, Ron and Hermione really don't return to Hogwarts because it seems to me it all has to end at Hogwarts. Especially considering that for whatever reason Voldermort wanted so desperately to be back at Hogwarts. I'm not saying the book has to literally end at Hogwarts, but Harry should still be part of Hogwarts when it ends. The whole idea of coming full circle and everything. Anyway, I'm one of those people that get really upset at the idea of people not finishing their education, so that would be a personal disappointment to me if Harry didn't finish what he started at school. Also, I don't think we really have to consider Dumbledore gone because we know he's still available for input through his portrait, which means stuff still has to happen at Hogwarts to access Dumbledore. Of course, he can just move to different paintings, but I don't think that will do. I like the phoenix imagery at Dumbledore's funeral, which should be expected considering how much of a connection there's been between Dumbledore and his phoenix throughout the series. The one bit of information I'd like for sure is to know which house Dumbledore belonged to when he was at Hogwarts. I don't think it's ever been stated in the books. I guess people assume he was with Gryffindor, but we don't really know that.

July 18, 2005

Who shot the half-blood prince?

Can't talk today...trying to finish new Harry Potter...142 pages left to go...husband says he wants to discuss important theories about book...yes, this is married life.

July 15, 2005

Karaoke Friday

For this week's song, let's go back, back, back to a more innocent time when big hair ruled, acid-washed was the only way to wear your jeans, and people actually believed George Michael was straight. As if, right? But it really happened. It really did. So in honor of Mr. Michael's long-lost heterosexuality, I present Careless Whispers for your listening pleasure:

this is an audio post - click to play


In other news, I would be remiss if I did not mention the release of the new Harry Potter book tomorrow because my entire family is severely addicted to Harry Potter. My husband pre-ordered off Amazon, but he actually said he's thinking about going to Wal-Mart at midnight tonight so he can get a copy right away and then return to Wal-Mart the copy he gets from Amazon tomorrow. I'm like, "If you wanted the book so damn bad that you're going to go at midnight, why did you even bother pre-ordering?" He just looked at me with that husbandly I-don't-know look. Anyway, he's alredy informed me that I better not even try to start reading until he's done with the book. But I'm thinking a bottle of chloroform and a handkerchief will get around that little instructive. The main thing I'm trying to figure out right now is if I'm going to buy the audio book in CD or cassette. My husband's car has a CD player, but my car has a tape deck. I think I'll go with tapes because my daughter likes to listen to audio books when we're driving around and we drive around in my car, so tapes would make the most sense. In the meantime, I'm going to give you my own theory about who dies in this book. I think Snape will die while protecting Harry in some way. It seems obvious to me because Snape is such a negative character in Harry's eyes, but he's obviously got Dumbledore's trust so in the end, I see Snape sacrifising himself as the only way for redemption in the minds of the reading audience. We already know from what JK Rowling has said that a "major" character will die by the end of the series. I think a lot of people thought that meant one of the kids would die, but I think it's going to be Snape.

Like it says, things could be worse...

Like, I'm so cool!
How Dumb Are You?
A Rum and Monkey stupidity.

July 14, 2005

Puh-leeze!!

According to a recent study, 65% of Americans are overweight or obese. In response, a consumer advocacy group is lobbying to have warning labels put on soda because this group believes soda consumption is largely responsible for the thickening waists in this country. The average soda contains eight and a half teaspoons of sugar. So, yeah, if you are a person who drinks a lot of soda, it's probably not helping you stay thin. However, putting a warning label on soda is not going to solve the problem. What irritates me about this is that somehow it's not the individual's fault they are overweight, it's the soda industry's fault. I mean, give me a break. If you really, really believe soda is a healthy beverage, you're stupid and getting fat from drinking soda is probably the least of your problems. You're stupid if you think eating at McDonald's is healthy. You're stupid if you think eating a bowl of ice cream every night won't cause you to gain weight. It's about action and consequence. I don't buy soda specifically because it is an unhealthy drink. I have a water service that delivers bottled water (reverse osmosis, which I think is tastiest) and that is what my family largely drinks. Soda is kind of a treat for my daughter because she knows the only way she's getting it is if we happen to eat at a restaurant, which isn't often. Besides water, I buy 1% milk. I used to buy juice for my daughter, but she really prefers water so I don't even buy that anymore. And I only bought 100% fruit juice. None of this fake juice stuff. But water and milk is about it at my house now. If I throw a party, I'll buy a couple of liters of soda for that, but that's about it.

If these consumer advocacy groups are really concerned about overweight Americans, lobby employers to allow workers exercise time during the day. I'm sure letting employees have an hour to exercise during the day still wouldn't cost as much as is lost to absenteeism due to weight-related health problems. Lobby to make sure the food that goes into school lunch programs meet certain nutritional standards. Don't feed the kids french fries and pizza. Give them lean turkey sandwiches on whole grain bread with lettuce and tomatoes. But don't waste time trying to put warning labels on soda. That's just time and money poorly spent as far as I'm concerned.

July 13, 2005

Maybe I'm just getting old.

I've noticed for the last few weeks that every time I run, I experience hip pain afterwards. This has never happened to me and I don't know why it's happening now. I do have to say I am surprised to learn that my hip joint is as high up on my body as it is, though. I would have thought it was much lower. The hip pain isn't debilitating or anything, it's just weird that it's happening. Which makes me wonder whether or not this is just a symptom of aging. Is this what I can expect more of? Random pain. I thought exercising was supposed to keep a body strong, not break it down. I'm only 36. What can I expect in another 15 years? Still, I figure I'm better off with the pain and exercising than no pain and no exercising. I'm really sleepy all of a sudden. I wish I could take a nap. We don't enjoy naptime enough when we're kids in preschool. I'd love to have a scheduled naptime now. Actually, studies have determined that people are more productive if allowed catnaps during the day. Employers should intergrate naptime as part of the normal working day. I bet profits would soar sky high. Science can't be wrong, after all.

July 12, 2005

I Suck (figuratively, not literally)

You know, today I realized I am not all that. As you may have guessed from reading my blog, I'm pretty high on myself and I've always thought for good reason because I'm just so super-cool. But today, I realize it's time to take it down a notch in ways that count. One of my magazines came back from the printer today and they didn't run the ads. Although it was mentioned by one of my editors when we looked at proofs, I assured him that the ads would run because they always run and I always give instructions to run them. What I didn't do was ask the printer why there were no proofs for the ads in the first place. So now the magazine is here and there are no ads and it's obvious why there were no proofs--the printers never printed them up. However, the mistake is really mine and the reason it's mine is because I let pride keep me from doing my job the way I should have done it. This taste of humble pie is really unfamiliar to me and I don't like it at all. And what I've come to understand about myself in the last fifteen minutes is that I am one of those people I hate the most: the kind who thinks the world revolves around them. I've had a chip on my shoulder for awhile here at work and I've obviously let it interfere with the quality of my performance. Why do I have chip on my shoulder? Because I don't get paid enough. Because I resent one of the editor's attitude toward me, well all people really. Because I allow myself to believe I am somehow beyond reproach. The point is it doesn't really matter why I have a chip on my shoulder, the point is that I can't use it as an excuse for not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Anyway, today is a new day and I'm going to use this shame and regret in a positive way. I will accept criticism (if warranted) and instruction gracefully. I will not let my ego get in the way of seeing the forest for the trees. I am not going to automatically assume everyone around me is a complete fucking idiot unworthy of my respect or consideration. Obviously, I make mistakes and they're the kind of mistakes that really have no excuse because they're not done honestly. So today I say, "I suck and I know it and I'm not afraid of it anymore."

July 11, 2005

I got those broken down sewing machine blues.

Something is wrong with my sewing machine and I'm upset. I just started to sew my daughter's dress for my brother's wedding and my sewing machine won't work properly. The needle goes up and down but for some reason the thread won't feed from the spool so the thread in the needle eventually breaks because it's being stretched too tight. Although, maybe the problem has something to do with the bobbin. I don't know. I tried taking apart my machine a little last night to oil and clean it hoping that would solve the problem, but it didn't and now I'm sad. My machine is about thirty years old. It's the first sewing machine my mother bought for herself and she handed it down to me. It's worked fine until now. But the situation puts me in a bit of a quandry; do I spend money to have it fixed even though it's thirty years old or do I spend money to buy a relatively cheap sewing machine that will do me for a little while? If I had the money, I'd just go out and buy a really nice new machine that can do everything I'd like a machine to do, but I don't have a lot of money and if I go buy one, I'd have to settle for something less than what I'd like. I don't even know how much it costs to fix a sewing machine. It might not even be a cost-effective option. I'm going to call a repair shop and find out what it costs. Hold on. Wow, just to service the machine costs $60, that doesn't include actually fixing something that might be wrong. I talked to the repairman and he was very pleasant. He said maybe I could bring the machine in and they might be able to easily determine the problem and make adjustments without having to actually put the machine in for repair. That's worth a shot, I guess, if they're not going to charge me for it.

In good news, I fixed the leak in my tub this weekend. I wanted to replace the entire hot water stem because the water wouldn't shut off all the way so I figured I should just get a new one. But it was too hard finding one just like it so I put a new washer on it just to see if that would work, and it seems to have done the job. Woo hoo, can beat a household repair that only costs 50 cents to fix.

Also, where does the idea that flies only live 24 hours come from? I've been watching a fly trapped in my office window since last Thursay and it's still alive. Although, it does seem somewhat sluggish today, kind of like it's drunk or something. It doesn't seem able to cling to the screen very well. I can't imagine it's able to get something to eat in there. Why is a fly smart enough to find the hole in the screen that got it trapped but isn't smart enough to find the same hole and get out?

July 08, 2005

Karaoke Friday

TGIF, and you know what that means: Karaoke Friday. Today's song is Pat Benatar's soaring rock anthem "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." I'm dedicating today's perfomance to all those brave Londoners out there giving Al Quaeda two fingers up where the sun don't shine. Rock on London!!! America loves you.

this is an audio post - click to play

It came from the altar.

So my husband and I are watching this show on TV last night called Bridezilla. It's this reality show about supposedly sweet-natured brides-to-be who become bitches from hell while planning their weddings. It pretty funny because these women are seriously going off the deepend. I am the kind of person who likes things to happen the way they are supposed to happen, but I can say that nothing about planning my wedding got to me the way it gets to the women on this show. In fact, in a lot of ways I felt strangely detached from my wedding planning. I did what needed to be done and figured if anything went wrong the day of the wedding, not to sweat it because what could be done at that point. I decided I was going to have fun because a woman's wedding day is the only day of her life where people will let her get away with acting like a complete prima donna. Why not enjoy it? And I can say with all honestly, I had a great day. It was a blur, but I had a great day. I don't know why women build up the day as having to come off "perfectly," but I can tell you that is the best way to set yourself up for disappointment. I also don't understand the women who are willing to take out gobs of loans to pay for their weddings. It's one day. Why would I want to keep paying for one day for the next ten years? Just doesn't make a lick of sense to me. I guess I view the beauty of a wedding day as something internal rather than external. To me, it's much more about being able to spend the day with the people you love the most in life and celebrating your new life with them. My mom continues to complain that she wishes she knew more about American weddings before throwing mine because she feels like she didn't do it up nearly as well as she could have, but my wedding was exactly what I wanted it to be--a great party.

July 07, 2005

Sending love.

Just wanted to say I'm keeping all Londoners in my prayers while they make their way through the craziness of today and the days to follow.

Also sending love out to my husband for his birthday today (which I remembered early enough to celebrate while our daughter was still here).

July 06, 2005

Stinky feet.

My feet smell. I mean they really smell. They have a nose and everything. Naw, seriously, my feet do stink for some reason, though. This is not a normal thing for me so I can't imagine what makes today so special.

I've been putting off running this week for some reason. I feel guilty for not exercising, but I'm still going to play hooky today anyway. I just talked to my sister a little while ago and she told me that her husband asked if my husband and I were having some kind of marital problem and is that the reason why I'm leaving my daughter in Montana for a month. Yeah, I laughed pretty good. Yes, the only explanation why I would let my daughter spend a month of the summer with an aunt and cousins she almost never gets to see is because my husband and I need counseling. How does a person make that leap?

Speaking of husbands, mine is sick. I don't know if he caught the bacteria that gave our daughter pneumonia or what, but he's hacking it up pretty well now. He has a doctor's appointment today to check it out, so we'll see.

July 05, 2005

Well, that gives a new perspective on things.

You know, it's one thing to sing to your karaoke machine, belting out the tunes and having a good time with it, and then it's something altogether different to listen to a recording of yourself singing to your karaoke machine, belting out the tunes and having a good time with it. If you've guessed that I must have spent part of the evening taping myself singing in preparation for Friday's Karaoke Party, you're right. Some things I've learned about the process so far: the echo effect doesn't make you sound nearly as good as you think it does, the way you think you're singing a song isn't how you're singing it at all, and I now understand why most people refuse to sing karaoke unless drunk. However, I am not frightened by this new knowledge and I will march forward with my plans to bring music into the lives of every last one of you, whether you like it or not. I like to think that at this point I'm really on a mission from God.

My baby's gone.

So I am returned from the land of Big Sky after having dropped off my daughter with my sister and her family. I'll miss her for the month that she's gone but I am really looking forward to trying to get a lot of stuff taken care of around the house. My big project is to rescreen our back porch and generally get the whole thing spified up. I also want to clean out all the crap from the basement and get rid of anything that is just taking up space.

I got home about 9:00 last night and, lucky me, I got to listen to the yoho's in my neigborhood light fireworks until past midnight. Some people have made it a tradition to set off fireworks in the park across the street from my house and it drives me crazy because I am convinced someone will finally manage to burn down my house with a firework gone astray. Plus, it's just rude to keep people up with all the noise.

I'm really tired right now.

July 01, 2005

KC's Karaoke Party!

I have to say I am so impressed by everyone's willingness to share their talent with the world that I felt like I just had to jump in and contribute my own special gifts. I am truly inspired by Daily Dancer with his bold moves and Cesca with her wonderful art because it takes a lot of guts to bare your artistic soul to the world. So, I have decided--considering how much I love, LOVE--karaoke, I am going to make Fridays Karaoke Party days. Yay, yay, yay. I know, it's just too exciting to contemplate, isn't it? Without further adieu, here's the first offering: Me singing that classic favorite "Conjunction Junction."

Conjunction Junction

I'm going to experiment with different ways to record my karaoke genius over the next few weeks, so the quality will probably be very if-y until I get it down. Please bear with me. I appreciate your support.