Abundance of celebrations

Although I have a family member or friend who has a birthday pretty much every month throughout the year, March and April tend to be the busiest. And no sooner am I done celebrating both my mom's and my step mom's birthdays in April, then I have to turn around and come up with a creative something-or-other for Mother's Day for each of them in May. Then we have Father's Day stuff in June, and my step dad's birthday in July. I think there should be a rule that parents can't have a birthday one month away from Mother's Day or Father's Day; I can't just keep cranking out the ideas...

Observation

I just saw a KFC commercial and realized that the song they're using right now is Sweet Home Alabama. A song about Alabama for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hmmm...

And this is why I read online newspapers...

Man, son, neighbor swallowed by cesspool: Trip to get Sunday paper from lawn turns into scene ‘like a horror picture’

Life update

It's been awhile since I've posted anything about me personally, so why not?

The last couple of months have been pretty darned good. I'm another year older, which happens to us all. L. took me out to the Metropolitan Grill for my birthday, and treated me to some beautiful roses and one of the adorable Coach wristlets that I had my eye on for awhile. My friend A. hosted a birthday shindig with my friends and family, so that was really nice of her and we had a great time afterward at Theatresports and Howl at the Moon. And my mom made me my favorite home-cooked meal and a cake. It was all just perfect!

L. and I enrolled in the second session of swing dancing classes. It's getting progressively more complicated, but still extremely fun. We're now learning the shim sham, which is a non-partner dance, and it's something that totally confuses me, but I hope to figure it out before I'm old and grey.

The weather is starting to get nicer again, so I'm enjoying being outside more, and Kati and I are going to start our weekly walks back up again. Green Lake just isn't so fun when you have icicles hanging off of your eyelashes...

Work is going really well, and it still presents many challenges for me. Our team has been really busy, but we still manage to have some fun. I got news that I'll get to go to a conference in Boston later this year, so I'm really excited about that. I've never been on a business trip before!

And, I finally have all of my furniture. My condo is completely furnished. I wasn't sure that I'd ever see the day, but my bookcases finally came and they're perfect. I may have spent a lot of money on them, but they were sure worth it in the end. I love my home and love having people over to see it. I find it interesting that everyone finds something different to talk about when they first see my place. Some people notice the colors first, some notice the decorations, and others notice the furniture. It's fun to guess what they'll point out first :)

So, that's me for now. I hope things continue to go well, and hope that they go the same for all of my family and friends as well.

Bathroom woes

Is it that hard to actually get a paper towel into a waste paper basket in the bathroom? Almost every time I walk into the women's restroom at work, I find paper towels on the floor. Now, if the garbage can was a bazillion feet away from the door, I might be able to understand the difficulty because I, too, use the paper towel to grab the door handle on my way out. However, the garbage can is right next to the door. It can't possibly be that hard - no one has arms that short. And the issue isn't that the garbage can is overflowing, either. It absolutely baffles me.

And, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I really hate it when people don't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. I get really grossed out when I hear someone flush, and then walk right out the door. I don't care how good you are - you simply can't use the toilet without touching something that I'm sure others don't want to touch. I realize I might sound really anal about this, and I guess I should just own up to the fact that I am really anal about that. So there. I may be anal, but you won't find me spreading urine and feces around.

It's also really gross when you hear someone walk out the door without flushing. What's that all about? I had a friend in grade school whose family lived by the motto, "if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down." I hated going to the bathroom at her house, and would always flush before and after I used the toilet because I simply couldn't deal. I suppose for guys it's not such a big deal, but sometimes girls have to deal with a little splash. But, that's one thing if you, as a family unit, agree to live by. It's a completely different story at work. Just flush.

Whew. This has been weighing on me for awhile. Glad to get that off of my chest.

Finally...

I'm going to get a haircut on Monday. It's been a couple of months - possibly longer, actually - since I've had a cut, so I'm in pretty dire need. Luckily with long hair, it's usually not a huge deal to go so long without a cut, but it's definitely time to get my style cleaned up a little and the ends trimmed off. I use good hair products, so I don't have a lot of split ends or anything, but I do need to have the layers re-done so that my hair will style better.

Car annoyances

I'm fairly annoyed with my car lately. Ever since I was rear-ended before Thanksgiving, it's been making some strange rattling noises. The repair shop replaced the exhaust system and the bumper, but there is still something going on. The other day, I had the hood open and shifted the gears around while L. took a look at the engine...turns out that the whole engine is moving when I go between reverse and drive. So, I need to take it to the dealer and see what they say. Last time I took it in (due to a very serious service-needed light), I ended up paying almost $900 for a cleaning of my clogged fuel filters, and servicing of the brakes and steering. I'm not looking forward to this next visit, but I suppose I'll have this car for at least the rest of this year, so it'd probably be good to ensure that it continues running smoothly. I hate cars...or at least the whole servicing of cars. But, I'm one of those people who refuses to get out of her car and onto a bus, so I suppose that's the price that I pay...along with the sudden raise in fuel prices this last weekend.

Yay!

Poll: Bush, GOP hit new lows in public opinion

I tell ya - it's been really hard to go about my daily chores with my fingers crossed all this time, but maybe it's finally paying off ;)

Funny signs

Thanks A. - these are friggin' hilarious :)

http://mistupid.com/stuff/ready.htm

Handwriting

Do you ever have one of those days where you're really impressed with your handwriting? Yesterday was like that for me. I was especially happy with the way that my "4" was turning out, although I can't explain exactly why I decided to change the way I write 4s. Ah, the mysteries of life... I'm also getting used to writing my new last name, and I like the way the signature is turning out.

Can you tell that last night was my night to pay bills???

Buy a new car - get a free teddy bear

L. bought a new car today and negotiated to get me the cutest teddy bear :) I've named him Herrington - adorable!