Neeeeeeeeerrd!!

Tonight I,

(1) Bought advanced tickets for the 3D showing of Avatar on Friday night

and

(2) Voted (repeatedly) for my favorite acapella group from "The Sing-Off"

That's right. I'm a nerd. Geek. Dweeb.

Call it whatever your heart desires.

But, I'm going to see Avatar on Friday and Nota is a fucking fantastic acapella group.

So, I'm sorry you can't appreciate things that are awesome.

Like (possibly) Avatar or Nota or me.

What I guess I'm trying to say is, you can suck it.

Handy Dandy

Living alone for the first time in my life has given me the opportunity to be responsible for all those things that were previously taken care of by someone else.
Fantastic.

My neighbor told me that he got a "chuckle" out of watching me mow the lawn on Sunday.
Whatever. I got it done. So what if I haven't quite mastered the speed on the stupid thing yet? It seems to have a hair trigger between going along at a decent clip and dragging me along behind it. I'll figure it out. Hopefully. Maybe.

Next, in the master bathroom the little lever inside the toilet that pulls up to make the toilet flush broke off.
I went to the hardware store and the levers were sold according to whether the lever is on the front or the side, plus model of the toilet. Pete's sake, they make this shit difficult to figure out!

Okaaaaaay. Well I was pretty sure the lever was on the front, but model? I have no fucking clue.
I didn't really want to go check the model and come back (because I am lazy), so I bought one that claimed it could be used in all standard toilets.

Ha. Liars.
When I tried to hook it up, there was no way to get the lever in and through the plastic loop without either the lever being shorter or breaking the plastic loop.

I, briefly, considered taking it back to the store and getting another one but I didn't (because I am lazy). Instead I hooked the lever up to the base of the toilet (correctly) and then grabbed an inexpensive necklace chain I didn't really like very much (removed the pendant, which I do like) and used it to loop through the level and the plastic loop so the damn toilet will flush.

So, now I have a working toilet again. It's not exactly the right solution, but it's not exactly the wrong one either. It's a slightly stupid solution that makes me feel just the tiniest bit like MacGuyver.

Terrific

I think I've mentioned before that there is a Life's Little Instructions poster above my dentist's chair. Most of the "instructions" are pretty annoying, some... some I take to heart.

For example, "Send lots of Valentine's Day cards. Sign them 'Someone who thinks your terrific'"

I think that's a great/ridiculous idea, only I don't want to wait until stinking Valentine's Day. No, I'm going to implement this plan now. I'm going to buy a bunch of cards and send them out to people. No return address. No nothing. Just "Someone who thinks you're terrific" (I'm going to go ahead and spell you're correctly though, hopefully that doesn't ruin it) I may even dot an i with a little heart or add an exclamation point. We'll see. I've got to keep it real. 

If you know me and I know your address, you're probably getting a card.

If you read this blog and I don't know your address, leave it on the comments or send me an email (quartergoddess@yahoo.com) and I'll send you a card, too. Because, you're probably pretty terrific and everybody deserves to be told so every now and again.

Plus, I think it's funny. (Don't worry, I'll still mean it)

I thought about picking some random names out of the phone book and sending them cards. It seems like it would be nice to get a card out of nowhere that told me I was terrific. But, then again it would drive me nuts not to know who sent it. Plus, what if I accidentally caused some poor couple to break up because they couldn't figure out who would send their significant other a card about how terrific they are? 

I wouldn't want that on my conscience. On the other hand, they really should have a little more faith in their partner. 

Cards for everybody!

Signed,

Someone who thinks you're terrific

That's Super.

Today, I team taught a class for work. I taught the class with J.J., the self-proclaimed "third funniest person at {company where I work}". 

We're required, as instructors, to hand out reviews so that all the shiny, pretty people taking our class can give us feedback. 

From one girl in particular, J.J.'s feedback was, "funny, very informative"

My feedback from the same girl, "super funny, very helpful"

J.J. was a little distraught about this "super" business. 

It was a momentary setback though as he quickly decided that it was simply possible that I was the "first or second funniest person at {company where I work}". 

Doesn't bode very well for my company. 

So, I got that going for me, which is nice. 

Culinary Ninja

I made bars today for our Brewer's tailgate tomorrow. 

(Bars, for the non-Wisconsinites are, as far as I can tell, any dessert that can be served from a 13 x 9 pan)

To make the bars, I had to melt some chocolate, so I rigged up a makeshift double boiler to do it. I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty much feeling like a culinary bad ass at this point. 

No microwave for me, thank you very much! 

I'll do it the hard way. I'll take the not-a-double-boiler-but-I'll-make-it-into-one-anyway, please. 

If the bars turn out to be awesome (and why wouldn't they?), it will definitely be due to my ninja-like double boiling skills. 

P.S. I have noticed, but I no idea why so many of my blogs are food related lately. 

That wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be

That's what she said.

Ha. 

No, really. Today, in addition to going to the grocery store, hardware store, gym and baking cupcakes (strawberry with vanilla icing AND sprinkles, delicious!), I stripped the wall paper out of our half bath. It's been a busy day. I'm tired. 

It was the most hideous looking wall paper known to man. I have hated it ever since we moved in. I put off taking it down because I thought it would be this big ordeal because in order to really get it all down I needed to move the toilet in that bathroom.

As it turns out, both moving a toilet and stripping wallpaper are not as hard as I thought they were. Really, start to finish, the whole project only took a couple of hours. I'm not completely done yet as I still have to fix the walls and repaint the bathroom, but still, I should have done this years ago.

It looks so much better. Of course, it wouldn't have been such a big relief if I had done it years ago. I wouldn't have come to loathe that fucking wallpaper, so I guess it all works out in the end. Right?

I feel so handy.

I Should Have Done This Years Ago

I swear the woman who owned our house before we did LOVED to put pictures on the walls. Every two feet. On every wall in the house.

There were about half a billion (at least) holes in the walls when we moved in. Including wall anchors. Mostly I've just been ignoring them for the last 3 1/2 years. 

Then, when we were in San Antonio last weekend we bought a painting and had it shipped home. I hung it on the wall and there were two ugly holes above it and one right below it. It was driving me crazy. I didn't want to look at those stupid fucking holes every time I looked at my beautiful picture. 

So, yesterday I went to the hardware store and bought some Spackle and a putty knife and went to work. I pulled out all the damn anchors, spackled, sanded and painted all of the holes I could find. I even touched up the paint in some places that had been dinged or scraped over the last couple of years. 

The walls look SO much better. I can't believe I waited this long to do this. No more holes around my painting, no more holes anywhere. Yay!

It feels so good to have this checked off my list of things to do I've already started planning home improvement project number 2: The upstairs half-bathroom. 

The ugliest wall paper on the planet is falling off the walls and the door hinges are rusty. 

If I can get this done before August of 2012 I'll still be ahead of the game!

Brace Yourself, Blume

What you will see tomorrow is just for you, mr. blume.
It's a rare sighting. Like a supernova. Or something else really rare.
It may never happen again, so enjoy it.

No spoilers from those of you who already know.

For the Record

Since, it doesn't happen very often I just wanted to record the effort. 

I was TOTALLY a good wife today. 

We had a bunch of friends over this weekend. Yesterday, the girls and I all pretended that we're domesticated Betty Crocker types and baked tons of cookies and made some candy and fudge for Christmas. Then, after our intrepid baking adventure I made dinner for everyone. There was some wine involved and we played some games after dinner, so the dishes were piled high and left overnight. 

This morning, the husband wanted to get the dishes done so he could watch the Packer game when it came on at noon. 

Brace yourselves.

I helped him do the dishes. 

He washed, I dried. 

I have no idea what came over me. 

I even wiped down the counter tops. 

In case the husband ever forgets, now I'll have a written record to remind him with.

Lunch with Natalie

My friend, JR, sent me a link to this video today embedded in an appointment request for the two of us to go to lunch. Hilarious!
Although I think this might make him slightly evil! :)

Hmm... do you think he's trying to tell me something?

Sarah Palin Panties

I bought some new underwear at Victoria's Secret last week.

D and Fern got me a gift certificate a couple of years ago and I was finally using it up.

Below is one of the pairs I picked up.

I've decided to call them my "Sarah Palin Panties"

Notice the stag head, hot cocoa, bunnies, snow flakes and birdies.



So, someday when I come around and tell you that I'm off to shoot a moose, you can think to yourself, "She's got her Sarah Palin Panties on today."

Possibly, I'll just start winking at you and shouting "Maverick" like I have Tourettes Syndrome... and you'll know.

And then someday, I'll decide to go 'rogue' and shout, "Honey, find my 'Sarah Palin Panties', this pitbull's about get herself some lipstick."

Watch out for that.

It means that it's the end of days.

I'm Awesome

I had my four year review today at work.
As it turns out, I'm awesome. A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

My boss, the Hammer (I'd explain the nickname, but you wouldn't think it's as funny as we do at work... it's a nerd thang, y'all), said he wouldn't trade me for anybody else. He said I am one of the top people in my role at the company.
Boo-yah!

Let's be clear, the Hammer does not hand out compliments lightly. In fact, usually not at all.
About once a year, I get a "nice job with that."
Today I got not just one, but two compliments!! AND they were pretty damn good compliments at that!

Plus, in the actual written review he said nice things about me there, too, but they were more task specific compliments and thus difficult for me to translate to you.
It was a little bit of a head rush.

Reviews make me nervous. I'm always afraid that I'm going to be blind-sided by something horrible, so it's always a relief when they go well.
It made for a pleasant interruption, but it's back to our regularly scheduled programming for me.

Fun in the Woods

Well, we're finally back from our adventure in the woods.

We rented a cabin (http://www.maplewoodlodge.com/) for the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) and went to see a Midsummer Night's Dream at the American Players Theater (http://www.playinthewoods.org/).

The husband and I took off from work on Friday and Monday, so it has been a nice long weekend for us. The cabin is located in Mineral Point, which is surprisingly not that far from Monroe. It's really only about an hour away. A long, curvy nauseating hour away, but still...

Friday morning was busy. While I went to the gym and showered and packed up, the husband took Milo into Madison to be watched by his friend from work and then dropped off the big dogs at the kennel. Then, we headed out to the cabin. We were met at the cabin by the two owners, John and Coleman. Coleman had to leave, so John gave us a tour of the place.

I'll try to post some pics of the place later, but unfortunately I forgot my camera, so all my pictures are on the disposable. The place was gorgeous. What I loved about the cabin was not so much the decor or atmosphere (both of which were adequately cabin-y), but that they put so much thought into all the details of the cabin. Robes, towels, spices, blankets, movies, tetherball, hammocks, sunset benches, campfire logs, etc., the list goes on and on. It was really quite endearing.

mr. and mrs. blume joined us up at the cabin on Friday. We went to get some groceries at a small grocery store in Mineral Point, played some horseshoes and the guys attempted (attempted being the key word) to play some tether ball. It was a long, lazy evening. We snacked on cheese and crackers and chips and salsa. Then later we grilled chicken and made corn on the cob. Everyone else may entertain you with exaggerated stories of the "fireball" which may have emanated from our grill. While I will cop to some singed arm hair, I think "fireball" is a bit of an overstatement. Either way the husband thought the meal was "really, really good"

We played Yahtzee (which I won the first game of with 3 yahtzees, boo-yah! I know this comes as a surprise to those who know me, because I have sort of notoriously bad luck at dice games) and Scene It.

The beds in that cabin were the softest I have ever slept on. Light fluffy mattresses, pillows and comforters abounded.

Snoop and DaisyDukes joined us up at the cabin on Saturday. mr. blume and the husband were golfing, so poor Snoop was stuck shopping with the ladies in Mineral Point on Saturday. I wish I could say that the shopping was really good in Mineral Point, but mostly it was overpriced art. Which is great if you are in the market for overpriced art, but I doubt any of us would afford the stuff they were selling even if we could. If you are looking for some overpriced art, might I suggest the $1400 wooden snake that can be made to order?

Finally, the boys decided to show up from golf. So, we played Bocce ball out in the yard until the husband, or possibly Florence, threw their ball into the weeds and nobody could find the ball for what seemed like a few hours. After we finally finished playing, although it should be mentioned that the girls won in a thrilling down to the last throw of the ball match, we had some ice cream cake.

Before the play, we went to dinner at the Riverview Terrace, which had some of the yuckiest, yet most expensive food/drinks I've ever had. I had a terrible pork salad. Note: I thought it was going to be pork with a salad when I ordered, not what I got. Anyway, after that we trotted over to Culver's for some ice cream since we all had pretty crappy meals, or at least the girls did anyway, I believe Snoop, mr. blume and the husband all liked their food. It is unfortunate that the custard at Culver's was terrible. It was all weird and grainy. Yuck! I have to say on the pass/fail system, Spring Green rates a fail.

Then there was the play. I have to preface all this by saying I love a Midsummer Night's Dream. It has sentimental value for me and I just love it, love it, love it. I was worried when we sat down because the set was a little... industrial. Plus, all the characters were wearing a more modern wardrobe. When I watch a Midsummer Night's Dream I want to be charmed. I want to feel the magic that lives in a midsummer night. My worries were in vain. It was an excellent play with all the magic and charm that this play deserves. Puck was wonderful; he was lively, energetic and full of mischief. Bottom and crew were actually hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Even driving away from APT turned out to be a good time. What does "FCCAMP" stand for? I won't appall you with our suggestions. And it seems like mr. blume may or may not be able to figure out how a gas pump works. Don't feel bad mr. blume, you can't win them all.


Everyone else left on Sunday morning and the husband and I were left to ourselves. What did we do? Well I'll leave any "naked hammocking" that may or may not have occurred to your imagination. I will tell you that we went to see the Dark Knight that afternoon, which we both enjoyed. The only bad part of the day was that we couldn't find anything open for dinner in Mineral Point, so we just ended up eating sandwiches, which makes for a sort of boring birthday dinner.

This morning we got up early enough and made our way home. First, Milo was returned and then the big dogs. Now, the family is all together again. Yay! I found I actually missed the furry babies this weekend.

Everything will all go back to normal tomorrow... boo, but on the bright side, it's only a four-day weekend! :)

Oops

I accidentally shot someone today.
Oops.

FancyTalker is a little obsessed with Nerf dart guns. He has about 1,000 in his office.
I was playing with one of them, which I couldn't get to work.
I know, it seems like they should be easy to figure out, but this one was complicated I swear.
There was a pump, a button, but no trigger.
I sort of gave up getting it to shoot and I was kind of just playing with it, when it went off and shot upwards out of his cube.
Fuck.
It sailed into someone else's office.
I had no idea where it went.
Luckily, the guy I shot thought it was kind of funny and returned the Nerf dart with no problems.
Hmm... this is why I never load the ninja launcher when I play with that in GameBoy's office.
I'll have to be more careful in the future when I play with the Nerf guns.
If this was supposed to teach me not to play with Nerf guns, Mission Unaccomplished.
I will still play with them.
I'm just going to have to be more careful about which co-workers I shoot.

A/V Goddess

For Christmas when I was 18 I asked my dad for a home theater receiver.
He got me a nice Sony receiver and it has traveled with me where ever I have lived since then.
Alas, as it neared it's 10 year birthday, it finally gave out.
The husband and I were forced to replace her.
Today, I hooked up our new receiver (also Sony) to all of our equipment, and let me tell you that is no small feat as we have a cable box, a TiVO, a tv, a cd player, iPod and DVD.
It's a complicated system and usually it takes me a few times plugging and unplugging cords to get it all right. In the end, I have to hook things up in some stupid insane way to get things to work. Like the cd player has to be hooked up through the TiVO to work correctly.
This time (just this time, I don't hold out hope that this would work again in the future) everything was hooked up correctly the first time. Everything works.
That never happens.
It was awesome.
I am an a/v goddess.
At least for today.
Today is a good day.

ETA: Clearly, I spoke too soon.

SO happy!!!!

I was feeling a little bit of pressure at work.
My department is a little low on manpower due to lots of babies... well two babies anyway (out of 3 employees though). We're a pretty small team.
So, I've been taking on a much heavier workload to make up for the absence. Normally, this is no big deal. It's a lot of work, but I have no doubts what so ever that I could get it done.
But, I'm going to Hawaii next week. The work is long, but the time is short. I was really worried about how I was going to get everything done. Not just get everything done, but get everything done well.
Thankfully, the powers that be have moved out my deadline from mid-June to mid-July to accommodate some other stuff they want to do.
This makes me so blissfully happy! I will have plenty of time to do a kick-ass job now.
I will be able to go to Hawaii and enjoy myself, guilt free.
Booyah! :)

Shopping, Shopping and more Shopping

Sist-A and I went shopping today. I really wanted a chance to go before our trip to Hawaii.
It was a lot of fun. Sist-A is tons of fun to shop with. We like all the same stores and types of clothes. The only time this is a problem is when one of us races towards a new shirt, so we can claim it before the other one does.

This doesn't always work. Like when we shop separately.
We both showed up to shop today in blue jeans, a white cami and green American Eagle "favorite" t-shirts. Granted her cami had lace on it, and mine was a slightly darker shade of green, but still basically the same.
We walked around like twins until I "accidentally" spilled some soup on my shirt at lunch and changed into one of them I bought today.
I would love to pretend I did that on purpose, but I think we all know I'm just a klutz.

Still, it was lots of fun today and I got some cute clothes for Hawaii.

We met up with my step-mom to show at DSW after we were done shopping for clothes and closed down the store. We were checking out after the store "officially" closed. In our defense, they never said anything to us AND we did buy a lot of shoes.
Between us we bought 17 pairs of shoes.
4 for Sist-A.
5 for me.
8 for Fern.
Sounds crazy, right?
Sounds like a lot of shoes?
*Sigh* It was AWESOME!

I got a fantastic new pair of heels and I just love them!
If I weren't already engaged to the mashed potatoes in New Glarus, I would marry them.
I may be a bit capricious, but I'm not that bad!

All in all a pretty good day and now I'm better prepared for the big Hawaiian vacation coming up.
Are you all as psyched about that as I am?
I thought so. :)

Tired

Sometimes when I go to the gym I feel strong. I can feel the strength in my legs, heart and lungs. I work hard and sometimes push myself harder.

Then, there are those other nights. Nights where I feel weak. My knees and hips hurt. My lungs constrict and my heart pounds. Tonight was one of those nights. I was on the verge of puking the whole time I was on the treadmill. With 3 minutes to go, I had to work very hard to keep the contents of my stomach in place. I felt like a bull... or a cow I guess, since I'm a girl... in a china shop while running. I barely kept going. The only good thing I can say about tonight is that I didn't give in and slow down. I stayed running at my usual pace.

Even if the body is weak, the mind can be strong.

Cinco de Mayo

I felt like it couldn't go unmentioned that today is cinco de mayo.
Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!
I'd say feliz or something, you know, more Spanish-y, but then I might have Heather or Ashley correcting my Spanish grammar. So, nuts to that.

Also, I'm happy to report that I'm finally back in the black on sick days at work. Turns out getting in a car accident and shortly thereafter getting the flu just drains them all away. But, you know what sucks more than being in the red on sick days? Having the flu AND a broken shoulder. Boo. Dark times, kids, dark times.

Now, I'm happily healed up. I can even sleep on my left shoulder again! And I'm back in the black on sick days! Good times! Yay!

Science has proved it!

Science has finally "proved" what we (those of us that are the oldest) already knew... it IS harder being the oldest sibling.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24397323/