Collin: What did you do while you were awake last night?

Me: Genealogy. I finally found some info on the Knight side of things. Turns out that I'm a direct descendant of King Henry I!

Collin: Wow!

Me: Yeah! I was thinking as the dates on these people went farther and farther back that they never seemed to keep track of peasants so I had to be related to nobles somehow. And then I saw it - Margaret de Clare, daughter of Gilbert de Clare. He was married to Joan Plantagent, who, if I'm not mistaken, was called The Fair Maid of Kent.

Collin: To her face.

Labels: Conversations

|

I got to talking to Ginny tonight at work about being mistaken for other people. Strangers who think she's her sister come up and talk to her all the time. My Dad always knows someone whenever we go out anywhere - in fact it got so bad that Mom & Dad would make $20 bets as to whether or not they would see someone they knew.

It doesn't happen to me often. But one time about 4 or 5 years ago, it wasn't just one person who thought they knew me....

I was going to Grand Junction with Mom & Dad and before we got on the road, we stopped at Wal-Mart on 8th Street to get snacks and such. While we were standing in line, the man in front of us kept looking back at me. Looking, looking, looking....finally he decided to change lanes and passed by us. He looked right at me, smiled really big and said, "Hey! How are you doing?"

"Good, how are you," I answered, mostly out of habit. I had no idea who this man was.

"Good, thanks. Well, great to see you." Mom looked at me, waiting for me to say, "Oh, that was Bob from work" but what she got was, "Hell if I know who that was!"

"He sure seemed happy to see you," she said. I had pretty much forgotten about it by the time we reached the McDonald's right across the street. The manager was in the kitchen and the whole time we were ordering he just kept a-starin' at me, just like the Wal-Mart guy.

Pretty soon he came up front and asked how I was doing and said he hadn't seen me in here in a long time. I played along, smiling and laughing. When we walked out, Mom looked at me again for the explanation. I had none. I didn't know him, either!

The only thing we could come up with was that I must look like someone who's from around that area. But considering the place where crazy people go to chill and pill is just up the hill, I'm not so sure that's a compliment!!

Labels: stories

|

**WARNING. LONG POST FOLLOWS**

Consider yourself warned. I stole this quiz (yet again) from El Sid. She called it a "gay little rainbow quiz." We'll see what happens....

* Red *
Closest red thing to you? The "-=" button on the adding machine.
Last thing to make you angry? This idiot kid who was waiting at Wold to turn left onto Maizeland. I was going to turn left on Wold and when I turned on my blinker, he decided that meant he was suddenly granted the right of way and turned in front of me. Idiot.
Ever been in love? Yes. I am now.
Are you a fan of romance? I love romance. I can't count how many times I saw Titanic or how many sappy romance books I've read and cried over!

* Orange *
Closest orange thing to you? The "I need assistance" light on the prober.
Do you like to burn things? Incense. Candles. I'm not a pyro like some people I know.
Dress up for halloween? Yep. If I'm not working.
Are you usually a warm-hearted person? Of course!
Do you have anything against ginger hair? Nooo...weird question.
Are you usually full of energy? Depends on what day it is & if I've worked.

* Yellow *
Closest yellow thing to you? The sticky note stuck to the side of my computer telling what time the wafers get out of the data retention bake oven.
Favourite holiday? Christmas & my birthday. It's a holiday - in Italy!
What makes you smile? Collin, Sam, kittens, puppies, our new house...
Are you a coward? Depends on the situation.
Do you burn or tan? I freckle. I used to burn but my skin decided that was passe so it started freckling. Collin once suggested I circle the freckles on my body before I went out into the sun to see how many new ones popped up!

* Green *
Closest green thing to you? The power light on the PEMAV test system.
Do you care about the environment? Sure.
Are you jealous of anyone right now? Skinny women.
Are you a lucky person? I can be. Don't wanna tempt the gods, now!
Do you always want what you can't have? No.
Do you like being outdoors? Sure. I like it more when it's overcast and stormy, though. I don't need any more freckles!

* Blue *
Closest blue thing to you? The mouse pad.
Are you good at calming people down? Actually, pretty good. I had a lot of practice on an old friend who was constanltly freaking out!
Do you like the sea? I suppose. I've only seen it maybe 3 times.
Last thing to make you cry? A book.
Are you a logical thinker? After I get over the fanciful thoughts, my logical personality always takes over.
Can you sleep easily? Yes. Light, dark, quiet, noisy - - it doesn't matter.

* Purple *
Closest Purple thing to you? Hello Kitty's shirt on my notebook.
Like being treated to expensive things? Of course!
Do you like mysterious things? Love them!
Favourite type of chocolate? White.
Are you creative? I like to think so.

* PiNk *
Closest pink thing to you? My Hello Kitty notebook cover.
Are you gay/bisexual? No. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Sorry - Collin & I have been watching Seinfeld.
Do you like sweet foods? Love them! Too much!
Like play-fighting? Sometimes.
Are you sensitive? Oh, yes! In fact I'm crying right now.
Do you like punk music? Yes.

* White *
Closest white thing to you? My list of work equipment.
Would you say you're innocent? Yes.
Always try to keep the peace? Yeah, unless I'm the one fighting.
How do you imagine your wedding, if you want one? I did the big poofy wedding once before & it didn't turn out so hot. The next one (if there WILL be a next one - ahem, ahem) I want to be fun and laid back with drinking and dancing which I didn't get at my last one. I still want the pretty dress, though, although I'm thinking of a champagne color this time around.
Do you like to play in the snow? I love snow! As long as I'm not driving in it!
Are you afraid of going to the doctors or dentists? Not doctors but dentists. They're all minions of Satan.

* Black*
Closest black thing to you? The password written on the computer monitor.
Ever enjoy hurting people? No.
Are you sophisticated or silly? So silly.
Afraid of death? Sometimes. Although if he comes to collect me and I get to ride his horse, Binky, it's all cool.
Would you like to go to space? Absolutely NOT!
Do you have a lot of secrets? Pfft! I'm a yapper. I tell everybody EVERYTHING!!!

* Misc *
What is your favourite colour? Purple although Jordyn insists that it's pink.
Does the colour you wear affect your mood? No. I tend to dress according to my mood.
You prefer contrasting or harmonizing colours? Whatever goes together.
Do you like to paint? I like painting walls but I can't paint pictures like my genius father.
What colour would you think best symbolises your personality? Hot pink.

Labels: Quiz

|

Last week Ginny, Prescilla & I took our usual trek to IHOP for lunch. This was our order:

-1 side salad w/ ranch
-2 chicken noodle soups
-1 chicken strips basket
-1 IHOP burger
-1 diet pepsi
-2 coffees

When we got the bill, it looked like this:

-1 chicken strips basket
-1 IHOP burger
total: $13.94

We were floored!! Not only did she not charge us for most of our order, she gave us the business discount on top of everything! This week, we were hoping for the same treatment but when we got our bill, she had charged us for everything, including drinks. I started saying she should give us free apple pie. The more I clamored, the more Ginny & Prescilla decided that apple pie sounded good. So Ginny went and grabbed the waitress and told her what we wanted. When she brought the pie - ala mode, nonetheless - she told us that since we had to "hunt her down" to order dessert, the pies were on the house!!!

Ask and ye shall receive, my new motto! :-)

Labels: stories

|

Jordyn: You know whose music I really like?

Me: Who?

Jordyn: Mario Speedwagon

Labels: Jordyn

|

Pat Angello had a cool post about meeting a girl who saw spirits and it reminded me of what my Mom told me the other day: my Grandma believes there's a ghost in her house.

Now this is not news to anyone in our family. Her house has been haunted since I can remember and I know Derek, Mom & I have all posted about it before. I've seen the ghost, Derek's friend Ryan saw the ghost, my cousin Shelly saw the ghost...but all this time, Grandma staunchly denied it. She thought we all suffered from overactive imaginations. She would admit that she heard the kitchen table and chairs moving around in the middle of the night but it couldn't be a ghost - there was a perfectly logical explanation for it.

Yeah! A ghost!!!

Well now she thinks there is a ghost. And I think I know who it is. Grandpa.

When Grandpa passed away in March, I began having dreams about him alot right after the funeral. In every dream he was always right by Grandma. At a restaurant or at their kitchen table, he was always sitting by her closely. I took this to mean that he wanted me to tell her that he was looking out for her, that he was with her still. Since she didn't believe in ghosts, I don't think she took my telling her that as more than just me trying to make her feel better.

Well now she says things are starting to go missing in her house, things that have been in a certain place for years are disappearing. Things from her purse, things out of cupboards, Grandpa's death certificate...it's finally made her think there's a ghost.

Now the old ghost never did anything like that. He just hung around. I think Grandpa is finally starting to get frustrated and he wants her to see that he's there so he's doing things that she has no option but to notice. Or maybe he doesn't realize he's gone...hence the stealing of the death certificate. Hmmm....

He always did have a great sense of humor, though, and what better way to show his presence than acting like a bonafide ghost!! I can't wait to go back to Grandma's house!!

Labels: ghosts

|

Dad: There's a big blob of blue paint on the passenger side of my car.

Mom: Did you hit my car???

Dad: No, it's in the middle of the door so I'm assuming...

Mom: You know what you get for assuming, don't you?

Dad: Yeah, it makes an ass out of you.

Mom: And ME!!!! oh...

Labels: Conversations

|

Just to annoy the people who think I have too much time on my hands to take quizzes! :-) I found this one over at Pat Angello's site!


Have you ever been in a fantasy league? Yes...well, no...I guess it wasn't a real league. It was a bunch of people that my ex worked with and I was nominated to be the "secretary", the one who kept all the stats, because I was the only girl and guess what? I kicked all their asses and WON!!

What was the first sports jersey you ever owned? It was a Green Bay Packer Don Majkowski jersey. It didn't have his name on the back, just the 7 on each side. But I loved it!!!

10 favorite athletes:
Randy Gradishar
John Elway
Shannon Sharpe
Joe Sakic
Peter Forsberg
Stephane Yelle
Patrick Roy
Trevor Pryce
Rod Smith
Alex Tanguay

Three Athletes I secretly admire but am ashamed to admit it for fear of ridicule.
Sergei Fedorov
Ryan Smyth
Martin St Louis

Three people (outside family) you would pay to have coffee with:
Gwen Stefani
Kate Hudson
Rasputin

One Thing You Could Change if you Could:
My Dad's health - make it better.

So there you go. I liked this one because of the sports questions. So much fun!!!

Labels: Quiz

|

A little backstory before the conversation starts: There's a street just up the way from where my parents live called Valli Vista. It's a small, quiet street with about 20 houses. One day Dad instructed me to turn there on the way to his house because it "soothed him" being as it was so quiet and peaceful. He told me that he had never seen anyone on that street - people driving, sure, but never people in the yards or walking down the sidewalk. Said it was eerie.

One afternoon Dad & I drove by and there was an old man shuffling up the street. We were shocked but Dad decided he was a zombie because of the way he was moving. Somehow, we ended up calling Valli Vista "Zombie Lane."

Here now is the Conversation:

Dad: Ah, Zombie Lane.

Mom: I actually saw someone out in their yard yesterday on this street.

Dad: Yeah, a zombie!

(There was a man doing yard work as we passed - he had a little bulldozer and a huge pile of rocks.)

Mom: See? There's a person! He's not a zombie.

Dad: He's just doing the work. He doesn't know he's working for a zombie!

Me: Yeah. The instructions and the check were in the mailbox - he's never seen anyone.

Mom: Well, he must be a heck of an honest worker to do all that if he's already got the check.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Labels: Conversations

|

I did this once before where random songs popped in and out of my brain all night long. What's weird about this time is that I was listening to Def Leppard the whole way to work and not one DL song made into my Noggin Rotation. The last time was when I was all into Duran Duran again - at least some of their somgs made it. Here's the latest playlist:

Mike Teevee - Danny Elfman
Augustus Gloop - Danny Elfman
Crush (1980 Me) - Darren Hayes
How Do You Mend A Broken Heart - Bee Gees
Mike Teevee - Danny Elfman
Lady - Styx
Physical Fascination - Roxette
Cherry Lips - Garbage

Where any of these songs came from I have no idea. I haven't slept in 24 hours so maybe I'm picking up psychic waves from my iTunes. But I'll tell you what - - I like the Charlie & The Chocolate Factory Soundtrack a lot but try having only the buzzing Oompa Loompas in your head for 8 hours!! Argh!!!!

Labels: Music

|

God, it's sooooo hot at work that my brain has totally melted. Because of that, I'm reverting back to part 2 of the quiz that I borrowed from El Sid. It's just too hot to think of anything new.

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK? Not usually...a couple times it's happened when I really work myself up, though.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? Myself. I was sick and felt bad that I was probably going to make Collin sick, too.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PERFUME? Xi'a Xi'ang or Obsession.

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? Red hair and blue eyes...tiny blue eyes. :-)

15. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS? Pish-posh. I need none of that. Give me Diet Pepsi any day.

16. WHAT ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? Conspriacy In Death by JD Robb.

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING? Pepperoni and Onions. Light Sauce. No sauce is even better.

18. IF YOU COULD EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW WHAT WOULD IT BE? A magic pill that would make me have the body of Angelina Jolie - - pre Shiloh.

19. WHO IS THE LAST PERSON THAT MADE YOU MAD? Ummm...probably Matt from the fab. He used to work with me and he was in the break room tonight. He talks really really loud and thinks he's funny. He annoys the hell out of me.

20. DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE? Nope. I can count to 10 in Spanish, to 3 in French and say a couple things in Swedish. Not too impressive.

So there we are. 20 down, 80 to go! Whooo!!! Hope you all had a great weekend.

Labels: Quiz

|

So last night we settled down to watch a little Season 2 of Reno 911 on DVD. As the credits were rolling on the first episode, Collin's 13 year old son blurts out, "Did you know there's actually a Reno?" Much hilarity ensued as we all laughed at him. Mean, maybe but funny. Even Jordyn, who's 6, was laughing at him. At first I thought that Jordyn was laughing only because Collin and I were but then she says, "Silly Justin, Reno is a cop. Reno means cop!"

I'm not sure which was funnier. Have a great weekend!!!!

Labels: Jordyn

|

El Sid always has the greatest quizzes so...this one is inordinately long so I broke it up and will post it in parts when I'm too lazy to think of anything else! Here we go - - -



1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? I can only pick one? That's like picking a favorite child! Okay, okay - - the one on my right hand underneath my thumb - I was 4 or 5 and I cut it on an open orange juice can. It's all round and puffy and gross...awesome!!!

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? Not one, not two, not three but FIVE posters of the Eiffel Tower, one of Captain Jack Sparrow and a framed Powerman 5000 poster. Oh, and a Badfinger album (Straight Up), the mermaid that Collin drew me that's my header & 2 Patrick Roy pictures, one from Mom and the other from Dad.

3. WHAT DOES YOUR CELL PHONE LOOK LIKE? It's small...silver & orange. Plays pretty cute music when it rings.

4. WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? Whatever I'm in the mood for. In my car I have Rascal Flatts, Nina Gordon, Cinderella & Def Leppard.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? 4:45pm.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? At this very moment...cool air and to go home (I'm at work).

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS? My Grandpa Widegren and my great Grandma Reed.

8. WHAT IS THE VELOCITY OF AN UNLADEN SPARROW IN FLIGHT? If El Sid hadn't said it, I wouldn't have known this was a mistyped Monty Python reference.

9. DO YOU PREFER HOT DOGS OR HAMBURGERS? Depends. If I'm at home, hamburgers most likely. At a ball park or carnival or what-have-you, hot dogs with sauerkraut & mustard!

10.WHAT ARE YOU CONSIDERED [[PREP, GOTH, JOCK, ETC]]? Hell, I don't know. Geek.

That's it for this installment. Trust me, this was loooooong so there's plenty more where this came from!!!

Labels: Quiz

|

That title would have worked better if I had read all these books in January but...with the exception of the short story anthology, the only 2 authors this month that I read were Nora Roberts/JD Robb & JA Jance. Once you find a good series, it's hard to quit.

63. Time and Again - Nora Roberts
64. Remember When - Nora Roberts & JD Robb
65. Ceremony In Death - JD Robb
66. Vengeance In Death - JD Robb
67. Midnight In Death - JD Robb
68. Once Upon A Star - A collection of short stories:
-Ever After - Nora Roberts
- Catch A Falling Star - Jill Gregory
- The Curse of Castle Clough - Ruth Ryan Langan
- Starry, Starry Night - Marianne Willman
69. Desert Heat - JA Jance
70. Outlaw Mountain - JA Jance
71. Exit Wounds - JA Jance
72. Tombstone Courage - JA Jance
73. Dead To Rights - JA Jance
74. Rattlesnake Crossing - JA Jance
75. Holiday In Death - JD Robb
76. Gabriel's Angel - Nora Roberts

The Book of the Month went to Desert Heat by JA Jance. It was the first in the Joanna Brady series and it was so good that I finished it in 5 hours. I couldn't put it down! Really close on it's heels, though, was Ceremony In Death by JD Robb. When you mix murder with witchcraft, it's all the more fun!

Next month will probably be more of the same authors. I just got 8 more JD Robb books plus I have a stack of Jance's that Shanon let me borrow. I'm definately not hurting for reading material!! :-)

Aaaand - Kathleen posted a link to this guy's site and I checked him out...you should do the same. He's pretty funny - kind of a Collin-esque style of funny.

Labels: Books

|