Anyone who has visited my home in the past TEN YEARS or read this previous blog post should have guessed the answer: A fish tank.
Specifically, it's a 65-gallon fish tank that we emptied back in 2000 when we moved to San Francisco (then back to Chicago). It got filled with stuffed animals during the move, and the stuffed animals didn't leave it again until four weeks ago. Frankly, the jokes about it needing a crane arm to look like one of those arcade games never got old.
But now that joke is so 2009, because the fish tank is a proper fish tank again.
See?
We tested it first to make sure it held water after almost 10 years of being dry. Success.
Then we called in Cousin Bob, who is our experienced aquarium man in the family, and he helped us buy a new filter and get the gravel clean and all the fun stuff.
Here's Cousin Bob on gravel duty (remember this photo is four weeks old, the Christmas tree is down by now):
And here's my husband assembling the filter:
Then we put in half a dozen hearty starter fish (zebra danios) and let the tank cycle for a month to get the bacteria on track.
This coming weekend we'll get the water tested and -- voila! -- add fish!
But not this kind of fish. This is Baby X. We do know the difference. :)
We're finally getting around to organizing some videos we've taken since Xander arrived. Here's a new one we made tonight of Dave and Xander goofing around with Xander's pacifier.
My living room at 4:45 a.m. on Sunday Feb. 8: Two party-goers are about to leave, one has stumbled down from the guest bedroom where she was napping, and eight are still singing into the microphones, voices shot.
I'm one of those eight people. At times my eyes drift off into a thousand-yard stare, but I'm still going. Miraculously. I'm 12-weeks pregnant at this time and haven't been able to stay up past 10 p.m. on most nights, but no one there except me and my husband know this little secret yet.
Everyone is singing along to Africa by Toto. Why? I don't know. I mean it's Toto. Sure, the theme of the party is Bad '70s Karaoke, but I'm pretty sure Toto isn't '70s. Oh well, I'm too tired to care. We all keep singing. It's what we've been doing for the past eight hours or so. We've forgotten how to stop.
5 a.m.: Two more people have left. We're down to seven total. Everyone quit drinking hours ago. Empty wine glasses and water bottles litter the room. The stereo is blaring American Pie, which is our official last song of the evening. We always end on American Pie.
Midway through the song, we see car lights on the street. Are the police issuing parking tickets? Not sure.
Near the end of the song, a big white light shines through the drapes of our front window, illuminating the room. Yep. I'm pretty sure that's the police.
I walk over and turn the volume way down. We finish singing. The police go away. They didn't even ring the doorbell. Turning down the volume must have been enough. I don't even think the neighbors called to complain. Must have been a routine patrol.
Post-party after 5 a.m.: The clean-up crew kicks into action. Recyclables are collected. Glassware is carried into the kitchen. Food is put away.
Three people head out to find $5 parking tickets on their cars. (Oh, those wacky suburbs and their middle-of-the-night, on-street parking laws!) The remainder of us stumble up to our respective beds and guest beds.
The party is declared a success.
So what is this karaoke madness?
It's a party we've thrown three years in a row now. We set up a computer with iTunes and use a shareware program called MiniLyrics that will scroll the song lyrics on the computer. We borrow a mixing board, microphones and speakers from our friend Rod, and go crazy with the singing. Really crazy.
Oh, the evening starts out orderly enough. The hosts and the brave guests start with some songs we've prepared. The more reserved quickly discover they can act as backup singers. By the time the night is through, just about everyone has ventured onto the stage in some way, shape or form. It's silliness. Some people choose to sing pure karaoke, most choose to sing along to the popular version of a song, two people have even brought instruments and truly serenaded the group.
Some people have a lot of fun because they love performing and watching the performances. Some people have fun because the atmosphere is an automatic ice-breaker -- you don't have to work hard to make conversation.
My favorite memories of the night?
All the fun costumes people showed up wearing. Mark, Mike, Brian and Angie in some vintage thrift-store finds, Kelly and Gene in their love-child hippie ware, Michelle in her glittery hat, Jules in her Ring of Fire boots, JC in her Mary Tyler Moore outfit and updo, Hilly in his pirate shirt and wig, Dave in his cowboy hat and John Denver shirt. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few.
There was the number where Dave kept putting different hats on Mario while he sang. It was totally spontaneous, and Mario kept soldiering through the song, being a good sport about the silliness.
Dave's outrage when Hilly's Superstitious performance was rated the best of the night (even though he'd won the title for the same song last year, and Superstitious didn't even fit the '70s theme.)
Mark pulling out his flute to play along to Jethro Tull (really late in the night).
The fact that just about every girl managed to talk Mark into singing a duet.
The dogs wanting to be underfoot all the time. Thor eventually finding a hiding spot under the DJ table so he could be near me.
The three 28-year-olds working so hard to pull us out of our 70s mellow-song rut and livening things up with some Baby Got Back and Fresh Prince.
Hilly and Paul dancing with anyone and everyone.
Jaye taking video from her comfy spot on the wing-back chair in the bar, scolding anyone who stepped in front of her.
Jaye and Mario trying to make Kyle jealous by posing for photos on the wing-back chair.
Dave talking wrong lyrics into my ear as I'm trying to sing You're My Best Friend.
That's what comes to mind in the five minutes I took to think it over. I'm sure I'm missing other fun moments. (If you were at the party, feel free to remind me of other moments in the blog comments.)
Need photographic and video evidence?
Check out the 176 photos and 20 videos we uploaded to Flickr. Evidence is collected from cameras belonging to Kelly, the Hillys, Mike and me (thanks Jules and eveyone else who picked up one of these cameras and snapped off some photos). Also thanks to Dave and Jaye for the video.
What did we sing for all those many hours?
Here's the official list as transcribed from our notes.
Haley & Jaye, Yesterday's Once More (Carpenters)
Dave & Haley, Billy Don't Be a Hero (PaperLace)
Mark, Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)
Mike, Jackie Blue (Ozark Mountain Daredevils) Kelly, I Feel the Earth Move (Carol King)
Tom, You Take My Breath Away (Rex Smith?)
Brian & Michelle, Whenever I Call You Friend (Loggins & Nicks)
Mario, You May Be Right (Billy Joel)
Jennifer, You're So Vain (Carly Simon)
Stacy, Coin-Operated Boy
Gene & Kelly, Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Elton John & Keiki Dee)
Mike, What's So 'Bout Peace, Love And Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Hilly & Paul, Wildfire (Mike Murphy)
Dave, Mandy (Barry Manilow)
Michelle, Get Right Back to Where We Started From (Maxine Nightengale)
Amber, Cecilia (Simon & Garfunkle)
Joanne, Beautiful (Christina Aigulara)
Jennifer & Mark, Summer Lovin' (John Travolta & Olivia Newton John) Hilly, Rock With You (Michael Jackson)
Mario, Lola Live (The Kinks)
Mike & Kelly, Do That To Me One More Time (Captain & Tenille)
Amber, This is How we Do It (Montel Jordan)
Jennifer & Jaye, Delta Dawn (Helen Reddy)
Haley, Rock the Boat (The Hues Corporation)
Stan, Locomotion (Grand Funk)
Dave, Jaye, Mark & Haley, The Rose (Bette Midler)
Amber, Blister in the Sun (Violent Femmes)
Gene, I Saw the Light (Todd Rundgren)
Rod & Tesha, You Dropped a Bomb on Me (The Gap Band)
Mark, After the Loving (Engleburt Humperdink)
Hilly, The Joker (Steve Miller Band)
Joanne, You Make Me Feel (Aretha Franklin)
Stacy, Bring Me Some Water (Melissa Ethridge)
Mike, It's Too Late (Carol King)
Kelly, You Are Everything (Stylistics)
Amber & Shannon (& April???), Fresh Prince Theme Song (Will Smith)
Mario, Me and Julio Down by the School Yard (Paul Simon)
Mark, Reminiscing (Little River Band)
Hilly & Mark, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing (Leo Sayer)
Tom, Vehicle (The Ides of March)
Gene, Moondance (Van Morrison)
Rod & Tesha & Angie, Baby Got Back (Sir Mixalot)
Hilly, Superstition (Stevie Wonder) -- reprise from last year
Mike, Brother Louis (Stories?)
Haley, I Am Woman (Helen Reddy)
Dave, Little Willy (Sweet)
Joanne & Mark, You Don't Bring Me Flowers (Neil Diamond & Barbra Streisand)
Mario, Hard Luck Woman (Kiss)
Angie & Tesha, Schoop (Salt N' Pepa)
Amber, I Wish (Skeelo)
Stacy, Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves (Cher)
Mark, Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
Haley, You're My Best Friend (Queen)
Mike, Brandy (Looking Glass)
Mario, Weekend in New England (Barry Manilow)
Stacy, Wig, Wham, Bam (Sweet)
Angie, Come Through My Window (Melissa Ethridge)
Haley & Mark, Top of the World (Carpenters)
Mike, Kung Fu Fighting (Karl Douglas)
Dave, Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)'
Paul, Wichita Lineman (Glenn Campbell)'
Mario, Radio, Radio (Elvis Costello)
Amber, The Next to Be with You (Mr. Big)
Mark, Coming to America (Neil Diamond)
The Gay Pirate Duo (Dave & Hilly), I Want to Be Your Everything (Andy Gibb)
Joanne, If I Ain't Got You (Alicia Keys)
Mike, Laughter in the Rain (Neil Sadaka)
Mark, Carefree Highway (Gordon Lightfoot)
Stacy & Mark, The Impression that I Get (Might Boss Tones)
Mario, Everything I Own (Bread)
Mike, Sometimes When We Touch (Dan Hill)
Mark, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
Stacy, Only the Lonely (The Motels)
Dave & Chris, Escape (The Pina Colada Song), (Rupert Holmes)
Mario, Burning Love (Elvis Presley)
Mike, Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
Tom, I Can't Hold Back (Survivor)
Haley & Angie, 3 a.m. (Matchbox 20)
Angie, It's in His Kiss (Cher)
Stacy, Angel from Montgomery (Bonnie Wrait)
Mark (aka Panfir) on the flute, Bouree (Jehtro Tull)
GROUP SINGALONG
Afternoon Delight
Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac)
Renegade (Styx)
Stayin' Alive (Bee Gees)
Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (MeatLoaf)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
This Beat Goes On/Switchin to Glide (The Kings)
Fox on the Run
Don't Stop Believin'
Carry on Wayward Son (Kansas)
Beth (Kiss)
Turning Japanese
Africa (Toto)
I've Done Everything for You
Love is Alright Tonite
American Pie (Don McLean)
I found this on Aerten's Blah, Blah, Blah site a few weeks ago. It looked like fun, so I had to try it.
Things I've done in my life (in bold):
1. Started my own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp 67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club 93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant
Want to play along? Copy the list to your own blog (or email) and highlight the things you've done.
I've handled more pumpkin guts in the past few days than I'd ever imagined. OK, it's not really *that* many pumpkin guts. Maybe it's only four pumpkins that I had my hands inside, scooping out the innards and scraping the flesh clean.
When you go to two pumpkin carving parties, your hands are bound to get dirty.
Sunday night, in what threatens to be an annual tradition, we had the neighbor girls over to carve pumpkins. We hit four different stores in our quests for the perfect pumpkins. I fell in love with this horribly scarred and pimpled one, while my husband searched high and low for the perfect big and small pumpkin duo.
And here's a close up of my husband's pumpkin, which is actually two pumpkins screwed together in a "must eat brains" fashion, and a close-up of Linnae's pumpkin, which is also two pumpkins screwed together in a "must suck brains" fashion.
Then Tuesday at work, the social committee threw a pumpkin carving party. At first I told myself I was just going to play photographer, but then I found myself getting into the act.
In the end we carved and decorated 18 pumpkins. Some were carved free-hand, some were carved using templates, and some were decorated using Mr. Potato Head-type plastic parts.
I used a Jack Skellington template to make my own Nightmare Before Christmas pumpkin. I'm pleased with how it turned out.
P.S. I promise this is the last of the pumpkin carving posts. Unless I get some good photos of the pumpkin decay cycle or something. OK, sorry, I just can't promise. Maybe there will be more pumpkin posts and maybe there won't. I don't know. I really like pumpkins. :P
I don't think I've ever blogged about my workout schedule. I didn't have an interesting angle, until now.
I've been working out with Stan for a couple years. One evening of personal training a week, and then a weekend warriors class with him on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I (*ahem*) try to get in a fourth workout on my own, but find that if I don't have someone at the gym waiting for me, I often don't make it there.
We do a lot of activities that work the cardiovascular system and the core muscles, focusing on both strength and balance and endurance. I think they call that functional training. It's not my area of expertise, but I'm pretty sure that what it's called. (Hint: If you look at the client photos on Stan's site, you can find some unflattering photos of me working out. There's lots of sweating involved.)
Since I work at a desk job and can be a couch potato at home, I need something to motivate me to get moving. (As if both my parents having heart attacks in their 50s wasn't enough motivation.) For those three hours a week I'm with Stan, I'm motivated and focused and I get a really good workout.
Anyway, that's not the interesting angle I promised in the lead. What's interesting is that for the past month or so, Stan has been a trainer without a formal gym. The old personal training gym closed, and while Stan has been looking for a new location, we've been doing our weekend workouts outside -- Saturdays in a park and Sundays at a local high school track. It officially become too cold to workout outside this past weekend, but up until then our Sunday workouts were here:
What is "here"? It's Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn, Ill., known informally as the castle on the hill. Imagine me huffing and puffing and running around the track, dodging goose poop and being dazzled by the view. I took this photo one morning after our workout.
Why do I feel the need to blog about it now? Because ESPN just recently named it one of the best high school football stadiums. Here's what ESPN had to say:
7. Bill Duchon Stadium (Glen Ellyn, Ill.)
The field is surrounded by woods on three sides, and with the man-made Lake Ellyn Park behind the visitors' stands, the crowd atmosphere on Saturday afternoons (there are no lights) appears right out of the movies. In fact, scenes from the movie "Lucas" were filmed at the site. The high school, built in 1923, looks like a castle, complete with turrets, and sits atop a hill behind the home bleachers. After a Hilltopper victory, the home-team players storm up the hill to ring a victory bell to announce to the town they've won. The field is named after a longtime coach/athletic director who still resides in the affluent suburb west of Chicago.
Oh, and about that movie mentioned -- Lucas? My husband was an extra in one of the crowd scenes. I'm pretty sure you can't actually see my husband in any of the crowd shots in the movie, but he was there and can tell you in minute detail how mind-numbingly boring filming a movie can be.
P.S. I'll give 100 Entrecard credits to anyone (up to 2 people) who locate a photo of me on Stan's site and link to it in the comments. Why? I have no idea.
Update: Fragileheart found two of the four pictures. There are still two more on the site. Hint: In one I'm photographed with Karen and in the other with Yvonne.
Technically speaking, this photos has some issues, but I like it anyway.
I took this in Sydney, Australia, during our family vacation in 2007. We were wandering around The Rocks section of the city, which is a really old area of town at the base of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, when we came across this pub called the Australian Hotel. While my husband sampled the huge varieties of beer, I had some fun with my camera. This photo is looking over the bar. In the mirror, you can see me taking the photo, along with the rest of my family.
This photo was used with permission in the fourth edition of our Schmap Sydney Guide. You can see the online version here, and the iPhone version here.
We purchased a new video camera using one of those rewards points programs, and the camera just arrived this week. The first video we made was a conversation with Miss Loki.
Loki will initiate these conversations when she's feeling particularly needy for attention, which is a few times a day.
Every time we play this video, Thor will come running into the room, looking for Loki. Sometimes he'll run over and give her kisses to make sure she's OK. Loki, on the other hand, doesn't raise an eyebrow when the video is played.
Now that I've figured out how to upload a video to YouTube, I need to learn how to edit and splice video. Someday. Maybe soon.
Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. My husband sometimes gets a little squeamish about me using photos of him in my blogs, so instead I'm featuring one of my favorite photos of his backside. :P
This photo was taken during our vacation to Australia last year. Dave and my Auntie Edie are walking up the path to Domaine Chandon in the Yarra Valley outside of Melbourne.
I like the way the path curves off and out of the picture. Even through the vineyard is dormant, I like the winter greenery around it. I like the contrast of sun and shadow over the vineyard and into the mountains. I like the fact that even through Edie is using a cane, she still looks like she has a spring in her step -- it seems like a jaunty accessory and not a tool.
Mostly, I like that my husband is in it. :) Happy Anniversary.
1. This is going to be long. I apologize. But that's what happens when I let things collect for a few weeks. I'll try to present it in the most skimmable format I can. I've included lots of pictures, too. :P
2. We had some torrential rains here in the Chicago area over the weekend. Something like 6.6 inches on Saturday alone, which is a new record for the area. There was a lot of flooding. You'd think I might have gone out with my camera to take photos, but I didn't. The best I got was this shot with my cameraphone of geese swimming in a flooded parking lot. Fortunately, we didn't get any water in our house, although we did have a small lake form in our back yard.
3. I've been writing and brainstorming a book proposal with friends. It's an updated version of The Hunting Lodge project I've mentioned in the past. Oh, and The Viking's Tale project is on track. I'm going to work on that more as soon as I finish this post.
4. I received the best non-job offer ever. I applied for a lateral technical writing position in my company. Instead of writing documents for internal consumption, it would have been writing for users of our software. The only problem was that it was a new position and they needed someone really strong in FrameMaker and RoboHelp and with a lot more experience writing users manuals and training manuals than I have, and those factors outweighed my strong product knowledge. But they said they loved me as a candidate and that people in the office lobbied really hard for me to get the position. Basically, it sounds like if I brush up on some skills, they'd like to groom me for a second position whenever it opens up.
5. I'm thinking about applying to enter a masters degree program in New Media Studies at DePaul University. I looks like something I would enjoy, plus if I take a technical writing course there, it would count as an elective. Not looking forward to having to take the GRE's though.
6. I'm signing up for a 3-day course in FrameMaker. My boss just gave me the go-ahead to register.
7. My husband has officially been through a tornado. The village newsletter that we received last week proves it. The tornado happened back on Aug. 4 and was part of a series of tornadoes that were recorded in the Chicago area that night. In the photo below of the newsletter, the red lines mark the path of damage and the route the tornado took.The X marks the spot where my husband was at the gym. The little twister icon represents a touch-down point. Lucklily, it was a small tornado as tornadoes go (an EF1) and it only did major damage to five houses and one warehouse in town.
My husband said that when the tornado went through, everyone was sent to shelter in the locker rooms. There were about 100 guys crammed into the room. A couple of the big, burly guys said this is crazy and walked out, only to hurry back into the locker room when they saw how badly the plate glass windows were bowing in the wind.
8. We now officially have no phone books in our house. That's OK, since we don't use them anyway thanks to Internet search engines. My husband did his Bionic Woman impression on Saturday night and tore a phone book in two. If you've watched Mythbusters lately, you know exactly where this is coming from. If you haven't, check out this clip. We also tried interleaving the pages of two phone books, and verified that you can't pull them apart, but we no longer have the books as we sent them home with our school-teacher friend to bring to class.
9. Cousin Bob sent my husband this link for Geddy Lee of Rush giving Celebrity Winter Advice. Funny in an odd sort of way.
10. These are my favorite chocolates -- Joseph Schmidt truffles. Thank heaven I don't live in San Francisco anymore and can't get these on a regular basis.
12. I bought this really cool wrist-band at a flea market in San Francisco last month. It's made out of latex paint. Check it out at The Land of Fa.com.
13. None of the products mentioned in this post have paid for placement. I mention them simply because I think they're cool, or interesting, or they were sitting in front of me on my desktop at the time of writing.
(That's me admonishing myself for neglecting this site.)
*Shuffles to computer
*Licks owie
*Starts typing
Here's something I started to write last Thursday. I thought it could be a Thursday 13 post. Obviously, since it's no longer Thursday, that plan had to be scrapped, but I'm staying with the 13 things theme.
13 Things I did in August
1. I neglected my blog. Yes, but you already know that because you're smart and you read the opening of this post or you visited this site during the past month and figured that out for yourself.
2. I attended a writers conference. Went to the Romance Writers of America conference in San Francisco where I pitched to an editor and received a request to submit my erotica short story. Also went to all sorts of inspiring workshops and talked with all sorts of creative people (perhaps I'll write about that some more at a future date). I came home much recharged.
3. I worked more on that short story. A lot. There is much erotica in said short story. What's important is that I've been working on my fiction. Yay me!
4. A tornado touched down in my town. It wasn't an overly large tornado -- all we lost was a tree branch -- but it was very scary. I was driving home from work when it hit. I was listening to the radio and knew it was stupid to keep going into the path of the confirmed tornado, so I pulled over at the Oasis rest stop and waited out the storm with a bunch of other cautious (and scared) motorists.
5. I watched the Olympics. A lot of Olympics. It was constantly playing in the background whenever I was home.
6. I finally saw The Dark Knight at the theater. Excellent. I can see what all the hoopla was about. My husband still insists that Iron Man was a much better movie. Me? It's a toss-up.
7. I got to see my friend Wook when he came in for a surprise visit. It was a surprise even to him. The airline canceled his connecting flight at O'Hare, so he stayed the night with us. It took my poor dog Thor a few days to get over this visit from his own personal Satan, but the rest of us were happy to see Wook. :)
8. I enjoyed an afternoon at the racetrack. We celebrated my husband's 40th birthday by inviting a group of friends to go to Arlington Park with us. I bet the $2 minimum on just about every race, losing far more than anything I won, but I had a lot of fun. We all did. We couldn't have ordered up more beautiful weather.
9. I got to be a mock bridesmaid at a friend's mock wedding. Jules celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary by renewing her wedding vows. That's where all the "mock" business comes in. It was a gorgeous night, a very moving ceremony, and I was thrilled to be included in such an honored capacity.
10. I applied for another job within my company. It would be a lateral move to a different tech writing position, but it would be a welcome change. Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself by mentioning it here. There's a lot of interviewing still to be done.
11. I helped to run the draft for my husband's Fantasy Football league. I ran the computer, inputting the selections as players were drafted. I even remembered to wear my referee shirt from last year's Halloween costume. It was a big hit.
12. I saw Alice Cooper in concert. It was a fun show. We drove up to the Genesee Theater in Waukegan. It's an old theater with all sorts of gilded decorations inside, so it made for an interesting setting. I could imagine the society matrons from 75 years ago fainting at the sight of big, burly, inked Harley types filling the red velvet seats of this one-time posh theater. If that didn't get them, I'm sure Alice Cooper killing a babydoll and then mock hanging himself on stage would have done it for them.
I almost forgot No. 13. Seems like it should have ended on an even dozen. But yet, here I am, so...
13. Got the dogs into the vet for their annual checkups. That's actually big news for Miss Loki, who was diagnosed with a cancerous mast cell tumor during last year's checkup. She received a clean bill of health this time. Plus, both dogs were down 10 pounds. Their diets are working. (I can't say so much for mine.)
Now I'm all caught up. My blogging is back to a clean slate. Here's looking forward to a prolific September and no more swatting myself with rolled up newspapers.
As part of my blogoversary celebration last week, I invited people to send me questions. Claire at A Little Piece of Me picked up the challenge and sent me a list.
Hello, get a coffee and relax. It's interview time with Claire :)
OK, I don't have a coffee, but I do have my feet up on my desk, so I'm as relaxed as I can be. (Honestly, my feet are up. My husband has no idea how I can type this way, but I manage quite well.) Having been a reader of Mills and Boon since I was about eleven, I would like to know what your first romance novel was and how old you were when you read it.
I could go with the short and easy answer, but I won't because I think the payoff is better when I tell it this way.
My third-grade teacher wanted to put me into a remedial reading class. She said I had reading issues (and that I reminded her of her ex-husband). In fourth grade, at my new school, I tested normal for reading. In fifth grade, I read my first novel-length book, Flowers in the Attic. By sixth grade, I'd been placed in an honors reading program. I discovered historical fiction that year and decided I especially liked stories of the American West, such as the Little House on the Prairie series and epic-length books such as Sacajawea.
In seventh grade, I was checking out the books on the supermarket book rack and I saw a book cover with an American Indian on the front. It looked like an interesting story, so I bought it. I didn't care that I was having trouble pronouncing the title: Defiant Ecstasy. (You try to sound out the word Ecstasy -- there are some vowels missing there.)
From that moment on, I was hooked on historical romance. I think my parents were a little bemused by some of my selections, but they didn't try to hold me back. At least I was reading.
What does the husband think of your blog and have you ever said to him 'oh I am going to blog that!'.
He doesn't get the whole blogging thing, the compulsion to write, and especially the time I put into it. A few months ago, I subscribed him to my email feed so that he could at least know what I was up to. Every once in a while he'll yell from the other room something like "What the hell is a Wordless Wednesday?" He was thrilled this week when he discovered the Odiogo link and vowed that would be the only way he'd read my posts now. LOL
The most recent example of "I'm going to blog that" was recently when we were changing out the bathroom fixtures in our powder room. When I grabbed the camera, he said "I suppose you're going to blog about this."
My only possible response: "Of course I am."
Then I did clarify that since the toilet paper holder we were getting rid of was HATED by many of our friends (you'd have to read the full story), and the friends would appreciate the documentation. That seemed to pacify him.
Can you see yourself blogging for another three years and beyond?
Yes. For the first few years I sometimes felt like I was blogging into a void. I did nothing to promote the blog and I only had a few readers. But, I blogged anyway. If I kept blogging through that, I don't see what would make me stop now.
How rude is this novel of yours going to be, if you had to put a movie rating on it.
The novel that I've completed, Prairie Fire, would probably earn an R rating. The novella I'm working on is erotica and by definition would earn an X rating. (I'm staying with officially sanctioned movie ratings here.)
and finally, when do I get to read it?
If you promise not to analyze me afterward, you (Claire) can read it in the next few months. Everyone else would have to wait until it was published, and since I don't have a publisher for it yet, who knows when that will happen. :)
My husband turns 40 this week. In honor of his birthday, I pulled this photo out of the scrapbook. This is from the surprise party I threw him on his 18th birthday. Yes, 22 years ago. In my parents' basement.
Here he is hamming it up right after recovering from the surprise.
Who would think this little thing could ignite such passion? Do you know what it is? It's a toilet tissue holder.
The toilet tissue holder in our main-floor powder room has been the bane of many of our guests. Tug on the tissue as you normally would, and the tissue and the support rod will often roll out, sending the rod to the ceramic tile below with a loud "tink!"
Several people actively hate the thing.
Last year, Marriott promised me a new tissue holder as a birthday gift. For Christmas, she promised me a new towel rod to match. By my birthday this year, she added a new matching faucet. Problem was, I was being picky about color and style, and we were going to the wrong stores to find that color and style.
Finally, two weeks ago, the hardware was purchased. (Thank you, Marriott!)
So over the weekend, Dave and I put on our home-improvement hats and tackled the bathroom.
Here's the new tissue holder. Walla! There is no annoying bar to fall and embarass guests.
The faucet was far more of a challenge, requiring actual plumbing work, which both Dave and I are total novices at. But Dave rose to the challenge with me stepping and fetching and being all-around assistant.
While we were at it, we swapped the mirror for a gorgeous custom-made one that JC had given me for my birthday over a year ago. (Thank you JC!) See the before and after:
But the room isn't done yet.
I have a few holes to fill and some touch-up painting to do. I'm tempted to paint the cabinet a darker color. The white just isn't working for me anymore.
Oh yeah, and I have to figure out a way to feature the old tissue holder. Maybe with some sort of sign giving Marriott appropriate credit. Trust me, many accolades will be coming her way for making me retire this thing.
Almost every year my mother, my sister and I get together for a garage sale. We've been doing this for many years.
This time, there were four families contributing toward the sale, with my Mom's cousins joining in. All told, we made about $450 for two days of work last weekend. My take was about $90, which is actually a bigger percentage of the earnings than usual.
Usually, when I bring home my meager earnings, my husband will wonder why we even bother, because it's surely not worth the money for the time we put into it. But lately, he's caught on that there are many reasons why we hold our annual garage sale, and money is only a small one.
Recycling
To me, it's recycling at its most satisfying. Not only do I have a reason and a deadline for sorting through my closets and such, but I also get the satisfaction of seeing my treasured junk find its way into the hands of someone who wants and/or needs it.
This year there was the family buying up kids clothes for their grandson who was coming for a long visit, but his mother never sends along enough clothes.
There was the single father setting up a new home who needed a kitchen table.
There was the young couple with the cute little girl who snatched up the window air-conditioning unit. They had me stretching my memory for the right words to assure them in Spanish that yes, indeed, it did work. I managed to come up with trabajar. I couldn't conjugate it, but it got the message across.
And there was the lady who liked the three wavy-shaped glass jars as much as I did and was willing to pay 75 cents for them. Hopefully, she'll find a better use for them than I did (see Wordless Wednesday: Trapped, but without the Beanie Babies).
Truthfully, we practically gave our stuff away. I wrote out a lot of price tags at 50 cents, $1 and $2, and was happy to be haggled down. Even though there were a couple large-ticket items that sold, there were hundreds of small things that found new homes during those two days. In the end, what didn't sell was boxed up and donated to charity.
Socializing
But then there's also the social aspect of the garage sale. It's an excuse to sit around with my mother and sister all day. We talked a lot, but we also kept busy with the business-related tasks.
We also got to see many of my Mom's neighbors. My Mom has lived in the house for 30 years, so I remember many from my own childhood in the house, or I've heard my Mom talk about them.
The people watching was pretty fascinating, too. People of all different ages, ethnicities and financial situations came through. They didn't necessarily need what we were offering, but they were curious to see what we had.
One of the best things this year, though, was seeing my nephews get into the experience. My 8-year-old nephew, Louis, ran a lemonade stand. He didn't do great business, but he was diligent about trying to sell. My almost-12-year-old nephew, Drake, manned the our bank and worked as our cashier. He was a dedicated worker both days, and a lot of the customers got a kick out of watching him take the job so seriously.
One of the my favorite memories of the weekend was watching Drake and my sister count and recount the money and tally the books at the end of the sale. There was a lot of high finance going on there as we tried to figure out how much each of us made. Which, of course, left me free to take photos. :)
I know this is supposed to be wordless, but I can't help myself.
With all this wild weather we've been having in the Midwest, a tree falling in our backyard seems very trivial.
Amazingly, both my husband and I watched this tree come down. We were looking out the back window watching the trees sway furiously in the wind during a storm, then heard a giant "crack" and watched the top of the tree fall off. Fortunately, it landed in the center of the yard and didn't damage anything, although it was inches from one of my new rose bushes.
When the weather cleared about 30 minutes later, we borrowed a chain saw and quickly had the tree to the curb for collection by the village.
If you look at the bottom photo, you can see where the tree cracked. It's way at the top of the photo, about 20 feet up the tree trunk.
