Okay, so anyone who has been around here for a while knows I have some pretty strange quirks. I can almost never order something right off a menu, I always have to change something around because of one food pickiness or another. Though I have gotten a lot better about it. Even Keegan says so, and he’s the one who teases me about it the hardest. I also have to put my left sock on first, though it doesn’t matter which shoe I put on first.
There are certain things that totally bug me, or that just totally squick me out, generally for no good reason other than that I’m a weirdo, which I totally blame on being dropped on my head as a baby. (Explains a lot, doesn’t it?)
So, people who are missing teeth… It just freaks me the eff out. Including both my sister and my best friend. Except for this guy I know, and was good friends with when we were in our early 20s. He was missing a tooth and it took me like, 2 years to notice. And it was a canine, so it’s not like it was just in the back of his mouth and easy to miss. Apparently it had just never grown in. He had a retainer with a prosthetic tooth attached to it, but he rarely wore it by the time I met him. He had really good oral hygiene, which probably had something to do with my not noticing. If you look like your tooth rotted out of your head, keep your mouth the hell away from me. And also, except hockey players, because, well, yeah.
And even I have no idea why, but if your bed is a mattress on the floor- um. No. Pass Go and do not collect $200, instead, collect a damn bed frame. I don’t know why this bugs me, but it does. You don’t have to have a headboard, but your bed has to be raised off the floor. Oddly, I have friends whose bed is a mattress and box spring on the floor. They got sick of breaking bed frames with all the sex. I can get behind that logic. And they have a headboard, which maybe helps.
There are other things that bug me, but the ones I can think of are the ones that bug most people, like kids not in carseats or allowed to run amok in restaurants (I used to babysit this little girl, and I’d go on vacations with the family to watch her, and they let her run around the restaurant and it nearly killed me. And I was only 13 then. (Said little girl is not so little anymore and is in fact getting married in less than a month, but that is a whole ‘nother post)). Actually, there are a lot of things I see parents do that makes me want to shake them, but since I don’t have kids yet we’ll just leave those alone. Ooooh, and people who don’t hold doors for other people, especially if said other people have their hands full.
Anyway, I’m done now. Back to gathering up paperwork to get my fix-it ticket signed off on. Which maybe I’ll tell you about later.

So, I saw this on Kathy’s blog (I’d link her but she’s mostly friends only). And being that a) it’s very difficult for me to resist a good meme, b) the subject matter interests me, and c) I haven’t posted in almost a month I thought I’d share. Here’s the “fine print”:
This meme is from “What Privileges Do You Have?”, based on an exercise about class and privilege developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, and Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. If you participate in this meme, they ask that you PLEASE acknowledge their copyright.
So there you have it. You know the drill. You are supposed to bold all the statements that apply to you, your upbringing, your family, etc. Little comments are fun too.
1. Father went to college (he went from high school into the Navy and then straight into his job of 35 years)
2. Father finished college (see above)
3. Mother went to college
4. Mother finished college
5. Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor (my mom is a teacher, but I don’t think that’s the same as professor)
6. Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
7. Had more than 50 books in your childhood home (I probably had more than 50 books in my bedroom)
8. Had more than 500 books in your childhood home (One room of our house was a library. I think it’s safe to say that there were more than 5000 books in my childhood home.)
9. Were read children’s books by a parent
10. Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18 (swimming, ballet, tennis)
11. Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 (see above)
12. The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively (I don’t even know what this means)
13. Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
14. Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs. (We had a deal. They’d pay for tuition and books until we dropped out, flunked out, or got kicked out.)
15. Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs – (I dropped out at 20, so when I went back for a semester at 26 I paid for it myself)
16. Went to a private high school
17. Went to summer camp (I went to Girl Scout Day Camp for two weeks every summer, but I don’t think that counts)
18. Had a private tutor before you turned 18
19. Family vacations involved staying at hotels.
20. Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
21. Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them – (Bought my own first car, they bought my second one but I had to pay them back)
22. There was original art in your house when you were a child (My mom’s best friend is an artist. I owned my own original art by the time I was 15.)
23. Had a phone in your room before you turned 18 (the only time there was a phone in my room was if I unplugged the den phone and plugged in this other phone we had and ran the cord across the hall and fervently hoped my dad wouldn’t catch me)
24. You and your family lived in a single family house
25. Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
26. You had your own room as a child
27. Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course (it was through my high school and it was free, but technically I did)
28. Had your own TV in your room in High School (I didn’t have a TV in my room til I was 28)
29. Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
30. Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16 (My dad worked for United for 35 years, so we flew all over the place.)
31. Went on a cruise with your family
32. Went on more than one cruise with your family
33. Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
34. You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family. (Totally oblivious. But living where we did we didn’t really need heat…)

This past weekend was the event that I have been working on (with many other people) for the past year. It went about as well as we could have hoped, and we got a lot of compliments. But getting it to go off as smoothly as it did was tiring for those of us working to make it so. I got up to my hotel room Friday night physically drained but wide awake mentally, so I switched on the TV and managed to land on the ABC Family channel. I cannot for the life of me remember what I was watching, but I remember seeing the same commercial several times. It was an ad for a worship CD- Country Worship or something like that- that had all my favorite worship songs performed by various country artists. I was tempted to “have [my] credit card ready and call now!” but I didn’t. Saturday morning ABC Family was showing “Big” so I watched that while I was waiting for my friends to meet me for breakfast, and saw the ad a few more times.
On Sunday, as I was packing up, once again ABC Family was on in my room, and the Lizzie Maguire Movie came on at 11:30. I figured if I hurried up to the car I could be home by my favorite part. But when I got home, it seemed that the hotel was using an east coast feed, as at my house, the Lizzie Maguire Movie wasn’t even starting for 2.5 hours. And somehow I wound up vegging in front of ABC Family all day (Nancy Drew, Lizzie Maguire Movie, Raise Your Voice, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants).
ABC Family shows a lot of commercials that start with “Billy Mays here for ___________” (Billy Mays is the Oxi-Clean guy). Mighty Putty, Vidalia Chop Wizard, Vidalia Slice Wizard, Furi Ozitech Diamond Fingers Knife Sharpener, and several compilation CDs from Time Life. And every time I was like, “that looks cool” or “oooh, that would totally be handy”. In some ways I am marketing person’s wet dream. Except in the way that I didn’t actually buy any of the products.
I still kinda want that one worship CD though…

If your life were a soundtrack, what would the music be?
Here’s how it works:
* open your library (iTunes, winamp, media player, iPod)
* put it on shuffle
* press play
* for every section, type the song that’s playing
* next section — press the next button
* don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool
1. Opening Credits: The Prayer of St. Gregory – Alan Hovhaness
2. Waking Up: Tune Up #1 – RENT
3. First Day at School: Popular – Wicked
4. Falling in Love: The End of the World (As We Know It) – R.E.M.
5. Breaking up: Behind These Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson
6. Prom: Mi Morena – Josh Groban
7. Life is Okay: Habanera – Carmen (East Village Opera Company)
8. Mental Breakdown: Place in This World
9. Driving: An American Symphony – Mr. Holland’s Opus (London Symphony Orchestra)
10. Flashback: World – Five For Fighting
11. Getting Back Together: Say Goodnight, Not Goodbye – Beth Nielsen Chapman
12. Wedding: I Want to Know What Love Is – Foreigner
13. Birth of a Child: In This Life – Chantal Kreviazuk (I cheated here because I refused to have it be “Life Support” from RENT)
14. Final Battle: The Last Unicorn – Kenny Loggins
15. Death Scene: The Return of the Animals – Children of Eden
16. End Credits: Make Your Own Kind of Music – Mama Cass
Okay, so this is kind of eerie how it turned out. Look at some of those selections. For those familiar with these songs- look at where they turned out. #3 and #12 amuse me. #8 really is my “mental breakdown” song. It’s the one I turn to when I’m doubting life. #9 really is a great driving song. And #16? Awesome ending credits music.
Y’all should try this, it’s fun. More behind the cut.

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My roommate picked up a Christmas tree last night. It is so ugly to me that I’m at a complete and total loss as to what to do about it. I mean, it’s a tree. It’s fine, there’s nothing specifically wrong with it, a lot of people have very similar trees. But it’s wrong. It’s not a Noble fir, it’s a Douglas. I really hate those trees. We had one last year, because it was free, and I coukdn’t justify getting another one when there was a perfectly good free tree available. But I really hated last year’s tree. Hated it a lot. Swore I’d never have that kind of tree again.
But then my roommate came home all, “Hey, I got a tree. Oh, and I got a small one because there’s not that much room in there this year…” And I, being totally surprised, could barely hide my revulsion. I totally appreciate that he took it upon himself to get a tree. I think it’s awesome. But… but… it’s not right.
I feel like I’m making way too big a deal of this. I really do. But I can’t help it. I love Christmas. I love decorating the tree and putting gifts under it and sitting in a dark room with just the tree lights on.
I really want to go and get a different tree. But I don’t want to be all “hey, thanks Roommate for getting a tree, but yours sucks and I’m getting a better one, ok?” I realize there are way bigger problems in the world, but that’s not really the point here.
Seriously, am I making a mountain out of a molehill here?

Day 319: Purse

Originally uploaded by twitterpatedme

So, I was talking to Brad recently, saying I needed shoes for an event, and he wanted to know what it was with women and shoes. And also said that I did not “need” new shoes, I “wanted” new shoes. Which, okay, he had a point.

Fast forward to yesterday, when I said I was going shopping at lunch, because I needed a belt. And due to the aforementioned conversation, I put in parentheses “in this case “need” actually means “need”. I then said “I actually need a bunch of new clothes. Shoes and purses, not so much, but clothes, yeah”.

So what did I come out of Target with? A belt, yes. And a sweater, that turns out to be cute on the hanger but not so much on me so it’s going back. And some stuff for a swap, and a DVD. And a purse. I did not need a new purse. I don’t have a brown purse, but I wasn’t hurting for one. But it was brown, and cute, which is what made me even pick it up.

I did the “swing test” which is one of the things I do with every purse that makes it past the “that’s not totally fug” stage of shopping. With the exception of my Sak, all the purses I’ve carried in the last several years have been handbags, and I want a shoulder bag. But most shoulder bags I’ve seen out right now are, in my opinion, heinous, or the straps are for skinny little arms which I do not have and therefore will not just swing onto my shoulder.

So I picked this one up and swung it onto my shoulder. And not only did it swing up with the greatest of ease, it actually stayed put. That never happens. Because I have sloping shoulders, bags never stay up- I’m constantly adjusting them or sliding them back up after they’ve fallen. So I decided to leave it on my shoulder as I continued shopping, and it stayed on my shoulder the whole time. (except for when I was trying on belts, but there was a lot of swinging my arms around involved in that process…)

And that is the story of why I bought a new purse that I didn’t need, but totally wanted. And it only cost a third of what the shoes for the event cost me, that I didn’t even wear to the event, and that are waiting to be picked up by the mailman to be returned.

We don’t have casual Friday where I work. We have “Casual My Boss Is Out” days. Today was one of them, and I wore my new jeans and “road tested” them. They’re super comfortable. I avoided stretch denim *for years*, but some of what is out there now is nice. Looks and feels like real denim, just lighter weight with a little bit of give. When I worked in retail stretch denim was this hideous substance that was cut like a stretch pant and not like a jean, and, well, I can’t even describe it because of the whole “my eyes, MY EYES!” factor that kept me from ever really looking at it.
When I was shopping for new jeans last night, I was having trouble finding my size, so I asked one of the salesladies to look in the back for me. She did, but didn’t find anything. Then she asked if I had looked at the elastic waist jeans.
Beat. Beat.
Blink.
No, I didn’t. Those? Are not jeans. Those are evil with topstitching. Jeans have a zipper and a button and pockets. Being the size I am doesn’t allow for much fashion snobbery, but I will wear a powder blue tuxedo before I will wear jeans-wannabes.

Day 318: New Jeans

Originally uploaded by twitterpatedme

Not the greatest picture of them, but my old jeans are falling apart and held up with string, so it was time. I really need a belt now. These were way more than I’d generally pay for jeans- $65 a pair- but they were the only ones the store had in my size. (They were really low on jeans) I got two pair because they were buy one get one half off, and since I needed them anyway, it made me feel like I was spending less.

What is it about women and that logic? We all seem to do it.

But I feel good in them. Other people in the store said they looked amazing. I know that the wide straight leg works well for me in slacks for work, so why not in jeans as well? I just need some tall shoes…

I’ve had “New Jersey Girl” by Nerf Herder stuck in my head for days. All the “LaLaLaLa”s at the end are preventing any other coherent thoughts, so, there you go. But you should totally download the song. It’s good.