#82 - Have my eyes examined.

Well, I finally got around to having my eyes checked! I knew they were much worse than the last time I had them checked which was probably close to 3 years ago. The doctor actually seemed flabbergasted at how much my vision had changed. Okay, I get it already, I should have had them checked a year ago! I took a couple of pictures because I like putting pictures up to match my posts, but I can't post them, for a few reasons.


1) They are on my phone and I haven't figured out yet how to get them from my phone to the computer. It was a spontaneous picture taking event.
2) I don't have hookups on this computer to do it anyway.
3) My eyes are still dilated and I don't know that I could figure it out, as blind as I am right now.

To give you the general idea so you don't feel like you're missing out on anything, the first picture was a picture of my dilated eyeball. Exciting, I know. So I've drawn a rough sketch of what I look like when my eyes are dilated:


I know, not very pleasant, is it!? And after the doctor's appointment: I am so rockin' these old person glasses. I HATE the glasses they give you when your eyes are dilated! I mean, I get it, you need like 1000 pairs for every customer, so they have to be cheap, but really? Well, at least I got it done and now I don't have to go back for a while.

We're funny.

Last night at Bible study someone asked why there were so many laws written down in the Old Testament (i.e. Leviticus) if we didn't have to follow them today. Which, by the way, I'm thankful for the fact that I'm not expected to make a living sacrifice for my sins, and that I can eat bacon (Leviticus 11:7), and many other things! Anyway, our preacher Tony started talking about how many churches have so many rules, that are completely insignificant and manmade. For example, churches that believe contemporary Christian music is evil because it sounds like the world's music. Don't get me wrong, like whatever music you want to like - the old hymns or the new rock, but don't tell me what music speaks to my heart! He started talking about pastors that require women in the church to wear dresses...

Tony: I'll require the women to wear dresses after I get through all the covetousness, deceitfulness, loving thy neighbor, living for God.... !!
Justin: Shoot, if we get through all that, I'll put on a dress!

Okay, I just thought it was funny.

What was I gonna say?

I just found a piece of paper in my back pocket. I couldn't get it out right away (my pockets are buttoned and I was doing it one-handed) so I started wondering what in the world it was. And how many times it had been washed.

It wasn't a coupon, because it was too thick.

I thought it might be the number of this used bookstore, but I remember seeing it on my dresser a couple of days ago.

Was it an old kudos from youth group? No, I never wear these pants to church.

A reminder note?

At this point, I'm digging frantically to pull this inch-long piece of paper through a half-inch open pocket, when I finally break down and pop open the button, and victoriously open the piece of paper. Yes, my height of intelligence is startling.

And what is it? A recipe I wrote down at mom's no more than half an hour earlier.

Is my memory really that bad?

#10 - Go to any hockey game

Wellllll.. okay, I have to admit, I didn't give the Fire Antz a fighting chance. We loved the Charleston Stingrays, and I really didn't believe that the Fayetteville Fire Antz could live up to our standards. Of course, we knew all the Stingrays chants ("Charrrrrrge!" "We're gonna kick the hell outta you... and you, and you and you and you!!") Well, it sounds cooler with 5000 other people chanting it as well. And we had plenty of people to go with us in Charleston (one friend was a season ticket holder, which worked out in our favor occasionally), oh, and the fact that the coliseum was less than 10 miles from our apartment really helped.

But I really wanted to go back to another hockey game, and hockey tickets are so dirt cheap, that we really couldn't go wrong. So, Saturday night, we ventured out with Steve and Aaron to take our places in the second row from the ice, right smack next to the penalty box. Right where we like to be - as close to the action as possible. You know, so you don't miss any fights! And it was actually a really great game! There were about 5000+ people there, so it was as big a deal as in Charleston, and we learned the new chants ("He shoots.. he scores.. hey goalie.. you suck!") and soon found we were sucked into it just as much as everyone else there.

Well, not everyone. That's the one thing I dislike about hockey - the other fans. Sometimes I think people have just simply been knocked on the head one too many times. The group sitting in front of us probably had season tickets. I think this because it seemed that everyone knew them, from the other people in our section, to the penalty box "guard", to the referees, to the mascot. And did not like them. They were hecklers in every sense of the word! Very irritating. Even more irritating that it was two adults with four kids, and the adults were actually enouraging the kids to yell at the players being sent to the penalty box and the refs. If I heard "Hey Zaske (the referee) GO ON A DIET!" one more time, I was about to club them upside the head with my camera case. What an awful example for the kids. But anyway, all in all we had an awesome time, and it's just too bad the season's almost over or I'd go back. Plus it's so far away for us to go, it's not really worth it except for a couple of games a year I'd say.

Proof that we were there:

We won!! If the Fire Antz get 5 goals in a game, everyone gets a free taco from Taco Bell! Alas, they got four goals. It was still a great game, especially when they got two goals in about 3 minutes in the last period. Awesome!!

Rebate Madness!!

Okay, most people know that I am a rebate fanatic. My mother taught me well. Growing up, I thought it was the coolest thing ever when mom got a check in the mail for a couple of bucks. FREE MONEY!!! So, I have been a big fan of Eckerd for their easy mail-in rebates. When Rite Aid bought out Eckerd, I was extremely upset, because I'm not a big fan of change. Would they still have rebates?, I pondered. Could I still mail them in?, I mused, while chewing my nails worriedly. And would I ever be able to figure out the new system?, I cried out while pulling on my hair.

All that fretting for nothing. Rite Aid's rebates are SO MUCH EASIER! All I have to do is go to the store, buy the things I want, go home and enter my receipt information online. All you need is your transaction number, register number and store number to enter online. They get the information from the register, and within 1-2 days your rebate amount is online.

I don't know how well you can see that, but that's my rebates from December and this month. I only buy things I need, as you can see (Listerine, toothpaste, tampons, trash bags, etc.)

I say all this to point out only one thing. #80 on my list of 101 things is to dye my hair myself because it costs so much to do it at a salon, and I so don't care enough to pay that much. As I was traipsing through Rite Aid, piling up on rebates, I noticed that Garnier was having a rebate that I hadn't noticed online (but it is on there). Their product Color Break had a price of $5.99 with a $5.99 rebate... making it FREE!! Woot woot! I have no clue what this product is, but who cares, because it's FREE!

I say all that to invite anyone to hop over to Rite Aid and get your own free hair dye so we can have a dye party. I think they're really just highlights, but anyway, that doesn't matter. I'm so proud of my great deal!

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday...

What a nice weekend. Stephen's family from Georgia came down for the weekend, to take care of some personal matters and for Stephen's great-aunt's funeral in Eden. We spent Saturday in Eden with a ton of extended family that we never get to see. Last night when we got home, I was able to go meet Jenn&Matt and Libba&Jorge for drinks at The Barn. I was so happy to see all of them!




Aren't they all so beautiful!!??

Leila and I went out for a quick trip to Pier 1 and Belk today. I had a Pier 1 gift certificate I wanted to use up, and you won't believe the deal I got!! We walked up and they had some wicker chairs for $12!! The original price was $70! We got so excited that we ran in and got cushions to go with them, and a cute outdoor lamp for a citronella candle to keep the bugs away. Yes, I picked out everything all by myself. Amazing, I know. This is what they look like: (the cushions are reversible)




And this is what everyone else did this afternoon:



It was a beautiful afternoon. I was able to go running, also. So a very relaxing Sunday! I'll not want to go back to work tomorrow.

A Cliff Noter's Dream

I recently stumbled across a really fun website. Jenn actually just pointed out today that I know the most random websites, which is true. This one is geared towards those people who think that Cliff's Notes could be just a bit more condensed. I give you Book-A-Minute! Here's some really fun examples:

"Goodnight, Moon"
Rabbit: 'Night.
The End.
------------------------
"The Sweet Valley High Series"
This girl likes this guy. And this other guy likes this other girl. And this girl likes this guy who doesn't like her but likes this other girl who only likes him as a friend. Oh, and parents are embarrassing.
The End.
----------------------------------------
"Encyclopedia Brown" (I loved these!)
Someone: Alas, something is wrong.
Encyclopedia Brown: Never fear. I will solve the mystery by employing my repertoire of obscure facts as a thinly disguised device for teaching kids education information.
(He does)
The End.
-----------------------------------
"Death of a Salesman"
Willy Loman: Everytime something bad happens, I go back in time to happier occasions.
Biff Loman: I'm a bum.
Willy Loman: Here I go again.
(Willy Loman goes back in time. Then he runs out of times to go back to, so he dies.)
The End.

Okay, I could put up a ton more, but you can see them for yourself. So funny!!

So random

I Own Number1434MillionNumbers.com

#1 - Buy a Wii

Okay, I am officially the coolest wife. At least in Pinebluff. We have been trying for ages to get a Wii. Well, I'VE been trying for ages. Stephen has been stuck on getting a PS3. And so for months we've been debating over which one to get. I was fighting a losing battle until Stephen saw some of the games that are on the Wii - Resident Evil, Metroid, Tomb Raider, Hannah Montana. Nah, I'm just kiddin about Tomb Raider. Anyway, he agreed with me that we should get a Wii. Now the problem was finding one! Best Buy and EB Games were out from the beginning. Their waiting lists are so long they weren't even taking new names for them until a couple of months from now. And we are not that patient! So my decision was to call Walmart every single day until I luck out and call when they have a shipment come in. So for two months it was, "We didn't get a shipment today" or "We've already sold out today". Until yesterday. Until the ONE DAY that I really wasn't going to call, because I was already going to be late meeting mom for lunch and we were in a hurry to get to Matthew's graveside service. But I figured, what the heck, I might as well call. Well, they had one left. One. Even with my pathetic begging they refused to hold it for me. So I booked it, for 20 loooong minutes, behind sloooow people, stoplights, and semis that refused to budge. Jenn passed me on the road and wondered why I was hunched over my wheel looking so focused. It's because I was trying very hard not to get road rage on those dumb other people on the road! I sped over to Walmart, and ran as fast as I could on three inch heels. I ran across the parking lot, around old ladies and their buggies, and sped into the electronics section. And I made it!! I was practically jumping off the ground. The men behind me in line looked at me like I was crazy, and I said, "You don't understand - these things are harder to find than diamonds!!" Although I do realize it's JUST a video game console.

I left work early because I wanted to play the Wii before church. So I timed myself to come in just after Stephen from work. I dragged in, and played the pity card. I told him I needed help getting some things out of the car, and I was sooo tired, and would he please carry the things so I could change out of my work clothes? He didn't say anything, but went out to the car. In about 40 seconds, I could tell he had opened my truck, because I heard, "WOO HOO!" come from the garage.

We hooked it up and had just enough time to each play a little tennis before church. I couldn't wait to get home and play some more! I was very antsy on our drive home, and even more so after we turned on our street and Stephen said, "Our lights aren't on. I KNOW I left our outside lights on." Suddenly we realized how dark our neighborhood looked. That's right, we were alllll powerless. Hehe, powerless. Powerless to do anything having to do with electricity!! Ba dum, chhh. Luckily mom had given us a huge bundle of Valentine's Day candy, which came in handy after we realized we couldn't cook anything for dinner. About 10:00, after Stephen was practically asleep, the electricity came back on. Of course I took that opportunity to play the Wii for almost an hour uninterrupted and not having to share. It was wonderful.

I'm sure we'll get new games soon. Right now it's just the sports package and it has tennis, baseball, bowling, golf and boxing. Also it has a thing where you play the different sports and it tells you your "Wii age". Well, at this point, I'm 71. Hopefully I can lower that a little bit.

Today at work we had Corfu for Tim's birthday lunch. It was very good, and I highly recommend it if anyone's in the mood for Greek. Their calamari is the BEST!

*mumble, mumble*

You know, I'm really surprised by the amount of people I run across who talk to themselves. I'm not saying I never talk to myself. I repeat things over and over that I don't want to forget - "soupsoupsoup" or Bible verses, or whatever else I might forget if I don't do it in twelve minutes. I'm referring to people who talk to themselves so much that I'm worried I'm supposed to be paying attention to them. A lady I know (I won't name any names) talks out loud so much that it's odd not to hear her speaking. She opens the refrigerator - "Mmm mmm mmm. What kind is this? What do I feel like? Hmm. Whose milk is this?" Are these questions I'm supposed to answer? I don't. Every so often I'll hear a yelp of joy, "He paid!" Who paid? Am I supposed to know to whom she is referring and what he was supposed to pay on? Am I excited for her? I'm not sure.

We're getting our bathrooms redone at work (don't get me started) and the plumber is here putting the toilets and sinks back in position. Every time he does a practice flush, he says, "3..2..1.. blast off!" And then as it's flushing, sings, "Let your troubles go down the drain..." Just a moment ago, he sang the entire chorus of the Sesame Street theme song. I kid you not. Maybe he has children and the song just constantly runs through his head, I don't know, but I can't imagine that it's necessary for him to sing it repeatedly. Every so often he'll say something I can't quite hear and then chuckle. I suppose he's making potty jokes.

I guess it just kind of goes against societal norms to talk out loud to yourself. Not that it particularly bothers me - I'm not trying to be picky or rude - but it just strikes me as odd. It makes me think that these people are the same people who will grasp at straws to have a conversation, rather then just sit in silence. Not that I don't have my moments of talking up a storm.

So does it irk anyone else? Or are you the person that is holding a conversation with yourself?

#29 - Watch 5 movies of Ebert's Must See list.

Alright, I finally finished watching 5 movies from Ebert's Must See list. I wish now that I had read more thoroughly the list before attempting this. I had already seen pretty much every movie on this list that I wanted to. But I trudged through.

1) Bringing Up Baby - I actually loved this movie! It was extremely funny, and Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn had really great chemistry. Their banter was hilarious!

2) Red River - A John Wayne movie. Stephen was happy to watch this with me. He has rules about watching westerns with me, namely, that I don't open my mouth. But there were parts of this movie that neither of us could resist cracking jokes at. Frankly, I don't think there are many parts of westerns that can't be made into jokes.

3) The Searchers - yet another John Wayne movie! I'm sorry, but these all just happened to be on TV. We did NOT go rent any of these movies, so I was sort of limited on my choices. This movies was awful. I don't even want to talk about it.

4) The Day The Earth Stood Still - this movie wasn't so awful. Awfully made, yes. Awful concept, not so much. An alien and his robot land on Earth and warn them that they must live peacefully together or be destroyed by this other planet. The ending was kind of question marks, but I have to admit, I actually watched most of this B movie.

5) Frankenstein - I couldn't believe my luck when I was rummaging through dad's movies and found the original version of Frankenstein! I watched it over the course of a week while working out, which made it less painful. No, it wasn't that bad. Frankenstein's monster was actually a little bit creepy, so way to go Boris Karloff. You know what's really funny about this movie? They were doing the intro credits to the movie, like:

Dr. Henry Frankenstein .............. Colin Clive
Baron Frankenstein .................... Frederick Kerr

And in the middle of it all, comes:

The Monster ............... ?????

I thought that was so funny! I know Boris Karloff was pretty well-known, so I guess they didn't want to give it up that he was playing the monster. Funny!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This week is going to be so harried. Tonight we have ladies group at church, which is normally fun. But tonight, we are having a sewing "party". To me, the words "sewing" and "party" do not go together. But I am a natural with a glue gun! We're sewing our costumes for the Easter drama. So it should be interesting to say the least.

#64 - Get my bike back into riding condition

I was able to complete this goal only thanks to my birthday present from my beautiful parents. I'm sure I would have completed it eventually, just not so quickly. They gave me money for my birthday specifically to cover the costs of "renovating" my bike. I happily used that money over the weekend and my bike is a new creature! I haven't rinsed it off or wiped it down or anything, so the body still has that "fresh out of storage" look to it. But it looks MUCH improved!

Here's the ole girl:

Old, moldy seat:

New seat, courtesy of parental $$:

Old, moldy handlebars:

New, grippy handlebars thanks to parental $$:

I was able to ride off into the sunset...

... and back again. I rode today for real, just a mile to get myself back in the swing of things. It felt so good!! I am so excited to bike more in the near future! Thanks mom and dad! I love you guys!

Oh no!

I've done it again! I've become a boring blogger! Whilst I wile away my hours checking other people's blogs and berating them for not updating as frequently as I can refresh the page, I have neglected my own blog. I hate that. I always forget that other people have to have something besides their own words to read. So, just to get back in the spirit of things, I'm going to copy Jenn and do a 101 things update.

#1 - I call Walmart every day to see if they've gotten any Wiis in the last 24 hours. No such luck.

#5 - I hope to buy a fauxbulous ring this weekend.

#9 - We are hopefully going to Winter Jam in March.

#10 - We have tickets to go to a hockey game at the end of February.

#18 - We have plans to revisit Pennsylvania in July with Stephen's family.

#24 - This is taking forever, because I have tons more of these than I realized. I do them in all my spare time. All my spare time in which I'm not reading, that is.

#25 - We found out that Carrie has all ten seasons and is willing to let us watch them for free rather than renting them from Blockbuster. Woot!

#29 - I have only one movie left. I'm watching Frankenstein, the original 1931 version (thankfully, dad just happened to own this!?!?) I watch it while I'm doing the elliptical machine. BUT, since it's been 60 and 70 degrees all week, I've been running outside instead, which means I haven't watched this movie since last weekend or something crazy like that. I should really just finish it off.

#30 - You have no idea how many books are in here.

#47 - I have my secret ready, but I don't have a post card. Something so simple is holding me back.

#49 - I certainly feel as though I'm in the habit of working out now, but since this is supposed to last for the next 2-ish years, I'm holding off of crossing this off my list until I really prove it to myself.

#55 - going through almost 20000 songs takes forever. I realize that now.

#64 - I hope to have a post up about this very soon.

#69 - Jenn and I have plans to get certified together in March.

#70 - yeah, this ain't happenin'.

#85 - And have you SEEN how much stuff I still have there? geeeee.

I do feel like I'm making some headway, at least.

#27 - Read 3 banned books

I finished reading my last banned book today. The three I read were:

"The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
"Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank

All of these were started by me at some point in my life only to stop reading after a chapter or two. So it was nice to go back and really read them, and really be interested in them.

After church today I was able to come home and run outside with Cassie. Ohhh, it was so gorgeous today! Everyone was out and about so we got to stop and chat with people. I love seeing the older ladies out walking and the kids riding their bikes or throwing the football. I love our neighborhood!! Oh, and I love 60 degree weather!

Food, Glorious Food!

I agree with ya there, Oliver.

I love days like today. We started off this morning at work with breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls by Renee. They are absolutely delicious. Dripping with sugar and cinnamon... mmm... they're just cavities waiting to happen. Then for lunch we ordered in from Chili's. I got a HUGE burger and fries. Then Granny brought banana pudding for dessert. Oy. It was all magically delicious.

Wednesday night we had a party at church for our January birthdays in youth group. So for dinner that night, I had two huge pieces of cake and a large amount of chips and dip, not to mention all the caffeine from the sodas. Now that's a good dinner. We played a game where three volunteers had to gargle until they spit it out or swallowed it accidentally. It turned out that the guy who won got smart - he closed his eyes so he couldn't watch the rest of the youth group make fun of him. The other two guys laughed almost immediately and therefore spewed water over the people in the front of the classroom. The winner was awarded a bottle of Scope. :)