House on the Rock

Today was the best day ever. Which was a nice recovery from yesterday's disaster. Let me elucidate.

First, I slept until noon. Wow do I feel better.

Second, on our way to the House on the Rock, we stopped at a place called Heck's Market Place. Here we bought a caramel apple, beef jerky, some Indian corn, and fresh apple cider. The all the edibles, including the apple cider, were gone before we got home. We love apple cider.

Third, also on our way to the House on the Rock, I saw Taliesin for the first time. Having studied FLW extensively while obtaining both of my degrees, this was quite a moment for me. I can't wait until we go back and tour it.

Taliesin

And Finally, after a year of anticipation after seeing it on the Travel Channel, I went to the House on the Rock. No words can describe it, so I shall illustrate what I did.

Got directions from a wizard.

Experienced the Infinity Room.

Found some cool art glass.

Looked a giant sea monster in the eye.

Read a St. Louis newspaper.

Failed to capture the majesty of the world's largest carousel..

.. not that I didn't try.


Saw some crazy chandaliers.

Found a dragon brave enough to stalk DS.

And made time to stop and smell the flowers.

Why I Love DS # 67

SG: Hey. Dominoes is free on pogo. Will you play and help me get my badge?

DS: I can't level up my wizard by playing dominoes!

What is this "Tagging" Business?

Monkey tagged me. If even Calzone will participate, I guess I will too.

Seven Things

Seven Things I Plan To Do Before I Die
1) Read War and Peace
2) Learn Sign Language
3) Clean a 5.10
4) Trave extensively, seeing all the architecture I studied in school and loved
5) Visit all accredited zoos in the USA
6) Run a successful business selling things I make
7) Take Ballet


Seven Things I Can Do
1) Make a delicious batch of cookies
2) Make almost anything with my hands
3) Play Piano
4) Kick ass at Soul Caliber II
5) Sleep for 12 hours straight
6) Win a national title in cheerleading
7) Pick up boyfriends all around the world

Sleep Goblin in Cuba

Seven Things I Cannot Do
1) Maintain the life of a fish for more than 2 days
2) Use anything but the microwave for cooking
3) Stay away from my computer for more than 2 minutes at a time
4) Aerobic exercise
5) Go to sleep, or wake up, before DS
6) Put up with mean people
7) Resist the urge to sing and dance

Seven Things That Attract Me To Another Person
1) Smell
2) Being a huge dork
3) Sense of humor
4) Intelligence
5) Making me food
6) Loving baseball
7) Loving me

Seven Things I Say Most Often
1) I am awesome!
2) I blame DS.
3) Rockin!
4) I'm hungry.
5) I'm tired.
6) I hate you.
7) I love you.

Seven Celebrity Crushes
1) Jude Law
2) Mila Jovavich
3) Johnny Depp
4) Strong Bad
5) Monkey
6) Dr. House
7) Calzone

I'd tag people, but I doubt they'd do it. Though, maybe just for kicks, I'll say Moral Turpitude, Janelle, DS, Dad, and Jesse.

Ahem! And also, Fritz!

It's a sad day. Too sad for the pictures I promised. My fish died today...

Busy Bee

I've been very busy lately. Before I had a "9 to 5" job, I started a lot of projects to help me make money. Unfortunately, they require a lot of time, and aren't bring in money yet. It would seem this was poor planning on my part. However, they are endeavors that I find much more rewarding and stimulating than my job, so I'm still doing them.

The first is working with MT to sell my crafts on her site. It shouldn't be too much longer before I have that up and running. That first mobile I sold that I mentioned previously? That's actually from DS's mom. She rocks.

The second is making jewelry for the company Blue Hill by Hand. I get paid per piece, and when I'm done, I know that I've created something that someone will use. I don't design these pieces, but that's probably a good thing, considering how long it takes me to design things. Virgos are perfectionists and very picky.

The other thing taking up my time, other than work of course, are the myriad of birthday's I'm preparing for. Being poor and artistic, I tend to make presents, rather than buy them. However, this usually means that presents from me are late. Just ask Kel, who is still waiting on the poncho I made her for Christmas last year. And now her birthday is the 30th. DS's is the 28th. And my step-dad's was.. yesterday. I finished his present last night though, so I'ma run to the post office before work today to send it off.

My step-dad is the kind of person that won't let us get rid of those handwritten ornaments with our names on them, even when they get water damaged and crusty. Which is something I find funny, since he's not sentamental about anything else really. He is especially adament about keeping the ornaments with former pet names. So, I decided to make him ornaments of their current four dogs, and also of his doberman whom he still misses. I actually wanted MT to make them, because they would have been so cute. But she's just as busy as I am, so being too nice to straight up tell me no, she suggested I make them myself. Well, I tried.

Our New Pet

DS and I got our first pet together today on a whim. We haven't come up with a name for him yet, but isn't he pretty? We're taking suggestions.


Also, I sold my first mobile today! Woohoo!

Rockin!

I just got the coolest e-card from Janelle! I'll see if this works...

This post is here for a limited time only! So go be happy.

Also, some background. Her birthday was Friday. People born in September seem to love me. And I love them too. My best friend back home.. DS.. now Janelle. We have a certain.. I don't know, glow I guess.

*Update: While the link did work.. I realized after the fact that it had her personal e-mail, and not her public one. I'm not all about given her personal stuff to all you weirdos. So no card for you! However, you can see a non-personalized one here!

Birthday Dance

It's my birthday! Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh! (This is where you pretend to sing along with this song that my old boss at KYTC would sing whenever it was someone's birthday. What? You don't know it? You'd better fake it then!)

I am now 24. I was going to post DS's favorite picture of me at three, but my scanner does not seem to be properly installed, so check back later for an update.

Also, I seem to have a lot of new readers lately! So welcome! I kick you!

A Lesson in Biscuit Making

Here is a true story about my breakfast yesterday....

DS: What do you want for breakfast this morning?

SG: Oooh! Biscuits and gravy!

DS: Okay. I've never made biscuits before.

SG: It's not hard.. *gives DS a weird look*

-- some times passes, noises are heard from the kitchen while I visit blogs --

DS: Any idea how to make gravy?

SG: It'll say on the package.

DS: Any idea where that package might be?

SG: Where we keep the food...

-- more time.. more noises... --

-- DS comes to get me --

DS: It's almost done. I hope it tastes alright. I've never made anything with dough before.

* I have no idea what he's talking here.. I think, "how hard can popping them open, and placing them on a cookie sheet be?"

-- We both go into the kitchen, and I open the oven door. --

DS: See? They look too big.

SG: They do look a little funny. But I think they'll be okay. The edges are turning golden brown, we should probably take them out.

DS: The thing said to cook them for 10 minutes, and it's only been 8.

SG: Well, give them one more minute, but then they have to come out. When the edges start turning brown, they're usually done.

-- I stir the gravy for a bit.. and then take the biscuits out of the oven. --

DS: I hope they taste alright.

SG: Well, if they don't, I bought two. We'll just cook the other one.

DS: What do you mean you bought two?

!!!

-- I open the fridge, show him.. TWO! things of biscuits. --

DS: We had biscuits already made??

SG: How the heck did you make these?

DS: With bisquick! I thought that's why you bought it!

SG: No! I bought biscuits for biscuits. The bisquick was for dumplins!

DS: Crap!

SG: Wow. I wondered why you kept saying all that crazy crap. I can't believe you just made me biscuits from scratch. You're awesome.

DS: Yeah, well, we'll see after we taste them

* The biscuits were indeed awesome, and I am in awe both at his lack of knowledge concerning pre-made biscuits, and his ability to just whip them up without said knowledge.

Birthday Par-tay! Recap

Okay, I promised an update, and here it is, pictures included.

First, everyone that was invited, came. In fact, there was an added person that wasn't invited, but I let her in anyway, because she's good people. We grilled hamburgers twice, because some people were late, and we decided to bestow mercy and let them eat anyway.

After some beer drinking and food eating, I decided it was time for cake.

As you can see, MT was not joking when she said she knew what a good cake should be. For some reason, I ended up lighting my own candles. Well, Jesse lit a few. For you amusement, I present some photos of the guests singing me happy birthday...

Later, everyone could be seen stuffing their faces full of cake and ice cream.

What did I get for my birthday? Well, so far, not much. Which is fair, because it's not really my birthday until Monday, and most of my family will have to mail gifts. However, so far, I've gotten money, a tequila shooter set, and a little stuffed dog, to name a few.

The dog was given the name Smaxwell (did I spell that right MT? DS gave me more tequila after you left, and my memory of silly things, like how to spell, has been left by the wayside). He came with polka dots and a pink boa. It aroused my suspicions, but he told me after everyone left that he was gay. So now I know for sure. He's seen here enjoying some Madison microbrew. You might be seeing more of Mr. Smaxwell.

Does anyone know why my shooter set came with a burro that holds toothpicks?? I've personally never needed toothpicks to down tequila, but maybe there's a part of it I've missed until now...

And finally, I leave you with this. Evidence that Jesse is trying to get in the pants of my boyfriend during my own birthday party. I noticed they had been missing from the festivities for a while, and found them together.. on my bed... you decide.

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Note: MT seems to like it when her face is covered up with her name, so I decided I would be nice and continue the tradition. Personally, I think it has something to do with staving off her crazy fans...

BIRTHDAY PAR-TAY!

I declare that this shall be a wonderful weekend. DS stayed home. The party is on! Everyone who is anyone will be there! (Within a reasonable driving distance, of course.)

Also, I have recently been admiring others, and in turned been admired. I am in love with the world. I shall go out and smell the flowers. I shall give away my spare money to the needy. I shall..

Wait. First I have to clean my house for my birthday party... I'll be back with a full report later.

Little Things

It makes me very happy to know that I sit at the top of Monkey's very long link list. It's easy to overlook the fact that I'm only up there because, alphabetically, I come first. It has nothing to do with how important I am, or Monkey's preferred order of reading. I know this because of the lower placement of people like Spinning Girl and Fritz. Knowing all of this doesn't stop me from visiting, seeing my name at the top, and feeling special. It's grand to be at the top of any list, no matter the reason. Well, I supposed that deserves some qualifiers, but you're not getting them. Any list it is!

Thanks Monkey :)

I feel like writing*

DS has gone to get his passport today. It's looking more and more like he'll be gone from tomorrow until at least Thursday. It will be my first time sleeping alone since I moved here. My birthday will come and go without him. I really don't like it when he's gone. Even if I'm not directly interacting with him, I appreciate his presence. My dad has suggested that I wait on my birthday party. But really, it wasn't going to be much of a party anyway. Perhaps I'll just have MT come over. She's been so busy lately that I haven't seen her in forever. She's not even online anymore, at least, not when I am.

Spinning Girl recently posted a long reflection on blogging life. When I started this, I thought blogs were stupid. I started mine simply because DS had one. Sometimes, I like to fit in. I didn't get the point though. For a long time, the only other blogs I read were by people I knew. I always checked my StatCounter to see if new people were coming. I got excited when people from other countries came to see me. I wondered at people coming and not staying. Why weren't people commenting. Somehow, I stopped caring if people commented. It's funny to me that the people I now frequent are all a result of reading MT's blog. Just Thoughts and The Columnist Manifesto were links on her sidebar. Monkey had left a random comment which intrigued me to check him out. A crazy zoo experiment led me to check out Spinning Girl, who then kept my audience through her love of Tolkien and Lewis. (I'm dying to see that new movie, btw.)

Now I have people I only halfway know sending me postcards from Italy. When DS says, "What are you laughing at?" my response is usually something like, "Look what Monkey just said!" And how many people have dragons named Calzone harrassing them on a regular basis?

Just the other day, I was IMing MT about how busy we both were suddenly. We marvelled at how quickly we both went from being online all the time, to hardly ever. I actually said, "I feel so out of touch with the world now, which is weird, now that I'm actually spending some time in it."

All this internet friend stuff reminds me of being in, I don't know, 8th grade. My parents bought a computer, and we got dial-up. The internet was still relatively new at that time. Chat rooms were all the rage. Internet boyfriends didn't automatically make you think of 40-year old pedifiles. I spend every night in those chat rooms, talking with my "friends", falling in love. I remember one time I ended up with two different boys named David Castleberry proclaiming their love for me, because I had looked them up and gotten them confused. Whoops :) Maybe blogs have in some way replaced chat rooms. I know Spinning Girl doesn't shy away from holding conversations through the comment option.

Well.. This has taken me forever to write. It was pointless, but I felt like wasting my morning online. I miss the online world. However, now I have to start getting ready for work. Will someone remind me why I insisted upon getting a job when I could have stayed home all day doing things I like instead?


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*When I started this, I thought I felt like writing. Looking back, it appears that I felt like linking instead.

Decisions

Monday is my birthday. I'm supposed to have a little cookout this weekend. However, DS might be sent to stupid France for the weekend. Normally, I love France. If he leaves for my birthday, I'm going to resent it... Like a co-worker said to me today.. I'm a bitter bitter woman. So I must decide, if he goes, do I reschedule my birthday??

DS and I had also been planning on getting satellite. I had it in KY, and I loved it. I'm addicted to the convenience of DVR. If I'm busy, I can just record it, and then watch it later, sans commercials. Now we're being told that our balcony isn't quite right for the required view. Is TV really that necessary that I should get uber-expensive cable instead?

I also have an awful headache. Should I still go climbing with DS??

I'm going to skip the decision making process on dessert. I already know it's going to be chocolate!

Dear Sterling Silver Head Pin:

I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you. You're not long enough to do what I need you to do. I went to the craft store, but you seem to only come in this one small size. The brass head pins come in various sizes, but you?? Nooo. Plus, just 10 of you tiny good-for-nothings costs 2.99. Did I mention I hate you?

So you don't feel alone in your hated corner, I'll be sending a letter to the company that told me I had to use you. Hopefully, they'll send a replacement. Ha!

Not Sincerely (unless you count the hate),
Sleep Goblin

Murphey's Law

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Indeed, yesterday, it did. It was my first running the store. I was the only member of management there, putting me in charge of the other two people I was working with, along with all the money and paperwork and blah blah blah. So how did it go?

I came in to find a note from the person who had closed the night before. It was his last day on the job. His leaving is the reason I got promoted. Now, maybe it's just me, but I find it just slightly suspicious that on his last night, whoops! there's money missing from the drawers. According to him, all the drawers were way off. He tried fixing it by moving money from drawer to drawer, altering the bank deposit paperwork, etc. He also failed to count the safe, which he was supposed to have done first. That means he made the deposit before making sure the safe had the correct amount of money in it, which it did not. Oh well, it was his last night, not his problem right? Yeah, just my problem this morning...

I finally got the store open, though several more draw audits were necessary throughout the day to sort that mess out. But I opened with one employee instead of two. One of my high schoolers "didn't know" they had to work that day. I promptly let him know he needed to get his scrawny butt in there...

A customer came in that afternoon to return a $200 dresser. He tells me its around back. I'm thinking, why the hell is it back there?? But I finish what I'm doing and go look for it. I can't find it. I go ask him again where he put it, because I'm thinking maybe he just wasn't sure where our back door was. I mean, there are a lot of backdoors that all look pretty much the same. He tells me he knows where our back door is. So I look again, and walk around a bit, and still come up with no dresser. I ask him to walk around behind the store with me and help me find it. But it's not there. In the five minutes between his dropping it off and me going to get it, someone had carted it off. They wouldn't even have known at first glance what it was, since it was still in its shipping box. And it would only fit something large, like a truck. I spent the next hour trying to find people like the district manager, who was of course on vacation (stupid holiday), and talking with mall security...

When I closed the store, all the registers have to say "closed". Two of mine said "signed off." I didn't know how to fix it. I did know that without those registers closing, the back office server would show me what my real totals for the day were, meaning I couldn't send my require e-mail to the district manager reporting what we'd done for the day. On top of that, because the closing checklist hasn't become habit yet, it took me almost an hour. It usually takes about 20 minutes or so. My associates were getting bored, and took to throwing pieces of wheat from the floral pieces at me while I recounted money....

I must have called the store manager 6 times yesterday. She assures me that it can't get any worse, as this was the worse first day she'd ever heard of. There was no 9 am phone call from today's opening manager asking what the hell went wrong. Let's just hope that means I didn't screw anything up too bad. This could be the shortest promotion ever.

It's about time!

I was just visiting someone's blog. They'd posted one of those "what are people searching for that brings them here" posts. I've never been able to do one of those, because mine is always empty.

So after saying that in their comments, I decided to check again. And guess what!?! I had one. So here it is, my first keyword search:

• girls kicking heels

That's all I've got. You'll have to get your kicks elsewhere today. I'd rather be playing the Sims.

Some Real Cooking

I know some of you have been suspect about my and DS's ability to cook. I realize this suspicion if founded on some truth. After all, it wasn't that long ago that I admitted to never cooking anything unless I could make it in under 3 minutes in the microwave. What about the frozen pizza I've eaten, you ask? That was all Kelly.

However, times are a changing. Today, I decided I wanted enchiladas for dinner. (These cravings for Mexican food are also new developments, which I blame entirely on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.) To remedy this, I went to the grocery and bought the necessary ingredients. As proof, I present to you this:


So quit your doubting, you nay-sayers.

Whoa

Yesterday I got promoted. It was my third day on the job. And it came with a $1.50 raise. Hot damn!

Some Good Exercise

Last night DS, K and I hit the climbing gym in style. Well, by that I mean we went.

Since I'm not quite so into climbing as DS, I knew there was no way I would want to do the trade off thing. (That's where you can set climbs in the gym in return for free visits.) I have better things to do than set routes. I guess K does too. So, we dropped some mad cash and bought our memberships like normal people.

Okay, maybe normal people don't climb at least once a week, but you know what I mean.

I originally got into climbing because of DS. Initially, I refused. I'm somewhat afraid of heights, and his calloused hands did not look promising. So instead, my first few trips to Devil's Lake were for hiking, something I got into in undergrad.

At some point, my curiosity overcame my uneasiness. I decided I'd at least try. It's not a cardio sport, which is a big plus with my asthma. I liked climbing the jungle gym as a kid, and grew up being the smallest cheerleader, which almost inevitably meant I spent a large portion of my cheering career up in the air. It had also been since cheerleading that I had done any real regular exercising. So.. I thought, "what the hell?", and decided to go with my, "I'll try just about anything once" policy.

End result, I like it. I enjoy thinking out the moves. I enjoy the challenge of the leveled rating system. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when I conquer said challenge. Do I want to climb as much as DS? No way. I think he's crazy. Once a week is plenty for me. But it's an enjoyable once a week indeed.