8 posts tagged “random”

I just saw a commercial for an acid reflux medicine called AcipHex.  I swear I thought it was a spoof.  It would have been a perfect Saturday Night Live commercial.

Do these people not realize that it's pronounced just like "ass effects"? 

Now I'm pondering what ass effects it will cause...

We had an *interesting* day yesterday.  It started normally enough, although we had gotten a cold front and gone from light jacket weather the night before to an arctic chill by morning.  Steve went out to warm up the car, and it would crank but wouldn't start.  It had been working just fine the night before when we went to the grocery, so we figured that maybe we had some condensation in the gas line that had frozen or something.  Steve walked (in the -9 windchill) over to the gas station, and bought some gas line stuff.  We put that in, and then pushed it farther down the drive so it would be sitting in the sun.  No dice, it warmed up a little but still didn't start so we had to call a mechanic.  The tow truck came about an hour later and got it started, but told Steve that it looked like the fuel pump was going out.  The good news is that Steve was able to drive over to the station and save the tow charge!   We talked to the mechanic throughout the day, and he asked us if the gas gage had been working properly.  It hadn't.  We had to pay attention to how many gallons of gas we had put in, and then kept track of how many miles we should have been able to go before we'd need gas again.  It wasn't as much fun as it sounds.

Eventually we got an estimate for fixing it, and it will most likely cost us around $850 to fix.  Ouch!    The fuel pump is inside the tank with the gas sensor.  They have to replace the entire tank, and the part alone is $600.  It should be done today.  The good news?  The gas gage will be fixed when we get it back.  No more gas math!  Yay! 

I also got a call about the job that I had interviewed for last week.  I didn't get it.   I can't remember if I posted about the interview or not, but I had called about a church secretary job here in town.  I had what I thought was a decent interview, but I think they decided to hire a member of their church.   The guy did tell me that he and the pastor really enjoyed talking to me about church growth, and that they wish they had another job to offer me in that area.  He also kept saying that they felt that God was really going to use me based on our long talk about church marketing.  He actually said that after our interview, he and the pastor sat there for an hour and debated the points I made.  His positive comments were nice to hear.

Steve got a ride with a coworker to work this morning, and we called the mother of a classmate of Simon's to take him to school.  Simon's classmate's mom seems to have forgotten him though, so he's home again today.  When I called the school, I spoke with the aide in Simon's class.  She told me that half of Simon's class was out sick yesterday, and his teacher is out sick today.  Maybe I'm glad Simon has been home so he hasn't been marinating in all of those germs.  There's actually a decent chance that Simon will be home again tomorrow because they're predicting a lot of snow tonight.   We should be ok because his aide said she'd bring Simon's schoolwork he's missed over tonight on her way home from school.  (I always forget that she lives a few blocks away.  She said the next time Simon needs a ride, she'd be glad to pick him up.  I'll have to remember that!)

Throughout everything, I'm feeling very PMS-like.  I had a blood test last Monday, and the nurse told me that I did ovulate, but with the stress we went through finishing everything at my mom's house, I make no promises.  The upside of not being pregnant is that I am so going to have a much needed stiff drink--or three.

My goal for today is to get everything cleaned up and wash blankets and stuff in case we lose power tonight.  They're saying we should get four to eight inches of snow, but it's possible that we'll get some ice before the snow starts.  I've lived through a week of no power after an ice storm, so I always try make sure the laundry is caught up when they start predicting ice.  Fortunately, my laundry is mostly caught up, but I need to wash blankets and towels.  It'll be nice to have it done even if we don't get any ice. 

I promised Simon that he could play Webkinz on the basement computer while I'm working down there.  I figure he can play a math or word game and it will *almost* be like school.  Ok, maybe not. 

Today is my niece Megan's birthday.  If I'm not crazy, I think she's 26 today. I'm pretty sure she doesn't read my blob, but I wanted to send greetings out into the ether for her anyway.

You'd love Meg, she has always danced to her own beat, and has honed the family sense of humor to the point where you can't *not* have fun and laugh when she's around.  I don't see or talk to her very often, but I think of her all the time.  I also pray for her because things haven't always been easy for her.

I wish for her an amazing birthday!!

Ok, I was just looking at the calendar because Simon is working on his 100th Day of School project for Monday.

Next Saturday is Groundhog Day, the next day is Super Bowl Sunday, that Tuesday after that is Mardi Gras, the next day is Ash Wednesday, and that Thursday is the Chinese New Year.  

Then the week after that has Valentine's Day, the week after that has President's Day, and then the last week of the month has a Leap Day.

We get a holiday free week the first week of March (although Steve's 40th birthday is that week, so it's still a holiday in our house), and then Daylight Savings Time starts the 2nd week of March. Palm Sunday, first day of Spring, and Good Friday are all in the third week of March; then the next week has Easter.  Then the next week is April Fool's Day.

So from now until April, there's some holiday every single week--and the first week of February almost has a holiday type thing every day. 

Too bad we can't save a few of them for those long, holiday-free weeks of summer.

And I am SOOOOO glad!  I'm finally starting to feel normal and not freak out about every little thing.  (Not freaking out is very good, btw.)

I also finally figured out that the chromium supplement that I was taking was what was causing my insomnia.  Since then, I've slept through the night every single night.  (Sleep is very good, also.)

We got everything out of my mom's house, and found a place for her dog.  Now I have tons of clothes and stuff from her house in my house.  I didn't want to get rid of them because she still needs clothes, but I have no idea what she can still wear.  Nothing in her house was sorted in any way, shape or form; so I have quite a bit to deal with.  Because of that, I've been down in my basement trying to get it cleaned out.  After going through my mom's stuff, I decided that I can't keep all of the crap we have down there for someone else to have to deal with.  Plus, if you've read my blog at all, you know that cleaning out my basement has been a goal of mine ever since I moved in here.  (Since the basement was already full when we got here.)  I have to admit that I'm pretty overwhelmed though.  I spent two hours down there yesterday, and I actually made a pretty good dent.  I can't wait to be able to set up an area where I can sew and do scrapbooking and crafts.  I don't think I've EVER had all of my supplies in one place and organized where I can actually find them.  It'll be like crafter's heaven!

On the fertility front, I have to go in for a blood test on Monday morning so they can test my progesterone levels.  I have no idea if we've conceived this month or not.  I took the Clomid and have been really watching my blood sugar, but we've also had a lot of stress so who knows.

My immediate plan for the weekend is to spend some quality time with Simon.  He's spent a lot of time in the past week or two being shuffled around while Steve and I worked to clean out my mom's house.  I can tell that he's a little worse for the wear from the neglect.  The DVR taped two new episodes of "Chuck" last night, so I see an evening of pizza, snuggling, and "Chuck" on the horizon for tonight.

I have to say, though, that our friends are wonderful people!  Our friend's Tracy and Mike took Simon all day last Saturday.  In the morning they went roller skating, and in the afternoon Simon and Preston went to a classmate's birthday party where they played laser tag.  Then on Sunday, we took Simon over to spend some time with our friend Lynn.  (They watched movies, played with army men, ate lots of snacks, and generally just hung out.)  Then Monday was a school holiday, so Simon went roller skating with Tracy's family from 1:00-4:00, then Tracy dropped Simon off at Lynn's to hang out while we moved everything out of mom's house.   I also couldn't believe how many people helped us move!  Steve's niece Bonnie and her husband Sam brought their truck and trailer.  Then my college friends Andrea and Brian, and a new friend from church, Jon, all helped us move.  We couldn't believe how quickly we were done!  Since then, we've spent the past few nights over there cleaning up, and I can't express how glad I am to be done with it.

I'm now off to the basement!

In honor of this blog's first birthday, I've composed a list of 100 things about me.  (It's harder than you'd think, btw.)

Here it goes:

1. My middle name is Elaine.
2. My real first name isn’t Shaye.  Shaye was a nickname given to me by a girl my mom babysat for when I was in junior high.
3. I was born in Muncie, Indiana.
4. My maternal grandfather’s parents came to the United States from Germany through the port at Baltimore, MD.
5. When I was a kid, my dad made me wooden stilts, and I spent hours teaching myself how to walk on them.  (I still can, but not as easily since I’ve grown and my center of gravity has changed.)
6. Throughout my life I’ve had somewhere around 15 cats, but Linus is my first dog.
7. I’ve been in 18 states.
8. I have three half sisters and a half brother—all older than me. 
9. I’ve never met one of the sisters or the brother.
10. The two sisters I know are 8 and 16 years older than me.
11. I have 16 nieces and nephews (only including the two sisters I know and Steve's siblings), and 15 grand nieces and nephews. 
    
12. Crowded House “Temple of Low Men” is one of my all time favorite albums.
13. I’ve never taken any kind of music lesson, but have absorbed quite a bit by being around music and have pretty good pitch.
14. My right ear is pierced once, my left ear is pierced twice, but I have no other piercings and no tattoos.
15. My natural haircolor is dishwater blonde to light brown, but I started coloring it when I was 15.  I usually go blonder.
16. I am extremely sensitive to scents, and I hate the smell of fake vanilla candles.
17. I used to love roller coasters, but then developed motion sickness.  I recently discovered Bonine, but still haven’t been brave enough to try roller coasters again.
18. I’ve never smoked pot or done any illegal drugs.
19. I love to cook and rarely eat at restaurants because I always know I could have made the meal better for less money.
20. I love the seasons, and could never live somewhere with constant weather. 
21. I prefer very cold weather to very hot weather, and I liked to be snowed in.
22. I like 67 degree weather best.
23. I can’t fall asleep without having the television on because my mom always turned it on to put me to sleep as a kid.  Because of that, Simon has never had a TV in his room so he would learn to put himself to sleep.
24. My favorite flowers are tulips and daisies.  I like roses, but only strangely colored ones like lilac or apricot.
25. I used to talk in my sleep, and in college, I occasionally spoke French in my sleep. 
26. I’ve since pretty much forgotten all French I learned in high school or college.
27. My astrological sign is Cancer and I fit the stereotype.
28. I’ve never had poison ivy, but I know I’ve been exposed.
29. I try to walk on my treadmill every day, but I always stop at either one mile or 20 minutes because I’m lazy.
30. I come from a long line of cynics and pessimists, and have to fight that urge regularly.
31. As I get older, I distrust “the establishment” more and more.  (I’m trying to figure out if I’m getting smarter or if I’m becoming a conspiracy theorist.)
32. I am 5’9-1/2” tall.
33. I started dating my husband in 1989, didn’t get engaged until 1993, and didn’t get married until 1995.
34. Simon wasn’t born until four years after that, and we’re just now seriously trying for another child.
35. My favorite season is autumn.
36. I love grocery stores, and usually browse through all of the aisles when I go.
37. I like lots of veggies on my pizza. 
38. Pepperoni, orange juice and green pepper give me indigestion. (Separately AND together.)
    
39. I used to cry easily at sad movies or books, but don’t as much now that I’m older.  (Steve and Simon still cry easily at sad movies or TV shows.)
40. I went to a fundamental Baptist school for 6^th-8^th grades, and was very conservative in my politics and beliefs until much later in my life.
41. We started going to a Methodist church several years ago, and I found that Methodism is a good denomination for me—except for their stance against gambling since we like to play poker.
42. I used to be a registered Republican, but when Simon asked me which political party we were the other day, I told him neither because we have to look at the pros and cons of everyone before we make our decisions.
43. I’m extremely nearsighted with astigmatism, and have worn glasses since third grade. 
44. I  got my first contact lenses in either fifth or sixth grade.
45. There aren’t really any animals or insects that scare me—unless they’re over my head.  Bugs on the ceiling freak me out because I’m afraid they’ll fall on me.
46. Once, when I was a little kid, I had a really high fever that caused me to hallucinate that the flowers on the bed sheets started moving and there were bugs in all of them.  To this day I’m not crazy about floral sheets.
47. I’m a voracious reader, and do most of my reading in the bathtub.  I can finish a novel in a couple of pruny hours.
48. Dunking cookies in milk always used to gross me out because of all of the crumbs it left in the milk. For some reason it doesn’t bother me as much since I’ve had a little boy who occasionally dunks.
49. I have an uncanny knack for understanding and remembering song lyrics and commercial jingles.
50. I’m pretty good at writing lyrics, and frequently change song lyrics to make them funnier.
51. I used to be pretty good at trivia games.  (Better after a few drinks.)
52. I can cross stitch, but can't crochet or knit.  I also have a hard time cutting out patterns and sewing because I have a hard time judging distance and how big things are.
53. I am highly sensitive to stimulants.  I can’t take any kind of cold medicine with pseudoephedrine, or even the new anti-meth substitute for it that they’ve recently come out with.  I can’t drink any caffeinated beverages, and that includes decaf coffee and caffeine free sodas because they still have trace amounts of caffeine.  Stimulants used to give me insomnia, but now they also cause instant anxiety-like symptoms and insomnia later.
54. I don’t sleep well even without stimulants.  I can get to sleep just fine, but then wake up at around 4:00 am and can’t get back to sleep.  (I can’t tell you the last time I had a full night’s sleep.)
55. I’m addicted to our DVR.  When there’s a show we’re looking forward to watching, we always record it and then kill time for about 10 minutes before we start so we can fast forward through all of the commercials.
56. I used to be involved in community theater, but never on stage.  I’ve directed, worked box office, and worked on props; but have never had any big interest in being on stage.
57. I used to love watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 on Comedy Central, and miss it.
58. I’m a S.A.H.M., but I don’t know if it still counts when your kid is at school all day.
59. I am constantly trying to overcome my inherent laziness with more organization.  Sometimes it works.
60. I love sushi, but haven’t tried making myself yet.
61. I like to read directions and usually read instruction manuals all the way through when I get something new.
62. I sometimes wonder if I’m in the midst of a midlife crisis because I’m so out of touch with pop culture lately.
63. I know I’ve become someone’s parent because I’m to the point where I see certain shows on TV or hear certain songs on the radio and think it’s just trash.
64. I try hard to be environmentally friendly.  As part of that, I try to avoid buying new things just because they’re new or trendy.  (This sometimes makes me feel old and uncool.)
65. I never had the patience to lay out in the sun when I was younger.  Now I’m glad since all of the girls who used to tan now have skin like leather.
66. I can’t watch stressful movies when I’m already stressed out.  We own "Braveheart", "The Perfect Storm", "The Lord of the Rings" movies, and "The Passion of the Christ" on DVD; and I’ve never watched any of them because they seem stressful.
67. I don’t like surprises.  I hate surprises when I know they’re coming.  (Like when you know someone is throwing you a surprise party.)
68. I think there are three people who actually read my blog, yet I continue to post for my own benefit.
69. I used to be very comfortable in my skin, but lately I’ve become very insecure.  Hopefully that’ll change in 2008.
70. I feel guilty for stupid reasons.  Like I feel guilty that Simon isn’t interested in sports, and I feel guilty that I don’t pay enough attention to my dog.  (Who is in no way neglected.)
71. I feel like I get most of my exercise walking back and forth to the back door to let said dog in and outside.  (I’m considering installing a doorbell for him so I’ll know when he wants in and he won’t bark and annoy the neighbors.)
72. When I was tiny, I had imaginary friends name Mickety and Pickety.  They were twins, but one was much older.  (I didn’t get the concept of twins at the time.)
73. On the first day of second grade, I fell down on the playground and had to go to the hospital and get eight stitches in my left knee.
74. I’ve been a vegetarian off and on for about 15 years.
75. My shoe size is 9 1/2.
76. From the time I was 14 and typed my blood in freshman biology, until I was 29 and had Simon, I incorrectly thought my blood type was A+.
77. My actual blood type is O+.
78. The book I just finished was Boom by Tom Brokaw.
79. The book I just started is Next by Michael Crichton.
80. I desperately want to garden, and have said for the past three years that I would plant one and then learn to can and freeze the veggies I grow.  I have a tiller, a compost bin full of compost I started last year, and all kinds of other things I’ll need, but still no garden.  (This year for sure!)
81. I try to avoid processed foods, and have been avoiding everything with high fructose corn syrup for over a year.
82. I am completely grossed out by the just add water pancake bottles that they’ve been advertising lately.  It take about three more seconds to just make a really good, chemical free pancake batter from scratch.
83. The last time I tested, I could type about 90 wpm.
84. My first car was a 1985 Chevrolet Chevette.  Dark gray with red trim and interior.
85. I love ice cream, but don’t care for Maggie Moo's or Coldstone Creamery because there are too many choices to make.
86. My mom’s original plan was to name me Alison Marlene.  My maiden name started with a Y, so my initials (and nickname) would have been Amy.  At the very last minute, the nurse asked what she was naming me and she said Sharon Elaine.  No one knows where it came from.
87. I’m not really a competitive person, and have never like playing sports because of how competitive other people can be.
88. When I have a dinner party, I usually don’t do the dishes until the next day.  This frequently drives my guests crazy.  (What is WRONG with people that they want to do my dishes when I’d rather visit with them?)
89. It drives me crazy when people say they’re “nauseous”.  Nauseous means you cause nausea.  If you’re feeling ill, you’re nauseated.
90. I am eight credit hours and a project away from finishing my BS in Organizational Leadership.
91. My original major was Christian Ministry, but now I wish I had gone with Dietetics.
92. I love the smell of coffee, but don’t like the taste.  I always have coffee beans, but only make coffee for guests.
93. I’ve coordinated 11 weddings.  (Not including my own.)
94. I’m addicted to the internet.  
95. I share a birthday with Fred Savage, O.J. Simpson, Tom Hanks, Brian Dennehy, Dean R. Koontz, Donald Rumsfeld, Jimmy Smits, and Courtney Love.
96. I’ve had three gray hairs so far.
97. I’m left handed.
98. I hate shopping for clothing.
99. I come from a long line of packrats, and have a hard time getting rid of things.
100. Ok, one more…ummm… When I sneeze, it’s almost always in increments of threes.

It seems that my den has rain water draining into it, but my bathtub water doesn't want to drain out of it. 

I'm just going to be thankful that I have no water in my basement, and I'll take it as a compliment that my tub has such an emotional attachment to the water I showered with. 

Ok, so I bought this sweat suit last night so I could wear it on the day of my surgery.  I decided to pull it on to take Simon to school and make a quick run through the grocery this morning.  I swear to you the WHOLE time I was out, I was afraid that people were looking at me and  thinking that I look just like Amy Poehler's character in the movie "Mean Girls".  Where she played Regina's mom, and while wearing a velour sweat suit said something along the lines of "There are no rules in my house.  I'm not like a normal mom, I'm a *cool* mom."

I don't think it's going to be worn outside the house again after my surgery.  I'm just not a sweat suit person.