people watching

I am going to be one of those little old ladies that you see spying from beneath the blinds someday. I know this because I have already started that habit. Am i just naturally nosey, or is it my obsessive compulsive disorder kicking in, or maybe a little of both? I am constantly looking out the window or peeping through the blinds to see what's going on with the neighbors. I enlighten Mr. Sunrise on the events of what went on around the neighborhood. "So and so mowed their lawn today." He wonders where I get the time to do all this spying. He always asks me, "Now how long did you work today?" "There is a huge motor home in the driveway across the street, " I say. Mr. Sunrise replies with a "that's nice, or why do we care, again?"

There is an older retired man that lives caddy-corner from us. He is always pacing up and down the sidewalk leading to his driveway. Every time I look out the window he is there walking up and down, up and down. Whenever I leave my house or come back home, I drive by his house and there he is. It is starting to creep me out a bit. He doesn't look dangerous. I guess I don't like the fact that maybe he is just spying on me too.

the box of paper

In addition to doing accounting work for my boss, I also have to buy office supplies. I always dread the day I have to go to Office Max and pick up a box of hp computer paper. It is extremely heavy and always kills my hands and arm muscles. It takes me a day to recover because of how sore my muscles become. My boss is usually never there to help bring it in from my car.

Yesterday was Office Max day. I already made up my mind that I was not going to buy the box. I was going to buy several individually wrapped reams of paper. That would be easier to carry. I pick up 4 reams of paper, some paper clips, and a binder. In the check-out lane, the cashier said, "It would be cheaper if you bought the box and it has 5 reams of paper." "I will go in the back and see if we have any." "Ok, i said" (There is never anyone in Office Max so cashiers can just leave and do those kinds of things) I thought well, she is right and it's not my money that I am spending, so I should go ahead and buy the box. She came back a couple minutes later, and said, "We just sold our last box. Office Max is going to stop selling hp 92 brightness paper in boxes." "That's ok, " I said. Inside I was thrilled!

When I got back to the office, I told my boss about the paper. He said that he wants the hp 92 brightness paper. He will not use anything else. So, I guess I will have to buy them individually. : )

the video camera incident

Every so often I am going to tell a story of my past. This way everyone can get to know me a little better. If you have already heard this story, bare with me.

Every senior in high school looks forward to senior skip day. Besides prom or graduation, skip day is an event that is planned out. My group of friends had the day picked and we had planned to go to our friend's swimming pool. As the day approached, it seemed like every girl had backed out. I told my parents about it and they said it was ok. My mom had my excuse note written out: Please excuse "golden" from classes on May--.

It was just me and my best friend "L" that decided to skip that day. We were so excited! We went to her house and sat out by the pool. Before we got our swimsuits on, "L" had a brilliant idea. She wanted to make music videos by the pool. "L" went inside and got her parents video camera. I did not want to do this. "L" handed me the camera and showed me real quick how to push record and were to look into. She turned on her "secular music" and started dancing around the pool. I pushed record, but was having a hard time working the zoom function. I walked forward a little, and a little more, and a little more, when suddenly I found myself inside the pool! I was very confused and wet. I never really had good depth perception and looking into a video camera makes it even worse. My best friend was laughing hysterically. I was so mad that she didn't tell me I was getting close to the edge of the pool. Thank goodness I was in the shallow end, though! Only my pants and half of my shirt was soaked. We went inside and I changed clothes. We thought we should check the video camera out to see if it got water damage. Looking into the lens, we could see water drops inside it. We knew we should get it looked at quick!

We called around at different video camera repair places and decided on a store. "L" and I brought the camera in and waited nervously. She knew her parents were going to get upset. We found out that there was only minor damage done and it wouldn't be that expensive for them to dry it out. Dealing with the camera took the rest of the day. At that point I wished that I had never skipped school that day.

I found out from some friends the next day that "L" was telling everyone that I had ruined our senior skip day. I never confronted her with it, but now I wish I had. She also told her parents that it was all my fault. "L"'s parents wanted me to pay for half of the cost of the repairs and I agreed to it. After all, I was the one that fell in the pool with it. "L"'s parents could never find anything wrong with their "baby angel." (spoiled brat) Her parents were in the ministry, but they were both kind of rude and snobby. Her father mentioned in front of other company that I had ruined their video camera by falling in the pool. At that moment I wanted to say,"Well, your daughter was listening to music that I know you wouldn't approve of and she was the one that told me to tape her!"

I am really not still bitter about this event. I have forgiven "L" for all the mean things she has done to me. We grew apart once we started college. I ran into her at my parents church about a year ago. She was greeting at the door and I said hi L! She looked at me and said nothing. She must have seen me go up the balcony stairs, because her and her husband came up there to sit. She did talk to me after church and was cordial.

Growing up with a brother vs. a sister

At a bible study last night, two friends of mine were talking about what it was like growing up with sisters. They both felt comfortable dressing in front of other women because they had to growing up. One girl said that she had to share a bathroom with sisters and there was always someone in the shower, on the toilet, and at the sink all at the same time. They also felt comfortable around a woman when she was breast feeding. They said that they wouldn't be embarrassed to breast feed their children some day in public. I am uncomfortable changing clothes in front of other women and I am also uncomfortable around a woman when she is breast feeding. Is this because I grew up with a brother and not a sister?

I have also noticed that some women that had sisters seem to talk more about "girl things" than women that did not have a sister. I would rather talk about movies, t.v., music, or any topic that would come up at the guy's coffee night. : ) Some girl talk bores me. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy talking about relationships and other emotional subjects. I do like hearing how my friends and their families are doing.

I know that my brother was a big influence on my sense of humor. He did a lot to shape my personality and the person that I am today. I am so glad that I had a brother and not a sister. I wouldn't trade him for anything!

Reality t.v. shows

When someone mentions reality t.v., there are only two types of reactions. You either love them or hate them. There is no middle ground or grey area. I am a lover of reality t.v. shows. Only the ones that are done tastefully though.

The reason I love them has to do with my interest in personality types. Not too many people have my personality type-I.S.F.J. on the Myers Briggs test. I enjoy the dynamics that go on when you bring different types of personalities together and put them in a situation where they have to get along. I like to analyze why people do and say the things they do.

On the "Amazing Race" last night, Joyce had to shave her head to win the fast forward. She is very brave for going through it and I had to admire her for what she said. "It's just hair, it's only external, I am going to have to let my internal shine through." I am rooting for Uchenna & Joyce to win. At first I wanted Rob & Amber to win, but they have won enough money.

One has to admire Stephenie on " Survivor" for all that she has been through. I believe that she deserves to win for being the last team member on Ulong. She pulled her weight on all the challenges and she gets along great with everybody. I still like Ian though. He is my sole survivor pick for our fantasy survivor game.

I am impressed with Tana on "The Apprentice." She has won every time she has been project manager. She is able to roll with the punches better when obstacles come their way. (For example, the t-shirt logo printed backwards) When she tries to act cool, sometimes she can pull it off, sometimes not.

Well, that was my two cents worth.

Am I becoming a mooch?

The company I work for shares office space with an accounting firm. We share a kitchen, copy machine, and receptionist. Today I walked by the kitchen and noticed the receptionist taking a donut out of a box. I told her that the donut looked good and she said that I could have one. It wasn't really my intention to try to get a free donut. This kind of situation seems to happen a lot. The accounting firm always seems to have an abundance of food lying around the kitchen. They have ordered a lot of pizzas recently and of course there are going to be leftovers. They always let me know when there are extra breadsticks or pizza. I almost always take them up on the offer. If I didn't eat it, it would end up in the trash. I kinda feel like a mooch though. Maybe I should bring in some food to share. I have some old candy canes from Christmas. : )

Backed up

My plumbing was backed up on Saturday and so was the bathtub. The corn dogs, tots, and pizza I had Friday night plugged me up and I believe my razor blade cover clogged the bathtub. What medicine is effective in relieving this problem? I tried Mylanta because it was cherry flavored. Only time could tell. What is effective in unclogging drains? My husband and I decided to go to Home Depot to buy a snake. We thought that it was the most common instrument relied on to get the job done. The snake was powered by our drill. Drew had cranked out what seemed to be like hundreds of feet of wire down the drain but nothing happened. The Mylanta had relieved some pain but still hadn't solved the problem. So I tried something that guaranteed results in 6-12 hours. Drew wanted to go back to Home Depot to buy Kleer Drain which used air pressure to unclog drains. While we are at the store, I feel that the medicine is kicking in. Talk about fast results. Kleer Drain also proved effective. I guess the second time is a charm.

Being fake and being real

Reading Dirt Road's blog has reminded me to keep it real. I should be happy with who I am and not try to be someone that I'm not. It is too much work to put on a fake show for people. I am naturally a lazy person so it would be easier to just be myself. For once in my life I am comfortable and secure with who I am. I still sometimes struggle with worrying about what other people think of me though.

When you grow up in the church, you learn that there is a certain image you need to portray. Someone can become a master at being something that they are not. I think that can be a reason why you run into some fake people in the church. As Christians, we are the ones that need to be real to other people. Non-christians can detect fakeness in a heartbeat.

Chocolate makes you happy

It is very entertaining to me to listen to kids talk. I teach a girls club for 3rd-5th graders on Wednesday nights at my church. We recently finished our Cooking badge. We were talking about the importance of eating healthy foods. One girl raised her hand and said, "There is an ingredient in chocolate that makes you happy." I laughed and looked at the other teacher. "Yes there is, " I said, and left it at that. It was an interesting insight into that girls family.

Overcoming Shyness

Verbal communication has never been my strong point. I have always done better expressing myself through writing. So it makes sense that I should get involved in blogging.

In my senior level English class in high school, our first paper was to write about something we had to overcome in life. Obviously, for me it was shyness. After the teacher had read our papers, she decided to share one with the class. Being an outgoing person herself, she was enlightened by the paper on shyness. She couldn't believe that someone would plan out conversations ahead of time. She never had any trouble striking up conversations with people. As she continued to share my utmost secrets to the class, I sat there mortified. I stared at the ground and pretended that she wasn't talking about me.

I received the highest grade in the class with the expectation from my teacher that my papers would only get better. I think I may have disappointed her, but hopefully I won't disappoint my readers.