There’s Nature in My Kitchen! — July 6, 2009

Ug, my latest harrowing experience with the creatures of God’s creation….

 Several nights ago, David and I got home from one of our adventures.  He went to sit on the couch, and I was getting into the refrigerator for something.  As I closed the fridge door, I looked down to see something wiggling on my floor.  I thought it was a worm!  My thought was, “My goodness, what is a worm doing in my kitchen!!”  So that was a little gross, but next to it was this little brown thing that looked like dirt of some sort. 

 I looked a little closer, and it wasn’t a worm.  It was a lizard and the “worm” was its separated tail.  EW!!!!!!  The tail was writhing around all over the floor.  By this I mean - it was turning flips and getting some serious air!  The lizard was just sitting there, probably in shock.  The realization that a tail was flopping around on the floor was gross, but that was nothing compared to the idea that I had just caused this trauma!  Poor lizard.

 I walked over to the doorway to tell David.  I was about to start gagging at the thought of the tail, but I kind of couldn’t stop looking at it because I was scared it would flop off somewhere and we wouldn’t be able to find it.  It took me several tries, but I finally got it out so he’d know what I was talking about. 

 He came and got the tail, but the lizard got away.  (Gross that the tail was still wiggling when he picked it up!)  Several hours later, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something moving along the wall.  It was the tail-less lizard!  Poor little guy!  David put him outside. 

 I really hope I can get this weatherman video to work.  It’s so hilarious.  There’s nothing more funny than watching people do a “bug dance”, as long as I’m not the one involved!  When I was at the cinema, my friend Blake always did the best bug dances.  He would get like, vertical AND horizontal leaps combined.  I don’t know how he could get up AND to the side at the same time, but he did it if it meant getting away from the bug.  One of my favorite things would be when I’d be sitting at the office desk and would see him encounter a bug from the surveillance cameras.  The bird’s eye view would crack me up every time!

My Horizons are Broadened! — June 18, 2009

Today was like the perfect day.  I am just the happiest little person right now! 

David and I were both off for the majority of today.  (He worked this evening, but only for a little bit.)  We decided we would spend the day in Longview.  I chose for us to go to Olive Garden for lunch.  (I’ll share this, even though it has nothing to do with anything — I have had this oddball craving for Olive Garden lately and I think it’s due to CVS – of all things!  Every month we have to change the wine signs because the sale prices change monthly, and nearly every wine needs a new sign.  (Only one person in my world knows how much I enjoy saying the words, “wine signs!”  If you try it, you’ll know why.  It’s just fun for me to say.  You can say it all nasally too, which I also love.  I try to use the phrase “wine signs” as much as possible when the day comes to change them, since it’s usually my job.)  ANYWAY, every time I go to change the wine signs (hehe!), I start getting this huge craving for Olive Garden’s salad.  I think maybe there’s some connection between the fact that they’re always pushing some type of wine with their food.  I have no intention of actually drinking any of it, of course, but my mind equates wine bottles with Olive Garden. 

So, we decided we would go there, and then we’d go see “Up” at Carmike.  I was very much wanting to see “Up” in digital, but I wasn’t really wanting to see it in 3-D.  3-D is okay, but it’s not all that for me.  It turned out that as far as we could tell that our only choices were digital AND 3-d, or film and 2-d.  No one we could find was offering the choice of digital and 2-D, which would have been our perfect combo.   Well, no one should want to see it in film, right, so we chose the digital 3-d. 

I’m getting ahead of myself.

Olive Garden- wow to their new appetizer item!  It’s Lasagna Fritta, which is basically fried lasagna.  hehehe.  It’s lovely the things we find to fry, is it not?  It was so delicious.  On the scale of wonderful fried foods, I would still have to say that fried cheese ravioli is better, but the fried lasagna was way up there.  I’m sure it would have easily landed on the list of “Top Restaurant Foods to Avoid!”  I read that article the other day, and it made me sad at how many of those items on the list are among my favorites.    But you know what?  I had my cholesterol and other blood junk tested about a month ago, and everything was shockingly normal, so I think I will just proceed with my usual patterns of eating enjoyment. 

The breadsticks were also doused with salt.  We thought we had gone to heaven.  And yes, I got my salad fix, at least until the next round of “wine signs” comes along.

“Up”was really a great movie!!  I enjoyed “Wall-E” last year, but I have to say that I haven’t enjoyed a Pixar movie as much as I liked “Up” in a long time.  It was so cute.  Really, I thought it was a great love story.  David and I both agreed that in some ways it was far more romantic than tons and tons of the other so-called romance movies we’ve seen in the past.  The movie itself was so amazing in the way it looked.  I loved how everything had so much texture!  Fabrics were especially amazing.  The curtains looked real!  We were very impressed. 

So we saw our movie in Longview, and then we came home so David could get to work.  I took a deep breath, hehe, and I called my cinema.  Marshall Cinema is showing “Up” in 3-D too, meaning that they finally got digital projectors!  Oh!!!!!!!  I am so completely jealous!!  My little cinema is going digital!  That’s so amazing.  I called Skinner (the manager) so I could go up there and see them!  I just couldn’t resist it at all.  And guess what?  I got the grand tour!!!!  Man, they are SO COOL.  All I could say was, “Oh, I’m jealous that you’re getting to learn all this!”  The whole system is just incredible.  It was also just so WOW to see the digital image on those screens when my mind is still so used to seeing film projected there.  It’s just beautiful.  They’re also still projecting film in some of the other auditoriums, so I got to take a few minutes to enjoy the clatter of my little film projectors.  I’ve spent so much time up there, of course, that it was nice to see it all again. 

It was pretty much a perfect day.  No stress, and I got to learn cool things.     I feel like I’ve been on vacation!

That’s One Way to Say It — June 15, 2009

We found this sign one day as we were travelling through Bossier City, LA. 

This motel was on Texas Street, sandwiched among many other seedy/we-charge-by-the-hour looking motels.   I guess this one must cater to a “classier” clientele!  I’d love to see how they enforce that “nicer people” sign. hehe!  If it works, I’m getting two of those signs and I’m hanging them up at both of my jobs!

MORE Good News for Modern Man — June 13, 2009

 Ohmygoodness, ohmygoodness… Guess what has returned to Marshall? 

YES!  God’s Final Warning is back!  It’s BACK!  I’m pretty excited. 

 They are in a new location in town, so I’m not really sure how long they’ve been there.  We just happened upon it accidentally.  It’s ironic because just the same day, I was driving past their old building (which I pass all the time on the way back and forth from the bank) and I was thinking to myself, “It looks like some of their signs are missing!”  (They still have signs up at the old place too.  I guess that’s to deceive those who doubt the finality of the warning, right!  Maybe they send those who doubt to the old building.  If you’re a doubter, you’re already too late!)) 

 So, although I’m very much entertained that God’s Final Warning is back, I’m pretty sad that they didn’t go back to their old building.  Their new spot is kind of out of the way from our usual travels, so I won’t get to enjoy passing by the building during their loud and wild sing-alongs.

 God’s Final Warning – Part 2 – The Sequel:  We Guess Our Other Final Warning Wasn’t Quite Final Enough….

Maybe There’s a Penny in There…. — June 8, 2009

I walk into work at the bank today to find out that our currency counter is broken. Oh joy, my favorite way to start the week. Mondays are always so busy anyway – it’s like everyone has to rush up here early Monday morning to get their “bank fix” since they couldn’t come on Sunday. In between customers, I start trying to diagnose the problem with the counter. Every piece of money put in there gets sucked into some vortex which requires a little work to dislodge. This usually means that someone stuck a coin in there, and when I lightly shook the machine, yep, it rattled. Commence with the screwdriver!

I’m dismantling the machine in-between customers, which is a really gross job. It’s really easy to deny the idea that our money is so dirty. On one level, we know that money is germy, but it’s hard to realize exactly how gross it is until you can actually SEE the dirt. Anytime I have to take that machine apart, the level of dust and grime is just amazing. The money counter ruffles up all the dirt on the bills as it runs them through, and the dirt settles in the machine and around it. It’s so gross because the texture of the dirt is almost like a dark gray loose face powder, but also a powder that has gotten slightly damp somewhere along the way. So it’s all clumpy and it makes you feel dirty for the rest of the day.

Anyway, I dislodge the penny and re-assemble the machine, and then I start my usual routine of trying to find out who put the coin in the currency counter. As I’m doing this (and I have no idea why the thought came to me) I realize that getting the penny out reminded me of the very first episode of “Scrubs” when J.D. meets the Janitor for the first time. I really love that their relationship started out the way it did.

J.D.: I’m, uh, I’m waiting for someone.
Janitor: Door’s broke. Fifth time or so it won’t open.
J.D.: Maybe there’s a penny stuck in there.
Janitor: Why a penny?
J.D.: I don’t know…
Janitor: Did you stick a penny in there?
J.D.: No, no, I was just making small talk.
Janitor: If I find a penny in there… I’m taking you down.

I feel the same way!! hehehehehe

So, this weekend was the end of an era for Big Pines Lodge in Karnack. David and I went there a very long time ago. I remember writing about it on here, but it’s been forever ago now! This was the catfish place on Caddo Lake where supposedly at one point long ago you could eat catfish and buy a gun all in the same place. hehehe. It burned down over the weekend, which is pretty sad because it was so popular and well-loved.

Marshall News Messenger Story

This brings me to a point, which is: why does every catfish place on Caddo Lake burn down? It’s just a weird coincidence. There have been several restaurants there that I’ve known of, and before we even get a chance to go there, we find out that it’s burned down. That’s weird! I don’t get it. I am guessing now that they’re all gone. I think Big Pines outlasted them all.

Final random tidbit: I FINALLY finished my LOLcat website!

We’re not going to discuss how many hours I spent looking at funny cat pictures, hehehehe, but I enjoyed it, so that’s what matters!

Pictures….Finally!! — May 29, 2009

Boy, I really don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. Seriously! I feel like I’ve really retreated into my own little universe lately. I feel like having a conversation is just entirely too much work. All I want to do is grunt the shortest answer possible. I can’t even bring myself to blog or create email most of the time – it’s like it invades my world too much. I need to pull myself out of this because this is not the me that I know. I need to find some motivation for that though. *sigh*

Well, moving forward.

My computer and I are still under some kind of curse. We got our new hard drive, so we hoped all the problems would be solved. Unfortunately, for no apparent reason, it’s running slower than ever. Things I used to be able to do fairly quickly before (like opening a Word document and basic stuff like that) now require me to sit and wait. What’s the deal? And the Internet….am I back on dial-up? My virtual memory warning pops up constantly……

Then yesterday, I came in to check my email before work and everything was fine. Then I checked it again a little while later when I was home at lunch, and what the what! My monitor developed a fine vertical green line! There was nothing that could have happened to this computer in the few short hours I was gone! I feel like I’m watching a movie with a scratch on the film!! And now today, I am not entirely sure all my mouse clicks are even registering. I’m having to click a lot of random things twice. Poor computer! Cling to life, please!! I want you to quit playing around and start working!

But the good news is this! David and I celebrated our seventh anniversary on Monday! May 25th! We took the day off from everywhere – no jobs! (I am getting SO spoiled to this – the second time we’ve gotten time off together this month! This could be severely habit forming!)

David’s gift to me this year was for us to get to take pictures together. (I might have mentioned this previously.) This was pretty exciting, because he’s not all that much for having his picture taken. I’ve been trying to accomplish this event for several years now. We got them done at Walmart. I love them!!!

This one is my absolute favorite.

Oh, and yes, it’s the debut of the glasses.

We had a really great day together. We actually kind of re-created our wedding day, in a way. After our wedding, we went to Shreveport together and went to eat at Mr. Gattis (YUM), and then went to a movie. I loved that day so much, for obvious reasons, but also because besides the big deal of getting married, we also got to have an easy-going fun day. I really recommend that! We did our very small wedding at 11 am, which gave us the rest of the day together. That’s so much better than spending the entire day on wedding stuff and then being exhausted and grumpy afterwards!

At that time, we went to see “About a Boy.” I can honestly say that I remember just about nothing about that movie, hehehe. This time around, after we ate at Mr. Gattis, we went to see “Angels and Demons.” It was pretty good. We originally planned to see “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” but it got such terrible reviews that we figured we’d just wait and get it for $1 out of the Redbox. I read “Angels and Demons” a few years ago when “The DaVinci Code” was at its height of popularity. “Angels and Demons” followed what I remembered of the book decently well, but of course they had to cut a lot for time restraints. I probably won’t really want to watch it again, but it was good for one time.

It was weird to go to a cinema to watch a movie again! We hadn’t been to see a movie since like November. I think that’s the longest I’ve been without going to a cinema since I met David. We went to Cinemark Tinseltown in Shreveport, which is best-known for serving…..drum roll…..Gold Peak Tea!! Yes!!!! That was actually where I discovered Gold Peak. What a wonderful world. They might be behind the times since they still project movies on film, but they make up for it with their tea. hehehe.

So, seven years. That’s pretty nice. I’m thinking this past year has been our best year yet. We’ve really improved ourselves this year and I think we’re working together as a unit in ways we haven’t done before. I like that. We make a great team.

I’ll post the rest of the pics on my facebook/myspace, and David’s too if I can remember his passwords!!

CVS is Paying Me to Eat Macaroni and Cheese!! — May 18, 2009

Lots to talk about!  I’ve been trying to sit down and type for what feels like a week!

First – I have to say how excited I am that CVS is (inadvertently) paying me to eat macaroni and cheese!  Here’s how it happened.  I’ve said a whole bunch of times that if you’re going to shop at CVS, you have to “shop” the ad and pay attention to the sales.  You can’t just go in there and toss stuff into your cart willy-nilly.  Well, we have several customers who have taken the idea to an art form.  There is one customer in particular who is just amazing!  She is one of those people who can go into a store, get an entire cart full of stuff, and somehow still get out of there with only spending a dollar or less.  She comes in every Sunday and always comes and gets me so I can wait on her, hehehe.  Lately, she’s been teaching me her methods, and even though I don’t put it all to use, I actually am getting a lot of good information!  (I’m even learning how to read the ad so critically that sometimes I can even inform her of deals that she hasn’t spotted yet. (Setting the ad is my pet project each weekend at CVS.  Normally, I pretty well can recite the best deals by Saturday night/Sunday morning, depending on how much I work.))

Anyway, one of her favorite websites is The Grocery Game.  Some of it is stuff you have to pay for, but it breaks down the best deals, store by store, and then all you have to do is go and buy the items.  That’s pretty easy!  They also have a section of free coupons, and that’s how the mac and cheese came to be.

Easy Mac (individual cups) are $1.19 regular price at CVS.  From The Grocery Game, I was able to come across two coupons for the same item.  One coupon was for buy one Easy Mac, get one free.  The other coupon was for $1.00 off when you purchase two Easy Macs.

So, I went to CVS (I was in Shreveport this day) and took my coupons.  I got my two Easy Macs, which would have been 1.19 twice.  The buy one get one free coupon made them 1.19 for both, and then my dollar off coupon made my total .19.  But wait!  I also have my employee 20% discount.  So, that was about .45 off of the Easy Mac.  I would have paid .19, but when you factor in the discount, CVS paid ME like 25 cents just to take that Easy Mac out of the store.  How cool is that? 

Actually, that entire trip was pretty amazing.  I got about 18 dollars worth of stuff, and between my discount, my coupons (from The Grocery Game) and a few extra bucks I had, I got out of there for about a dollar.  Not bad for a novice!

Moving on…

Glasses Update:  I love them!  I love my newfound world of clear vision!  I could easily annoy every person I know to death with my joyful exclamations of how wonderful it is to be able to see everything with such clarity.  I really thought there for awhile that it was just never going to get any better, so I feel like I’m set free now.  I think I’m pretty well adjusted to the bifocal thing now.  It’s not nearly as daunting as it was that first day! 

The only thing that makes me laugh about my glasses is that I feel like I’m wearing a disguise. I feel like there’s some point where I just need to rip them off my face and announce, “Hey, it’s just me under here!”, as if no one can tell who I am with them on, hehehehe.

I need to write my eye doctor a thank you note for this one.  I am just so relieved.  CVS is a different world to me now that I can actually see what I’m doing.  (My vision is always worse there because it’s usually later in the day that I am there, and because I utilize my distance vision far more there than at the bank.)  My eyes don’t feel nearly as stressed as they usually do.  Refreshing!

Book Update:  I am reading a great book right now!  It’s called A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love and Faith in Stages by Kristin Chenoweth with Joni Rodgers.  I love this book!  I never knew who Kristin Chenoweth even was until one day when she was on Ellen promoting The West Wing.  From that one little interview, I became just totally enchanted with her.  Of course, I loved her on Pushing Daisies (YAY!!!!!!!  The last three episodes will air in a few weeks!!  YAAAAAAYYYYY!!), and I heard that she’s going to reprise her role as Galinda in the Wicked movie, so I’ll definitely want to see that.  (I hope that’s not just a rumor!)  The book is really good – an autobiography of her life and how she came to be who she is.  I was going to buy it for myself for my birthday, but then David found it for me at the library, so that was perfect.  I think I’ll still buy it though.  Her style of writing is exactly the same as how she talks – bubbly, funny, and full of life.  She also talks a lot about Pushing Daisies, which always makes me happy. 

Dinosaur Update: You might remember that I was pretty gleeful the other day when I realized that someone had purchased two of the three remaining dinosaurs at CVS.  Well.  Over the weekend, Shane (one of the managers, friend, etc.) came up to me and said, “Hey Athene, have you been on the toy aisle lately?”  I didn’t snap to what he was talking about and said no.  He responded that I need to go over there and take a look.  I followed him over there as innocently as a lamb being led to slaughter, and…………..arggggggggg!!!!!!!!  There are no longer three dinosaurs, people.  Now there is a entire BOX OF DINOSAURS!!  Tons of them!!!  And there are at least five different species now!!!  Shane pointed out the fact that since they’re in a box, at least we can just chunk them in the box, as opposed to keeping them in a straight line on the shelf.  That’s true, but in reality, I just know that I’m going to go back there daily and find huge dinosaur armies spread out all over the floor.  Now there are enough of each type that a kid could really have a field day back there while their parents wait for their medicine.  hm…

I need to upload a great picture that David and I took when we were in Shreveport last week.  Soon!

 

Now Tell Me….Where Did They Put That Floor Again? — May 12, 2009

I got my new glasses today!  What a crazy adjustment this is going to be.  I remember when I was in sixth grade, my teacher, Sister Patricia Ann (Catholic school) was talking to us about the day we would eventually get bifocals.  She said, “Now when you put them on for the first time, the first question you’re going to ask is, “Where is the floor?”"  Oh my goodness, who knows why I would actually retain that useless information, but she was right again!  hehehe.  (She was one of my favorite teachers ever.  Structure and organization were her passion!  I learned so much, and still use a lot of her knowledge today, obviously.)

Walking in bifocals is just a whole new world.  I know I looked crazy trying to get out of that doctor’s office!  I cut a very wide berth around all the chairs, haha.  I’ve been doing research on the best ways to adjust to bifocals, and most of what I have read has served me well.  The main idea is to always point your nose in the direction in which you are looking.  Also, don’t look down while you are walking.  Everything is all curvy and shifts unexpectedly.  (I will NOT be using these things on the treadmill.  I will certainly be doomed.) 

I went straight from the doctor’s office to Walmart to do some shopping.  (I figured I should break them in.)  I got better with maneuvering with the glasses as I got further into my list, but one of my first stops was bananas.  I must have looked nuts because some guy offered to pick out my bananas for me.  hahahahaha. 

I won’t know for sure how it’ll all go until I work a few days in them, of course.  Driving is just a dream, though!  I can see everything.   

Dinosaur Update:  I think someone actually bought two of the dinosaurs at CVS.  Oh man, this is too exciting.    I am not getting my hopes up yet though.  I have a feeling they’re hiding diabolically somewhere in the store, just waiting for me to find them.

A Footnote…..er…Actually a Toothnote and Eyenote – May 7, 2009

I went back to the eye doctor after work today.  Ever since he cut back my eye exercises, I’ve been progressively getting worse, and it was getting to the point where I was starting have problems every day, so it was time.  He did my exam, and agreed that things have really regressed.  I think it surprised him how fast that went.  Go me for being efficient, even in my deficiencies, right.

So, his recommendation:  BIFOCALS!  BIFOCALS!!!!!!!!!  What!!  BIFOCALS??!!!!!  Man, I just KNEW that turning 30 was going to be  a bad idea!  LASIK is out of the question – it will make things worse, contacts aren’t going to work at all because they’re too close to the eye, and regular glasses just aren’t the answer.  Good Lord, what is left? 

Then, just as I was getting ready to go into the office to hear this news, David called me.  He had a dentist appointment this afternoon.   He needs three fillings.  THREE FILLINGS!  We do not need children, people.  We are completely expensive enough on our own. 

I don’t know if maybe I was just feeling old or what, but as I was picking out frames for my BIFOCALS, I was looking in the mirror and realized that my forehead wrinkle is much more prominent than I had realized.  Mind you, now, this wrinkle observation was without any eyeball correction.  What will I find with my glasses?  Maybe we are better off not knowing. 

Life Without Flavor — May 7, 2009

 My tongue has been partially numb for like a week now.  This is really starting to get boring!  I don’t even know what happened.  I keep waiting for it to get better.  I need to be able to enjoy my food and I am missing out.  It better be well by next week when we go to Pieworks, or there will be ramifications.  hehehe.

 I can’t say that my little issue has stopped me from eating.  David and I have been saying “forget you!” to the environment for the past two Sundays and we’ve been driving over to Shreveport to go to Fuddruckers.  Love that place.  It’s worth the 45 minute drive over there just to eat, and we always justify it by saying that if we lived in a larger city, that would just be normal for us. Whoever designed that place was a genius, even if only because they provide vats of free melted cheese, all for the taking.  I’m also really enjoying the jalapeno cheese.  It took me awhile to get up the guts to try that, but it’s really good.

 I really wish that this Jon and Kate Plus 8 controversy would die off.  It’s just sad!  Every tabloid and entertainment news show is just obsessed with this story right now.  Of course I hope it’s all false.  I think it’s all false, but this is the kind of stuff that tears people apart.  US Weekly said that the show is coming back on May 25th (my anniversary, yay!), but I haven’t heard anyone else say that yet. 

 Besides, all of this is pulling me back into the tabloid vortex!  I’ve been really strong, even mostly avoiding looking at the magazines at CVS even when they’re oh so tempting, hehehe.  I had to buy the US Weekly with Jon and Kate on the cover, and E! News said that they’re also on the cover NEXT week, so gosh.  I wasn’t even watching E! News anymore until all this started. hehehe.  I need to go cold turkey again.  That’s the only way I can ever accomplish anything. 

 Wednesday + Pieworks + Me + David = Bliss.  I can’t wait!