Friday musings

Observations and stuff I think is important:

• Always bring the shoes you are going to wear when you get your pants tailored. If you don't you might end up with high waters. Or a flood.
• Ed Hardy stuff is just fugly. Unless you use it be purposely flashy.
• Making a decision on bedding is seemingly impossible. Hiring a decorator is looking mighty tempting.
• Teaching a dog to stop sleeping on your feet and on a dog bed on the floor is almost impossible.
• It's still possible to have a disaster zone of a house even with only a grown up and a toddler living there.
• Amazon.com should pay royalties for those people who order from them the most.
• iPhone love is still there and still hanging on strong.
• Mailing care packages across the country to your 13-year-old is so fun. Especially when you pack freshly baked cookies and a new pair of shoes.
• It's possible to be addicted to pretty underthings and need to throw away some of them because the drawer is filled to capacity.
• You've reached new heights when you watch the very last DVR'd show and feel the world closing in on you because you have to watch live TV.

Wouldn't you know it

So I had this great plan to redo my bedroom . I bought all the new bedding and it's currently sitting in the original packaging on my bedroom floor until I get the surge of energy to paint the room and get to it already. I admit I've been lazy in the makeover department.

Then an intervention happened. I got the new glossy 167 page Pottery Barn catalog. Normally Pottery Barn is too beige and bland for me but something happened to them and they added brightly colored gorgeous bed linens and I'm torn.

One the one hand I have this perfectly (nonreturnable) lovely set of bed linens and a plan to go with these linens. And on the other hand I have found bed linens that I feel like are more my style. What to do?!

Help me choose please.

Here is the original bedding. It's a lovely shade of a blue/green and I think it's perfectly acceptable. I purchased a lovely set of high count crisp white sheets to break up the color a bit.

Then I saw this set and I just love the patchwork with the shades of blue and green. I doggy-eared the page in the Pottery Barn catalog within seconds of seeing this set.

Then! Then I went to the website and fell in love with the large, bright flowers and the crisp white in the background.

Then I stumbled across this and I also love the big beautiful floral print that's not to sweet looking. I'm also drawn to the oranges.

So you see, readers. I'm torn and I don't know what to do. Help, please. What would you choose?

His skin color doesn't really matter to me

When I stood in line to cast my vote just a few short months ago, I didn't base it on skin color. I put no thought into which candidates matched my skin tone the best or which one had the same hair texture as my own. I didn't check the box because I wanted to elect a black or white or mixed man. I voted for who would change the United States that my children live in.

When Barack Obama won the Presidency just a few short months ago I didn't care that he was African American. I didn't care what shade of brown he was. I didn't care that his children and wife are African American. It simply doesn't matter to me. Obama doesn't represent a color to me. He represents something much larger than a shade on a color wheel.

When I watched the inauguration this morning I stayed true to my non-caring ways. The color of my President's skin makes no difference to me. Every time I heard this was a momentous occasion I nodded my head because truly it was a momentous occasion because we had a renewed spirit, not a skin color change. I just don't care that my President is black. I don't care.

I do care that he's brought young and old together, rich and poor, hopeful and the destitute. I care that people who have never paid attention to their government are now paying a little closer attention. I care that President Obama represents a new beginning, a new change and a new face with a fresh set of eyes. I care that we, as a nation, have finally looked past the skin color and gotten to the core of a man.

Skin color makes no difference to me, I just simply don't care about it.

Winners

First, thanks to all of you who commented to win a $25 gift card of your choice to Target, iTunes, Barnes & Noble or Ebay. My official way of selecting you was to Instant Message a friend and ask her to pick a number between 1 and 21. She was totally bummed that she didn't pick her own number but I'm excited to reveal the winner, Mrs. R!! She just recently moved across the country and I think this will help her cheer up a little. Spending a few dollars is always a great little pick-me-up. I just need to know which gift card you'd like and where to mail it to. My e-mail address is sunflower99 [at] swbell dot com. Congrats!

Also, I have a story about another winner. Me.

My family went on a week long cruise several years ago when Derick was younger. He was just old enough that I let him explore around the ship alone if I knew where he'd be. If you've never been a cruise I'll tell you that they are constantly giving away things and having presentations and the like.

One day Derick attended a jewelry presentation (out of boredom maybe?) and he entered to win a diamond ring. My mom happened to be there and she knew he had entered. After sitting with my mom for a while I suppose the droning on about clarity and cut got the best of Derick and he headed to the pool. Shortly thereafter they drew names for the diamond ring and Derick actually won. But of course he had to be present and he was busy gallivanting and soaking up the sun as kids do.

He told me later, after he found out that he'd been called on, that he was going to give me the ring if he won it. And even though I was a loser of the diamond ring I was totally a winner that day.

Rant and a Rave

RANT:


Today was my first official day to start working what will be my normal work hours. It's tax season which is my source of income and irritation. Instead of coming in to work at a leisurely 10am I now have to be in my office at 9am. Now for those of you who get up at 4am and drive 3 hours to work and still manage to make it there by 7, good for you. I'm not that person.

I set my alarm for exactly one hour earlier than I had gotten up yesterday. I figured I'd keep the routine the exact same and I'd sail through the morning. Big fat HELL NO. First, I hadn't factored in the traffic. Apparently A LOT of people need to be at work when I do and there is only one road that leads out of my subdivision which means that every single commuter was waiting at the same stop sign I was.

I also did not factor in the train that may or may not stop on the tracks for 10 minutes. I was on the ass end of that traffic line also.


Also, school zones. SHIT. I forgot about school zones. I don't want to run the little kiddies over so I obey and slow it down, but it puts me even behinder (it's my new word.)

In short, I now have to rise and shine an hour and a half earlier which means I'll be getting up at 6:30am and dear readers, I just don't understand how anyone can get up at 6:30am and expect to be pleasant.


RAVE:

Car dancing. Have you car danced in a while? Last night I was driving home from the gym, my muscles all tired from an extra long weight training session and the new Pink song "So What" came on and my one non-driving hand flew up in the air and started flailing around and my torso started gyrating in my seat and I was totally getting down in the car.

I hadn't car danced in forever and man it was so much fun. I was just glad that it was totally dark outside so no one could see me and call the paramedics because they thought I was having a seizure or simply a crazy lady.

For fun I used to get in the car and drive nowhere with the windows down and the music blaring and car dancing to whatever song happened to come on. I miss those carefree days, but it was awesome to get a taste of that for just a few minutes.

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Thanks to everyone who wished me Happy bloggiversary!! I'll be choosing a name on Monday so there's still time to tell your friends to come leave a comment and maybe win a prize!

I am not detail oriented

Someone commented on a blog post weeks ago telling happy bloggiversary and I was all, Huh? Smoking crack, what? They must have me confused with someone else, I thought. I distinctly remember looking recently and I had over 100 days left.

Uh, so apparently I was wrong. I missed my very own one year bloggiversary! Technically it wasn't my real bloggiversary because I started a lame-o MySpace blog on December 27, 2004. But then I moved over to a real blog platform October 13, 2007. So basically I'm 4 MONTHS behind on celebrating my bloggiversary.

If you haven't noticed, I am not that into the little details. Obviously.

In celebration of having my little corner of the Internets for over a year I'd like to do my very first giveaway. You leave me a sweet comment, or a nasty one if you so choose, and in turn I will select one random person to send a prize to. But please note, if you leave a nasty comment I'll have to send you something like a lump of coal or a dirty diaper from a two-year-old and no one wants one of those.

The prize will be one gift card in the amount of $25 to one of the following places: Target, iTunes, Barnes & Noble or Ebay, your choice.

So there ya have it. Happy late bloggiversary to MEEEEEEEEEEE!

Getting it off my chest and then putting it right back where it was

I stress about posting blogs which makes it no fun for me. I stress that I don't write well enough. I worry that the few readers I do have will roll their eyes when they read what I write. I cringe when I see I only have 2 comments on a blog post when I've spent a long time writing something. I know I don't write that great, not enough to have hundreds of followers and it gets to me. Sure, my Mom and Grandma tell me I write well, but they are required to tell me those things, right?

No more. I'm tired of stressing about perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation. It's not that important to me in the grand scheme of things. Why would it be? It's just a waste of my time to worry about things I have so very little control over. I have no intention of making a career of writing so why on earth does it matter?


Hi, my name is Kristie and I don't write that well and I talk about things that, for the most part, don't matter to others, but that matter to me. There. I said it.

On to bigger and better things.

Since last Wednesday I have been eating mostly raw foods. The #1 reason I choose to do this was because I ate so unhealthily while I was gone for a week. I was away from home and it threw my off balance and basically I survived on junk food. But I was hoping that as an added bonus I would lose a pound or two.


Oh hell no, is what my body said to losing a few pounds. I actually gained almost 3 pounds. EATING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. What the hell. Granted I ate some nuts and raisins and avocados and drank some fruit juice but it's not like I ate 7 avocados loaded with 3 cups of nuts and washed it down with a gallon of fruit juice. I am so confused. Why is my body being so hateful to me?

On the plus side I do feel lighter and less chemically laden from all the junk I had eaten. I enjoy salads even more and I found some really good recipes for raw foods that I plan on using again and again. I've found the love for green smoothies that I never thought I'd find. Who knew that adding greens to a smoothie could taste so good and be so healthy.

I'm curious to know if any of you have done any raw food cleanses or if you have a raw food recipe you'd like to share. Or maybe you just want to tell me that salads are the devil. Whatever you want, I'm not picky.