Odds and Ends

Some random thoughts I've had in my head:

-I love making .41 in change. One of each coin :)

-I never knew what those 13.1/26.2 stickers on cars were about but now I do! Thanks all you bloggers who run marathons and half-marathons!

-I've been very moody the past few days. I don't know exactly where the anger is coming from but the smallest things are setting me off. I'm getting pretty good at

apologizing to Pants for being grouchy.

-I found out on Tuesday that the temp job I've had for the past 3 months, and I thought was going through the end of the summer, is actually ending on July 9th. This hasn't helped my anger and has thrown a little depression into the mix.

-I've been having weird dreams. One night my dreams were starring Kris Kristofferson. Yes, he is the man who starred in A Star Is Born with Babs. This dream also had Lavar Burton and a crazy elevator. Last night my dream had Eric from True Blood. Or maybe it was Alexandar Skarsgard. Not sure...I wasn't being bitten on the neck or anywhere else for that matter so I don't think he was a vampire.

-I recently found DailySquee.com and signed up for their newsletter. Expect tiny cute baby animals more often. Maybe I will make it a thing! Anyway---excited, get it!

-I want to try macarons! Anyone know a good place near D.C. to eat them?

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My Life in France-Julia Child

Here's a little description from Goodreads:

"In her own words, here is the story of Julia Child's years in France, where she fell in love with French food and found her "true calling." Filled with the black-and-white photographs that her husband Paul loved to take when he was not battling bureaucrats, as well as family snapshots, this memoir is laced with stories about the French character, particularly in the world of food, and the way of life that Julia embraced so whole-heartedly. Above all, she reveals the kind of spirit and determination, the sheer love of cooking, and the drive to share that with her fellow Americans that made her the extraordinary success she became."

This book was an eye-opener for me. I'll admit that I knew little to nothing about Julia Child when I started. Well...as much as you learn from watching Julie and Julia, which I had just done. I have vague memories of watching her on tv as a kid. She always seemed a little oblivious to me but I certainly wasn't of an age to care too much about how to bake bread or casseroles. I know regret that I don't have the chance to watch those episodes again!

This book covers the period of time that Julia and her husband Paul Child spent in France during the late forties and into the fifties and sixties. It's always a delight to me to find out about a person you never though much of and discover how interesting they can be! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her lust of life and her desire to never take the easy path. She enjoyed the unvarnished version of Paris and hated the big, glossy hotels and houses. She and Paul travelled all over and found such delight in a picnic on the side of the road. I found myself questioning whether I would ever be able to live the same sort of life. With that must zest and endless appetite! I love the fact that she didn't find her true calling until much later in her life. I felt that there is hope for anyone as long as you keep your eyes open to the possibilities around you.

The relationship between Paul and Julia was one of the best parts of the book. They really worked as a team and supported each others passions. All in all this was an extremely pleasant and informative look into the life of someone I previously knew nothing about but I'm glad I finally do. I only wish there were more!

Guest Post

Today I am guest posting over at Becky's blog Love Everyday Life!

I volunteered to guest post AGES and AGES ago but she didn't need my blog until today! I started the post before I officially began my blog. It was a way for me to talk out whether or not I wanted to even go down this road.

I think my choice was obvious ;)

I hope you enjoy it!

Blood Drive

You know how we're all supposed to be good people? Try and do things for our fellow man and help others in need. Well I volunteered for something but I'm not so sure it's gonna be pretty.

You see, I volunteered...to give blood. Cue the mwhahahahahahas!

Seriously. I'm not excited about this. It saves lives blah, blah, blah! It's just that needles and I have a history and it's not pretty.

Like most people my age, I've had my wisdom teeth out. I think three if not ALL of the teeth were impacted which basically means they were growing in sideways. The dentist or oral surgeon or whatever said that he HIGHLY recommended I have anaesthesia. They were going to have to drill my teeth into bits to more easily remove them and according to that guy, I wouldn't want to be awake for it. I'd have to agree. So there I am, sitting in the operating chair, minding my own business, just waiting to get a needle and drip hooked to me.

I tell the nurse, "I have bad veins. Whenever I've had to give a blood sample, they can't get the veins to come up." She assures me that that won't be a problem.

"He's a professional! He always gets the vein."

He's slapping and flicking and hitting my arms. Nothing.

Prick one. Prick two. Prick three! I only wish I was talking about guys here!

"Let's switch to your other arm."

Prick four! Pricks five and six!

"I didn't want to have to do this but I'm going to try and use the vein in your wrist or hand. They are much harder to get to but nothing else is working."

At this point I'm crying or holding back tears. Mom had been called into the room to hold my hand. I'm not afraid of needles or blood but I'd been sitting in this chair for a good 30 minutes to an hour while some guy hits my arms and stabs me with a needle. Repeatedly. I'm starting to bruise. I just wanted those damn teeth out!

As you might've guessed the wrist/hand vein didn't work either. At this point I got some hilarious, (at least to me) news. He's gonna write me a prescription for a Valium. Just one. I'm to take it an hour before my new, rescheduled appointment. Apparently it helps plump up your blood vessels. I'm to wear socks and shoes. (I was in flip-flops. The easier to take off when I was drugged up and trying to go to sleep afterwards.) Warm clothes. I'll be the first appointment. They'll turn the heat up in the operating room. Whatever they can to get those blood veins plumped up!

I come back a week or so later. Valium swallowed down and sweatpants on. Prick one...it goes in! It hurts though, it's very uncomfortable. Actually, it really hurts.

"Ok we'll try again!"

Prick two in the other arm. Success! Thank Jesus because I was seriously about to start crying again!

The story pretty much ends there. I had my teeth out, slept for hours on end intermittently being woken up by my mother to take my pain pills. (I had Vicodin that time! I have a story about that too ;).)

My long and winding and winded point is: my veins hate needles. And I'm giving blood tomorrow afternoon.

I just keep telling myself: It saves lives It saves lives It saves lives AND you'll be able to finally find out your blood type!

Wish me luck!

It's the little things

I'm sitting at work in front of my new computer monitor.

"So what?", you may ask. Well not 20 minutes ago I was sitting in front of a behemoth. A monitor so large I felt like I was in 5th grade again. I'd gotten accustomed to it and didn't expect an upgrade. I am just a temp after all and the monitor worked fine. One of the IT guys was upgrading a co-workers computer and walked by and literally said, "Whoa! You need a flat screen!"

So now I have a flat screen. It's glorious! Technology! Win! I feel like I have a second desk, there is so much room now! The screen is bigger too. I find this hilarious since my previous monitor itself was a good foot long but the actual screen was puny. Amazing what a little change can do :) Especially when it's unexpected!

Here's another hydrangea for your weekend! Hopefully I'll have some more of my Netflix Challenge to share with you!

Hollywood Love

This really has nothing to do with anything but I saw this picture on Jezebel and it made me smile. :) The actors are Michael Emerson (Ben Linus from Lost) and Carrie Preston (Arlene on True Blood). I remember randomly finding out they were married a little bit ago and find it absolutely charming. They play such loud/obnoxious/deviant characters on TV and they play them so well, that's it jarring to think of them as real people.

And can you imagine Arlene and Ben Linus married to each other!? Married for 11 years to boot! Love it!

Is it worth it?

Part of the reason I started this blog was because I had been reading other blogs and was so amazed by them and they got all the idea juices flowing in my brain with what I would do I if had my own.

Everything is always better in your head.

In reality I feel like I'm failing on the blog front! I keep finding new blogs and they are so fantastic. Well written with a cohesive style and point of view. Did I mention well written. I always had illusions of grandeur when it came to writing. In my head, (there I go with that pesky head again) I sounded intelligent and had plots and characters and stories! On paper I was long-winded, blabbering on and on with no definitive point. Very discouraging. Writing got lumped into being crafty for me. (see a story about that here.) It was something that I wanted to be good at but wasn't. So why would I decide to start doing something where I have to write everyday?

Maybe I would feel more confident if I had a sort of schtick. I watched Julie and Julia over the weekend, (post coming Friday) and it's really got me thinking. I don't have a purpose with my blog.

I'm not cooking my way through The Art of French Cooking.

I'm not running a marathon.

I'm not renovating my house.

I'm not pregnant.

I'm not planning a wedding.

In short, I'm not doing anything exciting! It's just me. Is that enough for people? I don't plan on quitting, not just yet. It's like Becky and her running. I don't hate blogging. I just need to work myself up to feeling like I'm doing a good job. Whenever you start anything new it's like that, right? You have to start somewhere and if nothing else I'm becoming a more focused person.

Someday I'll have a house to redo.

And be pregnant.

Then have a baby.

Not so sure about the marathon and the wedding.

When all those things happen I'll have the perfect platform to share my experiences with the world!

Whether it cares or not!

Plans

This is so beautiful

Today is Tuesday. I wish is was Thursday. Then I'd have my paycheck and could mark some things off my list. For instance:

-buy more Huggable Hangers

-buy a rake

-buy a shovel

-buy some spraypaint that's formulated for plastic (this goes with the rake/shovel, you'll hear more about this later)

-pay my phone bill :x

-get my car inspected!

-get my oil changed

I'm pretty sure the list could go on but those are the most pressing things. All kind of boring but still...they are on a list! A list people! Which means they must get crossed off! I can't do that until I get paid SO...I wish it was Thursday.

Anyone have a suggestion of the best place to buy a rake/shovel? I know Home Depot, Lowe's, etc but is one place cheaper then another? Also, a good brand or make you prefer? It doesn't need to be fancy but I've never bought any outdoor equipment before! It will be an adventure in lawncare! :)

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Odds and Ends

I've decided to make the Odds and Ends post a recurring one. It will be my chance to cover any little tidbits that need some screen time!

-New layout! Blogger got fancy overnight it seems :) I'm working with a friend to make the blog a little more personalized but I like having the option to spruce it up a bit before then! I hope the layout works. I like the 3 column set-up but feel that now the middle is a little too scrunched :/ Any opinions? I'm sure I'll keep fiddling with it!

-I've recently found quite a few crafty sites and they've inspired me! I don't know what I'll work on next but here are the links so you can check them out for yourself! Once I make a choice, I'll be sure to post all the gory details.

-Dollar Store Crafts

-P.S. I Made This

-Can I just say how ready I am for the weekend? The sad thing is, I don't even look forward to it since I work 6 days a week. (One day at the bookstore and 5 at my temp job.) This weekend I have Sunday off so I'm looking forward to just staying home and not spending any money!

-I am desperate for a good source of pictures! Beautiful, fun, quirky, any and all kinds. I want to make each post a little more interesting and have the darnedest time finding anything good when I do a Google search! You'd think typing in, "child looking at night sky" would get you something good but NO! Any resources would be greatly appreciated and I'll make sure and add photo credits!

This is what I got with 'child looking at night sky'. Not awful just kind science musuemy. Bleh.

Photo credit

Odds and Ends

We'll start out the week with a little update from the weekend, yes? Here goes!

-I set some goals for myself last week and I'm happy to report I accomplished all of them! Stay tuned for a post about my foray into DIY!

-I dropped off 2 trash bags of clothes and a box full of other knickknacks at the Salvation Army before the weekend even started! I also bought some more Huggable Hangers and made Pants clean out his clothes trunk a little...which means we now have two MORE trash bags for the thrift! Ugh, but good :)

-While I wasn't able to get ALL the bags of books out of the house and to the UBS, I managed to haul two of those blue IKEA bags full of books! I think I will take another trip some night this week.

-I also installed SnowLeopard on my computer and am happy to report that everything went off without a hitch! My Magic Mouse now has all the bells and whistles and my computer is as up to date as it can be. Here's hoping it can hold on a few more years for me. We've had a good run so far!

I was very proud of myself for setting goals and then being able to cross each one off the list. In some cases the 'big picture' doesn't need to be quite so BIG. Sometimes cleaning out your closet should be enough.

Also a little update on the second part of my finales post. I finished Castle, Chuck, and Modern Family so all that leaves is the season finale of Glee tomorrow night and I can post! Remember those excited pants I mentioned? They better be washed and ready!

As you can see I had QUITE a full weekend! I even vacuumed and did laundry! Anyone else have such a full weekend?