Skating

Remember roller-skating? For those of you that grew up in the 80’s, that is. Forget that rollerblading crap. I’m talking old school, dirt brown skates with orange wheels and ratty laces that you had to rent at the skating rink (unless you were lucky, as I was when I got older, enough to have your own pair of black speed skates with white racing stripes and red wheels…man, I was so hot back then!).

I’m at work listening to a c.d. called 80’s Club and “Fresh” by Kool & the Gang came on. It brought me back to my own skating years.

I lived in Jackson, MS at the time. I started going to the skating rink when I was about 8 and I ended up moving out of state when I was 11 but for those 3 years, I lived at the skating rink. Once I turned 10, mom would take me and Jennifer Anderson and anyone else in our “group” to Fun Time Skate. She would drop us off (around 6:30 or so) and we would act all “cool” waiting in line to pay to enter the hallowed skating ground (otherwise known at Fun Time). Man, the fashions alone are enough to make you scream. Off the shoulder torn sweatshirts (a la Flashdance) and mini skirts (yes, even while skating) and Thriller t-shirts and parachute pants (I was the proud owner of a red pair and even wore a bandana tied above the knee just like Mike….Michael Jackson that is). Fluorescent socks, high top Converse, ribbed tank tops, big belts, and bigger hair.

I can remember listening to songs like “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off” by Jermaine Stewart, “Let the Music Play” by Shannon, “Sign Your Name” and “Wishing Well” by Terence Tent D’Arby, “Looking For a New Love” by Jodi Watley, “Oh, Sheila” by Ready for the World, “Every Little Step” by Bobby Brown, “Rhythm of the Night” by DeBarge, anything by Michael Jackson or Madonna.

We would get all excited when “Thriller” was played because the D.J. would turn off all the lights except for the disco ball in the center. We (the girls) would all get “scared” and would gravitate towards wherever the boys were in hopes that they would “protect” us but in reality would be the ones scaring the hell out of us in the dark.

They would have races for the speed skaters and we would do the “Hokey Pokey” and at the end of the song, an employee (usually some pimply faced sullen teenager) would throw out a bunch of pennies on the skating floor (can we spell L-A-W-S-U-I-T?!?!?!?) and we would all scramble grab as many pennies as possible. They had a vending machine that would give out sour balls for a penny.

I can remember being fascinated with ball bearings and wanting to follow the wall around the skating floor looking for ball bearings and any money that would fall out of skaters pockets.

We would get a slice of really crappy pizza and some blue colored ice cream and a soda. I can remember always being fascinated with the older girls that were always hanging out in the bathroom and sneaking cigarettes and putting on make up.

I had a boyfriend one time that went skating with me. His name was David Barlow and he had the biggest brown eyes on the face of the earth. He was beautiful. He looked so cute one night at the skating rink with his sweatband holding back his feathered hair and his torn yellow sweatshirt and torn tight jeans. Really, can we bring those fashions back? Like right now?

I always thought I was so cool because I could skate backwards and do that thing where you crouched down to skate and when you went around the curves, you would slide your right foot all the way out (potentially tripping someone behind you) to coast the curves. I can remember trying to jump up or down off the carpeted floor on to the skating floor.

Man, that was good times.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Here It Is

What do y'all think?

Later,

Mama Dawg

Photography News

A couple of weeks ago, I entered a photo on line in some photo contests. One of them you get your picture voted on by your peers and one of them the site people vote on them.

However, there was another one I entered. The grand prize is $6500. You upload the picture and the editors review your picture. They pick a couple of hundred pics to publish in a photo anthology and if your picture is one that gets picked for the anthology, you are automatically considered a finalist for the $6500 grand prize.

Well, I’m being published!!!! And I’m a finalist for the grand prize!!!!!

I don’t know when all this will happen, but the contest is only once a year.

I’m so excited.

I love to take pictures.

I got my first digital camera in 2006 and discovered I wasn’t too shabby at taking pics. I also discovered how much you could play with the cameras and the different ways of doing shots. I loved the zoom feature and the quality of the pictures when they were printed off.

I obtained a new camera about 6 months after I got the first one and have been on a photo tear ever since then.

I’ve mentioned this before, but the pictures to the right of the page are pictures that I’ve taken.

I’ve even entered a photo contest here at work but they haven’t even judged the pics yet.

Wal-Mart employees have even accused me of being a professional photographer before and I almost got in a fight with the 16 year old “manager” behind the counter at the photo department because she was refusing to let me purchase my own photos that I printed off. She was finally convinced that they were mine.

Despite that story, I’m not naive enough to believe that I’m anywhere near professional status but I like to dabble a bit.

I want to seriously start developing my “craft” so to speak but money is such a factor. If, by chance, I actually win the prize money, I’m going to invest in a new camera. Maybe that will help!

Anyway, I just wanted to share the good news.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Weekend Wrap Up

A winter storm came through on Friday when I was leaving for work. I actually had icicles on my car! The DOT had already been out and about in the county because there was stuff on the bridges to prevent slipping. I got home on Friday only to have to go back out to pick up pizzas. No cooking in our house on Friday. It was so miserable. I had thought about going over to B’s on Friday after we ate our pizza and watched a movie but then light of my life wanted to watch the next movie in the series and I fell asleep during the beginning of it (it was like 9:15!) and light of my life and mom decided to go on to bed. I got my lazy ass up off the couch around 2:30 am and crawled in to my bed. For was cold as it was outside, the inside of the house wasn’t too bad. I don’t have central air and heat and when it’s really cold, I sometimes need to use a space heater in my bedroom. But that night I didn’t need to. B was at her house and they were bored. I should have gone over, but my butt was out like a light waaaaay too early. I would have been no fun to anyone as tired as I was.

The movie, by the way, was Indiana Jones. Light of my life had never seen the movies and I felt so bad not breaking her into to one of the greatest series of all times. She loved Raiders of the Lost Ark and immediately wanted to watch Temple of Doom. We’ll watch The Last Crusade tonight, probably. I’m kinda digging this writer’s strike. It gives me a chance to catch up on movies and light of my life’s movie education. She’s already been introduced to Grease, Grease 2, Dirty Dancing (with the Baby/Johnny love scene fast forwarded and eyes covered), Karate Kid (all 4!), Adventures in Baby-Sitting, Clue, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (her personal fav!), Footloose (another fav!), Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Goonies, Never Ending Story, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (the Kevin Costner version….I don’t care what people say, I love this movie!!!) and Shag. Next up on the list is Uncle Buck and Ghostbusters.

On Saturday morning, we awakened to icicles on the house, our cars, the handrail on the steps, the steps themselves, the trees, bushes, etc….Light of my life was so excited. Poor thing, it was the first time she’s ever seen icicles. We never got cold enough where we used to live for her to ever experience it. Still no snow, but the icicles will hold her over for a while. We have several of them in a bowl in my freezer! Got some cool pics.

Had to make the inevitable Wal-Mart run on Saturday. After all the fun and excitement with the icicles, we hopped in the car and drove 30 miles away to go shopping. I love that I live 30 minutes from a Wal-Mart. No extra stops just to buy more crap that I don’t need.

Anyway, light of my life had gotten a kids cookbook from Santa and she wanted to try out a recipe. We found one that we already had most of the ingredients for. She actually found two recipes and they make up a meal so she got to cook the entire meal by herself on Saturday night.

She made Crispy Mexican Chicken Tenders and French Fries. The only work I had to do was cut the potatoes and put things in and out of the oven. Otherwise, all the measuring and dipping and breading, she did herself. She even cut the chicken pieces into nugget-sized pieces. It was actually really, really good. I just had the leftovers for lunch today. The French Fry recipe even had a sauce to make with it. It was sour cream and barbecue sauce. It called for more sour cream than barbecue sauce but we reversed it and put more barbecue sauce than sour cream! I explained to her that as she got more comfortable with cooking, she could alter recipes to her liking.

She was so proud of herself. I'm real proud of her, too. We had some leftover and went over to B’s house. She had said that she wanted to sample it. We brought over about 6-7 pieces and some fries. Light of my life’s friend, M, had another girl sleeping over that night and they ate the whole plate!!! Luckily, B had managed to get a couple of bites in and declared it delicious. The girls thought it was good, as well. B asked light of my life when she was going to come over and cook for them. Light of my life said, “Anytime”.

We are obtaining a pool/Foosball/air hockey/ping pong table from B. She cleaned out the girls’ room and had to make room for her exercise equipment. In order to do that, she had to get rid of the table. We gladly accepted.

They’re bringing it over tonight.

When we were there on Saturday afternoon, I was teaching light of my life to play pool. I love to play pool and had been playing since high school. I’m such a bad mother. I’ve taught my daughter to play Texas Hold ‘Em poker and now pool! Next thing you know, I’ll have her smoking unfiltered Marlboro’s and drinking her Jack Daniel’s straight!

Anyway, B was on the phone with her husband, L. She mentioned that I was busy playing pool and he said that he “bet I had been in a lot of pool joints”. Of course, I had to correct him. I told B to tell him that I had been in a lot of “beer joints that happened to have pool tables”. That L is such a smarty pants sometimes! Of course, he wasn’t wrong, so I can’t get upset at him. Not that I would anyway. It was funny!

We decided that since the pool table was now going over to our house, if the girls wanted to come over to play, they had to bring a carton of cigarettes and a case of beer. That was the entry fee into the pool tournaments. I was teasing of course, but the rest of the time, we were saying that they always had to bring a carton and a case in order to enter the “pool joint” I was making over at my house. I’m going to make a sign and hang it up on the outside of the house. I bet some of the inhabitants of this county will think twice about stopping by unannounced after they see that. Actually, I’d probably be thrown in the slammer since it’s a dry county and I’d probably be contributing to the delinquency of minors and all that jazz! I kid, I kid. At least about the carton and case. I’m not kidding about having the kids over for tournaments. That will be fun. Their parents, however, will be required to bring over a case (not necessarily a carton)….especially if they intend to stay and visit! LOL!!!!!

Not a terribly exciting weekend but a nice and leisurely one. Just the kind I like. Did some cleaning out of light of my life’s room and playroom. Giving lots of things away. I can’t believe light of my life is willingly giving away 90% of her purses!!!! This is my little purse obsessed girl willingly giving away PURSES! I was so proud of her.

Now I just have to call up that Methodist church and take the stuff we don’t want any more to them. I hope Paris comes to the next sale. She can buy one of light of my life’s old purses! She has a nice silver one with a picture of Troy from HSM on it! I think that would look smashing with her many glorious outfits she’s frequently photographed in while visiting lesbian clubs in California. Yes, you read that right. Just Google that and you’ll see where she’s been partying lately!

Anyway, that was my weekend. How was yours?

Later,

Mama Dawg

They Call Him Spooky

I love living in a small town. It's the little things, man.

B was over visiting yesterday. C and M came over with her. Light of my life and M were playing quietly in her room. I hadn't gotten home yet but B was visiting with mom. It was a nice surprise to see them there. I was surprised because I didn't see their car but they had walked over (it was cold yesterday).

Anyway, I was supposed to have gone over to their house last night to help C with her social studies homework. She has to learn the placement of the states on a map as well as their postal abbreviations. Not to brag or anything, but I'm good at that kind of stuff. I always prided myself on knowing where states are on a map and the abbreviations. Of course, during the course of my previous occupation, I needed to know the abbreviations because I had to mail things out to states all over the country. I actually got pretty good at knowing area codes as well. You could give me a telephone number with an out of state area code and about 8 out of 10 times I could tell you the state they were calling from. Yes, I know, I'm a total dork and know a lot of completely useless information. You should see the inside of my head. It's filled with nothing but useless information and trivia. Especially if it has anything to do with movies. Just think, if I could clear my mind of all that information..........well, I would probably just fill it up with other completely useless information!! LOL!!!

Whoa, I got way off track with that.

Anyway, B came over to tell me that the state thingie got postponed until Monday so instead, she invited me to the Methodist church in a nearby city to go shopping.

I guess I should back up and start over.

B's friend P has a son that's a senior at the local high school. Next Thursday, they are having a beauty pageant for boys. It's where the boys get to dress up like women and parade around and have a pageant. I'm not sure what all it entails as I'm new here and have never gone to it before. At my high school, we had one of these as well. It was a trip seeing all these big beefy guys from the football team all dressed up in fishnets, bustiers and heels. Some of them really got in to it, too. Some of them really seemed to like it.....wonder what they're up to these days? Hmmmm....note to self.....Google some guys from high school to see what they're up to.

Anyway, P needed to get a dress and some heels for her son. The pageant is next Thursday. There's a Methodist church in a neighboring city that has a rummage sale every other Saturday. The church is no longer a working church so the items for the sale just stay in there. It's kind of like a permanent rummage store. It's only opened every other Saturday. P knows the woman that runs it and she said that P could come and check out the dresses they had. B has been cleaning out the toy room like crazy for the past few days and had a bunch of stuff to donate to the store. I had a few things as well. B invited me to come with her and P to the store and to drop off my donations as well. I was game. Survivor doesn't start for a little while, so my Thursday night was free. Light of my life was just happy to go over to M's to play.

First of all, shout out to B. She makes the best rice. It was so good. So was the sweet and sour chicken. Thanks again for dinner, B!

After we ate, we watched a couple of videos on ebaum's world (http://www.ebaumsworld.com/). You guys need to check it out. It's like You Tube but B's husband, L, had found all these funny videos. If you go check out the site, look for one called "Atomic Sit-Up". It was hysterical.

P came and picked us up. We went to the church and dropped off the donations and shopped a bit. I got 4 books for myself (one on Catherine the Great and 3 others....I love reading about Catherine the Great, she was a phenomenal woman) and about 5-6 for light of my life as well as a curio shelf and another wooden shelf. B got some pants for C and some books for both girls. P found a black and white dress and some shoes for her son. He's gonna look so hot! LOL!

While we were there, the lady who runs the shop had her mother with her. Her mother is an older lady but very spry. She was wandering around the shop and noticed some pillows. She said, "I like these pillows" and her daughter spoke up and said "You should, they came from our house!". It was so funny. It sounds like something I would say.

I loved being able to shop before the store opened. I feel like a celebrity who gets stores to open up after hours so they can shop in private. I bet Paris Hilton never got a Methodist church rummage store to open up 2 days before the official opening. Eat your heart out Paris. I roll with the crew that has pull in this town, b*tch.

This post has no point whatsoever, other than to tell you what I did with my Thursday night.

Oh, and the title to this post?

When B was over and visiting with mom, mom asked her who lived in a house right down the highway from us.

B, in all seriousness, said, "Well, they call him Spooky". It took me about 5 minutes to stop laughing.

That sums up living in a small town better than anything else out there.

I think I need to rename my blog "They Call Him Spooky".

Have a good weekend all!

Later,

Mama Dawg

Heath Ledger

Wow. Wow. Wow.

I’m still stunned.

You expect this of people like Robert Downey, Jr. or Charlie Sheen or Amy Winehouse……but Heath Ledger?!?!?!

I never even heard anything in the gossip mags or online about him being involved in any kind of drugs (prescription or otherwise).

That poor little baby girl (and Michelle Williams for that matter).

Hmmmmmmmm…………I have no clue what to say about this. It’s just shocking.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Mama Dawg at a Mary Kay Party

Yes, yes, yes.....laugh all you want. I was invited to a Mary Kay makeover party. To those of you who know me, that's like inviting someone who hates swimming to a swimming party. I just don't do make-up.

I wore make-up when I was a teenager. I wore eyeliner, mascara and lipstick, but never blush, eye-shadow, foundation or lip liner. I started when I was about 12. I even wore BLUE mascara at one point!!!! When I turned 17 or so, I made a conscious decision to stop wearing make-up. I liked the way I looked without it. When I say I stopped wearing make-up, I meant I stopped wearing it on a daily basis. I did wear it when I went out or if it was a special occasion. I still do.

I'm one of those women that have to throw out almost perfectly full mascara tubes because they end up expiring before I can use them! They start getting that chunky feel to them and get all gooey.

Anyway, last week, a local lady called me up and asked if I'd like to attend a Mary Kay makeover party. Being new in town and all, I accepted. I accepted mostly because it's a small town and I'm not quite at that point where I want to start turning away invitations to get togethers. That and it gave me the opportunity to meet some new people. Also, my family is well known in the town I live in and I don't really want to shed any kind of negative light on my family. This is a new concept for me because before, I didn't live close enough to family for it to matter what kinds of consequences my actions brought. Southern familial politics at its best.

So, with constipation inducing fear in my body and trepidation in my heart, I went to the party last night. It was the hostess, the Mary Kay representative and 3 other women (besides myself) there. Light of my life had been invited as well and one of the other ladies brought her 4 year old daughter.

The mother of the other young girl was probably around my age and the other two ladies were probably in their 60's or maybe 70's. Not sure.

Anyway, after the necessary small talk, we got down to business. All my fears were quickly confirmed when I had to put all kinds of lotions and potions and what not on my face. I was then asked to put on some sort of foundation powder stuff. This is the part where I was extremely uncomfortable. I don't know how to apply stuff like this. I never learned and had never put anything like this on my face before. I didn't even know how to get more powder out of the little tub thingie. I especially didn't know how to put it on with that scary looking brush type thing. I felt like the biggest idiot. I don't mind making an ass out of myself if I inadvertently say or do something (that usually can't be helped) but I felt like an ass for not knowing something that about 95% of the women in the world (yes, I know that's an exaggeration) know how to do. After the foundation debacle, we did get into some more familiar territory when we were asked to put on some eyeshadow. Now, I know (sort-of) the right way to put on eye-shadow. However, the little sample thingie came with INSTRUCTIONS!!!!! Instructions that actually came with diagrams. Diagrams of what was supposed to be an eye but they actually included the upper part of the eye (right below the eyebrow). When did people start wearing eye-shadow waaaaay up there? There were two separate diagrams and they were complicated looking. There was a diagram of how to apply two different eye-shadows (presumably at the same time) and how to do three different eye-shadows. They actually had a pattern!!! Seriously? For real? It blew my mind. I just slapped some shiny stuff on my eyes and moved on to the next little sample thingie. Can you guess what the next sample thingie was? Can ya, can ya? You got it....blush. If you thought putting on eye shadow was complicated, this was 10 times WORSE! It didn't come with any instructions AT ALL!!!! How fair is that? Believe me, there is a right and a wrong way to put on blush but I'll be damned if I knew what either of them was. I about bolted when I saw the blush. When no one was looking, I took my little cotton ball and dabbed it on the blush sample and pretended to put some on. I quickly went past that part and went straight to the lipstick. That was familiar territory and I managed not to mess that up. The party didn't last too much longer after that and I ended up buying some lip balm. There was a little pressure to become a Mary Kay representative but there's no way on God's green earth that you could get me to push any kind of product on anyone, let alone MAKE-UP!!!!!!

The other thing I hate about it is the fact that they were all staring at me when all this was going on and oohhing and aaahhhing over how drastic the transformation was. To me, I didn't look any different. A little shinier perhaps, but not different and certainly nothing to ooohhh and aaaahhh over. Believe me, a shiny Mama Dawg is not something the world is ready for.

Gimme power tools over make-up any day.

Later,

Mama Dawg

P.S. Light of my life ended up looking like a million bucks and she applied her make-up herself. How sad is that? My 7 year old is better at this crap than I am. LOL!!!!

Light of My Life's Project part 2

I made it in time for the viewing yesterday afternoon. In fact, her teacher stayed after long enough to make sure that she got to speak to us and to tell light of my life congrats. In fact, the two top finishers for the second grade came from my daughter's class. Her "boyfriend", S, got 1st place. She was so excited for herself and for him. I got a pic of the two of them together and she's just dying for me to get it printed off and and get it framed for her to put in her room. She's only 7, so I'm not too concerned for this "relationship" right now. I ask her what they do as boyfriend and girlfriend and she said, "nothing". I asked her if they talk or hold hands or anything and she said no. What defines them as boyfriend and girlfriend I'll never know. I guess it's just something to say and they're just trying to learn the ways of teenagers and what not. Anyway, he's a perfectly adorable little boy. He is an older man.....he's all of 8! LOL!

Anyway, she got a trophy and a ribbon. She's so excited. This is her second trophy and she's so thrilled to have it next to the other one. I'm trying to keep it real by telling her that the experience she gained from doing the project is prize enough and that placing in the fair and getting a trophy and ribbon is just extra. She seems to get that. Hopefully......

Once I can do so, I'll post a pic.

Later,

Mama Dawg

So Proud

I'm so proud of my baby girl!!!!! She won 2nd place in the reading fair contest. It was the first year that her school had the fair and it was voluntary for students (except the 4th graders who had to do it for a grade) but she wanted to enter. It had to be a book that was age appropriate and that she had read herself (if the student was of reading age, otherwise, it could be one that was read to the student, ie. pre-k and kindergarten kids). She read Happy Haunting, Amelia Bedelia and her project board was soooo cool. They had to do a project similar to a science fair project. We had to buy the tri-board and then decorate it. She entered the contest for individual (instead of family project). All I did was the spray painting, some cutting and the hot glueing. She did the rest. Once I get a picture, I'll post it.

I'm so proud of my baby. I'm getting off work 15 minutes early so I can make it in time for the viewing.

So proud.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Disney World!!!!

I love Disney World. Ask anybody that knows me and they’ll tell you I’m a freak for all things Disney. It’s not so much the characters and the movies as it is the Company itself.

I used to live in Florida from when I was a pre-teen til I was an adult. I LOVED living in Florida. I loved everything about living in Florida. The weather, the beaches, Disney World, the weather, the beaches, Disney World, the weather, the beaches, Disney World…you get my drift.

Anyway, my mom and dad were separated at that time. The divorce wasn’t final. We were living in another state and mom got notification that she was getting a promotion and a transfer. A transfer to FLORIDA!!!!!! I was 11 at the time. Since mom was going through a divorce, she thought it over and decided to take the promotion and transfer. She thought it would be a fresh start to a new life for the two of us. It was a hard move for me (despite Disney World being in our backyard) because I was leaving the only place I ever knew and I had some problems (mostly being made fun of for my accent and loneliness and alienation) but after a couple of years, it was fine and I really got into living there.

When we first moved there, we bought the FL residence passes. At that time, it was a pass that allowed you to go only certain months of the year. Like January through March, July through September, etc….Those weren’t the months, but you get the picture. We went nearly every weekend we could for the first year or two but then the desire died down. We were down to going just when guests stayed with us (the only reason they came to see us was because of Disney World…..I’m teasing, but I wouldn’t blame them one bit).

When I was a senior in high school, I decided on a whim to go lookin’ for a job. Not any job would do, though. I wanted to work at Disney. Several people in my high school worked there and they paid well (better than minimum wage). I hadn’t been in a while but I knew I didn’t want to do anything related to the characters. I just went on a total lark. Seriously, I work up one morning and while I was getting ready for school, decided to go to Disney that afternoon after school got out. It was about a 25-minute drive. I found the casting building and walked in. I had no references and had dressed nice but not too business like. Being in high school, I didn’t have any professional clothes anyway. I asked for an application and they gave it to me. I filled it out. I didn’t have my SSN card or anything like that with me (didn’t know I would need it as I had never gone on a job interview before). I sat down and filled it out. My references were people I had baby-sat for and neighbors. Absolutely no job experience other than baby-sitting. However, I had been baby-sitting this one family for about 4-5 years and made it a point to list that. I turned my application in and they said that they actually had an interview spot open that day and asked if I could wait for about 25 minutes. I said sure and sat down. In the waiting area, they played Disney movies on a TV in the corner. I sat and watched a Disney cartoon for the duration. About 30 minutes later, an interviewer came out and got me. We went into the little office and I was interviewed for about 15 minutes. They asked me questions like, “What park would you like to work in?” and “What job would you absolutely not like to do?”. I answered as honestly as I could but really didn’t care what I did or where I worked. I didn’t know if at that point I would accept any job they offered. She said that they had an opening at Tony’s Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom for a seating hostess. She asked if that was something I’d like to do and I said, “Sure”. Next thing I know, I’m given a date and time to come back to casting with paperwork and then given a date and time for training. It was so easy!!!! I got hired just like that. I found out later on that it’s usually not that easy but that it was their downtime and pretty much anybody that walked in the door would get hired. Doesn’t do much for my ego, but that the hell. I was just hired by Disney World!

I went through a two-day training period. Because so many high school students get hired, they have training on Saturday and Sunday. Both were all day sessions. I had to get trained on how to count money back (not as easy as it sounds) and we actually had to go to SMILE class. Yes, you read that right. SMILE class. They wanted to teach you the Disney way to do things. You must always have a pleasant look on your face (to make you seem approachable) and you must never point at anything with just one finger or even point in a stationary position. You must use your first two fingers (pointer and middle) and gently sweep your fingers from side to side in the direction you need to point. This was because in several countries, it’s offensive to point with a single finger. Since Disney gets so many foreign visitors, it was their way of being politically correct. I found it funny at first, but after working their and having to do it literally like 20 times a day, it became second nature and for years after I quit working there, I still did it!

After that, I started work. I worked nearly every weekend. Once I graduated from school, I worked at least 50 hours a week. The pay was good and the job was fun. We had management turnover like crazy but that was all good. I got to mostly work the early morning shift at the cap cart outside (the cappuccino cart). That meant I got to work at 6 am and got off at 1:30. I then had the rest of the day to play in the park! My friend Mimi and I used to try to get the same shift so we could play in the park after work. We would go to the arcade at the exit of Space Mountain and play air hockey and Ms. Pacman. We would walk up the exit of Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain and flirt with the boys working there so they would let us ride without having to wait in line (I know, I know, we were soooo bad). One time, my friend Harley and I were off work at the same time. He only had a couple of hours to play so we went to stand in line at Splash Mountain. The line was so long that we decided to leave in the middle. As we were exiting, a CM (cast member) came up and asked us why we were leaving. We explained that we just got off work at Tony’s and that Harley had to leave now and we couldn’t wait any longer. He gave us a plastic card and told us to go up the exit ramp and when we got to the top, just hand the CM that was manning the ride the plastic card. When we got to the top, we did just that. The CM looked at us and said, “Your picture came out bad, huh?” and (not knowing what he was talking about) agreed. We got on the ride next and had an awesome time. We found out later on that if you take a bad picture, they let you ride again (with the understanding that you will most likely buy the re-take). We had so many ways to have fun in the park.

I loved working there. If I could make a living working there today, believe me, I would. Unfortunately, the only way I could work there and be able to support myself and light of my life, is if they offered pay me $50k and to move me. Otherwise, I can’t afford to live in Florida (at least at this time). Since you can’t make 50K off of just above minimum wage, it ain’t gonna happen any time soon.

However, once light of my life graduates high school and goes away to college (or even stays here for college but doesn’t live with me), I’m making plans to move back to Florida for a while and will hopefully work at the Kingdom once again.

I have lots more to talk about when it comes to Disney but I’ll let y’all off the hook for now.

The picture above and to the right is of light of my life at MGM Studios (now known as Hollywood Studios) this past May. She had just gotten her face painted (she paid for it herself) and was admiring the way it looked. 20 minutes later, it was all off as she splashed and played at the Honey I Shrunk the Audience playground! $12 down the drain!!! Oh, well, it was her money. LOL!!!!

Later,

Mama Dawg

Happy Belated Birthday, Ma!

Her birthday was yesterday and I tried to post, but Blogger was acting up, so it didn't go through. Anyway, she turned 58 yesterday. She got a homemade pot holder from light of my life and a picture she painted that I had framed. I got her some Elvis Pez dispensers (it was a joke present) and a large wooden bowl (she has several and wants more to use to decorate her soon to be new home). We're going to the "big" city this weekend so I can take her to dinner. We'll probably go to Outback or a steakhouse. Not sure yet. I have one more present I need to get her but I can't get it until Saturday.

She doesn't read this blog, but I still wanted to wish her a happy birthday in cyberspace.

Love ya mom!

Mama Dawg

Music and Stuff

I’m not a big music person. Wait, let me rephrase that. I’m not a big music aficionado. I can’t tell you the history of each and every album that every artist has ever done. I can’t remember half the time who the artist is when I hear it on the radio. I can’t tell the difference between several country artists and several hip-hop artists and several rock artists. They all sound the same to me. However, I know when I like a song. I don’t like songs based on the “message” the artist is trying to get me to understand. I really don’t care (usually) about the meaning of songs. I just know if I like the beat and the music. Lyrics don’t mean much to me.

I have such eclectic taste in music (how’s that for sounding pretentious?!?!?). That reminds me of something. I was over at B’s house last night to pick up some clothes and I was sitting down talking to them about various things and I threw out the word theology. B’s husband, L, looked at me funny and said “What does that mean?”. He was being silly because he knew what it meant. C, their daughter, told him I’m always using big words and L said that every time I leave, he has to go look up things in the dictionary just to know what I was talking about. I thought that was funny. Sometimes I have no clue that I’m using what I call “big words”. Instead of using the word “theology” to explain to C about the study of religion, I could have just used the word “religion”. I have no clue why I talk like that. But it was funny.

Anyway, back to music. My friend, V, made me several c.d.’s last year of various artists. I had started getting into to some more popular music (I’m so hopelessly behind when it comes to new artist and songs) but didn’t want to get separate c.d.’s for each artist. She made me 3 awesome c.d.’s with artist such as Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, Sean Kingston, Nickelback, Christiana Aguilera and several others. I fell in LOVE with Sean Kingston and Nickelback. I’ve since ended up buying several of those “Now That’s What I Call Music” c.d.’s (yes, I still buy c.d.’s, I’m not rich enough to afford an IPOD or even a computer) and love all the various songs.

I like songs that I can dance to. I used to love to go to nightclubs to dance. Of course, this was back when I was 18, 19, etc….I used to love to dance. I still do, but I look like an idiot doing it now!!! LOL!!!!

I have the “Now That’s What I Call Music 26” and I’m so in to it right now. In fact, I’m sitting here at work listening to it right now.

You should see my c.d. collection. I have everything from Garth Brooks to Don McLean (American Pie, anyone?!?!?!?) to Gwen Stefani to soundtracks to holiday to Billy Joel to compilation c.d.’s, etc….Oh crap, I need to skip the song I’m listening to right now. Hold on a sec…..it was that damn Fergie song again. Now I’m on to Pink. I love her, too.

Light of my life has strange taste in music as well. She was not really in to those little kids c.d.s that have songs like “Old MacDonald” and “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” on it. She was and still is, into the Kids Bop c.d.’s. She got the Grease and Grease 2 soundtracks from Santa this Christmas so that’s what’s been blaring in the house lately. I know every word to “Let’s Bowl” and “Reproduction” and “Greased Lightning” and her favorite (and mine, too) “Cool Rider”. I so wanted to be Michelle Pfeifer with that black silky jacket and skintight black pants and black sweater with high heel black boots with flowing blond hair and silver hoop earrings when she was singing that song. She was the epitome of cool to me. Still is, come to think of it. I know, I’m a geek.

She also knows the words to “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” by Offspring and knows the dance and some of the words to “Crank That” by Soulja Boy. Strange, I know, but it’s funny.

I know I was all over the place with that post, so I’ll stop for now.

Later,
Mama Dawg

Just One of Dem Days

Ever have “one of those days”? Mine started off that way. I got up at the usual time I need to get up in order to get a shower and then get light of my life a shower. At some point during the night she had crawled in to my bed (never heard/felt a thing) so I let her sleep a little bit longer while I took my shower. I was up at 5:34 (alarm was set for 5 and I normally hit the snooze for half and hour before finally rolling out of bed) and in the shower about 10 minutes after that.

I had painted my bathroom yesterday (skipped church in order to do so, but what can you do with only two days off!?!?!?). Because of that, I had gotten paint on myself including on my fingernails. They were already painted (on purpose and a lovely dark pink, if I may say so myself) but with the green paint on top of that (green was my color choice for the bathroom), I really needed to remove both paints from my nails. I took a few extra minutes to do that. Maybe that was my first mistake that led to my horrible, horrible morning.

Anyway, I hopped in the shower and when I got out, I went through my usual routine. I always dry off, do the deodorant thing, perfume/body spray, brush my teeth and then put in my contacts (yes, I do all this before I get dressed). Well, B, my neighbor, had told me about Clean Clear or Clean and Clear contact lens solution. You put your contacts in this medieval looking contraption and the pour the solution on it and then in the bottle. You let the contacts set in this stuff for at least 6 hours and during that time, the solution turns to saline. You can then put your contacts in but if you need liquid in order to do so, you have to pour some from the little tube, not the big bottle of solution.

This whole process was new to me. I had always used that no rub stuff.

Anyway, all I know is, when I put in my right contact, I screamed like a mofo (in my head only). It burned!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know if I accidentally used the actual solution or if something was wrong. I flushed my eye out with cold water immediately and it helped, but my eye was red for like an hour. It’s ok now but the trauma has made me all sleepy. That and I’m bored at work.

After that, it all went downhill. I woke up light of my life and got her in the shower. While she was showering, I went in to the kitchen to make her lunch and get the life saving coffee going. I glanced at the clock and saw it was 6:20!!!! I thought it was (at the latest) 6:10. That meant I was 10 minutes behind. I needed those 10 minutes to dry her hair (she has a sore throat and a cough) because it was cold outside this a.m. Luckily, she takes a quick shower and I got lunch made in record time. However, the broom near the garbage can was CONSTANTLY falling over and annoying the heck out of me. There were groceries that hadn’t been put away on the kitchen table where light of my life eats her breakfast. My hair was still wet, light of my life turned over a bucket of headbands in the bathroom, light of my life’s hair was barely dry, I couldn’t find my keys, I forgot to put on a coat when walking light of my life to the bus stop and nearly froze, I found my keys and went to start the car up to get the windshield defrosted and the car almost wouldn’t start, I went back in and realized I had forgotten to pack me a dessert (not that I need it) for lunch, mom was up and on the phone with the Terminix guy who was just wanting to show up to re-spray for fleas (he was supposed to have called so we could have time to clear the floor and give the cats their flea meds) and yelling at him, I couldn’t find my i.d. for work (I have to have it to punch in), finally found that, got in the car to leave and realized in never put in my contacts. I had to run in to get my out of date prescription glasses on. I couldn’t get a clear signal on my favorite radio station, I was 5 minutes late to work, my hair was still damp, I kept dropping things at work, my computer was slower than molasses and I had to reboot twice. It was just horrible. It’s gotten a bit better, but not much.

Man, I just need to start today all over again. Is that possible????

Later,

Mama Dawg

Balderdash

Last Friday night, I went over to B & L’s house to see what was going on and to see if M and her sister, C, wanted to come over and play. B & L asked me if I wanted to go with them to the hunting club a few miles down the road. I called mom and she said she’d watch all three girls.

We got our drink on and went on over to the club. 2 other couples were there. I made the fifth (or technically, 7th) wheel but it was all good. There were a few kids there as well.

We arrived just in time to start playing Balderdash. Y’all, if you haven’t played this game, you need to. It is hilarious!!!! It’s basically a BS type of game.

You get a topic (such as dates, people, initials, etc….) and you have to make up a description for that topic. Example, if you chose to use the date 7/20/1969, the real answer is the date the first man walked on the moon. However, everyone but the Dasher (the person who chose the topic) has to make up a fake answer (or if you really know it, you can get points if you write down the real answer) and they all pass the answers to the Dasher. The Dasher then mixes them up and includes the real answer in the pile. The Dasher then reads the answers out loud and everyone has to place their guess on the real answer. You then score points based on which has the most popular answer.

Anyway, everyone came up with a few hysterical ones. My favorite one was the word: mystax.

The real answer had something to do with the hair near the mouth on an insect or some crap like that.

However, the best answer, hands down was this:

street slang hookers call their boobs

It took a minute for that to kick in but once it did, it was side splitting hilarious. It was almost worth giving a point to the person who came up with that. (for those of you still scratching their heads, pronounce it….my stacks….get it?)

The other good answer for that one was:

tax season in Russia

Pronounce it with a passable Russian accent and you see how funny it is. Or, I was just tipsy enough that it was hysterical. Who knows? All I know is that I found it funny.

There were two that had unbelievable answers that turned out to be the real answer.

The first one was the initials P.O.O.F.F.

It stands for:

Professional Oglers of Female Figures

Can you believe that? I mean, I can believe that people would want to do that, but to actually organize? Blows my mind. I wonder what the dues are like? Do they keep score of all the female figures they ogled? Are there monthly meetings? How do you prove that you actually ogled a female figure instead of just casually observed one? Seriously….if anyone knows anything about this organization, please let me know. If you’re a member of this organization, please let me know.

The other one was from a prior game that I did not participate in.

It was the person Timothy Hoare.

The real answer was:

Believe it or not, he owned a goose named Pinkey that did card tricks while blindfolded.

What?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I have nothing else for that one. It was just weird.

L was observing the game while B played. B got up from the game for a few minutes so L had to take her place. As his answer, he wrote down: “I got it”. That’s it. Nothing else. It was written in green ink with a flower pen. Well, the flower was on it earlier in the evening but it somehow “mysteriously” fell off the flower when a guy was using it. Go figure. Needless to say, L didn’t score any points for that round. It was actually funnier when you were there. I guess it’s one of those stories. I think I’ll have it framed for him and will give it to him on his birthday.

I love games. Any type. Word games (Scrabble, Taboo, etc…), money games (Monopoly, Life, etc….), trivia (Trivial Pursuit, Scene It, etc…) and card games (Texas Hold ‘Em, rummy, gin, etc…).

I can’t wait for another game night at the hunting club.

Oh, yeah, I ended up winning the game by only like 1 point. However, I’ve jokingly been told that I’m not allowed to come play anymore since I was the newbie who won the game. At least…..I hope they’re joking!!!!

Later,

Mama Dawg

The One With the Deer

I got a phone call on Monday from my friend, B. She said her hubby, L, wanted her to call to see if I wanted to come see the deer he had shot that day.

Since I had to go over there anyway to drop something off, it was no big deal. Plus, I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I had just left my grandma’s house after dropping of my aunt’s extra key to her house (she was moving and needed all the keys back). B’s house is right across the highway from me so I didn’t have to go out of my way (although I would have anyway). I had some milk in the car that I just bought at the store in town on my way in from work. I dropped by the house real quick to drop off the milk and to see if light of my life wanted to come with me. She did, but not to see the deer. She just wanted to play with M. She thinks dead animals are "icky". Sigh....how did I raise such a girly girl?

Anyway, I run over to the house and grab a glass of my wine that I had left over there the other night. I actually finished it off….shame on me! But, in my defense, there wasn’t much left. Just a glassful.

The deer was out in the shed and L had it on the hook(on a pulley) and it was raised off the floor. He had already started skinning it. My landlord was there already with his Bloody Mary in one hand and the digital camera in the other! A few minutes later, B joined us and about 5 minutes after that, P, R and their son C drove up to see the deer. It was a party! On a Monday night! With a dead deer as the main attraction! Whoo hoo!!!!!

It was a nice deer. It was a 10-point buck. For those of you who don’t know what that means (I never asked, just guessed when all the men-folk were talking), it means a male deer with a rack (antlers) that has 10 points in total on it. Points are the tines on the rack. Think of a fork. Most forks have 4 “tines” on it. Well, on an antler, there are “tines” on it as well. They just call them points. Lesson over. Its tongue was sticking out of its little dead mouth and his eyes were glassy. One rack was curved in a little but overall, it was a beautiful deer. Way to go, L!!!!!

I’m of two minds on hunting. There’s the animal lover in me that hates to see dead animals (even skunks on the side of the road….go figure cause they STINK to high heaven) but there’s the other part of me that is SOOOOOO curious about hunting.

I’d like to learn how to shoot a gun and then learn how to hunt. I’ve always been fascinated by guns and hunting, but living in the city all my life and not having a father figure since I was 9 (or ever, if I really stop to think about it), I never had the opportunity to learn.

It’s just the masculine side of me coming out, I guess. The same part of me that’s fascinated by hardware stores. I LOVE power tools and have a very small collection that I take care of and use quite often. My cordless drill/screwdriver combo is my favorite item.

Wow, I veered way off topic on that one. Started out talking about deer and then went to power tools!

I teased B & L and told them that when I lived in the city, my friend R would call to invite me to a new club or ethnic restaurant or movie, but that my friends here in the country call me to come see a dead deer.

My, my, how times have changed! Funny thing is, I’m equally fascinated by both scenarios. I feel at home at a swanky club or in a shed looking at dead animals. Hmmmm….probably bears looking in to, wouldn’t ya say?

Later,
Mama Dawg

Lonely, I'm So Lonely......

I was sitting at work yesterday listening to music while I worked. I just sat there and jammed to my compilation c.d. that has pop songs from the 90's on it. It took me waaaaaaayyyyyy back to when I was a teenager in the sunny state. Like most teenagers, I hated life and high school, blah, blah, blah.....looking back, it wasn't so bad. Not great, but not as bad as it seemed at the time. Anyway, I guess that's when music really came in to my life. As a small child, you don't think much about music and it's not a HUGE part of your life like it seems to be as a teenager. Man, just the mere mention of some songs brings up memories and feelings like they just happened yesterday. The feelings aren't as fierce as they were when they first occurred but I still get the same feelings all the same.

I don't know if anyone remembers the song "Set the Night to Music" but it was such a poignant song for me my freshman year. I was head over heels in like with this guy, Nathan. Note I didn't say love. I still to this day don't believe I've ever been in love. Even when I was married. Anyway, he ended up breaking my heart (like only a good looking guy can do when he decides he likes your best friend more). This was a song we danced to at homecoming. Right before we broke up.

There's a song by Janet Jackson called "Again". I had INTENSE feelings for this guy named Mike. He was a senior and I was a freshman. He was such a player and I knew it. Didn't matter. I fell hard. I had never crushed as hard as I did for him. I finally landed him (in a purely physical sense only, not emotionally) and we were making out hard and heavy at my house. We were thisclose to closing the deal but cooler head prevailed (mine, not his.....LOL!). Anyway, during the most intense portion of our make out session, this song came on and I actually started crying. If that song had gone on for just a few more minutes, he probably would have been my first. To this day, if this song comes on the radio, it brings up the feelings of that day.

The first guy I actually had a "relationship" with was Jon and it was my junior year. I ran track and so did he. He was also an incredible soccer player but it was during track season that we met for the first time. I'd seen him around school, but I felt he was so far out of my league. I guess he liked something in me because we started dating. We dated for about a month or 6 weeks. For those of you who don't know me, I was a 2 weeker. I only dated guys for an average of 2 weeks before I broke up with them. Looking back, it was rare that I was the one who was dumped. I usually did the dumping. Hmmm.......I may have to look into that. Probably some crap about not wanting to get hurt, blah, blah, blah.....That's for another post. Anyway, I digress. There was a song by Radiohead "Creep". I remember hearing that for the first time in Jon's Bronco that had the "They Might Be Giants" bumper sticker on it. If I hear that song today, it takes me back to the time I spent with him.

The point of walking down memory lane with you guys is to point out the fact that for the first time in a while, I felt lonely yesterday. I know it has to do with listening to the c.d. and bringing back all those memories. I guess I was more nostalgic than lonely.

I get this way from time to time but it usually hits me in September or whenever it first gets chilly. I guess this is because that’s when school starts and football games start back up.

I don’t know. All I know is I was a little blue yesterday. But, as usual, I snapped out of it. I went home and was greeted (enthusiastically) by a 7 year old who went back to school yesterday. After she went to bed, I sat out on my front porch with my book, a cup of tea and a molasses cookie and read for a while. I then crawled in bed and (shamelessly) watched Beverly Hills 90210 season three. Yes, you read right, I actually plunked down my hard earned money for this campy, trashy TV show. So sue me. I love it!!!!

Later,
Mama Dawg

We are yogurt!

Or as Hiro and Ando pronounce it "yo-gurt-oh"

I love that line from Heroes.

I love the show Heroes.

I don’t care what others say, this show rocks! I loved the shortened second season (I don’t love that it was shortened, I just loved the stories). Granted, Hiro’s story was a little dragged out, but it did eventually prove to be telling.

I even sort of liked Maya and Alejandro’s story. It wasn’t my favorite and it kinda wandered in circles, but nevertheless, I didn’t hate it.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that David Anders joined the show (as Adam Monroe). I loved him in Alias as Sark and I love him now. That accent makes me all tingly inside. I’d love him even if he wasn’t hot.

Don’t even get me started on Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar. I didn’t like him in the beginning (Adrian, who plays Nathan Petrelli). But he grew on me.

I’ve loved Milo since I first saw him in Opposite Sex. I was so stoked to see him in Gilmore Girls and then to find out he was going to be in Heroes!!! In fact, he was the main reason I wanted to watch the show.

This is a completely silly and pointless post.

However, I do have to talk about something serious.

Kelly, light of my life’s female beta fish, passed away yesterday. She discovered the little corpse while I was driving home from work. Actually, the landlord’s daughter was over playing and noticed it for her. Light of my life is heartbroken. So heartbroken in fact, it took her all of 2 hours to get over the death. That’s a long time to a seven year old. She’s already inquired as to when we can get a new one.

We had this one for almost two years. That’s a long time for a fish. She has two others, Tom (another beta fish) and Golden (a large gold fish w/black lips….kinda freaky looking if you ask me, not that you did).

I put the hamster in a sock yesterday. No reason, just thought it’d be funny and it was. I got a pic of it. I’ll have to post it sometime. It was one of my daughter’s ankle socks so he was barely peeking out of it. He provides us so many laughs.

On Wednesday night, we went over to see B & L and the kids. We had some presents for them from our trip over New Year’s. Our landlord wanted to come down to shoot fireworks in our yard since it’s open space as opposed to the trees surrounding their property. We ended up making a small get together out of it. Had some wine and sparkling juice and cookies. It was COLD but lots of fun. Six adults, four kids and two dogs. The landlord’s dog, Sam, was barking and trying to “get” the fireworks. It was a funny sight. Light of my life is terrified of fireworks (at least ones that are so close up) so she sat on the front porch for the most part.

I love living out in the country!

Have a good weekend and I’ll “see” y’all on Monday!

Later,

Mama Dawg

It's Thursday!!!!

As you can see, I changed the picture to the right.

I took this picture at Epcot in the Butterfly Garden. I have a Kodak digital camera and I LOVE it. I love taking pics of nature and other interesting subjects. I've got a few good pictures of people but my best subject is of course light of my life. I have an entire wall devoted to pics of her (with pics of other members of my family thrown in for good measure). I'm starting to venture out and get pics of others. I have some good pics of light of my life's best friend, M. Once the weather gets warmer, I'd like to get them outside again to take some more pics. I can't wait to go fishing because that will provide some good pic opportunities.

I got a tripod for Christmas which will help with some night time pics. My goal is to save enough money to get a bigger and more powerful camera. Mine is only 6.0 pixels and 10x optical zoom.

I've had a few people over the past year ask for me to take pics but they never followed through. I hate that. I get all excited (not just cause it's a paying gig) because I'd like to get more practice in, especially on subjects that aren't close to my heart (I think that's why I have so many good ones of light of my life, she's just so handy!!!).

On another totally unrelated subject, the hamster was acting up again. This time when I got up, he wasn't outside of his cage and the non sick kitty wasn't in the room. This is weird. This time, the door was locked!

I just ordered Carnivale from Amazon. Anyone seen this series? I got seasons 1 & 2 (they are having an amazing sale right now on DVD's).

That's all I got today!

Tomorrow's Friday!!!! Yay!!!!!

Later,

Mama Dawg

Fun New Year Thingie

Found this on both Jodi and Tracey's blog. Thought I'd try it out.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Quit my job with nothing to fall back on, moved without any guarantees of anything. I'm sure there's some more little things, but that's the big ones.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?I don't make 'em. I can never keep 'em.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?Yep, J had baby M. Beautiful, gorgeous, fat baby M with the astonishingly beautiful blue eyes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?Yes, my great aunt. Light of my life took it hard.

5. What countries did you visit?Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, Morocco, Japan, France, the UK and Canada. I had a busy year. Of course, all that was in a 2 day period and it happened in Epcot, but dammit, it should count!!!!!!

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Money, money, money. Did I mention money?

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? July 21st (last day at secure job), August 4th (day we moved to temporary home), October 6th (day we moved into our permanent home), October 8th (day I started my new secure job).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?- Surviving the year. Period.

9. What was your biggest failure? Not saving enough money.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Yep, cut my foot (bad enough to leave a large scar on the bottom) on a barnacle 2 weeks before our Disney trip.

11. What was the best thing you bought? The hamster.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Light of my life's, hands down. She held up so well with the move. I am sooooooooooo proud of her. We left the only home she's ever known and she did it with grace and good will.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Hmmm......nobody personally.

14. Where did most of your money go? It went towards that little thing called Every Day Life.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? My Disney trip. Can't wait to go back in 2009.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? To play off Jodi's answer, not because I like it, but that Fergie song....Big Girls Don't Cry. To me, that was OVERPLAYED.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Same.
c) richer or poorer? poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Spent more time with light of my life. That's slowly changing though.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Work!

20. How did you spend Christmas? With family and friends. It was a very low-key, laid-back holiday season. Just how I like it.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Nope. Who has time for that?

22. What was your favorite TV program? Heroes, Survivor, Amazing Race, How I Met Your Mother

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope.

24. What was the best book you read? Ahhhhhhh, so many. I read Disney War (about Michael Eisner's reign), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the first two prequels to Peter Pan (Peter and the Star Catchers and Peter and the Shadow Thieves) written by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I read a ton more, but these stand out. Also, Devil in the White City.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? tons of stuff on Perez Hilton's website. He finds the coolest music. My fav by far that I found on the radio was Sean Kingston.

26. What did you want and get? a tripod for my camera

27. What did you want and not get? a new camera

28. What was your favorite film of this year? Pan's Labyrinth and Sweeney Todd

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I had a wonderful party with great Mexican food and margaritas. It was my 30th. Lots of friends attended and it was a blast.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Moving sooner.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Casual, as usual.

32. What kept you sane? Light of my life. She occasionally added to the insanity, but for the most part kept me grounded.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Milo Ventiglimia.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? None. I avoid politics like the plague.

35. Who did you miss? R & family, K, V & C from the place I just moved from.

36. Who was the best new person you met? B & L and their offspring. They're incredible.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. It's OK to take risks. Sometimes they pay off.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I can't think of any.

City Girl Gets Spooked

I had a weird night last night. We drove back home last night from my wild and crazy New Year’s (see prior post to see just how wild and crazy it was!). Got in about 10:30 or so but because we had gotten so used to staying up all hours of the night, none of us were really sleepy. So, we unpacked the car. Got the sick kitty out of the car (he had to go w/us because of his medications). The other kitty that stayed at home was all pissed off at us and acted accordingly.

It was supposed to be a cold night and we knew we would have to run the water during the night to keep the pipes from freezing. About 45 minutes after we arrived, we decided to turn the water on. Barely anything came out. It hadn’t been cold enough the night before to freeze the pipes and the really, really cold weather hadn’t set in yet. Ended up calling the landlord at 11:30 at night to tell them of the problem. I had to take a shower in the morning and needed the water. What was coming out of the hot water faucet wasn’t even getting warm but the electricity was going, so I wasn’t sure what that problem was.

Anyway, the landlord said they’d be down in the morning to check on it. That sucked for me on the shower part, but it wasn’t really necessary for survival and it was pitch dark outside.

About 10 minutes later, he called back and said he’d go ahead and go check on it for me. A few minutes later, the water started coming out in big gushes and the hot water was actually hot. I thought he had already discovered and taken care of the problem (he lives right up the hill from us) and called to tell his wife that it was fine. She said that that was impossible since he had just literally closed the door to leave. She called him back and that was that.

I guess the water was just running so slow because we hadn’t been home to use it. Go figure.

We live out in the country and we don’t have our own water line. We are connected to my landlord’s water line via a large and long hose. Their connection is in the middle of the woods and is exposed to the elements. Over the weekend he had covered and insulated the connection. Thank goodness. He’s supposed to work on our own water line but it’s expensive to do so it might be a while.

That was weird enough in it’s own right but then it got weirder.

See, we have a hamster. He’s a good hamster. Doesn’t make a lot of noise and is not a biter and is real friendly.

He was awake when we arrived home and we paid the little guy the attention he was due. I checked on his food and water and found both sufficient. I end up going to bed around 1 am or so. Light of my life was in bed with me and had been playing her new Nintendo DS that she got for Christmas. I finally made her turn it off to go to sleep. I always have a cup of hot tea before I go to bed (it actually makes me fall asleep) and read for a little bit. I turned off the light and went to sleep. Around 5 am, my subconscious must of heard a noise because I started to wake up. Before I even opened my eyes, I could hear the hamster “chattering” away. Since he never does this, I was a little concerned. I then heard my non-sick kitty softly meowing at him in the same “voice” he uses to warn the big bad birds outside that if there wasn’t a window and door and walls between him and them, he would be all over them like white on rice. I’m paraphrasing of course, but you get my drift. Anyway, I sat up and got out of bed. I went to check on the cats and found both of them asleep in the living room on their pillow in front of the heater. Now I’m getting kind of freaked out.

I then went over to the hamster’s cage (it’s in my room for now) and he was sitting on top of his little house just staring straight ahead (not at me but towards the bathroom door). He didn’t even turn to look at me when I tapped on his cage bars. About a minute later, he finally looked at me. I got him out of the cage and held him for a while and then put him back.

Little spooky, right? Gets just a smidge more spooky.

Since light of my life is out of school for the holidays, she can sleep in and my mom sleeps in every morning as well. It was trash day today so I had to gather up all the trash and take it to the end of the driveway. I gathered up the trash and put on my robe. I went to the front door and found it unlocked!!!! Both my mom and I had checked on the door last night before bed with my mom being the last one to check it. I have no clue what that was about. We don’t have a deadbolt or a chain because it’s pretty safe where we live, but I may just go ahead and plunk down the few dollars for a chain and install it tonight.

I know that story was anti-climactic and not terribly exciting or frightening, but it was weird nevertheless.

Later,

Mama Dawg

Happy New Year

It's currently 2:46 am and I'm just now going to bed. It was a wonderful New Year's Eve (as usual). We always spend New Year's at my friend K's house. They're practically family and it's been a tradition for about 8 years now. We ate good food, had good conversations and played Taboo, Imaginiff and Words of Wizdumb. If you haven't played Imaginiff yet, go out and buy it. It's a hoot (that's my inner granny coming out).

Anyway, I hope everyone has a good and prosperous New Year and that 2008 is even better than 2007.

Later,

Mama Dawg