Whoa, it's already time for the holidays?

I am apparently unable to manage this blog anymore. I always have intentions of posting, and then I get home from work, and I'm just like, "Update my blog or watch the newest episode of Beavis and Butthead?" You can guess which one wins out.

Speaking of the return of Beavis and Butthead, I am thrilled that it has returned and it is just as funny as I remember, if not funnier. The premiere still has me giggling when I think about it.

Work has been crazy-busy...last time I posted, I think we were about to have auditions. We had auditions and since then I directed my first show! It was Murder in the Knife Room by Jonathan Rand (check out www.playscripts.com to read it) and it was really cute and well received by the audience. :) I was quite proud of myself. However, two months later, I'm glad it's over. I so enjoyed the process and being with the kids and everything, but I am glad to have my life back.

Fun gifts from the cast, crew, friends and husband. :)

Our Thanksgiving vacation has been amazing, so much so that I am pretty much refusing to believe that it's coming to an end. We started it off by going to the Texas Renaissance Festival with friends, (if you haven't been, you should go next year.) visiting with friends we haven't seen in a while, staying in a fun and fancy hotel on Market Street in The Woodlands for some much needed R&R, Thanksgiving Day festivities, Black Friday shopping, (we were quite successful this year!) and more time with friends and family. I only have 3 weeks left of work between now and Christmas, but man, it's been nice to relax. When I wasn't working, I would get bored, and I hated not having money---but man, I could totally be a housewife if we could afford for me to not work. I liked having that kind of freedom when I wasn't working. Maybe one day Travis will find a super awesome job working for Bill Gates or something so I can just do whatever I want to all day...

It could happen.

We've started the process of decorating for Christmas, but our house was a disaster since we've both been really busy lately, so it's going slow because we're cleaning as we go...or stopping to check Facebook/Twitter, or in Travis' case, ESPN a little too often. ;) But for now, here's a very crappy-quality picture I snapped of our tree, but it isn't finished yet. :)

We got a bigger tree this year

But that little one from before wasn't too bad (last year's picture)

I hope you have enjoyed the beginning of the holiday season with your loved one as I have. :) Be blessed this holiday season!

One week down, one million to go.

School is officially back in session and already, it has been quite a week.

Overall, my classes so far are really good. I have a couple of rowdy classes, but hopefully once they get into the groove of things it'll subside. Hopefully is the keyword in that last sentence.

I think and hope it's going to be a really good year. I feel far more prepared this time around and so far, the things are going better in many aspects. I feel more confident, and I think that helps. :)

This year, our department will be putting together two fall shows. Usually it's one fall show, a musical in January, One-Act in the spring and a student-focused-something in May. Last year we did a showcase, sometimes we'll do a student-directed show.

Since we're doing two fall shows, the other theatre teacher and myself will each be directing a show. She has chosen to do Frankenstein and I will be doing a parody play called Murder in the Knife Room. I've not read the version of Frankenstein that she is going with, but my play is light-hearted and funny. I chose it because it has a LOT of roles and the hope is that it'll work well as a recruitment show. We really want to grow our department, so I think that a show with many roles that aren't overwhelming in size will draw in some new faces. I'm hoping that both will be well-received by our audiences. Frankenstein will run in October, just in time for Halloween, and my play will run in November.

In other news, my life is still pretty boring. Maybe I'll have some good stories to share later. :)

The Pantry Chronicles

As my summer is coming to a close, I've mostly filled my final days of freedom with ignoring the chores at my house, watching television and sleeping 'til noon. Not to worry, I have found some things to be a contribution to society in the last couple of weeks.

My grandparents decided to take out their carpet and put down Pergo laminate flooring in their house for health reasons. It looks amazing, but that's not what I'm writing about. Since it was for health reasons, my mom and brother have devoted a lot, (and I mean a lot) of time giving the house a deep cleaning...probably a deeper cleaning than what the house has seen in many years. Yesterday I decided to lend a helping hand and ended up cleaning out their pantry.

My grandfather, (aka Poppaw) has a deep love for Sam's Club. Sam's is the equivalent to Costco, for those who may not know. Anyway, with this love for buying in bulk, his pantry is full. Poppaw is also a laid back guy that doesn't pay much attention to small details.

For ONE SHELF of the pantry, I filled an entire grocery bag with expired products. It's not like they're hoarders, but they're old and just don't pay attention, I guess. I told my mom I was going to create the Pantry Chronicles to have record of the insanely old foods. Luckily, nothing was gross. It was like, old canned goods, tea, cake mix, etc. It wasn't moldy bread or anything unidentifiable.

Things I found?

16 cans of Rotel, all expired.
1 bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar from a store that our city hasn't had in years and expired around 1998.
Cake Mix that expired in 2006
Popcorn that expired in 2006
At least 20 packages of assorted mixes and seasonings, all fresh.
Countless cans of soups that were all at least a year expired
1 tin of nutmeg, expiring in 1988.

That's right. I said 1988.

A portable television & charger, circa 1980.
3 giant recipe collections, all appearing to be from the 80's and untouched.
A box of greetings cards that were intended for soldiers commemorating, (that's a weird use of that word) the 3rd anniversary of the war in Iraq.
An endless supply of paper goods, (plates, napkins, plasticware, etc)

Did I mention this was all on only 2 shelves? And I didn't actually finish the second one. I'm going back tomorrow, so we'll see what else I can find.

Maybe I'll find a secret stash of cash?

I guess I'd have to give that back.

The Great Grocery Store Adventure

May I just say that the word 'grocery' in an interesting-looking word? Because I think it is.

Remarkably, that isn't what my post is about today.

Last night, my church's youth group had a lock-in and I was asked to chaperone, and I managed to stay up all night. That's probably because I had people to play board games with the entire time and board games are like, one of my favorite things ever.

I'm really good at side-tracking today. I've definitely deleted about a billion side-notes in this post already and I've just gotten started.

ANYWAY...

So I leave the church at about 7:30ish this morning, and in the middle of a game of SORRY! I was hungry and decided that Honey Nut Cheerios would be an awesome breakfast, but I didn't have any and I didn't have milk, so I knew to satisfy the craving I'd have to stop at the grocery store. I decided to go to the HEB in the town where my church is, because I was feeling to lazy to go to the HEB by my apartment since that would require having to exit and cross over the interstate---and that just felt far too demanding.

I go in and decide to actually shop. I was still feeling pretty energetic, (just not enough to cross the interstate) and considering that grocery stores at 8am are really quiet, uncrowded and still nice and neat, I wanted to take advantage.

SIDEBAR #1491234: I hate the grocery store when it's busy. I hate when the only loaf of bread left is smushed and the store has managed to run out of toilet paper. I also hate when the cashier is really rude because they hate their jobs since people come in getting upset that their FoodStamps just won't pay for their Bud Light. I can't blame them for hating their job, but I make an effort to be polite, so don't roll your eyes at me when I ask a question, cashier!

I gather my selections and managed to do a full-blown grocery store trip in about 20 minutes and I went to the only check-out lane that was open. There were several people in line, (for it being 8-something-in-morning, anyway) and this guy told me he'd help me on a different lane. The man in front of me holding a watermelon, biscuits and bacon looks over when I was invited to the next lane, so I told him that he could go in front of me since it would take about 30 seconds for him to be finished. By the way, he NEVER said thank you for my kindness

The guy finishes, and the cashier went to begin my checkout, and he looks at me, panicked, back at his computer and says, "My computer just froze." After having an enjoyable evening/early morning, I was in a good mood and told him that if he needed to reboot, I'd wait. I wasn't in a hurry. A look of relief comes across his face and he reboots. It starts back up and it still wasn't working. He called someone over for assistance, and she's telling him what to do to fix it, but he wasn't really comprehending, (in his defense, she told him to plug the computer in, but was pointing to the receipt printer. I'd be confused too). Then she went to plug in the "computer" and it shocked her---so much so that I heard it and she had goosebumps up and down her arm.

That is the point when I'd be like, "Ma'am, let's check you out at a station that isn't about to explode." But no, she kept fiddling with it, and got shocked. AGAIN. Then she was like, "Yeah, ok, I'm not doing that again. Let's move you to the next lane."

She calls her manager over to see what is going on and within about 2 seconds, the employees had moved all of my groceries from one lane to the other, all while I was searching for my Visa.

He looks at it, and he was like, "I bet it was nothing. It's probably like when you plug something in and home and you see the little spark. That just happens some times.' I told him that I could hear the shock, that it was very loud and every time she touched that cord I could hear the electricity, even before she got shocked. He was like, "Yeah, but that happens to me all the time at home."

Seriously, Mr. Manager, maybe you should call your electrician to check that out. I cannot hear the electricity running through my house---to me, that sounds like (pun!!) you're going to have an electrical fire.

HEB did not burst into flames, but Mr. Manager did get a buzz himself from it. I left before everything was figured out, but considering I went to the grocery store just for some Honey Nut Cheerios, to me, this was an eventful trip to the store.

The Honey Nut Cheerios were delicious.

PS: I know this post was probably super-lame, but I've had about 1.5 hours of sleep since yesterday, so to me, it's amusing.

Summer Reading

It seems like just yesterday I was getting ready for middle school by reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Giver for summer reading assignments. I remember loving The Giver but loathing A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I don't really remember much about either of the books now--I just remember that it was the beginning of summer reading.

Growing up, I loved reading. I remember reading books over and over like The Summer I Shrank My Grandmother, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Ramona Quimby Age 8, Nothing But the Truth and countless others. Judy Blume was my favorite author. I actually may or may not have read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing a couple of years ago because I found my old copy and wanted a trip down memory lane. I'm a sucker for repetition, whether in movies, music or books, I don't mind putting the song on repeat or occasionally rereading an old favorite.

When I was in 6th grade, our school adopted a new reading program called Accelerated Reader aka AR. AR was designed to get kids to love reading. Books were divided by reading levels, and we were tested to see our base reading level. You could only read books in your reading level and once read, you would take a test over the book and if you passed the test, you'd get points. The higher the reading level, the higher the point value. You could then redeem your points for items in the AR store--mostly the kind of thing you'd see at an arcade, but a little classier, but we had a couple of really special things. I remember for 250 points, (which seemed like 15million) you could be "principal for the day" and you'd get to miss class and although you were at school, it was like the ultimate free day.

It sounds cool, right? In theory, it was a great idea. In reality, it made students like myself hate reading, because it was no longer something you did for pleasure. Your scores on your AR tests were reflected in your six weeks grade for reading, and although I always had an 'A' in reading, I just hated that it became an assignment. I know it was to get us to expand our reading horizons, but I just got to the point where I really hated reading.

I was no longer required to participate in AR once I was in high school, but I still hated reading. The only assigned books I remember reading and enjoying when I was in high school were To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes and Montana 1948. I probably only liked those because those were the only ones I actually read in their entirety. At the time, I didn't love The Crucible, but I will say it's one of my favorites now.

By college, reading for pleasure was a thing of the past---I had to read so much as it was, so the idea of picking up a book voluntarily and reading it was a joke. There were very few books for pleasure during that time, but I will say, all were books that I couldn't put down that I quickly became enthralled with.

In case you haven't heard, Borders, the bookstore, is closing the entire chain of stores, which means that they've got everything on sale. So far, the sale prices aren't AMAZING, except for with Blu-Rays, (they're 40% off!) but you have to be mindful that Borders prices are higher than what you'd see on Amazon or at Walmart or Target, so compare prices! Anyway, in my typical pattern, I mostly bought books that I've already read that I wanted to have, because I don't like wasting money on books I haven't read. I officially own the entire Jen Lancaster collection, (Bitter is the New Black; Bright Lights, Big Ass; Such a Pretty Fat; Pretty in Plaid; My Fair Lazy; If You Were Here) all are books that I literally didn't want to put down at any point while reading them. I find her to be smart and funny, and I often have actual LOL moments when reading.

I've bragged about these books before, but it's mostly because I just love them and I want everyone to love it too! Now that I've read all of her books so far, I'm onto a new series. Considering Jen Lancaster talks about what a wonderful writer Candace Bushnell is, I've started the Sex and the City series. It's good so far. :)

What are some of your favorite things to read? What's your favorite genre? Author?

 

Maybe I have ADD?

Yesterday, I was thinking about how I haven't cooked in a long time. And by a long time, I mean it was so long ago that I barely remember it. I know that there was an instance not too long ago where I made chicken and rice (Travis' favorite) and the chicken had been in the freezer for a very long time, but we decided to go for it and see if it makes a difference. It does make a difference, in my opinion, because the texture was...rubbery. Anyway, that was a meal we threw away and got take-out instead.

Then there was another day when I had my friends Nick and Sony over for Hamburger Helper. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I only serve fine cuisine around here. But really, Nick asked me to make Hamburger Helper, and I love Hamburger Helper, so how could I say no? The Beef Stroganoff is the best one, and for $1.50ish, I fail to see how you can go wrong, unless you're one of those healthy-types that counts calories and preservatives and saturated fats, etc...

Deliciousness.

Back to the origin of why I'm posting, I was thinking about how I haven't cooked in a long time, and that I wanted to actually have food in my pantry/refrigerator that when combined could create a full meal, because lately, all you can make is a PB&J or like, white rice with lunch meat. Appetizing, right? Notsomuch.

So I begin making a grocery list. I was standing right next to the stove, which is near the pantry, so I could make a quick inventory of what I have, and that's when I was looking at our range light and thought about how the bulb burned out at some point in 2010--it's probably been a year since that happened, and I decided to look at it and see what kind of bulb it takes so I could finally replace it.

Because I know you're this interested.

I go and get the screwdriver and find it's nothing more than what appears to be a night-light bulb. I felt certain I had a stash of those somewhere (I don't) and I went looking for some. When my search ended in failure, I remembered that I have a night-light that we don't use that I could use the bulb from as a test-bulb. I grab it, go to the kitchen and try to take out the burned-out bulb. I messed up somewhere, (you'd think that unscrewing a bulb wouldn't be a difficult task, but apparently it was for me at that moment) and the bulb detached from the metal part and then I couldn't get the whole bulb out. My only solution at this point is to call the maintenance man because I don't want to electrocute myself or break something---I'd much rather have the maintenance guy do it so I can make my grocery trip and I won't have to fiddle with it.

Once I come to that decision, I scan my apartment and decide I need to load the dishwasher and run it as well as clean up some things that have cluttered the table and counters--because obviously the maintenance man cares about how clean my apartment is. I'm sure that he keeps tabs on that type of thing.

I start cleaning everything, throw out a few things from my refrigerator, and once the table is clean, I remembered how I haven't had the nice placemats and napkins, (that I use pretty much solely for decorative purposes) out in a long time because they were dirty, so I go into the laudry room to get those started in the washer. Then I get obsessive about making sure I have all of them, (there still may or may not be a missing napkin, I finally just gave up) and I ended up in the closet of our spare bedroom (aka, "the man cave") and I find myself looking for a smaller sized gift bag appropriate for a wedding gift. Several minutes later, I decide to just add it to the list because I didn't have one, so I go back to the kitchen, but first look up and notice a dusty air vent. I grabbed the Swiffer 360 (get one if you don't have it already, it's life-changing), make the vent dust-free, add the gift bag to the list and return to the laundry room and get the napkins/placemats started. Then I came back to the kitchen and started making the list again. It doesn't last long, because I then noticed that I didn't put the candlesticks back on the table, so I wipe them and put them out.

Then it hits me that the following tasks were never accomplished:
1. Starting the dishwasher.
2. I originally began the pantry-inventory to see if I had cream of chicken. I never even looked.
3. I never called the maintenance man.
4. I'm still walking around the apartment, with an incomplete grocery list and I'm still not dressed for the day and it's about 3pm.

Why am I all over the place?! I get so scatterbrained in instances like this, and the likelihood of me coming full circle in instances like this is about 50/50. Sometimes I do remember to finish all of the small tasks I started, but there are plenty of times when I never even remember.

Moral of the story? I hope I'm not alone in being this ADD with home-related tasks.

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Am I a Cyber Hipster?

Probably not, but I feel like one because in about a week's time, I got a coveted Google+ account as well as a Spotify account. ZOMGFTWLOLBBQXOXO!!

In reality, I'm not near as excited as the above fake acronym. I keep forgetting to check my Google+ and I literally just downloaded Spotify, but I think it's a love-at-first-sight situation. I don't think you download anything, but it's kind of like Pandora, but not. You have access to tons of songs, but unlike Pandora, you get to choose specifically what you want to hear. What an excellent way to find new music!

Are you a nerd like myself and want to know the songs from Grey's Anatomy, since they probably have one of the best tv-soundtracks around? Got you covered.

Just type "Grey's Anatomy" into the search box:



Click to Enlarge



And voila! You get an assortment of music! It's pretty legit, yo.

Click to Enlarge

As you can see, I was listening to "Where Does the Good Go" by Tegan and Sara.

As far as Google+ goes, I just like that it makes it easier to sort people. Let's be frank, if you're like me, back in college you added like, everyone you ever met ever because it was nice to have them to hit up for notes and homework, etc for those sleepy days where you skipped class. Was that just me?

Anyway, here I am, many years later and I have about eleventymillion FB friends and I am way too lazy to begin going through those people. There have been times where I thought, "wouldn't be nice to make my friends easier to sort on FB?!" but I can't seem to change the privacy settings and so forth, but I'm pretty sure that you can do that on Google+, and I can be more selective now in who I add. So, props to Google+.

The only dissatisfaction I've experienced thus far with Google+ is that when typing, "Google+" I almost always type, "Google_" because I never have to hit the =/+ key and I don't have my fingers trained to go that far over just yet.

Social Etiquette?

Yesterday, my husband and I met my friend, Kim at Cracker Barrel for dinner. ---For anyone who is thinking "Cracker Barrel?! Seriously?!"  ...you obviously don't share my affinity for their macaroni and cheese.

Anyway, we were seated and our server was one of my least favorites at this store, (yes, we go there frequently enough to know the good servers from the bad ones) and we go about our business. She's the type of server that brings you the plate of bread, forgets to make note that you need a refill and walks away. Then when she returns several minutes later to bring you the silverware that you asked for 15 minutes ago, you have to ask her for the refill. When I waited tables (ironically, at Cracker Barrel) I would always check for refills if I even passed the table. That's what makes a server a good one. They're attentive. I don't really have anything else to note about this particular server, except that she made me miss, (yes, miss) our regular server, who doesn't even have to take our drink order because he knows what we want.

...now that I think about it, we may dine at the ol' CB a little too often.

The three of us are enjoying ourselves when we see two people that went to our high school walk in. We discussed if it was who we thought it was and so forth, and established that it was who we thought. Then, of course, comes the part when you decide if you're going to say anything. It's not like any of us were close to these two former classmates, and while I think one of them may have been in my grade, I don't even remember. Considering when they walked in, they were sat two tables away from us, you'd think if they recognized us that they would have initiated some sort of greeting, but they didn't, which is fine.

When it was time for us to get up, I couldn't decide what to do---

Do I:

A) say hello
B) just walk away and pretend like I don't know who they are
C) just wait to see if they greet me first

I opted for D, walk away briskly and be sure to be engaged in conversation with my group in the hope that they don't interrupt because that is always the best choice.

What is it about moments like that? Saying hello wouldn't have hurt me, but I just never know what to say after "Hey." I hate getting sucked into pretend conversations where all parties are pretending like they are so excited to see one another, when in fact, all parties are thinking, "Is it rude to walk away while they're still talking?" At the same time, I always feel strange doing the typical smile-nod act of acknowledgement, because to me, that screams, "Hi, I'm incapable of engaging in conversation" or "Wow, I really hope you don't say hello as I walk by because I definitely don't want to talk to you for more than 5 seconds."

I know, my problems are like, really intense these days.  ;)

What? It's July Already?! A clustered recap.

So I remember being a kid and daydreaming about being a teacher and always thinking, "Having summers off is going to be AMAZING!!!"

Guess what? I think I have been just as busy this summer as I was during the school year. I was really hoping it'd be a sleep late, take care of loose ends kind of a situation, and I barely have time to do anything.

However, everything I've been doing has been voluntary, so I guess I can't be too disappointed.

We went to Washington DC for the 4th of July with 3 of my friends from college and it was a lot of fun. We did your typical tourist-y type activities such as touring the nation's capitol, the Smithsonians, the Washington Monument, etc. The best part was probably some of the places that we ate.

Things are about to get fat:

My friends are pretty genius and they decided to check out local places that had been given praise from shows like Man vs Food, Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives, $40 a Day, etc. All of the places recommended from the Food Network were delicious. There was a place that we ate at that wasn't based on a tv-recommendation called Harry's or Harriet's, or maybe it was both---and let me tell you---it was not good. Don't eat there, mkay, kids?

We did, however, enjoy one of the MOST amazing burgers I've ever eaten at Good Stuff Eatery, which is owned and operated by Top Chef's contestant, Spike Mendolsohn, and it was spectacular. Go there and don't forget the milkshake.

...how typical of an American to be more excited about the food than the sights. Shame, shame. To make up for my gluttony, here's a picture of something that I did on the trip:



Campaigning for the 2012 Election

 Not to change the topic entirely, but I'm going to. SO BIG BROTHER IS BACK, Y'ALL!! This is big and very exciting. Today is the elimination, and I can't decide who I dislike more out of the two on the block (Keith and Porshe) but I'm thinking that Keith is going home. Maybe Porshe will stop being so obnoxious if she gets to stay.

The last thing I would like to touch on, is a topic that often drives me nuts--and that's Facebook-related behavior. When did people forget that it's THE INTERNET. Yes, it's a way to be social and all of that, but everyone is aware that it's CTHYBERSTHPACE, right?

People get way too worked up on Facebook. Bob posts an update, Bill disagrees with it. Mutual friends of Bob and Bill start taking sides and five minutes later, Bill has deleted Bob from Facebook as well as any of the mutual friends that the two share and a comment about the dryer eating socks has turned into a full-blown Facebook feud. What is wrong with us that we let it get that big? It's Bob's Facebook, Bob can say what he wants, right?

It just really frustrates me. Then I see people updating that they've just gotten their period or they have an ingrown toenail or that their baby's daddy is now cheating on them with the babysitter. Seriously, people. Let's be adults. Let's not put all of our personal and private information on Facebook, where although your profile may be private, it isn't private to your 200 closest aquaintences. I just need people to stop and realize that it's Facebook---the place where everything is written or read and you can't always sense tone or sarcasm, so instead of being adult and saying, "Hey...did you literally mean that my mom eats toilet paper, or was that a joke?" they just delete each other and ignore the inital moment of frustration.

Oh, Facebook. It's a love-hate relationship.

Hello world, let me introduce you to...

MY BFF GOOGLE!

It never ceases to amaze me how may people fail to utilize Google. Yesterday, one of my kids with a smartphone was like, "Uh, I need a dictionary." and I told them I didn't have one, so they asked me to look up a word, but I told them to use their phones to Google an online dictionary. (We weren't doing anything; it was the end of class.) and they were like, "OMG! I never would have thought of that!"

Really? Because I go to Google anytime I need answers, like, for real. It's not challenging or anything.

Then you have those on Facebook who seem to think that the "what are you doing?" bar is the Google bar, because they're like, "DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHEN THAT NEW MOVIE WITH TOM HANKS IS COMING OUT?"

Uh, do I look like Cinemark? No? Go to my BFF Google and find out...

...ok, fine, I'll find out for you, mkay?

http://tinyurl.com/ydq2sdd

Moral of the story?

MY BFF GOOGLE IS BETTER THAN YOUR BFF YAHOO.

:)

A day in history.

Nearly 10 years after the tragic attacks of September 11, 2001, it has been announced that Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan.

I'm probably one of the least-political people on the planet, because I just can't seem to maintain interest, but I do know how huge this is. This is a person who had so much hatred in his heart that he killed thousands of people---not just on September 11th, but people anyone that he deemed to be lesser than himself.

Sound familiar? Oh, right. There was that Hitler guy.

My main news source tends to be the local newspaper as well as links that are posted on Facebook. This is a fact about my life, and while some are probably cringing their noses, I don't really care. Scrolling through my newsfeed tonight has felt similar to the night that President Barack Obama was elected...people that were celebrating and people that were enraged, and today, it bothers me more than it did a couple of years ago.

Tonight, people in this nation are celebrating the victory of our soldiers that have been fighting hard and endlessly to protect our nation and our freedoms, but there are those that want to make it about their hate for politicians.

I wish people could look at the big-picture. I don't think that the "war on terror" is going to be over, because someone will surely try to take over for Osama bin Laden, but it's progress. Everyone just need to remember those that were victim to Osama bin Laden's hatred, and how his attacks on September 11th forever changed this country.

I do not feel that it's celebrating the fact that someone died as many people are saying...it's celebrating that our again has a sense of strength. With everything that has been happening in the world in the last year, I think that many Americans are feeling like there is little to celebrate these days. They're celebrating that we're actually succeeding in what we are fighting for. I bet that Al Qaeda celebrated on September 11th. Two wrongs don't make a right, but if I think it's safe to say that people were pleased when Hitler killed himself.

Or do you have to kill 6 million people for that to be ok?

Ugh.

I'm going to be devastated if I lose my job because of the economy.

I do not want to get into a political debate, because...well, I'm not very political, but I just can't seem to wrap my mind around how cutting the education budget so drastically is going to solve any problems.

Remember that time that Whitney sang about children being the future?

I know it's cliché and everything, but I'm pretty sure she was right, so I fail to see the logic here.

I know that the state got huge budget cuts. I get that. But you have to prioritize, and I'm pretty sure that cutting education so harshly is probably the worst solution to the problem.

I have nothing profound to say on the topic, and I again, I'm not looking for political debate; I'm just saying that I think this is out of control.

Strike a Pose.

Facebook really is a miraculous thing.

It's like a gateway to look into people's lives and know them deeper to see unlimited disasters.

I will never understand why people flip "the bird" to the camera.

Really? What does that do for you? I can tell you that it doesn't make you look awesome, it makes you look like a tool.

Additionally, the occassional photo of a couple kissing can be cute, but I don't think that anyone wants to see people's tongues down each other's throats. G-r-o-s-s.

I guess a lot of these moments are drunken disasters, but I just never understand people's choices for photos, and why they venture on to post them on Facebook. I suppose to each their own, but I can't help but scratch my head.

What's that Lassie? I have a day off?

Here I am, exactly 2 months since my last post, finally LOGGING IN to Blogger and now writing a blog. Look at me go.

It's the last Saturday of my Spring Break and I am finding myself with little to do today. I'm actually Facebooking from the computer and it seems like foreign territory. The only things I do on the computer lately are take attendance, read the local newspaper (woohoo.) and sometimes at home I use it to stream Netflix.

I'm officially in full-blown One-Act season, (our UIL play) which takes up my time these days. My typical day is go to work at 7:15, start rehearsal at 3:30, finish at 5:30, run any errands I need to after they all go home. Sometimes I go visit friends and family, and most days, I get home anywhere from 7 to 9pm, where I usually try to squeeze in an episode of whatever is on my DVR and then go to to sleep.

Exciting, right? Totally.

The play we're doing right now is An Enemy of the People which was written by Henrik Ibsen and adapted by Arthur Miller. I really do love the play. It is set in the 1890's but the theme of the play is timeless. It's about standing up for what is right, even if you have to stand alone. Anyway, if you're into reading plays, you should pick it up.

Our theatre department has been 'adopted' by the Alley Theatre, and due to this, we occasionally get tickets to shows, and we were able to see August: Osage County. If you're in the Houston area, I think it runs through the end of this month, and I would suggest going to see it. It was good.

And, since I'm discussing "the arts" and am an enthusiast of the arts, I will share another arts experience with you: The Blue Man Group. About a month or so ago I saw an ad that they were coming to Houston, and I knew that it would be something fun for Travis and I to see together, but I wanted to surprise him with tickets as a gesture of, "I know that we never see each other anymore, but I love you lots, mkay?" so I did. The plan was for me to not tell hiim until we got there, so I told him not to make plans for March 13th. So the day before the concert, he was asking what we were going to do, and it took me a minute to even figure out what he was talking about. I had completely forgotten that I had about tickets, when it was, etc. I've been so busy lately I can't remember anything anymore. So once I realized what he was talking about, I decided it was probably a good idea just to tell him about it, because I would have been really mad if I forgot all about it.

It was SO. MUCH. FUN. The music, of course, is fun and exciting, but the show itself was fantastic. All of the lights, special effects, comedic timing, etc. I highly suggest going if you ever find yourself with the opporrunity.

They started the concert with two scrolling marquees side by side, and one marquee would have basic rules, "no flash photography or videos" and the other marquee that was next to it would say, "Yeah, because shaky videos on YouTube suck." Well, being the rebel I am, I did take a video on the song where they encouraged the crowd to get out their phones. Whoops. :) I'll share it though!



This may be the most boring post ever. I apologize.

My first official domestic failure.

I'll warn you, this is sort of gross.

For Thanksgiving, I was a domestic rockstar and with the help of my mom, threw together quite the Thanksgiving feast. Every thing was delicious and I was beyond pleased with how it turned out.

I had made some green beans and thrown them into the crock pot so they'd stay warm all day.

Well...I forgot to clean that out. It was in the corner of the kitchen on the counter, and to be entirely honest, I just genuinely forgot about it.

So fast forward to...oh...I don't know...AFTER CHRISTMAS (shudder) and I made a discovery that I had forgotten these green beans. For a month. On the counter. In a crock pot.

I got in touch with my inner bravery, held by breath, pulled my shirt over my nose, turned on the water and garbage disposal and began disposing if what was left.

HOLY CRAP. It was foul. So anyway, I wash it all out, and I was like, "Wow! I'm so brave! There was like, old bacon in there and I found the courage to wash it and like, oh my gosh, I win the best-housewife-mistake-recovery award! Weeeeeee!!!"

Except something still smelled a little funky. I rewashed the bowl and lid, soaked them overnight...everything. Finally I realized that the smell was IN the rubber on the lid.

After doing more than one treatment of baking soda, I finally gave up yesterday and threw the whole thing away. I think I had only used it twice before that. Boo.

Oh well. They've updated that model, and now it comes with a spoon and spoon holder!

Writing a Facebook Status 101

You've heard me complain about it before, but the status updates that some people post are ridiculously annoying.

As you can see here, this is a topic that really drives me nuts.

Of course the simplest solution would be to hide people, delete them or something like that, but that would be far too simple. I do have several people hidden on my News Feed, and I have deleted people for being repeat offenders.

To keep you from being an offender to me or someone else, I have a few tips for you:

• Keep it interesting.
• If you're just running errands for the day, there is no need to list the particular errands. Chances are that the ONLY people that would care to read that would be your significant other and your mother if she's your friend on FB for the sole purpose of using FarmVille.

• Don't allow every single application that you use to update your status.
• Again, absolutely nobody cares about how many new 'meals' your 'flingin' in CafeWorld or which new outfit you got on Sorority Life. Well, maybe the people you added for the purpose of having someone as your "neighbor" or in your Sorority.

• DO NOT update with what television show or movie you're watching EVERY SINGLE DAY for every moment of the day that you're watching something
• Again, absolutely nobody cares.

• Using the "check-in" feature is fine, but limit it if:
• You never go anywhere interesting
• You only "check-in" when you've just arrived at home

• Don't only update your status with crap from Status Shuffle
• 9.9999 times out of 10 the status wasn't amusing in the first place.
• If you're only updating your status with Status Shuffle, you probably don't need to update your status. Be original.

• For the love of all that is holy, DON'T punctuate your statuses (statii?) with LOL.
• I seriously doubt that "doing laundry" is worthy of laughter.
• Maybe if the update was funny, but if your status is, "Doing laundry today, lol" then please realize that it's NOT FUNNY.

• Status Length (This is a 2-parter)
• Part I: Usually the shorter the status, the better it is. If it's a paragraph, know that it's probably too much.
• Part 2: Limit the number of updates you have in a single day. Some days I may post more than other days, but at the most it's 2-3 a day, and that doesn't happen that often. If you're posting more than 5 a day, you need to back away from the computer or Facebook mobile.
• People DO make fun of you if you fall into either of these categories.

This class has been brought to you free-of-charge. It's a special gift to you for the new year! Hey, speaking of the new year, if you feel like you are an offender, make a New Year's Resolution to change it. After all, you're probably the person who listed 45 of your resolutions in your status a few days ago!