amusements

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patriotism

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Have you seen the phenomenon that is Nestle Toll House ready-to-bake cookie dough bars? I'm sure you have. I live in Africa... so this was all news to me. Kitty bought a package of it yesterday. Last night, I offered to bake them. "I'll read the package and figure out how to do it."

"You literally just break them apart," Kitty explained with a smile, "stick them on a baking tray, and put them in the oven."

"This..." I said as I sat up on the couch with a look of utter amazement on my face. "This is why I love America."

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exactly

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Niel and I spot an eyeglass place that advertises "Glasses in One Hour". I go up to the woman at the counter to confirm. "How does this work? Can I really get glasses in an hour?" "Yes ma'am. You get an eye exam, pick the frames, and then there's an hour turn-around time until you can pick up your glasses."

Sweet. I need new glasses, and with us in a different place every two days, the process is a little trickier for me. One hour sounds perfect.

An hour goes by as I fill out paperwork, get my eyes examined, and try on 109 different pairs of glasses. I finally pick what I like, and the friendly counter-woman starts entering everything into her computer.

"Actually... we don't have lenses with your prescription in stock," she tells me.

"Umm... ok. What does that mean then?"

"We'll have to order them."

"How long will that take?"

"Two weeks."

My eyes widen. Trying to make light of the situation even though I'm pretty frustrated, I say, "So it's really like 'Glasses in Two Weeks', huh?"

Her face remains stoic. She cocks her head to the side and says, "Well, the moment we get the lenses in, we'll make them. And that will only take one hour."

Husband decides to take this one. "Aaaah. I see... So it's really like 'Glasses in Two Weeks Plus One Hour'..."

Counter-woman looks pleased. "Exactly!" she replies with a smile.

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mish mosh

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Some very random thoughts: An electric blanket makes everything better...

Did you know that in the Listerine commercials, the actors don't really have anything in their mouths? They make all those swirling, swishing, and gargling motions with nothing but air. Hmph.

Remember my disdain of moths? Yeah, me too. Tonight I had a tiny bit of lemonade left after dinner, which I set on my bedside table to help my melatonin go down at bedtime. A little bit ago I started to hear splashing. Confused, I looked around my room. THIS is what I found:

Demon moth.

It's hard for me to not feel guilty that I'm not doing much (work-wise) and my husband is back in South Africa hard at work. He deserves a break more than I do, and yet here I am... the one on vacation. Sorry, Hombre. I love you!

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happiness under where?

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I bought some new underwear the other day. I intentionally flew to America with my oldest, holiest (?) pairs so that I could ditch them when I bought new ones. So I left a pile of old (but clean!) skivvies in my friend's garbage pail last week. I intentionally bought one solitary pair of hot pink undies among my pile of white, black, and nude (which, in my opinion, is a horrible color name). Now you need to understand that I don't really like pink. I've never been a very girly girl and have always refrained from wearing all things pink. When Niel saw my assorted collection of new undergarments, he raised his eyebrow and asked what was up with the one pink pair.

"I figured I could wear these on a day when I need unexpected happiness," was my reply. He raised his eyebrow some more, so I explained further that the hot pinkness is so bright and surprising, it's bound to make me smile throughout the day. And I figured that might come in handy sometimes. "Ohhhh..." was about all he could muster in response. It seems that some things only make sense inside my brain.

I wore my happiness underwear the other day. While I was quite amused when I first put them on, I quickly forgot about them. The first time I used the bathroom a few hours later, though, I started to laugh when I was reminded of what I was wearing.

See... They work!

What makes you unexpectedly happy?

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flotsam and jetsam

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The past two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. I've missed being online, blogging, and responding to emails. (Sorry I've been AWOL!) Here's a quick recap for you... Between back-to-back meetings in Denver we managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Red Rocks.

We enjoyed some sunshine in California, and got to spend a day with one of our former interns.

We then headed to Seattle for a bit, where we spent an evening with Sydney & Co. and met Nadine. We arrived back in New York on Saturday night, and the very next day took the train downtown with my brother...

to eat at my favorite Italian restaurant...

and watch the Yankees sadly get beaten by the Mets. (Even though we lost miserably, I'm glad to have made it to a game during the final season at their stadium.)

And who can resist a baseball-game hot dog?

(Which of course isn't helping me at all with my fat arse...)

Niel and I visited a kennel (I'm not really sure what to call it actually...) where we could see and pet a bunch of different breeds of puppies. The discussion continues... but we're much, much closer!

In less than 24 hours, Niel will be on his way back to South Africa and I will be in Wisconsin. Pray for us!

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bonus points

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It's been pretty cold the past few days here on Bainbridge Island, off the coast of Seattle. Cold enough for my friend to turn on the seat warmers in her SUV. I tend to be cold all the time, so I thoroughly enjoyed being heated from the bottom up. With only the front seats fitted with this feature, Niel was missing out in the back seat. I kept telling him how great it was and that it was too bad he wasn't able to experience it.

We parked at the restaurant and as I climbed out of the car, I excitedly told Niel, "Seriously. Feel my butt. It's so hot!"

"Baby... your butt is always hot."

My cheeks (the ones on my face!) instantly turned red and I started laughing. I turned around and gave Niel a high-five. My hombre certainly earned some bonus points with that one.

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huh?

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It was snowing when we arrived at the rental car agency in Denver. The ever-so-friendly associate showed us to our car, a red beast of an Expedition, as she ran through all the details of our rental agreement. "Sign here... and here... and here."

Niel compliantly signed in each spot.

"Now, would you like the basic insurance or the full insurance?"

Niel asked the question that would be on everyone's mind at this point: "What's the difference between the basic and full?"

She quickly replied, "I'd suggest the basic. You really only need the full insurance if you're going to get into an accident."

What's the craziest thing you've heard this week?

searching

I took a look at some of the search terms that have led people to my site lately. Here's a sampling... These ones concerned me a bit:

  • weird hairdos
  • ugly hairdos

Ummm... Are you serious?

  • heavenly bathroom
  • feminine decor
  • how to decorate a bathroom
  • clever guest bathroom theme

I have no idea why this search landed someone here:

  • rent a soft serve ice cream machine

And my personal favorite:

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visiting virginia

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Our last two nights in Virginia were spent with some friends. We stayed up late talking on our first evening there. As we regaled them with funny stories from our travels so far, they suggested we write a book about it all. They figured that people would pay to hear the sometimes-bizarre happenings in our lives. The next day, they flew out of town.

Niel and I spent our unexpected free night on a date. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and shared some tasty fajitas and sopapias. (Since we were going to miss our annual staff Cinco de Mayo party, we had our very own Uno de Mayo party.)

We got back to our friends' house around 10:00 and decided to throw in a load of laundry while we watched a movie. They had mentioned that something is wrong with their dryer and that it takes longer than normal to dry the clothes. We figured we could easily run the dryer twice and it should still finish up before the end of our movie.

Two dryer cycles later and our clothes were still just as wet as when we first put them in!

I worked hard to keep from going into panic mode, considering it was 12:30 at night and we had a mound of sopping wet clothes. We draped them over every chair, table, and surface we could find and hoped for the best. We figured---worst case scenario---if it was all still wet, we'd put them into plastic garbage bags before packing them into our suitcase, and figure out a Plan B when we arrived in Colorado.

The living room, dining room, and kitchen were a sight to behold, with our pants, shirts, and unmentionables covering everything in sight. I wish I'd taken a picture.

Niel got up early in the morning and flipped all our still-damp clothes. I tried not to think about it as I showered, spent time making my hair look messy, and finished the rest of the packing.

Thankfully when we went to check the clothes again, everything was dry. Phew!

We laughed as we recalled our friends' suggestion that we write a book about our crazy experiences while traveling. Little did they know that they'd win themselves their very own chapter!

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hangin with the boys

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We saw the Big Man when we were in Washington, DC. It would be awesome if "Big Man" referred to the President or anyone actually alive, but really it's just Niel's endearing term for the Lincoln Memorial. That is my all-time favorite memorial in DC, and I think it's just glorious all lit-up at night.

So at 10:00, after we spoke at an evening meeting, some friends took us downtown DC to see the Big Man. Awe-inspiring, to say the least.

And we took some fantastic pictures.

We also visited Albert Einstein, which was a first for both of us. I really liked the wrinkly old guy.

We ended the night at our friends' local hang-out spot, just talking and lovin' Jesus together.

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and so it begins

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Last night I was showing Niel how to navigate through blog world. I gave him a few tips on "blog etiquette". Niel: I don't need to follow blog etiquette. I'm the anti-blogger!

Me: Uhh.. Nigel? You're blogging. So I think you're the anti-blogger in name only.

Niel: Nu-uh. The anti-blogger can blog ... just in anti-blog ways.

Me: Ohhhh.

Later...

Niel: Will people know who I am?

Me: Well, people who know us will know it's you. But it doesn't say your name anywhere.

Niel (after a pause): But other people won't know know it's me, right?

Me: Right.

Niel (smiling): Good. I'm gonna take over the world. Brace yourselves.

fuggarugga

When we visited Yeller & Co. a few days ago, I learned a great new word from two-year-old Emma.

Fuggarugga

If you ask Emma which Disney princess is her favorite, she'll respond with, "Fuggarugga!" Which of course means "Cinderella". Of course.

Niel and I have said it multiple times a day ever since.

We use it to mean a variety of things. Anything, really, except of course Cinderella.

It's our new multi-purpose word, sometimes used as an exclamation of joy---"We get to sleep late tomorrow! Fuggarugga!"---or even an expletive-alternative. "Fuggarugga! We missed our turn!"

You should try it out.

I know you wanna.

What's your word of the week?

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xs

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I walked into Panera and caught Natalie's eye. She'd arrived before us and ingeniously snagged a table near an outlet. (Outlet = plug for laptop = internet.) We both smiled so big our eyes scrunched shut. Those are the best kinds of smiles. I hurried over to her corner and gave her a big hug. "Your shirt looks so familiar to me," she said after the initial how-are-yous and you-look-so-fantastics.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Maybe---" Before she could suggest that maybe she's seen me wearing it before, something catches her eye. She stops mid-sentence, leans over, and points to my boob. (Yes, I just said "boob" on my blog.)

My eyes follow her finger.

And I see a size sticker, clear as day, announcing to the world what size my boob shirt is.

"Nope. Obviously the shirt is new," she remarked. We burst out laughing as I hastily yanked off the sticker.

Now that's what friends are for!

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jabberwacky: banana splits

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I'll be traveling for the next 30 hours straight; I know you're jealous. In the meantime, why don't you guys keep yourselves occupied with a little wordplay.

Rules:

  • Post the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you read the word above yours in the comments.
  • Come back and add to the mix as often as you'd like.
  • You can challenge the preceding commenter to explain if you don't understand the connection they made when they wrote their word. (If you know your word choice won't make sense to others, take time to explain it.)
  • The last word when I close comments will be the first word next time.

Last time we started with Africa and ended with banana splits. Let's see what happens this round!

Starter word: banana splits