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Do you put things on hold at your library? I do. And I hate when two come at once, because then I have only three weeks to read two books. That's asking a lot for me.
Do any of you watch "The Walking Dead?" We do. I found this season so much better than last.
Do you know that I eat my kids' large-sized crumbs? Do you do it too? The other day I picked up a crumb that I thought was banana bread, but once it was in my mouth I became pretty sure it was a dog treat. Do you think I'll do that again? (Probably.)
It's official: I am totally gullible.
Are you the type of person that if given a work desk, you'd put a bowl of candy on it? I am definitely not, for obvious reasons. But I love you if you are. I especially love you if you work in my office and you do this.
This would have been a pretty good Facebook status update for me for April Fools Day: "Just finishing ironing my sheets. Off to warm the plates in the oven for dinner!" (Note: I ignored the apostrophe in "Fools" because I just don't know where it's supposed to go. Fool's? Fools'? Pretty sure it's not Fo'ols, even though that would be pretty cool.)
Do you know that the Postal Museum is surprisingly cool?! Surprise, right? And did you know that my office and the Postal Museum share a building? AND did you know, that until last Saturday, I'd never been to the museum? After more than nine years of working where I work, not once had I stepped in there. Pathetic. But I admit: it probably won't happen again soon. I like reading the paper at lunch and, well, during the rest of the day I'm actually working. And at the end of the day, I just want to go home. Until I get home, and then I want to run away screaming.
Three "REALLY?!" moments I'd like to share. I know the answer to only one of the three.
1. Really? Who steals a debit card number and uses it to buy stuff from a department store, a stereo store, and take-out? Who are these people who think it's okay to spend $1,600 of someone else's money on whatever they want? Who are these people that actually know how to do it?
2. Really? Who has a party at a local park only to leave 40-50 empty plastic water bottles scattered on the basketball court? Who is too lazy to walk to one of three close, empty trash cans to get rid of their bottles? Who thinks they're too good to do so?
3. Really? Who has the two cutest boys in the world? (Nope, not really a Really? question, but just an excuse to put in a picture of my boys. We went to the zoo, and Rhett insisted on wearing this shirt. Then he insisted on taking a picture of me doing this exact thing. I'll spare you.)
There are some thing that you only need a couple times a year, but because their costs are prohibitive, you don't buy them. For me, these things include a smart phone (I cannot pay that much when I have the internet close to me most of the time, or because I can use my dumb phone to call someone else who is close to the internet), mini-DVD players for the car, GPS, or a bigger car.
We have only two little boys so our two cars (Subaru Impreza Outback and Toyota Corolla) should be sufficient, no? Of course. Except when we go camping. Because when we go camping, it's such a pain to get everything in the car. In fact, we can't get everything in the car; we have to get everything that doesn't fit in, on. You can't really tell, but the trunk is jammed as is the area at the boys' feet. Ugh.
So now we're thinking about getting a new car. But what to buy? I want something with more cargo space (for when we go camping, but maybe just for bikes or for the double jogger) but also something that has high fuel efficiency since most of our driving is city.
P.S. Had we won last week's Powerball of nearly half a billion dollars, this post would be moot. Not only would we buy ourselves two new cars, but a jet to fly us there. And a chauffeur to drive us around upon our arrival.
P.P.S. We went out shopping last night and drove a CRV. We looked at the RAV4, the Scion something (WAY too small), and a Kia Sportage (also too small). The surprise of the night? The Mazda CX-5. We got to the dealership too late to drive, but we'll go back. We still need to look at a Forester.
Since moving to our new house and returning to work, I get to travel on the longest escalator in the western hemisphere four times a week (twice down, twice up). I take great pride in the fact that only twice have I not walked up the moving staircase at the end of my work day. The first time I stood (instead of trekking the approximate 100 steps) was the second day back to work after Rhett's birth. I was exhausted: mentally, physically, and emotionally. The second time I was sick.
But now I'm plagued by the following dilemma. The station has three escalators. When one breaks down, it is either taken completely out of commission and no one can use it at all, or it's simply turned off so people can continue to walk on it. For the past couple of what-has-seemed-like eons, one escalator has been completely unusable, the second has been stopped, and the third been running upwards. This was fine because I could walk down the second, and trek up the third. But this morning the second escalator was made unusable (unusable!). This means that the third is now stopped. Just so it's clear: my trek up 100 moving stairs is increased to nearly 170 steps.
Let's be honest. I'm in fairly good shape. I run regularly and eat, uh, food. But when I get to the top of my 100-step climb, I'm tired. My breathing is quickened and I'm ready to be done. What's this proud girl to do? Do I attempt the 170 stairs or fight the entire rush-hour train to use the (only) elevator? Please hurry: I have only 7.5 hours until I make this decision.
Remember the movie, "The Breakfast Club?" Of course you do. It's shown on TBS at least once a week. In response to Mr. Vernon's request to write an essay answering the question, "Who do you think you are?" Brian pens this essay:
Dear Mr. Vernon:
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But, what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, and a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.
Chuck and I were talking about this movie at dinner (we find ourselves frequently quoting it to one another) and I asked him who he thought he was? Like Brian, we came to the conclusion that we are both some sort of Breakfast Club Mutt. But in what proportions? Chuck certainly has a lot of the brain in him, but there's definitely a little criminal, as well as the others. I, too, think I'm mostly the brain (there's just too much logic in my head to leave room for much else), but certainly the others exist inside me. What about you? Are any of you completely deficient of one of them?
(This one will be an instant version of this game.) Here's the question. Would I rather my child be overweight or have an average intelligence? Think for a moment before looking at the answer...3...2...1...
Average intelligence. Hands down. Chuck and I were recently discussing this and I was shocked at my answer.
Yes, I would love if Rhett turns out to be smart. Chuck and I think that we are fairly intelligent beings and really appreciate intelligence in others (although the really dumb ones can be quite hysterical at times, as long as they're not driving). We even find smart to be sexy. We have smart friends, some smart family (ha), and in general, like to be around smart people. However, people with average intelligence have done great things. Having an average intelligence might teach Rhett to work that much harder. Maybe he would appreciate his strengths more than others with whom things come more naturally. And since he'd have average intelligence, he'd be where most people are: in the middle.
But being overweight puts you in a different class. During the school years, being overweight can so severely affect your self-esteem that, I believe, it can influence some serious decisions made during those years. It can affect your choice of friends, your level of involvement in school activities, your relationships with everyone, not to mention your health. I just think it's dangerous, both physically and emotionally.
Certainly we're doing everything we can for him to have a healthy body as well as a healthy mind. We've read to him since he was born, but also make sure he works his body (the walking has helped with this). School will be his number one priority, but we both want physical activity to also be an important part of the entire family's lives. But if I had to choose, well, you know...
What about you? If you feel like you have average intelligence, would you trade it for a genius-level IQ if it meant you had to be overweight? And if you feel like you're smart and overweight, would you dumb yourself down for a slimmer you? And what is your choice for your kids (as if you really had the option for choosing)?
In our previous ward, there were two couples that Chuck and I really liked. We didn't know them terribly well, but regardless, we looked up to them tremendously. One couple was old enough to be our parents and the other had teenage children. Chuck and I liked musing that "we'd like to be them when we grow up." So here's the question: would it be weird to send them a little note telling them this, that we want to grow up to be just like them? Would they think us (well, me since I'd be the actual card writer) crazy?
From the time when media people and politicos started talking about a recession, Chuck and I balked. Really? A recession. Whatever. We were still making the same amount of money and were still living within our means. It had zero effect on us. But more recently, we have started feeling it.
We have our jobs and thankfully, since we both have fairly-stable government jobs, we have no fear about losing our own either. And we know no one who has lost theirs. Embarrassingly enough though, I got the largest cost-of-living raise I've ever had since working for the feds in January. However, I did not get my yearly bonus. Mind you, this bonus is not a $50 check; it's actually quite a large chunk of change. And every other organization got their bonus in the department in which I work; needless to say, employees in my organization were not happy. But I won't complain. (See first three sentences of this paragraph.)
As for Chuck, his raises take place in September with the new school year. While this coming September he'll see his usual step increase, he will not see the union-negotiated 5% increase. (I had no idea that the county could even do this as it had already promised the union that it would give it to employees!) This is really disheartening, but again, see sentences 1-3 in paragraph 2.
Finally, the one that affects us in hopefully a good way, are foreclosures. While we did not buy a home that had been foreclosed on, we live in a neighborhood FULL of them. The house next door and the house across the street are both empty. These empty homes obviously bring down property values, whether or not I can make my mortgage. We recently pulled a list of 15 recently-sold homes in my neighborhood, and I think 12 of them were short sales or bank-owned properties. 80%! That's a big percentage. What this means for us is that homes are worth less than they were (duh). And since our home was assessed when values were still increasing, this July's tax assessed value is approximately $100,000 more than the average selling price of homes in my neighborhood, and $70,000 more than we paid for the home. I love my house; I know it's in better shape than 95% of homes in my neighborhood (Thanks Larsons!) but I also know I'd be laughed to the moon if I tried to sell it at $100,000 more than the neighbor's home. Hopefully the tax assessors agree.
Other than that, nothing for us has changed. We still make more than we spend. We still are able to do the fun things we want and buy treats when we want them. We're lucky. And grateful.
Anyone else feeling effects of the recession? Have you made any changes in your lifestyle because of it?
As the Super Bowl was less than two weeks ago, we've probably all been exposed to a new barrage of ads. I used to think it was silly for companies to spend millions of dollars on advertising. Do the big corporate heads really think that just because Payton Manning tells me to use a MasterCard, I will do so? (Bad example, I actually think Payton is hysterical. "Will you sign this loaf of bread for my brother?" Too funny. But you know what I mean.)
For the first time in my life, however, I am knowingly looking into a product (laser eye surgery) strictly because of its endorser (Tiger Woods). Why would I do this? First, I think Tiger's eyes are very important to him. Yes, yes, they're important to all of us, but certainly they are to him. Second, because he has gazillions of dollars, I think he has the staff required to do research into who would give him the best outcome. It simply becomes: because Tiger chose TLC, I am choosing TLC. And I am not ashamed.
So what about you? Has an endorser ever influenced your decision on which products to use?
Would it be gross to buy a wig at a thrift store and wear it?
When you hang up clothes, which direction do they face?
Is it just me, or is Bed, Bath, and Beyond becoming gaudier and gaudier? All that "As See on TV" stuff is not doing them any favors, at least in my book.
Why do I continue to pay for Thomas-brand English muffins when, in my opinion, the store brand muffins are better? They seem to come apart into two more-even halves than the name brand and may be slightly heavier.
