JUST SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS
I HAVE NO RAMEN NOODLES!
The other day, for some odd reason, I was craving some good ole ramen noodles. I used to eat ramen noodles all of the time when living at home and in college, of course. Anyway, I can’t imagine any household not having a package of ramen noodles in the cupboards or cabinets … I start boiling my pot of water before rummaging through my cupboard for a package of noodles. But much to my amazement, I have no ramen noodles! Seriously! No noodles.
When I crave something, I want it. I want ramen noodles sprinkled with shredded cheese. Mmmmm. I had to make a special trip to the grocery store to pick up a few packages, and I had ramen noodles with cheese for lunch today. Mmmmmm. My craving has been satisfied, and my cupboard has a couple of ramen packages. :) Yah. So, I should be good for the rest of the year.
CROCHETING MACHINE
I am crocheting machine. I crochet in the morning when I get up, and I crochet at night when I come home from work. When I’m not working, I’m crocheting. I’m sitting in front of the TV and crocheting like a madwoman. To date, I have completed three scarves … yah! When I have the chance, I’ll post a photo of the completed scarves, because I’m pretty proud of myself. :) With practice, I’m getting faster and better. And more importantly, I’m enjoying crocheting. And my cats enjoy tackling the loose yarn. Fun for everyone.
When I’m at work, all I want to do is go home and crochet. How sad am I? I’m working on three projects at the moment … two scarves and a baby blanket. I had leftover yarn from a previous blanket (which to my memory really didn’t turn out well but I gave it as a gift anyway). For some reason, I’m just anxious to continue working on these prokects … just sit in front of the TV and crochet like the wind.
READING BEFORE BEDTIME
When I’m not crocheting, I’m trying to read a book before I go to bed. I get ready for bed and then curl up in my bed with a book … at the moment, a good murder mystery by Erica Spindle. And I’m thinking I shouldn’t be reading murder mysteries before I go to bed because I’m getting a little paranoid about some dangerous guy lurking in the shadows of my apartment or something. I know it’s crazy, but I get scared easily … I’ll admit it, I’m a pansy.
When I was younger, I was terrified of the Incredible Hulk … just simply terrified. I’m still a little traumatized by the memory of opening the house door to see the Hulk standing there during a Halloween party my parents threw when we used to live in Florida. I remember peeking out from behind a chair and keeping an eye on the big green guy. So not cool, Mom and Dad, not cool. My sisters still like to torment me about that little fact about me.
MEMORY LANE WITH ETHAN
My nephew, Ethan, sitting in the family car, the good ol Impala.
Krissy was super excited about getting this new family car.
I don’t know what made me think of this memory of my nephew, Ethan, who is now 7 … I think. Wait, let me think … yeah, he’s 7 … I feel old now. I was 25 when Ethan was born … I’m sooooo old.
Anyway, here’s one of my favorite memories of Ethan … I think he was about 2 years old when my sister (Krissy) took Ethan to visit some relatives in North Dakota. I think my Krissy’s husband, Jason, went on the trip, too, but I can’t remember. Whatever, Jason’s really not important to the story.
My parents, my other sister (Becky), and I also trekked to North Dakota because of an all-class reunion for my dad and his siblings who went to school in a small farming community.
One of the activities for this big event was a parade … another activity was a run/walk where my uncle tried to persuade me to run in, but I defiantly refused because I wasn’t hauling my tushy out of bed before 8 a.m. This girl likes to sleep.
The parade was Ethan’s first, and I needed to make sure the tyke (reminder, Ethan is about 2 at this time) was ready to collect some candy from the floats. Before the start of the parade, Ethan and I went through a few practice runs.
For some reason, I had some candy already. I stood in the middle of the street where the floats were going to roll through, and I threw candy near him and coached him to go get it. Ethan’s a smart kid, and he picked up on what he needed to do.
At 2 years old, kids are super adorable and super cute, and for some reason, people love throwing extra candy at them. It also helped that Ethan was one of a handful of kids along the curb, where my family had camped for the parade.
Before the start of the parade, one of the relatives gave him a plastic shopping bag for the candy. Ethan did a fantastic job wandering a little bit onto the street to collect the thrown candy. I was very proud of him.
Not only was I proud of him, but his mother, Krissy, was proud. At one point, Ethan was holding a small American flag in one hand and collecting candy with the other. One of our aunts gave him another flag to hold, but Krissy promptly took that away because Ethan needed an empty hand to collec the candy. Mom loves her candy.
For his very first parade, Ethan collected quite the load of candy. My sisters and I were proud of him … so proud, we accidentally left him outside of our aunt and uncle’s house while we (three grown women, I remind you) were picking through the bag of candy.
Krissy finally realized Ethan was missing and then heard him crying outside the house. All three of us raced outside to see him just bawling by the door. Probably not a good memory for him, and a very guilty memory for me, Krissy, and Becky.
I hope to remember Ethan’s first parade for as long as I can, because I remembering laughing (with my sisters) and smiling at Ethan. I don’t know if anyone else remembers the event, but I do … and every time I think about it, I smile.
WARNING: CUTE CAT PHOTOS
ABOVE: So often, Riley and Calvin like to nap together … and I had to do a teeny bit of arranging for this lovely photo of them. I think Calvin’s head was hiding behind Riley’s … so I moved Calvin up a little bit for this cute photo. Too cute.
BELOW: This is probably my favorite photo of Riley and Calvin. Aren’t they cuuuuute? I love my cats.
GO TEAM JENN
I finished my first scarf! Yah! I would post a photo of the original creation by yours truly, but I’m at the library, where apparently the computer is not equipped with a floppy disk drive. Come on, no one uses floppy disks anymore? Well, normally I don’t, but I didn’t want to unplug my jump drive from my computer. So, I thought the next best thing was a floppy disk. Oh, how wrong I am. 
I finished the scarf today while watching ARMAGEDDON, starring Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck. Tears form every single time I watch the movie, where (SPOILER ALERT) Bruce says goodbye to his daughter because he has to detonate the bomb on the asteroid in order to save the world from death and destruction. I’d bawl like a baby if I had to say goodbye to my dad like that, but the chances of my dad staying behind on an asteroid to blow it up is pretty much, um, zilcho.
Anyway, I finished the scarf, and I’m pretty proud of myself. I have a sense of pride and accomplishment. As soon as I have the write materials, I will post a picture of the scarf because I’m so PROUD of it. I’m really giddy with joy. My arm is still tired. A couple of my nails are numb, but I’m still so proud and excited. 
LISTEN TO: LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE by Lady Antebellum.
25 SCARVES TO GO
I decided to crochet last night … I was avoiding editing my book (for the third time), and I was getting bored with TV. So, I decided to pick up the needle and some yarn and attempt to remember how to crochet. I think I’ve done a good job so far without instruction from a professional. I played around for awhile and then decided it was time to attempt to crochet a scarf.
First, crocheting with two cats is not an easy task. Calvin managed to gnaw his way through a string of yarn (thanks, kitty!), and Riley liked chasing the ball of yarn around, creating a bigger mess. But I managed to crochet a few rows, and I have to say that it looks pretty good. Not bad for an amateur. :) I think I spent about two hours crocheting, and this morning, my right hand and arm are tired from crocheting (probably from holding the needle to tight or something).
With a little concentration, time, effort, willpower, and dedication, I think I can make my goal of crocheting 25 scarves by the end of the year. Granted, January is almost complete, and I haven’t completed one scarf, but I think I can make up for lost time. Especially, if I avoid editing my book … I have to go through and change some of the verbs … I have the tendency to flip from past tense to present tense. Editing is so not cool. 
LISTEN TO: BLEEDING LOVE by Leona Lewis. I did some research on her, because of my co-workers insisted that I listen to her debut album, which isn’t bad. Anyway, Leona Lewis won the British version (I think) of “American Idol.” She has a great voice, and the song BLEEDING LOVE is amazing. Love it. I’ve already listened to it 30 times.
A 2008 GOAL
All right, here’s a goal (or another new year’s resolution, if you may) … I want to crochet 25 scarves during the year. At the end of the year or when I reach the goal, I will donate the scarves to charity. I’m thinking I can achieve this goal, because scarves aren’t that hard to make since I’ve made two in the past … now, I just need to remember how to crochet. Hmmmmmmm.
My former roommate taught me how to crochet, and I was OK at the hobby. I wasn’t a professional like her. I liked it better than knitting … knitting was too complicated for me. Crocheting was simple and involved one needle … I can handle this. So, I was in a crocheting phase for about a couple of years, and then I stopped crocheting. At the moment, I can’t remember the reason why I stopped … I just stopped.
I’ve decided to pick up the hobby because I have a ton of yarn leftover from the phase. A great way for me to get back into the groove of crocheting. Earlier this week, I rounded up all my yarn, and I cut the strings that were attached to half finished blankets. It was somewhat painful, but I knew it had to be done because I know deep down inside, these blankets aren’t going to be completed.
Let’s talk about blankets … shall we? No matter how careful I am, my sides on a blanket ARE NEVER EVEN! And I’m careful. I count. But my sides are never even … always lopsided or something. So, that’s why I’m making scarves because it doesn’t matter if the sides are even. And scarves take up less time than blankets. I can crochet quality scarves … I’ll work on blankets when I feel I need a challenge.
So, there you have it … I am going to crochet 25 scarves for charity. That’s about two scarves a month. I think I can achieve this … I’ve even put in a call to my former roommate’s mother to give a lesson in crocheting because as I found out, crocheting IS NOT like riding a bike. But I’m confident with a little bit of help, I will be crocheting in no time. :) I will keep everyone updated on my goal, or even better, ask me how I’m doing.
AMERICAN IDOL: SEASON 7
Oh, TV, how I miss and love you … because of the writer’s strike in Hollywood, I haven’t really watched TV during the past couple of months because there have been no new episodes of my favorite shows. :( Sad, I know. But the local library and Netflix have been keeping my busy. No worries.
Anyway, the seventh season of American Idol begins Tuesday! Yah! Well, not yah, because I HATE watching the audition process … seriously, I don’t want to watch people willing to humiliate themselves for 15 minutes of fame (in most of these people’s cases its 15 seconds). I don’t like watching people who know they don’t have any business to EVEN audition to try out anyway because they’re camera hogs.
I want to listen to good singers. Although I am welcoming American Idol back with open arms, I have to skip the first few weeks until the audition process is over. I don’t mind watching the Hollywood auditions as Simon, Paula, and Randy narrow done the field to the top 24. Good entertainment is when cocky singers get overconfident and party instead of practicing … and then blame others for a lost opportunity.
LISTEN TO: SHARING THE NIGHT TOGETHER by Elliott Yamin (Season 5)
The song isn’t on his debut album, but I’m sure you can find somewhere. I’d post a link or something, but I don’t have the “extra” capability to do it.
VERY SWEET LOVE STORY
For the romantic at heart … a very sweet love story.
2006 OUT-OF-CONTEXT BOARD
Just for prosperity sake, here is the 2006 out-of-context board … and I haven’t posted a blog in awhile.
KEITH: “Am I the only one who finds it funny that the bird flu is spreading in Turkey?”
CURT: “Man, I hate dictionaries. I always get distracted by the other words and then I’m like ‘gunboat.’ Wow.”
Curt explaining why it takes him so long to look up words in the dictionary.
KEITH: “This guy only paid $8.73 in child support.”
DAVE: “Maybe it was a very small child.”
Dave replying to Keith’s shock over a man’s attempt at child support.
BETSY: “She’d be a really easy cat to place except for the fact that every now and then she flings snot around.”
Betsy talking about one of her cats.
JENN: ”Didn’t we hire you to be a copy editor?”
Jenn telling Curt that maybe he should proof his pages more carefully.
KISH: “I’m reading a letter to the editor. It’s your mom. She says you’re special.”
Kish talking to Curt
2007 OUT-OF-CONTEXT BOARD
I love my job at the La Crosse Tribune … it’s so awesome. Since coming to the Trib, my co-worker, Curt, has been gathering out-of-context quotes from other co-workers over the past couple of years. I’d thought I would share some of these fantastic and hilarious quotes when taken out of context or when just entering a conversation.
CURT: “Are you interest in my Winona Region?”
KARIANN: “That’s rather personal.”
Page 3 of the Winona Daily News is called the Winona/Region page
CURT: “I pay for things!”
Curt sounding a little dirty when explaining he doesn’t pirate everything.
KISH: “I’d make a good God.”
Kish replying after hearing Jenn ask who died and made Curt God.
“Where was Jesus born?”
KISH: “Akron.”
Kish failing (on purpose) to correctly answer a religion quiz.
MARC: “There’s nothing wrong with your Magic Bullet, Curt.”
Marc says after trying some salsa Curt made with his Magic Bullet blender.
JENN: “This is going on my refrigerator door.”
EMILY: “Shouldn’t you wait until you do a good one?”
Emily dissing Jenn’s pagination of her first La Crosse front page.
CURT: “Just because I’m a nerd, doesn’t mean I’m a loser!”
Curt yelling in response to an allegation that he must be a “Lord of the Rings” fan.
JENN: “Did you just call me a whore?”
CURT: “What?!? I said ‘hugely important Web stuff.’ “
JENN: “Oh.”
Jenn obviously mishearing Curt.
KISH: “I think there’s a way to use sunshine.”
DAVE: “They’re bees, not vampires.”
Dave tells Kish that sun might not be an effective way to kill bees.
DAVID: “My favorite part of the day was when Jenn challenged me to a no-speaking contest.”
David reminiscing about his work day.
CURT: “I’m the greatest.”
DAVID: “Or just a hair above average.”
David taking Curt down a notch.
CURT: “I’m gonna play video games with my kids. Then I’ll finally have someone I can beat.”
Curt explaining his big plans for parenthood.
