Isn't technology great?

Okay, second post of the day, but I had to share. I ran to DSW on my lunch hour today (Shoe Mecca - for the non shopper) to buy a pair of dressy black sandals. For me, DSW, is usually hit or miss. Today was a hit. I found a pair of adorable Guess sandals in black patent leather - had to have them. As I wandered further into the store, I found the same sandal in matte black leather. Uh oh! Conundrum. I like the shiny black, but the matte black is more versatile, more practical. What to do?

I called Mandy "please call me Miranda-formerly Lee" Rudolph over in New Jersey to ask her opinion. She sitting over there, in her new air conditioning, being pregnant and probably reading a fashion magazine (her vice) so who better to ask? She talks it through with me. The black patent is trendy, I might get sick of it, are they cheap enough for me to buy both? NO - Dave would not be happy if I come home with two pairs of the exact same shoe in two different kinds of black at nearly 100 bucks for the lot. So I must choose.

I decide on the matte black and start walking to the front of the store. But what do I see as I go? Another sandal catches my eye. It's Steve Madden and 10 bucks cheaper. But it's patent leather. Now what do I do? I'm sensible. I take a picture of them with my cell phone and text them to Mandy. She calls me back. We discuss it for another few minutes.

Anyone who knows me is probably betting I bought the Guess ones for 10 bucks more. My mom used to say that I could walk into a store and every rack could be on sale except for one, and that would be the rack I'd find something on. I can't help it - I'm a princess. And I love shoes.

But hah! I bought the Steve Madden's. It's the new and improved Melanie!

Okay, so really improved would be to buy the shoes at Payless for 15 bucks - I'm not quite there yet.

Random Meanderings

We had a semi-busy Memorial Day weekend. We started out having nothing to do. Then I got the bright idea to invite Dave's brother over on Saturday for a BBQ. He is going through a divorce and his soon to be ex-wife just moved out and took his son with her, so he is all by himself in their house and I feel really bad for him. So then Dave invited his mom and his business partner and his wife and baby. Now it was a party. My worst fear ever is having people over and running out of food, so Friday night I had to go buy enough food to feed twice that many people. And I made brownies and a fruit salad and biscuits from scratch.

And my brother-in-law called at the last minute and bagged. I was not happy with him. He also happens to work for me - so lets just say I have to work very very hard to keep business and personal separate.

On a funny note, Dave's business partner's 18 month old daughter is obsessed with Dave. She followed him all around the house on Saturday and when he wasn't paying attention to her she would start saying his name and waving at him across the room. It was so cute. That husband of mine is a heartbreaker! This is a photo of them sitting together on the couch.

Sunday we went to my mom's for another BBQ to celebrate my dad's birthday. Monday we cleaned the house, Dave mowed the grass and we went to see Pirates of the Carribbean. It was very very dissapointing.

My Favorite Quote

I got this off a calendar I had a few years ago. It keep it on the wall in my office and read it anytime I start feeling bogged down.

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, somthing to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. Happiness is a journey, not a destination"

-Alfred D. Souza

Oprah for President

Yesterday my usually very serious husband called me at work to ask me a very important question.

"Does Oprah have 6 toes?"

He came across that little gem somewhere on the internet. I asked, "Does she have 6 toes total or 6 toes on each foot?" The answer? "6 toes on each foot."

Does anyone know if this is true? I was unable to confirm either way.

Yes there isn't much going on right now!

Random Thoughts

I'm back. I left Thursday morning to drive Mandy home. We did well. She wasn't sure she was going to be able to make the entire drive in once day, but once we got on the road she decided she wanted to try and do it all Thursday. I think the fact that she had been away from home and husband for two weeks was what kept her going. I did most of the driving which was fine. Mandy has a mini van and although I hate to admit it - it was a very comfortable ride.

We stopped for bathroom breaks about every 2 to 1/2 hours and we made it in about 12 hours. Not too shabby. It was really nice to spend time with her and really, the drive went by pretty fast. I got to see where she lives so now I can picture it in my head when I talk to her. I always like to be able to do that.

I promised her I will be back when Max is born.

On other topics, Thursday is Sam's birthday. He has been asking for a Nintnedo Wii since before Christmas. We didn't get him one then because of the Disney World trip. So we asked Heather (his mom) if she would go in on one with us and she said yes. (I was surprised) But, the problem is that you can't find them anywhere right now.

Well, this morning Dave and I woke up early and went to breakfast and since we were already out, I insisted on going to Meijer for groceries so I wouldn't have to go back out later. (I'm kind of whipped from the trip) So while I was grocery shopping, Dave wandered over to the electronics section and guess what they had? You guessed it, a Nintendo Wii. So we bought it.

He's playing it right now. We may not see him for a couple of weeks.

Lobster - Food or Pet?

For my bridal shower last year, I registered for this gigantic stock pot. And someone bought it for me. I registered for this stock pot with the very good intention of cooking live lobster for my dear husband. He loves seafood, particularily lobster. However, as of this past weekend I had yet to purchase and cook a lobster for my man.

Sunday we were at Meijer and lo and behold, live lobster were on sale. So Dave bought one. We threw it in the backseat and went to pick the kids up from Grandma's. The kids hop in the backseat and of course immediately see the lobster bag. They were fascinated. And Rebecca started telling us that she has no intention of eating this lobster. She wants to keep this lobster as a pet. Huh?

Well I shouldn't have been surprised. This is the same little girl who went fishing, caught a fish and when her daddy pulled the hook out of it's mouth and she saw that the worm was still on it, started crying, "I wanted the fishy to eat the worm!" and then proceeded to start throwing the worms into the water so the fish could eat.

We got home and Dave put the lobster in the sink in some water. While the kids hovered around looking at it, I went into the living room to fold some laundry. Eventually Sam lost interest and took off. But Becca continued to stand and look at the lobster. And as I was folding a towel I heard her say, "I love you lobster."

Uh oh.

Now we have to have a conversation with her about what exactly is going to happen to Mr. Lobster. I explain that he is going to meet his fate in a pot of boiling hot water and will be her daddy's delicious dinner. She took it rather well and decided to go play with her friends. As she is running out the door, she calls to the lobster, "Bye lobster! Have a good cook!"

And they both came back in when it was time to cook him and fought over who got to drop him in the hot water.

Have you ever seen a whole cooked lobster after the tail has been removed? I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of that. It was disgusting!

Paris Hilton

Does anyone care if Paris Hilton goes to jail or not? I just want them to start talking about her on the news like she is really news.

Dave and I stayed in a Hilton in Toronto a couple of years ago. It was kind of dumpy.

More Corporate Rantings

I got a promotion a couple months ago. I used to sit in a cube amongst the general population and when I got promoted I moved in to a sweet almost corner office. It's a very nice size, has a pretty view and most importantly, it has a door. I've never considered myself pretentious or anything and wasn't really chomping at the bit to get an office, but now that I'm in one, I really like it. Take a look at my view. I saw the first robin of spring through this window.

Okay, so the grass is a little dead along the sidewalk, but I don't even notice that. Up until the hard rain this morning, those two trees had pretty white flowers on them and I often see squirrels running around being merry.

But, alas, our office is moving in August and I will be going back to the cube. I read an article about the inventor of the office cube. Apparantly, his original "cubicle" design was not at all what the modern cube has become. Now he is sorry he ever invented the damn thing. See attached link:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/magazines/fortune/cubicle_howiwork_fortune/index.htm

Isn't it great to be a rat?!

Shower Season

Yesterday I had another shower to go to. This one was a baby shower for my friend Mandy who I went to high school with. I wanted to put some photos of the shower up but I forgot to take my camera with me. Whoops!

I met Mandy my first day of high school, which was also my first day of public school. Hartland wasn't that big but to me it was huge - I was used to having 12 people in my entire class. Anyway, you couldn't miss Mandy - she was loud. She still is. I can say this for two reasons: #1 I have been friends with her for 17 years and #2 She is, in fact, loud and will freely admit it.

Anyway, she also was about a size 0, had glasses, braces and buck teeth you could drive a car with. And she was so nice to me. We couldn't have been more different, but it was sisters from the start. I won't go into all the ups and downs of high school and beyond, but let's just say we drifted apart a couple of times and then back together. I was one of her bridesmaids a couple years ago and she was one of mine last year. Now she's havin' a baby. This is the girl who swore she was never having any babies, while I, on the other hand, wanted to have 6. Now she's 7 months pregnant and I'm on the fence.

Also, her given name is Miranda and sometime after high school she decided she didn't want to be called Mandy anymore so she started going by Miranda. She thinks she's fancy. I still call her Mandy and refuse to call her Miranda (as does the rest of her family). Who does she think she is changing her name? My poor husband was so confused the first time they met because I always call her Mandy and she introduced herself as Miranda.

She also moved to New Jersey because her husband got laid off from BORDINES'S NURSERY. This is another rant I will post later - but DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy anything from them. Anyway, she was already preg when this happened and he couldn't find a job in lovely Michigan so they had to move. BOO HOO! I volunteered to drive back with her next week so her 7 months pregnant butt does not have to spend 10 hours in the car and 17 hours at rest stops on bathroom breaks by herself. I feel this road trip will differ greatly of road trips past. We will have a car load of baby paraphernalia and I have already been warned to expect frequent bathroom stops. So next week I will be doing that - (Valerie - that will mean several days without a post - be prepared). I'm excited about the girl time - I don't have that many friends anymore and I sure do miss spending time with the ones I do have.

BTW, about 1 year after Mandy and I became friends, the braces came off, the glasses became contacts, she got some curves, grew her beautiful blonde hair out and became hot, hot, hot. Guys used to stop us and ask her to marry them. And I still loved her!

The Modern Life

I feel like I'm always rushing. I rush around in the morning to get out the door on time. I rush around work all day and then rush home. I rush to make dinner, clean up after dinner and then rush through the kids homework and get them in bed. At that point I have a choice to make. Sit down on the couch and relax or get some light cleaning/organizing done around my house. It's often a tough decision because there is always something to do around my house. It's never as clean as I want or like it to be and I often feel that if someone was to drop by to see me, I would be terribly embarrased for them to see my house looking that way it does.

My husband is a closet trekkie (this relates, I promise). I discovered after I had been with him for more than a year, that he has a deep-rooted rarely spoken of love of sci-fi, especially Star Trek. I also have a fondness for sci-fi. Not to Dave's extent, but my brother used to tape the original Star Trek series and The Next Generation and I would watch it with him. So when Dave and I happened upon a channel called G4 which was airing episodes of The Next Generation twice a night every night during the week, we were hooked. Forget about network TV, this became our nightly ritual. Kids in bed by nine, flop on the couch for Star Trek. Then G4 changed their line-up and much to our chagrin, we flipped the TV on one night and found G4 in the middle of a COPS marathon. Now COPS can also be entertaining, but this messed up our little geek ritual and we were bummed. Thank the Lord for Netflix. I re-activated my Netflix account and put all seven seasons, yes seven seasons, of The Next Generation in my queue.

So Wednesday night I didn't get home until 6pm. I had stopped to grocery shop on my way home. As I walked in the door, I was met with, "I'm Starving!" Of course. We threw a steak on the grill and I rushed around putting groceries away. By the time we were done eating and the dishes had been done it was decision time. Clean up the mess that was my house or sit down and watch Star Trek with my husband. I looked at him sitting on the couch looking at me with puppy dog eyes and I looked at my kitchen/dining room that was cluttered with a weeks worth of junk mail, a box of cereal that wouldn't fit in the pantry, 17 hand-outs that the kids had brought home from school and a rotting lemon and I didn't know what to do. How could I relax when my house was obviously such a disaster? Then I thought, when I die, what would I rather have had - a house that was always spotless or a family who loved me and who I spent quality time with on a regular basis? I went for the couch and tried to avert my eyes from the kitchen for the rest of the night.

I did throw the lemon in the trash. I'm human.

Bath Night

This is what my puppy normally looks like:

But tonight, this is what he looked like:

It was bath night! The deal is that I bathe

Guinness, and Dave combs him afterwards.

That way he's mad at both of us!