Does Anyone Else Hate Packing?

I packed my daughter, and I have almost totally packed my husband. But I still have to pack myself and I've been putting it off all day. I love traveling, but I detest packing. I'm a famous over-packer mainly due to the fact that I following reasons:

#1 I love to have wardrobe choices. I mean how can I be expected to decide what I want to wear a week from Tuesday?

#2 Am I going to wear shorts everyday or pants every day. Or shorts a couple days and pants a couple days. I'm crazy this way and when I checked the weather forecast for Orlando, it was all over the place. And it looks like it will be a little cool at night.

And yes, I pack for my husband. And don't worry, I gave him lots of wardrobe choices.

Yum

Have you tried the hot chocolate flavored hershey's kisses? Yummy!

TWO MORE DAYS UNTIL DISNEY!!!!

Blogger's Block

So I've had several opportunities to blog over the past week. I even started a couple entries, but I just wasn't "feeling it" It's the big B. Blogger's Block. And I've caught it.

And I still have it. I'm not feeling clever, or funny, or even particularly deep.

So I will talk briefly about the breaking news that came across the AP wire today.

Heath Ledger is dead!

I received an urgent e-mail with that exact subject line from Donna, and about 30 seconds later, a text message from Alison, with a similar message.

Shocking. He's our age. Another River Phoenix? Ugh. I hate when these things happen.

And I will never be able to enjoy "10 Things I Hate About You" quite the same way again.

But since I brought the movie up, I would like to share my favorite line from it.

The father in the movie is a obstetrician and he is always trying to scare his daughters out of having any babies. So one day he is telling them about a baby he delivered to a young mom and he asks the daughters if they know what she said to him, and the younger daughter pipes up,

"I'm a crack-whore and I should have asked my skeezy boyfriend to wear a condom?"

and the father says, "No, she said 'I should have gone to college'."

R.I.P. Heath.

Party Politics

11 days until we leave for Disney World!

Now that I have that out of the way, I'll get to the real topic of this post.

Did you vote yesterday? I did. For the first time in my life, I voted in a primary. And all I can say is that I wish it was that easy to vote all the time. I was there literally 5 minutes. No line. Got my ballot, one thing to vote for on it, done. I was a little weirded out by the fact that I had to tell them if I wanted a Republican or Democrat ballot. Does this mean I'm a registered ****** now? Because I really don't want that to be the case. Do they think people are too stupid to get one ballot and only vote for one party? Are people too stupid to get one ballot and only vote for one party? What is the reason for this?

I'm not outraged about it. I still voted. I just thought it was a little curious. Am I am wondering if I am now going to start getting all sorts of political propaganda in my mailbox now. Will Lifelock block that mail too? I guess I'll find out.

The other thing about voting I wanted to mention is that I had to show my photo id this year. Did everyone have to do that or was that a Livingston County thing? I asked the election official if she had been getting grief over that and she said surprisingly "no." Hmmmmm. Interesting.

Happy Birthday Dave!

32 years ago today (and exactly two months after my blessed arrival), my mother-in-law had her belly cut open and my future husband was plucked from the warm quiet cocoon of her womb. And he never got over it ;)

Unbenownst to both of us at the time, it would take 28 years for us to meet. Several times through the years, I seriously considered the possibility that he did not exist and nearly gave up to join a convent. I know for a fact that he did give up for a few years. But I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason - even if it does not seem obvious or we cannot for the life of us figure it out. And obviously there were things both of us needed to do before we came together. And there were two children that needed to be born. I'm almost certain that Rebecca is going to be the one to come up with the cure for cancer! Now I know it sounds cheesy, but he was totally worth the wait.

Happy Birthday Dave! I love you more than words!

I Eat Lunch by Myself

Monday I ate a package of Nutter Butters at my desk by myself.

Yesterday I had a training class (finance woo hoo) so I ate my company provided Mr Pita lunch in front of my laptop trying to catch up on my e-mail.

Today I ate a bagel that I foraged from sales meeting leftovers. Then the vending machine guy (who loves me for some reason and always gives me free treats when he comes in to fill the machine) gave me a bag of peanut M&M's. I'm feeling a little bloated after all the holiday treats so I showed remarkable restraint and gave most of the bag to one of my garbage disposal type male-employee. Who ate it with a V8. Yuk!

I am quickly coming to the following conclusions:

#1 I am not loving this new office. At least when we were in Novi, I could go to the mall and spend money if I didn't have anything to do for lunch.

#2 I miss working with my husband and our friend Rob who both left the company leaving me bereft of lunchtime company.

#3 I'm kind of a loner nerd.

Jerry is E-normous!

Okay. So Jerry is a big cat. Katrina commented that he should be name Tom as in "tomcat." That is funny because I always wondered if his previous owners named him after Tom and Jerry but got confused and thought Jerry was the cat. Or they were Seinfeld fans and named him after "little Jerry Seinfeld" of course that was a rooster, but you never know.

I wish I could have seen what he looked like as a kitten. I can't imagine him small. I got him at the Livingston County Humane Society about 5 years ago. I went there looking for a dog, but I had never had a dog before and I chickened out because of the fact that I was living in an upstairs condo with no real yard to speak of.

While I was looking at the dogs, my mom wandered over to the cat room where she happened upon Jerry. He was just sacked out in his little cage, but when she walked by he put his pretty little white paw out and touched her. She was sold. Unfortunately, she already had two cats at home and my dad told her if she brought another one home, he would leave. I'm sure he would not have left if she had brought the cat home, but instead would have stuck out around to make her sorry for it. Anyway, she played on my sympathies and I signed the contract for Jerry who came home with me the next day. And had it really good for the next three years.

He's a very sweet and loving cat, but he's pretty neurotic. I think that a man must have been mean to him at some point because he is terribly afraid of men. Dave rarely ever saw Jerry for the first couple of months we dated. And when we got Guinness, it rocked his world. He took up residence in his little room at the end of the hall in the condo. And just when he started to ease out a little, we moved. And then he took up residence in the basement.

Now he goes in spurts. Sometimes we see a lot of him, sometimes we don't.

So I apologize to all the cat lovers who have felt his existence has been overshadowed by Guinness. I promise to start covering more Jerry.

For Those of You Who Were Concerned

Jerry is alive and well. (Not at rehab) As you can see, he does need to get moving on his after Christmas diet.

Revelations

Sunday Dave and I took my parents and the kids to the Detroit Institute of Arts. I haven't been there in a long long time. I'm embarrassed to admit this next part but I'm saying it even if makes me sound like a sheltered ignoramus. When did "they" stop using B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini)? They now use, B.C.E. and C.E. For anyone else who is a sheltered ignoramus like me, B.C.E. stands for Before Common Era and C.E. stands for Common Era. My husband, who did not lead the sheltered life I did and attended Detroit Public Schools for many of his schooling years, already knew all about this. But I was surprised. And surprisingly outraged.

I'm was raised in a very Christian household. We went to church every Sunday and then some. As those who know me will attest, I have had some struggles with my faith and with Christianity over the years and continue to struggle with exactly what I believe. I'm not sure what I would call myself now. Christian? I'm not sure.

Without going into the specifics of my beliefs too much, I will say that I vehemently believe in separation of Church and State. But I don't think that all religious references need to be eradicated. Give me a break. It is so offensive to even hear the word Christ? I think it's taking political correctness a little too far. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the calendar sort of created using the birth of Christ as a benchmark?

Maybe I'm just being sentimental, after all, I have rejected much of what I was taught growing up. So why should I be so upset at "Common Era" or the recent attacks on Christmas? But I am. It really bothered me and I want B.C. back. Just like I want to get Christmas cards that say "Merry Christmas" instead of Happy Holidays. Does this bug anyone else? Am I overreacting? What are your thoughts on this?