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Month: June 2006

quick and dirty

quick and dirty

so, the lemonade fair was a bust. the only non-family member i sold to was a lady who came in and bought three of my little frames for her brother who grows vegetables. i had a lot of people who took my card, so hopefully that will help. a lot of my problem was the fact that st cloud is a working town and not many people are out to buy. the second was presentation. i need to get together a place where i can hang the pictures. lord knows i certainly have enough inventory now. *sigh*
jane and i drove the 12 hours to west lafayette, IN, to help liz and doug get sort of settled in their new place. their place is huge!! as soon as jane has her pictures up, i’ll link to it or something. we also took pictures of random signs and billboards on the way down and the way back (mostly in wisconsin). did you know the deer signs in WI have demented deer on them? the deer actually has four legs and two antlers on it! (next time you’re out driving, take a look at the deer signs. the deer have two legs and one antler.)
we went to chicago, where the tax is around 10.5%!! nuts! we ordered pizza, drinks, and an appetizer and the tax was nearly $4.00, we couldn’t figure it out til we found out how high the tax was. so we had really good pizza. the place is one of the oldest in the area, and the booth was CRAMPED. OMG. my boobs were sitting on the table. but, the pizza was awesome and filling. nummy! we also spent about 3-4 hours at ikea, where they did NOT have my favorite kitchen. i was so disappointed. that kitchen makes me so happy.
i ended up driving through chicago on the way there, and it was like driving in the cities, but a little more cramped. there was massive road construction, which was annoying, but i got through it and that’s all that mattered. doug drove in chicago the next day when we went downtown and stuff, and let’s just say i’m glad it was him and not me!!
so, that was about it. other than that, i’m just sitting here hanging out. if anyone want to buy some art, let me know. i have plenty!!

eeek!

eeek!

the lemonade fair is tomorrow! i’m only a little bit nervous, somewhat excited, but mostly dreading the fact that what if i don’t sell a single picture?? ACK!!
also, liz is moving tomorrow 🙁 but she will have a kitty companion now, who apparently talks a lot. jane and i leave for indiana sometime; we have to figure out when and all that jazz. we’ll stay as long as liz needs us, i guess, but we have to be back by friday i think for jane’s dentist appt.
ok, i’m outtie. i have to get up tomorrow at 5:30. ugh. so not looking forward to that. that’s the time i normally go to bed these days!!!

a little fathers' day reminisce

a little fathers' day reminisce

When I was growing up and in grade school, my mom and dad both worked. My mom had the more “regular” job, while my dad was a weatherizer for a non-profit and kind of set his own work hours.
In addition to my sibs and me seeing my dad more often, he was also more often the one to take the place of “mom” on various occasions. My mom’s workplace was 2 hours away and often spent a couple days a week at a friend’s so as not to spend 4 hours a day commuting. I don’t hold this against my mom at all – she had to do what she had to do and she was around a lot when I was older. Plus, it meant I got to see a lot of my dad.
So dad did the cooking and a lot of the cleaning and many household chores (and my sibs and I did chores too, but 4 kids under 11, the youngest 3, don’t get much done).
As is always inevitable during grade school, there were many field trips to be made and adventures to be had. My family wasn’t the most prosperous on the block at the time, but we did have enough cash to send me on classroom diversions. And when those times came up, there was the obvious “whose mom is going to help chaperone” question the teachers would pose.
I always volunteered my dad. And he went! Because he was able to set his own hours, he was able to take time off and go on class trips with me. So there was almost always Nicki’s mom (Maureen, who is cool) and once in a while Beth’s mom, or Ellie’s mom, or Bryan C.’s mom, Jeni’s mom, or maybe that time it was Bryan H.’s mom…. and my dad.
One such occasion I remember was the trip to Fort Snelling. I think it was fifth grade, and my dad was, of course, riding on the yellow school bus with us, perhaps finishing the crossword or talking to Maureen about her husband’s photography business. I never sat with my dad, I think because I thought I was too cool? Looking back, I’m not quite sure.
The bus driver got lost. In the cities. He was driving around and there was a whispered rumor that he didn’t know where he was going or that he had missed an exit. Well, rumor was truth in this case; the driver was lost and this put a pallor over the busload. Were we ever going to get to Fort Snelling?
Then….
My dad stood up. I was sitting kitty corner from him in a seat with jenny. Had he caught wind of the lost rumor, or was my dad so well versed in directional aptitude that he automatically knew the driver was lost the second he missed the exit? My guess is B.
He yelled at the driver to get his attention and a hush went over the busload of 10- and 11-year-olds. Everyone was staring at him, and I felt my cheeks turn red at the attention directed toward my father.
Well, needless to say, daddio yelled directions, rather forcefully, at the driver. I think he was rather annoyed by the fact that this yahoo had driven a bus full of kids into the cities without knowing how to get to his destination. All was said and done directions-wise, dad sat back in his seat and continued his crossword or conversation with Maureen, and kids’ whispers crescendoed into regular noisemaking of 10- and 11-year-olds.
My cheeks returned to their normal color and jenny looked at me wide-eyed, obviously impressed. Rumors once again circulated the bus, this time with the news that my dad was pretty cool after all.
Who knows, if my dad hadn’t been along chaperoning on that field trip, we might STILL be driving around the cities.  😉

SCORE

SCORE

i have been playing ddr for a while (on and off for over a year). i do the workout mode so i dont’ have to do the stupid hold down the foot for 10 seconds thing. anyway, there is this one song that i favor, and i play it a lot, but i have NOT been able to get a perfect on it.
until today!!!!!!!
i nearly peed my pants in excitement! i finally got my perfect!! yaeah!!!!1

because i'm bored

because i'm bored

and i have no way to entertain myself with no money. here’s a money meme! oh joy! (stolen from chick off tonto’s friends page.)
1. What’s the most embarrassing thing/job you’ve had to do to earn money?
2. What’s the easiest and quickest way you have earned a buck?
3. If you could set your own salary, according to your skills and worth, how much would you earn?
4. Are you a good saver?
5. What’s the most expensive and useless thing you have ever bought?
1. i really don’t think anything i’ve done is really embarrassing, but the most “socially incorrect” way is what i’m currently doing – unemployment.
2. eating a green fry. megan offered me a dollar to eat a green fry at outback, and i did.
3. $45-50,000. i think that’s pretty fair for what i can do.
4. not at all!!
5. if i had paid full price for the undies i got from lane bryant, that would’ve been it. they were $16.50 retail. i paid $1.50.

chop!

chop!

it got cut off! i went in for a haircut and donated 10″ to locks of love. hence, the hair became SHORT. here’s a pic.


::EDIT:: Reminder: jane owes me $15, and liz owes me $19.22. i wouldn’t care, except i’m poor 🙁

bleah! bleah.

bleah! bleah.

i may have food poisoning, my head is about ready to explode, and i think my knees are going to fall off.
other than that, the weekend went well! 🙂
i took plenty of pictures of liz’s wedding, some of which i will post once i get ambition to get them off my camera and on to the computer.
i have no clue why on earth i am so sore from dancing. i danced a ton more at my wedding, and i wasn’t sore one bit. sooo weird.

worried

worried

ok, so this is a post about me complaining about how broke nate and i are. if you’d rather not hear it, pass over it.
stupid ofice depot is only giving nate like 20-25 hrs/week, which only brings in about $150/week. i want to go over there and smack them. they are so stupid, because there are weeks where he will work 45 hours if they ask him to. he will work anytime, basically, doesn’t ask for days off ever (except for once or twice a year), and they expect him to basically be “on call” for them when someone calls in sick. i want to shake them a say, “WELL IF YOU WANT HIM TO WORK, SCHEDULE HIM (and not the lazy bums who always call in)!!!”
really the only frivolous thing we have right now is cable, unless you count internet as frivolous (i don’t, i use it to contact people i do freelance with).
our money only just covers bills, and we have grown an affinity for ramen and eggs. my credit card is full! i’m so sick of being poor. ugh.

eep

eep

so today i was productive! i’m pretty impressed with myself, i do say. i did some laundry, watched a movie, worked on one of my freelance dude’s brochures, printed the rest of liz’s programs, and started folding them.
here is my sickening moment of the week. i went to pick up my dress for liz’s wedding. all it needed was to be hemmed and pressed. how much was it? $47. yes. it was all i could do to keep my mouth from dropping open. my wedding dress alterations cost $120, and that was hemmed, pressed, sleeves completely redone, waist taken in, and neckline completely redone. well, needless to say, i am NOT going back to that alterations place ever again. ugh. i am absolutely disgusted and sick about spending that much on something i could have done MYSELF. what a waste of money i don’t really have to spare.
i also got liz’s wedding present! 🙂 heehee!

stolen from tonto!

stolen from tonto!

Answer these questions with just one word. NO EXPLANATIONS !
1. Yourself: easy
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend: gaming
3. Your hair: much
4. Your Mother: constant
5. Your Father: stoic
6. Your Favorite Item: bed
7. Your dream last night: tornadoes
8. Your Favorite Drink: sexy
9. Your Dream Home: colorful
10. The Room You Are In: living
12. Your fear: ending
13. Where you Want to be in Ten Years? satisfied
14. Who you hung out with last night: nate
15. What You’re Not: outgoing
16. Your Best Friend: nate
17. One of Your Wish List Items: comfort
18. Your Gender: girl
19. The Last Thing You Did: dessert
20. What You Are Wearing: clothes
21. Your favorite weather: 75
22. Your Favorite Book: hero
23. The Last Thing you ate: fudge
24. Your Life: discombobulated
25. Your Mood: worried
26. The last person you talked to on the phone: angie
27. Who are you thinking about right now: liz