Get 'r done

Thanks to my cousin for rescuing me from my inability to post anything on my blog lately. I borrowed this from her blog.

Hmmm, I've done 53 of the things listed below. I guess I need to get a life! How many have you done?

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain (not successfully however)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (more like stayed out all night...)
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (is FSU football considered huge?)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (NEVER doing that again!)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can (seems I do that on a daily basis)
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36.Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them (did on a train dining car)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud (mud puddle)
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie (was almost in a movie... "Something Wild". The crew were setting up the camera angles, rehearsing the scene, and noticed me watching from some bushes at my friend's house and I was in the "shot", so they invited me to come closer to watch.)
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone (anywhere my kids are)
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Passed out cold
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart (I don't know for sure, but I imagine so)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet (only for about 2 hours though when I was 10. I came home with it on my head and my dad freaked out)
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Earring woes

Jessica lost an earring.

She is not good with keeping up with her jewelry... or any of her stuff for that matter. She has one of every earring pair she's ever owned. And I have one of every earring pair I've ever owned, thanks to her.

Anyway, she left her new pearl earrings on my bathroom counter; so excited to wear them with her matching pearl necklace and new outfit to school. Fake pearls of course, and big.

It was Monday morning and she had waited, once again, until the last minute to shower and get ready for school.

I was stressed.

It was almost 7:30 a.m., and I needed to leave to get Jason to school. She was worried about finding that earring and wanted me to help her look.... and she wouldn't take no for answer.

I told her I didn't have time to help her look; that she had waited too long to get ready and I had to leave. If she wanted to look, that was fine. She could walk over to Rob's later, since she didn't need to be there until 8:15.

Well that didn't sit well with her and an argument ensued. I ended up leaving her at home to walk over. Before I left, however, I put the remaining earring in a safe place.

A week went by and nothing more was said about the earring.

Yesterday, while Jessie was in the shower, I took her folded clothes from the laundry into her room. As I walked through the door I noticed something on the wall ahead of me.

I put her clothes down and walked closer. It was a pearl earring, just like the one she lost, sticking out of the wall.

Out of the wall?

I looked closer and, sure enough, it was the same one she lost. I ran to my bathroom to check if the earring I put away was still there, and it was.

She found her earring at some point and stuck it into an existing nail hole in her wall... not one of her 4 jewelry boxes mind you, but the wall.

I took a picture because it was just too weird, but alas, I don't have any AA batteries at the moment, so I can't upload it until I get some.

Check back to see the pic!!

More trash talk

I love trash day.

Well, the evening before actually.

It's when people around my neighborhood put out their trash for the pick-up on Monday afternoon.

I always roll my can out on Monday morning, but I am the only one, as my neighbors have surely noted.

Anyway, the people in this subdivision throw away the best things.

Since I've been here, I've inherited

• a trash can for Jessica's room (right after she had requested one);
• 2 lawn chairs (right after I was going to buy one and learned that they cost more than $10);
• a 4-drawer plastic organizer chest on wheels (that Jessica immediately wanted to use for a dresser, but that's another story);
and, just now...
• a metal shelf perfect for storing things in the garage.

and I've seen many more things discarded that were perfectly good.

It's a matter of convenience, I know, to just throw things away. I've done it before....and still do it, and I know all this stuff should be donated to some charity.

But it's just easier to leave it with the trash.

And it's fun to find.

Unmarriage

It's official.

I am divorced. I am a divorcee. Do I look any different?

A year of anticipation culminated in a 15-minute court appearance and "poof" it was final.

I didn't even know it until I called David to ask what happened in court. I figured it would take 30 days or so after the court date. But nope. It was final right then... probably at 2:45 this afternoon.

I am a little sad that that part of my life is officially over; but I am also happy that I can proceed with the next part of my life.

Brutally fruity

I know I haven't posted in a while.... been busy.... been lazy. I saw this on my cousin's blog and took the test. I think it's pretty on target, except my hair isn't green.
.

You Are a Pear

You are independent, intelligent, and a free thinker. You can accomplish great things, especially when you do them on your own. You are direct, honest, and sometimes even a bit brutal. There's not much that gets in the way of you and your ambition. While you are hard nosed, you do have a much sweeter side to you. It takes times for you to soften toward someone, but once you do, you'll be their friend for life.

What Type of Fruit Are You?

Circle of wine

I went to another wine tasting tonight.

Actually, this was my third. The second never happened.

The second was just before Christmas at a place called the Wine Warehouse. Dale and I arrived in our usual casual attire and quickly noticed that the attire was not casual; it was business formal. To make matters worse, the snooty woman behind the counter informed us that reservations were required and we didn't have one.

Anyway, we went to our third wine tasting.

Dale paid the admission and, as we picked up our wine glasses, the woman cashier informed us that it was very crowded; that way more people had shown up than expected.

It was okay, we said, and we made our way to the room where the wine was.

We walked in and stopped short. It was a tiny room and I noticed immediately that there was a line; only I couldn't determine where the line ended. I asked the closest person to me and she said that there wasn't an end to the line; that they were basically walking in a circle, sampling wine from the only table set up, and continuing in their circle until they came back around to the table again for more. She said we could merge in ahead of her, so we did.

Unlike my other wine tasting experience, the majority of people there were older than me and VERY friendly. The woman ahead of us turned around and filled us in on how things worked. She told us of her wine tasting experience so far... what she had sampled and how she liked it.

I was ahead of Dale as we approached the table. I asked for something red and NOT dry and the man poured me a Pinot Noir of some sort. I took a sip. It wasn't bad at all. I moved away from the table and turned around to find out what Dale had been given.

He had something white. He told me it was his third sample.

Third??, I asked.

Yep, he said. He had slammed the first two down.

It made total sense to me since we had to circle around to get another sample (and it was crowded). So the next time we came around, I did the same thing. Only the other red wines were terrible and terribly expensive.

On our last round, I got a rose sample, which is technically considered a white wine. It was the best of the types I had sampled.

By the time we left, most of the people had left as well. We looked around the store part and checked out the neat bottles.

This wine tasting experience was definitely better than my first, but I have come to the conclusion (as has Dale) that the cheaper the wine, the better it is.

Christmas Eve'ing

The fire is embers now and it's 9:30. It's been a great Christmas Eve. I was wondering how it would go. My son, who is in his adolescent funk..... and my daughter, who is in her pre-adolescent funk... experiencing our first Christmas Eve without daddy.

They didn't fight.

He was in a good mood. She was in a good mood.

We built a fire. We were going to go drive around and look at lights—me and Jessie, but Jason didn't want us to go... nor did he want to accompany; so Jessie agreed we could stay home.

They are in bed now and I have a lot to do.

Here are some pics of the night.








Jessie, in her room watching High School Musical 2.





Jason playing his PSP not wanting to be photographed.....








and running from me and my camera.














The kids played and had a pillow fight. Amazingly it didn't end with someone crying.






Jessie being the ham she is.























Our tree.

Dang it, you can't see the lights. It's a beautiful tree filled with memories and hopes.



It's been such a nice night.

No tools required

I wanted to get Dale a really good gift.

He said he wanted a Skil Saw, and I got him one, but I wanted to get him something else. Something he would like that he didn't ask for.

I had no clue what to get, so I asked his best friend Mike and he suggested a grill. What a great idea I thought. He needed a new grill. His old one was falling apart.

I went to Home Depot first and then Lowes to check out the inventory. Lowes had a nice gas grill. It was smaller than his old one, but very nice and in my price range. I decided to purchase it unassembled because I wasn't sure it would fit in my jeep, and, besides, the box said "No tools required."

How hard could that be?

I didn't get around to assembling it until the last minute. It was Thursday afternoon and the kids were going to David's. I had to assemble it now because I would be with Dale on Thursday and Friday and we had planned to exchange gifts on Saturday.

So it was 4:30 on Thursday afternoon and I had to leave to take the kids to David's at 5:40. That should be enough time to assemble the grill I thought.

I dragged the box into the living room (it was very heavy) and proceeded to unpack the pieces... pulling off cardboard and plastic and tossing it to the side. After I got all the pieces unloaded, it looked like a cardboard factory had exploded in my living room.

I was beginning to have doubts assembling this thing. I didn't realize there would be so many pieces. Then I saw the 2 bags containing all the screws, bolts, washers, etc. There must have been 100 of them.

I stared at the instructions in disbelief. What have I done? But I only had about 45 more minutes to spend before having to leave.

I set about trying to assemble the first 2 pieces and couldn't. I got half of it done but the other half wouldn't line up. In the meantime, the kids had taken over the box that everything came in and were in the process of fighting about who was gonna get inside.

By the time 5:40 rolled around, I was completely stressed out and had accomplished nothing. I couldn't even get past instruction #1. I decided to pack everything back into the box and take it back. I called Lowes and explained my problem to Brian, who said to just bring it back.

After spending another 5 minutes trying to get the kids out of the box, I began the process of trying to put all the pieces BACK into the box. I managed to get them back in, but it was nowhere near the same way they came out.

And, in the rush to get the car loaded and the kids out of the house, I forgot to bring the receipt. The guys at Lowe's were terrific, however. They took my box of parts and sent it back to be assembled and let me pick one from the inventory they had out front.... and they did it all so that no receipt was required. Thank goodness for that!

I took the grill over to Dale's Friday morning after he had left for work and set it next to his deck hoping that he would not notice it. He didn't. Then I wrapped up a note telling him to go look out his back deck. I gave it to him last night and he liked it, so it was all worth it.

Lessons learned: 1) NEVER buy anything like that unassembled; 2) If I ever do, NEVER wait until the last minute to assemble it.

Christmas queries

I stole this questionnaire thingy from my cousin's blog. She participates in a group of bloggers who do "Fun Mondays" which gives a topic and each person writes a blog about that topic as well as things like this. I have never participated in the past because -- as you well know -- I am not a reliable blogger. I liked this one however so here goes.....

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper usually because it's more cost effective; but I do the gift bag thing as well because I absolutely HATE to wrap presents. In fact, anyone who receives a present wrapped by me will notice how much unattention to detail it gets. Unlike David, who spends enormous amounts of time wrapping presents so that each crease and fold is perfect or my mom who uses the most beautiful paper and handmade bows and such to wrap presents that you don't even want to open because it is so pretty, I prefer to slap on the paper, tape the shit out of it and stick on a bow (a self-adhesive bow mind you). Sometimes I move the bow around or even attach two if I am feeling crazy. And forget the cute tag; I often just write directly on the present.

2. Tree--Real or Artificial? I have an artificial tree. I grew up with live trees and love them... the smell, the drama of getting it set up and decorated. But when the kids were very small, David and I bit the bullet and purchased an artificial tree. I felt like a traitor at first but the feeling soon wore off. After all, it is great to just drag it out of the closet and assemble it each year without worrying about having to pay $50+ for a tree that will begin to shed after a few weeks and leave little pieces of tree all over the carpet. Having said that, though, this tree is about 14 years old now and the color coded branch system used to assemble it is shot and it has begun to shed pieces of fake pine needles all over my carpet. Maybe next year I'll get a real one.

3. When do you put your Christmas tree up? Usually the second weekend in December. I cringe when I see trees up immediately after Thanksgiving and cringe even more so when I see the few that go up after Halloween. Yuck!

4. When do you take the tree down? Historically, around February but never before New Years. One year the tree stayed up until April. Neither David or I wanted to deal with taking it down and it was in an "out-of-the-way" spot so we just ignored it. This year, I will take down the tree right after New Years. It's quite big and the living room isn't!

5. Like egg nog? Nope.

6. Do you have a nativity scene? No.

7. Favorite gift received as a child? I can't remember a favorite gift but I always thought getting our stockings was the most magical thing about Christmas. My sister and I would wake up very early, like 4am early, and go get our stockings. We would then go to one or our bedrooms and check out the loot! Then we would go back to sleep until the parents woke up.

8. Hardest person to buy for? It used to be my uncle Gary, but we don't exchange gifts anymore. He is the type of person who never needs anything. This year it's Dale. I don't really know him well enough but have some ideas. For me, the hardest thing about buying presents is actually giving up what I get for people because I tend to buy things I like.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Jessica.

10. Worst Christmas gift? It was a country-style sort of wooden contraption for the bathroom that held rolls of toilet paper. God it was awful.

11. Mail or email a Christmas Card? Mail.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? A Christmas Story. Never get tired of watching it... except on Christmas eve day when they show it for 24 hours straight.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually around mid-December. This year I am ahead of the game.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, but I once received a present from my aunt that I gave her several years prior. I bought her this really neat ceramic bowl (well, neat to me) and about 4 years later she gave it back to me for Christmas. I guess she forgot I was the one who gave it to her. I didn't care though because, like I said, I tend to buy gifts that I personally like.

15. Favorite food to eat on Christmas? Collard greens, squash casserole, deviled eggs. I generally don't eat those foods unless it's Thanksgiving or Christmas.

16. Clear or colored tree lights? Colored, with NO blinking.

17. Favorite Christmas Song? Don't know the name, but it's the one that they use with the Garmin commercials (Crap that's so bad). I also LOVE the Christmas album by the Kingston Trio.

18. Travel during Christmas or Stay home? Stay home. My employer (FSU) closes the week between Christmas and New Years so it would be an optimal time to travel if I had the money.

19. Can you name Santa's reindeers? Comet, Cupid, Donder, Blitzen, Rudolph...okay, I can't remember the stupid song.

20. Angel or Star on Tree top? Growing up, we always had a peace sign made out of tin foil on top of the tree. This year I have a dove or bird of peace-type ornament.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning. Just like when I was young, Jason and Jessica are allowed to open one present on Christmas eve.... a present that I pick. When I was young, I always seemed to open underwear or PJs, but I have never done that to my kids! (sorry mom).

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People. I am very antisocial. I can't stand crowds.

Eating my words

Okay, despite all my ranting, I put up Christmas lights today.

I wanted to outline the house with lights so I went to Walmart and bought a 96-foot strand of multi-colored lights. It was a toss up between multi-colored or all blue, which is a look I absolutely LOVE. I also bought a multi-colored net of lights for my hedge which runs the length of my house save the front door stoop and garage.

So I was ready to decorate. I eagerly opened the box and pulled out a tangle of lights. Seriously, it was a tangle. And I didn't know how it was supposed to untangle.

I struggled with it for about 10 minutes, pulling and twisting the wire until I had somewhat of a net in front of me.

Awesome.

I threw it over the hedge in triumph. Only it was way too small. It only covered about 1/4 of the hedge, at best.

This netting costs $9 a box and I estimate I will need at least 4 boxes to cover my hedge. Well that's not gonna happen... that would mean spending $36 just to cover the hedge. Instead, I draped the net of lights on the very small hedge in front of my garage.

It looks good, but it is highly inadequate compared to the houses around me. I have more decorating to do in order to "get off the porch and run with the big dogs."

I still have the 96-foot strand to put up. I think I will drape my big hedge rather than trying to outline the house.

God help me, I guess I am one of them.

Merry Christmas

There are at least 2 houses on my street that have Christmas lights up.

It's the beginning of December people.

And, in the Christmas spirit, a plethora of houses in my subdivision literally exploded into decoration (like popcorn) the day after Thanksgiving.

Merry Christmas.

Daily, I see cars with trees attached to their rooftops. The trees are prey shot in the hunt and brought back as trophy. I laugh to myself knowing that those trees will most likely be dead by Christmas. Needles everywhere.

How long does a cut tree last anyway? Don't answer that.

I absolutely HATE the commercialism of Christmas.

I hate it.

I hate it that people put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving.

I hate it that I have to hear commercials advertising the "After Thanksgiving Sale" 4 days prior.

I hate it that I will hear the "After Christmas" sales commercials on December 15th.

Not only do I hate... I refuse.

I refuse to get up at 4 am the day after Thanksgiving just so I can save 25%.
(Okay, I did this once. It was a mad house I tell you).

I refuse to be pressured to put my tree up any sooner than the second weekend in December.

I refuse to be told what decorations I can display on the outer regions of my house. I hear some subdivisions REQUIRE that you decorate with only white lights.

Merry Christmas.

Headliners

I've been collecting stupid or odd headlines for a while now. I'm sure I've missed a ton but I saw this one just now and had to post it:

• Divorce is bad for the environment, researchers say

Whaa?????

Here are some more (older ones) I've collected:

• Hugh Grant avoids charges over 'baked beans attack'
• Paula Abdul trips over dog, breaks nose
• Boom Separates From Base With Two People Inside
• Neighborhood May Be Infested With Meat-Eating Lizards
• O.C. Police Say Man Tried to Pay Store Tab With Pot
• Lawn-loving man gets life for murder
• Calif. town asking grandmothers to help fight gangs

I don't know. I think that the first one is my fav.

Out of the Mist

Driving up Bannerman on my way to work this morning I could see clear skies ahead. The view from my rear view mirror, however, was not good. It was ominous.... dark and dreary; and it was encroaching my rear quickly.

Very quickly.

It wasn't even dark when I turned from my subdivision onto Bannerman. But now, only 2 miles up the road, there was an eerie presence behind me.

I glanced back and forth from rear view to front view. It was so eerie. It reminded me of The Mist. I had just seen it yesterday. Supposed to be the "scariest" movie of the year. Well, it wasn't. It was kind of suspenseful but totally predictable.... and full of gore.

The Mist is about a mist that comes out of the mountains and overtakes a small town in Somewhere, USA. It is full of monsters spider-like creatures that devour the unsuspecting and stupid townfolk.

Anyway, I turned right onto Thomasville Road fully expecting the darkness that was behind me to now be on my right. But it wasn't. It was behind me still.

That is weird, I thought to myself. I looked to my right and it was basically clear.

I continued down Thomasville and the darkness followed but never overtook me.

After about 7 miles, the wind picked up and there was a flurry of leaves swirling all around the car. Violently swirling. Just like the monster bugs from The Mist.

And there was just a sprinkle of rain.

As I approached I-10, the wind died down. The leaves were gone. The darkness was gone.

Then it poured down rain.

The way we were

OMG, you have to read this blog:

http://15minutelunch.blogspot.com/2007/10/strap-in-shut-up-and-hold-on-were-going.html.

I found out about it from my cousin Sarah's blog and she found out about it from her brother's blog. This is one of the funniest things I have ever read and so true..... I remember the 70s.

The dance

Dale and I went dancing the other night and we have video of it. I haven't danced in years but I think I held up pretty well.

Check it out.

Ima Weener!

I entered some mosaic pieces in the fair this year.... and WON!!

First place on the table and second on the wall hanging.


Feels good.

Mom entered a macrame piece also and won first place.

Questioning that that should not be

Every parent has asked some pretty weird questions of their children. I wish I had written down some of the doosies I have asked in the past; but better late than never.

Questions I asked today:

Why is there a lolly pop attached to the closet door?

I didn't get an answer, yet it is still there.


Why is there a Lazy Susan in the middle of my bedroom floor?

Jessica answers from her bedroom, "Sorry, I was sitting on it." Then, from the living room I hear Jason say, "Who is Susan?"

How

Okay, I'm talented but not this talented!

Your Native American Name Is...

Nina Tis-See-Woo-Na-Tis Your name means: Strong Woman Who Bathes With Her Knees

What's Your Native American Name?

Bathroom blues

Jessica got locked in the bathroom today.

I was in my bathroom at the time. Apparently she spit on Jason and Jason chased her into the bathroom and he pushed on the door or something... and it jammed.

Who knows what really happened. They both deny any wrong doing. All I know was that the door wouldn't open but the knob would turn. It was stuck just like my closet door.

It wasn't funny at first, but after a few minutes, I was cracking up as I listened to her going through stages.

First was awareness. Something was wrong with the door. I could hear her all the way in my bathroom... tugging, turning, rattling, banging.

Next was panic. She realized the door was not going to open; she couldn't get out. She began screaming that the door wouldn't open. I came as quickly as I could but couldn't get the door to open.

At this point she was freaking out. I got her calmed as best as I could and ran to call the management company.

Then came anger. As I was on the phone, I could hear her ranting and raving like a sailor... and I was in the kitchen. That picture of her on Halloween came to mind.

Next was acceptance. There was nothing to do but wait until the repairman arrived, so I began to shove magazines under the door. Anything that would fit. Her friend Rob called and, as I was telling him that she was stuck in the bathroom, she told me to put the phone up to the door. Amazingly she could hear him through the door so I leaned the phone on the floor so she could talk, laughing as I went for the camera. This was too funny.


Finally came relief. After about 30 minutes, the repairman arrived and freed her. She ran out of the bathroom and gave me a huge hug.

Like the other knobs, the insides were plastic and broken. The repairman replaced it with a metal one. I told the management company that they should let the owner know that all of the door knobs should be replaced (after all this has happened four times now) and the woman said she would put in a work order.

A taste of wine

Went to my first wine tasting last night.

I rarely drink wine.... and when I do, I get tipsy after a few sips. The last time I had any was a year ago at a workshop in Charleston, SC. The swanky hotel I stayed in had a wine and cheese reception every afternoon from 4:30 until 6:00 (after training had concluded for the day mind you) so I had a glass the second day I was there and found myself giggling uncontrollably while trying to compose an email to a coworker. The third day I had two glasses and proceeded to wander the streets of historic Charleston in search of food.

Anyway, Dale wanted to go and it seemed like something sophisticated grown-ups did, so I was game.

It was held at ABC Liquors near the FSU campus. We arrived around 6:30 p.m., paid the $5.00/per person entrance fee, and collected our wine glass (I thought it was neat that we got to keep our glass.).

We could barely get in the door. The store is not big at all and it was filled with college students! I should have known that offering tastes of different wines (and beer) for a meager $5.00 would attract them.

There were three stations serving various types of wine. I couldn't really see what was being offered though because of the crowds. Eventually, we pushed our way to a station in the back. The woman serving began to explain the different types of wines she had for the tasting. I know absolutely nothing about wine except that it comes in red and white, so I listened intently as she described what she had to offer... Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Chablis. When she finished, she looked at me patiently waiting for my decision. I had no clue what she had just said.... it was like listening to a foreign language, so I told her I wanted something red. I am sure she thought I was the cultured one!

She poured a small amount of "something red" in my glass and I walked off down one of the many aisles filled with bottles. It was very dry but not bad. Dale joined me and we stood there away from the crowds. After I was finished, I decided to try a white wine. So I pushed my way back to the woman and told her I wanted to try something white. She proceeded to speak in her foreign language, describing the two white wines she had. Again, I had no clue what they were so I just pointed to the one on the left. It was much better.

After a few more minutes, we maneuvered around to another station that was serving different imported beers and Dale tried a few. After that we left. It was just too crowded and I was feeling kind of sick from the wine. We went to the Hobbit for wings and beer... more my style.

It was a neat experience and I am glad I went, but I don't know if I'll go to any more.