New Poll Results

Attention everyone.

The question has been answered. No more sleepless nights.

The most annoying phrase or word in the English language is "whatever." In case you were wondering, Marist College did a poll on 938 adults, and they were the ones who picked the most annoying word or phrase.

Apparently my top annoying word didn't make the cut for the five annoying phrases the adults picked from. Hmmm. Maybe I should conduct my own poll. Surely I can find 938 adults to ask.

What is your most annoying phrase or word?

For the record, if I never hear the (non)word "tumped" again, I'll be okay. I think it's a hybrid between "tipped" and "dumped," but I'm not sure.

There. Now your day is complete. You now know the most annoying word. Be sure to sprinkle it liberally in your daily conversation.

One person can make a difference...

I recently read an article (online, of course) that described 50 things that the internet is killing. You can read the entire list here. It's kind of an interesting little article, and a great commentary on how things are changing around the world because of technology.

Any-hoo. It seems that I am guilty of helping the culture to kill #5 (punctuality) and #50 (lunch break - seriously, when was the last time I left my desk to eat???). I found one thing that I simply cannot let pass without comment.

#43. Solitare, and it's counterpart, Minesweeper. The internet is killing solitare and minesweeper. Let that sink in a moment, shall we?

How in the world would I have spent (or wasted) hours upon hours of my precious time in high school, college, graduate school and beyond without these two games?

So, today, take one for the team. One person can make a difference, you know. Double click on the deck of cards, just once before bed tonight. See how many mines you can find before you blow up. Practice makes perfect. If you fail, then try, try again.

Just a note: I'm definitely doing my part to help clean up the mines of America. And save Minesweeper. Maybe we should have t-shirts made...

Thoughts on Life

Recently I have seen a few things that made me think...

When you pick up a dog to puppy-sit for a "little while" and they give you a 20 pound sack of dog food, what exactly does that mean? How long will we be keeping this dog?

I recently saw a television show in which the main character figured out the physician in the show was an imposter because she cared about her patients and she had readable handwriting. He called the FBI, she was arrested. I may be in trouble.

I recently saw a news article (okay, more tabloid-y than news-y) that asked if Someone Famous was pregnant because she just traded in her teeny-tiny purse for an extra large sized purse. Really?? I'm glad no one's commenting on the new extra large purse I just got. I'd hate for anyone to think that I'm pregnant just because my purse is big. My purse...I don't know why non-mommies can't have big purses. So far I've carred a Bible, wallet, lipstick, notebook (full sized), a stethescope, bottle of water, yogurt, a spoon, sunglasses, keys, cell phone, 3 pens, business card holder, and 20 hours of continuing education in my purse. And there's still room.

So there are my thoughts. Not really deep or noteworthy, but there they are.

Two Victories

I wouldn't call them large victories, at least in the cosmic sense, but they were a big deal to me. So here I share:

Those of you who know me, or have read some previous posts, may know that I get lost easily. Very, very, very easily. I am the reason Garmins and Magellans were invented. I don't have a GPS system, so hand written directions are my only navigational guides. I still get lost alot even with those. Even with places I've been alot.

BUT, yesterday I went to two new places and once old place a new way, and I didn't get lost twice. Whoo-hoo. Yes. I don't know if I was really lost getting to my first new place, but I sure didn't know where I was. Turns out the exit is named Monroe, but if you turn right, the street name changes to Winkler. Whatever. As soon as I figured out that I was on the right street, and all I had to do was turn around, I stopped hyperventilating. I'll definitely call that a win!

And, for the first time in more than a decade, I have a sunburn. I know this seems strange to be a victory, but I have had a skin condition for more than 10 years that prevents me from spending more than a few minutes in the sun before I start getting hives. Over the previous month, I could tell that, for whatever reason, my condition was going away. So I have done trials in the sun, and have had success. So yesterday, I took the plunge. I sat in a hot tub with a friend, and got crispy. NO HIVES!! I know I should still be using my big floppy hats and my shirts with SPF 75 in them, etc. But I have spent 10 years trying (and failing) to convince myself that I liked being whiter than snow (my skin, not my soul!). I think I will smile as I go slather aloe on my crispy skin now. It feels good to have a little color on me.

Just a preview: we are taking a television fast this week. So far, it's been a success, and we have enjoyed it alot. But you're only getting one point of view - the one who wanted to do it. We'll see how it goes this weekend with no television. And in case you think we're going too far, realize that all our shows are being Tivo'd, so we can catch them next week. HA!

The weather man said there might be some storms

April 11 we had some doozies sweep through here. Apparently these weren't on anyone's radar, they just popped up. We knew slight chance of rain, but we didn't know how much. Here's the damage...

This was about 20 minutes after the rain started. We had three cars in the driveway because we had Bart's there, too. Hmmm. We had to do something...

See the truck down the street? And in the next one, too.

See the fire hydrant?

This photo has my neighbor's SUV in it at the back of their driveway.

The moat behind our house...

J has been telling me for 5.5 years that there is no way to get a car in our garage. But let me tell you that when threatened (by nature's storms and his wife) there is a way!

See AB in the photo? (She's the tiny head). She wanted to go to the beach. We obliged. What gracious hosts we are.

The water in my back yard was half way up Bart's calf.

We had neighbor kids swimming in the street. I guess it was safe, at least from cars. But, ewww.

We did have some roof/ceiling damage from this. Same place as the hurricane, if that tells you what the wind was doing. Regular rain doesn't make it inside my house, but driven rain does. We had more flooding with this storm than we did with Hurricane Ike. Puts it in perspective.

Thoughts over the last month

I will do an updated blog with photos, I promise. I don't have my camera at work, today, so all there is to post about is my random thoughts over the month. There's nothing deep, I promise.

1. No matter how much (or little) you are carrying around, a bra is *not* an appropriate place for a cell phone.

2. At the Rocket's game this weekend, I saw alot of girls in really tight jeans. Hmmm. I'm working on getting my jeans to NOT fit like that. I'm just sayin'. Maybe I CAN eat the ice cream after dinner, after all. It seems to be the style...

3. I learned something about a dear friend of mine at the Rockets game this weekend. She is such an encourager. At the point in the game when the Rockets were up more than 30 points, she started cheering for the LA Clippers. She is not a Clippers fan, she just wanted them to not feel so discouraged. I'm not sure anyone heard on the court her, because we were wwwaaaayyyy in the nosebleed seats, but it was cute to hear her cheer anyway.

4. At the Rockets game (seems like I learned alot from them), when the announcer called the baskets by the Clippers, he sounded like Eeyore. It was a hoot, and I laughed through the entire two hours whenever the Clippers scored (It was not very often, unfortunately.)

5. If you ask a parking attendant where to eat, you will get pointed to three bars. No restaurants, just bars.

An update: my employers wife has been officially diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, with distant metastases. She will start in a chemotherapy trial as soon as her radiation is over. Please keep her in your prayers.

We leave for Abilene in the morning. Please keep this little group in your prayers. The kids have studied hard and are very excited.

With Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy

If your working tv sits on top of your non-working tv,

Yoooooouuuuuu might be a redneck.

Welcome to the Deep South. We are the rednecks.

Five for Friday

1. I really hate Walmart. I discovered this last week I think. THEN I WENT BACK!! Today. To return $3.87 worth of items. It cost me more than $3.87 in time. But then I would have had to store the stuff. I think it will be a while before I'm back in that consumer un-friendly store again. Hopefully.

2. I have been asked to work every Friday in February by the clinic by my house. Good and Bad. I took off the last Friday because we're having a family wedding, and my in-laws will be at my house. I have gone from a 2 day a week worker to a 3 day a week worker. I think it will interfere with my scrapbooking-cardmaking-nap taking-Sunday-School-lesson-writing-exercising whatever. I really like this job I have. The bosses are wonderful, the commute isn't bad to either clinic, and it's really well organized and well ran. If I have to work three whole days, at least my time is spent doing what I enjoy in offices that I enjoy.

3. It is kind of funny to see J working with mostly women in his new office. "Daesha they talk about each other. Alot." He said this after his first week at work. Um, yes, sweetie. We do that. And it's not all nice. Just stay above the fray. His boss has been out this week, and that hasn't helped the testosterone levels in the office. Hopefully next week will go better. Less talking about each other (and him) and more getting stuff done. It's hard to work with women, sometimes.

4. I posted a dresser on Craigs*List last week. It sold in 30 seconds. I'm serious. Now, if anyone out there would like a nice corner desk with a hutch, I've got one for sale. . .

5. I'm trying to decide what room I could paint a light turquoise. My friend is painting her kitchen a gorgeous color, and I totally want to copy that paint color. I am pretty sure, however, that all major rooms are out. Maybe laundry room? Closet? Linen closet? Pantry? (That might be interesting. . .)

6. (I know it says five, but I just remembered this.) I am starting to check out my chicken recepies for my sister-in-law (and the rest of the Seattle crew) to make sure they're good and I remember how to fix them. SIL is a poletarian - only eats chicken. I think it sounds like she belongs to a certain political party, but it's a food label. Last time she visited, I forgot this and accidentally fixed a (yummy) roast. It did not go unnoticed that she just ate the veggies and went to bed. I will not make that mistake this time. Any good chicken recepies out there that I can try?

Made me think of you. . . .

There is a certain truth to this t-shirt I found at WDW. I thought about putting it as my photo, but I didn't. I still might. Enjoy.