AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Wedding bells!
DATE: 05/04/2007 09:09:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today is the big day!
Jamie and I are getting hitched!
Weeeeeeee!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: T-minus 10 days
DATE: 04/24/2007 11:01:29
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie
and I are gettin' hitched on May 4 at 3pm! HOORAH! The magistrate finally got back in touch with me to schedule our appointment.
and I are gettin' hitched on May 4 at 3pm! HOORAH! The magistrate finally got back in touch with me to schedule our appointment.This afternoon we're going to pick up my wedding ring -- a simple 10k, 3mm white gold band. We've had his for a while and it's very handsome -- a dark gray tungsten carbide band.
Here's the run down of the lucky stuff I'll have:
Something old: Mom's bringing my granny's (Mema's mom) wedding band to wear
Something new: My dress (blue polka dots!)
Something borrowed: I think I'm borrowing a necklace from Mema...maybe one of the opals they bought on their last trip to Australia
Something blue: My shoes (they match my dress...hehe!)
Afterwards we'll go to dinner somewhere. I saw Bre this weekend at the Sister's House Dedication lovefeast (I was a last minute addition to the orchestra when one of the second violins bailed) and she said she'd love to go to dinner with us if we had it late enough for her to make the drive up.
The ladies at Mom's church are throwing us a post-wedding reception on June 10. That's when I'm going to wear my pink dress and carry my cute little bouquet of forget-me-nots. Jamie will wear his little silver boutonniere with forget-me-nots in it.
will wear his little silver boutonniere with forget-me-nots in it.Weeeeeee!!! Lots of fun and not much stress at all (now that the magistrate finally called back). Hopefully this will be the most stress-less wedding anybody has ever done!
Oh, and for those who are interested, we're registered at Linens 'n Things (www.lnt.com), Target (www.target.com), and Walmart (www.walmart.com). The registries are available for viewing and ordering from online. Just search under "Beth Wall" and you'll find our registry. And, we don't care what the etiquette experts say, gift cards are definitely welcome and highly appreciated!
More later!
PS. I love my hunny-bunny!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Possible New Business Venture
DATE: 04/03/2007 10:07:59
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Several years back, my mom and I wandered through the jewelry section at AC Moore, our absolute favorite craft store in town. We'd been up and down the bead aisle many times, but on that particular day we said, "Hey, why not?" and picked up a few basic necklace making materials. Needless to say, we got hooked on making jewelry.
I loooooove to pick out beads and findings and all sorts of jewelry stuff, and I love to organize everything by color in my little plastic boxes. I think jewelry making appeases the OCD side of my brain.
Mom and I have made stuff for ourselves, stuff for each other, stuff for my grandma, stuff for other girls in the family, and for friends. I've run out of friends that I haven't given hand-made jewelry too and I definitely don't need anymore necklaces or bracelets.
So, I've come up with the idea of selling jewelry online. I don't know when or if I'll even start , but making plans for it have been so much fun! The picture above is a possible masthead (top of a webpage graphic) for my online store. I want to make and sell necklaces, bracelets, earrings (my favorite to make because they're quick and easy), matching sets of jewelry, and some random fun things like bookmarks (the metal hook kind with a dangle), glasses chains, and notecards (because I've been having a lot of fun in Photoshop lately).
I've found some places that sell beads and things in bulk to the public for very reasonable prices. I just need to scrounge together some money to invest in new beading supplies.
I think this little venture would be a great way to make a little extra savings money, if it ever took off and anybody actually bought things.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: 10 Things I Love About...(part 1)
DATE: 03/30/2007 11:42:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I've decided to do a new running series for when I can't think of anything else to blog about called "10 Things I Love About..." I'm going to do people, places, things, etc.
My first topic: Jamie (yes, I know...how sappy. Hehe)
(yes, I know...how sappy. Hehe)1. He smells really good.
2. He teaches me all sorts of stuff (how to work the tv, how to play games on his computer, how to properly workout on his bowflex, why this computer fan is better than the computer fan in his computer now, etc.)
3. He eats meat.
4. He's squeezable, huggable, loveable, unbelievable.
5. He has great taste in movies and video/computer games.
6. He's a good cook and can cook things other than Hamburger Helper and microwaved stuff.
7. He's really really really cute...especially when he's stubbly.
8. He is sooooo happy to see me when I get home in the afternoons. It's like having a tall, two legged puppy, only without the peeing on the carpet bit.
9. He strikes the most adorable pose when he's reading something on the computer. His right hand is on the mouse. His left elbow is on the table with his hand under his chin, and he pulls his shirt neck up to his lip making his neck disappear. It's so freakin' cute!!!
10. He loves me!
On Wednesday, my beloved and I went about town running all kinds of errands. He now has an North Carolina ID and a bank account. And we have 60 days (from two days ag0) to get married! Yes. We went to the Register of Deeds to get our marriage license. Now we just have to get an appointment with the Magistrate and find two witnesses.
We're excited!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Home, Sweet, Home
DATE: 03/20/2007 18:41:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie and I are in our new place! Big thanks definitely go to Bart, my mom, and grandparents for getting all of my stuff hauled to the new apartment.
and I are in our new place! Big thanks definitely go to Bart, my mom, and grandparents for getting all of my stuff hauled to the new apartment. All of the folks seemed really impressed with our new spacious digs. We have so much space! We even have a whole room with almost nothing in it except a few boxes. And, oh the closet space! There's a huge walk in closet in the master bedroom and two smaller (but not small) closets in the spare room. Plus, a coat closet in the living room and a huge under-the-stairs storage space. All of the closets (except the coat closet) have lights, which is wonderful since they're all so large. Mema and Grandpa bought us a new bed. We found a platform bed at Walmart for under $100. One of the rails on my old bed bent and threated to dump the bed in the floor everynight.
As soon as we get Jamie's stuff arranged this weekend, we'll post pictures. We very much missing watching tv before falling asleep. Jamie's smaller tv (though it's still much bigger than my tv) will go in our room and sit on my tv stand. My tv will go in the spare room so our guests can watch tv before bed. Of course...we need a bed in that room too. We'll have Jamie's bedframe, but we need a matress and box springs.
We're very much enjoying our new place. Especially the hu-mon-gous kitchen, complete with a brand new washer and dryer. Mom and Jamie really liked washing clothes with the new washer and dryer. The machines are soooo quiet! Just like our neighborhood. Our apartment is on the end of a building, so we only have one neighbor. And, we're not completely sure anybody even lives in that unit. Nobody is ever parked in either of that apartment's parking spots (thank goodness for assigned parking).
I hope we get Jamie's big tv set up in time to see the new series on Discovery HD, Planet Earth, that starts this Sunday. Animals and plants and stuff are SO cool in high definition. When I was in Anacortes in August, we watched a Discovery show about baby pandas in HD. SO CUTE!
Oh! Another cool thing about where we live...the nearest Mexican restaurant is only a 5 minute walk down the road. Sweet! Plus, there's a Jersey Mike's (sandwich shop) in the same strip mall. We've already had our first dinner at the Mexican place and Jamie really liked it. That may become a once-a-week staple for us. OH! And yet another cool thing...Dominoes delivers to us! Hehe. We very much like Dominoes pizza...especially the 5-5-5 deal. Nummy!
We're home!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Boxes Boxes Boxes
DATE: 03/07/2007 13:11:01
STATUS: publish
BODY:
When do we start moving? Friday afternoon.
Have we packed anything yet? Nope.
I'm having a hard time deciding where to start packing. I do know that the pictures hanging on the walls are the last things I want to take down. I really don't like looking at blank walls. And luckily enough, our new apartment is on the end of a building. So my mom (best picture putter-upper in the world!) will be able to bang away with hammer and hopefully not disturb our only neighbor. Only a few things will go on the wall we share with the neighbor.
Jamie and I have to start packing tonight since I have viol rehearsal tomorrow night. We stole some boxes from work, and we have packing tape and packing paper. We're soooo excited about the move, though I think Jamie might be even more excited than me. This'll be his first place. More importantly it'll be our first place together! Eeeeee!!!
and I have to start packing tonight since I have viol rehearsal tomorrow night. We stole some boxes from work, and we have packing tape and packing paper. We're soooo excited about the move, though I think Jamie might be even more excited than me. This'll be his first place. More importantly it'll be our first place together! Eeeeee!!!We made our first new purchase specifically for the new place Sunday afternoon. We bought a washer and dryer! Or as my mom calls it "Pride and Joy 2". My first washer and dryer (now residing with Bre at her house) were my "Pride and Joy". And today at lunchtime we bought an over-the-toilet shelf for the full bathroom, which isn't as big as the bathroom at the apartment I shared with Bre, but we get an extra closet in place of the extra bathroom space. Our nifty over-the-toilet shelf was only $40 at Anna's Linens. Plus, it came with a matching over-the-door rack and magazine rack. Sweet deal for just $40. Most of the other over-the-toilet things we had looked at online were at least $70.
Mom is lending us her dining table. She's doing a little redecorating in her living room and has decided not to put the table back in front of her big picture window like she' s had for years. She even polyuathaned it for us! Now we can put stuff on it without worry. It's an antique, and she's had it longer that she's had me. She says she doesn't know why she never put a protective coating on it, but it has one now. Some poly probably would have kept me from making an ink stain on the table when I was 12. Oops. (Liquid ink. The kind you use with a quill pen.)
Jamie ordered a set of speaker stands for his surround sound speakers yesterday. He looked at wall mounted stands, but they were expensive and would have to be...well...mounted to the wall. But he found a pair of on-the-floor stands that would hold his speakers and were a nice price. Now we'll be able to move the speakers around easier for optimum sound.
ordered a set of speaker stands for his surround sound speakers yesterday. He looked at wall mounted stands, but they were expensive and would have to be...well...mounted to the wall. But he found a pair of on-the-floor stands that would hold his speakers and were a nice price. Now we'll be able to move the speakers around easier for optimum sound.Some things we'll still need to get for the new place:
- Chairs to go with mom's table
- A table/desk for Jamie's computer
- A toaster
There's more stuff I'm sure...but right now I'm trying to layout paper furniture on a sheet of graph paper! 
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Our new place
DATE: 03/02/2007 08:35:11
STATUS: publish
BODY:
That's the floorplan for our new apartment! We're moving next Saturday. YAY!
We're so very very excited. Jamie's stuff is going to be shipped from Anacortes next week and should get to us the week after. Maybe we'll be semi-settled by then. Horrah for a big HD tv!
Update on Jamie's health: He is 100% Jamie again! He does have a bit of a cough, but coughs always linger for a while after the cold/flu goes away.
again! He does have a bit of a cough, but coughs always linger for a while after the cold/flu goes away.Our first major purchase is going to be a washer and dryer. I miss my old washer and dryer. But they have a good home now at Bre's house.
Eeeee!!! Our first place! With our stuff! FUN!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Happy Birthday to Me!
DATE: 02/23/2007 13:58:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Yesterday was my birthday! Thanks to everybody who remembered!
I got lots of cool stuff. Jamie's grandma gave me warm socks and a Celtic Woman CD (good music!). My grandparents gave me some of that good ol' green stuff. Aunt Gloria sent me a nifty 2007 Nascar Nextel Cup schedule that tells me the time and network for all the races. And, Jamie's mom sent me the flowers in the picture! I got cards from everbody already mentioned, Mr. Roy and Mrs. Sandy, Breanne (it's an e-card and little bunny things sing "Happy Birthday" to the tune of "La Cukaracha"...so cute!), Bart, and my mom. Mom and I are going to exchange presents whenever she's next in town.
Jamie and I had a fun (not really) night last night. We spent about an hour at, as my co-worker Bart called it, Doc-in-a-box. Poor Jamie has been sick with a "flu-like illness" (that's what the doctor called it) since last Wednesday night. He's been very achy and very hot for most of the week, though his other symptoms have moved around (starting off in his head and moving down to his chest). Then we went to the drugstore for antibiotics and to the grocery store for more gatorade and juice.
and I had a fun (not really) night last night. We spent about an hour at, as my co-worker Bart called it, Doc-in-a-box. Poor Jamie has been sick with a "flu-like illness" (that's what the doctor called it) since last Wednesday night. He's been very achy and very hot for most of the week, though his other symptoms have moved around (starting off in his head and moving down to his chest). Then we went to the drugstore for antibiotics and to the grocery store for more gatorade and juice.The doctor and nurse couldn't believe it when Jamie said he was allergic to every painkiller except Tylenol. And the doc was just like "WOW!" when he lifted up Jamie's shirt to listen to his chest. You'd say "WOW!" too if you've never seen my poor boy's foot-long back surgery scar. It's a battle wound...it's sexy! Hehe.
I miss my Jamie soooo much. I'm sure that sounds weird, but he misses himself too. He's so tired and achy that he hasn't done anything but watch tv. Yesterday he didn't even make it to the couch. He did smile at me more during lunch today than he has all week long. That made me extra happy! My boy is on the mend! I hope he's 100% Jamie soon. The weather is getting really nice and I'm ready for afternoon walks and going out on the town and making messes in the kitchen and playing video games and other stuff that we do when he's well.
soooo much. I'm sure that sounds weird, but he misses himself too. He's so tired and achy that he hasn't done anything but watch tv. Yesterday he didn't even make it to the couch. He did smile at me more during lunch today than he has all week long. That made me extra happy! My boy is on the mend! I hope he's 100% Jamie soon. The weather is getting really nice and I'm ready for afternoon walks and going out on the town and making messes in the kitchen and playing video games and other stuff that we do when he's well. Gotta go home to my slowly-getting-better boy!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Our first Valentine's Day
DATE: 02/16/2007 11:53:00
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie and I had a great first V-day together.
and I had a great first V-day together.Instead of going out, waiting in line, and sharing dinner with dozens of other couples, we opted to have a fancy dinner in our pjs. Jamie is an excellent chef! We started off with buffalo popcorn chicken bites as an appetizer, then had ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, corn in butter sauce, and rolls on the good dishes with sparkling white grape juice in wine glasses, candle light, a tablecloth, napkins, and flowers! The only downside was cleaning up afterwards, but we did that together. For dessert we munched on one of those big cookies with icing on it. Mmmm. Tasty!
is an excellent chef! We started off with buffalo popcorn chicken bites as an appetizer, then had ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, corn in butter sauce, and rolls on the good dishes with sparkling white grape juice in wine glasses, candle light, a tablecloth, napkins, and flowers! The only downside was cleaning up afterwards, but we did that together. For dessert we munched on one of those big cookies with icing on it. Mmmm. Tasty!We've been to see another apartment complex. This one was really very nice (super security) and the rental agent was super sweet. The only problems were the $700 a month rent and the fact that their only open units were on the 3rd floor. Ugh. We'll keep looking. We really want a townhouse. So, tomorrow we're going to the small complex next to the one where Bre and I used to live. It's closer to our price range.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busy Busy Busy
DATE: 02/06/2007 13:02:42
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie and I trekked off to Anacortes on January 25, and stayed a whole week. We gathered up all of his stuff and packed it in boxes to be shipped out to NC as soon as we have a place of our own. On January 28, his folks threw us a very nice engagement party. Jamie has some really nice stuff (like the 51" LCD TV that I hugged as soon as we got to his house after we landed). grilled steaks. SO GOOD! We MUST have a grill! He is an excellent griller. As a wedding present, his family and friends gave us his stuff. They're going to pay to have his stuff shipped to NC! Pretty nice present since Jamie
and I trekked off to Anacortes on January 25, and stayed a whole week. We gathered up all of his stuff and packed it in boxes to be shipped out to NC as soon as we have a place of our own. On January 28, his folks threw us a very nice engagement party. Jamie has some really nice stuff (like the 51" LCD TV that I hugged as soon as we got to his house after we landed). grilled steaks. SO GOOD! We MUST have a grill! He is an excellent griller. As a wedding present, his family and friends gave us his stuff. They're going to pay to have his stuff shipped to NC! Pretty nice present since JamieThere's so much for us to do in the coming weeks. I have the go ahead to move out of my apartment with no penalty for leaving before my 12 month stay is up. We're hoping to find somewhere and move by the beginning of March. We have two places in mind at the moment and are going to visit them within the next week.
We're really excited!
I uploaded some new pictures to the "Boy and Me" album. The new pictures are ones my mom took during her all too short stay with us in January. The one at the top of this page is the one used in our engagement announcements in the newspapers in Anacortes and Grifton. Aren't we cute?
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Purdy dress!
DATE: 01/19/2007 10:45:52
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My dress arrived today! AND IT FITS! YAY!
Above is the catalog picture for my dress. No, I didn't order a black dress. In keeping with the non-traditional feel of our wedding, I picked a pink dress. It's a very pale pink. It fits perfectly as long as I suck in my gut. So, I really need to buy a new "suck-n-tuck" (i.e., girdle). My old one from prom days is kinda ratty looking.
I need new shoes too. The ones I've had for a few years and was hoping to wear (cute little slides with bows) aren't the right color. The box calls their color "vanilla bean". They're sort of a bone color that leans towards the pink side, but they look too flesh tone under the pink dress. No worries. Walmart usually has nice little strappy sandals in white, or I've seen a strappy pair at Payless for just $9.
Dunno what to do with my hair. Jamie likes it down because it's so long, thick, and curly now. I agree with him. I need a sparkly barrette or headband for it.
likes it down because it's so long, thick, and curly now. I agree with him. I need a sparkly barrette or headband for it.Now we need to figure out what Jamie
is going to wear. I think khakis and a sport coat would be nice, or a suit. He just grinned when I suggested a pink tie.Oh, and the purple forget-me-nots look sooooo pretty against the pink dress. Eeeee!
More later!! (But no pic of me in the dress until a proper bridal photograph can be taken!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Snow day...but I have to work...meh
DATE: 01/18/2007 11:35:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I woke up early early this morning to a very strange sound coming from the window area. It took me a while to figure out it must be sleet hitting the air conditioner. So I burrowed back under the covers for another few hours and hoped and prayed that there'd be a foot of snow on the ground by the time I needed to get up. No such luck. Meh. After listening to the traffic report on the morning news, I decided I could probably get away with going into work at 10am. Jamie and I bundled up and watched tv for another hour.
and I bundled up and watched tv for another hour.Around 10am, I trudged out in the sleet and snow for my 3 minute commute to work. It was very slippery on the concrete driveway and on the grassy back yard. Luckily I didn't fall. When I got to work everybody was like "well, she finally decided to show up". Hehe. They'd all gotten there around the regular time (except the boss who took today off, but already had that planned). I told them I didn't think any of them would be able to get to work after listening to the traffic report. There were accidents EVERYWHERE.
So much for a snow day. Hmph.
It's still doing something out now. Probably freezing rain. It's still really really really cold outside. When we woke up it was only 26 degrees out, and down it's up to only 29 degrees. But it feels like 20. Brrrrrrr.
Mom stopped by for a quick visit after her weekend at camp. Looking at today's weather, would you guess that on Saturday I went out in a t-shirt and flipflops? Anyway...we had fun. We had dinner at O'Charleys on Sunday after we went to A.C. Moore and bought supplies for my wedding bouquet!! My flowers are purdy. We found two bunches of forget-me-nots that are so pretty. We put those in one of those lacy bouquet holders, wrapped the stems with green floral tape, and then wrapped the tape with white satin ribbon. Then we made a bow out of the white ribbon for the top of the wrapped stems. I put some silver heart charms on different lengths of yellow ribbon and we tied those up near the bow for some hangy bits. It's a very cute bouquet. Oh! And we snipped out a little bunch of the forget-me-nots for Jamie's boutonniere. We even found a silver boutonniere holder at Joann's Fabrics.
We stopped by David's Bridal on Monday, but the place was an absolute zoo since it was a holiday and the last day of their $99 dress sale. We didn't see too many dresses for $99. Then we went to the smaller dress shop in town and I tried on two dresses. One was waaaaay too big and the other was waaaay more than I wanted to spend, yet looked soooooo good on me. It was only $330 (which is really cheap for a nice wedding dress), but since we're not having a big 'do I don't need a big dress. Actually, I've ordered a long pink strapless dress from JC Penney that should be here tomorrow. I'm hoping it'll fit because I think it'll make a cute informal wedding/party dress.
We also went to the mall and Jamie picked out a wedding band he really liked. It's made of tungsten carbide and it's dark gray. Very handsome. I was mostly looking for him when we looked, so I didn't really pick out anything for me. I think I want something very simple, not too wide, and definitely in white gold. Maybe just a plain band, or maybe a milgrain band that has just a little detail around the edges.
picked out a wedding band he really liked. It's made of tungsten carbide and it's dark gray. Very handsome. I was mostly looking for him when we looked, so I didn't really pick out anything for me. I think I want something very simple, not too wide, and definitely in white gold. Maybe just a plain band, or maybe a milgrain band that has just a little detail around the edges.More later!
PS. My grandpa said of Jamie's not leaving on the 8th of January, "Well...I wouldn't want to leave my woman either." Hehe. I think Jamie has scored major brownie points with my family.
has scored major brownie points with my family.-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: New Year Update
DATE: 01/11/2007 11:06:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well...January 8th was slated to be a sad day because Jamie was supposed to fly back to Washington that morning. However, the poor boy ended up with a horendous migrate about half an hour before the flight left and he just couldn't get on the plane feeling like that. So, we got his bags back (they'd already been checked in and were heading for the plane) and headed back home.
was supposed to fly back to Washington that morning. However, the poor boy ended up with a horendous migrate about half an hour before the flight left and he just couldn't get on the plane feeling like that. So, we got his bags back (they'd already been checked in and were heading for the plane) and headed back home.We had planned for me to fly out to "pick him up" in February, and we'd bought those tickets the week before. So we did some flight changes and bought a second one way ticket (he only needed a one way from SEA to CLT in February), and we're now both flying out to Washington on the 25th of this month and flying back on February 1st.
Then we need to do two major things: move into a bigger apartment and get Jamie working. There are plenty of places for him to get a quick part-time job until he finds something else he likes better, or if he likes the quick-found job, he could probably get a full-time position there. He's interested in places like Best Buy or Circuit City, or maybe a bookstore.
working. There are plenty of places for him to get a quick part-time job until he finds something else he likes better, or if he likes the quick-found job, he could probably get a full-time position there. He's interested in places like Best Buy or Circuit City, or maybe a bookstore.Things are moving along swimmingly. We just have to figure out when and where to get married and who to do it. South Carolina would have been a GREAT option, except their laws changed this year and now you have to go in-person to get a marriage license and wait 24 hours. Mom found a great little SC wedding chapel that prior to 2007 let you fill out an application online, they'd fill out the paperwork, and have the license waiting for you when you showed up to get married. Las Vegas sounds fund, but expensive. We'll just keep looking!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Now for the BIG announcement
DATE: 01/02/2007 12:33:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Isn't it pretty?
No. That big sparkle on the left was NOT edited into the picture. That big sparkle just goes to show how sparkly my ENGAGEMENT ring is.
Hehe. Jamie and I are getting married! We haven't figured out when or where yet, but we're pushing for sometime this summer and the ceremony is going to be super small. But we are planning to have West Coast and East Coast receptions for all of our family and friends.
and I are getting married! We haven't figured out when or where yet, but we're pushing for sometime this summer and the ceremony is going to be super small. But we are planning to have West Coast and East Coast receptions for all of our family and friends.Now then, you may ask, "But don't engagement rings have diamonds?" And, yes they do. But I don't really like diamonds. They aren't colorful. They're kinda boring. The only real feature is how much the guy forked out for the thing. And, EVERYBODY gets a diamond (or diamonds, as is the case nowadays). I wanted a ring with meaning...with a story, not a ring with a fancy pricetag and a finance plan.
Ok, now you ask, "Well...what's the story on this ring? Why blue and green?"
I thought it'd be nifty to have a birthstone ring instead of a diamond ring. My birthstone is pretty -- amethyst. Jamie was born in April, so his birthstone is a diamond. Sure there are amethyst and diamond rings out there, but I've yet to find a pretty one that's not too big and in a white gold setting.
Last Friday (December 28) we went to the mall and looked through all the jewelry stores. Finally in Macy's we found this pretty blue topaz and peridot ring.
"But that's neither of your birthstones?"
Ah, no. But blue topaz is the stone for December and peridot is the stone for August. August was the month that we finally met face to face and December was the month we made our plans official.
I'm not a go-with-the-norm type of girl. I drive a John Deer tractor-green car. My violin case is wine colored, not black like most every other musician's is. I met my hunny online in a computer game. I would rather spend $3000 (if I had it!) on a new tv to play video games and watch DVDs on instead of diamond ring for my finger that I can't really share with anybody else.
Jamie likes my ring. I LOVE JAMIE!
likes my ring. I LOVE JAMIE!More later!
PS. Oooo..Yahoo has new smilie icons. I like this one: 
, obviously. Oooo...they have the three main food groups: 
, 
, and 
. And, my grandparents would say they even included a picture of me: 
. Hehe.
, obviously. Oooo...they have the three main food groups: , , and . And, my grandparents would say they even included a picture of me: . Hehe.-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Post-Christmas Report
DATE: 01/02/2007 12:12:50
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Aren't we precious?
Jamie and I had a wonderful time with my family for Christmas. We both racked up on presents and food. I also finished 6 gigs and took home nearly $800 in gig money. Woohoo!
and I had a wonderful time with my family for Christmas. We both racked up on presents and food. I also finished 6 gigs and took home nearly $800 in gig money. Woohoo!Here's the inventory of our swag from this year:
From my hunny:
1GB thumb drive
Mythbusters tshirt
"I'm Just Here for the Food" by Alton Brown
"I'm Just Here for More Food" by Alton Brown
A beautifully framed print of Alton Brown's "The Chewy" recipe (One of the first things Jamie and I did together on my trip to Anacortes was bake chocolate chip cookies. HE MADE IT HIMSELF!!!!! This present made me all sniffly and teary eyed!)
and I did together on my trip to Anacortes was bake chocolate chip cookies. HE MADE IT HIMSELF!!!!! This present made me all sniffly and teary eyed!) Monty Python's Flying Circus on DVD
From my hunny's mom:
Cream colored fleecy scarf
Blown glass giraffe
From my hunny's grandma:
Mythbusters DVDs (we got seasons 1 and 2 together)
$50 in Olive Garden gift cards and a $25 Starbucks gift card (for both of us)
From my hunny's friend who taxis us to the airport in Seattle:
Hershey's dessert cookbook
Hershey's Special Dark bar
From my Mema and Grandpa:
$35
Thin Mints
Lighthouse notecards
Hughes Family Saga: 1952-1963 on DVD (my grandpa is putting his old 8mm films on DVD, so coooool!)
From my aunts, uncles, and cousins:
Smelly Stuff
Decorative cross on a holder
Bagpipe charm from Scotland
Giraffe that sits on the edge of a shelf
Violin playing angel
A painted thing with a violin on it (hard to describe)
Necklace and earrings
Tin-Man nutcracker
Huge green fleece blanket
From friends:
Sake set
$15 Walmart gift card
Cucumber melon lotion
From Mom:
Pirates of the Carribean 2 (came with a free tshirt!), Princess Diaries 2, and Casanova DVDs
PJ Pants
Rachel Ray's "365: No Repeats" cookbook
Irish Reel music book with CD
Two tall giraffes (can you tell that I collect giraffes?)
Two wooden flutes
Pots and pans (really nice ones)
Calligraphy set
Purple glass candle holders
Set of 5 black shadow box picture frames
Set of 3 brown frames in different sizes
Mini #99 Carl Edwards car
Rubbermaid food storage containers
Christmas decoration: clear plastic Dickensque woman caroler with a guy violinist and a lamp post that lights up.
Set of 300 count gold colored sheets
Jamie got:
From me:
Futurama Season 2
A green short sleeved polo shirt
A Dale Earnhardt Junior tshirt and toboggan
Slippers
Post-it Note cube
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutter
A pair of hunting socks from Outdoor World
Penny Arcade Comic book
From my mom:
PJ pants
Red fleece pullover
Brown knit shirt
From my grandparents:
Bullitt on DVD (Steve McQueen movie)
Photo album of pictures when I was little
And he got a bunch of really neat stuff from his family and friends back in Washington.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Entry for December 16, 2006
DATE: 12/16/2006 19:54:13
STATUS: publish
BODY:
King James the Sexy!
Hehe. Stephanie and I played a gig for the Hibernian Society of Winston-Salem tonight and we each got to pull a Christmas cracker. There was a teeny notebook in one and a teeny slide whistle in the other, and both of them had jokes and paper crown. As you can see, my crown is green! Stephanie's first one was red, but it broke and a nice lady gave her an orange one. We looked dorky, yet cute playing our gig with our paper crowns. I wore mine all the way home, so did Stephanie. Then I put it on Jamie's head and took his picture. Hehe. He's so cute!
Jamie and I gave each other one present to open early the other day. I gave him a book of Penny Arcade comics (one of the online comics he looks at) and he gave me a 1GB Corsair Thumb Drive! It was funny because earlier that day I had told him, "For my birthday, I want a big thumb drive to put all of my pictures in one place." HA! He read my mind before I even knew what I wanted! He said he'd had that particular gift since before I went to see him in August. Hehe. Such a geeky couple we are.
After a stop at the craft store last night, I have officially finished my Christmas shopping. YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Just chillin'
DATE: 12/12/2006 08:59:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie
and I have just been chillin' around the apartment. We've watched movies (saw X-Men 3 last night--it made me mad...meh), played video games (we've unlocked just about everything in Lego Star Wars 2), gone out to eat (we really like O'Charley's chicken!), and just goofed off.Yesterday the box of west coast Christmas presents arrived. We got a ton of stuff. Jamie
got some new shirts and some mountain biking magazines and a gift card to Eddie Bauer. I got a huge Hershey's Special Dark (my fav!) and a Hershey's Dessert cookbook from Betsy and got a very pretty teacup and tea strainer from family friend Nancy. Jamie's grandma gave us seasons one and two of Mythbusters on DVD. EEEEEEEE!! It's our favorite show to watch together! Perfect timing for that one because there isn't anything new on until the new year. Meh.We're both looking forward to making yummy chocolate stuff from the cookbook. It's my first real cookbook!
Then today, we got more stuff! Jamie's grandma sent us gift cards to Olive Garden (our favorite fancy place to eat) and Starbucks! Mmmm...food and goodies. I want to go back to Olive Garden for their pumpkin cheesecake. It was soooo gooood.
Three gigs down and three gigs to go. So far I've racked up $412 (but that includes $12 for jury duty day and $50 from my credit card rewards refund thing). Oh speaking of...I was called for jury duty on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. I was kinda excited and thought it'd be fun. Yeah...it might have been if I had actually gotten into a court room. They only needed 10 people but they had 30+. So, I sat in a room for three hours listening to my mp3 player and praying that its battery wouldn't die. Very boring. Oh well. At least I came away with a whole $12 and a slip of paper that gets me out of jury duty for at least the next two years.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Post-Thanksgiving Report
DATE: 11/30/2006 12:43:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie met the family and the family met Jamie last weekend. And I think both parties liked each other well enough. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner cooked by Mema on Thursday. We had:
met the family and the family met Jamie last weekend. And I think both parties liked each other well enough. We had a yummy Thanksgiving dinner cooked by Mema on Thursday. We had: - Turkey
- Gravy
- Mashed potatoes
- Corn
- Butter beans
- Collards (we couldn't convince Jamie
- Deviled eggs (my fav!!)
- Cucumbers
- Biscuits
- Pecan Pie
- Chocolate cake
- Vanilla ice cream
A very tasty spread!!
Jamie and I went to the movies in G-ville on Thanksgiving night, and we saw Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. Jack Black is HILARIOUS! We also found the O'Charleys last weekend and ate there twice. Their chicken o'tenders are sooooo goood. And we took pictures! I've added them to my photo album, and I added some of the pictures my mom and Aunt Gloria took at the race in October.
and I went to the movies in G-ville on Thanksgiving night, and we saw Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny. Jack Black is HILARIOUS! We also found the O'Charleys last weekend and ate there twice. Their chicken o'tenders are sooooo goood. And we took pictures! I've added them to my photo album, and I added some of the pictures my mom and Aunt Gloria took at the race in October.Above is one of my favorite pictures of us. How sappy!
Tonight begins the endless month of gigs. I have rehearsal tonight and Saturday night for Sunday's performance of Handel's Messiah. Next Friday I have a mini-rehearsal for Salem Academy's Christmas program. Next Saturday I have rehearsal for Friedland Church's cantata next Sunday, plus my annual playing in costume at Old Salem. The following Wednesday I have rehearsal for Kingswood Church's cantata the Sunday after that. The Saturday of that week Clover's Fall has a gig for the local Hibernian Society's Christmas party. Then, the Monday before Christmas, I have dress rehearsal for the Academy's program the next day. All of these are paying gigs. WOOOHOOO!!! I'm gonna have money to for my flight to Washington in the spring without having to tap into my savings or my tax refund.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: So much fun!
DATE: 11/22/2006 08:33:28
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie and I are just having so much fun together that I haven't had much time to make a blog entry. It's really like we've been together for always already.
Let's see...since the last post we've:
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: So much fun!
DATE: 11/22/2006 08:33:28
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie
and I are just having so much fun together that I haven't had much time to make a blog entry. Let's see...since the last post we've:
- Gone for more walks
- Seen Happy Feet at the new movie theater in town -- the arm rests fold up!
- Eaten at O'Charley's again and discovered that we really like their combo deal where you can get steak and chicken tenders together!
- Eaten at TGI Fridays twice and discovered that we like their appetizers more than their entrees
- Watched the first episode of Firefly on DVD and watched Wedding Crashers (Jamie's Favorite)
- Played lots and lots of Legos Star Wars
- Played lots and lots of Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time on the Nintendo DS
- Went to a W-S Symphony concert (had free tickets and kinda had to go for work since the Symphony performed a piece by a Moravian composer)
- Wandered aimlessly around Walmart looking at everything
- Had two tickle fights within 24 hours that left Jamie
- Watched our favorite tv shows together (Heroes, Mythbusters, and Futurama)
- Cooked more good food -- we really like Pasta Roni with chicken!
- Baked chocolate chip cookies that didn't turn out so well. They're edible but kinda eh. We bought kosher salt like the recipe called for, but the kosher salt we got turned out to be the consistancy of coarse sea salt. So, some bites of cookie have no salt whatsoever and some bites have too much salt. Next time we're going to use regular table salt.
- Baked brownies that turned out EXCELLENT! We put Andes Mint chips in them...
- Went shopping at the mall.
It's only been two weeks but it feels so much longer (in the good way!).
This afternoon we're headed down east for Thanksgiving time with my folks. YAY! Food and my favoritest people in the whole wide world all together in one place. I'll be a very happy Beth. Plus we're taking the Xbox, so I'll have food, my favoritest people, AND Legos Star Wars all in the same place. Hehe.
More later!
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COMMENT:
AUTHOR:
DATE: 11/22/2006 13:49:47
If you want to especially use kosher salt.....use the stuff you got, but put it in a salt mill (like the type you can grind sea salt in). Worth a shot! and if it doesnt work the second time, you always have a little salt mill *grin*
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Week one!
DATE: 11/13/2006 11:49:20
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My boy has officially been in NC for an entire week (and a few hours). SO HAPPY!!!!!! <
We've had lots of fun so far. We have:
Gone on two walks
Been to Walmart
Eaten at 2 Mexican restaurants, O'Charleys, and our favorite, Olive Garden
Seen a movie (Borat)
Watched DVDs (Stick It and Fantastic Four)
Played Lego Star Wars II on the Xbox
Played Nintendogs and some other games on the DS
Gotten coffee from an NC Starbucks
Lounged and napped and been silly together
Cooked food together
And just been soaking in each other's company.
He's been my groupie this past week too because I had two dress rehearsals for two different concerts, and had a gig Saturday night.
Jamie's such a domesticated guy. He washes the dishes! He makes my bed! He rinses the sink after he shaves! He puts the seat down! He keeps things neat and straight!!!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My hunny and me!
DATE: 11/07/2006 19:03:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeeeeeeeeeee!!
My hunny is in town! He's currently stretched out on my couch with his head against my leg. How sweet!
He didn't have a very easy day yesterday. The flight was a little rough and bouncey and his tummy wasn't happy at all. He's still having a big of a rough time adjusting, but hopefully he'll get adjusted to a new routine soon.
We had mexican (our fav!) for dinner last night, then walked along the shops looking at stuff. This afternoon we went to rehearsal at WFU, then went to Walmart for fooood and had dinner at O'Charleys. I had potato sooooop. It was very yummy.
We have trained a puppy! Ok, not a real one. A nintendog! Hehe. It's a little yorkie puppy named Buster. He finally recognizes his own name and he recognizes the command to sit. So cute!!
I'm sure we'll do more exciting stuff later. This week is kinda busy with rehearsals, two concerts, and a gig. But I have a groupie!!! Eee!
Meh. No Law and Order: SVU because of Election Day stuff. Meh. Stupid politics.
We're having a good time so far and there's so much for us to do!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Great way to start the morning...(hard to be sarcastic in text)
DATE: 11/03/2006 08:27:45
STATUS: publish
BODY:
In the past month I have been rudely awakened twice. Well actually three times if you count earlier this week when I was taking my lunchtime nap and the grounds crew decided it was the perfect time to mow the back yard.
The first rude awakening was the bed moving at 4:56am on Wednesday, October 18 due to a 2.6 magnitude earthquake.
The second (or third, however you look at it) happened this morning...
I'm all warm and snuggly in my bed. The temperature of the apartment is just perfect for a really good sleep, which I've been deep in since around 12:30am. Then all of a sudden, *WAAANWAAAAANWAAAAANWAAAAN*. The fire alarm goes off. I really don't know how anybody could sleep through something so very loud and so very annoying.
After living in a dorm room for four years, I'm trained to get out of a building as fast as possible when its fire alarm is going off. Now at school this was easy because I didn't really need to take any stuff with me, even at the crack o' dawn. However, leaving the Belo Home building requires me to at least take my keys so I can get back into the building and then back into my apartment (my door locks when its shut, unless I pop the lock first...which I don't unless I'm washing clothes).
The alarm is blaring, but luckily there aren't any of those annoying little strobe lights going off like we have at work. Those are just as bad as the noise. I scramble around in the dark (because who thinks to turn on a light at a time like this?!). I fumble on the nightstand for my glasses because I really don't want to break a limb on the way down the stairs and grab my cellphone. Then I scoot around the corner to the closet and fish around by feel for my bathrobe. Its then that I realize I probably need shoes. But all of my flipflops are in the closet in a jumble. It'll take too long to find a left shoe and a right shoe, even if they don't match. I remember that my slippers are by the nightstand. I scoot back around the corner to the bed and grab my slippers. While I'm by the bed, I grab my furry blanket and my stuffed puppy (last year's Christmas gifts from Jamie
). Then finally I head down the stairs praying that I won't fall wearing my floppy, slippy slippers. I can't bring myself to use the elevator when the fire alarm goes off. It feels like it's taking me FOREVER to get my stuff and get outside.I don't see anybody on my hall. I don't encounter anybody in the stairwell. And, when I finally make it outside, I am the ONLY person standing on the sidewalk. The alarm is still blaring though it's much fainter outside. Downtown is pretty quiet at 6am. A public safety officer from Salem College on his golf cart passes me twice and never stops to ask why I'm standing outside.
The fire station closest to our location is roughly a mile away (straight shot), but because of the way the roads are laid out it's actually probably two or three miles away by road. The last time the fire alarm went off by the time I got downstairs I could already hear the firetrucks. This time I've taken forever to get outside and I don't hear anything. After several minutes of wondering and waiting, I dig my cellphone out of my pocket and call 911. But the phone acts all weird, which was probably a good thing because just about the time I turn the phone off I can hear the trucks coming.
I'm still the ONLY person standing outside when the firetrucks arrive. Everybody else just hangs out in the lobby or doesn't leave their room at all. I don't really feel like socializing that early in the morning...plus the alarm is really loud. This time we get three trucks including a ladder truck. It was cool and very BIG. I feel kinda dumb standing out in the cold wrapped in my blanket with my furry slipper feet. Though, at least this time I actually have pants on. Last fire alarm, I didn't have on pants under my robe. I'm sure all the firemen (probably 4-6 in each truck) think I look dumb and wonder why I'm not standing in the lobby with everybody else.
Two firemen go into the building. It's so routine for them that one guy doesn't even have any headgear on, just his protective suit, and they don't even worry with a hose. I think the other guy might have taken a handheld extinguisher. They know more than likely any call they get for the Belo Home is just smoke from a burnt meal.
It's a little disturbing to see how casual everybody is about a fire alarm. I realize they happen with some regularity. But, still, when the fire alarm goes off nobody knows it's not a real fire. I have a fear that a fire in a building like that would be deadly because the residents don't leave. Most of them are old and slow to begin with so the stairs are a real problem. Most of them will probably be trapped in their apartments. Plus probably over half of them don't even attempt to leave their apartments.
I'm shivering out in the cold wrapping my blanket tighter around me hoping the fire trucks leave soon so I can go back to bed. Actually, I really need to use the bathroom because who has time for a potty break during a fire alarm! The sky in the east gets lighter with each passing moment. Argh. Finally two trucks leave (including the huuuuuge ladder truck), and I head back upstairs via the elevator and immediately detour to the bathroom. It's now about 6:20am and the sun is rising fast. Bah! I reset my alarm for 8:30 needing a little more sleep than the original alarm of 7:30 was going to give me. I'm cold but the bed is waaaaarm. So I hunker down and try to go back to sleep but instead of looking at darkness from behind my closed eyes, there is the gray glow of early morning. Meh. I burrow down further hoping to block it out, but finally turn over facing away from the window. It doesn't really help all that much.
Going back to sleep is proving difficult, but evidently I do fall asleep for a while because I had a very strange dream...
I have a house. It's a really nifty turn of the 19th-century rowhouse in Charleston, SC (I think), and it's almost completely furnished with tons of antiques and really nice stuff. The first part of the dream is pretty ok. I have lots of friends over looking at the house. And I'm trying to find my digital camera because my neighors down the row have a flock of geese and a herd of emperor penguins (yes, penguins). So I really want to take a picture of the penguins to prove that they exsist in my neighborhood. But everytime I pick up a camera, it isn't mine. It's the same camera every time no matter where I pick it up and I keep telling myself "No, that's Bre's camera". Incidentally, Bre doesn't have a digital camera.
I finally find my own camera and go running around to find the penguins again to snap their picture. I come back into the house from a side door (weird since my house is in the middle of a section of row houses). In the room that the side door goes into I notice that there are alot more antiques and things. It's then that I realize the previous owner was using this space as an antique/gift shop. There's even money in a cash box. I had been thinking it was weird for the previous owner to just leave everything behind. She hadn't died, but I hadn't been told where she went. In the next part of the dream, I came to the conclusion of why she left.
Day turns to night. And bright sunshine turns into dark storm. It's raining and pitch black, though there are some street lights. I'm at home alone and I've gone upstairs to take a shower. The upstairs of the place isn't as nice as the downstairs. It's mostly in a mess, though most of the mess in the bedroom was my stuff. Upstairs is starting to creep me out. There's a second bedroom that I find that I didn't notice before and everything in that room (which was very rundown) looks like someone left in the middle of doing something.
I head for the bathroom to take a shower and can definitely feel a presence. I turn around looking through the bathroom door and can see my mirrored dresser which is reflecting an early 19th-century portrait hanging on the wall in the bedroom. The portrait is of a young man. As is with most portraits his eyes follow my every move, but as I watch him he starts to grow older and older and older until finally his head starts to come out of the portrait. OK! So I know why the previous owner left. This house was H-A-U-N-T-E-D!!
I run outside, and luckily the reality office is right across the street. How convenient! I rush over and adress the guy standing in the doorway. "Um, hi. I just bought a house from you guys."
He points over to my house and says, "That one?"
I say, "Uh...yeah."
He then looks very sheepish and asks, "Did she (my realtor who never made an appearance in the dream) push that house on you?"
I reply, "Yeah, and I now know why..."
Then I woke up. Very strange dream.
Just now Daniel came in after walking down to the church to pick up a bulletin, and said that the ladies at the church said we just had another earthquake about 20 minutes ago. I didn't feel anything, but Nicole from across the hall said she felt it. I hope the region's not gearing up for some big quake after all these little ones. Of course we're not on a volcano, and that's usually what a volcano does -- lots of little quakes leading up to an erruption.
Ah well. It's the things that make life interesting.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Blogging
DATE: 11/02/2006 09:00:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My dear sweet boyfriend
asked me last night, "When are you going to start blogging everyday again?"He looooves to read my blogs, even though I think they're mostly drivle. (Is 'drivle' a word..? I looked it up to check the spelling...and I couldn't find it!)
A lot of bloggers get topic ideas from the other blogs they read. However for some reason the only blogs I read are of stupid people complaining about their lives (they really don't realize how lucky they are....their lives could be a LOT worse, though admittedly, some of their lives are pretty bad to begin with). And, I really don't have that problem. I guess I read those blogs to feel better about myself...well, that's not quite the right wording because I already feel pretty daggone good about myself.
Oooo! I just got a box delivered by the UPS man. Boxes are fun...except those that I can't open until Christmas! Meh meh meh!
Oh well. I'll have Jamie on Monday so that should distract me from the big box in my office.I hope Jamie's
flight goes ok. It's a loooooong boring ride from Seattle to Atlanta. Luckily the ride from Atlanta to Greensboro is less than an hour. And luckier still, the wait between planes isn't too terribly long--long enough for a bathroom break and a snack break. The one good thing about the airplane toilets is that the roar of flight is so loud nobody can hear what you're doing in the lavatory!!He bought a Ninetendo DS (the new Ninetendo GameBoy for the parents and grandparents reading this) to keep him occupied on the flight. Maybe I can't convince him to let me borrow it and some games for when I fly back to see him in the late winter/early spring. I had a book (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), my mp3 player, and my Palm Zire with games and I was still bored out of my gourd. My games however were very basic...black and white and boring (Sodoku, solitare, tetris, a game where you matched three balls of the same pattern and a game that was a cross between tetris and the ball game).
Lunchtime! YAY! Lunchtime=naptime!
More later!
PS. Beth loves Jamie
(who's coming in just four days!! FOUR!)-----
COMMENT:
AUTHOR:
DATE: 11/12/2006 20:55:21
hehe, you were looking for the correct spelling of 'drivle"...It's drivel ;-)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ways to annoy me...
DATE: 10/30/2006 13:33:14
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today I discovered (or re-discovered) two ways people annoy me. As I told Bart, I could add these to my mile long list of "Ways to Annoy Me".
1. Call me "honey" at the end of just about every sentence while speaking to me. Just because you don't know my name does not mean you can substitute "honey" for it. A trio of ladies came in to look at something dealing with the Archives. Because Richard (who works for the Archives and sits at the front desk to man the phone and door) was downstairs working in the vault, he asked that I "babysit" the ladies while they were in the reading room. One older lady with a very drawn out Southern drawl called me "honey" a dozen times in the 5 minutes that she talked to me. ARGH!
2. Be all eager and helpful when you first start to work for me, then disappear when I need you for something. Our new webmaster, who was extremely eager to work on our site and have our business, is suddenly MIA. There is a list of things to be done to the website that I have asked him at least twice and sometimes three or more times to look into. Everytime I ask him about something, it feels like it's the first time I've asked. That's soooo annoying. Granted the majority of the stuff for our website is done, and I do realize that he has other customers too. But he could at least give me a time table for when this stuff is going to be done so I don't have to keep pestering him about it. The only time table I get from him is "It'll be done ASAP". Well....how soon is ASAP? Is that within-the-next-few-days ASAP or sometime-before-the-end-of-time ASAP?
Way to make me really happy? Send me an email and remind me that if it were next week by the time I was reading your email that you'd be in NC with me! YES! This time next week my boy will be eagerly awaiting my return home from work. Or he might be on his way across the lawn and down the sidewalk to walk me home from work. That would be absolutely awesome! Especially if I had on comfy shoes and we could meander on our way back to the apartment. Or...even better still, if he brought my comfy shoes (and socks) to me! Actually I need some better comfy shoes for walking. My tennis shoes are kind old and weren't all that great to begin with.
Jamie
is almost here! I hope our Winston-Salem visit is even better than our Anacortes visit. Which, actually would make the Winston-Salem visit beyond words because the Anacortes visit was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Definitely wished that trip could have been at least a week longer.My work load has decreased dramatically since the board meeting. Good in a way and bad in a way. I feel like I have nothing to do. So I've told myself "play games! surf the web! goof off! but don't go looking for more work for yourself".
Our budget for next year has been drastically reduced so I don't have to worry about creating ads for any magazines (bummer, cus I really liked doing that), and I don't have to worry about all the work for a gazillion concerts and open houses and this's and thats happening around here because we don't have the money to anything except what is vitally necessary next year while we try to raise more funds to do stuff in 2008. I still get to design the new brochure and catalog for next year, and work on the design and layout of the newsletters. But other than that I'll just be handling the money and the bills and the phone calls and the sales orders and the library requests.
I hate the time change. I don't understand the point of having bright sunshine at 7:30am but on the verge of dark (and soon to really be dark) at 5pm. I'd much rather have more sunshine time in the afternoon than in the morning.
just sent me a picture of him in his new coat. I can't wait to steal it for quick trips outside. Hehe.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Chiiiillly
DATE: 10/25/2006 13:56:59
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's officially winter outside.
said the 35-40mph wind had knocked over a 50-pound planter on his deck. Hold on to your kids and pets! Luckily he kept power last night. YAY! No interruption in Jamie-service.I think it's supposed to warm up this weekend a little bit.
The thing I hate the most about cold weather is the dryness. It feels like my clothes are just sucking the moisture out of my skin. I put on lotion and five minutes later it looks and feels like I didn't. I think that was one of the main reasons that my headcold lingered so long last week. Last night on the way home from viol rehearsal, I headed to Walmart to pick up a good sized humidifier. It's like the one pictured above--even has the fishies! Though mine came with a diver and treasure chest instead of a lighthouse. The lighthouse/diver fits over the night light. But I couldn't figure out how to install it so I just installed the fishies. They're cute. Hehe.
My grandpa had hernia surgery for the third time, just a few weeks after his second. This surgery was to fix the first surgery because it had herniated again--come undone from whatever had been done. Poor Grandpa. He had an allergic reaction to his pain medicine and Mema had to quit giving it to him. He made him itch all over. Weird reaction to pain meds though, but Jamie
said the same thing happened to him after the surgery to remove the pins in his back. Weirder still is that both Grandpa and Jamie had taken the same meds with their previous surgeries without any reaction.Eeeee! Time to go home! YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Race pictures!
DATE: 10/23/2006 11:31:42
STATUS: publish
BODY:
After suffering with an insufferable cold all last week, I have finally gotten better. I'm also all caught up on my work at work and therefore scrapped together a little time to upload pictures from the race weekend trip. There are pictures from DEI, Roush Racing, Kasey Kahne's autograph session in the parking lot at Concord Mills (really big mall just down from the track), both races (Friday's Busch race and Saturday's Nextel race), and the Carolina Renaissance Festival. Boy were we ever tired when we finally got back to Winston on Sunday afternoon.
Jamie
and I are officially down to two weeks before his visit. TWO WEEKS!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! I've gotten all of his Christmas presents and they are all wrapped, too. Pretty productive for a lazybones like myself.My guy had a rough evening with his back yesterday. He says he gets really bad hurting and discomfort every so often and there's not much that can be done about it except let it run its course. But, a few weeks back he went to the doctor to get some medicine to help his back on the plane ride and last night he was able to do a test run. The new meds helped quite a bit. The not-quite-right feeling was still there, but the pain and discomfort were mostly gone. Plus, the meds made him just loopy enough to get a good rest. Hopefully that will help on the 5 hour plane ride. I hope he has a good, easy, comfy-as-possible trip. Luckily he gets to nap away the morning once he gets to my place.
He's sooooo eager to pack. Yet another thing we have in common. Both of us are ready to pack a full month before leaving. Eeeeeeeeeeee!!! My boyfriend is coming to seeee meeee!
This weekend I get to dog sit. Yay fun. Eh. I like dog sitting much better when I can bring the dog to my house. But I'm not allowed to have furry visitors in my new place, so I have to go stay at his house. I go absolutely stir-crazy at Bart's house, which is weird because I live in their living room/kitchen area when I'm over there and that space is much bigger than my apartment. I guess it's because they don't have a couch to stretch out on. They're chair-people. Plus I think I'm slightly creeped out because at night there are a lot of windows that people can easily see into but I can't easily see out of. Oh well.
Enjoy the pictures! There will be more later once I get copies of Mom's and Aunt Gloria's.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Weekend blast!
DATE: 10/18/2006 18:12:05
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeeeee! We had sooo much fun this weekend. I'm going to post pictures to my album tomorrow. I have pictures from both races and from the ren faire. Here's the brief rundown of what we did all weekend:
Wednesday: Mom and Aunt Gloria arrived. I took them on the tour of work and showed them all the fun stuff we have. Then Mom took Aunt Gloria around Old Salem and the college campus. Then we went to California Fresh Buffet for dinner. After stuffing ourselves, we went over to the little mall to check out the Dollar Tree and Hamricks. I found some Christmas presents for those hard to buy for people on my list.
Thursday: I went to work until noon, and then we pilled into the 4-Runner and headed south. Well, we stopped for gas and food first. I had a foot long chili cheese dog and fries at Dairy Queen! Mom and I had a surprise for Aunt Gloria. She thought we were going to stop by Roush Racing before going to the hotel, but we stopped at DEI (that's Dale Earnhardt, Inc!) instead. She's a BIG Junior fan. Hehe. That was a lot of fun! We took pictures of cars and toured the museum (it was free!) and shopped in the gift shop. There was Junior stuff EVERYWHERE in that store. After DEI we found our hotel, unloaded our stuff, then went on the hunt for somewhere to eat supper. I treated us to Chilli's. Mmmmm I had steak! So goood. Then we milled around Walmart for a while.
Friday: We drove to Roush Racing (after driving through the parking lot of Ganassi Racing [Casey Mears and Reed Sorenson] becuase I can't read directions). Eeeeeeeeeee!!! I saw Carl stuff! Eeeeeeeee!!! We got to go to the Roush Shop where the cars are and we saw everybody's cars but Carl's. MEH! It was still very cool. Then we headed off to the race track to walk around the merchandise haulers and to sign in at the Official Nascar Members Club tent. Yes, we are official members! Hehe. I felt so imporant with my ticket stuck in my credential lanyard hanging around my neck. We saw Nextel Cup practice and qualifying for Friday night's race. Then the race started. It was such a good race! Especially at the end! OH MY GOODNESS! Casey Mears and Carl Edwards wrecked near the end of the race with Carl in the lead! I screeeaaamed! BAH! My driver didn't win!!! ARGH!!! But, Dave Blaney, somebody who hasn't won in a long time, won instead! He was being chased down by Matt Kenseth, but Kenseth spun out right at the end of the last lap. YAY for Dave Blaney!!! Unfortunately we had to put up with some really annoying people in the row below us and the row behind us.
Saturday: We slept in a bit and had Chik-fil-a for lunch. Yum! Then we headed to Concord Mills the biiiiiig mall because I wanted to go to the big Outdoor World. We noticed a big red tent set up next to a big red 18-wheeler in the parking lot so we stopped to investigate. Kasey Kahne was supposed to show up at that tent to sign autographs!!! We hung around until we saw Kasey, but we didn't get his autograph because that part required a ticket. But we still saw him, and I got some really good pictures of his back. Hehe. After seeing Kasey, we drove over to Outdoor World. Oh my goodness, that place is HUGE! They have a ginormous tank with HUGE freshwater fish swimming around. They had really nice clothes too. I wish I had had the time and the money to try on and buy everything that fit and looked good. The men's clothes were very nice too. Wish I had had my boy there to dress.
We walked around the vendor/sponsor tents outside the race track and scored some free stuff then we went back to the Members Tent to see Tony Stewart. We got to see Casey Mear's spotter and JD Gibbs (owner of Tony Stewart's car) too. Those rednecks were rude and shovey when Tony came out. I got a few blurry pictures of him. Saturday was hot and very sunny. I got a nice red neck from being outside so long. The race was pretty good and we got to see Kasey Kahne win. YAY! GO KASEY!!!
Sunday: We went to the Ren Faire and walked around like Zombies, and not because we'd been Bob-batized and turned into Bob Zombies by Ded Bob (one of the shows at the faire....my favorite!). We were sooooo tired. But we did see the first joust of the day and our knight (who looked like Sting!) won! YAY! We saw the Dexter Tripp show (he balances on things -- chairs, ladders, people, a slack rope) and then we saw the Ded Bob show. We enjoyed yummy bread bowls for lunch. I had chili in a cornbread bowl. Mom had beef stew in a white bread bowl. And Aunt Gloria had corn and crab chowder in a cornbread bowl. Very yum. On the way back to the car we got coffees. Mmmmmm goodness in a cup.
We later realized that two races and a ren faire was a bit much. Next year we won't do the ren faire. We were sooooo tired when we got back to Winston on Sunday afternoon. I ended up getting sick with a really nasty headcold that I'm still recovering from. Mom and Aunt Gloria left me in a medicine-induced caccoon in bed on Monday morning.
But we had SO MUCH FUN! Aunt Gloria couldn't stop thanking us for letting her tag along. But we were very glad to have her! Can't wait for next year's race. Next year Jamie
plans to come too! My honey and I had to have lots of phone conversations cus my computer didn't get a very good connection on the phone line in the hotel. Bah. But we very much enjoyed every minute of our daily phone chats. On Sunday we talked from the time I got in the car at the ren faire until we got into Winston. Looong call, soooo goood. Oohhh, and on an even more exciting side note, we had THREE earthquakes yesterday! The first was a 2.6 at 4:56am. I was rattled awake. It felt like someone was at the footboard shaking the bed from side to side. I thought maybe I'd just been dreaming, but the shaking was accompanied with a boom. There was a 1.5 just before 8pm and a 2.4 just after 9pm. It's very unnerving to be sitting on the toilet and have the building shake around you. Very creepy feeling.
I'm sure there are funny bits from this weekend that I left out, but right now I can't remember them. I'm sure I'll think of them later.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Cloning
DATE: 10/12/2006 08:57:05
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I just read an article saying the pet cloning agency, Genetic Savings and Clone, was closing up shop and refunding its customers. They said that pet cloning was not a commercially viable business.
My stand today is more against animal cloning than human cloning. Though, I am hoping that human cloning will never happen, simply because of the mess it would create with personal identity and such.
Cloning is like making copies of a document or a video tape. The second generation is not nearly as good as the original. And, making a copy from the copy gets worse. Plus, what's the point? As sad as it is and as difficult as it is, dying is a part of life. In fact, grieving over a pet who has died can probably help with the process of grieving over a human loved one later on.
Sure that kitten looks like your old cat who died last year. But it's not the same animal you lived with and loved for the past 17 years.
There are thousands of animals in shelters who need a loving home. Why pay $50,000 to have your dead pet cloned? Make a new relationship with a new animal who will love you just as much. Thousands of animals are put down every year because of pet-overpopulation. Save a life instead of creating a new one!
I would love to have a shelter dog. However, very few of the breeds (poodles, shih tzus, bichons, etc) that I'm not allergic to are ever found in shelters. If I get a dog, I'll have to go to a breeder because I am very allergic to mutts.
As for something related to human cloning, I'm all for stem cell research and manipulation. There are thousands of women out there who have embryos frozen while they are going through infertility treatments and invitro. These patients have dozens of embryos frozen but rarely are all of them used during the patient's treatment. There are probably thousands of embryos that have been stored away in freezers for years by now. Some of those women might like the option of putting their embryos to use if they aren't going to try to use them. Leaving a "potential" human being in a frozen limbo forever or destroying it isn't doing any good. The stem cells of an embryo have the potential to save hundreds of people from a myriad of diseases and conditions.
But, if stem cell research by the destruction of embryos is continually put down, then at least let's get more information out there about saving umbilical cords which are rich with stem cells.
Of course, stem cell research by the destruction of embryos isn't illegal yet. It's just illegal for Federal money to be used to help sponsor research where the stem cells are derived in this manner.
Well...it's time for lunch and then I'm off to Charlotte for the weekend! I sure wish Jamie
was coming with us. But he wants to come next year! YAY!!! It'll be very nice to have a warm body to snuggle up against during the chilly October race at Lowes Motor Speedway.I sure am gonna miss my boy.
I love him lots and lots!!!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Oops...
DATE: 10/10/2006 11:07:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Hmm...I've been MIA for a few days.
Friday night my band played at the Celtic Cafe. We didn't have Stephanie with us because she had to drive to Georgia for a wedding on Saturday. The crowd was very responsive, but the tips really weren't all that great. We had $18 in cash tips, plus a check for $10 in the bucket. So we each walked away with $6 cash. Then we have our $175 check added to the $10 check for about $30 a piece. Eh. Not great, but better than nothing.
We have decided to add Dolly Parton's Jolene to our repertory. Emilia can really rock it out on the guitar. Hehe.
Saturday was boring. I did laundry. There was no Busch race. Clemson stomped all over WFU in the second half of the game at WFU. Bah. Stupid WFU. They did like they always do and quit playing after halftime. Bah!
Sunday was pretty boring too, but at least there was the Cup race at Talladega. Oooo boy!
And whatta race. The bunched up cars (due to restrictor plate racing) were making me really nervous and I kept waiting and waiting for the "Big One". The "Big One" finally happened, but it was kinda medium sized. I've seen much bigger at Talladega. The one that made me want to throw things was on the last half of lap when Brian Vickers bumped into his own teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Jimmie then ran into the driver's side rear quarter panel of leader DALE EARNHARDT JR!!! 
Junior and Jimmie went spinning away while Vickers deebopped to the checkered flag for the win. Needless to say, since Talladega is Junior country, that Vickers' win didn't get a good reception.My new favorite tv show, Heroes, continues to get better and make me more anxious to see the next episode. I hope it make it all the way through this season and I hope the honchoes at NBC put this show on DVD PDQ. I reaaaallllly hope the show lasts for more than one season. Needs to last at least three. I think all shows that make it through one season should be able to make it for at least three.
My grandparents went down to Charleston last week. On their way back home, they decided to drive to Winston-Salem. And you know what? THEY DIDN'T COME TO SEE ME!!!!
Well, I love them too! Hmph. Oh well. I'll just have to wait til Thanksgiving to see them.My mom and Aunt Gloria are coming up tomorrow afternoon. We're going to the Busch AND Nextel Cup races at Charlotte this weekend. Plus, if the weather's nice, we're going to the Ren Faire on Sunday. I really really reallly wanted to wear my new court gown to the Faire. But it's supposed to be cold and potentially wet this weekend. The court gown isn't very washer friendly. So, I think I'm going to wear my blue doublet and skirt again. That outfit is very warm and very easy to wash. Hopefully this time my camera will work and I can get action shots of the dress in a faire setting.
We're almost three weeks until Jamie's
trip to see me. YAY! We're both super duper excited and can't wait. We talk about stuff we want to do every day. The last weekend of the Charlotte Ren Faire is the weekend after he gets here. If the weather's nice, I hope we can go. He wants to! I'd love to get him in a pair of breeches and a doublet, but I don't think we'll have time for that just yet. Maybe in the spring, or next fall. We haven't missed a single bedtime phone call since I got back from my trip to see him. I much prefer saying good night over the phone than through IMs. Especially since I'm already in bed and all I have to do is roll over and turn the tv off to go to sleep. Our talks are a great thing to have in my head as I'm drifting off to dreamland.
Ah well...there's work to do.
More later!
PS. Beth loves her coffee-flavored boy!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ahhh childhood...
DATE: 10/05/2006 19:32:47
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I decided to pick a pretty random topic to blog about tonight. It's a fun topic, and maybe it'll get you guys thinking about what you played with and your favorite games.
Toys I loved to play with:
- Barbie
- My Lil Pony
- Barbie
- Coloring books and crayons
- Barbie
- Plastic violin and bow
- Barbie
- Bicycle
- Barbie
Yes, in case you haven't noticed the trend, I was a barbie QUEEN. I had dozens of dolls, hundreds of outfits and accessories, tons of furniture, and other bits and pieces. I would take over the living room floor building and decorating rooms for my dolls. I would use little tables or boxes as houses and rooms. Since I didn't have an actual Barbie bed, I used a little pillow covered in a pillow case with the matching pillow case as a sheet, and even a little wall-hanging quilt as a comforter. This, of course, was better than the real Barbie bed, because this bed was soft and not made of plastic.
One of my favorite collections of Barbie stuff was my kitchen stuff! I had a fridge with lots of food. I had a cabinet unit that had a sink and a microwave and an oven (that came complete with a golden brown plastic turkey!). I had dishes and glasses and pots and pans and even teeny tiny silverware. It was great! I usually had more fun stocking the fridge and arranging the stuff in the cabinets than actually pretending Barbie was cooking anything.
In fact...my favorite thing about dragging out my two huge boxes of Barbie stuff was actually laying out the floorplan of the "house" and decorating. I even had a mini Christmas tree! Hmm...I was an interior designer before I'd ever even heard of HGTV. Hehe.
I remember the last piece of Barbie furniture I got. My childhood best friend gave me the Barbie vanity for Christmas one year. It was great. It had brushes and combs and powder puffs and a little frame with a picture of Ken on it (this was, of course, before Barbie dumped Ken).
Wow. Thinking about this makes me really want to get my boxes of Barbie stuff down from the rafters in my mom's garage. Hmm. Come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea. Those boxes, while up high, are just cardboard boxes. I probably really need to get some rubbermaid containers that will better keep out the moisture and bugs and stuff that could ruin my collection.
When I packed up all my Barbie stuff I think we put all the clothes and accessories in plastic bags. And we matched the large majority of the dolls with their original clothes. I'm not sure that any of them went in the boxes naked. Pretty good since it seems that with most girls, most Barbies end up in a chronic state of undress.
Maybe Jamie and I can go through my Barbies at Thanksgiving. Hehe. Won't that be fun!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Soapbox
DATE: 10/04/2006 14:39:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I wasn't too closely following this scandal in Washington involving a member from the House of Representatives and a Congressional Page. I read the headlines but I didn't delve into the articles. There were more important news stories to follow, like the Amish school shooting (which someone on another blog rightly likened to shooting puppies in a box).
Then I read the headline that made me very "grr". The representative claimed that he had been molested as a young man. Did he think that by making this claim that people would think "oh...well, he was molested, so he has an excuse"? THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE! If anything he should know better. If he was indeed molested, then shouldn't he know first-hand how much damage it does to a person?
Why are people so stupid!? Why do people constantly think they can get away with anything?
Oh, and about the Amish shooting...yes I realize for all the gun loving-freaks out there that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". But if people didn't have guns, people wouldn't be able to kill other people so easily! There is no sense in having high powered guns with bullets capable of piercing through a policeman's protective vest. There is no sense in having a gun that can shoot off a gazillion rounds in less than a minute. No one person needs an entire armory of guns.
Guns should not be able to be bought with just cash and no paper trail. Gun owners should have to have to go through extensive training and obtain a license for owning a gun...just like having a car. Nobody except a cop or other law enforcement official should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon. Manufacturers of "cop killer bullets" should be stopped.
Yes, the bill of right gives us the right to keep and bear arms. That was intended to apply to states, giving states the right to keep and maintain militias for public safety. And at the time, it meant a man could have a gun to protect his property and his family. Times are much different from they were when that was written.
But all of this will make you crazy if you think about it too much. There are always going to be mean and stupid people in this world. All we can do is have faith in our friends and family and whatever faith we subscribe to.
On a lighter note (sorta)...I just heard on the news that a family had to move from their new home because it was infested with SNAKES. That's right....slithery wiggly snakes! I can understand mice and I can understand bugs of some sort. But snakes!?! It seems as the though the house must have been built on top of a winter den where hundreds of snakes hibernate during the cold months. Eeeeeeeeeee! I believe I'd have to move ASAP.
More later!
PS. Beth loves Jamie! (And really wants to have steak and fries from Randy's with him!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Finally back to normal...sorta
DATE: 10/03/2006 12:52:18
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ok. Whew. That's over and done with and I don't have another one to worry with until April, I think.
The board meeting could have been better. I was extremely stressed out and on Saturday morning the stress broke me. But I'm over it now.
I had all day Sunday and all day Monday to recover, and boy did I need it. On Sunday I did leave the apartment building because Bart called around noon (woke me up! bah!) to say he'd forgotten to set the alarm at work. So I walked over in my pjs to set the alarm. Then I made myself a nest on the couch, turned on the tv, and talked to Jamie all afternoon. The race was pretty good. Tony Stewart coasted to the finish line in first place on FUMES! HA! He ran out of gas. Second place finisher Casey Mears did too. It was great.
Monday was just as good as Sunday except for somebody knocking on my door at 10am. Bah. I did NOT get out of bed. I don't know who it was. Probably the bug man. I'm not a fan of bug spray in such a small space with very little ventilation so I don't ask the bug man to come in. Besides...all I have in my apartment are lady bugs. I did drag myself out of bed and got dressed so I could take the projector back to the projector keeper at noon. Then I went to the grocery store. I bought salad stuff and spaghetti stuff. Mmmm two of my favorite things. I had a salad for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.
And on Sunday and Monday I played Runescape (www.RuneScape.com). It's a silly little adventure game kinda like a very basic version of EverQuest. I like it because it's free and it gives me something to do. I spend my time fishing and cooking and mining and killing goblins. I've amassed a good little store of stuff in my bank -- gold, cooked food that I haven't eaten, fishing poles, bait, odds and ends. I've done most of the easy quests. There are a few hard ones that I don't know if I want to attempt yet. I have one long quest that I might do over the weekend, or I could save it for the weekend I go to doggie sit Snickers. I always get so incredibly bored when I'm at Snicker's house. Maybe I'll even upgrade to the Members version of the game. It's only $5 a month and it'll give me LOTS more easy quests to do.
My new favorite show is Heroes on NBC. YAY! It's sooooo goood! And I'm soooo disappointed that I don't have anybody to watch it with! Jamie likes it too, but he gets it three hours after I do. We both really want to see it together so we can say "Hey! Did you see that?!" or "Ooo...wonder what that means?" There's lots of stuff in the background and hidden in the story to find. Very nifty. And very movie-ish. I really hope the 25 million people who watched the premiere last week came back this week to watch the second episode...and I hope they each brought a friend!
YAY! TV is finally getting interesting again. America's Next Top Model is on again. ER's new season started two Thursdays ago. Project Runway's season is almost over, but Top Chef will start the week after the Project Runway finale.
Jamie and I are SO excited about our visit. And it's only almost a month away!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy Day 4
DATE: 09/28/2006 18:25:59
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ugh...
I stayed busy all day doing all sorts of little piddly things. Bart and I ran errands at lunch. We went to AC Moore to pick up a matte and a frame for a certificate. Then we had a leisurely lunch at Qdoba before heading over to Sam's Club to pick up food for tomorrow's board lunch. I love Sam's Club. So much STUFF. We went down the paper product aisle to get cups when I saw the HUGE things of toilet paper. I said if I bought one of those I'd wouldn't have to buy toilet paper for a YEAR. Hehe.
We got everything we needed: sandwhich stuff, cookies, and chips. The only thing we couldn't get was mayo and mustard. Well we could have, but I really don't think 30 people are going to go through 5 lbs of mayo or mustard during one lunch. So somebody will pick up some on their way to work (hint...that someone will not be me since there is NO store between home and work for me. Hehe!).
It was HOT today. Felt like it was in the mid-80s when we were out and about. Kinda humid too. Then thunderstorms rolled in just after 5pm and the temp dropped at least 20 degrees. It's only 55 degrees right now. Nice! I hope it's cool enough tomorrow to pull out a nice skirt and my boots.
I noticed I have some dark circles coming under my eyes. MEH!
Another one of Beth's recommendations: Hate the pain that comes with making your eyebrows look fabulous? Try a little Orajel! It'll deaden the stinging pain that comes with plucking. Niiice.
More later!
PS. Beth is gonna miss Jamie lots while she's dealing with Board Meeting stuff. Bah.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: So tiiired
DATE: 09/27/2006 13:34:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This girlie needs to quit staying up until after 1am. Even with a nap, she's still so very very tired she can hardly think.
Last night Jamie and I got off the phone at a respectable time, shortly after midnight. He needed to go make food before it got too late for him to eat. But I had gotten interested in a movie. Not just any movie, but a movie on Turner Classic Movies. And not just any TCM movie, a black and white FRENCH movie with subtitles. BAH! It was Beauty and the Beast, filmed in 1946. It was pretty good until the end. The ending wasn't good. A ne'er do-well in cohoots with Beauty's coniving sisters and brother tried to break into the Beast's treasure trove and he was shot by a statue of Diana. Then when the Beast turned into a prince he looked like the ne'er do-well! How dumb. He even pointed it out to Beauty. "How do you like that I look like your brother's friend?" Why didn't the Beast look like somebody different? Meh. I wasted all that sleep time for a dumb ending.
That's kind the way I felt when I got to the end of Cold Mountain (the book, not the movie...wow I actually read a book before seeing the movie version. Come to think of it, I still haven't seen the movie...hmm). I got to the end and the whole book seemed pointless.
I felt so bad for Jennifer today. She showed up, but I never saw her come in. Then she came back downstairs and knocked on my door. I asked if we could skip today, obviously she hadn't gotten my email that I sent on Monday. So she had to go back upstairs and pack up her instrument. There's just no way I could force myself to play when my eyes would hardly stay open. I went straight home at lunch, scarfed down some leftover mac and cheese, and climbed in bed for a nap. It was sooooo gooood.
I've been busy busy busy all day today, but I have managed to have the piles needing my immediate attention put to rest. Thank goodness. Tomorrow Bart and I are heading out to Sam's Club at lunch. Gotta figure out where I want to eat lunch. We could eat at Qdoba...or maybe Chik-fil-a since that's in the same shopping area as Sam's.
I hope I can make it through all my tv shows tonight since tonight is the GOOD night of television. I don't want to fall asleep during Project Runway.
MEH. Stupid campaign numbers aren't lining up right. What we have isn't matching up to what our campaign counsel has. And what I have isn't lining up with what Bart has. Next week we're going to have to go line by line to figure out what's wrong.
Argh. But now it's time to put away numbers and get ready to go HOOOOOME.
More later!
PS. Beth likes Jamie...a lil bit.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy Day 2
DATE: 09/26/2006 16:51:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I worked pretty much non-stop today except for lunch and when Bart and I went to Salemtowne. Salemtowne, for those not in the know, is the Moravian retirement complex in town. It's a nifty place with a big apartment house and then a community of cute little bity houses for old folks. And it's very pricey. But, they don't to worry about anything. There's food, activities, books, fitness, beauty, medical, and pretty much anything an old person could ever want. Ah, but why did we go to the old folks home, you ask? Well, because that's where we're having our Friday night board meeting dinner and concert. We had to take the check for dinner, and I had to be shown where to go so I could help everybody else find their way around.
After that, it was back to work to tie up the loose ends of my print ad presentation for the board. I worked about 15 minutes into lunch, so I rushed home to scarf down a sammich and hopped in bed for my naaaaap. Jamie and I have developed a bad habit of talking on the phone until after 1am. MEH! But the lunch nap helps me make it all the way through the next day.
I went back to work at 1:30 and became a slave to the copy machine. I had to copy and cut 200 sheets in half for the concert on Saturday and I had to copy and fold the programs for the Friday evening concert. Then I had to make copies of stuff for the meeting. Meh. Copycopycopycopycopycopy! It was hot work, especially folding the programs which were still warm.
The group performing on Saturday had a rehearsal this afternoon. I got a call around 4:30 asking if I could take them extra parts for their rehearsal that was starting right then. I said..."Um, I'm heading out the door to go to my own 5pm rehearsal. Somebody there will have to come pick up the parts." Great way to check to make sure you have the right music BEFORE your rehearsal. Bah.
I rushed out the door and over to WFU for viol rehearsal. Practice went pretty good. It doesn't take as long for us to sound like we know what we're doing anymore. Only a couple of rehearsals sound rough, not five or six. Then I stopped at the Harris Teeter on the way home and picked up a salad from the salad bar. Mmmmm taaaaasty.
I still have M&Ms left, though I will have quite a bit fewer by the time tonight is over cus I'm about to raid it. Mmmmm candy! And not just any candy....candy from my honey!! YAAAAY!!!
Welll...I still have more busy days ahead of me. Meh. I'll definitely be looking forward next week.
More later!
PS. Beth thinks Jamie is great!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy
DATE: 09/25/2006 18:03:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well...today was the start of the "week of the board meeting". I have a ton of projects, chores, and errands to do before the meeting starts on Friday at 1:30pm. Luckily, I don't think I have to pick up anybody from the airport this year. I hope that doesn't change at the last moment. Meh.
I started my very first PowerPoint Presentation today. I use PowerPoint all the time, but not in the way it's meant to be used. To show off all the print ads I designed this year (which, incidentally, I created in PowerPoint), I'm gonna make a color presentation with bells and whistles and animations and stuff to project onto a wall.
I went for a walk today. The air had just a hint of almost-chill to it. Perfect for a walk. I saw several dogs and their owners out for the evening. The square was full of parents and kids under the age of 6. I even saw the guineas that live down at the bottom of the hill! Biiiirdies. Funny looking birdies.
I was very lazy this weekend, though I did more this weekend that last weekend. I did do laundry on Saturday and on Sunday I even left the building to take out the trash. Oh, and the 3 pound bag of M&Ms? I still have about half of it left. Hehe. Mmmmm candy!! And I always think about Jamie whenever I grab a handful.
My guy is doing much better from his ordeal with the dentist. His jaw still bothers him from time to time, but I imagine that, like his back, it'll take a while to completely get over. The doctor did a piece of work on his mouth trying to get those teeth out. Poor boy. At least he's able to eat food. Hard to eat real food with a messed up mouth.
Horrah for Jeff Burton who won yesterday's race at Dover!!! YAY!!!! That was a great win and I know all of his folks (teammates, crew, family, friends, sponsors) will be partying all week long. YAY!
The other day I started my list of things I recommend. I have a hard time making a long list of things I don't like because I tend to forget about them, but here's one I tried today that I don't recommend: Zataran's Microwave Dirty Rice...the kind that comes in the microwaveable pouch. It's very salty and, other than that, doesn't have much flavor. Reading the nutrition label, I almost fell over to see that 1 serving had about 50% of the daily sodium intake. The pouch had 1.5 servings. UGH! I'd much rather get the box of Dirty Rice mix and make it the long way using plenty of sauuuuusage. Though I do recommend using turkey sausage with the Dirty Rice mix. It's a little milder than the mild pork sausage, and just as tasty.
Time for the new show on NBC --- Heroes. I hope it's good, and I hope enough other people think it's good so NBC will keep it past one season.
More later!
PS. BETH LOVES JAMIE!!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: TV
DATE: 09/22/2006 18:03:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Why, oh why does television have to be so craptacular on the weekends? According to the news tonight we watch an average of 4.5 hours of tv every night. I'm sure that number is much higher on the weekends. So, why can't there be something worth watching on everynight of the week?
The best night of tv, in my opinion, is Wednesday. Not much else is better than Mythbusters and Project Runway. Unfortunately Project Runway is at the end of its season and has only two or three shows left. At least Top Chef season two starts the week after Project Runway ends. YAY! Next best night is Thursday...mostly because I know the next day is Friday. Hehe. But at least Thursday has ER. The season premiere was last night. Yay Abby didn't die! Yay Jerry didn't die! And yay Abby and Luca's baby didn't die!
Not too many new shows look very interesting, though I'm very curious to see Heroes on NBC Monday nights. That show looks very cool, but I have a feeling that it'll get axed. The shows I like always canned. Bah.
Luckily, Saturday daytime tv isn't too bad because I can either watch a Busch series race or watch an ACC football game. HOORAY for college football season! For the past two Saturday's I've seen Duke get their booties handed to them. Two weeks ago they played Wake Forest, but the Deacons beat them by only 3 points. Last week they played Virginia Tech and got stomped. Va Tech won by like 20 points. Duke needs to just give up when it comes to football. Maybe I'll get to see another WFU game this weekend. I like Wake Forest!
Saturday nights are horrible though. Meh. I have movies to watch...but I don't like to watch movies by myself. Luckily Jamie LOVES movies. We'll be each other's movie buddy!
Today I went to my first Friends of the School of Music of Salem College meeting. I'm a new member and I've been thrown into the fire by being made secretary. I don't think it's right to give someone new that big a responsibility. I'm slightly worried that they asked me just because I live and work in the area---meaning "Oh, she'll be available to do anything and everything we need someone to do". Meh. I have a job and stuff to do (like with Jamie...hehe!). All of the other people are little old people who've been retired since I was born pretty much. But, lunch was SOOOOO good. I wanted to be a little piglet so bad, but I restrained myself. Lunch was crescent roll sandwiches (turkey, bacon, and cheese or chicken salad or roast beef....talk about a HARD choice...I got the turkey one), pasta salad (sooooo gooooood...I wanted a plate full of it), fruit salad, pickles, chips, and cookies and lemon bars (I had two lemon bars mmmmm). I really really really wanted to take a sandwich back with me, but we had linen napkins instead of paper ones so there was nothing to wrap a sandwich with. The next meeting is in April and I hope the food is just as good, though it'll be a dinner instead of a lunch for that meeting.
I went to Walmart this afternoon while Jamie went to lunch. I love the Walmart in Kernersville. It still feels nice and new. The cart I had today was the smoothest driving cart I've ever pushed in my life. The thing I like best about the newer Walmarts is that they have self-checkout lines. I LOVE self-checkout. There's hardly ever a line and you can bag your stuff the way you want to bag your stuff. I've actually had cashiers put just one item in each bag. That's a little excessive. I know some stuff (like heavy stuff or delicate stuff) needs to go one to a bag, but snacks can be packed together, several cans can be packed together, and definitely most of the meat can be packed together.
YAY FOR THE WEEKEND! I better enjoy it because I don't get much of a weekend next weekend. Fall board meeting at work. Bah.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My boy loves me!
DATE: 09/21/2006 07:42:11
STATUS: publish
BODY:
One of my favorite collections of Barbie stuff was my kitchen stuff! I had a fridge with lots of food. I had a cabinet unit that had a sink and a microwave and an oven (that came complete with a golden brown plastic turkey!). I had dishes and glasses and pots and pans and even teeny tiny silverware. It was great! I usually had more fun stocking the fridge and arranging the stuff in the cabinets than actually pretending Barbie was cooking anything.
In fact...my favorite thing about dragging out my two huge boxes of Barbie stuff was actually laying out the floorplan of the "house" and decorating. I even had a mini Christmas tree! Hmm...I was an interior designer before I'd ever even heard of HGTV. Hehe.
I remember the last piece of Barbie furniture I got. My childhood best friend gave me the Barbie vanity for Christmas one year. It was great. It had brushes and combs and powder puffs and a little frame with a picture of Ken on it (this was, of course, before Barbie dumped Ken).
When I packed up all my Barbie stuff I think we put all the clothes and accessories in plastic bags. And we matched the large majority of the dolls with their original clothes. I'm not sure that any of them went in the boxes naked. Pretty good since it seems that with most girls, most Barbies end up in a chronic state of undress.
Maybe Jamie
and I can go through my Barbies at Thanksgiving. Hehe. Won't that be fun!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Soapbox
DATE: 10/04/2006 14:39:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I wasn't too closely following this scandal in Washington involving a member from the House of Representatives and a Congressional Page. I read the headlines but I didn't delve into the articles. There were more important news stories to follow, like the Amish school shooting (which someone on another blog rightly likened to shooting puppies in a box).
Then I read the headline that made me very "grr". The representative claimed that he had been molested as a young man. Did he think that by making this claim that people would think "oh...well, he was molested, so he has an excuse"? THAT IS NOT AN EXCUSE! If anything he should know better. If he was indeed molested, then shouldn't he know first-hand how much damage it does to a person?
Oh, and about the Amish shooting...yes I realize for all the gun loving-freaks out there that "Guns don't kill people, people kill people". But if people didn't have guns, people wouldn't be able to kill other people so easily! There is no sense in having high powered guns with bullets capable of piercing through a policeman's protective vest. There is no sense in having a gun that can shoot off a gazillion rounds in less than a minute. No one person needs an entire armory of guns.
Guns should not be able to be bought with just cash and no paper trail. Gun owners should have to have to go through extensive training and obtain a license for owning a gun...just like having a car. Nobody except a cop or other law enforcement official should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon. Manufacturers of "cop killer bullets" should be stopped.
Yes, the bill of right gives us the right to keep and bear arms. That was intended to apply to states, giving states the right to keep and maintain militias for public safety. And at the time, it meant a man could have a gun to protect his property and his family. Times are much different from they were when that was written.
On a lighter note (sorta)...I just heard on the news that a family had to move from their new home because it was infested with SNAKES. That's right....slithery wiggly snakes! I can understand mice and I can understand bugs of some sort. But snakes!?! It seems as the though the house must have been built on top of a winter den where hundreds of snakes hibernate during the cold months. Eeeeeeeeeee! I believe I'd have to move ASAP.
More later!
PS. Beth loves Jamie
! (And really wants to have steak and fries from Randy's with him!)-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Finally back to normal...sorta
DATE: 10/03/2006 12:52:18
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ok. Whew. That's over and done with and I don't have another one to worry with until April, I think.
The board meeting could have been better. I was extremely stressed out and on Saturday morning the stress broke me. But I'm over it now.
I had all day Sunday and all day Monday to recover, and boy did I need it. On Sunday I did leave the apartment building because Bart called around noon (woke me up! bah!) to say he'd forgotten to set the alarm at work. So I walked over in my pjs to set the alarm. Then I made myself a nest on the couch, turned on the tv, and talked to Jamie
all afternoon. The race was pretty good. Tony Stewart coasted to the finish line in first place on FUMES! HA! He ran out of gas. Second place finisher Casey Mears did too. It was great.Monday was just as good as Sunday except for somebody knocking on my door at 10am. Bah. I did NOT get out of bed. I don't know who it was. Probably the bug man. I'm not a fan of bug spray in such a small space with very little ventilation so I don't ask the bug man to come in. Besides...all I have in my apartment are lady bugs. I did drag myself out of bed and got dressed so I could take the projector back to the projector keeper at noon. Then I went to the grocery store. I bought salad stuff and spaghetti stuff. Mmmm two of my favorite things. I had a salad for lunch and spaghetti for dinner.
And on Sunday and Monday I played Runescape (www.RuneScape.com). It's a silly little adventure game kinda like a very basic version of EverQuest. I like it because it's free and it gives me something to do. I spend my time fishing and cooking and mining and killing goblins. I've amassed a good little store of stuff in my bank -- gold, cooked food that I haven't eaten, fishing poles, bait, odds and ends. I've done most of the easy quests. There are a few hard ones that I don't know if I want to attempt yet. I have one long quest that I might do over the weekend, or I could save it for the weekend I go to doggie sit Snickers. I always get so incredibly bored when I'm at Snicker's house. Maybe I'll even upgrade to the Members version of the game. It's only $5 a month and it'll give me LOTS more easy quests to do.
My new favorite show is Heroes on NBC. YAY! It's sooooo goood! And I'm soooo disappointed that I don't have anybody to watch it with! Jamie
likes it too, but he gets it three hours after I do. We both really want to see it together so we can say "Hey! Did you see that?!" or "Ooo...wonder what that means?" There's lots of stuff in the background and hidden in the story to find. Very nifty. And very movie-ish. I really hope the 25 million people who watched the premiere last week came back this week to watch the second episode...and I hope they each brought a friend!YAY! TV is finally getting interesting again. America's Next Top Model is on again. ER's new season started two Thursdays ago. Project Runway's season is almost over, but Top Chef will start the week after the Project Runway finale.
Jamie
and I are SO excited about our visit. And it's only almost a month away!! More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy Day 4
DATE: 09/28/2006 18:25:59
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ugh...
I stayed busy all day doing all sorts of little piddly things. Bart and I ran errands at lunch. We went to AC Moore to pick up a matte and a frame for a certificate. Then we had a leisurely lunch at Qdoba before heading over to Sam's Club to pick up food for tomorrow's board lunch. I love Sam's Club. So much STUFF. We went down the paper product aisle to get cups when I saw the HUGE things of toilet paper. I said if I bought one of those I'd wouldn't have to buy toilet paper for a YEAR. Hehe.
We got everything we needed: sandwhich stuff, cookies, and chips. The only thing we couldn't get was mayo and mustard. Well we could have, but I really don't think 30 people are going to go through 5 lbs of mayo or mustard during one lunch. So somebody will pick up some on their way to work (hint...that someone will not be me since there is NO store between home and work for me. Hehe!).
It was HOT today. Felt like it was in the mid-80s when we were out and about. Kinda humid too. Then thunderstorms rolled in just after 5pm and the temp dropped at least 20 degrees. It's only 55 degrees right now. Nice! I hope it's cool enough tomorrow to pull out a nice skirt and my boots.
Another one of Beth's recommendations: Hate the pain that comes with making your eyebrows look fabulous? Try a little Orajel! It'll deaden the stinging pain that comes with plucking. Niiice.
More later!
PS. Beth is gonna miss Jamie
lots while she's dealing with Board Meeting stuff. Bah.-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: So tiiired
DATE: 09/27/2006 13:34:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This girlie needs to quit staying up until after 1am. Even with a nap, she's still so very very tired she can hardly think.
Last night Jamie
and I got off the phone at a respectable time, shortly after midnight. He needed to go make food before it got too late for him to eat. But I had gotten interested in a movie. Not just any movie, but a movie on Turner Classic Movies. And not just any TCM movie, a black and white FRENCH movie with subtitles. BAH! It was Beauty and the Beast, filmed in 1946. It was pretty good until the end. The ending wasn't good. A ne'er do-well in cohoots with Beauty's coniving sisters and brother tried to break into the Beast's treasure trove and he was shot by a statue of Diana. Then when the Beast turned into a prince he looked like the ne'er do-well! How dumb. He even pointed it out to Beauty. "How do you like that I look like your brother's friend?" Why didn't the Beast look like somebody different? Meh. I wasted all that sleep time for a dumb ending.That's kind the way I felt when I got to the end of Cold Mountain (the book, not the movie...wow I actually read a book before seeing the movie version. Come to think of it, I still haven't seen the movie...hmm). I got to the end and the whole book seemed pointless.
I felt so bad for Jennifer today. She showed up, but I never saw her come in. Then she came back downstairs and knocked on my door. I asked if we could skip today, obviously she hadn't gotten my email that I sent on Monday. So she had to go back upstairs and pack up her instrument. There's just no way I could force myself to play when my eyes would hardly stay open. I went straight home at lunch, scarfed down some leftover mac and cheese, and climbed in bed for a nap. It was sooooo gooood.
I've been busy busy busy all day today, but I have managed to have the piles needing my immediate attention put to rest. Thank goodness. Tomorrow Bart and I are heading out to Sam's Club at lunch. Gotta figure out where I want to eat lunch. We could eat at Qdoba...or maybe Chik-fil-a since that's in the same shopping area as Sam's.
I hope I can make it through all my tv shows tonight since tonight is the GOOD night of television. I don't want to fall asleep during Project Runway.
MEH. Stupid campaign numbers aren't lining up right. What we have isn't matching up to what our campaign counsel has. And what I have isn't lining up with what Bart has. Next week we're going to have to go line by line to figure out what's wrong.
Argh. But now it's time to put away numbers and get ready to go HOOOOOME.
More later!
PS. Beth likes Jamie
...a lil bit.-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy Day 2
DATE: 09/26/2006 16:51:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I worked pretty much non-stop today except for lunch and when Bart and I went to Salemtowne. Salemtowne, for those not in the know, is the Moravian retirement complex in town. It's a nifty place with a big apartment house and then a community of cute little bity houses for old folks. And it's very pricey. But, they don't to worry about anything. There's food, activities, books, fitness, beauty, medical, and pretty much anything an old person could ever want. Ah, but why did we go to the old folks home, you ask? Well, because that's where we're having our Friday night board meeting dinner and concert. We had to take the check for dinner, and I had to be shown where to go so I could help everybody else find their way around.
After that, it was back to work to tie up the loose ends of my print ad presentation for the board. I worked about 15 minutes into lunch, so I rushed home to scarf down a sammich and hopped in bed for my naaaaap. Jamie
and I have developed a bad habit of talking on the phone until after 1am. MEH! But the lunch nap helps me make it all the way through the next day.I went back to work at 1:30 and became a slave to the copy machine. I had to copy and cut 200 sheets in half for the concert on Saturday and I had to copy and fold the programs for the Friday evening concert. Then I had to make copies of stuff for the meeting. Meh. Copycopycopycopycopycopy! It was hot work, especially folding the programs which were still warm.
The group performing on Saturday had a rehearsal this afternoon. I got a call around 4:30 asking if I could take them extra parts for their rehearsal that was starting right then. I said..."Um, I'm heading out the door to go to my own 5pm rehearsal. Somebody there will have to come pick up the parts." Great way to check to make sure you have the right music BEFORE your rehearsal. Bah.
I rushed out the door and over to WFU for viol rehearsal. Practice went pretty good. It doesn't take as long for us to sound like we know what we're doing anymore. Only a couple of rehearsals sound rough, not five or six. Then I stopped at the Harris Teeter on the way home and picked up a salad from the salad bar. Mmmmm taaaaasty.
I still have M&Ms left, though I will have quite a bit fewer by the time tonight is over cus I'm about to raid it. Mmmmm candy! And not just any candy....candy from my honey!! YAAAAY!!!
Welll...I still have more busy days ahead of me. Meh. I'll definitely be looking forward next week.
More later!
PS. Beth thinks Jamie
is great!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Busybusybusy
DATE: 09/25/2006 18:03:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well...today was the start of the "week of the board meeting". I have a ton of projects, chores, and errands to do before the meeting starts on Friday at 1:30pm. Luckily, I don't think I have to pick up anybody from the airport this year. I hope that doesn't change at the last moment. Meh.
I started my very first PowerPoint Presentation today. I use PowerPoint all the time, but not in the way it's meant to be used. To show off all the print ads I designed this year (which, incidentally, I created in PowerPoint), I'm gonna make a color presentation with bells and whistles and animations and stuff to project onto a wall.
I went for a walk today. The air had just a hint of almost-chill to it. Perfect for a walk. I saw several dogs and their owners out for the evening. The square was full of parents and kids under the age of 6. I even saw the guineas that live down at the bottom of the hill! Biiiirdies. Funny looking birdies.
I was very lazy this weekend, though I did more this weekend that last weekend. I did do laundry on Saturday and on Sunday I even left the building to take out the trash. Oh, and the 3 pound bag of M&Ms? I still have about half of it left. Hehe. Mmmmm candy!! And I always think about Jamie
whenever I grab a handful.My guy is doing much better from his ordeal with the dentist. His jaw still bothers him from time to time, but I imagine that, like his back, it'll take a while to completely get over. The doctor did a piece of work on his mouth trying to get those teeth out. Poor boy. At least he's able to eat food. Hard to eat real food with a messed up mouth.
Horrah for Jeff Burton who won yesterday's race at Dover!!! YAY!!!! That was a great win and I know all of his folks (teammates, crew, family, friends, sponsors) will be partying all week long.
The other day I started my list of things I recommend. I have a hard time making a long list of things I don't like because I tend to forget about them, but here's one I tried today that I don't recommend: Zataran's Microwave Dirty Rice...the kind that comes in the microwaveable pouch. It's very salty and, other than that, doesn't have much flavor. Reading the nutrition label, I almost fell over to see that 1 serving had about 50% of the daily sodium intake. The pouch had 1.5 servings. UGH! I'd much rather get the box of Dirty Rice mix and make it the long way using plenty of sauuuuusage. Though I do recommend using turkey sausage with the Dirty Rice mix. It's a little milder than the mild pork sausage, and just as tasty.
Time for the new show on NBC --- Heroes. I hope it's good, and I hope enough other people think it's good so NBC will keep it past one season.
More later!
PS. BETH LOVES JAMIE
!!!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: TV
DATE: 09/22/2006 18:03:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Why, oh why does television have to be so craptacular on the weekends? According to the news tonight we watch an average of 4.5 hours of tv every night. I'm sure that number is much higher on the weekends. So, why can't there be something worth watching on everynight of the week?
The best night of tv, in my opinion, is Wednesday. Not much else is better than Mythbusters and Project Runway. Unfortunately Project Runway is at the end of its season and has only two or three shows left. At least Top Chef season two starts the week after Project Runway ends. YAY! Next best night is Thursday...mostly because I know the next day is Friday. Hehe. But at least Thursday has ER. The season premiere was last night. Yay Abby didn't die! Yay Jerry didn't die! And yay Abby and Luca's baby didn't die!
Not too many new shows look very interesting, though I'm very curious to see Heroes on NBC Monday nights. That show looks very cool, but I have a feeling that it'll get axed. The shows I like always canned. Bah.
Luckily, Saturday daytime tv isn't too bad because I can either watch a Busch series race or watch an ACC football game. HOORAY for college football season! For the past two Saturday's I've seen Duke get their booties handed to them. Two weeks ago they played Wake Forest, but the Deacons beat them by only 3 points. Last week they played Virginia Tech and got stomped. Va Tech won by like 20 points. Duke needs to just give up when it comes to football. Maybe I'll get to see another WFU game this weekend. I like Wake Forest!
Saturday nights are horrible though. Meh. I have movies to watch...but I don't like to watch movies by myself. Luckily Jamie LOVES movies. We'll be each other's movie buddy!
Today I went to my first Friends of the School of Music of Salem College meeting. I'm a new member and I've been thrown into the fire by being made secretary. I don't think it's right to give someone new that big a responsibility. I'm slightly worried that they asked me just because I live and work in the area---meaning "Oh, she'll be available to do anything and everything we need someone to do". Meh. I have a job and stuff to do (like with Jamie
...hehe!). All of the other people are little old people who've been retired since I was born pretty much. But, lunch was SOOOOO good. I wanted to be a little piglet so bad, but I restrained myself. Lunch was crescent roll sandwiches (turkey, bacon, and cheese or chicken salad or roast beef....talk about a HARD choice...I got the turkey one), pasta salad (sooooo gooooood...I wanted a plate full of it), fruit salad, pickles, chips, and cookies and lemon bars (I had two lemon bars mmmmm). I really really really wanted to take a sandwich back with me, but we had linen napkins instead of paper ones so there was nothing to wrap a sandwich with. The next meeting is in April and I hope the food is just as good, though it'll be a dinner instead of a lunch for that meeting.I went to Walmart this afternoon while Jamie
went to lunch. I love the Walmart in Kernersville. It still feels nice and new. The cart I had today was the smoothest driving cart I've ever pushed in my life. The thing I like best about the newer Walmarts is that they have self-checkout lines. I LOVE self-checkout. There's hardly ever a line and you can bag your stuff the way you want to bag your stuff. I've actually had cashiers put just one item in each bag. That's a little excessive. I know some stuff (like heavy stuff or delicate stuff) needs to go one to a bag, but snacks can be packed together, several cans can be packed together, and definitely most of the meat can be packed together.YAY FOR THE WEEKEND! I better enjoy it because I don't get much of a weekend next weekend.
More later!
-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My boy loves me!
DATE: 09/21/2006 07:42:11
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Oh my goodness...
Jamie
sent me a three pound bag of M&Ms. EEEEEEEEE!!!! THREE POUNDS!!! I think he loves me, just a lil bit. Don't you?
I didn't even know that M&Ms came in such biiiiiiig bags. The biggest bag I've ever seen was the X-large bag in the stores, which I think is a pound or maybe two. This is the XXL bag. 52 oz (3 lbs 4oz or 1474.2 grams) of delicious, crunchy, chocolatey goodness. And best of all there was a cold pack in the box with the candy, so it's nicely chilled.
EEEEEEE!!!
I'll have to pace myself or I could end up with a chocolate induced tummy ache, which would be horrid because it might just put me off of M&Ms for a while---that would be a tragedy!!
Jamie
is the bestest boyfriend ever! He knows exactly what kind of chocolate his girl likes best! And while even a little individual bag of M&Ms makes me happy, he sent the BIG bag to make me EXTRA happy. YAY!!!I think I might have to save this bag as a momento. How sappy!
More later!
-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Plans for Jamie's Visit
DATE: 09/20/2006 15:30:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
- Introduce him to Chick-fil-a and Bojangles
- Take him to my favorite restaurants (El Dorado, Kimono, Filling Station)
- Take him to our favorite restaurant (Olive Garden)
- Go to the zoo
- See a movie in the theater with the moveable arm rests -- snuggles!
- Go grocery shopping together
- Wander around Walmart
- Wander around the Mall
- Walk around Old Salem
- Watch tons of movies
- Be lazy on the couch all weekend long
- Play video games (he's gonna send at least one of his consoles, and quite possibly all three!!!)
- Watch Mythbusters, Futurama, Rachael Ray, and Alton Brown together
- Hold hands in public everywhere we go and maybe steal a peck here and there too
- Go to the farmer's market
- Cook dinner together
- Go to gigs together -- he can hear me play and I get to have a groupie!
- Drive around town looking at all the pretty houses
- Roll around in the fall leaves
- Think up other things to do!
Hehe. Jamie
and I have BIG plans for his visit. I hope we can squeeze all of them in without feeling like we're constantly go-go-go.Duets today were great. Last week was kinda crappy cus I was antsy and my back hurt. So instead of what we were working on last week, I suggested we work on something completely different. So I pulled out some of my Renaissance and early Baroque dance music. Jennifer loooooved it. We even put together a "set" of tunes---actually it's the same tune only written to different ways and then we jazzed up the last go-through with a canon! Nifty! I hope we find somewhere to play our new repertoire of early music.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Endorsed by Beth
DATE: 09/19/2006 18:12:04
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today was a kinda boring, yet productive day. Not too much to write about. So I decided to make a list of products that I recommend.
1. Tyson chicken in a can --- great for a very quick chicken salad
2. Cetaphil lotion --- not greasy, no smell, gives the skin a good soak; kind of pricey, but well worth it
3. Swiffer cloths --- best way to get dust up from surfaces, great for the floor too
4. Baking Power --- add a little to a fresh trash bag and it helps soak up the smell in case you throw away something stinky
5. Post-It Flags --- great bookmarks, especially for music books
6. Kraft Light Real Mayo in the squeezable plastic jar --- goes well with Tyson chicken in a can for chicken salad
7. Crest Whitening Expressions Toothpaste --- I like the herbal mint or the cinnamon (tastes like Big Red gum!).
8. Dish washing sponge that has a handle you put dish soap in --- one of the best inventions ever!
9. Grippy placemats --- great for stablizing a cutting board or opening a new jar
10. Dry Erase calendars --- buy one, it's good for years! Just needs new markers from time to time.
11. Mozilla Firefox --- way cooler than Internet Explorer, and safer too!
12. Ritz Chips --- one word: YUM.
13. Dr. Grip Pens --- big fat pens, very easy on the hand; kinda like the big fat crayons little kids color with
14. Glycerin soaps from Bath and Body Works --- not to wash with, but to put in drawers to make clothes smell nice
15. Big bottle of Lemon Juice --- great for fresh squeezed tasting lemonade (1 cup juice to 1 1/2 to 2 cups of sugar is enough "mix" for a gallon of water)
16. Jamie
Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Sweaty!
DATE: 09/18/2006 15:01:14
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I just got back from a nice walk. There was a nice breeze and I stayed in the shade for most of the walk. My mp3 player took it's first official work-out walk. YAY! I had tunes on my jaunt through Old Salem.
It's almost Fall! I know because I smelled, for the first time this season, the dry, dusty, musty smell of crunched up fallen leaves. Mmmm such a nice smell. I walked past the Tavern and smelled DINNER! Hehe. Smelled yummy.
Just saw a bit on the news were two 80-year-old women got locked in their Cadillac. Yes. IN the car...not out of. The battery died and they couldn't figure out how to manually unlock the car. They were stuck for 2 hours before someone saw the sign they'd put in the rear window saying "Call 911". EMTs showed up and busted out a window to get the women out. The ladies suffered heat stroke (they were in Florida...or at least the tag on the car was for Florida). So sad when the technology of the car you drive everyday is more than you can handle. Of course, Dr. Daniel says his car could probably drive itself...it has so many bells and whistles and buttons.
Jamie's
mouth is doing better. The doctor did a number on his jaw as he was trying to get one of the teeth out, and the poor boy is still sore. Luckily he has a friend who just happens to be a chiropractor. Jim has worked on him a couple of times since he had his teeth pulled. I think it's helped some, but it'll just take time to completely get better.I hope the weather is nice for his visit this fall so we can go for walks often. There are lots of places around here to walk without having to drive anywhere first. And we can hold hands...
How sappy! Hehe.Time to cook dinner! YAY! Fooood!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Restaurant Review
DATE: 09/15/2006 16:46:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today I was taking out to lunch by our new webmaster and his wife. They wanted to thank me for the business I was giving them and wanted to sort of "make up" for the way our old webmaster was acting. They asked where I wanted to go and I said anywhere was great. So they suggested the Fourth Street Filling Station. Awesome! I'd never been there but I'd heard of it before.
The restaurant is in what used to be an Old Filling Station (aka a gas station). The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we sat down on the patio. The waitress brought out the menu and I spent the next 5 minutes battling out in my head what I wanted. The menu had lots of nifty stuff not found anywhere else and most everything was in the $6-8 range. They had burgers and wraps and sandwiches and salads. Perfect lunch fare at reasonable prices (compared to the prices at the other downtown restaurants).
I finally decided on the Tuscan Sandwich which was roasted red peppers, tomato and basil pesto and a slice of fresh mozzerella cheese on chewy ciabatta bread. I ordered it with chicken, but it came without. No problem. The sandwich was still very very tasty. I did ask the waitress to make sure the chicken wasn't charged to the bill since I didn't get it. Chicken was $2 extra. I had yummy yummy sweet potato fries with my sandwich, but I could have gotten regular fries, homemade chips, pasta salad, or fruit. And, since this was technically a business lunch, we all got dessert too. Hehe. I had the chocolate mousse. SOOOO GOOOD!
There was lots on the menu that I'd like to try...including the burger and the chicken sandwich. The Filling Station has a dinner menu with more stuff on it, but still has all the lunch menu items at the lunch prices. On Saturday and Sunday they have a brunch menu until 3pm in addition to the lunch menu.
I can't wait to take Jamie
there! We can be all couple-y in a cool hip place. There are other places downtown I want to try out too...like Mellow Mushroom and Foothills Brewery. The Brewery has live music! Hopefully we can hear some tunes with dinner one night.I really hope we have a fair weather weekend to go walking around the artsy shops downtown. Soooo coool!!
More later!
Beffie hearts Jamie
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Lunchtime Adventure
DATE: 09/14/2006 11:49:50
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today was lunchtime lecture day at work. This morning I passed around the Jersey Mike's menu for everybody to pick out what they wanted to eat. Since I had to go to the bank, I stopped by to pick up the food.
Here's how the adventure unfolded...
I'm sitting at a stoplight in the left-turn lane waiting for the signal to change. After a few seconds the light turns green and I lift my foot off the brake. The car begins to roll forward. I hear some strange noise, but I'm about to be in the middle of the turn and can't stop to investigate because I have cars behind me wanting to turn too. All of a sudden a guy walking a vivid orange bike appears right in front of me. He had been yelling as my car rolled forward, that was the strange noise. I slam on the brakes but bump him anyway knocking him off balance. He falls sideways onto his bike then quickly scrambles back to his feet. I roll down my window.
"Are you ok?" I yell over the sound of the traffic.
"I'm alright" he says walking away.
"Are you sure you're ok?" I yell with a bit of annoyance in my voice.
"Yeah, yeah." He keeps walking up the street.
By this time my signal has turned red again and the nose of my car is a few feet past the white line. Luckily the car behind me hasn't pulled up on my bumper so I back up a bit, but I'm still kinda cockeyed in the lane since I stopped in mid-turn. Through the red-light, I watch the guy walk up the sidewalk pushing his bike. Then I watch him dart across the street in front of traffic about 100 years up from the intersection.
He did NOT have the right of way when he walked in front of me. Traffic going his direction had already had the yellow caution light and the red light---I'm guessing before he was two steps into the intersection. He was coming from my right. Plus there was probably a good second to a second and a half between when I saw the light turn green until I took my foot off the pedal and the car rolled forward. In his defense, I do have to point out that that intersection does have pedestrian signals but they were not working. That's the city of WS's fault. However, had he been riding the bike instead of pushing it, he would have been running the red light just as though he had been driving a car and the accident would have been his fault.
I hope he's ok. And, I hope he pays better attention when it's just him and his bike against two dozen 1/2 ton vehicles.
Anyway...lunch was good. I had a sub with roast beef, turkey, swiss, bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles, mayo, oil and vinegar, and spices. Very tasty!
Jamie
is doing ok after having his wisdom teeth yanked out of his head. He's not doing much better than yesterday, but that's still better than Tuesday night. He's taking his medicine on schedule and getting some pretty good sleep. I'm sure that's helping. His jaw probably took a beating when it took over an hour to get one tooth out. Hopefully it'll be good as new in a day or so.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Rainy rainy day
DATE: 09/13/2006 13:58:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It' s been raining all day long. The good kind of soaking rain that hopefully will help the drought situation in this part of the state. I don't think it has stopped raining at all since it started sometime last night. I had to put on socks and shoes this morning. Meh. It was too chilly and wet for sandals.
Jamie
is doing much better than he was last night. He got back from the dentist only a few minutes after my blog post last night. Poor boy. 
He was in so much pain. One tooth took over an hour for the dentist to pry out. He was able to talk, and didn't sound too funny, on our bedtime phone call. But I could tell he was tired and didn't feel his best. Today is better, but he's still sore. He was able to brush part of his teeth, but he says his jaw didn't work well enough for him to get to the back. He was able to sleep pretty ok last night, which is good. I think the best remedy for most anything is a good sleep. His cheeks aren't even swollen. I kind wished they were, cus I wanted to see pictures of him with bags of peas held against his face. Teehee.I had duets with Jennifer today. I was antsy and uncomfortable through most of the rehearsal. My back was giving me a fit. I haven't had a backache during a rehearsal in a long time. Hmmm...hopefully it's just the rainy weather and my old worn out body not agreeing with each other. Jennifer and I are both signed on to play for the Kingswood church cantata. YAY!! And she said she'd pick up my music for me when she picked up her own. How nice! And, she gave me a check for $33.33--for our gig at the retirement home last month. I told her we needed to play at retirement homes more often. The people there are so very appreciative of a group going out to play for them. Plus, it's a great venue to play fun stuff that isn't terribly difficult. I am a huge fan of music that isn't hard, but I can make sound really good.
Well...it's time to trudge home in the rain. I'm gonna curl up on the couch in some comfy pjs and watch all of my favorite tv shows since it's my favorite night of tv. YAY!
More later!
PS. Beth Hearts Jamie
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Brrr!
DATE: 09/12/2006 16:03:53
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It was pleasantly chilly today. I think 67 was about as warm as it got all day. YAY! Fall is nearly here! I hope the cool weather sticks around for a while, like say until December. My fall wardrobe and booty-kickin' boots are calling out to me from their long hibernation in storage boxes. I love sweaters and fun fall skirts that are perfect to wear with boots.
It's nice to not need a lot of air conditioning too. I turn mine on just before bed so I stay cool during the night. If I get hot in the middle of the night I tend to get itchy. Itchy is bad. Plus I realllly like to be bundled up and buried under the covers.
I'm confirmed to play three Christmas gigs this season. YAY! I've got my Old Salem gig (in costume!), my Friedland church cantata, and my Kingswood church cantata. Now I just hope I can get the Messiah gig. That's my favorite! And, we didn't have the Messiah last year because the lady who ran it got sick in October or November. Unfortunately, she died over the spring. But Messiah WILL be performed this year as a memorial concert. I suppose I might want to call my orchestra contact soon to see if I can play this year.
Best of all...Jamie
gets to hear me play! And he's so excited to tag along. My poor poor boy is having his wisdom teeth removed today. Poor guy. I wish I could be there with bags of frozen peas to put on his poor swollen face. His appointment was at 1pm (his time) and it's now 4pm (his time) . I hope everything's going ok.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Entry for September 11, 2006
DATE: 09/11/2006 13:54:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today is September 11, a seemingly ordinary day. Or at least it started out that way 5 years ago.
<sighs> Today is a kinda depressing day. I woke up and turned on the tv before going in the bathroom. I had to hear Matt Lauer talk to a petulant, whiney George W. All politics aside, I cannot stand to listen to the man talk. His tone, presentation, and speech pattern irk me. Then I had to re-watch some September 11 stuff; hear what Matt Lauer felt like when he heard the words "Cut to Commercial" in his ear piece, hear what Jim Miklaszewski describe the "wummp" of the explosition as the plane hit the Pentagon. I watched too much of that stuff that day that I don't want to watch anymore. I don't think there anything else for me to see.
I even remember exactly where I was when it all happened, as I'm sure most of us do. September 11 is my generation's JFK assassination.
It was my junior year, and I had the best schedule. Bre and I didn't have any classes at all until at least 1pm that semester. So every morning we got up around 9ish to go for a walk. We were on the loop headed back to the dorm when I remember overhearing some girl on her cell phone talking about stuff, but I passed it off as her talking about a movie or something (something like that doesn't really happen in real life). Then we got back to the lobby of our building and our cleaning lady said to us, "Lordie, there's war on New York." We were both like, "Huh?" She said, "They's blowin' up New York."
I don't think I've ever run up three flights of stairs so fast. We dashed to our rooms, and I turned on my tv. It was like watching a movie, only a movie being shown on CNN and MSNBC and every other channel all at the same time. I remember watching Ashleigh Banfield on MSNBC giving live reports from the ground in NYC not too far away from Ground Zero. I remember seeing how haggard she got as the day went on and she never paused from reporting. I remember seeing her in the days following and how she never quite looked rested.
I called my mom. She sleepily answered the phone. I said, "You need to turn on the tv right now." I think my tone scared her a little bit. We wondered about my grandparents who were in Australia at the time. They still had several weeks left to their trip, but would they be able to get back home? All air travel to the US was being diverted to Canada right after the attacks. When would the US airspace open up again? A little while after we talked I realized how lucky I had been to even get my call to her to go through. The cell phone network was jammed solid.
Not too long after that my next door neighbor walked into my room because I had the door open. She was a tall, blonde freshman and she was crying her eyes out. She was from New Jersey and she knew people in NYC and people who worked in the World Trade Center. I held her and felt bad because I couldn't remember her name. Little did I know that that tall, blonde freshman was my future lil sis who would later live on the couch in my apartment for several weeks after she graduated.
I don't remember much after that. Most of the day was spent obsessing over every little news report, even though by the end of the day I had seen every news clip at least 15 times over. I remember word going around before noon that the campus would essentially shut down and that no students were required to go to classes.
I remember that September 11 was a Tuesday that year because that's the day Bre and I had Sociology. We dispised our teacher. We didn't go to class on that day because there was too much going on in the world to worry about. When we got to class on Thursday, we, and several of our classmates, learned that we had indeed been marked absent on Tuesday. After coming thisclose to a bloody mutiny (the rest of the class didn't like the teacher anymore than we did), she finally relented. After all the president of the college had made the announcement herself that no student would have an absence counted against her if she chose not to go to class on September 11.
On Friday September 14, the college held a memorial in the rectial hall. I don't remember much about the memorial. Some songs were sung. Some speakers spoke. I was fine until Dr. Borwick spoke. He has such a tender way of presenting even the roughest subject. Even now I tear up thinking about it, and I don't even truly remember what all he said, other than his closing word was "Salem" spoke in with the Arabic pronounciation...for peace.
In early October my grandparents returned from Australia. Airspace over the US had been resumed and they had no problems getting home, other than going through extra security. As soon as they got home, they booked a trip to NYC. My grandpa had to see for himself. They took my mom with them. I was very jealous. I didn't nessarily want to see Ground Zero, but I wanted to go back to NYC.
After that...it was life as usual for a college student. My day to day life didn't change much. I had no extra security precautions to go through everyday like the people of NYC and Washington DC. I didn't have to go without a loved one. I prayed hard that day for those people...those firemen, those policemen, those rescuers, those mothers and fathers waiting to hear from an adult child, those wives and husbands waiting to hear from their spouses.
What made me maddest of all was that the attack was supposed to be an attack on America and Americans, yet not all of those people in those buildings were American. Those buildings held international businesses and organizations. America is such an international country that if someone attacks it then they attack the world. We cannot trace a strictly American heritage back to the dawn of man. We trace our American heritage back to the heritage of the Latino and the German and the Russian and the Egyptian and the Japanese and the Indian and the Venezulan, and to the cradle of civilization in the Middle East. America is the world's child. Everyone has a stake in its future. By hurting America, the whole world is harmed.
On a lighter note...I went to the dentist today. Both he and the hygenist said "Wow! You have such nice teeth."
No cavities!! I'm beginning to think the dentist who found cavities in my teeth was just some overzealous git who was trigger happy with his drill. Meh.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bah
DATE: 09/08/2006 06:10:46
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Meh. I forgot to post a blog entry yesterday! I kept thinking about it, but then I kept getting sucked into the wonderful world of Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a huge massive online database of STUFF. It's an internet encyclopedia. You just go to www.Wikipedia.org and type in a subject (people, places, stuff, etc). Then it gives you a wealth of tidbit knowledge and a million links to click on for related articles. So you go from looking at the entry for "space shuttle" to somehow ending up at the article for "Blackbeard" by clicking on different links. It's very cool. (Actually I'm not sure if you can get from space shuttle to Blackbeard...but who knows. Maybe I should try!)
Annnyway. Yesterday afternoon found me looking through the different articles for Scientology. I am absolutely fascinated with the topic---fascinated in that I can't believe people are actually following a "religion" like that. I'm not sure that you can even call it a religion. It seriously sounds like some guy thought "Hmmm...I wonder, if I create a crazy stupid religion, how many idiots will follow it. And, I wonder if I put a price tag on joining, how many of them will give ME their entire lifes savings." It all sounds like such a scam and I can't believe people are that dumb. Well, ok....yeah. I can believe it.
I went to SCORCH last night. That's the Salem College Orchestra. I didn't play with them in the spring, but Donna the director called and begged and begged last week for me to come because they only had one violin. Ugh. So me, myself, and I are the second violin section. We did pretty good if we say so ourselves. Luckily the music is not all that technically difficult and the ensemble has a pretty good chance of making it sound great.
In the past, our music has been quite difficult for our level of playing. Since there weren't that many instrumental music majors most of the orchestra had been made up of other college students who just happened to play instruments. The playing level was somewhere between high school and college. I know Donna wanted to expose us to "real" orchestra music, but there is plenty of "real" orchestra music out there that isn't so technically demanding---like the music we're playing this semester.
On a completely different subject, I think I'm getting sick. Meh. I started getting a headache after I got home from orchestra rehearsal last night. I didn't take anything thinking it was just a tired headache, so I went to bed early. But, the headache came back when I woke up...or maybe it never went away but I didn't notice because I was asleep. It started at my forehead but as worked its way down my face to my cheeks and down the back of my head to my neck. Plus I'm starting to be sniffly, which I haven't been lately. I think I'm getting a cold/sinus thing. Arrrrrrgh. Just in time to ruin my weekend to. Not that I had big plans, but I do need to wash clothes.
Jamie's
X-box broke last night. Stupid electronics. I liked the X-Box. It had pool on it! A much better pool than Yahoo pool. Luckily, he said it was still under warranty and should be able to be fixed or replaced at no cost. I hope he got good sleep last night. He hasn't been sleeping well again, and said that night before last he tore his bed apart...nothing was attached like it was supposed to be when he woke up. Poor boy. I still say he should try some Tylenol PM. It's good for his back and for going to sleep.Well...since I started this blog entry I have felt inside of my head slowly change for the worse. I think I will be going home at lunch for a benedryl nap to see if I can stop it before it turns into a full fledged sinus infection.
More later!
PS. Beth misses her Jamie
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: HairHairHair!
DATE: 09/06/2006 14:46:51
STATUS: publish
BODY:
The Recent History of Beth's Hair
Weeks before my first day of school senior year of high school, the seniors had their fancy yearbook pictures taken. In those absolutely goregous pictures of me, my beautiful hair flows almost all the way down to my elbows. I had blow dried it that morning so it was about as straight as my hair gets (without a straightening iron). It was long. It was luscious. It was beautiful. And, I always kept it pulled back in a half-ponytail. I HATED wearing it down or even just pulled partially back with a clip. Sometime near the end of my senior year, close to graduation, I whacked my lovely locks to the land of short, somewhere between my ear lobes and shoulders.
In the months that followed, I kept it about shoulder length---mostly long enough to pull back in a ponytail. In August of that year, I trekked west to the big wide world of college. My cute little wavy locks were holding me back. Sometime between fall break and Thanksgiving break I went to Great Clips and told the guy holding the scissors to whack it all off.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he began to snip away at my hair.
"Yes. Just do it!" I replied.
"Are you absolutely sure?" he asked before he really got into the shortning.
"Yes! Please do it before I change my mind!"
I watched my shoulder length hair fall to the floor, and soon I was transformed from a mop-headed high schooler into a posh, cool boy-cut college student! It was GREAT! I looooooved my short hair. It made me look older and wiser and a little more fasionable. Plus, I saved loads on shampoo and could easily dry all of my hair with just a towel!
I kept this short 'do all through college. It was the easiest to manage and required NO effort. If I wanted to add a little something to it, I'd put a little gel in it to spike it up a bit.
Oh, did I mention that I dyed my hair "Lucious Mango" once? Yeah...it was orange. And before that color, I'd dyed it a mahogany/auburn/dark reddish color. Fun colors!
Shortly before heading back to Salem before senior year, I had my back-to-school cut. In the pictures of opening convocation (we got to wear funky shoes with our caps and gowns; I wore cowboy boots!) I have super short, super cute hair. By graduation, my hair is a little longer because I hadn't cut it all school year. My hair was long enough to pull partially back with a clip or ponytail holder. I kept the longer hair for a while before whacking it off again in July 2004 just before going to Bethlehem, PA for a brass festival with work.
I got a cut every couple of months until about a year ago when I decided it was finally time to let my hair grow again. And, I decided to let my bangs grow out too. I have had bangs ever since I had hair. When I was little my bangs were very thick and started at the crown of my head. I always knew when it was time for a trim when I could look up and see the fringe. I always felt like a little thatch-roofed house. Hehe. In high school, I let a lot of the thickness grow out of my bangs but still kept a little fringe. I thought I'd look weird without bangs. But guess what? I DON'T! I look great without bangs. I almost look my age. Hehe.
My hair is now brushing my shoulders, though not all of it is the same length since it's growing out from a very short, very close to my scalp cut. But it's layer-y, and looks almost like that's the way it was styled. Plus, my hair is delightfully curly/wavy now that it's longer. I LOVE IT!
Currently my hair is back in a cute little ponytail! I'm soooo excited. It's finally long enough to go back in a ponytail without a lot of loose locks that I have to constantly bat out of my face.
Jamie
could have something to do with the longer hair. Guys like long hair...and this girl likes her guy to play with her longer hair! It's very girly. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: After a long weekend
DATE: 09/05/2006 12:22:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Mom and I did much running around this weekend. On Friday afternoon we went to Hamricks to "just look" at the clothes. Ha. Just look, right. I bought a new shirt, a new skirt, a new jacket, and a killer new pair of shoes! I'm going to look very snazzy for fall. I also purchases some new things at the Hanes Mill Outlet. (For those of you who don't know, that's where you get unmentionables!
)Saturday morning we got up kinda early (for me on a weekend) and trekked down I-40 to the Farmer's Market. The weather was absolutely goregous. Big blue sky. Bright sunshine. But not hot at all. I love the Farmer's Market. It's such a feast for the eyes. There were all sorts of veggies and fresh flowers and potted plants and fruits and occasionally some meat smells (like Ostrich or organically grown beef). Soooo wonderful! I was completely overwhelmed and didn't know where to start! We finally bought a head of cabbage, a red bell pepper, 2 tomatoes, 3 ears of white corn already shucked and desilked, yukon gold potatoes, yellow squash, cucumbers, and a loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread (best bread next to my Mema's that she doesn't bake anymore [insert guilt trip!]). After the Farmer's Market we stopped at Walmart on the way home for some odds and ends and more food stuff --- cheese and a lemon and garlic marinated pork tenderloin. Mmmmmm. YUM! We had a pretty big dilemma when we got back to my apartment --- where to put all that food! I just barely had space for all of it in my two little fridges. Mom and I feasted on fresh BLTs with cheese and egg for lunch.
I took a late afternoon nap so I could stay up through the Saturday night Busch race, which didn't start until 10pm EST. The race was in Fontana, CA and was a night race for them. So it started REALLY late for us. Horrah for Kasey Kahne! He won!! YAY!
Sunday, Mom and I did absolutely nothing. We didn't even leave the building. Mom fixed a yummy late lunch of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and gravy, and lima beans. Mmmmmm. So good! Then we watched Kasey win the Sunday Nextel race! YAY KASEY!
Monday we got up kinda early (before 11am is early, right?) and headed back to Hamricks. They were having a sale on Monday. Just our luck to go three days before the sale. I bought a new black skirt. Finally one that is dressy but plain enough to wear with just about anything. Then we went to Home Depot and looked around for a while. I dropped off some clothes at the Goodwill truck in the Home Depot parking lot. We headed back home for a lunch of leftovers then went to see Mr. Roy and Mrs. Sandy. Mom and the Matthews had a LOT of catching up to do.
Jamie
got his hair shorn off on Sunday afternoon. He looks sooooo precious with his bald head. There's just enough dark fuzzy shadow to tell that he has had hair at some point in time. Sure wish I was there to feel it. The girls in middle school used to descend upon the boys if they ever got their hair buzzed down. It always felt soooo goood!!! I told Jamie I needed to learn how to knit so I could make him some little hats to keep his head warm. I'd even put little flaps on them to keep his lil ears warm. Hehe.Well...in an hour I'll be off to WFU for viol rehearsal. YAY! Music!
More later!
PS. Beth loves her Buzzed Jamie!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Friiiiiiday
DATE: 09/01/2006 12:30:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! It's the Friday of a holiday weekend. Hoorah for Labor Day!
Today was quite uneventful, which was marvelous. It's still dark and drippy outside from Hurricane Ernesto. But, tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be sunny. Actually, we were maybe sorta supposed to get some sun this afteroon. It's now 3:30pm and still no sun.
My hair has been fabulously frizzy today. Meh. I look like Hermione Granger with her bushy hair. Thankfully I don't have the large front teeth too.
Mom and I have plans to hit the town tomorrow. Or at least to hit Walmart. It all depends on the weather. If the weather cooperates we might go around to more places. If it's rainy, we'll just putter around Walmart for a while.
We hope my grandparents haven't blown and/or floated away. The eye of Ernesto passed pretty much directly over Pitt County. Lots of rain and probably lots of gusty winds. This morning on the local weather the radar showed a red band that was starting to hook around on itself. The meteorologist said "This band is probably about to spit out a tornado." Oh goody. At least it was in the county north of Pitt, and my grandparents live in very southern Pitt County. Hope everything is a-ok back at home. Hope Mom's house hasn't floated/blown away either.
Wellllllll....that's all for today. Very boring.
More later!
PS. Bethie loves Jaaaaaaaamie
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: New Project for Me!
DATE: 08/31/2006 13:56:37
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! I just started on a new project at work.
One of our major set-backs is a lack of interest in our vocal anthems from commercial publishing houses. That means that printed copies of the music we have are increasingly difficult to find. In the 1950s we had a lot of Moravian vocal anthems published by the big names in publishing -- Boosey and Hawks, CF Peters, Hinshaw, etc. But most of those anthems are out of print. We have a huge backlog of edited music just waiting to be unleashed to the masses, but for the longest time have had no success in getting it out.
That is...until my brilliant self came along.
Here was my idea for getting our unpublished vocal music circulating (and paid for!):
- The music is easily available to print out on regular paper.
- Print out one single copy of the music.
- Offer vocal scores with the keyboard part for sell for $10.
- Offer the instrumental parts with full score for sell for $5.
- The cost is actually buying a "License to Copy".
- The buyer then makes as many copies as he/she needs for his/her group.
- We don't have to worry about keeping a large inventory of printed music on hand.
Each single-copy anthem purchased this way will include either a label or a printed-on-the-page statement saying "Moravian Music Foundation anthem copies licensed to XYZ on DATE. Any other copying prohibited." We can't control the fact that people will buy one copy and make a gazillion copies for every group they know, but hopefully that statement will deter the majority of them.
This idea helps us out in two ways: 1) it speeds up the process for getting our music out to the public and 2) it gets money back in our pocket to cover the editing expenses.
We've already had two choirs pay for two unpublished anthems a piece, and a third choir has expressed interest. These were pieces edited and used during this year's Moravian Music Festival. People who participated in the Festival Choir sang these songs and thought they'd be good choices for their choir back home to sing.
The Moravian Music Festival's main purpose is to be an outlet for the first performances of modern editions of Moravian music. However, only a limited number of people are able to be present for the concerts that showcase this music. Once the Festivals are over, the editions go in a drawer and collect dust. Now we have an easy way to expand the audience by getting the music in the hands of church and community choirs across the country. The Festival now has a second purpose---to showcase new music available to be purchased and performed!
Plus, our new website layout is PERFECT for adding these anthems to our catalog. We're also going to make available the first page of all the unpublished anthems we offer for sale in PDF form so potential buyers can get a glimpse at what the piece will sound like. They will be able to print out that page and take it to a piano to hear if it's doable for their choir.
YAY!!! We're doing the "SHARING" part of our mission!
I hope this is wildly successful and makes a good bit of income for us.
More later!!!
PS. Beth loves her Jamie!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Mid-week hump
DATE: 08/30/2006 13:36:49
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Update: www.moravianmusic.org now goes over to our new site. YAY!
It looks great. We're still tweaking it, but the site is up and running 100%.
Jennifer came over for duets this morning and we had fun, though it was a little obvious that neither of us had played in a while. We didn't sound bad. We were just having rhythm and counting issues (when do I not have counting issues?). I told her about my viol group at WFU and she was very interested. I suggested finding some simple violin duet music that maybe we could play violin and viol on together. So, I need to find some music with a second violin part that isn't too difficult to play on my treble viol. The viol has pretty much the same range as the violin (with exception to the violin's higher range, but I don't like playing up there anyway) but some technical things that are easy on the violin aren't easy on the viol (some string crossings and some note intervals).
I asked her if she got a lot of Christmas season gigs with her groups she plays with and she said that she and the cello player from our trio have done a lot of retirement center/nursing home gigs over the years. I like those kinds of gigs. They're like church gigs in that the people are super appreciative that you've come out to play for them, but they're better than church gigs because sometimes you get paid and you don't have to get up early to do them!
Rehearsal yesterday afternoon at WFU went very well. We usually sound like we're killing cats during the first few rehearsals, but yesterday it was more like rubbing them the wrong way instead of killing them.
We didn't sound horrible (for people who hadn't picked up viols in 3 months). We're playing mostly early 16th century German music this semester. One of the pieces that our instructor picked is pretty advanced for our group, and pretty long---228 measures! We usually do shorter dance pieces that are usually in the form of AABB, where the A and B sections are each 8 measures long and repeated. We do have some of those dance tunes in our folders, because that's what most of the Renaissance instrumental consort repertoire is. But we did pretty good with sight-reading through the longer piece and I think it's very doable. My viol's high-A and I have gotten better acquainted over the past few semesters and I can make it sound pretty ok.
The only thing that would make my viol consort group the most awesome performance thing ever would be for us to perform in period dress. But we just wear nice dressy clothes for our concert.
My mama is in town! YAY! Shopping time! I love shopping with her even if we don't buy much. It's fuuuuun. We have to make sure to pick up some copy paper for Mrs. Sandy's class (HI MRS. SANDY!!) [She reads this!!]. Can you believe that her school is only giving her 3 reams of copy paper to last until December? That's only 1500 sheets for roughly 30 students. That's only 50 sheets per student. There are about 15 weeks til Christmas vacation. That's roughly 3 1/3 sheets of paper per student per week. That won't even last til Fall Break.
Jamie and I are just counting down the days until our holiday visit. We're SOOOOOOO excited and the days can't go fast enough for us. We haven't missed a bedtime phone call since I got back to NC. YAY! I love our bedtime calls. So sweet.
More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hoorah for music!
DATE: 08/29/2006 13:54:50
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester and that means Viol Consort at WFU starts today! YAAAAAAY! This is my sixth semester of playing the viol. I'm so excited! We all know how much I enjoy playing early music.
Plus, I haven't played much over the summer other than my violin duets with Jennifer on Wednesdays. I've been kinda lazy. I hope the gigs pick up soon. Hope my celtic band can find some things to do. Hope my duet partner and perhaps trio that we're in with a cello player can find things to do. I already have two gigs (Old Salem Christmas and Friedland Moravian Church Christmas Cantata) lined up for December, but a few more would be very appreciated. I hope I get to do Handel's Messiah this year. It wasn't performed last year because the little old lady who ran it got sick.
Lots of music to do! And Jamie
gets to hear most of it! YAY!!!! I get to have a groupie. I'm so excited, and he is too! Since being in Winston-Salem, I haven't had too many fans sitting in the audience just because I'm on stage playing. Mom and my grandparents can't afford to come up for every single performance. But now, Jamie will be in town! And I'll have somebody who is in the audience just because I'm playing in the group. So sweet!
Hmm...I wonder if Jennifer and I could do some stuff on violin and viol. I'll have to look into that.
More later!
PS. Beffie loves Jamie!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Aggrivated
DATE: 08/28/2006 13:54:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
One of my favorite jobs has been dealing with the MMF's website. When I first started working here, one of my first self-given projects was to layout a new design for the current website. The website looked ok when it was first put up a few years prior to me coming on board, but I thought it could look so very much better. I sketched out all sorts of elaborate plans for things to add to the website, and made sure to note which ones could easily be implemented without too much effort.
Finally I approached our webmaster with my ideas. I showed him my design mockups, told him we needed pictures on the website since we didn't have any (how can you have a website with no pictures?!), and generall gave him the big grand plan for website redesign. During the meeting he acted very bored and not at all interested.
I did manage to get a few things updated on the website -- mostly having an administration page that I could get to in order to change the text on the different pages of the site without having to ask him to do it for me. Because of this editing format I was able to create our online catalog using PayPal's shopping cart feature. However, I couldn't put any pictures of our products on the catalog pages because the webmaster hadn't done anything to let me put pictures on the site.
Finally, I was completely frustrated with his 1) lack of interest in anything I had to say about the site and 2) lack of customer service (sometimes I'd have to send an update request to him twice before he'd get back to me, and sometimes the only way I'd get an answer would be to send my request to another of his email addresses---not his business address). When I did get responses from him about my requests his reply was usually just "Ok, get right on that" or "Fixed". No, "What else can I do for you?" or "Let me tell you about this new thing I can do."
Since he never showed an interested in working with me on a new site design, I took my complaint to the MMF's board of trustees and gained approval to seek a new webmaster. One was referred to me shortly after the meeting and he seemed VERY interested in working with us. So I started working with him on the preliminary designs. He was eager to offer suggestions and tell me about new technology, even if we couldn't afford it at the time. The new webmaster and I had come almost to the "going-live" date of the new site when the problems with the old webmaster errupted.
I sent the old webmaster a polite email thanking him for his work on the site, saying it was good when it was created but now needed to be something much better. I also told him that we wanted to work with someone whose business was web design and to step away from someone so closely connected to the Moravian church (our old webmaster also happens to be a pastor at one of the local Moravian churches). I requested that he send us the files and information that our new webmaster needed to make our new site link to our domain name.
Enter the sour grapes...
Our old webmaster sent a letter to my boss essentially saying that he didn't appreciate being fired from his job as webmaster. He said he had no idea we were unhappy with the site. He claimed nobody had ever approached him asking for something more or better than what was there (liar...see paragraph 2 above!).
Then he took it upon himself to conduct research from 30-some church and classical musicians asking their opinion of our new site. He claims that none of them like it, that there was a very negative response about the design and the colors and the layout. He also pointed out sever "beginner's mistakes" related to the site---basically he was questioning the professionalism of our new web designer. He also questioned the validity of our new name server because the name server's company didn't have a very good website. The website was bascially a place-holder for the company's domain name and the company really didn't need a "store front" website since most of its clients were funneled to it through our new webmaster.
He said that he never tried to "upsell" anything to us because he knew of the MMF's "budgetary shortfalls". I don't know how he thinks he knows what is in our budget when he doesn't sit on our board of trustees and therefore doesn't have that information. I told Bart earlier --- if he was a car salesman and didn't try to sell a new car to the scruffy couple that walked in, then he shouldn't blame his fellow salesman when she sells the scruffy couple a new lexus and gets a nice commission from it. It's his own fault that we went with someone else, because he didn't "upsell" himself. I was under the impression that he either wasn't interested in updating the look of our site or didn't have the means/technology/know-how to do it.
Funny though....he never tried to "upsell" anything for the website but he gave us a $10,000 to $12,000 estimate on a short marketing video we were thinking about doing last year. Hmm...guess he wasn't thinking about "budgetary shortfalls" then. I think website updates would have been much more cost concious for an organization with "budgetary shortfalls".
Needless to say, I'm about ready to smack this guy. He never showed any interest or thoughtfulness towards our website needs and now he's all pissy because we found someone who is showing a very keen interest in working with us.
I'll be glad when the new site eats the old site.
Old Site: www.MoravianMusic.org
New Site (still on the test server): www.ScrewballMedia.com
Tell me what you think about the old and the new.
More later.
PS. BETH LOVES JAMIE SO VERY VERY MUCH!!!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: The Trip, part II
DATE: 08/25/2006 13:21:12
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Monday: Got all dolled up to go out to dinner with all of Jamie's friends and family. We drove all the way up to Bellingham to eat at Billy Mchales. Very tasty food. Had dinner with Betsy, Jamie's mom and grandma, his uncle Randy and cousin Stephie, and Jim and Candace. Jamie and I got to be very snuggly in the back of Betsy's suburban, mostly because we wanted to but also because we were smooshed in back there. Hehe. Back at home, we collapsed on the couch for more video games. I watched him play Kingdom Hearts, a role playing game, with Disney characters! Very cool.
Forgot to mention that on Saturday we walked down the hill to the beach in front of the houses down below Jamie's house. Kinda steep hill. The beach was sandy and much easier to walk on.
Tuesday: We got up early (around 11am...ha...early!) to make the most of our day. We went down to Washington Park again with two cameras and lots of batteries, and took lots of pictures together. Then we went into town for lunch at El Jiente again. We shared a big chicken quesadilla and chicken taquitos (good, but not as good as the ones from Azteca). It was soooo much fun to share nibbles! Then we drove down to Rite-Aid so I could find some ear plugs for the flight back home. I found a very cute keychain. It's a locket!!! And it has a killer whale on it!!! And, it has a picture of a very cute couple in it!!! Hehe. We walked over to the Hallmark store and looked around, hoping to find an Anacortes tshirt with ladybugs on it (I am his lovebug!), but they only had Anacortes fleecy jackets which were very nice but not what we wanted. Then we zipped around the block to Starbucks. Of all the yummy coffee I had on my visit, Starbucks was my least favorite! On the way to the airport I realized that I hadn't finished my iced mocha. I'd left it on Jamie's desk. Bah! It wasn't as good as the other coffee, but I still wanted to drink it!
At 5pm we loaded my stuff in Jamie's grandma's car and headed to Betsy's house. Besty drove all of us down to Seattle to the airport. We got to the airport around 7:30 and milled about for a while after I checked in and checked my suitcase. The website said I should be at the airport 2 hours before my flight. Bah. No need for that. The metal detector line was very short. But since I had to walk all the way to the other end of the airport to get to my get, I got in line at 8:45. Made it to the gate in record time and just sat. Then I decided to call Jamie and we talked for a while as he was riding back to Anacortes.
Both of us did fine with our goodbye kiss and hug, and we were fine on the phone. I was fine boarding the airplane. I was fine sitting on the airplane as we waited for them to reopen the cargo hold so somebody's luggage could be pulled out (family emergency and bags can't fly without their owner---in other words, if you're going to blow up a plane you'd better be sitting in the cabin). I was fine as we finally left the gate and started taxiing down the runway. I started squalling as we took off and I was pressed into the seat. Meh.
I had taken a benedryl before boarding with the hopes that it would help me sleep. No such luck. I could NOT get comfortable. The ear plugs did help with the sound, but since it was an overnight flight the passengers were mostly asleep anyway. The guy sitting next to me fell asleep with his reading light on...bah. I reached up to turn it off once, but knew as soon as I did it would wake him up and he'd just turn it back on so I didn't turn it off. I was so very aggrivated because I couldn't get comfortable enough to doze. Very annoying. Though about the time I did begin to doze off shortly after take-off, the flight attendants came around with snack-packs and I had to deal with everybody ripping into their noisy little munchies.
Wednesday: Got to Atlanta around 5:30am. Funny thing about Atlanta, once you're in the terminal you can't tell what time it is. There are people EVERYWHERE. Even that early most of the eating places are open and serving breakfast, including Pizza Hut (which does serve biscuits in the morning, not pizzas). I passed by the Chik-Fil-A because I really didn't feel like waiting in that super long line yet again. I bypassed all the eateries in Concourse A and headed over to Concourse B knowing there had to be food places over there. With luck I found the little food court over there. Again, most of the food places were open and serving a hot southern breakfast. I did skip the Chinese food place, not trusting that they would know how to fix grits and bacon. I found Popeyes, about as southern a fast food chain as there is, and ordered a gravy biscuit with a side of scrambled eggs and an apple juice. OH MY GOODNESS. That breaksfast was so GOOOOD! I was starving since I'd last eaten at around 2pm the day before. The gravy was warm and gooey with plenty of sausage bits and the eggs were hot and fluffy, and the apple juice was refreshingly cold. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink on the plane. When I got down to the gate to wait for boarding, I called work and said I wasn't feeling good. No sleep + long flight = nonfunctioning Beth.
At 7ish, I boarded the plane to GSO. Best part about early morning flights between GSO and Atlanta is that the flights are never full. There's plenty of sprawl space. I definitely lucked out with this flight. The jet's seat layout was a three-row on the left and a two-row on the right. I was assigned the window seat in the two-row, but once we got to cruising altitute I unbuckled and hopped the aisle for an empty three-row to lay down in. I didn't go to sleep but it felt so good to lay down. Got to GSO a little before 9. Grabbed my suitcase from the baggage claim. Paid my $47 parking ticket (ugh...but I got a nearly front row spot on the baggage claim level of the covered garage). And, finally put my little green Ion out on I-40 heading straight to W-S. I was in my apartment by 9:30. Called my mom real quick and was in bed by 10.
At 10:30am my poor boy called (that's 7:30am his time). He'd been watching my flight status and waiting for when he thought I'd be home. We both lost it on the phone and spent the next 25 minutes sobbing and sniffling and not making much sense other than when we'd say "I miss you so much!". Fell asleep shortly after 11 after hanging up with Jamie and crying some more. It's hard to leave someone you leave so very very much after having such a wonderful and special time with them. Jamie called a little before 5pm to wake me up. We sniffled together some more, but I think the flood gates had been walled back up after our naps.
We got back into our routine of a constant stream of IMs. And we implemented a new element into our daily/nightly routine: The Bedtime Phone Call! We've done it twice so far and it's been very nice. Good to have a little long-distance pillow talk before falling asleep. We both agreed whole-heartedly that after this visit we needed more talk time on the phone. Lots more. I didn't get to sleep again until nearly 3am Thursday morning. But it was well worth the bedtime phone call...and watching Mythbuster's together (his at the regular time of 9pm pst and mine at the repeat time of 2am est).
Jamie is my special guy! And we both can't wait for his holiday visit. Three months is a long time to wait, but we can make it.
I LOVE JAMIE!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
More later...
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Oh my goodness...
DATE: 08/24/2006 13:57:54
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This idea helps us out in two ways: 1) it speeds up the process for getting our music out to the public and 2) it gets money back in our pocket to cover the editing expenses.
We've already had two choirs pay for two unpublished anthems a piece, and a third choir has expressed interest. These were pieces edited and used during this year's Moravian Music Festival. People who participated in the Festival Choir sang these songs and thought they'd be good choices for their choir back home to sing.
The Moravian Music Festival's main purpose is to be an outlet for the first performances of modern editions of Moravian music. However, only a limited number of people are able to be present for the concerts that showcase this music. Once the Festivals are over, the editions go in a drawer and collect dust. Now we have an easy way to expand the audience by getting the music in the hands of church and community choirs across the country. The Festival now has a second purpose---to showcase new music available to be purchased and performed!
Plus, our new website layout is PERFECT for adding these anthems to our catalog. We're also going to make available the first page of all the unpublished anthems we offer for sale in PDF form so potential buyers can get a glimpse at what the piece will sound like. They will be able to print out that page and take it to a piano to hear if it's doable for their choir.
YAY!!! We're doing the "SHARING" part of our mission!
I hope this is wildly successful and makes a good bit of income for us.
More later!!!
PS. Beth loves her Jamie
!-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Mid-week hump
DATE: 08/30/2006 13:36:49
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Update: www.moravianmusic.org now goes over to our new site. YAY!
It looks great. We're still tweaking it, but the site is up and running 100%.Jennifer came over for duets this morning and we had fun, though it was a little obvious that neither of us had played in a while. We didn't sound bad. We were just having rhythm and counting issues (when do I not have counting issues?
). I told her about my viol group at WFU and she was very interested. I suggested finding some simple violin duet music that maybe we could play violin and viol on together. So, I need to find some music with a second violin part that isn't too difficult to play on my treble viol. The viol has pretty much the same range as the violin (with exception to the violin's higher range, but I don't like playing up there anyway) but some technical things that are easy on the violin aren't easy on the viol (some string crossings and some note intervals).I asked her if she got a lot of Christmas season gigs with her groups she plays with and she said that she and the cello player from our trio have done a lot of retirement center/nursing home gigs over the years. I like those kinds of gigs. They're like church gigs in that the people are super appreciative that you've come out to play for them, but they're better than church gigs because sometimes you get paid and you don't have to get up early to do them!
Rehearsal yesterday afternoon at WFU went very well. We usually sound like we're killing cats during the first few rehearsals, but yesterday it was more like rubbing them the wrong way instead of killing them.
We didn't sound horrible (for people who hadn't picked up viols in 3 months). We're playing mostly early 16th century German music this semester. One of the pieces that our instructor picked is pretty advanced for our group, and pretty long---228 measures! We usually do shorter dance pieces that are usually in the form of AABB, where the A and B sections are each 8 measures long and repeated. We do have some of those dance tunes in our folders, because that's what most of the Renaissance instrumental consort repertoire is. But we did pretty good with sight-reading through the longer piece and I think it's very doable. My viol's high-A and I have gotten better acquainted over the past few semesters and I can make it sound pretty ok.The only thing that would make my viol consort group the most awesome performance thing ever would be for us to perform in period dress. But we just wear nice dressy clothes for our concert.
My mama is in town! YAY! Shopping time! I love shopping with her even if we don't buy much. It's fuuuuun. We have to make sure to pick up some copy paper for Mrs. Sandy's class (HI MRS. SANDY!!
Jamie
and I are just counting down the days until our holiday visit. We're SOOOOOOO excited and the days can't go fast enough for us. We haven't missed a bedtime phone call since I got back to NC. YAY! I love our bedtime calls. So sweet. More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hoorah for music!
DATE: 08/29/2006 13:54:50
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's the beginning of the Fall 2006 semester and that means Viol Consort at WFU starts today! YAAAAAAY! This is my sixth semester of playing the viol. I'm so excited! We all know how much I enjoy playing early music.
Plus, I haven't played much over the summer other than my violin duets with Jennifer on Wednesdays. I've been kinda lazy. I hope the gigs pick up soon. Hope my celtic band can find some things to do. Hope my duet partner and perhaps trio that we're in with a cello player can find things to do. I already have two gigs (Old Salem Christmas and Friedland Moravian Church Christmas Cantata) lined up for December, but a few more would be very appreciated. I hope I get to do Handel's Messiah this year. It wasn't performed last year because the little old lady who ran it got sick.
Lots of music to do! And Jamie
gets to hear most of it! YAY!!!! I get to have a groupie. I'm so excited, and he is too! Since being in Winston-Salem, I haven't had too many fans sitting in the audience just because I'm on stage playing. Mom and my grandparents can't afford to come up for every single performance. But now, Jamie will be in town! And I'll have somebody who is in the audience just because I'm playing in the group. Hmm...I wonder if Jennifer and I could do some stuff on violin and viol.
More later!
PS. Beffie loves Jamie!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Aggrivated
DATE: 08/28/2006 13:54:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
One of my favorite jobs has been dealing with the MMF's website. When I first started working here, one of my first self-given projects was to layout a new design for the current website. The website looked ok when it was first put up a few years prior to me coming on board, but I thought it could look so very much better. I sketched out all sorts of elaborate plans for things to add to the website, and made sure to note which ones could easily be implemented without too much effort.
Finally I approached our webmaster with my ideas. I showed him my design mockups, told him we needed pictures on the website since we didn't have any (how can you have a website with no pictures?!), and generall gave him the big grand plan for website redesign. During the meeting he acted very bored and not at all interested.
I did manage to get a few things updated on the website -- mostly having an administration page that I could get to in order to change the text on the different pages of the site without having to ask him to do it for me. Because of this editing format I was able to create our online catalog using PayPal's shopping cart feature. However, I couldn't put any pictures of our products on the catalog pages because the webmaster hadn't done anything to let me put pictures on the site.
Finally, I was completely frustrated with his 1) lack of interest in anything I had to say about the site and 2) lack of customer service (sometimes I'd have to send an update request to him twice before he'd get back to me, and sometimes the only way I'd get an answer would be to send my request to another of his email addresses---not his business address). When I did get responses from him about my requests his reply was usually just "Ok, get right on that" or "Fixed". No, "What else can I do for you?" or "Let me tell you about this new thing I can do."
Since he never showed an interested in working with me on a new site design, I took my complaint to the MMF's board of trustees and gained approval to seek a new webmaster. One was referred to me shortly after the meeting and he seemed VERY interested in working with us. So I started working with him on the preliminary designs. He was eager to offer suggestions and tell me about new technology, even if we couldn't afford it at the time. The new webmaster and I had come almost to the "going-live" date of the new site when the problems with the old webmaster errupted.
I sent the old webmaster a polite email thanking him for his work on the site, saying it was good when it was created but now needed to be something much better. I also told him that we wanted to work with someone whose business was web design and to step away from someone so closely connected to the Moravian church (our old webmaster also happens to be a pastor at one of the local Moravian churches). I requested that he send us the files and information that our new webmaster needed to make our new site link to our domain name.
Enter the sour grapes...
Our old webmaster sent a letter to my boss essentially saying that he didn't appreciate being fired from his job as webmaster. He said he had no idea we were unhappy with the site. He claimed nobody had ever approached him asking for something more or better than what was there (liar...see paragraph 2 above!).
Then he took it upon himself to conduct research from 30-some church and classical musicians asking their opinion of our new site. He claims that none of them like it, that there was a very negative response about the design and the colors and the layout. He also pointed out sever "beginner's mistakes" related to the site---basically he was questioning the professionalism of our new web designer. He also questioned the validity of our new name server because the name server's company didn't have a very good website. The website was bascially a place-holder for the company's domain name and the company really didn't need a "store front" website since most of its clients were funneled to it through our new webmaster.
He said that he never tried to "upsell" anything to us because he knew of the MMF's "budgetary shortfalls". I don't know how he thinks he knows what is in our budget when he doesn't sit on our board of trustees and therefore doesn't have that information. I told Bart earlier --- if he was a car salesman and didn't try to sell a new car to the scruffy couple that walked in, then he shouldn't blame his fellow salesman when she sells the scruffy couple a new lexus and gets a nice commission from it. It's his own fault that we went with someone else, because he didn't "upsell" himself. I was under the impression that he either wasn't interested in updating the look of our site or didn't have the means/technology/know-how to do it.
Funny though....he never tried to "upsell" anything for the website but he gave us a $10,000 to $12,000 estimate on a short marketing video we were thinking about doing last year. Hmm...guess he wasn't thinking about "budgetary shortfalls" then. I think website updates would have been much more cost concious for an organization with "budgetary shortfalls".
Needless to say, I'm about ready to smack this guy. He never showed any interest or thoughtfulness towards our website needs and now he's all pissy because we found someone who is showing a very keen interest in working with us.
I'll be glad when the new site eats the old site.
Old Site: www.MoravianMusic.org
New Site (still on the test server): www.ScrewballMedia.com
Tell me what you think about the old and the new.
More later.
PS. BETH LOVES JAMIE
SO VERY VERY MUCH!!!-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: The Trip, part II
DATE: 08/25/2006 13:21:12
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Monday: Got all dolled up to go out to dinner with all of Jamie's friends and family. We drove all the way up to Bellingham to eat at Billy Mchales. Very tasty food. Had dinner with Betsy, Jamie's mom and grandma, his uncle Randy and cousin Stephie, and Jim and Candace. Jamie
and I got to be very snuggly in the back of Betsy's suburban, mostly because we wanted to but also because we were smooshed in back there. Hehe. Back at home, we collapsed on the couch for more video games. I watched him play Kingdom Hearts, a role playing game, with Disney characters! Very cool.Forgot to mention that on Saturday we walked down the hill to the beach in front of the houses down below Jamie's
house. Kinda steep hill. The beach was sandy and much easier to walk on.Tuesday: We got up early (around 11am...ha...early!) to make the most of our day. We went down to Washington Park again with two cameras and lots of batteries, and took lots of pictures together. Then we went into town for lunch at El Jiente again. We shared a big chicken quesadilla and chicken taquitos (good, but not as good as the ones from Azteca). It was soooo much fun to share nibbles! Then we drove down to Rite-Aid so I could find some ear plugs for the flight back home. I found a very cute keychain. It's a locket!!! And it has a killer whale on it!!! And, it has a picture of a very cute couple in it!!! Hehe. We walked over to the Hallmark store and looked around, hoping to find an Anacortes tshirt with ladybugs on it (I am his lovebug!), but they only had Anacortes fleecy jackets which were very nice but not what we wanted. Then we zipped around the block to Starbucks. Of all the yummy coffee I had on my visit, Starbucks was my least favorite! On the way to the airport I realized that I hadn't finished my iced mocha. I'd left it on Jamie's
desk. Bah! It wasn't as good as the other coffee, but I still wanted to drink it!At 5pm we loaded my stuff in Jamie's grandma's car and headed to Betsy's house. Besty drove all of us down to Seattle to the airport. We got to the airport around 7:30 and milled about for a while after I checked in and checked my suitcase. The website said I should be at the airport 2 hours before my flight. Bah. No need for that. The metal detector line was very short. But since I had to walk all the way to the other end of the airport to get to my get, I got in line at 8:45. Made it to the gate in record time and just sat. Then I decided to call Jamie
and we talked for a while as he was riding back to Anacortes. Both of us did fine with our goodbye kiss and hug, and we were fine on the phone. I was fine boarding the airplane. I was fine sitting on the airplane as we waited for them to reopen the cargo hold so somebody's luggage could be pulled out (family emergency and bags can't fly without their owner---in other words, if you're going to blow up a plane you'd better be sitting in the cabin). I was fine as we finally left the gate and started taxiing down the runway. I started squalling as we took off and I was pressed into the seat. Meh.
I had taken a benedryl before boarding with the hopes that it would help me sleep. No such luck. I could NOT get comfortable. The ear plugs did help with the sound, but since it was an overnight flight the passengers were mostly asleep anyway. The guy sitting next to me fell asleep with his reading light on...bah. I reached up to turn it off once, but knew as soon as I did it would wake him up and he'd just turn it back on so I didn't turn it off. I was so very aggrivated because I couldn't get comfortable enough to doze. Very annoying. Though about the time I did begin to doze off shortly after take-off, the flight attendants came around with snack-packs and I had to deal with everybody ripping into their noisy little munchies.
Wednesday: Got to Atlanta around 5:30am. Funny thing about Atlanta, once you're in the terminal you can't tell what time it is. There are people EVERYWHERE. Even that early most of the eating places are open and serving breakfast, including Pizza Hut (which does serve biscuits in the morning, not pizzas). I passed by the Chik-Fil-A because I really didn't feel like waiting in that super long line yet again. I bypassed all the eateries in Concourse A and headed over to Concourse B knowing there had to be food places over there. With luck I found the little food court over there. Again, most of the food places were open and serving a hot southern breakfast. I did skip the Chinese food place, not trusting that they would know how to fix grits and bacon. I found Popeyes, about as southern a fast food chain as there is, and ordered a gravy biscuit with a side of scrambled eggs and an apple juice. OH MY GOODNESS. That breaksfast was so GOOOOD! I was starving since I'd last eaten at around 2pm the day before. The gravy was warm and gooey with plenty of sausage bits and the eggs were hot and fluffy, and the apple juice was refreshingly cold. I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink on the plane. When I got down to the gate to wait for boarding, I called work and said I wasn't feeling good. No sleep + long flight = nonfunctioning Beth.
At 7ish, I boarded the plane to GSO. Best part about early morning flights between GSO and Atlanta is that the flights are never full. There's plenty of sprawl space. I definitely lucked out with this flight. The jet's seat layout was a three-row on the left and a two-row on the right. I was assigned the window seat in the two-row, but once we got to cruising altitute I unbuckled and hopped the aisle for an empty three-row to lay down in. I didn't go to sleep but it felt so good to lay down. Got to GSO a little before 9. Grabbed my suitcase from the baggage claim. Paid my $47 parking ticket (ugh...but I got a nearly front row spot on the baggage claim level of the covered garage). And, finally put my little green Ion out on I-40 heading straight to W-S. I was in my apartment by 9:30. Called my mom real quick and was in bed by 10.
At 10:30am my poor boy called (that's 7:30am his time). He'd been watching my flight status and waiting for when he thought I'd be home. We both lost it on the phone and spent the next 25 minutes sobbing and sniffling and not making much sense other than when we'd say "I miss you so much!". Fell asleep shortly after 11 after hanging up with Jamie
and crying some more. It's hard to leave someone you leave so very very much after having such a wonderful and special time with them. Jamie called a little before 5pm to wake me up. We sniffled together some more, but I think the flood gates had been walled back up after our naps. We got back into our routine of a constant stream of IMs. And we implemented a new element into our daily/nightly routine: The Bedtime Phone Call! We've done it twice so far and it's been very nice. Good to have a little long-distance pillow talk before falling asleep. We both agreed whole-heartedly that after this visit we needed more talk time on the phone. Lots more. I didn't get to sleep again until nearly 3am Thursday morning. But it was well worth the bedtime phone call...and watching Mythbuster's together (his at the regular time of 9pm pst and mine at the repeat time of 2am est).
Jamie
is my special guy! And we both can't wait for his holiday visit. Three months is a long time to wait, but we can make it.I LOVE JAMIE
!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!More later...
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Oh my goodness...
DATE: 08/24/2006 13:57:54
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I had the BEST time with my Jamie
. We didn't do anything overly exciting but it was nice to finally be in the same room together, sitting on the same couch or same chair when we smooshed ourselves into his recliner to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We did all the normal boyfriend/girlfriend stuff. The best part about the whole trip was how completely comfortable we were with each other. We weren't shy for a single second. It felt like being together in person was how it had always been.Here's a quick rundown of my trip by day:
Thursday: Up before 3am. Drove to the airport. Checked my one suitcase, then plopped my booty in a rocking chair and watched the TSA people calibrate and turn on the metal detectors and x-ray machines. Got on a nearly empty jet to Atlanta. Scooted from concourse A where we landed over to concourse B where I was to take off again. Stood in a looooong line for a Chik-fil-a biscuit. Boarded a very loaded, very big airplane. I sat in the middle aisle of three seats, on the right hand side. Not a bad choice. I had plenty of leg room and wasn't boxed in. Perfected the art of using the airplane lavatory.
Arrived at Sea-Tac and raced to find the meeting point, which of course was about as far away from where I landed as possible. Found Jamie
and fell into his arms. It was perfect! Betsy (awesome friend of the family) snapped a few photos with her camera phone. Those are the first pictures in the Anacortes album. Trekked down to the baggage claim and waited forever for my suitcase to clunk off the conveyor belt. Climbed in Betsy's big suburban and headed up I-5 to Everett where we had Mexican food for lunch. It was sooooo good. I had the best chicken taquitos ever. Actually, I'd never had them before, but I'm sure I'll never have any that good again. Hehe.From the car, I saw the Space Needle and where the Mariners and Seahawks play ball. YAY! Got a quick tour of Anacortes before heading out to Jamie's
house. It was cooooold out there on the water, but absolutely GOREGOUS (as you can clearly see from the pictures of his deck). I wasn't much good after getting to his house. So we crashed on the couch and watched movies on his huge 50" HDTV. Ah...my own tv now seems so very inadequate.Friday: Went to Washington park. Beeeaaauuuutiful wandering paved walk/drive through the woods along the edge of the water. Saw a live saddleback slug...very large...very slimy...very gross. Also saw many slug-spots from where they'd been run over by cars. Eeeew. Attempted to take pictures, but my batteries diiiiiiied. We walked down to the beach access and sat on a dead log for a while in the sunshine. I attempted to put my feet in the water, but was only mostly successful in my feet getting eaten by the pebbles. It was a rocky beach, not sandy. Pacific water is VERY cold. Brrrrr. We walked back to the car and then drove the windy, steep looproad through the woods in the park. Very cool. Then we had a yummy lunch at El Jiente in Anacortes. After lunch, we took a walk along the marina to see the boats. We saw seals out in the water! Soooo coool! And of course, my camera still didn't work. Bah. Stupid batteries. After the walk, we went for coffee. Can't go to Washington and not get coffee. All of the coffee was excellent stuff.
Saturday: Decided we wanted to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. So we dug up Alton Brown's recipe for Chewy Cookies and headed into town. We headed down to Randy's for a very yummy lunch of steak and fries. We watched the boats on the water and the birds in the air and the seal heads in the water. Then we headed up the street to the grocery store for our cookie supplies. Before heading back home, we stopped for more coffee. We made a little mess in Jamie's
kitchen, but we cleaned up after ourselves. The house smelled soooooo good while the cookies baked. I took some pictures of the flowers on the deck. We played some video games and then climbed into Jamie's big comfy recliner to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We giggled and recited lines along with the actors. So fun!Sunday: Our first real boyfriend/girlfriend date--movie and dinner!!! We drove up to Burlington to the theatre in the mall. After buying tickets for Talledaga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby we wandered around the mall. In Macy's I told Jamie I wish I had $500 and lots of luggage space for a shopping spree. Hehe. We checked out refridgerators in Sears, and completely bypassed the shiney sparkly things at the four jewelry stores in the middle of the mall. We know where our priorities lie. Hehe, in the kitchen! The movie was great, though I was the only one in the theatre who laughed at everything. After the movie we drove down the street to the new Olive Garden. We sat in the grass (very soft!) while we waited for our buzzing, light-up coaster thing to go off. Dinner was very very good. Jamie
had cheese ravioli and I had chicken parmigiana. I shared some chicken with him and he liked it alot. Then we drove back to his house for more tv and video games.Hmm...now I'll leave you hanging for a little bit. Muwahahahahahahahahaa!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: This time tomorrow...
DATE: 08/16/2006 13:17:38
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'll be in Washington! Probably fast asleep either in the back of a vehicle or on Jamie's couch/bed.
I printed out my boarding passes this morning for tomorrow's flights. Hopefully curbside check-in will be open at 4am so I can chunk my suitcase at them, then head inside to wile away the next two hours. I hope the Micky D's in K-ville is open so I can grab breakfast.
Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'm so excited! I still don't know what to do about sleep tonight. Meh! Project Runway comes on at 10pm and I don't want to miss it (though it will be in reruns next week). Argh! Maybe I'll just go to bed right at 11pm. Then sleep for 4 hours. That's a good nap that will get me through driving to GSO and getting on the plane. Then nap on the hour and 25min flight to Atlanta. Rush to my next flight (only have 50 minutes between arrival and departure), then snooze til Seatac!
Jamie
just said "it was weeks, then days, now it's hours!" Yep! In 12 hours I'll be at the airport waiting to hop on the plane. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!Argh! The newsletter (that I took to the printer's yesterday) isn't coming up right for them. Now I have 40 minutes to send them all the files so they can deal with it.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Eeeeeeeeeeee!!!
DATE: 08/15/2006 14:30:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ohmygoodnessohmygoodnessohmygoodness! EEEEEEEEEEEE! There's only a day left! Only Wednesday separates me from Jamie
. Soooooo excited! If I was a puppy...well...we'd have a mess.I can't wait!!!!
One of the first things we're going to do is have lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Both of us LOVE Mexican food and we can't wait to share a basket of chips and salsa. So sweet...so romantic...so sappy! Hehe.
Poor Jamie
is so excited that he didn't sleep much last night. It'll only get worse tonight and tomorrow night. Poor guy will probably be so exhausted when I get there...but that's ok, I will be too from being up soooo early and being on a plane. But that's ok. Neither of us are ashamed to take a nap!I'm so silly...
EEEEEEEEE!!!! I can't wait!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Sweet little apartment
DATE: 08/14/2006 13:28:12
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I love my little apartment. It takes virtually no effort to keep it tidy and only slightly more effort to keep it clean. I tend to do real "cleaning" during my lunch break from work. Like today, I vacuumed, dusted, cleaned the kitchen, and took out the trash. My only complaint is the lack of a dish washer. I HATE washing dishes. When I first moved in, I was pretty good about cleaning up the dishes after I was finished with them. But, that has turned into letting the dishes pile up until something I need to use is dirty or until I've filled up the stove with dirty dishes (which doesn't take long since my stove if only about 3/4 the size of a real stove). I'm still good about cleaning things as I'm cooking. If I have to use a big knive, a mixing bowl, or the cutting board, then I'll usually clean those and put them away as I'm cooking.
If I could just quit shedding hair and skin, then I wouldn't to dust. I bet nobody else's home gets as dusty as mine. Well, wait. I take that back. I've seen some really dusty houses on shows like "Clean Sweep" and "Clean This House". Let's not even discuss the inches of dust seen on "How Clean Is Your House?" with British Clean Queens Kim and Aggie. But that takes years to accumulate, mine takes minutes. Bah. And to make matters worse my tv stand, coffee table, and bookcase with drawers are all BLACK. Dust shows up so much worse on black furniture. But black furniture is sooooo pretty!! Argh.
Only 2 days left! EEEEEEE. T-W-O D-A-Y-S!!!!! I'm soooo excited! Jamie
is soooo excited! There's going to be movies at the theatre, movies at home, mexican food, burgers, walks in Washington Park, putting toes in Pugent Sound, dinner with friends, beating the crap out of each other on Smash Brothers Melee (Nintendo game for those of you who may be worried that Jamie and I are really going to beat the crap out of each other), and doing absolutely nothing.I'm soooo antsy and ready to go. I'm mostly packed, just have a few things that will have to be thrown in at the last minute (like contacts in their case, my glasses case, cell phone, charger, etc). I haven't quite figured out breakfast for Thursday morning. Flight leaves at 6am. I should get to the airport around 4am, meaning I should leave my place shortly after 3am. I'm hoping that the McDonalds in K-ville has a 24-hour drive-thru so I can whip in for a biscuit. I'm sure that the food places in the airport won't be open that early, and I probably won't have time to get breakfast in Atlanta (they have a Chik-fil-a!!!!!!).
I also haven't figured out what to do Wednesday night. Gotta be up by 2am to get ready to go. But I want to see Project Runway at 10pm. It goes off at 11pm. That's only 2 hours of sleep. I was thinking about maybe going straight home from work and going to bed until 10pm. Then staying up and just sleeping on the plane.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm sooooo excited!
More later!
PS. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is waaaay bigger (i.e., heavier) than Emma. I have decided to take Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban instead.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Rethinking things
DATE: 08/11/2006 12:54:28
STATUS: publish
BODY:
By some miracle, Bart and I decided to go into the storage area behind the recital hall today to take stock of our stationery. And, there in the middle of the floor was something that I had often shoved to the side to get it out of my way --- a hardcase 20" rolling Sampsonite suitcase!! I asked Bart why we had it, and he said it was bought so we could have something sturdy and rolly to take MMF stuff (brochures, CDs, ect) places, especially if we needed to go on an airplane. So, I nicked it for the next 12 days. Hehe.
It has been abused. All four corners were cracked from being dropped, but Bart pulled out his trusty duct tape and covered all the cracks for me! I have a redneck-ghetto fabulous piece of luggage to take on the plane! YAY! I feel much better about checking my luggage now.
Originally my main, big bag was a soft dufflebag. I really didn't feel all that comfortable with that getting tossed around on the tarmac. Yesterday afternoon I looked at Walmart.com and Target.com to see what kind of luggage they had. I just wanted something in the 20"/carry-on size but wanted a real suitcase on wheels instead of just a duffle or tote bag. The websites showed luggage that size, but only in 3-4 piece luggage sets or for a price of waaaaaay more than I wanted to spend. The 3-4 piece sets are nice and reasonably priced, but I don't need a set nor do I have the room to keep a set.
My borrowed piece should be pretty easy to spot on the conveyor belt, what with all the stylin' silver duct tape on the corners. Hehe.
Jamie
and I are both ready for him to be able to move out to NC so neither of us has to worry about getting on an airplane just to see each other. We're both having issues that I hope clear up soon. He's not sleeping well and I'm itchy. Both are very annoying because they've been going on for several weeks now. Hopefully it's just a summer thing and we'll both be better when the season changes.I'm soooo exciiiited!!! Eeeeeeeeeee!!!! I'm going to go see my boy!!!
Only 5 more days! FIVE! Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday! EEEEEEE!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Grrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
DATE: 08/10/2006 11:33:47
STATUS: publish
BODY:
What am I doing a week? Getting on an airplane.
Goodie. This whole "foiled terrorist plot" just has me absolutely steamed. Why couldn't it happen AFTER my trip? Or better yet....NOT AT ALL! Well, ok, let me clarify my statement. I am very glad that the plot was uncovered and 21 people were arrested and the immediate threat seems to maybe be taken care of for the time being. What I'm not happy about is that all of this comes to light just as I'm about to take my first flight in five years. Stupid terrorists have nothing better to do with their time than to think up ways to kill the greatest number of people, preferrably using airplanes to do so. Go plant a tree! Go read to school kids! Go help a little old lady! Do something productive and helpful to the rest of society!
My plans for packing have been shot. I had planned to take two carry-on bags with all of my stuff in the cabin with me. Now I have to check one of my bags.
The deadly dangerous items that will be in my luggage:
Shampoo
Shaving Cream
Contact Solution
Toothpaste (the cinnaminy kind...could burn if it got in your eyes!)
Anti-itch cream
Lotion
The one that annoys me the most is that I can't have my anti-itch cream with me. It's not a prescription anti-itch cream therefore I can't take it with me. I've been very itchy ever since I got back from Ohio. My main itchy spot now is the back of both hands. 7+ hours in an airplane with no relief if I should start getting itchy. That sounds like loads of fun. Bart says I should just take a benedryl. Woooo! Loopy on an airplane! On the plus side, I'd probably sleep all the way there. I'd just have to take it once I got on the plane in Atlanta. I need all my brain to get me from one terminal to another at Hartsfield.
I know the TSA and Homeland Security and all the other buracracies involved are just trying to make air travel safe. I know it's really just an inconvenience, and it's better than a plane exploding because some nutcase smuggled liquid explosives onto an airplane in a tube of Lemon Ice Crest Whitening Expressions Toothpaste. But it's still annoying that someone puts the entire country's air system into that kind of upheaval.
At least, so far, electronics haven't been banned from carry-on luggage. I'd hate to leave my mp3 player at home or put it in my checked bag when I bought it for the sole purpose of using it on my flight. I'd really hate to leave my Palm Zire home too... It has GAMES! Games are way more entertaining to me than Jane Austen's Emma. The more I think about it...the more I think I'll swap Emma for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. That was a fun book. Either that, or a couple of trashy historical romance novels.
I have this horrid fear of losing my luggage (which means that my digital camera will get stuffed in my carry-on bag instead of my duffle bag like I originally planned). I had no fear on my first four flights because they were straight Raleigh-Austin and Austin-Raleigh flights. But now I switch planes in Atlanta. Dear Lord, please let my luggage get on the same plane to Seattle that I get on! Now I'll have to remember to pack some backup clothes in my carry-on. Meh.
I just hope nothing happens between now and August 24 when I get back from Washington. If those terrorists do anything stupid, I might just go berserk on their butts. Then we wouldn't have to worry about them anymore. They'd all be enjoying their 7 virgins a piece in heaven. Though, I did see a funny cartoon the other day where the 7 virgins were Catholic Nuns with shot guns. HA!
More later!
PS. Grandpa had surgery yesterday and it went fine! Mom and Mema said he was a little loopy though, and started calling him Beth, since I'm usually the loopy one in the family (due to benedryl of course!).
PPS. Beth HEARTS Jamie
lots!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Raaaaaaaaaaaaaain
DATE: 08/09/2006 16:47:18
STATUS: publish
BODY:
After many many mnay terribly hot and stiffling days, the tide has turned. Today felt wonderful! It was warm but not hot. There was a lovely breeze. And right now, there is a very nice downpour outside. Just rain...no lightning, no thunder, no wind. Just plain rain. Hopefully the rain will last for a little while. We need some rain--we always need rain. This part of the state is continually in some stage of drought it seems. YAY! It's raining harder and the rain is hitting the AC unit and the windows. Ahhh...the sounds of rain.
For dinner tonight I made chicken salad. When I was little, chicken salad meant buying some bone-in chicken and dragging out the presser cooker. I looooved chicken salad when I was little, but rarely had it. Now there is a much much easier way to make it. Canned chicken from a pouch! Canned chicken was always kinda icky, but the stuff in the pouch is excellent and absolutely perfect for chicken salad. Throw in some hard boiled eggs, some diced pickles, a little mayo, and plenty of pepper and you have a yummy quick chicken salad. I used to get ham in a pouch too for ham salad, but I can't find the ham pouches any more. So sad, because I really liked the ham salad better than the chicken salad.
The trip is officially a week away. YAY! I keep finding myself lost in thought about it. Eeeeeeeeee! I'm so excited. But I'm not the only one. Jamie
is just as excited. I think if we get anymore excited we both might explode.Hmmm...it's still raining. Maybe it'll rain all night. That'd be really nice. I hope we've left the hot, steamy, stormy weather behind for the summer. I don't mind storms (as long as they don't produce lightning that zaps my modem), but storms that come up when it's really hot outside tend to be really dangerous (and produce lightning that zaps my modem).
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: 6.5 Hours to the Work Day
DATE: 08/08/2006 12:57:27
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I am officially at work 6.5 hours a day. So why on earth in the spand of 5 minutes did I have two people walk into my office wanting to buy stuff and a phone call come in for my boss who then stood on the other side of my desk to take the call all while I'm trying to set some campaign pledges straight. ARGH!!!!! I never mind when the boss takes a call in my office. And I never mind when the archivist, who wanted to buy a band book at the time, comes in my office. Even the two together wouldn't have been so bad. But when the third person came in unannounced to buy something and I had to keep up with two different sales, two different amounts of cash, all while trying not to get distracted by the phone call I'm not involved in and trying not to knock over the piles of carefully stacked and alphabetized pledge cards on my desk, then I get a little flustered.
Needless to say the rest of the day hasn't been nearly as hectic as those five minutes.
One of the few things I don't like about my job is that we do sales out of the office. Now, taking orders over the phone/email/website and shipping stuff out isn't a problem. But I haaaate when people come in wanting to buy stuff, because I have to stop what I'm doing (and I'm usually in the middle of something) to handle their purchase. On several occasions I gently remind people "You can purchase that at the Book and Gift shop without having to come all the way down here", but they'll usually respond with "Ohh, I'd much rather come here. You have such a neat building!" Meh.
I'd rather that we hung a "BY APPOINTMENT ONLY" note by the front door.
Anyway...on to better subjects.
My trip is only 8 days away! EIGHT DAYS! YAY! Jamie
and I both have been making lists and thinking about what to do before I get there. Of course, I have some stuff already packed. I'm constantly thinking about what clothes to take and how to cram things into two carry-on bags. I'm taking a small duffle bag to go in the overhead and a good sized totebag to go under my seat. The totebag is gonna be full of stuff to keep me occupied -- mp3 player, Emma by Jane Austen, little neck pillow, fleece throw, some snacks (gotta figure out what I want to take), and my Palm Zire complete with fun games! The Zire is like a Palm Pilot without all the bells and whistles. It comes standard with an address book, calculator, and date book. But I've downloaded some fun games for it, like Tetris, Sudoku, Solitaire, and a nifty game called Pharoah where you match balls/blocks/things in sets of three or more. It's fuuuun.
Ah crap. I forgot to get luggage tags for my bags when I was at Walmart the other day. I had them on my list too! I remember thinking that I needed to go find them then I got distracted by the clothes. No worries though. I just snatched the tags from my violin case and mandolin gigbag. Hehe.
More later!
PS. Beth hearts Jamie
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Think before you give
DATE: 08/07/2006 13:03:56
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I work for a non-profit, most of you know that. We rely heavily on donations from individual people. Whenever we send out a letter asking our donors and potential donors for monetary support we always say that any level of giving is greatly appreciated. Everyone in the $1-$999 range is treated equally, and for the most part even the $1,000-and-up donors are treated like everyone else. So far since I've been employed here we've only given special gifts to $1,000-and-up donors once.
However, since I began working on the inside, I have come to loathe all $5 donation checks. Why? Because a $5 donation costs us $1.06 above the value of the gift.
Giving puts a donor on our mailing list and every year the average donor receives 4 Newsletters, 2 Annual Campaign letters, 2 postcards, and 1 acknowledgement letter. The price of those publications comes to $6.06. That does not include staff time for data entry on annual gift (usually given once a year).
Ok, ok. I know what you're thinking "Isn't spending $1.06 on a $5 donor better than spending the full $6.06 on a non-donor?" Maybe, but at least for the non-donors on our list, we don't have to worry about an acknowledgement letter's expense and I don't have to spend the time putting their gift info into our database and handling the acknowledgement.
I have two thoughts on $5 donors: either they are a) too cheap to give more than a paltry amount that says "hey...look...I opened my wallet and let something out" or b) they really can't afford to give in the first place. In the case of 'b', I'd rather send them our newsletter and postcards for free because they could probably use the $5 for their heating or grocery bill. However, judging from the addresses of some of our occasional $5 donors, they can do much better than $5.
In my opinion, if you can't give more than $15, then don't give at all. I know some people have dozens of charities they want to give money to. But instead of spreading $500 evenly, but thinnly across 10 charities give two charities $250 each year on a rotating schedule. They will be able to do more with your gift. Or better yet, decide which ones you are truly passionate about and support them more earnestly. Would you rather be seen by 10 charities as a mediocre donor or be seen by a handful of charities as a more substanial donor?
Do I have any right to talk? Yes! Because I am a donor too. I understand what the receiving organization has to go through to process a gift and keep a donor. Therefore I carefully think about where I want to give. Last year I gave to the MMF (always looks good to have 100% of the staff giving to the annual campaign!) and to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (mostly to get their magazine but I gave above the amount required to get it!). This year I'm planning to give to the MMF, CWF, and Victory Junction Gang---I loan them my mom, but that doesn't help cover her expenses while she's there.
I would also like to eventually give to Salem College. However since I'm still paying for my education, I think they can wait a few years. The college always complained that donor giving for the most recent graduating classes was always low and that they had to boost giving in those classes. Yeah, well, there's a reason those of us who graduated in the past 10 years don't give well---WE'RE PAYING OFF THOUSANDS IN SCHOOL LOANS! And not all of us have jobs that pay well enough for us to afford living and charitable giving. I will give to Salem as soon as I am able to afford it. Right now my loyalties lie with MMF, CWF, and Victory Junction Gang.
Ok...that's my little tirade for today.
More later!
PS. OH! I successfully made homemade meatballs for spaghetti and meatballs. Very tasty.
PPS. Only 9 more days!!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: A Gripe About Banking and Cell phones
DATE: 08/04/2006 13:54:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
In Winston-Salem there are:
7 BB&Ts
8 Bank of Americas
14 Wachovias
2 First Citizens
Which bank do you think I go to?
RIGHT! The one with the least amount of offices in Winston-Salem. Meh. Ok, granted the phone book lists quite a few more First Citizens than that, but at least one of them doesn't exsist anymore. I only know where two branches are and needless to say neither of them is convenient to where I am. Neither of them is easy to get to either. I reeaaaalllly wish First Citizens would put up a few smaller offices instead of insisting on building only one or two big offices in a town.
The one that I always go to takes at least a 30 minute round trip and that's if I don't have to wait long in the drive-thru line or inside. Today, I felt so sorry for one bank teller because the lady at her window was gabbing just as hard and loud as she could on a cell phone. The lady didn't state her business until she hung up and she had been on the phone the entire time I'd be in the bank. I think they need to post signs saying "No Cell Phone Use at the Window". The Post Office has signs like that. Plus, I think every teller should have the right to say, "Excuse me but I'm going to have to ask you to step aside while you're on the phone" and then call the next customer in line forward. The lady didn't even apologize for being on the phone while the teller was waiting for her to finish.
Speaking of cellphones and yet on an unrelated subject...when I was in Walmart earlier this week I saw they had one subject, wide ruled spiral bound notebooks on sale for 10-cents. Every August since I graduated my teacher friend, Mrs. Sandy, has given me a list of stuff to buy for her class since I love to buy school supplies but have no reason to buy any anymore. The stuff I buy helps out her students who can't afford school supplies. As I was wandering around Walmart I started thinking. And the more I thought, the madder I got. Because I realized it was highly possible that those parents who couldn't afford a 10-cent notebook for their child most likely have a cell phone that they're paying a bill for. But, I'm going to try really hard not to think about that when I buy a stack of notebooks and stickers and other supplies for Mrs. Sandy. Because I'm buying them for class and the poor little students who's parents care for their worldly possessions more than they for their childrens' educations.
But on a happier note.
. Maybe we'll be able to make up a little for lost time over my beach week. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!More later!
Only 12 days to go!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bored
DATE: 08/03/2006 13:06:14
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm sooo bored. I have done absolutely nothing today except stare blankly at the computer screen. And it's still hot as an oven outside.
I woke up hot and itchy this morning at 4:30. Bah. Stupid heat is making me itchy all over in the places that aren't usually itchy.
Last night's tv was very boring. It's Shark Week on Discovery Channel, so no Mythbusters. Bah. I had nothing to watch until 10pm when Project Runway came on. Last night the show had a first---someone was kicked off. When I mentioned this to Lani, she said "Isn't that the point?" To which I explained that each week one designer is eliminated at the end of the show after the design challenge. But last night someone was kicked off in the middle of the episode for breaking the rules of the show. One designer, Keith, was found to be in possession of pattern making books and fashion how-to books. The books are against the rules because the show wants the designers to create off the tops of their heads, not using help from books. Using the books gives a designer an unfair advantage. In addition to the books, Keith also left the watchful eye production crew for several hours, which is also against the rules. The cast is kept together at all times.
The other cast members were upset that someone had done something so stupid as to be kicked off the show, but they weren't sad to see Keith go. He was very arrogant and such a butt about everything. He was constantly skirting around the rules of the design challenges too. The first challenge was to use materials found in the cast's apartments---shower curtains, rugs, lampshades, ect. He only used blue sheets that looked like he could have gone to the fabric store to buy. The challenge was to be innovative. He made a great dress, but he just used sheets to make it. Then another challenge involved designing a outfit using a dog as inspiration and also creating a coordinating outfit for the dog as well. He made the outfit, but didn't sew anything for the dog. He just put a bracelet around the dog's neck for a collar. The judges gave him a hard time about that one.
Glad he's gone.
Unfortunately, the judges still eliminated a designer at the end of the show. Bye bye Bonnie who used to work for Nike.
So far my favorite designers are Kayne (the pagent dress shop owner who won the Miss USA dress challenge), Uli (the German girl who makes fuuuun stuff with pretty prints), Robert (who worked for Mattel and designed for Barbie), Laura (the 43 year-old architect with 5 kids who always dresses to the nines), and Michael (who is rather quiet but does stunning work). I think I like Uli the best because her stuff is so wearable yet very fashion forward at the same time. And she's cute with her German accent and constant concern for the other designers' fashion faux pas. Hehe.
Good Eats at 11pm last night was especially good. It was an hour long episode of behind-the-scenes stuff. SOOOO COOOL! Jamie
and I both liked it, but he said it took some of the magic away from the show. I agree. Though it was funny to find out that W, the cookware specialist, was really Alton's chiropractor. Hehe.I dunno what I'm gonna do tonight. Jamie
is going off to a birthday dinner at Outback and I soooooo wish I could go with him. Soon we won't have to worry about not going places without each other because we'll go places together! YAY!!!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: New Diet
DATE: 08/02/2006 13:34:04
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I am the founder of a new diet!
It's sweeping the nation! (Uh..yeah...!)
No watching what you eat!
No exercise regimen!
All you do is.....
DRINK AND GO!!!
I went on this "diet" of mine back in high school without really realizing what I was doing until I dropped over 40 lbs. Since I have gained 20 of the 40 lbs back over time, I have decided to go back on the "diet" again. It's really simple. All I do is drink lots and lots and lots of water everyday. I try to drink more than just the regular 8-12 glasses a day. Exercise is built into the diet because, well, drinking lots of water makes for lots of trips to the bathroom! If I'm feeling peckish and munchie, I'll sip water instead of going for a snack.
Drinking lots of water before a meal is very helpful too. The water helps fill up the stomach. That way it takes less food to feel full. I had noticed this when I first went through the drinking water phase. A plate of food that I could usually eat in its entirity I could only eat about half to 2/3s of, which is also great for saving money! Horrah for leftovers!
Now I don't go out and spend massive amounts of money on bottled water. That's too expensive and the water that comes out of the tap is free and right that. Instead I have a Brita filter pitcher. It makes the tap water just as good as any bottled water and it doesn't leave me with a bunch of empty bottles that I have no convenient way to recycle. There's no recycle bin for my apartment building. Even if I did have access to a recycle bin, that's still a lot of wasted plastic bottles though they could be reused. Best not to use them in the first place. I keep a pitcher in the fridge at home and one in the fridge at work, plus my mom and grandma both have pitchers in their fridges.
One thing that helps me is the fact that I'm too lazy to make tea. Hehe. I prefer to drink sweet tea and I can easily drink a gallon over a day and a half. But if I don't make it, then I don't drink it and I just drink water. The water pitcher is easier to keep full, just stick it under the faucet and fill it up. Fortunately, tea does not come out of the faucet. Another thing that helps is the fact that tea in the restaurants can cost nearly $2 and water is FREE!
Of course, it also helps if you like to drink water and I've always liked water. Even when I was little. I especially liked the water from my grandma's well because it had flavor, albeit a little sulphurous, and flecks of rust in it. Hehe. I thought it was good stuff. Much better than the chlorinated city water at my mom's house.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Sweltering
DATE: 08/01/2006 12:40:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Goodness...
At 8:30am it already felt like it was in the mid 80's. My normally two minute walk to work felt like it took forever. Sometime in the morning block-time for work, the grounds crew cut the grass in my building's backyard. I don't know about you, but smelling fresh cut grass always makes the hot seem hotter. Meh. As pretty and wonderful as grass is, maybe astroturf or green-painted concrete are the way to go. Less work. My dream yard is one that is small enough to have only flower beds and walkways with no grass to cut, at least in the front yard. I wouldn't mind grass in the backyard.
I have been productive today. I made a list of 9 things to do and by 3pm I've finished 8 of them. The 9th I can leave until tomorrow. The list doesn't include the two sales I made or the phone call I handled. Hopefully the next hour and a half before quittin' time will be nice and slow.
I got my new modem yesterday afternoon. After a slight panic (didn't have the thing firmly plugged into the computer), everything worked A-OK! YAY! Jamie
and I were sooooo very very very VERY happy! We spent the rest of the evening doing what we normally do, which isn't very much at all, but it means the world to us!I have attempted to fix the bodice of my Renaissance court gown. Meh. So far it is mostly unsuccessful. I think I have done an ok job with fixing how it gaps up at the top of the back, but the lacings aren't working as well as I thought they would. I sewed plastic lacing rings up the back but there's nothing giving them stability when I pull the laces tight. The back kinda collapses into itself. The front looks great, but the back doesn't. EH! Might have to end up punching holes in the material for grommets instead. Unless I can figure out some way to put a rod up the back. OOO!! I think I have some metal stays left over from my corset. Maybe I have two left and those would work! I'll have to try that this afternoon.
We have been inudated by a horde of little old people in the building. Thankfully, I am not the one responsible for said horde. They're the Archives problem...I mean guests. Hehe. But still, they look at my sales table and want to buy things! BAH!
Well...I'm off to attempt to look like I'm doing something. Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Back to life...
DATE: 07/31/2006 12:28:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
and I had at least an hour phone call every night. We wished both of us could have been at the beach!Saturday (7/22) morning I woke up at o'dark thirty, loaded up the last few things into my car, and headed down the looooong road to Topsail (in North-Carolinese that's pronounced Topsul). Interstate 40 east of Raleigh is horribly boring. I'd never been on that stretch of road before since I take either highway 70 or highway 264 to get to my mom's house, and the last time I went to Topsail I stopped by my mom's house first. Yahoo Maps said I could get to Topsail Island in about 4 and a half hours. I left at 7am to give myself 5 hours to get there. Well...I got there between 10:30 and 11am. Shaved nearly a full hour off the trip.
Met up with the Ohio folks (Chris, Reb, Jill, and Jason) down at the pier on the south end of Topsail Island. They all looked like death on toast since they'd been up since 9am the previous morning and had driven all night. We hung out at the pier (inside the bait shop) for a while before finally deciding it was time for lunch and headed to Surf City (middle of the island...about 5 miles away) to eat. Lunch took FOREVER to get out to us, but it gave us an excuse to just sit somewhere since we couldn't get into the cottage until 3pm. Then we headed up to the house on North Topsail Beach.
Lani and Vera showed up sometime later. We didn't do much on Saturday. Had Dominoes pizza for dinner and it was soooooo goood. At 10pm Lani, Vera, and Jason drove to Wilmington to pick up Christy from the airport. Her flight was supposed to be in around 11pm. Welllll...it had a two hour delay and they didn't get back to the cottage until after 2am. The rest of us had gone to bed LONG before they got back.
Sunday, we went to the grocery store for the massive truckload of food and stuff to get us through the week. We went out in the ocean too. The water was much calmer than it was on Saturday (very very windy and very very coppy/wavy). I got knocked over by a wave and couldn't get up. Luckily I was close enough to the shoreline that the water wasn't overly deep and I kept my fingers clamped firmly over my nose. I kept getting pounded and was laughing the whole time. I just bounced back up to the beach on my butt until I was saved by Chris and somebody else offering a helping hand to get me back on my feet. It was sooooo funny! I did end up with sand burn on both knees. Owie. Then we spent the evening working on our Dungeons and Dragons characters and played a bit. I was a smelly barbarian dwarf named Calamari. Hehe.
Monday, we watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl before piling in the van and heading to Jacksonville to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. SUCH A GOOD MOVIE!!!!! After the movie, we went to the Mai Tai restaurant, a very yummy Chinese buffet, and stuffed ourselves silly. Then we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts for coffee and doughnuts. Mmmmm.
Tuesday, we spent more time out in the water. We went to Docksiders, a great gift shop just off the island. And we spent tons of time in Docksiderland--the arcade attached to the shop. Then we went to Eagles to browse through their tshirt collection. Tuesday night we played Munchkin and I won! I had never played before. It's a fun card game that mixes Medieval themes with Kung-Fu, Superheroes, and Futuristic stuff. Very nifty. Chris made meatballs! Mmmm. Tasty!
Wednesday, we went out in the water yet again. And then we went to the pirate themed putt-putt place just off the island, a little further down the road from Docksiders. Big mistake. While putt-putt is loads of fun, putt-putting in the 90+ degree heat with no breeze and no shade is not. By the 9th hole, we were all ready to go back to the cooooool cottage. Chris made a scrumptuous dinner of breaded chicken with spaghetti in white wine and asiago cheese sauce. YUM! We role played with our D&D characters some more.
Thursday was only a partial day for me because I drove to my mom's house around 5pm. But before that, we went out in the ocean again. Then we went to lunch at Island Delights (see pictures in the photo album!). Afterwards, we had our picture taken with the blue dolphin in front of the giftshop next to Burt's Surf Shop. It's tradition. Finally we went back to the house for the longest game of Munchkin. I was very impatient to get home, but the game just kept going and going. Finally, I won, gave hugs all around, and headed to my mommie's house!
Hmmm...other things of note that I can't remember when they happened:
- Played Super Smash Brothers Melee on the Gamecube, my favorite video game
- Swam in the very calm Atlantic, smooth as a lake surface
- Saw dolphins swimming in fishing boats' wakes
- Enjoyed almost nightly light shows from thunderstorms
- Slept on an air mattress that would only hold air for about 5-6 hours, would then roll over onto couch cushions I put alongside the mattress.
Thursday afternoon I scarfed down meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cucumbers with sweet tea. Mom always asks me what I want to eat when I come see her and that's usually the menu I give. She makes yuuuuuummmmmy meatloaf. It's one of the few things I don't make simply because hers is so good. Jamie and I were very happy to finally get back to each other through our usual means of communication. Mom will say that I almost knocked her over to get to the computer, but I did give her a hug first. Actually I almost knocked her over trying to get to the bathroom because I had been drinking a Mt. Dew on the drive from Topsail. Hehe.
Friday, Mom and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Hehe. I told her she HAD to see it. Then we went to the Dollar Tree and to Walmart. We encountered a really nasty storm on the way home from Walmart and thought that we might get sucked up into from the look of the cloud we had to drive under. After the storm went away we went out to Mema and Grandpa's house.
Saturday, Mom and I went to Ayden for lunch at Bojangles and shopping at the Dollar General. Then we drove by the really spiffy yard of a friend of my grandma's neighbor across the street. Very pretty! I bet it is amazing in the spring with daffodils blooming or earlier in the summer with the day lilies blooming. I worked on Mom's computer and set up her with my old computer because it works much better than her old one. I taught her how to put pictures on a CD, since my computer has a CD burner. She was realllllly happy about that trade-up. Then we went to Mema's for the Busch race that didn't start until after 9pm because of rain in the St. Louis area. As the living room clock struck midnight, Carl Edwards did his backflip! YAY!! Go Carl! Mema made us scrumptous BELT's with cheese, that's bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato sammiches with cheeeeeeeese. Mema also cleaned out her closet and gave me two shirts, two sweaters, a skirt, and a jacket. Both she and my mom say "I can wear a size 12 now" and I just mutter and grumble at them.
Sunday, I enjoyed the last of the leftovers from Thursday afternoon with a piece of corn on the cob. Then headed back out on the road for home. I miss all the beach people and the family people, but I'm glad to be back in my little apartment. Especially since my little apartment is the home of my BIG bed. Hehe. LOVE MY BED!
Now, I hope my new modem is waiting for me when I get back to my apartment this afternoon and I especially hope that that new modem works when I put it in my laptop. If not, I'll go bonkers.
Work was pleasant today. Got a lot done. And, I went to the grocery store over lunch for foooood since my cupboards were looking a little sparse.
There are a few pictures from this past week in my photo album (Topsail 2006). I took less than 30 pictures. Two of the pictures I posted are from Chris. I'll probably add more pictures later as soon as I swipe them from Chris and Christy.
More later!
Only 16 days til Washington!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Yay for Friday!!!
DATE: 07/21/2006 13:53:56
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Friday is finally here! But no new modem yet. I couldn't get in touch with the seller in time to have it shipped overnight. So I'll just have to wait til I get back home to fix my computer. And I really really really hope that replacing the modem will do the job. Hope the problem isn't with the connector wire or something I can't get to because laptops are hard to work on internally. The only good thing from this is it's one less thing to drag to the beach. Meh.
Jamie and I have had two fabulously long calls over the past two nights and we're going to have another one tonight. He likes when I talk about whatever happens to be on tv. He thinks it's cute though really it's just me being silly. I love to talk about TV commercials. They're usually the best thing on tv. Sad, huh? I miss being able to talk to him from 5pm to midnight. 
We're having to make do with the few hours of IM time we have while I'm at work and the hour or so we have on the phone at night. I'll be glad when I fix my laptop!
I had a wonderful lunch today at C&H Cafeteria in K-ville. I had the BEST fried chicken tenders ever. The chicken was deliciously seasoned, warm, juicy, and only lightly floured. SO GOOD! C&H Cafeteria is a lot like K&W Cafeteria. C&H came about when two guys who used to work for K&W suggested that K-ville would be a great spot for another restaurant but the K&W people never would commit to putting one out there. So these two guys quit their K&W jobs and opened up C&H. Hehe. They serve pretty much the same exact food, only I saw things at C&H that K&W doesn't have -- like chicken tenders. For all you W-S people who read this, if you're ever in K-ville, head over to C&H Cafeteria for some good eats.
Right next to C&H is one of my all time favorite stores -- the Dollar General! I got so excited when we pulled up because I needed some laundry soap and AAA batteries for my beach trip. YAY! I didn't have to make a special trip to Walmart or to the Dollar General closer to home. I also picked up a king sized black Sharpie pen (for marking names on plastic cups) and some Mt. Dews (2 6-packs for $3!).
Then we (Mr. Bart, Dr. Daniel, and I) went to Office Depot. Mr. Bart thinks it ought to be renamed Idiots R Us. First it took forever for anybody to see me at the UPS shipping counter. Then it took forever for somebody to see that I was finished at the UPS shipping counter and needed an associate to weigh my packages. Then the weighing took forever because the stupid scale (thank you Pitney Bowes...I hate them with a passion!) would stop working. Finally that was over and I took my postage sheets up to the register for check out. That took forever because the cashier couldn't get the barcode scanner to scan the codes on the postage sheets so he had to hand type in the numbers on the register. ARGH! The three of us have never been so
ready to get out of Office Depot.
I'm gonna pack the car tonight so really all I have to do in the morning is roll out of bed and head out the door. Planning to be on the road by 7am. Yahoo maps says I can get there in 4 hours and 27 mins. Just printed out directions because I don't know how to get there from I-40. Last beach trip, I went to see my mom first then drove from her house down to Topsail. I-40 goes all the way to Wilmington, but I don't want to get lost in that part of the state.
Time to go. I dunno if I'll post a daily blog while I'm at the beach. It all depends if some poor laptop owner takes pity on poor laptop-less me. Hehe.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid rassafrackin' thunderstorm
DATE: 07/20/2006 10:57:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Remember this from yesterday:
"Hopefully this afternoon my part of Winston-Salem be the lucky receipient of a thunderstorm for a little relief."
Yeah. Well. We got that thunderstorm. And, you wanna know what I got from that thunderstorm? A dead modem.
The rumbling started around 7pm. It sounded far away and there was a good amount of time between each rumble. Then the rumbling got closer together but still sounded far away. Then ZAP-WABLAMAMAMAMAMAA---the type of strike that is so close the air sizzles and you swear that the thunder came BEFORE the lightning. It must have hit something connected to the phone wires because I was immediately disconnected. I called Jamie and said pretty much "lightning just hit something super close and I'm going to not be on my computer for a while....talk to you soon. EEE! That was close too!" and hung up real quick because another boom rattled me, though that wasn't quite as close as the first (it was about 10 feet further away). At that time, I didn't realize the modem was fried.
Finally the storm petered out and I turned my computer on again. I opened Netzero and clicked "connect". Nothing happened. The program cycled through all four numbers for Netzero and nothing. I could hear the modem attempting to pick up (it sounds like something between a click and a thud), but no dial tone. Figuring that maybe the phones were out. No such luck. The phone worked fine. I even dialed out and dialed in (with my cell phone). So, I thought maybe the phone cord plugged into the computer wasn't working. I plugged it into the phone and the phone still worked fine. ARGH!!!!
I called Jamie back and told him that the modem was friiiied. He helped me work on it for a while but nothing either of us could think of fixed the problem. I had to tell him bye again because my cell phone's battery has gotten wimpy about holding a charge, and I plugged the cell phone back in. I read my laptop manual and figured out how to take the modem out.
After messing with the stupid thing for a while and taking a shower, I called him back. He did some research for me and found some places I could buy a new modem. One place sold the modem for $1.99. We were really excited about that, until he found out how much shipping was. They would charge over $50 for overnight shipping. Not worth it. Another place charged $18.95 for the modem and over $30 for overnight shipping. At least that was cheaper than the $1.99 place.
I had to wait until this morning to order anything. Luckily the modems (which are smaller than a credit card but thicker) are easy to find cheap. Unfortunately, you can just go to the store down the street to pick one up. They have to be ordered. Well, today is Thursday and I'm going out of town for a week starting Saturday. Sucks!
I went on eBay to see their selection of modems and found one being sold for $4 with $6 standard shipping and a note in the listing saying the seller would overnight it for $25. I jumped on the deal and clicked the "Buy Now" button. Unfortunately with eBay you don't get to pick your shipping. You have to send the seller an email requesting different shipping other than what is automatically put with your order. I placed my order around 10am. It's now quarter to 2pm and I haven't gotten a reply back. The seller is in NV (which is 2 hours back from EST). I hope I hear something soon.
Oh well. If worse comes to worse, Jamie and I will just have a lot of phone time logged in. It's not the end of the world. Just an inconvenience because my cell phone battery doesn't last all night like my laptop does when it's plugged in. It would be one less thing to have to take to the beach, and there should be two other laptops at the beach. Maybe one of their owners would take pity on me and let me chat up my boy everynight.
I miss Jamie! (even though I'm talking to him on IM right now at work)
More later...
Update: 3:15pm rolled around and still no answer from my eBay seller. So I decided to go ahead and pay for the stupid modem with the $6 shipping charge attacted. PayPal sent me my receive and I got an automatic reply from the seller. His auto-reply email stated that his eBay account had been hijacked and all messages sent to him through the eBay message center weren't getting to his email inbox. So I had to send an email directly do him asking if it was too late to have my order overnighted to me. Let's see if I hear back from him before 5pm. Luckily he's in Nevada and has a couple extra hours to get the package to the post office.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: And the heat wave continues
DATE: 07/19/2006 12:56:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ugh. It's hot and bright and opressive outside again today. Hopefully this afternoon my part of Winston-Salem be the lucky receipient of a thunderstorm for a little relief.
I finished my data entry. YAY! It's fun to do for a while, but I think day after day of that type of work would drive me nuts. Now that I'm finished...I'm kinda bored. But I don't want to start anything since it's almost 4pm.
I am B.O.R.E.D.
I finished a project last night. I made some gifts for my girl-friends who'll be at the beach this weekend. I dunno what to do for the two lonely guys who are going to be with us this year. They might just have to make do with a hug.
At least tonight is my favorite night for TV! YAY! I get to watch Mythbusters and Project Runway!!!
I wish I had Jamie. I'd really like to go wander the mall with him. I'd even give up my night of Mythbusters and Project Runway (I could see the reruns) just to bum around the mall with my sweetie. We're both a big aggrevated that we can't just meet up and go out. But in less than a month we'll be able to go places together! YAY!!!!!!
Hmmm...you know those "about me" surveys you get in email from all your dorky friends? I finally figured out my answer for "my catchphrase" or "what I say the most". I think that would have to be "YAY!!!". That's what I type the most. Hehe.
Ah well!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hoooooooottt
DATE: 07/18/2006 13:36:35
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's so hot outside. And what makes it worse is that fact that it's very bright. And what makes THAT even worse is when you're walking towards a white fence (like the one running long side my work building) or walking towards a big white building while facing the western afternoon sun (like I will be on my way home...cus home is in a big white building).
I went to the Chinese Buffet with Dr. Daniel since Dr. Nola, his usual lunch partner, is on a trip to Nepal (yes, Nepal). Mmm chinese fooood. I stuffed myself on freshly grilled food. I looove the Mongolian grill at the restaurant. Yum!
I've been pleasantly busy today, just like yesterday. I did a lot of data entry, which is wonderfully mindless. It was a lot of typetypetypetypetypetype. I input names and addresses of the Festival participants into our donor database to make sure we had them on our mailing list. When I was done with that list of over 100 names and addresses, I moved on to several lists of names and addresses that a few of our board members had given us of their friends and acquaintances. Didn't get finished with that today. A girl can only take so much typetypetypetype before she starts to go bonkers. Plus, it'll give me something to do tomorrow.
Tropical Depression #2 is currently sitting off the southeastern coast of NC. Where am I headed this weekend? The southeastern coast of NC. MEH! You'd better be gone by Saturday. Reaaaallly don't want the beach trip ruined by a hurricane. Though that would mean I'd get to spend my usual time with Jamie....which wouldn't be bad at all. 
But still...I wanna go to the beach! Last time (2004) we had to endure a tropical storm off the coast. It was a bit breezy and rainy but not bad enough for us to leave and it was gone within a couple of days. Eh, such is the gamble of vacationing at the beach.
Eeee the mailman is finally here! I can open some mail!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pleasantly Busy Monday
DATE: 07/17/2006 13:22:56
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My three day weekend was aboslutely glorious. After my errands on Friday, I didn't leave my apartment building until this morning. Sweeeet. Jamie and I had the entire weekend to ourselves (would have been better only if we'd actually been in the same room). Saturday I did absolutely nothing. I even slept until around 1:30pm. Sleep was soooooo good. Carl Edwards won the Saturday afternoon Busch Race in New Hampshire. YAY!!!
Sunday I woke up a little earlier, but only because the race came on at 1:30pm instead of 3pm like Saturday's race. Bre called around 2:30 and asked if she could bring her folks by and I said sure. So I had to race around like a mad-woman trying to straighten up and clean a bit. I had taken the back pillows off of the couch to have a little more sprawl room, the bed wasn't made, and sink was full of dirty dishes. At 3, Bre showed up with her mom, grandma, and brother. They liked the place and thought it was cute. Mrs. Bonnie, Bre's mom, thought Jamie was cute too. I showed her the picture of him that I keep on my dresser. And she liked my necklace too. Hehe. Bre's grandma's grandmother lived in the Belo Home when she was 5, and Bre's grandma had always wanted to know what the building looked like on the inside.
Work was pleasantly busy today. I had plenty of stuff to keep me occupied without feeling overwhelmed. I had more emails over the three days than I had than the whole week I was at Festival. Weird. Emails come in spurts like that.
I'm going to the beach on Saturday! YAY! I've already started packing (of course). I wanted to make sure I put the clothes I wanted to take with me away so I wouldn't wear them this week. The beach trip always involves a lot of stuff because we have to take sheets and towels and stuff like that. Plus we're going to have an arsenal of electronics--game systems, cell phones, digital cameras, laptops. I think there may be as many as three laptops at the beach this year. We have to keep ourselves entertained somehow at night. The beach is kinda scary at night...eeee crabs!
Wellllll...it's almost 4:30. And seeing as how I'm the only Music Foundation person in the building I think I'll be leaving at 4:30 when the Archives people leave. Yippeee!!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Productive Friday
DATE: 07/14/2006 11:07:51
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ahhhh... My day off. And I've been pretty productive. Woke up around 9:30 but laid there for a while enjoying the fact that I didn't really have to get up if I didn't want to. I had taken a benadryl before bed last night because I was starting to feel itchy and I didn't want the itchy to wake me up. I stumbled out of bed around 10 and took my time getting ready. I was at the Quik-Lube place for an oil change by 10:20 and out again by 10:55. Then I had to take the long, stop-light-filled way to Walmart because it would have been too much effort to get back to the interstate. But that was no problem cus I had alll the time in the world today.
Walmart wasn't too busy. Better today than tomorrow morning when all the people at work today are off and able to do their shopping. I picked up some stuff from my upcoming beach trip, including a pair of swim shoes. Yes, I am a wuss who doesn't like to step on shells. I have very tender feet. I don't think the shoes are very attractive...but once I'm in the water nobody will see them and my tootsies will be safe from all the sharp pokey things in the sand.
I'm also in the middle of laundry. My actual laundry day was last Saturday, but seeing as how I was in Ohio, I couldn't do my washing. The pickings in the closet were getting kinda slim, as were the pickings in the drawers (yes, both meanings of the word "drawers") too. I can usually do laundry in four loads, but today it was broken up into five. I didn't have as many towels as usual since I used hotel towels for a week.
I downloaded music to my mp3 player yesterday afternoon. It was SUPER easy to do, and didn't take forever either. I've got it mostly full, but there's still some space. I might go through the rest of my CDs this afternoon to see what I could squeeze in just to have more music. My collection on the player is very weird. It's mostly celtic music, some early american music (with a British Isle flare), and then my 12 Girls Band CD that my grandpa gave me for Christmas. 12 Girls Band is a group of musicians from China. They play traditional Chinese instruments but they do a lot of different music, like Clocks by Coldplay, Only Time by Enya, and Reel Around the Sun from Riverdance plus some more traditional sounding Chinese music. They're awesome!
Time to check on my laundry...
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Somewhat more with it today..
DATE: 07/13/2006 13:51:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
When we last parted...I was loopier than Toocan Sam on the Fruit Loops box. I went straight home and climbed straight in bed. There I stayed happily asleep until about 5:15pm when I decided to get up. After the nap I was feeling much better. I didn't have that my-head-is-detached-from-my-body feeling anymore. The itch was pretty much gone too, as well as the redness on the back of my hands. I took another benadryl before bed last night and I slept ALLLLLL the way through the night. It was sooo very very nice.
Best thing about taking benadryl at night is that it helps you sleep and the loopy side effects are gone by the time you wake up. My hands still have a faint rash on them and itch every now and then, but the manic can't-scratch-enough itch is gone.
The most exciting news of today: I got my mp3 player! YAY! About two minutes ago I was lip-singing along to Jimmy Buffet's Margeritaville cus that's what the radio on the player was picking up at that moment. Tonight I'm going to pick out what music from my CDs I want to put on it. YAY!! I have a new toy!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! It's my absolute most favorite of all time song!! Bryan Adam's Everything I Do (I Do It For You)! This harkens back to my days in middle school when I'd prance around in my grandma's yard and in the woods pretending I was Maid Marian. You know, that song came from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In one weekend I watched that movie three times, once back to back. And it's no short movie either. Not the best Robin Hood movie either. But, heh. I wasn't overly picky. Ahhh....this takes me back.
Jamie probably thinks I'm the biggest dork since I just "sang" Everything I Do at him in IMs. Hehe. I'm a dork. 
But he likes that.
Anyway...back to my new toy. It came with a battery! Imagine that! And it has a sporty little armband to hook it on when I go running (HA! Me run...yeah right.). It's verrrrry verrry cool. It's about the size of a zippo lighter, but came packaged in a box that could have easily held a pair of boots. Such overkill. But at least it got to me in one piece.
More later! (after I've downloaded some songs to my new toy....yay!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Blank stare.....
DATE: 07/12/2006 11:37:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My hands woke me up again this morning, but did it at 2:30am giving me a good nap before the alarm went off. The hives have turned into a pinky-red rash on the backs of my hands. Grrrrr. At 9am this morning I left work and went to the drug store to pick up something (anything!) to help with my itchiness. I bought Benadryl for its antihistimine to help me stop itching from the outside and some zinc oxide ointment to help on the outside. I read that zinc oxide (which is good for diaper rash) is also good for weepy, oozy fingers and hands. The ointment didn't exactly help the itch, but it seems to have help dry up the spots on my fingers.
The Benadryl seems to have stopped the itch. However, I'm now sitting here like a zombie wondering how in the world I'm actually still upright and typing cohesive sentences (though I am having a big of trouble typing things correctly and I have to hit the backspace more than usual). I was fine at home over lunch when I was just sitting on the couch mindlessly watching tv. I didn't notice the loopiness start setting in. But as soon as I stood up to head back to work it felt like my head disconnected from the rest of my body and was floating like a balloon. My walk across the back lawn was fun...couldn't walk in a straight line to save my life and I kept slowing down (there is a slight incline to the ground and it might as well have been a mountain...).
I feel like I felt the time I took some allergy medicine (not Benadryl) over Easter and my mom and I went to Walmart and Lowes back home. Hehe. I felt the meds kick in while we were in Walmart, then when we were at Lowes I was like "ooooo....shiney door knobs." Felt the same way walking down the hallway at home, heading for the elevator, I looked down at the keys in my hand and thought "oooo...keeeeeys".
I think benadryl is best taken before bed. And, I think that's when I'll take another dose. Maybe it'll help me sleep through the night without waking up itchy.
It's 2:30pm and Jamie isn't on yet. He must be sleeping in today. I wanted to talk to him before I left work early to tell him where I was going (home), why (doped up on meds), and what I was going to do once I got there (sleeeeeeeeeeeep). Guess I'll have to send him an email. Maybe he'll sign on in the middle of me typing the email. I might type extra slow and careful just in case...
Beffie has left the building. If you'd like to leave a message, please see the reception-witch at the front desk and Beffie will get back to you as soon as she has taken the antidote to the fun potion she downed earlier today. Have a great day!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Now back to our regularly scheduled program
DATE: 07/11/2006 11:56:24
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ahhhh... It's good to be at work again. To not have to watch a clock to make sure I'm where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there. Plus, the two minute commute between home and work is even more appreciated now.
Well, I was rudely awakened this morning at 5am by itchy fingers and hands. Even the hand and fingers (left) that don't usually itch were itchy. I slathered on some Lanacane to stop the itch and pulled on my little white cotton gloves to help the medicine stay on. I managed to go back to sleep, but the itching didn't really go away. Now the back of my right hand is completely covered in hives and about half of the back of the left hand is covered. Very meh! At least, at the moment, my fingers themselves don't itch. I think the itchy on the backs of my hands is making up for that though. I wonder if maybe my hands are getting hot under the covers and that's what makes them itch. I can't figure out a way to prevent that though... 
MEH!
Tonight I actually have dinner plans! Jamie asks me every workday "Plans for dinner?" and I always say "Nope". But tonight I have plans! Mrs. Sandy called me at work this morning to invite me to dinner. We're going to have spaghetti! YAY! I love her spaghetti! Plus, I'd kinda been almost craving spaghetti and I picked up some hamburger and mushrooms at the grocery store last night so I could make some tonight, but now I don't have to. YAY!
Mmmmm...Mrs. Grace brought me a piece of her absoultely heavenly (or maybe devilishly...) good fudge pie. Needless to say, the slice of pie is no more. Muwahahahaha. So yummy!
Cartoon Network started showing PeeWee's Playhouse last night! I was soo excited to see it, cus I loved watching it every Saturday morning when I was little. But dumb sleepy me, slept through the first half of it (and the last half of Futurama). Hmph. I had one of those "I'll just close my eyes through the commercials" moments. Yeaaahh....20 minutes later I woke up. Which also meant that I slept through 20 minutes of precious Jamie time! Grrr. Oh well...between me being soooo sleepy and his back giving him an awful fit, we both signed off for an early night.
I'm becoming such a techno-geek. My first piece of equipment was my first computer during highschool. Followed by my first scanner. Then I got my cell phone sophomore year in college. Then my second computer at the beginning of my junior year in college, bought so I could play Everquest. Then I got my laptop in 2003 after buying my car (remember....Buy a Saturn, get a Dell! I upgraded from the free Dell desktop to the laptop that only cost me $350 or so). After the laptop came the flash drive because the laptop didn't have a floppy drive or a CD-R drive and how else was I supposed to move files between computers. Several months ago I bought my digital camera and all the fun stuff that goes with it (memory card, rechargable batteries, photo printer that I gave my mom).
Now, I'm about to receive the newest addition to my electronic arsenal -- an MP3 player. I've been lagging behind the times on the latest audio player. For a while there, I though an IPod was the only MP3 player you could get and I was NOT going to pay $400 for something that would only play music. I have since learned that IPod does not have a monopoly, and MP3 players are actually pretty affordable. Actually, this purchase is more a need based purchase than a want (well...ok technically I don't NEED it...). I have a personal CD player and it works just fine. However, traveling with one requires a good deal of space in a bag, not to mention the need for having a sleeve of CDs. Plus, the CD player doesn't have a radio tuner on it. And...my player is kinda old and I keep expecting it to break everytime I use it. All of these are not conducive to being taken on a 5+ hour plane ride and hauled around in a carry on bag through three different airports. Soooo I'm getting an MP3 player to take with me on my trip to see Jamie (plus he thinks it's hot that I'm into gadgets and stuff...I'm geek chic!).
Soo...what exactly am I getting, you ask? I have purchased a modest little MP3 player for about $60 (with tax), not too shabby. It is the Creative Zen Nano Plus. It has 512MB of space, meaning it holds about 250 songs. More than enough for me. The 1GB players hold about 500 songs and I'm not even sure I have that many songs in my entire CD collection. The "Plus" in the title means that this player has an FM tuner so I can pick up the radio. Jamie said that was a definite must and I was very inclined to agree with him. What's the point of having a music player if it doesn't have a radio setting?
Something that normally would have taken up a lot of space in my bag is now going to take up no more room than a small snack and won't add any weight! Yippee! I can't wait to load all my favorite celtic music on the player! I guess I should start pulling my favorite CDs out. I'll probably upload a few CDs in their entirity, then go looking for the hand full of songs I like on other individual CDs. Oooo! Plus I have some songs from my old computer (that I gave to my mom since I have no room for it in my new apartment) that I put onto a CD somewhere...I'll have to root around for that. I don't think I'll get to 250 songs, but I'll probably be one of those people who'll get to that last space on the player and wail "oh why didn't I the 1GB model!!!". If that happens, just remind me that I didn't want to pay over $100 for an MP3 player. Hehe.
If I like my player enough (and I think I will) and it's easy enough to use, then somebody I know might get one for Christmas since she likes to walk and the only way her CD player doesn't skip is if she holds it in her hand. I don't think MP3 players have that problem. MP3 players can be attached to an armband (sold separately, of course, BAH!) or stuffed into a pocket.
Eeee! Jamie's waiting for me to finish my blog so he can read it. Hehe. 
I'm going to upload the last of the festival pictures to my photo album here this afternoon. Unfortunately, since I took all of the pictures, I'm not in any of the pictures. Maybe I can get a hold of pictures somebody else took one day.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig
DATE: 07/10/2006 16:16:12
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! I'm home!! And I just finished the most wonderful, completely southern meal ever -- fried chicken, mac and cheese, fried okra, cornbread muffin, and a cucumber. And it was alllll leftover from my yummy lunch at Bell Brothers. Bell Brothers is a cafeteria style, greasy spoon type place that's been in Winston-Salem forever. One of those places that all types of people eat at....rich, poor, black, white, everybody!
Yesterday's trip home went smoothly. I drove most of the way. My favorite part was coming down the mountain in Virginia, into NC. We took highway 52 instead of the interstate to avoid some construction. WHEEEE! That's a fun road to come down. Very twisty and curvy and mountainy. The view wasn't so great because there were trees, that was the only downside. The view coming down the mountain via the interestate is AMAZING. From the mountain in Virginia you can see for miles and miles into NC.
I even got home in time to see most of yesterday's Nextel race. Meh. Stupid Gordon didn't get penalized when he should have for causing Matt Kenseth to wreak, and then he went on to win! BAH on the NASCAR officials. Carl was a lap down for most of the race, but he finally got the Lucky Dog Pass and finished 20th. Not great, but not horrible.
I technically had today off, but both Bart and I decided to go into work anyway and put in a full day to catch up from last week. We're gonna save our day off for later. I might take mine next Monday. I'd much rather have a three-day weekend. And, I got a lot of work done today. YAY! I got through most of the mail and emails.
Jamie and I are getting REALLY excited about my visit even though it's still five weeks away. I keep forgetting that I have a beach trip between then and now. Eeeeeeee!!! I'm getting on a plane and going to see my boyee!!! YAY! I've already started my packing list for the trip. I want to pack very lightly, just in two carry on bags so I don't have to worry with checking luggage and possibly losing anything on the trip. If it was a non-stop flight, I wouldn't worry so much. But I change planes in Atlanta going and coming.
I'm slightly worried about my ticket though. I go to Delta.com and I can put in my confirmation code to see my itnerary, but I haven't gotten anything in my email yet. Kinda worried I didn't type my address right. But maybe they're supposed to send me something in the mail. I guess maybe I should call and ask if I'm going to get something in the mail or if I was supposed to get something in email. If I was supposed to get an email, maybe they can resend it.
Nifty thing is that I can check-in online and print my boarding pass up to 24 hours before my flight leaves. Kinda strange though what with all the heightened security at airports. But I guess you still have to show your photo ID to 900 airline workers. I haven't flown since summer 2001, so things have changed alot since then. I was nearly late for my flight home from Texas that summer and got to the gate at last call. Nowadays I would have missed that flight because of all the security checkpoints.
Ah well. We'll see how all of that goes when it gets here.
I uploaded the last of my Festival pictures to work's photo album at Yahoo! Haven't uploaded them to my album here yet, but I'll do that tomorrow if I don't forget.
More later!
PS. I've never been so ready to get a shower in a teeeeeny tiny little shower before last night. I missed my water pressure!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Movies
DATE: 07/08/2006 17:51:25
STATUS: publish
BODY:
ARGH! This is the time of year I absolutely hate. The summer movies come out, and I want to see a lot of them but I have NOBODY to see them with. My mom took my cousin Brandi to see Cars last weekend. Jamie has possibly gone to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest with his friend Jim. MEH! The last movie I saw was Cheaper by the Dozen 2 over my Christmas vacation.
Oh well. The gang going down to Topsail will head to Jacksonville one night for Chinese food and a movie. I'm not sure which movie we're going to see. I want to see Pirates or Superman...but we'll probably see the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the Water. On our last beach trip we saw The Village. I've seen Signs on tv. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Mr. Shyamalan's movies. My Super Ex-Girlfriend would be funny too, though I'm not a huge Uma Thurman fan.
I have more pictures from the festival to upload, but I'm toooooo lazy to do it today. Plus, there are almost 100 of them and I'd rather upload them at work where I have a mouse instead of a touch-pad. Plus, it'll give me something to do at work. At our last festival, the majority of the pictures we ended up with were of people eating. I vowed not to take a single picture of people eating. And I succeeded! Ok, so I took a picture of that mint-chip ice cream cookie sandwich I made, but the subject was the dessert not somebody eating. So, it doesn't count! Besides, that cookie concoction (dunno if that's how you spell that...) was soooo delicious on the eyes that I couldn't help but take a picture of it! Definitely a case of eating with your eyes.
I'm going to miss my huge king size bed here at the hotel. I realllllly really want one of these one day soon. I need a bigger bedroom first. But, I'm soooooo happy and ready to go home tomorrow. I miss fixing my own food. My stomach misses it too. I love eating out...but not this much. Even twice a week is too much...but every meal is even worse. While I don't make the most healthy of meals for myself, I do use less fat and grease and horribly bad stuff. Plus, I like to be in control of exactly what I'm eating. Meh.
Lunch was most excellent today. We (Mr. Bart and I) were going to eat at Skyline Chili, but couldn't find one. They're the home of chili on spaghetti noodles! I've seen stuff about them on Food Network. I was kinda bummed when we discovered the two we had addresses for were no longer in business. So, we went to Bob Evans instead. I had country fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and rolls. Neither of us got tea. $1.69 is a bit pricey for a glass of tea, even if you do get free refills. We all think that's where the restaurants are making their profit, because it doesn't cost a lot to make a huge container full of tea. Tea is cheaper to make than keeping soda, but the two are the same price. MEH! Plus, tea up here isn't sweet so no real loss.
For dinner, I walked to Waffle House since Mr. Bart took the van to go see some of his Ohio buddies (he used to live in Columbus). I could have gone to McDonalds, but that meant crossing a kinda busy street. Waffle House wasn't too bad. I like Waffle House, but I was still semi-full from lunch even though I didn't go get supper until almost 8pm. I got a Texas chicken melt with cheese and bacon on toast and hashbrowns (best part of eating at Waffle House). The sandwich was kinda salty. I couldn't eat the whole thing, but I ate all of the chicken and about half of the hashbrowns (soooo crunchy and yummy! the way hashbrowns should be!).
Oooh, the other thing I'm looking forward to when I get back home is my Brita water pitcher! I miss having good clean cold water on hand all day. The water up here is BLEH. I started trying to drink at least three full glasses of ice water at meals in the University cafeteria this week. That's the only way the water was decent enough to drink. The hotel water is naaaasty even with ice. Plus you only get the dinky "liquor" glasses to drink out of. I don't know what these glasses are called but they always remind me of the glasses whiskey on the rocks is served in. I haven't been getting my 8+ glasses a day! I neeeeeeeeed my water! Which is why after I was finished with my supper tonight, I went upstairs and forked out $1.50 for a bottle of aquafina. Meh.
Annnnyway. We're leaving bright and early at as close to 8am as possible. Maybe we can snag a quick bite at the McDonald's before we leave.
More later!
PS. I get Monday off. YAY! But at lunchtime I have to play musical cars with Mr. Bart and the rental mini-van.
PPS. Having a boyfriend, but not getting to go to the movies (or do anything else) with him is really crummy!!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Tickets!
DATE: 07/06/2006 19:56:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I bought my plane tickets!! YAY! Jamie is very excited! YAY!
I took more pictures and uploaded them to my photo album. They're in the "2006 Moravian Music Foundation" ablum, at the the bottom of the pictures from yesterday.
Not much to talk about today. Sold some stuff. Read more in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'll probably finish it tomorrow, almost to the ultra sad part. I'm kinda ready to head hooooome. I'm sick of eating out, not cooking my own food. I have learned that the chicken patty sandwiches are very good. I put cheese, pickles, mayo, and ketchup on mine. Mmmm yum!
I'm gonna check out the campus bookstore tomorrow since I finally figured out where it is. Dunno what I'll buy, but I'll find something small and inexpensive. Maybe some postcards. I like postacards. I'm looking forward to Saturday and doing NOTHING. Unfortunately I won't be sleeping late. I'll actually have to leave the hotel earlier than usual. Meh. The trombone choir is giving their concert at 9am. Ugh. Then closing ceremony is at 10am. I need to get pictures of both. But, after that I can crash at the hotel allll day long. Definitely gonna get a nap...then I'm gonna talk to my honey as soon as he wakes up...and I'm gonna watch the Busch race, which is fortunately on TNT this weekend because the hotel doesn't get FX.
Nearly bedtime. Ugh.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: We've set a date!
DATE: 07/05/2006 16:48:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Nononono. Not THAT date. Not yet anyway.
I'm going out to see Jamie on August 17 and flying back home on August 22. All I have to do know is get the ok from the boss and buy my ticket. YAAAAAAY!
Tonight is no-concert night at the festival, so I've been at the hotel since just after 2 this afternoon. Ahhh. It was so nice. I took a nap. I watched some tv. Then at 6:15, I went across the street to Micky D's for dinner. I got a grilled chicken club sammich. Very tasty, but too much mayonaise...even for me, who LOVES mayo. I think my tummy will appreciate the extra hour I waited between lunch and dinner. I was feeling much better by the time I went to bed. It's just a good thing I didn't have a roommate though.
I took photos today! Oops. I had planned on uploading them this afternoon, but I slept through this afternoon. Guess I'll do them as soon as I'm finished with my blog.
Meh. Gas took a $0.16 jump last night. From $2.89 to $3.05 at the station in front of the hotel. Stupid gas. At least back home, I get to walk to work everyday!! I've found that I can do with a tank of gas a month. Sweeeet. Of course that won't work this month since I'll be driving allllll the way down to Topsail at the end of the month.
Welll...I'd better get crackin' on those pictures.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Happy Independence Day!
DATE: 07/04/2006 19:10:53
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm watching the NYC fireworks on NBC. I'd love to be there...but toooo many people.
And, I'm currently feeling very bleh. Never eat dinner if you're not really hungry. Bleh. Lunch around here is served at noon. Ok that's fine. But dinner is served at 5pm. Tooo early for me. I could do that in college when I had a 5:30 class and needed to be at the Rat (our cafeteria was called the Refectory...or the Rat Factory....or the Rat for short) at 4:45 to eat before class. (Btw...I just burped and it was very very GROSS.) Bleh. I'm all gasy and nauseous. I'd like to stick a pin in my belly and let out all the air.
I got to see the Space Shuttle launch live on TV. That was pretty exciting. YAY! Men (and women) in spaaaaaaaaace! One guy is being dropped off at the space station for a six month stay. I can't imagine staying in space that long. Seems like it would be VERY boring.
I got to see some great fireworks last night...in my rear view mirror on the way back to the hotel. That was lots of fun. Trying to see the fireworks BEHIND me and not run over anybody. Hehe.
It was pouring rain this morning. The alarm went off at 7:30am but I had to look at it hard for several seconds to believe that it really was 7:30 cus it was so dark. Of course, the only shoes I brought with me were sandals. So I had cold feet most of the day since they got wet. It stopped raining early in the afternoon, but started up again before 9pm. Loads of rain lately. Plus thunderstorms. There were some baaaad ones in the Columbus area yesterday. Some areas were without power. Glad that was them and not us.
I think I'm going through Jamie withdrawls. Usually we start talking after lunch sometime and then keep talking until midnight or later. Now we're lucky to get an hour and a half after lunch and a few hours in the evening when I'm in for the night. Meh. Plus, last night I was soooo sleepy and just feeling so very out of it that I'm sure he thought I was acting weird. Poor boy. I miss him! I'll be soooo glad to get home.
Feelin' better now. Some of the air has escaped through various means. Ahhhh. Yeah, I know. Too much information. But I feel better! I just wanted to share.
Tonight's concert was really good even though I only stayed through half of it before my tummy got icky. It was the 26th NC Regimental Civil War band in costume. Those guys are GREAT. I took pictures and I'll post them sometime. Maybe tomorrow evening when I don't have a concert to go to.
Off to take a drippy shower before Futurama.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Greetings from Ohio
DATE: 07/03/2006 12:26:00
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Oook. First off and update on the weekend. Remember that fall I took on Friday? Well, surprisingly enough it wasn't my bruised leg (which is the type of bruises that show but don't hurt) or my skinned pinkie finger that hurt. Nooo. I rolled over early Saturday morning and thought, "Why in the world do my arms hurt?" It felt like I'd been trying to lift 100lb weights with each arm. My biceps and under my arms screamed in agony all day long. Evidently I tried to catch myself push-up style since I fell flat forward. Big big BIG owie.
I stayed up waaay too late on Saturday. It was almost 2am before I finally went to sleep...even though I knew I had to get up at 7am to be ready to hit the road at 8am. Jamie and I had...issues. It wasn't really an argument...of course, I've never had an argument with a boyfriend before so maybe it was. It was after 1:30am when it seemed that we had leveled off a bit. All is ok now. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger!
Ok, now for the ride to Ohio. I absolutely LOOOOVE the country that I70 takes you through to get to Ohio. Virginia and West Virginia are all mountains and rocky cliffs and greeeeeen trees and it's just absolutely wonderful. I think the only thing that would make it any more magnificent would be to travel that road in October when the leaves are turning. Ahh..fall. LOVE IT!
Traffic was most excellent. Smooth driving the whole way, just some construction when we got into Ohio but nothing that made us slow down too much or stop at all. The really weird thing was the lack of Virigina license tags we saw in Virginia. All we saw were Ohio tags. The same was true for West Virginia, though we did see our fair share of West Virginia tags---we just saw more Ohio tags than instate tags. Weird. Then Bart explained it. All of the Ohio people trek allllllll the way down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. So it was everybody coming back to Ohio after spending the weekend at the beach. Strange people, those Ohio folks.
We got into a horrific storm in our early miles of Ohio. Before we went into the storm the temperature was 91 (yay for in-cabin thermometers and compasses!!). Then we watched it cool off in probably just the span of 7 or 8 miles until it was all the way down to 70 degrees. There was BRILLIANT lightning just couple 100 yards away on a few occasions. We couldn't even hear the big booms of thunder from lighting so close because of the pounding rain. The drops were HUGE and coming FAST and so very very LOUD. We drove in the storm for probably less than 10 minutes. Then I (who drove through the storm!) had to deal with road rain...ugh.
Not too long after we were well past the storm, we looked up to see that the temperature was around 98 degrees. Ohio was blisteringly hot yesterday. There was a breeze, but it was soooo very very hot. I haven't felt that funky in a long time. I was soooo glad to finally get to my shower. Sad thing was the shower pressure. I hate hotel showers for their lack of water pressure. It's like taking a bath from water dripping off of wet noodles. Meh. I like to have the dirt BLASTED off of me.
My huge king sized bed loaded with soft linens and mountains of pillows is WONDERFUL. I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I didn't want to waste enjoying the comfort of the bed. It's a big lonely bed though...lots of space. I feel like I'm wasting most of it. Like some poor starving little child in Africa might enjoy having the rest of my space on this super soft bed. I would share if I could...
The festival seems to be going very well. I'm just manning the sales table and I only have to do that during the two daily breaks and around meal and concert times. I think I'm gonna be doing a lot of sitting around not doing much. Unfortunately I can't walk back to the hotel room. I have to drive back. It's not a bad drive, just not one I want to make 5 times everyday.
Last night we had a good opening banquet. I ate baked ziti, roast beast with gravy (you know the kind...like they serve at sit-down wedding dinners), wild rice, and the BEST chicken cordon bleu. Mmm. It was REAL chicken, not the processed stuff. Of course, I think the processed stuff is pretty good too. Hehe. After the banquet, we had a band prelude and lovefeast. The lovefeast buns they served were like a regular one only sticky and gooey. Mmmmm. They had extras leftover so I took one for breakfast this morning. The lovefeast coffee was disgusting. Even more so than it usually is. I can usually take a couple of sips of it because it's supposed to be sweet and spicy, but last night it was grooooossss. It just tasted like weak bitter water. Bleh.
I got to the school this morning around 9:15am-ish. Breakfast started at 7:30, but there's no way I'm getting up that early if I don't have to. Lunch was good in the campus dining hall. I had a salad and pepperoni pizza (waaaay better than the Rat pizza at Salem) and a brownie with mint chocolate chip ice cream (YAY! My favorite!). Right now I'm sitting at the desk in my hotel room typing away on the blog. I might lay down for a nap and wait until 5pm when I'll head back over for dinner. There's free time for the participants from 6-7:15, so I'll probably set up shop then for anybody who wants to buy anything. Then at 7:30pm there's a band prelude before the 8pm Anthem Sing. I think I might be playing in the orchestra for the anthem sing, but I don't know yet...nobody's said anything. I have my violin just in case.
I'm actually very very disappointed that I'm not in the festival orchestra. I was in the 2003 festival orchestra and I got paid very VERY well for it. Of course the festival orchestra played for two concerts (festival chorus concert and soloist (vocal) concert) that year plus the anthem sing, and there were four rehearsals (I think). That's a lot of services*. This year the festival orchestra is only performing for the one festival choral concert on Friday night. There' s no soloist concert this year. Lots of people have asked if I was going to play with the orchestra and I've had to shrug and say no. I asked and asked and asked repeatedly and each time I was told "We'll see" or "I don't see why not". Yeah. Whatever. Don't lead me on...just tell me "not this year" or "no". And, no I don't want the festival people to let me play with the orchestra just because I work for the Music Foundation. I want to play in the orchestra as a professional musician and get PAID.
YAY! Jamie's on!
More later!
* For those non-musicians out there, professional musicians get paid by the service. A service is a concert or a rehearsal. They're treated equally. So if you get paid $50 for each service and you have one concert and two rehearsals then you get paid $150.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Falling...the good and the not so good
DATE: 06/30/2006 11:58:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Falling in love = Good
Falling up the stairs = Not so good
Meh. I fell up the concrete outside stairs at work today. Luckily, I didn't do too much damage. I removed a little skin on my right pinkie and the heel of my right palm is dark pink now from where I caught myself. I know I'm going to have some nasty bruises on my right leg. One is above my right knee on my thigh. That's where the sharp edge of a step dug into my meaty thigh. The other sore spot is up closer to my hip, I think. I don't feel the sore spots right now, but I'm sure I will later. Oh...and under both armpits hurts a bit because that's where I tensed up the most as I fell. Falling up is so weird....
Our donor database is finally up and running so I think the network (or at least the part that I work on) is finally at 100%. Just in time for us to leave to go to Festival. Woo. I've gotta handful of donations to make records and acknowledgements for. I want to have all the work off of my desk before I leavethis afternoon.
Now for something completely random...
You know what I hate the most about sunless tanning lotions? The fact that they work best on the spots you DON'T want a tan. The palms of my hands are a lovely shade of yellowy gold. Yet my shoulders are still kinda pastey pale. Yes, I know the directions on the back of the bottle say "wash your hands after applying" but I wash and wash and wash and still the stuff stains my hands. Eh. I look kinda like I have jaundice.
Bart and I have loaded the minivan, and it is a very spiffy vehicle. It's a dark burgundy Ford Freestyle with tan leather inside and when we picked it up from the airport it had just over 100 miles on it. Ahhhh...new car smell! Best of all, it's back bench seat is one of those cool "folds into the floor" types. Very good! And I figured it out all by myself on the first try!
We had to reset the clock because the time wasn't right. Oh...that was interesting. I pulled out the owner's manual and looked up "clock" in the index. The index said go to page 66. So I went to page 66. But the clock on page 66 was a tick-tock type clock with hands. Blinkblink. Uh...we don't have one of those. I want the DIGITAL clock. I looked back in the index. The only reference for clock gave page 66. Hmm. Then we wondered if maybe it would be in the section with the radio. Of course. How stupid of me. I should have been looking up "radio" in the index not "clock" if I wanted to change the clock time.
I'm all excited to go for the looong ride on Sunday. The mountainy parts of Virginia and West Virginia we get to go through are BEAUTIFUL! We get to drive through TWO mountain tunnels! Those are so fun. Looking ahead all you can see is mountain and you're wondering...wait...there' s no break in the middle of this mountain for the road and the mountain is getting awfully close.
Uh...uh..uh....AHHHHH TUNNEL! Hehe.
I will miss my boy terribly though. I wish he could come with me! One day he will. At least we won't be totally out of touch with each other. I'll have my cellphone and my laptop with me.
Ooook...gotta get to that work I talked about earlier.
More later! (I'll be in Ohio for the next post!!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Network condition: Stable
DATE: 06/29/2006 11:16:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today I could actually check my work email, be on the internet, and get to my files. I still can't get into our donor database software, but that's because the software has to be reinstalled onto the server. I just hope we haven't lost any records. I would probably see red and go absolutely bananas. All of the records should have a backup somewhere...but I don't know where or how often the backup happens.
Our building is on a server housed in the main office building (big stone house that looks kinda like a mini gothic castle) of the Moravian Church Southern Province. Loads of offices are on this server, meaning that loads of people have been unable to do work for almost four days. Included in this loads of people is the Moravian Book and Gift shop, which is in Old Salem. Yeah. Have the computer system fail for a retail business and see what happens. Not good.
Rumblings in our office building between the MMF and the Archives have included the phrase "we need our own server in our own building" at least once a day since last Friday. Some of us don't completely understand why we have to be hooked up into somebody else's system anyway. When the Music Foundation was located in a big white house a couple miles down the road, it had it's own server and everything. And then when the MMF moved we evidently got snookered into being hooked up with everybody else. Dumb dumb dumb.
At least I got to wander aimlessly around the internet. I checked out all my favorite blogs, checked on the news at Yahoo! more than once, check my online friends' board. It's felt like Friday all week because I haven't done anything. And Friday still isn't here yet! ARGH!
I hope Jamie comes on soon cus I'm ready to talk to him. Been missing him ever since I woke up this morning...which isn't rare, but today it's just a little bit more missing than usual.
Tomorrow Bart and I get to pick up and load the minivan we're taking to the festival in Ohio. YAY! Something to do. We're really hoping to be able to take out the seats so neither of us will be coerced into being a taxi service for the festival. "Oh...sorry. We had to take out the back seats to load all of our sales stuff and Bart's tubas. We can't take any passengers." Muwahahahahaa. We is smrt.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: ARGH!!!
DATE: 06/28/2006 10:54:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Day 3.5 of the network meltdown.
Well, I can talk to Jamie on AIM and I can (at this precise moment in time) surf around the internet. I can access my files. I can check only my new work emails through the email server thing's website, but I can't see any of the ones that I opened earlier this week---in other words, I can't do anything with the ones that I was saving to do later. And, I can't get into our donor database software to update it with new donations and generate acknowledgement letters. Luckily, our annual fund drive has slowed down and I have less than a dozen donations to worry over. But if we were in the middle of the drive, I could easily be dealing with a pile of 50 or so donations that I couldn't do anything with! (Of course, we would be able to deposit them and get the money, but the record keeping would have to be put on hold.) Grrrr.
We folded and stuffed envelopes for an endowment campaign mailing this morning and we actually had THREE volunteers to help out. WOW! I was amazed and very very thankful. I don't mind the mindless work of folding and stuffing small jobs but this one involved matching personalized letters, envelopes, and pledge cards and stuffing them with campaign material, a brochure, and a return envelope. Toooo much for me to think about at 10 am. The volunteers were enticed into our building with the promise of Krispie Kreme doughtnuts. I had two when we were finished---a plain glazed and a chocolate dipped glazed. I think I'm gonna go upstairs to see what's leftover. Mmmmmmm doug nuts.
At least I get to talk to Jamie....therefore I won't go completely nutty this afternoon.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: grumblemuttergrumble
DATE: 06/27/2006 17:53:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Day 2.5 of a sick network.
Meh. This is getting old REALLY fast. I was able to check both my work email and internet email (for Jamie's morning message) this morning. But then about 45 minutes later both work email and the internet went down. I could still get on our server to work with my files and AIM still worked so I got to talk to my boy when he signed on after lunch, but the donor database was still inaccessible. I couldn't do much work.
After lunch I started feeling like total crap. My hips and legs hurt so bad. I couldn't stand to sit and I couldn't stand to stand. I was absolutely miserable and the two tylenol I downed took forever to start working. Finally, around 3:30, Bart and I decided to go pick up the cash box we'd taken to the locksmith on Friday. The keys had been stolen by my predecessor and we need the locking cash box for the festival next week. So the locksmith made a new set of three keys for the box. After we picked it up, we headed to office depot to look around. I found a new calendar. Then we hopped over to Dairy Queen for a tasty treat. He got a swirl cone and I got a mint mocha moolatte
. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Sooooo good. After my chocolatey goodness, I was feeling much better.
Jamie did his best to give me much love and sympathy when I was suffering with aches and pains this afternoon. He's sooooo sweet! I realllllllly like his e-hugs since that's all I get at the moment. He is my extra super special guy. Even though he is 3000 miles away, he can still make me feel better and make me soooo very happy! I love my boy lots and lots!
I really really really hope things are up and running like they ought to be at work tomorrow. Mostly I hope work email is up before Friday afternoon so I can turn on my "away" email message so that anybody who emails me gets a reply saying "I'm at the festival! I'll be back in a few days!" That way people don't send another email three days later asking why I haven't replied to their first email yet.
Now...I'm gonna endulge in half a 3 Musketeers bar. Hehe.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Muttergrumblemutter
DATE: 06/26/2006 10:17:58
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Stupid network is still down at work. But at least, I can get to my files on the server again. Just no email and no internet. No reading Jamie's morning email first thing this morning. That put me in a foul mood. Eh. And because of that I'm not completely convinced that my connection to the server where the files are won't be severed in the middle of me doing something. Grrr.
Here's my phone call to our semi-IT lady this morning at 8:45am.
IT Lady: Hello?
Me: Is the network going to be reset today?
IT Lady: Does it need to be?
Me: Uh. Yeah. We haven't been able to get online since Friday.
IT Lady: Did you call anybody Friday?
Me: Well, no because nobody was up there (in her office) on Friday.
IT Lady: Ok...I'm just learning more about this now. I'll call you back in a little bit.
It was well after 9:30 when she called back to say that the server and voicemail were down. She said nobody could get to either one of them until this afternoon. GRRRRRR. So we have yet another day of limited productivity. But like I said, luckily around 10:30 I was able to get to my files on the server so I could do some work.
I have a pile of donations that need to be dealt with but I can't do anything with because none of us can sign onto our donor database software. It isn't on the same server as our files. Grrr.
Well...at least I got to talk to Jamie for a little bit over lunchtime. I'm lucky that he signed on AIM so we could have a little time together just in case the network still isn't up 100% when I get back to work. He was extra super worried when he didn't see me online after lunch on Friday. I hated to worry him so...but it made me kinda warm and fuzzy inside.
Gonna snag a couple of cookies then head off to work.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hot and oppressive
DATE: 06/23/2006 16:28:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It is HOT outside. Well, right now it's stormy, but that's because of the heat. I've seen some brillant lightning bolts off to the east. There were some very nasty black boiling clouds in the east earlier. This storm is kinda weird because it seems to be moving south to north. They usually move west to east...which is hard for me because my windows face east and therefore I can't see the storms coming. I can only see them going.
My doctor's appointment went well this morning. Doc said all my tests looked great and that I was doing really good. I felt very stylish in my backless hospital gown, but at least it was cotton and not paper. It was very soft...like sheets that have been washed and washed and washed and washed. Comfy and worn. My doctor and I share the same birthday! So I can add him to the list of people born on February 22 (George Washington, Drew Barrymore, my friend Chris, and me!).
I saw the bunny twice today. Poor little critter in his fur coat in the 90+ degree heat.
Work today was absolutely awful. The network was down. So, no work email. No donor database software for processing donations. No internet and therefore no surfing and no internet emails. Luckily the internet worked when I first got to work so I was able to read Jamie's morning email and send my morning reply. I was occasionaly able to access my files on the network server, but then by 2pm even that crapped out and I was left with NOTHING to do. I played solitare, hearts (which I really don't like), freecell, spider solitare, and pinball. I was soooo bored. Because I couldn't get on the internet, I couldn't get on AIM to talk to Jamie. I'd left my cellphone on my nightstand so I couldn't call to let him know why I wasn't online. Meh. He was soooo worried about me when I finally showed up online at 4:30pm (went home early because there was nothing to do).
Went to the grocery store after telling Jamie hi and explaining about the stupid network glitch. I love the grocery store! But you already know that.
YAY for the weekend! I have a gig tomorrow night at the Celtic Cafe with Jennifer, the singer from our band. I hope we have a big crowd and take in lots o' cash.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My honey and me
DATE: 06/22/2006 11:29:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Here are a list of some of the things my honey and I share in common:
and I were very happy to finally get back to each other through our usual means of communication. Mom will say that I almost knocked her over to get to the computer, but I did give her a hug first. Actually I almost knocked her over trying to get to the bathroom because I had been drinking a Mt. Dew on the drive from Topsail. Hehe.Friday, Mom and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Hehe. I told her she HAD to see it. Then we went to the Dollar Tree and to Walmart. We encountered a really nasty storm on the way home from Walmart and thought that we might get sucked up into from the look of the cloud we had to drive under. After the storm went away we went out to Mema and Grandpa's house.
Saturday, Mom and I went to Ayden for lunch at Bojangles and shopping at the Dollar General. Then we drove by the really spiffy yard of a friend of my grandma's neighbor across the street. Very pretty! I bet it is amazing in the spring with daffodils blooming or earlier in the summer with the day lilies blooming. I worked on Mom's computer and set up her with my old computer because it works much better than her old one. I taught her how to put pictures on a CD, since my computer has a CD burner. She was realllllly happy about that trade-up. Then we went to Mema's for the Busch race that didn't start until after 9pm because of rain in the St. Louis area. As the living room clock struck midnight, Carl Edwards did his backflip! YAY!! Go Carl! Mema made us scrumptous BELT's with cheese, that's bacon, egg, lettuce, and tomato sammiches with cheeeeeeeese. Mema also cleaned out her closet and gave me two shirts, two sweaters, a skirt, and a jacket. Both she and my mom say "I can wear a size 12 now" and I just mutter and grumble at them.
Sunday, I enjoyed the last of the leftovers from Thursday afternoon with a piece of corn on the cob. Then headed back out on the road for home. I miss all the beach people and the family people, but I'm glad to be back in my little apartment. Especially since my little apartment is the home of my BIG bed. Hehe. LOVE MY BED!
Now, I hope my new modem is waiting for me when I get back to my apartment this afternoon and I especially hope that that new modem works when I put it in my laptop. If not, I'll go bonkers.
Work was pleasant today. Got a lot done. And, I went to the grocery store over lunch for foooood since my cupboards were looking a little sparse.
There are a few pictures from this past week in my photo album (Topsail 2006). I took less than 30 pictures. Two of the pictures I posted are from Chris. I'll probably add more pictures later as soon as I swipe them from Chris and Christy.
More later!
Only 16 days til Washington!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Yay for Friday!!!
DATE: 07/21/2006 13:53:56
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Friday is finally here! But no new modem yet. I couldn't get in touch with the seller in time to have it shipped overnight. So I'll just have to wait til I get back home to fix my computer. And I really really really hope that replacing the modem will do the job. Hope the problem isn't with the connector wire or something I can't get to because laptops are hard to work on internally. The only good thing from this is it's one less thing to drag to the beach. Meh.
Jamie
and I have had two fabulously long calls over the past two nights and we're going to have another one tonight. He likes when I talk about whatever happens to be on tv. He thinks it's cute though really it's just me being silly. I love to talk about TV commercials. They're usually the best thing on tv. Sad, huh? I miss being able to talk to him from 5pm to midnight. We're having to make do with the few hours of IM time we have while I'm at work and the hour or so we have on the phone at night. I'll be glad when I fix my laptop! I had a wonderful lunch today at C&H Cafeteria in K-ville. I had the BEST fried chicken tenders ever. The chicken was deliciously seasoned, warm, juicy, and only lightly floured. SO GOOD! C&H Cafeteria is a lot like K&W Cafeteria. C&H came about when two guys who used to work for K&W suggested that K-ville would be a great spot for another restaurant but the K&W people never would commit to putting one out there. So these two guys quit their K&W jobs and opened up C&H. Hehe. They serve pretty much the same exact food, only I saw things at C&H that K&W doesn't have -- like chicken tenders. For all you W-S people who read this, if you're ever in K-ville, head over to C&H Cafeteria for some good eats.
Right next to C&H is one of my all time favorite stores -- the Dollar General! I got so excited when we pulled up because I needed some laundry soap and AAA batteries for my beach trip. YAY! I didn't have to make a special trip to Walmart or to the Dollar General closer to home. I also picked up a king sized black Sharpie pen (for marking names on plastic cups) and some Mt. Dews (2 6-packs for $3!).
Then we (Mr. Bart, Dr. Daniel, and I) went to Office Depot. Mr. Bart thinks it ought to be renamed Idiots R Us. First it took forever for anybody to see me at the UPS shipping counter. Then it took forever for somebody to see that I was finished at the UPS shipping counter and needed an associate to weigh my packages. Then the weighing took forever because the stupid scale (thank you Pitney Bowes...I hate them with a passion!) would stop working. Finally that was over and I took my postage sheets up to the register for check out. That took forever because the cashier couldn't get the barcode scanner to scan the codes on the postage sheets so he had to hand type in the numbers on the register. ARGH! The three of us have never been so
ready to get out of Office Depot.
I'm gonna pack the car tonight so really all I have to do in the morning is roll out of bed and head out the door. Planning to be on the road by 7am. Yahoo maps says I can get there in 4 hours and 27 mins. Just printed out directions because I don't know how to get there from I-40. Last beach trip, I went to see my mom first then drove from her house down to Topsail. I-40 goes all the way to Wilmington, but I don't want to get lost in that part of the state.
Time to go. I dunno if I'll post a daily blog while I'm at the beach. It all depends if some poor laptop owner takes pity on poor laptop-less me.
Hehe.More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid rassafrackin' thunderstorm
DATE: 07/20/2006 10:57:19
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Remember this from yesterday:
"Hopefully this afternoon my part of Winston-Salem be the lucky receipient of a thunderstorm for a little relief."
Yeah. Well. We got that thunderstorm. And, you wanna know what I got from that thunderstorm? A dead modem.
The rumbling started around 7pm. It sounded far away and there was a good amount of time between each rumble. Then the rumbling got closer together but still sounded far away. Then ZAP-WABLAMAMAMAMAMAA---the type of strike that is so close the air sizzles and you swear that the thunder came BEFORE the lightning. It must have hit something connected to the phone wires because I was immediately disconnected. I called Jamie
and said pretty much "lightning just hit something super close and I'm going to not be on my computer for a while....talk to you soon. EEE! That was close too!" and hung up real quick because another boom rattled me, though that wasn't quite as close as the first (it was about 10 feet further away). At that time, I didn't realize the modem was fried.Finally the storm petered out and I turned my computer on again. I opened Netzero and clicked "connect". Nothing happened. The program cycled through all four numbers for Netzero and nothing. I could hear the modem attempting to pick up (it sounds like something between a click and a thud), but no dial tone. Figuring that maybe the phones were out. No such luck. The phone worked fine. I even dialed out and dialed in (with my cell phone). So, I thought maybe the phone cord plugged into the computer wasn't working. I plugged it into the phone and the phone still worked fine. ARGH!!!!
I called Jamie
back and told him that the modem was friiiied. He helped me work on it for a while but nothing either of us could think of fixed the problem. I had to tell him bye again because my cell phone's battery has gotten wimpy about holding a charge, and I plugged the cell phone back in. I read my laptop manual and figured out how to take the modem out. After messing with the stupid thing for a while and taking a shower, I called him back. He did some research for me and found some places I could buy a new modem. One place sold the modem for $1.99. We were really excited about that, until he found out how much shipping was. They would charge over $50 for overnight shipping. Not worth it. Another place charged $18.95 for the modem and over $30 for overnight shipping. At least that was cheaper than the $1.99 place.
I had to wait until this morning to order anything. Luckily the modems (which are smaller than a credit card but thicker) are easy to find cheap. Unfortunately, you can just go to the store down the street to pick one up. They have to be ordered. Well, today is Thursday and I'm going out of town for a week starting Saturday. Sucks!
I went on eBay to see their selection of modems and found one being sold for $4 with $6 standard shipping and a note in the listing saying the seller would overnight it for $25. I jumped on the deal and clicked the "Buy Now" button. Unfortunately with eBay you don't get to pick your shipping. You have to send the seller an email requesting different shipping other than what is automatically put with your order. I placed my order around 10am. It's now quarter to 2pm and I haven't gotten a reply back. The seller is in NV (which is 2 hours back from EST). I hope I hear something soon.
Oh well. If worse comes to worse, Jamie
and I will just have a lot of phone time logged in. It's not the end of the world. Just an inconvenience because my cell phone battery doesn't last all night like my laptop does when it's plugged in. It would be one less thing to have to take to the beach, and there should be two other laptops at the beach. Maybe one of their owners would take pity on me and let me chat up my boy everynight. ! (even though I'm talking to him on IM right now at work)More later...
Update: 3:15pm rolled around and still no answer from my eBay seller. So I decided to go ahead and pay for the stupid modem with the $6 shipping charge attacted. PayPal sent me my receive and I got an automatic reply from the seller. His auto-reply email stated that his eBay account had been hijacked and all messages sent to him through the eBay message center weren't getting to his email inbox. So I had to send an email directly do him asking if it was too late to have my order overnighted to me.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: And the heat wave continues
DATE: 07/19/2006 12:56:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ugh. It's hot and bright and opressive outside again today. Hopefully this afternoon my part of Winston-Salem be the lucky receipient of a thunderstorm for a little relief.
I finished my data entry. YAY! It's fun to do for a while, but I think day after day of that type of work would drive me nuts. Now that I'm finished...I'm kinda bored. But I don't want to start anything since it's almost 4pm.
I am B.O.R.E.D.
I finished a project last night. I made some gifts for my girl-friends who'll be at the beach this weekend. I dunno what to do for the two lonely guys who are going to be with us this year. They might just have to make do with a hug.
At least tonight is my favorite night for TV! YAY! I get to watch Mythbusters and Project Runway!!!
I wish I had Jamie
. I'd really like to go wander the mall with him. I'd even give up my night of Mythbusters and Project Runway (I could see the reruns) just to bum around the mall with my sweetie. We're both a big aggrevated that we can't just meet up and go out. But in less than a month we'll be able to go places together! YAY!!!!!!Hmmm...you know those "about me" surveys you get in email from all your dorky friends? I finally figured out my answer for "my catchphrase" or "what I say the most". I think that would have to be "YAY!!!". That's what I type the most. Hehe.
Ah well!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hoooooooottt
DATE: 07/18/2006 13:36:35
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's so hot outside. And what makes it worse is that fact that it's very bright. And what makes THAT even worse is when you're walking towards a white fence (like the one running long side my work building) or walking towards a big white building while facing the western afternoon sun (like I will be on my way home...cus home is in a big white building).
I went to the Chinese Buffet with Dr. Daniel since Dr. Nola, his usual lunch partner, is on a trip to Nepal (yes, Nepal). Mmm chinese fooood. I stuffed myself on freshly grilled food. I looove the Mongolian grill at the restaurant. Yum!
I've been pleasantly busy today, just like yesterday. I did a lot of data entry, which is wonderfully mindless. It was a lot of typetypetypetypetypetype. I input names and addresses of the Festival participants into our donor database to make sure we had them on our mailing list. When I was done with that list of over 100 names and addresses, I moved on to several lists of names and addresses that a few of our board members had given us of their friends and acquaintances. Didn't get finished with that today. A girl can only take so much typetypetypetype before she starts to go bonkers.
Plus, it'll give me something to do tomorrow.Tropical Depression #2 is currently sitting off the southeastern coast of NC. Where am I headed this weekend? The southeastern coast of NC. MEH!
....which wouldn't be bad at all. But still...I wanna go to the beach! Last time (2004) we had to endure a tropical storm off the coast. It was a bit breezy and rainy but not bad enough for us to leave and it was gone within a couple of days. Eh, such is the gamble of vacationing at the beach.Eeee the mailman is finally here! I can open some mail!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pleasantly Busy Monday
DATE: 07/17/2006 13:22:56
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My three day weekend was aboslutely glorious. After my errands on Friday, I didn't leave my apartment building until this morning. Sweeeet. Jamie
and I had the entire weekend to ourselves (would have been better only if we'd actually been in the same room). Saturday I did absolutely nothing. I even slept until around 1:30pm. Sleep was soooooo good. Carl Edwards won the Saturday afternoon Busch Race in New Hampshire. YAY!!! Sunday I woke up a little earlier, but only because the race came on at 1:30pm instead of 3pm like Saturday's race. Bre called around 2:30 and asked if she could bring her folks by and I said sure. So I had to race around like a mad-woman trying to straighten up and clean a bit. I had taken the back pillows off of the couch to have a little more sprawl room, the bed wasn't made, and sink was full of dirty dishes. At 3, Bre showed up with her mom, grandma, and brother. They liked the place and thought it was cute. Mrs. Bonnie, Bre's mom, thought Jamie
was cute too. I showed her the picture of him that I keep on my dresser. And she liked my necklace too. Hehe. Bre's grandma's grandmother lived in the Belo Home when she was 5, and Bre's grandma had always wanted to know what the building looked like on the inside.Work was pleasantly busy today. I had plenty of stuff to keep me occupied without feeling overwhelmed. I had more emails over the three days than I had than the whole week I was at Festival. Weird. Emails come in spurts like that.
I'm going to the beach on Saturday! YAY! I've already started packing (of course). I wanted to make sure I put the clothes I wanted to take with me away so I wouldn't wear them this week. The beach trip always involves a lot of stuff because we have to take sheets and towels and stuff like that. Plus we're going to have an arsenal of electronics--game systems, cell phones, digital cameras, laptops. I think there may be as many as three laptops at the beach this year. We have to keep ourselves entertained somehow at night. The beach is kinda scary at night...eeee crabs!
Wellllll...it's almost 4:30. And seeing as how I'm the only Music Foundation person in the building I think I'll be leaving at 4:30 when the Archives people leave. Yippeee!!!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Productive Friday
DATE: 07/14/2006 11:07:51
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ahhhh...
Walmart wasn't too busy. Better today than tomorrow morning when all the people at work today are off and able to do their shopping. I picked up some stuff from my upcoming beach trip, including a pair of swim shoes. Yes, I am a wuss who doesn't like to step on shells. I have very tender feet. I don't think the shoes are very attractive...but once I'm in the water nobody will see them and my tootsies will be safe from all the sharp pokey things in the sand.
I'm also in the middle of laundry. My actual laundry day was last Saturday, but seeing as how I was in Ohio, I couldn't do my washing. The pickings in the closet were getting kinda slim, as were the pickings in the drawers (yes, both meanings of the word "drawers") too. I can usually do laundry in four loads, but today it was broken up into five. I didn't have as many towels as usual since I used hotel towels for a week.
I downloaded music to my mp3 player yesterday afternoon. It was SUPER easy to do, and didn't take forever either. I've got it mostly full, but there's still some space. I might go through the rest of my CDs this afternoon to see what I could squeeze in just to have more music. My collection on the player is very weird. It's mostly celtic music, some early american music (with a British Isle flare), and then my 12 Girls Band CD that my grandpa gave me for Christmas. 12 Girls Band is a group of musicians from China. They play traditional Chinese instruments but they do a lot of different music, like Clocks by Coldplay, Only Time by Enya, and Reel Around the Sun from Riverdance plus some more traditional sounding Chinese music. They're awesome!
Time to check on my laundry...
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Somewhat more with it today..
DATE: 07/13/2006 13:51:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
When we last parted...I was loopier than Toocan Sam on the Fruit Loops box.
I went straight home and climbed straight in bed. There I stayed happily asleep until about 5:15pm when I decided to get up. After the nap I was feeling much better. I didn't have that my-head-is-detached-from-my-body feeling anymore. The itch was pretty much gone too, as well as the redness on the back of my hands. I took another benadryl before bed last night and I slept ALLLLLL the way through the night. It was sooo very very nice.Best thing about taking benadryl at night is that it helps you sleep and the loopy side effects are gone by the time you wake up. My hands still have a faint rash on them and itch every now and then, but the manic can't-scratch-enough itch is gone.
The most exciting news of today: I got my mp3 player! YAY! About two minutes ago I was lip-singing along to Jimmy Buffet's Margeritaville cus that's what the radio on the player was picking up at that moment. Tonight I'm going to pick out what music from my CDs I want to put on it. YAY!! I have a new toy!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! It's my absolute most favorite of all time song!! Bryan Adam's Everything I Do (I Do It For You)! This harkens back to my days in middle school when I'd prance around in my grandma's yard and in the woods pretending I was Maid Marian. You know, that song came from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. In one weekend I watched that movie three times, once back to back. And it's no short movie either. Not the best Robin Hood movie either. But, heh. I wasn't overly picky.
Jamie
probably thinks I'm the biggest dork since I just "sang" Everything I Do at him in IMs. Hehe. I'm a dork. But he likes that.Anyway...back to my new toy. It came with a battery! Imagine that! And it has a sporty little armband to hook it on when I go running (HA! Me run...yeah right.). It's verrrrry verrry cool. It's about the size of a zippo lighter, but came packaged in a box that could have easily held a pair of boots. Such overkill. But at least it got to me in one piece.
More later! (after I've downloaded some songs to my new toy....yay!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Blank stare.....
DATE: 07/12/2006 11:37:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My hands woke me up again this morning, but did it at 2:30am giving me a good nap before the alarm went off. The hives have turned into a pinky-red rash on the backs of my hands. Grrrrr. At 9am this morning I left work and went to the drug store to pick up something (anything!) to help with my itchiness. I bought Benadryl for its antihistimine to help me stop itching from the outside and some zinc oxide ointment to help on the outside. I read that zinc oxide (which is good for diaper rash) is also good for weepy, oozy fingers and hands. The ointment didn't exactly help the itch, but it seems to have help dry up the spots on my fingers.
The Benadryl seems to have stopped the itch. However, I'm now sitting here like a zombie wondering how in the world I'm actually still upright and typing cohesive sentences (though I am having a big of trouble typing things correctly and I have to hit the backspace more than usual). I was fine at home over lunch when I was just sitting on the couch mindlessly watching tv. I didn't notice the loopiness start setting in. But as soon as I stood up to head back to work it felt like my head disconnected from the rest of my body and was floating like a balloon. My walk across the back lawn was fun...couldn't walk in a straight line to save my life and I kept slowing down (there is a slight incline to the ground and it might as well have been a mountain...).
I feel like I felt the time I took some allergy medicine (not Benadryl) over Easter and my mom and I went to Walmart and Lowes back home. Hehe. I felt the meds kick in while we were in Walmart, then when we were at Lowes I was like "ooooo....shiney door knobs." Felt the same way walking down the hallway at home, heading for the elevator, I looked down at the keys in my hand and thought "oooo...keeeeeys".
I think benadryl is best taken before bed. And, I think that's when I'll take another dose. Maybe it'll help me sleep through the night without waking up itchy.
It's 2:30pm and Jamie
isn't on yet. He must be sleeping in today. I wanted to talk to him before I left work early to tell him where I was going (home), why (doped up on meds), and what I was going to do once I got there (sleeeeeeeeeeeep). Guess I'll have to send him an email. Maybe he'll sign on in the middle of me typing the email. I might type extra slow and careful just in case...More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Now back to our regularly scheduled program
DATE: 07/11/2006 11:56:24
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ahhhh... It's good to be at work again. To not have to watch a clock to make sure I'm where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there. Plus, the two minute commute between home and work is even more appreciated now.
Well, I was rudely awakened this morning at 5am by itchy fingers and hands.
Even the hand and fingers (left) that don't usually itch were itchy. I slathered on some Lanacane to stop the itch and pulled on my little white cotton gloves to help the medicine stay on. I managed to go back to sleep, but the itching didn't really go away. Now the back of my right hand is completely covered in hives and about half of the back of the left hand is covered. Very meh! At least, at the moment, my fingers themselves don't itch. I think the itchy on the backs of my hands is making up for that though. I wonder if maybe my hands are getting hot under the covers and that's what makes them itch. I can't figure out a way to prevent that though... MEH!Tonight I actually have dinner plans! Jamie
asks me every workday "Plans for dinner?" and I always say "Nope". But tonight I have plans! Mrs. Sandy called me at work this morning to invite me to dinner. We're going to have spaghetti! YAY! I love her spaghetti! Plus, I'd kinda been almost craving spaghetti and I picked up some hamburger and mushrooms at the grocery store last night so I could make some tonight, but now I don't have to. YAY! Mmmmm...Mrs. Grace brought me a piece of her absoultely heavenly (or maybe devilishly...) good fudge pie. Needless to say, the slice of pie is no more. Muwahahahaha. So yummy!
Cartoon Network started showing PeeWee's Playhouse last night!
I was soo excited to see it, cus I loved watching it every Saturday morning when I was little. But dumb sleepy me, slept through the first half of it (and the last half of Futurama). Hmph. I had one of those "I'll just close my eyes through the commercials" moments. Yeaaahh....20 minutes later I woke up. Which also meant that I slept through 20 minutes of precious Jamie time! Grrr. Oh well...between me being soooo sleepy and his back giving him an awful fit, we both signed off for an early night.I'm becoming such a techno-geek.
My first piece of equipment was my first computer during highschool. Followed by my first scanner. Then I got my cell phone sophomore year in college. Then my second computer at the beginning of my junior year in college, bought so I could play Everquest. Then I got my laptop in 2003 after buying my car (remember....Buy a Saturn, get a Dell! I upgraded from the free Dell desktop to the laptop that only cost me $350 or so). After the laptop came the flash drive because the laptop didn't have a floppy drive or a CD-R drive and how else was I supposed to move files between computers. Several months ago I bought my digital camera and all the fun stuff that goes with it (memory card, rechargable batteries, photo printer that I gave my mom). Now, I'm about to receive the newest addition to my electronic arsenal -- an MP3 player. I've been lagging behind the times on the latest audio player. For a while there, I though an IPod was the only MP3 player you could get and I was NOT going to pay $400 for something that would only play music. I have since learned that IPod does not have a monopoly, and MP3 players are actually pretty affordable. Actually, this purchase is more a need based purchase than a want (well...ok technically I don't NEED it...). I have a personal CD player and it works just fine. However, traveling with one requires a good deal of space in a bag, not to mention the need for having a sleeve of CDs. Plus, the CD player doesn't have a radio tuner on it. And...my player is kinda old and I keep expecting it to break everytime I use it. All of these are not conducive to being taken on a 5+ hour plane ride and hauled around in a carry on bag through three different airports. Soooo I'm getting an MP3 player to take with me on my trip to see Jamie
(plus he thinks it's hot that I'm into gadgets and stuff...I'm geek chic!). Soo...what exactly am I getting, you ask? I have purchased a modest little MP3 player for about $60 (with tax), not too shabby. It is the Creative Zen Nano Plus. It has 512MB of space, meaning it holds about 250 songs. More than enough for me. The 1GB players hold about 500 songs and I'm not even sure I have that many songs in my entire CD collection. The "Plus" in the title means that this player has an FM tuner so I can pick up the radio. Jamie
said that was a definite must and I was very inclined to agree with him. What's the point of having a music player if it doesn't have a radio setting? Something that normally would have taken up a lot of space in my bag is now going to take up no more room than a small snack and won't add any weight! Yippee! I can't wait to load all my favorite celtic music on the player!
If I like my player enough (and I think I will) and it's easy enough to use, then somebody I know might get one for Christmas since she likes to walk and the only way her CD player doesn't skip is if she holds it in her hand. I don't think MP3 players have that problem. MP3 players can be attached to an armband (sold separately, of course, BAH!) or stuffed into a pocket.
Eeee! Jamie's
waiting for me to finish my blog so he can read it. Hehe. I'm going to upload the last of the festival pictures to my photo album here this afternoon. Unfortunately, since I took all of the pictures, I'm not in any of the pictures. Maybe I can get a hold of pictures somebody else took one day.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig
DATE: 07/10/2006 16:16:12
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! I'm home!! And I just finished the most wonderful, completely southern meal ever -- fried chicken, mac and cheese, fried okra, cornbread muffin, and a cucumber. And it was alllll leftover from my yummy lunch at Bell Brothers. Bell Brothers is a cafeteria style, greasy spoon type place that's been in Winston-Salem forever. One of those places that all types of people eat at....rich, poor, black, white, everybody!
Yesterday's trip home went smoothly. I drove most of the way. My favorite part was coming down the mountain in Virginia, into NC. We took highway 52 instead of the interstate to avoid some construction. WHEEEE! That's a fun road to come down. Very twisty and curvy and mountainy. The view wasn't so great because there were trees, that was the only downside. The view coming down the mountain via the interestate is AMAZING. From the mountain in Virginia you can see for miles and miles into NC.
I even got home in time to see most of yesterday's Nextel race. Meh. Stupid Gordon didn't get penalized when he should have for causing Matt Kenseth to wreak, and then he went on to win! BAH on the NASCAR officials. Carl was a lap down for most of the race, but he finally got the Lucky Dog Pass and finished 20th. Not great, but not horrible.
I technically had today off, but both Bart and I decided to go into work anyway and put in a full day to catch up from last week. We're gonna save our day off for later. I might take mine next Monday. I'd much rather have a three-day weekend. And, I got a lot of work done today. YAY! I got through most of the mail and emails.
Jamie
and I are getting REALLY excited about my visit even though it's still five weeks away. I keep forgetting that I have a beach trip between then and now. Eeeeeeee!!! I'm getting on a plane and going to see my boyee!!! YAY! I've already started my packing list for the trip. I want to pack very lightly, just in two carry on bags so I don't have to worry with checking luggage and possibly losing anything on the trip. If it was a non-stop flight, I wouldn't worry so much. But I change planes in Atlanta going and coming.I'm slightly worried about my ticket though. I go to Delta.com and I can put in my confirmation code to see my itnerary, but I haven't gotten anything in my email yet. Kinda worried I didn't type my address right. But maybe they're supposed to send me something in the mail. I guess maybe I should call and ask if I'm going to get something in the mail or if I was supposed to get something in email. If I was supposed to get an email, maybe they can resend it.
Nifty thing is that I can check-in online and print my boarding pass up to 24 hours before my flight leaves. Kinda strange though what with all the heightened security at airports. But I guess you still have to show your photo ID to 900 airline workers. I haven't flown since summer 2001, so things have changed alot since then. I was nearly late for my flight home from Texas that summer and got to the gate at last call. Nowadays I would have missed that flight because of all the security checkpoints.
Ah well. We'll see how all of that goes when it gets here.
I uploaded the last of my Festival pictures to work's photo album at Yahoo! Haven't uploaded them to my album here yet, but I'll do that tomorrow if I don't forget.
More later!
PS. I've never been so ready to get a shower in a teeeeeny tiny little shower before last night. I missed my water pressure!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Movies
DATE: 07/08/2006 17:51:25
STATUS: publish
BODY:
ARGH! This is the time of year I absolutely hate. The summer movies come out, and I want to see a lot of them but I have NOBODY to see them with.
has possibly gone to see Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest with his friend Jim. MEH! The last movie I saw was Cheaper by the Dozen 2 over my Christmas vacation. Oh well. The gang going down to Topsail will head to Jacksonville one night for Chinese food and a movie. I'm not sure which movie we're going to see. I want to see Pirates or Superman...but we'll probably see the new M. Night Shyamalan movie, Lady in the Water. On our last beach trip we saw The Village. I've seen Signs on tv. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of Mr. Shyamalan's movies. My Super Ex-Girlfriend would be funny too, though I'm not a huge Uma Thurman fan.
I have more pictures from the festival to upload, but I'm toooooo lazy to do it today. Plus, there are almost 100 of them and I'd rather upload them at work where I have a mouse instead of a touch-pad. Plus, it'll give me something to do at work. At our last festival, the majority of the pictures we ended up with were of people eating. I vowed not to take a single picture of people eating. And I succeeded! Ok, so I took a picture of that mint-chip ice cream cookie sandwich I made, but the subject was the dessert not somebody eating. So, it doesn't count! Besides, that cookie concoction (dunno if that's how you spell that...) was soooo delicious on the eyes that I couldn't help but take a picture of it! Definitely a case of eating with your eyes.
I'm going to miss my huge king size bed here at the hotel. I realllllly really want one of these one day soon. I need a bigger bedroom first. But, I'm soooooo happy and ready to go home tomorrow. I miss fixing my own food. My stomach misses it too. I love eating out...but not this much. Even twice a week is too much...but every meal is even worse. While I don't make the most healthy of meals for myself, I do use less fat and grease and horribly bad stuff. Plus, I like to be in control of exactly what I'm eating. Meh.
Lunch was most excellent today. We (Mr. Bart and I) were going to eat at Skyline Chili, but couldn't find one. They're the home of chili on spaghetti noodles! I've seen stuff about them on Food Network. I was kinda bummed when we discovered the two we had addresses for were no longer in business. So, we went to Bob Evans instead. I had country fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and rolls. Neither of us got tea. $1.69 is a bit pricey for a glass of tea, even if you do get free refills. We all think that's where the restaurants are making their profit, because it doesn't cost a lot to make a huge container full of tea. Tea is cheaper to make than keeping soda, but the two are the same price. MEH! Plus, tea up here isn't sweet so no real loss.
For dinner, I walked to Waffle House since Mr. Bart took the van to go see some of his Ohio buddies (he used to live in Columbus). I could have gone to McDonalds, but that meant crossing a kinda busy street. Waffle House wasn't too bad. I like Waffle House, but I was still semi-full from lunch even though I didn't go get supper until almost 8pm. I got a Texas chicken melt with cheese and bacon on toast and hashbrowns (best part of eating at Waffle House). The sandwich was kinda salty. I couldn't eat the whole thing, but I ate all of the chicken and about half of the hashbrowns (soooo crunchy and yummy! the way hashbrowns should be!).
Oooh, the other thing I'm looking forward to when I get back home is my Brita water pitcher! I miss having good clean cold water on hand all day. The water up here is BLEH. I started trying to drink at least three full glasses of ice water at meals in the University cafeteria this week. That's the only way the water was decent enough to drink. The hotel water is naaaasty even with ice. Plus you only get the dinky "liquor" glasses to drink out of. I don't know what these glasses are called but they always remind me of the glasses whiskey on the rocks is served in. I haven't been getting my 8+ glasses a day! I neeeeeeeeed my water! Which is why after I was finished with my supper tonight, I went upstairs and forked out $1.50 for a bottle of aquafina. Meh.
Annnnyway. We're leaving bright and early at as close to 8am as possible. Maybe we can snag a quick bite at the McDonald's before we leave.
More later!
PS. I get Monday off. YAY! But at lunchtime I have to play musical cars with Mr. Bart and the rental mini-van.
PPS. Having a boyfriend
, but not getting to go to the movies (or do anything else) with him is really crummy!!!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Tickets!
DATE: 07/06/2006 19:56:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I bought my plane tickets!! YAY!
is very excited! YAY!I took more pictures and uploaded them to my photo album. They're in the "2006 Moravian Music Foundation" ablum, at the the bottom of the pictures from yesterday.
Not much to talk about today. Sold some stuff. Read more in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'll probably finish it tomorrow, almost to the ultra sad part.
I'm gonna check out the campus bookstore tomorrow since I finally figured out where it is. Dunno what I'll buy, but I'll find something small and inexpensive. Maybe some postcards. I like postacards. I'm looking forward to Saturday and doing NOTHING. Unfortunately I won't be sleeping late. I'll actually have to leave the hotel earlier than usual. Meh. The trombone choir is giving their concert at 9am. Ugh. Then closing ceremony is at 10am. I need to get pictures of both. But, after that I can crash at the hotel allll day long. Definitely gonna get a nap...then I'm gonna talk to my honey
as soon as he wakes up...and I'm gonna watch the Busch race, which is fortunately on TNT this weekend because the hotel doesn't get FX.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: We've set a date!
DATE: 07/05/2006 16:48:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Nononono. Not THAT date. Not yet anyway.
I'm going out to see Jamie
on August 17 and flying back home on August 22. All I have to do know is get the ok from the boss and buy my ticket. Tonight is no-concert night at the festival, so I've been at the hotel since just after 2 this afternoon.
I took photos today! Oops. I had planned on uploading them this afternoon, but I slept through this afternoon. Guess I'll do them as soon as I'm finished with my blog.
Meh. Gas took a $0.16 jump last night. From $2.89 to $3.05 at the station in front of the hotel. Stupid gas. At least back home, I get to walk to work everyday!! I've found that I can do with a tank of gas a month. Sweeeet. Of course that won't work this month since I'll be driving allllll the way down to Topsail at the end of the month.
Welll...I'd better get crackin' on those pictures.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Happy Independence Day!
DATE: 07/04/2006 19:10:53
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm watching the NYC fireworks on NBC. I'd love to be there...but toooo many people.
And, I'm currently feeling very bleh. Never eat dinner if you're not really hungry. Bleh. Lunch around here is served at noon. Ok that's fine. But dinner is served at 5pm. Tooo early for me. I could do that in college when I had a 5:30 class and needed to be at the Rat (our cafeteria was called the Refectory...or the Rat Factory....or the Rat for short) at 4:45 to eat before class. (Btw...I just burped and it was very very GROSS.) Bleh. I'm all gasy and nauseous. I'd like to stick a pin in my belly and let out all the air.
I got to see the Space Shuttle launch live on TV. That was pretty exciting. YAY! Men (and women) in spaaaaaaaaace! One guy is being dropped off at the space station for a six month stay. I can't imagine staying in space that long. Seems like it would be VERY boring.
I got to see some great fireworks last night...in my rear view mirror on the way back to the hotel. That was lots of fun. Trying to see the fireworks BEHIND me and not run over anybody. Hehe.
It was pouring rain this morning. The alarm went off at 7:30am but I had to look at it hard for several seconds to believe that it really was 7:30 cus it was so dark. Of course, the only shoes I brought with me were sandals. So I had cold feet most of the day since they got wet. It stopped raining early in the afternoon, but started up again before 9pm. Loads of rain lately. Plus thunderstorms. There were some baaaad ones in the Columbus area yesterday. Some areas were without power. Glad that was them and not us.
I think I'm going through Jamie
withdrawls. Usually we start talking after lunch sometime and then keep talking until midnight or later. Now we're lucky to get an hour and a half after lunch and a few hours in the evening when I'm in for the night. Meh. Plus, last night I was soooo sleepy and just feeling so very out of it that I'm sure he thought I was acting weird. Feelin' better now. Some of the air has escaped through various means. Ahhhh. Yeah, I know. Too much information. But I feel better! I just wanted to share.
Tonight's concert was really good even though I only stayed through half of it before my tummy got icky. It was the 26th NC Regimental Civil War band in costume. Those guys are GREAT. I took pictures and I'll post them sometime. Maybe tomorrow evening when I don't have a concert to go to.
Off to take a drippy shower before Futurama.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Greetings from Ohio
DATE: 07/03/2006 12:26:00
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Oook. First off and update on the weekend. Remember that fall I took on Friday? Well, surprisingly enough it wasn't my bruised leg (which is the type of bruises that show but don't hurt) or my skinned pinkie finger that hurt. Nooo. I rolled over early Saturday morning and thought, "Why in the world do my arms hurt?" It felt like I'd been trying to lift 100lb weights with each arm. My biceps and under my arms screamed in agony all day long. Evidently I tried to catch myself push-up style since I fell flat forward. Big big BIG owie.
I stayed up waaay too late on Saturday. It was almost 2am before I finally went to sleep...even though I knew I had to get up at 7am to be ready to hit the road at 8am. Jamie
and I had...issues. It wasn't really an argument...of course, I've never had an argument with a boyfriend before so maybe it was. It was after 1:30am when it seemed that we had leveled off a bit. All is ok now. What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger!Ok, now for the ride to Ohio. I absolutely LOOOOVE the country that I70 takes you through to get to Ohio. Virginia and West Virginia are all mountains and rocky cliffs and greeeeeen trees and it's just absolutely wonderful. I think the only thing that would make it any more magnificent would be to travel that road in October when the leaves are turning. Ahh..fall. LOVE IT!
Traffic was most excellent. Smooth driving the whole way, just some construction when we got into Ohio but nothing that made us slow down too much or stop at all. The really weird thing was the lack of Virigina license tags we saw in Virginia. All we saw were Ohio tags. The same was true for West Virginia, though we did see our fair share of West Virginia tags---we just saw more Ohio tags than instate tags. Weird. Then Bart explained it. All of the Ohio people trek allllllll the way down to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. So it was everybody coming back to Ohio after spending the weekend at the beach. Strange people, those Ohio folks.
We got into a horrific storm in our early miles of Ohio. Before we went into the storm the temperature was 91 (yay for in-cabin thermometers and compasses!!). Then we watched it cool off in probably just the span of 7 or 8 miles until it was all the way down to 70 degrees. There was BRILLIANT lightning just couple 100 yards away on a few occasions. We couldn't even hear the big booms of thunder from lighting so close because of the pounding rain. The drops were HUGE and coming FAST and so very very LOUD. We drove in the storm for probably less than 10 minutes. Then I (who drove through the storm!) had to deal with road rain...ugh.
Not too long after we were well past the storm, we looked up to see that the temperature was around 98 degrees. Ohio was blisteringly hot yesterday. There was a breeze, but it was soooo very very hot. I haven't felt that funky in a long time. I was soooo glad to finally get to my shower. Sad thing was the shower pressure. I hate hotel showers for their lack of water pressure. It's like taking a bath from water dripping off of wet noodles. Meh. I like to have the dirt BLASTED off of me.
My huge king sized bed loaded with soft linens and mountains of pillows is WONDERFUL. I had a hard time falling asleep last night because I didn't want to waste enjoying the comfort of the bed. It's a big lonely bed though...lots of space. I feel like I'm wasting most of it. Like some poor starving little child in Africa might enjoy having the rest of my space on this super soft bed. I would share if I could...
The festival seems to be going very well. I'm just manning the sales table and I only have to do that during the two daily breaks and around meal and concert times. I think I'm gonna be doing a lot of sitting around not doing much. Unfortunately I can't walk back to the hotel room. I have to drive back. It's not a bad drive, just not one I want to make 5 times everyday.
Last night we had a good opening banquet. I ate baked ziti, roast beast with gravy (you know the kind...like they serve at sit-down wedding dinners), wild rice, and the BEST chicken cordon bleu. Mmm. It was REAL chicken, not the processed stuff. Of course, I think the processed stuff is pretty good too. Hehe. After the banquet, we had a band prelude and lovefeast. The lovefeast buns they served were like a regular one only sticky and gooey. Mmmmm. They had extras leftover so I took one for breakfast this morning. The lovefeast coffee was disgusting. Even more so than it usually is. I can usually take a couple of sips of it because it's supposed to be sweet and spicy, but last night it was grooooossss. It just tasted like weak bitter water. Bleh.
I got to the school this morning around 9:15am-ish. Breakfast started at 7:30, but there's no way I'm getting up that early if I don't have to. Lunch was good in the campus dining hall. I had a salad and pepperoni pizza (waaaay better than the Rat pizza at Salem) and a brownie with mint chocolate chip ice cream (YAY! My favorite!). Right now I'm sitting at the desk in my hotel room typing away on the blog. I might lay down for a nap and wait until 5pm when I'll head back over for dinner. There's free time for the participants from 6-7:15, so I'll probably set up shop then for anybody who wants to buy anything. Then at 7:30pm there's a band prelude before the 8pm Anthem Sing. I think I might be playing in the orchestra for the anthem sing, but I don't know yet...nobody's said anything. I have my violin just in case.
I'm actually very very disappointed that I'm not in the festival orchestra. I was in the 2003 festival orchestra and I got paid very VERY well for it. Of course the festival orchestra played for two concerts (festival chorus concert and soloist (vocal) concert) that year plus the anthem sing, and there were four rehearsals (I think). That's a lot of services*. This year the festival orchestra is only performing for the one festival choral concert on Friday night. There' s no soloist concert this year. Lots of people have asked if I was going to play with the orchestra and I've had to shrug and say no. I asked and asked and asked repeatedly and each time I was told "We'll see" or "I don't see why not". Yeah. Whatever. Don't lead me on...just tell me "not this year" or "no". And, no I don't want the festival people to let me play with the orchestra just because I work for the Music Foundation. I want to play in the orchestra as a professional musician and get PAID.
YAY! Jamie's on!
More later!
* For those non-musicians out there, professional musicians get paid by the service. A service is a concert or a rehearsal. They're treated equally. So if you get paid $50 for each service and you have one concert and two rehearsals then you get paid $150.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Falling...the good and the not so good
DATE: 06/30/2006 11:58:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Falling in love = Good
Falling up the stairs = Not so good
Meh. I fell up the concrete outside stairs at work today. Luckily, I didn't do too much damage. I removed a little skin on my right pinkie and the heel of my right palm is dark pink now from where I caught myself. I know I'm going to have some nasty bruises on my right leg. One is above my right knee on my thigh. That's where the sharp edge of a step dug into my meaty thigh. The other sore spot is up closer to my hip, I think. I don't feel the sore spots right now, but I'm sure I will later. Oh...and under both armpits hurts a bit because that's where I tensed up the most as I fell.
Falling up is so weird....Our donor database is finally up and running so I think the network (or at least the part that I work on) is finally at 100%. Just in time for us to leave to go to Festival. Woo. I've gotta handful of donations to make records and acknowledgements for. I want to have all the work off of my desk before I leavethis afternoon.
Now for something completely random...
You know what I hate the most about sunless tanning lotions? The fact that they work best on the spots you DON'T want a tan. The palms of my hands are a lovely shade of yellowy gold. Yet my shoulders are still kinda pastey pale. Yes, I know the directions on the back of the bottle say "wash your hands after applying" but I wash and wash and wash and still the stuff stains my hands. Eh. I look kinda like I have jaundice.
Bart and I have loaded the minivan, and it is a very spiffy vehicle. It's a dark burgundy Ford Freestyle with tan leather inside and when we picked it up from the airport it had just over 100 miles on it. Ahhhh...new car smell! Best of all, it's back bench seat is one of those cool "folds into the floor" types. Very good! And I figured it out all by myself on the first try!
We had to reset the clock because the time wasn't right. Oh...that was interesting. I pulled out the owner's manual and looked up "clock" in the index. The index said go to page 66. So I went to page 66. But the clock on page 66 was a tick-tock type clock with hands. Blinkblink. Uh...we don't have one of those. I want the DIGITAL clock. I looked back in the index. The only reference for clock gave page 66. Hmm. Then we wondered if maybe it would be in the section with the radio. Of course. How stupid of me. I should have been looking up "radio" in the index not "clock" if I wanted to change the clock time.
I'm all excited to go for the looong ride on Sunday. The mountainy parts of Virginia and West Virginia we get to go through are BEAUTIFUL! We get to drive through TWO mountain tunnels! Those are so fun. Looking ahead all you can see is mountain and you're wondering...wait...there' s no break in the middle of this mountain for the road and the mountain is getting awfully close.
Uh...uh..uh....AHHHHH TUNNEL! Hehe. I will miss my boy
terribly though. One day he will. At least we won't be totally out of touch with each other. I'll have my cellphone and my laptop with me. Ooook...gotta get to that work I talked about earlier.
More later! (I'll be in Ohio for the next post!!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Network condition: Stable
DATE: 06/29/2006 11:16:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Today I could actually check my work email, be on the internet, and get to my files. I still can't get into our donor database software, but that's because the software has to be reinstalled onto the server. I just hope we haven't lost any records. I would probably see red and go absolutely bananas. All of the records should have a backup somewhere...but I don't know where or how often the backup happens.
Our building is on a server housed in the main office building (big stone house that looks kinda like a mini gothic castle) of the Moravian Church Southern Province. Loads of offices are on this server, meaning that loads of people have been unable to do work for almost four days. Included in this loads of people is the Moravian Book and Gift shop, which is in Old Salem. Yeah. Have the computer system fail for a retail business and see what happens. Not good.
Rumblings in our office building between the MMF and the Archives have included the phrase "we need our own server in our own building" at least once a day since last Friday. Some of us don't completely understand why we have to be hooked up into somebody else's system anyway. When the Music Foundation was located in a big white house a couple miles down the road, it had it's own server and everything. And then when the MMF moved we evidently got snookered into being hooked up with everybody else. Dumb dumb dumb.
At least I got to wander aimlessly around the internet. I checked out all my favorite blogs, checked on the news at Yahoo! more than once, check my online friends' board. It's felt like Friday all week because I haven't done anything. And Friday still isn't here yet! ARGH!
I hope Jamie
comes on soon cus I'm ready to talk to him. Been missing him ever since I woke up this morning...which isn't rare, but today it's just a little bit more missing than usual.Tomorrow Bart and I get to pick up and load the minivan we're taking to the festival in Ohio. YAY! Something to do. We're really hoping to be able to take out the seats so neither of us will be coerced into being a taxi service for the festival. "Oh...sorry. We had to take out the back seats to load all of our sales stuff and Bart's tubas. We can't take any passengers." Muwahahahahaa. We is smrt.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: ARGH!!!
DATE: 06/28/2006 10:54:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Day 3.5 of the network meltdown.
Well, I can talk to Jamie
on AIM and I can (at this precise moment in time) surf around the internet. I can access my files. I can check only my new work emails through the email server thing's website, but I can't see any of the ones that I opened earlier this week---in other words, I can't do anything with the ones that I was saving to do later. And, I can't get into our donor database software to update it with new donations and generate acknowledgement letters. Luckily, our annual fund drive has slowed down and I have less than a dozen donations to worry over. But if we were in the middle of the drive, I could easily be dealing with a pile of 50 or so donations that I couldn't do anything with! (Of course, we would be able to deposit them and get the money, but the record keeping would have to be put on hold.) Grrrr.We folded and stuffed envelopes for an endowment campaign mailing this morning and we actually had THREE volunteers to help out. WOW! I was amazed and very very thankful. I don't mind the mindless work of folding and stuffing small jobs but this one involved matching personalized letters, envelopes, and pledge cards and stuffing them with campaign material, a brochure, and a return envelope. Toooo much for me to think about at 10 am. The volunteers were enticed into our building with the promise of Krispie Kreme doughtnuts. I had two when we were finished---a plain glazed and a chocolate dipped glazed. I think I'm gonna go upstairs to see what's leftover. Mmmmmmm doug nuts.
At least I get to talk to Jamie
....therefore I won't go completely nutty this afternoon.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: grumblemuttergrumble
DATE: 06/27/2006 17:53:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Day 2.5 of a sick network.
Meh. This is getting old REALLY fast. I was able to check both my work email and internet email (for Jamie's
morning message) this morning. But then about 45 minutes later both work email and the internet went down. I could still get on our server to work with my files and AIM still worked so I got to talk to my boy when he signed on after lunch, but the donor database was still inaccessible. I couldn't do much work. After lunch I started feeling like total crap. My hips and legs hurt so bad. I couldn't stand to sit and I couldn't stand to stand. I was absolutely miserable and the two tylenol I downed took forever to start working. Finally, around 3:30, Bart and I decided to go pick up the cash box we'd taken to the locksmith on Friday. The keys had been stolen by my predecessor and we need the locking cash box for the festival next week. So the locksmith made a new set of three keys for the box. After we picked it up, we headed to office depot to look around. I found a new calendar. Then we hopped over to Dairy Queen for a tasty treat. He got a swirl cone and I got a mint mocha moolatte
. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. Sooooo good. After my chocolatey goodness, I was feeling much better.Jamie
did his best to give me much love and sympathy when I was suffering with aches and pains this afternoon. He's sooooo sweet! I realllllllly like his e-hugs since that's all I get at the moment. He is my extra super special guy. Even though he is 3000 miles away, he can still make me feel better and make me soooo very happy! I love my boy lots and lots!I really really really hope things are up and running like they ought to be at work tomorrow. Mostly I hope work email is up before Friday afternoon so I can turn on my "away" email message so that anybody who emails me gets a reply saying "I'm at the festival! I'll be back in a few days!" That way people don't send another email three days later asking why I haven't replied to their first email yet.
Now...I'm gonna endulge in half a 3 Musketeers bar. Hehe.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Muttergrumblemutter
DATE: 06/26/2006 10:17:58
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Stupid network is still down at work. But at least, I can get to my files on the server again. Just no email and no internet. No reading Jamie's
morning email first thing this morning. That put me in a foul mood. Eh. And because of that I'm not completely convinced that my connection to the server where the files are won't be severed in the middle of me doing something. Grrr.Here's my phone call to our semi-IT lady this morning at 8:45am.
IT Lady: Hello?
Me: Is the network going to be reset today?
IT Lady: Does it need to be?
Me: Uh. Yeah. We haven't been able to get online since Friday.
IT Lady: Did you call anybody Friday?
Me: Well, no because nobody was up there (in her office) on Friday.
IT Lady: Ok...I'm just learning more about this now. I'll call you back in a little bit.
It was well after 9:30 when she called back to say that the server and voicemail were down. She said nobody could get to either one of them until this afternoon. GRRRRRR.
So we have yet another day of limited productivity. But like I said, luckily around 10:30 I was able to get to my files on the server so I could do some work.I have a pile of donations that need to be dealt with but I can't do anything with because none of us can sign onto our donor database software. It isn't on the same server as our files. Grrr.
Well...at least I got to talk to Jamie
for a little bit over lunchtime. I'm lucky that he signed on AIM so we could have a little time together just in case the network still isn't up 100% when I get back to work. He was extra super worried when he didn't see me online after lunch on Friday. I hated to worry him so...but it made me kinda warm and fuzzy inside. Gonna snag a couple of cookies then head off to work.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hot and oppressive
DATE: 06/23/2006 16:28:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It is HOT outside. Well, right now it's stormy, but that's because of the heat. I've seen some brillant lightning bolts off to the east. There were some very nasty black boiling clouds in the east earlier. This storm is kinda weird because it seems to be moving south to north. They usually move west to east...which is hard for me because my windows face east and therefore I can't see the storms coming. I can only see them going.
My doctor's appointment went well this morning. Doc said all my tests looked great and that I was doing really good. I felt very stylish in my backless hospital gown, but at least it was cotton and not paper. It was very soft...like sheets that have been washed and washed and washed and washed. Comfy and worn. My doctor and I share the same birthday! So I can add him to the list of people born on February 22 (George Washington, Drew Barrymore, my friend Chris, and me!).
I saw the bunny twice today. Poor little critter in his fur coat in the 90+ degree heat.
Work today was absolutely awful. The network was down. So, no work email. No donor database software for processing donations. No internet and therefore no surfing and no internet emails. Luckily the internet worked when I first got to work so I was able to read Jamie's
morning email and send my morning reply. I was occasionaly able to access my files on the network server, but then by 2pm even that crapped out and I was left with NOTHING to do. I played solitare, hearts (which I really don't like), freecell, spider solitare, and pinball. I was soooo bored. Because I couldn't get on the internet, I couldn't get on AIM to talk to Jamie. I'd left my cellphone on my nightstand so I couldn't call to let him know why I wasn't online. Meh. He was soooo worried about me when I finally showed up online at 4:30pm (went home early because there was nothing to do). Went to the grocery store after telling Jamie
hi and explaining about the stupid network glitch. I love the grocery store! But you already know that.YAY for the weekend! I have a gig tomorrow night at the Celtic Cafe with Jennifer, the singer from our band. I hope we have a big crowd and take in lots o' cash.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My honey and me
DATE: 06/22/2006 11:29:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Here are a list of some of the things my honey
and I share in common:- Only children
- Raised by Mom with help from Grandma
- Like to make soup out of our vanilla ice cream
- Wear glasses
- Use Cetaphil-brand lotion
- Love Mel Brooks movies
- Played Everquest (online computer game...and where we met)
- Don't like fish
- Love Futurama, Mythbusters, Alton Brown, and Rachel Ray
- Were pretty smart cookies in high school
- Like bacon cheeseburgers
- Have small ears
- Play pool
- Think coffee, chocolate, and mint are great flavors together
- Love sweet tea
- Could eat Mexican food everyday of the week
- Would rather hang out at home than out with a bunch of people
- Think Monty Python's Flying Circus is hilarious
- Went to college and got degrees
- Have had stays in the hospital (though his was much worse than mine...broken back!)
- Lived near horses (his family boarded them a while and I lived across the street from the stable I took riding lessons from)
- Get sneezy from allergies
- Have saved baby birds (He's a chick hero!)
- Sleep with a special stuffed animal everynight
- Appreciate silliness
- Like the flowers that have more than one flower on the stem, like snapdragons
Beth Hearts Jamie lots and lots and lots!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bleh Wednesday
DATE: 06/21/2006 15:16:23
STATUS: publish
BODY:
So much to do. So little time. Stupid event. Our track record for concerts and such isn't all that great...so I've found it very hard to get excited about this event tonight. Meh.
Oh well. Bart and I pigged out at the chinese buffet after lunch. I had stuff from the Mongolian grill part of the restaurant. That's where they have a buffet of raw foods for you to pick out and then you hand your plate to a guy to cook. Sooooo very very yum. The food is extra fresh and hot because it's cooked right in front of you. I had two platefuls. Ugh. But it was soooo good. I had lo mein noodles with onions and peppers and mushrooms and thinly sliced chicken and thinly sliced beef and a little bit of garlic and some teryaki sauce. Mmmm very good. But kinda salty. I drag two HUGE glasses of water. Wonderfully icy cold water that I could have drunk a gallon of.
Wellllll. I should go look official and quit hiding in the dark in my office. But I don't wanna. I want to be at home watching Ray Rachel blab on about some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and talking to my honey.
I do not want to put on a happy smiley face and make nice with people. Meh.
Eh...gotta go. Hopefully we'll actually have some people show up for this thing. The concert I'm not worried about because the NC School of the Arts is putting on the concert and they can get a crowd. I'm just worried about the pre-concert talk and especially the post-concert reception. Well, at least it'll be over in about 4 hours. Meh!
More later!
PS. Beth Hearts Jamie lots and lots, especially when he has to miss her because she's at a musical function of some sort.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Nothing much
DATE: 06/20/2006 14:03:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This is the week of work events. Meh.
Yesterday we hosted a by-invitation-only event (mini-concert/reception/endowment campaign push). Our first of three was last Thursday during lunch and our last one is today. My duet partner and I provided the music for yesterday's event, and we were pretty good if I do say so myself. That was the best part about yesterday's event...the music. Yesterday we had less than a dozen people show up, only two of whom were actually invited guests. The rest were staff and committee members who had to be there. Today probably won't be much better.
Tomorrow is our most grrr-inducing event. We have a pre-concert talk at 6:45pm in our building, then people are to walk across the parking lot to the school auditorium for a concert at 7:30pm. After the concert, people are to walk BACK across the parking lot to our building for a post-concert reception. That's asking a lot of people on a Wednesday night...a week night. I'm sure the concert won't be over until 9pm. We really cannot expect people to bypass their cars and walk back to our building for munchies. One of the two non-concert things should have been in the same building as the concert. I think we should have had an open house from 6:30pm to 7:30pm with the pre-concert lecture, and then had the reception in the auditorium hallway directly after the concert. That makes more sense, doesn't it?
I understand we want to get people into our building. But, you know what? So far all attempts to get people into our building to see our facilities and collections has NOT yielded us any big jumps in donations. Our income from donations is WAAAAAAY down from where it should be. We're expending lots of money, energy, and time and we're not seeing any returns.
Meh. It gets really depressing to think about.
I think Mom made it home in record time today. She left around 10am and called me at 1pm. That's only 3 hours! Of course, we've both discovered a new way to travel between here and home. One where there are no stoplights on the highway and the posted speed limit is 70 instead of 55. What's better? NO TRAFFIC! Well, hardly any. And it's a four lane highway.
I am slightly disappointed that she didn't leave a little note on my bed When she called to let me know she'd gotten home, that I was the first thing I told her. Hehe. That's ok. I'll make sure to find her some paper for next time.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Filler for Friday
DATE: 06/19/2006 12:48:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Meh. I forgot to post on Friday.
Oh well. Nothing much happened except that Mom showed up around 1pm when she was finished with camp. I didn't do much at work that afteroon, and I got to leave at 4:30pm because I was the only Music Foundation person in the building. I never hang around until 5pm if I'm the only one here. We technically close to the public at 4:30pm anyway, and that's when the Archives people leave.
Mom and I went to the grocery store, where of course I got sucked into all the brightly colored boxes, jars, cans, and bags. I LOVE the grocery store. If I go by myself and have a list, I'm usually pretty good about sticking to it and taking at the most 20 minutes (30 if I have to wait in line). If I go with Mom, I'll wander the isles and check out EVERYTHING. At least I don't buy everything I see. I do have some rational little voice in the back of my head that says "if you buy this, you don't need to get that too" or "let's not get this on this trip".
I love grocery shopping. I love coming home, putting everything away, and having a full pantry of lots of things to choose from for the coming week's meals. And I love having 8-10 bags of groceries and spending less than $50. That makes me feel very successful. (I do NOT clip coupons. I do check the sales stuff and I make sure I have discount cards for my favorite stores.)
More later!
PS. Nobody else seems to like the idea of chocolate biscuits.
PPS. Mom was very suprised at my cholesterol. Hehe.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Two words
DATE: 06/15/2006 11:14:25
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Chocolate. Biscuits.
Oh my goodness!
Last night I made a pot of chili. Just as I was spooning some into a bowl I thought, "Hmm...do I want biscuits?" I talked myself out of it and went to the living to eat. But halfway through the bowl I decided I did want biscuits, even though I'd be done with the chili before the biscuits would be done. So I popped them out of their can and into the oven, and then finished dinner. Since I was done with the meal I was looking forward to something sweet, but I still had those biscuits baking in the oven. "Hmmm," I thought. "Wonder if chocolate IN a biscuit would be good."
As soon as the biscuits were out of the oven, I carefully slit a pipping hot one open and inserted a piece of Hershey's Special Dark (my favorite, as I'm sure you know by now). I was worried that it wouldn't be enough chocolate in each biscuit though and I only had two little pieces left. But after a few minutes the chocolate completely melted and spread out over the inside of the biscuit. Then I bit into one. OH MY GOODNESS! The combination of savory and sweet was wonderful. The smooth, not-so-sweet dark chocolate blended wonderfully with the soft, buttermilk biscuit. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to drizzle some dark chocolate over the top of the biscuit, but that would have been purely for show.
Mmmm...I still have three biscuits leftover and I really wish I had some chocolate to go in them. I think dark chocolate probably works better than milk chocolate. The milk chocolate might be a bit too runny once it melts. The dark chocolate melted but was still gooey and didn't try to escape the biscuit. I also don't think that the chocolate should be inserted into the biscuit before it's cooked. That might overheat the chocolate and make a mess. The heat of the cooked biscuit does a fine job of melting the chocolate.
Mmmmm.... Just thinking about chocolate biscuits makes me drool.
Good news! I got my lab results today and everything is A-OK!
Cholesterol - 167 (below 200 is good)
Good Cholesterol - 53 (40-59 is ok, greater than 60 is optimal)
Bad Cholesterol - 100 (100-129 is near optimal, but less than 100 is best)
Triglycerides - 69 (less than 150 is good)
Plus my thyroid and liver checked out ok as well as my HgB and glucose. YAY! I'm healthy. I just have to have one more test done, but hopefully that will be ok too.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Musical Wednesday
DATE: 06/14/2006 11:33:30
STATUS: publish
BODY:
We had fun today during trio rehearsal. Jennifer brought her viola and really really really wanted to play it instead of her violin so we played stuff for violin, viola, and cello. We read through some Haydn trios and Mozart divertimenti*. It's soooo wonderful to play with people who are playing for fun. It's very relaxed and non-stressful if you miss a note, because we all miss notes!
What's left of Tropical Storm Alberto is sitting over top of us now. We had lots of rain early this morning. It was chilly and damp and very dark. I had to turn on a light to see to make my bed and I had to turn on the kitchen light to get dressed. Yes, my closet is in the kitchen. It has brightened up a bit outside, but there's no real sunshine yet. We probably ended up with at least an inch of rain. Mom and camp were in the area shaded for 2+ inches of rain. I hope the counselors had plenty of inside stuff for the campers to do.
Ugh. I'm sleepy.
I think I'll put together a new set of tunes for my band this afternoon. I found music for a set of tunes on a CD I have. The set is from the Reel of Tulloch: Baroque Music of Scotland and Ireland by Chatham Baroque and Chris Norman, flute. Very good CD. I met and played with one of the violinists from Chatham Baroque when I was a freshman in college. Her other group, Cecilia's Circle, came to give a concert and they did a mini-recital/workshop thing. That was the time I got to play a real baroque violin. How I wish I had one of those...maybe someday!
More later!
* For those non-music folks out there, a divertimento is an instrumental form of the period of Haydn and Moazart, which combines features of the sonata (symphony) with those of the suite. It consists of from four to ten short movements, some in the form and style of abstract sonata movements, interspersed with minuets or variations. In other words, a set of little tunes that are fun to play!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Doctors Appointment
DATE: 06/13/2006 14:00:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I went to the doctor yesterday. First time seeing a primary care doctor since late high school or early college. It's been a while. I checked out ok. My blood-work hasn't come back yet, but I'll know more about that on the 23rd when I go back to be prodded and poked in a very private place. Meh.
The medical history conversation got around to my knees and that I had seen a rheumatologist several times in high school. Doc asked who I saw and I said I couldn't remember his name but he worked for Physicians East in Greenville. He said he was very familiar with Physicians East because he had worked in Kinston. Then I told him I was from Grifton and he smiled and said, "Yep. I know where that is." It's amazing how many people have heard of my dinky little one-stoplight hometown.
The best story of meeting someone who knows where Grifton is would have to be from my Grandpa. For several years he and my grandma made an annual trip to the big metropolis of NYC to see the sights. My grandpa will strike up a conversation with ANYBODY, and on one trip he started talking to a bus driver. I can't remember if it was a sight-seeing tour bus or a city bus, but anyway. The bus driver knew exactly where Grifton was! And what's even more amazing, he had dated my grandparents' neighbor's sister when he was younger! Wow. Needless to say my grandpa put the bus driver and his old girlfriend back in touch with each other. So sweet!
My grandparents have been to Australia twice, but I don't think they met anybody there who had ever heard of Grifton before. That would probably top the NYC bus driver story though.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Great weekend!
DATE: 06/12/2006 13:54:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
lots and lots and lots!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bleh Wednesday
DATE: 06/21/2006 15:16:23
STATUS: publish
BODY:
So much to do. So little time. Stupid event. Our track record for concerts and such isn't all that great...so I've found it very hard to get excited about this event tonight. Meh.
Oh well. Bart and I pigged out at the chinese buffet after lunch. I had stuff from the Mongolian grill part of the restaurant. That's where they have a buffet of raw foods for you to pick out and then you hand your plate to a guy to cook. Sooooo very very yum. The food is extra fresh and hot because it's cooked right in front of you. I had two platefuls. Ugh. But it was soooo good. I had lo mein noodles with onions and peppers and mushrooms and thinly sliced chicken and thinly sliced beef and a little bit of garlic and some teryaki sauce. Mmmm very good. But kinda salty. I drag two HUGE glasses of water. Wonderfully icy cold water that I could have drunk a gallon of.
Wellllll. I should go look official and quit hiding in the dark in my office. But I don't wanna.
.I do not want to put on a happy smiley face and make nice with people. Meh.
Eh...gotta go. Hopefully we'll actually have some people show up for this thing. The concert I'm not worried about because the NC School of the Arts is putting on the concert and they can get a crowd. I'm just worried about the pre-concert talk and especially the post-concert reception. Well, at least it'll be over in about 4 hours. Meh!
More later!
PS. Beth Hearts Jamie
lots and lots, especially when he has to miss her because she's at a musical function of some sort.-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Nothing much
DATE: 06/20/2006 14:03:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This is the week of work events. Meh.
Yesterday we hosted a by-invitation-only event (mini-concert/reception/endowment campaign push). Our first of three was last Thursday during lunch and our last one is today. My duet partner and I provided the music for yesterday's event, and we were pretty good if I do say so myself. That was the best part about yesterday's event...the music. Yesterday we had less than a dozen people show up, only two of whom were actually invited guests. The rest were staff and committee members who had to be there.
Tomorrow is our most grrr-inducing event. We have a pre-concert talk at 6:45pm in our building, then people are to walk across the parking lot to the school auditorium for a concert at 7:30pm. After the concert, people are to walk BACK across the parking lot to our building for a post-concert reception. That's asking a lot of people on a Wednesday night...a week night. I'm sure the concert won't be over until 9pm. We really cannot expect people to bypass their cars and walk back to our building for munchies. One of the two non-concert things should have been in the same building as the concert. I think we should have had an open house from 6:30pm to 7:30pm with the pre-concert lecture, and then had the reception in the auditorium hallway directly after the concert. That makes more sense, doesn't it?
I understand we want to get people into our building. But, you know what? So far all attempts to get people into our building to see our facilities and collections has NOT yielded us any big jumps in donations. Our income from donations is WAAAAAAY down from where it should be. We're expending lots of money, energy, and time and we're not seeing any returns.
Meh. It gets really depressing to think about.
I think Mom made it home in record time today. She left around 10am and called me at 1pm. That's only 3 hours! Of course, we've both discovered a new way to travel between here and home. One where there are no stoplights on the highway and the posted speed limit is 70 instead of 55. What's better? NO TRAFFIC! Well, hardly any. And it's a four lane highway.
I am slightly disappointed that she didn't leave a little note on my bed
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Filler for Friday
DATE: 06/19/2006 12:48:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Meh. I forgot to post on Friday.
Oh well. Nothing much happened except that Mom showed up around 1pm when she was finished with camp. I didn't do much at work that afteroon, and I got to leave at 4:30pm because I was the only Music Foundation person in the building. I never hang around until 5pm if I'm the only one here. We technically close to the public at 4:30pm anyway, and that's when the Archives people leave.
Mom and I went to the grocery store, where of course I got sucked into all the brightly colored boxes, jars, cans, and bags. I LOVE the grocery store. If I go by myself and have a list, I'm usually pretty good about sticking to it and taking at the most 20 minutes (30 if I have to wait in line). If I go with Mom, I'll wander the isles and check out EVERYTHING. At least I don't buy everything I see. I do have some rational little voice in the back of my head that says "if you buy this, you don't need to get that too" or "let's not get this on this trip".
I love grocery shopping. I love coming home, putting everything away, and having a full pantry of lots of things to choose from for the coming week's meals. And I love having 8-10 bags of groceries and spending less than $50. That makes me feel very successful. (I do NOT clip coupons. I do check the sales stuff and I make sure I have discount cards for my favorite stores.)
More later!
PS. Nobody else seems to like the idea of chocolate biscuits.
PPS. Mom was very suprised at my cholesterol. Hehe.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Two words
DATE: 06/15/2006 11:14:25
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Chocolate. Biscuits.
Oh my goodness!
Last night I made a pot of chili. Just as I was spooning some into a bowl I thought, "Hmm...do I want biscuits?" I talked myself out of it and went to the living to eat. But halfway through the bowl I decided I did want biscuits, even though I'd be done with the chili before the biscuits would be done. So I popped them out of their can and into the oven, and then finished dinner. Since I was done with the meal I was looking forward to something sweet, but I still had those biscuits baking in the oven. "Hmmm," I thought. "Wonder if chocolate IN a biscuit would be good."
As soon as the biscuits were out of the oven, I carefully slit a pipping hot one open and inserted a piece of Hershey's Special Dark (my favorite, as I'm sure you know by now). I was worried that it wouldn't be enough chocolate in each biscuit though and I only had two little pieces left. But after a few minutes the chocolate completely melted and spread out over the inside of the biscuit. Then I bit into one. OH MY GOODNESS! The combination of savory and sweet was wonderful. The smooth, not-so-sweet dark chocolate blended wonderfully with the soft, buttermilk biscuit. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to drizzle some dark chocolate over the top of the biscuit, but that would have been purely for show.
Mmmm...I still have three biscuits leftover and I really wish I had some chocolate to go in them. I think dark chocolate probably works better than milk chocolate. The milk chocolate might be a bit too runny once it melts. The dark chocolate melted but was still gooey and didn't try to escape the biscuit. I also don't think that the chocolate should be inserted into the biscuit before it's cooked. That might overheat the chocolate and make a mess. The heat of the cooked biscuit does a fine job of melting the chocolate.
Mmmmm....
Just thinking about chocolate biscuits makes me drool.Good news! I got my lab results today and everything is A-OK!
Cholesterol - 167 (below 200 is good)
Good Cholesterol - 53 (40-59 is ok, greater than 60 is optimal)
Bad Cholesterol - 100 (100-129 is near optimal, but less than 100 is best)
Triglycerides - 69 (less than 150 is good)
Plus my thyroid and liver checked out ok as well as my HgB and glucose. YAY! I'm healthy. I just have to have one more test done, but hopefully that will be ok too.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Musical Wednesday
DATE: 06/14/2006 11:33:30
STATUS: publish
BODY:
We had fun today during trio rehearsal. Jennifer brought her viola and really really really wanted to play it instead of her violin so we played stuff for violin, viola, and cello. We read through some Haydn trios and Mozart divertimenti*. It's soooo wonderful to play with people who are playing for fun. It's very relaxed and non-stressful if you miss a note, because we all miss notes!
What's left of Tropical Storm Alberto is sitting over top of us now. We had lots of rain early this morning. It was chilly and damp and very dark. I had to turn on a light to see to make my bed and I had to turn on the kitchen light to get dressed. Yes, my closet is in the kitchen. It has brightened up a bit outside, but there's no real sunshine yet. We probably ended up with at least an inch of rain. Mom and camp were in the area shaded for 2+ inches of rain. I hope the counselors had plenty of inside stuff for the campers to do.
I think I'll put together a new set of tunes for my band this afternoon. I found music for a set of tunes on a CD I have. The set is from the Reel of Tulloch: Baroque Music of Scotland and Ireland by Chatham Baroque and Chris Norman, flute. Very good CD. I met and played with one of the violinists from Chatham Baroque when I was a freshman in college. Her other group, Cecilia's Circle, came to give a concert and they did a mini-recital/workshop thing. That was the time I got to play a real baroque violin.
More later!
* For those non-music folks out there, a divertimento is an instrumental form of the period of Haydn and Moazart, which combines features of the sonata (symphony) with those of the suite. It consists of from four to ten short movements, some in the form and style of abstract sonata movements, interspersed with minuets or variations. In other words, a set of little tunes that are fun to play!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Doctors Appointment
DATE: 06/13/2006 14:00:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I went to the doctor yesterday. First time seeing a primary care doctor since late high school or early college. It's been a while. I checked out ok. My blood-work hasn't come back yet, but I'll know more about that on the 23rd when I go back to be prodded and poked in a very private place. Meh.
The medical history conversation got around to my knees and that I had seen a rheumatologist several times in high school. Doc asked who I saw and I said I couldn't remember his name but he worked for Physicians East in Greenville. He said he was very familiar with Physicians East because he had worked in Kinston. Then I told him I was from Grifton and he smiled and said, "Yep. I know where that is." It's amazing how many people have heard of my dinky little one-stoplight hometown.
The best story of meeting someone who knows where Grifton is would have to be from my Grandpa. For several years he and my grandma made an annual trip to the big metropolis of NYC to see the sights. My grandpa will strike up a conversation with ANYBODY, and on one trip he started talking to a bus driver. I can't remember if it was a sight-seeing tour bus or a city bus, but anyway. The bus driver knew exactly where Grifton was! And what's even more amazing, he had dated my grandparents' neighbor's sister when he was younger! Wow. Needless to say my grandpa put the bus driver and his old girlfriend back in touch with each other. So sweet!
My grandparents have been to Australia twice, but I don't think they met anybody there who had ever heard of Grifton before. That would probably top the NYC bus driver story though.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Great weekend!
DATE: 06/12/2006 13:54:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Mom and I had a good mini-visit this weekend. Friday night, kinda late, we went to KFC for Mashed Potato bowls. Those are SOOOOO good. My favorite part was the corn. It was so yummy.
Saturday we went to Kmart because the type of tennis shoes Mom likes to wear are only sold there. Then we hit Bojangles for lunch. We shared a chicken supremes dinner with fries and sweeeeet tea. After lunch we drove to the Walmart in Kernersville. The drive took twice as long as it should have because NCDOT had Business I-40 down to one lane in BOTH directions. Construction on a Saturday, how dumb. Mom and I both agree that roadwork should be done at night because A) there is less traffic and B) it's cooler temperature wise. I can't imagine how many guys get heat related illnesses in the hot North Carolina summers.
I went a little splurge-y at Walmart. Bought a new bathing suit. It's very cute, strapless, and kinda makes me feel like a 1940s pinup girl. Bought Tristan and Isolde on DVD, but haven't seen it yet. Mom wants to see it when she comes back next weekend. And, I got all HGTV/Decorating Cents/Design on a Dime-ish and created a thing to go on the little glass top, iron wrought table my grandparents bought me as a house warming gift. I'll post a picture of it cus it's kinda hard to envision. It's a glass ice cream dish filled with polished river rocks topped with a plain glass plate on which sit three different sizes of tan, hazelnut scented pillar candles surrounded by hazelnut potpurri. It's very cute. I felt all smart after I'd put it together using stuff that didn't come pre-packaged together in box.
After Walmart we headed back to do laundry, after walking down to Winkler's Bakery for lemon cookies and lovefeast buns. Mmmm buns. We kicked back to watch Carl Edwards win the Busch race. YAY CARL!!
Sunday Mom left to go back to camp waaaay before I even thought about getting out of bed. I think she left sometime between 7 and 8am. I did wake up long enough to tell her goodbye, but then I promptly went back to sleep until 12:30pm. Upon waking, my blurry vision noticed something sitting on the coffee table. Glasses confirmed it was Mom's toiletry bag. Hmm...did she mean to leave that? Nope. She called and asked if I could bring it to her. So I hopped in the car and drove 45 minutes each way to Victory Junction Gang Camp. I didn't see much of the camp, but WOW is it cool. Lots of bright colors. Very neat and well kept. And friendly staff people. I pulled up at the camper drop off, rolled down my window, and handed my mom's bag to a guy in an orange camp shirt. She knew she was going to be busy helping campers and told me to give the bag to somebody with an orange shirt.
Then I drove back home and watched the Cup race. It was kinda boring. Carl was in third when he had a botched pit stop. His jack man didn't get the jack all the way under the car and the car fell off the jack. The front tire changer had already taken the tire off so when the car came down it came down too far to get the regular jack underneath. They had to find the flat-tire jack to get up under the car. Needless to say, he was two laps down by the time the stop was finally finished and he never regained those laps. BAH! He WON last year's race at Pocono.
Last night Jamie
and I had a WONDERFUL phone call. We talked for well over an hour about everything and nothing. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Surprise Visitor
DATE: 06/09/2006 12:20:17
STATUS: publish
BODY:
At lunchtime I decided on a whim to go with Mr. Bart to the grill instead of going back to my apartment to scrounge up some food. I had a chicken salad sandwich and some fries, which were good but kind hurt my mouth. My gums in the back of my mouth are irritated for some strange reason. The ones on the left side (top and bottom) feel bruised. I dunno if the wisdom teeth are causing the soreness or if it's because my toothpaste aggrivated the skin back there and I can't keep my tongue from poking around back there. But anyway. When we got back there was still a half hour left to lunch break so I trekked up to the recital to fiddle around.
At a little after 1:30 I went back to my office to finish working on the artwork for two ads. My two and a half glasses of sweet tea finally caught up to me a little while later. I finished my work, saved it, and hit the bathroom. Then I meandered back to my office. I rounded the corner and lo and behold! THERE WAS MY MOM SITTING IN MY OFFICE! Eeeeeeee!
She said that she didn't have to be back at camp until Sunday. The volunteer lady at camp told her she didn't have to go through the orientation on Saturday since she'd gone through orientation last Saturday. YAY! I get my mommie for an afternoon/night, whole day, and morning!
She'll be back next week on Friday and will hang around until the Tuesday after.
I learnt (yes...I'm southern, so it's "learnt" not "learned") something last night. Corelle dishes do not break when dropped. Oh no. They SHATTER into thousands of teeny tiny shards just waiting to jab themselves into bare feet. I was literally boxed in by a multitude of sharp pointy things in all directions. First order of business was to find armor for my feet...my flipflops, which were in the living room. Did I think to just reach into my closet, just a lean to my left, to grab whatever shoes were in there? Nooooo. I had to back pedal very carefully to retreive my flipflops.
I grabbed the broom and swept up all the little bits and pieces. The biggest piece might have been about an inch by an inch. Everything else was little slivers. I swept and swept and swept. But I probably still didn't get all the teeniest bits. It would probably be wise for me to wear shoes in the kitchen for the next few weeks. But you know me, I'll be in there barefoot this afternoon and probably end up with a sliver in my foot. Meh.
I also learnt that you can make a 3-egg cake with only 2 eggs. Just add a splash of milk, even if the recipe doesn't call for milk.
YAY! HAPPY FRIDAY!
Go HERE to sign the petition to save federal funding for PBS and NPR. Here's what I had to say in my personal note:
As corny as it may seem, Seasame Street taught me all the basics I needed to know for life. From that long-running, emmy-award winning kids' show on PBS, I learned to be compassionate, how to respect others and their cultures, and a host of other useful life skills, not to mention it gave me a leg up on reading and math before starting kindergarten.
TV has become an integral part of a child's education. Please don't take away funding from PBS. By giving to PBS you give children the opportunity to watch quality educational shows that are highly entertaining.
PBS and NPR preserve the core of our cultural heritage, the basis of what makes us Americans. Without the documentaries of PBS and the great music of NPR, we will lose what makes us humans, our creativity. Support the arts and humanities!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: MySpace
DATE: 06/08/2006 15:32:49
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well...after much glancing around MySpace and actually seeing how many people I know who have MySpace accounts, I've finally gotten one of my own. I'm not going to have my blog over there because I like this blog layout much better. MySpace is more like a way to find all those people I hung out with in high school who I haven't talked to since we graduated.
My MySpace url is www.myspace.com/pixiefiddler.
I did one of my favorite things over lunchtime today--when to the grocery store! I'm so weird. I LOOOOOVE going grocery shopping. The closest grocery store to me now is a Lowes Foods, which was really confusing before I knew what a Lowes Foods was. The first few months of my freshman year in college I'd hear people say "I went to Lowes to get some snacks." Huh? Lowes is the hardware store. Oohhh...yeah. That took awhile to get used to.
I love the fresh produce section though I usually don't buy anything but onions and mushrooms, occasionally cucumbers and cilantro from there. I just like to look. My next favorite spot is the dairy case with the cheese and biscuits and lunch meat. I like the frozen food section too. I just really like the whole grocery store. I feel so very gourmet when I buy things like mushrooms and cilantro. Hehe.
Today I picked up a yummy loaf of rosemary and olive oil bread. Sooooo good. I absolutely love grocery stores that have a bakery/deli/hot prepare food section. The rosemary bread made a yummy little ham and cheese sammich for lunch.
I kinda miss my mommie. She's at camp and I haven't heard from her at all since last Saturday. Almost a whole week without hearing from my mom, and there's another whole week of no-mom looming ahead.
Jamie
and I played pool last night! YAY! Much fun! We've gotten so close in the past few months that it almost seems like we've been together in the same room sometimes. Like we already know what it's like to be near one another. We're both getting pretty antsy for our first visit.Off to feed myself. I think I'm gonna make a burrrrrger.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Feeling important
DATE: 06/07/2006 13:55:33
STATUS: publish
BODY:
As I was hurrying home to scarf down my lunch in the 15 minutes I had leftover from my trio rehearsal, I spied a pair of tourists wandering down the sidewalk. I avoided eye contact because this particular pair looked like that wanted to ask a question. With key in hand I made a bee-line for the side door of my building when I heard:
In a cute little older female (somewhere between middle aged and elderly) female voice: "Excuse me."
Me: "Yes, ma'am?"
Her: "What building is this?"
Me, time to wow the tourists: "This is the Belo Home. The Belo's, when they lived here, lived on the second and third floors and had their mercantile on the first floor."
Her: "What is it now?"
Me, puffing up my feathers proudly: "Private apartments."
Her: "It's a lovely building."
Me, still preening: "Thank you!"
Then I scooted in cus I still had to wolf down my leftovers and they headed down the road very satisfied that they now knew a bit about the big white building in the historic district.
Trios where GREAT. We played real Moravian music! When we were finished and got of the elevator, my boss was back and she said, "I heard the Antes trios!!" Teehee. Real Moravian composed music being played in a Moravian building...wow. Jennifer and Doug were pleasantly surprised to learn that Moravian chamber music was pretty sophisticated and very much in keeping with the musical style of the period without being an almost carbon copy of some other composer's style. I said I would dig through and find more stuff for us to do. We have some ready-to-play trios and such in our library.
After we played through the Antes trio, we moved on to the Corelli trio sonatas. I now have my own copy of the Corelli Trio Sonatas because I asked to borrow Jennifer's book. As a thank you for the use of her book, I copied some early dance music for her. She's interested in that type of music, like me, but hasn't found a lot of sheet music yet. Hoorah for the internet! That's where most of my early music and dance music comes from.
It was a good day for music.
I finally got my electric bill yesterday. I'd been waiting for this bill with some fear and anticipation. I knew it would be much less than the normal bill for the old apartment, but I was curious to see how much less. Our last full bill at the old apartment was for around $86.00. My very first bill in the new apartment was for $28.51!! 1/3 the amount of the old bill! Less than HALF what I usually pay!
More later!
PS. Beth HEARTS Jamie
, alot!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My Instruments, Part 1
DATE: 06/06/2006 11:45:08
STATUS: publish
BODY:
So, yeah I realize I should start my instrument stories and descriptions with my number 1 money maker, but I'm going to start with the weirdest instrument in my arsenal. The picture above is of a Rebec. My rebec looks exactly like this one, except that I burned really cute celtic knots on back and front of the peg board and little ones on the lower corners of the fingerboard. So, my rebec is very personalized!
This is a fun little early music instrument. It's medival in origins and is one of the many precursors to the modern violin. My rebec has only three strings though extant art and documents have shown that historical rebecs could have 3, 4, or 5 strings tuned variously. They were generally tuned in fifths like a violin (violin tuning being g, d, a, e). A three string rebec could be tuned g, d, a or d, a, e. Mine is currently tuned funkily as f, c, g. For those music people out there, that's a whole step lower in tone than g, d, a. I have a fear of breaking the bridge again and don't want to put too much more tension on the bridge with a higher tuning (higher tuning=more tension).
I finally found the right music for my rebec. I ran across some medieval dance music online last week. One of the pieces is on some recording of celtic music that I have somewhere. Yippee! It sounds SOOOO cool on my rebec. The bridge doesn't have much of an arch so the strings are relatively flat making it really easy to create a drone sound. My little instrument isn't very loud at all which is kinda disappointing. But eh. When am I actually going to play it for people? Probably never.
The rebec has a very nasally sound, very middle eastern, which makes sense since that is where its origins are. It was carried west to Europe by pilgrims and the crusades. The rebec started off has an instrument of some status, performed by court musicians for kings and in church services. But as time went on and tastes changed, the rebec was pushed aside in favor of viols and violins. It did hang around as a lower class dance instrument for some years before viols and violins took over that job too. It is typically depicted as being played on the shoulder like a violin, but it is also shown played a little further down the arm or down the chest (sorta like old timey fiddle style).
So that's a little bit about the rebec.
Someday I'll talk about my violin, mandolins, or bodhran.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Critters
DATE: 06/05/2006 11:48:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I like critters. They're so much fun! Here are some of the critters I see regularly around where I live and work.
Bunnies!!! Eeee!
I love bunnies! I've seen two so far. A big one and a little one, though not together. I saw the little one today beside the bushes near work. He sat very still with his ears laid back and his big black eyes watching me cautiously as I walked past. The big one lives in the backyard and I can see him occasionally from my apartment window.Chipmunks. I don't know if there are two of them or just one that roams the whole area. I've seen a chipmunk in the backyard on more than one occasion and I saw one today in the flowerbed on the northwest corner of work.
Mocking birds. One of my favorite birdies cus they sing all sorts of songs.
Robins. I've seen several that still have their baby spots and stripes, but have been flying.
Squirrels. During my walk the other day I saw half a dozen little squirrels. They must have been siblings from a nest because they all looked about the same size. Soooo cute! And there are big squirrels all around.
Cat birds. I spied a cat bird the other day on my walk. Just one. They're so sassy looking with their charcoal gray feathers and a little black cap on their heads. And they meow! Kinda...
Blue jays. Occasionally there are blue jays around, but you usually hear them instead of see them. Loudmouthed birdies.
Sparrows. Fat little busy-bodies. They're so cute and hoppy.
Cardinals. But sadly, none with the personality of my dear Jimbo the redneck cardinal who ate at my birdfeeder at the old apartment.
Doves. There was a youngish looking dove constantly by the rock wall that cordons off the backyard. I haven't seen it in a while, but I had wondered if maybe there was a nest somewhere nearby.
Hawks. Sometimes when we're on the porch for morning coffee we'll see a hawk flying around the graveyard/school campuses. Poor thing gets chased around by the smaller birds though. A while back we must have had a nesting pair of red-tail hawks in the area because one day we had three juvenile hawks flying around.
Squiggles. I haven't seen any snakes lately, but when I was in college I came across a green garden snake on two different occasions. And then in the summer of 2003 (Moravian Music Festival time) I stumbled upon a biiiiiig black snake in one of the raised flowerbeds on my way to the cafeteria. I thought it was a hose at first, then it moved. Hoses don't usually move on their own. I'm sure there are snakes still around. Hopefully if I ever seen another one it'll be of the green or solid black variety and not the patterned kind.
Speaking of squiggles, Grandpa caught a snake the other day....with the garage door!
I have yet to figure out exactly how it happened, and nobody took pictures. But when the garage door opened the snake got hung by its tail and was just hanging in the air when my grandparents came home from church. Since it was just a chicken snake Grandpa rescued it and let it go in the woods. Hopefully it won't be back anytime soon.Mom saw a deer in her backyard late one night last week and she called to tell me about it. I was jealous! I don't think there are too many deer in the city. Too many highways and busy roads.
My dear Jamie
is a Quail Chick Champion. Hehe. He came across a family of quails the other day that got split up from each other. Mom had some of the babies in one direction, Dad had some in another, and three little chicks headed towards Jamie's house. So he rescued them and put them where he hoped they'd find their mom or dad. said they have lots of quail nearby. I wanna see them! Quail are so cute with the little diddly-bopper thing on their noggins.oh! I have seen a 'possum in this neck of town before, twice, and it was alive! Well...it was alive several years ago when I was still in school. Whether or not it's still alive is another question altogether. Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Confessions of a chocoholic
DATE: 06/02/2006 12:09:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I didn't used be sooo very needing of the dark, rich, warm, smooth yumminess that is chocolate. If I had some, great. If I didn't have any, eh no problem. But now, there must always be some sort of chocolatity goodness within reach for munching. Usually that bit of yummy is in the form of a chocolate chip cookie or a fudge striped shortbread cookie. I always try to keep one or the other on hand.
My favorite extra special treat is a Hershey's Special Dark bar. I buy big king-sized ones because they last longer. And, I keep them in the fridge because I really like cold chocolate. It doesn't melt as fast. I'll get a Dark bar about once a month or so.
Mrs. Grace, one of the volunteers in the Archive, brought us a bag of Wilbur Buds this morning. If you like Hershey's Kisses, you'll love Wilbur Buds. They're 10 times better and they have no tin foil wrapper to hinder your chocolate dive. The milk chocolate Buds are very smooth and creamy, like Dove chocolate. And I think the dark chocolate Buds are good just because I loooove dark chocolate. Hehe. Unfortunately, Wilbur Buds are only available from the Wilbur Chocolate Factory in Lititz, PA. We only get them when somebody's been up in that area and is kind enough to bring us some goodies.
The older I get the more girly I get about chocolate. I think the easiest way to win my affection would be with my favorite chocolate. I love chocolate truffles and think nothing of splurging once or twice a year, usually while on vacation, on a couple of $2.00 confections the size of a walnut. My favorite flavors for truffles are dark chocolate, caramel, coffee, and mint. If I get coffee, it must be flavored with chocolate. Mocha Frappachinos are my faaaaavorite. I love chocolate frosting on yellow cake, or chocolate frosting straight out of the container. Hehe. I believe I could stick my face in a bowl of M&Ms and eat my way out. Andes mints are the BEST mints in the world. I was lucky enough once to find mint chocolate chip ice cream made with Andes mints. Mmmmm.
I really want an ice cream machine so I can make some because I haven't found any since then. Oh...and if you want some a great chocolate frozen dessert, go for Godiva's low-fat Chocolate sorbet. It's so low-fat it's almost no fat! There's only 0.5 grams of fat in a 1/2 cup serving. That's AWESOME considering their low-fat ice cream (which is also very yummy) has5 grams of fat per serving, I think, which of course is better than their regular ice cream that has 13 or so grams of fat per serving.Speaking of mint chocolate, I have an unopened bag of Double-stuf Mint Creme Oreos in my pantry right now. I've had them since Monday and I'm waiting for just the right time to open them, which might be in about 2 hours. Hehe.
Unfortunately, the whole world can see the aftermath of my chocolate eating. Chocolate makes me break out.
I just got sucked into Godiva.com. Looking a chocolate does have the same satisfaction as eating chocolate.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: There is...
DATE: 06/01/2006 15:06:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
a VERY nasty looking cloud outside right now. It's very black. I wish it would rain. Maybe a little thunder just to make things interesting. Of course that means, no walk today. Meh. I liked yesterday's walk very much. It hasn't rained in a while and outside is starting to get a little oppressive and sticky. Lanie, our weather lady, said that there were some pockets of slow moving rain here and there across the area. I wish one of those would plop down over us for a good half hour's worth of soaking rain.
The cloud isn't as nasty looking right now. The sun must have been shining on it just right. Cloud, please give us some wet stuff!
Ran a ton of errands over lunch, but the best part was fooood. Mr. Bart and I went to the Chinese Buffet. I loooove the Chinese Buffet because I can get all the different kinds of meat that I want. I get a few pieces of sweet and sour chicken, a stick of teryaki chicken (yes, it comes on a stick!), a few pieces of black pepper chicken, a few pieces of hawaiian chicken, a few pieces of boneless spare ribs, a few pieces of pepper steak, a few pieces of scallion pork, and a dollop of lo mein. By a few pieces, I mean one or two depending on size. Soooo very tasty. And I always finish the meal with a sugary Chinese fried dumpling. Mmm fried dough.
This Chinese Buffet is great because it has a Mongolian grill too. I love Mongolian grill--you pick out the raw food and they cook it right in front of you on a big hot slab of metal. But I haven't done that at this restaurant because the pull of already-cooked-and-waiting food is tooo great. The best Mongolian grill (of the two that I've been to!) is Crazy Fire in Raleigh. Tons of choices of meat and veggies and spices and sauces and oils to try. Very yum. Plus they have a gong that you can bang.
Well the magnolia tree outside is shivering in the breeze. Wait...now it's stopped. Meh. I was hoping that might indicate that a little burst of a storm was on its way. The temperature has cooled off a bit...just opened the window to get the extra breeze. Very nice.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Music calms the soul
DATE: 06/01/2006 08:25:17
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I forgot to post yesterday so this is technically yesterday's post because I thought about it yesterday. I will post for today later this afternoon when I have something to write about.
Wednesday:
I felt really crummy again this morning, very mopey and draggy.
So far this week...well...the past two mornings...I've just wanted to crawl back in bed to sleep away the day. I suppose that's a hangover from the three-day holiday weekend. Anyway, I piddled away at work all morning waiting for my lunchtime rehearsal. It's funny, but for some reason I always kinda dread having rehearsal. I always start to hope in the 30 minutes before rehearsal that Jennifer will have forgotten about practice. It's horrible to think that way, especially since I love to play and Jennifer is a great buddy to play with! Once rehearsal starts I'm glad I'm playing.Jennifer showed up promptly at 11:30 with her cello buddy, Doug, in tow. Happiness! We played trios yesterday!
In one of the slow movements of one of the sonatas, Jennifer and I were playing long, slow notes. I played one of my particularly favorite notes, probably a B-flat, and I got the wonderful sense of caressing the note. The tone came out sounding very loved and gentle, full of tender emotion. The harmony between my note and Jennifer's had a bittersweet quality to it because I think the chord was a suspended dissonant minor chord that resolved softly to a smooth major chord that while sweet, still held onto the drama of its minor sister chord. And, sappy to say, it made me think of Jamie
. Getting so in tune (haha...pun!) with the music really worked out my crummy feeling and by the end of rehearsal I was happy as a lark! I was sad that we only had an hour to play because I think I could have played for hours and hours. But my tummy was rumbling and saying, "It's past my dinner time, woman! FEED ME!"
I have a yummy new recipe that I tried out last night for dinner. Creamed spinach with mushrooms and onions. Very very tasty, especially on tortilla chips. I only used one box of spinach thinking that would be plenty. Welll...next time I think I'll use two boxes because I didn't have much leftover for lunch today. I think leftovers would be good scrambled with an egg or two. Here's the rough recipe:
1 box of thawed frozen spinach
1/2 brick of low-fat cream cheese
1 dollop of low-fat sour cream
1/2 a medium onion diced
1/2 a carton of sliced mushrooms
Couple of splashes of lemon juice
Fresh ground black pepper
Very yum. Just make sure that when you melt the cream cheese in your saucepan that you do so over LOW heat. I learned the hard way that cream cheese will burn, but I caught it before it burnt too badly. This would probably be good in a soft flour tortilla as a spinach quesadilla too.
After tonight's dinner of sweet peas, cheese scalloped potatos from a box (quite tasty!), and an Italian dressing marinated pork chop, I went for a nice long walk up the graveyard, then down the street to the square, and back home. Jamie
went to out to lunch (Mexican, yum!) so I figured I'd do something instead of being lazy on the couch. My shower felt really good after all that! I hope I can get in another walk for tomorrow, but it's supposed to be stormy. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bleh
DATE: 05/30/2006 13:40:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I felt very crummy this morning so I called and rescheduled my doctor's appointment.
I definitely didn't feel like getting poked and/or prodded today. I'll meet my new doctor on June 12 at 1:45pm.Today was very uneventful.
Just what I wanted...a nice quiet day that passed by relatively quickly. Funny how time never moves at the same rate everyday. A second always lasts a second and a minute always lasts a minute. But how is it that some seconds and some minutes seem to move faster or slower than others? Strange.Only half an hour to go before I can trek across the grass and collapse on the couch.
Mom goes to camp this weekend. YAY!! I'm jealous. She gets to work at the Victory Junction Gang Camp. In other words, she gets a VERY good chance to see some NASCAR drivers since the facility is run by the Petty family and it's a favorite charity of several drivers. Last year she got to see Travis Kvapil. Sooo coooool. She's doing two back to back weekends at camp and will come see me on the weekend of June 16 before she heads home. YAY MOMMIE TIME!
The camp puts on different weeks for kids with different conditions. Last year, Mom did the childhood arthritis and hemophilia week. The camp is built to handle all the different conditions and illnesses that the campers have. And best of all...everything is FREE for the campers including all medicines and treatments the kids need during their time at camp. One of the fun things to do at camp is fishing. It's catch and release. But watch out...sometimes when a fish has been caught and thrown back a few too many times in a row it will throw up!! Ew fish puke.
I wonder which driver(s) will show up during one of the weeks while Mom is there. I would DIE if it was Carl Edwards or Kasey Kahne or Jamie McMurray or Junior! My grandma would be terribly, awfully jealous if it was Jeff Gordon. Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Holiday Weekend
DATE: 05/29/2006 18:27:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I didn't do much at all. Friday afternoon I went to the grocery store because I was running out of meat. I bought a london broil and roasted it. It was soooo yummy. I put it in a browning bag with a chopped up onion, sliced fresh mushrooms, and cream of mushroom soup. Saturday, I sewed! A while ago I bought an "easy" pattern and some material from Walmart. One of the Walmart's in town has an EXCELLENT selection of $1 a yard fabric. I found some lovely light, kinda shimmery fabric in golds and browns on a ivory background. Everything came out just the way it should have. YAY! I just have to wait for Mom to help me with the hem since I can't do that while I'm wearing it. But it looks very cute and I can't wait to wear it!
Carl Edwards won the Saturday night race at Charlotte. YAY!
Sunday, I did absolutely nothing. I didn't even get out of bed until 1pm. I just lounged around all day and chatted with Jamie
. Then I watched the Coca Cola 600. Kasey Kahne won. YAY! He cut off Jimmie Johnson's winning streak at Charlotte. I was sooooo happy about that.Today, I went to Walmart in K-ville just to do something. I've been craving ice cream for a while and I finally remembered to get some today. I wanted a little pint of Blue Bell's Mint Chocolate Chip, but they didn't have any. So, I looked for some other brand. There was no mint chocolate chip!
But I did find something almost as good. Hagen Daas makes a low fat sorbet in Chocolate! It's quite tasty and has only 0.5 grams of fat. Yummy yummy yummy!Tomorrow I get to go to the doctor. Yay. But I have to reschedule part of my appointment due to female stuff. Meh.
I hope my doctor is nice. And I hope whoever sticks me with a needle tomorrow is gentle. Hmm...this thing on George Washington on the History Channel is very good. The guy playing the young Washington is pretty cute. Reminds me a lot of my academic arch-nemisis in school, Will. I like these types of documentaries with costumed actors even though they don't have speaking parts. The history is narrated by scholars and historians, but we get to see the action and characters. Hopefully there will be ladies in pretty dresses soon!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Why do people always bother me on Friday afternoons?
DATE: 05/26/2006 12:20:14
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Phone call today: (My thoughts are in italics)
Me: "Moravian Music Foundation. Beth speaking. How may I help you?" BAH! Who's calling on a Friday afternoon wanting something...?
Her: "Who is this?" GRRRRR! I hate when people ask that even though I've stated who was speaking...
Me, annoyed that I have to repeat myself: "This is Beth." My name's Bananafanna...
Her: "This is Jane Smith (name changed to protect the stupid). How late are you open today?" Oh crap...somebody who wants to come in...
Me: "It all depends." It is the Friday before Memorial Day afterall.
Her: "I called yesterday can and somebody said you were open until 4:30. I got there at 4:15 and nobody was there." Wha....?
Me: "I'm sorry about that." We were all here until 4:30pm. Dunno how we missed her at the front door unless she didn't ring the bell. She probably tried the door knob, found it locked which it always is, and left. I probably wasn't at my desk at the time and didn't see her walk up.
Her: "Maybe I had the wrong building. You're in the building behind the suchandsuch building, right?" There's a sign in our courtyard that says "Moravian Archies and Moravian Music Foundation"...
Me: "Yes ma'am. What time do you want to come in today?" I thought if she was planning to come in within an hour or so, then I'd hang around if she wanted to buy something.
Her: "I don't know." Oh goodie...one of those indecisive people...
Me, even more annoyed: "Well, what do you want to come over for?" At this point if she wants to buy something, I'll point her in the direction of the Book and Gift shop or the Visitor Center gift shop.
Her: "I want to look at some music." How generic...do you realize how much music we have to look at?!
Me: "What kind of music?" Please don't say lending library...
Her: "I want to pick out some music to show our choir director at church because the church doesn't really know Moravian Music." Great...lending library...
Me: "I'm sorry, but our lending library isn't set up to be a browsing library." Besides that...I'm the only Music Foundation person in the building this afternoon and I can't be available for phone calls/door duty/emails AND keep an eye on the workroom where the lending library is.
Her: "What...? What does that mean...lending library? I don't understand." You're a bright one, aren't you...
Me, rolling my eyes: "It's the library you borrow music from." Duh...
Her: "Oh. Well, I've worked with the Music Foundation people before and I've never had any problem looking through the library before." Just because you did it in the past doesn't mean you can do it now...and if you've worked with Music Foundation people in the past, then why don't you understand what the lending library is...?!
Me: "I'm sorry but we don't let people browse through that library." And I'm certainly NOT letting YOU browse through it this late on a Friday afternoon...
Her: "I'm familiar with the music. I just want to pick out one copy of a few things to show my choir director. Do you have a list or something I could see?" Ahh...I could get her off my back with a list! Horrah!
Me: "You can search through our library lists online." Easy as cake...well, for most people...
Her: "Oh, ok. I'll do that then." YES! I can go home early!
And the conversation ends. But wait! There's more.
30 seconds later...
I answer the phone knowing she's probably calling back, because I'm psychic about such things, but praying that it's not her again.
Her, trying to sound cool and superior: "Beth is Jane Smith again. Can I speak to Nola or Albert?" CRAP! It is her...
Me: "I'm sorry. Nola's out of town and Albert is in Bethlehem." Albert doesn't even work in this office. His office is in Bethlehem.
Her: "Is there anybody there besides you that I can talk to?" Oh ho! She either wants to complain to somebody about how unhelpful I've been or she wants to circumvent what I've already told her she can't do by asking somebody else.
Me: "No, ma'am." I'm not trying to be smug...it's just coming out that way...honest...
Her, sounding clearly disappointed: "Oh well. Thanks." HA! You didn't get me in trouble today!
End of second conversation.
Needless to say, I sent off a quick "head's up" email to my boss letting her know that she'd probably get a complaint from this lady about me and letting her know how it happened on my end. I love that people wait until the afternoon of a Friday before a holiday weekend to stop by to do stuff.
I've told people in the past that they can't rifle through the lending library music. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the stuff in that library as it is. People take off with stuff without letting me make a record of it. People return loans with parts missing. It's aggrivating. I like to keep people OUT of it. Tell me what you want. I'll get it. I'll make the record. Then I'll give it to you. If you don't know what you want, then I'm sorry. Look through the list of titles, pick out a few that look interesting, and I'll get them for you.
Sure. People can come browse through the reference library out front. But that's because a staff member is always sitting at the reception desk keeping a general eye on the reading room. The lending library is in the work room. Kinda hard to keep an eye on somebody back there.
I really kinda wish we'd go to a "By Appointment Only" policy. So that when someone just shows up or calls that day to say they'll be over in a few hours, then we can say "I'm sorry, but you'll need to make an appointment at least two days in advance" if we happen to be busy that day. Some days we can handle walk-in traffic, but somedays we can't and those are usually the days everybody and their third-cousin want to stop by just to look. We're not really set up to handle walk-in traffic.
Hopefully the weekend will go smoothly. I'm looking forward to plenty of time with my favorite boy
. We played pool last night and Yahoo! pool was being a pain for him. It likes to do away with his game sound from time to time. I'm sorry but pool isn't half as much fun without the clacking of the balls hitting together and the thud of the ball going in the pocket. Wow...that sounded really dirty. More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Severing ties
DATE: 05/25/2006 11:55:17
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have finally managed to sever my ties with the Village Resort Apartment Complex. YAY! Dr. Daniel and I went to Four Star for lunch today and swung by the old apartment on the way home to see if the fan had been taken down. Lo and behold, IT HAD!
I lugged it down stairs, left my door key and mailbox key on my roommate's flip flop (yes, she still has stuff in the apartment though she moved out a week before I did), and shut the door on the place where I've lived for the past three years. Funny how dirty it looks with just some random things left in it. It never looked that dirty while we lived there. If you're ever planning to move to the area, don't live at the Village Resort. It might sound fancy. But it's really ghetto.
I reaaaaalllly like where I'm staying now. Unfortunately, they have a no married couple policy. I would very much like to get married at some point in the not too far off future.
Lunch was good. Four Star is a great place to eat. Because I've eaten kinda heavy stuff for the past few days, I decided to go with a salad. Luckily one of the specials for today was a small chef's salad. Feh. Small...yeah right. Ok, grant it was smaller than their regular sized salads, which come in a HUGE platter/bowl thing. But still, this salad came on a full sized dinner plate. It was very good. They have THE BEST lettuce. It's very fresh, crisp, no brown edges, cool, and they know how to cut it so it is in perfectly bite-sized pieces. No huge strips that get dressing all over your face as you try to cramp them in your mouth. The salad had ham and turkey and cheese and tomato wedges on lettuce. It had red onion too, but I pushed that off to the side. I like my onions cooked. It also came with Captain's Waffers. Mmmm yummy crackers. I had honey mustard dressing on top. Very refreshing lunch. Some days you just want something cold. Especially when the temperature is 89 and very muggy. Dr. Daniel shared his homemade chips with me because he knows I like them alot and he wasn't going to eat them all.
Right now I'm gonna to walk down to the soda shop for some ICE CREAM. I've been craving it really bad since I went to the grocery store last week and didn't buy any. I don't really want to pay $3.99 for a pint of ice cream when I could pay the same price (or less) for a half gallon. I don't think a half gallon would fit in my mini-freezer though.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Work
DATE: 05/24/2006 13:58:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I haven't talked much about work here, unless I've mentioned that I have the best job in the world. Now I realize that only parts of my job are the best in the world and others stink real bad.
Best parts of the job:
Touching 200 year old music manuscripts
Playing from copies of 200 year old music manuscripts
Using computer software to edit 200 year old music manuscripts
Showing off our 1544 German Hymnal--Queen Elizabeth I wouldn't be born for another 14 years.
Being in a fantabulous building everyday
Being the unofficial marketing director and advertising designer
Our fun copy machine
Blazing fast internet and my 19" flat screen monitor
Making spreadsheets (I'm weird)
Doing stuff for the website
Laying out the newsletter
I won't go into too much detail about the stinky parts of the job. It's mainly the parts that effect ALL very small non-profits organizations. But the one that I will complain about is lack of funding. People who gave $25 ten years ago are still giving just $25 dollars today. It's not the same amount of money anymore. $25 today buys much less than it did ten years ago. The support we receive from the Moravian Church has declined to less than 10% of our operating budget. For every 20 grant proposals we submit we might get about 10% of what we've asked for from two foundations. We're not human services related so many foundation won't even consider us for grants, and those that will give to the arts will more likely give for projects that are geared towards community outreach using the arts. Meh.
We've got good stuff! OLD STUFF that NOBODY else has! If something happens to it, it's gone forever. Stuff that is important to the musical heritage of America. It's how music began in America and where today's music grew from.
Kinda wish some insanely rich person who LOVED old music would read this and have his/her interest piqued, and then give us a huge chunk of change to solve our money woes.
Oh well...such is the way of working for a non-profit. I still wouldn't trade it for another job! (Unless that job had 200 year old music manuscripts and a 19" flat screen monitor too).
More later!
PS. I actually spoke to Deborah, apartment complex property manager, on the phone yesterday about my ceiling fan. She assured me that the fan would be taken down by this weekend. I sure hope it is.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid Apartment Complex, Take 2
DATE: 05/23/2006 10:43:35
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ok. So we all know that I had the run around with the apartment complex about my ceiling fan last Wendnesday. As of today I still hadn't received a phone call to let me know it had been taken down. So, I decide to go out to eat and eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant in that end of town, with Dr. Daniel as my lunch companion because his usual lunch partner was out to lunch with somebody else. (Sounds like a soap opera, right?)
On the way back from lunch, we stop by the apartment to see if the fan has been taken down. And, of course, it is still in the ceiling. I march myself over to the apartment complex and here's what happens:
Apartment Office Guy: "Hi. Can I help you?"
Me: "Is maintenance planning to take down the ceiling fan in apartment 350-L?"
Guy: "Uh. Probably not since your lease states that anything like that becomes our property."
Me, with a very hard edge to my mexican cheese coated voice: "I moved in three years ago. When I moved in I was told that if I bought a fan then maintenance would put it up and when I was ready to move they'd take it down too."
Guy: "Well, you'll have to speak to the property manager about that."
Me: "I've already asked three times to have this done."
Guy: "Did you talk to the property manager?"
Me: "I spoke to Nikita and she said she'd told Deborah about it."
To which, Nikita pipes up in the back: "Are you here about the fan?"
Me: "Yes."
Nikita addresses Guy: "I've already told Deborah about it and she was supposed to get maintenance on it since that's what we told her when she moved in and the policy is new."
Guy gets a sticky note: "What's your name and a contact number so that the property manager can talk to you about this?"
I give him the information, even though I've already given that information to the office once. Then the turd winks at me. DO NOT WINK AT ME AND PLAY CUTESY FLIRTY WHEN I'M MAD AT YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE BUSINESS!!!!!!!!
Next time I have to deal with them, I'm going to say, "Either take it down or give me money to replace it." GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
But I had a lovely lunch at El Dorado. They have the BEST Mexican food in town. I tried something completely different today. I usually get the Speedy Gonzales--one taco, one enchilada, and rice. And I recently discovered the lunch special with one chicken quesadilla, one taco, and rice. But today I got something completely different. I got the Coyote Loco--one mushroom quesadilla, one cheese enchilada with pulled pork on top, and rice. SOOOOOOO GOOOD! Of course now I feel like I have a big wad of cheese rolling around in my stomach and my mouth still feels coated in cheese, but it's such yummy wonderful cheese. Mmmmm...I'll definitely have to get that again the next time I go to El Dorado. Meh...I need a nap now.
Honey-update: Jamie
had a rough Sunday and didn't feel good at all. We didn't spend much time talking until late in the afternoon because he laid down with a migrane around 12 pst/3est. Poor boy. After he woke up we played Go and Dots. I slaughtered him in Go, but that was probably because he still didn't feel good. We played Dots for the first time and are pretty evenly matched there. Funny that they call it Dots when you're making squares. He felt much better yesterday. YAY! Hopefully that good feeling has carried over to today.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Antiques Roadshow
DATE: 05/22/2006 18:20:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This show is greeeat!
I love the people who bring in things and spout off the history of their crap that Great Grandpa Rufus told them when they were knee-high to a grasshopper. And they just know that their whatever-knicknack is going to be worth thousands of dollars. Then the antiques guru tells them "Sorry, this might be worth $10."
What's even greater is when the guru says "How much did you pay for this?" And it is revealed that the person paid WAAAAAY too much for the crap they brought in.
I love the new seasons of Roadshow because they show little clips of random people showing their random stuff at the end. Usually those people say "I brought what I thought was my most expensive antique and I found out it's only worth $25." The BEST one of these was a lady who brought in what she thought was an Indian fishing hook. She learned from the guru that it was actually a cannabil brain pick! Hehehe.
Some lady brought in some 19th century pottery made right in Salem once. Now that stuff really was worth something. I think she was told it was worth a couple thousand dollars.
Then you get the people who either have no clue what they have or have some small clue what they have but don't realize the value. A guy on tonight's program had some very nice prints of works by Rembrant and somebody else. Prints are rated as to how fine the details are, A through F, I think is what I heard. His prints were all A quality. And the guru told him his collection of three prints was worth $95,000.
I want a few of those!I looooooove the people who bring in the HUGE pieces of gorgeous furniture. It's a miracle they get those pieces to the show intact.
I only remember seeing violins once. A lady brought in three. And she went into great detail about how one of them was a Stradivarius because it said so on the label. HA! The biggest folly of the uneducated in the ways of violin labels. The label basically said Copy of a Stradivarius in Italian. That violin was worth a couple hundred dollars as a student violin. But one of the other violins which was very old and had no label and she just brought in on a fluke was worth a few thousand dollars.
At work we often say, "Wouldn't it be fun to take the Jefferson Map* or the 1618 Czech hymnal to a Roadshow and see what they say?" Those gurus' eyes would get as big as saucers probably.
Hehee. There's nothing on tv!
More later!
*The Jefferson Map we have at work is a 1750s map of Virginia drawn by Thomas Jefferson's father. The Moravians in Salem received this map from their brethren in the Bethlehem, PA settlement because the Bethlehem Moravians had received the updated version of the map. The Bethlehem brethren figured the old map was good enough for the backwoods of North Carolina. Needless to say, now our older version of the map is worth a whole lot more than their "newer" version. Even the commonwealth of Virigina doesn't have a copy of the version of the Jefferson map we have. Hehe.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Security Issues
DATE: 05/19/2006 07:39:08
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Because I love (or at least like) the people who visit my blog, this is post for your good.
Scenario:
You open an email from Ebay or Amazon.com or CitiBank or BankOne or some other reputable business. The email states that your account has been compromised, a new address has been added to your account, or that you need to verify your account information. Could this email be bogus, from someone fishing for your information to steal your identity?
Here are things to check for:
- Do you have an account with the business from which the email is supposedly sent? I've gotten emails stating my "Such and Such Bank" account had been compromised. Only, I don't have an account with "Such and Such Bank". If you don't have an account with the business then delete the email and do nothing further. Or, if you're concerned your identity has been stolen, call that business directly to ask them if they have an account in your name.
- Does the email contain your name in the body of the email ("Dear Mary Smith") or is the greeting in the email vague ("Dear Member")? Legitimate emails from reputable sites will always include your full name in the greeting because your name is on file with them.
- Take a look at the link you've been given to click on to change/update/verify your account. You can check the validity of this link in two ways: (using Ebay as an example)
- If you are using a web based email, then hover your mouse over the link, but don't click on the link. Now look down at the gray "Status" bar at the bottom of your browser's window (right now it will probably say "Done"). The link should appear in the bar. Does the link begin "http://signin.ebay.com" or does it begin with a series of numbers such as "http://202.188.101.106"? If the link begins with numbers, do nothing further. Just delete the email. It is bogus.
- You can also click on the link given in the email. Once the window opens take notice of two things. First, look at the address in the "Address" box. Does the link begin with a series of numbers? Second, look down at the bottom of the window to the right of the "Status" bar. Is there a little lock icon in one of the gray boxes? If the link begins with a series of numbers and there is no little lock present, then DO NOT ENTER ANY OF YOUR INFORMATION ONTO THIS PAGE. Just close the window and delete the email.
- Also, check the spelling and grammar. This takes a bit of reading but you'll notice things like "then" instead of "than" or misspellings.
Legitimate login pages to websites will always include the following:
- The address will always begin "https://signin.ebay.com". The security identifier in that address is the "s" after "http". It stands for secure.
- A lock icon will appear at the bottom of the browser's window. If you hover your mouse over the icon a little box will pop up and read "SSL Secured (128 Bit)" or "Signed by Verisign, Inc."
- If you use the Firefox web browser, then the address bar will change from white to yellow to indicate a secure site.
If you are still unsure of the email, then don't click on the link given. Instead open a new browser window and hand type in the address of the site. Check your account by accessing it the way you always have.
If you need to use a credit card to purchase something on the internet, here are the things a reputable site will ask:
If you need to use a credit card to purchase something on the internet, here are the things a reputable site will ask:
- Your name as it is printed on the card
- Your billing address
- Your card type, number, and expiration date
- The three digit number in the authorized signature box on the back of the card, if using a Visa or MasterCard
- As well as your shipping address if the item you've bought needs to be shipped to you
Things that will NEVER be asked for by a reputable site:
- Your Social Security Number
- Your mother's maiden name**
- Your PIN number for the card you are entering
- The bank that issued your card
- Drivers License Number
**This one can seem a bit tricky. If you are asked to create an account with a site, you will create a user name and password to access your account. You will be given a short list of questions to chose from to be asked in case you forget your password. One of these questions is usually "What is my mother's maiden name?" It's ok to use this as the question you answer in order to get your password sent to you because you have selected this question yourself. The site is NOT asking. But if you don't feel comfortable, just select one of the other questions, which might be "Where did I go to High School?" or "What is my pet's name?"
Scammers have come a long way. Bogus emails look almost identical to legitimate emails if you don't know what to check for. If you have any doubts about the truth in an email, call the company directly or open a new browser and type in their address yourself to visit their site.
If you have any questions or concerns or you'd like me to take a look at an email you've received, feel free to contact me! I don't want any of my lovely friends and family to get taken down by some loser with a computer.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Poker
DATE: 05/18/2006 10:53:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I think I have just hopped on the poker bandwagon. I don't play, but I have discovered Celebrity Poker Showdown on Bravo. It's what I've watched the past few days during lunch. I don't watch the professional poker things on ESPN or whatever other channels they come on. Watching professionals is very very boring. I love watching the celebrities! They're funny! They wisecrack and do funny stuff.
My favorite so far was the episode with Hank Azaria, who I think is absolutely hilarious. He was in the Bird Cage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. He played their latino housemaidman guy who didn't wear shoes. He was in Godzilla with Matthew Broderick. (And for those playing at home....Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane were in the Producers together!) My favorite Hank Azaria role is his Simpson's role. He does the voice for Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (yes, I googled it to get the spelling right), Chief Clancy Wiggum, Moe Sizzlack of Moe's Tavern, and a few others. Annnyway. On that episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown, one of the other players said something and called Hank "Apu". Then Hank started talking in his Apu voice! IT WAS GREAT!
Today's episode had Jerry O'Connell who is so precious. He's like a little kid you want to take home and feed ice cream. I had planned on going to the grocery store during lunch so I wouldn't have to go during Jamie-time. But the sky looked weird and the wind kicked up and I thought, "Nope...I can wait." We're supposed to get the best chance for thunderstorms this afternoon after 3pm so I probably won't go to the store this afternoon either. Maybe tomorrow during lunch.
YAY! It's almost the weekend!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid Apartment Complex
DATE: 05/17/2006 08:08:13
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I thought I liked the Village Resort (ha, yeah...resort my butt) Apartment Complex. The first two years living there were great. No problems what so ever. Maintenance was speedy. The people were friendly. Bre and I felt relatively safe.
This past year has been crap. The good people moved out and were replaced with very rude people. The apartment complex office burned down in August 2005 and has yet to be rebuilt. The office staff have been pretty incompetent since then. I can completely understand the staff having issues for a couple of months after the fire as I'm sure they lost a lot of their files (because they probably weren't smart enough to have things like that backed up and stored off-site).
The big snafu was when we received a note hanging from our doorknob that essential read "Pay your rent right now or vacate the premises." I wrote a very polite yet clipped note to the office attaching the copies of my CANCELED rent check for that month. They apologized, of course, but offered the excuse that the name on the check wasn't the same name on the lease. I responded by saying the rent had been paid with MY checks ever since we moved in in June 2003, and this had never EVER been a problem before since I always write the apartment number on the check.
The current thing to rub me wrong started last week when I called to have the ceiling fan in my bedroom removed. I called last Monday giving them the benefit of Tuesday to have the thing down so that my mom could pick it up on Wednesday on her way back home. Well, she shows up at my office on Wednesday after I thought she had already left to say that the fan was still up. Ok, maybe I hadn't given them enough advance notice to get to the fan especially since it wasn't an emergency. Last night while Jamie was out to lunch, I drove across down to pick up the fan. !@#$%!! The ceiling fan was still in the ceiling. I wasted a trip across town (though I did get gas and stop at AC Moore for beads to finish a necklace and a frame for the poster now hanging over my bed....but that wasn't the point of the trip).
Today I called the apartment complex. Here's my conversation:
*ringring*
"Thank you for calling Village Resort Apartments. This is Nikita."
"I'd like to put in a maintenance request please," I said through gritted teeth.
"Ok, go ahead."
"I need the ceiling fan taken down in apartment 350-L."
"Ohhh. You called last week, didn't you?"
"Yes," I said with that undertone of "Duh..."
"Oh um...yeah. I just learned that when you put a ceiling fan up it becomes property of the Village."
Completely outraged I speak very loudly into the phone, "That's not what I was told three years ago when I moved in!"
"I'm sorry but you'll have to come see the property manager."
"Is Deborah there now?" Deborah is the property manager. I think I stunned her with my ability to know the first name of the property manager.
"Uh..yeah, but she's in with someone right now."
"Then have her call me when she's done."
"Oh, ok." And then she took my name and phone number.
GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
So, I JUST got off the phone with Nikita again:
"Hi this is Nikita calling you back from the Village."
"Hello," I say dryly.
"I just brought this to the attention of Deborah and she said that this change just happened, but when you moved in we was tellin' people what you were told. So I'll get this wrote up and get it for you." (Yes...she said "we was tellin'". That is the most uneducated lot of morons I've ever had the displeasure of being around. NONE of them speak correctly.)
"Good. Can you have someone call me when it's been done so I don't waste another trip out there?"
"Oh ok. We can contact you at this number?"
"Yes, and if I'm not here, just leave a voicemail message. Thanks."]
GRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Why is the world full of stupid people?
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Doctors
DATE: 05/16/2006 11:45:04
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well. I've finally done the one thing I've been dreading for years. I have found a primary care physician and I have scheduled an appointment for a physical.
I've had an eye doctor ever since I officially moved to Winston. Kinda have to have one of those when you wear contacts and would like to keep wearing contacts. Then the next doctor was a dentist because my mom kept hounding me about it. Hehe. I finally gave in because I wanted to keep my chompers nice and pretty. After the dentist came the dermatologist because I was having icky skin problems a year ago. She was very nice and gave me sooooooothing creams and an ointment to make my icky skin not so icky.
Now I have the BIG doctor. The one who will give me physicals (and take my blood...dangit) and who I can go to if I'm sick. When I was sick with that flu'ish thing I had last spring, I had to go to Prime Care, the first-aid, no appointment needed clinic thing. That was horrid. Being so sick and having to wait sooooo long with all the other sick and injured to see a doctor. Especially with no mommie to soothe me and keep me company.
I guess I'm finally a grown-up now. I have my own doctors and I'm scheduling my own appointments. I'll try not to think too much about what will be done to me at this physical. I'm of an age now where certain parts of me that have never been checked out before by a professional will be checked out. Meh! And, unfortunately my doctor is a guy. Maybe he'll be nice enough to enlist the help of a lady when that part of the exam takes place.
Nifty tidbit about my apartment: I don't have to make special trips to the mailbox or to take out the trash. The apartment mailboxes are by the door I come in and out of everyday. So, every afternoon I pick up the mail on my way back up to my place. The dumpster is just a little ways away from that same door. I take the trash out on my way to work. Very cool!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: ARGH!
DATE: 05/15/2006 12:56:45
STATUS: publish
BODY:
We had a concert yesterday at work. 28 people showed up including me, Bart, our one volunteer, and the four performers. I thought that was pretty good considering it was Mother's Day. Plus, our recital hall is very small so 28 was just enough people. Bart and I were feeling very successful with our recital hosting duties since we couldn't enlist any of our trustees to help out (they were all too busy except one who did show up to help briefly). Our performer did an EXCELLENT job. Everyone enjoyed the performance with no complaints.
Heh. No complaints until this morning when I opened my email. My one and only email this morning went like this:
It is 4:28pm on Sunday afternoon, and I have just [left] the MMF building with great disappointment. I arrived at the door at 4:09 for the recital, knowing I would be a bit late (my son called for Mother's Day, just as I was about to leave home). When I arrived, I found the doors were locked. I rang the bell once, twice, then walked all the way around the building checking for another entrance. Back to the front again and rang the bell again several times, waiting for an answer that did not come.
I can only hope the recital was canceled for some reason, but I could see the lights on in the hall above, so I must assume it was in progress. Is there no way someone could have be watchful at the door for late comers??
I truly hope you can change your procedures so as not to discourage your patrons and concert goers, especially after your good efforts to publicize for your "Happy Birthday" celebration. Although I realize the importance of security for your building, the locked doors send a very negative message on a concert day.
To which I replied:
I am sorry you missed the concert. Our concerts begin promptly at their scheduled time. Because of the nature of our collections and building, we are not able to leave our doors unlocked. Someone must remain downstairs to let patrons in. This person remains downstairs until about 10 minutes after the concert for late comers. After a grace period of 10 minutes that person goes upstairs. We want our volunteer or staff member manning the front door to enjoy the concert.
As a performer, I'm sure you know the distraction of someone arriving late to a performance. Our hall is so intimate that the distraction is greater than that of a larger space where the performer on stage might not notice a late comer. The performer and audience have to contend with either the bell of the elevator and its loud doors or the opening and closing of the stairwell door when someone arrives late. There is no way to "sneak" into the back of the hall without notice.
Again, I am sorry that you were met with a locked door and there was no one to let you in when you arrived. I hope you are able to come to our next harpsichord recital.
Honestly...how can a fellow performer feel that they are entitled to be let into a performance when they are late? I DESPISE late entries into a concert. I had often thought that if anybody came in during the middle of my Senior recital that I would stop playing, wait for them to be seated, say "I'm so glad you could join us" then go back to playing. In my opinion, if you can't arrive on time for a concert, then don't come. Or at least, wait until intermission if there is one.
I understand in some places you can sneak into the back row without being noticed. But in small places you can't. It's a disruption not only to the performer who can see you coming in, but also to the audience members you have to climb over to get to an empty seat (because we all know there's never an end seat available).
That was a great way to start my Monday.
First weekend in the apartment by myself was GREAT!!!! I loved it! It's so quiet and peaceful. I don't hear neighbors talking or their tvs. I don't hear cars outside with the bass cranked up so that the walls vibrate. It's soooo wonderful. It only would have been more perfect if Jamie had been there too! But we had lots of time together and we even played Go and Pool. He is much better at Go than me...in fact he is the King of Go. We're pretty evenly matched in Pool, but he had some awesome shots several times and we were both like, "Sweeeet". Love my honey!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Reality competition update
DATE: 05/12/2006 07:25:01
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm not a huge fan of reality tv. But there are some shows I really like.
Top Chef on Bravo: From the creators of my favorite competition show--Project Runway. I haven't been too into Top Chef. I've mostly watched it in reruns because I watch Alton Brown's Good Eats at 10pm on Wednesday nights and then Futurama at 10:30pm. Top Chef is on at 10pm. This week's episode of Top Chef was the reunion show before the finale. This was the episode where all the previously eliminated contestants and the judges all gather to have a chat about what went on so far and how everybody is doing now. Well, Top Chef's reunion had more shouting, name calling, and foul language than Project Runway's two reunion shows. It was very Jerry Springer-like.
Anyway. My favorite chef, Leanne, sadly was eliminated last week. I missed the show so I have no idea what went wrong. The remaining three are Harold, Tiffani, and Dave. I was certain that the final three would be Leanne, Tiffani, and Harold. Leanne is the excutive chef somewhere...I think the French Culinary Institute? Anyway, somewhere BIG. I dunno who of the three I want to win. Harold does good work, but there's just something about him I don't like and don't see as a top chef. Tiffani does great work, but she can be a bit witchy. Dave's work is ok, but not terribly consistant (as in he was at the "loser's table" several times, but not the one eliminated). I was very surprised to see that he had made it to the final three. I think Tiffani will win.
America's Next Top Model on UPN: I love Miss Tyra Banks! She's so funny. But anyway. The final three models are Joanie, Danielle, and Jade. Joanie and Danielle I love so much. They're both very pretty, yet very approachable. But Jade...meh. I don't like her at all. Unfortunately, she takes great pictures sometimes.
Mom and I laughed and rolled our eyes at last week's episode because Jade kept saying "I'm not worried about Joanie at all because she's not on my level." Mom and I both agreed that it was true Joanie wasn't on Jade's level because Joanie was about 10 levels above Jade. Jade is a drama queen...an actress...a phoney. She's constantly saying things like "I don't know how people think I'm arrogant" or "I'm not like that at all" when she is the most arrogant, self-centered girl on the show. Like the judges said Jade comes across as "I know best". Nothing she says or does seems real. It seems like she's just putting on a show.
I hope Joanie wins. Though I really like Danielle too. I just hope Jade doesn't win. If Jade wins then I think she'll suffer from a big head and be very smug about it---though she might bawl her eyes out, but it would just be for show.
My favorite reality shows are the ones PBS makes. The current one is Texas Ranchhouse. 21st century people are living like mid 19th century ranchers and cowboys. It's realllly cool. PBS also did Frontier House and Colonial House (my favorite!). Then there was a 1940s House done in Britain--those folks relived WWII. Oh and there was a Regency House also done in England. There were lots of young ladies in pretty gauzy empire dresses and handsome young men courting them all under the watchful eye of chaperones, as was done in the early 1800s.
Apartment Update:
I haven't burned up my kitchen yet! YAY! I was pretty scared of the circa 1955 kitchenette when I first moved in, but it seems to be working just fine. I did have to mark the little-burner knobs with a "B" and "F" for back burner and front burner because they weren't marked. I did it with pink nail polish. Hehe. The big burner's knob is actually backwards---high is low and low is high. It's a replacement knob.
I love my apartment and I can't wait to spend the weekend in it all by myself. Lounging lazily in bed until noon. Then just soaking everything in, because it hasn't soaked in yet. Jamie thinks I did a good job arranging everything. He saw the pictures last night. I can't wait for him to see it in person. We're still working out plans for the visit. We're not sure that his back can stand 9+ hours of travel just yet. August is looking like our best bet for visiting. So far from now!! But I'd rather wait and have a healthy, feeling-good boy than not wait and have a potentially miserable boy who won't enjoy his visit. Though I'd take real good care of him!
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pictures of my new place!
DATE: 05/10/2006 17:38:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Scammers have come a long way. Bogus emails look almost identical to legitimate emails if you don't know what to check for. If you have any doubts about the truth in an email, call the company directly or open a new browser and type in their address yourself to visit their site.
If you have any questions or concerns or you'd like me to take a look at an email you've received, feel free to contact me! I don't want any of my lovely friends and family to get taken down by some loser with a computer.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Poker
DATE: 05/18/2006 10:53:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My favorite so far was the episode with Hank Azaria, who I think is absolutely hilarious. He was in the Bird Cage with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane. He played their latino housemaidman guy who didn't wear shoes. He was in Godzilla with Matthew Broderick. (And for those playing at home....Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane were in the Producers together!) My favorite Hank Azaria role is his Simpson's role. He does the voice for Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (yes, I googled it to get the spelling right), Chief Clancy Wiggum, Moe Sizzlack of Moe's Tavern, and a few others. Annnyway. On that episode of Celebrity Poker Showdown, one of the other players said something and called Hank "Apu". Then Hank started talking in his Apu voice! IT WAS GREAT!
Today's episode had Jerry O'Connell who is so precious. He's like a little kid you want to take home and feed ice cream. I had planned on going to the grocery store during lunch so I wouldn't have to go during Jamie
-time. But the sky looked weird and the wind kicked up and I thought, "Nope...I can wait." We're supposed to get the best chance for thunderstorms this afternoon after 3pm so I probably won't go to the store this afternoon either. Maybe tomorrow during lunch.YAY! It's almost the weekend!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid Apartment Complex
DATE: 05/17/2006 08:08:13
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I thought I liked the Village Resort (ha, yeah...resort my butt) Apartment Complex. The first two years living there were great. No problems what so ever. Maintenance was speedy. The people were friendly. Bre and I felt relatively safe.
This past year has been crap. The good people moved out and were replaced with very rude people. The apartment complex office burned down in August 2005 and has yet to be rebuilt. The office staff have been pretty incompetent since then. I can completely understand the staff having issues for a couple of months after the fire as I'm sure they lost a lot of their files (because they probably weren't smart enough to have things like that backed up and stored off-site).
The big snafu was when we received a note hanging from our doorknob that essential read "Pay your rent right now or vacate the premises." I wrote a very polite yet clipped note to the office attaching the copies of my CANCELED rent check for that month. They apologized, of course, but offered the excuse that the name on the check wasn't the same name on the lease. I responded by saying the rent had been paid with MY checks ever since we moved in in June 2003, and this had never EVER been a problem before since I always write the apartment number on the check.
The current thing to rub me wrong started last week when I called to have the ceiling fan in my bedroom removed. I called last Monday giving them the benefit of Tuesday to have the thing down so that my mom could pick it up on Wednesday on her way back home. Well, she shows up at my office on Wednesday after I thought she had already left to say that the fan was still up. Ok, maybe I hadn't given them enough advance notice to get to the fan especially since it wasn't an emergency. Last night while Jamie
was out to lunch, I drove across down to pick up the fan. !@#$%!! The ceiling fan was still in the ceiling. I wasted a trip across town (though I did get gas and stop at AC Moore for beads to finish a necklace and a frame for the poster now hanging over my bed....but that wasn't the point of the trip).Today I called the apartment complex. Here's my conversation:
*ringring*
"Thank you for calling Village Resort Apartments. This is Nikita."
"I'd like to put in a maintenance request please," I said through gritted teeth.
"Ok, go ahead."
"I need the ceiling fan taken down in apartment 350-L."
"Ohhh. You called last week, didn't you?"
"Yes," I said with that undertone of "Duh..."
"Oh um...yeah. I just learned that when you put a ceiling fan up it becomes property of the Village."
Completely outraged I speak very loudly into the phone, "That's not what I was told three years ago when I moved in!"
"I'm sorry but you'll have to come see the property manager."
"Is Deborah there now?" Deborah is the property manager. I think I stunned her with my ability to know the first name of the property manager.
"Uh..yeah, but she's in with someone right now."
"Then have her call me when she's done."
"Oh, ok." And then she took my name and phone number.
GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
So, I JUST got off the phone with Nikita again:
"Hi this is Nikita calling you back from the Village."
"Hello," I say dryly.
"I just brought this to the attention of Deborah and she said that this change just happened, but when you moved in we was tellin' people what you were told. So I'll get this wrote up and get it for you." (Yes...she said "we was tellin'". That is the most uneducated lot of morons I've ever had the displeasure of being around. NONE of them speak correctly.)
"Good. Can you have someone call me when it's been done so I don't waste another trip out there?"
"Oh ok. We can contact you at this number?"
"Yes, and if I'm not here, just leave a voicemail message. Thanks."]
GRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Why is the world full of stupid people?
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Doctors
DATE: 05/16/2006 11:45:04
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well. I've finally done the one thing I've been dreading for years. I have found a primary care physician and I have scheduled an appointment for a physical.
I've had an eye doctor ever since I officially moved to Winston. Kinda have to have one of those when you wear contacts and would like to keep wearing contacts. Then the next doctor was a dentist because my mom kept hounding me about it. Hehe. I finally gave in because I wanted to keep my chompers nice and pretty.
After the dentist came the dermatologist because I was having icky skin problems a year ago. She was very nice and gave me sooooooothing creams and an ointment to make my icky skin not so icky.Now I have the BIG doctor. The one who will give me physicals (and take my blood...dangit) and who I can go to if I'm sick. When I was sick with that flu'ish thing I had last spring, I had to go to Prime Care, the first-aid, no appointment needed clinic thing. That was horrid. Being so sick and having to wait sooooo long with all the other sick and injured to see a doctor. Especially with no mommie to soothe me and keep me company.
I guess I'm finally a grown-up now.
Nifty tidbit about my apartment: I don't have to make special trips to the mailbox or to take out the trash. The apartment mailboxes are by the door I come in and out of everyday. So, every afternoon I pick up the mail on my way back up to my place. The dumpster is just a little ways away from that same door. I take the trash out on my way to work. Very cool!
More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: ARGH!
DATE: 05/15/2006 12:56:45
STATUS: publish
BODY:
We had a concert yesterday at work. 28 people showed up including me, Bart, our one volunteer, and the four performers. I thought that was pretty good considering it was Mother's Day. Plus, our recital hall is very small so 28 was just enough people. Bart and I were feeling very successful with our recital hosting duties since we couldn't enlist any of our trustees to help out (they were all too busy except one who did show up to help briefly). Our performer did an EXCELLENT job.
Everyone enjoyed the performance with no complaints. Heh. No complaints until this morning when I opened my email. My one and only email this morning went like this:
It is 4:28pm on Sunday afternoon, and I have just [left] the MMF building with great disappointment. I arrived at the door at 4:09 for the recital, knowing I would be a bit late (my son called for Mother's Day, just as I was about to leave home). When I arrived, I found the doors were locked. I rang the bell once, twice, then walked all the way around the building checking for another entrance. Back to the front again and rang the bell again several times, waiting for an answer that did not come.
I can only hope the recital was canceled for some reason, but I could see the lights on in the hall above, so I must assume it was in progress. Is there no way someone could have be watchful at the door for late comers??
I truly hope you can change your procedures so as not to discourage your patrons and concert goers, especially after your good efforts to publicize for your "Happy Birthday" celebration. Although I realize the importance of security for your building, the locked doors send a very negative message on a concert day.
To which I replied:
I am sorry you missed the concert. Our concerts begin promptly at their scheduled time. Because of the nature of our collections and building, we are not able to leave our doors unlocked. Someone must remain downstairs to let patrons in. This person remains downstairs until about 10 minutes after the concert for late comers. After a grace period of 10 minutes that person goes upstairs. We want our volunteer or staff member manning the front door to enjoy the concert.
As a performer, I'm sure you know the distraction of someone arriving late to a performance. Our hall is so intimate that the distraction is greater than that of a larger space where the performer on stage might not notice a late comer. The performer and audience have to contend with either the bell of the elevator and its loud doors or the opening and closing of the stairwell door when someone arrives late. There is no way to "sneak" into the back of the hall without notice.
Again, I am sorry that you were met with a locked door and there was no one to let you in when you arrived. I hope you are able to come to our next harpsichord recital.
Honestly...how can a fellow performer feel that they are entitled to be let into a performance when they are late? I DESPISE late entries into a concert.
I had often thought that if anybody came in during the middle of my Senior recital that I would stop playing, wait for them to be seated, say "I'm so glad you could join us" then go back to playing. In my opinion, if you can't arrive on time for a concert, then don't come. Or at least, wait until intermission if there is one.I understand in some places you can sneak into the back row without being noticed. But in small places you can't. It's a disruption not only to the performer who can see you coming in, but also to the audience members you have to climb over to get to an empty seat (because we all know there's never an end seat available).
That was a great way to start my Monday.
First weekend in the apartment by myself was GREAT!!!! I loved it!
had been there too! But we had lots of time together and we even played Go and Pool. He is much better at Go than me...in fact he is the King of Go. We're pretty evenly matched in Pool, but he had some awesome shots several times and we were both like, "Sweeeet". Love my honey!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Reality competition update
DATE: 05/12/2006 07:25:01
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm not a huge fan of reality tv. But there are some shows I really like.
Top Chef on Bravo: From the creators of my favorite competition show--Project Runway. I haven't been too into Top Chef. I've mostly watched it in reruns because I watch Alton Brown's Good Eats at 10pm on Wednesday nights and then Futurama at 10:30pm. Top Chef is on at 10pm. This week's episode of Top Chef was the reunion show before the finale. This was the episode where all the previously eliminated contestants and the judges all gather to have a chat about what went on so far and how everybody is doing now. Well, Top Chef's reunion had more shouting, name calling, and foul language than Project Runway's two reunion shows. It was very Jerry Springer-like.
Anyway. My favorite chef, Leanne, sadly was eliminated last week. I missed the show so I have no idea what went wrong. The remaining three are Harold, Tiffani, and Dave. I was certain that the final three would be Leanne, Tiffani, and Harold. Leanne is the excutive chef somewhere...I think the French Culinary Institute? Anyway, somewhere BIG. I dunno who of the three I want to win. Harold does good work, but there's just something about him I don't like and don't see as a top chef. Tiffani does great work, but she can be a bit witchy. Dave's work is ok, but not terribly consistant (as in he was at the "loser's table" several times, but not the one eliminated). I was very surprised to see that he had made it to the final three. I think Tiffani will win.
America's Next Top Model on UPN: I love Miss Tyra Banks! She's so funny. But anyway. The final three models are Joanie, Danielle, and Jade. Joanie and Danielle I love so much. They're both very pretty, yet very approachable. But Jade...meh. I don't like her at all. Unfortunately, she takes great pictures sometimes.
Mom and I laughed and rolled our eyes at last week's episode because Jade kept saying "I'm not worried about Joanie at all because she's not on my level." Mom and I both agreed that it was true Joanie wasn't on Jade's level because Joanie was about 10 levels above Jade. Jade is a drama queen...an actress...a phoney. She's constantly saying things like "I don't know how people think I'm arrogant" or "I'm not like that at all" when she is the most arrogant, self-centered girl on the show. Like the judges said Jade comes across as "I know best". Nothing she says or does seems real. It seems like she's just putting on a show.
I hope Joanie wins. Though I really like Danielle too. I just hope Jade doesn't win. If Jade wins then I think she'll suffer from a big head and be very smug about it---though she might bawl her eyes out, but it would just be for show.
My favorite reality shows are the ones PBS makes. The current one is Texas Ranchhouse. 21st century people are living like mid 19th century ranchers and cowboys. It's realllly cool. PBS also did Frontier House and Colonial House (my favorite!). Then there was a 1940s House done in Britain--those folks relived WWII. Oh and there was a Regency House also done in England. There were lots of young ladies in pretty gauzy empire dresses and handsome young men courting them all under the watchful eye of chaperones, as was done in the early 1800s.
Apartment Update:
I haven't burned up my kitchen yet! YAY! I was pretty scared of the circa 1955 kitchenette when I first moved in, but it seems to be working just fine. I did have to mark the little-burner knobs with a "B" and "F" for back burner and front burner because they weren't marked. I did it with pink nail polish. Hehe. The big burner's knob is actually backwards---high is low and low is high. It's a replacement knob.
I love my apartment and I can't wait to spend the weekend in it all by myself. Lounging lazily in bed until noon. Then just soaking everything in, because it hasn't soaked in yet. Jamie
thinks I did a good job arranging everything. He saw the pictures last night. I can't wait for him to see it in person. We're still working out plans for the visit. We're not sure that his back can stand 9+ hours of travel just yet. August is looking like our best bet for visiting. So far from now!! More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pictures of my new place!
DATE: 05/10/2006 17:38:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeee! I've taken pictures of my new place. I put them in my photo album.
I absolutely looooove walking home at lunchtime to make myself some lunch and to kick back on the couch for an hour and a half. Ahhhh...sweetness. I'm sure I'll have myself a few little lunch-naps in the coming weeks.
And of course I love walking to work and back home again in the mornings and afternoons. It's WONDERFUL!
Tonight is my very first night in my place all alone. Mom went home this morning. Kinda lonely, but very exciting!!
Enjoy the pictures! I'm going to enjoy the rest of Top Model.
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Coooold Tuesday
DATE: 05/09/2006 19:57:27
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It was chilly today and cloudy. But not as chilly and cloudy as yesterday. We actually had some sunshine today. Yesterday I put on socks at lunchtime. Bah. Socks.
Mom and I went to Walmart over lunch to pick up a few things we hadn't thought of during previous trips to Walmart. The closest Walmart to me now is the one in Kernersville. And honestly, it's neater and easier to get to than the two in Winston. Mom said I needed to just start going to that one. I think I will. A Target is being built next to the Walmart.
The only thing left to be done in my apartment is hanging the last picture. Walmart didn't have any nice poster frames. I want a gold one similar to the ones I already have for the poster of Lancelot and Guinevere that will go over my bed. The nail is ready and waiting for the poster. The walls are plaster so Mom had to use a drill to get a hole started for the nails. She counted about 50 holes for pictures, plus a few uh-ohs.
I LOVE my new place. It's soooo cute and cozy and comfy and everything is in its place. I will have pictures soon. Probably this weekend.
I can't wait to lounge around this Saturday!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Moved
DATE: 05/08/2006 16:23:15
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have mooooved! Horrah!
All of my stuff has been crammed into my teeny little apartment. But the place doesn't look cramped or cluttered at all. Most of the pictures have been hung and everything is in its place now. I cooked for the first time in the new kitchen last night. Very exciting. There are only three burners on the stove---one big and two little. The big burner's knob works backwards from how it reads. In other words, low is high and high is low. Strange.
I stood there waiting and waiting for the burner to get hot. The oven is quite a bit slower to warm up than the oven at the old apartment. But no problem. The food was cooked in due time and all was yummy.I can snooze until 8am!! YAY!!! That's the most awesome thing. And I can make my own lunch at home without having to waste 30 minutes of my short short hour and a half lunch break on driving. And, 5pm traffic is non-exsistant. Sweeeeet.
I still have to figure out how to fix my shower curtain so that the floor outside the shower doesn't get wet. Right now each hole in the curtain is hanging from two rings. I think we might need to go for three rings. The curtain rod is up really high.
I'm gonna take some pictures and post them in the album tomorrow after Mom and I hang the last two pictures (they need frames).
Can't wait to have Jamie
come for a visit. We'll have plenty of space and be quite cozy. More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Moving a little at the time
DATE: 05/04/2006 13:05:11
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Mom and I moved more stuff into the apartment today. As we were unloaded the first cart full of stuff, she asked me, "Do you need a shower?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I have my first piece of furniture in the place now--a little brown shelf! Wheee! While I was at work this afternoon, Mom put dishes and glasses in the cabinet of the kitchenette. I think quite a bit more than I first thought will end up going back to Mom's house to be stored until I get a bigger place. But that's fine. Clutter is very bad in a small space and I don't like clutter at all.
Everytime we go into the new place it seems like we come up with a different way to rearrange the not-present furniture. The building was last renovated in the 1950s and therefore isn't up to 2005 codes. Modern codes for new buildings mandate that electrical outlets must be every six feet (or so) in a room. Yeahh...I have two walls in my new place that don't even have one electrical outlet on them. My setup is going to be based on where the tv can go. Right now the best spot is one of the corners because it's close to an outlet. Luckily I've seen some very cute corner entertainment centers online that aren't outrageously expense. Hopefully I can find one in a store somewhere.
My first big purchase for the new place will be a fridge. The kitchenette just has a small under-the-counter fridge. The freezer part of it is hardly big enough for ice trays. And there is no room for anything with height (like a pitcher or 2-liter bottle) without taking out the shelf. So, I've found a very nice compact fridge at Lowes that has a separate freezer and fridge (as in a two-door compact! sweeeet!). It's only about $215 with tax. Not bad. It's a 3.1 Cubic Foot fridge that stands just sigh of 3 feet, about 2 feet deep, and 18 inches wide. With that I'll have plenty of room for my frozen meats and my tea pitcher! Too bad I can't use the mini fridge I had in college, but its freezer isn't any bigger than the one in the apartment. The extra fridge will give me a place to put my microwave and toaster oven, so I don't have to put them on the foot wide spot of counter that I actually have.
Tomorrow we're getting up early to hit Walmart for all the odds and ends I need in the new apartment. The number one thing we need to get is a step stool. I have a very nice storage space above the closet. It's separate from the closet and kinda up high. I have 12 foot ceilings in my new place. I'll be able to put lots of stuff up there--craft supplies, blankets, stuff I want to keep with me but don't use all the time. The next most important thing is a shower curtain and hooks. I need some scatter rugs to go around the bed (the floor is tile and gets COLD). And I'll look for a new entertainment center. My tv is on one of those rolly tv carts right now and there isn't a lot of space for dvd/vcr/rf modulator/dvds/tapes/etc.
Only two more days!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Mom's here!
DATE: 05/03/2006 12:30:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Getting closer and closer to move day. Today Mom and I put some more boxes and some bags of blankets in my apartment. I'm so ready to move. I had to put up with very loud and very rude neighbors yesterday afternoon. I asked them to turn the music down yet again yesterday afternoon and they got very snotty with me about it, when in the past they had been polite and apologetic. I think they were showing off for their redneck friends because there were three people in the apartment that I had never seen before and those random people were snotty about the noise too. "It's only 5pm. There's no ordinance about loud music before 8pm." So I reported them to the office. There might not be an ordinance about loud music during the day, but show some consideration for your neighbors.
There are plenty of people in my neighborhood who work at night and sleep during the day. Plus I find it hard to believe that the neighbors on the other side of my noisy neighbors don't hear the bass. Oh well. I told my mom that if they were loud any time in during the next few days that she had my full permission to report them to the office again. I don't care if I'm only there for three more days. I still don't have to put up with hearing their music OVER my tv and the air conditioner.Now for something incredibly dumb
, yet hilarious:Mom and I were checking out the bathroom when she asked, "How's the water pressure in the shower?"
"Not too shabby. Better than it is in the apartment now," I replied and turned on the shower to show her. A nice steady blast of water came from the showerhead. I turned the water off and stepped into the shower to see how I fit. Turning around I said, "Hey I think my shower caddy will go in this space on the right and I don't think I'll bump into it too badly."
Then I noticed that the showerhead was dripping. I hadn't turned the knob tight enough. So I reached out to tighten the knob and stop the drip. Unfortunately, I turned the knob the WRONG way and the water came on full blast. I was in shock for about 3 seconds and couldn't do ANYTHING.
My mom watched just as disbelieving as I was. Then finally I was able to pull myself together and turn the water off. I stepped out of the shower with my left side completely drenched and dripping---dress, underwear, shoes, everything. Luckily I wasn't wearing my sweater too. Mom and I leaned against each other and howled with laughter! IT WAS SOO FREAKIN' FUNNY! We were crying and I was wet and cold. I felt so dumb, but it was soooooo funny! I laughed and laughed and laughed. Then we told Bart about it at work and we all laughed some more.Jamie
said I should have taken pictures.At least the dress I was wearing was made out of that wonderful material that doesn't hold water. I was dry within about 15 minutes. Soooo very glad I wore this dress instead of a shirt and pants. I'd still be wet hours later with a shirt and pants on.
So that was the adventure of the day. Hehe. Still makes me giggly to think about how dumb I was.
After the shower fiasco, Mom and I went to Wendy's and partook of the new Frescata sandwiches. Mmmmmm. Very tasty. I had tried the Frescata Club after the Ren Faire with Jane. It had turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, and tomato on the crusty little loaf of bread. Today I got the roast turkey with basil pesto and roasted red peppers. Oh my goodness! SOOOOO YUM! I loved the garlicky basil pesto sauce. Mom got the Black Forest ham and swiss which she said was good too.
Wanna know how special I think Jamie
is? Mom's in town and I want to wait until Friday (my day off for the move) to go to Walmart during the day because I have to have my time with Jamie tonight and tomorrow night. I don't want to waste a moment of my Jamie-time!! Especially since I was a dummy and scheduled my phone to be disconnected at the old place and reconnected in the new place on Friday and I won't spend Friday night at the new place. I'll call him on my cellphone Friday and we can talk for a long time!Only 3 days left!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Move in progress
DATE: 05/02/2006 10:54:57
STATUS: publish
BODY:
There's stuff in my new apartment! WHEEEEE!! I put boxes in my apartment and even hooked up my cd player so I could listen to the radio. I moved about a dozen boxes of stuff ranging from my sewing machine to knickknacks to kitchen stuff to more kickknacks. I can't remember what was in some of the boxes but I marked each box with what was inside. Mom will be here tomorrow and we'll move more stuff! YAY!
I reallllly reallly really wanted to take stuff out of the boxes and put it places. But there are no places to put the stuff yet since it was mostly knickknacks that go on shelves or tables. So all the boxes went in my huge closet to hang out until Saturday when we'll move the furniture.
I'm antsy to move. Yesterday afternoon I wandered all over the apartment trying again to find stuff to put in boxes. I filled up three medium sized boxes and two little boxes. Then I rearranged the wall of boxes before decided to take some of the boxes to the car. I was quite bored after work cus my honey
went out with a good buddy of his (they went shopping and looking at TVs). I missed him lots. I went to bed before he got home. Needless to say I was very ready to get to work this morning and read his daily email. He filled me in on all he did, which made me a very happy girl! Just wish I could have hung out with him. Wellllll...I should get back to work since it seems that I actually have stuff to do this afternoon. I usually have plenty to do in the mornings because that's when I process the mail (handle dontions and bills and sales orders and stuff). I usually slack off in the afternoons or find some fiddly little thing to piddle around with.
Only 4 days!! YAY!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: New Apartment
DATE: 05/01/2006 11:29:47
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I took my 1st month's rent check and signed the lease for my new apartment at lunchtime today! Yippee!
I'm so excited and so very ready to move. I'm going to load my car with boxes this afternoon and start moving stuff in tomorrow at lunchtime. Mom will be in on Wednesday and my grandparents will be in on Friday. We're u-haulin' on Saturday morning and Bart is going to help with the heavy sleeper-sofa.I'm listening to the Aaron's 499 on the radio because yesterday's race was rained out. Sounds like a pretty interesting race. YAY! Too bad I can't SEE it. Bah.
Stupid rain.Didn't do too much this weekend. Bre moved her furniture on Saturday. The downstairs is looking a little bare. I had to improvise some end tables for my lamps and tissue box so I came up with my folding tv tray and my plant stand with a slab of granite on top. I opened up my blue foldy chair for additional seating and cozied it up with a purple pillow and my giraffe print foot stool with the fun black fringe.
I mostly stayed on the couch all weekend flipping through channels and talking to Jamie
. The long distance thing is a bummer on the weekends when we could be spending time together in the same room. But we spend a lot of time talking. He was pretty impressed when I told him I'd been to an Anime Convention and actually went dressed in costume. I'm a total nerd. But Jamie think's I'm a hot nerd. I need to find the pictures of me in my bright green mech suit that was made out of foamy craft stuff and super glued to me. On Saturday, my band had a gig at the Celtic Cafe. It was a horribly slow night and we were very lacking in energy. Things didn't pick up until after we quit playing for the night. At 9:30, when we stopped, the restaurant was mostly full! Our food order got bumped to the back of the line and we had to wait a long time to eat. I had beefsteak and Guiness pie. Pretty good. I tried to eat it when it was still too hot though and burned my mouth more than once.
All weekend I kept wandering through the apartment wondering what I could put in a box. There's stuff that I'm waiting as long as possible before I pack, like picture frames. I want to keep some stuff out just so it doesn't look too naked. I can't stand that feeling! There's some kitchen stuff I could pack up. Maybe I'll start there this afternoon. Need to grab some boxes from the vault before I head home.
EEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I have a new place!
Only 5 days!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Soapbox - Star-Spangled Banner
DATE: 04/28/2006 12:02:57
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
I remember learning the national anthem in Mrs. Tyer's 2nd grade class. We memorized all the words and learned the song. We learned it in ENGLISH. The forefathers of this country had voted that English would be the national language and therefore our national anthem is and should always be sung in English. Do Spanish immigrants to England sing "Dios Salva a Nuestra Reina" to "God Save the Queen"? Do German immigrants to France sing "Lassen Sie uns gehen Kinder vom Vaterland" to La Marseillaise? OF COURSE NOT! They sing in the national language of that particular country!
Yes, this country is a melting pot of peoples from all types of ethnic backgrounds. And, at the turn of the previous century more people spoke a language other than English. But those people were expected to learn English in order function as American citizens. They were not asked to forget their roots. The Irish, Poles, Germans, Hungarians, Italians, Chinese, etc. all had their own neighborhoods in the large cities. Their local society and economy still mirrored their old world ways. But as soon as they ventured out of their communities to do business they spoke English to do so.
Take the Moravians for instance. Colonial American Moravians were mostly from Germany. They spoke German. They conducted business in German. They held Church services in German. But they also spoke English. And all of their records were written in German. They conducted business with their outside-the-settlement neighbors in English. If English-speaking guests were present at worship services, then all or part of the service would be given in English. In the mid 19th-century, everything switched to English. The Moravians no longer thought of themselves as solely "Moravian" but by the mid-1800s thought of themselves as Americans of the Moravian faith.
Maybe we only have this problem because we're Americans and English speaking Americans seem to have a stubbornness about learning another language. "Why should I learn French if I'm never going to France?" Our problem is isolation. European countries don't have the problem we have. Europeans have a relatively easy time traveling between different countries with different national languages. So it is very lucrative for a European to be fluent in several different languages. America's neighbors are mostly-English-speaking Canada to the north and many-dialects-of-Spanish-speaking Mexico to the south.
Which brings me to another point: the Spanish we learn in school is not helpful when speaking with Latino people in the US. We learn Castellian Spanish, or Spain's Spanish. It's like going to London to learn the King's English then being dropped in the middle of Nashville, TN or Little Rock, AR. The pronunciation and word meanings aren't exactly the same---not to mention trying to understand someone talking much faster than you're used to hearing in a heavy accent.
Plain and simple: If a person moves to another country to work and live, then he/she should learn the language of that country. Dubbya and I finally agree on one thing.
On to something lighter...
I jabbed a staple into my finger and it bleeded!
Mr. B and I went to Diary Queen for lunch today. I had a very yummy chilli cheese hot dog with fries and a Sprite, and for dessert had a Chocolate Silk Pie Blizzard. It was soooooo yum! And, I wore my new skinny size 14 jeans today. They didn't shrink at all in the wash yesterday and they still feel fine after that yummy lunch. Hehe.
This weekend I'm looking forward to hiding in my room while Bre moves, talking to my Jamie
all weekend long, and doing some more packing.Only 7 more days!
More later!
(P.S. That picture is a of one of nine surviving copies of the first printing of the Star-Spangled Banner. We have a copy in our collection at work. I've showed it off and impressed many people with it!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bye bye Nnenna
DATE: 04/27/2006 12:07:11
STATUS: publish
BODY:
OH MY!
Nnenna got kicked off America's Next Top Model last night! The girl who's won the most challenges got kicked off. Wow. I liked her at the beginning. She's from Africa (born in the States but then lived in Africa her whole life). She was very regal and poised, yet something about her presence was kinda scary and cold. Last night the guest judge called her "snooty". And yes, if you don't know her, she can come off as very snooty. Last night's photo shoot was of the girls dressed as mermaids caught in a fishing net. They were suspended over a canal in Bankok. It was a difficult shoot and Nnenna didn't do a very good job. Her photos over the past few weeks have been lacking. The judges saw her as someone who was slowly declining and decided to drop her. Oh well.
I still hope Joanie makes it all the way. She's the prettiest, takes the best pictures, and is the sweetest of all the girls.
It rained all day today. A wonderful soaking rain. Unfortunately that wonderful soaking rain was also cold. Brrr. I want warm! At least the rain was good for the posies and the trees.
I have to do laundry tonight because my washer and dryer will soon be Bre's washer and dryer and will be moved to her new place sometime this weekend. I'm gonna miss my pride and joy a lot.
Maybe I'll take a picture of them before they go. I should take a picture of my old desktop computer too. I'm giving it and my desk to Mom. I have no room for them and she could use a new desk and computer.Annnnd...if all works out like it should I'll have my very own super-duper computer builder
in a year who can build me a super-duper computer of my own with everything I want on it. I imagine we'll have lots of fun with our computers and playing computer games together in the same room! Sweetness. !Only 8 days left!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: C-c-cold
DATE: 04/26/2006 10:34:44
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm coooold.
It's dark and rainy outside. My poor nose is cold and raw from all the tissue use. My fingers are stiff. Meh. What happened to 80 degree-weather like yesterday? Yesterday was heaven--warm and sunny. Glad I went for that walk. If it wasn't cold out I'd probably go for a walk in the rain (with an umberella of course). My honey
and I played many many rounds of pool last night. At one point my mom asked who was winning and I said I had no clue. Jamie and I are pretty evenly matched at Yahoo! pool. We are rated based on wins and losses, and one time last night we were both rated at 1201. The perfect match! Oh! I never updated the blog about what made my face so itchy several weeks ago. I bought Jamie
a big stuffed bunny for Easter (Mom named it Kreedle) and I slept with it for over a week to get my scent on it. One afternoon I rubbed my face all over the bunny and that's what made my face icky. I think the finishing chemical on the fur aggrivated my skin. Oh well, the ickiness was worth it because Jamie likes his bunny a lot. I sent him a nifty magnet I found at the Ren Faire too. It's a pink ceramic disk about the size of a quarter with a celtic knot heart in the middle. Very pretty. Both presents were kinda girlie looking--the bunny had a pink bow around its neck--but Jamie didn't seem to mind. Only 9 days left!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Nice day...
DATE: 04/25/2006 10:53:09
STATUS: publish
BODY:
for a walk! I took a walk! Lazy, couch-bum me took a walk in the graveyard over lunch today.
It was very pleasant. It was sunny and warm with enough breeze to keep the air very pleasant. The old section of the Moravian graveyard, "God's Acre", is a very serene, peaceful, and safe place to walk. The ground has gentle swells just enough for a decent little workout, but not so much to leave me out of breath. I do have to be careful where I walk though. The paved walkways are mostly smooth and even, but are broken in some spots because of tree roots. The walk is uphill on the first leg with the reward of shade trees at the top of the hill. Then the way back is mostly downhill. Part of the downhill is kinda steep and I have to walk a little slower. It's a good walk. After I move, I hope I can get into the habit of walking in the afternoons after work. Walking is good for me!
And walking in a safe area is even better for me! Tonight I have a date with my honey
. I love our date nights, playing Yahoo! pool for hours and chatting about nothing in particular and everything at the same time. Maybe we'll be able to find a pool table (oops..just typed poop table..eewww) somewhere. Might even sneak over to the college and use the one in the lounge under the Rat Factory (aka the Refectory...aka the place where we ate at school). Hmm...I might take another walk in a little while. Down to the bakery for a cookie!!
Teehee.
More later!
(PS. I did not take that picture. I stole it from somebody online. My camera is at home in my closet. I'm a little scared to drag it around with me since it broke so easily. Meh!)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Sunny Monday
DATE: 04/24/2006 11:58:34
STATUS: publish
BODY:
It's nice out. Very balmy. Breezy, sunny, and shady with the clouds rolling about. It's a perfect day!
Took some more pictures of Snickers. Actually got some of him sleeping on his back with all four feet up in the air. So cute!
Got rid of the pup on Saturday afternoon. I thought I was free of worrying about "did he poop/pee somewhere". However, hours after I'd exchanged him for a crisp Jackson I discovered he left me a little surprse behind the dining room table. I never would have found it but I was looking for my teddy bear cookies that just happened to be back there (still in their unopened package, thank God!). Meh. Mom said he left a present so I wouldn't forget about him.
At least Snickers-poop is kinda dry so it didn't stain the carpet and it was easy to pick up with a plastic bag. I just love it when the dog doesn't go when I let him out. Instead he goes after he comes back in. BAH!Next time I watch him will have to be at his house. My new building has a "No Pets" policy. And honestly, that's a-ok with me. No pets. No kids. And hopefully no loud music since all of my neighbors are oooold.
I had to put up with my ghetto redneck neighbors' bass all weekend. It was so loud at one point on Friday that I could feel the couch vibrating. I asked them twice on Friday and once on Saturday to turn it down. And I just stayed aggrivated on Sunday because I didn't feel like asking them a fourth time. I told the guy that he needed to pull his tv/stereo/whatever away from the wall because the wall was amplifying the sound. It was strange though because when I poked my head inside their apartment to tell them to turn it down I couldn't hear the noise from inside their living room.
ARRRRRG. Only 12 days left.On Saturday my jeans ripped.
Allllll the way down one rear pocket. How can jeans that are so baggy they can be pulled off without unbuttoning/zipping them RIP?! Oh well, no problem. I wanted to buy new jeans anyway and now I had a perfectly good excuse to do just that. I knew exactly which jeans I wanted. I had tried on a pair of dark Levi Strauss jeans at Walmart when I was back home in a size 14 (yes! a size 14!!! I have no clue when I last wore a size 14!). I didn't get them when I was home because they only had 14 longs and 14 shorts. I needed 14 mediums. Well, everybody in the world must wear 14 medium Levi Strauss jeans. The Walmart hear only had one pair of 14 longs and one pair of 14 shorts. I got the 14 longs. They're not too terribly long...not with shoes anyway. I can't wait to wash them and wear them. I'm a little worried that they'll draw up in the wash. Jeans have a tendancy to do that. But at least these are stretchy jeans. So it'll only take a little while for them to be stretched out to the right fit again. Hard non-stretch jeans take a day or so to get comfy. Stretchy jeans only take an hour or so. Woohoo!I did a little more packing this weekend. I packed unessential blankets, pillows, and stuffies and more knickknacks. I'd like to go ahead and pack most everything, but I don't think I can live over a week with bare walls and shelves. It'll be bad enough once Bre moves out next weekend and the only stuff in the apartment is my own stuff. The apartment will be minus a dining room table and chairs, two big oversized upholstered chairs, two end tables, the dvd/stereo console, the shower curtain, and lots of pictures in the living room and dining room. I think I'll use her room as a space for packed boxes, just so they aren't littering my room or the living room.
. We'd have so much fun. I'm so jealous of my roommate who gets to see her guy pretty much anytime she wants. BAH!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: YAY!
DATE: 04/21/2006 11:10:47
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Hoorah for Camera Repairmen and the DHL guy!
As you can see by the picture above, my dear digital camera was returned to me in perfect working condition. YAY!
That furry mop is Snickers. Or "My Son" as my mom and grandma call him. I definitely don't lay claim to him. He's more like the annoying cousin who comes to stay for a weekend. Yesterday between the lunch and when I got home he peed on the doormat.
Feh. At least it was the doormat and not the rug. The doormat can easily be washed off. But before I discovered the pee, I found him giving one of Bre's stuffed mooses what for. NOT A PUPPY TOY! BAD DOG! At least it wasn't the same moose he chewed on the last time he was at my house. At least I only have to get up early one more day.
Tomorrow afternoon his mommy and daddy are coming home! YAY! My biggest pet peeve with Snickers is that he watches me eat. He sits perfectly still and just stares like I'm the most interesting thing in the world. Like if he's such a good boy then I'll just not want my food anymore, not want to waste it, and give it all to him because he's being such a good dog. Yeah right. I've taken to hunkering down on the couch and building a fort of throw pillows around me to block his view. But I can see his reflection in the entertainment console's glass door and there he is, just staring at me even though he can't see me. Evidently he knows I'm still there eating away. BAH! I don't know how Bart and Linda handle it. Of course they're probably use to it by now and don't even realize he's there anymore.
At lunch today when I was standing at the microwave nuking my leftover dirty rice, he sat there watching because he knows what a microwave is for. I decided to give him some kibble in the hopes that he'd leave me alone. Snickers got tail-waggingly excited when he saw I had something in my hand for him. I dropped it in his mouth. He rolled it around his tongue for a while then spit it out! He looked up at me like, "That was my food. Not your food. If I wanted my food I'd have gone over to my bowl." So I tried again...and again....and again. And finally he did eat it when he realized I wasn't giving him any of my dirty rice. That stuff's too good to share with a mutt. Also, too greasy. I've cleaned up poofy dog puke before and I'm NOT doing it again.
I've put the pictures I took of Snickers in my photo album. I might take more tonight if he does something particularly spectacular. But don't hold your breath. Though I might attempt to make him "Ghost Dog" again. Over lunch I managed to drape his blanket over him and he looked like a ghost. Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Foggy Thursday
DATE: 04/20/2006 11:05:00
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I woke up at 6am to feed Snickers and let him out. Boy was it foggy. It was like trying to look through wax paper...well almost. As soon as the dog was munching away on his breakfast I crawled back upstairs and burrowed under the covers for a couple more hours of sleep.
I slept until after 8am and it was wooonderful. Outside was still very foggy at quarter til 9 when I left the house. Talk about an interesting drive. Wooooooo...cars in cloud soup! But I made it to work in one piece.Yesterday's supper was most excellent. I had my very first baked sweet potato. It tasted like a funny regular potato. There was also yummy, tender ham, macaroni salad, and yeast rolls. Mmmmmmm. I could have eaten my weight in the ham and rolls. I need to ask Bart what kind of ham that was because I want one!
In addition to my much anticipated and beloved daily email from Jamie
, I got an email from the camera repair company. My camera has been shipped! YAY! It should be here tomorrow! DOUBLE YAY! If it gets here tomorrow, I can take pictures of Snickers and post them in my album! Today was a lunch lecture day at work. So that meant JERSEY MIKE'S for lunch! I offered to pick it up since I had to go home to let the dog do his doggy business anyway. Love Jersey Mike's. Their sandwiches are so much better than Subway (as, I've said before in an earlier blog). Although the new Italian subs at Subway on the toasted garlic bread do look mighty tasty.
Note to Mom/Jamie
: If you want a sub on your next visit, remind me to take you to Jersey Mike's instead of Subway. I discovered, while talking to Jamie
last night, that Wednesday truly is the best night of tv. At 8pm America's Next Top Model comes on UPN, followed by Mythbusters on Discovery Channel at 9pm, Good Eats on Food Network at 10pm, and Futurama on Cartoon Network at 10:30pm. And then if I'm able to keep my eyes open, another episode of Good Eats at 11pm and Family Guy on Cartoon Network at 11:30pm. No flipping through the channels on Wednesday nights going, "oh bother...what to watch..."I have grown very attatched to America's Next Top Model. I didn't think I would, but it's very much like Project Runway...kinda. Well, with the whole modeling and runway walking and fashioning stuff. Plus they're both hosted by curvy Victoria's Secret models. I like Tyra and Heidi because they have curves...like real women! Of course their curves go in all the RIGHT directions, unlike mine. Hehe.
My vote for America's Next Top Model: Joanie. She's taken the BEST pictures and she's very cute. On yesterday's episode she got to go to the dentist to have her teeth fixed. In ghetto-southern speak we'd say "she got some jacked up teeth". But "they ain't jacked up no mo'."
My least favorite Model: Jade. She's so fake and in your face and "I'm better than all the rest of you". She's very arrogant.
Ugh. She was on the chopping block last night, but she was picked to stay and the other girl, Brooke, was sent home. I haven't liked Jade since day one of the show. I hope she goes home soon.I hope this afternoon is a slow afternoon that moves quickly. Did that make sense? Probably not. I don't want to deal with a lot of people coming in the building or calling for something, but I want the time to pass quickly. Well, it's already 2pm. Only 3 hours to go (or probably 2.5 hours because I'll probably leave at 4:30pm when the Archives people leave since I'm the only Music Foundation person in the building. WOOHOO!).
Only 16 days left! (Official date of move: May 6 -- I've reserved the UHaul!)
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Doggy
DATE: 04/19/2006 13:46:14
STATUS: publish
BODY:
After work I've been invited to dinner at my co-worker's house. They ended up with lots of food leftover from the weekend and need someone to help them eat it. So, I have obliged. Plus, I have to go over there anyway to pick up their pooch, Snickers. He is one of the few dogs that has never bothered my allergies. He's a shih tzu, and supposedly they are great for people with pet allergies. They don't shed like other dogs. Their hair just comes off in tufts instead of being EVERYWHERE.
So, Bart and his wife, Linda, are heading down to the beach this weekend and I'm the designated puppy-sitter. I've done it several times and the last time I asked to bring Snickers to my house. He's a good travel dog and it worked out perfectly. I think he liked being in a new space. He went to the beach with his mom and dad last year, but didn't like it at all. Bart said that when he took Snicker's out on the beach he just wanted to be picked up and carried. Evidently the gusty seabreeze didn't feel good in his ears.
Hopefully, Snickers will enjoy his stay at my house as much as he did last time. And, hopefully there will be no accidents, surprises, or presents. Unfortunately, he's on such a schedule that he has to be fed and go out early early in the morning. Ugh. Means I have to set my alarm clock on the weekend to feed the dog and let him go potty. Meh.
I want a dog...eventually. I'd really like to have a little black poodle. They're so cute! Bre's grandma has a little black poodle named Nicholas (he was a Christmas puppy). I've had Nicky in my car before and he was so good and quiet that I kept forgetting he was back there until Stephanie (who was sitting in the back seat) started talking to herself. Oh and when we stopped at BoJangle's for lunch he tried to steal my fries and chicken. But he's sooo cute!
More later!
(PS. The picture above is NOT Snickers. That's a picture I found from Google of a fancy-pants shih tzu.)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pictures!
DATE: 04/18/2006 10:02:59
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I uploaded all of this weekend's pictures to my photo album. There's a new album called "Easter 2006" with pictures of me and my grandpa, me and my mom, and some of the wildlife my mom took pictures of. Pictures of my new blue ren faire dress are in the "Renaissance Outfit" album.
The camera repair place sent me an email last Friday saying they had received my camera. The email said "Repair Notes: REPAIR BOWER BOARD". Sound pretty major. Hopefully they can fix it quickly and send it back quickly. I'd like to have it before I move into my new apartment. If not, then Mom will just have to bring her camera so I can get pictures of the move and the new place.
I have lots of things to take pictures of and no camera! Argh.
When I bought this camera, I bought the package that came with the camera and the printer dock. I gave the printer dock to my mom as part of her birthday gifts. WOW! That thing is one of the neatest things I've ever seen! She printed out some of this weekend's pictures and they came out great. The prints looked just like the ones that come from the photo lab. A printer dock is probably not the most economical thing if you like to get all of your photos printed and you take a lot of photos. But if you only want one or two prints it's great! You don't have to run to the store just to get a handful of pictures printed. Plus, it only takes a minute. Need a last minute gift? Grab your camera. Take a cool photo. Print it out. Pop it in a nifty frame!
I can't wait to get my camera back. Hopefully I'll have it back by the time Jamie
comes to visit. I MUST have a picture of me and my boy together.I'm still ready to move. Only 17-18 days left. Ugh.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Weekend Home Update
DATE: 04/17/2006 15:21:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Had a great weekend at home. On Friday I decided to drive a different way than usual and therefore took an impromptu tour of back-roads eastern NC. It was fun. After I got home, we went out to Mema and Grandpa's house for BBQ. Mmmmm. We had Pete's bbq with slaw and cornbread. And because Mom loves me so much, we had collards from Bum's. Goood food.
The bad thing about being in that part of the state is that my cell phone doesn't like to work. I called Jamie
Friday night just to talk and ended up having to call him about five times because the call kept getting dropped. BAH!Saturday, Mom and I went to Walmart and Lowes and the mall. I had a grand time because I had taken Sudafed before we left. I was loooooooopy. In Walmart, I told Mom she'd have to push the cart because I might either a) run into someone or b) run into something, break it, and we'd have to buy it. Then at Lowes I kept getting distracted by the shiney hinges and door knobs and drawer pulls. Love love love Lowes. You never think you're going to really enjoy going to a hardware store. It's just nails and screws and tools right? WRONG. There are storage containers, appliances, rugs, paint chips, drawer pulls...
Sunday I went to Sunday School with Mom and we had a cookout afterwards. Mmmm hamburgers and hotdogs. Very good. After lunch we delivered presents to a little old lady from Mom's church who now lives in a nursing home. She'll be 90 in a few days. Then we went to Kmart and looked around for a while. Kmart's stuff is cheaply made, yet expensive. I keep saying it's less-than-Walmart quality stuff at Target prices. Afterwards we went to Mema's so I could have my spring pictures taken.
For 26 spring seaons, I've always had pictures taken with my Grandpa in Mema's yard with her azaleas in the background. There's always a picture of him holding me and for the past 12 years or so we've also taken a picture of me holding him. We looked particularly lovely on Sunday. And the flowers were gorgeous. Poor Grandpa wasn't feeling good though. He'd had a cough that kept him up the night before. But he got dressed just for pictures and smiled pretty for the camera. Once we were finished with those pictures, I went inside and put on my new blue ren faire outfit. Mom followed me around the yard snapping pictures of the new dress.
I'll post new pictures tomorrow when I'm at work. The downloading process will go much faster there. Keep an eye on my photo album for pictures from this weekend!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Weekend home!
DATE: 04/14/2006 09:05:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm heading for home! Yippee! Haven't been there since Christmas.
It's overcast right now, but hopefully the rain will hold off until I get home.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Allergies
DATE: 04/13/2006 10:46:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
First off---update on the boyee
. His bad back pain Tuesday night was mostly gone by the time he went to bed and he was able to sleep just fine. That made me happy! I worried so much over him. Hope he slept well last night too.Woke up this morning...feelin' fine. By the time I got to work I felt miserable. The pollen count must be really extremely high today. I sneezed. I sniffed. I snorted. My ears hurt when I breathed. My throat was scratchy. My right nostril stopped up. It's 1:30 now and I'm feelin' fine again. That'll change after I go outside again.
BAH! Too bad I can't just hide away inside somewhere with 100 minions to do my bidding (i.e., go to Walmart for foooood) until the spring pollen goes away and it's safe to go outside again.
I need to search out the revered Sudafed this afternoon when I get home. Last pollen season I bought some off-brand non-drying liquid gel things. I don't exactly remember why I got those instead of my usual off-brand non-drowsy Sudafed stuff. The non-drying meds gave me weird dreams. I don't think I want to take those again. They might get fed to the trashcan.
Yesterday when I got home I discovered an abandoned cell phone on one of the end tables. It was my roommate's and she has gone away for the weekend. I wonder how she'll survive without it since the thing is usually permanently attached to her ear. I don't know if she left it there on purpose or not, but I'm guessing not.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Hump Day
DATE: 04/12/2006 12:09:40
STATUS: publish
BODY:
This week is creeping by about as slow as last week. Bah.
Poor Jamie
had a bad time with his back last night. It doesn't bother him bad all the time, just every now and then. And it's crummy that I can't be around to offer symphathy and cookies. But hopefully it's feeling better this afternoon. I sent off a package for him today. Too bad it can't get there today to maybe takes his mind off his owie for a few minutes. I packed up a few things yesterday to take home this weekend in my efforts to downsize before moving into my new apartment. I went ahead and stashed the stuff in my trunk so I wouldn't forget about it on Friday. I packed up: Christmas wreaths, Christmas bows, fish bowl (I should post the story of my poor suicidal fishie), electric can opener (the manual one takes up much less space), my old violin case, and two bags of books for my mom to pass along to her book-friends.
I've started squirreling away boxes. My favorite ones are the boxes that a case of paper is in. Especially the ones from Office Depot because they have cut out handles. Mom's going to bring all the plastic containers she can empty from her house. I love packing. I don't know why. I love to arrange and rearrange stuff in boxes until they fit just right.
I've got a confirmation on my move day. My grandparents will come up Friday May 5 to help me move. So, my next move is to reserve a U-Haul or find some body with a truck that would be willing to let us borrow it. Hmm...I think a U-Haul might be better. Just in case it rains.
There's so much to do -- switch the cable, phone, and electricity over to the new apartment, get the electricity switched to the complex office at the current apartment, address changes on all the places I have bills and subscriptions. Ugh. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something but I've made a long list.
One crappy thing I've discovered is that to get my telephone number transferred to a new location I will be charged a one-time fee of $42.75.
I'm wondering if maybe I should just cancel and get a new number. I didn't have to make a deposit when I signed up for the current number. I could just get rid of the land line and get cable internet instead. I have my cell phone afterall. But I like the comfort of having a local land line. I get really disgusted
with the phone bill though. I'm signed up for the most basic service which is just unlimited local calling. The service is $16.99 a month. But my bill is $27.01--which is up almost $3 from what it was 3 years ago. Over $10 worth of fees and taxes imposed by the federal and state governments. I'd rather know going into service that I'll pay $27.01 instead of thinking "Oh...this is just $16.99" and then later wondering why it was $16.99 only on paper. I'm also disgusted
that cable is now nearly $54 a month for standard service. Ridiculous. Basic service which is roughly 30 channels (including local stations) is less than $10 a month. But standard service which is roughly 75 channels is 5 times more expensive?! Doesn't make any sense. Anyway...
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: The Grill
DATE: 04/11/2006 12:05:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
One of the best (and cheapest) places to eat around here is the Arcadia Grill. It's a little hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon place, but the food is sooo good. All sorts of people head over there every day. My co-worker and I like to call it the NCSA Cafeteria Annex because so many kids from the NC School of the Arts eat lunch there.
They have a hot bar--meat and two veggies with roll/biscuit/cornbread and tea for $5.50. The meats change daily and there are usually three different ones to pick from on a day. My absolute favorite day is Friday when I get pot roast, mac and cheese, lima beans, a little slaw, and cornbread. I like Tuesdays too---chicken pie (without peas and carrots...yes!), mashed taters and gravy, green beans, and a biscuit. Mmmmm. Since today was Tuesday, I got the chicken pie.
My favorite non-hot bar things are the Grill's chicken salad sandwiches, BLT's with cheese, and fried pork tenderloin, egg, and cheese on a biscuit. Mmmm. YUMMY! And their tea is very sweet and yum. Ooh, they have seasoned waffle fries too.
(I think maybe this smilie is drooling...maybe.)My co-worker Bart's favorite day is Wednesday when he gets "Slap Granny Meatloaf"
. He says the Grill's meatloaf is "so good it makes you wanna slap your granny because she's never made it that good." It's ok meatloaf, but I like my Mom's better---especially when we fry up the leftovers. Mmmm.Jamie
and I had a good date last night even though Yahoo! pool was being buggy and doing weird things to us. He seemed very interested to know that we have a Dell plant in town. He has a friend who works at the Austin Dell plant, and he said his buddie had excellent benefits and training from Dell. How great would it be to have him working at the Dell plant and living nearby!! Eeee! I'd just explode to have my honey so close. We've talked about plans. And the best so far seems to be for him to stay home for a year or so, save up some money, then make the move. Bah. That's such a long time....but absence makes the heart grow fonder.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Weekend Update
DATE: 04/10/2006 11:06:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have plans tonight! YAY! My honey
and I are going on a date. We're going to play pool. and I can talk on the phone for hours....or be silent on the phone for hours too. It's not uncomfortable-silence-looking-for-something-to-say silent but I-like-just-knowing-you're-on-the-other-end silent. We've talked on the phone quite a bit over the past week or so, which is big since neither of us are big phone-talkers. For the longest time the only person I enjoyed talking to on the phone was my mom. Now I have Jamie too!Let's see...what went on this weekend:
Friday: Jane came to work with me in the afternoon and I showed her around our building and the Old Salem/Salem College area. We had leftover homemade spaghetti and cheesy garlic wheat french bread toast for dinner. And we watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Jane decided that we should write a story where my character Ian Woodhouse is in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, which would be so like him because he's a bit like Cedric Diggory (prefect, quidditch captain, popular, all-round good guy...only Ian is a Ravenclaw not a Hufflepuff and Ian's not DEAD). We need to write more, but both of us are a bit drained on the creativity side.
Saturday: I was rumbled out of sleep by thunder and a downpour around 7am. The storm had passed by the time I got up around 8:30am. Jane and I transformed ourselves from 21st century chicas to 16th century wenches. The Weather Channel reported a nasty storm in the Durham area, but it was gone by the time we to that spot on the highway. The morning was overcast, perfect for wandering around the Faire. We grabbed some monster turkey legs
for lunch and sat in the royal glade where Queen Elizabeth greeted the members of her court while we nibbled. Then we met up with a Gemstone friend of Jane's and we all went to see the joust. I nearly sneezed my head off during the show. Right as the joust ended we got pelted with the first droplets of rain. Bah. Then it decided to reallllly rain for a while. We, like most everybody else, headed to wander through the booths of the inside vendors. The crowd thinned out a bit because of the on and off rain. But it was nice. I sneezed a lot. Jane bought lots of coool stuff -- a blue floppy hat and a dragon pin and white feather to go on the hat, a furry tail, a strand of bells and leather leaves on a leather loop (I called her Jaunty Jane Jingles afterwards), and some other stuff. She bought me a nifty magnetic strand of beads that can be a necklace or a bracelet. And, I had my favorite Raleigh Faire food---white chocolate bread! So yum! After we were tired of the faire, we went to Wendy's (still in costume) to have dinner with Jane's Gemstone friend, her husband, and little girl. Much fun. When we got home we baked a large chocolate chip cookie and frosted it with chocolate icing (after digging into the icing container with spoons first). Needless to say that we were hyped up on sugar for a few hours before we crashed. Everything was soooo funny one minute and then the next minute...zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Hehe.Oh, and the camera gods smited me mightly.
My barely-a-month-old camera is dead. It was dead on Saturday but I thought it was just the batteries...even though the batteries weren't that old and one set had never been used at all! So, I didn't get any pictures of us in costume, the ren faire, or any pictures of Jane at all. So sad. Of all four Ren Faires I've been to, I've only got good pictures from the first one. BAH. I just sent it off for repairs. Something is broken on the inside because when I shake it gently I can hear something rattling around inside. Meh.Sunday: I didn't get up until almost 1pm. Jane was deceptively quiet downstairs as she played Gemstone with the tv off. She'd been up for hours by the time I got up. We got dressed and headed out the door for lunch at Qdoba. She said she really wanted Qdoba again since there weren't any in New Hampshire. Just as I was closing the door behind myself I thought, "NO! YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR KEYS!"
Crud. Locked out. And to make matters worse, I didn't have my cell phone either. Neither did Jane, but she did have the keys to her car. So we went to lunch and I said we'd go to Bre's grandma's after lunch to see if Bre and Ted (Bre's highschool friend and guy I knew from Governor's School) were there. Qdoba was yummy and then we headed to Bre's grandparent's house. Bre had just left to go to the mall but her grandma let me use the phone to call her. Jane and I met Bre and Ted outside Old Navy, grabbed her keys, wandered around the mall, got gas, and finally ended up back at the apartment around 4:30pm. Jane left around 5pm. It was a fun weekend and I wish she lived closer than 8 hours away. Bah. All of my friends live so far away!I'm terribly disappointed at the lack of pictures. BAH! I really wanted Jamie
to see me in my costume and for him and my mom to see pictures of Jane. Grrrr. Stupid camera! Oh well. I'm going home this weekend and I will get posed pictures of me in the costume to share with him. And, I'll have my annual spring pictures taken in my grandparents' yard. 26th year of spring pictures complete with one of me in Grandpa's lap. Although in the last few years, we've also done pictures of Grandpa in my lap. Hehe.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Glorious Weekend!
DATE: 04/07/2006 08:56:33
STATUS: publish
BODY:
The weekend is here at last.
This past week seemed to take forever.Jane and I had a smashing time last night. She arrived a little before 6pm and we talked for a while before heading to Qdoba for dinner. We gorged ourselves on 5lb
burritos (well, ok, they aren't really 5lbs, but when you're finished with the thing, it feels like 5lbs of burrito rolling around in your stomach). Then we went straight for the computers. Jane showed me her newest addiction--Gemstone. It's an online role-playing game very much like Everquest, only without all the pretty graphics. Gemstone is text based, but the descriptions are awesome! She let me try it out for a little while and I ended up getting one of her characters killed by a coyote or something lowly like that. Once she resurrected him, she gave me a higher level character to try. This character could kill coyotes in one fell swoop! Hehe.Good news on the rent front. I was finally able to get a straight answer out of my roommate over what we're doing in May. We ARE paying our May rent on the current apartment. It's cheaper than paying the May rent PLUS back paying the $15 a month discount for the past 11 months that we got for signing a 12-month lease PLUS an early termination penalty. But no problem for me. Unexpected expenses are what savings accounts are for, right? My rent for May will be $650 ($300 for the current and $350 for the new) but I can handle it without putting too big of a dent in my savings. Actually, Salem College recently paid me $350 for playing in the orchestra for the musical. So in the end, it all works out evenly.
At least I don't have to rush to get out of the current apartment by the end of the month. I can take my time. But on May 1 I'm taking my $350 check to the new property manager and picking up the keys to my new apartment. I figure I can start moving a box at the time. Maybe Mom and my grandparents can come up during the first week of May to help me move the big stuff. I can go ahead and have the cable, phone, and electricity switched over to the new apartment during that week too. Bah..have to change my address on all my other stuff too. Including my driver's license which I JUST got renewed (thanks 25th birthday). I need to make a list of all that stuff.
Jamie
had a doctor's appointment yesterday. His back was checked out by a different doctor and all seems to be well. YAY! Best news in the world. Hopefully he'll get to visit really soon, though I'm sure the 8+ hour plane ride will be far from pleasant. Poor boy... We have talked about taking one leg of the trip together---me fly out to pick him up, then we fly together to NC, then he flies back home. Perfect, but not exactly sure how to work it out since we'd really like to sit next to each other on that middle leg of the trip. Four one-way tickets are horribly expensive. But we're not guaranteed to sit next to each other if we take two-round trip tickets since they're not round trip the same way...did that make sense? Anyway, maybe we can find a nice travel agent who understands what we want to do and can get us a reasonable deal.Time for lunch! I'm gonna drag Jane back to work this afternoon at least for a little while to show her around the building and give her a look at Salem.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Owie
DATE: 04/06/2006 12:51:21
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Hmm...something has made my face break out into a pink rash. It's not as painful as it was this morning, but it still looks painful when I see myself in the mirror.
Ohh...I think I know what it was. BAH! That's crappy. I can't say what though because then it'll give away the surprise for a certain someone (
). The sky is clouding over. I wonder if we're supposed to have a chance of rain this afternoon. That'd be good since this area is in a drought. Maybe even a mild thunderstorm. Those are always fun.
My friend Jane is coming to see me!
She'll be here this afternoon/evening sometime. I'm a leg on the Jane Tour 2006. She's visiting a few friends while she can before she has to start student teaching. Jane was supposed to be my fellow Ren Faire wench for the weekend and keep me company while I fiddled. Even though I ditched the Ren Faire job because of the appauling living conditions (shoulda just slept under a tree and peed there too), we're going to the Faire as regular paying patrons on Saturday. I hope I don't forget my camera!My new costume is GREAT! I made most of it all by myself! Mom and Mema helped with the finishing details. Mom fixed the skirt length and waistband and the tabs on the armholes of the doublet. Mema sewed the frog closures on the doublet and sewed the doublet's skirt thingie (I forget the technical term for it). But I sewed the body AND the collar of the doublet, complete with lining and darts, and the skirt! I will have pictures after this weekend. YAY!
Argh...I'm suddenly very sleepy.
I want a nap!More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ready to go.
DATE: 04/05/2006 12:50:20
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm ready to move. I'm ready to get it over with and ready to be settled in my new place with no worries. I have major worries right now--not about the new place but about the current place.
My roommate, who has up until this point been pretty cool, has done some things without consulting me or telling me. I've been left completely out of the loop. First off I think I was the last person she told that she was seriously considering taking a job out of Winston-Salem. Then I was the last person she told that she had taken the job and was out looking at apartments closer to where she will work. And she didn't tell me until after the fact that she went to the apartment office and gave them our 30-day notice. She told me two days later that she had done that. She never asked me if I was planning to stay in our apartment or planning to find someone to take her room to help with the rent. She just said "Oh, by the way, I told the office we weren't going to resign our lease." Thanks for letting me in on it.
At first she said that she had no time to move before the end of April and would probably have to move in May even though her first day at the new job is May 1. She said that she'd just have to bear the hour-long commute until she could move. On Monday, she said there was no way she was going to make the hour-long commute and she'd probably be moved out by the end of this month.
Here's the kicker---the lease is up at the end of May. Not the end of April. There's still another month to go. I'm not sure what that entails for us; what sort of penalty we'll incur for breaking the lease a month early. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad. If she'll pay her half of May's rent, then I'll pay my half of May's rent even if both of us have moved before the first of the month. But if she moves before the end of April, then I'm moving too. I can't afford stay in our current apartment by myself. Of course, the lease is actually in her name, not mine. I'm just listed as a roommate. Therefore, I could technically leave at anytime without any worries what so ever and the rent or penalties would be her responsiblity. I don't want to do that to a friend. But I don't feel like she's given any thought to me whatsoever in this matter.
Luckily, I can move at the drop of a hat.
All I have to do is call my mom and grandparents, take a check to the Belo House property manager, pick up my keys, and rent a U-Haul. My new place is ready for me to move into whenever I'm ready. I wish I could move over Easter and get it out of the way. As I was driving down Business I-40 to work this morning, I was thinking, "Boy am I tired of this everyday."
My commute once I move: a five minute walk if it's even that long. I can seriously see my boss's corner window from inside my new apartment.Speaking of walking, that needs to be a new habit that I get accustomed to after I move in. I should take a walk every afternoon. Walk home, drop off my stuff, change into comfy clothes and shoes, and go for a walk. The neighborhood is pretty safe. For those of you readers who don't know the area, where I'm moving to and where I work sit on a large "block" of land. It's about a mile and a half wide and it's kind of a rectangle, I think. Old Salem, Salem College, Home Moravian church and its offices, as well as the Moravian Church in America's Southern Province offices, all sit on this piece of land. Oh, and the graveyard and the cemetary (yes, in Salem there is a difference in a graveyard and a cemetary). Needless to say there are plenty of places for walking. The graveyard is very nice to walk in because it' s mostly level and there are shady trees along the walkways.
Jamie
and I will have lots of fun places to walk! He's fond of walking and I'd be fonder of walking if I had him to walk with. Walking is much more fun with a buddy! Then maybe I'd lose a little weight a little faster. I'm trying not to eat as much as usual and trying to drink all the water I possibly can during the day, but then I'm a lazy bum in the afternoons and I sit on my butt all day at work. Exercise would felicitate weight loss.I hope Jamie
likes my new place. Though it's sad that he won't get to see the old place. I did send him some pictures of downstairs decorated for Christmas and a few random pictures of my room. We will definitely be cozy and get to know each other real quick. Hehe. I think it'll be so crazy-cool for me to be in the kitchen and know he's just around the corner on the couch watching tv!! EEEEEEE!!I wish I could just pack up my stuff RIGHT NOW and move into my new place. I'm ready. I'm tired of the daily drive. I'm all antsy to start packing.
Randomness: I just discovered this smiley:
. I'm sure he's supposed to be a "Shh!" smiley, but doesn't he kinda look like he's picking his nose?More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Blah day
DATE: 04/04/2006 17:40:05
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Woke up today very achy and just blah.
So, I stayed home. I was back in bed by 8:45am and didn't get up again until 12:30pm when I came downstairs and promptly fell asleep on the couch until 3pm. I did go to viol rehearsal at WFU. This afternoon's rehearsal is our last regular rehearsal before the concert next Wednesday night. I'm excited about my new apartment and I can't wait to move in. I started downsizing tonight. Mom's trunk is packed with all of my Christmas decorations. I was so happy when I fit all the Christmas stuff in the closet under the stairs. Now all that stuff is going back home. Oh well. Mom will bring it back to me when she comes up for Thanksgiving.
I'm not really downsizing too much. Most of the stuff going home is holiday decorations and knicknacks that I won't have too much room for. Oh, and kitchen stuff. My oven isn't big so quite a few of my pans won't fit in it. Bah. So much for my gourmet kitchen with tons of space. I'll make do, I'm sure.
Jamie
was so very cute when I told him I had found somewhere to live. He said he was just as worried about it as I was! I can't wait to be all settled in the apartment and show it off to him. We will be very cozy on our first NC visit. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Bah for the Ren Faire
DATE: 04/03/2006 08:56:33
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well. Mom and I went to Raleigh and promptly returned to Winston-Salem after we saw the place where we were to stay for the weekend. We felt unsafe because random people were coming and going in the building. I didn't feel safe leaving my shampoo lying around let alone my costume and my violin. Oh, and the showers...yeah, communal. I never had to do that in college and I wasn't about to start.
Meh.
Anway, on to better news. I have been approved for the apartment I want. YAY! I had an interview this morning at 10am. My living space is 13' 5" x 23' 7 1/2" x 11' 4 1/2" x 23" 7 1/2". Plus the closet, bathroom, and kitchenette. It will be pretty cozy. Mom and I are going to look at the apartment again this afternoon and measure my furniture to see what can go where and how best to set everything up.
I can't wait to get it all set up!! YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ren Faire Weekend 1, pre-report
DATE: 03/31/2006 07:18:47
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Mom and I are on the verge of going to Raleigh for the Ren Faire. YAY! I can't wait. We've packed as lightly as possible and still filled up the truck of my Ion. My big suitcase has both of our costumes and all the accessories that go with the outfits. We each have bags with regular clothes and toilettries. Then we have to drag bedding and towels and stuff too. And Mom has her little fan--neither of us can sleep without constant white-noise (Jamie
either). I hope we're able to get sleep at night. I hope our bunk-mates aren't too rambuncious. Feh.
Short bit for today. But there will be a big update on Monday and hopefully pictures. YAY FOR DIGITAL CAMERAS!!!
Now I'm going to head across the street to turn in my application for an apartment at the Belo Home. YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Place of my own
DATE: 03/30/2006 12:26:50
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have found a place of my own!
It's only a stone's throw from work. Seriously. I think I could hit it if I threw a rock at it. I won't have to drive to work! YAY! It's only $50 more than my half of the current rent.It's not huge. It's a studio apartment so really one open space, but it's bigger than any of my dorm rooms. It has a kitchenette--very small but workable. A little bathroom with a 3/4 sized shower. I don't think I'll have to get rid of any of the furniture I currently have in the apartment now. I won't be able to keep my washer and dryer though, but there's a laundry room in the building and the machines are FREE to use. There's an elevator, which is good because the units I looked at are on the third floor. Each unit has a window AC unit and a very nice big ceiling fan--both provided for by the management. The floors are tile so I will need some rugs.
It's quiet. It's safe. And it's affordable. My three requirements (other than wanting a W/D hookup in the unit...but I can live with hauling clothes to the 1st floor, especially with an elevator).
I'll be able to keep saving money!!!! YAAAAAY!
Oh and most of my neighbors are old enough to be my grandparents parents. So I don't have to worry about loud music, smoking, drinking, wild parties, and mischevious children. But I won't be the only one under the age of 75 living there. I was told that two younger women live in the building too. I don't know how close in age they are to me, but most likely closer to my age than the old folks' age.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Mom!
DATE: 03/29/2006 12:07:51
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! My mom's in town!
She's going to the Ren Faire this weekend with me, and I'm actually getting her into a costume. Hehe. I'll have to make sure to take plenty of pictures. She's going to wear my old green dress and stuff and I'm going to wear my new blue doublet and skirt. I love dressing up!
I hope the weather stays sunny, warm, and pleasant. And, I hope we're able to sleep ok this weekend. We're staying in a "dorm" at the fairgrounds. It's more like a summer camp cabin than a dorm actually. But I was assured that it will be heated or cooled as the weather calls, and there are showers. So we'll pack sheets and blankets and pillows and towels. At least it's a free place to stay. I'm not making enough guaranteed money to pay for gas and a hotel room.
Hopefully, since it'll be nice out there will be lots and lots of visitors. And lots and lots of visitors will mean lots and lots of tips for a busking musician! YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Pleasant
DATE: 03/28/2006 11:05:35
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I took a walk today! Not so much for the purpose of walking, but it made far more sense for me to walk to my destination rather than drive. During lunch I walked from our building down the hill to the Moravian Book and Gift shop to buy something for someone who has a birthday coming up this weekend (
). The walk down was much better than the walk up. First off, the walk down was...well, downhill. Not so strenuous. And the wind was blowing in my face, which kept my hair from falling in my face. It's sunny and breezy and just perfect outside. Kinda chilly in the shade, but not enough to warrant a coat. Just a light sweater or jacket. I'll probably be stopped up all afternoon though. There was plenty of stuff blowing about in the breeze -- pollen, dust, fluff. Meh.
Spring and I have a love-hate relationship.
As a matter of fact my nose is kinda runny now and the right nostril is stuffy. BAH! It'll be worse this weekend when I'm outside all day Saturday and Sunday at the Ren Faire. Ugh. I'll try to think to pack some sudafed. Maybe it'll be warm, but not too warm. The weather outlook for this weekend in Raleigh is high of 77 on Saturday with scattered t-storms and a high of 76 on Sunday with Sunny skies. The 10-day outlook only goes through next Thursday, but if the trend continues the weather should be able the same next weekend too. YAY!Last year the first weekend of the faire was c-c-cold and kinda dark and damp. Not really rainy, just damp. I got sick with the flu and couldn't go back for the second weekend. I did see pictures from the second weekend and the weather looked much warmer and sunnier. The year before last the faire weather was sunny and at one point very windy. And it rained some during the first weekend.
Hmm...I should probably take a box of kleenex with me this weekend too.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: 60
DATE: 03/27/2006 11:40:39
STATUS: publish
BODY:
60 is the magic number! Over lunchtime while out and about running errands, my car's thermometer showed the outside temperature was 60 degrees! YAY!! Maybe spring is finally on it's way. Weather.com shows this area in the lower to mid 70s for the next ten days. Thank goodness. I was really tired of being cold.
Hmm...there are things flying outside my office window right now. I can't tell if they're bugs or little fluffs of stuff that usually make me sneeze. I think maybe they're bugs. Either way, yet another sign that spring is approaching (even though spring was technically supposed to be here last Monday).
Oh yeah. Big news. I have to move by the end of May. Yay. Fun. Bah. I have to find an apartment of my own. I'll probably end up with a one bedroom place because the two bedroom apartments are too expensive for just me. Wherever I move must have a one bedroom with a washer and dryer connection in the unit. I did not buy my washer and dryer (my Pride and Joy) to put them in storage while I pay-per-load at a laundromat. I did enough "public" machine laundry in college.
I wish I had big beefy brothers or uncles or cousins or buddies to help me move. Bah. Have to hire a moving company.
Off to search the internet for more apartments...meh.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: It's official
DATE: 03/24/2006 09:52:01
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I am officially credit card debt free! YAY! I paid off the balance of my college-era credit card this week.
I was nowhere near the debt that most college people rack up during 4-years of undergrad school. I think the average credit card debt is over $10,000 and the average number of cards a student has is 3. I never went shopping with my card. It was for books, gas, beginning of the year fees, a new computer, my cell phone, and a few other things. Mostly stuff that I didn't have cash to hand down for. Or in the case of my cell phone, had to have a credit card to pay for.
I remember sitting in a seminar for seniors that was about finances. The lady leading the seminar asked for a show of hands for who had 1 card, 2 cards, ect. I only had one. Most people had two or three. One girl had six or seven! Oh my gosh.
Maybe she had them but didn't have any balances on them. Probably not.Jamie
and I were talking about airfare last night. YAY! We've both been looking. He brought up a point that I hadn't even thought about. He said the cheapest round-trip tickets he could find were about $350, which wasn't too bad. I said I'd found tickets for $280. Then I realized that my $280 fare was for coach and his $350 was for business. We both agreed that $70 extra was worth it for more leg room and less kids on a 7+ hour flight. Especially since a rental car and hotel room wouldn't be added on top of the airfare. I really dread that either one of us has to make the long flight, but I know it will be completely worth it in the end! And, I can't wait to see him. I'm getting antsy about it and I wish he could just pop over anytime he wanted to, or that I could pop over anytime I wanted to.
Well, if we can get through the long distance thing, then I think we'll be set for a good long time.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Good day!
DATE: 03/23/2006 11:03:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Wonderful wonderful day so far.
It could be a few degrees warmer, but today is much better than Monday and Tuesday when it was cold and dark and wet.Mema and Grandpa stayed at my house last night. They had lots and lots of stories to tell about their trip to Panama (must be nice, right?). But they were soooo tired and went to bed around 10pm. I had asked them several weeks ago if, since we wouldn't go out for Wednesday night dinner, we could go to lunch on Thursday. And they agreed!
Mema spent the morning shopping at Hamricks, which was the purpose of them driving to Winston-Salem after flying into RDU before going home. I wanted to take them to California Fresh Buffet, but as it turns out, the restaurant isn't open for lunch. Meh. So we drove to Four Star. Mmmm. It's one of the 900 Greek-owned restaurants in Winston. Their lunch special is the the best---a meat and two veggies with bread for $5.50 or so. Lots of choices for meats and veggies...tough decision most of the time. I got the teryaki chicken breast, homemade chips, green beans, and a cornbread muffin. Soooo tasty. And, it was Mema and Grandpa's treat! YAY! Free food!
I had picked them up at the mall where Hamricks is, so I had to take them back. I still had fifteen minutes before I needed to head to work. I went back in the store with Mema to have a look around. WOW! In fifteen minutes I found quite a few things I wouldn't mind adding to my spring wardrobe. MOM! We HAVE to go to Hamricks next week!
I found:
A fitted skirt in peaches and tans and black and greens
A floral jacket
A 3/4 length sleeved sweater and skirt set in peaches and brown
A flowery satiny tank top in lavender
A canvas purse with olive green trim
Mom and I will definitely have to do some serious looking for new spring stuff next week.
I think I'll look at airline prices this afternoon...
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ever have one of those days
DATE: 03/22/2006 11:40:48
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ever have one of those days when you just can't do something right? Well, I'm not having a complete day of not being able to do anything right, but I had a rehearsal hour of not being able to play anything right.
Jennifer came over for our Wednesday lunch-time duet rehearsal. We were playing fun baroque stuff...my favorite. I could NOT play any of it right. I'd get the notes right but the rhythms wrong, or I'd mostly get the rhythms right but get the notes wrong. I played F-naturals instead of F-sharps even though I knew the key called for F sharps and I played B-naturals instead of B-flats even though I knew B-flats were in the key. BAH!
It was very aggrivating.
Then I pulled out the gut-string violin and my baroque bow to play some tunes from the Division violin book, and I played JUST FINE! Grr. Bah.
Last night I made two new necklaces. I really should post pictures of them. They're so pretty that I don't want to give them away, but I don't need anymore jewelry. Besies, I have the ultimate necklace around my neck right now and it's the only necklace I've worn for the past few weeks (See the entry entitled "The Blue Box"). Maybe I'll just make a bunch of necklaces and have them as prototypes that I can show off to anybody who wants to buy one. I'd love to sell necklaces and earrings. I wouldn't make much money, but it'd be an outlet for my jewelry making instead of me having more and more necklaces.
Mema and Grandpa are coming tonight! YAY! I wish they were getting in early enough for dinner though. Mema said she didn't have any idea when they'd be in since their plane lands in Raleigh after 4pm. No telling how long they'll be stuck in 5pm traffic on I-40. So she said they'd bring their own dinner. Meh. Hopefully I can have lunch with them tomorrow, or convince them to stay another day and have dinner with them tomorrow night! FUN!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid Weather part III
DATE: 03/21/2006 16:24:02
STATUS: publish
BODY:
After spending the winter living next to a chair in the living room, my slippers finally migrated back upstairs to my closet over a month ago. However, this afternoon I had to drag them back out! It's 40 degrees outside! I had to turn the heat on! Bah, did it stink. Stupid heat always smells like burning hair and dust when it's turned on after being off for a while.
It's cold, dark, and misty outside. So coold. So not spring. I wore a turtleneck sweater and a cardigan all day today. Brrrr. Places in the mountains got snow! It's technically spring! Go away snow!
I really hope it warms up soon. I'm tired of being cold and bundled up and pastey looking. I want sun!
Jamie
had an appointment with his surgeon yesterday and everything looked ok! Hopefully by the time he gets out here, the weather will be nice. We'll be able to go out for walks and not be cold when we stand in line for movie tickets. Eeeeee! My guy's gonna come see me! Now I'm gonna go eat my Tyson honey-battered chicken tenders and Walmart brand seasoned fries. Mmmm mmmm good.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid weather part II
DATE: 03/20/2006 13:13:29
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Umm...hmm.
At least it didn't sleet for every long. Just two short spurts of it. I didn't even realize it was sleet until the second go-around. I was wondering what the weird noise on the window sill was. I thought the rain sounded really funny. I miss last Monday's weather....sunny with a high of 80. So nice!I have inspiration for a new necklace and I'm going to Walmart or AC Moore this afternoon to find beads for it. Jamie
had an appointment with his surgeon at 1pm pacific to have (hopefully) final x-rays taken of his back. He won't be home until laaate tonight, so I figured I'd go find beads to give myself something to do until he's around to talk to. We both really hope things go perfectly at the appointment and that his doctor sets him free to play (i.e., fly to NC to see me!). YAY!I finally got to play my violin with the harpsichord this morning! One of our board members stopped in to see the instrument and he asked if I'd play with him for a little bit. Neither one of us played to our best ability, but it was such fun! I played the only truly playable violin from work's instrument collection. I bought gut strings for it several months ago to make it as baroque-violinesque as possible. It's a sweet instrument but takes a while to warm up. Plus, I had to use the heavy modern bow that has always been in the case with the violin, so that didn't help the sound or playability. My baroque bow is at home in my fiddle case. I can't wait to actually play well with the harpsichord accompanying me on violin. I really need to start polishing my Handel sonatas!
Bah...rifled through my music and forgot I hadn't posted my blog entry. Hehe. I'm all excited to play now! YIPPEE!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: So bored
DATE: 03/17/2006 12:10:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Oh my goodness. I am so completely bored. There is absolutely nothing to do at work. I have answered the phone a couple of the times, but that's it.
I've visited all of my favorite websites, played some games, and that's been about it. At least it's 3pm and I'm only staying here an hour and a half longer. The Archives people leave at 4:30 and, since I'm the only Music Foundation person here, I'm leaving at 4:30 too. We're technically closed after then anyway.
Tomorrow is Emily's birthday but we're having a get together for her tonight at Jane's house (Winston-Salem Jane not New Hampshire Jane). I need to run somewhere to get her something. Not sure what yet. I was thinking about a gift card, but that seems so bland. OOO!! I know EXACTLY what to do. Something I haven't done in a very very long time. A goodie bag! I'll go to the Dollar Tree and pick up some goodies--candy, picture frame, gadget, candle, body stuff, etc. More thought in a goodie bag. YAY! I am brilliant! Maybe I'll even find a box or something useful to put all the goodies in. Hmm. FUN!
Finally I have absolutely nothing to do on a weekend except kick back and be lazy. I need to do laundry on Sunday though, but that doesn't take too much effort. I might go to Walmart tomorrow morning for some stuff. I have an idea for a necklace design but I need green beads and I don't have any. I think I might be able to find some in the Walmart Craft Department.
Only an hour and 20 minutes until I can leave work! YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Quiet
DATE: 03/16/2006 11:03:08
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well. It's just me and Nicole (Archives) in the big building. And for a while she was all by herself with the exception of a researcher because I didn't come in until 10:30am. We were having routine server maintenance at work and couldn't access any files or use any programs from 9am to 11am. So, I figured why bother going in early if I couldn't do anything. Kinda quiet and I'm in the dark because I don't like to have the office light on in the afternoon. I prefer the sunshine.
I just learned that Stephanie isn't allowed to join the band for our gig tonight at Arbor Acres. Donna, the orchestra director, says she can't miss orchestra rehearsal unless she gets a replacement flute. This is a college orchestra! You CANNOT just find a replacement flute. All the flutes (of any decent talent) are already in the group. Well, I'll have to consider long and hard before doing Donna anymore favors. Granted Stephanie did miss last week's orchestra rehearsal because she was in the pit orchestra for the musical with me. But Stephanie's good enough to have all of these extra opportunities. She shouldn't be denied them because of Salem College's craptastic orchestra.
I'm so glad I haven't been a slave to that orchestra this semester---for the first time since it was put together. I told Donna at the beginning of the semester that I wasn't going to all the rehearsals and I'd play on the concert if she needed me to. I'm not going to rehearsals until April 20. That will give me three rehearsals, maybe four if there is an extra dress rehearsal on Saturday May 6. If she doesn't like it, then I'll turn in my music and she'll be minus a second violin.
We've just gained another soul in the building! Richard is back from wherever he had been. YAY!
I wish it was Friday already. This week went by very slow. I've been a day ahead of myself all week. Funny how last week went by quickly even with the very long days of work and rehearsal. Meh. At least I get to spend good quality time with Jamie
again. And this weekend we can talk all day and all night. YAY!I stopped by Harris Teeter on the way home yesterday. I love Harris Tetter. It is the BEST grocery store. There's so much nifty stuff! And the deli/bakery/produce section is so fun to look at. My favorite HT special is the 5 for $10 on Stouffer's Frozen dinners. Perfect for lunches! And they have tons of buy one get one free stuff or 2 for $5 deals. Of course you have to have a VIC card to get the specials...but the card is free! And you get one of the little thingies to go on your key ring. Shopping at Harris Teeter makes me feel so deliciously upper middle class. Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Stupid weather
DATE: 03/15/2006 12:25:54
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Brrr. It's cold again. And very windy. I had to pull on my coat this morning. Bah. I was hoping to put it away in the back of the closet soon. It was 80 degrees on Monday. Now the temperature will barely hit 60 degrees for the next week or so. No fair!
Hmph. That's the crummy thing about North Carolina in February/March/April. The weather can't make up its mind what it wants to do. Freezing cold one day. Balmy the next. It's a wonder we're not all in the hospital with pneumonia.
Pneumonia. Funny word. Whoever thought to put a 'p' in front of 'neumonia'?
They probably thought "Hmm. We don't have enough 'P' words in the dictionary. Let's put a silent 'p' in front of a few words." That's probably they same reason that 'ph' sounds like 'f'. Just needed some extra entries between 'o' and 'q'. 'P' has the best visual qualities of 'o' and 'q'. It has a round spot like 'o' and a dangly tail like 'q'. But it's a consonant, unlike 'o', and it doesn't have to be paired up with another letter like 'q' is with 'u'.
Some fun 'P' words:
- Pistachio
- Poo
- Peanut
- Perplexed
- Pizzacato
- Potpourri
- Peony
- Plaster
- Platypus
- Poltergeist
See how I go off on weird tangents? I'm strange.
I'm particularly fond of the letter 'J'. With it you get fun words like jig, jam, jump, jewelery, and Jamie.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Wondering
DATE: 03/14/2006 10:50:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I'm particularly fond of the letter 'J'. With it you get fun words like jig, jam, jump, jewelery, and Jamie
.More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Wondering
DATE: 03/14/2006 10:50:10
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I was noticing the robins out in the clearing of the graveyard this morning when I wondered something: do robins have to listen harder to hear the worms/bugs/grubs under the ground now than they did 100 years ago? There's a lot of noise in the world today. Business I-40 is probably a quarter-mile to the north of our building. There's lots of rumblings from morning traffic, not to mention the occasional wail of a fire truck, ambulance, or police car. Have robins evolved to block out the sounds of the 21st century? It just made me wonder.
I got Jamie
's birthday present today! Ugh. Now I' m going to be a slug for the rest of the afternoon. Or at least for the next hour as my Chinese food settles down.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Springtime!
DATE: 03/13/2006 11:20:24
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Temperture right now in Winston-Salem: 79 degrees. YIPPEE!!
Hoorah for warm sunshiney days!
I was bold enough today to don a skirt, bare legs, and no socks! It feels wonderful.
Unfortunately, the rest of the week isn't looking so great. Tomorrow's high is only 62. For the next ten days we'll be in the upper 50s to lower 60s. NO FAIR!
My favorite spraggy bush is in bloom -- Forsythia (see photo above). I love the vivid yellow flowers and the messiness of the plant. The branches go every which way. And, I love that there are lots of little flowers on each long branch. My favorite types of flowers are like that -- snapdragons, hyacinths, foxglove, columbines. Forsythia blooms outside my window at work. Right now I can see about five inches of one o fthe taller branches shooting straight up. It's bobbing around in the breeze and the poor little yellow posies look like they're hanging on to their branch for dear life every now and then when it's especially gusty.
I even have silk forsythia swags hanging over the big window in my living room. Hmmm...I want some forysythia planted in my yard when I finally get a yard. I don't want to invest too much money in nice plants while I'm in the apartment. I have vinca that comes up every year and day lillies (brought from home). I might find some new flowers to go in my herb planters. I don't want herbs again this year. I want color! Well...maybe I'll get some lavender if I can find it.
Jamie
likes flowers too. I wonder what he thinks of forsythia. I'll have to ask him tonight. (To Jamie: remind me if I forget!) Maybe I'll spend the afternoon planning what to go in my planters and pots.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: My Mom, read nationwide!
DATE: 03/10/2006 09:02:55
STATUS: publish
BODY:
So. My mom is now on the internet. Well, that's not quite right. I mean she's in a Fox Sports article!!
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5374564
Connie from Grifton, NC: Has the acting "bug" bitten? What are the chances that we'll lose you to Hollywood? I hope not for many more years. You made watching NASCAR in 2005 such a wonderful experience. I'm so looking forward to this season. Good luck and hope to see many "backflips" after Races"
Carl Edwards (yes, the real back-flippin', #99 driving NASCAR driver!): I don't think anyone is going to lose me to Hollywood from racing. I don't think I am really that good of an actor. It's something different, and I would welcome doing more of it. It's just something fun. I still haven't seen how the first things I did turned out so we'll see.
EEEEEEEE!!! Carl Edwards answered a question she sent in! Yippeee!!
More Later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Enter allergy season
DATE: 03/09/2006 10:55:40
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I woke up yesterday with a headache, but attributed it to lack of 7+ hours of sleep and reading music in the dark using a not-so-bright stand light. Of course, the headache completely disappeared yesterday afternoon when the FedEx guy dropped off a lovely package for me.
>I woke up with the same headache this morning, only this one came with a few friends---dry scratchy throat, gunk in my nasal passage, and pressure. Ugh.
At 7:30 am I turned my alarm off, picked up my cell phone (didn't even feel like getting out of bed to go downstairs to call from the apartment phone), called work, and said I'd be in sometime before lunch. I rolled over and went back to sleep. But it wasn't great. Morning traffic on I-40/Highway 421 was especially loud this morning. It was bright and sunny even with the dark blue curtains drawn over the windows. It was kinda warm, but I wanted to be bundled up anyway. I kept waking up. But evidently I slept deep enough at some point in time because once I was finally ready to leave I unlocked the door knob and tried to get out, but the deadbolt had been locked too. We never do the deadbolt when we leave the house, only when we're both in for the night. Very strange. So I unlocked it and opened the door. There was a thing hanging from the doorknob that says "Someone was in your house..." and the little box for "to exterminate" was checked. I never heard anybody else in the house. Weird. And kinda freaky that I was asleep and a stranger came in with permission to do so.It's almost 2pm and I'm so sleepy.
My eyes don't want to stay open. My head feels a little better but every now and then it'll throb, like when I move it too fast or sneeze (like I just did twice..ugh). I did have a yummy lunch. It was lunch lecture day at work and we either order out or somebody brings in food for everybody. We like Jersey Mike's Subs and that's what we had today. But when I called in, I said not to worry about me for lunch that I'd bring in something. I took a Stouffer's Corner Bristro Paninni Sandwich. It was SOOOO good. I forget what the sandwich was, Southwestern Chicken I think. But it had chicken and cheese and bacon on it. Mmmmm. YUM! And it really toasted nicely in the microwave. As I was eating I had a hard time believing it was actually a frozen sandwich that I'd cooked in the microwave. There are other flavors of sandwiches in the line so I think I'll have to try them all!
And, if you haven't eaten a sub from Jersey Mike's, then you're really missing out on a great sandwich. Soooo much better than subway. Jersey Mike's gives you tons of meat (compared to one thin little layer of Subway meat) and it's cut fresh just before it goes on your sandwich! And the bread is soooo awesome...soft and chewy and yum.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: The Blue Box
DATE: 03/08/2006 11:32:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Beth Hearts Jamie
...a lot!-----
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Zzzzzz...
DATE: 03/07/2006 08:57:46
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Musical Rehearsal ended at precisely 11:10pm.
I got home around 11:30pm. Called my mom real quick to tell her hello and goodnight. Hopped in the shower. Hopped out of the shower. Climbed into pjs and bed. Called Jamie
. Spent the next hour winding down. Had some toast around 12:30am because the last I had eaten was a 530 calorie (oh god) Honey Bun (so good!) at 7:10pm and before that I had my dinky little measley Lean Cuisine Chicken Carbonara (good, but not a big enough portion...bah) at 5:45pm.I was able to pry the phone away from my ear and force myself to tell Jamie
goodnight at 1am. I don't even think I got through the opening lines of my prayers before I zonked out.I really really REALLY hope tonight's rehearsal doesn't take so long.
I called Jamie
at 9:15pm when we took a five minute break (that turned into a 15 minute break) to tell him that after two hours of rehearsal we were only a little over a third of the way through the musical. He was in the shower at the time and I got to talk to his mom for a few minutes! She was very nice and knew who I was the instant I said, "Can I speak to Jamie?" I was thinking "Eeeeee!! She knows who I am!!!" I hope she didn't think I was a horrible snobby person because I was mostly quiet on the other end of the line. I was just too smiley to say anything. This morning I went to the dentist. Oh joy of joys....
Meh. I don't like going to the dentist. I never have. But my hygenist was very nice. Her name is Alice. She was gentle and pleasant and commented on my nice straight pretty teeth. Then my dentist, Dr. Laurie Metcalf who is just as cute as a button, did a quick check, said everything was good, and sent me on my way. The evil dentist--the only one who's ever found fault in my teeth (by the way of two cavities)--only worked in the office for less than a year. I saw him during a cleaning and then he was the one that drilled holes in my beautiful molars. BAH! I think he just likes causing pain. He now works for a dentist whose office is on my way to work. I see his name almost every morning. The best part about going to the dentist is leaving...and the goodie bag. This time I got the usual toothbrush (which matches my outfit yet again!) and floss, AND I got lip balm. Fun stuff! Now I'm about to go out and ruin my nice clean toofies with some Mexican for lunch! Wooo!
(just pretend that's a sombero, not a cowboy hat)More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: New toy!
DATE: 03/06/2006 10:09:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Eeee! I got my camera today. YAY!
I saw the UPS man walk up to the door at work a while ago. Everybody, for some strange reason, was standing in my office at the time. I said, "I hope that's my camera...but then again I hope it isn't either." The box looked like it had been kicked off the UPS truck and hit by traffic on I-40.
I managed to take a couple of pictures of me (not looking so hot) and my office before the batteries that came with the camera died. Feh. I didn't even get to upload them to the computer.
And the worse part? I have NO TIME play with my new toy!
Stupid musical. Salem College better pay me decently for my time. Heh...yeah right. Salem College pay someone decently? When the devil throws snowballs.I think I might go to Circuit City tomorrow for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, rechargeable batteries and charger, and a memory card for my camera.
I'm so glad I FINALLY have a digital camera. I've been saying I'll get one for the past three or more years. I finally have a VERY good reason to get the camera--his name is Jamie
. If we've got to be 3000 miles apart, then we can at least share pictures! YAY!More Later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Most Wonderful Guy in the World...part 1
DATE: 03/03/2006 11:23:40
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Here begins the saga of the most wonderful guy in the world.
Actually it begins over three years ago when rogue Mystianah met a handsome barbarian named Braemourne. It was love at first sight, or at least lust at first sight (what can you say when you run away all day wearing a loincloth covering a thong?
). They met in a pick-up group in the dusty mines of Highpass Keep. Then she stalked him all over the rest of Norrath for many months. But the world was slowly deteriorating due to newbies and high-power players. There wasn't much to do for a causal player. Finally Mystianah gave away all of her money and worldly possessions before she disappeared into nothingness. But, not before she learned Braemourne's alter ego. So, two EverQuest players exchanged AIM screennames in January 2003 and they've been chatting online nearly every night for three years (give or take a few night due to vacations, hospital stays, etc). In the beginning the conversations wer just a casual extension of the banter of their EQ chats. Neither knew that they were falling hopelessly for each other. Both believed "oh...he/she don't like me as much as I like him/her."
How foolish, foolish you must be...to think I love anyone but thee!
So, that's how Jamie
and I met. I'm the silly little rogue half-elf that stalked him from zone to zone in a computer game. He put up with me. (I think it was because Mysti's booty was hanging out of her little red thong).Looking back, I'm still know what made him stand out so much to make me want to talk to him after that very first group together. It was a combination of he wasn't dumb, he could type and make cohesive sentences, he chose a yummy barbarian as his character, and he liked cartoons. We both liked Taz-mania! He just seemed so different from the other people who played the game. We've been through the whole gauntlet of friendship--casual acquaintances, better acquaintances, new friends, better friends, and best friends.
Unfortunately, my guy is 3000 miles that way
But that could always change! The computer is great for meeting lots of people you'd never meet otherwise....but it sucks when one of those people is the guy you really really REALLY like. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Project Runway Finale
DATE: 03/02/2006 12:19:57
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Bother.
I was all excited last night because the finale for Project Runway was supposed to come on, and it did, but only the first half of it! The last half comes on next week at 10pm. Where will I be next week at 10pm? Probably still sitting in a dark theater attempting to read crummily written music for the Salem College spring musical. MEH! I'll have to tape the final finale or just hope and pray that a Project Runway marathon will be on Bravo this weekend. Why couldn't they have just done a two hour special last night? That's what they did for season one.
Well, of what I did get to see of their designs last night, I'm a little worried about Daniel's collection.
There's no oomph or pizzazz. Maybe it'll look better on a body instead of just hanging from a hanger or on a dress dummy. Chloe's collection looks great. She's got lots of different colors and fabrics, very eye appealing. And, Santino. Oh, and the surprise dumped on the final three designers by Heidi and Tim was just mean. They have one day to design and make a 13th garment! They've already had to make 12! Plus all of their time is now being spent on fitting models into those 12 garments. Why make them do one more thing?!
It's just cruel, even if Heidi and Tim let them choose one of the previous designers to be their "sou seamstress" (like a sou chef on Iron Chef...hehe...I'm smart!). Daniel got to pick first and he chose Nick--excellent choice. Then Santino picked Andrae, also and excellent choice. Chloe picked Diana. What was she thinking?! I was wondering if she'd pick Kara or Emmett. Both are pretty handy with a needle and have a pretty good eye. I was shocked when she picked Diana. Maybe it was just an "Asian Girls United!" thing. Diana is not the best seamstress or designer. Eh. Maybe there's a reason to the madness.So I have to wait ONE MORE WEEK to find out who wins Project Runway. At least this season I see potential for all three designers to win. The first season was a complete shock. I knew Kara Saun was going to win. I never dreamed that Jay would win. I knew without a doubt that Wendy had no chance of winning. But still...I have to wait, and we all know how I hate to wait! Grrrr.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: It works!
DATE: 03/01/2006 13:42:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
YAY! My blog works again. Yahoo! 360 was having issues a few hours ago. Made me very grr.
I have found a duet partner! YAY!
We can do violin duets or violin and viola duets. We played for about an hour and a half over lunchtime. She was very impressed with our building and even more so with our new harpsichord. We match each other very well in tone and sound and stuff. It's wonderful! I hope we get to play for people someday. She brought a wonderful stack of duets and I wrote down a couple of the titles. Hoorah for music! Best part about my new partner (her name's Jennifer, by the way) is that she won't graduate and move away from Winston. She's already graduated and she's pretty settled here in town. YAY!On to another musical aspect...
Several weeks ago I was asked if I'd play in the pit orchestra for Salem College's spring musical, the Apple Tree. Naturally I said yes. I got the music last Thursday (February 23). Yesterday I learned that the dress rehearsals and performances are NEXT WEEK! EEEEEEEEEEEK!
So much for having time to feel moderately prepared for being the ONLY violin in a small ensemble. Music for musicals is NOT easy. It's not exactly written straightforward like regular music. It's got funky directions like "ad lib for so long". Plus, the director never wants the music to go exactly like it is in the score. Sometimes he might add some measures, take out repeats, take out measures, skip things. Stephanie, the flute player in my band, is going to be the flute in the pit orchestra. We've already decided there's no way we can get all the notes when we're supposed to get them so we're just going to have to make it up as we go along. Oh, we'll play most of the notes and most of the rhythms, but we're not going to kill ourselves over it.
Oh and the worst part of musical music...the key signatures. Why on earth would anybody want to torture a musician by writing something in SIX FLATS!?!
If I could find the composer, I'd probably beat him with a dead fish. BAH! Six flats is horrible for a violinist because there are no open strings or ring tones, therefore you don't get all the indicators that help you know if you're in tune. BAH!I hope the musical goes well though. I really enjoyed when I played in the pit for Oklahoma when I was a freshman. But then again, Oklahoma was familiar. The Apple Tree is not. EH! At least I get paid. Woohoo! I'm a professional musician!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: End of the birthday month
DATE: 02/28/2006 19:21:48
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Mom and I popped over to Walmart for Pride and Prejudice this evening. Yummy movie. I went out in a tshirt and flipflops! GLORIOUS FLIPFLOPS! My toes were so happy.
I hope March is warm and there are many more days of bare-toes weather. I'm ready to pack up sweaters and break out the summery clothes. Unless it snows. I still want snow. Lots and lots of snow. At least a foot....well, six inches would do too. But I want a real snow. If it's not going to snow, then it needs to be warm. At least in the upper 60s.
Oh! We've finished my blue renaissance doublet and skirt. YAY! The only thing still in the works is my court gown. Mom's having issues with the ill-fitting bodice and we're not entirely sure how to fix it. I am very oddly shaped through the body. Feh!
Anyway. I'm sure there will be pictures sometime. The NC Ren Faire is April 1-2 and 8-9. Mom's coming with me for the first weekend so I'm sure she'll get some great photos. Jane is going with me for the second week. YAY!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Ooh yeah..
DATE: 02/27/2006 18:09:58
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Oh yeah. I bought a picture at Kirklands. $80 picture on sale for $35!! I saw it 15 seconds after we walked into the store and said, "Ma. I have GOT to have that!"
It's gorgeous. Don't you think?
She's playing a 5-stringed rebec and there's a renaissance fiddle at her right. I have a 3-stringed rebec of my own.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Shop shop shop
DATE: 02/27/2006 11:00:49
STATUS: publish
BODY:
What do my mom and I do when she's in town? SHOP!
I took Friday off and we headed to the mall around 10:30am. It was very pleasant being in the mall in the middle of a weekday. The only aggravation was the food court, and seriously, when is that NOT an aggravation? The NASCAR store in the mall was going out of business so we scored some Carl Edwards hats for $12!! Normally $25!! WOO! They match our long sleeved Carl Edwards tshirts.
I found a very cute outfit at Sears. Brown pinstriped pants and a dark coral colored button down shirt. Just under $50 for two very well made pieces that can be worn together or separately. Not a bad deal.
We had lunch at Chik-fil-a.
Then headed over to AC Moore to oogle craft supplies. Mom and I are both into jewelry making. I have such a hard time making bead decisions at AC Moore. For one thing, I don't need 900 million necklaces. I already have that many! I need an outlet for my desire to make jewelry. Preferrably a profitable outlet. I was thinking about making a dozen or so pieces, photographing them, sticking the photos in a book, and then passing the book along to the girls in Bre's office to see if any of them would be interested in buying anything. Maybe I could set up an online store or sell stuff on Ebay. Hmm...I'll have to look into that.My big major purchase that I wanted to make this weekend was for a digital camera. Unfortunately, no where in town had what I wanted at the price I wanted to pay. So therefore, I had to order it. Bah. Now I have to wait for it. Grr. I hate waiting. BAH!
More later!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Post-Birthday Report
DATE: 02/23/2006 10:57:36
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Well, yesterday was a nice day...even if it did rain. I received the following in honor of the day of my birth:
-Krispie Kreme doughnuts at work
-Birthday Card from Mr. Bart
-Fudge Pie from Mrs. Grace
-Card from Mrs. Sandy and Mr. Roy
-Card and $20 from Mema and Grandpa
From mom:
-Birthday card
-Bronze looking giraffe mom and baby statue
-Corner shelf for my giraffe collection (by the way, the porcelein giraffe cup, saucer and spoon Jamie
gave me for Valentine's Day are absolutely GOREGEOUS on the top shelf by themselves)-Carl Edwards stadium cushion with pockets for storing stuff and a strap for carrying
-Handmade black beaded necklace and earrings
-Two bottles of Roasted Red Pepper Italian Dressing, two bottles of Italian Seasoning, and six bags of cheese puffs
Mom's birthday is on Monday, but I gave her her presents yesterday. I gave her:
-A new rain coat (funny, we went out in the rain and she FORGOT her new rain coat)
-Handmade black bead and clear bead necklace, earrings, and bracelet
-The Legend of Zorro DVD
-A bag of Baked Lays Sour Cream and Onion chips and a bag of Hershey's Kissables
I got my State tax refund in the mail yesterday too. Very nice birthday present to open up. That money is going towards a digital camera and all the trimmings. I'm planning to buy a Kodak camera just like my mom's, but I want to get the package that comes with the printer dock. It's only about $40 more. Then I'm going to give the printer dock to Mom as another birthday present.
Mom and I had a very nice steak dinner at Lonestar last night. Salad, baked potatoes, dark brown bread (pumpernickle maybe?), and ribeyes with sweet tea. And thanks to Mema and Grandpa it only cost us $0.31 each plus the tip. Mema called my cell phone while Mom and I were at the restaurant, and she asked me, "How'd you like your present?" I answered, "I'm eating it right now!" Hehe.
I'm so spoiled!
(but I like it!)More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Happy Quarter Century to Me!
DATE: 02/22/2006 09:33:00
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I am half way to 50...one-third of the way to 75...one-quarter of the way to 100! I'm old!
Started off the day with a lovely email from Jamie
. He made me all teary eyed as usual. Then I went upstairs for coffee at work (yes, I know I don't drink coffee. I drink water instead!) and we had doughnuts for my birthday! YAY! And, since it was my birthday, I got to pick which of the assorted Krispie Kremes I wanted first. I picked the chocolate covered cream puff. Mom should be arriving in town shortly and tonight we're going out for COW
. We made up our minds weeks ago that we were going out for steaks. We didn't so much pick a restaurant as pick the food we wanted. We haven't gone out for steaks in a long time. I think the last time might have been when I still worked at Reno's Steakhouse. Wait...no. We went to Lonestar for a mine, Alicia, and Bre's graduation lunch. Dunno if Mom had a steak, but I did and it was scrumptous. We're going to Lonestar tonight. I told Mom we could go to the Twin City Chop House---if we wanted to drop $100 on dinner. She said Lonestar would be just fine.HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
More Birthday updates later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Nothing like neighbors
DATE: 02/21/2006 07:36:24
STATUS: publish
BODY:
When my roommate and I first moved into our apartment, an Indian couple lived on one side and an older Black couple lived on the other side. The older couple were nice quiet neighbors, but they moved several months after we moved in. The Indian couple were ok. They liked to cook all sorts of awful smelling stuff and our apartment ended up smelling like an Indian restaurant. They didn't adhere to a 6am-noon-6pm meal schedule. The pungent smell of greasy, overly spiced food would wake me up after midnight on many occasions.
Then there was the one time that I was rattled out of bed by Indian music at 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Somehow my roommate slept through it. Needless to say, my neighbor got an eyeful of a squinty, pj-clad me standing at his front door telling him to turn the music down. Finally they left too.In the older couple's apartment moved a younger Black couple. These were the most inconsiderate people I've ever had to deal with. They would take up all the parking spaces when their friends came over. Friends are to park at the end of the building, not in front of anybody's door. The man of the couple liked to sit out on the patio way late at night and early in the morning talking on his cell phone. My window is right above the patio and I could hear EVERYTHING he said. He was a loud talker. Somebody over there liked to vaccum early on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and bump the vaccum against the wall. My roommate constantly beat on her bedroom wall in the hopes of getting them to turn their tv down. They would play their music loud at all times of the night and day. I was SOOOOO happy when they finally moved.
A single Black guy, probably in his 40s, moved into the Indian couple's apartment. I like him. He's nice. He says hello to us when we see him. He's quiet. We think he works nights and is home during the day, so that's all the better. My only problem with him happened when he first moved in. His toilet overflowed one day and he didn't do anything about it. So his toilet water leaked into OUR downstairs halfbath, through the baseboard and into the kitchen. He didn't call maintenence about his problem so it became my problem. Grrr! To make things worse maintenence lost their wet-dry vac in the complex office fire so I had to clean up the mess myself. The guys who came over were just like, "Sorry.
I haven't completely figured out who lives in the younger Black couple's apartment yet. I've seen only younger White guys go in and out of the apartment, but there's a pink "It's a girl" ribbon hanging on their door. Trust me, these guys don't look remotely gay. So they haven't adopted. I've never seen a girl over there. They have an older model Bronco that takes several rev's before it'll go. That bugs me, but at least it's not like the guys who sit in their hoopity cars with the bass cranked up so loud that it rattles things in my apartment. Before the pink "It's a girl" ribbon showed up, our apartment constantly smelled like stale cigarettes. But now, it doesn't smell anymore. I think they were smoking as much as possible before the baby came. Though, I don't think all that smoke is good for a baby in the womb either...even if it's not the mother smoking.
So...we finally have tolerable neighbors. They don't play loud music. They don't cook horrid smelling food. And they don't take up all the parking spaces.
Moving along to last night...
I'm sitting in bed watching the end of Futurama, beginning to wind down the nightly chat with Jamie, getting ready to turn the tv off and go to sleep. I suddenly realize that I'm hearing something under the noise of the tv. Something rythmic and kinda constant...not something that comes and goes. Dangit! Music.
I mute the tv and press my ear against my bedroom wall (which is shared with the "It's a girl" apartment). Nothing. Just the low roar of the air system. So, I climb back in bed, but I can still hear it. I have no clue where it's coming from until suddenly I realize it's coming from behind me. The windows are at the head of my bed and therefore I sit with my back to them when I'm watching tv. I wonder if the neighbors are on their patio with music. Nudging the drapes aside and poking apart the blinds I see that their patio is dark. Then I realize that what I'm hearing is coming from the building ACROSS THE BACK LAWN from us. I grumble and mutter and say a few choice words. I can't believe I can hear music from a building that's a good 25 yards away. I climb out of bed, open the closet, put on my coat, and head downstairs where I put on some flipflops (still dunno if they were mine or Bre's). I open the back sliding door and stand there listening. Yup. The music is coming from that apartment OVER THERE! The upstairs bedroom's windows are open.
Sighing and still grumbling to myself I trek across the lawn hoping I don't end up with dog poop on my flipflops (especially if they really are Bre's shoes). Luckily the patio light for this apartment is on. I bang on the back door. Nothing. I bang again, and this time I notice the music has been turned down a bit but I can still hear it. But nobody acknowledges that I'm standing out there in my coat, my pjs, and flipflops.
I bang yet again, this time much LOUDER and much LONGER than the previous times.
Finally some afro-headed kid who looks like he's not much older than 13 looks out from the window above and says, "Gah, I heard you the first time and I turned the music down" with a pissy little attitude.I yell up to him, "Yeah. But I want you to know that I live over THERE
Then this huge hoss of a Black man (probably not much taller than me but had a good 200 pounds on me) finally comes to the back door with the same pissy attitude, "Is there a problem here?"
I say again, "Yeah. I can hear the music OVER THERE
They're both like, "Ok ok..whatever."
I turn and trek back through the grass still hoping not to step in dog poop because that would just really make my night. I don't know how their close neighbors could handle the music if I could hear it all the way in my apartment. When we moved in we were assured by the leasing lady that the complex had a "No Tolerance" policy for loud music.
But, good news is that I slept good last night. I usually get all steamed and agitated by stuff like that, especially if it happens late at night, and then I have a hard time sleeping. I attribute the good night sleep to my Jamie
, who calmed me down and soothed me during the rest of Family Guy and through the 11 o'clock news which now comes on at midnight because of the Olympics. Speaking of Olympics, does anybody else think the medals look like CDs on a bit of ribbon? More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Lazy weekend
DATE: 02/20/2006 11:05:43
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I did absolutely nothing this weekend. Well, I did wash clothes. But, if I wanted to get dressed for work today I had to do laundry. I was so lazy I didn't even grace this blog with a single one-liner entry. It wasn't a bad weekend, but it wasn't all that great.
The NASCAR season has officially started!
won the Cup Race. My poor Carl finished dead last on Sunday's race because of a wreck and he finished somewhere in the last five on Saturday's race...also because of a wreck. But Carl did have some very cute commercials. He is now a Gillette Young Gun, as is Jamie McMurray. They took over for Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. So, Carl was in a new Gillette Young Gun commercial with all the other Young Guns. And, he was in a very cute commercial with Mark Martin, but I don't remember what the commercial was for. Michael Waltrip had two new commericals too. He is the best actor out of all the drivers. He so FUNNY! And such a goofball.
We had snow, sleet, and stuff on Saturday though none of it stuck. There were several times over the early afternoon when the stuff was coming down really hard. But no stick-age. BAH! Sunday was bright and very cold. At noon it was still only 29 degrees outside. Needless to say, I did not leave the warmth of my couch and blanket. I was assured by our knowledgable weather persons that we were in for nasty wintry stuff overnight. So, then why when I looked out this morning was there NOTHING on the ground, in the trees, or on the car? Double BAH!
It either needs to drop about 6 inches of snow in the next few weeks or warm up to 70 and stay that way until July, when it then has permission to go up to 80.
I wish this Yahoo! 360 page had a place to list websites. I have lots of websites I'd like to share. Maybe I'll put them in a blog entry one day.
Ah well. I have to at least pretend to get something accomplished today!
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: He called it Kismet
DATE: 02/17/2006 06:06:06
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Jamie and I were asking each other random questions last night as we do at least once a night when we talk at each other. Every time we do this we learn more and more about each other, and we learn that we like a lot of the same stuff and think the same way on things. Last night was no different. I learned that we shared something that, while it might seem very insignificant to most people, made me very giddy!
WE USE THE SAME LOTION!!!!
Don't get me wrong on this---it's not like we use the same type of Sauve or Jergens lotion. I can't use those because either they burn or make me itch or they just smell to strong or don't last more than 10 minutes before I'm dry again. We both use Cetaphil brand!
Ah how sweet...
Cetaphil cream is the BEST stuff in the world. It's thick and really sticks to the skin for a long time. I put it on after my shower and my skin still feels soft and lotioned up in the morning. I had a horrible time with my skin last spring. Nothing I was using at the time was making the dry flakiness go away. I was itchy and rashy and just plain icky. I went to the dermatologist to get medicines to fix the problem, then I switched from my Walmart brand so-so lotion back to the expensive Cetaphil cream. My skin is MUCH better now. I'm still a little dry and itchy, but that's just how my skin is. It's never NOT itchy. If it was, I'd worry.
More later!!!!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Weird weather
DATE: 02/16/2006 17:06:16
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I did a double take when I saw the temperature this morning. It was 43 at 8am. And, this afternoon it was around 65. I walked around without a coat or a jacket or a sweater! Very nice. But, then the forecast calls for wintry snowy crap on Saturday AND Monday. We're all going to die of pneumonia. I like the warm and I like the really cold as long as it's snowing or icy out. There needs to be a reason for the cold, and snow is a good reason.
My toes are ready for spring. They're tired of being cramped up in shoes, but they are thankful for warm socks. Once the weather is warm enough for sandals, my toes stay out all season. I hardly ever wear shoes in the warm months. Flip flops and sandals! WOO!
My favorite pair of flip flops are from Old Navy. But they aren't the regular thin unisex Old Navy flip flops. These are thick (but not too thick) with wide cloth straps. Actually I have two pairs...one is brown and one is green. The green pair are my absolute favorite.
I found a lovely pair of flat strappy black sandals near the end of last summer. I can't wait to wear those again. I need some new brown sandals too. Finally got rid of the pair I'd had since high school.
So, today my toes were very unhappy that it was warm out and they were still wrapped in socks inside my shoes. They'll be ok when Saturday and the cold air comes.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Why are people so dumb?
DATE: 02/15/2006 11:46:23
STATUS: publish
BODY:
My all time favorite phone conversation at work (happened several months ago):
*ringring*
Beth: "Moravian Music Foundation. Beth speaking. How may I help you?"
Caller: "Uh...what's your website address?"
Beth: "www.moravianmusic.org"
Caller: "Ok, thank you."
*call ends*
*ringring*
Beth: "Moravian Music Foundation. Beth speaking. How may I help you?"
Caller: "Did you say your website address ended in ".com" or ".org"?
Beth:
Caller: "Ok. Thanks!"
*call ends*
Next time someone asks me over the phone what our website address is, I'm gonna say, "Google Moravian Music Foundation." It really bugs me when people ask me things that they could find out on their own without calling to ask me. Seriously, did this person not realize that if they typed in "www.moravianmusic.com" and it came back as an error then they could try "www.moravianmusic.org" to see if that worked instead?
Anyway...
OO! I just stumbled upon a great site! www.mistsofavalon.com It's a radio show on WDVR out of the New Jersey/Pennsylvania/Delaware area. The show features Celtic, Renaissance, Medieval, and folk music. Best of all--they archive all of their shows online! So anybody can listen to them at any time! Sweeeeet!
I've already bookmarked it. Oh, and the opening credit theme song just happens to be "Lady Marian" by Clannad from the 1980s British drama Robin of Sherwood. My FAVORITE show on PBS when I was in middle school. Our PBS station showed all three seasons of the show twice. I have them all on tape. Unfortunately, we could never get our PBS station very clearly. Most of the episodes are kinda fuzzy. But they're out on DVD. Not sure if they're on the North Amercian DVD format though. Bah. I'll have to check into that.
More later...
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: The goodness that is...
DATE: 02/14/2006 12:14:52
STATUS: publish
BODY:
CHOCOLATE!
What a more fitting Valentine's Day topic? While I might not be as big a chocoholic as some people I certainly can appreciate a good bit of fudgey delight. I just finished eating two wonderful Godiva chocolates. One was a shell shaped chocolate with chocolate truffle inside and the other was a caramel covered with white chocolate, bottom dipped and top drizzled with milk chocolate. Heaven in two bites! The wonderful man who donated his harpsichord to us gave me the wonderful little box of two chocolates. I like him all the more now!
---no worries though, he's old and I'm not sure that he likes girls...)My favorite chocolatey things:
3 Musketeers Bar
Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bar
M&Ms
Mema's Fudge (which I have made only once so far, but it turned out pretty tasty)
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting
Mint chocolate chip ice cream
Andes Mints
Chocolate chip cookies
If you want to make me smile and squeal with glee, forget expensive gifts just get me one or more of the above!
Dr. Daniel (Moravian Archivist) and I went out to lunch today as we occasionally do when there's nobody else to go to lunch with him. We went to Kimono for some yummy Japanese food. I got the Teryaki Chicken with mushrooms and fried rice (comes with carrots too, the only way I'll eat them!). But anyway...on the way there we past by one of the florists on Stratford Road. They had a POLICEMAN directing traffic into the florist parking lot! Wow. To show how completely non-frills I am, I said "Don't these people realize there are nice flowers at Walmart or the Grocery store? Probably cheaper too."
I like flowers from anywhere, any type of flower, any time of the year. I especially like the bouquets with different kinds and colors of flowers---even more especially if it has even just one Snapdragon in it. Snapdragons are my FAVORITE flower. My favorite grocery store (Harris Teeter) has the nicest flower section out of any grocery store I've ever seen. I think we should all buy more flowers. Why do we need a reason? Why not buy them for ourselves on a random Thursday just because that particular bunch of posies yelled "Take me home!"?
If you're reading this and don't have a sweetie, don't fret! Just go buy a cute little bouquet and your favorite candy bar! You'll be getting a gift from....yourself!
More later...
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Things to always have on hand in the pantry
DATE: 02/13/2006 09:07:22
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Since moving into my own place (with a roommate) and having my own kitchen, I have become something of a recreational chef. Nothing I make is very fancy, but I feel gourmet when I'm making it! I have a spice rack and actually use most of the spices on it. I buy fresh herbs at the store. Well, I'll admit--I only buy cilantro right now, but I'm sure I'll add other to my usual shopping list soon enough. I have a pepper mill (thanks Mom!). I can't wait to really have my own kitchen with lots of counter, cabinet, and drawer space for all the nifty little kitchen gadgets I can handle.
Anyway...on to the topic of this blog. Here are a few things that are great to always have on hand and are staples of my culinary experiments:
- Frozen boneless skinless chicken breast
- Thin cut boneless pork chops
- Ground beef
- Dried basil
- Garlic powder
- Chili powder
- Prepackaged taco seasoning
- Instant rice
- Onions and garlic
- Mushrooms
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
- Cream of Mushroom soup
- Spaghetti Sauce
- Noodles (rotini and spaghetti usually)
- Prepackaged rice bags or pasta boxes (ie, Ricearoni or Pastaroni in different flavors)
- Parmesan cheese
- Diced tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Beans (black, dark red, light red)
- Chicken broth
- Rotell (diced tomatoes and chilies)
- Frozen diced bell pepper (cheaper than fresh and just as good!)
A few of my own creations are:
- Italian chicken with spaghetti
- Garlic and lime chicken
- Mexican lasagna
I'll probably post the recipes for these later. My guy and I were talking about our favorite dishes today. We like a lot of the same stuff, which I think is very good. At least we'll have a few meals to make together. Maybe I can expose him to some new tastes and he can do the same for me.
Even though I'm from the south, he won't have to try pickled pigs feet, collard greens, and chittlins. More for me! Actually of the three, I only like collards.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Let's go racin', boys...
DATE: 02/12/2006 10:02:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
WOO!! I'm so excited! Nascar is back! The Bud Shoot Out was supposed to have been last night, but the storm system that brought a blizzard to the north brought rain to Florida. The race was rained out. But no problem The Shoot Out will be today at 4pm on TNT. Right now I'm watching qualifying for next week's Daytona 500. RACE SEASON HAS BEGUN!
It's going to take me a while to "re-memorize" driver numbers and cars because so many drivers switched teams or switched cars within their own team. Plus there are the new drivers. At least Carl Edwards is still in the #99 Office Depot car. The only difference for him is a new paint scheme now that Office Depot is his full time sponsor. Man, I really really liked his Scott's paint scheme though---it was green! Carl does have a new car though. Instead of Tauruses, the Ford drivers will be driving Fusions this year. Hopefully they'll have more success with the Fusions than the Dodge drivers had with the new Chargers last year.
Oh, remember that 90% chance of "Winter Storm Event" that we were supposed to have? Yeah, well...there's no snow outside now. Bah! We had some snow fall late yesterday afternoon/last night. Some of it was sticking to my car but it's not there now. I like snow! Not the type of snow that has you snowed in from October to May. I like the snow that has you snowed in for a couple of days then it goes away. We still have a few more weeks of official winter. So, maybe we'll get something a little more significant before spring. I just hope we don't get anything next week when my mom comes up for my birthday!!!
By the way, I finally have proof that I met Carl Edwards! My roomie finally had her roll of film from January 2005 developed and she gave me the picture of me and Carl for Christmas. YAY! I had my picture taken with him before he became a big Nascar star! Before his Rookie of the Year run in the Busch Series! Before his 4 wins and tied for 2nd place finish in the Nextel Cup Series! I hope he has a good 2006 season and doesn't go through a sophomore slump.
OO! Snow! Well...wait. Maybe not. Maybe the angels have dandruff.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: It's a Bird's Life
DATE: 02/11/2006 11:05:40
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I like to watch birds. I'm not one of those creepy people who sit in a park with binoculars stuck to their eyes. I liked to watch birds at bird feeders, preferably while I'm sitting on the couch. I have a feeder in my back yard. Big cardinals, fat sparrows and juncos, lovey doves, bossy chickadees, and delicate little wrens like to eat the seed from my feeder. There once was a particular male cardinal who visited very often. I could pick him out because his crest was already spraggly looking. I called him Jimbo because he looked like such a little redneck. He would "cheep" very loudly during every bite of food. So cute!
On Thursday, the day it snowed, we noticed bird activity on the porch at work while we were in the kitchen having morning coffee. There were a pair of finches checking out one of the light fixtures. Probably looking for a nice nesting spot. Then there was a fat robin who sat on the rail for quite a while. He was drinking from the little puddles of melted snow. Then he just sat there not doing anything but looking around at the graveyard. After he flew away, I noticed he'd left us a steaming present. GROSS! Fresh, warm bird poop. Bleh.
I'd like to know where the snow is today? Oh...right I do know. NOT HERE. So far we've just gotten rain. A little while ago there were some fat wet flakes that came down with the rain, but now it's not doing much of anything.
Why is there always a rush to the hardware store for shovels and generators when a snow storm in looming? Did you people not get those things the last time it threatened to snow? I understand needing to buy salt or de-icer because that stuff does run out. But the snow shovel you bought last year should work just fine this year.
At least the temperature is steadily getting colder. The Weather Channel had Winston-Salem at 40 degrees when I turned on the tv around 12:30. At 2pm, we're at 35. I want snow!!
Birds are cute hopping around in the snow.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: You're Out...
DATE: 02/10/2006 06:12:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
The famous words of Heidi Klum.
I absolutely love "Project Runway". I watched the entire first season and was pleasantly surprised to see Jay McCaroll win at the end. Honestly I was pulling for Kara Saun up until the last episode when she showed how much of a diva she could be. She acted so much better than the other two finalists, yet she was the one to get in trouble over some shoes that were made especially for her collection. HA! Serves you right for trying to sneak around the rules of your contract.
I have been keeping up with this season's episodes too. I have to say I absolutely LOVE Tim Gunn. I think he's adorable. "Designers, make it work!" is his catch phrase. I think my favorite clip of him was the Sasha Cohen episode. The designers' challenge was to make an ice skating outfit for Sasha and they were introduced to the challenge by going to a skating rink to meet her. After announcing what they had to do, Sasha gave them an skating lesson. Tim was so cute in his regulation dark blazer and jeans wobbling around on skates. Teehee.
The three designers I want to see make it to the end were Daniel V, Chloe, and Nick. Sadly, Nick got booted off this past week. The final four are Daniel V, Chloe, Kara, and Santino. I greatly fear that Santino will make it to Olympus Fashion week because Kara isn't a very strong designer. She hasn't won a challenge at all yet somehow she's managed to make it this far. Her past two designs have been much better than all previous though. Santino is just too over the top though he won two challenges. Daniel has won four challenges so far and those pieces were just magnificent. But his other pieces weren't all that great. Chloe has had a strong showing every challenge. Though she has only won two challenges, her other designs were very strong.
Dear Nick won the Barbie challenge. He designed the PERFECT outfit for the My Scene Barbie collection. And now he's out. I wanted Santino to go. The outfit he designed for Kara (they all had to make-over one of their fellow designers) wasn't even FINISHED! Part of the outfit was taped together and some of it came apart on the runway. Granted Nick's suit that he designed for Daniel V did look feminine and the fabric didn't sew well (lots of puckers around seams), but it looked better than Santino's design. I don't understand how Santino has held on so long. The judges complain about his work every week.
Only a couple of episodes left. I'll be happy if Daniel V or Chloe wins, and I think it might just be Chloe.
I wish I could design and sew...but we all know if I could, then all I'd make would be Elizabethan and Tudor gowns! Hehe.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Johannes is...
DATE: 02/09/2006 10:01:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Johannes (little dude in the red frock coat and white wig on the harpsichord lid) is actually Geroge Fredrich Handel. I suspected he looked an awful lot like a George, but I thought Johannes suited him well since he now lived in the Moravian Music Foundation (Johannes Herbst was a Moravian composer).
Ah well. George suits him well too. Besides that, I like Handel. He wrote Messiah! And the Water Music suites! And a violin sonata that I played for my senior recital at Salem!
The snow is mostly gone now and it's only 1pm.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Strange phenomenon...
DATE: 02/09/2006 06:12:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
There's this white, fluffy, wet stuff everywhere on the ground. Where did it come from? It wasn't there when I went to sleep last night. It didn't make any noise when it invaded this morning.
It snowed! First snowfall of this 2005-06 winter season. Sure, we had ice once or twice in December, but no snow at all. Not even flurries that didn't stick. Ok, there might have been some snowy stuff mixed in with the ice, but that's not pure snow.
Lanie, our meteorologist, didn't mention anything about snow overnight on last night's news. She said it was too dry for snow to form. She did give us a 30% chance of a "Winter Storm Event" on Saturday, and as of this morning that 30% was still on the outlook.
Don't you just love the term "Winter Storm Event"? It's like the politically correct term for "It's gonna snow." I guess because "snow" is a 4-letter word, then it needs to have a politically correct 3-word phrase to make it sound better.
Ha.
I played Yahoo! pool with my guy ( ) last night. It's great how inventive you can be about going on a date when you live on opposite sides of the country. We have so much fun playing hours of pool together, until Yahoo! decides to be dumb and knock one of us out of the room or until Netzero decides "Ok, Beth, you've been on too long. I'm disconnecting you! MUWAHAHAHA!" We've tried other games...Checkers (Yahoo! has dumb rules about checkers) and Battleship, but we like Pool the best.
Stupid internet.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: His name is Johannes...
DATE: 02/08/2006 09:19:42
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have decided to name the little man (painted on our harpsichord's lid) in the red frock coat and white powdered wig Johannes. I might even write a little story about him. He will probably be from Germany and will probably have a little dumpling of a wife, and dozens of children.
I miss writing. I used to write stories all the time. Sometimes on my own, sometimes with other people. My creativity has been way down lately. Hopefully by blogging everyday I'll at least get used to writing complete sentences again. My friend Jane and I have had over a dozen characters apiece for different storylines over the years. Our longest running story currently has three generations of characters and could be on its fourth generation soonish. Our storylines include:
Even though I'm from the south, he won't have to try pickled pigs feet, collard greens, and chittlins. More for me!
Actually of the three, I only like collards. More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Let's go racin', boys...
DATE: 02/12/2006 10:02:41
STATUS: publish
BODY:
WOO!! I'm so excited! Nascar is back! The Bud Shoot Out was supposed to have been last night, but the storm system that brought a blizzard to the north brought rain to Florida. The race was rained out. But no problem The Shoot Out will be today at 4pm on TNT. Right now I'm watching qualifying for next week's Daytona 500.
It's going to take me a while to "re-memorize" driver numbers and cars because so many drivers switched teams or switched cars within their own team. Plus there are the new drivers. At least Carl Edwards is still in the #99 Office Depot car. The only difference for him is a new paint scheme now that Office Depot is his full time sponsor. Man, I really really liked his Scott's paint scheme though---it was green! Carl does have a new car though. Instead of Tauruses, the Ford drivers will be driving Fusions this year. Hopefully they'll have more success with the Fusions than the Dodge drivers had with the new Chargers last year.
Oh, remember that 90% chance of "Winter Storm Event" that we were supposed to have? Yeah, well...there's no snow outside now. Bah! We had some snow fall late yesterday afternoon/last night. Some of it was sticking to my car but it's not there now.
By the way, I finally have proof that I met Carl Edwards! My roomie finally had her roll of film from January 2005 developed and she gave me the picture of me and Carl for Christmas. YAY! I had my picture taken with him before he became a big Nascar star! Before his Rookie of the Year run in the Busch Series! Before his 4 wins and tied for 2nd place finish in the Nextel Cup Series! I hope he has a good 2006 season and doesn't go through a sophomore slump.
OO! Snow! Well...wait. Maybe not. Maybe the angels have dandruff.
More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: It's a Bird's Life
DATE: 02/11/2006 11:05:40
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I like to watch birds. I'm not one of those creepy people who sit in a park with binoculars stuck to their eyes. I liked to watch birds at bird feeders, preferably while I'm sitting on the couch. I have a feeder in my back yard. Big cardinals, fat sparrows and juncos, lovey doves, bossy chickadees, and delicate little wrens like to eat the seed from my feeder. There once was a particular male cardinal who visited very often. I could pick him out because his crest was already spraggly looking. I called him Jimbo because he looked like such a little redneck. He would "cheep" very loudly during every bite of food. So cute!
On Thursday, the day it snowed, we noticed bird activity on the porch at work while we were in the kitchen having morning coffee. There were a pair of finches checking out one of the light fixtures. Probably looking for a nice nesting spot. Then there was a fat robin who sat on the rail for quite a while. He was drinking from the little puddles of melted snow. Then he just sat there not doing anything but looking around at the graveyard. After he flew away, I noticed he'd left us a steaming present. GROSS! Fresh, warm bird poop. Bleh.
I'd like to know where the snow is today? Oh...right I do know. NOT HERE. So far we've just gotten rain. A little while ago there were some fat wet flakes that came down with the rain, but now it's not doing much of anything.
Why is there always a rush to the hardware store for shovels and generators when a snow storm in looming? Did you people not get those things the last time it threatened to snow? I understand needing to buy salt or de-icer because that stuff does run out. But the snow shovel you bought last year should work just fine this year.
At least the temperature is steadily getting colder. The Weather Channel had Winston-Salem at 40 degrees when I turned on the tv around 12:30. At 2pm, we're at 35. I want snow!!
Birds are cute hopping around in the snow.
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: You're Out...
DATE: 02/10/2006 06:12:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
The famous words of Heidi Klum.
I absolutely love "Project Runway". I watched the entire first season and was pleasantly surprised to see Jay McCaroll win at the end. Honestly I was pulling for Kara Saun up until the last episode when she showed how much of a diva she could be. She acted so much better than the other two finalists, yet she was the one to get in trouble over some shoes that were made especially for her collection. HA! Serves you right for trying to sneak around the rules of your contract.
I have been keeping up with this season's episodes too. I have to say I absolutely LOVE Tim Gunn. I think he's adorable. "Designers, make it work!" is his catch phrase. I think my favorite clip of him was the Sasha Cohen episode. The designers' challenge was to make an ice skating outfit for Sasha and they were introduced to the challenge by going to a skating rink to meet her. After announcing what they had to do, Sasha gave them an skating lesson. Tim was so cute in his regulation dark blazer and jeans wobbling around on skates. Teehee.
The three designers I want to see make it to the end were Daniel V, Chloe, and Nick. Sadly, Nick got booted off this past week.
Dear Nick won the Barbie challenge. He designed the PERFECT outfit for the My Scene Barbie collection. And now he's out. I wanted Santino to go. The outfit he designed for Kara (they all had to make-over one of their fellow designers) wasn't even FINISHED! Part of the outfit was taped together and some of it came apart on the runway. Granted Nick's suit that he designed for Daniel V did look feminine and the fabric didn't sew well (lots of puckers around seams), but it looked better than Santino's design. I don't understand how Santino has held on so long. The judges complain about his work every week.
Only a couple of episodes left. I'll be happy if Daniel V or Chloe wins, and I think it might just be Chloe.
I wish I could design and sew...but we all know if I could, then all I'd make would be Elizabethan and Tudor gowns! Hehe.
More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Johannes is...
DATE: 02/09/2006 10:01:26
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Johannes (little dude in the red frock coat and white wig on the harpsichord lid) is actually Geroge Fredrich Handel. I suspected he looked an awful lot like a George, but I thought Johannes suited him well since he now lived in the Moravian Music Foundation (Johannes Herbst was a Moravian composer).
Ah well. George suits him well too. Besides that, I like Handel. He wrote Messiah! And the Water Music suites! And a violin sonata that I played for my senior recital at Salem!
The snow is mostly gone now and it's only 1pm.
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Strange phenomenon...
DATE: 02/09/2006 06:12:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
There's this white, fluffy, wet stuff everywhere on the ground. Where did it come from? It wasn't there when I went to sleep last night. It didn't make any noise when it invaded this morning.
It snowed! First snowfall of this 2005-06 winter season. Sure, we had ice once or twice in December, but no snow at all. Not even flurries that didn't stick. Ok, there might have been some snowy stuff mixed in with the ice, but that's not pure snow.
Lanie, our meteorologist, didn't mention anything about snow overnight on last night's news. She said it was too dry for snow to form. She did give us a 30% chance of a "Winter Storm Event" on Saturday, and as of this morning that 30% was still on the outlook.
Don't you just love the term "Winter Storm Event"? It's like the politically correct term for "It's gonna snow." I guess because "snow" is a 4-letter word, then it needs to have a politically correct 3-word phrase to make it sound better.
Ha.
I played Yahoo! pool with my guy (
) last night. It's great how inventive you can be about going on a date when you live on opposite sides of the country. We have so much fun playing hours of pool together, until Yahoo! decides to be dumb and knock one of us out of the room or until Netzero decides "Ok, Beth, you've been on too long. I'm disconnecting you! MUWAHAHAHA!" We've tried other games...Checkers (Yahoo! has dumb rules about checkers) and Battleship, but we like Pool the best.Stupid internet.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: His name is Johannes...
DATE: 02/08/2006 09:19:42
STATUS: publish
BODY:
I have decided to name the little man (painted on our harpsichord's lid) in the red frock coat and white powdered wig Johannes. I might even write a little story about him. He will probably be from Germany and will probably have a little dumpling of a wife, and dozens of children.
I miss writing. I used to write stories all the time. Sometimes on my own, sometimes with other people. My creativity has been way down lately. Hopefully by blogging everyday I'll at least get used to writing complete sentences again. My friend Jane
- Medieval with magic
- Superhero
- Harry Potter universe with original characters
- Cowboy/Western
- Fantasy world with dragons
- Star Trek
- Pirates...arrrrrrr!
Some of the storylines are only a few "episodes" long. Some span over years of writing.
But, I do have other things occupying my time now. Well...one particular person.
More later!
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: What day is today?
DATE: 02/07/2006 13:23:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ah! Tuesday. Poor Tuesday. You are neither the dreaded Monday, nor are you the much anticipated Hump Day that Wednesday is. You're not almost to the weekend like Thursday and you're definitely not TGIF. You're neither fun loving Saturday or lazy Sunday. Poor Tuesday.
My one and only rehearsal (as of this moment) is on Tuesday afternoons at 5:30pm at Wake Forest University. I play in the Viola da Gamba consort. While I absolutely love playing the viol, I pity the person who walks down the halway when the consort is rehearsing. During our first few practices it sounds like someone is killing a very large, very angry cat. By the end of the semester, we sound a little more in harmony, in tune, and in tempo with each other.
My current musical passion is early music. I love the complexity of it. The strange instruments that aren't played so much today. The weird sounds those instruments make. My current early music arsenal includes viola da gamba, rebec (early 3 string ancestor to the violin), and...the violin. I know the violin is a modern instrument, but there's plenty of early music that can be played on the violin.
And to make my musical life even better....we got a harpsichord at work today!! It is absolutely goregous. Harpsichords are truly works of art, unlike their stalwart cousin the piano. The body of our new harpsichord (lovingly donated to us by a very generous musician) is dark blue. The lid has an absolutely amazing pastoral scene painted on the inside of it---so when it's open the audience can see the scene. There's even a little man sitting on a bench in his red frock coat and white wig in the painting! HOW COOL!
Be still my heart! I can't wait to play my violin with someone accompanying me at the harpsichord. I might just have to invest in some little Baroque pieces for harpsichord and take up keyboard playing. There are only 50 keys, as opposed to 88 on the piano. The keys are much smaller as well...very nice for a small handed musician. My mom is going to be green with jealousy. Muwahahahahahahaa.
We will give a yearly concert series of harpsichord recitals---probably about 3 or 4 a year. I really hope that sometime in the near future I can give a recital. I think I'll start working on the program soon. Throw in some Playford English Country Dances, some Divisions for Violin, maybe a movement from a Handel sonata. I might even compose something for the occasion! Something with a little Irish flare. Eeee!
Beth Hearts Jamie! (ugly little kissy faced smilie, ain't it?)
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AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Captain's Blog...star date 20606
DATE: 02/06/2006 13:43:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Welcome to my blog! First off and most importantly to all of those who know me and don't know yet (which is probably everybody), I have met a wonderful boy--more on him in later.
Never thought I'd actually start one of these things. I'm so horrible at keeping a journal. I tried to keep one in my handy-dandy calendar thing that I tote around. It's the type that has space for assignments. So I decided to use that space for journal entries. I usually only talked about what I'd eaten. Hehe.
This might actually be a good thing though. I get bored online and a person can play Chuzzle only so many times before seeing little McFry guys in her sleep. Might as well talk about nothing in particular to nobody in particular.
Hmm...but if I go off on one of my weird tangents I might scare my friends. Well...no. You guys know how I am. But you might actually get a glimpse into my mind when I'm sitting there very quietly in your presence. When I do that people constantly ask me "Are you ok?" or "Why are you so quiet?" Then I'll realize I haven't said anything in a while...but my mind has been going like a freight train. I think alot about nothing in particular. I get lost in thought and forget that there are people around.
I'm pretty random. My tangents will suddenly take a right hand turn. Three minutes later I'll think "how did I start thinking about this?" Then I spend the next two minutes backtracking my thoughts. It's a nifty process and sometimes I can't figure out how I got from point A to point B in my thoughts.
I'll probably post more later. Gotta play around with this new Yahoo! blog page thingie. It's nifty.
Yes...I know I said above that I'd talk about a wonderful boy. But...I'm gonna leave this as a cliffhanger so ya'll will come back later! HA!
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But, I do have other things occupying my time now. Well...one particular person.
More later!
-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: What day is today?
DATE: 02/07/2006 13:23:03
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Ah! Tuesday. Poor Tuesday. You are neither the dreaded Monday, nor are you the much anticipated Hump Day that Wednesday is. You're not almost to the weekend like Thursday and you're definitely not TGIF. You're neither fun loving Saturday or lazy Sunday. Poor Tuesday.
My one and only rehearsal (as of this moment) is on Tuesday afternoons at 5:30pm at Wake Forest University. I play in the Viola da Gamba consort. While I absolutely love playing the viol, I pity the person who walks down the halway when the consort is rehearsing. During our first few practices it sounds like someone is killing a very large, very angry cat. By the end of the semester, we sound a little more in harmony, in tune, and in tempo with each other.
My current musical passion is early music. I love the complexity of it. The strange instruments that aren't played so much today. The weird sounds those instruments make. My current early music arsenal includes viola da gamba, rebec (early 3 string ancestor to the violin), and...the violin. I know the violin is a modern instrument, but there's plenty of early music that can be played on the violin.
And to make my musical life even better....we got a harpsichord at work today!!
Be still my heart! I can't wait to play my violin with someone accompanying me at the harpsichord.
We will give a yearly concert series of harpsichord recitals---probably about 3 or 4 a year. I really hope that sometime in the near future I can give a recital. I think I'll start working on the program soon. Throw in some Playford English Country Dances, some Divisions for Violin, maybe a movement from a Handel sonata. I might even compose something for the occasion! Something with a little Irish flare. Eeee!
Beth Hearts Jamie!
(ugly little kissy faced smilie, ain't it?)-----
--------
AUTHOR: ladycora_17
TITLE: Captain's Blog...star date 20606
DATE: 02/06/2006 13:43:31
STATUS: publish
BODY:
Welcome to my blog! First off and most importantly to all of those who know me and don't know yet (which is probably everybody), I have met a wonderful boy--more on him in later.
Never thought I'd actually start one of these things. I'm so horrible at keeping a journal. I tried to keep one in my handy-dandy calendar thing that I tote around. It's the type that has space for assignments. So I decided to use that space for journal entries. I usually only talked about what I'd eaten. Hehe.
This might actually be a good thing though. I get bored online and a person can play Chuzzle only so many times before seeing little McFry guys in her sleep. Might as well talk about nothing in particular to nobody in particular.
Hmm...but if I go off on one of my weird tangents I might scare my friends. Well...no. You guys know how I am. But you might actually get a glimpse into my mind when I'm sitting there very quietly in your presence. When I do that people constantly ask me "Are you ok?" or "Why are you so quiet?" Then I'll realize I haven't said anything in a while...but my mind has been going like a freight train. I think alot about nothing in particular. I get lost in thought and forget that there are people around.
I'm pretty random. My tangents will suddenly take a right hand turn. Three minutes later I'll think "how did I start thinking about this?" Then I spend the next two minutes backtracking my thoughts. It's a nifty process and sometimes I can't figure out how I got from point A to point B in my thoughts.
I'll probably post more later. Gotta play around with this new Yahoo! blog page thingie. It's nifty.
Yes...I know I said above that I'd talk about a wonderful boy. But...I'm gonna leave this as a cliffhanger so ya'll will come back later! HA!
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