We are the 80's. Like, duh!

First of all, for all of you that hate black blog backgrounds, I promise this is only temporary. It's just my Halloween Blog Makeover. Normal blog colors and music will be back soon. :)

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The 80's. Oh MY. Where do I begin? This poster of Michael Jackson was hanging on my friend Shauna's wall so I took a picture of it. (Hence the big FLASH spot on the left. This was about the time (7th grade?) that I really started to pay attention to pop music after I heard one girl making fun of me because I had said I listened to my parent's radio station. I might even have owned my own M.J. poster, but I may have blocked out the unpleasant memory.

The above dance picture is my first official high school dance: Jr. Prom. I was a sophomore and my date was a senior! Whooo hooo! This is not long after my first official break-up with my first official boyfriend. (Mike Walker, shame on you! ;) ) He may have dumped me, but his friends didn't. I remained good friends with them all through high school and for many years after. Sadly, I've lost track of all of them now except Collette. She's married and has a bunch of cute kids.

The second picture is my Jr. school picture. This was right before I missed a quarter of school due to Mono. No, I didn't get it from kissing boys...because the boy I had kissed (yes, Dad, I know you read this...and yes, I did kiss boys...*insert chagrin here*)...the boy I was currently kissing didn't have it. And even though I ended up in the hospital, said boy never called or asked how I was. Just wrote a note in my year book at the end of the year that he "still really liked me."

Here are some of the friends that I made when I dated that first official boyfriend. The Mike in the middle was called "Ked" (part of his last name) so we didn't confuse him with "my" Mike. My best friend in this group was Rob Stirling. I tried to find a picture but so far no luck. He and his first wife lived next to my hubby and I when we were newlyweds for a while...but I haven't heard from him in years.

This would be the guy who didn't give me Mono but also never called when I missed a whole quarter of school and rumors floated around that I almost died. (Incidentally, the only person I knew who had Mono was the guy who made the ice cream at the Leatherby's. (My first official job.) We were hardly even on speaking terms let alone kissing ones. I've always wondered if there was a rash of Mono outbreaks due to tainted ice cream.....

That's me my senior year. My official 80's BIG HAIR is in full bloom. I'm rocking an $80 dollar spiral perm and one of those dropped waist dresses with those lace collars that were so common then. Next pic is actually from 1990 after I had graduated...I'm at a dance with a college friend and we decided to do this tux and short thing. I have NO idea why. I'm displaying the official 80's side ponytail with the requisite scrunchy. Awww....

Right above is the prom I went to after high school (who does that???) with my good friend Terry. He was kind of crazy but always made me laugh. Both he and I enjoyed creative writing and absurd humor. I wonder what he's doing these days....

Next pic is a dance I went to with one of the many Daves who walked through my life. The first Dave I had a crush on from 9th grade clear through my senior year. We went out once or twice, but he always seemed to choose someone else. I guess I must have been a glutton for punishment. The above Dave was one of two that I dated in college. We even talked marriage at one point. From what I know now, that would have been a disaster. Crisis averted. The other Dave was one that I really liked whom I dated casually for a while...but that was also around the time I started dating Reed...and you know the rest of that story....

One last picture from high school. My senior year I went on a drama trip to San Francisco for a drama tournament. (Debate team also went.) It was over my birthday and my mom made cute little notes for each day of the trip. I still have them somewhere. Krista (whom I'm standing next to) and I did a clarinet duet in 8th or 9th grade for a band concert. She was much better at playing it than I was. I gave it up but I think she still played it. Oh...and see Ryan there? I always thought he was hot...

There you have it. Your 80's flashback for the day. How can something seem like so long ago AND like yesterday at the same time?

Drumroll please....

My First Blog Award! Ta Da!

Lynette, who writes http://theysayimnuts.blogspot.com/ gave me this cute little award not because she likes my witty banter, but because she likes my blog music. :D

Which is OK by me. I'll take 'em any way I can get 'em.

Lynette, if you're stopping by to listen to my song player, I have been trying MADLY to comment on your blog. For some reason, everytime I try, it pulls up the same page with NO comment blog window thingie. So here's what I would have written if I could have commented:

"Why THANK YOU for your cute blog award! It made my day to read your kind words and to know you enjoy my blog. I must also commend you on your stellar taste in music! I stop by your blog often but haven't been able to comment on the last several posts. :( I'll keep reading and trying until some day the Gods of Blog smile upon me and pull up that dang comment page."

So...with honor comes much responsibility, and it falls upon my shoulders to hand this blog award to five other bloggers. So this little blog award goes to:

1. Anna Lefler at http://lifejustkeepsgettingweirder.blogspot.com/. One of my new blog reads. The girl is funny...check her out!

2. Kerri at http://whatshappeninhotstuff.blogspot.com/ because she's my oldest and dearest friend. Maybe this award will get her to CALL me already!

3. All the girls at http://outtathisfunk.blogspot.com/. I love all their creative ideas, and I've also had the pleasure of meeting a good number of them in person. If you're into paper crafts, this blog is a must read! They've also started a online community. Lots of friendly people and great ideas.

4. Robyn at http://herebygrace.typepad.com/here_by_grace/. Not only is she a fun, happy person to be around, she's an amazing crafter. Check out her blog to see her beautiful work.

5. Laurie at http://tipjunkie.blogspot.com/. This site is one of my new favorites....and was a great resource when I had to plan some crafting activities for women at church. Everything from recipes to crafts to decorating, she's got it all.

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A little giggle for you that I recieved from my friend Heather:

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM APPLE

Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that canstore and play music. The item will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size.

This is considered a major social breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

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My high school friend Lisa posted lots of fun pictures and memories from high school on her blog recently. There's even one of me. I'd link you, but her blog is set to private. (psheeww!)So...you'll just have to imagine me with big 80's hair in some weird sweater I don't remember and rolled up jeans.

If you're a child of the 80's you can participate in "We are the 80's" day hosted by the blog "Where are my Angels." http://wheresmyangels.blogspot.com/2008/10/we-were-80s-day.html. If you post a memory or pic, let me know, I'd love to check it out. Meanwhile, I'll be digging through all my boxes in my basement to try to find a photo or two. Try not to laugh too hard, k?

Random Meanderings of a Distracted Mind

1. I've been a bad blogger. But in my defense, for three whole days I was here:

With these fun gals:

Working on this:

And making these:

The CX Crop was a blast. Amy and crew did a wonderful job and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Here's a shout out to my girl Shell who drove me all over the place even though she drove here from Colorado...what an awesome gal! Can't wait until I get to see my new friends again.

2. U.D.O.T... aka the Utah Department of Traumatization.

UDOT has decided that all the freeway overpasses in my neck of the woods need to be replaced.

Simultaneously.

While UDOT has been receiving praise on their "low-impact" method of tearing up every freaking on and off ramp I use, it has been getting increasingly hard for me to get anywhere. Not only are many of the on ramps now closed, the alternate side streets that I would use are also under construction. If (rather WHEN) UDOT closes the on ramp that I am now using, my 12-15 minute commute will instantly become a 30-40 minute disaster.

I know that what they are doing is important, but for people who live where I live and work where I work, I'd hardly call it "low-impact." Certainly, doubling my commute time isn't "low-impact, particularly when I can't leave earlier as I drop off children at school on my way and they are only allowed to be on the school grounds 10 minutes before school starts.

Sigh. Low-impact isn't a term that should ever be used for road construction or Sweating with the Oldies.

Seeing Richard Simmons prance around in nylon shortie shorts has impacted me for life.

3. My Boy Josh

is TWELVE. That's pretty huge around here and I feel like we've let him down a little. For Isaac's birthday, we were able to take the boys to lunch and pick out Isaac's gerbils, which was a really big deal. It didn't work out that way for Josh's birthday...and the lack of photos here also means I forgot to take my camera.

I suck.

Here's to my little man. He is AMAZING. He is smart. He is kind. He is always willing to do what I ask. He is sensitive and thoughtful. He is intuitive. He is good at so many things and has many, many talents.

Here's to you, Joshua. I love you to pieces.

All's quiet on the western front.

And it's cold. Very very cold.

Seems we went right past fall into winter. Snow and everything. Even the trees were caught off guard as many of them still have all their summer green leaves.

Fall is my favorite time of year. There's something about the colors, the sky, the smell that just....I don't know. Makes me feel all mooshy inside. (All together now....ahhhhh.)

Some of my most vivid memories are of the fall or of Halloween. I distinctly remember those network Halloween specials that they used to run. "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" was an annual affair. I remember watching some corny special while my mom made homemade donuts (the long, labor intensive kind, not the refrigerator biscuit kind that I make do with.) I remember pumpkin carving and roasting pumpkin seeds. I remember trick-or-treating in the rain wearing a long black wig and my gypsy costume from the ward road show and thinking I looked kinda hot. I remember that Halloween candy used to be smarties and marshmallow peanuts, and if you got chocolate you SCORED!

When I was out of High School, I still got to play dress up for two Octobers in one of those spook alleys. The first year I was a gypsy (maybe that's a karmic sign of my wanderlust) and had to wear this necklace made of REAL chicken feet. The spook alley was designed by Pat Davis who was a big wig in theater around here, so instead of the standard shock and scare production, there were scripted parts and mini plays. And my part went something like this:

"Have you ever seen a geek?" (Why yes, they have! Looking back, I was probably a prime example right at the moment...) "A geek is a fellow who eats LIVE CHICKENS...picks 'em clean. Started out addicted to his mom's southern fried...then moved to rare chickens...then to raw. Now he eats them chickens live, feathers and all!" (And then there was some screaming and rattling of my "gypsy caravan" while I uttered some warnings about how they'd better hurry along before the geek got tired of eating chicken. Lots of people came up to feel my chicken feet necklace thinking that it was fake only to freak out when they felt the skin slide over the bones. (And even though I was a geeky gypsy, I was still hot. I've got a picture here somewhere to prove it.) Pat apparently really liked that little bit of script, because I saw it years later in another one of her spooky productions. It even landed me an audition for a commercial, which I didn't get. C'est la vie.

The second year I did the spook alley, I got decapitated. I was up on a wooden cart dressed in medieval dress while some guy yelled about how I was guilty and the punishment was death. Then I knelt behind the guillotine and stuck a horrible fake head through it (that didn't even have a wig that matched my hair) and dropped it when the blade when down. Then I got to peek through the hole and squirt the crowd. One fellow just about jumped up on the wagon after I gave his leather jacket a good soak. (bwaa haa haaa.)

Every year, just smelling the autumn air at night will bring back these memories.

Except this year. Because it's COLD. And it SNOWED. NO pretty leaves, NO beautiful sunsets and NO leafy, smoky smell.

The weather man has promised that things will warm up soon. I really, really hope so, because I've discovered that I need Autumn.

I need the moody orange skies. Need the walks in the warm, fragrant evenings. Need to look up to see the mountains swathed in bright oranges, reds, and yellows.

Need to be transported back to a warmer, safer time where the world is colorful and smells like donuts.

The homemade kind. Not the ones in the refrigerator cans.

Sound investment advice from my father.

It's no secret that everyone is quite nervous about the state of their retirement investments. I haven't seen a recent report on Reed's 401 K, but I'm quite sure it will make me cry.

My dad often sends me great emails filled with advice and today I received one about investments. I thought I would share.

Subject: Retirement Investment Info

Here's a little retirement info for you:If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock one year ago you would have $49.00 left.With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.With World Com, you would have had less than $5.00 left..But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all of the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg.


:D

(Actually, neither my father nor I drink, but I thought this brought on the LOL's.)

Perhaps this investment strategy can be applied to Cherry Coke. It will make me happy, (which in turn makes my family happy,) is good for the enviroment (I'll be saving all those cans for recycling and who knows...maybe the person who WOULD have bought the cans had I not would be a Coke-guzzling litterer) and would provide a solid nest egg for maybe the first 15 days of retirement.

Plus, I'll be helping provide jobs for all those Coca-Cola bottling employees. That helps the economy, right? Maybe we should get everyone on this retirement plan! The 401-Coke!

Of course, my husband's brother-in-law works for Pepsi. If I get everyone drinking Coke.....

Maybe I haven't thought this plan all the way through.

Hindsight doesn't need contacts

Have you ever just had a rotten day, and looked back on it and wondered what the #$%&*#$ was I thinking?

Friday was one of those days.

First of all, I love teaching. Pre-schoolers are a riot. A challenge, yes. Often. But a riot all the same. So, while teaching often tires me out, it doesn't necessarily stress me out.

But often times other stuff at work does. Stuff that I should just let roll right off of my shoulders. After 6 years (this is the 7th) years at the same place, you'd think that, at least, I'd never be caught off guard by anything that happens.

Here's a big honking *pffftt* to that.

Anyway, something happened that probably wouldn't seem like a big deal to anyone else, but it made me mad. Made me grumpy. Ruined my whole day and only because I let it. And because I was frustrated and in a bad mood, I snapped at someone else who avoided me the whole rest of the day. And I vented. To anyone who would listen. And BOY, do I regret THAT.

Because I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back to bite me in the nether regions.

I suppose I'll find out tomorrow, when I go to work.

*sigh*

I've always worn my heart on my sleeve. And I've always, always hated that about myself. Hated that I can cry at the drop of a hat. Hated that I'm a lousy liar. LOL! Hated that I let other people have so much control over how I feel. Hated that I care so much what other people think when in the long run, it doesn't really matter.

Recently I registered at a website that's dedicated to my graduating class in anticipation of our upcoming 20th reunion. While it's been fun and interesting to see what people have been up to, I've been suprised at some of the bad feelings it brings up as well. I didn't hate high school, and had a lot of good friends and good times, but you know there's always at least one person who didn't like you or was mean to you at some point. And 20 years later, I found that it still hurts.

And only, only because I let it.

You'd think being self aware would give me some means to remedy the situation, but if it does, I haven't figured it out just yet.

So tomorrow I go to work. Crossing my fingers that my friend isn't still mad that I was snippish and hoping madly my mouth won't have gotten me into trouble. Venting about work AT work is never a good idea.

That's hindsight for ya. Wishing madly that you could change the past while at the same time praying that you never repeat it. Wondering why you can't see as clearly during the moment as you can a day later, after you've run headlong into a tree.

Maybe one day I can get some emotional contacts. Until that happens, I just have to learn to keep my mouth shut. ;)