Sunday, March 29, 2009

Hmmm Not so sure...

...but most of it sounds like me...




You are Conscientious, Agreeable, Neurotic and Open



Extroversion:



You have low extroversion.

You are quiet and reserved in most social situations.

A low key, laid back lifestyle is important to you.

You tend to bond slowly, over time, with one or two people.



Conscientiousness:



You have medium conscientiousness.

You're generally good at balancing work and play.

When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.

But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.



Agreeableness:



You have medium agreeableness.

You're generally a friendly and trusting person.

But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.

You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.



Neuroticism:



You have medium neuroticism.

You're generally cool and collected, but sometimes you do panic.

Little worries or problems can consume you, draining your energy.

Your life is pretty smooth, but there's a few emotional bumps you'd like to get rid of.



Openness to experience:



Your openness to new experiences is medium.

You are generally broad minded when it come to new things.

But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it.

You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

Chirping Bird?

You Are Chirping Birds
You are a very caring person. You especially feel for innocent beings, like animals and children.
You are keyed in to the world and very peaceful. You believe that everyone is connected.

You remain focused and in the moment. You are not easily distracted.
You have a good memory, especially for things that you hear. You listen carefully.
"What Part of Spring Are You?

Knit Wit Revisted


Well, my scarf is somewhat finished. It is about 27 inches long and probably a little too wide. I think it would look better if I put fringe on it. My next project should look a little bit better.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Stormy Afternoon

Wow what a thunderhead. I wish I could have captured the lightning associated with this storm. I'm just a meterologist wanna-be :-)

Frienemies?

I read an interesting article about frienemies. These are the interesting relationships you have with co-workers. Under normal circumstances, you and the co-worker would never be friends. But since you have to work with this person, you form an alliance of sorts. I always wonder what it is that God wants me to learn from this person and this situation. If they annoy me, I look at what behavior aggitates me. More likely than not, I also posses this trait.

Photo Friday


This picture is so telling about Buddy. He was still using it and trying to sharpen it. We finally convinced him to let it go.

Getting There


Still working on the trim and such. The weather has enforced a break this week. That's actually been a blessing. It is nice to rest :-)

Monday, March 23, 2009

Almost finished





I helped some...but the credit goes to Cletus! The house looks fantastic...and we are almost finished. I figure that we saved $3k by doing it ourselvers. I just hope that Cletus recovers from a week of grueling work. He had to brush paint two coats!!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Saint Patty's Day




Well, I think I read the hair dye box wrong. Don't dye your hair platinum blonde and then go swimming. LOL! I was working on a project when I heard my co-worker say "Oh yeah! Ask Laurie, she'll definitely do it!" Um, what? Yes, Laurie will definitely wear the green wig. I had to have help. My hair had to be pinned up. Unfortunately, we didn't have any bobby pins. So, my hair was put up with paperclips! Hey, it worked! Then my beloved co-workers decided that I needed the hat too. I actually really liked the hair. I think that I should get one in pink...and purple...and blue. Hee hee. As a footnote, I was in Dollar General tonight. I was checking out when out of nowhere a paperclip falls out (of my hair!). The clerk was quite confused!! :-)

Day Two











It's a bigger job than it looks. By the way, Cletus is about 35 feet off of the ground! Still lots to be done!

Day One




Monday...it rained! And the lift quit working! But the sun came out and the lift was repaired. So, this is the end of day one! The trim is white white and the house is sand.

Giant Undertaking




It is spring break and time to start the outdoor projects. After getting the $4k price tag for painting the house one color...we decided to paint ourselves. These are before pictures.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Flashback Friday




So have we changed any?

Retro Weekend Part Three


So my fortunes at PF Chang's were: Be yourself and you will always be in fashion. And you will receive a surprising gift very soon. Nice and vague...and not true so far. I have always been myself and have NEVER been in fashion...and no surprising gift, thus far.


Sunday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel. It was a surprisingly good variety of food! We had quite a few foreigners staying at the hotel. In Bham that weekend was the Davis Cup (tennis) Tournament of the US vs Switzerland. The Swiss women were quite amusing. They dress very 80's and one had on a tshirt that said Desperate Swisswives. Very funny!


Then I took Smarty Pants to the airport. That is a very big step in a relationship (just watch When Harry Met Sally). For being a big city, the airport has a municipal airfield feel to it. We asked a very nice man to take our picture. He is from Massachusetts and wondered if we were in the wedding. Um, no. But I was willing to sign Smarty Pants up as the new bride (we just need to locate a willing victim...um, I mean groom). Hee hee.


I hated to see her have to leave so soon. We still had more catching up to do. But at least maybe this year I will make honorable mention in her Christmas letter. And if she makes it to Kentucky later in the year, I am so there.


One of the funniest things that Smarty Pants said is that her mother always said that I was the nice one! Really? Wow, I always thought that I was the one your mother warned you about. I guess it is the quiet ones that you have to watch out for!!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Retro Weekend Part Two


After going through the Reader's Digest summary of our life since HS, we decided to go eat dinner. There are no restaurants in the downtown Bham area. So, we drove about twelve miles to The Summit. For Bham, the traffic was not bad. But I am not used to big city traffic. Here, if you have to wait two whole light changes, there is swearing, growling and general gnashing of teeth. The Summit was packed and the PF Chang's wait was 75-85 minutes! There seem to be a awful lot of teenagers dressed up (prom, sports banquet, cotillion?). So, we prowled around the bookstore and then sat on the bench out front. We went to check on the wait (surely the wait time was exaggerated?). The people just coming in were being told it was a three hour wait! Are you serious? Somewhere around 60 minutes, we seriously began to wonder if we would starve to death. We didn't. The food was awesome, the service excellent and totally worth the wait. I think that the wait made the food tasted even better. The Crab Ragoon appetizer was the best!! Smarty Pants got her usual: the honey chicken. Ya know, for being a world traveler, she is not very adventurous in her food choices. I ordered the spicy chicken. We ended up sharing and both dishes were excellent. While waiting for our food, we decided that neither of us would make it as a waitress. One waitress had at least ten GLASS drinks on a tray balanced on her shoulder. For me, a recipe for disaster!!

Then we went back to the room. We Google-d a few former classmates and talked about our high school experiences. I was disappointed that Goggling myself did not produce better results! Ha ha!! And, of course, we made plans to attend the next reunion (in two years). By then, we will look totally more fabulous than we do now! :-)

Monday, March 9, 2009

Retro Weekend Part One


Too bad it doesn't say age limit 27. I felt like I was in an '80's flashback all weekend! Saturday morning, it was a gawgeous 80 degrees. (Much better than last weekends fake snow storm). So, I road tripped to B'ham, even though the "magic" city is usually not my fav place. I-65 was less crowded than usual and the travel a breeze the whole way. I found a great '80's radio station and sang loudly in the car. I got through the 65/20 interchange with minimal swearing. I parked downtown near Linc park, the civic center and the hotel. I thought if Smarty Pants was not yet available, I would hang out in the park and take pictures. Um, maybe not. This guy decided that he liked me or probably he just wanted money. I noticed that there appears to be a good number of homeless people in the park during the day. Anyway, he followed me from my car to the hotel. By the end of the 2-1/2 block journey, I was running IN HEELS. Quite the sight, I assure you! The hotel desk manager seemed totally unfazed by the fact that I was completely frazzled and out of breath. I guess he is used to that kind of behavior?? Thankfully, Smarty Pants was in her room!! And I saw no more of Mr. Creep!!



I must admit that I would have recognized her anywhere. She looked great and has not changed a bit. I really should post her high school pic and show you. Ha ha. Better not! She'd kill me and artfully hide the body! I brought my Wheat Ridge Farmer yearbook and we reminiscing and catching up. Did I mention that I have not seen her since high school?



Saturday, March 7, 2009

The Next Tiger?












As part of the basketball end of season party, they guys got to go to the driving range. I'm thinking that Tdawg might be a natural. It was his first time and he hit it over 200 yards and straight!! The golf center owner told me "you need to have that boy take some lessons!" The owner also told me that at the local university, they require their business students to take golf. I guess they figure it is a good networking tool. By the way, don't ya just love the size 15 shoes?? He has grown another inch since Christmas!!



Lunch with some of the work chicks. This time I didn't drive (can ya blame me?) and no accidents! It was fun talking to the younger chicks. We were discussing break-ups with boyfriends and how to tell your friend that her boyfriend is a loser. They are so part of the computer and texting generation. When I was in high school, I used a rotary phone (big, black and heavy) to dial in and then I put the handset of the phone into a modem cradle. The world has progressed a bit since then!!

Knit Wit II

Well, the poor underprivileged child in NY is going to be eligible for Social Security by the time I finish knitting this scarf. But I am making some progress.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Knit Wit

Well, I was gonna be a hooker (crocheting, that is)...but I guess I'm going to be a knit wit instead. BR at work asked if we wanted to donate knitted items to underprivileged kids in New York. Several said they'd love to...but we don't know how to knit. So GJ offered to do a lunch and learn. So five of us tried to learn how to knit today at lunch. Poor lady had no idea what she got herself into when she volunteered to teach. We all had two left hands and too many thumbs. I was going to take pictures, but it was too sad. I understand that it is supposed to lower your blood pressure. It was incredibly comical, but my blood pressure was going up, not down! I'm so slow that I think my scarf will be finished right before I enter a nursing home. I have two and a half rows done...I'll keep you posted. I think I am going to end up like V with too many irons in the fire.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Circus

the elephant is painting!









this man is crazy!










Buddy and I had an awesome time!



























We got to go down to the arena floor before the show. And then our seats were on the second row. It was truly the Greatest Show on Earth. I did not realize that there are different shows. The circus we saw a few years ago was completely different from this one!

Tdawg Update.

Tdawg lifting weights after school as part of preseason football conditioning. He was lifting 225 pounds and doing squats, when he heard his knee pop. It swelled but otherwise did not look too bad. But when the swelling did not go away, I took him to our GP. I expected some anti-inflammatory medication and see ya later. No, he said he thought it could be tendon damage and sent us to a specialist. Thankfully, the specialist said it was minor damage to the meniscus. He prescribed an anti-inflammatory and said see ya later. I am thankful that there was not damage that would require surgery. Tdawg is very happy that he can continue and hopefully make it as a starter for the football team. I admire his tenacity!

Snow







We finally get some snow. I know it is only a dusting. But we won't see any more for years. Too bad it was not during the week. It is so crazy here that they'd actually close schools for this! It really makes everything look serene. Too bad it was gone by noon.