A Little R & R

Well, today I am headed down to Branson to spend the day at my company picnic. They have rented Celebration City and I've heard rumors that it's actually quite fun. I am going with 3 of my siblings, 1 neice and 2 nephews. Hopefully I will be able to stay awake all day since I am basically leaving in a few minutes when I get off work, and don't plan on getting any sleep. Luckily, I had enough foresight to take vacation for tonight so at least I won't have to come back into work later.

Tomorrow afternoon I am attending a family reunion for my paternal grandmothers side of the family. Usually a pretty okay event. Since I have decided to start making a little more time for myself each day (previous post), I am hoping to be able to update my blog several times over the weekend instead of ignoring it for days. Which means, sometime tomorrow night (after football) I will tell you how Celebration City was.

Recommended Book Of The Week

For the third week's recommendation, I am going to tell you about a book that will not only entertain, but will also educate. Now, now, don't be scared. It's not a textbook.

This book is the true story about the author's decision to read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica from the very beginning of the first volume to the very end of the last volume. It is comprised of funny stories and explanations revolving around some of the more memorable facts he learned and the people he annoyed with his new-found knowledge. Determined to insert his new knowledge every chance he gets, the author discovers how many people just don't really care that Khnum is an Egyptian fertility god. The trivia you will learn just by laughing along with the author could make you the life of your next party.

I recommend "The Know-It-All" by A.J. Jacobs.

Tech Support Joke

Q: How many Microsoft employees does it take to change a light bulb?


A1: None. They recently declared the new standard "darkness".
A2: Two. One to change the light bulb and a company lawyer to defend MS against claims that the trashcan now holding the old one doesn't belong to Apple.
A3: None. It's a hardware problem.
A4: That's proprietary information and the answer is available from MS only via a subpoena.
A5: It varies. How much can you afford?
A6: What does it matter? By the time the Ver 2 lightbulb is released we'll all be used to the dark and it won't be usable until Ver 3 anyway.
A7: One. Bill Gates holds the light bulb and the universe revolves around him.
A8: We can see no need for uninstallation and have therefore made no provision for light bulbs to be removed.
A9: Four. One to ask, "What is the registration number of the light bulb?" one to ask, "Have you tried rebooting it?" another to ask, "Have you tried re-installing it?" and the last one to say "It must be your hardware because the light bulb in our office works fine."

New Book Gives New Fuel To Democrats

A new book concerning how our present administration has handled the war in Iraq will be officially released on Monday, but today it is already being used by Democrats to criticize President Bush. The book is titled "State of Denial" and was written by Bob Woodward, who is with The Washington Post. According to sources who have already obtained a copy, Woodward details specific instances in which the President seems to be in denial of what is actually happening in Iraq.

With the upcoming November mid-term elections, Democrats are seizing their chance to attack President Bush about his decisions concerning the war in Iraq. This book is giving them the extra fuel they needed.

Snakes On The Plains!

Woo Hoo, I cracked myself up with the title of this post. It's even accurate, because I'm referring to a house in Idaho, which is one of the Great Plains States. Man, I'm good.

Okay, let's move on. Basically, I just read an article about a couple who bought a run-down house to renovate only to discover it is completely infested with thousands of snakes. Seems like the snakes have claimed the property as their own and now return to that spot naturally every fall and winter to survive the cold weather. The article tells of several different experiences the couple had with snakes while working on the property.

Now I tell ya, I'm not as scared of snakes as I am spiders, but after the first incident happened and balled up groups of snakes fell on my head, I wouldn't have been doing any more projects.

I Used To Want To Live In Colorado

When I was around 11 or so, my grandparents took me on a two-week long vacation through a lot of the western states by car. We saw some amazing sites, including Yellowstone National Park before the big fire of 1988. I absolutely fell in love with Yellowstone and so far it's my favorite place in the world. But, as far as the states we went through, I was impressed by Colorado the most. It was beautiful and had such charming little towns. When I got back home, I told my mom I had decided I was going to live in Colorado when I grew up.

Years later, at the age of 31, I drove to Denver, Colorado for a Janet Jackson concert (don't make fun of me) and after spending 2 days in Denver I remembered how cool Colorado really is. It is just an awesome state.

However, I am becoming increasingly glad I never seriously made any effort to actually move there. I am not going to dwell on the details here because this is such a tragic subject, but what is with all the school shootings in Colorado?

The latest school shooting may not have resulted in as many lives lost as the Columbine shooting in 1999, but is horrible in it's own way.

Too Much Drama

Well, my life just keeps getting more complex and I have pretty much decided I don't like all the drama. So, I am going to do my best to change my attitude. Normally, when something is not going right for someone in my life I try my hardest to relieve their stress by taking it on myself. I figure I handle stress pretty good, so I would rather be stressed out inwardly than to watch my family or friends be at their wits end.

But now I am seeing the error of my ways because I have managed to allow myself to take on other peoples stress in every single facet of my life. I can't really think of any area of my world that is not going through some sort of drama right now. Not only is it making me sleepy and giving me the munchies, but I haven't been on the internet since early Sunday morning. That's crazy! Not only do I really enjoy adding worthless bits of information to this blog, but I am a regular posting member of some websites that I am now completely behind on.

And is anyone trying to help me relieve stress? Yeah, actually a few people are and I appreciate them greatly. However, what I need to learn is that I don't have to be everything to everyone. At least not all the time. I have got to learn to make some "me" time and put my wants first at least for 30 minutes of each day. So, wish me luck.

Tags: Rambling

I'm Never In The Right Place

I have always wanted to spend a weekend at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Now more than ever because the hunting is apparently still good. A Tennessee woman recently found a 1.30-carat diamond which she initially thought was just a peice of dirty quartz.

I have got to make an effort to get down there. I am going to make it my goal to go to Crater of Diamonds before my next birthday. I am tired of always wanting to do something, but never getting it done. I always wanted to see New Orleans and could probably have driven down there in only 12 hours. But, I never did and now that city is forever changed. I will never see the New Orleans I wanted to see because I just didn't follow through.

My main excuse is that I never have anyone to go places with. Which isn't exactly true, but all of my family and friends are either married, have kids, or both. Meaning, I can't call them at 10:00 pm on Friday night and ask them to go halfway down the state of Arkansas with me to dig in the dirt for 2 days. But then, who am I kidding - I'm at work at 10:00 on Fridays and can't go anywhere because I get to work Saturday night also.

So what does that tell me? (excuse me while I have a small conversation with myself here) Well, it tells me that I need to get some new friends and find a different job. No, wait...that's not right!! I guess it means I will either have to learn to spend more time doing things alone OR make better, more advanced plans so that someone and their kids can go with me.

Anywho, sure wish I had stumbled across the gem this woman did.

Tags: Rambling

Flyleaf Rocks!

In case anyone is interested, this is the CD that is rocking my world as of late. I have actually been listening to this band for months, but the fact that it is still my most-played music made me decide to feature them here. Even if only one person sees this post and gives Flyleaf a try, that's one more fan I'm sure they will have.

You can check out a few of their songs and read a little bit about the band here on Pure Volume or listen to a small sampling of all the tracks on the cd and buy their debut album here on Amazon.com

Tags: Entertainment

Easy Homemade Ice Cream

Don’t own an ice cream maker but yet you crave the stuff? Or maybe you do own an ice cream maker but don’t want to make a whole gallon for just 2 people. Well, here’s the solution to both problems. All you need is an empty 12 oz. coffee can, an empty 34.5 oz coffee can (both with lids) and the following recipe.

Ice Cream In A Can:

Ingredients:
1 egg
½ cup sugar
1 tbsp instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup milk
1 cup half-and-half cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rock salt
1 pound crushed ice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, instant pudding, milk, half and half and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a 12 ounce size coffee can. Cover the top with plastic wrap, and then the plastic lid. Place the filled coffee can into an empty 34.5 ounce coffee can (the big ones). Fill the empty space with crushed ice, sprinkle generously with rock salt, and cover with the plastic lid.
Roll the cans around on the floor for about 20 minutes. If the center of the ice cream is still soft, place the containers in the freezer to harden.

Tags: Rambling, Entertainment

A Pretty Good Day

Today my sister Wendy and my neice Emma came into to town to do a little shopping, so I got a chance to spend some quality time with them this evening. We didn't do anything spectacular, just did a little bit of shopping and ate some Chinese food. Actually, in case Wendy reads this I should point out that we ate Bourbon Chicken from Max Oriental in the Battlefield Mall. She's pretty passionate about her Bourbon Chicken, so I want to make sure I mention it.

So, we sat down and had a nice conversation over some good food and then we spent some time in the mall shopping for a new outfit for Emma. Her birthday is Oct. 9th (she will be 13), but her mom was letting her pick out a pair of pants and a shirt a few weeks early. We successfully found both items at Aeropostale, but man did it take some work. That place was packed and therefore, the tables were trashed. It was like digging through the free clothes table at a church rummage sale. Emma actually ended up settling for some jeans that will have to be hemmed before she can wear them because everything was so jumbled together, we couldn't find the length she needed. I guess it's possible they just didn't have any, but I'm gonna blame it on the fact that everything was so disorganized.

Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about Aeropostale at all. They had plenty of workers in the store who were trying their best to keep the clothes folded. But when you have a huge crowd of people who have to pick everything up and then throw it back down in a crumpled ball, the workers can't keep up. Last winter I worked at Old Navy for some extra Christmas money and I remember very clearly how frustrating it is to watch people do that. I understand you need to hold a shirt up to see what it looks like, but can't you try to put it back nicely? Not only that, but I used to notice customers who would pick up a solid blue polo (for example) to see it, then wad it up and toss it down only to pick up a solid pink one and unfold it also. Then it would be thrown down and they would move on to the next color. Here's a hint - all of the solid polos look the exact same except for the color and you can see the color without unfolding it.

But I digress. The point of this post was just to say that I had a pretty good day today. I got to spend time with two people I love and it was a carefree day with none of us rushing around or getting stressed out. We had some great conversations and we even went out for some Andy's frozen custard before they went home. I sure wish more of my family would come up to see me instead of me always being the one who has to do the travelling. Hopefully Wendy will come back soon and bring all 3 of her kids so I can have another fun Saturday evening.

P.S. - If any of you happen to know my sister and you want to see one of her hysterical laughing fits, just ask her about Harry Potter.

Tags: Family

I'm Bored...

so I thought I would post this picture of my youngest sister. She is 19 years old and this is a picture I took on her first trip ever to a zoo. A group of us went to the Tulsa Zoo on labor day this year and had a blast. Since my lil sis had never been to a zoo, we made her do, try and see absolutely everything. We even made her do the little kid stuff because we had to make sure she made up for lost time.

It was a great day and we had a lot of fun. I actually took around 200 pictures, so you're lucky you only had to look at one. The Tulsa Zoo is a great value and I highly recommend it to anyone with children. They have some amazing spots for photographs and there are all sorts of animal statues to climb on and have your picture taken. Of course, they also have great animal exhibits. You can watch the polar bear swim below the water line, see a shark feeding, watch a sea lion exhibition, and see the penguins playing. Plus there's all sorts of interactive activities.

Since we had several kids with us, we spent quite a bit of time at the really cool playground they have there. I'm sure you can tell that's where this picture was taken. I think she was a little concerned that she was going to fall off, but it sure did make for a funny picture.

Tags: Family

Breaking News: Pigs Can Now Fly

Okay, that's not true. Pigs can't really fly. But there is definately some weird stuff going on these days. For example, Democrats are defending President Bush. Apparently the democratic party thinks they should be the only people ever allowed to bad mouth our president, so they have taken offense at the words of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

But seriously, all humor aside, I am glad to see people getting so riled up at this type of thing. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat, a voter or a non-voter, it's important to at least respect your President enough to be outraged by other world leaders calling him the "devil".

Tags: News

Excellent...But Is It That Excellent?

Recently, E! (Entertainment Channel) has been counting down the "101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments" featuring the best skits and performances from all the past years of Saturday Night Live. Tonight I got a chance to see the top 5. And they were all really good. In fact, even though I didn't see all 101, I did watch several different episodes of the countdown and it was filled with all the classic skits and characters. Too many to even try to mention here.

But the top 5 were the ones I was most excited about. After all of the absolutely hilarious sketches that had already been shown, I couldn't wait to see clips that were even better than those. I'm not gonna give you a recap of all 5, you should really try to catch the show and watch them for yourselves. But I will ruin the fun and tell you who won the #1 spot.

It was the "Wayne's World" skit starring Mike Meyers (Wayne) and Dana Carvey (Garth) that featured Aerosmith as guests in Wayne's basement. Now, don't get me wrong. I love Wayne and Garth, I really do. I also really like Aerosmith. I think the "Wayne's World" skits were vvveeerrrryyy funny. I even owned the movie at one time. However, when you have all those years of sketches from all those classic actors and actresses who were players on the show, I just don't see how "Wayne's World" can top them all. Certainly it should be towards the top. After all, that skit spawned two movies and a whole new way of speaking. But, is it more unforgettable than Gilda Radner, Eddie Murphy or Chris Farley? Maybe the problem is that I'm a huge fan of Farley.

Either way, the whole show was fun to watch and I got to see a lot of really great, classic skits. I recommend it to anyone who ever laughed at Saturday Night Live

Tags: Rambling, Entertainment

Like To Be Spooked? Or Just Have Fun?

Either way you like it, the MAiZE in Verona, Mo may be just the place for you. Located roughly 30 minutes west of Springfield, it promises to provide family fun in more ways than one. Be sure to scroll all the way down the page to see info about the corn cannon, pumpkin chucking, hayrides, etc. that are offered at the site.

If you do decide to go check it out, keep in mind that $1 of every ticket in September is donated to the Ozarks Food Harvest.

Tags: Springfield

If Only Missouri Crickets Could Do This...

Apparently, black field crickets in Hawaii have evolved wings that don't chirp. Which means these crickets are basically totally quiet instead of annoyingly loud and incessent like the crickets here in Missouri. It also means they can't use their chirping to attract a mate, so I guess it's not really a good thing for the crickets. But just imagine how nice it would be to spend a night camping and not hear a single cricket....actually, I think that would be weird. Alright, I will admit it, I kinda like the sound of crickets.

Tags: News

Moonlight Madness At Wilson's Creek Battlefield

I would absolutely love to take a tour of the battlefield at moonlight at Wilson's Creek. Unfortunately, I work on Saturday nights, so this is yet another thing I get to miss out on. So what I need you guys to do is go check this out and tell me how cool it is.

Although, if you're not really a night person you could always spend the weekend at the 29th Annual Fair Grove Heritage Reunion which also sounds like a lot of fun and which I will also miss because I get off work at 08:00am so I have to sleep all freaking day.

But you guys should go enjoy yourselves, no reason why you should be as miserable as me.

Tags: Springfield

Recommended Book Of The Week

Alright kiddies, for my second recommended book I am going to have to go with one of the classics. This is a book which I have actually read several times and could easily read several more. Now, a lot of people are required to read this book in either high school or college. If you are one of those people and it has been several years, I suggest you go to your local library and give it another chance. The older you get the more you understand. Besides, if you were forced to read it for class then you probably skimmed it and didn't give it the attention it deserves.

My recommended book of the week is "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Tags: Books

Setting The Mood For Halloween

Halloween is fast approaching and since it is one of my favorite holidays, I thought I would help get you guys in a Halloween state of mind. And I am going to do that by directing you to the Willard Library Ghost Cam.

Willard Library is located in Evansville, Indiana and is over 110 years old. You can read more about the library's famous ghost HERE and if you watch the cameras carefully enough, you could be one of the thousands of viewers who have reportedly spotted her. The cameras are up 24/7 (barring any technical difficulties) and can be viewed easily at night.

Tags: Rambling, Entertainment

T.M.X. Elmo

If you watched the news at all yesterday, then you have probably already seen T.M.X. Elmo (which stands for Tickle Me Extreme). But just in case you missed it, you definately need to see one of these babies in action. They are absolutely adorable!

In this version, when Elmo gets tickled he will do all sorts of cute things like sitting down and slapping his knee, laying down and kicking his feet, etc. He can even stand himself right back up and ask to be tickled again. Just like the previous Tickle Me Elmo dolls that were released 10 years ago, this one is expected to be an instant hit and the "must-have" item for the upcoming Christmas holiday.

You have to watch an advertisement first, but you can see the video by going HERE and selecting "play video" right underneath the 4th picture of Elmo on the page.

Tags: Products

You Won't Hear This Often...

...but it looks like I may have been mistaken. About 10 days ago, I posted my opinion about the whole "Survivor: Cook Islands" contraversy. I haven't changed my mind about anything as far as my opinion goes, but I do have to say that I expected the four tribes to be merged into two tribes during the second episode and I no longer believe that is going to happen. All of the previews I have seen seem to indicate that the tribes will remain racially divided all the way through the second episode. So, I apologize for being wrong.

However, I did notice while watching the first episode, that none of the castaways had any problems being racially divided. In fact, most of the tribes were excited to be able to "represent" their people and disprove stereotypes. Besides, the first challenge involved several puzzles, so the Asian-Americans were glad they were all on the same team.......J/K!

BTW, you can view the full episodes of Survivor, as well as full episodes of other CBS shows, for FREE by going to CBS.com and clicking on "Innertube" in the extreme left column halfway down the page.

Tags: News, Entertainment

Lazy On The Weekends

I work at a place that is open for business 24/7 - holidays and all. Lucky me, I work overnights and weekends. So, my "weekends" are actually Sunday evening - Wednesday morning. It's these days that I am referring to in the title of this post.

When I envisioned starting a blog I decided I wasn't going to do it unless I updated it frequently. Otherwise it would just be a waste of cyberspace. So, that's why there are several posts a day here. But, as you may have noticed, on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesdays, the posts become non-existent. Let me just say there are several reasons why that happens. First and foremost, I am lazy on the weekends. Secondly, I spend the weekends at my other house (long story) and the internet connection from there is dial-up (yuck!) instead of high-speed. Thirdly, the internet connection from there is dial-up.

Yes, I know I repeated that last statement twice, but after spending all week using high-speed I am never very interested in using the dial-up. Plus, I work with computers all night at my job. So, I spend my weekends away from the computer. Everytime I get back to work on Wednesday night, I notice how sad my blog looks without any recent activity. And for that I apologize. But at least now you can understand why it happens.

Tags: Rambling

What In The Wide Wide World Of Sports?

Last week, I read this news story concerning a dead body found in the same building in Los Angeles where "CSI: NY" happened to be filming that day. I thought it was pretty ironic, but not really a big deal.

Now, I'm starting to wonder just what the heck is going on. Today I read this news article about a body washing up on the set of "CSI: Miami". If I were a crew member on the original "CSI" series, I'd keep my eyes open.

Tags: News

Picture Of My Nephews Who Turned 10 Yesterday

Dillon is on the left, Marshall is on the right.

Tags: Family

Local Landmark Being Renovated

I love it when a peice of local history is saved rather than demolished, so I was thrilled to read in the Springfield Newsleader that the Bartley-Decatur Neighborhood Center is going to be making new use of a historic home here in our city.

The century old building that will be renovated and used for the Neighborhood Center was known in the past as both the Springfield Colored Hospital and the Springfield Colored Welfare Home. The building is located at Calhoun Street and Sherman Avenue and was originally built around 1910 as a very elegant personal home. Most recently, the building is known for housing Kiddie Kove Day Care Center.

Tags: Springfield

Some Thoughts I Had Today...

I can't figure out how I live on an average of 5 hours of sleep a day and still don't have time to get everything done I want to do.

UndergroundOzarks.com is awesome.

I swear if I hear one more thing today about Lindsey Lohan or Paris Hilton I'm gonna go postal on somebody.

Chocolate cake is good.

I have got to figure out how to submit a better roster for this weeks Fantasy Football.

Dahler Mendi makes me want to dance. (Seriously, check it out)

I am way too addicted to my Nintendo DS Lite

My laundry is getting way out of hand and I'm gonna have to actually wash clothes this weekend. Yuck!

I wonder if Rachael called and asked the vet about our kitty.

Finally, Amy has updated her blog!

I really need to finish reading the books I am currently started on.

The people that drive in this town really don't do it very well.

Tags: Random Thoughts

WWJD?

Well, according to the Churches' Advertising Network, a group operating in the UK to help provide Christian advertising, he would join myspace.com just like everyone else has. The url for the new myspace page is http://www.myspace.com/isthisjesus.

According to the article found at Metro Radio: "Jesus Christ has joined MySpace with an online page advertising his love of beards, extreme water-skiing and the Life of Brian.

It's part of a campaign by the Churches' Advertising Network to provoke debate about God among young people this Christmas.

Posters showing the face of Jesus in beer foam in a pint glass will be accompanied by the question: "Where will you find him?""

Now, I'm all about finding a way to reach your target audience for advertising purposes and I will admit that if you want to reach today's youth then myspace.com is definately where you will find them. However, I don't understand the beer foam thing. I wonder if they're currently working on a poster featuring the likeness of Jesus being formed from the smoke billowing up from a joint held by a 16 year old? I mean, I can kinda see where they are going with it, but not really. And will the 13 year olds on myspace figure out what they mean or will they just process the picture as Jesus likes beer, so beer is okay?

Tags: News

I Get To Go To Red Lobster

So tonight, I am going out for a birthday dinner with my best friend, who is driving 1 1/2 hours to get here, and we are heading over to Red Lobster. I sure do love that place, but now I'm having a problem deciding what I want to eat. See, my favorite dinner when I'm there is the
"Fried Seafood Platter - Fried Popcorn Shrimp, fish fillets, clam strips and deviled crab & seafood cakes."

But currently there is an Endless Shrimp special going on.
"Endless Shrimp™
Satisfy your craving with all the shrimp you can eat. Start with any two irresistible preparations and indulge until your heart’s content. Choose from:
• Shrimp Scampi
• Fried Shrimp
• Shrimp Pasta
• Coconut Shrimp Bites
• Popcorn Shrimp"

I can't decide between the two. But either way I go, it's bound to be an awesome dinner. And then I get to come home and eat a peice of delicious football cake. What a great day!

Tags: Ramblings, Friends

Third Times A Charm On This Farm

For the third time in 12 years, Dave Heider from Wisconsin has had a white buffalo calf born on his farm. These animals are extremely rare and many Native American tribes hold them sacred.

"The white buffalo is particularly sacred to the Cheyenne, Sioux and other nomadic tribes of the Northern Plains that once relied on the buffalo for subsistence.

According to a version of the legend, a white buffalo, disguised as a woman wearing white hides, appeared to two men. One treated her with respect, and the other didn't. She turned the disrespectful man into a pile of bones, and gave the respectful one a pipe and taught his people rituals and music. She transformed into a female white buffalo calf and promised to return again.

That this latest birth is a male doesn't make it any less significant in American Indian prophecies, which say that such an animal will reunite all the races of man and restore balance to the world, Hand said. He said the buffalo's coat will change from white to black, red and yellow, the colors of the various races of man, before turning brown again.

The birth of a white male buffalo means men need to take responsibility for their families and the future of the tribe, Hand said."

Of the previous two white buffalo's born to Heider, the first one died at the age of 10 and the second one died at 3 days old.

Tags: News

Here's My Awesome Cake!

Okay, so I had to wait until I got a chance to go outside and send the pics to my email (stupid phone gets no signal in the basement) and then I decided since I hadn't had any lunch yet I should eat some real food before scarfing on cake. But now I am prepared to inhale the first peice.

...oh man, it is heaven in the shape of a football...this cake is awesome...Rachael needs to sell these things...yummy.

On a sidenote, I noticed with the last post that the time reflects what time I began creating the post instead of what time I actually clicked the publish button. So, if you notice the time says 1:09 this will help to prove my story is true. I seriously started typing right before my friends showed up.

It's My Birthday!!

Today is not only my birthday, it's the birthday of millions of other people all around the world. More importantly, Marshall and Dillon (my twin nephews) turn 10 today. I can't believe how quickly kids can grow!

Anyway, I am at work. By myself. In the middle of the night. Working alone. So, no body will....what the hell?.....no freakin way.....you're never going to believe this. I swear this is a true story. Right as I was typing this entry I heard someone come in the main door of the office. I turned around and there stood my two friends Charlie and Rachael holding a homemade birthday cake for me. I am so not lying. It was 1:13 in the morning when they came in and they both have real jobs to be at in like 7 hours. How freaking cool is it that they just delivered a cake for me.

I showed them what I had just typed about being at work by myself in the middle of the night and we all thought it was pretty crazy. My birthday has just barely gotten started and already it's totally awesome. It is totally amazing to have friends who will stay up way late and bring you a cake at 1:13am.

Wow, and it's a homemade cake too. Chocolate with chocolate icing and the white icing is homemade buttercream. It is so pretty I don't want to cut it. But it smells so good, I can't wait much longer to break into it.

I always carry my Nikon CoolPix L1 with me because I use it practically daily. But as luck would have it, I was transferring pictures onto my computer right before I left for work so I didn't bother grabbing it. Which totally sucks, because this cake is so awesome looking I would love to have a good picture of it. I just don't think I can wait until I get off work and get home before I cut into it. So, I snapped a few pics with my cell phone. If the pics are any good, I will post one here for you guys to see. But for now, I have just finished visiting with my friends and I have sent them home to try and get a little bit of sleep. So, I'm gonna have a peice of cake.

Tags: Rambling, Friends, Family

SLT Gets Naked

"The Full Monty" comes to Springtown as the opening production for the Springfield Little Theatre. Want to know just how naked these 6 guys will get? You can read the article here or in the Springfield NewsLeader

Tags: Springfield

Pentax 10.2 Megapixel K10D Digital SLR ...Excuse The Dripping Saliva

Man, would I love to have one of these bad boys! The first camera I ever fell in love with was a 35mm Pentax K1000 (yeah, it's old school) because I was in advanced photography and was photo editor of the yearbook and those were the cameras provided by the school. Cameras sure have come a long way, baby. But as much as I loved the old Pentax cameras I lugged around for 3 years of high school, I can only imagine how awesome this one might be.

10.2 MEGAPIXEL - did I read that right? That's amazing.

One day, I will have one. Of course, by the time I manage to get ahold of one someone will have invented 15.8 megapixel cameras.

Tags: Products

How To Make A Chocolate Martini

Okay, I've never actually had a martini of any kind. Not that I don't like vodka, just don't care for olives. Also, let's be honest, I'm never anywhere fancy enough and never with anyone fancy enough to bother ordering a martini.

But, the other day I was at Applebee's and these two delicious sounding drinks were on the menu. I would love someone to offer to take me to Applebee's and enjoy one with me.

Chocolate Martini
1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream
1 oz. Creme de Cacao
1 oz. Stolichnaya Vodka
Pour all the ingredients into a shaker two-thirds full of ice and shake well.
Strain into a chocolate-rimmed martini glass.


Caramel Appletini
1 oz Shakka Red Apple Liqueur®
1 oz Stoli Vanilla®
1 oz Caramel Syrup
2 oz Apple Juice
1 oz of caramel on the bottom of a cocktail glass, layer drink on top

Tags: Rambling, Entertainment

Finally, Football Becomes More Like Ice Skating

I'm a little concerned about the masculinity of the football team at the University of Northern Colorado. Seems like one of them decided to follow in the footsteps of Tonya Harding and go all pre-menstrual on the pretty boy who took his job. The starting punter for the team was attacked in a parking lot by a hooded thug, and was stabbed in his kicking leg. The assailant ran off, but was caught when a liquor store clerk noticed 2 people peeling the tape off of their license plate in front of his store. It seemed suspicious, so he called it in. The car belonged to the football teams reserve punter.

Tags: News, Sports

At Least Sean Preston Is Safe

Now that Britney Spears has given birth to another baby boy with her white-trash husband Kevin Federwhothehellcares, her oldest child Sean Preston (who turns 1 year old today) has a better chance of surviving his childhood. I mean, think about it, now the new baby can drive Mommy's car. Sean Preston can just chill out in his car seat while thinking of ways to deny who his father is.

Tags: News, Rambling

Recommended Book Of The Week

I love to read and I love to buy books. So, I thought I would start showcasing some of my favorites and allow all 3 people who read this blog the chance to check them out as well.

For my first recommendation, I am choosing a book for children. Now, I don't want to give you the wrong idea about what types of books I read. It's just that my nephew has this book along with a few others in the series, and I love them. They are totally hilarious and so adorably cute. So, here it is:

I recommend The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog by Mo Williams.

Tags: Books

Maybe I Should Rethink This

Earlier today, I posted a little blurb about how I did not have any desire to ever fly anywhere. But, maybe I should rethink this based on the following article I just found at www.upi.com/newstrack.

"$299 SEX FLIGHTS DON'T INCLUDE PARTNER

ATLANTA, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Those in Atlanta seeking to join the "Mile High Club" by having sex in an airborne aircraft can now do it for $299, but partners are not provided.

Corporate pilot Bob Smith says he and his business partner conceived the idea for a flying love nest five years ago as a weekend income supplement. His Mile High Atlanta service has now gone up 75 times for couples to get down, ABC News reports.

In the past only the very wealthy in private jets had the luxury, while the more common person had to make do with fumbling in tiny aircraft lavatories, said Gloria Brame, a clinical sex therapist in Atlanta.

"Having sex on airplanes has been around for almost as long as flights have existed," she told ABC News.

Smith said couples get a custom-fit bed, brand new sheets and a complimentary bottle of Champagne, and he pulls privacy curtains and dons headphones as a courtesy.

Smith told ABC he also provides couples with a kitchen timer to keep track of their hour and avoid being interrupted."

Tags: News

My New Car Is Broken...

Anyone who knows me is very aware of the fact that I recently got a new car. I am totally in love with it and completely obsessed by it. It's a 2006 Pontiac Torrent and I highly recommend them if anyone cares. Unfortunately, I did have to take my car into the dealer today for some work. What happened was, last Thursday, as I woke up and stumbled through the house to the bathroom, I noticed I could hear a weird noise. My first instinct was that the tornado sirens were going off outside, yet I knew the noise wasn't actually loud enough for it to be the sirens. So, I went around the house and turned off all the fans, the dryer, etc. so I could determine where this sound was coming from.

I followed it to the front door and when I went outside I discovered my car horn was going off. It apparently had been blaring for quite some time because by the time I got up and heard it, it was definately dying. I ran back in, grabbed my keys, unlocked the door and tapped the horn on the steering wheel. That made it stop, but when I tried to honk it again it made the sickest little burp of a sound.

So, I took it in today and they are ordering a new horn for it. In a few days they will call me to bring the car in and I will have to leave it overnight while they replace the horn and alarm system. Luckily it's under warranty and they will provide a car for me to drive. They made sure there were no shorts in the electrical system, but there is no indication of what caused the horn to set itself off and get stuck. All I know is I probably had some pissed off neighbors that day.

Tags: Rambling

The Friendly Skies

I have never flown on an airplane. I don't think I ever really want to. I don't have a lot of fears in my life (except for SPIDERS!!), but there seems to be way too much of this crap going on. I really don't need that kind of stress.

Tags: News

Stampede in Yemen kills over 50 people

According to the NY Times, more than 51 were killed and at least 238 were injured in a stampede at a political rally held today in Yemen. Apparently, as the country's president was leaving the stage, thousands of people rushed to get a close look at him. This collapsed an iron fence, crushing people beneath it.

I understand how a stampede can happen in a case where a nightclub catches on fire, but I have never understood how you these things happen at soccer matches or political functions.

Tags: News

There Goes My Fantasy Football Scores...

For the first time ever, I joined a Fantasy Football League this year. Now, the KC Chiefs happen to be my favorite football team, but it's based on just die-hard loyalty to the team and not because of their win/loss ratio. I know they suck, but I have to root for them. However, when it came to drafting players for my Fantasy team, I was more concerned about earning points than I was about recruiting Chiefs. It just so happened that because of the way the live draft went I ended up with Trent Green as my starting quarterback.

Well, as luck would have it he was injured in the first game of the season. He suffered a severe concussion and will be out for several weeks. Regardless of the fact that he is my Fantasy starting quarterback, it was a really scary looking hit. He laid on the field completely motionless for over 11 minutes before they took him off on a back board and stretcher. Fortunately, the x-rays revealed no neck injury and he did regain feeling in his limbs while in the hospital.

The biggest problem my Fantasy team faces with Trent out is that my back-up is Ben Roethlisberger, who underwent an emergency appendectomy a little over a week ago. So, he is questionable for the upcoming week. Guess that will force me to use my 3rd string, Chad Pennington. Of course, Chad had a good week this week and if I would have started him I would have made a lot more points. I hope he can repeat the performance during his next game. There's a lot more to running a Fantasy Football team than I ever imagined there was.

Tags: Sports, Rambling

Will "Survivor" Live?

I guess you all have heard about the controversy surrounding the upcoming season of Survivor. If you haven’t, check it out here. Anyway, now that we’re all up to speed, let me just throw my 2 cents in there with everyone else’s. Are you ready? Here it is:

What’s the big deal? It’s a game that these people voluntarily agreed to play. And do you seriously believe they will be separated by, judged by and voted off by race for the entire season? No, they won’t. Remember last season when the first day on the island there were 4 teams created? They were old men, young men, old women and young women. And they were separated like this for about 3 days until they got through the first immunity challenge, after which they were all randomly mixed up and combined into 2 teams.

This whole racial tribe division will probably be done exactly the same way. It’s just a temporary arrangement designed to prove that the show can still come up with new twists. It was also designed to generate an audience and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they have definitely gotten plenty of attention. People are so outraged by the fact that contestants are going to be racially divided, that there will probably be tons of people watching the premiere episode (which airs Thursday, Sept. 14 on CBS) just to see how wrong the whole thing is.

So, I think Survivor is going to be fine. True, they will probably never get risky again in the area of race, but there will always be some other new twist. The thing I don’t understand is why everyone is all upset about the racially divided tribes, but no one ever mentioned the age and gender divisions from last season. I’m not saying I agree with the way the producers divided the tribes this season, I’m just saying that it’s being blown way out of proportion. And I realize it's controversial so let me be clear in pointing out this is all just my humble little opinion.

Tags: News, Rambling

How The Hell....

How the hell have I lived here since January and never noticed Cold Stone Creamery before? If you stop to consider that my biggest weakness is always ice cream, it really doesn't make much sense that I had never been there. Especially since it is located at 900 E. Battlefield. I drive by it all the time. I guess I was always too pre-occupied with Buffalo Wild Wings to notice the ice cream parlor next door. But it doesn't matter now, because I finally did see it and was able to go back the next day and order the amazing creation you see pictured here. It's called the CandyLand and it is awesome. Although I will have to admit that I substitued the M&M's with crushed Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Not because I don't like M&M's, but because M&M's frozen into ice cream are just too hard to be chocolatey delicious. They don't melt in your mouth if they are frozen.

But, I digress. My whole point is, I finally realized we had our very own Cold Stone Creamery here in Springfield and lucky for me I figured it out in time to register for their birthday club before my birthday gets here on Friday. Yeah, free birthday ice cream for me!

Tags: Rambling, Springfield

Walnut Street Historic Homes Tour

Just wanted to make sure you guys were aware of this upcoming event. The tour includes 5 homes on Walnut Street, requires a $10 ticket, and takes place during Cider Days, Sept. 16 & 17. Find out more info at NewsLeader.com

Tags: Springfield

My Failed Adventure

When I woke up Saturday afternoon at 2:30pm (I work 3rd shift and go to bed around 9:00am) to answer the phone, it was way too pretty outside to go back to sleep. So, I decided to do a little bit of exploring in the city. I have always been very familiar with Springfield when it came to finding an address, but until moving here recently I had never realized there were so many beautiful city parks.

Unfortunately, I had not managed my time efficiently this summer (combined with the fact that I don't want to explore alone) so I have not yet had the opportunity to visit many of the parks yet. Which is why I decided that I should take advantage of a clear, cool Saturday afternoon by checking out Sequiota Park. Since the Blues Fest and the Japanese Fall Festival were both in town, I figured it would be a good time to go and not have to worry about a big crowd. As usual, my figuring was a little off. Damn, I hate math.

I had actually convinced my brother and a friend to head down there with me and check out the caves, so it was a little disappointing to see how crowded the whole area was. We spent a few minutes looking at everything, but we really didn't stay very long. I had wanted to take some good photos of the place, but there were no opportunities to take a picture without a stranger (or 7) in it. So, I didn't bother taking a single one.

Don't get me wrong, I like people and I am happy that families are out in the parks playing and spending time together. I didn't expect the place to be deserted. I even like kids. But somehow, the amount of people standing in all the same spots we wanted to stand and all the kids running, climbing and screaming just didn't make it a very enjoyable trip. It was hard to have a conversation and hard not to hear everyone elses. So, we left and chowed down at Applebees instead. The food and conversation was excellent, but I sure wish Sequiota Park would have been emptier so we could have still been there. Oh well, guess I will just have to go on a Thursday morning while the kids are in school. I bet it won't be as crowded then.

Tags: Rambling, Springfield

Flying Cars Are Real !!

It doesn't look anything like the flying car driven by Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, nor is it magical like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, but we are finally going to have a flying car. Or a "roadable aircraft" as they prefer it be called.

"Although the term "flying car" makes for an easily graspable mental image, Terrafugia prefers to call it a roadable aircraft because the Transition will spend most of the time in the air. Owners will, ideally, drive the two-passenger vehicle from their garage to an airport. At that point, the retractable wings will be unfolded and it will turn into a plane."

The company developing the space-age cars/planes, Terrafugia, expects the cars..I mean planes...whatever you want to call them, to be out as soon as 2009. And they are already accepting downpayments of 5% towards the purhase price to ensure you get one once they are released. Read the article here on CNET News

Tags: News

I May Be Fat, But At Least I'm Not Naked...

Police Chief Whose Wife Posed Nude Quits
(09-08) 12:12 PDT Snyder, Okla. (AP)
"The police chief, the mayor and a councilman in this small town resigned Friday amid an uproar over nude photos of the chief's 300-pound, tattooed wife that she posted on a Web site."

Rest of story found here

Tags: News

I Love Google News

I don't really know why I like Google News so much, but I do. I check it quite frequently to keep up with what's going on in the world. So I was really excited when I read this a few minutes ago:

"In a bid to explore new sales channels for long-established media, Google Inc. will expand its online news index to include historical news stories. According to the Associated Press report, the news archive comprises of old articles published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time magazine and The Washington Post."


And then, my excitement faded as I read this:

"Google will direct those who want to see the full story to the Web sites that own the content. Those referrals turn out to be extremely profitable for media outlets. They will be able to charge for access to the full stories."


Bummer. If you're interested, here's the article

Tags: News

Suffering From Sensory Overload

There’s too much information to be found these days. I am suffering from sensory overload. I don’t have time to keep up with all the news stories and blogs about politics while at the same time keeping up with the local news, checking on sports scores, reading my library books and spending an adequate amount of time with family and friends. It’s too much! I’m tired of this rat race.

Okay, so maybe it’s my fault I don’t have time for everything. I mean seriously, how many people HAVE to know the latest info about every subject. And it’s not enough that I want to “learn” more about every possible subject, I want to “do” everything possible too. I want to spend time outdoors exploring nature centers and parks. I want to clean my house better than I already do. I want to finish all the arts and crafts projects I have started, like cross stitching and painting ceramics. I want to spend more time writing. I want to handwash my car. I want to wander around the library. I want to go fishing. I want to spend more time with my photography. I want to have fun with my family and friends. I want to cook a home-made meal and have everyone over. I want to “do” and “learn” and “see” and “try” everything.

It sucks being this way. My interests are pulled in so many different directions that I actually don’t do any one thing really well. I am mediocre at all of my endeavors simply because I don’t have enough time to do them right before I am off doing something completely different. Don’t misunderstand, I do not have ADHD. Although, after reading back over this post, I can see how you would think that. But, I don’t. I CAN do one thing for hours and hours. Reading books for example, or painting, or exploring, etc. The problem lies in the fact that after I spend 2 days in a row reading a book, I get all pissed off at myself because I have gotten behind on everything else I want to do.

This is all made worse by the fact that I always want to make everyone happy. I have a split family because of divorce. With half-siblings from both parents there are a lot of times when I will want to go see my sister on my father’s side and my mother invites me over for dinner. Well, since my sister and my mom are no relation, we won’t all be having dinner together, so I don’t know who to upset. Unfortunately for my mom, she’s usually the one who gets disappointed. I know she takes it personally, but I don’t mean for her to. It seems like all my family and friends want me to do something with them on the same days. I always have to choose between everyone. I can't even have all of my brothers and sisters with me on my birthday without having two seperate parties. It's not just my family, I also have to decide between what I want to do and what my friends want to do. Because if they don't want to do the same thing as me, then I will be doing it alone. Usually I'd rather just do what they want to so I can at least hang out with them for a while.

There are actually some days when I just get so overwhelmed by my desire to be in 6 places at the same time, I end up not doing anything at all. I’ll just kick back in the recliner, turn on the Discovery Channel, and sleep the day away. It’s so frustrating. Does anyone else have this problem? Oh well, time to stop rambling on like this. I could be cross stitching right now. :-)

Tags: Rambling

Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter

Just wanted to point you guys to this article from People magazine on-line. I know he was just a hyperactive dork who wore khaki and chased crocodiles, but I am saddened by his death and I will miss his shows and appearances. And if your interested in the debate about whether the video of his death should be released, you can read about it here

Tags: News

Red Planet, Here We Come

Humans may or may not have landed on the moon, but we sure do seem to be determined to make it to Mars. In an effort to discover what it may be like living on such a cold, desolate planet, six scientists are going on a mission to Mars next summer. Okay, actually they are going to a permafrost desert in the Artic - same thing, right?

Tags: News

Yesterday Was The 10th Anniversary...

10 years ago yesterday, Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by in Las Vegas, Nevada. On Sept. 13, 1996 he died as a result of those gunshot wounds. Here is the original Rolling Stone cover story about his death in 1996.

You may or may not be someone who listens to rap / hip-hop, but almost everyone loved his hit song "California Love". At 25 years old, regardless of his demons, his death was tragic.

Tags: News

Allow Myself To Introduce Myself

Let me start by explaining why this page is titled Rosey's Ramblings. First, my screen name is roseykrh, that's simple enough. Second, because this blog is seriously going to be just a bunch of random ramblings. You see, I'm kind of a strange person in that I can go from Ann Coulter, to Madden NFL '07, to Wil Wheaton, to SpongeBob SquarePants in a matter of minutes. So there's no point in having anyone expecting to see posts about certain subjects. Because with me, you just never know.

Politics, local interests, sports, geekiness, cartoons, games and music - these are just a few of the many things you may find here. If any of you are interested in any of those subjects, you may actually enjoy this madness.

Tags: Rambling