For the last day of NaBloPoMo, I thought I'd do a sort of liveblogging thing- posting thoughts as they pop into my head. A lot of days in my head are like what I hope will take shape here- lots of little random tidbits that might make good posts but that I always feel are too short/small/insignificant to merit their own post and so remain largely unsaid... It'll either be a fun look inside my head, or it'll be dreadfully boring.

11:20 a.m.
- Beth over at so the fish said has put up an offer to exchange holiday cards. I've seen other bloggers do this over the years, and I think I even attempted it once but didn't get any responses, but I'm gonna try again. If you'd like to exchange seasonal cards email me your address at judy at twitterpated dot org and I'll send you mine. Stalkers need not apply, because you might end up being stalked by one of my insane housemates in return.

- I just spent a few minutes on myspace looking for people I went to highschool with after filling out one of those silly survey memes about 8th grade... I sent friend requests to a few people, including someone that I'm not entirely sure she's who I think she is. That oughta be fun. I'm not a big myspacer, but I check it a few times a week and mostly use it to keep track of people i know/knew once upon a time...

- My socks keep falling down, and it's really annoying

- I saw a friend this morning that I haven't seen in about 5 years. We parked next to each other, and she saw through my back window that I have a carseat/booster in my car.
W: You have a carseat in your car?
Me: Uh huh
W: Do you have a baby? Last time I saw you there was no baby...
Me: No, it's for Nathan. He's 9 now but he's only 54 pounds. I've actually had a carseat in my car for as long as I've known you.
W: Oh. I guess I never noticed. I'm glad I didn't miss you having a baby.
Me: Well, I missed you being in medical school, so that might have made us even...

12:15 p.m.
Seriously. This sock thing is gonna make me insane.

12:25 p.m.
I just got another email for that recipe chain letter. I'll do it, even though I never forward stuff, because what the heck, right? Everyone can use recipes, and if I don't get any in return, is it the end of the world? No. Now I just have to decide what recipes to send. Lasagna? Pork chops with stuffing? Chicken with peanut sauce? I'm probably putting way more pressure on myself than necessary...

12:34 p.m.
Linky:
I am in love with this site. Every day (as far as I can tell) she posts three things that make her happy. It's just such a great outlook. Also, I love this post, because it is so true. Both previous examples are also appropriate for Love Thursday (two links there), which it just so happens to be.

1:06 p.m.
What did people do before copy and paste? I swear it would take me so much longer to do everything I do if I didn't have that function. I use it ALL. THE. TIME. And I use keyboard shortcuts which makes it even faster.

1:41 p.m.
Every once in a while I kick around the idea of going back to school and getting a degree. What I want to get it in varies, but I've been thinking for some time about becoming a CNA or a nurse. I'd make a lot less as a CNA though, and that's a problem here because living where I do is so expensive. It's a TOTAL departure from what I do now, and I know it'd be hard work, but it'd be something I could feel good about at the end of the day. What wild thing do you sometimes dream about doing?

2:00 p.m.
Why does it feel like Friday?

2:24 p.m.
I got some new black dress shoes while I was in Oregon. I think they're designed to make people with sedentary jobs move around more. If I sit at my desk too long the left one starts hurting my foot, but the pain goes away if I stand up and walk around for a few minutes.

2:57 p.m.
When you're wearing a v-neck and drip hot soup, you might burn the top of your breast slightly, but at least you don't have to walk around with soup on your shirt for the rest of the day.

3:28 p.m.
This is probably the most dangerous thing I'll post today, but someone just called and asked if the lawyer I work for is the same guy as the lawyer who was in the news last year when his wife was murdered. "No, he's not.... No, I don't know how to get ahold of him.... No, I won't look it up for you.... Bye." I swear, I really am a weirdo magnet...

3:34 p.m.
My shoe is telling me that it's time to get up and walk around. And pull my mother%#@%ing socks up again. I'm throwing these socks away when I get home.

3:49 p.m.
Turns out standing up is not all I have to do in these shoes, I have to walk around. I'm currently just sitting at my desk with one shoe on. And the socks? They have fallen yet again.

5:00 p.m.
Man it was awfully busy here for the last hour of the business day. (I say business day because I'm here til 7 tonight making up some missed hours. I've got lots to keep me busy though, so hopefully it'll go fast.

5:24 p.m.
I'm sure you're all wholly sick of me talking about my damn sock, but holy hell! GAH!

5:37 p.m.
ZZZzzzz...... Oh wait, no. I still have an hour of work left...

6:20 p.m.
Technically I only have to be here for 10 more minutes, but in the grand tradition of my life, I'll be staying til I get what I'm currently working on finished. I thought I'd have it done already but it proved to be more complex than normal.

7:06 p.m.
Done and I'm goin home. Maybe there will pictures to accompany the rest of the night's additions...

7:47 p.m.
My new shoes and the damn sock, which is now in the garbage:

8:14 p.m.
I'm hiding in my room watching RENT. I should make some dinner... I just had the following exchange with my friend David:
Judy: okay, so I'm totally straight, but Rosario Dawson is HOTT in the strip club scene in RENT
David: Heck I'm totally gay and I agree. LOL :)

8:47 p.m.
Made dinner. The picture doesn't look very appetizing but it was good. Believe it or not that's only 4 oz of beef, along with a whole wheat pita (put it in the toaster it makes nice crisp pita chips), half a cup of hummus with jalapeño and artichoke, and a cup of sliced dill pickle and garlic stuffed green olives. Yum. And I've got some of the hummus mixture in the fridge for later.

9:15 p.m.
Running to the store for cat food...

9:47 p.m.
Home from the store and just finished taking out the garbage and the recycling. We have a month's worth of recycling because it only gets picked up every other week and the guys forgot to put it out last time. I should figure out what I'm wearing to work and then to opening night tomorrow...

10:27 p.m.
Have I mentioned I love the most recent version of Firefox? It has a spellchecker that underlines misspelled words in red, just like Word does. I love it, and I must say I think it has cut down on my typos actually getting published...

11:02
Time for this run of fun to end... It's bedtime. And so I have emerged on the other side of NaBloPoMo. I made it by the skin of my teeth a few times, but I did it. And now I'm gonna sleep. G'nite.

There is something about being bone-crushingly tired that is unlike anything else. It makes you forget things, it makes your favorite TV shows unappealing, it makes food tasteless and it makes things you were supposed to do not get done. I don't know why I'm this tired right now. Monday I could explain it as tensely sitting in a car while driving on ice for hours, then just sitting in a car for a few more hours is tiring. Tuesday I could explain it as residual stress from the trip. But I've been going to bed early and sleeping fairly well, so what gives? I shouldn't be this tired tonight.

Things that have not gotten done due to overwhelming fatigue:
Laundry
Unpacking
Embroidery project
Blog entries that actually say something (though this one sort of does)
Sending several emails that need sending
Catching up on shows before my tivo deletes them to make room

Bleh. Maybe this weekend...

Is it not enough that I work my ass off, you have to give me shit for every little thing? Well you can fuck off.

(Sorry. I'm in a horrible mood tonight. You'd think I'd be in a good mood because I got some good news today, but I'm not. I'm pissy and bitchy and irritated and bitter. And no, I'm not PMSing, thank you very much. I'm in a mood thought where I should not be blogging, but NaBloPoMo says I must so I am. Here. Enjoy. I'm going to sleep.)

I've been in a car pretty much all day. Driving in ice sucks (thankfully I was not behind the wheel). My brain is pretty much fried, and so I'm going to bed. I go back to work in the morning, but I'll post some stories about the weekend soon.

While I'm glad I decided to do NaBloPoMo because it has gotten me back in the habit of posting, I'll be glad when it's over...

My sister and I went shopping today... Hooray for no sales tax! I picked up a few Christmas gifts, and a birthday gift for my brother in law. I also got a few things for myself. I'd like to have more of a chance to shop without sales tax, but I am so ready to go home...

that I might have been a little bit of a drama queen in last nights post. I was exhausted and hungry and more than a little bit overwhelmed with the events of the day and was rushing to get a post up. Yes, I really did post that at 11:59. Well, it published at about 12:10am, but I hit save at 11:59 to make sure I got the timestamp. We had a grand time out in the woods but there was an ER run afterwards that was scary. Out of respect for that person's privacy that's all I'm going to say- it was just a long long day. And now I'm off to veg and attempt to find the Sharks game in Oregon TV listings...

I had a post composed in my head earlier. We (my sister, brother in law, Keegan and I) were doing a fun activity and I planned out what I was going to say about it here. But then things changed and became not fun, and since I'm not sure yet how much of that I can share here, I'll just say that while it was still fun there were chainsaws, and a snowball fight, and log throwing, and I used a machete. Then it got COLD and my pants froze to the ground and anytime I tried to walk anywhere I fell because the snow had turned icy and Uggs have no traction. That was the fun part.

P.S. No one got hurt from any of the above- that's not the not-fun stuff. I'll post the not-fun stuff later if I can. I'm really only posting this much because of NaBloPoMo.

Welcome to family dysfunction. (as an aside, I almost just asked my sister who can barely spell her own name how to spell dysfunction) My family loves each other and all that but we're all so different that we have a hard time getting along. Mainly I think a lot of it is that my dad has trouble dealing with the fact that he raised stubborn and strong willed daughters. I'm glad to be here though, I don't see my sister and brother in law often enough since they moved up here.

It's apparently a sad day too, as my brother in law's grandmother (got that?) passed away on sunday, and today would have been her birthday, so we're trying to keep the bickering down for his sake. We'll see how well that goes...

Keegan and I arrived safe and sound today at my sister's. Getting here was an adventure. Most of it was the good kind of adventure, with laughter and hard snowfall and snarking about people at breakfast. But our hotel last night was a bit of an ordeal.

It pretty much started when we got into our beds and were settling in.

Keegan: Did you fart?
Me: No.
K: Are you sure?
Me: Yes, I'm sure. I don't smell anything (as soon as those words left my mouth I smelled it. It smelled like something had died) Ewww. I think it's coming from my bed!

It smelled like someone had farted and then made the bed relly fast, like a present for the next person to sleep in that bed. We laughed our butts off until long after the smell dissipated.

When I finally rolled over to go to sleep, I found my face off the pillow I had brought from home and sort of in the crack between the two hotel pillows. It smelled rather strongly of liquid dish soap. It was very odd. Keegan was all "Just keep your head on your own pillow, you'll be fine. Dish soap and dirty farts..."

"Dude. Remind me of that in the morning, that is so going to be the title of my blog post tomorrow."

One of the biggest fights Keegan and I have ever been in involved a long car trip and control of the car stereo. We have pretty vastly differing taste in music, and it can get ugly. Also, I'm a singing along kind of person, and that drives him crazy. Given that we're going to be spending 20ish hours in the car together over the long weekend, we've pretty much come up with a "one hour of your music, then one hour of mine" agreement, with the other person having veto power if there's something we absolutely hate. And I'll try to keep my singing along under control, but there will still be some. I just can't not.

It's 11pm and I've just finished packing to go to my sister's for Thanksgiving. Getting there involves a 10 hour car trip, and I'll be gone 4 days. And it's cold where she lives. I'm still not sure if that justifies the amount of baggage I'm taking with me. The pile I have to load into the car in the morning includes:

1 rolling suitcase
1 small bag with makeup/hair stuff/shower stuff
1 pillow
1 blanket
1 small zipper case with embroidery supplies
2 embroidery scroll frames
1 laptop bag

I sort of feel like I'm moving in to my sister's house taking all that stuff for only 4 days, but I am the queen of the overpackers and when I try to cut it down (like the last trip I took) I underpacked and didn't have enough of what I needed.

I wasn't overly interested in this movie, but Dee's work did a free midnight screening for employees and their friends. (She works for a museum that has an IMAX theater) It was cute, but totally wasn't the movie I was expecting. Cute though. Robin Williams wasn't super annoying as a voice actor, which was good. I mean, you knew it was him, but it wasn't distracting (like when I found out that Meg Ryan and John Cusack were the voice actors in Anastasia). Hugh Jackman's Elvis impersonation is scarily good.

It's not a "must see", but it's not an "avoid at all cost" either.

Well, the jersey/blanket combo (see previous entry) seems to have worked. We kicked their asses, 6-1. And my goalie was in net. But I am willing to chalk it up as a fluke. After all, it was Philadelphia... (sorry Brad)

When I first started watching hockey, Charlotte told me that there are lots of traditions and superstitions in it. Some of the ones I can remember off the top of my head are:

Our goalie changing his pads in the middle of the season was a bad thing.
Charlotte must be knitting something at the game or the sharks play badly. (though it seems any handicraft will work because I sewed buttons from her seat a couple of weeks ago)
Chinese chicken salad is not hockey food and must not be consumed at the arena.

At one of my first games, I applied for a credit card solely because I'd get a free acrylic blanket with the sharks logo on it. If I don't sleep with that blanket the night before an away game, we lose. Sometimes we lose anyway, but it can't be blamed on me. Recently I had misplaced the blanket, and we lost two in a row. The third night, I slept in my jersey hoping it would do. We won the next 2.

Tomorrow night there's a home game, but I'm sleeping in my jersey anyway because I'm freezing and it's warm. I've also since found the blanket (it had fallen behind my headboard), and that's under my pillow.

It might only have the power for away games, but if not... we should kick ass against the Flyers.

I've Never Smoked Pot
I've Never Kissed A Member Of The Opposite Sex
I've Never Kissed A Member Of The Same Sex
I've Never Crashed A Friend's Car
I've Never Been To Japan
I've Never Been In A Taxi
I've Never Been In Love
I've Never Had Sex In Public
I've Never Been Dumped
I've Never Done Cocaine
I've Never Shoplifted
I've Never Been Fired
I've Never Been In A Fist Fight
I've Never Had Group Intercourse
I've Never Snuck Out Of My Parent's House
I've Never Been Tied Up
I've Never Regretted Having Sex With Someone
I've Never Been Arrested
I've Never Made Out With A Stranger
I've Never Stolen Something From My Job
I've Never Celebrated New Years In Time Square
I've Never Gone On A Blind Date
I've Never Lied To A Friend
I've Never Had A Crush On A Teacher
I've Never Celebrated Mardi Gras In New Orleans
I've Never Been To Europe
I've Never Skipped School
I've Never Slept With A Co-Worker
I've Never Cut Myself On Purpose
I've Never Had Sex At The Office
I've Never Been Married
I've Never Been Divorced
I've Never Had Sex With More Than One Person Within The Same Week
I've Never Posed Nude
I've Never Gotten Someone Drunk Just To Have Sex With Them
I've Never Killed Anyone
I've Never Received Scars From My Sex Partner
I've Never Thrown Up In A Bar
I've Never Purposely Set A Part Of Myself On Fire
I've Never Eaten Sushi
I've Never Been Snowboarding
I've Never Had Sex At A Friend's House While They Were Throwing A Party
I've Never Had Sex In A Dressing Room
I've Never Flashed Anyone
I've Never Met Anyone From Online

It's funny, I saw/talked to more of my family yesterday than I normally do in a month. Well, maybe a week, since I usually talk to my mom at least once a week. But I saw my mom yesterday, and my sister and my brother(in law) both called last night, independent of each other.

My parents are leaving for Portland tomorrow to go to a convention, then they'll go to my sister's in Bend on Monday. Keegan and I will be heading up there on Wednesday.

Eric (my brother in law) called to talk about me driving up there and what car was I going to be driving and the weather and all that, and then Melissa called to talk about other logistics.

And even though my family is with me on the "no Christmas before Thanksgiving thing, I've gotten the "what do you want for Christmas" question from both my mom and my sister. My sister works for Hollywood Video, so I usually get movies from her, but this year I'm campaigning hard for gift cards.

My dad has this whole "Clothes are not a present. Gift cards are not a present" thing, but I'm hoping I can get my parents to get past that this year, because what I really really want/need are Lane Bryant gift cards. I've lost some weight, my work clothes don't fit quite right anymore, and I plan to lose more, which means I'll be in pretty desperate need of new clothes.

I have to make my shopping lists too. I'll be in Oregon for Black Friday and Oregon has no sales tax... WOOT!

As I mentioned the other day, I took some photos of my yearbooks since I couldn't scan them. The resolution isn't great, but it's good enough to be embarrassing. ;o)

Ah, sixth grade... That wasn't a kind year. Well, not that any of junior high was really all that kind, but still. I think I look drugged here. Check out the hair though. It's still quite blond, with a hint of wave. Starting toward the curly-haired brunette I am today...

That's Keegan, second from left. He was Student of the Month. They pulled him out of PE to take the pic... he's not really a sweats-wearing kind of guy. And the second picture makes me laugh because "Hot." is something he says a lot, and it seems he's been saying it for a while.

I think the giant heart around his head gives it away, but this is Jason, my first love.

I had to include this because it was just too awesome. This guy had an unpronounceable last name, so we called him Razmatazz. He left after 6th grade. I think NASA wanted to study his gravity defying hair.

All the girls had a crush on this teacher. Check out what he wrote in my 7th grade yearbook: "Remember the Science Fiction Club" Yes, I was that much of a nerd.

My 8th grade yearbook went missing a long long time ago, so we move on to...

Freshman year. Oy. There is just... nothing to say about this.

My Sophomore yearbook had a printing problem and a lot of the class photos printed weird, all overexposed, so I couldn't get a good shot of my photo from that year. But here is something else from that yearbook:

Keegan's senior picture. And bonus, right next to him is my sister Melissa's senior picture.

Junior year. Probably the best of my high school photos, and that's not saying much.

And last but not least...

Senior year. They never got my choice for the photo I wanted in the yearbook, so they chose one for me. This one was the worst of the bunch, and I'll never understand why they chose it.

Senior year I also did choir and colorguard. Our colorguard uniforms were awful. Those hats have an orange pompon on top, and our skirts were the same black and white plaid.

Lastly:

I was reading a post this morning on a blog I enjoy- I'd link it but it's password protected- that was talking about children's books. A friend had given the blogger's daughter a bunch of books he'd never heard of, except for Tikki Tikki Tembo. Queen of the random facts that I am, I was a little too excited that I still remember Tikki Tikki Tembo's full name.

Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo.

But the storybook the little girl was given had a sixteen word name, and the one I remember is only 12. I racked my brain trying to see if I had forgotten part of the name, but Tikki tikki tembo-no sa rembo-chari bari ruchi-pip peri pembo is exactly how I remember it. So I decided to Google it, and apparently there are several diferent versions of the story, and the end of the name varies.

There is the version I remember, there is "Tikki-tikki-tembo No sa rembo Hari bari brooshki Peri pen do Hiki pon pom Nichi no miano Dom boriko" which is 20 words, "Tikki Tikki Tembo No Sarimbo Hari Kari Bushkie Perry Pem Do Hai Kai Pom Pom Nikki No Meeno Dom Barako" which is probably the same version with different phoenetic spellings. There is also the very different "Nikki Nikki Tembo-No So Rembo-Oo Ma Moochi-Gamma Gamma Goochi". None of the name variations I found had 16 words though.

Anyone else remember this story? What name do you remember?

My scanner is still not usable- I still can't find my cords- so I took pictures of my old yearbooks so I could post funny pictures. They came out okay I suppose. I'll post them as soon as I'm done editing them all. Until then I'll give you this:

Any guesses? Not that it was hard, but Brad got it right. It's Keegan, circa 1987. Told ya we've known each other a long time. He remembers me from junior high, but I don't remember him til high school. Obviously he's right though, since he signed my 6th grade yearbook.

My housmate is making a lot of noise in the next room. Rattling his doorknob like crazy, and then scraping against the wall... wtf?? It's late, what the heck is he doing to make that kind of noise?

Don't answer that.

So, I've mentioned a few times that I've been doing a lot of sewing recently. It's for an SCA thing tomorrow. Here is what I've been working so hard on:

Each of those is about 1/4 inch in diameter, and started out as a 1.5 inch square of fabric. I made about 80 of those, and sewed about that many on to varios peoples' outfits.

And now, with one minute to spare getting this post up, I've got to go finish my own outfit...

1. Fallen out of a tree and had the ER triage nurse insist I tried to kill myself.
2. Had a woman call me at 11:45 at night and insist I worked at Taco Bell and was sleeping with her husband.
3. Laughed so hard I passed out.
4. Got dehydrated to the point of needing two liters of fluid pumped into me via IV.
5. Watched Garden State six times in one weekend.
6. Fell in love with a baby in a Philippine orphanage and wanted to smuggle her home in my suitcase.
7. Sang a solo from inside a 2 story tall artificial Christmas tree.
8. Flown to other states to visit bloggy friends.
9. Learned how to deliver a baby at home.
10. Had a woman in McDonald's think my best friend was my daughter.

Last night I went to the Sharks game. It was very last minute, but fun. I had a project that needed to be done by today (some details on an SCA outfit that needed to be hand-sewn), so I figured I'd just take it with me and work on it at the game.

I know what you're thinking, but contrary to that, I actually did get some done. Not nearly as much as I would have had I been home, but still, some. I did the rest when I got home. I was very, very careful not to let the coat I was working on touch the floor of the arena, because, ew. Even so, when I was working on it at home, I smelled beer. I don't drink beer. I had asshat teenagers seated behind me, but they sure as heck should not have had beer. Where the hell was the beer smell coming from, and ohmahgah was it coming from the coat??

I gave everything that had been near my project at the game a thorough sniffing, but nothing seemed to be the source of the smell. Really, as long as I had not gotten beer on the coat, I wasn't all that concerned, more curious than anything.

Fast forward to a few minutes ago, I was looking for my ipod case in my purse (had the ipod but not the case) and spied a piece of paper I needed to shred. I pulled it out, and didn't really look closely at it, but there was the beer smell again. I looked more closely and there was a discolored line on the paper that was damp. It smelled vaguely of beer, but also faintly of soy sauce. Neither of those things should have been anywhere near my purse.

I pulled everything out of my purse, since damp + the amount of electronics I keep in my purse = verybad. I smelled everything, but nothing else smelled like beer. Nothing else was damp, and there was no moisture damage to my leather calendar. It was only on the papers. WTF? I mean, good that it wasn't on anything else, but where the heck did it come from?

My post today was going to be a picture of my "I Voted" sticker, but it fell off at some point without my noticing. But I voted. Did you? Because if you want to complain about the way our country is being run, first you have to do your part to try and change it.

*Five for Fighting- World

For there was much of it tonight. But in a good way. Dee and I went to go see Five for Fighting at the Great American Music Hall tonight. And we were close enough to touch the stage. Close enough to get some AMAZING pictures with my new camera. He played all my favorites, and I knew every song. Last time I saw him in concert I hadn't heard the album he was touring for, so there was a lot less singing along. Tonight I sang along to every song, and got smiled at several times. He actually saw Dee and commented "Go Red Wings" because she was wearing a Red Wings jersey. Because "Dude. Five for Fighting."

It was a great show. I've never stood so close to the stage at a concert. So close I could have reached out and touched the piano. I took over 100 pictures, and let me just take a moment to say just how much I adore my new camera. My old camera would have given me 100 unintellegable blurs. This one got me some super clear shots, and several video clips that are more than 10 seconds long.

Dee thought the drummer was hot. But he gave *me* the drumstick. I was so surprised... I didn't think he really would. So that was revenge for *my* John talking to her during the concert- I got the drumstick of the guy she liked. Payback's a bitch. ;o)

I love that he plays small venues, so it feels really personal and intimate. I will do my damnest to see him every time he comes to town.

Click to view Flickr set

It's 11pm on sunday. I've spent the entire day cleaning and doing laundry and sewing buttons (36 of them) to a set of sleeves for an SCA dress. And now I am so dead tired that I can barely see my screen, and the number of typos has been too many to count.

So this is my sunday post, sucha s it is. There'll be better stuff coming soon.

So, I'm actually prone to the expression "smells like a urinal cake". Because those have a distinct smell. And generally the response is "how do you know what a urinal cake smells like? Well... aside from a lifetime of camping and using portapotties, there is this:

As house manager at the theater, stocking the bathrooms is part of my job. There have been weekends where I couldn't even go into the men's room. Seriously men, how do you not notice that?? The big problem with that, because it would seem like I wouldn't have to spend a while lot of time in there, is that we store supplies and things in the closet in there. Things I need every show. Also, our ladies room only has two stalls, so on busy show nights sometimes we cycle them through the men's room too so that intermission can actually end.

Now employees... sometimes employees just have to deal. But we can't ask that of our patrons and then expect them to come back for more. So this season has been an experiment in deodorization. I am glad to report that it seems to be working. The urinal cake may be becoming obsolete. Though I must say, I am a little frightened by this:

It's floral scent, but in the package it doesn't smell like anything. So it's.... moisture activated? I don't think I want to know. Oh, and it comes with its own rubber glove for removal. I am *so* glad that's not my job.

Say you are meeting a new person -- blind date, new friend, whoever -- and you want them to have some idea of who and what kind of person you are. But you can't actually tell them in so many words. Instead, you have to give them a box with a dozen things in it for them to look at/read/listen to/taste/whatever. What would you put in the box? (A copy of your journal or a piece of paper with the URL to your journal on it would be the same thing as just telling them directly yourself, so that's not allowed.)

1. My covenant ring
2. My garnet earrings
3. A piece of blackwork and the documentation for it that I entered in a competition
4. My plastic angel I’ve had since I was 9
5. A daffodil
6. A jar of my mom’s pickles
7. My Sharks jersey
8. “The Princess Bride” on DVD
9. A pair of novelty socks
10. A list of blogs I really enjoy
11. My Marc Chagall coffee table book, with “Three Candles”, “L’arbre De Vie”, “La Mariee”, “Joy”, “Roses”, and “Le Vent dans les Fleurs” marked with ribbons
12. My favors from the Westermark Players and Bella Luna

Songs I heard at Red Robin over lunch today:

Jingle Bells
The Real Thing- John Mayer
All I Want for Christmas is You
Who Says You Can't Go Home- Jon Bon Jovi
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Ever the Same- Rob Thomas
Carol of the Bells (Okay, kind of awesome because you almost never hear this song performed with the words, but still)
Save the Last Dance for Me- Michael Buble
It's Christmas Time Again (no, it's NOT!)
Better Days- Goo Goo Dolls
Step Into Christmas

IT'S NOVEMBER SECOND PEOPLE! I mean, I will admit it, I have at least 4 Christmas songs that shuffle through my iPod year round, but that's my choice. I still have a Christmas decoration hanging on the inside of my bedroom door, but that's because it's pretty. That's not me piping it over the airwaves or decorating an entire public place TWO DAYS after Halloween.

I am staunchly "No Christmas Until After Thanksgiving" (my friend in Calgary got me though when he said that in Canada, Thanksgiving was almost a month ago). Sure, I'll pick up a gift here or there because it's perfect for someone and save it for Christmas, but I don't "go Christmas shopping" until after Thanksgiving. I realize it makes me crazy, giving myself only a few weeks to shop for about 20 people, but that's the way I do things. I also realize that I'm in the minority, but it doesn't mean I'm going to put up with having Christmas shoved down my throat for almost two months. I think I'm gonna be staying home a lot the next few weeks...

So today is the first day of NaBloPoMo... I was going to talk about how my cat tried to eat a needle last night, but then I realized that that was pretty much all there was to tell of that story, so I decided to give y'all the contents of my purse instead.

Cell phone (silver RAZR V3)
Franklin Covey calendar (I carry it around but almost never use it)
Keys-
Home- main door and garage
Hillbarn- office and dressing rooms
3 for work
key fob for after hours entry to my office building
car
2 keys to friends' houses
Makeup bag-
MAC pressed powder
Burt's Bees strawberry lip balm
MAC Pro longwear lip color in Passion Preserved
MAC Loud Lash Mascara (this stuff is sob and rub proof- it got put to the test at Laura and Ben's wedding)
travel size powder brush
tampon
MAC retracting lip brush
pillbox
Wallet
Green iPod Mini in pink leather case
Safeway receipt (I saved $14.90!)
$1.00 off coupon on Stouffer's family size lasagna
Travel pack of Kleekex (given to me by a fellow passenger when I was crying in the airport)
Sunglasses
Digital Camera (Sony Cybershot DCS-W100- YAY!) in an 1154 Lill Studio coinpurse that I turned into a camera case
set of 6 nesting metal shotglasses in a red leather case (found in Maryanne's house, thought they were cool)
Ziplock bag containing a spool of grey thread, a spool of purple thread, 30 handmade purple linen buttons, and 14 squares of linen to make 14 more buttons, and the needle my cat tried to eat the other day
San Jose Sharks keychain in the shape of a hockey skate
Car alarm remote (it broke off my keys a year ago)
Piece of brown beach glass
3 hair elastics
2 pairs of broken sunglasses (now in the trash)