Showing posts with label Seth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seth. Show all posts

Thursday, March 19, 2009

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

REALLY CLOCK, REALLY?
What is with this hour, day, week-taking so GD long? Seriously?? I cannot believe that its only 1:37. That is SO UNFAIR. Pbbbhhhtttthhh...

Blogs *angry fist shake*
Oh how I love you. But you are eating my day. Days when I could be writing eloquent chapters in my book or decidedly thoughtful blogs or even doing the work I was hired to do. Currently I am in love with these blogs and am stuck in archive hell trying to catch up on people I don't even know and their witty musings on the Internet since 2001. (Seriously-people have been blogging that long!?!?) I currently send myself an email every night before I leave work of where I am at in my current love blogs archives. The blogs I am reading currently are:
Dad Gone Mad-This guy reminds me of my brother, but more Jewish.
http://www.dooce.com/- This women is living my dream life with her beautiful pictures and fantastic decorating and style sense and getting to be on the Today show and writing a book with a witty title.
http://www.finslippy.com - This woman cracks me up. She is that cool East Coast friend I wish I had like Joshilyn Jackson is my cool Southern friend.

The first annual meeting of the Cougar Club
Seth has deemed a gathering of a few of my friends to watch Twilight in the safety of our own homes away from screaming teens and police who will make us take our hands out of our pants "The Cougar Club" Thanks honey. Not only did you call me and my friend Old, you've officially made this whole thing weird, because before it was just people who like to watch age inappropriate movies. Now I have to come up with a clever name for your football league...

A conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Hellbusch:
(Due to raving yesterday, I will try to include these as much as I can)

Mrs. H: Let's run away to Columbia and buy a Cocoa Bean Farm and make fantastic Cocoa Beans that are world renowned and we are loved by the small village we employ to maintain our farm while we play with our sun kissed children in the fields and picnic and I will wear a big hat and you will wear a white linen suit that never gets dirty and sandals.
Mr. H: We can't, we are on a budget.
Mrs. H: You know, you should find a better name for budget if you want me to like it and go along with it, you know make it fun-like instead of saying we are going to the gym, I say we are going to the "Sweat Shop" and make dirty eyebrows.
Mr. H: Okay-how about "Project Fun" Because we are working to save money to have fun?
Mrs. H: *makes face*
Mr. H: Um..."Project Awesome Fun"?
Mrs. H: *makes exasperated face* Why does it have to be a project? Look if you don't come up with a fun name soon, I'm going to start dancing to this song because I like this song and I have a dance to it and it starts like this. *shakes shoulders*
Mr. H: Okay no, don't stop-how about "Awesome Fun"?
Mrs. H: Okay that works-Can we have PepperJax for dinner?
Mr. H: No, we can't, we are having "Awesome Fun" instead...
Mrs. H: Ooo that sounds dirty!!
Mr. H: *throws himself on a display of hunting knifes*

Love (for it to be the weekend already),
Carrie

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

A signature always reveals a man's character - and sometimes even his name.

Goodnight Brain…
It feels like my brain needs a nap. It’s just sluggishly dragging itself around today. The Brain is taking minutes to answer questions that normally take seconds. Mundane repetitive tasks require a pause and step by step think thru to get things moving again. In short my brain needs a kick in the ass, but being that I don’t (and hope) my brain does not HAVE an ass, or ass section, since most things in the brain seems to be in sections, I’m not sure where to direct my kicking motion…

If you build it, they will tax you.
So I’m already sick of this whole Sarpy County Stadium debate here in Omaha. While I think it would be fun to have a Haymarket Park type of picnic thing going on, could we get a better team than the Royals? One actually worth watching? I remember we used to go to this Fourth of July family thing the first couple years we lived in Nebraska and my mom worked on base, and we always had to plan an activity for during the game, because the Royals were that bad. I actually cannot remember watching a game. I have pictures of Kathy reading a book and Jesse playing with walkie-talkies. Pretty much we were there for the fireworks and whatever world record attempt was going to get us into the Guinness Book of World Records (Of which I am in both for biggest crowd playing a kazoo to the tune of “take me out to the ball game” and biggest crowd doing the YMCA-booyah!) So unless this new stadium can not raise my property taxes or any other taxes and will have the WORLD’S Largest Fireworks show-you won’t get my support. Or maybe if they give everyone whose names are Carrie free tickets. I also think there are better things to spend money on, like hospitals and schools. One guy on the news last night said something really striking to me, "We don't build factories for manufacturers. We don't build warehouses for distributors. We don't build stores for retailers so why would we build a stadium for a sports franchise?" SO TRUE. Anyway moving on…

Grand Ole Idol
American Idol last night was…snooooozzzzeeee. I of course, as planned voted for Scott because I laughed at Randy Travis and his awkward “go in for the hug, oh he’s blind he can’t see the hugging so we’ll do a handshake moment”. I rolled my eyes at Danny Gokey’s “Jesus take the wheel” (predictable) and got uncomfortable with Adam’s “Ring of Fire” which was super strange. I really wanted to be like, “Dear Adam-you aren’t Jim Morrison yet, please refrain from freaking out America until after you get arrested the first time for indecent exposure. Thanks, Carrie” I get he was trying to pull a David Cook and do it “his way” but seriously, he all but took off his pants and sang about his man junk while he pointed to it and thrusting it inappropriately. Everyone else was pretty much forgettable except Matt G-who can play a piano like nobody’s business. He even shows up the blind guy-who whined about getting bad hat picks, I’m sure he will go home tonite because AI is rigged and NO ONE spills the secrets of AI.

Weekend cooking plans
This weekend I’m going to attempt to make ricotta cheese on my own. I’m very nervous. This could go horribly wrong with a quickness. And I could waste 6 dollars of milk, buttermilk, and half and half. And also about 2 hours of my life. Let’s keep our fingers crossed though and hope for the best. Because if I can MAKE CHEESE, the world would be a BRILLANT place. My dream is to make something so awesome and unique that my friends and family stop asking me for the recipe and just start begging me to make it for them and bring it to parties. Kind of like my Dad’s guacamole recipe. I also have a lovely cheese stuffed chicken recipe from A year in the kitchen I’m going to try.

Wake me up, before you go-go-oh wait don’t.
I woke up this morning to a headache. A headache is like the fifth worse thing to wake up to. The first being blood of any sort, second a stranger in your bed/room, third cat butt in your face, fourth the sudden urge to vomit. So needless to say, didn’t start off this day well, but at least its overcast and moody, kind of like myself today. If it was bright and sunny I’d be even more crabby, because we all know how I feel about sunshine.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Speaking of overcast days, you know what my favorite thing in the world is? Curling up under a duvet on the couch, with a really good book, and a cuddly kitten or two, and reading three sentences of the book and falling asleep-this is the best thing ever. This scenario can also have cuddly kittens substituted for a cuddly husband and the book substituted for a boring football game.

A conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Hellbusch:

Me: So I was reading this stuff today about circumcision-
Husband: -oh great.
Me: Let me finish-so anyway apparently some women don’t get their baby boys circumcised because there is this big movement because it’s really unhealthy or something I don’t know.
Husband: We are getting our son circumcised-end of discussion.
Me: Well why? I mean, I don’t care about our kids foreskin one way or another, I just want to know why you are so adamant about it.
Husband: Because that’s the kid that gets picked on in school, the kid with the weird wanger. He goes to the pool and we all made fun of him. (Continues long story about the boy he knew his whole life that had hippie parents and was uncircumcised and how horrible his life was with foreskin.)
Me: You looked at boys wangers at the pool and pointed and laughed?
Husband: Well when you are a kid, you look, you know, at the pool.
Me: Uh no, I wasn’t allowed to look at boys wangers at the pool. What pool did YOU go to? Let’s not send our kids there.
Husband: *exasperated sigh* No, no circumcision.
Me: Oh I don’t even care about that anymore, I’m worried about my boy looking at other boys wangers now…
Husband:…*crashes truck into tree*

Hope you all have a great Hump Day! We are almost there-hold on people!
Love, (anything that involves a duvet)
Carrie

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Laughter is the closest distance between two people.

Why Carrie doesn’t Twitter
So I’ve been really looking at this Twitter thing. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a website where you basically update your every move and thought throughout the day. Famous people do it, TV shows do it, heck even Anderson Cooper does it.
I really don’t think this is such a good idea for me. To prove my point, here is a sample of what my Twitter day will look like: (apparently there is a cute little picture of you and a balloon box that comes up with your thoughts-so just imagine that)

Carrie thinks that getting up before the sun should be a crime.
Carrie thinks that she doesn’t want to brush her teeth this morning, but probably will.
Carrie is looking at her bed longingly.
Carrie is checking her email and facebook.
Carrie is waking up Seth.
Carrie is making breakfast and feeding the babies ham from Seth’s sandwich.
Carrie is trying to decide what to take for lunch.
Carrie is running late.
Carrie can’t find her black motorcycle boots to wear today and it makes her mad.
Carrie is wearing her pink tennis shoes…again.
Carrie is running very late.
Carrie almost hit Seth’s truck backing out-per usual.
Carrie wishes it was legal to shoot a paintball gun at people who cut her off in traffic.
Carrie thinks the crew on 94.1 is hilarious in the morning.
Carrie wishes she was brave enough to call into the morning shows.
Carrie thinks that 106.9 Big Boy in the morning has some funny topics too-but not today.
Carrie loves English muffins with cream cheese-YUM.
Carrie hates how pop splatters everywhere when you open it while driving.
Carrie wishes it was legal to gentle rear end people who are going 50 in the fast lane.
Carrie wishes this drive was shorter.
Carrie hates the sun-especially when it’s bright and shiny in her eyes while she is driving.
Carrie wishes Fort Calhoun would move 10 feet to the left so she didn’t have to slow down to 25 when going thru the town.
Carrie is sitting in security hoping they don’t search her because she forgot to take out the bottle of wine her mom gave Seth in her backseat-AGAIN. Dang!
Carrie is giving the security guards Bambi eyes
Carrie made it thru! I need to send myself a reminder email after I boot up my computer to get rid of that wine.
Carrie just remembered she forgot to get cheap red wine for her Shepherds Pie this weekend-Double Damn.
Carrie is thinking maybe she can use some of her wedding wine for cooking.
Carrie is trying to find a parking spot.
Carrie is running into the building-it’s COLD!
Carrie is peeing.
Carrie is getting hot water for tea!
Carrie is hiding from creepy old guy who always tries to rub her back.
Carrie is booting up her computer.
Carrie is sending out her morning emails.
Carrie thinks even though she is sending all these out, she probably won’t hear back on any of them and that makes her sad.
Carrie is listening to coworkers fight-FUN.
Carrie is emailing Jenny.
Carrie is listening to her boss step in.
Carrie is giggling at Jenny’s reply.
Carrie thinks he should fire them and pay her more.
Carrie tells Jenny that.
Carrie is attempting to look busy while she finishes her secret project.
Carrie is thinking she has MAD mundane task skills.
Carrie is trying to figure out how to print all 258 pages of her secret project 3 times without anyone noticing.
Carrie is going to wait until after 4 to do that.
Carrie remembered that she has mucho scanning to do after four today, nuts.
Carrie’s vitamins are hurting her tummy.
Carrie is on her way to the file cabinets to get files to audit.
Carrie wishes she had won the lotto.
Carrie is thinking the weekend is going to be REALLY busy and she’s sad about that.
Carrie just wants to take a nap.
Carrie thinks she should get Zio’s this weekend.
Carrie is in love with Google. Google Reader, Google News page-AWESOME.
Carrie is sad for the people in Germany and the school shooting and the people in Alabama, but she can’t stop reading about it.
Carrie really HATES Pink, Nickleback, and the new Kelly Clarkson song. And she’s really sick of having to turn her radio off every other song.
Carrie is going pee.
Carrie is reading Grey’s Anatomy spoilers.
Carrie is wondering if her Dad would like to see Fleetwood Mac when they come to town.
Carrie hates radio commercials, especially Woodhouse ones.
Carrie thinks the clock is going SO SLOW.
Carrie is so friggin smart, she just cut her secret book printing in half by landscaping…Shazam! Word Wizard!
Carrie just got an email from her mom! Yay!
Carrie is now trying to figure out how to secretly print 132 pages 3 times.
Carrie wishes that her book writing skills were as good as her twittering skills.
Carrie is printing off sections at a time of the book because its taking forever, then she’s just going to photocopy them.
Carrie is drinking warm V8 and eating pretzels- 10 o’clock munchies!
Carrie is going pee.
Carrie can’t believe it is only 10:08.
Carrie had to turn off the radio for that Taylor Swift song-blech.
Carrie is actually doing some work.
Carrie is reading Big Love spoilers.
Carrie is bloated and wants to take off her pants. She is the bloated beast of the Balrog.
Carrie shouldn’t be watching Lord of the Rings before she goes to bed, it makes her want to quote lines all day.
Carrie is going pee.
Carrie enjoys sleeping late, being snowed in, and saying the word bananas but not eating them.
Carrie is wondering what Seth is doing.
Carrie needs to change out one of her desk pictures because she looks sauced in it. (she was)
Carrie misses her beeps (the baby kittens, I don’t know why we call them beeps)
Carrie is still SO MAD about Pushing Daises, Jericho, Firefly, and Eli Stone getting cancelled.
Carrie wonders if she is the only person who watched America’s Best Dance Crew and So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol because no one wants to talk about it, is it a dirty secretly, like TV porn?
Carrie oddly enough does not like Dancing with the Stars.
Carrie wonders what Rob Thomas is up to, is there going to be a new Matchbox 20 cd soon?
Carrie wishes No Doubt was coming to Omaha, she would take Kathy because they used to rock out to No Doubt as kids.
Carrie just smiled when she remembered NKOTB concert with Kathy.
Carrie thinks it is hilarious when people interview here, you can always tell, they are wearing three piece suits.
Carrie is going pee.
Carrie is having to help someone with transmittals, is it really THAT hard?
Carrie is pretty excited, Right Said Fred is making a comeback! Remember I’m too Sexy??
Carrie just got the whole Britney “If you seek Amy” song controversy, it took entirely too long, she is old.
Carrie is listening to snippets of Jewel’s new lullaby cd and wondering if she likes it…
Carrie is checking her Amazon gold box
Carrie thinks the gold box deal sucks-who wants the Narnia movies on Blu-Ray?
Carrie is oh so smart with her sectioned printing (which took forever) and then her photocopying-secret book project-done!
Carrie’s top 7 favorite foods are burritos, French fries, nachos, her homemade tomato soup, grilled cheese, and Fat Potato Fat Fat (that was a top 3 but I had to expand.)
Carrie wonders what they are going to have for dinner tonite. She is thinking mac and cheese.
Carrie is shocked about how easy it is to make soup from scratch.
Carrie hates that they are building a new stadium in Sarpy County for the shitty Royals.
Carrie is cold.
Carrie has 10 minutes until lunch!
Carrie has lasagna for lunch.
Carrie wishes Pam was online so they could chat
Carrie is wondering what her Dad is doing.
Carrie wishes it was warm out so she could go running.
Carrie still feels like Bloaty McBloaterson
Carrie is going pee.
Carrie is getting ready to go eat lunch!!!

And that was only half my day people. Seriously-I should not be allowed to twitter. I shouldn’t even be allowed to facebook update. Don’t worry though, it won’t happen anytime soon, it’s blocked at my work and Seth isn’t buying me a new phone until 2009. Boo.
Have a great day everyone!
Love (to constantly update),
Carrie

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.

I haven’t decided my mood yet today. It’s still up for debate.

In which Alice fell down the rabbit hole and came out crabby-
I, of course, slipped into an alternate dimension this morning and was late for work. Apparently at some point in my normal routine I took a 10 minute detour to Narnia and danced with the creepy child molester goat man and then came back to finish up Seth’s egg sandwich. So of course I completely forgot that we do a morning meeting at 8 on Wednesday’s. Which kind of makes me mad because I get in at 8 (everyone else but my partner* in records and I comes in at 7:30) so I’m always the last one at said meeting and therefore, even on the days I’m not deciding if “eat me” and “drink me” tabs on things are sexual or not, I always look like I’m late. So I’m sitting at my desk three minutes late when the little reminder thing on my outlook pops up and goes “Remember that meeting?” and I run to the back table and try to sneak in without looking too guilty and mumble something incoherent about forgetting and sitting back at my desk. In said meeting I find out my partner* is going to be late (really, it’s almost 11:30-what is the definition of late? She has this really annoying habit of saying that she is going to be late and then not showing up at all and I sit here all day and increase my knowledge of all things internet)
When I get back to my desk there is a 45 MINUTE VOICEMAIL MESSAGE from some guy who is going for the world record use of “um” in a sentence. He’s looking for a record, and of course its records I don’t have access to or even know who to go to get said access (I guess I need more training). I listen to his WHOLE hemming and hawing spiel where he repeatedly starts and stops and leaves pretty much the most annoying message ever just to get his name and phone number, which of course, he rushes through at the end. I debate calling him back and telling him I have no idea what he’s talking about and the next time he has a records request to just email it to me because the man cannot leave a proper message to save his life. I also debated making him a list of proper message leaving tips and techniques. But in the end I just wrote down the records numbers and decided to tell Pat when she came in. Which was almost painful for me because at my last job, we had this thing called the 1/24 response (1 hour to respond to the request and 24 hours to complete it or follow up with an update) to people and it was DRILLED into me and all I could think was how I was violating this major rule. But there is no rule like that here at NPP. So of course, I let it go and lo and behold some guy comes sauntering into my cube to tell me about how he found said record without my help and references his voicemail repeatedly. It took everything in me not to tell him off for his poor voicemail skills.

*I’m still deciding on what to call the woman I work with in records. I used to call her my trainer, but since she doesn’t really train me anymore, that doesn’t seem appropriate. And she’s not my boss or anything, basically I’m her back up, she’s been in the job like 80 years and is going to retire soon and then I’ll take her place, I’ve been trying on different titles. Commandant wore out quick. I’m open to suggestions. Partner is making me feel like I should move to Connecticut or something and fight for equal rights in the ER-when I really could care less if she is there if I’m dying or not.

Marco-Polo!

I was just sent on a wild goose chase to deliver a records request. All of our scanners are down at NPP, so when we have records request I have to make copies and deliver them. I wondered around cubicles aimlessly trying to find the guy that no one has ever heard of apparently. I travelled to the side of the building I used to sit at when I was on projects and some guy who eats a lot of yogurt is sitting at my old desk. I kind of felt a pang of jealousy. It was nice and quiet over there and it has a great view of the river and the eagles that nest out along the river. And they have ample parking on that side of the building too. I almost walked up to him and put my hand on his shoulder and choked out-“Treat her well, she’s a great cube” and ran off wailing. Instead I went downstairs to continue my game of Marco Polo with the guy who makes records requests but doesn’t tell you where he sits.

How much does a brain to mouth filter cost? I think mine needs replaced.
A conversation I just had:
Me: When did the opposite side of the building get a secretary over there?
Coworker: Well, all the secretaries were sitting together by the VIP offices, but then they moved her over there.
Me: What was she gossiping with the other secretaries and had to get separated? *snickers*
Coworker: No, the design team decided they needed their secretary closer to the engineers so she could service them better.
Me: Oh I get it, she’s in the *air quotes* service industry WINK! She must have been the slutty secretary of the group. HAHAHAH
Coworker……


High five Ryan!
I voted last night on American Idol for the blind guy. I only did it because I’ve made about 20000 jokes about him over the last couple of weeks and I decided that I needed to get on the right side of karma. And he sang a great song- “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby-which by the way-WHO KNEW THAT THOSE WERE THE LYRICS? The lyrics BLOW. But I had no idea the song was about Banjo’s and mandolins and crap like that. I’m going to have to ask my dad if he knew that. Of course, I can’t tell you what I THOUGHT the lyrics were since I’ve heard the real ones…Of course the blind guy TOTALLY rocked Ryan by asking for a stationary high-five-way to go SCOTT-he’s my new favorite. I totally won’t mind if he wins it all. Even though I giggle relentless at the thought of the blind guy doing the group dance numbers and the commercials.

Reason number 389723894582 Carrie is going to hell:
Carrie: Is that the blind guy’s brother escorting him through the camera wave and name announcement moment of American Idol?
Seth: They look alike.
Carrie: He’s hot-I guess it’s good to be blind, at least he doesn’t know he’s the ugly brother…*cackles*
Seth: Jesus, Carrie…

I’m going to be an overbearing mother
Last night I was sitting in the bathtub reading my fitness magazine and repeatedly snorting at their healthy lifestyle suggestions (Smash ½ an avocado and an egg and smear it in your hair for extra shine!-WTF? How long have they been giving this “new” tip?) and Seth was on the phone with his mom. All of the sudden Bags appears at the side of the tub and peeks his head over (per usual) and begins wailing incessantly (also per usual-he doesn’t really like the concept of my floating head) when I splash him with my bathwater he runs away into the spare room doorway and immediately starts HORKING violently. Which causes me to scream for Seth at the top of my lungs. Seth hangs up with his mom mid run to witness Bagheera finishing up his dry heave. Now to my defense, he has been acting really weird lately. This is the cat who wants nothing to do with anyone and has spent the last couple of days crawling into my lap any chance he gets, even when I’m on the can. So I really felt this was the moment he was going to die in front of me. I make Seth get him water (of course, my cat attempting to die does not warrant me getting out of my bubble bath-pssshhhtt.) and make sure he’s okay. He then returns to his phone call with his mom that I hear starts out as “Yeah Carrie was freaking out again about the cat” and then laughing. DON’T MOCK THE SKILLS.

We close tonite with:
Well I think my mood is snarky and chatty, which is a damn shame because no one is emailing me at all today and I have nothing to do and all this funny to share. Obviously. And for those of you who are going to complain that I wrote too much and you can’t catch up-oh boo hoo. Be quiet. If you would email me, I wouldn’t have to talk to myself all day.

Love, (the new paragraph title idea)
Carrie

Monday, March 2, 2009

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style.

Happy Monday all! I hope you had good weekends. Mine was pretty good. I got to see everyone I loved and ate pizza and got my house pretty much done with the painting-at least the big bulky parts, there is still some touchups left to do.
Seth’s parents were painting machines. We thought we would only get the dining room walls and the living room walls done, but because Seth’s parents were so awesome, they got the entryway and the hallway done too! Now Seth just has to work on the trim work and we can put our house together as he gets those pieces done. I’ll admit, I’m over having all of my furniture pushed into the middle of rooms and all my décor in piles and baskets in the spare room!
Yesterday I got some kind of weird sinus infection thing going on. It was pretty bad. But I have a great husband who put up with my whining and demanding attitude all day long while touch up painting and putting the house back together. Then I was looking forward to eating out for the first time (fingers crossed) since we gave up eating out for a month, but the place I wanted to eat closes uber early on Sundays (3pm-WTF?!?) and so he drove to Pepperjax instead and got me that. I was such a slug and he is oh so very good to me. Love you Seth!
So I know you all are dying to hear about my Friday, though I’ve already told most people all about 100 times, since I was so excited and embarrassed. Basically I spent the entire day hallway stalking Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and Dave Sokal who were here to learn about Nuclear Power. They showed up around 11 and I spent the better portion of the day getting and returning files from our DEN library, that conveniently went right by the conference room hallway they were in. They had armed guards ( a guy who used to work with my mom is a guard out here so I totally knew him and he laughed at me every time I walked by). I finally gave up and decided to go to the bathroom and put my stuff back in the library around 3 (since I was going home at 4) and I came flying out of the bathroom, head down looking at my shoes (since I wore my maroon Kenneth Cole high heels-LOVE-how can you not look at those) and I turned the corner sharp, and of course ran right into Bill Gates coming out of the men’s bathroom. Like mowed right into him and didn’t even look. When I jumped back and realized it was him I almost died of embarrassment and apologized profusely, he was really nice about it. He just smiled and apologized too and said it was okay. I was MORTIFIED. I went back and went into my boss’s office and was like “you can go ahead and just fire me now because I just knocked over Bill Gates coming out of the bathroom.” He just laughed and then we made jokes about how clumsy I am (there is documentation of it here at NPP) and then we joked about how they will probably just take me out to the back field and shoot me in the head anyway. (Which is considerably not as funny now that I sit here…*looks over shoulder repeatedly*)
I got home Friday and there was a Kohl’s peel off coupon in the mail and we have been waiting to see if we could get a 30% off coupon because then we could do price matching and finally afford the super fancy steam cleaner we want. And as luck would have it, we ACTUALLY GOT THE COUPON, which I was assured by the Kohl’s people was really friggin rare. So I did a dance, and decided I had Bill Gates luck and went and bought a powerball ticket with Pam, so I’ll let you know if we won the lottery. Then you all would never visit this blog because it would be all about all the fabulous things I am doing with my lotto winnings, which would include, going to Cancun and buying a house in Nicaragua. And doing that thing where I redo my wedding in like Cancun or something with my whole wedding party and taking better pictures.

On my sick bed yesterday I started Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, so far it is a little overly descriptive, but a good story line!

Alright well it is almost lunch time!
Have a great rest of your Monday everyone!!

Love (to have won the lotto),
Carrie

Thursday, February 26, 2009

No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.

This week will not end people. I woke up happy it was Thursday because it kind of snuck up on me, but now this day is feeling incredulously long. Arg.
Many thanks to Karie who helped me figure out the Howie Day concert on 98.5. I hope I get to get in because it’s free Qudoba, but it’s only for like 50 people, and I’m sure they won’t let me bring Seth. Did I mention Qudoba? I used to eat that with Annie at TEKsystems all the time, and I’m feeling serious withdrawls. Mmmm…Howie Day and 4 cheese nachos. I’m digging it.
Basically I’ll eat black beans and cheese on anything. Heck I’ll eat pinto beans and cheese on anything. I’m pro bean.
And now I’m rambling. It’s been a while since we’ve had a list here at Carrie-on Baggage. Let’s do that. Yay!

Things I’m excited for this weekend:

Sleeping in
Getting the house painting finished (minus the hallway and possibly entryway, it depends how many people show up)
Seth taking a day off on Friday (although this is iffy now because he his having an uber bad day at work…)
Getting my hair done!! I have no idea what I’m going to do, but that is usually how it goes, I totally freeball it, I just hope I get a good cool hip hair college student who doesn’t look like she’s about to have a baby or is going to stab me with the scissors. *a digression* I started going to hair colleges about a bajillon years ago and I love mine here in town (I have horror stories about other out of town ones I have been to-like the time I got a spiral perm with hair down to my butt and it took 3 girls and about 8 hours). I like the young innovative kids who if you tell them, I need something new-they don’t give you the Rachel with bangs or just give you layers. I like that they are open when I say, “I want mahogany stripes in my hair” and because I have the mental capacity of a 12 year old, I like when they snark with me about random things. Plus! Bonus! It usually only costs me that of a real salon. And I know everyone is like, yeah but how can you trust them? Their instructors are standing there the hole time and frequently come over and check on their progress to ensure you aren’t going to have your hair fall out. The only drawback is with my hair, a trip to the salon is usually a four hour adventure (I have a lot of it) and it’s a personality crapshoot on the type of girl you are going to get. But it’s worth it because I would say, at least for the first month or so, my hair is pretty awesome (then I neglect to go back for 6 months, but that is a different digression I won’t take you on…) *end digression*
Eating pizza!
Not having to drive to work!
Wearing sweatpants for at least 55% of the weekend!
Watching DVR shows

Okay I’m done…
Jesus Mary and Joseph! I just checked our bank account and almost crapped myself. Earlier this morning my bank was having issues and was telling me I had no accounts, but apparently the US government depositing our federal refund caused a complete meltdown of my bank and me, because I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE NO ACTIVE ACCOUNTS!??! How can there be too many calls to take my call? I’ll sit here on hold, that’s fine, because apparently I have NOTHING BETTER TO DO SINCE I HAVE NO MONEY. It’s all fine now, but thank you federal government-WHEW. I’m sad that all of that money is going to other accounts so it can make more money. But for right now I’m thinking of buying a jet and going to Italy for the rest of the winter-anyone want to join me?

I’m tentatively thinking about my Vegas extravaganza. I’m not sure when the best time of year to go is (read: cheapest). But that’s when I would want to go. And I want to stay on the strip, and I want it just to be a quick weekend thing. Like Fri-Sun or something. Anyway, pipe dream, I know.

Alright well I’m out of witty things to write, I’m hoping this afternoon goes by faster than the morning did, but that’s not looking good as my email seems to have died, Seth is having a bad day, and my trainer just left me with a big audit. Boo.

Love (the federal government tax return and pizza!),
Carrie

Monday, February 23, 2009

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they're going to have some pretty annoying virtues.

Welcome to Monday everyone.
My Dad’s surgery went really well, thank you everyone for all your good juju in his general direction. Hopefully he will have a quick recovery! Surgery in your abdomen is one of the worst because you don’t realize how much you use it! (or at least so I hear, I’ve only every had surgery on my face…)
We had a pretty productive weekend. It was REALLY busy. Because I’m lazy I’m just going to cut and paste from my morning emails to people of exactly HOW busy we were this weekend:
Friday I had to go see my Dad in the hospital. It was the worst thing ever. Those beds are so big and he looked so small. I fell apart when we left. Dad’s are supposed to be indestructible! It made me feel really old, like I should have been grown up and be able to handle it but it was like I wanted him to get out of bed and take care of me and my sadness for him. He did a good job though, he kept telling me not to worry-he knows me too well! I decided I hate everything about hospitals, but especially the smell. I know that’s cliché but it does smell so uncomfortable. They worked really hard to make that place all shiny and not hospitalish-can’t they do something about the SMELL?? Get some glade plug-in’s or something, I’m sure the aromatherapy would help patients
.
Saturday we woke up early and started rushing around the house to get things ready for accent wall painting and the arrival of the new TV! Mom called on her way home from the hospital with dad-he wanted tomato soup from scratch, and my brother is usually the guy who makes that, but my brother was to busy being in his friends movie that day so I volunteered to do it. And since we were going to be over on 72nd street anyway, I also stopped to pick up the painting stuff from Jesse so he wouldn’t have to drive it across town. We waited in the WORLD'S LONGEST LINE to pick up or TV (which is so nice!!), so on our way home we had to stop and get all the stuff for soup and get the painting stuff from Jesse. Jesse gave me a new DVD case for my movies to match the one Seth’s parents got me for Christmas and I was so EXCITED. It was like a little secret gift that you didn’t know you were going to get that makes your day. Like when my mom picks me up a bubble bath when she gets some from Bath and Body Works, she probably doesn’t know how much that makes my day when she decides to do it.
Anyway, I made the soup and cinnamon rolls. While we were waiting for that we painted the red wall and then went to have dinner with Dad. Seth sat with him while I took my mom over to Kohl's to get him comfy sleep pants and get him some Advil. We had dinner and left around 9. We put another coat of red on the wall and then went to bed pretty much.
Sunday Seth let me sleep in and we taped off and painted the brown walls (which I LOVE, they look like giant candy bars in my living room).. I completely forgot we told Cheeto and Whit we would celebrate their birthdays with them on Sunday. Oops. So they called at 5 and wondered what we were going to do. And I was like, oh WORST FRIEND EVER, in my defense though, I gave them their presents last week, so it completely slipped my mind that their birthdays were this week. We ended up having them over for pizza and watching a movie. It was fun. When the boys went to get the pizza Whit and I just caught up and it was nice to do girl talk this weekend.
I also did laundry, made a chowder of cauliflower, potato, corn and cheese soup-its strange and missing something but it's a good filler soup. And I made Seth pulled BBQ pork this week for dinner.
The kittens were alternately lovely and awful when it came to painting. We had one incident in the red paint (Willow) and one incident with the drop clothes (Bagheera/Willow, we don't know who the culprit was). When they were getting too close or gave a wet paint wall some love they got locked in the spare room where they SCREAMED and HOWLED and CRIED until they fell asleep or we let them out. Bags did NOT like being locked in the spare room and was a HOPELESS cuddle monster when we let him out, like were were locking him in a gulaug or something and he was just SO thankful he was out, he loved on us in hopes we wouldn't send him back. The cutest part was when Seth was sitting on the stairs painstakingly painting and trying not to get paint on the carpet and Bagheera climbed right into his lap because he thought Seth was sitting on the floor for cuddles. I have pictures, one day I might remember to post them.
My DVR is screaming under the weight of all the shows I didn't watch this weekend.
We have a lot ahead this week. We have to tape off all the walls for when we have people over to paint, Seth has to pull all the trim off those walls. He is trying to sand the trim as he goes, so that then when we get another free weekend we can just stain until we are blue in the face (or pass out from fumes). There is a TON of stuff on the DVR, even though I did wake up early to watch a lot of it. And I’m getting my hair done this weekend, which is very exciting.
Well that’s all from Hellbusch central!Hope you all have had a pleasant start to you week!
Love, (my new chocolate walls)
Carrie

Friday, February 20, 2009

Listening, not imitation, may be the sincerest form of flattery.

Happy Friday everyone!
I hope it’s a happy Friday for you! And you have a great weekend ahead planned!
So I lied-today is not my 6 month wedding anniversary-there were numbers involved people, I got flustered, it is actually my 5 month a versary. But we are still going to celebrate. I’m currently trying to find something fantastic to cook for dinner. I know I want asparagus, and a fantastic potato dish. Also I want to use my new immersion blender to make a great soup. Maybe cheesy cauliflower? And to cap it off I am going to make cinnamon rolls with a disgusting amount frosting.
Also this week Seth will be dining on pulled pork a la this recipie from my favorite cooking blog: http://ashleescooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/pulled-pork-and-lowfat-no-mayo-coleslaw.html
But the BIG thing this weekend will be the arrival of the NEW TV!! Hooray!! And also the painting-but yesterday I quit the painting team, but I think I might come back tonite after I get the cooking out of my system.
Today is Dad’s surgery, in fact it could be happening now, I’m not sure, but either way I’m in a very quiet place right now radiating happy thoughts.
I ordered more pictures last night (thanks “X number of free digital prints” w ebsites!) for my cube, and it took forever to decided what I wanted, we have TONS of pictures. Like an obscene amount. I need to get the digital photo frame Cody got me for Christmas set up, or at least I need to get Seth to do it.
I’m secretly planning that trip to Vegas in my head. So far my bridesmaids are there and their husbands, except their husbands do boring things like gamble and watch sports and hang out and we do fun things like go dancing and party it up and try to figure out if wearing the cute high heels that match our dresses and WALKING (because you walk everywhere in Vegas-its just what you do) and DANCING all night in them is a good idea. In my head it is a VERY fun trip where there are lots of magical moments pictures that we always look back on fondly and smile. I secretly think it is because I’m rapidly approaching 30. YIKES. Let’s not talk about that, let’s talk about other things like Grey’s last night.
It was pretty good. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. That fight scene was pretty great and I am still fawning over Own Hunt. The writer’s blog today had me up in arms because they threw out all these stupid teasers about Meredith and Derek and Izzie and Bailey, but I’m ignoring them. Did anyone else watch?
I officially closed the door on “Trust Me” this week. I just couldn’t get into it. The characters were terrible and not easy to like and the pacing was TOO SLOW, the storyline wasn’t developing at all. And I kept comparing it to “Mad Men” in my head. Dude when is THAT show coming back? What a great show. I should see how much they are on DVD…anyway so “Trust Me” is out, but “Lie to Me” is still in. That show is getting better and better. I love learning about all the microemotions that people have. And I spend a lot of time now staring directly at people when they talk. Yay TV where you learn things!
Speaking of TV-I’m obsessed with watching the house hunting shows on HGTV, like House Hunters and Property Virgins. And I don’t know WHY I watch them, because I usually HATE the people buying the house because they are OH SO STUPID and think things like the color of the paint is a reason NOT to buy a house. Or the dude who is trying to act like he knows stuff and in EVERY ROOM has to ask the Realtor what said cabinet, floor, beam, door, or tile is made out of. And as if to cement his awesomeness he has to throw in a suggestion of what it COULD be which is usually WAY off base, like “Gary, what kind of cabinetry is this? Is it fruitwood?” and Gary’s like “Uh no, that is MDF, but it’s so realistic it COULD be fruitwood, couldn’t it??” And usually Gary is using the most car salesmen like approach to selling a house. Maybe we just had a bad agent or something but our sales lady could have given a flying hoot if we cared about the house or not, she was just there to unlock the door. In retrospect, our sales lady sucked. When we buy again, we won’t be going back to her. I’m going to like NP Dodge or something where they are JACKALS. But anyway the guy last night, they were in Hawaii-first off was flamboyantly gay-which I’m fine with, but he kept using inappropriate words to describe things in the house. Like he kept saying “Isn’t this bathroom delicious you all? It’s just DELISH!” Ick-can you tell me what exactly in a bathroom is delicious? I don’t normally find myself in a bathroom wanting to EAT anything.
The ones I hate most of all though are the people who are buying retirement/vacation homes in other countries like Mexico or Jamaica or something. I hate those people, mostly out of jealousy. I want to have a summer home on the beach. Also, the furniture is always included in these homes, which I’m not sure I’m okay with. I know people who get drunk and pee on their couches. How many rich dudes passed out on that couch and peed? No thanks, you can take your pee couch with you. The furniture is mostly old balls anyway. It probably smells like old people and salt. But they have these beautiful open concept houses with like 3000 square feet and when they do the “Three Months Later” part of the show, they are like eating fresh fruit and veggies they got from the market down the street and drinking fantastic drinks and they look younger and happier and I hate them for it, purely out of jealousy. It’s plain as day green jealousy for sure and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’m secretly starting a campaign to make my parents want to get a summer house in Mexico so that I can come visit and pretend I live that life.
My FAVORITE one of these was this couple from Oklahoma who built houses and decided to move to Nicaragua forever. So they start the interview and they keep pronouncing it NIGGER-agua. Over and over. It is almost like the producers are rubbing it in your face that not only do you not have this kind of money, but they have SO much money they can offensively pronounce the name of the country and get away with it. Because the real estate agent is just like 10% commission on a million dollar house? Lips Zipped. I couldn’t believe it, but THEN, but THEN the old guy starts ribbing the lady about how it was SUCH a big house she wouldn’t be able to clean it and she goes-I kid you not- “Well I’ll just get one of them NIGGER-auguans to clean it for me, they are cheap out here”. And then I fell over and died. My brain exploded I could not take it. Seth and I were like did she SERIOUSLY just say that!?!? House Hunters! *sigh* I love you. I could spend DAYS telling you about the House Hunters that was in FRANCE…
Alright I’ve rambled enough for today. I hope you all have a super fantastic weekend and lots of good things happen for you.
Thanks to everyone for keeping my Pops in your thoughts and prayers.
Love (my life),
Carrie

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Books! Books! Books! or why I need more bookshelves...

Hi All!
I’m back again because I’m bored and a LOVELY reader has asked me my opinion on books- *preen* and SHE COMMENTED. I am so very excited. Hi Jess! *waves*
So to answer the big question-what books I like to read.
First off a note about how I approach bookstores-
When I go into a large book store (by the way Book-a-million on L is my favorite at the moment) I stick strictly to the clearance section, because those books are WAY overpriced, and unless there is an author I ADORE (JK Rowling, Joshilyn Jackson, Gregory Maguire, Kate Mosse) I won’t pay full price for a book. So I stick to the clearance section because usually you can get good books there for under five dollars, and if you are willing to wait a couple months, the bookstores usually put their overstock of bestsellers there for under 6 bucks. Anyway that is how I approach bookstores. Once I get to the clearance aisle, I usually try to find books that the covers and first couple pages appeal to me.
That being said, I mostly read historical fiction. It’s kind of like great stories based loosely on fact. Some of the best movies are made from historical fiction. The Godfather movies are based on a historical fiction book.
Mostly I try to move regions, right now I am in “France” meaning I’ve been reading books that take place in France. I have a stack of books waiting to be read that take place entirely in Latin America (which when I read this region, I always want it to be summer REALLY bad). Normally though, you will find me in Europe, since I used to live there and all, it feels like home when I read there.
My “fun” books, meaning my books that I read in the bathroom or the tub or the car or at lunch at work are short chapter books that are sappy and usually are about some family that looks perfectly normal and is perfectly screwed up, and they offer TONS on insight on dealing with that perfectly screwed up. They are usually pretty damn funny too.
I also have a soft spot for Mauve Binchy who writes lovely stories about people in Ireland, which I love because my grandma took me on a trip there as a present when I graduated from high school and I secretly want to live there forever. The woman has written a TON of books and they are sappy and perfectly Irish. So I never run out of books. Seriously she has written a TON (I hyperlinked that for you because it’s seriously a list of Maeve Binchy books).
I’ve only ever read one self help enlightenment book and it’s the only one I ever want to read. It’s called Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It changed the way I thought about EVERYTHING.
So what am I reading right now? Well from what I can remember from work here is what I’m reading-
Sepulchre by Kate Mosse- wonderful book. I’m thisclose to finishing it. It’s one of those time jumper books where a character from the past is affecting a character from the future. This is the one that takes place in France.

The Miss America Family by Julianna Baggott-this is my fun one, its pretty frank. I’d tell you what just happened where I am at in the book, but I’d be ruining it for you. I’m reading it in the bathtub.

The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther- I’m two pages into this, I can’t really tell you much about it, but its about a mother who is Iranian and her daughter while the struggle to live in England and learn how to adapt and change.
That reminds me of another type of book I like, I think, because of my background as a Army Brat, I like to read books about people adapting and changing to different living situations. Lately most of the books you will find on this subject are Middle Eastern peoples trying to adapt to American or English life. It’s interesting for me to see an outsider’s perspective on America and Americans. The struggle to adapt and fit in and become productive in a society where you hardly speak the language intrigues me. It also helps me to understand that people do that everyday and sometimes the little things you do for a person can make their whole lives. I remember this one book I read recently “Even after all this time” and in the book and American family invites the girl in the book to their house for dinner and that simple act endured her to this family and being American. So I like reading books like this.
Here are some others from my Valentine’s Day shopping adventure I got and can tell you nothing about:

Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin (historical fiction)
The Collectors by David Baldacci
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Used World by Haven Kimmel
Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Here are some other books I’ve read that I’ve LOVED:
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds (anything by this woman-she is GREAT)
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Anything by Ken Follett
Melissa Banks books, she writes a good “I’m screwy because of my family” book
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Anything by Homer Hickam

We could be here for days…
I hope this helps! I will try to write down my book stacks when I get home tonite for you all, or at least take a picture so you know the kind of crazy Seth has to live with!!

Love (of books),
Carrie

A Hump Day blog

Happy Hump Day everyone!
Thanks to everyone who emailed or commented about that stupid tax law. I’ve come to the conclusion that we are being railroaded, but what can you expect, someone has to pay, right? Guess it will be the Hellbusch’s.
So let’s talk about American Idol. We have finally moved into the rounds where people start caring about people. So what did Idol producers do? They went and screwed with the format! What is up with that?? There are some people there that deserve a second chance and there were some people that stood out hard. (Danny Gokey) But this new format makes NO sense. People have off nights, they are nervous, that’s why the format is you vote for the worst two and pick off the scab slowly. They need to be able to take the advice of the judges and use it. And by the way, I’m sure it’s pretty nerve wracking to sing live for the first time. So “Dear Idol Producers, go back, this sucks”. Because you know what? That crazy loon Tatiana is going to get thru and then I’m going to have to pull my hair out and stuff it in my ears, and I won’t look good bald and I’ll be that angry bald girl with hair in her ears. No one wants that. By the way, who gave Tatiana downers? Not that I miss the crazy, but I hate the fake “no really, I’m not crazy, *whispers* a psychic told me I would win wheee!” that she’s putting out right now. Ugh, Idol *spits* why do I watch this show?? Just give it to Danny Gokey so I can get back to my crime dramas and not feel like I’ve wasted years of my life willing people to be better and listening to them destroy perfectly good songs.
I think next year they should have an Idol off where they bring back all the like top 2 idols from every year and make them sing so we can crown David Cook the most awesomest of all. The end.
So what else? Oh, I need tips for painting a small wall dark red. My test swatches are coming out streaky and requiring like 400 coats of paint. Not that I don’t have the paint since I have a gallon and it’s a small wall, but I don’t have the patience to keep painting that wall without getting mad. I’ve tried a brush, a roller with ½ nap and a roller with 3/8 inch nap. We are using Behr latex paint in eggshell. So anyone that has worked with red paint before and knows some secrets, I would LOVE to hear your suggestions before my red wall becomes a Jackson Pollack.
We are going to try and paint the accent walls and bathroom this weekend so we don’t have to get 50 different trays and brushes for people who show up to help on the 28th. I haven’t heard if anyone is stopping by, so let me know if you are. We are just going to do the pecan on the 28th. Plus I’m going to be getting my hair done from like 10:30 to 1 so don’t show up until later if you don’t really want to work or if you want to see me! But if you really want to help Seth, you can show up anytime from 10:30 to 1. Hahaha.
I haven’t forgotten about the Cooking with Bob blog, but I’m waiting to get the pictures from my mom. Just in case you thought I forgot about ya’ll.
I just found myself wishing my desk had a secret door where I could hide and take a nap. That was weird.
That’s how bored I am today-for real.
Earlier I found myself wishing I could keep driving to Vegas and meet all my fun friends there and go dancing at a club all night and crash early in the morning and wake up and eat at a lunch buffet looking like I had the time of my life the night before-maybe in the same clothes.
You guys are so excited to read my random thoughts aren’t you?
In case any of you have ever wondered, I have a series book problem. I just got 10 books for Valentine’s Day (BEST HUSBAND EVER-be jealous, you totally should be, he does math and taxes and bills and lets me stare at him blankly and sing rhyming songs in my head when he tries to explain it to me. Last night he finally gave up and told me he’s going to write my parents a letter explaining how and why he is doing things so that if he dies and I refuse to get out of bed and hold the cats hostage with me, someone will know how to pay the bills and where all of our secret money is. He’s so smart.) and I had a stack of about 6 books waiting to be read, plus 2 my grandma gave me before I got the 10 books. So I have books to read, for sure. But I about CROWED with happiness when my dear friend L’ara (baggage blogger!) emailed me today to tell me she was going to stop by and lend me some books we have been talking about. Which because I am the BEST book borrower ever, I will put them at the top of my pile and return them to her promptly, because I am not a book hostage holder and I will tell her what I think of them in grand detail, because in my head, that’s how book lending works. I’m trying to get Seth to build me a long bookshelf for along the staircase in our living room, but I’m having trouble getting the image out of my head for him and on to paper, I’ve spent countless hours trying to tell him what I want. Because really I want like 20 things. I can’t decided if I want it open in the back, how deep I want the shelves, if I want little doors on the shelves (probably not, I’m a notorious book bragger-look at all my shiny pretty books!!) So I am at a loss. I seriously just want a whole room of built ins around a window with a little ladder that I can ride around the room, but I don’t think that will work in our house *sigh* dreams…PS I’ve decided that building furniture is about the sexiest thing a guy could do. Now I just need Seth to prove that he can do it, instead of trying to get me to draw him a plan…
Alright I’ve rambled sufficiently for today!
Hope you all have a happy hump day!
Love (for this week to be over already)
Carrie

Monday, February 2, 2009

A blog about feeling old, then young, then speechless...

Boo Monday. I feel like this weekend just flew by. I blame part of that on the fact that instead of staying up until 2 or 3 like we usually do on Friday/Saturday, we went to bed around midnight. We are getting O-L-D, old.
The weekend of LOVE was lovely to say the very least. Seth surprised me by taking me to the movies! We went to that new special theater with the DLP screens in town. We saw Underworld and it wasn’t bad! It’s going to be cool to see Transformers there. Or one of the eight movies I think I need to see now thanks to the Stupid Bowl commercials. It wasn’t too badly priced either since we went to the matinee on Saturday. I even got popcorn and sprite and we got a bunch of dollar candy from Walmart before we went (a trick I learned from Pam!) So we were set! I was a little disappointed the movie wasn’t longer, but I’m proud to say my “gotta go” syndrome did not effect me during the movie. For the first time in a long time I didn’t miss part of a movie, but I think that’s because it was shorter.

If I was feeling old about going to bed early, the Stupid Bowl halftime show made me feel young again. I knew ONE of those songs and I spent the whole 12 minutes varying between “What is this?” and “EW.” In my opinion (humbly) the only boys from Jersey that can rock are BON JOVI. That other guy is just air to me. I think the Stupid Bowl would really try to appeal to a younger audience with the halftime show, considering that younger audience is who most of the ads are trying to appeal to. I read an article that most of the ads during the Stupid Bowl are skewed to the 20-30 range, seeing as who they are the people who have the most disposable income in America today. (really? Who are these people and how do I join their throw away money club??) But anyway, I think they would have done much better with a more relevant halftime show, like they USED to do with Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Britney, back when they let MTV do it. Really should we let one half boob ruin the halftime show forever for everyone?

I heard on the radio on the way in this morning that the woman who had eight kids has six at home and she’s a single mom, without a job, who lives with her parents. I don’t even have WORDS for that. And who is this DOCTOR? No wonder she tried to remain anonymous, she knows she’s crazy! It is so sad that there are people today who want kids and can support them and give them individual attention and this doctor wasted his skills on a lady with SIX already and no job. Where do we regulate this? Wouldn’t that be weird if she gave them away, like she was a baby farm or something? Also the radio DJ’s brought up a good point, it used to be they would implant eight embryo’s and you were lucky if ONE took. They science has become more advanced that people are having to make a hard decision if they want to abort once all eight have taken. Also I heard that the most kids had naturally on record is 4. Fun fact there.
Well I actually have work away from my desk today, so I’d better close out. Here’s hoping this week goes by faster than last weekend!!!
Have a great day everyone!
Carrie

Friday, January 30, 2009

Weekend of Love T minus 7 hours!

Happy Friday all! Whew! It took long enough to get here-didn’t it? I have a sneaking suspicion that today is going to eek by at the speed of smell.

I actually do NOT have a busy weekend lined up. At all. Hooray! Minus Sunday, and I’m just doing simple dips for that. And trying NOT to eat my weight in the delicious sounding bean and cheese dip I’m going to make.

So last night we went to Walmart and apparently Kevin Costner was there signing autographs because his band was in town. We walked ALL around that Walmart and never saw boo of him. Or the gigantic line they were talking about. Pam called me and I missed the call because my big fat rear was smothering my phone, but when I called her back she was like-did you see Kevin Costner and I was like, why would I see Kevin Costner-I’m at Walmart-and she was like I know!! So she filled me in, but at that point I was crabby that Walmart charged Seth 61 bucks to change his OIL in his truck. SIXTY-ONE BUCKS! And Pam sensed the angry and got off the phone with me pretty quick. And then this morning on the radio they were talking about what a big event it was and I was like, actually, Walmart seemed deserted last night…Weird, I don’t even know what I would have said IF I had met Kevin Costner. Probably-I loved your wedding pictures and you made my little brother cry once and I laughed at him and got grounded for it. That is all true. Also announced today in Omaha-George Clooney is coming to film a movie! Look at Omaha, up and coming! Big 'O', what-what??

So after much discussion, I have finally decided what kind of party March 13th (Friday the 13th) is going to be. It’s going to be a PAINTING/GAME PARTY!!! *cue wild cheers*

Here’s the details:
Friday March 13th, Seth and I are going to be painting our living room and dining room. We have 9 foot ceilings, it’s going to be a task to say the least. We are inviting you all, to show up and help us slap some paint on the walls, eat some pizza and drink some beer, and when we get it all done, play some games. I think that the more people we have the quicker it’s going to go. So if your interested let me know so I can get a head count for pizza, beer, and paint rollers. We are going to be doing a light blue toned tan in the living room, like an earthy tan, not a yellow tan. A dark chocolate on our three smaller pillared walls on the left side of the room, and a burgundy on the wall in the dining room that is smaller and shared with the kitchen. SO! We have big dreams! And we need your help! J If you want to participate! Let us know! We would love to feed you pizza and paint with you! Also when all is said and done we will have a plethora of games to play! Or if you just want to show up and tape off walls or eat pizza, that would be great too!

So that’s all the exciting news I have for you all today. So far anyway. I’m going off the grid this weekend until Sunday, I’m going to try and see how posting pictures goes here because I have pictures from cooking last weekend and will probably have pictures from this weekend too.
Hope you all have a weekend of Love like I am too!

Love, (always)
Carrie

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Baby Come Back! Any kind of fool could see...THAT YOU SHOULD NOT LEAVE CARRIE ALONE FOR THE DAY.

The clock is making me crabby.
It has seemingly stopped and is holding me hostage here at work when all I want to do is go home, take off my bad idea outfit for the day and watch tv and eat some enchi’s.
I am very bored, and lonely. My usual entertainment (my friends who email me all day) have seemingly DROPPED OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET OR BROKEN THEIR FINGERS IN A TRAGIC CAR DOOR ACCIDENT. Or forgotten about me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten a couple of responses, sporadically here and there. Some are forgiven, they have actual jobs, but ONE OF YOU I know is HOME and is all comfy on your couch watching TV and is ABOUT TO GET A PHONE CALL begging you to come back and chat with me. FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD. Or my sanity, which ever is more important to you-PAMELA. Even my husband is giving me the one to three word responses today. And I am sending long heart-filled rambly emails blubbering over my apparently lack in email popularity today. (Carrie is needy and paranoid-for those of you who do NOT know her that well…)
Kathy is getting a dog-I learned that from email. He is cute as can be and he is from Kansas. They get him in three weeks. The name is still being debated. I did get that news today. L’ara is getting new carpet (jealous!) and Pam and I are planning a party (that stopped being planned at 10 am this morning…)
Oh? What’s that? You want to hear about the bad idea outfit?? Sure, I’ve got nothing BETTER to do…
So today-in a coup de triumph of bad outfits, I wore a fake white fur lined cuffs and hood sweater my GRANDMA got me because I saw it in the back of my closet and thought-“Yesterday I sweat to death because my sweater was to thick, I will wear this sweater because it is thinner and I can take it off it gets too hot. And I will be smart enough NOT to wear an inappropriate tee shirt underneath it.” HAHA! Then I wore some pants I found on the floor. And my pink “BOOTS WIT DA FUR” hoping the whole NPP would be looking ME. Well I got to work and noticed that the fur was making me sneezy, but then I took off the sweater-as brilliantly planned and my dark blue tee shirt underneath looked like what can only be described as “Carrie lost a fight with a polar bear who had just rolled in a lint trap”. And the pants. Lo, friends, the pants. This is where I go into a digression.
I have recently lost a little weight. Okay a lot of weight, considering I was 140 in Sioux Falls. I’m not sure where the logic is in it. Seth says I learned portion control (which was NOT APPARENT LAST NIGHT WITH THE ALL YOU CAN EAT FRIES). I was exercising in Sioux Falls-REGULARLY!! No really-ask my personal trainer-he MADE me go, and if I did not he gave me this HUGE guilt trip and then would be gone from the apartment long enough that I would get lonely and bored. It was an evil trick because the next time he offered I said YES because I could not stand the lonely and bored and scary apartment noises. And then he made promises about my wedding dress and me looking stunning in it and him crying when I came down the aisle because I was so stunning (he did and I was-I have video proof). Tricky personal trainer/husband.
Anyway I continued to gain weight even while working out regularly. And controlling portions. Still tipping at 140.
Then I moved back to Omaha, promptly stopped working out and started a high stress job that brought me lunch from divine places sometimes (thanks Annie!) and planning a HIGHER THEN ON RECORD STRESS wedding. And magically-I lost 20 pounds. I’m pretty sure it was overnight.
In fat times, I had to upgrade all my jeans. I’m a jean FREAK, I own tons, ask my Dad or brother or Seth, they’ve carried the boxes. I bought cool chic jeans to make me feel better about my ever expanding backside. I thought, well its 2 sizes bigger-BUT IT’S SPARKLY!!!
I’m still wearing the Fat Jeans. (end digression)
And these jeans are the ones I picked up this morning from the floor.
I don’t know why I don’t get new jeans (*little voice* yes you do, because you want cooler things like flat screen tv’s and a steam cleaner and to EAT OUT and have your car paid off AND you feel good when your jeans aren’t strangling your Lady Parts) and I know why I don’t go back to the old ones-they are outdated and childish-some of them are LACE UP and have FLAME stitching and words like “Angel” stitched across my then tiny rear (*little voice* and you are afraid that you won’t fit back into them and the jeans you are wearing now are just stretched out and you are lying to yourself about your dramatic weight loss with no diet or exercise and you secretly suspect Seth of breaking the scale because he leaves his HEAVY FITNESS MAGAZINES (90% ads) on it all the time). So I’m constantly pulling my jeans up or trying to cover my exposed crack from hanging out the backside. Today I stepped on them and almost pulled them down to my thighs, thank GOD I was in the bathroom. I’m walking VERY carefully right now…
OH AND! AND! The jeans have a salt snow stain on them because they are the ones I wore last night to eat dinner with Pam and Jason. I noticed, as hurriedly tried not to fall into a bathroom stall. So that makes the bad idea outfit even better.
End story.
Have I mentioned that I’m bored and lonely today?
I actually did do lots of work, but I tend to have this pattern of work, email, work, email work. It gives me a nice flow. But when the email is cut out, I stare at the little icon at the bottom of the screen longingly and try and will an email to come to me. I think of witty things to say to people and by the time they do email me, I’ve forgotten it. I hate that. I take prolonged bathroom breaks because my mom has this theory that if your food takes forever in a restaurant just take a bathroom break and it will come, and it usually WORKS, so I applied that to emailing only to rush back to my computer after moseying around the office to see NO EMAILS or one email from Seth that says “Are you sure we need this now?” in reference to my MASSIVE research project of the best steam cleaner on the market.
*deep sigh*
I guess I’ll go spend the next 45 minutes reading Joshilyn Jackson’s blog…
Oh wait, first I will be horribly embarrassed when someone tells me that a patch of my underwear keeps creeping up...GREAT thanks for STALKING MY UNDERWEAR LINE TODAY. Okay it's official, I need to dig those jeans out...
Hope tomorrow goes faster!!
Love to you all!

PS-The sweater my grandma got me is actually really nice, it's very Russian, but I forgot it makes me sneezy which is why it was at the back of my closet...not because it was unbearably ugly or anything...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Hooray for SETH!!

Everyone guess what!?!? Seth got into COLLEGE!! Okay he's already been but he got into a super great program for his masters degree at the University of California-Santa Cruz. He will be in the UCSC Master’s Program Specializing in Network Engineering. Here is the first class that he is taking that makes my ears bleed just thinking about it:
Mathematical Methods of System Analysis: Stochastic
Introduction to fundamental tools of stochastic analysis. Probability, conditional probability, Bayes Theorem, random variables, independence, Poisson processes, Bernnoulli trials, and Markov chains. Instructor's choice of additional topics, most likely drawn from confidence measures, difference equations, transform methods, stability issues, applications to reliability, queues, and hidden Markov models. Students cannot receive credit for this course and Applied Mathematics and Statistics 131.
Seth also got his next level of security clearance! So we have a lot to celebrate today!!!
Please take a moment to give Seth congratulations!!!

PS I've obviously married a genius and you should be jealous.
PPS Making up my dream life with Pam and L'ara today was HILARIOUS-thanks guys!!

Love for my husband,
Carrie

Thursday, January 22, 2009

More lists, weekend plans, a shout out to Kitty, and I'm going to DISNEYWORLD in JUNE!!

I’m going to Disneyworld!!!
In June-when it will be hot and crowded I have been informed.
My parents are taking the family to Disneyworld and I am SO VERY EXCITED. I just don’t know what to do! Besides start saving! :-) I have never been to Disneyworld-so any helpful suggestions or insider tips are greatly appreciated! We are looking at June 14th to go. And Ellyn will finally be legal and 21 for a vacation so we will have a GRAND time for sure! Hooray for family vacations-I can't TELL you how excited I am-especially since I have been whining to Seth about how everyone but us goes on vacation and how much fun we had at the Cancun family vacation two years ago!! Hooray!!
What else? We had a GREAT time at dinner last night with L’ara and JJ! Thanks guys! *waves* We had a fantastic meal, I learned they make DIPPING OIL for bread at Baker’s, so I have to go get some of THAT now. And I learned L’ara is a FANTASTIC painter and will be sweetly wooed into my next painting party FOR SURE.
So Seth caught up with the blog last night and he says that I don’t talk enough about our cats or him. So here is my list of 100 things I love about Seth and our cats. (50 each) because I’m totally into listing things right now.
Top 50 things I love about my husband:
1) He married me.
2) He accepts that I am crazy and loves it.
3) He is passionate about his work.
4) He loves our cats like children and talks to them that way too.
5) He loves to sleep as much as I do.
6) He works really hard.
7) He has great morals.
8) He treats me like a lady.
9) He still opens doors and pulls out chairs and puts my coat on for me.
10) He is really, really, really smart.
11) He does all the budgeting and bills.
12) When we go to the grocery store, he does all the “which is the better value” stuff.
13) He used to work at a grocery store so he knows the sale cycle of things.
14) He used to work at a Taco John’s so he makes the BEST burritos.
15) He used to work at a moving company so we can get a lot of stuff into a TINY van.
16) He likes to work out, even when I whine about it.
17) He likes to cook for me.
18) He can fix the computer when I break it.
19) He can pretty much fix anything when I break it.
20) He carries my bags in the airport.
21) He carries my bags when we go shopping.
22) He still holds my hand when we sleep at night.
23) He lets me have 1 million pillows on the bed and 5 duvets and two cats.
24) He indulges my obsessions and idiosyncrasies.
25) None of my 100 weird things about me list surprised him.
26) He’s trying to help me follow my passion.
27) He loves food as much as I do.
28) He watches hours of TV for me.
29) He plays video games still and picks the ones he knows I will like to watch him play.
30) He loves my family like his own.
31) He lets me listen to my rap music and my R&B but just not as loud as I usually do.
32) He loves punk music and heavy metal and it opens me up to a whole new world of music.
33) He encouraged me change jobs on a leap of faith when I was miserable at my perfectly good job.
34) He would do anything for his family.
35) Even when he is grumpy, he is tolerable.
36) He lets me whine CONSTANTLY if I need too.
37) He lets me cry if I need to.
38) He knows if I’m having a bad day and usually makes me dinner.
39) He likes to help clean the house so it isn’t all my job.
40)He likes to cuddle as long as my hair isn’t wet.
41) He gets me water every night before we go to bed.
42) He always gives me three kisses (past, present, and future) before we go to bed and when we leave each other and says I love you too.
43) He tells me he loves me, randomly and a lot.
44)He makes me laugh.
45) He loves to learn and try new things.
46)He will have lazy days with me.
47) He doesn’t mind that I don’t wear make up or wash my hair on the weekends, as long as I bathe and don’t wear the pirate shirts (THEY ARE FRENCH CHIC SETH!).
48)He knows that I don’t like to go anywhere alone and will go anywhere with me.
49)He forgives me and loves me when I’m crabby and wrong.
50) He wants to have babies with me.

Top 50 things I love about my Bengal Cats
1) Their names are Bagheera and Willow
2) We never ever call them those names unless they are in trouble. Normally they are “Bags” and “Willowby”.
3) They are so unique.
4) Bags is HandiCAT and doesn’t let anyone put him in his place.
5) Willowby has a toy mousey that is her FAVORITE even though Bags ate the face off and she carries it around the house.
6) Bags destroys every cat toy we have eventually, except the football shaped hackeysack L’ara gave Seth. So I guess technically it doesn’t count as a cat toy.
7) They miss us when we are gone.
8) They talk to us, like have whole conversations with meow inflection tone changes.
9) They are eating us out of our home.
10) Bags is a cuddle MONSTER in the morning, but only in the morning-its like he missed your ugly face so he’s decided to show he needs you.
11) Willow does this thing called pretty kitty where she rubs her head on the ground and rolls over on her tummy when she is in trouble and it is SO HARD TO YELL AT HER.
12) They cuddle together when we sleep at night.
13) They sleep at the foot of the bed with us.
14) They are too smart for their own good-they’ve just learned how to open drawers-we are SCREWED.
15) They HAVE to be in the same room as you-no matter what and they cry if you lock them out.
16) They always come running and greet us at the door when we come home-even if we are gone five minutes.
17) They actually play with their cat toys.
18) They love Seth best of all and when they cuddle with him it’s the CUTEST THING EVER.
19) Because they love Seth best of all it means that they aren’t always under my feet and in my lap so I can love them when I want-on my terms.
20) Willow loves to sit on the edge of the bathtub and talk to me when I’m in the bath and she yells at Seth if he comes in.
21) Bags peeks his head over the edge of the tub and cries because all he can see is my floating head.
22) They are learning to drink out of the toilet.
23) We make them say please for their food or treats and sometimes they actually do it.
24) They like to have their picture taken.
25) Last weekend Willow sat on top of the tv and attacked the Arizona Cardinals every time they threw the ball. I think it helped the Steelers win.
26) They are getting to be BIG cats.
27) Bags has a rug we call the Bagheera rug that looks just like him and he likes to lay in the sun and sleep on it.
28) They are so pretty.
29) They have big ole ears.
30) They play fetch
31) When they play chase me catch me around the house it sounds like a herd of elephants.
32) They are curious like you wouldn’t believe.
33) They have ATTITUDE.
34) My friends treat them like our children and love them to death.
35) They have caused me to be a crazy cat lady and I don’t even care.
36) My parents call them the “grandkitties” and sometimes stop by just to see them and play wit them.
37) I miss them during the day.
38) Bags is like a grumpy teenager most of the time.
39) Willow is like a need prima donna most of the time.
40)They love to lay in laps.
41) They don’t shy away from strangers.
42) Willow thinks she is a parrot and Seth is a pirate.
43) I once had the vet yell at me for letting Willow chew on Bag’s man parts.
44)When Bags had his man parts fixed he hated Willow for like a WEEK. Wouldn’t let her come near her or anything. I guess he associated that pain with her.
45) They are NAUGHTY and we love it even though cleaning up 100 spilled toothpicks is no one’s idea of a good time.
46)They are sweet when they want to be.
47) They love to sleep as much as I do.
48)They are learning how to walk on leashes.
49)They make me feel better when I am sad.
50) They give each other hugs.



So there are my lists for the day.
I’d like to take this opportunity, in the spirit of loving your pets, to take a moment to remember Kathy’s cat Kitty, who passed away today. My heart is with you Kathy! Know that Kitty was one LOVED cat and she had a great life. She was lucky to have you. :-) Make sure you give Kirby and extra tight squeeze for me.

Also I have decided to go on a cooking RAMPAGE this weekend, on Saturday. Here is the list of things I will possibly be cooking: Chicken and Cheese Enchi’s, Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole, Mexican Meatloaf Muffins (new recipe to try), Chocolate Chip Cookies, and maybe lasagna since I was inspired last night by L’ara.

I hope you all have a great day!
Much love!
Carrie