A late list of what I'm thankful for:
1. Parents of the Buel variety
2. Golden retrievers
3. Mexican Thanksgivings with margaritas and not a hint of Turkey
4. Lights
5. Friends of the FARC variety (and those who married FARCers)
6. Mothers who throw out 3/4 of their children's clothes
7. "Grown-up" clothes
8. Dog nightgowns (nightgowns with dogs on them, not nightgowns for dogs. How long do you think that would really last?)
9. Dads who have spent the past three months holed up in the basement creating a work of entertainment center art for their little girl
10. Yarn, especially alpaca and anything self-striping
11. Pookie
12.
Get Fuzzy
13. Employment
14. Snowflakes and fairies
15. Wonder
What my brain looks like:
Dull pink, glistening with moisture, sturdy and firm except for a soft, sunken spot in the top center portion. It rains over that spot, and the dip grows deeper and wider.
Or like the sad Zoloft guy. Either one works.
I think I shrunk a cheapo sweater in the laundry. So what do I do? I wear it to work. The sleeves are too short. I know I can fix it when I wash it again, but really, why did I wear it to work today? I am uncomfortable. I want to go home and get back into bed.
Maybe seeing my parents and Peep will take me out of this crappy mood. Or maybe we'll all fight. It could go either way at this point.
I haven't been in this bad of a mood in a long time. We're going on 18 hours or so, here. My record of bad mood is about two weeks, so hopefully I won't come close to breaking it.
Who
doesn't love
awful plastic surgery?
I spent most of yesterday in bed. Until 3:30 p.m., actually. Reading, talking on the phone, sleeping. It was a dreary day. Then I went for a swim, grocery shopped and did some laundry. I also watched
Frida, which I highly recommend. Alas, I didn't get the chance to watch
Mighty Ducks 3, as it is due back at the library today. Shoot. I'll have to catch pre-Pacey Joshua Jackson some other time.
I have the feeling it's going to be an alarmingly long day.
Sometimes things need to spill out of your head so you can get on with your day. Example, "When I say "Re", you say "Re."
"Re!"
"Re!"
"Re!"
"Re!"
Better.
I took a spinning class at 5:30 this morning and it kicked my butt. It was tought but also kind of...fun? Kind of? The room is dark and they played great music, including selections by NERD and Paula Abdul. I want to go to bed at 7:00.
I think I just put chapstick in my eye. It feels minty.
Speaking of minty, if you put on mint chapstick right before drinking hot chocolate, you have mint hot chocolate. It's really good.
It's 75 degrees here today. I visited the sunshine for a bit during my lunch. I wore a skirt in honor of the gorgeous weather. It's supposed to snow on Monday.
I had more to say.
I joined a gym.
I know. Isn't that weird? But I did. Or, well, I will, once I give them the money tonight. It's a really good place at a good price and they have awesome equipment. I went at 5:30 this morning (!) and used an eliptical trainer for a little over a half hour. Unlike the eliptical trainer at my apartment complex, it didn't squeak, jam or crush my foot. And they played the best music. I'm going to go in the early mornings before work so I don't wuss out at night. Tomorrow I'm going to take a spinning class and I'm going to try to swim or something every Sunday. Yay! I just want to take care of myself. It's yet another step in the quest to become a "real" person.
To do tonight:
1. Get prescription
2. Go to Beauty Brands and get eyebrows waxed. I actually kind of like that. It makes me feel girly.
3. Get my stupid watch fixed. Stupid watch. I haven't worn a watch in about a month now.
4. Finish the first sock.
Yay socks! I think I will also eat a hamburger.
I dream about Chris Bollig about once a month. I don't know why. In these dreams, I'm always madly in love with him. In this particular one, we're the ages we are now and I tell him that my mom suspects that maybe we're "involved," and he said, "not anymore," as in we used to be. And I get all pissed off because he never told me we were involved in the past. (Much like those two weeks I "dated" Frank Butler, but that wasn't a dream. He really didn't tell me we were dating, but did tell everyone else.) And I was upset because I loved him and knew he loved me.
Chris Bollig, how can you still mess with my head? It's been five years since I last saw you. We heard you married some Minnesotan heiress.
And anyway, it was always Nick who I loved.
It's icky outside. I realized yesterday that Thanksgiving is next week. I need to get some holiday decorations, but I'm afraid that they may make me sad. Holidays have that effect on me.
I went to Guild last night and did an entire leg of a sock. Jean couldn't believe it (she's a knitting teacher and yarn distributor and very, very good). I'm going to finish it today - I have to do the heel, which is my favorite part, and then the instep and toe. The crafting madness has turned into an apartment-based sweatshop where I am the only employee. But it's so...good. I love it. So many things ot make. My hands have never been busier.
Work work work.
Headache. Three-quarters of an hour left. Ouch.
I was indeed cupcake drunk last night thanks to my
baking friend. I have never not wanted a cupcake so badly in my life. I am, however, craving cheesecake. And the Knitter's Guild meeting tonight is right across the parking lot from the Cheesecake Factory. Ack.
Batton down the hatches - tomorrow is Britney Day.
Just to make you all feel bad, I want to let you know that as of 4 p.m. today, I was finished with all of my holiday shopping. (Except Justin, as we have not yet laid down the ground rules.) God bless Borders and the employee 40% discount weekend. Just because I'm done shopping doesn't mean I'm done - I have about a billion things left to make. But at least I've spent the large part of my money (which, incidentally, wasn't that much at all. Way to go getting paid twice on one day.)
The good people of Kansas City are freaking IN-SANE. I'm going to stand outside of Borders now and yell, "What? You're a crazy person? Well, come on in! We have plenty of those here!" I was not personally publicly berated today, but I'm sure my time will come. I am, however, really starting to like the people I work with.
My personal recommendations for blissful beauty products: Burt's Bees strawberry lipgloss, lemon butter cuticle cream and, the best, almond and milk beeswax handcream. If you come to my Borders, I will let you try as much as you want. That's just the kind of person I am.
One Christmas gift finished, eight more to go. And I'll probably come up with some others between now and then. Not to mention crafting for myself and stuff to sell. I'm going to start a sweatshop with myself as the sole employee.
How to exercise at work:
Walk up 16 flights of stairs only to realize your key doesn't work. Go back down 16 flights of stairs and take the elevator.
Five years ago today was the biggest, best day of my life. It's hard to explain, it's lengthy and the guy in the office down the hall is playing "We Don't Need No Education." Woah.
I was all things theater in high school. Drama Club president, either onstage or backstage for every play. I loved it, all of my friends were there, people looked up to me and I came home covered with paint every Saturday night. We took Neil Simon's
Rumors to the Iowa State Thespian Festival in Indianola, IA, my senior year. I was the lead female, Chris. Abby was my best friend in the play and Homey was my husband. Our set was amazing - designed and created by my dad, of course. I wanted to live in it. When the curtain opened, I was the only one on stage. Everyone started clapping. I like to think it's because I was so hot (the girls from our drama club in the audience said a lot of boys behind them were talking about how hot I was), but I know it's because the two story set with a balcony, bar and GORGEOUS molding (ala Abby and the Kristins, courtesy of the Cardboard King) knocked everyone's socks off. Nobody had ever brought a set like that to the state festival. Nobody had ever brought a set like that to the international festival.
I won an award for Best Actress that night. That was the one thing I wanted all through high school and the thing I'm most proud of in my life. Even though the dumbass techies from Indianola screwed up our sound during the first act and a light was too low and too close to the balcony, it was the best night of my life.
Enough sappy - here are the really good and funny parts:
* Bertram's ass was so big that we couldn't get the couch into the semi. When we loaded the set the night before, he kept looking around and going, "We're never going to get this thing in here." I screamed, "If your ass wasn't so big we could all go home now!" Ask Abby.
* Mike was the best state representative and abstract duck I have ever known. And he won an award for a duet musical theater piece that made me cry.
* My "no honking" guarantee was lifted and I almost puked all over everyone.
* I became really really sick during the first act and lost my voice during intermission. I turned into Punky Brewster and had to miss school that Monday because I couldn't talk, which was sad because I had a really hot student teacher in my speech class.
* We started the "Feed Conrad Kiebler Fund."
* Kristin Brunt began dating a broom. His name was Slim.
* My mom videotaped a McDonald's bag for about 15 minutes.
* The best part of the whole show was pretending to get drunk in the bathroom with Abby. Neither of us had ever had alcohol ever, so the rest of the cast tried to teach us how to be drunk. I laughed a lot. We would bring in a full bottle of wine (water) and for the first few weeks, we would drink it. The bathroom was off set, and we're dumbasses. We finally figured out we could dump it out into a bucket. That drastically cut down on our bathroom time.
* There were speakers IN THE BATHROOM. I could hear E Lenz screaming wherever I went. It was great.
* There was also a working shower in the bathroom. Abby turned it on, got wet and screamed like a girl.
* I wore double-sided tape to keep my dress from becoming too revealing. I had scars from tearing it off every night for two weeks. I think I still have them.
* We lost Rita for about an hour while we packed up the set. She was asleep under the bar.
* Abby played in a curtain of what was essentially tinsel and then got yelled at by ugly Indianola techies.
* I lectured everybody on the prevelence of homley girls in central Iowa.
It was one of the most fun shows I was ever in. I liked being the Wicked Witch of the West a lot more, but Chris Gorman was my second favorite part. I laughed until I cried in rehearsal, especially when Homey changed the line "Is there a cat in here?" to "Me and the cat are hungry."
ANYWAY, my dad is back at the state festival today. They're doing
Noises Off as the opening show to kick off the weekend, and this is the second time he's designed a set for it, but the first that it will travel. He's probably at North Scott High School (yay, Eldridge!) as we speak, being his calm self while E breaks everything in sight. I wish I could be there when the curtain opens and everyone freaks out (because this set TURNS COMPLETELY AROUND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SHOW) because my dad did that. He does good work.
Dear Britney,
I tried to hate you. I did. Those three months were horrible, though. Because we belong together, Britney. I can't help that I like your music and GOD you can dance. So I'm sorry I said that you might err on the slutty side of things. Hell, if I had the chance to makeout with Colin or Madonna, I'd take it. I mean, it's Madonna, come on! And if I looked like you, I'd be naked at every chance I got.
But really, I'm writing because of Justin (of the non-Marciniak status). You two belong together. Watching Diane Sawyer last night (could you not have gone with Katie Couric? She's not as annoying to watch), when she was asking about him and you were crying, it was clear that you missed him. And I hate Cameron Diaz. She's annoying as hell. I think there'll be just a little bit of unrest to my pretty okay life until you two get back together, so just do it. So what if you cheated - I used to cheat on my boyfriends, too, always for really, really stupid reasons, like Action Contests. (NOT Justin, I would never do that, I would rather kill myself than hurt him.) Sometimes things happen and sometimes you screw up but for the love of God, will you call the boy and apologize? It would help me sleep better at night.
Love,
Kristin
PS - If you see JC Chasez, could you please tell him to cut his hair? For Abby? Because he looks like a woman.
Instead of lamenting my crappy dinner last night, I should have realized it was quite French - bread, cheese and a lot (for me) of wine. Actually, now that I think about it, I could have that for dinner every day.
The chances of me being on time today are ridiculously low. I don't even
want to be on time, that's how low they are.
I'm still in the land of not-a-lot-of-work-to-do, which, contrary to popular belief, kind of sucks. It's hard to make the hours go by fast when you're racking your brain for another legit news site to read. Eonline, I'm sorry to say, is not legit (but it is my news source of choice).
I want to make sugar cookies tonight. With icing. I'm going to make a huge mess. It's going to be awesome.
I went to the Fiber Guild meeting last night. I don't think I'll go back. Unlike the Knitter's Guild, it's a very close-knit (oh, don't even) group, and I felt kind of left out. And there was a woman writing a screenplay for a Pirate's of the Carribean sequel, starring a Pirate Queen who spins her own yarn. But I did meet two women who own alpacas (sheep? Llamas? Who cares? They're soft.) and everyone there spun their own yarn. But I could think of better ways to spend my evening, namely buying the new Liz Phair CD and eating Dairy Queen, which I subsequently did.
I really want to make this
sweater. I think the yarn is too expensive for me right now, but if I sell a few more hats, I should be able to save enough money.
Seriously, I need some work to do here, people. How do I always work myself out of a job?
My personal radio station figured out that I like New Kids on the Block and just played "Cover Girl." I didn't know if I should be excited or really really embarrassed.
Reason why I'm mad at Target:
* They won't change the battery in my watch because I didn't buy it there. I'm sure Mary Englebreit doesn't have time to come all the way up here to change the battery herself, so you think they'd be a little more helpful.
Reason why I feel like a criminal:
* Buying supplies for the party last Saturday, the following occured: I purchased $27 worth of groceries. I had a $10 gift card. That brought my total to $17. I then asked for $20 cash back after paying with my debit card. That equals $37 total that should be charged to my debit card. My receipt says the girl owed me $3 in change, meaning instead of entering that I should get $20, that I paid $20. And my bank statement says I paid Hy-Vee $20. All of this equals that I got my groceries for free. It was weird. I mean, I got the $20 cash back. So I essentially came out ahead (not having to pay for groceries.)
Um, I like Jessica Simpson's new song. And I don't care if she's stupid. I know A LOT of stupid people.
How does one create a fitness regimine and stick to it? Suggestions?
Oh yeah. There's going to be a really long post of
Pages of Pages soon. Give me a few hours.
Not counting the Scrabble game, the weekend was amazing. I had a "big girl" party (and there's a lot of alcohol left over - come to my place and drink some beer), my friends made friends with each other and Justin tried his hand at making bread. (Notice how I am a much bigger person than said boyfriend and don't gloat over other's misfortunes. Loser.)
I'm eating cheese right now.
I may get fed up with Borders, but I walked away with 26 FREE CDs last night after our annual meeting. FREE. Good CDs. CDs for my boyfriend, who will be lucky if I don't scratch all of his before handing them over. CDs for my parents. And CDS for me. I may never say this again, but YAY Borders.
It's not my fault
you're going to hell.
Dear Liz Phair,
You rocked my socks off last night. Who knew you were better in person than on the CD? Who knew you were so gorgeous (in a Sheryl Crow kind of way, which actually freaks me out)? Who knew you were so tiny? Who knew I'd see half the people I used to work with?
I had a great time. You were the first female headliner I've ever seen (isn't that weird? I thought so, too). I'd ditch that Wheat group if I were you. They sound like every band I've ever heard - Kella and I agreed that they were the Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox 20 and all those other bands my dad likes all rolled up in one. But you, girl, know how to rock and roll.
Please come back soon. If I were into that kind of thing, I would totally make out with you.
Love,
k
ps - Why do so many gay 40 year old men love you?
Dear Michaella's mom,
Thank you so much for the tickets! Kella almost busted up some inappropriate PDA, but I kept her in line. We got our pictures taken by the Pitch street team, and they gave us incense. Hooray...incense?
Love,
Michaella's friend, Kristin
How I spent my lunch:
Shopping for yarn.
Eating cake.
Good God, nothing, NOTHING is better than that!!! I'm pretty sure that's what heaven's all about.
I actually didn't buy much yarn, just two skeins (one for a Christmas present for a certain pirate I know), but I also got some itty bitty needles and a bag to keep my sock knitting in. Hurrah! And all of it was 25% off! Even better!
The cake wasn't as good as Hy-Vee, but I still managed to eat a corner piece.
Nice things about my job:
1. Sometimes it is slow, but I never have to wait long for stuff to do. I really like and appreciate that.
2. Lots of good magazines.
3. Internet radio.
Speaking of radio - have you ever wanted to make your OWN radio station, where only good music is played? Now you can!
Launch.com allows you to make your own online station. It asks your music preferences and gives suggestions, and as you listen to songs, you can rate them, as well as artists and albums. Then it figures out what to play. It's great! And if you don't like a song, you can turn on the No symbol and it will never play again. Woohoo!
Best of all, it's free.
I highly recommend it if you have speakers. I even got to hear Bootylicious!
