Not to be the girl who cried wolf....

I know this may sound familiar to some of you, but I've been looking at this dog on the internet....

Her name is Brie. She's a one year old Hungarian Pumi. She has already had a litter of 8 puppies (poor thing) but now she's spayed and it won't happen again.

She's in Indiana, and my adoption form has been approved. I can pick her up this weekend if I choose. Hmmm.... am I ready to go get my new little girl?

Great Minds Think Alike

I saw this card today on www.postsecret.com and it speaks to me!!!!

The SPAM Museum

Who knew? We were on our way home from a family trip to Iowa (to stay in an adorable little rustic 2 bedroom cottage on a lake, and ride a roller coaster at an amusement park) when we saw all the billboards for the SPAM Museum (in Minnesota).

It sounded SO FUNNY! A museum for SPAM? The billboards successfully lured us in, and we stopped.

We ended up staying there for about 2 hours. It was SO MUCH FUN! I would certainly recommend it to EVERYONE with kids! There's a movie to watch, and all kinds of interactive stuff, an assembly line (where you make a faux can of SPAM and it tells you how many the factory made in the same amount of time) and the Monty Python SPAM skit. It was just too amusing. More on the rest of our trip later...

We took our own photos, but I don't have them yet (on my dad's camera) but I found these on-line. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Panties, and Fake-Domestic Violence

None of the dudes out there know what it's like to purchase women's underthings. I heard that my bridal friend recently spent just about forever finding the bustier that fit both her ribcage and her breasts properly to go under her wedding dress. And don't get me started on the bustiers! Why must they always leave you with 1950's looking triangular shaped CONE tits?

I have my own panties situation. My bridesmaid dress is a little on the sheer side. Most of my formalwear revolves around wearing black (for orchestra, for quartet, for funerals) it's just so all purpose. Well I have plenty of black panties that would be suitable for the sheer light colored bridesmaid dress, but I'm afraid in an outdoor wedding, and with the flash from cameras, black will show through.

So I went to good ol' Target in search of closer to flesh colored panties. Can you IMAGINE how many choices there are?!?!? And the newest ridiculous thing in panties is to TAG them to the hanger, so that they can not be tried on without cutting off the tags. WTF? How can I not try them on? I ended up buying ONE HUNDRED dollars worth of moderately inexpensive Target panties. I can see dropping that at Victoria's Secret, but Target??? I think the first pair I tried on (in the comfort of my own home) is the winning pair too. Thank god....

I went to a super cool roof-top movie viewing with MK last night and it was so different, and really fun. The movie part was fun. Figuring out how to get to the rooftop was less fun.

We saw the closest doors to where we parked, and tried to enter. They were locked. But two people were about to exit them, and we were going to get in that way. They guy opened the door for me to get in, but somehow (with the weight and force of my WHOLE body behind it) I scraped my arm against the lock on the door. I instantly knew it was very, very, bad. "That's going to leave a mark...."

Almost immediately it was swollen about an inch off my arm (beneath my shoulder) and purple for about 3 or 4 inches long. This is the kind of bruise that tends to linger on my pale, pale skin for MONTHS. And I have to be in a wedding in a month! And it does look like I'm the victim of domestic violence. It looks JUST like a painful grab to the upper arm.

After I got home, I iced it for about 30 minutes, and slathered it in arnica and lavender essential oils. When I woke up this morning it looked less severe (in my mind) than right after it happened.

I met my dad so we could walk the dogs and he took one look at my arm and said, "Is there a bad boyfriend that I don't know about?" and I told him how I was trying to walk through a doorway and he replied, "You need better drugs. You should be able to CLEAR a doorway."

Another friend saw me this afternoon and said, "Ouch! What happened to your arm?" and I said, "You should have seen the other guy!"

I'm continuing to oil it. Hopefully this thing never turns green and goes away before wedding photo-mania begins!

I am filled with hope!

Hey there Phaedra phans (get it?). All two of my loyal readers (as Jamie would say).

Today's interview COULDN'T have gone better unless they hired me on the spot. It was fabulous!

They asked me about my eventual career goals (I said to stay at the DNR!) and I had to tell them about my uncle being a federal park forest ranger... Seriously, it was one of the best interviews ever. That HAS to mean something!

I should find out by late next week.... KEEP YO' FINGERS CROSSED!

Under Penalty of Jail...

I agreed to do a favor for someone I consider to be my friend at work. He asked me to review exams for a position open in his section. Me, getting to decide who gets an interview and who doesn't. I'm not in management (though I have been in the past) so I was honored to be asked.

Once I got to the conference where I would be reviewing these applications, I was made to sign an affidavit stating that I was not allowed to discuss any specifics about the selection process outside that room under penalty of JAIL! The pokey, me? But I'm too cute for jail! I was told by the three others present that they'd bring me cupcakes if I went to jail. ;)

AND I'M DYING TO DISCUSS THE SPECIFICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe next time I'm asked, I'll have to say "no."

I accidentally outed a friend's dad at work today. We had a teleconference (me, my boss, scabby, and my friend's dad) and the whole time (~40 mins) he had to keep dabbing his face with a kleenex. He was oozing liquid from near his temple. He had a similar scrape on his nose. To tell the truth it looked like he had kissed the pavement while riding his bike or some such (except I don't know that he bikes, and he wasn't injured anywhere else). It was amazingly refreshing to stare at his 2 very clean looking oozing sores rather than scabby.

He must have caught me S-T-A-R-I-N-G because as soon as we were off the phone he looked at me and said, "I had something removed the other day." and I practically screamed, "SKIN CANCER? MY MOM GETS THAT ALL THE TIME...." He followed up with, "Pre-cancerous cells."

I felt so BAD because I outed his medical condition in front of scabby (who could learn a thing or two about visiting the dermatologist).

I need to learn to be a little less vocal it would seem.

SECOND INTERVIEW!!

I had a Dr. Appt this afternoon (to figure out why I can't bend my right index finger, the x-ray shows I'm normal, which is nice to know but doesn't explain anything). When I got back to work I had new voicemail messages.

One of them was my favorite kind (the kind that get transferred to someone else) and the other was a call from the DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR A SECOND INTERVIEW!!!!

This DNR job is da bomb, yo. It's a pretty high level position, budgeting for all the State Parks. It pays so much more than my current job where I'm over-utilized and under appreciated and work with people who eat their scabs (I told my Doctor about it and she said, "Don't touch ANYTHING he touches!!").

Please send me positive energy and well wishes next Wednesday (the 14th) around 2:00 PM. I'd take that energy earlier in the day too. =)

Dogs

My Dad e-mailed me this, and although the New Yorker cartoons don't always crack me up, this one just killed me!

"Operation Bridal Shower" Complete.

The shower has come and gone. I spent almost 3 days getting ready, and we had five guests show (plus the bride-to-be, me and my mom). It was great, but I'm relieved to be finished.

Now I just need to keep passing out the extra food in my fridge...

"The Underpants"

I hate that word, but it was the most hilarious play I've EVER seen! I spent more time laughing out loud than not laughing. If it comes to a playhouse near you, SEE IT!

"The Underpants"
By Steve Martin

Directed by John Varda

Comedy: A fast paced, farcical sex-comedy set in 1900 Germany that centers on a wife who has made a spectacle of herself during a parade by accidentally dropping her underpants.

Yay Jojo!

I got to see my long lost friend Jojo (after about 13 years....) last night. Some things never change and some people just make you feel like "home." In some ways it's like no time has passed since I last saw her.

Apparently I'm easy to google (hmmm.... mental note: possibly change that?) and Jojo found me one day. I have a feeling that we're going to keep in touch much better from now on. I can't believe we lost touch for so long.

And my Aldo loves her, of course. We dog lovers have to stick together! Aldo knows the who the quality people are. ;)

Jojo, have a great vacation, and thanks for finding time for me in your visit! I'll have to come and see you and Ryan and the doggies in Colorado sometime soon.