Shriekfest 2011

I just had the second most terrifying shower experience of my life. Here's what happened.

I was pretty much this scared.

I was minding my own beeswax, shampooing my hair and whatnot when what did I see but a HUGE yellow spider, STARING at me from the safety of the body wash bottle.

There was nothing I could do. I had nothing to squish it with, and even if I wanted to get something to squish it (which I did!), I would have had to get out of the shower, drip water everywhere, dry off a bit, grab some t.p., get back in the shower, turn the water off, and chase the spider around the bottle.

So I continued showering. What ensued was Shriekfest 2011 as I went about my business keeping one eye on the spider the whole time, and letting out a shriek every time it moved. To be fair, the spider seemed to be in as much of a panic as me, staring at me, then running around the bottle, then lowering itself a few inches, then rushing back up and staring at me some more.

I rushed through my showering routine, shaving my legs like I was in leg-shaving speed competition (ouch, by the way). The spider, which I am almost positive is climbing on me now, tormented me through the entire experience. I'm shocked I made it out alive.*

Like I said, second worst shower experience ever. The first worst involved a spider too, but that story has to be saved for another day. I can't talk about it right now.

What's your worst spider story? Or shower story, whichever. Just keep it clean. (Get it?**)

*no detail in this story has been exaggerated in the slightest. 
** worst pun ever.

Wednesday Thoughts

I'm about 40% grouchy this morning. I blame it on some bad honey dew I had earlier. When fruit is good, it's pure nirvana, but when it's bad, it's horrible and foul.

I started writing a grouchy Wednesday Thoughts but one sentence in, decided it was only making me feel worse. So instead, I'll tell you a couple highlights from a visit with my grandma last night. I want to preface it by saying that I have been really enjoying this time with my grandma. She is sweet, loving, and a complete worry wart.

Grandma: "Mary (my aunt/her daughter) told me not to worry about you, that you always have stuff going on and you're fine."
Me: "It's true, my life is happy. You don't need to worry about me."
Grandma: (sadly), "But...well... I guess I just hoped you'd find someone and get married."
Me: "Well...there's still time."
Grandma (disbelievingly): "Yeah...."


Later:

Grandma, while turning on a lamp she's bequeathed to me after she dies, "This will be your lamp!"
Me, not thinking about what I was saying: "Yeah, I can't wait!"

(realizing what I said)

"I mean, I can totally wait! No rush! Take your time! Absolutely no rush at all!"

My grandma is always saying things like, "I just don't see how anyone couldn't like you!" Completely baffled by it. I guess it's her role as my grandma to think any man who doesn't like me is a fool. It both makes me feel loved and aware of my flaws (as it puts a spotlight on my non-married status). C'est la vie.

In other Wednesday Thoughts:

I added two songs to my iPod thinking they would cheer me up but so far they've had the reverse effect:

"Angel of Mine" by Monica. Thought it would be a fun blast from the past but instead it's creating that bad kind of nostalgia.
"Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. I heard it on the radio last week and loved it. Now it's making me  melancholy.

I need some happier songs. Suggestions?

Lastly, some birthday shout outs!

Happy birthday CHRISTI and LIZ! :) Yay! Hope your birthdays are amazing today!

Happy Wednesday!

A Very Brady Vacation

I've been dreaming about taking a vacation lately. And because I'm dying to feel sunshine and warmth while simultaneously realizing a lifelong dream, I've been thinking more about seeing the Grand Canyon.

I feel like I sound like a kid from a different decade when I say that. Who, my age, is dying to go to the Grand Canyon? I'm pretty sure a single person my age should want to go someplace "cooler" than that - someplace like Branson, Missouri, for example.

Speaking of different decades, I've also been in the mood to watch the Brady Bunch  (I have no idea why), so imagine my delight when I happened upon it Saturday afternoon. Not only that but (wait for it.....) at the beginning of the episode, Mr. Brady announced to the kids that they were going on a family vacation to the Grand Canyon! I'm not sure who was more excited about this - me or Bobby!

Unfortunately, the Bradys decided to take a little detour and visit a ghost town on their way to the Grand Canyon. While there, they got mixed up with an old prospector who was afraid they were trying to steal his gold. He ended up luring them into a jail cell and locking them up. Once I realized they probably weren't going to make it to the Grand Canyon (there were only ten minutes left in the episode), I lost interest and turned the tv off. I have no idea how the Bradys and Alice got out of that jail cell, or if they ever did for that matter. Maybe that's how the series ended.

Darn prospector!

Regardless of what happened to the Bradys, I am still dreaming about going to the Grand Canyon. Theirs was a cautionary tale. I'm pretty sure I can make it all the way there without a ghost town lockup. (Though probably not without a TSA pat-down which could end up being just as uncomfortable.)

What about you? Where are you dreaming of vacationing?

A love letter

I spent a really nice evening with friends tonight. Spring is here, and it was a rainy day which turned into a rainy night. At my friend's house, while a couple of the guys prepared one of the most delicious meals I've ever eaten, the rest of us played a board game. The game was a raucous, competitive one with lots of laughing and  friendly arguing, which is my favorite kind of game.

Later, as I was eating dinner, feeling quite content, I looked out the now dark and rainy second story window across from me and what did I see? A helium balloon with a long ribbon tied to it, floating up and away. It was honestly magical. (I tried hard not to think that a child may have lost it, though watching a balloon float majestically away is better than watching it slowly deflate inside anyway.)

It was a nearly perfect moment. A belly full of good food, a nice evening with friends, feeling warm and happy inside, while looking out at the rainy night sky with a balloon floating by.

The other night I was with friends and I jokingly said that I don't believe in love. My friend Brady said, "that's a lie, you write about love in your blog all the time." I said, "I do??" And he said, "yeah, you're always writing about how much you love your friends and family and everything." It surprised me that he said that because I didn't realize I write about that that much. But I was also happy that he said that because I really do have a lot of love in my life. And many people to be grateful for.

Today my home teacher shared a wonderful lesson with me about looking for the good. The truth, for all of us, is that life is difficult. Everyone is going through a trial, whether great or small, and it's easy to become down and cynical. It's often hard to find the good in our lives because the bad demands so much more attention and is easier to focus on. But I have found that when I really try to find the good, I can. And I'm much happier.

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about lately is how blessed I am in the friends department (and I include my family in that as well since I consider my family my friends). I seriously have such wonderful friends. They make me laugh, they support me, encourage me, and show me love. When it comes to "looking for the good," I often look to my friends because of how good they are to me and how much they enrich my life.

I know this post is a slight deviation from what I normally write about but I can't help it - a helium balloon sent me over the edge of happiness and I had to share some of it with you all. I hope that you are able to find the good in your lives and share it. Happiness really is contagious.

The Happy Things

Welcome to "things making me happy," the St. Patrick's Day edition! As you know, last week I posted a collage of things that had made me happy that week. Focusing on the positive cheered me up so I thought I'd make a habit out of it! Here's week two:

1. Green cupcakes with green sparkles for St. Patty's Day!

2. The snow and ice are melting! Good riddance!

3. Bike riding is back in my life and this is making me beyond happy. I'd forgotten about that part of me - the part that flies down the street with my hair blowing in the breeze. I missed that part of me! I'm so happy spring is here (here-ish).

4. Corned beef and cabbage - delicious!

5. A fire hydrant wearing a winter hat - with the temps earlier this week, I understand.

6. Twitter. I've been blowing it up this week with the most fascinating, mind blowing (read: boring) tweets ever. Still, I'm loving it. (This picture is slightly altered for the holiday.) :)

7. Green salsa. Going out to a Mexican restaurant on St. Patrick's Day didn't seem right, so I got some green salsa to make it better.

8. Bad movies. I saw Beastly with my friend Heidi last weekend, and it was (spoiler alert): bad. The only good thing was that Neil Patrick Harris had a small role - he almost saved the movie. Other that that, hilariously bad. Two words: Mary Kate Olsen. Make that three words. She played the witch who put the curse on the popular boy. Need I say more?

The next night we got a couple other girls to join us and saw Red Riding Hood. It was ridiculous. Seeing bad movies is my new favorite thing to do. :)

What's making you happy this week?

Wednesday Thoughts

That one time with Prince Charles at the parade

Due to the random nature of today's Wednesday Thoughts, I have numbered them to make them easier to follow:

1. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I'm not actually Irish (technically I think I'm something like 6% Irish), but I love any excuse to eat green food so I pretend I'm all Irish for the day (which I think is what most people do, really).

What do you do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day? My celebration pretty much consists of wearing something green so I don't get pinched - well, that and drinking green milk. Actually, I haven't had green milk since elementary school, which is very sad indeed.

A friend of mine believes that kisses are free on St. Patricks day and he goes out of his way to take advantage of the day. What do you guys think? Are kisses free on St. Patty's Day?

2. I really have to give "elliespen" credit for admitting she thinks sneezes have a smell on my previous post. Until she commented, I was almost starting to feel bad for Jesse, being all alone in this world with his super sense of smell. Turns out he's not alone. After I read her comment this morning, Jesse and I had the following textversation:

Me: Someone else smells sneezes.
Jesse: Someone else will live through the apocalypse.

3. I've been tweeting so much lately, you guys. I don't know what has come over me. Boredom? Maybe. Honestly I'm not even sure what I'm doing over there. The other day I tweeted about eating too much basghetti. Also, I just started "retweeting" so it doesn't look like I'm having conversations with myself. There's a learning curve on Twitter and I'm pretty sure I'm not there yet. But I'm loving it anyway, even though I know some of you are haters. I have several friends who roll their eyes and/or groan when I mention Twitter. Which only makes me want to mention it more, of course.

Anyway, come over and follow me on Twitter! I'll follow you back, unless you're the scary kind of stranger.

4. The weather lately feels like fall. Not early fall - the most enchanting time of year - but late fall, right before winter starts. I'm trying to look at this as a good thing, because fall always trumps winter. It's making me nostalgic for Halloween, which I love. Still, I'm aching for summer. Spring is right around the corner, right? Right?!?

5. I ordered Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred video and I'm way nervous - I've heard it's so hard it makes you hate life. I'm going to do my best though - in fact, I'm pretty sure I'll keep a journal of my 30 day progress for your amusement. So keep an eye out for that in April!

Meanwhile, wear some green tomorrow or I'll pinch ya. Or kiss you, depending on what we decide on the question of kisses being free. Either way, watch out.

Happy Wednesday!

The sneeze couch

The sneeze heard (not smelled) round the world

 

I need you guys to settle something for me. My friend Jesse claims that sneezes have a distinct smell. When he lived in Michigan, there was a couch in his house which he claimed "smelled like sneeze" and which he referred to as "the sneeze couch."

I had sat on this couch many times and never having noticed anything that smelled like sneeze on it, I naturally thought he was crazy. So the next time I was there, I sniffed the couch. I got as close as I could to it, trying to detect anything sneeze like. Besides smelling like it belonged in a house where only men live, I smelled nothing I could identify as "sneeze."

Now Jesse's back at school and I forgot all about the sneeze debate until this morning when I got a text message from him saying that a guy in his class sneezed and he could smell it. He claims that "not all sneezes have a smell" but some do.

I told him I'd take it to the blog to settle this dispute. What do you guys think? Have you ever smelled a sneeze?