The Elephant in the Room (no, it wasn't pink)...

My mother is in town.

For the next 3 weeks.

Please send your well wishes for a non-stressful three weeks, too....

No, I'm kidding. I love my mom and I don't see her often enough. But as a child of divorced parents, I lived with my mom full time. Because of this, I was taught at a very early age about Independence. To this day I am so much an independent person that I actually plan some days off while the Big Guy is at work, just because I need some Kelley time.

Yes, I know....it sounds like I don't like the Big Guy because I need to spend time away from him. But if I don't get some Kelley time, I get cranky and frustrated and we've learned that it is needed. In fact, the Big Guy needs time to himself too.

Anyway, on Tuesday my mom and I drove to St Cloud to see Amy (who the 3-day team is named after).

By the way, side note: Amy is now bandanna free and she looks FAB! Short hair is really cute on her. So, Amy--if you read this--I TRIPLE LOVE IT!

We headed up to see Amy to drop off the last of the auction items and have some lunch. Amy was also going on a golf lesson. This is a whole post for another day. I'm excited to hear details because everyone's reaction has been the same: "You're taking a golf lesson?" I hope it was awesome and she picked up a new hobby.

Just for the record, my golf skills are specialized in the mini-golf form.

After lunch we headed home and were met with a circus tent going up in the park across the street from our townhome. When we left in the morning, we saw some horse trailers and some horses tied to the trees. We also saw the making of the tent going up. My thought was a rodeo.

Oh, how wrong I was.

As we pulled up to our townhome, we noticed pony rides for the kids, clowns getting on their make up, and an elephant.

In our backyard.

Don't believe me:

I hate the fact that it is chained to a tree--but I understand that the little gate won't keep in a multi-ton elephant. At least I got to see it being petted and fed treats.

We did not attend the circus, but we got to hear it as we grilled out that night. Nothing says a quiet night in the 'burbs like grilling out and hearing an elephant rear it's trunk.

That Would be the Work of a Blowfish....

The Big Guy and I went to see Hootie and the Blowfish last night at the Minnesota Zoo Amphitheatre. In a word...this show was AWESOME! When we purchased tickets back in May, I thought I hit the jackpot when we get front row. I thought, "Wow! Is it always this easy? I always seem to get super-way-up-high-nosebleed-seats."

Yeah. Kindof. That is, you have to read the fine print.

Warning: Limited or Obstructed View

OK, so we thought, "How bad can it be? A pole? A speaker?" When we got to there, we took our seats and seriously thought, "what's the obstruction?" Take a look for yourself. This is what we had for a view. Literally, less than 10 yards from the Hoot-master himself.

That's when the little security man came to us and said, "You understand that you have obstructed view seats?" The Big Guy and I (along with our two bench partners) said, "Yes". He then replied, "The reason it says 'obstructed' is because people can come down here and dance."



Whachu talking 'bout, Willis?

Dance? In front of me? I don't think so. There isn't a bad seat in the house! Why would people come down and stand in front of the front row seats. It made no sense, but we decided that it was as much our right as anyone else to stand up and move 5 feet closer to the stage. So, if we see people coming down to dance, we were getting up front.

Priorities, people. We have priorities.

We were also seated next to the handicap section. A nice young lady was assisting a gentleman in a wheelchair and they were seated next to us. The Zoo Volunteer who brought them down looked at the 4 of us (me, The Big Guy, and the two girls seated next to us) and said, "Do you have tickets for these seats?"

Our reply: "Yes"

The Zoo Volunteer then said, "When did you buy them?"

Huh? Are you really asking us this?

Our reply (in unison): "When they first went on sale."

She then said, "Well, that's good. Because this concert is sold out."

The four of us looked at a each other--baffled.

The Concert--Opening Act

The opening act was the Drew David Band. They are a country group. I like country so I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I have decided that I have a new favorite country band. These guys ROCKED! There wasn't one bum song in their set. They worked the crowd, had a great sound and overall--well worth it. If you like country they remind me of Big & Rich as well as Montgomery Gentry. Even a little bit of Keith Urban. Very cool.

Here are some YouTube links to their videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exJHhQh_Pwk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mN_px-Z_qE&feature=related



The Big Guy Dancing....

This is all that would move when he danced in place.

Yep...just his lower legs. That's it.

HOOTIE!!
These guys were great. They sang lots of cool songs and even some cover songs like, "Losing my Religion" (apparently one of their band members actually played mandolin on the original track of that song for REM!), and "Get Down on It". Very fun. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

EDITED: Videos are up! Be warned: the sound quality isn't all that great (I was next to a speaker, so it's a little...well....loud).

Hold My Hand

Every Time I Look at You...

Yes...I was that close. This is not zoomed. When people ask me, "how close were you" my reply will be:

"I could see the crease in Hootie's jeans"

"I can tell you that Hootie doesn't bite his nails"

I was that close.

Doin' a meme

I was reading BooMama's blog and she did a meme. For some reason, these can be fun, but it sounds like some people don't like them at all. I'm guessing that this is a new form of "chain mail" that is for bloggers.

But I like it. And I'm doin' it.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago I just graduated from grad school at Murray State University in Kentucky. I was working for the summer at Camp Lincoln & Camp Lake Hubert and had just been offered a job at Xavier University in Cincinnati as a residence hall director of Husman Hall. I was leaving camp with the WORST SUNBURN EVER. Seriously. I burned my back so bad that I had blisters the size of eggs. Yes. The size of eggs. But I was making my way to Ohio to work at Xavier and that was by far, one of the best residence life experiences of my life.

Favorite Snacks
Homemade hummus & veggies
Garden fresh tomatoes sliced with salt, pepper and a little balsamic. YUM!
My own "GORP" (peanuts, chocolate chips, golden raisins....)
Turkey pepperoni and sharp cheddar cheese.

To Do List
I seriously don't have a to-do list unless something big is coming up. Since my mom is coming into town on Sunday for 3 weeks I have quite the list
1. Get rid of The Big Guy's old bachelor pad bookcase and get some wall shelves
2. rearrange the guest room
3. SUPER clean the house (hello...mom's notice that stuff)
4. Prepare to have mom clean out and organize my closets because she "needs a project".
5. Make a Honey Do list for The Big Guy (he's half the mess maker!)

Jobs I Have Had
Summer camp staff member, "desk worker" at UND (aka...mail & copy person), residence hall director, professor, manager at Meijer (don't ask), call center worker at Health Partners insurance, sales clerk at Archivers, academic advisor

Places I Have Lived
Virginia, Minnesota, North Dakota, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan

Bad Habits
worry wart
eating in front of the TV
good at starting things, but never seem to finish them

5 Random Things People May Not Know
I met my best friend at Space Camp in the 9th grade. She worked with me at summer camp in 1993 and brought her sister to work too. Her sister met her husband and sister moved to MN after they got married. After their first child was born, my best friend moved here to help and has stayed ever since. She says I'm the reason she came to MN. I don't know if I would go that far....

I never had a job in high school. My first job was the summer between my first and second year of college. Notice how I did not say "freshman" and "sophomore".

The reason I can't say "freshman" and "sophomore" year in college was because I did so badly my 1st year that I had to retake a bunch of classes. In fact, I was actually "dismissed" from school and my mom had to call to get me back in (how embarrassing!). But she did, and my grades improved, and I got my degree. Granted, it took me 6 years, but I did it.

I was chased out of a convent my first year in college. My friends and I were exploring Crookston, MN and discovered a convent. We literally were chased out of the convent grounds by the groundskeeper in a jeep. I can't make this stuff up!

I am an only child and often times people say, "you don't act like an only child." What that means, I don't know. But I am an only!

CDs I would want if stranded on an island
Kenny Chesney, Dazy Head Mazy, MercyMe, any fun 80's collection.

What I’d Do if I Were a Billionaire
1. Pay off my loans and other bills
2. Plan a trip to see all my friends who live abroad
3. Pay off my mom & step-dad's home, as well as my dad's.
4. Set up a trust for my God-children for college, etc.
5. Pay bills for my immediate family
6. Donate money to charity
7. Set up a savings and live off the interest (which would make my financial planner VERY happy!)


There you go, kids. My first "meme".

Holy Money Making, Batman!

So, did you check out the auction blog? If not, then you missed how much we made in the first ever online silent auction that used a blog.

We made $2957! Not to bad for a girl with an idea.

And I was just hoping we'd make $500.

Highlights from the Auction:

Best Comment in the comment section
Coffee is bad for you. You don't want it. I bid $65.50. Ruggs Cote

This was in response to the hot ticket item of the 1 pound of coffee, every month for a year from Caribou Coffee.

Oddest Comment in the comment section
1 bid, $25

This was someone's attempt to bid. That is when I had to kick some Bloggy Bootie and say, "No information = Your bid not being accepted." We are unaware if this person came back.

Best Thread on the 3-Day Message Board
I thought tickets to Disneyland and a nights stay at Harrods was good. How did you get your items? Was it connections? Did you write a letter?

My reply: Connections, baby. It's all about the connections.

Most Stressful Part of the Auction
The last 4 minutes.

I swear to you, my friend Meghan was going to win those bath products from philosophy if it killed me. Come hell or high water, I was making darn sure she was getting that Cinnamon Buns, Coconut Frosting and Hope in a Jar. That stuff is expensive in England.

Remind me to share a story about Meghan and the hair dying incident in graduate school.

Oh....she'll love me for that!

Most Embarrassing Auction Moment
When my father bid on the item he donated.

I had to call my dad to remind him that he needs to bid on items he did NOT donate. He told me, "I know, but I'm just doing my best to raise you some money." Even though my parents are divorced, my mom and dad are very much alike. My mom grew up in the auction business (my grandparents owned an auction barn), and she still clerks auctions to this day. My dad learned all the trade secrets from her. I had to tell my dad, "Please stop. I have you stirring the pot in Ohio and mom stirring the pot in Montana."

What I Will Not Do Next Time
Place bids for my co-workers.

I said, "...sure! I'll watch that for you."

In the last four minutes (see "most stressful" above) I was watching items left and right. I promised a co-worker that I would bid on the Honduras House for him. He told me to go to his limit of $1000 (BIG THANK YOU again to Mr. Co-Worker!). My mom's friend was also bidding on this house.

At 5:59 my mom called me and it went like this:

Mom: Kel, Margaret (her friend) won't go any higher.
Kel: OK
M: Doesn't your co-worker want it?
K: Yeah, what is she up too?
M: $950
K: Alright I'll put it in
M: HURRY!!! IT'S ALMOST 6 O'CLOCK!!
K: Ahhh! OK!
(typing...typing...backspacing...typing...)
K: OK...it's in.
M: Whew!
K: Crap!
M: What?
K: I could've gone to $951.


Yeah, never again. Ya'll are on your own! That was too stressful!!

Other Learned Lessons
People still want their money to go to their friends, kids, cousins, sister or other family member.

After the auction was over, deciding how to divide the money was a chore. But I did it and everyone was getting a nice little sum.

Then the e-mails started.

"I'd like my money to go so-in-so".

Huh?

Yeah...those people were mom's, siblings, cousins, co-workers, etc. to the walkers. It never dawned on me that they would want it to be that specific. So, lesson learned? Send a list to the team BEFORE you contact the bidders. Thankfully, we were able to work it all out!


All in all, it was a great auction! If you stopped by, thank you!

Now there are two of them....

I had all of the best intentions today to walk 14 miles. I plotted out a route in Hutchinson using part of downtown (read: bathrooms and water access) and part of the Luce Line Trail.

You can read about that adventure over on the 3-day page bloggy.

Speaking of the 3-day, don't forget...the auction is still happening until Sunday the 20th at 6:00 p.m. CST! Here's that link (you know you want to check it out!).

Anyway, I got home and decided that this house needed a good ol', deep cleaning. I do the cleaning in the house. The Big Guy has admitted freely that he is not a good housekeeper and appreciates me doing all the cleaning. I will say that he is good about putting his dishes in the sink, loading the dishwasher (though I grit my teeth at how he arranges the dishes, but I digress....), and will clean if I ask him too. He cleaned the bathroom for me the other day and did a very nice job.

Though I couldn't find the things he put away.

But he did clean it and that's all that matters.

In cleaning, I channeled my inner-MacGyver and fixed the blinds (long story) when I noticed that the gopher was back.

And it had a friend.

I then got to thinking, "Is that really a gopher?"

Thanks to google and a little investigation I found out that it is really a Thirteen Lined Ground Squirrel.

As long as it doesn't come in my house--I'm fine.

And I realized what is making our corner of the block their choice of residence. It would be our bird feeder. "Oh, you're a birdwatcher" you're probably saying to yourself. The answer to that is a big, fat, resounding, no.

I got it for my cat.

Yeah. I'm one of those.

And speaking of which, I think our neighbors across the way moved out this weekend. I don't know about you but a large horse trailer backed up to the front door says to me, "moving in or moving out." I think moving out because I haven't seen any activity over there since.

Except for a white cat in the window.

Sad thing is, they left the blinds up just enough for the cat to see out the window. And it keeps looking out waiting for someone to come back. Now, in their defense, maybe they are moving, need to get settled and will come back for the cat. I mean, we did that when we moved. But seriously, all I think about is the fact that they abandoned this cat simply because they couldn't take it with them.

And that angers me. Big time.

My cat--Stella--was adopted 2 years ago after someone abandoned her in a situation like that. I couldn't even think of doing that to an animal. I mean, the landlord will find it in the next few days when they come to inspect the property--but I mean really? You can't take her/him to the Humane Society? Animal Shelter? Our local vet?

I'm such a sucker for animals. The Big Guy would kill me if I had that cat here. But if it means taking it in until I can take it to the Humane Society, I will. A call to the landlord will come Monday if I don't see any activity.

But just because I'm a sucker, doesn't mean I like those 13 Lined Squirrels any better.

WHO KNEW PEOPLE LOVED "THE 'BOU"?

So, have you checked it out yet?

The ONLINE silent auction we're doing for the 3-day?

If not, you best get your mouse clickin' here. Just be sure to read the directions on how to leave your bid. We had a little issue this morning with someone who bid, but didn't leave any contact information. As great as seeing that bid is--it's disappointing. So, check it out. It's pretty easy and quite fun to look at the bids going up, up, up!

The best part: we have a little of everything and yes! It's true! Free shipping.

Would I, a person who likes to shop online, lie to you about such a wonderful thing?

Funny thing is, I thought for SURE the big bidding war would be over the scrapbook, or the scrapbook kit, or the trip to Duluth, or even my homemade caramels.

Not even close.

Where is the bidding war?

Coffee beans.

I'm not kidding.

Even my mother has gotten into the bidding and she lives in Montana--where there is no Caribou Coffee store in sight.

The Silent Auction is Here!

OK, well, not here.

It's actually here

As you may have read (the 3 people who read this blog)....I'm participating in the breast cancer 3-day walk. You may have heard about this walk. You walk 60 miles over 3 days to raise awareness for breast cancer research and education.

And there is a little fundraising that goes along with it too.

See, in order to participate in the walk, each walker agrees to raise $2200. In other words, if you don't raise the money you have a choice: either front the money you're short yourself, or don't walk.

Most people front the money.

And if you're really short, well, that can be a huge hit to the pocket book.

So, my team is doing one last fund raising push and we decided on a silent auction. How the auction came to be is sort of interesting. You see, back at the end of March, we decided that we were going to have a garage sale the first weekend in May. A few of our team members also wanted to do a chili feed and silent auction.

And they wanted to do it the same day as the garage sale.

Say what?

After some cooler heads prevailed, we decided that it was going to be one event only and that was the garage sale. And in case you're wondering, we made $1500.

That's a lot of money for all our junk.

And I was never so happy to get rid of my junk! I mean, who knew that someone wanted my old drain rack for dishes and my old salad spinner?

Well, the idea of the silent auction was something that everyone liked, but we just weren't sure where or how to do it. Do we try and get in with a boat show? Do we try and rent a space and hope people come by? What do we do?

My friend Tracy suggested "Why not use a blog?"

And the rest is history.

So, after countless letters, phone calls, and just short of begging.....we have items for a silent auction.

Please stop by. Please take a look. And if you want to bid on something, just follow the directions in the first post (pretty easy actually....even my dad can do it. *waves*...hi dad!!).

Shipping is free. We aren't sure yet what we'll do if someone decides to buy the heaviest thing in the auction and they live in New Zealand...I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

We are still accepting donations of items. So, if you have something and want to donate, please contact me. My contact information is on the auction blog.

And for clarification, we will not accept pets who you can't train, children who are driving you crazy or husbands/wives who won't pick up after themselves.

My evening of fun...

What comes to mind when you think of summer in Minnesota?

Many people think:

• Mosquitoes
• Lots of humidity
• 10,000 lakes to keep us cool
• The state fair where everything is "on a stick"
• Paul Bunyan
• People who talk like those people in the movie Fargo ("yah" and "you betcha!")

Well, while we have all these things, we also have quite a bit of bad weather. And tonight was one of those nights.

It was a warm day today. Mid 90's and high humidity. I was thankful that we have A/C.

As I was working on the 3-Day Silent Auction blog I started to hear the warning "beeps" on TV. Sure enough, some tornado warnings were being issued for counties west of us. In fact, for those keeping score, a tornado touched down south of Willmar--which is where Andy's folks live. Thankfully, it did not hit them, but it did take out a turkey farm just north of them.

Soon, McLeod county was under a severe thunderstorm warning. And then, it started.

whooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The tornado sirens were going off.

Oh. Did I forget to mention that they are IN MY BACKYARD?
And the cat hates them too (she was under the bed).

Putting on my meteorologist hat that I often wore at Camp Lincoln & Camp Lake Hubert as the office person I looked to the sky. I had a hand up to my forehead to see better. I then put my hand on my hips and turned around 360 degrees. I licked my index finger and held it up in the wind. And I came to this conclusion.

It was bad.

Here's the proof:

And I went promptly into the house.

Our little townhouse doesn't have a basement. Something I wasn't too thrilled about when we signed our lease as I have been in a tornado or two in my life. But we do have the room with no outside walls. That room would be our bathroom.

To be proactive, I grabbed the cat and put her in the bathroom. I thought, "If this thing really hits, I don't want to be digging her out from under the bed and reenacting a scene from the Wizard of Oz."

I shut the door and went out to watch the weather. Thankfully, there was no touchdown in our area or around us. But it did start to thunder, lightning and rain.

And rain it did.

In fact, the downspouts were gushing rain.

I had a laugh because that means the gopher has been washed out.

The rain subsided and the sirens stopped and the sky turned that strange yellowish-green color. I decided to finally let the cat out of the bathroom and this is what I found:

Yes. She was UNDER the ledge of the cabinet.

The Gopher, Wheel Bearings, and THE JEANS!

Yeah, this is a hodge podge of a post. Let's start from the top, shall we?

The Gopher

He's back (see previous post...one down from this one). And has decided to help himself to my radish plants. I came outside to find that little bugger digging up my radishes and helping himself to a tasty treat. The town home we live in does not allow me to plant a garden, therefore, all my plants are in pots. The other thing to note is that I did NOT inherit my mother's green thumb. I hate planting, gardening, and any yard work in general.

Here is what the little bugger left me:

Go figure.

So, what was next? Ah yes...

WHEEL BEARINGS

I drive an Alero (which, I get 33 MPG, thank you!) and I really like this car. For the last 9 months or so, I keep hearing a rhythmic thump, thump, thump in my tires when I hit about 40 MPH up to 70 MPH (interstate speed here in MN). I've had that noise looked at countless times. I've been told that it was not a wheel bearing or a bad tire. I had those tires balanced, rotated, aligned more times than I can count. I have also had tire rods replaced and many other things. After another rotation and balance I stated that the thump, thump, thump was still there. They check it and stated:

It's a wheel bearing.

Seriously?

Why is it a wheel bearing now and not back in September. After a lengthy discussion and a few raised eyebrows from the guy at the garage, I finally accepted the fact that I had to replace this bearing.

$480 dollars later, I have a new bearing, but could have sworn that on the way home I heard the noise again. But then again, I couldn't be for sure. Ugh. I hate car stuff.

THE JEANS

While the car was getting a new bearing, I headed over to the Eden Prairie Center. Now, prior to this, did take a 6 mile walk--up hill both ways.

Yes...both ways.

And no, I was not barefoot nor was it snowing. It may be Minnesota, but it does not snow in July.

If you want to check out that story, check out my 3-day Blog.

While at the mall, I went into Lane Bryant and was searching the 40-50% off racks and stopped dead in my tracks.

I found them.

The jeans.

Wanna know more about the jeans? Check out this post from Boo Mama.

These are some SASSY, SASSY jeans my friends. I love the flare, because honestly, who wears skinny jeans? Not this girl. My big-ol-rear should NOT be wearing some skinny jeans. They were bad in the 80's and they're still bad today.

The best part about these jeans? $15.

FIFTEEN DOLLARS!!!

Cha-ching! Thank you Lane Bryant. And thank you BooMama for the insight!

Another reason why I'm not a Minnesota Gopher fan....

So, today I have the day off. I slept in until 7:30 (I'm usually up at 5:45), I got up, had a little breakfast, got changed and headed out for a walk. I actually had a hair appointment for a much needed hair cut! To help get the miles in, I've decided that I need to plan out my errands and actually walk to them if I can.

The hair salon, The Cutting Edge, was a find of chance. Ladies, you know what I mean. You find a stylist that you like, and then you leave. And the hunt starts all over again in your new town. Though I could drive back to Eden Prairie every time I need a hair cut, I really don't want to 1.) waste gas money on a trip for a haircut and 2.) pay $35 (with tip) for my 20 something stylist to cut my hair.

Trisha at the Cutting Edge--she rocks. And the cost? $18 for the cut. Add in a little tip and I'm all set!

Well, I got home from the cut and I'm thinking of the trip I need to make to Target (side note: why is it that I run out of EVERYTHING at the same time?). I walk to the front door of our little town house and I hear a scurry-scratching in the downspout for the gutter.

And I froze in my tracks.

Now, let's talk about rodent, birds, etc. I like nature. I struggle with why those little buggers have a place on this earth. I struggle even more with why Noah decided that they just had to be on the Ark. Couldn't he have made a deal with God? Sort of like a kid who makes a deal to keep their room clean forever if they could just get a dog. Couldn't Noah have agreed to plant more trees or teach a village to fish or something?

I digress....

Anyway, when I worked at Camp Lincoln & Camp Lake Hubert, I had a MAJOR fear of mice. They were in the cabins, they were in the dining hall...they were everywhere. I was told about staff & campers who would be sleeping and they would have a mouse run over their face in the middle of the night. That, my friends, is what caused me to fight tooth and nail for the top bunk in the counselor room of the cabin. I know those buggers can climb, but that old, metal bunk bed gave me some false sense of security.

I have many stories about mice in cabins. Including one where two British staff members were trying to get a mouse out of my cabin with a broom and a flyswatter.

Yes. A flyswatter.

That is a story for another day.

Well, imagine the nervous knots that I had when I hear that the scratch, scratch, scratch of some little claws on the metal of that downspout.

I tapped the spout.

scratch scratch scratch

I wiggled the spout

scratch scratch scratch

Then a little head peeked out of the end, and went back in.

This called for drastic measures. I called Andy.

Here's how it went:

A: Hi honey
K: Hi....there is something in the downspout of the gutter
A: OOOOKAAAAYYY (standard Andy response to most things)
K: I've tapped it and shook it and nothing.
A: Well, does the downspout come off?
K: Yes. Hold on.
K: OK...it's off.
A: And?
K: Nothing
A: Why not tap it again
K: (tapping it) Nothing. Just scratching
A: Take the spout, turn it upside down and scoot the thing out
K: HUH?!?!?
A: (laughing) Well, you want it out don't you?
K: Yeah, but what if it goes up my pant leg?
A: (laughing still) It just might!
K: But if it's stuck it will die, so what do I do?
A: (laughing harder) I'm not sure. You'll just have to decide that won't you
K: (slight scream) OH MY GOD!!! IT'S A GOPHER!!! IT HAS JUST COME OUT!
A: (still laughing) Where did it go?
K: To the neighbors....OK...we're good now...talk to you later


I'm sorry, but this is just another reason why I don't like the Minnesota Gophers (besides, I'm biased, I went to the University of North Dakota....GO SIOUX!).

Whatcha' up too?

So, I was checking out Cindy's blog and she did this super cute "What I'm doing this summer" roll call.

I'm such a copy cat....I decided to do the same thing!

Here is what I am (or have)....

WATCHING
Army Wives

READING
IKEA Catalog (looking for a new pull out bed for the guest room)
Algebra for College Students (taking the class for "fun"--it's actually research for work)
Little Women (seen the movie, never read the book)

JUST FINISHED READING
The Last Lecture (SO good...quick read!)

LISTENING TO
NKOTB (so old school, but I'm hooked on their new song!)
Kenny Chesney

STUDYING
Oh, I covered this under "reading"....College Algebra. I love solving for X (yeah, I'm odd...)

OVER INDULGING ON
Homemade gingerbread waffles
Key Lime Frozen Yogurt
Cookies from DeBrian's Deli

THANKFUL FOR
Blogs that have opened my eyes. Boy, they have been opened bigger than before!
ABG (Adorable Big Guy...aka Andy)
Donations to my silent auction for the 3-Day (coming up July 14th!! Check out the other blog in my profile...)

PRAYING FOR
Amy
Strength to do the 3-day!
Guidance to be a good role model in my new promotion...

TRYING OUT
A new bag to carry all my 3-day junk

GEARING UP FOR
The 3-Day (what else!)
A new hair cut
My mom coming to visit in July

LOOKING FORWARD TO
Having the next two days off work
My mom coming to visit in July


There it is! For the two people who read my blog...enjoy!

Channeling my inner Girl Scout

Last night I was watching a little TV and saw a commercial that just cracked me up. If you haven't seen it, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1pd__lkcUA

It honestly cracks me up every time.

So, last night as I'm watching it, I see their new flavor of blizzard.

Made with Thin Mints.

Really?

Seriously?

Don't tease me, DQ!

I purposely don't buy Girl Scout cookies because I will eat them all in one sitting. When I worked at Girl Scout camp (4 summers in college 1991-1994), the council would have a stash of cookies in the freezer. We would put those out on arrival and departure days, and even use them as treats through out the camp session.

I can also make a mean s'more with two Tagalongs (the chocolate/peanut butter patty cookies) and a marshmallow!

One particular summer, my friend Dynessa and I found the stash of cookies and helped ourselves to quite a few boxes. In fact, if I remember correctly, we also had cookies with us when we went back to college that fall. We were mighty popular in our residence hall!

It should be noted that this was also the summer that Dynessa was fired.

No, it wasn't because we helped ourselves to Girl Scout cookies.

At least that is what I'm told.

But regardless, I love Girl Scout cookies--and knowing that I can get them in a blizzard, when it isn't Girl Scout cookie time, is a little gift from heaven. Being that the weather is going to be 88 degrees today, I may just have to have this as an evening treat!