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Seven Quick Takes Friday

Friday, June 29, 2012



1. Do you ever have a day when it seems like no matter how hard you try you just can't seem to get one darn thing done? Yesterday was kind of like that. I was at work all day, I taught the little kids at ballet -- why was I not accomplishing anything? Then I realized... I had had the following conversation with my sister Erin. (I'm in green, she's in white. Backstory: she had driven us to WalMart the previous day where I purchased litter for my rabbit, as well as two boxes of candy.) 






No wonder I got nothing accomplished yesterday. This consumed a lot of my day.

2. This picture makes me so happy, and I mean that with absolutely no sarcasm:


I LOVE TO CLEAN. I am aware that I am one of those incredibly odd people (probably not just because of my love of cleaning either.) My mom will talk about how she wishes she had a maid, and I'm like "WHY?!?" Why would you give that opportunity to someone else? I love cleaning... I love how I feel when I'm doing it and I love how I feel when I'm done. The Flylady thing my mom got into for a while? Once again, why? Who wants to clean for 15 minutes and TAKE A BREAK when you could just power through and keep on cleaning?

3. Lest you think I am a major wackadoodle (not far from the truth, I'm sure) I absolutely cannot stand to do laundry. I have determined this is because there is no instant gratifcation with it. First you have to sort it, then do one load in the washer, then move that load to the dryer or the drying rack, then put in another load, then when the first load is dry you have to fold it or put it on hangers and THEN you have to put it away. Who made up this barbaric and inane system? It takes like three days to do one load! GAH!

4. I am so excited because my best friend/co-dance teacher Melissa and I are hosting a sleepover for our middle and high school students at the dance studio tonight. We thought it would be a nice way for them to hang out and socialize and a fun thing to do in the summer. I don't know what we're getting ourselves into with 15 or so teens and pre-teens, but all our girls are great, so I know we'll have fun!

5. In preparation for the sleepover I made a playlist so we could have a dance party. I put out an all-call to the girls on Facebook asking them to name some of their favorite songs so I could include them. I got answers like:

Call me maybe, what makes you beautiful, boyfriend, brokenhearted, one thing, put your hearts up, single ladies, moves like jagger, lights, Price Tag, Wild Ones, Somebody That I Used To Know, Sexy And I know it, starships, stronger.. Ummm and I think that's it! Lol 

Um, what? What the crap are half these songs? I must be older than I think. I spent the evening texting Melissa like "What is 'Lights'? Have you ever heard of this?" She hadn't. I spent a lot of time Googling and hoping for the best. 

6. For Melissa and me, I included such gems as Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" and Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself" as I feel it is our duty to educate the girls in classic tunes!

7. On a serious note, I have a few close family members with some health problems and would really appreciate any and all prayers for their healing. Thank you so much!

Go see Jen for more awesome takes!

How Far is that From Richmond?

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Notice anything wrong with this picture:


I sincerely hope so, but if you're not from West Virginia, then you probably don't. Let's look closer:






What the crap is this?  Where is the top portion of West Virginia? This alleged "map" of the United States has rendered the counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio and part of Marshall totally off the map. (Thank you fourth grade West Virginia History class for the ability to name those counties.) In case you have no clue what I'm talking about, allow me to show you an accurate portrayal of the great state of West Virginia:


See that lovely -- and very, very real -- northern panhandle? Sadly, this is not the first "map" of the "United States" I've seen that freely gives West Virginia's northernmost counties to Pennsylvania and/or Ohio. 

Sadly, this is not the only problem West Virginia (the BEST Virginia) encounters when dealing with an uneducated citizenry. You cannot even imagine the amount of times I've visited another state and told someone I'm from Huntington, West Virginia, only to hear the following responses:

Ooohh western Virginia! (Nope.)
How is far is that from Richmond? (Beats me...?)
I know someone that goes to Virginia Tech! (Um, great?)

It's not just "regular" people either -- newscasters, sportscasters and a lot of people who should know better think West Virginia is not her own state. To which I always wonder, are these people not aware that that the Civil War occurred? Also, if they know that the US has 50 states, what do they think those 50 are if West Virginia is not one? 

I know West Virginia has a large uphill battle to fight on this issue, which we have been fighting for years. But for the love of Stonewall Jackson, is it too much to ask that map makers kindly let us keep our northern four?

Glad to Hare It

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

As you know, Baby Snicks was a little unwell last week. My sweet friend Colleen from DC texted to check on him:




Oh boy. I have the best friends, seriously. Hilarious! 

Seven Quick Takes Friday!

Friday, June 22, 2012

1. They have arrived! They look super cute, although a touch darker than my old ones, but I think they are a suitable replacement for my old beloved shoes. I  have an event to go to tonight, and I think I'll take them for a spin.


2.  The Coast Guard is here today at the Museum where I work. I run events -- both Museum sponsored events and event rentals -- and I've been working on this one since January. None of that is particularly interesting, but they did drive a boat up here! I'm DYING to run out to the boat and "sail the high seas!" (There was an episode of The Monkees once where Davy, Peter and Micky were on this boat... you know... never mind.) You can take the girl out of childhood, but you can't take childhood (childish...) out of the girl!

3.  Tomorrow afternoon I am going to a birthday party for my friend Jaye's daughter Avery who is turning 5. The party is at their house and it's going to be super fun! In the next month, I have THREE kids' birthday parties to attend, and I'm excited about each one of them. Although I will be the oldest guest there who has no children tagging along with them, I'm all about some pizza, chips, cake and ice cream. Plus, I LOVE buying them gifts. Jaye is very socially conscious, active in our community and general big-hearted do-gooder, so I bought her daughter this shirt. I hope they both love it. Don't worry, I'm also getting her a fun present like a Barbie or something equally as wonderful!

4.  I can't cook a darn thing, but I am obsessed with this recipe my friend Melissa gave me. Basically, you get a spice cake mix, stir in one can of pumpkin, bake and that's it! Seriously THAT IS IT. No eggs, no oil, nothing. Just the mix and the pumpkin. It makes DELISH pumpkin bread. I substituted gingerbread mix for the spice cake the other day and it is JUST as yummy! Tastes good, healthy and really easy to make.

5. Along those same lines, have you heard of the wonder that is Cake in a Mug? Melissa also shared this recipe with me, and since then I've told like 52 people about it. Once again, easy to make, delish and relatively healthy! You can use any flavor cake mix you want! Make it. Right now.

6.  Day 5 of me talking about Snicks' poo. For some reason the word "poo" just sounds a bit classier to me than "poop." He really is getting better, but I'm still monitoring his... poo... to make sure he's getting back to normal. The vet tech called me today to check on him (so nice of her to do that, if you're in the Tri-State area THIS is where you should be taking your pet) and she made me feel pretty good about the care I'm giving him. I'm sure all you "mothers" out there would agree, but no one knows your "baby" like you do, and you're the one who needs to be his advocate and make the best decisions for his health.

7. I often listen to KLOVE during the day, and the receptionist at our Museum listens a lot too. She arrived at work after me today and updated me on a really cool story I missed. A man who has neither of his legs climbed Mount Kilimanjaro using only his hands. HIS HANDS. Can you imagine? This should be a life lesson to us that anything is possible. Sometimes when I run -- yes, I'm still teaching myself to be a runner using Couch to 5k -- and I think I can't make it another minute I sometimes think what would happen if I lost my legs and could never run again, and that helps keep me going.

Bonus take -- I have Monday off and I -- and my SPF 74094870238 -- are going to the pool. I am so excited! 

Go see Jen for some better takes! 

Wascally Wabbit

Thursday, June 21, 2012

So those that know me well, and even those who don't thanks to Facebook, are aware that the light of my life is my rabbit, Snickers. A bit of background on how our family came to be -- I never had a pet before in my whole life. Growing up with five children in one family, there wasn't much room for anything else. For a while, I was living with my friend Molly before she moved away to attend Ph.D. school. However, when we still lived together, in August 2010, Molly was working with a girl who told her that she was moving away to go to college and had to find a new home for her five-month-old rabbit named Snickers. At this time, Snickers was (incorrectly) identified as a girl rabbit. Anyways, Molly asked me if I wanted to adopt Snicks and at first I wasn't sure -- we weren't home a lot, I didn't know about pet care, I didn't want a smelly house, but really, how can you say no to a bunny? From the first night Snickers came to live with us, I was smitten. I loved everything about his teeny tiny sweetie pants love bug self. There is a long story behind his gender (re)identification, odd behaviour he has displayed and our general life together, but suffice it to say -- I love baby Snicks more than I've ever loved another living thing pretty much. I love, love, love, love him. I could talk about him all day long. He is the love of my life and my bestest little bud. Frankly, I couldn't live without him.

Which is why, this past Monday night, when I got home from work to find Snicks laying around lethargically with his eyes  barely open, I panicked. From the minute I walked in the door, I just knew something was not right. At first I thought maybe I had just woken him up mid-nap, but when I returned home after my exercise class one hour later and he had not moved, I knew something was wrong. I tried to lure him up with a banana (his favorite treat), I tried annoying him into movement... I tried everything to no avail. That rabbit looked awful. I checked his ears, his eyes, his nose, his teeth, his arms and legs and gave him a full-body rub down for any bumps. Nothing. Snicks laid around, would sometimes walk a few inches just to lay down elsewhere, but wasn't moving much, eating or drinking. Because his regular vet's office was closed by this time, I called the local animal ER. After being on hold for 10 minutes then hung up on, I called back to discover that the doctor on call was a dog/cat veterinarian, not a small animal care doc. Basically she said that I could bring him in and she could "take a look and see what [she] could do." No thanks. Doodle hates car rides and I didn't really want to drag him there to have his blood taken to receive no information. So I did what I knew how to do, which was stay up with him all night watching him. I drug my blanket and pillow behind the chair with him and I petted him whilst we watched "The Birds." (It's an animal movie.) I stayed up with him all night just making sure he was still breathing. Finally, the next morning, he took a couple bites of banana and started moving around more. He also let me bottle feed him some water, and he was VERY thirsty. 

Never thought I'd be so excited to see Snicks eat a banana -- and poo -- in my entire life.
I gave him lots of water and some fresh greens and hay and hoped for the best. It was really nice to see him running around as usual. I felt okay leaving him to head to work since he was drinking and eating a bit and moving. I rushed home after work in enough time to take him to the vet before it closed if he was doing worse. Luckily he had eaten his greens and his hay and drank water. The biggest indicator there has been a problem is the look of his poo. Hate to say it. No further details, but I have been looking through his poo A LOT this week. I did some online research (medical degree courtesy of WebMD University) and discovered that I was pretty sure he had GI Stasis caused by a build up of hair in his intestine. (Rabbits clean themselves like cats but don't have the same throw up reflex to get a hairball out. There's a little fact for ya.) In doing my research I found a ton of REALLY HELPFUL comments and information:


THE SILENT KILLER, REALLY?!? Way to assist me in my panic.
Definitely the best story to recount to an overprotective mother such as myself.

"No one likes to be force-fed someone else's poop." Well, now that you put it that way, no, I do not think I would. Upon reading this I got out of bed immediately to inform Snicks I would not be doing this to him in case this was a common occurrence in the homes of rabbits he knows.

The best cure for that is hay, hydration, fresh food and lots of love and attention. So I have been totally curing Snicks with my overwhelming love of him! I talked to the vet tech yesterday and she confirmed my diagnosis and told me I was doing all the right things and the only extra thing to do would be feed him pineapple juice or chunks because the acid would help break up the hair.

Needless to say Snicks has no interest in pineapples or their juices and, believe it or not, is not really a fan of being force fed. So that's where we are right now. Me wading through his poo and force feeding him pineapple chunks. 

If you would have told me five years ago that at age 27 my life would consist of force feeding pineapple to a rabbit in order to get his bowels moving, I would have died of embarrassment for myself.

Yep.  

I Love Wearing Nude... Heels

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Nothing is more upsetting than wearing out a favorite item of clothing, only to return to the store of purchase to find that they no longer carry that item. Ugh! It is so annoying. I have a pair of patent leather (LOVE patent leather) nude heels by the brand Apt. 9 that I bought at Kohl's about four years ago that I LOVE. I don't mean like "Oh, I love these shoes!" I mean like I LOVE THESE SHOES. Although my left foot is about a half size larger than my right (amazing) both shoes fit perfectly, they are comfortable, don't cause blisters and generally go with everything. The problem is that they go with everything. Which means I wear them with everything. Which means they are dead. They have been dying for about a year, have definitely passed on and were absolutely dug up by me so I could keep on wearing them. (Like today.) Although I realize how hideously worn out and embarrassing they are I cannot bring myself to throw them away because they would leave an un-fillable void in my life. I have searched my local Kohl's, Kohls.com, Apt. 9 online, ebay and everything else I can think of to get another pair of these dang shoes to no avail!

Now if these shoes were a zebra/floral print mix with sequins, then I might understand why they were a one-time product never to be seen again. But these are nude heels! Who doesn't need a pair of these? If nude heels are good enough for this gal:



then they are certainly good enough for me. 

In case you are thinking, Anna -- your shoes can't be that bad, I offer up this as proof. And, yes, I did wear them to work today. 

Why, yes, that is the leather completely detached from the heel. You barely notice, right?


Verdict is still out on whether or not Snicks bit this one, but sadly, I'm 99.9% sure his teeth never touched it.

 
This is just embarrassing.

 
I mean yikes, right? The leather is completely off the heel, there is a RIP in one of the sides and the seams are coming apart. That is appalling. 

I finally bit the bullet and found a pair of -- similar looking -- heels on Macys.com. These babies should be arriving at my house in the next 5-7 business days. And they better be BALLER because they have a tough act to follow. 

RIP Apt. 9 Blush Patent Leather Heels: 2008-2012.

YOU DON'T HAVE A HUSBAND?!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Last evening I had to work because we had an artist talk followed by an opening reception for her exhibit. Since I coordinate our events, I was on duty. One of the fun parts about being at work on a Saturday night (THE fun part probably) is that the reception was catered and the food was delicious. After being at work since 3 p.m. I was pretty hungry by the time everything was done and I was leaving. The caterer, who is a very nice woman who makes delish food, offered me some leftovers to take home. Never one to shy away from (free) food, I happily accepted. She began loading up plates and bowls with leftover chicken salad sandwiches, meatballs, roast beef roll ups, mashed potatoes and more. Now, I am a hearty eater, but good lord it was a lot of food. "Thank you so much, this is going to make an awesome dinner!" I said. "No problem," she replied. "When we work late we have to keep our husbands happy!" Um, what? It suddenly occurred to me why I was receiving five chicken salad sandwiches. "Uh, yeah, and one day maybe I'll have a husband to keep happy..." I trailed off. "YOU DON'T HAVE A HUSBAND?" she asked. "Oh, um, no, I, um, have a little rabbit. He's a boy," I said, as if that explained everything. Sigh. Oh well, guess who ate mashed potatoes and five chicken salad sandwiches this weekend? This girl. By myself!

In other news, this is one of the many reasons talking to my sister Erin is always enjoyable:


All I wanted to do was pick her up for brunch. So lucky I got that AND a syntax lesson!

7QT

Friday, June 15, 2012

1. This is the picture of someone who is not aware of his own heft:


2. When Snicks was but a wee bunny, he used to like to slide himself under the front of the dresser (clearance: 3 inches) and chill in the comfort of darkness and used gift bags. As he has gotten larger ("larger" in this instance equals about four pounds) he still likes to be under the dresser. Now, he just enters from behind the dresser. As you can see above, he still thinks he can fit out the front. And I'll be darned if I didn't watch the other day as he squeezed his little head out, flattened himself, elongated to about two feet and snaked out the front.

3. If there's a rabbit version of Cirque de Soleil someone call me because clearly I need to develop this talent in Snicks.

4. This is totally off topic, but I realized something yesterday. I am friends with some moms who are all about my age, and sometimes I feel very left out. They post things on each others' Facebook walls and say things like "this is for all you  mamas!" when posting a funny kid story. I feel really left out sometimes because I don't have kids, like I'm not cool enough to be in their little moms club full of funny things their kids say and do. 

5. I am so glad Jen decided to create a hashtag for Seven Quick Takes! Although, as she says, it only took her three years to come up with the idea, clearly I NEVER came up with it, so she's ahead of me. Join the fun at #7qt

6. My sister Erin has invited me over for dinner. Thank God because I don't cook anything, and Erin loves cooking. Generally because she's the sister with all the talents. If there was ever a person in this world who needed to create a blog, it's Erin. She is the funniest person in the world. Honestly. In the world of comedy and hilariousness, she is like Mel Brooks and I am like... I don't know someone slow-witted with terrible jokes. One of Erin's biggest talent is her ability to caption family photos. She did this great album on Facebook of our family's trip to San Francisco. An excerpt:

THE SAN FRAN BAY! which is actually an estuary. mhmm. dictionary.com it, losers.    
... dad. that's the only face he makes in pictures. yeah. what a nerd.

there's a whole story behind the woods but i'm not gonna tell it.


SHE IS SO LITTLE AND SQUISHY! GAH!


this is a tiny angry asian kid that i loved. and can you see how he fully knew i was taking the photo but his mom didn't?! ... i am creepy!  


sleeping old man. delightful.
tmo at sfmoma, sanfran museum of modern art. mom kept actually saying 'suuuuhfahmoma' instead of just the 'moma' like everyone else. she was like projectile spitting on us every time. WHAT A DELIGHT!


Betcha wish you had gone on that vacation, don't you? See what I mean? :) 
 
7. Really, after that, what more can be said? Have a great weekend!



You're about to have a Really Crappy Morning

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

I know next to nothing about cars, but what I do know is lights on the dashboard are generally bad. See one, start to worry, that's my motto. But before one can start worrying, one must be able to decipher the hieroglyphics of lite-brite symbols glowing on one's dash. Some are self-explanatory:

Thanks, think I've got this one.

While others seem to absolutely make no sense at all:


My dash is surprised to see me looking so great today? My dash is excited because it's Wednesday? My dash is alarmed at the heat? WHAT IS THIS?

Well after turning to page 36 in my owner's manual (I like to follow rules) I determined that this almost fully circularly inclosed exclamation point was in fact alerting me that my tire pressure was low. (Would ditching the awkward picture in favor of the word "TIRE" or maybe even a glowing "T" cost too much?) 

Rather alarmed (my tires aren't even a year old) I exited the vehicle and examined my tires. Sho' nuff, one of my tires was indeed low. In fact, an alarmist might have even described it as "flat." Exclamation point. Making a long story short, there was a screw in my tire and a couple of my outstanding coworkers not only took the tire off, but patched the tire so I don't even have to drive on the spare. I am a lucky gal. 

But, dear Honda, seriously -- please consider the glowing TIRE for the 2013 cars. If that doesn't work perhaps a glowing  YOU'RE ABOUT TO HAVE A REALLY CRAPPY MORNING might also work. A thought.

Same Crap, Different Pile

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Friday evening I had a nice time with my friends Sarah and Jaye at an outdoor event here in Huntington. After a delish snow cone, some great girl talk and listening to a cool band on a warm night, I went home happy, ready to pack a few things for an overnight trip and head to bed.

When I got home I decided I should clean out Snickers the Bunny's litterbox so that my kindly brother, who would be coming by to feed him while I was out of town, would not have to worry about it. I unhooked the cage lid as I always do and lifted it off, blissfully unawares that the litterbox had gotten itself hooked on to the cage lid. 

Now, I'm going to pause here to say -- I don't like to perpetuate incorrect stereotypes of precious bunnies who are just trying to make an honest living. However I will say that bunny poo is from the devil. Not in its smell, as it's virtually scent-free, but in it's sheer number. Snicks easily poos 500 poos a day. Bless his teeny heart, he's so good about getting them in his litterbox, but sometimes... (back to the story)

The litterbox dangled precariously for a second, but there was nary a thing I could do. The contents spilled everywhere. Suddenly I was looking at a (clean) carpet covered in bunny poos and used litter. Ugh. I went to get the vacuum to start sweeping it up, but something was not quite right. I opened the vacuum to realize that the bag was full and had overflowed... overflowed, you guessed it, bunny poos. So now there were errant poos in the vacuum bag compartment. How does one vacuum the vacuum bag compartment, as one cannot capture anything in a vacuum bag when the lid is open, which is has to be if you're vacuuming something out of it. Got it? There was only one thing to do, you guessed it, dump the bunny poos on the floor. Thus, leaving me with two piles of bunny poo to contend with.

You're probably asking yourself, why, where was the bunny poo creator during all this? Right here:

No, no, Snicks, please don't get up. Don't you worry. Mommy's got this one. 

Looking cozy, no? I can honestly say that on Friday, my life was a literal rhymes-with-shpitslorm.

7 Quick Takes Friday

Friday, June 8, 2012

Linking up again with Jen from Conversion Diary.

1. I am so excited for this weekend. My mom, sister Erin and I are taking my newly-graduated sister on a SECRET TRIP. :) Emma has no idea where we're going but -- shhhh -- we're taking her to Dayton, OH to see the Broadway tour of Wicked! All she knows is to be ready to leave at 7 a.m. tomorrow (we're going to this really cool mall first, not trying to be 12 hours early for the show) and pack something nice to wear! Knowing she doesn't read this blog, I feel safe in my post!

2. This is a photo of a person who leads a REALLY good and comfortable lifestyle:


Or else it's the photo of a person who's about to eat my head off. Those eyes are something else. 

3. This is also the photo of someone who knows who rules the kingdom in which he lives:


Anyone who can eat snacks while using the bathroom knows from the good life! And yes, apparently I am one of those "moms" who takes pics of their "kids" on the "potty." (And blogs about it!)

4. Mucho thanks to Jen for take #3. I about peed my pants reading that.  It brings a whole new meaning to emulating the Blessed Mother. :) 

5. I don't know about you gals, but there are few things less comfortable than visiting a, shall we say, female doctor. I had to attend yesterday morning (nothing says HAVE A GREAT DAY! like stirrups at 8 a.m.). As if the appointment wasn't going to be awkward enough, I had jusssst covered myself in the paper gown and had slid down the table to "come closer!" to the doctor when she and the nurse decided the light wasn't close enough for her to get a "good look." (DEAR LORD.) At any rate -- the ensuing actions were Three Stooges worthy, as the cord became wrapped around the light, wouldn't stretch and both the doctor and nurse were contemplating how best to handle the situation whilst I sat spread eagle for the world to see. (Sorry if that's TMI, but only two people read this blog so I think it's okay. Hi Story and Jenna!)

6. I am ADORING this song. I listen to KLOVE usually all day while at work and this just makes me happy when I hear it. "Help us to remember we are all the least of these."

7. Lest you think I am a religious music purist, I must also admit that I LOVE this song. (Warning: explicit lyrics.) I can't help it. It's fun to run to!


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