Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. Nothing in this world is more irritating than smearing some peanut butter on a mousetrap, setting it out in the evening and getting up the next morning to find THE PEANUT BUTTER GONE BUT NO DEAD MOUSE. I think I spoke too soon, nothing in this world is more irritating than the aforementioned happening MULTIPLE TIMES IN A ROW. I live in a garage apartment and I get mice from time-to-time. I only ever see/catch them when it gets cold out but since I was at the store the other day I decided to get my fall supply of mousetraps, and, oh what the hey, set them. I don't know what is more annoying, the fact that there is a mouse loose somewhere in my apartment or the fact it is outsmarting me!

2. Tomorrow marks the biggest college football game of the season... if you live in West Virginia. Actually if you live in southern West Virginia; our northern counties could not care less. Tomorrow is the infamous Coal Bowl, or when West Virginia University takes on in-state rival Marshall University. There are a lot of stats I could mention and facts I could give, but in short, WVU is a legitimate ball team and Marshall really isn't. They used to be, but not lately. They have never beaten West Virginia. The trouble with me is -- I'm a WVU fan living in Marshall territory. My mom grew up in Morgantown (where WVU is located) and my dad went to school there. I come from a long line of die-hard, bleed blue and gold Mountaineer fans. Alas, I grew up in Huntington because my dad got a job here. (Love Huntington!) I don't now nor have I ever owned a Marshall shirt. I have about 17 WVU ones though. Give or take. Let's Gooooooooooooooooooooooo Mountaineers!

3. As I've mentioned many a time on this blog, I live in an alley in a garage apartment. A lot of people who live on the legitimate street park their cars back there, and apparently one was broken into the other day. Forgive me Lord, but when I heard about it I thought "Thank God it was them and not me." I know that's terrible but I just don't think I could take it. It makes me so nervous because besides locking your car and house doors, what more can you really do?

4. I have to say, I'm a little bit down today. I got paid today at work, and already I am down to only $100 to get through the next two weeks before the next pay day. Luckily I've purchased a tank of gas, but I've bought no food yet this month. Guess Snicks and I will go another two weeks just eating what we have! I know we'll be fine. I think I'm so stressed because I got my bills for my surgery -- one from the doctor, one from the hospital and one from the anesthesia -- and I don't qualify for any type of charity assistance because my insurance covered part of it and it's considered "elective" surgery. (Don't get me started.) It looks like I'll be paying these bills for at least the next seven years. I guess I just feel like a failure in so many ways. I'm 28-years-old but I don't make enough money and I have too much debt to even be able to grocery shop every month. I haven't always been the smartest with money, but nor do I think I'm the worst in the world. Average I suppose. Poor little Snicks didn't end up with the best provider did he? I know this sounds like I'm ungrateful for what I do have, and I know I'm much better off than most, guess I just needed to talk about it.

5. We got started back to dance this week and I'm so glad. It's been a wonderful week there after a really hard year or two. I'm so glad to see my new students and my "old" students. That place is a TON of work, but it's worth every second when I see my students and know how happy they are. One mom told me that, on the morning of what was our first day back to The Nutcracker rehearsals, her 13-year-old woke up and said, "Daddy, I get to go home today." And she meant back to the studio. My heart is full.

6. You may have noticed that I added a quote to the top of my blog. I LOVE IT! As you know, magic is my thing ever since one of my dancers wrote it about me a few months back. When I read this quote, I just knew it would be my favorite quote ever and I had to look at it every day. (I know the design of it is super crappy but I'm really not very good and have little knowledge of web design so I work with what I got!) It just does something to my heart when I read it. It makes me have hope I think. Or the feeling that maybe I'm special. Silly I guess.

7. I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend. 

Seven Quick Takes Fridayyyyyy

Do you ever read people's Facebook statuses and wonder what compels people to publicize some of this stuff? A couple of years ago, at the end of the year, Facebook had this application where it would turn a random assortment of a year's worth of your Facebook statuses into a collage. It's pretty awesome to look back and see what you posted for a year. So I thought... let's look back at what I've posted this week! Perhaps it'll be a great insight into me and hopefully not too embarrassing! Rules are I can't skip a post... it has to be the last seven I posted, honor system.

1.  Attention haters (you know who you are): I have just returned from the vet with Snicks where I was informed that he weighs 4 lbs. and, as I've been saying, IS AT A HEALTHY WEIGHT!

2. Just heard this on the radio: "Any fool can know how many seeds are in an apple, but only God knows how many apples are in one seed." Really reminded me in a big way -- you never know how many "apples" you're gonna grow with the seeds you plant.

3. Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.

4. I just love old movies! Every time I watch one it just makes me believe in love and happy endings! And really, that's what movies should do. I love leaving the movies thinking Gene Kelly may be just around the corner...

 

5. So excited to be seeing the 60th anniversary presentation of Singin' in the Rain at Cinemark tonight with Erin. Woot woot!

6. What an AWESOME day outside! :)

7. 

 

  Go see Jen! 

BFFs

A fun shot of Baby Snicks and his best friend, oats. They're rarely separated.

As an aside, I was so jealous that all these people could put together multiple pics into one pic on Instagram. I looked all over for where on the app you could do this to no avail. Turns out you need another app (I chose PicStitch) in order to do this. Duh.

7 Quick Takes Friday!

1. Look at this precious photo of Baby Snicks sleeping on his side:

Are you dying a little bit yet? As an absolutely necessary piece of information -- bunnies sleeping on their sides means they are totally relaxed and do not fear that they may be eaten at a moment's notice. I will say, my goodness this picture makes Snicks look a little... rotund. I promise he's not fat! I think I just shoot all his pictures way close-up which makes him look like a bit of a chunk. In reality he's about 4 lbs. He's just fluffy! At any rate, he's going for his yearly bunny physical next week (trying to prolong his life as long as possible ya know) so we'll know for sure his exact weight. 

2. THE TOILET HAS LEFT THE STREET! Woot woot. That's what I'm talking about. Where it went or when or why, I don't know. But it's gone. 

3. So I get a daily delivery of our local newspaper. Because I live in an alley, the paperboy just tosses the paper toward my front door. This morning I went out to  leave for work and get my paper, and it wasn't there. However, I did see the remains of the rubber band and plastic bag it was in. Which means someone stole my paper. Which really teed me off a bit because I really enjoy reading the paper. On my way to work I thought okay, Mother Teresa (yep, I totally brought in the big guns) would be totally fine with someone stealing her paper. Maybe that person needed it. And then I got to work and found out that a college friend of mine delivered her twin girls yesterday at only 23 weeks and weighing only about a pound each, and it really humbled me. A stolen newspaper does in no way exist on the same plane of problems as  17 week premature baby girls. 

4. In case you are at all compelled, some of our sorority sisters set up a donation site for Dana, her fiance Drew, and their baby girls, very aptly and wonderfully named Hope and Faith. You can find it here.

5. Ever since the centipede intruder of 2012, I have been on red alert for  bugs in my house. I read somewhere that you are never more than 10 feet away (or was it 6 feet away?) from a spider. Not cool. (I'm sure Jen and company are cracking up over my little centipede, but this is West Virginia, not Texas, and I DON'T DO CENTIPEDE!)

6. My dear friend Jaye has recently fallen in love with a wonderful man and I LOVE IT. They met only recently, but when you know, you know! I love following their little love story and can't wait till they get married. I LOVE LOVE!

7. My cousin Katie who is 6-years-old sends me mail from time to time: little letters or pictures she's colored of bunnies. So last night I sat down and colored a picture of a dinosaur for her "from" Baby Snicks. I'm mailing it today. I love it!

Go see Jen for more exciting takes!

Home Invasion

Sooo I go into my room last night to go to bed, and what do I see on my curtain but a big, scary bug with like 1638 legs. (And if you know me, you know I do NOT do leg.) I am a really bad blogger because my initial thought wasn't to grab my camera and snap a picture of the offensive bug, but after looking at Google images this morning, I found one almost the same:

Fantastic.

 

Now, this is one of the biggest plights of the single gal. Killing these offensive -- let's just be honest they're not bugs, they're animals. So of course I'm hollering for Snicks to come help a person out, but, believe it or not, he never comes. 

I finally Cirque de Soleil myself to get a shoe while holding the curtain, and when I turn around I've lost the bug. So of course I'm holding a heel in one hand whilst moving the curtain around with the other, searching. After about three minutes, I see the breaker-and-enterer scurrying across the carpet towards the closet. I know for sure that if he is allowed to find sanctuary in the closet, it will be lifelong because there are 46 pairs of shoes in there. And it's dark. I unleash the almighty wrath of God upon this (alleged, he hasn't been convicted yet) intruder by heaving the shoe upon him several (hundred) times. I really don't advocate killing, but my thought is it has invaded my home uninvited, and I sure as shoot am not going to pick him up and take him back outside.

The minute I go to get some TP to pick up the remains, guess who comes sauntering out from under the bed like "Oh? You were calling me? Did you need something?" Bunnies.

Another One 'Bout Erin

There are certain days that I talk to Erin that I feel really bad for hoarding all her funny to myself. And by certain days, I mean every day that I talk to Erin. I know that other people also find her hilarious, but really how many people is she reaching with her comedy in one day in Huntington? 35? It can't possibly be that many. I have been telling her for awhile it's time for a blog because this blog is pretty much turning into a shrine to the funny things Erin says. Take this recent conversation: (Erin's in white, I'm in green, as if you couldn't tell that by reading the conversation and realizing what's funny and what's not.)

 

Jobs

I finally realized why the bloggers whose blogs I read and enjoy most often are the funniest people I know. It's because they are all stay-at-home or work-from-home moms, so they can openly and honestly talk about their jobs without fear of being fired. There is so much I'd like to share about my job -- the good, the bad, the funny and the downright astonishing -- and I'd love to have feedback. But, alas. I need my job to keep supporting the lifestyle to which I've become accustomed. (Read: I like to have an apartment and eat food.) So I shall not be talking about my job, even though I think it would up the funny level of this blog from level yellow to level red or whatever.

Toilet Watch: Day Three

It's still there:

Outstanding.

And the Emmy Goes To...

Here's my (local TV news) commercial concerning my surgery. Because if you can't post your own commercial on your own blog, who's going to? Gah.

Toilet Watch: Day One

What do you see when you walk outside your house? A nice front lawn maybe? Perhaps a lovely garden with some flowers or vegetables growing? Or how about a neighbor's house, them picking up their morning paper giving you a friendly "How do?" 

Now imagine you're me.

Yeah. That's a toilet seat. I mean, how is this even possible? WHO leaves a toilet seat outside their house? 

In the effort of full-disclosure, I will say that I do live in an alley. I live AROUND nice neighborhoods but not exactly in one. Technically I live in a garage apartment (MUCH like Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina, minus the nice cars, Humphrey Bogart and William Holden, plus one rabbit) that is surrounded by a couple other alley apartments as well as garages belonging to the front houses. Yes, there are weeds growing in front of my house, which I have sprayed, pulled and which keep coming back, but I am somehow able to contain my trash to my trash can. The point is, I try to take some pride in my living space. Clearly these people do not. That, or they live in the front house and use the alley only for trash purposes, which I think is totally uncool. 

The kicker is, we all know the trash men are not picking up and disposing of this toilet in their regular rounds, which happened to be this morning. So -- how long will the toilet sit there? 

Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. My great friend Jenna who is pretty much tied with my sister Erin for funniest person I know (awards ceremony will be taking place sometime this fall) gave me the best belated birthday gift yesterday:

It's an actual old-fashioned pocket watch necklace! How awesome. Best part, as I'm sure you can see, is the little rabbit charm attached. I'm wearing this today and I love it.

2. Speaking of rabbits, I'm not sure I've mentioned this  before but I love baby Snicks. In fact, I think it goes a little beyond love and into obsession. I am obsessed with Snicks. I worry about him constantly and if he's got enough love, food, water, attention, exercise, etc. I've been house sitting for a friend this week which means I haven't been home to spend time with Snicks as much as I'd like. I literally cried about it the other night. I'm just lying there watching Lochte vs. Phelps with the soundtrack to their swimming sounding a bit like: SNICKS WILL THINK I'VE MOVED OUT AND HE'LL FORGET I'M HIS MAMA AND HE WON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE AND HE'LL JUST DIE OF UNHAPPINESS. I just tried to eat my salad for lunch and I just COULD NOT BE-LIEVE that I could selfishly eat my salad whilst Snicks was home alone for going on hour #16 and WHAT IF HE IS STARVING TO DEATH?! (Never mind I visited with him yesterday around 6 p.m. and provided him more food than he'll ever need in a day.) I just can't stand it sometimes. I wish I could put him in a little pouch and bring him everywhere I go. (Which he'd hate.) I am such a mega-weirdo and I can hear myself saying these things, thinking ANNA STOP but I just can't help it. Look at that face:

3. I have to mention that I LOVE seeing Mary Lou Retton all over the Olympic games. Mary Lou is just a regular gal from West Virginia just like myself! Except she has an Olympic gold medal. And I don't. She's just a regular gal from West Virginia with an Olympic Gold medal -- and I'm from West Virginia too! :) 

4. You know what are not cool? Mosquitoes. They bite you and then you itch and stuff. What's the deal with that?

5. As I complain about that, I am bringing up a mental picture of something I saw on Kate's blog The Rhodes Log yesterday. Seriously I saw this photo, and stared it at for no less than five minutes while my brain tried to process what I was seeing. No joke. I clicked away, and then I went right back and stared for another few minutes. If you are brave, and have about an hour to spare for your brain to comprehend what you are seeing, then click here. And remember -- what you're seeing was IN SOMEONE'S HOUSE. 

6. I've been thinking a lot lately about what this blog is "about." (Those of you who read are probably like "Why is she wondering about that? The answer is NOTHING.") I mean I don't really have insights to share on marriage or raising children, I'm not funny and witty like Jenna and I'm not on some cool life adventure to chronicle. However, I will say that Jen directed my attention to a new column on the National Catholic Register the other day that made me do a lot of thinking, and I am organizing my thoughts for a possible future post. 

7. What's the haps this weekend for everyone? I am finishing my house sitting, cleaning my apartment which is in desperate need of a good dusting, vacuuming, laundry doing and rabbit-cuddling and finalizing some things at my dance studio. Have a great one! :) 


Go see Jen for cooler stuff.

Fauxlympics

Anyone else out there thoroughly enjoying the Olympics? Because I totally am. Every two years I become overly obsessed with the games and become an expert on things I know nothing about. (If ONLY Michael Phelps had taken one more stroke in the 200 meter butterfly he would have won gold and not silver! Why didn't he listen to me?) 

Not only that, but every two years I get irrationally angry at my parents for not cultivating some sort of talent in me. I honestly believe I could have been a figure skater, an ice dancer, a gymnast, a marathon runner, a hurdler or a swimmer if my parents could have just pushed me a little harder. But I guess they just couldn't be bothered. What a feeling to be the greatest in the world at something. I can't even imagine what that would be like. 


I guess I should also point out that my Olympic games watching has been accompanied by my Taco Bell burrito-, ice cream- and Tositos with a hint of lime- eating. So perhaps my parents should have cultivated weight lifting or sumo wrestling or something instead.