Surviving the Battle

Well, I survived two whole weeks at my new job, and I'm still alive and kicking.  Not only that, but I'm not only allowed to come back this week, but I'm actually going to! So far the coworkers are all great, and the customers have been great too.  I haven't been given a hard time about anything, and I haven't even seen any of the customers give any of the other tellers a hard time.  When we get super busy and don't have enough help, the branch manager actually puts in a drawer and helps wait on customers.  Everyone helps everyone in this place.  It's a foreign feeling for me, but I adore it. Finally a company that treats all employees like equals!

We'll be swamped tomorrow with all the deposits from the businesses that were swamped with Spring Breakers and Easter vacationers this weekend! It's going to be a long, long day, but I'm sure I'll handle it with all the grace God has given me. Our head teller, who is also the woman who trained me, will be on vacation all week, so that will be an extra obstacle to work around.  But I imagine we'll all get along just fine.

I hope you all have had a wonderfully blessed Easter!

Missing in Action

Well I finally found a job!  Hooray!  Of course now that means I'll be neglecting my blog even more since I won't have a lot of time to dally on the computer.  But since I'll be working at a bank as a teller, and the busy summer season is coming upon us quickly I hope I'll get to see and hear some interesting stuff to report to my dear readers.

I don't suppose I'll be as relaxed on the job as LOL Cat over there.  But I can always hope. I've made it through my first week, so I'm off to a good start. I imagine it will be a battle not to put all the weight I lost back on.  They have chocolate and candy EVERYWHERE, and on Mondays and Fridays they put out plates of fresh bakery cookies and lemonade. I have yet to be able to resist! But I bought lots of healthier snacks today to keep at my teller window, so hopefully I won't be as tempted anymore.  I'm keeping my expectations low for now.  My track record with yumminess is not so stellar!

I've Got My Eye On You

Both of them, actually.  And they can SEE you! I had my LASIK surgery done a week ago, and I am so freaking happy with the results.  It's so amazing to be able to see clearly without contacts or glasses.  I just had my second follow-up vision appointment and can now boast 20/20 vision!  Before I had the surgery, my left eye was 20/400 and my right eye was 20/600.  Yes, that bad. I never expected them to be able to get my vision this good.  I thought for sure it would improve my vision, but that I'd still need a light prescription or something.  And of course I had all these doomsday imaginings of something horrible going wrong and ended up blinded or horribly disfigured and with worse vision than before I went in. 

If you've ever looked for information online for LASIK, you've probably seen some of the terrible websites out there whose sole purpose is to scare people away from the surgery. Oh, the pictures they post of surgeries gone wrong.  *shudder* I have to admit that those sites really made me doubt the wisdom of having the procedure done.  But thankfully I was an excellent candidate for the surgery, I have a great optometrist, and he recommended a fantastic, proven surgeon for the procedure. My eyes have healed wonderfully, my vision is great, and I am so, so happy I finally bit the bullet and was brave enough to have it done. Woohoo!

If at First You Don't Succeed...

...Stomp your feet, scream, and maybe even cry. Go ahead, have a full blown tantrum if you must.  I'll wait.

I'm sad to say that I am NOT exactly a natural at learning to ride my new bike.  You can't imagine how many times I've wished that I had learned to drive a manual transmission when I was younger! I should have kept trying until I got it and not given up on it.  I don't like not being good at something, so it's been a blow to my pride to have to keep trying, and trying, and trying on this motorcycle.  Sometimes I can't even get it in first gear without stalling out.  Why?  Because I forget that I have to use the clutch.  Oops.  But honestly, I'm doing good to remember that I have to actually put it in gear in the first place.  Although technically I have to do that in my car too, it's just that in Roxie (my totally awesome Scion xA) I go from Park to Drive. 

I made an attempt to drive my bike around the neighborhood Friday afternoon by myself.  Eek!  You can't even imagine how nervous I was.  I just knew I was either going to crash it on my way to the safe loop area where I could practice without worrying about much traffic, or I was going to get it out there and then somehow mess up and not be able to get it back home.  I'd never taken the bike out on my own before!  Sadly, my fervent hopes that it would turn out to be a wonderful jaunt and that I would finally "get it" and be a pro rider before I returned home were quickly dashed. 

I lost count of the number of times I stalled out just trying to get it out of my driveway.  That whole "let off the clutch slowly while giving it just the right amount of throttle at just the right time" is pretty tricky.  I did eventually jerk and buck my way down the street to the stop sign.  But this was where my real worries lay.  I had to be able to go from a stop to a start WHILE turning, and immediately go over a speed bump, after which was another immediate turn in the opposite direction.  The maneuvering this requires is difficult enough for me, but when you add in the fact that there is traffic coming off the highway in one direction, plus traffic leaving a neighboring development coming from the other as well, it really got me worked up.  Did I mention I was turning left, so I had to cross both lanes of traffic?  Eeek!

I did manage to get through that intersection, but just barely.  I was still having trouble with trying to do a smooth take-off, and I felt like I was completely out of control.  Not a good thing when on a motorcycle! And by that time I was so frazzled my nerves were shot.  I couldn't make that second turn in time, and decided that was my cue to just turn around and head back home.  It was pretty sad that I only got out on the bike for about a quarter mile, and that I didn't drive it very well while I was doing it.  But I've got to say, considering how nervous I am about learning to ride a motorcycle, and considering I never could get the hang of driving a manual transmission when I was younger, I actually didn't do all that badly.  I may not be fearless, but the fact that I got on the bike on my own in the first place is a really big accomplishment.  I wanted so badly to find a good excuse not to go out.  While it didn't have the results I'd hoped for, I did have to pat myself on the back for trying and for making it through the intersection, even if I didn't get it back into that other neighborhood.  It may have been an ugly ride, but I didn't crash, I didn't drop the bike, and I didn't even cry!  I did stomp my feet a few times and my language was probably a bit colorful, but all in all it wasn't too bad.

I'm just going to have to keep at it and practice, practice, practice!  I like to imagine that one day I'll go out and everything will easily fall into place and then I'll return home lighthearted and carefree and I'll be able to laugh at my silly fears and wonder why in the world I ever thought learning to ride a motorcycle would be so difficult.  Hahaha!  (That's me practicing my lighthearted laughter.)


Images found here and here.

I Bought a Motorcycle!

Dear Readers, meet Molly! My DH and I have been checking out Craigslist to try to find a small bike that would fit me and be a good choice for someone who is new to riding a motorcycle.  He found this one for sale in western North Carolina, and after seeing the pictures and researching it online, I was in love! She is a 2002 Suzuki SV650 (naked).  I was pretty worried that a 650 would be way too big of an engine for a newbie like me.  I could imagine myself accidentally giving it too much throttle and it taking off like a rocket and leaving me behind! But the many, many reviews I found for it all praised it highly, and the website Best Beginner Motorcycles even recommended it for beginners.  Normally much smaller bikes like the 250s are recommended as safest for beginner riders. 

Luckily for me, this bike is nice and lightweight, much like a sport bike, but has a lot of the styling and comfort like a cruiser.  I'm not a fan of the "crotch rockets" where you lean forward on your arms and have your rear end up in the air.  The SV650 does have the foot pegs farther back than a cruiser so your knees remain bent, but it's still a fairly upright seating position.  Being lightweight (less than 400 pounds) makes it much easier to maneuver and control, but the bigger engine will ensure that I don't outgrow it immediately after learning how to ride.  The top speed on most 250 machines is about 65mph.  The SV650 is about 125mph. I have no plans to EVER go that fast, even in my car, so I don't need it to go that fast.  But if I ever need to get on the interstate and keep up with traffic in a 70mph zone, I'll be able to do so without blowing the engine.


Getting Molly home was quite an ordeal.  The location was about 5 1/2 hours from where I live, and the weather was very cold (low 30s with wind chills much lower) and it rained the entire time.  DH and my dad and I drove up there in my car to check it out and see if I liked it.  Of course I can't actually RIDE it, so I just sat on it to test the fit and see if I liked the way it felt.  We looked it over and checked out the mechanics, and then my husband took it for a spin to see if it felt like it ran okay.  It did, and I still loved it, so I bought it!  At that point we had to get it home.  My husband rode it home, in the freezing rain, on a ride that in a car would have taken about 3 1/2 hours.  We were stopping at my parents' house for the night before coming back home the next morning.  Since the weather was so bad, we had to make a LOT of stops so DH could thaw out and the parts of his riding gear that weren't waterproof.  We also couldn't go as fast as we normally might have because the bike hadn't been ridden in a year, so it wasn't quite up to par.  Turns out the spark plugs needed to be replaced, and DH spent most of the ride with the bike only firing on one piston, which meant it had maybe half the power that it should have.  Not fun for riding on the interstate, at night, in the freezing rain! That 3 1/2 hour trip ended up taking 8 grueling hours. 

Not being very mechanically inclined, I didn't really know what might be wrong with Molly, and I was worried that I'd bought a lemon and that it was going to cost a fortune to fix her.  Thankfully all it took was two little spark plugs and she was good to go!  Chris and my dad changed them the next morning and then DH even changed the oil and oil filter too, just for good measure.  Needless to say, the ride home from my parents' house was much more enjoyable!  Warmer, little to no rain, and a fun bike with a good engine.  He had a great time getting it back to our house, and I'm glad to know he enjoys the bike so much.  It means it was a good buy and that once I learn to ride and can feel comfortable and confident on it, I'll be able to have some fun too!


I love her bright yellow paint! She looks like a bumble bee, which is sort of how she came to be named Molly.  I thought I'd name her something that referred to her marvelous and snazzy coloring, but couldn't think of anything about bees that didn't sound entirely stupid.  Some people will think it's silly enough to name her at all.  But as I was thinking, the phrase "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" passed through my mind.  I thought, "Aha!  Muhammad Ali! M. Ali...Mali...Molly!"  And there you go.  A beautiful, fun bike that I still need to learn how to ride.  I guess I have no choice but to learn how to work a manual transmission now.  It's going to be a long, bumpy ride!

Biker Babe in the Making

Okay, so the "babe" part is open to interpretation. But still.


I had my second lesson on the motorcycle today. This time I was on Darling Husband's Honda 919. I was really nervous to try to ride on this thing since it's a sport touring bike and can REALLY go super fast in a hurray. I could see myself trying to ease onto the throttle and still managing to shoot down the road like a rocket. Thankfully when I tested the throttle sensitivity while in neutral I saw that it would be possible to still be very gentle with it. I did really well! Well, considering it was ME on it. I got up to 20 miles an hour this time. Woohoo! That's double the speed I was willing to go when I first tried out my mom's bike. I even shifted into 2nd gear a couple times! Pretty soon I might be able to pass those little mopeds that are always blocking traffic.

Technically you're not supposed to ride with a passenger until you are very well trained on a bike and can do so without endangering yourself or the other person. Bikes handle a lot differently when you have a passenger! But I'm still too scared to ride without him behind me telling me what to do and when, in case I panic and forget what to do! It's only further proof of how fearless he is that he was willing to ride with me at the helm.

But the part that I'm most proud of? I TURNED! FOUR TIMES! And I did it well each time. It was so thrilling to be able to do it. I was giggling like a schoolgirl and laughing out loud with glee. I was so proud of myself. :) And no freaking out this time - no tears or panic. I wonder if I'm the only one who is so scared of trying to turn on a motorcycle. I don't even think about it when I'm on a bicycle, but for some reason it really intimidates me to try doing the same thing on a motorcycle.

I made sure to stop while I was ahead this time instead of pushing it until I got overwhelmed. Every little step is really helping to build my confidence. I never thought I'd be able to handle DH's bike since it is so sporty and fast. But it's nice and light and narrower than my mom's bike, so that actually made it pretty easy to handle. I'm starting to understand why he loves it so much on twisty, winding roads!

Motorcycle Mayhem, Part II

I just got my motorcycle permit!  Woohoo!  Look at me, I'm a wild woman. :)  Now I just have to put it to good use and try another bout on the bike. I'm going to be so excited if I can actually learn how to ride a motorcycle.  Of course having to shell out the money to eventually buy a bike and for the insurance won't be as fun, but it will be a necessary evil eventually. There is a motorcycle riding class I'm looking into that a friend took a few years ago and really enjoyed. He took the intermediate course, but I'd need to start from the very bottom!  They stress safety a lot, which I really like.  He said it even makes him drive his car more defensively. 

I'm on a roll with this "taking on the world" thing I started recently.  I've got my eye mapping and eye exam scheduled for this Thursday for my LASIK.  I've been out of my contacts for nearly 2 weeks in preparation for it.  And I should be able to have the surgery done at the end of February.  Hooray, no more contacts or glasses!  That's going to be especially appealing after being stuck in my glasses for so many weeks.  I was also finally able to decide on a design for a tattoo, and I have a friend who knows a tattoo artist from a local shop who is going to give us a great deal on tattoos.  So now I'm even going to get a tattoo!  Two, actually.  I've thought about getting one for several years now, but never seriously considered it because I just couldn't decide on what to get and where to get it.  I don't want to have something I'm going to regret in a few years, or something that won't be relevant to me in 30 to 50 years.

So here I am, tackling tattoos, LASIK, and motorcycles all in a short span of time.  If they weren't things I'd thought about and wanted for several years I'd be worried I might be having a mid-life crisis. I told my friend that if I come home with a red convertible sports car she needs to plan an intervention. :)

I'm Ready to Take on the World

Do you ever have those times when you tackle something awesome and then feel like you can do anything after that? Even if it's just something minor? I'm in that mood now.  Some of it is also from a feeling that life is short (and passing me by) and I don't want to keep wasting time - putting off things I've wanted but never got around to letting myself have (or do), shying away from things because they are "scary" or because I'm afraid I won't be good at them. But if I never try something, I've already failed, right? So what's the point of not trying?  I'm hoping that I can keep this motivated mood going and accomplish some things that I've been too scared to try or things that I used to enjoy but never do anymore.  I've already given driving a motorcycle a try, and I really want to keep learning.  It may seem like a small thing to many people, but for me being able to drive a motorcycle (and not just ride on the back) would be a huge deal.


First on my list is seeing a doctor for a consultation on LASIK. I've been wanting to get my eyes lasered for YEARS but kept putting it off.  First it was because it was too expensive, then because I was worried that something freaky would happen and I'd end up blind or with worse vision than before, then it was because I didn't want to have to go two whole weeks without being able to wear my contacts before they do the measurements for the surgery.  For the past fews years I've mentioned it to my eye doctor at every annual checkup and he's assured me that I'm a perfect candidate and he recommended a local eye surgeon.  And still I kept putting it off.  But now I'm ready! I've schedule my consultation and hopefully things will go well and soon I'll have an appointment for the actual surgery.  I can't imagine how awesome it will feel to not have to rely on contacts and glasses anymore, especially since they seem to bother me more and more lately. Whee!


Another thing on my list is backpacking.  I used to go backpacking with my family every year when I was a kid.  It was always pretty grueling and I complained a lot at the time.  But it was still kind of fun.  And now that they have all this fancy technical equipment that weighs next to nothing I'm sure it's a much more fun activity.  Unfortunately I have back problems and just the thought of carrying all that weight makes it hurt. My husband goes on a short backpacking trip (one or two nights only) every Spring Break with a coworker friend of his and my dad.  And this year I want to go too!  I just got back from a vacation in Maui where we did some light hiking and I realize how much I enjoy it and miss being able to do it. My husband prefers backpacking instead of camping and doing day hikes, so I never get the chance to just hike.  But if my choices are backpacking or not hiking at all, I'm going to at least give backpacking another try.  His trips are much shorter than the ones I went on as a kid, and since I've been seeing a chiropractor regularly for my back it may not even be as big a deal as I've been letting myself imagine.  Who knows, maybe it will be the most fun I've had in a while and I'll look forward to doing it more and more. And if I have a great time and my husband enjoys having me there, maybe we'll even go more often.

So what else should I put on my list of things to accomplish? Should I give surfing another try? Maybe see if I can tackle SCUBA? That one would be a long shot, but it feels less scary now than it used to when I thought about it before. Maybe that means I'm ready to try it!

Not Eaten by Zombies

Hi everyone!  I think it's a pretty good sign that I've been a total slacker with blogging when a blog-buddy posts a comment about my absence.  And then my mom reads that comment and suddenly worries that something is wrong with me and maybe she'd better check up on me to make sure I'm still alive.  True story. 


I'm happy to report that I am still alive.  My brain was not eaten by zombies this Halloween, although I'm pretty sure some little idea-stealing demon may have been amongst the kids begging for treats this year.  Because I've pretty much got nothing. 

Exercise is Dangerous to My Health

A few weeks ago I started back up with an exercise routine. I'd been way too lazy for way too long and it was really working out nicely this time. Instead of doing everything on my own and getting bored or in a rut, I started going to a friend's house. He and several of his friends had already been working out regularly in the evenings and I joined in with the group.

Sam is in great shape and really loves working out. He really ought to be a personal trainer. He leads our group and we never know what to expect when we show up in his garage. We do it all: weight-lifting, circuit training, sports drills, kickball, yoga, running, etc. I'm usually lucky if I can move the next day. But I love not having to decide myself what to do, I love having such a large variety of activities, and I love that I know Sam won't ever let me slack off. The time just seems to fly by, no matter how badly I'm pouring sweat and huffing and puffing!

But sadly, today turned out to be a not-so-good day. Today was "game day" which meant we played a game of some sort. I voted for Frisbee, which I love with a passion. It ended up being Frisbee Football, which I totally suck at. Somewhere between the transition from plain old Frisbee to Frisbee Football, I managed to pull a muscle in my right thigh. At least that's what it feels like. I don't even have any awesome story to go with the injury. It's just a sad little statement of fact. It happened during a sort of running duck walk attempt to snag the Frisbee as it hit the ground a few feet in front of me. How lame! But I did manage to get a touchdown with said injury, although after that it went from a fairly mild "maybe I can just stretch it out" boo-boo to a "holy crap, that hurts!" boo-boo.

I'm now reduced to hobbling around the house. Although "hobbling" implies a level of mobility I'm not quite in possession of at the moment. I'm hoping ibuprofen, BioFreeze, and an ice pack will have me back to normal by tomorrow's evening workout. Renee's got Turbo Jam DVDs and I want to play too!

Anybody got any miracle remedies?

A Hint of Fall

After a long, hot summer I'm really glad to have a few nights where the temperatures drop below roasting.  Every chance I get I turn the AC off and open the windows so I can finally have some fresh air in the house and enjoy the cooler temperatures.  It's a shame they don't hang around any longer than they do.  This is the time of year that I get to enjoy these teasing hints of fall and long for autumn when I enjoy the weather all day long, and not just from midnight to dawn.  It won't be long before those days are here. And they'll last about an instant before it starts getting TOO cold and I whine about that instead of whining about the heat.

I love the idea of having four seasons each year - a complete fall, winter, spring and summer.  Down here it seems we skip spring and fall and just have a quick transition from summer to winter.  I'd love to live in a small town somewhere that has a nice crisp fall, with changing leaves and fall festivals complete with hay rides, bonfires, pumpkin patches and all that fun stuff.  But that same magic place would probably have horribly long, cold, snowy winters.  Yuck!  Snow is okay once in a blue moon so long as it doesn't last more than a day or two and doesn't happen every year.  But every winter, all winter?  No thanks!

Gettin' With the Times

So I've finally moved into the current times (just a little bit) and gotten on Facebook.  It's amazing how fast that thing sucks you in.  At first I was only going to register so I could look at the pictures my family member was posting.  Facebook kept sending me email invites from him, so I broke down and joined. I didn't plan to post any personal information or a picture or anything.  Then I realized there were several of my family members on FB; family I haven't seen in ages and haven't kept in touch with.  So I decided I'd go ahead and add them as friends and then I could at least keep tabs on what's going on with my family.  I added a photo but just one of a scenic view from a trip to Hawaii. 

It snowballed from there until I pretty much had a high-school reunion on my laptop. It's so much fun to see how people are doing now and what they are up to.  And what they look like!  So many of them look exactly the same.  Others look completely different and I can barely recognize them, while others are easily recognizable but have really blossomed and are really beautiful/handsome now. I fall in the category of looking just the same, although several pounds heavier.  I'm about the only one out of the marrieds who doesn't have kids.  It's kind of shocking to see that some of them have kids that aren't just babies, but in elementary school and beyond.  I guess I'm older than I realized.

And I even posted some pictures of myself, although the most recent one is from summer of 2008.  I never realized how few pictures I have of myself.  I'm going to have to remedy that by getting in FRONT of the camera for once.  Let's just hope I can get some flattering ones.  And if not, there's always Photoshop, right?

Well, at Least I've Been Writing SOMETHING!

I haven't been writing much on my blog, despite a few decent ideas tumbling around in my head.  But I have been writing some lenses (articles) on Squidoo!  I actually churned out about 5 of them in the past week or so.  I wrote 3 of them on local places here in the Myrtle Beach area that I enjoy - Huntington Beach State Park, Atalaya, and Brookgreen Gardens. There's nothing like writing one of these lenses and telling others about how awesome you think they are to make you want to go out and visit again!  My park pass just expired at the end of last month though, so I'll have to pay admission to see Atalaya and Huntington Beach or break down and buy a new annual pass.  I haven't been to Brookgreen in way too long.  I really should get back there.  It's a shame that I drive by so often and never stop in to enjoy it. 

I also wrote a lens on Swan Lake Iris Gardens, which is in the town where I was born and raised.  I never really realized how awesome it was to have something like that in my own backyard until I moved away and saw that every city didn't have one like it.  When I was researching the lens I found out that you can't feed the swans and ducks anymore.  That's so sad!  We used to go all the time, and we'd always take a loaf of bread to feed them with.  It was a great way to enjoy the birds up close.  But this is much healthier for the birds - they stick to their specialized diet and don't ruin their supper with white bread and cereal! 

The last lens I wrote was on barcode art.  Have you ever seen this?  There are a few ways it's used.  Some people distort the barcode into different shapes (that still scan!), or use individual barcodes to make portraits.  Others cut barcodes from packages and make collages with them.  I particularly like the graphic design businesses that create pictures with the barcodes to use on packaging.  They're just so fun! 

So anyway, that's what I've been up to.  I'd love it if you would check out the lenses and let me know what you think of them!  I'm not much of a writer, so I know there is plenty of room to improve. 

When the Census Comes Calling

Unless you've been living under a rock, all you USA-ers out there know about the 2010 Census.  Back in March I received a notice that I would be receiving a Census form.  Then I received my actual Census form to be filled out and returned.  And then I received a notice reminding me that I had received the Census and please don't forget to fill it out and return it!  All of this before April 1st, the date referred to in all the questions. Couldn't they have waited until closer to the reference date before sending these things out?  If you mail them out 3 weeks before they can fill them out and send them back in, it's no wonder so many people never do it!  They probably lose them or completely forget about them.  Even the last reminder is sent out before April 1st.  

If anyone doesn't send in their Census form, they're going to send someone to your house to try to get you to answer the questions on the spot.  I'm sure most of you already know all of this and have probably already experienced it.

BUT - Did you know that if your neighbor doesn't fill out his form, and doesn't answer his door when they come knocking, that they will knock on YOUR door to see if YOU can help them fill it out?  That's right.  Someone came to my door the other week and when I saw the Census Worker ID badge and the Census form in his hands, I was about to open my mouth to exclaim that I had already sent in my form when he started asking questions about my neighbor across the street.  Just how accurate do they expect that information to be, anyway?  The only reason I even know this neighbor's name is because my friend is his landlord.  But I only know his first name and I certainly don't know his birthday! 

After that, about a week later they sent around a Quality Control person to ask me the same questions again.  And guess what?  I still didn't know his last name or his birthday!  Gee, I'm so glad I can do my part to help my country. 

Image found here.

Sunscreen for the Lazy

We all know how important it is to wear sunscreen, even if we don't actually wear it as often as we should.  I know I myself don't wear it very often at all.  Most of the time I don't even think about it, other times I think about it but that's as far as I go.  One of the main reasons I don't use it as often as I should is because it is so messy and gross feeling.  I hate that thick, heavy, greasy feeling.  It isn't so bad on my body, but I can't stand it on my face.  My skin is oily enough; I don't need any extra sludge, thank you very much. I was glad to see several brands come out with a spray-on sunscreen.  I've used that and liked it much better than the lotion types, but it's difficult to apply it to the face.  You have to spray it into your hand and then try to rub it into your skin before it dries.  On my face it feels a little weird after it dries - kind of tight feeling, if that makes any sense.  But they always clog after not being used for a while and I've never been able to unclog them.  Not that I've put much effort into though. 

And of course there is always the problem of trying to apply the sunscreen to those hard-to-reach areas.  I'm sure some of you have experienced the missed-a-spot-sunburn.  And forget for a moment the fact that most people don't apply the right amount of sunscreen, or that you have to make sure your stash hasn't expired.  So many hindrances to using sunblock makes it so easy to find an excuse to overlook it.  I've got some ugly sun damage on my face and I still can't get myself to wear it when I know I should, even if only on my face! 

So I have a solution.  Someone out there (I'm talking to you, scientist people!) needs to invent a SUNSCREEN PILL*!  It would be just like taking a vitamin.  Every morning while you're getting ready to start your day you could pop a little pill (no horse pills, please!) and within a half hour or so it would have made your whole body evenly protected from the sun.  Isn't this a great idea?  It would be MUCH easier to use, you wouldn't get that horrible greasy skin feeling, and you'd be covered all over - even your eyelids and scalp! 

*Okay, I just did a search and it looks like there already ARE sunscreen pills out there.  Why don't we have these here in the US?  Do they really work?  Have any of you heard of them or used them?  It does seem that you are supposed to use them in addition to regular sunscreen and protective clothing though, so it defeats the purpose of why I want them.  Hopefully the dermatologists are teaming up with some awesome science people to make the perfect sunscreen pill, and if I'm lucky it will be available in my lifetime so I can enjoy the sun worry-free! 

Image found here.

Alive and Kickin'

Well, maybe not kicking, exactly.  But I am still alive!  I know I've been a bit slack with the blog this month.  I had only just realized how long it has been since my last post yesterday morning.  Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed.  My mom called yesterday evening to make sure I was okay and that everything was alright because she saw I hadn't updated my blog recently.  (Hi Mom!)  And Marvin commented on my last post that I've been too quiet.  It's nice to see people notice, at least!  :) 

I would blame my slackness on blogger's block, but it's actually mostly just laziness and procrastination.  I've actually got at least 4 post ideas rambling around in my head that I just haven't gotten around to putting out there yet.  I promise I'll have something soon! 

My other excuse is Pogo.com.  This game website is freaking fantastic for those of us with lots of time to kill.   You can play for free or you can pay a monthly or yearly membership fee to access tons and tons of games!  (You get WAY more games if you buy a membership.)  I seem to find a new favorite game every week and am still in love with my other favorites.  Needless to say, I spend way too much time on this site.  You win tokens for playing the games and can win a "jackpot spin" for winning the game.  You can actually win real money!  And they have a daily $50 drawing, a weekly $250 drawing, and a monthly $1000 drawing that you can purchase entry tickets for with all those tokens you won playing the game.  Can you see how the idea of possibly winning real money for free games is irresistable?  (If you bought a membership, any jackpot you win is doubled!)  Of course I haven't actually ever won anything and probably never will, but the IDEA is there and it is technically possible.  Being the daydreamer and wishful thinker that I am, it's easy to imagine winning at least. 

So anyway, I'm still here and haven't given up on my blog.  Hopefully one day soon I can wow you with my masterful grasp of the English language.  Or something.

Photo found here.

I Love My Electric Blanket

Last night as I snuggled under the covers, I couldn't help but wax poetic about how awesome my electric blanket is.  Seriously, if you don't own one of these, you need to get one.  Unless you're lucky and live in a paradise like Hawaii and don't even need to have a heater, much less an electric blanket.  God bless the person who invented this thing. 

A haiku for my electric blanket:

Electric blanket

I love you so very much

So warm and toasty

So when do you think they'll come out with an electric-blanket version of the Snuggie?  Although I guess it would have to be battery-powered if you want to wear it to your kid's next sporting event.