November 4, 2007
Forwarding...
November 2, 2007
Up comes the sun...
Every thing's broken. I spent all morning trying to fix it, and then realized I couldn't do it on my own. So, stay tuned! Things will be workin' fine in no time...I hope...ya know, it really helps if you know what you're doing. I mean seriously. It's almost laughable, except for when you're working on it for hours and all you feel like doing is curling up in a corner. Or under the covers, which may or may not be exactly what I did when I got home from work today. Apparently it was the solution, because when I woke up I had a nice little message from Typepad telling me exactly what I did wrong. From the very beginning. Wahoo!!!! Yeah me!
I think this will fix everything that's not working on this site. So...hold tight for a day or so. Until then you can still see this site at kimba.typepad.com.
In other news, there was a spider in my car today. I don't know if there is anything more terrifying, except maybe snakes on a plane. And we all know how well that turned out. (Actually, I don't. I never saw it. But I can only imagine....) I was sitting there at a stop light, minding my own business, ya know? I happened to glance down at the center console and saw a little tannish-yellowish THING. A little curious, I poked it with the end of my fork. (Oh, why did I have a fork in the car? Funny thing, I was eating my lunch. On the way to work. Cause I spend my lunch doing Tae Bo with Billy Blanks. Anyway, back to the spider...) So there I was, fork in hand, and I poked it, thinking, hoping, maybe it was some debris? But it wasn't. And it didn't like being poked. It sprang, alive and kicking, and scurried down the fork and the side of the console. My scream was so loud, so involuntary, I swear it echoed. I'm sort of hoping it killed the spider on the spot. I could be that lucky, right? The worst part of it all is that I couldn't move, I was buckled, no, STRAPPED IN with that thing. I spent the entire drive back to the office curved against the door. I'm hoping that by locking the door, leaving the car over the weekend, maybe it will just die. Go away.
Either that or spin a gazillion webs.
November 1, 2007
NaBloPoMo Day 1: Moving Day!
So go check it out! Go on!
(comments from the last few days haven't been moved over...because I nearly cried when I realized how much work that would be. Forgive me.)
October 29, 2007
All in a day's work
(gets up on tiny soap box)
Excuse me, ladies and gentleman. For the good of the people, for the love of pete, if you're filling out a form, any form at all, for cryin' out loud fill the form out. Trust me, if we didn't need to ask you these questions we would not ask you these questions. And while you're at it, please have the decency to pause and consider that there may be someone out there who *gets* to decipher your hieroglyphics into some sort of sense. It's maddening, people. Maddening.
(lets out a breath, steps off tiny soap box)
Where was I? Oh yes, the phone call. So I guess which numbers to dial, is that a zero or an O? A four or a seven? and it rings. At least it's a valid number number, right? The phone picks up and then promptly hangs up. I redial, switching the six to a zero and nada. I try the original number (soap box....seriously....) and this time the ringing is replaced by a slightly familiar trickling noise. I silently pray that Mr. Can't Write and / or Fill Out A Form Properly is having lunch on the shores of a babbling brook and before my little reverie continues, the trickling stops. Drip. Drip. Fumble, fumble. Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip!
Oh no. This is not happening. I do not get paid enough...
I wait semi-amused for him to decide maybe to answer his phone, and hear the sound of a door swing open (mental note: disinfect form. Now. And then go wash my hands...) and then Mr. Doesn't Wash His Hands decides now is an appropriate time to answer his call.
Sir Drippy:"Hello?"
Me:"Hello?"
Sir Drippy:"Hello?"
Me:"Hello?"
Sir Drippy:"Hello?"
"Mr. ******?"
"Yes? Oh, hi! Yeah, you can resend me the form..."
After hanging up I make sure to highlight all of the fields he needs to fill out in bright yellow. Both for his sake and mine. It will remind me to have my sanitizer handy when it's returned.
October 28, 2007
Caleb's Quote of the Day
Sure can't. No suh.
October 26, 2007
Links, anyone?
So, guess what? I played hooky yesterday. Hooky from work, hooky from cleaning, hooky from the computer....well, nearly...and it was fabulous. It was the second time I've ever played hooky, the first being Caleb's birthday a few years ago. It was a total last minute decision, and one of the best days ever. This time though, it was planned out, nearly a month ahead. H&M opened it's doors yesterday in our area and my friend Bridgette and I planned to be there. We just didn't know 9,486 other people had the same bright idea. We arrived an hour before it opened and saw The Line. It wrapped around the entire store and most of the way through the parking lot. There were photographers there, people. Photographers, policemen, and lots and lots and lots of women. And a few men. And one french bulldog. (No, seriously, I saw one.) Needless to say we didn't wait in line, but we did make it back later that night. It was still crazy. We walked around the store like cattle in a shoot, barely able to glance at this shirt, that skirt, before we were forced along. To sum it up, I will tell you that the colors for the season are black, black, black, grey, black, grey, neon yellow / green, black, black, grey, and purple. And everything in the store is some variation of $29.90. It was beautiful.
It was amazing how many things we jam packed into the day yesterday. Besides H&M, I slept in UNTIL 9 AM, we hit another mall and a few other stores, ate lunch, I trimmed my hair, went grocery shopping, Target shopping (yes, it gets it's own category) and had several hours to lounge around. What in the WORLD?! I kept glancing at the clock thinking that some invisible timer would Ding! signaling that the day was over, I'd had enough fun. But it just kept going. I called Caleb partway through the day and told him I could really get used to this, this whole not-working thing. It won't happen until I'm wrangling a newborn, but that will be even better.
And no, I am not pregnant. I know what you were all thinkin'. Not yet.
October 23, 2007
And counting....
October 22, 2007
Nostalgia
Apparently Fisher Price is bringing back some of their "vintage" toys for the occasion. I wanted to buy them all, but Caleb said something about how we don't even have kids yet.....so I only picked up this. But next time? I'm bringing back the Sock Monkey or the original Mr. Potatohead. Whether he likes it or not....
October 21, 2007
Sunday Stroll
Oh! And look! I have paragraphs! Apparently one day when I was messing around with the template I clicked the "Convert line breaks" or something. Don't click that, it's serious stuff. I ran across an explanation of it the other day as I was researching something for my new template, and literally had that light bulb AHA! moment. So the moral of the story is don't be all clickin' stuff in your template it you don't know what it means. Don't fix it if it ain't broken. And all that.
Anyway, on to the real stuff. Today was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, there was a little bit of a breeze.....ahhh.....just perfect. Here's a few shots from our Sunday Walk.
We used to take a short cut on the way home from elementary school that took us along a little stream with snake grass scattered on the bank. I used to love to pull it apart and them put them back together. This was growing in a pot outside of a cute little salon.
I love these little blue flowers. They were growing up a house.
A fun little downtown strip. Just as we walked past, the local Indian movie let out. I was standing there with the mutt in a sea of gorgeous women in their sari's. I felt a little um, well, like I'd just walked into Nordstroms with my Old Navy graphic tee on.
He felt a little lost too.
This is what Bear looks for the entire time. Cats. So we spend the entire time attempting to be one step ahead of him. The thing about Bear is that he has no sixth doggy sense. If he doesn't see it, it isn't there. It could be inches away and he'd never know unless it moved.
How fun is that? I love the little rocking chair.
I am so glad we shaved him. Bear, that is.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about going all out and decorating for the holidays. But this? This is going to give me nightmares. I will never understand this.This is another of Bear's favorite things to do, find sticks. Although this time it seems he out did himself. Just a little bit. I've got the scrapes to prove it.
Making sure Caleb is coming....
Yeah, I'm enjoying this lovely California weather.
October 16, 2007
Mental Image, or, The Inner Workings of the Male Mind
While it wasn't the purpose of my visit, after a few basic questions my doctor immediately prescribed me some pills that would remind my body that it is, indeed, female. It isn't normal to go over three and a half months with nary a word from Auntie Flow, unless of course you're me, and then it's yesterday's news.
Later in the day I was telling Caleb about the visit and the 5 Magic Pills I'd picked up at the pharmacy (with a $10 co-pay, those babies are $2 a pop!) to get me goin', if you will.
"Isn't it crazy," he said in all seriousness, "that they have pills to basically trigger an auto-flush?"
October 11, 2007
Bay Area Subway
"Can I haf' white long foot please?"
Wow sir, you just made my day.
October 8, 2007
Gussied up
And while we were all giggling, it was true. Caleb had been all girlied-up. Whether he liked it or not. (And he's going to hate that I've announced it to you all, but I swear he's a manly man. He kills the spiders for me, takes the garbage out, and installs a new tail light cover on my car when I sometimes maybe accidentally pop it off. With a white picket fence. And stuff. Woops...)
October 7, 2007
24
October 3, 2007
Coming out...
Timber!
1. I may have mentioned this one already, but I passed out while giving my first talk in church. I was 12, a new addition to our church's youth program, and locked my knees. Big mistake. I remember the words suddenly oozing out of focus on my page. I looked up and saw a sea of blurry colors, the clothing of the audience fusing together, but I wasn't panicky. I remember calmly wondering how I'd finish my talk if I couldn't see the words. Hmm......and the next thing I knew I was looking up from the floor, another sea of faces above me. A little reminiscent of the final scene in the Wizard of Oz, my parents and bishopric trying to hide their smiles. I immediately burst into tears, thinking they'd make me finish my talk. One of my best friends was in the audience and had also burst into tears, thinking I had died right there before her eyes. I wanted to a little bit, when I woke up.
2. I passed out and threw up after taking Tylenol with codeine after my wisdom teeth were taken out. Apparently I am allergic.
3. I already went into full detail of the incident at PF Chang's on this post. Enjoy. Just not too close to dinner time.
4. I spent my high school years working at Cold Stone. A fabulous high school job bytheway, and secretly? I sometimes miss those years. So carefree. Such a no-nonsense job. Anyway. When I first started working there my manager warned me about putting the ice cream bins carefully back into the ghia freezer out front (think the big glass window that houses the ice cream). One of the girls, she said, accidentally slammed her fingers while doing so and had passed out! What a priss, I thought, passing out because her fingers were squished? The ice cream bins are heavy it's true, but not enough to make someone pass out. Or so I thought. Just days later I was working on a busy night and went to restock one of the flavors. I dropped the bin into it's place and two of my fingers stayed behind. It hurt, and I quickly walked to the back to hop around and hold my throbbing fingers. One of my coworkers was back there and I remember telling her I'd just slammed my fingers and ha, ha, maybe I'll pass out! And then I did, falling mid step and into the wall. To this day I have no idea why that would cause anyone to pass out. But it does.
5. And ha! This one has to do with Cold Stone, too. Not to scare anyone off. I was working one Saturday with our manager (the fabulous one...hi Heather!) and we decided to get really ambitious and clean the INSIDE of the ice cream maker. We unscrewed the thick metal panel off of the side and deep cleaned the sucker. By the time we were nearly finished it was time for her to head out and I told her to leave, reassuring her I could screw it back on myself. The only problem is that the panel was big and I had to hold it with one hand so that I could line up the holes to get the screw in (sounds like I know what I'm talking about, doesn't it?). The panel slipped and sliced my finger wide open. And by wide, I mean wide. There was a lot of blood. I was alone, of course, and had to call someone to come watch the store while I went to go get stitches. I think I even had to leave my cousin in charge until someone came and I can only imagine how that went when the next customer came in. "Hi, can I get...." "No, you cannot get. Not right now." My mom took me to the hospital and they began to numb my finger to put in the stitches. I was smack dab in the middle of my medical anatomy class and so I was completely fascinated, watching the whole process. Or, most of the process, I passed out somewhere in between the little numbing shots. I remember waking up and being flat on my back when I was once sitting up. The doctor looked a little sheepish and explained that I'd passed out and they thought I was going to have a seizure. Lovely. Note to self? Don't watch next time. Lesson learned. Almost.
6. One day in college I was walking by the library and noticed a sign that said there was a blood drive going on. I'd never given blood before and thought it would be a great opportunity. I popped in, answered all the questions right (yes! overachiever!) and was soon lounging in the chair watching the blood slowly drain into their bag. At this point, after having passed out so many times and knowing the signs leading up to it, I knew what was soon coming. I tried to let them know, "Um, hello? I think I'm going to...." and there I went. They got about 80 cc's out of me, not enough. They brought me bags and bags of cookies and ten different drinks to choose from and practically wired me to the chair. I wasn't of the mind to sit and eat cookies in front of them, but there were about four different people who's sole responsibility had been to make sure I finish my cookies. I finished one bag and had to convince them to let me drive myself home. They don't like you to do that, you know. I was a veteran though, I knew I could handle it.
7. The last time, I believe, was a few months after Caleb and I had been married. For reasons I won't go into, I wasn't feeling well. At all. I went to the bathroom and curled up by the toilet, Caleb nervously watching me, and passed out. Of course. I remember coming to very slowly, hearing Caleb frantically calling my name. He'd never seen anyone pass out before, let alone his wife of mere days. It's okay, I told him a lazy smile on my face, this happens all the time.
So that's me, fainting extraordinaire. What affinity do you have?
October 2, 2007
Iran so far away
Caleb asked me why I didn't preface this video with an explanation. Not that it's my job to keep ya'll up to date on current events, but if you don't understand why this is funny (and wow, that would be shocking....), check this out. (I'm three seconds away from leaving Blogger....this spacing issue is making my skin crawl....)
September 29, 2007
Phew!
September 27, 2007
Farmers Market Sweep!
It was lovely and warm and smelled of ten different things. Warm Naan, roasting rosemary chicken, and home-grown corn on the cob .....
His pumpkin flatbread was delicious.
We bought an asiago cheese baguette along with his organic Artichoke and Walnut Cheese spread. Absolutely divine.
Beautiful orchids - someday I'll find out how to keep these alive for more than two days. Until then, I'm keeping my grubby little hands off them.
One great thing about living in such a temperate climate is that you can get most fruits and veggies all year long. Like strawberries. Or artichokes (I could live off of those...).
It was an excellent experiment, try it! Go on! Find you local farmers market and dig in!
(See my strategy? Insert pictures to keep the paragraphs apart! Genius! Can't last forever! Am still trying to figure it out!)
September 25, 2007
Ahhh...halfway there.
September 24, 2007
An Oregon Weekend
(Funny thing about when I took the test, in between the written and skills portion I studied with a kid who had been in the testing room. During our random conversation he brought up a time recently when he'd killed a moth and said, "It was so crazy, it CRUNCHED." And I said "Yeah, I know, they do that." And he looked at me like I was deranged and said, "How do YOU know that?!" Like....it was so crazy that I knew that moths went *crunch* when you squished them. Is that so odd? Am I the only one who kills moths? I can't be. That's ridiculous.)
(*I saw my lavender that I had planted outside the front door and I thought seriously about digging it up and bringing it home. I probably would have, but didn't have a burlap sack with me. And I don't think that'd be considered a carry on.)
The best part about the trip was after the test, when we were trying to decide what to do. It was my friends last Saturday before they started school and so we tried to come up with something celebratory. One last summer hurrah. And in true Albany, OR fashion, we ended up at the local Heritage Mall. It was a totally appropriate way to remember my time there, wandering around the "mall", which boasts a Sears and Bath and Body Works. And a few other stores that no one can really ever recall. We played Glow Golf, miniature golf under black lights. We ate dinner at The Roadhouse in Salem, a lovely little grill house with peanut shells littering the floor, wandered around a few home stores, and then curled up on the couch to watch Oprah. And that pretty much sums up our year and a half there.
The really odd thing is that the sun shone all weekend long, and I'd like to believe that it was for me. It really is green up there, I'd forgotten how many shades there are. Even more odd though was that it poured buckets here in the Silicon Valley, the first rain since, I don't know, April? May? I don't even remember seeing a threatening cloud since then. I'd like to think this was some sort of sign, the sun that is to come in the near future, if I can just keep going down this path. Slowly bettering myself, dodging the blues. Keeping my pants on, right? Steering clear of the No-Pants. That's my goal.
September 21, 2007
Excessive Borborygmus
It was so loud and constant Caleb put him outside so we could get some sleep. I half expected to wake up and find all the local stray dogs in the area gathered around the fence trying to paw their way in. Luckily Bear came in alone, and he spent the rest of the morning sulking and groaning on his bed. Methinks someone learned their lesson.
September 18, 2007
September 17, 2007
Busted
(Insert an imaginative paragraph here...since my blogger is continuing to throw a fit)
But seriously? I swear I'll fill you in. It's a sweet idea.
For now I'll provide evidence that here at our household if it's not one thing, it's another. Quite literally. You remember the oven episode right? 6 weeks of an oven that neither baked, broiled, or roasted. We grilled. We ate cereal. And we waited.
This morning when I was in bed, catching a few extra minutes of sleep, Caleb was busy putting holes in our sink. Or rather, a hole. A real live hole.
Exhibit A: Big Gaping Hole.
The offender? One small aftershave bottle, dropped into the sink. It's almost comical, isn't it? Except that we now have one working sink in the house, and no promise that it will get fixed soon. We're taking bets on how long it will be before it gets fixed, and how many times the decision to keep / fix / replace will change.
I'll go first - 2 weeks, and twice. Cause I like to keep things neat and even.
Suspense....
That's what I do here, in case you weren't aware.
September 13, 2007
Two clicks from a zombie
I thought maybe it was caffeine related, I don't drink it very often so maybe it was getting to me. So I stopped and...nothing happened. Then I thought it was because I was watching TV before bed, and you know what they say about THAT. That didn't make a difference either. Then I tried writing down my thoughts / worries / concerns, because that's also what they tell you to do, and that didn't work either. Plus I ran out of space, and that sort of made me feel worse.
I'd sort of given up until last night when I had a great idea. As you might imagine, it's fairly difficult to get up in the morning to work out when you've only logged a few hours of sleep, and so my work out schedule has been suffering. Maybe that's it, I thought, maybe I need to just push through it and work out. Maybe that will get me to fall asleep. So I popped in one of my work out DVDs after getting home from our friend's house. I figured I might as well be doing something rather than laying in bed trying to decipher a tune between Caleb and Bear's snoring. (With the crickets outside, we've nearly got a full orchestra around here....)
Have you ever tried working out at midnight?
I guess what's most surprising to me is that I'm actually sore today. Like, even though it was late and I was emotionally and physically exhausted, I still managed to do enough to produce results. And I can't decide if that's because I just really worked hard, or because I was so tired that it took extra effort to make my body do what it was supposed to do.
Didn't work.
Just curious, how addicting is Benadryl?
(And here we go with the funky formatting again. Now it's screwed up all of my entries! I'm doomed!)
September 12, 2007
Jabber
Look at me, I can't even write about how I have nothing to say without sounding like a total idiot. I just stared at that last sentence for five minutes. Type something, erase. Sit there. Blank. Nothing.
I could tell you all about the exciting things at work, that's, what.....2/3 of my life? But there's only so many things I can say about alphabetizing. I did find another funny last name, Schmuck. That's funny. Poor kid.....
Or I could go on and on about um.....well.....that's it.
Wow. My life. Data entry and alphabetizing. I can FEEL your jealousy emanating from the glow of the screen.
These are the thoughts that have been swirling around my head for a while now, the sad state of my job. A month or so ago I decided to do something about it though, and dug around to see what I needed to do to renew my CNA license. At least it was a step in the right direction, a millimeter closer to something I actually had an interest in. To make a long story short, I ended up booking a plane to Oregon where I was last certified so that I could re-take the written and skills test, with a fake patient and everything. Then I'll have to transfer that license to California, and hope to find a job that doesn't involve me and a giant diaper.
Not to knock those who currently have this daunting task, you really are angels. Saints.
The written portion will be easy enough, I took a practice test without studying and "passed". No worries there. It's the skills portion that makes me nervous, not only because it's been over three years since I took the class, but the class was in Utah and every state is a little different. They sent me a 34 page booklet of the different skill sets they could ask me to perform, and this is all I've got. You can see why I'm a little nervous, not made any better from the few conversations I've had with the ladies at the Oregon State Board of Nursing, "Don't worry honey, if you don't pass you can just re-take the test." Just retake the test, spend another $400 to fly up and re-take the test. Uh huh.
There is a small portion of me that wants to crawl under the covers for a few months. A small portion that seems to be growing bigger and bigger.
Is that a step up or down from no-pants? I can't tell.
Also, since we're on the subject, what in the world is up with my format? Where did all my paragraph spacing go?! Why does it look one way on the preview and a completely different way online? Is this a widespread problem, or just reserved for special people like me? Is it time to leave Blogger for bigger and better grounds? Anyone have any strong opinions about a hosting company? (Only 14 more questions to go....)
Is it bed time yet?
September 7, 2007
Psst!!!
'Nuff said, I know. I'm not exactly the model of gorgeousness for you all to glean your make up advice from, but whatever, we can pretend. I had to pass on this little tidbit, I got an email from Benefit saying that if you spend $25 on Benefit products, you can get a year subscription to Lucky Magazine for free! Enter promo code LUCKYMAG at checkout. And trust me, it'll be easy to spend the $25. If nothing else, the Maybe Baby perfume is absolutely amazing. So is High Beam. And Boi-ing. And Lemon-Aid. And so on and so forth.
So there. My good deed for the day.
September 6, 2007
Tahoe Trip: In all it's glory
we worked around his schedule. This meant a lot of down time between the hours of about noon and three, which suited us just fine.
Is there anything better than a nap after sifting through magazines? I submit that there is not!
The clicks of the camera wake me up, and I un-roll my lanky, funky-jointed arm to let some blood in....hmm....there is a perfect impression of the couch on my arm....
Mmm....afternoon nap.....can....not....wake....up......Besides catch up on some much needed sleep, we also celebrated two birthdays.....
Are those not the best candles EVER?! Seriously....(notice the missing frosting?! Can we say curious one-year-old?!)
But mostly we entertained ourselves with the baby.
(Warning: cuteness of this magnitude has been known to cause severe baby-hunger. Proceed with caution.)
Just in case you thought we took ourselves a bit too seriously in that last shot. Maybe you were feeling a little awkward with the formality? A nice little pose, no silly commentary? Thought so.
September 1, 2007
Nature Walk
Lucky kid.
I hope you all have a lovely Labor Day! I'm going to go enjoy mine...
August 30, 2007
How to mess up your kid in two words or less...
Will someone please get on that? We can fly to the moon, but we can't come up with some sort of pill for the filing-ache? Priorities people, priorities.
In an attempt to save a few brain cells from the numbing task, I decided to pay close attention to the names I was filing as there never seems to be a shortage of idiotic parents out there. I was not let down. We had Atilla (I pray she's skinny and beautiful, otherwise she won't make it through junior high), and Lolly (only funny because in Australia a lolly is their word for candy. And "Fancy a lolly?" can be interpreted so many ways....). How about Art Poster? No need to question what his parents were... My favorite though, the name that had me giggling all day long - Phil McCracken.
I wish I was joking. We can only hope he has 20 / 20 vision and perfect teeth.
Phil? This is psychological abuse, and you don't have to take it. Get a therapist. Quick.