Totally wrong!

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

This website claims that I am the only person in the USA with my name. A quick search on Facebook showed one other that is in high school in Oostburg, WI. This website is bogus!!!

Is there anything they WON'T blame on Katrina?

Now they are blaming Hurricane Katrina for divorces. Really?

Louisiana has kept figures on almost everything Katrina-related -- the number of people who died, the number who were injured and the houses that were damaged or destroyed.

But the state is not keeping statistics on the number of divorces in a post-Katrina world.

Why would Louisiana keep figures on that? It is nearly impossible to decipher which divorces are "hurrican related" and which aren't. And did you really just compare deaths, injuries & damage to divorce???

Murray blames the hurricane for troubles in his marriage, saying, "Her and I never argued, never fought, never nothing until this hurricane, until we got cramped in that FEMA trailer."

They wife in this article wouldn't talk to the interviewers, but I'd like to know what her take is on why they're having marital problems. Is it the hurricane? Or his her husband an idiot who uses double negatives like "never nothing"? Or has she found a new piece of meat she wants to pursue? It could be anything!

I may sound pretty insensitive about this, but natural disasters have hit a lot of places in the past, and I have NEVER seen as much finger-pointing and long-term whining as what has happened with Katrina.

Three Day Weekend!!!

Some random thoughts:

1. I'm so pumped for the three day weekend. We don't really have many plans, but just not working sounds glorious to me!
2. I think I'm getting sick. Just in time for the long weekend. GREAT.
3. We hatched a plan yesterday at lunch that I am going to start posting all sorts of crazy inaccurate Democrat stuff on my blog until it finally makes Clint crazy and he has to start a new blog up. I'm not even a big Democrat, I'm just anti-McCain. Come on Clint, just start a blog!!!
4. Lee is painting our front doors right now. I'm a little nervous. That's something you really don't want to F up! I mean, everyone sees your front door...
5. I can't decide if I want to go to the Billy Currington concert at DC's Country Junction next week or not. I wish it were on a Friday!
6. Kenny Chesney's new song Everybody Wants to go to Heaven sucks. And after I complimented his lack of island-y crappy music. Blech.
7. TV comes back next week. Have I mentioned how excited I am????
8. It's business casual day at my home office today. i.e. I am wearing the same thing I wore to bed last night. Lee made fun of me this morning. He said "I am more dressed up than you and I am going out to work in the yard."

Craig's a Lucky Duck!

A former classmate of mine, Craig, just took a job at iLike.com. He has a much better description of what iLike.com is on his blog, but basically, it works kind of like MySpace or Facebook, but you get music recommendations from your friends. (I'm probably butchering this description.)


One of the "perks" of working there is that musicians drop by the office and play music. Um, that sounds way better than my office where no one cool stops by EVER!

Today, Darius Rucker (formerly of Hootie & the Blowfish, now a country musician) stopped by. I had mentioned to Craig how much I love Darius Rucker's new song, so he sent me this picture. Look at them just chillin' in the office. If only it had sound!

I heart TV

While doing some research for Reuter's Top 5 this week, I found this list of shows and the date of their premiere. I am so pumped for these shows to come back on! Except that I'm supposed to be studying and tv is not good at helping me stay motivated. The problem is that these shows aren't on my DVR yet so I can't set it to record.

They grow up so fast...

Lee is off to his first night of college.

Well, really, his second - first day of college in his life.

Husbands grow up so fast. Before you know it they're in college and you have an empty nest for the evening.

Two Weddings and a Birthday

No, this isn't a lame sequel to the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral. (By the way, I love that movie. Does that make me a dork? Maybe.) Two weddings & a birthday is a quick summary of my weekend.

Friday night Lee and I went up to the big city of Merrillville to hit up Home Depot, Lowe's and Don Pablos. I LOVE Don Pablos so much. I can't decide what my favorite part is... The margaritas, the salsa, the cheese enchiladas or the corn cake thingy. Anyway, it was a low-key, but expensive evening of buying stuff for our house.

"No, no I can't drink tonight...Besides I got a big day tomorrow...We are going to Home Depot...and maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond...I don't know, I don't know if there will be enough time." -Frank the Tank

Saturday we went to two weddings. The first was Lee's cousin Curtis. The wedding was extremely quick and we were on our way to the Beef House for the reception. The Beef House has the most amazing rolls in the world. My mouth waters just thinking about them. And they have this strawberry jam to put on them, YUM. I found out this weekend that the jam is actually strawberry ice cream topping. No wonder it's so good! At the reception, they were bringing around the rolls still in the backing pan. They were hot hot hot. And amazingly delicious. I had two with dinner and felt overly-stuffed. But, they were just so good! We stayed at Curtis' reception through the first dance, cake cutting, when everyone got in a train and danced around the room (I hate this tradition), and the Cha Cha Slide.

Next, we headed over to wedding #2. This wedding was an outdoor wedding, which had to be rough since it was like 95 degrees out with NO breeze. They had a huge tent setup outside. It reminded me of the party in the movie Something to Talk About with Julia Roberts. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. This reception had DANGER written all over it. They had a band out in the tent until midnight, then the party was to move indoors with a dj until 3am. There were Bud Light trailers set up on each side of the tent with 4 kegs apiece in them plus two open bars. Lee and I ended up leaving with his parents at about 11:30pm though. With the heat, we were having trouble drinking enough beer. I kept wanting to drink water!

Sunday our nephew Tyler turned 3! He had a baseball themed party and got a bike w/ training wheels! It was an exciting day!

Locks of Love ~ UPDATE

If you recall, I am currently growing my hair to donate to Locks of Love. They require 10 inches of hair in a pony tail. Today, when I put my hair up, I measured my pony tail. We are at 11 inches! WOOHOO! So, by the time my donation date is here (early next summer), I will be able to cut at least 10 inches off!! Hopefully my hair keeps growing... It kind of feels like it is at a plateau.

New Stuff in the Hiz-ouse!

Here are some pictures of the changes going on in my house:

We finally got a new fridge! WOOHOO! It's name is "Tall Dark & Handsome". It matches the rest of our appliances now!

We moved our little white fridge out to the garage. Yay for a beer & meat fridge!

Last but not least, the new light fixture in our dining room. We no longer have a 70's era chandelier! (If you know anyone who wants a "retro" chandelier, we've got one. We also have vintage yellow & white bathroom tile, a vintage yellow shower & a retro vanity complete with shell-shaped sink.)

(In the fridge picture, Lee isn't just there modeling it. He's holding the handles on. He hadn't attached them yet!)

I'm taking "the challenge"

I recently read about this on the blog of an old classmate. I would like to build some more upper body strength, and if you put it in a regimented "competition" format, I am much more likely to stick to it. (Probably should have done this BEFORE tank top weather, but better late than never!) I'm going to try and get Lee to do it too, so that will make it even more likely for me to stick to it.

Check it out on hundredpushups.com, and let me know if anyone else wants to join me in the challenge!

Update on the List

Lee has been home for a week now, so I thought you might like to know how he has been doing on his to-do list.

(The stuff in purple italics is done!)
1. Remodel the master bathroom ~ We bought a sink for it.
2. Build a mantel for our fireplace
3. Install a ceiling fan in our bedroom
4. Get a new light fixture for our dining room
5. Fix the driveway & edge around it
6. Fix the weather stripping on the front door and paint the front door
7. Buy & install wood shades in bedrooms
8. Take down unused window brackets
9. Spray yard for mosquitos, fertilize & plant more grass in the bald spots
10. Take the cat to the vet for her 2nd round of shots
11. Hammer in the nails on the deck
12. Fill the gas tank for the grill & get a grill cover
13. Power wash the outside of the house, doors & windows
14. Put bricks in the ground where the gutter spout is

I've been there...

I'm sure pretty much everyone has heard about McCain not knowing how many houses he owned. At no point is "I don't know," the answer that people want to hear to this question! Especially those working class voters that wanted to vote for Hillary. I'm sure he was sitting there thinking "If I say 2, they'll check up and know I lied. If I say 7, they're going to make a big deal out of it... Hmm... Aghhh... I DON'T KNOW."

I've been in McCain's shoes before. No, not the exact situation, I know that I only own one house.

It reminds me of WAY back when I was 19 or 20. We had all been drinking heavily all evening and Lee and I got stopped by two police officers (it may have been because I was laying on the ground). Anyway, one of the cops asked me how much I had to drink that day. My thoughts were flying... If I lie and say "two" or something conservative, and then he gives me a breathalyzer, he's going to know I'm lying. But, if I actually tell him the truth, he'll know I'm wasted and arrest me. So, I'm having an internal conflict and I finally just said "Enough." Perhaps John McCain should have used that one. I didn't get arrested or ticketed that night, so clearly it worked!

I'm a slacker

Sorry I haven't been blogging too much. I've been busy having a husband around and stuff. It takes some getting adjusted to!

Yesterday we went to the Cubs game with Lee's entire family and a few family friends. It was a good time! The grandkids are all still a little young to really enjoy the game, but they helped entertain me, since I am not that interested in baseball. Our niece, Grace is just hilarious. She is almost 2 and she is such a character.

This weekend we have 2 weddings and a birthday party for our nephew. It's going to be a busy one!

I am also back to studying for EA2A. Barf. I hate studying. I would rather work than study. That's how bad it is. Oh well. Just 4 more exams, right? That sounds awful.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Low Crime Rate in Jasper County - PHEW!

Thank goodness for the low crime rate down here in po-dunk where I live. Saturday morning, Lee & I left about 10 minutes late and were rushing out the door. Apparently, we (I) forgot to put the garage door down... Yeah. Not good.

So, we were gone from Saturday morning until Sunday evening with our garage door open and the door to the house unlocked. Anyone could have backed their truck into our garage and unloaded all our prized posessions with no breaking-in at all. Actually, someone could have just loaded up Lee's Explorer and taken that too. (I don't know who would want that thing though! Besides Lee.)

When we got home, I started freaking out that our door was open. As soon as we pulled up I bolted in the house and checked for our tv & our two laptops (yes, those are our prized posessions). Safe & sound. Thank goodness. I will not be forgetting the garage door again any time soon. I am still traumatized from our close call.

Weekend Recap

Friday - Late Friday night Lee got home. It was probably like 11:30pm. I had trouble staying awake waiting for him!

Saturday morning we went and bought a pedestal sink from someone on Craigslist. They were only asking $20 for it when they usually go for well over $100. Sweet! Then we had lunch with my mom. That evening, we helped Jamie move into her new apartment in Lafayette. It is only 3 blocks from my mom's place, which is very convenient! We will be able to share cabs back from the bars and stuff.

Sunday we went up to Lee's parents house and ate all day. His mom is pretty much always cooking. I swear, if I stayed at their house for a week, I would probably gain 10 lbs.

That was about it for our weekend. Not too exciting, but it sure is nice to have the husband home!

And he's officially on his way home!

111 Worst Songs

When I work at home, I listen to AOL Radio. They have some really good stations and not too many commercials. You can even listen to US 99.5 through their player. (But then you have to listen to all their commercials.)

Recently, I discovered the station "111 Worst Songs".

We count down the 111 worst songs of all-time. Find out who's #1! Featuring Vanilla Ice, Backstreet Boys and more.

So far, I have been embarrassed by how many horrible songs I absolutely love. Some of my favorites that made the list:

4 Non Blondes - "What's Up"

Right Said Fred - "I'm Too Sexy" (My first cd I ever owned!)

Paris Hilton - "Stars are Blind" (yes, I like a Paris song. I know.)

Billy Ray Cyrus - "Achey Breaky Heart"

LFO - "Summer Girl"

Tag Team - "Whoomp there it is"

The Starland Vocal Band - "Afternoon Delight"

Spice Girls - "Wannabe"

Los del Rio - "Macarena" (Hello, the dance is awesome! See Bryan & I below)

Some that made the list that really are bad:

"Disco Duck", one of the Hoff's songs, "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, N'Sync's "Dirty Pop", and many many others.

Good news!

This morning Lee found out that he should be able to come home on Friday!!!!

He was supposed to stay in Norfolk until Sunday. The Navy tends to be sticklers for staying the full time. However, he wasn't going to have any work to do on Saturday or Sunday, so he would just be sitting around waiting to leave. He finally found a lenient, sensible guy who said that he could leave on Friday. I love that guy and I don't even know his name...

(Lee needs to get home since I have already started my own form of demo on the bathroom... And I'm guessing Lee won't like my style. I already broke a mirror. But, it was only the corner of it, so hopefully that won't be the full 7 years of bad luck.)

No more thirty-fun for Party Jabba!

Happy 32nd Birthday Ploth!!!

From the good ol' days...

To now...

Happy Birthday Old Man Plothow!

(We're glad to see you've matured with age.)

Little Adam

On Saturday morning I went up to Bolingbrook, IL to visit my co-worker (and friend) Katie & her new son Adam. Adam was born about 6 weeks ago. He seems to be keeping Katie very busy. I got to feed him and rock him to sleep and hold him for about an hour while he napped. He was like a little furnace and I was practically sweating when I handed him back over. Anyway, we miss Katie a lot around work, but I know little Adam needs her for now. He's a sweetie and I'm glad I got to meet him! Oh, and Adam has his own website if you want to read more about him!

Look, I have a baby! Until it starts crying... Then it goes right back to mom!

Indiana is pretty.

That is all.

The Olympics

The only part of the Olympics I really watch is gymnastics. I love the sport! I did gymnastics from the time I was about 2 years old until I hurt my ankle when I was 17. Plus, let's be honest, it's a lot more entertaining to watch than some of those other Olympic sports... Ahem, Badminton.

I watched the women's gymnastics team preliminaries last night. USA started out with an ankle injury. Then, the first two girls both tumbled off the floor for big point deductions. We had a couple of big flaws on the bars and vault as well. They finally turned it around on beam though. Hopefully they got all the nervous jitters out and can kick some Chinese butt in the finals.

I was excited to see that of our US women's team, we have TWO Hoosiers! Samantha Peszek is from Indianapolis, and Bridget Sloan is from Pittsboro (wherever that is). For those Hawkeyes that read my blog, there is a girl from Iowa & one of the coaches. Who knew Indiana was such a good state for producing gymnasts. (See, there is more than corn in Indiana. There are also a lot of gymnastics gyms.)

The announcers kept talking about how all of the girls had to be 16 years old. The US girls look young, but I can believe that they're all 16. China on the other hand... I think they've got a 10 year old on the team. Geesh! He Kexin is the one that most people are complaining about. And I agree. Look at this girl. And I do mean GIRL!

Gotta love the huggers...

I was walking through the mall today and saw this shirt for sale at Hot Topic...

Can you guess who it made me think of?

If only all the huggers wore this shirt, it would be so much easier for Fubar to avoid them!!!

Awesome New Country

Just thought I would give a quick update to some awesome new country songs out on the radio right now. I get to hear a lot of country music these days since I have 4 different country stations on the presets in my car!

5. "Don't think I don't think about it" - Darius Rucker (FYI, he's a black dude!) Note from Craig: he is also Hootie from Hootie & the Blowfish!
4. "Home" - Blake Shelton (Makes me think of Lee. Hurry home Lee!)
3. "Lookin' for a good time" - Lady Antebellum (This band kind of annoys me, but I like their music. So far all of their videos are montages of their tour. They're not seasoned enough for that just yet. Have a normal video, people!)
2. "You look good in my shirt" - Keith Urban (So jealous of Mich, Reut, Erin & Tony who got to see this live!)
1. "In Color" - Jamey Johnson (It covers all the good stuff, farming, war & marriage.)

Last weekend in Norfolk

Here are some pics from last weekend in Norfolk. It was a fun weekend, except for my Saturday morning. Ouch. Ok, more like Saturday until about 4pm. It felt good, though, leaving and knowing that I don't have to go back. No more flights to see my husband after next week! WOOHOO! It feels good.
Always good to see the hubby after a month apart.
Me, Lee & Neema's boyfriend, I mean Jay, at Hell's Kitchen.
And this could be why I didn't feel so hot Saturday morning. Yes, 7 shots... 4 people... Ugh... And this was only 1 round of many.
Poor little Jay is going to miss Lee!
Saturday was karaoke at A.J.Gator's. My arm looks tan! Awesome.
Lee, Leif & I. Lee is an idiot. I don't know what he's doing.
Teresa & Tom pose after serenading each other.
Teresa and I danced to a little "Cha Cha Slide".
Drunk Lee really enjoyed himself.

Lee & I do plan to go back and visit Norfolk, but we also hope some of our friends will find their way up here to Indiana to visit us. Oh, and there is always meeting in the middle. We are dying to go back to WV for some more whitewater rafting!

I'm super bored

I just don't feel like working today. I really only have one thing to do... I am waiting to get a bunch of random things back from people, so I am trying to stretch my one task out for awhile longer...

Thus, I am playing Blogger Roulette. Basically, just clicking through random blogs. So far, I have found some entertaining ones... Lots that are in foreign tongues that I do not understand... And some that are pretty dull. (Probably like what mine is like.) So, here are some random blogs that made me laugh:

Everyone Flyinggg - Basically a lot of Asian kids jumping in the air.

This guy is apparently obsessed with tennis shoes.

I have no idea what this is about, but I thought some readers might like it.

Psssshhh, this class from 1961 thinks they're cool because 12 of them went to school together from kindergarten through graduation. My class of 136 had 27 people go K - 12 together.

I think what I learned today is that I don't want to read 99.9% of blogs that are out there... And 99.9% of other people surely don't want to read my blog!! But, at any rate, Blogger Roulette was fun and killed a good 1/2 hour of the day!

What happened to NOT talking on the train?

On Tuesday, I was riding the South Shore out of Chicago. Anytime there is a Cubs game or any sort of event in Chicago (like the entire summer), the South Shore gets extra full and sometimes you can't get a seat until after the first stop... And the first stop is 20 minutes away. It definitely puts a damper on my train-study-time.

Tuesday there were a bunch of randoms on the train, so there weren't enough seats. I ended up standing until the first stop. I happened to be near a guy, about my parents' age, and an older woman. Things were quiet for the first 10 minutes and I enjoyed spacing out and staring at those lucky bastards with seats. So comfy looking. Then, the dude started talking to me. Darn it! I didn't have my friendly, please-talk-to-me face on, did I?

He started talking about texting and how he texted his boss and she didn't know how to get it. Then, he was telling me how his ex-girlfriend (who was also on the train) was texting him and started showing me the texts they were sending back and forth, like I really was interested. Then he started telling me about his house down on Lake Shafer (which is right by Lake Freeman where my in-laws live). I mentioned something about the sandbar at Lake Freeman and he said "Are you sure you don't mean Lake Shafer?" I abruptly told him I KNEW where my in-laws lived. He was annoying me and I was only being polite enough not to tell him to go f*** himself. The older woman was kind of listening to our whole conversation. She seemed rather entertained by it all since she could tell I didn't want to talk to this guy at all, but he wouldn't take the hint.

At one point, he asked me if I was married. I said yes. He asked how long, and I said 2 years. Then he asked how old I was and told me that I shouldn't have gotten married until I was AT LEAST 30 years old. I told him that I had known my husband for 14 years and not to worry, we'd be ok. At this point the older woman snickered out loud. (I WANTED to ask if being a 50 year old texting his ex-girlfriend on the South Shore made him a relationship expert.) And right about now, THANKFULLY, we got to the first stop and I was able to sit down and start studying. I made it off the train with only a few more "pleasantries" from him. As I was getting off in Gary, he updated me that his ex-girlfriend had texted him 9 times since he had been on the train. "I think she wants to get back together with me." Woohoo for you!

Man, I hope I can avoid that guy today!

Twist my arm...

Everyone needs to go get a Dairy Queen Blizzard today!

Proceeds go to the Childrens Miracle Network.

And Blizzards are AWESOME!

I just got POLLED!

A few days ago, I noticed that I had a missed phone call from 000-000-0000. Very suspicious. Today, I got a call from 317-000-0000 and I answered it. They were polling Indiana voters about the election in November. I got polled! I'm so excited! They asked about the Presidential race, then they asked about the race for Governor of Indiana. I tried to tell the woman that I didn't know anything about the race for Governor. My friend Paul works for Mitch Daniels, so I was inclined to say I would vote for him. But, then I remember my father-in-law saying he wasn't doing such a good job, so I said "the other person". Literally. I couldn't remember the name she had said. I wish she would have just let me skip that question!!!

Note, I just looked it up. Mitch is running against Jill Long Thompson. Yup, I know nothing about the race for Governor.

Honey-Do List

I actually hate the term "honey-do list". It makes it seem like the husband doing anything around the house is unusual and a favor to his wife. Just like I hate people saying that a father is "babysitting the kids". No, if they are his kids, that's called parenting. Not babysitting.

Anyway, Lee's countdown is down to TEN days! He starts school a week after he gets back, but he isn't planning to get a part-time job for about 5 weeks. We have been negotiating this one... He still gets paid by the Navy until mid-September, so I won't complain until then. Haha!

Lee's to-do list for when he gets home is growing exponentially. And they are not small things on the list! So far, the list is below. I will update you of his progress. AND THERE WILL BE PROGRESS. Haha!

1. Remodel the master bathroom (I told you they were not small things.)
2. Build a mantel for our fireplace
3. Install a ceiling fan in our bedroom
4. Get a new light fixture for our dining room (The current one is SUPER 70's.)
5. Fix the driveway & edge around it
6. Fix the weather stripping on the front door and paint the front door
7. Buy & install wood shades in bedrooms (This one is on hold while we negotiate the necessity of nice shades vs. $6 shades.)
8. Take down unused window brackets
9. Spray yard for mosquitos, fertilize & plant more grass in the bald spots
10. Take the cat to the vet for her 2nd round of shots
11. Hammer in the nails on the deck
12. Fill the gas tank for the grill & get a grill cover
13. Power wash the outside of the house, doors & windows
14. Put bricks in the ground where the gutter spout is (Right now it washes everything away when it rains hard. Which is like all the time this summer!)

So, Lee will NOT be bored in his short time of unemployment. He'll be begging to find a job!

This sounds interesting...

Stay-at-home mom, but without the kids, eh? Sounds like an interesting idea.

"What do you do all day?" is a question Anne Marie Davis, 34, says she gets a lot.

Yes, that would probably have been my first question too. I think I would be in a lot better shape, and my house would be super clean... I would probably still suck at cooking though.

Davis says her life isn't luxurious. "Tuesdays are my laundry day," she says. "I go grocery shopping on Wednesdays and clean house on Thursdays." Mondays and Fridays are reserved for appointments and other errands.

That actually sounds kind of luxurious to me... Having a full day to do laundry or grocery shop instead of fitting it in after 9 hours of work? And how many appointments do you really have to take up Mondays & Fridays of every week?

Alas, I know this is only a far off fantasy for me. At least while Lee is going to school. You can't be a stay-at-home wife while your husband goes to college... And eat, that is. And I like to eat.

Forgot about the crazies...

I flew in from Norfolk this morning and took the blue line into work from O'Hare. A large black woman got on the train wearing a purple sweatshirt tucked into violet colored jeans. As soon as I noticed her, I thought she was crazy. But, throughout the trip it escalated!!!

1. I was sitting next to the window & a woman was sitting next to me. This was towards the back of the car where there is a lot of open space for people to stand. The Purple Puffball was standing directly in front of us.
2. She started laughing histerically... I checked for a hands-free cell phone. Nada. Maybe she is just remembering something really funny. I've done that before (not quite so extreme though).
3. She then started kind of talking to herself and laughing. Apparently SHE is hilarious!
4. At this point she moved to the very back of the train. The woman next to me raised her eyebrows at me like "Phew, thank goodness she moved!"
5. From the back of the train we heard repeated smacking sounds. I couldn't see her, so I have no idea what she was smacking. My fellow passengers began to fear her.
6. As we got down to the loop, she started yelling random things. People were moving away from her and toward the doors. Hurry up Monroe stop!
7. Just as we got to the Monroe stop, she yelled "Does anyone on the train need some socks? I'm giving away my socks." I didn't look back and just bolted.

I wanted to take a pic and submit it to ROCK on the CTA, but I was far too scared of the woman! Good times on the blue line!

Happy Birthday Reut & Bryan!!

Happy Birthday August 1st boys!!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!
P.S. Raise your hand if you're still in your 20's...