Can't pull the trigger...

Lately I've had some trouble writing things that I want to post on this blog. I've been half-writing posts and then not posting them. Why? Because everything I write lately is crap and boring and not worth even rereading to proof.

I know I'm no Nobel Laureate, but I occasionally write things that are entertaining at least. Lately however, no dice. Apparently this is a common condition in the blogoworld as I've seen several posts written about this very issue. So, how to cure this blockage in my blog? Well, here's what I've come up with. I'm going to make a short list below of the topics that I have half-blogged about in the last week or so and ask you, my benevolent friends, to choose a winner.

I will then write a post about that topic and maybe continue down the list in order of most popular topics. This, however, will not work if only 2 people comment, so please everybody comment. I'm in a rut and I need to get the pipes flowing (sorry for the bathroom reference).

So here they are, the topics I've almost written about in the past two weeks:

1. 80's/90's hairstyles - my own, my friends'/family's, including funny pictures.

2. Update on the travel plans for the Summer. Going to France or Canada?

3. First graders: Why each of us should act more like a seven-year-old.

Those are pretty much the best of what I've been working with in the past two weeks. So, please pick your fav, leave a comment on it and I will write about it in the week to come.

Thanks for your help! I hope to be back on track next week and, of course, have a marvelous weekend.


Source

Week in Review...

Sorry I haven't been around this week. Maybe you missed me a little bit. Maybe...?

Whether you missed me or not, I'm back and here's a few interesting tidbits from this week.


Sunday my husband and his friend Eric ran a 7.5 mile race in Reading, PA called the Ugly Mudder. The name was pretty appropriate, actually. Where there wasn't two feet of snow still laying on the ground and more coming down during the race, there was mud - deep mud. I took my post in the Reading Liederkranz (German house) waiting on the racers with a few new friends. It was a lot of fun! By the time we got home however, I was sick as a dog.

Monday through Wednesday were spent in a blur of Puffs Plus w/ the scent of Vicks, cold medicine and naps when possible. I was sicker than I've been in a while, trying to go to work and continue life. Honestly, it's all a blur.

Thursday - Back to being human. Both nostril breathing was achieved and I FINALLY got a decent night's sleep when I wasn't waking up to cough/blow my nose once an hour. Hazaa! My darling husband made me dinner because I just didn't want to and we prepared for him to take his trip to Las Vegas.

Friday - Hubs left super early in the morning/middle of the night to make it to the Philly airport for his 6:00 AM flight to Las Vegas. He made his flight and called me from his connection in Cincinnati to inform me that he left my camera in the security checkpoint int he airport in Philly. "Are you serious?" I said angrily awakened by his call. "Yes, I had to go back and get my wedding ring at the checkpoint and I missed the camera." Wait a sec.... WHAT?

Yeah that's right. Not only did he lost my camera, he ALMOST lost his wedding ring. Mind you, he is not a first-time flyer. He has traveled alone many times and made it through with all of his possessions. The only explanation I can give is that I should have looked at this like as a Spring Break trip for him and one of college buddies. Take nothing of value, clothes you don't mind losing, minimal credit cards/identification cards, wedding rings and definitely not your wife's beloved camera.Source

So I'm a little worried at this point. I'm thinking it could be a combination of "The Hangover" and "Dude Where's My Car" and to make matters worse, Hub has a history of tooth chipping/loss.

I have a call into the TSA at the Philly airport to report my camera missing at the checkpoint and I have my fingers crossed that maybe, somehow maybe they will have put my camera aside and it will be there on Sunday when Hubs arrives disoriented, broke and probably toothless. Fingers crossed....

Sinus Infection Schminus Infection

I think that I have come in contact with the bubonic plague. That's the one where people bled out of their eyes, right? Yuck, so graphic. Moving on.

I have a sinus infection/cold/something viral today and I stayed home from work because I didn't want to share it with my co-workers. My husband is also dealing with the plague, but he doesn't have the flexibility in his schedule and had to go to work today. I feel terribly about that, because I feel like there's a hive of bees buzzing around in my head making it impossible to hear my own thoughts. And oddly enough both my and my hub's eyes are totally bloodshot red. What's going on with that?

I have never experienced such a symptom from a cold/sinus infection/viral mess before. My tears are thick and nasty and I wake up in the morning with my eyes sealed shut. It's awful!

So, I'm gonna keep it pretty short today and focus on wellness for the rest of the evening. I will leave you with this - Puffs Plus makes a tissue with Vicks Vaporub in it. This development is amazing and, I believe, should qualify for a Nobel Prize in medicine.

source

Continued Wedding Pics...

By request, I have uploaded a few more pictures from my wedding to the luurrrv of my life back in June 2008.

I hope that you enjoy!


I was extremely lucky in the planning of my wedding that both my sis and one of my best friends are photographers. My sis took my bridal portraits at the Parthenon in Nashville, TN about a month before the wedding.You can learn more about my sis's photgraphy here.

And my darling friend Natalie McGee photographed my wedding. I am so glad that she did as well, my photos are priceless to me and the experience was wonderful.

Anywho - that's a few more tidbits from that awesome day.

Makeover!

It's a blustery day in Central PA today and I decided that a good way to encourage Spring to arrive a little early is to Springify my corner of the blog world. Even if it's only in a tiny, little way, like brightening up my blog and forcing myself to wear bright colors. Hey I'm doing my part and I would encourage you to do the same! Oh and I'm looking through bathing suit catalogs. Though I admit, I'm focused more on the beaches and how warm the models look. And I am oh so jealous!

Anyhow, tell me what you think of the new look. Is it bright in a good way? Or does your monitor glow like toxic waste when you load the page?

GRE Insanity

Source- this is the cover of my favorite book at the moment.

This week, I have begun my study prep to take the GRE on April 28th. I have purchased all of the necessary study guides and downloaded the practice test programs from ETS. I've even set up study schedule for myself gauging approximately how many hours per day I will need to study to get the score that I want.

Standardized, scantrony tests have never been my strongest area. I am one of those weirdos who would rather write a short essay than try to ace the fill in the blank questions. Luckily, the GRE does include essay-style questions. However, it also includes some "sentence completion" questions as well. But,I'm not scared of the verbal section, the math is really what makes me worried.

I graduated college in 2005. I completed my math requirements my freshman year, with the exception of a finance and accounting classes for my business minor. This means I have had NO algebra or arithmetic instruction since 2002. Yikes! I now am trying to dig all of that high school algebra (and back even further, we're talking division of fractions) out of my brain and pretend like I remember this stuff. In actuality, the concepts are simple, it's just remembering all of the little rules that helped me through the first time that's the challenge.

Sadly, I am not mathematically inclined. I spent long hours in the Math tutoring center in college getting help from a gifted Indian girl named Krishna. She was able to teach me a lot, but I would liken it to beating a sharp, square peg into a tiny, round hole. Painful!

My lack of math skills is not due to genetics. My father is an engineer and possesses a brilliant, scientific and logical mind. Mathematics makes sense to him and I remember him telling me as a very little girl that understanding Calculus can help you understand the world more clearly. For him, the concepts of Math are the building blocks on which the world is understood. We spent many nights at the kitchen table with me crying out of frustration and him unable to simplify a concept further to teach it to me.

Thus, to say that learning math has always been difficult to me is sort of an understatement. I am attempting, once again to fill my mind with these concepts, rules, shortcuts, rhymes, limericks - anything to help me through. And speaking of studying, it is now time (according to my schedule) to work on my antonyms and (gag) a little algebra.

Wish me luck, please! And for anyone out there who has been through this whole Grad School admissions process and wants to shed a little light on the experience, please leave a comment!

Thanks and I'm off....

Moving, Muppet Babies and Purging Your Facebook Friends

Source
What is it about moving that sucks so bad? Oh wait, everything.

This weekend we helped my father-in-law pack and move his apartment near Virginia Beach. It's not that he was unprepared to move or didn't have a plan, or anything else. Moving just sucks and I have done my fair share. I have move one time (actually twice in 2008) every year for approximately 9 years.

One would think that with all my experiences with moving, I might enjoy it or be proficient in the science of it. One would be wrong on both counts. Moving, or even helping someone move is painful, stressful and sweaty work. It absolutely brings out the worst in me. I hate a mess and disorder makes me a grouch! Not to mention, packing away someone else's stuff is nothing short of awkward. It puts you in situations like, "sure I'll pack your flight simulator and wireless walky-talky headsets." Then you find yourself deleting this person from facebook and cell phones because you can't believe how WEIRD they are. If I hadn't helped you move, we'd still be friends. Such a senseless loss...

But I suppose being weird is no real reason to cut someone out of your life (although creating a little healthy distance between you and your bizarre-o buddy might be a good idea). We all have our weird stuff! I admit to owning a collection of old 80's happy meal toys. I don't have them at my place, they are with my Mom and Dad and I will not allow them to be discarded. Somewhere in my mind, that McNugget dressed like Crocodile Dundee has real value and should not be disposed of. A little irrational, I know.

Hey, in my defense, my nieces and nephews love to play with them in the bathtub though they have no idea about these weird characters I keep naming off. Fozzy Bear? Miss Piggy? Gonzo? I'm thinking, "come on, they're the Muppet Babies! They're classic treasures! Kids today... If the character doesn't have their own iphone, they're not cool." Then I promptly call myself an old curmudgeon.

I'm sure a day will come, maybe soon, maybe in the future, when I part with some of the knick-knacks of my childhood. Perhaps I will simply tire of them or perhaps I will lose so many acquaintances by asking their help in moving them in the next few years (because I'm sure I'll be moving more than once), that I'll be forced to be rid of them. Either way... moving sucks!