Saturday, September 29, 2012

Friday Family Fun For $15

That's a lot of alliteration there in that title.  :)

My place of employment for 17 years (!!) gave us branches throughout the US the option to have a branch fun day out.  We were allotted a specified amount per employee to go out and play games, mini-golf, eat, whatever we wanted to do.

My branch in Orlando wanted to bring our families along, which is cool by me.  Back in the day (and that's a lot of days in my 17 years), we always used to do group events and include the families.  I told them they were welcome to bring anyone, but they were getting the set amount my corporate allotted and they would have to pay the rest.

I chose Dave & Busters in Orlando and off we went for a 7 p.m. Friday night dinner.  The kids and I got there early and I purchased gift cards ahead of time for all the employees, so everyone got the same amount.  We ate dinner, talked and had a bunch of fun playing games.  We had a full house - 19 people.


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My kids, STARVING, waiting for everyone to show up.  They were LATE.  :)


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Hi Jose!  Co-worker and his 3 kids.
 His wife was sitting next to me so we could gossi...I mean, catch up.



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My kids play Skee Ball



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Another co-worker Juan's kids playing a huge Connect 4 game



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On his first try, he wins 300 tickets


We had enough $$ left on our gift card to buy a play card and play games, but ran out early on, so I added $15 to their play card.  Then another co-worker who was leaving gave my kids his play card, so we got extra fun.

The kids got enough tokens to get a Pikachu plush toy, candy and some key covers for Jake's car keys.

Dinner for 3 including appetizer (David had to work; he was none too happy we did it on a Friday night), two hours of game playing, a stuffed Pikachu, candy and key covers, all for $15.  I think it was a very successful evening.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

No, Mac! Noooooooo!

A while back, Isabel got up from the dinner table and left a mess.  She didn't clean up her plate, she had food everywhere; it was a mess.  I started to yell after her and then something caught my eye.

I grabbed a toothpick, some black food coloring and went to work.

Then I called Isabel saying "Isabel, get down here right now and clean up your mess!"

She came down....to this.








No, Mac! Nooooooooo!
Cause I am weird and random.  :)  This is how they were placed when I first noticed the mess she left (sans faces, of course.)

 Happy Wednesday everyone.


Monday, September 24, 2012

My Fairy Godperson Strikes Again

I have a Fairy Godperson who spoils me at least twice a year; birthday and Christmas every year.

FG got me my KitchenAid mixer after hearing me say that I drool over them in the stores but can't afford one.
 

FG got me my Nook Color  because FG saw me reading voraciously and laughed that I would take 5 books in my luggage with me to Panama.


Nook Pictures, Images and Photos

Then the next couple of birthdays/Christmases, FG got me several Barnes & Nobles gift cards to help stock my Nook up with books.

FG and I are part of a group that has this thing with hand lotion.  We are CONSTANTLY using it; we are some ashy people.  Others will come to me and grab some off me.  So FG went and imported some for Christmas last year from Great Britain.  Best. Things. Ever.

So it's my birthday.  FG is a world traveler.  We were discussing suitcases for some reason and I mentioned I thought those hard-sided ones were very cool.

BAM. Happy Birthday to Me!


HARTMANN


Hartmann's new PC4 line.   It has TSA-approved locks too, with a key system that TSA uses. It's carry-on sized and has a 10-year warranty.

I'll get to test-drive it in October on my next trip.  :)


Sunday, September 23, 2012

Happy Birthday To Me!

September 24!  My forty-something birthday!  

No, I did not make my own cake.   I even specifically asked for no cake at all.  I was caked out.  I made the pretty purple cake a little over a week ago for our anniversary and then my boss had his birthday.  His wife sent a cake in to work and then he sent it home with me.  Cake everywhere.  I said "NO" to cake.

I wanted either a pie or a cheesecake (I don't consider a cheesecake "cake" per se.)  I got a yummy cheesecake sampler similar to this one.

Cheesecake Sampler


We celebrated on Sunday the 23rd because my b-day lands on a Monday and David works nights.


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(Hey! Those are MY candles!)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

TEN


Happy 10th Anniversary, David.


Hears Pictures, Images and Photos







The 10th is the tin or aluminum anniversary.  How funny/bizarre is that?

Friday, September 14, 2012

Sci-Fi Hoedown: Dr. Who Season 3

Season 3 Dr Who Pictures, Images and Photos


Before Dr. Who Season 3, we had a small episode called "The Runaway Bride."  The Doctor has just lost Rose and is still very sad.  Suddenly, bride Donna Noble materializes in his Tardis and the game is afoot.  We're almost led to believe that Donna will be the next companion, but in the end, after they save the Earth (again), Donna heads back home and the Doctor heads back out into space.  We do hear of a certain "Mr. Saxon" who also steps in to rid the skies of spaceship full of aliens that the Dr. had banished.

Season 3: We meet Martha Jones, the Doctor's new companion, when Earth is transported to the moon.  I like "Marfa" much better that Rose.  She's intelligent (a medical doctor-in-training), confident and nice.  Her family's a hot mess, especially her mom, who I called "Eyebrows"  (they were badly drawn on.)

They meet Shakespeare at the Globe and save him from witches.   They get stuck in the longest traffic jam  EVER in the year 5 billion New York City (some of the characters were born in their vehicles and have traveled one mile in like 6 years!).

We had back to the 1930's depression  where the Daleks are being very naughty to humans (oink), as they try and finish building the Empire State Building.   Mr. Saxon's name pops up again in "The Lazarus Experiment" as the financial backer of a scientist who manipulates DNA to become younger.  That'll end well.  We see Martha's mom again, who I really don't like at this point.  She's suspicious of the Doctor to the point of paranoia and ends up helping someone (Mr. Saxon perhaps?) spy on the Doctor through phone calls with Martha.

Martha is forced to accept the fact that she has feelings for the Doctor when she sees him fall in love with a human woman, after he erased his own mind to protect himself from being found by a "family" of mercenaries after him for his body (they want to live longer, you see.)  

"Blink" was a well-written episode that gave me the goosebumps!  There was a lot of back & forth timey things happening that were really well done, and  the first appearance of The Weeping Angels!!  DON'T BLINK!  Awesome fun.  Probably my favorite of this season.

We see Captain Jack Harkness again (Rawr!) and hear about "The Master" for the first time in a loooong time; Dr. Who's arch-nemesis (-sees, -sis).  And guess what? He has another name too.  

Spoilers!

Anyway, I won't spoil any more.

Martha Jones decides to leave the Doctor at the end of the season to focus on her medical studies and taking care of her family and the ordeal they've all been through.  She was a fun companion but she knows she can't really "have" the doctor so she's smart enough to call it quits.

Season 3 was fun.  David Tennant is still amazing and so darned CUTE!




Sunday, September 9, 2012

BLR

There's a YouTube channel called BLR; Bad Lip Reading.  They do AMAZING things with music and movie videos and tv clips where they make up new music and lyrics and make things just..match.  It's awesome.  My favorites are Michael Buble's "Russian Unicorn" and Miley Cyrus' "Black Umbrella."

They recently released this one; not a music video, but check out the work the BLR team does.




"Duuuude! You slapped a fiiish.  You punched it."

And just for kicks, "Russian Unicorn" ("I Just Haven't Met You Yet" - by Michael Buble', who's seen the video and loves it.)  It's PG-13, though, so be warned if you have the kiddies nearby.



Friday, September 7, 2012

A Lesson in Stupidity

We are stupid, my husband and I.

We purchased a vehicle from a buy-here-pay-here lot that sold cars As-Is.  Remember that horrible day?  We should have known.  No really.  We should have Googled, for heaven's sake.  Did we?

Nope.  We are trusting.  We are stupid.  There are people out there who take advantage of trusting, honest people.

The car needs a new transmission, 2 weeks after we purchased it.   Because it's an "As Is" sale, we have no recourse.  None.  The Lemon Laws are for new cars.

The internet has TONS of stories just like ours, from this same lot!!  But we didn't do the legwork.  It's on us.  People needing new transmissions 2 days after, needing new radiators a week after.  Ex-employees saying that he tells the mechanics to just patch them up so they can drive off the lot.

We paid $3,000 cash for a used car that now needs a $1400+ transmission.

And I am so sick I. WANT. TO VOMIT.

I want to vomit because WE ARE STUPID.  I am tired of crying.

The man has the nerve to pass as a Christian.  Christian paraphernalia all over the place.  Made sure to mention that he drives the church van to go pick people up for Sunday service.

How dare you use God this way?

We had to cancel going to see David's grandmother over Labor day weekend out of state.  She had another small stroke.  We could not afford the gas nor David taking unpaid leave to go (no vacation time.)

We had to cancel our 10-year anniversary plans.  We're going to have to charge $1400 to get this car fixed, because an evil man sells crap cars and WE ARE STUPID.  I don't charge things.  Now I do.

That's what pisses me off the most.  I'm smarter than this.  I am smarter than THIS.

I just want to stop being so angry at myself.  I want to stop thinking about it and crying, and move forward already.

And I need a hug, dagnabit.



Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Feeding the 'gators

We decided to go play mini-golf on Saturday night before labor-day Monday.

FLORIDA IS TOO STINKIN HOT!

Seriously people, if you're coming to Disney, come in October-early November, or Mid-January to end of February.

We sweated like CHAMPS and we went after dinner, so close to 6 p.m.  The location we went to has live alligators up front.  I don't know why.  They're just babies, so eventually they go somewhere. 

Baby Gator

I'm paying and David asks "How much to feed the gators?"  Next thing I know, I am paying $3.99 for 6 pieces of cut-up hot dog and a weird fishing rod feeding thingy.


Feeding the Gator, Congo River mini-golf


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Very bizarre but the kids enjoyed it.


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Catching some shade!

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Books I Read; July and August

I'm behind on my lists, but let me tell ya, 2012 is a SLLLLOOOOW reading year for me.  Horrible.

Let's see July:

"Death Masks"  (Dresden Files series book 5) by Jim Butcher
"The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Real" (Yada Yada book 3) by Neta Jackson.
"Peaches" by Jodi Lynn Anderson
"The Wednesday Letters" by Jason F. Wright

And in August:

"The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough," (Yada Yada book 4) by Neta Jackson
"The Queen of Attolia," (The Queen's Thief book 2) by Megan Whalen Turner
"Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt," by Beth Hoffman
"Blood Rites,"   (Dresden Files series book 6) by Jim Butcher
"Spooky Little Girl," by Laurie Notaro


Still plugging along with both the sci-fi Wizard Harry Dresden's series and the Yada Yada prayer group series.  I read one from each series each month.

I picked up with book two of an OLD series I started and then forgot about, The Queen's Thief series.  I read book one back in  February of 2011 and then did not get book 2 through Paperback Swap until over a year and a half later.  Not many copies are circulating through the paperback swap system and I'd forgotten about the series.  Ms. Whalen Turner does great work.  My only complaint is that there are NO maps in her books.  She's created an entirely mythical universe with kingdoms and land masses, and includes NO maps.

Laurie Notaro is an old favorite.  She started writing witty personal stories and I read them back in 2007.  She then set out to write fiction work.  I read her first book, "There's a (Slight) Chance I might be Going to Hell" in 2007 and just now got around to her next book, "Spooky Little Girl."  I enjoy her sarcastic writing style.  This is a story about ghost school and finding your true self, in the afterlife.  Good fun.