Two Crazy Girls tagged me to come up with a soundtrack of my life.  And thank goodness too.  I’ve been in a slump and was convinced I would find something this weekend to write about.  But I didn’t.  Friday night I fell asleep at 7:30!!  Who does that???  Me apparently.  I woke up in time to watch the Psych premier at 11 and fell back asleep until 10 the next morning.  Good grief.

Instead of coming up with songs that define what I think my life is about, I came up with a list of songs that recall a specific time or event when I hear them.  They  suggested at least 7 and while the list could go on indefinitely here’s what I’ve got:

1.  Beat It - Michael Jackson

I think this is the first song I ever really remember listening to and liking.  Well this and Material Girl by Madonna.  If you were a kid/teenager when the Thriller album came out and now say you didn’t like it at the time, then you my friend are a liar.  Everyone loved it.

2.  The Right Stuff - New Kids on the Block

NKOTB was the first group I remember liking on my own without my older sister’s influence.  I believe I was in the 5th grade at the height of the hype.  I committed stupid facts about them to memory so well that 20 years later I can still spit them out (i.e. Joey’s birthday is Dec. 31st and they had a dog named Nikko that traveled with them.  Oh for crying out loud!)

3.  Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana

I’m thinking I was in the 9th grade when Kurt Cobain died.  Ninth grade is such a crazy time when everyone is so melodramatic and full of angst.  I hear this song and remember the time my neighbor across the street (we were in the same grade) and his band played for some girl’s birthday party in the neighborhood pavilion.  He wore a black dress with a white collar and only made it through this song before the police came because of a noise violation.

4.  One Sweet Day - Mariah Carrey/Boyz II Men

Holy crap there was not an hour that wouldn’t go by when you didn’t hear this song being played on the radio.  I think I was in the 11th grade at the time and when I hear this song now I think about the weekends and driving around with friends.  Then I turn the dial.

6.  Independent Women - Destiny’s Child

This was a mega hit for girls everywhere…or at least on the campus in Hawaii.  This song would be blasting from the dorms and cars driving by 24/7.  You could be walking across campus, hear this song, and watch as girls broke out in dance all over the place.  Rest assure I was not one of them however.

7.   It Wasn’t Me - Shaggy

The second year I was in Hawaii the boys came back with a vengeance thanks to this little diddy.  I can not tell you how sick I was of hearing guys say, “It wasn’t me” for EVERYTHING.  “So, how do you think you did on the test?”  “It wasn’t me!”  “What?” “So do you think you could help out this weekend?”  “It wasn’t me!” “Honestly, what is the matter with you?”‘

8-10.   Get the Party Started - Pink, Hey Baby - No Doubt, and Drowning - Back Street Boys

These songs make me think of Mexico.  When I was living there I came across one English radio station and I swear these were the only three songs in rotation.  And what’s worse is that one of my classes consisted of students 14 and 15 years old and the girls would get in arguments, actual arguments, with each other on which boy band was better, Back Street Boys or NSYNC.  As far as I know they never reached a conclusion.

11.   Yeah! - Usher

This song was HUGE when I came home from Guatemala.  While over there I hadn’t listened to music for a year and a half (well, other than throw back 80s songs they would play on the buses like Queen of Hearts by Juice Newton) and this was the first song to greet me on my arrival home.  It was such an overkill that I now hate this song.  Not long after I returned home Usher came out with another huge hit called My Boo.  Funny story about that.  Where I was in Guatemala we referred to diarrhea as “boo”.  I don’t know why but we did and so did some of the locals in the mountains.  Because majority of us were foreign there was a lot of talk about “boo”.  I’m sure Usher is not the first singer to refer to their significant other as boo but it had never caught my attention before.  The first time I heard this song, I did a double take at the radio not sure I heard the words right.  Surely he wasn’t saying what I thought he was.  After a couple more times of hearing the song I determined that indeed he was singing about his boo.  I was in hysteric fits of laughter every time the song came on and especially at the lines “how I try to hide my boo” and “what am I going to do without my boo?”.  Probably live a little more comfortably without it is my guess.  I still get a smile on my face when the song comes on.

I love having this blog.  I really do.  But there are some days/weeks when I have no motivation to write anything or even read anyone else’s stuff.  And then the guilt and self pressure step in as though my not writing will somehow devastate mankind and keep the earth from continuing it’s rotation in space.  I’m always on the lookout for something, anything that I can turn into a blog entry.  Work is a dead end at the moment as I’m having a hard time finding actual work to do let alone blog entry ideas.  I’ve been hitting our complex workout facility a little harder lately thinking something will come to mind as I’m running in place.  The only thing I managed to think was, “I wish I could find the dodo moron who was genius enough to break off the plug prong, from the ONLY fan, into the socket rendering it useless.”  Though I think I might have run long enough to burn off the yogurt I had for breakfast.  We’ll forget about lunch, dinner, and all the snacks in between.  How I lasted in track for 6 years is anybody’s guess.

So my mission this weekend is to find or come up with anything worth writing about.  Or anything to write about at all whether it’s worth it or not.  I’m not sure what that means I’ll have to do but by golly, I’m going to do it!  Well, maybe tomorrow.  Tonight I’m attempting to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and watching the premire of Psych - if I can stay awake.

That’s what I had going for me yesterday when I spoke in church.  Unless I know you pretty well, am on vacation, or writing this blog, I’m pretty quiet.  I wouldn’t say I’m shy necessarily…or maybe I would.  I prefer to sit back and take in a situation, including people, before joining in.  (*side note: just because someone is quiet does not, I repeat, does not mean they are stuck up, rude, or think they are better than you.  They’re probably feeling awkward, uncomfortable, and unsure if they would be welcomed in conversation*)

I’ve been going to this particular ward for over a year now can call about 20 people by name and only actually spoken to maybe 7 of those.  So imagine their surprise when I got up to the stand, without any notes or papers thank you very much, and was animated and *gasp!*…funny!    At least that’s the most popular comment of feedback I received afterwards.  Most went something like this, “You’re funny.  I had no idea…”  “You’re totally different than I thought….”  One guy even said, “I actually stayed awake today and paid attention…”  That’s the ultimate compliment because let’s be honest, church can be a snooze.  I felt a little like Sally Fields when she accepted her Oscar in ‘85 “…I can’t deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!”  Which might be a bit of a dramatization but it’s my blog and that’s what I’m sticking with.

I even surprised myself at one point by semi-pimping myself out to the guys.  After telling my oh so awesome stories, the ones that make me look like a complete idiot, I made a reference about how much fun I can bring to a party.  Then I pointed out to the audience and said, “Guys, (pointed back to myself with a look and a nod that said I know you can’t help wanting a piece of this because I’m so unbelievably cool) it’s area code…”  Naturally GP wasn’t there…Son of a B@%$#!

That was all yesterday.  Today I’m another employee number trying to make it through another corporate day of whatever it is that I do.  Cheers.

Five Husbands tagged me for Six Random Things.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your blog entry is up.

Six Random Things

1.  I think my stomach is made of steel because I can eat just about anything without getting sick.  I went to a vegan restaurant (sorry vegans but ew!) a couple of years ago and those I went with got uh, “sick”.  I was just fine.  I also used to eat from the street vendors in both Mexico and Guatemala and never got sick.  Here’s a bonus fact along the lines food.  I hate milk!!  Unless it’s chocolate milk or I’m eating a large piece of chocolate cake.  Aside from that I’m having gag reactions right now thinking about it.  Osteoporosis here I come.

2.  I hate when people whistle along with the radio.  A co-worker does this constantly.  If I wanted to listen to you I would turn the radio off.  But I didn’t so zip it.

3.  I LOVE to jump out and scare people!  At work I once climbed into a large box and waited while another co-worker went and got a third co-worker.  When they came to the back room I jumped out yelling and the face on the startled co-worker was priceless.  I jump out at my mom a lot too.  I can’t help it.

4.  My favorite pajamas when I was little had Orphan Annie on them.  They weren’t my favorite because of her but because they were white with red pinstripes on them and they looked like a baseball uniform.  I was obsessed with baseball and was convinced I was going to be the first woman to play in the Major League with all the guys.  This was about the same time the movie The Natural came out and I just knew it was my destiny to play.

5.  There are times when I can muster up the courage to kill spiders.  What I never have the courage to do is clean them up off the wall after I smoosh them.  I have this bizarre fear they are going to regenerate and crawl out from beneath the tissue.  And when they do they’re going to be pissed.  At me.  So there are a couple of spider remnants on my walls in my apartment.

6.  My hair is naturally curly and not straight.  I switch back and forth every once in a while so there are some people who only know me with straight hair and some that only know me with curly.  And apparently I also have red demon eyes.

I know I’m supposed to tag 6 people but I would rather just be surprised to see who will do it on their own.  Ahem… Jenn and Lance you’re 2 of those 6.

Many of you know that I went to Santa Monica to visit my sister for the 4th this year.  It was tons of fun and the only part that sucked was when I had to leave and go back to work.  So without further adieu here are the pics that make up my weekend:

Sprinkes got the party started with their yummy dose of pure sugar.  I’m actually not sure there was any cupcake involved or if it was just a giant blob of frosting.

That night we went down to the Santa Monica Pier and rode on the Ferris Wheel.  Before this ride I would have told you that I’m not really afraid of heights.  And I still don’t think I am really - as long as I’m strapped in with some sort of bar or belt.  I was not.  We were sitting in an open gondola that swung with every slight movement.  Not so much my favorite!

The next morning we went to the beach.  Walking down there was no big deal.  The weather was perfect and there weren’t a lot of people where we decided to go.  Walking back, however, was terrible and I was prepared to live the remainder of my days on the beach.

If I thought trying to get across the sand was hard, then I was ill prepared for this:

BEAST is an understatement.

That night we headed for the LA Galaxy game.  I know nothing about soccer but it didn’t matter - it was a blast!

Now I can say I’ve had my picture taken with Beckham…one of those white dots on the field is him.  No really…it is…I promise.

On Saturday we decided to do something totally different and visit a ghost town.  In my mind, I imagined it being spooky with stories of how at night you can still see the residents walking around.  Turned out it was just an old abandoned gold mining town.  It was still a lot of fun and I’m glad we went there rather than Knott’s Berry Farm where we were considering going.

So thanks PammyGirl for the adventures this past weekend.  Until next time….

Yes it’s still Nandango here but I had to change the background to the blog.  The old one was starting to give me a headache…and I’m SUPER bored here at work today.  I’ll probably end up changing the pic on the header as well, maybe with a pic from LA from this weekend.  Can’t wait to see what sort of antics PammyGirl and I get into this holiday weekend.  One can only imagine….

Yesterday at church I was asked to speak in our sacrament meeting (the main meeting) in a couple of weeks.  I’ve spoken in church countless times and even though it’s been a few years since the last time, it’s not that big of a deal.  Probably because I don’t really mind public speaking.  I have what I’m going to say ready to go in my head and plan on getting up there and basically winging it for my 17 min.  To be truthful I’m more worried about going over the allotted time because I have no doubt I could fill the entire hour myself so I’ll have to watch that.  But in the meantime I thought I would share a couple of the stories that I’m going to tell when I get up there.  In the real talk I’ll tie it all up in a nice little spiritual bow but I’ll leave all that out for now.

A few years ago I was home in Arkansas living mooching off my mom while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do and where I wanted to live.  During this time my oldest sister and her family came down for a visit.  My sister wanted to can peaches and make applesauce while she was there so she and my mom went out one day and picked all the fruit.  I guess the plan was to make a little bit every night after my mom got off work but my sister decided to surprise my  mom and can all the peaches herself during the day.  It was the end of the day and I went into the kitchen to see about making dinner.  When I walked in my sister’s head came up from the other end of the island/counter and she said, “Oh good.  I thought you were mom.”    Not a good sign.  As I continued walking into the kitchen I asked her what she was doing but before she could answer and glob of peach fell from the ceiling onto the floor.  I shifted my eyes upward and noticed that the ceiling was covered.  And so were the walls.  Matter of fact, peaches and the gel were dripping off the plants, faucet, blinds, and whatever else was in the mile radius of the stove.  Glass covered the floor.  It was pretty obvious that a few of the jars had literally exploded in the kitchen and now my sister was in a frantic state to get it cleaned up before she came home.  So I helped and we got it cleaned up before my mom came home (haha ya right.  We were finding crusted peach gel for the next month!)

So, we’re sitting around eating dinner when my mom looked out the window and made the comment that she would like the tree along the driveway cut down.  It had grown bigger than the others and had become in the way.  My sister says that instead paying someone to come and do, she and I would cut it down the next day.  Uh, what??  I’m pretty sure that’s not what I wanted to do but the next day I found myself outside standing next to the tree ready to cut it down.  But here’s the thing, we didn’t know what we’re doing and we didn’t have a chainsaw (which in hindsight was probably a good thing).  Oh no, we had two little hand held saws that I’m sure are older than I am and I couldn’t believe the teeth were even sharp.  I kept thinking, “gee could she not find a butter knife inside because I’m pretty sure we would get the same result.”  I asked Paul Bunyan what the plan was and she said she was thinking we would saw the branches off as high up as we could before cutting down the tree.  Since I’m not a lumberjack this sounds perfectly fine to me.  Well we started sawing and believe me, we looked like idiots!  Did I mention that it was July and we’re in Arkansas??

The neighbor saw us out there and came over to offer some help but I guess thinking that it wouldn’t take long, we declined his offer.  Hours later we’re still out there and are no closer to cutting down the tree than we were before we started.  So I decide to add what I’ll refer to as a genius contribution…eye roll please…and climb up on the step ladder.  I cut the branch about 2/3rds or so and jumped off the ladder onto the branch and hang on it, sort of bouncing up and down.  The idea was that the branch would snap and fall to the ground and thus making the sawing portion faster.  It didn’t really work out that well.  But naturally the neighbor came out again as I’m hanging on this branch and offered his help again.  This time mentioning that he had access to a chainsaw.  We accepted.  And to think, it only cost us our dignity.

A couple of days later my sister and her family have left and it’s just my mom and me again in the house.  I come in from the garage one day telling her that the garage wreaks from all that apples that were still sitting out there.  That’s right - they never made the applesauce.  I tell my mom that if she tells me how to make it then I can get it done while she’s at work because after all, how hard could it really be?  She gives me the reader’s digest version and I get started.  Surprisingly, it was easy and there were no exploding jars.  Take that Luara Ingles!  I get everything cleaned up and the last thing I have to do is take out the trash.  The trash consisted of all the apple peels and a lot of the excess applesauce that didn’t make through the “good side” of the grinder.  The bag was pretty heavy because I stupidly collected the entire days worth in one large hefty bag.  As I went to lift it, the top stretches and not wanting it to rip in the kitchen, I think about double bagging it.  I say think about it because I don’t actually follow through with this thought.  Instead I twist the top differently and lift it.  Viola, no more stretching!  So out I went heading for the end of the driveway waddling with this bag.  I realized when I got to the garbage can that I had no clue as to how I was supposed to actually lift the bag inside seeing as how 6 inches was as high as I was able to lift it.

I decided to swing it like a pendulum to get the momentum for the lift.  The first time I try I was unsuccessful and only managed to hit the side of the can.  So the second time I gave everything I had left.  Right at the pinnacle, climatic moment I found that the bag had become remarkably light.  Yep, as you could have predicted, the bag had ripped open and I was now covered in hot, sticky applesauce residue.  For a moment I just stood there still clutching the bag in the air while a few final drips made their way to the ground.  So one of the first thoughts I had, not THE first thought as you can imagine, was “I really hope none of the neighbors just saw this because after the whole tree fiasco, well, I just hope they didn’t see this!”  As I looked around I only saw one man out walking his dog.  He’s far enough down the street that he didn’t see exactly what happened but he was gaining ground and is about to.  I high tailed it into the garage and grabed some yard bags.  To this day I do not know why I didn’t just stay hidden until he passed but I didn’t.  I got down on my hands and knees sloshing this stuff into the bags hoping to clean it up before he gets there.  I don’t.  Next thing I know this man had stopped and was asking, with a smirk, if I was ok and needed any help.  I tried to play it cool which has yet to work for me, and say something like, “Hmm?  Oh this?  No, I’m good.  Just you know, taking out the trash.”  Because after all, I always dump trash on myself when I’m taking it out.  Did I mention that the dog was licking my leg?  I could not have been more uncool if I had wanted to be.  The man started laughing and walked away and I’m left to clean up the rest, muttering under my breath “hefty bags..my eye!”  Too bad my camera wasn’t handy!

Lastnight I was over at the park near my house, as I am almost every night, and it occured to me that it was my heaven.  So let me paint the picture for you seeing as how I did not follow my own advice about having my camera with me at all times.  In my heaven it would be sunset all day.  That perfect time in the evening when there’s still enough light to do whatever but not so much that you swerve off the rode when you turn your car west.  It’s in the upper 70s maybe even low 80s but feels cooler than that because there is a slight breeze blowing.  And heaven is a gargantuous park with soft green grass (with no chiggers!) to lay in possibly taking a nap, wide sidewalks, flowers/trees, and maybe even a pond.  In heaven I wear my shorts and groddy work out shirt because it’s unbelievably comfortable, switch between flip flops and sneakers that I don’t lace up, and pile my hair in a high, loose ponytail on my head.  And I never run out of Otter Pop Flavor Ice Popsicles or Jr. Mints.  All the orange and blue Otter Pops have already been removed and discarded from the box because those flavors are barfy and taste like cold medication. And I eat as many of the others as I want at one time,  I usually have 3-5 at one sitting.  There’s a never ending supply of good books everywhere and my Ipod battery never needs to be charged.  AAHHH, heaven!

This past weekend my sister Pammy Girl stopped by for a couple of days on her way to a friend’s wedding.  Honestly, I wish she could have stayed longer than a couple of days but I had fun with the time we did spend hanging out.  The “big activity” was to get our hair done.  Now, I’m not really one for fussing with my hair all that much.  I rarely go somewhere to have it fixed, prefering to just make do with my own mad hair skills - which aren’t all that good but whatever, it ends up piled on my head anyway.  For years my sister has been going to the same hair dresser singing his praises and since her hair always looks awsome I decided to take her up on her invite and schedule an appointment.  Even though he was dying to cut my hair I held my ground.  I’m trying to grow it out after all.  What he did do to my hair was a nice higlighted color weave.  I haven’t had my hair this light since I dumped Sun In on it when I was high school.  Ladies, remember Sun In?  Yeah, unfortunately I do to!  So here are some pics of the process and end result:

 I have before and after pics of both of us but she may be posting them on her blog.  Pammy Girl it was a blast and wish you could have stayed longer!

Yesterday I blogged about my car fiasco (see entry below) and I’d like to add a little to the story.  Yesterday a co-worker was nice enough to have his wife come and pick us up and take me home (I’m still waiting to hear back from the mechanic and thus, still do not have my car).  As we make our way off my exit I suddenly remember something very important - the mechanic has my keys a.k.a. MY HOUSE KEY!!!  Oh for crying out loud!  Not wanting to impose on my co-worker and his wife anymore than I feel I had already, I said nothing.  We get to my apartment and I thank them, get out and head to the steps ready to make myself comfortable because I had a two hour wait until my roommate would get home from work.  The whole thing was incredibly funny and there was really nothing I could do but laugh at the situation.  Good thing I like to be outside in the sun and good thing I had my book with me.  So this entire experience has taught me that there are 6 things to remember to have at all times:

1.  Cell phone - I can’t believe my parents had to practically MAKE me get one because now it feels awkward to not have it with me.  However in my defense, I was living outside the country for a year and a half without any sort of technology and had left before cell phones became all the rage.

2.  Books - In almost any emergency situation you will find yourself waiting for something or someone.  Books make the time pass very quickly!

3.  Camera - My phone has one but it’s crappy so it doesn’t count.  I did not have a camera on me when my car died but really wish I would have.  You never know when you’ll see something or want to document something for a blog entry!!

4.  Keys - Car and house!  In my case I really could have used that house key.  My roommate and I were talking about putting a spare one somewhere outside just in case.  Of course, this conversation would have been helpful at an earlier time.

5.  Sense of humor - Honestly, if you can’t find something about your situation a little funny than you have a much bigger problem.   Even if it means “looking back” and laughing, that’s better than never finding it humorous.

6.  Money - In any form preferably cash/debit/credit card.  You just never know.

I know there are more things that in all seriousness you should have in your car at all times but these are the things that either helped me or I wish I would have had at the time.