When the cat is away the mice will play!

Or in my case, eat.

Mr X isn't a big fan of his veggies. He doesn't have too much of a problem with most of them so long as they are raw. But cook his veggies up and he will not touch them. (With the exception of corn and potatoes.) I, however, love my cooked veggies. Broccoli, spinach, edamame, zucchini, asparagus are at the top of my list, just to name a few. We normally rarely buy these things because I don't particularly like them uncooked (except spinach, that's fine as a salad). But when Mr X is gone, I run around steaming vegetables like a crazy woman.

Not that this is some big secret. Mr X knows all about it. I firmly believe that it actually helps him when he is away. Because when he calls and asks, "So what did you do tonight? What did you have for dinner?" Rather than make him feel like he really missed out on a delicious meal of roast beast and mashed potatoes/gravy perfectly finished off with a slice of incredible peach pie, I'm all, "Oh I had steamed asparagus and carrots with fried zucchini topped with loads of cheese." Then Mr X doesn't feel like he missed out that much because he's glad he had to eat out rather than be tortured with my cooked veggie smorgasbord.

Major Issues

Earlier this week one of my coworkers was freaking out because the name that came up (If you click on the start button of a windows machine, it's the name that shows up at the top) on all the computers he was logging into said "Major Issues". He assumed that something had gone wrong on the networking side of our rollout last weekend and that all the computers had been erroneously given that name. What a collossal mistake by our network people! They must be notified immediately!

Turns out it was a joke. Apparently since my coworker runs over to the networking people at the first sign of trouble and tells them, "We've got major issues people, major issues!" They decided to change his profile name to Major Issues. The look on his face when he discovered that the joke was on him was priceless. I was laughing so hard tears almost started pouring out of my eyes.

Welcome to the Middle Ages.

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago and I kid you not, the next day I got a varicose vein. Well, actually I just noticed it yesterday evening but I'm sure it wasn't there until I woke up 30. *sigh* Things are going downhill fast now people!

Anyway, this unsightly discovery got me thinking...Maybe getting old is similar to growing boobs. Everything is going along fine for years and then one day you wake up to discover that these 'things' have sprouted on your chest (I kid you not, it seems like it happens that quickly). And while you've been wondering when it would happen to you, nothing can prepare you for the trauma of it -Especially the horrible embarrassment you are about to experience as you leave the privacy of your own room in the morning and all 5 of your brothers and your painfully blunt parents will see your newly acquired bumps and they will be unable to stop themselves from pointing out the obvious to you. Oh the shame of it all!

Everything was going along just fine and then one day...boom! Crows feet.
The next? Ta-daa! Cellulite - here you go, a lifetime supply!
Then after that? Varicose veins with a side of spider veins.
Finally, lets top it all off with a healthy crop of graying hair and a saggy rump.
What does that all amount to? Middle aged Charlotte.

Don't look at me. I'm hideous.

Happy Birthday John!

I'm saying it anyway even though you don't read this. Ever. And probably never will. I'm going to post it in hopes that maybe someone who does read my blog might pass along my birthday well-wishing to you and then you'll be compelled to say to that person, "Oh yeah, my sister has a blog. Is it any good?"

To which that fabulous person will undoubtedly respond, "Absolutely, in fact it's one of the finest blogs I have ever read. In fact, she writes all sorts of crazy things about you on there. Like that one time when you and Gib got in a fight. And that other time when you and Gib got in a fight. Oh and that time when your sister got her first bra and you showed her a really slick way to get it on by putting your kid sister's training bra on yourself. Oh and that other time you and Gib got in a fight." (You'll say these things to him just to pique his interest because I haven't actually written about them. Yet - they might make good posts later on.) (Oh and if, after all that, he still doesn't seem intrigued enough, just tell him that there's even pictures of him back when he had braces and even hair on his head. - even though there aren't - That ought to do the trick.)

And then John will say, "Why don't you give me the address so I can check it out myself." And John will actually go home or to his office and go to my blog out of sheer curiosity because of all the things you said. Once he gets to my site and actually reads stuff, I'm fully confident that he'll be hooked. At least I hope so.

Do you think that will work?

Anyway, I hope you have the happiest of birthdays today, brother. And congratulations on the new baby.

Awww....Mr X reads my blog

Mr X informed me the other day that I had better blog while he's gone. He said he's sick of checking my blog and seeing "I've been tagged." still up at the top. He's so cute to check my blog regularly.

So I guess I had better get busy and start posting again...

I've been Tagged.

My friend over at The Mummy Chronicles has tagged me! Here goes...

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago? Living nearly carefree and going to college in Oregon.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today: Workout, spend some birthday money, eat some sauerkraut, fold laundry, smooch Mr X. (I have a lot of responsibilities you see...)

5 Snacks I enjoy: Cheese, chocolate, popcorn, fruit, raisins.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay off any debt, sock away a bunch in retirement accounts, buy a fabulous new car, buy a lovely home in nestled in the mountains, buy a lovely home on the beach somewhere, buy a lovely home in Europe, put away some money for future lipo/boob jobs/botox/'lifts', donate money to my church, help out my parents/family, go see the Egyptian pyramids, machu picchu, iguasu falls (sp?), the great wall of China, take an African safari, relax in an over-water bungalow in the south pacific. Do you think I might have overspent already?

Places I have lived: Gooding ID, Hillsboro OR, Cardiff-by-the-Sea CA, Encinitas CA, San Diego CA, McMinnville OR, Albuquerque NM.

Jobs I have had: Lifeguard, Swim teacher, Lifeguard Instructor, Computer Lab Monitor, Business System Analyst, Database Administrator, Implementation Consultant, Personal Trainer.

The 5 bloggers I am tagging? Mindy, Fireball, Show Me The Sale, Dewey Crew, Lisa

AZ weekend

I know I'm really late in giving you a recap of my AGM weekend back in May, but better late than never, right? Anyway, I'm happy to report that we had a wonderful time. Hanging out with Mr and Mrs T was a veritable hootenanny, as always.

When we arrived at the airport, Mr T was there ready to pick us up with his little T kids, T1 and T2. They were happy to see us:

The kids were so happy to see us, in fact, that T1 barfed up peanut butter banana sandwiches all over the back seat on the way home and T2 just wailed and grumped. I buried my face into my hoodie so the smell wouldn't induce a vomit-fit from me as well.

We went to this little old mining town in AZ called Jerome with the T family and had a great time. Here are some pictures from that excursion:

(By the way, these are those plaid shorts I bought a while back.)

(From left to right: Mrs T, Mr T, Me, T2)

We saw Iron Man in the theaters and that was a fun movie. (Much better than that crummy Indiana Jones junk that just came out.)

Most of the rest of the trip was spent at our hotel, lounging about by and/or in the lazy river. Well, I was usually in meetings while they hung out, but I got some time in there as well.

Colorado, Part 3

The last day in Colorado, Mr X and I stopped at an Alligator Farm on our way home. It was pretty bizarre to see. You drive through the middle of nowhere and suddenly you are at this man-made gator farm where they are raising hundreds of alligators. Apparently some of the them were even movie stars in their younger days like this one:

I forget what movies he was in, but I wasn't so much impressed with his acting abilities as I was with the sheer size of him. I think he was something like 600 pounds or so. (You don't quite get that from the picture, I know.)

Anyway, They take a picture of you when you walk in and they have you hold a little baby alligator. Mr X tried to get me to hold it and I was going to be all brave and stuff but once I got one hand on his tail I kind of freaked out. And then I promptly chickened out. (He was surprisingly warm and squishy - and that doesn't pair well with scaly in my mind.) So they handed the little guy to Mr X and said, "Just be careful to make sure his jaws are pointed away from you." Then they snapped this picture:
Here are the rest of the pictures from this adventure:

Apparently once or twice a year they actually have alligator wrangling days where regular guys can come try to sit on the gators and stuff. I have no idea why anyone would want to, but there were pictures up of this one guy that comes every year. One unfortunate year he had a slip up and ended up losing part of a finger. (Yes they show a picture of him holding his missing chunk of finger in his hand.) He quickly headed to the hospital and had it put back on but then came back to do some more gator wrangling. I guess the whole experience must be really fulfilling for him if he's that much of a die-hard about it. I just think he's crazy.