Tidbit

I was looking at my 'tags' for all of my posts and I saw that "Mr X" is tagged by far the most often: 80 times. Well that makes sense as he's my highest priority. What was very telling was the next highest category: FOOD - 51 tags. So I guess in my life Mr X is #1 and food is #2. No wonder I'm chunking right up these days.

Lathering Up

A couple of years ago, Mr X went to San Francisco for a business trip. Upon his return he presented me with three lovely and fragrant bars of soap he had purchased in Chinatown. Until then I had been exclusively a body wash kind of girl. I was tempted to forgo using the soaps because they were too lovely to use. But that would have led to the development of a collection of bars of soap and that just seems wasteful and silly. Plus Mr X wouldn't have been pleased if I never used his gift. So I began using them and I discovered I loved them.

Later, Mr X and I were lucky enough to be able to spend Thanksgiving 2007 in Paris, France. At one point during that trip we happened upon a boutique that sold handmade french milled soaps. I purchased a couple for myself and as gifts for others as well. In the picture below you can see my only remaining soap from that trip - the orange one.


For Christmas this past winter "Santa Claus" put a couple more bars of soap in my stocking. One of them is the large white one pictured above. The other one is in my shower. I've been using it for almost 5 months now and I'm sure there's at least 2 or 3 more months use left of it.

I prefer the bars of soap because:

1) They last much longer than body wash.
2) They are more 'natural' than body wash.
3) They create far less waste than the body wash - simple paper or plastic wrapping (or sometimes no wrapping at all) as opposed to a large plastic container...and since I go through the soaps less frequently than the body wash, it prevents even more plastic waste from being tossed in the rubbish.
4) I find the fancy soaps far more interesting than body wash.

***Note: I am now a bar soap snob and thus would never settle for a simple bar of Irish Spring or Ivory. I like my soaps hand made and special.

I realize I just did a whole post on SOAP but it was on my mind so I thought I'd share. Oh and plus I can post whatever I want to here because it's my blog. But I do apologize if this post bored you to tears.

Mockery

Ah…it’s been so long since I last posted. Luckily for me it won’t take long to update you on what’s been going on since I lead quite a boring life these days. The title of this blog is making a mockery of me, actually. Mr X reminded me yesterday that last year during this exact week we were frolicking on the beaches of Fuertaventura in the Canary Islands of Spain. We’ve been doing this to each other the last few months and it’s always depressing: I’ll say something like, “Do you realize that last year this same weekend we were Lucerne, Switzerland enjoying the gastronomically pleasing Cheese Festival?” A few weeks later Mr X will say, “Remember last year on Thanksgiving Day how we were in Paris and we had a Thanksgiving dinner of escargots and cheese fondue in the Latin Quarter?” “Remember last year this weekend we were in Austria snowboarding in the Alps?”….etc…

Oh well. So this year, this past weekend Mr X and I did some holiday shopping and bought/decorated our Christmas Tree. Mr X surfed several times. I made loads of sugar-laden treats of which I ate too much…that’s the trouble in making these delectable seasonal treats.

**PS – I will be posting some pics from our fun family-filled Thanksgiving weekend soon, I promise.**

It's NOT like riding a bike...

I'm sure you wouldn't mind seeing some pictures of our palatial pad right about now. Or maybe some photos of the lush greenery here (including the fig tree in my back yard). You'd probably like to see some pictures of the sparkling rolling ocean at the very least. The good news is that I have been diligently snapping all of these pictures for the sole purpose of giving good blog. The bad news is that I can't find the special cable that connects my camera to my computer anywhere. I'm really annoyed about it and I'm NOT going to go out and buy another because the second I do I'll come home to find that cord magically laying in the middle of our living room floor. Or something similar. So I will double my efforts to find that cord so I can put some pretty pictures up for all of those that want to live vicariously near the ocean through my blog.

I've gone surfing a few times since I got here and I have to say that I was surprised to learn that surfing is not like riding a bike. At all. I think I'm worse now than I was the first time I tried to learn. My balance is off, the sweet spot on my board is elusive and I'm completely illiterate when it comes to reading the waves. BUT...yesterday I finally caught a few waves and even clumsily rode them all the way in. And then I couldn't stop smiling.

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

You give good advice (and support)

Okay readers I think that I will take your fantastic advice and keep blogging. Sometimes my hectic work makes it difficult for me to find the time to blog and then I feel like a lazy slacker and then I get frustrated and think I should just stop. The other issue I struggle with is that I don't want my blog to be a source of negativity and sometimes, once again as a result of my work, I feel nothing but negative and all I want to do is vent by way of my blog but I don't want to spread around my angry frustration onto all of you. So here's what I'll do - I'll blog when I can (especially because I enjoy the interaction with my lovely readers) and if I'm feeling like I'm channeling Naomi Campbell's rage and negativity I'll just keep quiet. How does that sound?

Now I've got to catch up on some posts...

Notice of Intent to Retire

Hi readers. After much consideration I have decided to retire from the blogging business. This site will be available for a few more days but after that you will no longer be able to access it. Thanks for reading and for all of your comments!

So we're all nerds then?

So your responses to my post from yesterday prompted me to pose this question to you: If everybody has some sort of 'nerdy' tendencies, what are yours?

Aside from my obsession with counting and calculating everything, here are some of mine:

1) On occasion, I have been known to read and thoroughly enjoy science-fiction novels. (One of my all-time favorite books is "Ender's Game" *blush*) Mr X harasses me to no end on this one but he can't really talk because he loves to play video games. Oh and he has some sort of DRAGON-creature on his treasured snowboard. Very mythical and nerdy, no?

2) I love documentary movies. In fact, at our house we have "Documentary Sunday" every Sunday.

3) Along the same lines as #2, I love stations on TV like PBS and the History Channel. In fact, when we lived in CA, there was this UCSD science professor that regularly taught classes on the PBS station there and I LOVED it. Much to Mr X's disgust I would sit there entranced by his lectures on things like genetics and such. If Mr X had the remote for the television you can bet we'd have been watching Max X or something.

4) I am a database administrator and a developer for an accounting system. Judging by my coworkers, that's pretty high on the 'nerdy' scale.

Aside from those things, though, I'm pretty darn cool. (aha ha ha ha ha...oh please.)

(34x * 2y) ÷ 73^2 + (8xy -17)

Okay so this morning when I got out of bed, I didn't necessarily get out on the right side but I think I avoided the wrong side as well. I might have just slithered off the end of the bed instead. (If Mr X reads this he will probably give out a tentative sigh of relief and silently begin praying that my day at work goes well so that by the time I get home I will be the nice lady he married rather than the crazy mean lady he frequently has to endure.)


But anyway, on to my post for today:


I am obsessed with numbers. I count all day long. I count my calorie intake, my days off, my money, my gray hairs, the number of people on my bus every day, how many stairs I climb each day (thank you Mindy), even how many thumb tacks I have at my desk (31).

I believe it drives Mr X crazy because he can't even propose a simple question to me that I don't simplify to numbers. For example...

Mr X might say, "Charlotte, if you won a million dollars would you quit your job?"
Me: "Of course not! A million dollars isn't enough because first you have to consider that you're only going to get __ amount of that because we are in __ tax bracket and then if we paid __ off and put __ amount to this and put __ much in investments we'd really only be left with __ amount and that's makes it financially ridiculous to quit my job with that little money left."

Or Mr X might say, "So when we get our tax refund of __ back, that's extra money so we should do ____ or ____ (exciting fun things), don't you think?"
To which I might reply, "We can't do that because if you want to reach our goal of having ___ in savings/retirement and if you also want ___ and ___ (practical things) like we planned on then we really can't spend any of that on ___ or ___ (fun things)."

At night before bed I count our retirement savings in my head - I calculate, based on the rate at which we are saving now, how much money we will have saved 20 or 30 years from now as it accumulates with interest, in both a (predominantly) bear market scenario and a (predominantly)bull market scenario.

(The funny thing is that I hated all things mathematical during my formative years.)

Do you do this sort of thing?

Beware the angry beast

I'm in a foul mood today and I refuse to permeate my blog with silly negativity. So hopefully tomorrow I'll dazzle you with some witty repartee after I wake up on the 'right side of the bed.'

Boy Scouts

Mr X and I are involved in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. (Yes, I'm the proud owner of one of those yellow scout shirts. *blush*) I am the assistant Den Leader to the Bears and I have no idea what stage/group of boy scouts Mr X works with - I never remember. Anyway, I am the assistant because I am incapable of being reliable enough to be anything more than a mere assistant due to the unpredictability of my job in regards to overtime work. Mr X is frequently gone due to his work as well, but at least his schedule is far more ascertainable than mine, therefore he is slightly more reliable than me.

Anyway, my reason for bringing this up is that last night Mr X was at boy scouts and he was talking with one of the other leaders. This leader told Mr X that he goes to something like 15 meetings a month, on average, relating to the boy scouts program/activities. He also told Mr X that these days, if you want to take the boys on an activity that involved rock climbing or rappelling, as the leader, you must first get certified to do so. If you want to take them swimming, first you have to get certified. The prerequisites go on and on. In addition to the camp outs that the boys go on, the leaders go on 'leadership camp outs' as well. So it's no wonder these leaders have to go to 15 extra meeting-type-things a month just make sure they are doing the best for their boy scouts. I applaud them for their dedication, but at the same time, I can't help but feel for the spouses of these leaders because, from the sounds of it between their full-time jobs and scouting, they aren't home that much. According to this leader that Mr X was talking with, he hadn't been home since he left for work bright and early that morning and it was 8pm that night.

My question is, is this normal?

Growing up in a household full of boys, I remember my dad being home regularly and he was involved in scouting for many, many years (and still is, I believe). So are adults nowadays just busier and over-abundantly involved in activities which require them to be away from home? Or are these programs like Boy Scouts just growing more demanding? What are your thoughts?

I must be getting old

The other day I received a free sample of a cream that is meant to firm one's "décolletage". Does that mean they think I'm getting old and it's about high time I started using these types of products? I am wondering because I also received free samples of all sorts of things promising to "reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles" and cover up blemishes such as age spots. 10 years ago they wanted me to use concealer to cover up my unsightly pimples. I guess now they have decided that those pimples that used to grace my face have, by now, probably been replaced by age spots and the like. The joke is on them though because I can confidently assure them that I still need that concealer for my abundant yet youthful-looking pimples. And as for the décolletage firmer - well what's to firm when you never had much in the way of a décolletage in the first place? (We don't really need to discuss the masses of fine lines that have recently decided my face is some sort of Mecca at which they must all begin to gather.)

But they might actually be right - I think I am getting old:

1) I used to purchase such things as sparkly lip glosses and self-tanning creams. These days my priorities have shifted and I'm not nearly as concerned about the golden hue of my skin as I am about how many dimples are setting up camp on my thighs. And I certainly can't have that sparkly lip gloss oozing off my lips on into the fine lines gathering around my mouth.

2) I used to buy and wear (excruciatingly painful) fancy high-heeled shoes to work and out and about in general. Now I clomp around in shoes that look shockingly similar to my grandmother's orthopedic footwear while my beautiful shoes gather dust in my closet.

3) I used to stay up late watching trashy TV/movies and still get up bright an early for work. Not anymore - Now I'm usually in or on my way to bed by 9pm because the consequences of not getting enough sleep are that either I'm late to work or I simply can't function well when I'm there. And sadly, even on the weekends I fall asleep early (10ish) and wake up early (6-7) as well.

4) I used to be able to eat insane amounts of junk food all day long, then go to bed, wake up and have pizza for breakfast and my insides didn't flinch a bit. (As far as I could tell, that is.) Now if I eat that way I actually get physically ill.

5) I used to browse the internet and stores looking for my next exciting (and usually unnecessary) purchase. Now I browse articles on CNN Money about investing/insurance and daydream about my next fund purchase or how much longer I have until retirement.

Am I as boring as I sound? Please tell me you are this boring too - if you are there may be something in it for you...like maybe a sample sized décolletage firmer...

Bizarro Nicole

I know I keep talking about bus stuff - that's partially because I cannot divulge details of my work and nor will I because a few people from my work actually know about this blog. So that leaves my commute and my life outside of work to talk about here and since I'm not traveling or doing anything exciting right now - the bus is all I have. (So sorry about that!)

Anyway, back to my point... There is a new girl that has started riding my bus. She looks just like my SIL Nicole except she's got dark hair. So Nicole, you have an evil twin (or maybe you are the evil twin, I'm not sure) in Albuquerque NM. Lucky you. There's also a Bizarro Nicole that lives in Strasbourg, France. As of November of 06 she was working as a crepe maker in a little booth on the street. Since she was pretty bad at it I am hoping that she's moved on to something better suited to her skill set...or that she's vastly improved her mad crepe-making skilz. But she truly did look similar because both Mr X and I both had to do a double-take.

It may sound like I'm slightly obsessed with my SIL - I swear I'm not. I've seen some Bizaro Kevins, Bizarro Mr Ts, Bizarro Vickys and even a Bizarro Mindy before. Have you seen some of these people running around?

The Decline of Good Blog Content

Well I'm really doing a terrible job giving good blog this month. I guess I'm just going to have to get creative with my material because I don't want to dole out mundane work bits day after day - I mean am a developer (of sorts) of revenue software and I'm fully aware that when people hear that they think, "computers and accounting" and then their eyes glaze over and they have to slap themselves to stay awake. (Don't feel bad, sometimes it happens to me too.)

So I promise that I will get some good stuff up here asap. I guess it's just been a bit of a rough comeback into the 'real world'. In the meantime, ponder this:
If you had to choose between cheese and chocolate for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

(This is a serious question - your answer swill really tell me a lot about where your culinary priorities lie, and that is important! At least to me...)