Just a Quick Update from Six Hours Away

I'm still here (kinda.) I've had a busy coupla days and the next few WILL be even more intense. I'm currently at the other end of the state, in Huntsville (Hunts-vegas) and exhausted from driving so many hours. Yet, not really ready to sleep.

I think LOML* may be a little upset. Just as I got into Huntsville, I realized I had left a crucial item at home. Since my mom is coming up tomorrow, I asked him to drive it to her house - 45 minutes away. He graciously agreed to do it for me after asking, "Do you REALLY need it?" I assured him it was necessary, and he made the trip for me. I feel really bad.

I ALSO feel really bad for not posting much. Since I'm so tired and really need to crawl under the sheets ASAP, I'm simply and quickly going to share with you some links and stuff that amused me.

• 
• elvish name generator
  
• hobbit name generator
  
• Make your own Picasso-like art with picassohead
  
• Phone Sex operators for real
  

Time to go, even if I don't sleep, I have almost 700 blogs to sort through in my feed- reader. Sigh! So much to do!

*LOML=LOve of My Life

Just Doin' What They Did

Alright, so a ton of the bloggers I read have done this so I thought I would conform a bit and do it too.
Here's what you do
Go to Flickr.com and search for the answers to the questions following this paragraph. Then pick one pic from the first page of results and enter the URLs into the Flickr Mosaic Maker!

1. What is your first name? Aileen
2. What is your favorite food? Cheese
3. What high school did you go to? Murphy
4. What is your favorite color? Aqua Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Orlando Bloom
6. Favorite drink? Coffee
7. Dream vacation? Hawaii
8. Favorite dessert? Tiramasu
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Happy
10. What do you love most in life? My husband
11. One Word to describe you. Unpredictable
12. Your flickr name. CraftyHope

1. Aileen: Deep Blue, 2. "I, Piórko, like Cheese!", 3. Mother Murphy's, 4. Floating in paradise, 5. Orlando prend la pose, 6. coffee & the city, 7. Tunnels Beach, Kauai, 8. tiramasu, 9. one with the sea, 10. End Of The Day, 11. Hot or cold?, 12. Starter embroidery and sleepy kitty

So pretty!!

While the Cat's Away. . .

I want to post a quick FYI for all my devoted readers, the three or four of you.
Posting over the next two weeks may be sparse and sporadic.
I'm getting ready to go out of town next week (Grand Assembly for those of you in the know) and have quite a bit to do before then (again, those of you "in the know" will understand what that entails.)
I've got to pack, gather, label, clean, iron, shop, and memorize all this week and will be gone most of next week.
Fortunately, the hotel does has wireless and I may be able to blog some while in Huntsville. However, I tend to stay so busy during GA that sleeping may be what I do in my "spare" time.

I hope you understand. Thanks!

Week In Review

This is just a quick post to share with you my week in review mosaic from Flickr. This is for the week of June 9-14.


1. Sunday - beach umbrella, 2. wednesday - Homemade pizza, 3. Friday - Storm's a comin, 4. wednesday - Coffee, 5. Tuesday - Aloe plant, 6. Tuesday - oranges, 7. Mondy - empty beer close up, 8. Tuesday - Lunch, 9. Monday - back to the mess at work, 10. Sunday - beach view, 11. Sunday - with nieces, 12. Saturday - Rose at Lodge, 13. Sunday - beach blanket

I hope you all had a great week last week and a wonderful weekend.

Blah, Blah, Blah (and FGF)

Mwahahaha - It's Friday the 13th!! Isn't that like Halloween in the middle of the year or something?

I can't believe the week's almost over and I haven't gotten ANY crafting done and my exercising has dropped off some. Gah - disgusted with myself, yet the excuses are running rampant through my head: at least I've cooked dinner almost every night, I've kept the sink empty, I've washed clothes (towels), I've blogged fairly consistently, Aunt Flo was visiting, I've made the bed, I've comforted my stressed-out husband, etc. etc. etc.

Maybe I can make up for the lack of crafting tonight. Yet, I was planning on going to the thrift store this evening. That may have to wait for tomorrow. It all depends on LOML*. Since he's had a stress filled week, I don't know what he'll want to do this evening to celebrate the end of the week. That is, if he actually gets done working at a reasonable time this evening. (He worked until 1:30 AM last night, so we'll see.)

Since it is Friday the 13th and I've been a bad girl this week - I guess it is time for some "Feel Good Friday" goodness. Enjoy!

• Play with this kaliedescope maker.
  
• QUOTE - "I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and isn't of much value. Life hasn’t revealed its beauty to them." Boris Pasternak (Russian Writer)
• Healthiest Ice creams and frozen desserts (YAY!!)
  

I hope you get some goals accomplished this weekend. I hope to also. Have fun!

Decision to Make (and WWWW)

UGH! Went to mom's house last night to help with nieces. Stayed out too long. She sent me home with so much stuff, I didn't even bother getting it out of the car until this morning. I've got LOML*'s birthday present (it was in May) and my birthday present (it's not until October) as well as a few photo albums and some food. My present was some great new luggage that I will need in a few weeks when I go out of town. Mama decided it was on sale and I needed it 4 1/2 months early - no biggie. I do like it though.

Yesterday, I was invited to join The Food Confessional blog. It's basically a food diary to record food intake and thus help limit what you put in your mouth. I'm interested in accepting the invitation, but also quite intimidated by recording exactly what I eat on a daily basis for ALL to read. Recording calories and measuring foods seems overwhelming and bigger of a step than I am ready to take at this time. Besides, shouldn't weight loss be a personal thing. Being held accountable for my caloric intake would be helpful, but it seems like too much right now. As you can tell, I'm torn about whether to take the plunge or not. What do you think?

It is amazing the things people will publish on the internets. That's why there's "Wild Wild Web Wednesday." (that was an AWFUL transition, sorry!!)

• Check out the customizable "Do hit chair" (with sledgehammer.) Here's a video of it getting customized.
  
• Do you know your arse from your elbow? I got 11/14.
  
• spray paint art -
  
• 2-sided PB jar
• Patching walls in Italy with legos (of all things) -

That's all for now. I've got some thinking and weight losing to do. Hmmm.

Let's Call it "Stuff" To Do (and Techie Tuesday)

Can you guess what resulted in this? Bet you can't.
An awesome party? - Nope
Me and the hubby playing beer pong in our underwear? - NOPE!

This is the result of LOML* and I getting started on our to do list. We are affectionately calling it our "$HIT TO DO" list. How sweet!
And, no - drinking a bunch of beer was not on the list. Disposing of a bunch of beer, however, was.

Let me start by saying that after dinner we made up our VERY LONG LIST. It encompasses every room in the house, the sun porch, the garage, outside the house, one vehicle, and the RV. Some of the tasks are as specific as washing the futon cover on the sun porch and charging the Jeep's battery to as vague as cleaning out the garage and getting a new bedroom suite. In all, there are 93 tasks to be completed. We plan on adding more as we think of them. Yay! LOML* would like to complete one item on the list each DAY. (We'll see how that goes.) As we 'finished' making the list last night, he asked, "What can we get done tonight?" The first quick-and-easy item I found on the list was "empty beer on the sun porch."
An easy explanation for why we have a bunch of beer on our sun porch? After going to parties or the beach, we tend to just put the old beer out there (to dispose of at a later time.) This is what our beer pile looked like just after we started These are all the empty containers. Success! Yay!
Let me clarify that we do not usually consume Bud Light and neither one of us can recall why we have almost a case of it on porch. I do not think that I was involved in that purchase.
We are happy that we've started on this list. That in itself feels like a weight off our shoulders.

Anways- It's "Techie Tuesday" and after getting SO MUCH done yesterday, I'm gonna make it easy on myself and just share a few links:

• 50 most powerful blogs

• vintage atari quiz from mental floss

Now, go get something done on your to-do list!!

*LOML=Love of My Life

Follow-up From Last Night and MMSM

MAN! I'm more sun burned than I thought I would be. Oh well! Can't do anything about it now except have LOML* rub aloe over the burned areas ;) That's not gonna be so bad.

If you checked out the pictures from yesterday, you may have noticed that I didn't put any captions. All you really need to know is that LOML* is the one windsurfing and the two little people are two of my nieces. LOML kept bringing the windsurfer in and letting the girls climb around on the board. They really liked that. In fact, the youngest (age 5), saw him coming in once and hollered, "Hey, bring your SHIP over here so I can climb on it!!" LOML thought that was pretty funny. Of course, this is the same child who loves pirates (and has for the past 3 years or so.) Any pirate - Capt. Jack Sparrow, Captain Hook from Peter Pan, Hook from Hook, and any other pirate she can find. She's been a pirate for the past two Halloweens as well. The two of them (girls, not pirates) fell asleep on the ride home. Miss Pirate herself was mid-sentence when her head finally fell. Her 8-year-old sister (Her Royal Highness) was already OUT!! My mom also really enjoyed herself at the beach and thanked me for inviting them over and playing with the girls so she could read her book and relax. It was a great way to spend a Sunday - in the sun!

Oh well - Now it's "Made Me Smile Monday"

• Watch as this Korean drummer steals the show (from College Humor).
  See more funny videos at CollegeHumor
  No wonder there are so many drummer jokes.
• Scuba Scooby Doo is one lucky dog.
  
• I wonder what's going on here.
• Check out these best songs from geek movie soundtracks.
  
• QUOTE - "Always do sober what you said you'd so drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." Ernest Hemingway.
  

I hope you're having a very happy Monday. Later!!

Worthy Weekend

It's Sunday night, and I recognize that I don't usually blog on the weekends. This is the time I tend to try to devote to the many other things I need to get done in my life. However, I've had quite a productive and fulfilling weekend. As such, I feel the need cram just a little more into it. Yes, I tend to over-indulge.First, let me say that the phone did not completely survive. When I tried to call my mom this morning, I couldn't hear myself and my grandmother could barely hear me. So, it's not in perfect condition - but it still works. In all, I think it's destined for the trash. Usually I would donate, but I'd hate to send a broken phone to the charity shop. Does that make sense? Any ideas of what I can do with a mostly working and completely clean phone?
My weekend has been fun and full. I've had some great food, good drinks, and some of the best company I could ask for. I spent the whole weekend with LOML*, which is a rarity as I tend to often have other obligations. We hung out with both his and my family (at different times) and some friends of ours. We got to spend time by the water all three days (Friday night included,) and I've got a bit of a burn going on - no complaints, everyone looks better with a little color.LOML* and I also got some things taken care of around the house, I was able to work out on the Wii Fit all three days, I got some crafting done, and we talked about making a list of priorities of other things to get done for the house. I LOVE lists. We haven't made the list, but he's completely okay with it. Yay!!It being Sunday, and the beginning of a new week, it feels right to sum up the previous week. Last week, I joined a Flickr group called The Week In Review. Here's my contribution for the group for this past week. I'm gonna try to post a collage here whenever I also post one there. I didn't have many pictures from this past week so my contribution is not as nearly impressive as the other group members, but I'll work on improving.
All the other pictures for this post were taken today at the beach near my house. We had a great time!! We all wore ourselves out and I guess I should start heading toward the bed pretty soon. I hate ending the weekend! At least it's on a good note. Here's hoping for a wonderful week ahead.

*LOML=Love of My Life

Phone it In

Apparently, my LBS (Lazy Blogger Syndrome) has been acting up more than usual lately. I'm still trying to get some tasks taken care of and LOML* just got back in town yesterday.

It's "Feel Good Friday," and today I have a little story for ya. You should feel so good about yourself after reading this, because at least you didn't do it!Before I had to go get LOML* from the airport, I wanted to clean up a little so the house would be nice(er) for him. He woke me with a phone call yesterday to let me know he was at the airport in San Diego. From there, I got up and started to clean the kitchen before stripping the bed and washing the linens. When the wash cycle was done, I started transferring the wet linens from the washer. As I reached the bottom of the barrel, I heard something hard hitting the sides. It turned out to be the cordless phone I had answered only a few hours earlier. It had gone through the ENTIRE wash cycle in the washing machine. This is only something I could do, seriously. I took the back off the phone, unhooked the battery, and shook as much water out of the thing as I could. I left it on the counter to dry as I rehearsed how I was going to tell LOML*. However, the more I thought about it, the funnier it became. Fortunately, he laughed when I broke it to him. Later last night, I plugged the battery back in to find that it still worked. After a little charging, it even had a dial tone. We couldn't believe it. I'm not sure of the model, but it's an AT&T phone. Apparently, it can take a licking, washing, and turn through the spin cycle and keep on ticking. One thing we know for sure - it's REALLY clean now!

Yeah, I can be a big ditz sometimes. At least we bought a really good phone that could withstand a Hope-incident. Sigh.

*LOML=Love of My Life

Long (and Probably Boring) Excuse, The End Is Good Though

**Fingers inserted in ears** La, La, La - I can't hear you complain that I missed another Monday. It was a really rough day for me. LOML*'s flight left at 6am from Pensacola. That meant he had to be at the airport at 5am, we had to leave by 4am, and we had to get up at 3:30am. I threatened to stay up all night rather than go to bed at 8:30pm. I was actually in the bed before him, but didn't fall asleep until about 11pm.
I got up alright, made it there and back, and tried to rest some. Instead, my wheels were turning about some things I need to take care of within the next few days-weeks. I worked on some of that then went shopping for some of these items. I had NO LUCK with the shopping excursion in the 95 degree weather and got home around 4pm, where I found a package on the doorstep. It held Sublime Stitching and Doodle Stitching. I maniacally tore open that package and plopped on the couch, flipping through these two really great books. Eventually, my body gave in and I dozed off for about 4 hours. Once I was conscious again, I spent the rest of the evening watching some chick flicks and testing out my embroidery skillZ. I tried to go to sleep by FINALLY watching Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightly. Yeah, I didn't blink for the whole movie. Now I remember why I LOVE THAT BOOK. In the end, I tossed and turned until about 3am before finally finding rest.
So, in conclusion, that's why I didn't blog yesterday.

However, I plan on making it up right now. Let's skip Techie Tuesday and re-do Made Me Smile Monday (esp since I've missed a few of these.)

• This commercial is a bit sexist and about tools (NOT the fun kind), but so worth watching it if you see it through to the end.
  
• president chest bump.
  
• Girl gets even with construction workers.
  
• Sarcasma - medicine to treat sarcasm.
  
• Lastly - my favorite joke (a bit long, but you will be in tears!)

A new priest at his first mass was so nervous he could hardly speak.
After mass he asked the monsignor how he had done.
The monsignor replied, 'When I am worried about getting nervous on the pulpit, I put a glass of vodka next to the water glass. If I start to get nervous, I take a sip.'
So next Sunday he took the monsignor's advice.
At the beginning of the sermon, he got nervous and took a drink.
He proceeded to talk up a storm.
Upon his return to his office after the mass, he found the following note on the door:
1) Sip the vodka, don't gulp.
2) There are 10 commandments, not 12.
3) There are 12 disciples, not 10.
4) Jesus was consecrated, not constipated.
5) Jacob wagered his donkey, he did not bet his ass.
6) We do not refer to Jesus Christ as the late J.C.
7) The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are not referred to as Big Daddy, Junior, and the spook.
8) David slew Goliath; he did not kick the shit out of him.
9) When David was hit by a rock and was knocked off his donkey, don't say he was stoned off his ass.
10)We do not refer to the cross as the 'Big T.'
11)When Jesus broke the bread at the last supper he said, 'Take this and eat it for it is my body.' He did not say 'Eat me'.
12)The Virgin Mary is not called 'Mary with the Cherry'.
13)The recommended grace before a meal is not: Rub-A-Dub-Dub thanks for the grub, Yeah God.
14)Next Sunday there will be a taffy pulling contest at St. Peter's not a peter pulling contest at St. Taffy's.

I hope you liked that as much as I do.
By the way - I'm really looking forward to this evening as I get to go see the Sex in The City movie. I sooooooo can't wait!!

*LOML=Love of My Life