More fluffy peppermint goodness.

I have been seeing commercials for those darn Dark Chocolate and Mint Three Musketeers bars for, like, 3 months now. And I had yet to see one in a store so I could buy it and eat it.

But! Today, my darling sister handed me one. And I ate a dark chocolate and mint 3 Musketeers bar.

And I liked it.

I also think that the weather that I drove home in was partially new--I drove in a combination of high winds, fog, and heavy rain. All at the same time. I don't think I've ever had all 3 things plague the road at once. And I hope I never do again! Yuck.

Rolling right along!

Today was a bizarre day. I worked the history job in the morning for a few hours (until I realized I was not needed whatsoever). Then I went home to wrap presents for a couple hours before heading over to the funeral home.

There was a biiiig service there tonight--one with lots of overflow, people parking in weird places, people standing everywhere--it was crazy. And yet, there wasn't a lot that I did that was brand new to me until the verrrry end of the night.

That's when I moved a casket (open, with the person inside). We had to move her from the chapel to a holding area after her service was over. It was a very interesting new experience! It was much easier than I thought it would be, though I can't say I didn't have visions of something happening and it falling over or getting scraped or something. But it allll worked out just fine!

(Oh, and when I got home, I played Super Mario Galaxy! Hooray!)

It's all in the details.

When I got to the funeral home tonight, there wasn't much to do, and there were still 2 hours to go before the visitation was scheduled to start. I didn't really do any big new things, but I still had some brand new experiences.

First, I got my very own funeral home name tag with "Funeral Home Assistant" printed under my name. So that's pretty cool.

Second, I worked a visitation with absolutely no funeral directors still in the funeral home. It was just us part-timers. Innnteresting.

Third, I checked all of the perimeter doors to the funeral home by myself for the closing process.

Lastly, I took down flower cards and cleaned up the room immediately after a visitation.

A pretty calm night, but there's always something new to do!

Big Mac tutorial?

Today was an outstandingly slow day at work. It's the last day the library is open for the semester, and not only is nobody really coming in today, but there's nothing to do. And I mean NOTHING. So, in an effort to actually earn my paycheck, I went back to the (one and only) Mac computer and started playing around with some of the programs and stuff so I can help to create tutorials for all of the poor, sad, non-Mac-experienced people who may want to use this fantastic and marvelous machine in the future.

After looking through a few things, I settled on one program and I created a tutorial on how to use a slide scanner on the Macintosh. It almost pains me to do such a thing, as the Mac is SO straightforward and easy to use, but people are so used to using crappy PCs that they assume things are going to be hard to use, so I have to complicate things by putting them into words to tell them how EASY it is to use.

Just like this entry, you see.

It's a marshmallow world in the winter.

I went all day at work today without doing anything new, and I was a little worried as I was driving home that I would not find anything new to do once I got home, either! But, alas, Trader Joe's came through for me once again.

I stopped there to grab a couple things for dinner and, on my way up to the register, they had out samples of a couple of holiday-type foods. Very excited, I took advantage of these samples and I ate a peppermint marshmallow. Holy goodness, it was fantastic. It would make really good smores if you used chocolate graham crackers. Just FYI. I didn't buy any (who needs a carton of peppermint marshmallows when you live alone and your boyfriend doesn't really like peppermint?), but they sure were good.

Fine place for a party!

'Tis the season and everything, and tonight was no exception. For today's festivities, I went to a party in a funeral home. Granted, it was an employee Christmas party, so it's not like I crashed one or someone had a death party or anything--but I figured it must be a pretty unique thing when the 6th or 7th person said "Wait, the Christmas party is IN the funeral home?" There's a reception hall there, it's not like we drank wine in the viewing rooms or anything. ;)

A (pot)lucky day!

Today, we had our Christmas potluck lunch here at the graduate center. While attending a potluck lunch is no new thing, it was my first potluck at the graduate center.

But what was really new was that I made a cornucopia salad for the lunch! While I have had this salad a few times with my family, I've never attempted to make it on my own. If I do say so myself, it turned out to be QUITE excellent!

Thanks go to Paula Deen for her recipe. ;)

Eggnog and chandeliers.

Today was an odd day. I had to do the history thing and the funeral home thing today, and I started everything off with a trip to Borders, where I bought a sooper sekrit present and tried a Border's cafe eggnog latte. It was okay - the Starbucks ones are better!

Then I went to the funeral home and helped clean a chandelier with Theresa. It was a lot of taking things apart, dipping them in cleaner, wiping them off, reassembling them, and putting them back up. It looked fantastic when we were done!

Oh, I also got a Christmas bonus (from the funeral home) today. I have never, in all my jobs, gotten a Christmas bonus before. This is very exciting!

Bam?

I brought a typical lunch to work today--some chicken and potatoes. But I hadn't really seasoned either one, so I was rooting around in the food cabinet at work for something to add.

Then...

BAM! I used Emeril's Bayou Blast seasoning on my food and OH MY GOD it was so good. YUMZ0RZ.

That silly Santa Claus.

He's still getting ready to come to town! I could technically talk about what I did today that was new, as it's not for someone who reads this blog, but it's partially related to something else I couldn't talk about before, so rather than clutter up this space with even more vague references, I'll just come back and tell you after Christmas. :-)

I Fillmore complete now.

I decided that, for a truly well-rounded education in presidential history, I should listen to old campaign songs. So I listened to some JFK songs, a George Washington song, even a McKinley assassination song. Well, obviously this was nothing new to me. I needed to expand my knowledge.

So today, I listened to a song about Millard Fillmore.

Here are the touching lyrics to "The Union Wagon":

There's right and wrong in parties,
And the right is on our side;
So mount the Fillmore wagon,
And through the nation ride!

The Union is our wagon,
The people are its springs;
And every true A-mer-i-can,
For Millard Fillmore sings!

Wait for the wagon,
The Millard Fillmore wagon;
Wait for the wagon,
And we'll all take a ride!

Our wagon is a noble one,
'Twas made in seventy-six;
'Twas driven by George Wash-ing-ton,
Through stormy pol-i-tics!

Palmetto, cypress, cottonwood,
in spokes and wheels you'll find;
Western oak and Eastern pine,
and Northern ash com-bined!

Wait for the wagon,
The Millard Fillmore wagon;
Wait for the wagon,
And we'll all take a ride!

Thank you, President Fillmore, for providing me with a new thing to do and with such a fun campaign song. I sing for you, Millard Fillmore. I sing for you.

Polishing my skills.

It seems to me that I bring an extra sense of peace to the funeral home, as every shift I've worked has been relatively slow (or so I've been told).

This morning, there were no services, no viewings, no death certificates to be signed or filed... nothing. So, in a fit of boredom and desperation to look busy, I grabbed a can of Pledge and a dustcloth and I dusted and polished pews in the chapel. It was kind of relaxing, save for the feeling of being watched by the nice lady laying out in her casket. (Yes, her eyes were shut, but she and I were the only people in the room. I think she would have approved of my dusting skills, though. I hope so, anyway.)

I also went to Home Depot with a co-worker and I purchased chandelier cleaner. This is not the kind of thing I have ever had the use for (nor do I think I will ever have the use for it outside of the funeral home, but I guess you never know--I could get rich and famous and have a crystal chandelier in my foyer one day).

So, even when there is absolutely nothing to do, there's something new to do at the funeral home, I guess!

Flowers, they are a-changin'.

Another episode of "Morning at the Funeral Home" starring: ME!

Today I worked at the funeral home from 8:30-1. And I:

* Worked a veteran's funeral service
* Exchanged jokes with a Methodist preacher
* Changed flowers in the chapel from one service to another
* Read the employee handbook
* Changed a light bulb in a chandelier

We'll see what tomorrow morning brings!

Wishy washy.

I usually do not purchase suits, because they usually need something ridiculous like dry cleaning, and I usually do not have the time, money, or patience to deal with that crap.

Alas, I had to purchase a suit for use at the funeral home, and I made SURE to purchase a fully machine-washable one.

So, tonight? I washed a 3-piece suit in the washing machine and dried it in the dryer. And (1) It was free to do. (2) It did not come back to me smelling like a mixture of chemicals and smoke. (3) It came out smelling like my intoxicating laundry scent. (For those of you who have not yet discovered just how good your laundry can smell, I use Tide Simple Pleasures Lavender & Vanilla detergent and Snuggle Blue Sparkle dryer sheets. The combination is out of this world and lasts forever, and I don't normally like lavender!)

And the suit did not shrink and it did not ruin anything and it looks and fits just right. Hooray!

Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming.

Ah, another day at the funeral home. I think I must be some kind of curse or something, because every time I work it seems to be a VERY slow day! I'm not complaining--I certainly enjoy being able to take time to get used to procedures without being thrown into things--but it's also hard to learn how to do things when I don't get to do much!

Nevertheless, I ended up doing the following new things today. First, I vacuumed the entire front hallway, from office to chapel. That hallway is huge. This took me almost an hour. Keep in mind that this hallway is only about 1/6 of all of the carpet in the funeral home. Then, I helped to set up flowers around a casket for an upcoming service. That was actually kind of interesting--it made me feel like I was somehow doing something for this person that had died, mainly because they were right there, open casket, etc. Hard to explain, but an interesting job. I also helped load mementos and flowers from an earlier service into the family's car.

Then came the scariest thing of all--I answered the phone about 4 different times! Luckily for me, I didn't get a death call, but every time that phone rang and I knew I had to answer it, I panicked! I also worked the door for a service (which wasn't new) and took home another batch of flowers (also not new). I'll be there 4 more times before Christmas, so we'll see what happens next!

Windshields and other adventures.

So today was one of those days where I knew I would be doing one new thing, but other (smaller) things happened to pop up, as well!

Today, I drove to Alexandria and I got my windshield replaced. That was... really boring. But! While I was there, I also read (most of) a book written by Jimmy Carter. So that was fun.

On the way home (only in the DC area can a 10.5 mile trip take 45 minutes each way), I stopped at Harris Teeter (oh, how I miss this beautiful grocery store) and bought a tiramisu cup for the boy's birthday. Then I went home, wrapped presents, and did all kinds of other secret stuff that I can't write about until after Christmas. :)

While I was doing this secret stuff, I ate some Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints. Why, oh why, do the very best treats only have to come out at Christmas?! These things are amazing.

Then, while Alex and I were shooting zombies, we were awarded the highest grade (an S) for completing a level we'd gone through many times before. This, for those of you who do not play video games, is very, very exciting. :-)

I finally cracked.

Okay... *I* didn't crack. It was my windshield. It had split back in May and I didn't do anything about it because I didn't feel like shelling out the money for a replacement, and the crack was already too big to repair.

Well, I guess it was the snow and ice and overall freezing temperatures we had this week, but the crack finally spread and had almost reached the edges of the windshield. *Sigh*

So, today, I called auto repair shops and got estimates on replacing a windshield.

This did not make me happy. I found out that the cheapest was only $10 less than my deductible and the most expensive was TWICE my deductible, and I had offers for about every price in between. I made an appointment for tomorrow morning to have it replaced, but I am very very sad. I guess it will be good to have a fully intact windshield... and I'm just waiting for the class-action lawsuit to begin, since many, many, MANY drivers of my car seem to have had the same problem!

Fiche and chips.

So, in all of my years working at the library in college and researching for/working with various historical institutions in the past, I have used many a microfilm machine. Twisting through page after page of old newspapers, focusing and re-focusing, cursing the people who photographed the paper so beautifully, save for the one page with MY article on it that somehow wouldn't focus for anything.

Anyhow!

Microfilm was really the extent of my minature-photographed-documents-viewed-on-a-gigantic-machine experience. Today, in my very own library, I loaded and viewed microfiche. Now, let me tell you something--I dislike this stuff even more than microfilm. I can see where people think it's helpful, having tons of pages on one small, flat piece of... fiche... but... no. The pictures are SOOOO tiny, that even the slightest nudge sends you 103 pages away from where you wanted to be. If you sneeze, it's all over.

Do not want.

Greetings and salutations.

This morning, I worked another shift at the funeral home--I think it will be a new thing when I work a shift at the funeral home and don't do something new! Anyway, today I:

* Worked the door by myself, greeting visitors and directing them to the appropriate rooms
* Worked two services at the same time and
* Worked my first traditional American service
* Had a conversation with a Catholic priest about something completely unrelated to religion

It was pretty interesting to see the American funeral--there were about 20-25 family members there, and the priest was just about the nicest, neatest man I've ever met. He was so nice and I heard more laughter coming out of the viewing room than anything else! Had I been working a full shift today, I would have been able to help prepare a body for transportation on a plane--but I imagine my day will come for that soon enough.

Oh, I also e-mailed a school of mortuary science to request information about their degree program. Hmmm....

Going at it alone!

So, Alex and I have been playing a co-op game on the Wii for a couple weeks (Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles). All of our game play has been strictly co-op and we've gone through every level together. We thought we had beat all of the 2-player levels and were just wasting time improving our scores. Well, upon closer examination, we found that there were MORE levels to unlock, but the only way to do so was to play the secret levels alone.

So, today I played through 6 secret levels by myself and unlocked new levels in the game. This may not sound exciting to anyone else, but I thought it was great fun and feel quite a sense of accomplishment that I did it by myself! Yay me!

Santa Claus is STILL Coming to Town...

Therefore yet again, I am afraid I must be vague, as the Christmas surprises continue.

A clean sweep...?

Ahh, another day at the funeral home. It was a VERY slow day today, but we did have a service this morning. After the service was over, I vacuumed the viewing room. Also, I took down tables full of Buddhist funereal ritual items (incense bowls, candles, offerings, etc.). Then I moved flower displays from the viewing area to the holding area for a family to pick up later. I also went into the cemetery office to meet the staff there. And, at the end of the day, I took home some beautiful flowers that a family had left behind for us to dispose of.

I watched a few things today that I will probably be doing myself one of these days, but I don't want to list them as new things since I didn't actually do them myself.

I really like this job--it's absolutely fascinating. It's the first job I've ever had that I cannot wait to get to and where I just wish and wish I had the ability to go back to school to make it a career. Yes, I know I just finished my Master's, but this just seems like such fascinating and rewarding work.

Glued to the... computer?

For quite a while, I've been hearing about the wonders of being able to watch TV shows online.

"Why?" I've always asked. Why in the world would you want to wait for the show to load or deal with the choppiness that can come with streaming video, all to watch it on a smaller screen? I mean, yeah, I guess if you miss a show and need to catch up, it's cool, but to choose to watch TV that way?

Anyway, all whining aside, I had a very nice experience this evening as I watched a full one-hour television show online. (Incase anyone wonders, I watched an episode of Frontline that went behind the scenes at a funeral home since I had heard such good things about the episode.)

It wasn't so bad, but I think that PBS has an exceptional media player, not to mention it broke the episode into 6 manageable chapters. I wouldn't call myself a convert just yet, but I might not resist it so much in the future! :)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

Which is precisely why I cannot tell you all what my new thing for today was. This is because a loyal reader of mine would have a Christmas surprise ruined if I posted about what I did. Just know that I have made a note to come back after December 25th and post about it! :-)

The gingerbread latte substitute...

... except not?

A few weeks ago, I spotted all kinds of egg nog goodness in the store: Pumpkin spice nog, sugar cookie egg nog, and (best of all) gingerbread egg nog. I was so excited, as eggnog and gingerbread lattes are my favorite holiday treats, and now I could combine the two!

So, last night, I drank a glass of gingerbread egg nog. It was... good, I guess. But not egg noggy enough and not thick enough. Oh, sad day. I'll certainly finish off the carton over the next week or so, but it wasn't what I was expecting!

Oh, well. Not all new things can be great things, right?

Orange you excited for me?

Who knew I'd get to start a blog title with "Orange" twice in a month? Exciting stuff.

Anyway, for months I have had my eye on the enV phone by LG. This is because this is the only cell phone I have ever seen that is orange. Anyone who knows me knows that I must have as many orange things as I can. So this was the next logical step!

Sadly, the phone was too stinking expensive, even with my $100 "New every 2" discount applied... until this weekend! I saw it was on sale and was able to order it FOR FREEEEEE!!! Sooo, so, so exciting.

Anyway, so today the nice FedEx man (or woman, I didn't see) dropped off my phone, and I eagerly charged it so I could use it! So here are the new things that came from this purchase:

(1) I deactivated an old cell phone without taking it to the store.
(2) I activated my new cell phone without taking it to the store.
(3) I sent a text message from my phone using a little keyboard with actual letters.
(4) I now own an orange cell phone.

That has indeed been the excitement of the day for me! Now I am playing around on a website to get real (truly) free ringtones so I can give everyone a new song. Yay for not paying $2.99 per ringtone! :-)

They say you can't take it with you...

But I say: Oh yes, you can!!

I did 2 kind of silly (but still new) things today.

First of all, I took leftovers from Ohio and ate them at work in Virginia. This was all made possible by my food carrier that can be plugged into the car charger and will keep food and drink either warm or cold. So that was exciting. I've never been able to eat my mom's pepper steak anywhere that wasn't Ohio.

Secondly, I went through a drive-through at a Starbucks. I've SEEN them before, but never had the opportunity to actually utilize this (all-too-rare) feature. It may sound a little lazy of me, but I appreciated not having to actively turn down any of the food or other treats that I'm tempted by as I stand in line inside. Oh, and in keeping with the "let's try iced holiday drinks" train of thought, I ordered an iced pumpkin spice latte. It was okay, but I'd really just rather have the pumpkin spice frappucino if I feel like I need cold pumpkin spice.

The WVU Un-Marching Band?

Today was a very bizarre day in that it was absolutely NOTHING like I had planned or expected it to be, except that it did involve about 6 hours of driving!

My sister had planned a visit to West Virginia University to see the campus, visit some friends, and go to a marching band performance. My parents were supposed to take her, and I was supposed to head back to VA, but they ended up needing to go be with my grandparents instead. So I did some quick thinking and schedule rearranging and offered to take her so she wouldn't miss out on her plans.

So I guess the first new thing was that I drove to Morgantown, West Virginia. Then I went to the campus of West Virginia University.

But the biggest new thing for me was that I attended a marching band performance... INDOORS. My sister's high school does this crazy thing, and I'd never heard of it before--a marching band performance in an auditorium? WTFBBQ? Now, I marched in high school and have attended countless marching band performances--both college and high school--and have never heard of performances inside. It sounded like a deafening alternative to an enjoyable experience!

Well, it kind of was (deafening), but it was also enjoyable. Their drum line was excellent, and so were their twirlers. I say "twirlers" because one of them was a boy and he was actually outstanding! Anyway, it was a cool experience to hear a 300-piece marching band playing inside (though I would have also liked to hear them on the field to have a comparison).

And that was my crazy, unplanned day. :)

Iced gingerbread?

I've certainly had my share of iced gingerbread cookies in the past. But I'd never thought to modify my VERY FAVORITE holiday treat--the Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks.

Srsly.

I love my gingerbread lattes. I have traditions that involve them, one being that I can never ever EVER have one before Thanksgiving Eve each year. I love them so very much, but they must only be consumed after the Christmas season has officially kicked in.

But sometimes a hot drink is boring in that I feel like I have to sip it and that I have to take a really long time to drink it all. I've tried some of my other favorite drinks iced and have had mixed feelings about them.

Nevertheless, I took a chance and I drank an iced gingerbread latte. Oh my goodness, it was so good. I still got the whipped cream on top and mixed it all in and it was delicious.

I won't give up my hot gingerbread lattes for the iced--December is usually cold enough to warrant the hot drinks--but it was a good alternative!

Oui, Wii!

This may not sound terribly exciting or new to anyone else in the world, but I did something today that I have been trying to do for almost a full year:

I knocked down all 91 pins in one throw of the ball in the final bowling training round on the Wii.

I have been trying to do this for a very long time. My stinker of a father (who, by the way, has never enjoyed or begged to play video games of any kind until I brought home the Wii last Christmas) managed to do it on his FIRST TRY on the training round last year. And we were all very mad at him. He also knocked down all 91 pins twice this time around before I did.

ANYHOW! I wish I'd had my camera to capture this feat, but one never knows when one is going to do amazing, astounding, unbelievable things.

I also watched my sister cut down a Christmas tree today--alas, I cut down my own tree when I lived in Raleigh, so that was not an option for a new thing for me today. But it was fun watching her try to saw through the trunk. :)

Another light day!

Today was another one of those days where I did a couple new things--nothing exciting or drastic, but still new!

This morning, I ate banana oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes. My favorite cookies are my grandma's banana nugget cookies, and my dad found a way to make pancakes that are very similar. (I would have added brown sugar, tbh, but one does not complain when someone else is buying and cooking and serving you the food!)

Then, this afternoon, I played a tennis match on my Wii with two people. I've had two controllers for a while, but the boy and I haven't played the sports game with both controllers, so I'd never done a tennis match against an actual person and not the computer. So that was fun!

Oh, and I also played the hit the target golf training mode on the Wii - the only mode I hadn't unlocked yet but that my dad so graciously volunteered to unlock for me!

Most of the day was spent at the antique mall, where I couldn't do much of anything different. Dancing around the aisles singing oldies and trying on scary hats were NOT new experiences, as much as I'd have liked them to be!

Give a girl a knife...

And she'll carve a turkey. Or at least a slice of a turkey.

In all my years watching my family cook Thanksgiving dinner, I've helped out only a little here and there--assembling a salad or dessert, setting the table, taste testing the potatoes, important stuff like that.

Well, this year I decided I should have a more important role in the festivities, so I volunteered to carve the turkey. (I was very enthusiastic about this.) Well, the darn thing sure was hard to slice into any kind of manageable portion, so I carved one slice of turkey, happily handed the carving tools back to my dad and went about my very important task of finding festive apple-shaped bowls for the jello salad that I wasn't eating anyway.

(Pictures coming soon.)

Oh, and then I used a Christmas decoration as a mask.

(Those pictures are also coming later.)

DO NOT WANT TEH GUSHYFUDS ANYMOAR.

I decided that today's new thing would be something totally random. I drove home to Ohio for Thanksgiving, and while I had some ideas for new things on the drive home, I didn't feel like carrying them out. So, in a fit of desperation, I ran into the kitchen while my parents were prepping for tomorrow's big dinner. I spotted an open, half-used can of pumpkin on the counter.

"Hey!" I said. "I totally tried and liked pumpkin pie the other day, maybe I can try and like a bite of straight pumpkin!" Everyone in the kitchen ("everyone" being mom and dad) tried to tell me not to do it, that it might undo anything that the good pumpkin experience had done, but did I listen? No. I had to do something new, and pumpkin it was. Besides, pumpkin is a squash and I looooovvvvveeee squash. Right?

I gleefully spooned out a mouthful...

And then I ate it. I ate a bite of straight, plain, unmodified pumpkin right out of the can.

It took a swig of Dr. Pepper, a partial bottle of Redpop and some chocolate to get the taste out.

(Pictures coming soon.)

This little light of mine...

So I got this jar candle about a year ago from a random online gift exchange. It is abnormal for me to burn a non-brand-name candle, as I'd say about 95% of my candles are higher quality (Yankee, Illuminations, etc.).

Anyway, I have absolutely fallen in love with this scent. It is called "Drifting Leaves" and just smells amazing.

Well, even though I am burning it correctly (burning it 1 hour for each inch across it is, etc.) it is still tunneling--meaning the candle is burning down the middle without burning to the edge and down, leaving lots of wonderful unused candle. I knew I must remedy this situation because I have no idea where this candle came from or if I will ever be able to get another one!

So today, I readjusted the wax memory in my jar candle. This is something that I learned to do (by reading and hearing about it only) when I worked at Illuminations, but never had the opportunity to practice, as those candles were very high quality and we burned them properly.

So. It seems to be working - the wax from the outer edges is melting with everything else and I think I can salvage the whole thing. If worse comes to worst, I guess I can always get a candle warmer and melt it from the bottom, but there's so much extra comfort in the flickering flame that I hope I've saved this one! :-)

Moooooooving right along.

I was trying to come up with something today that was fun. It all started when I said to my co-worker that my new thing today should be dressing up like a Pilgrim and singing Thanksgiving carols to everyone who came in the library. But then I realized I left all my Pilgrim clothes in the 1600's, so that was no good.

Then I thought, "Hey, I bet I can at least find a printable Pilgrim hat and I can print it and glue it and wear it." But then I decided I didn't want to do that either. And I realized I'd probably made a Pilgrim hat out of construction paper in, like, kindergarten, and didn't want to run the risk of inadvertently doing something I'd already done before.

So, in my quest to find something online that I could print and put together, I ended up at this website, and I printed, folded, and pieced together a whole cow family. They're pretty cool if you ask me. Now I'm going to attempt to put together the barn and silo so the cows have a place to live. And, if I fail miserably at that, I'll just give the whole family to Alex and he can take care of them.

Edit: I just made the barn and silo (and outhouse, btw, not that cows should have any reason whatsoever to have an outhouse, but okay), but they are FAR too small for my cows. So I guess I'll just place the buildings wayyyy in the background and the cows can pretend it's their house really far away. Yeah.

A little of this, a little of that.

So today was one of those days where I didn't really do anything amazing or super unique, but I did a few things that involved stepping outside the norm, so I'll lump them all together in one post since they all WERE new things I'd never done before!

First of all, I started a written list of gifts I've already purchased for Christmas. As odd as it may sound, I have never ever done that before. I've made lists of things I need to purchase, but never lists of things I've already purchased. (Which is why I think I way over-buy every year!)

Then, tonight, I took a boss out for a birthday dinner. Now, I've been out for birthday dinners before, but never one that involved me purchasing a birthday dinner for a boss. So that was a new experience. We went to The Melting Pot, which wasn't a new thing, but I did try a couple new things while I was there. Besides trying a new salad and a new chocolate, I actually breaded, cooked, and ate an entire piece of shrimp. (Still do not like teh shrimpeefudz.)

So, some fairly insignificant things but new nonetheless. Hopefully I can come up with something interesting for tomorrow!

O hai, I can haz teh gushyfuds plz?

Srlsy. True story. I dislike pie. Vehemently. Sure, I'll eat chocolate pie, pudding pie and even banana pie... but pie made from cooked fruits? Or a gourd? WTF are you even trying to feed me?!

Anyway, due to my overwhelming dislike for cooked fruit and other things with suspiciously mushy textures, this girl doesn't do the traditional All-American pies. Apple Pie? Gross. Peach cobbler? wtf. Pumpkin Pie? Are you kidding me? One bite once a year is enough to remind me that I. Do. Not. Like. Teh. Gushyfuds.

Well.

Today, this nice girl who works here came in and was like "OMGBBQ thar iz free pumpkyn pye 4 u lyke srsly 4 reel." And I knew that my expected reaction was supposed to be "No wai, srsly? NOM NOM NOM." So I went down the hall to investigate. Lo and behold, there are lunch leftovers and... like 3 pumpkin pies. She was looking at me with this "omg yay I just mayde ur dai" look that made me believe I HAD to put a piece on a plate and take it back to the desk, just so she wouldn't cry. So I did.

And, after eating the delicious lunch, I figured it was time for my annual bite of pumpkin pie so that I could reassure myself and everyone who knows me that I don't like it.

But something happened today. I liked it. And... for the first time in my LIFE... I ate an entire piece of pumpkin pie.


The world may very well be nearing its end, my friends. Srsly.

Hummus a song, please.

So, in all my years of college and potlucks and buffets, I've never tried hummus. At least, not on purpose and not that I can remember. It may have been in something I tried, but if it was I have no recollection. I never paid any attention to what hummus was made out of, all I knew is that it was the vegetarian alternative to... something. I really don't know what. Either way, it's always been in my head that hummus is "ew, gross, vegetarian food" somewhat similar to tofu (which I HAVE had and DO hate).

So anyway. I was at Trader Joe's this morning (which inspired future new things for me, which you will see as I get to them) and I saw horseradish-flavored hummus. I was already buying carrots and pretzel crisps, so I figured why the heck not.

So, today I bought and ate hummus. It... wasn't so bad. I think it would have tasted better had I mixed it in with the spinach dip I'd originally bought for my pretzels and veggies, but it really wasn't bad.

That said, I'm not ready to start eating hummus sandwiches or whatever it is that people do with hummus! But maybe next time I won't pass it over when it's on the buffet table!

Orange you glad I don't have endless money?

So, tonight I was shopping around online for Christmas presents and I did something I've always wanted to do: Spent $5,000 at Target.

Okay, so I didn't actually spend it. I just pretended to spend it.

The twist? Every single item in my cart was orange. (My favorite color!)

So. Today, I put $5,000 worth of orange household items in a shopping cart.



After the day when my new thing is "Win the lottery," maybe I'll go back and actually purchase them all. :-)

Every day above ground is a good one.

So, today was Day 2 at the funeral home. And, boy, did I do a LOT of new things.

I attended my first funeral home staff meeting.

Then, I directed traffic for a funeral service.

After that, I went to the post office to pick up a flag for a veteran's funeral.

When that was done, I took a death certificate to a doctor's office to be signed. Then I filed the death certificate with the county board of health and got copies made for the family.

Oh... also... I went into the embalming room today and saw a man being embalmed and a man having an autopsy done.

So many new things today...! I imagine there will be a new thing every time I go there. It's going to be a fascinating job.

Like... can't I count these millions of new things and save them for days when I don't feel like doing anything new? *Sigh* I know that's not the point, but it seems like I should get bonus points for the whole embalming room thing. Right?

New job, new experiences.

Well, I know that this will be the first of MANY new things that will be associated with my new part-time job.

As many of you know, I have been interested in funereal history and funeral homes for quite a while. Well, a couple weeks ago I interviewed for a part-time job at a local funeral home and started tonight. The job is going to involve a very wide range of activities, from working at funerals and visitations to vacuuming floors to getting death certificates signed.

So I worked a 4-hour shift tonight and that alone was new - I worked at a funeral home.

Second new thing? I went into a selection room--the room where they have all the display caskets and urns and other memorial items. Very interesting--almost like a museum.

Third new thing? I saw a dead body not in a casket. A family came in and I'm not sure of the situation, but I guess they needed to see the body before it was embalmed and put in a casket, and I happened to be getting a tour of the back hallway when they wheeled the body through. I thought it was covered at first, but the head wasn't. It wasn't scary or creepy or gross, just odd. Mainly because I wasn't expecting it--had I been better prepared, it probably wouldn't have surprised me as much.

Anyway, I could go on and on and make most everything in those 4 hours a new thing, because it was! But there are many more new experiences to have, starting tomorrow when I get to work my first funeral service!

So, talk about a mind-opening, stepping way outside of my comfort zone thing to do--but I think this will be good for me! So we'll see what happens.

11:30 Mexican Fruit Juice Run, Anyone?

So, just as I predicted in my very first post, I figured one of my "new" things would take place late at night on a day will very little inspiration and might very well involve some kind of Mexican fruit juice.

I was right!

Tonight, I drank purple corn juice. Srsly.


"Cicha Limeña Purple Corn Drink." Made with "Water, sugar cane, Purple corn extract, Pineapple, Lemon, Cinnamon, and Cloves." I don't know what purple corn extract IS. But the drink was like... I don't even know. Something about it reminded me of my childhood, but I have NO idea why. It was weird. I think it's because it was purple that I expected it to taste like grapes? Anyway.

I actually also drank another new thing - something DELICIOUS that I will likely continue to drink. I drank Cucumber flavored water (by Hint). It was actually delicious and refreshing and something I would love to continue drinking!

So that was my adventure today. It's all about stepping out and trying new things, no matter how small! Even buying and drinking a new beverage is forcing myself out of my rut, little by little. :)

E-Thay Irst-Fay Olen-Stay Idea-Hay

So this is my first "stolen" idea from Jen's blog. I'm going to try not to do this too often, because I want to do lots of MY things, but when I read this, I had decided to copy the idea before I even copied the idea of doing new things. (Confused yet?)

Anyway, I wrote Alex a love note in Pig Latin. That was hard! Most of my Pig Latin knowledge comes from Baby-Sitters Club books, when the Pike kids would talk in it a lot, so I admittedly had to look up a couple things for a memory refresher. But it was kind of fun!

Maybe this is a translation week or something--what can I translate tomorrow?

O hai, I can haz Bibul plz?

Anyone who knows me knows that I think that LOL Cats are quite possibly the funniest genre of things on the internet (and maybe even in real life, too).

Well.

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across the lolcat Bible, which is a wiki project in which people are translating the whole Bible into kitty pidgin (which is the language of the lolcats). Since I regularly conduct entire IM conversations in kitty pidgin, I just KNEW that I would have to translate a chapter (at LEAST) for the lolcat Bibul.

So I did.

I translated Mark, Chapter 3, from the King James Version to the LOLCat version.

And you can read it here.

Blessings and cheezburgrz of teh Ceiling Cat b pwn u, lolz.

Edit: I did another chapter. This is WAY too fun. Good way to pass time at work, too!

On this frosty day...

So, ever since Wendy's came out with their vanilla Frosty, I've been silently protesting it. A Frosty is supposed to be CHOCOLATE. The whole appeal of a Frosty is that it's chocolate, but totally different from any chocolate soft serve I've had anywhere else, right? I figured a vanilla Frosty would be nothing more than Vanilla soft serve in a Wendy's cup.

So, today, I broke my own picket line and I bought a vanilla Frosty.

I have now crossed back over the angry picket line and apologized profusely to the picketers, as they were right all along and I never should have wasted $1.49 on something that wasn't even as good as a cheap cup of vanilla soft serve from one of those Dairy Queen knock-off booths that only open during the summer (like "Cow Juice Princess" or whatever they call themselves). I didn't even eat half of it.


Lesson learned? I'm usually right when it comes to what foods I will or won't like, and I should totally trust myself. It would have been even more of a new thing had I been wrong about it and LIKED it, but alas... it is not to be. No more vanilla Frostys (Frosties? What's the plural of a Frosty?) in my future!

HabanerOUCH.

So I passed up the whole "eating a straight habanero pepper" thing last night because, well, I already had a weird thing happen to me yesterday and... to be honest... I was scared.

But, tonight? I figured why not.

WHY NOT??

Because they're painful little demons packaged in a deceptively beautiful orange wrapping, THAT'S WHY.

But, alas... Today I ate a bite of straight habanero pepper (and lived to write this blog).






One bite was it, though. Even my TEETH burned after that. They still kind of do. Even after I rinsed off with my favorite non-dairy treat:

So! That was my adventure today. My Wii is glowing at me, so I need to go see what updates it wants. Until tomorrow...!

Fun with the lottery!

So today was my first "thing that unexpectedly happened to me" new thing.

The boy and I were at the grocery store tonight and decided to get a couple scratch off lottery tickets on the way out of the store. So I chose my ticket and Alex pushed the button and... out came a torn off nothing of a ticket. Like... part of the title was there, but there was no bottom half to scratch off!

So we took the ticket (or lack thereof) to the Customer Service desk and the lady thought we were trying to redeem it. No, no. Just trying to either get the money back or get a new one!

So, that was new. Today, I got a defective lottery ticket and filled out the paperwork to get a refund for it.

To be honest, the "new thing" was going to be taking a bite of a habanero pepper (which we did purchase at the store) but when even Alex had to drown himself in chocolate milk after one good bite, I figured I'd save my taste buds for doing more interesting things this year!

(Oh, for those of you who have asked me - no, the replacement ticket did not win me anything. I am firmly convinced that the missing part of the defective ticket was indeed the $10,000 winner. At least, that's what I console myself with.)

This post has been brought to you by the letter C.

So! I have no pictures of today's endeavors, mainly because most of the "new thing" took place at the polls, where no pictures are allowed!

This project idea started last night while I was at the grocery store, and I managed to carry out a pretty strict interpretation of the idea today.

Today, for the whole day, I only ate foods that begin with the letter C. And I was not interpreting this loosely--it was the actual food KIND and not brand name or temperature or anything else. And, when possible, I tried to combine both brand AND kind of food. Here were the things on the menu today:

* Chicken
* Cucumbers
* Cheese
* Carrots
* Cheez-it Cheese Crackers
* Chips
* Caramel Crunch Chex Cereal mix
* Caribou Coffee Cereal bars
* Chocolate
* Chips ahoy Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was a pretty interesting project! I think other letters of the alphabet would be pretty difficult, but I may see what I can do with them sometime in the next year!

(Thanks to Cookie Monster for his clarification on today's activity!)

Office Jewelry!

So today's new thing was a little random. I was looking around my desk area, trying to come up with something that I could make with office supplies. After an unsuccessful try at (and a paper cut from) making a doll, I fashioned a set of paper clip jewelry, then proudly sported it for the whole day.

Now, certainly I have made paper clip chains before, but I know I have never created a necklace and bracelet from them, much less kept them on them for a day at work and a trip to the grocery store.

I am indeed a pretty, pretty princess today.

Lucky for me (and all of you!) I have a fun and interesting plan for tomorrow. I'll be working the election polls allllllll day - from 5am until about 8pm - so my mobility and free time will be quite limited. But never fear! Exciting things to come. Here is a hint: Tomorrow's activity has been inspired by Sesame Street.

An A-MAIZE-ing Start!

This was supposed to happen LAST Sunday, but we had to wait until this Sunday instead... since I wanted to start my "new things" with something really cool, I put things off for a week!

Today, Alex and I went to a corn maze. Even in all my years living in the farmlands of Ohio, I had never been in a corn maze before today.

Here is an aerial shot of the maze we went to conquer:


We were pretty sure of ourselves--after all, we were both masters of mazes on paper when we were little kids, and our mad video game skills are great enough that we were both confident of the other's ability to navigate when (and if) the other got off-track. We were so confident, in fact, that we opted not to take a "help us" flag, which was basically this 8-foot-tall flag that you waved if you got hopelessly CORN-FUSED (you have to LOL at that one) and the "corn cop" (haha, get THAT?) would come help you. (I almost wish I could take credit for those puns, but that is what our hostess told us as we entered the maze!)

Anyway, we got through the first part and got allllll the way back down to the end where the exit was. We could SEE the exit, but we couldn't get there! So we went back and forth and ended up near the beginning and middle and end again...

And stopped to take a picture of ourselves lost in the maze. I was happy just to be outside in the beautiful fall weather and I think Alex was keeping his eye on this path he thought we needed to get to:
So anyway, we finally found our way to that elusive path we'd had our eyes on and... WOOHOO! We made it to the bridge! The bridge is the victory point - head up the stairs, cross the bridge, and you're on the exit path!

Here is the view of part of the maze from the top of the bridge:
So! Today, November 4th, begins my quest for 365 (well, 366) brand new things in the coming days. Some of them will be fun and a-maize-ing (haha, I crack myself up) like today, others will probably be not-so-fun, but it will force me to step outside of my comfort zone a bit and see what I can find!

Trying NOT to let history repeat itself...

So I spent a few hours this week reading this blog, and it got me thinking.

(Incase you don't want to click on that link, it links to a blog of a woman who has decided that she is going to do one new thing every single day for a full year).

I'm always complaining about doing the same things--watching the same shows, reading the same books, eating the same meals--and then I get convinced that I am in some kind of rut. I always talk about trying new things, but I don't have anyone or anything holding me accountable for such things. And with a background in history, I feel like I'm always focusing on things that have already happened.

SO.

Today it's time for ME to begin making those little changes. I don't plan on doing drastic things--I don't want purple hair (permanently, anyhow), nor do I want to try smoking or shaving my head.

I want to go see a performance at the Kennedy Center. I want to crochet something other than just a scarf. I want to try completely new foods and visit places I've never been--even if they're only a 10-minute drive away.

So, to all of my friends (and anyone else who happens to be reading this), please send me suggestions of different & interesting (yet easy) things that I could do when I need to come up with something. I imagine I'll do all kinds of things that I never put on a list and will possibly make a couple of 11:30pm runs to the grocery store to drink some kind of Mexican fruit juice I've never had!

I plan to start this soon--as early as Sunday if the weather holds up for something brand new I'd like to do. I could wait until some other "important" day like January 1st or my birthday, but why not now? :-)