Remember? Obscure (or not) things from the 80's...

Can you tell it's a slow day at work? (And why shouldn't it be)

Lucy brought this one up at lunch...

Remember Rax? With the roast beef, baked potatoes, and the 'endless salad bar'. Man I loved those baked potatoes!

How about She-Ra Princess of Power?!!?



I had her and almost every other Princess of Power doll and the Crystal Castle. They were some of my favorite toys.






Scratch & Sniff Stickers
ANY stickers for me! I had 3 or 4 sticker books FULL! I think I may still have them at my mom's!


Pogoball anyone? If memory serves me...this is exactly what mine looked like.











I totally had a jacket almost just like this and it was the envy of many.







Here you can read a list of problems solved by MacGyver.

SENSORY OVERLOAD!!!

I've found all kinds of retro sites and keep saying "oh my God" outloud with the waves of memories!!!


How about these TV shows:

-Family Ties
-Today's Special
-Different Strokes
-Silver Spoons
-The Facts of Life
-You Can't Do That On Television
-Mr. Wizard's World
-Belle & Sebastian (obscure cartoon)
-Gimme a Break
-The A-Team
-Night Court
-Dungeons & Dragons cartoon (I LOVED this one)


I'm not even going to go into the movies...that's too easy.


How about these...

And the good ole Speak N Spell...I think it's the reason why I'm so OCD on spelling and grammar.


Awwww, I heart the 80's.

So Sweet!

I didn't know about this, I'm glad I stumbled upon this video.

Last Day of the Year...

Let's get hokey and do the whole New Year's Resolution thing...

-get in shape

-be better about sending cards (birthdays, etc.)

-pay down the credit card significantly

-get the den finally fully cleaned and organized

-do more crafting

-do more photography

What about you?

I Can't Stand the Patriots...

I knew that it would be a long shot but I was so hoping that the Giants would be able to knock the Patriots off of their pedestal. I have yet to see them play a clean game. What was all the shoving and crap about? And the finger in the eye thing? Seriously, 4th graders have more maturity than that. Sure, it's a sport, a heavily followed sport...but when it comes down to it...it's just a game. I wish I could get paid millions of dollars to act like a big baby, start fights, and cheat my way to winning. They are definitely arrogant and Belichick is just an asshole. There's a big difference between confidence and arrogance.

It'a all just another reason I love my Colts. You would NOT see that kind of crap on our side of the field. Dungy would launch you off the field. They play with class.

I will give the Giants credit...they didn't make it easy for the Pats and I think all of Indiana was rooting for you. You gave it a good go.

Now...here's what would be great. The Pats get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Just the thought brings a smile to my face.

Another Thing I Hate...

These ads.
Like I buy for one second that that chick looks like what we see on the left without that stupid lotion. Are you kidding?!
Some people must buy into this because I wouldn't see it (or others like it) all over cnn.com if people didn't buy it.
Seriously...get real.

A Little Something About the Troops...

Today I was absolutely consumed with reading another person's blog. I stumbled upon Laura's blog when the whole PMO debacle occured and now 'Sack of Monkeys in My Pocket' has been added to my Google Reader and Blogroll.

In reading her blog, she mentioned her brother Andy quite a bit...and I learned he was killed in action in Iraq earlier this year. Now, Laura is a writer. And I have to say she is a good one because she drew me in. I wanted to know more about her brother and I think I read every entry that mentioned him in it backwards...and then I learned the date of his death and I went to that day and read forward. I was brought to tears many times. I don't really know Laura and I certainly don't know her brother, but they've both been in my thoughts all day. Really since yesterday when I started reading all about it. He's the closest person to me (isn't that strange?) that served in this ridiculous war and the only one I "know" that died. I've never really known what to think of this war. I never liked it. I didn't understand how the 9/11 attacks were related to Iraq at all. Osama isn't there. We still haven't found him. What are we doing there? Not that I wanted to sit and have a beer with Saddam...but I don't get it.

Personally, I think Bush is an idiot. But I'm also not naive enough to think that he alone is running this country. There is probably so much that I do NOT want to know that goes on in Washington, behind the scenes, or what have you. I actually don't like to think about it. It scares me.

I digress...

I don't support the war. But I DO support the troops! They are just doing their job and doing it the best way they know how. They live in conditions that would horrify us if we knew it all.

Don't confuse war protesters with not supporting the troops...two completely different things.

Laura, I hope you don't mind that I 'stole' your brother's picture from your blog and am posting it here to give a face to those that are serving or gave the ultimate sacrifice.

If you protest, I will remove it immediately, no questions asked.

In honor of Andrew Weiss, 28 years old, 2 very young children...

Parking Lot Morons...

I've got one for you 'Theory'! I thought of you when I was yelling in the parking lot while trying to holiday shop.

Do people forget all reason and common sense when they are walking in a parking lot?

1. When you are walking from your car to the store or vice versa...walk near the line of cars, not in the middle of the aisle. And if you are in the middle of the aisle where cars would be driving...listen and watch for any cars behind you. I have no problem making you pee your pants by honking at you to get out of the way.
2. When crossing an aisle or the main drive between the store and the parking lanes (or even any street) and there are cars waiting on you. Take the shortest path from one side to the other...I mean STRAIGHT ACROSS. Waiting for you to cross the road diagonally really ticks me off. I'm doing you a favor by not running your ass over with my car. Do me a favor and get out of the way.
3. Put your freaking cart in the cart corral!!! I don't know how many times I've seen a cart between cars or in a free parking space with the cart corral not 2 or 3 spaces away!!! Fine, it's not always convenient. Some places don't have enough corrals or put them in weird not-so-convenient places. But seriously, lazy society, take 20 seconds and walk the cart there. Heaven forbid you have to walk it back to the door of the store too. Holy crap what I could do with that extra 50 seconds of my time! No. Do it. Why? Because the wind blows those things around and into cars. And here's what's funny about that...when that happens, are you not more likely to blame the person who is parked next to you? Even though logic would tell you that the cart was left by someone who has now pulled away, you want to take your anger out on someone and they're the closest.

Ahhhh, this is why I try to shop online as much as possible especially around the holidays.
And is it coincidence that most of these things happened to me in the Wal-Mart parking lot? "I'm just sayin'!"

I know there's more to this. Come on Craig or Theory...you can think of some! Add them!

Christmas...

Where did it go? It went so fast!

I'm still Christmasing until the New Year, I usually do. We have our Indy friends Christmas party on Sunday yet so I'm allowed. Plus I feel like I never had the chance to get into the spirit because it just snuck up on me!

So I'll be that girl that is still singing Christmas songs after Christmas.

I have to talk about Amazon.com again. The 'Wish List' option is really great! I feel like it made it easier for people to buy for me. And if they bought from Amazon it took it off the list so it kept it updated. AND if I looked at my list the 'received' status was hidden to me so it didn't ruin the surprise! I highly recommend making your own Wish List on Amazon. Again, I started it only so I would remember what I wanted. Then after you get all your gift cards you can go back to your list, see what you didn't get and get it for yourself!

We had Christmas with the Mahoneys (in-laws) on Friday night. A cousin's wedding Saturday night. A big brunch with my family on Sunday. Christmas with the other Mahoney's in Michigan (in-law aunt & uncle) on Monday. Christmas with my family on Christmas morning. Then we drove back to Fishers in the evening and finally Rob & I had our own little Christmas that night. The kitties stayed on vacation with "grandma". We'll be back again the weekend after New Years to hopefully spend time with the Elkhart friends and my dad.

Of course I ended up with a bad head cold once the sinus infection let go, so I suffered with that for a week and a half...good ole Nightime Robitussin and Sinex (don't go generic with that by the way).

OMG, I have to tell this story. Shawna...you'll laugh hysterically!

At the wedding, I'm not dogging my cousin or anything. I'm sure they were having a friend be their photographer to save money, but this friend wasn't a pro or even a hobby photographer...the giveaway was the 'Powershot' type camera she was using. I sincerely hope that some good pictures came out. I did see her trying to get creative with some detail photos, which I know is difficult with an everyday digital camera. But...she had a green spotlight set up in the corner at one point. And I thought...oh here we go, she's really going to try to be creative here...I hope she understands what she needs to do. We figured she was going to try to get a shadow profile shot. And we were right. But when she was doing it, I nearly fell down. She was trying to take a picture of a shadow...with the flash on. And she tried several times without adjusting the flash. I even saw her mouth the words 'it's just not coming out'. I didn't want to embarass her by telling her such an obvious mistake or step on her toes. Even though there I was in my corner an (and pew during the wedding) with Shawna's borrowed camera taking all kinds of shots.

I took a few good ones, I'll have to post them when I upload them.

That still gets me laughing when I think of it...poor thing.

What was your favorite gift that you received for Christmas? Or favorite holiday moment?

Let's Get Started...

Restoring PMO

http://blog.restorepmo.org/

It's out...

Well, now we even know who it was.

I won't name her here. All I can do is shake my head.

The good thing that has come from this whole PMO situation is that PMO alums from all over and throughout time are coming together. We're airing our grievances, remembering the good ole days, wondering how PMO will get back on it's feet, and how we can support them in doing so.

A few great ideas have come about...

1) Beginning January first (and it will have more impact if everyone does it soon after!) donate anything you can to PMO Club. Now that Breed is out we can really help and support them.

2) Offer your support and willingness to help in anyway possible. A board of directors involving PMO alums has been mentioned. They'll only know you're willing to help if you tell them.

3) Support the current students. It's not their fault. Send treats, send flowers, send letters, whatever to the groups. I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

Any comments or other ideas are appreciated.

New Developments in PMO...

WOW

It was announced yesterday that Brian Breed, director of Purdue Musical Organizations and the Purdue Varsity Glee Club is "retiring" December 31st.

And the conclusion amongst most of us discussing is that he was forced to retire. It's even been said by someone that he was "escorted off the property".

The reasons why we don't think it was his choice:

-he's 52...not old enough really for him to retire

-he would NEVER go in the middle of a school year

-the Glee Club has a scheduled trip to New York City on January 5th...he wouldn't miss that opportunity (albeit the opportunity to show off himself)

-we (a group of us) know that there were some things going on that the university wouldn't approve of behind the scenes

Here it is...

We're pretty sure there was 'hanky panky' with a student (reportedly a Purduette but we're not sure).

I know that it happened in my day...how far it really got is uncertain but it was there and it was inappropriate for a married man with 5 (or is it 6) kids.

It may have happened in my early days there as well...but I can't confirm.

And now it's happened to a greater extent and he was finally caught (or reported)!

And we're just dying to find out how it all went down. I don't care who it went down with, I don't know anyone there anymore. It's the HOW. Anyone know?

We can't stop buzzing and hypothesizing!

There's a real buzz on this blog:

http://lauralinger.blogspot.com/2007/12/buh-bye-brian-breed-buh-bye.html

I'm not normally a HUGE gossiper...but it's nice to see that karma does work!!!

Show & Tell...

Here is a photo that I took at the wedding (reception) that I assisted Shawna with this past weekend. I'm rather proud of it, I wish I had the camera vertical for it, but this was not posed...it was taken while they were on the dance floor. I only had a split second to get this shot!

Last Minute Stocking Stuffers...

Ok you've procrastinated, you've avoided shopping, or like my husband...you thought you had another week before Christmas...you still need those darn stocking stuffers!

Here are some easy ideas.

-lip balm or lip gloss

-small lotions

-lottery tickets

-a pair of new gloves

-some of their favorite candy (beware of melting by the fireplace!) :)

-earrings...just some earrings...doesn't have to be fancy, any jewelry really...just something fun she might not buy for herself

-a keychain

-a tiny fold up umbrella

-a desk calendar

-a small picture frame...with a picture in it already is nice

-CD of Christmas songs

-socks

That should help! Now I need to follow my own advice and get stocking stuffers for my honey.

I got tagged! And elfed...

Shawna elf tagged me! I had to elf myself (I included my family) and tag 7 others!

See me elfed here

Now...tag, YOU are it!
-Rob
-Brent & Liz
-Pete (you'll really impress me if you actually post yours) ;)

And the following don't have blogs that I know of so you may just email it to me. :)
-Craig & Stacy
-MOM :)
-Aunt Sara
-Renae
(and the fab five...you are unofficially tagged as well)

I will leave it up to you whether you'd like to ELF or SCROOGE yourself.
http://www.elfyourself.com/
http://www.scroogeyourself.com/

Freeze Frame...

On Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity and privilege to be a second shooter for Shawna at a wedding in town. I was pretty nervous because I am just getting into this photography thing so I am still unfamiliar with all the settings and all that, plus I just didn't want to let Shawna down!

This is the camera that I used most of the time but with different lenses...one was humongous (aka heavy).

I have a new appreciation for how physical a photographer's job can be! I was so sore yesterday and still a little bit today.

I learned a lot and just being there doing it was great experience!

I'm anxious to see how all of the pictures came out but you can see some previews here on Shawna's blog. Of the ones shown there I took all of the ones during the ceremony.

I've got to get me a good camera...I'm hooked!

Gift Idea #17...

From here on out I will only post gift ideas that you can run out to the store and buy so the shipping times won't get you in a bind.


Matching scarf & gloves
So simple, but nice to have. Even if they have a set...it's always nice to have another. For a change or to match a different coat. But it's something people don't always buy for themselves, especially if they do already have a set.
This set happens to be from Target for $24.

Go for something cotton, not wool. Wool gets scratchy. And watch for the ones that may 'shed'. I can't wear my grey scarf when I wear black...it looks like I rolled in cat hair or something. And think about what coat they might wear the set with and try to match!

Still Driving Me Crazy!!!

Ok, I've tried to just cope. But I still can't stand the sound of real silverware on glass in the office! Get some damn Tupperware!!!

It's just the sound. It's grating. It's just not something you are supposed to hear in an office environment. The scraping sound is the worst part...or maybe it's the loud CLINK of the spoon when It's set down...I can't decide & it doesn't matter...it's all bad. AND it wouldn't be so bad if it was limited to lunchtime. But it's not! It's lunch, it's a snack in the middle of the afternoon...it's everything.

I may have said this before...but you can't possibly understand unless you've heard it yourself in your office. Or do you all have sit down home-style lunches and snacks in your office?

Call me negative, I don't care. I gave it time, I gave it a fair shot. Nope. It just doesn't belong in the office.

And if you disagree, frankly, I don't want to hear about it. :)

Gift Idea #16...

It's getting close kids...12 days until Christmas!

I think after this gift idea I'm going to have to give you ideas that you can go to a store and get...online ordering vs. shipping time is getting tight unless you don't care about paying out the wazoo!

These are fun!

Recycled LPs made into coasters! $20

This would be great for anyone who actually remembers using records!!

1,000 Visits!

Today I'll get my 1,000th visitor!

Watch the tracker...if it's you, leave a comment!

Finally, Relief...

It may be too early to celebrate, but I woke up without a sinus headache today! Maybe it's coincidence...but I'm still going to highly recommend Mucinex for anyone with any kind of congestion. It's labelled for chest congestion...but it was recommended for my sinus congestion by a doctor and it worked for me. Not that it cleared it all out...but it definitely helped!

Now I feel pretty much back to normal and functional!!

Out of Commission...

What a weekend. Rob's company's Christmas party was Saturday night and it was fun. My prime rib came out mooing so I sent it back to be killed. When it came back it looked ok...still a little pink for my taste (medium) but I was hungry. It was good...I thought.

3am...I wake up sweating, thought it was just the extra blanket I had on. Nope. Threw off all the covers...nah. Wait...my stomach hurts. Where's the Pepto? I go to the bathroom cupboard, couldn't find it (although later I did find it there), went to the kitchen...thought I saw it on the counter once. I don't see it. Wait...uh oh. Bathroom...NOW.

Now, just a few of you may know...I don't puke. I just don't. I hate it, I'll go through hell to avoid it. So when I puke...I'm really sick. Needless to say...I was really sick. And not to be gross...but prime rib and cabernet sauvignon...you don't want that coming back out. EW!

Finally I finished. Went back to bed with major stomach cramps totally expecting to be in the bathroom for one reason or another all day Sunday. But no...but I didn't move from the couch.

To top that off...Sunday was the 4th day in a row with a major headache...bad enough I tried my migraine medicine even though I knew it was in my sinuses. Today was day 5 and while at work, I just couldn't take it anymore and finally called the doctor. I got an antibiotic and some Mucinex. It still hurts pretty bad...the right side of my head kind of feels numb...in a weird painful sort of way. I know that doesn't make sense.

My stomach is still a bit dodgy...mostly just little pains and not very hungry, I've had a little cereal and some chicken noodle soup. And 7UP of course.

Today was also the first day of secret santa here at work. Either my person forgot, or it's one of the people that wasn't here today. :(

That's ok...I only have 2 of 5 gifts for mine. Need to shop.

Ok, my husband is now waiting for me at work to pick him up. I think it's going to be a pizza night.

What I learned today...

Campbell's Soup in Hand - the instructions given guide you to make a mess in your microwave. It says 1 minute 15 seconds...I put mine in for 1 minute and it totally boiled over. Go for 45 seconds...and watch it.

Roxanne - is said 26 times in the song. At least that's how many it was before the radio DJ cut in.

Strawberry flavored Aquafina- really gross

Gift Idea #15...

Cheryl & Co. Cookies!

They are the BEST! My favorites are the frosted ones...buttercream on a sugar cookie. They are absolutely heavenly.

They have more than just cookies, so if you're not a fan or the person you're buying for isn't...still browse.

These are great for business gifts too! Or just to surprise someone by sending something to them at work...always nice.

The products vary so much so the price range is huge...$15-over $100. Just depends on what you get!

But I can guarantee you that they are very good cookies!

Running on fumes...

1:47am

That's the time I woke up and thought 'cool, I have so much longer to sleep!'...at 5:15 I slinked back to bed for a little nap before facing the day.

I laid there for about an hour and a half before deciding maybe the couch would do the trick...pop in a movie I've seen a zillion times and off I'll drift. Nope. I finished one movie without so much as a nod. Sable even joined me on the couch...she dozed, why couldn't I? It's not like I wasn't tired. I was tired. I just couldn't sleep. I started another movie and at some point I started to drift but didn't feel the couch was as comfy anymore so I went back to bed...for 45 minutes.

Now I feel like garbage. Well, I hope it's only from sleeplessness. I better not be coming down with anything.

4 inches...

I think the grand total of snow is about 4 inches. We survived the grocery store and I think that was mainly due to avoiding Meijer. It's in a more congested area closer to a bigger urban area so we opted for the Kroger near the boonies.

We left early today to avoid being in the main rush hour traffic and got to work just on time. We did stop at Starbucks though to give our favorite barista a Hanukkah present. It was a box of coal and he loved it...really it was chocolate covered kettle corn but the humor was great.

Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends/readers!!!

Snow...

We need to the grocery store in a very bad way. However...we are under a 'Snow Advisory' from 10pm tonight until 6pm tomorrow. Now, we're only talking up to 4 inches here...but it's the first real snow and that means people will be in panic mode.

There will be no bread or milk at the store as people are preparing to be snowbound for days. There may be three times the number of people usually at the grocery on a Tuesday night, all searching for blizzard survival supplies.

So I'm not sure if we'll go...or we'll go, get the essentials (Diet Coke, ground beef, & contact cleaner) and skip the rest if it's just too crazy.

And then there's tomorrow morning's commute.

I can't wait. People will have forgotten that they've EVER driven in snow. Top that off with it being central Indiana...they don't get as much as I'm used to (Lake Effect snow in northern Indiana) and I'm going to have a happy morning. It might require Starbucks.

People will be stupid...I must keep reminding myself of that...and not turn into one of them.

Gift Idea #14...

Throw back to classic Nintendo...

Zelda T-shirt - $20

Mario T-shirt - $20

Yoda Bobblehead - $15

This '80's Tees' website has all kinds of really cool retro shirts and products. And with that whole vintage thing going on right now...it's a great way to find obscure things like a Flux Capacitor T-shirt, or Fraggle Rock T-shirt, a cool Pac-Man belt, or your classic Oregon Trail shirt, or they even have some non-80's shirts.