It Was a Quack-Up

Yes, yes, I have not blogged in a while. But I have spent the last week blissfully house-sitting and cat-sitting for someone at church. To say it has been awesome would be an understatement. I love the constant me-space. It's moments like those when I think I should just become the weird old cat lady who lives in the corner house all by herself ;). Hahahaha... Not really. But sometimes...

Anyway, so I have a few grand things to report. Some are hilarious and fall under the category of: "How the heck does this stuff happen to me?" So why not start with the other stuff and leave that one for last :).

So, before I went to Julie's in May -- knowing we were going to do an 80s party -- I attempted to find some Booberry cereal. All of you children of the 80s will probably recognize this cereal and appreciate the greatness of it. Now, I had no real reason to think I'd be successful in my endeavors, except that my brother Brad had told me a few months prior that he and Tarylyn had found a box at Grocey Outlet for like 99 cents. I was stoked. I went to Grocery Outlet. I went to Wal-Mart. I went down the cereal aisles of every grocery store in my vicinity. Nothing. I was bummed. But life went on. Then, when we had our 80s party at work, I did the same thing. I even drove about 30 minutes to the nearest Super Wal-Mart (because, tragically, the Wal-Mart here isn't a Super one), to check out their cereals. Because I'd read on some 80s food site online that Wal-mart has them. No luck. Yeah, I was bummed. But the 80s party was a hit anyway, and the lack of Booberry treats (like rice krispie treats, only with booberry -- it's something I want to try), was not the end of the fun. So imagine my surprise when I get a text message from John the other day, this is what is included, with a note that said, "Want it or not?"

Um, and I sent back a resounding YES!!! So he got me 2 boxes of each kind. And it's grand, because it only cost $1.65 a box, and, more importantly, because we're going to have a decades party at work soon, so this will work out well :). I'm thinking fondue (a la 70s) and booberry and frankenberry treats (a la 80s). And we'll hash out the rest of it later :)!!!

Also related to our upcoming decades party... Mary and I hung out last Friday after work. We had eaten a late (and large) lunch -- though I can't even remember what it was, so we weren't feeling particularly hungry. So, we shot on down to one of my favorite haunts here -- a thrift store. That place is awesome. Well, they had their Halloween costumes out. So, though I didn't go with intentions of getting anything other than a purse (since my strap had broken that day), I ended up walking out of there with a very, very bright 60s-ish outfit. Pictures will be forthcoming, after the party. Which we hope to pull off here in the next 2 to 3 weeks.

Okay, so here's the great story. And the reason for my title. So, Tuesday last week, my boss had paid for 2 lunches at the local Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Due to various circumstances, I ended up being the person who went with him. How does the file lady end up going to something like this? I am not entirely sure. I'm pretty low on the totem-pole as far as being in the public eye in my opinion. But anyway, I was looking pretty craptastic that day, so I made him swing by the house so I could pick up my make-up. And I'm oh-so-glad I did. So, on the way there, I was attempting to appear presentable. We go to the place -- a bar no less -- and went inside. Well, they had a basket for business cards, and my boss thought he'd forgotten his, but went to see if he had any in his car. Lucky for him, he did (not so sure this was lucky for me, though... you be the judge). So he put one in, and then asked me if I'd like to use one of his cards to put in the basket with my name on it. I'm figuring this is going to be something from which the funeral home can benefit. So, I take one of his cards, cross out his name, and write in mine; drop it in the basket, and forget about it. And then we eat. I had a very fatty pulled-pork sandwich (ewwww. I don't like fat on my meat, so I didn't eat most of it). And we listened to the people talking about the city and money and such. And by the end, they started doing door-prize drawings. Which turns out, that's where the business cards in the basket come in. So they had some cool stuff to give away. Things like a beach umbrella or a kiddie backpack filled with macaroni and cheese (and anyone who knows me knows I love some mac and cheese). They even had a meal for 4 up to $60 value prepared by a private chef. So, yeah, they are giving away some pretty nifty stuff. So then they have a duck to give away. An Aflac duck, to be more precise. And the comment gets made that whoever wins that prize, they know what they have to do. And then the lady with the microphone says, "I'm not sure how to pronounce this... Is it Hila or Heela?" OH MY GOSH. I swung my head around and glared at Robin for just a moment -- it was, after all, HIS card in there with MY name on it. And then I was up, telling them, with a smile on my face, how to pronounce my name. And then they give me the microphone because, remember, I'm supposed to do something special for the duck. And so, I quack into the microphone and hand it back. But oh no! I wasn't supposed to quack! (Too bad that didn't occur to me before I did, though), I was supposed to say "AFLAC!" And so they handed the mic back to me, and I had to do it again. So, that was the day I quacked -- and AFLACed -- in front of the whole area chamber of commerce. Classic. And Robin was just a-laughin'. The lady sitting across from me said, "You are a good sport! And you didn't even turn 37 shades of red!" I think I probably turned at least 36 shades. But whatever. It's a hilarious memory. And it turns out the duck actually says AFLAC when you squeeze it. Had I known that, I'd have cheated and squeezed it into the microphone :). So here I am, with my "winnings":