Lessons and Facts From The Nilla Life

At least from the last couple of days. You can pick which are lessons and which are facts :). Or maybe they are all both?

1. The Nilla subconscious is a scary place. The night before last night I had a dream that a pteradactyl was in my neighborhood in Cardenas in Panama. It was hanging from electric lines, and I thought it was dead. Then it moved and started flying at me really low overhead so as to scare me. Because it told me that it couldn't actually eat me, because I was too big to fit in its mouth. Yes, the pteradactyl (an exctint dinosaur bird) talked to me. Anyway, then 2 of my cats showed up. Both of them were calico cats. One was Mittens, who really was my cat about 15 years ago. And the other cat I don't know. It wasn't Callie the work cat, though. Anyway, immediately the pteradactyl spots the cats and flies toward them and eats one. The one I don't know but is somehow mine. So I'm running after Mittens, screaming, "Run Mittens!" After a harrowing experience on my part of trying to get my cat safe and the pteradactyl trying relentlessly to get the cat, the pteradactyl gets sick and throws up cat (gross, I know, but in my dream it wasn't vivid or gross-looking, I just know that's what it was). And so then the pteradactyl is laying on its back and looks gold-colored. And it also looks like Heckyl and Jeckyl. If you have no idea who they are, click here. (And I have no idea the last time I even thought of these cartoon characters, so why they would show up in a dream is beyond me... But then, I can't explain why a pteradactyl is in my dream either.) And my mom, ever the care-taker, wants to nurse the pteradactyl back to health, because we feel sorry for it. So she starts dosing it with root beer. Yes, I said root beer. And then it turns like fire-engine red and starts sweating. Around this time I woke up. I have no idea what this dream was about, much less where it came from. I wonder what Freud would say. I still think my subconscious is a scary -- though amusing -- place.

2. You cannot have your monthly car insurance bill put on your credit card. I was going to just have it billed to my credit card every month so that essentially all I will do is write one check for one bill each month and gain credit card points to boot. So much for that big plan. Oh well.

3. Grocery stores will sell an item on its expiration date (or sell by date) for really cheap. But don't go back the next day and hope to still get it. It will be destroyed, gone, unsellable. With milk, I can see this as valid. With Frosted Flakes, not so much. It's not that I don't understand why they won't sell it (I mean, that's a lawsuit just waiting to happen for our sue-happy society), but something tells me that Frosted Flakes are still going to be non-deadly the day after their sell-by date. Furthermore, the way I see it is that if you are "dumb" enough to buy Frosted Flakes the day after their "sell by" date, and then you eat them, then, if they make you sick, you deserved it and shouldn't be suing the company who sold them. But anyway. I'm not complaining, just pontificating. I would have bought a couple of boxes for 50 cents each -- even a day after their sell-by date. And I would have eaten them. Which is why I felt like I could put "dumb" up there, because I would so be in that category. For Frosted Flakes. Not for milk. But it's a moot point, because I passed up the deal on the "sell-by" date (which was Thursday), and when I went back on Friday, they were gone, and the ones in their place were over $2 a box. Not a good deal in my book.

4. I talk with my hands. And not in the sign language-y useful and cool way. I've mentioned this before. But I noticed yesterday that I do it more when I'm nervous. Which is probably the least opportune time to do it more. But oh well. That's me for you...

5. Read faster. I only had 100 pages left in Ender's Game. I was sure I'd be able to re-check it. But there were holds. Half of me wanted to just keep it overdue. But that's not very librarian of me, so I didn't. And now who knows when I'll get to finish it. Which messes me all up, because I don't like to start another book before I finish the one I'm reading.

6. Make sure you look around the kitchen at work and ensure that there are, in fact, no paper plates, before you put your cheese chunks you just cut up into a plastic cup and have Mary laugh at you for your "newly invented fast food item" (available now at all fast-food establishments...): the cup of cheese.

7. Working with someone (or multiple someones) who leave a skid-mark on the back of the toilet seat (and who will hereafter be referred to as Mr. Skid) is disgusting. Mary and I always seem to be the fortunate ones who walk into the restroom after Mr. Skid has vacated at some unknown prior time. Today Mr. Skid struck again. And so we had to clean it up. Gross. When Mary and I determined (based on when these things occur and who is here when they do) that there are very likely two Mr. Skids, Mary so eloquently said, "You mean they are pulling double duty!?!" And then we rolled with laughter. She said doodie!!! Hahahaha!!! (Okay, we're a little bit juvenile...)

8. Do not have the cup of cheese mentioned in item 6 sitting out on the reception desk in anticipation of you eating it for lunch after you return from performing the duties unfortunately associated with item 7, because you will keep smelling the cheese (not realizing it is the cheese) and thinking maybe -- by some horrible unspeakable possibility -- something got on your hands from the above-menitoned Mr. Skid "present" -- even though you doubled up the Clorox wipes and only used 2 fingers to hold the Clorox wipe against the seat and, well, wipe away the nasty and you washed thoroughly after the clean-up was done -- and that is what you are smelling. But it turns out it's just the cheese -- which doesn't make you all that keen on eating the cheese, but you have to put something in your stomach for lunch, right?

There were probably others. Probably others that were more deep and less silly. But I was feeling light, airy, and silly. Thought I'd pass the feeling along for anyone needing a laugh :).

Suddenly Red and Blue Lights Flashed [Me] From Behind

Well, tonight, for the second time ever as the driver, I got pulled over. Blech. And to commemorate the occasion on my blog, you can listen to one of my favorite songs ever -- that also has great memories behind it :).

I was on my way back from Wal-Mart, where I went and talked to my friend Heidi about my taxes. And good news... Everything checks out. Which means I'm getting a laptop. Soon. Woohoo!

Anyway, and I was just crusin' down the road. Kind of zoning out mentally and thinking of other stuff. And then I saw the blue lights, flash me from behind... My heart was just pounding like crazy. I thought I was getting pulled over for speeding. Because I think I was. I had just simply zoned out and was driving on auto-pilot. Not that I was speeding really badly. Just a little. But it ended up being that my passenger headlight is out. So, I will be getting the bulb tomorrow and getting it fixed. Funny thing is that the cop's at my window and I am apologizing because my windows don't roll down all the way (which I told you about before, when I discussed my fear of my car going in the water...). He was like, "It's okay. Did you know your headlight is out?" Well, no, officer, I didn't... Phew. Dodged that speeding bullet (no pun intended ;)). Took me a few moments to calm down afterwards. And that's the news of my day.

Tax Filing Makes Me Nervous

Because I'm just afraid of making a mistake and having to pay it back later. And auditing. I don't want to be audited. It seems like a hassle. I have my work-up for my taxes. Thankfully I have a friend (the one I used to walk with last year) who does taxes during tax season. She is going to look over them for me to make sure I did it all right. Let's just say the number I'm coming up with seems far too large to be possible. But, if it isn't... Then score! I will be thrilled. But I want an expert to double-check for me before I finish filing. On the up-side, at least we got our W-2's a lot earlier than we were told we were going to.

Today was a fun day. I got a few files done. But we also got 3 brand new fire-safe filing cabinets that were so desperately needed. So I helped get those in. It's very exciting, because we have more room! Finally! Plus I helped Bob check out some cemetery grounds stuff. Which is fun. It's like a mini-field trip during work ;).

Bob and his wife have given me a lot of VHS movies. Some of them I already have on DVD, so I will pass those on to others who might want them. But there are some that I figure I won't mind owning just for the sake of having them to watch should the desire strike me. Movies like Save the Last Dance (which Julie loves, but I've only seen it once); or Pure Country; or Picture Perfect. So eventually I will have access to my VHS player and can actually watch them ;). And eventually, I'll have a tv of my own as well to actually watch them on!

In other tv/dvd news... So I mentioned before that I got gift cards from Best Buy for using my credit card. I was hoping to get Scrubs with them. But Scrubs never seems to be going on sale these days. But The Office went on major sale at Target. $16.99 each brand new, and they are usually $34.99. And so I went to Best Buy with my Target ad in hand and asked them if they price match. I used to never have the guts to do this... But they said they do, and so I got 2 more seasons of The Office and used my gift cards and still have $2 and change on the gift card! Hahaha... Yeah, I'm cheap. I was watching the newest episode of The Office the other day. This season hasn't been as good as seasons from the past, but I've been watching it anyway. But the newest episode was a flashback episode, so it did clips from past episodes and I was laughing so hard! I do love the older seasons. So it's still worth my while to get them :). At least, the ones I liked. Like I don't think I'll get the new season of Scrubs that is out this year where they are medical school doctors. I watched a few episodes, but I'm not thrilled. I think they should have ended the series like they said they were going to.

And since I'm such a loser and keep talking about tv shows... The final season of Lost will be starting soon. I liked Lost at first. It's come a long way from where it started, though. I will finish it out, because I was pretty dedicated to watching it all this time. But I probably won't ever own them. I tend to own funnier sitcom-type shows. After I get all the Scrubs and The Office that I want, I will start on Frasier. I loved that show too...

Okay, so go ahead and think I'm lame :), This is probably the nerdiest blog post I've written in a long time, if not the nerdiest one ever!!! I went from taxes to file cabinets to a million tv shows. Wow, my life is just a ball of excitement!

Everytime I Do it Makes Me Laugh

So, this is a song-title post. It's a little obscure, but I thought it was fitting. I am wondering if Julie has figured out the song yet. Because it is a song she liked and I thought was silly. Not the sentiment behind the song itself. But the words and the rhymes. At least I think this is the song. We were out of town when she commented that she liked this song and I said I didn't. I believe it was one of our spontaneous trips with our husbands back in the day and we had just gotten back in the car after a fun browse through a Bed, Bath, & Beyond store, probably in Florida. She was shocked that I didn't like it, because she knows how much I love pictures and how I depend on my pictures to help my memories. But the song kind of fits this blog post. And you will see why. And even if in no other way, there is the mention of at least one photograph in this blog post -- and everytime we even think of it (much less look at it), it makes us laugh.

So tonight, Julie and I had a phone date. Perhaps that sounds ridiculous. But with the difference in time zones between here and Florida, our schedules never seem to mesh. Yes, we are always available to each other during emergency moments when we just need someone to whom to vent. Or at least we try to be. But so often when we just feel like laughing and chatting -- a la 4 or 5 years ago when I was working at Troy in Dothan and we'd spend over an hour on the phone each day talking about who knows what -- well, those moments are hard to come by randomly because we are in such different time zones. Blah. So, we have to make BFF phone dates. LOL. So tonight we chatted. We got the "here and now" stuff out of the way. We discussed how scary it is that Alysha is almost 14. We discussed what that means about our ages. We discussed trials we are each facing. It's good to talk to someone who has been your friend for 11 years and seen changes come and go in your life. And then Julie says, "Okay, say something to make me laugh." Well, I didn't have any new material, really. So we had to stroll down memory lane. And it was a fabulous stroll indeed. Here's why... (with a few details for memory's sake, but some of you maybe still won't have a clue why these are funny).

*The Emperor's New Clothes rewritten by Julie to star Heath. Copy machines make so many things possible. For a while back in 1999, when we were all still working at HLML, Heath and Julie got into a "war" to see who could do the best "alteration" on a book and make it star the other person in a n0t-so-flattering way. I think Julie won. When I reminded her of this tonight, she just laughed! It was classic.

*Notes we left to each other on each other's time sheets. These were so fun! It was like passing notes in school, but not. I kept all of mine, and I think she did too. I have one that has a torn out piece of a paper towel that had a teapot on it that she taped down to a piece of paper, and she wrote "I'm a little teapot, short and Nilla pot!" And it's because there was this time that we went swimming at Patrick's and I was getting onto a float thing from outside of the pool and when I went to sit on it, apparently I reminded her of a teapot. I don't know how that's possible, but that is her story. I know she's laughing right now picturing it...

*Remembering the night we and Heath and Adam all went to Tony's Italian Restaurant (because our boss raved about it -- but we ended up thinking it was gross) and Pockets to play pool afterward. And how Adam shot one time with the cue stick (I assume I'm using the right terms here, but I'm no billiards buff...) behind his back.

*Going to Barnhill's for lunch on Saturdays when we all worked. Which was so totally against the rules, since it meant both of us from the Children's Room were gone. But we worked the "fun" weekends and Miss Hilda would come down and watch the CR so we could go out and have fun at lunch. So Kristin, me, Heath, and Julie would go to lunch. And there was that time that we took two vehicles and Heath and I rode in his truck and Kristin and Julie in Kristin's car and we came to a red light at a major intersection and Heath got the bright idea to get out of his truck and run up to Kristin's car and pound on her window. And she wasn't paying attention to him, because she was busy talking to Julie, and Julie says Kristin screamed so loud! Julie asked me tonight, "Why did he do that anyway?" I don't really know to this day. But it's a great story.

*Arranging our breaks at work so we could go with as many of the "cool" group as possible. And letting the "Little General" satisfy us (that was the name of the snack machine, and somehow this phrase got created...).

*MARCUS!!! Ah, easily the best library story ever! This one is way too long and complicated, but basically, sometimes we found pictures left in library books. And one time we found an 8x10 of this guy left in one of the books, and on the back it said: Marcus 10th grade. And from then on, he became "Julie's man." I'm pretty sure she kept the picture...

Oh how we laughed tonight. It's so much fun to remember the days of yore with someone who was there with you. We were so crazy. We were so young. We were so carefree. For the most part, at least :). What a fun memory lane chat. It's so good to laugh about the past with someone who was there with you :).

Movie quote hint: A movie Julie and I saw in the theatre the same year all of those events above occurred. (And yes, Julie, you saw it with me ;)).

Rewarded and Recognized

Well, not me. But Mary was. And so was the boss, Robin. So here is the story of the Rewards and Recognition Banquet we attended on Thursday.

We were pretty much up in the air the whole day as to whether or not we would go at all, because I didn't want to go unless a fun group was going (which is what I said earlier). Mary had appointments all day, so she wasn't sure if she'd be done in time. So we waited. As it turned out, she got done in time for us to leave the funeral home by about 4:15. This still wasn't early enough for us to take a ferry, so we ended up driving around. The drive over was really fun. I can't remember everything we laughed about, but there were a couple of times we laughed so hard my stomach was hurting. Usually it involves one of us saying something the others didn't hear correctly and repeated back what they heard and it's hysterical. On the way over, it was just me, Mary, and John. Robin and Yvonne went also, but they each took their own vehicles because they went at different times. So here we are driving into Seattle at night... I love big cities at night. They look pretty. I don't want to live in one, but it sure is pretty to look at them. Also, the flash was off, so it's a little blurry. But you get the idea :).

After driving along beside a guy who had a permanent snarl on his face (or a bad case of smelly gas, Mary speculated), we got to the venue -- which was an Elks Club -- about 5 minutes before it started. Mary and I had just gotten into the door and already we were being silly. I'm not sure if you remember the annoying dude I mentioned from my Canada trip (if not, click that link and you can read all about it), but he is at all of these things. He was at this one too. He was at the entrance table, trying to get people to buy these medallions to get more raffle tickets and also to help with some foundation. Anyway, he had a big gold one around his neck (they looked like replica Olympic Medals). My first thought was, "I pity the fool who doesn't have one of these!" I told that to Mary later and she busted out laughing. Ah... There's nothing quite like a Mr. T reference (like the one my friend Donna gave me when we were sitting at a graduation ceremony when I worked at Troy Dothan and the Chancellor walked across the stage with all his regalia and his big gold medallion that stood for something, but I don't know what... Talk about trying really hard to not bust out laughing!!!)

So my first order of business, once we made it past Mr. T, was to use the little girls' room. Well, this was great in an of itself... and oh-so-picture-worthy. One set of bathrooms that we'd come across had signs on them that said: "Closed forever." The other set that we found could only accomodate one person at a time. And the door didn't lock. It looked like a regular ladies' room where you push in and then there are several stalls from which to choose. Not so much though, as we soon found out. No lock on this door, one potty. And the only way to indicate you were in there (unless you had a buddy standing guard outside) was to switch the sign on the outside of the door to "Occupied." This was so funny to me, considering the number of people at this event, that I had to take a picture.

Shortly after this, we met a lady who has been working with the company for about 3 weeks. She is in sales with one of the parks and she was way chipper. And she showed us her coffin earrings that she had made. And then we discussed the difference between a casket and a coffin. For those of you who are in suspense as to the difference, I will fill you in: a casket has four sides (it's a rectangle). A coffin has six sides, because it has two extras at the top. Google image it if you don't know what I mean. So, there's some funeral home and cemetery trivia for ya ;). After this point, we found the table with Yvonne and Robin and sat down. We had nametags, and Mary wrote Javier Jalapeno on hers. I thought I'd go for alliteration, so I wrote Hila the Histrionic (which means overly dramatic, which is probably accurate, though Mary and I were doing this as part of an inside joke). And then Mary thought it'd be funny if I added the word "Hot" in it too, because she told me I was "hot" after I put my eyeliner on in the car on the way over and we started quoting Paris... "That's so hot." So, my nametag said "Hot Hila the Histrionic". I don't really know why Mary and I get so silly at these things, but we do. So we had to take a picture of me and my name.

We held back a little for the line to die down for food. Turns out that was a bit of a mistake. Though we did get to witness some hilarious goings-on of everyone else. We talked about the Anderson Sisters; we watched Yvonne's roll roll (now that was funny); we struck up conversations with the other people at the back of the line... And we were sad when we got up and found the salad gone and only like 3 pieces of beef left and one partial helping of potatoes left. And they didn't seem to be being replenished. Next time we'll probably work harder at being in the front of the line! But eventually they did bring more beef. And the rice was really good. They had salmon, but blech. Not a fish fan. Oh my gosh!!! I just remembered a hilarious story that happened while we were waiting for the line to shorten. One of the other guys at our table was one of the first in line, so he made it back with his food before we even got up from the table. There was something on his plate I couldn't identify, so I leaned over to Mary, and pointing at the food item, I said, "Hey Mary... What do you suppose that thing over there is?" She looks and says, "A guy in a rust-colored shirt." And I laughed so hard! I totally wasn't pointing out the weird looking dude across the room, but I guess it looked like I was! And the fact that I said "thing" and she was still thinking I was referring to the guy made it even more hilarious...

Upon returning to the table, Robin stabbed my butter pat with a fork and took it for his own roll. I thought he was just messing with me and would give it back, but it turns out not so much. He used the whole thing for his roll. Loser. So that one guy that had gotten his food early had about 5 pats of butter he wasn't using, so I asked for one of his. He gave me like 3. And later, Robin asked me to pass him the water pitcher (which had one slice of cucumber floating in it) and I said, "I hope you get the cucumber." Mary busts out laughing and says, "I think that's the funniest and meanest thing I've ever heard!" They had a couple of games and then they got to the rewards. Oh, and dessert was cheesecake, by the way. There were about a million rewards. Our location got recognized quite a few times, which was really cool. Mary got recognized too, which is a great accomplishment!

Everything finally wrapped up around 8:45, and we scrambled to make it to the ferry. It wasn't a far drive, but we were still in Seattle, so there was traffic with which to contend. And sure enough, even with the GPS, we missed a turn. Because we weren't listening to it. But, we still made it with about 5 minutes to spare before they had us board the ferry. On the ride back, all of us who were at the function were on the ferry, so we all got out of our vehicles and headed up to laugh and tell stories. So here we are.

The ferry ride was quite short, so before too long, we were back in the vehicles, getting ready to dock and drive off. Before we docked, though, we got John to take a picture of me and Mary.

When we got back to the funeral home, we decided to go inside since Joe was there cleaning. It was his first night cleaning all by himself, and he had the place locked up like Ft. Knox. He was vacuuming when we finally got in the door, so he didn't see or hear us, even though we came in right behind him. In an effort not to scare him, Mary yelled really loud that we were all in there. Apparently there isn't a way to not scare someone who is alone in a funeral home and not expecting others to arrive. Poor guy... He whipped around and his eyes were as big as saucers. He lifted the vaccuum up off the floor and was pointing it at us like it was a weapon! He soon recognized us. But poor guy. So we did what we had to do (ie put away the van keys and used the restroom) and then we headed out. I got home around 10:45, got a shower, and did random stuff until about 1 in the morning. That seems to be my new bed-time most nights...

So, that was Thursday night. It's fun to do something different and venture into the big city of Seattle... as long as I'm not the one driving ;)! I'm such a wimp :).

Guilt

Okay, so I always feel guilty for writing a blog post that isn't all chipper and upbeat. And I consider removing it. But then it's not real. The blog, that is. I don't write about every aspect of my life. At least, not here. But sometimes I just want to vent. My life is not really vanilla, as I've indicated before. Probably nobody's life is. There are things that set us off as individuals. We all have different things that make us tick -- different things that make us laugh, cry, get mad, etc. My buttons got pushed. I cried. And I got angry. I'm not over it yet. I'll get there. I will try to take the advice to take a deep breath and decide whether or not this particular issue will matter in 10 years. But today, if I had to label my life an ice cream flavor, I'd label it Rocky Road. Because there is the obvious symbolism of the rocky road of life. But also because I don't like Rocky Road ice cream. It has nuts in it. I don't like nuts. And I didn't really like today. Or at least, the end of it. But I guess that's life. I must learn to accept that some days I am the pigeon, but some days I am the statue.

Broken Commitments

I was going to blog about our Rewards and Recognition banquet that I attended last night for work. But now I'm just so angry that I don't feel like it.

I don't even know if angry is the right word. Or maybe it is the right word, but maybe it is an appendage emotion I feel as a result of other feelings.

Like betrayal.

I feel betrayed. I feel like so much of my current state of affairs is a direct result of broken commitments. Yes, there are parts of my situation that are a result of choices I made. But some of those choices were made based on commitments and promises. And so what do you do when you find yourself trapped in a situation that sucks, and the bottom line is that a large part of its occurence is based on something you yourself had no control over? It is based on a commitment someone made to you and then broke. What do you do?

I feel trapped. And angry. Betrayed. And hurt.

Tossin' and Turnin' All Night

For whatever reason, my 1 1/2 year streak of having no problem falling asleep at night has come to an end. I'm hoping it's temporary. But in the last week, I think I've only fallen asleep within 10 minutes of turning out the lights once. I had been so enjoying the immediate gratification of sleep and not the torturous hour (at least) of my brain working overtime and thinking about everything except maybe what is in the kitchen sink :). I have returned to the nights of tossing and turning... literally. I have my little system, too. You will think I'm crazy. Oh wait... Half of you reading this probably already do anyway, so what do I have to lose ;). (And the other half of you? Well, the other half of you know I'm crazy :)). I have about 8 different positions I rotate through whenever I get into the non-sleeping phase. And they are always done in order. And the end result is that I just roll in circles until I fall asleep. If that makes sense. However, I am very good at staying on my half of the bed. I don't know to whom the other half belongs. I just know that I subconsciously never go there ;). Anyway, I wonder if this happens in phases in my life. I seem to have gone through phases of it. I hope not. Because I would rather just drop off to sleep as soon as I get still and comfortable and the room gets dark :).

Today was a crazy busy day at work. Seriously insane. The receptionist went home sick, so Sue and I took turns on the reception desk. Only Sue had scrap-bookers in the afternoon, so that meant I was on the desk all afternoon. And then we had two families come in to make arrangements. And then another man to make pre-arrangements. And so none of our directors were available, none of our family service advisors were available. And the people just kept on a-comin'! And the phone kept on a-ringin'! So, I was pretty tired by the end of the day. And poor Callie (the cat) was quite upset that she didn't have anywhere to go and relax, because there were people everywhere. And even more distressing was the fact that her usual bffs (as Sue refers to us) were all otherwise detained and unable to pet her and brush her and love her. Do love that cat though. She is a beautiful cat. She's particular and doesn't let strangers have anything to do with her. Or rather, she doesn't have anything to do with strangers. But the people who work there... she comes to us so we can pet her. We say she's management.

I'm tired. I wonder if I will fall asleep easily tonight. I wonder if there is a direct correlation between blogging frequency and lack of sleep :). Because in good old T-town, where I blogged almost daily, I tossed and turned every single night. It was awful, mostly because I had to be at work at hideous hours like 7:30 in the morning (I consider that cruel and unusual punishment, by the way). Here, at least, I can make up for the long time it takes to fall asleep by sleeping-in the next day. I embrace that :). Anyway, I'm half joking. There's probably no correlation at all. Although, with my new frequency in blogging, and my new lack of falling asleep quickly, it does cause one to wonder. What's that you say? Only a crazy person would make a connection between the two? Hmph. Well then refer to paragraph one :). I do not deny my craziness.

And I've felt really bloggy lately. So I have blogged. Even if it's mindless and silly. Maybe it's my new therapy. I need to write a book. I keep saying that.

Well, I'm off then. Off to read more about Ender and his Game. Off to ponder the mysteries of life while I try to fall asleep. Mysteries like: how do the geese determine which one is the lead in the flying V to begin with? And how do they determine which goose is next front-man? Look... We have a lot of Canadian Geese in the area. It's going to bear some thought in my mind at some point :).

Hope you enjoyed your foray into the brain of Nilla. Scary place, isn't it ;)?

All I Have to do is Dream

This is a good song. I've known it for years. Music is amazing like that. It really sticks with us. I can't remember the last time I heard this song, but I can still sing all of it :).

I dream a lot. And I'm not talking about night-time in-my-sleep dreams. I have those a lot too. But usually they are very odd and don't make a lot of sense. My subconscious mind takes a million life experiences and throws them in a bag, shakes them all up, and then pulls some of them out and sticks them together. And the results are sometimes weird; sometimes amusing; sometimes disturbing; sometimes very realistic; but always interesting.

But I'm not talking about those dreams. I'm talking more about daydreams. The kinds of dreams I have a little bit more control over. Sometimes I feel like a teenager again, imaging what my life will be -- what I want it to be -- what I hope it will be. As my life changes, so do my musings and the life I create in my head. For example...

Lately I've craved a place of my own. Not because I don't enjoy living with my mom. But because, more than anything, I want a place that is mine where I can invite people over to play games and watch a movie. That simply isn't an option here, for a number of reasons. At least, it's not an option right now. I have plans in my head (more dreams) of how it could be a reality one day, assuming nothing else changes (though I sincerely dream of the possibility that other things could change and will change -- like maybe I'll get a job with which I can actually support myself in the not-so-distant future). So I have something in mind to hopefully make this a reality one way or another. But even so, I still dream of owning my own home. Which has me googling short sales and houses for sale in the area. And no, it's not even a remote possibility right now. It's not financially feasible. But it's still fun to look. And then imagine. And so I've been doing that today. Imagining. Dreaming. And then I tell tell my best friend in the whole world about my crazy daydreams, and then she dreams along with me! And together we dream about how I will get the house and she will come out here and help me decorate (because we all know I lack the fru-fru gene...).

Because sometimes daydreams are just an escape, you know? And sometimes you need that escape. Sometimes you need to plan out how great it will be when your best friend magically moves to Washington State (which will be even more convenient for when she helps you decorate your house :)). Or how you will one day work at your job, not because you have to, but because you want to because it's fun and flexible and you don't have to because you have a wonderful husband who has a great job and with whom you totally click and in the evenings you cuddle up on the couch together and watch episodes of some sarcastically funny tv show or some sappy romantic movie that he says he doesn't want to watch, but that he is secretly enjoying. Or how you will one day be able to host get-togethers for all the major holidays and any fun day in between with lots of laughs, games, and goodies for family and friends. And okay, so some of these might never happen. But some of them might.

And besides, according to the quote for the movie quote guess this week, sometimes the best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.... I think I hear my alarm ;).

Disclaimer: I'm not complaining. Just musing. Sometimes it's fun to muse.

Bowled Under

So as I mentioned before... I went bowling this past Saturday with several ladies from church. Let's just say I'm not a stellar bowler. I didn't break 100 on either game. How sad! I think only one person broke 100, and one person got exactly 100 on one game each. All in all we aren't terribly great bowlers, but we have lots of fun :). My two scores were 94 and 96. At least I was improving, right :)!? A couple more games and even I might have gotten 100! Anyway, here's a picture of us... And the reason for the bowling balls in the shirts on some of the ladies is that Kristin (the blonde holding 2 bowling balls) is something like 5 months pregnant! She's so funny. She's the Relief Society President in our Ward. Anyway, fun was had by all. It's always nice to just get out and hang with the ladies and do something different.

Going bowling made me think of Junior High School in Panama. For several weeks, at least in 8th grade, we had bowling as one of our gym classes. We boarded a bus every day for those weeks and went to the Curundu Bowling Alley. With going as often as we did, I actually got pretty decent. I never bowled a perfect game, but I think I might have broken 200 a time or two. Plus we had to learn how to score by hand. Now it's a lost art, because the computers score for you. On Saturday, we didn't even get to put our own names into the machine! They did it for us at the desk when we got our shoes. I guess everything gets more and more automated these days. But anyway, yeah. It was fun to think about those days in Jr. High when we went bowling. And the best part? Not having to dress out, since bowling doesn't really cause you to work up a sweat :).

Today we didn't have any rain!!! Woohoo! It was actually a really pretty day. Clear skies for the first time in days and days. With sunshine. Who knew you could miss the sunshine so much?

I finished Al Capone Shines My Shoes last night and have started on Ender's Game. I'm not far into it (like 3 chapters), but so far it's pretty good. I'm loving my reading time, though I don't think I'll be getting any tonight, since it's already 1 a.m. and I'm tired. That's what happens when you spend 2 hours talking on the phone, though... I'm so chatty.

Today at work, Mary, Sue, and I quoted from French Kiss. That's a cute and hilarious little movie. We were laughing so hard as we quoted that we got in a bit of trouble. Because we get loud. Sometimes they can hear us upstairs...

So, I got my two $25 gift cards to Best Buy in the mail on Saturday (the ones that I got as a reward for using my credit card). I promptly went to Best Buy to see if they had the good sales on the stuff I want to buy. Not so much. And then I went back today to see if that has changed with a new week... Not so much. So, I wait. There are some areas of life where I can have patience.... Now to cultivate that virtue in other areas of my life... I'll let you know how that goes :).

On Thursday, we have another Rewards and Recognition dinner at work. It's always somewhere in Seattle. I might go. I might not. Depends on who is going. If nobody fun is going, I'll probably skip it. I'm sure I can find other things to do with my time... like read :).

Yep, so I guess that's it. Just thought I'd throw up the picture from the bowling alley :).

Score!

Trust me, I'm as amazed as you probably are that I'm blogging two days in a row for the first time in probably a year and a half! But I had a really fun day! Full of things about which to blog! Woohoo!

First off, I was up until about 1 this morning reading Al Capone Shines My Shoes. It's cute. It's a sequel of sorts, the first one being Al Capone Does My Shirts. It's a young adult book for middle-school age kids, I would say. I loved the first one. It made me smile at the end. And I'm enjoying this one as well. Some of it literally makes me smile. I love books like this. Feel-good books. Anyway...

I woke up at 9 this morning. I set my phone alarm for 8:15. And yes, that's early for me :). I hit snooze on the phone (that is 3 middle-button pushes, by the way... I learned this so I can hit snooze without having to look to make sure I re-set it to sound again in a few minutes :)), so I woke up at 9 and got up. Because my mom and I had big plans to work on the pantry. I had a breakfast of toast with blueberry-rhubarb jam and strawberry-rhubarb jam. Two pieces of toast, one with each flavor. These are the jams I helped make with the then-Enrichment committee at church. It's not called an Enrichment committee anymore. But, I digress. Then my mom and I got down and dirty... quite literally. I usually overestimate my abilities and underestimate undertakings. I figured we could have the whole "cleaning and organization of the pantry" thing done in 3 hours. Wow was I off base! We barely scratched the surface! Some of that stuff hasn't been touched in probably 30 years. Which means it's dusty. And spiderwebby. Ick. Of course, please note that not everything in the pantry is this way. Just the stuff that hasn't been touched in eons. It's a huge pantry and storage area. One of the treasures I found are about 5 stickers from Birmingham, AL that have Vulcan on them and call Birmingham "The Magic City." They are circa 1981. How many people do you suppose have those?!? Apparently my grandparents must have made a stop in Birmingham back in the day -- probably for Square Dancing is what my mom and I are thinking. Anyway, we have a lot more work to do, but we have ideas for organization, and I think it will look great when we are done!

Before long it was time to get ready for work. Both my mom and I went in around noon, and I was pretty darn productive there, even though I wasn't feeling all "worky" today. Oh, and of course I helped Bob do the crossword puzzle. I like that ritual. Usually he will fill in a few and walk away when he can't think of anymore. Then I'll come check it out and fill in what I know. Then he'll come back and fill in some more based on what I've put in, etc etc. I find that I like doing the puzzles better this way than by myself. We tend to always finish the "warm-up" in the daily paper, and some days we succeed in doing the "hard" one too :). Oh, and of course there was tons of laughter with Mary. I'm not even sure what we laughed about at this point. I just wish I had a tape recorder some days.

After work, I got home and was thrilled with two items that came in the mail!!! One was a bill. Yes, I know. Who's crazy enough to want that? Well, me. Because! I wrote my pay-off check for my credit card! It goes in the mail tomorrow! Woohoo!!! I'm ecstatic, can you tell? I called the credit card company to get my pay-off to make sure it wouldn't go up with interest charges before they receive the check, and they said it wouldn't because of when they figure everything. And then they tried to sell me some kind of coverage so that I wouldn't have a minimum payment due in case I got laid off "in this difficult economy" or something. I said, "Look, I appreciate what you're saying, but I'm making my final payment, so I won't have a balance. Why would I sign up for something like that?" Yeah, no thanks. So anyway... I'm excited.

The other item in the mail was a package from Julie! Inside were the best friend journal -- it's my turn to write three memories :) -- an Office notepad for grocery lists, etc (awesome for 2 reasons: because it's The Office and because it's perfect for lists! :)), and a pair of 80s-style "sunglasses". I don't know what else to call them. You will see what I mean though. These were from Julie and her friend Randi, I believe. Julie had told me she was sending me a package and that something inside was from Randi. Anyway, totally awesomely 80s! Made me smile!!! And so now you can too! And don't make fun of my goofy 80s pose. It's the best I could come up with :).

In case you can't tell from the picture, they are those shades that have slits in them and no actual lens. So totally 80s :). Little by little I will have the whole 80s get-up. Now to just fit back into that jean skirt... So, thank you Julie and Randi!!! Way awesome surprise!

And then I went and spent money. Because I'm uber-frugal like that, right? Okay, actually, I didn't intend to spend money. Well, except for what it cost to get contact solution. Everywhere I've tried to get contact solution in the last week has either not sold it, been out of stock, or it was $10.99. I'm sorry. I'm cheap. I'm not paying 11 whoppers for contact solution when I know I can get it at Wal-Mart for like $3. So I finally gave in and just went to Wal-Mart. I know, Julie... Everywhere for you is like at least 15 minutes away. But up here things are more compact, so I have gotten spoiled :). And I hate the drive to Wal-Mart. It's on the other side of town ;). Whine, whine, whine. But anyway, so I went. And got 2 full-size bottles for less than $6. I think it was actually even cheaper than that. Oooo! I had to look, and it's even better! I got 2 bottles for $4.73 after tax. Yeah, so forget that $11 crap. It didn't even cost me $7 in gas to get to Wal-Mart :). And then I went to JC Penney -- a place I never shop -- and found some of the most awesome after-Christmas sales ever! I can't tell what I got, since they are all for Christmas 2010. I'm working on buying throughout the year -- especially when things are on sale -- so I don't get slammed at the end! And I got $180 (before tax) worth of stuff for $26 after tax! For you math nerds out there (like me :)), that's roughly 14% of what I would have paid had I bought them before Christmas! Gotta love a good deal. And simply can't pass it up -- especially if I have the funds and it's going to pay off in the end :). Woohoo! So, I have both "big girls" (as far as nieces go) bought for for Christmas!!! Wahoo!

And then I came home and showed my mom my scores :)! She was impressed!

So yeah. Today was a pretty awesome day. And on Saturday, I'm going to go bowling with some of the ladies at church, so that should be fun :). And even more fun, because I have that discount card, so I get 2 games for the price of one :). For up to 4 people, so I'm sharing the discount with 3 other ladies from church :).

Oh, and my mp3 player has some pretty darn awesome music! I love this thing!

Ho-Hum

I feel like blogging, but I have nothing interesting to say :). Go figure! So here's a synopsis of all things Nilla. Well, okay... Maybe not all things Nilla. But how about a few things Nilla :).

• It has been raining a lot here. I realize this is probably the norm. Or at least pretty close to the norm. But this round has been particularly annoying. And even people who have lived here for years are saying they are getting more aggravated with it this time than they usually do. Anyway, so far I have had two full-size towels reach the point of super-saturation on my floorboard. There's a third one in there now. That's a lot of water... Maybe I should implement Mrs S's tarp idea... especially now that I know to what she was referring :).
  
• I feel like I was pretty productive today. I got all the Christmas decorations put away, and this is no small feat. It requires me to be a contortionist to get everything into the small crawl space under the stairs in the pantry. I also got rid of part of a rug in the basement and washed my sheets and comforter. And tonight I made my bed, so I will be looking forward to a nice, newly made bed here in a little bit when I lay down to read. (Have I mentioned that I'm not a bed-maker? I think it's one of the most pointless chores ever. Though I have to admit, I do like getting into a newly made bed....). Oh yeah, and these were in addition to me going to work and being productive there :).
  
• Tomorrow my mom and I will be reorganizing and going through the pantry. Then maybe one will not have to contort oneself in the future...
  
• I like having a purpose and a goal. It does something for my psyche and my spirit. It is good :).
  
• I'm going to do something different on my blog, courtesy of Elka's ideas. Last week, I was bored, so I was blog-stalking myself ;). Hahaha.... Okay, so what that entails is just randomly going through old blog posts of my own. And some of them I'd forgotten all about! I was mentioning to Elka that I had forgotten some of them and that re-reading them made me laugh, and she said I should add a section on the side of my blog that has some of my favorite posts. I liked the idea. So, I have replaced Nilla Trivia with a section called "Glimpses". And there you will find links to some of the blog posts that have made me laugh or smile. I will change them out periodically. And maybe sometimes I will have a theme.

So, there you go. Nothing exciting. Just felt bloggy.

Self-Improvement

Yeah, so it's that time of year when everyone reflects on ways they want to make themselves better in the new year. I actually made a list of goals for 2010 a couple weeks before we reached the new year. I've since added other goals as well. Goals that are more spiritual than the ones I wrote down a couple weeks ago. Not that the ones from a few weeks ago aren't still valid and good. They are. I just decided that I need to set goals for all aspects of my life, not just temporal and physical ones. So, here are my goals, in category order :).

Spiritual
1. Liken the scriptures. I tend to read my scriptures superficially. I need to do better. I need to study them and learn how to do that better. That will be how I actually learn a lot more. And if I can liken them to my life -- well, that is how I find answers for my own life and my own situation. I have had 2 amazing experiences with this that really stick out in my mind. And the way I felt when it happened was awesome. And I wanted that again. Because I received answers to prayers -- guidance for my life. I think that, if I will study more thoroughly, I will have those experiences more often.

2. Attend the Temple more often. I had done pretty well with this in Tuscaloosa. The drive to the Birmingham Temple was an easy one. Driving to Seattle is a little more scary, and I'm a lot of a wimp. So, I have not gone to the Temple as often as I ought to have in the last year. I need to improve in that area.

3. Become more humble. I'm not saying I walk around thinking I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. I'm certainly not. But I can be pretty stubborn and overbearing when it comes to expressing my ideas. I think I'm right, and that my way is right. And that's not very humble. And it's especially unwise to go up against Heavenly Father in this particular category. So, I need to strive to become more humble and more teachable.


Temporal
1. Build my savings account. I have already started this. I have set a goal to put $20 into my savings account each paycheck. No, it's not a phenomenal amount of money, but the old adage is true: "Constant dripping hollows out the stone."

2. Be debt-free. And I mean completely. I make the final payment on my credit card this month. This up-coming week, in fact. I'm so excited about this. I plan to then use my credit card for purchases that I pay off immediately. Because I want to earn the points on my purchases. I just claimed my rewards from everything I've spent since I opened the card, and I am going to get 2 $25 gift cards to Best Buy. Where I will buy 2 more seasons of Scrubs. When they are on sale. And then maybe I can get more than just 2. Who knows. The point is, I want to take advantage of the points thing. I just need to make sure I stay disciplined and don't charge more than I can pay. And then I start paying off my student loan in massive chunks. It will be gone no later than December 2010, if all else remains equal. And actually, I can probably have it done by August. But, I want to leave myself room for the unexpected :). My life tends to be full of that...

3. 3 months of food/necessity storage. I had this goal last year. I failed. I need to do better and just "bite off" pieces I can manage. Maybe just look at it a paycheck at a time and say, "What can I buy this paycheck that will help me reach this goal?" And then buy it.

4. Start gardening. No, I'm not going to attempt a massive undertaking of every fruit or vegetable I'd like to eventually be able to grow. That would be setting myself up for failure, and I know it. So this year, I'm going to try to grow tomatoes and cucumbers. I love cucumbers, and I can tolerate tomatoes. But we could also can the tomatoes for future use in soups, like the yummy garlic vegetable soup I love so much... So, that's what I'm going to try this year.


Physical
1. Walk. I started doing this last year and some weeks it was better than others. And then it really fizzled at the end when it got colder and got dark early. I need to try again. I liked walking with Heidi and visiting and chatting. And also with Sue.

2. Lose 20 pounds. Because that's how much I gained last year. Blech. I was so proud of myself for maintaining my weight loss in Tuscaloosa. I don't even know how I managed to do it, because I didn't actually try. So I want to return to that weight. I was happy with it.


Miscellaneous
These are just things I'd like to do this year. Whether they are things I want to obtain or things I want to do doesn't matter. They might not serve to make me or my life better, but they are wants, if you will :).

1. Trim apple tree for production. Okay, so we have an apple tree in the backyard. It's seen better days. It doesn't produce much, and what it does produce is pretty much useless. And that's because it needs pruning (and isn't this a lesson for life???). I am doubtful I would be able to get much of a crop out of it this upcoming summer, even if I did an awesome job pruning. But as I have no clue what I'm even doing, I'm just going to give up on the goal of actually getting production out of the tree and just cut it back because it needs to be cut back and pruned for aesthetic purposes and so it doesn't start smacking the house...

2. Get a laptop. And when I say this, I mean that I will pay cash for it. Or I will have the cash to immediately pay it off with. I have already budgeted it out as a line item in my budget :). But I may also use my tax return money for it. We shall see. Maybe I will feel motivated to start writing?

3. Accept that there are some things I cannot control. Perhaps this falls under humility above. I don't know. But sometimes it's not a matter of humility so much as disgust at things I feel are unjust. And sometimes I cannot control those things. And so, I have to let go. And not let it get to me.

4. Go at least one place (like a city or state) I've never been before. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.


So, those are pretty much my goals/hopes for 2010. I know that each and every day is a new day and a new chance to be better and to recommit (that looks like it's spelled wrong...) to improving myself. Last Sunday, one of the members of the high council bore his testimony and talked about setting goals and he suggested that perhaps Fast Sunday (the first Sunday of the month in the LDS church) would be a good time to set goals for the month. And that perhaps each Sunday would be a good time to set goals for the upcoming week. I think I want to implement that and see how it works for me. It seemed like a good idea and a way to make the big goals a little smaller, since you can take them a week at a time...

Well, that's all I've got for now. This post was mostly for Elka, since I told her I was thinking of updating tonight and she said, "Good!" :). Loveya Elka!

Oh and PS... I went to Wal-Mart yesterday and spent my $20 gift card. I bought Sixteen Candles on DVD, finally! It was only $9!!! I've never seen it really cheap, so this was a steal in my opinion. And I also bought Roxanne, which is another chick flick with Steve Martin. Cute.

And Elka -- you are way fast! I'd barely had this thing posted before you had left me 2 comments! And yes, I'm sure "more humble" is a scary thing to ask for. But maybe that's why I've been in "limbo." Maybe humility should have been my goal last year... ;).

My Floorboard Swimming Pool

So I drive a car that is now 15 years old. It's a good car. I really can't complain. Yes, it has some issues. None of the windows roll all the way down anymore.* (refer to the a later paragraph for humor). The lock on the driver's side door is sometimes finicky to the point where I can't get my key inserted. And sometimes, even if I can get the key in, it won't turn. So, sometimes I have to unlock the car from the passenger side. But overall, it's a great car. It runs. It's paid for. I plan to keep it until it dies. But one thing that has become more and more noticable as I live in a state that is very wet is that I have a leak somewhere. Now, there has been a leak in this car since I first got it. Because the first time I noticed it, I was living in Dothan and we thought it was the heater core. So, we had Jon (Julie's husband) replace the heater core for us. So nice of him to do it. I don't even know what the heater core is. We just heard that when there is water building up on the floorboard, that's what the problem is. Only, apparently not. Because it has continued to leak. And I've just dealt with it. Sure, my right pant-leg will get wet on the cuffs. But nothing too bad. Well, today at work, I happened to park on an incline with the front of my car facing downhill. So when I got in it tonight, there was literally a puddle on my floorboard. I'm going to have to sop it up tomorrow... As I drove it home, a lot of it soaked back into the carpet in other parts of the floorboard. Thankfully it only gets wet on the driver's side floorboard and not in the back seats. At least there is that. Oh, and the other downfall to this is that it fogs up the inside of my car in a major way. All that condensation... In fact, one particularly cold day up here last month, I had ice on the inside of my windshield. Hahaha... So yeah, I have a swimming pool in my floorboard. How many of you have that awesome feature in your car ;)?

*So, for some reason I have this weird fear of my car going in the water and I wouldn't be able to get out. Because, even if my windows did roll all the way down (which they don't, as I mentioned above), how much time would I have with an electric window to roll it down before the water shorts it out? So, I heard -- from my friend Virginia -- that they make these window breaking things. I had never heard of such a wondrous invention, but it seemed pretty darn smart to me! But then I never thought of it again. Until I saw it at RiteAid last month. But they were like $6. I am cheap. So I didn't buy it. And Christina was with me that day. She made fun of me for my fear -- and for wanting to buy one. Anyway, then they went on sale for 50% off. So, I bought one. Apparently, my life is not worth $6, but it is worth $3. Well, so I've already played with this thing (not on my car windows, just in case it works -- which I really hope it does). I tested it on a wall. And it seems like the wimpiest craptastic-iest thing ever. I don't know how it would ever break a car window. But, we'll just assume that it will and I can be happy. Because Christina is probably right... I'll probably never have occasion to use it anyway. And then, what Elka said is also true... Wait til the car fills all the way up and then get out of the car -- because the pressure should be equal inside and outside of the car. And okay, so that all sounds intelligent. But seriously... When you are a little freaked out about that, you just don't have time to think logically and buying the $3 escape thing is a good peace-of-mind tool :).

I started a blog last year dedicated to book reviews and the such. I didn't really do a great job of keeping up with it. I'm trying to do better. I figure I should pretend like I'm a librarian and do something techologically bookie :). If you are at all interested, you can check it out here. Like I said, I didn't do a great job of keeping up with it, even though I was reading -- at least a little bit. I think my grand-total of books read in 2009 was 9 books. Just call me the slacker librarian. How sad is that? I just found a million other things that occupied my time. I'm hoping I will do better in 2010. I'm off to a good start. I finished Critical Judgement by Michael Palmer last night and am a couple of chapters into Janet Evanovich's Plum Spooky. This should be a fast read. Her books are fluff, but they are a good laugh. Good for the soul :).

Well, there really isn't too much to report. Life is pretty much more of the same here. So maybe I'll go read a little. And work on adding another book to my "read" list so that I can cross off another one from my "to read" list :).

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

A couple of thoughts about this song title post (the song can be heard here)...

1. If my dreams are an indication of my heart's wishes, then my heart is just as crazy as my head ;).
2. Something tells me some of my dreams will never actually take place ;). Like the one that I'm about to share!


I had this dream about a week ago -- before Christmas. And it all took place in about 15 minutes of real time (between 8:15 when my alarm went off and 8:32 when I got a text). So here's the dream...

I'm sitting at a long table with a bunch of little chairs. I'm sitting amongst a bunch of 5 year olds in a classroom at Los Rios Elementary School (in Panama). At the table across from mine is another adult who I recognize as Mrs. Zapata, who was my 1st grade teacher (in real life). It is time to go around the room and introduce ourselves, so I stand up (a giant amidst all these kids) and I say, "Hi, my name is Hila. I'm 29 years old. Fifteen years ago, Mrs. Zapata was actually my kindergarten teacher, and now I'm back in her class!"

Commentary: Please note that that is bad math. And I'm really not that bad at math in real life. Let me explain... 1. Mrs. Zapata was my 1st grade teacher in real life. And I was not in kindergarten 15 years ago (though that could go one of 2 ways for me... I could either be 20 now with a whole heap of education behind me because I was so smart (not likely); or I could have been really really dumb and been in kindergarten at the age of 14 (more likely, but not true ;)). So yeah. Bad math in my dreams. Apparently that's not my subconscious strong-point. Math should go in the axis of evil according to "Dream Nilla". Hahahaha. Okay, enough. Back to the dream.

So at this point, I'm thinking: "How do I explain to a group of 5 year olds the concept of a bachelor's degree?" Because I start saying to them: "I got my bachelor's degree in English..." But I stop myself. Because what 5 year old knows what a Bachelor's degree is anyway? So, I mentally think this out and this is what I end up saying to my classmates (because, yes, I am in fact a student in the classroom at the age of 29)... "I went to school for grown-ups and I learned a lot about English. And then I went to more school so I could learn how to be a librarian, because I like books, and I like to help people find good books to read."

Commentary: Wow... I'm articulate in my dreams! (that was sarcasm, by the way).

Anyway, at about this time, my phone went off indicating I had a text message. So I woke up. But what a crazy dream! I mean, I was literally the age I am now with the knowledge I have now, but I was in kindergarten. And somehow it seemed perfectly normal to me and everyone else around me!

A couple of days later, I had another dream that I remembered. I was in Panama -- again the age I am now. I was at our old house in Cardenas. Christina was there, but she was younger, beecause we were sharing our old bedroom, and she was still asleep in the bed. I was getting into the upper right-hand drawer to get out socks. And I specifically remember I was getting my 2nd pair of toe socks (like the ones Le sent me for Christmas last year that I love for winter flip-flop wearing :)).

Commentary: I only own one pair of those toe socks in reality. Also, I wouldn't have a reason to wear toe socks with flip flops in Panama since it never gets cold there...

So, question: If a dream is a wish your heart makes, what does that say about me and my dreams ;)?!!! Hahahaha... I'm so crazy. Although I have definitely said a number of times that I wouldn't mind going back to being a kid with my knowledge as a 29 year old (because let's face it, my knowledge and experience has been hard-won). However, in saying that, I don't actually want to be a giant 29-year old in a kindergarten class :). I want to blend a little :).

And I don't know about you, but I'm starting off to an interesting 2010. Life. It's never dull, is it? Or is that just the "Nilla Life?"