A Nilla Week

Just some random stories from my last week :).

1. (Julie, don't read this one). So last Sunday morning, I had a very early meeting. Had to be at church at 7, which meant I could only sleep until 6:30. So it was still dark outside. I woke up and knelt down to say prayers. While I was getting up, my hand was pressed to the bed, and I felt something, so I picked it up and kind of rolled it in my fingers. And it felt wettish and weird. I threw it down, thinking, "Yuck. That doesn't feel like something I want to be touching." I flipped on the light... and sure enough... I'd been rolling up a spider. A rather large one. And that's creepy nasty. Because it had been in my bed. Not the best way to start a morning that I already had to start out earlier than I think is humanly necessary ;). So ick. It still makes my skin crawl to think of it.

2. Christina came by the house on Tuesday with the girls. Emily gets more independent by the day. She can pretty much stand by herself, though she doesn't do it for very long. She is very nosy, and very demanding. I told Christina that, since I haven't had children of my own to pass my genes down to in the traditional way... I've just been passing them on to her children through osmosis. Nosy and demanding. Yep, that's me! Hahaha. But, the cutest thing... Christina was feeding Emily and then gave her a Ritz cracker. Well, Emily decided she wanted to feed me the Ritz. So she would cram it into my mouth until I would take a bite, and then she would look at Christina and take a bite of whatever Christina was feeding her. It was really cute. She is learning by example, and she wants to do what she sees us do. Meanwhile, Desiree serenaded us with some of her beautiful music about bananas and apples. And when my mom and I busted out singing "Day-O" (the part about bananas), Desiree thought that was just the bees knees.

3. I could get on a soapbox about lack of individual accountability in Corporate America, but I would just work myself into a tizzy. I'll let it be. Sometimes it's sad when we lose our idealism. And then I just want to return to the days of yore... The days of innocence and ignorance are gone. And sometimes, I can buy into the whole "ignorance is bliss" thing.

4. I got a birthday package in the mail yesterday from April :)! A very awesome bunch of gifts. To include The Office pens; a nice notebook; chewy mini sweettarts (have you tried these? they are awesome); and a huge bag of a variety of Lindor Truffles. Oh my gosh those things are sooo good. She had them at her wedding, and they are fabulous. So, just go ahead and plan to roll me around ;). Hahaha... Nah, just kidding. I plan to make them stretch.

5. Getting together with a group of ladies to do a potluck and gab is always fun. Tons of laughter. It is amazing what a gaggle of women will discuss. And if you are a woman, you are not amazed by this statement, and you understand it completely :).

6. With the release of New Moon in the theatres, it's time for my sisters and me to start planning our Twilight party. We have to come up with a menu, and so far we only have 3 items on it, and they are all sweet. So, anybody who has suggestions for cutesy vampire or werewolf related foods, send 'em up!

7. I've been on a bit of a spending spree. I have accomplished a lot of Christmas shopping, plus I have treated myself to several seasons of various tv shows that I like :). Yes, sometimes I'm not the miser some will accuse me of being ;).

Cuz [I] Had a [Blah] Day

Yeah, I guess this a pretty lame song-title post :). But it popped into my head, so I used it :).

Seriously, today has been the longest day I've ever spent at work. Usually it's fun and something is always going on. But today, the time seems to be ticking by soooo slowly. I looked at the clock at one point, and it wasn't even 3 p.m.! Perhaps it's the weather. Winter has set in here in Washington. I think our temperature today was 46 degrees. We have been getting ice on some days. So far I haven't had to scrape my car off. I know it's coming, though. Perhaps the one thing that is saving me is that I don't actually get up until after 8 every morning. So maybe that gives the sun time to heat up and melt away the ice :). I'm all about doing things au natural. That's why I love blackberries. They grow in abundance without any effort. Is that lazy? Don't answer that ;). Anyway... I have to be at a church meeting at 7 tomorrow morning, so I'm pretty sure I'll be scraping my car in the morning. Oh well, c'est la vie. I'm feeling French today :). Want another one? Ambiance. Not pronounced like the a in ant :). Or ambient (as in temperature ;)).

Okay, I'm being goofy.

Anyway, so yeah, today wasn't an exciting day. But that's okay. I did some shopping last night. Went back to this cool grocery store that is full of great deals. So you have to bag your own groceries... who cares? If it means my bill will be smaller, I'll take it :). Tonight I'm going to go to several stores. I'm in the Christmas shopping mood. I've made my list. I've checked it twice. I've also checked off the things I've already purchased. Oh how I love lists. Right after work I'm going to shoot over to St. Vinny's, which is one of my favorite places. It's like Goodwill or whatever. They have great stuff. Anyway, they always have a lot of books for sale, and I'm going to go pick some up for Christina as part of her Christmas. And no, I don't think it's tacky to get used books as Christmas presents. They aren't her only gift. So fret not, my peeps :). Plus she knows about them, because I have been giving her new authors to read, and she tried Iris Johansen, and she liked her book, so now she needs to be kept in supply :). Oh how I am babbling...

In other news... Julie texted me today and we discussed, briefly, Christmas gifts. She asked me what I am asking for this year. Truthfully, the only thing I really want right now is a laptop. But that's a big-ticket item, and I'm not actually asking for it. I will save up the money for it eventually. I have recently done the math and know that I will be credit card debt-free in January. And completely debt-free (as in I will have my student loan paid off) no later than December. December 2010, that is. It's the worst-case scenario of all things being equal. But with tax season coming up, that should help move that up to much sooner.

Anyway, so far the only thing I have thought of that I would like to own is the movie Serendipity. Oh, and season 3 of Arrested Development. I actually bought the first 2 seasons the other day, because they were on sale at Target. And okay, I also bought seasons 3 and 4 of Everybody Loves Raymond. Because it was a total of $14.99 (plus tax -- that darn tax, I should move to Oregon ;)) for both of them.

In still other news, I have had some of the strangest dreams this past week. One night I dreamed I had to do an IRLA (which is some kind of verification they have to do on the cemetery grounds to prevent improper burial -- and this is something only the grounds crew does, so who knows why I dreamed that...). One night I dreamed I was going to Germany with Julie. We started out in my house in Panama, and I was packing. And then we were on this huge airplane that had restaurants on it, like a food court in the mall. Bizarre. And I know there was another one, but now I don't remember it. I knew I should have written it down sooner. Oh well. It's just my crazy mind anyway :).

Wow, today my life sounds truly vanilla. Anyway, I alleviated some of my boredom :). Have a lovely week :)!

Time May Change Me

Over the past year, more so than any other time in my life, I have realized how much I have changed. Time has changed me, just as David Bowie suggested that it might. I alluded to the fact that I was once quite averse to the idea of changing. I didn't want to believe that I would change. I guess I feared that, if I changed, I would somehow cease to be Hila. I'm sure I was changing all along, in spite of my declarations that I hadn't or that I wouldn't. And maybe the changes were small and imperceptible day-by-day, but over time, they were more noticeable. I really don't know. What I do know is that I can look back now and see how the past year has definitely changed me... and perhaps it really has been happening for longer than that. Perhaps, in my fight against change, I had to be put into situations where I would change and grow and learn. I think it has happened. And I'm sure it will continue to happen.

I'm far more outspoken than I ever used to be. I let my opinions be heard. I say what is on my mind. If something is bothering me, I speak it. I don't squash down those feelings out of fear of some form of repercussion. If something hurts my feelings, I say so. I have the right to do that. It's something I wasn't as good at before. I would just bottle it up and let it fester. Which only hurt me, in the end.

I'm far more outgoing than I used to be. I know I am still quiet at times, especially in new places surrounded by people that I don't know. But I have found that I am an extrovert. I am a social person. I crave associations with friends and family. I don't want to close myself off from the world. I am not content with that. There was a time in my life when I thought I was an introvert. In the past 3 years, I realized that I'm not. I don't know if that personality trait has changed or if I've just become aware of it. But what has changed is the way I deal with it. I desire to have parties and create social situations where friends can gather, talk, play, eat, and have fun :).

I'm much more independent. Okay, so maybe not financially. But in other, perhaps more important, ways. I have a stronger sense of self. I like who I am, and I am confident in the choices I make. I've had to work through a lot of different situations all by myself, and I've come out the other end stronger for it. I know I can stand on my own. I know I have the strength to get through trials on my own, even if I may wish I had someone by my side with whom to weather life's storms.

Of course, there's always the bad side. Perhaps I'm too sassy. Perhaps I'm too headstrong and stubborn. Perhaps I'm too dictatorial ;). I have a lot to work on... And I know that.

Okay, so this was kind of a boring post of random thoughts. But, it's been bouncing around in my head. Thought I'd jot it down. I've changed. [Life (and] time) [will] change me... And it's okay.

And Now... The Rest of the Story

Well this ought to be lengthy. But, as promised, this is the birthday post, followed by Halloween :). Might as well get it all done now, since there's no telling when I will be at a computer where I can do this for any length of time again.

So I talked to Mary on Thursday night for something like 2 hours. We were both very surprised that we managed to stay on the phone that long -- and we didn't realize it had been that long. It was 1 in the morning by the time we hung up the phone. However, she had regaled me with many hilarious stories -- which will come into play later on.

So, I woke up at about my usual time on Friday, October 30. Which was my 29th birthday. Good grief. 29. Who'd have thunk it? So anyway, I took my sweet time getting ready for the day. At about 8:50, I got a phone call from my boss telling me that I needed to hurry in to work, because they couldn't find a file for a family who had come in. So, I grabbed my stuff and headed in to work. Well, I got downstairs, and everyone was sitting in the reception room, and they immediately began singing Happy Birthday. So, I was a bit embarassed and went and sat down. Well, Mary exclaimed, "You'd better look behind you!" Well, here's what I saw:

And here is how I reacted to what I saw upon closer inspection:

Yeah, not a flattering picture of me. But it was hilarious. Because upon closer inspection, you will see that the cake says this:

And above the cake was a collage of me!

If you care to see some close-ups of the pictures and what people wrote on them, click on any of the pictures in this blog post, and it will take you to my photobucket. Needless to say, this was hilarious! Good ol' Mary. She sure knows how to get me. And let's just say that some of the pictures she chose were less-than-flattering. Like my sleeping in the airport picture. YIKES.
So here are me and Mary with my cake

And here's one of just me and my cake:

(which Sue jokingly said is for next year's collage). Hahahaha.

So everyone was wanting cake, so we went ahead and cut it -- even though it was maybe 9:30 by this point. Mary thought it was hilarious that, even with taking a huge chunk off the top of the cake, you could still see my whole head... aka my melon :).


So, meanwhile, Mary re-tells one of the stories that she had told me the night before... Only now it is more understandable -- and sadly so -- because now she can tell me the rest of the story. (Wow, that worked well with my post title :)).

So, the story Mary had shared went like this: She was at the grocery store, and the store clerk said to Mary (about a 20-something year old), "But you're the mom." So, Mary, feeling horrified, went home and applied her face mask and re-dyed her hair. As she was telling me this story, we were laughing and she was saying, "The only reason she had for saying this was because the girl was in my vicinity! There was no other reason for her to think I was the girl's mom!" So, this is funny, because Mary doesn't have children in the first place, and plus, Mary isn't really old enough to have a 20-something year old daughter. So, we had chuckled about this on the phone the night before. And so now I got the rest of the story. Turns out Mary went to pick up the cake. The bakery had closed an hour earlier than anticipated, so she was getting help from a store clerk. Well, they had to get even more help, because they couldn't find the cake. They finally found it, and the store clerk was hesitant to carry it. She said she didn't want to drop it. Mary said, "But I don't want to drop it either!" And the store clerk said, "But you're the mom!" And so... Yes, that makes the story even sadder. At least for Mary. Because Mary is definitely NOT old enough to have a 29 year old daughter. But I told her, "Maybe I look 16 in that picture." Which would be really good news for me, since I have, like, a ton of gray hair on my head. But, I digress...

After all of this, I go back to my work station. And I realize that the party-fun was not over! Mary had also decorated my desk and surrounding area :)


So here I am, showing off the "Over the Hill" can that has been bequeathed to me by Mary:


And here is "Old Lady Hila" demonstrating the use of said cane:

FYI -- I am well aware of how horrible a picture that is of me. Every time Mary sees it, she just laughs at how awful it is. But, I can say... At least I posed that way on purpose :). Have to look like an old lady with my over-the-hill cane, right?

I ended up running several errands for the funeral home, such as picking up death certificates, doing the bank deposit, etc. When I arrived back at the funeral home, I found all sorts of my birthday pictures being played on the TV. Turns out Bob had so graciously burned them as a MeM. Including the horrible one of me with the cane. Classic. Nothing like seeing yourself on the big screen. Hahaha... As the day wore on, Mary and I went to lunch at a Mexican place and got a ton of food. Way too much for me to finish in one sitting. So, I saved the other half for another day. But it was delicious. We got back to work, and I ate my piece of Hila cake, and then finished up the day. After work, I opened the presents my BFF Juliebean sent me :). She got me pampering stuff that she said she knows I would never get myself... And it was pure white. For the vanilla in me :). Plus she also got me some nice lotion and little cutsie decorations for scrapbooking that include two peas in a pod... Because that's what we are :)!


The rest of my evening consisted of shopping at Fred Meyer. Yeah, I know... You get old, and shopping seems like birthday fun :).

I am almost positive that I have left out a detail or two. But it's been a week. You can't really expect my old lady brain to remember that far back, can you :)?

On Saturday, I worked. But Saturday evening was our Halloween Party! My mom took care of getting everything ready that I had put on the "to bring to Brad's house" list, since I was at work and therefore unable to do that. Thank goodness for my mom! I ran home, picked up all the stuff, and headed to Brad and Tarylyn's. The evening was fun. We had lots of lovely food. This is an overview of the table, but if you click on it, you can see all the dishes individually :).


Not pictured above is the body-part and worm jello and the punch, and the non-alcoholic butterbeer.

Other than Christina (who did her make-up to look like a sparkly vampire) and the kids, we didn't really dress up this year. I have gained too much weight to fit nicely into my 80s gear. So sad. But anyway... Here are a few shots:








Oh, and in my jello, I ate two worms, a brain, and an ear. That was kind of gross, actually. The gummy brain. Ewwww. After my mom and my grandmother left (my grandmother wasn't feeling well, so they left early on), and once we got the kids settled in to watch their movie, Brad, Christina, Tarylyn, and I played Mexican Train. We were only able to play 2 rounds, but it was fun. Though it is hard to play games with a 10 month old who wants to get all the dominoes...

A Taste of Things to Come

I'm officially 29. I had a great birthday yesterday, and Mary and everyone at work really did an awesome thing. I have pictures. But until I gather them all from the various people who took them with their cameras, I will wait. But just know it's coming. And just know it's hilarious :). So I will report on all my birthday stuff at a later date.

Until then, I thought I'd share a few adorable pictures from our Halloween-fest preparations. Christina and the girls came over to the house and we assembled some of our more time-consuming Halloween goodies. Here are a couple of pictures of the girls at dinner:


And Emily eating real food off of a grown-up fork... She's getting so big!


And how happy is this kid :)?


We assembled our little marshmallow witches (which we didn't do last year, but Christina found the recipe and idea online this year and we thought it would be adorable):


We also made spider cracker things and our eerie eyballs from last year. With the extra eerie eyeball goop stuff, we put it in ice cube molds shaped like pumpkins and skulls. We shall see how they turn out tonight :). I'm excited. Our menu is largely the same as last year, but with a few additions. We didn't make the sugar cut-out cookies this year, but we added several cutesie things. So you know there will be pictures of all the food (aren't you excited to hear that, Dad :))? Just give me time to get everything together and blog -- in order of occurrence :). Until then, Happy Halloween everyone!

Oh, and p.s.... I do like Better Off Dead. Classic. And I got it from Best Buy in Dothan when it was on sale for $6.99. I figure, for some of the classic 80s movies, I might have to cough up the extra $2. They also had Sixteen Candles for that price, which I've been wanting to own for some time now on DVD. But it was all sold out :(. One of these days, though... One of these days. Anyway, the regular price for Better Off Dead at Best Buy is $9.99. That's an FYI for anyone interested in acquiring it :).

FYI

It's not like I have been a particularly steady blogger lately anyhow... But the reason blog comments and the such have not been posted is because of my mom's computer issues at home. So I do apologize. I don't even bother turning on the computer at the house, because the stupid Alpha Antivirus blocks nearly every site, including my blog. So... Until that gets squared away.... I will be even more unreliable, as far as blogging goes. Sorry!

Help! I Need Somebody!

...Not just anybody! I need someone who knows how to remove weird junk (possibly spyware) from computers! And even if you don't know how to do that... Click on the link and listen to the Fab Four sing my blog-post title :).

Basically, something called Alpha Antivirus showed up on my mom's computer Thursday night and is causing issues. Several attempts to do a system restore have failed. We are on to another step. I'd just love to know where the stupid thing came from, because I am always very cautious about the sites I visit. I was in the middle of trying to look at April's wedding pictures on facebook when everything went haywire. Blech.

Anyway, as promised, I am finishing up telling you about my latest trip. On Thursday, the 15th, I had to head to Birmingham. I woke up early to pack and to spend a bit of time with my dad, a.k.a. the eBay addict :). My dad drove me to rent a car and I was on the road to Birmingham by 10:30. It's always sad to leave my dad. I wasn't in a rush to get to Birmingham, since April and Greg were working and Courtney was at school. So I moseyed (is that how you spell that word?) along and jammed out to my mp3 player, because the rental had the auxiliary jack. I stopped in Montgomery to get a bite of lunch, and then continued on my merry way up to Birmingham. It's a good thing I wasn't in a hurry since I drove straight into a huge rainstorm. I haven't driven in rain like that in years. We had to slow down to 35 on the interstate with windshield wipers going full blast. Crazy.

Anyway, I found April's new house and still had plenty of time, so I headed up to the Summit (where they have done a ton of new construction), and got a giftcard for April and Greg from the Cheesecake Factory. Plus I walked around Bed, Bath, & Beyond (I love this store) and gabbed with Julie on the phone. Then it was time to head back to April's, since I knew Courtney would be home. But on the way, I spotted Old Time Pottery and decided I needed to stop in there :). So I roamed around that store for a while -- it is huge, after all -- and then finally made my way to April's. Courtney gave me the tour of their new place and introduced me to all of the cats. Then we just hung out. Greg came home and left again to do pre-wedding stuff. So Courtney and I went to Sonic to get a treat :). Then I got a shower and we vegged on the couch until April got home. And mostly we just hung out and watched Jeopardy episodes and an episode of a show called Freaks and Geeks that looks like a good show, though it only lasted one season. I turned in sometime around 1:30 in the morning. The next morning, we got up and went for me to return the car. Then we headed into the heart of Birmingham and ate at The Original Pancake House. Oh my gosh we got so much food. I couldn't finish all mine and I even gave one of my pancakes to April! We got a group picture by a guy who was just sitting around. Who proceeded to ask us if we had any money to spare. Ugh. Oh well.


We spent the remainder of the day doing pre-wedding stuff. We went by Publix to pick up flowers and other goodies for our snackie night. We went to the wedding venue to look it over and imagine how things were going to be the next day. We went by the (in)famous trailer hotel and I finally got my picture!! (This one's for Julie :)):

Does that not just look like a two-story trailer!?!?

We went to another Publix to pick up the wedding cake. And then, after taking all the stuff to the house, April went to get a pedicure while Courtney got a manicure.


We stayed up late again doing more wedding things. We got all the table centerpieces done, we ate junk, we watched tv shows about Bridezillas... We went to bed after 1 in the morning again.... We didn't have to wake up super-early the next morning, but it was wedding day, so you know it was going to be a busy day. We started out by having all of us girls get our hair done at a Paul Mitchell academy near Birmingham. It took us a lot longer than we thought it would. And I heard a million times from the girl who was doing mine that my hair is so fine. That was awful. I don't really want to hear those things. I've been having a hard time dealing with my hair issues for over a year without it being brought to my attention (and to everyone else's who is around me in that salon). Sigh. Anyway, here was my result:


We rushed down to Alabaster so April could get her make-up done. It looked really good and we still had enough time :). Even in spite of the hair place getting us behind schedule.


On the way back to the house after this, April found a New Kids on the Block collector's card that she'd been saving for me. It got donated in some books that were donated to the library and she saved it for me :). It's of Jordan. hahaha... We ran to the house, picked up the clothes we needed to change into and then headed to the wedding venue to set up. I think we did a great job with the set-up. This is just one picture, but if you click on it, it will take you to more pictures.


Interesting tid-bit... That little pink book in front of the sock people... April got it from a donation to the library where she works. I had seen that book at HLML once. It came across my desk in tech. services. I'm not sure if "I processed that book," but I know I saw it :). It's so adorable. It's all about love. I even used a quote from it once for a photo album I made. The quote says: "Love comes softly, but you know when it's there. Because suddenly you aren't alone anymore, and there is no sadness in you." Loved that quote.

Oh, and here is a sample of the book centerpieces. I think they were really cute. April and Greg really had great ideas!


Here is the wedding cake:


And here are me, Courtney, and April before going to change:


The girls all went to the hotel to change and get ready. April was absolutely beautiful and her dress was perfect! We headed back to the venue and the wedding went really well. It was so nice and beautiful. I'm so glad I was able to be there for it. Here are me and April:


After the wedding, April and Greg went to the hotel and April's parents took me back to April's. That night, it was just me and the 6 cats. I watched tv and read and just enjoyed the night. I turned in again at about 1. I slept in until 9:30 on Sunday and hung around the house. April and Greg stopped by to pack for their honeymoon and so we all visited for a while. Then we all left at the same time and I head to Tuscaloosa. I got to Virginia's house and we visited for a while. Then we headed off to Swen's to get some food. Which was totally delicious, by the way :). Viriginia and I watched Better Off Dead -- a classic 80s movie that I hadn't owned until this last trip to Dothan :). And we ate Publix brand mint chocolate cookie frozen yogurt. Because I am convinced you can't get enough of that stuff :) :) :). And then we gabbed and visited some more. We went to sleep around midnight -- well, and I talked to Mary for about an hour also. The next morning, we got up and I took Viriginia to campus, since her son took the car to school earlier. Then I took my car and parked it at the Insitute building, since I can't park on campus anymore without getting a ticket. Boo. I visited with Annie and Le and saw a few other people I used to work with, including Loretta :). She is still so sweet. Several people asked me if I'd go back to work there. At about 11:30, Annie, Le, Sharon, Virginia, and I all went to lunch at the Ferg. And we visited and laughed and talked, and it was really nice :).


I soon had to leave and head back to get my car. I stopped in and said hello to everyone at the Institute building, and then had to make my way back to Birmingham. I stopped by Edgar's Bakery and bought a few treats. Including a Hello Dolly bar to send to my BFF -- to remind her of the weekend of the trailer hotel :). I even was able to mail it to her before I flew out on Tuesday! I got back to April's and just hung with April's mom and Courtney for the night and read. And on Tuesday, April's mom as so kind to take me to the airport. We had an enjoyable chat (oh, I rode in a Hummer -- a very bumpy ride!) on the way. All my flights were on-time. I mostly read on the way back. I finished Deja Dead at April's, so I started The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm moving right along with it. For the first time, I think I can say I liked the movie better than the book. It's not a bad read. Just a lot rougher than I thought it would be as far as sex and language.

Anyway... So, it's been back to life as usual. I've been working since my return. I had a Relief Society training meeting on Thursday night. So yeah... Nilla life as usual :). Oh, and thanks to Becky and Stacy for the cute 80s-looking stationary that made them think of me when they found it :). So they sent it my way :). Too funny!