Proud Owner of a Karaoke Machine

Yes, you read that correctly - my good friends Kerrie and Eric gave me a karaoke machine for my birthday - AND I LOVE IT!

I ordered one of those box sets (volume 1 of 4) that has four CD's, one for the 60's, one for the 70's, 80's and 90's. The box set came in the mail today (had to order it online because they don't sell them at the local Wal-Mart).

After dinner I put it in... and sang... for one hour; and my dear husband listened to me... for one hour. He sang along too on a few of them.

I am so excited. I can't wait to sing more and sing with all who come over! The world of karaoke CD's is amazing, there's one for jazz standards one (on my wish list) and one for Christmas songs (also on my wish list). The possibilities are endless.

The Garage

I remember growing up my mom had this thing about the garage that she always wanted it to be clean and in order. Although I never saw the point of it growing up, I find myself cleaning my garage now (yes, because I actually take time to organize and clean the garage). As a matter of fact my mom is about the only person that notices, and actually comments "wow, your garage looks so nice!" One of her most common phrases when it comes to garage cleanliness is "you should always shut the garage door right away to keep bugs, dirt, leaves, etc. away"

So I just spent the last two hours cleaning one half of the garage. I consolidated boxes, swept, put items back where they belong (like the ladder on the ladder hook, which actually fell off the wall, but at now least the ladder is over by where it belongs). Then I started coming across items to be donated and found lots! I also came across items that should be donated, but won't, like:

The white plastic trash can:

I can't get rid of it... I never know when I'll need a white plastic trash can.

The Christmas tin cans:

They come in so handy to put cookies in (because we keep cookies in the house 24/7... NOT)

The Igloo coolers:

That haven't been used since 1993 when we used to go out on the lake when we lived in Augusta. But they are so handy, can't get rid of them.

Now these following items are just plain trash that should be thrown out, but we all know that the minute we throw them out, we get stuck in a situation that goes something like this:

I really need a _______. (shoe box, big box, etc.)
I know! I have some in the garage (as you walk out to the garage to get the item needed)
Oh no! I threw them away two days ago!!! I had forgotten...
Now you are stuck looking for the exact box that you once had and now need.


Or glass jars... they always come in handy for old grease, diluting things, etc. (but do we really need this many of all shapes and sizes?).


Although I sometimes wish I had no space to store items such as the above and I would have to force myself to donate them or throw them away (right away), I truly am thankful for my garage (especially during the cold winter when I don't have to worry about defrosting my car and for whenever we get those random hail storms in March).

Celebration

Birthday Day, Birthday Week and Birthday Month came and went. I don’t think I have ever (for as long as I can remember) celebrated my birthday for A. such long period of time or B. so intensely.

Michelle made a good point during Birthday Week – she said: Hay ciertos cumpleaños que hay que celebrar en etapas!! Which means: There are certain birthdays that have to be celebrated in stages!! And that is exactly how I finally welcomed this birthday – in stages. I say “finally welcomed” because for a while I was very disturbed about turning 30. Finally I came to terms with the fact that I’m old (joke!).

From Erik’s slip and slide party early in September (it was his party, but I celebrated the beginning of Birthday Month), to a dance party co-celebration with Jessie a week later at Kerrie’s, to a beautiful birthday dinner surprise the night before my birthday (which involved a trip to Athens for a casual night dedicated to lots of good food, good wine, good conversation, lots of laughter and friendship), to being attacked by silly string at work, to casual baked ziti and movie night during Birthday Week. Followed by family celebrating time with Juan Ma and Michelle that involved outdoor dining (yeah!!) the weekend after Birthday Day. Can’t forget to mention the several calls from my mom all throughout Birthday Week!

Thanks to all my loved ones (I just had to throw that in!) who made turning 30 more bearable.

Believe it or not, this is the only decent picture I have for Birthday Month:

Balloon

Today I brought my birthday balloon home from work. As usual, I unloaded all my stuff in the living room and went in the kitchen to check the mail. Out of the blue Pellet starts barking like a mad dog and I can't figure out why. I tell him to hush and he won't.

So I go in the living room (which is where he is at) and I find him barking frantically at the poor balloon. I took a video of it - he obviously is barking in this video, but he also makes other funny noises when I tell him to hush. I apologize to your ears in advance - enjoy!



Strange note: Originally I was having trouble uploading this video. I kept getting a message saying to contact support. After trying to figure out how to contact support I gave up and realized I had both the title of this post as well as the title of the video labeled "Balloon Harassment". I changed the title of the video to just "Balloon" and I kept getting the error message. I changed the title of the post to just "Balloon" (completely removing the word "harassment" from everything) and the video uploaded just fine... interesting...

The Effigy

Our friends Kerrie and Eric are always going on mini hikes to the Rock Hawk Effigy. Finally this afternoon Norm and I got our act together and went on a mini hike ourselves... with the pups of course!

This place is literally right around the corner from our house (no wonder Kerrie and Eric go all the time) and it's so neat! We walked all through the trail in the woods and made it to the effigy (love that word, I've been repeating it all night) and went up the lookout tower (dogs and all - Cali was unbelievable going up the stairs, she jumped them in twos).

This was Cali taking herself on a walk before we left the house. She loves the leash:


Here she is at the top of the lookout tower:


Pellet at the top of the lookout tower. Norm was reading all about the effigy [ :) ]


The EFFIGY!


Walking down the trail - this one was more like a road. I'm sorry for the blurriness - it's hard to hold Cali still on one hand while trying to take a picture of beautiful nature with a cell phone on the other hand:

Radio Ad

This afternoon I heard a radio ad for a local car dealership. I don't remember the exact words, but they went something like this:

If you have an income - we will approve you for a vehicle. Are you on unemployment? Are you a babysitter on an hourly wage? It doesn't matter - you have an income - you get approved! All you need is money coming in and you will be approved!

And then we wonder what's wrong with the economy... Unemployment = Income ?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I guess technically unemployment could be considered "income" because it's money coming in to a household. But for it to be considered "income" to go out and buy a car... come on.

Football

I never thought I would ever say this: I am learning about the game of football.

I think somewhere along the way I've mentioned that Juan Ma started high school. Well, he is now in the JV Football Team. Let's just say one more fact: I have attended (and paid attention) to more football games in the months of August and September (so far) than in all my prior years (put together).

I am so amazed how this little guy (well, not literally speaking) has naturally been able to motivate me to learn (and enjoy) a sport that for my whole life I've had absolutely no desire to learn (regardless of all the Super Bowl parties in college).

Here are some pictures - in some he is 63 and in others he is 65.