Christmas 1978?

This is my father’s father. He was ALWAYS smiling. Today would have been his birthday.

It’s time for the Friday Five and I’m not even stuck in a writer’s block. (On this blog, anyway. On the World of Warcraft blog I’m completely stuck. Maybe because I’m frustrated with it.) This week’s topic is Staples. Let’s get cracking!

1. Of all the hundreds of sizes and shapes bread seems to come in, what is your favorite?
Round loaves! One of my favorite San Francisco memories was the morning we took the bus tour to the redwood forest and wineries. While waiting for the bus to depart the station, Kristen and I ran across the street to a bakery and bought little round sourdough breads to nosh on.

I have to get back to San Francisco someday. (sigh)

Anyway, whenever this miserable diet ends, I’m going to learn to make my own sourdough bread.

2. What’s your favorite thing to eat with rice?
Chicken with Garlic sauce. And heaps of potstickers.

mmmmm…

3. What are your feelings about milk?
Unless it’s chocolate-flavored or is served with Oreos, I can do without.

4. What was wrapped in the tortilla you most recently ate?
My 1-point corn tortilla contained a smattering of ground beef, a few Bacos and a splash of light ranch dressing. We were going for a ranch gordita flavor.

(noshes on a rice cake to stop the drooling)

5. How many staplers are there in your house and where are they?
We have one large Swingline stapler in the console between our two desks. We MAY have a mini Swingline (always Swingline, they don’t bind up as much) in with the rest of our office supplies.

This week I lost 2.4 lbs, bring me down to a lovely 166.4 and a grand total of FOURTEEN pounds lost!

Can I get a what-what?

(what-what!)

Thank you.

My work pants now feel like pajama pants and today I’m wearing a skirt that was too tight to wear a few months ago. So I’m pleased as punch.

Now…I need to seriously, SERIOUSLY find an exercise plan that works. I’m a sedentary girl by nature, never did sports, exhausted by gym classes and my knees aren’t great (which could be weight).

I want to try Couch-to-5K, but I’m afraid I’ll run too far away and be too exhausted to walk back. Then I’ll end up homeless in Camden. Or something.

Any suggestions?

I broke up with it temporarily in Season 8 because of the skank and ex-con factor.

I cautiously watched it in season 9 and truly enjoyed it thanks to Kelly Osbourne, Mya, and of ALL people, Donny Osmond.

ABC announced the “stars” of Season 10 last night. Let’s have a look!

Pamela Anderson – former Baywatch babe, PETA advocate and star of quite possibly the most famous celebrity sex tape in existence. In her prime, she was gorgeous. I’m cautiously looking forward to her looking pretty again. I don’t see her going far, though.

Shannen Doherty – None other than THE Brenda Walsh from Beverly Hills 90210. Girl has a work ethic and an attitude. This makes me happy.

Chad Ochocinco – Football player with a big personality. Had is last name changed so that he could have Ochocinco (eight five, his number) on his NFL jersey. That’s some chutzpah.

Buzz Aldrin – Yes, THAT Buzz Aldrin. The second guy on the moon! He’s 80 years old! He has no shot at the mirror ball trophy (dude, you walked on the MOON, why are you doing THIS?) but apparently has a moon lander full of guts!

Kate Gosselin – Reality show veteran, uterus to 8 and fame whore who snottily drank water in front of her thirsty daughter. Now that Jon and Kate + 8 is now [(Jon and Kate + - Jon]/2 she needs a paycheck and another dose of fame. Go away, Kate. At least now I’ll have a bathroom break in the show.

Erin Andrews – ESPN broadcaster, America’s Sexiest Sportscaster of 2007 and 2008, and unfortunate victim of a pervert with a spycam. I don’t know much else about her, but I admire her for not shrinking away when the unauthorized video of her splashed all over the internet. She pressed charges and saw the case through to the end. Good on her.

Nicole Scherzinger – Lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls. She’s not a stranger to the DWTS stage, because PCD performed Sway there a few years back.

Aiden Turner – Former member of All My Children. English accent. Mom and I saw him at Super Soap Weekend at Walt Disney World a few years back. He dropped his pants on stage. The audience went wild. That’s about all we need to know.

Niecy Nash – Comedian, cast member of Reno 911 and host of Clean House.

Jake the Bachelor – The guy who was the star of the Bachelor season that ended last night. He’s pretty. (shrug)

Evan “Ringer” Lysecek – Vancouver 2010 Men’s Figure Skating GOLD MEDALIST! As in … just last week! Dude, take a few weeks off or something! I think Evan will run away with this because of his, oh, I dunno, YEARS of training to move his body athletically to music in front of crowds and judges? Basically my same beef that I had with Kristi Yamaguchi. And he’s partnered with my fave female pro EVER, the lovely Anna Trebunskaya. This trophy’s yours to lose, Anna.

All in all, not a typical recent DWTS season. There are a few tokens here and there (Buzz – token old guy; Evan – token Olympian; Pam – token former supermodel; Chad – token NFL) but even the tokens break the token mold.

Season 10 starts on March 22. I’m looking forward to it. How about you?

Abra cadabra peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

That didn’t stop me from trying. This was a magic kit I got as a gift one year. My favorite magic item EVER, however, was a Harry Blackstone set that came with a gigantic hard cover book and a pimpin’ cassette tape.

The shirt says “Atlantic City, NJ.” The button says, “I believe in magic.”

I can type between 80-90 words per minute which is not as fast as some people, but a heck of a lot more impressive than most. When I as a freshman in high school, my mom made me take a full year of typing instead of a half year like most of my peers. It’s paid off in spades, since I sit at a keyboard all day.

I could probably type faster if I didn’t mentally say the name of every letter I’m typing. The only time I can turn that off is when I’m chatting online and don’t much care about accuracy.

2. What’s something you do more carelessly than most people?

Hairstyling. I can’t be bothered with it. I brush it, pin it back and am done with it. Today I have four bobby pins keeping my bangs back off of my face.

3. What’s something you do more slowly than most people?

Cook and bake. I have to be exacting with my measurements, and I often have to read the instructions two or three times before I realize that it’s 1 1/2 cups instead of 1/2 cup. Yeah, there’s probably a learning disorder in there somewhere.

4. What’s something you do more carefully than most people?

See Question 3.

5. In what contexts are you more patient than most people?

Talking people through websites over the phone. I deal with quite a few older readers at work who can’t find the C-P’s website and it’s an exercise in patience.** I hope when I’m old and I need help auto-tuning the info chip implaned in my brain some young’un is just as patient with me.

** Fictional, albeit typical, work phone call:

Me: Type in CourierPostOnline.com
Abe Vigoda: Courier dot post dot com. Got it. Oh, no, can’t find it. Not there.
Me: Nono…courierpostonline DOT com. Just one dot.
Abe: courierpost dot com. Hm. This ain’t it.
Me: Try courierPostONLINE dot com.
Abe: I am online.
Me: Sir, can you hold for a moment?
Abe: Sure.
Me: (Puts phone on hold, smashes head onto desk a la Don Music. I resume the call only to find out Abe’s looking for an obit from 1918 of some guy with the first name of Jack. Or John. Or maybe Jim.)

I love the whole world, it’s such a brilliant place!

See, I’m not a sales rep, so while I don’t have to deal with sales goals, I never get to do anything fun.

So we went bowing at Pinsetter in Pennsauken, one of the nicest bowling alleys I’ve been to in SJ. And I’ve been to MANY bowling alleys (Having been a VARSITY High School bowler and all).

I hadn’t been bowling for … 4 or 5 years now. Wow.

The first game was gimmicky, with instructions like “throw the ball down the alley backward between your legs” and “use this blindfold.” My score in the first game was a paltry 58, bolstered by a strike I rolled after spinning around three times.

The secret to that? Spot your turns like figure skaters do. Less dizzy.

Anyway, I bowled a 110 in game 2. Far from my old average of 169, but I’ll take it.

Have I mentioned I haven’t been bowling in 4 or 5 years?

I am in SUCH pain right now. Ohmigoshouch.

If you need me tomorrow, I’ll be crumpled up underneath my desk.

***
Chip is doing well. His blood tests came back okay. Now it’s just a waiting game to see it it happens again. It may never happen again. Which is what I’m praying for.

Friday night we realized our TV is busting. It’s not bustED, but on it’s way. Any hope I had of a trip to Walt Disney World this year is fading quickly, as our tax refunds are being eaten up by having to fix things in the day-to-day life. And with John’s wedding coming up in August I just don’t think I’ll be able to get away after the middle of June.

On Saturday, Mom’s dog Chip had a seizure. Which is pretty freaky, considering he’s never had one before and he’s only 4. My little gentleman Mickey had seizures, but that was toward the end of his life when we couldn’t get his sugar levels under control any more. This is different.

She took him to the vet, but of course by the time she had the leash ready to get him to the car, the episode had passed. the vet drew blood and performed a basic physical exam. Anyway, we were supposed to go out to dinner to celebrate Mom’s birthday (again, this time with Aunt/Cousins) but the vet asked her to keep an eye on Chip for the next 24 hours. Tests should come back today, and he’s been fine since.

I spent Saturday night with Mom, beading, staring at the sleeping dog, and binging on rice cakes.

Yesterday morning WM and I went to service at St. Mary’s (I think I found a spiritual home!) and the sermon had a lot to do with introspection. During my introspection I realized: Holy crap, I’m a doormat! Worse, I’m tofu…I have very little flavor of my own and take on the flavor of what I’m near at the time.

I don’t want to be tofu. But after being tofu for 37 (!!) years, how can I change?

So yeah, it was an emo weekend and I’m glad to be back at work amongst my spreadsheets & the spreads of tempting foods our sales reps bring in that I can’t eat.

***
The snow is melting and as I was letting the dogs drag me around this morning, I discovered a heart constructed of tea candles:

Disregard the dog head.

How romantic it must have been for a young lover to peer out of the apartment window on Valentine’s evening and see a heart upon the snow. Even though it was obviously not aimed at me, that gesture made me smile. I’m glad we came across it.

***
Wt: 168.4. Yesterday was my first “bad” diet day since I started WW six weeks ago. I had pizza at lunch and quit counting for the day.

Dream: I was given a private plane of my very own! And I was so excited because as soon as I got my pilot’s license, I’d be able to zip across country to Disneyland whenever I wanted! Apparently, zipping 2.5 hours south to Walt Disney World wasn’t under consideration. However, my first flight out was delayed because Lindsay Lohan OD’d at the airport. (She was in Atlantic City this weekend. Poor NJ, we just can’t catch a break from the skanks.)

That was a great idea 8 years ago. So great that I did nothing with them but move the box along with me wherever I moved.

Last week I started scanning this unending box of photos. My plan is to share one every Sunday.

Winter, 1974 or 1975

This is the backyard where I grew up. Then I was a kid, winter meant 2 things: hats and pins on my coat. I still wear hats. I should find a pin.