Hyvenese = Chinese from Hyvee

Oh the lessons I learn from my coworkers. I've never had their Chinese, but their sushi isn't awful.

I mean, it's not good, but it's not awful.


How does one say goodbye to a friend of 14 years?

From the outside it may appear as if she was only my 7th and 8th grade teacher, but the reality is so much more.

Let’s start from the beginning.

You know how there’s always that one kid that’s better friends with their teacher than their classmates?

The nerd who gets all their jokes and hangs out with them at recess?

That was me.

I blame it on the fact that my siblings are way older than me so I get along better with people who are older.

G Wigger and I bonded over the TV show Friends – the first of many shows we bonded over – and it went from there. I used to write her notes and draw her pictures. I’m pretty sure I was the favorite cause she let me where sunglasses indoors. Again, nerd.

When asked about that later she responded “you have to pick your battles.”

She put up with my tantrums when it came to math – it was not my favorite subject – and even after school got out we stayed in touch. Jump forward a few years and you’ll hit where the nerd in me decided that Jim and I could take over Camp J – no problem. Ha!

We invaded her classroom almost daily for an entire summer cleaning out boxes, updating files, creating schedules, assigning counselors, stuffing lanyards, and then sorting t-shirts and sending out mailings. She called herself Camp J’s “number one fan” and helped out even though she avoided the actual camp like the plague.

It was during all this Camp J prep that 2G was formed.

Every year my old high school hosts a golf tournament as a fundraiser for the school. We decided – having no golf experience whatsoever – that we would start a team of our own and compete. The team was made up of Pastor (our leader and the only one with actual golf talent from the start), Jim O, G-Wigger and myself. We came up with the nicknames Blackstone, Dash Riprock, Homey G-Wigger, and Choot ‘em Lizbet, respectively.

Eventually we’d put those nicknames on bright orange t-shirts so you could see us at all times.



Though, we were told, you didn’t need to see us to know where we were cause we were the loudest ones there so you could hear us from across the course. But hey, our drinking team has a golfing problem – what can we say?

Two out of the four years we’ve competed I was unceremoniously thrown from the cart. Though that might have been partly my fault since I was leaning out to grab wayward golf balls.

Plus I had to save Bertha. Don’t ask.

But it was worth the bumps and bruises.

Golf isn’t the only sport 2G competes in. Softball is actually our specialty. We play scrappy but we dominate. Every game G-Wigger and I would warm up together and after every game we would stop for icecream.

We told her that since the golf tournament is in the summer that she should come back for it every year, however since softball games are usually on Sunday nights in the fall that won’t be an option.

Our team will never be the same.

Sports weren’t our only thing recently. We’d go to movies – see post “At least the baby stopped crying” – or out for jalapeno margaritas.

The adventures are so numerous she even has her own tag. "Homey G Wigger". And only my favorite people get their own tag.

So how does one say goodbye to someone who’s had such an impact on one’s life?

I could thank her I suppose. For sticking with me through the good times and the bad. Tell her how grateful I am for all the times she was there for me. Not just for math but for everything.

But I still feel like that that doesn’t begin to cover how much of an influence she’s had on my life.

So I’ve decided instead of goodbye, it’s just so long for now. We’re gonna pen pal it up. And it’s not the end. She’ll be back for big events – confirmations, golf, and a wedding if it ever happens.

And that makes it easier.




Okay, on to happier, less emotional things.

Took a trip out to Illinois to visit the BFF. Sketch and Edit’s Excellent Adventure. Take Two.

Or is it three? Whatever, either way it rocked.

Minus the 9 hour drive it took to get there, that is.

We jammed. Made camo cake.

Check it out.







Gotta have orange frosting with a camo cake. It actually tasted pretty good.

Other cooking adventures included booze popsicles. Looks like sherbet, tastes like vodka.

Holy crap those were strong. It probably had to do with the fact that it wasn't just vodka it was also mixed with tequila. Knocked us on our butts.

Non-cooking adventures were catching up on Grey's, and we watched a bit of Raising Hope.

Which I’d seen part of like one episode one time, so now of course I had to check out season one from the library. It’s actually quite entertaining.

And then of course we hit up the races cause her boyfriend has a car. Like in the races. With a driver. Who's pretty good. Got second in his heat, but then it got rained out. So we jammed in the trailer. See Facebook for pictures.

It was good to see her. It had been like a year. Or two. More like two.

That should change.



What else? The boyfriend and I are doing great. We’ve been going to a lot of races lately. We hit up the World of Outlaws the other day in Greenwood and my guy won! After I had bought his t-shirt. And it’s awesome, it’s like a pit crew shirt with all the advertisements on it.

Plus he signed it.

I was proud that I picked him and that I got the shirt before he won the race instead of after. Plus he beat the guy who always wins and you gotta root for underdogs.

Races aren’t the only fun things we’re going to, a few weeks ago we went to my sister-in-law’s surprise 40th birthday party. The surprise part being the event we dragged her to Omaha for. It was a Murder Mystery party at a hotel – professionally done, it was fun.

We all had to pick aliases. I was Regina Philange.

Make me proud people, make me proud.

Mom was Cher. Dad was John Wayne. After picking the killer’s name as his alias and being told it was already in use (but not told it was the killer) the boyfriend went with Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.

I know, how does one pick the name of the killer out of the like 80 million names available? It was amusing.

The problem with their setup was that you had to be paying attention to nametags to figure out who-done-it cause the detectives who were supposed to be solving the crime did nothing but distract you. But that’s okay, we went for the fun of it and it was fun, even though I was forced to walk the cat walk to prove my innocence.

Long story.

This week we went fireworks shopping. And you know me with my fireworks. Hit up my mother ship. aka the Dorm Mom's stand. Got some good deals. I'm stoked!

After the 4th he and I are taking a trip to Iowa for another motorcar excursion so look forward to those highlights....

What else?

College World Series! My team won! Go Black Gold! The Cool Aunt was also for Vandy so anytime they did something good we’d text “black gold!” We saw them play live one of the years we went so that’s what we like them.

And speaking of a lot going on, I’ve been working tons on camp stuff. I’m getting excited, it’s coming up! Again this year we have more boys than girls but that may change since they have ‘til July 7th to turn everything in.

I'm really excited for my 7th and 8th graders skit. No HeeHaw this year but they're still singing. Don't worry, they won't hate this one.

And Smo is coming this year. I'm so excited! Gonna be my Skits and Worship helper. Which is good cause there will be lots...

Scale of Awesome’s for you:

Edge of Tomorrow


Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Interesting premise but not a huge fan of Tom Cruise.

Bowfinger


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. So horrible. Yet funny.

300


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. Am I the only person on this planet that didn't like this movie? I feel like it. It's only redeeming quality?



Gerard Butler. And the "This is Sparta" kick. That was badass.

On to the music:

Strong Enough - Cher


a month later and it's still in my head. awesomeness.

and one for an upcoming concert:

From Me To You - Beatles


so excited! debating what my favorite Beatles song is. this is one of many. Probably Hey Jude. Maybe Yesterday. Blackbird. Day Tripper. Paperback Writer. Hello Goodbye. Let it Be. Love Me Do. Yellow Submarine. She Loves You.

Too many good ones to choose from...

And I'm out. I promise it won't take me another month to post.

"What are you doing?" "Being nice." "You're not nice. And you're on duty." "Well, give me the afternoon off."

Today...

More supplies fun.

Made up a spreadsheet so everyone knows where to find stuff.

Yes, that has become my life.

Isn't it exciting?

I feel stuck.

There's so many changes being made and I don't know what to think about them.

Am I actually happy there?

Do I want to stay?

I have the degree, should I be looking around for other jobs?

Everyone keeps telling me to.

I don't know. Maybe it's just been one of those weeks.

I'm sure it'll be fine.

I like the people, I like the patrons - well most of them - I like the location, I don't mind the hours so I guess I'm happy.

I have TAB.

They make me happy.

It just sucks that all the girls my own age bailed on me. But that's okay, I still have friends there.

In fact, the New Guy and I talked about library staff hitting up Vegas sometime for a conference.

That'd be awesome. I can see us all walking the strip, playing craps, seeing shows.

It's making me look forward to the boyfriend and I's upcoming vacation.

Going to see Pentatonix and that's about all we have planned so far.

We'll probably do some gambling, but not a lot. Last time we went there the majority of our time was spent walking the strip, and it was a lot of fun.

Though this year I'll attempt to keep everything in my pockets.

Or get one of those cheesy fanny packs.

Apparently Drew loves them, who knew?

I'm back on the Closer. Up to season two.



Remember how I'm a nerd?

Anyway, I've got that and hockey to entertain me for the next 24 hours.

Bubby's singing the national anthem at tomorrow's game. Well, his school is. It always amuses me cause the boys always look like they're in pain whenever they're forced to do anything like this in front of people.

Reminds me of my directing musicals days.

Did I mention that? Used to help out at my old grade school. We did plays every year and they were awesome. Drug my college friends out to watch them and they would always laugh because my boys always looked like they were the worst thing in the world.

But the girls and all the younger kids loved them.

And the boys had fun too, it's just day of they had to be cool.

I miss those days.

Part of the reason I'm excited that TAB's gonna start filming a web series to promote library services. Get to write and direct every month. Huzzah.

Maybe that will bring the fun back.

Let's hope so.

Alright, music and I'm out.

Who I Am - Danielle Bradbery


you cried, don't even lie.

ironic song choice for the post, i'm aware. but it was stuck in my head all day.

legit pre-midnight, holy crap tag in use.

"But bats are cute-ish!" "Bats have rabies." "That's why I said ish."

First off, old intern, no.

Bats are not cute.

They're fuzzy little rabies-infested things with beady eyes that follow you when you shelve DVDs.

So, yesterday, right before opening, I grab a stack of DVD's and take them to the display shelves.

I do this almost every day.

Normally, I don't look up at the ceiling, but for some reason I did.

And there was freakin' bat hanging there staring at me.



I panicked.

A bit.

I can still see its creepy little face as it followed me as I walked back and forth.

That's as close as I wanted to be to it.

And yes, I know I didn't post yesterday, but I was fall down, die in a corner miserable by the end of the night, and no one wants to read about that.

Besides those get deleted a day later and I find the bat story amusing.

Now.

At the time my girlish shriek and repeated yelling of my boss's name would suggest otherwise.

She thought he was cute too.

As did everyone else.

I, however, have bad experiences with winged creatures when it comes to libraries. Remember the damn bird from last year? If you missed it go here.

Bosslady called the assistant director who got the pleasure of calling animal control who showed up shortly after opening to catch the bat.

I'll have to celebrate by reading "Bats at the Library."


I was glad to have the day off today. But I got up at like 8 which is weird for me on an day off.

Went running.

I know, you had to read that line twice just to verify that I actually wrote it.

Got groceries.

Cleaned - scrubbed mirrors, sinks, litter box, not with the same cloth, vacuumed, did laundry and dishes, took out the trash.

Did homework.

After which I went out to see the boyfriend.

Got Taco Bell, I'm addicted to their Doritos tacos.

The nacho cheese.

Cool ranch chips are nasty.

Watched a movie and talked for a while.

As previously mentioned I've been a bit out of it this week but all is fixed now.

Anyway, it's late. Carter and I are gonna konk out.

Music and I'm off.


Follow Me - Uncle Kracker

used to be my favorite song and i would sing it all the time, but the memory that stands out the most is one day, between games, my old softball team sang it.

nice team building exercise.

all i wanna be is done.

I got to go to the zoo.

I got to go to the zoo.

I know you're all jealous.

Cause I got to go to the zoo.

Last time I was there was back in college, the first time I lived here with Grams.

Tonight's was for work. School fair thing.

Hung out with the peacocks.

Scared the bejesus out of me.

And my coworker thought it was hysterical.

It's not that I'm scared of them.

Okay, they're cool, I just wasn't expecting to turn around and have one in my face.

So she's like, there's one behind you, and I'm thinking like in the grass you know, away, not like a foot from me.

So I turned and jumped.

And she laughed.

And then again when I jumped a second time.

I'm not scared of birds!

Just was not expecting them to be that close.

Twice.

That's all.



The kids were chasing them around trying to pet them.

That just made them louder.

The whole thing was already chaotic, we had this pool full of bookmarks that kids fish out. There's no water in the pool, just bookmarks and stickers with paperclips on them so that they can be fished out with magnets stuck on the end of fake fishing poles.

Anyway, I think there were at least 150 kids that came and fished for bookmarks.

And I was in charge of the pool.

We had packs of stickers and tattoos and fans and bags and we ran out of fans and bags about an hour and a half in.

But it was fun, I'm glad kids came and participated.

I wish we did something like that for our end of the year celebration.

I think our school just did some sort of potluck thing with awards night.

The 8th graders were in charge of the awards, we got to give our younger classmates personalized awards.

That was interesting.

Remember it was a small school, our class was the biggest with 5 kids.

We started with like 8 in kindergarten.

And then by graduation it was down to 5 but there were 7 of us confirmed that year.

Oh, it was a church school, if you didn't know that already.

I'm a private school girl, grade school through college.

Now I work at a public library and go to a public grad school.

See what happens when I move out?

No, the schools were my choice.

I mean, I was too young to choose the grade school, but I could have left if I wanted.

I like the small school stuff.

You actually get to know people, you can ask questions in class, you're not packed in like sardines.

Grad school is different cause there aren't as many in the program.

I mean, there are tons in the program, but compared to college level classes it's smaller.

No, I don't know where this is going.

Today, today was weird cause I worked 11-8.

Which meant I got to sleep in, which was nice, but then I was off desk for 2 hours in a row - which was good cause I finished my year-in-the-making booklist, and made some posters for a coworker for Summer Reading - but then I was on desk for 2 hours and then I had lunch at 4-5, and then the zoo thing was after that.

So it was just a weird day.

And tomorrow's gonna be weird as well, I'm at the home branch all morning and then off in the afternoon.

I'm excited to be at the home branch, but it's kind of weird hours.

Oh well, will have time to do stuff in the afternoon.

Pack, so I can leave right away on Saturday.

Camp meeting, sending out application forms, woohoo!

Then I'm off Sunday and we're closed Monday for water pipe reasons, long story.

We got to choose if we wanted to take vacation, work the weekend or work at a branch.

I'm taking vacation.

Not sure what the others are doing.

Alright, so that was my day.

Very productive.

Then I watched some NCIS, now it's on to Diners Driveins and Dives though I'm exhausted and will probably be out by midnight.

Done - The Band Perry

the brothers haircuts scare me. especially the one on the left.

gotta say, that is not the video i was expecting at all.


legitimate pre-midnight post, barely. holy crap tag in use.

get-et-et in line and settle down.

So he didn't trip or say the wrong name.

And no one passed out up front or at the reception.

Though Juwanna was pretty close to losing her stomach contents for a while there.

You could tell too cause she and Smo and I dance.

Like dance.

Lots.

And she went from jumping and swinging and craziness with us to just swaying softly while Jared held her upright.

Barely.

But she was good by the end of the night.

It was a fun time, I dragged the boyfriend out onto the floor though I think I drug the boyfriend's best friend out there more.

He seemed to have a pretty fun time.

Got some sweet pictures from mom of us doing Macarena and Cotton-eyed-Joe. Will have to upload them later.

Saw a lot of old friends, was super cool cause my twin was there!!!! Who I haven't seen in literally years!

No, seriously, he's like my twin. Born on the same day in the same hospital, our moms were like 2 doors apart, both have the brown hair and similar personalities. Though I totally gave him crap cause he's been with the same girl for 8 years and there's still no ring on her finger.

Dude.

What's up with that?

Seriously?

Got a picture with him and Tweet as a class reunion kind of thing, we were down two but it still counts. And I felt super super short, it was ridiculous. I need to start wearing heels.

Don't quote me on that, it will never happen.

And it wouldn't have helped anyway, Tweet is like 6'4 and Alex is gotta be over 6.

I think I'm like 5'6, maybe 5'7.

Squirt has me beat, and Bubby will soon.

That's how sad my height is.

After the reception we headed up to Tweet's place, where half of us crashed while the other half of us jammed out to some music and joked around for a while. Got back to the farmhouse about 4, drove through some serious fog, but I had Smo with me so I was good.

The only problem with getting back to the farmhouse at 4AM is that I didn't fall asleep until about 5:15 and then I was up at like 8 cause I had to drive back at like 9:15 and for some reason I couldn't go back to sleep for that whole extra hour. So I stopped for gas and some fantastic cappuccino, which I forgot it was as good as it is. Perhaps I'll stop there more often.

Smo headed off to her place and I made it back to the apartment with time to shower and change - cause the only clean clothes I had with me were the two other dresses I brought so that Juwanna/Smo could tell me what to wear, and clearly I was not wearing those to work.

And besides, if I did, Queen of the Known Universe would kick my butt that I wore them on a day she wasn't there to give me crap for them.

So I was pretty much the walking dead until about 3:30 when I took my lunch.

Which I spent in my car.

Cause my phone was dead.

After work the boyfriend stopped by because he had to pick up yet another motorcar to add to his collection, which I believe now totals at 7.

Not that I'm complaining, he seems to enjoy them and as I have a bit of background with trains myself it's not exactly a foreign concept to see train memorabilia start to grow. And grow. And grow.

But it's his hobby and he loves it.

And I love him so I guess I can love it too.

Yeah, speaking of love, there was a lot of wedding talk going on this weekend.

Like, an excessive amount.

Cause apparently we're next.

But we're not, cause that's Juwanna. She's got the ring to prove it.

So people kept asking me when we were gonna get engaged and I told them to go talk to him cause he's the one that's asking, and apparently he was deflecting them to me because somehow I'm in charge.

We'll see about that.

Not that it will be happening anytime soon.

Just eventually.

Yes, I'm happy.

For the first time in a very long time.

Which occasionally turns me into some weird emotional girl.

Get used to it.

I have.

Alright, Juwanna's nausea aside, it was nice to see some old friends and get to spend actual time together. Even though half of us live in the same town anyway, we still never see each other. Gonna have to work on that.


Settle Down - No Doubt
reunited and it feels so good.

L.A.M.B. and cheerleading B-A-N-A-N-A-S's are good, but it's hard to top Rock Steady.

holy crap, was that seriously 2001?

and don't speak was what like, mid-90's?

now I feel old.

Glad they're back.

Alright, since I'm still a bit in zombie-mode I'm gonna crash.

And I get the pleasure of sleeping in because I don't go in until 4.

So don't call me before noon.

I will not answer.

OUT!

oppan gangnam style

Should I be scared that someone got to my blog by doing a web search for "woman who don't swallow captions".

I think I should.

So tomorrow.

Well, technically later today as it is officially after midnight.

The little boy that used to steal my headbands put them on and call himself Tylah gets married tomorrow.

Which means we're officially getting old.

He's got the gray hair in his beard to prove it.

Which amuses me greatly.

It's been interesting to observe this relationship. Tweet was always a bit on the wild side - but in a good way - and she's very mature so now he's all grown up and stuff.

It's cute, they're cute.

But the problem with hanging out with a bunch of engaged people is that people ask when you're going to get engaged.

And his mother already told me that we're having three kids, as are his sister and brother. Cause she wants lots of grandkids.

Hysterical cause I told that to Juwanna tonight and she was like, "ha! you?! does she know you?!"

Me and needles aren't such great friends.

Even watching a birthing video made me run to the bathroom.

And had Juwanna running after me to make sure I was okay.

Someone brought that up at the class reunion and her response was, "that's why I don't know anything about babies, I ran after you!"

Was fun to see everybody tonight. Big shoutout to Tammi and the awesomeness that is her crew. Very impressive decorating job for only 12 hours. That building is gigantic, I remember that from when Second Sister had her reception there.

Having a lot of flashbacks, especially when on the phone with Smo while at the reception hall. Cause she went to that reception as well. That was a lot of fun. I love receptions. Good food, fun times with friends, our family is filled with dancers so they're always amusing to see out on the dance floor. Somehow we always end up in a giant circle with people going through the middle showing off their moves.

And then there's a lot of SNL Spartan Cheerleader dancing, which I blame on my cousins. They're the ones that performed it at a family reunion and then at the reception of yet another cousin's wedding.

We have a lot of us, there are 20 of us.

And only, oh geez, like 8 of us left that aren't married I think...I think.

But we're all approaching that age - with the exception of Kyle who just got his driver's license. So there will probably be a whole bunch of them within the next decade.

Apparently I'm all about weddings today.

But it's better than talking about the obnoxious dude that made me help him with computer stuff for all three of his sessions and just redo everything we did yesterday. Blah, whatever it's done. And I'm off tomorrow so if he goes in and requests me yet again he'll just have to figure it out himself.

We have plenty of great reference/computer people. I don't know why he keeps seeking me out, I already have enough stalkers, I don't need any more.

Alright, off the music and then I'm gonna crash cause fun day tomorrow. Golfing with G-Wigger and Obi-Wan. Should be fun in the morning, then the game is at 11, after that is the wedding and reception.

Tonight was just good, you know? Made up for all the crap I got stuck with today. And the boyfriend is wonderful to put up with all this wedding and kids talk. Actually he said he would be content with all of it so I was pleased. And he gave me his jacket which was another flashback cause in high school he had this bright orange sweatshirt that I'm pretty sure I wore for like a month straight.

Okay, really music now.

So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months you've probably already watched this but I'm going to post it anyway. It actually just exploded, I can't believe it's only been online for like 2 months and there are already over 172 billion views. Madness



Gangnam Style - Psy



Psy teaches Ellen and Britney Gangnam Style




alright, off to bed.