<div style="width:300px; background:white; color:black; padding: 10px;text-align:center; border: 1px solid #333333;">Your rainbow is shaded<b> green.</b><br><br><div style="background: #806f00">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #80c400">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #80ee00">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #00dd00">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #00bb80">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #006f80">&nbsp;</div><div style="background: #556f80">&nbsp;</div><br>What is says about you: You are an intelligent person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.<br><br><a href="http://spacefem.com/quizzes/rainbow">Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.</a></div>

Why did I get the ugly rainbow?

It doesn't matter what political party you're from, you will find this video of the debate funny!

I am here.  I am okay.  I'm just... busy.  I feel like I haven't had a "normal" day in weeks.  First we had the fire, then I went to Florida to my cousin's wedding, then Morgan went on TDY to Leavenworth, now we're packing so we can move out for 2 weeks. 

wow, I guess I do have a reason to feel stressed. 

However, I have been learning....

Lesson Number 1 (the fire): Even small fires can cause an incredible amount of damage/repairs. 

Ours was small, only one or two actually burned items, the scorch mark on the wall is maybe 2 feet by 4 feet.  Yet the water damage accounts for a personal property damage list running into 9 pages.  And we have to move out, not just us but our stuff too, for 2 full weeks.  (Our stuff will be in storage, we will be in the Clarion, insurance is paying for it all)They have to replace all the carpet, reseal and then paint the walls, even grind off the bumpy stuff on the ceilings and replace that.  Apparently all of the above can absorb smoke particulates which can cause health problems later.  Even though *nobody* can smell any hint of smoke in our apartment. 

Silver linings: (a) the most thorough spring cleaning I've ever done, (b) my house will be (relatively) immaculate for the wedding, with most of the cat fur removed by simple dint of replacing carpets, and (c) my friends all have learned (hopefully) the benefits of renter's insurance.  Seriously, if you don't have it, get it.  It's like $10/month and worth every penny.  We would be out literally tens of thousands of dollars for these repairs and the repairs of the apartments below us that got flooded if it weren't for insurance.  Add it.  Now. 

Lesson Number 2 (Kathryn's wedding):  Weddings can be incredibly expensive if you're not careful, but you don't actually need all that stuff.

Seriously, she must have spend 20 or 30 thousand.  OTOH, she can afford it.  Her rehearsal dinner had 300 people at it, and took place the groom's parent's house.  On their 60 foot ocean front veranda.  Can I have a house with a 60-ft ocean front veranda?  My birthday is coming up, that would be the perfect time to give it to me.  Seriously, though, I went into this wedding stressing that the two events would be too similar - we're both the same age, we're both traditional, we'd both picked the same web page layout option and the same colors - I came out of the wedding worrying that mine will look cheap compared to theirs.  Then I sat and thought about it for a while, and calmed down.  Just because I'm not having a reception at a yacht club or leaving the reception on my private sailboat doesn't mean my wedding will seem cheap or tawdry.  Also, I found out that a large number of my cousins will be attending my wedding.  I think it's a mark of my low self esteem that I thought they would stay in Toledo.  I mean, I am having the second reception in Toledo a week later, and they have kids, and they've already traveled once this year for a wedding... I assumed they would not come to Kansas but just do the second reception in Toledo instead.  But they're saying things to me like "well, see you in Kansas in a few months..." or "can't wait to see your wedding!" Which made me feel loved, but also panicked as I revised my probable head count...  My mom had been pushing me to invite three family members to the rehearsal dinner (we're already inviting the immediate families and the wedding party, these are aunts and uncles) because she thought they would be the only three in Kansas and what else are they going to do that night?  well, now we'll have more like 20 or 30 of my family here, so my mom ditched having them all come to the dinner.  Which is good, because I can't afford to feed that many people, and besides, Kathryn's dinner was chaos.  I want a smaller, more intimate event, not a *huge* party.  Also, some of my cousins are throwing me a bridal shower.  Which is awesome!  I never even thought they would do it, my mom just assumed she would throw one for me, but my cousins said "well, of course we'll do it... what weekend will you be in Toledo?"

Silver linings: (a) got to spend a week in Florida on the beach (always good), (b) no longer worried our wedding will be too similar (c) found out some of my cousins will be coming to the wedding (d) have a more accurate idea of headcount (e) some of my ideas became more crystallized (like I definitely do *not* want a huge rehearsal dinner.  It's the night before my wedding, I want to spend a quiet evening surrounded by my closest friends and family, not a huge mob)

Lesson Number 3 (Morgan's TDY to Leavenworth):  Leavenworth would be an awesome base to get stationed at.

 When I thought of Leavenworth, I thought two things:  Army prison, and middle of no where Missouri.  Well, it is a prison, but it's also a base.  Morgan says it has almost a collegiate feel to it, probably owing to the CGSM school (school where brand new majors learn how to command bigger groups).  Also, it's right in Kansas City, not the middle of nowhere.  And Kansas City is actually a decent city.  Not as cool as a huge major metropolis, but not bad. 

Silver lining:  another domestic base to add to our request list (which I'm sure the Army will ignore, but whatever)


Finally, I have a random poll.  We're deciding what kind of cake we want for the wedding.  We already know we don't want the standard white cake... here's a spot where we can be different and dramatic without spending too much extra money.  Explanation of terms before the poll:  the different layers of a wedding cake are actually called "tiers".  Each tier is a two layer cake of the sort we make at home in the oven.  .  Now, when you or I make a layer cake, we open a can of frosting and put some in between the layers to hold them together and the rest on the outside.  With wedding cakes, the frosting on the outside is just called frosting (butter cream, fondant, cream cheese, whatever), but the frosting between the layers, holding them together, is called filling, and can be any flavor you want.

Enough explanation.

One tier of our cake will be chocolate cake with mocha//cappuccino filler.  We also know our outside frosting will be cream cheese frosting.  It's the other tier where we need input.  It will be a strawberry cake; we tried a sample and loved it - very moist, with a fairly delicate strawberry flavor.  The question is: which filling should we put on the strawberry tier?

(a) white chocolate - chocolate and strawberries always go together, the white chocolate is delicate enough to not overwhelm the strawberry flavor... but is white chocolate cream cheese frosting strawberry cake too many flavors?
(b) more cream cheese frosting - don't want to have too many flavors and already have cream cheese frosting on the outside, and cream cheese and strawberries also go together... but is that too much cream cheese and it might overwhelm the strawberry?
(c) strawberry filling (this one is sort of a cross between jam and strawberry pie filling, it has actual pieces of fruit in it) - it will intensify the strawberry flavor of the cake... but is strawberry cake with strawberry filling too boring?

Poll #1172048
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

Strawberry cake with ____ filling?

 

I am a sheep...

I now have a facebook.  And a MySpace.  And I'm a member of LinkedIn.

How pathetic is that?

Isaac posted a link to a youtube video wherein people were asked to describe themselves in one word or phrase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=datnW0QH2Zw

Which got me thinking - how would I describe myself?  Two answers came to mind: "healing" or "a shy fierceness"

The first because I'm getting so much better every day - stronger, healthier, more independent.  I have a long way to go and it's a process, but I'm moving along, not standing still.

Wow, there were a lot of commas in that...

The second because I am both fierce and shy - fierce mask to protect/hide an almost paralyzing shyness.  I seem very outgoing, but I trust very few people and allow even fewer to see the "real" me.

How would you describe yourself in one word or phrase?

*edit* so I asked my brother via AIM:

me which got me thinking about how would I describe myself? 
me: and I thought I would ask you the same...
him: mmm cornbread
him: you should probably ask me in a bit when I'm through with breakfast :-P

So yes, my brother's word to describe himself is "cornbread" I'm not really sure what that says about him...

He lit our apartment on fire.  Yes, I'm serious.  Full fledged fire, complete with sprinkler systems and fire department. 

Note to self: Morgan is not allowed to play with candles any more.

Now we're going through our stuff and sorting - which stuff is okay, which stuff is water damaged, which stuff is fire damaged.

If you don't have renter's insurance, get it now, the $12/month will pay for itself!



The closet where the fire was.  This was the closet in our second bedroom, used as an office, so it was full of boxes of papers, books that didn't fit on our bookshelves, photographs, etc...




This is our living room, after the peoples moved everything out of our closet and our office (the carpet of the office was soaked, but the contents are fine).  Our bedroom, kitchen, and dining room all look similar.  Now to start sorting...

As you all know, I work for my dad's company.  We have drivers all over the world - in particular, though, we have 4 from the U.K.  We also have a forum board where the guys talk about their cars and offer suggestions/support.   Having Brits and 'Merkins can sometimes be amusing. 

British Driver #1: "I couldn't put a longer screw in as I was using the longest 4-40's that would fit, the 3mm fit but it feels like a bodge."
American Driver #1: "You crazy Brits -- speak English please!!!  Wot's a bodge???"
American Driver #2: "From context, I'm guessing "something terrible."
British Driver #2: "Botch? Scrapheap challenge it together."
American Driver #1: "That made no more sense than the previous..."

At which point, the following website was suggested...

Here

This is a website I could waste hours on!  It's got fantastic definitions.  For instance:

codswallop:  n, an antiquated but superb word meaning "nonsense".

having kittens:  expl, extremely nervous. For some reason.

cockney:  n adj, a person from the east end of London - the true definition requires them to have been "born within the sound of the bells of Bow Church". A more modern definition might be "born within the sound of a racist beating", "born in the back of a stolen Mercedes" or perhaps "born within the range of a Glock semi-automatic". They have a distinctive accent, which other Brits are all convinced that they can mimic after a few pints.

cot:  n, crib. Americans call a sort of frame camp bed a "cot". Brits don't. I'd say they just called it a "camp bed", as God intended. I'm guessing that he intended that. The Bible is fairly ambiguous about which day God chose to create camp beds.

jam:  n, jelly. Sort of. What Americans call "jelly" (fruit preserve without fruity-bits in it), Brits still call "jam". What Americans call "jello", Brits call "jelly". Oh yes, and what Americans call "jam" is still "jam" in the UK. I think that's the jams pretty much covered.

So the kittens left Morgan a mess to clean up in their basket/house thing.  He was upset and yelling at them till he discovered it was 36 bunny peeps in shades of blue, green, and purple; 10 bird peeps in pink; and 3 giant yellow bird peeps!

Happy Easter all!

This better be a L&O episode soon!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_re_us/homeless_hit_and_run

I shared a bunch of recipes on google documents with some of you - those long promised crock pot recipes as well as several others.  If you want to see them and you cannot, let me know....

ARRGGH!!

I still haven't gotten my tax forms from Comcast.  How am I supposed to file my taxes with no forms??   And how am I supposed to plan for my wedding when I don't know how much money I have?  (the wedding budget is whatever is in our savings minus our taxes)

In other news, I'm *still* feeling slightly sick from that flu bout.  Why does it always take me 3 times as long to heal?  I'm in that stage where you're not sick enough to stay home, or even to take medicine, but you just feel slightly crappy and run down all the time.  I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

So much for keeping up with Craig's posting schedule.

Oh well.  In my defense, I was sick.  But now I'm better.

*sigh*

back to hiding from the world in runescape, while watching endless reruns of L&O SVU (which isn't even that good of a show).

What songs did you guys use in your wedding?  Specifically, I'm looking for suggestions on:

Processional
Recessional
First Dance
Father/Daughter
Mother/Son

Happy Valentine's Day!

Morgan woke me up with a bouquet of flowers this morning.   Wheeee!  And he says we can have dinner tonight if I feel up to it.  Because I'm sick.  Why do I always get sick right when we have Army parties to go to?  I got sick the day of his OCS ball, and here I am sick right before the Valentine's Day Dinner/Dance (which is tomorrow... which is not Valentine's Day.... oh well).  With my luck, I'll get sick again right before the Signal Ball in April. 

Also, I just created a ton of work for myself.  I found a place that has complete records of every invoice we've ever had.  So now I'm stuck culling over 1k invoices stretching back to 2004 and analyzing them to get some nice pretty financial data.  Why do I do this to myself?

Oh well, off to sleep, perchance to dream.... I mean to get better.  So I can go out to dinner tonight.

Argh!

I need to find a little black dress...
It needs to be modest enough to wear as a guest at a wedding in Florida in March, or to my own bridal shower over the 4th of July... but it also needs to be sexy enough for the couple's Valentine's Day Dinner/Dance on base.

Oh, and it needs to not be black, as I don't look good in that color.

Guys have it so easy.

Aren't you guys shocked? It's not even been a week and I'm posting again.

Does anyone else feel guilty when they hear about how much a friend's life sucks. Really sucks not just minor drama. I have this friend who's mom is sick with Alzheimer's, she lost her job, her car is broken, and she's about to be evicted. Partially guilty because I can't help her much, but also partially guilty because my life is going so well, and we're so (relatively) affluent. Morgan has a good job, we're not worried about being evicted, we're not worried about where our next meal is going to come from.. we're worried about whether we can spend $2,000 on a photographer or whether we should really go with the $1,000 photographer... And she'll say stuff like "so what have you been up to today" and then I feel horrible because the answer is "trying to decide how to best throw an $8,000 party..." when I know that my question of "what have you been up to today" will get an answer of "well, my phone has been turned off for failure to pay." As if I feel guilty for being 'rich' which is completely stupid because there were lots of years where we were poor too, and besides on a more fundamental level, why should I feel guilty for our success? It's that kind of thinking that gets rich people to vote Democrat, which is stupid, and I know it, but I still feel guilty. Maybe it's more that I personally feel I'm not good enough, so I have no right to succeed, so I should feel guilty for having succeeded. As in, the same crap I've been battling ever since I was born into an alcoholic family. Which sucks, 'cause I thought I was past that. I thought that my self esteem was better than that, finally. But here I am with the same knee-jerk reaction of inferiority. *sigh* Back to the therapist, I guess.

Not much happened this week, really. I finished reorganizing my dad's websites (the two sites are www.4wdrc.com and www.2wdrc.com and maintaining them for the company is my job). He's had 7 webmasters in 5 years, which explains some of the organization problems, but really, he had files named 100_203682b. A bunch of them. As in, people never bothered to rename the image files. So now, a news article is called 01-01-2008 (or whatever day it was written on) and the image files for that news article are called 01-01-2008_01 or 01-01-2008_02. And all the news articles are in a folder, and all the news images are in a folder inside the images folder called... yep, that's right "NewsImages" Same with the tech articles or the race results. I mean, seriously peoples, it doesn't take that long to organize *one* story as you're writing the code. You have to move the images to a folder on your hard drive, why not make it a logical folder? Then, future webmasters won't be beating their heads against the wall wondering what file "1" is. (and yes, there was a file called nothing but "1"). We also had files that are not linked to anywhere on our sites, but they're still be hosted. Like biographies of drivers who no longer drive for us. Their bio, and all the pictures, are still up there. Why? You can't get to that page from anywhere else on the site. ARRRRGGHHH! But, it's all cleaned up now, and logically organized, which should make it an easier site to maintain.

I think my favorite time of day is right now, early morning when I'm awake and dressed but the rest of the house (or just Morgan in this case) is still asleep.  I feel like I can do anything - it's so peaceful.  Some mornings I just curl up with a cup of coffee and read and soak in the silence, other mornings I'm super productive and clean the entire apartment (well, minus the bedroom) before 9 am.   Which is weird, because it's just as quiet in the weekday mornings after he leaves for work, but somehow it's not the same.  Oh well, more on this later.  Runescape is calling my name.

As usual, it's been a while since I posted.  I think I might try some sort of a posting schedule similar to Craig's Xanga and make myself write something.  Problem is, I still approach writing *anything* like it needs to be an essay and needs to have some sort of profound point.  Maybe it doesn't...?

Anyways, plans for my wedding are moving along.  Dress, veil, shoes are bought.  Hall is rented.  Church is reserved.  Invitations are picked (but not bought).  Bridesmaids are chosen, informed, and told which dress to buy.  Caterer comes with the hall, but I still have to choose a menu.  What do you peoples think of a meal composed of appetizers?  My reception is gonna start at like 5pm, so people will be hungry.  I was thinking of having a salad or two, a tray of sandwiches, and then a whole bunch of appetizers - chicken strips, mozzarella sticks, mini quiches, bacon wrapped scallops, a huge pile of fresh shrimp, chicken wings, meatballs, mini egg rolls, breaded mushrooms, mini crab cakes... etc.  Do you think people will feel comfortable grazing to get their food?  Personally, I like it better that way, but maybe I'm weird?

In other news, I need to buy some formal dresses.  I have a Valentine's Day Dinner/Dance on February 15th, another Army ball on April 12th, a wedding to attend as a guest in March, a wedding to attend as bridesmaid in May, and my shower is (hopefully - I need to email my cousins) in late June or 4th of July weekend....  So, maybe I can wear my bridesmaid gown to the dinner/dance and the ball, and then get a more casual outfit to wear to the wedding-as-guest and the shower?

Argh!  the closest real shopping (especially when you're plus sized) is Topeka, a 1 hour drive.

Oh well - lunch with Andrea today, then a bridal fair (maybe she'll come with me?)  Hopefully I can find a baker, a DJ, and a florist.  I shall plan a shopping trip to Topeka in early February after we get more gas money.  Marlena, any chance you'll have a bridesmaid dress picked out by then?

-C

 Image heavy, but worth it!

Stolen from esther...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper.  Gift bags is somehow cheating, like not enough work was put into the present.

2. Real tree or fake tree? Real.  Picking it out is half the fun.  Besides, storage is a pain

3. When do you put up the tree? ehh... I try for the beginning of December.  This year, we put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving, which was a mistake as we now have needles everywhere.

4. When do you take the tree down? I try for right around New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yes.  Especially with alcohol

6. Favorite gift received as a child? The new computer and internet my parents gave me when I was 20?  Only because it was completely unexpected.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No.  But then, the sum total of my Christmas decorations consists of 65 ornaments, 1 star, and 4 stocking holders.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Morgan's entire family

9. Easiest person to buy for? My mom

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My dad got me a day-glo orange sweater once.  I've never worn it.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? I wish I sent Christmas cards.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Don't really like them.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I was *done* with shopping and wrapping this year on December 1st.  I'm so proud of myself.  Usually I finish up the weekend before Christmas.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? *chuckles* yes.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Hot chocolate.  We get a single serving of really expensive good hot chocolate in our stockings each year.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? I like all the lights to be the same color.  Blue is cool, but clear is easiest to do.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Hark the Herald Angels Sing, probably, but I love most of them.  Except for Frosty the Snowman, that one is retarded.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Staying home, but only if my family comes.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Only if I sing the song...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star, with lights

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?  There shouldn't be any presents under the tree on Christmas Eve, Santa hasn't come yet.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? People who don't just accept the fact that there will be lines.

23. What I love most about Christmas? Christmas is one of the few times each year my family actually tries to be a real family, and gifts are about the only way we show we love one another.  So I love giving gifts and we tend to receive a *lot*.  Also, it's the only holiday my mom decorates for.   Christmas is my favourite time of year.

So I was reading through my quotes the other day and was reminded of good times at college.  See if these quotes bring back any memories for you guys....

Do you have any written down to add to the list?

Isaac    
 
"And then I looked up an realized that 'kissing you silly' had nothing whatsoever to do with the Oracle's riddle to Aegeus in the play 'Medea'"
        
"Hi- you've reached Isaac's house. If you are a parent, I am undoubtedly studying in the library. If you are a friend, the party starts at 10. If         you've called to ask me for money, call me back when I have a real job. If you've called to offer me money, please stay on the line and I'll pick up the phone as soon as I walk in. BEEP."

"shut up; I win."

"Fork you."



Maralissa    
  
"It's like something from Victoria's Secret.  Except there's no secret."



Matt

 "…way back, before they had diapers."

"Finally! A use for plastic army men and AOL CDs!"

"I mean, come on, you could walk down the street and find someone who speaks American…"



Ceci   

"Castles and princes make up for any amount of socialism"



Catherine
     
"Three Short Lesbians and a Dorm Room! Wouldn't that be a great name for a sitcom?"



Emily, Angie, and I       

Emily: "Of the tree, if you want to use the genitive"
Angie: "I like the genitive"
Ceci: "This is the society to save the subjunctive; fuck the genitive. It can disappear into the English possessive for all I care…"



Erick
 
"That’s the problem, isn't it? So many smart ones who don't believe they are [smart], and so many morons, who think they are the next Pasteur, Edison, Einstein rolled into one."



Rachel 
  
"I'm very good at selling myself."

"I want different problems; I figure if I just have sex I'll have different problems."

"I don't want to have communal sex with God."

"In Marketing class, because of all that had gone wrong and it wasn’t even 9:00 in the morning, I began to do a cost-benefit analysis of my existence.     At that point my day wasn’t worth it."

"The Renaissance dudes weren't enthusiastic about Truth, Beauty, and the American Way --- they wanted SEX!!!"

"They were concerned about the betterment of society and the pleasuring of the self."

"I just assaulted myself with ice cubes."

"I have a healthy balance of personality disorders."

"I have yet to speak about this on a stage where it hasn't been platonic. It's been more about the concept of horny."

"If horny is a metaphysical concept, I am poking the bubble. I am not in it."

"I'm going to take free spirit and shove it up your free ass."

"I'm depriving all the women of the world of my love just because I like men."