Exceedingly Mundane

I just finished reading “Big Stone Gap” by Adriana Trigiani. I must admit that I had a bit of a time getting into it, but boy, once I did, it was really good. I quite enjoyed it by the end. Of course, it had a really good ending, and books and movies with good endings just bowl me over. I am a sucker for a happy ending.

By the way, this was book #20 for me on the year. Woo-hoo! 😀

I have to return this book and my 2 audiobooks to the library on Friday. I’m heavily debating whether to check out more (which is what I want to do), but I feel like if I check out more books, I will just read and not do any scrapbooking. I got all of our vacation pictures printed and had wanted to start working on those. But, boy, when I get into reading mode, I really don’t want to do anything else.

Alrighty then. What’s a girl to do!

OK, Day 3 – something that makes me happy today….

I’m washing sheets today and it always makes me really happy to take warm, soft, cuddly sheets out of the dryer and put them on our bed. Especially in the winter, when it’s chilly, but even now, in the middle of summer, it makes me happy.

Plus, an added bonus is that I bought us two new allergen pillows last week. Nothing like a nice new fluffy pillow to make you feel all snugly and comfy going to sleep. 😀

I’ve been really busy all morning, working on stuff at Hambones.org. We’re celebrating our one-year anniversary beginning tomorrow, and we have a lot of fun and silly stuff going on, including a couple of things involving small monetary prizes (cash or gift cards, if I can get them in $5 or $10 denominations). I hope everyone enjoys the silly things I’ve come up with, and that everyone enjoys the site and all we have to offer here. We are rather proud of our little family and friends website. It ain’t much, but it is a place on the Internet where we can all connect and share info about our lives, photos and just generally pick at each other in the forums!

I also posted about our 1st annual Football Fantasy league. We’ve gotten that setup and it’s time to start getting teams together and getting excited about fantasy football! I posted some info in the Sports Forum, so hopefully everyone that’s interested will check that out.

Not a lot else going on today. I have a bunch of housework to do today that I was supposed to do yesterday and didn’t. I am very good at procrastinating! 😆

Oh, Tim didn’t have to work last night after all, even though I thought he was going to. We both sat up really late though, anyway. He was up watching old football tapes and I was reading my book. Gotta get it finished before it is due back at the library on Friday! 😛

I cashed in some of my points this morning for gift cards. I had accumulated quite a few points over the last few months, and I cashed them in for two – $10 gift cards to Target. I have a few things in there I want to buy (not like I ever have any trouble finding things to buy in there, I love that store!), and I’m hoping the cards will come in the mail in the next couple of weeks. Then, I’ll head out on a shopping spree, courtesy of Mypoints.

I’ve been doing this points program for about 2 years now, and it’s really paid off. We’ve gotten a bunch of movie rental cards, and I have also gotten one Target $10 gift card before. You read emails, answer surveys, link through this site to merchants they partner with (such as Target.com, BestBuy.com, Cabelas.com, Hotels.com, etc, there are a lot of them), and then you accumulate points for your purchases. I really like doing it, but then again, I have a lot of time and my time is free. If you’re interested, let me know and I’ll send you a referral and get you started on earning free gift cards to places like Best Buy, Target, Home Depot and Blockbuster!

P.S. I also do two other programs online, and have received gift cards and free movie rentals from Blockbuster from those. Let me know if you want more info!

I had salmon out and defrosted and ready to cook, along with some vegetables, for tonight’s supper. Tim got home about 6:00, and right as he walked in, he asked what we were having for supper. I told him, and he responded with an “ugh” and then a “sounds like a good night to go out and eat”. “How about Cock of the Walk?” he said.

Cock of the Walk is a great little catfish place not far from our house, on the Reservoir. They sell basically one thing – fried catfish with all the trimmings. I think they also offer fried chicken strips, but we have never known anyone who has ever ordered anything but the fish.

It’s a great place right on the water, very rustic; you sit at wooden tables and eat out of tin plates and cups. Lots of charm and character. You order catfish by the person, fish for two, and then they start parading out the food. First, you get the coleslaw and pickled/marinated onions, then your server (dressed in riverboat attire, complete with a hat and feather) brings out a small cast iron pan of cornbread that he flips and catches in the pan. If you’re lucky, he won’t drop yours! 🙂 Soon afterwards, they will bring out a big aluminum platter of fried catfish, french fries, and hushpuppies. (Are you now sensing that it’s not healthy, all fried!). Tim also likes the greens, so he ordered a half keg of those. I ate a bite, to make him happy, but I do NOT like greens. 🙄

Needless to say, it was all delicious and we ate till we nearly popped. We drove around in the new car and looked at some new houses going up around the Reservoir after that. A good, fun, date night. But then again, we always have those –Tim is the world’s best at fun and spontaneous. And he’s a great date!

I think I’ve done this one before, from this site… there is not a new challenge up, so he/she suggested we look through the archives and find one we like. So, I did! I picked one from May 2005, 10 brand names you can’t live without:

Here’s mine, in no particular order. As always, if you’d like to play along, you are certainly encouraged to do so either in the form of a comment, or at your own blog. 😀

10 Brand Names You Can’t Live Without

1) Crest toothpaste
2) Pantene shampoo
3) SoftLips Lip Balm
4) Coffeemate Creamer
5) Raisin Bran Crunch cereal
6) Morningstar Corn Dogs
7) Tyson chicken breasts
8) Quilted Northern Toilet Paper
9) Bounty Paper Towels
10) Seiko wristwatch

Bonus Ones:

Sonic (anyone, anywhere, anytime!)
Dell Computer 🙂 – although any computer with high speed access will do!
iPod
FORD EXPLORER!!!

I got out and about today in my new car – went to the bank, video store and grocery shopping. I have another “happy a day” to add to my list – my local Walmart is now back to carrying the kind of soda Tim likes to drink (Cherry Coke) and the kind of chips I like to buy (Sun Chips). The last two or three times I was there, they didn’t have either and I was rather bummed. I’m happy to report they had them both today!

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It may sound silly, but one thing I am happy about this morning is that there is a 60% chance of rain today! I’m sure some people are getting a lot of rain and are maybe getting sick of it, but where I live, it’s fairly dry and we could really use some rain. This is the best chance we’ve had in several days, and so I’m hopeful that it might rain later today. Our grass and flowers are very dry, and if it doesn’t rain soon, I will have to drag out the hoses and sprinklers and spend several hours watering. That won’t make me happy, so I am really pulling for the rain!

I may have another happy thought later, you never know! 😀

I just took some more pictures of my new Explorer and posted them in the Photo gallery on Hambones (in the Misc photo album). Tim took it by the dealership this morning (also took care of the tag and insurance for us, what a sweetie pie!) and they cleaned it all up. I thought that was probably the best time for pictures – it probably won’t ever be that clean and shiny again!

I also made a new photo album in the Hambones photo section (page 2) for Brittany and Zack. Linda sent me some pictures of them riding a neighbor’s horse and also of a fish they caught that was over 36″ long. Those are now in their photo album. 🙂

I say … and you think … ?

Risks:: don’t take these
Abdominal:: pain
Radiant:: glowing
The usual:: Suspects
Mix and match:: eclectic
Wireless:: Wi-Fi
Remedial:: reading
Mile:: marker
Long lost:: relative
Only one:: you’re the only one for me 🙂

I was reading Big Orange Michael‘s blog the other day, and he issued a challenge for the month of August. I think I’m going to play along, as best I can. The challenge is simple – post about one thing that makes you happy each day.

Here’s my happy for today – easy one … my new car!

P.S. I started doing something similar to this when I first started using the Journal feature on Hambones – I did a series of gratitudes, things I was grateful for. I’m glad I found this at Michael’s blog – I need to be reminded of how much I have, how many big and little things make me happy, and how very lucky and blessed I am. Thanks Michael!

1. If you could be on the Amazing Race, who would your partner be? I love, love, love this show, but I know myself well enough to know I could never be on it. However, if I was, I would definitely need to race with Tim. He’s the only one who could keep my stress levels manageable!

2. On a priority scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate trust in a relationship/friendship? As a 9 or 10, trust is a huge issue with me

3. Do you trust your spouse/significant other/best friend completely? Yes, I trust Tim completely, with my life. I know he always puts me first and makes decisions that are best for us, and I trust him in everything he says and does.

4. Do you trust others easily, or does it take time? No, I don’t trust easily. I’ve had a bad situation in the past and I learned the hard way that trust is a very delicate thing and once broken, is very hard to get back.

Tim and I had another busy, but fun-filled day today. We took the new Explorer out, needless to say!!

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Please donate your spare change to us, we’re poor now. 🙁

Because we BOUGHT A NEW CAR TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yipppeee! Tim bought me a 2005 Ford Explorer XLT Sport tonight. It’s red, but we think it’s more of a maroon color. I’ve never had a car this color before 🙂 I missed my old Explorer and Tim absolutely adores his F-150, so we decided to take advantage of Ford’s Employee Discount program they had running through today, and we bought this sweet thing tonight:

It has running boards, graphite gray leather interior (including really comfy bucket seats up front for us), a 6 cd disc changer, an electronic information center on the dash, a rear sensing system, a cool cargo cover in the back that I didn’t have on my old Explorer, keyless entry (including a pad on the driver door), and the nifty little auto dimmer on the rear view mirror. Tim has this on his truck and it’s pretty cool.

Needless to say, I’m pretty excited. I even took a picture of it tonight in the garage!

We bought it so late in the day, that the cleaning folks had already left. So, Tim is going to take it by on Monday and have them clean it up and detail it. I’ll probably take more pictures tomorrow in the daylight, and I know I will take some once it comes home all clean and shining.

OK, gotta try and catch my breath… I’m still really pumped! 😆

Appetizer
Name 3 people whom you admire for their intelligence. Tim is obviously the first one who comes to mind. He’s one of the smartest people I know, about so many things. He can rebuild a carburetor, program in C++, sing to me (he sounds like Garth Brooks sometimes!), and a thousand other things. So many people sell him short when they first meet him — and they are sorely mistaken, which they usually realize very soon afterwards. As for the other two, that would require more thought than I am prepared to give at this time! 😀

Soup
What’s the last food you tried that you really didn’t care for. Can’t think of any off hand. We tried Afghan and Thai on vacation and I loved everything I had. I guess the last thing would have been some kind of sushi on a Chinese buffet – it has a greenish/yellow thing in the middle that I didn’t like. No idea what it’s called though.

Salad
If you could rename the street that you live on, what would you want it to be called? I don’t have a problem with the name of our street. Actually, I rather like it. I liked it 12 years ago or I might not have ever moved here! 😉

Main Course
When was the last time you were genuinely surprised? Yesterday, I think. I had been on the lookout for two days for my pictures from Snapfish. I checked when I got in (early afternoon) and no pictures. Then, Tim comes in from work and says he has a surprise for me in his hand, behind his back. Voila, he produces a box with all our vacation pictures from Snapfish. I was surprised – because there was no box there earlier when I got home, and the doorbell never rang, so I didn’t expect them to come at all. It was a nice surprise, though!!

Dessert
Share a household tip. I sprinkle baking soda down my kitchen sink and drain, then follow it with white vinegar. The vinegar makes it bubble up, and then I wash it all down with hot water. This always fixes it if something smells not so good in the sink or drain.