It's my birthday!

That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

Tomorrow's the big day

So tomorrow is my birthday! I'm going to be 28. Can you believe it? It seems like it's been such a long time...and then I remember that my Grandmother live to be 87. I've got time. I'm just getting started here!

So in honor of my birthday, this post will serve 2 purposes:

A. To tell you what I want for my birthday

B. To start the new feature that was a staple of my old website (OLD, OLD website) - the Top 10 (or so) list.

So today, on the eve of the 28th anniversary of my birth, I present

My Top 10 Birthday Wishlist

10. Job security - we have to cut our budget at work in light of a recent HUGE development and I am hoping that, should we have to cut jobs, it's not a "last in, first out" policy

9. Car - to be fixed by the end of this week rather than the beginning of next

8. Vince - to stop acting like a butt and arguing with me every Monday night at Trivia. Having the same birthday does not make us besties!

7. Health - I have been saddled with terrible headaches and light-headedness lately. I'd really like that to go away.

6. Alcohol - to be able to have a full beer without feeling like I'm going to die the next day (I have developed an "allergy" to alcohol - it's tough to explain, so let's just call it an allergy)

5. Clean House - guess I gotta work on that one a little more myself. My house isn't dirty...it's just messy and not completely "finished" yet. But we have the spare bedroom set up, finally!

4. The Cookie Dough that my sister promised me 2 months ago and that is still sitting in her freezer!

3. Date Night with the boyfriend. We haven't had the time (and in some cases the energy) to have our official monthly date.

2. Rest - or rather the feeling of being rested. That's been missing lately. Why am I so tired?!?!

and finally...

1. Money - I mean who doesn't want money. I actually just want to get the details of my teaching contract worked out so that I will know how much money I will be making.

It's almost my birthday

I have been very good this year about not publicizing the countdown to my birthday (7 days, by the way).

I apparently became an adult somewhere in this 27th year of my life... I asked my mom for a carpet cleaner for my birthday!

So anyway, about my birthday being a few days away...
It's restaurant giveaway time! So far (all today actually), I have received the following offers:
- Free stir-fry at Bd's Mongolian Grill
- Free burger at Red Robin
- Free (non-fajita) entree at Moe's Southwest Grill
- Free dessert at Chili's (mmmm...molten lava cake)
- Free entree at Fox and Hound
- Free handcrafted burger at Ruby Tuesday

My next week will be full of good eating!

Heels and humidity

I bought a pair of Joan & David "Circa" heels a few months a go. They were on clearance at DSW and I had a gift certificate and a connection with an employee discount. So needless to say, they were worth every penny even if I did buy them a half size too big.

They look a lot like this:

Except that the Mary Jane-esque buckle is closer to the toe.

I worried about how they would fit and the first time that I wore them to work, they clicked on my feet like flip-flops and almost caused me to fall. However, they were so darn cute that I still thought they were worth evey penny.

The last couple times that I have worn them, the temperature and humidity has been just right so that if I don't wear anything between my bare feet and the shoes, they don't move.

So, I guess what I am saying is:

Thanks humidity for making my shoes fit!

Musings

Haven't written in a while.

I was going to write a post on how I think the next "Great Flood" will actually be the destruction of Earth and 2 of each kind will be transported to whatever planet God is developing as we speak. But as I wrote it, I realized that I was just sounding crazy. I've been a little loopy lately and can't explain why, but these completely random and inane ideas keep popping into my head.

Speaking of inane ideas, I am copywriting the following to-be-written book title.

Why I Can't Help My Third Grader with Her Science Homework: a GOOD Explanation for Why Pluto is No Longer a Planet.

I'm thinking lots of pictures.

Do they learn the planets in 3rd grade? Sooner? later?

Anyhoo, does anyone know of a scientist that can help me in this effort? I will only require 50% of the royalties.

Lazy

I've been kinda lazy in the updating of the old blog here. But that's because I just bought a 2009 Toyota RAV4! Woo hoo. So I have been spending a lot of time enjoying that.

I love my new car! I really do! I'm actually happy to drive to work.

It's black (yes, I said that I would never buy a black car!)
It has leather seats, of which the front 2 are heated (I said that i would never get leather seats, but they came with an outstanding warrantee)
It has an awesome cargo cover and cargo net and all-weather floor mats (I don't know why I'm excited about that)


That's all for now. I am actually kind of busy today at work...gotta get to it!

Does this mean I'm a bad person?

Jerry and I decided that we need to get into better shape! And we live in a nice, safe (it looks safe) neighborhood now with tree-lined streets and sidewalks.

So yesterday, we decided to take advantage of our want for fitness and the gorgeous weather. We took a nice long stroll around the neighborhood. Wandering the streets led us out to Plainfield road and down to the Dillonvale shopping center.

Rather than walking out to the street, we crossed the shopping center. Within the strip is a Jack's Aquarium and pets. Jerry asked if I wanted to go in and see if there were any puppies. We originally decided not to because we really want to adopt a dog and I am afraid of seeing irresistible puppies at incredibly high (unnecessary) prices.

As we passed by, we both glanced in the window to see the four containers of animals... ferrets, birds, bunnies, hamsters, and one single puppy. Convinced a quick glance was all I could handle, I tried to continue without much of a stop.

"Is that a pug?" Jerry asked.

Crap. Let's go look.

It was a pug. Poor little pug-buddy was sleeping in the corner of a plexi-glass box with a tiny bowl of uneaten food in one corner and a bed of shredded paper... not soft newspaper mind you. It was like someone donated the remnants of their home shredder.

I felt so bad looking at this little guy. He was completely uninterested in the 2 strangers (Jerry and me) standing over his "home" while he tried to nap in what appeared the least comfy position ever. He had a super sad little look on his face. I couldn't bear it any longer! I had to walk away.

I have never felt so horrible in my life. I left that poor little puppy all alone in his box, with his sad eyes and look of disappointment.

I hope that someone buys him soon. But, I cannot. I cannot bring myself to purchase a dog when there are so many animals available for adoption... animals that have been abandoned by the world because they're not the perfect breed or because they had irresponsible owners.

I thought about that little pug puppy for hours last night. I still feel incredibly sad and I wish I had the ability to go back and rescue him.

Does this make me a bad person?

Sorry little buddy.