Wish List Wednesday

I'm always looking for something to make being lazy a possibility. Awhile ago, I posted about a robot that could do ironing for me. Well, this robot can do laundry and mop!

I'm sure if I look around long enough, I could find one that does dishes and clean toilets. Now THAT would be awesome!

After the Storms

I have been whining and complaining about the recent long streak of storms lately. However, those storms have given me many opportunities to capture some really beautiful photographs. I love taking pictures of interesting looking skies. They just give me a calm, peaceful feeling.

Unfortunately, there were some not so nice results from the storms too.

This is one of two 30+ year old trees that toppled over during one of them. Luckily, they did not land on anything so the only damage done was to the trees themselves.

Silly Sign Sunday - I've Got a Question

???

Crazy on the Catwalk

In case you missed me mentioning it a thousand times, I am a reality show freak. One of my favorite shows is "The Real Housewives of Orange County/Atlanta/New York/New Jersey". Watching this show makes me realize that all the money in the world can't fix crazy. Some of these women are just plain cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

This is a clip from a few months ago that I have watched many, many times when I need a good chuckle. One of the housewives, Ramona, strutted down the catwalk in her own special way. She is the one in the black/white pinstripe dress.

I'm not sure what she was going for here but I think she should have practiced in the mirror a few times.

Wish List Wednesday

Okay, I'm going to keep this simple because I'm tired and extra lazy today. So, what else is new? Yeah, yeah, stuff it! Anyway, my wish for today is for this crappy weather to improve. For the last two weeks, it has rained almost every day and it is starting to get depressing. The temperatures have been in the 80's (which I'm NOT complaining about) but extremely humid (which I AM complaining about). It's the kind of weather where five minutes after you get out of the shower, you need to jump back in.

Along with the rain has come some pretty wicked storms. In fact, on Monday, a tornado touched down about 30 miles from here and destroyed about 25 houses. By the time it made it's way here, it calmed down a little but we had torrential rain blowing sideways for about a half an hour and it was getting a little scary.

A little side note here. When there are tornado warnings broadcast, please take them seriously. About 10 years ago, there was a tornado warning where I was living at the time. No tornado had ever touched down there in my lifetime so I never really took those warnings too seriously. So, as I was staring out the front window, I started seeing things flying through the air. Apparently, as I was watching this out the front window, a tornado was demolishing my neighbor's garage and ripping a part of the roof off his house. The only damage I had was a crack in the garage window. Our garages were only separated by about 20 feet.

It was a pretty amazing and creepy thing to see all the destruction a few feet from my untouched house. In the seconds that it went through my head that, uh, maybe I should go down to the basement, it was over. I was very lucky that day and learned a lesson from my stupidity.

Well, this post certainly went all over the place. Please excuse my jumbled and rambling thoughts but I did say I was tired. Ugh, and it's starting to rain again!

Silly Sign Sunday - Stuck

Hmm, now what?

Electricity, the Best Discovery Ever!

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was no such thing as electricity. Last night, I found out what a boring existence that must have been. I also found out I wouldn't have done very well dealing with it.

On the way home from work yesterday, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a bad storm. The winds were howling at about 60 mph and there was torrential rain. It only lasted for about a half an hour but it apparently did a lot of damage with many trees falling down around the city. By the time I got home, the bad stuff had passed.

The weather all day was pretty humid and temperatures reached almost 90 degrees so the inside of my home was extremely uncomfortable. I immediately turned on the air conditioner and a bunch of fans to cool down the place. Ten minutes later, the power went out. "Oh, crap!"

This has happened off and on in the past so I thought that soon it would come back on and the fans would start blowing again.

Or maybe not.

Hour one passes and I'm starting to think this may be awhile. I am also thinking about the television shows I normally watch are going to be starting soon and I'm hoping it's going to be back on by then. It is still light out so I decide to read a bit, wiping sweat from my forehead so it doesn't fall onto the pages. (A little tidbit about me. I HATE sweating. I don't know why but it just makes me feel gross and really, really crabby. I know, weird, but true.)

Hour two passes and the sun is starting to go down. I get out the candles because I can no longer see the pages of the book. I don't know how people can read by candlelight because it definitely puts a strain on the eyes. So, I decided to give up on that. So what else does one do without electricity? I stared at the walls, impatiently tapping my fingers.

Hour three passes. Oh, brother, this really stinks. It is completely dark outside and not much better inside. Still starting at the walls and sweating. Now, I'm starting to think about the calzone in the refrigerator that I was going to eat but I can't use the microwave. I search for something to eat that doesn't need to be cooked. Cookies! That's a good supper.

Hour four passes and I'm still staring at the walls and sweating. Hello? Anyone out there fixing the problem? By now, after sitting in the dark for four hours, I'm getting a little antsy. My car is in the garage, which I can't get into without power. Finally, my husband gets home! I grab his keys, run out the door and go for a drive. With the air conditioner blasting. I was in heaven. Now, lightning starts shooting like crazy through the sky and I'm thinking driving around may not be such a good idea after all. I hear a very loud crackling sound like a transmitter blowing and decided that I might want to head indoors again. Oh, well. it was good while it lasted.

Hour five passes and it seems like forever ago that I had a cool breeze blowing in my face. Back to sweating and staring at the walls. I am bored out of my mind and there is nothing I can do about it. My eyes are darting between the dark screens of the television and computer, wishing that they would magically turn back on. I decided that the only thing left to do is to go to bed. So, that's what I did.

According to the flashing clocks when I woke up, it was another 3 hours before the power came back on. Going to bed, I guess, was a good decision.

Things I learned (most of which I already knew):

• I am addicted to television.
• I am addicted to the Internet.
• I am addicted to the microwave.
• I need to buy food that doesn't need to be cooked.
• I need to find ways to entertain myself when I don't have any of the above.
• I hate sweating.
• I love electricity.

The end.

Wish List Wednesday

This week's item is a yummy one! Knight's Gourmet Popcorn is a Milwaukee based company that sells the best popcorn you will ever taste.

I am drooling just looking at this picture. I'm telling you, it is awesome! I have been a fan for many years. They have been in business in 1952, so they have had plenty of time to perfect their popcorn.

They have numerous delicious flavors to choose from. My favorites are Deluxe Nacho Cheese, Bacon and Cheddar, and Grape. Yes, Grape. YUM!

One word of advice though. The bags are bigger than you think they will be. I bought some last year and it took me several months to eat it. The bag was approximately a foot and a half tall and a foot wide. I'm not kidding. That's a lot of popcorn! If I'm remembering correctly, it was a "Family Size" bag for only $8.99. You definitely get your money's worth. Check them out!

Silly Sign Sunday - Don't Sit Here

Am I the only one who thinks this is kind of rude?

I'm Happy! I'm Sad!

I'm happy. Actually, I'm thrilled beyond belief! I bought the camera I have been dreaming about for the last few months and I'm loving it! The Canon Rebel T2i Digital SLR  is a thing of beauty, especially if you are coming from a point and shoot camera. Oh, my! What a difference in the quality of the pictures. I cannot say that enough.

This camera has been hard to get ahold of. In order to buy just the body, you really have be continuously checking to see if it becomes available and when it does, you need to quickly buy it. Once a store has it, I have seen it sold out in less than an hour. I just happened to be on vacation and had the time to watch it for days on end. It became available and I snatched it!

I got it a few days ago and have been playing with it ever since. I am new to the whole switching lenses on a camera thing and am feeling a bit overwhelmed with all that I have to learn but I am having a blast in the process. It only took me a half an hour to figure out how to take my first picture! Like I said people, I'm new to this. Once I figured it out, I was taking pictures of everything in my home. It was raining, so outside pictures were out of the question.

So tonight, there were some fireworks going on and I was excited about taking some pictures and videos of them. Unfortunately, I kind of forgot that the lens doesn't have zoom capabilities and we were about five miles away so the fireworks look like bright little specks of light from where we were standing. I was bummed. I was planning on posting my first pictures on here for all (one) of my followers (hi, Grandma J!). But this is what they would have looked like so let's just pretend for a minute.

Oh!

Ah!

Okay, they probably wouldn't have looked that good but someday they will once I figure out what I'm doing. Maybe by July 4th. Maybe. There are about 352 different functions I need to learn first. Wish me luck!

Wish List Wednesday

I found something that I have absolutely no practical use for but I like it!

This is a Slumberjack 'Latitude' 0-Degree Mummy Sleeping Bag. Doesn't it look comfy? Do I really need one of these? Nope. Do I ever go camping? Nope. But it looks all snugly and warm. However, I don't recommend it if you are claustrophobic. That might be a problem. I can just see myself in it for some reason.

Ain't I cute? And really short? And have a really big head? And look remarkably like Angelina Jolie? Anyway, you could also probably cut a hole in the bottom so your feet poke through and use it in the winter as a coat. It looks like it would keep you pretty warm. Just a thought. I like when things have multiple uses. My only concern is what happens if the zipper gets stuck? How the heck would you get out?

Silly Sign Sunday - Bathroom Wars

Oh, my! I'm afraid to ask what uncivilized urinating is.

They Call Me Snow White

Well, now that there are only 274 more days (not that I'm counting) until my trip to Hawaii, I have some important decisions to make. One of the decisions I need to make is what to do about the my snow colored skin. If I were to lay down in the snow naked, you would not see me. Seriously. Next winter, I'll take a picture and prove it. Ha! Just checking to see if you were listening.

A little side story as proof of this. One time, my husband (boyfriend at the time) were walking down a street in Las Vegas. A guy driving by actually yelled out the window, "Get a tan!" We were the only two people there and my husband is naturally darker skinned, so it was obviously meant for me. Jerk!

So, I am very pale skinned. And I burn very easily. The few times I sat in the sun when I was younger, I would burn, turn bright red, and peel. That is why I rarely attempted the whole tanning thing. So, I need to think about how to prepare myself for the sunny weather.

I have tried several ways to do this in the past to limit the amount of laughter when I walk by people. I tried tanning lotion one summer. The results were okay but it was a lot of work and it does not last very long. Some important things I learned about using this form of "tanning".

• Trying to rub lotion onto the middle and upper part of your back is not easy unless you are a contortionist.
• It is very important to put on an even layer or you will end up with streaks and patchy spots. Not pretty.
• You have to be careful about areas like your knees and elbows or you will walk around looking like you haven't taken a bath for awhile.
• You should wear gloves unless you want orange hands and fingernails for a few days.

I have also tried a tanning booth. I did this for our last trip to Hawaii. I was actually pretty pleased with the end result and it lasted longer than the three weeks we were there. And, I never got sunburned after being outside for hours on end. The down sides to this are that it was expensive and a pain in the butt to have to go to the tanning salon every other day for two months. Another more important down side is the health risk involved. I'm not comfortable with the whole increased cancer risk so this was probably a one time thing for me.

A little piece of advice for someone new to tanning this way. Bring a watch with you and pay attention to the time you are in there. On my first week of tanning, they set the wrong time for me and instead of staying in the machine for 5 minutes, I was in for about 12. When you first start tanning, every minute is important. Let's just say that if I would have gone to a doctor, I probably would have been told that I received some sort of 2nd or 3rd degree burn. I am not kidding when I say that there was a lot of pain involved and I could barely sit and sleep for a few days. It was not good. But hey, I got a free bottle of moisturizer from them. Wasn't that generous? (insert sarcasm here)

This time, I'm thinking about a spray tan. This lowers the risks of damage to the skin, cancer (I hope) and uneven coloring. Unfortunately, this does not seem to last very long either and I would probably have to go somewhere in Hawaii for another session.

Why do I care so much anyway? I don't know. I should probably be more concerned about the roll of belly fat and the cellulite on the back of my legs and work on finding a pair of shorts that will camouflage both areas. Or maybe actually start exercising instead of just thinking about it. Ugh, now I'm depressed. Where's the ice cream?

Wish List Wednesday

When I was a teenybopper, I would sit in my bedroom and listen to music on the radio. I had a spiffy radio that could also record onto cassette tapes. Remember those anyone? I would then be able to listen to my favorite songs 68 times in a row and dance my butt off. Of course, I would make sure that the door was locked first so nobody could walk in and see me hopping around like a fool. Good times!

I still have all of those cassette tapes (100 or so) but nothing to play them on. I probably wouldn't want to listen to most of what is on them but would love to be able to check them out anyway. Additionally, I have always wanted to somehow save them in a different format since tapes don't last forever.

Well, now I can! I'm so excited about this item and I will be purchasing one soon. I had no idea that something like this existed. What I am talking about is a TAPE2USB.

This fabulous little item will enable you to download what is on a cassette tape to your computer. How awesome is that?  Now I will be able to hop around like a fool again but this time, I won't have to lock any doors.