HAHAHAHA

Bad Domain Names

All of these are companies that didn't spend quite enough time considering how their online names might appear - and be misread...

1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is
   www.whorepresents.com/
   
   
2. Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange Advice and views at
   www.expertsexchange.com/
   
   
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at
   www.penisland.net/
   
   
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at
   www.therapistfinder.com/
   
   
5. There's the Italian Power Generator company,
   www.powergenitalia.com/
   
   
6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales,
   www.molestationnursery.com/
   
   
7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there?s always
   www.ipanywhere.com/
   
   
8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is
   www.cummingfirst.com/
   
   
9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
   www.speedofart.com/

Found at: http://humour.200ok.com.au/bad-domain-names.html

Take a Hike

Mike and I have decided to start hiking again.

Now if you know me, this might come as a surprise. I'm not much of an outdoorsy person. I don't like to sweat. I don't like bugs. And I generally prefer to be laying on the couch watching House instead of roughing it. Despite this all, I really do enjoy a good hike. (Not the extreme, backwoods, overnight, life or death, 45 mile hiking... just your usual day trip hiking.)

When we lived in Bloomington, Mike and I would go 3-4 times a week during the spring, summer and fall months. We'd easily go 2-3 miles, depending on what trail it was. Some of the reasons: Bloomington had some awesome nature trails, we had to exercise our beast of a dog (who we were hiding from our landlord) so she wouldn't wreck our little apartment, and we had very little money to do anything else.

After we left Bloomington, the hiking slowly came to a halt. Student teaching took over our lives. Then jobs. And this and that... there is always something, right? We take Scout out to run into an open field near our house or to the city lake when it's warm, but that is pretty much the extent of our walking trips as of late.

So the other night, as we sat around complaining about our out-of-shapeness and slowing metabolism, we decided that we should start hiking again. We both enjoy it... why not make it a hobby again?

The plan is to start out slow and work our way up to a rugged trail somewhere in the Smokey Mountains this summer.

I'm excited. I started my "training" by doing some leg squats yesterday. I regret doing them now that I cannot move the lower half of my body, but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

Cuteness Alert

Happy Belated Birthday, Sam!

My sister turned 21 this week. She came home this weekend to celebrate it with the family. Mom made her a Thanksgiving dinner in January and I made her a cake.

I told her I'd make her any kind of cake that she wanted. A fancy one... a themed one... whatever she desired . She requested a cake based off her favorite show, The Office. A Dwight Cake.

This is what she got. The Schrute Buck Cake.



Not as impressive as the volcano cake or Candy Mountain (I'll post about these another time), but not too shabby.

Homemade Peanut Butter Cookies

It's a lazy Sunday afternoon in the middle of a three day weekend. What could be better than bumming around the house and watching movies on tv? Cookies, of course.

I chose to make these just because I had all of the ingredients on hand and they seemed pretty
easy (would hate to do anything too strenuous on such a relaxing day...).

Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes about 15 cookies

**I'll post a picture later... too lazy to upload now**

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1-1/4 cup flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t salt

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Get your cookie sheets out. Don't grease them.

Cream together the sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter, margarine, shortening and egg in a large bowl. Once mixed together, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

Now you can stop here and enjoy your delicious traditional peanut butter cookies.

Or you can get a little crazy; add some oats to make oatmeal peanut butter cookies. Or put in some cashews for a crunchy cookie. Or coconuts and M&ms, mmmm... I ended up adding chocolate chips, crushed up peanuts and white chocolate chips to this batch just because that's what I had on hand.

Pour your selected goodies into the dough and mix well. I didn't have exact measurements, so I just eyeballed it.

Roll your into 1-1/4 inch balls (I didn't really measure... just nice little cookie globs). Place on the cookie sheet about 3 inches apart and make a little peanut butter cookie criss-cross pattern by mashing the dough with a fork.

Bake on the top rack for 9 minutes. I have a pan full of cookies that have burny bottoms because I put them on the lower rack, so beware.

Excellent cookies for a lazy Sunday.

So Cool

Now these are hand puppets!

Game Over

I don't even want to talk about it...

Let's just hope that Dungy stays!

Kitties

Up close and personal...





Meow.

freerice.com

Play a vocabulary game at freerice.com. Every time you get a question right, advertisers donate 20 grains of rice to be distributed by the UN World Food Program. Not only will it make you smarter, you'll get warm fuzzy feelings because you are helping a worthy cause. Go now!

Just for Fun...

My exotic name is...

1.the first 2 letters of your name:
ME

2.the first 2 letters of your middle name:
LE

3.the letter i:
I

4.double the 3rd letter in your last name:
EE

5.the letter a:
A

6.put it all together:
MELEIEEA

Wow... that's a lot of vowels.

A GREAT Day

Surprisingly, unexpectedly, miraculously... today was a great day at work. I rarely have a great day there... I mean, I love all the kiddos and usually enjoy what I do, but most times the other junk gets in the way. Don't even get me started...

Anyways, today I was asked to take over the DIBELS lessons for the first grade classes that come into our room. DIBELS is the "in" reading program at the moment which works on beginning reading skills. So being in charge of that means I get to plan lessons and teach to 2 groups of 10 first graders for 30 minutes each.

Now that may not seem like much to most people, but this is like a major promotion to me. No, I don't get paid any more than I do now, but for someone who is sometimes painfully over-qualified to do this job, it's like hitting the jackpot.

And when I say I'm over-qualified, I'm not being snotty... it's the truth. Seriously, my job for the last week has been cutting out shapes, laminating cards, and doing lunch line duty. That gets old really fast. I really don't need a college degree and a teaching license to do that. But it is a job and a stepping stone to a teaching job. So this is my chance for a breath of fresh air and a challenge that will keep me from getting bored and will give me more experience for a real teaching job in the future.

And on top of that, I was given compliments today. I mean, I know I'm good at my job. Again, not being snotty, but it's something I pride myself on. But sometimes it just feels really good to hear your boss say it.

And it's now the weekend... could it get any better?

Even More Useless Trivia...

Here is some more random information that I know you all were just dying to know. You can find a bunch more here. I don't promise that it is all true, but at least it is entertaining!

The province of Alberta, Canada is completely free of rats.

The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it.

There are no venomous snakes in Maine.

Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year.

Almonds are members of the peach family.

Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England, but only in tropical fish stores.

John Quincy Adams, sixth president of the United States, loved to skinny dip in the Potomac River.

A private elementary school in Alexandria, Virginia, accidentally served margaritas to its schoolchildren, thinking it was limeade.

Oprah Winfrey and Elvis Presley are distant cousins.

A chef's hat is shaped the way it is for a reason: its shape allows air to circulate around the scalp, keeping the head cool in a hot kitchen.

Pain is measured in units of "dols". The instrument used to measure pain is a "dolorimeter".

Albert Einstein never knew how to drive a car.

Astronauts cannot burp in space. There is no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their stomachs.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

Armadillos can be housebroken.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.

In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.

Recipe of the Week

Here's a little goodie I made for our New Year's Eve party. I got the recipe from a Pampered Chef cookbook that I received for Christmas.

Black Forest Trifle



Looks good, yes?

Here's what you need...

1 package of devil's food cake (plus the eggs and stuff to make it)
2 milk chocolate bars
1 can of cherry pie goo
1 t. almond extract
1/2 c. cranberry-cherry juice (apparently our small town doesn't stock this, so I used cherry Juicy Juice juice instead...)
2 c. cold milk
2 packages of instant white chocolate pudding (I could only find the sugar free kind.... boo)
1 container of Cool Whip


First of all, bake yourself a devil's food cake. Let it cool completely before you move on to the other steps.

Once your cake has cooled off, cut it into 1 inch chunks. The recipe calls for squares, but they definitely look more like chunks to me. Set them aside for awhile.

Take 1-1/2 chocolate bars, and chop them to little pieces. Set this aside too.

Dump your cherry pie goo in a bowl and add 1 t. almond extract. Remove about a 1/2 c. of this for your pretty topping. Add 1/2 c. of your cherry-like juice to the rest of the mixture and stir it all together. Set this aside also.

Next, make your pudding by whisking your two packages of pudding and 2 cups of milk together. Once it begins to thicken, fold in the whole container of Cool Whip. That's right... the whooole thing.

Now you are ready to assemble your trifle. You can use a pretty little trifle bowl like I did. But don't worry if you don't have one handy... I assure you it tastes just as good in an ugly bowl too.

First you put half of the devil's food cake chunks at the bottom of the bowl.

Pour half of the cherry goo mixture on top of the cake layer.

Sprinkle half of the chopped up chocolate bar over the cherry goo layer.

Top with half of the pudding mixture.

Repeat the layers until you are left with a smooth white chocolate pudding layer on top.

Now for the fancy-scmancy garnish stuff.

Use that 1/2 c. of cherry goo you saved to make a nice little circle on top of the trifle. Then use a vegetable peeler or a grater to make the little chocolate shavings. Voila! You have yourself a very impressive looking trifle.

Be sure to refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving. Or even better, make it the night before so you don't have to worry about it the next day.

Yum Yum Yum. That is all.

The Contract Saga Continues...

Well folks, I believe we have made some headway.

On the house-buying, that is.

Our landlady is apparently "taking tomorrow off work so she can finish the contract." Exact words there. Hooray!

Mike called her today to ask about things. He also told her that we have a small leak behind our shower. He told her that he could fix it, but wanted to sign the contract first, since it's technically not our responsibility to do deal with yet. I think that may have nudged her on a little more than just another update call.

So she is supposed to be coming by sometime this weekend to talk to us.

And to sign away her house. To us. Homeowners, finally.

I'm trying to be realistic about the situation still... not getting my hopes up...not counting my chickens before they hatch. But honestly, people, I've been counting these chickens since June. I am beyond excited! Thoughts of remodeling and decorating have been dancing through my head once again, and I am now secretly pricing dishwashers.

So I suppose now we just wait and see what happens.

And keep adding money to that dishwasher fund :o)

My New Year Resolutions

1. Read at least 2 books a month.
This will be an enjoyable resolution for me! I love to read, but rarely have time to do it. Maybe a deadline in the back of my mind will help motivate myself.

2. Get our finances in order.
We've already started working on this a bit, but I would like to get everything better organized and create a budget we will actually stick to. Also on the list is to pay off our credit card and add to our savings.

3. De-Clutter.
When Mike and I moved in together 2 years ago, we had a collision of my stuff and his stuff. It was everywhere and it was awful for the first several months. We've really done well by getting rid of a lot of it since moving away from IU. But still, and especially since the wedding, we've got a bunch of junk that we really don't need or use anymore. Time for it to go!

3. Worry less.
I've tagged this on to every new year resolution list I've made since I was like 12. Haven't really made much progress on this one, but maybe 2008 is the year!

Care to share any of your interesting resolutions?

Christmas is officially O-V-E-R

After a week and a half of celebrating, Christmas is finally over. And what a Christmas it was!

We kicked off the holidays by driving up to see Mike's family on Christmas Eve Eve. We visited with his grandparents for a bit, opened presents with his parents, his sister and her husband, and ended up drinking a little too much wine. A good time was had by all!

On Christmas Eve we drove a little further and visited more of Mike's extended family, had lunch, opened more presents, then left to make the 4 hour drive back home. We stopped in Bloomington for a bit to visit some college friends, then hit the road again to make it home in time for more Christmas festivites.

Once home, we went over to my parents house, where we exchanged a few presents to each other. We got Dad a super cool green laser pointer, we got Mom a subscription to the Paula Deen magazine and some cutting boards that she has been obsessing about. Sam made out like a bandit and got lots of gifts, because I kept finding fun things to get her. I settled for a little moleskin notebook especially for London (where she will be going next year) and an Office t-shirt, and a funky purse with owls on it.

After that exchange, Mike and I went home and exchanged gifts to each other. He got me new fiestaware (!!!) and some fun bath soaps and stuff. Along with his tv, he got some new boxers, some yummy treats, and a new pillow (something that he's been wanting ever since I stole his good one!).

On Christmas Day, Sam woke us up at 7 am to come over and open presents from Santa. We got a bunch more good stuff... clothes, more fiestaware (!!!), another guitar for guitar hero, a remote controlled helicopter (guess who that was for), my new Coach purse, and a whole lot more. Momma Claus always does such a good job at Christmas!

After the morning's festivities, we went over to my aunt's for the rest of the day. We ate, played games, mocked each other... good times.

We had a few days rest, then were back on the road for my mom's family Christmas. This year it was held near Nashville, TN. We drove down there, ate probably 5 cows worth of BBQ ribs, opened presents, wrastled the little cousins, and spent the night. Another successful Christmas there, too.

Last night we had our last Christmas gathering. Some of our friends came over for a taco night/pajama party/gift exchange/new years party. It was a lot of fun. We spent the night playing darts and guitar hero, eating lots and lots of Mexican food and drinking a little vodka to ring in the new year.

We took our tree down today, so the holidays are officially over for us. It was definitely a marathon Christmas, (Mike and I estimate that we drove about 750 miles total) but it was completely wonderful. All the hustle and bustle made the vacation go by too quickly (tomorrow our last day of freedom booo), but it made for a great holiday season!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2007 was wonderful!

Here's to an even better 2008!