optional salt

i'm getting side-tracked from ironing and folding and stacking and boxing things for the movers that are coming tomorrow. unfortunately, it's really easy for me to get distracted. bozeman and i just went for a run because it is nice and cool outside and now i'm listening to drink up me hearties yo ho while trying to cool down and consider what to pack next. honestly, i can't use that excuse, because i made this nice, neat spreadsheet that lists everything that we are moving ourselves. my spreadsheet categorizes the item by room, whose responsibility it is to make sure the movers don't get it, and the tupperware box or suitcase in which it will be stored. so, no, i don't need to consider what to pack next, but i do need to tell you a funny story.

growing up in the midwest, you can't just eat cold cereal for breakfast in the winter. you have to eat something warm... like cream of wheat! at least, that's what i was brain washed to think, and to this day, i love eating a big bowl of cream of wheat. when i was little, my dad would normally make a pot of the cereal on the stove and we would share it early in the morning (we are both early birds). one morning, however, i beat him to the kitchen and decided to help get the cereal started. finding the box of cream of wheat was a cinch, and i was able to get the pot on the stove and measure the right amount of water. what i couldn't find, however was the "salt (optional)" as listed on the back of the box. stumped, i climbed up on the countertop and looked through all of my mom's spices until my dad entered the kitchen. when i told him that i was looking for the optional salt, it took him a few moments to compose himself and explain the definition of optional.

i have never made that mistake again, thank you very much. have any of you misunderstood directions like i have?

it sounded like a good idea...

sometimes, i have some really great ideas that turn out to be not so great ideas. my plan to mega-multi-task while at work and get in some exercises in our warehouse has turned into a major pain. i love doing lunges and squats and regularly do them around our condo in the midst of doing laundry or cooking dinner. so of course, when i came up with the brilliant idea of doing lunges between my desk and the bathroom in the back of our office warehouse, it sounded like the perfect plan (don't worry, no one could see me!). i could feel the burn at the end of the day and felt a little less guilty if i didn't make it to the gym... until my knee started to hurt. and it hurt a lot. remember that little backpacking trip where sara thought that the bear was attacking her? during that same trip, i managed to slip and slide on the icey trails enough that all the little knee injuries from years of ballet combined to form one big knee injury. that same knee just started acting up again thanks to my brilliant idea to do lunges at work. oh, did i mention that those lunges were performed while wearing black pumps? that's probably the reason my idea went so awry. a few ice packs and some husband-enforced time off from running have left me walking without much pain, so it thankfully wasn’t a serious injury this time.
oh, another brilliant idea of mine has left my hubby a tad frustrated. while planning out our remodeling with the contractor, he asked if he could throw the remodeling trash in our condo dumpster. knowing that this was a serious offense with our property manager, i told our contractor not to worry about it and that the hubby and i would take care of the disposal of those old toilets, tile, carpet and vanity. oops. what was i thinking? that stuff is heavy! and we live on the third floor! and the dump is very far away from our neighborhood! so what do i do now? should i ask the contractor to haul it all away and just have him charge us? do i call one of those places like 1_8OO_g0t_junk? any suggestions would be appreciated =)

i see your true colors shining through...

yet another blonde moment to share with you all.
this morning, i took my husband's truck into the dealership for service and all that good stuff. after hearing that it was going to take a few hours to get through my list (which included, "can you get rid of that rattling noise that has been there since i met my husband?"), i accepted the offered ride home in the courtesy vehicle. there were two other customers getting a ride as well and they were dropped off before me. after the first little lady was dropped off in her cute retirement home, i started thinking about how i was going to get through the front gate of our community without my gate pass, which was attached to my key ring and still in the truck at the dealership. i decided that i could either wait for another car to drive into the community, or maybe try and flag down the maintenance man if he happened to drive by the front gate in his little golf cart. it wasn't until we dropped off the second passenger that i realized my gate woes were not the big deal. what WAS a big deal was the fact that i not only left my gate pass on my key ring, but also my key to the house! wow. i had to admit my blonde moment to the driver and ask him to take me back to the dealership. he not only did that, but also called ahead and talked to three different people in the mainenance department to have them get my keys for me. that was very kind of him, but it also led to some laughter from the service reps waiting for us when we pulled back into the drive. ah yes, i stayed in the back of the vehicle and let the driver fetch my keys for me so i did not have to face the humiliation of admitting a second time that i forgot to get my house key off of the key ring.

the world's first, and only, electro-plastic force field

my brother and i are pretty close. we like to hang out and act goofy together, but haven't done it as much lately since i got married and moved out of town.
one weekend not too long ago, i drove up to visit my family and to spend some quality time with my bro. we quickly fell into one of our old routines and went to get milkshakes from our favorite place. after hitting the drive thru window, we parked in a nearby 24-hour store parking lot to watch the people coming and going. we soon finished our milkshakes, put our empty cups in the cupholder and headed back towards my parent's house so we could all watch a movie together.
on the way there (i was driving), i slowed down for a red light that was up ahead of us. as i got closer to the stop light, the straw in my brother's empty milkshake cup started spinning around in circles. we both watched in amazement, trying to figure out how in the world this was happening! we jokingly said that we must have found an electro-plastic force field that had pulled the straw with such force that it had no choice but to spin around in little circles..
we discussed exactly how fast i was going when i was slowing down and how steep we thought the slope of the hill was and then tried to recreate it. i mean, this was really cool how the straw just spun in perfect circles without our help or anything. After about 15 minutes of zero success in recreating the whole thing, the straw suddenly started spinning in circles again! wow! we just stared in awe (and i tried to keep the car on the road).
and then, my brother started laughing. hysterically.
he looked at me, eyes watering, and said, "it's the air from the vent blowing the straw!"
it had nothing to do with how i was driving, or the hill we were on or the speed that we were going. it was the straw catching a ride on the air coming out of the vent. wow.
i'll give you one chance to guess what color hair my brother and i have... =)