Free Wings and Beer

Our local radio station, 96 Rock, is currently hosting a contest for free wings and beer. You sign up online for your company, and if you are chosen, the radio morning DJ will bring chicken wings and beer to your workplace. So, I signed up about 2 weeks ago, and put the contest out of my mind.

Yesterday, my home phone rang at about 8:30 am. It was the radio station. My entry had been selected and they wanted to bring the food out that afternoon. Well, wouldn't you know it, but we were having a catered breakfast that morning. I told them to come on out anyway. The DJ, Demitri, brought up 100 wings (our president told me to order 50 more so we would have enough and expense it) and a 12 pack of beer (Bud Light, but it was free). He recorded sound bites of about 5 employees talking about our company and/or themselves. It was funny and light (and was played this morning at 6:40 am).

We enjoyed the wings (although I think most people were still full from breakfast) and really enjoyed the beer. How many times can you drink beer at work during lunch?

My Type of Christmas Tree

Gosh, I wish I had thought of it! How clever!

Thanksgiving is gone

Boy, this holiday weekend went by quickly!! Here is a recap:

Thanksgiving Day: Bill and I ran in the Gallop and Gorge 8K race in the morning. I thought I was going to die for a while during the race. My legs felt like lead in the beginning, then I got so hot! It was in the mid to upper 70s on Thanksgiving Day and I was dressed for winter jogging. I pushed through and really ran as fast as I could in the last 3/4 mile. I finished at about 1:08, and I wanted to finish 1:10. Bill ran it in about 45 minutes. I think we were both pleased.

We headed home to start cooking, and Bill's parents came over. We had the traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings. It was really good. We were pleased how well everything came out and it was all delicious. We watched Evan Almighty after dinner (it was better than I expected - we all enjoyed it).

Black Friday: We got up early to see Bill's parents off. I did not wake up at 2:00 am to head to the stores. I didn't even head to the mall until about 2:30 pm. I only went for about 2 hours. I was unimpressed with the so called sales. I bought something for Bill (but not for Christmas - it was for immediate use) and a sweater for myself. I was rather disappointed.

I had tickets to the hockey game, so Heather and I went to the game while Terry and Bill hung out. It was a great game. The Canes looked good in the first period and went into intermission with a 1-1 tie. They looked horrible in the second with only 3 shots on goal. The score was 3-1 Tampa by the second intermission. To their credit, the Canes came back in the 3rd period and got the crowd behind them. They pulled out the come from behind victory with a nice 4-3 win. We met the guys for drinks after the game.

Saturday: Bill wasn't feeling well, so we had a very lazy day. We took Sammy for a walk, but that was about it. The Dawgs beat GA Tech!!!

Sunday: I went to Pottery Barn for a free class on holiday decorating. It was a great class, and inspired me to do our decorating. I did shop for a little while (I got one present and a new holiday dress for myself), then headed home. Bill and I decorated the whole house and put up the tree. He was wonderful helping me with the decorations. It was fun to trim the tree with someone.

Next thing we knew, the long weekend was history. I don't know how it goes by so quickly. I hope that you had as wonderful a weekend was we had and that your Thanksgiving was wonderful, too.

The Night Before Thanksgiving

I am stuck at work. Almost everyone has left, but no one officially closed the office, so here I sit. I usually get off at 5:30 pm. I have had nothing to do since about 2:00. I do have things to do at home, though. I need to bake a pumpkin pie, and Bill and I need to get our race packets for tomorrow. It would be nice to tidy the house as well, but I have almost given up on that thought. At least I was able to clean and prepare the guest bedroom last night. I cleaned the dining room on Sunday, so two rooms will look good. I am trying not to panic - it won't do any good anyway.

The heck with it - I am leaving at 5:00 pm.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!

I knew it would be too much

This past weekend I participated in a JL project which we call "Extra Hands." In these projects, we do a one day volunteer activity in our community. These events are usually great fun and really help people. On Sunday, we served a Thanksgiving dinner at The Durham Rescue Mission.

In preparation for this event, the organizers sent out a spreadsheet with items that we needed to bring. I checked it out and went for an easy pick - vanilla ice cream. I was asked to bring 8 gallons of vanilla ice cream, and my friend was asked to bring 8 gallons of chocolate. I thought this was OK - until I went to the grocery store.

I realized that a gallon of ice cream is not the normal size people buy. A gallon of ice cream is one of those huge bucket. Those buckets cost $6.00 each, if you are lucky. Do you think I was going to spend $50 on ice cream?? Heck, no. I wrote 3 e-mails to the organizers telling them that I thought there was going too much ice cream, and that the cost was too expensive for what is supposed to be a volunteer activity. I was really quite pissed, and almost dropped out of the whole project. The best thing I did was to get the other lady involved, too. When she found out how expensive it would be, she agreed it was too much. Finally, the organizers compromised with us and asked us to bring 3 gallons each.

We used one gallon of vanilla and one of chocolate. I am very glad I stuck to my guns.

Check out Free Rice

My colleague, Rebecca, found a cool new website today called Free Rice. The site has a vocabulary game on it where you are given a word with 4 possible definitions. If you choose the correct definition, 10 grains of rice are donated to the United Nations to fight world hunger. If you miss a word, your difficulty level will go down. You can play for as long as you like. Have fun and help prevent hunger!!

**We checked out the website on Snopes and it's good!!

Hangin' with The Gravy Boys

Bill and I went to a little restaurant in Pittsboro last night to have dinner and see our neighbor play with his band, The Gravy Boys.

When I first heard my neighbor was in a band, I immediately pictured a rock band. That is the style of music that I listen to, so I just made an assumption that that was the sort of music he was playing. Tom sent us a link to their website, and I listed to some clips from their CD. The music is Americana in style - kid of a down home, bluesy, folksy mix. I was terribly disappointed. Tom is a good friend, so we went to see him play. Boy, were were surprised.

The Gravy Boys are absolutely amazing live. Their music is so pure - no electronics masking their sound - just guitar, stand-up bass, harmonica, and sometimes a fiddle or banjo thrown in. Last night, we saw them for the second time. I think we have now become even bigger fans of The Boys. If you live in the local area, do yourself a favor and look for The Gravy Boys' next performance. I am sure that you will become a fan as well.

Young Again

Last night, Bill and I went to the Hurricanes game with our friends M&J. The game was horrible - the Canes never found any of their usual fire. They lost in a disgusting 3-0 showdown. We left the game early and went downtown to a new club. My colleague was hosting a party for his social club. The 4 of us went in, and it was like stepping back into the days of college. I felt really old - there were so many 20 year olds there. Then we had a drink or two and the band came on, and we remembered how much fun it is to dance and get crazy. It turned out to be a really great night.

Post #250!!
Sauce beer #102!!

Sadness

This week marks the 10th anniversary of my mother's death from lung cancer. It is such a surreal thing. It doesn't seem like it has been 10 years, but at the same time, it does feel like it has been that long.

My mother and I were great friends. I was an only child, and my dad traveled when I was a kid. I was always shy, but I did have a few good friends. I think I spent more time with my mom than any other person on the planet. She was a homemaker, so she was always there for me when I got home from school. On my days off from school, we would go shopping together (guess that's where I get my love of the mall, huh?) We would eat dinner together, we would watch TV together, and if I were sick, we would lay in bed all day together. She was the most amazing woman in the world. She never ceased to surprise me with the things she knew.

One day, our car was acting up. She popped the hood, looked at the engine, and determined what the problem was. I don't remember what it was specifically (I did not inherit that trait), but she did fix the car. I was amazed. It shouldn't be a shocking thing. After all, this was the woman who won the powder puff drag race in college. It's how she first met my dad.

I only wish she were still here to teach me more things. We had 26 wonderful years together, and I know I will see her again someday.

PS - Don't cry Maggy. I know you miss her , too. Just remember the good times and that she and I both love you.

Nothing like the smell of poop in the morning

I knew there was something wrong with the dog. I just didn't know how bad it was. She seemed restless all night, and was messing with me at about 5 am. It turns out she has explosive diarrhea. My poor baby!! There was some in the master bath, some in the hall, two spots in the dining room, and the bomb was dropped in the kitchen. Bill was the lucky guy to fine it. He cleaned the kitchen (the smell was absolutely sickening) while I started on the dining room. While I was scrubbing the carpet, my sweet girl threw up in the living room. That is not the way I wanted to wake up this morning.

I checked on her at lunch and she seemed just fine. There were no surprises. I hope the same holds true when we get home this evening. Two bombs in one day would be too much!

My Honey Can Do!

My honey had a very productive Sunday. He hung the bicycles from the ceiling in the garage to get them out of the way of the cars. He hung 2 shelves in the bar so we can enjoy the various beer glasses we have gotten at The Sauce. He hung the new curtain rods and curtain in the dining room as well. Major brownie points for my baby! The best part - after installing the curtains, he said he really liked them and wondered if I was going to get the same set up for the living room. Guess what we will be doing this weekend?

Black Rules!!

The Georgia Bulldogs showed up to play Auburn yesterday in new black jerseys. It is something that the seniors wanted to do for their last game between the hedges. It worked beautifully!!

The Dawgs smashed the Auburn Tigers 45-20 in a fantastic football game. I am thoroughly impressed with red shirt Freshman running back Keoshawn Marino. He is going to be the future on Dawg football. He, and the rest of the team, looked great yesterday against one of our bigger rivals. Now, we just need that horrible orange crew from Tennessee to lose one of their last 2 games.

We called my sister-in-law twice during the game. There was no answer, but we did leave messages for the Auburn Alumna. Hee hee, I love a good beating!! (the Canes also won 5-3 versus Atlanta!)

Yes, I did it/Shopping News

I did go to running class last night and I did complete the 5 mile run. It was very cold and I was tired. There were times when I was alone, running in the dark, and kind of scared, but I did it. I am glad it did, even if I complained to myself the whole time I was running. I thought about dropping out of the 8K race on Thanksgiving, but I feel better in the new day. I think I will run it anyway.

In other news, the Nordstrom Half-Yearly sale for Women and Children started Wednesday. I was disappointed with the selection (if was not nearly as good as Anniversary Sale), but I did manage to find a very cute pair of brown booties. I have been wearing my new boots all day. Thanks to my good buddy Melissa and my Nordstrom points certificate, I only paid $11.00 for them. It's Veteran's Day sales this weekend - hope I find more bargains!

Sleep Slidin' Away

For some reason, I could not sleep last night. I woke up at about 3:00 am for no reason. I didn't have anything on my mind, I wasn't stressed over anything, but I was awake. I would have turned on my light and read for a while, but that is rather rude to do when your husband is sleeping next to you. It was too cold for my lazy bones to get out of bed, so I just stared at the ceiling and tried to get back to sleep. I did eventually fall back asleep, but I don't feel like I got a restful sleep. I never had problems sleeping. I can usually count on my ability to shut down at the end of the evening.

Instead, I have had numerous people tell me I am grumpy today. Not only did I get little sleep, I also had a dentist appointment this morning. I had an old filling removed and replaced. I am feeling the pain now. In about 20 minutes, I am to leave here and go run 5 miles. It's 45 degrees outside. I wish I could just go home.

Sticktoittiveness

I think I have a problem. It seems that I cannot stick with one thing. I have tried many things in recent years (Tai Chi, interior decorating, feng shui, meditation, art class, writing), but nothing seems to stick. I go into the task thinking that it will be so interesting and fun. I do get enjoyment out of it for awhile, but then I quit. Is it because it is too hard? It is because I have ADD and get bored? Do I lack self confidence? I don't really know.

I have been running now since about March. When I was out Tuesday morning, I began to seriously question what I was doing. Is running becoming my latest passing fancy? I don't know. It could be that I was cold, then I was warm. Maybe I was just tired. All I know is that I did not really want to be running. I hope it does not continue. I don't want it to be the latest thing that I have tried, then given up. After all, I still have the Junior League to quit...

Mamma Mia! What a weekend...

So, this weekend was our fall back weekend. We gained an hour on Sunday, so why does it feel like this weekend was so short??

Bill and I had dinner with friends on Friday. I had attended a show with my office mate that evening that featured hand made glass. The artist blows the glass, then makes jewelry, decorative balls, or vases. I got a lovely pair of earrings that are silver with clear and frosted glass. After the show, we met up for dinner. It was nice to be able to do something with my colleague outside of work. She and her husband invited us to their home after dinner. It was nice to see her house after we have spent many hours talking about design and decorating.

On Saturday, Bill, Samantha, and I went to a charity dog walk. We did a 2 mile fun walk and raised money for The Animal Protection Society. It was a lovely weekend, so it was great to be outside. We even won this huge outdoor dog bed in a raffle. We think we are going to donate it back to the APS. Saturday evening, we went to see the play "Mamma Mia!". The musical is based on the songs of ABBA. I loved it!! I think "Dancing Queen" is one of my all time favorite songs. Bill said he would have preferred a musical based on the works of AC/DC. We went to The Sauce after the play for a few beers, so I think he was OK.

Sunday went by so quickly, I can't even tell you what we did. We did watch the movie "The Number 23". It was strange, but I liked it. Jim Carrey is kind of cool when he is not being an over the top clown.

The weekend went by too quickly. When is the next one?

The List

Bill came up with this idea with a few drinking buddies of ours - compile a list of 50 things that you want to do before you die. The list can also include things that you have already accomplished that you always wanted to do and think that other people might enjoy. We would all submit the lists to him and he would remove the duplicates to get one list. We would then have things to talk about and events to plan with our friends.

Sounds cool, huh? It was, but it is much harder than you think. It is especially difficult if you are a person like me. Compared to our friends, I have no desire for the adrenaline rush as they do. I also have very little ambition. In the end, I came up with 34 items. Many of them are shopping (own a Birkin bag, buy a pair of designer high heels) or travel (visit Australia and New Zealand, go on a photo safari in Africa) related. I do have a few adrenaline rush items (fly on a trapeze), but not as many as I suspect our friends will list. It will be fun to see the complete list and see how much we have in common.

What would you put on your list?