I Single-Handedly Keep Kleenex in Business

Tag, I'm it. I got the cold that's been going around the office, and I'm pissed off about it. I don't have time to be sick. I came home from work today at 4:30 and got in bed. I slept for three hours, got up, at some dinner, watched some TV, and now I'm blogging. What a waste of an afternoon/evening! I was going to go over to Auri's to see the kids and I was supposed to help Wikiball start her blog. But no, I've been sleeping... not that I don't need the sleep, because I always do, but seriously. Oh well, I guess it's better this way... hopefully I'll be all better for the weeked and the fun that is sure to ensue.

Toilet Seat

And by the way, just so you know, yes, I installed my toilet seat Saturday night. Well, I guess it was more like Sunday morning, but I did it all by myself, and I didn't need anyone's help! I started at about 1:15 AM and got done around 2. The reason it took so long was because I had to clean everything before I could handle the toilette! It was really easy to take the old one off and put the new one on. I've changed a toilet seat once before, so I knew what I was doing. Anyway, the above is a picture of my new seat. Isn't it pretty? I'm a dork, believe me, I'm painfully aware of this!

Make up your mind, Tata

Aurs and I got together yesterday afternoon to do toes. Granted, we didn't need to do our toes, they were in perfectly good condition, minus a few rhinestones, which is a rarity, but we figured, what the hell? We usually "do" eachothers' toes about once every three or four weeks. The "doing" of toes consists of filing, buffing, removing cuticles and painting the nails. Oh, and I can't forget the addition of bling. And, I have to say, we were some of the first girls to add bling to our toes... we started the trend. Just had to get that out there. I took the supplies over to Auri's house and since the baby was asleep and the boys were playing outside, we decided to get to it.

We set up shop a little differently this time, trying to get a better angle to for maximum results. We ended up sitting the rocking chair in front of the stairs and sat face-to-face that way. It worked out pretty well. Anyway, when the kids realized we were doing toes, they all asked to have theirs painted as well - and naturally, we said we would do it when Mommy and Tata were done. Now, Aidan being the stylist/makeup artist/fashion diva that he is, he was all too anxious to have his toes painted. He came up to us every two or three minutes and asked if it was his turn yet. After about the fifth or sixth time he asked, I told him, "No, we're not going to paint your toes." He asked, "Well what about TT's (Tristan)?" I told him no again. He kept asking back and forth and I kept telling him no. He finally asked why I told him yes in the beginning and was telling him no then. I said I didn't know, I just didn't feel like painting their toes. He replied with, "Can't you make up your mind, Tata?" Needless to say, Auri and I started cracking up. It was great. We eventually got mine and Auri's toes done, along with Taryn's and Aidan's. I'm not sure what happened to Tristan... I guess he was too busy playing outside.

Sidenote: I went to the chiropractor (who I just love) this morning and while I was lying on his table he said, "Wow, you have really cute toes!" I told him thanks, and gave him the rundown of yesterday's events. I love that he notices that stuff. His wife is one lucky woman!

Worst Day in a Long Time

Don't let this picture fool you.... today was honestly one of the worst days I've had in a long time. It started out by getting up too late. The middle part of the day was pretty good. As you saw in my previous post, I spilled iced coffee all over my laptop and myself this afternoon. That was fun. Really, I'm not lying. I had a great time sopping up iced coffee out of my laptop. The next few hours after that were ok. I came home and got ready to go to Auri's house. Took a shower to wash the sticky coffee off of me, fixed my makeup and my hair and changed my clothes. Not so bad... Then, I was talking to a guy that I met online, and came to the conclusion that because I don't possess particular traits that he, I'll say 'enjoys,' this is not going anywhere. So, I went over to Auri's house, had dinner, hung out with the kids, and took this picture of myself. My nose looks gigantic and crooked. Ugh! Auri and I then headed over to the movie theater to meet the girls. I got a drink and some popcorn, we walked into the theater and found the rest of our group, and as we were walking up the stairs, I tripped, fell on my knee, and spilled friggin' popcorn all over the damn place. I regained my composure, we watched the movie, and I bawled like a baby for a good 15 minutes in the middle of it. Seriously, was it necessary for all of this to happen in a 12 hour period? I didn't think it was necessary. Well, I'm going to go change my toilet seat so that I can feel like something worthwhile came out of today.

I need a ginormous Tide stick for this one

So, I'm setting up shop at Beans and Brews today to do some work, I grabbed my drink to move it closer to me, and guess what happened? The frickin' lid popped off! The whole drink didn't dump out, but at least a quarter of it landed either on me, or on my laptop. Yeah, lame. I had to shut down the laptop and try to soak up the liquid before it either ruined it, or made the keys too sticky. After I got the laptop cleaned up, I went into the bathroom and tried to clean myself up. That didn't work so well, so I took my two tops off, rinsed them out, and got my hoodie that was, thank God, in the back of my car, and put it on. My day is going well. It can only get better from here!

Bailout

I was watching Craig Ferguson the other night and he went off about the financial bailout. He made some good points that I honestly hadn't thought of... What about the bailout of the millions of children who don't have health insurance? What about the bailout of the millions of people who either have lost, or are in danger of losing their homes? Why is our government so concerned about the big fish, and how is it possible it cares so little about the rest of the country? I just don't understand it. America is a great country, it's really too bad that our leaders don't represent us that way!

Hot Scot

For those of you who don't recognize his picture, this is Craig Ferguson. I love him. I'm watching his show right now and he's got an OB/GYN on from "The Doctors," which is a new talk show on TV. Craig and the doctor are discussing 'vaginal rejuvenation' and Craig is wondering if there aren't other ways to rejuventate a vagina besides plastic surgery. He suggested, "A bit of listening, and some kindness... maybe dinner?" I am laughing my ass off right now!

Photo shoot #1

I'm not sure why, but I never wrote about the first photo shoot we did for the Nekkers. Auri had called me after I had left the house that day and asked me to bring my makeup when I came over.... I was already to 2100 South on I-15, on my way downtown, and I was not driving back to Sandy to get my supplies. Plus, it's not like Auri doesn't own makeup. That afternoon we did toes and then we did a makeup session for the photo shoot. I didn't have a lot to work with, but I had enough, and the pictures to the left are some of the best shots from the day. Tom is such a fabulous photographer. A week before this shoot he gave me the 411 on his camera and let me play with it. I had a blast, and now I want one!

Another Wild Party

O.M.G. as Odum would say.... Party at Auri's house on Friday night. Oh my. I don't really know what else to say! Wow. This first picture is of Leah and Auri... both so freakin' gorgeous, I think they need to be shot. Well, at least bitch-slapped.... don't you think?
This second picture is of me, Paul and Karen. If Karen hadn't closed her eyes, it would have been fabulous... except that Paul has his, "I'm a really hot guy and know it," face on... ha ha ha. And by the way, where the hell did Brittany go? If I were her, I wouldn't leave my absolutely-perfect man alone with two drunk girls, even if they were some of my bestest bestest bestest friends.

Last pic here is of Paul and I. I am being sassy... he has a mouth full of meat. Hmmmm....

I have left out all of the "compromising pictures" for good reason. Don't ask me what they were of, don't ask to see them. If you weren't already sent the link, you're not going to see them. EVER! Yes, they're that bad. And no, I'm not a little teapot. I'm sure I've left out something fun I wanted to share with all of you.... so I'll add it later if I remember. To those of you who didn't make it, shame on you!

Backwards Typing

Ok, this is really strange.... Last week while I was working, my keyboard freaked out and started typing backwards. I asked my coworker if he knew anything about it and he said it could possibly be a virus... it's not usually harmful, just really irritating. I downloaded Windows Defender and did a system scan and nothing came up. After playing around for a while and trying to figure it out, it all of a sudden stopped typing backwards.

Then, lo and behold, I was getting on here to do a post, and it started doing it again. I Googled "backwards typing" and found someone's blog post about it. Apparently, the left arrow key gets stuck and every time you hit a key, it puts the cursor one space back, so you're typing from right to left, starting at the left margin. You also cannot use your mouse to move around the text already on the screen because the cursor automatically ends up back at the starting point of the document. So, to review, if your keyboard takes over and starts doing what it wants, wiggle the arrow keys around and hopefully you'll be good to go. If not, do a system scan!

CrackBerry? I think not... for me anyway

I got a new toy... it's a CrackBerry, and I love it. The picture to the left is of my phone... not actually "My" phone, but a pink BlackBerry Curve. Yes, it's pink... did you expect anything less? And no, I won't become addicted to it. However, Auri got hers on Tuesday night.... Auri has never had text messaging, and now she has a CrackBerry.... I see where this is going, and it's not good.

And.... we're done! ("After" pictures)

For those of you who don't know me... keep in mind, this is one of the ugliest pictures I've seen of myself in a LONG time. I try my damndest to look way hotter than this at all times. So, like I've said before and I'll say again, don't hold what I look like in this picture against me!!!

Ok, I can't believe I'm posting this picture online, but you have to see it to get the full effect. The first one here is of me after having lost my mind. If you look, you can see I have "tattoos" on each arm and one across my chest. I have my grandma's brooch on my shirt and the matching earrings clipped onto my ears. I also have a very sexy headband on... why in God's name I saved that for so many years is beyond me.

In this picture, I have clipped barrettes onto my straps of my tank top. Yes, they're of martinis.... I've obviously liked them from a young age. This is me in my prime. Don't hold it against me. Or I'll never talk to you again.

This picture is of the middle section of the closet before too much work had been done. It didn't occur to me until after the fact to take before and after pictures, so I started in between. If you notice, the closet is full of crap and it's pretty much just shoved in where it will fit.

This picture is the "after" shot of the same closet. It's all very neatly organized and everything is either in a basket or a clear plastic container. My life will be a breeze when I finally am able to buy a house and move! All I have to do is throw all the boxes in my car and head out...

This is the "before" shot of my desk. This is the desk even after I had started clearing stuff off of it. I know... it's sad. I have a severe aversion to cleaning.

And this is the "after" picture of the same desk. Yes, it's the same desk. I know, it's shocking. But it's clean. And I can find things. There are still some things left on it, but mostly just papers that need to be filed and such.

Here is the "halfway through the first section" picture of my clothes portion of my closet.

This is the "after" picture of the same section. It's all neatly organized. The space has been put to much better use than it previously had.

This is a picture of the area to the left of the closets where my dresser is. I've got stuff like my TV, a stereo, pictures and shot glasses on the shelves. The very top shelf houses a lot of books... previous to the "great clean out" (as I'm calling it) the whole top shelf was full of books and other random crap. Now it's just nice and neat.

This is a picture from my doorway looking in... all nice and pretty. It makes me happy.

And last, but not least, is a picture of my chair, for Odum. He didn't believe me that I had a chair in my room. I told him that next time he comes over, we can chill in my room, and he'll even have his own chair to sit in! So neener, neener, I have a chair, and a picture to prove it!

As a side note.... most of the rest of the basement is done. There are a few more things that need to be put away, so I haven't taken pictures yet... but I will. And then I'll show them to you!

The Shoes

I don't know how I could have forgotten.... here are the shoes after they've been sifted through and arranged. These first two pics are of the area in my closet where all of the shoes used to reside. I put the ones that I wear most often on the shelf and a few on the floor below. The rest of that area is now filled with boxes.

I'm not sure if you can get a good look, but these next three pics are the "close ups" of the shoes on the shelf in the middle closet. Keep in mind that I got rid of about 30 pairs... My dad came downstairs and looked at everything tonight.... he asked my why I had so many pairs of shoes. How am I supposed to answer that? Some of them I've had for 8 or 10 years. If they're still wearable, I'll save them... if not, I got rid of them.


The picture below is of my new shoe organizer. This will tell you how bad I am.... I bought that a year ago, and just put it together when I started the process.

My mission

Tonight, I am finishing the basement. My room is finito... save for a handful of things I'm not sure what to do with, and some papers that need to be filed. The rest of the basement has some odds and ends scattered about and it's time they're dealt with. I'm off to work on it... and God help me if it isn't done by the time I get in bed, whether that is at 11PM or at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning, I may have a breakdown... it will be done before the sun comes up tomorrow!

Updates...

My dad went to the burn center at the U of U, and everything actually checked out ok. He's pretty much healed up except for one little spot on his finger. I think he's actually Wolverine and can heal quickly after a major injury. (I have no idea why I thought of that... I'm weird, I know).

Second update... I didn't get around to taking any pictures of my hair... save for one on my phone, but I can't figure out how to e-mail it to myself, so until that happens, you can't see what my hair looked like. (Which according to my family is good, because it was awful)! Whatever!

Am I really that ugly?

How would it make you feel if you did something different with your hair, once every seven or eight weeks, and every time you did it, someone in your family told you how much they hated it, or how bad you looked? You'd probably feel like crap, right? Well damnit, I think I look pretty cute with straight hair, and since it's only straight for one day every two months, I think my family should shut up about it and keep their mean thoughts to themselves! Jackasses! All of them!

(I'll post a picture later so the rest of you can see what I look like!)

The Cleaning Saga

I spent another hour or so last night going through the clothes that were in the spare bedroom and all the winter-wear that I had thrown on the couch. Now that that's all cleaned up there isn't a whole lot left to do. Yipee! I have a couple of minor details to finish up in my room and then I'll take some pics and post them on here. I should be the poster child for clear plastic storage boxes or something. You know, the funny thing is, I had told my mom that I really just wanted to go through everything and get rid of what I could. The rest I wanted to box up to be ready for when I get my own house... and that's pretty much how it all ended up. In any case, I know where everything is, I can see it, and there's a hell of a lot less of it in the closet. I can even get to my desk and use it if I so please!

(And yes, this is what I look like when I clean)!!!

Use a hot pad!

So, last night, my dad was making dinner and had taken the hot pan out of the oven and sat it on the stove. It sat there for about five to ten minutes while he was preparing other things. Not thinking, he turned around and grabbed the pan with his bare left hand and burned the hell out of it. My mom took him to the urgent care clinic where they evaluated him, wrapped it up, and referred him to the U of U Burn Clinic today. Yeah, it's that bad. Hello.... we have 95 hot pads in the kitchen, why didn't he use one?

09/11/01 - The day, in my lifetime, that will live in infamy.

Can everyone remember what they were doing seven years ago today? I remember almost every minute of that entire day along with bits and pieces of everday for the following week. I had a tonsillectomy on 08/30/01. Yes, I know it's strange that I remember the date, however it was 1) one of the worst things I've ever gone through, and 2) not too long before September 11th and as a result, ingrained in my memory. I won't bore everyone with the details... but here are a few.

I woke up to the radio (because I sleep with it on) and Kerry, Bill & Gina (from X96) were talking about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. I got out of bed and went upstairs to see if my mom knew what was going on. I was mostly concerned because my dad was in Jordan at the time visiting my grandma and the rest of the family, and I was worried about him getting home. I sat down on the couch and watched the news with my mom in sheer horror. I, like everyone else in the nation, couldn't quite comprehend what was happening... two planes had hit the World Trade Center towers. One may have been an accident; two was orchestrated. That day was the first day I was supposed to return to class after having my tonsils out. The last thing I wanted to do was leave the house, but knew I had to go anyway - I just wanted to watch the TV coverage and try to understand what had just happened. I went downstairs to take a shower and get ready for class when I heard the reports that a plane had hit the Pentagon. The first thing that went through my head was, "Oh my God, they're going to hit every major structure all the way across the country." I have a radio in my bathroom to listen to while I get ready and turned it on when I walked in. The first song that came on was "1979" by the Smashing Pumpkins, and I thought it was strange since that was the year I was born, and I was honestly afraid I was going to die that day. (I know it sounds funny looking back on it, but I was scared shitless that the world was coming to an end).

Anyway, I left the house and headed up to the U. I remember driving along Foothill, right in front of Foothill Village and looking in my rearview mirror. The girl behind me was crying, and I just remember looking at all the people that were stuck in traffic around me and seeing the terror in their eyes. I got to class and the professor turned on the TV and showed it on the AV equipment and we all just sat there in silence and watched. At that point, no one knew what was going on, who was responsible, or why. We also didn't know who or where the next target would be, and it was for that reason we were all terrified. After class, I headed back home. I believe at that point my mom was still unable to get through on the phone to my dad. I stopped to grab lunch for the two of us (from KFC on Highland drive)... I ordered us popcorn chicken, and the total of the check I wrote was $7.11. I thought that was strange... I know, I'm weird. When I got home, we were finally able to get through and talk to my dad. Because all air travel had been grounded, all upcoming flights were cancelled until further notice, and we didn't know if or when he'd be able to come home. I was also scared with him being over there because it's a volatile region, and because his nationality is Palestinian, I was convinced he wouldn't be able to come home. One other strange memory I have is looking out across the valley and not seeing any planes. We don't notice things everyday because they become mundane or expected, but when they're removed from our lives, it's readily apparent.

I won't bore you with any more of my memories, but I would like to pay tribute to all those who lost their lives that day as well as the soldiers fighting for our country who have made the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives.

Makeup and Photo Shoot

Auri's dad, Tom, is a professional photographer, landscaper, crocheter and many-other-things-extraordinaire. He started a line of hand-made, one-of-a-kind beanie caps, called Pussy Caps. Recently, he came up with the idea to do "Nekkers" which are worn around the neck in place of a scarf. The difference between a Nekker and a scarf is that 1) the Nekker won't fall off and 2) the Nekkers are fabulous! Tom saw a black and white ad in a magazine and fell in love with the model's makeup, and overall feel of the ad. He then had the idea to photograph Auri in black and white with the same makeup wearing the Nekkers to advertise on his website. Naturally he asked me to do the makeup...

This one below is one of my favorites from the shoot... it's her rendition of the scene from "French Kiss," when Kevin Cline is telling Meg Ryan that she's going to be sitting in the back of an old cafe one day saying, "My ass is twitching, you people make my ass twitch."Keep in mind, the color photos are a little much in the way of makeup, but that's the way it had to be done for the black and white to turn out.

This last photo was at the end of the shoot ... typical Auri having a good time!

Shoes, shoes, and more shoes!

More on the cleaning saga....
I am willing to admit I have a shopping problem... and as a consequence, I have a shoe problem. In the midst of cleaning, I took every pair of shoes out of my room and dumped them on the floor in the family room downstairs. I figured that this way, I could sort through them a little more easily. Originally, they were all in piles all over the place, but I got curious and lined them up because I wanted to count them for shits and giggles (I estimated earlier that there were at least 100 pairs).

This first picture is an attempt at capturing the entire shoe collection, but the boots got left out because they wouldn't fit in the picture. You'll see there is a butt load of shoes... four rows that stretch from the treadmill to the white chair, and not all of them were included. Besides the boots that didn't fit, some of them had been thrown in the garbage, or put in a pile to be given away. When all was said and done, the final count was 103 pairs of shoes! I know, I'm sick.

The four pictures below are an attempt to look at the individual pairs. I took pics in sections so you could get the full effect. The boots that were left out of the first picture are captured here.
The shoes in this one are kind of a random sample.... gym shoes to pointy-toe heels...
This picture shows most of my heels, dressier shoes, and a few pairs of flip flops.
This picture is, for the most part, my flip flop collection. I will have everyone know that I did end up getting rid of about 1/4 of my collection. I actually threw away quite a few pairs because they were old and gross. I gave two really cute pairs to Auri. The rest I'm either selling at one of those clothing exchange places or giving to charity.
Oh, and one last thing to note, don't ask me if you can borrow them because I'll say no! Plus, if you know my feet, you know better than to ask!

Cleaning update

Last night my mom and I had to haul four garbage bags and a handful of recycleables to the neighbors' garbage cans because ours are full. I spent another hour in my room last night dusting/cleaning all the crap on the top of my desk and rearranging it... I had a nail appointment after work, so I didn't get as much done as I had hoped! I realized last night how funny it is that we're so used to seeing things on a daily basis that we stop noticing them after a certain point. I've had a poster of Sarah McLachlan on my wall for years, and I never look at it. Amid all the cleaning, I finally ripped it down and threw it away. I also had a dried bouquet of roses that Auri gave me close to 10 years ago hanging up there. I started looking at the lamp on top of my desk and wondered why I had to situate it in such a way... then I actually looked up and saw the flowers along with other various clutter hanging on the wall and decided it was time to get rid of it all. The dried bouquet has been hanging there for years, and I haven't really "looked" at it since I hung it up. How much of our lives do we live on auto-pilot? It makes me wonder and kind of scares me! Well, I'm back at it again tonight. Someone please save me from the maddness!!!

Auri is a saint!

Can I just tell everyone that I have the BEST friend in the world? As you may have read in the post before this one, I spent 22 hours cleaning over the weekend. I called Auri on Monday afternoon to tell her I needed moral support, and she was going to come over to say hi and keep me company. Well, she wasn't able to come over on Monday, so she said she'd come over on Tuesday night and help me to go through the crap on my desk. I started cleaning around 6, and she came over around 7:15... we sat on my floor for almost two hours and went through papers and random stuff from the "desk region" of my room. She's so fabulous that she even filed all the papers for me after we had gone through them! Sadly, Aurs had to work today, so she was only able to stay for about two hours.... I kept on truckin' until about 11 PM. I'm extremely happy to say that all in all, my room is about 90% complete. Now I have to actually clean my desk since all the clutter has been cleared away... and then I get to organize it so it's actually functional. (Side note: I got the desk as a high school graduation present and have maybe sat at it 30 times to do homework -that's homework from 4 years of college and almost 2 years of masters work). I'm so excited to have a living space that is free from clutter... I can almost see it! So, the final cleaning count is up to 27 hours, and I've probably got 5 or 10 to go!

I love cleaning, yes I do!

For those of you who don't know, I've been cleaning (gutting, ripping apart, purging) my room and some of the basement. I realize I am lucky and have a fairly large sized room. To counter that, one whole wall is made up of three closets (these are not small closets, but three regular sized closets). The first closet is mine for clothes and shoes and whatever else will fit. The second closet is/was full of random stuff from old board games to wrapping paper to extra tile to more of my crap. The third closet was full of more random crap like old comforters, my parents' wedding stuff, an old arghila (water-pipe), some of my dad's old Arabic clothes, old vases, some of my mom's china, etc. At one point or another, all of the contents of all three closets were on the floor of either my bedroom or the family room in the basement. Believe me, it wasn't pretty, and I took pictures to prove it. My camera and other laptop are at home, so I'll share pictures and fill you in on the treasures I found over the weekend very soon. In the meantime, think about the time I spent cleaning this weekend... I spent 5 hours on Saturday, 11 hours on Sunday, and 6 hours on Monday, and I'm still not done!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

A week and a half ago, Tom, Auri, Tristan, Aidan, Taryn and I went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. I've been wanting to take the kids down there since I went last year, and finally had the chance. I thought it would be fun for them to be able to run around and see all the flowers and fun things out there. I also wanted to go back with my camera so I could take pictures. Last time I went, I had no idea what it was going to be like, and I didn't want to lug my camera around with me, so I left it home. The last time I was there, we were virtually the only people around and it was really fun to explore the area without anyone in our way. This time we went on a night when the admission was only $2 and it was packed. It was definitely a different experience being crowded with people. We had a really good time while we were there, but I think next time, I'll make sure to go at a time when no one else will be there. Here are some pics from the gardens.