Random notes and Ipod reflections

Random subjects I've thought "well, that's too insignificant to put on the blog":

Mole Rats. Naked ones to be exact! Google the naked mole rat if you want to see the grossest thing I've ever come across.

Fergie. The singer. Does anyone else thing she is kind of weird looking?

Got some lotion in the mail. (thanks mom!) If you've ever read Good Housekeeping (I think is the magazine) you may know that they do an "a-ha use" for things. ie-static cling sheets. Intended use: to keep static cling from clothing. A-ha use: collect dusties in a hurry. Stuff like that. WELL, (back to the lotion) the bottom was cracked on one of the plastic bottles. It was split right across the bottom/front side. Toilet paper: Intended use: well, you know. A-ha use: turn a lotion bottle upside down, set in TP hole for holding. :)

Giant breakfast, tiny points! I've been following the Weight Watchers plan lately. Healthy foods, water, and been walking in the mornings. Today I ate french toast for bfast. 3 slices light wheat bread, 1/2c egg beaters, Walden Farms sugar free syrup. 3 points. If you are unfamiliar with the plan, I get 24 ponts per day. I usually try to get most veggies and fruits in during the day. And I'm on my 2nd bottle of water (at 9:47am)

AFN right now…FAME!!

This morning's ipod notes:
1973-James Blunt - This song will always make me think of over here. AFN played it constantly for a while, and then I was singing it one day and SB said he had never heard it. I couldn't imagine. "Yeah, you know the song…something something in a club something Saturday night…and I call you up in the morning light and you say…HERE WE GO AGAIN" <--singing that part loud because I really know it… Eventually he did hear it, but had not at the time. As he stated repeatedly.

Some Say-Rascal Flatts-This is just a good upbeat walking song. About a young couple that some say they are crazy, but they are making it, together. I forget about them a lot, but Rascal Flatts is probably in my top 10 country singers/bands.

Ladies Night-but not the real one, some cover tune I got off iTunes. But I really like it. Makes me think of Lori, Debbie and Patti!

Please, Mr. Please-ONJ. It was all I could do not to belt this song out walking down the main street (not Mainstrasse, but the actual main street. Gordon street of Burstdadt) I was listening really closely to the clear sweet sound of her voice. She is the very best! I remember teaching Kimberly the words to this song in the swing in her backyard. She was about 4. Maybe younger because I know she was saying "peas Mister peas".

Jesse James- Cher. Love this song. I remember having the cassette single. This on one side, Turn Back Time on the other. Loved it!

All the lovin' and hurtin'-LeAnn Rimes. This is not a good walking song, but it came on just as I was turning back on to our street, so I just let it play. I really like LeAnn Rimes, I just like the rest of the songs on the cd better.

And there's 20 minutes of walking! Truly, the ipod is what got me out of bed this morning. 5 o'clock comes terribly early!

Visitors!

Correction: Tom Bergeron


We're getting a dog! (for a couple weeks!) R and J are going out of town for a few days in February, so we get to doggie sit McKenna. The day after they return, the T's go out of town and we get to sit on their dog, Jewels! YAAAAAYYYYE!! Two, two, two dogs for us! :)
Of course our neighborhood cat (Karl Sometimes) may never visit again.

More laughs

I know we just covered the "laughter is the best medicine" topic, but I had to tell this one, too. We were watching America's Funniest Home Videos last night. Now everyone knows that Bob Saget is quite possibly the most irritating human being on the planet. Not so much on Dancing with the Stars as on AFV. I would mute the TV during the ad, and then not start the audio back until the videos were actually playing (to maximize avoidance of BS <--coincidence? I think not!) Well, I could barely breathe for laughing so hard at someone dressed as a scary masked person in a Halloween display at a store. People would come up to look at the product and then the person would jump at them and "mwahhahahaha!" They would scream/shriek/jump back, and I would LAUGH AND LAUGH! Just love when people get startled!

hahahahahaha!!!!

Ski Trip Austria!

We co-rented a cabin with our friends Jack and Rebecca from Thursday night to Monday morning. We skiied THREE DAYS and I never fell once! :)

We had the BEST weather, the cabin was really nice, and the slopes weren't too crowded.

A good time was had by all!

Take 3 giggles and call me in the morning.

They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think humor is in the funnybone of the listener/watcher. Here's the sitch...S and I are watching tv last night. First, the Family Guy. We regularly watch the Family Guy, but last night's was not an episode of the Family Guy I enjoyed. There were many references to things I feel are too serious to joke about. Also, they have a recurring bit with the dad fighting a giant chicken. I completely don't get this. (note: A tagline for this episode describes it as having "The longest chicken fight in TV history.") S thought this was hysterical.

An hour later I am BUSTING OUT laughing because this happens on New Adventures of Old Christine:

Christine: (singing along with radio) That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia. That's the night that they hung an immigrant ham.
Richard: (turns off radio) You pretty sure you got the words right to that song?
Christine: Yeah.
And then
Christine: (singing "The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia") The Georgia patrol was making their rounds so he fired a shot just to flag em down and a big bellied sheriff grabbed his gum and said, "Why'd you chew it?"
Richard: Sing it.
This was the funniest thing I'd seen on tv in a looooong time. S didn't see the humor there. I remember so many times that my mom and my Kabbage would just SIIIIIIING like they had good sense. I know you are both probably reading this, but you KNOW it's true! Making up words, getting all into the song, humming if they didn't know the words, etc. Kabbage "harmonizing", mom doing that snap/clap dance move.

At any rate…laughter is definitely an individual response to what one considers "funny". Whatever it is you are laughing at, make sure you get your daily dose. Laughter is the best medicine (says Reader's Digest!)

Sunshine on my shoulders...makes me happy!

I've been a little down the past couple of days. The holidays were great, I enjoyed some time off, and as you can see from the pics and videos, we've been having fun. But I've been sad. More accurately, I think I have SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's dark when we get to work and when we go home. It gets light around 8am and dark again by 430. And it's cold all the time. I get down and lethargic and tend to struggle a lot with "why do I feel like this, I don't want to, so I should just STOP IT!"
So I was looking today and here are a few things I found:
From CNN.com article: It might seems like curious advice, but for many sufferers the effects of SAD are greatly exacerbated by the fact that they just can't understand why they feel so darned miserable, and blame themselves for their grumpiness rather than a genuine mood disorder. (see?)
Thanks, however, to the pioneering work of U.S. doctor Norman E. Rosenthal -- who coined the term SAD in 1984 -- it is now widely acknowledged that winter depression has a sound medical basis, involving changes in the body's mood centers brought on by shorter daylight hours and a lack of sunlight. If anyone accuses you of being a surly misanthrope between the months of November to February, you can justify yourself with words to the effect of: "Sorry, but I'm suffering from a biochemical imbalance of my hypothalamus triggered by a melatonin deficiency in my pineal gland. So get off my back!"

I like this approach! :)

Also, In the UK, according to the SAD Association, 500,000 people experience some form of winter depression, while in Sweden doctors have estimated that 20 percent of the population -- almost 2 million people -- are affected. One of the earliest descriptions of SAD comes from the Sixth Century chronicler Jordanes who, in his Origin and Deeds of the Goths, describes the excessively gloomy winter disposition of the inhabitants of Scandza, or Scandanavia.

"they" also say that it could be hereditary, and that people of Scandinavian decent are more likely to suffer from it. Hhhmmm…I look Scandanavian, right?

Mostly what I have learned is that I don't like when it is cloudy, dark, gloomy and cold all the time, it gets me down. It's not as though I have clinical depression, just a little bit of the "winter blues".

BUT TODAY...THE SUN WAS out! and it was out all day!!! I had it streaming through the window from 10-12 and went to the mall with one of my coworkers at lunch! It was wonderful!! Just a glimpse of what's to come with the Spring!! :)

When we got home...

Stephen had saved a couple of explosives. He'd been joking all day about blowing up something. Well...here is what happened:
(be sure to pause the jukebox and enable sound so that you get the commentary!)

New Years Eve

For the second year, we walked 50 steps from our house to a little bar, Club/Cafe Malibu. It is a 30€ for men, 25€ for women. But you can eat and drink all you like! And of course at midnight you can bring your arsenal of fireworks out front and light 'em up! The people are our age and older for the most part, and welcoming. This year Stephen played a dice game and darts with some ladies. I was content to watch and cheer them (and laugh when he had to get the drinks if he came in last...). After each game of darts or round of dice game, everyone had to drink a mini shot (about a half of a regular one, but still...) of Jagermeister! ONE was it for me, blek!
Here are some pics...