Small Town Survival

Back to the US, back to Michigan, back to writing. I've been scarce for some time now but not without good reason. Of course, Denmark was fantastic and I was lucky to return to the US only to have Andreas follow me a few days later. Since then we've been galavanting around the state. Actually we even ventured to Ohio to visit the zoo. Once wasn't enough so we went to the Detroit zoo as well and then to the Henery Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. We couldn't miss the Manchester Chicken Broil or the Ann Arbor Art Fair so we managed to check out all those. We even found time for the lake, a number of book stores and a few parties with friends. Somewhere during all that I aquired a puppy and a few bite marks on my hands and feet.

Only a few days ago, Andreas returned to Denmark and I tried not to be too sad about the whole thing, although you might say I won't get passing marks on my performance. Now it's back to the daily grind of puppy training, resume updating and you know, the big career search. Living with my parents has its benifits I suppose, but those come with drawbacks as well. Anyway, welcome to Small Town Survival, hopefully I will and can move on to the next big thing.

As promised! A photo of my little monster. At some point I also promised I would never make this website about my dog. In that case I guess I could make him his own. OR maybe I promised my dog wouldn't have his own website so I can just sprinkle this place with photos of him on occasion. I'll figure it out. Either way, this won't be ALL about Indie. That's his name by the way. Indie Riley Snood. There's a joke in there if you care to look for it. Of course, his name was almost Jazz. Anyway, here he is below doing what he does best. Ignoring his ball and checking out the scenery.. or maybe that's eating the scenery. It's okay if you want to pet him, just be careful - he bites! Good thing he's so damn cute.

Last night I was trying to fall asleep but, as usual, I was attacked my the thoughts I hadn't paid attention to during the day. I also thought about how I should be writing because I like to and I think it's good practice. Not that I know what to write about -- it seems that a lot of interesting things are happening to other people but I'm here simply trying to figure out what's going to happen to me.

I guess I could talk about the white cake I made with a strawberry cream frosting that was highly complimented or the fact that it inspired me to clean out the fridge. That's the fridge that no one really noticed I cleaned (except my dad because he was around while I was doing it). I could talk about how I had to vacuum the spa room on three different occasions in the span of two days because the little terror thinks the potted plant is his personal playground. Even when we moved it outside he managed to climb into the pot. I'm not sure why he wants to play in a small pot when he has the whole backyard to entertain his every whim.

Indie and I even go for walks outback most days. I've been told those don't count as walking though because I wear sandals and it's not the treadmill. I was under the impression that a mile was a mile regardless of how you cover that mile. If I rowed a boat through the sand it would still be a mile is a mile is a mile. Anyway.

I'm also searching the classifieds in hope of finding something that peaks my interest or at least looks like I'm qualified to do. Of course, I've only half prepared my resume so I don't know what I'm looking for. I haven't even updated my portfolio. Then again I don't know that I want to go into advertising anymore. What I really want to do is teach, but I can't get into that until at least January and a lot of money later. Is it okay that I feel frustrated about not going to school for teaching when I might have known all along that it's what I wanted to do? Did I waste my time? I'm afraid to try for a fulltime job because I want the chance to go back to school. I even thought about being a nanny type. I don't know if that's for me. And in the end I have this bad feeling that no one is going to want to hire me anyway but that just comes back to the walking.

Again, in the meantime I'm working on my resume, getting a general idea of what my cover letter might look like and finishing up my portfolio. Oh, and filling out some forms in case I ever wanted MSU to process my graduation application.

So do you like the comments as a popup window or would you rather see them as part of the main page?

That's right, my little monster attacked a two inch beatle this morning while we were gracing the outdoors with our ... well okay, he was gracing -- I was standing around wondering if the breeze could pick up a little. Anyway, this beatle was great fun until it latched onto his lip and he ran around pawing and rubbing his face on the ground trying to get it off. I could hardly stop laughing long enough to help him get it off. Of course by the time I got a hold of him to help he'd managed the job on his own. I distracted him for a minute or so while the big mean beetle made its way under the steps once again. Dog free. Not that it stopped Indie from charging around looking for the beetle once again. Apparently lip bitting doesn't stop him from wanting to play.

In other news I've started updating Coffee and Chocolate again.

Yeah, I don't know what got into me. The hot weather and the inability to sleep mixed with an overdose of caffeine maybe. I'll try not to leave it up too long... only because I'm afraid to scare someone away. Also, I might be a little girly right now. Glitter, nail polish, new shoes. What can I say? If you really can't stand it let me know and if you love it let me know.

Don't see this layout? check it out

So to speak. What I'm really talking about is the pending release of the September/October issue of All Things Girl. Word on the street is that it'll be out a few days early (like.. oh.. say tomorrow?!). You should check it out and of course look out for a little something by yours truly. With all the fantastic submissions it should keep you busy while I continue to formulate my thoughts on Michigan summers or August in Michigan or whatever it is out there. Anyway, get over to ATG and check out the issue on our favourite things: Friends, Enemies and Lovers.

I found myself in the police station today. Okay, so it wasn't once again, but I was there. For perhaps the first time in.. ever? No worries, I was only getting my finger prints taken. Yep. For a background check. So I could substitute teach in the Ann Arbor Public School System. Settle down. It was fun. And the police officer was nice. He even made fun of the University of Michigan students. (big rivals of MSU - where I went to school). He also gave me some advice about going back to school.

Yeah, that's the other bit of info. I'm probably going back to school in January. I'm about 89% sure. I've also taken time to update Coffee and Chocolate with a new feature and a little bit about the book I finished today. Oh, and if you go back a little ways you can hear about the last movie I saw. I promie to spend more time updating about my media intake and less about how I've been in the police station. Stop worrying.

The image that inspired this layout. If you don't see indie and leaves check it out.
(may be slow to load)

Hello Everybody! I added a little link up at the top called "state" which is the state of me. You can click on it and get a nice popup to tell you what I'm reading, listening to, etc. I'll try to keep it updated and you know, write here too. I've been to a reunion and a wedding in the last couple weeks so I'll post those little stories soon. In the meantime I'm working a lot so I'll be doing more of that and eventually get back to you. Enjoy!

I'm totally laughing at myself right now because it's Friday Night and I'm sitting here writing this. No, wait. That's not the reason. I'm laughing because I was alll proud that I made a mess of trying to do a javascript popup and all I did was sneak a peek at someone else's code and make up the rest myself. And it worked. Oh wait, that's not it. It worked in Opera. It has, however, failed to work in IE. So. That means if you know anything about javascript, popups, or you just want to be my hero you should CONTACT ME AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT'S DONE. Er... thanks. I mean really, I could use some help. Even if you only know someone that can help me and you let them know you can still hold a spot in my personal Hero Hall of Fame. Thanks. That is all, carry on.

There's something about a full moon that seems to draw out memories no matter how deep they have burried themselves. The other night, by the shimmering light of the full moon I made my way home from work. I probably had the music a little too loud and I was probably driving a little too fast. Music might be like the moonlight, drawing out memories. Some songs take me back a few months, others a few years. At some point I realized that this was the first September that I'd spend in Manchester since I graduated high school.

Of course I've been back for visits, but I've not done those day to day things. I wasn't working at the range or playing in the fields. I'm surprised by the warmth during the day and always glad I thought to bring a sweater with me at night. People may wonder why I put a sweater on in the parking lot when it's not nearly cold enough for it. I still like to have the windows down as I drive down the long road home.

It takes me back to when I used to go to the driving range with my dad. We'd always leave at closing time and I'd try to curl up in my seat to hide from the wind that whipped in through the open windows as my dad listened to talk radio - maybe the latest Tiger game - and drove a little too fast.

I listen to music and not talk radio, but I can still hear the announcer speak the familiar names of those Tigers. I can't even name one of the Tigers today. I don't think I was ever a fan, but I was always proud to have some of those old baseball cards. Even the cards are gone these days.

The only fall memories that come to me from high school are those of play practices and the occasional walk from the high school into town to get something to eat or in search of entertainment before practice started. I remember the start to my longest lasting high school relationship. In fact, I can probably pinpoint the day although not the exact date -- while I used to remember dates with ease it now slips my mind. It was sometime in November, before the fall play and I called the guy an idiot and invited him to have dinner with me and a friend. I suppose that's one way to start things.

Four of us used to drive down this curvy road with big hills at night. Once I think the car lights were turned off. I suppose it's the sort of thrill we were looking for. We were too clean cut and well behaved as teenagers to do anything too wild. I drove down that same road the other night. I turned the music down and lost myself in the mist and in the moonlight. I couldn't see more than a yard in front of the car and I didn't dare turn off the lights. Above me the moon shone her brightest and I wondered if any of the others still drove down this road. Did they share it with others or did they drive down it all alone and wonder about the rest of us?

Most of my memories revolve around summertime. It might have something to do with the long days and warm nights or the fact that there was no school to distract me. Or maybe I'm confusing September with summer because it's not as cool as October and November. It's a transitional month, whether it's sending me back to school or just a change in the weather. For once I'm not back in school and it still feels a lot like summer to me. The nights are a little too cool and the days are a little to warm. Maybe with little else to distract me I finally have time to notice the weather.

The cooler evenings bring the mists that shimmer in the moonlight. The mists that swirl around me like the memories that keep surfacing. I'm not sure if it's the moon or the music that brings them to mind but I'll keep driving a little too fast with the music a little too loud as I make my way home.

That's right, the world must be coming to an end because the girl that hates cell phones finally owns one. Like my mom's friend said I joined the 21st century. I'm not sure about that ? since I'm already pretty technologically savvy. And it's not really cell phones that annoy me (I figured I should say that before I got a lot of hate mail ? send it anyway). So it's not the phones themselves that annoy me, it's the people that use them or the way they use them. You could be a perfectly nice, reasonable person but when I have to listen to your conversation while I'm eating my dinner and you're not even part of my group you're being rude. So shut it. Right, this isn't about my annoyance with mobile phones. Sorry.

I spent about two weeks checking out different stores to find out who had coverage in my area. I guess that's the thing about surviving in a small town, very few companies have coverage here. I always suggest to them that maybe we're a hole in the ground. It could be so. What do I know? I also tried to talk my mom into putting a tower in the back yard, but somehow I don't see that going over very well or very quickly even if it goes over well. In the meantime I found two companies that had definite coverage, a company that said I could try it for 15 days (that's average) and see how it worked in my area and a company that said they couldn't promise anything because they were paying to use another company's towers to get coverage in my area and the other week it was down and there was no coverage at all. Are you confused yet?

Either way I decided to go with VerizonWireless. They're the one company that has the most coverage across my area and across the nation really. Plus they offered me a good deal.

After that I started looking for phones I might like to have. Me? Like to have a phone? I know, I know. According my past preferences I would probably like the more expensive phones. I always seem to like the most expensive model, issue, etc. It was true this time too although I didn't get quite to the high end seeing as I don't need a camera phone among other things. When I arrived at the store I asked a lot of questions about the phone I liked (Samsung a310 ? apparently very popular as I've seen several since). I wanted to know if it would break and what sorts of breaks were common and if they were phone issues or I'm-an-idiot issues. The sales lady warned me of a few problems that people have that they cause themselves that can be prevented. These are the things that weren't covered under the warranty. She also tried to sell me a more expensive phone. It was about $70 more actually ? until the rebate and then it was $30 more. I decided I couldn't wait for 12 weeks while they sent the rebate check and went with the original phone of my choice.

The other part of this was that I was waiting for the holiday deals, or at least I was thinking about waiting. As I'm now the owner of a phone you know I didn't wait. I still think I got a good deal. Then again who knows?? Especially considering the first thing I said to myself when I walked out of the store, phone in had, was "I'm not sure I'm ready for this commitment."

And this from the girl who's in a long distance relationship.

Two days ago I received my first call to substitute in my school district. It had only been about a week and a half since I finalized all the paperwork. Of course, I was still wondering if they would ever call me because I don't remember having that many subs when I was in school. That's probably not true of course, especially considering that all 13 years tend to blend together into one big mess. Mostly I wanted to make sure that the money I put into my application and background check would come back to me. No sense in wasting time and money, right?

So the first call was to sub for two days (which more than pays back what I put in). The first day (today) I was going to sub for the librarian. I arrived at school and went to the library because the office was locked. The library aid was there to tell me a few things before I got started and she had just finished showing me around and explaining the last few details when I found out that they wanted me to sub for the art teacher instead. I was supposed to sub for her on Friday and they would rather have me in the same place for two days. Who was I to complain about that?

It's really true that subs don't have a lot of control and if you add that to the fact that I'm short and look about 16 it's probably a losing battle. Some of the kids were helpful and some of them were quiet. I didn't have any real problems all day unless you could the kid who wouldn't stop playing computer games even when I asked him on several occasions. I decided eventually to let it go since he was being quiet and no one was complaining about his lack of compliance.

In one of the hours a freshman offered me over 100 dollars to do his typing assignment for him. I tried to convince him he needed to learn how to type but he didn't buy it. I suggested it would make typing papers easier and he said he'd pay his sister to do it like he pays her to clean his room. I don't even want to know how that kid came into that much money. I rarely have even 20 dollars.

Another student wanted to use an inappropriate quote on his mission statement and the typing-kid asked me what I thought. The quote was "Woman was God's second mistake." And I said "And man was the first." Typing-kid still didn't want the other student to use it because their regular teacher was a woman. I agreed that I didn't think it was appropriate for a mission statement, regardless of who the teacher was.

Mostly I learned that outside of having more money and a better building not a lot has changed since I was in high school there. The gossip involved different people but the same sorts of situations, the groups are fairly consistent and the jokes have the same themes. Some of the kids don't seem as smart as I remember, but some of them show a lot more potential. I'm not sure if I should be satisfied or worried that this is the future generation.

If I could change anything I would make sure that the school tells the sub more about what the jobs and responsibilities are. I know I went to school at this high school but I don't know all the rules and regulations and I don't know what's changed. I guess this means that when I'm a teacher I'm going to leave things a little more spelled out for the subs. It couldn't hurt.

There's something about subbing that I'm not used to and it involves getting up so damn early. I'm trying to train myself to get up earlier but I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it. I think back to when I was in high school and I would stay up half the night and get up at 6:30 or 7 and be fine all day. Where did all that energy go? And where does it come from because these kids certainly have an abundance of energy. They're loud and talkative and then they just keep going, hour after hour.

Today was a little more relaxed for me thought because the freshman were out of class for a challenge day. A lot of the teachers went too which is why I was subbing. Two of my hours were mostly freshman so I played computer games with the few students that were left. The other classes were at least semi-quiet. I told them they could sit anywhere they wanted as long as the volume level stayed low. They normally have assigned seats so this seemed to work pretty well. In the meantime I had a chance to work in my sketchbook ? of which I've made a visual journal of sorts. I haven't had a lot of time before this to work on it, or maybe I haven't had any inspiration lately. It's something I hope I can spend more time on in the days to come at least. Subbing seems to be a good time to catch up on some of those sorts of things since as long as I pay attention to the kids. Not too bad at all.

And when did Barenaked Ladies come out with a new song? Actually lots of artists have new stuff that I didn't know about. I should stop listening to my Liz Phair cd in the car all the time and start paying attention to what's on the radio. Oh, Impact, how I miss you sometimes.

It's a little funny that when I'm not busy I don't have a lot to talk about (obviously) and when I am busy I have all kinds of things to talk about and not a lot of time to do it. I had this afternoon off work because of the rain but I also got called at 6:20 a.m. to sub for the middle school. Instead of catching up on work or fun or anything at all I was so tired that I could hardly sit up long enough to think. I tried to take a nap but all that did for me was make my head hurt and left my body wondering why I wasn't still asleep. I guess you can't win them all. Then again after a long day of dealing with 7th graders I managed to clean my room and the fridge and help a little in the kitchen. I think that salvages the day quite nicely. If nothing else I'll be tired enough tonight to get a decent amount of sleep.

I was teasing my mom about my cleaning my room because I'm no longer a teenager and no longer a college student so I don't really have any excuses not to do it. I find the same thing about my bedtime. In college I would never get to bed at 10:30 because that's way too early ? which is true when nothing really happens until at least 11 or 12. These days things are starting to happen at 7 am so I'd better get all the sleep I can get ? even if it means going to bed earlier than I think is right.

For some reason the middle school is scarier than the high school to me. I think it's because I was in the high school only 5 years ago and I still know most of the teachers there. The middle school on the other hand? well, I haven't been there for 9 years and I don't know many of the teachers anymore. I didn't think we were all that small when we were in 7th and 8th grade, but then again I'm amazed by things every day, why should the students be any different. They also didn't give a lot of instruction in the middle school. At least it wasn't my first day subbing ever.

I guess the teacher I was covering for had just called in that morning so there weren't any lesson plans. Instead she called in again to the school and left a few things for the kids to work on. I think the worst thing was in the Language Arts class where they read a story aloud. It wasn't a bad story but I had to hear the thing four different times. Yikes. I could probably tell it again to someone if I needed to. I was a little surprised at the reading level of some of the kids; I thought they might be better than that. I also don't know what level they should be at because I've always been a strong reader and I'm not trained in those sorts of things.

The rest of the time we played what was supposed to be silent-seat-ball but of course you can't get them to be quiet when you're a sub. I tried and tried and mostly settled for a mostly quiet room. I know when we used to play that game in middle school we couldn't get away with anything. Sometimes these kids are babies about it: "I didn't get out!" "You can't do that!" etc., etc,. etc.

I think the day went pretty well though and overall the students were good, cooperative and some of them helpful. Occasionally too helpful, I'd get a few who wanted to tell me how I should do things or what should be different or offers to get the principal. Yikes. Who knew kids could be so useful.

At least they didn't see my dad pick me up at the end of the day. His car is busted and since last Friday he's been dropping me off and picking me up. Talk about embarrassing. I can only imagine what I'd say to my parents if I saw the sub getting picked up by her dad.

Luckily yesterday's early morning call prepared me for today's early morning call. Apparently the teacher I was subbing for heard good things about me from the secretary and requested that I be her sub again today. I was so tired last night that I was in bed fairly early and didn't have too much trouble getting up this morning to get ready and make it to school. Once again I was about to face a day of 7th graders.

The morning started out pretty similar to the one before. They talked and played games and eventually we struck a deal during the first class that if it was silent for the next 15 minutes we'd play a game at the end of the hour. I had no idea they could be so quiet. When the time rolled around they played silent-seat-ball and there was none of that baby behavior from yesterday and they were (surprise!) actually silent.

In the Language Arts classes they were to write paragraphs about the story that we read yesterday. Apparently 4 paragraphs are too many to write, but what can I do. We narrowed it down to two and got on with our lives ? the same promise that if they were quiet while they worked they could play a game. It went on like that for most of the day, pretty steady, predictable and not that interesting. I took the time they were working on their writing to work in my sketchbook. Apparently sitting in a room decorated with sea-esque paraphernalia is inspiring to me. Of course, there was also a lot of University of Michigan stuff. As a MSU graduate I can't say I approve, but it's not my room so it wouldn't really be appropriate to tear it all down. :)

I dealt with a few awkward questions today like "Are you married?" "How old are you?" and my favourite "Are you in high school?" but managed to get through without too much trouble. I also had some students call me awesome and their favourite. I even got a high five from one of them. It's probably because I let them play games, but who knows, maybe I'm actually the makings of a great teacher underneath the fact that I look like I could be one of the class.

After subbing I went to work at the range. The weather is still a little shady this week but it cleared up and was fantastic in the afternoon. The day went by quickly and I was out in time to stop to shop for some new jeans. The Divine must be smiling on me because I found a few pairs that fit first try. I really hate being in between sizes but if I go with the stretch jeans they don't give out to be too baggy at the end of the day and they give a little so they aren't too tight straight from the dryer. Whoever came up with that idea gets my gratitude and thanks.

And even after a long day I didn't go straight to bed. I'm almost certain they won't call me in the morning for another day. I'll probably sleep in and then enjoy the season premiere of the Gilmore Girls that my dad taped for me. Things are starting to look pretty good around here.

Aside from catching up and organizing today I've probably been a little lazy. I spent some time with Indie and let me tell you that watching him hopping after a moth, jaws chomping after it, is one of the funniest things I've seen in quite a while. After some outdoor time we settled down to watch the Gilmore Girls. I should say that I settled down, indie decided to chew on whatever was closest - namely my hand and ended himself outside again.

After a slow start to my day I went to work which was cut short by the rain and thunderstorms. I had a little more time to play in my sketchbook and I'm hoping to scan some of the pages to post one of these days. The next couple days are filled with appointments. One to get my hair trimmed (or cut if it doesn't behave) and another to take indie to the vet for his last set of puppy shots. I wonder if these are the ones that have the good behaviour medication in them...

Hopefully I can keep you posted and up to date as these things occur. Of course, first I'll have to survive another day of subbing at the high school.

I've written a series of entries over the last little while. Instead of just posting them under today's date I've posted them under the dates that they occurred. I've also linked them below so no one has to search through the archives and worry that something will be missed. Who knows, maybe with these few entries the archives will actually grow enough for someone to get lost in them.

As follows:

The World is Ending

At the High School

Day Two and Missing Music

Now Showing at the Middle School

Long Day and Everybody's Favourite

Relax Time

Today at the high school every class was full of rumors. It doesn't surprise me that sometimes the kids are more aware of things than the teachers, but then again that could simply be my opinion because I'm only a sub and I'm not privilege to that information. I had seen the cops in the hall and kids were joking about doing drugs and talking about the drug dogs. It wasn't unusual in my day to have kids in school with a small stash of something and I think on one or two occasions someone either had alcohol in a locker or was under the influence. It wasn't until lunch that I found out what was going on.

Apparently one of the teachers, Mrs. A, sent a student to the office because she thought that the student had pink eye. The student made her way to the office and asked the secretary to look at her eyes because Mrs. A thought she might have pink eye. I don't know if the secretary actually took a look or was too busy at the moment, but the student remained in the office long enough for another teacher, Mr. B, to come in and notice something amiss. Our lovely student wasn't a victim of pink eye but rather a one of stupidity. She was apparently at school high and Mr. B smelled it when he walked into the office.

These days they can administer tests on the spot and now we're back to where the rumors started flying. Like I said, I'd seen some cops in the hall and I knew about the rumors of drugs but I had no idea someone would be stupid enough to come to school high. What seems worse to me is that they gave the student a 10 day out of school suspension. Gee, you did something bad now get out of school and feel bad about it. Right. Ha.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to be that it would make more sense to have an in school suspension where you sit in a cubicle and do your school work. Obviously someone who comes to school high doesn't want to do the work so making them sit there and learn is probably more punishment than staying home where drugs and video games, etc. are easily available. I don't know about the student's home life but I suspect that the parent(s) are pretty unaware. Cutting off the social life and providing the work seems like a better solution. Or, of course, there's always community service that could be done, either around town or around the school. If you make the punishment unpleasant maybe the message will get through.

I might add that I'm not completely against to the idea of using a little of this or that recreationally but to come to school under the influence is just stupid.

Today was supposed to be my catch up day but as usual that fell by the wayside. It probably started when my mom let Indie in my room and he greeted me with bites and licks and his nosey nose stuck right in my ear. He also had cold, wet feet and he wanted to put them all over me. This is not the way that I want to wake up. I won't tell you exactly how I want to wake up but if you know me very well you can probably guess. Anyway. Today was supposed to be my catch up day and I suppose in some way it was but it was with friends and not with my work. So the morning was shot and in the late afternoon I was helping out with casting for the high school play.

I was actually impressed with some of the students and their acting ability. I was also a little disappointed in the number of people that showed up. There were a ton of girls ? there always are ? but for most of the time we had only 5 guys. Near the end one more showed up so we had 6. Apparently he is a regular to the drama program and even if he wasn't damn good (and he is) he's a guy so he'll get a part. Sometimes being a girl sucks. Anyway, we had one later comer and he got a part too. What really gets me is that I was there from 4:30 until nearly 10pm deciding who would get what part. I had no idea it would take so long. It also cut into my other time to catch up. I guess that's what I get when I commit to something. Woo.

Outside of the time commitment I spent a lot of time wondering how to build up the drama program. Maybe not in this case now, but for the future chance that I hope I have to work with a play, etc. Did that make any sense? I don't know if it's a cease of promotion or the director or funding. What makes a great drama program? Does this stuff go in phases or does it just happen to work out this way. Is it the small school system.

Subbing can be really boring some days. I think the biggest challenge can be getting everyone to shut up long enough so I can get their attention. And then there're the kids that want to know how old I am. I replied by explaining that I'd graduated from college and the reply came as "Wow! That's more than our last teacher!" I certainly don't know who teaches these kids but then again, I don't know much about all this myself. I think I'm an exalted babysitter. If I could get paid to do this all the time? There wasn't much going on in class today so I made a pair of dice and colored and took notes from a book. This is the kind of stuff that everyone should get paid for. Hi, I'm creative and I get paid for entertaining myself. What do you do?

This evening I spent some time in Ann Arbor shopping. I found a new lipstick and some turkey bacon. After wasting some extra time pretending that my coffee craving wasn't driving me crazy I gave in and then went to the theatre to meet Kevin. I was there first, and early so I talked to Erika for awhile (who doesn?t love free nights and weekends). We saw School of Rock and you can read what I pass off as a review over at Coffee and Chocolate. I'm not kidding when I say "what I pass off" because I usually just write a few thoughts, tell you who might have been in the movie and then move on to something about not having expectations. It's really quite silly but I like the site so I should use it, right? Right.

There's something about Saturdays that means they never go quite as they're planned. Of course, today was no exception. I was planning to sleep in a little and maybe head up to Michigan State a little early for the tailgating and the dedication of the Dick Purtan Studio. I thought maybe I'd catch up with Erika a little before the alum dinner and get home at some reasonable time. Maybe even in time to watch Saturday night live with John Mayer and Jack Black.

Instead, and you knew there was an "instead" coming, my mom came in my room at 7:30 (yes, a.m.) and said "I thought we'd do some shopping today." Now, I'm not stupid enough to turn down shopping with my mom, I am however a little annoyed at this because I was going to sleep in and I got home late. I whine all this in my head to myself and slowly drag myself out of bed. Of course, another instead comes along and instead of leaving to shop within the hour like I was originally told we ended up leaving in the next 10 minutes to go to breakfast.

We ended up at this nice little place just north of town that serves huge meals for great prices and the food is pretty fantastic. It's that small town yummy that you'd expect. The place is clean and they seem to have a thing for cows (according to the d馗or). After that we went shopping and took advantage of one of the greatest sales I've seen in a long time. I'll break it down into something easy ? we saved over $200 dollars, I got some great shoes, some clothes I can wear to work and a fantastic down comforter for my bed (although it's queen/full in size and my bed certainly isn't), and we were handed $10 certificates for every $50 we spent. I'm sure that I'll be making good use of those pretty soon too. Yeah, I know ? I've turned into a girl. Who knew I would actually like shopping.

My only complaint, and you knew there would be one of these as well, is that the moved their petite section upstairs next to the maternity and kids stuff. Who knew that petite women would be classified into such a weird space? For a few weeks I'd been agonizing over the fact that I couldn't really find anything to wear and I was confused as to why I couldn?t find the petite section. Guess I wasn't looking hard enough. Yuck.

So like I said, my day didn't go exactly as planned. Instead of getting to catch up with Erika I found myself rushing to the station so I could find a few people and then I was rushing over to the place where the dinner was. Instead of seeing everyone I thought I would it turned out that some of them couldn't make it and others had to leave early. Instead of talking to those people I ended up talking with others, some of whom surprised me and some of whom were exactly what I expected, both good and bad. The dinner was nice and the dessert was fantastic.

The drive home was nice and instead of getting caught in construction traffic I found out it wouldn't start for another two days. Overall I guess sometimes instead can be better than what was planned. I'm sure I missed out on a few things, but those are just the sort of things that I'll do later instead of something else I planned.

Last week Indie went to the vet for his last set of puppy vaccinations. He was well behaved as he always is at the vet and around new people. He loves those cookies and he loves to cuddle. Either that or he gets carsick and that's what makes him a little more calm. He weighed in at 26 lbs and I keep wondering how a four month old can weigh so much. He's all legs these days and looks a little like that awkward teenage. He's still crazy and likes to bite and chew on people but he's been spending calm days in the house with me. As long as he has a toy or something else to chew on he lies on his favourite pillow and stays relatively calm and quit.

He used to whine and bark and get agitated when someone would go down the stairs but this week he managed to go down all on his own. Of course now he's always trying to go downstairs and when he isn't creeping down them he's lying at the top barking at them. That's right, my dog barks at the stairs.

He doesn't like the horses or the electric fence but he loves sticks and tormenting the cat. He finally learned to go outside by himself and he will actually sit by the door when he needs to go out. He seems to leave the carpet alone (it used to be a chew toy) and he really likes tormenting the door stop. All in all he's turning out pretty well and we'll all love him a lot more when he stops his biting habit. At least he's getting his adult teeth so he should grow out of it soon. We hope.

Once again I decided to change the layout. This is based on a photo I took out in Grand Haven, Michigan just about a year ago. Luckily the weather was better then although you can see the waves coming up on the walkway in the photo. In the meantime I've written some entries I just haven't posted them yet. Subbing is keeping me pretty busy and when I'm not doing that I'm still working at the range. At least I'll be able to afford some things at this rate. Keep smiling and sign up for the notify. I'll post more soon.

If you don't see the layout I'm talking about check it out.

Lost of new in the house. We're redoing my room and the moving of stuff and reorganizing and throwing away and donating are keeping me pretty busy. I also have a new computer game which is a complete time suck but I won't get into that because I don't want to admit how much of a geek I am. I'm also trying to get my dog to settle the hell down for five minutes so I can do something besides wonder what he has in his mouth this time. No one should have their hands in a dog's mouth as much as I do. ew.

The other new is the project we're working on in the basement that involves giving me this cute office space complete with a nice big table for my computer as well as a second counter top for extra stuff and working. There are lots of cabinets and storage space and we're redoing the surrounding area to make it look less like it came out of the 70s and make everyone feel more at home. So not only is that work but it's planning and going and cleanup and more.

In the end I should have some photos for you. That is right after I send SBC the photo of the pumpkin I managed to carve while I was on hold and being helped by their customer service. When you see the photo you'll have an idea of how much of my time that took up. Until then, stay busy yourselves and try not to miss me too much. You know I care.

P.S. state of jenn is now updated. And it works thanks to my wonderful friend Shannon who can work wonders.

So I mentioned that we were working on an office space in the basement and there's something about it that I really love. I'm not sure if it's the planning of something great or the actual work. I even enjoyed vacuuming the space. I don't like to vacuum anything at all, but I liked this. First one to tell my mom gets banned from my site. Fair warning.

I like putting stuff away in the new cabinets and I love painting the new desk top. I put on the Chicago soundtrack and started painting away. I was actually disappointed that it didn't take longer although that might be because I didn't get to my favorite song. Or maybe I just wanted to listen to more of the soundtrack. For some reason I didn't take the CD with me into the other room when I was done.

There's still more work to do. The shelves and the desktop need another coat so when I get home from work tonight I imagine I'll be doing that. I also have wallpaper to take down from the walls in my room and some painting in there to do. We're talking about painting the closet doors and the shelf above the closets. I like to play with the lighting it both spaces and I have ideas about what sort of decorations should go into each. I'm antsy for each room to be done so I can start adding those personal touches. I have so many personal touches boxed up that I should probably start a museum. Or my own personal Good Will.

About a year ago I started to think about how I wanted my own place, a place where I could paint and decorate and generally call my own. I know that those feeling started to resurface earlier this year and they've been at the back of my mind since. I think having this new personal space although it ultimately belongs to my parents is exactly what I need. I'll share some of the cabinets and it's not like I'm the only one in the room, but essentially it's for my use. Now if I could only stop playing my computer game long enough to finish it everything would be grand.

As promised, pumpkin photos have arrived. Just in time to scare you silly for Halloween. But before you see them you might like a little back story. It started on Saturday afternoon after I took my basic skills test (pre-testing in order to enter the education program at Eastern). Erika arrived early so we sat around and fended off the dog and talked about how rockin' my math skills were and how it shouldn't been too hard to fail the basic skills test, it is after all basic skills. We're also expecting hate mail from people who disagree and believe it's hard.

Later when Bethany arrived she explained to us that a lot of people fail because of the writing portion and I agreed that that could be possible because I'd proof read a lot of papers of people in college and often found myself surprised at the level of writing. It's bad. I don't know how you get that far without being able to construct a decent paragraph but I've always been happy with words and the way they work. It's a bit of a talent so I can't really knock others for their lack.

The three of us discovered that Shelley wouldn't make it and neither would her friend. Dan was MIA since we thought he was going to stop by but no one knew if he knew where we were or how to get a hold of him. You know you're a good friend when you have the phone numbers of all your friends. Damn. Since Brian wasn't going to arrive until later we decided to head to the pumpkin patch and pick out our victims. I think we spent more time deciding than anything, but picking out the right pumpkin is truly difficult and a very important part of the process.

There were red warty things (they're really called that) and Australian or Austrian blues. Something about long island cheese which we picked up for Brian and renamed it "Brian's special pumpkin" and I think we saw something that was pink and they were trying to pass it off as a pumpkin Pink? No. I'm serious.

After much deliberation, an extra pumpkin for me, a real pumpkin for Brian and a few gourds for Erika we all managed to find what we wanted and get it into the car. Brian was lucky enough to show up just as the burgers were coming off the grill and we lounged around ate and prepared to carve pumpkins. I think if we had known how good the desert was going to be we wouldn't have waited until we were done, or maybe we would have had it first. I'm not sure on that one, but maybe one of the others will weigh in on this.

Cutting began and Brian distracted himself with the game. We ended up with a huge pile of pumpkin guts on the counter and a lot of giggling and inappropriate comments about Brian's special pumpkin. After Erika and I finished with our respective pumpkins we started sorting seeds out of the guts to bake, and yes, mom, you really can eat them. Shell and all.

Brian was slow to finish because he spent a lot of time watching the game and visiting with the dog who kept jumping up to see what he and Bethany were working on. Bethany was slow because her design was labeled challenging. Well, that and because Indie wanted to eat the buttons on her sweater. I'm not sure why but he likes to eat all kinds of things. Brian did his best to distract indie, but that only works for a little while. I think the dog has ADHD. He's challenging. I've seen kids in guided study that behave better than that dog. Ugh.

So we finally finished and had desert, and there's something about banana split cake that is fantastically wonderful. Here's the deal, you take some banana cake mix and mix it up like normal but add chocolate chips (the mini ones work best, otherwise you get a layer of chocolate at the bottom ? not all bad) and bake it. When it's cool, you cut slices and pile banana pieces, walnuts, chocolate syrup and whipped cream on top. Take and leave ingredients as you like. Enjoy. It's really that simple and it's way better than any frosting you'll ever come up with. I promise.

And now you know the story of once upon a time and special pumpkins and crazy carving. Maybe next time you can join us. Happy Halloween.

Brian shows us his handy work

Bethany starting what will be a very long process.

Erika stops laughing long enough to get started (she actually finished fist!)

I told you Brian was watching the game.

The gathering of pumpkins (that green one is the "special pumpkin").

And when the lights go out the finished products come out.

As you might have noticed I am the proud owner of a crazy dog. He's cute, and it's a good thing because if he wasn't no one would want him. I've been saying this since day two when the biting started. It hasn't stopped. I've also never seen a family get so excited about anyone losing a tooth before but when I noticed that indie was missing one we all cheered. I think the neighbors heard and when they realized why we were cheering they cheered too. Really.

He likes to be a part of whatever we are doing so when we eat at the table he tries to jump up and see what we're doing. We're considering renaming him "no-down" because we say that to him more than anything else. When he was younger I thought about renaming him "ouch-dam -it" because he was biting a lot more and his teeth were a lot sharper. See, once again - cheering because they're falling out and praying that this will end the biting habit.

Sometimes these days he'll lie down while I'm checking my email or playing around on one of the many message boards I like to visit. Last night he curled up on the couch downstairs with my mom and actually fell asleep. Maybe this is a sign that he's getting older or maybe all the chewing he does while he's teething wears him out. I'm not certain but it's always a nice relief.

It's probably because of these brief respites that I didn't sell him. Apparently we had an offer but I really couldn't. He's my little fuzzball and I couldn't get rid of him. Besides with all the vet bills I bet he costs more than the offer would have been worth. And she'd probably have brought him back after one night of his biting. You would too. You think I'm kidding. Go ahead, come over, bring gloves.

When he's not sleeping (and he rarely sleeps) he's running around the house with a variety of toys or the frequent sock that he finds on the floor (or wherever he keeps finding them). As an aside if you need help keeping your house clean get a puppy, he'll get whatever you leave out. He thinks we should chase him when he has a sock like it's this great game. I try not to give in but I don't want him chewing on my socks either. Ew. He has a rope toy that he likes but it's a little too hard for him to swing around like he does. One of these days he's going to crack the glass or break something with that thing.

After that, his next favorite is a ball that's moderately deflated so he can almost chew on it. He loves to chase it around the basement while I'm working on the office space. He barks and growls at it and will pounce on it and run away from it. I think that's the way he plays because he does that with his treats too. You give him something you think he'll eat and he has to play with it first.

And the reason for this entry would be the photos below. I caught him sleeping in my room on the covers that were draped off my bed and managed to sneak out to get my camera without him noticing. Apparently John Mayer's newest release, Heavy Things, is as soothing to indie as it is to me. That and he loves my bed as much as I do. See, he's cute and we love him.

Also, stay tuned because I'm hoping to put together a progressive group of photos to show you how much bigger he's gotten. In the meantime, try not to get sick over how cute he is. :)

I found the following voice mail waiting for me this morning. It apparently came in at 9:15 last night. I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Guy: "How YOU doin'? I don't know who this is because somebody gave me the wrong number. I'm sorry. But.. damn you sounded good. I probably won't be calling you again? alright, bye.

*static* (and this is where it gets good because he didn't hang up like he thought he did.

Guy: You little bastard!

Friend: (laughing)

Guy: who the hell is Jenn?

Friend: Jenn? Ha ha ha

Guy: Who's Jenn?

Friend: (Laughing)

Guy: That girl sounded hot as hell dude.

Friend: Jenn?

Guy: Yeah. Keep that number, write that number down.. that mistake down.

Friend: (to someone else) All right I'll be off in a minute.. got it. (to Friend) 79? It was 97.

Guy: I was like "How you doin' girl, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am but..."

(Background noise)

Guy: it's 97.

Friend: (mumbling).. she sounds really hot.

Guy: You better call Alley.

BackgroundVoice: It was 79!

Friend: I gotta go.

Guy: Call her.

Friend: I will after school.

Guy: Call her today.

Friend: I can't.

Guy: why?

Friend: 'Cause I gotta get in the shower and do my homework.

Guy: Alright. Bye.

Before we get started, I wanted to let you know I'm also posting over at scatter joy. Feel free to visit and comment. Now, on with things.

This entry probably won't mean as much to anyone who's never seen the basement of my parent's house, but in the meantime you can marvel at how nice it looks (even if you can't see how much it's changed).

New cabinets for the tv to sit on and a new peice of wall art (the horse! - although I love the beer ads. In a house of people who rarely drink.)

We've moved some furniture around on the other side of the room and tossed some of it out. I have a nice new desktop for my computer to sit on and that red thing is the office chair covered in a blanket. What? I get cold.

A view of the new cabinets we put up and the fall leaves decoration that adds some fun colour to the place. Woo.

Head on, you can see the shelves and the cabinets and some of the stuff I've decided goes in the area. Still a lot of brown in the room but it's a lighter feeling.

Another view of the desk and my stuff. woo. Isn't it all shiny and new looking? Except maybe my speakers, I need new ones.

Even indie loves the new home office. A place for everything from the computer to the coffee maker to the little monster and his fuzzy. Fantastic.

Some of you may or may not know that I'm involved in the webzine All Things Girl. It's a pretty rockin' thing to be involved in and if you are so inclined (and you're missing out if you're not) you should check it out. The latest issue is on Tranquility & Pandemonium and features a lot of fantastic work from a lot of really cool and talented women.

Behind the scenes the editors are getting to know each other with the following questionaire. Some of it we probably know about the others, some of it we don't. Here's your chance to peek into the background and get to know a little bit more about me if you really want to.

1. Your name:
Jennifer M

2. Your nicknames:
Jenn, Jenny (rarely) and online: silentlove, oshaberi, and occasionally crazy coffee girl

3. Your birthday:
April 18th

4. Location:
small town*, Michigan
* a little dinky place near Ann Arbor

5. Maritial status:
Not. However, long-distance-long-term relationship participant here.

6. If you had to choose only one CD to listen to for a month, what would it be?
19 Wheels - Sugareen (Michigan band)

7. If you had to choose only one movie to watch for a month, what would it be?
Lor said Moulin Rouge, which I'd be inclined to agree with. Otherwise it's probably something like Practical Magic.

8. What about a book? (Same question as 6 and 7)
Does the book have to take me a month? How about Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman or possibly Good Omens.

9. If you could move and live anywhere in the world, where would you go?
Denmark comes to mind. I really like what I've seen of London or maybe Chicago.

10. What's your current occupation?
Substitute Teacher and student.

11. What is your ideal occupation?
Teacher, english, drama and communication. I also think event planning would suit me. Or maybe one of thoes people that takes care of clients at hotels in places like Las Vegas. Neat.

12. If you could instantly be fluent in another language, what would you choose?
Danish.

13. Tea or coffee?
Coffee first, but tea has it's soothing place in my life.

14. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would that be?
More dicipline to follow through with things.

15. Why are you a part of All Things Girl?
There is sometime a striking lack of unity among women and any chance to bring women together and celebrate their work and art is realyl fantastic to me. I also think it's a nice change from the please everyone else, change yourself routine that we see in a lot of publications. Instead it's about being who you are, expressing yourself and seeing what others are all about. I'm also female and an artist that is constantly seeking a community. What more could you want?

And thankfully not leftovers. Thanksgiving was of course wonderful and yummy all at the same time. We didn't bother with that going around the table talking about what you're thankful for or grateful for or anything more than can you pass the gravy and where's the salt. Everyone helped in the kitchen including yours truly. I think I used to spend my thanksgiving morning a little bored, but helping in the kitchen makes me feel like an adult. Or at least like I have something to do besides wandering around the house wondering when it's going to be time to eat.

My job this year was to make the pie and since I object to pumpkin and I don't think anyone else will die without it we broke tradition and had a yummy chocolate pie with english toffee lining the crust and slashed over the cream on top. When we finished that after about 14 hours someone got into the lemon meringue pie which was equally fantastic. I think I saw some jell-o sometime this past weekend but it wasn't anything to do with me and while it was supposed to be carbonated or sparkly or sparkling or something it wasn't. It was however pretty damn good with cool whip on top.

In other tradition breaking news we had cornbread stuffing and I think we skipped the cranberry out of the can and went with some weird relish that I'm not sure.... well there was too much and my mom was the only one to eat it at all.

Are we still talking about food? I'll just mention the chocolate cake that's heaven on a plate and get out of here before you start worrying about how much you can pack on before the new years resolutions kick in. Happy holidays. Expect to hear from my daily this month as that's my gift to you dear reader. I also promise not to talk about food every time I put my fingers to the keyboard.

PS. I finished writing my novel. Or at least I reached the word count. Editing will commence at some other point in time and I'll be spending my time on you. Smile, it's not that bad, I promise.

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First I'd like to point out that I don't seem like much of a gift giver considering that I said I'd post all the days of December and then promptly left you hanging for three days. Suck. Anyway. I'm back for good this month and if you keep reading you'll see what sort of things have been keeping me away. In this case I have some thoughts on dogs and children. The rest is all a lie because I've been watching too much Alias (if there is such a thing) and specials on tv (dude, I was totally going to write last night but when CSI ended there was something on Lord of the Rings, do you really expect.... okay, shut up.)

And now that I'm hyped up on coffee and I've survived a strange day of subbing I'm ready to tell you why I think dogs are like children illustrated through the following examples:

Kid plays with glue gun. I say no. Kid plays with tape. I say what are you doing? Kid tapes book closed with tape. I say, what are you doing? I don't think so. Kid plays with box cutter. I say be careful. Kid tries cutting model house with box cutter. I say don't do that. Kid tries cutting book with box cutter. I say don't do that. Kid sharpens stick with box cutter. I say, what are you doing? Kid sands stick down with sand paper. I look on in amazement. Kid stabs cardboard box with sharpened stick. I say, don't do that.

Dog chews on pillow. I say no. Dog jumps on me. I say, what are you doing? Dog tries to eat plant. I say, what are you doing? Don't do that. Dog tries to play with cat. I say, be careful. Dog tries biting cat. I say, don't do that. Dog gets something out of the trash. I say don't do that. Dog tries to eat quarter. I say, what are you doing? Dog sleeps for five minutes. I look on in amazement. Dog tries to sleep on couch. I say, don't do that.

It's honestly the constant "what are you doing? Don't do that that." that reminds me of the dog. Or is it the dog that reminds me of the kids? Either way, it's the lack of an intelligent decision or real consideration for what the kid/dog is about to do that amaze me. Honest.

In other news I dealt with a rowdy group of 8th graders today who wouldn't listen to me, gave me a hard time and then expected me to do them some favors at the end of the day. I even warned them halfway through the class that they should settle down or I would leave a nasty note for the teacher (yeah, today I was *that* sub) and in reply I got a few "I'm ADD" or "we're always like this." Oh well. I left the note for the teacher and hope he actually grows a pair and gets these kids back in order.

So minus the killer headache this morning, the 6 am call, the way kids are like my 6 month old puppy and the obnoxious 8th graders my day was pretty damn good. I even got invited to the real teachers' Christmas/holiday party. Sweet, I get to see teachers I used to be.. uh, taught by getting wasted. Is that cool or what? Or ? er? is it? I'm pumped. Or at least I will be if they actually give me an invite like they said they would. PS. It was CuteTeacherGuy that specifically extended the invitation. This is totally appropriate for two reasons. He's young. He's married. Oh, and as a third he brings me coffee when I'm there. How can I not dig someone who brings me coffee? Exactly.

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We're all lucky I'll have photos to show of my half done room. There's a long story involving wallpaper problems that just got worse tonight but it'll have to wait until another day. Instead I'm here to tell you that I'm tired and worn out from not only stripping wallpaper but from hanging it as well. My mom and I concluded that we're pretty sorry workers if it takes the two of us 4 hours or so to hang wall paper on one wall. We even had the help of indie at some point. Then again, maybe that's the problem. He spent a lot of time eating paper that fell from the wall as if we were preparing treats solely for his enjoyment. He's so weird sometimes.
During the wallpaper intermission we managed to watch a few more episodes of Alias - Season Two. I think we spend a lot of time yelling at the TV. It's great fun and I'm totally digging on the show in case you hadn't noticed. AT this point I'm calling Francie the Anti-Francie for lack of something better. I may dig through some Television without Pity recaps for a better name, but I'm trying not to spend too much time online these days. It's not really that I don't have the time so much as I get tired of sitting in this chair day after day. Who knew that I'd be set up with a nice office space and then I'd want nothing more than to get out of it. Then again, with the crazy last days of NaNoWriMo behind me now it's no surprise that I'd want out of this space.
Okay, so before it becomes apparent that I've been exposed to too much wallpaper paste, I'll get to bed and dream of the story I'll tell you tomorrow. Then again if I dream about wallpaper you'll know about the paste before I can even talk about it. Cross your fingers for me.

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As promised there's a story about the wallpaper. It started out with us deciding that we would pick out a nice cloud pattern but we thought it'd be easier to match the carpet to the wallpaper or the wallpaper to the carpet. I'm honestly not sure at this point but we were at the store in town and we picked out a cute shade of wallpaper. You can see it below:

So we have the paper picked out and the salesman tells us that there's a bit of a delay so instead of the normal week or so it takes about two to three weeks for the paper to arrive. At some point he apparently called us back to tell us that it was backordered. Honestly, I'm not sure where they ordered it from unless it was Siberia where they had penguins hand painting each roll because it took almost a month and a half for us to get the paper.

When the call came that I could pick it up I stopped after work only to find that not only was it late but it was not even blue. In fact, it was a nice ugly shade of red? or pink? I'm not even sure what it was but it looked like someone lost their lunch on some paper and they decided to sell it. Ew. The border was the correct border though if it makes anyone feel better. I'm now wondering if those Siberian penguins are color blind because no one in their right mind would ever think that the border we picked and the I-lost-my-lunch paper would go nicely together. Seriously.

The salesman seemed pretty upset at the penguin's mistake and promise that he would have them fix it ASAP and that we should get the correct paper tomorrow. Uh. Right mister three weeks have now turned into a month and a half. Shut up. I left the store thinking that it was too bad that we weren't going to be able to put the paper up this weekend. Oh, well how long have we already waited.

Much to my surprise and as you can probably tell because I have photos the paper did actually come in the next day. It was even the correct paper. Fantastic. So we're hanging the paper Saturday night and there are some jokes about how my mom can't use the razor and how I haven't had enough to drink to do things like this, but it's going along. We don't really think we have enough paper because of the pattern repeat and I'm learning way more than I ever thought there was to learn about wallpaper when we open the second roll and see the symbol of doom.

Okay, so not doom unless you're the Siberian penguins or the salesman. See, some clever crackpot wrote on the edge of the paper when it was rolled up and it managed to leak onto the paper. In permanent marker so now the nice blue paper has some not so nice brown/black marks along the seam. Great. Damn. I'm annoyed and complaining and talking about the drinking again and how someone ought to lay into that salesman and how my mom should do it because I'll just cry. I then give in and decide we should proceed and still give the guy hell for all the problems we've had. Mom's trying to convince me that you can't really notice it and I refrain from pointing out that it's simply because my eyesight is better and I so can see it. Damn.

So we finish up and agree to give the guy hell. Today we hung the border and I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to put my room into some semblance of order. Some of the photos will mean more when you realize that I spent the last 23 years of my life with circus wall paper. That is all. Enjoy the photos.

It's a little confusing from the first photo, but in this one you can see that it's blue and white paper, not blue and.. warm peach. The border has purple, silver and green as well as blue in it.

I still love my little animals so they're above the TV keeping an eye on everyone. Also? My shelves are clean and organized.

On the other side of the door, another set of clean and organized shelves.

I used a sheet that matches the bed skirt to cover the table because it also matches the wallpaper and it was better than the previous yellow covering (with the new room and all). I tried to keep most of the normal stuff off the bedside table, but we'll see how long that lasts.

There's a shelf above the closet, I minimized the number of things on it and reserved some space for my new, growing my little pony collection. I'm still not over the fact that my mom got rid of all my original once. Shut up. No one even asked me if I still wanted them. Boo. So here I start again.

And here's the bed and the desk and the mirror that has a nice border of glow in the dark stars. I have those on the ceiling as well. Overall I love the new look of the room and will be really happy when I can ditch the orange carpet and get something that actually matches put in.

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Is it Monday already? It must be. I slept until 8 this morning which means I didn't get that AM call to sub. I always have mixed feelings when I wake up after that magical time. On one side I really like sleeping in and on the other I really like making money and feeling like there's more to my day than playing with the dog and watching the commentary on the Alias DVD. Okay, that part isn't so bad but I can only spend so much time at the computer and in front of the TV.

Since I spent the day with him, I might as well give you the indie update. The last few days he's spent a lot of time outside with my mom. It seems to benefit us since it means that he spends the rest of the day sleeping and we can go about our lives without him trying to be in our laps or on our heads or whatever new form of closeness he's chosen at the moment. Yesterday he spent some time with Cody, the neighbor's German Shepard. Since Cody's a bit bigger indie tends to get quite the beating when they rough house and they spend a lot more of the time running around. Indie seemed a little sore this morning and hardly made it to the bed.

Mostly indie's gotten a lot bigger, is still really needy and likes to cuddle in the morning. Actually he's about 2 feet away from me at the bottom of the bed right now and I'm surprised that he's settled down considering earlier. He was in my lap every three seconds trying to get me to throw his little yellow football. I would and of course since it's fetch, he brings it back and we do it all over again. He's so cute and lovey when he's sleeping. Woo. Sadly for him he still doesn't get to spend the night in the house. I'd rather know where he is and while he's been good the two nights he's been in the house I don't really like it when he licks my face in the middle of the night. Speaking of sleeping, I think that's where I should be.

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Apparently they've crossed the Bourne Identity and Memento to get Paycheck. And the comparison to Memento I got somewhere else, but at this point I haven't a clue where.

Anyway, it's the holiday season and that means that we're through the lull of no good movies in sight. Not to say that there aren't bad movies out there, but there are a lot more out recently that actually look good. I'll start with Mona Lisa Smile and end with Something's Gotta Give. Of course, there's the Return of the King which will take me awhile to see since I don't feel like fighting crowds. Now all I need is a frequent movie viewer card or whatever it is, a movie companion (you know who you are) and a lot of free time... oh, and some cash.

On other sitting on my butt news, I've been reading girlie magazines and I've recently picked up Why Girls are Weird by Pamela Ribon. Yes, that one. I'm not very far into it but I will say that with in the first ten pages I was giggling so hard that I woke the dog from his midmorning nap. Hee.

In more active news I apparently have been watching too much Alias (what's an entry without a mention?) since I managed to sneak out of the house yesterday. See the thing is that if you open the door my dad wants to know where you're going. Well, somehow I managed to grab my scarf and leave without him even noticing. Dad started asking after me and no one knew where I was (library in case you're worried). When I got back our neighbor said I've been watching too much Bristow because I'm all sneaky now. I love that.

Right, so enough with the active stuff, I'm going back to my book.

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We finished watching Season Two of Alias tonight. I'd really like to check out the commentary and some of the extras on the DVD but they're due back tomorrow by noon and seeing as I have to work tomorrow I don't really have time. We did get through the bloopers, the "look" feature on the disguises of Sydney and the first few minutes of the making of "The Telling" which if I'm not mistaken is the season finale.

My dad, who doesn't watch Alias and will be happy to tell you what's wrong with the show even if you don't ask, mentioned one more opinion tonight. He expressed that he didn't know who to be more concerned with, Gordon, who wasn't sure what was going on or me for being able to explain it all. On my side, Gordon pointed out that I read about it online, etc. so of course I know more. Plus he wasn't sure if he hadn't heard something. He got it all right, it's just that I've been reading. The Television Without Pity recaps really help me keep up and catch up. There are also the forums and if you think Vaughn is hot you'll want to check out this site. Not that I think he's hot or anything. It's all about Sark. Okay. Shut up.

I won't go on. I can keep my obsession to myself. Besides, I just saw a news clip that enlightened me to the fact that there's a sports drink named by a rapper (I have no idea who) and it's called "pimpyjuice". I wish I was kidding. The hell?

Can someone get me a TiVo so I can stop with the constant TV. Please save me from these random weirdnesses. I can't help it if I'm waiting for the Simpsons to come on. Okay, okay, I need to get out. No more TV this week. Except? well, what about?? No? No. Okay.

So the part of my life that doesn?t take place in front of the TV takes place in front of the computer. No, that's not right. I subbed today at the high school. It was only a half of a day and the call came in at 5:44. That's in the morning. The only thing that means is that I'll be tired enough tonight that I'll go to bed early. Considering tomorrow's looking a little busy that will be a good thing. I was going to go to the teacher's party that I think I mentioned earlier but I haven't really heard much about it and I have backup plans.

My mom's boss is having a gathering for thirty of his closest friends. I think that translates into wealthy, older gentlemen. I think that sounded way shadier than I meant it to. Anyway, up and coming jazz singer will be there to entertain us and hopefully someone will offer me a job. I can always hope. If I'm not to tired from subbing it could be pretty fun.

Speaking of subbing tomorrow, if I have computer access it's my intention to tell a little bit about my town tomorrow. I've been thinking about how? quaint it is and it might be interesting to read about it. Every once in awhile I try and see it the way someone new would see it instead of the way I see it. You know, the girl who grew up in this funny little Midwestern town. We'll see.

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