It's yours.. you keep it!

One of my pet peeves in life is cigarette butts. I HATE that people choose to smoke and then feel compelled that they do not need to keep the remnants from their cigarette in their car - but rather just flick it out the window. First off, last time I checked this was considered littering. If you choose to smoke it, then you should have to keep it in the car with you until you can properly dispose of it. Newsflash it's not like you and your car don't already smell from smoking the cigarette. Keeping it in your ashtrash until you can throw it away isn't going to make that big of a difference. However, it will make a difference in the environment. There won't be cigarette butts in the gutters, the edges of the freeway and more specifically in my yard.

I don't care what habits people have, unless those habits impact my life. Some days it takes everything I have... to not get out of my car and retrieve a cigarette butt, throw out of someone's car window, and throw it back in their car with them. Ps. sticking your hand out the window, like you are feeling the breeze, but instead slyly tossing your cigarette butt... isn't fooling anyone. If you have to go to those lengths you obviously know you shouldn't be doing it.

This rant was brought to you by: My Soapbox

Pizza with a side of life

Some of you may have heard that I have this talent. We like to call it "Old Man Knack". Basically it's the ability to make otherwise cranky, old men to become nice and pretty much fall in love with. In the endearing kind of way. Unfortunately, this ability sometimes presents itself in the oddest places and with people I wouldn't have imagined would be affected. This is a story about one of those times.

Last night I decided to order a pizza. I wasn't really feeling like cooking much. It had been a long afternoon in the sun, at the Draper Temple, for a friend's wedding, a late afternoon nap, and then making and packaging several orders for Spell It Out. I just wanted something easy - aka something I didn't have to make. Everything went as normal. I placed the order online and waited for the delivery person to show up.

When the pizza arrived I was greeted, by name, by the delivery guy. He asked how my evening was and I politely responded and returned the question. Little did I know that he was having a bad day... bad week... bad month... bad couple of years - and I was about to learn all about it. Situations such as this make me unsure. Obviously the guy needed someone to talk to, but was I really the right person? Also, I am standing at my front door holding a piping hot pizza, in my lounge clothes just wanting to plop on the couch and chill for the rest of the night. But, I stood in the doorway and listened to the delivery guy tell his story about his life, his marriage and his kids. He even showed me pictures of the kids he so dearly loves and was concerned about. I offered my candid opinion, when he asked for it. He seemed very confused about life and not quite sure what he should be doing. Granted I did feel odd about the situation.

1- I don't know this guy or his life. Who am I to offer up advice?
2 - He is about 1.5 times my age.
3 - Jon was not home at the time and could not rescue me.

For roughly 45 minutes I stood in the doorway listening and giving my opinion. The delivery guy talked about his frustrations with his marriage, potential divorce, his recent run ins with the law and possible physical abuse of his kids at the hands of a loved one. All of these things I don't necessarily feel a stranger should be privy to, unless they are some sort of professional in a related field. Basically all I could tell the guy is that he needs to do what will make him happy and what is in his heart. I am not sure how many times I rephrased that sentiment. Obviously, he needed someone to speak to. I even encouraged contacting a Dr. He told me he was already seeing someone. Either there was something about me that made him feel comfortable in talking, or just likes to tell all of his customers about his personal life.

Jon later arrived home to find me still in the doorway talking with the delivery guy. It seemed to be perfect timing. I felt the conversation wasn't going to end. I also felt guilty in just shooing the guy away after he poured out his story, but it was very awkward to be the person who chose to spill it all to. I was uncomfortable about it all. Jon saved me.

Once Jon arrived the stream of stories stopped. The delivery guy focused on Jon and told him how wonderful of a person I was to listen to him. During the conversation I had kept mentioning that my boyfriend was on his way home, hoping that would wrap things up. I did finally wrap things up but not until Jon got there.

I worry about the delivery guy and hope he finds what he needs in his life. I am also concerned that there might be a knock on my door one day and it's him randomly stopping by to talk. I don't want to be short/rude to people... but, honestly, I was a little bothered that all of that was dumped on me by a stranger.

Am I wrong?

Thread Count

I know some of you may read this post and think I have lost my mind. Maybe I have. Or maybe higher thread count sheets really are that fabulous.

Several years ago I took a leap of faith and bought 500+ thread count sheets. I don't remember their specific count and they have been washed so much that the tag is no longer readable. However, they were an amazing purchase! I had always just thought sheets are sheets. You have different kinds - cotton, t-shirt, flannel, etc. But, I had never really given thread count a second thought. Those several years ago I decided that I would "upgrade" my bedding. New comforter and sheets. With the "upgrade" I bought the light turquoise sheets. If memory serves me right I got them at Mervyns.

Well flash forward to today. I still own those sheets and have to say they are my favorite. I've bought or been given other sheet sets in the interim, but nothing compares to this set of sheets. They are soft and perfect. Even more so on clean sheet day. But after years of using these sheets they are coming to an end. Honestly, I think I have even put off getting a replacement set for longer than I should have - because I am so much in love with them.

A couple of weeks ago I found a killer sale on 500TC sheets. I made the decision to buy a new set. I actually bought three, because it was a great deal. After washing one of the new sets and putting it on the bed I was greatly looking forward to clean, new sheet day. Especially since this was during my week of sickness hell. Unfortunately, the new sheets did not match up to my expectations. So much so that I can't stop thinking of my old, overly worn, light turquoise sheets.

Now that I have made to leap to new sheets it appears I must continue this journey to find a set that ultimately matches my former beloved set. And then when I find such a set buy copious amounts of these sheets sets so that I never have to go through this process again.

Where am I going with this? Buy new sheets, but beware of the control that a high thread count can hold over your life.

There comes a time..

..in life when people get cavities. I know most people have already experienced this event. I, however, had not until yesterday. Yesterday, I had a routine trip to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I wasn't too concerned about it. Although I did think I could have done better in the flossing department. I get there and am informed that it's time for new x-rays - no big deal. We get through the teeth cleaning - not a problem. Then the dentist comes in. He takes one look at my x-rays and says - "Oh, it looks like you have a couple of cavities". What?! This is the first time I have ever heard those words regarding *MY* teeth. He informed me that they were just small, but it would be best to take care of them asap. He also informed me that they are due to not flossing well enough after drinking soda - Doh!

So on June 10th I get to go get my cavities fixed. I am mildly nervous, only because I haven't had this done before and lots of people have fears of the Dentist, which I imagine are due to having their cavities filled or other procedures along those lines. I know everything will be fine and having this done is not a big deal, I am just the type of person that gets nervous before any procedure.

What is that smell?

Wednesday I went into the master bedroom and was confronted with a smell. Not a good smell either. It was slightly musky and unfamiliar for the bedroom. However, it had a slight familiarity to it. At that time I couldn't pin point it and frankly wasn't in the mood to deal with it. I closed the door and went back to re-organizing my office/craft room.

I didn't really notice the smell again until last night. Around 9:30pm I went upstairs walked into the bedroom and this time was hit by a wall of smell. Then I suddenly remembered how I knew the smell. It reminded me of the smell we lived with a couple days after we found that the water heater had been leaking water which was absorbed by the wall it shared with the coat closet. The carpet in the coat closet was also soaked.

I made Jon come in the room and give a 2nd opinion about the smell. I hoped I was going crazy and just imagining this. But... I was wrong. He could smell it too. Then began the investigation as to where the smell could be coming from. We looked behind furniture, in the bathroom, and then the closet. The smell was coming from the closet. Not awesome! No sign of water damage, just that horrible smell. I then noticed a small wet spot on the carpet where the humidifier had been sitting. Oh man.

During our search we had begun to clean up random things we came upon. Then we both take a break to take our minds off what is happening.

Before hopping into bed I decide I shout spotbot the spot on the carpet to see if I can wash the smell out. I am at my end at this point. I then spend the whole night unable to sleep due to fears of the smell and thoughts of replacing the bedroom carpet with zebra wood flooring. Is wood flooring in only one room of the house, a bedroom, too crazy?

(zebra wood)

Zebra wood wouldn't be what I would use for the flooring. It's uber pricey and exotic. I love the look of it though.

The power of Oprah & chicken

Oprah seems to have an amazing talent of controlling the population. Good grief the woman even has her own magazine, which only she usually appears on the cover of. As I was reading through CNN today I noticed this article.

I can only imagine the insanity that ensued because of this free meal coupon deal. According to the article "4 million meals had been redeemed by using the coupons, with 6.5 million meals from rainchecks still needing to be distributed".

Books and beauty

I love old books with designed hardcovers, or in this case these new books. I think that the cover of a book should be interesting. I know that this might go against the old adage that you can't judge a book by it's cover. I personally like to pick books by their cover. I also read the descriptions but if the cover is interesting I will definitely buy the book. I figure if the book sounds interesting and the author can come up with a great cover, I will mostly like love it!

I dream of one day owning a house that has a floor to ceiling bookcase that I can fill with lovely books like these.

The suspense...

has it killed you yet? I am sorry I really wasn't planning on drawing it out this long. Life just got in the way. Here is the reveal.

For those of you who might be wondering how long my hair was before, it was to my shoulder blades. I had Jon take a few pictures the weekend before I cut my hair. Just so I could later stare at them in awe of the time I spent growing my hair out. I'll try to post them soon.

News Reporters

Tuesday night Jon and I are at dinner enjoying some lovely cheese fries and dipping sauce at the training table. We did order sandwiches too. Just so all of you don't think we didn't have a partially sensible dinner. When my cell phone rang. It was an out of state number, 206 area code. Rather than be distracted and possibly miss out on my share of the cheese fries I decide to pass on answering the call. To my surprise the person calling actually left a message. Sadly most phone calls I get from numbers I don't know, the person doesn't leave a message so ends up being a mystery who ended up calling.

Later after we got home I decided to listen to the voicemail and see who the "mystery caller" was. Once again to my surprise it was a news reporter from Kiro TV in Seattle Washington, named Kyle Moore. In his message he said that he was doing a news story on a Jon Pomeroy, and when he looked that individual up I showed as being linked to him. This intrigued me so I called the guy back. I did, however, search the TV station's website to make sure this Kyle Moore guy was legit first though.

The reporter seemed shocked that I had called him back. He reiterated to me that he was doing a news story on Jon Pomeroy. It was nice he gave the guy's name again because I couldn't understand what last name he had said in the message. He asked me if I knew the guy. I said I wasn't sure and asked if he could tell him a little about him to jog my memory. The reporter then began to apologize for inconveniencing me. He then told me that he was hoping that I was the guy's wife. I informed him that wasn't the case, which he was already aware of - since I didn't appear to know Mr. Pomeroy. The reporter thanked me for my time and ended the call.

I then went and told Jon this story and how crazy it was, and how I felt the reporter might have gotten my cellphone number.. blah blah blah. I then made a mental note of checking the Kiro TV website later in the week to see what the actual story was about.

The next day at work a co-worker stopped me when I was on my way to lunch and jokingly told me that my name was all over the internet in some news story. Not quite making the connection, probably due to low blood sugar, I mentioned something about the odd phone call I got from the news reporter and asked the co-worker to send me the link to the article. When I came back from lunch I found this link:
http://www.kirotv.com/news/17713956/detail.html

Apparently, "Rebecca Long" was being charged with starving her 14 year old stepdaughter. Wow! Heartbreaking!

Although there is a spelling difference, and anyone who knows me knows that the individual in the article is not me - it catches me off guard that the reporter somehow ended up with me. He said he had contacted several people. I imagine he just searched that name.

Twilight Update

Twilight arrived in the mail yesterday. After work and various household chores last night I picked up the un-opened hardback book. There is just something about cracking open a hardback book that hasn't been opened before that feels me with joy.

Anyway, back to the book. I can't say that I love this book. I did make it half way through last night before putting it down. Stephanie Meyer's writing style is a little choppy to me and seems to drag on. However, it has peaked my interest and I have to finish it to figure out what happens. Since there are more books to follow I am sure I will end up reading them too, so I get the whole story.

Memory Lane

I've noticed that this is all the rage on other's blogs. Since I haven't pulled recent pictures off my camera to blog about, I thought I would post this. If you aren't a regular commenter on my blog and just a browser, I encourage you to post a memory.

1. Add a comment on my blog. Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

ABCs

I have been slacking on the posting recently. I saw this on someone else's blog and thought I would give it a go.

A- Attached or single: Attached to Jon :)
B- Best Friend: Any good friend is the best kind.
C- Cake or Pie: Both – especially cupcakes!
D- Day of the Week: Friday
E- Essential item(s): Wallet, keys, lipgloss, cellphone, bobby pins, sunglasses, measuring tape and camera.
F- Favorite Color: Yellow, but I also like greens, reds, pink and black
G- Gummi Bears or worms: Worms and I *really* like the ones with red in them
H- Hometown: Born in Boise, ID raised in Murray, UT
I- Indulgences: a new pair of sassy shoes
J- January or July: July – its all about the sparklers!
K- Kids: Do the furballs count? My mom would say yes.
L- Life is incomplete without: Ric-rac!
M- Marriage date: NA
N- Number of siblings: just me. I was enough of a handful
O- Oranges or apples: Oranges. I am just waiting for the hybrid that comes without a peel.
P- Phobias or Fears: my biggest would have to be fire and spiders.
Q- Quotes: I can’t say that I have a favorite quote, but rather lots of quotes that I enjoy. Recently I have been partial to ‘One life, one chance’
R- Reason(s) to smile: lady bugs, snowflakes, flowers, rain and being loved.
S- Season: Spring and Fall without a doubt.
T- Tag someone: Anyone who feels they need to reveal more about themselves.
U- Unknown fact about me: I wish I had a better singing voice. Until then I will continue to sing alone in my car.
V- Vegetarian or meat lover: More vegetarian than meat lover, with the exception of turkey.
W- Worst habit: I pick at my nails when I am anxious
X- X-rays or ultrasounds: X-rays, there is no gel involved.
Y- Your favorite food: Italian and sushi – not together of course.
Z- Zodiac: Pisces