Dear Santa: Please send boy, or keys to Australia. XOXO, Karen

Well well well...so we meet again, Mr. Blog. I've been MIA for a few weeks, but it's totally not my fault. Well, unless you count being a total slacker as being my fault, in which case, yeah; my fault. I've sat at my computer every night since my last blog update, and have I even tried to post an entry?? Ok, so maybe I did start to update like 4 times in the past couple of weeks, but be thankful I didn't go through with it... some things about male gymnasts and pudding should never leave my mind. Seriously.

Anywho, it's Christmas Eve! Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope that everyone has a good holiday and that any travel that must be done is safe and fun for you all! As for myself, today started my 5 day weekend and it was pretty fantastic! The J-man and I lazed around all day, for the most part. We played in the snow, which was pretty fun! Although, he did lose part of his Dr. Horrible costume in the process. He was being Dr. Horrible as he played in the snow and wore his goggles outside...and decided to bury them...and now he can't remember where he buried them. Hopefully we get the warmer weather/rain that we're supposed to get this weekend and they surface. Otherwise, he will be a goggleless Dr. Horrible until spring. Actually, I can fix this: he'll just be Billy instead. The alter-egos never get any attention! Whoever says "man, I wanna be Clark Kent!" The only alter-ego that actually has people adoring him is probably Tony Stark. /swoon

...thinking of Robert Downey Jr. now and lost my train of thought... Oh, yes. Christmas Eve! After we had our fill of snowy-goodness, we came inside and started watching Christmas movies: Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Frosty the Snowman, and The Year Without a Santa Claus. We also played Go Fish, ate some Italian take out, and then finished the night with some Mario Kart Wii action. Oh, and we did watch Dr. Horrible again this morning. Crystal got the DVD, so we are borrowing it while she's in Illinois for the holidays. I have to say, this is a must buy for anyone who enjoyed Dr. Horrible. The commentary...is...AWESOME. They did a musical commentary. It was...it's just magicalness. So great!!
So, overall: Best. Christmas Eve. Ever.

I'm still fuzzy on the details for my Christmas Day, but I know that Jackson will be going to his dad's for most of the day. I will spend part of the day at home, being lazy and listening to music, and then head to my parents' for dinner. I'm not doing my formal Christmas festivities with my family until the 27th, so this weekend I will be ZOMG busy; I'm going to take every opportunity to be loungey and lazy until Saturday, though!

It's kind of sad, though, how much my attitude towards Christmas has changed over the years. I'd always been such a huge goober about Christmas and had such enthusiasm and awe for the holiday. However, in recent years, I've noticed my adoration for the holiday waning and that depresses me. The only thing keeping Christmas exciting for me now is Jackson, but even that excitement only goes so far. He spends Christmas Day with his father, so that day will be just another day this year; no different for me than any other Thursday. *sigh* C'est la vie.
It probably doesn't help that this is my 3rd Christmas in a row being single. I won't say that I hate being single, since I've come to terms with it and am content in my spinsterhood, but it does make me sad thinking how nice it would be to have someone to share Christmas snuggles and mistletoe kisses with. Plus, this weekend I will be around my family and all of their happy suburbia happiness and will put on my happy face... and then I will eat too much pie as I sit in envy of their happy coupleness... blerg!
Ok. Happy thoughts...happy thoughts. Ewan McGregor in a kilt...naked Robbie Williams... 2008 male Olympic diving team (like, all of the teams...so much rawr) in pools of jello...
Ok. All better now!

Hmmm...trying to think if anything exciting or notable has happened lately, but I'm pretty sure not. Alas, the life of the Karen is still unexciting and boringish. I am working on a list of goals for 2009, though, which I'm hoping will help make it not so boring (from my perspective, anyhow). I'm not going to call them resolutions, since if I coin them as such, I will most likely have the Defiant Karen come out and she's too rebellious and care-free to abide by resolutions. She scoffs at them.
/scoff
However, my list of goals for 2008 went over pretty well, so we'll see if I can up my game and come up with some great things for me to accomplish in 2009. At the top of my list: take more chances. And, I've kind of already sort of started that one...ish. Still a work in progress, but it's in progress!! That's all that matters!

Ok. I think I've rambled enough for now. Time to go be Santa and finish wrapping gifts! Again, Merry Christmas and I will try to update before the new year!
No promises, though...

^_^


Music Pick for the Day: "Whistle for the Choir" by The Fratellis
Beverage Pick for the Day: lemonade!
Socks for the Day: red and green Christmas socks that say "naughty or nice" all over (both. Equally. FYI.)

You can't survive on ice cream...

Happy "Take it in the Ear" Day! Why yes, that is a rather obscure and weird holiday, and no, I have no idea where it's from, but it is rather intriguing, isn't it? I've been thinking about it for about 10 minutes now, trying to figure out the intent of this day and have come to a few conclusions:
1. It's a rough way of saying "dude, just listen", so instead of talking, try being the one who sits back and listens? Sometimes, people need to be told to just listen, so really, this is a great day to have. Too many people hear what they want to hear, or don't really listen at all, so it's nice to have a day to remind us to actually listen to what people say at face value; not everyone talks in code.
2. A less offensive way of saying "take it in the rear". So, a day to be humble and take your lumps? Don't be outspoken and learn to shut up? Same kind of vein as #1, but with a different intent.
3. Sexual experimentation day? Who knows, some people have weird ear fetishes...I'm just saying.
Aside from the impending ear raping which may or may not occur today, my Monday is turning out to be a pretty good day, considering how I was feeling yesterday and this morning. I got a free lunch, and I'm no longer feeling like poo, which are two very important things that can turn most days into good days!

I woke up yesterday morning, though, sick as a...something really sick, and wanting to do nothing but drink my weight in NyQuil and sleep the day away. But, I had my geeking out to do with my geeks and was supposed to be at Crystal and Adam's for D&D at 9am. However, since I wasn't feeling sick Saturday night, I was all "I'm not setting my alarm, cuz there's no way I'm sleeping past 7:30". Little did I know that my body was all "Yes, go to sleep, and as you slumber, I am totally going to give you a headache and fill your nose with goo and make your head feel like it will implode at any moment! *maniacal laugh*". So, needless to say, my inner alarm was all gunked up by the yuckies and made me sleep until 9:30...and trust me, that is a very rare occurence, indeed, and just shows how sick I was that I actually slept for over 5 hours.
So, I climb out of bed, message Crystal that I was rolling out of bed and that I'd be there in a few. I threw on some clothes and headed over there at about 10am. We didn't start the game until almost 11, and by 1, I was ready for some quality nappage. We called game before 2 and I headed home, intending to finish baking the cookies for my WoW boys, but with my sickies and general state of blerg, I wasn't up for anything more involved than sitting on my couch, watching Robert Downey Jr. being sexy. So, that's what I did; I watched Iron Man, then chilled with my J-man once he got home at about 4...and then watched Iron Man again after dinner.

I felt like poo all day/night, so I watched another movie after Jackson went to bed, and it made me a bit blergified: PS, I Love You. Damn you, Gerard Butler and your sexy manliness! I wants one of you! It's never a good idea for me to watch romantic comedies if I'm in a less than good mood, since I'm quite likely to fall into a "I'm so lonely and will die a crazy spinster cat lady" type of mood... which is where I was for about 3 hours last night. However, after the movie was over, I headed to my 'puter to do some blipping and that helped cheer me up a bit, although I still felt like my head was going to melt. Then at about 11, I headed to bed and decided to start rewatching Friends, and that always cheers me up!

To keep with the weird backward narration for my weekend, Saturday, I totally went shopping in Milwaukee with the Amie and Angel and had a blast! I heart Angel and wish that we got to see her more often. My goal for the day was to buy a cute dress and some boots, but since I'd just bought 2 new dresses Friday night, I was on the look out for boots. But, the boots I loved were out of my budget for this time of year, so after the holidays, I'm totally going to buy me some totally sexy knee high boots! Very /rawr, indeed. However, eventhough I didn't meet my objective for shopping, I did get some cute arm warmers and some cute knit tights to go with my dresses! I'm going to be so adorably cute in my dress, I may squeee and have the ^_^ face when I wear it! Mission- Fancy Karen: In progress!!

So, after I got home, I decided to be fancy and wear my dress and tights...with my bright blue "It's not my fault I was born awesome" fuzzy slippers and my WoW hoodie, and decorated my tree and living room! Crystal and Amie then came over that night to bake cookies for our WoW boys and to watch a movie. And, eventhough I was in my cute dress and baking, I was already getting a bit blergy (which, in retrospect, was probably due to my upcoming illness...blerg to that I say!) All in all, though, Saturday was a great day!

Friday was a great day, too! After work, I went out for a martini with Crystal, Amie and Myrt and then we headed to Target, where I bought my two cute dresses on CLEARANCE! I had also bought a new coat there earlier in the week (tan corduroy trench for $25! Love clearance sales!), so I am totally /cheer about my new cheap-ass clothes!

So, I'm pretty content with everything in my life at the moment and happy with all things in Karenland. Plus, it doesn't hurt that today there are boys wandering in and out of the department. And really, how can you have a bad day when you look up from your desk to see the bottom halves of men sticking out of the ceiling, while the Shins play in the background? It's like the setting for a Utopia...or at least a very weird, awkward porno.
Dammit... now I'm trying to figure out a good plot for an electrician/painter-man porn and I'm afraid my productivity for the afternoon is going to be quite poor.
Oh well...totally worth it.

^_^



Music pick for the Day: "Cheap and Cheerful" by the Kills (my new favorite!)
Beverage pick for the Day: water
Socks for the Day: blue and white whale socks!

Hearing the whir of the servos inside...

So, I had a pretty great weekend, filled with family and fun. I also got a snazzy new phone which I will marry as soon as they allow people to marry inanimate objects...or as soon as the robot overlords take over and it's no longer taboo to love something made of metal and circuits.
*cue Future Soon by JoCo*
I also got my 1st real Christmas tree in 3 years! I'd used a fake tree while I was in my apartment, since real trees were not allowed, and I'm thrilled to be able to have a real one again. Check out my brightkite for pics of the pretties! I've been too busy to decorate it, but hopefully tonight Jackson and I will have some time to at least get lights on.

My Monday was pretty good, too. There were some good moments, so I shall let you in on the good stuff:

- Mike was late getting to work, because he stopped to rescue a poor little kitten from the cold and snow on his way in. He brought it to the vet where his girlfriend works, and found out that the kitten had been shot in the shoulder and is now having its leg amputated today. So much horribliness should never happen to something so little. But, on the happy side, Mike and Marina now have a new kitty! Mike has also dubbed himself the Kitten Whisperer, and I think I may need to make him a plaque with that etched on it. "Mike the Kitten Whisperer"...although, I foresee that being dirrtied up at some point.

- If you ever hear of an album by the band Fountains of Poop, buy a copy immediately, since it means that Mike and I have started a band and are trying to make our living as musicians. Also, if you should ever hear of the band Velvet Hammer, buy two copies, because it will mean that being mediocre at Rock Band drumming has become a socially accepted form of artisitc expression and I started a solo tour IRL.

- Jackson and I were discussing names for our eventual puppy and he said that he wants to name it Moose II, after our friends Crystal and Adam's dog Moose. I said "no, buddy. It's going to be Monkey". He said that Monkey wasn't a good name, and that Moose II was better. I then suggested Bananaface as an alternative, and he again said that Moose II was better. I then said "How about Bananaface Monkey Moose II?", to which he again said no, this time sounding a bit exasperated with me. So I said "Bananaface Monkey Moose, Jr?" And, his response was "I don't think that would be very appropriate, Mom." So, apparently December 1st, 2008 is the day in which being a 26 year old makes you exponentially more silly than a 6 year old. Kind of a like a Freaky Monday instance. Isn't the kid supposed to be goofier than his mommy?? Such is my life, I suppose.

I think there were more good things, but I'm having a hard time remembering. I've been awake since 2 am, since I went to sleep at 10 pm last night, after a pretty crappy evening. My body got its alloted 4 hours of sleep and wouldn't let me have any more. My mind was also unable to be stopped, so I'm pretty sure that my mind was in cahoots with my body, therefore making it impossible for more sleepy for teh Karen this morning.

But, if my brain de-mushifies as the day progresses and I remember more goodness, I'll update again.

For now, I'm off. Happy Tuesday and I'll check back soon.

Music Pick for the Day: "You Don't Know Me" by Ben Folds and Regina Spektor
Beverage Pick for the Day: tea
Socks for the Day: blue and red Superman socks

Cake or blerg... Um, cake, please!

Well, that weekend did not go at all like I planned! And, not in a good way, either.

Friday was great; I got done with work, and headed to Fusion with the Amie and Myrt for a drink. I had a She Devil martini and it was delicious! We then headed to Country Kitchen for foodage and I attempted to eat my weight in pancakes and failed miserably. Crsytal joined us for foodage and we had a great time! After I was stuffed, we went back to Crystal and Adam's and played Little Big Planet until about 10:30 and that was a blast! I totally need to get a PS3 so that I can play this game all of the time. Seriously, most fun I've had in a long time with a console video game; its funness rivals that of Mario Kart in my book, and I love me some Mario Kart action. So, after that, I headed home, played some WoW, then went to bed.

Saturday, I woke up in a great mood and was ready for a day of gaming goodness. I left my house at 1pm, to head to Crystal's...and my car wouldn't start. Like, really super wouldn't start. So, I didn't freak out yet; I went and asked Tanya if she had jumper cables, which she did not, so I then called Amie to come over with hers to see if we could get my car to make a noise beyond clicking. Myrt and Amie arrive with jumper cables...and still my car just clicks. This is the part of the story where Karen starts to really freak out. I called my sister Suzie to see if I could come and get her Grand Am to use, since I wasn't sure what was wrong with my car and didn't want to be carless Monday morning, so Amie drove me to Beaver Dam so I could pick up the car. I hung out at Suzie's for a bit that afternoon, and that helped to calm my nerves, and then I headed to Waupun to visit the parents since I was in the area. I got home at about 5pm and spent the rest of the night moping, playing WoW and watching movies. So, not at all the Saturday I had anticipated. /sad

Sunday morning, I was still feeling down about it all, but forced myself to be optimistic. Myrt had thought that eventhough the jump didn't help, it could still be a dead battery; just a really super dead one. So, Amie and Myrt once again came over, this time with battery chargers, to try my luck with that before I called someone to tow it and look at it on Monday. I started my car charging at about 3pm and hung out with Jackson/played WoW the rest of the day. I kept myself in pretty good spirits for the day, trying to remain optimistic about my poor, dead car. At about 6pm, I went to check the charger and it still read dead. However, they did tell me that it can take a long time to charge, so I left it plugged in and went back to hanging with the J-man. We watched Alvin and the Chipmunks and snuggled. Then he took a bath, we read a story and he headed to bed at 9. After I tucked him in, I went to check the meter again, not expecting it to say anything other than it had before...but what's this? The gauge moved??? Could it be working??????

So, I pranced back inside and told Tanya the news. I wasn't getting my hopes up, but my optimism seemed to be paying off! I decided to let it go until I was ready for bed, and then try to start it. I keep myself preoccupied with the season finale of True Blood and the Colbert Christmas special (both of which were fantastic, btw. I need to get the soundtrack to the Colbert Christmas! Too funny, it was!!), and I got my death knight to about 1/2 way through level 62. I was starting to think that sleep would be good at about midnight, so I went back out again to check the meter. It hadn't moved since the last time I'd come out, but I figured I might as well try it, just to see. I unplug the charger, shut the hood, and get in the car. I take out my key, put it in the ignition...turn the key...and....IT STARTED!!!! I was so happy. Beyond happy. Ecstatic! I ran into the house to freak out to Tanya that my car was alive again! I then told her that I was going to sit outside for a bit, just to listen to it run. It was almost as magical as a baby's laugh. Best. Sound. EVER!

Needless to say, I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I was so full of WOOOOOHOOOOOness that I just couldn't fall asleep. I didn't fall asleep until after 2, and almost got myself out of bed at 6:15, but decided to press snooze a bit this morning instead. Had I known that it snowed last night after I went to sleep, I would have gotten up right away. While I was unprepared for the snow, I welcome the prettiness!

So, while my weekend was pretty crappy and although I have been in an overly meh and blerg mood lately, today I am pretty content and happy with everything in my life. I still feel a bit...off, as though something is missing, but I'm working on a few new changes that I hope will help me be me again. First of which is kind of a frivilous thing (fancy new cell phone with web access..../rawr), but it's going to make me all ^_^, so it may just be enough to kick my butt out of Glumville. I'll update once I have my shinies this weekend!

Ok. That's all for now. I'm getting better at this updating thing again, so hopefully I keep up with it this time!

Toodles!

^_^


Music Pick for the Day: "My Moon My Man" by Feist (my new favorite vocalist..I have to look into getting more music by her)
Beverage for the Day: water
Socks for the Day: black with tourquoise polka dots

Promises, promises

Mmmmm...promises. And, by promises, I mean the Dove chocolate ones. I had a stash of them in my drawer at work, so I eated them all. And they were goooooood. Aside from their numminess, I like the Promises because they also have little notes inside, which makes them kind of like chocolate fortune cookies. So, my chocolate fortunes are:

"A special moment deserves a special chocolate"- I got this one twice, so I'll use this as the reason behind my having 6 promises this afternoon...don't judge me! /delicious

"Buy flowers for yourself"- I may do this, but not in a 'oh, look! Someone totally sent me flowers; I wonder who they're from' kind of way, but rather in a 'my kitchen needs some cheering up. I shall do that with pretty flowers!' kind of way. But, we'll see if I'm ambitious enough to go and buy some. This one will be a maybe.

"Think without limits"- This one I do quite often already, which always gets me in trouble with myself. My mind, or rather my imagination, knows no limits, so I can day dream like you wouldn't believe. However, many day dreams are often not within the grasps of reality, so I tend to set myself up for disappointment when my fantasty life is vastly more appealing than my reality. /le sigh

"Try something new this weekend"- This one I fully intend on fulfilling, not just once, but twice (two promise fortunes for this one, as well!). I have plans for tonight and Saturday, so I'll have to fit something new into my schedule somehow. Perhaps I will try new foods or a new drink tonight, or maybe just do something out of the ordinary. We shall see what adventures the weekend may hold! But, chances are, I'll order french toast instead of waffles and that will count as my "try something new". How boring am I? If I do end up trying something wholey new, I will be sure to try to update again with details, but I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you...

"Think lovingly, speak lovingly, act lovingly"- Again, I'm pretty good at doing this on a regular basis. I'm a pretty lovey-dovey person and let people know how I feel, even if it's not the best idea. I'm kind of a goober that way and just have to speak my mind sometimes, but on the plus side, I don't hide emotions and typically am very up front about things with people. So, speak and think lovingly, check! Act lovingly is also one that I do often, and generally in the form of hugs. I'm kind of a hug-bot. Hug-slut. Hug-a-holic. Hugs FTW. And, after a few drinks tonight, I may once again display my thinking/speaking/acting lovingly, so Amie and Crystal, watch out! :P

Wish me luck on having a great weekend and I'll update again soonish, I hope!
*huggles*

^_^


Music Pick for the Day: "Green-Eyed Lady" by Sugarloaf (I was on a "eye" song kick this morning, and this one is one of my favs. There are no good songs about my name, so I appreciate a song about green eyed people)
Beverage Pick for the Day: Water
Socks for the Day: pink, green and brown argyle knee highs (best. socks. EVER!)

Bluebells and sleighbells and something with mittens...

/snuggles her blanket
It's attempting to snow outside, and this is the most I've seen it snow yet this year. Nothing is sticking to the ground yet, but just the flurries whizzing around outside are enough to get me into my wintery goodness spirit. A lot of people dislike snow, or rather, a lot of people dislike driving in snow. However, I love so much about snow that I'm willing to forgive the poor driving conditions it brings. And now, my favorite things about snow:

1.) It's fun! Building snowmen, making snow angels, sledding... what's not to love??
2.) It's winter! And what happens in winter? Christmas. And what's great about Christmas? EVERYTHING! Decorations, lights, trees, eggnog, cookies, music, 24 hours of A Christmas Story...I could go on, but I won't.
3.) It's pretty! Imagine a Thomas Kinkade snowytime picture and that's basically my perfect setting. Snowy, peaceful, and beautiful. It just makes me happy on the inside to think about it. Add that with some hot cocoa, blankets, and a good movie, and you have every Friday night during the winter months for me. Well, except that I don't actually live on a peaceful street...I just imagine that's what it looks like outside.
4.) It's cold! Well, I'm always cold, but that doesn't mean that I don't like the cold. On the contrary, I love the cold, since it allows me to wear fun mittens and scarves and hats and coats. Yay, winter clothes!

Ok. Off to daydream some more about wonderful winter.

^_^

I shall conquer this, I shall.

If I could sum up my past month or two in one word, that word would be "blerg". I have had more blerg in the past few months than I'd had in a long time. What caused this blerg? Where did it come from? And how can I get rid of it!?! For starters, I don't think that any one thing has caused the blerg, but rather a few smaller blergific things, such as moving situation changing and just being in a perpetual state of "...what now?" I feel as though I'm anticipating or dreading something, but can't seem to pin point what that something is. I'm anxious without anywhere to direct said anxiousness.

I've also had some very upsetting situations arise in the past month, such as an old friend unexpectedly dying last month. 26 years old, mother of 2, who I hadn't seen or spoken to in nearly 5 years. Growing up, she was an honorary member of my family, and was treated and loved like a sister to me and my siblings, and as a daughter to my parents. To get the news that she had died was jarring, to say the least, and it took me a few days to really have the news sink in. It just seemed so surreal; it still seems surreal. Her wake was by far the hardest thing I've had to deal with in a long time, and just seeing her family was too much to bear. Not only had I not seen them all in many years, but I also could not be glad to see them, due to circumstances. It was the worst reunion, in the worst situation.

Ok. I need to be on happier topics, to try to mellow myself out again.

Happy topics...happy topics...hmmm... OH! So, speaking of anticipating things, last week was the release of the newest WoW expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. I have to say, I'm enjoying it more than The Burning Crusade, and I've barely even touched on the quests in Northrend. I will say that Death Knight is super badass and the story line for it is is pretty amazing. I was almost brought to tears by some of the story, which I guess isn't that much of a feat considering how often I cry, but still: amazing. I'm debating making my DK my main for a bit, and then work on leveling Alukin once Cat is 80 and has time to focus on leveling Squik with me. Decisions, decisions.

Last night, I was feeling pretty meh and restless, so I decided to do some more unpacking and arranging to occupy my mind. Since Jackson fell asleep on the couch again, I focused my energies on my bedroom and unpacked some of my books. While doing this, I wanted to watch a DVD, so I picked out Pride and Prejudice... /swoon. And no, not the one that came out a few years ago with Keira Knightly. I'm talking about the 5 hour BBC mini series, with Colin Firth as the dreamboat Mr. Darcy. Mmmmm, Mr. Darcy. If I could find a real life Mr. Darcy, my life would be complete. And, speaking of Mr. Darcy, I watched Bridget Jones' Diary last weekend...and I've realized that I am more like the character Bridget Jones than I would care to admit. Her crazy, her verbal diarrhea, her horrendous love life. But, she did get her Mr. Darcy in the end. His whole speech to Bridget just makes me smile, every time I hear it:
"I don't think you're an idiot at all. I mean, there are elements of the ridiculous about you. Your mother's pretty interesting. And you really are an appallingly bad public speaker. And, um, you tend to let whatever's in your head come out of your mouth without much consideration of the consequences... But the thing is, um, what I'm trying to say, very inarticulately, is that, um, in fact, perhaps despite appearances, I like you, very much. Just as you are."
/rawr
/swoon
Mr. Darcy...Mark Darcy... mmmmmmm

Although, I am 1 up on Ms. Jones. As of today, it has been 1 year since I last smoked. 1 year since I smoked my last cheat cigarette, even. One whole entire year, smoke free. I am pretty darn proud of myself for that! I need to get back into the mindset that got me to quit smoking, and perhaps life can start to make sense again. Get out of my head and back in the now and just go with the flow. I need to flow. I've hit some flow-blocks in the past few months, so it's time to get happy again. To do this, I may /shun the world for a bit, to get back into the right mindset, but even if I do /shun everyone, I promise to come back out, less crazy-crazy and more fun-crazy! That's worth some Karenless time, right? I think so!

Ok. I'm off now. Time to go and be all zen and not so blergy. Blerg = teh suck.

Laters!

^_^



Music Pick for the Day: "Handsome Man", by Robbie WIlliams
Beverage Pick for the Day: coffeeeeeeeeeee
Socks for the Day: Maroon, tan and black argyle knee highs

The Change We Need

7 Days

I've already voted. Have you? In the state of Wisconsin, we are one of 31 states that allow early voting. So, you can't use the excuse that you're busy on November 4th. If you know you can't make it then, call your city or county clerk's office to find out how you can vote early. Not registered yet? You can do that at the same time as you vote. Just be sure to bring a proof of residence (current utility bill or even a pay stub with your current address).

So please, be sure to vote. Because, really, your vote and voice do count.
Your vote matters.
You matter.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Have you registered to vote yet??

Find out when your deadline to register here, and hopefully you still have time!

Or, click here and enter your address to find out where and when you can register!
Go now!
And if you've registered already, you're my favorite!

^_^

ps. I love Stephen Colbert

*insert witty comment here*

So, I've been an absent blogger for a while. At first, I was all "I'll totally update tomorrow"...and then tomorrow would come, and I'd be all "I'll totally update this weekend...and then the weekend would come, and I'd be all "I'll totally update on Monday". Well, that went on for a couple of weeks before I realized that I hadn't updated in a while. Because it had been so long since my last update, I thought that my next update would have to be sooo awesome to make up for my lack of blogging. So I thought on it for like 2 weeks, and I still have nothing soooo awesome to blog about.

Life has been pretty meh. I've been doing pretty good lately; life hasn't given me too much to complain about, which I'm thankful for. Jackson started kindergarten this month, and it was emotional, but I'm so happy and excited for him to be in school that it helped me get over the whole "my baby is growing up too fast!". And, naturally, with him growing up so fast, life is going too fast, and when I stop to think about it all, I get down and sad-like. So I try really hard to not think about it! I'm a smidge blergy about it all tonight, and in need of some distractions, so I figured I'd update and see if that helped at all!

Hmmm...what else can I ramble about? Oh, well, this coming Tuesday will be a fantastic day. Two movies are coming to DVD and I'm a bit tingly thinking about it: Forgetting Sarah Marshall (mmm, Jason Segel...naked) and Iron Man (mmmmmm...Robert Downey, Jr...wishing he were naked). I must say, this is going to be a Super Tuesday!

And speaking of politics, did anyone else catch the 1st Presidential debate on Friday night? During most of it, I just wanted to reach into my TV and flick McCain in his tiny head or smack him about with my shoe. Pre-debate, I wasn't a supporter, but there was still a bit of respect there for him as a person (I'm a lover, not a hater, and really try to see good in all people)...however, he was making me angry just with his words. Like, almost seething. I hate politicians and wish that it would be possible for, just once, to have them address concerns and issues without trying to belittle their opponent. It seemed that the majority of the time that he was speaking, he took the time to take a jab at Obama instead of trying to address the question at hand. He would prefer to be negative and invoke fear in the voters, to try to get them to *not* vote for Obama instead of trying to make people *want* to vote for himself. It's infuriating! Oh, and his little smirk and giggle he was doing every time Obama spoke. GRAR! He wouldn't even look Barack in the eye during the debate and kept intentionally not addressing him in his responses. Two things that were said too often and made me twitch each time he said them: "What Senator Obama doesn't understand is..." and "...fundamental...". Good lord, robot man. Get some new dialogue. And I won't even talk about his attempt to suspend his campaign. Or on his VP pick.

Obama, on the other hand, was like sex in a suit and I would listen to him talk for hours at a time. He's soothing and pretty and fancy and I love him. Sure, I still have issues with some of his stances on things, but right now, he is the best hope we have. And, if for some reason McCain wins this thing in November, do any foreigners have room to take in a single mom and her 5 year old? I can cook and clean and LOVE to bake! Just let me know. :P

Ok. I'm in a better place now after getting all political and venty. *deep breath* Good times.

I will try to update more and hopefully will have something more entertaining to ramble about, so hopefully I'll talk to you all again soonish!

^_^


Music pick for the Day: "Near to You" by A Fine Frenzy
Beverage pick for the Day: agua
Socks for the Day: green, purple and black striped Halloween socks, with pumpins on the ankles (my 2nd pair of Halloween socks so far this fall!)

I blipped...and I liked it.

Greetings, my lovely people! I have been in a very musical place lately. One of my Twitter friends was linking music earlier in the week, and I was really enjoying the variety. So, I decided to join the site that he was linking from, blip.fm... and I think I'm addicted.

The music selection is good, and you are able to upload music to the site...but I'm lazy. However, I have only had a few times where something I wanted wasn't on there/was poor quality, so I'm content for now!

So, that's about it. I have more I could touch on, but we'll save the crazy for another day. For today, I just wanted to let you know what I'm up to and that you should so come blip with me.

"blip with me"... sounds kind of dirrty.
/rawr

ps. I've also been using my last.fm account more, so feel free to add me if you have it!

^_^


Music Pick for the Day: "Breakin' Up" by Rilo Kiley
Beverage for the Day: mountain dew (sleep has not been my friend this week; more caffeine, please)
Socks for the Day: white ankle socks with monkeys and banannnnas

Beboping through the kitchen

Greetings! So, I've been so completely and utterly unmotivated to update my blog. And even now, I'm updating out of some weird sense of obligation. I hope to be motivated for some hard-core blogging again soon, so I'm sorry that it's taking me so long to get motivated again! It's been a few weeks since I last updated, so I'll give you a brief recap: I went on a much-needed week long vacation with my family, and spent this last week watching anything and everything Olympics related. How exciting is that?

The Olympics have been great so far. Swimming has had the most exciting events and I've been anxious to watch all of the races. Gymnastics this year have been good, but no where near the levels of anticipation of past games. I'm going to blame the lack of international coverage on NBC, as well as the lack of Alexi Nemov. *sigh*

Hmmm... what else? Volleyball has been great to watch this year, too! Women's beach volleyball has been fantastic, with May/Walsh dominating the court. I can't wait to see if they get the gold (which, they are undefeated thus far, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for them!). For men's indoor volleyball, the US is also doing well, but my favorites are the Bulgarians. They lost to the US in the first pool, but that was their only loss so far, so I still have hope!

And.. my guilty pleasure Olympic events: Badminton and skeet. I'm kind of disappointed in myself, though, because I haven't watched any fencing. Bad Karen.

Now... my favorite Olympians. In no particular order, the pretties are: Razvan Selariu (I only saw him for a second while team Romania entered the NIS on the first day of prelims, but I still heart him!), Ryan Lochte, Sascha Klein, Andrey Zhekov, Ian Thorpe (he did not compete, but he was in the stands during the final men's relay that gave Phelps his 8th gold, so it counts!)...that's it for now. There are others, but those are the big ones. AND, I did a good job of being an equal-opportunity oogler, as they all are from a different nations.

Less than a week until the closing ceremonies. I'm going to be sad to see them go and it's going to be a long 4 years until we get more summer Olympic goodness. :( However, in about a month, all of my shows will be back on the air and I cannot wait!! I'm getting all twitchy!!

Ok. I'm off to clean and listen to more music. I've been in a very musical mood lately, so I've been dancing all over my apartment today as I clean. Super fun!!

Toodles!

^_^



Music Pick for the Day: "Think Locally, Fuck Globally" by Gogol Bordello
Beverage Pick for the Day: Water. MMmmmm, water.
Socks for the Day: Barefoot AGAIN! But, more out of laziness than lack of want to wear socks.

...don't tell the Elf

Hidey ho, people! In case you hadn't noticed, I've been kind of neglecting my blogging lately (well, aside from my "WATCH DR. HORRIBLE" posts, but those don't count). One reason is that I haven't had much to update on. The other reason is that I am horribly lazy and unmotivated! ^_^

This weekend, I decided to re-watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy with Jackson (he made it through most of FotR and then gave up on me). I seriously need to do this more often! (and, yes, Crystal, I will plan ahead next time and invite you!) I know that I love the movies, but I forget sometimes just how much I really love them. I still cry like a baby at so many parts, and I basically spend half of Return of the King teary eyed. Well, and The Two Towers... don't even get me started on Helm's Deep... dammit. I'm now tearing up again just thinking about it. When Gandalf arrives with the Rohirrim.... my god, that's a fantastic scene. *gets a tissue* So beautiful.

And can I just say that EVERY TIME I watch RotK and see Gothmog, I keep expecting him to say "Hey you guuys!". Does he not look eerily like Sloth from "The Goonies"? I can't be the only one who sees it! They are like twins!!


I think that if Gandalf had just offered Gothmog a Baby Ruth, things may have turned out a little differently!

Also, it's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, so I know what I'll be doing this week! I'm watching a Mythbusters marathon right now and they are showing the old Shark week episodes. I can't wait to see what they have this time around. Also, I'm looking forward to whatever dirty jobs Mike Rowe does. I rewatched an episode of Dirty Jobs while I was at my parents' house today and Mike totally took his shirt off. *sigh* More episodes need to include a shirtless Mike Rowe. Mmmmm... dirrty Mike Rowe, with two r's. /rawr

AND! 12 more days until the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics!! I'm going to be on vacation with my family, but will be driving to Madison to continue the tradition of oogling the pretty boys from around the world with my closest friends and fellow peen-lovers. Fondue, Eastern European gymnasts and world-class male swimmers? Yeah. That's gonna be a good day. Also, you can expect updates from me for 2 weeks, to confess my undying love for the beautiful men of the XXIX olympiad. Mmmm... /rawr again!

Ok. I think that's about it for now. There is more I could say, but it's bath time for the Jackson and I have laundry to fold and TV to watch. Farewell, peeps!

Music Pick for the Day: Bascially everything from Dr. Horrible (thanks Myrt for the soundtrack! I <3s it!)
Beverage Pick for the Day: lemonade
Socks for the Day: none. Totally sockless and feeling kind of weird about it.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

That's...not a good sound.

Well, Dr. Horrible is no longer free to you slackers who didn't watch it when it was up for FREE on www.drhorrible.com. Now, if you want to view the AWESOMENESS that is Dr. Horrible, you'll have to go on iTunes and pay $4...which, honestly, is totally worth it. Can't afford the $4 fee? I will buy it for you! (well, I mean...I'll let you watch it on my iPod). So, if you've watched it, let me know how you liked it!! (also, go buy some merchandise!!)

(psst. This is pretty much my plea to have Suzie watch it already and call me to let me know how great I am for making her watch it...but it really does apply to everyone)

In other news, I had a great weekend and I might even update about it later! For now, I need to finish making nummy cake and then head to Crystals for some Wii Fit action!


*blows kisses* Toodles!

^_^

"What a crazy, random happenstance!"

Pssst... Act II of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is now up, and better than ever! Go watch now (well, after you've watched the Act I, anyway!)


*sigh* My love for NPH has grown exponentially in the last 24 hours, as well as my love for Nathan Fillion. And Felicia Day is completely fantastic as Penny (also, you should check out The Guild if you have free time and like MMOs. Do it now!)

Ok. Time for sleep, for real now.
Nighty-night, my lovlies! I'll come again soon!

...balls

This is not really an update; more like an Public Service Announcement. Or a plug for a new online TV show. Yeah, the 2nd one. Definitely a plug for a new online TV show. You may ask, "Karen, what online TV show is that?" and I'll reply "Why, it's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!"

If you haven't already watched it, please do so immediately! The first act became available yesterday, and there are two more being released this week (Thursday and Saturday). Also, if you fall in love with it and want to be able to rewatch it allll the time, go and get a season pass to it on iTunes for $3.99!

It's a silly webshow that Joss Whedon started during the writer's strike this winter. It's about a supervillian. Who has a blog. And it's a musical. I won't say much else, other than I've only had it on my iPod for 24 hours and I've watched it 6 times already and have turned 2 people into fans (on my lunch break, no less!). It's just *that* good!

Also, if you watch this and don't like, I think you can pretty much guarantee to not get a Christmas card from me this year... well, chances are even if you do like it, you won't get one because I don't actually send out Christmas cards, but it's not intentional most of the time.

But it *will* be for the haters. I will intentionally NOT send you a Christmas card and will make sure you know it!

ps. <3 you all, even the haters


^_^

Make it stop!

I am hopelessly addicted to signing up for new micro-blogging sites and "the next big thing" sites. The list of ones that I now use:

Vox
Tumblr
Twitter
Blippr
Plurk

Plurk is the newest one to make its way into my daily updates. I think that the name ropes me in. Plurk. It just sounds fun.

Anywho, Plurk is pretty new, so I think I'll stick it out for a while and see if it takes off or if I grow to love it/hate it. Besides, back when I first joined Twitter, I had my doubts about it, so I'm willing to give Plurk a fair judgement and will keep with it for a few weeks. I added a widget to my blog, so you can check out Plurk for your self.

Ok. That's it for now. See ya later, alligator marshmallow-lovers!

^_^

Manilow. Strawberry Manilow.

Why, hello there! Glad you could stop by! I’ve been busy lately…well, that’s kind of a lie. I’ve been anti-social lately, so I’ve been fake-too-busy to post by my lack of want to be on my computer and communicate in anyway. But, I think that has passed for now. I had a rough few weeks again, and still some bad days, but overall I think I’m passed this most recent slump. I think that deserves a little WOOP WOOP. I was able to be around friends and family for the 4^th of July weekend, which helped (although, I had a rough patch of suckitude on Sunday afternoon, but it was over within a couple of hours (thanks to J-man and the nieces/nephews)). I’m not going to recap my whole weekend, but I will give you the highlights:

-I met a man who could very well be the long lost sibling of Chong and he was by far the most interesting person I’ve met all year. He seemed to be the embodiment of the hippie generation, all rolled into one tie-dyed American flag shirt. If everyone had his care-free and laid back attitude… well, not many things would be accomplished, but I’m positive we’d all be a lot happier with life. Brian-Chong, you’re my hero.

-I got a haircut again. While it’s short, I’ve decided to keep it short at least for the summer. It was long enough for mini nub pig tails for about a week, but there will be time enough for pig tails this fall. I also got my roots touched up, but I think from now on I’ll be dyeing my hair myself. I’m light blonde again, so the upkeep on it won’t be hard to do on my own. When I decide to go brunette or red again, I may go back to letting my hair lady dye it. Maybe.

-As I was waiting for Amie to finish at the check out in Barnes and Noble, I was perusing the mini-books they sell at the counter. There were about 7 different “…for Dummies” books, but one in particular caught my eye: “Sex for Dummies”. Just the fact that someone made a book for this made my day. So, I scanned through the book and even the chapters were fantastically awesome.

Chapter 1: Getting in the Mood

Chapter 2: Doing It

Chapter 3: Keeping the Fire Going

I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy a dozen of these and give them as stocking stuffers this year.

-I found the most magical of all beverages…well, by name, anyway. As I was waiting in line at the World Market on Saturday, I decided to get something to drink for the ride home. I go to the little cooler-majiger and see that in addition to the regular cola selection, they also have a variety of Jones Soda. I was unable to resist the pink one, not only because it was pink but because of what it was called: Strawberry Manilow. Is that not the best name for ANYTHING that you’ve ever heard of? Darn tootin’ it is!

-I saw Wall-E and I’m pretty sure it has taken the #1 spot on my list of favorite Pixar movies. It was so adorable and fun! Jackson really enjoyed it, too, and stayed awake for the whole thing. On any other day, a 5 year old sitting through a whole movie wouldn’t be impressive, but we went to a 9:15pm showing of the movie with Amie and Myrt and his bedtime is normally 9pm. Not only did he stay awake for the whole movie, he even stayed up long enough to do some sparklers with me afterwards! We didn’t get to sleep until midnight, but it was the most fun I’ve had in a long time. Yay Jackson and Mommy time! It does wonders for my morale! ^_^

So, that’s my 4^th of July weekend, in a nutshell. Well, there was a lot more going on than just the things listed, but those were the most memorable. Oh, and Myrt and I playing DDR for the first time in over a year. We kind of rocked.

On the TV front, I finished season 1 of How I Met Your Mother. Right now, I have some movies in my Netflix queue, so I’ll get around to the other seasons later on this summer, but I am looking forward to watching more of it. I also am still watching season 1 of The X-Files, but I haven’t been watching much TV in the last few weeks, so I will get back around to it soon. That’s about it for my new-to-me show watching.

As for TV shows that I inflict upon others, I got a co-worker to watch Veronica Mars. We were discussing TV shows last week on our break and I brought up VM. Tammy said she’d never seen it, which prompted me to go into VM-appreciation mode. I brought her season 1 the next day, and waited all weekend to hear from her. This morning at work, she tells me that she watched the 1^st 9 episodes and that she is hooked. As I talked about the characters and plot from season 1, I got an urge to re-watch the series. Thankfully, I own two copies of VM season 1 so I will be able to watch along side her and keep up on the plots twists and reveals. So, I’m going to start watching it tonight and I am very much looking forward to it!

I have also been watching more movies again! I watched Annie Hall, which was pretty fantastic! Next in queue is North by Northwest, followed by Harvey, so I’m anticipating my next shipment! I also have been borrowing movies to my mom, and her most recent batch of movies from me is 27 Dresses (I’m a sucker for romantic comedies and James Marsden is dreamy), Sweeney Todd, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I’m most excited about my mom watching Monty Python and I can’t wait to hear how she likes it.

On a seriousish note, I’ve been doing some self-reflection over the past few weeks, trying to rationalize where my life has gone this last year. I have always been one to over-think every situation and over analyze issues and to top it off, I am the most emotional person I know. So when I over-think and over-analyze, I will work myself up, for better or worse. If I’m in a negative place emotionally, I will most likely make myself depressed thinking of the negative side of an issue (which was my last 3 weeks, by the way). But, I’m starting to bring myself over to the positive, everything-happens-for-a-reason side, and letting myself become optimistic again. As a deterrent to keep myself from focusing on negative things, I’ve started doing Su Doku puzzles to help clear my mind and it has worked wonders. Whenever I find myself getting down about things, I just pick up my book and get lost in the numbers. Sooo relaxing.

I also am not against the idea of dating again, so that’s another positive. Now, this isn’t to say that I’ll be finding people to date, but if I should happen to meet a boy who fancies me, I wouldn’t be against the idea of a date. I just hope this attitude sticks around for a while, since I don’t foresee myself actually dating anytime soon. One thing I hate about my town is that the only real ways to find a potential partner is either at the bar (no thanks, I’ve had my fill of drinkers and alcoholics) and online dating, which I don’t think I’m comfortable with at this point. I’m only 26, so I think I have a few years to go before I jump on the Match.com bandwagon. Well, the other alternative is being set up with someone through a mutual friend, but I also don’t know how comfortable I’d be with that.

Oh, well. For now, I’m content with my life again and that’s enough for now. “Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today”. I had said a few months ago that this would be my new mantra, but I haven’t been very good at keeping this mindset. It’s hard to live in the moment, especially as a single mom. I’m always looking ahead and trying to figure out where life will lead me; I need to not worry about where I’m going to end up, but how I’m going to get there. And that has to start sometime, so why not now?

I'm kind of starting to sound like a self help book, so I’m off for now. I’ll be back soonish with more inane ramblings, so don’t fret! Also, if I am gone for a few weeks again and you’re all “where the shit did she go?”, just message me on Twitter or G-talk or Digsby. Adam, this means you.

Music Pick for the Day: “Supertheory of Supereverything” by Gogol Bordello (a band that was recommended to me by Jourdan, and I am really enjoying them! Thanks, Gand!!!)

Beverage Pick for the Day: Coffee (and it’s the Peruvian blend with the llama on the package. Yay, llama coffee!)

Socks for the Day: white and lime green monkey socks with bananas hanging off the ankle. They say “cheeky monkey”. <3

Babies and kittens could cure cancer

Someone posted a link on Twitter today and I just about died from the cuteness overload. But, since it was so cute, it instantly cured my almost-death.
True story..


well, ok. Here it is. Brace yourself: it's cute in there.

KITTENS AND BABIES!

*squeeeeeee*
There really should be a warning on sites like that. Something like "Warning: uncontrollable awwwwwwwwing ahead" or something...something.

Life needs more polkas...preferably in dot form

Well folks, it's been a while. And by a while, I mean 30 days. One month. 1/12th of a year. That is pretty long to go without an update, and for that, I apologize. Life has been pretty non-extraordinary. Heck, it's hardly been ordinary. I dare say, it's been subordinary (which, yes, is not a word...yet). So, to start off, I'm going to give you a recap of what I haven't been doing this past month:
I have not started a new hobby, gone on a date, ordered Chinese food, drove a truck, composed a break-away pop hit, written a novel, or discovered a new-found love for cous-cous.
I HAVE, however, walked backwards, watched 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls (this is a judge-free zone, people; please take your snickering outside, folks), freaked out at work (and threatened to quit, to boot!), been to the laundromat, lived through the Great Flood of '08, spent quality time with my mother, and listened to slow jazz while laying in bed at night, hoping to dream of agile Romanian gymnasts named Razvan. Ok, so I haven't actually listened to slow jazz while laying in bed at night, hoping to dream of agile Romanian gymnasts named Razvan...but I intend to, so I think that counts.

In an effort to not let myself fall back into depression in the next couple of weeks, I am making lists of things to do with my time, not unlike the very lists I've already stated in this very post! Well, I mean, kinda unlike the lists in this post, but the general idea is the same: lists. The lists I'm working on aren't very long yet, and most of them are still in my head, but the main one has been started, and is even a Word document. My main list was inspired by the quality time I spent with my mom last weekend. My dad was away at camp (VA camp; not your typical summer camp), so my mom and I decided to take advantage of the fact that my dad was gone. I love my dad to iddy bits, but do you think us ladies could ever watch anything but golf, the Weather Channel, or NCIS when he's around? Survey says: Frick NO. So, we decide to watch the AFI's "Top 10 Top 10 Lists", which was the top 10 of 10 different genres. I'm not going to talk much aobut the show, because for the most part, I was upset by the "genres" they picked, let alone some of the choices and omissions. I am going to talk about how it made me realize how many classics and "must see" movies I've never seen. Like "Annie Hall". How a person lives to be 26, claims to love movies, and has never seen "Annie Hall" is totally beyond me, but I am living proof that it happens, and I plan on amending that post haste. It is already #2 in my Netflix queue, along with about 15 other how-have-I-not-seen-this-yet movies, for my viewing pleasure.

Now, I'm off to watch the next TV show in my list of already-off-the-air-but-I-haven't-seen-yet TV shows: The X-Files. I'm also watching How I Met Your Mother, but I'm waiting for Netflix to ship the next disc to me. Ah, Netflix. You're like the video-store-I'm-too-lazy-to-go-to-but-better-because-you-don't-charge-me-late-fees I never had.

Netflix=magicness

Oh, yeah. In case you're all "but...she didn't say anything about polkas OR dots! Worst title ever!", I'm just gonna say that the title was inspired by my favorite sunglasses (which, ironically, were my least favorite sunglasses circa 1998, but over time, I've grown to love and appreciate them, like a fine wine or cola). And I wore my favorite sunglasses as I took pictures of my pig tails (WOOP WOOP, my hair is finally long enough for pig tails again! HUZZAH!), which I took right before I posted this. So... the title is actually super valid and appropriate for the evening.

Says me.

**edit**
And, since I was bored, and Jackson's red panda was on the couch, the photo-taking began. It all started with a panda and ended with polka dots and "oooooo, shiny" faces. Typical Tuesday.

Randomish Pics of the Karen

Music Pick for the Day: "Heaven's On Fire" by KISS
Beverage Pick for the Day: Highlander Grogg (best. flavored. coffee. EVER)
Socks for the Day: pink socks with sushi all over them *CUTE*

Crocodiles love skittles

It's Sunday night, the boy is in bed, and I'm bored out of my fricking mind. So, what can I do to help pass the time? Why, I can update my blog! Beware, though. I really have nothing to update on, so this will be pretty random, and most likely boring for you all, but it's helping with my boredom so deal with it.

Hmmm.. so, I watched a very entertaining indie movie today called "Wristcutters: A Love Story". I think everyone should see this movie based on the title alone. The story is about an alternate plane where people who commit suicide go to. So, I guess it's an interpretation of purgatory, in a way (wait... is it purgatory? Or one of the levels of hell? 7th circle of hell? Poop...must reread Inferno; my hell trivia is waning!). But, like all good stories about suicide and purgatory, there is a love story to tie it all together. And really, even without the love story, it'd still be a great film, for it's vision on life after death. If this isn't enough to get your roped in, I'll have to pull out the big guns: Will Arnett plays a Messiah, in a role that I would describe as an homage to GOB. He performs a "miracle", much like GOB's "illusions"...and it's freaking Will Arnett. 'Nuff said.
Go see it. Now.

Ummm... I worked for about an hour and a half today, so boo for going to work on a weekend. On the plus side, I'm almost all caught up again after my fiasco from the last few weeks that got me behind on my regular work, so a big woop woop to that. Now I don't have to be back until Tuesday, and then I only work 4 days. Wait a sec... for the next two weeks, I only have 4 day work weeks. That is fantastic! Yay long weekends! My 2nd long weekend will be to go to the zoo with Jackson, my sisters, and alllll the nieces and nephews. Yay animals! I shall be sure to take extra pictures of the red pandas and monkeys!

Speaking of pictures, I'm starting to use my Flickr! account more. I uploaded the pics of my b-day decorations from work, as well as some random pics I took at work (yay animal crackers!). So, if you like to stalk my online pics, go ahead and bookmark my Flickr! I'll probably be using this for more of the random pics I take, and then still use my Picasa for pics of people. That should work quite nicely.

I also played Mario Kart Wii for like 2 hours today, and then for about a 1/2 an hour after the J-man got home. He gets frustrated when he loses, especially since we were racing online, so we only did 2 races before I let him play Super Mario Galaxy instead. He played that while I cooked dinner (lemon chicken, green beans and rice... mmm mmmm mmmmmm. One day I'll have a man to cook for, or to make cook for me. Ah, a daydream for another day.)

And, that's about all I did today. Tomorrow, Jackson and I will be hanging out with my dad all day. If the weather is nice, we'll be going fishing in the morning and hopefully I'll be able to take some pretty pictures. Later in the day, after my mom is done with work, we'll be having a cookout, and maybe I'll convince them to go to the marsh with me for a walk, so I can take some more pretty pics!

Hmmmm... what else? ummmm... Crystal and Myrt came over Saturday afternoon to watch the last 4 episodes of Angel, and I made lots and lots of cupcakes! I had already eaten like 7 cupcakes Friday night, so I super didn't need to make cupcakes yesterday...but, sometimes I get the baking itch and can't really say no to myself. Blerg, cupcakes, blerg!!!

Ok. I'm still bored, and I'm sure you are super bored now from having read this. So, I will leave you with a video of Stephen Colbert telling Jon Stewart about alligators. If you don't find this funny, then you're probably super lame. Or a marshmallow.


Music pick for the Day: "Creep" by Radiohead
Beverage pick for the Day: Water
Socks for the Day: None. My feet are naked. How hot is that?

I should be sleeping

...but I can't! I went to see Rilo Kiley tonight and I'm all giddy and RAAAAAAAH! right now. Me thinks I had too many cupcakes, thus too much sugar. Hopefully I will be coming down from my sugar high soon so that I can get some sleep. I have a big weekend ahead of me, full of slacking and Mario Kart, so I can't be all sleepy for that!

The concert was really good, even though I was super tired all day today. One of the opening acts, The Spinto Band, was very energetic and fun! And, really, a band that uses kazoos???? It's almost too good to be true! The kazoo is a very underrated instrument and that's too bad. There is so much untapped potential regarding the kazoo, and someone should really bring kazooing to the mainstream. For the children. I will most definitely be looking into getting some of their music off of iTunes or e-Music in the near future.

Rilo Kiley was amazing and I <3 them even more after seeing them live. The lead singer, Jenny Lewis, wore super sparkley silver shoes and hot pants. I'm pretty sure she's one of my new heroes for wearing hot pants with the silver shoes. Clothing aside, there were huge balloons floating around the audience for a bit and this is another shtick that needs more attention. Who doesn't love balloons? Who doesn't love HUGE BALLOONS that you can swat around like a beach ball in the middle of a concert? Nazis. That's who doesn't. And no one likes Nazis, so I think it's safe to say that everyone (sans Nazis) love balloons, therefore there should be more huge beach ball balloons in the world. I now have a sudden urge to purchase large balloons to bring to work for some cubicle volleyball, or slow-motion office basketball. Definitely one of the two.

Anyway, I really just wanted to say hi, let you know I'm still here and that I will be back soon with updates on...something. Maybe cupcakes. Or banjos. Or alligators eating marshmallows. Ooooo... I got it. Musical penguins from Antarctica who wield maracas of awesome, to help them sing their songs of praise to their whale overlords.

...you know...or something.

Jai guru deva om

About two weeks ago, I was hanging out with my friends and playing games. We spent nearly 5 hours playing Mario Kart for the Wii and I had a blast. I decided then that I was going to get a Wii in the near future, so that I could play Mario Kart all the freaking time. Well, last week proved to be a horrible week for me, emotionally, so on Friday night, in an effort to cheer myself up, I decided to go to Target on the off chance that they had a Wii in stock. They were out, and said they’d be getting a shipment in on Sunday, but that it was going to be in the weekly ad, so I’d have to be there by 5am Sunday morning if I wanted a chance to buy one. So, I moved on to Best Buy to try out my luck there. On my way there, I decide that either way, I’m going to get a wireless router so I can finally set up a wi-fi connection in my apartment. So, I get my router, and then head to the check out to inquire about Wiis. They, too, are out of Wiis and tell me that they get their shipments on Tuesdays, and that I should call to see if they have any then. *sigh* I’m feeling pretty defeated at this point; as though the entire world is mocking me. As I start driving home, I pass Shopko and think to myself: “Hmmm… I never shop at Shopko…maybe no one else does either and they have Wiis”. I venture to the electronics department and check out the Wii display and there are of course none there. So, I mosey to the service desk, preparing to hear the same spiel about Wii shipments. And this is how the conversation went:

Me: When do you normally get your Wii shipments?

Lady: Um, we have like 4 in back.

Me: …Seriously??

Lady: yeah.

Me: …Can I have one?

Lady: Sure, I’ll go and get one.

Me: . . .

*a few minutes pass as she goes to retrieve my Wii*

Lady: Here ya go.

Me: You just made my week!

So, to Target and Best Buy, I say this: Neener, I got my Wii and didn’t have to stalk the store in the wee (hehehe “Wii”) hours of the morning, or make border-line harassing phone calls to get one. Apparently, I just had to go where very few other gamers go to get one.

Along with my brand spanking-new Wii, I got an extra controller and nunchuck so that Jackson and I can play together, as well as Super Smash Brothers Brawl. Sadly, there was no Mario Kart to be found at any of the stores, so I ordered it from Amazon and it arrived today, so woot! After the week/weekend I’ve had, I feel that my Wii was a sound investment, since I forsee myself needing a lot of distractions in the next few weeks. To help with the distractions, Myrt has let me borrow Zelda, Wario Ware, and Super Mario Galaxy until I can build up my own library of Wii games, so <3>

Friday night, after I get home with my phat lewtz, I open up the Wii and lick it (ok. So, I lick new stuff, kind of like marking my territory “haha, my tongue touched it so it’s Mine! My tongue has claimed this in the name of the Karen!”, but something about licking my Wii sounds inherently dirty…and I like it.) After I get my Wii all set up, naturally the first thing I do is create my Mii. I actually made two me Miis: A regular me Mii and I guess an evil me Mii, with my “oooo, shiny” face. After that, I made a Jackson Mii. Jackson FREAKED OUT when he got home on Friday and said I was the coolest mom ever, which I really can’t deny. I am a pretty wicked cool mom. Jackson and I then played some Wii Sports before I sent him to bed late at 9:30. After the boy was asleep, I set up my wi-fi and I felt so accomplished after getting it all set up in under 15 minutes. I think I need my geek card now. Or geek peen. One of the two. Or both. After I was up and running, I added Crystal and Steeps to my address book, so I can send them pictures/messages/Miis. I then spent the rest of the night making Miis and checking out the channels available. Oh, and messing with the picture thingy, doodling eye patches on my pics and being goofy. I finally got to bed at about 2 and slept a whole 5 hours before Jackson woke me up.

Saturday, overall, was complete shit, so I’m just going to recap the non-shit parts. Jackson cleaned his room FINALLY (the Wii is a great motivator, BTW. Two thumbs up. Would buy again.) and I got to watch “Across the Universe” from Netflix. Now, as I was watching it, I was pretty “meh” about it, but as soon as it was over, I decided I need to buy it. It was an average movie that I know I will grow to love the more I watch it, plus the love story was pretty good and had me tearing up a few times. Oh, and I fell in love with the lead guy, but I think that wasn’t a deciding factor in my wanting to purchase it (psssh. Riiiightt. Don’t worry; even I didn’t really believe that.) Saturday night, Amie came over, bearing gifts of Wii games, which kept me up until 2am, yet again.

Sunday morning, Jackson was up BEFORE 7, so I made him snuggle with me and watch cartoons so I didn’t have to move out of bed until after 7. I played through the single player mode on Wario Ware, and then Jackson played Super Mario Galaxy, making me help him with the hard parts. Later on in the day, before dinner, we played some Wii Sports, and Jackson kicked my ASS in golf. The putter and I, we were not friends on Sunday. Not even a little. So, after I lost to a 5 year old, we decided to bowl, which I totally won, so take that little man! MOMMY IS THE BOWLING QUEEN!!

*ahem* Sorry about that…not sure where that came from… moving on.

So, we had dinner, blah, Jackson took a bath, blaaaah, I played through the first two observatories in SM Galaxy (/flex), and then my weekend ended.

It’s only Tuesday, and I’m longing for Friday already, but with good reason. I’m done at noon on Friday and will be going to see Rilo Kiley with Amie, Myrt, Crystal and Angel and Angel is totally cooking us dinner. I’m hoping she makes like a pot pie or something, so I can be all “get me my pot pie, woman!”, because I don’t get to say that nearly as often as I’d like to.

Music pick for the Day: "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright (I love the Beatles, but come on: Rufus is just beautiful, aesthetically and vocally)
Beverage for the Day: water
Socks for the Day: blue and green argyle with chipmunks on them (super cute)

"Excuse me, is that a banana in your cart..."

A few months ago, I had been in the habit of grocery shopping every Wednesday after work. It was a good night to go, since no one goes grocery shopping in the middle of the week, and it's always nice to shop in peace. At some point about 2 months ago, though, I'd stopped going on Wednesdays, for no reason at all.

Tonight, however, I started going again on Wednesday nights, and remembered one other reason that I liked going on Wednesdays: a boy. There is a guy that I saw nearly every week when I would go, and he's kind of handsome and manlyish. I've probably seen him there about 7 times, and I have never said anything to him and this got me wondering about grocery stores and dating.

In the movies, it seems like meeting people and chatting them up at the grocery store is a common occurrence, yet I have never ever heard of anyone actually meeting someone and making a date while shopping. Does it really happen? Is it common? And if the answer to these questions is "yes", then how the hell do you even approach the subject without looking completely bonkers? Do you do the "oh, I'm so sorry to have bumped into your cart! Clumsy me! By the way, I'm Karen. What up?"? Do you try and find a common item to chat them up with, such as a favorite cereal or dairy product? Or do you just act all cool and normal and just make regular small talk while standing in the check out line? Actually, it doesn't really matter. In reality, I am pretty much incapable of chatting someone up in a normal, social situation, so I doubt I'd be able to pull off anything even resembling flirting while at the grocery store. I can be very good at just regular chatting in the grocery store, with females and elderly, but if it's a boy aged within 10 years of me, I will turn into a ridiculous, rambling pile of crazy and not be able to say anything more coherent than "yeah, bananas are good for potassium. Lots of breakfast." Le sigh. One day I just need to get someone to chat ME up, and save me the trouble. Seriously.

Ok. Now that my weird grocery store fiasco is done, I'll give you a recap of my past few weeks: spent waaaay too much time on the internet, watched too many movies too many times (movies I've seen include Sunshine, 28 Weeks Later, Becoming Jane, Juno, Lars and the Real Girl, 27 Dresses, P.S. I Love You, and I went to the movie theater to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall), watched too much TV (so glad my shows are back), saw Jonathan Coulton in Madison last week (/swooooooon), and seriously, way.too.much.internet (I Tweet, therefore I am). A-yup. That sums it up quite nicely. Some people may say that this makes me lame, and to them I say "whatevs".

Now, to go and catch up on my shows from this week, make some awesomely num-licious cupcakes and then do the sleep thing. Tomorrow is a new day, and I'm totally going to see Iron Man tomorrow night, so a big fat "woop woop" to that!

Sorry for the extra crazy in this update, but you deserve it. I've been an absentee blogger for too long, so the extra dose of crazy is special, just for you!

*snuggles her internetz* Love ya!

^_^



Music pick for the Day: "Circle" by Eddie Izzard (while, not technically "music", it's on my iPod and all I listened to today, so neener, it's staying)
Beverage pick for the Day: Coffeeeeeeeeee
Socks for the Day: white 70's retro knee highs, with pink and black stripes

Worst. Karen. Ever.

Seriously. If I had to pick the worst Karen I know, it'd be me. Why? Because I have been super lame with my non-existent blog updates. So, to those of you who read this, I'm sorry! I still have nothing to say, but I will be making a HUGE EFFORT to give you an update by the end of the week. I'll even go so far as to say that if I *DON'T* update by Saturday night, that I will buy each of you (read: the 5-ish of you that I know and see on a regular basis) POCKY! That's right! If there isn't a new update by Saturday, you will be the proud new owners of a shiny, delicious, SUPER FANTASTIC box of POCKY!

Now how's that for a deal? Either way, you win!! It's genius, is what it is. And it shows you how much I value our friendship.

Word.
Peace.
Love.
Monkeys.

/camp

^_^

Oh, hey

So, yeah. Another non-update. I swear, one day, I will get back to writing something for this. But, I just had to share something that made my day.

In my last update, I linked to a commercial from the Discovery Channel that made me all ^_^. Well, I searched the internet for 3 days, trying to find an mp3 of the song...and by golly, I've found it! Someone from splendAd ripped it and posted a link to the download on the comments there, so woop woop!! I know, I'm a huge nerd, but now when I'm at work and needing a little pick me up, I can just go to my ZOMG INTERNETZ playlist (yes.. I actually have a playlist called that and no, it's not dumb; it's awesome.) and listen to the wonderful Discovery Channel peoples singing about the world and all its fantasticness. And then I'll be all ^_^ again.

Woo hoo!! I love the whole world; it's such a brilliant place!! BOOMDIADA, BOOM DE ADA, BOOM DEE YADDA, BOOM DEE AH DA or however it's spelled!

Ah, good times. I'm back in my happy place. I like it here. It's comfy.

^_^

I Love Arachnids

Man, I am one bad blogger! And, not bad, as in badass (although, if you ask me if I'm badass, I won't deny it), but I mean bad as in horrible with the updating! I have just been so uninspired to write anything. I'm trying to not be all "woe is me and my singledom" and by being less "woe is me and my singledom", I've been trying to stay busy. And by busy, I mean watching the Discovery Channel religiously for 2 days straight. I forget how much I love the shows on Discovery! And, since I've been watching it non-stop, I've seen the new Discovery Channel commercial about 7 billion times...and I could watch it 7 billion more:



It just makes me so happy! I always get so upset and sad when I read the news and all the hate and yuck in the world. It's nice to have something like this remind me that all of the bad is so minute in comparison to all the greatness that we have and take for granted.

The world really is just awesome!
("one hundred billion hot dogs" awesome, AND the "I cannot breathe, it's just so magnificent" awesome, just in case there was any confusion)

^_^


Music Pick for the Day: BOOMDIADA BOOMDIADA BOOMDIADA BOOMDIADA
Beverage Pick for the Day: water
Socks for the Day: NEKKID FEET! Yay 70 degrees and sunny! ^_^

Cat Yodeling

Oh, and I almost forgot....




pps. Oh. And for the record, this is probably more awesome than Charlie, but never ask me to say that again, for I will deny it.

The Banana King

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been kind of "meh" and uninteresting lately, and have had no motivation to update. Wait, things have happened, but I'm all "meh" still and unmotivated to actually update. "So, Karen, if you aren't here to really update on anything, then why the shit are you posting?" Well, my lovelies, there is a new video out. And that video is.... "Charlie the Unicorn 2".

Enjoy!!





ps. I'll be back soonish, with stuff other than unicorns (although... most likely not as awesome as unicorns).

Speaking of Tiffany....

Tiffany and Meatloaf combine forces for... an AT&T commercial?

Hangin' Tough

This week, I’ve found out some rather unsettling, but kind of awesome news. It turns out that New Kids on the Block are getting back together. Now, I will fully admit to loving the crap out of the New Kids back in the day. My sister Suzie and I had matching NKOTB shirts and watches AND I had two of their books (Teen Beat-esque books, but books, nonetheless). And, I was so in love with Joey McInyre that I had a HUGE poster of him (next to Jonathan Brandis… man, we had good heartthrobs in my youth) and I still remember his birthday: December 31^st. *swoon* He was so adorable in his bowl hat. *sigh* But, that was 15 years ago. And they are no longer the “it” boys…they are middle aged men… but Joey is still pretty pretty. So, I’m going to be optimistic and not write them off entirely. I will most likely buy one of their new singles before I make any real judgment.

Oh, god. Now I have the song Popsicle in my head….

You're my pop-si-cle!
From the very first time I met you, girl, you cap-tured me
You're my pop-si-cle!
All I know is that you make me feel so fancy-free!

....yes. I still remember the lyrics to every song I loved of theirs... Judge all you want. I CAN TAKE IT!

And, not only are NKOTB soon to be gracing the airwaves again, but I got my weekly e-mail from Apple this week about Tuesday’s new releases and guess who is being spotlighted (Am I the only one who thinks it should be spotlit? Curse you English language and your irregular verbs!) this week? George Michael (not Michael Cera, sadly)and Wham! have released new Greatest Hits albums. And you know what’s going to happen now? After NKOTB show the world that they can still make girls swoon, Wham! is going to be all “well, anything they can do, we can do better”. And I am going to go ahead and say that by this time next year, there will be a new Wham! album, or at the very least, a Wham! reunion tour (if there isn’t already).

So, what is going to be next on our regression back to 1987? High tops and off-the-shoulder sweaters? Actually…now that I think about it, leggings and leg warmers have already made a comeback. Next thing you know, Cyndi Lauper will be touring again, and Tiffany will be booking shows at malls across the country.

I guess it was a good time for me to get bangs. I missed out on 80’s hair the first time around, so here’s my chance! I’m sure there is a how-to guide online somewhere about how to create the perfect 80’s bangs…must put my google-fu to good use and find it before the fad happens again! (rehappens? I think I’m going to claim
“rehappen” as a word)

Music pick for the Day: “The Direction of Yes" by The Selmanaires
Beverage pick for the Day: water (take that, soda!)
Socks for the Day: knee high black with multi-color stripes

Oh, poop

All day today, I've been thinking of an update for this here blog, and I had it all worked out... but now I'm all tired and really don't feel like typing allll of that out, so I'm just updating to say that I will be updating tomorrowish, or Wednesdayish. But, since I'm here, I'll just say WOO HOO NEW HAIR AGAIN and then point you to my Picasa page for new hair goodness.

Farwell for now! I shall come again! Soon!!

^_^


Music pick for the Day: "Fever" by A Fine Frenzy (ok. I realize that I've been on an A Fine Frenzy kick lately, but good lord, she's just awesome!)
Beverage pick for the Day: water (yay! no soda!!)
Socks for the Day: purple knee highs with polka dots

I twittered...tweeted? twooted?

I've been on a bandwagon of sorts lately, signing up for quite a few online networking sites and the like: Vimeo, blippr, and now Twitter.

Blippr is a good concept and I think I'll end up really liking this. It's an easy way to rate your favorite movies/games/music/books and share your input with friends. Once I get some more reviews entered and it's out of beta, I'll be bugging you all to join up, so I can see how you rate! My only gripe with it is that there is no separation for movies and television, so it's more of a DVD category, but that's the only thing that has bugged me so far, so woot blippr!!

Twitter... I'm not so sure how much I'm going to like this. The concept is to pretty much put in status updates, or random thoughts, or something. When I signed up for it, I immediately got writers block and had absolutely no idea what to update on. I didn't enter anything for about 4 days, because I felt pressured to write something profound and interesting.. and I never have anything profound or interesting to say. I finally decided to just wing it and not think too much about what to say and I've updated twice today (my first time since my initial "hmmmm" update on the first day). But we'll see if I keep up with this. It's still just so...strange.

On another note, this month is the month for all of my shows to come back! Woop woop! I think the first ones to come back are 30 Rock and Bones, with Grey's Anatomy, House, Scrubs, Supernatural, and others to start again later this month. Ah, my TV shows. Don't ever leave me like that again!

*snuggles her TV*



Music pick for the Day: "Stick to the Status Quo" by The cast of High School the Musical (...Jackson got to pick what we listened to while we cleaned)
Beverage pick for the Day: Water
Socks for the Day: white socks with bananas on them, and say "cheeky monkey"