Has this ever happened to you?

I was at Roly Poly the other day (I semi-frequent the place) and the owner got all excited, because she knows my name is Melissa (because I usually call in my orders) and apparently, there is this other girl who comes in there and apparently LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE ME. And she says her name was Melissa too. Now I get a little nervous and embarassed because Ive changed my hair color so many times that Im almost certian that its probably me and she just doesnt realize Im the same person. I tell her this and she assures me, NO! You guys always come in about 20 minutes apart! And you always order yours with NO onions and add sundried tomatoes, and she always orders NO onions, but adds scalions....

Ok. So thats definitely not me, because A) I would never order onions OR scallions, but B) Wait? Arent scallions onions? They sure as hell taste like onions!

So accepting that there is this other person brings in a whole littany of other concerns

• What if I DO run into her at some point? Is the owner lady going to make a big deal about it?
• What if she's HIDEOUS?? And the lady thinks we're twins? I couldnt handle that.
• Or worse, what if she's beautiful and upon our meeting, looks at me with a, "You thought I looked like THAT?"

Its all too much - Im almost afraid to go in there now to be faced with Bizarro Fort. People used to tell me that there was someone who used to run in Hyde Park that looked like me. Now that DEFINITELY wasnt me running....but what if thats the girl? Who knows. Its just weird.

Tomorrow is the Kelts cookie exchange...

I came up with this bright Idea to have a cookie exchange like the teachers do at moms school. Only one problem. I dont bake. And by the time all the plans came together, John was like, "Uh, no. This is YOUR baby!" So, all the excitement about getting cookies of all sorts, and I totally forgot I had to make some too. So I went through one of Johns cookbooks and found an easy recipie, and they'll probably be the worst ones there, but Ill go home with lots of other good cookies, I guess. Ill take picures.

Its 11:15p and I just finshed my 3rd batch...that should be plenty.

Saturday Stacy and I are initiating Misti into our scrapbooking cult. Tony, Casey and John have been texting each other, saying they'll be "ScrapBEERING" all day. We'll see. Misti and I are heading over there for the morning and then the guys will come over in the afternoon and we'll all have dinner that night. John will be making another turkey.

Im wiped out from all the baking. I dont know my husband does it every day. Im lazy...

Thanksgiving Recap:

862 MILES TRAVELED for TURKEY

Ive got a stomachache so Im going to give you the slide show with little to say...
Thanksgiving Day - mom, Laura & I headed to the Turkey Trot in M-burg - Five miles, great way to start the holiday. This should be manditory for EVERYONE.

Am I a bad American if I hoisted my camera up to take this picture while everyone sings the national anthem? Guy in the red hat thinks so.
YES! Go Quakers! Dad sqeezes into his Wilmington College letter Jacket - Lookin' Good Dad.
We took a few family pictures for mom & dad's Christmas cards.....which do you like better? I like the one in front of the fireplace.

Off to NC! John & I drove to NC on Friday and came back Monday. Had a great time. I know, the last thing you'd think I wanted to do was a scenic railway, but we did, and had a GREAT TIME!! We hopped on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railway for their Christmas train & had a wonderful trip. Me, Theresa & Jesse:
Trains. Exciting.
I bribed Jesse to grab me a pair of those antlers...they were only for the kids. I still owe him five bucks.
Blue Ridge, GA and their community Christmas event - so Norman Rockwell.
Tons of shopping. Lots of Indian souvineers/items around these parts (right in the Cherokee Nat'l Forest) I found this amusing - an Indian Herbal Laxitive Tea - Look at the name:

John crushes a Guinness:
So yeah, remember that drought going on down south? Still going. Here are some sad pictures. This is the bridge on the way up to the house - Near the center of the page, you'll see what happens when you dont heed the drought warnings and take your damn boat out of the river before the water disappears:
And if you didnt see this on Aileens Blog, here's the glorious oasis that is the boat marina they'll use for their pontoon. (Eventually....Hopefully) This is just sad:
And here's the gang!
Hope everyone had happy Thanksgiving. Im sorry this post was lame, I was mostly trying to find pictures Aileen hadnt already posted!

If you're not watching October Road - You need to start - NOW!

Happy Tuesday.

Hey Everyone - Still in Murphy, NC for now, and we'll be here till Monday afternoon. If you want a sneak peek to the weekend, Aileen should be posting lots of pictures up on her blog tonight (sunday)....so mine might just feel like a rerun! Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Its a chore getting online down here - so Ill let Aileen do the honors of posting first...

http://horchporch.blogspot.com

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Overheard at my Oncologists Office Friday:
Nurse Joni: "Hey girl, call your insurance company and find out whats going on. All the sudden they're denying all your injectables since July....Check this out >she hands me the fee slip< If you dont get this taken care of, this is going to end up in your mailbox very soon."

Me: "I can tell you where its gonna end up after that."

Im not gonna lie to you, saying that Im gonna owe $88,845.82 threatens me about as much as it would if you told me that the security of the free world depended on me becoming a nuclear physicist. Did they not know I already HAD a mortgage? There are some things that simply aint gonna happen. I will give them a call this week and find out whats going on with that, though. On a MUCH lighter note:

OSU vs MICHIGAN at David, Alisa & Annie's Place!

The Schniebers & the McLaughlins traveled half way to Athens (Russelville/Decatur/Winchester - Ive told people she lives in all three at somepoint or another) for the OSU Michigan game. I remember NOTHING of the game, although, I remember intimate details of the appetizer spread....Soft bagels with cheesy dip, a spicy queso sauce, hot artichoke/crab dip, reuben dip, stuffed mushrooms, shrimp wrapped in bacon, sourdough pepperoni bread, cookies, muffins....ugh......It was so awesome. So awesome. It was well into the first quarter before everyone stopped grazing and actually sat down to watch the gameSpicy queso dip, bacon wrapped shrimp, stuffed mushrooms....Go who? Bucks? Whatever.....
The domestic goddesses, Stacy and Alisa.....these two can actually cook. I have no business in the kitchen.

Im not exactly sure if this is a family thing she grew up with, but since college, Stacy HAS to pose for a fake sleeping picture. Maybe Ill do a post of nothing but fake sleeping pictures. Ive got the time....and the pictures. She is always so amused with herself. Im surprised I even pulled this off, as .7 seconds before I took it and .6 seconds after, she was laughing hysterically:
Stacy and J-Mac nurse a food coma:

Casey, David & Alisa are reeeeely into this game. Did we even win? I dont even care:
Awwwwww....
Pam, this one's for you. I went and checked on the girls once and they were both reading. You'd have been so proud.
"Gimme that chalk!!"
Ok - this is funny - Alisa goes into check on the girls and comes out laughing. "Stacy, go look at your daughter." Stacy runs in and starts laughing. Emma has somehow climbed into Annie's crib, something she's never done at home. We're all scratching our heads. Stacy pulls Emma out and says, "Show mommy how you did that!", and Emma happily obliges....(watch the whole thing- she actually climbs in twice, the second time she struggles a bit and asks for help, which of course she doesnt get)


And finally, I was disapointed to see that no one was really pumped to be READER OF THE MONTH....so im going to picking you myself. Its Sunday, and there's way too much laundry to be done for me to be sitting here blogging all the live long day....THREE DAYS TO THANKSGIVING!!!!

Question of the week:

What's Your Most Memorable THANKSGIVING???

WHY??

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!!

My "shark", the saddest thing Ive experienced in years, the fall sports banquet, Alicia Keys & The Ed Lover Dance, READER OF THE MONTH!!!

• Ive been having really vivid dreams lately. I can remember them pretty well and usually cant identify them with anything going on in my life like dreams are supposed do. They're all just wacky, fast and colorful. But last night I had a dream that I think might have some parallel to my life. Of course there was a train. 70% of my dreams these days involve riding in trains, go figure. But last night one of the train trips took us to Florida, and the next thing I know, Im swimming in the ocean. Im with an unidentified friend, and a big black shark is circling, but the shark is my friend too, as in, the shark is just chatting me up like we went to high school or something. There are people on the pier looking down at the obviously frightening black shark circling me but Im not freaked out in the least. As a matter of fact, the shark actually makes some comment to me like, "Watch this" and lunges toward me, with gasps coming from the people on the pier. Im amused. I know the shark isnt going to get me even though everyone watching seems scared to death. Weird. I guess the moral of the story is, Make friends with your damn shark.
• I like to tout myself as the emotionless black heart of my family. Im not a big crier when it comes to happy things, but when the right components are thrown together, I can turn into a blubbering mess, as I was today. We had a train trip leave tonight. A really cool train trip going to Chicago, full of women planning shopping and makeovers and all kinds of fun stuff. Its a really super trip and I booked a woman for the trip a few weeks ago who confessed that she was a recent widow with no children, a breast cancer surviving retired teacher who for the first time in months, was finally doing something for herself, despite a limited budget. She is the sweetest woman, and I spoke to her today and she was so excited....she actually said, "Im so excited!!!...And I JUST CANT HIDE IT!" I shook my head. I wished everyone could get this excited about these trips. And you could tell she just needed to get out in the worst way. Vicky (Brian's wife) was nice enough to agree to go pick her up before the trip. She was so grateful and informed me that she wasnt going to shop, she just wanted to buy something nice for Vicky for her kind gesture. It was just the kind of thing that gives you a warm fuzzy, that someone like this was going to get the well deserved break they so desperately needed. That all came to an abrupt end, when, around noon, I got a second call from her, sobbing on the other end. She had been on much medication since her husband passed and she was having trouble getting her perscription filled and she absolutely could not go with out it. (She mentioned MedCo but dont EVEN get me started on MedCo) As an expert on the trials of getting prescriptions filled in the most dire of situations, I offered up every possible scenario and every possible soloution and told her to keep at it, but by the time she had called me, she had given up. She was not going to be able to get the 10 pills she needed to make the trip. She was sobbing like a child and apologizing to me, almost timid to ask if she would be getting her money back. I assured her that I hadnt even charged her card yet and would not do so. She had already mentioned when she booked the trip that she was on a limited budget. "I just was looking so forward to this trip", she said so slowly and sincerely that I just started crying on the other end. Im supposed to be the professional who handles the situation and I just got so caught up in the unfairness of the situation that I was crying myself to the point where I couldnt even talk to tell her to keep trying, to please let me know if anything changed. She was so devistated. Ive been through some bad breaks in my life, but Im always motivated by the good things I still have going on that I dont feel sorry for myself. I acutally felt GUILTY shopping for scrapbooking supplies, like my trip to Scrapbook weekend was the same thing as having a million dollars. I kept thinking of all the people didnt just have the money or time to scrapbook, but more importantly, the life TO scrapbook. I just felt unworthy of the opportunity. I guess I just value those things so much more. So how in holy hell does this shake out so poorly for this woman? I can hardly think about it without wanting to cry. I want to call her and maybe take her out to a movie or dinner or something. SOMETHING. She said she has friends at her condo, but to her, it was like a child getting a trip to Disneyland taken away. Everybody has bad breaks, but, i dont know, this one just gutted me. Could everyone say a quick little prayer that this nice woman gets a break this weekend or soon? I prayed when I got of the phone that she could pull of the Rx order, but I never go the call and had to go home. Just say a little prayer for the lady in Erlanger to win a couple hundred bucks on a scratch off, or maybe run into an old friend. Im not asking for much, just a little sunshine in her general direction. Thanks.
• Had our fall sports banquet tonight and pulled off a 1.5 hour Scrapbooking Project of EPIC PROPORTIONS. I had done the lettering to make a scrapbook page for each one of my JV girls. Yesterday I planned on completing them, and then realized, that each girls page needed a team picture. I was just going to go to Kinkos and make color copies....of the team picture.....that I put in my scrapbook.....that mom took to Dayton this week!!!! ARRRGGGGHHHH.....I emailed the varsity coach today and told her of my plight and that I was just going to get them to her later in the week. Bullshit. I knew if I didnt do them today they werent going to get done, period. So Megan scans her picture at work and emails it to me. I was able to run to Kinkos at lunch and make my copies. Now, I get off at 430, and dont get home until 5p. I start working FRANTICALLY when I get home. I have TWELVE pages to get done by 6:45p. At 640, I still have THREE pages that need to be put together. and Megan calls me. I tell her I have a great scrapbooking project and she's like, "Um, yeah, this thing starts in ten minutes".....I am still cutting and pasting. I yell up to John that I will be running upstairs in TWO MINUTES and we have to leave ASAP. I finish the last three pages, grab the page sleeves and run upstairs. In the four minute drive to the High School, I stuff the last three pages in their sleeves, put on eyeliner and deoderant (I was wearing a polyester shirt and the manic scrapbooking left me smelling quite ripe) and got to the school at 6:55. I will be calling Guinness tomorrow to see what kind of scrapbooking categories they have, I have to have broken some kind of world record with this one. Kathy Tyler would have been so proud of this power layout. So proud. I thinkt he girls liked them. I hope they did! I didnt even get to take pictures of the pages becuase I was that rushed.....that never happens!!!!
• What the hell is the deal with MTV playing Alicia Keys clips after everyshow? I dont hate Alicia Keys, but they're really getting annoying with it. Also annoying? Alicia Keys playing the piano standing up and pointing to the audience. C'mon. Thats like playing the flute doing the Ed Lover dance. Does anyone even remember that? Can you do it? I like to think I can, but it probably looks rediculous. Im going to youtube the Ed Lover dance so you all know what Im talking about...... so, ok. No Clip of Ed Lover doing the ed Lover dance. What I DID Find was "80's dance" website that explained the dance:
• Ed Lover Dance
  From Yo MTV Raps. With both arms out to the sides, step with your right and pop your right hip forward, then to the left with the left hip, then back to the right twice, left, right, left, left.

Geez. I cant belive tomorrow is Thursday!! Crazy. This week is flying by. This is the first weekend in MONTHS we havent had plans. Right now, my goal is to finally install the ceiling fan in the bedroom and John wants to start sawing down the shelving in the garage to fit this kegerator in there. Big Goals. Busy weekend. Dont forget. Positive energy and prayers to Erlanger lady. God will know who she is.

I Think Im going to start doing a "READER OF THE MONTH"

Email me at ruggergirl8@yahoo.com with your picture and why you deserve to be reader of the month. Please include your Zodiac sign and your personal "motto". Make sure its a picture you dont mind being on the blog for a month straight!!! Good luck to all. Happy Thursday.

THANK YOU FOR ......
....confirming the whole reason I put that poll up....Shrek the Third SUCKED! Im sad to say that even our beloved Amy Sedaris couldnt pull this one out. John must have overdid it on the chili yesterday, he was home sick.....reeeely sick. Poor guy was like a kid in a candy store yesterday. Its Monday, and its after 10:30pm which can only mean one thing...NOT LONG before IBBB posts his recap on the latest "Crapisode" of the Hills. Cant wait....http://imbringingbloggingback.blogspot.com Cant wait!!! Is anyone still watching the Hills other than Stacy, Jami, & Kat? If you havent been reading the IBBB recaps you are missing OUT. Four more days till Friday.

Weekend Recap....
(Chili Cookoff Pics at Bottom!!!)
This may go down as one of the most non-stop weekends, If you dont count the wiggle scissor excitement of Scrapbook Mountain. For starters, Friday night was a Ya-Ya night! Brenda, Jess, Jennifer, Jess, Jodi, Sharon, Karyn, Patsy, Mom & I stayed at the Amerisuites just a few miles from our house. Ordered some pizza and spent the evening strictly upholding hotel rules and regulations. That was sarcasm, and I will not elaborate.

What would everyone do? Drink? Smoke? Do Drugs? OF COURSE NOT! I made sure everyone had plenty of exciting things to do ALL EVENING!!!!:

What you are about to witness is an elaborate hoax to try and unload some of Jodi's kittens. Sharon and Jodi announce they have a special game planned for all to join in. We all wait with baited breath to find out what awaits. The game, for what I can remember, involves them drawing names out of bag, when your name is drawn, you have 30 seconds to blurt out 6 words that start with the first letter of your first name....and a few of us get pulled and go for it. (Interesting side note: most of Mom's "P" words were phallic in nature. That Dirty Pirate Hooker!) Anyway, after about four or five us went, we were informed that "YAY!" we each won a kitten!!! Dissapointed faces all around. Shame on you girls. WEnt to bed at a reasonable hour and scarfed down a nice breakfast in the morning and said our goodbyes....I had to rush to an appointment I DID NOT want to be at:

Ok, for the record, I was one of those jerk-offs that used to brag about not having any cavities. No longer, friends. I will swipe the cancer card on this one. I was told it can have adverse effects on your teeth...UM, Ya THINK???......YA THINK???? FIVE CAVITIES on ONE SIDE??? Im embarassed, almost embarassed as I was to look like I had shingles on the left side of my face for half a day. And I wasnt able to just go home and rest it off....had to haul ass home and get ready to head to Haps and meet Harry and Jean for the UC Football game that afternoon. I called Jean and told her what was going on and how hard it would be for me to put down a beer. She offered to bring me a straw, and its a damn good thing. Even with the straw I still had a few "Dribble Moments" where beer was just literally falling out of my mouth. SEXY!!! Thanks for the straw Jean!!!

So, as a few of you know, my husband does not want for much. But he does have this pipe dream to transform the den Ive worked so hard on into a 1st class Irish Pub. He has measured it, drawn up plans, and Ive even caught him shopping for Kegerators online. So it turns out, we were both drooling at Haps, only his was over the Keg cooler with two taps on the porch that Danny was trying to sell. Danny was there, and the two of them worked out a price that was fair, and we walked away with Four Thousand Pound Kegerator with two taps that we had a one month to get out. We'll be taking out the shelving in the garage and putting it back there. The den is mine again.
Had about 15 minutes to spend with the guys who were out playing touch before we had to take off for the game. Jean & Pauly:

Off to the UC Bearcats Game!!!
Jean & I had the pleasure of sitting in front of JMac and Harry...dont spill that Beer!
Ok, back track....we pull into the parking garage behind a long line of cars making their way to the top of the garage, and we find this RANDOM spot that the 10 cars in front of us didnt take....and who's pounding beers in the spot right next to it? None other than Ryan Robertson & Matt Lanese, Nick's old high school buddies!!! It was as if God himself was holding that parking spot for us, and made sure our friends had plenty of beer to share:
We had great seats in the student section:

Here's a good clip of the starting ceremonies - Jean is NOT pumped, but J-Mac certianly is!!! (turn your volume down, I was told these are incredibly loud and I dont know how to change that....)




We got back to our car at Hap's and headed off to the party source to pick up a Keg of Christian Morelein for the.....wait for it....wait for it......

2nd ANNUAL CHILI COOK-OFF!!!!!

As I write this, it is 7:40pm and Ive gotten a little bit of cleaning done. Apparently some lucky bastards have tomorrow off (Veterans Day), and, after the ping pong table was cleaned off, decided to start a game of beer pong with the left-over keg beer. They are playing as I write this. Way to go boys! Dont give up! Here's the evenings recap as far as I can tell:

It was a beautiful, crisp, fall morning....we set up the tailgating tent outside the garage just to add some more coverage while people lingered around the food....as it turns out, it started raining at a pretty good clip, thundering and lightning at one point, so we busted out the green tent tarp and it made for EXCELLENT additional coverage:

Curt, Ziggy, Hula, Pauly & Tony discuss chili strategies....one thing I will say about the chili cookoffs, the MEN far outdo the women when it comes to chili submissions. Pauly was the defending champion from last year....Tony was defending runner up and curt was the defending "Fireman's Award" champion from 2006:
Stewy & I just chillin. Like the new kelts jersey? I traded my old scrapbooking rolling cart for it...Ive outgrown it and she's just getting started:
Emma!!! What did you think of Pam's Chili??
Here, everyone gets ready to get to business. Once the pots are open for all, its quiet and serious. People are taking notes on each of the THIRTEEN SUBMISSIONS. We changed up the voting and ALL were eligible to vote. I ate too much of my first submission and had to lower it to smaller spoonfulls for the rest. It was tough trying EACH and every one - Im stuffed.
Those who didnt bring chili still represented well with various grazing items....this table is what seriously wounded me in my attempt to try all the chilis. This was a non-stop four hour gluttonous consumption event. Oh, who am I kidding. Five hours. We ate non stop for five hours.
At any typical party, you can always count on finding the Schenkes and the Schniebers hanging out by the keg. Today was no different:
We took this shot eight times before we both approved of one. We're vain.

Yay! Firetime!!! Mom and Dad picked up some firewood for us and the fireplace was blazing all night. Interestingly enough, it wasnt the only thing!! Here, Grandma Fortener, dad, Elizabeth & mom let the chili settle:
Once the game got started, everyone had till the end of the 1st quarter to get their votes in before getting settled to watch the Bengals vs Baltimore:
J-Mac retires to the guest room to tally the votes: He takes this very seriously. Oops! Sorry! Im out! Im out!!!
Everyone gathered out in the front yard for the results to be announced.
DRUMROLL PLEASE...........

SECOND RUNNER-UP:

Dave "HULA" Hulafeld

Hula's entry had a hint of curry in it. Everyone remarked on what an interesting addition it was to the dish. Later, in a drunken stupor, Hula confessed that he just ran out of chili powder and grabbed the nearest item in his pantry:

FIRST RUNNER-UP:

Casey Schnieber and his "Spite Chili"

So, Stacy informed me that Casey was making "Spite Chili", because a few nights ago, Casey mentioned that he might make a chili for the cookoff. "You WON'T make ANYTHING for that cookoff, Casey, " Stacy informed him. So he made it to spite her. It's surprise ingredient was yellow squash & plenty of spices! Good Job, Case! Below, Casey and J-Mac look spiteful: (You showed us)

FIREMAN'S Award:

Tony Schenke!
Tony jacked up his chili a bit this year to take the Hot & Spicy "Firemans Award". Last year's 1st runner up is going two years with an award. Good Job Tony!

The Archery Award "Just a Bit off the Mark" (WORST CHILI):

PAM FORTENER

And, Oh, no......You can see my husband's sheer disapointment to have to give the Worst Chili award to his mother-in-law. Pam's white chicken chili was heavy on the white beans and a little soupy for most people's taste. But she WILL Tell you that a few people voted hers as #1. J-mac did mention that a few people DID NOT vote for a last place entry. Mom confessed that she did not, and dad just shook his head and said, "Pam, nice girls always finish last":

After she got the award dad starts to announce that he made some "Suggestions" while she was making the chili and that it was basically, "All her fault"....way to back up the ol' lady, dad:

AND THE CHILI COOKOFF GRAND CHAMPION AWARD GOES TO.......

Dave "FUNHATER" Graf!!!

Funhater's chili was the first I tried, and I announced that all 12 chili's would have to beat this one to win. And none did, In my opinion. It was a white chicken chili that had jalapeno's and just the right amount of cayenne. It was, in a word, spectacular. And I know all you chili purists cant stand a white chicken winning a chili cookoff, but this shi*t was, as J-Mac would say, "The Jam" What we later found out though, was that Hater "Fronted" the money and had two of his friends, Heather & Jen, ACTUALLY made the chili. Over heard after the awards ceremony: "Hater, why dont you pay Schnieber to play for the Kelts under your name??" Classic. Here, Funhater accepts Heather & Jen's 1st place trophy:

What a weekend! Thanks to all who participated and brought chili, etc....looking forward to Next Years! I know what you're all thinking:

FOUR MONTHS TILL THE "Throwdown in Finneytown" 2nd Annual BEER PONG TOURNAMENT!!!!!!!