Well, people are always telling me they like when I post pictures, but it seems the pictures of late are always of the same things...our house, same friends, weddings, socks, shoes, flowers. in no particular order. I was going through some old albums and found a few interesting pictures and since I get to stay up tonight & sleep in tomorrow, I took the time to do something I find very cheesy on others myspace pages. I took pictures of pictures. I doubt these pictures will shed much light on why I am the way I am, but I just dont have anything important to say. And my last post was so heavy I need to lighten things up.

Here's angie on her birthday in our dorm room: 360 Jeff Hall at Ohio University. I was drunk for much of that time and she was homesick, so I wasnt surprised when she transfered to UC the next year. Yes, it was angie who had the John Travolta addiction.

Heres me shooting a three pointer during warmups for a high school baskeball game. It was important for me to practice three pointers, what with my important job of running the baseline and shooting bunnie shots all game long...

Can you find me in this picture? My mom says the dance teachers "had a feeling" I would end up in sports. I wasnt exactly light on my feet, although i did play the part with my over-dramatic head tilt. How I was never in show choir I will NEVER know!


this was the result of a good two solid hours with a hair-iron. I used to use it back when I cared. That's me on the right with my aunt Sue circa 1998.
Many of you have heard the story of my excursion with truck driver Glenn of Wyoming. It is true, I took a ride on a semi off-road and up a ridge....with a six pack. Me, Josh, Amber and Krebs all drove to Wyoming the summer before my sophomore year in college. I made friendly with a truck driver who called his sleeping quarters (complete with a purple light) the "Stabbin Cabin" - dont worry - he was a friend of Josh's family. I escaped unharmed.

After looking at this picture, please, let me assure you, i did not do heavy drugs in college. I got inspired to do my hair in a Bjork/Afro-puff looking concoction. I wore it to the dining hall (Cory and Pat what were you thinking going to dinner with me???) I wore it to a cookout, and then I wore it to the Smiling Skull Saloon, where I ran into Ms. Juba Moon, a local celebrity for her multiple apperances on the Jerry Springer as a full-figured stripper, correct me if Im wrong. Anyway, i never did that again, but it did make for some decent shots.
Here's me an Ang at the UC Alpha Tau Omega White Tea Rose Formal, what ever that means. My date was kind enough to take us to the Party Source and stock up on mini bottles of Bacardi that we spiked our drinks with once inside. Bad Girls!
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this slide show of some various times of my life. Nothing too wild. Hopefully something significant will happen this weekend. Ill blog the crap out of it.

Have a happy EASTER WEEKEND!!!!!

Take me out to the Blizzz...ard,
Take me out to the crowd.
Buy me some ear muffs and coney dogs,
Adam Dunn has a Reee....ly cute butt!
(Sorry cant rhyme)

For its gos-sip, gos-sip with Jean-nie,
If we dont laugh its a shame,

For its FRICK-ING-FREEZE-ING-COLD-OUT
At the 'ol BALL GAME!!!!

Seriously!!! It SNOWED at the Reds game tonight!!! and it was EIGHTY degrees out yesterday!! What the hell? I guess the only good part about this was that the Cubbies fans didnt fill the rest of the stadium like they typically do. So annoying. Can we just enjoy our Redlegs with a 35% capacity like all the other average teams? Good Lord. A cubbies hat does not make you a superior human being, contrary to what the rest of Chicago thinks. And please, sit your ass down in 9th innning. This ain't Wrigley Field. (Unless we've already left of course)

Jean, Me & Harry's sister all cuddled up like we were watching the Bengals....only the bengals would have been winning.
That whole lower level left field seats were mostly Cubs fans. Super! Otherwise it was a great time!

Sometimes I wish I just had a separate blog for a more random, anonymous outlet. Sometimes I feel like this blog is just this pair of rose-colored glasses on my life. Not saying that things suck right now, but I am sort of experiencing mixed feelings about some recent news I have heard. I will try to express this without using names or pointing fingers.

A few years ago I was betrayed by some people who I would have done anything for, and talk about being blindsided while in the midst of a strong chemotherapy regimen and the recent loss of my son. I walked away a better person and my life has improved tenfold since that experience. But some of my close friends give me a hard time becuase Im still so hung up on that small, but painful window of my life. I guess I never really got over it. Im still so curious about what has become of this situation since Ive left, although all close to me advise me just to move on.

When you're betrayed and emotionally punched in the gut, it is cathartic to just walk away, but what if that normal, angry person inside you, who never shows its ugly face, keeps eating you alive, dreaming of the day that they finally reap what they sow.

In my situation, I walked away, but due to situations beyond my control, ended up being the one to present my replacement on a silver platter....so I guess I would explain it like this, Someone punches you in the gut repeatedly, and then hits you so hard you're out for the count, and they're still ready to fight. Instead of walking away and ruining their bloodthirsty desire to abuse, I tag-teamed the next victim. Fresh and ready for the kill.

Eventually this person walked away as well. And it should have ended my curiosity but it didnt. I wondered if I would ever get over it.

This week, the betrayers became the betrayed. And have suffered a crippling blow.

And there is a part of me that giggles with an evil laugh as if justice has finally been done, but there is also that part of me that actually feels empathy for the situation. I dont think I would make a good juror, because despite any foul, I always seem to ponder what makes people act the way they do.

Theres another blog I like to read, a single mom in Denver. Shes a great writer. http://awkwardpose.blogspot.com/

One of her posts started with the quote:

"Always be kinder than necessary. Every one you meet is fighting some kind of battle"

That seems demand more space in my psyche. I sometimes wish I had more of a killer instinct, that I could do my job without getting into conversations with everyother person about God knows what.

Issues of business tend to be black and white. You dont pay, you dont get served. Its a simple concept, and yet I am constantly consumed by the gray. Why dont they have the money? I concoct these fake scenarios - maybe they've spent all their money on a family members medical bills. Maybe they were scammed by someone. Maybe they had a hard childhood.

Hence, my feelings about this current situation. Everytime I remember one bad memory, I remember three good ones. Every time a shrill verbal repremand echos in my head, I also think of the lessons they taught me, or the sacrifices they made for a loved one, or the better times, when conversations were light, everything was funny, and the future seemed bright.

"Every one you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

I dont know why but I am simply hard wired to feel this way. Maybe thats why I struggle so much. Im not a vengeful person and I dont have much to be vengeful about when it comes to this particular betrayal my snuggly-bunny-bleeding-heart personality fights very hard on a daily basis to "Shush" that pissed-off, hard-working, cared-to-much 26 year old who is still trying to claw its way out with some sort of redemption.

And I find that, now, more than ever, this "redemption" has reared its head, and I cannot find solace in it, becuase at the end of the day, no matter what has happened in the past, someone will find themselves further slipping down an uphill battle, someone will struggle with their past decisions, families will be undoubtedly be affected be it emotionally or financially and this simply does not have me in the kind of mood you only see in fabric softener commercials.

I guess after three years, its kind of ironic that what I had hoped for for so long, deep down, hasnt left me satisfied.

Ive been consumed by this all day and I am finally having this moment of clarity.

"Always be kinder than necessary. Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle"

I think if we all just focused on this, we would have an easier time letting go of some of our past hurts. Im already feeling like im moving on.

Also, I need to stop gossiping so much. But its EXTREEMLY hard. I think you should automatically get a "Gossip Card" if other peoples lives are more interesting than yours.

Happy Thursday! Day off tomorrow!

Im not KIDDING!! All of these flowers came out of my backyard! (and a few from the front)

Not a whole lot going on. I was a little bummed becuase I was going to miss the last episode of the Hills tonight (Yes, I would be watching that instead of the "Big Game") Because I had a volleyball game tonight. I was bummed, but I was still ok with it becuase I would definitely rather be playing volleyball. And when I get home Cindy calls me and tells me the other team FORFIETED because of the OSU game! Bullshit! I know this is going to offend many readers, so forgive me when I say I dont give a RATS ASS about Ohio State. After four years of going to OU and having people ask me what school I went to, replying "OU" and having them say, "GO BUCKS!" Uggghhh....people. Seriously. My husband is capable of strangling a puppy with the rage that goes on during OSU football...so intense that I dont even enjoy the game anymore. And so it has transpired onto Basketball.

Throw in the fact that my brackets went to $hit halfway through the second round, and Ive just lost interest completely. I did have florida winning the championship (Against LOUISVILLE, ha!) but my brackets were so piss poor that Even them winnning isnt going to help me.

So while the rest of you are cheering Greg Oden on for his final collegiate game as a freshman, I will be down in the den, anxiously awaiting to see what becomes of LC, and if Heidi will forgive that douchebag Spencer Pratt, and oh dear, will Brody come back into the picture? Will Audrina's teeth get any whiter? I do care. Im not saying its right. Im just saying. Here's some more pictures.

Ok - I REEEEEELY need to clean the house. when we take off for a weekend we (I) come home pretty tired and just throw our crap all over the place. Im usually really good about only posting "tidy" shots of our house, giving the impression that we really keep things in check. The truth? This is what Im looking at right now. Granted, its all my stuff. And I really just wanted to show those curtains in disarray because I know it bothers stacy. If you look closely, you can see the single socks that were shot on the couch last week.....they were picked up and piled onto the end table and have not moved yet. Lots of shoes, my bag o' scrapbooks... Oh yeah! Check it out! I matched up TWO pairs of socks! So excited. Especially now that sandal season is upon us. Yeah...I still dont know what the hell is going on with my hair. And my double chin.

Ok - One more picture of the flowers.



And one last shout out to the girls of the Hills.....Heidi, Lauren, Audrina & Whitney. I dont know why I ever gave a shit about any one of you, but you sucked me in, and I will be forever grateful for the countless, wasted hours on the phone with Jami and Kat disecting your failed relationships, complete cluelessness of the the real world, and Spencer Pratt's lying, cheating, cold, dead-beating, two timing, double-dealin', mean, mistreatin', lovin' heart.....
Thanks Ladies, for reminding me that women can still be a spaz and yet remotely successful. You're an inspiration to us all.

CONGRATS ANDY & JEN ARACRI!

Beautiful Ceremony & fun reception...exept for when the dancing started and half the reception was in the lobby watching the OSU-Georgetown game. A little rude. But things did finally get underway on the dance floor and everyone had a great time. John had to leave early since he had to be at work at 5am Sunday for inventory. So that sort of made the reception suck since my favorite thing is dancing with his crazy drunk ass when he and my brother are out there just making complete fools of themselves! Although I did find that Ross has a very similar dancing style to John so it was nice to have him around. Ross and Bobby Franz stepped up for a few slow songs so I was well taken care of on the dance floor. Here Mr. and Mrs. Aracri share their first dance as a couple...awww...:

Andy and Peg - this dance had Tracy and I half in tears...Peg is a kick ass mom made Andy a very respectable guy!

I hate my hair. Hate hate hate.


Bobby breaks is down with a little cha-cha slide...or something.

Nick and Meredith took a break from making out to pose for this picture. They kissed no more than seventy-eight times during the reception.


Ok - so during the reception, I get an email picture sent to my phone from Stetson. Now mind you, I dont want to pay for that service, so what I end up getting is an http address that I have to key into my computer. The addresses are usually a few paragraphs long and combine symbols, numbers and letters, both intermittent upper AND lower case, and is a real f**king chore to pull up. So I call Stetson to remind him that I cant see what the hell he's sending me and wil this be worth keying in on Sunday? He was up in Chicago for a rugby game and got punched in the head - something like 3 internal and 5 external stitches. The picture was of the gash. I told him I would check it out and if it was in fact, blog-worthy, I would post it. I think that goes without saying. Its actually almost exactly like the gash J-mac got a few years ago in a game-no wait i think it was a practice..... but like 3cm higher.

So there you have it. A fun weekend. Nick drove me to Middletown to meet John and then we went out for lunch. Now john is napping on the couch and Im trying to get motivated to take my walk. Its not looking good.

I changed my layout. Is everyone ok with this? Ive always loved this one. Its springy goes with the season. Feel free to voice your opinion, but dont expect me to do a damn thing about it.

Plan for the weekend: Friday heading up to Dayton for Andy's wedding. Board games with Nick and Meredith at Mom & Dads. They'll be en route to Florida for Spring Break as we lame it up an NOT throw a party while they're out of town. We're so responsible it makes me want to gag.

Hopefully some good pictures will come out of Saturday. and yes...im wearing the same black dress with the white flowers that Ive worn to every wedding for the last three years, and no, i havent found anything I like better yet...Ill keep wearing it for eight more years until I find something else or I get too fat to fit into it. WORD!

SORRY, STACY.

I didnt intend for this to turn into the laugh riot it became. All Stacy did was email me a simple question. I wasn't even trying to be funny. She just asked me a question that I didnt know the answer to, and since I knew she was out of town and on business (and not watching tv) I thought Id have some fun.

From Stacy:
"Can you check to see who got kicked off DWTS? thx"

She didn't have access to the internet and entrusted me with my google-saavy ways to research a simple answer. I knew Heather Mills McCartney didnt get kicked off, but I shot off a quick response:

"It was the chick with the fake leg"

Stacy just got this Treo for work, its like a Blackberry and I hate when she uses it. Lots of junior high text-speak....R U there? Thx. Im not crazy about it. Shes traveling alot now so most of her emails are one liners and a real disappointment. She responds:

"WHAT??? Billy ray cyrus really sucked! I am shocked!"

I couldnt believe that she actually bought it. That no one around her knew the truth. Hmmm...I thought. Ive already lied. The damage has been done. Why not keep it going? So I email her back the following:

"She was on the today show this morning crying, saying how she disappointed all the people with prosthesises. It was kind of annoying.
She said she thought that it was because of what was going on in her personal life."

That was a great lie. I elaborated on a lie with true-to-form embellishments. All the loosers end up on the Today show. Survior, The Bachelor... They all talk about their experience. She would definitely believe that. And she really did. She shoots back:

"Uh..yea... You screwed over a beatle. What does she expect?"

I felt like I had a dollar on a string and she stepping towards it every time I pulled the string. I would respond to her just once more, and this time, I was going to lay it on thick, hopefully so thick that she would call my bluff:

"She started defending herself, saying that after you live with that kind of money, its impossible to go back to middle class, blah, blah...she said that her shiz-tsu got violently ill when they changed the usual grooming treaments....it was pathetic."

I dont know where these lines were coming from, but I was sitting at my computer giggling the whole time. Patting myself on the back for a job well done.

She never did respond to that email, so I envisioned her reading the treo, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "Oh Fort. You got me this time!" That last email was pretty over the top, and I fully accepted that she finally caught on or found out the truth from an outside source and just left it at that. That was two days ago.

Today I got a email from her (A super short email) Stating that she had just gotten home from her trip. I responded:

"You do realize I was lying about that whole Heather Mills thing dont you?"

No response. Shortly thereafter, I get a phone call on my cell. I dont recognize the number so I let it go to voicemail. There is a message. It is stacy. It goes something like this,

"Um....yeah....this is your former friend Stacy. I just wanted to let you know that, um, NO, I DID not know you were lying about Heather Mills getting kicked off, and I just got done telling my new boss ALLLLL ABOUT her getting kicked off, and how I just couldnt belive it, and how she was on the Today Show, and um, you made me look like a total F**king dumbass, and um, now Im going to probably have to look for another job, and um, the next time you email me a joke, um, how bout you go ahead and let me know you're lying before I go running off and telling everybody...."

It does sound harsh, but I knew better, thats her fake mean voice. I played it on speakerphone for everybody at work and they were all in hysterics. I think she's over it now. I told her to tell her boss that the chemo makes me lie.

I also got into a similar situation when I sent out what I thought was information that came from a solid source that sinbad Had died a few weeks ago. It was not true, and by the time I did a background check it was too late, Angie had already forwarded to fifty people. Ok, she said Fifty people, and I was all, "ANGIE! What FIFTY people did you email that to?" And she says, "Well, it was more like Seven people, but STILL."

Backtracking to this last weekend....

I have to go back to this past Friday - for those of you who didnt know, I left my camera up at my folks place this past weekend and I JUST got it tonight (More on that later) so I have some catching up to do.

Friday night Stacy & Casey had the Columbus crew in town - it was us, Lytle, Ruth, Scout & Wylie, Jami, Matt, & Zach. It was a rowdy crowd. We tried to calm the kids down with a Baby Einstein movie that about put us all to sleep. Luckly, Wylie was old enough to keep us all entertained with her antics: (Wylie is the eldest daughter of Ruth & Lytle above in the yellow jammies

• While out on the porch, Wylie asked the group sitting outside, "Is there a full moon out tonight?" and proceeded to bend over and pull her pants down for all to enjoy. Definitely Lytles kid.


• Came outside to inform Lytle (lower lip protruding) that, "Emma got my Buckeyes pants dirty"...ok, this doesnt sound that funny when I type it...guess you had to be there. Lytle then went on to tell how she doesnt like anything messy, and was forced to put a smores in the fridge to make it less messy. Ok, that didnt sound to funny either. This was all so much more funny five days ago.


• Got her jammies on and then complained that they were all twisted up...they were just a little too big, so Ruth pulled the top off and tied the arms around her waist, and the dancing ensued. Only an Ohio U spawn would have a natural inclination to get wild when teh top comes off....of course then we had to do the same to Emma to make for a better photo shot...she didnt seem to get the joke:

Jami explains to Zach, "Zachy, these are mommies college friends! They are why mommy and daddy have to go to church all the time! Yes they do! Yes they do!"

Handsome!
Of course we tried to do our best to get a picture of all the kids - Zach, Jami, Scout down front, Stacy & Emma, and Wylie....heres a fun trick: Look at Wylies face in the first picture, then look at the second, and then quickly back, and then back again! Fun for hours!!!!

Saturday it was up to Dayton to mom and dad's for a cookout for Merediths birthday party. I should have taken some pictures but I didnt. John made his Sweet Potato Fries with the Chipotle mayo sauce. Im thinking about starting a second blog for all of Johns recipies. Ill ask him now. Ok. I asked him and he looked at me like I was crazy. But dont worry. Ill start it up and post them If I have to.

Anyway - He made it for Stacy & Caseys party FRIDAY and the cookout on SATURDAY....thats A LOT of labor in ones free time, so me thinks it will be awhile before they make another appearance. If you were one of the people to try this for the first time, post your comments here for John, we need to blow some wind into those sails so he gets motivated to get the recipies posted.

Sunday afternoon we drove around Centerville & Kettering cleaning out the sheds and closets of of the staff of Moraine Meadows Elementary - Thanks Jackie Geary for the table and chairs and thanks Christine Murray for the new scrapbooking desk! Not a whole lot of scrapbooking going on these days...but it still looks good!

WEDNESDAY: A whole other saga

Ok, follow me here. The camera was left in Dayton. Mom and I hit up Odd Lots while we were scavaging the south dayton area and mom got ALL excited about some spring time table cloths for her teachers lounge. Well, as she usually does before I leave her house, she goes around the house picking up all my loose crap and making sure its by the door. Well, she accidentally put her bag of table cloths by the door so I accidentally took them home to Cincinnati. So we had to pull a Middletown "Switch-a-Roo" after work today. Of course, everytime we have to drive to meet each other, we reward ourselves by stopping for dinner at Cracker Barrell.

Backtrack to last night. I get an email from my cousin Becky in Columbus asking me if Im very close to Newport, KY. Its right on the other side of the river...about 20 min from our place. Apparently she found a purse on Craigslist.com, but thought she was on the C-bus craigslist, but was actually in the Cincy craigslist. So now she's found this awesome purse (at an awesome price... $35 for a $150 purse) but its almost 2 hours away.

Have you seen these purses?? My friend Julie has one and I comment on how much I love it every time I see her. Its all black and made of woven seatbelt material. (www.seatbeltbags.com) Becky's friend found this one online and it was made of scarlet and grey belts. Too cute not to make an effort for.

So she emails me and asks me if I could pick it up. Ive spent the last few years of my life sucking down heavy doses of favors from everyone else, so its nice return the favor every once in awhile. (I also told Karen on the way to volleyball that before I die, Id like to change someones tire on the side of the highway. I still havent found my moment yet)

Becky does warn me that the girl told her she lives in the ghetto, so I informed Becky that If I got shot, I was definitely keeping the purse.

Anyway, the plan is foolproof. I give Becky my checking account number, she deposits the money in C-Bus plus some extra for gas and time (Thanks beck!). I get the cash out and head to the KY after I leave dinner with my mom. The directions are fairly easy at first.... 75 south, 2nd street into downtown, left on Pete Rose way, and then over the Ohio river and into Newport. Thats where things get a little scary....I dont want to insult any locals that might be reading this blog, but lets just say I did not realize that there were projects in Newport and I was a little concerned with the heavy police force in and around the area that when I hopped out of the car to hand the woman a wad of cash in exchange for the bag, I later remarked how the exchange could have very well be seen as a drug deal.

Man, what Id give to be on episode of cops, getting approached by a camera crew, Newport police officer narrating the potential arrest: "Yeah, the Cincinnati women come down here looking for drugs, we see it everyday." Then I would explain the whole purse thing, and how my cousin from Columbus is a big buckeye fan, and she asked me to come down and pick it up, and we'd all get a good laugh.

I couldn't help but think about WHY a person in this situation would have such an expensive purse, I mean, I myself would have taken the $150 and had my two front teeth replaced if I really had to make the decision....I have never owned ANY accessory that expensive! Which then got me to thinking, was it hot? If you're missing this purse, guess what. You ain't gettin it back.

I did get out alive, the purse is now in my posession....oh and by the way, it smells like friggin' bowling alley (pre smoke-free resolution) so you're gonna have to febreeze the HELL out of that thing! Ill get that bad boy on the UPS truck to you tomorrow!! Of course I have to pry it off of John first!!!

Oh yeah...and when I got home, John was busy making enough homemade meatballs to feed a small army. Ziploc bags were filled and frozen, once again, highlighting my lack of domesticity.

Ill see to it that the meatballs and other recipies get posted shortly and ill post the link to the blog once its up.

Where the hell are the missing pairs to these socks?

So I ran the gamut of laundry tonight and figured this would be the best time to finally dump this basket of "Single and looking" sorry bunch of socks. I have no idea where the other ones have gone. I have a feeling many of these were stolen from Pam's dresser on a few weekend trips to Dayton. Im putting this out there in case you have seen their partners, but I a feeling Im going to piss off my mom in the process when she sees all the singles SHES been trying to match up for months.

Either way - claim these socks or they're getting tossed this weekend. You'd think it wouldnt be hard to keep track of the pairs....I mean, you wear them together, you take them off together, throw them in the laundry basket together...and then what the hell happens? Haven't we made this a happy home? Why oh why would you want to run away?

And misti....J-Mac made a sweet sauteed pork in a asian sauce with red and green peppers...lots of garlic - that was last night. Just left overs tonight. And I did take my walk. I "Invented" a new 3 mile route. Might try it tomorrow if I get to bed soon and can wake up.

Let me know on those socks....

Aileen wins! The movie was Heathers...you can google the quote.

And the three Heathers were McNamara, Duke & Chandler.....and dont forget Veronica Sawyer. God I love that movie.

Jami and matt are bringing Zach down on Friday - Heading to the Newport Aquarium. Then they're coming over to see the house for the first time. (Thank god...otherwise I may not have gotten the motivation to clean like crazy)...Then we're heading over to Stacy & Caseys for a cookout.

Stacy and casey got a taste of J-Mac's sweet potato fries with the Chipotle mayo dip and Casey called me today and asked that John bring FIFTEEN Sweet Potato's this time. Last time just wasnt enough apparently. I salivate everytime I think of them too.

I told J-Mac and he said, "Oh great, now Im being type-casted"...Outside of his barbeque skills, this dish is definitely top three. (Did I ever tell you about his "Skyline Fritatta"??? We brought all the left overs from a kelts party - BAGS and BAGS of skyline chili - Yes, he made a Fritatta with cheese and chili - Sucker had to be 6000 calories....and worth every bite.

Angie calling me out about yesterday's post really affected me more than I initially thought it would. What can I say, she knows what Im capable of and she expects more. Isnt that what makes people great? Unsatisfied friends?

So today I made a point to jot down all the funny or poignant moments of my day and as it turns out, a seeming eventless day prouduced some decent material.

PIECE OF DECENT MATERIAL #1:

Im gonna Tarentino todays post and start with the end of the day first. I got home and it was warm enough to open the windows and get some serious spring cleaning done. Remember the post about scrapbook mountain where every thing kept coming back to Stacy and all her little quirks? (Milk on oatmeal, sleeping cross-legged, etc)....Well, she has influenced my life once again.

You see, the other day I took a five mile power walk and came back with some massive blisters. I went to work and googled "Blister Prevention" and one of the main things I noticed was to not wear worn out shoes. As many of you who have known me since college, some of the shoes above have been with me for quite some time. A few of them are pushing ten years, no joke. I just have a hard time parting with shoes I guess. A eight year old pair of gym shoes screams, "Low maintence"...."I dont need a new hundered dollar pair of nikes im not even going to run in"...."Im comfortable looking like a bum"....things like that.


So anyway, a few weeks ago I had noticed that Stacy had bought a new pair of kicks and she made the comment that when she buys a new pair of gym shoes, she throws the old pair away....


"WHAT?" I asked.

She said old gym shoes stinks up her closet (Which would make our closets smell like Mt. Rumpke - Rumpkes the trash collecting company).

Well, after the myriad of blisters from recent walks, I decided Stacy had a point. So I whined to my mom the other day about the blisters.....blah blah blah....and I didnt have money to spend on new shoes....blah blah blah....cancer card.....blah blah blah....and next thing I know, she's telling me she has a 30% discount card to KOHL's that expires THAT NIGHT, so I meet her in Middletown and pick out a new pair of shoes (the pink/black/silver ones) and got 30% off an already cheap shoe - love kohls by the way...

So now I have a new pair of gym shoes and Im officially......THROWING ALL THREE PAIRS OUT. I feel kind of sad about it. They've been a part of me for so many years. But they've got to go. I wanted to take one last picture of them for those of you who have spent years and years of quality time with them.

PIECE OF DECENT MATERIAL #2

I was driving to work today and putting on eyeliner (IT WAS AT A STOP LIGHT...SHUT UP ABOUT IT).... and I got a chunk of black eyeliner wax in my eye and when I went to rub it out of my eye it moved to my finger. Then I itched my face, almost rubbing a line of eyeliner on my cheek...and the memories came flooding back.

It was my junior year at OU, and I was in a class with stadium seating and I was towards the front, close to the end. I kept noticing that this one girl kept staring at me. I kept thinking what a stalker she was and was getting a little freaked out.

Class is out....I walk into the busy hallway of students.

I run into a girl on my rugby team. We're talking for like five minutes before she's all, "Uh, Fort, You've got something on your face."

I look at her with confusion. Ive been sitting in class all day. Not a whole lot going on there.

I go into the bathroom to discover a delimma of cosmic porportions.

It seems as though while in class, I was messing around in my purse and in my purse, was either an uncapped eyeliner pencil, or a chip of the tip of the pencil. Either way. a chunk of black eyeliner wax made it onto my hand, where I subsequently itched or touched myface, in a way that left approximately 5-6 thick black lines on and around my face.

I panicked, as most of you know, a piece of wet toilet paper does not make for a great eyeliner removal...especially if its water proof. It was theraputic to share this tragic event of my life with you all.

Wow! Im sick of typing! And I actually had the most important story of the day still to come! It will have to wait until tomorrow in the meantime, check out the weight bench we bought each other for our anneversary....we will PAHMP...YAU UP!!!

Question of the day:

In what movie does the word "Myriad" (or "the use of the word") add significance to someone's suicide letter? Who's letter?

Bonus question - If you know what movie im talking about, name all the "girls" last names.

so ang emailed me and told my posts are lacking inspiration and read like im trying to finish a homework assignment. Im sorry people, Im not really worked up about anything right now.

and nobody answers my questions (Ok, they're lame sometimes) so I dont think anyone is reading it anyway...

stay tuned, hopefully something exciting will happen soon.

"Its sucking super-cooled air into the troposphere!!! "
Before I go on and on about our busy St. Patricks Day weekend...I have to say...they've had this movie, "The Day After Tomorrow" on a continuous (and might I say aweome) loop on FX or TBS for the last week....I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! I dont know why I love these End of the World as we know it movies...perhaps its a guilty pleasure...when you get cancer and you have that impending threat of missing out on a few of your later years, its comforting to think we're all gonna go in about 10 years anyway. Its purely selfish. Ive been obessessed with this movie since I saw the trailer online while I was working at medcost. Im enchanted by the girl singing in the background...."ahhhhh-AHHHHH" throughout. Its great. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQix1s4vkQ

St. Patrick's Day: Cincinnati Style!

John walked in the parade with the Hibernians...If you dont know what that means, Think Knights of Columbus for the Irish. We got there super early, and walked around checking out the other floats & Such...above is John posing in front of three (of about 12) of the Delorians....There is a Delorian Owners club in the area and they get into all the parades. Only the generations that still love Back to the Future get excited about the Delorians..

I wasnt crazy on the idea of going to the parade by myself, but thankfully Karen & Sam joined me on the cold morning. Sam was a riot! Just old enough to appreciate a parade - she was quite the center of attention when the bands came by and she would step out into the street to dance. Too cute.
Um...ok. In case you were wondering, the best time to commit a crime in Hamilton county is during the St Patricks day parade..a consist of what seemed like every Hamilton County Police force/Bomb Squad/K-9 Unit/Homeland security vehicle was in the parade, and if I might add, was just a little "too much"....Maybe its just me but Id love to see some money put into improving our public schools over these pristine, seemingly unused bohemith sized Homeland Security mascots....(ok, off the soapbox)

Sammy loves her Aunt Fort!

Surprise, Surprise - onto Haps after the parade. I dont have great memories from Haps - Actually I dont have memories at all - Alisa & David, Stacy & Casey showed up around 6-7 and it just got crazy from there. Just about all the kelts were there...some had been out at the bars since 5:30 AM!!!! no joke. All in all a good time....here are some pics!

Sunday I woke up with a massive hangover, John woke me up at 1030 for 11:00 mass at Holy Trinity in Norwood with the Hibernians, followed by brunch with the group at Molly Malones....

So i am NOT feeling it. I did nothing to my hair, wore no make up, I was so out of it I didnt even take my purse. It was bad. And of course we go to the only Catholic church this side of the Mississippi that has a band....drums included. Oh geez. Cant....drink...any....more.

Brunch was nice, came home and hit the couch for another solid eight hours. I am so lame. Definitely not drinking (a lot) friday night on Alumni weekend.

So....I was playing around on slide.com and created this nifty little slide show to put in my profile column on the right...

But its being a pest and its bumped it way to the bottom. I think the last few times its done this its recorrected itself so here's to hopin.

For those of you on my myspace page...this is nothing new. It extracted all those pics but put a cute little frame and sparkles on it.

Something you can enjoy all weekend!

We'll be at the lake Fri/Sat/Sun.

Im ripping off the question of the day from some emails that were sent between Stacy, Andy, Jennings & Stetson today.

WHAT SONG BRINGS BACK SPECIAL MEMORIES TO YOU AND MAKES YOU SMILE?

Here's what the gang had to say:

STETSON:
I went to a Browns game a few years back when I was home for Christmas. While sitting in traffic after the game, we were playing Release by Pearl Jam. Some wasted guy walked by and he started singing very enthusiastically. So we turned up the radio and he started performing for the car in front of us. He NAILED it. I didn't realize how much I liked that song until that moment. After the song was over, we watched as wasted guy drastically searched for an open building…he had to pee really badly. He wasn't having much luck, so he probably just used the street like everyone else.

STACY:

everytime I hear "the thong song" I think of santoli spring quarter of my senior year constantly singing "thong, thong, thong, thong, thong" as loud as he can and then yelling to everyone that they totally listened to that the WHOLE time while they were on spring break. At the time, it was really annoying but now its funny.

ME:

I happened to BE on that spring break and I agree!! It was a PHENOMENON! Although my "Thong Song" spring break memory is when Enright, Drexel and I showed up at the hotel where the OU men were and we walked in on aTiki Bar "Hot Body Contest" and Teague was dancing to the "ThongSong" completely naked with his daiquiri glass covering up is "nether region"....this fat manager/dj lady was freaking out because you could not get naked.

And finally, JENNINGS! (Ok her married name is Amy Trout, her friends too, have trouble letting go of the maiden name:

Sirius is a life-changing thing..... just like Zyrtec. Anyway, we have Sirius in each car, at work, and at the house. I'm hooked on the 80's channel, but I guess that's because, unlike the rest of you, the 80's>> music>> brings back the memories of HIGH SCHOOL. (Sorry Andy, I beat you to> it.) I can sing at least the chorus of every song on the 80's channel. Trout, who graduated high school in 1995, is always trying to stump me and says things like, "I bet you don't know THIS one." I always do, though. SO many songs make me smile. But I'm going to choose the song by> Modern English, I'd Stop the World and Melt With You.... It reminds me of my>freshman year of college at Oswego State. My friend and I always went to this super-dump of a bar, where this song would be played at least 10 times>> a night. (It must have been the reason I took so quickly to the Cat's> Eye - dumpy bar where the same songs play over and over.) The bar was so>> gross that you had to have special shoes to go there, because they are>guaranteed>> to get ruined. See, it was a horse barn before it was a bar, and it>still had an "earthen" floor. So, every night, at the end of the night, the floor was one big mud puddle. At closing, the workers would get out a> big>> hose, and spray all the cups, cigarette butts, and whatever else, out> the>> doors where other workers would rake up the mess and put it in trash> bags.>> Oh, and I met my first college boyfriend at that bar. Good times.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Im curious.

When (and if) you use a automatic dishwasher, do you put detergent in the "open" dish AND the dish you snap shut? Or just one or the other? Or both?

Your participation in yesterdays questions was PATHETIC!!!! And those were decent questions!

So we went and saw the Reno 911 Movie this weekend. Ive sort of gotten into this website called imdb.com...if you're a movie nut its a great place to go and read message boards and see what other people think of any and every movie you can think of.





(Can I tangent for a second? I think the best discovery I have made on this site was the message board for "American Psycho" I love this movie, we own it, and Ive probably watched it 20 times - no I did not read the book -.....so I have always been intrigued by the ending and cant for the life of me figure out if Patrick Bateman REALLY killed all those people or was it just in his head? There are some really in-depth message board postings that really defend both sides. If you're into this movie and have strong opinions on the ending...its worth looking into. In the end, I walked away happy because the running theme I kept seeing is that the director intentionally leaves it wide open.)





(One more Tangent - Stacy...I finally put up the curtains in the spare room. I think they look great and can you belive I actually IRONED THEM? REALLY! The iron was all, "Who in the hell are you? What are you doing with my plug?? Ahhhh!!! Im getting hot!!! Am I supposed to get hot??? Nobody's ever done this to me!!! Ahhh!!!" Anyway, here they are.)

Ok - Back to the movie...So Im on imdb.com and im checking out the comments about Reno 911! Miami and I was disappointed to see that there were a lot of people who thought it sucked. I thought it was hilarious....although I will confess that we invited Grandma to the movie (I guess we were thinking it would be as tame as the cable version - WRONG)

Lets just say Roz was a sport and sat through what felt like a 20 minute Masturbation montage that was nothing short of what Stetson would call a "Shakesperian Effort" and a sex scene that involved a naked woman getting slammed up against a window (camera on the other side of the window - use your imagination) I wont go into further details. We should have known.

So ANYWAY....Im reading these messages and I see "Should I take my 10 Year old to see this movie?".....AND THERE WERE ACTUALLY PEOPLE WHO SAID YES!!! Are you joking? I dont even have a response to this!!!!

Now, when I was a kid, Pam had a very strict "No Rated R Movies" policy that was frequently broken thanks to my Best friend who's mother worked third shift and had no policies of the sort. Throw in the fact that she was way mature for her age and you've got a best friend with a lot of perks. They had HBO, Showtime, and a VHS AND Betamax on hand. The possiblities were endless. I would comehome from sleepovers well-educated on soft-core romances and saturated in second-hand smoke. It was a lot like college.

One of my brother & I's FAVORITE memories was going down to Florida to visit the Kneers....this is when Heather and Tammy were still living with Dick & Beck. Heather took nick and I (Still in elementary school) on a rampage of Pompano Beach, the best spot being a friends house where "Hellraiser" was playing on one of those big screen projectors. Honestly, I think that was one of the most memorable events of our childhood - Seeing that bloody dude come out of the floor. We were NOT ready for that sort of thing and we knew it. Thats why it was so awesome. Thanks Heather! See below - This guy is forever burned in my memory:

What the hell was I talking about? I cant remember. Here are some funny shots from the movie. I highly reccomend it. After the Strangers With Candy movie we were a little cautious. "Strangers" wasnt all we had hoped but Reno definitely was that and more. Funny, great cameos, new materal, and enough raunch to get you through the year.

Here's the crew upon arrival in Miami for the Law Enforcement Convention - My favorite getup is Deputy Weigel's cat t-shirt with the beaded, fringed sleeves. She is also shown later in the movie with a "Miami Beach" Air brushed t-shirt. Classy!
Does this guy remind anyone else of Cory Skidmore?
You get a nice shot of Niecy Nash's butt in the movie...and yes...thats a thong.

For those of you who have noticed I am turning into a total fat a$$....I have taken note. Im sure its a depressing combination of the oral chemo im still on, winter, and having a cook for a husband. Portion control has never been in our vocabulary.

I took a walk today up to the Finneytown HS track...started to jog....one lap, two laps. Told myself I would run a mile. And I did it. I was pretty pumped. It was a slow jog but I did it. Im going to try to start getting up early enough to take a 20 min walk/jog in the morning. We'll see how that goes. Im not exactly a bright & early morning person but I gotta do SOMETHING.

Heading up to the lake this weekend. Thats about it for now.

Please comment on your thoughts of the ending of American Psycho or your favorite "Rated R Movie Experince" as a child....im so curious!~

HAPPY "27" BIRTHDAY NICK!

Good weekend. Spent Friday over at Stacy & Caseys house for dinner...Casey grilled the chicken and asparagus and J-Mac worked in the kitchen on his famous sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo sauce, while Stacy & I sat & watched "I love the 90's" and gossiped. We dont contribute a whole lot to these dinners and I think that contributes to its overall success. Anything we can do to help. Didnt stay to late since John had to work early Sat. morning.

Saturday we went to the Fairmont girls basketball game and saw them loose a HEARTBREAKER in the district finals....TRIPLE OVERTIME LOSS TO CJ. It was gut-wrenching. Afterwards we headed up to Dayton (Harrigans...duh) to celebrate Nick's 27th. As you can see, he's still the life of the party. Didnt stay out too late, and crashed at mom and dads afterwards...

Sunday we got up and went to our traditional birthday lunch at China Cottage and afterwards, we all went to see RENO! 911: MIAMI. It was hilarious. We took grandma and there were some very sexual and downright awkward moments in the movie. She seemed to enjoy the movie though...but seriously, dont take the little ones to this one - Otherwise, its hilarious.

Now we're home and John's doing taxes. Here's John & Meredith at Harrigans. Im sorry this post is not very good.