Last Post

This is my last post here. I hope. I have a new blog! The blogroll isn't quite done, and it is still kind of ugly, but you know you want to check it out. Go to the new And You Know What Else. You know you love me.

xoxo,
R.

PS Update your links and your feedreader. And I'm even going to use the full feed for the new blog!

Success?

I am so much more than happy with how the blog share project turned out. These anonyposts (TM 3carnations) are some of the best posts that I have ever read. I would definitely call this a success!

I received a bunch of e-mails and comments today from people asking if they could participate or if this is going to happen again. It is too late to participate, as this was a one day event, but maybe we can try it again in about three months. Save up all your stories about stupid holiday gifts you receive and crazy in-laws, and check back here in February or March. Maybe we can have a St. Valentrick's Day Blog Share Event. (St. Valentrick's Day is the imaginary holiday inbetween Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day.) It took some time to organize all this blog share, and I screwed up by sending the person who posted on Sass Attack the wrong e-mail address for L Sass, but it was still kind of fun to organize.

I want to give a special thanks to the person who posted on my blog. I think her post really touched a lot of people, and it was just a beautiful post.

I exchanged e-mail with one of the anonyposters today who was worried that people would try to figure out which post was hers by using the list of participating bloggers. Neither this anonyposter nor I think that there is a big chance of this happening, but some of the posts were really personal, and I don't know, I just think that on Friday morning I'm going to take down the list of participating blogs on my site.

And now I will leave you all alone about the blog share!

Blog Share Participants

I don't want to add this to the end of my guest poster's post tomorrow (plus, we all know I need an easy Wednesday post), so here are all the blogs participating in the blog share on Thursday! Please visit and comment tomorrow!

[I hope you got to check out all the anonymous posts on Thursday, but I have taken down the list of participating blogs.]

I Can't Have It All, Now I'm Dancing For My Life

People, I am exhausted after writing a million e-mails about this blog share thingy. Oh my gosh. I triple-checked every e-mail, but I make no promises regarding any lack of typos. If you have any problems, please send me an e-mail if you discover an incorrect e-mail address or something. Or if you didn't get an e-mail, please let me know!

In other news, this morning, a 21-year-old man sat 3 rows in front of me on the bus. He wore a huge black hooded sweatshirt, a backwards baseball cap, jeans that were at least two sizes too big for him so that they sagged well below hip level, and headphones. I noticed all these details for two reasons. First, he stood out because every other person on the bus was wearing a suit or at least looked "business casual." Second, his music was so loud that I could hear every note and every word.

The music didn't bother me because I liked it. He played "Jesus Walks" by Kanye West and some older Jay-Z songs. And then he played "What a Feeling" from the classic film Flashdance. I looked around to see if anyone else thought this was as awesome as I did, but no one else seemed to care. I wonder if baggy pants guy knew the rest of us could hear his song selections.

Meh

Ugh. I went shopping today and only found one thing I wanted. I bought this short-sleeved dress from Banana Republic. I think it is really cute, but I'm not sure what to wear it with since it is short-sleeved. I was going to try to find a short, trapeze-y long-sleeved cardigan to wear over it, but I see that Banana has it styled with a turtleneck under it. I do not look good in turtlenecks, but maybe I can try it with a long-sleeved shirt under it.

I was going to show you some pictures I just took of me in the dress, but they all came out really dark, so there isn't much point.

I'm feeling kind of down right now, so normally I just wouldn't write anything, but I don't have that choice with my posting every day scheme. Also, as I am typing this, I realize that I forgot to send out the first blog share e-mails. I will have to do that tomorrow instead. You can still sign up until Tuesday at 8 pm (Central).

I'm not sure why I'm so down at the moment. I think I'm just tired. And I don't want to go to work tomorrow. Some of you probably have tomorrow off for Veterans' Day. H has the day off, but he has to go into work anyway because he has some big stuff going on.

L Sass is doing a secret Santa exchange, in case any of you haven't read her site and are interested, the post explaining the secret Santa thing is here.

That's all I have for you tonight. I promise to come up with a better post for tomorrow.

Word to Your Motha

No, it is not too late to sign up for the blog share.

Yes, I will continue to talk about the blog share until it happens on November 15th.

Also, if you are participating, I will send out an e-mail to you this weekend, mostly just to make sure I have everyone's e-mail addresses.

But you can still sign up until November 13th.

This weekend I will also send out Liz's reward for winning my two truths and a lie contest (finally).

But I was sick.

And also lazy.

In case you didn't happen to read Liz's blog a week or two ago, she had a two truths and a lie contest as well, and I won it. We won each other's contests: crazy!

She sent me a very pretty bracelet and matching earrings. I have already worn them several times. Thanks, Liz!

And it is now 9:30 pm, and I am going to bed because I am exhausted despite barely doing anything all day. Staring at the computer screen all day is tiring, yo.

Audience Participation Required

I have several questions for you today.

1. For this blog share, should I post a list of sites that are participating? Would that make you uncomfortable because it would be too easy to find out on which blog you are posting anonymously? Or would it just be fun? I think it would be fun, but my anonymous writing is not going to be very serious. I don't really intend for this to be a post-your-deepest-darkest-secret kind of thing, but what is the point of being anonymous if it is that easy to track down your post? Except if my blog is the only one listing all the participants, someone would have to go from your blog to my blog and then to each listed blog ... ok, this is going on way too long so I am going to end this rambling right here.

2. Are knee high boots cute on really short ladies (aka me)?

3. If knee high boots would look cute on me, are they supposed to be kind of wrinkly around the ankles? I tried some on and I thought they looked kind of sloppy because of the ankle wrinkles. But maybe that's just what they're supposed to look like. I am fashion impaired.

4. Do you remember the episode of Blossom when Joey had to write a poem for his girlfriend but couldn't come up with anything, so Blossom told him to just use song lyrics, and the song he chose was "I Touch Myself" and the girlfriend got freaked out and dumped him? Whoa! Oh, Joey.

Blog Share

I have been thinking recently about the things I am not willing to share on my blog. When Laurie spoke in MN on her book tour, she talked a little bit about how people think they know all about her life, when really, she only shares a small part of it online. Maybe that is a bad paraphrase of what she said, but it was something along those lines. She was very gracious about it, but I think I would be a little freaked out if people felt like they were my closest friends, when they only know what I am willing to share online. But I guess my non-blog friends only know what I am willing to share with them, so I don't know that it's much different. My non-blog friends know about certain aspects of my life that blog friends don't, and blog friends probably know a lot more about certain aspects of my life that my non-blog friends don't know about at all.

For example, only non-blog friends know all about some crazy work situations (although I may have actually e-mailed a couple of you about certain aspects of the craziness), but only blog friends know about my love of "Gossip Girl" and the song "Eternal Flame." In fact, most non-blog friends don't even know about the blog at all, so they are missing out on that whole aspect of me.

I am ok with this. Not everyone needs to know everything about me. It is just weird to think that your perceptions are shaped by what I write, and I wonder whether your perceptions match up to who I really am.

NPW wrote today about all this today too, which I thought was interesting, and it gave me an idea. This idea does not really do anything to help you know any more about me. But it would allow me to share a funny story that is related to what I consider a forbidden blog topic (for me). I think it would be interesting to switch blogs for a day and write anonymously on someone else's blog. Here is what I am thinking: anyone who is interested could leave a comment here or send me an e-mail. I will do a random drawing to assign people to a different blog. Then you send an e-mail with your (mostly) anonymous blog post (obviously the blogger I assign you to will know who you are) on November 14th, and the person posts it on November 15th. You could write something funny, something silly, something serious, something confessional- whatever you want. So if you are interested, let me know. If you're not interested, then we will pretend this never happened.

Also, I have a secret non-anonymous guest blog post coming soon, hopefully! And it's not H! I think it is going to be a lot of fun.

Seven to Ten New Things

Noelle, sometimes referred to by friends as Christmas Christmas-Tree, has come up with almost thirty new things to see and do near where she lives for the month of November. I am not that adventurous. But I think November is a good time to force myself to see and do ten new things in the Twin Cities. Then I will have at least ten post topics of the month. Yay!

My list is (I am just making this up as I type):
1. Go to a Wild (NHL) game.
2. Visit the new fancy-schmancy-architectural-wonder library downtown.
3. Tour the ashram southeast of the Cities.
4. See the inside of the Guthrie theater.
5. Go to Nye's Polonaise Room.
6. See some exhibits at the Minnesota History Center. (I have been there before, but only for lunch. It has a good cafeteria.)
7. Go to the Walker Art Center. (I have only been to the Sculpture Garden.)

So much for ten. I need some more things I can do Monday through Friday considering that I have zero time before or after work to do any of these things. Any other suggestions?

In good news, I can cross #1 off the list because I accomplished it last night! My sister-in-law invited H and me to the Wild game last night. I had only ever been to one other professional hockey game: a New Jersey Devils game when I was about 11. The only thing I really remember about the Devils game is that the guys in front of us were really loud and obnoxious and cursing up a storm. My mom got in their faces and announced, "I have two young girls right here! Watch your language!" And the guys obeyed. I love New Jersey. And now you know where I get my bossiness from.

Anyway, the Wild game was really fun. I love hockey and will definitely go to more Wild games. I learned that the organ they play songs on to charge up the crowd is shaped like a zamboni. I also learned that I only know about 5 teams in the NHL. I learned that there is a player whose last name starts with "Boo," so the crowd always boos him. That makes me sad, even though I know the crowd is actually cheering for him. I learned that I will never be cool because there was a big fight in the first period, during which I yelled out, "Geez, Louise!" when it started getting pretty violent.

Close Your Eyes. Give Me Your Hand, Darling.

Galoot has asked me to list five things that certain people may consider to be totally lame (apparently, 'certain people' are from the '80s), but I am totally proud of. I asked H to name five things that other people think are lame but that I like. H's answers were: (1) Gossip Girl, (2) The Sound of Music, (3) blogging, (4) H, and (5) one item that I am redacting because it is kind of pervy and not something I have ever done. I know that no one thinks that either The Sound of Music or H is totally lame. And blogging is something I like to do, but I would not say that I am totally proud of it. So. Here's my list.

1. Gossip Girl. Not only do "certain people" think this show is totally lame, but even I think it is totally lame. But I still watch it.

2. Guitar Hero. My work friends have teased me about liking Guitar Hero. But you know why that is? Because they never tried it. Guitar Hero is so much fun.

3. Fake curse words. I am not much of a curser. I prefer exclamations such as "freaking A," "geez, Louise," and "what the heck." It takes a lot for me to break out the curse words, and even then, the only curse word I use is "fuck." I'm not sure why, but I think it's just not natural for me, and I feel like a poser when I curse. So instead, I say, "Geez, Louise," which is kind of lame, but I like it.

4. Futurama. This show is on Cartoon Network all the time, and it is worth watching. I think it was originally on before The Simpsons, but I like it more than The Simpsons.

5. The Bangles' Eternal Flame. How can you not sing along to this song when you hear it playing on your husband's iPod? Do you feel my heart beating? Do you understand? Do you feel the same, or am I only dreaming?

Do you like any of these lame things? What lame things are you into?

And the Winner Is...

Liz!

The correct answer to yesterday's quiz is that I am not intensely afraid of spiders. I am apparently not that great at coming up with lies, as many of you guessed correctly. To determine the winner, I wrote the names of all the correct guessers on scraps of paper, mixed up all the scraps, closed my eyes, and picked one.



Liz, e-mail me your address, and I will send you your prize!

In other news, I did not get home until a little before 10 pm tonight because Stefanie and I were busy meeting Crazy Aunt Purl. When I got home, H was already asleep! He normally goes to bed at 11 or 11:30, so I don't know what is going on, but I'm not going to wake him up and force him to write his guest post. Especially since I already woke him up to say, "Crazy Aunt Purl totally knew who I was, and she is fantastic, and I am a big dork who didn't know what to say to her! Aaaa!" H's response was, "What time is it? Is it morning?"

I think Stefanie is going to write more about meeting Laurie (aka Crazy Aunt Purl), so I won't write much more except that I need to add that Laurie was incredibly sweet and funny, and she said nice things to me, and I didn't know how to respond because I don't know what to do when people say nice things to me. Aargh. Anyway, the reading was great, and Laurie seems like she would be great fun to hang out with.

Take A Guess

Do not fret! H's post has been delayed, but just by one night. He just got home from work a little bit ago and is exhausted, so you will just have to wait. But come back Thursday night/Friday morning, and you can relive the excitement that is H answering questions. Tonight, you will have to settle for me.

So.

Ummm.

Yeah.

Laurel and Anna did a little something that I am going to steal from them. I shall write three statements about myself, two of which will be true, and one of which will be a lie. Of all the people who correctly guess which one is the lie, I will draw one name, and you will win a prize. My first prize giveaway! Are you excited? Please pretend like you are. Without further ado, here are the three statements.

1. I am intensely afraid of spiders.

2. I have seen Incubus, Deftones, and Weezer in concert.

3. I once dated a guy named Mario who got really pissed off when I said he was Mexican.

Nothin' But Net

Today I provide you with two stories that probably couldn't be more different, and yet, they are both about the affirmation of spirit. The previous sentence would be my audition if I were writing for a women's magazine. But I'm not. So instead, I will say - Check these out, peeps.

One Smart Cookie's story is about best friends and being happy with yourself. OSC's friend reminds me of my friend Double_G, and I should really tell Double_G how proud I am of her more often. Also, I have been feeling bad about my life lately, and OSC reminds me to be happy with what I have, and she is right.

Second, we have a story by Nat of Marmite Breath that is crazy and zany and includes a little bit about Paul Rudd and other famous actors about to visit Nebraska. Note to Stefanie: You should really try to become best friends with Nat very quickly because she is about to spend a lot of time with your One True Love (or is that Ethan Hawke, I forget). Anyway. I love Nat, and reading her blog always makes me super happy.

My suggestion for the day: In the comments, share a link to a post or a blog (even your own) that makes your day a little better.

Everything and Nothing

Because I am a dork, I had to make a little chart of where all you readers live.

Top Ten(-ish) Locations
1. New York - 10
2. Minnesota - 6
3. California - 5
3. Texas - 5
3. Canada - 5
6. Washington (state) - 4
6. Washington, DC - 4
8. Massachusetts - 3
9. Australia - 3
9. Maryland - 2
9. Michigan - 2
9. Nebraska - 2
9. Oklahoma - 2
9. Pennsylvania - 2
9. Virginia - 2
9. Wisconsin - 2

Honorable Mentions(aka places with one reader)
Arizona
Colorado
Connecticut
Georgia
New Jersey
South Carolina
Tennessee
Japan
Italy
Scotland

Isn't that so cool??? I feel like I should introduce you people who live "near" other readers now and then I can be a weird blog-friend matchmaker. Not really.

And now it is time to award the honor of H's Favorite Delurker. This honor goes to Funessa, who wrote (in part):
"So, I live just north of Seattle now, but I'm originally from Chicago. So I LOVE that 'H' calls Wisconsinites Sconnies (I know a lot of 'em, since I went to school with a bunch of 'em in Chicago). Never heard the term, though. But it has become my go-to phrase to describe obnoxious drunks (regardless of where they're from)."
I am afraid that H's Favorite Delurker will also be Stefanie's Least Favorite Delurker, but since this is not her blog, I am guessing Funessa will be ok with that.

Before I let H make too much fun of Sconnies, I would like to note that H got drunk on Saturday by drinking two margaritas. Yes, my husband is a total lightweight. Now, in his defense, the first margarita was pretty big and H was pretty dehydrated. But should two margaritas cause you to recline your seat all the way in the car on the way home, take off your shoes, change the radio station with your feet over and over, and giggle like a little girl? I vote no. (In case you are worried, I was the one driving, not H.)

I promised you some pictures of the holiday house in my neighborhood, so here you go.


Obviously, as there is still visible grass in their yard, they are not done decorating.

Delurking Update

Thanks so much to all of you who have left comments so far. If you didn't get a chance to do so yesterday, please leave a comment on this post or the last one letting me know where you live. (You can be as general as you wish.) (Why do I feel the need to give you permission to be general?) (I guess I don't want to scare away people who like to be anonymous.) (Anyway.)

So I am still catching up and trying to go comment on all of your blogs. I think I've commented on about 2/3, and I will continue to leave more comments tonight. Please check your spam file if you don't think I've left a comment. For some reason, lots of blogs think I am a spammer lately. Aargh.

I had a really bad work-day yesterday, ending with me crying as quietly as possible in my office with the door closed, and all your comments definitely cheered me up. So, in summary, comment away!

The Great Delurking

Hello, everyone! Whether you are a regular commenter, a sometimes reader, a passerby, or somewhere inbetween, please stop by today and leave a comment for the great delurking. I will even give you a topic for your comment. Tell me the state or region where you live. Don't be afraid to comment; you can even comment anonymously. People at H's office who read this every day, this means you too!

If you have a blog and leave a comment, I will stop by and comment on your blog as well. It's only fair.

Lists

What I Did This Weekend:
fall asleep at 8:30 pm on Friday
not wake up until 9:30 am on Saturday
read a book outside on my back porch
make s'mores around a campfire
read another book while H watched some UFC fights
go to church
buy $207 worth of work clothes for only $107 - woo!
eat dinner at a new (to me) Mexican restaurant with friends
watch my husband swoon over Clive Owen


TV Shows I Will Watch This Season:
House
The Office
30 Rock
Friday Night Lights
Project Runway, if it ever comes back on


Books I Read Last Week:
Certain Women by Madeline L'Engle
Meet the Austins by Madeline L'Engle (yes, this is a "juvenile book"- what is your point?)
Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair by Laurie Perry


Questions:
Should I try to find time to watch Ugly Betty? I have seen a few episodes, and it looks good.
What should Stefanie and I do when we meet up later this week?
Who does H love more: me or Clive Owen?
Do you have any questions for me?

Oh, Sexy Girlfriend

Sognatrice awarded me a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award today.


There is supposed to be a picture of the little award above, but I don't know how to make it show up, so you will just have to trust me. Or you can click over to Sognatrice's blog if you don't believe that she really gave me this oddly named award.

I don't know how I feel about being a Rockin' Girl Blogger. It makes me think of the foreign exchange student on Sixteen Candles (Long Duck Dong) yelling, "Oh, sexy girlfriend!"

I am feeling really "Rockin'" (those are Quotes of Irony) after doing my entire dance workout DVD tonight. There are parts of the workout where Head Workout Lady tells me to do my own arm movements to really make the dance my own. My arm movements consist of me holding up my index fingers and wiggling them around like I am a really bad 1920s male dancer. (I feel like 1920s female dancers did jazz hands while their partners just pointed and moved their hands up and down.) I am the least sexy dancer ever, and that is ok with me. I do have a rap face that I make when I am trying to dance seriously, but it is hard to replicate on command. It just comes naturally when I am in the groove. Picture the nerdiest person you know trying to look hip-hop. That is probably a close approximation of the rap face.

You Love When I Post Random Things

I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day today. Ugh. Also, I am trying out a new thing called not checking my blog e-mail or Google reader while at work. I did semi-ok today, but you may have noticed I gave in once this morning and read a few blogs and responded to Nat's comment on my own blog. But still. I did decently today. I will still be reading at night or before work, so do not be despondent if you do not see my usually early morning comment on your blog!

*****

I have been listening to my Ok Go cd for two weeks in a row now. Every day. I love it and cannot help it.

*****

You may have noticed that I have changed the layout of my blog tonight. Why? I just felt like it. It is still a work in progress, so don't judge me yet. Although it probably will look very boring for a while, and I may still switch to Wordpress. I haven't decided yet.

*****

I was hoping that I would just think of something clever and interesting to write about despite my pissed off mood, but that does not appear to be happening tonight. So I will steal the James Lipton questionnaire from Noelle, who coincidentally has the hardest blog name to spell ever. At least for me.

# 1. What is your favorite word?
Doodle. Also "soporific." Also "also."

# 2. What is your least favorite word?
Hackneyed.

# 3. What turns you on (creatively, spiritually or emotionally)?
Laughter.

# 4. What turns you off?
Violence.

# 5. What is your favorite curse word?
The only curse word I ever really say is fuck. And I said it a lot today. But I don't enjoy saying it. The curse-like words I actually enjoy using are "Freaking A!" and "Dagnabbit!"

# 6. What sound or noise do you love?
Children singing.

# 7. What sound or noise do you hate?
The sound of H picking skin off his fingers.

# 8. What profession, other than your own, would you like to attempt?
I think I would be an excellent HR director. Or bookstore owner. Or professional reader.

# 9. What profession would you not like to attempt?
Doctor or nurse.

# 10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
If I arrive at the Pearly Gates, I would like to hear God performing "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugar Hill Gang for me.

Go, Shortie! It's Your Birthday!

Due to so many of you volunteering your heights in my last post, I am going to make a little chart of my readers, from smallest to tallest. (I prefer "small" to "short," thought I'm not sure why.) I was going to do a complicated illustration here, but then I would have to deal with my scanner, and I am not in the mood. Also, I should probably warn you that I am listing you by your doctor-appointed heights, or else a height that I just made up for you because it seemed right. So here you go.

Nat 4'11"
Liz 4'11"
Abbersnail 5'1"
-R- 5'1.5" - BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Metalia 5'2"
Jen 5'2"
Sparkling Cipher 5'2"
Sognatrice 5'2"
Kim 5'2.5"
3carnations 5'2.5"
Em 5'3"
Grumpy Frump 5'3.75"
Paisley 5'4"
L Sass 5'4"
Claire 5'5"
Anniina 5'5"
Noelle 5'5.5"
Boozie 5'7"
Lizgwiz 5'8"
Stefanie 5'10"
Lawyerish 5'10"
Galoot 6'5"
H 6'5"

My only male readers are 6'5". Perhaps I intimidate shorter men with my astounding writing. I should note that Galoot probably did not even read the last post, let alone post a comment with his height, but I remember it because he is the same height as H. Stefanie also failed to volunteer her height, but I think that she is 5'10", and I didn't want Lawyerish to be all alone up there. Yes, that is how my brain works.

The average height of my female readers appears to be (from my rudimentary calculations) approximately 5'3.5"! Yay, shorties!

*****

Are you still awake after that fascinating display of lameness? Then I will reward you with a special treat.

The picture above is H doing a pose he likes to call the Florida Tilt. He did this pose for his drivers license photo, which he had until about two years ago. You should have seen the looks he got when he was carded. Most of the looks seemed to be along the lines of, "I can't believe the drivers license people let you do that horrible and weird pose for your freaking drivers license," although the look from teenage boys was more like, "That is so awesome! I am doing that for my next picture!" H took both types of looks as compliments. He was very proud of that picture. I was mortified.

Then H had to get his picture retaken when he renewed his drivers license, and the people at the DMV were much less sympathetic to the Florida Tilt. H was pissed. I was overjoyed.

Now the Florida Tilt lives on IN OUR WEDDING PICTURES. Only a few, but OH MY GOD. OUR WEDDING PICTURES.