We Have A Winner

By a vote of about 14 to 5 (with a few non-committers),
Special K is the preferred choice.

I still think I prefer "The K" but now that a few of you mentioned it, I can't seem to get "The Donald" out of my head when I say it. Lord knows I don't need to be associated with that crazy hairstyle. I have enough hair issues of my own. So the name has been officially changed.

By the way, this really was a nickname of mine that started in Jr High. It was back during the height of 80's rap music. When everyone wanted to be ghetto fabulous. My then BFF and I had sweatshirts made with our nicknames. She was Little D and I was Special K. She was 4'11 and still is, hence the name. Hmmm...funny how if you wait 20 years things always come back into fashion. Here I am Special K again in all my ghetto fabulousness.

Been a busy week so far. Going to the gym regularly now. Yay for that. Usually 3 times a week. Still working twice a week at my second job. So my weeknights are most definitely full. Tomorrow night after a full 8 hours at #1 job and a couple more at #2 job, I'm going to visit a friend who retired from the #1 job and moved to Minnesota. In fact, I think he's your neighbor, Julie. He mentioned that he used to drive over the bridge every day on his way to work. Anyway, he and I used to be partners back many years ago. He just recently got re-married. They're in town for the holiday weekend to visit family. Looking forward to tipping back a few with him and the new bride and reminiscing about the good ole days.

Then spending the weekend getting ready for vacation. Which I am so looking forward too! Only 8 more days until I'll be laying on the beach with my frozen margarita.
Not like I'm counting or anything. :P

Vote

Some commenters seem to have the misguided idea that this is a democracy. But just for the helluva it, I'll take a vote.

The K
or
Special K

I did feel very great and powerful for the few hours that I was THE K. But then again, that really was just a little guy pushing buttons behind the curtain, wasn't it? But Special K was my gangsta rapper name before I retired from hip hop so it's pretty fly too. Fo shizzle.

So you decide. Which one?

But the margarita chugging very well dressed drunken penguin is staying.

My Secret Identity **Updated

First this one did it. Then someone else. Next thing you know another one jumped on the bandwagon. And how could I have forgotten this one? If they can change their names, then so can I. Someone who shall remain nameless dubbed me with "The K" recently. (How ya like that play on words? I'm so witty.) So I think I'm gonna go with it for awhile.

I'm gonna try to change my profile pic too but stupid blogger isn't cooperating right now. I'm sick of looking at that one. Plus it's not really accurate anymore. My hair is totally different and I've gained a couple of pounds. Hey, full disclosure, right? But maybe since I'm recreating my identity, I'll find a pic of some really hot skinny blonde and say that's me. Wouldn't that be funny?

Any computer savvy individuals (like those named above perhaps?) wanna give me some hints as to what I should make my little icon into? Some have cute little starfish or Chinese symbols or something else. Maybe I don't wanna use my face anymore. Well, for the profile pic I mean. Walking around without a face wouldn't really work, now would it? Plus how would I drink my much adored margaritas without a mouth?

** OMG!! Look what I found! The perfect profile pic. My two favorite things.
Ahhh.. life is good.

And just to clarify here , people.
I'm not K.
Or K1 or 2 or 3.
Or a K. Or some K.
I am "The K".

THE K.
K?
Blame her.

Girl Cousins

I think it was last summer when the girl cousins in my generation decided we needed to hang out more. So we started trying to get together once a month or so for dinner. I have to say "in my generation" because my dad is the youngest of five and there's a pretty good age gap between him and the next oldest. So the generations in our family overlap. My grandparents have grandchildren and great-grandchildren that are the same age. My daughter will be a great-grandchild but will have great-great-grandchildren older than her. Confused now, are you?

On Saturday we met up in Columbus. Sarah was in town from Montana and her parents live there. So we took a road trip to see her. We ate at a restaurant that was supposed to be really great. It was just okay for me. But the desserts were to die for! Just take a look. We each ordered something different and passed them around the table. Now that's the way to eat dessert! Mine was called the "Big Cup Of Chocolate". It was a warm chocolate lava cake with ice cream on top. Mmm mmm! Then there was carrot cake, upside down banana cream pie, chocolate peanut butter pie, apple pie a la mode and strawberry shortcake there in the middle. I can just hear diets being ruined all over the world right now in response to that pic.

Since the gals all read my blog, I decided it was time to give them a shout out. Here they are. You've seen my sister, Carla, before. Hope is in the middle. Yours truly on the end (still rockin the curls as you can see). Back row from the left are Debbie, Sarah, and Lisa. The only one missing is Alicia because she lives in DC. I had a great time as usual ladies. Can't wait to do it again.

Middle Name Game

Connie Jayne tagged me for this middle name meme. She likes to do that. I'm bored so here goes.

You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

1) Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

2) When you are tagged you need to write your own blog post containing your own middle name game facts.

3) At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

L - Loves loves loves margaritas!

E - Effulgent.
What? Okay so I cheated. I looked it up in the dictionary cuz I couldn't think of anything. It means "shining brilliantly". I think it fits my personality though. Plus I once had a guy tell me that I just had this way of drawing people in cuz I had this "light" around me that people wanted to be a part of. Of course, he was drunk and trying to get in my pants at the time. It worked. ;)

I - Is perpetually late.
(Sorry Sandra. Always has been and always will be. No matter how hard I try to be better.)

G - Gift of gab. I can go on for hours.....it's a family trait.

H - Happy. Yep. I'm in a really good place now.

So there you have it. I really hate tagging people but since the rules say I have to, I guess I better, right? I pick Alison, Stacy, Head, Shannon, and Ozi Mum. All folks that I'm curious about what their middle names are. Have fun girls!

Tuesday Stuff

My sister and her family made it back from Wyoming in one piece. Looks like they had a great trip... well, once they got there that is. The getting there sucked. Y'all remember the story right? Scroll down a few posts if you don't know what I'm talking about. Click here to go to her blog, Tales of the T's, and check out all the pics if you want.

I got an unexpected package in the mail today. I was surprised to find this most adorable little giftie inside from my new blogger bash buddy, Maryellen. A woman after my own heart!
It's a little penguin costume. The front zips to stick baby in and the head is really a hood. See? I hope that Mia can wear it someday. I can just picture it now. Adorable. I love it! Thanks for thinking of me, Maryellen! Especially in the middle of all of your own craziness trying to prepare for the trip to China to get your baby Sophie. Can't wait for that.
While I'm thanking people, I owe my Secret Pal also. Sorry SP. You know what a procrastinator I am. LOL! I appreciate your gifts as much as ever. Just a little slow to post them. This month she sent a couple of cute little dolls, some Hello Kitty barrettes for Mia and Hello Kitty socks for Momma. I can't believe HK is so popular again. I remember this from when I was a kid. Thanks again SP. Very cute stuff. We've been at this so long, you're probably having a hard time coming up with ideas for what to send each month. I know I am. But still love the exchange. I'm glad that I stuck with it too.

I've been hovering over the Weather Channel for the past couple of days. Seems that a hurricane was trying to ruin my vacation plans in Mexico. I even called Tracy for advice and opinions. Since she lives in the land where hurricanes are more common. Up north we just worry about tornadoes, ya know. I was trying to figure out just how bad a Category 5 really was. Well, the news wasn't good. She told me to call and make sure the hotel was still standing. But we got lucky. It passed Cancun and Cozumel with barely any damage at all. The last I saw on TV the resorts were pulling the lounge chairs back out. Yee Haw! Only 17 more days to go. Not like I'm counting or anything. :)
On Saturday, Connie, and I had a blogger blind date with the mysterious "M" . She contacted us through e-mail and said she was visiting friends in the area. Then she asked us out. If you follow her blog, Deep Tangents, then you know that this girl is a mystery. She's pretty private, doesn't use her real name, there are no pics (until now) and it was hard for me to get a feel for her. But being the fun, spontaneous, adventurous up-for-just-about-anything chicks that we are, we said yes.

As we were walking up to the restaurant, Connie, wanted to know how we were supposed to know who she is since there had been no discussion of this. I figured she'd find us. I mean she follows our blogs so she has to know what we look like, right? Sure enough, she was waiting by the front door. We had a great time holding a table hostage at PF Chang's for several hours....and on a busy Saturday night, no less. Ha! We have no shame. The waiter was a cutie. And got even cuter with every round of cocktails. LOL! We finally were overcome by guilt and released the table only to walk across the parking lot and camp out at Max & Erma's until we closed them down. You know it's bad when the waitress takes her shoes off. That must be a sign that she's ready to go home.

We had a great time! And "M" is not so mysterious anymore. She's loads of fun! She has a very similar personality as both of us. So, of course, we were gonna get along. She's so cute. And smart, so funny, and has a great sarcastic wit. We plan on hanging again as soon as schedules allow.

Wow. This post was pretty all over the place. If you've hung in this long then kudos to you. Go make yourself a margarita and celebrate.

Curly or Straight?

Here's the deal. My hair is naturally curly. I know some of you may be surprised by that. Cuz you've only seen it straight. I love the straight look. But it's work to get it that way. A lot. My hair is very thick so to get it straight means using special products, blow drying out the curl, and then using a hot iron to flatten it. Very high maintenance and it's time consuming. Here's what it looks like straight. Not a flattering pic of us but it's a good hair shot to illustrate my point. (Yes, that's my homegirl, Melissa, that I so affectionately have my arm around. Even though she trashed me on her blog today. LOL! And there's Alison, too.)

Well, I've been doing this routine for the last four years. The last time I went to the hairdresser she held up a very short patch of hair near my part. She said "What happened here?" Of course, I had no idea. She informed me that I was frying my hair off with the hot iron. Uhhh.... that can't be good. Didn't mean to do that. So I'm trying out a new look. I decided maybe I need to work with what I have and stop fighting it. I'm giving the hair a break from the hot iron/blow dryer for awhile and trying to work with my natural curl. Check it out. I felt like I needed to be holding a number up in front of me when Connie took this pic. LOL!

Here's a close up. It doesn't photograph as well as it looks in real life. The weird thing is that it grows from the root straight. Then starts to get wavy. Then the longest part at the ends is curly.
A view from the back too. Look how curly the long part is. Just weird. The good news is that this is really easy to do. Just wash and let air dry. Scrunch it up a little, spray it and go. I think wearing it like this will give it some time to repair itself. But I may still pull out the hot iron on occasion. I wore it to work like this most of the week. It's a lot easier to deal with curly that's for sure. It can get windblown and still look great. The humidity no longer matters cuz it just makes it curlier.
I took a poll. Ninety percent voted for curly. The other ten percent said they like it both ways. No one voted for only straight all the time. WTF?! Funny though... ALL the men voted curly. Think that's some wild sexual fantasy or something? With straight hair I appear more conservative and reserved? But with the curly tousled look I'm so much more sexy and provocative? Hmmm......works for me! But seriously...what do you guys think? Give me your honest opinions. Even if it's bad. I can take it.
Curly or straight?

My Constantly Evolving Kitchen

Last spring I painted my kitchen. Uh wait. No that'd be 2006. Man time flies. I didn't realize it'd been that long since my kitchen started seeking it's own identity. Well, let me back up a little. The summer before that I'd replaced the floor with a beautiful ceramic tile. I'd fallen in love with the tile even though it didn't really work with the rest of the decor. The color was very rich. Bold and dramatic. My kitchen was more of a cottage style at the time. It had white painted cabinets with stenciled flowers along the edges, sage green sponge painted walls and an ivy border around the top. I can't believe I'm not finding any pics of it saved on my computer so you'll just have to use your imagination. But here's the floor. The pic doesn't do it justice. It's a great mix of mauves, pinks, burgundys, etc. My favorite colors are pink and green (which you regular readers probably already know). So I thought the floor was pink enough to work. Nope. Too dark. I didn't like it. So I decided to paint the cabinets and walls. The first bright idea I had was to paint the cabinets the same color as my couch. Olive green. It was awful. It looked like a row of army footlockers in there. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until I was finished painting. Well, I kinda did. But I've learned some valuable painting lessons with this project. If it looks bad in the beginning.... it's not gonna get better even if you continue painting. The green didn't even last long enough for me to think to take a pic.

So I took a piece of tile to the paint store and picked something in that color family. It's called sun dried tomato. Looks kinda burgundy, I guess. I loved the new cabinet color. Replaced the hardware, too. But that meant I now had to paint the walls. So I stuck with the pink and green obsession. Tried a green. It looked like pea soup. Luckily, I was a littler wiser now and only did a big patch on the wall before I realized it was hideous. Then I picked a mauve pink color. I thought it was okay. The different shades of pinks and burgundys seemed to work. So I lived with it for awhile. But something just seemed off. So I put an ivy border back up. Nope that wasn't it. Still didn't feel right. So I painted the trim the pea soup green. Hey, I had a whole frickin' can of it. Plus I forgot the rule that if it looks bad... it ain't getting better. I guess I thought I needed ALL the trim pea soup green to fairly judge if it was right. Another error in judgement. As you can see by the pic, the trim was quickly painted white again. One day it hit me. Yellow. Now this is not a normal color choice for me. I'm a loyal pink and green girl. But I thought yellow against those cabinets would really make them pop.
But once it was finished, it just seemed too light. I knew I was heading in the right direction with the yellow though. But I was going for something more golden to pick up the colors in the curtains. They're sage green with some gold, burgundy and pink. I still had half a can of paint left so I went back to the paint store and had them darken what was left two shades down on the color strip. At this point, I'm really sick of painting. But here was my idea. How about a color wash? That'd give the walls some drama, darken them, and be much quicker and easier. So I grabbed an old bowl and ripped up an old tee shirt. One part paint. Two parts water. A pair of rubber gloves.
Instant difference. I couldn't contain my excitement. My goddess! I think I've finally figured it out! It was so easy. Just rub it on the walls. Took about an hour and I didn't even have to tape anything up.

Here's a more obvious pic of the change. You can't tell by the photo but this wash looks awesome on the walls. It's a great dramatic effect. Made them look old. Very Tuscan. So I guess my kitchen wanted to be Tuscan or Mediterranean, huh? It decided on it's own. I never envisioned this. It just kind of happened. But I love it. It's still not quite finished. Still working out some new accessories. All the pink and green just doesn't work anymore so I'm buying new stuff. And trying to figure out the perfect border for the top. I'm thinking some wall words. But probably just on one wall. I'll update the pics when it's finally complete.

LID-iversary # 14

14 months down. A bunch more to go. Have no idea who this guy is or why he shaved the number 14 on the back of his head. Just swiped the pic from the world wide web. I think it's a cool look though. I considered doing it myself but figured I'd wait until a really big significant date. Like 36 months or something.

They Made It!

Finally! My dad called this morning to tell me they rolled in at 4am Wyoming time. After a little sleep, they're packing dad into the RV and heading into Yellowstone to camp for a couple nights. My step-mom and youngest sister, Lauren, are meeting them there after spending time getting our youngest brother, Ryan, settled at school in Nevada. Oh and my bro-in-law discovered a loose or broken wire on the RV. He fixed it and now it's running fine. Uhhhh wonder if that's all it was this whole time? Boy that would suck.

Carla & Bobby's Not So Excellent Adventure *Updated Again*

This afternoon my sister and her husband loaded their four kids into the RV for a road trip out to Wyoming to visit my dad. It was supposed to be a three day drive. They drove about three and a half hours and got as far as Illinois. Nope, that's not a pic of their RV but it accurately depicts what happened.

The poor family was stuck on the side of the road for hours while their 1-800-roadside-assistance people tried to find a mechanic willing to look at this thing before Monday. You can't expect to just pull an RV mechanic out of your ass at nearly 5pm on a Friday out in the middle of nowhere, now can you?

They finally found a company willing to tow them to Peoria so someone could look at it in the morning. Which was 50 miles away from where they were, by the way. It was going to take awhile for the tow truck so they decided to send sis and the kids on into town to find a hotel. But no rental car place would come out to them. Plus it was over $100 a day for a mini van rental. (Remember there are four kids so a regular sedan wasn't gonna work.) So my sis and her four tired, hot, bored, cranky kids and a bunch of their stuff rode in a taxi van for an hour to Peoria. At a cost of $100. Ouch. When I talked to her, which was now after 8pm, hubby still had not arrived. Last she saw him, he was stuck on the side of the road waiting for the tow truck. I sure hope he's there by now. Cuz she sounded like she was about to lose her mind. I think she may have discovered a new level of hell.

The kids are happy though. For now. They were excited because the hotel had a pool. And it's 5 feet deep! They all took note of that fact for some reason and reported it back to me.

We're all really hoping they get this thing running tomorrow. If so, they can continue on with this trip. If not, they'll be looking for some place to entertain four kids in Peoria until Monday. The kids will be really disappointed, too. They haven't seen their grandpa in several years and they were all extremely excited about their 'cation. That's Tatum's word for it.

So send some good mechanic ju ju to the great state of Illinois tonight for my poor, frazzled sister and brother-in-law. Oh and when they get back, I probably wouldn't ask them how the vacation went if I were you......

*Update* Saturday 3:30pm
The fuel filter was clogged so it was fixed. But the mechanic suggested a new fuel pump also. At a cost of over $700 total. My bro-in-law said no thanks since he's a mechanic and decided to just buy the part. Total cost was still $400!! The plan was to keep chugging along and try to get to Wyoming. They got about another half hour west when bro-in-law decided they just weren't going to make it. So they pulled over in an abandoned parking lot so he could put on the new fuel pump. So as of right now sis reports that she is sweating her ass off trying to entertain the kids while the hubs is sweating his ass off underneath the RV working on getting them up and running again. Hopefully, they will be back on the road again heading west within the hour. Reminds me a little of those Chevy Chase vacation movies. I hope she's taking pics of all this.

* Saturday 7:30pm
My dad spoke to Bobby on the phone who was somewhere in Iowa washing his hands after having just replaced the second fuel pump. It seems RV's have a front and rear fuel pump. So now this one has two new ones. Maybe the problem is solved now.

* Sunday 2:00pm
They're still 600 miles from their final destination. And there's still something wrong with their RV. It seems they can't let the gas tank get below half a tank or it starts chugging like it's running out of gas. Even though it's not. So every 120 miles they stop for more gas. And to think my sis thought it was too expensive to just fly. Wonder if she's thinking the cost would have been better than all this headache? Wonder if their family will ever take a road trip again? Or will they all be permanently traumatized by this event? Well, at least her kids will have some really funny stories to tell their kids someday about that family vacation where mommy and daddy were really mad.

I'm Really Over This

The weather man on the news the other night said this past week has been the hottest in 10 years. I don't know if I believe that or not. But it sure sucks. I hate to say this but I'm so over the summer. I'm ready for it to cool down. My flowers are all wilted. But I'm ready to rip them up anyway. I'm tired of watering them. I'm tired of weeding them. I'm tired of sweating my ass off to do it. And they look like crap. They've turned a hideous crunchy brown here lately.

It's downright miserable to be outside. It's the kind of hot and humid where you just can't breathe. The heat index this afternoon was up to 106. The actual temp was hovering around 96/97. That's too hot for Ohio. I can't wait to see what my electric bill will be next month. I'm sure it won't be pretty. I keep my house cold enough that I need sweat pants on. Love that. Not sure that'll work when baby comes home. But for now I snuggle under my covers at night. Ahhhhh....thank goddess for central air.

The first day of school in my district was Monday. The schools were closed the rest of the week because they don't have air. Wonder how that's going to fair this year seeing as how they've already used 4 of their 5 calamity days during the first week? That can't be good.

Feel free to remind me of this post in about 5 months when I'm bitching about shoveling snow.

Weekend Update

Just cuz everyone is DYING to know what I did this weekend, I'll give you the run down. Try not to fall asleep.

Friday evening I was off to PF Chang's to meet Connie, Sam & Andy, Robin & Marty, and Rhonda & Josh for dinner. Seems the Canadian crew made an Ohio stop during their vacation. So of course, they had to include a blogger get together in their sightseeing. I was the last to arrive, naturally. We had an interesting dinner where I tried a few new things. This was my first time at this restaurant. The place was a little cramped and very loud. But the waiter was cute. Even so, I'm not sure I'll be rushing to repeat my visit. I wasn't all that impressed. The cocktails were delish. But aren't they always?

Had a little gift exchange where Mia (and momma) got some great loot. Sam made an adorable little taggy blanket out of the most darling fabric. She also included a penguin squirty bath toy. Robin made Mia a corker bow in scarlet and gray. Now all I need is to pick up a tiny matching OSU jersey. There are football parties in our future with the Buckeyes & Eggrolls crew. Rhonda & Josh brought the sweetest little momma and baby stuffed penguin which will have a special place in Mia's nursery. They also gave me a Toronto Police coffee mug, a Chinese key chain, and a cute Canadian ladybug tee shirt for baby. Thanks so much for all the gifts.
Saturday I spent the day at my BFF's place. She and her husband just bought a new house. I was recruited by their 13 yr old, Peyton, to help paint her room. Peyton has new bedding with stripes and polka dots. So guess what she wanted on the walls? Yep you guessed it. The room was painted lime green. We then taped off two walls and painted turquoise blue stripes. The other two walls are covered in the same blue polka dots. I need to get a picture of it. It's very ...uh, overwhelming. But cool if you're 13, I guess.

Sunday I made a little road trip to Buckeyes & Eggrolls country where the afternoon was spent with the same crew from Friday's dinner plus Sam's munchkins and a little buckeye grandaughter. Their house is beautiful. Except I think Marty may have had a few too many when he built the shed. Click here for an explanation of the joke (and as a bonus you'll get the recipe for an amazing cheesecake made by Connie). It was a relaxing afternoon spent with great food, gorgeous cocktails, and a bunch of wonderful new friends.

Oh... and Marty, you had me at margarita! (wink)

I Luv Reality TV

I admit it. I'm hooked. This is my summertime guilty pleasure. I know there are others who are watching. So let's dish, shall we? Don't read any further if it's TiVo'd and you haven't seen it yet.....cuz I'm about to ruin it for you.

First of all, I was very sorry to see Nick go tonight. He's so pretty. And he liked to walk around without a shirt. No complaints here...

One word. Jen. What a self-centered bitch. But I want her to stick around cuz I love the drama! It's Jen-uinely entertaining. LOL! The tea poured over her head by E.D. was priceless. I thought robot girl might just short circuit. But maybe she really is a human?

I'm way over Amber. I'm tired of the endless crying. Over Every.Single.Thing. Get a grip already! Seriously. Somebody needs to adjust her meds.

Evil Dick is a riot. (No Connie...you're thinking of Spotted Dick. Totally different thing.) He's so obnoxious. Such the instigator. I think he may just punch Jen in the mouth soon. Did you see when he stepped into the bathroom and let a bunch of ...uh.... flatulence go during a group meeting, continued with the conversation and sprayed air freshener around his arse like all of that was perfectly normal? I thought I was going to pee my pants.

I hate Jessica's voice. She sounds like she sucked down some helium. So far haven't really made my mind up about her. She seems to try to lay low.

I don't think Kail is much longer for the house. She made her bed early on with the whole freaking out and trying to control the game thing. She's not playing the game very well. It's going to cost her. But more importantly, what's with the name? Kail? What's that all about?

I like Jameka. I think she has class. But the whole biblical influence over everything in the game is kind of silly to me. I gotta agree with E.D. about the whole "Power of Veto for Jen" cuz of the divine intervention of picking her name out of the bag. I mean, really.

I have no opinion of Zach. He seems to annoy the other house guests for some reason. Don't care if he stays or goes.

The America's Player thing with Eric is kind of cool. I wonder if the house guests will think it's amusing when they find that out. The whole weird eye looks he does are getting on my nerves though. What's with the eyebrow raising all the time, dude?

I like Dustin, too. The whole Joe/Dustin drama was funny to watch. That ended too soon. But talk about airing some dirty laundry when Joe announced on national TV on the very first episode that Dustin had given him a not so pleasant little venereal disease. Ouch.

Right now I think my favorite is Daniele. Yes, she was a little naughty with the whole boyfriend at home vs. Nick love triangle thing. But did you get a good look at Nick? With his shirt off? I'm giving the girl a pass on that one. Can't really blame her, ya know. Appearances can be deceiving cuz she actually seems very smart. And considering that E.D. is her dad, she didn't turn out half bad. She's got some sympathy points from me for the whole estranged father issues. To have that thrust upon you in this environment has got to be hard.

Can't wait to see what happens next. My DVR is set to record every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Is yours?