Puzzle Updates

Last weekend wasn't overly exciting. Keem and I did make a trip to JoAnn's where I bought some scrapbooking paper and other crafty things. We were going to do laundry but both of us hate doing laundry and will usually put it off until the very last minute. Because, you know, if you hate doing something, you should just wait until you have a ton of it to do. That makes sense.

Sunday Beth picked me up and we tried to decide what we were going to do. Beth called James and he said he would call us if he and Liz decided they were going to go out. Meanwhile, Beth drove around and we talked. We decided to head to her apartment and scrapbook.

However, once we got there, the plans changed a little bit. Beth was drawn to an area in her apartment. An area so filled with trepidation and danger that I was a bit frightened. Yes, it was the card table and on the card table was a gigantic puzzle that Beth had been working on for awhile. She had made a lot of progress since I had been over the weekend before.

Unable to help herself, Beth took to moving the puzzle pieces around while I decided to go scrapbook. And that's when things got a little weird.

Beth: I found a piece.
DM: That's good.

Later.

Beth: Do you know how many pieces I've found since my last puzzle update?
DM: No.
Beth: One. One piece.

Later.

Beth: That's it. I've had it. Pieces, you will arrange yourself. I'm closing my eyes.

I look over. She has her eyes scrunched shut similar to Hiro on Heroes when he is trying to teleport.

DM: If the pieces start flying around in the air, I am going to be really freaked out.
Beth: I am opening my eyes.

The pieces, oddly enough, resisted Beth's exhortions and just laid there on the table.

Beth: Damn you!

The rest of the night was filled with laughter and many puzzle updates. I believe there may have been a total of 15. There was also the occasional curse.

Beth: So what did you do Sunday night? I worked on a puzzle. Wow.
DM: We have such exciting lives.

Disclaimer: This took place last Sunday and I have a hard enough time remembering what people said 5 minutes ago. I may not have quoted us properly. Sorry about that.

And you know, somehow this post is not as exciting as I thought it was going to be. Maybe you had to be there but the frustration in Beth's voice was hilarious. You know what else is hilarious? The fact that she organizes her puzzles pieces in little stacks based on color. Instead of just leaving them scatter all about the place like I do. Although that might explain why she actually finished the puzzle and I have yet to finish more than the border of one. Hmm. I may have to try this stacking thing.

You still have an opportunity to hit me up for a present this Holiday season.

Oh, Udge is doing this and I am all about peer pressure and giving things to people so
the first five commenters to sign up for the meme here and post the same promise on their blogs will receive a small present-like thing from me. It will help jumpstart the holiday spirit for me. You will have to provide me with your real name and address but please keep in mind that I don't drive and so probably would not be able to stalk you. Unless I am able to convince the Greyhound bus driver to circle around your house obsessively. I think that's unlikely. I have
no idea what the small present-like thing will be but I must warn you, there is the chance you could receive a monkey sitting in a chair. I can be very strange. Just ask Beth.

Leave me a comment. And you know, I think I'm okay if you've already done this with someone else. I like to give presents.

Oh, and if you are wondering just exactly a monkey sitting in a chair looks like, click here. I maintain that it was a highly creative, non-boring gift. Beth maintains that I obviously go shopping while indulging in lots and lots of crack.*

*Beth has never said this. I like to exaggerate. I know you are all shocked at this.

The weekend update - updated!

Can't come up with a creative title. This is very sad. I tried to find other creative church signs to use as a title but I kept running into the church sign generator which, while funny, is not what I was looking for.

Day 2 of NoBloPoMo. And the continuation of my weekend o'scrapbooking. I sense your excitement.

Sunday Beth and I went to her Dad's house for dinner. We enjoyed pizza and cheesecake (her's was topped with a birthday candle). We also watched several episodes of Law & Order and CSI:.

DM (about some guy (McCoy?) on Law & Order): That guy has very unfortunate eyebrows (they were horrible! They were almost squarish).

After this we met up with Dean and James at Brady's.

DM: I don't think I've ever been to Brady's.
Beth (laughing): Yes, you have.
DM: Oh. Is that where...?
Beth: Yep.
DM: Maybe I'll have to fake another asthma attack*.

*Background - back a long time ago, Beth and I ended up at Brady's to meet this guy that she really, really liked. Instead, we found Pete, his annoying friend. Pete makes no mention of the fact that THE BOY had to work early the next morning. He does proceed to hit on Beth all night. Because I hate to see my friend suffer, I decided to fake an asthma attack. Details are here. I still think I should win an Oscar for that performance.

Apparently the boy is there (In case you're wondering, he has been demoted in Beth's affections and that is why the font of his fake name has changed. They never did end up going out and Beth realized that he really wasn't the right guy for her). I do not notice him. I do see Pete later on in the evening and manage to avoid eye contact.

Dean and James arrive (do not refer to them as James and Dean. They hate that) and we spend some time talking about stuff, the usual stuff we always talk about. Which means everything and anything. There is also time spent by my telling James that I did not like him and especially do not like him (I wanted to say "the fact that you are scruffy and that makes me want to bite you" but refrained). I'm not sure why I was mad at him but it's James and he can be so irritating at times. It was probably when he got upset at me for saying that I thought Halle Berry was a good actress. Beth and Dean decided to hightail it for the bathroom then. This is the problem of being friends with a man who takes movies so seriously. He often gets upset over what I deem a good movie. We occasionally agree but a lot of time is spent with me saying "Oh, I liked that movie" and him saying such things as "No, you did not" or "Really? Really? You did not say that" or "Perhaps you should never talk again."

Dean brings up the fact that he doesn't like scary movies and I mentioned that I was frightened by Scary Movie 3. Dean and James are highly amused by this. Beth is already aware of it. We tell them about the time we went to Vegas and stayed at the Luxor and watched this movie. And then I had nightmares. And then, the next morning, there was this scary, scraping noise on the windows.

DM: And it was awful! There was this scraping and then this filmy shadow and I was afraid of opening the window, especially because there was sunlight out there!
James: Why would you be afraid of opening the window?
DM: Because I was worried Beth would burst into flames.
Dean: Hahahahaha! Give me some.

He makes me do that weird bumps thing that I've never really understood.

DM: The only reason I know that Beth is not a vampire is because she eats garlic*.

*Well, I've never actually see her drain the blood of a human either but you never know...she was enthusiastic about seeing what her blood sugar level was this weekend. And couldn't believe that it took me forever to get up the nerve to poke myself.

We got to spend quality time in "the kennel." Since stupid people decided that smoking was bad and you can't do it indoors anymore, all smoking has to be outside. Dean and Beth were willing to join James and I outside so we could infect them with second hand smoke. They're cool like that. Brady's has rigged up this dog cage with heat lamps. It's actually kind of cool looking and it is comfortable, there are tables and chairs outside (of course they are metal so I imagine this will get pretty cold in a month or so). You can still smoke at casinos but that really could have a negative impact on my wallet so don't think that's going to be an option.

Monday, we went back to Beth's mom's house where we ate the best sloppy joes ever and watched Heroes. Finally Hiro kissed what's her name. About time.

While watching, Mohinder's boss came on the screen. Bob is kind of a schlumpy guy with a receding hairline.

DM: Unfortunately sometimes evil is not hot.
Beth: True.
DM (to Beth's mom who is looking perplexed): I have a thing for bad guys. Usually they're the most attractive*.

*Case in point - Sam Rockwell in Charlie's Angels. When he was the nice, kind of nerdy computer guy, I had absolutely no interest in him. The minute it was revealed that he was the evil mastermind and did that hot little spin while wearing the sunglasses, I was totally intrigued.

Afterwards, Beth drove me home and I tried to sneak into the apartment but Eddy made that very difficult with his trying to climb into the IKEA bag and my suitcase. Keem was not pleased to be woken up.

And that is it. The excitement of my weekend. I know you are all totally thrilled by this.

Don't take life so seriously. No one gets out alive anyway.

This is from a church sign Beth and I saw. A church sign. How awesome is that?

Today is day 1 of NaBloPoMo. Mainly what this means is that I am insane and decided to post every day this month. Every single day. Yes, I gave into peer pressure. Okay, no one actually pressured me but there were shiny banners and I succumbed to temptation.

Anyway, my weekend was awesome. I use the word awesome a lot. You may notice this. Do you know why that is? Because I grew up during the eighties and adore Barney on How I Met Your Mother. He uses the word awesome often. He also refers to things as being legendary but I'm trying to resist that one. Beth picks up mannerisms from our friends. I quote television. Sometimes I quote television shows that haven't been on for years. Such as Star Trek: TNG. It's very sad.

Beth picked me up Friday and we went to Minneapolis to the Best! Restaurant! Ever! I did have the Bludgeon of Beef. I also stole from the restaurant. I am so ashamed. For some reason I decided that I absolutely had to have the mini Coke and Diet Coke bottle that Beth and my refreshing beverages were served in. I am using them as small vases for my fake Gerbera daisies. They are quite cute, actually.

Beth (and Liz at one point (as I am sneaking the empty bottle into my purse)): Dana, I'm pretty sure you don't have to steal them. I'm sure they just recycle them.
DM: It's more fun this way.

I may not have actually said that but I was thinking it. And yes, I am a dork.

After Manny's, we went over to Beth's mom's house for a little while. Neither Beth or I are quite sure why but we did get to pet the dogs and cats and chat with her mom. Then it was off to Beth's for the begin of the exciting weekend o'scrapbooking.

Some notes about scrapbooking, for those of you not in the know. What you do is you take pictures and then apply them to albums. But not photo albums because those will ruin your pictures. No, you apply them to special albums which are archival safe. And you also can use stickers and embellishments and lots of other cool stuff to make your pictures look awesome and tell a story.

Do you know what the most important part of scrapbooking is? The pictures. And yet, I do not have any developed. I'm working on my Portugal album (note that I went to Portugal in 2005 and it is now 2007. Almost 2008). Not having pictures makes this a little difficult. But I did make some pages. They're pretty cool looking. They would probably look better with pictures.

Saturday Beth and I decided that we needed to go through a rite of passage that every one must experience at least once in their life. We went to IKEA. Beth needed frames (because she develops her pictures) and I had heard of the wonders of IKEA from Keem so we journeyed to Bloomington or wherever the Mall of America is located.

IKEA is roughly the same size of a small air terminal. And it is filled with stuff. Glorious stuff. Inexpensive stuff. Stuff as far as the eyes can see. This was probably the most fun I have ever had in a store in a long time (I worked 10 years in retail. In a mall. At Christmas time. I don't really like shopping that much. It stems with that whole not really liking people. Shopping is great but unfortunately you have to share the store with other people. That's annoying). We're not really sure how long we were there. It was sunny when we went in and dark when we left. They have these really cool shopping carts that have wheels that spin in all directions so the cart smoothly turns the way you want it to go, instead of locking its wheels and laughing as you try to push it along. It almost felt like I was dancing.

Later on, of course, when Beth and I were in IKEA overload and laughing at the silliest things, we began to feel that we were drunk. The cart helped to encourage that thought. When you find yourself spinning around in circles in the middle of a store, there is probably some sort of drug involved. Maybe they put something in the Swedish meatballs.

Eventually we found the sign for the checkout and headed that way, only to be confronted by a gigantic warehouse. And, fortunately, a bench.

Beth: How long are we going to sit here?
DM: Until my feet stop hurting. So maybe next year.

I bought several frames and a lamp and some other stuff. Beth also bought stuff. Stuff is good.

More on my exciting weekend tomorrow! I know you can hardly wait!

Saint Paul Ink

So last night Beth and I went to Octoberfest at the Happy Gnome and it was, in a word, awesome. There was roast pig and music (granted, it was Martin Zeller and while he appears to be very talented, he sounds like Bob Dylan. But in a less annoying way (I am not overly fond of Bob Dylan). However, this made him difficult to understand. The guitar playing was nice, though) and people watching. There was beef brisket as well. Yummy beef brisket. I did not eat a bun with my pork or brisket. I did have potato salad because, damn it, I like it.

Plus Bryan and Liz were there and we like them. The Happy Gnome is the restaurant that Liz works at and Bryan was helping out by selling beer. There was lots of beer. I don't understand the concept of beer but apparently it is important to have at Octoberfest. There were 4 beers that were called Something Octoberfest. That's just not very original, people. I was intrigued by the New Holland Pumpkin Ale but then I remembered that Ale, like Beer, is disgusting. Bryan had a pumpkin on his table that had a hole and the word Tips carved into it. Apparently people would walk by, see the pumpkin and decide to tip him, even if they didn't buy beer from him. He's quite ingenious. Beth and I also tipped him. Because he gave me milk duds (well, that's not why we tipped him but he is our friend and we would have bought beer from him except that it is disgusting).

We were supposed to hook up with Liz and James after Octoberfest so Beth and I decided to drive around, looking for something to do. Our something to do ended up that we drove around and looked at businesses (they fascinate me. It's so intriguing to look at a name of something and wonder why they do. I mean, the ones that aren't called such and such Chiropractic) and I babbled a lot and Beth laughed at me.

DM: We could go to Minneapolis and get our palms read.
B: We could.
DM: I'm sure they have a psychic somewhere.

Later...

DM: I really want to go get my palm read now.
B: Hmm. Let me see your palm.

I extend my hand.

B: I see you have a long life line and you would have more money if you stopped spending it on frivolous things.
DM: True.
B: Oh, and your love line starts later so that's why you haven't met the right guy yet. I'm pretty good at this.
DM: Yes, yes you are.

DM: Breadsmith. I bet they make bread there. Ooh. Pumpkin bread. That's the problem. I can't just walk in there and buy a loaf of pumpkin bread.
B: Because you would eat the entire loaf of bread?
DM: Yes.
B: Well, it could be worse. You could buy a loaf of pumpkin bread and then eat a loaf of onion bread. That would be disturbing (or confusing. I don't hear well).

DM: We could go to the tatto shop and I could pick out my next tattoo.
B: What about my next tattoo?
DM: Oh, your tattoo too.
B: Laughs.

We then start saying tattoo too, tattoo too over and over again. Because we are dorks.

And then we started playing 20 questions. After about 40 questions, I was about ready to hit her because I could not figure out who the person she was talking about was.

DM: Let's go stalk James. I bet he would know.

James calls. Beth is talking to him.

DM: Give me the phone.

Beth does.

DM: Okay, we're playing 20 questions and Beth is driving me crazy. I need a famous actress who is blonde, married to a famous actor and is on a cable television show.
James: Kyra Sedgewick. The Closer.
DM: Kyra Sedgewick? Kyra Sedgewick? She picks Kyra frickin' Sedgewick? Oh my God. Who is she married to?
James: Kevin Bacon.
DM: What? Kevin Bacon? I didn't know Kevin Bacon was married. No one told me.
James: I am sorry they did not announce their wedding to you.

I went on in this vein for quite some time. Beth giggled. James laughed at me. I might have sworn some more.

We did not meet up with James and Liz but instead drove around some and laughed and played more 20 questions and had a great time. It was a good night. Did you have a good weekend? Was Kyra Sedgewick involved? Did you know she was married to Kevin Bacon?

Updated:

Also, from co-worker Eric, the following conversation.

DM: Pig got married this morning.
Eric: Who?
DM: Pig!

Pig, for those of you not in the know, is my piggy bank. I wrote a haiku about him once. I bought him because I was going to use him to save up for my trip to Vegas for my sister's wedding. Haiku is as follows.

I have a piggy.
His name is Elvis Vegas.
But I call him Pig.

Anyway, last night at Super Target, I saw Pigette (she is pink and is wearing a tiarra and a tutu (I can't find a picture of her online. Stupid Target)). Quite adorable.

Eric comes and looks at Pig and Pigette, standing proudly next to each other.

Eric: You know, sometimes I come here and I am in real world (walks towards where Co-worker John and Co-worker Rykken sit) and then Fairy World (walks towards my cubicle). Real world, Fairy World.
DM: You know I'm blogging this, right?
Eric. Figured.

How was your weekend?

I have a big, gigantic, huge post that I'm working on about my weekend (which was awesome) but right now I just wanted to let you know something that happened yesterday.

I got hit on. By a guy. By a cute guy who had a sense of humor, all of his teeth and did not appear to be insane, a crack addict or an axe murderer. AND he knew how to give change back properly (putting the change into your hand and then the bills on top of it instead of letting the change slide all of the bills and annoying me immensely). AND he knew how to do math which is very important because I hate math and like it when other people do it for me.

I do not see us having a great and exciting relationship, however. Unfortunately afforementioned hitting on occured on the way home from Waupon. Since the weather was being stupid and there was an even more stupid than the weather person in front of Beth, we pulled off at the Black River Oasis (home of the Orange Moose Bar & Grill!) gas station. This is about 100-150 miles away from my home. I don't drive. I also don't know his name or he mine. So, you know, not much chance there for Twue Wuv.

But I have been sitting here, with our systems down, 12 people holding (it was at 40 one time), dealing with the rain, scratching the 5 million bug bites from yesterday and I have been smiling. Because I got hit on. Amazing what a boost that is to your ego.

Why a spoon, cousin?

What I wouldn't give for a huge, hulking, gigantic man who could squash Craig like the little bug that he is. I could see it now.

Craig: Hi, kids. Can I sit with you?*
HHGM: No. My woman don't like being called kid. You go now. Or HHGM stomp face.
DM: Oh, HHGM, you're so wonderful.

I'm not really sure why I can't fantasize about a HHGM who is also intelligent but hey, at least he's not Craig.

*Actually karaoke is no more on Sundays so you'd think we'd not run into Craig but he seems to be stalking Beth. He has shown up at Fridleykins 3 times. My theory is that he has a GPS tracker on her car.

So my weekend was excellent, actually. Saturday I went shopping with Keem. We went to Catherine's and I bought clothes (yay!). Bath and Body Works where I spent way too much money on hand soap (okay, I bought other things like lip gloss but that is not the point). Joann's where I bought a laminating machine because I have now decided to make bookmarks. Said bookmarks are collage like and are fashioned from magazines. My favorite one so far is the one I made of this girl from a Physician's Formula add where she is hiding her face behind a book because she apparently has broken out. The bookmark now says "Investigate the world. Provide the imagination. Renew your sense of discovery. You. A true story." Would you like a bookmark? I will make you one. Just email me at greenduckiesgirl AT comcast DOT net with your address and the three words you would use to describe yourself and I will come up with a nifty new bookmark just for you! Disclaimer - those three words will probably not end up on your bookmark but it will give me an idea of what would be perfect for you.

I showed Co-worker Eric the bookmarks I had made so far and he said I have weird hobbies and wanted to know just how many books I read at a time.

Co-worker Eric has been amused by me this morning. So far I have sliced my thumb on my scissors while cleaning it (do not clean your scissors by running your thumb down it. It doesn't work. Oh. And Purel hurts when it gets into your cut (because you're using the Purel to clean the scissors because it is pure alcohol and will remove the stickiness from the laminator). Just so you know) and sung different songs because they are stuck in my head.

Here's a sampling...

Islands in the stream. That is what we are. Nowhere inbetween. Blah blah blah. Sail away with me.

Co-worker Eric: Hahahaha. This is gold.

I have also managed to get Sweet City Woman stuck in Keem's head by email (we heard it on Thursday on the way home). She is somewhat annoyed with me. On Saturday, as I was waiting for her to finish purchasing the clothing, I was sitting in a chair and doing a little dance to the song. I was not singing it out loud but apparently she knew what it was because of the dance. Co-worker Eric said it sounds like a dangerous game and he could see us in a gladiator arena with microphones and ukeleles.

Another Co-worker Eric quote.

Co-worker Eric: I blame you for the queue blowing up.
DM: I didn't do it! You did it!
CWE: No. No, I did not. I said "Can you believe it." So I could have been talking about the queue. But the queue didn't know that.
DM: I am so quoting you.

You can never ever say "Hey, there aren't any calls holding" around here. Because if you do, the queue Gods will become angry and smite us with calls. He said "Can you believe it" when there were no calls holding and I said "Don't say it!" because I was in fear of the queue Gods. But then I said "Yeah, this is pretty amazing for a Monday." So it probably is my fault that we're now at 22 calls holding. Not that I care because I am on the help desk until 3 PM today. Hee hee.

Oh. I was talking about my weekend, wasn't I? Beth and I played pool last night. It was fun. I won 3 games by default (she scratched on the 8/9 ball depending on the game that we were playing) and won an actual game by sinking the 9 ball. There may have been a happy dance. And then we went to Fridleykins and drove through the parking lot and convinced ourselves to leave because we didn't want to take the chance of seeing Craig and then we said why are we leaving, this is Beth's Perkins and dammit, it's the best Perkins ever, how dare he drive us away? And then we were happy because he wasn't there.

Guess what. He showed up about a half hour later. He either has a GPS tracking system on her car or there's a curse on his name and when you say it, he shows up. Why no, I've never ever read a Harry Potter book. What do you mean?

Anyway, as you may or may not know, sometimes when I get annoyed, I like to pick up forks and make vague stabbing motions. I did this last night but a quote from a movie ran through my mind.

DM: Why a spoon, cousin?
Beth (laughs because she knows exactly what I am thinking): Because it'll hurt more. I can't believe I got that. I'm not even sure what movie that's from.
DM: Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. Unlike Robin Hood, Men in Tights "Where, unlike other Robin Hoods, I speak with an English accent." I watch too many movies.

Later...

Some odd song has come on the radio. Apparently the music for the evening is Top 40. Now, back in my day, Top 40 was actually fairly decent. But these songs now play on the Oldies Station (which is so depressing) and instead we were stuck with songs that were written by whiny, annoying people who have lost their love (probably because they were whiny and annoying) or people on crack.

Some song comes on that is about feet or losing the love of your life or, quite possibly, a gay man's house (I'm pretty sure that's not the lyric but I have blocked the rest of the song from my mind so I can't look it up).

DM: Who writes this crap? I could do this.
Beth: You should.
DM: Of course, the only song that I've ever written was about "grind you out like a cigarette" and "unlike my cigarettes, you gave me cancer of the soul."
Beth: Okay.
DM: I should give my poems to John and have them set them to music.
Beth: John?
DM: Or Bryan. Bryan would work.
Beth: John?
DM: Your John.*
Beth: Oh! I was trying to figure out what John you know that is musical.

*Her totally awesome employee who calls her and leaves voicemails for her that consist of him playing Stairway to Heaven or Paint it Black and other songs. The man is amazing. I've never actually met him but he's amazing.

Later again...

Craig is leaving.

Craig: Beth, I just wanted to let you know that when you said "Who writes this crap?", that was great.
Beth: I didn't say it.
DM: That was me (I did not add bonehead. I was thinking it but I didn't say it).
Craig: Oh. Well, it was communely funny.
Beth: Uh-huh.
DM: Yeah.
John (Craig's friend who is only easy to deal with because you can talk about boys with him. Anything else and he is a whiny, obnoxious, annoying man who is always complaining about working in a convenience store and the dregs of society that he runs into): I got accused of stealing change.
DM: What? That's stupid. Why would you steal change?
John: Blah, blah, blah, the world is out to get me, blah, blah, I am truly annoying, blah.
DM: Uh-huh. See you.

Beth and I then spent the rest of our time at Perkins bemoaning the fact that Craig and John have taken our wonderful home away from home (well, more Beth's because I don't get out there that often) and seem to have invaded it and why, why, why is he stalking her and his last name is what you do when you're bored (Yawn (it's hopefully spelled differently than that but hey, it is true. You yawn when you're bored and you're usually bored when he is around)) and my God, could he be anymore annoying? And then we stopped talking about him and continued playing Liverpool Rummy which is either the coolest game in the world or the most annoying, depending on if you are stuck with a set of 6 8's and need a run of 6 and a set of 3.

So it was a good weekend. Next weekend Beth and I are going to Wisconsin because they're having an inpromtu family reunion and I am tagging along for the ride (and the steaks and garblic bread). It'll be fun. Hope you had a good weekend as well.

Oh, and I have to add this because of Joe. He posted it and this guy is seriously going to be my next boyfriend. I was laughing so hard watching this. Anyone who would film this video of himself is obviously the perfect guy for me.

NoBoPoMo or whatever you call it

Yeah, the problem about this posting daily? I don't have a computer at home. Amazing how I managed to forget that.

Anyway, had a good weekend. Keem and I went to our company party, that was lots of fun. It was held in this old building near our work that's been renovated and turned into a bar and restaurant. The food was fantastic and there was a hot bartender who actually dug through the trash to get me wine corks*. How can you not love that in a man?

*I collect wine corks because I am going to be making cork boards. It was not a random gesture on his part. But really, what could say "I adore you, strange but somewhat cute woman, let me dig through the trash for you" than him digging through the trash? After all, I stole a knife for James as a sign of my devotion.

We got our pictures taken when we first walked in and there was a nice surprise attached, well, actually two. One was that I looked fairly decent in the picture. Before you tell me to shut up, I am not photogenic. I know that. Yes, okay, I have some pictures that turn out okay but it isn't normal. The second surprise was that we received new frames with NABABNA inscribed on the bottom. Very nice looking.

Also, there was 3 seperate caricaturists and Keem and I decided to get one done of us, something to hang in the new apartment. After making sure that the caricaturist was aware that Keem and I are just roommates (many people assume otherwise and, after seeing the drawing she had done previously, I didn't want a bunch of hearts all over our picture), we settled in for the modeling phase. The picture was great. She drew us both as playboy bunnies and I'm giving Keem bunny ears. As Keem says "This is the best weight loss program ever! Look how skinny we are!"

Sunday I went to karaoke with Beth. Always fun. It has been slow for a few weeks so Beth and I came prepared, bringing some pictures along to plan scrapbook pages for. I actually planned 5 pages in about an hour, so much quicker than my usual staring at the page in despair, trying to figure out what I'm going to do. Beth is brilliant. She's the one that came up with the planning your pages and I am really going to enjoy this. We also spent time speaking to Nicki about religion and politics (set off by some woman deciding that she needed to "save" Bryan. Said same woman kissed both Beth and I when introduced to us and actually screamed when Bryan started playing this song she wanted. Screamed. Like a little girl. Good Lord) and moved on to really bad pick-up lines.

Around 1 AM, Dean, Liz, James and some guy named Doug (?) came up. We had fun talking to them and ended up staying at the Chalet much later than usual. The only song sung the entire night was by Dean. It was that slow. But fun. Fun is always good.

Hope you all had a great weekend.