Adventures in Brokeville

Finally I can use this icon!

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:15:17 GMT

First win for the Cubs AND Kerry Wood's first save this season.

YAY CUBS!

Memphis - some photo evidence.

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:13:37 GMT

Hey, that's me!
More!
My face came out best in this one.

That is oheather78 standing to my left (to the right in the photo) in the group shots. The other woman is from Nebraska. The gentleman is John W. Clark, author of Legacy of Leadership and the person who the Jaycee Jeopardy award is named for. What an honor it was to have him present the awards!

Part 3 of the Memphis saga is coming soon - really!

Memphis Part Two

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 07:14:11 GMT

The network issues seem to be resolved, so I'll continue the saga.

WEDNESDAY: This was the day that the actual convention kicked off. The opening ceremony was scheduled to start at 9am. I got to the convention center a little late but things didn't actually start until around 9:30 or so. Even with the late start, it was over well before I thought it would be. oheather78, Tony, and I had lunch at Leonard's, an all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet. (Come on, it's Memphis - I could not leave without having barbecue!) It was really good, and I ate way too much. *lol* After a brief Walgreens run, we went back to the hotel and I crashed for a little while and missed the afternoon awards session. (I wasn't up for anything being presented in the afternoon anyway - that came later! ; ) )
Wednesday evening was the Welcome to Memphis Party. We took the trolley to Beale Street and walked down to Pat O'Brien's. I of course had to stop in a few stores along the way. One of them, Tater Red's, reminded me so much of a cross between Strange Cargo and The Alley in Chicago - I immediately felt at home. : )
The party itself was fun. The Jaycees had the entire venue, and there were all sorts of appetizers, free pop and beer, dueling pianos, sports on TV...you name it. I met all sorts of people from different states, including several people from Henry's Place. It was good to put faces to names and handles!

Okay. It's getting late. I'll get to Thursday tomorrow...yes, including the Jaycee Jeopardy results. (I'm not purposely trying to drag this out, so if you want the spoiler, look here. I'm happy with where I finished. : ) )

I'm back from Memphis!

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:03:46 GMT

I hope you all missed me. : )

Nutshell version of the week that was:

MONDAY: Spent most of it in transit. I left my house for Champaign at approximately the time I planned to leave (this is a rarity for me!) and got to the terminal with plenty of time to spare. More time than I thought, since the Greyhound bus was about 35 minutes late. There were lots of people on it but it wasn't completely packed. I was able to get a row to myself and had plenty of time to do some studying for Jaycee Jeopardy, plus I finished another book. The bus got into Nashville around 10:30 and I got to the hotel shortly after. Sat up and chatted and exchanged Lush goodies with oheather78 and Tony, then went to sleep.

TUESDAY: Competition day! Since I'd gotten in so late the night before, I had to sign in for the competition, then go to the holding room by 8:15am. There were 6 Jaycee Jeopardy competitors, including oheather78 and me. The written test completely threw me - there were exactly three questions about the stuff I had studied on the way over, and the rest were about current (2008) Jaycee people and events. I really didn't feel confident about how I did, but when I talked to the other competitors after time was up, I found out that they were all just as thrown off as I was - that made me feel a little better. I changed into more casual clothing (competition dress code was business professional) and went to lunch with a bunch of Minnesota Jaycees at a really good restaurant called Westy's, about a block and a half from the hotel. I do need to mention the fabulous hot fudge pie that we had for dessert - it was delicious and plenty big enough for three of us to share! After lunch I took a ride on the Riverfront Loop trolley to see some of the downtown sights, and made it to the hotel in plenty time to change back into my competition outfit and go back to the holding room for callbacks. From the field of six, three would make it to the final round. I thought it would be nice to make callbacks, but I wasn't going to be devastated if I didn't, and I was actually pretty calm. Of course the Jaycee Jeopardy callbacks were toward the end (after they introduced ALL the members of the awards committee, and the head of the committee talked about the process, and they thanked the judges, and explained the procedures...blah blah blah. I was ready for them to get on with it!) However, I didn't have to wait long once they got to Jeopardy, because the first callback started "From the great state of *pause* ILLINOIS..." Me! To say I was surprised was an understatement! oheather78 made it too, and so did a girl from Nebraska. The final round consisted of six questions, and we had to write the answers down on a card and hold it up. The three of us ended up within a point of each other on the final round, and those scores would be combined with our test scores to determine placement. I was just happy that I got a top three finish and didn't care where I landed in the top three. : ) After competitions, oheather78 and I were totally exhausted and didn't feel like moving, so the three of us ended up staying in for the evening and ordering a pizza. (From a local place, though!)

And my computer's having network issues, so I'll continue the story tomorrow. : )

Memphis-bound!

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:05:42 GMT

And of course I'm not particularly prepared. I have no idea what I'm going to wear for the semiformal, and I'm still finishing my laundry. I've got a long day ahead of me - I'm driving to Champaign to pick up the bus (OMGZ I'M TAKING THE BUS!) to Memphis, and that won't get in until 9:45pm. At least I will have lots of time to study for Jaycee Jeopardy.

I may or may not be able to update from Memphis. Have a great week, wish me luck in Jaycee Jeopardy, and let me know if there's anything I need to know about. : )

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:55:34 GMT

Dear IU basketball team,

HOW ON EARTH do you lose to PENN STATE? You better wake up for the Big Ten and NCAA tournament. I'm getting concerned.

Love and kisses from a fan,
Me.

Cheer, cheer for Bolingbrook High

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 06:16:34 GMT

Congratulations to the Bolingbrook Raider girls basketball team for winning their semifinal game and going to the state championship game for the third year in a row. Quite an accomplishment! Never surrender, never die...

And with that, another NonFicWriMo is successfully completed. : )

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:24:53 GMT

Twenty years ago yesterday, I went to my first Jayteen event ever. It was a pizza party at Aurelio's Pizza (long since gone). I only went because a friend of mine invited me and let me know that the guy I had a huge crush on was going to be there. I showed up with Lisa and another friend of mine, Susan, and this guy was there. Even though we were in the same French class, that was the first day I actually talked to him, and for me that was momentous.

Who'd have thought I'd be such an active Jaycee so many years later?

Three Truths And A Lie - The Big Reveal!

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:55:25 GMT

The statements, and the answers...

1. I grew up a rabid Fighting Illini fan, and there are numerous photos in existence of me all decked out in Illini gear. TRUE. My whole family went to U of I, and I visited the campus numerous times growing up. It wasn't until my junior year of high school that I even considered going anywhere else - and IU was most definitely not in the picture until very late in the game.

2. I took an ad over the phone from Gary Cherone (while he was still with Van Halen) and he called me back on my direct line at work a couple times after that, just to chat. TRUE. Happened pretty much as I described it. He indirectly hit on me, too, through his manager. *lol*

3. My father used to be the mayor of Bolingbrook. TRUE. From 1981-1985. Still the last mayor of Bolingbrook not to be indicted or even investigated for anything.

Which means that...

4. I was a cheerleader in sixth grade. A big fat LIE. I was super dorky, awkward looking, and klutzy - about as far from a cheerleader as one could get. : ) Despite this, I tried out for the squad twice (6th grade for 7th grade, and 7th grade for 8th grade) but I didn't make it.

I guess I am a better liar than I thought. : )

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:25:22 GMT

Riley was here for about an hour this morning, while Drew made a run to Argonne. Barney was not pleased. He barked at Riley for a while then went into the front room to sulk. It was pretty funny, actually.

Yay for my Hoosiers for winning tonight, though it was way too close at the end. Just keep winning!

I'll post the answers to yesterday's entry tomorrow. Keep guessing. : )

I had the worst time falling asleep last night, so it's off to bed semi-early tonight. Goodnight, everyone.

Three Truths and a Lie.

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:32:06 GMT

Shamelessly stolen from engines_turn. Three of these statements are true. One is false. Spot the lie.

1. I grew up a rabid Fighting Illini fan, and there are numerous photos in existence of me all decked out in Illini gear.

2. I took an ad over the phone from Gary Cherone (while he was still with Van Halen) and he called me back on my direct line at work a couple times after that, just to chat.

3. My father used to be the mayor of Bolingbrook.

4. I was a cheerleader in sixth grade.

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:59:29 GMT

The weather was fairly decent today, so I took Barney to the park. All the snow was melting, so it was really wet and muddy. I'm lucky that Barney doesn't like to splash through mud puddles and roll around in the mud, unlike many of the dogs at the park today. Still, we were there for about an hour and he did get fairly muddy paws. I was glad I still had my fleece blanket in the car, so he didn't get mud all over my seat. (I'm still trying to keep the car somewhat clean! ; ) ) He had a great time, though.

Of course tomorrow is supposed to rain and then we're supposed to get snow on Tuesday. More weather wackiness!

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:35:26 GMT

I did some clearing out of my top nightstand drawer - it hadn't been done for ages. Some of tonight's finds included the program for my junior high spelling bee (kept), a program from a chorus concert freshman year (tossed), some response cards from my Bat Mitzvah (tossed), a picture of me in my mid-1990s glory (baby doll dress and clunky sandals) that I really need to scan, cute pictures of Winnie and Barney and even one of Myshkin, birthday cards from people I don't remember...just so much stuff.

I also found my diary from freshman year of high school a few days ago. I should post some of the cringe-inducing excerpts here sometime. : ) (And there are plenty of them!)

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 04:14:33 GMT

Today had to be the oddest day on Peegs.com in recent memory. So many people were on there waiting for the press conference that got pushed back, and back, and back again. Now we know Sampson's out, Dakich takes over as interim coach, and we have more coach-hunting drama at the end of the season. (Please, don't let it be Steve Alford. That's all I ask!)

The important thing tomorrow is that IU beats Northwestern, so we can talk about that instead. : )

Since we are all doing it...

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 04:40:45 GMT

so will I.

1. How old were you in 1980? 6 on Jan 1, turned 7 that year
2. How old were you in 1989? 15 on Jan 1, turned 16 that year
3. Were you a Toys R' US Kid? You know it!
4. Did you watch Transformers? Not so much.
5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen? Of course.
6. Did you own a Lite Brite? Yes!
7. Who is your Favorite Golden Girl? Sophia had all the best lines
8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?" Ghostbusters!
9. What was your favorite toy(s)? Barbie, Star Wars figures, Glamour Gals/Dazzle Dolls (they were the perfect size for my dollhouse!), Cabbage Patch Kids
10. Did you have a Pogo Ball? No, but I did have a set of Romper Stompers.
11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block? Yes.
12. What New Kid did you have a crush on? Jon was my favorite, but truthfully I preferred Joe Elliott of Def Leppard.
13. Did you play M.A.S.H? Of course!
14. Did you watch The Care Bears? Not really, but my sister had a bunch of them.
15. Did you have jelly bracelets? Loads of them. All different colors.
16. Did you have a charm necklace and/or bracelet? Yep. One of the plastic ones.
17. Did you have a Glo Worm? Nope.
18. Did you ever own a slap bracelet? A couple.
19. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles? Breakfast Club
20. Did you have a crazy hair style? Well, my hair was really poofy...but I did go to school on the first day of freshman year with a blue streak, courtesy of that hair mascara that was popular for a time.
21. What was your first bike? Does a Big Wheel count? : )
22. Name one thing you still own from your childhood: Oscar the Grouch.
23. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Doll? I had four of them. Dorisa Verna (black), Myrtie Amelinda (brunette), Cheri Amara (redhead), and Victoria Hara (blonde). Please shoot me for remembering all their names. : )
24. Did you dress like Madonna? Nope. I was a little too young to carry it off.
25. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake? Strawberry Shortcake.
26. Did you watch Miami Vice? Sure did. And I had the soundtrack. (And yes, I thought Don Johnson was cute)
27. Did you own a pair of jelly shoes? Yep. Purple ones. They gave me blisters so I didn't wear them too often.
28. Did you own a Trapper Keeper? Several. I got a new one every year - and of course I covered them with stickers. : )
29. Atari or Nintendo? Atari!
30. Did you play Pac-Man? Play it? I was obsessed with it. I had the Buckner & Garcia album, Pac-Man t-shirts, Pac-Man books, a Pac-Man pillow, Pac-Man sheets, a Pac-Man watch, a portable Pac-Man game (not the one by Coleco that looked like a mini version of the arcade game, the Tomy one that looked like a yellow pill), Pac-Man for the Atari and a version of Ms. Pac-Man for the Commodore 64 that played exactly like the arcade version, complete with the little intermissions (unlike the Atari Pac-Man).
31. Which was better: He-Man or She-Ra? I didn't care too much about either.
32. What movie scared you the most? Carrie - the scene at the end.
33. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson? Who didn't? I was pretty good at the moonwalk.
34. What Is The First Thing That Comes To Mind When You Hear "Flux Capacitor"? A DeLorean and a clock tower. ; )
35. What other colors did Pepsi come in? None in the 80s. Crystal Pepsi was a product of the 1990s.
36. Roger Rabbit Or Howard The Duck? Neither
37. Did you ever beg your parents to have your school picture taken with the 'LASER' background? Nope.
38. Do you know what the Ninja Rap is? Because I googled it - and it was also from the 1990s.
39. Do you know why people cringe when they hear the word BUCKNER? I'm a Cubs fan. We have plenty of our own cringe-worthy moments. : )
40. Can you name the family members from National Lampoons Vacation movies? Clark, Ellen, Rusty and Audrey
41. Wally-World or Europe? Europe!
42. What was your favorite movie from the 80's? The Goonies!

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:45:55 GMT

I'm feeling better today. Still not 100%, but I was able to get up and dressed and even venture out to the store. (Hey, that's something!) Didn't get a ton of sleep last night, but then again I did sleep most of yesterday. I'm going to attempt to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight, so we'll see if that actually happens.

I think I need a set of these. It's very icy here (thanks to the rapidly fluctuating temperatures), so for someone like me (who tends to be on the klutzy side), these could make life a lot easier! I wonder how well they really work.

Not much else going on at the moment.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:15:05 GMT

My cold has evolved into a case of the Martian Death Flu. I had the worst time sleeping last night - I woke up several times during the night and I felt like death warmed over. My feet were freezing but the rest of me was really, really hot. Finally, I managed to drag myself into the bathroom (it took serious effort to move!) and get some ibuprofen. Shortly after I took that I was (finally!) able to get some uninterrupted sleep.

Today I'm just going to rest and take it very, very easy and hope that I feel better tomorrow.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:28:47 GMT

As I thought, I woke up this morning with a pretty hideous cold. I've been guzzling Airborne and I bought some Zicam swabs, so I'm hoping that will help it go away faster. Poor Barney felt a bit under the weather this morning too (he threw up a couple times) but seems to be doing better. I took him to the park this afternoon and we were there for around 40 minutes. He really needed the exercise!

I had fun hanging out with no1auntie and company today. I went to Oakbrook Lush on an enabling mission and KEPT TO MY NO-BUY. I'm very proud of myself! (Of course, not having a source of income at the moment kind of helps with that, unfortunately!)

More craptastic weather en route tomorrow. At least I don't have anywhere in particular I need to be. I'm ready for the weather craziness to end already!

Finally, happy birthday xylochick216 and reignbow! Hope it was fun!

Hot Friday night details! In haiku!

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:25:02 GMT

Itchy, scratchy throat
I feel a cold coming on
Off to bed I go

It's Happy Hans Day!

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:04:53 GMT

And my utterly romantic evening consisted of taking minutes at the Jaycee membership meeting. ; ) At least it wasn't as drama-filled as I was afraid it might be. Plus I got to catch up with my friend Mark, so that was cool.

I did have fun with the bunny valentines on Metachat. And it's half price candy day tomorrow! ; )

On a more serious note, all sorts of thoughts and prayers are going out to the Northern Illinois University community. My dad got his masters degree there, and a lot of my friends went there too. (NIU was a pretty popular college choice with people from my high school) It's scary that something like that could happen so close to home. I will never understand what compels someone to walk into a classroom (or a store, as with the Lane Bryant shootings last week) and just start firing away. Very sad.

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:50:05 GMT

Today my dad and I went to the auto show. It was fun - lots of walking, though! Weekdays seem to be the time to go since the crowds are not so humongous. It's much easier to see everything I want without having to push through hordes of people! I did the Jeep test track, which was fun. There were some really cool concepts and some nice new models, but of course I wasn't really looking for possible cars to buy since I just got one. ; )

I crashed shortly after we got home since I wasn't able to fall asleep for anything last night. (I think I got about 2 hours of sleep) I planned to take a short nap but I ended up conked out until about 9:30. Good thing I DVRed Project Runway, although I did catch the end. I really need to get on a more normal sleep schedule!

Since tomorrow's the big day, here's this again:

Get your own valentinr

Or you can confess if you haven't already. ; )

Crush this person!
Get your own ThisCrush.com CrushTag!

I have such hot passionate plans for tomorrow - going to the Jaycee membership meeting. ; )

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:24:43 GMT

More snow today! Oh joy! At least we're supposed to get a bit of a break from it tomorrow. That's good, especially since I'll be heading to the auto show. Of course we're supposed to get more on Thursday, just in time for the membership meeting. (I am guessing that will be full of drama since we have to approve the chapter plan!)

I've been doing quite a bit of hibernating these last couple weeks so I haven't had a bunch of exciting things to write about. I'm hoping that will change soon.

I raise a special birthday Viper...

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:41:30 GMT

to engines_turn. Hope the day was fun! : )

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:48:19 GMT

It was a fairly quiet day today. I took Barney to the park, since the weather wasn't too awful and it is going to be way too cold to take him tomorrow. It was a giant sheet of ice near the entrance! Barney had a good time, though. Some of his friends were there (Marbie the Airedale and Barney and Libby the Labradoodles) and there were several other people and dogs as well. It was the first time I'd brought him anywhere in the new car, so it was funny to see him sniffing it all over.
Later on I went to Frugal Muse to see if there were any interesting CDs in stock. They were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale, and all the compilations I looked at were $2.98. I picked up a couple 80s compilations and a 2 CD Pop Nuggets compilation from Europe. Not bad. : ) I hadn't bought any CDs in a while, and now that I have a CD player in my car I thought I'd treat myself to a few.

In other news, I'm SO happy that my guy Obama swept the three primaries/caucuses tonight. : )

I hit the Lush jackpot today!

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:35:53 GMT

And didn't even break my no-buy!

After my interview, I went to State Street Lush just to look. (I wanted to see the Long Lost Loves box and smell Lily Savon!) One of the sales associates there is a fellow forumite so we ended up chatting for around half an hour. We were talking about our favorite products and I mentioned Flying Saucers. She said that they had some in storage that they couldn't sell and I could have them if I wanted. Of course I said yes! I left with 1 large bottle and 2 smaller bottles. : )

Then when I got home, my box from mail order was here. Backstory: On Jan. 25, before the price hike kicked in and Clean Slate ended, I ordered a Play Your Cards Right massage bar and a Fever solid perfume and picked a Champagne Snow Showers solid perfume and a Cocktail soap as freebies. Time passed and I didn't get a box, or even a tracking number. On Monday I called customer service and spoke to a woman named Chelsea. She said that someone was supposed to call me because the CSS perfumes were out of stock and I could get a Twinkle gift as a substitute. I said that was fine. (I have one already but I can always use the stuff in a LIF.) Tuesday Chelsea called me back and said that my order was nowhere to be found (they had had computer issues on the 25th) so she would have it repacked and sent out that day. She also upgraded my shipping to the fastest option at no charge and would throw in an extra ballistic of my choice to make up for the delay. I picked a Geo Phyzz.
So the box came today. I noticed that it seemed unusually heavy. Inside were the things I ordered, the Geo Phyzz, and samples of Honey I Washed The Kids and Demon in the Dark.
And ALSO...
They sent me this entire stash!
-2 huge chunks of Bob soap
-Another large Cocktail
-Whipstick
-Large chunk of Snowcake
-Twinkle ballistic
-Jingle Spells ballistic
-Bling Crosby bubble bar
-Floating Island melt (I've been wanting to try this!)
-small tree-shaped Greenwash
-Green Green Bath of Foam
-Avobath ballistic
-Another Geo Phyzz ballistic
-Big chunk of Fresh Farmacy
I'm estimating this is at least $100 worth of stuff, probably more - and my initial order was only about $17.40! Talk about going WAY above and beyond - now THAT is customer service!