Ladybug Studio

Twisted Tunes

Due to a lack of time and interesting content (yes, I realize that's never stopped me before), I'll just share something amusing with you instead. I may check in during the holidays, but… probably not. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!

CHRISTMAS CAROLS FOR THE DISTURBED

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells…

Busy Season

I know I don't have the market cornered on Busy. Everyone's been busy. Christmas is, of course, the most hectic time of the year. While there's nothing special about me being busy in particular, it's still my excuse for not updating.

I'm almost done with everything. I have just one gift left to wrap. Naturally, the most vexing gift is now causing wrapping issues. I had the hardest time finding something for my parents' caregiver. Finally settled on a lotion and shower gel set, but now I don't have a box or gift bag for it. Bah.

I have to make a trip to Kohl's after work today. Because I'm such a bone head. Last week I was shopping at Avenue Viera. I started at Kohl's, where I found a nice red brocade table cloth for only $14. It was a darker red, not a "Christmas Red", but still pretty. Later I found myself at Bed, Bath & Beyond and checked out their table cloths. Sure enough, they had a red one that was a brighter red. With a coupon, it only cost $1 more than the first one, so I bought it. But I didn't want to go back to Kohl's to return the first one because I had just been in there exchanging a pair of jeans without a receipt. The woman who helped me would surely give me the hairy eyeball if I came back to return something else (although, with a receipt this time). But here's the real bone headed part - once I got home I showed the two cloths to Tom and the color is nearly identical! Stupid. Today's pretty much my only chance to get my money back because I leave to visit Ann tomorrow and after Christmas I'd most likely only get half of my refund.

I'm also planning on doing my Christmas Dinner shopping this afternoon. I have to give the turkey a few days to thaw and I really, really don't want to go to the grocery store on Christmas Eve. That is without a doubt the absolute worst day to go to a grocery store. I'd rate it up there with shopping a day or two before an expected hurricane.

I'm really looking forward to the trip to North Carolina. Of course, the visit will be great, but I'm talking about the actual flight. For a couple of hours I will be forced to relax, completely unable to accomplish anything Christmas related. Though, I might listen to some Christmas tunes on my iPod…

Welcome Little Baby

After all the drama and consternation, tonight's baby shower has been canceled. Because Jeanene had her baby early this morning! I was all ready for the shower and actually looking forward to it. I had finished the little ornament favors last night and had everything packed in the Kia, I had the afternoon scheduled with picking up the cake and balloons. The expected guests totaled around 15, which I thought was going to be a perfect number. I guess everything was going too smoothly.

So I spent the morning canceling the cake and balloons, then trying to reach all of the guests. Between Alex and myself, I think we've got everyone covered. Naturally I only contacted the ones who RSVP-ed, so I guess it will be a surprise for anyone else that shows up at Olive Garden this evening.

I'm still laughing every time I think about it. Too funny! Couldn't he have waited another 24 hours? Seriously, after all of these months, what's one more day? Well, since I have these ornaments all made up (I'll post a picture later) and since Jeanene's friends bought gifts for her, maybe we can have a post-baby shower. Then everyone can see the baby.

Everything went pretty smoothly, especially for a first baby. Alex told me that Jeanene only had about 20 minutes of hard labor and the baby was born only five hours after her water broke. I don't know much about it, but that seems pretty quick. He weighed 5 pounds 8 3/4 ounces and was 18 inches long. The proud parents have named him Akiva Jadyn Bengoa.

Ready to Ride

I finally hauled the decorations out of the attic and started putting things out and about. Right now it looks like Christmas threw up in our house. But I'll have it organized soon and it will look great. I've come up with a new plan for this year and it has me quite excited. I'm a bit of a traditionalist. Many of my decorations end up in the same spot every year. I swear, some of the ornaments on the tree are hung in approximately the same area. But after realizing that I have a fair amount of snowman decorations, I've decided to change things up.

The dining room is now Snowman Land. The only items allowed in there must be snowman related. I don't have a china hutch, but I do have a glass front book case that is used as a curio cabinet. I've always put my mini tree on top of it. This year I've arranged my ceramic snowmen there instead. I bought two large snowman cookie jars after Christmas last year which, along with some smaller guys, look wonderful there now. In one corner, on top of a square wooden trunk, are the country snowmen and in another corner on a matching box are the plushy snowmen. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with the rest of my decorations, but I think I'm off to a good start.

I figured I'd work on it this evening after I get home from tennis. But it's raining cats and dogs right now and I suspect we won't be having league tonight. Which is really a bummer, as it would have been our last league play until January. On one hand, I will welcome the evening off, as Tom and I have some shopping we need to do. But I haven't done much activity this week and I really prefer to stay more active.

As I didn't write yesterday, I didn't get to go on and on about the weekend. I won't bother with that now, but I will say that I am currently all jazzed up about mountain biking. Which is funny, because a couple of months ago I had pretty much lost interest in the sport. It seemed that every time we rode, which wasn't very often, I had a miserable time. I was scared of everything and made mistakes left and right. All in all, it wasn't much fun anymore. Tom kept saying that one we got to where we were going on a regular basis, my skills would come back and I would ride well again, and enjoy myself again.

Damn, I hate when he's right! But I have to admit it. Now that we're mountain biking again, I am getting better and having a good time. Greg joined us on Sunday, which was great for me. Just like when Carl biked with us, Greg and I took the time to go back and re-ride the obstacles we missed the first time over them. Greg has spent a lot of time riding dirt bikes in his past, so technically, he showed me up. But I was still faster. Nyah! At any rate, I'm really stoked about mountain biking and I'm trying to figure out how to fit a ride into next weekend, with a birthday party on Saturday, a Christmas celebration on Sunday, freelancing, shopping, wrapping and whatever else is going on.

Really Bad Luck

Thanks for your encouraging words in the comments, Krista. I feel better hearing your thoughts. And you are totally right! Olive Garden = yummy! I'm getting a little nervous though. The invitations went out on Monday and I haven't heard a peep from anyone yet. Which reminds me! I need to order the cake and some balloons. There's a Publix and a Hallmark store in a plaza very close to the restaurant, so I'm planning on picking up everything there.

About the Really Bad Luck I mentioned in the title… I could have written A Really Bad Person instead. But I come out the big loser either way, so let me tell you the story. It makes my stomach churn every time I think about it. You'll figure out the ending, I'm sure, long before I get there.

Ever since I found out that Apple is offering the 8GB nano in red, I've been wanting it, but hadn't placed an order. I guess I felt guilty about yet another iPod. I gave it some thought though, and decided that I would get one, as I love the anodized aluminum casing, which is fairly scratch proof, the storage size is sufficient for my needs and the red is beautiful. Overall, a slim, sleek gorgeous digital device.

I got online last Saturday and ordered it straight from Apple. I also ordered an armband and a A/C power adaptor. I noticed a note regarding shipping, offering Pre-Signing Authorization. One of the problems I've experienced ordering from Apple is that they require a signature on their packages. And FedEx generally delivers in the middle of the day when everyone's at work. I always end up having to wait until I have time to go to the FedEx office to pick up my latest gadget. So, of course, I printed out the forms and signed them. After all, we have merchandise delivered quite regularly and we've never had a problem.

Yeah. Well, my iPod was scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday. I didn't go straight home after work though, because I had a pedicure that afternoon. Tom didn't go home either, but instead stayed at work until time to head to school. When I finally arrived at the house after the pedicure and several errands, it was around 7:00. The first thing I did was head to the front door, where my package would be waiting. The paperwork I had left for FedEx was gone, but there was no package.

I tried not to panic, to push down the feeling of dread. But after scouring the entire front of the house, including under all the plants, I had to conclude that there was no box. I checked with neighbors, but no one had received the package for me. My brand spanking new still in its box iPod nano had been stolen off my front porch.

I was sick to my stomach for the rest of the night. And well into the next day. And right now and every time I think about it. I'm trying not to blame myself. Yes, it happened indirectly due to some poor decisions on my part. But I'm not actually to blame. The thief is to blame.

Now I'm out quite a chunk of money so I am powering out the freelance work to make up for it, which means other household and holiday tasks will suffer. And I'll gain all my weight back because I can't stop snacking whenever I work on the computer. Bah!

A Baby Shower

Apparently I am a glutton for punishment, because I went and volunteered to host a baby shower for Jeanene. The thing is, I really hate hosting showers and I'm not particularly good at it. So you are probably wondering why I did this horrible thing to myself. Well, no one else was stepping up to the plate. And I thought she deserved to have a shower with her friends in the area. (she did have a shower down in Miami with her friends and family there) I don't know, maybe Christmas is clouding everyone's minds and it just didn't occur to anyone else.

At any rate, I am beginning to wish I hadn't volunteered. I don't handle this sort of stress well. Actually, it's not stress as much as it's the idea of hosting special events. I don't like being in the spotlight and this is like being number two, which is pretty darn close. Stacey's been helping me, which is awesome.

Part of the problem is the timing. Her baby is due on December 25. Crazy, right? So, there's not much time here. And the closer we get to Christmas, the less likely we are to have any guests, because people are really busy this time of year and baby showers tend to be low priority I'm thinking. It's my opinion, and maybe I'm totally off-base here, that more people are likely to attend on a week night. I just don't see anyone giving up a quality chunk of weekend time when they could be accomplishing so many holiday tasks. I know I wouldn't. Now, the next thing to consider it the guest list. I asked Jeanene to help with the list, as I wouldn't know everyone she would want to invite. Well, Jeanene came up with 40 names.

Whoa. That's quite a list! Now, she expects that about 20 will actually attend. However, I can't take the chance and assume that's correct and have a lot more than expected. I had to come up with a location, and as my house is not even close to large enough, I opted to have the shower at Olive Garden. We can reserve part or all of one of the back rooms. Here's where it began to become stressful. I cannot afford to feed that number of people at Olive Garden. (frankly, I couldn't afford to feed that many people at my house, either) So the plan is, the guests come to the restaurant, they can eat dinner at their own expense and I will provide a beautiful cake.

I don't think this is unusual these days. But someone indicated, in so many words, that asking people to come to a shower and bring a gift, but not feed them, was tacky. But someone else wondered if that meant that the person would not give a gift to the new mother, if they weren't being fed. Oh, the controversy! I began to feel like quite a schmuck, but it was too late to change everything at that point. So, that's the way it's going to be. And if people don't like it, I just hope they don't take it out on Jeanene by not coming to the shower.

On a completely unrelated note, I love the new comedy on TBS - My Guys. I had read about the show and thought it seemed worth a try so I recorded it. I watched two episodes on Monday night and thought it was great. It's about a young woman who's a sports writer and a sports fan. She tends to pal around with a group of men, "just one of the guys", which sometimes hinders her dating life. Give it a try, I think you'll like it. And you can catch the episodes online, so you won't feel like you're stepping into the middle of a story.