I thought...

...I had too much time on my hands

http://www.bethelmainesnowwoman.com/

Glorious, Glorious Snow...

...Boogers

Ecofont

At work, Jess discovered a new eco-friendly font that can be added to your PC or Mac. It apparently helps conserve the amount of ink you use by having "holes" in the font. We had to blow-up the font size quite large before the dots could be seen with the naked eye. The ink tends to bleed and fills in the dots you can see on screen. It will work well for all of our internal printouts at work.
You can use the link below for the website where it can be downloaded. PC's use the file extension .ttf. Good luck and Happy Printing.
http://www.ecofont.eu/look_at_ecofont_en.html

How are your credit cards feeling?

Mine was quite relieved when its replacement came in the mail last week. It had been used, abused, and worn away to the plastic. The new one is just so shiny.

A thought in the cold

Have you ever wondered if there are people out there that are fearful of their eyes freezing upon stepping outside into the negative degree temperatures that winter brings?

This Cracked Me Up

Fun Weekend

It all started out with Glogg making Saturday morning. Grandpa and I were boozin' up the house with are very potent mixture of wine, spirits, and spices. I never knew you could get drunk off of fumes. :) Anyway, there's a video below of setting the Glogg on fire... that was our after lunch entertainment. Beware of the loud sizzling, my laughter and Mom's screaming at the tale end. Sorry, can't figure out the volume control.

Saturday finished with going out with Matt B. (The guy I've been dating). We were supposed to meet at Panache... which we did, but they were technically closed for a private party. What?... I had a 1 out of 365 day chance on that one. So we went to the standby coffee house of Starbucks and played a couple games. I brought Pass the Pigs. It was hilarious to see a couple kids reactions to us adults rolling pigs on the table.
Today, the fun continued with a Mom and Tom outing. Tom treated us to lunch at Jane's Icebox in Dunlap... mmm...mmm... good. Then Mom treated us to the movie Bolt in 3D. It was a good and fun movie, but not enough things came out of the screen. Mom could have jumped much more.
This evening I look forward to a little relaxation and taste-testing the cookies Laura gave me. They look mighty tasty.

Ever been tempted to...

...drive your right side tires up on the sidewalk? I was driving through a neighborhood at lunchtime that has sidewalks right next to the road (no grass in between). There was still snow on the sidewalks and I wanted to leave some tire tracks. I was just thinking of what other people might think, to see tire tracks on the sidewalk.

I would simple ease onto the sidewalk via someone's driveway and then exit at the next driveway. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for me... the neighborhood was hoppin' and I would have had witnesses. Maybe next time.

Another Chilly Day

Sure, the calendar hasn't officially told us yet, but I firmly believe that winter is here. Just look outside, or slide to your car and I think you may just agree with me. What have I been doing lately? Well, I made cookies with the girls at work over the weekend... some of you may have been on the receiving end of those goodies. I also saw the movie Four Christmases with Matt. It was much better than I thought it would be and had some surprise stars in it. This week I rented the series, Six Feet Under, from Family Video and have been watching episodes of that. It's quite an interesting show.

Well, I had a request to post a picture with my next blog, so Momma, this one goes out to you.

The First Snow... Brrrrrr.

I'm sitting inside, wishing I remembered to buy some hot cocoa at the grocery store this evening. There's snow on the ground, and no hot cocoa to help warm me up... bummer.

I had wonderful 4 days off from work, getting to see most of my friends and family. I had the chance to catch up on several things around the house and have Christmas gifts wrapped already. It's a very relaxing feeling... too bad I have to wait to pass out the presents.

Off to work I go tomorrow... the first 5 day week I've had to work in almost a month. I guess you'll have that.

Smithly Elves from St. Charles, MO

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Olson's do it in Style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Game Night Gone Christmas Country

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Elfin' around at work!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Completely Hooked

I just discovered the perfect TV show for me, to fit my likings at the moment. The show is called Total Drama Island and it airs on the Cartoon Network. It's a "reality" challenge show, similar to Survivor, but totally quirky cartoony.

Besides watching a few episodes of TDI this weekend, I stopped by to visit the parents and grandpa a couple days. I had Friday off and did some holiday shopping with Aunt Cheryl. Then I picked up some pizza to take to Bartonville, and checked to see how Grandpa was doing. He seems to be a pretty good patient.

After tapping out my money on Friday, shopping was out of the question on Saturday, but I had ants in my pants... Bartonville, here I come! I watched some football with Grandpa and then helped Dad with a downed tree before I got popped in the face. I was glad to see my fat lip deflated by the time I woke up this morning.

Let's hear it for a 3-day work week! Yeah!

What to do?

I'm definitely in slacking off mode tonight. I could do dishes or laundry, but I'm choosing to sit at the computer and type a bit, while the heat blows over my feet. I started the holiday shopping this past weekend... quite late in the year for me, but there's still a month to finish what I just started.

I had a wonderful weekend in St. Louis visiting Brian, Joyce and John. I got a nice tour of the St. Louis area, some great home cookin', and even learned what webkinz are. I could have used another day off to recover from the visit. 8 year-olds and driving wear me out just a bit.

Other than that, things are just rolling along for me as usual.

Whirlwind Days

The last couple days have been whirlwind days and it's going to continue tomorrow. Thank goodness I have some R & R coming up.

Yesterday was a blast with gamenight at the Olson-Hertz's. I tried pizza combinations I would have never tried before. No new favorites, but I definitely broadened my horizons. Quelf was quite the fun game to play, yet again. I think the weirdest thing I had to do was take off my shoes and socks, wash my feet, and sit with a playing card between my toes until my next turn... or was it singing Happy Birthday like Marilyn Monroe to the Prime Minister of Quelf?

Anyway, I've been quite productive this evening with cleaning the house. I didn't hit every nook and cranny (or the bathroom), but I feel like I accomplished quite a bit. Other than cleaning like a spaz, I've spent a fair amount of time on the phone with several people this evening. I even got to talk to Sofia!

Did I mention that I got new windshield wipers for my car?... my windshield is now squeaky clean.

Jane vs. Leaves

I think I'm winning the battle against the leaves. I got 5 bags of them raked up this morning before the Bears game, and I have a frozen butt to prove it. I was keeping my fingers crossed that the sun would be out today, but I'll live with the non-drizzly day.

Gotta go drink some more fluids. Giving blood yesterday seems to have left me a bit parched. Speaking of yesterday, I broke the 5 minute barrier with a 4 min 38 second blood donation. I capped that off with some chocolate milk and cookies at their little food station.

Mom came over yesterday and gave me a little tutorial on my sewing machine and showed me how to put some darts in my pants. After she left, I finished the other two pairs on my own. It's not often, but I can say that I was proud of myself yesterday.

A day of freebies

Since I didn't have to vote this morning (thank you early voting), I decided to treat myself to a free iced mocha from McDonalds with coupon. It tasted pretty darn good, but they were quite disappointed that I didn't actually order anything to go along with it. Let me tell ya, I'll take my peanut butter waffles over McDs any day.

I made my way to work and my coworkers mentioned that Starbucks is giving out free coffee to anyone wearing an I voted sticker. Luckily, I saved my sticker to wear today, so I had one on. I don't know what I was thinking... having double caffeine. Yep, not the smartest thing I done in a while. I think I should stick to one caffeinated beverage or less a day. Oh, and definitely no more straight coffee... gotta stick to the frou-frou drinks.

Then tonight I went to rent some movies from Family Video. I stick to the 2 for a buck section and snagged 4 videos for the next week. Anyway, two of them were Free. Boils down to 25 a movie.... SWEETNESS. Even better because I'm guessing one or two of these will be a B movie.

4" x 6"ish Colored Pencil Drawings...

...are what you see below. Yes, I did them. I don't want to give away any more than that.

When it rains, it pours.

What style do you like better???
#1#2

Happy November

Today was a fun day out at Wildlife Prairie State Park and then out to Bartonville to bug the parents and Grandpa. Here's some bison at the overlook near the visitors' center.This photo has a mountain lion cleaning itself, curled up in a ball just below the left side of the downed tree in the middle of the photo. Some people think Jinkies is big, but this cat was impressive!Here's a black bear. He paced back and forth and right below us. We could see his feet stepping in the exact muddy footprints on each and every pass. I can't even do that real well in the snow when I'm looking... and I only have two legs.Here's a grizzly.... I mean this is Dad showing me the generator they got installed at the house. It's a heck of a piece of equipment. It's so large, it even has a muffler!

Happy Halloween

I went over to Tom and Laura's to "help" give out candy before going over to the Iadipaolo's for a game night in costumes. I think my favorite child's costume was decked out pirate with a hook. I went as a security guard and Laura was a jellyfish. I should have gotten a movie of her in motion. Her standing still, just doesn't do the costume justice. Here's a fuzzy video of Tom perfecting his walk as Lou Pinella. You should be able to hear my laughter at the end of the video. I just couldn't contain myself.

A Beautiful Day

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside. It was the perfect day for watching pumpkin chunkin'. It was quite the event. Pumpkins flying over 3,000 feet. That's something you don't see every day. Too bad I don't have a zoom lens on my camera. Above and in between the red chairs at a 45 degree angle is the "You Can't Fix Stupid" cannon with an American Flag at the end of the barrel. Saturday evening I went for grocery shopping because I couldn't decide what to have for dinner and saw a hot air balloon on the way (photo taken behind N. Knoxville Kroger). The balloon would be that small dark spec in the middle. I thought it turned out to be a pretty cool picture.

Would you eat these things?

These are some of the delicious treats that my neighbors at work leave in the kitchen for anyone to enjoy. Thank goodness they aren't my coworkers!

Mom and Jane on the road again.

Mom and I had another day trip on Thursday. We went to Champaign for the day and saw a Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood concert. It was another fun adventure.Here's Little Big Town. They have wonderful harmonies and put on a great show.
Here's Carrie Underwood. She had 3 or 4 costume changes throughout the evening. She pretty much rocked the house too.

Random Photos

Here are some photos I took over the last week and didn't take the time to blog about.
We have Gusman stuffed in Tom and Laura's window.
We were playing Where's Waldo... I mean Where's Stephanie? at work.
I never would have thought to look for candy in this aisle.

Crazy Weekend

Right now I don't have too many photos from my evening with Andre Dawson. Luckily, Jim was there with his huge camera and took many more photos. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get those yet.

I kind of decided that I have much more fun telling the story of my evening, so I'll just share the best picture of event for now. I can't come close to expressing the joy of the evening in words on screen.


This weekend seemed like 4 days instead of 2. That's because I took a nap yesterday and today. It's amazing how much sleep you lose when you keep playing back the evening of meeting your childhood idol.

I did get a chance to enjoy the weather and get quite a bit of yardwork done. Tom was a huge help in extracting the never-dying tree-like weed from between Steve and my fence. If I'm lucky, I won't have to talk to Steve anytime in the near future.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday... I know I will, it's a short week for me.

Oh what night... late September... back in '08

I had the most amazing night, I couldn't have even imagined. I did my best to share the joy with as many people I could reach by phone at a reasonable hour. I do have a few pictures from this wonderful event, but do not have them off my camera yet. My plan is work on a play-by-play and get some photos posted this weekend.

The basic gist of the evening is my encounters with Andre Dawson.
Simply said, I'll probably fall asleep with a grin on my face... well, that's assuming I actually get some sleep tonight.

Monday

Tom and I went down to Old Chicago on the riverfront last night to get a bite to eat and watch the Cubs game. We parked a few blocks down on Water Street and had to walk across scaffolding to get to the rear entrance.
The doorway below, lead into the bowels of Old Chicago that no patrons were meant to see. Can you find Tom in this photo?
Here's a look back at the River Station from Old Chicago's landing.
Those are the tops of a bench and trash can at the base of the Old Chicago stairway.
For everyone's safety, they had hand-railings on the scaffolding and the walkway was lit for us.
It was a mini adventure for Tom and I and quite a bit of fun. You can't really beat catching up with your brother over a calzone and Cubs game.

Basement Geyser

Reporting for...

... Jury Duty, yes, that's right... I typed "duty".

Can't say that today was too exciting. I reported at 1pm and we couldn't use the Main Street entrance for some reason, so everyone was slowly filing through the only other entrance. I'd guess I was standing in line and then in a hall for about 40 minutes before we actually made it to the jury assembly room.

Was I lucky or not? Well, I didn't get picked today and have to report back at 9am in the morning. There are two cases tomorrow and one on Wednesday. At the very least, I'll be able to catch up on some reading.

Shellac

shel·lac /ʃəˈlæk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[shuh-lak] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -lacked, -lack·ing.

–noun

1.	lac that has been purified and formed into thin sheets, used for making varnish.

2.	a varnish (shellac varnish) made by dissolving this material in alcohol or a similar solvent.

3.	a phonograph record made of a breakable material containing shellac, esp. one to be played at 78 r.p.m.: an LP that can hold nearly 10 times as much as the old shellac.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to coat or treat with shellac.

5.	Slang. a. to defeat; trounce. b. to thrash soundly.

Also, shel·lack.

"shellac." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 07 Sep. 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shellac

Here's the Fam!

I can't even begin to explain the joy and laughter this website brings me!
Will you be next?

Getting Hairstyle Advise

Mom has asked me several times over the years about what type of hairstyle might look good on her. I never seem to have a good answer for her. Maybe everyone can help me out and provide some input. I tried some of these on for size, but they don't seem to be working.P.S. Mom doesn't know I've done this as of posting time, so I can only imagine what kind of trouble I'm going to get in to. Mom, Gotta love me! :-)

Just a Couple Things

What's up with these weird images on Google's website. I understand this is representing soccer at the Olympics, but what's with the horse and the snake?
I've got a great puzzle. I was eating some mixed nuts out of the can last night and was wondering how many of the halves would match up. Do you think anyone has ever tried to match up all the halves in a can of nuts?

I saw the movie Tropic Thunder after work last night and got quite a few laughs out of it. There were even some pretty cool cameo's by some big-named stars.

Olympic Schedule

All Times EASTERN