Brandi's Place

Shelton went out of town with his family this weekend and I was kind of bummed as I looked ahead to an entire weekend by myself. Saturday and Sunday are the two days where Shelton and I get each other all to ourselves. And I love every minute. I was also a little freaked out about having to stay in this 90-year old creaking and moaning house by myself for the first time.

But folks, it hasn't been bad at all. I've enjoyed every minute of it. And while I'm looking forward to Shelton's return this afternoon, I appreciate the solitude while I have it. I mean, it's been a year since I spent a weekend alone and it will probably be another year before I get it again.

So what have I been doing with myself? Well, Friday night I went to a baby shower for a co-worker. She's having twin girls- how fun is that?! THIS is how you do a baby shower kids... in the evening, with dinner and sangria. Of course, mommy didn't get to partake. But, who needs alcohol when you have ALL THOSE PRESENTS!!

It was home and straight to bed. With the lights on in the dining room. And the bedroom. Ya know, to make sure I didn't see the ghosts that I'm CERTAIN live here and won't let their transparent heads be seen until I'm all alone. Ha- I won!

Saturday morning I slept in and I haven't enjoyed that pleasure in a long, long time. I bummed around the house, did a little grocery shopping then showered and ready to face the day. There was a wine fest in Wichita yesterday and I was given tickets. I met up with a couple of girlfriends and we spent the entire afternoon sampling wonderful wines and mowing through plate after plate of killer food and desserts.

I came home last night to play "Bree" from Desperate Housewives. I indulged in my favorite bottle of wine, baked my very best M&M/Choc Chip cookies and played online Scrabble. When I lost 3 games in a row, I decided it was time to kill the games and go to bed. Again, with the lights on.

This morning I'm finishing the cookies and prepping late lunch for the fam when they return. I'm preparing a downhome Sunday lunch of fried chicken, garlic red skin mashed potatoes, baked beans and corn bread. And, cookies for dessert.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/30/2006 10:19:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

To my dearest Shelton,

Happy 26th birthday to you!

I was going to write a bunch of mushy stuff on here... but no one wants to see that. That's just as bad as watching people make out in the produce section of Walmart.

So, let me say that I love you more than you could ever possibly know. And you are my favorite.

xoxo
girl

Posted by BrandiK at 4/27/2006 05:34:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

We left Friday evening for a weekend in Norman. We returned to Wichita at about 4:30 to find our front door standing wide open. A little heart stopping. We walked through and found not even a fleck of dust out of place, which was comforting. Turns out we never even tried to lock the door- the lock on the handle was still open. I guess it's a testament to how safe our neighborhood. But certainly not something I'd like to push.

We had a delightful little weekend. Friday was spent catching up w/ the Koskies. Saturday we had a baby shower for Keith's and Heather's baby-to-be (Shel's brother and wife). They raked it in and I was glad to see them get so many things that they will need. Who knew a baby needed all that stuff. Sheesh!

Saturday night we had dinner w/ Jeremy and Sarah. It's been too long since we were able to see them and just catch up. Glad to hear they are doing well.

After that we met up with Keith and Heather and talked until nearly midnight. This was a rare event and rather enjoyable, as the only time we ever get to spend with them is surrounded by family. So I feel like we were all able to open up and talk about things that we wouldn't have otherwise been able to. They are most likely moving to Maryland this summer, so the time spent with them felt valuable and something we'll soon wish we'd done more of.

This morning was sleeping in, shopping in Edmond, a stop at the grandparents and back on the road.

Now, it's nap time.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/23/2006 05:07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I was work yesterday and got bored, as I sometimes do, and wandered over to the creative department. It's always a guaranteed good time over there. Politically incorrect jokes, gossip and the discussion of where we'll find lunch that day. Ok, not necessarily bored because I am swimming in work right now- in need of a break.

One of the girls started talking about how she and a friend dressed up like the Crash Test Dummies. Me and another guy immediately thought she was talking about THESE Crash Test Dummies. The band.

You remember them- they sang the song "MMM MMM MM MMM... Once there was this boyyyyy whoooo, got into an accident and couldn't go to school...". The singer had that insanely deep voice and it was all creepy and slow. We immediately start singing, and straining our vocal cords.

That moves us into a conversation about how the rock music during the late 90s is possibly the best music ever. And that leads us to Better Than Ezra. We pull up their site and start listening to songs and I was dancing like a crazy person in his office.

I hadn't heard some of these songs since high school and I remembered how much I loved them... and completely shocked I still knew the words. That part of the brain must be like the you never forget to ride a bicycle part.

We started discussing Sponge, Blind Melon, Tonic etc and so on. Now I'm just chilling, listening to my "Better than Ezra" station on Pandora.

If you haven't found Pandora yet, it's time you opened the box. FREE MUSIC- not for download, but it streams like radio and you can select music you're interested in.

Rock on.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/20/2006 09:15:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Shelton "surprised" me with a date last night. I say "surprised" because he had this whole evening planned to surprise me with a night out. All he told me was to be home by 6 on the 17th. I got curious and started nosing around and found that David Sedaris would be in Wichita on the 17th and I had mentioned before that I'd like to see him.

So that is what we did, went to hear David Sedaris speak at the Orpheum last night. He's a bestselling author, NPR speaker and writer for The New Yorker. To say he's hysterical is an understatement.

The funny thing is, I was a fan of David Sedaris without every having really read or heard any of his material. I've heard so many people talk about his writing and about him, that I guess I kind of felt like I knew what to expect.

Boy was I wrong!! I can't remember recently, if ever, having laughed like that, that hard. Side-splitting, tear-squirting, breathing-impaired laughter!

He read 4 of his short stories and each was better than the first. I left thinking, really, he doesn't write anything outrageous or out of the ordinary. He just writes about the ordinary events in his day- the people he meets, the places he visits, things he sees. But somehow his delivery and the language he uses, makes he genius.

Afterward, we got to meet him in the lobby and he signed a book a friend had sent along with me. Very nice guy, kinda shy, kinda quirky in a cute way. I told the friend he couldn't have his signed book back until I finished reading it. So "Dress your family in courduroy and denim" is at the top of my reading list.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/18/2006 06:59:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Over lunch today I hopped over to Yahoo to play their version of Scrabble- Literati.

I played the best damn game I've ever played in my life, and I doubt I'll ever be capable of repeating it.

I managed to play 4, 7-letter words:
Pianist
Blandest
Smatters
and Chlorine- for a whopping 101 points!

My final score was 419.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/12/2006 12:51:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

And it did! I woke up at 5:45 yesterday morning to start Day 2 of the sale. I'd watched the weather all the day before and it was promising clear skies, lots of sun and light wind. I checked the radar to find not a single blip on there. Garage Sale On!

It was slow going at first, but by 9 we had a steady stream of people all day. It just absolutely amazes me the crap people will buy. I mean, did you wake up this morning and know that you needed metallic star garland? Or a new set of dishes? Or an iron, used candles, blah blah blah. One girl walked up with such determination, that in-and-out style, that you'd have thought she was headed for her favorite shelf at Target.

We brought in about $350 for the weekend. That was divied up between the 4 families who contributed their junk. Shelton and I put $70 in our pocket and I decided I wasn't going to do a single responsible thing with even one penny of it.

The rest is being donated to a friend's church for their annual garage sale. Hopefully they'll have better luck selling it than we did.

I'm glad I'm rid of all my junk for now. It should HOPEFULLY take another 5 years to accumulate more. This is definitely not going to become a hobby.

We were also provided plenty of entertainment throughout the day. Directly across from us lives a family with 3 children. The oldest boy is a cutie, 5th grade. The middle boy is 5 and so obnoxious. The youngest is a 2-3 year old girl, we'll call her Ms. H. She has got the whitest blonde hair and she walks around like she owns the world. She is SOOO Ca-Ute!

Anyhow, they were outside playing all day and one point, Shelton says, "Oh boy! That's a lot to look at!". I turn to see Ms. H walking out the front door w/ a little t-shirt, those plastic high heels with feather boa across the toes, and no pants. She was showing it all off. And as if this were perfectly normal, she just pranced right down the front steps in those heels, proud as punch! I was laughing hysterically, Shelton was turned away. Big brother caught on and carried her away to safety in side the house. She repeated her show about an hour later.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/09/2006 02:27:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

My first garage sale was on its way to a perfect start. We got out there at 6am and starting arranging everything. I stepped back and could not believe how much stuff we had accumulated. We had 2 other families bring over theri stuff. The driveway was jam packed.

Only two hours in we had made close to $200. And then here came the wind and the big black cloud. I checked the radar and sure enough, we were minutes away from a spring storm. My grandma had come over to help me out today and the two of us quickly started moving everything in the garage and covering with tarps.

What a mess! It's pouring rain, we're scurrying around and people are STILL COMING UP! I couldn't believe it. Not only coming up, but buying things, big things. I had to help load a bed in this woman's car and I'm getting soaked!

After spending 1/2 an hour with the Weather Channel, decided it was going to be off and on all day and I was NOT going to try to dodge it. So, it's all packed away and if people wander up I'll let them nose through the garage.

Otherwise, we're promised a gorgeous day tomorrow and we're going to take another crack at it.

I hoped to make Barb C. proud, the garage sale Queen of OKC. Doesn't look like I'm gonna make it.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/07/2006 10:53:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I was pretty impressed when I found out, but the more people I share w/ the more of my bubbles get burst.

Today, was the first time in 1000 years that the time and date read:
01:02:03 04/05/06

I started thinking when else this freak blip in time could occur, and our next one will be in June- all sixes!
06:06:06 06/06/06

That one kinda gives me the willies.

Posted by BrandiK at 4/05/2006 09:55:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, we pretty much raked it in on our tax return and after much thought and consideration, I've decided to get a boob job. I'm pretty psyched about it and the new ones should be here for the summer.

Just Kidding! Happy April Fools Day!

Posted by BrandiK at 4/01/2006 09:20:00 PM | Permalink | Comments