2.16.2007

50 More

Here comes another installment of Brandi reveals...

51. You can count on me for handwritten thank you notes.
52. I eat raspberry or key lime Yoplait every morning.
53. I need to watch less TV.
54. I wax my eyebrows.
55. Scabs are cool.
56. I'm glad I'm smiling again.
57. We're not having a baby this year and that brings more relief than I expected.
58. I'm still jealous of my friends with babies.
59. The left side of my body is bigger than the right.
60. I want to live in South Africa.
61. Everyday I play out some terribly tragic situation in my head and try to think through how I would react.
62. I don't wear skirts because I lose all of my confidence.
63. I don't have enough cute shoes.
64. I prefer email to phone conversations.
65. Niagra Falls did not impress me.
66. I cry everytime I sing the National Anthem.
67. If the election were tomorrow, I'd vote for Barack.
68. Turning 26 this year feels terribly old.
69. I was shot in 12th grade. The guy got 80 hours of community service.
70. I found a lump in my breast last month. I was scared to death. But I'm fine.
71. I've only ever sang karaoke once- "Sweet Child of Mine".
72. The smells of peanut butter and popcorn are nauseating.
73. I like eating things that are bad for me in large quantities and I don't feel bad about it.
74. However, I do make a conscious effort to eat healthy.
75. I went to hear Gorbachev speak and I fell asleep.
76. I pee with the door open.
77. I love Oprah.
78. If you don't turn on your blinker, I will not let you in front of me.
79. I let people in front of me during long lines of traffic hoping someone will do the same for me.
80. I was scared of the tooth fairy.
81. I let my dog sleep in my bed.
82. I keep my college diploma on the mantel.
83. I wish I had more freckles.
84. I sleep with mascara on.
85. Tap water is disgusting and I won't drink it.
86. Colin Powell is one of the funniest people I've ever heard speak. (He's also one of the few republicans I like)
87. I like under-cooked cookies and over-cooked brownies.
88. I need to stop using these- :) - in my emails.
89. I worry that people won't remember me.
90. The crossword in People is the only one I've ever completed.
91. I stop soldiers in the airport to welcome them home and say thank you.
92. I can't lie.
93. I get a weekly allowance.
94. I worked on an Extreme Home Makeover.
95. I've never done most of the things I want to do.
96. I'm a hugger.
97. I like crawdads.
98. I grind my teeth.
99. I've probably searched your name in Google.
100. Growing up, I wanted to be an attorney.

2.15.2007

Sob Story

You know I'm one for details. It's impossible for me to tell a story without including the most mundane details and flailing my hands around.

Last Saturday I was headed out for an afternoon of me time. It was finally a fairly nice day and I wanted to get out and bask in it for as long as it would last. I had no agenda, no plan. I figured I'd pop by SuperTarget, the scrapbook store, hit a couple of antique stores I always mean to go in, and so on.

As I was leaving I remembered that Shelton's watch needed to be fixed and my wedding ring was in dire need of cleaning and inspection- since I hadn't done it more than a year. I go down the street to what is probably the best jeweler in Wichita and this top-notch sales guy helps me out. Big fan of the man we'll call J-C.

He gives me a few compliments on my ring and I'm beaming like the day after Shelton proposed because I'm just an old wife now so no one has any reason to compliment my ring. He takes it in the back to look it over and comes out to ask if I had bought the ring there. I told him I'd gotten it at a place in OKC that for saving my ass from being sued I'll refrain from mentioning there name because I will tear them apart on here. And breathe....

He told me that the ring was cracked. I was shocked and then he pointed out a very evident crack on the inside. How did I miss that? He took it back to look at it a second time and came out to tell me that all four corners of the diamond were cracked or chipped.

It's Friday, and my heart has still yet to regain its normal pace. Turns out I have a princess cut, well I knew that all along, and that particular cut is very susceptible to damage. He thinks that at some point in time I whacked my hand across something and caused the damage to the diamond and the shock traveled through the ring to break that. Wonderful!

I came straight home, nearly in tears. Shelton called insurance only to find out that the separate policy we thought we'd had all along wasn't there. They show no record of it. So they've spent the past week searching through their archives to find where we said - give us insurance- and find where we never said- take it away.

I have a feeling things are going to continue to get really screwy, just because insurance claims are always like that. The poor adjuster tried to call to talk to me the other day and my chest just got tight. I told him quite honestly that I was far too frustrated to talk to him and I would end up taking it out on him so I deferred to Shelton.

So for now my left hand is naked. I tried to find a cheapy fake ring to wear just so I wouldn't drive myself crazy with the nakeyness on my hand. No such luck.

Keep your fingers crossed that this goes well.

Catching up

So I decided to log on and post for the first time since January and it suddenly becomes so complicated that all I want to do is vent! Google bought Blogger and when I signed in I had to approve and agree and click and that's not what I wanted to do.

I wanted to pop over and try to make an effort to get my hiney back on here. I don't know why I don't write any more. Everyday I have something I think I should post and then I don't. Chalk up to my having the LAZIEST winter ever. I want this god forsaken weather to warm up so I get outside and move again.

So here's a quick blast of updates and then we'll see how I do from here...

Shelton came home with the flu last night- fever and all. I'm avoiding him as much as I can so that I can maintain not be sicking all winter. But with every passing minute my chest feels ickier and my muscles are getting achier. Damn it!

We are currently planning our FIRST vacation since our honeymoon five years. We're both completely excited. We've been places, we've taken trips. Some together, some out of the country, some not together. But this will be the first time it's been just the two of us- we're not going to see anyone, no one is going with us. Solo. Oh, we're going to Colorado for five days and what are we going to do? Nothing, and I'll love every minute of it.

Square Magazine is up and running. Yay! I wrote about this a few months ago. Thanks to Becky and Jim for giving me the opportunity to clutter your pages and blog with my writing. I'm having a blast and hope there's more on the way.

We meet with our realtor to list the house next week. Yes, after one year we're selling the house we shouldn't have bought in the first place. I love it- and if I had the time, money, energy and know-how to fix up this 90-year old beast, I'd really love it.

One final rant- I'm so completely pissed off at ABC right now! I don't ever get this emotional or involved in TV shows. But this crap on Grey's Anatomy had better get straightened out. So help me if Meredith dies I will not watch another TV show on ABC ever again.