ABCs of Me

• Age: 29 (30 next month-I can't believe it!)
• Bed Size: Full
• Chore You Hate: Cleaning the toilet
• Dogs: Lizzie and Mr. Darcy
• Essential Start of Your Day: Check my email, work stuff, Facebook and blogs
• Favorite Color: Purple
• Gold or Silver: Silver
• Height: 5'6ish
• Instruments I Play: Used to play the piano.
• Job Title: Lead Direct Support Professional
• Kids: Yes, please!
• Live: In the frozen tundra of Wyoming
• Mom's Name: Margie
• Nicknames: Kim, Kimmy/Kimmie
• Overnight Hospital Stays: several
• Pet Peeve: tardiness
• Quote From a Movie: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
  
• Right or Left Handed: Right
• Siblings: 2 brothers
• Time You Wake Up: Usually around 8:30
• Underwear: I really like those boy short things.
  
• Veggie You Dislike: Brussel sprouts, eggplant
• What Makes You Run Late: I don't believe in being late. If I am, though, it probably has something to do with not being able to find something to wear.
• X-Rays You Have Had: Teeth, back
• Yummy Food You Make: enchiladas, Texas sheet cake, ham dip, pasta salad, various soups
• Zoo Animal You Like Best: I've never really thought about it. Monkeys, I guess.
  

Happy Spring!

The view outside my window right now . . .


I'm not bitter at all.

Really? REALLY?

Just checked the weather and there's a Winter Weather Advisory. Eff you, Wyoming!

Note to self

• Do not tell any resident of Wyoming and/or Idaho that you thought an elk was a male deer. They will laugh at you. (In my defense, I don't come from an outdoorsy family. While all of y'all were out hunting and spending time in the great outdoors, I was going to museums and historical sites.)
• While it may be exciting to see the egg come out of the chicken's butt, it will make you never want to eat an egg ever again. Next time look away.
• It is never a good idea to kill time at Target. It is also impossible to just buy one or two things there.
  
• If a guy sticks his tongue in your mouth try really hard to not think of Ron puking up slimy slugs in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
• Asking about a person's tattoo is a great way to get a quiet person talking.
  
• Clothes can be washed-the love and snuggles of a muddy dog are priceless.
  
• Eat all the vegetables you want, there's still nothing better than a good steak.
• Sometimes honesty isn't the best policy. Sometimes you have to make up a story about a co-worker falling and breaking her leg.
  

Moose Watch 2011

Here are the moose pictures from yesterday. These aren't the best pictures-the camera I was using wasn't that great. I haven't seen them around today, but word around town is that they're across the street and down a couple houses. Apparently people over there have a hay stack that the moose are eating from.





This picture was taken from my kitchen window. The two little ones were about ten feet away from me. You can also see the present they left for us in the yard.




Mama moose.

I was a little concerned about leaving to go to work because mama moose was pretty close to my back door. When I closed the door, all three of them jumped to their feet and I had to sprint to my car. They were actually probably scared and not wanting to come after me, but you never want to take a chance when it comes to a moose!

moose update

They are so close I can smell them and hear them chewing! Holy crap!

I looked out the window and what did I see?

No, not popcorn popping on the apricot tree-it is still winter in Wyoming! But I did see . . . . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . three moose! A mama and two babies! In my backyard!!! Pictures to come . . .

Celtic Thunder (From Down Under)

I'm home sick from work tonight and Celtic Thunder is on PBS. I have a thing for anything Irish and some of their songs are really great, so I was totally excited to see this show was on. Sigh. The appeal has kind of been ruined for me now. Here are my reasons:

• If you are going to choose to perform in kilts, you have to understand that anyone watching is not going to be focused on your music, but rather on what you do or do not have on underneath the kilt.
  
• The audience was full of shrieking middle-aged women, along with an occasional grouping of men that I'm guessing were gay. Actually, come to think of it, it reminded me of a Cher concert, but with much less glitter and skimpy ensembles.
  
• One of the guys has a ginormous cold sore on his lip and all I can think when I see him is HERPES! HERPES! YOU HAVE HERPES ON YOUR LIP!!! Please consider taking some of your (apparently quite large) budget for hair products and invest in some Abreva and/or quality stage make-up.
  
• It's pledge drive time again at PBS and I feel very strongly that every time they say "If you would like PBS to continue to offer quality programming like Celtic Thunder . . ." everyone should have to shout "From down under" and take a drink. Not that I drink. But still, it would be an awesome drinking game.
• If your only choreography is marching in place, along with an occasional fist pump when you sing something particularly pro-Ireland, then you might want to consider just not doing it at all. But still wear the kilts, though. Always wear the kilts.

****UPDATE****
They just did some other dance moves that caused two things to happen: 1. there was much shrieking and hands-in-the-air clapping from the audience and 2. one of the guys (the one with the long, luscious locks, I think) appears to be wearing brown shoes with gray pants. I'm simply stating a fact, not passing judgment. Well no, actually I am in my mind, but you can't hear it, so it doesn't count.

To my nieces and nephew

My little nephew, T-Dub, turned one yesterday. This got me thinking about how fast time goes by and how my nieces are growing up so fast and how I just want to stop time, but I can't. So instead of trying to acknowledge his birthday in a way that a one year-old couldn't care less about (ie a phone call or a card or yet another toy), I decided to type up my best bits of advice. These apply to both him and my nieces and these are things I've mostly had to learn the hard way. This is long, but here goes . . .

1. Practice maintaining eye contact with people. It makes it seem like you’re really listening to them, even if you’re not. Good eye contact also makes it seem like you’re telling the truth when you’re not.
2. Junior High sucks. Anyone who tells you otherwise is clearly on drugs.
3. High School will most likely suck too. Anyone who tells you otherwise has been out of school long enough to have forgotten. Or they’re on drugs.
4. You don’t have to be what or who people think you are. Create your own expectations.
5. Just because your parents believe something doesn’t mean you have to as well.
6. Read. Well-read people are far more interesting than people who spend their time watching tv.
7. Focus on spirituality instead of religion. Doing so will save your sanity.
8. The world doesn’t revolve around you and while you may be special to your own family, you aren’t special in the big picture that is the rest of the world. This may sound harsh, but once you understand this, it will give you freedom. The world will not come crashing down based upon a choice that you make.
9. People don’t pay attention to you nearly as much as you think they do. Fortunately (or hopefully) this means they won’t remember all the stupid and/or embarrassing things you do.
10. Don’t try to be cool. Just try to be a good person.
11. The ability to carry on a decent conversation with anyone, regardless of how little you have in common, is priceless.
12. Pay attention to grammar and spelling. Even if you drop out of school in the fourth grade, proper grammar and spelling will make it seem as though you have received a good education.
13. Never be afraid to ask for what you want. You won’t always get it, but sometimes you’ll be surprised.
14. Thank you goes a long way. Always, always say thank you to cashiers, waiters, receptionists, etc.
15. Sometimes things don’t go the way you planned. This is a good thing. Much like being well read, life experience makes you a much more interesting person. Whenever things in my life are crazy, I just think about how it will make a great story someday.
16. Learn to take a compliment graciously and even though it’s hard, believe it when people tell you nice things about yourself. Don’t believe it when they say mean things; chances are, the person is just insecure.
17. Be yourself. It is refreshing to be around a person about whom what you see is what you get. Pretending to be something you’re not is exhausting and not worth it. Some people won’t like you for you, but that’s o.k. You don’t have to be best friends with everybody.
18. Always ask yourself “What’s the worst that can happen?” If the answer doesn’t involve jail, death or permanent injury to yourself or another, then do it. It may turn out to have not been the best decision you could have made, but it was your decision and you won’t be left wondering what would have happened.
19. Try not to lose your imagination. Most adults are really boring because they don’t believe in things like fairies and trolls and goblins. Just because a grown up says something isn’t real doesn’t mean you can’t believe in it.
20. The movies are not real life. Don’t believe in Hollywood’s version of anything. Don’t believe in their version of love. Don’t believe in how they tell you that you should look. Certainly don’t follow their example of how to behave. Think of Hollywood like it’s an animal at the zoo. It’s o.k. to look at it through the glass and think wow, that’s kind of cool. Maybe you can even tap on the glass to get the animal to come closer, but you never want to be on the other side because it stinks in there and sometimes animals eat their own pooh. Blindly following Hollywood’s standards is like eating your own pooh. It’s gross; don’t do it.

You make me happy

• Meagan's Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing (1 jar Best Foods mayo, 1 small thingie buttermilk, 1 thing bleu cheese crumbles, 1 tsp. garlic salt, 1 tsp. pepper)
• The British version of Skins. The MTV version sucks.
• Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper
• Italian Sweet Creme coffee creamer over fresh strawberries
• My Kindle
• Free ebooks for my Kindle
• Not having to translate semi-illiterate texts as though they were a foreign language. In case you were wondering, my name is spelled Kimberly, not Kimburley. And if you thought that was bad, let me give you an exact quote from one of dude's texts: "Hears haw it is, plain and simpel." Really? REALLY??? I am obviously not bitter at all!
• A full propane tank
• "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
• The end of Hollywood's award season. Could the Oscars have been any more boring? (Could I have sounded any more like Chandler when I said that?)
  
• Jimmy Kimmel
• The Cosby Show
• Payday
• Chicken enchiladas