In memory of my grandma

The other day I was browsing Netflix's Instant Watch selections and saw they had some "newer" movies on there that I had missed as hubby wasn't interested seeing them in theaters let alone watch them with on DVD, such as "Julie and Julia" and "The Proposal" so I added them to my Instant Watch queue (as I'm the only one that ever uses it) and last night I watched "Julie and Julia."

I'm not going to do a full on movie review of it here, as I'm saving that for my movie review blog - Movie Bits, but I did enjoy the movie a lot more than I thought I would! I've always been a bit of a picky eater and not really that much of a cook, but I do enjoy trying food that has things I like in it, and some of these sauces and dishes they make in the movie looked *really* good - I'm half tempted to get the recipe for that beef stew they made! I also LOVE movies that include French phrases and dialogue, as I took basic French classes in high school and college so it's fun for me to hear the language and figure out what's being said (also one of the many reasons why I love the movie Inglourious Basterds).

Watching this movie though reminded of my grandma on my mom's side who passed away the night before my wedding.

I'm sure if she were around and able when this movie was in theaters she would have insisted me, mom, my sis and aunt that lives out here all go see it.

I have many memories of my grandma, as she lived in our town with us for years before she started moving back and forth between her house here and her house back in Pennsylvania (where both my parents and their families are from). Many memories were good ones, however some of the last ones weren't so good.

Before my grandma lived near us, she used to write me letters and include stories and drawings. She also used to always share and give me Hersey Kisses - those were our thing.

Something always seemed a bit off with my grandma though - she talked a lot and was always sure that someone was ripping her off or scamming her. She became more and more paranoid the older she got and even started claiming her children where stealing from her anytime she couldn't find something in her house. Eventually my mom and her siblings were able to get her evaluated and sure enough, like we had always speculated, she was bipolar, which explained why she could seem perfectly fine and normal some days and then go completely off the handle on others. She had gone without treatment for so long though (most of her life) that during her last few years, the bipolar had turned into a paranoid schizophrenia.

At the time she died, I hadn't seen her in years, as I had been off at college and she had moved back to her house in Pennsylvania and then been in and out of assisted living homes back there before they moved her back out here. I heard she was a lot different in the months before her death - very skinny and fragile, barely able to lift her head. My mom wanted me to go see her one last time, but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. They figured I was still upset over some of the stuff that occurred the last times I had been around her, but it wasn't that. I had gotten over what had happened years earlier, but I was afraid to see her in her current physical state as I didn't want to remember her looking the way she did then.

The way I remember her, well, she looked similar to Julia Child - they both had bright red curly hair, pale complexions, definitely not petite, but LOVED cooking! I remember my grandma was always cooking or baking something. In a lot of ways, they seemed a like. They also both lived in Pennsylvania at some point and enjoyed hats too - my grandma had some pretty interesting ones, including one made of faux bird feathers that I remember my friends always commenting on (it was easy to find her in a crowd, just look for the crazy hat with feathers!). They were both teachers too - in the movie, we see that Julia taught cooking, whereas my grandma taught high school students and one of the subjects she taught was home economics.

I remember as a little kid I would watch a lot of PBS, however I usually turned it off in the afternoon, as cooking shows like The Frugal Gourmet with Jeff Smith and Julia Child's The French Chef would come on, but when my grandma was around, she'd have me leave these shows on, as she'd love to watch them, sometimes explaining to me what they were doing (although it went in one ear and out the other, as I would rather flip the channel to Nickelodeon than watch some boring cooking shows).

So in a way, this movie reminded me of my grandma and her love of cooking.

It rained the majority of the day on my wedding, but they say that rain on your wedding day is good luck; we'd like to think it was my grandma, showering down blessings on us from Heaven. She may not have been there in person, but she was in spirit and memory.

The most memorable PSA of my childhood

Earlier this week, one of my favorite nostalgia blogs - Children of the 90s - had a post about memorable PSAs which reminded me of one of my all-time favorite Don't Do Drugs specials "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue." As Children of the 90s lists, there were many memorable PSA in the 80s and 90s (the whole "This is your brain on drugs" campaign being one of the top!), but this one was definitely the most memorable for me!

Sponsered by McDonalds, the half hour special "Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue" premiered 20 years ago one Saturday morning in April 1990 at the same time on ABC, NBC and CBS and featured many of the beloved cartoon characters we watched every Saturday morning.

We saw Papa Smurf, Hefty Smurf and Brainy Smurf, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Slimer from Ghostbusters, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Alf, Huey, Dewey and Louie, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Wile E. Coyote, Garfield, Michaelangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Muppt Babies Kermit, Piggy and Gonzo.

Talk about your wide range of cartoon characters!

And it was all made possible due to the license holders giving the producers royalty-free access because of this being a special PSA.

This was also the first work where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were not voiced by the legendary voice actor Mel Blanc, as he had passed way shortly before production on this special began.

The premise was quite simple - older brother Michael steals little sis Cory's piggy bank and Cory's favorite animated characters come to life to find it, however they learn that Michael is doing drugs and that's why he stole Cory's piggy bank. They then decide to stage an intervention and take Michael on a crazy trip to show him that drugs are bad. In the meantime, "Smoke" (Michael's drug cloud "friend") starts tempting Cory to use drugs, pointing out that her big brother does it. Will the Cartoon All-Stars be able to help Michael realize the error of his ways and help save Cory before it's too late for her?

I remember watching and thinking "this must be something major and serious if they're going to make a cartoon about it for us kids and air it on all the Saturday morning cartoon networks at the same time!"

I have to admit, while the plot is pretty cheesy, I enjoyed watching this one, as they replayed it every few years and it was eventually released on VHS.

Here's the full video of the special - feel free to take a trip down memory lane!

Juniors vs Misses - what's a girl to do?

This evening I did a little bit of clothes shopping for myself, as I had a top in mind that I was hoping to find and figured I could use a few new items for spring/summer. I went to Gordman's, Old Navy, Target and Kohl's.

I noticed, despite being 25 years old, I still automatically go to the Juniors section of the store for clothes (except for Old Navy, as they only have Girls and Womens sections).

I remember as a kid what a big deal it was when mom decided I outgrew the Girls section and could shop in the Juniors section. The clothes were so much cooler and grown up!

Even now, you can easily find a cute top or some nicer formal or business casual stuff in the Juniors section.

Something about the Misses section makes me feel out of place. Maybe it's because my mom always shopped there, or that half the time I wander over there all I see are little old ladies, or that a lot of the time the clothes are just so bland and granny looking.

Now don't get me wrong - I've found some nice things in the Women's section. Some nice skirts, I regularly bought the Apt. 9 brand for nice work shirts when I was working management, and I'll admit, a lot of the Daisy Fuentes clothes are pretty neat looking too. But other than that... I just feel out of place in the Women's section and feel like I really have to search the racks to find clothes that women my age would wear.

But then again, I'm sure in a few years it might be strange for some teens to see a 30 year old woman shopping in the Juniors section!

What's a girl to do?

Which section do you shop in - the Women's or the Juniors? Or both? Do you feel weird or out of place in either section?


Oh and for those interested - Kohl's is having their "Lowest Price of the Season" sale right now, where everything is like 40-60% off!

At least he's got chicken!

That's right, this week's installment of Warcraft Wednesdays is about good ol' Leeroy Jenkins and his guild, Pals for Life.

Here's the infamous video:


I remember when this video was posted in the summer of 2005, my character was in the 30s or 40s, so I was unfamiliar with the instance (Upper Blackrock Spire, aka UBRS) or room the video takes place in, as at the time it was a 15 man raid instance for levels 58-60. My boyfriend at the time tried to explain it to me, but unless you had been there, it was hard to describe.

The room in the video takes place in is just after the first mini-boss in the instance. In there room there are a bunch of whelp eggs, where if you get too close to them, they spawn a few whelps, in which a few of those whelps go off and break open other whelp eggs in the room and if you're not careful you can literally get a ton of whelps like they do in the video. Back in the day, when the level cap was 60, you had to be careful killing these guys (or just carefully avoid them altogether) as it was easy to get overwhelmed and wipe. The main case for going into the rookery and actually killing these guys was because the boss that gets summoned drops the priest dungeon set shoulders (which any healer class can and would sometimes wear back then), so usually, if you didn't have a priest or if all the priests in the group already had the item, you would normally just cut through the right of the room that had a staircase leading upward to go onto the rest of the instance, skipping this room. However if the priest did need the item, you would usually have a rogue or druid stealth to the orb on the far left side of the room that summoned the boss and then hurry back to the room just outside where the rest of the group would wait and kill everything safely (usually with a ton of AoE), so that you didn't have to worry about more eggs breaking than necessary.

This video is funny because it totally mocks how serious some raid leaders were (and still are) when it comes to raid strategies and that there's always the one dumbass that wasn't listening or paying attention who runs in and messes it up for everyone, causing a wipe.

This video became huge among the WoW community, with people quoting it and threatening to "pull a Leeroy" and became worldwide.

• In the WoW South Park episode, they pay homage to Leroy Jenkins, as the main antagonist of the episode is known as Jenkins.
  
• Blizzard (the company behind WoW) even made a Leroy achievement just prior to the release of the last expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, where if you go into the rookery in UBRS and your party kills 50 whelps in 15 seconds, you get the achievement "Leeeeeeeeeeeeroy!" and the title "Jenkins" that you can select to have displayed after your character's name tag.
  
• There is also a Leeroy Jenkins card in the WoW Trading Card Game too, and is a detriment to the rest of the player's team, exhausting them for the current and following turns. For gameplay reasons, his effects are not entirely negative: although no one else can attack, Leeroy can attack instantly should the player repeat Leeroy's famous shout Lerrrrooooy jenkinnns, and his attack is unusually high compared to the cost of playing him. However, his health is such that opponents should deal with him easily on subsequent turns.
  
• In the WoW Miniatures Game, there was also a Leeroy Jenkins figurine created, holding a chicken leg in his left hand.
  
• In 2007, Toyota released an ad for the Toyota Tacoma parodying the video, using the line "Let's do this!"
  
• And apparently, on the DVD release of the movie Year One there is a deleted scene in which the character Isaac ruins a planned attack by running senselessly into battle screaming the famed battle cry, "Let's do this! Leeeroooyy Jennkinnnnsss!" and getting his entire party killed in the process. Isaac himself escapes the fate of his party, and when confronted by a dying companion, goes on to say, "at least I have chicken".

So keep on doing stupid, silly things in your MMOs and posting them to Youtube - you never know, you might be the next WoW sensation to get picked up by the media!

Look a Likes and Glee

Please tell me I'm not the only one that confuses these 2 (Timothy Olyphant and Josh Duhamel) in movies!

 

Olyphant I know best as the title character in the movie adaption of the video game "Hitman" as well as being the main antagonist in Die Hard 4 ("Live Free or Die Hard") and Duhamel is best known (aside from being Mr. Fergie) for his roles in both Transformers movies and the recent romantic comedy "When in Rome." But other than that, I'm always getting the 2 of them confused because they look sooooo much alike when Olyphant doesn't have his head shaved!

Want a recent example? When the recent horror movie "The Crazies" had its trailer all over TV, I honestly thought it was Duhamel until I searched for this comparison photo and learned that nope, it was Olyphant.

Can you tell the difference??

 

Also, I recently downloaded and got caught up on the first season of the TV show Glee. Anyone else think there is a striking resemblance between the Glee Club's female lead Rachel (Lea Michele) and famous Broadway singer Idina Menzel?

Maybe it's just the dark hair and big lips, but I think Michele looks like a slightly younger Menzel! I can't wait for the upcoming episodes too, with the 2 of them on screen together, as Menzel has a recurring guest role as the director of a rival school's Glee club and I guess the 2 of them have a duet in an upcoming episode.

For those not familar with the show, here's a quick recap.

Spanish teacher will Will Shuester and Glee club alumni decides to take over as the new director for the Glee club when the previous director is fired and has hopes of making Glee cool again, as it was when he was in school. However, due to the school's budget getting cut, he has to get the Glee club to win at Sectionals and then place at Regionals or else the program will get cut. Making this difficult is the school's cheerleading director Sue Sylvester, as she's determined to end the Glee club for good, as the budget money to fund it is coming out of her Cheerios (the name of the cheerleading squad) budget.

Leading the Glee club is the overly ambitious sophomore Rachel, who has been rehearsing for her big debut since she was 3, Mercedes the token black girl who can really belt out the tunes and dreams of having her own record someday, Kurt the flamboyant likeable gay character who can also really sing, wheel-chaired Artie who also has connections to the jazz band and often plays bass, and then there's Tina the cute little Asian girl with a style of her own.

Trying to make Glee club more accepted, Will gets star quarterback Finn to join, in which Quinn the head cheerleader and Finn's girlfriend joins to keep an eye on him as he's starting to get cozy with the Glee club female lead Rachel. Following Quinn are cheerleaders Santana and Brittney, who serve as Sue's spies, leaking her information and helping her mess up the Glee club from within, although secretly they admit that they actually enjoy Glee. After Glee helps the football team win a game, several football players join, including Puck who joins to keep an eye on Quinn, as he knocked her up although she thinks he's a deadbeat and instead lies to Finn saying he's the dad.

Aside from getting the Glee club to Sectionals (and later Regionals) and the typical high school drama, Will also has drama of his own, as he married his high school sweetheart Terri. The 2 decide to start trying to have a family and Terri, believing she is pregnant announces it to Will, but it turns out after she visits the gyno that she's having a hysterical pregnancy, where she wants a baby so bad her body starts giving off some of the symptoms. Afraid she's losing Will to the school's cute but OCD guidance counselor Emma (who serves as Will's closest friend at school and does have a crush on him), she lies and continues to fake being pregnant wearing a baby bump belt and talking Quinn into giving her her baby when she has it since she's just a teen and can't raise a kid on her own.

Lots of drama, some comedic moments and quite a bit of fun singing and dancing.

The only thing that annoys me is how obvious it is that on screen for the song and dance numbers that the cast is lip-syncing to a previous recording they did. Yes, it's TV and it's expected, but still. In movies it seems more natural and not as noticeable - here it just seems obvious.

Now that I'm caught up though I plan on watching this one weekly.

It airs at 9/8c Tuesdays on Fox.

Chinese Baby Calendar

So last fall, soon after my best friend from high school told me she was pregnant, she began telling me about this Chinese Baby Calendar and how it really seemed accurate - it was accurate in predicting the gender of her son, and it was accurate for mom with both herself and her brother.

According to the calendar, my friend could expect a baby girl. When she went in to find out during her 5th month, sure enough, the doctor said it was a girl!

She asked me to find out my mom's information and see if it was correct in telling the gender of both me and my sister, and sure enough - it was!

Fascinated, we started trying it with other people we knew that were pregnant and knew what the sex was as well as ones that already had kids and strange enough, it was always correct!

Now I'm not one to believe in silly things like, but the fact it's been correct for everyone we've tried it with... it's a little freaky!

How it works is that it takes the age you were when you conceived and then what month you conceived in and that's how you can predict what gender your child will be.

So for example, if hubby and I conceived this cycle (April) we can expect to be having a boy based off of this, as I'm currently 25 and the conception month would be April.

Here's a link to the simple calendar/chart.

I'm half tempted to have my mother-in-law cross check it with all her kids, as she's had 6, just to see how it accurate is!

Music Shuffle Monday (4.26.10)

1. "Liberate" by Disturbed
One of my favorite songs by Disturbed (and on their 2nd album, Believe), despite the f-bombs in it - the message is pretty good though. I've seen Disturbed live twice too - once in their hometown of Chicago and the other up in Milwaukee - both times were pretty good! They've really come a long way from their early albums, which were very dark and often mentioned struggling with inner demons (as one of my brother in law's put it, lead singer David Draiman probably knows more about demons and suicide than most preachers, as it's clear he's had encounters of his own based off their songs - just listen to their first album, "The Sickness"), to now where they're more about unity and coming together to make a difference.

2. "Angry White Boy Polka" by Weird Al
I have always loved Weird Al's polka medley's ever since the first one I heard on "Bad Hair Day." In this 5 minute medley of his 11th album, 2003's Grammy-winning Poodle Hat, he puts together the songs "Last Resort" by Papa Roach, "Chop Suey!" by System of a Down, "Get Free" by The Vines, "Hate to Say I Told You So" by The Hives, "Fell in Love with a Girl" by The White Stripes, "Last Nite" by The Strokes, "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed, "Renegades of Funk" by Rage Against the Machine, "My Way" by Limp Bizkit, "Outside" by Staind, "Bawitdaba" by Kid Rock, "Youth of the Nation" by P.O.D., and "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem. Hubby has a ton of Weird Al albums on our computer, and this is one of them.

3. "Nobody Knows" by Tony Rich Project
Who forgot this one from the 90s? The other week I went a bit of a kick and downloaded a bunch of songs I remembered from back then, this being one of them. This one was all over the radio back then. I'm not much for R&B, but this one had more of a pop edge to it, so I think that's why I didn't mind it so much.

4. "Otsegolation" by Static-X
This one is from Static-X's first album and Static-X is one of my favorite bands. Their "evil disco," as they call it, is very different from most rock/metal stuff you hear on the radio, as they're a bit more industrial. They also put on some of the best live shows I've seen! I've seen em 3 times, 2 different tours, all at the same venue and nope, I never get bored of em! Their shows are soooo energetic, I actually get sad when they come to town or Chicago and I can't afford to go, that's how good a show they put on is! My only complaint is that singer Wayne Static seems to be a bit too into his new wife - that's great that he is, but I don't think it's fair to put out an album (Cult of Static) saying it's for the fans, yet 2 of the songs are clearly named for your wife ("Tera-fied" and "Sting-wrey") with her doing vocals on one of them.

5. "Face to Face" by Sevendust
This off their 4th album "Seasons," it's reported that Sevendust closes every set with this song since it's release. Sevendust is a band I'm starting to think that I'll never get to see a full set of. I've tried multiple times to see them, 3 of which I recall pretty well. The first, they played my hometown's annual Labor Day weekend festival with the rest of their tour (which included Staind, Kittie, and Powerman5000). My friend and I tickets to see another band on the other side of the river, but once that was over, we ran over to the stage where Sevendust was playing and caught their last song. The 2nd time, my boyfriend at the time in college and myself got tickets to see the tour they did with Staind. I had class that day, so we didn't get to leave til after 5pm, and with traffic we didn't get there til about 7:45pm. The show started at 7, but there was an opening band so we figured we were fine. We learned the opening band canceled and Sevendust went on first and low and behold, we walked in right as Sevendust was doing their last song. We endured through Staind (which sucked) since we drove all the way there and bought our tickets but we didn't really care much for them - we had gone to see Sevendust. The third time, they were headlining at my favorite venue in Chicago (House of Blues) and hubby and I were talking about going, however something happened last minute (days before the show) and we didn't have the money to go.

The wooden playground of my youth

Whatever happened to the fun wooden playgrounds of yester-years?

Growing up, just outside my neighborhood we had 2 wooden playgrounds.

The first, was a tall structure with 3 different levels and wooden bridge where the boards would sink a little as you ran across it. It had metal poles and metal slides, 2 sets of swings and then another section with tall plastic structures with holes that we could climb in and play in.

The other playground was built just a short walk next to this one and it was huge (24000 sq ft to be exact)! The majority of it was made out of wood with all sorts of nooks and crannys you could play hide and seek in. It had like 5 different slides of varying height and curvy-ness, an area with swings, several of those wobbly bridges, monkey bars, and an area with old tires to jump through, swing on, and run across. It also had PVC piping in it that went to different parts of the playground, so you could talk to your friends on the other ends! It was pretty fun going to 1 of the 3 or 4 pipes, talking into it and trying to find which one the other person was at!

This was seriously the best playground ever - the thumbnail doesn't do it justice!

I remember spending hours there in the warm evenings and on the weekends it was crawling with kids! Our parents would sit on the benches and read books while we'd have adventures with our friends, using our imaginations to create scenarios and breaking into groups with some of the other kids there.

Here's a few photos of it, from back in the day:

In this one, where I'm probably about 3 or 4 years old in the late 1980s, you can kinda see how the wooden structure was - the whole playground was like that, and to the right, there's some kids swinging on of the forms of monkey bars the playground had. Oh yeah and instead of gravel underneath, it was sand, so it didn't hurt so much when you would fall.

Here's me and my best friends when I was 3 and 4 years old playing on the swings - we all lived on the same block so our parents would often bring us to the playground together. There was one "handicapped" chair swing, but we all thought that was the best swing there, as we were small enough that 2 of us could sit in it at once, and it had a back to it, unlike the other swings, so we could relax a little more and put our feet up on the bar! That wooden structure behind us is where the unisex Port-A-Potty was. It smelled so we rarely used it. And in the background you can see a soccer goal - there was a field just behind the playground, so various local kids teams would come and use it, as it belonged to the park district.

Unfortunately, in the early 90s, some businesswoman bought the property the park was on decided that wouldn't make her money, so she had them tear down our beloved wooden playground - we were all furious and upset too, how dare they tear down our playground! Fortunately, they were able to keep it in pieces and eventually rebuilt it, however it was moved all the way across town, and by that time we were all older. I'll probably take my kids to it someday, just so they too can experience the awesomeness of this old playground!

That woman never did anything with the property either - to this day, it's still vacant with a For Sale - Will Build to Suit to sign that's been there for about 10 years now.

Quitting Mary Kay & having an Inventory Blow Out sale

These past few weeks I've been thinking about quitting my Mary Kay business. Well, after talking it over with my husband, we both agreed that perhaps this isn't the best business for me. While I've seen it work wonders in the lives of various women, and I have NOTHING against the company (I love everything it stands for and the principles Mary Kay Ash founded it on) and LOVE the products, I just don't feel, after trying for a little over 6 months, that the whole direct sales business is really for me.

I do plan on continuing to use the products myself though, and fully intend on having a party every so often to get some of the great hostess benefits!

Since I am quitting my Mary Kay business, I do have quite a bit of on hand inventory that I am offering for 50% off the retail price (plus 8.25% sales tax). Below is a list of products I still have and will be selling through Monday on a first come, first serve basis, so if there is anything you see on the list that you want, let me know ASAP and I will set it aside, so long as you can pay me by the end of Monday! I can take credit cards over the internet, so if you're interested contact me and we can go over the total first. For those not in the Northern Illinois region (within an hour or so of Rockford), I can ship to you, however I will be charging an additional $4 to help with shipping costs. All orders of $40 or more (before tax) will receive a free gift!

Please go here to visit the post on my other blog that has all the products I have left and links to their info.

I'm having a Mary Kay Inventory Blowout Sale!

So the other day I mentioned I was thinking about quitting my Mary Kay business. Well, after talking it over with hubby, we both agreed that perhaps this isn't the best business for me. While I've seen it work wonders in the lives of various women, and I have NOTHING against the company (I love everything it stands for and the principles Mary Kay Ash founded it on) and LOVE the products, I just don't feel, after trying for a little over 6 months, that the whole direct sales business is really for me.

I do plan on continuing to use the products myself though, and fully intend on having a party every so often to get some of the great hostess benefits!

If you are interested in continuing to use and purchase Mary Kay products, I would like to direct you to a few friends and a fellow Mary Kay beauty consultants in my unit, Cherice (who I've known for a long time, as we both attended the same school for many years, in addition to going to the same church together for as long as I can recall!) and Leah (we connected a bit through our unit's events and I know she's got some big goals and dreams she's aspiring to reach in this business) - either of them would LOVE to help you with all your Mary Kay needs.

Since I am quitting my Mary Kay business, I do have quite a bit of on hand inventory that I am offering for 50% off the retail price (plus 8.25% sales tax). Below is a list of products I still have and will be selling through Monday on a first come, first serve basis, so if there is anything you see on the list that you want, let me know ASAP and I will set it aside, so long as you can pay me by the end of Monday! I can take credit cards over the internet, so if you're interested contact me and we can go over the total first. For those not in the Northern Illinois region (within an hour or so of Rockford), I can ship to you, however I will be charging an additional $4 to help with shipping costs. All orders of $40 or more (before tax) will receive a free gift!
 

Timewise Products

1 Timewise Miracle Set (Dry/Normal) - $45
1 Timewise Miracle Set (Combo/Oily) - $45
1 Timewise Miracle Trial Set (Dry/Normal) - $22
1 Timewise Miracle Trial Set (Combo/Oily) - $22
1 Timewise Replenishing Serum +C - $27.50
2 Timewise Firming Eye Cream - $15 each
1 Timewise Targeted Action Toning Lotion - $14
1 Timewise Targeted Action Eye Revitalizer - $17.50
1 Timewise Targeted Action Line Reducer - $20
3 Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser Dry/Normal - $9 each
2 Timewise 3-in-1 Cleanser Combo/Oily - $9 each
2 Timewise Age-Fighting Moisturizer Dry/Normal - $11 each
2 Timewise Age-Fighting Moisturizer Combo/Oily - $11 each
1 Timewise Night Solution - $15
1 Timewise Even Complexion Essence - $17.50

Other Skincare Products

2 Oil Free Hydrating Gel - $15 each


Mineral Powder Foundation

• 1 Mineral Powder Foundation (Ivory 1) - $9
• 1 Mineral Powder Foundation (Ivory 2) - $9

Concealers

• 1 Concealer (Ivory) - $5
  2 Concealer (Beige) - $5 each
  2 Concealer (Yellow) - $5 each

Medium Coverage Foundations:

• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 100 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 104 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 200 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Ivory 204 - $7.50
• 3 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 300 - $7.50 each
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 304 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 400 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Beige 404 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 500 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 607 - $7.50
• 1 Medium Coverage Foundation – Bronze 708 - $7.50

Cheeks

3 Mineral Bronzing Powder (Sandstone) - $6 each
2 Mineral Highlighting Powder (Pink Porcelain) - $6 each
1 Mineral Cheek Color (Sunny Spice) - $5
1 Mineral Cheek Color (Pink Petals) - $5

Eye Products

2 Ultimate Mascara (Black) - $7.50 each
1 Waterproof Mascara (Black) - $5
1 Lash Lengthening Mascara (Black Brown) - $5
1 Eyescicles (Island Bronze) - $5
1 Eye Primer - $5
1 Eyeliner (Black) - $5 each
2 Eyeliner (Deep Brown) - $5 each

Mineral Eye Colors

• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Amber Blaze - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Blue Metal - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Chocolate Kiss - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Cinnabar - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Dusty Lilac - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Espresso - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Granite - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Hazelnut - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Ivy Garden - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Lemongrass - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Navy - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Precious Pink - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Raisin - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Silky Caramel - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Spun Silk - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Steel - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Cream - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Plum - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Sweet Pink - $3.25
• 1 Mineral Eye Color – Vintage Gold - $3.25

Lips

1 Satin Lips Set - $9
1 Crème Lipstick (Whipped Berries) - $6.50
1 Crème Lipstick (Frosted Rose) - $6.50
1 Crème Lipstick (Raisinberry) - $6.50
1 Lip Liner (Neutral) - $5
1 Lip Liner (Dusty Rose) - $5
1 Lip Liner (Chocolate) - $5
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Blush) - $6.50
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Natural) - $6.50
1 Tinted Lip Balm (Rose) - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Bronze Bliss - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Melon Sorbet - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Gold Rush - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Pink Diamonds - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Sugarberry - $6.50
1 Nourishine Lipgloss – Sweet Raisin - $6.50

Lotions

1 Body Lotion – Warm Amber - $7.50
1 Body Lotion – Simply Cotton - $7.50
1 Body Lotion – Honeysuckle - $7.50

Fragrances

1 Journey Eau de Parfum - $18
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Warm Amber - $12.50
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Simply Cotton - $12.50
1 Eau de Toilette Spray – Honeysuckle - $12.50

Extras

4 Mineral Foundation Brush - $5 each
1 Applicators (Cosmetic Sponges 2pk) - $1.25
1 Applicators (Eye Applicators 2pk) - $1.25
2 Applicators (Compact Powder Brush) - $2 each
1 Brush Collection - $24
1 Compact Pro (unfilled) - $17.50

Limited Edition Items

1 Lip Nectar Coconut - $7.50
1 Loose Eyeshadow – Pink Organza - $7
1 Loose Eyeshadow – Cashmere - $7
1 Romantic Notions Set – Soft Sable - $15
1 Peppermint Cream Lotion and Shower Gel set - $7.50

Advice for the Day

Don't EVER let your siblings date your in-laws.

Just. Don't.

Save yourself the headaches and stress, as nothing but drama can come of it, post break-up.

That is all.

What is wrong with kids today?

As I mentioned before, hubby was working "part-time" at a kiosk out at the mall selling cell phones in addition to his main job as a supervisor at UPS.

Well I guess another guy he works with at UPS also works a part-time job out at the mall as well, but on the other end, and told hubby about an incident that occurred Saturday evening.

At one end of the mall is a Bergners and by the lower level store entrance are a ton of photography displays by local photographers that are known for doing weddings and high school senior photos.

Well the guy told my husband that towards the end of the evening this kid walks up to one of the photo displays, pulls down his pants, whips out his penis and starts jerkin' it in front of the photos - right there in the mall!

I guess a woman saw him first and immediately came to the guy hubby works with and explained it to them and they called security, who came as soon as they told them what the situation was.

Security walks up to the kid, has him pull his pants up, cuffs him and hauls him off.

The kid's 17 and why did he do it?

"I made a bet with my friends."

WTF?

So because of this "bet" his friends put him up to, the kid is now banned from the mall, got arrested and charged with indecent exposure, his parents had to come bail him out, and we're sure there was a fine involved too!

Are kids really that stupid today or desperate for attention they go to such measures that have lifelong consequences? I mean this kid now has a record for indecent exposure and a ban from the mall because he gave into pressure from his friends - I wonder if he had stopped to think about the consequences if he still would have given in and done it.

You know you play WoW too much when...

Here's just 2 examples of when you know you play WoW too much!

Example #1
In the beginning of December 2008 I had out-patient surgery, but they had to put me under in order to do it. When I started coming to in the post-surgery room, I had fluid in my lungs and was trying to spit it out, however, I wasn't fully awake yet and was still sort of dreaming.

What was I dreaming about?

Well, the 2nd WoW expansion - Wrath of the Lich King - had only been out for a few weeks and I had been playing a lot. I was dreaming that I was my paladin (as that was the character I had been playing in game) and that I was up against Arthas, the Lich King. He made me soooo angry that I started spitting on him.

Eventually I got the attention of the nurse, who sorta helped me come out of it, as I was muttering something about spitting. I finally came to enough to communicate with her and she got me some tissue and held it to my mouth so I could get the fluid out of my lungs.

But yeah... you know you play WoW too much when you're coming out of surgery and think you're stuck in a dream as your WoW character, spitting at Arthas!


Example #2
Right around the time hubby and I started dating, we would often chat on WoW while playing together, as we didn't live in the same town at the time. One night we had a rather interesting conversation regarding "farming rep" (in WoW there's many different factions in game that you can earn reputation levels with to get item rewards - the more you "farm" rep the higher your rep with the faction goes up).

Hubby: im just farming honor
Me: you farmer
Hubby: *nods*
Me: haha you're an illinois farmer! lawl
Hubby: Hey, I'm the original farmer
Me: ya need some [blue overalls]
Hubby: I've been farming rep with a very important faction for over 8 years! beat that
Me: lawl
Me: hehe and ya finally hit exalted! lol
Me: omg that was horrible, lawl
Hubby: lawl
Me: ROFL
Hubby: terrible
Hubby: im so not taking it any further
Me: dont wanna be max exalted?
Me: get the lil trinket?
Me: rofl the epic loots
Me: ROFL
Hubby: ...
Hubby: lawl
Hubby: my epic "rewards" LAWL
Me: omg i cant stop laughing
Me: we're such dorks! lol
Hubby: lol yup
Me: but hey, SS or it didnt happen!
Me: lawlz
Hubby: booooo
Hubby: lol
Me: lol
Me: ROFLMAO
Me: i cant stop laughing...
Hubby: is it sad that i just related relationship milestones to wow?
Me: ROFL im not sure...
Hubby: i mean, mentally lawl
Me: im trying not to spit out my water... heh bad time to take a drink, lol
Hubby: hehe
Hubby: neutral = holding hands, friendly = snuggling, revered = kissing, exalted = marriage, full exalted = uh huh uh huh lawl
Me: ROFL
Me: so you're only at revered then
Hubby: yeah
Me: exalted seems like a pretty big step, lawl
Hubby: lol

So in the words of hubby, you know you play WoW too much when you start relating relationship milestones to farming rep with factions in WoW!

Decisions, decisions

I try not to get too personal on here, just cuz it is public and I do have some followers from all over that might not know me in person, but right now I just feel like I need to get out what's in my head and maybe get some input from others.

First off, I thought I would mention that Quaker's chocolate rice cakes are pretty good - I've never been one for rice cakes before, as they just seem pretty bland and tasteless, however these chocolate ones are actually pretty good and only 60 calories each too!

Anyways...
As some know, hubby's been working part-time at a kiosk out at the mall, selling cell phones for one of the major companies. It's not so much we need the income from this 2nd job of his, it's just that 1) he's paranoid about money and being able to provide and having a "buffer" is important to him and 2) he was getting bored during the daytime hours and wanted to find something to do during the late morning/early afternoon hours to fill his time so he could stop donating plasma twice a week, as it tires him out for the entire rest of the day on the days he goes. We figured he'd find something that was maybe 20hrs a week or so.

Well, his brother got him the hook-up for this job and despite him telling them he only wanted to work 3 or 4 days a week, they put him on for 5. And then, after a good first month, they started talking to him about management, even though he told them in the interview he probably wasn't interested, as they don't offer benefits and he already has a "main" job that pays salary and offers benefits. So they start prepping him to be an assistant manager at this kiosk, having him open when the manager can't and then fill in for the manager on his day off, so basically, he became the "unofficial" assistant manager.

Well, being that it's a cell phone company, all his money is made on commissions. After he had a great first month, like I said, they started talking about making him the assistant manager, saying that if their location hit x-amount of lines for the month, they'd give it to him (note, assistant manager is 55 hours a week with a starting salary of $800/mo plus 50% of what their commissions would be). Well needless to say, they had a slow month and he didn't get it, despite them still having him work as if he were the assistant.

The first half of this month he literally made $0, as business out at the mall has been that slow. And it's not that he wasn't trying - he had 1/3 of all the lines they had last month. So, frustrated at working over 40 hrs a week and not making anything (last month he made a total of $3/hr!), he quit. Ironically, the day he decided to quit, they start talking about moving him to one of the actual store locations the kiosk is affiliated with. Again though, he was getting tired of working all these hours and not even breaking minimum wage! He also gave his resume to a local temp agency who set him up with an interview today with one of the car rental companies in town, where he would be working mornings at $10/hr - it'd be about 20 hours a week.

Knowing this car rental deal was a possibility and that the temp agency has his resume, he decided just to throw in the towel. However, his boss at the cell phone place asked to have him call the next day, so he did - turns out he talked to the owner of their area stores and they wanted him to come in today and hear their offer.

So he went to his interview today with the car rental place - turns out the location he'd be at was about 30 miles away, which would be about $15/wk in gas and he didn't feel that much driving was worth it for just 20hrs of work. He went in around 2 for his meeting with the guys at the cell phone place (they told him to come in anytime after noon, as they'd be there all day), however the main guy didn't get there til after 6 so he basically worked all day for a company he technically wasn't still employed with. Basically, he told them why he quit - he already has 1 job that pays well and he hated working twice as much at a job where he wasn't making anything. And the negotiations began. Basically they told him they'd give him $800/mo plus 50% of commissions for 40hrs a week at this actual store they were planning on moving him to.

I'm kinda mixed on this as this was just supposed to be his daytime part time job to cure him of boredom and give him a little extra spending money. I don't know about some, but from jobs I've worked before, 40+ hours is considered full time, not part time. I'm already annoyed as I feel like I barely get to see him - we used to have date nights every Friday evening, getting dinner together and then doing something fun... cept they have him working til 9pm on Fridays and well, aside from the bars and Walmart, not a lot of places are really open past 9/10pm... and it's not like we can really even go out late because they have him opening at 10am on Saturday, so he wants to go to bed at a decent time. And on Sundays... we used to go to church in the morning, then out for lunch with one of our families and then maybe run an errand or whatever in the afternoon, have a light dinner and then watch our shows. Well he works 10am-6pm on Sundays so there goes the majority of the day. He was talking about with them switching him to this other store having Tuesday and Thursday as his days off, citing that he could get up and donate plasma while I'm at work, and then he'd be home by the time I'm home from work and we could have all night to hang out. Except he has to leave 10pm to go to his other job, so no, he wouldn't be getting a full day off work... iono, I guess I'd be more comfortable if he had Fridays and Sundays off completely like he does at his main job so it would be like he'd have 2 actual, full days off.

The extra money would be nice, but at the same time, I miss going out and doing things and spending time with my husband in daylight. =/

Ugh, so frustrating.

I'm also thinking about quitting Mary Kay for the time being. Now don't get me wrong - it's a great company with a great foundation and basis behind it, the products are great - I love them! All the women I've met have been awesome and I've really gotten to see how this can really work in women's lives and become their main source of income. However, right now, I don't feel it's for me. I haven't been able to get the bookings I need to keep my business afloat, despite my best efforts, and like they said multiple times at the conference I went to - bookings are the lifeline to your business. And I'm just not having fun with it anymore, which is important to me - if you don't enjoy what you do, and you're not making anything from it, then why are you doing it? Don't get wrong, I love hanging out with the girls each week, but I'm not enjoying the business aspect of it. I feel like I'm not making any money with it, as it seems like everything I make either goes right back to the company or goes to pay off my inventory (which I'll admit, looking back, I shouldn't have ordered so much to start with as I did, however I really did think I'd have the bookings to sell it right away!). But ya know what, at least I can say I tried and I did it - I won't ever have to wonder what it would be like or if it's something I could do and be good at. Again though, just something I'm thinking about. There's still some people I'd have to talk to about it.

I'm thinking of just focusing on my design stuff again, as I'm good at that, know what I'm doing and tend to enjoy it when I'm given the chance to just go with it and do whatever! I actually signed up on www.zazzle.com just to see what that's all about - a friend of my mother-in-law's was telling me about it awhile back, as you can upload your graphics and designs and add them to items like t-shirts, mugs, mousepads and other stuff too that people can purchase. I also saw they have it so you can design wedding invites and other stationary and such too, which I enjoyed doing for my own wedding and for friend's businesses and such. I guess my mother-in-law's friend makes a decent amount off what she puts up on this site, and it's free too, so it's not like I lose anything either. I figure it's worth checking out.

I'm also thinking about reactivating my WoW account. Yes, it's only been 2.5 months since I quit, however hubby learned he had a 7 day free pass on his main account (he claims it has something to do with the 5th anniversary a few months back? I didn't get a free pass for it though...) so he reactivated for that, thinking that if he was working during the mornings at the car rental place, he'd just stay up from his 3rd shift job, play for a few hours in the morning, go the this other job and then sleep during the afternoon. Seeing him playing his characters again made me really want to play mine again. If he's going to be working so much though during the week, I get bored and there's only so much to do on 20sb and Facebook and in blogland, so why not? I don't intend on raiding, as I don't feel like dealing with all that right now, but iono, I think it might be fun to finally transfer one of my characters to my old roomie's server and we can do whatever when she's not raiding (only thing that sucks is that my character's name would have to have one of those weird letters in it that's near impossible to type because my name is already taken by some lowbie alt that hasn't logged in in ages!)

So there's my thoughts for today. Any input would be much appreciated!

Music Shuffle Monday (04.19.10)

1. "Baby's Got a Temper" by The Prodigy
I remember this "last" Prodigy song (have they had anything since?!) came out my first year in college and the guy I dated at the time had it. First time I ever saw or heard them was on some awards show (not sure if it was the Grammys or the AMAs) and they performed from outside with their painted and makeup on, huge spikey mohawks... these guys looked pretty badass! I was intrigued.Prodigy was one of those bands I didn't get into until later, as I bought "Fat of the Land" used while in college (and I swear one of my roommates about wore out track #9 - "Climbatize" as she'd always put it on REPEAT while drinking). Prodigy was one of those bands that would mix electronics with rock instruments and the results were pretty good. They were from the UK, as well as similar industrial band Pitchshifter (seriously, I dare you to listen to the 2 and TRY to tell the difference!)

2. "Donnie" by Ace of Base
I was a HUGE Ace of Base fan in the 90s. Not only did I buy "The Sign" and "The Bridge" on both cassette AND CD, but I'd also buy the CD singles too and even had an import of the "Lucky Love" single that I spent like $20 on at Best Buy when in Jr. High! This song is off their 3rd album, Cruel Summer - their last album together (aside from the Greatest Hits album) as Malin (the blonde) had a bit of a breakdown and didn't want to perform anymore (just like their previous Swedish pop predecessor ABBA!).

3. "Musta Been Wrong" by Saliva
This is off their first album, Every Six Seconds, before they felt the need to introduce themselves on every album since. To be honest, I don't know too much about this song, as I only know the singles off this album and this wasn't one of them. Saliva's a decent rock band though (when they're not singing about how they're back!), so I'd suggest checkin' em out!

4. "Like a Prayer" by Madonna
Probably one of my favorite Madonna songs (and no, I'm not a big fan or anything), but there's just something about this one that I really like - I think it's the catchy lyrics and the danceable beat. As a kid, I really didn't get this song - I honestly thought it was a Christian song and couldn't understand why my mom was horrified when I submitted my "top 5" to the local top 40 radio station and they played it and this was on it - I mean the music video was in a church with a choir and there were crosses! Ah, innocence...

5. "Night Terrors" by Static-X
Static-X is probably one of my favorite bands EVER. I've been a fan ever since I heard "Love Dump" one dark rainy night on the radio while driving across town almost 10 years ago. This is off their 4th studio album Start a War which was one of several albums I rotated in my car's CD player the summer of 2005. Something about Wayne Static and the heaviness of the music... iono but I LOVE it.

Decisions, decisions

As I've mentioned, my husband's been working part-time at a Verizon kiosk out at the mall, selling cell phones. It's not so much we need the income from this 2nd job of his, it's just that 1) he's paranoid about money and being able to provide and having a "buffer" is important to him and 2) he was getting bored during the daytime hours and wanted to find something to do during the late morning/early afternoon hours to fill his time so he could stop donating plasma twice a week, as it tires him out for the entire rest of the day on the days he goes. We figured he'd find something that was maybe 20hrs a week or so.

Well, his brother got him the hook-up for this job and despite him telling them he only wanted to work 3 or 4 days a week, they put him on for 5. And then, after a good first month, they started talking to him about management, even though he told them in the interview he probably wasn't interested, as they don't offer benefits and he already has a "main" job that pays salary and offers benefits. So they start prepping him to be an assistant manager at this kiosk, having him open when the manager can't and then fill in for the manager on his day off (basically, he became the "unofficial" assistant manager), saying that if their location hit x-amount of lines for the month, they'd give it to him. Well needless to say, they had a slow month the next month and he didn't get it, despite them still having him work as if he were the assistant.

 Well, being that it's a cell phone company, all his money is made on commissions

The first half of this month he literally made $0, as business out at the mall has been that slow. And it's not that he wasn't trying - he had 1/3 of all the lines they had last month. So, frustrated at working over 40 hrs a week and not making anything (last month he made a total of $3/hr!), he quit. Ironically, the day he decided to quit, they start talking about moving him to one of the actual store locations the kiosk is affiliated with. Again though, he was getting tired of working all these hours and not even breaking minimum wage! He also gave his resume to a local temp agency who set him up with an interview today with one of the car rental companies in town, where he would be working mornings at $10/hr - it'd be about 20 hours a week.

Knowing this car rental deal was a possibility and that the temp agency has his resume, he decided just to throw in the towel. However, his boss at the cell phone place asked to have him call the next day, so he did - turns out he talked to the owner of their area stores and they wanted him to come in today and hear their offer.

So he went to his interview today with the car rental place - turns out the location he'd be at was about 30 miles away, which would be about $15/wk in gas and he didn't feel that much driving was worth it for just 20hrs of work. He went in around 2 for his meeting with the guys at the cell phone place (they told him to come in anytime after noon, as they'd be there all day), however the main guy didn't get there til after 6 so he basically worked all day for a company he technically wasn't still employed with. Basically, he told them why he quit - he already has 1 job that pays well and he hated working twice as much at a job where he wasn't making anything. And the negotiations began. Basically they ended up telling him they'd give him $800/mo plus 50% of commissions for 40hrs a week at this actual store they were planning on moving him to.

I'm kinda mixed on this as this was just supposed to be his daytime part time job to cure him of boredom and give him a little extra spending money. I don't know about some, but from jobs I've worked before, 40+ hours is considered full time, not part time.

 I'm already annoyed as I feel like I barely get to see him - we used to have date nights every Friday evening, getting dinner together and then doing something fun... cept they have him working til 9pm on Fridays and well, aside from the bars and Walmart, not a lot of places are really open past 9/10pm... and it's not like we can really even go out late because they have him opening at 10am on Saturday, so he wants to go to bed at a decent time. And on Sundays... we used to go to church in the morning, then out for lunch with one of our families and then maybe run an errand or whatever in the afternoon, have a light dinner and then watch our shows. Well he works 10am-6pm on Sundays so there goes the majority of the day.

He was talking about with them switching him to this other store having Tuesday and Thursday as his days off, citing that he could get up and donate plasma while I'm at work, and then he'd be home by the time I'm home from work and we could have all night to hang out. Except he has to leave by 10pm to go to his other job, so no, he wouldn't be getting a full day off work... iono, I guess I'd be more comfortable if he had Fridays and Sundays off completely like he does at his main job so it would be like he'd have 2 actual, full days off.

The extra money would be nice, but at the same time, I miss going out and doing things and spending time with my husband in daylight, not to mention when we kids, I'd like for him to be able to spend time with them and be able to go to their functions too. I have one friend who now has 2 kids but her husband works soooo much that she barely gets to see him - I don't want us to be like that.

Ugh, this is so frustrating!

80s Fashion Trends

Remember looking back at some photos when you were young in the 80s and wondering "What were we wearing!?" and now, with fashion revisiting the 80s, seeing people today wearing some of those fashions? Well this week, let's take a little flashback to the 80s and revisit some of the crazy things we used to wear - odds are, we'll be seeing a lot of them again soon!

Stirrup Pants

Remember these? They were a cotton type fabric stretch pant legging but at the bottom, they had little stirrups on the feet, kinda to help keep them in place. As a kid in the late 80s and in the early 90s I had several pairs of these, in different colors. I had the standard black pair, a pink pair, a purple pair, hunter green pair, and I think there was a blue pair too. I remember these things were annoying sometimes though, as I'd get dressed and put my socks and shoes on last, sometimes forgetting to pull the stirrup part back over my socks before putting my shoes on and then having to take my shoes off and put them back on - oops! Surprisingly, Stirrup Pants are one of those 80s fashion trends that's starting to make a comeback - tight legging pants are already back and just recently have I seen ones with stirrups! To be honest though, I don't intend on getting back into this trend - if you're skinny, great, go for it, but I for one have curves and I don't think anyone wants to see me wearing just cotton 80s stretchy leggings with stirrups!

Hypercolor T-Shirts
I remember thinking these shirts were awesome back in the day! My best friend had one and of course I had to get one! She had the original blue one, I think I had a tie dye one. For those that don't remember these, these shirts were one color when exposed to standard temperature, however, apply heat and voila - wherever the heat was placed, the shirt changed color. I remember we'd all sit around, placing our handprints in these, or sticking the shirts to our mouths and blowing hot air on em, lol... unfortunately though, these shirts, as cool as they were, were easy to ruin too in the wash if you didn't wash them at exactly the right temperature!

Neon Clothes

In the 80s, neon ruled the world. No, seriously. EVERYTHING was electric and bright neon! I for one loved hot pink at the time as well as the neon green. If you lived in the 80s, you wore neon - there was no escaping it!

Puffy and Splatter Paint T-shirts

These things were awesome as a kid - you could either buy a plain white t-shirt and your own paint at the craft stores and design a shirt yourself or you could buy professionally made ones. I had a few in the late 80s - one I remember was sea creature themed one and it had these little round mirror reflective pieces on it that were held on by the puffy paint. I LOVED that shirt, but was sad when the mirrors started falling out. Often times with these shirts, when I got bored I'd start picking at the paint flecks and pull them off. They were pretty neat though!
 

Slap Bracelets

The favorite fashion accessory for us kids in the 80s! These bracelets had a type of metal inside them that caused them to fold around and coil like a bracelet and were covered with a fabric or paper. There were many many types of Slap Bracelets - some would have animal print, some would be plain colored, some would have fun designs, etc. I admit, I had probably dozen of em at one point, as they were sold cheap and often given out as cheap ticket rewards at Chuck E. Cheese and similar places. Often times though us kids would make a competition out of how hard we could slap them onto our wrists - stupid, I know.

Jelly Shoes

This is a trend that just keeps coming back! Originally from the early 80s, Jelly Shoes made a comeback in the mid-late 90s, and just recently, I saw some for sale in a department store! Basically, these were shoes made out of a clear jelly plastic material and were water resistant. They came in all different colors (I had a pair of clear ones and a pair of lime green ones in the late mid-90s).

Shirt Clips/Ties

Another essential late 80s/early 90s fashion trend were shirt clips. Had a shirt that was too big or too long? No problem! Bunch the excess shirt together on one side and either slide on one of these specially made shirt clips or tie it in place with a scrunchy or other decorative holder accessory! I had several of these, in different colors. I had a purple one that got used on my sea creature themed puffy paint shirt that I wore with purple stirrup pants and my slap bracelets - I wish I was kidding, but I'm not! That was the essential 80s outfit for us kids!


What crazy things did you wear in the 80s? 
Which of these trends do you think we'll be seeing again in the not-so-distant future??

Borders, Books and Vampires

So the other day, I took a trip to Borders, as there was a book I was interested in getting.

Here's one way to kill a conversation with the decent looking college-aged male clerk at Borders:
When he looks at one of the books you're buying and comments that it looks like an interesting read and he might have to check it out, be sure to mention that "yeah, it does - my husband's looking for this one for awhile." Almost the entire rest of the transaction was conversation-less (aside from him informing me his register just ran out of paper and it'll be a moment for my receipt while he changes it).

The book in question was "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter," the latest by Seth Grahame-Smith who also wrote "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." The premise is that Abe Lincoln had a secret journal he kept that has been debunked by historians for ever existing, however this author claims to have a copy of it. In it, Abe explains how his mother and several other relatives were really killed by vampires, the Civil War involved vampires and that his height played an important role in his on the side duties of vampire slaying, as he was able to always hide an axe in his tall long coats. Sounds amusing, right? The reason my hubby had a horrible time trying to find this one (which has only been out for about a month or so) is because it sounds like it would be in either the sci-fi/fantasy or horror sections of the store with all the other vampire novels. But nope, it's listed under Humor! Another book I found in that section was "Jane Slayre" - a take on Jane Eyre, which I imagine involves vampire slaying.

Hubby's reading Abe Lincoln, Vamp Hunter right now, so I plan on reading it after he finishes. I'll be sure to share my take on it!


Also, while I was there I saw that this is finally in paperback, which got me really excited, as it reminded me that this is coming out in a few weeks! For those too lazy to right-click on the links, the paperback is "Dead and Gone" by Charlaine Harris, book 9 in the Southern Vampire Mysteries (aka the Sookie Stackhouse novels), which is the book series that HBO's TrueBlood is based on. For those that read the series, she releases the latest book in paperback about a month before the new on comes out (in hardcover).

I've already done my research and am planning on visiting Walmart that night at midnight, as they have it advertised for $12.99, $3 less than Borders. I'll probably have it read within 48 hours, however, the next season of TrueBlood (the TV show based on these books) premieres in June, so I'll have that to hold me over during the summer, before I have to wait for the next book (the author is contracted to write 13 books in this series).

Since I have books 1-8 in paperback, I'm half tempted to try and "return" my hardcover version and get the paperback so they all fit nicely on my shelf - I did receive it as a gift, so technically that explains why I don't have a receipt with me... it is in mint condition too, as I read it once and I don't tend to destroy books when I read them.

I got hooked on this series last fall, soon after my birthday, as my mother in law mentioned something about it at my family's cookout we did for my birthday and that she was hooked on it. I heard it was based on a book series, so I looked into it and bought the first book. Then hubby downloaded season 1 of the show for me, so I would read a few chapters and then watch a few episodes. It was a fun process, as the show was pretty close to the book, but added to the story via expanding other characters, since the books are only told from the main character's point of view. I enjoyed the first book and wanted to get the 2nd so hubby bought me the 1-7 boxset of the paperbacks for our anniversary and we downloaded season 2 of the shows, so like I did with book 1, I did the same with book 2 - read a few chapters, watch a few episodes. Hubby got into the TV show too, so we started watching them together.

I spent the rest of the fall and first part of winter reading through the first 7 books. For Christmas, hubby got me the book 8 paperback and the book 9 (which was only in hardcover until recently). I finished those right after new years.

For those not familiar with the books or the show, the premise is this: the Japanese have developed a type of synthetic blood and so vampires have come out of hiding, being able to live off this bottled beverage, known as True Blood. The series revolves around Sookie Stackhouse - a mid-20s barmaid and waitress in Bon Temps Louisiana, who is also telepathic. One night, a vampire named Bill walks into the bars she works at and Sookie is instantly taken with him - Bons Temps has never had a vampire visit before, so this is a first for her and the other town residents. Soon after their first meeting, however, Bill is captured by a pair of "drainers" (people who capture vampires and drain them of their blood and sell it on the black market, as it's believed that vampire blood can cure injuries and many use it as a drug to get high). Sookie comes to his aid though and the two for an unlikely bond and start falling for each other.

There's a lot of twists though throughout the series and as the series progresses, we learn that vampires aren't the only "fictional" supernatural creatures that exist in our world.

The books are mostly a mystery series, as in each book there's always someone getting killed or kidnapped and it keeps you guessing who it is until the end. They also throw in a little bit (well a lot in the show) of romance, so take note, this series is not for kids or teens - especially when it comes to the HBO TV adaption (the books aren't nearly as graphic because it's all in your head and how you imagine it).

All the characters are pretty likable too - even the ones we love to hate! The main character, Sookie (portrayed by Anna Paquin in the TV show) is a strong character though, having been brought up with morals, she tries to make the right choices and tires to see the best in people, however she is no pushover - she is a strong independent female, calling the shots when it comes the guys in her life. TV Sookie though does differ (so far) from Book Sookie, as she's a bit more whiny and demanding, whereas in the books she's just a female strongly sticking to her guns and morals.

I love the universe that Charlaine Harris has created in this series though - it's very realistic in the sense that it poses the thought of what if vampires and other supernatural creatures we thought were fictional actually do exist and what if they started coming public about their existence?

And while she does stick close to the classic vampire lore, she explains away other things that she doesn't use in a logic that makes sense. For example, while vamps aren't necessarily fond of garlic, it isn't deadly, and the whole going up in flames around crosses or not being visible in mirrors? Her vamps explain that those are myths they spread themselves to help hide their identity. Kinda clever. And no, these vamps don't sparkle in the sunlight, if exposed for more than a few seconds without full cover, they do begin to burn to dust. Also, the vampires and other supernatural creatures (I don't want to give away too many surprises for those that haven't read the books) each have their own secret system of authority, for example, the US vampires have divided the country up into territories each with a king/queen ruler and then each territories are broken down into areas with sherrifs governing the vamps in their areas and reporting back to their king/queen. It's actually pretty interesting.

If you're an adult and like vampire lore and supernatural fiction, as well as mysteries with a bit of supernatural romance, be sure to check out this series - it won't disappoint like the Twilight saga did and the TV adaptions of it doesn't suck.

What's in a Guild?

Throughout my 4 and a half years of playing World of Warcraft I've been part of my fair share of guilds.

For those not familiar with MMO's, a guild is basically a large group of people where you can party chat via "guild chat" from anywhere in the game. Some guilds have a main purpose, such as Raiding or doing PVP content, other guilds are strict Role-playing ones, where you actually play out your character with other guildmates, and some guilds are just casual ones so you have someone to chat with while leveling, grinding, and questing. It is recommended that unless you're just joining a guild to get people in lowbie areas to quit "ninja-inviting" you to do some research on the guild you are joining. For example, some raiding guilds have strict weekly raid schedule that require you to attend a certain amount each week, others are more laidback - if you want to join a raiding guild it is best to find one that fits your schedule. With some RP-guilds, there are ones that are very strict about RP and you MUST be in character around guildies, with non-character speak/discussion being carried out in a separate chat channel; other RP guilds are more laidback and not as strict. Also, some guilds, you may find, may be very "adult" in their speak and not kid-friendly (people that swear a lot or talk about sexual acts frequently), whereas others may be family friendly during most of the day, but more laidback about language and talk late at night when kids should be in bed.

Anyone can make a guild too - it just requires a few "gold' (in game currency) and 10 names on the charter. And people sometimes get creative with the guild names too, for example, I have a Deathknight Gnome named Weeblez and I wanted her guild tag to say "wobbles but doesn't fall down" so I got 10 random people to sign my charter, telling them they can leave after it's created, and voila! I have my guild tag. (Due to character space though, her guild tag actually reads "WobblesButDontFallDown").

My first guild I joined was on my paladin and the guildleader was actually a sorta friend of mine, who knew my boyfriend at the time. This was one of those RP guilds though where most of guild chat was in-character, with out of character (OOC) chat first being in parentheses and eventually it had it's own separate channel. I was in this guild for about 2 months - there was some initial drama when I first joined, as several officers of the guild had just left and some transitions were being made. The guild leader and his lackey were also not around often, so my boyfriend, being the only officer really active, was somewhat in charge when they were not around and myself and a few others stepped up to help out, especially after another whole group left the guild. When the guild leader and his lackey did come back from time to time, they'd make changes and decisions that affected the rest of us without even consulting the one officer who was around and keeping things together for them (my boyfriend), so a bunch of us, fed up with it, decided that while we didn't want to sever our ties, both in game and in real life, we would create our own "sister" guild, that could assist this guild, but would also include all classes that the game offered and not just some (the original guild was a "holy Templar" guild and thus characters of the Rogue and Warlock classes were not allowed).

Now when the core of us left to form this new guild, (in which we gave names to the guild leader of those of us that would be leaving and who had said they'd come with us, which included close ingame friends and siblings, which was expected, and it tallied about 10-15 people), a bunch of the others approached us, wondering what was going on, as the guild leader wasn't giving them too much info. Naturally, they saw our point of view and agreed with what we did and why and more of them decided to leave and join us. This angered the guild leader and his lackey, claiming behind our backs we were "stealing" their members but when we confronted them about the issue, they acted like they didn't know what we were talking about. This did affect things in real life as well, as we had told the guild leader in person what was up and he was fine with us making our own guild, but then once we did it, he stopped inviting us to hang out and acted like we didn't exist. It kinda hurt.

In this new guild, my boyfriend was the guildleader and was pretty much just the voice/head of the guild. Now-hubby did a lot of the technical behind the scenes stuff, such as keep track of loot and helping lead raids and learn more about the technical aspect of the game and keep us all updated. I was basically the "mother" of the guild, being the one that dealt with everyone's concerns and being the mediator when there were problems. I also worked with another officer to keep the website looking good and up to date. We also had another officer who was a stay at home dad and played mostly during the day and morning while the rest of us were more evening and night owl people - he pretty much made sure nothing went wrong during the hours the rest of us weren't on.

We got our first taste of raiding a few months later, as a real life friend of my boyfriends left our guild to join a raiding guild that had an alliance with another small raiding guild and was able to get us in on this 3-way alliance. This back in the Molten Core days. Eventually the 2 big guilds got big and were able to do their own raids with their own guilds so were put on backup. And then somehow our "sister" guild got in on it too. Realizing both our guilds had people that wanted to raid, we decided to put together "Templar" raids and do the 20-man content (which was ZG back then) and the 15-man content (remember when UBRS and LBRS were 15-manned?) together. It went well for awhile, until someone in the other guild started complaining, saying we were being "lootwhores" when the reality was, THEY were the ones getting the majority of the gear each week! Eventually drama occurred - there was an issue on one of the 40man raids with one of the bigger guilds from the previous alliance where my boyfriend got the T2 legs over his friend who was the main officer in the other guild - he didn't realize one of the other tanks still didn't have them otherwise he would have passed on the roll, as he was DPS, but too late, back then you couldn't trade an item to someone else in the raid and submitting a ticket back then regarding it barely had any effect (this also created a huge rift in their years of real life friendship - over a pair of pixels! - things were never the same between them). Also, it didn't help that one of the newer officers over in their guild started creating drama that wasn't even necessary. He'd say one thing to us, then another to the "big" guild and then we'd call him out on it and he'd start more drama... it was really annoying and we decided to just sever ties for awhile and let things cool.

We continued raiding with 2 smaller guilds and in our first night together as a 40man, we easily cleared 5 bosses, only having 2 wipes. It was pretty awesome!

At the time, myself, my boyfriend and my friend (now hubby) were also raiding Onyxia and a few of the harder raids that our guild alliance wasn't ready for yet on the side with a big raid guild on our server I came in contact with due to having grouped for non-raid content with them and the guild leader several times. It helped that I was female and the guild leader seemed to be more "friendly" towards the female players (which I definitely used in my favor). Wanting the 3 of us in his guild, but knowing we'd never just up and leave our guild that we built behind, he offered to merge our guild into his, soon after our 1 year anniversary. As much as we were in favor it though, we had to present the choice to the guild. Merging offered more raid opportunities though, as they had Molten Core and ZG on farm often filling spots with alts, which was the content we were currently working on, so our guys would have no problem getting to see all of that content, and it gave us better geared and more skilled players the opportunities to move up into the harder content. It would also mean more members overall, so it would making finding someone to group with for a 5man or a quest or PVP with a lot easier too. Plus they did do some RP events, which was great, our guild was a casual RP guild (RP lite, as we called it) We put it to a guild vote and it passed.

While 75% of the guild came with us, we promoted 1 that wanted to stay in charge of the few that didn't want to go. Most in our guild alliance understood why we did what we did - most of them saw the same opportunities for the guild that we did and couldn't blame us for doing it. Also, by this point, both of the other 2 guilds had gained more members that were coming to raids, so slotting an equal balance from all 3 guilds was getting harder, as all 3 had so many people that wanted to come, yet we only had 40 spots to fill. I knew they would be fine though, as they had the numbers to do it between the 2 of them (eventually merging the smaller of the 2 into the other) and by the time we quit playing a few months ago, they had become one of the top alliance guilds on our server for raiding and had held that spot for several years.

In our new guild, we got to defeat Molten Core, Onyxia and eventually Blackwing Lair on a weekly basis, as well as both ZG and AQ20. We also eventually got through the Twin Emps in AQ40 (I have memories of literally spending alllllll Saturday afternoon working on the trash just to get to that fight). Just prior to the time the Burning Crusade expansion was released we were working on content in Naxx40 and also had a change in guild leadership, as something happened in real life to our guildleader and he could no longer play.

Also, with Burning Crusade (BC) brought the change in raiding, as there would be no more 40man content, replacing it with 25man content instead. This prompted the new guild leader to decide who would be on the 25 man raid roster and who wouldn't make the cut. I was excluded for the obvious reason that my schedule had become a bit problematic for raiding as I worked evenings and there was really only a need for 1 Ret pally (we had 2), which I understood. My ex made it, as he was one of the best DPS warriors we had and was also decent at off-tanking when needed. Hubby didn't make it because when it came to hunters, despite being in the top 3, they played favorites and took Capt. Autoshot just because of his seniority in the guild.

The guild offtank had left the guild with his fiance, creating a spin-off guild for raiding, as he wasn't really in favor of the new system. I was fine with sticking around, until I happened to come across a "private" forum for the group that made the raid roster and I didn't like the attitude that was being displayed - the opening post was by the guild leader and it basically said "welcome, you are the core of the guild, you are the elite, blah blah blah blah." What upset me was that there were plenty in the guild who, while they might not be the best players and didn't make the raid cut, they did their part in farming for materials that the raiders needed and offering morale and support, and here, this post is making it sound like they do nothing for the guild - without the mats these guys provided, the "core" wouldn't have their potions or self-made gear, or enchants or whatever. I didn't like it and I went to the guild leader, telling him I saw it and expressing my concern. He understand and tried to say he didn't mean it to come across how I thought it did. Whatever, I thought about it, spoke with a few others who had the same impression as me, and after running with this guild for over a year (actually being a member for about 6 months) I decided to follow hubby over into the off-tank's guild with a few others.

I really did enjoy this guild - the vibe was laidback, but fun. At the time, Karazhan was the big raid and we had our core that raided that, with a 2nd group the guild leader ran on his healer. The people were pretty nice too and we got along. Things were pretty smooth for about 7 or 8 months. Until some officer drama started up.

One of the female officers was getting a bit too graphic with a member who everyone knew was a teenager. Playfully flirting with someone in game is one thing, but carrying it into guildchat in a graphic way that they were was just downright inappropriate. I never saw it, but hubby's friend did a few times later at night and felt dirty, as she's like 30 and the kid was like 15 - hubby's friend felt like he could be in trouble for just having witnessed what was going on, and apparently a few others in the guild also witnessed the same thing and didn't feel it was appropriate either. She eventually got him in trouble, as they took it to the phone and his mom found out, canceling his subscription to the game! That began the downfall, as she didn't like how a majority felt what she did was inappropriate. Another issue that occurred and led to the downfall of the guild was when the guild leader and his fiance got married and went on their honeymoon... then some officer drama started. One of the officers who was not a fan of the hunter class (not really realizing what all they brought to a raid), made some comments about not wanting hunters as part of the raid and her dislike about them and stuff, forgetting that hubby (another guild officer) and his friend, who both played hunters, were in her raid on alts. Neither of them appreciated her remarks, as they were 2 of our regular raid hunters, and both left her raid to make a point. She got upset and out of emotions, left the guild, taking several close ingame friends with her who were core members of the guild. This led to the guild collapsing.

Hubby soon found another guild for us, which was led by a guy who he had leveled his shaman with one of the guys alts. Things seemed fine, I joined soon after hubby did and signed up for raids regularly, however I rarely got invited to them whereas even if hubby didn't sign up, he'd get an auto-invite. It kinda annoyed me, as I'd sign up and make plans to go to the raid and then not get invited, despite being one of the first to sign up. I spoke to an officer to find out what was going on and why I was never getting to raid and the response I got was that she and the other officers were under the impression that when I joined it was just to be in the same guild as hubby and that I wouldn't be actively raiding. Um, no? I app'd like everyone else, stating my raid experience and that I intended on raiding... since there seemed to be some confusion, I went to the guild leader to ask what was up. He told me he thought I needed more T4 gear, even though everything I was wearing was either T4 equivalent or better - Burning Crusade was a rough expansion for Ret Pallies, as we needed gear that had stats of strength, agility, crit, hit, intellect (for mana to dps), and a few others, hence my gear being made up of both plate and mail. I explained this to him and his response was just "oh" and him admitting he didn't know much about the class to begin with. I asked if him it was my performance and he said no, it was just they were having a rough time rotating out all the melee dps they had and still told me to sign up.

After 2 months, I got tired of signing up and never getting to go though so I left, joining that guild we had once allied with for raids back in original WoW (like I said, they were now one of the top alliance raid guilds1 on the server). I didn't play much though, as I was focusing on finishing school since it was my last semester and worked during the evenings.

This is when I switched over and started leveling up my horde toon, a blood elf hunter.

The first guild she was in was a casual guild who decided to go 70-only for raids, and after a month and a few levels later, I got removed for not being 70. I enjoyed RPing on my Belf though so I looked for a casual guild that did some roleplaying and found one that was allied with another guild for raid purposes so once I hit 70, I got to do some casual raiding on her, which was nice. I also decided to put my paladin in an ingame friend's casual guild, just because he was looking for more members and the guild name was awesome - Luftwaffles. They also had a casual raid alliance so I would sometimes join them on weekends.

Right before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion came out, hubby's friend came back to the game and approached us about starting our own 10 man guild, as this expansion was changing raiding again, giving all the raid content a 25man and 10man option for raiding. We went for it, but didn't have much luck gaining members as the server was too saturated with guilds just like ours. We did run into our friend, the offtank from our previous guild who made the spin-off guild. He was an officer in a new guild that was raiding 10 man content and offered to have hubby and I join them on their runs. After a few weeks, we eventually joined and did all the initial Wrath raid content with them. I also started leveling a druid, as in raids we kept getting so much leather caster gear and tokens for leather wearers but had no one that needed them. After 7 months, and right before I hit 80 on my druid though, that guild collapsed - the guild leader left to join a more progressed guild, as he was leaving the game at the end of the summer for real life reasons and wanted to see much of the new content as he could, and another officer who helped lead the raids had his work schedule pick up, so he wasn't around as often. The person left in charge didn't do a good job of holding things together, so people started leaving. Some formed their own guild, which I joined briefly on my druid, but instead of progressing from where we were in the current content, they had taken a few steps back.

Hubby found a guild that consisted of some Irish, Scottish and Norwegian players (hearing them on vent with their thick accents was often amusing too!), which they had 1 raid group and were rounding out another and their raids took place in our late afternoons, finishing before our dinner time, so I joined him there on my druid, and we raided with them for most of the summer... until that guild collapsed (are you noticing a trend here?). The guild leader and his girlfriend decided they were going to quit raiding for awhile, as he was getting bored and she was starting university. A few in their raid group tried to keep going, but couldn't and ended up leaving for other guilds, while those of us in group 2 tried to make things work, but after seeing people in group 1 leaving, others weren't as motivated to keep going.

I got tired of trying to find a raid guild on my alliance toons, so hubby joined our previous allied guild, I joined suit, joined them again, and pretty much parked my druid and paladin there, as they only focus on raiding 25man content and my laptop can't handle 25man content that well, due to the graphics.

I decided to go back to my horde character and level her to 80, but learned that my guild had become debunked as, not many logged in much anymore and they were no longer raiding with their sister guild. So I left to find a guild that I could raid with on her once I hit 80. I found one, but left after a month, as their guild chat had numerous gay and sexual jokes with language abound. Now I was warned beforehand that if I'm one to get offended easily, this wouldn't be the guild to join, however I don't get offended easily, I just got sick of hearing the same type of jokes over and over and over... it was like "seriously, guys, grow up a little bit - we're not in junior high."

During this time though, hubby finally leveled a horde character and found a guild that had what we were looking for, and oddly enough, the core members were all from my previous horde guild, so I felt right at home with them. We finished out most of Ulduar with them and ToC. Come Thanksgiving though, the patch with Icecrown Citadel came out and we weren't around much just cuz we had a lot in real life going on that month. We got behind and when I came back, they basically said my gear was too low for Icecrown and I needed more stuff from ToC to continue raiding. I got it, but at the same time, they weren't really running ToC regularly, as the focus was now on Icecrown, and I *hate* instance grinding for badges just to get gear - I have a shorter attention span than most (not a short attention span, just shorter than most) and I tend to get bored quicker than most unless I get really into something. So we both kind of just parked our characters here and decided to take a break from the game - we were both bored and there were a few other games hubby was interested in trying anyway.

I'd be willing to guess when Cataclysm comes out we'll be raiding alliance-side with whatever guild our off-tank friend is co-leading =)