I'm just saying...

Huge News!!!!

2007-07-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! Today I got the news that the author I asked to come to my work's book sale in November is coming! Lesley Kagen, author of "Whistling in the Dark" will be doing a reading and book signing in November. I'm quite proud of myself :)

2007-07-10T10:46:00.000-07:00

What's the deal with McDonald's soda prices? You can get a 42oz soda for 89 cents but you still pay regular price for the smaller sizes which are over $1. Ridiculous....

Mind if I smell that?

2007-07-05T12:07:00.000-07:00

I love Summerfest. It's a great place to go and socialize with friends while eating some great food and having a beer or two. I was enjoying a tasty Major Goolsby's cheeseburger and an Leinie's Red while hovering with my husband and a friend under a canopy to save our cheeseburgers from the rain. I noticed two boys, around 12 yrs old, doing the same thing. I mean it, the exact same thing. Standing under the canopy out of the rain while enjoying cheeseburgers and beer. Wait a minute!!!! What? I am extremely opposed to underage drinking especially pre-puberty. So I called my group's attention to the boys and noticed that a few people were walking up to them and saying something but I couldn't hear what was being said. Finally, I couldn't help myself and went over and asked them what they were drinking. They said Red Bull and not being convinced since I don't like Red Bull and don't know what it looks like (without Jager) I asked them if I could smell it. It was indeed Red Bull. They didn't think I was weird but my group did. Oh well, I was satisfied :)

Ahh apartment living...

2007-06-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Do you know who your neighbors are? Most people that I talk to, don't. It's scary when you think about it, especially when you live in an apartment building and you're so close to hundreds of people that you've never met, except maybe an occasional nod of the head at the mailbox.

I live in an apartment building and have often thought about the people that live around me. Two years ago, we had a fire in our building. The tenant had put something in the oven and left. They came back hours later apparently having forgotten their dinner. We were very lucky and had no damage to our apartment even though we were so close. I'd seen those tenants several times walking their dog but we never had a conversation. Not that I could have predicted they would be so absentminded after a simple chat about the weather but even so I think it's comforting to have at least a semi-relationship with one another.

My apartment allows dogs. I have one and so do several of my neighbors that I now call my friends. There are four dogs amongst the seven of us that hang out. Our dogs play together while we sit on lawn chairs and talk about our day or while we're watching the Brewer game outside on a tv that's inside. We're pretty serious about the Brewers but like to enjoy the weather. :)

Recently, my husband was talking with our neighbor friends and conversation fell to the chore of making dinner. All of us have one or two people living in each apartment and it's not exactly easy to cook for such a small amount. My husband came up with an idea that each apartment cooks one night a week for everyone. We have already done this to a certain degree. Several times when one of us starts to grill out, the rest chip in with whatever we have to offer. We can usually put together a decent meal. All agreed that this could be a great solution as well as a money saver.

Being the little organizer that I am, I assigned each apartment to a day of the week and printed out calendar's for everyone. Last night was the first neighbor dinner and it was entitled Mexican Monday. Lisa and Jason were in charge and made a huge meal of nachos with all the fixin's (including 6 pounds of taco meat) and spanish rice. They even went the extra mile and provided Corona's with lime and individual cheesecakes with cherry sauce. De-Li-Cious! Everyone was stuffed and Jason and Lisa now have lunch for the rest of the week (maybe two, they made enough to feed small army). Tonight, is Ryan's night and we hear the menu is Eggs Benedict. I've never had this but am a big fan of breakfast foods at night so I'm very excited to see what he has in store for us. Jeff and I aren't up until Thursday so we are holding off on planning our menu to see what standards are set on Tuesday and Wednesday.

So, the moral of the story is: It may be intimidating to go over and talk to your neighbors (you don't necessarily need to bake them anything) but it's comforting to know more about those who live around you. There's a sense of family that comes with it and you feel safer knowing that people are looking out for you.

Well hello there...

2007-06-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is pretty cool. I never thought that I would get on the blog train. I decided to start this blog after reading the thoughts and stories that so many others share on the internet. I thought - hey, I could do that! I have lots of random thoughts and ideas that run through my head that I plan to share. I hope you enjoy this journey as much as I do - we're in for a wild ride. Woohoo!