Letter to Sam's Club

Dear Sam's Club,

When you stopped carrying my favorite unsalted premium nut mix, I wavered a little in our friendship, but like all love quarrels, I eventually forgave you and came back through your doors. Now, two and a half months later (really, not that I noticed the date you stopped carrying it or anything), you once again pull on the strings of our friendship. And that's a deal breaker, ladies! I can forgive your nasty floors, your always-way-too-long-and-slow-checkout lines, your unhelpful employees, your lack of good DVDs or books, and your always-changing promo items, but this is a travesty and has left me beyond devastated. What is it, you ask, that has made me want to make a clean break of our friendship? What is it, you ask, that would make me act so drastically? You, yes you, Sam's Club, have stopped carrying the item I buy the most frequently and the most in quantity. The item that Brent and I go through faster than toilet paper. How can you say that hummus is "seasonal" and still sleep...or in your case, be unvandalized...at night? How can you not only stop carrying my favorite flavor of hummus, but also any hummus itself? So, dear Sam's Club, I regret to inform you that our friendship is now at an end.

Sincerely,
Lori Gail




Who can tell me the tv show and the movie that I quoted in the letter? Anyone? Bueler?

Oh yeah, we're the life of the party!

Setting: Saturday night at a party celebrating the big 5-0 birthday of a woman we know from church.

Me: Ummm...it's 7 o'clock, we need to start getting home.
Brent: What? The party's not over until 9!
Me: I know, but I'm getting tired...
Brent: One more song from the [live] band!
Me (a little while later): No really, I'm getting tired.
Brent: It's 7:30pm!
Me: But my bedtime's in an hour! [Pause.] I feel old.
Brent: Are you sure you aren't turning 50?

Surprise Package!

A few weekends ago we attended my cousin's son's 2nd birthday party. While opening his presents, he (or should I say his mom and dad?) unwrapped this neat little car that flipped over on it's back every time it hit something and kept going...kinda like it was reversible. It doesn't need batteries and goes for a good while when you push it off. It was really neat (especially when you ran it into corners!) and I had a blast with it! I ended up playing with that car almost the entire time during the party. Good thing Tristen was more partial to the red Matchbox Fire Trucks. :)

On Saturday we met up with my cousin's family for an outing at the farmer's market and for lunch. At one point, she asked me if I enjoyed my package. I thought she was referring to the thank you note I got from Tristen. When I went to thank Tristen, she was like, "No, the one from my mom and dad." I was completely clueless, so she just laughed and said to keep an eye out for a package they were sending me. Well, it arrived last night:

It's the toy car I played with at Tristen's birthday party!!!! My eyes got so big when I opened the package and Brent busted out laughing! The note from my aunt and uncle said, "For the kid in all of us. Enjoy." Awe-some!!! Brent and I played with that thing for nearly an hour last night. And what do I hear first thing this morning from Brent? That's right, a vroom-vroom from the car zipping around the living room. Love it!! Now if only I can keep Brent from taking it apart to see how it works...

Today's Theme Song

How it's not even 9:30am and I know my theme song for today will be Bad Day by Fuel:
-I didn't sleep well last night (Brent came to bed at like, 5:30am. Welcome home, new laptop).
-My alarm didn't go off.
-Woke up thinking today was Friday...when it's really only Thursday.
-I burnt my bacon while trying to load the dishwasher.
-Forgot to put dish washing detergent in the dishwasher.
-Realized and corrected above mistake.
-Tripped over no fewer than 4 things in our messy, messy apartment.
-Putting chicken salad over greens and hit the side of the container with my elbow. Chicken salad went everywhere.
-Cleaned up above mistake. It's amazing how hard shredded chicken can be to get up.
-Thought about giving in to my OCD and throwing it all out but brought what had stayed in the container for lunch. I know you're proud.
-Dropped my peach on the way out the door. Now it has a huge bruise on one side.
-Didn't ride the motorcycle today because I was running late (it's more menacing (and safer) when you tail someone in a (small) car) and because weather.com said there was a 40% chance of rain.
-Mad because on the way to work it went from cloudy and dark to absolutely beautiful outside. 40%??
-Almost got hit 3 different times on the way to work. Crazy drivers.
-Almost hit 1 person. (Guess I'd better watch how close I tail...)
-Got stopped at 17 of the 20 red lights.
-The humidity in the air is making my hair look worse than Hermione's:
-In an attempt to match the cheerfulness of my co-workers this morning, I said "Good Morning" to 5 different people. 4 of them did not respond.
-By the time I got back to the kitchen at work, all the coffee was gone.
-Turned and hit my hand on my desk corner. Dropped the White Out that was in my hand. Thankfully it wasn't opened yet. I'm sure the red whelp will go away...in about a year.
-While putting on my makeup, I forgot to put on blush.
-Someone's already commented I look "sorta pale".
-My right foot and leg below the knee are asleep, so of course it feels like needles are poking me all over.

So, good morning and I hope you have a great day!

P.S. Brent - looks like 100% of the comments on my last post agree with me. So there...told you so! (Thanks for commenting, Erin!!)

A Little Bling-Bling

So Brent and I were talking last night and somehow the subject of guys giving girls jewelry came up. Brent had a revelation when I told him that a guy giving a girl jewelry (not necessarily just rings, but any jewelry - whether it's a bracelet, necklace, earrings, etc) means something more than if a guy gives a girl something non-jewelry - especially during the dating stage. Brent couldn't believe it while I was spiraling in the fact that he didn't know this. How could he not know this?? Now, being the physicist he is, he asked me to ask around to see if this fact is known as much as I think it is. So ladies, tell me - do you think a guy you're dating giving you jewelry is more "serious" than him giving you something non-jewelry? Men, do you think giving jewelry means something more than giving non-jewelry or all gifts are the same?

On a different note, I've updated the post below with pictures of the inside of the cake I made for Tristen's birthday.

A little braggin's in order

Okay, so I think a little braggin' is in order. I changed out my motorcycle's battery all.by.myself last night. I'm so proud! :) Brent was still at work when I decided I wanted the battery to be changed right then. What makes me even more proud? It actually started last night on the first try! It really wasn't that complicated...all it took was taking off the pipes, removing the side panels and fuse cover, disconnecting the battery and starter, disconnecting the negative and then the positive side, taking the battery out, replacing it with the new one, working within a 1 inch space that you can barely touch and screw in the screw on the negative side, making sure the pigtails are right (no, not pigtails like what you do with your hair), reconnecting the fuse and starter, recovering it with the fuse cover and side panels, and replacing the pipes. All in all it took me about 45 minutes. Boo-yeah! (Can you tell I'm still pretty psyched about it??)

I felt a little too much like a greaser when I finished (must've been due to the fact that there was black grease all over my hands and a smudge or two on my face - hey, it was hot outside), so to make myself feel more girly, I washed my hands thoroughly and painted my nails with a clear coat. Yup, that'll show the rest of the world how girly I am.

Cake Catchup, Part 2

Last Friday night we celebrated my cousin's son's 2nd birthday. As it was my last cake class, I offered to let my cousin, Lisa, have the cake for her son's birthday. I made a double layer chocolate pinwheel cake with a chocolate mousse filling, topped with made-from-scratch buttercream icing. For the decorating, Brent helped me color & use cut-outs on the fondant (this is a big deal - Brent doesn't like to play with his food as much as I do!). My dad, aunt, uncle, cousin, and my cousin's husband were fascinated. The birthday boy, Tristen, didn't seem to care too much. I think Lisa was a little embarrassed about it, but I found it completely hilarious! :) Anyway, here's the end result:

I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture or not, but there are "2"'s on the top layer and circles on the bottom layer. The spirals sticking out the top are made from gumpaste. I think that was Tristen's favorite part - he ate, like, 4 of the 5 gumpaste decorations. :) My aunt took a picture or two of the inside of the cake...when I get those I'll try to remember to put them on this post.

UPDATE (8/10/09): Here are a few pictures of the inside of the cake! :)

Cake Catchup, Part 1

My cake decorating class is over. So sad. But I've been super busy and haven't had the chance to tell you about my last few cakes.

So on my second-to-last class, we make a cupcake cake to learn about doweling and carving. I'm making my usual multiple trips to load stuff in the car to leave (you wouldn't believe how much stuff you need...it was a regular occurrence to make 3 trips to load everything...at least I got some exercise...), and on my way back in to get the actual cake, I can't believe who I run into - David B., one our church's elders! He was chatting with a woman in my class. Turns out, David was taking a class that was 2 doors down from mine! When I saw him he explained to me that this woman here (he pointed to my classmate) is taking a cake decorating class and the sugary smell had been driving him and his classmates to see if they could get in the "in" crowd for the cakes. I smiled deviously and answered, "Well, would you like to come see my cake?" It was so funny to see David's surprised face when he realized I was in the cake class, too! So we go back down the hall to see my creation. When he saw it, he marveled. "You won't believe this," he said, "but my granddaughter, Bryleigh, is having her 2nd birthday on Saturday...the theme...is cupcakes." There was a slight pause, then he continued. "Do you have plans for this cake?" Now, I'm not sure what it is, but when someone asks for any of my cakes, I get so ecstatic! I guess that's because I assume it must look okay then. So of course I let David take the cake to take to Bryleigh's party...and couldn't have been happier that he actually wanted it! Here's a few pictures of it and David, too: