Elevator Confusion

Have you ever had one of those moments when the elevator door opens and you get off only to realize that you are on the wrong floor? I know you have, we've all done that.

This week, at the end of a long day in the office, I was standing at the elevator when the doors opened and this woman gets off. Being polite I let her off first and then I enter the elevator. She then stops immediately, spins around and gets back on and starts giggling. She says to me, "oops, wrong floor". My response was "yeah, you just hit the penthouse, all down from here." (You have to understand that my office is on the 3rd floor of a three floor building.)

I then hit the "1" button and we head down. Then the doors open and we both get off, only to realize that we have only gone one floor and have BOTH made the mistake. At this point, we both start to laugh hysterically, because really what are the odds that she is going to make that mistake, especially since she obviously came from that floor, and I'm such a lemming that I'll just follow anybody off an elevator.

We finally make it to the correct floor and part ways both smiling and giggling to ourselves.

I have to admit that random laughter with a stranger is one of those little joys in the world.

Six Degrees of....

There has been a recent conversation string going on within my little 4-pack of cubicles and the folks that I work with regarding....Top Gun. It started innocently enough:

ABBA: Hey, y'all. I just saw an article that women are no longer going to be required to wear bikinis as the Sand Volleyball uniform in the Olympics.
CoWorker #1: They never required men to wear speedos, did they?
CW #2: Have you all seen that one guy volleyball player who is really tall and blocks everything...
ABBA: I don't know much about sand volleyball, except for the scene in Top Gun.
CW#2: Oh Yeah!!
ABBA: {sarcastically} So realistic when Tom Cruise flexed his muscles to check his watch. And come on that has got to be gross putting on his t-shirt and boots with no socks all sweaty and sandy from the beach. If I were what's her name and he showed up at my house like that I'd be all "get out".
CW #2: Meg Ryan?
ABBA: No, Meg Ryan was married to Dr. Green.
CW#2: Oh right, "Hey Goose, take me to bed or lose me forever..." Great movie line.
ABBA: Yeah. No. Kelly McGillis was Tom's lady friend.
CW#1: I can't picture her. {Google's her picture} WOW, she looks different.
ABBA: Yeah. A little rough looking these days.

Next Day.....
CW#2: Did you all hear that Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins broke up?
ABBA: No!! Really?!? You know, he was Tom Cruise's 3rd RIO in Top Gun.
CW#1: Really?!?
ABBA: Yep. Dr. Green was his first, Goose. Then the guy from Walker, Texas Ranger was his second after Goose died. Then Tim Robbins when they were out on the ship and saved Iceman's ass.
CW#2: You really know that movie, don't you?
ABBA: Yeah. It came out my freshman year in college and at A&M it was a big deal.

Later that same day....
ABBA: Isn't David Duke the KKK leader?
CW#1: Huh? Speaking of the Klan, I watched Steel Magnolias the other day. It was really good.
CW#3: You just lost your man card.
ABBA: Steel Magnolias and the Klan?!?
CW#1: No, wait. Fried Green Tomatos.... That has the Klan and is a really good movie.
CW#3: Who all was in Steel Magnolias?
CW#2: Shirley McClain, Julia Roberts, who was that other funny old lady....
ABBA: Olympia Dukakis?
CW#2: Yeah!!
CW#3: Wasn't Tom Skirrit in that too?
ABBA: Yes. AND he was in Top Gun...

Peeling Back the Covers

Okay, so others are doing this, I might as well also....

1. What song always makes you happy when you hear it? Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry (Oh yeah, I go old school)


2. What, if anything, would you change about your blog? The email that I used to set it up and probably more links.


3. If you could only keep one thing in your wardrobe, what would it be? Brown Suede jacket. I don't wear it much, but I love it. Everything else in my wardrobe is slowly getting changed out as I'm losing weight and nothing fits. (When we say wardrobe, we are not including shoes, right? Because I don't think I could limit myself to one pair...)


4. Warm sunny beaches or snow covered mountains? Snow covered mountains. I love the clean and the solitude and the fires and hot chocolate. Of course, everything comes with a caveat and if I'm choosing where I want to go to relax, this would be the choice and only if it is in a cabin fit for a home decorating magazine with all the bells and whistles. If, on the other hand, it is where I would want to be stranded, I think I might have to choose warm, sunny beaches only because I think I could actually survive there better than on a mountain; that and my whole Donner Party fear that I would be the first person in the party to be knocked off for dinner...


5. What's your favorite book? Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. This book is highly sacreligous, but it makes me laugh whenever I read it.


6. What 3 words best describe your personality? Dependable. Humourous. Supportive.


7. What's the first thing you'd splurge on if you won the lottery? A dome home with some land where I have lots of room for a studio.


8. Do you have an embarrassing song that you rock out to on your I-pod? Convoy by C.W. McCall


9. Do you have a hidden talent? Everyone knows that I quilt, not sure that is a talent. I've started doing some cooking, and think I'm pretty good. A "hidden" talent, not really sure I have one of those.


10. If you could take a one month trip anywhere and money was not a consideration, where would you go? I'd like to do a road trip through the country. Go and see all the really interesting places throughout the United States, much in the same way my folks have done.


11. What's your favorite sport and why? I'm not a big sports fan. I pretty much tolerate it and if I'm with people I'll watch whatever is on, but I don't seek out sports.

I AM a Gardener

Okay, not really, but somebody thinks I am.
Last week I recieved a catalog from Gardeners.com as they must think I am some sort of out-doorsy person. I glanced through the catalog and realized that there were a number of things that I actually would like to do and have. Maybe I am going to become a gardener....someday.
This weekend I actually attempted to be that gardener/home owner/yard person that the catalog people think I am. I woke up Saturday morning and made a trip to Lowe's to purchase:

• Shovel


• Trowel


• Cultivator (Or as I like to call it Dirt Fork)


• Shears to trip off branches


• Edging


• Knee Bench


• Gloves


• Sun Hat

I then came home and spent the next 3+ hours digging up the beds in the front of the house to get all of the grass and weeds that had inundated my beds over the past two years (yes, last year the yard basically went to hell). I pulled up root systems that I'm pretty certain went all the way to China. And a couple of times I got so into the pulling out of roots that I worried that I might be pulling out my bushes' roots rather than the grass roots, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see if there is any life still in the bushes. I also cut back two pretty dead bushes and completely dug up another bush.
Sunday morning I got up early and tried to install the edging that I purchased so that I would have an actual barrier between the beds and the lawn and hamper the grass from invading again. Sadly, after struggling for 2 hours with trying to pound that bleeping border into the ground and it not coorperating, I got fed up and just decided to put the mulch down...except I only bought one bag and that only covered 1/4 of what needed to be covered (lesson learned).
So, this morning I returned to the Gardener's catalog that fate seemed to think I needed and found a different edging techinique that I'm going to try. Hopefully it'll arrive before Saturday and I'll spend this next weekend finishing up the cleaning out of the beds and putting in the edging. I figure that will make the yard look a little nicer and not be such an embarrassment to the neighbors.
Next year.... I think that is when I'm REALLY going to focus on making the yard a true Better Homes and Gardens vision.