Right now I’m getting ready to take a course this fall in the master’s program I am interested in.  Yes, I do believe I have lost my mind.  I haven’t even begun this course, let alone gotten all of the application paperwork done for the program, and I’m completely stressed!  At least a good friend of mine is going through this with me.  Now I just have to put together a good writing sample…

I cannot promise the frequency with which I will be checking in here, but I’ll do my best to make it back here semi-regularly.    Ciao!

Wow!  I didn’t realize it’s pretty much been a year since I’ve been on here.  I didn’t mean to abandon the blog… I just forget about it.   Some of you know about the addiction that is Facebook.   I’ve mostly been there.    

I broke my leg last May.  You would have thought that would a perfect time for me to blog.  I tried writing one or two, but they weren’t coming out quite right.  I was even trying to post my xrays to gross you out.  That didn’t work, either.   Perhaps I let that disappointment take over.       

That’s about all for now… I’ll be thinking about new and exciting topics to randomly discuss and post.   Hope you’re doing well!

Here are the rules:

*     Link back to me

*     Post theses rules on your meme post

*     Share seven random things about you…or as many as you like.

*     Tag seven other fun-loving blog friends that need something to write about!

*     And let them know…so they can do it

And the seven random people that I’ll be tagging are below:

1. Curious
2. Mercedes
3. Fancy Dancer
4. The Cool Chicks
5. Anne’s Zoo
6. Accountable
7. Fighting Windmills

   Okay, here it goes:

1.  I still secretly want to sign up to be a Stampin’ Up demonstrator.   Not to hold classes, but to get the pretty stamps at a discount.   Hi, my name is Mel and I have a new addiction and it’s called stamping.   OMG.  I never realized how much fun it is!   I’m going to make as many of my cards that I give from now on.   Well, I guess it’s not a secret anymore…

2.  I don’t like snow.   Well… I like it as long as it’s not in my yard or sidewalk or anywhere else where I may have to shovel it or drive in it.   We’ve just had waaaaaay too much this year.   April is just around the corner and the weatherman is threatening that more is on its way.   I’m ready for Spring!

3.  Speaking of Spring, it’s my favorite season.   I love the transition seasons, including Fall, but Spring is the best.  Spring brings everything to life after months of being dormant.   I love the blossoms on the fruit trees, the early flowers, the birds telling me it’s getting warmer, and the nice, gentle breezes.   Ahhhhh…  smell the clean fresh air.

4.  One of my passions is creating stained glass art.   On a whim I took a stained glass class through the community enrichment program.   The instructor kept asking me if I had done it before.  Apparently I have some natural talent?   Who knew?   I totally get lost in a piece when I’m creating it.  Picking the colors, setting the pattern pieces to capture the right nuances of the glass, soldering it all together to make one cohesive piece… Yes, I lose all track of time.   Lately I see stained glass art potential in just about everything.    It’s good to get inspiration from the world around you.

5.  I love Girl Scout cookies and I need my fix.   Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to hook up with a supplier… Yet.   Maybe I’m not hanging out in the right places…

6.   Happy Bunny cracks me up!   I have a Happy Bunny poster hanging in my office.   Yeah, not very professional but who cares?    You don’t know what Happy Bunny is?!?!!??   Check it out. 

7.  I don’t blog enough.   As you can see my posts are few and far in between.  I’m going to try to keep up with it a little bit better.   We’ll see…. 

1.  Breakfast Club…  What can I say?  This is a great high school movie.  It’s not exactly a scene from the movie, but it has my favorite part–the essay that was written. 

2.  Sixteen Candles…  Crazy movie.  Luckily my family never forgot my birthday.   I feel for her, with the foreign exchange student finding a girlfriend right away.  Love this movie!!

3.  Gross Pointe Blank…  Why I like this movie is summed up nicely by Minnie Driver’s character Debi–most people joke about the awful things they DON’T do.  This guy is actually doing them.   This is a super sweet clip with Martin, the professional killer, having a tender moment with a friend’s baby.  Unfortunately they cut the clip a little short.   DH loves this movie for the unrealistic action.

4.  The Matrix…  I love this movie for the pure cerebral aspects of it.   What you’re experiencing may feel like a reality, but is it really REAL?   We could be in the matrix right now!     There’s a nice philisophical aspect to the story.    Of course, DH loves it because there’s action and they shoot things up.

5.  The Incredibles…  Hey!  It’s a Disney/Pixar movie.  How could you go wrong?   Honestly I haven’t yet met someone who has seen this movie that doesn’t like it.  How can you not?   It’s so good!  Sorry for my indecisiveness with the multiple clips.  If I could, I’d post the whole movie here!

6.  Finding Nemo…  Again, Disney/Pixar.  What’s more to say?   Pixar can’t go wrong.    I love the little crab in this clip.

7.  Office Space…   Okay, okay!  It’s rare that any LOVES their job and going to work for the ”man”.   This movie proves that.    One of my all-time favorite scenes is when Peter is at the hypotherapist’s office asking him if he could hypnotize him and make him think he’s been fishing all day instead of going to a job he hates.   I couldn’t find that one (and my other faves I did find were full of ‘language’), so this one will have to do.   Milton reminds me of a few of my coworkers…

8.  Over the Hedge…  Too cute.   They really got the right people to voice these characters.   This clip has my all-time favorite clip from the movie–RJ explaining the people and how they get food. 

9.  Big Fish…  If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I strongly urge you to go out and rent it NOW!  It’s such a great father-son movie.   I couldn’t find a clip that would 1) make sense out of context of the scenes leading up to it, or 2) do the movie justice, so I just found a good trailer that I liked.   This movie is sooo good.  I’ve watched it numerous times and each time I watch it I like it just as much.  That’s all I’m going to say about it.  Otherwise I’d ruin it for people who haven’t seen it.

10.  Madagascar…  Hilarious!!!!   Nature!  “It’s all over me!”  LOL!   This is just a bunch of Melman clips from the movie.  He’s so neurotic.  How can you not like him…

Looking back on this list it’s funny to see how many cartoons there are.   It’s especially amusing when you realize we don’t have any children.  We’ll go for just about any Pixar movie just because they’re that good.   

So, what do you think of the movies?  Any that you think I missed?

P.S.  I really like Fight Club, too, but it would almost be impossible to find a usable clip.   I like it for the underlying story of someone not wanting to be himself so badly that he makes up an alter ego–not the actual fighting.   Makes you think, reminds you to be happy to be yourself, and think for yourself.     So I guess that makes my “Top 11″. 

With it being an election year, there is so much talk of politics and beliefs in general.   Because of this, I’ve really been pondering my beliefs and have realized that I am full of contradictions.   Over the years I’ve noticed that I lean more to the left than the right.   Is that from living in one of the only (if not the only) democratic county in the entire state of Idaho?  Who knows.  Anything is possible, really. 

On average, I’m somewhere left of the middle.  And, hey!  Don’t you tell me I’m a little bit off.  I already know! 

“Up to a point a man’s life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him. Then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes to be. Only the weak blame parents, their race, their times, lack of good fortune, or the quirks of fate.

Everyone has it within his power to say,

“This I am today; that I will be tomorrow.”

- Louis L’Amour

I randomly came across this quote while looking for something else this morning online.   I absolutely love this quote.   More people need to take responsibility for their actions.  Too often people hide behind a horrible childhood, an abusive spouse, or some other tramatic event that they encountered.   Yes, your childhood and life experiences brought you to this point… what are you going to do now?   How are YOU going to move forward and make the best out of life?

 

“Dig”
by Incubus

Hee hee.   I decided I didn’t want to put my doggy at the top of the blog after all.  I’ll put him somewhere else.   TGIF!!!  

• He’s completely devoted to me.  (Just forget the fact that he doesn’t sit 100% of the time when I ask him to.)
• He greets me as if I’ve just gotten back from an around-the-world vacation when I get out of the shower.
• He’s so fluffy… and smoochie…
• His favorite toy in the whole wide world is the cardboard tube you get from paper towels.
• He looks like a little soccer player when he chases the toy balls around the yard. 
• That wonderfully adorable pink spot on his nose.
• The super-cute big brown freckles he’s got on his tummy. 
• He barks at the BBQ on the deck as if it were a big, bad monster.
• He love car rides.
• He loves me unconditionally–no matter how neurotic I get.