Friday Fragments - Boo Edition

Some kind of record for me. Four straight days of blogging. Love Fridays for Mrs. 4444 edition of Friday Fragments.

I'm a little out of sorts this morning. Our power went out last night for about two hours. This never happens. I can count on my hand the number of times it has gone out for that long in the 20 years we've lived in the house. No answer as to what happened but I figured out I need a new battery for my alarm clock. One good thing came out of it.

Stupid criminals this week are a pair of robbers who robbed a house. They were doing fine until they accidentally butt dialed the police and started talking about the robbery. 45 minutes later the police were able to track the gps coordinates of the phone and arrest them.

Fall has arrived today with a freeze warning out for tonight. Last weekend I had the air conditioner on all weekend. Quite a change.

Tomorrow is the National Weather Festival at work. I went last year but will skip it this year. After all I work with these people and really can't learn anything. I know I should volunteer to help out but I just don't want to. Plus the football game is right in the middle of it and we have people coming over. It probably is better to use that reasoning.

In our quest to eat more vegetables, I bought two different types of squash. I plan on making the spaghetti squash this weekend but I'm not sure what to do with the acorn squash I bought. Any ideas?

I'm about to have to adjust my drive home from work. They are building a Walmart Neighborhood Market (that we don't need) right on a terrible turn on my way home. The traffic is going to be horrendous so I think I'll need to adjust the drive home. One of my alternate routes has major road construction on it so that's out and the other one goes straight through campus. I'm not excited about any of these. After years of only taking 10-15 minutes to get home I think I'm about to get a rude awakening.

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 is recovering nicely from rotator cuff surgery. If you know anyone who is about to do it, she had a great post on what to expect. I highly recommend it.

Friday Friday Friday! I'm so happy it's Friday!

I'm leaving town Sunday for a few days in San Diego for the Society of Research Administrators annual meeting. I know you are all wishing you could go listen to talks on cost-sharing, patents, intellectual property, F&A rates, clinical trials and so much more. I actually do enjoy listening to some of this stuff and glean a few nuggets of information to help me in my job. Plus it is at the Hotel del Coronado which is gorgeous. I'll probably get lost in it.

Just look at this place

Stupid criminal this week was a guy who tried to shoplift a bottle of wine from a store. He was a little drunk and while running out of the store he ran into a display and knocked himself out. Since he didn't get out of the store he couldn't be charged with shoplifting. No word on how many other charges he did receive.

Whitney comes home for fall break tomorrow. We are going for sushi (so happy she likes this now) and some shopping. I've got to spend my Kohl's cash before I leave town. In the three and half days she is home she has to get her oil changed, go to the doctor, get a haircut, study for a test, do a bunch of work and relax. She also wants to bake pumpkin bread.

I made homemade marinana sauce last weekend and we finally had it last night. I'm not sure why we don't do this more often. It is so much better than a jar. We got a couple of sausages and put it all on a bit of pasta. Yummy.

While we were at our meeting in Honolulu, the group provided us with lunch. A traditional bento box lunch. It was one of the most beautiful things I've seen.

And I leave you with my attempt at a panoramic shot from my phone in Hawaii. We were at the edge of the ocean and I just had to try it.

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 is recovering from surgery but she felt well enough to host this week. Get well soon!

Stupid criminal this week was a guy who decided to rob a pharmacy by attaching a rope to the prescription drug safe to his truck. He was able to pull the safe out of the store but then he drove down the road with the safe dragging behind his truck. A police officer just happened to see this and pulled him over. He may have gotten away with it if he had just put the safe in the back of the truck. DUMB!

Last week I talked about car colors. This week I saw a purple car. It was obviously a home done job because no car manufacturer would have marketed this color of purple. Think the color little girls love. Yup that purple.

Saw this sign yesterday at a meeting I went to.

Yes, that elevator has been out for three months. I'm not sure how many people need to get to the second floor with an elevator but I don't think this building is ADA compliant now. 

My Church is Kind of a Big Deal starts this Sunday at church. We have two weekends where we have food trucks, lots of carnival games and this year...FIREWORKS. What a crazy fun church I go to.

As I mentioned earlier this week, Whitney and I got baptized last Sunday before she went back to college. What a special moment to share with my child. 

We had ordered a blind for the bedroom and when it came in the color was so far off what we picked. Did you know that Levelor has a 30 day guarantee? Well we didn't. Thank goodness for that so we can go get the color that we want. We will upgrade our order to real wood so that the color will be exact. The faux wood can vary significantly the Levelor rep told us. 

Truly a Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 just had rotator cuff surgery and still she hosted us this week. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Starting off with the stupid criminal, how about two of them. Two women were sitting in a car smoking crack. Unfortunately for them it was parked next to an unmarked police car with two police officers in it. And then they found about 6500 hydrocodone pills, meth and heroin. Let's just say they won't be out anytime soon.

As I've been driving to work lately, I've noticed a bunch of three wheeled motorcycles. I must say these look sturdier than a regular motorcycle but you still won't catch me riding one anytime soon.

And then I've been wondering about car colors. There are plenty of standard ones but there are three colors that I wonder why anyone buys. Orange, yellow and powder blue. The orange ones around here look like either Texas Longhorn or Oklahoma State orange. Neither of which plays well in the home of the Oklahoma Sooners. Yellow just always looks strange on a beautiful Ford Mustang. And the powder blue ones are just weird. Its like they want a wimpy looking car. If you have a car any of those colors, can you tell me why you got it?

My other random thought this week is how does the ionic, tourmaline hair dryer work so well? My old hair dryer bit the dust so I had been borrowing Whitney's travel one for a week. My hair felt so dried out. I bought a new one last week and my hair feels so soft. Does the ion tourmaline work that much better? What about it makes my hair not dry out? Inquiring minds want to know.

We are playing musical cars today. Whitney's is at the lock shop getting her door locks changed out. She had to be at work at 7:45 so she borrowed Dan's car since it is just like hers. Dan had to take me to work at 8 so he would have a car today. So I'm carless until we get hers back later today. And it was a good thing we got her car in today since she moves back to the dorm on Monday. We need all three cars to move her stuff. Crazy isn't it?

Friday fragments

Thank you Unknown Mami for hosting in Mrs. 4444 place this week.

I love having a three day weekend! Sleeping in and catching up on shopping and other stuff.

I took my mom to buy an iPad since she doesn't think she will be able to use a laptop after she has surgery. Now we have to figure her out her wifi password.

Stupid criminal this week was a man who drove his snowmobile into a tree. In June. Without any snow. Alcohol was involved.

You cannot believe how busy a liquor store is the day before a holiday. You would think that they would be closed for three weeks instead of one day. I was there at four yesterday and the big parking lot was quite full.

We plan on our annual watching of fireworks on tv again tonight. I never want to fight the crowd.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Friday Fragments - Three Day Weekend Ahead!

I was chastised by my daughter for not posting on Wednesday for the hodgepodge questions (sorry Joyce) so I'm joining Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments.

We'll start off with the stupid criminal. A woman was arrested for trying to go to high school with a fake id. She was 31 and said she was 15. Why would anyone want to go back to high school in their 30's? 

I finally got my flower seeds planted this week. Dan had to till some dirt for me. In the little bit of time he was outside he got a tick. So today he will be spreading bug granules in hopes that it will rain this weekend like they say it will.

My favorite summer show starts next week. So You Think You Can Dance is mine and Whitney's staple for watching in the summer. We can't wait.

Whitney bought her plane ticket to go to New York City this week to visit her roommate who is there for a summer internship. She has been busy plotting how to go as many Broadway shows as possible. I've never been there so any guidance would be great. She will be staying near Times Square.

I'm in the process of trying to decide what I want to do in Hawaii so I can purchase our plane tickets. I'm pretty sure it will involve changing islands at some point because we really want to see the volcanoes but my meeting is in Honolulu. Thus some major planning needs to get going.

The food trucks that I mentioned on Monday will be in St. Louis this weekend. If you are around there, go check them out.

Hopefully all can enjoy a three day weekend in celebration of Memorial Day. Remember that service men and women gave their lives so that we can be free to celebrate.

The last time I was at Arlington National Cemetery.

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 is celebrating her 300th Fragment next week with prizes. So come join the fun.

Stupid criminal is from Austria. A tourist goes into a local police station asking if they have any warrants for him. Surprise...4 of them for fraud. Instant arrest. I'm not quite sure what he was thinking.

One more week and Whitney comes home. She will be home this summer. Still trying to figure out her summer plans. She should hear if she gets an offer from her current job to work the summer and she has an interview today for an unpaid internship with a non-profit. I will say the non-profit sounds really neat and I know she wants to do it. So crossing fingers that the right choice opens up for her. She also has an interview for a job for the fall selling advertising for the school newspaper and yearbook. It sounds like she probably has the job but just has to go through the formality of an interview. The benefits of a small college.

I love finding guidelines for how to do a report after we've submitted it. I'm just going to pretend that I never dug around a website to find them. If they can't send them to me, how am I supposed to know?

Abby is enjoying the nicer weather because that means she gets to ride in the car more. And she loves a good drive-thru at the pharmacy or bank. That means treats for her!

Please read this story about a family from the tornado in Arkansas. If this woman can still have faith in God, we should all have faith and not anger.

Friday Fragments

I hadn't planned on this today but decided to go for it. If you are looking for my letter V for A to Z Blog Challenge it is the next post.

Mrs. 4444 is almost up to the 300th episode of Friday Fragments and is having a party. Go check her out.

Today is trash day and the recycle guy came before 7:30am. We aren't supposed to have our stuff out until 7:30. Somehow this is a fail and not on our part. So now we wait two more weeks for them to come by. Normally they come between 10-12. Regular trash doesn't come until after 5 a lot of the time.

Stupid criminal of the week is happened yesterday when officers were trying to serve a warrant on drugs. The guy decided to make a break for it...In an RV! Needless to say this didn't end well with a chase and the RV going into a ditch. (local story...yay us!)

All the tulips have lost their flowers so the university is digging out all the bulbs and anyone can get them. There was a madhouse this morning outside of work with people and plastic bags collecting them. How much money is wasted every year on this practice?

Our garage door keeps deciding it doesn't want to close. This is a problem when you are trying to get to work and am running late. Dan has tried to fix it but since we don't know what is wrong, it is difficult to determine. So a call to the garage door people is in order.

I'm struggling on X and Y for the blog challenge. I need to come up with X today so I can write the post and have it scheduled. I have a feeling I'm going to really stretch to come up with it. Writing with a theme has been most helpful but I haven't spent very much time looking for other people's blogs. I did originally and added a few to my reading list but I should go out and find some more. 

Enjoy some spring weather everyone! It's arts and music festival time so that means storms here. :)

Friday Fragments

If you are looking for today's A-Z Challenge post, keep reading the next post.

Mrs. 4444 is getting ready to celebrate her 300th Friday Fragment (can you believe that?) and is hosting a giveaway on May 9. Check her out to read about it.

Stupid criminals this week is quite the story. A group of people were in a car. Car gets pulled over and driver is arrested for a DUI. Passenger decides to drive the car. He gets pulled over...DUI. Third passenger decides to drive car. Guess what? He gets pulled over for DUI. I think he wins the award for stupid. He obviously didn't seen the other two guys in the same car get a DUI.

The tulips are still blooming here. The ones at work are gorgeous red ones. My lily plants decided that the winter was not harsh and are coming back in my mailbox planters. So a big win for me.

I'm still ahead in my A-Z posts. So far have written through mid-week next week but I've got to get going so I can still stay ahead. I've got three letters to figure out so my thinking cap will be coming on soon.

My credit union stopped paying interest on savings accounts. They said that no one in our market is paying. Isn't that just sad. I thought we were supposed to be rewarded for saving money. What is this world coming to?

This weekend we are hanging the big mirror that came with the new dresser we bought. We didn't want it attached to the dresser so we are hanging a huge 40 pound mirror on the wall. Thank goodness for youtube help videos we figure out the correct system. I'm sure it is going to look fabulous.

Friday Fragments - I may be blogging from Kansas if the wind doesn't stop

Life in Oklahoma. Wind, wind, wind. But I'm still here so I'm joining with Mrs. 4444 this week for Friday Fragments.

My desk has never seen so much paper and projects in its life. I don't think it was just being out of town for a week. I think the paper decided to multiply and have babies. It can do that...right? But among all the paper is about $500,000 in proposals that we are definitely getting the money for so it is all worth it. I just have to finish writing them.

I have missed the last few weeks at church due to being out of town and some other issues. I told our volunteer coordinator I was taking a break from ushering. Within one day, I had 5 different people from church call me to make sure I was ok. I guess I'm missed and that people like me. 

Stupid criminal this week is a man who was released from prison after 15 years for robbing a store. So what did he do to celebrate getting out of jail? He went back and robbed the same store. He was caught after K9 police chased him down. Back to jail he goes. I think the store needs to be notified when he gets out the next time and have police waiting for him as he arrives.

I've got several of my posts written already for next month's A-Z Blog Challenge. I need to scan in some pictures for C but otherwise the first week is done. And I came up with new things for a couple more letters. I still need to figure out 10 letters. My brain better kick it into gear. The theme is bucket list which seems to be unique at least from what was on the theme reveal.

I am about to go a little crazy at Target. They have their Lean Cuisine/Smart Ones/Healthy Choice meals buy 1/get 1 free. That makes these unbelievably cheap. So I've done one trip and need to go back for more. How much can my freezer hold? I eat these every day for lunch so it is a really good thing for me to stock up on.

This weekend I need to put all my snowmen stuff away. I got it all together and the box down from the attic, but I still haven't wrapped anything up. I am so far behind on many things. Just finished taxes last weekend. Normally I have them done in early February. Maybe it's the weather?

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 is hosting us again. Go see what everyone is up to this week.

I think something in our town is against Mexican restaurants. Last fall the Taco Bueno near my house had a fire and they have finally torn it down. A few weeks ago the On the Border near the interstate burned down. If I were a Mexican chain restaurant, I would think twice about being open.

Stupid criminal of the week is the guy who drove drunk to the police station and insisted that he wanted a place to sleep. Well they gave it to him alright.

Spring break starts a day early here (parent/teacher conference day is today) so Dan is off on a trip to visit his cousin. Whitney comes home tonight and then I leave Sunday to go to DC for a work meeting. Abby is going to be so confused with the changes. As a senior citizen dog she just doesn't like change anymore. Although I'm sure a few treats will help ease her mind.

I read on Rebecca Jo's blog about her ringtone. Does anyone else have specific ones for people? Dan's is Thunderstruck and Whitney's is Whine Up. That probably sounds strange but they each have a specific meaning. I love being able to tell who is calling without even having to look at the caller id screen. My regular one is Raise Your Glass. Probably time to come up with some new ones.

Last night on the Tonight Show, they had the cutest video. Jimmy Fallon was talking about a viral video of strangers kissing (which I hadn't heard of) so he made one with puppies and kittens. Cute overload.

Video is from Tonight Show Channel

I'm dealing with a vendor at work that keeps sending me a bill for something that we returned months ago. I have talked to the company six times (yes every month) and they continue to send me a bill. I refuse to pay. They need to get this fixed fast because I think we are going to have to order from them again and I can't have this screw up that order.

Have a great weekend. Enjoy sunshine (I hope) and spring break if you get one!

Friday Fragments - I'm Still Here

It has been another week of craziness and I can't believe this is the first blog post I've written in a week. Yikes. Thank goodness Mrs. 4444 hosts us for lots of randomness because that is what this one will be.

Last Saturday we went shopping for a chair. We came out of the furniture store with a dresser, nightstand, loveseat and dining room set. What's up with that? So I've spent the week posting the used furniture on a variety of websites to try and sell it. I think someone is at the house right now picking up the old bedroom furniture. The dining room table was supposed to be gone last night but the people didn't come. I hope it is gone this weekend.

This is what Whitney's room looks like right now with piles of furniture in it. Good thing she isn't going to be home for a couple of weeks.

 Our new dining room set. Bar stool height means we can pull up a chair to the counter while someone is cooking.

We consolidated a chest and stand up dresser into this. It was clearanced and slightly dinged but exactly what we wanted.

The matching nightstand has drawers so some clothes moved into here. It is taller than my old one. It had one ding in it but you couldn't buy a smaller new one out of a box for less money. I'll take the storage.

We wanted a seating area in our bedroom and this was perfect. Another clearanced item but not the floor model so it is perfectly new.

Now we have to paint the bedroom because the tv left a black mark where it had been (different height). Time to get rid of the floral wallpaper too.

I was able to cook last weekend. We made risotto which I used a recipe but changed things up. It was probably the best I've ever made. 

We also got to meet our new neighbor. It only took 8 months. We had her over for dinner on Sunday. Quite a story and so glad that isn't my life. That's all I'll say about that one.

This week has been so crazy busy at work since I've been covering for my boss's assistant all week. Needless to say I am counting down until the weekend where I will once again not read work emails.

Next week I am off to Seattle for a work trip. Yes it is work but it is away from here where I will be out of touch for awhile. Thank goodness. I'm looking forward to eating as much seafood as I can legally eat.

And we'll end with a stupid criminal. A guy thought it would be a good idea to get an alarm system that would notify the police when it went off. Great except for the fact that he was growing marijuana in the house. And when the police arrived when there was a false alarm they found it. Needless to say, the alarm worked...just not how he hoped it would.

Friday Fragments - Happy Valentine's Day

Mrs. 4444 is under the weather and yet she still puts out our weekly blog hop. Get better soon!

Happy Valentine's Day! A lovely made up holiday. For which I'm doing nothing. Tomorrow I decided we are going to make lobster for the first time. Now to figure out a side dish to go with it.

On Sunday I'm taking Whitney, my mom and my mother-in-law to Beauty and the Beast, one of the Broadway touring companies. It was Christmas presents for everyone so we are looking forward to it.

I feel sorry for all you people suffering from feet of snow but it was 55 yesterday and will be in the 60's all weekend long. Yes Oklahoma has fickle weather but mostly on the positive end right now. The warmer weather does not mean my office is any warmer though. I still need my space heater on.

I love being able to watch Olympics in the morning at work on my ipad while I work. Yes I can multi-task. I do it at home so doing it at work isn't any big deal.

Did you know in biathalon when they shoot laying down the target is smaller than when they are standing? Its because it is harder to keep your rifle steady when you are standing. Of course we are talking about targets that are only 4 1/2 inches for standing and 4.5 cm for laying down. That is pretty darn small.

Stupid criminal this week was the woman who stabbed her fiance when he wouldn't take her to the liquor store. He told her he was drunk and couldn't drive so she stabbed him. I don't think they are going to get married anymore.

There is a state in Mexico (Sonora) that has banned a list of 61 baby names. These banned names include: Twitter, Scrotum, Robocop, Spinach, Panties, Harry Potter, James Bond and Mistress. Now why anyone would choose these names is beyond me to begin with. 

Friday Fragments - Opening Ceremony

Mrs. 4444 hosts our weekly meetup. Go see her and all the others who participate. Look she made a new button too.

Stupid criminal this week was a man who tried to rob a woman of her car. He went into her garage and demanded the key. She gave it to him and went back into the house closing the garage door after her. She called police. Police arrived and man was still in garage. I'm guessing alcohol was involved since he never tried to leave the garage.

Anyone catch the new Olympic sport team figure skating last night? I actually sort of got excited watching it (the Japanese male skater was awesome). I'm going to have to explain this concept over and over to many people I think. Tonight is opening ceremony and Whitney will be home to watch it with me. Woohoo!

You can watch all the events online live if you want to or you can watch the compilation that NBC puts together at night. Nothing will be live at night since they are 9-13 hours ahead (depending on where you live in the US).

Our new bible study got cancelled this week because of weather but that works out because my group added a second choice and this will give me time to have the book shipped to me. I wasn't excited about the first choice but was going to go only to have time with my friends. But now we are going to do Beth Moore's study on Daniel. This sounds much more what I want in a bible study.

Did you know that Wednesday was National Weatherperson's Day. All of my favorite meteorologists were at their annual convention so I couldn't personally thank them for all that they do. Never blame a meteorologist for bad weather. They don't make it...they only forecast and research it. I know...I work with them every single day.

I'm making a conscious effort to dress better for work. I work in a very casual environment where I wear jeans every day. I've gotten into a bad habit of wearing worn out keds all the time and frankly I'm tired of always looking like a poor college student. So I'm trying to make sure and wear nicer shoes. I'll still be in jeans but definitely need to step it up. Of course it is so cold out today that I wore a sweatshirt and tennis shoes to work but I'm trying to keep warm. 

I'm also trying to have conversations with people. When we moved to this building seven years ago I never see anyone anymore. I spend all my time in my office and never run into anyone unless they come see me. So I need to get out and have conversations with others. 

I have my theme for A-Z Blog Challenge narrowed down to three things. I'm really leaning to one of them but I just need to make sure I can come up with all the letters. If so, I think it will be a great series.

Friday Fragments - Who Knows What Edition For Me

I always wonder what to title these things. Seems blah to do the same thing every week. And I have no idea how many times I've participated in it so I can't write the edition. So thus is this week's title.

Thanks Mrs. 4444 for hosting.

I ordered a space heater online since they are out of stock around here. I couldn't find my old one and picked one with a good rating. People did say it was loud but I thought how loud could it be. Yikes...loud enough I want to return it but would hardly get any money back since I have to pay for shipping. So I have it as far away from me in my office, which defeats some of the purpose of a space heater. Not sure how much heat is getting to me.

Stupid criminal this week is a man who police had been looking for quite awhile. They posted his picture on their facebook page asking for help finding him. He saw his picture and reposted the picture on facebook. The police found out, pretended to be a pretty girl who wanted to meet him and let's just say, the arrest was pretty easy after that.

I've successfully created an empty spot in the freezer over the last two weeks. I probably have one more week of just eating out of the freezer and buying minimally before I have to buy some meat. I like being thrifty.

My fingernails are so brittle this winter. I've never had problems like this. Every time I get them to grow just a little they break off. I think it is just too dry everywhere. I have a lot of static electricity hair looks going on too. Every time I go to the bathroom after I was my hands I put a just a damp hand on the front of my hair to calm it down. Doesn't work all the time but it is a start.

My office computer did not like the new anti-virus software that our university got. Basically it crashed my system. So after multiple tries of various fixes, the IT guy has to wipe the computer clean and start from scratch. These things seem to happen to me a lot.

I finally found a pair of loafers that fit my feet and go with jeans. This has been a quest of mine for years. I always end up wearing a pair of keds because my heel is so thin loafers and flats fall off. But DSW had a sale and I had earned some more money off and I got a pair of LifeStride for $18. Score one for me.

Just picture these in navy.

Our volunteer coordinator at work is so nice. She knows I like scarves and I wear a lot of purple so Sunday she gave me a gift of a scarf. That was just so nice of her. I wore it to work on Tuesday. I've never had an infinity scarf and this one has two sides so it is unusual.

And that's about it around these parts. Cold today but in the 60's over the weekend, then back in the 30's for the beginning of next week. 

Friday Fragments

Weekly installment hosted by Mrs. 4444. Always good way to end the week.

A full week of work and I'm exhausted. I have so much to still catch up on at home and then work I feel as if I'm never going to come up for air. The house is still decorated for Christmas. I must at least put the tree away this weekend.

Whitney goes back to school on Sunday. She moved some of her stuff back into her dorm room today since she has to go to school to work. It is nice that she was able to work some during the break. Benefit of only living 40 minutes from school.

Stupid criminals this week are a pair of brothers who got into a knife fight over peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They are roommates and one of them decided that the other one was eating too many of the PB&J sandwiches (six in one hour). Things escalated to knives and the police arrived to arrest them. Moral...Don't ever tell someone that they ate too many PB&J's.

Just a couple more Top Chefs before the season is over. I said from the beginning that I though Nina would win and I think I'm still right.

Project Runway Allstars ended last night. I must stop watching these shows. But then I saw where Tim Gunn has a new show next week and must watch that. 

Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees were announced this week and we had an excited household. Dan's favorite modern day player (Greg Maddux) was elected. We are thinking of actually going to the ceremony in July. We went the hall several years ago and it is an amazing museum. Even if you aren't a huge baseball fan and you find yourself in upper New York you should go.

I leave you with a photo of the bathroom door at one of the museums we went to in New Orleans. It looks like a Port-a-Potty but it really is a real bathroom behind the door. It was on the floor about Mardi Gras history so it wanted you to have a real feel. LOL.

Friday Fragments

It is the week before Christmas and all I have is fragments. So here we go.

So many stupid criminals this week. First we have the woman locally who was taken to jail on disturbing the peace charges. Then as they were searching her they found drugs in her "body cavities". Nothing like trying to smuggle in drugs in your private parts. Not very smart.

Then there is another criminal who was being arrested on outstanding warrants while at a park enjoying Christmas lights with his girlfriend. But as he was being arrested (with the handcuffs on), he asked the officer if he could continue with what he had planned to do...PROPOSE to his girlfriend. The officer let him and she said yes. Then the criminal asked the officer to get the ring out of his pocket to give to her. I'm not sure if this is just stupid, dumb or a combination of the two.

I successfully made two different batches of chex mix this week on top of everything else so that I could give some out at work. Now this weekend will be other baking to give to neighbors. I still need to finish shopping and I haven't wrapped a single present. Thank goodness others in my home have done some wrapping or the tree would look funny.

Mom is performing in a big Christmas concert this weekend put together by the Mormon church. They invited people of all faiths to join in and she has really enjoyed singing with them. I'm hoping the weather holds off and we don't get the ice like is being predicted so she can not worry about driving.

Today is the last day of work for the holidays. I'm amazed at the number of job offers that we are putting out this week. Not to mention a personnel issue that came out of left field that is not going to be pleasant to deal with. Never a dull moment I guess.

Everyone needs to watch the Christmas Light show on ABC on Christmas Eve. One local family will be on it (Downes). We went last week and it is quite good. You drive up and watch the show in your car (they live on several acres). They collect money and food for the Regional Food Bank. Last year they collected 10,318 pounds of food and $40,000. The show is more than 30 minutes long so well worth driving to it.

I hope that all of you have a Merry Christmas. 

image by bloggertone

Thank Goodness Friday Fragments

My weekly post that joins with Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments.

I'll start off with the stupid criminal. Two men robbed several homes in a nearby county. They were pretty easy to find. The police just followed the footprints in the snow. Guess Oklahomans just aren't used to crime in winter.

Last night was my annual sushi/martini night with a friend. I know it sounds like a weird combination but we always get the special holiday chocolate peppermint martini and they are to die for. The sushi was extra good this year. Now I just have to remember which ones they were so we can order them next time.

This week I spent now one but two days in meetings with powerpoint presentations that were done via videoconference. Both were sufficiently boring to make me wonder what I was even doing there. At least I didn't fall asleep and start snoring. Looking bored was probably bad enough.

The Christmas tree is officially non-topped. We just don't like any of the angels/stars we've bought for the tree so we are going to wait and try again next year. It doesn't look bad without anything on top so I'm ok with that right now.

Yesterday when I filled up with gas the shutoff didn't work. So about 1/2 gallon of gas spilled over the side of my car. I was super lucky and not get any on my clothes or coat. I tried wiping it off with paper towels which helped. Today it's raining so I'm hoping that maybe more will wash off.

This week Year Without a Santa Claus was on. I taped it just so I could watch the Snow Miser/Heat Miser song. I've even kept it with that place on the DVR so I can watch it again. I love Snow Miser but Heat Miser has the better backup dancers. Snow Miser is even my profile pic on Facebook currently.

Whitney comes home today for four weeks. She is working two of them back at school but she can commute to do that.

Wednesday Dan and I took the orientation class at the gym. A personal trainer walks you through machines and gets you set with where to put the settings and you actually do a workout. Two days later and I'm still sore in some places. Guess I really should go back and work the muscles again.

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I'll be spending it at church a lot for the spectacular. I can't wait to see what is in store this year.

Cold Friday Fragments

I'm joining mrs. 4444 for fragment time.

Stupid criminal is the one who went to a convenience store and announced that he was going to rob the store later. Yes he did and he was caught since the clerk had warned the police and gotten his license plate number. Pretty dumb.

Cold weather here means we are closed. Good news is we had gotten stuff to make gumbo and they told us the day before. Sleep in time.

I finally passed a huge candy crush level and I think I really have hit the level that I'm never going to pass. 356 is going to be the death of,e.

I think our new angel is too big for our tree. Plus have to get used to these white lights. The corner is so bright.

We did get a bunch of snow last night.



And the trash men did come by this morning. I'll cut them some slack for missing the curb.




The neighbor kids are trying to sled but have limited options for hills. They are using the driveway that hasn't been cleared yet. I love how they can have fun with just that little bit.

Black Friday Fragments

Looks like we survived the turkey dinner so we empty our minds with Mrs. 4444 for Friday Fragments.

Well we did it. We finished the 5k to start Thanksgiving. It was 32 degrees when we left the house but it was sunny. They had more people than they thought which is good but they ran out of tshirts and will have to mail them to us. I finished one minute over my goal but I blame getting stuck behind some slow people on the lap around the park when we were on the sidewalk. Next 5k I hope to be able to run it. This time was just walking. A lot of the walkers ended up stopping halfway because we went back past the finish area and they just stopped. So I know that my place is just wrong.

I am not one of those people to go shopping ... except for online deals. So I'll be decorating the house for Christmas now. That is the official start of the season.

Stupid criminal is from England this week. A man tried to break into a house by climbing in through the bedroom window. He got stuck and had to wait an hour for the owner to notice someone breaking in. The police were called and he was taken to jail. Moral of the story is make sure you know simple physics before robbing a house.

Best part of the turkey dinner is leftovers the next day. I'm not one of those people who need to make it into something else the first time. I like to relive the meal.

We watched the Lady Gaga and Muppet special last night and were extremely underwhelmed. Too much Gaga and not enough Muppets.

It is time to get all the decorations out of the attic and get ready for Christmas!