I do not do well with time off from work. Without a schedule I can get a but “wonky’, yes, “wonky”. Well, that being said, I have been off work for the last week. I made sure that I had a long list of things to do so that I wouldn’t get bored. Well I was pretty much finished with a big portion of the list by Monday. So I started looking around my house for more things to put on my list.

Over Christmas, I painted my kitchen table. I used the wrong type of paint or something, so this last weekend when my mom was here, she wiped it off and some of the paint stripped off … oops. So I went and bought a table cloth. Well the table cloth didn’t quite match the wallpaper, which I have never really liked anyway (you see where this is going, right?) So, yesterday morning, while avoiding homework, I started stripping wallpaper. What a bad idea!!!

I never really gave a thought to what the wall might look like underneath, or what I might do with that wall. I found that it had no texture on it, and I’m not sure that it’s ever even been painted. So I started painting it with KILZ last night. All the while, knowing I was going to have to do something about the texture.

Today I ran across this textured wallpaper. You put it up like wallpaper and then you can either paint it or leave it white. It should be noted here that I’ve not had much experience with wallpaper. I can say now, as I’m about 1/10 of the way through … I hate it. I’m just praying that I like it when it dries so that I don’t feel the need to paint it.

I love the DETAILED (not) instructions that they give. Here they are:

Any of you that have participated in my IQ test assignment will relate to my horror when I saw that the directions consisted of pictures that I had to decipher. I thought that picture 3 was “applying wallpaper paste” which I didn’t think I needed. So finally, I realized it had to do with scraping stuff OFF the wall, not putting it ON. I don’t have a baby or a cat to dunk so the little picture on 4 was irrelevant … I just dunked the paper. Eeek!

Maybe I’ll put up some pictures of the final result. It should be interesting if nothing else.

~ On a side note: Yesterday I went to donate blood. As I walked in I scraped the door across the top of my big toe and it started bleeding a lot. They gave me a band-aid and proceeded to do my interview. My iron was low and I was not able to donate. After she told me my iron was low, I realized I have two pretty gross looking bruises on my arm and on my toe. I thought it was probably related so I started looking on the internet to see what I should eat to boost my iron. I was surprised to find this statement:  “Cooking with iron pots and pans also increases the amount of iron consumed.” So if I eat my cereal and chips out of an iron skillet will it boost my iron? Also, is pepperoni considered red meat? Hmmm …

The last part of this video disturbs me. Is it okay to tell your child a lie in order to manipulate them into doing something funny on camera? I know I’m not a parent, but it just seems wrong. But very funny!!!

Thought it would be worth revisiting this video. Any of you who haven’t seen it … brace yourself … it’s pretty funny.

Lisa turned me on to the Story of the Day. I’m not sure exactly where it originated or who writes these, but you can subscribe to receive one each day. Somedays I don’t quite understand them and other days they make me laugh. Here are a few of my favorites.

One day he decided he was more dependent on the kindness of women than he liked. So he went off to hunt wild beasts with his bare hands. But all he found was a stray dog & a couple of old pigeons & it was cold & he missed the sound of soft voices, so finally he came back & never worried about it again.

“My favorite thing is saying something true,” she said, “but I’m a lot older than you & don’t have to worry so much about my reputation.”

“I like people until they give me reason not to,” she said. “Some days they just drop like flies, though,” she added.  

There are things you do because they feel right & they may make no sense & they may make no money & it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other & to eat each other’s cooking & say it was good.

I’ve spent many summers at Brownwood lake. Seems that we’ve gone every summer since I was in elementary school. I like it less and less each year … for some reason I’ve really lost interest in water sports. But, I ran across some pictures that I thought would be fun to share  since summer is beginning.

These are from quite a few years back …

This is one of my favorites. This is Nana, Mammaw, Marshal, and my neice Gentry. I think it’s a classic family photo that shows that youngest generation just fitting right in with the older one.

This is me trying to convince Deni she will swim great if she wears this life jacket.

Dad lounging and feeding his face.

Games of Chicken Foot that last forever and always end up in an argument.

Me playing Skip-Bo with Mammaw. Notice she has to sit on TWO cushions to reach the table.

Here are two websites that were introduced to me this week that are pretty funny. The first has a post of Olan Mills photographs, and the second has a bunch of Awkward Photos. I’m not saying I approve of the content on either site, but there are some pretty funny photos.

Here is a sample …

I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen Eeyore’s smile!

This is my future … I will grow a prize winning squash while my miniature schnauzer sits loyally by my side.

I added www.despair.com to my list of favorites today. It is great.

I want to give a shout out to Lisa for turning me on to the site and for letting us know that we are not alone in our cynicism. Nothing like finding out we’re all in the same boat … even if it’s sinking.

Does admitting that you are a freak make you less of one? In hopes that it does, I’m going to confess a little of my freakishness to you today.

In February of 2008 I got new job. It was a desk job … the first one I’ve ever had. I knew that this job would come with some down time. Time to read, cruise the Internet etc.

I immediately started looking for ways to make money. There are tons of jobs that you can supposedly do (while you’re at work) if you just have a computer and a few spare minutes of time here and there.

One opportunity that I found was through a company called Inbox Dollars. My understanding was you would earn money by reading advertisement email and taking surveys. They also have special offers sometimes where you can earn a little extra.

The first catch was that you could not request for them to send you a check until you had earned $30.00. That’s not much money … shouldn’t take too long , right?

Well … today is May of 2009 … over a year later and I just requested my first check. I received .02 for every email I read. There were surveys where you could earn up to .50 but I never qualified. I got $5 for joining a promotional Netflix thing, and I earned $4 by getting to 1,000,000 points on a game.

Around March I was up to about $25. My plan was to get to $30 request my check and be done. I finally got to the 1,000,000 points to earn the $4 that would put me close to my $30. It took six weeks for them to credit the $4. By then I had read enough email to earn about $5. So today, May 4, I logged into my account to request my check. My total earnings were $34.17. I click the button and it asks, “Would you like to request a check for $31.17?” A little confused I read the fine print and find that there is a $3.00 processing fee. (Do you know how many advertisements I read to earn that $3.00?)

Anyway … I request the check.

I am about to deactivate my account when I read another little pop-up that says, “Your check will be mailed out on July 1, 2009. You must have an active account or the check will not be mailed.” So, they’re going to string me along for two more months. By then I will have earned enough to entice me to hang on until I get to $30 and the cycle begins all over again. AARRGGHH.

Please tell me … has anyone found a get rich quick plan that actually works?

When I lived in Portugal I had a friend that used to say “My word” or “Oh my word” all the time. We decided that we were going to come up with our own phrase to use instead of that one. Since most of our frustration came when dealing with people and their idiocy … we decided to say, “People”. In this case we were saying it in Portuguese so it was “Gente” … pronounced “jenchee”. Try it out … the next time someone cuts you off in traffic … try “Gente” on for size … it rolls off the tongue quite nicely.

Another favorite phrase of mine is, “I didn’t try to.” I watched with my own two eyes as a student picked up a rock, threw it at another student, and hit him in the head. When I asked why he did that he said, “I didn’t try to”. Well there you have it … if he “didn’t try to” then I guess he was really just as shocked as I was when the other boy started bleeding from the head.

My newest favorite phrase comes from a boy at church. I think he’s about 3 or 4. Last week when his mom told him he needed to get ready for school he replied, “I can’t want to.” I can relate to that … can’t you?! Unfortunately, the fact that “I can’t want to” doesn’t mean that I don’t have to.

Lastly, as I watched cops the other night, I saw a man being arrested. He kept saying over and over “What am I sposed to did?” They were telling him to put his hands behind his back etc. He did nothing, while repeating, “What am I sposed to did?” I … along with the confused officers … never quite figured out if he was asking about “what he had done wrong” or “what they were asking him to do now”. 

I think all the readers of BASE are either … teachers, parents, or spouses … so I know you’ve heard some great phrases … please share.