I’m a bubblehead, it’s true.

Yesterday was a day filled with shopping. And not for shoes. Even moving into a corporate apartment, that is furnished, we still needed a lot of things.

I arranged my trip so I could leave right from breakfast, drive up to where we had been staying in the hotel and the Whole Foods was located, make a big circle and get home as soon as possible.

I wanted to shop at the Kroger closer to our new place but, because I had time to kill before a  9 a.m. opening, I went to the Kroger by Whole Foods – 20 minutes away from where we are living.

I bought a ton of stuff, you know how it is when you’re first moving in. I was happily waiting in line for the one cashier when a very friendly lady suggested that I come down and do the self check-out and she would help me.

I told her I was new in town and that this was my first visit to Kroger. She was right there with me, showing me how to do the check-out.

Eventually, I had too many things and started taking them out of the bagging area and putting them into the cart. This made the self check-out hooker freak out. “Please place the items back in the bagging area”.

Ummm. No. There isn’t any room.

“Well,” the nice self-help lady said, “you need to put them up on top.” Where there was clearly not enough room for the quantity of groceries I had. Oy.

I got everything scanned, bagged, and then I paid and went home.

When I got ready to make salad for dinner last night, I noticed that I had no salad dressing when I had purchased two. I also couldn’t find the olive oil. I had opted for a bigger, more expensive bottle. Ack!

I called the store. They hadn’t found these items in the self check-out but told me I could come and they would replace them. I did that this morning. It wasn’t on my way, it was 20 minutes from home.

When I got home, I started thinking about dinner. I thought I would put one of the English roasts I had purchased into the new crock pot I bought. I looked in the freezer.

No roasts.

I looked in the fridge.

No roasts.

Dang it.

I called the store and explained my situation. She said I could come and get my money back. I told her never mind. I was willing to let it go but please don’t ask me to use the self check-out ever again.

Until I decided the pork loin would be a nice thing to have for dinner.

I looked in the freezer.

It wasn’t there.

I looked in the fridge.

Not there either. Oy.

I called the store back. She told me I could come and replace the meat.

So off I went, 20 minutes one way, to get to the Kroger in another part of town.

When I got there, the girl at the Customer Service desk told me to go grab the meat to replace the ones I didn’t get home yesterday which I did.

After she was done, I told her that I really appreciated them doing this but that when someone has as many things as I did, they really shouldn’t try the self check-out. I explained to her briefly how I thought I had left them and she said, yes, the nice self-help lady had found the meat and put it back on the shelf.

Okay, well that made me feel marginally better that I wasn’t taking all that stuff twice and paying for it once.

I felt like a complete bubblehead for not being able to manage the self check-out.

In the future, I’m going to leave grocery check-out to the professionals.

Now, I’m going to have a glass of wine.

PS – I still need wine glasses.

Bling my Chucks

I’m not sure whether it took knowing that I was going to be a grandma to a little girl or having a couple of successful Pinterest projects under my belt to find out I kinda like this craft thing. The two things happened about the same time.

I couldn’t be happier with the way this latest project turned out.

I was cruising Pinterest, and I stopped at Nikki’s board for Aniston Lee. I saw some embellished Chuck Taylor shoes for a little girl. I thought, “I can do that!”

I was wandering through Gordman’s trying to kill time and I found a pair of pink Chuck Taylor crib shoes.

I bought them. Then I got the rest of the pieces I needed to complete the project.

I started out by applying 5mm AB crystals to the toes.

And to the middle of the star on the side of the shoes.

Then I replaced the laces with ribbon.

I measured the ribbon against the lace but it turned out not to be long enough.

So I cut the ribbon the length of the lace and then half again. This gave me enough room to trim off the edges and make a nice big bow. I finished off by coating the ends of the ribbon with clear nail polish so they won’t fray.

Are these not the CUTEST shoes ever! I can’t wait to see Aniston wear them and to make another pair. 🙂

The hooker

Before the 2010 pageant season began, David encouraged me to get in my car and drive. Go around the state, meet people and tell them about what I was doing. To help me with this, he bought me a Tom Tom GPS for my car.

He had a nice voice, Tom Tom, and he got me where I needed to go.

One day, David borrowed my car and when I drove it next, Tom Tom’s voice had changed. He was a woman!

And Tam Tam was born.

Tam Tam had a definite personality. And a speech impediment.

She was obstinate and it was either her way or the highway. Her inability to pronounce words she didn’t know cracked me up, though, and kept me from throwing her out the window.

I was in Chicago with Mrs. Oklahoma International 2007, Brooke Good, the summer of 2010. She noticed Tam Tam’s personality and stated, “what a hooker”.  This gave us something else to laugh at. Every time Tam Tam did something rude or obnoxious, we called her a hooker. And laughed.

One day I was trying to to get to the River Spirit Casino in Tulsa for a networking event. I knew that I needed to turn left at Riverside Drive and, yet, Tam Tam told me I needed to turn right. Then her screen was nothing but blue lines. She had clearly melted down.

The hooker.

I went to Best Buy and purchased Tam Tam II.

She came with the same voice, the same personality, the same speech impediment. This Tam Tam became much bolder, though, as she began not telling us which way we needed to go until we had either missed the turn off or, if we knew where we were going, told us after we were already on our way. She’d say turn left while pointing right.

Last Friday, I was packing up the car to head to Oklahoma City to have my hair done.  As I put water bottles on the front seat, I noticed that all of the receipts that had been in my console were on the seat. I looked to the right and Tam Tam was gone!

Someone had stolen the hooker.

I managed to get to Oklahoma City without getting lost. I promptly stopped at Best Buy and bought Tam Tam III.

I thought I was getting the same model as before but when I opened the box, I saw that it was very different. I couldn’t even figure out how to turn it on.

I finally got her turned on and was happy to have the familiar Tam Tam voice in my ears. But, wait! This Tam Tam was not the same Tam Tam. This Tam Tam was precise and had perfect diction. Wow!

She knew how to say International when directing me to Tulsa International Airport. I could hear sharp Ts at the ends of words.

I felt like I needed to say, “Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

I call her Sergeant Tam Tam.

I will miss Tam Tam the hooker. I will miss her directing me to Ahkla City (Oklahoma City) and Weaverside Drive (Riverside Drive). But I like the new Tam Tam. I think she’ll do a great job. 🙂

Emboldened by Pinterest

I just got finished making the cutest candy skewers for Aniston’s baby shower.

When I posted a photo on facebook, my friend Paula asked if I had gotten the idea on Pinterest. Seemed a good conclusion since I’ve been going craft crazy since I joined Pinterest but I didn’t find this idea there.

Actually, I had been searching the internet for ideas for the baby shower. I knew the colors and theme and I knew I would bring sweet treats. It was then that I stumbled upon the candy skewer photo. How cute! But when I clicked on the link to see how I could purchase some, the link didn’t work.

Hmmmm. That stopped me for a minute. I searched a little further to no avail. I looked at the photo some more and, emboldened by Pinterest, I thought, “I could make those myself!”

And I did. 🙂

They weren’t that difficult and once I decided how I wanted them to stack up, it probably took me only 2 hours to make 50 of them.

Basically, you need some gummy candies, sucker sticks,

plastic bags to wrap them with and a little ribbon to tie them off. Cute!

You’re limited only by your imagination and the candy available and I think you end up with a pretty impressive little treat. 🙂

Best mom

My life is weird. Well, maybe weird isn’t the right word but it’s definitely not normal. I am sure I’d get no arguments on that.

But last year? Last year was weird.

Last year turned my life around and dumped me on my head.  And that’s not a bad thing, it’s just that everything that had been put into place is no longer in that place and everything is different.

Two of the awesome things that happened last year were the weddings of our two boys.

Related: one of the weird things that happened last year is that I was the best man at one of those weddings. Best mom?

We were all preparing to move to Saudi Arabia for the new opportunity that the guys were embarking on. Geoff and Nikki wanted to be married but in order for Nikki to be able to go to Saudi, they were going to have to be married pretty quickly which didn’t allow much time for planning.

So they decided to get married, in her church, with her pastor and just one person to witness the wedding for each of them. Then they would have a “real” wedding that they began to plan for December 2nd.

I did not want to be left out. It’s my son’s wedding even if it’s not a big production. Since Geoff had recently been working in Canada and was in Florida before that, most of his friends were elsewhere so he said I could stand up for him.

Nikki’s sister, Sarah, was going to stand up for her. And so it was set.

I felt weird that Nikki’s parents wouldn’t be there and I guess she did too, because at the last minute, she called them and invited them to be there. Her mom, Debbie, and her stepmom, Gina, were able to be there but her dad couldn’t get off work at the last minute. David was in Saudi so that was our happy little wedding party.

It was great. I cried just like I did at Brandon’s wedding even though it was a small production. This was my youngest child promising his heart to the girl he loved, forever.

After the wedding, we went to lunch and that was it.

Plans continued for the big wedding on December 2nd and we all prepared to go to Saudi.

At the wedding in December, Geoff would have all of his best friends standing up for him. Five groomsmen. A dress was purchased, venues arranged.

And then, a couple of months later,  Nikki found out she was pregnant. She called me crying.

Oh.

Half of me was doing the Glammie Happy Dance, while the other half of me was telling her Geoff won’t be mad, don’t cry, babies are a blessing.

And so plans for the wedding were undone and plans for little Aniston Lee began.

It wasn’t meant for me to be the best man but, in the end, that’s the way it turned out. And I’m honored to have been able to do such a weird thing for my son. LOL!

They say that being normal is overrated and I’m going to guess that’s true since I can’t speak from experience. 🙂

Everything’s better in chocolate

I’ve been making chocolate popcorn for a lot of years. I usually make it at Christmastime and give it as gifts but it gets made here and there through the year for special occasions, too.

It’s delicious and it’s easy to make!

We’re getting ready for the baby shower for our first granddaughter, Aniston. The theme is light pink and leopard so I’ve been making pink and brown goodies to serve.

Today, I made pink popcorn that Nikki found on Pinterest.

It’s not light pink by any stretch of the imagination.  I used fruit punch flavored Kool-Aid because I thought that Pink Lemonade (my only other pink choice) might be an odd flavor for popcorn.

I just finished up the chocolate popcorn that I will serve with the pink popcorn. I’m planning to serve them together in a big glass canister unless I come up with a better serving idea.

Here’s the recipe for you:

Chocolate Popcorn

12 cups popped popcorn

1/4 cup butter or margarine

2 cups (11-1/2 oz bag) semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup corn syrup

Place popcorn in a large roasting pan. In a separate large heavy saucepan, combine chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter. Cook over medium heat until mixture boils, stirring constantly. Pour over popcorn, toss well to coat.

Bake in a preheated 300 degree oven for 45 minutes stirring frequently.

Cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy it. 🙂

The anti Year in Review

I was reading a blog that I like called Addicted 2 Decorating. She did a year end Q&A about herself instead of doing a “2011 Year in Review”. I liked the idea so I’m thieving it. 🙂

Here goes!

  1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
    I was named after the title song from the movie “Laura“. However, my mother always called me LauraSuzanneSheats when she was mad at me so I prefer to go by Lauri. Unless you’re mad at me, of course. It’s how I know. 😉
  2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
    I cried last night when I learned that the daughter-in-law and first grandbaby of one of my twitter followers were having emergency surgery. If you don’t think you can love people you have never met, you’re wrong. While I knew the situation was in God’s hands, I cried for them because I know how that would make me feel if something happened to Nikki or Aniston. Mom and baby are fine, so you don’t worry.
  3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
    I don’t like my handwriting. It’s hard to read and I get impatient with myself. Mostly I print. When I was in third grade, we moved halfway through the year. In the old school, we were just learning how to make cursive letters and in the new school they were already writing. So I faked it. LOL!
  4. DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE?
    Yep. I went to lots of colleges. Most of my college time was spent at Old Dominion University, though.
  5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
    I don’t like lunch meat. All that nitrite and nitrate stuff. Eeeuuwww.
  6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
    I have two awesome boys, Brandon and Geoff. Being their mom is the second best thing I’ve done in my life. The first best, being the wife of their father. 🙂
  7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
    Yes, I’m wacky and fun. I like people like that.
  8. DO YOU USE SARCASM ALOT?
    Oooh I try so hard to keep the snark monster stuffed way down inside.
  9. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
    Nope. I had my tonsils taken out when I was 3. Two of my earliest memories are from that experience. One, I remember them waking me up with a mouse handpuppet and two, I remember standing in the bed and watching my dad walk by the door. He didn’t know which room I was in but I was afraid he wasn’t coming to see me. Wild, eh?
  10. HOW MANY U.S. STATES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    I haven’t been to Alaska, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island or Vermont. So that’s like, what? 52? 😉
  11. HOW MANY COUNTRIES HAVE YOU VISITED?
    21 – USA, Cuba, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji, Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, UAE, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica. I think that’s it. 🙂
  12. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
    Oh gee, I don’t know. I’d zip line for sure. Jump out of a plane, yes. But bungee jump, I just don’t know.
  13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
    Oh, I love cereal but I cannot eat it. It makes my stomach hurt really bad. But I love Frosted Shredded Wheat.
  14. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
    Only if I can’t get them off tied. 😉
  15. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
    I know I’m strong. It’s my role in life. LOL! The day I flipped the tire, I giggled all day long I was so tickled. 🙂
  16. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?
    I really love mint chocolate chip ice cream. I don’t eat it a lot but when I think about ice cream, that’s the one I want.
  17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?
    I love turquoise. I call it turkwah. My designer, Juni, taught me that.
  18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
    I wish I didn’t have such thin skin. Most of the time, if someone says something terrible about me, I don’t care. But there are times when I do care more than I should. This is the reason I’ll never be president of the United States. If someone said something bad about me, I’d just become a puddle on the campaign trail.
  19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
    I miss Brandon the most. (Happy Birthday, sweetie!)
  20. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
    No shoes. I love to look at them more than wear them. 😉
  21. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
    Mexican food from Mexicali Restaurant in Tulsa.
  22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
    Ha! Kool & the Gang Radio, natch. 😉
  23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
    Green. Then I’d match dollars and emeralds. 😉
  24. WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SMELLS?
    I love the smell of jasmine and my perfume, Flower Bomb. Oh, and sheets washed in lavender detergent. And coffee.
  25. DO YOU PREFER THE PHONE OR E-MAIL?
    E-mail. I’m usually awake way earlier than other people and early in the morning is when I do a lot of my best thinking. Email doesn’t intrude. People can answer at their convenience.
  26. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?
    I love, love, love the beach!
  27. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
    I love basketball and football. Those months where the two sports are both going on is the most wonderful time of the year.
  28. WHAT IS YOUR NATURAL HAIR COLOR?
    I was blonde as a child, tow headed. But as I got older, my hair got darker. It’s pretty dark these days. We add blonde highlights to hide the shiny hair. 😉
  29. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR?
    Suede blue.
  30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
    I do wear contacts because I’m vain. But since I got my new Rayban hipster glasses, I find myself wearing them more than my contacts.
  31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
    My favorite food is a cheeseburger. I love them. Most especially with blue cheese but any kind of cheese will do.
  32. DO YOU PREFER SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
    I love comedies. I’m not a big movie watcher. I need to be completely entertained or I’ll fall asleep in the dark.
  33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
    I can’t even remember!
  34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
    White. That doesn’t happen often.
  35. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON?
    I love spring or fall. Any time I can have the windows open with a cool breeze. I’d rather have summer than winter.
  36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT?
    Cake. I love it. I love to bake it and eat it. And talk about it. And wish for other people to eat it. hee hee
  37. DO YOU PREFER THE COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?
    I rarely watch TV. I watch sports and news but when David isn’t home, the TV isn’t on much at all.
  38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
    I’m reading Son of Stone by Stuart Woods. Love the Stone Barrington books!
  39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
    I use a placemat. It seems to have just the right texture.
  40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SOUND?
    I love the sound of laughter. Anyone’s laughter. It’s contagious and it makes me happy.
  41. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF MUSIC?
    I like all kinds of music except rap and country. I’ve been listening to Kool & the Gang Radio on Pandora for about a week now. It makes me uber happy.
  42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
    I think Fiji since it’s on the other side of the equator and the International date line. But I’ve been to Malaysia, too. Not sure which is further.
  43. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
    I was born in Rockford, IL.
  44. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?
    The Garage Mahal is white with a forest green roof.
  45. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU DRIVE?
    I drive a black Jeep Commander. It’s invisible. 😉

So there you go. More than you ever wanted to know about me.

I wish you and yours a very happy and successful 2012! I know ours will be exciting. It always is. 🙂

I don’t eat stems

I love nothing better than fresh spinach. When we were growing up, my mom served us spinach out of a can and I thought that was what spinach was. Eeuuww. Slimy.

When I was 14, I got my first job at the Magic Pan, a restaurant in Woodfield Mall. I was hired as a bus girl but eventually learned every position in the restaurant except server and bartender because I wasn’t old enough. I was even added to the opening team to help open new restaurants. It was so much fun. But I digress.

Back to spinach.

They served a spinach salad at the Magic Pan. One of the jobs of the salad department was to pick the spinach. i.e. pick the stems off each leaf. There were days when I went to work and that’s all that I did for hours.

So imagine my complete horrification to go into a restaurant, any restaurant these days, and be served a bowl of stems.

See them?

Ick.

I rarely order a spinach salad in a restaurant but if I do, I leave a pile of stems on the table when I leave. LOL!

And so I confine my spinach eating mostly to home where I am in control of those dastardly stems. They never make it into my bowl and go in the garbage where they belong.

If I found a restaurant where they picked their spinach, I’d shout their name from the rooftops. If you know of one, let me know! I’d love to order a spinach salad in a restaurant and find it stemless. 🙂

Thanks for thinking of me

I think it’s so funny how you can have an impact on someone you’ve never met. People (often people I’ve never met IRL) tell me all the time they thought of me because of something they know about me from social media.

I’m honored that anyone would randomly think of me like that.

Sometimes the things are super funny. Like this one from facebook today:

Hilarious! I wonder if they were WANTED posters.  LOL! 🙂

Thanks for thinking of me. It’s really sweet. 😉