Picky

Welcome back!! Picky had quite the hiatus: got engaged, moved into a new house, started Brother in first grade at a new school, and joined a roller derby league. Yes, roller derby. Let me tell you, it is a nice way to get out pent up hostility several times a week. I am enjoying it even more than I thought that I would. Exercising, being part of a team, working towards goals. It's all been a lot of fun. I've only been part of the league for about two months now, so I'll have more to share as time goes on. But if you're interested, visit us a clutchcityrollerderby.com.

I'll try not to be a stranger.

Times They are A Changing

So, the couple of you who actually pause to browse this blog may be wondering: Picky, where 'ya been?

It's been a CRAZY couple of months!! Good crazy, but C-R-A-Z-Y!

In the last month and a half, I have been promoted at work, welcomed a new member into my extended family (Hi Abby!), rejoiced as my formerly "retired" boyfriend got a new job, got a new personal cell phone and cell phone plan, got a new work Blackberry, and last, but not least, bought a new laptop to replace the dinosaur that I had from 2002. I am typing on it now, and though it's a nice, new change, even the new keyboard is taking some getting used to. Add into the mix several family birthdays and events with the kiddos and you can imagine how it's been.

But I'm not complaining. I am happy with all the change. It's just a lot to adjust to when it all happens at once.

I keep missing calls from work because I cannot figure out how to answer the new work phone. I am learning to adjust to my new five day (sometimes 6) work week (as are the boys). I haven't read a book in over a month (unheard of for me), and I have a list of errands a mile long on this first PTO day I've taken in months. But heck. I'm already planning the next big life changes.

So, I will keep my hands and feet in the ride at all times, I will hold the lap bar across by belly, and I will enjoy the roller coaster that has become my life. Wheeee!!

Random Thoughts

Yes, I'm still here. Just busy and chasing two boys around. Crush has a big family, so I'm getting used to going to 14 houses each holiday. Exaggerating a bit, but a bit more than I'm used to.

O.k. Random thoughts to get out until I have time to blog again...

• Did you ever notice how much prettier things are with a light dusting of snow? I was driving to pick Brother up from school last Friday and as I was detouring through the 'hood, I noticed how even the ugliest things improve in looks with a bit of snow covering them (I'm guessing this is the theory behind flocked trees this time of year-the salesmen just spray down the not-so-beautiful ones to improve their chances to move the eyesores). This one house I passed had a pile of assorted crud in the front lawn (tree limbs, trash, abandoned stoller, etc.), and it looked so wintery and peaceful under the drift. It makes clunkers look like any other snow-covered car. It hides dry, brown spots in your yard. I've decided that when I get older I am not getting a face lift. I'm getting a snow lift. Just lightly dust my face in snow each day and voila'.
• How come when you enter your PIN number at an ATM machine or check out counter, you only see stars to protect the secracy of the number--but when you're asked to enter your zip code at a gas pump when you pay with your credit card, the display brightly shows your code to anyone who might happen to be wandering by. Why can I be trusted to remember what numbers I'm pushing when I enter 4 numbers, but 5 numbers is supposedly too much for my unleaded dispensing brain? I mean, identity protection should be available at both places in my opinion. Just something that crossed my brain at the 'ol gas station this morning.
• How lucky am I that a majority of the public I encounter on a daily basis supports my Bono obsession? This didn't happen back in seventh grade when I was worshipping INXS and the late Michael Hutchence. But now when I go to the grocery store and tell the check-out girl "Have a nice day, " I often get told "U2!" in return. Or at the bank when I tell the teller "Have a good weekend." "U2!" she answers. Tell me Duran Duran fans are getting this kind of love.

That's all I've got. Kindergarten homework awaits.

Is Imitation really the sincerest form of Flattery?

Today at lunch, I was having a discussion with a co-worker, and now I wonder if he's nutty or if I'm just really out of the loop.

It started when my co-worker complimented my boss' new BBQ grill (they had been at my boss' house the day before for a cook-out). Another co-worker suggested that my boss tell the first guy the make and model so he could get one of his own since he liked it so much. My co-worker looked at her like she was crazy. "You don't do that," he said. "It's rude."

It seems my co-worker and his friends and family think it's rude to get the exact same thing someone else already owns. He began to list examples. He and his friend liked the same car but his friend bought one first so he couldn't get the car he liked. He really liked his friend's t.v., but it would be rude to get the exact same one. His wife has a friend that bought the same exact baby stroller she bought, so now they barely talk. He and his wife have a couple that they "hide" things from when they come to visit, because this couple has a way of always buying the same things they have (same jeans as his wife, same silverware set, etc.). And there are all kinds of "rules" assocated with this: it's o.k. if the same item is an accidental coincidence but can't be done on purpose, and it's o.k. to get the same brand but not the same exact model of something.

Is it just me, or is this the most absurd thing you've ever heard?

Friday night, Crush and I visited some friends of ours, and I admired their newly purchased dining room table. I even asked where they bought it. If some day in the future, when it is time for me to purchase a dining room table, I get one like theirs, is it an insult?

I guess this has never really been an issue for me, because my tastes are often quite different from my friends'. They nicknamed me Picky for a reason, people. I'm guessing my friends don't have the same Pottery Barn Kids Millenium Falcon comforter on their beds, and they probably don't carry a Bono tote bag to work, but if they did, I don't believe I would be insulted.

So is it just me? Do you understand this? If I compliment the pattern on your dishes, will you hide the box they came in so I don't get them too? If I ask where you got a blouse, will you lie and tell me you don't remember so you can keep the shirt to yourself (another tactic my co-worker uses)? Is it rude of me to try and use the same exact paint color in your bedroom when I paint mine? Is it o.k. to copy some things and not others?

U2 2009

Anyone that knows me, knows my love (ok, obsession) with all things U2. So, last night's stop of their 360 degree tour in Houston, has been a much-anticipated event since BFF bought our tickets back in May. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. They were so awesome! This was my fifth time to see them, and each time I wonder "can they be as good as last time? " and each time U2 kicks ass and the answer is a resounding "Yes!"

The building where I work shares a fence with Reliant Stadium, so I have been as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve since I saw the hundred trucks carrying the stage set-up pull into the Reliant parking lot Tuesday morning. It is said to be the biggest stage set in concert history, and it was truly a vision to behold. I can only imagine what Bono and the boys dream about at night to come up with that crazy claw contraption. So, ever since I saw those trucks pull up, and then when I saw chron.com report on the band's trip to NASA with their kids the day before the show, BFF and I wondered "what do they do all day the day of the show? Where do they go? Where do they eat?" We're nosey like that.

I get why they called it the 360 tour, with the band wandering around the entire claw during songs, but I personally think it should have been called the "Thank You" Tour. I've never been to a show that sounded so much like the liner notes on a c.d. (remember those, before we bought all of our music online?). Bono thanked NASA (repeatedly) for help with the tour's space theme and the visit the day before. He thanked the crew (who deserve it for setting up and un-setting up the claw every couple of days), he thanked the tour's sponsors (Blackberry, which made their love for U2 well known around the stadium), and he thanked the fans and other members of his band.

But my favorite thank you, was his unique "classic band shout-out to the city where we're playing tonight." He shouted "Houston, Texas!" And the crowd roared. And then he followed it up with, "Harris County!" Huh? And then "Sugarland!" ??? Followed by "Baytown!" Really? I don't think I've ever heard any band that I've ever seen give a shout-out to Baytown, and this includes when I saw Lollapalooza at the Baytown RaceWay Park. BFF and I were giggling wondering what suburb Bono was going to give a shout-out to next. And then BFF turns to me, with her usual quick-wit, and goes "I guess now we know what they did today. They bought a map." She cracks me up!

So now my own Thank Yous to add to Bono's:

• Thank you to BFF for attending yet another U2 concert with me. And this time with her being pregnant and having worked all day. You are the best friend I could have ever hoped for, and I LOVE sharing these special times with you.

• And thank you to Crush for enduring my Bono love with such a good spirit. He has heard about nothing but this concert for weeks, and yet he stood by my side and enjoyed the special occasion with me with a smile on his face and love in his heart. I tease him that Bono is my "free pass," but I can't imagine being with anyone other than you my Crush.

• And a thank you to my Bro who allowed me to redeem a "free night of baby-sitting" pass that he gave me in my birthday card. I know the boys can be a handfull, and I really appreciate it.

• And to Bono, thank you for being such a damn good entertainer!! You have brought many happy hours to my life, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Ok, I'm out. Manvel! Kingwood! Silverlake! Peace!

And Happy Birthday Girly Stuff!!

Guilty Pleasures

A friend's Facebook status got me revisiting a topic my sister and I used to love gabbing about on the phone. A high school friend used her status to "confess" her secret love for Miley's "Party in the USA" single. It's her guilty pleasure. Just like Girly Stuff admits she can't look away from "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant."



What are your guilty pleasures? You know you have them.



We all do. The t.v. show your significant other teases you for watching. The song you only listen to when you're alone in the car. The movie you secretly enjoy, but won't admit it to your friends because they all think it is the dumbest film ever made. Trashy t.v. or junk reading that is not considered "cultured."



So it's confession time. I'll go first. I'm not shy. There is no judging on this blog.



Let's each list three of our Guilty Pleasures. Then they're out of the closet, out on the table, and in full view. Who knows? Maybe we're all secretly enjoying the same stuff. Then we can share our guilty pleasures with each other, even if we hide them from everybody else :)



Picky's Guilty Pleasures

1.) Cheaters: If you haven't seen it, it's the show where Mr. Cool himself, Joey Greco, exposes cheaters to their significant others who already suspected something was up to call the show in the first place. I despise cheaters (and I can openly say this, because I am not nor will I ever be in their club), so maybe I feel more than just a little bit of moral superiority sitting back and watching them get their just desserts. And of course I feel sorry for the people that are cheated on, but some of the scenarios are just so unbelievably trashy and strange that I can't look away. Last week we saw some dude's girlfriend interupt his wedding to a fiance' the girlfriend didn't even know existed. And the way Joey Greco is so overly dramatic. Love it.

2.) Hollywood Gossip Rags: Crush teases me all the time about my love for celebrity magazines, but if I leave one lying around when he's over, I will usually find him flipping through it and making fun of the stories (that he's pretending not to read). People, Star, Us. I used to subscribe to a few (which, I know is cheaper), but now I look forward to my Friday ritual of dragging Crush to the store to pick up my new week's reading.

3.) Destiny's Child: BFF knows my secret love for Beyonce' and the gang. Back at my house, this was my favorite cleaning/dancing with the mop music. Can't explain it. Not usually my type of music at all, but I cannot listen to Bootyliscious without getting up to shake my own.



O.k. Your turn.



And if anyone could give BFF tips on how to post her comments that would be very helpful. She's dying to join the party, but we can't figure out how to get her posting.

Lego Yoda

Since my friends are always sharing their D-I-Y projects on their blogs, I thought I would share mine too. O.K., so I didn't paint a piece of furniture or add tassels onto anything, but this is about as crafty as I get.

A couple of weeks ago, Crush and I spent a fun Saturday evening having cocktails and building this Yoda.

We had a pattern, but it took several hours. We watched movies and acted silly, and it was a lot of fun.

Fun nerd date.