Archives for January 2008

I Now Return To My Usual Brand Of Nothing

First of all, I am seriously considering shutting down the writing (“WRITING”) side of the blawg and focusing instead on giving away household appliances.

It’ll be sort of like “The Price Is Right,” only every game will involve either diet Coke, fried chicken or reality television.

Come to think of it, maybe we should just all sit on a stage and eat fried chicken and drink diet Coke while reality television plays in the background and I click repeatedly on random.org to give away washers and Swiffer Wet Jets and dryers and so forth and so on.

Good. We have a plan. I’m glad that’s settled.

Second of all, this morning I went to get my shots for the Uganda trip, and quite frankly it is a wonder I even made it to my appointment. I was running late – something I hate WITH THE PASSION OF ONE MILLION FIERY SUNS – and my appointment was downtown, which might not seem like any sort of impediment to you, but oh, if you have ever ridden in a car with me, you know that going downtown is no fun at all.

You see, I tend to get a little bit turned around when I’m downtown. In fact, if you ever need to get downtown in a hurry, you’d be better off with a drunk, blindfolded donkey as your mode of transportation than you would with me behind the wheel.

I guess I just get nervous because there are A LOT OF MOVING CARS in a downtown area, y’all. Not to mention street signs and red lights. And pedestrians.

So I finally got to the travel clinic twenty-five minutes late (picture my big ole noggin, hanging in shame), and thankfully the nurse waited on me even though I had completely disrupted her lunch hour with all my tardy lateness.

Did I mention that I wasn’t on time?

When I finally sat down in the Nurse Jeanette’s office, we talked a little bit about where I was going and what vaccinations I’d need. She gave me all my instructions for my prescriptions, and then she asked if I was going to Uganda with a group.

When I told her yes, that I was going with Compassion International, she asked what I’d be doing when I got there.

[this is my attempt at replicating the awkward silence that followed her question]

[continued awkwardness]

[yay, even more awkwardness]

“Well,” I said, as I wriggled in my chair, “I’m going to see some of the relief work that’s going on over there so that then I can, um, wr-, wri-, write about it.”

I did, y’all. I totally used the W- word. WITH A STRANGER.

And then she said, “Oh? What kind of publication will you be writing for?”

At this point I wanted to ask her if THE WALLS WERE CLOSING IN ON HER, TOO, but instead I took a deep breath and said, “Well, have you ever heard of something called a blog? BecauseIhaveablog. Andthat’swhereI’llbewriting.”

If I had to guess what my heart rate was at that moment, I’d say it was an easy 320 beats per minute.

Honestly, it’s a wonder I continued to breathe.

But Nurse Jeanette and I actually ended up having a lovely conversation about faith and God’s provision, and at one point she actually used the tip of a needle to illustrate our smallness in relation to God’s vastness. I totally got goosebumps, and while I guess it’s feasible that the goosebumps were from the realization that THE NEEDLE, IT WILL SOON BE PUNCTURING MY DELTOID MUSCLE, I like to think it’s because Nurse Jeanette and I were having ourselves some church right there in the travel division of the health department.

When we finished with all our vaccination business, Nurse Jeanette recited a lovely blessing and pretty much made my day. Which is saying something considering that she was the same person who’d just given me four shots. With pointy needles.

And while I have vowed that I am not going to whine about the shots, because HEY, BIG DEAL, WOMAN, YOU’RE GROWN, SO DEAL, I would just like to say that, well, “YEEEEEEOW.”

And that is all.

Another Exciting! Chance! To Win! (Edited With New Link)

Shannon is giving away an Oreck today over at Bloggy Giveaways.

Go in peace, my friends.

And for the love of pete, drive carefully on the information superhighway.

Edited to add:

(HOLD THE PHONE! One more right here: Boing Boing Giveaway.)

(You’re welcome.)

A Brief And Somewhat Informative Update

Well, I have learned a valuable lesson in the last two days, and it is this: Never underestimate the power of a free Oreck vacuum.

Because SWEET FANCY MOSES, people. I just had no idea that a free vacuum giveaway would touch your hearts – yay, your very souls – so deeply.

And I have my fingers crossed for every single one of you.

Well, not really. Because I don’t really think the whole finger-crossing deal actually works.

But still. It was a lovely sentiment, now wasn’t it?

The little man and I are still at my parents’ house, and I am delighted to tell you that Daddy is home from the hospital now. It was the first illness-related hospital stay of his life (one time he fell off a ladder and had to have a pin put in his arm, but that was a hospital stay related to an ambitious home improvement activity, not some pesky sickness), and even now, as he sits in his chair in all manner of pain with three prescriptions by his side, he still contends that he could have just gone to the chiropractor, that there was no need for all that hospital foolishness.

I told him that I’m pretty sure that chiropractors aren’t really qualified to treat INFECTIONS GONE WILD.

And you don’t even want to get him started about the hospital food.

Anyway, A. and I are about to hit the road (AGAIN! WE LOVE THE ROAD!), but I did want to thank you for all your sweet emails and comments and prayers. At some point Daddy will read all of them, and he will smile. And then he will get on his soapbox about how there was absolutely nothing wrong with him that couldn’t have been cured by a couple of Aleve and a glass of red wine.

I don’t know where I get my stubborn streak. I can’t even imagine.

So. Would Anyone Like To Win An Oreck Vacuum?

Now in fairness I should tell you that I do not personally own an Oreck vacuum cleaner.

But Sister does. And Mama does. And if you were sitting around with all of us at any family gathering, at some point you would get to listen to Sister and Mama talk about the Oreck vacuum cleaner because OH! it’s so light! and OH! it just cleans like you wouldn’t believe! and OH! I don’t know what I ever did without it!

Suffice it to say that they are fans.

In fact, when Oreck contacted me about hosting a giveaway for the internets, I happened to be sitting in Mama and Daddy’s living room. I said, “Hey, Mama – Oreck wants to give away a vacuum on my blog,” and no kidding, she practically jumped out of her chair and said, “Well, you’d be CRAZY if you didn’t!”

I guess it has escaped my mama’s attention that I am crazy, you know, REGARDLESS.

Oh, a mother’s love. It is blind.

Anyway, here’s a little information about the Oreck XL Ultra Vacuum Cleaner:

The Oreck XL Ultra makes cleaning a breeze – the vacuum weighs just 9 lbs. and lays flat to fit under beds and furniture, yet has the suction velocity of a category 2 hurricane to eliminate dust, dander, pet hair, pollen and even dust mites in a snap. A hypo-allergenic filtration system eliminates 99.9% of all allergens as you clean, unlike other bagless vacuums, which spread dirt and dust as you empty the canister. Oreck is so confident in the quality of the Oreck XL Ultra that they offer a 10-year warranty plus 10 annual free tune-ups to ensure that your Oreck will last and last!

And by the way, the Oreck XL retails for $499.95.

So you would probably be excited if you won.

If you’d like to enter this giveaway, here’s what you do:

1. Click here to check out the specifics of the Oreck XL. Please don’t skip this step. Or the internet police will be forced to give you a ticket (all together now: “So get! With it!”).

2. Come back to my blog, leave a comment and tell me which room in your house would benefit the most from a brand-spankin’ new Oreck (only one comment per person, por favor).

3. That’s all!

One little catch: you do have to be a resident of the continental United States in order to be eligible to win.

This giveaway will be open until Tuesday, January 22, 2008. I’ll use Ye Olde Random.org to draw for a winner.

Have fun, y’all!

This giveaway is now closed.

The Only Drawback Is That I Can’t Seem To Get That Toto Song Out Of My Head

Oh, internets. I do apologize.

It was never my intention to leave you hanging about the whole yellow fever vaccination thing. In fact, I was going to write about it over the weekend, set it to auto-post, and thereby make sure that all the yellow fever vaccination news that’s fit to print was ready and waiting for you first thing this morning.

But then my daddy WENT AND GOT SICK (one of my favorite Southern expressions), landed himself in hospital (one of my favorite British expressions, neveryoumind that I’m not British, because that is merely a technicality), and now the little man and I are about to make an unexpected trip to Mississippi so that we can see the patient and stay with Mama for a couple of days.

In other words: the best-laid plans, etc.

And y’all will appreciate this: Saturday night Daddy was in a tremendous amount of pain, the kind of pain that looks at over-the-counter pain medication and laughs maniacally, and when Mama suggested that they get to a doctor (aye, and quickly), Daddy told her that he couldn’t possibly go to the doctor because he was supposed to 1) sing in church Sunday morning, 2) count the collection after church, and C) serve as a pallbearer at a friend’s funeral today.

He couldn’t HOLD UP HIS HEAD, of course, but by diggity he had commitments. And he planned on keeping them. Yes ma’am he did.

So in the interest of GETTING ON THE ROAD, ALREADY, I’m going to temporarily take the easy way out and offer you some information in a lovely list format:

1) I need the yellow fever vaccination because I’m going to Africa in February.

2) Yes, I said Africa.

3) Yes! Really! Africa!

4) Specifically: Uganda.

5) And I’m going with Compassion International.

6) And I am so stinkin’ excited and nervous and excited and scared and excited.

7) I’m also tickled to death because Shannon is going, too.

8) And if you want more details sooner as opposed to later, you can click right here and read Shannon’s beautifully-written post.

9) I promise I’ll write more later.

10) But I really do have to leave now.

11) And if you think about it, please say a prayer for my daddy.

12) I believe that is all.

Love,
Me

I Know That The Internets Feel My Pain

For the last few days Melanie has been keeping me updated about Target’s winter clearance sale. I promised myself that I wouldn’t buy any Christmas-related items until the prices were drastically reduced, so when Melanie informed me yesterday that her Target had put up the 90% off signs (NINETY PERCENT OFF, my friends), I felt like it was time to investigate.

So this morning, after eating breakfast at McDonald’s, our little family went to Target. We’d been there all of four minutes when I ran across this plate:

img_0985.jpg

I do hope you’re not blinded by all the adorableness.

And the cost? Regularly $2.99. But today? TWENTY NINE CENTS.

I bought eight of them.

As I was putting the plates in the cart, I explained to D. that these melamine plates are great for taking people cookies or candy during the holidays. He agreed that they were a deal, and after a few more minutes of listening to me talk about THE PLATES! THE SUPER-CUTE PLATES!, he murmured something about going to get some Starbucks.

Which is basically Man-Speak for “I think I’ve had enough of the shopping now.”

About ten minutes later, after the little man and I made our way over to the accessories and shoes because I am always on a quest to find the perfect Target tote bag, we spotted D. an aisle or so away. He walked over to us, handed me my coffee, and as we were wheeling back toward the kids’ clothes, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Because I saw these.

51edjcgolkl_ss260_.jpg

CLEARLY THEY ARE DIVINE.

I said something like, “Oh my goodness. OH MY GOODNESS.”

Then D. said, “You mean you LIKE those? Really? Hmmm.”

At which point I immediately thought that PERHAPS THIS IS WHY HUSBANDS AND WIVES SHOULD NOT SHOP TOGETHER.

So I took a deep breath and said, “These shoes are adorable. They are everything I love. They have a big wedge heel, a funky fabric, and I would wear them all the time. ALL THE TIME.”

D. looked completely puzzled and said, “But they look like something from The Captain and Tennille Show in the 70’s.”

OHNOHEDIDUNT.

The fact that he had unknowingly burst my shoe bubble was bad enough. But I LOVED me some Captain and Tennille back in the day, y’all. And I would be tickled – yay, even honored – to wear any pair of Toni Tennille-reminiscent shoes. Even if her husband did happen to dress just like, you know, Captain Merrill Stubing.

So I took another deep breath. There was no point trying to explain the appeal of the shoes, because, I mean, how do you even begin to tell your husband – who was just making casual conversation and meant no harm whatsoever – that HE HAS STOLEN YOUR SHOE JOY?

God love him.

But you’ll be happy to know that I’m doing okay now. I really am. In fact, I’m hoping to fully reclaim my shoe joy sometime in the next day or two. Because I am more than a conqueror.

And make no mistake: I will return to the Target shoe department. Alone. And while I may be standing on a wedge instead of a rock, I will stand on that wedge proudly to win soles for Jesus. And to build my shoe kingdom.

Hallelujah and Amen.