SYTYCD Recap a few days late

Noelle\Russell - Hip Hop

I thought this dance was weird. I guess the tennis rackets threw me off. It wasn't bad just different.

Ashleigh\Jacob - Viennese Waltz

I didn't think this was bad. I'm just not a ballroom fan.

Bianca\Victor - Broadway

I liked this dance. It was very energetic.

Nathan\Molly - Bollywood

I thought this one was good, but I still think Katie and Joshua's Bollywood dance is still my favorite.

Phillip\Channing - Samba

The lifts definitely weren't smooth but other than that it wasn't that bad.

Kevin\Karen - Hip Hop

I thought this one was ok. Definitely not my most favorite Tabitha and Napoleon routine.

Katherine\Legacy - Contemporary

I thought their dance was really good. Carrie said that this is the 12th time she has watched it. Lol.

Pauline\Peter - Jazz

I thought this one was ok. It was kind of weird.

Ellenore\Ryan - Argentine Tango

This was a pretty good dance.

I just realized I'm so not informative at all. Good thing I'm not a judge! I'm not a good recapper either. Oh well. Maybe no more recaps for me after this especially since two out of the three tappers are gone. Sad times!

SYTYCD Recap a week late

I've decided to start my weekly So You Think You Can Dance blog.



Here is how I feel.



Rockin Robin - Jive

The judges didn't seem to like it, but I did. Then again, I'm no expert. I thought it was full of enery. Then again, I don't want to see any tappers go home right now, because I like them.



Hit Me with a Hot Note - Broadway



Not a fan of this one. I felt like they were just throwing themselves around on the stage. The judges loved it though. Maybe the judges and I aren't on the same page this season.



Black & Gold - Hip Hop


This wasn't bad. Definitely not my most favorite hip hop dance but definitely not the worst.


Vagabond Shoes - Waltz

I thought Russell did pretty well for being a krumper and doing the waltz.

Wasted Time - Contemporary

I really like Travis Wall as a choreographer. However, I wasn't a really big fan of this dance.

Push It - Cha Cha

Not a big fan of this dance either. I love the cross promoting since the song they danced to was sung on Glee. I did like all the lifts they did.

Arcadia - Contemporary\Jazz

This dance wasn't bad. It was kind of weird, but all Sonya dances are pretty weird.

You Light Up My Life - Smooth Waltz

Even though I know Brandon goes home, I really thought he did a good job. I really liked their lifts and everything was very smooth.

On & On - Hip Hop

I really liked this dance. I loved how Cat said this is the story of eeeevolution. Ha!

Turn The Beat Around - Disco

I really like Molly and Nathan and their dancing wasn't that bad.

I'm thinking that I'm not really bothered by who went home this week since I can't even remember the girl and I don't feel like watching it all the way to the end. On to next week!

Lists and such

Lately, I've been extremely busy. I guess that's what happens when you work two jobs. So far today, I have accomplished almost everything on my list.

1. Make peanut butter cookies - done

2. Make candies for fall party at school - in process

3. Paint egg cartons black for craft at school - drying

4. Washed dishes - done

5. Laundry done - last load is in the dryer

6. Winter clothes out of the garage - done but not put up yet

7. Cleaned bathroom - haven't done that yet

8. Finished reading my bible training for lifeway - in the midst of it

I do only have 2 shows on the dvr right now. NCIS:Los Angeles and Stargate Universe. I watched Project Runway, Models of the Runway, White Collar and Monk this weekend. I'm hoping I can get through those 2 shows tonight or tomorrow. Otherwise, it's all going to stack up again. Anyways, onto more interesting things. My brother is getting married in July. Yay Doug! (I found out on our family vacation that he actually reads this). No ugly dresses though. Carrie's dog, Murphy, bit someone yesterday so she is returning him to the rescue. It's very sad, but she's scared that he is eventually going to bite someone and they will sue her. We can't figure out what is causing it either. It's so random. Anyways, hopefully he will get placed in a better home with the rescue. Oh, I went to the doctor a few weeks ago, because my throat has felt like it is swollen for like 3 weeks. She said I didn't have strep but prescribed me amoxicillan (or however you spell it). Anyways, I took it all and my throat felt better, but now it feels bad again. I think it's allergies so I bought some Claritin. Hopefully that will help. I haven't taken a lot of pictures lately, but here are a few that I took yesterday at Homecoming and Abi's soccer game.

Leyni

Jack

Abi

Jack

It's Been Awhile

I haven't blogged in awhile. I guess since I'm working now, I don't have as much time. I've been watching dogs for the past week and a half. I was at my friend's Michelle's house for a few days while they went to Disney. That wasn't so bad. I just had to let the dogs out into the backyard since it's fenced in. Not too hard. However, Trixie (their yorkie) managed to get through the fence into the neighbor's fenced in backyard and then couldn't get back to her yard. Since last sunday, I've been at my house taking care of my roommate's dogs. I've realized that I don't have time for a dog. It's an added stress that I just don't need. I've got to make sure I get up earlier so I can take them for a walk and then make sure I'm back at the house in a reasonable amount of itme to take them out again. The best part is night time, because then I just go out the front door with them and they usually go in the yard. No walk involved! I guess it's more stress on me since I work two jobs so I have to make sure I'm back at the house with enough time in between both jobs to take them for their long walk since I won't get back until after dark. Way stressful for me! I might could handle it with just Murphy (the larger, more well behaved dog) but Trudie drives me crazy. She can't walk in a straight line, constantly is trying to walk into the street and tries to eat the food that the construction workers have tossed onto the sidewalk. Too much to worry about for me! Then I have to pick up the poop and I feel like throwing up. It's not bad the first time, but when I have to pick up the second dog's poop, I smell the first dog's poop and it makes me want to vomit. Anyways, Carrie's coming home tomorrow. Thank goodness! Seriously, next week I don't think I would have time to do all that. I'm working both jobs almost every day. Now I'm going in at 3 on some days which basically means, I come home and change clothes and then leave again. Barely any time to sit and relax, but I need the money. I hate having to worry about money. If I could just work and have all my needs met and not have to worry about things, I think that would be wonderful, but that's not how life is.

Cassette Tapes

I found all my cassette tapes that I put random music on from middle school and high school. Right now, I'm sitting here listening to them all. I must say, it's been quite entertaining. I've found the Coyote Ugly soundtrack, Britney Spears (pre crazy days), the Backstreet Boys, the Monkees theme song in spanish, Funny Farm, My Boomerang won't come back. I kind of miss the days when I could just have a blank cassette in the tape player and then when a song came on the radio I liked, I could just hit record. I'm probably going to have to go to Itunes to find the songs that I liked from back then that I don't have on my ipod. I'm hoping to find my tapes from middle school with Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men on them. Who knows what all I'm going to find. It's going to be fun!

Question

If you had to choose between doing a job that you loved which meant you weren't paid a lot or doing a job that you didn't love and got paid plenty, which would you choose? This is a question I've been pondering a lot lately.

Lately

Wow! I haven't blogged in a few weeks. I've definitely been busy. I got offered a job teaching at Child's Day Out at Old Fort. I took it. I'm teaching the oldest 2 year old class. Since that job is only 20 hours a week, I needed another job. I took a second job working at Lifeway. I started both last week. This coming week is my first week of actually having kids in the classroom. I'm interested in seeing how it will all turn out. I have two different classes. One on Mon\Wed and one on Tues\Thurs. My tues\thurs class seems to be a little bit more advanced. They all came to Child's Day Out last year. We'll see this week if my predictions are true. I'm excited about it all. I'm working at Lifeway everyday this week except for on Sunday and Wednesday. I'll definitely be getting a lot of training. There are some things that I keep forgetting to do, but I guess I will remember more over time. I walked in a 5K yesterday. I finished in 50 minutes. I guess that's not too bad. I didn't run at all so I could've probably finished with a faster time if I had run a little bit. Anyways, that's about all that's been going on in my life lately.

Things I Hate Part Two

I did a post with a list of things I hate back in April. Here are some things I would like to add to that.

Going to the unemployment office (It takes forever!)
Taxes (I guess I never realized how much money the government takes from you until today when I was trying to figure out how much I could make and live off after taxes, they take about 30% of your gross income (15% federal, 7% state and 7.65$ medicare and social security). It varies based on how much money you make a year, but this bracket is where I seem to fit.)
Budgets
Money

A Hodge Podge

I've been going through all my magazines (mainly Real Simple) that I've collected over the past six months. I decided to share some of the things I found that were interesting or that I thought might would come in handy at some point and this is a easy spot to put it.

I thought this board looked pretty cool. Basically, you can keep everything together.
This cake cutter looked pretty interesting as well.
This looked pretty cool. You can share songs ipod to ipod.
This water filter seemed pretty neat.
Cupcake liners

Things I want to try:

This scalp scrub.
Maybe this make-up or this one.
Topix Replenix Cream CF
RoC MultiCorrexion Eye Treatment8u

Neat tips:

Use a pillowcase to clean a sealing fan.
Take hose and put it over the bristles on your brush and then when you want to remove the hair, you just pull of the hose.

Travel sites to check out:

easyjet.com
farecast.com
farecompare.com
jet4you.com
myair.com
travelocity.com
vayama.com
whichbudget.com
yapta.com

applevacations.com
homeaway.com
homeexchange.com
homelink.com
homelink.org
interhomeusa.com
lacurevillas.com
tripadvisor.com
villasofdistinction.com

aoprals.state.gov
cruisedeals.com
expedia.com
intrepidtravel.com
kayak.com
orbitz.com
resortquest.com
riu.com
starfishresorts.com
travelocity.com

Coupon sites:

Coupons.com
Couponcabin.com
Coolsavings.com
Cybermonday.com
extrabux.com
ebates.com
freeshipping.org
shoppingnotes.com
swapagift.com

Singles Ministry

My roommate Carrie and I were discussing the other day the Singles Ministry (or lack there of) at the church I go to and Carrie sometimes does. She said I love the pastor, but there is nothing for people my age. I agree. There is no direction. Nobody plans anything. It's like the church doesn't care about you if you are single. You are lost (not in the sense of going to hell, but in the sense that the church doesn't reach out to you). They spend all this time on the children's ministry followed by the youth ministry. When you reach college, they've still got a little something for you. However, after that, you've got nothing unless you are married. Why should you have to go to a mega church to find a ministry that reaches out to you? You don't relate to the married people your age because you are not married nor should you be expected to. Yes, there are some things that you still have in common, but married people don't understand some of the struggles that singles go through and vice versa. I have lots of married friends and I love them all. I still hang out with some of them. However, I can't always call them up and be like I need someone to talk to and they are there. They have husbands and kids to worry about. Anyways, we were talking about how someone should plan an event that involves singles from different churches coming together. One night a month or whatever. I thought about this for awhile and then realized something. Old Fort used to have a get together called The Gathering which met on Saturday nights. I think it was once a month. It was mainly college students. However, when the church went to 3 services, the contemporary service was called The Gathering and they stopped doing the saturday night fellowship. I also remembered that in Greenville there is a new ministry called Off The Coast which was started by 2 guys that went to my parents church. Not sure if they still go there or not. They also know my friend Gina. This is what we need here in Charleston. A ministry that reaches out to young adults and singles.

Tybee Island Day Two and Part of Day Three

Yesterday we went to the lighthouse (and climbed a buttload of stairs) and to Fort Pulaski. It was interesting to see. I would have enjoyed the Fort a little bit more if I hadn't been so hungry. My brother made lowcountry boil, which everyone loved, but I didn't eat it since I don't like seafood. Kristy (my cousin-in-law) and I went on a bike ride. It was lots of fun. I really need to ride my bike more when I get back home. Anyways, when we got back, my cousin was mad at me because I was "beating" her at FarmTown (game on facebook). She stormed out of the house and went on a car ride. She told her mom that she was planting grapes so that she could beat me quicker (or something to that effect). Anyways, she calmed down when she got back, but at 1:30 in the morning, she had the laptop in bed with her, harvesting her grapes. I was trying to sleep and I was extremely annoyed at her. I held my tongue because I didn't want to start something with her. But really, she couldn't have harvested her grapes somewhere else. It's a stupid game on facebook. Get over it! She kept me awake with that stupid laptop. Anyways, this morning we went to take a family picture on the beach. I hate taking family pictures, because they take FOREVER! We have to pose in like ten different spots and it's hot as anything out there. Anyways, this afternoon we are going to go eat in Savannah and then go on a dolphin tour. Should be fun!

Tybee Island Day One

I rode the train to Savannah yesterday. I definitely got to the train station way early. It took all of 5 minutes to get my ticket and check my luggage. I had 45 minutes before the train would even arrive. I sat in the lounge and read a magazine. Only one other person got on the train when I did. There were people on the train when I boarded, but it wasn't crowded. I had two seats to myself. The view was pretty nice. The sun was setting right when we went over the river. I tried to take a picture but by the time I got the camera on my phone ready, we passed it. The house is extremely nice. I'm going to try and take some pictures. Now on to the first funny story of the week. My cousin, Dee, was sleeping on the top bunk of one of the bunk beds. This morning he said he was freezing because he didn't have a blanket. We were confused. Well, Tiff (his sister) and I looked at his bed and he hadn't even slept under the covers! He was using a towel as a blanket! Hilarious! He didn't realize that the bed already had blankets on it! Also, some of the family went to a local church this morning. I didn't go, but Dee decided to ride his bike. He said when he walked in the door it was all old people and he was getting evil looks because he was wearing shorts so he left. I find that extremely sad that he didn't feel welcome just because of what he was wearing. I hope that when people come to Old Fort that they feel welcome no matter what they are wearing.

My adventures in the past couple of weeks

I took a quick trip to DC with Krista and Jason to pick up 2 cute little Westies. Krista and Jason were keeping one and the other was going to a family in Greenville. We went into the city on July 3 and it was crazy! I'm hoping to go back when it's less crowded. Here are some pictures from that trip.

Me imitating the puppy sleeping

The puppy sleeping

Obie and Kitzel (I have no idea how they are spelling it)

DC

Obie and Cilla

Then I went to youth camp this past week with the youth. It was tons of fun. There are some great kids in the youth group at the church. Here are some highlights (and lowlights) from the trip.

Leslie, Haley and Marissa (some of the sweetest girls)

Two of the groups when we were doing service projects

Chelsee during the Messy Games

Me and Chelsee

Me climbing the rock wall

Still climbing the rock wall

Doing the high ropes course

Half way through the high ropes course

The whole group at the blue hole (minus a few)

Lately

I just got back from youth camp on Saturday and DC the week before. I will post some pics soon. I had tons of fun with the youth and I am seriously considering helping with them. They are some of the best young people I've met. Most of them are pretty good kids. Right now I'm fixing to make cupcake bites with Hannah and Kaelyn for the Peru team that leaves on thursday.

Life

I've currently set my pandora station to the Praise & Worship one I created awhile ago. I was hoping that it would play Everlasting God, but no such luck so far. Anyways, if you read my blog at all, you probably know that I've been struggling a lot with what I'm suppose to do. I'm doing this Bible Study called "When Wallflowers Dance" by Angela Thomas. I have enjoyed it so much. Every day I read something that I needed to hear. This past week was about waiting and what we need to do. The first step was Abide (or remain). The verse she used was Abide in me and I will abide in you. I need to abide in God and not try to give into all the pressures I have on me. Instead, I need to entrust (step two) him with my worries\struggles\problems. Then I need to trust (Step 3) him. He will lead me to where I'm suppose to be. Step four is become. I need to become the woman that God wants me to be. Step five is prayer. I need to pray. The last step is stand. Just stand. I don't have to move but I have to be faithful and trust God. I'm going to try to do this. To abide, entrust, trust, become, pray and stand. I know that God will meet all my needs. Some of my favorite verses are:

Jer. 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future."

Psalm 62:8 "People, trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection."

John 15:4 "Remain in me."

Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Hebrews 6:15 "And so after waitin patiently, Abraham received what was promised."

A quote I like:

"Wait on God and He will work, but don't wait in spiritual sulks becaue you cannot see an inch in fron tof you!" -Oswald Chambers

Peter Cottontail

I woke up this morning and was looking at the backyard and I saw a rabbit! I was super excited. I ran upstairs grabbed my camera and I got several pictures of him. Here are a couple.

Questions

Things that I am pondering:

Where is the governor? He seems to have disappeared.

Are Jon & Kate really getting a divorce? Sad situation for everyone involved. I want to hope it's no, but I think it's yes.

Edited to add after I watched the show: The more I watch, the less sympathy I have for Jon. He's basically focusing on himself. He's doing what's best for him and not what is best for the kids. What's ultimately best for the kids is for them to have both parents acting like adults. Instead, they have Jon who goes out to bars with women who aren't his wife. What a great example to set! I know Kate isn't the best mom. She is very strong-willed and used to getting her way. However, she does the show and the books (and the tours that she is probably obligated to do for the books) to provide for her family. Has the money gone to her head a little? Probably. However, I don't know if they could meet all their kids needs if both of them worked "normal" jobs. Do I necessarily agree that they should get all the things they do on their show? No, but that makes good tv. People aren't going to watch a show where they don't go anywhere. That's boring. People want to watch the kids experiencing new things. That is what makes good tv. As for them buying a million dollar home, can you blame them? People stalk them all the time. Paparazzi, fans, whoever. They need privacy just like everyone else. When they first started doing the show, I'm sure they didn't realize how popular it would become. Anyways, I found a new show called Raising Sextuplets on WE. I watched it last thursday and it was pretty good. Both parents work and they live in Arizona.

Did Jon cheat on Kate? I'm leaning towards yes on this one. He definitely isn't acting like a married man.

Did Kate cheat on Jon? Probably not.

How much would could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Who knows.

Will I see Miley Cyrus on Tybee Island when we go there? Maybe...

Road Trips

I love taking road trips. I haven't taken any in along time though. Mainly because I haven't had anyone to go with. Anyways, I'm going to Rock Hill this weekend. I'm super excited to be able to see some friends that I haven't seen in forever. Krista and I talked about taking a quick trip up to DC to see her sister (and get her dog) next week, but I don't know if we will actually do it or not. I'm going with the youth to TN the following week. That should be fun. Then a few weeks later it will be time for my family vacation on Tybee. Yay! I'm ready for that. Even though I live at the beach and don't have a job right now, that still doesn't mean that I go to the beach everyday. I did go to the beach last week with some friends and on saturday I was out with another friends family. The only trip that I want to make but haven't planned yet, is a trip to Atlanta to see the Braves play. I guess I need to get with Gina and see if I can plan a time for us to go. I'm thinking probably sometime in August. I do want to eventually take a trip to San Antonio too. I have some friends that live out there. My cousin said she might go out there in September. We'll see how my job situation is then. Maybe I can go with her.

Beach Photos

Today I went to the beach with two of my good friends Ellen and Kelly and their girls. I had so much fun taking pictures of the girls. If I only could make a living off of taking pictures, I think that I would be perfectly content to do that. Anyways, here are some of the pictures that I took and did a little tweeking on in photoshop.

These are some of the pictures of Leyni:

These are some of the pictures of Abi. I really love the second one.

This is one of the pictures of Caroline.

Storms

We seem to be having a lot of storms lately. I mean daily. It rains and we have thunderstorms. I don't remember ever having them this frequently. Maybe it's just me though. Anyways, here are some pictures of the crazy weather we just had. I could really stand outside because the rain was coming down sideways.


The pond by the house.



Another picture of the pond and the alley flooding.



This is the pond across the street. That really wasn't there earlier.

This is the street.

The half completed house next door

The pond building in between the two houses across the street.

Something New

I read Pioneer Woman's Blog everyday. Today she posted a tutorial in photoshop. I decided to try it out. I must say that I LOVED it! Here is the original photo:

Here is it after I played around in photoshop.

Doesn't it look like a piece of art that you would buy? I'm excited to see what else I can come up with. Maybe I will have more photos soon.

Old TV Shows

Recently I was talking with the girl I teach with on Sunday mornings about how kids act older than they should be. I said I think it's because they watch tv programs that are geared toward an older audience. You have 3,4 and 5 year olds watching Hannah Montana, Suite Life, Wizards of Waverly Place and Sonny with a Chance. Not that these shows are bad shows, but the characters in them are teenagers who do things teenagers do. Things like talking about boys or wearing makeup, etc. These things aren't bad. However, when you have 4 year old girls asking a 4 year old boy, "Do I look hot?" something's not quite right there. When I was 4, I was playing house or beauty parlor or dress up. I wasn't thinking about which boys were cute or about wearing make-up. I watched Mr. Roger's Neighborhood (my favorite part was when they went to the land of make believe), Dumbo's Circus, Adventures in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh. Most of the time, I played outside. We rode our bikes. We played with the kids in the neighborhood. We played on the swingset in the backyard. What has happened that this generation only wants to watch tv and play video games? Is it because the parents are too busy or just don't care? I wasn't allowed to watch the Smurfs or Scooby Doo. I can't remember why I couldn't watch Scooby Doo. Maybe it was because of the ghosts. I know I couldn't watch the Smurfs because of the magician. I can't remember his name. I can't even watch most of the cartoons on tv today. Although, I have been known to watch Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears. I remember on friday nights watching TGIF. Two hours of tv that was clean. The whole family could watch it. Full House, Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Boy Meets World and Step by Step. I remember watching Matlock during the summers. I loved Matlock. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Touched by an Angel, 7th Heaven, Saved by the Bell, Cosby Show, Gilligans Island, The Andy Griffith Show, Little House on the Prairie, Hey Dude, Brotherly Love, Diagnosis Murder, Walker Texas Ranger, JAG, Due South, Flipper, Seaquest, Double Dare, GUTS, The Pretender, The Sentinel, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Torkelsons. These were all shows I watched. Most of them didn't have dirty language and sex in them. They were pretty clean. Your 3 year old could watch them with your 15 year old. You didn't have to worry about what was going to come on, because you knew it would be clean. Today you have to be careful.

Pictures

Can I just say that I LOVE to take pictures? I mean LOVE it! I love to take pictures of almost anything. I'm not a big pose for a picture person. I just try and get natural shots. At least, as well as I can anyways. My friend Brandon told me I should try and start my own photography business. I'm not sure if I want to. I love doing it for fun and taking pictures for my friends. I took these pictures yesterday at Wannamaker.

I did do a little editing in photoshop, but nothing major. I'm trying to decide a) if I want to walk the bridge tomorrow with Carrie if it isn't raining and b) if I want to just take pictures instead of walk.

Shaving

I've been through a lot of razors since I started shaving. The first one I can remember was a gilette. It had a oval rubber handle and was green. I would get cuts on my legs all the time even though I was using shaving cream. Similar to this:

Then I moved on to the Venus.

For some reason, I would end up losing my razor so I would end up getting a new one. I currently have this one.

I really like it. I use it to shave my pits. However, I don't really like using these on my legs because like I said earlier, I end up cutting myself. I started using the Schick Intuition on my legs.

However, it would end up with rust on it after one use. Kind of irritating. I went to the dermatologist a few years ago and she told me that warts are spread by razors. Great! Then I decided to try the Carefree hair removal system.

You just squeezed the bottle and on the end was a sponge applicator and applied it directly to your legs. No mess on your hands. Then you used a bladeless razor to remove it and rinse of the excess. It wasn't too bad, but you couldn't put lotion on until 24 hours after. Plus, I could only find it at Target. Then I decided to try Veet. Same concept as the Carefree system, but you applied it with your hands.

I stuck with this system for awhile. Mainly because it was easy to find. I still didn't like having to apply it with my hands and didn't like that I had to wait a few minutes before I could get in the shower and wait to apply lotion (24 hours). Then I saw on the tv the new Nair Shower Power. It looked interesting so I thought I would try it.

I tried it this morning and so far I like it. You apply it on your legs using the green side of the sponge. Leave it on for a minute. Then take a shower. The water kind of washes off some of it, but it still works. Then after a few minutes you use the white side of the sponge and wash it off. Not bad! So far, so good. We shall see how long it lasts. As of right now, I think I'm going to stick with this one for my legs.

Rhyme

Here is a little rhyme I came up with today.

I have a little spider
We like to call him Ted
But if you try and squish him
He will end up dead.

I have a little dog
We like to call him Fred
And if you ask him a question
He will nod his head.

Fear and Worry

I've been struggling a lot lately with fear and worry. It seems to consume every part of my life. Fear of the future. Fear of not getting a job. Fear of getting a job and not being able to do the things that I've planned. Fear of failure. Fear of never getting married. Fear of having to move. Fear of the unknown. Worry about money. Worry about getting a temp job then not being able to go on my family vacation that's been planned for a long time especially since it could be the last one my grandmother is at. I've always liked to have a plan, but lately it seems I can't count on any plan. I know that I need to work on trust. Trust in God. Trust in others. I hate relying on other people. I always seem to get let down somehow. That's why I keep a lot of things bottled up. It's easier than having to trust someone else with it. I've tried trusting God with it, but I guess since I don't see anything happening, I feel like he doesn't care even though I know he does. I don't know what I'm suppose to do. Anyways, I'm doing this study on my own called When Wallflowers Dance. I just started week 2 yesterday. I really like it. The things that she says I can relate to. I'm like that's me. I had bought the book awhile ago and never read it. I have no idea where it is, but I am going to try and find it.

Acapella

If you like acapella stuff, you should check out these videos.

Voca People

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days of Christmas

Sitcom Medley

My Memorial Day

Yesterday I was invited to a cookout at Ellen and Brandon's house. (We went to college together). I was suppose to bring a side. Anyways, Carrie was like we have all these fresh green beans why don't you use them. I decided to make green bean casserole. I had never made green bean casserole before with fresh green beans, but I figured it would be just like making them from a can. (I was wrong). I washed and cut them and even converted ounces to cups so I would put the right amount of green beans in. I stirred it all up and put it in the oven. Then Carrie comes home. She asked me if I had cooked the green beans before putting them in the casserole. I told her no. She said you are suppose to cook them before putting them in. What I didn't know was that when you get green beans in a can, they are already cooked. No one bothered to tell me that before, because I never really had a reason to know. Carrie told me to taste a green bean when they were suppose to be done (after 30 min.). I did. It was raw. She told me to cook it for 30 more minutes and put foil on top. Did that and it tasted ok. (By this time, I was going to be late). After that, I was like, I'm just going to take it and if it needs to cook more, I'll put it in Ellen's oven. Well, I guess it sat for long enough that the green beans finally cooked and it tasted pretty good. Not as good as normal probably because we didn't have enough fried onions. Oh well. Anyways, that was my excitement for the weekend. I learned anything you buy in a can is already cooked. You just are reheating it.

Life

Wow! It's been almost a week since my last blog. I'm getting kind of slack. Not as slack as a few other people though (j\k). I'm currently watching American Idol and so far, I've enjoyed Allison and Cyndi Lauper singing a duet, fast forwarded through Adam and Kiss (I actually had to pause it so I could fast forward it since I am watching it live), sort of enjoyed Santana and the Top 13, and liked Megan and Michael singing with Steve Martin. I've probably left some out, but that's what I could remember. Anyways, it's been a long day. I worked at Child's Day Out and then had to take Katie and her friend Anna home. I figured it would be good. Katie would have someone to play with and would be out of my hair. Kind of wrong there. They were screaming, fighting over Trixie (the dog) and making a huge mess. Katie is so defiant. She will blatantly ignore anything you ask (or tell) her to do. Changing the subject, I'm liking Rod Stewart's performance. I watched Glee last night after American Idol and I liked it. At first, I didn't really get into it, but towards the end, I liked it more. Tomorrow is the beginning of So You Think You Can Dance. Maybe I will start blogging about that. I'm still looking for a job. I applied at Northwoods Academy yesterday. My friend Kelly said they had some positions open. We'll see what happens.

Update: Kris won! Yay! I'm so glad. Maybe if the producers hadn't blatantly promoted Adam, he would have won. I won't buy Adam's album either way so it doesn't really matter to me. I don't care for his screeching. Kris is such a class act.

Catching Up

American Idol

I actually watched the results night before the performance night. I pretty much watched the elimination and the very beginning and that it. Anyways, I just finished watching the performance show. I fast forwarded through both of Danny's songs (I would have listened to You Are So Beautiful if I hadn't heard him sing it already), loved both of Kris's songs, and fastforwarded through Adam's first song and then I started to listen to him singing Cryin and liked it for about the first ten seconds and then had to fast forward because he went all weird with it. I just can't stand the shameless promotion of Adam and the total disregard for any of the other contestants. It really disappoints me even though I shouldn't be disappointed because that's what the show is about. Money and I guess they think Adam is God's gift to the world.

Biggest Loser

I watched part of the finale and DVRed the end because I had a headache. It was interesting to see Jerry win the at home part. Amazing for him. Tara looked great. I really liked her. I'm sad she didn't win. Helen looked too thin, like she starved herself for the show.

NCIS (If you haven't watched this weeks episode, don't read)

I'm interested to see how it's going to be resolved next week. Tony kills Ziva's love interest. Supposedly one of them doesn't come back. I know Tony will be back next season. I don't know if that means someone dies or someone stays behind. Counting down the days until next week.

House (same as above)

Such a good episode. I actually had to rewatch it because I didn't quite catch what happened the first time. Watching it through again, I realized certain things since I knew how it ended. I can't believe House checked into rehab. I was interested to see that he was now hallucinating Kutner as well as Amber.

Enough about the tv. I spent my birthday last week at the beach and then I went to California Dreaming with Krista and her family. I had a job interview on Monday. I'm not sure how it turned out. We'll see. I try not to get my hopes up about anything anymore. Who knows? I can't believe May is halfway over. Time sure does fly! I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend yet except for going to a few kids softball games.

Free Stuff

I'm all about free stuff. I sign up for all kinds of mailing lists so I will get free things for my birthday. This year I've got a free ice cream from cold stone, a free appetizer from Texas Roadhouse and a free entree at Moe's. Here is what you do. Go to the website and sign up. You might get e-mails from them through out the year, but it's worth it for free food.

Cold Stone Creamery
http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/mycs/myCS_pub_home.aspx

Moe's
http://www.fishbowl.com/clt/moescorp/lp/join/join.asp

Texas Roadhouse
http://texasr.fbmta.com/members/UpdateProfile.aspx?Action=Subscribe&InputSource=W

Cinco de Mayo

American Idol

I fast forwarded through Adam's performance. I couldn't stand it after about 5 seconds. At least they are making him sing first. The part that I did hear was him screaming. That's about it. Loved Allison! (not sure about her new look though) I want to roll my eyes at the judges. They have their favorite and they pretty much don't care about anyone else that sings. Their goal is to promote their favorite. I just watched the first 30 minutes of Idol in 10 minutes. That's pretty good. Of course, they would pare Kris and Danny together, because they are less rock and would put Allison and Adam together because they have more of that rock sound. Another way to get Adam to sing last even when he is singing first. I liked Kris a lot as well. Slash shows no emotion whatsoever. Of course, Simon is going to criticize him because he's not Adam. The song Danny picked, I could see Adam singing. I didn't think Danny did that great with it. The scream at the end was AWFUL! Danny didn't look particularly thrilled with it at first. Why are they all of a sudden showing us the Simon signs? I just figured out what Adam reminds me of. That karoake performance at the end of Shrek when all the characters sing different songs. I think it's the gingerbread man. I think that is who he reminds me of. Dang it. The DVR cut off and I didn't get to hear what Simon said.

Anyways, my sister turned 15 today. Can you believe it? Kind of scary.

Alison's Wedding

My long time friend from high school got married today. Her name is Alison. Her wedding was suppose to be outside, but at the last minute it started to rain. They moved it underneath a tent. There wasn't enough chairs for everyone so I stood in the back. Bad idea. My feet were killing me, because I was standing in these heels. Then I started to get hot because of the humidity. Well, I started to get lightheaded so I pulled out a chair and sat down because I was feeling dizzy. Then some lady asked if I needed water. That was the last thing I remember. I passed out and was having some dream. It only lasted for a few seconds. Then I remember seeing a white light and waking up on the ground. I had no idea how I got there. Meanwhile, the wedding was going on. I was completely embarassed. Then this cute doctor came up and started asking me all these questions. (He was really, really cute). He carried my purse in and everything for me. Anyways, I think I just needed some food and I was fine once I drank some water. It was really weird. The only other time I have passed out was when I was with Alison in the mall shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Anyways, the wedding (what I saw) was really pretty.

Interview and Idol

I had a group interview yesterday. I hated it. It was so weird and uncomfortable. I hope I never have to do it again. I hate job interviews in general. I am terrible about selling myself. I get asked a question and I can't really come up with a great answer on the spot. Ten minutes later, I can probably have this great answer that I should have given. That's the way it is with me. I can't just think on the spot like that. I like to have a plan. Interviews are not good for people who don't do well thinking on the spot. Anyways, I tried watching American Idol when I got home last night, but I fell asleep. I watched the rest of it this morning. I liked Kris and Allison. I didn't really care for Matt. Danny was ok. The chosen one was again placed last. Will they ever make him sing first or second? Seriously... I kind of feel sorry for the guy, because when he wins, he isn't going to be able to do what he would be good at (which is Broadway). I don't want him to win. I don't think he should win, but I think he will win because of the shameless promotion of him by the judges and the producers. It disgusts me.

After I typed this, I read the following from Max Lucado's book "Grace For The Moment" Volume II. It was yesterday's reading, that I forgot to read.

" Never Alone

I will not forsake my people. 1 Kings 6:13 NKJV

The Lord is with us. And, since the Lord is near, everything is different. Everything!....You may be facing unemployment, but you aren't facing unemployment alone; the Lord is with you....
Underline these words: You are not alone"

I left out some of what he said and this was an excerpt from his book Traveling Light. Anyways, it was just not to hear from someone else that I am not alone. God is with me. He knows the direction my life is supposed to go and even though I don't, I need to trust him. That's one of the things I struggle with is trust. The other is patience and I know that God is teaching me both at this time in my life.

What to do...

I've been struggling a lot lately. I think I've mentioned it before on here, but I just don't know what I'm suppose to do. Lately, I've been thinking A LOT about trying to find a job working with kids and maybe going back and getting my masters in Early Childhood Education. I love working with young kids and I am still unsure if that is what God is calling me to do. I have a group interview tomorrow. I really have no idea what to expect. I've never been to a group interview before. Interviews scare me enough. I don't know what questions to ask and you are supposed to ask questions. Usually, they always answer the questions that I had planned to ask. I'm not good at thinking on my feet. I'm a planner and it just really throw me off when I can't think of a question off the top of my head.

What a week!

I've been housesitting since wednesday and it's definitely been interesting. The people I'm housesitting for have a dog and a cat. The cat does pretty much his own thing, but the dog is a different story. The first night I kept the bedroom door open. BIG MISTAKE! I couldn't sleep because the dog and the cat kept jumping on and off the bed all night. Last night I shut the door and it was tons better! Yesterday I finally got the oil pan replaced in my car since it was leaking. Expensive! You pay $50 for parts and the rest is labor. I need to learn how to do repair work on my car. That would save me tons of money. Today I went to the unemployment office to file an extension. The guy there said I couldn't file for an extension until my account was $0. Annoying! I have to go back on monday, because my money will be gone when I file on sunday. At least he gave my the paperwork so that I don't have to fill it out again. Anyways, wednesday night I was a little scared Allison was going to go home. Thank goodness she didn't. I know I'm going to be disappointed this season with who wins it since that person is pretty much already picked. It kind of makes me not want to watch, but for some reason I still do.

Tuesday

Ok, so I tried to watch American Idol, but it just wasn't holding my attention. Maybe because I know that the producers have already chosen the winner. I wasn't impressed with Lil or Adam. On a positive note, at least I didn't have to listen to Adam scream. I had to mute the tv when the judges were talking about Adam. It gets old listening to the same thing over and over again. Anyways, I'm watching the Biggest Loser now. Hopefully it will hold my attention longer than American Idol. Anyways, I made chocolate chip cookies for the new neighbors, but I might eat them all before they get them. They are so good. Tomorrow I start housesitting for a week. Hopefully, it won't be too bad.

Ok, I added this paragraph later. I just finished watching the Biggest Loser and Kristin is so full of herself. She got upset at Mike for voting her out. Hello, that's the smart thing to do. He wants to win. Get over yourself. Now, Mike I think is getting a little cocky. I really don't like his dad and I'm starting to not like him.

Places to Visit

There are tons of places that I want to go. I'm going to start a list.

1. New York City (again)
2. All 50 States
3. Canada
4. England
5. France
6. Ireland
7. Scotland
8. LA
9. San Francisco
10. Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
11. Seven Wonders of the Medieval World
12. Seven Wonders of the Modern World
13. Seven Natural Wonders

Maybe I will add more later.

Politics

I would just like to say if you don't want to hear about anything political, you might want to skip this entry.

Anyways, basically, I just wanted to write this to vent. I'm not the most well-informed voter. Carrie and I sometimes discuss politics and I try to read the news and understand what's going on. In fact, I tried to read the stimulus bill but got so confused that I had to stop. Anyways, all of this to say while I was on facebook, one of my friends status updates was something along the lines of our governor stinks. She is a teacher. I know why she said it, because she wants him to take money that isn't ours and put it into a system that doesn't work hoping that it will just magically help solve all of South Carolina's educations problems. Money can't solve all your problems and anyways, what would our schools do if we didn't have the money which we wouldn't have if Obama hadn't taken it upon himself to create more debt for our country that is already in debt up to its eyeballs. He is basically reinforcing the fact that it's ok to spend money you don't have which is what caused a lot of the problems we have in America today. American's bought houses they couldn't afford and then lost them because of that. Obama is doing the same thing. Basically with the stimulus package, it's like the following scenario:

Say one day you get a letter from someone that says this, I'm giving you $20000. It doesn't matter if you spend it or not, but you have to pay it back with interest. You can't give it back. If you don't accept it, you still have to pay it back anyways.

What kind of logic is that? If you don't want the money, why make the person pay for it? What most people don't understand is this: There are really two parts of government that have to work together the legislative and executive branches. If they don't work together, then nothing happens. This is basically what is happening right now in our state government. The legislator refuses to meet the governor in the middle. They don't really care about the citizens. If they did, they would work with the governor. Instead, the whine and complain and point fingers and accomplish nothing all the while putting us in more debt. The governor wants to get us out of debt. I would say this is financially responsible. Why would you when times are tough, want to put yourself in more debt when you are having a hard enough time paying off the debt you already have. I don't think people grasp that. Back to the teacher thing, what the teacher probably hasn't though of is this: What happens when that money runs out? Those programs will go by the wasteside. Most people think in the here and now and don't look towards the consequences of what will happen down the road.

To end it all, I hate the way our government is headed. I was excited to see the Tea Parties that happened across America and as far as I know, were peaceful demonstrations. I want to see America return back to her core values and the principles of our forefathers. I want to stop seeing the government trying to take control of everything.

American Idol Top 7

I'm watching American Idol in a random order tonight since I started watching it in the middle and don't want to watch from the DVR since it might go long like last week. I started with Danny Gokey near the end of "Endless Love". It sounded ok. Not the greatest and certainly not the worst. I was sidetracked because I was trying to figure out what exactly Paula was wearing. Hideous! Exciting! Bones will be on tv 2 nights in a row. I love Bones! It's Kris Allen! I really like him. He just seems very laid back and not at all conceited unlike another contestant who we all know and hate (or love in some peoples cases). Randy needs to just shut up. Why are only two judges talking instead of all four? What is up with that? Lil is the last one singing tonight. She is who votefortheworst.com picked. We'll see if she lives up to their standards. I think that Ryan found the only guy in that whole mosh pit. Lil looks weird with long hair. Not impressed. I wish I could fast forward through it. I took a break at the end and watched 18 kids and counting and then some of the Biggest Loser which had my tearing up. Anyways, back to American Idol. What's with the dude in the jungle outfit? Yay! It's Allison! Her hair is kind of funky though. I don't know if I'm a fan of the strings with her song. Did she just skip some lyrics or rearrange them? I'm confused. I switched back to watch the end of the Biggest Loser. Some of these people are idiots. I would've voted Kristin off, because next week you don't know who will fall below the yellow line, but Laura more than likely will because of her injury. Anyways, I'm going to switch back to American Idol. I love how Quentin Tarantino is wearing a suit with tennis shoes. So far, I'm liking Anoop. Why are Paula and Simon all lovey dovey? Oh, Adam is next. I'm sure he'll butcher Born To Be Wild. There he goes... Butcher away Adam, butcher away.... If I closed my eyes and didn't see the screen and took away the screeching, I would swear I would be hearing Boy George. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QTAkFmm9E4) Does the dude know how to end a song with out screeching? I mean seriously. It gets old after awhile. Fast forward through Paula's critique. On to Matt Giraud. Finally, someone normal. He's not bad. I'm thinking in order of like to dislike: Allison, Kris, Anoop, Danny, Matt, Lil, Adam. However, I think the bottom 3 will probably be Lil and I'm not sure who else. It's getting complicated. I'm hoping it's Lil, Adam, Matt and Adam goes home, but I don't think that will happen.

Bluegrass and such

Currently, I am listening to bluegrass while I type this. I don't know, but it's become my new listening addiction. Maybe it has to do with passing by that bar on saturday where I heard it. Who knows? I just know I have my pandora radio set to Bluegrass music. Sweet, simple music. I'm taking a photography class tomorrow night at Ritz Camera. I'm really looking forward to it. Leah and I are going to go downtown on Wednesday morning to take pictures. I'm excited about that as well. It's not suppose to rain either! Yay! More to come maybe tomorrow. I'm getting kind of tired now.

Commercial

Here is the link to my favorite Easter Commerical.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS6989jrSrc

I don't know how to post the video from youtube onto my page.

Life, TV and whatever else I want to blog about

I finally called the Lowcountry Crisis Pregnancy Center today about volunteering. I've felt like God wants me to volunteer there for a year now but I kept putting it off. Then yesterday I heard some commercial on Hisradio that convicted me about it. It's the only thing right now that I'm sure that God wants me to do. I'm not sure what I should be doing about work and stuff. I don't know where God wants me, but I've just felt like he really wants me to help out at LCPC. Anyways, I was really excited that I found a long sleeved white t-shirt today at Gap. The girl was like we have them all year. I was like yes! Now I know where to come. I also got a pair of jeans for $15. I hope they fit because I didn't try them on. I hate trying clothes on. It's a pain in the butt. I will only try them on if I'm changing into my pjs or something. I don't know. Maybe I feel like it's a waste of time. On to more important things like...



Television



I'm watching Dog the Bounty Hunter right now until American Idol comes on. I have a feeling that I am going to be disappointed in the outcome tonight. I really want Scott (or Lil) to go home. I think everyone else did really well. If Allison goes home, I will be ticked. I really like her a lot. She just might be my choice to win (even though I think the contestant might be rigged in Adam's favor).



Let's see:



Adam sung last in his semi-final round, 3rd to last in Top 13, Top 8-10 he has sung last

Danny sung last in his semi-final round, sung near the end in Top 11, 10

Lil sung last in her semi-final round, sung 7 in Top 9, 10

Anoop sung last in the Wild Card Round, sung 9 in Top 11

Allison sung last in the Top 10

Krist sung last in the Top 9

Matt sung last in Top 11 and next to last Top 13

Obviously the show is pimping Adam Lambert badly. He hasn't sung lower than the 5th position. Most have been the 8th position. The producers are obviously trying to make the viewers remember him so they will vote for him. With the exception of last night (East Coast Viewers who DVRed it, missed Adam's performance), they want him to be the performance to remember. I get tired of hearing a Broadwayish, Boy George sounding performance from him every week. Most of the time, he sounds like a girl. He can sing, but do I like his sound? NO! Anyways, AI just came on, what is with Paula's prom dress like outfit. I like Kara's top. I like how Anoop had his hand behind Scott guiding him to move forward during the group performance. Actually, all the contestants are helping him out. I don't like the Adam modeling\posing. Can we say full of himself? Murphy has decided he wants to watch it with me so he's sitting here looking at the tv.

Baseball

I'm going to the first Riverdogs game of the season tomorrow! I'm looking forward to it especially since they are playing the Rome Braves. I'm kind of disappointed that the Braves lost tonight. I guess they are still having pitching problems.

To end my blog, here is a Wyatt Question:

Wyatt asks me "Yodie, when you get married will you be part of our family?"

My response "No."

Michelle's response "No, unless she marries Peco (her brother)."

This was completely random and out of the blue. I have no idea why he asked me this.

American Idol Highlights

1. Paula's teeth. There was something pink on them.
2. Watching Paula in slow mo (Hilarious!)
3. The man sitting on the front row that never moved. Update: man on the front row is an actor on the show Fringe
4. Scaryoke - the new word I came up with, completely on accident
5. Carrie thought Paula's fat was actually her bone sticking out of her dress
6. Gina agreed with me that Adam is more suited for Broadway
7. The one song Carrie said didn't sound like karaoke, the judges said did.
8. I really like Paula's dress.
9. Simon liked Allison!
10. Gina saying Adam is hot (GROSS!)
11. Didn't get to see Adam sing because the DVR cut off. Dumb American Idol.
Added later 12. Watched Adam on Youtube. Wasn't impressed. To Broadway with him.

Carrie's ranking
Allison, Matt

Key to the above people:
Paula-judge on American Idol
Adam-weird contestant on American Idol
Carrie-my roommate
Gina-my friend since high school

Things I Like

Here's my list of things I like.

1. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
2. Cookie Dough
3. Cake with buttercream icing
4. Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Eggs, Trees
5. Being Early
6. Shopping
7. Chick-Fil-A
8. Cheese
9. Saltines
10. Honda Civic
11. Organizing things
12. Reading
13. American Idol Winners: Carrie Underwood, David Cook, Kelly Clarkson
14. American Idol Contestants: Daughtry, Elliot Yamin, Kellie Pickler
15. Puppies
16. The internet
17. Cell Phone
18. Kids when they ask silly questions
19. Learning something new
20. Scrapbooking
21. Shopping
22. Helping out friends
23. Making things
24. Relaxing
25. Sprite
26. Music
27. Freedom of Speech
28. Children
29. Taking pictures
30. Newborn baby
31. TLC (Jon & Kate Plus 8, Table for 12, Little People Big World, 18 Kids and Counting)
32. Flowers
33. Warm weather
34. Spring
35. Chirping birds
36. Blogging
37. That I can watch some of my favorite old tv shows on Hulu
38. Reading the Bible (Goal this year is to read the whole Bible chronologically)
39. Butterflies
40. Dog the Bounty Hunter
41. Crime shows (NCIS, CSI, JAG, Cold Case)
42. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
43. House (the show)
44. Twitter
45. Reading blogs
46. Watching baseball games
47. Working with the kids at church
48. Eating candy
49. Facebook (I'm only slightly addicted)
50. Trying new recipes

Things I Hate

Tomorrow I will compile a list of things that I like, but today here is a list of things I hate.

1. Driving when there are other cars on the road
2. Driving in the rain
3. Driving in traffic
4. Driving behind motorcycles
5. Driving behind a slow car
6. Slow cars in the left lane
7. Cars that don't use their turn signals
8. Cars that tailgate
9. Taking my car for an oil change
10. Pumping gas
11. Washing dishes
12. Collard greens
13. American Idol Winners: Taylor Hicks and Fantasia (I don't hate them, just their voices)
14. American Idol Contestant: Adam Lambert (again, don't hate him, but his style of singing)
15. Cleaning up dog poop (especially since I have no dog)
16. The internet when it doesn't work
17. Slow internet
18. Screaming kids
19. Not knowing what is going to happen
20. Answering a bazillion questions
21. Filling out job applications (especially since they all want the same information just on a different form)
22. Looking for a job
23. Job interviews
24. Being the center of attention
25. Coffee
26. Public Speaking
27. The direction of our country
28. The Kia Soul (it's ugly, cute commercial)
29. Movie Prices (They are outrageous)
30. Death (even though it happens to everyone)
31. Cemeteries
32. Boring books
33. Cold weather
34. People who want to just live off the system
35. Bad Attitudes
36. Fake people
37. That I can't watch all my favorite old tv shows on Hulu
38. Money

As of right now, nothing else comes to mind. Tomorrow, hopefully I will post the things I like.

Flowers

Here are the flower pictures that I promised yesterday. I took these on the bushes outside.

This last one I photoshopped. I like it. The color is brighter and it draws your eye more than the other ones.

Oops, I forgot a title!

Wow! Don't criticize Taylor Hicks. Otherwise, you will get random people saying all kinds of crazy things about how he is God's gift to music. Lol. Yesterday, I forgot to add Fantasia as another one of the worst American Idol's. (My opinion. If you don't like it, oh well.) I wasn't surprised to see Megan go last night. I liked how she went even if it was a little crazy. She was true to herself and I really liked that. Yesterday, I got my taxes and passport application mailed. Yay! Now I'm good to go for another 10 years. I wonder where the next 10 years will take me. The past 10 years have taken me to Peru, Brazil, Jamaica and the Bahamas, not to mention all my road trips. I'm hoping a trip to Europe is in the future. It's been raining here all day, but I hope the rain disappears before tomorrow. It's the Cooper River Bridge Run and the Flowertown Festival. I'm not doing the bridge run this year, but I don't want those people to have to run in the rain. I've been there and it's not fun. I'm hoping I can make it to the Flowertown Festival. I haven't been in a few years. Anyways, yesterday I took some pictures of the Azaleas that are blooming outside. I think they turned out pretty well. I will try and post them later. I had to use the manual focus instead of the auto focus.

Note: I had to come back an add a title later, because I forgot one.

Half Way There

I went and filled out an application to get insurance. I am now waiting to hear back on that. Hopefully, it will come through soon. Anyways, I watched the end of American Idol last night and the beginning this morning. I'm not really excited about this season anymore especially since the person that the judges LOVE, I can't stand. I would never buy Adam's album. The song he sang last night, he screamed half of it. I don't care if he can sing the phone book. I don't like his sound and the way that he ruins songs (Ring of Fire). He will never be forgiven for that one. Anyways, I like Danny, Kris and Allison. Do I think any of them will win? Maybe. Although, if the judges had their way, Adam would be crowned the next American Idol right now. If he wins, he will rank with Taylor Hicks as one of the worst choices ever. So moving on to something more positive. My goal for today is to get my passport picture taken and mail my application and state taxes. We'll see if I accomplish that.

Friday

I can't believe that it's friday already. Time sure flies. I watched American Idol and I wasn't surprised that Michael went home. The weird guy was back to looking like his weird self. Wednesday he actually looked like a normal person. Although, I didn't really care for him singing in a falsetto voice the whole entire time. I can honestly say if he wins, I will not buy his album. The only person who I have bought an album from is Carrie Underwood. I've bought a few songs of Daughtry, Elliot Yamin, and Jordin Sparks. Anyways, Michael seems like a really classy, nice guy. He seemed to know that he was going home. I don't think Matt deserved to be in the bottom 3, but I didn't vote so I can't complain. I was kind of offended when Stevie Wonder said "I love you Obama". Seriously, I am not watching to hear who you like or don't like in politics (same goes for you Lil Rounds). I am watching to hear you sing. Keep your political views to yourself. I mean Obama already interuppted my Idol viewing because he decided to read another speech off a teleprompter. Anyways, moving on. I did some painting yesterday for Easter. I ended up with paint all over my hands, but it was fun. I enjoy painting. Maybe it's just I enjoy making things. I'm hoping to recruit a few people to go with me to the Riverdogs first game in April. It's on a thursday and they play the Rome Braves. It's Easter weekend though so I don't know who will be in town. I've been watching Regis & Kelly in the mornings and they crack me up.

Life in General

I guess it's been a little while since my last blog. I've been pretty busy doing Passion Play stuff at the church. Carrie dragged me to walk the bridge last night. My ears were stinging by the end of it and my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I think I walked around 4 miles or so. I'm looking forward to American Idol tonight. I really want Adam to suck. He'll probably do some porno sounding version of a "Let's Get It On" just because he's weird like that. Actually, he'll probably do it with bagpipes or something the extreme other way just because that's who he is. I am looking forward to the day when I don't have to watch him sing anymore. He's just creepy. I think Anoop will do really well and maybe Kris and Danny as well. Lil will probably pick a Diana Ross or Supremes song and probably be ok on it even though I don't like her either. Anyways, not much else has happened. I lead a pretty boring life.

Music

I'm super excited that now I have music on my blog. If you read this in a reader, you won't get to hear it though. I know that you are extremely disappointed about that. I will try and add more songs later. I think I have about five on there.

What a day

It is so nice outside today. I opened the windows and am listing to the Malt Shop Oldies channel on tv. Good thing the workers next door aren't there. They would have thought I was nuts earlier dancing around the kitchen and doing the hand jive. I like dancing when no one else is around. It's tons of fun. I also made some more cupcake bites. Let me tell you. The cake balls are a pain in the butt. The cupcake bites aren't too bad. My problem is with the chocolate. I couldn't get it thin enough. Oh well. Bakerella said to use paramount crystals or vegetable oil to thin it out. Maybe I'll try that some other time. The cupcake bites turned out ok. They all taste wonderful and I guess that is what's most important.

I've been struggling lately with what God wants me to do. I'm still looking for a job, but I want a job that I will enjoy. I just don't know what direction I'm suppose to go in. There are so many things that I would love to do, but I can't really commit to any of them because of job uncertainty. Anyways, I'm on twitter now. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/cgw82.

On to American Idol.

I can't stand Adam Lambert. I'm sorry if you like him, but he is weird. The song that he sang on Tuesday night sounded like it should be in a porno or some sex scene in a movie. It was disgusting. I wanted to throw up. It's not that he's a bad singer. I think he could go really far, but there is something about him that I just don't like. I get bad vibes from him. Maybe he comes across as a cocky know-it-all to me. Poor Johnny Cash was probably rolling over in his grave "I'm going down in a burning ring of fire" (said in a voice of someone you would hear if you called a 900 number). That's seriously what he reminded me of. Everytime he would come on tv, I would do my own impersonation of him singing that song. I think I get better at it as time goes on. I really hope he doesn't win. I'm really sad that Alexis went home. I liked her. A lot. Oh well, at least Allison, Danny, Kris and Anoop are still in it. I didn't like Anoop last week, but I think that this week, he nailed it. Matt was pretty good this week too. The contestants I just can't stand are Lil Rounds and Adam. I like Megan, but I don't think she's the best singer. Maybe it's her quirky personality. Michael is ok. You can't help but like him. I wanted to cry when he was talking about his daughter and him not being around. That was really sad. Finally, on to Scott. What can I say? I like him, but he doesn't have the best voice. He can play the piano. I have a lot of respect for him, because it's got to be tough for him. He can't get up and move around as well as the other contestants. The order I would like for them to go home in is as follows: Adam, Lil, Scott, Michael, Megan, Matt, Anoop, Kris and I'm still torn between Danny and Allison. We shall see in the weeks to come if my opinion changes. Based on popularity, it'll probably be this: Michael, Scott, Megan, Matt, Anoop, Allison, Lil, Kris and a Danny\Adam top 2.