Merry Christmas

Not sure if I will get to post again before Christmas so I thought I would make a fun post. I put links to my favorite Holiday movie quotes. Have some laughs and enjoy! Merry Christmas!!
I like smiling
I know Santa
Merry Christmas
Good View
Ten Yards
Aunt Bethany
My Boss

There are probably a lot more but these can always make me laugh! Cheers!

Sleepy eyes

I have been pretty good lately getting through my day without any problems. I was kind of thankful but also worried that my blog has been suffering since I haven't been making an fool out of myself. Well the prayers were answered.
Jasmine awoke me this morning at her usual time, between 3 and 4 am. She was just being too cute drinking the Christmas tree water last night (and the night before) that I couldn't stop her. More water =frequent bathroom trips. Well she woke me up and being half asleep I ran right into the side of my door (the skinny side of a door when its open). This was a moment after I had stepped on my TV remote. I let her outside and tried to sleep standing up while "watching" her from the door. She finally came in and I was walking back to my room and as I was about to get into bed I kicked over a jar of bath salt someone at work had given me. Okay, this isn't your ordinary bath salt...its old lady bath salt and can be smelled from miles away. I just stood over it for sometime because my eyes had not fully opened yet and the smell was starting to make me sick. I couldn't vacuum it up because A. it was 3 or 4 in the morning and B. Stupid vacuum cleaner is not working. So I had the great idea of taking a towel and covering it up to help soften the smell so I could sleep.
Things continued to improve when I managed to wake up later than I should again. I then torn apart my closet trying to just find something simple to wear and get out the door. I put on a white t-shirt and started getting ready when I had a perma-stain down the front of it and deemed it "not wearable" to work. I then pulled out an old standby and continued to get ready. Not 5 minutes later I noticed a weird stain on one of the shoulders and it to could not be worn. I also ran out to start my car and realized I had left my cell phone in my car and it was like it have frostbite. So I spent 5 minutes trying to revive it. If that phone was a cat, it would have way past 9 lives now. I then noticed that before I left I saw that I had been stepping on the towel covering up the bath salt all morning and the salts should be embedded in my carpet now. The smell will most likely last forever!
So far nothing else major has happened but you know its bad when the sun isn't up and everything that could go wrong does!

Is there still such a thing?

As Christmas quickly approaches, I have found myself without the Christmas spirit. I truly feel that it is a much deeper feeling when you are younger. Of course at a young age the true meaning of Christmas is lost in between worrying about Santa, presents and being out of school. But at the same time things were much more simple and you were able to enjoy the holiday. You didn't have to worry about work, buying presents, entertaining friends and family, etc. Mom's were just as happy with a homemade birdhouse as they were a expensive new sweater. I'm sure that is still true but as you get older you feel guilty making a birdhouse out of leftover waterbed parts when you should go out and buy a stack of gifts. I think my problem is I worry about too much what I am going to buy for others and how I am going to afford it when doing even little things can produce the same good feeling of giving.
I had another reason to feel guilty last night. My dad, brother and I were talking last night about the gifts were were given by our employers.
My dad: Last year I got meat, a blanket and a pie. This year I got a bag of chocolate covered chips and gift certificates to Gambinos Pizza (side note: the family that owns the restaurant he works is related to the family that owns Gambinos.)
my brother: Well I got one better. The owner came up to me and had a stack of Christmas bonus checks and asked my name. He flipped through and couldn't find mine. I told him I was hired through Staffco (its a employment agency in town) and he just walked away. No Merry Christmas or anything.
me: Well my boss brought a tin of cookies and a card saying that she made a donation to a local charity in lieu of gifts.
I felt guilty afterwards because I shouldn't have been disappointed by my gift. In all of our situations (expect my brother's, something was wrong there!) we were expecting something more and were disappointed by the gifts. This is when I feel the worst with myself for not appreciating the little things. Nothing was wrong with the gifts because it was the thought that counts and remembering this is often hard. I was however reminded of the movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and where Clark gets a 12-month membership to the Jelly of the Month Club when he was expecting a bonus check. I wish I could have been like Eddy with my reaction to my gift. I guess the spirit of Christmas will come back to me and I can work harder on being thankful for what I already have instead of being disappointed with something that I didn't expect.

How to ruin my night

Here is how you ruin a perfectly good Sunday night:
1. Right before my favorite show, Desperate Housewives, is about to start interrupt so the President can talk.
2. Force me to flip back and forth while the President speaks to avoid falling asleep or throwing something sharp at the TV.
3. Let the President continue to talk for close to 20 minutes.
4. Finally when he is done making up new words and saying he's sorry when he's really not, then show a re-run for Desperate Housewives!


Thanks again! Was only looking forward to it all week!

One of these is not like the other one

Notice the picture I have included. I have created this picture in Paint to help you visual my observation. So Janet hung these stockings for everyone on one of the doors for ALL to see and made a big production about it. Well she finally got them hung up and the world started moving again, but I really didn't pay much attention until the student worker pointed something out. The first two (which I have numbered 1 & 2) are Janet's and my bosses. The middle two (numbered 3 &4) are the two student workers and the far right one is mine (number 5). Here are the obvious observations:
1. The stockings for her and my boss are identical.
2. The stocking for the student workers are identical.
3. Mine does not match any of the other stockings.
4. My stocking is placed further away from the other stockings...the word that comes to mind is outcast.
I really cant make this up or over exaggerate. I just find it highly amusing! Which brings me to my next point. Check out toothpastefordinner comic of the day. So perfect!

Is it Friday yet?

Keeping on the theme of gross....Did I miss the memo saying it was "National Don't wash your hands day after going to the bathroom"! I swear the nine times I have already been to the bathroom this morning like half the people have not been washing their hands. No wonder I keep getting sick!
Other highlights of the day...
1. The elastic is shot in my underwear and its starting to look weird when I try to fix it every five minutes.
2. Was unaware of the snow over night so I got ready in 20 minutes=look like crap. Then I find out that the roads are fine and I get to work early.
3. The clip broke in my hair so all the short pieces that don't make it to my ponytail are hanging all over the place. Considering using a paperclip.

Since I was early to work this morning and since I found $7.00 in my pants pocket I stopped at starbucks. I LOVE their hot chocolate but sometimes it is served luke warm. I have been saying "grande extra hot, hot chocolate" only to have them repeat it back as "an grande extra hot chocolate." So this morning I thought I would outsmart them and ordered "a grande extra hot chocolate." After a long pause "I think we can do that?" Then something clicked and she was like "Oh you want an extra hot, hot chocolate." I could here laughter in the background and I got the feeling I was being made fun of. When I got up to the window they kept bringing it up adding another hot while laughing. "here's your hot hot hot chocolate...hahaha!" Seriously, A. it wasn't that funny and B. When I took a drink it was luke warm. That's great I will be known as the hot hot hot chocolate girl who gets lukewarm hot chocolate!

Someone is always watching!

Its been another boorific day with Janet but I won't bore you anymore with the details. Let just say she took over my candy jar and I'm not happy about it!
The office is pretty crazy this week due to it being finals week. Some people aren't handling it as well as others (*cough* janet). We have people testing everywhere and I was watching one of the monitors this morning and didn't believe what I was seeing. I knew this might happen someday but not today. There I am doing my own thing watching this person take a test when I noticed he had started to pick his nose. I know GROSS! I should explain the view I'm getting is from above looking right down on him. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep watching but that's what I am paid to do. I was just praying that he wouldn't eat it! He didn't but he did something just as gross. He then took his buger fingers and wiped it under the table! DOUBLE GROSS!
I seriously don't know why he thought no one would see it. There are signs everywhere that basically say CHEAT if you DARE, we are WATCHING YOU! I started laughing with a grossed out twist wondering who I should tell. I can put money on it that I will have to clean that station tonight. Like my job doesn't suck enough!

You never know in Fremont

Two words to describe this weekend....Sugar high!
I had been planning a small get together to make gingerbread houses for a couple weeks. Why, I don't know. I filled my cart at Wal-mart (of course) full of anything that contained more than 95% sugar. I got a little carried away. I posted death threats to help guard my treasures hoping they would make it to Sunday. But before the Gingerbread extravaganza I was scheduled to help frost sugar cookies at my grandma's house with my cousins. Billy had plans he couldn't cancel, sleep, so it was just me to represent my family at the event. Two of my younger cousins and I frosted cookies until our fingers hurt. I have to say we are getting more creative. There was the Santa with bugs eating his beard, Christmas trees with wings, and Santa's with their beards cut off. Blame MTV.
Sunday came...GINGERBREAD house day! I got everything ready and excited to see everyone that was able to come. Had some good laughs trying to compete with one another while trying to save our houses from crumbling. I was going to be all Martha Stewart and make real gingerbread but why go through the pain when the house is just going to sit and rot Christmas after Christmas (okay, I like to save mine). Got a little freaky when the snowmen started dying and red food coloring was used to make a more dramatic effect. The party wrapped up and a couple of us decided to go into town. Why come all the way to Fremont and not check out the sights.
On our way home, we came across something that only can be pulled off in Fremont. As we were leaving from dinner we noticed the search lights in the sky and wondered what was demanding everyone's attention in Fremont on a Sunday night! Oh we found out...a LIVE nativity scene. The best part it was a DRIVE-THRU LIVE NATIVITY SCENE! The shepherds or friends of Jesus gladly took our donations and we got to witness something Im sure others have not. Everyone was there. Mary, Joseph, LIVE sheep, shepherds, etc and of course the man of the hour..Baby Jesus! My passengers wanted to go through again but being from a small town I didn't want to become someone's gossip as the girl who repeatedly drove through the LIVE nativity scene. I think I showed everyone a good time and I'm sure they wont forget the time they went to Fremont and saw the DRIVE-THRU LIVE NATIVITY SCENE.

Now starring Jasmine

I have this belief that Jasmine needs to have a pair of boots for the winter. It pains me to see her get snow caught in between her paws and it also pains when she tries to bite me when I clean them out. I'm pretty sure she has a Code red level of cabin fever from not being able to spend long periods of time outside. Sure she goes out every five minutes to control her crack addition (really its snow but when she comes in she has a line of white stuff on her nose and it looks like she has been doing lines of cocaine with other neighborhood dogs), but that only adds up to like 2 hours in a 24 hour period (my math is probably way off but you get the point).
I was looking online yesterday and saw that local stores actually carry them. I stopped on my way home last night and found a pair. They look like little baby mittens but they are made out of rubber and have a velcro strap around them. I was so excited to get them home and try them on Jasmine. I was even more excited because I thought I was getting a good deal. The package contained 2-pairs, 4 boots total and I thought the other two were for "just in case". I then quickly awoke from my severe blond moment seizure and paid the crazy cat lady and left.
When I got home I was really surprised how Jasmine didn't fight against having these strange objects put on her feet. I told her to stand up, and the show began! It was probably one of the funniest walks I have ever seen her do. She was trotting similar to a horse. For some reason they kept coming off, but she was such a good sport about it. Im sure she might just get used to them but its a good laugh until then. My other idea involves trash bags and duct tape. I could be on to something!

Sea of Festive Vests

We had our campus Holiday Open House yesterday. It was open for all faculty/staff and they were going to have food, music, etc. My boss allowed Janet and I to go first and then when we got back she would go. I was glad to see my friend Jill there because that meant I didn't have to sit with Janet. I "accidentally" lost her going through the line and tried to hide from her when we sat down. The room was packed and as I was looking around I had noticed that most of the woman had dressed for the occasion. I lost count of the vests they were wearing decorated with reindeer, snowflakes, Christmas trees, Santa's, etc. I don't want to offend anyone who wears these vests, but I was just amazed by the shear number of people wearing them. Okay, I will make fun of them because they can be ridiculous sometimes. What happened to a red shirt with a small "festive" pin? I kind of felt out of place, but knew in my heart I would not try to fit in next time by wearing a loud vest. I remember Janet mentioning the day before that she will have to wear something "festive" to the party. I had no idea how many others felt the need to get dressed up as well.
Everyone had also been raving about the food and how they couldn't wait to see what they would be serving. Then they started reminiscing about past Holiday parties and how good the ham salad was that year. When we got there it was interesting to see people flock to the food like they had never been given free food before. I really wasn't that interested and added some things to plate so maybe the next year I can add "Did you try a roll last year? They were to die for!" I decided to leave sooner than planned because I thought I would have more fun sitting at my desk. I grabbed a couple of things from the dessert table to give to the workstudy who had stayed for us while we went. I felt kind of silly walking right past the chancellor with a plate of treats trying not to make eye contact.
I got back to the office and offered my goodies to the workstudy. My boss was walking out of the office and said "Oh, I'm surprised they let you leave with anything. They said this year Nothing could be taken out." At that moment I wanted to return to the party and had the plate back to the chancellor and offer up Janet as a sacrifice. I instead asked the workstudy if she would support me if I lost my joy since I was taking the treats to her. I don't think she was willing to do that. I can be expensive!
I wonder if I will be invited nest year?

White Trash Christmas

What a weekend which is cascading over into this week!
Saturday I did pretty much nothing. Between the freak snow storm we got morning and previous week kicking me in the butt, I pretending I was a rag that had been reincarnated. My mom finally got me to shower by going to the store for her. We got in the mood to make sugar cookies and plus only having a expired lasagna in the freezer or leftover Thanksgiving food, this was going to required a trip to the store.
I came back and we fixed dinner and started to make the sugar cookies. Not thinking of the steps ahead, we quickly realized that we didn't have any cookie cutters. An easy solution would be to cut out your own shapes...well easier said than done. My mom did find a couple cookies cutters. One being a cut out that looks like a housewife and the other being a stop sign. This is were the white trash-ness (well the first example) comes into play. We also found using measuring cups would work too. You could make snowballs, ornaments, snowmen (or woman), etc. I did a couple of freehand ones but I'm not going to quit my day job. The best one was a little sqwigily one that when I asked my mom she said it was a "Christmas Worm." Think the cold medicine was getting to her.
Being too tired to frost them at 1 am, we thought we would leave them to the next day. So the next night we started getting everything ready. Well then my mom found the source of the smell we had been having in our kitchen. I had noticed it the other day but brushed it off as, no more Tacobell for him! My mom looked under the sink to find one of the containers of cleaning supplies was half full of ROTTING water. When she pulled it out, I swear it was like opening a sewer! The upstairs quickly filled with the smell of a used diaper factory. My mom was a trooper refusing gloves, or the rope I was going to hang myself with due to the smell. My brother walked into the house and all we could hear was "Who $&#@ their pants!!" It was really funny.
So to honor our experience and go with the Christmas theme of poop my mom turned her "Christmas Worm" into Mr. Hanky from South Park. She made red hat for him and everything. Its funny how much it really resembles him. I can guarantee that will be the last cookie left! It's going to be a wonderful White Trash Christmas at the Arthur's this year!

World AIDS day and being Super Woman

First off, if you didn't know already its World AIDS Day. Find a way to support. Make a ribbon out of something red around you and wear it today!
So we finally got a good amount of snow last night. It really didnt start until about when I was leaving for work. The roads weren't too bad but started to get more icy as I drove. I had to stop at Wal-Mart to get some food so I could wear jeans today. The chancellors board of something declared it causal day if you brought a can of food in. Why I didn't get something while I was at Wal-Mart the day before is beyond me. Also of course I had to get gas because for some reason I am always out of gas when it is butt cold outside. So here's a quick math problem for you:

Elizabeth gets into her car at 5:12 but doesn't leave the parking garage until 5:15. She then stops at Wal-mart for close to 1/2 hour and also stops for gas and takes about 10 minutes to fill up and get back on the road. She then pulls into her driveway at 7:30. How long was she on the road?

I don't care to know exactly, all I know only being able to go 35-40 MPH all the way home SUCKS! I then thought I would be too tired to start decorating the house for Christmas, something I had been looking forward to since Thanksgiving, but for some reason I had a sudden burt of energy. I cleaned the upstairs (for the most part), fed the dog and vacuumed. Then came the hard part of finding the decorations. While trying to reach a box of stuff, I managed to get myself lodged in between a chair and a desk in one of our storage rooms. I thought I would be stuck until my brother came home. I was able to get out and surprised I was able to make my leg and back do an almost 360.
I decked the house and sang along to Christmas music, it was beautiful. Jasmine just glued herself to me wondering why I was decorating her room, aka the living room. Hope all the lights I put up didn't keep her up last night. She is not fun when she is grumpy.
I then got an urge to go out and shovel the driveway and walkway to the front door. I grabbed my dads boots, because mine were in my car (I know a good place..huh!) and someone's hat and headed out. So there I was shoveling in my leopard print Pj's at 9:00pm last night. Im sure the neighbors were wondering what I was doing. Im sure its perfectly normal to shovel in your PJ's that late.
At least the house got done and it really feels more like Christmas. I just hope today I can get home before my bedtime!