Gasp! ...A Blog?

So there was this one time that I used to blog every day. It was amazing and I always had something to say. Remember this one time? Yea, I can't either. Because I have only blogged once in A MONTH!! That is almost enough to put me in jail or something. I don't understand. I guess it's just that at the end of the day [when I end up doing most of my blogging], whether it be a boring-on-autopilot day or one full of crazy stories and definitely blog worthy, I get home and just kick back and doze off. Please explain this to me. I don't even know where I last left off on my previous blog! [*Opens in a new tab; thanks IE7!*]

Alright so here's updating on the last blog and I'll do a real blog after.

As far as the returning-drinks-for-free-ones goes, we haven't had much more of a problem since my last blog [13 days ago; shame shame shame]. About a week ago I had a woman bring back two 12oz hot drinks a few hours after getting them saying that instead of one shot in each, there was two in one and none in the other. They were obviously only missing the initial "Whaaaaat the..?!" drinks and we remade them for free. And yesterday I had a man bring back a 12oz eggnog latte, say "Can I trade this for a new one?" and claim that it was "too thick." I suggested cutting it with milk to make it not so thick and he agreed to give it a shot. I brought the finished drink to him, he gave me the money for it and drove off. Apparently he just didn't want his old one anymore. But those are the only two semi-remotely "want a free drink" post-blog scenarios.

Our work party went pretty well! Only three people didn't show up [which apparently was a great turnout compared to previous years] but it was due to the weather [which I will get to in a minute]. We ate our appetizers, played bingo for prizes [everyone got a prize, but we played to see who would get prizes in what order and such] and then drew numbers to see who would get the extra three prizes [sorry to those who didn't go, but that was part of the party!]. My bingo prize was a make-up utensil set with different brushes for liners, blush, shadows, and lashes, a mirror, a cute utensil cup to put them in, and a little traveler bag for them all. Mind you, I wrapped all the presents and remembered which most of them were and I spotted that one when it was my turn. Cheating? I don't think so. Plus, I needed a brush for my eyebrows. I'm sorry; I am NOT going back to the pre-sixth-grade bushy caterpillars perched above my eyes, and I needed a brush for trimming and making them look pretty. I was doing the world a favour by picking out a gift I knew. And I was also one of the three that won prizes out of the second round of prizes [NOT cheating to win!] and of the three left, I knew what two of them were and I already had two in the house [a 20 Questions handheld game--lost in the tree room-- and a Hangman handheld game--on the back of the toilet with Yahtzee!] so I picked the third one and it ended up being a set of massager tools [the wooden ones with wheels and such]. Kailey wanted one so I gave her one I already had, a reflexology roller bar that came with a reflexology kit I got at a bargain price at Borders. After games and gifts, we had spaghetti [delish!] and Secret Santa exchange. The girl who had me couldn't make it, and the girl I had couldn't make it either; par! So I watched everyone else open their gifts and I brought mine back to the stand for the recipient to pick up when she worked next [still there, Miss Caitlin! Get your butt to work PRONTO!]. We left shortly after the gift exchange and called it a night. Pretty fun little get together! I got my gift from my Secret Santa [Jeena!]: a delicious candy cane, cream colored slippers, and green plaid pajama bottom! A-MAZING! Have been wearing them every night!

I haven't been drinking my Americanos lately because I'm feeling more of a juice / water [I know!] / non-espresso thirst. I've been drinking Cranberry-Grape XS Energy Drinks on ice and they are pretty fricken good. Well, the first half of the drink is; the second half is all watered down and non-carbonated. Nasty! And I did try a new drink: an Italian Cream Soda made with our fruit smoothie mix instead of syrup, at the suggestion of our manager. Verdict: amazing!

Andrew and I opened our main Christmas presents early, as you already know, but we thought about it and all three of our schedules [his, Sam's, and mine] would conflict on Christmas Eve Eve, Eve, and Day, so we opened our presents and stockings last night [I KNOW!!]. I got lots of fun goodies including lots of socks, FIVE... count 'em... FIVE seasons of TV on DVD [Lost 1-3, The Office 4, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 3], tons of one of my favourite candies [Rafaello--a coconut and almond treat!], lots of knick-knacks, TONS of colored Sharpees [both thick AND thin tips], a sweet centerpiece vase with candle holders going around it, a dual paper cutter [a slider cutter as well as a guillotine side], and a sweet hat! With my Elliptical Machine in my room and Chi Straightener on it's way here, I'd say it was a pretty successful Christmas!!

Moses and Murphy got treats and toys in their stockings and they have been tearing up everything ever since! Murphy got a winter jacket that should have fit him but doesn't velcro like it should [my baby's growing up so fast!] but he wears it like a vest and love-love-LOVES it! And I'm not just saying that like the owners of those silly toy dogs that dress up in tutus and such; he actually enjoys being in coats and sweaters [as long as they aren't too big].

I rebooted my computer system the destructive way [don't know why it sounded so scary before, but it really seemed to help out everything! No more viruses, thank you!] and everything is smooth again. But when I tried to comment someone on MySpace TWICE and started to blog on here but couldn't unless it was on the HTML setting on my phone, I got kinda ticked. Which is why I am on my computer doing this [I also wouldn't want to be using that tiny little keyboard to type all of this... no thanks!].

I almost had a chance to blog a huge blog while I was waiting in my car at a red light tonight. Let's get into why this was almost possible. A week and a half ago on a Saturday, it started snowing. I can't remember the last time it truly snowed in our area, but it was so long ago that everyone was freaking out and calling it a "BLIZZARD!" I worked a 4am-10am and a 4pm-10pm that day, allowing for the morning customers to say, "Nah, it won't snow!" and allowing for the evening customers to literally throw snowballs into the stand while I make their hot cocoas. It was an odd day. I drove home on the boulevard, providing for a basically straight shot with no scary turns in the fresh snow. The next morning, I had Andrew drive me with his truck because it had snowed about eight inches and none of the roads were plowed. I think our town needs to get its act together and get prepared for these kind of weather changes. It was forcasted as a snow storm and when it came, no one was ready. Then all of a sudden, all stores in the three surrounding towns are sold out of snow shovels, ice scrapers, and snow toys. There are chains on every other car, people sliding around on the slush in the intersections, and me in my low-clearance 2001 Nissan Sentra scraping the middle pile of waste in the lanes where the tires don't ride and barely making it into the work parking lot because of the nasty "sidewalks"; thanks construction workers for conveniently working to tear up everything and cancel all work a few days before the storm was even predicted. Thanks.

So anyway, my big thing was having to go to stores for everyday things like groceries or batteries or what not because A.) Christmas shoppers are nut jobs on crack, B.) apparently this town is the shopping hub of the county and everyone in the world decides to start driving all at once to go to the exact spot I need to go to, taking the exact back roads and everything, and C.) the extreme weather provides for idiots who think they can either drive like it's completely sunny and snow-free or drive like there is five feet of ICE everywhere and go one mile-per-hour on a busy street, blocking all traffic because he or she is a pansy. I went to get a regular customer a gift today and was going to go to GoodWill to get some books [because I've been into reading more and more lately] and I had to go to GoodWill first because the line to turn into the place I was going to get the gift at was the same line to turn to get to... guess where? ...WalMart.

WalMart. Now there's a blog of it's own. Did you know that out of the top ten richest people in the entire world, numbers five through ten are all Sam Walton's grandchildren, who didn't do ANYTHING BUT GET BORN?!?!?!? They are worth BILLIONS of dollars because of their grandfather, make up HALF of the top ten richest people in the world, and they didn't do diddly squat. I can hardly afford my bills and my outrageous Christmas shopping, and they can wipe their asses with gold-plated toilet paper. Not fair to those who actually have to make a living. Whatever though. I wouldn't complain if I was a Walton. But then again, I would have a live-in masseuse who would be massaging my lower back because the left side is hurting so incredibly fiercely that yesterday during my 12-hour shift, every 20 minutes I had to stop what I was doing, hold my back, and breathe deeply.

Anyway, so I went to GoodWill and got a ton of books! Of these is a cook book, Alive [the book before the movie], The Lovely Bones [which I've heard nothing but good things about], and basically a bunch of either murder mysteries or comedic romances. I'm reading The Lonely Girls Club right now about a group of girls who know a secret about their murdered headmistress and 20 years later it risks exposure. I am about 3/4 of the way done and I still don't have a clue who killed her, but there is a little bit of sexual tension, and if I had a period of time where I had no other obligations or tendencies to fall asleep [not due to the book], I wouldn't be able to put it down!

After here I was going to swing by and get pizza and go home, no big deal, right? Yea, everyone on the roads is still stupid. I saw at least four different heavy duty SUVs and trucks with old and rickety people driving and an adult in his or her late twenties to late thirties in the passenger seat. This is not okay with me. There is an age where you should stop driving and OLD is where it's at. Get someone else to drive you, ESPECIALLY if that someone else that could be driving is sitting in the passenger seat!

Ahhh! Oh, and the main point about me grumbling about weather and traffic was to explain that I had to go to Haggen to get some parsley for my Salmon Bites that I was going to make for my family's Christmas Eve get together [and I just realized I might not have enough tortillas... go me for being prepared!] and on the way TO the store, I passed a row of 15 vehicles waiting for a green light to leave Haggen. When I went to LEAVE the store, I ended up in that same line waiting for ten minutes for the light to change. The line ended up going around the curve and back up into the Haggen parking lot by the time the light changed to green. And only seven cars were allowed through at that light change. Stupid idiots with the traffic controls.

Ugh! Well, I'm about burnt out on blogging right now. I didn't blog about going sledding / tubing and I didn't blog about Christmas bonuses or the fact that we now own Twins and I am super excited to watch it all the time, but maybe I'll get into it next time.

But probably not. I need to go make some Salmon Bites and if I don't have enough tortillas, venture out into the world yet again. Cross your fingers and wish me luck!