They made me do it.

http://law.onecle.com/georgia/40/40-6-205.html

They made me get haughty and huffy!  For those many inDUHviduals who insisted on pulling into the intersection of Piedmont and Peachtree - even though there was no room to clear it – please refer to the Code at the above link.  I am a patient person.  Really I am!  But I was nearly pushed to road rage status after I sat through 3 (yes - 3!) light cycles, unable to go anywhere despite being the first at the light, because people are apparently unable to grasp the concept discussed here.  Sorry for the vent.  I am aware of the futility here since the guilty parties will not be reading this.  But I do feel better.  Thanks for listening.  I will post something positive next time.  Promise.  PS: Fleh – sorry you had to hear this twice.

This is a test

Just checking to see if the e-mail to blog function is working for me. 

 

Random Annoyance of the day:  Some asshat stole my DC out of the fridge at work.  And I had cold pizza for lunch.  Everyone knows you have to have your favorite soda with your cold pizza.  So I was forced to go downstairs and pay $1.34 for my DC from creepy snack bar guy.

'Cause I'm the Tax Man...........

I have big plans for this year’s tax return. I know – there are those out there that think it is a waste to let Uncle Sam hang on to your money. I understand that view. But coming from someone who is not the best at saving, I think of it as an automatic savings plan.

Tax Return Wish list:
- Tile Back splash in Kitchen. Food/Grease spattered paint is not pretty, impossible to avoid, and even harder to clean.

- Blinds / Window treatments...... so that we can dance around like fools and not worry about being busted by the neighbors, delivery men, pedestrians, passersby etc.

- Screens for windows. Fresh air, good. Bugs, bad. Spiders, evil.
- Bleaching trays. My teeth were never white and my Diet Coke / tea / red wine habits are not helping.
- A laptop / wireless router so instead of being antisocial in the office I can be antisocial anywhere around the house.
Reasons why the Wish list might have to remain a Wish list.
- Nickel decided to drag our digital camera off the dresser by the strap. (This occurred somewhere between 4 and 5 this morning and I chose not to assess damage at that time. So maybe a miracle occurred and it is OK.)

- Denver decided to use my mouth guard as a chew toy. (I never leave it on the nightstand! Why oh WHY would I do that when we have a visiting pooch?)

- Bleaching trays and the laptop seem indulgent.

- Purchasing all of the above would taking the savings out of the aforementioned automatic savings plan

- We still don't have a mirror in our bathroom.

- Married filing Jointly means it should be Our Wish List. Not My Wish List. The good news is that we are in agreement on the back splash........the color is another story.

On a separate note......not loving the quirky spacing / bullet features of blogger tonight. Is this normal?

Friends don't let friends order pizza.........

..........after spending the afternoon at the Oakhurst Wine Fest. But we will get to that story.

Cindy and Matt visited us this weekend. They drove down from Charlotte to deliver Winston to Kurt and Chrissy - see Flickr. Their neighbor's decided to find a home for their younger pug since it was driving their older / less energetic pug a bit crazy. Kurt and Chrissy were already considering getting a pug companion for Tony. Perfect match. We joined Kurt at Lake Claire Park yesterday for Tony and Winston's first joint dog park venture. It was great fun and Kurt and Chrissy could not be happier with the newest member of their family.

After the park we had a great lunch at the Brick Store Pub (LOVE LOVE LOVE this place) and then got ourselves 4 of the last few tickets available for the Oakhurst Wine Tasting. Long story short - the 4 of us had a great time. I suppose no further explanation is necessary but just in case: Wine+Friends+More wine= great fun + lots of laughter. After making a few new friends and offending a few strangers, we made our way home. Hurray for living within walking distance! So it is about 6:30pm and - shocker - we were hungry. For multiple reasons - none of us should have been playing with knives or near open flames - so we decided pizza was the way to go for dinner. It was determined that I was the most capable of placing said order. And - until this morning - none of us questioned that decision. Until we realized that I paid for the pizza with a credit card when I ordered it AND gave the delivery guy cash - paying for the pizza twice.

In my defense - I was thrown off guard as, when the pizza guy arrived, we were pulling out our best dance moves in the kitchen to Prince - Kiss. And since we have NOTHING on our front windows to prevent people from seeing inside our house, he got the full exposure of this ridiculous display. So I thought I was cool, chatting with the pizza guy, acknowledging what idiots we must appear to be, and he must see some pretty crazy stuff etc etc......completely failing to remember that I had already PAID for the pizza. Now the fact that the pizza guy didn't point out this fact is a whole other issue. Did he really think that I intended to give him a $40 tip? oy vey.

At this point I am questioning my decision to tell various parental/family units about this blog. If and when you (Dad, JC, Jane etc.) read this I hope that you laughed and I understand if you are shaking your head. I am too.

What a View!

After checking out the aquarium, Randy's Dad treated us to a drink at the Sundial Lounge (www.sundialrestaurant.com). It was a cold but beautiful day and the views were spectacular. Check out the rest of the shots on Flickr!

And on your right we have......

Tim, Jeannie, and Scott are visiting us this weekend from Kansas City. This morning they got the usual tour........which included all of the EMC Houses (http://www.emchomes.com/), the Varsity (http://www.thevarsity.com/) which was too crowded to deal with, and lunch at Six Feet Under (http://www.sixfeetunderatlanta.com/). This is one of our favorite restaurants and we most always go here when we have visitors. All 5 of us had some variety of Fish Tacos which are not to be mocked unless you've tried them - so GOOD!

The first home that Randy and Kurt are building to sell on their own is moving right along. They had decided on a pale blue exterior color that went on earlier this week. Well - pale blue didn't quite work out and - applying the lesson we learned from painting our master bedroom - they decided to go with green instead. It has been too cold to repaint, however, so at this point they have a purple house on their hands. Oh well - it is only temporary and not too many can say they have owned a purple house. I took a picture today to prove it.

Speaking of pictures - having visitors gives us license to act like tourists in our own town. I took some pictures of the today's tour and plan to take plenty more tomorrow when we visit the GA Aquarium (http://www.georgiaaquarium.org/).

When we got home from the tour we had a surprise waiting on our doorstep. A yummy bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries from Randy's Mom.

I set up a page on Flickr so you can see pictures from today but am having a little trouble getting them to view correctly........I think you will get the idea though. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yelldanski/

Not everyone likes Valentine’s Day. Is it Cheesy? Yes. Commercial? Absolutely. But even in my single days – which I remember well – I never cursed this holiday. Should it take being kicked in the ass by a Hallmark holiday to tell our loved ones that we love them? Of course not. But the fact is – there are a lot of people out there who get a warm fuzzy from sending and receiving cards and flowers to friends and family. And how can that be bad? That is not to say that I can’t appreciate the anti-valentine humor. Which is why I share this link with you. http://www.meish.org/vd Credit for this link goes to my friend Mingaling. In this case friend = the author of a cool blog I found in the process of digging for reviews on my new dentist. She doesn’t know I exist. But I just might e-mail her today and wish her a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Chrissy - are you proud?

I have been reading my dear friend Chrissy's blog for a few years now. She has terrific insights and a sense of humor that I envy. Being an American living in Japan, she also has lots of adventures to share. It wasn't until recently that I began to think that I wanted my own blog. For one thing - it's one more thing to maintain. But more importantly - what about my life is so interesting that anyone but me would care? Well, perhaps not much. But even before I created this page, I have found myself thinking "this is something I would write about" or "this would make a funny post." And I think that this may be the beauty of blogging for me........forcing me to find a daily gem mixed in amongst the minutiae of the daily grind.

Confession: It has just taken me WAY too long to get through this post. I'm nervous, feeling pressure to be clever, and that is ridiculous. The only one that knows this exists is my husband and he doesn't even know the address!

OK - well before I obsess over this first post any longer I am going to sign off. But not before I say to Chrissy - Thanks! and do I have your permission to post your blog address? It's not as if the masses will be seeing this anytime soon!