Some of you requested a friendly reminder when the online auction to benefit Wings for Our Troops "in loving Memory of CPL Chad S Wade" was open and ready for bidding. Well...it's ON, folks! And I have already started an early morning bidding war over a precious Swarovski crystal American flag ring. I think it would be a perfect right-hand ring. The auction will close at 11:59 tonight...only open one day, which is one day that only rolls around once every 4 years. Really, this is a once-in-4-years opportunity! I also submitted 4 items for auction. Just to tease and tantalize you, they are...
I am personally a little ga-ga over the Uncle Sam earrings, but maybe that's the face only a military wife could love.
If you are interested in bidding or want to check current bids, please check After Glow Beads' Facebook fan page. All bids are placed on the first photo of each item in the online auction album. I cannot possibly think of a better way to spend Leap Day than purchasing RED items which will 100% benefit our Marines. I think we could classify this as a win-win.
I have a whole list of Random Musings from the past month that I've been typing furiously at stoplights and storing on my phone. So, I feel compelled to link up with Shana this afternoon for Random Musings Friday. Have your own random musings? Join the linky lunacy! It's almost as fun as popping the cork on a $6.00 bottle of spumante!
1. I saw this on Robyn's blog yesterday (admittedly, it was from a couple of weeks ago, but as I mentioned last week, I'm still playing catch-up). It's probably the funniest clip I've seen from a talk show in...well...ever. I adore Ellen but seldom watch because at 4PM, I am trying to tidy up, answer emails, start dinner, photograph jewelry, etc, etc. But I could watch this one clip for a straight 45 minutes and still be laughing. I have no idea this woman is, but I feel like, sloth adoration aside, we could probably be BFFEE.
2. In a rare moment of reasoning, Neal decided that asking for "unsweetened tea" is illogical, because that would assume the sugar was added and then taken out, thus making it "unsweetened." So, he has started asking for non-sweetened tea when we go out. It's bad enough that he is asking for anything but sweet tea in Georgia, but the request for "non-sweet tea" confuses everyone. From the cashier at Chick-Fil-A to the waitress at Olive Garden. They clarify that he wants "unsweet tea"...every. single. time. A couple of weeks ago, I pleaded that he just give up the fight and revert back to his old, sinful, grammatically incorrect ways. It will never catch on. And yet, I guarantee tonight at dinner he'll try again.
3. Neal loves to back the car into the driveway. Being able to just pull right out into the road in the morning means one less stressor on his way to work. Since the family across the street from us is competing with the Duggars, I thought I should start backing in, as well...especially because the Pathfinder is not equipped with a back-up camera. (P.S. Dear person who invented the back-up camera, We should dedicate a holiday to you.) Usually, this is not a problem. It's a fairly wide driveway and I just have to hook around a bit to the left to back into my spot. Except for last Tuesday night. It was late and dark and I was tired and I hit a tree. Eh...more like bumped it. I was going approximately 4 mph. But when I told Neal about it (after surveying the quarter panel to make sure there was no damage), he said "you hit the tree next to the driveway?" Yes. "But it's like 8' from the driveway." Yes. "So you were not actually in the driveway, but in the yard. You tried to back up into the yard." I'm done talking to you. It's just enough to make me want to strap a camcorder to my rear bumper and play it through my radio screen.
4. Finally...several weeks ago, Neal came home in a huff because he was missing some pieces to his uniform that he needed to take to a conference that weekend. He was going to make a run up to Clothing & Sales to see if they had the items. I agreed to go with him. It was warm and sunny and I needed a break. Since I was riding with him, I didn't grab anything but my phone and my military I.D., in case we went off base. And, for whatever reason, he didn't grab keys either. So, we were locked out of the house, looking at each other with that infamous expression of now what? Base housing charges $30 every time they have to come open your door. Neal was in no mood to spend $30. He improvised.
On one hand, I'm a little concerned that our house can be so easily infiltrated. On the other, I will gladly use that $30 for Nutella and ballet flats.
And Amanda @ It's Blogworthy will announce the winner of Daisy & Elm jewelry on Wednesday as well. It's not too late to post your tackiest, most-outdated clothing or jewelry that you still harbor in your closet! Go ahead and show us. We'll try to withhold most of our judgement.
May your sleep be deep, your to-do list short, and the weekend last for forever. We have a tornado watch here today. It reminded me that people in Florida get to drink Hurricanes...clearly we need a drink called The Tornado for our Tornado Parties.
First...an apology. There has been some...er...stuff going on and by the end of the day, the best I can hope for is to get my to-do list checked off. Sometimes even that doesn't happen. Blogging falls off the bottom of the list, as does reading your blogs. It's certainly not intentional. If anything, being absent from the blogging community leaves a gaping, bleeding hole in my life. But rest assured this is not bad stuff. It's actually very good. I am, however, going to play it close to the vest for now. Not forever...but for now. The good news is, I'm very close to being all caught up with business affairs and can spend a large chunk of my weekend getting caught up on what's going on with y'all. And that makes me a happy panda indeed. So, without further ado...
Although the Queen of England celebrated 60 years of life on the throne a couple of weeks ago, the Diamond Jubilee is not until June. So much champagne to drink between now and then.
I have twoDaisy & Elm announcements today. No Random Musings, I'm afraid. But I'm collecting quite the list for next week. If you have some Random Musings of your own from this week, be sure to link up with Shana so you can share!
February 29th is going to be a busy, busy day for D&E. Both events will happen on Leap Day. But if you can't cram as much as possible into 24-hour period that only rolls around roughly every 4 years, then why even bother?
After Glow Beads, a bead/gemstone/all things jewelry business with a storefront in Louisville, KY, is hosting an online auction to benefit Wings for Our Troops "in loving Memory of CPL Chad S Wade" beginning at 12:01 AM, Wednesday the 29th. I am asking for 2 things with regards to this event. If you are crafty and would like to donate an item to auction, please contact me through the comments or email. Although the majority of the items listed so far is jewelry, Tammy would like to include all handmade crafts. Do you knit? Sew? Create custom graphics? Bake? Bedazzle? If it's RED, it's RAD! Tami Boyette, founder of Wings for Our Troops, has already purchased 2 plane tickets for a Marine and his wife to fly home to see family before he deployed last month. Tami wrote about the presentation of tickets here. If you have flown lately, you know that a plane ticket can get pricey and many of our younger servicemembers can't afford to fly home before deployment. Y'know how they say the military gets paid hand over fist? Yeah...that's a well-circulated myth. Especially the enlisted. The winning bid on your donation will go directly towards a plane ticket for a servicemember in the future. Is there any better feeling?
The auction is a win-win because even if you aren't crafty, you can still shop and bid and win! And that money goes towards plane tickets. Plus, you get something gorgeous and handmade. So...bead or bid...or both! The items listed so far can be found in the auction album on After Glow's fan page. New photos are posted almost daily as the donations roll in.
The second announcement concerns the ultra-talented, uber-witty Amanda of It's Blogworthy and her Birthday Celebration of the Celebrity Round-up that's featured every Friday. First, a word about the Celebrity Round-up: I don't read People, I don't watch TMZ (unless I'm blitzed on LIT's in Savannah), and I very rarely even read the Yahoo stories when I log on to check my mail. I am Celebrity Ignorant. Amanda rectifies that situation every Friday by covering the who, what, when, where, and why (although there's hardly ever a why) of celebrity gossip. In 10 minutes I'm completely caught up on the noteworthy news of famous and the infamous. It's more than a blog...it's a public service.
This week and next, she is hosting The Worst Dressed Link-up. Your post only needs a photo of your ugliest, tackiest, oldest, or most out of style clothing or accessory. That's it. The more hideous, the better. (It seems that hoarders may have a distinct advantage here.) As a reward for your unwillingness to toss anything from your closet, no matter how dated, you will be entered into a drawing for a shiny, new, hip piece of jewelry from Daisy & Elm. The idea being that "out with the old and in with the new." You have until the 29th to link up with Amanda and share your fuglies in hopes of winning something that could go a long way toward bringing you into 2012. Your entries will be judged by none other than Amanda herself, Surferwife, and me...of course. Our judge of poor fashion is directly related to the number of margaritas we've consumed. Fire up the blender, Amanda. We have a contest to judge! And you have an outfit to assemble. My advice? Start with something you would normally see at Wal-mart and go from there.
Thank you for hanging in with me these past few weeks. I will be stopping by this weekend to give you a healthy dose of love back. I miss you like the 1980's misses its parachute pants. Oooo...does somebody own parachute pants??
There has been quite a bit of talk on Facebook this week about how the days just seemed to drrraaaaggggg between Monday and today. And I agree. Tuesday felt like Thursday and Wednesday felt like Friday and then it all kind of went to hell. But Friday is here again and just in time, no doubt. I decided to clean out some randomly snapped pics on my phone in celebration. So, pour a glass and enjoy. Some of this you can only find in Georgia...as charming as it is.
This is some serious hometown pride. Consider that the vehicle is a Ford Explorer and thus has a pretty sizable rear window. Now look at the size of that sticker. Even from 4 cars away I could tell that it said "Macon, GA" but it was a special kind of joy to end right behind it at a stoplight. Are you this proud of your hometown?
It's a bird...it's a plane...it's a...no wait...it's definitely a plane. Being hauled up I-75. I never realized that a Nissan Pathfinder was the most efficient method to transport a plane, but then maybe it's no longer operational. It is wrapped in a body bag.
My only regret is that Target doesn't offer these in adult sizes. Nerdy Smurf on my feet? That's a win all the way around. High four!
A perfect example of "you get what you pay for." These interlocking exercise mats were on Amazon for $40. Neal, being the thrifty shopper that he is, found them at Sam's Club for $20. As he took them out of the package and started putting them together, he came up one short. I now realize that they intended you to make 2 squares of 4 mats each...but wouldn't a block of 9 make a lot more sense?
And finally...I snapped this yesterday as I was getting ready to back out at the post office. I do love to see synergy within the shipping industry. FedEx and the USPS holding hands and skipping sweetly down the yellow brick road. Or the FedEx chick just needed to drop her utility bill in the out box. Either way, I'm amused.
May your weekend be long, the lines at the grocery store be short, and may your team reign victorious after Sunday's battle. Geaux Saints!! Oh...wait...
I do realize that the first time I've popped up over here in 2 weeks is just to drive you to another blog where I'm discussing UK's unveiling of the new Nike Hyper Elite Platinum uniforms...but I promise I've compiled a list for Champagne Friday tomorrow. So, that makes it all OK, right? Excellent.
Check me at From the Sidelines today and please weigh in on what you think about the new color combo. I will hear all opinions, but reserve my right to call you a freak if you disagree with me.
