The Saddest Day . . . Part Four

Holy crap! I can't believe I've waited so long to finish this story. You probably don't even want to know how it ends, do you? All I can say is: Sorry I'm such a slacker. :(

Okay, to catch up you should probably read the first three installments. Unless you don't want to, but if that's the case then why would you want to read this one?

The Saddest Day of My Life . . .

The Saddest Day . . . Part Two

The Saddest Day . . . Part Three

And now . . . Part Four!

About a week had passed after dumping the hideous Big O Big Foot All Terrain Tire on Jarred (a.k.a. Best Brother-in-Law ever!) and everything was perfect. The new BFG's were great! The spare was securely fastened on the tire swing thanks to Chet, my sister's large in stature, and very useful boyfriend. Hank was looking good. There were still a few things to do, like build brackets on the tire swing for my cute, new, red Jerry Cans that I tricked my brother, Mark, into getting for me for Christmas, 2007; and buy all of the other stuff I've been wanting. That would take a lot of money though, and getting the money would take time. So the rhino-liner, rock sliders, and red high-lift jack I'd been wanting for years would just have to wait. That's okay - I could be patient.

While all of this tire drama was happening to me, making me miserable, and basically ruining my life, my friends, Arin and Troy, were experiencing an extreme amount of joy in their lives. Arin was pregnant with their first child and they were about to move into the beautiful new home they had just built in Hooper. Of course they would need some help getting things ready, so after work one day I volunteered to pick up some Costco pizza and make the trip up to Hooper to help paint and tile. I absolutely LOVE Costco pizza - I think it is so delicious! But one thing you should know, Costco pizza, like everything else at Costco, is huge! I had originally planned to put the 3 massive pizza boxes on the floor of the front seat, but they were too big. So then I thought about putting them in the back seat, but what if they blew away? I didn't have the top or the doors on my jeep at the time and things, sometimes rather large things, fly out of my car if they're not securely fastened. I didn't want 3 Costco pizzas to fly out and land on the car traveling behind me, so I decided the best option would be to buckle them into the front seat and drive with one hand on the steering wheel and one had on the pizza, only letting go to shift.

I thought driving with one hand on the pizza at all times would prove be a difficult task, but it wasn't. I am such a fast shifter that my hand never left that pizza for more than a second. That pizza wasn't going anywhere. I'll admit, at that moment I was feeling a little cocky. I was totally rockin this driving with pizza thing, so why not kick it up a notch? I turned up the stereo, pulled into the fast lane and stepped on the gas, I was going to get there in no time. Something was wrong though. Instead of accelerating, I was slowing down. What the crap? I stepped on the gas harder but it was no use, I was still slowing down. Then all of a sudden, I felt the steering wheel jerk out of my left hand. To avoid running head on into a cement barrier I grabbed the wheel with both hands. The pizza box flipped open and by the time I was able to bring my car to a stop, Costco pizza was everywhere! I glanced back at the rear drivers side tire, which was now just a puddled mess. As I stared at it in horror, numerous horns honked from behind me and about a mile back a Highway Patrol car flipped on it's lights.

Just then I remembered what the creepy man said about karma . . .

To be continued . . .

A Night of Selfishness

I had such a great night last night! Yes, it was a completely selfish night, like the title suggests, but it was still great.

Since Stockton decided not to arrive until 3:38 this morning, my plans for going to the hospital to see my new "nephew" fell through leaving my night completely open.

First, I went to see Bride Wars with my friend, John. It's such a cute, girly movie and normally I wouldn't make a guy see it . . . other than my brother-in-law, of course. (Ha ha ha! Jarred is still giving me crap for making him go to Center Stage with us.) But in this case, John said he "must" see it for a review. Yes, it's true that I had just seen this movie with my girlfriends the night before but I really liked it, so I took advantage of the situation.

After the movie I went shoe shopping, which happens to be one of my most favorite things to do! But I didn't end up buying anything. I'm usually sad when I leave a shoe store empty handed but after trying on about 7 pairs I remembered how I was almost buried alive during a shoe avalanche the other day. So I was perfectly content with just visiting all of the pretty shoes.

As I was walking out of the shoe store I decided, on a whim, that I would do the next best thing . . . Pedicure! I got there just in time and since I was the only customer, they really pampered me. :) They had two ladies working on me. One was giving me a pedicure while the other one gave me a manicure. If you have never had the pleasure of experiencing both a manicure and a pedicure at the same time, I would highly recommend it! I felt like such an important person. Ha ha ha! It was so nice and relaxing! I would have stayed there forever if I could. But they had to kick me out because it was after closing time.

But do you know what wasn't closed yet? The tanning salon! I absolutely love my tanning salon! I sat in the leg tanner while reading some magazines, then I took a short nap in one of the regular beds. Again, so nice and relaxing!

I didn't want this fun night to end, so what did I do? I called my sister, Mary, of course! I convinced her to make dinner for us while I went to the movie store to pick out another girly movie to watch. We ended up renting The Women, which is pretty much as girly as you can get. So fun! :)

*sighs* Being selfish works for me - I like it. ha ha ha!

Marathon

I've just completed my first big marathon. I bet you didn't even know I'd been training, did ya? :) I've done a bunch of half marathons in my lifetime, but this one was a real accomplishment. It wasn't easy. In fact, I almost quit during the last leg. Lucky for me I had some really good friends to help me along the way. Zo provided me with pork to give me the strength to endure. John provided a warm bottom for me to stick my frozen toes under. Cameron, my constant couch companion, provided me with endless entertainment as he growled at the loud by-standers. Although several of us accepted the challenge of this marathon, only eight survived.

That's right, I'm a Movie Ninja!

I watched 24 straight hours of movies.

SURPRISE!

Zo and Brandon called me last night and said that they wanted to come over to watch a movie. I thought that was a wonderful idea because Amy and Jarred and the kids were already planning to come out for dinner. We could make a whole family thing out of it. I just love making a whole family thing out of a movie night. :)

Amy, the master chef, made a most fantastic meal of Baked Ziti. We were having so much fun eating and chatting and waiting around for Zo to arrive. When he finally showed up an hour late, this is what he brought with him:

When I saw Josh and Staci walk through the door it felt normal and my reaction was "oh, hey guys" then it hit me, my jaw dropped and I started to tear up a little. ha ha ha What a great surprise! That Zo, he tricked me good. Jarred, Chet and Brandon were all in on it too.

The rest of the night we just sat around eating and chatting and have a great time just like normal, but this time it felt complete.

Welcome back Josh and Staci! I know it's only for a week, but I'll take what I can get. :)

ps: For those of you who didn't already know - Josh and Staci have been living in Illinois for the last 6 months while Josh attended his first semester of law school.

Uncrustables

My cutest friend Brittney Bell Thompson introduced me to Smucker's Uncrustables about 6 months ago and I've been hooked ever since. They're just so tasty!

I'll admit, I was a little skeptical at first. After all, a frozen peanut butter & jam sandwich doesn't sound too appealing, does it? But it really, really is! It seems like the more I eat them, the more I love them!

I usually go for the Peanut Butter & Strawberry Jam Sandwich but I just found out that they make a pb & honey sandwich too! Oh my golly! If there's one thing you should know about me it's this: I absolutely love peanut butter and honey sandwiches. It is by far my favorite of any of the pb sandwiches. Okay, I guess that's not the most important thing to know about me, but it's pretty high up there.