Stuff...

So I lied. I did not in fact chronicle the making of the second stool. It's all screwed together and mostly painted, though. My momma had her gall bladder removed yesterday. She went home last night and is doing really good. Taking the painkillers consistently, but took a shower and made a few "laps" around the inside of the house and even is eating.

I'm very tired and considering I'm having a party this weekend, I should really go clean something.

I'll probably just go watch Bones.

Transformers 2

Uh, yeah, AWESOME! Not sure it was as good as number 1, but didn't bomb miserably like many sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean's sequel for instance. Here's my "review" lol. I'm not giving anything away, so don't be afraid to read it!

1. How, how, did that girl keep those white pants so clean. SERIOUSLY. I can't even keep a white shirt clean for 5 minutes in surburban America. Much less a desert in Eygpt.
2. It's always a little confusing who is who during an Autobot/Decepticon battle, but at the very end it was really hard. I mean Autobots are good guys and have color. Decepticons are bad guys and are pointy and only metal colored. But the last battle of this movie: confusing.
3. What happened to the little guy after they got to Petra? Which is totally in The Last Crusade. I thought about the big door thing when I saw it in that movie.
   
4. I really like the implication that Bush was concerned enough with national and world wide safety to have the Autobots on our side and trust the military to handle them and Obama sent the bureaucracy that had no clue what was going on to deal with them and send them away. And what happened to him? TOO FUNNY. Take care of the VIP. LOL

Completely unrelated to the movie, I am writing this post sitting on my new bar stool! I took them from my Momma. And did a lot of work to this one and need to do a lot of work on the other one! However, I think I'm coming down with painter's finger. It's like (OK I couldn't think of anything. It's kinda like a blister or something that makes things feel really weird) only paintier. ("And I think I'm coming down with swipe wrist. It's like carpel tunnel only swipier.") I really want to to document the process on the next one but I already covered both seats so you won't get to see the creepy bunnies with the veggies or, what I found underneath it, a pink shiny fabric with stripes. Trust me, whatever you're imagining, it's worse.


I'm off to admire my new barstools some more. And watch the Girls.




"Pedro's friends talked in code?" "Well, Spanish, technically, but same difference."


"Yeah, well, live and learn. Like now I know not to drink the water in Mexico, which, by the way, somebody should really tell you. And I learned I'm not morally against murder, I just wish I had the guts to do it."

Bones

OK so I just found out someone who doesn't know me is reading my blog. It puts a weird different pressure on this whole blog thing. Maybe not pressure. That's too strong of a word. But always before I've just written and known those who know me love me anyways if what I write stinks and makes no sense and, besides, if they know me, they can probably make sense of what I wrote. Now I have to stop myself from over-explaining. (I know. It's totally shocking that up till now I haven't felt I was over explaining.)

The point is, (sorta) thank you, Brenda.


(Pretend there's a segue here.) : )

I'm so into the show Bones right now. I'm almost done with season 3. I'm not really sure what about it reels me in, but I can't seem to get enough of it! I have begun quoting the show. That's when I know it's a good one. I really, really, REALLY enjoyed the whole Sith Lord thing. "There's always two. A master and an apprentice."(look, I figured out how to spell it! lol) And then "Dude, did you just Star Wars us?" SO FUNNY!!!

I think my favorite quote just might be when Bones said to Booth "Can't you just be satisfied that if I'm wrong about God I'll burn in hell?" If you're not a fan, here's where I make that make sense. Temperance Brennan is a forensic anthropologist which basically means she looks at people's bones (hence the nickname) and can figure out how they lived and died. She uses her skills as a liason to the FBI, helping them solve cases where a normal autopsy wouldn't answer questions. Bones is also an atheist. She believes only in what she can empiracally prove with science. Her FBI partner, Special Agent Sealy Booth, is a Catholic. He seems to be a practicing Catholic, he's shown praying and once said he goes to mass every Sunday, but he also is a little promiscious. Here's where I'm going. Bones and Booth constantly argue about the validity of Christianity (or any religion, but they mostly talk about Christianity because Booth is Catholic) and at one point Bones says, "Can't you just be satisfied that if I'm wrong about God I'll burn in hell?"


I laughed.

I thought, and still think, it's hilarious.

But it got me thinking, too.

Yes, it's important to tell others about Christ, to share His love. (And, you know, save them from burning in hell...) It just doesn't work, though, to badger someone into Christianity.

It doesn't totally translate from their situation, but I think the point works.


And, as I'm somewhere between tired and punchy right now, I'm leaving you to figure out your own conclusion. : )


  

Apparently...

I'm not the only Branalyn out there. There's also someone named Branalyn Williams who's done a lot of scientific stuff with the CDC (and I don't think they mean Child Development Center) and a few other random Branalyns out there. One, on myspace, goes by Brandie. It might be easier, but it's weird to me someone would shorten Branalyn to Brandie. I'm kinda sad I'm not the only one out there... But at the same time it could be cool to know someone else named my name. I do, however, like knowing that when someone says my name (talking to me or about me lol) it pretty much means me. There's not confusion or need to use last names.OK, I've moved on into the rambling now...

 

Remember When I Said I Was the Village Idiot?

I locked myself out on my balcony and no one was home.

Oh yeah.

I'm serious.

No phone, no keys.

Dressed in a pair of shorts and cami.

Armed with a coffee filter and Windex.

Can't McGyver much out of that.

So, it's the first cold night this fall. I decide to wash the inside and out of my sliding glass doors. I'm dressed like white trash on a stick in cleaning clothes-shorts from high school that are really short and barely fit and a cami. Not exactly fall clothing. On a night we actually have fall weather. I wash the sliding part of the door and close it to wash the other side. AND THE BAR SLAMS DOWN!!! Don't ask me how it happened. Don't ask me how any of the stupid stuff happens to me. I'm just the village idiot. There's no other explanation.

Let me tell you, those anti-burglary bar thingies really work. Now I'm stuck outside with no phone or keys, upstairs on a balcony where the only option of getting down is jumping or breaking the door. I figured breaking the door was stupid because it's really late Friday night and wouldn't be fixed all weekend, not to mention being really expensive. And jumping would be even more expensive because I would so just happen to land on a tree stump or something that would break my leg or impale me. I have a reputation, ya'll.

I'm now left with the final option of waiting. Several scenarios would've worked out: 1. My brother or friend, both of which have keys, happen to let themselves in and see me out there. 2. My husband comes home from work early and sees me out there (which just occurred to me now, he didn't have a key. He gave it to my brother this morning. I was supposed to make him a key on the way home from work but the traffic sucked because of Obama and I didn't.) 3. Some random person walks by and sees me out there and lets me use their phone.

What happened was a modified version of number 3. Some old man was walking outside and I got his attention. I figured maybe he was a nice old man that would be gentlemanly and help me. And if he wasn't nice and was a bad guy, he probably couldn't get to me and I could totally take him if he could. I told him I was locked out and needed to call someone. He said he wasn't sure who I could call. I said I had family who had a key I just needed to make the call. He can't understand me and won't come closer but he went and knocked on his neighbor's door. After what seemed like forever, the neighbor, a young guy, comes out. He comes up to me and asks what happened because the old man was apparently very confused. I tell him and he runs back to get his phone. He climbs halfway up and gives me his phone, yelling instructions on how to use it as I call what I think is my brother's number and get a very confused, old, Latino lady. Then I call my momma's number praying she's awake and answers.

She does and I tell her I'm locked out and my brother and friend have keys and ask her to please send one to the rescue. She sends my brother and I throw (yes, throw, he insisted it would be alright and he did actually catch it) the phone back to the guy. He asks if I need anything else and I consider asking him to help me get down because he had gotten halfway up and I thought maybe he could get me down. But then I decided he was obviously athletic and there was no way I could take him if he turned out to be some sort of rapist.

Now my parents live at least15 minutes away, so I continued my wait. Of course about this time I had to pee but could do nothing but wait. I contemplate that either 1. the guy really is a rapist because he has no friends or 2. the guy is a really nice guy because he didn't call his friends to come laugh at me. I also realize that my brother's gonna get here and not know where I am because I'm on the balcony and not waiting out front and I really wasn't sure if I'd communicated that. But, he decides to come in just in case I had gotten in, thank God. So, he walks in calling my name and I knock on the sliding glass door. From the outside. We both bust up laughing and he lets me in.

Finally inside, I peed, put on a hoodie, got a drink of water, and made my brother go with me to thank the I-hope-he's-not-a-rapist guy, who had periodically checked on me and I wanted to know it was all resolved and he wasn't devising a scheme to rape me, or, you know, was worried about me and calling the cops or something.

As I picked up my own phone, I had two missed calls and a text message, which proved I'd been out there for a little over an hour.

So, the village idiot's lessons for the day: 1. It's wonderful to live near family. And 2. Thank God. He orchastrated the events to let my brother have a key today of all days and to let me get access to a phone. And I did not freeze to death out there!

: )

By the way, getting locked out totally cut into my cleaning time. Plus, you know, blogging about it. But my deadline is approaching and my house is getting better and better!

 

Day Trip

8 hours in the car is too much. Even when it's 4 and 4.

It was a short trip.  We saw my aunt Sandy, who is doing better than she has been recently, but is not doing well.  Please pray for her.

We saw some other family and then we headed back.

6 inches difference in the width of a vehicle matters.

I'm exausted and have to get up early again tomorrow. It's to go wedding dress shopping with my former roommate and wonderful friend. I know from prior experience that those days can be tiring. And, let's not forget, I seem to be havin a sleep deprivation problem this week. I'm a fan of at least 8 hours of sleep. I don't really want to admit this because I feel lazy admitting it, but I actually function much better with 9 hours.

I'm not even going to take the small amount of energy it takes to find my cute signature.

Good night.

It Is Finished

It's been a long time. I know. Really it has. And really it's because all my free time has been spent unpacking. Or at least most of it. Which brings me to the title of this post.

I AM DONE UNPACKING!!!!!!!

Really, ya'll. Done. There's a little bit of rearranging I want to do with some stuff. There's a WHOLE lot of decorating that needs to happen. There's certainly a ton of cleaning that needs to happen. But I am DONE unpacking!!!

And, just in case you couldn't tell, I'm super excited about that!

Especially since I invited a whole buncha people over on the 31st for a Reformation Day party. It was to give myself a deadline, and people let me tell you that it worked! At least for the unpacking part. The cleaning, decorating and baking/cooking part not so much yet.

So, now I'm off to the store to get a few things, including windsheild wiper fluid cuz I'm all out and there is probably very little I hate more than little spots of sap on my windsheild and I have been out of wiper fluid for days, and hopefully a curtain rod for the dining room and tassels for the lamp. After said tassels and curtain rod are bought, I am done with my "need" list. I know that tassels and curtain rods aren't truely needs, but what I mean is I'll have all my basic wants taken care of. The other things (mainly shelves for the dining room, like upright almost bookshelves, and shelves for the bedroom, like screw them to the wall shelves) I want will be expensive and require building and will have to wait. Oh and something to go on the wall above the toilet in the bathroom that is only a potty and shower to put things like extra toilet paper on. And a baby rose and 3 or 4 other plants. And possibly another roll or 2 of shelf liner. Oh, and... just kidding... because I can't think of any more...