Yay!

Yay, I got selected for the six sentences story I wrote! It was posted yesterday, 10/16/10, so go check it out. Here's what the editor said when he emailed me back that I had been selected: "Very strong work, Amanda. Well done." Sweet! (But of course later I thought he probably says that same thing to everybody. OH WELL!) Woohoo! Check me out folks and then you can rate it: 6S Every day there's a new one so make sure you go to the date I mentioned previously.

Peace and blessings! -A

Writing. And other things.

Howdy folks! Long time no see!

Well, I just submitted a very short piece of work to the 6S(6 sentences) Social Network.  All you have to do is write a story in 6 sentences and email it to them, then wait and see if they pick your story for their blog.  I hope I get picked!!!!!

The jewelry making has certainly slowed down.  I've made several pieces but it's actually been a couple of weeks since I created anything.  Here's just a couple of pics for you to check out what I've done:

Chunky Necklace

Link Bracelet

Hope you like!  There will definitely be more!

Peace and blessings! -A

PS-The lovely model in these photos is my sister V.  Doesn't she look great?

I love jewelry, yes I do!

For a while now I've been thinking "Wouldn't it be so awesome if I could make my own jewelry instead of spending all my money on someone else's designs....wouldn't it?!?!?!"  Well, folks, that day has finally come!  On Sunday, I went to my very first jewelry making class.  I made a necklace and a pair of earrings!  And even though I wasn't too pleased with the actual project our teacher had planned for us(definitely not a pearls kinda girl), I was very excited to see a finished product that someone could actually wear one day!

Now, as usual, my addictive personality has since taken over this new hobby.  I can hardly count the times I've gone to Michael's craft store this week to get supplies to make more jewelry.  So far I've made 2 necklaces, a bracelet and a pair of earrings.  That is not including what I made the first day!

Check out my first project below!  Woohoo!

Stay tuned for more to come!

Peace and blessings! -A

Think before you let me speak

So, yesterday I went to this luncheon with several ladies from work. Our company had two tables and as I’m walking to one I notice it’s full so I turn to the other table. As I’m sitting down, one of the ladies right next to me says “Amanda, look at you bringing a little color to the table”. And my response? “In more ways than one.”

CRAP! Open mouth, insert foot. I’m staring down at the table wondering how awkward this is going to be. Surely, I did not just say that. Of course she’s referring to the green dress I’m wearing whereas everyone else has on black and white and NOT the color of my skin, but the words are out before I even think about it and awkwardness ensues….

But after a couple seconds pause that felt like forever, she and the lady on my other side start laughing as if I’ve told the best joke on the planet and I start laughing too. Conversation starts rolling and everything is O-K. Disaster averted!

WHEW!

Peace out! -A

Zombie in the making

It's 1 in the morning, ugh, and I can't sleep!  I am going to be no good tomorrow at work.  What should I blog about?  Hmmm, well, I'm hungry, I'll tell ya that much, but I'm ignoring it.  This new "lifestyle" is such hard work(shout out to Dr. Ian, with his fine self!), but it'll be worth it in the end.  At least that's what I'll keep telling myself.  Apparently I can't eat an hour and a half before I go to sleep, but shoot, I went to bed an hour and a half ago!  I am living the opposite of a Freddy Kreuger movie...I want to go to sleep but can't and instead of being chased by a knife wielding maniac, I'm chased by the thoughts of pizza and cheeseburgers.  Isn't that sad?  My own Nightmare on _____ Street.

I do have one confession to make, though(make that two, I have already cheated on this "lifestyle" but I digress...).  I am a shop-a-jewelry-holic.  I know I made it up but it's true!  I went to a jewelry party Friday night and bought an expensive ring and some not-as-expensive earrings.  Went to the Dallas Flea on Saturday and bought 2 more necklaces, one was cheap-ish, the other was the price of the ring and earrings from the night before!!!!  I need to find a support group.

Oooohhh, I think I'm getting sleepy(omg, I'm boring myself to sleep!).  Gotta go!  Maybe I'll wake up in the morning and this will all be a dream........

Peace and blessings!  -A

OMG!!!!

Have you heard that song by Usher? Love it! Anyway, that's not what I'm here to talk about.

OMG, I can't believe it's been 3 months since I last updated this blog. OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!  Sorry to all my fans.  Well...fan...that s might not be necessary. LOL!  So much, yet so little, has happened in the last 3 months.  Let me see if I can do a brief-ish recap:

• Pooter no longer lives with us.  We took her to a no-kill shelter and I hope and pray that she has found a new home where she can play all day and be loved on by a nice family.  I miss my Pooter-Pie but she deserved a new home because we couldn't devote the time to her that she needed.
• My week in New Orleans was AWESOME!  I love that city and can't wait to go back.  There's so much to do and see(and eat!).  I would love to live there!  Oh, wait, except for that whole hurricane thing, never mind.
• I started the Fat Smash diet last week and lost 7.5 pounds in the first phase(9 days).  Have probably gained them back in the last 2 days as phase 2 has become nothing but a hope and a dream at this point.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get back on it!  By "it" I mean my new Wii Fit Plus.  I love it!  It's fun and I actually break a sweat.  Yippee!(OK, really by "it" I meant the diet, but anyway...)
• The family reunion that my sis and I are so diligently planning is fast approaching.  In 7 weeks time Dallas will be filled with my cousins, uncles, aunts and more!
• I have seen several great and awesome shows since my last blog including Madea's Big Happy Family, the fabulous Black Eyed Peas, Chrisette Michele, the Soweto Gospel Choir, Jill Scott and Maxwell and even attended a taping of America's Got Talent.  And my very first Mavericks game!  All right here in the lovely city of Dallas, TX!  And in New Orleans I got to see Kirk Franklin and the legendary Earth Wind & Fire!  So, I really haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs, folks, I've been busy!

Whew! OK, that's enough for now, don't you think?  Just a little sum'n sum'n to get us back on track. 

Peace and blessings! -A

Wheel of Misfortune?

Today I went to audition to be a contestant for the Wheel of Fortune.  So close to crossing off the game show on my bucket list!  There's still a chance that I might get a letter in the mail even though I didn't get called to go on stage today.  Fingers crossed, folks! This is my chance to win some cold hard cash!  Oh, and cross something off my bucket list....that's more important, right? LOL!

Here's a pic of me and CT in front of the Wheel of Fortune Winnebago!!!!

My Bucket List

My sister recently decide to create a bucket list and suggest I do the same.  Why not post it for the world to see?  Maybe Oprah will see this and help me fulfill some of these.  Well, folks, here it goes(in no particular order) and as I complete these things I will cross them off:

• Write a book
• Act in a play/TV show/movie(or all!)
• Visit Greece and it's beauty and so many other places that I'll add later
• Get married and have kids
• Be my own boss
• Get fit
• African safari(ahhhhh! I have to get used to the idea of maybe getting eaten...dang)
• Buy my mom a house
• Learn to play guitar...I have two songs I want to be able to play: Tracy Chapman's Give Me One Reason AND The Eagles' Hotel California
• Get a tattoo
• Ride a motorcycle(vroom vroom!)
• Go back to school - I still question my sanity on this one :)
• Meet Oprah
• Climb a mountain(a small one that I can fall off of without being seriously injured, haha)
• Go scuba diving
• Play on a game show
• Really learn Spanish or un otra lengua
• There's one more...but it's private. Shhh....

This is definitely not everything.  I will be adding more as they come to mind.  This is just a start.  Let's see how many I can cross off in 2010!

Pooter and Me

Pooter is now almost 6 months old and she is driving me crazy! I love her one minute and the next she's on my last nerve. I recently saw the movie Marley and Me and it reminded me so much of Pooter. I can't turn my head for a second or she'll eat the couch. Trust me, she will!

I've always wanted a dog. When I was a kid, my cousin had a dog and I loved going over to play with her. She was the sweetest thing. So, now I'm all grown up and finally got the dog I always wanted. But it's not the perfect life I dreamed of...

Pooter will eat anything that fits into her mouth. She eats tissue, napkins, rocks, styrofoam, acorns, leaves, grass, bird poo, her own poo, cardboard, potato chips(I dropped one and she was quick!), gum(on the sidewalk while walking), bugs, cigarette butts(what?! We don't even smoke!) and even took a chunk out the wall! She has tried to eat plastic lids, a pair of knee-highs, bigger rocks, several of her toys, the shoe off my foot, and magazines off the coffee table.

I swear she has split personalities and no one can convince me otherwise. Last night I was on the floor rubbing her belly and she was loving it. She just falls out on the floor when you rub her belly because it feels so good. Two minutes later she's standing up and barking mad like CUJO. What happened? I have no clue.

Everyone keeps telling me it will get better. But will it?

Birthday!

My birthday is 3 1/2 weeks away!!! What's a girl to do? Hmmm......

Brave New World!

In my quest to live life to the fullest I have allowed one of my also single friends to convince me(she's good too because she convinced me and 3 other girls) to enter the world of online dating. And what a world it is! Here's the first update of many:

All 5 of us signed up for Eharmony(EH). Very popular site with great commercials(I've got the song stuck in my head now). Everybody finds a match on EH, right? WRONG! So far, of the 5 of us no one has spoken to, emailed or dated any of our potential "mates". Is there anything else more discouraging? Fear not, for the answer is yes!

I, drum roll please, have an addictive personality. That personality of mine would not just let me stop at EH. So I joined 2 other sites…match and blackpeoplemeet(don’t let the name fool you because everybody is on there). Oh, how exciting life gets!

Well, here’s what’s happened so far. On match I was emailing back and forth with a particular guy. I had originally looked at his profile but something about it made me keep moving. Well, he must’ve seen me in his Who Looked at Me because he sent me an email the next day. Cool, he’s a Christian and he has a job…I don’t ask for much, LOL! So I emailed him back to say cool, we can chat and I asked him a few questions. He replied with, get this, a copy of his profile and his phone number. HIT THE BRAKES! And put it in REVERSE! Dude, I don’t know you yet. So I didn’t respond immediately. Well, being the go-getter that he is(and mentioned in his profile), he emailed me again not even 24 hours later and responded with the following(I kid you not!):

Subj: you have the number

your all ways on line why not just call or are you looking for a lot of men???

Please note the grammatical errors(a bit of a pet peeve with me but can be overlooked for the right guy, ha!) as well as the assumption that I’m always online because yes, I do check the site almost daily so my status usually says Active within 24 hours. But the kicker is the last part and as soon as I read it I could feel my blood boiling.

AT FIRST I was not going to respond. BUT I was so angry that I wrote him an angry, but as Christian as I could be, response. I will not tell you everything I said but it was nicer than the situation warranted and I had 2 other Christian folks read it before I sent it. I don’t want to misrepresent HIM, ya know? I told him that he was disrespectful and yes, I did tell him to pray about his issues because he obviously has some. I did not tell him he had issues in so many words just that he needed to pray. His profile talked about what a great Christian guy he was, and we gotta keep each other accountable right? LOL No cuss words at all! I even wished him good luck on his search. WWJD was my angle.

And yes, he did reply. And what did he say? Not much, just "lol me too"

WEIRDO!

Oh, and get THIS…I forgot to mention that I had convinced an old college buddy to sign up for EH and match. Well, I had her look at Mr. Nice Guy’s profile when he emailed me to get her opinion. Well, after our little “drama”, he must have found her in his Who Looked at Me and sent her word for word THE EXACT SAME EMAIL AS ME! Dude, be original at least!!!
Why don’t the commercials tell you about this side of online dating? Perhaps it’s in the fine print at the very bottom of the screen so no one can read it. Or they say it really, really fast and it just sounds like WHOOSH! I don’t know, but as I write this I have not given up hope! He may not be online but he’s out there…somewhere….

More stories to follow…stay tuned!

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!!!

I am going to New Orleans and I am gonna get WASTED!!!! Haha, just kidding, but I am going to have a BLAST!!!!! More details to come...

Why I hate the handyman

Hate is such a strong word but damn it, I gotta use it today. I try not to let people get my temper going, but sometimes they push ALL the wrong buttons! So, this is why I hate the handyman:

About 2 weeks before Christmas I noticed a problem in my master bathroom. Something I didn't want to fix myself and didn't mind paying for the convenience of having someone else fix it. I like word-of-mouth recommendations and a co-worker gave me 2 guys to call. One of them she recommended specifically for the job I needed done. So I called him up that day so he could come out and see what it would take to fix the problem and how much it would cost.

He stopped by and quoted a cheap service fee and cost of supplies and I was happy that I wouldn't have to pay an arm and a leg. He said he'd come out that Sunday(right before Christmas) to fix it. All I had to do was call him when I came from church and he'd come right over. Nice!

Sunday rolls around and I call him after church. His response "Oh, ok, let me call you back." The time: 2:15p. Not bad at all, he probably just needs to run by the Depot and get the supplies. No problem.

5:00p...hmmm, I wonder where he could be? It's getting dark outside and I've been holed up all day waiting. Oh well, he'll be here soon.

9:00p...DAMN, that trifling M-F didn't show or call or even write, damn! These are my thoughts, mind you, things I would never say out loud. OK, things I would never say out loud in front of anyone.

So, I'm the kind of person that thinks 2nd chances are always warranted. Everybody makes mistakes, right? Well, I called Mr. Handyman after the new year thinking he'd probably just been busy with the holidays. Asked him if he could come out and fix up my bathroom for me. He said "Oh, no problem. What time you want me to come over? Oh, ok, just call me when you get home, SUCKA!" The sucker is implied because I really should've known better, right?

Well, I ended up working late so I called my sis and asked her if she would meet him at the house. She agreed(thanks, sis, as always).

I got home around 8:30. My sis and Pooter were chilling in the living room. "Is he done?" I asked. All she did was shake her head. That M-F never showed! When my sis called him he said "Oh, I forgot that was tonight...I'm on the other side of town. Let me call you back." I'm still waiting on that call. I really can't stand that man.

Dang, maybe I really am a sucka. The 1st handyman I used, who was also recommended, came by one day to fix a really small problem and told me all the things he could do. My eyes lit up and I thought of all the things I could do with the house. Then I made an appointment for him to come out and clean the gutters. I rushed home from work that day and waited. And waited....a no-show. GRRRRRR!!!!!

How does this happen to me? I really hate handymen!

Miracle of Miracles!

I have lost 10 lbs since 1/1/10 with very(and I mean very, very) little effort. Yes!

Oh, shoot...does this mean I'm sick? I hope not!

(FYI, this is how my brain normally functions...a little quirky, I know)

Random Thought

I still get nervous when I drive past a group of pigeons in the street!

(Hmmm, surely there's a word for a group of pigeons, eh? Like gaggle, pack, herd...LOL!!!)

OMG, I am that woman!

OK, so you know how women are so emotional and worry about everything and take everything on their shoulders as if they could carry the world?(I am woman, hear me roar!) You know what I'm talking about. And then there comes a breaking point and she can't take it anymore and has a few minutes of weakness where she just needs somebody else to hold her up?

Well, I am that woman, too. Never thought I was. I'm usually cool, calm, collected, you know, an easy-going, laid-back, don't worry, be happy kinda chick. Well, not so much.

Last week I had my 1st homeowner disaster. Pipe burst in the front yard and practically flooded the place. Thought it was the sprinkler system so someone came out and dug up part of the yard to find the problem. Turns out he couldn't fix it because it was purely a plumbing problem and he wasn't authorized to fix it. So I had to scramble and find a plumber to come out that same day(I can't imagine how much my water bill will be!). So he comes out and checks the problem and quotes an hourly rate + supplies. "Oh, this won't take more than an hour, ma'am" he says to me and I'm thinking SWEET!

Two hours later....

"Ma'am, I'm not quite finished and I have to come back in the morning(WHAT?!?!). Shouldn't be more than an hour after I get here."(yeah, right Mr. Hourly, you said that before) So how does a one hour gig become a gotta come back in the morning gig. Well, I ain't a plumber and this is an emergency so really, what can I do but take his word?

Next morning....

He's half an hour late. And takes longer than hour. Has made 3 trips to Lowe's for supplies and that better not be included in his hourly rate, doggone it!

Mind you, I'm not at work which usually is a great thing but dang it, I don't want to be stuck at home waiting for him to finish up and the bill that's adding up. Oh, the horror! I don't want the bill!

He finishes up around 12:30 and says "I stopped your time at 11:45 because blah blah blah". Hmmm, should I say thank you? Well, I didn't. I just paid the man and said good riddance and went to get ready for work.

This whole ordeal was quite stressful. Hadn't had any issues like this at the house but I took it in stride. Or so I thought....

The plumber left and I went around the house making sure everything that used water was working properly. Went to the bathroom and flushed. Nothing happened. Tried again. Nothing.

OMG OMG OMG, I started to hyperventilate. Like what the hell is going on? Did he just fix one thing and break another. OMGOMGOMGOMG, where did my oxygen go? I can't breathe!!!

I swear I had a nervous breakdown right there in the bathroom. Tears streaming down my face, gulping for air, not my usual calm self. Why? Because the dang toilet wouldn't flush!

You see, I am that woman. Didn't know it until now. It all worked out in the end(although my pockets aren't as fat) but it doesn't change the fact that I broke down because the toilet wouldn't flush. How did I get here?!?!?!

Happy New Y-, wait, how'd I get here?????

I can't believe it's 2010 already. Can you? I mean, really?!?!?!?!

Pooter is growing up. Too fast.

My sis is getting closer and closer to grad school and then, who am I gonna hang out with?

My love life is still, well, non-existent.

Things have not changed much at all. I am stuck in a rut. Will somebody give me a hand and help me out of it?

Seriously, though. What happened to 2009?!?!? What did I do? I'll have to think about this a little deeper. The new year always brings reflection but really, what am I doing with my life? Things have got to change! GRRRRR!!!!!

So, what am I gonna do in 2010? Hell if I know! I'll figure something out. No resolutions, just gonna make something happen. Something like....hmmmm.....to be continued.....let's wait and see.