2009: The Year of the Parkhopper

Here we are on December 31. It must be time for my traditional year-end mash-up post...

Take the first sentence of the first post of every month this year on your blog and put them all together.

It's a good thing I didn't make a New Year's Resolution to do a blog post every day, huh? Wii have been playiing wiith our new viideo game system a lot.

There's a link on the AOL main page today that I certainly won't be clicking:

Our purchase of a Wii was conditional. I've been peer-pressured into doing the May NaBloPoMo (theme: "sweet"), so Happy May! What to do with a mostly-full bag of mini marshmallows?

It sucks to have your 15 minutes of fame entangled with a tragedy.

I've once again been peer pressured into participating in NaBloPoMo. We're going to be hiring another full-time person into my office.

We're out of salt here at Apartamente de ParkHopper (as opposed to Casa ParkHopper, which is not where we currently live). I'm meeting up today with Laura and Richard for lunch. Scott and I pulled out of the garage on Sunday afternoon only to discover that someone had let their dog crap - twice - on our driveway and made no attempt to clean it up.

Happy New Year!! Stay off the roads tonight if you can. See you next year/decade!

Not Really...I'm Totally Lying

Scott and I are considering modeling next year's Christmas Photo after this family.

(do coconuts come in bigger sizes?)

Christmas Miracle?

Anyone who follows me on Twitter might have noticed the following tweet a few days ago:

Just informed TODAY by JCPenney.com that gift I ordered for @mob308 on 12/14 is no longer available. It took them 8 DAYS to figure this out?
9:15 AM Dec 22nd

I spent a day whining about there being a GIANT HOLE OF DISAPPOINTMENT IN MY CHRISTMAS to anyone who would listen. It didn't occur to me that there were tons of retailers offering free shipping upgrades on the 21st and 22nd and that maybe I could find a replacement elsewhere. In short, I was being an ass.

Yesterday morning, I went online and found a different item in the same genre, plus a sweet bonus gift (and something for myself) for less than the cost of the one item that JC Penney screwed me out of. They offered very reasonable 3-Day UPS Ground shipping, which meant that it wouldn't be here by Christmas, but that I would get it next week. That was fine with me! (The alternative - overnight shipping - was $20. Since it wasn't a "Santa" present for a small child, that wasn't going to be worth it to me.)

I came up with creative ways to package "future gifts" so that Scott would still have something to unwrap tomorrow. I came to the computer just now to do some creative photo editing, and went into my email to pull a picture from the original order. The package shipped yesterday afternoon, and I decided to check the shipping email and see whether it had really shipped, or if the company had done one of those "notified UPS to pick up package" things. Imagine my complete and utter elation when I saw the following:

Status: In Transit

Scheduled Delivery Date:
12/24/2009 (Updated)
12/30/2009 (Original)

What's completely shocking about this is that I've followed packages online before, and have seen a shipping company (I'm thinking FedEx) HOLD things in their local hub in order to not deliver before the promised date. To think that there was room on a truck and that UPS said, "hey - she didn't pay for the quickie shipping, but we have the space!" just absolutely blows my mind.

I'm not getting my hopes up too high... I'm betting that my package has the lowest priority on the delivery truck. But for now, I'm holding off on doing my creative packaging. I might not need it after all!

And so, I'd like to wish a VERY Merry Christmas to the UPS drivers and warehouse workers out there delivering Christmas to children (and grown-ups) everywhere! I'd also like to wish a Merry Christmas to the people at an internet retailer whose name I cannot reveal at this time. I'm a fan for life!

Dedication

I'd like to dedicate this Lovely Listing to Janette. See if you can figure out why!

Nope, it's not the tiger climbing the walls.

Nope, it's not the themed bathroom. (Actually if I were dedicating the listing to Scott, it would be for the bathroom. He likes turtles!)

Don't see it? OK, fourth picture down (has gravity-defying vines on the ceiling). See it now? All the way on the right? Dude! There's a ukulele right there!

Yep...that was the whole point of this entry. And now, 6 dozen unborn sugar cookies and two unborn apple pies are crying out for creation. Oh yeah, and Scott's gifts need to be wrapped. I think I'll start with the presents...

Perform!

Christmas morning: you've woken up early because you've programmed to do that your entire life. You've opened the gifts. You've eaten your festive holiday breakfast. Now what? Well, if you're reading this, then you probably know me. And anyone who knows me is going to want to turn on the TV to the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.

"I am?" you ask.
"You are." I reply

The Encore Cast Choir was asked to help out with the parade taping. See, there was this little-known woman performing a popular Christmas tune, and they thought her performance could use a little star power. Here's a YouTube preview from someone who attended the taping:




Sadly for me, I was a little too slow getting my robe. I ended up in the balcony where there were no risers set up and very little lighting (and where this woman never even bothered to tilt up the camera to). So most likely, you won't see my smiling face on TV. But I really was there. And I'll be watching, looking for Katie and Melissa, who were on the risers, singing on national TV on Christmas morning.

Peace

For my entire life, Roy E. Disney has been the public face of the Disney family. For a long time, I thought he was Walt's brother. I didn't realize he was the "new generation" of the family business. Though he wasn't always in the spotlight, I think a lot of us took stock in the fact that we knew he was there, looking over the family name and business.

I don't really know anything personal about Roy, and so any clumsy attempt to eulogize him would fall flat. But his death really touched me in a way that caught me off guard. Maybe it's because I worry who will lead the revolt against the next power-hungry CEO. Maybe it's because there's one less person in the world who believes in the perfection his uncle demanded. Or maybe it's just because he was my Disney, and now he's gone.

I don't often talk on here about my time in the trenches working in the theme parks, but I'll break my rule in this case. When we were training as the opening team at the Walt Disney: One Man's Dream attraction, one of the trainers relayed a quick anecdote.

Roy walked the attraction before it was finished, and stopped in front of the recreation of Walt's office. He laughed and pointed at the chairs and made a comment about how many times he had sat "right there" and gotten yelled at by his dad or Uncle Walt.

I guess he was a bit of a trouble maker when he was younger. The story stuck with me because I couldn't wrap my head around what it must be like to see a room from your past stuck behind glass in a museum. Now it makes me smile to think that he kept watch over the family business for another 40 years.

Rest in peace, Roy. We'll miss you.

Top Ten

Apparently people who care about such things have recently realized that this month is the end of the '00 decade. To honor it, they have been making "Top _____ of the Decade" lists, because that's what people do. I was listening to the guys on SBK Live last night debating the top 10 movies of the decade, and only agreeing with one or two of their picks.

So here's my Ten Favorite Movies of the 2000's:
(in alphabetical order...because I can't pick a favorite)

1. Batman Begins
2. Chicago
3. Crash
4. Erin Brockovich
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
6. Finding Neverland
7. Juno
8. Monsters, Inc. (which could have just as easily been Finding Nemo or maybe Up... I just couldn't pick one and didn't want the list to be so Pixar-centric)
9. Moulin Rouge
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Others that almost made the cut were Shrek 2, Traffic, and the rest of the Pixar movies.

The ones I've listed are the ones that I either own or wish that I did (looking for a last-minute gift? try #3, 5, 6, or 7), and that I would recommend that everyone see at least once. And with the exception of Chicago, which is more of a spectacle, these are movies that I really connected with. So what do you think? What are your top movies?

Update (12/17): I should have referenced my DVD collection before writing this list. I can't believe I forgot Saved! or Zoolander. Those two definitely should've been in the top ten, but I can't decide which ones get bumped.

Puddin'

Our second trip to Tampa for our season tickets to the theater (which I like to say because it sounds so gosh darn pretentious!) was yesterday. We saw a new show called Wonderland, which was good and bad, wrapped into one. Fabulous performances by the male and female leads knocked me on my butt, and I loved about half the music. I had trouble with the story not being flushed out enough, and the costuming seemed sort of half-assed for the magnitude of the story, but hey - it was a fun night out.

Instead of talking about the show, I'd like to tell you about the old lady sitting next to me. This woman was also next to me when we went to see In the Heights in October, so I'm guessing she's also a season ticket-holder, and will therefore be at every show we see. Before the show, Scott and I both noticed that she was holding her purse on her lap, and was eating something out of her purse with a plastic spoon. I think it was one of those pudding cups from the grocery store. And I think I smelled butterscotch. Of course, we're now calling her Puddin'. It totally fits!

Well halfway through act 2, Puddin' decided to spoon with me. Either her hemorrhoids were flaring up, or she was really cold... or maybe she just needed a nap. All of a sudden, she shifts her weight to her left hip (she's sitting to my left, in case you needed the visual), and presses her butt square against the side of my leg. I tried moving closer to Scott, but her butt filled in the empty space. I tried nudging her with my leg - a sort of "sorry to bother you, but you seem to be inappropriately molesting my leg in a way that's really creeping me out and BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH" message, but she wasn't taking the hint.

So I went to my happy place and levitated outside my body for the rest of the show. What else could I have done?

Thankfully, Scott has generously offered to trade seats with me for the next show. Actually, he flat-out refused to trade seats when I asked, but I'm thinking he was kidding and will happily take turns cuddling the stranger. It's only fair, right?

Poop

(literally)

Scott and I pulled out of the garage on Sunday afternoon only to discover that someone had let their dog crap - twice - on our driveway and made no attempt to clean it up. We were both annoyed, but decided to leave it until it dried a little so that we could sweep it out of the driveway.

Imagine my surprise the next day when Scott told me that he swept the poop out of the driveway, and whatever animal it came from, it was most definitely not a domestic canine! The poop had chunks of fur and sections of intestine in it. He showed me this morning. I would've touched it, if not for the fact that a) it's dead animal, and b) it's poop. Still, you can't help but laugh about it!

The following photos have nothing to do with poop. But they were taken on Sunday. That makes them relevant to the post, right?

Not Berry Funny

Lunch Time at My Desk:
A piece of turkey with a generous portion of cranberry sauce (home-made, with no added colors) falls face down on my lightest colored pants - my favorite khakis. "Are you kidding me?" is yelled, but since I'm alone in my office, no one answers me. I scrape the chunks of cranberry off my pants and proceed to spray half a bottle of OxiClean stain remover on the area, blot repeatedly, and notice that there's still a big bright reddish-pink stain. So I sprayed the rest of the bottle on the stain, blotted some more, and have a slightly-lighter-but-still-very-noticeable pink stain, now surrounded by a 6" wet circle!

I called Scott and begged him to come to my rescue with a clean pair of pants, and of course he agreed. He's wonderful like that. And so, I did all the work I could that wouldn't require that I leave my office. Mostly, Iwas trying to avoid going in the kitchen where a) I'm going to be made fun of by the cooks, and b) I run the risk of being seen by the diners at the kitchen table.

About five minutes before Scott arrived, I pushed back from my desk and glanced down at the stain, preparing to be sad about ruining my favorite pants. I was not prepared for the two things I saw: the stain was about 90% gone and barely visible, and there were two NEW chunks of cranberry on my pants! I guess some of the original plop of cranberry got transferred from my leg to the underside of the desk in my initial panic, and then transferred back to my leg.

At this point, I'm out of OxiClean spray, and I have nothing to do but wait for my knight in shining Saturn to arrive. Luckily, my wait wasn't much longer. He brought me pants, and even waited for me to change so that he could take the first pair home to stain treat and wash. And today I am happy to report that they are stain-free!

Note: not any sort of paid endorsement...I really love that Oxi stuff a million times better than the Tide pens. The Tide pens smell like puke to me, and don't work half as well. Oxi smells like Febreeze and have now saved that same pair of pants twice (the first time was an exploding Coke bottle)!

Musical Interlude

I don't think I'm supposed to tell you why I'm learning this exact version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful, but I'm still not sure I believe it myself. Anyway, it sounds pretty. Enjoy!

Pop Quiz

Which is a worse answer to the question, "guess what I just killed in the garage?"

a) a small child who was hiding under my car. I need you to come home and help hide the body.

or

b) a black widow spider.

Of course "a" is the worse situation. So hey - on the bright side, Scott just found a black widow spider IN MY HOUSE. Nothing bad about that, right? I'm not nearly as freaked out as that last sentence would lead you to believe. The first thing I said was, "ooh...did you get a picture?" Of course, Scott and I are wired differently. Bloggers are a different sort. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember the tree-frog-in-the-garbage-can incident can attest to that!

We went out last night, and when we came home, he pointed into the corner and said "that's what's left." And of course, I immediately look at the dead black spider and questioned him on why he said it was on the bottom of his shoe. "That was her mate." He was already dead. So...looks like he caught the spider before our garage became a set from Arachnophobia II: Jamie Never Comes Home Again.

*shudder*

Apart from the Apartment

Scott finished cleaning out the apartment today while I was working my O.T. shift. Yay Scott!

Of course, he proudly proclaimed that the "finished" apartment had a roll of paper towels and two or three other things left in it. That's ok - we have to go back over there to return the keys anyway. What's one more trip up the stairs?

The sad part is that Monday is the 30th, which means either I'm going to have to go over before work or Scott is going to have to go after work.

The happy part is that we'll never have to go back there again. Take our security deposit. We're just glad to be out of there.

Happy Thanksgiving To All...

...and to all a good night!

(If you need me, I'll be burrowed under a blanket. Finally!)

Assorted Nuts

Today's post is really more like a handful of Tweets. Enjoy the odds & ends!

* Why is it ok to talk about puking your guts up or having a splitting headache, but not ok to tell the world about the extent of your diarrhea? It bugs me. Sickness is sickness. Poop is so misunderstood.

* Speaking of sickness, I went home sick halfway through my shift last night. My stomach still hurts, though I'm being careful to feed it a steady diet of bland foods and a distinct lack of dairy. Scott was having stomach problems last weekend (manifesting differently from my own), and we thought it was the fault of the pork nachos. But given my stunning digestive pyrotechnics yesterday (hat tip to "10 Things I Hate About You" for my favorite euphemism), I'm starting to think perhaps it was viral. I'm back to work today. I'd rather take the day off, but if I do that I'll lose my holiday pay.

* Scott and I had a miscommunication regarding our late-November feast. It seems I didn't tell him the ingredients I needed for my cheesecake. And so the poor guy went out in the rain today to buy me a graham cracker crust, caramel topping, and 2 bricks of cream cheese. I was going to make the pie this morning, but I'll try again tonight. I just wanted to get it done and out of the way so I don't have to jockey for oven space at a later time.

* As I mentioned, it is currently POURING! I won't be complaining though. Yes, it's so uncharacteristic of me. I won't complain about this one day of rain because it is a cold front. Tonight we'll have the windows open and in the morning, I might actually be using a blanket. I guess I should find a jacket and umbrella...

Nutcrackers

A co-worker and I have been planning out our entry into the annual Holiday Door Decorating Contest at The Hotel. For the past two years, there has been a theme - using recycled materials and last year was "favorite holiday." This year there's no theme - just decorate it! So we've planned a fireplace with a 3-D mantle with stockings hanging from it - each one personalized for a different restaurant employee. We're hoping the chefs will let us use their door and include their people too. If not, it'll just be our door and the wall next to it. Either way, the part I'm looking forward to is editing the managers' faces onto nutcracker bodies. I even figured out how to give them that square-jaw nutcracker look. My prototypes in low-resolution done on Paint were so funny I can't wait to see how they turn out when I actually use good software and pictures.

So Scott and I are off to Target today so that I can take photos of their stock of weird nutcrackers. My Google image searches haven't really turned up what I want. I *really* need ones without long fuzzy white beards, and apparently those are hard to come by! Plus, I need them in high resolution so that I can print them out 10" tall and not have them look pixely.

I figure I'll also make one for myself - not for work, but for Facebook and another "I have nothing to write" blog post.

Fly-Over

I had one of those moments at work yesterday when I said something I thought was funny, but the joke was completely missed.

Manager: There's six more weeks of football season.
Me: Did the groundhog see his shadow?
Manager: [silence]

Experiments

Sure, Thanksgiving is all about tradition. But what's the point of watching Food Network all the time and owning a gazillion cookbooks if you're never going to try anything new? While what I really want to do is find a stuffing recipe that Scott and I both like (hint: it's not going to taste like sage-flavored grits) (no offense, honey), that's going to be an ongoing project throughout the year.

So for our own humble late-November feast this year, I am trying out two new recipes: healthy (ok, healthier) sweet potato casserole, and caramel-apple cheesecake.

The casserole will, of course, be made without the pecans. Helpful hint to all the nut haters out there: marry another nut hater. I'm quite happy that neither of us "has to" live with nasty nutty pebbles in our baked goods because the other likes them. That said, I may substitute almonds because we don't hate them, but I prefer my sweet potatoes lump-free.

And for the cheesecake, the first thing we're going to do is pretend that it's not a Paula Deen recipe. I also bought a jar of fried apples from Cracker Barrell to use in place of the canned apple pie filling. I really wanted to do a real pie with a scratch-made crust and filling that didn't come from a jar, but I just didn't start planning soon enough. I'm going to make a real pie for Christmas for sure.

Also on the menu: turkey (breast only), cornbread dressing, broccoli casserole (can't remember the recipe, so I'm going to wing it), rolls, and scratch-made cranberry relish (with orange zest). I feel like I'm forgetting something... I'm sure Scott will let me know!

Money Trail

Our mortgage was sold by the builder's lender before we even made our first payment. It was sold to Bank of America. Hey - reputable bank with national strength, right? It's also one of those banks you hear horror stories about when it comes to foreclosures and short sales. Literally the first thing I said was, "Bank of America, huh? We better pay on time!"

I'm not worried about that though. That bill is our #1 priority.

...and that's all the money talk I'll be engaging in today.

It's Beginning to Look...

It's beginning to look moderately like Christmas here at Casa ParkHopper. We put together our tree last night. We didn't decorate it (though allow me to say again how freaking awesome the pre-lit tree is!). We just assembled it and left it alone. This gives the cats - especially Elphie, who hasn't been around a Christmas tree before - a chance to get used to being squirt every time they touch it.