CAUTION: Woman In Progress

Lord help me but yeah, I read MSN's Entertainment gossip and news. I'm a dork. But you know what? I'm sort of sick of celebrities. They can't take responsibility for their own stupidity (See Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and most recently Isaiah Washington), they're rude and ugly behaved (see the newest gossip on Justin "Icky" Timberlake) (Sorry to all the Timberlake fans out there but he's just gross. Always has been.), apparently they're all a bunch of lushes with nothing better to do than accumulate DUI's (PH, LiLo and most recently Eve) and embarrassing interview footage. (John Stamos anyone?) Oh yeah, and they have more mugshots between 'em than the entire state of Mississippi. And they call US trashy redneck hillbillies. Most redneck hillbillies have ten times the manners and integrity of these so-called celebrities. Does fame just do something wonky to your brain? Turn you stupid, mean and drunk? Do you lose all sense of self-respect a...

I couldn't come up with a Thursday Thirteen this week so I figured I'd post a survey I got from my pal AJ on Myspace. It's silly but I don't care. Unusual Survey 1. Is your second toe longer than your first?NO lol 2. Do you have a favorite type of pen?Sort of. I like the gel ink ones. 3. Look at your planner for March 14, what are you doing? I don't even have a planner for then yet. 4. What color are your toenails usually? Red 5. What was the last thing you highlighted? A project inventory 6. What color are your bedroom curtains? Don't have bedroom curtains. 7. What color are the seats in your car? grey-blue 8. Have you ever had a black and white cat? Yes 9. What is the last thing you put a stamp on? hmmm a bill 10. Do you know anyone who lives in Wyoming? Oddly enough, no. 11. Why did you withdraw cash from the ATM the last time? I don't do ATM's 12. Who is the last baby that you held? My cousin Branson 13. Do you know of any twins with rhyming names? S...

And it wasn't me. ;-) And no, I didn't forget. Well, I did forget to blog about it but I remembered to wish her Happy Birthday. I actually sang her the song but she growled at me. I can't decide if it was because my singing was so bad or she was embarassed about having a birthday. Shoot, she's only a year (or 7 in dog years). She's got nothing to be embarassed about. Must've been my singing. :-/ So how did we celebrate you ask? Well, I didn't bake her a cake or even buy her some fancy dogfood. I sang, she growled and I let her get away with murder. That's about it. I had actually meant to get her a present but I ran out of money and time. She loves me anyway. I think. But yeah, the Devil Pup is no longer really a pup. She's a dog. But don't tell her I said that. She thinks she's human.

So sue me. hehehehe This is me, Sis2, Mama (Nana) and Sis1 at Sis2's baby shower this past weekend.

So apparently somehow my TV came to believe that I hablo espanol. Err, not so much. Or at least, not so much beyond the very minimal most basic "How are you" (Como esta?) and my name is...(Me llamo Jana). But Saturday I hit the "mute" button and "silencio" or something like it appears at the bottom of the screen where the word "mute" normally appears. Hit it again to unmute and it says "volumencer" or something and I'm like, "Whoa, dude. What up with dat?" (Okay, so what I really said was, "How the crap did it start speaking Spanish and how do I change it back?) Hit the menu button and CRAP. It's all in Spanish. How the crap do you change it to English if you don't know how to read Spanish? I did figure it out. Apparently "language" is spelled the same or similar enough to get it. LOL That was about the extent of my weekend excitement. I had to work Saturday morning, you know. After that I went to Si...

That's right, ya'll. This is a little bit o' where Jana lives. The LIBRARY. Can't take cred for the pic, though. That was Mama's skilz. hehehe Oh, and yeah. I've been here/there since 8:30 this morning. Yuck! The things we do for our checking accounts, you know. BUT...fifteen minutes and I'm homefree! And the countdown commences... ;-)

Please don't shoot. I surrender. I'll get back to the Thursday Thirteen next week. This week has just been NUTS. I've had two rush projects I've been trying to get dusted up before tomorrow and Saturday and to make matters worse, I discovered Flickr. Ugh! *Screams at the Universe* Why? As though I don't have enough to distract me. But yeah. Flickr. I was sorta forced to do it. No really. I was. I had a bunch of photos stored on Yahoo! Photos and guess what. Yahoo! has stinkin' decided to do away with Yahoo! Photos in order to focus their attentions on Flickr. Bah! Just another ploy to make my life that much more complicated. So, instead of simply switching my photos over I had to go and play around in it for a long while. Hence the lack of blog post yesterday and the sudden intense rush to get those projects completed. Priorities, Jana. You know, those things responsible people have? Yeah. Those. Oy! Anyhoo, now that I've pleaded for my life and given suff...

Saturday morning I got up at the buttcrack of dawn to go eat breakfast with Daddy. I had intended to get up at 6 but thanks to a faulty clock radio battery, a brief power outtage and my dumbheaddedness, I actually got up at 5:30. I wondered why it was so dark...even after 30 minutes of hitting the snooze! Realized my error when I went to the living room after my shower. Looked at the clock and it read 5:45. Doh! So yeah. Super early morning Saturday. But I got some reading done before I left to go meet him. And, you know, I ate FAR too much. It was buffet so you know I couldn't let my 8.99 go to waste! LOL It was a lot of fun, though. I can count on one hand the number of times Daddy and I hung out just the two of us when I was a kid. It's really cool that now that I'm an adult he seems more interested in hanging out with just me. And what made it even more special was that he opened up with me about some things that he'd never talked to me about. Things that I'm pr...

Wouldn't you?

First off, did I even spell that right? Anyway, so you know (or do you?) I set myself some new and improved goals as far as getting healthy (and hopefully THINNER). 15 minutes, 5 days a week for 4 weeks on my stationary bike. It's all about forming new and healthier lifestyle habits. I met the first week of my goal yesterday. (Going from Wednesday to Wednesday) Come payday, I will be the proud new owner of a DVD I've been eyeing for a while. (A no-calorie reward, you know.) Unless I change my mind and decide to reward myself with something else. I haven't decided yet. LOL It's hard making myself do this because, you know, it's like hot here in the south. And Jana? She hates to sweat. Like, really hates it. But I do it because it's necessary. Necessary for my health and my quality of life. I don't want to be a fat girl forever. But even if I never lose another pound, I will still be better off with a healthier habit than without it, right? I've started re...

It's a sauna. Or so it would seem when the a/c goes out in 100 degree heat. Not fun, ya'll. Not fun at all. Went home Monday night and the ancient artifact that passes for my central a/c is a bangin' and clangin' as though a monkey got after it with a sledgehammer. Not a sound a girl wants to come home to, no sirree, Bob. Unfortunately this happens on the day when the mercury hit the 100 mark. So, Jana and the Devil Pup drag out every fan we own and sit under them until bedtime when thankfully, it started cooling off. Needless to say, the bike did not get ridden Monday night. I did get it fi--uh, patched yesterday. The ancient artifact can no longer be properly fixed, merely shoved back into place until the next time this particular part shakes loose and leaves me in a puddle. It took from 2:30 yesterday afternoon until about 9:30 last night for the house to get back to a reasonable temperature. One more reason I hate summer. Give me winter and a warm blanket anyday ov...

Spent another Saturday lazily sorting through and ID'ing photographs. This time, at least, they're my own, instead of my mother's. ;) I still don't have any albums for them, but sorting and IDing are half the battle. I've abandoned my mother's for the moment. Her's are so far out of chronological order I could cry. Seriously. It's depressing. I need a good stiff drink before I even ATTEMPT to get back to them! Actually, I'm just craving a Mudslide and need an excuse. hehehehe So yeah, that's pretty much all I did Saturday. Worked on photographs, played with the DP and *gasp* took a nap! Yesterday was the typical Sunday routine. Church, folks' house, church, home. I'm really starting to wonder about the preacher man, though. I don't know WHAT's going on with him. He's all sweet to me, hugs me, tries to engage my dad in conversation yesterday morning and then last night... nuthin '. I'm like, dude, what's UP?! I ...

Also known as "False Hope." In case you didn't know, the south is in a drought. Yeah, we've had a shower here or there once or twice in the past couple of weeks but rain? Real, earth soaking, puddle filling rain? Nada. Not even enough to warrant an umbrella, really. Went out for lunch earlier and on the way back we "ran into" a bit of false hope by way of a smattering of raindrops. Before it could work itself into a good soaker, though, it was gone as though it never existed. Bah! Now there's the distinct voice of thunder rumbling outside. I WANT to believe we're in for a good storm but I don't want to get my hopes up. I also don't want to get my flip flops wet. hehehe In other news, I survived the week! Not that ya'll knew how perilously close I came to jumping in front of a Mac truck (if only in my imagination). Monday-Wednesday were just Ick! days, yesterday was mildly better and today, well, it hasn't sucked. It helps that today ...

I decided not to say. I had this whole mental whine prepped and ready to type but...I'm sick of myself so I won't. Lucky ya'll. ;-) Instead, I'll tell you about some good news. I got the vacation time I requested! Yay! My first real vacation in...*thinks back and counts on figers* I don't even remember! I haven't taken a week just to be taking a week in FOREVER! Seems every time I wanted to, something came up and I couldn't. Being shorthanded at work (and me being the baby of our "family") I seemed to always get stuck covering while everyone took off for various reasons. That's why THIS TIME I played it smart and asked an entire month AHEAD. Whoo hoo! Not that I'll be doing anything particularly special. Sis1 wants me to go home with her after the 4th and I figured I'd just take the two days before that to veg at home. She says we're going to do all kinds of fun stuff while I'm there. That scares me. Her idea of fun usually i...

I got nothin' to say. Not really. I'm a little "Blah" today. Ooo! But I do have some good news! My cousin Mandy gave birth to a new baby cousin yesterday. Mason Avery. 7lbs 5ozs. Haven't seen a picture of him yet. They live about three hours south of me and my aunt was supposed to send up some pics when she gets the chance. I imagine she's too enamored of him to think to hunt down a computer. lol I can't wait to see the little booger. If he's half as pretty as his mama was when she was a baby, he'll be gorgeous. So yeah. I'm a cousin again. *big grin* Hopefully I'll get to meet little Mason at some point before he enters college and/or gets married. I've yet to meet Mandy's husband and they got married in August. I've met his daughter, but not him. Weird, I know. Sis2 has the pink eye. She and Goofus both have it. Not fun, I'm sure. She's just had once crisis after another, I tell you. No one ever said pregancy would be...

Ugh! It's Monday with avengance. As thought it isn't bad enough being PMSed (like ya'll needed to know that!) I was walking into the building this morning, reached up to adjust my blouse and...oh wait. What's that? That's a...that's a tag! Yep, my friends. Jana had her shirt on inside out and BACKWARDS. That's what I get for getting dressed in a hurry and not taking a minute to check out the mirror. THANKFULLY, I realized it before anyone saw me and booked it to the ladies room to do a switch-a-roo. It just really didn't help my feelings any, that's for sure. I've been so grumpy this morning that the devil pup is threatening to divorce me, my mother is scared to talk to me and I would just as soon walk into oncoming traffic than to deal with myself or anyone else. Although, I did get a good laugh at myself. Guess God was trying to lighten my mood, huh? Anyway, on with the show. I promise, today will not be a gripefest. So, the weekend... Well, go...

Thirteen Things In My Refrigerator A conversation on one of the threads I frequent inspired this one. 1. Mayonnaise. For those rare and odd occasions I have stuff to make sandwiches. I'm not sure how old it is, though, so I might need to toss it. 2. Maraschino Cherries. I bought them to make some mini-cheesecakes and of course, it's more economical to buy the super huge jar than the little one, right? Doesn't hurt that they're tasty. And good with ice cream. NOT that I keep ice cream in my freezer. Much. 3. String Cheese. They're an excellent source of protein and calcium AND they pair well with... 4. Marinara (pizza) Sauce. Not that I actually make anything that warrants the use of the stuff but it's great dipping sauce for string cheese. Makes you feel like you're getting the whole pizza experience without all the pizza calories. 5. Sugar Free Pudding Cups. Mochacino Sundae. Mmmm ...Again, great source of calcium AND a low cal treat. And you get your cho...

Does what one keeps beside one's bed say anything about one at all? If it does...mine says I read. A lot. And I write. And I do my devotions. That's three novels, a devotional book, my journal, my weight loss journal and some pages from a mostly abandoned manuscript I took out to do some editing (and possible refreshing.) Oh, and well, there's also the trashcan and the can of bug spray. (no spiders creepin ' 'round MY bed. hehehehe ) Okay, so two of the novels were ones I'd finished reading and was too lazy to shelve while only one is in progress. (that particular novel is STILL in progress.) I do most of my reading in bed these days due to interruption by way of... Well, you get the picture. '-) Used to be I could spend hours upon hours sitting on my corner of the couch reading but now every time I pick up a book, magazine or even the manual to my dvd recorder I either get assaulted by a puppy on the chest or taunted with one of my shoes in her mouth. M...

Part One: Baking a Pie I don't do much in the way of cooking/baking. I have maybe three or four specialties that I drag out on occasion or upon request. Apple pie is one of them. I normally save this particular treat for Thanksgiving. I don't know why, but I do. However, Sis2 has been hinting for a couple of months that she was craving one so I caved and baked one this weekend. Not that I go to the trouble of, you know, making it entirely from scratch. God invented prepackaged rolled pie crusts so by George, I use 'em. Thank God for Pillsbury (or the generic equivalent!) But the booger takes ForEVER to bake and that's after you stand at the counter for an hour peeling, coring and slicing apples. An entire bag of red delicious this time. Thanks to tips from watching Rachel Ray the coring is infinitely simpler than it used to be. (Quarter the apple and then cut into the quarter on an angle to get the core.) But the peeling still takes a buttload of time. But I don't l...

This is what I've been doing off and on for the past several however many months. Needless to say, no eating takes place at the table anymore! LOL