Weird Start

I decided to put in a new set of contacts this morning. Left eye went in fine, so I opened the package for the right one. The contact felt weird in my hand. Almost thicker, but I didn't think about it too hard. I put it in and couldn't see a thing. I took it back out. I made sure it wasn't inside out, no specks of fuzz, and put it back in. Blind again; pulled it out again. Then I realized, my contact isn't in and I can see perfectly!

I won't lie to you. My first thought was, "It's a miracle! My right eye is healed!" Then I check my eye and saw it had, in fact, a contact in it. I realized I must've put my old contact in my eye without thinking AND THEN put in the new one. Nope. I had both my old contacts accounted for inside the case. I checked the garbage to make sure I hadn't pulled out two new ones for right without thinking. Nope.

The only thing I can figure, is that the new contact was actually two stuck together in the factory. Weird. Hopefully it's not an omen for the rest of the week.

March for Team Lily Jane

Some of you may know my good friend Meredith. Well, I think she's great, and I'm very sorry if you don't know her. She has a good husband and the cutest little boy at home. She also has the sweetest baby in Heaven named Lily Jane. In fact, Lily inspired Mer to start an Etsy shop where 10% of the proceeds are donated to March of Dimes in honor of that beautiful baby girl.

This spring Meredith is also walking on team Lily Jane. March of Dimes is a really good organization as evidenced here.* I'm sure Meredith would love to have you walk with her team if you're in the area. If not, another option is to provide a donation.

[Image courtesy of Meredith's design blog Lily Jane]

I know money is tight for a lot of people right now, but even small donations would be appreciated. I promise, I do not intend to use my blog as a way to solicit funds very often. :) I have very strong feelings about this cause. Unfortunately, Meredith is not the only friend I have who has lost a child. I can't even begin to imagine the pain, so I guess this is the only thing I can think to do to show my love and support. If you can, I think this is a great way to show your love and support too.

*Note: give.org is a VERY useful tool. I always try to check out a charity before giving to see how much of my donation is going to go to the program. My rule of thumb is that approximately 3/4 of funds should go to the program. March of Dimes is 77%

[Image courtesy of Meredith's design blog Just Lovely]

A Priceless Note from Ruthy

This lady here, she's my grandma. Ruthy is a lovely woman, and I completely adore her. My #1 biggest goal in life is to create a home filled with as much warmth as I felt in hers.

Grandma has a form of dementia. My grandpa passed away just over a year and a half ago, but I feel like Grandma left with him. The best option for our family has been to move her to a dementia care facility. Obviously that was a difficult decision, but she's reasonably content there.[Although that doesn't stop her from asking my mom 106 times daily why she can't live by herself.]

Clearly our relationship is very different now from what it once was. Every time I see her, she says she will write me. It's been years since she could pull together a letter. I always tell her I look forward to hearing from her and that's that. I'm content writing her without ANY expectation of a response. Well, my mom went to pick her up from church last Sunday and lo, there was a letter! A complete note to me sitting on her dresser. [Granted, not ten minutes later she said, "I really need to write Christie a letter sometime soon" but still.]

The letter is mostly small talk updating me on family events that happened anywhere from 1-6 years ago, so nothing special about what she wrote. But let me tell you, the fact that she wrote at all is positively priceless. It could easily be the last note she is able to write, especially considering we all thought her days of correspondence ended years ago. As my grandma would say, "Oh, Ruthy, I will treasure it always."

Sweet Dreams

Have you been Russian Rick-rolled yet? No? Then check this out. My friend said it best when she described him as a mannequin taught to lip-sync, but the mannequin isn't very good at it. Regardless . . . creepy.



[By the way, I know that the point of Rick-rolling is to trick the person into watching the video. I just worried the shock of clicking on a link to Eduard Khil may cause me to drop down to two followers. Don't worry, Ryan wouldn't leave. This guy is his new hero.]

A Little Jumpy

I'm a pretty jumpy person. On occasion I scream when I realize someone is standing behind me at work. But also I've met my match.

I was getting off the elevator last week and apparently surprised the new marketing intern. He actually threw his empty water bottle into the air and nailed me. Poor kid. He hasn't looked me in the eye since.

Living in a Hotel

Let me preface by saying that I love the idea of a hotel (having somebody make up your room, etc.), but in practice it grosses me out. The thought of sleeping or showering or sitting where who-knows-whom did who-knows-what actually gives me mild anxiety.

When we got married we bought cheapy sheets, and only had one set. Needless to say, after five years, they were wearing awfully thin. So thin you could actually see through them in places. We also had a comforter from Ikea (this is one thing I DON'T recommend from Ikea) that I hated. I think the down comforter actually cost less than the sheets, and feathers kept poking me in the night. Yuck.

So when this bedding went on sale a little while ago, I decided to replace all of our bedding at once. Note: we paid a fraction of what the online price shows now.

Image courtesy of Dillards.com

Basically, we don't have a nice headboard, and I still haven't bought the bedskirt yet (we have our old sage-colored one...I know, it clashes terribly). But I still feel so fancy! I've never had white sheets before, and it feels JUST like staying in a hotel. Except no anxiety! Because I'm in my very own home. Tell Hannah I think I have her beat for the best of both worlds.

A Moment of Self-adverstisement

I have so few followers I haven't had that gadget on my blog. My insecurity kept me from it, but recently I decided I should have more confidence in myself. I'm 26, not the awkward girl wondering why nobody asked me to the high school prom, for Heaven's sake! Besides, what if people wanting to follow aren't doing it because there's no link on my blog? Regardless, I decided I'm proud to have even 6 followers and have added a followers link. So even if you don't follow my blog, I hope you enjoy this catchy, though odd U2 video. Oh, and yes, I am one of the six, and so is my husband. [shrugs]

What Day Is It?

I've been having a difficult time adjusting to 2010. I keep trying to write dates like 3/3/19 or 3/3//0. Just to confuse me more, I've heard no less than three commercials for Presidents' Day sales in the last week. What? THEN two days ago I saw a Christmas Hershey's Kisses commercial. You know, the one where the green, red, and silver Kisses ring like bells? Anyway, I have NO IDEA what today is or what time of year it is thanks to all of the mixed messages. Does anyone want to clear this up for me?

This Girl Is Nuts

My fellow blogger over at Talkaholics Anonymous posted this HILARIOUS video about a funny little girl. My coworker referred to the video as "outstanding" and I hope you think so too.