My Day

Do you ever have those days where you swear your brain has just packed up and gone on vacation? I think I have more then my fair share of those days, like when I went to work with my slippers still on, or when I forgot to wear deodorant to work or even, (gasp), a bra- I still don't know how I managed that! Anyway, today was another one of those days for me. Well, not the entire day, but certainly the last few hours of it.

First, I was standing in my boss' office talking to her about some tax issues while swinging my security badge around on the end of the lanyard. Next thing I knew, my badge swung up and I smacked myself in the mouth with it. I stood there for a second, looking at my boss to see if she had noticed, which, OF COURSE, she did. Then I said the only thing that came to mind, "Ow!" Thankfully at that point she burst out laughing with me. I'm sure my boss already doubts my intelligence; this probably is just icing on the cake for her.

Not an hour later, I was in Wal*Mart with Spence picking up a few essentials. Matt called while I was doing the self-check out. I managed to scan all of my items and even found the right code for my grapes. I waited for a few moments, but I couldn't figure out why I wasn't getting a receipt. I was done. I had scanned everything. I had pushed the "Finish & Pay" button. I had bagged it all. I had... wait... no... I hadn't paid yet. THAT was why I didn't get my receipt. My heavens. Guess I can't talk on the phone and do self-check out at the same time.

So I hung up with Matt, paid for my items, and walked out of the store. I started to unload my cart when I realized that I didn't have anything in my cart! Nothing. I hadn't grabbed even ONE bag from the bagging area. I had paid and then left. So of course, I went back to get my bags, hoping nobody had noticed and ran into one of the Wal*Mart workers running out with my bags. *sigh* What do you say at that point? "Thanks... I'm just an idiot. Don't mind me."

My next dumb thing was to come home and first thing tell Matt all about it. At least it had him rolling on the floor laughing at me, literally.

I think it's about time to go to bed... I've done enough for today. :-D

Some New Photos

Joining the fun

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Vegas Vacation

We went down to Las Vegas last week, kinda for the 4th. We flew in Tuesday evening and left on the evening of Friday the 4th. We both needed a break from work and whatever stresses we had going on. And it was well worth it! We had a great time.

We flew on Jetblue, which was a first for me. Did you know that they have little tv's on the back of every seat? You can watch DirectTV for free with your own headphones. We watched The Office the whole way down there. It was the fastest flight I've ever been on! Here's a photo Matt took with my camera out the window of the plane, (proving that no matter the camera, he knows how to take a great photo!):



Matt got us a room at the Bellagio with a view of the fountains - pretty cool! We spent the first night running to the window every 15 minutes to watch them go off! Housekeeping came in twice a day to clean up and even replenish our chocolates. :-D This is the view from our room:



And here is Matt proving that he really is suave enough to be staying at the Bellagio:



The next day we spent some time at the pool, walked around a bit, had lunch at Todai, an all-you-can-eat sushi bar. mmmm... it was good, although not the best that I've had. However, you can't complain about all-you-can-eat sushi for $13 a head. Afterward we wandered around the Miracle Mile Shops and stopped for the rainstorm:



That evening we went to a show and then went out with my best friend from high school, Krissy, her brother, Kit, and his wife, Kirstin (pronounced Kerstin), and a whole mess of boys who were hoping for Krissy's attention. Some things never change!

We had a pretty good time, but we stayed out WAY too late. We were supposed to meet up with Krissy the next night, but we decided we actually wanted to relax on our last night in Vegas. We spent some time at the chocolate fountain place, (I don't know the name of it):



Then we went out front of the Bellagio and Matt took some AWESOME photos of the fountains:

The last day we ate a chocolate and berry crepe for breakfast in bed, ate at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, took some more photos, and then came home!

Over all, it was a fun trip! I'm glad we went! I'm also glad we came back when we did and still had a few days to rest and before having to go back to work.

Piano Lessons

Spencer has been asking me for music lessons for a few months. I've been dragging my feet about it for a couple of reasons; 1. practicing takes a lot of time and that's something we don't always have a lot of; 2. music lessons can be pretty costly, especially if you have to buy a new instrument; 3. I don't want to have him start the lessons and then quit once he finds out how much work it really is. However, even after explaining all of this to him, he still wanted to take them. He initially asked for piano lessons, then violin lessons, and finally guitar lessons. After talking to a few music teachers we found out that piano is the best instrument to start with and will set the child up with a good foundation. Since we already have a piano, this worked out well for us!

I talked to Spencer before hand, and explained to him what I had learned about starting an instrument. I then let him choose what he wanted to do with the understanding that he would have to stick with it for a least a year. He chose to start piano lessons. We interviewed a couple of teachers and had a mini lesson with each of them. After these, he still wanted to do it. So we picked a piano teacher and set up weekly lessons.

Yesterday was his first official lesson, book and all. It went really well to begin with. He remembered the hand positions and sat with proper posture. He was responsive and attentive while learning to count out each note. He even made it through 4 songs before he realized he was actually going to have to work a little. I could see the exact moment when he started to get frustrated with himself. I think the teacher realized this soon after and she quickly wrapped up the lesson. She complimented him and told him that he was very talented and that he did an excellent job. I was so proud of him!

Of course, once we walked out the door he told me he was done. He doesn't like piano lessons; they aren't fun. We sat and talked about it for a few minutes and he cried a bit, but in the end he decided he's going to stick with it, (which is good since I wouldn't have let him quit just yet anyway).

It was so frustrating though! On the one hand I completely empathize with him. I remember what it felt like to get frustrated with how much there is to learn on the piano, and I expected it to happen with him as well. I just didn't expect it to happen after the first lesson! On the other hand, he agreed before hand that if I signed him up for piano lessons he would stick with it for at least a year. I don't want him to learn that once something gets a little hard, you bail. He needs to know that you stick with it. Ultimately I think I handled it alright, but it wasn't easy to keep things in perspective.

As far as the teacher goes, I really like her. Of all the teachers that we met I felt like she was the most comfortable with teaching as well as being well educated. We'll see how the next month or so goes, but I have high hopes.

He did get up this morning and start practicing right away. He did well, and was pretty excited to get to summer camp and tell his friend that he had practiced the piano already. Sounds like he just needs to take a break when he gets frustrated rather then push himself.

Big Freaking Spider

Here is a picture of the Big Freaking Spider that I had to kill tonight:



I know I should have put something down next to the spider before I took the picture, but honestly it was hard enough just taking the picture. So here is a quarter for comparison:



I generally don't freak out about spiders and am pretty good about taking care of these things on my own. THIS one, however, totally freaked me out. Doesn't it look like he was looking at me?!? And I don't care what anyone says, that spider was way bigger then the quarter! I had to call Matt to provide moral support, (which means he made fun of me until I got up the guts to squished it).

I still feel like I have spiders crawling on me.... ew!