Thursday, February 26, 2009

Happy Anniversary

To my honey,

Nine years ago tonight, you made my dreams come true. You made me a wife, half of a whole. We gave the Lord a commitment to stay with each other through richer or poorer, sickness and in health, for better or worse, til death do us part. We've been richer, we've been poorer, we been healthier and we have been sicker. We've been better and we've been worse, but I love you more and more each day.

I loved you then, I love you now, and I will love you forever.

Til death do us part.

With all my love,
Laurie

Thursday, February 19, 2009

My Thought for Thursday

This morning, as I was driving in to work, I was thinking about what I currently wish for.

When I was 5, I wished I was older so I could stay up later.
When I was 13, I wished I were 16, so I could get my license.
When I was 18, I wished Price Charming would find me.
When I was 25, I wished Price Charming would marry me.
When I was 30, I wished Prince Charming and I would have happy, healthy babies.

Now, a few years later, I wish someone would sneak in and wash my kitchen floor.

I think it’s a fair wish. After all, my other wishes all came true!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A few numbers!


On Tuesday, President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus package into law Tuesday and readied a new $50 billion foreclosure rescue. That totals $837 billion. Let’s put the zeroes in for fun:

$837,000,000,000

I don’t really comprehend an amount that high, so I ran some numbers.

According to the Census website, the estimated US population in 2006 was 299,398,484 people. Sixty-three percent were between the ages of 19 and 64. There were 105,480,101 households in the year 2000.

So these stimulus and foreclosure packages work out to:

$2,795.61 per person in the United States
$4,437.47 per person between the ages of 19 and 64 in the United States
$7,935.15 per household in the United States

If you spent one million dollars a year since Christ’s birth, you would have only spent $2,009,000,000 (that’s two billion). To reach the stimulus amount, you would have had to spend $416,625,187 a year. $416 million. A year.

If you wanted to buy shiny Volvos so you could be a stupid shiny Volvo owner (Twilight Reference, not an insult) you could buy 25,518,291 of them (or maybe a few less if you wanted all the options). 25 million of them. Wow, you would have a lot of friends.

If you had $837 billion in your pocket, you could win the Power Ball lottery 4286 times (but I bet if you had $837 billion in your pocket, you wouldn’t be playing the Power Ball lottery).

If you owned Foxwoods Resort and Casino, it would take you 348 years to make that much in revenue (based on this report).

If you made $100,000/year, it would take you 8 million 370 thousand years to make that much.

That’s pretty interesting, no?

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

My Life Soundtrack

How to Play:
Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, Boombox, etc)
Put it on shuffle
Press play
For the first question, type the song that's playing
When you go to a new question, press the next button TWICE
Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...just type it in! Wicked funny!!

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

Opening Credits - Welcome to My Morning (John Denver)
Waking up - On This Night of A Thousand Stars (Evita Soundtrack)
First Day of School - Gone With The Wind (Soundtrack)
Falling in Love - Thick As A Brick (Jethro Tull)
Fight Song - Daisy (Halfway to Hazzard)
Breaking up - Pride (In the Name of Love) (U2)
Prom - Stars (Les Miserables Soundtrack)
Life - The Thenardier Waltz of Treachery (Les Miserables Soundtrack)
Mental Breakdown - Staying Alive (The Bee Gees)
Driving - The Black Rider (Howard Shore, Lord of the Rings Soundtrack)
Flashback - Lord The Light of Your Love (Graham Kendrick)
Getting Back Together - The Unforgettable Fire (U2)
Wedding - The Virginia Company (Pocohantas Soundtrack)
Birth of Child - Silent Lucidity (Queensryche)
Final Battle - Be Prepared (The Lion King Soundtrack)
Death Scene - On My Own (Les Miserables Soundtrack)
Funeral - Wedding Chorale, Beggars at the Feast (Les Miserables Sountrack)
End Credits - The Dance (Garth Brooks)


Looking back on the memory of the dance
we shared beneath the stars above ~
For a moment all the world was right ~
But how could I have known you’d ever say goodbye?
And now, glad I didn’t know the way it all would end,
the way it all would go ~ Our lives are better left to chance.
I could have missed the pain
but I’d had to miss out of the dance!
~ Garth Brooks

Monday, February 9, 2009

Monday, Monday

Sometimes the revolutionaries win and this week, I feel like they are gaining on me… I am such a Tory!

"Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?"


And congrats to Coldplay for their Grammy Awards!

Friday, February 6, 2009

25 Things About Me ...

I was tagged in Facebook to write 25 random things about me. I thought I would share them with you… Remember, they are random!

1. My first name was originally a boy’s name. My mom was apparently trendy before it was trendy to be trendy.

2. My birth certificate is filed in the Cook County Clerk’s Office. (This is also an obscure movie reference. Anyone get it? Orange whip anyone?)

3. There is no three.

4. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I endeavor (though fail often) to be more like Him. He raises me up so I can stand on mountains.

5. I married a chef/farmer/domestic engineer/cabbie/gambler who makes me laugh! He is the perfect match for me and I can’t imagine growing old with anyone else.

6. I love big hair bands, country music, 70s easy listening (such as Carpenters, Neil Diamond), classic hippy rock, Yanni, hip hop, show tunes and movie scores. But my favorite song is “Juke Box Hero” by Foreigner. My life is a musical in my head. I may break out into song at a moment’s notice. I know all the lyrics to the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Most of the dialog too. So if I start singing, just join in. And why yes, John Denver AND Barry Manilow are on my iPod. I am almost 40. I can embrace my geekhood if I want to! I write the songs that make the whole world sing!

7. (7 – 8 – 9) I believe in fairies. Hear that, Tinkerbell? I do believe in fairies.

8. I. HATE. SPIDERS.

9. I am a Twilighter/TwiHard/Fanpire/Crazy Obsessed Lunatic. I have read Twilight three times, the rest twice. I am totally Team Edward. I adore Edward almost as much as Mr. Darcy. I can make anything into a Twilight reference. I want to be a stupid shiny Volvo owner. I saw the movie at midnight opening day with my Twilight shirt. “Trust me, Bella.” Sigh!

10. I love Mr. Darcy. Even my five year old knows I love Mr. Darcy.

11. My hobbies include reading, sewing, scrapbooking, card making, jewelry making and general crafting with my children. I love making stuff. I wish I were better at it.

12. My house is haunted by “guys” and a little boy. They seem to not want to hurt anyone and so we live in peace. (And I’ve threatened to exorcise them if that changes!!)

13. Backyardigans is my favorite show on Noggin (Oh, and by the way, Joe is so much better than Steve!) LOST is my favorite “adult” TV show. I cannot stand cooking shows or reality TV. Utter torture. I would watch more shows about hauntings because it fascinates me, but then I get creeped out and have to sleep with all the lights on. Refer to #12.

14. I love camping with my family in our pop-up trailer. This makes me very happy. Sitting by the fire, toasting marshmallows, making popcorn! Ahhh, sweet bliss.

15. I have a very low tolerance for pity parties. GET OVER IT. Think you have it bad? Watch this and get back to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4uG2kSdd-4

16. I have a “blood” sister and a “blood” brother, but I can’t remember my blood brother’s name. I can remember though that Damon and Chris gave us band-aids 

17. My passport is expired. How am I going to visit all the Club Meds in the world without a valid passport???

18. I’m becoming a townie!

19. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be on a tropical beach, with no toot of the angry horn. Or Vermont. Or Alaska. Or maybe an island off the coast of Maine. But definitely NOT Kansas or anywhere in tornado alley.

20. I have seen the aurora borealis from both Boylston and Northborough. I would love to see it from the night sky of Alaska. Someday…

21. I think I should have been a geologist. I have a weird obsession with rocks, gems and I maintain a sand collection. Yep, should be a geologist. But considering it has a heavy course load in physics, mathematics, chemistry and possibly biology, I would have flunked out. Oh well.

22. My house is a mess. I have a feeling it will be that way until the girls go to college. I don’t obsess about it. Please do not ever eat off my kitchen floor. It will never be clean enough.

23. My favorite movies are Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Pride and Prejudice, Hunt for Red October and Sleeping Beauty. I love romance movies and action movies. I do not like horror or kung fu or bizarre dramas. I love everything Pixar has done and Steve Jobs is my hero! I might even go Mac if I ever have to buy a laptop. I just will never get in an elevator with him…

24. I have never watched “Titanic” and never will.

25. My life may appear to be boring and meaningless and while I may never achieve greatness or “success”, I am the center of the universe for two beautiful little girls that I have been blessed with knowing. And that, my friends, is all that matters!