Thursday, February 28, 2008

Cinnamon Bits!!!

Ok, lastnight I discovered how to actually set up the video setting on my digital camera, and this lead me to creating amazing home video's of my animals, lol. Mostly silly stuff here, but I thought it would be fun to see what it is like in my home at any given moment.



It appears to be much lighter on my computer before it was uploaded, but the last 5 seconds are the silliest, so just stick it out :)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Thoughtless...

It is time for another musical blog. I've been at the computer for a few hours after not getting home until after 7pm tonight (what can I say, it is month end).

Anyway - I won't go too overboard here. Every once in awhile I'll get worried that I know about music that other people don't know about - songs they could potentially love but they just might not have ever been exposed for some reason. So - these are those songs (mostly youtube clips... sorry)

Enjoy the Silence (Cover): Lacuna Coil - an amazing cover - lots of techno/dance bands have covered this song, but none so well as Lacuna Coil (in my opinion)



Thoughtless (Cover): Evanescence - I didn't really "love" this song when I first heard it from Korn, but for some reason the way Amy Lee pulls it off just amazes me. I love it!



Sanvean: Dead Can Dance - My mother insists that the folks at a local book store we spent a lot of time at listened to Dead Can Dance regularly, but I don't recall any of that :) This woman is amazing - she speaks in "Tongues" and for some reason it doesn't seem to matter that I don't know exactly what she is saying. This is great stuff :)



I Wish I Had An Angel: Nightwish - every song Nightwish does is of EPIC proportions. It is all so driving - I feel like I should be heading out into traffic with a sword and shield and bashing heads in while I drive. There is a particular point in this song that is very climatic and should be in a Dracula movie, for sure :)



Again - sorry for all the Youtube clips. If there are any songs listed here that you haven't heard of until this moment, and you like them (or even love them) then please tell me! One of my favorite hobbies is introducing my little sister to a particular song and having her love it. One example of that is "You Better Wait" by Steve Perry. But, to be fair, she introduced me to "If You Could Read My Mind Love" by Gordon Lightfoot. I guess we are trying to one up eachother on sad/sappy love songs, lol. Some other great accomplishments of mine include getting Josh into The Moody Blues (although he still has no love for 311...pshaw) and I've even got him loving Gogol Bordello :)

As always, I love to be edumacated on the ways of music, and I love discovering new artists to love (new to me... they don't necessarily have to be "new").

Sunday, February 24, 2008

The Grown Up Thing...

With my 25th birthday creeping up on me, I've been reflecting a lot on what it means to be a grown up, and specifically why I am having such a miserable time doing the right thing... the "grown up" thing.

Example: Josh and Kerith make money. Said money is deposited into our bank account every two weeks electronically. Kerith has gone through the trouble of setting up most of our accounts through bill pay. Kerith and Josh make enough money to pay our bills, yet for some reason Kerith HATES to get the mail, open the mail, read the mail (ie, read the bills) and is CHRONICALLY late on bills. Bills that we have money to pay. This of course costs moolah us in the form of "stupid" tax because we end up paying late fees. This is so dumb, yet I'm continuously stumbling upon the steps required to get the bills paid on time. The obvious first hurdle is getting the mail. I really do have a mail problem.

Now, in this instance, the somewhat glaringly obvious solution would be *duh* to have Josh take care of the mail/bills. Yeah, it does make sense. BUT - no no no, I don't want to do that. Come on, people. I can do this. I can walk my happy ass to the mail box (that is LITERALLY 30 feet in front on my house... I mean, RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE!!). I can turn the key, grab the mail, maybe even every day! And is it really all that difficult to walk the mail back into the house, sort through it, shred the junk, pay what needs to be paid, and file the rest away?

Ok - when I look at it that way, it seems like a lot of steps. Perhaps that is my aversion to the process - I can't simply "get the mail" and be done with it. I've got to do something with all that mail. Hey - that is the grown up thing to do, right? Take action?

There are many more things in my life that I can apply this same problematic cycle to. Should I hand them all off to Josh? Is that really an appropriate solution? You know, in my house, the laundry doesn't fold itself (or wash/dry itself for that matter) the pets don't feed themselves, the dust is perfectly capable of bringing itself INSIDE the house, but needs a hand in leaving. The weeds out front? Yeah, those have to be pulled, and the dog crap outside isn't as biodegradable as it should be, or at least not as quickly as I would like it to be. These are all things that need to be done, and yeah, it isn't convenient, they aren't things I enjoy doing, yet I can't expect Josh to be the grown up in the relationship and do them all.

Of course, another big problem here is that Josh and I are both suffering from a BAD case of lazy-ass-itis. The mess piles up around us, and we both would rather spend time in front of our computer screens than tackling the responsibilities in our lives. What kind of parents will that make us? Will I have the same aversion to diaper changing?

All of these problems loom up before me, these character flaws, personality traits, issues... they need to be addressed, conquered. I'm tired of feeling anxious about the mail, the bills, the housework, the animals. I know we aren't all naturally blessed to have the drive and internal responsibility needed to always do the right "grown up" thing, but that doesn't mean I can't force myself into it. Plus, I consider myself to be somewhat of a problem solver. There has got to be an easier way to get these things done. Perhaps I can attempt to streamline the blecky crap in my life to make it happen more efficiently (because lets face it, I doubt cleaning up the cat box is every going to get "fun").

So - all you responsible grown up type people out there, how do you handle it? What are your tips, tricks, suggestions? I'm looking for help people! I'm trying to give myself a 25th birthday present that will last a lifetime!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

MeMe

So, I've been tagged (thanks Not So Stay At Home Mom, who apparently appreciates my musical sense). Tagged by the MeMe influenza. Ok, maybe it isn't a disease, but it IS a fun game that bloggers apparently are playing amongst themselves. Or at least one other blogger is playing by herself - except I'm playing now, too - so that makes at least 2 people playing. It is almost a trend :) This seems to be similar to the "tag you're it" games on Myspace. Fine - I'll play!

Here are the rules:

Post about the meme and link back to the person who tagged you. (Thanks for the shout on your blog, Not So SAHM. Oh - and readers of my blog, you would most definitely dig hers, too --- check it out!). Go back through your archives and link to your five favorite posts.

*Link One: must be about family.
*Link Two: must be about friends
*Link Three: must be about yourself
*Link Four: must be about something you love
*Link Five: can be anything you choose.

Tag 5 other people (2 being people you would like to get to know better).

My Own Posts:

1) A post about family: Try this is probably my favorite family post back at my old blog about my little sister moving in with me.

2) A post about friends: Hmmmm - this was HARD! This is as close as it gets, where I sort of accuse a friend of only being "pro-McCain" because he is afraid of being butt raped, but I do not have access to this anymore. Sorry (I guess now I know I need to write about my friend more often)

3) A post about myself: Easy - I wrote some good stuff about the miscarriage here:

4) My favorite post about something I love: Again, EASY! I love so many things, but the thing I love most is Steve Perry! Revel in his amazingness here ... mmmmm, tasty.

5) My fav post about whatever I want? How about this: Strong All Along

Now the FUN part: Tagging 5 other people (2 being people I would like to get to know better).

1) Leah @ aboyandagirl.com: She is fun, and I can relate to a lot of what she has been through lately.

2) Holly Burns @ Nothingbutbonfires.com: Holly was the second blogger ever that I found and followed - I am lately most interested about her "unrepressing" of childhood memories :)

3) Ms. Underestimated doesn't get enough press, check here out here. I enjoy her conservative outlook on life.

4) Romi cracks my ass up!!! She is hilarious! I can't believe she is from Canada. She belongs here, in the good ol' U.S. of A. Oh, who am I kidding - all the real talent (Alanis, Barenaked Ladies, Avrile...) are Canadian. Check out Romi here, and single dudes, she needs some good lovin'!

5) Rebecca Wolf at Girls Gone Child is amazing. Another one of those actual writer types, like Holly Burns and Leah. GGC has recently discovered that she is pregnant again.

-------

So, that is all for this installment of Meme. Not as easy as I thought it would be because I had a "ditch my blog" problem earlier on. Thanks for the challenge anyway, Not So SAHM :)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Strong All Along...

Disclaimer: All you uninterested Men types, father-in-laws, anyone else who is not interested in reading about women stuff, stop reading :)

Back To "Normal"
I'm happy to report that my period has arrived! This is a momentous occasion, for it means that all is well in va-jay-jay land, and I can commence with the baby making. I don't think I have ever been HAPPY to see my period - well, except for once when I was 12 and I was desperate to finally get my first period (I quickly regretted this longing after the first arrived). I'm not sure why, but this seems to provide closure to the last pregnancy for me. My body is no longer under the influence of rogue pregnancy hormones and I have an official date in which I can predict the due date of the next pregnancy (November 24th, as a matter of fact, if we conceive this cycle). I'm excited to have another chance at pregnancy, and I'm excited to BE EXCITED about the whole thing. The last pregnancy really caught us both off guard, and we didn't know what to make of it. Of course we eventually came to terms with it all, but never the less, it is great that Husband and I are both looking forward to an eventual positive pregnancy test. I imagine the event will go something like this:



And in preparation for carrying our future spawn for 40 weeks, I'm having one last hurrah tonight and saying goodbye to all the "bad" stuff I love so well. Goodbye fast food, Diet Mountain Dew, Low Carb Rockstar, Two Buck Chuck, Sam Adams Master Brewer Collection and general 'Unwell' being. I gladly sacrifice my sanity for you, future baby Gaines. I pledge to get the recommended dosage of folic acid before bed each night. I promise to drink more water. I swear that I will get my ass moving (in a non-jarring way, of course, I don't want to give my future offspring shaken fetus syndrome after all). I'll do my best to take it easy, rest, try not to spazz out and get all crazy about work stuff. Oh - and I promise to get the nightly recommended 12 hours of sleep /nod.

Oh, and most of all - I promise to enjoy every minute of this future pregnancy, and not be in such a rush to get you past the "Shrimp" phase. That is right - you can be a shrimp for as long as you want!

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Not An Addict...

My ongoing battle with caffeine addiction is something I will allow to fester for the next several weeks, at least. After four weeks, I am officially not testing positive on a pregnancy test any longer. This really is good news for me. I hated being in limbo, wondering if curling up with a bottle of tasty alcohol goodness was hurting anyone but me. Now I know that I can safely drink my 24 oz can of Rock Star and consume around 2 liters of Diet Mountain Dew throughout the day, and I'm just slowly killing myself, lol. Actually - I'm not entirely convinced that I really am drinking all that much caffeine. I think 1 cup of coffee has some ridiculous quantity of caffeine - like 300 mg. That is just about what my can of Rock Star has in it. I'm definitely consuming less than 1000mg a day of the stuff.

Other stuff I'm going to do now that I know for sure I am not pregnant? Well, it is back to my crazy chicken from a can diet. Lean protein and vegetables - just to lose a little weight. I'm trying to convince myself that on my birthday I'm going to give myself the gift of health and embrace some sort of organic "all natural" way of eating, and actually step on a treadmill, perhaps. Is that actually a gift? Should I call it Birthday torture instead of?

I think that so long as good, upstanding citizens of Arizona also allow themselves to embrace the horror of a caffeine problem, I shall as well.

Baby Watch 2008:

Let the games begin! With the recent discovery that I am officially no longer pregnant, we are trying to knock me up again. If I can somehow get pregnant in the next month, I can actually still have a baby in 2008. No pressure, or anything, Husband.

Summer Time, and the Livin's Easy:

With the weather creeping into the upper 70's, I know that before long I will melting my hands on the steering wheel of my black Jeep Liberty in 110 degree heat. But, I take it all in stride, for the sweltering heat makes certain music sound so much better. 311, Sublime, Goldfinger, Astrud Gilberto, Steve Perry --- these are all musicians found on my "Kerith's Summertime Sound Track." Am I the only r-tard that has seasonal preference for music?

Because Husband recently changed his mind about music in my posts, I am going to go ahead and embed a playlist I created over at Imeem.com with my favorite Summertime Songs. Listen, enjoy.



What are your favorite songs for the Summer?

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Constructive Criticism

That is what the Husband threw my way this morning. "You cuss too much and embed too many MP3's and You Tube clips in your blog." Oh really? I guess I do cuss a lot on here, but it isn't anything I wouldn't say in person. Josh just doesn't like it when I curse because it doesn't sound lady like. But really, he should be more understanding. I learned every curse word I know from a long line of crazy cursing Purcell women. My formative years were spent in the back of my Mother's station wagon picking up on every word that left her mouth. Not only does cursing excessively run in my blood, but road rage is also rampant. The drive to and from Litchfield Park in elementary and middle school was filled with bad words and bad drivers. Mom did go through a phase in which she tried to tone down the language, but we kids loved the new "not so bad" words just as much because we fully understood the intended meaning of them and also because we could actually SPEAK these words without having our mouth's washed out with soap. Oh, what, you thought that was an urban legend?? Not so! I had my mouth washed out after one of my dear siblings rat finked me out for stringing the words "Bat" and "Stard" together slowly to create bastard. We were all thinking of creative ways to curse without necessarily cursing, but somehow I was the only one who got busted for it. Grrrr. ANYWAY - My mother is not the only one cursed profusely in my childhood years. Not at all. Mom was merely the apprentice to the Sith Lord June. No one cursed better then my Grandmother! I know that Husband wants me to stop the filthy language on this blog, but I can't stop completely without sharing the foulest and most horrific derogatory term for a person my June June ever uttered. Slimy Twat. Yep, that was all her invention. For some reason it didn't sound quite as bad coming from her mouth with the British accent and all. I sure do miss that lady.

In regards to Husband's other complaints criticisms, I really would hate to resort to describing why I love the songs I am embedding rather than just letting you hear them and making you guess why. Perhaps I could think of some sort of compromise and only embed MP3's/Music Video's in here once a week? Of course this is going to force me to fill this blog with content which could mean the ultimate demise of this here web log.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

The Honorary Title

I don't know exactly how long these guys have been around, but I am smitten by "The Honorary Title" and somewhat ashamed to admit that I first heard of them tonight on One Tree Hill. In OTH's defense, they usually have some damn solid music. For once, I would like to discover a band before OTH does, lol. Anyway - back to "The Honorary Title." According to Wikipedia: The Honorary Title is an indie rock band hailing from Brooklyn, New York. The band released their first album in 2004, Anything Else but the Truth, which was later re-released with five additional songs and two bonus videos.

The group is currently touring with Cartel in promotion of their second studio album, Scream and Light Up the Sky, which was released on August 28th, 2007.

Jarrod Gorbel (The lead singer and guitar player) definitely fits my definition of gorgeous with his ghostly, thin good looks.

To me, it is like Depeche Mode meets the Killers. I dig. Check out this song:

(it is called Thin Layer)



and another good one:



That is all (because Josh is stomping around the house waiting for me to come to bed :)

Monday, February 11, 2008

Dog Poo and Weeds

The Weekend
Despite spending several hours picking disgusting mess up from the front and back yard, I truly had an excellent weekend. The sun was shining and the temperature was perfect for being outdoors (even if it involved picking up dog mess and dandelions). Actually, it became quite apparent how OUT OF SHAPE I am as two days after the event I am quite literally feeling the pain in my quads and calf's. Josh and I also spent all day Sunday shopping. We found an awesome (alternative non-down) down comforter, and all sorts of undergarments that we have been needing at Costco. We also moseyed our way down to Trader Joe's for some Trader Ming's gourmet Chinese food. Oh, and I can't forget the ridiculous amount of money we spent at Fry's for groceries this week. All said and done I think we came close to $300.00 spent on one measly Sunday afternoon!

Speaking of Chinese stuff, what is up with all the espionage coming from their general direction lately. Damn. Don't they remember what we did to the Rosenthal's? Of course now-a-days we probably can't do ANYTHING to them. I personally think it would be amusing to steal the Olympics away from China and give it to a country more deserving... like Mexico... /nod. I hear the Illegal Immigrants from Mexico are all kinds of pissed that they aren't getting rebates from the US Government, so maybe hosting the Olympics in their home country will give them the incentive to return.

Politics
I am intrigued by the Obama-Clinton situation going on right now. I have a hard time imagining that Obama will win the nomination. COME ON people, we are talking about the Clinton's here. They are dirty, scandalous politicians that will do whatever it takes to win. Oh, and in Hillary's defense, what the hell does Obama stand for anyway? At least I know all the ways in which Hillary will fuck this country over. Obama, however, well, I am clueless. I assume that he will destroy things in the typical liberal fashion, but who knows, really.

Oh - and if Uncle Tommy is reading this - someday Josh and I will convince you to come to the dark side.

Musical Monday

Good New Stuff
Amazing things on the musical front. There is this band out now that really seriously reminds me of Green Day (whom I loathe due to their incessant rantings on why they hate America - can't musicians just SHUT UP ALREADY). Of course, this band goes by Foxboro Hot Tubs and they swear up and down they have nothing to do with Green Day. This song is called "Mother Mary" and you should listen and appreciate it:



Random old Stuff:
I searched the internet through lists of "These were my favorite songs during this year" posts - I found this song popped up a lot:



Random Sad Song:




Random 'Get You in the Mood' song:


I discovered this song after purchasing the latest Isley Brother's album for the song "Contagious." This song is AWESOME! Seriously - listen to it. And then lay that special somebody down by the fire...

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Cigarette

Neat video for a song I adore:

What The Eff?

Why Politics Suck:
Seriously, I can't keep up anymore. I can't believe that Romney dropped out of the race. Ok, I can believe it. I'm irritated, though. I'm angry that Steve was right. I'm mad that I have to vote for McCain. I guess the real reason I'm upset is because McCain was LITERALLY my last choice out of all the republican candidates. I would have been happier with anyone else, but I guess I'll be happy with McCain now. Sorta. I guess as his own mother put it, I'll be holding my nose as I vote for him.

Why Miscarriages Suck:
I meant to take a pregnancy test last week to ensure that I tested negative so that when I took a "real" pregnancy test around the 12th I wouldn't get any false positive results. Anyway, I forgot to take the test last Friday and decided to go ahead and take one yesterday. I was 99.9% positive that I would get a negative result since it had been 3 weeks since the miscarriage. Well, wasn't I surprised to get a big fat positive on the test. /Sigh. I'm dumb. I don't know when I ovulated after the miscarriage, I may not have even ovulated yet, so I really don't know what to make of the result. For now, I'm just going to assume that there is some residual HCG floating around in my system, and I'll test again in another week. If I end up with a darker line, then I need to get my butt to the doctors.

One of the blogger chicks that I pay attention to recently discovered that she is pregnant: Girls Gone Child

Another site that is link worthy: http://orgjunkie.com/: This lady is crazy about getting her life organized and keeping it that way. I think we could all learn something from her, and I could probably learn a lot more than most since I'm completely inept at anything of the sort.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Oklahoma... /yawn

Ok, not to be a major jerk or anything, but I was seriously underwhelmed by Oklahoma. First, I land in Oklahoma City - the BIG city. Not so much. Kinda reminded me of a small town in Arizona. After arriving in Oklahoma City, I went through the process of collecting my rental car, got stuck with a Mustang (again... every time I travel for GE I always end up with a Mustang for some reason). I had requested GPS, but of course this was not available, so they decided to "treat me" with Satellite radio. Of course, Sirius radio was not functioning in the 'Stang, so I was left to try and find a somewhat ok station to listen to for the two hour drive ahead of me. Oh, and speaking of which, Enid, OK, is really easy to get to from Oklahoma City, but in true Map Quest fashion, they had me doing some of the most absurd things. For example, they had me get off I-35 on to OK-66 for no apparent reason at all. It took me 10 minutes to realize this before I turned back around to get on the I-35. Gay.

Enid was also underwhelming and cold. The nicest hotel in town was the Ramada Inn. Pretty swanky, I know. This is the type of town where the girl who works at the Ramada Inn has a boyfriend that comes and sits in the lobby every evening and watches TV on the big screen there. Oh, and all her friends come and use the computers in the lobby, too. It was rather irritating. Oh, and everyone wore an abundant amount of clothing while swimming in the INDOOR pool. Why is that? I thought that was something we developed in AZ to prevent sun burns. I also temporarily forgot where I was geographically located and was confused why everyone sounded like they were from Texas. I thought my Father-In-Law was the only who pronounced the L in Salmon. I guess I was wrong :) Did I mention that Enid was depressing? Yes, it was. The coolest place in town was the Hobby Lobby near my hotel, and the Ross that saved me from developing frost bite with an amazing $8.49 coat that I will definitely be able to use in the future. They had a small shopping mall in town, but a lot of the stores were closed. I guess I don't really see the economic recession we are supposedly facing right now in the US, but I think a big part of that is AZ being such a desirable place to live. People are still moving here in droves from other places. Sure, we have a few more houses than we need at the moment, but we will get past that here. I can kind of picture Enid, OK becoming a ghost town of sorts.

The coolest part about this trip was definitely the snow factor. I've only been in the snow once before, so it was pretty cool to play in it again. Of course, it would have been even cooler if I had realized that a snow scraper was in the trunk of my car.

So, on my all time cool places list, Oklahoma is probably not going to make the cut. Here are some picture I took, an an accidental video I took because I don't know how to work a camera.











Sunday, February 3, 2008

Super Bowl, Super Tuesday, Super Romney

You know what, I like Mitt Romney. And apparently, he is doing well in polls over the weekend. He won the caucus in Maine yesterday and Romney is also leading McCain in California.

Oh, and according to Rasmussen Reports, the race remains close...

Finally, I hope that the Giants beat the Patriots. I have no interest in either team really, but I'd like to see the Patriots lose.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Spring is in the air...

I know every other person in the country who might possibly read this blog is thinking I must be losing my mind, but if you live in AZ, you might understand. Today Josh and I decided to enjoy some fine Chinese cuisine (panda express) and it was absolutely amazing outside. Probably close to 60 degrees, there was a slight breeze, and it felt wonderful! Is spring coming a little early this year? Or is it always like this in February in Arizona?? All I know is that Josh and I only have a few more weeks before we can start fixing up the backyard and planting our new tree's and bushes! I'm terribly excited! We have settled on several citrus trees for the backyard, and I think I have almost convinced Josh to give me the purple sage bushes to replace the dead bougainvillea in the front yard (I know, I didn't think it was possible to kill a bougainvillea either, but we managed, lol).

So, with any luck, the backyard and the floors should be finished within about 8 weeks! Then it is on to the bigger task of actually decorating this house. The way I see it, with the housing market being what it is right now, we aren't getting out of this house for SEVERAL years! So, I might as well make this one nice to look at. My friend Misty and I have been raiding dollar stores and thrift stores in search of picture frames and other decorations, so I have a nice stockpile going. Now all I need is some furniture and poster frames which cost far more money than I want to spend!!

It is ridiculous, but I really want new couches. I don't know what was going on in our brain when we bought the mammoth couch that we did about 2 years ago, but the damn thing takes up our entire great room area. Seriously - it is big. Don't get me wrong, it is comfortable, but I just think it is silly to have such an enormous couch when we don't spend much time in the living room area anyway. Plus, Guinness (in his formative years) used the couch as a chew toy. What we are left with is a destroyed sofa that is just much too large. Of course, new couches aren't cheap. *sigh* I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Josh thinks we spent too much money on the couch to just get a new one two years later (he does have a good point). I suppose I shall just suffer!

Other furniture I need includes a dining room table, and some form of coffee table for the living room. In time!

I guess I shall finish this post with an embedded playlist I found on imeem.com. It is loaded with gems from the 80's!