Sunday, January 28, 2007
Supermarket Gold
Ben and I went grocery shopping today and while walking down one of the aisles we happened to pass the book section.
Which is where we saw this:
I thought we were going to get thrown out because we were laughing so hard. Thank you, random book arranger. You made my day.
Which is where we saw this:
I thought we were going to get thrown out because we were laughing so hard. Thank you, random book arranger. You made my day.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Freewebs!
I may be a total loser and late to the game on this one, but, on a fluke while researching free hosting sites for a client at work, I just discovered Freewebs!
It's a totally awesome, totally free, user friendly site that you can use to build your own website from. They have a bunch of pretty swank templates to choose from and you may even be able to tailor it to your specific tastes if you're tech savvy enough. You can also import your existing profile from places like MySpace, xanga, friendster and more.
I just put together a page for myself to see how it works.
Check it out!
Marlena's Freewebs Site
It's a totally awesome, totally free, user friendly site that you can use to build your own website from. They have a bunch of pretty swank templates to choose from and you may even be able to tailor it to your specific tastes if you're tech savvy enough. You can also import your existing profile from places like MySpace, xanga, friendster and more.
I just put together a page for myself to see how it works.
Check it out!
Marlena's Freewebs Site
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A new car!
No, I'm not impersonating Bob Barker, nor did I win the showcase showdown, but I DID get a new car last night!
Ben and I have been pinching our pennies since I sold my old car, my Ford Explorer (a.k.a. Zero), so that I could get a new car after we paid off some bills. We sold Zero because he was a gas guzzler and he only had 2 doors. Not a good car for kiddos, because there's no way I'm wrestling a car seat from out of a two door.
I give you Shaak Ti:
She's a 2007 Nissan Versa and she's tricked out to the max! Not really, she's got a sunroof, so that's "tricked out" in my book.
First off, I wasn't planning on buying anything off the lot at all. I had built my car on the Nissan website and I went into the dealership prepared to be as shrewd as possible to get my way. Then we hit a brick wall when Ben and I were told that the Versas were selling like hotcakes and they only got in maybe 2 to 4 a month and they didn't know what they were going to get color wise or option wise when they DID come in...
Gulp. There went my blueprint for the perfect car.
The first dealership we went to only had one Versa that I test drove. I loved the drive, but the car was meh.
It was white. I hate white.
It had a spoiler. I HATE spoilers.
And did I mention it was white?
The poor little salesman was VERY nice, but he didn't speak English very well and we had a hard time communicating to him what we were looking for and how the process would work if we had to wait for the next shipment to come in. We gave him my cell phone number and left. I was pretty sad that I hadn't been able to put an order in for my car.
We decided to try another dealership just to see what they had and there she was. Shaak Ti had just come off the truck, still wrapped in plastic and waiting for a home. Ben and I went round and round deciding if we should wait to see what other Versas came in or if we should go ahead and buy the one they had.
I guess it's obvious what choice we made.
Ben and I have been pinching our pennies since I sold my old car, my Ford Explorer (a.k.a. Zero), so that I could get a new car after we paid off some bills. We sold Zero because he was a gas guzzler and he only had 2 doors. Not a good car for kiddos, because there's no way I'm wrestling a car seat from out of a two door.
I give you Shaak Ti:
She's a 2007 Nissan Versa and she's tricked out to the max! Not really, she's got a sunroof, so that's "tricked out" in my book.First off, I wasn't planning on buying anything off the lot at all. I had built my car on the Nissan website and I went into the dealership prepared to be as shrewd as possible to get my way. Then we hit a brick wall when Ben and I were told that the Versas were selling like hotcakes and they only got in maybe 2 to 4 a month and they didn't know what they were going to get color wise or option wise when they DID come in...
Gulp. There went my blueprint for the perfect car.
The first dealership we went to only had one Versa that I test drove. I loved the drive, but the car was meh.
It was white. I hate white.
It had a spoiler. I HATE spoilers.
And did I mention it was white?
The poor little salesman was VERY nice, but he didn't speak English very well and we had a hard time communicating to him what we were looking for and how the process would work if we had to wait for the next shipment to come in. We gave him my cell phone number and left. I was pretty sad that I hadn't been able to put an order in for my car.
We decided to try another dealership just to see what they had and there she was. Shaak Ti had just come off the truck, still wrapped in plastic and waiting for a home. Ben and I went round and round deciding if we should wait to see what other Versas came in or if we should go ahead and buy the one they had.
I guess it's obvious what choice we made.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Hello World
Laura had her baby yesterday. I think she has Josh's nose, and Laura thinks she has her chin (she was swaddled up so much I couldn't really tell, but she's the mom so I'll take her word for it) but either way, she has tons of hair!
Say hello to London:
I promised Laura that I would not post any pictures of her, post baby. She looked tired, but I must say, she looked a lot fresher than any of my other friends have looked after having their babies.
London is cute as a button and has an army of love behind her.
Congrats to Josh and Laura!
Say hello to London:
I promised Laura that I would not post any pictures of her, post baby. She looked tired, but I must say, she looked a lot fresher than any of my other friends have looked after having their babies.London is cute as a button and has an army of love behind her.
Congrats to Josh and Laura!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
My cool meter just went up a few notches...
Or possibly my nerd meter, but who's taking notes?
My mom bought me the raddest box set of DVDs EVER this past Christmas, and after watching the pilot of this show, Ben and I were reminded of something that I either never knew, or don't remember as a kid.
The DVD set I got? She-Ra: Princess of Power, Season One, Volume One.
The cool thing I learned? She-Ra and He-Man's mom was named after ME!
That's right, Queen Marlena. If Ben's name was Randor, I'd have to pinch myself.
My mom bought me the raddest box set of DVDs EVER this past Christmas, and after watching the pilot of this show, Ben and I were reminded of something that I either never knew, or don't remember as a kid.
The DVD set I got? She-Ra: Princess of Power, Season One, Volume One.
The cool thing I learned? She-Ra and He-Man's mom was named after ME!
That's right, Queen Marlena. If Ben's name was Randor, I'd have to pinch myself.
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Ben's Birthday Bash
Last night we celebrated Ben's birthday with a dinner at Abuelo's Mexican Embassy and some cheesy horror movies. Mother Nature attempted to thwart our efforts at every turn by slinging freezing rain on us from about 4 o'clock that afternoon to... well, it's still pouring down rain as I type this.
Thankfully we have really awesome friends who made the trek out to wish Ben a happy 30th, risking life and limb in the nutty weather.
Chris, Lori and I also had a devilish plan that we pulled off without a hitch, and given our track record, is something of a miracle in itself...
Let me start off by saying that Ben is a VERY private person and he doesn't like a lot of fuss on his behalf. He's content with low key just about everything and, since one doesn't turn 30 every day, I thought it would be a fun thing to embarrass the crap out of him at dinner with a costume and props. Luckily, Ben is ALSO a VERY good sport and puts up with my antics like a patient parent does with their rambunctious 5 year old.
Part of our plan was to have me get Ben out of the house a couple of hours before dinner so that Lori and Chris could sneak into our house and decorate it for when everyone came over after dinner to watch crappy movies at our house.
Chris and I snuck off during the week so I could "help" him "shop" for Ben's birthday present, when what we really did was go shopping at the party store for decorations. We had the brilliant idea to do a hodge podge of children's party themes and we bought several items from the Batman, Star Wars, King Kong, Sesame Street and generic pirate selections. Ben also was to be the proud recipient of an authentic sombrero, pirate eye patch and a metallic sash proclaiming him to be, simply: "OLD!". I think we had more fun shopping for the decorations than Ben actually did enjoying them. We also bought a few "30" themed items to make it complete.
We even came up with codenames for the operation. I was "Wombat", Lori was "The Falcon", Chris "Le Tigre" and Ben was "The Dove" (he was told his codename after the cat was out of the bag).
I baked Ben a carrot cake, his favorite, and we had a fun time watching a fun little movie called "Bio Zombie" that Rich brought over. It was AWESOME and completely cheesy, right up our alley. We were planning on watching another great classic movie, The Castle of the Walking Dead, starring the one and only Christopher Lee, but due to the weather, mishaps that led to a late, late start of dinner, we only had time to watch the one movie before everyone had to go home for fear of being killed on the road by crazies, or getting iced in due to an ice storm watch.
All in all, Ben was completely surprised by all the trouble we went to for him, and he promptly told me this morning to never do it again. HA! He had a good time, but he can go another 30 years without that kind of embarrassment. Thank the lord for alcohol, because Ben probably wouldn't have been such a good sport about everything if it weren't for the invention of the margarita.
I put pictures up of the evening for your viewing pleasure in my photo gallery in the parties section. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, and I added a new picture of Chewie in the cats section of the gallery. Ben and I bought the cats a new bed, so of course, Chewie and Fizzgig have been avoiding it like the plague ever since we brought it into the house. We decided to put the bed up on our bed (when we aren't using it), which is where they've taken to sleeping all the time, to try to coax them into it.
Today, it finally paid off. Check it out.
Thankfully we have really awesome friends who made the trek out to wish Ben a happy 30th, risking life and limb in the nutty weather.Chris, Lori and I also had a devilish plan that we pulled off without a hitch, and given our track record, is something of a miracle in itself...
Let me start off by saying that Ben is a VERY private person and he doesn't like a lot of fuss on his behalf. He's content with low key just about everything and, since one doesn't turn 30 every day, I thought it would be a fun thing to embarrass the crap out of him at dinner with a costume and props. Luckily, Ben is ALSO a VERY good sport and puts up with my antics like a patient parent does with their rambunctious 5 year old.
Part of our plan was to have me get Ben out of the house a couple of hours before dinner so that Lori and Chris could sneak into our house and decorate it for when everyone came over after dinner to watch crappy movies at our house.Chris and I snuck off during the week so I could "help" him "shop" for Ben's birthday present, when what we really did was go shopping at the party store for decorations. We had the brilliant idea to do a hodge podge of children's party themes and we bought several items from the Batman, Star Wars, King Kong, Sesame Street and generic pirate selections. Ben also was to be the proud recipient of an authentic sombrero, pirate eye patch and a metallic sash proclaiming him to be, simply: "OLD!". I think we had more fun shopping for the decorations than Ben actually did enjoying them. We also bought a few "30" themed items to make it complete.
We even came up with codenames for the operation. I was "Wombat", Lori was "The Falcon", Chris "Le Tigre" and Ben was "The Dove" (he was told his codename after the cat was out of the bag).
I baked Ben a carrot cake, his favorite, and we had a fun time watching a fun little movie called "Bio Zombie" that Rich brought over. It was AWESOME and completely cheesy, right up our alley. We were planning on watching another great classic movie, The Castle of the Walking Dead, starring the one and only Christopher Lee, but due to the weather, mishaps that led to a late, late start of dinner, we only had time to watch the one movie before everyone had to go home for fear of being killed on the road by crazies, or getting iced in due to an ice storm watch.
All in all, Ben was completely surprised by all the trouble we went to for him, and he promptly told me this morning to never do it again. HA! He had a good time, but he can go another 30 years without that kind of embarrassment. Thank the lord for alcohol, because Ben probably wouldn't have been such a good sport about everything if it weren't for the invention of the margarita.
I put pictures up of the evening for your viewing pleasure in my photo gallery in the parties section. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, and I added a new picture of Chewie in the cats section of the gallery. Ben and I bought the cats a new bed, so of course, Chewie and Fizzgig have been avoiding it like the plague ever since we brought it into the house. We decided to put the bed up on our bed (when we aren't using it), which is where they've taken to sleeping all the time, to try to coax them into it.
Today, it finally paid off. Check it out.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Happy Happy Joy Joy
Goodbye Lily...
Monday, January 01, 2007
Hello 2007
Chris brought his Wii over and we rung in the new year, nerd-style.
We played the bowling game (among other things) and this was our final score. Chris, Ben and me, respectively. We couldn't have pulled this off if we'd tried. Booze helped, a little.
We played the bowling game (among other things) and this was our final score. Chris, Ben and me, respectively. We couldn't have pulled this off if we'd tried. Booze helped, a little.
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