* Could it really snow? *

They're calling for 1 to 3 inches of snow tonight and early tomorrow morning here in Chattanooga. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've seen snow, and I'd love a little bit to come our way!

Not ice, though. I can do without that stuff.

Love, love, love him!

I know you'll love Mika, too. How could you not?!?
Here, have a listen ...

I'll be back soon

There's just something about three days off in a row that can really make you feel like work just isn't your thing.

That's what I'm dealing with at the moment, but I'm proud to say that I'll be back in my usual mindset soon. I can feel it ... I think.

Anyhow, I'm still alive. Maybe I'll even blog in the next 24 hours ... I do have to tell you all about my marathon shopping trip with my fearless friend Holly (who, I might add, can now say she's been to an IKEA, Crate & Barrel and a Pottery Barn). I feel so proud to have been a part of that.

More soon, I swear.

My freezer is melting ... literally

Have you ever seen anything like this before? The bottom of my freezer has melted ... and this is the second time since Friday this has happened.

When I got back from Atlanta on Friday morning I smelled a burning odor coming from my kitchen. When I walked closer to my refrigerator and opened the freezer door, the smell hit me in the face. The bottom part of my freezer had completely melted away and I ran to the phone and dialed my landlord to get someone over ASAP. I was petrified my freezer would catch fire.

Anyhow, so the maintenance man was here in a matter of 10 minutes and said I'd overloaded my freezer, which made the bottom cave enough to touch the compressor or whatever the motor thing is that turns the defroster on and off. I had a very hard time believing that I'd overloaded my freezer, considering there were only about 6 or 7 Lean Cuisines, a couple packs of chicken, some frozen strawberries and a bag of ice inside. It may sound like a lot, but it really wasn't, I swear.

So, he took everything out, unscrewed what was remaining of my freezer floor and replaced it with a new one. After he left, I dumped the ice and re-arranged everthing else so that the food was not touching the area that had been melted. I thought all had been resolved.

I was wrong.

This is what the inside of my freezer looks like now ... it's not at all overloaded, and as you can see from the first photo, it's taken to melting again.

I don't know what to do. I suppose I'll call my landlord in the morning, but I honestly think they'll be pissed that it's happened again. Surely not ... I've been here four years and this is only now happening. It's got to be something wrong with the freezer, right?

Have any of you had this problem before?

Today's word: Relax

So far today I have:

• Gotten out of bed
• Watched part of Rachael Ray's show
• Brewed a pot of coffee (I drank the whole thing)
• Read seven chapters of "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (a book which I'm loving specifically for its lack of literary substance ... sometimes we all need a fun read, don't we?)
• Taken a shower (and I didn't even condition my hair ... it's that kind of lazy day)
• Eaten leftover Chinese take-out
• Emptied the garbage

And now I'm trying to decide what to do next. To be honest, my sofa is looking good - especially if it involves a pillow, a blanket and a good movie. Oooo ... I did get the five-hour A&E version of "Pride & Prejudice" for Christmas!

Gotta go!

Had to do this

I nabbed this from Cady's blog. I got a couple laughes out of some of the answers.

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

So, here’s how it works:
1. open your library (itunes, winamp, media player, ipod, etc)
2. put it on shuffle
3. press play
4. for every question, type the song that’s playing
5. when you go to a new question, press the next button
6. no repeat artists
7. no cheating and doctoring your list to make yourself look cooler than the person you took this from, you selfish bastard.

opening credits:
Live a Long Time - Rusted Root

first day at school:
I Feel Love - Blue Man Group

falling in love:
Head Bobs - Black Eyed Peas

breakin up:
Summer Breeze - Seals and Crofts

prom:
Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode

sex scene:
Wreck of the Day - Anna Nalick

life’s ok:
Roam - B-52's

mental breakdown:
Lightness - Death Cab for Cutie

driving:
Via Chicago - Wilco

flashback:
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) - Michael Jackson

getting back together:
Little Room - The White Stripes

birth of child:
Standing Outside the Fire - Garth Brooks

wedding scene:
Landfall - Jimmy Buffett

final battle:
Letter to Elise - The Cure

death scene:
Meet the Pressure - Her Space Holiday

funeral scene:
Undertow - Tool

end credits:
The Awakening - Jennifer Nettles Band

Minivan maniac

My life flashed before my eyes this afternoon.

Well ... really all I saw was a concrete highway divider coming at me rapidly ... But when my car finally came to a complete stop, I did consider all the things I've yet to do on this earth and counted my blessings that I hadn't yet met my maker ...

Then I wiped the hot coffee from my trousers and tried not to toss my cookies.

But that's beside the point, I guess.

The point is, I'm alive tonight by the grace of God and my uber-quick reflexes. You see, a woman driving a not-so-'mini' minivan was in quite the hurry this afternoon on the freeway. She was compelled to weave in and out of traffic at rapid speeds, nearly clobbering more than one innocent commuter (my hand is raised here) in her path.

Unfortunately for me, Little Miss Speed Demon cut it a bit too close. This left me no other option than to slam on my brakes while swerving away from her but toward the concrete highway divider. A man driving the brand-new Mercedes behind me ended up in the pseudo-emergency lane, as well, as cars zoomed past.

Had I not hit the brakes, she'd really have sent me into the wall, along with a number of cars that were coming up behind us. I know she realized the accident she nearly caused, but of course she didn't so much as slow down to make sure everyone was OK. The woman kept going, cutting another driver off to move to the next lane.

People like that truly piss me off. She had no regard for anyone but herself, and quite literally could have seriously injured someone in her rush to God knows where.

Sometimes don't you wish you had the authority to issue citations to idiot drivers? I know I do.

I can't believe my eyes

It appears as though sex therapist Dr. Ruth now has a regular slot on the children's show Between the Lions on PBS.

As Dr. Wordheimer (clever, isn't it?), she plays a therapist who helps characters overcome their fear of long words.

Interesting ...

And then there's the words, themselves, who aren't happy with their meanings. After a little rearranging, the words are given a new lease on life. Take for instance, the epiosode I've just stumbled upon ... the poor little word "S-T-O-P" felt limited. So, Dr. Wordheimer took away the S and T, added an H and ta-dah! ... Who doesn't like the word "H-O-P"?

Is it me, or does anyone else find Dr. Ruth's presence on a children's show a tad bizarre, distrubing, creepy and way out-of-place? I wonder how the little old lady who writes and talks about all sorts of sexual pleasures and issues was even mentioned for a role on a kids' show ... much less added as a member of the cast.

I'll be waiting for the episode about the word "H-E-X." Can anyone guess what letter could be added in place of the "H" to make this sad, sad word feel happy?

This will be mine

Go ahead ... Click on this picture I scanned from the IKEA catalog and tell me how great this will look in my living room, won't ya?

In a couple of weeks I'll be making another trip to that happy yellow and blue store in Atlanta. Only this time I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be plunking down some serious moolah instead of my typical $20 here, $40 there.

You see, I feel it's time that I have furniture that matches. No more of this, "Hello, I'm nearly 30 years old, but you wouldn't be able to tell it by the looks of my mismatched, college-style 'ecclectic' vibe I've got going on in my tee-tiny place."

I'm done with pieces that "sort-of" go together if the light hits them just so. By the end of the year, I'd like to have my livingroom and bedroom in order.

I crave a warm and inviting space that looks thought out, but not so much so that you can't touch anything for fear of messing it up.

There's only one small problem ...

I have the worst time spending large sums of money. But it seems like I'm always shelling out $200, $300 or $400 for car repairs, so it shouldn't be too hard to spend that money on something that makes me feel at home in my home, right?

I sure hope so, because in a couple of weeks I hope to have this TV/media combo for my very own.

The Great Kitchen Reorganization of 2007!

Remember my new year's (anti)resolution to become better organized? You do, don't you?

Well ... last night my kitchen was transformed into the Mecca of organization. At least to me, it is.

I began with the junk drawer ... the dreaded drawer filled with God knows what from Lord only knows when.

Inside I found:

1. 4-year-old craft paint
2. A variety of multi-colored threads
3. Thumb tacks
4. Gum ... lots of gum
5. Towels, towels and more towels
6. Battery charger
7. Pinking shears
8. Lint remover
9. Recipe cards
10. Collapsible flying disc

And that's only to name a few items inside the junk drawer abyss.

After a good 45 minutes of rummaging through the good, the bad and the ugly, I did it. The drawer was clean, and those things I hadn't so much as thought of in the last four years were in the trash - because who really wants a beat-up checkbook cover or a Valentine's Day card from someone you dated in college?

Not me.

Oh, but that wasn't the end of it! Next up were my cabinets - filled to capcity (and beyond, to be honest) with mugs, glasses, candles, tins and festive plates and napkins for every occasion. It was ridiculous, to say the least.

So, everything came out of the cabinets. All items were sorted, with those going to Goodwill wrapped up in newspaper and boxed up, and the other things set aside so I could wipe down the insides of the cabinets.

Here's a picture about halfway through the madness. I wish I'd have taken a "before" photo when I first started tearing everything apart.

And here is the finished kitchen. I know this doesn't show you much, but at least I can close the cabinets and find what I'm looking for these days!

Next up: my dressers. Say a little prayer that I make it out of that organization alive!

Oh, I've switched over to the new Blogger. Who knew posting pictures could be SO EASY?!? Thanks to you all for holding my hand through this transition. I couldn't have done it without you!

I hate change

It looks like I'm going to have to go to the new version of Blogger sooner than I'd have liked. It seems that Flickr won't let me post photos to my blog now that I don't have the new version of Blogger.

Today I was going to share with you the Great Kitchen Reorganization of 2007 that happened last night, but alas, Flickr is siding with Blogger in the fight to swtich Stacey over to the other side.

I think I'll wait until tomorrow.

Til then ...

Two whole years

It's been two years (and a couple of days) since I started this blog. It's hard to believe it's been that long, and yet sometimes it seems like forever!

So, happy blogoversary to me! I wish we could all go have a drink!

iPod addict = Me

The trouble with getting a fantastic Christmas present is that it's taking over my world. ... And I love it!!

Jim was truly in a giving frame of mind this Christmas when he bought me a new 30 GB video iPod. I didn't deserve such a spectacular gift, but I'm so thrilled to have one of my own!

I've loaded it up with most of my CDs, added photos and am trolling the iTunes store looking for TV shows to download just in case I ever feel the urge to whip out my iPod and watch an episode while on a trip, at the doctor's office or while in one of those never-ending lines at Target.

I've not been blogging in the last several days, and now you know what I've been up to. I promise to try to put the iPod down a little more often.

But for now, I'm going to rock out a little longer and feel like one of the cool kids with my pretty black music machine.

Viva la iPod!

Happy New Year!!!

This picture pretty much sums up my New Year's Eve.

After 18 years of friendship, Allison and I really know how to crack each other up. Don't ask what we were laughing about (or why my hand looks deformed, for that matter), but I do believe we laughed so hard that tears rolled down our cheeks more than once last night.

I couldn't have asked for a happier New Year's, and I hope you all enjoyed your night, too!!