A little something special for the weekend

The newspaper crime report will read something like this:

A young Texas woman died yesterday after exposure to Cornuts. The specific cause of death is not being released at this time, but a police investigation is underway. Bystanders report that the victim was among what appeared to be a group of acquaintances. Suddenly the woman thrashed violently and collapsed. When bystanders rushed to give assistance they found the woman surrounded by bags of opened Cornuts. Police records indicate that various flavors including Original, Ranch, Garlic, Bar-B-Que, and Nacho Cheese were collected and marked as evidence.

Medical records indicate the victim did not have allergies that would cause such a reaction. The acquaintances were questioned and it was revealed that the incident was an elaborate prank on the victim because of her disdain for Cornuts. Unfortunately this prank has turned into a tragedy and a young life was loss.

Police have not pressed any charges but do confirm that they may soon charge the mob of so called friends with snack-icular homicide. While this charge has never been bought before the District Attorney has stated he can prove premeditation on the account of all participants in the prank and intends to pursue the charges to the full extent of the law.

Yep that’s how it will all end for me.

I’m sorry I’m not in right now, if you leave a message at the beep, BEEEEEEEEP

I will be at a conference for school Thursday and Friday and while I like to think that my presence from the blogosphere is detrimental to its whole existence, I realize that I am just a blip on the blog radar.

But just in case you tuned in for a quirky new post I would like to direct you to what I believe are some of my best work in this whole blogging thing we are doing.

Click on a link and enjoy some vintage kpinion (circa fall 2004 or spring 2005). These oldies but goodies will wet you appetite for some new posts to come next week.

Now don’t read them all at once but savor each post and save some for Friday, lest you blow all this entertainment on a quick fix. I will give you a heads up that some of these are LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG. Grab a coffee and a donut and enjoy.

If you want to learn a little bit more about me then feel free to check this out.

I’ll take “About Kpinion” for $300 Alex

Here are my personal Favorites with the Top Ten first and then the honorable mentions:

Top Ten (in no specific order)

Just Say No to Prime Rib

All In

The morning my silky pillows revolted

Did he think this was the circus?

Granola

I need a hero

City of a thousand lights, millions of putt putt courses, and of course Yakov

Untitled

What is normal anyway?

Grocery Store Surprise



Honorable Mentions (in no particular oder)

Here come the 80’s

Don’t be Dishin Me

In response to a question posted at Me and My Skirt

The prayer bandit strikes again

ROUSes

1 Bride, 5 Beauty Queens, and a baby that hadn’t pooped for two days

No more products

Like a big baked potatoe

One fuzzy moment or should I say foamy

Where is that pesky apply with the sleeping potion, and who is the wicked witch with the magic mirror?

Hey remember me

Many of you might know of my sister-site Me and My Skirt. A link may be found just to the left of this post. It is where I chronicle the antics of myself and my many skirts (check out the site for the throughout process of this statement). I just wanted to let you know that it is up and active again (or will be more active then it has been this summer as my skirts took a short hiatus while capris and slacks replaced them).

Jes has shared some concerns before that I may not be able to keep up two blogs and yes it is a challenge but rest assure Kpinion will always be first and foremost but MaMS is a fun little side show for your to check out.

P.S. In an effort to keep you well informed: School starts in 3 weeks (OMW - OH MY WORD) so I will be posting but alas it will be spotty at some points and it may seem like I have disappeared from the blogosphere but know that I am here silently lurking and I will be in full force after the craziness of the start of school calms down. Also these next three weeks and the few after those when school is in the starting stages are always good breeding grounds for great posts.

And then there was one

Summertime, summertime. So am I the only person that remembers this Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff jewel. Yes I did just admit that I listened to the Fresh Prince.

Summertime = Summer hours. Ah to work at a school. Thanksgiving break, Christmas break, Spring Break, I love the breaks and I do not take them for granted. Also if you work for a school then summer is a magical word that evokes the images of sleeping in, easy work load, and more breaks. Now when you work in the administration of a school instead of the classroom summer does not mean three months off but in my case it means three months of summer hours. Half days, starting late, leaving early, only four hours, bliss.

Today was not a summer hours kind of day. It began like any other monday with a staff meeting and prayer and then an hour later I stepped into a meeting and all of a sudden it was 1 p.m. (quitting time). If only a whistle had blown and the next shift had shown up and I could go home and nap. But alas there is no whistle, I am all the shifts, and napping sounds like a sick joke.

So here is ti 5 p.m., four hours after I was supposed to leave for the day and I am still here working. Now I'm not complaining, I realize I have a lot to do before school starts and it has to get done. Ok I am complaining just a little. See I am a long range planner, I like to begin brainstorming for the next school year as soon as the new one begins. Why you may ask? Because it will take that long to get adequately prepared for the next year. Trust me I've done it before. Last minute planning drives me INSANE. When there is a scheduled event on the calendar and we haven't even spoken about it each day that passes is like a ticking time bomb to me. I am just waiting for the explosion.

So I sit here at my desk making a to do list that would rival the IRS code for filing taxes. I am counting down the days before each major landmark on my calendar and I am realizing that but for someone figuring out how to freeze time and giving me a crash course in this ability I will no longer trust in the words "summer hours". Alas August is upon us and my freedom has vanished.

This is my Monday.

Yea just like that

I went to dinner with my mom and one of my sisters tonight. We were discussing movies and my mom asked my sister if she owned The Secret of Nimh. Now this is one of my FAVORITE childhood movies and I stumbled upon it one afternoon and sat entranced drawn into the story of Mrs. Beasley. I also realized that I knew the words to the ending credits song after all these years.

So back to dinner. When my mom mentioned The Secret of Nimh I said that I loved that movie.
This was the following conversation:

Older Twin: That movie makes me cry.

Me: It has a happy ending but Nicodemus, the old wise rat, does die.

OT: Just like in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Me: Silence and then laughter: Yea just like that

We're normal right?

Teenage mutant ninja turtles, heroes in a half shell, turtle power. Yes I do remember that cartoon theme song also. I have mad skills.

I stand corrected, I was wrong (note that people since one of my bad habits is always having to be right) the theme song says turtle power not ninja power. Here are all the lyrics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heroes in a half-shellTurtle power!

They're the world's most fearsome fighting team (We're really hip!)
They're heroes in a half-shell and they're green (Hey - get a grip!)
When the evil Shredder attacks
These Turtle boys don't cut him no slack!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Splinter taught them to be ninja teens (He's a radical rat!)
Leonardo leads, Donatello does machines (That's a fact, Jack!)
Raphael is cool but crude (Gimme a break!)
Michaelangelo is a party dude (Party!)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Heroes in a half shellTurtle power!

And yes I did just sing that in my head.

No tagbacks please

I got tagged, so to appease Jes here we go . . . .

What I was doing ten years ago:
The year was 1995 and I was enjoying the summer before my senior year. I had likely just returned from Kanakuk Kamps where I was in the oldest teepee (yep I said teepee). I was also working with StuCo (Student Council for the unenlightened) on freshman orientation. I may also have been at Yearbook Camp (yes there was such thing and it was cool) because I was the co-editor of our yearbook. I was SUPER involved at school so I was very busy in the last July, early August times. Oh yea I was also getting my outfit together to be the Ryan Raider mascot. Picture me in khaki pants, khaki shirt, brown suede west, leather bomber jacket, brown felt cowboy hat, and a WHIP. Yep I had a whip and I learned how to crack it.

5 years ago:
The year was 2000 and I was working at Kanakuk Kamps. I would be my second to last year and I would be getting ready for my second senior year of college. I was mysteriouly moved out of my house over the summer by fellow roomies so I was homeless at the time and living in a teepee (there it is again, the mysterious teepee)

1 year ago:
The year was 2004 and I was most likely sitting at my desk working as I am now. I was probably doing almost exactly the same thing I am doing this summer which is work, a bible study, and just relaxing when I can.

Yesterday:
Yesterday I worked (are we seeing a pattern here). I took a nap that was supposed to be half an hour and turned into an hour and a half. I read my chapter for my bible study (oops I am way behind on that). I pondered world peace and what to do with the rest of my life.

5 snacks I enjoy:
- Chips
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Fruit
- Honey wheat pretzels
- Ice cream

5 songs I know all the words to:
- Hold on by Wilson Phillips
- We build this City by Starship
- Paradise City by Guns and Roses
- Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice
- Any cartoon theme song from the 80’s

5 Things I would do with $100 million:
- pay off debt (mine and my families)
- go to grad school and get a masters and then doctorate
- build my mom her dream house
- build me my dream house (later when I am married though)
- Travel, travel, travel, travel

5 locations I would like to run away to:
- Ireland
- Scotland
- Italy
- Colorado
- Washington D.C.

5 bad habits I have:
- Always having to be right
- Always having to be right
- Always having to be right
- Rationalization
- Always having to be right

5 things I like doing:
- reading
- going to movies
- driving in my car with good music
- discussing anything
- sleeping

5 things I would never wear:
- miniskirt
- thigh high boots
- tube tops
- obnoxoius plaid or florals
- too much lace (actually anthing other than a little lace)

5 TV shows I like:
- LOST
- ALIAS
- West Wing
- anything on the History channel
- random shows that I’m sure noone else watches

5 Biggest joys of the moment:
- competing a project
- spending time with friends
- kicking the dizziness that sidelined me this morning (vertigo is a no no)
- all my clothes are clean and put away
- looking forward to a trip to kanakuk

5 Favorite toys:
- new computer program at work
- cell phone (never leave home without it)
- my watch (I am a simple girl)
- umm I’m out, I don’t have a lot of toys

Nerdy by Nature

My friend Aimee told me that she has a friend who use to be called this and I thought it fit perfectly with this post.

Our school got a new computer program this week. A program that I have been pushing for for the last two years. A program that will make my life 100 times easier in the amount of data entry and superfluous programming work I do.

I am EXCITED for this new program. Maybe a little too excited. We are still setting it up so it is not fully operational and I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on it and do all kinds of fun data operational stuff. And yes I consider this fun. Anything that makes my day easier or at least more efficient and produces a higher quality of work is ok with me.

So that is why I have been absent the last few days from the blogosphere. I'm having too much fun with my program to post but do not fret, soon the new and shiny program will be old news and I will return with vigor to my beloved blog.

That magic moment

Last night I celebrated a birthday with four of my most favorite people. There are always those few souls that you always have a good time with, are never bored, and leave feeling like you've only begun to be together but also feeling like you have known each other forever.

Roger, the husband of Just Say Jes, decided to surprise her for her birthday with dinner at The Melting Pot and invited me and Eddie, PostedNote, along since we are all gaming buddies. We had a BLAST.

First off, The Melting Pot might be my most favorite restaurant in the entire world. They serve fondue, yummy, delectable, delicious fondue. We decided on a four course meal with an appetizer of a cheese fondue, a salad, our main dish of tenderloin, sirloin, duck, chicken, and salmon, with vegetables. Then we finished off with a flaming turtle chocolate fondue with dark chocolate and caramel (hold the nuts). The meal was FANTASTIC, our waiter was funny and very attentive and the evening was overall AMAZING.

I would never be able to share with you the entire evening so I will just share with you some of my favorite quotes (which I recorded that evening on the back of Jes’s birthday card envelope).

Jes: I bet if someone ate my butt it would be tender.

Roger: Mojo
Jes: Is it Mojo or Moho
Chance (our waiter): It’s Moho
Eddie: You better watch what you call me

Roger: I got all excited because it was pumper.

Eddie: Dark and caramel, that’s what I use to be called.

Katie: V.Q., I’m the vice queen and Jes is the Queen.
Roger: I’m the V. Quee

Katie: Like the firebreathers at the circus. I use to be in the circus.
Chance: You were a carni.
Katie: Oh no the carni are so not the same as circus people.

Eddie: I’m a grown ass man, I don’t need no rock candy stick (said when his coffee arrived with rock candy for adding sugar)

Jes: My pants are sticking to me like vinyl seats.

And as a preview for my next post this is what I gave Jes for her birthday:

City of a thousand lights, millions of putt putt courses, and of course Yakov

I like road trips . . . . most of the time. I like to drive I should say and give the qualifier that I like to drive when there is little or no traffic. I even like to drive alone. It is almost calming and relaxing to get behind the wheel pop in a book on CD or my favorite road trip music and just enjoy the scenery flying by (and it is flying because I like to drive at high speeds when I am on a road trip). From one of my previous posts you may have noticed I took two road trips in short succession.

Road Trip #1 – On to Branson
I got to play tour guide on this road trip. Some schoolmom-friends (they are moms frin my school that are friends or as I like to refer to them “my old lady friends” or “sister chicks”) were dropping off their daughters at Kanakuk Kamps for summer kamp. I just happen to have spent 6 AMAZING summers on staff at Kanakuk so I know all things kamp and therefore all things Branson and all things on the fastest route to Branson from D-town.

So we set off in the perfect soccer mom car, an Expedition, at a reasonable hour of 9 am. Me, two moms, two daughters, and our little stow away (actually another student from our school that was also going to kamp) headed out with our car full of road trip stuff and three trunks strapped to the roof. After a layover at the Chick-fil-a (where we ordered a total of 14 times, gotta love the chicken in a biscuit) and the pick up of our stow away we were on the road.

Now I had assured the moms that I knew the tried and true fastest way to kamp and we were in a road race with another family that had left an hour earlier from the same street as our departure and were taking a different route. It so happened that as we pulled on to the turnpike that both parties would be traveling on we were RIGHT BEHIND the other family. In fact my co-pilot called the competition (because all things in life are a competition, even driving to kamp) as we pulled on the entrance ramp to check on their status and found out that they were in our vicinity. She then instructed them to hit their tail lights and low and behold there they were 100 yards in front of us. This astounded my co-pilot and she was fairly perturbed that the other mom and myself were not as amazed as she was.

I was in fact more proud that my way was indeed faster and we had met them after starting an hour later and stopping way too many times (this is a good place to note that I am an expert roadtripper – I stop only when absolutely needed and I like to clump my stops into one (bathroom, lunch, and gas all at once) – this allows for optimum traveling time).

The trip was long no less because I was traveling family style (instead of single Katie kamikaze style – thank you dad for making us “hold it” for 30 more miles on road trips because I know have the bladder control of a camel – for example one 6-7 hour road trip and I only need one bathroom break – if I was determined I could even wait until we reached the destination – yes people I am that good).

One point of interest was that my co-pilot has the bladder of an ant (do they even have bladders? Or better yet does she? Or is it just one long track from her esophagus to her urethra?). So with this non-existent bladder we were at odds in regards to bathroom stops and procedures. This of course did not deter her from performing her urinary needs. She proceed to do what is never allowed on road trips and squatted in the front floor board with a perfectly positioned sonic cup and relieved herself right there in front of me. I was dumbfounded with what to say, what to do. Is it rude to watch her pull off this peeing feat or since she is doing it right in front of me is it my freedom to inspect her technique. Suffice it to say that we are good friends and I know way too much about her bathroom history that this was not surprising or shocking but more of a natural occurrence in her world.

While the peeing incident might have been the highlight of the trip I do have one more item to post about. When we got to the kamp I knew the down-low on the whole checking in procedure as well as a good portion of the leadership staff. Since there were two moms, two daughters and our stow-away I got to play mom, I repeat PLAY MOM. I helped our stow away, who was 13 and going into 8th grade, get moved into her teepee (feel free to ask questions about that tidbit).

As we enter, the counselor (who couldn’t have been more than 20) said so sweetly, “Shea you and your mom can make your bed if you want”. Wait, did she just call me mom, yep she did. Now I realize that at 27 I am a good deal older than this counselor but I am not the mother of a 13 year old. Do I look that old, really? I still get asked what my major in college is, so I can’t appear that old. My friend, who still works at the kamp and is my age, let out a laugh as I quickly corrected this poor college student of her faux paux.

So that was a brief description of road trip #1.

Check back for more details and a description of RT#2 later.

Heeeeerrrrrreeeeee'sssss Katie

I'm back in town so I will be posting soon about my exploits.

You can call me Roadtrip Katie

Thursday: Denton, TX to Branson, MO, 9 hours 430+ miles

Friday: Branson, MO to Denton, TX, 8 hours 430 miles

Saturday: Denton,TX to Beach House near Galveston, TX, 7 hours 350 miles

Tuesday: Beach House to Denton, TX, 6.5 hours 350 miles

Wednesday: Denton to Branson again???? I'm still deciding


See ya in a few more days