So What Am I Going to Do About It?

I've been reading some articles from "the guy with the nametag", Scott Ginsberg.  This guy decided at 20 years old that he was going to wear a nametag...forever.  Yes, everyday he slaps on a nametag.  There's one on his suit jacket.  One on his shirt.  He even has a tattoo on his chest that says, "Hello, my name is Scott."


When Travis told me about this guy, I wasn't so much interested in all his profit maximizing strategies, but the name tag thing made me want to stand and shout, "Bravo!  Bravo!"


I'm jealous.  Jealous that I haven't done all those crazy, off-the-wall things that I think of.  


Anyway, we're best friends now.  He's my friend on Facebook, we email each other regularly, and he follows me on Twitter. 


Ok, really I just joined his fan page on Facebook and his email was something of a funny sales pitch, but he really is following me on Twitter.  Me and 7,000 other people.  


I am reading an article on blogging and doing a lot of soul searching in the process.  The biggest question I've been asking myself is, 


"So what am I going to do about it?"


This blog is not (yet) read by thousands of people everyday, but there are complete strangers reading it, not just my friends.  People from 23 different countries and 291 cities have visited it, and I've made $66 dollars just from AdSense.  Personally, I'm amazed.  I just started this July 27th.  I expected 20 people and all them friends.


"So, what am I going to do about it?"


That is the question I must answer and it is going to be my theme for the next year or so.  


Or until the newness wears off, but I figure that even if that happens, I'll be a few steps closer to the person I want to be.


Rachael-you have this blog that seems to interest people who aren't just your friends.  So, what are you going to do about it?


Rachael-you have a problem with losing your cell phone.  So, what are you going to do about it?


Rachael-you've driven off with the gas pump 3 times!!!  So, what are you going to do about it?


Rachael-your house is a disaster.  So, what are you going to do about it?


Does that mean my goal is to not have a life that doesn't have any funny, crazy, how-in-the-heck-did-you-do-that moments in it?


If you think I could accomplish that you don't know me well enough yet and need to read a few more posts!


No, the goal is to learn from each of those moments and perhaps start saving money from not taking gas pumps for a drive (at least not more than once), buying new cell phones because the old one is lost, car repairs...  You get it.


So, my carpet is drying out right now because half of the water used to wash a load of laundry is sitting on it.  My fault.  So, what am I going to do about it?  Guess it's time I go figure that out!  Wanna go with me?


Story on the carpet tomorrow!


errrr...make that Monday.  I'm closed on Sundays.

Baby Phobia

So I was sitting here tonight writing a serious blog post and Travis started doing the same.  I guess he was doing a little "research" because he started watching videos on YouTube.


Suddenly, I heard this baby mobile song chiming.  Then a mother singing sweetly to her baby.  And then some ominous minor chords stalking behind the sweet major chords of the baby music and my heart began to race.


It's doing it right now, in fact, just from writing about it.


My blood got cold...I mean hot...shoot, I don't know!


I knew what it was.  It was one of those killer baby movies.  The ones where the baby or the kid or the doll is a freak of nature, demon-possessed, horrifying monster that goes around killing everyone.  Omgosh, the images are killing me!!!  I am SO glad I'm not in the house alone because I would never be able to get up off this couch and go to the bathroom!


Chucky is the worst.  He totally freaks me out!!!  I have never seen any of the Chucky movies because the previews were too much for me to handle.  Even THINKING about that (deep breath) (shutter) (ok, gonna have to say this fast) stupid doll with a knife pointed at me and demon eyes (deep breath) makes me shutter deep inside.


Oh, man I need to finish this post.  This is totally freaking me out.


It all started when I was a kid.  At some slumber party I watched Friday the 13th.  Some time later a show came out called Friday the 13th about a man that owned an antique store and some of his antiques were haunted or possessed or magical.  It intrigued me.  The show wasn't really all that scary, which disappointed me, but there was this one...


(Another deep breath.  I may have to get the paper sack out soon.  Ok, that was my first exaggeration.)


The antique shop owner (sole owner and only employee, by the way) bought this doll...a very special doll.  A beautiful one with a lacy white dress and sweet blond curls.  She was very beautiful...


...until night fell.  And then she would come alive, scramble down the bookshelf (Omgosh, that gives me the chills!!!), and spend a night on the town killing people.  I don't know how she was able to keep blood off her pretty, white dress and somehow she got the blood stains off her face before the shop owner came back.


(This post is killing me.  Oh...not the word to use right now.)


That is when all the dolls in my room became evil.  I had to put all their faces to the floor, get them off my bed, and pretend they weren't there.


Now, I buy dolls for my girls, but I must tell you that I deserve an award for buying Amazing Amanda.  First of all, I don't know why anyone would want to spend more than $30 on a play doll, but Travis has a hard time resisting his girls (me included). When Rebecca opened it on Christmas morning, I braced myself.


When we put the batteries in, I braced myself.


When we turned her on and she said, "Hello, Mommy!"  I was done!  I was NOT going to program this doll.  She's a freak, I tell you!


And sometimes she talks in the middle of the night.  That's just not right.


Then there was this movie about a mutated baby.  The mom is in the delivery room, having a hard labor.  The doctors and nurses get this awful look on their faces and the mother starts gushing over her baby.  Suddenly, the gushing turns to screams as her baby tears her to pieces with his teeth.


Ok, what sick mind came up with that?  That is just WRONG!  I couldn't watch it.


Babies and dolls are not supposed to kill people.  Period.


So, there is Travis with his laptop and freaky music with baby jingles playing and the next thing I hear is a


SCREEEEEEEEEEAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!


And so I let out a


SCREEEEEEAMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!


And Travis caught it all on video.  You know, I'm not feeling any pity for him right now.  Poor husband, indeed.  Hmph!

Pet Peeve #2-Love and Above

I started a post on overused cliches that I meant to post tonight, but I just can't seem to finish it because there is THIS post hanging over my head like a dark cloud (oh, there's one for my next post!).


I just can't clear my head until I get this out of my system.


I'll be listening to a new song, totally loving it and finding myself with eyes closed or hands raised or dancing around the room when suddenly I hear at the end of the phrase the word, "love."


I get nervous because I just know what the next line will end with.  


"Above."


Oh, it is SO SO SO SO SO and I mean SOOOO overused!!!  Love and above, love and above.  You know, stuff like-


(read with lines dripping with gag-me sweetness)
For you I feel so much love
It must have been sent from God above.


I made that one up, but you get the gist.  It's just so...overused!  (Have I mentioned that yet?)


Here are some songs you may know that are coated with the sticky-sweet lyrics.


1.  Mariah Carey's "Sent from Up Above"  (You're scared already, I can see it.)
"sent from up above
"so much love"


2.  Bonnie Raitt, "Thing Called Love"
"Are you ready for the thing called love?
"Don't come from me and you it comes from up above."
(I'm dyyyyyyyying!!!)


Christian artists are particularly susceptible to the "love and above" hangup.
3.  Charitie L. Bancroft, "Before the Throne of God Above"
"Before the throne of God ABOVE
I have a strong, a perfect plea
A great High Priest whose name is LOVE
Whoever lives and pleads for me


I think the most common place I find it is in children's music.  I guess they figure sappy works for them,  But I, being a K-8 Music teacher, not only has to listen to these songs for 6 months out of the year, but I have to sing those words over and over and over again while teaching my students.  (Who happen to be the best students in all the world, in case you were wondering.)


Look, I know it's hard to find a word that rhymes with love.  But please...don't end the line with "love!"  Step out of the box. Live a little.  Put the word love in the middle of the line.  I know, it's so unconventional.  But seriously, Do NOT put love and above together as a pair.  They don't get along.  


I have to give some credit to Chris Tomlin.  He has figured out how to rhyme "love" and "enough" and totally make it work.  


"You satisfy me
"With Your LOVE
"And all I have in You
"Is more than ENOUGH"


He actually uses those words together quite a bit...which I hope will not eventually get on my nerves because I really like Tomlin's music!  


How many songs do you know have "love" and "above" together?  You don't know?  You've never noticed it?  Don't worry.  You'll be hearing it everywhere today!


Feel free to post those annoying little lines under comments.  

Ok, this is getting ridiculous!

I lost my cell phone...


again.


I know I'm not the only one this happens to, but I'm so frustrated!  I just bought myself a new phone in July because I lost my previous cell phone who knows where and I got that cell phone because the phone I had then was totally messed up...perhaps because I dropped it a lot, and I got that phone because I lost the previous one at the beach.


When I signed up for a wireless service, no one told me that cell phones actually walk!


They must!


When I lost my previous phone I posted a series of Facebook status that went something like this...


June 29 5:27pm  

My cell phone is missing, my iPod's not working, and I have no Frappuccino for my tears. That's my 21st century country song...and it's all true!!! (scream)

June 30  4:26pm  

ODD PLACES YOU HAVE FOUND YOUR CELL PHONE: The iPod is now working (phew!), but still no Frappucinno and no cell phone. I need your help! I can't find my cell phone ANYWHERE so can you please tell me some odd places you have found your cell phone? May

I don't know what "May" means, either.  

June 30  6:34pm  

GOOD NEWS! I found a gift certificate for a pound of See's chocolates and enough change at the bottom of 4 purses to buy a Frappuccinno! No cell phone, though. Any other ideas?

July 1  4:25pm  

Let's recap: Cell phone is missing, iPod is now working, and yes, I did get that frappuccino! Loved it! In fact, I loved it so much that a few hours later I discovered that I was wearing it on the front of my shirt! 

July 1  11:24pm

I have hit an all time low. I searched through the dog food bag. As Survivor would say, "The search is over..."

And that's when I decided it was time to buy a new phone.  Starting July 5th my status' were things like, "Anyone have an iPhone they want to see?"  or "Is the (name of phone) any good?"  Those aren't direct quotes, but you get the gist.  

July 9  10:37pm

is now the owner of a Blackjack II that I got on craigslist  for a great price!!! I am also wondering who came to my house and messed everything up. We weren't home all day and it looks like I haven't done anything for a week! WTHeck?

Ok, the "We weren't home..." part was irrelevant to this blog post.  You get that for free.

("You get that for free"...did I just use another TOTALLY overused phrase?  That is SO going to be my next pet peeve post!)

Wow.  Better get back to this post before I start getting all riled up about my next one!

I LOVE my blackjack!  It's got a QWERTY keyboard, larger screen, way more memory, and best of all...it's RED!  Ohhh, I love red!  But now it is gone.  

Seriously, I'm not laughing at this one.  I am so frustrated so...

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

How do YOU keep track of your cell phone?  This is a totally serious question.  I need to know what it is that I need to change because I cannot afford to buy another phone and now I'm too spoiled to want a tiny, little thing like my last one.  Although it WAS red, I couldn't get all my text messages because the memory was too small.

Please...I know most of you don't post comments a lot, but this time I could really use your help.  You can post it on Facebook, I don't care.  Just give me some suggestions!!!

Pet Peeve #1

Travis says I have the longest list of pet peeves of anyone he knows. I'm not much of a pet person, really, but I guess peeves are ok. I don't have to feed them or anything, which is a really good thing. I'd tell you that story, but I think the animal rights activists in the crowd would totally freak out. Although, maybe that would get my blog some publicity and it would REALLY become something!


Naw, I'd probably just make lots of enemies and wind up with only 5 friends on Facebook or something.


Anyway, I do have several pet peeves and I guess they are a bit strange.  Here is Pet Peeve #1...


David Crowder.


I absolutely love the David Crowder Band, big facial hair and all.  David Crowder's music absolutely moves me.  The man lives out of the box, which I admire and respect.  I've been told that he uses car keys, styrofoam balls, just about anything to get a different sound into this recordings.   Big time Brownie Points in my book!


And although I am really surprised that this isn't my pet peeve, I love how he does the same 5 songs or so on every album but in a different way.  Gosh, I LOVE IT!  


But there is this one song...


My favorite David Crowder Band song of all, actually.  "Wholly Yours."


Oh, every part of me sings that song when I sit down at my piano and play.  It's like I'm in this inner world where I feel, not just know, the smallness of me and the "otherness", to steal a word from Louie Giglio, of God.  


The song starts with this:


I am full of earth
You are heaven's worth
I am stained with dirt
Prone to depravity


You are everything
That is bright and clean


Now, here is one of my favorite parts of the whole song...


The antonym of me...


WHEW!  Antonym!!!  Did he just use a totally cool word from English class that most of us probably don't remember?!?  I mean, he just took rock/pop/praise and worship/oh, whatever word you want to use music and made it...well...sound smart!  Literary!  Mature.  Nerdy!  I LOVE the nerdy part!  I applaud you, David Crowder!


The song goes on:


...You are divinity.


But a certain sign of grace is this
That from broken earth
Flowers come up
Pushin' through the dirt


I'll move on to the bridge.


But the harder I try
The more clearly can I
See the depth of our fall
And the weight of it all
(Oh, man.  Yes, David.  Exactly!  Lord, save us!)


And so this might could be
The most impossible thing
Your grandness in me
Making me clean
(Oh, it's like I'm levitating)


(sound of record being scratched as I drop to the floor and get the wind knocked out of me)  Hold on a minute there, David.  


Did you just say, "This MIGHT COULD be?"  


Did you really just use the words "might" and "could" in the same sentence and right next to each other??


No, say it isn't so.  Tell me that this book has a typo in it!


I checked it out and no, it isn't a typo.  


David, you mean to tell me that you're actually following up "antonym" with BAD GRAMMAR???


David!  You can't do this to me!!!  Please, PLEASE get it out of my head!  It's just so...so...WRONG!  David, don't ruin my song!  So what if you wrote it.  I'm claiming it and I'm begging you to please correct that bad grammar!


David, I know it's officially illegal, but do you mind if I take out the word "might" when I sing it at church?  Or should I keep that as my little secret?  Please don't make me sing it, David.  Please.