Also known as Oklahoma.  The season has officially started.  Let’s hope the house sells sooner, rather than later.  I can’t wait to get down to Norman were tornados almost never hit!

Last night, B and I were settling into bed when the tv starts blaring the alert message telling us to tune to our local station for the weather.  We switch the channel over to find the world’s slowest moving storm moving toward us.  Actually, it was hard to tell which way it was moving because IT WASN’T MOVING!  We couldn’t figure out if the storm was coming directly toward us or if it was going to veer north and miss us completely.

Finally at around midnight, B and I decided the storm was going to miss us and we could go to bed.  Just in case, we prepared the bathroom with blankets, pillows and the radio.

But the story doesn’t end there.  At 1:35 a.m., I was rudely awoken by the tornado siren!  I told you the storm was slow moving.  It took an hour and a half to travel 20 miles.  I quickly woke B up and turned on the tv.  Nothing like a rush of adrenaline and a bright light to jolt you out of a deep sleep.

Don’t worry we are fine.  The storm was still to the north of us.  Our siren really shouldn’t have gone off.  We weren’t even in the heavy thunderstorm, let alone the circulation.

By the way, do you know how hard it is to get back to sleep after waking up like that?  Needless to say my eyes are droopy and I have quite a headache this morning.  Bring on the caffeinated sugar rush!

Today promises to be another active weather day.  Yippee.  I am sure the storm chasers are foaming at the mouth.  I, on the other hand, would rather go back to bed.

Spring is here,
Theeeee sky is blue.
Whoa, whoa-oooo!
Birds all sing,
As if they knew…

This week’s challenge is something I am sure most of us are very excited about… SPRING! (Sorry to those who are stuck in the arctic.) I haven’t actually started my spring planting and our yard is still pretty brown, so I had to borrow some flowers. Unfortunately, the university hasn’t planted the big to-do in the ovals yet. I will have to revisit this when they do. I love it when the flowers come out! Last year they did a special planting for Oklahoma’s Centennial.

How cool is that!

I did find a few lone flowers outside my office.

I wasn’t kidding when I said lone.

We do have a fabulous Bradford Pear tree in the front yard. I love Bradford Pears. Our neighborhood has tons and they all bloom at the same time! When I win the lottery I want to line my driveway with these.

I love the bright blue sky peaking through. It really makes you feel like spring really has arrived!

I wonder if the weather is going to be nice this weekend… I have a $100 Lowe’s giftcard burning a hole in my pocket. I love spring!

Be sure to check out all the other great spring pictures over at EmilyPie!

Remember that Sex in the City episode when Carrie turns 36 and she enters a new age group?  (I am summarizing and guess at details, this could be wrong.)  Well, I wasn’t feeling any older after my 26th birthday early this month until I was hounded with online surveys.  I am a new demographic now and I don’t like it.

Every time I have to check that 26-35 box, I feel a year older.  I actually miss 18-25.  The 18-25 box made me feel young! 

Really it shouldn’t matter.  I mean, I am happy, I have a great job, a wonderful husband and a bright future to look forward to.  These are all the things I told myself on my birthday.  The reasons why I should not feel older.  But still, the whole aging thing has snuck up on me.  I am now in my late twenties.  That is almost thirty!

It could be worse though, I could be B.  He is in his late thirties!  Or even worse than that, I could have a 26 year old daughter!  Sorry Mom!

So in order to keep myself feeling young, I am boycotting online surveys.  No more box checking unless your box says 18-40.  That should keep me covered for awhile longer.

I have probably used that title for a post before, and I will probably use it again in the future.  I like guilty pleasures, I have many. 

 Today’s guilty pleasure is reality tv.  Half of you probably groaned, the other half probably felt a deeper connection to me.

Did anyone catch the premier of The Hills last night?  You can bet I did!  Don’t judge me.  I love that show.  Actually, it’s more of a love hate relationship.  I love watching the show, but I hate most of the idiotic high school drama.  A.K.A. Spencer and Heidi.  My favorite character is Lo and I am so excited to hear she is going to be a roommate and featured on the show more.  Lo is about the only normal person on there.  She keeps it real.

While I am admitting my shameful secrets I should tell you, I also watch Rock of Love!  B, you can’t laugh at this one, you know you watched season one with me.  Sure, you have kind of trailed off with season two, but you were there in the beginning.

You know, it could be worse.  I could be watching I Know My Kids a Star, Perez Sez or Flavor of Love 3.  Just remember that honey: It could be worse.

So tell me, what are your entertainment guilty pleasures?  A bad movie (Grease 2), a stupid show (The Hills), or maybe a cheesy video game (B, you will have to fill this one in).

I fondue.  (If you could hear the accent I said that in and you remember The Tick, then you might laugh hysterically.)

For my birthday earlier this month, my mother sent me a Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate.  I love BBB, almost as much as I love Target.  During the two hours that I drug B around the store, we stumbled upon a fondue pot.  Remember my fondue birthday dinner?  B and I have decided that we fondue. 

So last week, we had fondue for dinner.  It was so good!  We even found the recipe for The Melting Pot’s cheddar fondue. 

Shiny new kitchen gadget!  Yippee!

The veggies, apples and bread ready to go.  Chopping everything was the most time consuming part of the whole dinner!

Mmm, fondue.  I love, love, LOVE cheese.  I don’t know how I have lived so long without discovering fondue.

These guys love fondue also.  Well, they think they do.  They did enjoy all the fresh vegetables that mom dropped on the floor.

B was on dish duty.  It was surprisingly easy to clean.  At least I think it was.  I really don’t know, I wasn’t on dish duty.  Doesn’t B look cute when he is being domestic?

The only sad part of the whole night was not getting to finish my meal with chocolate peanut butter fondue.  Maybe next time!

I was lazy last week and skipped the EmilyPie Photo challenge.  The challenge was landscapes.  I am going to blame weather for my laziness.  I guess laziness is a reason, but hush.  It was cold, rainy and windy.  Wah.

This week the challenge is action shots.  Tomorrow a new challenge will be posted, so I am waiting until the last minute to get this posted.  At least I am doing it this week!

I choose Zoey and Servo as my subjects and my ugly backyard as the backdrop.  I didn’t quit realize how the backyard was until I saw these pictures.  I guess I will be spending some quality time out there if I want this house to sell.

Zoey makes a great action subject.  Especially when she has her ball!

Oops, I spoke to soon.  The hyper freak was running to fast for me.  I thought it was still a fun shot though.

Sometimes the ball doesn’t always cooperate.

Oh happy day!

Servo does not make a good action subject.  He has two speeds, slow and slower.  Sometimes he will break into a trot, but it’s rare and hard to catch on camera.

Head over to EmilyPie and check out all the action shots this week.  There are some great ones!

If anyone spoke to me yesterday morning, they might be concerned about B’s health and safety today.  You see, I almost killed him yesterday.  It’s all good now though.  Let me explain.

B and I work less than a block away from each other, so we carpool everyday.  B drives me and my car to work.  Yesterday, I had a doctor’s appointment.  When B left for work in the morning, he had to take his own car.  Can you see where this is going?  At 10 a.m., as I am rushing out to the door to leave for my appointment, I realize my car keys are no where to be found. 

I sweetly called B and asked, “Honey, do you happen to know where my car keys are?”

“Um, in my pocket… at work,” he answered.

Oh crap.  Work is about 20 minutes south of where we live.  The doctor is about 15 minutes north of where we live.  My appointment was at 10:30 a.m., and it was pouring down rain.  Double crap, or does that make it triple?

B jumps in his truck, and I frantically call the doctor.  They said if I make it by 10:45 a.m., I will be fine.  It was going to be close, but I felt confident I could make it. 

I didn’t make it.  I arrived at the office at 10:50 a.m.  Only five stinking minutes late, shouldn’t be a problem right?  Wrong.  The doctor was already behind and it was getting close to lunch so they said they couldn’t fit me in.  I would have to reschedule.

(By the way, can someone explain to me why if the doctor was already behind, why would it matter if I was late?  That is how long I would have been sitting in the waiting room anyway.)

Reschedule!  Are you kidding me?  I could immediately feel my neck getting hot and my eyes welling up with tears.  It took me three months to get this appointment.  B and I had put out entire baby future plans on hold for this appointment.  I was not willing to wait another THREE MONTHS!  (I actually have no idea if it would take another three months, but the irrational side of me was convinced.)

Luckily, I did not have to kill B.  They were able fit me in that afternoon.  So I saw the doctor, discussed my plans and baby future is on.  And there was much rejoicing. 

Sorry to be MIA recently.  I was at a conference at the end of last weekend and then spent my weekend being a bum.  I was actually pretty productive, but I was an Internet bum!  I don’t think I checked my email once.  Sometimes it’s nice to disconnect.

Can we talk about sleep for a minute?  Seeing as how that is the only thing on my mind today, that is all you get.  I really, really, REALLY hate time changes.  Isn’t the whole time change thing suppose to be going away anyways?  I have a hard enough time getting my weekday schedule on track as it is.  I am a night person.  Through and through.  I can stay up late any day, until any time.  Now ask me to wake up at any time… ha, yeah right, unless that time is noon, you are screwed.

Last week, I was struggling with the new time.  The weekend only made it worse.  I was up until one or two in the morning every night.  I may have also slept in until noonish, but that is not the point.  The point is, when Monday morning rolled around, I was dead.  I am dead. 

My schedule is so beyond screwed I am not sure if I can repair it.  Last night I saw the clock every 15-30 minutes, except for the small window between 1 and 4 a.m.  I think I might have actually slept them.  Maybe.

So forgive me if this post is random, rambling or just plain boring.  I need sleep.  I crave sleep.  Can someone come cut the power at work so we are all forced to go home?  Please!!

And speaking of work, today would be they day that I am trying to edit an entire magazine, multiple short stories and a 200+ page book.  Words are running together.  I am making up new spellings.  This is bad.

My only saving grace is I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, so I might get to sleep in until 7:30 a.m.  Hallelujah!

So maybe only in my own mind, but I feel totally famous right now!  Yesterday I posted a movie recommendation for The Man from Earth.  The movie producer happened to see my blog and he commented!  How cool is that?

Not only is the movie so flipping good, it was made by cool people.  Cool people who post comments on the little people’s blogs.  Doesn’t it make you want to see the movie even more?  B and I are planning on buying the movie now.  That way we can quit (obsessively) telling our friends about it and just loan them our copy.  Kind of makes you want to be our friend now also?

Boy do I have a movie recommendation for you!  I think I briefly mentioned this movie before, but since I had to write a movie review about it, I decided I would post it on my blog as well.  This is probably not a movie everyone would enjoy, but I think from my review you will get a pretty good idea if it’s for you or not. 

The Man from Earth

When you think of the science fiction genre, you might also think big-budget Hollywood thriller. Science fiction films are often speculative, science-based depictions of imaginary phenomena that sometimes use special effects and futuristic technology to tell its story. The Man from Earthis a film in the sci-fi genre, but it is not your average blockbuster flick.

This film is the last work of the late, great Jerome Bixby, best known for his work on The Twilight Zone, Star Trek and Fantastic Voyage.Bixby first conceived the story for The Man from Earth in the early 1960s. He finally completed the screenplay on his death bed in 1998.

The story begins with seven friends, professors and academics from a near by college, gathering to share goodbyes as their colleague, John, mysteriously prepares for retirement. John offers up a conundrum: let’s say a man—a caveman, really—managed to survive for 14,000 years, never dying. What would he be like today? The friends, established Ph.D.s in fields including anthropology, biology, history and religion, begin discussing the puzzle, enjoying the countless questions it creates. The discussion starts innocent enough, but changes in tone as John implies more and more that the situation is not hypothetical. The friends all have diverse reactions that become more intense as they pose questions to John regarding the story he has put forth.

The entire film was shot in just over a week in a living room. For a low-key, no frills drama, its intriguing story will draw you in and it’s not one quickly forgotten. This is the story of smart people debating, hypothesizing and wondering.

With all its restraints, The Man from Earth is an unusual genre entry—no effects, no action, no cheap thrills. All the conflict is internal and all the drama is intellectual.This movie is for anyone who has intellect, is open minded and is ready for an adventure born of thought, ideas and possibilities. I do recommend you see this movie with a friend though, I guarantee you will want to discuss it.

If you rent the movie, be sure to tell me what you thought.  B and I saw it months ago and we are still talking about it.  It’s really fun to try and prove/disprove the ideas in the movie.  Enjoy!