Thursday, September 29, 2011

Wicked Games

I have never been much of a gamer.  Sure, there was the time Hubby and I both, unknowingly, bought each other Nintendo DSs for Valentine's Day, and yes, I bought him a Wii as a wedding gift, then went through about 2 months post wedding where I played Super Smash Brothers like it was my job, and, yeah, ok, a good hidden picture game has been know to steal whole days of my time, but in general, not a gamer.  I never got into playing games online unless really bored, I with the exception of aforementioned hidden picture games, I never play pc games.

So, when cell phones started coming equipped with the ability to buy and play games, my initial reaction was, meh.  Most of the games on most of the phones I have had never got played.  But now that I have both a phone and a tablet where I can download a boatload of free games, a new addiction has blossomed: coin pusher games.

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Remember going to Chuck E. Cheese, or Dave & Busters, and seeing those games where the tokens were covering a platform, with a pusher behind them? You shot more tokens in, hoping the pusher would push a boatload of tokens and/or prizes into the bin for you to scoop up.  Biggest waste of time ever, right?  Well, what if a) the tokens were free and b) they regenerated over time, both while playing and while away from the game... sounds like a pretty sweet deal right?  EXACTLY!  I found a game like this in the Andriod app store, and it hit the gambling area of my brain in just the right way so that I got hooked.  I was obsessed with getting more prizes and clearing more levels (levels are determined by the number of coins you win).  And before I knew it, I had 4 different games on my phone, and the same 4 on my tablet, so that, at all times, I am earning coins to play 8 games.  What the heck is WRONG with me???

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I am sure in time, this will fizzle out, as all my game play does, but in the mean time, I am putting up with lots of merciless teasing from Hubby about how stooooooooopid these games are.  I pointed out, last night, that he did not make this much fun of me before, not even when I played Farmville and woke up at 4 am to harvest my crops (oh yes, I did, but that did not last long).  He said, at least in Farmville you had choices to make.  I explained that these games have choices too, like choosing whether to collect the prizes or sell them for more coins.  He said, yeah, or the choice to not play at all.

I promptly told him my choice was to not listen to anymore of his crap.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Do you remember ... life without cable tv?

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When I was growing up, we lived in a semi rural area,  on a county road.  Houses were spaced pretty far apart, and you rarely saw much of your neighbors.  This was the 80's, and cable was not available where we lived (we did not get it until I was in high school).  We would get 3 channels most days, on really good days we would pick up PBS and FOX out of Pittsburgh, but usually it was CBS, NBC, and a very fuzzy ABC, which was also out of Pittsburgh.

Because of our limited channel selection, and the sparse offerings of kid friendly programming in those days, I grew up watching a lot of PBS, which is where I first really learned anything about Pittsburgh.  To me, as a kid, Pittsburgh was a gritty and exotic town.  I can remember a few of the commercials we would see on WTAE, the Pittsburgh affiliate of ABC.  The one that sticks the most in my mind was for Century III Chevrolet.  Anyone who grew up near Pittsburgh and ever watched a Pittsburgh based channel knows the ridiculously catchy jingle:


I remember the first time I actually drove past this dealership as an adult.  I was so disappointed, it was not nearly as exotic as I pictured it in childhood.

I remember other Pittsburgh commercials, or even the Pittsburgh news.  This was the closest "big city" for us growing up.  School field trips included the Pittsburgh Zoo and Kennywood Park.  But the best impression I got of this city I would later call home was from tv.  I am glad we did not have cable when I was a kid, and I instead got bitten by the Burgh Bug courtesy of WTAE.  I think it was this early exposure to the Steel City that steered me toward moving to Pennsylvania.  And although I no longer live in the actual city of Pittsburgh, I will forever be a Pittsburgher at heart.

Did you have cable as a kid?  What do you remember from tv during your childhood, and what impact do you think it had on you?

Monday, September 19, 2011

In the Big City: Changed for Good

For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of musical theater.  And as long as I have been a fan, I have always rooted for the musical underdog.  I longed to be Eponine in Les Mis ,or  to be Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde, and to always choose the Phantom over Raoul.  So it makes perfect sense to me that I root for Elphaba in Wicked. The surprising part was how utterly and completely I fell in love with her...

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Yesterday, I had the supreme pleasure of seeing Wicked on tour at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh.  We ordered these tickets about 10 months ago, and when we did, it felt like September would never arrive.  I spent the months between ticket purchase and show date reading Gregory Maguire's book, reading several of L. Frank Baum's original Oz books, and pretty much memorizing the original Broadway cast recording, as it has been playing in my car's cd player since about April.  I had never been so excited to see a show in all my life.

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My mom and sister were taking a bus tour from Ohio, and I was meeting them at the theater.  I arrived nearly two hours early.  Excited much?  Once we they got there I could not wait to take my seat.  These were, by far, the best seats I have ever had to a show, and well worth the money.

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When the curtain went up, and the Time Dragon flapped his wings, I was instantly mesmerized.

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The show we saw had the understudies for both Glinda and Elphaba performing, but you would never in a million years know it.  The actress who portrayed Glinda was genius, her comic timing was fantastic.  That is probably the thing that surprised me most about the show, since I was familiar with the story and the music already.  I never anticipated how funny it was.  And the writing for the show is so smart.  Biting wit, subtle foreshadowing, and poignant truths are all revealed in both the lyrics and the dialog of the show.

Elphaba is the one who really steals the show, and this performance was no exception.  I tingled as she took the stage, and wept as she sang of defying gravity.  She is a symbol for all who have ever felt alienated.  She is so different, with her green skin, her magic abilities, and her strong opinions.  She is different, and in her difference she is beautiful, tho her differences are what also make her feared.

The story is a brilliant blend of a love story, the story of the power of friendship, and an eye opening lesson on  how we view good and evil, often myopically.  The story works allegorically in several ways, when viewing public opinion of leaders, as well as the disenfranchisement of various minority groups.  This show contains more than music and laughter, it contains life lessons.

When I was little, I was in love with The Wizard of Oz, and wanted to be Dorothy.  Every year for Halloween, I begged to be Dorothy.  I even had a little dog that looked like Toto, but since she was a girl we named her Muffin.  I was certain I was Judy Garland reincarnated.  As a girl I wanted to be Dorothy, but now, I deeply, desperately, want to be Elphaba.

I promise you two things:

This will not be the last time I see Wicked.

and

If you go see Wicked, you will be changed for good.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Big cooking day

In the past, I have approached cooking by deciding either that day, or the previous night, what we should have for dinner, making sure I have what I need, and then just cooking.  Even with lots of leftovers, it means I am usually cooking 4 days a week.  And while I love cooking, since I started working again, I have found I do not always feel like cooking, I do not always remember to take meat out in the mornings to thaw, and we have been getting take out more.

I know lots of women try to approach cooking for efficiently, cooking once a week for the whole week and freezing the meals, or premaking meal starters that can easily be turned into one of several dishes with little work.  But the other day, I found this blog that talked about making whole crock pot ready meals and freezing them.  I decided to give it a whirl last night.

Hubby picked me right after work and went to the store with me.  In less than 30 minutes, we got the ingredients for 2 sets of 4 different meals: BBQ chicken and veggies, goulash, chicken curry (all 3 from that same blog) and beef stew (my own recipe).  We went home and I got to work.

Each recipe gets seperated into 2 one gallon freezer bags, so I decided to do that up front.  I lined up my bags, all 8, and through all the recipes, distributing the veggies one by one as I chopped.  It was a little tricky keeping the recipes straight, and dividing the total recipe in half to get the right amount in each bag, but it really was so efficient to do it this way.  It took, including a break for me to eat, slightly less than 3 hours.  Each bag will last for 2-3 meals.  And each serving is less than $2 in cost (I had to estimate because I got other groceries and non food items at the store as well), probably closer to $1.50 per serving.  The meals are healthy, hearty, chock full of veggies, and sitting in my freezer as we speak.  (yes, the time on that clock was right, I finished just before 9 pm).

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Now all I will need to do is grab a bag, thaw it for 30 minutes, and dump into the crock pot before work.  This might be my new favorite thing.  I am a little nervous about the recipes from the blog, they are pretty different from anything I have ever made, but since I was using that bloggers model, I thought it best to use her recipes too.  If this works out, I will do some different recipes next time.

My only complaint was the chicken.  I tend to use breasts or tenders, which are more expensive.  These recipes called for legs and thighs.  I left the skins on the legs, and used just legs for the bbq chicken.  I used the thighs for the curry, but I had to deskin and debone them, I could not stand the sight of the skin on those thighs, and all that fat, ick.  It may detract a little from the flavor, but it was a sacrifice I wanted to make to reduce the fat.  I was exhausted by the time I was done, but I think it will all be worth it in the long run.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

In the Big City: Code Monkeys and Mesopotamians

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Remember how, for our anniversary, Hubby got tickets for us to see Lady Gaga?  He is not what I would call a fan, but he went, and enjoyed it, for me.  Well, last night, I got to return the favor, and have a blast in the process.

Hubby has been a fan of the band They Might Be Giants since he was a teenager, and he has been to see them twice in the past.  When we found out that they would be playing in Pittsburgh around the time of his birthday.  When we later learned the opening act was Jonathon Coulton, whom we both adore, it clinched our decision to go.

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When we arrived at the theater, our first visit at the Byham, I was struck at the beauty of the place.  After taking in all the old, weathered beauty, I noticed the odd conglomeration of people in attendance.  The crown was pretty much a 70-30 split of techie nerds and hipsters, and parents with small kids.  Kids, why?  Well, They Might Be Giants made several kids albums, so parents will bring kids to see them.  Note to those parents, this is not a kids' show.  Kids' shows are at 1 pm on a Saturday, not 8 pm on a Wednesday.  Also, kids' shows do not contain F bombs.  A little look at Jonathon Coulton's lyrics for Hubby's favorite song, First of May, would tell you that tickets for your 5 and 7 year olds for this show would be a bad idea.  But I digress. (Note, JoCo did not play this song last night, thank goodness).

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We were so stoked for JoCo, as Hubby calls him, as the opening act.  And he was nothing short of amazing.  He sang a good mix of older songs and songs from his new CD.  His voice, at times, as a beautiful purity about it which one can overlook due to the hilarious and ridiculous nature of his lyrics.  He has a simplicity, a childlike quality that makes his music so enjoyable, he was really a joy to watch.  I was sad when his set was over.

Now, this is the point where I admit I know exactly 3 songs that They Might Be Giants have put out over their nearly 30 year career.  Thank goodness they played all 3 last night, as well as many other great songs.  I was amazed that a group of nearly middle aged men could bop around the stage for 90 minutes and have such a blast.  It was so clear that they were having fun, and it made me have fun as well.  They really pulled the audience into the music, and speaking as someone who was not a diehard fan, this was one of the best performances I have seen in a long time.  The music is bouncy, and you just have to move.

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The only complaint I have is the quality of the sound on both acts.  I am not sure if it was the acoustics of the theater, or the settings of the mics, but the vocals were really drowned out by the instruments.  It was if there was too much music layered on top of each other.  It made the vocals sound really muffled.

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Otherwise, we had a wonderful evening, and I plan on the next time we see them knowing way more than 3 songs.  Oh, and if you are wondering about why I titled the blog this way, Code Monkey is a Joco song, and Mesopotamians is a song by TMBG.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Do you remember ..... your dating horror stories?

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I sometimes forget how awful dating was, now that Hubby rescued me and swept me away to the land of marital bliss.  Back when I first started blogging on myspace, I used to regularly blog about my dating disasters, but since meeting Hubby, I have blocked out the horror of my past life of singlehood.

Today, while cleaning out my email, I was confronted with the evidence of what was probably the creepiest dating situation I ever encountered, which is saying a lot, because I met a boatload of creepers.  But this, well, this story takes the cake.

It happened back in 2007, just before Hubby and I started dating.  I was working in a corporate environment, but it was pretty lax in terms of atmosphere.  I was in a newly formed department, and most of the other people were, like me, transfers from other departments.  We only had a few outside hires, and it was often difficult for them to come into a department full of people who had know each other for a long time.  We had one girl we hired, I will call her Z, who had a harder time fitting in.  I tried to take her under my wing, since she and another new hire were not even able to sit with the rest of the department for the first few month.  We talked a lot over IM, and I helped her learn the ropes.  I guess she was pretty grateful, because before long, she told me she wanted to fix me up with her friend, Rich.

Rich sent Z and email, and she forwarded it to me.  It was all about how Z had told him about how awesome I was and he wanted to get to know me.  Since I was doing lots of online dating, this didn't seem too odd to me (yet),so I emailed back.  We exchanged a few emails, and I noticed that he wrote in a way that, well, it sounded like how a woman would talk, not how a man would talk.  One email included an emoticon rose.  Cheesy, but, still, no real warning signals.  Every day Z would want to talk about Rich, and how things were going.  So, Z and I started spending more time together at work, since she was serving as a go between.  I started to feel a little weird about it.

Rich sent me pictures, and asked for my number so he could call or text me.  I provided the number, and.... nothing.  No calls, no texts.  Nothing.  So I asked for his number, which he provided, but it dumped into a generic "you have reached 123-456-7890" recording.  Hmmm, suspicious.  So, like any overly cautious single woman, I decided to google "Rich".  He had a ridiculous last name, and when you google his name, there are no results on the entire internet.  None.  In fact, his last name alone appears no where.  Not one entry.  On the whole internet.
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Ok, so according to the internet, this guy pretty much does not exist.  No one with his last name has any address anywhere in the world.  So, at this point, I am pretty sure this is bogus, but not sure of the details.

I asked Z why "Rich" never called me and she says he accidentally ran over his phone and destroyed it (which had just happened to someone we worked with, how convenient).  But she insists I will hear from him, and sure enough, the next day, I got flowers delivered at work from "Rich".  Z was all up in my business, asking how I liked them and stuff.  It was getting pretty creepy.  And no actual voice contact with "Rich".  He mentioned where he worked, and to make sure I was not totally nuts, I called the general number for that place, and no surprise, no "Rich" was employed there.  Clearly, this dude did not exist.

The final straw came when Z was IMing me one day, and I noticed she consistently misspelled the same words that "Rich" did.  And these were not common misspellings.  One was misspelling "freak" as "friek" (oh the irony).   Finally, I pulled Z aside, and confronted her with my suspicions that "Rich" did not really exist.  She had no explanation and just kept saying how I was so nice, she wanted me to find someone nice to be with.

Um, what?  What would have happened had I agreed to go out with "Rich".  Would she have showed up instead?  How did this ever seem like a good idea?

Needless to say, working with her after this was awkward.

And today, I found all the emails.  I was laughing so hard reading them, my favorite quote from "Rich" is this"

"I hate to say it, but more often than not, I'd like to stay in, sipping on one of my exquisite wine of the month bottles, and watch one of my favorite movies. There's nothing more comforting after a day of pounding the pavement, attempting to pay the bills than to come home and wrap yourself up in a world where let's face it 95% the guy gets the girl and everyone lives happily ever after."

How did I not know immediately that this was FAKE?


So, do YOU have any dating horror stories?

Monday, September 12, 2011

Rereading the World War Z book before the movie comes out


Guest post written by Brent Holloway

I bought and read the World War Z so long ago when it first came out, but now that they're finally making a movie of it, I was thinking about rereading it again. So that's exactly what I'm doing. i had forgotten just how much of a quick read it was. It's funny how you can have read a book before and despite that, you can't put it down when you're reading it again.

That got me wondering more about how by the book the movie will be. I've been looking up info about the movie filming with my wireless internet. Some of the things that I've read said that they aren't really sticking to the book that much, but I think that it's like that for a lot of books they make into movies.

Who knows. I might even read the World War Z zombie book another time before I go and see the movie. It seems like it's going to be a while anyway until it comes out. I'm not sure how much longer I can wait!

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Tiffany Trivia: Odd Hobby

There are most certainly some odd things about me.  I am clumsier than any one person should be.  I have no clue what my natural hair color is.  And yes, I dip my Wendy's french fries into a chocolate frosty.  But one of the oddest things about me is a hobby I had as a child.  I used to love to make confetti.
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As a kid I would sit for hours, yes, hours, cutting up confetti.  I had large garbage bags full of confetti stashed in my bedroom.  No paper object was safe.  Every Wish Book, grocery ad, wallpaper sample, and spare piece of construction paper would be sacrificed to my ever growing stash.  And while I admittedly did find cutting confetti rather soothing (though I did not enjoy the blisters the scissors caused on my thumb), I was doing this for a far more important reason.

It was going to make me rich.

You see, at our high school football games, every time we scored a touchdown, everyone threw confetti.  So, as a kid I came up with the million dollar idea that I would sell bags of confetti for a quarter at the football games and make a killing.

Except, I never followed through.  I just kept cutting and cutting to make more and more and more confetti, until eventually my mom threw it away.  I would say that all that time had been wasted, but at least it was a few hours that I was not getting hurt being clumsy.

So did you, or do you, have any hobbies that might be considered odd?

Friday, September 9, 2011

Do you remember .... class rings?

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Now that school is back in session, I find myself reminiscing about my high school days, particularly when talking to my mom and sister about my nephew.  He is a junior in high school, and I remember my junior year being my favorite year, it was the one that was the most fun, and the least stress.

My nephew starting dating a really nice girl, from a good family, recently.  After the kids meeting each other's families, they decided to make it official that they were "going steady".  I love that they are using this term, I find it sweet and old fashioned.  He even gave her his class ring.  But she gave it back because she was scared to wear it, since it was too big for her petite little fingers.  My sister helped her come up with a solution the next time the girl came to the house to visit my nephew.  She showed her how we used to deal with this issue- yarn.

When I was in high school, both the boys I dated (one my freshman year, one my junior year) gave me their class rings, and of course both of them were too big.  My mom and sister taught me how to wrap the ring with lengths of yarn until it made it a more secure fit.  I remember how I would get so excited to buy yarn in our school colors to wrap it for football season.  My mom said that she did the same thing in high school, and you made sure to wrap it in new yarn if you were going somewhere special like a party or a dance.  This is what ALL the girls my age did.  You look through our yearbooks and you see girls with these huge boys' rings on, with yarn all around the band.  It was the thing to do.

I wonder, do girls still do this?  Do they wear boys' high school rings still?  Or is this something that has fallen by the wayside?  Same with lettermen jackets, or football jerseys.  Do boys still let their girlfriends wear these?  I remember being so proud wearing my high school boyfriend's football jersey and class ring, letting everyone know I was his girl.  Do kids even rely on these social cues anymore?  Or is changing their facebook relationship status the new class ring?

Did you ever wear your boyfriend's ring in high school?  Or, if there are any male readers who want to share, did you wear your girl's ring on a chain around your neck?  Or was my high school more old fashioned than most?

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Act Your Age? No Thanks!

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Act your age.  Probably something we have all been told at some point in our lives.  And at times, that command is completely appropriate.  It drives me nuts how so many people, mostly women, refuse to act like adults.  I see countless acts of bitter, immature women all the time.  Women act this way mostly toward other women, out of jealousy and a sense of competition.  I often want to tell these women to act their age.

But there are times when it is good to not act your age.

Today, I had an opportunity to spend some time with some "senior citizens".  It struck me how much people with the label of "senior citizen" decide to act, well, like old folks.  You know what I mean, they wear old people clothes, and engage in exclusively old folks activities.  I just don't get it.  Then I realized, I don't get it because none of the older role models I have in my family act this way.

I will start with my parents.  I often forget that because my parents are of retirement age, they are technically considered "seniors".  This label is a load of poppycock when it comes to Mom and Dad.  Not only do they both look incredibly young, they act it.  My mom always has her hair and nails looking nice, usually way nicer than mine, and she wears stylish clothes.  Same with my dad, even though his hair has been grey since he was in his 30s, he has never dressed like an old man.  And they do not act old either.  They are constantly busy with their grandkids, active in their church, and my dad even works 2 part time jobs.

The same can be said for my aunts and uncles.  None of them act old.  Even my grandmother, until the time she passed away in her 90s, never acted old.  She traveled, stayed busy, and lived in her home, no retirement center for her.  Heck, this is a woman who got a speeding ticket in her 80s!  Sure, she had broken a hip, but the first time she did it polka dancing with her great grandson.

I love that despite the fact that these people are my elders, they refuse to be elderly.  I hope that when I am old enough to retire, I am still as youthful and active as they all have been.

Thanks for the reminder that it's ok to not act my age once in a while!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Twitter Fights, aka Getting TweetSlapped

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Cartoon by Hubby
I am a professed social media fan.  I may be a little slow to catch on the new forms of social media (hello G+) and some I stay away from due to their potential to be a total time suck (Pinterest anyone?), but one thing I have come to love, after years of professing to hate it, is Twitter.  I love that I can get info faster on my cell phone's twitter app than the media news outlets.  When an earthquake was recently felt in Pittsburgh, Hubby called me to check in, and when I told him I knew nothing about it, he simply said, check your Twitter.

Twitter is, for me, a great way to sound off when frustrated, to make connections with people worldwide, and to promote my blog posts.  All in 140 characters or less.  I adore it, which is why I am annoyed to see what may be the dumbest thing ever- Twitter Fights.

Last night, by feed got flooded by two Burgh Tweeps fighting.  Tweep A had tweeted something and a bit later Tweet B said something remarkable similar.  It was a Pittsburgh joke about Jeff Reed, one that I am sure at least 100 other Burgh based Tweeps probably tweeted about, as it was not exactly a sophisticated joke.  But Tweep A got bent out of shape, and ranted and name called.  And Tweep B totally fed into it, instigating more and more.  In the end, they both ended up looking like, pardon my language, douchebags.

To be clear, these people were not fighting over hate speech, political ideas, radical thoughts, and anything that was contributing to the betterment of mankind.  No, these guys were fighting over a joke.  A dumb joke about Jeff Reed assaulting a Sheetz towel dispenser that stopped being funny about 10 minutes after the incident happened in 2009.  This was the single dumbest waste of time ever.

Why do people feel the need to engage in this behavior?  What point does it serve?  Anyone can be brave when sitting behind their laptop or smartphone screen.  And really, who cares if someone allegedly stole your tweet.  It is TWITTER, these things are not gaining entry in the Library of Congress.  I guess this falls in the same category as trolling, acting out in ridiculous ways on Twitter.  And I see so much of it.  I see people blatantly attacking others on Twitter, completely unprovoked.  I just cannot fathom how much someone's life must suck if picking fights on Twitter is the only way they can feel good about their pitiful existence.


Saturday, September 3, 2011

Women of Faith Weekend

Many of you readers know that I also have a book review blog.  When I started that blog out, it was mainly for myself, and the challenge of analyzing books I owned and loved.  Quickly, I became connected to several Christian publishers that allowed me to review their books, and began also submitting the reviews to the Christian Review of Books.  I review non-religious books most of the time, and now work with many talented independent authors and publishers, both Christian and secular.  

Recently, the very first publisher I signed up with, Thomas Nelson, presented book bloggers with the opportunity to attend a Women of Faith conference in their area, with the agreement that in exchange for the complimentary tickets, the bloggers would post blogs both before and after the conference, as well as add a button to the blog to help spread the word of the conference.  Knowing I would more than likely not get chosen, on a whim I decided to apply for one of the blogger positions.  Much to my surprise, I received word some time ago that I was chosen, and today, I received my tickets in the mail.  I am so excited to attend this conference!

There are day sessions on Friday, which I will miss, but I will be attending the Friday evening sessions, as well as the sessions on Saturday.  I am really looking forward to this little weekend event!  Keep your eyes open next month for the post conference recap!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Tiffany Trivia: What Creeps Me Out

Since it seems like not many people are reading my blog these days, I have decided to stray just slightly from my standard posts, and just post a little more about myself once in a while. This series is aptly called Tiffany Trivia.

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Most people have something, or things, that really creep them out. Mice, snakes, spiders, horses. Those are some of the standard ones. Whether a lifelong fear, or in Hubby's case with horses, due to some unfortunate event, everyone has something that just weirds them out.

I have several. And they are all odd.

For the longest time, it was that stuuuuuuuuupid dancing baby from Ally McBeal. And I think anyone who did not find that at least a little creepy is lying to themselves.

But the thing that creeps me out worst of all now are these 5 pointed metal stars that everyone and their brother have hanging on their homes.

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These things are all the rage in the country and primitive decorating set, but I just find the repugnant.  I have no reasoning for this, I generally like stars, but these are just, ick.  We even refer to them as "creepy stars".  I do not know why, and hope none of my readers (all 4 of you) who may have these will take offense.  They just give me the willies.

Another think I find creepy are these plantars made from kid's pants.  It looks like someone bisected a child and hot and threw geraniums on top of it.  Gross.
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Along the same lines, those creepy little corner kids dolls.  They used to be all the rage a few years ago.  For me, the source of unparalleled nightmares.
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Thank goodness this fad seems to have ended.

Oh goodness, imagine if a house had all three of these things.  It would be like a scarehouse for me.

And do not even get me started on those creeptastic Spitting Image puppets.
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The Genesis "Land of Confusion" video makes me shudder.

Is there anything weird like this that creeps any of you out?