Cleaning for people you like

"We buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like, who don't come over to get impressed." ~ Mary Ellen Edmunds

This statement is a true statement...

I just have a few amendments to add to this:
 "...We clean things because people are coming over and we think they care or look at it, but they really don't." ~ Mickelle Smith

This morning I have friends coming over...

These friends are coming over to do crafts... (Yes, I'm turning domestic.)

They are coming over to MAKE A MESS... and what am I doing this morning?

Cleaning.

Yes, that's right. I don't even have kids... The cleanliness lasts about a day at our house... And I'm just saying it's not always the fault of the cute boy that lives with me. I'm sure it's all in a person's perspective though... Anyway...

I started by putting away our laundry (why, yes, it is in our living room in stacks.)... and by putting away I mean putting it in another room that no one will see... then I noticed that there were blankets everywhere and folded those. Then I cleaned up the toilet paper shreds from the hall... The puppy decided there were not enough decorations and wanted to craft for himself. (Seriously, he could probably just be the Charmin puppy. Running through the hall like that. With a roll of toilet paper in his mouth.)

Following the toilet paper clean up, I went to sweep, then noticed there were dog nose prints on the stainless steel appliances (Stainless= LIES! ALL LIES!), had to clean those up, then I noticed the counters had spots on them, (They are grey and brown flecked tile... Really, Mickelle! Really?!), then I noticed my black canisters had four and sugar all over the outside so I had to clean those... That's when I realized maybe my ADD was getting out of hand.

So what if my canisters have spots on them (they don't anymore, by the way.), So what if I only dusted in front of the pictures leaning on my piano, and so what if I didn't sweep underneath the couch (probably will... I'm just saying.)... They are coming over to make a mess... and I"m pretty sure they won't be saying "Wow, Mickelle! You're canisters are sure looking nice today!"


... although, if they wanted to... I won't be unprepared.

Those canisters sure do look nice...

Inappropriate Sleeping

Why is sleep so great?
For real?
And why does it sound the best at the most inappropriate times?
For example:
In currently in North Carolina for a work conference.
Great.
It's actually pretty interesting... But I'm pretty sure I feel like I'm going to pass out by the end of every lecture. By the time I trek back up to my room on the 9th floor (yes I do take the elevator) for my lunchtime nap... I can't sleep... Until about 5 min before I have to go down again and I feel like I have to sleep or die.
It's a problem. For real.

Education ridiculousness

Sitting at work and thinking about all the things I SHOULD be doing really brings to mind the things I COULD be doing... like blogging.

Here's the latest ramblings in my head:

School started this past month. Not like I'm in school right now, but I work at the school, so it's a big deal.

Basically I go to classes all day with the Deaf students and interpret the lectures and class discussions.

I love my job most days... most days.

Working at the school makes me slightly miss it. I'm thinking about going back and getting a Masters in Education or Professional Communication. I get a good deal on tuition, working at the school and we don't have kids so it would be a good time.

You wanna know what's stopping me?  Really.. it's kind of ridiculous and embarrasing.

I look at the requirements to apply (no. the requirements to get in... to APPLY) and they scare me.

First off- the GRE. I have a dislike for standardized tests. They just don't appeal to me- especially ones you have to pay in the neighborhood of $200. (Thus why I haven't taken my National Interpreter Certification Test... there are 2 parts and EACH PART is about $300 each. Makes me want to vomit!)
I just can't do it...

Next- The essay. What do you even write about? Where do you start? I can do an interview because I can read their body language and see how things are going... but writing? I don't think I can do it. Nervous!

Lastly, I have to go to class. Silly I know.. but again, I already work here. Do I want to commit to spending at least 6 more hours here a week? Not sure...

Anyway... there are my reasons. I can get over it.. I just have to decide how bad I really want it... and if I don't- I should probably get on the National Certification- eh?

School ruined me

No really... I'm so glad I'm done.

I'm glad I don't have to go back... unless I want to. (Maybe I'm crazy and want to go get my Masters in the next few years... maybe.)

But just so you know- School had ruined me for forever.

Story:

Because our house decided that having electricity was just not something it wanted to continue to provide in certain areas of the house (Mainly our disposal, AC, and Dishwasher... awesome) we have been on the hunt for an Electrician. My dad is usually our go-to handy man (he really can fix anything) but he's super busy and we feel bad asking him for everything. So, we- being independent adults decide to look for someone we will have to (deep breath) pay to help fix our problem.

It's fine.

We have a whole room in our house that the outlets don't work so we've needed to do it anyway... we just don't use the room right now, so we've put it off.

I'm cheap, Okay?

First place I go to look? The internet of course.

This is where my problem of my schooling comes in:

I majored in Business/Multimedia Technologies. Meaning: Basically, I learned how to use Multimedia and other P.R. tools for Business. I took thrilling classes such as "Train the Trainer", "Business Law", and "Business English". Whoo! And not to make you think I partied too hard in my days as a student- I did have to take several Telecomm classes that literally had NOTHING to do with what I was learning in my other classes (I know, right?).

Anyway... again, back to the point: As I'm googling  "Electricians in X City" I just went down the list.

Awesome.

Literally, I can never not judge a website again based on my experiences in my web-design class.

I am an admitted Website Judge-er.

Some examples for your enjoyment (Some identifying information has been changed):

"Need a ladder? BOOM we get to to work."

"No Problems to small we do it all" (did ya catch that? "to" and "too" mistakes make me crazy!)

Under the testimonials section: "Oh man these guys are just great..." (which is great in an of itself but it continues "this page is under construction. working on a way for customer feedback." All this is on a white background and highlighted in... pink.

Picture large Google ads above and below tiny writing that says: "Call us or fill out your info. We'll get back to you." Obviously they don't REALLY want a website... just a web presence...?? right?

And maybe you all (because obviously there are millions of my readers out there...) are reading this and thinking... really?

It makes me crazy, okay?


People, if you're going to have a website, PLEASE make sure to spell check... and have someone else besides your mom look at it.

Please?

please?

Let me tell you the story of why I have a flat-top finger

For real, Mickelle... can you not stay out of trouble for a minute?

Our story starts last Friday:

I decided to take work off because I had worked extra hours, so I could. Why not? This means I could fix wreath for our front door that had been broken for a week, Make the apple chips I found on Pinterest with all the apples we got in our Bountiful Basket (p.s. amaaaazing. do it if you have one in your area.), clean the house, try to resuscitate our plants, and take the dogs on a walk (one at a time, mind you. I'm not crazy enough to take a 50 lb slow-paced Lab and a 65 lb four-wheel-drive Golden Retriver on a walk at the same time.)... I had plans...  then they were all crushed with one bad decision...

About those apple chips... I had ordered a new Mandoline to slice my apples on. A billion times easier than a knife (possibly I'm knife challenged... and after my story maybe anything with a blade shouldn't be within 100 feet of me.) and much more uniform. (That's my OCD coming out.) Just so you know they send those guard/food holder things for a reason. You're supposed to use them no matter how far away your fingers are from the blade. Yes, that's right- I learned that the hard way. As I was slicing my Granny Smith Apples into perfect 1/4" slices, I ended up with a 1/4" slice of Mickelle Smith Finger in the mix.

Awesome.

Even better? Rick wasn't home.

I grabbed a paper towel, that coincidentally had sandpaper-like texture, and held it over the gushing wound (no lies here. gushing.) as I ran around the house trying to find my phone to call Rick to come save me. Just as I sit the "send" button with my elbow he pulls up with my 2 younger brothers in tow. I ran to the door and told Rick "I cut off my finger with the slicer" (Okay- a little stretch.) And my wonderful, kind, sweet, sympathetic husband said...

"Nuh-uh. No you didn't. Stop joking."

I'm for real here... okay it was only the tip that got cut off, but I was probably in the worst pain of my life (all concentrated to one square inch on the tip of my finger.) and bleeding through the five paper towels I had on my hand. He was totally waiting for my to yell "Just Kidding" at any moment.

Don't worry though, after 2 seconds of putting all this evidence together, he reached over to hold me... and bumped my hand. OUUUCHHH!!! He asked what I wanted to do- go to the E.R.? Of course not... I wasn't going to pay $1000 to sit in a waiting room for 3 hours. (I go there all the time for work... I know how they work. Plus- I was only gushing blood- not dying yet so I would be low on that patient priority list.) I guess I thought if I held on to the wad of paper towels long enough, it would stop bleeding and life would be good again. Finally, he convinced me to go to our regular Dr. We called in and headed into the doctors office, where my mom would meet me to pick up the two boys. (forgot I had my brothers with me, didn't you? They were awesome and totally helpful with getting me paper towels and grabbing my phone... one even carried my purse in for me.)

After 4 or 5 different people asking to see it (PAINFUL.. then the gushing again.) to decide what to do wtih me. (You can't stich up a hole.) Finally they gave me something to numb it a little.

Angels sang and the stars rejoiced!

My finger stopped screaming.

After waiting another 30 minutes the Dr. came in, shot some numbing stuff in it (weirdest feeling ever! First time I've ever had that.), and cauterized it.

Can I just tell you, Numbing is the greatest thing in the world! I couldn't feel half of my hand the rest of the day!

Great!

Today, almost a week later- that silly numbing medicine wore off too long ago. It's definitely not to the calliber that it was- but I still have to type this sans my right-middle finger. (Pretty impressive, eh?) I've had a bandage that looked like I had a light bulb on my finger, which in turn made me feel like I was flipping people off every time I showed them my hand. It's fine though... Good thing I haven't had any Deaf students this week, and the freelance interpreting job I did this week was just grateful I was there (even if I had to fingerspell with my left hand). Taking off the bandage twice a day is the worst part of my life (it sticks to my finger and HuuuuRRrrttTs!) but... soon I will have the coolest finger in the world (minus my brother who has a crooked finger from an infection he got from a sliver.).

I have a flat-top finger!

I didn't want to gross people out too much so this is the nicest picture I could get. It actually looks much better in this picture.

Other things I have accomplished this week with the flat-top finger:

- Went to Zumba and locked my keys in the car (locksmiths? charge waaaay too much. I would have done it myself if I had something to do it with)
- Broke... and fixed a pipe under the sink.
- Went "camping" (okay we went for the night cookout, came home, then went back in the morning for breakfast)
- Taught the lesson at church... with writing on the chalkboard. Not the easiest thing when you're right handed.
- Attempted to play the piano- it didn't work- but I tried.
- Made exactly ONE meal since Friday that wasn't a Salad, Fruit, or a Sandwich. I love Rick. He's pretty good at taking care of me and my poor finger.

Yeah... so about how long it's been...

Okay so possibly, maybe it's been a long time...

I have excuses though.

Not good ones, but still excuses as to why I've been AWOL.

Ones like:

 I get an idea about what I want to write about, then I forget (I should write them down)

or We moved and didn't have internet (for about a day- I think I would have died for real)

or Moving takes a lot of time (For real? We've been mostly moved in for about a month except for the secret box that we don't know where to put the stuff that's in it so it's just hanging out in a closet with the door shut. Out of sight out of mind, right?)

I'm outta excuses... I've shot all of them down.

So here I am.

Blogging.

I know. Maybe I should give you time to get over the shock.

Okay...

Done?

So. Life is good. See?

Homeowner? Check

Bachelors Degree? Check

One yearaversary? Check

Getting a pet dog? Check-ish... coming June 7th!! (a Black Lab I raised to be a Guide Dog and she is now retiring at age 11 and gets to come live with us. We still have my current puppy I'm raising to be a Guide Dog.)

DisneyWorld trip? Check

First Semester working outside of college? Check.

Buying our first Lawn Mower? Check

Learning how to tile a countertop? Check

Check. Check. Check...

I love life. Period.

Oh, Facebook...

I have feelings about Facebook.

Mixed Feelings.

Okay I lied- I love Facebook, but I really have a problem with what people put on Facebook.

I've already heard the lecture "It's my Facebook and I can do whatever I want to it and if you don't like me then just de-friend me." Harsh, eh? Don't worry I won't de-friend you, I'll just look at your profile when it comes up and shake my head solemnly.

Let me just say: You probably, might, really should act the same way on Facebook that you would in real life. Meaning:

- if you aren't trashy in real life-- please don't put trashy pictures up! Boys will not marry you for what your Facebook picture looks like, they eventually have to meet you face to face.
- if you don't want your mom, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neighbors, future kids, and/or creepers from around the corner seeing something- don't post it. It lives forever online.
- language that you wouldn't share with the above mentioned group of people, probably isn't appreciated. that's all.
- whether you know it or not, people look up to and respect you- don't ruin it by a momentary (or longer) lapse in judgement when posting a status, post, or picture.

the end.

i feel better now.