I'm not above swiping ideas - Day 26

Day 26: Your dream wedding

Apparently, I'm still holding on to the idea that a prince charming exists.



Plus, I could do some serious party planning with a budget like Kate had.

Shuffle up and sing along - Day 25

Day 25: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs

This is probably my favorite post so far. It's like 10 Music Mondays all in one!

1. I Walk the Line, Johnny Cash



2. Jessie's Girl, Cast of Glee



3. Medicine, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals




4. She's A Little Bit Dangerous, Roxette



5. Elvira, Oak Ridge Boys



6. Top Back, TI



7. King of Anything, Sara Bareilles




8. Beast of Burden, The Rolling Stones



9. Southern Girl, Amos Lee



10. Faster, Matt Nathanson



Wow, I'm not really sure where else you can hear the smooth vocal stylings of the Oak Ridge Boys and then transition, quiet seamlessly, into TI. Plus, I'm super impressed that more Glee songs didn't show up. It seemed like every other song this thing played yesterday was from Glee.

It's a good thing they're pretty - Day 24

Day 24: Something you've learned

No matter how good looking of a team I draft for fantasy baseball, I can't finish higher than 10th out of 12 teams.

I refuse to half-ass this one - Day 23

Day 23: A picture of someone you want to switch lives with for a day and why

I'll do you one better than a photo, I'll do you a full length commercial.



To be perfectly clear, the reasons I want to switch places with the girl in this commercial are tri-fold.
   1a. Henry Cavill is hot
   2b. Henry Cavill is super hot
   3c. Real life or acting, that's gotta be at least a full day/night of up close goodness with Henry Cavill.

Plus, he has to smell good, because this is a cologne ad...unless the cologne smells gross...I guess I didn't consider that....oh well, I don't care, I've had years of character building experiences, this just looks like good fun.

P.S. The sunflower iron-on bedazzlement is still up for grabs and I just gave you fools three very good clues as to the identity of one of the gents.

Did I just vlog?

We interrupt the 30-day blog challenge to show you what I figured out how to do in the last 30 minutes.

Get excited.




Next time I'll stop laying on my couch before filming.

Type F personality - Day 22

Day 22: What's in your purse?

I know there's such a thing as a Type A personality, which I am definitely not. Is there a Type F? If so, the F probably stands for Freaking Disaster and this post is about to reveal that I'm it's poster child.

So here's my purse.

Here's the pile of crap when it first gets dumped on the ground.

Here's the pile of crap sorted out...it's about to get really real, people.

Ok, so here's what we've got, starting at the bottom and working our way counter-clockwise-ish.

• wallet
• empty travel size saline solution that I use as eye drops because I won't buy eyedrops for contact wearers
• one splenda packet
• wedding program my sister gave me as inspiration/encouragement for starting a wedding invite/paper junk side business
• allergy meds from Walgreens
• nice pen 
• keycard for work
• pile of receipts that I typically leave in my purse until I file in my trash can
• player rewards card from Boot Hill Casino in Dodge City, KS (last used mid-July)
• two grocery lists
• 3 paid bills from last month
• Oklahoma Joe's menu
• Sweet Baby Jesus, a dirty pizza cutter wrapped in a Walmart sack (from Friday when I took fruit pizza to work)
• iPod Nano 
• K-State pen
• bread bag clip

Thank God I didn't try to go through airport security with this purse in the last 4 days.  It's really only a matter of time before my laziness puts me in jail or on a Dateline TV special.

Could I get any cuter? - Day 21

Day 21: Favorite picture of yourself ALL TIME*, why?

*ALL TIME in this post means that I have a digital file of said picture.

This is me on my 2nd birthday and from the looks of it, I just received the best present ever – Bedtime Bear. I love how excited I look hugging the head off that silly bear.

If any of you are curious, yes, I still have this CareBear.

I'm also super curious if the only other presents I received during this birthday were a red bucket and book tote. If so, kids these days get entirely too many pricey presents and all of my nieces and nephew need to look forward to getting red buckets for Christmas.

Family members who remember this birthday are encouraged to chime in if they remember the significance of the bucket and tote.

The girl with a thousand names - Day 20

Day 20: Nicknames

I'm not exactly sure how or why, but nicknames are one thing I have never had a shortage of. Let's see if I can name them all in the order I was given them.

Mini Kimmi - This lasted until kindergarden age. I'm not sure who started calling me this, but I do know I got this nickname because I looked like a miniature version of my older sister, Kim. All of her friends called me Mini Kimmi...until the basketball game when they fed me too much licorice and I threw up all over three of them in the student section bleachers. I'm not sure if this is the reason the name kind of died, but my memories of it stop about that time frame.

Like I said, the "mini" dropped off years ago, but my dad's side of the family can never tell us apart so I still get called Kim a fair amount.

Cuddle Bug - This was my CB handle back in the day before cell phones. Having a CB in your house and car was loads of fun. Let's see if I can remember all of our handles, I may need to phone a friend.
Home = Big I Base;
Dad = Gopher;
Mom = Honey-do;
Brian = White Lightening;
Kim = Sweet Thunder;
Jeremy = Hungry Jack.

Those of you interested in being as cool as my family or wanting your own CB handle, feel free to consult this eHow article.

Squirt - Kim used to call me this when I was in grade school. I think it was because I was short, but I can't be for sure.

Little Woman - I went to Park for grades 1-3. I was the only girl in my class of four and subsequently was the shortest girl in the school. The 4th, 5th and 6th grade boys called me this. I lost the name when Cheyenne started first grade the next year. It could have been worse....and I think it did get worse.

Gertrude - Ugh. And so the downward spiral of never being called Erin begins. As we already established, I wasn't a coordinated or athletic child. God made me to play Barbies, color and look cute, not climb ropes, run and sweat. Apparently, my attempts to dribble, run, stretch, play line tag, etc. al., reminded Mr. Heinz, our PE teacher — who in my mind back then was like a mean drill sergeant with bad teeth, goofy laugh and funny name — of a grandma. So, he'd yell things like, "Come on grandma!" "Lift your feet, Gertrude!"

Gerdy - Gertrude was quickly shortened to Gerdy and spread like wildfire all over school. By the second grade I was convinced Mr. Heinz didn't know my real name. I'm a little weird, so I actually didn't mind Gerdy as a nickname. I liked being "heard of."

Kirby - I think during 12 and under softball one summer Kirby was born, out of someone mishearing Gerdy. I liked this even better because of that cute little pink guy from Kirby's Adventures.

Gert - During junior high the nickname got shortened to Gert. To this day, people who I haven't been around since high school and some friends parents still call me Gert when they see me back home.

Kirb - Same story as Gert. Kids get lazy in high school and I still get called this from some long-time friends. I think this is one of my favorite variations of the nickname.

EG - Now we enter the college years. Part of the magic of going to K-State for college was nobody else from back home was really there, so I got to be Erin again...or the closest variation of it I was ever going to be. My dorm neighbors/friends quickly started calling me by my initials.

EG3 - Sometime during freshman year, the EG got a twist. I was with a group of friends and we were talking about one of their high school classmates, who Becca always referred to as James Elmer Fox the Third. I quickly proclaimed that I wanted to be Erin Garrett the Third. Dee, didn't miss a beat, and said, "Ok, EG3!"

Femminim - I went through a two week phase sophomore year where I thought I could be a while girl rapper.

Thundercat - Another self-inflicted nickname inspired by the song "Shake Your Tailfeather."

TC - Short for Thundercat and Dally still calls me TC.

Lulu - Ok, only my family and small children are allowed to call me this name. When Payton was little she as super tubby and had lots of crazy brown hair. One day, Kim had her dressed in a red and white checkered dress and I asked her why she had her dressed like Lulu from Hee Haw.

Payton started crying and was inconsolable. We assume she knew that wasn't a flattering comment. A few years later, when she could talk, Payton came running into mom and dad's house and firmly told me, "I'M NOT A LULU! YOU'RE A LULU!" And now that's what my family calls me. I can't wait for Sam to say it again so more people can hear it :)

I think between Gertrude and Lulu it's safe to say I could make a pretty seamless transition into life in the south.

Aardvark - Oh boy, this one was born from a conversation with Jessi where she kept referring to her Aunt Bunny, who was rich. Apparently my takeaway from this conversation was that every single girl needs a "rich aunt name" which starts with Aunt and ends with a type of animal. Jessi is Foxhound; Katie, Cricket; Choy, Panda; Kristin, Cobra and I got stuck with Aardvark (I only accepted this name once I was told it had to be said in a Boston accent.)


Wow, I'm exhausted from typing about myself for over an hour and there are probably still some that I've missed.

Cheaters may never win... - Days 18 & 19

...but they sure do finish 30-day blog challenges in less then 90 days.

Tonight we combo up and speed through some of the murk and muck (is that a thing?).

Day 18: Favorite place to eat

Well, let's be honest, I love eating anywhere I don't have to do the cleaning. So I guess I'll pick a KC favorite: Grinders. They make an amazing Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich (I like mine with banana peppers, mushrooms and both kinds of cheese - provolone and cheese wiz).

You can also order a New York Style Chili Bomb Pie, which is a pizza of your choice with tots, chili-cheese and scallions plopped on the center of your pie. It looks and sounds more disgusting than it tastes. That being said, I don't have the kahones to order this myself, I just sponge a bite off someone else.

I'm also pretty sure there was one night, when Aisha and I were on the verge of being over-served and under-feed, where we had the funky dough and it came directly from heaven. DEEEE-LICIOUS.

To wash it all down they have about a million beers.

So, come see me sometime and we'll go eat there.



Day 19: Something you miss

In general, being a kid. I don't necessarily pine to relive any stage of life, I just miss being carefree and blissfully obvious to "real life."

More specifically, I miss staying with my grandparents when Mom and Dad went away for a weekend.

I loved staying at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Jeannie's house. I always got to stay in the back bedroom across from their room where the fancy smell-good powder for "powdering your nose" was. Along with a dresser full of Archie comic books that I read at night.

Grandma would always have some kind of cookies in the third drawer of the kitchen and make real fried chicken. Grandpa would play Slap Jack with me and act like I hurt him when I hit his hands. When we'd go driving, they let me sit in the middle between them and if I asked Grandpa to drive fast, he'd pull his hat down real low in front and make "fast car sounds" and act like he was steering an out-of-control vehicle. I'm not even doing it justice, but at the time (and still now, in my mind) it was the funniest thing ever. He probably never really went any faster, it just made me drunk with power :)

Staying with Grandma Jane and Vic was a different kind of fun. Probably because being with each other was less of a novelty since they only lived about 15 minutes from my house, we talked almost everyday and they lived on an actual working farm where there were daily chores.

I was even less into manual labor then than I am now, so I could usually complain/whine my way out of doing actual outside work. Although, I always liked watching them feed calves, especially when some were bottle fed. That is something every little kid should get to do.

But like I said, I could get out of outside work (let's be honest, a bored 10 year-old with an affinity for daydreaming would probably just be in the way of any actual real work getting done anyhow) and help Grandma make lunch and supper for the boys. I loved cooking with grandma, I'm not really sure why, but I liked it. There was also the extra bonus of getting to watch Days of Our Lives with her after lunch. Mom didn't approve of me watching "that trash", but grandma always let me watch with her. I think that's what made it so fun. When I was in college she would call me for updates if she missed a few days.

I also now have a piece of my childhood memories from the farm in my own house. It's a copper garage with moving car music box that plays "King of the Road" as it circles the building. I used to play that thing all the time when I was out there and that song always makes me think of the farm and Grandma Jane.

Cause that's how science works

File this under: Brilliant ideas I wish I would have had, because it's a cause I fully support, but lack the tools, motivation, attention span or follow-through to actually accomplish.

I could be upset that I wasn't the brilliant mastermind behind this video, but instead I choose to be happy someone is finally bringing this issue to light.

Brilliant.