Lent

I'm a Christian who grew up in a non-denominational church and family. Basically I was never required by my faith to do Lent. It was the time of  year I would sit in the cafeteria and shove my face full of all kinds of meat while my friends of other religions whined about what they couldn't eat and the things they decided to give up. This year I decided to observe Lent by giving up something that I felt takes up too much of my time, the time I should be using to focus on God and where I should be in my life. This may sounds silly but I decided to give Facebook a break. It's one of those things I love to hate. I'm always on it out of boredom and I admit that it's a distraction. I thought I might miss out on what's going on with my friends, but if they are real friends we will connect otherwise. Yesterday was day number one and I got to see three of my friends last night. Day number two is here and I have to admit it's a little liberating. Plus, I don't feel like a stalker.

Kat

Living Alone and without Joy

Thanks for that post about me Joy. It warmed my heart. I do agree about the smell of fish being stinky and funny you should mention that. I've only fried fish once in my place. The reason why is because of the smell. It wasn't so much the fish that stank, but rather the lingering smell of oil in my apartment.

There are some pros and cons to living on your own. Here are the top few that pop into my head.

Pros

1. No one eats your food
2. You can walk around naked
3. No one hogs the bathroom
4. There isn't anyone to scold you for being messy
5. Everyone is just the way you like it 

Cons

1. There's never dinner on the table waiting for you when you get home
2. You can't tell your guests that the mess is actually from your roommate
3. You can't eat your roommate's food when hungry
4. Conversations with yourself become normal
5. You can't blame your belches on the the pit bull

Things I Don't Miss About Living with Kat...

One day I came home from work and as I came up the stairs of my building to be greeted by the awful smell of someones fish dinner.  And it reminded me of things I sure Don't miss about living with Kat.  I always hated when I'd come home to that smell! Things you thought you could get away with without a roommate!
But anyway since I said something I don't miss I suppose I should say something nice about Kat that I do miss.  So sticking with the cooking theme.  I do miss the times I would come home to a nice home cooked food.  So, Kat if you wanted to come cook me some food while I'm at work someday that would be great!

The End of The Wagon

The past 4.5 years I have driven a 99 escort station wagon. Otherwise known as The Wagon.  Last week, after 251,215 miles it met its fateful end.
Last Friday my friend Tiffany called to ask if I could pick her up from work because she blew a head gasket while driving in that morning. So we planned for me to pick her up at 10:45 in order for me to drop her off and head in to work at 12.  I set off to pick up Tiffany, stopped to fill my gas tank as I was near empty, and continued to Woodbury. It was snowing lightly, nothing to major and the radio said it would pass through within an hour.  I picked up Tiffany and we were on our way, we were approaching the on-ramp for the highway and I asked Tiff if it was the right place to turn, cause sometimes I get side roads and on-ramps confused.  Well indeed it was our turn.  We weren't traveling real fast as there was snow on the ground and we were about to turn.  But as I turned the car we began sliding around on the road.  Tiffany exclaims "don't hit the wall" and I said "I won't" (I really didn't think we would) but then I realized I could not get control of the car and in fact we would be hitting, so I said "dang it, why'd you say that now we're going to..." SMACK! We hit the wall preventing us from soaring into the highway below.  I watched us hit and the next thing I know I opened my eyes with a ringing in ear, pain in my thumb, and pain in the my shoulder/neck, and realized the air bags had deployed and the car was quite damaged.  Well luckily Tiffany and I were not seriously injured and we only hit a wall no other vehicles. The front bumper was all smashed in and the windshield had cracked in a few places.  And thus ended the wagon.  It was hauled away by a friendly tow driver, I went and cleaned out my belonging and signed over the title earlier this week. I also took the license plates to transfer to my new car.  I got the front one of just fine, but the back one had one nut that just would not come out, I had to get help from the same driver who towed it away, It's like the wagon just didn't want to let go.
The moral of the story is good tires are very important to your car and you should not put off buying them.  Cause even in a pathetic little to hour storm in Wisconsin/Minnesota causes slippery roads.
I can't say I'm terribly upset by the lose of the wagon. I got a new car already, that's much quieter and  nicer to drive.  The wagon was beginning to have its struggles anyway. It's like if something was destined to live to be 100 and die naturally but instead died in an accident at 99.5. Ironically just the Wednesday before my accident a co-worker of mine asked me how many miles my car had because he had the same car as me.  This past week his car died on him on his way to work.  Not a good time for 99 escort station wagons I guess.
I will miss the wagon a little I suppose. Like when it comes moving time, or when I need to put something large in my car.
So Wagon, I am sorry of how I ended things. You didn't deserve such a murderous death, may you rest in recyclable pieces.

Random Sights

Last night while walking up the stairs in my building and I happen to look up at the top of the window and what do I see but a tank top sitting on top of the curtain rod. I mean this window is way up in the air and the tank top seems pretty tucked in there so I really wonder how it got all the way up there.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (a day late)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Last year my brother was really sick so I didn't go back to my parents. This year they had stuff going on and again, I didn't go. However, it made me very thankful for the 2nd year in a row that I had wonderful friends who welcomed me in to spend the day with them and their families. I do feel truly blessed.

I also couldn't help but think about about last Thanksgiving. (For your viewing pleasure refer to last year's blog....http://jkflutterfriends.blogspot.com/2010/11/happy-thanksgiving.html)  I remember it being really cold and there was snow on the ground. Joy and I were sleeping in when we had a lost car pull into our driveway. We thought they were lost because it appeared to be a nice family with a giant cardboard box and we weren't expecting company. Well, it turns out that even though we weren't the specific needy family that requested a Thanksgiving dinner from a local church/charity, we were the fortunate residents to receive an entire dinner on our doorstep. It was pretty amazing and rather funny. I couldn't help but to secretly hope someone would ring my doorbell again this year....

How to Waste the Last 5 Minutes at Work

Have you ever noticed how those last 5 minutes of work go by the slowest? I sure have. That's why I made a list. Don't worry. I'm here to save the day (or the last 5 minutes of your work day).

1) Check your online bill due dates.
2) Throw away garbage from your purse or wallet.
3) Google or youtube something random. Related randomness will generate for your entertainment.
4) Explain to a cold caller from India why you can't just transfer them to the executive team at your company.
5) Chat/flirt with a co-worker. I prefer flirt because quite honestly I could use the practice.
6) Check facebook. Heck, just post how bored you are.
7) Pick the split ends from your hair. Guy equivalent - don't you think about sex every 2.8 seconds or something?
8) Delete old emails.
9) Daydream.
10) Write a list of the top 10 ways to waste the last 5 minutes at work.

<3 always,

Kat