Selling Afghans

I think I have blogged on more than one occasion about how I really love to buy yarn at ACMoore.  I'll have to take a picture sometime, but for now I will just say that I have a truck load of yarn in my craft room.   Or at least a Honda CRV-load of yarn, since  I recently moved and one trip to my new house was dedicated solely to my yarn supply.  I figured I should probably start making some stuff with it, because otherwise I won't have room to buy more without ending up on an episode of "Hoarders."  I would prefer my reality television debut to be on "Dancing With the Stars" where I will be partnered with Tristan, who will fall madly in love with me, and we can have adorable little Irish-American babies. So to keep myself off "Hoarders" while I figure out how to become a D-list celebrity and get on "DWTS", I have spent the past few months crocheting up a storm:

I've decided to donate these four afghans to my church's afghan sale, which I organized to help raise funds for our new furnace.  I'm kind of sad to see them go.  I just keep reminding myself that I can always make another afghan, and we really need a new furnace so I don't have to wear my snowsuit to church all winter.  And I have to use up my stockpile before I can go shopping at ACMoore, anyway!

Get Your Flu Shot!

No, I am not pimping my own pharmacy. I don't care where you go to get your flu shot. I just care that you get one. Basically, the flu sucks. It kills lots of people each year, especially the very young and the very old. It hospitalizes even more. And you're way less likely to get it if you get immunized every year. So go to Target, Walgreens, your doctor, or a flu clinic and get your shot. Even if you aren't high risk for the flu, I bet you have a close friend or relative who is. And aren't they worth a little pinch and a sore arm the next day?

Get Your Heart On!

I've been a fan of Simple Plan since I was in college.  Which I think is about the same time they became a band.  They are pop/punk, which I love.  I like loud power chords, simple lyrics, and a fast tempo, and Simple Plan has always had all three.

But I've kind of forgotten Simple Plan for a while.  Let's just say I went gaga for Gaga last year, and have only just recovered from that lapse in judgement, and leave it at that.  And then a month or two ago, I heard a song called "Jet Lag" on the radio, and LOVED it.  It was a guy and a girl singing about a long distance relationship, and it had a wicked catchy chorus.  Turns out it was my old favorites, Simple Plan, singing with Natasha Bedingfield.  I waited a while, and then decided I had to buy the album.

Turns out, it's awesome.  I actually like every song on it, which is rare. Hope you enjoy my favorite song from the album, Loser of the Year.

Back to College!

I have the good fortune of working in a town that doubles in size every fall when it's college students return to class. It is my apparent lack of good fortune that has resulted in my being scheduled to work every year on Move-In Weekend for the past four years. Let's just say the stars were particularly misaligned at my birth.

Working on Move-In Weekend is not much fun for a pharmacist in a discount-retailer environment. Our more intelligent regular patients know to get their refills either before or after this most glorious of weekends. Which means that the only patients I see on Move-In Weekend are generally my biggest PITAs.

Besides dealing with my (least) favorite patients all weekend, I also get to interact with not only the incoming freshman class, but their hovering, helicopter parents. I do transfers for forgotten prescriptions, give directions to home-improvement stores (I really don't know why so many students need to locate a Home Depot or Lowes...could someone explain this to me?), dispense advice on allergies, antifungal creams, headaches, and what to put in a first-aid kit. Oh, and once the parents finally go home, I dispense A LOT of Plan B.

Mostly, I answer questions about where items are located in the store. My technician (who has now seen NINE Move-In-Weekends) and I decided to keep track of the various items we were asked for this weekend, to see which was the most popular:


Clearly, the colleges in my town do not include manicure essentials on their list of what to bring to school. Or condoms. And as noted previously, Plan B. In a few months I'll have to update my pharmacy word cloud to include "directions to Planned Parenthood."

Four years ago, I considered the future of our civilization as bright and full of promise. Today, I am not so sure. Yesterday, a Sunday, I had the pleasure of filling prescriptions from an on-call pulmonologist in California...at 10am New York time. He was woken up because one of his asthma patients had left his Advair, Singulair, and last, but not least, his Ventolin rescue inhaler, at home. I noted to the (helicopter) parents that I often see incoming students who forget their medications when packing. "Oh, no," said his mother. "He didn't forget to pack them. We just didn't think he would have any asthma symptoms when he got to New York. The weather is so much different here than in California." I really think colleges should start requiring common sense as well as academic prowess to be admitted.

Ain't No Party Like a Scranton Party...

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of (the US version of) The Office. So when a friend suggested a road trip to Scranton, I busted out my fun jeans and proceeded to take a self-guided (and self-designed) Office tour.

First stop, Scranton Welcomes You...to the Steamtown Mall:

Why are there no leaves on the trees in Scranton in June?

Apparently so many people were stopping on the highway to take pictures of the sign from the opening credits of the show that Scranton decided to move their most famous landmark to the food court inside the Mall at Steamtown. I'm assuming with this move, they were hoping visitors would also be inspired to spend lots of money on Office merchandise. Obviously, the people who run Scranton are sales-tax savvy.

This did, however, give me an opportunity to pose for a picture with my future husband, Jim Halpert. I think we make a great couple because his head is actually bigger than mine:

Pam who?

Next up, the Anthracite Heritage Museum, which my trusty GPS Celeste thought was right in Scranton, but was actually in the middle of nowhere:


I'm going to admit, it didn't seem promising and we really just wanted to use the bathroom. But the little old lady selling tickets at the entrance was so cute and enthusiastic that we kind of had to take the tour.

Now, I think we would have learned more if Dwight Schrute was there, but it's beet sowing season, and he was probably busy. So I will just share what I felt were the most pertinent parts of my visit.

1) Donkeys

Donkeys, the unsung heroes of Lehigh Valley Anthracite.

2) Donkey hats

Am I the only one that feels bad for the donkeys?

Normally I'm not real big on animals wearing clothing (unless it's my cat, Henry), but it turns out that the invention of the donkey hat saved lots of donkey lives by keeping their poor donkey ears from brushing electrical wires hanging from the coal mine ceiling.

2) Unpleasant Medical Devices

What is that, a 10 gauge?

Museums are supposed to enlighten, not confuse.

4) Enlightenment

Does this make up for me missing church yesterday?

5) Deer Parts as Decor

Deer hoof hooks defy explanation.

A morning spent learning about coal mining really helped us work up an appetite for our next stop, Coopers!

I hope they don't serve venison.

I didn't know ties were required for lunch.

Sorry, Doug. I think Cooper's has you beat. =(

Then it was off to Poor Richard's Pub, which apparently doesn't open until 5pm. Who knew?

Our last stop of the day was Manning's:

Melissa, our favorite Scrantonite, told us that Manning's ice cream would make up for the lack of refreshments at Poor Richards. I was kind of dubious about eating anything from a dairy farm in the middle of nowhere, but my chocolate peanut butter cup ice cream was delicious.

And with that, our day in Scranton was over. I'm just sorry I didn't get to go on the coal chute ride.

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 30 - My most treasured item:

I'm sure there are lots of things I have that are worth more, or are more valuable to me. But when it comes right down to it, after my dogs and cats, the first thing I'm grabbing if my house is on fire is going to be my Ventolin HFA. Photo albums are great, but they aren't going to save my life when I'm wheezing from smoke inhalation. I guess you could say I treasure my life, and thus, I treasure my inhaler.

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DAY 29 - My favorite hobby:


In the winter, I love to crochet. Which is good, because I also really love to buy yarn at ACMoore!

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DAY 28 - Someone inspiring:

Jane Austen was the kind of writer that I wish I was, but don't have the drive, focus, or imagination to be. I wouldn't mind being just like her, except I'd like to live in the present, and for a bit longer than she did.

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DAY 27 - Someone I find attractive:

Because I feel that it might be somewhat inappropriate and possibly embarassing to post a picture of someone I find attractive in real life in a blog post, I'll focus on my celebrity crush instead.  

I find Henry Cavill (Charles Brandon on "The Tudors") to be astoundingly handsome. Apparently I am not the only one, because he's been cast as the latest Superman. And I have a feeling that, in the incredibly unlikely event that he ever even sees this post, he probably wouldn't be offended or even surprised that someone might admire his British charm. So this choice is both safe and honest.

Honorable Mentions: Paul Walker, Colin Farrell, Colin Firth, and Shemar Moore. I think it's the British accent that helped Henry beat Shemar, who almost took the win based only on his ability to kick down doors and arrest serial killers as an FBI agent on "Criminal Minds."

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DAY 26 - My favorite band/musician:

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DAY 25 - Something that means a lot to me:


It took a long time (13 years of public school, 6 years of pharmacy school, and 23 years of my life) to become a pharmacist. So I'm pretty proud of being part of America's most trusted profession. And as much as I complain, I actually love my job...mostly.

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DAY 24 - My favorite movie:

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DAY 23 - Something that always makes me smile:

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DAY 22 - My favorite holiday:

Image courtesy of nirots / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Things I love: John Philip Sousa, summer weather, hot dogs, patriotic hymns, the colors red, white, and blue, and loud, bright, sparkly things. Oh, and my country. I'm pretty happy about being born in the United States.

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DAY 21 - My favorite food:

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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DAY 20 - Something I love:


I love yarn. More specifically, I love to buy yarn. Sometimes I make things out of it, too.

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DAY 19 - My favorite book:

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DAY 18 - Where I'd love to travel:

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DAY 17 - A picture from my last vacation:
The last "real" vacation I went on was a fun road trip along I-80, eventually ending in Boulder, CO. It was a spectacular trip the entire way, and Boulder was awesome too! Sadly, most of my pictures from the trip are lost, because my computer died shortly after I uploaded the pictures from my camera. So I scanned in a postcard instead. Not exactly the same, but it gets the job done.

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DAY 16 - Something I enjoy doing:


I really enjoy blogging. Obviously!

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DAY 15 - What I wanted to be when I grew up, when I was still little:

I've always been conflicted about what I wanted to be when I grew up. At the age of six, I wanted to be either 1) Lady LovelyLocks, who is the ruler and protector of the Kingdom of LovelyLocks (where everyone has long and beautiful hair) and takes care of everyone and everything, or 2) Rainbow Brite, who lives in Rainbow Land and uses the colors of the rainbow to make our world brighter and our hearts lighter.

I still haven't decided. Lady LovelyLocks wears a pretty pink dress, has possibly the best hair ever, and has a forest full of Pixietails to do her bidding. Her archenemy is the beautiful but cruel Duchess RavenWaves. Rainbow Brite seems a little spunkier, is friends with all the Color Kids (I think she might actually be dating Red Butler, who is wicked cool), and has Sprites who mine her Star Sprinkles. She has to fight Murky Dismal and Lurky, two villains who live in the Pits of Rainbow Land.

Considering I am going to be 30 this year, I feel that it is time for me to make a decision. I'm going to go with Rainbow Brite. Really, her life goals of making the world brighter and our hearts lighter is much more ambitious than Lady LovelyLocks'. I mean, protecting the Kingdom of LovelyLocks is great and all, but does anyone really even know where that is? And as far as fighting evil goes, Rainbow has it pretty easy with Murky and Lurky. Duchess RavenWaves looks like she could cut a bitch. 

 

Wow, I can't believe I've struggled with this decision for so long when it all seems so clear now. Rainbow Brite is the obvious choice for so many reasons. But mainly because I still really want a Star Sprinkles tattoo, but I've never wanted a Pixietail permanently inked anywhere on my person.

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 14 - Something I'm afraid of:


Go ahead and laugh, but I can't think of anything scarier than the Borg on Star Trek. Basically super-powered zombie aliens, they have given me nightmares since I was little. And I am not ashamed to admit it.

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DAY 13 - What I did today:

Church.

Lunch.

Craft store.

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DAY 12 - Something I hate:

Hating winter is kind of a recent development for me. I used to love the beauty of the snow and the cold didn't bother me. Now all I can see is the hassle of getting to and from work, worrying about the state of my driveway, and then the flooding that happens when three feet of snow melt in less than 24 hours and then you get two more feet of snow the very next day. My hatred started after I became a pharmacist (a job that unfortunately requires my attendance despite roads being closed due to inclement weather) but this past winter has kind of pushed me over the edge, since the region I live in has received 184 inches of snow since December 1. That's right, we have received 184 inches of snow in the past 102 days. I am not including the two inches that suprised me when I opened the door this morning, as they are not "official" yet. All I can say is Hawaii, here I come!

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 11: My favorite place:


So far, my favorite place in the world is my family's camp on Owasco Lake...but there are so many places that I haven't been yet, that it's hard to say if it will always be my favorite place. I'd say it's definitely a contender, though.

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DAY 10 - My favorite memory:

Working with my grandma in her flower gardens is one of my favorite things to do. I didn't quite inherit her green thumb, but I'm getting so I can identify a flower from a weed, so I guess I'm making progress!

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 9 - Someone you would trade places with:


I know this question was probably about real people, but I find fictional characters to be much more interesting. And really, there isn't any real person I would want to switch places with, unless I could pick Britney Spears, pre-KFed. I think with my help, poor Brit could have avoided that whole unfortunate era of having sex on balconies in front of the papparazzi, driving around LA really slowly, shopping at RiteAid, and shaving all her hair off. But I digress...Britney Spears being out of the picture, my choice came down to Elizabeth Bennett (from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. After careful consideration, I realized that Hermione is the obvious choice. Yes, Elizabeth Bennett got Mr. Darcy in the end, and he was a total hottie with loads of cash. But Hermione is wicked smart, and a witch. She didn't need to find a husband to take care of her. Strong, self-sufficient, and able to hex her enemies...I love Hermione!

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 8 - A photo of last summer:


I know it's not the highest quality photo, but I took it with my cell phone, through my bedroom window. You want to know how lucky I am? This is actually what I see through the window when I'm lying in bed. If we had weather like this all year, it would be paradise. Sadly, it's under two feet of snow, and the lake is frozen over. I guess paradise for 3 months of the year is better than no paradise at all, right?

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 7 - A picture where my hair looks nice:


Yes, it's an old picture, and yes, I am wearing a tiara. But my hair looks nice, so I saved it.

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 6 - Something I want to do before I die:

I want to go surfing.

And I want to look like Kate Bosworth in Blue Crush while I'm doing it.

So in other words, for those of you who haven't seen my favorite surf movie, I want to be a smokin' hot surfer girl in Hawaii. I don't think that's asking too much...but I should probably really start focusing on my Hawaii diet pretty soon!

30 Days of Pictures

DAY 5 - The cast of my favorite show, Criminal Minds.


This one was hard. I have several shows that I would call my favorites. I love The Office, Dexter, and The Tudors. Shameless is probably going to be on my list as long as Kevin and Veronica keep their FLDS foster child for a few more episodes, and I'm sure when The Borgias starts in April it will be amongst my favorites as well.

But Criminal Minds wins, at least with the cast photo I picked. You see, AJ Cook, who played JJ, was fired earlier this season, and now it looks like they will be killing off Paget Brewster's character, Emily. At that point, I'll have to post a picture of the Dexter cast, because without JJ and Emily, I don't see how Criminal Minds can be as good.