Can-struction! - the real deal

So today I spent my day off doing work stuff. What's new about that, you ask? Well...today was FUN! :) Every year the food bank has a fundraiser here that's also an awareness builder. It's called Can-Struction. Groups raise money and gather cans. With your team of engineers and/or architects, you build something out of canned goods. At the end, the stuff is on display at the mall for several days and then the food is all donated to the food bank.

We built a gingerbread house. Out of baked beans. We made lima bean fir trees. The walkway was Campbell's soup. The roof of our house was marshmallows and Twizzlers. Our chimney was made of coffee cans and Stagg chili. We put a halloween fountain mister in the chimney, so our chimney actually smoked. It was fun and very cool.

Granted, the other entries kicked our ASS. There was a freestanding suspension bridge (this entry will win for sure, assuming it doesn't fall down!). One group built a toilet out of cans...a can out of cans. Their t-shirts said they were 'flushing out hunger'. Another group that had shirts telling us "Move your can(s)" built half a high-rise and a CRANE. There was a functioning lighthouse, a football stadium (complete with blimp), and a bulldozer. It was supercool. There are prizes and stuff, but we won't win one. :) Our entry was super-lame compared to the others. But if you ever get the chance to participate, it's worth having to raise several hundred dollars for a good cause. What a blast. :)

I read this earlier tonight in the archives of the funniest girl on the internet. I laughed out loud, so much so that I don't even want to link to it, I'm cutting and pasting it right here. Now laugh, I said! (obscure C+C Music Factory reference--diggit?)

This weekend I attended a wedding in Madison, Wisconsin. Now there's a town that's just crawling with nonstop action. Oh wait! That's not action Madison is crawling with! It's actually crawling with FLEAS from all the FILTHY GODDAMMED HIPPIES all over the place. Man, I hate hippies.

You know, I didn't want to put Mimi over on the list of my favourite places for a long time. I wanted to hog her for myself. Weird, isn't it? Moreso, in fact, when you consider that she's got one of the most well-publicized blogs on the internet. She's even got a book that they made out of her blog, in fact. How strange is that? But she's funny as hell, and she's my absolute favourite read every day (except for YOUR blog, of course. That goes without saying...you know that). I am disheartened when she doesn't update.* How sad is my life? Anyway, read, enjoy, dislike, whatever you choose. But she's public domain now. I feel so exposed!!!

Something incredibly strange just happened, and in the middle of my entry, Blogger managed to post my entry---about 9 times. But this post--this one...it's the real deal.

So...lots happened while you were gone. Well, you weren't gone, really...but I was gone...waiting for my post to arrive/come back/be found/pageload. Anyway. You see what I meant.

I realized, as I went to turn down my bed, that I had washed my sheets earlier, and that my bed was not only not made, but was naked. So I had to make the bed. I'm an imbecile. If I"d done it when the sheets came out of the dryer, instead of re-folding them and sticking them in the linen closet, I wouldn't have had to do it now. Note to self: Stop freaking procrastinating!

Also...** (thought I wouldn't remember to go back and footnote, didn't you?) Don't think that I only get disheartened when Mimi doesn't post...I get very sad when any of my daily reads find better things to do. I may not post every day, but that's no reason for YOU not to entertain me. Paige, for instance, went ALL WEEKEND without updating. And so far, she hasn't done it yet today either. (people keep getting lives! I'm so envious!) So, be aware that I"m watching you. I depend on you for social interaction. The worst of it is, that you don't really know who you are. I mean, I"m putting all this pseudo pressure on you, and really...it may not even BE you I"m talking about. (It is.)

My cousin is in town this week with her two little girls. Her brother-in-law just moved out here with his family and they're out to visit. I'm excited to hear from her, and i really want to hook up and see her. I haven't seen her since the summer she got married, and I've never met her little girls. It'd be lovely.

It's funny, we were always really close with our cousins when we were little. IT's something my parents made a concerted effort to do. We visited all of our cousins at least twice a year--doesn't sound like much, but I have 22 first cousins on one side of the family, and the closest of those lived 4.5 hours away from us.

We always knew our family, and knew that our family was important. I'm sad to have lost touch with a lot of my cousins. And it's all me, because my family still all gets together every Christmas and every summer for the new generation of second-coiusins to hook up and play.

Moving across the country pretty much sucks when it comes to family stuff. I miss my sisters, and my mom and dad, and my friends. And now, the older I get, even the friends get harder to see. Thank goodness Christine's family still lives near my family--I may actually get to see her over Christmas this year! That'd be a nice treat. :)

Very tired, and must get up in a mere 5 hours. I have NOT been sleeping well, so I think I should take my chances while I can. I also still have to delete the extra 8 posts -- gifts from blogger to you. Have a happy week. :) (don't know why it feels like Monday today!!!)