It Always Happens To Me x3

If you regularly tune into overgrown thoughts then you will be aware of the following about my car

Name: Ol' Betsy
Miles: ~150,000
Tires: Go flat all the time
Oil: Recently changed
Breaks: Recently went out completely
Driving Record: Not amazing

I'm sure I'm forgetting some key aspects so I would recommend reviewing it always happens to me and it always happens to me x2. I might even advise reading up on just my luck and road rage.  And of course there was the whole break & roter incident, which I couldn't even bring myself to talk about.

Well, It Always Happens To Me x3 is my latest addition to car troubles and here is what happened just today. . .

I woke up feeling well rested and ready for an adventure. I decided it was time to treat myself to something new and shiny - after all, I deserve it for all the hard work I do. As I quickly slid into a pair of pants and tee, I gobbled up some lunch, and headed out the door for my expedition to the mall (1hr drive).  I remembered I needed to return a movie to the RedBox at Walmart so I decided to make a pit stop.

As I was pulling into Walmart my temperature gauges started to go besurk. Instantly it was at 290degrees (red zone) and my "check gauges" was flashing, as too was my low coolant light. I eased into a parking spot to find that all of my coolant was GONE. Not a drip left. With head held high, I marched into walmart and bought some DexCool 50/50 ($12) and some toothpaste (not related to the car incident).

I popped the hood and filled Ol' Betsy up. At this point I was becoming a little weary of continuing my expedition due to the fact that I did not want to get stranded an hour from home. I started up the engine, slowly pulled out of the parking lot as I decided if I should go left (home) or right (mall). As I patiently waited at the stoplight my gauges began to dance up and down, my coolant light came back on, and the leak continued. My mind was made up. . .

Left. I called papa kunk, who was not all that reassuring. He began to list several things that could be wrong - none of which I had any clue what they were. So much for my trip to the mall. No longer was my head held high as a lone tear trickled down my cheek.

Ol' Betsy is now sitting out front, awaiting an expectation from papa kunk. What will the outcome be? A new hose? water pump? radiator? a kick in the rear? or a trip to the dump?

rowdy and rambunctious

There's a time in every girls life when she needs to just sit back and smell the roses. This is also known as people watching. Some prefer to call it "judging". I however, prefer to call it a good ol' night at The Red Apple.

Let me tell you how it all began. . . It was a Friday night. Tonight actually. Initially a night of hope and wonder full of what ifs and how abouts. But, then a friend didn't call me back for OctoberFest, I got uninvited to dinner at my own parents house, no partying with the big Dog, and suddenly I was all alone eating ramon noodles and doing paperwork. Yikes! Is this what my life has come to??

Then suddenly I heard it loud and clear. Almost as if it was ringing right next to me. Oh Wait! It WAS ringing right next to me, and it was my phone. As I peered down to the caller ID I saw it was none other then my 1 of a kind, crazy friend Kelly (whose name has been changed to protect the innocent). Kelly is one of those lively, full of spunk, energetic type of people... exactly what I was looking for on a lonely Friday night.

Well, Kelly and I decided to wander into the great unknown. We first ventured into The Red Apple for some breakfast (at 10pm). I FINALLY got to use my line on somebody.

Waitress: How do you want your eggs?
Me: Fertilized.

It was hysterical. I ordered BBQ sauce for my eggs. I insisted that the waitress tell me ALL the drinks they have available, and to top it off, Kelly and I were the only ones in the restaurant who weren't missing any teeth.

After a delicious drink of water (yes that is what I settled for), and a belly full of warm food we decided to head out to the bar and play some darts and shoot some pool. Apparently darts is more my game and pool is more Kelly's. Either way, we had a ball.

The best part was being the completely sober one in a bar on a Friday night. We found a few lady friends who apparently think all guys are "complete idiots". We shared some "man bashing stories". And watched the girls stumble about in their much to tall of heels. I wonder how many times I've been "that" girl. Not my cup of tea.

So - I'll take a drink and put my pinky up to good times, flat shoes, and a whole lotta booze.

Fur Coat?

With tough financial times comes budgeting. With budgeting comes cut backs. With cut backs comes creativity. With creativity comes fur coats....

I've been trying to save money. Start eating out less. Turning the lights off more. Stop driving in circles. Etc. However, as the season changes and it starts to get a bit brisk outside I've been racking my brain on how to stay warm without the expense of heavy jackets and tanning beds.

Solution: Grow your own fur coat to keep your legs warm and dry in the winter months.

Just to clarify. . . This was not intentional. I have been running around like a spring chick with it's head cut off. However, as I reached below the covers last night I did not come across a set of silky smooth luscious legs. Instead I jumped out of bed in fear that a big bear or beaver had somehow snuck under the sheets. Yikes!!!

limitless

Q. How do you come up with topics for your blog?

A. Oh, the workings of the human mind amaze me.

Job Skills Needed

Over the past 23 years and roughly 9 months I have had an array of different "experiences" when it comes to the work force. It is doubtful that I can or want to remember them all, but here is a little sample of my resume. . .

1. Picking strawberries at Plow Creek and getting paid by the pound.
2. Pollinating tomato plants with an interesting tool
3. Babysitting
4. Picking up rocks (thanks dad) - $10 a field
5. Detasseling
6. Waitressing at the Coffee Cup (family diner)
7. Waitressing/Cocktail Waitress at WiseGuys Bar & Grill
8. Preschool teacher
9. Reading Tutor
10. Volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club

Of course there are numerous others, however that is a glimpse of what I have been doing with my life over the past few years. Take note that nowhere on that list was a photographer.

Well, as many of you may know from my previous post Fun In The Sun I recently went on a vacation to Mexico. As I said previously, I am not a photographer. In fact, shortly after arriving in Mexico I somehow managed to throw my wristlet into the lagoon which had my camera in it. Leaving me unable to document our entire trip. However, I did manage to snap a few prior to destroying my camera so I figured I would share. Hopefully nobody in the photos minds that I am posting them. If you do - sorry.

This photo was taken right before we went to the "disco". Adam got lucky enough to have 2 dates. Which is unusual since he usually can't even get 1. . . Just kidding.

Here is 1/2 a picture (my photographing skills are not up to par) of the church that was located on the resort.

Asian pose!


Can you tell we are blood related?

The beautiful girls of the trip! Momma Kunk - Where are you?

The beach was beautiful and not overly crowded


Here is a picture of the inside of 1 of the 4 lobbies of our resort.

There were flamingos right outside the lobby. Shhhh! They are asleep.

First picture we took on Mexican Soil!

From the above photo it is obvious that we ate well! I may have gained 10lbs.

My sisters have better photos since their skills are a little better then mine. Hopefully I will get my clutches on their pictures and can share some of them soon!

Politics? ¡Ay, caramba!

As many of you may know by now I enjoy keeping things Simple. Plain. Easy going. Light Hearted. Or, at least the idea of those verbs entrigues me. In reality though . . . I get bored easily. I like to stay Busy. Occupied. Engaged. Energetic.

While I am "busy" I dont typically find the time to watch CNN or the 10 o'clock news, nor do I attempt to make the time. Is it so wrong that I didn't know about hurricane katrina until days later? Or an earthquake in Haiti? - A war in iraq? I've never heard of such a thing.

In reality, the news bothers me. It gets me worked up. I figure I know enough people that somebody will inform me of anything critical. Perfect example. . . Tonight I found out from a friend that there were 2 gang shootings in my town a few nights ago. Had i known about this 2 nights ago, I wouldn't have been sleeping. However, now that it is done and over, I can sleep soundly again. Make sense? No? Didn't think so.

Back to the point at hand. A few months ago I came across the following billboard. See previous post Obama vs Bush
Well today while driving along in my automobile (my baby beside me at the wheel) I came across a new billboard, which has taken Bush's place of honor. I giggled all day about this one. . .

I'm not jumping on the bandwagon of making fun of Obama, nor Bush. I feel we should be respectful of our president regardless. However... You have to admit. It's creative!

Fun In The Sun

I enjoy putting my hands over peoples eyes and making them guess who. I wonder what my response would be if somebody made me pick 1 word to describe my past week. Perhaps I would say paradise, amazing, beautiful, painful, peaceful, or hot. Or I might stick with awing, inspiring, relaxing, or tiring. Regardless of the word I chose to describe my past week I do know for certain that it was something I want to re experience as soon as possible.... which is why I am planning my next vacation for January (perhaps Jamaica?)

We shall keep this brief, because we all know that I could go on for hours about my vacation to Mexico. In a nutshell....

I worked Tuesday and then drove up to Chicago and spent the night in a hotel with the family - all 18 of us. I felt like we were on home alone and we left Kevin behind. At 6am we left for the airport. Our plane took off around 9 and we arrived in Mexico about 3 1/2 hours later. By the time we made it to our resort it was 3pm.

We stayed at an all inclusive resort which included food, beverages, showtime, and cute little Mexican men that would do whatever you asked if you agreed to blow them a kiss. Overall it was amazing.

On day 3 we went to Xplor , where I proceeded to go on 13 zip lines, drove amphibious vehicles through the jungle, explored an underground cave filled with bats which I swam through, went on a raft route through the underground cave paddling with my hands. We also had a delicious buffet to replenish our energy. Not going to lie - I peed my pants a little on the zip lines.

I am exhausted and I must go to bed, but I will post more later about my excursions!! Until then - Adios!

Funky Feces?

Saturday I went on an excursion to the Brookfield Zoo. It has been roughly 4 years since my last trip there. While I was there I learned a few things . . . The giraffes still have long necks. The elephants are still gray. And the monkey house still reaks.

As simple as those statements may seem - I actually love the zoo. The entire time I was there I couldn't get this childhood favorite by Raffi out of my head. . .



My favorite zoo animal has always been the monkeys (okay sometimes the giraffes). Monkeys are interesting the way they use their tails to swing about from limb to limb. I wish I had one to keep me entertained on rainy days - a tail, not a monkey. Aside from my favorites though, there were a few animals that intrigued me.

The Okapi is one of them. I'm not sure if this is supposed to be a mix of a zebra and a horse or what. It sure was interesting though.

Unfortunately the Dolphin show was sold out so we didn't get a chance to check that out. We did, however, get tickets to Stingray Bay. I had pretty high hopes for this attraction considering I had swam with the stingrays in the Caymen Islands. Apparently at brookfield they frown against you taking your clothes off and taking a dip with the stingrays. So here is a picture from Caymen Islands May 2009. It was a blast!


While we were there I saw a 5 pelicans that were rescued from the Gulf Coast after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (thanks a lot BP). They took the birds and gave them permanent homes at Brookfield zoo. They can no longer fly due to damage from the oil. Read more about them here

At the zoo I was able to see all types of fury friends, feathered faces, and hair humans (seriously)! The only thought I have to leave you with is. . . Going To The Zoo Zoo Zoo. How About You You You??

Top 5 Signs I Need More Sleep

I know I haven't gotton enough sleep because just today I have. . .

1. Washed my hair - twice.
2. Put my soda on top of the car to unlock the door. . . then drove off
3. My signature became "Emily Bedkel"
4. While pumping gas I sat down to rest - then started the car and tried to drive off
5. At the hospital I saw somebody restrained on a stretcher - I was jealous.