Why are people stupid?

More importantly, why do people think it's ok for people to be stupid? KSDK just did a story on some crappy Catholic school closing after this school year. In the story, they interviewed a girl they listed as a "Holy Roasary Alumni." Seriously? Come on people. Alumni means many. SHe would have been an alumna. If the school was all female, then they would have been alumnae. I complained to DH about how stupid it made the station look to not use words correctly, and his response was that people used the word wrong all the time so it shouldn't bother me. Then I guess it shouldn't bother him that our ex-president didn't understand subject verb agreement? I mean, there are lots of people in this world who can't construct a proper sentence.

There is a reason that most of the world thinks Americans are dumb, and currently my husband is perpetuating this idea by just not caring about being correct. How did I marry this man?

Google Maps

So Google Maps is a great program, right? Well, you should see it on my phone. Awesome! All you have to do is tell it where you are going, and then it tracks your cell signal to see where you are, then you get directions! So sweet.

Here's the link to the demo site.

The best part? It's free. I'm in love. Now I need to find more apps for my Blackjack.

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy holiday weekend. We had a great time at our friend's house last night, and today we will have a light work day. I hope, for the sake of those with outside plans, that the rain doesn't get too intense.

On another note, Danica Patrick finished third in the Indy 500 yesterday! Wow. This has been a good year for the girls in races.

Rachel Alexandra beat the boys at the Preakness.


And now Danica did great.


My mom and her friend have gone to every Indy 500 for the past 30 years. They were pretty psyched with this year's race. I would love to go again. It is a fun event.

Movie Reviews

Please excuse me. I have a hard time convincing myself to watch really dark depressing movies very often. Thinking can sometimes also seem like too much. :) Therefore let me review/recommend two very light films.

Horton Hears a Who

Soooo cute! I love Dr. Seuss to start with, and this was very well cast and, er, acted. I loved the fact that the narrator was the CBS Sunday morning guy. Carol Burnett was also at her Ms. Hannigan best. If you haven't seen it yet, totally check it out.

Monsters vs. Aliens

Again, the voices made this movie. I am in LOVE with Stephen Colbert, and his portrayal of the President in this was hysterical! Reese Witherspoon was also great. I didn't realize the roach was Hugh Laurie until I saw the credits though. I think that must be because I am pretty much only used to hearing him as House.

So there you go. That should be some nice fluff for a holiday weekend. It's rainy tonight, but we are going a friend's house to cook out. It should be a good time without being too intense. I never mind an evening that is both social and relaxed. I just have to make sure I grab a jacket since she keeps her apartment at like 10 degrees.

Scary

DH went out to a concert last night. I knew I would be too tempted to drink beer and eat greasy food, so I stayed home. (I was also way tired.) I went to be around 10:40, and DH wasn't home yet. I was reading a little bit before I went to sleep, the pets were both in bed with me, and I heard the back door rattle. You know that sound? When someone is trying it and kind of shaking it in its frame? My heart started pounding. I crept out from the bedroom and started calling DH's name. I didn't have the guts to look out the windows though.

Well, I turned the deadbolt on the back door which we don't usually do if one of us is home, turned on more lights, and went back to bed. I pulled the dog up to the top right next to me, turned on the radio, and sort of snoozed/slept fitfully until DH got home around 11:45. I slept much better when he was there.

Anyway, he is going to get the locks changed/updated and add an extra lock for us when we are at home. His first question to me was why I didn't call the police, but in that situation all I could think to do was hide in the bedroom. We both think it was just kids form the high school being stupid after their graduation stuff last night because if someone had wanted to break in, they would have just kicked in the door. I guess our house probably looked like we were out for the night though with just a few lights on up front and only one car in the driveway. Nevertheless, I am exhausted today after a very unrestful night.

My husband just joined Twitter

That's right. This is the man who REFUSED to get Facebook, who laughs at the fact that I blog, and above all, makes fun of my internet friends. That's right, he now has Twitter. What makes this particularly noteworthy is that he has done this before I did.

I still can't get into the whole Twitter thing. I don't know if I want people knowing what I had for breakfast and whether that jerk in the red mini van just cut me off on 270. :)

Parents and their kids

I guess I'll be able to understand better when I have kids of my own. As of today though, I am amazed at how blind parents can be when it comes to their kids. There is a girl at the barn. She doesn't want to ride. Why this mother continues to sign her up for lessons is beyond me. It is an expensive sport! If a kid doesn't like it, how about you let them find something they do like. That also makes my life as the instructor pretty hellish. Kids who are afraid or not interested are awful to teach. Ugh.

All of this would be hard enough if the kid were perfectly normal. But this kid. Oooooh this kid. There is something wrong with her. She exists in a fog. Last night I was finishing up another lesson in one ring and I asked this kid to go to the main ring to meet up with the rest of her class. (I should preface this story with the fact that she should never have been in that class to begin with. It was like having a 6th grader enrolled in advanced trig with the 11th graders. Not good.) Well, she walks to the ring where the other two girls are getting warmed up by trotting around. As I get there, she is walking away. ????? The moms there told me she walked up to the gate, seemed really confused (as in couldn't remember why she was there and holding a pony,) and said there were too many people in the ring for her to go in. Again, ??????? There were only two girls in the HUGE ring. Well, she finally got on, but she had to know she was out of her league. We did the work on the flat then I set some teeny-tiny jumps for the better girls to use as warmups and for her to max out with. Ya'll, she watched the other two do it (only three jumps,) and STILL got lost! WTF? Then she started to have a nervous breakdown about not being able to do it. We got her to trot over one more jump, but that was it. It was NOT a good night for that kid. I feel bad because I always want them to come away with a positive experience. I am not equipped to deal with all this kid's issues. I honestly think there is something WRONG with her!

The other moms who watched the lesson were really worried about her. One is a fabulous mom (who freely acknowledges the realities about her kids and their strengths and weaknesses,) and the other is a doctor. The doctor mom was worried that the kid was on drugs! Not like ADD drugs either. She thought she was acting like she was strung out or something. When I told her the kid is always like that, I could tell she wanted to say more. I think she must have some mild Autism or some such thing. While I think kids like that should be able to do sports if they want to, they SHOULD NOT be put in a group where they are overfaced! In fact, they should do private lessons so that I can pay attention to them and their special needs. I'm not mad at the kid. But the mom needs a serious wake-up call about her kid.

I hope I am more realistic when I'm a mom. (And I hope my kid isn't like this one.)

Real Housewives of NY

OK, I really like this show. It's total junk, and I get that. But man it is FUN! I am finally catching up and watching the reunion this evening. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That was pretty classic when Bethany told Kelly she wasn't going to take relationship advice from her. ::snort::

What really kills me is how much Kelly reminds me of barn boss. There are just so many things they have in common, not the lease of which is their absolute certainty that it's all about MEEEEEEEE. Man. How does anyone get that self-absorbed? When Bethany was just describing the fakey-fake conversations between Kelly and random men, I could totally picture it. Barn boss is like that when she's thinks she's keeping clients happy.

This is show is awesome. I also love seeing these women talk back to her. They can say all the stuff I can't say to barn boss. Good thing DH is working tonight, because he would be going off his rocker if he knew I watched all this garbage. :) Everyone needs some mental reprieves. This is my version of a pedicure and a bubble bath.

The ABC's of me

This is shamelessly taken from Angie who took it from someone else, and I suspect it goes on and on as most things in the blogging world are. It seemed like a good thing to do on a Monday night though since almost all my shows had their finales last week. ::tear::

A - Age: 31
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Dusting and bathrooms
D - Dog's names: Doc
E - Essential start your day item: Caffeine, sweet caffeine
F - Favorite color: Pink, but I am putting blue and brown together everywhere
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'8"
I - Instruments you play: iTunes and Pandora
J - Job title: Business Owner, Tutor, Riding Instructor, Faculty
K - Kid(s): Just pets for now
L - Living arrangements: Living in the house my husband grew up in with our cat and dog.
M - Mom's name: LaDonna Lee. They thought about carrying over the middle name to me. Thank goodness they didn't as the bakery jokes would have been too much!
N - Nicknames: None
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Just for a broken leg and a reaction to pain killers
P - Pet Peeve: Bad grammar, slow drivers, the crazy-ass commercial running on the radio station my husband listens to
Q - Quote from a movie: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: One brother eight years older than me.
T - Time you wake up: Usually 6:15, but today it was 9:00.
U- First word that comes to your mind for "U": Uvula
V - Vegetable you dislike: Green bell peppers and celery (yes it has a taste!)
W - Ways you run late: surfing the web, watching the Today show, hitting snooze
X - X-rays you've had: broken leg, arms, shoulder, hip, knocked out teeth... perhaps my sport is just a tad dangerous
Y - Yummy food you make: roasted veggies, chili, tabbouleh, lemon pasta with capers and tuna, several appetizers... I think I'm a pretty good cook
Z - Zoo favorite: big cats, giraffes, bears, penguins

Yummy

I have recently become a little obsessed with the yogurt parfaits at Bread Co. They have organic yogurt, strawberries, and a little granola. They also cost about $4.00. I decided to get ingredients at the store to try making my own.

Here is what I made.

A good view of the Sunbelt Banana and Almond Granola - $2.50 a box.


A side view to see the strawberry Dannon Light - $2.50 for a big container


Look at those blackberries! Only $0.99 a carton!

So the total bill was $6, and the berries and yogurt are enough for four parfaits. I probably have 8-10 servings of granola. Oh yeah! I am so ready for summer meals.

Who your friends are

It's interesting. There are a few people who I met/reconnected with immediately after I moved here. A couple were through work, and I definitely still keep in touch with them. It kind of bums me out not to see them on a daily basis any more, but we talk and that's nice. Then there are some people who I met at the barn early on in my time in StL. Two in particular were there when I arrived. One, M, was a trainer, and one, N, was an amateur who taught a few lessons to help defray costs. Within the last year they have left the barn.

Within the last year, N had been driving me a little crazy. She was clearly unhappy with her situation, and I got to the point where I didn't really want to see her outside of work. This fall she behaved a little inappropriately, our boss reacted A LOT inappropriately, and N quit. I was sorry to see her go in such a bad way. She was a very hard worker, was often treated unfairly, but she was not without fault in the relationship. These days, N has a lot of bitterness and she is just something of an angry person. While I never considered her my best friend, I feel it is pretty clear that our friendship is over. While I may not mourn its loss too keenly, I feel for N. She really let a shitty situation damage her. She is broken. I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

M was another story. She began to realize how bad things were for her. So instead of taking it, she actively found another job. She gave her resignation, the boss told her not to work her two weeks, and she moved on. Since leaving, there have been many stories about things she did or said. Who knows what is true. Many of the things the boss says just don't jive with what I saw in the years I have known her. I will say that I saw one sketchy thing happen in the aftermath, but it is just so hard to reconcile the person I knew with the stories I'm hearing now. I have tried to maintain a friendship with M, but the boss is so paranoid about her that I feel like I can't really be close to M any more.

Out of all this I have gained what I think is a really close friend. C is also a part-timer like me. She watched the craziness go down this year and has felt many of the things I have regarding M and N. We have really leaned on each other for support over these past months. I hope that even when we have moved past this part of our lives we can stay close. I only worry that we are like disaster survivors: tight to keep each other alive but unable to have a relationship afterwards because of painful memories. We went to lunch last week, and it was nice to be away from the BS and just enjoy a salad and a drink together.

Considering I am already living in a place where I feel lost and friendless, I am just beginning to understand how hard it has been for me to feel even more isolated. I am grateful I have had some social outlets in the past six months. (Thanks to StLWed girls.) I just know myself. I can't handle being a one woman show. I need friends and to see and talk with people. I don't want to turn into N. DH wouldn't be ok with a bitter wife. I know I need to get out of that toxic work situation. The question is how. Boss has screwed herself into an untenable situation. I'm all she's got, and she is taking three people I like very much to an out of town horse show next week. I think I just have to hold my shit together until they get back, and then I have to take some action. I refuse to make it my fault that boss has backed herself in a corner.

PS- I'm digging the new Jello sugar free Boston Cream Pie pudding, Tasty!

Clothes Horse

Do you read Fashion Under $100? I like this blog. She basically takes celebrity outfits and finds comparable pieces so that you can make the whole outfit for less than $100. It isn't often that I see an outfit that I want to recreate in total, but there are often pieces that I like. This week though, there was one I really liked.

Annalynne McCord got posted for a nice casual outfit. I've only seen the new 90210 a few times, so I never would have had an opinion on her style on my own. I have everything but the sweater. I alsomight think about getting another scarf. The scarves I have that size are solids.

What do you think? Cute?

Item number 2 on my fashion list is the new Bravo show The Fashion Show. I think that my heart will always belong to Project Runway, but since it has moved to Lifetime and won't start until late June, I may try this new one out tonight. I don't know how I feel about the designers all being professionals. I always liked how the ones on PR were really more up-and-coming types. I also have a limited tolerance for Isaac Mizrahi. I mean we know how many designers are gay, but Isaac is so over the top! His use of color is usually too much for me too. I like hot pink and orange, but not always together and in such huge quantities!

Finally, item number 3. I am a bad shopper. I tend to go into a store, wander around, try on a couple things, be unhappy about the fit, and then leave feeling horrible about myself and vowing never to attempt shopping again. This is why so many of my clothes, pants especially, are old and worn. Well, a few weeks ago I needed a suit. My good friend had a coupon for $50 off a purchase at the Limited. I had not shopped there in a long time, but my friend said their suiting was nice. She also insisted that I walk in, admit to the sales lady that I needed help, and then let her dress me. Well guess what? The whole process took under 20 minutes! She gave me pants in two styles, two sizes, and two lengths so that we could know my stats. Then we looked at the options in my style and size. Next came the jacket and the shirt. Voila! I promise that I will ask for help at stores from now on. I should remember that the two good pairs of jeans I have were purchased under similar circumstances (I went into Norstrom and asked for help.)

P.S. I got these pants and this jacket in charcoal gray with a nice raspberry blouse.