When This Blonde gets Auto-Corrected...

The ability to spell check your work was a great invention. Being able to do so while you're on Twitter, Facebook, or texting is even better. So imagine my surprise when I got my first iPhone and discovered, not only the spell- check feature, but the auto-correct feature!! This is genius!! I can't tell you how many times I've been wanted to type something, but was doing it wrong. Then, low and behold, my little iPhone angel comes along and magically supplies the correct word. I love it!! Usually...

Yesterday I was sending a tweet to one of my favorite children's book authors. She asked her followers to tell her ways our children were creative. In my attempt to respond- and quickly- I raced through my tweet. I realized what auto-correct did a second too late. 

My oldest loves to write her own stories. My youngest loves to

act out her own stories while playing with her weenies.

Yeah. That's not what it was supposed to say. Apparently, auto-correct has never heard of Weebles. And it was sure my 3 1/2 year old loves to play with weenies. Fabulous! The only thing I could do was re-type the tweet the way it was supposed to be and delete the wrong one once I got to it in my timeline.

So, while spell-check and auto-correct are convenient, they are not flawless. Turns out, Apple can't read minds after all. Yet.

When This Blonde Cleans...

Normally, I enjoy cleaning. And, normally, I'm good at it. When life gets too stressful, I clean my stress away. I'd like to say my house was always clean and spotless. However, I have 2 young girls and a husband- an immaculate house is years away.

On one particular day I was cleaning the front room to my house. Christmas had come and gone, but a collection of Christmas presents past and current had converged here. Christmas decorations had just been put away and my house was going back to normal. I was vacuuming the floor- which desperately needed to be done. I realized just before my vacuum sucked it up that there was a plastic tie on the ground- the kind you find on bread or wrap cords in. No sooner did I add it to my growing collection of dirt in my vacuum's canister than my vacuum shut off. Right there, in the middle of vacuuming the room my vacuum died.

Nothing I did made it start again. I tried to find the offensive visitor to no avail. I had no choice but to call my hubby and inform him that I may have just offed the vacuum. Upon his arrival and looking at the traumatized machine, he discovered the plug had come out of the wall enough to cut the power to it. Sure enough, it started up- completely unfazed- when the plug was pushed back in all the way.

Like I said, normally I'm good at cleaning. Sometimes, not so much. Glad to know I didn't off the vacuum, though.

This Blonde On A Mission

So, one of my favorite authors released a book yesterday. Since her work has been hit or miss the last few years, I didn't want to buy the book without knowing I'd like it. Instead, I planned on getting it from the library. According to the library website my branch was going to have 2 copies. I had every intention of getting one of them.

Tuesday morning: I make my way over to my library. I pull in to the parking lot and notice there's plenty of cars in it. Hopefully none of them came for what I did. I walk up to the doors and am rendered stupid when they don't open. What the heck?! Why aren't the opening? After several tries, they won't budge. I glance at the hours and realize they didn't open until 11am on Tuesdays. Oh! Well, fine. I'll be back!!!! (Never mind the people sitting in their cars getting a good chuckle out of this sight.)

11am: I arrive a few minutes early. As I walk up to the small crowd the doors open. Ha!! In my not so very nice and polite manner, I walk ahead of people to the new release section. I scour the tables and find.... NOTHING!!! Where the heck are they stashing this book?! When I do several looks and still don't see my book, I resort to checking the computers. Being Acquired By Library is what it tells me. In other words, they don't have it yet! DAMN!! I thought it said that because the book hadn't been released yet. DAMN!

Note to self: slow down while reading things that of importance. I put a hold on it and was 5th in line yesterday afternoon. By last night i was #1 line, so it could be ready for me any minute now!

I'm hoping the book is worth all this. My family got a big kick out this incident, so there's that at least. To the senior citizens I may have cut off in my attempt to accomplish my task, I apologize.

When This Blonde Didn't Proofread First...

There are many rules to follow in life. Don't drink and drive, for example. In the blogging world there's an important rule: Don't post it without proof reading it! Leave it to me to forget this rule! So, without further ado, here is my latest blonde moment for you all.

I recently put up my review for a book, The Luxe, I loved. I loved the book so much I couldn't wait to share my thoughts on it. Yeah... I totally forgot to proof read it prior to posting it. Now, I've done this numerous times with no problem. However, this one had a problem: I GOT THE MAIN CHARACTER'S NAME WRONG!!!! How I pulled that off I don't know, but I did. Instead of using the character's real name, Elizabeth, I kept referring to her by her sister's name, Diana. I didn't even notice my massive error until a comment was posted pointing it out to me.

And there it is my readers: Never blog without proofreading. May this put a little smile on your face. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to proof read this before posting it.

This Blonde Vs. Facebook...

Alright, so I've been wanting to post pictures on Facebook so my family & friends could see them. Most of the pictures I take these days are done on my iPhone and I even had my hubby download the Facebook app. I've had my phone for over a year & the app on it for a little less than that.

I have tried and tried to figure out how to post the pictures from my phone with no success. Well, a few days ago I happen to see a little camera icon next to the space where you write what you want to say. I clicked it and sure enough I was able to pick pictures from my phone's library.

I was so happy and peeved all in one! It was that easy and RIGHT THERE!! I still don't want to discuss it, but I had to share this moment with you all.

Oh well. Better late than never?

When This Blonde Table Danced

We've all heard the phrase: "What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas". That's all well and true... unless you have witnesses and photos. In my case there was both, so my Vegas trip lived on in infamy. And I blame my dear husband for every bit of it!!! It's his fault this happened.

My hubby and I had 2 weddings when we got married. Not being one of those little girls who dreamed of her wedding, the big elaborate ceremony was all his. Mine was our little Vegas ceremony. Every time we ever went to Vegas we always made a stop at The Hard Rock Cafe. We both LOVE their shakes and collected the glasses they came in. So, of course, we had to go there during our wedding weekend.

For those of you who haven't been to this restaurant, when they play "YMCA" over the system some of the waitresses get up on a platform and dance to it. My new hubby & I decided that when they played it we'd both get on our chairs and dance along. Well, they played it and I got on my chair.... AND HE BACKED OUT!!! Sadly, I was already dancing by this point thinking he'd be on his chair any second. Even more sad, one of the managers was right by us. So I got taken up to the platform with the dancers.

So, there I was. Dancing like an idiot, in front of people, and plotting my new hubby's death. And there he was, taking pictures and loving every minute of it. (Thankfully, I have the pictures in my possession.) I'd like to say that after 10+ years of marriage I have forgiven my other half for this. I have not. But I'm working on it...maybe.

A Blonde And Her Blog

I love getting comments on posts I've made. Sometimes I'm good with my responses. Sometimes not. This latest blonde moment would fall into the "Not" category. I hope you enjoy and have a chuckle. I know I did... eventually.

Recently I posted a reading habits questionnaire I found on a fellow blogger's website. I thought it was fun and hoped others would enjoy it, too. I was excited when I got my first comment on it. (I should probably tell you now that I get excited easily and usually over the little things.) This Miss Loves To Read was kind enough to share her thoughts on my answers. We'll call her comment exhibit A.

EXHIBIT A:

Yay, I love your answers!!! It's so great you recommend Garden Spells to people, it really is SUCH a magical book.

Before we go any further I should warn you that sometimes I'm good at muti-tasking. This is NOT one of those times. In fact, my response to her comment is a shining example of why I should not post a comment while thinking of the book I'm excited to read next. We'll call my response exhibit B.

EXHIBIT B:

I thought the questionnaire was fun, too! Feel free to use it!!! I read "secret garden" a long, long time ago and loved it. So now I'm gonna re-read it.

On top of the book confusion part of it, her blog is where I got the questionnaire from in the first place! Yeah, enough said.

Another Blonde Moment...

Blond Meet Snake

For a year I lived in a small (and I do mean small) mountain town called Anza. Being in the mountains, Anza was home to LOTS of dirt (you could bury a body & no one would know) and animals from bunnies (aah) to bobcats (not so aah). Counted among these animals were snakes. Every resident has their encounter stories with the commonly seen coyote and the less than commonly seen bobcat. I'm happy to say my encounters with both of these animals was in the safety of my own car as they ran across the road I was driving on. Every resident also has plenty of snake encounter stories. For the majority of the time I lived in Anza I was happy to be among the few who had not come face to face with the slithery kind. However, my luck ran out and here is my snake "encounter" story.

I had been packing things up in our bedroom since we were getting ready to move. As I did countless times every day I looked out the window. This particular window gave you a view of our front yard. Any bunnies? No. Any squirrels? No. Any quails? No. Any.... SNAKE! SHIT!!

There is was making it's way from behind one of my rear tires towards the house!! HOLY CRAP!! This much I knew: it was little, it was a fleshy color, and it was moving closer to my house!! Oh yeah, and it was a snake! I immediately called my husband who's a teacher at the local school.

Me: There's a snake in front of the house.

Him: What kind of snake?

Me: I don't know. One that moves.

Him: Is it a poisonous snake?

Me: I don't know.

Him: What color was it?

Me: A fleshy color

Him: Is it a big snake?

Me: No, it looked little.

Him: Did it have a rattle at the end?

Me: I don't know. I don't think so.

Him: Where is it now?

Me: I don't know. I lost it when it crossed the garden border.

Him: It probably went under the house. (We lived in a modular house) Just don't go outside if

you don't know where it is and I'll take care of it when I get home.

Okay, like me leaving the house with a snake on the move and on the lose was going to be an issue!! The bookstore wouldn't have been able to get me to come of the house. And what did he mean it's under the house??!!

I took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. Then I did what any one who was not calm, cool, or collected with a fear of snakes would do. I shut and locked all the windows and doors. Then I closed all the floor vents in the house. For good measure I put a couple of books on top of each one to ensure Mr. Snake would stay outside.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, I remember seeing on the news that people have found snakes and other animals coming up through their toilets. OK, I know these instances were in Florida but my imagination was in over drive. Besides, my rationality was that if it happened in Florida it COULD happen. Therefore, it COULD happen anywhere. So, I put all the toilet lids down and stacked several towels on top so they would stay shut.

While I waited for my knight in shining armor to rescue me from the evil snake. I called my Mom. It got strangely quiet when I told her I saw a snake. Apparently she already knew how I was going to react. WHen I told her about turning the house into a fortress it took awhile for her to stop laughing. A long while. Then she commended me on putting the house on lock down so the snake couldn't come inside for tea. Ha ha, very funny. By the time my husband came home, reported he couldn't find the snake, I had paced a whole in our carpet and was probably getting a bladder infection. He had a good laugh over it all, as has everyone who has heard the story.

My Latest "Blonde" Moment

Once upon a time I was computer literate. In fact, I almost majored in the field. Believe it or not I had little to no difficulty in dealing with most aspects of computers. However, I'm beginning to realize those days were many, many moons ago.

I was trying to make a list of other blog sites I wanted to put on my blog. Well, in trying to accomplish that I somehow became a follower of my own blog. That's right. I'm all for standing behind your product & believing in yourself, but not like this. And the worst part of it all is that I cannot figure out how to unfollow my own blog!! Good job Jen!!

I'm slowly becoming as technologically challenged as my Mom. This situation reminds me of the time my husband & I spent a couple hours on the phone with her trying to make the movie she wanted to watch play. In the end it turned out that she was trying to play a DVD in her VCR. This is going to be me soon. Yup, my technological future doesn't look very bright.