While you were sleeping...

Farfegnugen

Sorry about the delay... I was waiting for the photos! And here you go:

No one got the EXACT make/model/color... so we have several winners.

MELISSA was the first to figure out that I got a VW Beetle.

HOLLIS guessed red (and several other colors) so I am giving her and WENDY a spot in the winners' circle (since Wendy was the first to make a stab and go unequivocably with red).

And MARIA was the first to guess a convertible!

Email me your snail mail addresses, my friends. Thank you for playing! And stay tuned for the personalized license plate contest...

Beep Beep!

Edited to add:

My own personal German language translator sent me this email when I just asked her what the title of this post means:

<<Fahrvergnügen, if you can see the 'umlaut')  means the joy to ride this car. Wow, one word where the Germans have it easier to say something. Usually it is the other way round. We normally need a whole sentence to describe something you only need on word for. Where did you hear that word anyway?>>

I guess the Germans don't advertise the same way "over there" as they do "over here!"

Thanks, Ramona... and I'll give you that Spritztour (joyride) the next time I see ya!

How high can I jump???

I can barely type, I am so excited.

My hubby just bought me a new car.

YES, A NEW CAR!

Now, to make this as fun for you as it is for me... well, okay, not quite AS fun but funner than it would be if I just posted a picture of the car and called it a day...

YOU have to guess what kind and color of car I got.

HINT... go back to this post. There's a little hint hidden hint their somewhere. The amazing thing is I had NO IDEA I was going to get a new car, let alone the kind of car I was going to get, when I wrote that post.

And tell me what color you think I got.

I'll announce the winner on Tuesday when I actually get to drive home with the car (it wasn't quite ready).

You'll get a whole bunch of goodies... yarn, a magazine or two, some other junk ephemera...

GO!

I LOOOVE being tagged!

Amy tagged me for the 7 random things meme... here we go!

1. My maiden/middle name is Chroust, which means "beetle" in Czech. The funny thing is I have often been nicknamed "Bug," (as in, "Lainiebug") through much of my life, even before I knew what my name meant. Once I found out, I started collecting scarab jewelry.

2. Speaking of jewelry, John's and my wedding rings are reproductions of a poesy ring in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The inscription reads, "Vous et nul autre," which means "You and no other."

3. One of my biggest regrets is not going overseas in college. I am still kicking myself about this.

4. It makes me strangely giddy when I walk into Starbucks and they have my order already waiting for me.

5. I am addicted to pens and pencils. If one is left on the table in front of me -- even at a place of business or someone else's house -- it takes all my willpower not to steal take it. When I was small, I had a whole desk drawer full of pens and pencils, and everyone in the house knew where to look for a writing implement. The other day, I was looking for a pen (they all seemed to have vanished from our junk drawer!). I went into my daughter's craft room and found a huge collection in a box. Apples don't fall far from the tree and all that.

6. I always have nail polish on my toes, but rarely on my fingers.

7. I am scared of the dentist. I once had a panic attack at the root canal specialist's. After he calmed me down, he told me I didn't need a root canal after all, but I think he just wanted to get rid of me.

Okay.... I tag Robyn, Maria, Kristie, Carlene, Marly, Stephanie, and Tonya.

Your turn!

Updates

*New pages uploaded to my art journal photo album.

*The Cubs took first place!!! Yahhoooo!

*Weigh-in today. I'm scared. You know why? Because even at my goal weight (before baby #3) I felt fat.

50 Things

...Was at the dentist's this morning (she and I are becoming GOOD friends! As it should be when you pay someone over $5K...). Had time while they were perfecting the gold crown they were going to put into my mouth (every girl needs a gold crown to call her own, don't you think???).

Picked up "Real Simple," a mag I used to subscribe to, but I dropped my subscription when they did the article on "20 uses for an old  grocery bag" and listed "tie it onto your knees as kneepads when you're gardening." "Real Simple," indeed. As in, "Real Simple-Minded."

I know, I know, everyone LOVES this mag and I am going against the grain and all that, but we have already established that I am not cool, so it should be no surprise to anyone that I am marching to the beat of a different drummer.

ANYwho.... there was a great article by Gail Blanke (their personal coaching guru) who said she always starts her new clients off by having them throw away 50 things. Yup, 50. Not five or 10 like the beloved FlyLady. But 50. And magazines and books only count as one. Then she has them write down everything they threw out and review it and feel how good it all is... What a great idea! She encourages the tossing of limitations and self-concepts, along with the single socks and old toothbrushes.

I'm in.

Who's with me?

If you're up for it, toss 50 things and post your list on your blog or in the comments here.

PS Here is a link to the whole article. Glad I got something out of my donation to my dentist's children's college funds.

Wishin'

I wish I were cool.

I am so not-cool that I couldn't even type "I wish I WAS cool." I am a nerd. And so not-cool.

I wonder if there is room behind the podium for someone who has never watched reality TV, who doesn't have any unusual tattoos (or usual tattoos, now that I mention it), who thinks a great night involves a bowl of popcorn and watching "James and the Giant Peach," and whose biggest ambition is to break into the top 1000 reviewers on Amazon?

Just wonderin'. And wishin'.

I'm fine, how are you?

Well, my brother is heading to the Philippines to marry a woman he met on the internet, my BFF is dating a sociopath, and this week I'm starving.

But I still get to see this:

So life can't be all bad.

A Better Explanation

I kinda left you hanging on that last one, didn't I?

A big build-up... nothing too dramatic. Here's the short story:

I keep score for the Little League game for our team. Part of my job is to make sure the teams are batting in order. If a batter gets on base out-of-order and it is brought to the attention of the umpire, they are out. So if it's our team, I want to catch it before it happens... if it's the other team, I tell the coach (my husband) and let him decide what he wants to do with that info.

We were playing the team coached by one of the nicest guys in the world, and they wanted to beat us bad. Our team is in first place, and is undefeated. In the second inning, they were ahead 3-0 and one of their players came up out of order, so I went over and told our assistant coach. He said, "Don't say anything." So I just went and sat back down.

The batter got on base, our assistant coach called time out, the coaches from both teams had a pow-wow with the ump, and the player was called out. The game continued, and we ended up winning by a significant amount.

I felt rotten because the coach is such a nice guy. After the game, I went over to him and told him that I felt really bad about doing that... and he was not happy at all about the outcome of the game, nor my role in their demise (sounds dramatic, doesn't it?).

I went over and over in my brain about what I could/should have done, and I feel I did the only thing I could have. If I had kept the info to myself, I wouldn't have been doing my job. And if our team had ended up losing, I would have felt guilty about that.

Really a no-win. The worst part? I was worried we lost a friend because of it.

Like I said, not the most critical thing in the world, but it got to me and kept bugging me. Sometimes Little League is not so little.   

Conundrums.

You know when you do the right thing but it feels like the wrong thing?

I hate that.

Button, button, who's got the button?

Does anyone know how to create a button for my blog and can explain it in regular English?

I'm stymied.

TIA!

ETA: Thank you, Moki!
I now have a button. I'm running a month-long promotion on my other site, so if you are interested, check it out!