Is There a 12-Step Program for Farm Town?

I have come to the conclusion that I have a highly addictive personality. It isn’t drugs or alcohol that I’m addicted to, though, or even chocolate! It’s Farm Town. And I bet at least some of you know what I’m talking about.

It’s an application on Facebook and it started out innocently enough… someone sent me the gift of a chicken. I like chickens so I accepted it, rather than ignore it, and was automatically set up with my own farm. Still, all was well. But then I figured out that I could plant crops and harvest them for money and then plant more. Before I knew it I had a whole bunch of grapes planted. But then there was the heartbreak of going back to my farm the next day and discovering that all of my grapes had rotted.

So I learned and became better, stronger, richer.

Oh, I made the mistake of wasting my initial profits on material things, like fences, and pathways, only to realize that the ground underneath them was far more valuable to my farm’s future. I sold those things and tilled up the land to plant more crops.

One of my “neighbors” told me about how to hire myself out to earn money harvesting other farmers’ crops. While my crops grew, I prostituted myself at the Marketplace begging other farmers to hire me.

Then I noticed that I was planning my day around my crops and when they would need to be harvested. I actually woke up at 4:50 AM one morning because I had grapes that needed to be harvested. Going to my sister’s in Indy for the weekend? I had to harvest my crops and plant longer growing crops for the weekend, in case I wasn’t able to get back to my farm.

I come home from work at night and before even checking to see if I have any mail, I’m turning on the computer to warm up so I can get to the farm that much quicker. Last night, I didn’t have dinner until after 8:30 pm because I was more concerned with the status of my farm!

Finally, I got to a high enough level that I can buy more property to make my farm larger. So now all of extra profits get saved for buying more land!

Like all other things, this too shall pass, but until then, if you need me, odds are you can find me either on my farm or in the market place. I’m saving for a farmhouse. (I suppose that up until now, my little avatar has been sleeping with the chickens.)

Je-fuh-fuh Dun-HAM

These good-looking gentlemen are, from the left to the right: Peanut, Jeff Dunham, and Jose the Jalapeno on a Stick. Haley and I went to go see Jeff Dunham and his crew of stuffed friends Sunday night at Roberts Stadium in Evansville.

The show started at 5pm and we got there about 4:30. We had seats on the floor, row 16, so they were pretty good. But before going to find our seats, we each indulged in a strawberry daquiri - a large one. The glasses had to be at least 18 inches tall, but they were skinny, so they only held about 2 cups of frozen goodness. And they had the world's longest straws in them!

Normally, at this point, I would attach a picture of said frozen goodness along with the abnormally big straw, but unfortunately Haley forgot her camera (and I didn't bother to remind her because the woman takes her camera EVERYWHERE!) and my good camera is not just an expensive paperweight, and the cheap-o camera that I got to replace it seems to be incapable of taking actual photos! (or at least decent ones) Sigh.

Where was I? Oh, so at 5, the "guitar guy" comes on stage as the opening act. The first I'd seen or heard of the "guitar guy" was on the Jeff Dunham Christmas Special. He is really good - good on the guitar and funny in his own right. He played for, I dunno, maybe a 30-45 minutes. Then we had a "15-minute" intermission. I put " "'s around that because it felt like much longer than 15 minutes.

But finally Jeff Dunham came out. Haley tried gallantly to take even just one decent picture for my blog, but again, my cheep-o camera lived up to its reputation and took only CRAP! We had Walter, Achmed the dead terrorist, Peanut and Jose.

Speaking of Jose, Achmed is my favorite, but Jose is my second... he's green and spicy, and I enjoy chicken on a stick, so what's not to like!? Again, speaking of Jose, though, I took a "Which Jeff Dunham character are you most like?" quiz on Facebook and the result was Jose because I'm "quiet, mellow, and laid back. You keep your cool in stressful situations and don't get too riled up over things. Sometimes people make fun of you because you talk with a funny accent or have unusual attributes (like being on a stick), but you always manage to get the last laugh.."

After the point at which the show normally end, he came back out to say that he'd gotten so many emails from people asking him to bring out his Bubba J character, that he'd have a little more, but Bubba J hadn't been in his act for a while, so he (Dunham) was going to have to use his notes! Turned out the audience knew all the punch lines and said them before Bubba J could... which I think really amazed him.

Anyway, the show was very good! My cheeks hurt so much by the end of it just from laughing so much.

Amy Howard is Trying to Kill Me

The aforementioned Amy, a friend from church - a good Christian girl, mind you... emailed me to ask me if I would be interested in joining her for the local YMCA's Jump Start Training sessions for a mini-marathon that they will be sponsoring later this year. Basically, the sessions are Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 6:00 pm and Saturday morning at 7am.

Well, first off, I didn't get said email until Wednesday this week, so I missed the Tuesday session - not that I'd have gone anyway, as I weigh in on Tuesdays. Then on Thursday, well, it was sprinkling when I left work and so I managed to convince myself that they wouldn't have it. :)
Friday night, after I got off work, I went by the Y to sign the waiver and get my info. Unfortunately, I was informed that they don't cancel due to weather unless there's lightning. sigh

This morning, my alarm went off at 6am, since I knew that I'd need more than a couple of minutes to become human before setting off. My cats laid there on the end of the bed looking at me through heavy eyelids as if to ask me if I were crazy. (The answer of course would have been "yes.")

I got to the Y about 10 minutes 'til 7 and there was probably 75 people there - I'm guessing that Evansville is having an episode of mass hysteria, but it wasn't mentioned on the news. Hmm. Amy arrived and told me that she planned on being in the run/walk group, as opposed to the running group and the walking group. For obvious reasons, I was in the walking group.

I started out walking near the front of the group, and I kept up with them for about 4-5 blocks, but then slowly people started passing me. By the time I finished the walk for the day, 1.25 miles, I think I was at the very end, or darned close.

I went home to get some stuff before going out to Wadesville to visit the 'Rents, and I swear I could barely get out of the car. And as I was driving, every time I came near a red light or some other reason to slow down, I almost cried because it involved moving my foot from the gas to the brake!

Now, at 7:30 pm, after a nap and a good meal at mom's, my legs and footies are no longer threatening mutiny, but I think I heard some ominous rumblings from them when I only contemplated taking a walk tomorrow afternoon.

Anyway, after my experience this am, I'm wondering what it was exactly I did to make Amy decide to kill me by suggesting this whole thing. I mean, I'm a sweetheart! I'm funny, intelligent, and easy to get along with. WHY??

Defying Gravity

I am a member of the online survey group e-rewards. The most recent survey I took was to watch a one-hour tv show entitled Defying Gravity.

Basically, the plot is as follows: It takes place in 2052, and we have 9 astronauts beginning on a 6 year space voyage to the other planets in the solar system. Within the first, say, 48 hours, the mission commander and one other guy come down with convenient heart problems so their alternates had to be zoomed up on a shuttle to switch out with them. The two alternates are the only two surviving members of a mission to Mars from ten years earlier, where they had to leave their other two members there to die, and of course there's some underlying mystery about the hows and whys of that mission. Also, the guy in charge of mission command back on Earth is not a nice fellow and he has MAJOR issues with Donner (played by Ron Livingston of Office Space fame), even planning on firing him as soon as someone else can be "brought up to speed."

Meanwhile, there's another mystery going on about this mission in general. Something that the mission commander knew about and his alternate is told about, but the remaining crew members won't learn about until Day 43, when they get to Venus. (Duh, duh, dun!) And there's the obligatory sexual tension amongst several of the crew members - 6 years is a long time, after all.

All in all, I enjoyed the show alot. It was sort of slow starting... after the scene where they left the 2 crew members on Mars, that is. But it grabbed me, especially with the mystery about the mission. I don't know when or if this show'll ever really be on the air, but assuming it isn't opposite something like Lost or 24, I think I'll set my Tivo to watch it. Two thumbs up!

Weighing in

Ok, YEAH! I weighed in this evening and after gaining a pound last week, I lost THREE!! whoo hoo! Now, I just need to keep it up. And I need to put on my walking shoes and ipod and walk!

The nursey chick who comes to our office each Tuesday took my BP this am and it was 106/60!!

Yeah ME!!

My Boss is Back and There's Gonna Be Trouble!

Ok, I'm one of those weirdos who generally likes her boss. So he came back today from a two week vacation with the family to Florida. Before he left, I had asked if I could go with, not necessarily because I was aching to go to Disney World, but, you know, if I'm IN Florida, I'm closer to the beach than I am when I'm in Indiana!

And as I've previously ephiphanied, I was meant to come from sea-faring folk. Sigh.. just the thought of sitting on a beach, feeling the breeze through my hair, and reading a book, taking a nap, then taking a walk... it just sounds SO wonderful.

Great, now I'm depressed because I have zero odds of finding myself on a beach this year. :(

Anyway, Steve (Boss #1) is back, and he brought me a souvenir from Disney! (See the picture below) He said it just shrieked "Rosemary" when he saw it - I dunno, but I'm thinking he may finally be "getting" me!

Email Blogging

Ok, here goes.  I see that through blogspot I can email my blog and have posts just show up on it.  I can see this being useful because it's easier to fire off an email when something interesting happens than to have to take the time to think out a posting.  Not that too much thought goes into it, though.  So this is my first test.  Let's see if it works!