M'Brannen, you are going to be so disappointed

But at least this proves that I read your blog EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

This picture was from when we sold my car last summer.

Goodbye expensive German parts. Hellooooo nerdy American sedan.

p.s.-Nan, if you are reading this, I tag you. If we are in the business of resurrecting blogs, I'm not going to be the only one! See the M'Brannen blog for details.

I'm only doing this

so Christina Brannen will have something to read while she waits on her baby.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago:
Stressing about the AP US history exam. Wasn't worried about the class-my grade miraculously increased after my teacher backed into my mom's car.
Getting ready for prom (to which I wore a dress with feather trim. I kid you not.)
Hanging out with Lauren pretty much anytime I wasn't at school.
Driving around, because I could, and gas was like 87 cents/gallon that summer.
Listening to the Backstreet Boys.

5 Things on my To Do List:
laundry
filing bills and papers
hanging curtains
making dinner
put husband through seminary

5 Snacks I enjoy:
McDonald's yogurt parfait. The first week I discovered them, I ate three.
Dried apricots
Chips and guac/salsa
Black olives
Peanut butter

5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Shop at Central Market for groceries
Buy a building for our church
Build an underground speed train to Georgia
and Hawaii while I'm at it
Buy an old farmhouse and fill it with children and puppies (NO CATS!)

5 Bad Habits:
avoiding laundry
avoiding filing bills and papers
avoiding hanging curtains
avoiding making dinner (hello, frozen pizza. you look lovely.)
reading peoples' blogs instead of calling them


5 Places I've Lived:
Greenville TX
El Paso TX
Garland TX
Waxahachie TX
Alpharetta GA
Athens GA
Carrollton TX

5 Jobs I've Had:
Cheerleading coach
Toy store clerk
Sales rep
Receptionist
Exec. Assistant

Good Stuff

1) My friend at work just got new carpet in her house, installed by (ta-da!) Empire Carpet. Although The Voice did not come to install the carpet himself, she said that she is very impressed with the result. I knew they wouldn't let us down.
2) This is the second day that I have worn sandals to work. Good-bye socks! Good-bye boots! Hellooooo toenail polish remover.
3) Spring green is the most hopeful and wonderful color of all. And I should know, because in 4th grade I tried to invent a new color from scratch.

A few things

1) do not,under any circumstances, try Creme de Menthe Hershey's kisses. They are the epitome of perfection in taste and texture, and you just might spend the last ten minutes of your work day eating them. At least, like sunflower seeds in the shell, the time it takes to unwrap one slightly reduces the number you are able to eat. Slightly. And by "you," I mean me.
2) is there a more comforting voice than that of the Empire Carpet man? I just love those commercials, because they haven't changed since I saw them watching Bewitched re-runs the summer after second grade. At a mall kiosk this weekend, I saw an Empire Carpet man bobblehead doll. It was the first bobblehead doll I ever wanted to own (of course I didn't buy it though. It doesn't come with the voice).
3) I mistakenly discovered a restaurant where I can go and order fried dill pickle slices ANY. TIME. Thankfully it's 25 miles away but that may not be far enough. I have decided they must be like sushi, which, as people who like sushi tell me, consumes your thoughts and appetite after you discover you like it. I wanted more of those pickles from Saturday lunch until the unfortunate Hershey's incident this afternoon.
4) Time my neighbor thinks is most appropriate to listen to Brad Paisley CD: 4:13 a.m.
5) Matt is on Spring Break. We'll try and go somewhere fun or something so we'll have more interesting things to post here.
6) Thanks for stopping by.

What?

I did make the caveat that I blog on the rarest of occasions. So my nearly yearlong absence was purely an effort to comply with previous statement.
Do you believe that? (This, of course, being a rhetorical question since the two people that used to check this blog have long since stopped).

Combo Condescension

So I had to stop for gas on the way home yesterday, and called offering to pick up some snacks for a studying Matt. I bought several varieties of Combos at his request, and some Smartfood popcorn (hey, it can't hurt the grades, right?). On the way home I entertained myself by thinking about the seemingly ridiculous claim that Pepperoni Pizza Combos are "crunchy oven baked pizza crusts with a Zesty pepperoni & cheese flavored filling." I mean, powdered pepperoni?Grodiness.
Cut to my arrival at home today, where aforementioned Combos sit open in front of this very computer. I would not normally make such a culinary bungee jump into the abyss of artificial flavor. But I was really hungry. Really. So I ate a Pepperoni Pizza Combo and darn it if it wasn't completely delicious. Darn it.
So now I add Pepperoni Pizza Combos to my list of guilty pleasure foods. And by this I do not mean something that is only high in calories or expense. I'm talking about processed, cheap, (dare I say redneck?) foods that you will barely admit to liking. Also on my list: Banana Moon Pies (strange because I usually hate banana flavoring) and the occasional combo meal from Captain D's.
Anyone else feel like confessing?

Sidewalk Cafe?

So yesterday morning I walked out of the apartment in the rain. There on the sidewalk I saw a lone, unwrapped slice of Swiss cheese. I had mixed emotions: one, I found it pretty hilarious that this one piece of cheese found it's way to my sidewalk and two, I felt pretty sad for the person who was going to bite into a cheeseless sandwich. Then again, Swiss cheese is really not too delicious anyway, so maybe it was on purpose or at least for the diner's good that is was discarded. Poor, sad piece-o-cheese.
My random sidewalk sighting reminded me of some story (help me out if you know the reference) of a person that collected single puzzle pieces that he found. I remember thinking that it would surely be a small collection as I had never seen a lost puzzle piece just sitting alone somewhere. (English majors and other obsessors will note use of the past participle "had" instead of "have"). Lo and behold, just last fall I was at the tire store at our local Sam's club when I spotted a single jigsaw piece right there on the floor in the shop. And then I had to rethink just about everything.
Just for fun-what's the strangest/funniest/still-blog-appropriate thing you've ever seen on a sidewalk?