stickyfeathers

happy easter!

hope you all have a happy easter!

thoughts for thursday.

i thought i would do something a little lighter today.  it's a game of sorts.  maybe you will think it's stupid, but whatever.  this is my blog, i'll do what i want. 

below i have listed ten words.  you must tell me what the first thing that comes to your mind is when you read each word.  leave your answers in a comment.  i'll do the same. 

1. spring.
2. hugh.  (yes, i meant hugh - as in heffner)
3. pink.
4. diamonds.
5. bunnies.
6. water.
7. meatball.
8. goober.
9. diet.
10. fuzz.

this should be fun and interesting. 
other thoughts for thursday bloggers include: anne, mel, denise, kristi, and robyn. 

open house: living room edition.

it happened.  our new couch finally arrived!  yahooooo!

i'm finally sharing pictures of our living room/dining room.  our house has such a weird setup.  anyways, here are the first two shots:

in the first shot, you see the new furniture!  i really ended up liking the green with the light mushroom chairs and our 'brick red' walls.  they really have more of a maroonish feel, and it is hard to capture with the crappy light in this room.  i got rid of the rugs i had in here for the past five years as i just like the look of our wood floor.  makes it look so clean and open!  behind the couch i have three prints i want to get framed to hang - someday.  i don't like the window treatments right now.  i want to get some type of accordian type pull shade - the ones that mount inside the window and pull up and down but stay where you want them - kwim?  anyways, that's a detail i'll figure out sooner or later.  oh, and there is natalie and a few toys in that shot too. 

in the second shot, you see our dining room area.  yeah, they are nearly one in the same.  there are positives and negatives to this, but whatever.  we've got a mission style table/chairs, which also match our entertainment center and end tables (which are hard to see in the first shot - on both ends of the couch).  the table is full of my crap which is typical.  again, the lighting sucks in my house.  zippitydoda.

this third shot is of our entertainment center and surroundings.  do not diss my tree.  there is a lot of crap in this picture that should be in tucker's room - but it's not.  it really is hard to show off the wall color. 

the fourth shot is well, another angle.  you can see our main door in this one.  the rug on the floor in the entryway is going to go. 

eh.  looking at these shots makes me feel like i have no direction with my decorating.  i'm thinking about painting the entryway/hallways a slate blue color - as the potato skin color (a weird tanish color) is not complimenting the red.  ladies, i need help.  i need suggestions.  i like modern, but i also have some sort of weird hodgepodge thing going on right now.  i have a bazillion frames that do not match on the entertainment center (and dry sink behind the table in the second picture), i have a tree (which i like, but doesn't really fit into 'modern'), and that's about it.  sorry for the rambling. 

nonetheless, i'm very happy that i was able to sit and relax on my couch tonight.   

i've got three questions for you.

i wanted to do something different.  i've got three questions for you. 
drop me a comment and give me your answers! 

1. if you could be a superhero, what would be your name and what would your magical power be?
2. if you could eat dinner with anyone (living or not) who would it be?
3. if you could take a year off from your job, what would you spend your time doing?

my answers are as follows:

1. my superhero name would be supersneak and my power would be to be invisible whenever i wanted.  boy, how fun that could be.  like a fly on the wall baby, a fly on the wall.
2. i would have dinner with my late grandpa gordy.  he passed away when i was very young and i would like to meet him in my adult life and have a peek into what he was like.
3. if i took a year off from my job, i would spend my time having fun with friends and family.  i would travel all over the place with my peeps, relax, pursue more of my real passions in life, and have fun.

your turn!

today, tomorrow, yesterday.

so, right now, i'm sitting here watching my tivo'd season premier of the bachelor.  there is always one chick that drinks way, way, way too much and makes a damn fool of herself.  stacey is it?  lay off the booze and keep your filthy panties to yourself.  i have a few favorites right away - i'm hoping holly makes it through tonight (and she did).  any of you out there bachelor fans?  looks like this season is gonna be full. of. drama.

tomorrow i have lots on my agenda.  after work i want to scrub all our floors.  i also want to get the furniture ready for our couch to arrive on wednesday.  oh yeah!  i also have to deliver all the rest of tucker's birthday invitations.  i know, i know, it's getting close but they are all family and close friends that already know when the party is so this is just well, a minor detail.  :)  oh, and i have to actually send our taxes in tomorrow.  i'm such a slacker.  i finally sat down and finished them yesterday.

on sunday, matt and i watched the movie, 'american gangster'.  i liked the movie but it was just a bit too long.  we managed to watch most of it during tucker's nap.  the next movie netflix will be sending us is 'gone baby gone'.  looking forward to that one.  we also grilled hamburgers and hot dogs last night.  funny, i look outside right now and it's snowing.  i hate how spring jerks you around like this.  okay, spring is not offically here until friday, but still. 

i'm also going to meet up with jess sometime this week as she is in my neck of the woods on her vacation!  the next two weeks are going to be busy.  we have plans for the easter weekend.  then i have one more week before tucker's birthday!  my little guy is already turning two!  i'm super excited for his party.  more on that later.

i have had weird blogger mojo this week.  i had a giveaway, an interesting thoughts for thursday, and a quick urho wrapup.  was there anything else?  oh yeah, a bunch of random things on a list, most of which have been accomplished (okay 7/13 isn't bad).  hope you all had a fantastic monday! 

25,000 hits = 1 winner!

whoohooo! stickyfeathers has hit 25,000 hits!

thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway.  i promised one lucky person a cool little assortment of scrapbooking supplies.  so i went here, entered the information (26 valid comments), and came up with a winner.  i tried posting the link but it came up with a different result each time you clicked on it.  like anyone really cares anyways!

the lucky winner was commenter #16 - congratulations jill! 
you are the winner of my very first giveaway! 

i will get your goodies in the mail this week.  i will post a little sneak preview for you at some point too!  no worries, i won't be sending any of the plastic off my new couches...or will i?  :)

st. urho's: 2008

on saturday we attended the 2008 st. urho's day parade.  st. urho became a pirate this year, just in case you were wondering.  here are some of the pictures from the parade:

this first shot is miss helmi.  i can't really explain it, but each year, men dress up like women and compete for the title of miss helmi.  then they get to show off their stuff in the parade the following day.  come to think of this, it is kind of disturbing.  the second shot is some pirates throwing some loot to the crowd.

this third shot is some pretty ladies on the nsfcu float.  oh, look - there's jenn in the red skirt and jen off to the left in the back.  the fourth shot is of my sister-in-law, who was taken hostage by the pirates of hooterville, then left like this when she was released.  poor tina!  i wish my brother would have been there to see this!  :)

the fifth shot is of tina and i after we got her back on two feet again.  this should be an ad for big freakin' sunglasses.  dang.

this last shot is one our buddy bob wanted me to take of him and smokey the bear.  i think it was a shining moment in his life.  smokey gave me a hankey just for taking the shot - add that to the candy we picked up and we scored some sweet loot!  well, tucker got the suckers and matt and i got everything else!  we were standing with my dad and natalie (and a slew of our buds) during the parade.  bob helped natalie fill up her candy bag quick!  what a guy!

this year the weather was all right, but it seems like the main drag in finland (where the parade takes place) acts as a windtunnel.  there is always a horrible cold wind that is blowing making things less than ideal.  that was the only downfall this year.  the sun was shinning, but it was cold!  i'm hoping for a balmy 35* next year!      

oh, and i can't leave you without a picture of our little family.  the first shot is one from last urho's, and the second shot is from this year!  not the greatest shot, but it was cold and tucker wasn't in the mood for pictures!  oh, and yeah, he has the same hat on it each shot - but this year it was a bigger size.  how funny!  we have to have an annual urho shot right?  yeah.  wow.  i know.

that was our urho '08.

a little humor.

my friend jenn cracks me up.  this weekend is the st. urho's celebration in finland.  jenn and i want to go out one night, but the boys don't (poo poo derek and matt).  we are going to have a game night on saturday night (where we are stealing my parents wii), but jenn wants me to come out with her tonight.  this is part of the email she wrote me yesterday.  it gave me a good belly laugh.

jenn writes:
 
so i decided i am going to kidnap you on friday night.  i am just going to follow your car home and when you step out of the car, i am going to put a bag over your head and put you in my car.  i will have gotten a cute outfit from your closet and some makeup, and i will leave a note taped on the tv for matt saying the following:

'don't worry about your wife, she will be home later.  i have kidnapped her.  this is not jenn.  please don't come and look for us otherwise i will keep her 'til 130am sunday morning.  she will not be harmed.  if you are bored, i have kidnapped jenn l., so go hang out with derek.  again, this is not jenn.'

jenn, you are funny as hell.  don't you all think this girl should have a blog?  :) 

thoughts for thursday.

stand by your man? 

if you haven't heard about governor eliot spitzer's prostitution scandal, you must be living under a rock.  if not, you can catch up with some of it here, and here, and here.

we have all watched him in front of the camera's this week, as he stumbled dive-bombed from his seat as the governor of new york.  one of the most interesting things to many of us was the fact that his wife, silda, stood by him each time he spoke to the public. 

even though i have no idea what i would do if i were in that position, i think i can understand why she is standing there.  imagine being married to someone for twenty years.  no matter what kind of marriage you have, there is a bond there.  now, imagine that marriage being turned upside down in front of the entire world.  not by something you had done, but by something your spouse had done.  wouldn't you want to stand tall - even if it meant standing by him at his lowest moment?  even if you wanted to run him over with your trailblazer, wouldn't you stand there one last time to show him some ounce of support for his mistakes?  to tell you the honest truth, i don't know if i would.  the thing about this is it was something illegal that he was part of, he ran on a platform that painted himself as 'mr. clean', and he prosecuted the very same people that in fact he was exactly like.  wow.  talk about a real kick in the nuts on your way to slumpville.  could you even have any integrity left?  i highly doubt it.  but, although we are watching his public life go down the toilet, he still has to go through this ordeal with his wife and children.  that is a whole different dynamic.  i really don't think i could say what i would do in her situation...but i really do feel like i can understand why she made the choice she did.

oh, and you might remember this scandal (hello america, i'm a gay american - oh, and i want to thank my wife for her support).  when new jersey's governor called it quits after coming out of the closet, his wife, dina, stood by him.  well, for a moment or two.  i think i saw her on oprah last year, in which she explained what she was feeling as she stood next to her gay husband.  she was in complete shock.  um yeah, i would have been too.  wow.  then i would have been pissed and went to get the keys to my trailblazer (if i had one).  i think this situation is obviously a bit different from spitzer's.  i mean, being gay isn't illegal.   

so, what do you think about these scandals?  do you think you would be up there standing next to your man if something similar were to ever in a million years happen to you (let's get hypothetical here)?  would it matter if it was illegal or not?  i'm just curious.  everyone has their opinion on these scandals and how the wife has reacted.  tell me what you think.

other tft bloggers this week:  kristi, robyn, and emilie.   

my blog giveaway.

i've been thinking about reaching the ol' 25,000 hit mark on this site.  we are getting pretty close. 

i mentioned doing a giveaway last week.  i thought, well, maybe i would give away a little gift card to one of my favorite places.  then i thought, no, i'd rather spend that on myself, because well, i'm selfish like that.  my next idea was to giveaway a big bag of chocolate, but since most of us are in fat camp (most, not all - you skinny bizzos), i figured that too would be a bad idea.  then i really thought about some of my readers.  many of you create things - a lot of you scrapbook.  i have a metric ton of scrapbooking supplies that i have not used, ever.  i mean, some of you would think i'm a sinner for the money i have spent and the lack of product that has been produced.  so, i thought i would make up a cool little assortment of things and make that my giveaway.  now, some of you readers aren't into scrapping, but just think, if you win, you could give it to your cousin susie that scraps all the time, or how about aunt mae who just super glued her fingers to her last layout.  okay, i'm really stretching it here.  i think what it comes down to is i want to get rid of some of my supplies and this is a cool way to do it.  i think.  seriously, this stuff is brand spankin' new.  i'm not giving away a half used roll of ribbon and gooed up sissors.  no way baby.  this stuff is nice.

how do you get in on this fun?  well, it's simple.  you leave me a comment on this post (one comment per person and no, you can't enter your pets).  how simple!  then, once i hit 25,000 hits, i will randomly pick one winner from the comments i received.  each comment will be assigned a number and then poof - a winner will be chosen.  thrilling, i know.  but hey, getting hit on 25,000 times is well, pretty fricken sweet.  sorta.  yeah.

now, start commenting!