What is happening to manners? Have they completely ceased to exist? It is a small thing that has brought me to this conclusion but I feel like sharing because the more I think about it the more annoyed I get.

So here’s the deal. I let myself get talked into having a jewelry party, no biggie. Then I let myself get talked into having it a month earlier than I planned at the last minute because the girl who was supposed to have it couldn’t due to circumstances beyond her control. Ok so slightly stressful but still not a big deal. So I email and text message and call people the week before because I don’t have time to mail invitations to people. The first thing that bugs me is the inability of people to take 10 seconds to respond. To anyone reading this who did this isn’t directed at you. I don’t care whether you could come or not I would just like to know either way so I know how many people I should plan on having in my house. And in some cases I know for a fact that the people got said email because in the sent file it showed as having been read but a reply never comes. And how long does it really take to type up an email that says “yes I will be there” or “no sorry I have plans”? I mean really. Same with text messages.

The other thing that is really annoying me is the people who said they were coming and then don’t show up. Again this doesn’t apply to anyone who had something come up and did me the courtesy of calling or texting and saying sorry I can’t make it after all. In one case which I am going to be nice and not name names the person told me they were for sure coming and that I didn’t need to bother sending them an invitation although I did send an email to which they responded they were coming. Said person had not showed up by 7pm so I did a quick phone call to see if they were coming. No answer. So I left a brief message that basically said “hey just seeing if you are still coming give me a call and let me know if we should wait for you”. Yeah no reply as of midnight tonight. How frigging rude is that!

This is just one of those things that the more I think about it the more it pisses me off. Anytime I am invited to something that asks for an RSVP I always respond whether I am going or not. Is it really too much to ask for people to do the same? Common courtesy is dead.

I was surprised on Tuesday with a random invitation to go and see Sugarland at the Mississippi Valley Fair. It sounded interesting even though I really had no idea what they sang so I said sure. Luckily the rain that was pelting my car on the way to meet my friend and her family decided to be over by the time we got there. The line to get in was enormous but we sort of cheated and walked along to the front of it and right as we got there they opened the gates so we just blended into the crowd of people going in. I know we are total cheaters but hey we got good seats. Good deal because I read on the net later that there was almost 24,000 people at the show.

It was a good show although I am not going to run out and buy a Sugarland cd. And sorry Zach there are no photos of Jennifer Nettles because I didn’t want to lug my huge camera through the fair. The one comment I am going to make about her is that wearing the sandals she was with the black pants made her look like she was running around barefoot in those horrible stirrup pants from the 80s. Honestly I am not sure Sugarland always sounds country, to me at times it sounded more like pop music but at least it was enjoyable.

I think baby showers make me crabby despite my best efforts.  Maybe because I don’t have any kids and spend the entire time not knowing what anyone is talking about.  Plus add to that that a lot of people with children do nothing to actually watch their children and I spend time trying not to trip over them or ducking flying objects.  This is my rant for today and I am glad to be home in my house hiding from people

I just wanted to say that I just saw one of the funniest things ever.  I heard a fur explosion in my kitchen and then all of a sudden my dog goes running by in full flight from my cat Lucifer who proceeded to body slam the dog into the front door and then beat the crap out of her with his paws til he got bored.  Then he wandered away and Go-Go just sat there looking completely shell shocked.  I bet she doesn’t chase him anytime soon.

Just a brief post to announce that one of my friends finally had her baby.  A little boy named Owen Garrett who was born Wednesday afternoon at 5:18 which by weird coincidence is the same time another friend’s daughter was born.  He was 8lbs 6oz (ouch) and 21 inches.  And after visiting the creepiest hospital ever including the abandoned one I have been to I concluded he sounds like a squeaky toy.  And the reason the hospital was so creepy was that despite being brand new and up to date it was almost completely empty.  Aside from my friend and her husband I think I only saw a total of 5 other people throughout the entire thing.  That is not normal.

Ok so it seemed like a good title at the time since I have gotten soaked all day.  Hurrah grocery shopping in the rain.

Random comments I forgot in my post about Florida to mention I discovered that I am also part Polish and Russian on my dad’s side and also apparently Jewish, heh who knew.

Enough with the baby and bridal showers already I am getting overwhelmed.  Although I am excited my friend is having twins and my other two friends’ babies are almost here.  I was helping one paint the babies room this week.

I had dinner at this awesome Japanese steak house place in Davenport where they cook your food at the table and do all sorts of tricks and stuff that I couldn’t manage in a million years.

Oh and I guess I slept through an earthquake aftershock this morning which totally sucks because I would like to know what it feels like.

Yeah ok not a very insightful post but I am dyslexic or something today because I keep typing words all backwards and it is annoying.  Plus the new Doctor Who is on soon.

I seem to have my blog back so hurrah this makes me very happy.  There isn’t too much to report right now.  I’ve been working on getting ready for my friends baby shower this coming weekend.  Actually the whole weekend promises to be quite busy since I am going out during the day on Saturday with one friend and out for another friend’s birthday that night.  Then Sunday is the annual Clarence fireman’s breakfast…mmmmm….pancakes and the baby shower.

I wanted to do a longer post but breakfast is ready so I am off to eat it.

In case you haven’t noticed I am back from Florida.  I don’t feel like putting down every detail of what happened but here are some highlights.

I counted 81 VW bugs.

The best license plates I saw were STNKFROG and DWEEBY7.

If I ever discover who invented moving theaters I am going to garrote them.  Look it up on wikipedia if you don’t know what garroting is.

I met a pirate who used to be a stunt man.  He was a tour guide for one of the ghost walks and had previously managed to get himself arrested during one of the ghost walks.

I frolicked in the Atlantic Ocean.

I rode in a hearse.

My father and my sister, yes I do have a sister, came to visit me.  It was reasonably uncomfortable but I made it through and actually like my sister.  My father talks too much.

Boobs are very useful for getting discounts.

I ate inside of  a pyramid, it was a Hard Rock Cafe.

Flagler College is the most beautiful building I have ever seen so far.

I think that will do for now.  I may add more later when I have my notebook available.

I just wanted to say that I have nominated Sycamore Mall in Iowa City as the official hang out place for crazy people.  I was there today and couldn’t walk more than five feet without seeing a new person who was drooling or talking to themselves or make odd animal noises.

Now that I am more or less coherent again I figured I should post something.  For those of you that don’t know I have spent the last week as a heavily medicated slime monster that didn’t speak or understand english.  Hurrah at least it means winter is almost over since I always get very sick right at the end.

I’m counting down the days til next Friday when I can once again run away to parts unknown.   Spring break, one of the most wonderful things ever invented.  Not completely sure where I will head yet although eventually I would like to end up in Florida.  If I do I am supposed to visit with my father and my sister’s family. Yippee skippee, not completely sure how I feel about that.