Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - P

Papa - my grandpa was an amazing man. I always thought he was kind of strict and I can still hear him "talking" to me through the bathroom door whenever I got mad and locked myself inside, "The world does not revolve around Courtney Marie, you know." But underneath his tough exterior was a big softie. When my mom, my sister and I lived with them for a few months he would kneel between our beds, scratch our backs, and hum us lullabies. Ah, sweet memories!

Pepper - love me some pepper! I don't do much salt but you can always count on me and pepper. Especially in my ketchup. Yum! A funny (if not predictable) story about me and pepper...just a few weeks ago I was lunching at McAlister's and was trying to sprinkle some pepper on my chicken caesar wrap when the whole cap came off and a heaping pile of pepper ended up on my plate. I seriously considered shaking what I could off to continue eating it but in the end I was persuaded to get them to replace the meal. And the pepper shaker.

Persnickety - I just love this word and its meaning!

Pickles - it's a toss up where pickles and pepper are concerned. I lurve pickles! Dill, mind you. Spears preferably but chips will do in a pinch. Not bread and butter and never, ever sweet! And the combination of Mazzio's ranch dressing and their bitesize pickles in the salad bar cannot be beaten. To. Die. For. Which is a silly thing to say, I realize, about pickles. I love pickles so much that my grandmother has gifted me with pickles on two occassions...for my 13th birthday I received a case of pickles and one Christmas I received a large box of individually wrapped pickles. Like they used to sell (and maybe still do?) at the roller skating rink. And I have wonderful friends who know of my love for pickles and will sacrifice their lunch spears to see me light up when they offer me theirs. Except for now Steph has a kid who also happens to lurve pickles so I am no longer the recipient of her pickle generosity. Cute kids....hrmph!

Pickle-Chiffon Pie - This was a favorite book in our house when I was a child. My mom read it to us a lot. Unfortunately we no longer have it. And unfortunately I don't really remember much of the story. Something about a weird monster competing for the hand of the princess and bakes her father, the king, this crazy pie concoction. I keep my eyes out at thrift stores but I really ought to just suck it up and order it from Amazon. A side note...growing up as latch key kids my sister and I had a secret code word that was to be used if our mom had to, for some reason, send someone else to pick us up. Stranger Danger and all. "Pickle-Chiffon Pie" was our word. And to top it all off, the book was written by a guy named Jolly Roger. Gotta love that! Pops -Yay for gas stations + soda pop marts + yummy hamburger joints! Head on over to Arcadia, OK and try it out for yourself.
Pugs - I do not what it is about this breed of dog but I am completely smitten. From their snorting and snuffing and smashed in faces to their curly Q tails. My friend Amy got a pug right after college and I thought she (both Amy and Maude the pug) were crazy. But then I volunteered to dog sit for a friend and ended up having both his husky and his pug for a couple of months. Gigi chewed up my shoes and the arms of my sister's futon (thank goodness I hadn't bought a couch of my own yet!) but she had such a great personality. So quirky and spunky. I was sold! And here I am, nine pugs later.

Becker and Bijou - my first two pugs

Ingrid, Buster, Humphrey, and Greta (sans baby Bing) - my last little puglets

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - O

OBU - my alma mater. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not so sure I'd pick a small faith-based institution but, over all, I was pleased with my years there. Bison, go with Ka-rip!

Ombligo - my second favorite word in Spanish. Means "belly button." My favorite word in Spanish? Hipopotamo.

Orange - my favorite color. Usually. Sometimes it's pink. And sometimes it's black. But usually it's orange.

Orange Julius - back in the day a mall trip wasn't complete without hitting Claire's Boutique, stalking a couple of cute guys, and getting a drink at Orange Julius. I loved their Strawberry Julius.

Orbit - my gum of choice. Peppermint.

This is the outfit I picked up for Little Miss M on Saturday evening. She wanted to wear it to church yesterday. Without washing it. I thought it might irritate her sensitive skin but she didn't care. A slave to fashion in the making! My poor picture-taking skills don't allow you to see the super cute bow at the neckline. And the back of the dress buttons up with big pink buttons. Can you say cute?! I had picked up this pair of funky green tights at a thrift store months ago against my better judgment. Didn't think I'd ever actually find anything to match. Lo and behold! Need to be better about noticing what's in the background when I take photos...ugly!

Tidying Up

I don't know what got into me yesterday but before church I decided it was time to revamp my linen closet. And by linen closet I mean shoe closet. When I checked this house out and saw the linen closet in the hallway I thought that there was no way I would ever fill that much space with bedding. But shoes, I could probably fill it with shoes...just toss 'em in and shut the oh-so-trendy bifold doors. Works like a charm! Orginally there were purses and boots on the top shelf and everything else haphazardly thrown on a shelf below.

But yesterday morning as I selected my footwear I thought I could probably organize the space a little better and use some of it for {ahem} linens. Imagine that! So now it's purses, random bedding, and weekend totes on top, boots on bottom, and everything else in between.

I'm kicking myself for donating a couple of shoe racks before I moved. They fit perfectly on the shelves and double my shoe storage. Going to pick up a couple more and hopefully I'll be able to move the shoes hanging in the organizer behind my bedroom door to their new home across the hall. And I think I'm going to paint the back wall with a pop of yellow or turquoise. Once I start tacking the rest of the house. Which is just around the corner. Yeah, right.

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - N

Nicknames - at various times in my life I have been called: Snortney, Boobs, Spud Bud, Buttercup, and Coco. Any others I'm leaving out?

Nissan Murano - I. Want. One. So sleek. So sexy. I know, just like me...right?!

Nose Ring - Been done twice before. I have been contemplating do this to myself one more time. I think I could get away with it at my current school.

A Thousand Words: December 2009

The Thrill of Thrifting

I love it when I score bigtime at thrift stores. I only hit two today but I picked up several things and I'm tickled pink with what I brought home!

At the first store I found:

~ a pair of sheer purple valances with embroidered flowers for Little Miss M's room ($4/pair)

~ pair of little Gap jeans for the girlie ($6 but 1/2 off = $3)

~ a "vintage glitter tree topper" from Pottery Barn still in the box ($2)

At store numero dos:

~ a Princess book...I think we're up to about 127 of these now... (.50)

~ two large white picture frames from Target ($3/ea)

~ "Hurdo Kitty" (that's M-speak for Hello Kitty) rainboots -- still had the elastic band tied on ($3.50 - Target is still selling them for $16.99! Woohoo!!)

Here's my booty (or is it bounty? loot? er...) from Goodwill.

And while there I donated four bags full of clothing, shoes, toys, and knick knacks. Don't you just love a good purge every now and then?

But the shopping extravaganza didn't stop there, no siree. We forged ahead into retail-priced retail therapy. Went to Payless mainly to measure her little tootsies (10-1/2) but, because you can't really pass up BOGO, ended up buying her some socks and flip flops. At Target I bought 4 smaller white frames that were on clearance (finally getting around to some art in Little Miss M's room), a super cute dress (so cute I paid FULL price...history in the making!) and ruffled hoodie for M, and boring stuff like dog food (but I did get a $5 gift card for buying it), bread, and cereal bars. Onto Marshalls where I loaded up on some stationery goodies and a silly little doodle book for my valentine.

Speaking of valentines...this is the first Valentine's Day in years that I actually have an honest-to-goodness valentine of my own. Of course, my little eCrush is laying in his bed with an abcessed tooth huffing and puffing while he awaits a root canal. So even though I celebrate actually having a valentine this year, I may not actually be celebrating the occassion. No biggie...I'm used to it.