We went to my Grandpa in Arcadia on Christmas Day. I drove. It was time to go home so Brian, being a sweetheart, went to start my car so it would be warm when we got in. He comes back in, and said.... "Umm Jenny, your doors are locked and the car is started."
The spare keys (which I had just gotten last year) were in Des Moines. So my brother and uncles rushed outside with a clothshanger and amazingly enough, Chad was able to stick the wire through the side of the window and roll the window down in less than 2 minutes. Guess if needed it would be pretty damn easy to break into the Riv.
The story ended well... granted, we could have called a locksmith but I would have felt guilty. It was Christmas! Brian still swears that my car malfunctioned and locked on their own (I've never had a prob with this before though). LOL.
I always said the only way my neighbors were going to move is if one of them died. And the only reason I said that is because I've never seen anyone with so much junky stuff. Shit. Crap...whatever you want to call it!!!!!
So last Tuesday the neighbor did die - the old guy who liked to ride his old person scooter around his one car garage stall and hang up Christmas lights in July. I kinda wondered if something hadn't happened to him because the house was empty last week and they never leave. She came back several times with her family but I never saw him. On Sunday I checked the obits and I was right.... http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/dclassifieds?Dato=20081221&Kategori=OBITUARIES01&Class=30&Type=CAT1320&Lopenr=81100696&Selected=2
The freaky part is it says he died at home. How did he die at home? Hopefully I'll get to ask my landlords soon to put my mind at ease. Maybe it makes me a cold hearted but I have hope that the widower will move. And seriously, I will lodge a complaint with my landlord if he lets her live there alone. She is not all there and she will probably burn the house down if left there alone.
But, so I don't sound cold hearted (my brother already said I did because all I was worried about was whether she would be moving or not), it is too bad it happened right before Christmas becasue as we all know it was their favorite holiday and they celebrated it yearround! But luckily, the widower does have kids here in town who will be around for her.
Somehow I never manage to get normal neighbors and throughout the last year many of my friends and family have heard me bitch about the neighbor's strangeness (and their piece of shit car that neither of them have a license for but drive anyway).
On Friday I went to take a bag of trash out to my garbage can. There wasn't much in there - an old binder of Beacon auction stuff and a small plastic sack. And for some reason when I opened the can to throw the bag away, I noticed the papers in the binder were strewn all over the can and the binder was gone.
The trash can was next to the house so granted anyone could of have walked up to the house to go through my garbage...I do live east of 63rd Street you know. But I am almost positive it was my neighbors. *sigh* I can now add dumpster diving to their list of freakiness.
Maybe I should ask for a karoke machine for Christmas because by the end of the night last night, karoke was a huge hit! I'll never think of 'Love Shack' without thinking of Mikael and Brandon. And of course, the backup singers were amazing! (see pic below). I am so glad they did ''Love Shack or I am sure Julie would have drug me up on the stage.(I mean she did get me to dance to 'Friends in Low Places' at some point last night/this morning!!!) I don't Karoke...and last time I did was 11 years ago. I was underage and drunk!!! And I sang Happy Birthday!
The best "performance" of the night though was Will and Chris. If you were there, you know I need not say more. They had style, they had grace...they better not give up their day jobs for a chance at the next big thing. I seriously can't remember the song they sang but it was an awesome choice. And they had the moves to go with it.Kinda. Props to them for having fun with it - it was the hit of the night!
I did promise Will I would sing "It must have been love" with him the next time we do karoke. I am not sure he remembers me promising it... and I really hope he forgets.
But if I did do karoke...here are some of the songs I like would be fun:
1. Ice, Ice Baby
2. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
3. Paradise by the Dashboard Light
4. I Touch Myself
5. I Love Rock and Roll
6. Once Bitten, Twice Shy
7. All Summer Long
I have to say though...it was a good birthday. well, birthday week I mean. I am glad we went bowling and surprisingly enough the karoke was a lot of fun...even for those who didn't sing. Every year its getting harder and harder to decide on what to do! I mean, I had to top the roller skating from '07. But a big thank you to everyone who came out and helped me celebrate. I love ya all!
It sucks when your birthday falls on a Monday - the Monday after Thanksgiving none the less. The big party is planned for Saturday night (I know, I know...I need to get definite details out to everyone yet) but last night I wanted to do something fun for the big 3-0.
I invited a few friends over for wine and then we all headed over to Chicago Speakeasy (CS) for dinner. CS is my favorite place to eat and I've spent several birthdays there. We had good wine and good conversation. Luckily they were all older than me so I didn't have to feel old :-)
At work, they brought me in a birthday cake. It had three candles (we were worried by puttin in thirty we'd set off the fire alarm and then would have to explain to the Ankeny Fire Dept. that it was b-day candles that set off the alarm!) My parents called me (as usually) but my little brother texted me, along with a few others, a happy birthday and Dawn called to wish me a happy birthday as well. I have to laugh though - the only birthday card I received in the mail was one from my state farm agent!
Anyways, I brought my camera along to take a few pics from the evening and here is what I got.....
Our bottle of wine.....
What was left of my strawberry sundae and the candle Julie just had to re-light so I could blow it out again. I think she just wanted to play with fire!
this is the mess Julie makes when you let her discuss the different types of sweetners (yeah, that's what happens when you get old...nothing better to talk about then Splenda, sugar, Sweet 'n Low etc)
