SHUT UPPP

Thanks for the memories! I don't know if you've been the worst year of my life but you definitely don't rank near the top, so sorry. I probably learned more this year than in most others, though, so that's something. And I'm looking forward to 2009. Remember, though, when the tough mean teacher was always the one you hated most but then when you look back you realize that even though the method was beyond your understanding you somehow learned more about life from that crazy person than you did from any of your nice, cuddly teachers? Maybe the analogy only translates in my crazy person brain but to me '08 was the mean teacher. I know things that I didn't know before and I honestly feel a little more capable and strong than if '08 had been a cuddly, sweet little year. So thanks for that, '08. I'm going in to 2009 with a lot of hope and a lot of excitement about change.

Now at the risk of being ridiculed for clinging to tradition:


May the new year bring
The warmth of home and hearth to you.
The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you.
The joy of a thousand angels to you,
The love of the Son and God's peace to you.

Thanks for reading my mind this year. Love y'all.

HILARIOUS! On the recommendation of several people, most of which are good friends, I finally found myself with nothing to do and ordered it on PPV. It could be because Marshall Eriksen and Kenneth The Page are two of my favorite TV characters maybe ever, but I laughed for almsot the whole movie. If you find yourself with a couple extra hours any time soon, definitely check it out, and don't judge me for loving a movie where KTP pretty much screws a giant chess piece. And lots of other weird stuff happens.

And if anybody knows where I can see a rock opera with puppets in real life PLEASE call me. I'm so excited by that idea it's not even funny.

So you know that whole long list of weird stuff that people have done at work? Here's one I never thought would be on my list: #153: Left a thong on the floor. What? That's right. A thong. On the floor. Not in a fitting room, just right there near the front door of the store. WTF?!

OK, in the thong-dropper's defense, it was a *clean* thong and was most likely inadvertently dropped rather than tossed on our floor like we work in the "Rock of Love" house, but still. Thong. On. The. Floor. Just when I thought I'd seen it all. Even funnier was when dear Edna walked up to a group of girls and asked them if anyone dropped a thong. What a weird day! AND because I'm awesome I had to take a picture a) to prove it and b) I'm making a "FOUND" poster to canvas the shopping center with. Ok part B might be a joke. And I didn't get my camera until the thong had been moved from the floor to the evidence locker, a.k.a. the customer service desk. I think you get the general idea though. I didn't plan on this becoming a photo blog but the awesome won't stop soooo:


PS Do y'all remember the Thong Song? I've had it stuck in my head all day.

So as is the custom when a team completely destroys all competition at trivia, we brought home the trophy last week and got to add stuff to it. Turns out we're good at trivia but pretty crappy at organizing time to do creative stuff to a trophy ("I have markers." - Camden) so Dale and I wandered in to Hobby Lobby, spent four minutes(!) in the kids' crafts section, grabbed random stuff, and wandered out. Fantastic. Here are the highlights:



A shout out to Duffy and his weekly speech about "Just a reminder, there is no use of iPhones, Blackberries, schnozberries, we do have free wifi here at the Tavern but if you're Googling something, it'd better be porn!"
TToA "Googling Porn Since 2007".



Our team name won us an extra 5 points this week, so we had to commemorate it somewhere on the trophy. We're gonna be a little more hard up (TWSS) for trivia team names after January 20. It's been a good run, ol' George.



We didn't want to be too holiday-y but we had to add some jingle bells. Hopefully they'll go on to annoy other winning teams for years to come.



Mary putting the finishing touches on. Note the feathers. I thought that was a classy touch.



Annnnd the finished product! Shoes, paint pen, feathers, googly eyes, jingle bells, a button that plays "Happy Birthday" when you press it, and a Hannah Montana guitar with a pic of Cam and Duffy snuggling. It's seriously the best trophy ever. Plus it has all of our names on it, because we ARE the TToA.

Do you think we're taking this too far?
I don't think we're taking this far enough.
I just got goosebumps.

We're defending our title on Tuesday night, all suggestions for team names should be directed to the Facebook group. Aww we're nerdy but I love us.

...and a happy new year, too.

Oh giant ten year old, where is thy sting? We totally redeemed ourselves at trivia this week, and it was awesome. Katie was in town, nobody quit, we had a dreidel, we won best team name ("If you can dodge the draft, you can dodge a shoe!") and we absolutely ruined the other teams, it wasn't even close. Trivia Team of Awesome, FTW! God bless us, every one!

Here's what I did last night. Watch it over and over and try not to puke!