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Sunday, November 13, 2011

Act 2; Scene 18: My Work Wardrobe

I work from home for an awesome HR software company. 
Emphasis on the "I work from home" part.
The "work from home" part equals "dress comfortably"
Right?

Lately, as the cold weather has hit, our apartment has been quite frigid.
Especially at my desk in front of our huge window, where there seems to be a draft.

So I decided recently that I needed to get some appropriate work clothes for my profession.

Here it is: 


My new fleece snuggie!

I know this snuggie will not only help me stay warm and comfortable, but also stay professional while I sort through all kinds of crazy data :-) These pictures were snapped by Robert when I was making some fabric flowers for my nieces (which they will someday, someday get). 
So snuggies are not only good for work, but for crafts!

Happy working, and happy snugging! :-)

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Act 2; Scene 17: "Carson"

It started before I was even born. My grandpa told my mom that if she named me "Carson" he would never speak to me. Fortunately, he warmed up to the name very quickly.

The next instance I actually remember. I was three years old, and my mom signed me up for a reading time program at the library. I showed up the first day, and found my name tag, a cute little face with a bow tie rather than hair bow. Naturally, they assumed by my name that I was a boy.

In my high school classes on the first day, my teachers would be looking around as they called out "Carson McFarland?" and every time give a little "oh" of surprise when I raised my hand and called out "here." 

Doing field trips at This is the Place was also an adventure. I swear, every third little boy between the ages of 2 and 8 are named Carson. All of the moms would be calling out "Carson" everywhere and I kept thinking they were calling out at me! 

I did not know that getting married would complicate this issue. However, Robert (mind you, a very common, normal name--especially for my family) happens to have a rather rare word for a last name--Center. Believe you me, no one has ever heard of that as a last name before. If they had they wouldn't ask about three times how to spell it. 

The complication first became apparent about a week after we were married, and I attempted to change my name on Facebook. But Facebook has a rule that no one can change their name to be representing a business or a place. I learned this because Facebook kept rejecting my name change, insisting that it was a "place" or a "center" and not a name. When I tried to add my maiden name to it (Carson McFarland Center), it rejected the change on account of too many capital letters for a name. (?) So I had to come up with the ridiculous option of Carson Mc(space)Farland(hyphen-)Center for my name. Really?!?!??!

(By the way, I am now a follower on Facebook of the Carson Center in Kentucky--it's a community theater. Go figure.)

We recently moved into a new ward. First of all, when they announced us as new members to the ward, they called me "Anne Center." I'm sure they thought the "Carson" was a maiden name or something. The next week, the Elder's Quorum president (who has greasy long hair and writes psychological thriller novels for a living) was introducing himself and when he heard my name, said "Carson Center? That's the weirdest name I ever heard!"
Right. Thanks for making me feel welcome in the ward.
(Don't worry, we actually really like the elder's q. pres--he's awesome)

Last week a couple invited us over for dinner. How nice! We got there and the host asked me, "Now what is your first name?" I told him Carson. Then he said, "No, I mean your first name?" "That IS my first name."

This week the other Gospel Doctrine teacher referred to me as "Sister Carson." One of the girls I have made friends with came up to me after apologizing that she had been calling me Carson this whole time when it was actually my last name. Ha.

I'm pretty sure our ward is in denial that our last name is Center and that Carson is actually a name that exists for girls, or as a first name at all. I hope they figure it out soon!

Another adventure has been dealing with benefits and going to the doctor and the dentist. Every time, without fail, they ask "And this is for your son?" "Nope. It's for me. I am Carson." I don't have any children and if I did I wouldn't name my son Carson--what a wussy guy's name! ;-)

And last week I went to the bank to cash a check I had received from work. The teller looked at the check and asked, "And what is the Carson Center?" 

"Um...me." 



Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Spooktacular Meal #5 and Halloween!!!!!

Our Halloween meal may have been more of a taste success than a presentation success. We made pumpkin pancakes, and attempted to make them into Halloween shapes with chocolate chip decorations. Well...this is what we got:
See that sort of ghost? And sort of jack-o-lantern? Ha. Well, they tasted good.

After dinner we dressed up and headed to the local trunk-or-treat.  
Humperdick suffers!
Liar!
Our neighbors pug. Ha!

I even added the flower Valerie keeps in her hair

After the "trunk or treat," we had a few friends over for some spooky Halloween games and treats.

Caramel apple slices with snicker pieces on top

Ryu and fantasy nerd complete with muffin top

Where's Waldo? Behind the cow girl!
We all played a Halloween story game where each person has one minute to write a part of a story including a Halloween word that is assigned. After that minute, you pass the paper to the left and cover up everything you wrote except for the last line. The next person picks up where you left off with a new Halloween word. It was hysterical! Here is a video of our favorite "story" of the night, read by the impressive Miracle Max:


Overall, one of our most enjoyable Halloweens. Now time to start thinking about next year! What should we be? What do you want to dress up as next year?