My Face Splatered Across the World Wide Web

I guess I am sending this out there as a poll because I just can't decide:

Should I join Facebook?

I haven't yet and I tell Daniel it is because I like the anonymity that I have. He reminds me that I have blog and tell all sorts of secrets on it. But I point out that most people don't look at it because they are always asking if I'm facebook, and keep looking for me. My biggest reason for not joining is I don't want the people who drove me nuts in high school to "friend" me. Most people say just ignore them, but I like to just have a quick glance at what they are doing and then they have me and I don't want to be rude and "defriend" anyone. Then there is the whole "Let's not make complete sentence" factor. Which drives me crazy and helps me to be so glad that I don't text message. On my last trip my other flight attendant was reading people's blurbs, and one girl announced her bathroom movements online. I didn't need to know that.

Yet the voyeur in me is so curious to stalk everyone on the internet because I don't actually have to have close communication with them. So far too many cons and not enough pros. I guess I am looking for more pros. Help me out.

Guess Who?

I usually don't have airplane stories, but I finally have a cool one I can pull out when people ask me for one. I was going from Monroe Louisiana to Atlanta. I had a passenger get on who was extremely tall. He nearly bent in half to get on. He came on almost to the last, mumbled that he had the exit row in 7D and that he was going to need the extra room. I got annoyed because he was going to be one of those complaining tall people and he didn't have the exit row and I wasn't going to help him with that because he would just need to deal with it. He gets back there and realizes that he doesn't have the exit row and gets my attention about it. Then says, "Never mind Miss, I got the exit row." I was telling him to come up front, but he kept saying "No Miss I'm just fine." At this point I felt generous (I don't know where it came from) and realized that I didn't have anyone sitting up front. Now the CRJ 200 is one of the only planes where the exit row has no extra room, maybe a 1/2 inch more than the other rows. Only the bulk head row has considerable amount more. I walk back there and looked at this guy and laughed because his knees were at his chin, plus his feet were completely under the seat, and he was leaning mashed next to the window. I told him that there wasn't really that much more room from the exit row and his original seat. I had an empty seat in the front row that actually had more room. He kept insisting that he was fine and would sit here until I said that no one had that seat. He got up and followed me and thanked me.

Once he got to the seat I thought for sure he would take his long legs and spray all in my galley because that is what people who are half his size do. Then I get to trip on them for the next hour and it is really annoying. But he sat in his blocked out space and went to sleep for the entire flight--I don't know how he did that because he had more room, but not that much more space.
I watched him as we were descending and I thought he is a punk college basketball player. Except he is a nice one, but he is bothering my OCD because he only has one ear piercing and that's an odd number which is really annoying. He finally woke on landing and I gave him a goofy smile and shouted "Good Morning Sunshine!" even though it was the afternoon. He kind of looked at me funny and then smiled.

I started to talk to the lady next to him and where she was going and why. She was talking about going to see the Saints play, and I noticed Mr. Tall listening a little, so I asked him where he is going and he said South Florida and seemed to clamp down which I thought it was weird that he didn't give a city or want to talk. Anyway the lady and I started to talk about football and the snow, and she remarked on how "Daddy Long Legs" over there was going away from the foretasted snow. I laughed and said yeah "Poor Daddy Long Legs." He stopped listening to our conversation after that. Once we had parked he stood up really quick. I suggested that he could stand right outside the door to stretch, as long as he didn't jump off. He said, "No, Miss I am alright." He shortly left after that.

I was cleaning the plane after the passengers had left and one of the rampers came on all excited and said, "Did you know that you had a basketball star on your flight!" I said, "I figured with how tall he was he must play basketball. Who was he?" "He played with Micheal Jordan on the Bulls...his name is Scottie Pippen. I even asked to make sure!" I busted up laughing. I gave Scottie Pippen such a hard time and made a fool of myself that explained the funny looks and the refusal of special treatment. He was incredible polite though. I am a little embarrassed that I made fun of his height. At least I know I will treat famous people the same as regular people because as I think back the exit row seemed to know who he was; the lady upfront and me didn't. I have only met a few famous people, but he and Micheal Gambon (the second Dumbledor) were the most polite.

First Tree

I am proud that I finally got my own ornaments for my tree. The only ones I had were from my mother that I stole and what I had collected before I was married (a total of two), and one from my friend Katie.

Katie and I always would do crafts our first year as flight attendant. Even though they weren't always that great, we would find the best deals because we were poor. I found this great idea for a snowman and Santa ball at a expensive botique in Georgia. The snowman didn't turn out as great as the store's, but I am so impressed with my Santa ball that I had to show you all. Mostly I am excited that my tree has color, I did it at half the cost, and I didn't have to sponge off my mother to do it!

Drama of the Teeth

This is the pretty picture of my two new front teeth. My left tooth is the one I knocked out when I was about 15. I tried to find a picture of my teeth with it all dark ( a great portion of my wedding pictures have it in them), but you have to get you face all close to it, and I don't have photoshop to show you because you have to get close to see it. You can kind of see it in this photo, but remember the whole get close to it factor.Trust me it was getting worse because I would teach the five year old kids in church and one would ask nearly every Sunday "Sister Annie why is your tooth black?" I would say Thanks a lot that was rude because I am self conscious and I knock out my tooth on the trampoline.

Anyway, I bit the bullet to get these crowns because I kept feeling like my teeth were falling out. Now other than the pain of a normal crown. I had to relive sitting on my couch with my tooth have in my mouth; blood caked around my tooth and everywhere watching Arther on PBS(I don't know why I decided to watch TV) while waiting to go to the dentist. In the dentist office I wanted my sister (who originally took me to the dentist), my mom (who always took me home for the dentist after major trauma), and finally I thought I should want Daniel just because isn't that whom I suppose to want???

After the damage had been done, I sat in my car and cried for thirty minutes because I couldn't see to drive home and was in a little bit of shock. I was convinced that my temporaries would fall out on a flight and I would be this hilly billy with nasty teeth (I figured I must be more shallow and vain than I thought). The funniest part was I actually got a compliment on my temporaries.

Now that I have crowns I hate them because they're "perfect" I liked that my front teeth were quite a bit longer than the others, but it didn't look too odd. What really ticks me off though is that they lighten my crowns a lot and you can notice in pictures (like the first one), so they don't match my teeth. The dentist said that was okay because now I had a base to start whitening. I was mad because I didn't want to spend money on crowns and now I am OCD enough to be forced to pay money to whiten my teeth to make my teeth match. Plus, I had to buy a new retainer because it no longer fit my teeth.I love my retainer; it is a security blanket for me. It is purple with sparkles and a humming bird sticker. I was so excited to get it because I joined the "people who had braces" club. Daniel couldn't believe that I would wear it for everything. I like this one because I could eat with it and it was totally discreet (I have it in my mouth in the second picture). My new one doesn't have a sticker on it, it is purple with sparkles, but it is the most obvious hideous retainer. This one looks like it was made when retainers first came out. I am thankful to have a retainer back in my mouth, but I hate this new one.

More than you bargained for when you asked what happened.

Thanksgiving

Whew! Thanksgiving was great this year because we didn't have to cook or deal with anything. Daniel got to come on a trip with me. This is the first Thanksgiving I worked and I was in Albany, New York. It is the coolest city because it's architecture is so heavily European and Colonial. We stayed in downtown which is beautiful, but rather dead because of the holiday. We had a nice walk along the Hudson and it was warmer than Atlanta. We had a great Thanksgiving dinner by the hotel ($20.00) for free. It was buffet style, but was made from scratch so it didn't taste like a bad Vegas buffet.

Daniel's favorite part was flying up on one of my flights because he could ask for as much to drink as he liked and I gave him first class treatment with things like Twix and Sun Chips. He got to meet one of my favorite pilots and talked to him for two hours on the way home (surprise! they mostly liked the same things). All in all I hope that he will come to work with me again for Christmas since I will be in Oklahoma City and hopefully I will get to see my brother too!

Guy Fawkes Party

We know these people who always have a Guy Fawkes Party. I wanted to share the reason why we crash it every year (we have never technically been invited). The host is from England, so he celebrates this holiday. Mostly it is a great excuse for him to show off to the kids, blow things up, and mingle with his neighbors and friends. I love it because I get to see people that I haven't seen in ages, drink IBC root beer, see fireworks, and make s'mores.

Guy Fawkes is a man who was part of a plot to blow up parliament in 1604. He was suppose to be hung, drawn, and quartered, but he jumped off of the scaffold before they could cut him down to be quartered. Ever since this happened people in England get together and celebrate the fact that parliament wasn't blown up and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes in large bond fires.

True party style we have a Guy Fawkes Effigy that the kids beat down for candy while the older kids wait to grab him to quarter him and throw him into the fire. After that, fireworks are lit with sparklers for the kids. Once the house has almost caught fire a few times then the s'mores come out for everyone to enjoy.

Halloween

Halloween this year was rather exciting at the Gedge household. We actually got invited to a Halloween party. This was a rare instant (since we just hide in our house on Halloween). It was a great party because we were able to carve pumpkins, eat caramel apples and play a quiz game. We also went to our ward Halloween party in the afternoon. Screaming sugared up children really make the holidays great.

PS I just realized I haven't written in over a month, but there was much trauma with getting new front teeth (I crowned my old ones), that Blogging has been low on my list of things to do.

Conventions and Festivals

This Saturday was the first time I got to see the Dragon Con parade. It is a parade that the people who go to Dragon Con dress up as their favorite characters. they make their own costumes. That is probably the best part because some of them are really clever or just funny. Daniel had already seen the parade before and I wanted to see it this year. It drew this huge crowd. All of the people I sat next to; it was their first year going too. I loved it!









There was the Princess Bride
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Trojan bunny,
Box Troopers
Chewy
and of course Doctor Who (which gets bigger every year)





After we hopped on the MARTA (Public transport of ATL)and went to the book festival which had only three booth that were selling books. I was sorely disappointed because I wanted to buy some books, but there weren't any that interested me.

Girls Trip

I have wanted to go to the Bonnie Hunt Show for a couple of months. Most people are asking who that is so here is a clip of who she is (everyone recognizes her and go "ohhh")
I mostly wanted to see how a TV show is made. I asked one of my friends to go with me, but she wanted to go to Ellen, so I called my mom up to go to LA with me. My mom told me about the garment district in LA that is suppose to be great. I was excited because I wanted to see if they had Mood from Project Runway there. I found the most incredible fabric there for a dress I am going to sew. We were there during the fires, so other than the city burning down. There was a great sunset.I got to rent my first car. I felt like a grown up! I didn't have to pay for extra insurance or anything! When my mom first saw the car she said, "Are we going to get shot in this car?" The rental girl laughed and said she hadn't heard anyone say that before. We decided to get a GPS unit. We named her Julie, and she had to "Recalculate" our path more times then was necessary. We kept giggling because we would go one way then Julie would shout "Recalculating!"
When we finally got to the Bonnie Hunt Show, we had to wait in a line. To keep us entertained a man was handing out DVDs. He dropped one out of the window and my mom was just looking around and the DVD hit her. The man came outside and let her have first pick of the DVDs. We went into the studio and the "audience master," Billy asked us where we were from and he seemed really excited that I was from Atlanta. My mom shouted that she was from Utah, and Billy said he was sorry. Anytime he asked for anything to be done he would say, "Don't point to the camera and wave...Utah." During one of the commercial breaks I got to come down and win a Starbucks gift card for knowing the most movie quotes. It was a great hour and a half we got to see Lisa Kudrow, Dylan McDermott, and the little boy who interviewed President Obama. It is a great talk show and next Tuesday the 8th I will be on her show(8 am in Atlanta 2pm in Utah).

After the show, we went to visit my flatmate from London. She took us to the Ivy (where a bunch of stars eat, we didn't see any). It was great to feel all rich in cool in Beverly Hills. It was great to catch up with her.

Ocupational Hazards

Being a flight attendant is the most glamorous job to be had. You get to visit, in my case, America in all of its glory for free. You don't have to pay for the hotels either! When the companies recruit you, they tell you about the benefits of flying for free, you only work for four days out of the week, and like the "Devil Wears Prada," "A million girls would die for your job."

I have had this job for almost four years and have had a pretty good time with it. I have only had one near death experience, two melt downs, and a few parties. Now what they didn't tell you when recruiting you is that passengers will grab your bum, it can be hotter than HELL in an airplane, you don't get paid the entire time you are at work( ie work a 16 hr day and you get paid for maybe 8), there are not lunch breaks, but it's okay we are unionized, people automatic know how to do you job better and come argue with you about it. But the best kept secret is the hotels. Many won't change the sheet, just remake the bed. I have to ripe my bed apart every day to make sure the next crew member gets fresh sheets. Now, after almost four years it is the first time for me to get bed bugs. I was staying at the Shreveport Holiday Inn, and I heard from one of my friends that this hotel had roaches. I was nervous to say here, but what choice did I have since I never had bug problems in the hotels I thought she was exaggerating. I woke up at 5 am and was putting on my makeup when I felt something painful on my foot. I looked and a little black bug was on my foot! I brushed it off and I went to go put my socks and shoes on. By the time I put my socks on three more bugs appeared and were eating me. I had the bites for three weeks at least.I have been avoiding Shreveport ever since!

Happy Pioneer Day--late

For good 'ole pioneer day in Georgia (which is not celebrated in Georgia), Daniel and I went to the ward activity. It was a retro activity. What would pioneers do for fun (and not so much for fun)? We had Dutch Oven cooking (which a real master was on it and we had some great beans and chicken pineapple thingy), a pie contest, wheat grinding, tug of war, and veggie car races (I know like the pioneers would waste their winter supply to make cars go down a ramp). Daniel and I really got into this wheat grinding. I personally have never seen a wheat grinder until that day, but I know that my mother has tins and tins of wheat that has probably gone bad at home. One of Daniel's primary boys was grinding a mass quantity for fun. We told him he had to make it finer for bread and that I would make him a loaf if he would grind it. He had at least 30 cups of wheat already ground at this point. He started to put it through again and Daniel and I started to laugh because we were making this kid do all of the work so we could get some bread out of it. Other people would try to shoo this boy away to another activity, but he was dead set on getting his wheat ground for bread. Daniel and I kept laughing because it looked like we were hard task masters. Anyway we didn't get time to run the flour through one more time, so our flour was a little course and my bread ended up being a little flat, but I do have enough to make three more loafs. The bread was still pretty good.

Japan

One of our adventures for the weekend was going to Japan. I know it was crazy--a 14 hour flight for a day and a half, but at least I can say that I have been to three continents. We went and met my parents (they left from Salt Lake) and took a train into Tokyo.

We had sushi, and walked around a great deal.

We saw a Shinto Shrine

Irreverently drank the water

Saw a traditional wedding.

I thought I saw a Harajuku girl

Went to the Imperial Gardens

Visited Electric town (the craziest store I have ever been too--Christmas rush has nothing on this place)

Saw the Pagoda and temple.

Had Tempera.

Saw people in native costume.

Slept on the way home in First Class

MIA

I have been missing in action on the blog lately. Partly because I have been busy "doin' stuff on the weekends" and other people have pictures of what we have been doing (I have forgot my camera more than once). In words, we have gone to St. George, built a skate board and tested it out on a skate ramp (hopefully video to come), swam in the swimming pool (received burns for our frolic), had a company picnic (no photos of that), and had a barbecue for the fourth of July (bought a George Foreman for it). Hopefully, I will have the pictures soon.

Out doin' a farmer's job

So for this weekend trip, Daniel and I went to pick strawberries in Fayetteville. It was a cute little farm. We were excited because in July we are going to pick blueberries. I've got to get all of my fruit recipes out. We ended up making Strawberries shakes, and having strawberry waffles. Fresh strawberries are the best!

"We're trying this new thing called doing something on the weekend"

This summer Daniel and I have decided to live it up and leave our house on the weekends. So far we have one whole month planned out. Most of it is just taking advantage of what is around us by visiting Georgia. Last weekend we went up to Kennesaw mountain to check out the Civil War stuff. The battle at Kennesaw Mountain made more sense since I had finished reading Gone with the Wind. Daniel and I started to walk up the mountain (which had a paved road, and I quickly became out of breathe, then Daniel started to complain about his legs hurting from walking. I knew we were out of shape, but I didn't realize how bad it was. Anyway, it was cool to see the cannons that had been up there since the Civil war and that the artillery was able to take all of their cannons up the mountain in an hour (without a paved road).

Fun In The Sun: Myrtle Beach

I haven't been up to blogging lately. I don't know if it's because I've been busy or have nothing to say (imagine that with twitter and everything going on). Finally something note worthy has happen. Daniel and I went to Myrtle Beach to spend the weekend as "Happy Mother's Day/You finished finals" reward. We even drove to Myrtle Beach. We had a blast and would go back because the atmosphere was so relaxed. I was able to get this really great price on a resort, so we had a private beach (which apparently makes all the difference). Daniel felt uncomfortable because he had never been to such a nice hotel and wished that someone would snub us, so he would feel more comfortable. First thing we did was go to the beach, the waves we fabulous and we got to "ride" some of them. We went shopping, but one morning we went so early nothing was open which worked out for our budget. We had sea food of course which was pretty good. It was a nice vacation and reminded me of when I was a child and my family would drive to St. George for weekend vacations. Mostly we just relaxed and enjoyed the sun that was out; however, we still managed to leave just a white as we came!

Family

Daniel and I are starved for family attention. We drive for two hours to see an hour and half of family. We had family fly in and lay over for two hours on their way to Paris. Possibly the best part of having access to the airport now a days is that you can meet your "loved ones" at the gate. When Christine walk off the plane, I tackled her with a hug and screamed "Welcome back from Rehab" and she responded with "Thanks it was hard, but Sobriety is for quitters." We did get some uncomfortable looks from others passengers waiting to go to Tampa. But I had always wanted to do that to someone.

We ended up having dinner with them in the International Concourse where my niece was ecstatic to have Panda Express. I think her whole vacation was made just by getting Panda. We ended up having a good time, but they were getting antsy to get going. I couldn't blame them. I told Daniel I wanted to get on the plane with them. He said it was okay as long as I turned around and took the next flight back. It all ended up with a pooped out little baby who quickly fell asleep in Uncle Daniel's arm after riding around the airport on his shoulders. It was a great visit. I hope they have as much fun (or more?) in Paris.