Expect Lots of YouTube videos for the next few days

'Cause I like them.

This is one of the most beautiful guitar pieces ever.

"Rylynn" by Andy McKee

This video is live so it's a bit scratchy and there are some flups, but I really like the emotion. You can also watch the non-live version here.

I love harmonics.

This Isn't What I'm Supposed to Be Doing

I got some free music from Amazon yesterday. I got their email about the 50 CDs for $5 (each, heh), and so I checked it out (nothing in which I was interested) but there was a section about the free albums. Samplers, mostly. So I got a Celtic album, a Brazilian album, a "Romantic Moments Digital Sampler", and the Amazon Sampler. I'm listening to the Celtic album right now and it's awesome. And it was free, which is even awesomer.

Today, I adopted a new little brother. I really like being a sister, and being raised around a lot of boys, I really like to spend time with guys. So, I have three - now four - boys I've adopted as my little brothers. (For the record, only 1 of them is actually physically 'little' compared to me.) (He says he's taller, but he just has big hair.) They're just the boys I love on and care about. I make sure they don't get into too much trouble - and now that they're all in college, boy do I have my job cut out for me. It helps that they all go to my school, and that they're all as insane as I am.

We got new furniture in one of the buildings that we clean, and I'm very happy and excited about it. The old furniture was yucky teal, and had black grease all over the armrests. The new furniture doesn't have armrests, so that'll be easier to clean. :)

My sister and I had a table at the Farmers' Market this summer, and yesterday was our last day. It was drizzling the whole time, but we still made a decent profit, so that was happy.

Freshman orientation starts on Monday at our school, so today, Housekeeping was in charge of setting up 1,000 chairs (with tables) in the gym for their dinner. Do you have any idea how much fun that is? If you say, "Tons of fun, I'm sure. I bet you all had a rockin' blast!," you're wrong. I could have been cleaning underneath a toilet. Hahahaha, no really, I could have. I'm not sure which I'd prefer actually. The chairs and tables smell a little better, but they sure take a lot longer. Anyway, the point is: Housekeeping keeps our campus running. People have no idea. We do.

We also started prepping classrooms, to make sure each one can fit enough people. We had a list of how many people are supposed to be able to fit in each classroom (based on class rosters) and then we went for it. Some people are really ... not thinking. For example, they decided to schedule a class of 33 people in a room that holds about 24. So we squished them in. And then last year, some people upstairs in a building decided to steal half our tables and chairs, so we don't have enough downstairs, but what can we do about it? Well, we're housekeeping and have the keys, so we stole a lot of them back, but we still need a bunch more. Yay! No.

I just rambled for two paragraphs about work. How devastating.

My boyfriend's sister is having her grad party tonight.

Ooh, on Sunday, we're having an outdoor service at our church. Anyone who reads this should totally come, because it'll be fun. It's at 10:00.

My dad just mowed past my window. It smells like freshly cut grass now! I love that smell. And the smell of clean laundry, and citrus, and flannel, and clean boys. :)

Love and sticky notes,
LeahJoy

Work, work, everywhere

Does anyone else find this? I see my job everywhere. I work 40 hours out of my week, but the rest of my hours are spent thinking about work. How annoying? Very. (To make the rest of this understandable: I work housekeeping at a university.)

Examples:

We have a keyless entry for our garage door, one of the push button PIN number thingamabobs. (Spell check says 'thingamabob' is a word. Impressive.) There is also a building at work that has a keypad to get in. Today, as I was closing my garage door in the morning, I started punching in the code for work. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't working. Wow.

Or, I was in a public restroom today at our local farmers' market, and I found myself pushing the trash down to make more room. And picking up paper towel off the floor. And shining the faucet tops. I even did this at my cousin's wedding.

I *heart* my brain. :)

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You

Today is a ramble day. I'm planning something spectacular (with PHOTOS. and a LIST!) for later, maybe the end of this week or next week, but that is not ready yet. I have not found time to photograph the stuffed squirrel. Now you're interested. But you have to wait.

Does this happen to any of you?: The month-ends are so weird for me. Someone says something is happening September 1st, for example, and that feels so far away. But really it's a week from tomorrow. So when I say things need to be done before September, they wait until... well, the beginning of September to get done. But if I say the end of August, they'll get done.

Lately, I've been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor. I love her voice and her music. As for the lyrics, I just have to say that she's very... imaginative.

I just bought all of my textbooks. I saved a whole BUNCH from buying at the bookstore, but that's not hard to do if you buy anywhere else. Basically everything in the bookstore is a rip-off. My first semester, I spent $700 on books. Yes, $700. Granted, some of them were for 3 semesters, but still. That's ridiculous.

At the beginning of the summer, my older brother had a box of clothes to donate to Goodwill, but I got to them first and got three pairs of pants (and a Marvel t-shirt). One of those pairs has been designated as my "work pants". Well, they're kind of shorts now. As the summer went on, they developed huge holes in the knees, so I just cut them off (they were about halfway there already). Now they're developing holes in the butt and by my pockets (where my phone, keys and chapstick rub against them). I might have to patch them - but there are only 2 weeks left! They've made it this far!

Love and ... lunch,

LeahJoy

Yes, Please.

Here's a rockin' craft idea.

For the Wind Player in Your Life.

Here's stationery featuring Esmerelda the Oboe-Playing Duck, Elmer the Bassoon-Playing Frog, and the unnamed Cat Clarinetist and Bird Flutist. Very cool.

This is somewhat epic.

If you like Mulan, you'll love this. If you don't like Mulan, you might like this anyway.

Well, I suppose we all know about these blog-things by now...

Hello friends and foes, family and strangers,

I started this blog as a way to share randomness and hopefully joyness. Please expect plenty of Dr. Seuss-isms, craft ideas, funny quotes, fairy dust, YouTube videos, random stories, questions, reminiscence, grammar, and all-around silliness. (For the record, I am a proponent of the Oxford comma.)

And that is all the introduction you get.

Speaking of reminiscence, my grandparents's answering machine message used to go something like this: "Well, I suppose we all know about these answering machine things by now, so ... I guess you know what to do." Except my favorite part is that my grandpa, who was recording the message, has a relatively thick Dutch accent (Frisian, to be specific), so if you can say it in your head (or aloud) with that voice, you just may get the full effect.

Today has been one of the most stressful days ever. This week has been one of the most stressful weeks ever. I slept naught on Sunday night, so Monday was SUPER fun. I took drugs (natural ones, though) to help me sleep last night, so I woke up refreshed, but of course, after a few weeks of bad sleep, I need more than that to recover.

Well, you don't really want to read about my sleeping habits, do you?

Today, for the first work day all summer, I cleaned ZERO toilets today. Woohoo!

Love and clean laundry,

LeahJoy