A little white lie, a fib, a fat lie, a whopper, a humdinger

I want you to know that I’ve had the following excerpt in my email since Dec. 23, and I’ve just been waiting for the right blogging mood to hit me before I discussed the issue.

 

People Lie More Through Texts

Texting appears to be more likely to bring out the liar in people.

A new study shows people are more likely to lie via text message than through most other types of communication. Researchers found people lied more often while texting than they did in face-to-face conversations, video chats or audio chats.

Meanwhile, the fallout from duplicitous texting appears to be steep. Researchers found people were more enraged when they were lied to via text than they were when people lied to their face.

The study was conducted at the University of British Columbia. It’s due to appear in the “Journal of Business Ethics” next year.

 

I find that article disturbing in oh so many ways. You see, honesty is one of the things I value the most. It’s actually kind-of funny (not ha ha funny, but hhmmm funny) because I have a friend now (okay, I’m still on the fence about our friendship honestly) who once told me when he was in a funny mood that he would “lie to whoever he needed to in order to save his ass.”

Literally said that. Not verbatim, but you get the point.

I also have another friend – from college – who used to pride himself in saying that he could lie to my face and I would never know it.

First of all, dude, I’m gullible. It’s not that hard.

Second of all, that is NOT something to be proud of OR tell someone you were dating. By the way, the “dating” part of our relationship was VERY short-lived. Do I look like a woman who likes to be lied to?  Hell no.

I just don’t get it. Why would you be proud to be able to lie to someone?  Why would you want to?  That destroys trust – as if it isn’t hard enough to garner and keep as it is.

I’ll be the first to admit I have trust issues. I trust people wholeheartedly when they’ve earned it and deserved it, but once that’s destroyed, it’s very hard for me to let myself be fooled again. I’m not a big fan of being a fool – in case you never caught onto that about me.

Anyway, back to the article. I just find it disturbing. I talk to so many of my friends via text now because we’re all so busy. Sometimes that is the easiest way for us to catch up, and I love that we can stay in contact that way. It just bothers me to think that some people choose to use it to lie because it’s a medium that is so impersonal. BTW, I’m not calling my friends liars. My friends rock – except for the two guys mentioned above. They’re kind of questionable really. BOY can I sure pick em

By the way, I love that it includes that people are more enraged when they find they’ve been lied to via text. You know why?  Because you trust that someone won’t use the impersonality of a text message to betray your trust. That’s why. You trust people to be honest – and sometimes they aren’t, and it hurts.

So what do you do? Do you stopping trusting people altogether?  No. Because that’s crazy, and if you do that, you’ll become one of those crazy paranoid people. What you do is….

Well I don’t know.

I guess you trust people and hope they’re not the people mentioned in this article.

Now I’m not sure that’s where I meant to go with this post or where you thought it would go, but I think the overall idea was to get you thinking….

Maybe tomorrow I’ll post a funny picture of a cat. Who knows?  Crazy stuff just happens in my world.

I dare you not to smile…. I dare ya.

So today as I was trying to figure out how to update my phone – I was told Sprint had a software update for it – I somehow ended up filtering through the dozens of random photos I store on the poor thing.

You see, my phone serves a dual purpose – work and fun. Duh. So it’s full of photos of my nieces, random craziness from our office and with my friends and then pictures of accidents, fires and random events that I took so I could post them to Twitter before I got back to the office.

So while I was filtering through the insanity, I found this random shot:

I could be wrong, but I think it’s a gerbera daisy. Isn’t it just a big, bright smiley flower?  I love it. I actually took this photo a week or two ago when someone sent flowers to our office for Kim.

I love gerbera daisies. They’re just such bright, friendly flowers aren’t they?

Anyway, I wanted to share this random pic because it brought a smile to my face and I figured with tomorrow being Monday and all – you kids could use a smile too.

 

Just a thought…

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but I frequently lay on the floor in the newsroom or in the main studio when I’m done with my work or when I’m waiting on something.

Yeah, I’m sure it’s counter-productive on some days and there are other things I could be doing, but there’s something oh-so relaxing about laying like that and just staring at the ceiling tiles.

I find it very relaxing.

I use that time to contemplate the world… and life in general really.

You should try it out. Go ahead. I won’t judge you. Just make sure you find a clean piece of floor… and try not to get stepped on… trust me, that’s funny, but kinda hurts.

If you’re not into the whole “serenity” aspect, just start belting out lyrics to Journey songs or the Beastie Boys or something. It’s great stress relief!

Well… you know me….

I never really know what day it is today, but I can tell you what tomorrow is. True story!  It comes from years and years (it will be five in May ) of always writing the next day on any documents I’m working on at work…. you know, because we’re always working on the next day’s paper

So today when I came home from work and glanced at the free calendar someone handed to me last week, I realized I need to go mail my car payment. Yes, yes, I understand online bill pay is all the rage now. I pay most of my bills online, but alas, I can’t pay my electric bill online and I’m a weirdo about paying my car payment online. You see, they send me three bills at once with three little envelopes, and I just feel weird not mailing those back in. If I paid online, I would have those little bills staring at me like PAY ME!

I have a guilty conscience.

Anyway, I was walking through the house gathering the necessary bill pay items I need – a pen, stamps, return address labels and whatnot – because heaven forbid I remember to put all of that stuff in the same place. OKAY, it starts out in the same place and then someone needs to borrow something and it ends up in another place. There, I said it.

Anywho – I tell you THAT so I can show you THIS:

APPARENTLY I don’t own any grown-up, normal people clear tape…. or at least I can’t find any…. so, I improvised with this FABULOUS pink animal print tape Andie bought me  Isn’t it awesome!?

I hope the people at the post office and at my auto financing company appreciate my dedication to ensuring my bill is in their hands on time AND that it is secure.  OOOO maybe it will even bring a smile to their face as they try to figure out how in the heck to get that off!  he he he.

I swear that wasn’t meant to sound evil….sometimes it just Eeps out.

By the way, I hope my dad is proud. He always taught us to be resourceful…. I guess you could call that resourceful. Me?  I call that duct tape logic.

Hey, it’s about the little things, right? Tomorrow I plan on covering Cindy’s ENTIRE DESK in that tape.

……

……

Pysch!  :)

Talk about an unwanted shower….

So I’ve been a reporter in Seguin for five years now, and I’ve spent most of that time following around our fabulous officers and firefighters to wrecks, fires and other randomness.

In those five years, I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff and had some pretty weird things happen to me, but I have to say, what happened today may top the list.

So I was standing in the street taking pictures of a house fire today, and heckling our fire marshal (because I care) when I was DOUSED with water that the firefighters were spraying onto the house. The water went over the roof and then got ALL over me. It was like taking a shower… in the street. Here’s my evidence:

You see that water coming over the house?  About two minutes before I took this shot it was shooting over the side and into the street… where I was standing.

I looked like a wet cat.

A. Wet. Cat.

First time that’s happened in five years.

Lucky me!

I have to say, I think the guys found it pretty entertaining.

OH and I smelled like barbecue from the pit that was burning near where I was standing, so all day men were walking by me and tell me I smelled wonderful. Who knew that the best perfume to attract men would be free?  :)

I felt really bad for the man who lost his home. He was so nice, but I wanted to tell you my little story about my free shower.

It’s all about choices y’all

The first day back at work after a long weekend is always the roughest. I can’t tell you how long I just stared at my computer screen today, or in my case, this:

Yep, those are my new heels. Aren’t they cute?

For the record, I don’t always sit at my desk with my feet kicked up, but today I definitely needed to. It was just one of those days.

It was also one of those days when I really needed this:

It’s an app that I downloaded onto my iPod from the Cleveland Clinic. It’s called “Stress Meditations” or something along those lines.

Dr. Dan recommended a while back that I work to reduce my stress daily, so one of the things he said I should do was to meditate. At first, I thought he was crazy because the audio samples with this app are hilarious, but it actually does work. Honestly, I think it is just that it makes you breathe and it talks to you in soothing tones, but hey, it makes me feel all relaxed, warm and fuzzy. If I can, I try to do it twice a day. It’s very peaceful. Everyone needs some peace.

The app was $1.99 by the way – for those who are interested.

It was definitely worth it to me today. I was stressed out and a good friend of mine had the nerve to tell me I’m “always pissed,” which offended me on a really personal level. 1.) I don’t feel like I’m ever pissed. I try to be really level-headed and think things through. 2.) When I am actually upset, I always try to calm myself down as much as humanly possible. Meditations rock. Seriously. and 3.) No one is “always” anything. It’s a rule of some sort, right?  Well, I guess I’m ALWAYS female, and I’m always a Domel, but you know, I mean people aren’t always happy or always sad. That’s life.

So as I was thinking about this unnerving comment, to which I replied, “Then we don’t have to be friends if you really feel that way,” I remembered something we were taught at TLU. Life is about choices. You wake up and you choose your life every day. I choose to get up and go to work so I can pay my bills. I choose to  wear pretty shoes. You choose who you are friends with. You can’t choose your family, but you choose how you interact with them. And love is a choice every single day. Some argue that it isn’t, but I think it is. You choose to love someone or not every day.

It’s all about choices. Yes, some of the things we say and do later on we realize were poor choices, but they were choices nonetheless. Some things, obviously, aren’t choices – like being the victim or a car wreck or having something huge fall on you, but how you react to that is a choice –  albeit sometimes it’s hard to choose your emotions. Sometimes those boogers just take over. I blame the chemicals in the brain. Those things are a mystery. I guess some people would say love and anger are emotions too, and I agree, but what you do with that emotion and how you let it affect your life is your choice.

Wow, that may have made no sense whatsoever.

Anyway, my point is, I’m not mad all the time.

The.End.

Okay, so I know that ended in a really funny way, but it made me laugh out loud as I was typing it because that’s just how I tell my stories to my friends. So I hope you don’t feel that I’ve left you hanging after deep thought. If so, maybe I just gave you something to ponder for yourself. Maybe you think I’m crazy. It is entirely likely. We did eat a lot of gingerbread cookies in the newsroom today…

 

They’re shoe-tastic!

Those of you who know me well – or know me at all for that matter – know I LOVE shoes. I’m a shoe addict. Well, I recently had the misfortune of breaking two of my “go-to” pairs of black heels for work. So today I decided to start off the new year by seeking out replacement shoes. A girl has to have shoes, right?!

Well, as Kim and I were oohing and ahhhing about all the pretty pink heels in the store we were in, I found these:

I bought the black pair first just because they’re cute. Then I realized everything was buy a pair, get the second half off, so I grabbed the blue ones. They’re BLUE SUEDE SHOES!  :)

The guy at the register was more amused than I was, but hey, they’re cute heels!  And yes, I bought some of that water repellent spray to protect the suede. Gotta be smart

By the way they look cuter from the top. I just took this side shot to show the color. Please excuse the dust on the thingy here. I promptly wiped it off AFTER I took the photo.

OH, and I’d like to state  - for the record – that I really wanted to buy these, but refrained:

I don’t like the shoes with the half side (on the other side of the shoe – it’s half open, half not), so I didn’t grab these. THAT and how many pairs of zebra shoes does one girl need, really?

If you ask me, new shoes (and new pants for work) is a pretty awesome way to start the new year.  We’re going to make it a great one. i can feel it

Buena suerte mis amigos

I want you to know that I’m typing this without contacts in or any type of glasses on, so if it looks all crazy, I’m sorry.

You see, I’m starting off a new year with a new goal – more blogging for you guys. And I just remembered that I should probably blog, but I already took my contacts out… so there you have it. Sure I could put my glasses on, but they’re no where near the right prescription, so yeahhh…

Anyway, like I said, it’s a new year. HAPPY NEW YEAR friends!  

Personally, I couldn’t be happier that 2011 is over. This last year has pushed me to almost every limit emotionally and physically, and I was very happy to tell it good riddance, or as my oldest cousins said, “Give it the one fingered salute.” Now on a deep level I know the whole “new beginning/new year” thing is partly mental because it’s really just another day on the calendar, but hey, I put in my time, I’m ready for a new year and a definitive line that says “Whooo hoo, you’re free!”  

Doesn’t your calendar say that?  

Funny. Mine does.

I was just talking to a good friend of mine on the phone about this actually. We’ve both just kind-of collectively decided that things are going to stop sucking now. 

No seriously. 

I think it’s really funny that the turning of a calendar page can do that,but hey, I think it’s great for the spirit. 

In fact, I think next week I’m going to have another Happy New Year celebration at my house. We’ll just keep ringing in the New Year until we get tired of it. How does that sound?  

You know, you’re right. It does sound a lot like college now that you mention it… 

Anyway. I just wanted to tell you guys that I plan on blogging a bit more. I’ve been really busy lately, but I’m planning on managing my time a bit better   “Going to bed at a decent hour and sleeping” is also one of my New Year’s resolutions, but let’s see how long that one lasts. 

I’ve never been one for New Year’s resolutions. I’m a birthday resolution person. I know that sounds backwards, but somehow feeling older always encourages me to try to be a better person. Go figure.

You know, WordPress (The website I use for publishing this handy blog) sent me a “Year in Review” email last night. As I was looking at it, I contemplated doing a Year in Review for you guys, but I decided against that. Let’s look forward to bigger and brighter things. Okay?  

I’ll start – 

It’s definitely brighter

 

 

 

 

It’s so sad, and yet, so cute.

Before I begin this post, I must sincerely apologize that there isn’t a photo to go with it. You’ll understand why in a little bit.

During the two days off that I received this Christmas break, I was able to spend some quality time with the two cutest little nieces a girl could ask for, and I learned something new about one of them. Well, I learned something new about both of them (they’re so cute!), but for today’s blog post, we’re just gonna talk about the one, okay?

Okay.

So my youngest niece, Emily, just turned two. And she’s one of the cutest little girls ever. Ever. Really. Abby is too. Love them.

So when I first saw Emily at my grandmother’s on Christmas Eve, she was all excited because her PaPa (my dad) had just walked through the door. He was bent over explaining to her that he had to go back outside to get something else out of my car, but he would be right back. He couldn’t take her out because it was cold and rainy.

So I bent over to say hi to Emily when I realized that she looked like she was about to cry. She rolled her shoulders forward, slumped her head down and stuck her lower lip out. So I picked her up and told her that her PaPa would be right back and we’d wait for him together. I thought she was going to cry – it was so sad!

But then my dad walked back in. She was all smiles, and I was chopped liver because I clearly am not PaPa who comes with gum and other types of candy hidden in his jacket.

Not too long after that, my aunts had Emily and were singing a belated happy birthday to the new two-year-old, and she rolled her shoulders forward again and I thought she was going to cry. I couldn’t figure out why. She loves my aunts.

Then my sister-in-law filled me in.

Emily has learned how to pout or sulk – depending on how you look at it.

It is the cutest and saddest thing you’ve ever seen.

It’s cute because she’s so adorable, and it’s so sad because I hate to see the little ones all upset. But I have to say, she is REALLY good at it. It worked on this auntie every time.

On Christmas Day, she slumped over in her booster seat and made the sad face at me and hung her head so low I thought her nose was going to land in her mashed potatoes. She was really, really worn out from the day, and with a trembling voice she told her mommy she wanted more ham.

If it weren’t so sad looking, I would have laughed. What kind of mean ole auntie would laugh at a sad, sad toddler?

Not this one. Nope. Not me.

I’m the push over auntie who doles out hugs and plays tag in the middle of the living room. Who knew running around the sofa could be so much fun?

Anyway, I had to tell you about Emily’s new talent. It’s highly effective if you ask me – AND kinda cute and sad at the same time, but then again, I AM the push over auntie.

By the way – Gail, the pink televisions are available at Target.com. I have to say, it definitely makes a fun statement in my house!  Oh, and the picture is great too!  I’m not a huge fan of the sound that comes out of flatscreen televisions, so I think I’ll need to buy speakers of some sort, but the pink TV is definitely something else.

 

 

Merry Christmas Y’all!

Merry Christmas friends!  I hope you all are doing well, resting and enjoying your holiday. As for me, I’m already back in Seguin and preparing for another fun news day. Didn’t you know the news never sleeps?  Okay, I sleep, but the news doesn’t, so sometimes I have to play catch-up. It’s a very complicated ordeal, but that’s not really what this post is about.

Today, as I was perusing through Facebook when I came home, I found that many people were thrilled they could spend extra time with their loved ones, that they got the giant TV or game system they wanted, etc…. I have to say, it was kinda awesome reading through all the happy, loving comments.

I was debating whether I should tell you my dad bought me a pink television first or tell you about my favorite gift this year. Oh, you better believe the pink television was AMAZING (because it is), but I’m also at that age where I’m getting old and sappy. No wait, no I’m not. Nevermind.

Anyway, as any of you have lost a loved one knows, the first major holiday after a death can be difficult. So in the days leading up to this Christmas, I was both stressed with work and with other things and I really just wasn’t looking forward to this holiday without my mom and grandfather. BUT, I have to say now that I’m back home, I wouldn’t have missed this holiday for the world.

You see, my nieces are now old enough to rip into presents, fight over toys, give hugs, play tag, act like they’re kittens (which is REALLY funny) and — get this — say my name. Emily said my name!  I have a name!  You don’t understand, with Mason (my “baby” cousin), I was GaGa until he was like four. Having a name is sooo awesome!  Being GaGa was pretty awesome too, but you know… I have a name  now!!

ANYWAY, I was kinda in a funky funk mood until I made it up to the family farm. And then I remembered that’s where those people keep the hugs, the amazing food, the weird stories about barnyard animals (there seriously were GOATS on the lose in the backyard or something the day before….) and everything else.

In our family, there have always been so many grandchildren that we didn’t all give each other gifts. That would be expensive and lead to pandemonium. Or at least that’s what I’ve decided.

Anyway, we usually did a gift exchange and then received a little something from our grandparents. As we’ve gotten older, the tradition has changed a bit, but it’s still very similar to when I was little.

We never know what the grandchildren (or as some of us like to call each other, “the cousins”) are going to receive. It’s anything from a nail kit (love those), a really cool flashlight gadget, kitchen gadgets, books, whatever, but it’s always all the same. This year, I have to say, I was surprised by our gifts, but it might be my all-time favorite. Look:

I know it just looks like a pair of old tools, a note and a baggy, but it was so much more. It was a gift from my grandmother and grandfather. Now, you might ask how it is I got a gift from my late grandfather, so I will explain.

You see, when our family was preparing to sell off all the major farm equipment, etc…, someone apparently kept a few of the hand tools my grandfather always kept in the tractor shed.  A farmer HAS to have tools, right?

Well, this Christmas, each of us grandchildren were given two of the hand tools from the shed. They’re worn. They’re beat up. They smell like dirt, rust and best of all, my grandpa. And kinda like my dad too, but don’t tell him he smells like the tractor shed. He might not like that, but I do love that about him….

We also all received mule shoes. At first, I thought this was a joke because we’re all STUBBORN like mules, but apparently it’s because  my uncle found a bunch of the shoes when we were at the farm auction and he saved them for all of the grandkids. I shall hang mine the proper way to catch good luck somewhere in my house… and for proof that Domels really ARE stubborn as mules

The note with the tools has a bit of our family history in it and whatnot so we remember that this is where we came from. It’s where we played when we were little. It’s where we learned not to knock pomegranates off the tree and not to chase the chickens or look at the evil geese (stupid geese). It’s where I lived when I first transferred to Georgetown High School. It’s my home, and farming and fixing things are what happened there and what still happens there – albeit through a family friend who is now leasing the farm for the family.

So now I have a piece of our family history and that home in my new home here in Seguin. I can’t decide what I want to do with my newly-aquired tools. I don’t want them to get lost with all my other tools, and believe me, I have tools, but I don’t want them to just sit there and look pretty. After all, tools are supposed to be used, right?

At first I wanted to put them in a pretty shadow box with a picture of my grandpa, but then I decided he would have a wall-eyed fit if he knew I put tools from the dirty ole tractor shed in a pretty box to be seen.

I feel like I need a filthy work bench, an old tractor and some chickens… but I don’t want any of those things, so don’t you kids go getting any ideas, okay?  :)

So their fate is yet to be determined, but I wanted to share with you one of my favorite things from this holiday season – because it wasn’t bought in a store (at least not in this decade) – it came from the heart.

WOW, that got really sappy really quickly didn’t it?  My bad!

Anyway, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!   I hope you were able to spend time with your loved ones and had a good time as well.

Toodles for now -