All Or Nothing

I Nearly Quit Blogging Until This

Welcome to the beginning of a totally new and fresh-faced approach to blogging here at Elise.blogs.com!

For the next several days, I will be posting pictures of items here in my very own house. Yes, that's right, I will be gathering things I already own, taking pictures of them, and then showcasing them to you, the viewer! It's going to be fast-paced and exciting, so be sure not to miss a second of the program!

Most of these pictures will cause laughter and smiles all around, but be prepared for images of beauty and uniqueness that might even envoke tears. Don't forget your Kleenex!

We will be back later this afternoon* with the first installment! Get ready! It's going to be one awesome and inspiring trip for us all!

*I have to find my camera first

Elise the Elitist

I receive a lot of emails or (gasp) actual, SPOKEN WORDS from people regarding the comment situation on my site.  They tell me that my comments are confusing, scary, impossible to find, and that they are afraid to try and use them.

Well, the thing is, people, I DON'T HAVE COMMENTS.  No comments on my site.  Nope, I don't have them at all.  So be confused no more.  If you are searching for them, and cannot find them, then you should feel accomplished, because there are none to be found.

With that said, I do occasionally have posts that I leave open for comments.  I know, I know, I have just thrown the ball of confusion back into the game, but it's really not that tough.  Like my music post, for example.  I left that one open for comments, because it would have been very difficult for my incredibly cool friends to bestow some of their coolness upon me without the use of comments.

But most of the time, I find, I write better and with less regard when I do not have comments open.  That way, I am not tempted into writing anything other than what I truly think, with no ulterior motives or goals other than honest self-expression. I am quite the elitist.  I am better than you with all your snarky comments.  I am...trying to keep it real.  There!

BUT, even with my elitist refreshingly honest style of blogging, I am open to suggestions.  Do you want the comments open?  Would it make the whole world a better place for you to live in if only there was a little link at the end of each and every one of my posts for you to comment?  Or, as in the case with ALMOST EVERYONE WHO READS BLOGS, does it just make you feel better to see the link there, although you will NEVER USE IT?

Let me know.  Or, prove me right in my non-commentness by NOT COMMENTING on this issue.  Either way.

Dirty Men (or) Men Who Give The Golden Guarantee

Thank you thank you thank you for the music suggestions! I want you to know that I have taken steps to obtain such music, and now, thanks to you, I am The Coolest. Quite a jump up in title from last week, eh?

I think that most of you have already discovered this, but I have put a little sidebar category on my page labeled "Pictures". Browse as you see fit.

We are about* to break ground on our house-building. Supposedly this week the dirt guys (not an attempt to be rude, this is, apparently, what they like to be called) will go out with huge bulldozers and clear the land. Then they use their precious dirt to level the building foundation, thus allowing us to START BUILDING the house, Glory and Hallelujah.

We're getting bids from the Dirt Men right now, and they are turning out to be quite the unique group of individuals. Cody was on the phone with one of these Dirty Guys last night for nearly an hour, and after about 15 minutes he started looking at me in a very exasperated way, and doing that universal wave-your-hands-in-the-air-and-shrug-in-annoyance-"I-want-off-the-phone-NOW" thing that never really works because the only person who can see this dance of desperation is NOT the one who is currently burning a hole in your phone receiver.

When Cody finally made his daring conversational escape "Well that sounds great WE'LL SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!" and threw the phone across the room like it was on fire, I asked him what he had found out. It seems that besides getting valuable lessons on treating the CAUSE of the problem and not just the SYMPTOMS, and also on Just How Good This Guy Really Thinks He Is At Dirtwork, he really didn't learn anything at all. "Not even the bid?" I asked. "Not even the bid."

But we did learn one important thing about Mr. Dirt Man. After giving Cody an extensive lecture on how we shouldn't just go for the lowest bidder, because those people just make everything look good and then 10 years later, after a hard rain or some other weather-related event, the foundation will just up and shift, and the house will start cracking, and then All Hell Will Break Loose, and do we really want that, DO WE?, he gave us the good news: If we go with HIS Dirt Guy Services, if we pick HIM, well, HE will give us a 12 month guarantee. Yes you heard that right, 12 glorious months of worry-free living.

*a-bout - a term usually denoting something that will happen in the near future, but when used in regards to house-building, means absolutely nothing at all. So you shouldn't actually PLAN on anything, get your hopes up, or have any sort of timetable in your head, because IT WON'T HAPPEN, AND THAT'S THE ONLY FREAKING GUARANTEE YOU NEED.

By the way,

Thanks for your kind email messages, Oh People Of The Internet. They have really made my whole falling episode much more bearable, with the notable exception of Anonymous Guy who told me to "whach where your going. stairs arent so hard, just get up and try again."

I will, anonymous. I will.

Mortarlly Dangerous

It is now 5:06 a.m. I only get urges to reformat things when it's REALLY SUPREMELY LATE and I have to do Something Awful the next day, such as chip mortar off of THOUSANDS AND TRILLIONS of demolition-destined bricks so that we will have something from which to build our house. Chip. Chip, chip. One man's trash is another man's treasure, Elise. Chip, chip. These bricks are worth at least 60 cents a piece, Elise. Chip. Chip chip. We only have 15,763 more bricks to go, Elise.

Someone may die today.

Ok, so now it's awkward

Last night, while working at a college fair, endorsing a school I did not attend, and trying my best to field questions to which I had no response, I decided something. Repeatedly peering over to the table of my ACTUAL college, trying to see if the person manning the table had come back or was someone I knew, but instead making accidental eye-contact MANY times with the chef-looking guy behind the Culinary Institute table, will only lead to said chef assuming that EITHER I am a stalker who is trying to kill him OR I am in love with his sexy cooking-school self. WOW what a long sentence! I really would try to break it up if I cared just a little bit more. At any rate, by the end of the night it appeared that whoever was supposed to man the table for my old college had better things to do, and the chef was probably deciding whether to call the police or ask for my number.

In other news, after reading some archives at a FABULOUS, WONDERFUL, AMAZING site that you should all go read, (go to "Dooced" in the category list) I decided something else. Writing stories about my current job, however entertaining they may be, is a BAD BAD PLAN AND I WILL NOT DO IT ANYMORE EVER NOT EVEN ONCE*. However, I am (sadly) going to be quitting this job as of December 17 in order to make an Easternly move to the Eastern regions of East Texas. I will then be free of any work-related blogging constraints, and will feel perfectly free to blog about any and everything that pleases me. At the very moment I please. And you'll all be subjected to it. Plus, hopefully the next time I have a job to blog about, I'll be the owner, and will therefore encourage all blogging endeavors.

*Except to report, as a last farewell to job-related blogging, that my boss was just called a Grinch by one of his associates. And I happen to agree.

Beginnings and Endings, officially

You may have noticed the new format. I wanted to officially welcome Cody to the blog and when I saw this template, I just knew it would be perfect.

However, there is another reason for the change. I wanted to say goodbye, also officially, to my haircolor. I have, officially, ruined it. There is a small chance of saving it if the people at Toni and Guy can perform a major pigment miracle, but the likelyhood of it ever resembling a color found in God's creation is slim to none.

I wish I knew how to post pictures so that everyone could know the incredible catastrophe that is my hair, but perhaps it is a good thing that I don't.

Here's my best attempt to explain: Imagine this color, fading to this color, then chunking into this color. It's a huge mess. Ugh. It's kind of like when that nacho cheese truck overturned in the road and all the cars coming through slid all over the road, colliding into one another and causing a giant, cheesy disaster. The similarities are striking not only in the "How disgusting!" department, but also in the "I can't believe that just happened," department, not to mention the "I can't look away bcause it's too awful!" department.

I eventually drove myself so insane looking at it that I had to tie a scarf around my head and go to bed. Cody made the observation that he never would have imagined going to bed with hair product scattered around the room, a cat refusing to move from his pillow, and a wife who insists on sleeping with a hair scarf. I tearfully replied: "Oh yeah?? WELL JUST WAIT!" I think it was sound advice, officially.

Please allow me to Introduce..

Please allow me to make a very important announcement:

This blog will no longer be the avenue of expression for just one person. 44th and the End of the World is proud to present a new point of view, a fresh breath of air, an original perspective - yes that's right, allow me to introduce....

my husband, Cody Carter. Yes, he is republican. Yes, he is passionate. Yes, he's got some pretty strong opinions.

I think he's going to add the spice my blog has always been lacking. Us phlegmatics are often missing that extra kick to put a blog into high gear. But no more! This wonderful weblog will be controversial, impassioned, and interesting, all in one.

Don't miss it.

And now you HAVE to do it, Cody!

I updated my links.

I updated my links. Mostly, I just took off dead blogs (RIP, 3rd Floor), and I added Regan (very interesting stuff, if you haven't read it), and changed Jeff T's link to his new site (The Diamond in the Rough, for all of you who may not know).

I got the soundtrack to Garden State. I'm sure you all would agree that it's pretty awesome. Much like the movie itself.

I also lost my cat. Because of this, I don't have much I feel like saying. I loved that stupid cat.

Well, I am a bad poster

Well, I am a bad linker. Or, I'm a brilliant strategist, playing the teaser game for all it's worth. Either way, I posted a bad link, so here's the REAL way to see our wedding pictures, if you're so inclined:

Go to www.shutterfly.com

Sign in, using [email protected] as your username/email address and wedding as your password

Click on View Album and enjoy!