The Randomness is multiplying exponentially

Ok, so there are lots of random things that I keep thinking, "HEY! I should blog about that!" and I just haven't been getting to it. So here I'm about to begin what will likely be a long, rambling, and confusing post. Fasten your seat belts, folks.

1. So, I start back to school this week. Night class will be on Thursdays. In preparation, I've had A LOT of reading to do, and have often found myself drifting off to sleep in the middle of a sentence. As such, I think it's been influencing my dreams. I rarely remember my dreams, but this one I thought was worth sharing. So, in my dream, I'm going back to school, walking through the halls of PSU-H. As I enter the classroom, Dr. Kupfer is absent, and in his place is Tim Gunn. And my "class" is really one of those model shows, kind of like ANTM, but not quite. So all of us "students"/"models" go to the first event. And I realize that Bird is there. Our first event is Queen of the Court volleyball. So, we are playing QotC in our very nice Kenneth Cole clothing (do they even make women's clothing??? Can you tell that this dream is SOOOO not me??), nice button downs, sweaters, jeans, and fancy high heels. So, I'm being all hard core and trying to play well, but everyone else sucks, and I get mad. So, I decide I'm quitting school. I walk out, and then Bird comes to get me. I told her I was quitting school, and had better be able to get my tuition back. And also that I was going to steal all of the nice clothes they had brought out for the models (nice to see I've got morals in my dreams). Bird tells me not to, because they are going to sell the clothes for charity after the "class" is over. I steal them anyway. As I'm leaving, Tim Gunn breaks the bad news that even if I hadn't quit, I'd be the first to get kicked off anyway, because I'm too athletic. And that ends the dream.
Weird, no?
2. Another random occurence (that happened in real life and was not a dream) happened a few weeks ago, but we didn't discover it until recently. One evening we came to find all the nearby neighbors hanging out on the street, and pointing to someone/something in the side yard of our house. As we parked, the neighbors informed us that there was a skunk lurking between our and our neighbors house, and that the Man neighbor had killed the skunk, by crushing it's skull was a precise blow to the head with a shovel. Nice. He had originally tried to shoot it, but apparently he's more accurate with a shovel, than with a .22. (Mental note: stay a shovel-length away from Man-Neighbor at all times) In the process of killing the skunk, Man-Neighbor got sprayed. Ewwww. It was icky, so we just left the gathering and went inside. A few days ago Mike and I were putting things away in our food storage pantry down in the basement, when we noticed a giant hole in our giant box of Ziploc bags. At first we though, RAT! OH NO! But, there were no other chewed up boxes, and why would a rat go for ziploc bags? Then we noticed a hole in the pantry door. And a hole in our basement window. Mike started digging through the box of bags, and found a bullet. Yes, a bullet! In trying to shoot the skunk, our Man-neighbor shot through our basement window, into the pantry and right through our poor Ziploc bags. It was a small bullet, but STILL! Had I been standing at the pantry at that very moment, it would have been right in line to hit me in the head. Wouldn't have killed me, but could have caused some serious damage! SOOOOOOO ANGRY!
3. In brighter randomness, Emma has discovered that she loves to eat baby gold fish. We'd tried giving her the regular gold fish, but when given the choice between regular and baby ones, she always goes for the babies. 'Cause she's cute like that.
4. Also, Emma has a new BFF. It's her Sock Monkey. I have named him, "Mr. Sock Monkey". He is very cute. It's the first toy that Emma has really hugged or kissed, and it's just so cute to see her cozy up with him. She must be a girl after my own heart, because we all know my own BFF was Oswald, the awesome Monkey Chrysta gave to me when I was 8. One day when I know she won't smack herself in the face with the heavy, weighted hands and feet, she'll get to play with Oswald, too. Then she'll have two Monkey BFF's. And I'll be so jealous.
5. So, I did a 16 mile run on Saturday morning! I was a little hesitant going into it, because of other events in the day, I had to get up at 4:30 am to do it, and Emma DID NOT sleep well the night before. So, I was just nervous. But, Darin and I met downtown and did a nice Front Street run along the river, around City Island a couple times and around Italian Lake a couple times, and IT. WAS. AWESOME. My best run ever, really. The weird thing is that the last 6 miles or so were so much better for me than the first 10 miles. It was like I just needed a REALLY LONG warm up before I really got into my groove! But I did, and we finished the run in 2 hrs, 32 min. That's just about a 9:30 min/mile pace! I was so proud of myself! However, after it was over I had to pretty much get right in the car, drive home, shower, get dressed, pack up the car, and head to Jean's bridal shower. After that, I came home, packed up Emma and Mike, and headed for my college roomies' house warming party, where we sat outside in the humidity all afternoon. So, I never was really able to rehydrate myself, or stretch appropriately, so by late afternoon, I felt so, so very sick! I tried drinking, but the more I drank, the worse I felt. I crashed very early that night, and ended up skipping church on Sunday because I just couldn't get rid of the nausea and headache. I am now, happily, fully rehydrated and feeling MUCH better!
6. So, my BFF Jean, is getting married in less than a month! We had her shower on Saturday afternoon, at her mom's house. I played host! It was fun getting all of Jean's friends together and meeting some of them for the first time. Jean and I have been BFF's since 9th grade, but have known each other for much longer than that. When I moved back to Lebanon in 9th grade, Jean really took me under her wing, and made me feel welcome and accepted. We have spent countless hours walking around Wal-Mart, using funny accents, eating Cheesy Poofs, mini egg rolls and TGIFridays Tato Skins! We have embarrasing footage of our own Blair Witch Project, called "CHI CHI OF IONA", and of our "BABY GOT BACK" music video. She is one of those people I could go months without talking to, and just pick back up right where we left off. She is the best friend I've ever had, and I am so happy that she's found Matt, who I will hunt down and murder if he so much as hurts her feelings. Which I'm sure he won't because he's pretty great:) So, yes, we showered her with lots of kitchen utensils and lingerie, and now she's ready to get married! WOOT WOOT FOR JEAN! Love ya, sugar britches!