Ten Random Things and a Reader Contest

1) I am addicted to sugar, and just fine with that, thanks.

2) Cookie Monster, Oscar, and Grover are my favorite Sesame Street characters. When I was little, Mom would buy me these Sesame Street picture books at the grocery store, they were a series, and each one was like a print version of an episode, with counting pages, stories, and focus on a letter and number. I still have them.

3) I hate to vaccuum.

4) My first car was a 1982 Berlinetta Camaro with brown metallic paint...I was supposed to get a station wagon but Dad wanted it to drive to work...

5) I am the 1992 Champaign County Rabbit Queen...yes I have a tiara.

6) I am the 1997 Champaign County 4-H Girl of the year, yes I have a silver pitcher and yes I polish it once a year.

7) I am roughly 100,000 words into my first book for teens. It's almost done...theoretically.

8) I am afraid of toads and frogs. Yep.

9) If I was going to be a boy, my parent's were going to name me Andrew. My first high school boyfriend's name was Andy, and I am married to an Andrew.

10) Lately, my cat Tweeker has been sleeping with me, on my pillow every night. Boy can that little booger generate heat!

11) Bonus: The first person who can name what food group I can no longer eat in the comments section gets a *new* lip balm.

Lip Balmers Anonymous?

Okay so not this past Saturday but the Saturday before that, before Halloween, Andrew and I were at Whole Foods. I needed some of the fabulous rice cheese that has provided a ray of hope in my dairyless world.

As Andrew was perusing ales, I went to the bath and body section and lo and behold there was...

A new Burt Bees Lip Balm...I have regular and pomegranate and now there was...Honey.

Dum da dum!

I snatched it and bought it and put it in my purse.

When we got into the car I wanted to try my new lip balm but couldn't find it in any of my pockets as I had already forgot that I had put it in my purse.

So as I was driving to the gas station I asked Andrew to look for my lip balm in my purse because I wanted to try it RIGHT NOW. Only to realize too late my dreadful mistake.

"Is this it?"

"No, that's Kiss My Face Vanilla Honey."

"Is this it?"

"No, that's Naked Bee honey."

"Wait a minute...Julie how many lip balms do you have in here?"

"uh..."

"Four...Five!"

"I could collect coach purses instead honey."

"Seven! Julie you have 7 lip things in here."

"Their average cost is about 3 bucks...less than a pack of cigarettes."

"Average cost? Average cost? What's the most lip balm you have ever bought...oh God I don't want to know."

"The most expensive lip balm my sweet, is the one I bought at Traverse City, it is excpetional a 10.00--which is just the cost of three lip balms...on average."

After we left the gas station Andrew said.

"Hey...I know you have lip balms in the bathroom door...like five right."

I wisely don't say anything.

"And you have a bunch in that little longaberger basket on the kitchen counter."

Silence seems safest.

"And what about all your coat pockets. Jesus Julie, you've got like what 25 lip balms."

"I don't have that many."

But Andrew got me thinking and one day before we left for Chicago I did a sweep for all my lip balms. And here they are.

There are 24...but I couldn't find my old almond oil one from CO Bigelow...and I'm not sure the two Burt's bees lip shimmers should count, or the tinted CO Bigelow...but Tweek is showing off what I currently can find/use.

So if you average the cost of each lip balm at 3 bucks a pop you are looking at 75 dollars worth of lip balm.

I think it's appropriate that Sarah Palin is in the background on CNN. That chick spend more than 150K on clothes on the RNC's dime...so I like to think she lends some perspective to the shot.

What do you think? Do I have a lip balm problem or a harmless and quaint collection of girly items? I expect comments...and now you all know what to get me for Christmas...