Drove home from Alabama today. Once I got out of the stormy weather,
the sun tried to break through the clouds. I don't know how well you
can see the sun rays in these pics, but they were beautiful...

--rachel

Aww... the horses are back. The baby has gotten big!

--rachel

Clanton, Alabama has a Dairy Queen, but Baton Rouge is still too good
for the mighty DQ. :(

--rachel

The big peach of Clanton, home of Chilton county peaches.

--rachel

Meet XL, my aunt and uncle's cat. He's named for his size. :)

--rachel

This McDonalds sign is down to just nips!

--rachel

The recent increase in the caterpilliar population is kinda freaking me
out. Their favorite pastime seems to be fornication, so I'm sure there
are more caterpillars to arrive. Check out the big mass on the tree -
that's a whole bunch of babies. It's like tadpoles, but bug style. I
hope these guys turn into butterflies instead of moths! They'd be
really cool to look at if there weren't 10 million of them per square
yard. I constantly have this creepy crawly feeling. Ick.

--rachel

New scrapbook pages - these are of Amelia and my cacti.

--rachel

A bad ass Yoda is.

--rachel

Roger's didn't have a sword...

--rachel

This drink comes with a sword. Such chivalry!

--rachel

Talk about knowing your market... a free offer from Bally (a gym) at the local Pizza Hut. Nice.

--rachel

Eek! That's a big cat!

--rachel

Aww...

--rachel

My cousin and his fiance are registered at Pier 1, so I took off to get
them a gift. The following bizarre conversation took place.

Me: I need to look up a wedding registry.
Cashier: Last name?
Me: Arnold, first name Brent.
Cashier: R-O-N...? [looks at me for next letter]
Me: Actually, it's Arnold. A-R-N-O-L-D.
Cashier: Oh, OK.
[she can't find it after three tries... the search for the registry
takes about 10 minutes...per try]
Cashier: hmm... are u sure they're registered?
[fair question i think... but she decides to try one more time]
Cashier: [begins typing] R-O...
Me: [begins taking slow deep breaths] It's Arnold. A-R-N...
Cashier: [looks puzzled... but then a beacon of light shines on her
face... it's the light of understanding] Arnold! I thought you said
Arno!
[hahahah I laugh politely, while thinking what the?]
Cashier: here it is...
Random Customer: how much are these?
[in my mind i fly across the counter and stab this woman for throwing
the half wit cashier off]
[Cashier breaks to check the price. Then it's back to the registry.]
Cashier: Wow! There are lots of Arnolds getting married!
["Imagine that!" i think to myself... several Arnold weddings in the
same year in a country of only 100 million people]
Me: Hmm... cool. I only need Brent.
Cashier: there are two Brents!
[HELP ME! Is God watching this? Where is some divine intervention???]
Me: the bride should be Brandi.
Cashier: there are two Brents and Brandis!
[I'm so happy she was enjoying herself, because I was dying.]

At this point she prints one of the registries and it only has one item
listed. Sheesh. So I decide to get them a gift card instead. After I
pay for the gift card - but before she gives me the card - she decides
that I need to see the other registry. I told her I really didn't care
and just wanted to get the gift card. Didn't matter - she was on a
mission! So now I'm trapped while she prints out a new registry.
You're prolly thinking what's the big deal? It only takes 30 seconds to
print a report. Wrong.

She finally hands me the registry so i can "take it home." Like it was
a gift for my trouble.

Sigh... customer service these days is so bad, but this woman was
actually trying to be nice. What could I do but just smile and say
thankyou? It was only 30 minutes after all. 30 very long stupid
bizarre minutes. :D

--rachel