Fin, Finire, Over

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo. It's been fun, but I'm kind of looking forward to not posting on the weekend, especially as I'll be out of town at my parents' house again. But! I've saved the best topic for last. I have quite the issue for you all today. Are you ready for it? It starts with this confession:

Aaron and I don't pass gas in front of each other.

We've been together going on six years, and we still don't pass gas in each other's presence. Okay, I should clarify that. We try not to pass gas in front of each other. Sometimes one slips out and we can't help it, but, for the most part, we leave the room or something if we're gassy.

I've told a couple of people this lately and they couldn't believe it. A coworker admitted that her husband saves them for her and lets them loose, saying, "Take a listen to this, why don't you," or something similar. Another friend last night said her boyfriend farted in front of her on the first day they knew each other. The other guy at the table passes gas regardless of who is around, so I know that he and his girlfriend don't have this issue. But Aaron and I are reserved in this area, despite how gassy one of us is on a regular basis (the one that is not him has this problem a lot).

I don't know how I'd feel about this if Aaron weren't so insistent on not passing gas in front of me. Would I feel freer if he felt free to let it rip whenever, wherever? Or would I still feel uptight and embarrassed about having gas? Bigger question for the parents out there: do you think we'll get over it when we have a kid? I think that might be the cure to this little problem.

Although, I guess it's not really a problem. As the friend last night was talking about it, she said her boyfriend not only passes gas in front of her, but will do things like fart on her, or the never-expected-or-wanted dutch oven. I'm glad I don't have to deal with these things with Aaron. It's kind of nice not to have to worry about the sneak attack in this particular area that some of my friends admit to having to deal with.

In fact, now that I think about it, I'm pretty pleased with this set-up.

So Dumb I Had to Share

I just had to look up the date to put on a form. Um, duh! No one should have to look up the date on their birthday.

27

Well, I am officially older. I keep thinking about a t-shirt I saw yesterday that said "Right now I am the oldest I've ever been." There was also one that said "Haikus are easy, but sometimes they make no sense. Refrigerator." Aaron doesn't think the second one is as funny as I think it is, but really - I think it's hilarious.

My mom called this morning at around 7:30 to wish me a Happy Birthday and ask me about my plans for the day. "Work," I told her. "It sucks being an adult sometimes, doesn't it?" she replied.

Sure does. If this was my dream birthday I would be at home curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee, a good book, and the Today show playing in the background. Then I would take a bubble bath, followed up by a nap. I would go out for lunch for a hot dog and fries (something I'm doing anyway because I've been craving a hot dog for a week), and then run to the local bakery to pick up my favorite cake. I would then go home and watch a movie. I used to watch Unsolved Mysteries in the afternoon, but it's not on the air any more and so a movie it is. Then I would start on dinner, because I love cooking and when I'm not rushed it's one of my favorite ways to relax.

Aaron would come home and we'd have dinner and wine (something we are doing, just not at home), and then cuddle on the couch watching our favorite shows before heading to bed to cuddle some more.

Oh, my! I just realized that I'm missing ANTM tonight! I'll have to have Aaron remind me to tape it, since we are low-tech and do not own any form of Tivo.

Anyway, so that was my dream birthday, but we all know that things never go exactly as you want them. So this is how my actual birthday is going to happen: Work, hot dog lunch, work, dinner out with friends, wine, wine, wine, sleep.

Even though it's not my dream day, it works just fine.

The Cure

The cure to my major case of hormonal grumpiness yesterday was being seriously goofy with my husband last night. I'm feeling much better today, thanks.

Bethiclaus posted the other day about a Christmas tradition in her family. Her family's tradition (a family ornament) was very sweet. Our family tradition is seriously dorky, but fun. Also, weird.

You see, a few years ago around Christmas we somehow got a stuffed mouse toy from a Burger King kids meal. It's a really ugly little thing, but mostly round and fun to throw around. So that year we started throwing it at each other, and sneak attacks were always the best. If the other person didn't see it coming and you managed to hit them with the mouse, it would cause an eruption of laughter. We would also hide it places so you would find the mouse when you least expected it. It was all a lot of fun.

After Christmas that year we packed the mouse toy away with the Christmas lights by accident. The next year when we opened the box containing the lights there it was, and the fun started all over again. That year we purposely packed the mouse away with the lights, and this has now become our family tradition around Christmas.

Well, last night Aaron started pulling out the Christmas lights and suddenly I got beaned in the side of the head by the mouse (it's tiny and couldn't hurt a fly even at the highest speed we can throw it, so it didn't hurt). And the fun started. We chased each other around the apartment, hiding around corners so that we could do surprise attacks on the other person. The fun ended when the mouse almost landed on Aaron's slice of pumpkin pie, but there are many more nights of mouse-throwing to come. It usually ends on New Years day when we pack up the decorations, so there's more than a month of this fun left. I absolutely love it!

So - any other weird holiday traditions out there?

Well, After So Much Up...

I had to come down eventually.

I'm in a Bad mood today (capital B intended). I am mad about everything. I was mad that Aaron disrupted my normal schedule this morning. Then, on the way to work (30 minutes late, I might add) I started getting mad about my birthday, and how forgotten it seems this year. I mean, yes, I did get the coat from my parents and we did go up north on Saturday, but I picked out the coat and had her buy it a month ago, and I planned the entire Saturday trip. Not to mention that my sister hated the whole day Saturday and made me feel horribly guilty about making her go, which pretty much ruined all the fun for me.

Yes, I got a cake, but it was a last minute cake that was only made because I kept hinting that "Hey, you know what sounds good right now? Birthday cake", and I think that if I hadn't been so insanely obvious in my hinting it wouldn't have happened.

Yes, I got a laptop in July, and the coat (that I picked out) but it feels like I'm not getting any birthday presents. I think I might go out and buy myself something nice to make up for it. (And not the tires that we have to buy today because we realized that we were lucky to make it home yesterday since the tires were almost completely shredded. Grrr...)

I called Aaron on my trip to work to remind him to make reservations at my favorite restaurant on Wednesday, and then suggested that maybe, just maybe, he should invite my friends for the dinner too. I feel like I'm doing it all, or at least having to prompt anyone to do anything, and I'm sad about it.

Not to mention that for Aaron's birthday in May, I called his friends who live in another state (and I'm not particularly fond of these friends, either) and convinced them to come for his birthday party that I had spent weeks planning. I even made a margarita cake to go with the Mexican dinner, and had a big crowd go bowling after the entire big crowd ate dinner together. Oh, and I played designated driver so that he could have as much fun as possible on his birthday.

Maybe if I stop making an effort I won't feel as bad when others don't do the same.

I don't know if any of this even makes sense or if I'm just entirely hormonal and in need of a good nap (or slap) and a piece of chocolate. Sorry for the copious amounts of bitching today. I'm going to go hide from everyone.

Happily Exhausted, Part Deux

You wouldn't think that spending the day eating macaroni and cheese and sampling over 25 different wines would tire you out, but it really does. It could have been the hours waiting in line at the five different wineries that really wore us out the most. Also all the wine. I'm nursing a little hair of the dog currently because I haven't felt quite right all day.

Anyway, since I'm pretty out of it today, here are some pictures from our little day trip and from my birthday celebration (which consisted of eating some cake - pretty exciting) today.

Here we are outside Chateau Chantal. I'm holding my other birthday present, my new coat, and now that I look at it, I realize I really need a haircut. My hair apparently grows really fast.

Here's a closeup of some of the grapes still on the vine. We couldn't decide if these were just left behind to rot or if they'll be used to make ice wine.

Aaron found a useful holding-place for his wine tasting tickets. We were given five tasting tickets per winery and there were five wineries. Thank goodness we brought along my little sister as a designated driver because the rest of us were pretty well-pickled by the end of the day.

Here we are, waiting in one of the many lines we stood in that day. I think we all would have had an even better time if it had been better organized. As it was we spent most of the day packed in tight with about a thousand strangers. Did I ever mention my huge personal space bubble? Yeah. It was totally violated yesterday, numerous times.

Here's Aaron, hamming it up after our last stop. I think he was ready to head home, just like the rest of us. It was a long day. Despite the incredible macaronis, and there were a few that were incredible, we were exhausted and starting to get loopy and just a little crabby.


And here I am today, blowing out the (27) candles on my birthday cake. It was a butter cake with cream cheese frosting. That's what happens when my mom is in charge of picking out the cake (she knows I like white cake) and Aaron is in charge of picking out the frosting (he knows I love cream cheese frosting). It was surprisingly better than I expected. My actual birthday isn't until Wednesday, when I'm making Aaron take me out to my favorite restaurant, which happens to be the same restaurant where we had our wedding reception. I can't wait.

Also, I really need to look into getting that haircut.

Macaroni and Cheese

Today is when the thing I've been so excited about occurs. It's the day of the Great Macaroni and Cheese Bake-Off/Wine Tasting. This is what we're doing to celebrate my birthday this year, and if it's as much fun as I'm expecting, I'm going to suggest celebrating my birthday in this manner every year. Plus, I still get dinner out at my favorite restaurant on my actual birthday. You just can't go wrong either way.

I've been a big fan of macaroni and cheese since I was really little. From about age 2 to age 4 it's all I would eat. Well, that and hot dogs (which I, apparently, referred to as "hot gogs"). My mom tells me that she was really worried that these were the only foods I'd eat, but the doctor told her not to worry - there were worse things I could be insisting on eating.

Back then, macaroni and cheese was made kind of by scratch by my mom. By kind of, I mean that the macaroni and cheese was made with noodles, milk, and Velveeta. Looking back I think I would have been worried by my insistence on only eating really processed foods. Oh, well. I've made it this far, so I guess it's not too bad.

When I was about 12 I tasted the Kraft version of macaroni and cheese for the first time (hint: it tastes a lot better if you use cream to mix it with instead of regular milk). I wasn't as big a fan of that as I was of Kraft Shells and Cheese - must still be the Velveeta thing.

After Aaron and I started dating I started making the real thing - baked macaroni and cheese. This meant I got it much less often, but it was much better in quality so I think the trade-off was worth it. I usually make this version if I make the baked kind, and it is sooooo good. Well, okay, I make it with all regular cheddar because Aaron can't stand the white cheddar. But still. It's delicious.

Then we found this recipe and this is what we now typically make when we want mac and cheese but don't feel like investing the time to make the baked stuff. It's delicious too.

Today we're promised all different versions of my favorite food - from one containing lobster, to some creation with Gorgonzola (which Aaron hates so double portion for me! Woohoo!). And! There's a wine pairing with each version. I'm seriously having trouble sitting still.

Although that could have to do with the fact that my rear is incredibly sore from my spinning class yesterday. Yet another reason taking that class was a bad choice - not only should you not take your first spinning class in four years the day after eating mashed potatoes and pie like there was no tomorrow, but you shouldn't take it the day before you have to sit in a car for hours on end. Because I can barely handle sitting. I'm really not smart sometimes.

Happily Exhausted

Yesterday was wonderful. Friends, family, seriously delicious food (if I do say so myself, but others did too), what more could I ask for. But I'm exhausted. After waking up at 6 am yesterday and cooking straight through until dinner at four and then cleaning up after dinner, I'm thinking I may not make it out of bed until at least eleven today.

I do have to share one thing with you all though. The Perfect Day-After-Thanksgiving Breakfast:



OK. I'm going back to bed now.

UPDATE: Just as an FYI, it's a bad idea to take your first spinning class in four years the morning after eating your weight in mashed potatoes and pie. I think I'm dying over here.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Things are crazy around here and our guests are yet to arrive. So far I've put together two casseroles, peeled and chopped up the potatoes for mashed potatoes, washed a lot of dishes, ironed the tablecloth, set the table, and I know I'm forgetting some other things we've done already. It's been nuts. I also baked an apple pie and made the cranberry sauce last night. Our house is spotless; the result of a full week of cleaning every night. Oh, and I managed to fit in a shower too.

Seriously, nuts!

But I'm thankful for all of it. I'm thankful that I have the means to feed eight people an enormous meal. I'm thankful that I have friends and family to share the holiday with. I'm very thankful that I have a wonderful husband who insisted I sit for a few minutes and relax before everyone gets here and it gets even crazier. I live a very blessed life and I couldn't be more thankful.

I hope you all have a great holiday too, and that you all have just as many things for which to be thankful.

Mmmm....Food....

**Insert Homer Simpson-like drooling noise here**

I am really, seriously ready for all the food that's headed our way tomorrow, and am having a major craving for a piece of pumpkin pie due to my pumpkin spice latte this morning (delicious!). I'm also making an apple pie with a streusel topping, and am craving that too. I guess you could say that I'm happy Thanksgiving is falling during the worst part of my PMS, because Thanksgiving dinner is hormonal-eating heaven.

My mom is bringing one of my favorite dishes - cornbread stuffing. It's cornbread with onions, celery, sausage, some spices, and lots and lots of butter. I could eat a whole pot of it all by myself. Stuffing of any kind (except any kind that has been stuffed into the turkey) is my favorite Thanksgiving food.

My second-favorite Thanksgiving food is one we're not having this year - Pecan Pie. I promised Aaron an apple pie, and my mom is bringing her pumpkin pie, and I figured that 2 pies was more than enough for 8 people. I do have all the ingredients for a pecan pie though, just in case I change my mind.

The other day I wrote about how I was a little scared of Aaron due to the major (awesome!) wedgie I had given him. He had forgotten all about it until Monday night, when we were laying in bed.

"Hey," he said, "I still haven't gotten you back for that wedgie."

"I baked you chocolate chip oatmeal walnut cookies," I replied.

"Okay. Even."

In our house? Food trumps almost anything.

Seriously Peeved

If there's one thing that gets my blood boiling, it's bad customer service. And if there's one thing that can get my blood back to its steady simmer, it's following that bad customer service up with amazing customer service. I had to deal with both of these things yesterday.

First, the back story. Aaron and I went grocery shopping early (like 8 am early) Sunday morning, because we wanted to beat the rush. We were home by 9:30, and went on with the rest of our day. Sunday night I realized that I hadn't unpacked 2 items from our shopping spree - a small bottle of soap, and a bottle of eye makeup remover, about $7 worth of merchandise. I asked Aaron if he had done anything with it, and he hadn't. He went out and checked the trunk of the car, but it wasn't there either. We had obviously left the store without a bag.

I hate when that happens, and it happens more often than I would like (about once every couple months thanks to the absolutely stellar baggers they have at this grocery store ).

To complicate matters, because why would I want to do anything the easy way, the receipt listing all of the items we purchased was, by that time, somewhere in the dumpster outside of our building. I refuse to dumpster dive, especially when I knew that at the top of that bag was some raw ground pork I had thrown away and there was no way in hell I was digging through that just for a stupid receipt. And, anyway, we still had the receipt showing us the amount to record in our checkbook. So I figured it was all good.

Yesterday morning I called the store and explained the situation: made it home without $7 worth of stuff, has happened before, but no receipt. The woman on the other end of the phone looked to see if the items had been brought back to the service desk. Of course, they hadn't been, so she said there was nothing she could do for me because I didn't have my itemized receipt. I said something about how, seriously $7! Has happened numerous times in the past! Want my stuff! $7! Repeatedly!

So, she put me through to a manager.

This manager responded to things in this manner: Sigh! You have to have a receipt. Sigh! Sigh! Well, since I'm (sigh!) feeling nice today, for some reason, if you come in before I leave today I'll give you your $7. SIGH!

She was fun. Also, she made me cry. Stupid PMS and dealing with annoying customer service.

So, I went in on my lunch break to deal with this. Oh, what a way to spend a lunch break. Anyway, I go in and the manager I talked to was on a lane and couldn't help me at the moment, but hey! Sergio! Other manager! Can you help this lady? (Seriously, his name was Sergio. I like saying that. Sergio.)

So Sergio, my knight on a white horse, came over and saved the day. You see, with the receipt I did have, you know, the one that records the lane, time, and amount of purchase, he could pull up my original receipt. Imagine that! Less than five minutes and I was out of the store with my stuff. And he was nice! No sighing! No making me feel like crap and like he was doing me a major favor.

On my way out of the store I had to have them check my items on my receipt (the copy that he magically was able to pull up on the computer program they have for that very purpose), so I caught Sergio right in front of the other manager to have him check my items. I gave the other (bitchy, sigh!) manager a smile as I walked by. I'm sure that really didn't make her day, but it sure made me feel better.

As I told Aaron later, either the other manager is dumb and doesn't understand how the computer system works (since she is one of the head managers, I'm thinking this is not the case), or she was being a bitch to me on purpose. I'm thinking it's case number 2. Which just makes me even more angry. Why be difficult when it was so easy to solve my problem?

Well, there's one thing I know for sure. I'm writing corporate to let them know how helpful Sergio was, and if I ever have a problem again I'm asking for him first thing. Because no way am I subjecting myself to the other kind of customer service again if I can help it.

Sigh!

Lists

What I planned to accomplish this weekend:
Clean Bathrooms
Do Laundry
Dust
vacuum every square inch of flooring in the apartment
Wash kitchen and bathroom floors
Wash and change sheets and blankets on guest beds
Organize/put away anything sitting out
Cook/bake as needed
Get everything needed for Thanksgiving day

What I actually accomplished this weekend:
Laundry (well, okay, just my clothes)
Cleaned closet (the only thing people won't be seeing this Thursday)
Dusted/rearranged bookshelf containing cookbooks
Threw a pile of old cooking magazines on guestroom bed
Watched "Cars" and "The Pink Panther" (except for the last 20 minutes of both, during which I slept.
Baked cookies
Made pot stickers (yum!)
Helped Aaron put the extra leaf in the table
Helped Aaron get over the unbelievable grief caused by Michigan's loss to Ohio State

Still left to do (because Aaron actually did some of the things on the list):
Clean guest bathroom
Clean guest bedroom
Change sheets on guest bedroom beds
Wash/dry/iron tablecloth and napkins
Sweep/wash kitchen floor
Buy cheese and wine, and also fight with grocery store because the stupid bagger missed two (and of course the most expensive two) items that we paid for. (Grrr...)

So, in summary, the weekend wasn't quite as productive in the ways I wanted, but it was wonderful. And we still have a lot to do.

I'm a Little Scared

Earlier today while cleaning up after breakfast, Aaron said something about a wedgie. So I gave him one. I got him really good. It was awesome.

Now he looks like he's plotting and mumbled something about payback being a bitch.

I don't think I'm turning my back to him for the rest of today.

Yes, I'm Sometimes an Idiot

Last night was one of those times. (Well, if not an idiot, at least I felt like a giant dork)

We were having tacos for dinner. In an ever-ongoing effort to make everything from scratch, I found a recipe for taco seasoning and decided to try it last night. I printed out the recipe and headed to the spice rack.

1st ingredient: 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder.

I barely had 1.

Oops. Should have checked that. I pondered what to do. Should I fudge the recipe and hope it works? Should I make the pizza I have planned for tomorrow night? Should I talk Aaron into taking me out to dinner? I was torn. I couldn't decide.

So I waited for Aaron to get home to ask what he wanted to do about this. We decided to halve the recipe since we were using ground turkey in our tacos, and maybe the meat wouldn't need that much flavor. So I mixed together half of each of the required spices.

As soon as I had finished putting this recipe together, Aaron looked over at the "Taco Dinner Kit" I had purchased, and said, "You dork! Look!"

There was totally a taco seasoning packet in the kit.

I am a dork.

Five for Friday

I have a busy Friday ahead of me, so here are five things on my mind this Friday morning.

1. Thanksgiving just got possibly even more interesting. My mom called me last night to ask if it was okay if her friend came and ate dinner with us, because otherwise she was going to be all alone for the holiday. I, like my mom, take in "strays" regularly - anyone who needs a place to be is welcome at my place. Well, I really like this friend, and I've known her my whole life, but she is a little, um, out there. She's a radical pot-smoking lesbian, to be frank. And remember how I said yesterday that my brother-in-law and his wife are super religious? I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt that they'll have enough tact to keep their mouths shut whatever they may think about my mom's friend, but I'm also a little nervous. I'm even more nervous because my mom's friend can be a little loud-mouthed, and sometimes offensive. This should be really interesting.

2. I wish America's Next Top Model was on two times a week and lasted two times as long. I am just too addicted to this show. I was really worried about CariDee getting voted off last week, but thank goodness, she's still on, because I really want her to win. I think she's has the most potential and is the nicest (*ahem - Melrose, niceness helps - ahem*) girl on the show. But it's really hard to wait for next Wednesday to find out what happens.

3. I told Aaron that I would have a surprise for him when he got home from work today. He was really excited and wanted to know what it was, but I wouldn't even give him so much as a hint. (And if he were smart he'd read this website and find out what it is, but he never reads so I'm feeling safe.) He said earlier this week that he really wanted to rent the movie "Cars" this weekend, so that's what I'm planning on doing on my lunch break so I can have it for him when he gets home. (Yes, we're dorks who like animated kid flicks. What of it?) Now I realize that maybe I shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. I'm betting the video store won't have any copies in when I go to rent it.

4. I'm really digging the Holiday flavors of coffee creamers that are out right now. My favorites so far are Pumpkin Spice and Peppermint Mocha, but there's also eggnog, holiday spice (gingerbread), and caramel praline. Mmmm...so good.

5. I have an entire mountain of laundry to do this weekend on top of scrubbing my house from top to bottom. Sounds like a fun weekend, no?

Sisters

When we host Thanksgiving next week, we're having a slightly larger crowd than we expected originally. Seven people instead of five, so really not a big deal, but I think it will be an interesting day.

You see, two of the people there will be my sister and my sister-in-law (Aaron's brother's wife). They're about the same age (about 6 months difference), but lead incredibly different lives.

My sister is in college at a prestigious private school. She lives in the dorms, has a boyfriend, and just joined a sorority. She went to Argentina for study abroad last spring and this spring she's headed to China for another study abroad program. She's thriving at college - luckily her boyfriend is really smart, a really hard worker, competitive, and doesn't party much even though he's in a fraternity, so this means that she competes with him over grades (a little healthy competition), works hard, and doesn't party much either. But they still have a lot of fun, don't get me wrong. She's much more mature and organized than I was at her age. I was quite a mess at her age, actually, and I'm surprised and lucky I've made it to (almost) 27.

My sister-in-law, on the other hand, is leading a completely different life. She's married with a baby on the way. Her husband works all hours of the day and night at a restaurant and she works 3rd shift at a paper plant. She was in school, but dropped out because money was tight, and doesn't know if she'll ever go back. She's incredibly religious, and doesn't party at all. She also used to be a model, and went through many of the same problems I had, just at a younger age. She also was in the Army for a little while, but was honorably discharged due to health problems.

I can relate to both of these girls, but what will be interesting is how they relate to each other. Two girls, young women actually, who are similar in some ways but so completely different in others. I'm a little nervous about how it's all going to work out, but I'm sure it will be fine.

And really, I just can't wait to have so many of my family members all together for a day.

Back to the Daily Grind

Well, even though I'm not exactly back to a healthy state, I am back at work today. I have a meeting with the executive director of our organization today so I figured calling in sick might be a bad idea. I also feel like napping at my desk, but as someone else here recently got in trouble for doing so on a regular basis (which I think is pretty funny, as well as much deserved, because seriously, this person was sleeping at their desk on a daily basis), that's probably not a good idea either.

I woke up at 2:30 a.m. on the dot for the second night in a row, but actually managed to go back to sleep this time. If my insomnia starts up again I don't know what I'll do. I don't deal with being tired very well, especially during this stressful time of year.

I was planning on doing a step class tonight, but, given the fact that my equilibrium is a little off due to incredibly clogged sinuses, I'm thinking that might not be the best idea. Wouldn't want to scare the class again by falling off the step. I think that might be the second best way to freak everyone out, topped only by almost passing out. I'm just hoping this sinus issue doesn't end up becoming an infection because that's the last thing I want to deal with right now.

Speaking of my gym, there's this couple that recently joined that is kind of annoying me. They're both incredibly beautiful, but that's not the issue. The issue is that every time one of them changes machines or leaves the room they kiss each other goodbye. Now, Aaron and I are pretty demonstrative about our affection for each other, but we try to keep it to a minimum when out in public, especially in places where it's not appropriate (as Aaron puts it, "There's no kissing in baseball" meaning no making out at the ballpark). Romantic restaurant = appropriate place for some kissing. Sweaty gym = ew get off me you sweaty freak. I don't know why these two annoy me so much, but seriously, they need to get a room. Especially since I'm usually on the next machine over from where they're doing the kissing.

On a completely unrelated subject, this past weekend when I was at my parents' house I picked up East of Eden by John Steinbeck as something to read before bed, and I am totally falling in love with this book. I usually am not big on the classics (save for a few I love, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and The Great Gatsby - seriously: love) but this one is really good so far. Granted, I'm only a few chapters in, but holy cow can that man paint a picture with his words.

Sick Day

Well, I think I may have come down with a cold more quickly than at any point in history. I went to bed at 10 pm feeling fine, and woke up at 2 am completely ill - sore throat, stuffy nose, and a cough. Then I didn't sleep the whole rest of the night. So I guess you could say I'm feeling kind of crappy today.

Here's my proposed schedule for today:

8 to 8:15 - Blow dry hair (I showered thinking I was going to work and then collapsed in tears when I got out, and that is when I decided I couldn't handle work today.)

8:15 to 12:00 - Sleep/Laze around in bed watching the Today show and ER re-runs. Ooh...maybe I'll throw in a movie./Read Blogs (I love having a laptop and wireless internet. Like a lot.)

12:00 to 12:30 - Lunch

12:30 to 1 - Plan meals

1 to 2:30 - Grocery Shopping/Put Away Groceries

2:30 to 5 - Sleep/Laze around in bed watching Lifetime movies/Read blogs

5 to ? - Make Wonton Soup for dinner (mmm....can't wait)

? to Bedtime - whine to Aaron about how crappy I feel. (I'm sure he's looking forward to this part)

So as you can see I have quite the day to attend to. I'm outta here. The bed is calling my name.

Top 5 Reasons...

That Today Kind of Sucks

1. Remember my bad waxing experience from last week? Yeah. My forehead and upper eyelids are totally peeling where I was burned by the wax. It's not the best look I've ever sported. I may have to stop being passive aggressive and actually call the salon and complain.

2. My day is going to be spent comparing shades of blue and running back and forth to a printer. Sounds like fun, no?

3. I'm really, incredibly hungry right now, but only have a small lunch to eat today. The hunger is probably from the fact that I have yet to eat my weight in cheese today like I have for the past two days (hence the small lunch today).

4. The weekend is over. I really did not the weekend to be over. My ass, however, is probably glad the weekend is over. Despite that the scale has not moved, I don't believe that my ass didn't expand over the weekend. Seriously. Too. Much. Cheese.

5. Do I need another reason? Despite all of these things, I'm actually in a remarkably good mood today. So there really isn't a fifth thing. Or maybe it's that I'm happy despite the potential for sucktitude today holds.

Turkey Day

I've been thinking about Thanksgiving this afternoon for three big reasons, these reasons being; one, it's only eleven days away; two, I'm hosting Thanksgiving for my family this year; and three, we brought the electric roaster home from my parents' house today, and it will be sitting off to the side of my living room for the next eleven days.

All that being said, do you think that the following list comprises too much food for 5 (possibly seven) people?

What I'm Serving for Thanksgiving Dinner
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Two kinds of Stuffing
Green Bean Casserole
Corn Casserole
Cranberry Sauce
Rolls
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie

What do you think? Do you think I'll have enough food, or is this way too much? Did I forget anything important?

I usually make about double the food I need whenever I host a dinner. What can I say, I like to make sure everyone has everything they need. I also think that I may not be cooking for a week following Thanksgiving, since we'll have a ton of leftovers, and I'm okay with that.

We're Classy. Fo Sho.

We're having a fabulous time at my parents' house. Today after a quick run to the liquor store and then the grandparents' house, we came home, poured glasses of wine, put out some cheese, crackers, and sliced apples, and sat down to play a board game while listening to Chris Botti. (See? Classy.)

Then we got a little buzzed and laughed really hard at each other. For reasons such as this.

Me: I think Mom's drunk.

Aaron: I'll trade you a brick for a wheat (we're playing our favorite game, and you get to trade resources in this game).

Me: No, I have what I need right here.

Mom: Who's here?

All except for a confused-looking mom: **Laughing Hysterically**

Then Aaron put his baseball cap backwards on my head. I'm wearing his oversized sweatshirt. "In Da Club" by 50 Cent came on the stereo (we switched from Chris Botti), and I started doing my best hip-hop moves (as an uncoordinated very white chick, these were not great).

All including a confused-looking mom: **Laughing Hysterically**

I seriously have tears running down my cheeks I am laughing so hard.

This is a great day.

Friday! Yippee!!

As I've documented a couple of times this week, I've been in a pretty foul mood lately. As of yesterday night it lifted. I think there are two things at play behind this, which are:

1) We decided to go visit my parents this weekend. My mom always makes everything better, and Aaron and my dad love hanging out together, so it should be a blast. I'm really looking forward to it.

and

2) Aaron made me laugh so hard last night that I had tears streaming down my face and I couldn't breath. Somehow we got on the topic of the whole patting your head while rubbing your stomach in a circular motion thing. I am an ambidexterous head-patter/belly-rubber, meaning I can do either with either hand. Aaron, on the other hand, can pat his head with his right hand and rub his stomach with his left hand, but ask him to switch that around and he can't. And? It's hillarious. I promise. He'd start with the patting of the head, and then try to rub his stomach, but he'd pat it. Then he tried the other way, and started rubbing his stomach and then go for the head part and start rubbing his head. This went on for 15 minutes. I nearly died of laughter. It was awesome.

(Note to Aaron: Thanks for the laughs babe, I really needed that. Sorry that the laughs were at your expense though. But yeah, it was hillarious. Thanks again.)

Something that also is making me happy this morning? An eggnog latte from Starbucks. I'm not usually a big fan of eggnog, but mixed with coffee? it's delicious! Although they did sprinkle nutmeg on top before I could tell them not to, so that means I'm going to have some heinous heartburn in a little while. But I have to say, it's totally worth it, because seriously? Yum.

Another Creepy Experience

Man, I am just racking them up!

So last night was my first visit with my new waxer. I am still sad that my old waxer quit and is no longer in the business of waxing (well, I'm happy for her, sad for me). Anyway, I was feeling a bit apprehensive yesterday afternoon as I walked into the salon for my eyebrow waxing appointment, but I kept telling myself, "Self? You will be fine. It will be fine. You won't die, you may just look funny for a few weeks at the very worst. It will be okay. But you'll probably look funny. And that will suck. But you'll be okay."

I was obviously not helping myself very much.

So, I went into the salon and sat in the waiting area until it was time for my appointment. While I waited I watched a baby (probably around 6 to 8 months) getting a haircut. Man, he did not want to get his hair cut. His mom was holding his arms to his side because if they got free he was covering his head with them. He was also screaming bloody murder. It was pretty adorable, actually, and he had the whole salon captivated.

So, out of the corner of my eye, I see a small person approaching me. I look, and hope to God this is not the person coming for me.

Of course it was.

She's tiny! And old! And weird looking. Her ears are kind of pointy. She was barely taller than my elbows (not even tall enough to look me straight in the boob), and while I'm slightly taller than average at 5'9", I'm no giant. I think she's an elf.

Okay, well anyway, I followed her back to the waxing room where she promptly told me to sit down in a chair and that she does things a bit differently from the last girl who worked there. That made me nervous. I liked the way things were before.

She made me take off my shoes, and then I laid down on the table, and she turned on a heating and vibrating pad under my feet. It was kind of weird. Then she gave me a head massage, which I really needed, but was nowhere near great. Then she handed me a mirror and we talked about what I wanted her to do.

"Well, I'll take a bit off the ends here where you have fine lines (!!). Oops, not lines, I mean fine hairs. You have fine hairs. And then, do you want me to make a little difference here in the...hmmm...I'm forgetting my words. What's that called?"

"Arch?" I guessed.

"Yeah, that's it," she replied, "Arch."

I should have gotten up and walked out right about then, but I stayed because of that politeness thing I was talking about yesterday. I really have a politeness problem. I should work on that.

Anyway, so then she started applying the wax and trying to sell me products that they sell at the salon, including, but not limited to, a face scrub (because apparently all others but the Aveda brand are bad), a candle in the scent she had burning in the room, gift baskets for Thanksgiving gifts (the hell?), and a moisturizer. That was uncomfortable to say the least, and add in the fact that she was BURNING MY FACE WITH THE WAX, and I was practically squirming. (Seriously, I still have red marks today. I'm not happy.)

When she was finished with the BURNING OF MY FACE, and the RIPPING OUT OF NON-EYEBROW HAIRS (because really, does the wax have to stretch from the corner of my eyebrow to my cheekbone? I think not), she handed me a mirror to look at the results. Then she stroked my left eyebrow and said "You're so pretty."

Confused, I replied, "Thanks?"

Then she giggled a bit and said, "Well, I was talking to the eyebrow but you're pretty too."

"Oh." was all I could muster. Seriously, what the hell?

So, I got up and put on my shoes as quickly as possible, and headed to the front desk, all the while listening (and ignoring) to her trying to get me to schedule my next appointment in 2 weeks (I usually go 4). I made some excuse about it being the holiday party season in four weeks and so I'd have to schedule closer to the time.

I won't be scheduling closer to the time.

Also? My eyebrows are uneven.

I'm really not happy.

(To make it better, Aaron reluctantly took me out to eat last night. He really had no choice in the matter.)

A Thin Line

Yesterday I had an experience that reinforced my view that there is a thin line between friendly and creepy. A very thin line.

I was (as I am embarrassed to admit) in the drive-thru lane for Taco Bell (aka Toxic Hell, which is what Aaron calls it) grabbing a quick, cheap lunch. When I got to the window to pay, the older guy working at the window was all smiles. Great big smiles. Great big sort of creepy, leery smiles. So I smiled back. I'm nothing if not polite.

When he handed me my change he was all smiles again. "Here's your change," he said.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile.

Then he went to hand me my food. "Any sauce today?" he asked.

"No, thank you."

"Alright then, you have a nice day."

"Thank you, you too," I replied with a smile.

"Oh, by the way," he said, "you have a really pretty smile."

"Thanks" I replied.

"Zoom" replied my car as I hightailed it the hell out of there.

He was just kind of creepy looking to begin with and the pretty smile remark sounded a bit too much like one of the best known quotes from this movie.

Yes. It is indeed a very thin line. And he definitely crossed it. **Shudder**

(As I read back over this, it seems like it may have been a "You had to be there" moment. But seriously. It was creepy.)

Well...

I have not enough time or caffeine to do a comprehensive post today, so you get random paragraphs with basically no connection. You know you love it when I post like this. Totally.

Anyway, here goes:

I went and voted first thing this morning. Three precincts vote at the same location. The other two precincts had long lines, but my precinct had no wait and a few empty voting booths. Either people in my precinct don't vote, or they can't vote that early in the morning. Aaron said he was the only one there from our precinct at 7 am when the polls opened. It's just weird to me.

Aaron and I both ruined dinner last night. It was inedible. We haven't done that in a long time, and I'm now really happy about that. My baked beans did not turn out at all. They just would not get tender, so we ended up throwing them out. It's a little disappointing to throw away seven plus hours of work, but they were inedible. The sauce was good though, so if I can guarantee tender beans next time I'll try the recipe again.

Aaron made oven-fried chicken last night, and that was inedible as well. He used a recipe I had set out for him, and followed it exactly. Unfortunately we didn't have the exact ingredients - the recipe called for one chicken in pieces, and we had boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They definitely didn't need an hour in the oven. They shrunk up to about half of their pre-cooking size, and you couldn't cut into them.

So, we ate left-over pizza for dinner last night, and it didn't reheat well. It was a disappointing night altogether. Thankfully the sitcoms on CBS last night were hilarious. It put a good cap on a not-as-good night.

Are you watching "The New Adventures of Old Christine"? We really like this show. We're Seinfeld fans from way back, and so we give any show with a former cast member a chance. The only problem? Although this show is hilarious, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character is so awkward at times that it's painful to watch. I was actually writhing in agony I was so embarrassed for her character at one point last night. I get easily embarrassed for other people, fictional or not, and so this show is somewhat difficult to watch at times.

Yesterday I had left-over garlic chicken kabobs for lunch. When I gave Aaron a kiss as I came through the door, he about fell over. "Damn," he said, "you stink!" Aaron if you're reading this: Just so you know? This is not how I like to be greeted. It flips my "bitch switch" pretty quickly.

"Bitch Switch" is my new phrase-o-the-season. We coined this during a discussion about what, if said, would set us off right away. Other phrases that flip the bitch switch? "Are you really wearing that?", "Another Snickers?", and "Maybe you should think about taking a nap." to name a few. Are there any that I've missed?

Jealousy

(Damn, now I'm going to have that "Hey, Jealousy" song stuck in my head all day.)

Aaron has today off. He took a personal day because he really needed a day off. I respect that and am glad that he is taking time for himself. That, however, does not stop me from being incredibly jealous that he is at home relaxing (even if I did have last Monday off).

Here I am at work, trying to decide if something is a process or outcome measure (I know you're jealous of my incredibly exciting life, right?) and he's at home drinking coffee and eating the homemade scones I baked this morning, while watching the morning talk shows, or more likely, watching Sports Center for the fifth or sixth time while doing fantasy sports stuff on the internet. That's the life. Last Monday when he came home I told him he needed to make more money so that I could be a stay-at-home wife. (I was joking. Kind of.) I think that it's a novelty though, and if I spent every day at home I'd be bored out of my mind. At least until we have kids, then that's a different story.

Anyway...

When I left he was still in bed. I want to be still in bed. I guess you could say it's slightly obvious that I'm still in a funky mood.

Well, I should watch it. I wouldn't want people to think I'm a whiny baby like Kanye West. Because, damn. He's the whiny-est of whiny babies.

Lazy Sunday

I love Sundays when we are just lazy and enjoying the day. That's exactly what today is. Well, okay, that's almost what today is. I'm in a pissy mood, with no clue as to why, but I am, and so I'm trying hard to enjoy the day but am failing pretty miserably.

In my attempts to do some fun things today I have:

1. Attempted making baked beans from scratch for the first time ever. They smell delicious, but I have no idea what the two of us are going to do with that many beans.

2. Gone looking for houses for sale in the neighborhood where we would like to move. Some are listed for much more than we expected, others are just about right. There's a couple that I would buy in a heartbeat if we were ready to move right away, but, alas, we must wait until our lease is up at the end of June. At least that gives us more time to save toward a big down payment. Unfortunately many of the houses I love will probably be off the market by that time.

3. Finally tried a Take 5 McFlurry. I am a huge fan Take 5 candy bars, any kind of softserve blended with candy kind of treat, and caramel sauce. I saw a long time ago that McDonald's had this treat on their menu, but have been able to resist it. Then I won a free McFlurry during the Monopoly game time this year, so I thought I'd finally try it. The McFlurry did not live up to my expectations at all. I am feeling disappointed about this.

4. Taken a long bubble bath and started a new book. This has been the best part of the day so far, but I had to get out after about 45 minutes when the water started to get cold.

Sorry if I'm being a downer. I feel like my moodiness is coming through in my words. I have no idea what has crawled up my butt lately, but I've been moody and apt to cry at any moment. It's not PMS - it's the wrong time of month for that - so I have no idea. I think I'm going to go stir my beans and then go lie in bed for a little while. Here's hoping I snap out of it soon.

Sometimes...

I wish I could assign a soundtrack to an entry. Today's soundtrack would consist of one song - "Nausea" the new single from Beck.

Last night I decided to go to the Step and Sculpt class at my gym. Friday is the easiest class of the week, so I thought that I'd be fine. Apparently the teacher decided to make this class harder than usual, because we were flying all over the place - right step, right v, turn step, turn step, over the top, diagonal, hop-turn, A step, right step, then repeat on the other side. Yeah, the sequence is stuck in my head. We did lots of other things too - this teacher is big on lunges and squats. I was fine and keeping up excellently until the end of class when we were cooling down and doing some stretches.

I've fainted a few times before, so I know the warning signs, which in my case include light-headedness and a loud ringing in my ears before the darkness creeps in from the sides. Well, I guess I forgot to breathe during one of the stretches and I felt the lightheadedness coming in. Then the ringing in my ears got really loud. So I sat my ass on the floor and put my head between my knees.

The quickest way to freak out a step instructor and the rest of the people in the class is in fact suddenly sitting down and putting your head between your knees. Oops. I guess passing out would have freaked them out more though, so they should be happy that I know the soon-to-be-fainting signs.

Luckily the class was about a minute from being over at that point (I like a dramatic ending), so I decided to head out. All of the sudden an intense feeling of impending-vomit took over the worry about passing out. It passed just as quickly as it came, but I called Aaron as soon as I got to my locker and informed him that we would not be eating chicken for dinner tonight - I don't particularly like chicken anyway, so chicken and nausea don't mix for me.

I feel bad for freaking everyone else, and of course am just about embarrassed to death. From now on my mantra during class will be this: remember to breathe. It's apparently important.

If Nasty Thoughts Could Kill...

I'd have a dead neighbor right now. Given that she has no friends in the area though, it might be a while before someone would find her, and so she'd probably start smelling up the building, and I don't want that, so I guess it's a good thing nasty thoughts can't kill.

Seriously though? I feel like I'm dead. Our neighbor downstairs kept me up almost all night. Then I woke up early. I'm ready for a nap already and it's not even 9 am yet.

Let me set the scene for you: Aaron and I had fallen asleep watching some Law & Order iteration (I think it was SVU). Now, if I fall asleep with the television on I usually wake up about 90 minutes later and have to turn it off. Aaron had the remote on his side of the bed, so I poked him to have him turn it off, thinking that's what woke me up. He rolled over and turned it off. And it got louder in our bedroom.

Being asleep, tv off = louder did not exactly compute for either of us. About a minute later Aaron got up and looked out the blinds.

"Do you see anything?" I asked.

"No. What's going on?" he replied. "Where is that noise coming from?"

"I think it's the bitch downstairs." (Oops, shouldn't have said that. That's mean. Oh, well. At that point she was being a bitch.)

"Well, let's just drown it out."

So he turned the television back on and promptly fell back asleep. Lucky. I did not fall back asleep. I dozed off, but woke up repeatedly until about 3 o'clock.

What was the noise she was making, you ask? Oh, YELLING AND LAUGHING. All night long. It's not like she's a college-aged kid that I would expect this out of. She's a middle-aged, religious, full-time-job-working woman. Who apparently likes to be really freaking loud.

This is not the first time we've had problems with her loudness. On many a night we can turn our television to TNT, turn off the sound, and still hear every word clearly from her television set. That part annoys Aaron more than it does me. I'm not in need of quiet at that time, so what do I care that she's being loud?

But this middle of the night crap? If it happens again I'm calling the leasing office on her. Again. Two more times and she's out. I'd feel bad if I weren't so damn tired right now.

Unfortunately, I'm also a big yellow-bellied wuss, and so it won't happen. But it's nice to dream.

Dream.....

God, I need some sleep.

Excitement

So, I mentioned yesterday that November is my "birthday month". As such, we've been talking gifts lately. My birthday gift from Aaron is this very computer I'm typing on right now. Yes, I know, I got it months ago. That was so that I got a present outside the less-than-one-month birthday-anniversary-Christmas extravaganza I have every year. My mom's present to me is a coat that I'd been eyeing. She bought it a few weeks ago, but I don't get it until closer to my birthday. I'm very excited about the coat, and I adore this computer, but there is one birthday present/event that I'm looking forward to more than any other.

I know I've mentioned at least once how much I love macaroni and cheese, and that for two years of my very young life, that's just about all I ate. I still love it but don't eat it nearly as often, and now am more picky about the type I eat. I'm no longer a Kraft Dinner kind of girl, but prefer the homemade type. I'll also try just about any variation. That's a good thing since, for a birthday treat, we're going to the Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula Great Macaroni and Cheese Bake-Off, which takes place the weekend after Thanksgiving. We bought tickets yesterday. So I get to eat all kinds of gourmet versions of macaroni and cheese, and not only that, I get to do it in Traverse City, one of my favorite places on this great earth. And there's wine pairings with each of the dishes. AND! It was only $15 per ticket for this event.

I think I may die and go to heaven that day. Actually, given the activity and location, I think I'll be in heaven without having to deal with the dying part. I'm just really, overly excited about some noodles and cheese.

NaBloPoMo

Well, y'all, it's the first day of National Blog Posting Month (otherwise known as NaBloPoMo), which means that this is the first of 30 days where I'll be posting every day. Really, though? I'm looking forward to reading a lot of my favorite bloggers who will now be posting every day. There's a list of those participating at the link above, and there are a lot of us participating.

So, in honor of NaBloPoMo, I thought of some ideas that would give me posting material for every day, but decided against all of them for various reasons. But! They do make for a fun blog post today! So, one down, 29 to go.

My Top Five Rejected Post Ideas for NaBloPoMo

1. A year-by-year biography of my life. Well, I thought this would be fun, but then I realized that there were some years where nothing happened (I really don't remember years 8 through 10), some years that I'd rather not remember, let alone write about, and a bunch of stuff that is more interesting that happened before I was even born.

2. A room-by-room picture diary of my apartment. This was kind of one of those things like the meme "What's in my refrigerator" that I've seen various people do. I fell asleep while I was planning this one out, so I decided if it put me to sleep I didn't need to do that to you guys too.

3. Short biographies of the important people in my life. Um, yeah. I don't have a lot of friends, so this would only take up about 9 days and that's if I really stretch it.

4. A Pictorial Series of What I Ate for Dinner. Yeah, that sounds a little too much like "What I Had for Lunch", and we all know no one cares about that.

5. Things I'm putting "On Notice". I don't have something I put on notice every day, so this wouldn't work. (However, today: Husband - You're about to be on notice. No more waking up late, taking long showers, and using all the hot water. At least you made coffee, because otherwise? Yeah, big trouble buddy.) I'm generally a pretty satisfied person, so I maybe have about 3 or 4 things to put on notice per month, unless it's a really bad month, and I'm hoping this is a great month. It is my birthday month* so it has to be good, right?

*Term made up solely to annoy my husband. For uses such as "You have to be nice to me, it's my birthday month", or "I think we should go out to dinner. I need to be spoiled, because, after all, it is my birthday month". I really don't care that it's my birthday month, it's just fun to pick on him like that.