Mrs. Ca

I've Moved

2007-08-31T16:16:00.000-04:00

I've moved to a new website, so please update your links. My new URL is www.mrsjessieca.blogspot.com.

You should be redirected there shortly. Thanks for stopping by!

Finished

2007-02-15T15:35:00.000-05:00

I think I'm done here. It's time for me to move on. I'm closing down this blog.

Like I said earlier today, I'm bored with myself, so bored that my posts contain nothing interesting, and frankly I'm amazed any of you are still here reading. I've been feeling this way for a while, and was planning on closing my blog down in about a year anyway.

Today I was put in a situation in which I had to choose what is most important to me, and this blog just isn't it any more. To be completely honest, I've lost interest lately and the only reason I've been reading some blogs is so that they will comment here. I don't know why I've placed importance on getting comments, and I think I've been continuing on here for the wrong reasons.

I will still be around reading and commenting on many of your sites, because I love reading what you all have to write. But this part is just no fun for me any more and just feels like an obligation rather than something I really want to do.

Feel free to email me if you'd like - my address is mrs.jessie.ca[at]gmail.com. If you have gmail and ever want to chat, that would be great too. There are many of you I'd love to stay in touch with. We just need new methods now.

Thanks for everything.

Signing off-
Jessie

It's Only 9 AM...

2007-02-15T08:58:00.000-05:00

...and I already want a nap. Thank goodness for coffee!

This is going to be a long day.

I can't believe it's Thursday already though. I'm really looking forward to the weekend, especially since I have Monday off for President's Day. Although, I am going to be busy all weekend because I am half-way through a baby afghan that I'd like to have done by Tuesday. I'm thinking renting movies and sitting on the couch for three days is what is in store for me.

As exciting as that sounds *dripping with sarcasm*, you'd probably be surprised to hear that I'm feeling boring this week. Nothing too incredibly new or different is happening in my life right now. I'm taking a class on evaluation methods online, and I'm really excited to be taking the class, but it's nothing to write home about. I'm excited for my trip to Florida coming up in just about a month, and my neice to be born soon after that, but that's all in the future. Right now? Life is good, but incredibly boring.

Happy Valentines Day

2007-02-14T10:27:00.000-05:00

In my family, growing up, we never really celebrated Valentines Day because it's also my brother's birthday and we didn't want to take his special day away from him. I think this makes Aaron eternally happy since he doesn't have to make a big deal about this day because I don't really care. We don't usually go out for a fancy dinner, or any other kind of date, but we do usually cook something slightly fancier and watch one of our favorite movies. We definitely don't do presents, unless they're of the flowers variety, which I don't mind at all. (Confidental to Aaron: HINT)

Tonight I'm making a fancy dinner - shrimp scampi with roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted asparagus, and molten mocha cakes. I don't even want to admit how much I had to pay for shrimp, especially since I should have thought about it ahead of time and gotten them from a local shrimp farm that's just down the road from my office. Duh! Then we'll probably watch Out Cold or Finding Nemo, and, you know, other stuff.

I actually did get a package from my mom yesterday, and in addition to some pants I left at home over Christmas and a late-arriving Christmas present (an armband for my iPod), she sent a card, some cash, a coloring book, and colored pencils. She knows the way to my heart for sure. She said she was going to send chocolates, but knew I wouldn't want them, so she sent cash instead.

Which brings me to my final point (re: not wanting the chocolates). I've decided to join some people who are doing Weight Loss Wednesdays on their blogs. I don't necessarily need to lose weight, but seeing as I've gained almost 10 pounds from this time last year, I think it's time to work on losing a little weight. I figured I could use a little encouragement from others doing this, since Aaron tells me I look fine and that he doesn't like my "diet food" (which obviously we're not having tonight). So here's my first "weigh-in" (I'm a little nervous about posting my actual weight, so please, be gentle):

My weight on:

2/7/07: 156
2/14/07: 154 (cumulative lost: 2)
Goal: 145 (9 more lbs. to go)

I'm a little nervous to see my weight tomorrow after the feast we have planned. Guess I'll have to tell Aaron we really need to work it off later. *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*

So, what do you all have planned for Valentines day? Did you get anything fun? I hope you all have a fabulous day, paired up or not, and that you get at least a little spoiled even if you have to spoil yourselves. Lord knows I'm spoiling myself by going to my favorite lunch place today for some absolutely fabulous tomato soup.

Why is this even a problem?

2007-02-13T08:23:00.000-05:00

There are four roads near my home and work that are testing my patience lately. These four roads basically make a square, and connect my home and work place, so these are roads I travel on an almost daily basis.

It's not exactly the roads that are testing my patience, I guess, but instead it's the drivers on these roads. The drivers who routinely (read: any day I'm driving behind them) go 10 to 15 miles an hour under the speed limit. Also, just to make it a little more fun, on three of these roads if I'm going the speed limit, someone is tailgating me.

There really isn't any other way to go to or from work without using at least one of these roads unless I go way out of my way, which isn't happening. It could be my general burnt-out feeling lately that is making this more annoying than it may really be, but today I had the urge to lean on my horn until the guy in front of me stopped driving 35 in a 55. That's right - today's driver in front of me was going 20(!) miles per hour under the speed limit. Also, it's a hilly road, so there's no passing zone on the entire stretch I drive, so I can't even pass the guy who was driving me nuts today.

Does this problem even exist elsewhere?

Cuteness Reinstated

2007-02-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

The cuteness is back. We were mostly fine by the time we both got home and inhaled a yummy dinner (corn dogs, baked beans and cole slaw, all homemade). I did the dishes (something he normally does, so he was happy for the respite), and then retired to bed to watch CSI and fall asleep early.

All was going pretty well until about 2 am when our downstairs neighbor (the one we repeatedly have noise problems with) either turned on her television really loud or was talking really loud, I couldn't tell which, but whatever she was doing it woke us up. Aaron got up and tried to turn off the alarm, which is what he thought the noise was. Then he got back in bed and sleepily asked, "why am I awake?" before drifting back off to sleep within about 15 minutes.

I, on the other hand, was wide awake and after 45 minutes of laying there trying to will myself back asleep I got up to go sleep on the couch. This morning we were completely back to normal. Aaron's calling our rental office today. I can't wait to see what happens.

Nothing sparks unity and togetherness like a common enemy.

He's Too Cute

2007-02-08T09:19:00.000-05:00

Last night Aaron was cooking dinner while I was sitting on the couch trying to get warm under a blanket. From the kitchen he asked me a question and then stopped halfway through his sentence to sing along with the song that was playing at that moment on our CD player.

Even though it makes him self-conscious, and I know this, I couldn't help but laugh, because it was adorable.

Two nights ago we were talking about something, I don't remember what, and we were both distracted while having this conversation. My attention snapped back to what he was saying when these words came out of his mouth, "But does it have a specific porpoise?"

Again, I couldn't help but laugh, but this time he laughed with me. We've been making porpoise/dolphin jokes ever since.

Despite all this cuteness, we had a non-fight kind of fight last night, where things were said and feelings were hurt and we just quit talking for the rest of the night. This morning we both acted as if nothing had happened, but things were still tense between us.

I want the cuteness back.

Indulgences

2007-02-07T08:36:00.000-05:00

It's the dead of winter, and I'm feeling like hibernating, snuggling with Aaron, and not much else. Here are some other ways I make it through this time of year:

Some people like to sleep in, but I like to go to bed early. I get to do it more often than I'd get to sleep in. I'm a morning person anyway, so it's not like the sleeping in ever happens. On a good day I can sleep in until seven, but even that's rare.
Our down comforter is heavy, thick, and puts you in a snuggly mood. There's nothing better at the end of a cold day than to get into a warm, comfy bed.
A cup of hot tea about an hour before bedtime relaxes me like almost nothing else. And Tension Tamer tea? Almost puts me to sleep. It's wonderful.
Weekends are the only time I don't eat breakfast in bed. I eat it while I watch the beginning of the Today show, to see what happened in the world while I was asleep. After that it's almost impossible to be in a bad mood.
Some weekends I make a double batch of Belgian waffles. Even though we can't even come close to finishing a single batch, the rest are stored in the refrigerator and we toast them like Eggos the rest of the week. They're so much better than the store-bought variety. You can do the same thing with pancakes. Hot breakfasts are such a great way to start the day when it's so cold outside.
My favorite way to eat oatmeal for breakfast: with peanut butter and raisins stirred in. Try it, you might like it. It's a filling breakfast and should hold you through until at least lunch time.
The recipe in my sidebar is my new favorite indulgence, but probably shouldn't be made on any sort of a regular basis, because it's not like they're the healthiest dessert ever. But, yes, molten mocha cakes - they're easy and quick to make, doesn't make enough for leftovers, really, and oh, so delicious. You definitely feel spoiled when you cut into one of those.

What are your favorite indulgences this time of year?

Just In Time

2007-02-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

I haven't talked about it much on here, but Aaron's brother and his wife are having a baby sometime in April. We're a little fuzzy on the dates because Aaron's been the one relaying the information to me and for some reason it doesn't seem as important to him as it really is. I've been bugging him to get the pertinent information, i.e. due date, sex of the baby, etc., for some time now, but he always "forgets" to ask.

Anyway, the baby shower is this weekend and I'm getting really excited. I decided this past weekend that I would buy them a few things off their registry, plus some diapers, and I'm also making a no-sew fleece blanket. My plan was to buy the fabric tonight between work and my hair appointment, and then get to work tonight once I got home. Seeing as so far there was no word on whether I will have a niece or nephew, I was torn between buying fabric to match their favorite sports team (University of Michigan Football), or something yellow and babyish.

Well, just in time, Aaron got a message this morning from his brother. Drumroll please.........

In just a few short months I will have a NIECE!

And even though I'm not necessarily all for decking babies out in full "gender appropriate" colors: Adorable pink and purple fleece, here I come!

I'm so excited!

He Didn't Really, Did He?

2007-02-05T10:07:00.000-05:00

Friday night we were out and about, and since it was really freaking cold I was waiting in the car while Aaron was running into a store to pick something up. As he left the car, he said to me, "You know how to lock the doors, right?"

I shot him a look that basically said, "Did you really just ask me that?", and then pushed the lock button the wrong way so that I unlocked all the doors instead of locking them.

I guess I deserved that question.
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What did you think of the Superbowl commercials last night? I wasn't too impressed to be honest. There were a few really funny ones (the Doritos one where the guy rear-ended someone because he was looking at a pretty girl, the Snickers one, and the K-Fed Nationwide one), but most commercials seemed to be for CBS shows. Did anyone else notice that too?

We were more excited for the food I made than the game anyway. Our spread included chili, veggies and dip, and molten mocha cakes. So good, and just what I needed on a freezing cold day.

OMG, Finally!

2007-02-02T08:33:00.000-05:00

I have been waiting for Friday all week and it has taken its sweet time getting here, it seems. But now it's Friday, and I'm happy, and also only working a half day today due to travelling into the night on Monday and Tuesday. Woohoo!

So in honor of Friday (Woohoo!) I'm doing it up bullet-style:

* The other night I was preparing Aaron for what he was supposed to make for dinner last night. The menu included Pasta Ameritriciana (a quick and easy tomato bacon sauce with linguine, which turned out wonderfully), a green salad, and garlic bread. I told him he had a choice between the texas toast garlic bread and garlic breadsticks.

Well, apparently "garlic breadsticks" are the magic words, because his face immediately lit up. "You got garlic breadsticks? They're my favorite!"

"They are?" I asked. "Why did you ever tell me that before? I would buy them more often if I knew."

"Well, you like the garlic toast and I want you to be happy and so I eat the garlic toast and that's fine."

It would seem I'm not the only one with the pleasing-other-people-while-sacrificing-my-own-needs problem in our house.

* This morning on the local news the anchor stated, "It's cold out there! You might want to turn up your thermostat!" Um, yeah. It's been cold, like 20s and teens cold for a couple of weeks now. It's in the single digits, yes, but isn't the point of a thermostat to keep it at a roughly steady temperature no matter what the weather's like outside? Do I have this wrong?

* I am a major geek. I have already pre-ordered the newest Harry Potter book. I also told Aaron he had to start reading the first one now so that he could be done with the series up till the new book by the time I'm done with the new book and the he can read it and we can be excited together. He looked at me like I was diseased or something. It's possible that I am, I guess. I have Potter-itis, and I've got the itch for the new book. I can't wait!

Tantrum

2007-02-01T08:45:00.000-05:00

As I still haven't quite recovered from the being horribly busy thing, I wanted to share something with you.

It's this video.

I actually saw a promo for it on the Today show yesterday and then watched it last night, and I have to say I'm completely horrified. The video is supposedly of a bride on her wedding day (the Today show people thought it might be fake, and for the sake of the woman in the video, I sure hope so) who has a bad hair style. So she starts trying to undo the style, and is screaming and crying. Then, even though her friends try to stop her, she starts cutting off her hair. Finally she starts hysterically screaming, asking why they let her do this, and stating that there's no way she could get married like that. She's completely unhinged, and it's painful to watch.

Although I've never been quite that bad, I've had my moments where I've become completely unhinged as well. I've cried and screamed and thrown temper tantrums as an adult, and I am embarrassed about it. I'm sure I'm not the only one and thankfully it hasn't happened in a while, but I'm sure it will happen again.

I have memories from when I was young of my mom completely losing it on us. My siblings and I would be fighting, screaming, or just being completely obnoxious, and she'd just lose it on us. There are scars in the house that remind us of these times; the dent in the counter top from where she repeatedly banged a pot on the counter to try and get us to please, for the love of God, shut up!

When she'd lose it, we'd lose it too. It was scary to see her like that. We'd be sent to our rooms and we'd run there crying and scared and wanting to cling to one another. We'd be scared of her for the rest of the day, tip-toeing around the house once we were finally freed from our rooms, and not doing much of anything so that we wouldn't incur her wrath again.

This is not to say it was a common experience, or that she was abusive in any way; she absolutely wasn't. She's an awesome mom, always has been, but she sometimes couldn't cope for a few minutes. I've seen Aaron after I have had one of my fits, and he's doing the same tip-toe thing, trying to avoid anything that could possibly make me unhappy, but at the same time he doesn't really feel like being close to me either just in case I explode all over again.

We learn a lot from our parents on how to be adults. I try to focus on the positive things they've taught me, and there are many, but sometimes the negatives peek out. As Aaron and I get closer and closer to the decision we're ready to become parents, these things worry me even more. I want to be the best role model I can be, but I know there will be times I can't cope and that there will be times when I might feel like I'm losing my mind. I just hope that I can keep it under control better than I have in the past. I'm just as scared as I am excited at the thought of being a parent.

The Word of the Day

2007-01-31T10:07:00.000-05:00

Is "exhausted". I feel like I've been either in an airport or on a plane for 48 hours. I got home at a little after 8 pm last night, ate some dinner, drank a couple of glasses of wine and was asleep at around 9:30. It was pretty much "Hi Honey! I'm getting drunk and passing out! I've missed you too! Zzzzzz...."

I hope it was good for him too.

The trip was great, the meeting was actually interesting, and I had a lot of fun getting to know my co-worker and her baby better. And if I thought I wanted a baby before, I definitely want one now. She charmed everyone and was delightful the whole time. And adorable. Of course, adorable.

On a completely unrelated subject (since I'm exhausted and my attention span is suffering because of that), have you been watching Top Chef this season? The finale is tonight. I have no idea who is going to win the competition, but I think I'm firmly on the Ilan side of things as for who I want to win. Should be interesting, especially if I can stay up long enough to watch it. I may have to have caffeine for dinner so that I can make that happen.

And....on to topic #3. So yeah, I was in Minnesota, in January, and it was as cold as you would think it would be. 2 degrees with a wind chill that was definitely below zero. It was a beautiful clear day and the sun was shining, but I think that's what made it colder - when there's no cloud layer to keep the heat in, the heat all just leaves. And hey, at least now I know what to expect in a couple of days weather-wise.

I'm supposed to be working...

2007-01-28T10:08:00.000-05:00

but instead I'm uploading some photos.

We had a big bag of undeveloped film that we decided to take in this week. There were pictures from early in our relationship, pictures from before we even knew each other (and we've been together since the beginning of 2001), and other pictures that I knew were in there, but wasn't sure I wanted to see.

I know I've written about my car accident on this site numerous times. Now I finally have the pictures to back up my story. This is my car, post-running into the back of a much bigger truck.

The bumper is tucked under the hood, apparently for safe traveling. You can see exactly where I hit the guy's hitch and it pushed back.

Let this be a lesson to you - as ridiculous as it sounds, people do sometimes stop on freeway on-ramps. I was looking to see if I could merge onto the freeway when the car two ahead of me slammed on its brakes. Then the guy in front of me slammed on his brakes. Since I was looking out my side window I didn't see this and plowed right into him going about 40 or 50 miles an hour. Not fun. The only thing that happened to his truck was that it had pieces of my car in its bed.

Aaron was a little miffed at me for wrecking the car before he saw it. He thought it was just a little fender bender. When he saw it he wasn't mad anymore. He also realized why everyone who was at the scene kept asking me if I was sure I was okay. I didn't even get whiplash, I think because I didn't see it coming so I didn't have a chance to tense up. I did have a bruise from the seatbelt across my shoulder, but that's it. I was lucky.

And now for something a little less stressful (for me at least); a couple days ago when I wrote my proposal story I got a couple of requests for a picture of my engagement ring, so here it is:

It's aquamarine. I wanted something a little different than the "normal" engagement ring, and we had fallen in love with a similar ring when we were on vacation once. Unfortunately the similar ring was a blue diamond and cost about $25,000; a little out of our price range to say the least. This is just as pretty, in my opinion. It's a little big now so I don't wear it as much because I'm completely paranoid and terrified about losing it.

I'm going to be on a business trip in Minnesota on Monday and Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to it for some reason. Could it be the cold? Probably. It's probably also about being away from Aaron for a night (yes I'm sappy, and I'm okay about that), the plane ride (I'm not a big fan), and a boring 5 hour meeting. Although my co-worker is bringing her baby and I'm really excited about that. She asked if I minded that the baby was coming with us. My reply was, "There's a chance I might get to hold the baby. I don't mind at all."

Weekend Plans (are sometimes not exciting at all)

2007-01-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

The end of January has snuck up on me, and I am suddenly even more busy at work, even (probably, unfortunately) having to work over the weekend. My least favorite. Then I have to hop a flight on Monday to Minnesota and I'll be there for just a skotch under 24 hours.

Other than that my weekend plans include laundry, cleaning house, grocery shopping, making mint chocolate chip ice cream, maybe having some friends over to eat said ice cream because I promised I would, and probably some crocheting. I'll definitely be avoiding the outdoors because it's cold here. Not like it's not cold elsewhere, but it actually hurts my skin to be outdoors today. It's no fun at all. Hibernation seems like the best way to spend the weekend. It's really that cold.

You wish you were me, don't you?

So, I need to live vicariously through all of you. To steal an idea from Linda over at All & Sundry, what are you doing this weekend? I want to hear all about it.

A Proposal Story

2007-01-25T08:34:00.000-05:00

Three years ago today at about 11:30 pm, Aaron knelt down on my favorite pair of jeans and asked me to marry him. What, you want more of a story than that? Okay, here's the long version:

A little over three years ago, I found the engagement ring I wanted. I was out shopping by myself, and saw it. It fit perfectly, which I took as an omen, so I got the number on the tag of the ring and slipped it to Aaron when I got home. He and I had talked for a long time about getting married, but he wanted to wait a little bit longer to propose. Until he had a better job, he said, and he had a little bit of money saved up.

A couple of weeks later we were out shopping together for Christmas gifts, when we passed the store where I had found my ring. I dragged him in there to show him, but it was gone. I was completely bummed, and he was too. We talked about getting engaged a little more and he said it would probably happen around March, because he'd been working on saving up some money to buy a ring, and he figured he'd have enough saved by then.

Fast forward to this date in 2004. Aaron and I were set to go to our friends' house to help them stuff their wedding invitations, and then go to a play after that. As we were leaving our house, I asked if I could tell people there that he was my fiance, since technically we knew we were getting married, it just wasn't "official" yet. He said no, not today.

So we went, we stuffed envelopes, and we went to the play. We walked out of the theatre doors after the play was over and were met by temperatures below zero. It was FREEZING, to say the least. Aaron looked disappointed for some reason, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. He wouldn't tell me, either, so I didn't press it. He was quiet the whole way home (about a 90 minute drive), while I was chattering away, oblivious to his major scheme.

Once we got home, I was exhausted. It was way past my bedtime, and I had had a couple of glasses of wine, so I had to hit the bathroom first thing after we walked in the door. While I was headed there, Aaron shouted after me, "Where are you going?"

"I have to pee!" I replied over my shoulder as I ran to the closest bathroom.

After I was done there, and since I was really very tired, I decided to head up to bed.

"Where are you going now?" Aaron asked.

"To bed. It's late, and I have to work in the morning."

He seemed distressed, but frankly, at that moment I felt too tired to care very much. He followed me up the stairs. I went into the bedroom which was strewn with a couple of discarded outfits I had tried on but decided against earlier in the day. As I was taking off my earrings, he knelt down on the floor next to me, right on top of my favorite pair of jeans which I had carelessly left there.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Jessie, I love you. Will you marry me?"

Then he opened up a ring box that contained the very ring I thought had been purchased by someone else. He had it all along. Sneaky guy!

"Are you kidding me?" was my response. Mostly because he was such a sneaky guy, and I couldn't believe he had the ring.

Then I kissed him.

"Not exactly the response I was looking for," he said, looking at me like he was expecting something more.

"OF COURSE I'LL MARRY YOU!" I cried, while literally crying.

And that's how my wonderful husband proposed to me.

He wanted to propose on the stairs in front of the theatre but figured it was too cold, and that's why he looked disappointed on the way home. I truly had no idea what he had planned for that night. He always claims that I ruin his surprises, which I often do, but that day he completely surprised me and I'm so glad he did.

On to the next one...

2007-01-24T09:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's post was kind of, well, heavy. Sorry for that. So let's focus on something different, since I'm not nearly as blue as I implied yesterday. In fact I'm in a great mood today, and I have no idea why. Could it be the chocolate cake I made last night? Possibly.

Last night on the way home from the gym (early because I was mad due to every cardio machine being in use for over 40 minutes...grrr...) I was trying to decide what I wanted to eat for dinner. The only thing that kept popping into my head was chocolate, specifically, the recipe I had seen over the weekend for Emergency Chocolate Cake (the recipe is at that link, but the cooking temperature is 350 degrees, not 30 as that site lists). I mixed it while our dinner was cooking, threw it in the oven, and it was done just in time for our dinner to have settled enough so we had room for the cake. It was very light and fluffy, only slightly chocolatey, but delicious warm with some whipped cream on top. The chocolate craving was definitely an emergency last night and this cake fit the bill.
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Scenes from this morning:

Scene 1
Setting: kitchen
Me: You know what tomorrow is, right?
Him: Hmmm *thinks for a minute* Oh! 2 years...
Me: 3
Him: 3 years since the day I proposed!
Me: Right! Is that why you wanted to go out to dinner tomorrow night?
Him: No
Me: *sending telepathic waves that he could lie about it, look good for remembering, and totally get away with it*
Him: Yes! Of course! That's why!

Scene 2
Setting: Bathroom, getting ready for the day.
Me: Yesterday morning I couldn't find my brown heels that I had worn the day before, and I looked all over for them, but finally decided that I must have left them at the gym. So, when I got to the gym I checked the lost and found and they didn't have them, and then I looked in the locker where I thought I left them, and they weren't there, so I was bummed. But then I figured, yeah, I'm bummed, but they're just shoes right? I'll get over it. So then I unpacked my gym bag and there they were at the bottom of the bag. I felt like such an idiot!
Him: At least you felt like what you were.
Me: Hey!
Him: *walks away chuckling to himself*
Me: *plotting a way to get him back later, because payback is a bitch, man*

Something Different

2007-01-23T09:48:00.000-05:00

The past few weeks have flown by and I even commented once "It's Friday already?" This week is not the same. It feels like a Thursday, but unfortunately it's not. Dealing with insomnia is definitely not making the week go by any faster either.

It's cold and grey here, and I've been thinking a lot about last winter. Last winter, when I didn't sleep for two months. Last winter, when my ear issues were new and frustrating, and I felt hopeless. Last winter, when I had to take days off of work because I couldn't bring myself to get out of bed, not because I was tired, but simply because I didn't have the will to do so. Last winter, when there were dark thoughts that scared my husband when they finally came to the surface. Last winter, when certain medications started looking like the best option instead of the last resort.

Last March was the hardest month I've ever lived through, and frankly, last April I was surprised that I had. In April I told my husband that he'd better get me pregnant by this time next year so that maybe having something else to concentrate on would keep me out of my yearly winter funk that had been way more than a funk last year.

Well, we aren't pregnant, but we are doing some things that I'm hoping will make this late winter something different than last, because I'm petrified of being that way again. This winter I'm taking a class for work. An online class, but a class all the same, and hopefully a good distraction. We're also going to Florida for a week and a half, the same week and a half that I almost didn't make it through just a year ago. I'm hoping some sunshine and warmth will be the best medicine.

I'm incredibly excited for this trip, mostly because I've never been to Florida, and I'm looking forward to a long break from the daily grind. But I'm also excited because I think it will help get me out of that dark place if I start to go there again. Last year the beginning of the end of the mega-funk was a trip to the beach, albeit a cold beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, but it was a sunny day and I felt a little hopeful again. I haven't felt the funk coming on yet, but the grey days have just begun and I'm scared.

Double the Pain

2007-01-22T07:41:00.000-05:00

I had to change the channel after about 45 minutes of American Idol the other night because it was just too painful to watch. I can't handle watching people doing something that, if not embarrassing to them, is definitely embarrassing to me. It was the Seattle night, and there were those two friends who definitely weren't going to Hollywood - the little guy with the huge eyes who thought he was a member of N'Sync, and his more rotund, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing friend. They were both painful to watch, and then Simon made it worse by making fun of the way they looked.

This has become a big deal apparently. Yes, I agree with many, that this is a singing competition, and that if Simon didn't have anything nice to say about other aspects (no matter their importance) he shouldn't have said anything at all.

Well, those two friends were just on the Today show this morning, and it was painful and embarrassing all over again. Good public speakers, they are not. Definitely not. I had to mute it because I was cringing so much. I can understand (maybe) starting a dialog about this, but giving these guys additional minutes of fame? I don't think it's necessary. But, after giving William Hung way more than his 15 minutes, should I really expect anything else?

D'oh!

2007-01-19T10:16:00.000-05:00

We've been having a problem with one of our cars for a little while now. Nothing serious, just an annoying light (BRAKE!) that pops on and stays on about every other time the car is driven. So, yes. Not a big problem (we hoped) but still slightly worrisome. Also, the car's manual says that you need to have the car checked right away if this happens.

We had this problem once before when we were driving through a nasty storm and our car was hit by lightning (that was a fun experience), and the light came on and stayed on. Since we knew the cause we weren't too worried about the problem, and it was fixed by some guy at the shop resetting some switch and sending us on our merry way.

This time we didn't know the cause, and as the light started coming on with greater frequency, we started to worry that maybe there really was something wrong with the brakes. This is the car that I had the major front end collision in, so we're always a little worried that it's going to fall apart on us.

Anyway, (I've dragged this on for much longer than the story is interesting; sorry) Aaron finally got worried enough to take the car into the shop this morning. He got there, they topped off the brake fluid, and sent him on his merry way. This was incredibly embarrassing for him, a car guy who couldn't figure out what was wrong when he looked. Glad we spent that money!

Wrong. Just, Wrong.

2007-01-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday at work I had to call a woman who works at a nursing home. I called said nursing home to reach her, and the receptionist put me on hold while the woman I needed to talk to was being paged. At first I wasn't really paying attention to the ads that were being played in place of hold music, but then one caught my ear:

"Our cremation services are friendly and affordable!"

Really? What if I were a person who was calling the home because my loved one was on their deathbed? What if my loved one had already died? While I was mostly shocked and amused, someone else could have been offended or gotten really upset.

Maybe they should reconsider who they sell ad space to. I mean, I know that death is an inevitability, and the likelihood that people in the nursing home will die before me is high, but do I really need to think about that while I'm on hold? Especially when it's an upbeat, happy ad, which promises me they'll take care of my loved one on the cheap?

I don't think so.
**************************************************************************
I have a choice to make, and since my husband's habits are rubbing off on me and I'm no longer quite as impulsive as I used to be, I'm doing some research on my choices. This is where you all come in. I need some opinions or information on your experience.

I want to get a new magazine (big decision, no? I'm so lame). I think I've narrowed my choices down to two: O Magazine (Oprah's magazine) or Real Simple. So, do you read either of these two on a regular basis? Which do you think will be more useful and entertaining? I thought about getting Martha Stewart Living, but decided against it for two reasons; 1) been there, done that; and 2) already get Everyday Food, and so I don't want all my periodical reading to be of the Martha Stewart persuasion.

So what do you think? Which of those two should I choose? Or am I totally missing the boat on some other great magazine?

(I should also mention that I just ended subscriptions to Cosmo, Gourmet, and Cooking Light, so I'm not interested in any of those.)

Healthy Food Obsession: Thwarted

2007-01-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

Last night I was exhausted when I got home. I had only slept about 3 hours the night before, had a crazy busy day at work, and then hit the gym for 30+ minutes on the elliptical. Suffice it to say, I was not in the mood to cook dinner last night.

Usually when I'm like that, Aaron will throw together some sandwiches or something. Last night apparently he didn't want to throw together some sandwiches or something, so when he went into the kitchen to grab something for us to eat, he came back with a giant bowl of Cheetos for us to share (you would think he'd remember how dangerous that is when my mood is sub-par, but apparently he didn't). Then, since Cheetos were not enough of a dinner to fill me up, I had a small scoop of ice cream and a giant chocolate chip cookie to round out my less-than-square meal. Aaron opted for a different dessert: three rolls of Life Savers. That's right. THREE ROLLS of Life Savers. It was one of those days when he lived up to my nickname for him: The Candy Monster.

After reading that you probably wouldn't believe me when I tell you that we've been working hard at eating healthy, including lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe tonight will be better.

Well, Shoot

2007-01-16T10:25:00.000-05:00

No surprises over here. Still crazy busy. Also, freezing cold. The high temperature here today is in the teens. Perfect weather for staying inside.

Yesterday when Aaron got to work, he only got in ten minutes before the power shut off. They had big ice storms in the town where his office is located and there are thousands without power. I can't imagine having no power to run my furnace in this weather; I'm sure there are a lot of cold people down there.

Anyway, since there was still no power at noon yesterday, and since the office was getting too cold to work in, he was sent home for the rest of the day. We had a lovely afternoon; we went grocery shopping and then Aaron played his new favorite computer game while I baked chocolate chip cookies and deep dish pizza from scratch. Then we settled in to eat all the amazing food (I'm truly loving my new/borrowed America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook) and watch our Monday night shows.

Aaron had to call in this morning to see if the power was still off, because if it was he didn't have to go in today. It might sound horrible for me to say this, but I prayed, hoped, wished, and kept my fingers crossed that the power would still be off, just for his neighborhood which is all industry. He's beyond stressed out lately and he needs a nice long break. I was hoping he didn't have to wait for our vacation in March because things will ease up before then, but it looks like that's the case, because the power was back on when he called. I'll just have to find other ways to relax him, I guess.

On a completely unrelated note, I just got an email that they want me to pose for a picture for our annual report at work since I wrote one of the articles (copied and pasted from the work plan is more like it, but still, I put it together). This really sucks because this is my bloated, sure to get a pimple week. At least I have a brow waxing scheduled for tomorrow night. Thank goodness for that!

Thank Goodness for Snow Days

2007-01-15T07:56:00.000-05:00

Do you want to know what I love? I love three day weekends. Especially those when your extra day falls on a day when there's horrible weather (freezing rain, snow, sleet, ice) outside. It's the perfect day to stay inside and cook a warm and satisfying dinner (still have to figure out what to cook), and also to do laundry since I'm a lazy slob and have an overflowing hamper that I should have addressed on Saturday.

No worries though. I'm up early and have plenty of time to kill.

So anyway, the costume party on Friday night was a lot of fun. I love hanging out with these friends because they make me laugh incredibly hard. I wasn't drinking because I've been feeling under the weather, but even without alcohol (which is usually the case anyway because every party has beer and nothing else and I can't drink beer) it was a blast.

Here's Aaron as Dave Grohl:

His was my favorite costume of the night, but I may be a little biased. One (very drunk) guy at the party walked up to him, and the following conversation (that totally cracked me up) occurred:

Drunk Guy: Hey, you look like that guy!
Aaron as Dave Grohl: Um, Dave Grohl?
DG: No, the guy from Foo Fighters. The lead guy....Dave something?
AaDG: Dave Grohl?
DG: Yeah! Dave Grohl!
AaDG: Well, good. Because that's who I'm dressed up to look like.
DG: I like Kurt Cobain better.
AaDG: Um, okay then.

Anyway, here's me as Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley's character from Cheers):

My favorite part was that the shoulder pads weren't high enough for my liking, so I pinned "falsies" to the shoulders to make them even higher. When I sat down? It looked like my shoulders were trying to swallow my head. It was awesome.

At least we dressed up, because there were plenty of people who didn't, which was disappointing. We didn't get a picture of my favorite costume, which was the hostess dressed up as Jon Benet Ramsey. She looked a lot like her. The other best costume was actually horrible. It was a guy dressed up as John Wayne Bobbit, but I won't post pictures because they are incredibly inappropriate. He kept freaking people out with his costume, which is part of what made the party a laugh riot.

I'm glad we headed out, no matter how crappy I felt, because that's about the only thing we did all weekend. The big news, though, is that we finally have snow! Like, multiple inches. Of course it's covering about an inch of ice so it's a little dangerous to go out and enjoy the snow, but hey. It's here. Our likelihood of making it out to go cross country skiing just increased by a bunch, which makes me incredibly happy.

Of Course

2007-01-12T09:13:00.000-05:00

Of course I'm coming down with a cold right before the first party we've been invited to on quite some time. I have a sore throat, a ton of sinus pressure and just generally feel like crap. I'm going to soldier on though. I have to. I bought a costume.

It has been decided that I will go as Kirstie Alley's Cheers character Rebecca Howe.

She always seemed like she was dressed a little too pretentiously for the bar, so I bought a long black skirt, black pumps and a purple suit jacket (with huge shoulder pads) from a thrift store last night. I'll also be wearing my pearls, being thankful I'm in need of an eyebrow waxing because they currently fit this character, and wearing purple blush in a line below my cheekbones. I also have to figure out what to do with my hair because it's significantly shorter, but I think I can pull something together.

Despite being sick and feeling crappy, I'm super excited about going out tonight. We've been trying to be less hermit-like and make new friends, and this party is at the house of some new-ish friends. It should be a blast, and I'm taking my camera so I'll have lots of fun shots to share. I just can't believe we're actually leaving the house on a Friday night. That never happens.

Panic

2007-01-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning in my least favorite way: in a panic. We're having a going away party today for one of my co-workers (my favorite co-worker to be exact; I'm very sad), and I woke up thinking I forgot to invite one very important other co-worker. In the end it just so happens that I did remember to invite her, so the panic was unwarranted, but I did forget to invite someone else I should have invited. People should not put me in charge of things like this when I'm really busy with other things. The end result is not as good as it should be.

It's been a really busy week and I'm happy it's almost over. I have a lot of things to attend to this weekend, including the absolutely huge pile of laundry in my hamper and taking down the Christmas tree; something that should have been done a couple of weeks ago. I'm still catching up from the Holidays and it's still driving me nuts. This was my first full week back at work and so I'm finally feeling a little more in the swing of things. Then they go and throw another 3-day weekend in the mix and I'm going to get all thrown off again.

Not that I'm complaining about the 3-day weekend, because I'm not. I love 3-day weekends, and wish I had more of them. I'm spending my extra day off (MLK, Jr. Day on Monday) visiting my sister for her birthday. I'm planning on taking her out to lunch and then having her show me around her sorority house and maybe hang watch a movie or something. I'd like to be home before dark because I don't like driving on the freeway, and have a hard time driving at night. Two things that I think lead to my giant panic attack last year when I went to visit her on her birthday. So I'm a little nervous about that too. I need to not think about it and maybe I'll be fine. Really what I need is to spend the weekend chilling out so that I'm not such a huge exposed ball of nerves.

Florida Dreamin'

2007-01-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

First things first, you can still post on the last two posts; either by delurking on this one or by helping me with a costume idea (help! I need help!) on this one.

Over the past few days Aaron and I have been discussing when we're going to take our trip to Florida to see his parents. Scheduling this trip is tricky for several reasons, including:

1) We can't go in April, because Aaron's brother and his wife are having a baby in April and so his parents will most likely be here.
2) I'm taking an online class for work that goes from February 12th to the end of March. We don't know how much work this will require me to do (probably an hour or two per day), so we don't know how it will affect our travel plans.
3) We'd like to go sooner rather than later.
4) I have a business trip at the end of this month which falls right in the time Aaron originally wanted to go.
5) We can't go in the second half of March because one of my coworkers goes on maternity leave then and so it will just be too busy to go away at that time.
6) We're flying with an airline that only flies on Mondays and Fridays and has 3 fares, $69, $99, and $139 (each way), and Aaron wants to avoid the more expensive fare, so our travel days are limited that way.

Do you think we could make this any more difficult on ourselves?

Anyway, we're trying to figure it out because we really want to get down there. Throw in the fact that winter really has arrived (snowy and really freaking cold here right now) and then the fact that I found out one of my very best friends from college lives about 20 minutes away from my in-law's house and wants to take us partying in Miami while we're there, and I'm about to run down to Florida if I have to, just to get there as soon as possible.

Yeah, I'm slightly excited. And did I mention I've never been to Florida before? Because I haven't. And now I have to go about once a year. I already love my in-laws and now I have even more reason to want to go visit them.

I am really just too excited.

Until I think about all the gym and diet time I'm going to have to put in between now and then. At least I have new motivation to get my butt to the gym and not eat bad-for-me food (like the delicious macaroni and cheese I had last night, which truly was about the most delicious macaroni and cheese I've ever had).

But still. Excited!

Two Things Tuesday

2007-01-09T08:48:00.000-05:00

First, if you haven't delurked yet, feel free to do so on yesterday's post.

Secondly, I need some help from you all. I have a birthday/costume party to go to this weekend and I need help figuring out what to go as. You see I have to dress up as a famous Dave, Becki, John, or Kurt (or any variation of one of these names, i.e. David, Rebecca, Jonathan, Jean, Johann, etc.), and I have no idea what to do.

("No more with the sneaky wet willie attacks.

I have thwarted your evil plans!")

My lovely husband (pictured above, just because I had to share this photo) is going as Dave Grohl (and will most likely be getting lucky that night because my number one rockstar crush is on Dave Grohl - TMI? Sorry!). We're spraying his hair black, shaving his beard down, and he'll be wearing his "Rock" shirt, his guitar hero guitar, and talking about how much he likes to effing scream and how he ate some food that gave him intestinal problems last night. It will be awesome.

The only idea I have so far is to go as Kurt Cobain, so we're kind of a pair. For this costume I would have to wear flannel, a longjohn shirt, and torn jeans, but also dye my hair blonde, which I'm not sure I want to do.

(Or, I just realized, I could try to find a blonde wig. that would probably be a little less drastic, huh?)

Then I would have to make sure said blonde hair is in my face all night. It would be a good excuse to buy a new pair of Chucks though.

So, yes. Can you think of a better idea of someone I could go as? I'm getting desperate as the party is only a few days away and other people have way better ideas than I do.

Oooh, I just thought of another idea. I could wear the same kind of clothes, but make my hair into a mullet (just pin back the sides and top somehow) and be Kurt Russell. There has to be someone more obscure though. And also, am I the only one who pictures Patrick Swazye when I'm trying to conjure up a mental picture of Kurt Russell? Must be a similar mullet issue.

Delurk: Just Do It

2007-01-08T12:14:00.000-05:00

Hey! Guess what! Not that you haven't seen this everywhere else already, but: It's Delurking Week! (And I totally overused exclamation points for this paragraph!)

So, yes. Delurk! I know there are at least a few of you out there that visit daily and don't comment. I'm a compulsive stat-checker some days, so I see you out there not commenting and stuff. In an effort to make commenting on this post more fun, why don't you delurk with this info (but only if you want to):

1. What's your favorite color? (me: obnoxiously, it's pink)

2. Leggings: yay or nay? (me: nay. Also on the nay list? Leg warmers, which I totally saw someone wearing this weekend.

3. What is your favorite, good, but oh-so-bad for you snack food? (me: cheetoes and coke all the way baby!)

Winter Starts

2007-01-08T07:31:00.000-05:00

Well, the work onslaught continues, and most likely will for the rest of the month, but I'm okay with that. There's not much else to do around here in January, so it's cool.

In other, fairly exciting, news, winter has finally decided to grace us with its presence. The weather outside, it is crappy and makes me want to stay in bed under mounds of blankets to counteract the mounds of snow that are outside. We love it though, and a common saying around here is, "If it's going to be cold, then it should at least snow." Which is exactly what happened: it got cold yesterday morning (finally!) and then it started snowing yesterday evening, and hasn't stopped since.

But anyway, I'm here at work at 7:30 for a reason (and not just because we had to take my car to the shop at 7). Did anyone else finally get winter this weekend?

!!!

2007-01-05T07:56:00.000-05:00

12 hours worth of work to do today + 8 hours in which to do it =

No blog post today

This month is going to be hellish.

Bad Ideas

2007-01-04T09:15:00.000-05:00

Bad Idea #1: Doing a new aerobics class after not having been to the gym in over a week and only going once per week in the two weeks before that.

Bad Idea #2: Deciding to go with a weighted bar that's a higher weight than the one you normally use for the lifting/squating portion of said class.

Bad Idea #3: Doing all of this the night after you didn't really sleep anyway.

Bad Idea #4: Eat a big, heartburn-inducing meal right after said class.

Bad Idea #5: Go to bed early, because laying down helps with the heartburn thing, right?

To say that I'm not feeling 100% today would be an understatement. Good thing I have loads of work to do on top of two parties (one baby shower mid-day and one going away party tonight). I might be dead by tomorrow. Also, I'm never going that long without going to the gym again. I could definitely feel how out of shape I got in just those few weeks.

Revisiting the Past (few entries)

2007-01-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back at work after a 4-day weekend and a sleepless night. We'll see how that whole "work harder at work" resolution goes. I'm hoping well, but I'm not holding my breath.

I didn't get the afghan done in time for my co-worker's baby shower tomorrow. I kind of bummed that I didn't get it done, but also kind of relieved because there's this one wonky corner of the blanket that looks really bad, and I think I'm just going to have to call this one a practice blanket and give it to any future daughters I may have to use for their dolls.

This past weekend I made ice cream using the ice cream maker I got as a Christmas present from my parents. Or, should I say, I attempted to make ice cream. It kind of turned out, but I had the mixture too cold when I put it in the machine so it froze too fast, and we're not fans of the recipe I tried. One of our favorite desserts is banoffee pie, which is a really, truly delicious recipe. We bought an ice cream cookbook last weekend, and one of the reasons we chose this cookbook was because it had a recipe for banana toffee (or banoffee) ice cream in it, and as soon as we saw it, we were sold. Maybe we should have tried something else first, because the recipe created ice cream that is just way too banana-y to eat. I'm going to try a different recipe (vanilla honey) this weekend. I really hope this one goes better.

I was much less forgetful over this past weekend, however, that could just be because I infrequently had my rear off the couch. Well, no, I take that back. I was much less forgetful over the past day or so.

On Saturday morning I decided to try a recipe for German Pancakes I saw over at Deb's site, and totally messed it up at first. You see, there's 2/3 cup of milk in that recipe, which I forgot to add. I made the batter, sans the milk, and poured it into the pans, and then luckily I glanced back at the recipe. I then poured the batter back into the blender, mixed in the milk, and repoured it into the pans. They turned out wonderfully, were completely delicious, and Aaron told me I could make them every day if I wanted to. Also, looking back at the forgetfulness entry, I realize that we forgot about the salad I made again, when we could have eaten it all weekend long. I'm fairly disappointed that we just wasted about $5 in produce. Way to go us!

Resolved

2007-01-02T08:58:00.000-05:00

I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions, or at least not "officially". This year Aaron and I decided that we should go ahead and try the Resolution thing, so we've made quite a few. Here are mine with a couple of our joint ones added in too:

1. Floss more often (like, you know once a month would be an improvement), preferably once every couple of days.

2. Eat less fast food. I'm usually pretty good about this, but I've been bad about it lately.

3. Work out at least three times a week, including some kind of crunches at least three times a week.

4. Stay on a budget so that we can seriously increase our savings (which may or may not, depending on the housing market, be used to buy a house this summer).

5. Be more conscientious at work. I tend to slack, which is not good. Maybe if I step it up I'll get that promotion more quickly.

6. Along the same lines, quit procrastinating all the time. I seriously procrastinate all the time. I'm doing it right now; I'm supposed to be taking the car in for some repairs before noon. Who wants to bet I go in at 11? I'm hoping to be there around ten, which means I need to finish up this post and get my butt in gear.

7. Eat more vegetables and drink more water. I always feel better when I do these two things, so you think I'd do it more. Now I'm going to try to do just that.

8. Finish up all my started but unfinished projects. There are a lot of them, including 3 cross-stitch projects, 2 quilts, and 2 afghans. There may be more, but those are all the things I can think of right now. I'm going to be busy for a while!

9. Be better at keeping house. Not that my house is dirty, or anything, but there are times I leave too much clutter sitting around, or go three weeks without mopping my kitchen floor. I need to not let that happen. I even have a cleaning schedule I set up for myself and it would be much quicker to clean if I just followed it instead of leaving the tasks to build up so they take a few hours out of my weekend.

9.5. Use more environmentally friendly cleaning products. I've been wanting to try out Method products for a while. This year, I'm going to do it.

10. Not chicken out on the whole getting pregnant thing this year. We've put it off quite a few times, but look out April, here we come. We're not putting it off this time.

So, those are my resolutions for this year (which will soon be taped to my refrigerator as a constant reminder); what are yours?

Project Time

2006-12-29T09:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it happened. I was invited to the baby shower for the woman I talked about a long time ago at the bottom of this post. I wasn't going to go on principle, but my co-workers needled me until I agreed and RSVPed, so I'm going. There's a group gift, to which we're each expected to give $20 unless we're getting our own gift for the mom-to-be. Yeah, right. So I decided to do my own gift and start a new project at the same time. Here's the gift (two parts):

They're baby hats. She's having a boy, so I went the obnoxiously traditional route and made a blue one. Then, because it didn't take nearly as long as I wanted it to (about 1.5 hours) I made another one using a different pattern.

Aaron asked why I was spending so much time on someone when I didn't even want to go to the shower in the first place. Really, my reasons are all selfish, and include: 1) I love when people fawn over something I made with my own two hands, and 2) I really needed more practice following crochet patterns. I started in on a blanket last night, which may or may not go to this woman as well. It really all depends on if I can finish it on time. I'm not going to rush and try to finish it before then. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't I know two other people who are having babies within the next couple of months.

Also, the biggest way to start an even higher baby fever in my husband is to make really tiny things and then show him. It also worked on a couple of women at work. Oh, and me too. Now I totally want a baby, like, yesterday.

Forgetfulness is Costing Me

2006-12-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

One of my worst traits is that I can be very forgetful. Many people see this as carelessness, and this bothers me, so I try to work on it. My forgetful nature drives Aaron nuts. He just doesn't see how someone can forget to do/bring/etc. so much. The saying, "She would forget her head if it weren't screwed on," definitely applies to me.

Sometimes I have a good stretch where I don't forget anything, and that makes me proud. Other times when my schedule gets thrown all out of whack, like it has been lately due to the holidays, I take a major step backwards and I forget just about everything. Here are a few examples over the past couple of days:

* I was supposed to work from home yesterday afternoon. I got everything packed up when it was time to leave, and left the one folder I really needed sitting on the table by my office door. Suffice it to say, I didn't finish what I needed to yesterday afternoon.

* I made a big fancy salad for dinner last night. I prepared it early so that I could watch Oprah without having to get up and start dinner. Then, after we were all done eating dinner I remembered that I had made a big fancy salad to go with our meal. Oops! Thankfully we had more than enough other food and weren't still hungry, but you would think that I'd remember making a salad that was supposed to be a big part of our dinner.

* I've been working on a crochet project for a co-worker's baby shower. I forgot where I was in a pattern and totally messed up a bunch of rows, costing me about thirty minutes worth of work. Grrr....

* I took pictures of said crochet projects, and some of my Christmas gifts, to post today and forgot to upload them, which would be necessary for, you know, posting them.

These are just a few examples of my annoying forgetfulness over the past couple of days. It's starting to really get on my nerves. I'm looking forward to when my schedule gets back on track after next week and then, hopefully, I'll start remembering things again.

TGCIO

2006-12-27T08:29:00.000-05:00

(Thank God Christmas is Over - at least the celebrating, loud, tiring part)

It was, if you couldn't tell, a loud, tiring weekend. I had a great time, but was glad yesterday to be able to sit in my apartment and enjoy the total silence and not have someone pulling me somewhere to do something. But, it really was great - we had a lot of fun with my brother and his wife, we got to see my great-grandmother who has been in the hospital lately because of a bad fall and she was looking great, and everyone was happy the entire weekend.

My favorite gifts were an aquamarine necklace from Aaron (to match my engagement ring) and an ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid from my parents. We're having home-made ice cream for New Years, and I can't wait.

I'm back at work right now, and it's 8:30 and I'm still the only one here. It's quiet and I should go so I can get some things done before everyone comes in and gets chatty. I hope you all had a holiday that was at least as happy and wonderful as mine!

The Christmas Tag of Joy

2006-12-22T09:02:00.000-05:00

(Thanks to Julie for this one!)

1. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog?
Um, anything but egg nog, so definitely hot chocolate. With a little peppermint schnapps in mine, thanks!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
For most of my life, Santa has wrapped the gifts he left under the tree, although I do remember one Christmas when I was very young that he just sat them under the tree. I don’t know why that changed, but it did.

3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white?
Colored lights all the way, babe. We have colored lights in all the windows, on our balcony (with red candy cane lights too) and on the tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Again, it’s something that was done when I was much younger, but we haven’t hung any in years.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Not until after Thanksgiving, definitely, but usually around the first week in December we start putting up decorations. We take our sweet time doing it though – this year it took 2 weeks to get everything up.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
We don’t have a traditional holiday meal, but when we have these two things, they’re my favorite: Ham and Cheesy Potatoes.

7. Favorite Holiday memory?
Hmmm…that’s a tough one. Probably, and this is corny, the year we got our Nintendo when I was a kid. My dad handed my brother and I each a small package to open. They were both Nintendo games, so we got excited thinking we were getting the gaming system, but then we noticed there were no other gifts under the tree.

“You can take them to your friends’ houses to play!” my dad exclaimed.

Well, as you can imagine, we were pretty bummed. Then, like magic somehow, there was one more box under the tree that we hadn’t seen before. It was our Nintendo. We spent the rest of the day in front of the television, playing our games, and fighting half-heartedly over whose turn it was. We couldn’t really fight because we were just so excited. The whole box appearing from nowhere made it seem like the most magical Christmas moment of my young life.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I honestly don’t remember. I don’t think it was a big deal to me ever.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Almost never. Gifts are for Christmas Day, silly! However, since we usually travel for Christmas Aaron and I typically exchange gifts before we leave so that we don’t have to cart everything with us and then back home again. I think our “Christmas” will be tomorrow morning before we head to my parents’ house.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

I’m confused by this – in what order, or with what decorations? I’m going with what decorations. We have colored lights, silver tinsel garland, and tons of ornaments. Every year of his life Aaron’s grandmother has gotten him an ornament, and she gave them all to us the year we got married, so that makes up quite a few of our ornaments. We usually buy each other an ornament every year as a gift, and then of course, we have two of the ornaments that we gave out as favors at our wedding. I think our tree is beautiful.

11. Snow: Love it or Hate it?
I love it if I don’t have to drive in it. I wish we had some this year. This may be my first non-white Christmas ever. How sad is that?

12. Can you ice skate?
Depends on what you mean by ice skate. If you mean can I strap skates to my feet and skate around the edge of the rink while falling about every 3 minutes? Then yes, I can ice skate.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Well, my favorite gift from recent years was my KitchenAid Stand Mixer I got last year. It’s red to match all my other small appliances, and I use it all the time.

14. What’s the most important thing?
Spending time with my family, sharing good food, and of course, Jesus’ birth; those are definitely the most important things.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
It’s a tie between buche de noel (chocolate sponge cake rolled with chocolate whipped cream) and pecan pie.

16. ??? There was no 16

17. What tops your tree?
We have an angel that Aaron and I bought for our first Christmas together.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
While I don’t mind the receiving part, I love giving gifts and seeing how people react to them. I’m a very giving person, so it makes sense that the giving of gifts would be my favorite. However, I’m not a shopping person, so if I could just magically get the gifts I give to other people, it would be a perfect world.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
“What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder is my favorite overall Christmas song, and “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” has always been my favorite hymn on Christmas.

20. Candy canes: Yuck or Yum?
I usually eat about one per year. I also like to crush them and add them to hot cocoa. Other than that, I could probably live without them.

If you’re in the holiday mood consider yourself tagged. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Hypothetically

2006-12-21T08:21:00.000-05:00

So, let's say, hypothetically of course, that you wake up in the morning to find your spouse finally asleep on the couch after he/she had been unwillingly awake for a large portion of the night (stupid insomnia). Let's say he/she is exhausted and crabby (due to exhaustion). Oh, and did he/she mention exhausted? Because he/she totally is.

Anyway, so let's say it's normally your job to make the coffee in the morning, while he/she normally sits in bed watching the Today show (and no, you're not allowed to voice your complaints about this; the news is important). Well, on this morning you're busy with other stuff, and you neglect to make the coffee, so you say to him/her (who is desperately in need of a caffeine IV), "I didn't make coffee this morning. That's not a big deal, is it?"

Hypothetically, would you expect to find yourself dead in the few moments after uttering those words? Because it's totally a big freaking deal. Did you miss the whole exhausted/crabby thing he/she had going on, or the words "I need major coffee" practically written on his/her forehead?

For the record, I would never kill Aaron. I don't even want him to ever feel an ounce of pain. But if I could somehow make him see the error of his ways quite clearly, it would be nice. I'm off to find that caffeine IV now.

Added Excitement to a Friday Night

2006-12-20T08:46:00.000-05:00

Last Friday Aaron and I went to our favorite burger place for a late dinner, and came home around long after dark. We parked our car and started walking up to our door, when we heard a rustling noise in the bush to our right.

"There's something there," Aaron said.

I peeked around the bush and said, "I can see it!" Then the realization of what I was seeing hit me. "It's a skunk!" I screamed, "Run!"

So we ran back to the car, scaring the skunk in the process (we could tell by the smell), and then debated what to do. In the meantime, someone else walked out of the adjacent building.

"There's a skunk, right there!" we warned them. They, too, ran quickly to their car.

Well, the skunk wasn't going anywhere, and we couldn't stay in our car all night, so we decided to chance it. Our building is L-shaped and our door is on one leg of the L, and the skunk was on the sidewalk that runs along the other leg of the L. As we crept along the side of the building, staying as far away from the skunk as possible, a man and his three sons who live in our building came out our door.

"Skunk!" we yelled, because the baby was toddling right for it. The dad ran and grabbed his youngest, while the other two boys said, "Yeah, it's been around. It's either dying or pregnant. We've been throwing rocks at it to get it to go away." (They're such sweet kids, can't you tell?)

As they hurried to get to their car, we hurried into the building. But of course, we couldn't let that be the end of it. We had to watch the skunk to see if it was going to go away, and warn others who might be coming or going that it was there (it was the only nice thing to do since we had already caused it to spray - oops!).

When we got up to our apartment we headed for our balcony to watch it. Soon after the skunk flopped over and started convulsing. I was not happy beforehand that it was there, but now I was starting to feel bad for the poor thing. It was obviously not well. I headed in because I couldn't watch, but Aaron stayed outside watching it for a while, and of course he had to get a picture. We had both realized that we had never before seen a skunk in person, and so he wanted to document the occasion. Here's a link to the picture he took, which is understandably dark and blurry. I wouldn't have gone in for a better picture either.

The skunk was still there when we went to bed, and remained until after we woke up in the morning. A few minutes after we checked to see if it was still there, we heard our maintenance man walking around on the rocks. The skunk was still moving a little (only it's head and paws) but was most likely not a threat any more. We didn't watch to see what he did with it, but when we checked five minutes later it was gone. We were kind of sad, but it definitely needed to be taken care of before people started moving around again.

So that is how you add much excitement to an otherwise slow Friday night.

Holiday Preparation

2006-12-19T08:13:00.000-05:00

Well, now that all of the anniversary nonsense is out of the way (although I do have to say, it was the best one yet, and I'll leave it at that), I can tell you about all my holiday preparations. This past weekend I baked up a storm. Just to whet your appetite, I made:

Rugelach,

Birds Nest Cookies,

Magical Mint Kiss Cookies,

and,

Lime Crinkles

I also made chocolate/peanut butter fudge, baked a key lime pie (thanks TB! It was amazingly delicious!), got about 80% of my Christmas shopping done, and wrote out all of our Christmas cards. It was quite the productive weekend, if I do say so myself.

Actually, I kind of feel worn out just writing about it, so I think I'm going to call this a post and leave you with just one more anniversary related thing. Look what Aaron surprised me with last night:

Isn't he the sweetest?

Two Years

2006-12-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Anniversary Babe! Thanks for two wonderful years of marriage, and for continuously making me smile.

(Aaron trying, and succeeding, to get a whole lime cookie in his mouth.)

I can't imagine my life without you, and wouldn't want to anyway. I love you with 110% of my heart!

Blog Crush Day!

2006-12-15T15:14:00.000-05:00

OMG! I almost forgot that today is Blog Crush Day!

I have many blog crushes, too many to name for Blog Crush day. I feel I would be breaking the rules if I named all of them, and it was hard to narrow it down to just one, but I managed to figure out my most major blog crush. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, because there are many people who I read every day and my day wouldn't be the same without them (Kelley, Audrey, Sizzle, and TB, I'm looking at you, just to name a few!)

My most major blog crush is on Deb from Smitten Kitchen. I have a huge blog crush on her because she lives the life I would love to live, save for the broken collarbone, because, ouch! She lives in NYC, has access to all kinds of exotic ingredients, cooks wonderful food all the time, and seems to have all kinds of dinner parties to go to, which I never have, and so basically I have a blog crush on her because I'm jealous.

But whatever, she cooks good food and posts beautiful pictures of it, which in turn inspires me to cook good food more regularly. Oh, yeah, the pictures! She takes much better, more appetizing, pictures of food than I do. Basically, I would like to meet her, and then have her cook me dinner. I would cook her dinner, but am afraid that I would not cook up to her standards.

Deb! You rock! I would totally want to be your friend if I lived in New York, and you weren't scared of people who are slightly stalkerish due to your wonderful web site. Just slightly, though. I promise.

Never a Dull Moment Around Here, Part III

2006-12-15T07:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it has happened again. Someone was shot at the apartment complex across the street from our complex at five o'clock this morning, and apparently the police have swarmed the area. Who knows what happened; the news didn't give many details yet. I'm sure I'll hear more about it on the evening news. I didn't hear the shots or any sirens. I'm a sound sleeper, having become that way while I lived across the street from a fraternity house for many years.

It's so weird. We really don't live in a bad area. We live in a popular suburb of a small urban area. People have been moving here in droves in recent years because of the good schools and small community feel. But the part of town I live in directly borders the larger city and the crime is spreading this way. It's a little scary. Aaron called to tell me that there was something going on out there, and that I should take our can of PAM out there and spray any strange person that came near me, since we have no mace or pepper spray (if you get that reference you get a cookie).

I'll update if I hear more, but yes. Definitely a shooting, definitely less than a 1/4 mile away from my front door (again) and I'm definitely a smaller town girl because this is just too much for me. I want to move back to my home town so bad lately. Literally nothing like this ever happens there. (Well, that's not entirely true, someone did accidentally shoot themselves in the mouth a couple of weeks ago, but that's more stupidity than a crime.)

UPDATE:

Here's a cut and paste from the local news - Deputies tell News Ten an 18-year old woman was killed and another person was injured. The shootings happened around 4:30 Friday morning. Deputies are now looking for a man named Jeffrey Husband. They say he's a person of interest and would like to talk to him

So at least it sounds like it wasn't random, which always settles me a little bit.

It Went Very Well

2006-12-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

The party is over, and I am exhausted, but it went very well, so at least I'm happily exhausted. We talked, laughed, ate a ton, and then talked and laughed some more. My house was empty before 7:00 (the party started at 3:00), so there was still time to relax (read: fall into a coma at around 8:00).

I finally got to make a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while, Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, and they turned out wonderfully. It was the first seasonal baking I've done so far and it really helped my mood (well, the absolute deliciousness helped my mood too). I'm now ready to pump Christmas carols through our speakers while covering myself in flour and doing seemingly endless loads of dishes in order to get all my Christmas baking done. Apparently my dad has baked about a dozen different kinds of cookies so far, so I predict I gain five pounds before the new year.

I'm still not ready to go out and buy gifts for everyone, but that's mostly because I hate shopping any time of year and this time of year is the worst. People might seriously be getting a dozen cookies and a $20 bill. I know I wouldn't mind that as a gift, so I hope they like it too.

Speaking of homemade gifts, when we were up at my parents' house late last month, my mom made homemade limoncello which should be ready to drink this weekend. She sent us home with a jar, and it's sitting in our refridgerator looking yellow and lemony, and I can't wait to try it. We mix it with a little soda water over ice, and it's one of the most delicious cocktails I've ever tried. Well, at least with store-bought limoncello. I can't wait to see how this batch turned out, and if it did turn out, I know what people may be getting for Christmas next year.

Aaron Makes Me Laugh

2006-12-13T08:27:00.000-05:00

Last night while cleaning our apartment and getting ready for the party tonight, Aaron was organizing our CDs; something that really needed to be done. He was going through each case to make sure the correct CD was in the correct case and that there were no extras. (In sad news, we're still missing my Keith Urban CD, and I am very sad about that.)

Anyway, as he was going through he opened one, and said, in falsetto, "I Hate Bush!" Then he closed the case and said in his normal, yet slightly surprised voice, "Well, that was unexpected!"

I looked over to see what the heck he was doing, and he had a Dixie Chicks CD in his hand, which made me basically fall over with laughter.

(As an aside, it would sound like I'm a country music fan, which I'm really not. I'm more of a rock'n'roll kind of girl, but aparently it's the country CDs I own that cause all the trouble.)

Because I didn't already have enough stress in my life...

2006-12-12T16:11:00.000-05:00

I'm hosting my work holiday party tomorrow night. I just found out today; two hours ago, technically. The woman who was supposed to have the party at her house had to cancel because her house is quarantined. Crazy, no?

I have a lot of cleaning and prep work to do tonight. Wish me luck!

Category 9 Freak-Out

2006-12-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

Sorry for yesterday's rambling post. I wasn't having the best of days, that's for certain. I don't know what was causing it, but it seemed that a lot of things came together all at once (realizing Christmas was only two weeks away, having to go to work, life, etc.) and I had a major freak out. I worked all morning, then ran an errand at lunch and decided I couldn't take it any more, so I went home for the afternoon. I had four personal hours to use in the next couple of weeks anyway, so it's all good.

At home I played computer games, watched Top Chef re-runs, and did a couple of loads of laundry. I thought I was doing much better, but then I felt like crying because Aaron didn't like the recipe I tried for dinner. Then my laundry was done, and I actually did cry because I didn't want to fold it. Then I cried harder because I felt bad that Aaron had to deal with me crying for such a stupid reason. I'm sure I was a bundle of fun to be around.

I don't know if it's hormones, my seasonal depression (that would be an early start this year), or stress, but I'm still not feeling like myself. I'm not excited for Christmas at all. I'm excited to spend time with my family, but not excited about the actual holiday. We haven't even put ornaments on the tree, although we have decorated everything else. I've been listening to all my Christmas CDs, but they haven't been able to get me in the holiday mood. I haven't started baking yet, when usually by this time my freezer is stocked with at least a few dozen cookies. I just feel off this year.

So, I'm starting to bake tonight. I'm also finishing up my one homemade present so I can get that mailed out. Maybe if I start doing things for the holiday I'll start getting more in to it. At least that's what I'm hoping will happen.

My Weekend in Three Parts

2006-12-11T08:29:00.000-05:00

Part the First:

Quickest way to ruin a Saturday = not sleeping Friday night (not by choice, stupid alcohol-induced insomnia) and then reminding your husband every five minutes that you're really exhausted, all the while refusing to take a nap because, "what if it happens again tonight?"

It didn't.

Part the Second:

We haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. We decided to go get it all done yesterday. So we went to one store that's having a big moving sale, and I bought my mom a birthday present (her birthday is Thursday). Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond because we need a humidifier. We didn't find one we wanted, nor did we find the one Christmas present we knew we wanted to buy there, and it was really freaking crowded, which we can't handle, so we went home instead of doing any shopping.

On Saturday we had watched the first to episodes of the HBO show, Rome. I really liked it a lot, and thought, "hey, that might be a good present for someone. My brother likes history type stuff, maybe he'd like it." But then I thought about all the sex and nudity, and even though my brother is a married adult, I still can't deal with those facts, and so I'm not buying him a DVD set full of sex and nudity. It would just be too weird.

So, yes. Still no Christmas shopping done. And! I need to get all my out-of-state presents mailed this week, so I'm headed to the mall tonight. If you hear a news story about some woman in Michigan who went crazy dealing with mall crowds and killed them all? Pray for me. Or send bail money. I seriously can't handle crowds.

Part the Third:

We rearranged our bedroom yesterday afternoon. It's now basically the mirror image of what it was before. Exciting, no? Well, it was the biggest thing we accomplished all weekend, because we are lazy, and were also tired (see part the first).

You're jealous of the excitement that is my life. I can tell.

Phoning It In

2006-12-08T10:28:00.000-05:00

So, today is the first of three work holiday parties at my place of employment. It's all Holiday Craziness around here. People are decorating their office doors (I made a paper Christmas tree with paper lights and glittery paper ornaments), and the refrigerators are full of yummy looking food. I can't wait for the party to start (I still have 2.5 hours to wait).

I'm making sweets for the other parties, so I decided to make an appetizer for today's party instead. It's Aaron's favorite appetizer, and he learned to make it in home ec. in high school. The recipe is called "Mexican Willies", but I prefer a less phallic title, so I call them "Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups".

And since I know many of us have lots of Holiday Parties to attend, and since many may need to bring something to these parties, I thought I'd share the recipe today. It's super simple, and delicious, makes a ton, and I rarely have left-overs. Here goes:

Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups

8 burrito-sized tortillas
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can chopped green chilis, drained
6 to 8 oz. salsa (I use 4 oz regular salsa and 4 oz. salsa verde)
3 green onions, chopped
8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix all ingredients together except tortillas. Once it's well mixed, spread the mixture on one side of each tortilla and roll them up. (Once I roll them I usually press down to make sure that the filling goes all the way to the edge.) Chill overnight, then slice into 1 inch pieces.

Voila! You're done. So super easy, right? Hope you like them!

Right-er?

2006-12-07T09:58:00.000-05:00

Aaron and I have an ongoing argument about a suffix. Yes, we're that dorky, and we're okay with it.

Anyway, he is pretty much against the use of the suffix "-er". He thinks instead of smaller, it should be more small. It shouldn't be lighter, it should be more light. I disagree, and throw smallers and lighters, and heck, even a few neaters liberally into my speaking.

I understand that there are a few times that "-er" is not to be used. Nothing is ever "funner" it is definitely more fun, and if you say funner in all seriousness? I may sigh in exasperation because it sounds so horrible. And I know it's not "righter" as the title of this post suggests. I'd throw a sigh and an eye roll at that one if I heard it. But Aaron never wants to use the "-er" suffix if he can help it. And he corrects me regularly even in those instances when I am right and can use "-er" if I damn well please.

(On a completely different note, I am out of ideas on what to post this week. What, you couldn't tell? Also could you not tell that we had a long discussion about suffixes last night? Thus (almost) ends one of the most boring posts I have ever written.)

On yet ANOTHER completely unrelated note, I couldn't be more sad (or even sadder) about this. That poor family. Such a tragedy. Keep them in your thoughts, or prayers if you're so inclined. I can't imagine going through all that they've been through in the last two weeks.

6 Weird Things About Me

2006-12-06T08:29:00.000-05:00

"According to the rules...Each player of this game starts with the "6 Weird Things about You." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog!"

I was tagged by CPA mom for this meme, which I've been seeing all over, and which has resulted in some fun information about some of my favorite bloggers.

Hmmm...this is hard, and I'm busy, so I'm going to have to update throughout the day.

Weird Thing About Me #1: I have no ear lobes. That's right, you heard me. I have no ear lobes. Aaron tells me it's because I'm streamlined, and I reply well if the no ear lobes thing makes me faster (less wind resistance, you know) then I'd hate to see how slow I would be if I had ear lobes. But I don't. My ears just connect straight to my head with no hangy down part. My sister loves to make fun of me for this. I make fun of her for many reasons, so it's only fair that I have one semi-flaw she can pick on, I guess.

Also "ear lobes" is one of those things that if you type it enough it starts to look wrong.

Weird Thing About Me #2: I didn't have a middle name until I was 25. When I got married I took my maiden name as my middle name, so now I do have one, and I was very excited because now I can have cool looking monograms on things (not that I've gotten anything monogrammed since I was married, but I could if I wanted to, and that's the point). When I was little, other kids didn't believe I didn't have a middle name, and they thought I was just hiding a really bad one. Also many people have made up middle names for me. I had one friend who called me Jessie Marie for years. My brother and sister don't have middle names either and people have made up middle names for them too. Apparently there are lots of people out there who think a middle name is a must. My mom doesn't have a middle name and insists it's because she was 6 of 8 kids and my grandmother got lazy around then and just forgot to give her one.

Yes, I have a whole "middle name" saga. It's already gotten too long. Also this list seems to be, so far, things I don't have.

Weird Thing About Me #3: I'm allergic to beer. People who like beer think this is a great tragedy. Aaron likes it because it means more beer for him. There are plenty of other things to drink, so I'm okay with the whole "not being able to drink beer" thing. With other alcohol I just break out in a rash on my face and chest during the first drink, but it goes away soon after (I'm thinking maybe I'm allergic to all alcohol, and it's just worse for beer, but I'm not giving up drinking, and you can't make me). With beer, if I drink about half a can I throw up. I actually like the taste of beer, but it has never failed that when I try to drink it, it doesn't stay down. Strangely, I have an uncle that has the same affliction, and he says it's "hops intolerance". So, okay, I guess I'm just allergic to the hops.

Weird Thing About Me #4: I can't pee if someone else is in the room. This goes for public restrooms too. I have a "shy bladder" apparently, and no matter how much I want to go, I just can't. Unless, of course, I'm in a packed restroom and no one can tell it's me going, and then I have no problem at all.

This is a big problem at work because I especially can't go if someone I know is in the room or can possibly hear. However, at home, if Aaron can hear I don't mind. We do keep the doors closed, though, so he's never in the room when I'm going.

Weird Thing About Me #5: One of my pupils is oval-shaped. You're pupils aren't supposed to be oval shaped, let alone only one of them. This concerned the optamologist the last time I went in, so she dialated my eyes. Here's a helpful hint. Don't go to an optamologist's office 30 minutes away from your house by yourself, during the day when your husband is over an hour away at work. It's not a fun drive home, and my eyes were dialated for hours, so it's not like I could have waited it out. Thankfully I made it home before the worst of it. Not-so-thankfully, I had forgotten my sunglasses that day so they gave me those oh-so-stylish paper ones and I gave myself a paper cut on my ear while putting them on.

One more to go, and I can't think of anything right now. I promise I'll think of something before the end of the work day, though.

Weird Thing About Me #6: Okay, my one co-worker who knows about this gives me crap for it, and it is really weird, I admit, but here goes: I eat McDonald's for lunch once a month, on the day I'm supposed to get my period. Sorry if that's TMI, but it's true. I don't know why or when this started, but now it's become a ritual and I have to do it. It weirds Aaron out too, mostly because he can't stand McDonalds food and can't believe I eat there.

So, there they are. Six weird things about me. Can you handle it? Are you going to run away now? Am I as weird as Aaron tells me I am (he says he loves all my quirks almost as much as he loves me)?

Good to Know

2006-12-05T09:26:00.000-05:00

Tis the season for Work Christmas Parties.

Mine is coming up next Wednesday, and I'm on the planning committee so I've been busy. I have to make an ornament for the ornament exchange, bake a dessert or cook an appetizer, and get together some decorations and Christmas CDs.

I was telling Aaron about that, when he responded, "Oh, yeah! I forgot! My work party is next week too, and I said you'd bake a dessert for it."

"Am I invited?" I asked.

"No, it's during work and just for people who work there."

Okay, then. Good to know.

Updated: I was wrong. I am invited, Aaron just thought that since it was during the work day I would be unable to attend (he was right). I do still get to bake something though.

Things I'm In Love With Today

2006-12-04T08:29:00.000-05:00

(Freaking Winter Edition)

1. Big, fluffy, warm duvets
2. Hot showers
3. Hot coffee
4. Warm gloves
5. Winter hats
6. Scarves
7. Heated seats (my love for the heated seats is boundless, for they are wonderful)
8. Cars that heat up fast
9. Warm Sweaters
10. Wool Socks

So, um, yes. It's cold here today. Like, 20 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits cold. Like, my skin is about to crack and fall off because the air is so dry cold.

Really, freaking cold.

And I'm loving it. I love to be all covered up by warm clothes, feeling snuggly all day long. I love drinking hot drinks; coffee, tea, cocoa, I love them all. The only thing I'm missing today is a fireplace to sit in front of with a good book and an old quilt. Days like today make me feel like being cozy at home with nothing to do. Also, soup. I love soup.

Christmas is in the Air

2006-12-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday night Aaron came in the door after work and handed me a birthday present. He hadn't even read my whiny post about no one doing anything for me for my birthday, he just did it on his own. What a guy. I definitely deserve a kick in the ass after all that whining, but I got presents instead.

Nothing big, of course, but something about which I'm excited. I love all things Christmas, but there are three things about Christmas I especially love: 1) Christmas music, 2) Christmas baking, and 3) Christmas movies. Well, Aaron got me 2 DVDs for my birthday - the Santa Clause and the Santa Clause 2.

I haven't seen the second one yet, and can't wait to watch it, but haven't had a chance yet. I was planning on watching it tonight, but then I saw that The Polar Express is going to be on ABC tonight, and I'd love to watch that too. We're going to have to stay up late and watch SC2 after the Polar Express. Can you imagine how thrilled Aaron will be about this?

I do know one way to get him in the Christmas mood though. I'm buying a small bottle of peppermint schnapps on the way home to put in some hot chocolate. We already have the whipped cream at home. He'll do pretty much anything for the three of those combined. So will I.

We're also putting up our tree tonight, so I'll get to listen to some of my Christmas cds while we're doing that. It sounds like it's going to be a very Christmas-y night.

I can't wait!

Fin, Finire, Over

2006-11-30T08:44:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-29T14:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-29T08:39:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-28T09:06:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-11-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-25T07:59:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-24T08:48:00.000-05:00

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!

2006-11-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

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....

2006-11-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

**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

2006-11-21T08:59:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-19T10:37:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-17T09:10:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-15T10:06:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-14T07:59:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-11-13T10:03:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-12T17:44:00.000-05:00

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.

2006-11-11T15:36:00.000-05:00

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!!

2006-11-10T09:12:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-08T08:44:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-11-07T09:26:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-06T10:23:00.000-05:00

(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

2006-11-05T16:39:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-11-04T10:55:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-11-03T08:54:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-02T07:23:00.000-05:00

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

2006-11-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

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.

Trick or Treat?

2006-10-30T13:39:00.000-05:00

Oh, of course I choose treat!

I made these for Aaron and I instead of buying candy because we don't get trick-or-treaters at our apartment. They're chocolatey and delicious, best slightly warm yet great at room temperature, and a fantastic accompaniment for a cup of coffee. At one point yesterday Aaron looked at me and said, "Tell me to stop eating these because otherwise there won't be any left within the hour." I guess this means he likes them. Here's the recipe:

Halloween Cookies
Source: Everyday Food, October 2006

Makes 40 to 50*
Prep time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling and cutting out dough
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
small candies or sprinkles for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in egg. On low spead, mix in flour mixture. Divide dough in half, and form into 2 disks, each about 3/4 inch thick. wrap disks in plastic; chill until firm, at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days.

On a lightly floured sheet of waxed paper, using a floured rolling pin, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. (If dough becomes too soft to work with, refrigerate fora few minutes.)

Using 2- to 3-inch Halloween cookie cutters, cut out hapes, dipping cutters in flour as necessary to prevent sticking; place on a baking sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart.

Bake until surface is dry to the touch, 10 to 15 minutes (if decorating, press candies into dough halfway through baking).** Cool cookies 1 to 2 minutes on baking sheet; transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve, or store in an airtight container up to 3 days.***

*We only got about 30 cookies out of this recipe and this includes those made by the last little scraps of dough that I just pressed into circles.
**I didn't do this step, as it just seemed too fussy. I thought about icing them, but they're sweet enough as is.
***Damn, I guess I should get to eating them then. What a great excuse to pig out on cookies!

************************************************************************************

Another note on treats: I really miss trick-or-treating. Not so much the dressing up and going door-to-door aspect, but the variety of candy you get. To get that variety nowadays I'd have to spend a fortune. My absolute favorite candy to get were mini-Snickers. I love Snickers bars. I also, weirdly, really liked those little peanut-butter flavored taffy-like candies that were wrapped in either black or orange. You know the ones I'm talking about? I love those things!

My least favorite to get, and therefore the candy my dad was hoping for, were Good 'n' Plentys - those pink and white black licorice candies. For some reason those were the candy of choice for many people handing out candy in our neighborhood, so my dad usually got quite the cache of these every Halloween because none of us kids liked them.

Other than those, I was fairly indifferent to the candy I got, but, of course, would eat it all, saving one Snickers bar for very last (unless my dad got to my candy first and then he'd eat the Snickers and there would be hell to pay!). So, what was your favorite candy at Halloween? What do you hand out to trick-or-treaters? We usually give chocolate - typicall Snickers bars and Peanut M&Ms. Although now that Take 5 (aka perfect PMS food) is out and in mini-size, those will probably be what I hand out in the future.

Damn, now I really want some chocolate. Happy Halloween everyone!

Becoming Stronger Competition for Wife of the Year

2006-10-30T07:25:00.000-05:00

Last week Aaron called me, excited because he had just been given free tickets to this weekend's University of Michigan football game. "Can we go?", he asked.

"Most definitely," I replied. Who am I to tell my husband that no, we can't go to a football (his favorite sport) game played by his favorite team? Yeah, I definitely didn't want to be that wife. So we went.

It was raining in the morning, but the line of storms looked like it would be through by game time, so we headed to the stadium. The first quarter was cold, but manageable. I had on my warm winter coat, a stocking cap and gloves, along with many layers under my coat. The biggest problem was that wind was swirling around the stadium, and it was blowing hard.

Then, right about the time the second quarter started, it started to rain again. First sprinkles started coming down - definitely still a manageable condition. Then it started drizzling. Aaron asked if I wanted to leave, and I said, "No, I'm fine. I'll stay as long as you want to stay."

So we stayed. About mid-way through the second quarter it started pouring down rain, and the wind started blowing harder. Everyone around us had on ponchos (everyone around us was obviously smarter than we are) but those ponchos were blowing in the wind and spraying additional rain all over us. My jeans, gloves, and jacket were soaked, but the rest of me was okay (thank God for water-proof, insulated shoes!). Aaron kept asking if I wanted to leave, but I kept saying, no, I'm fine.

Right around half-time it started raining even harder, something I didn't think was even possible given the stinging drops that had been blowing into us previously. Aaron looked at me, and said, "Okay, that's it. Let's go."

It seems we weren't the only ones that had that idea, because at the beginning of the third quarter the announcers stated something to the effect of, "and we're back, with a mostly emptied stadium."

I swear it took me the rest of the day to get warm again, but it was worth it to get to see the smile on Aaron's face as he watched his favorite team play. I would have stayed the entire game if he had wanted to because I love to see him happy like that. But, I won't deny that I was thrilled when he said it was time to go before the game was over. That was some miserable weather.

Oh, My Aching Rear!

2006-10-27T09:33:00.000-04:00

In an effort to be healthier and in order to lose a couple of pounds that have recently snuck up on me, I've been hitting the gym pretty hard lately. I spend a lot of time on the elliptical machines, and also attend a couple of classes. I love the classes, but the elliptical machines are so much nicer to me. I can actually walk the day after I use the ellipticals. After the classes, though? Not so much.

Last Wednesday I went to a class called "Step and Sculpt". This meant that we spent about 20 minutes stepping, 10 minutes lifting weights, another 20 minutes stepping, and then 10 more minutes doing ab exercises. The day after this class I was a little sore, but still mobile. I spent practically the whole day in the car though, and that was apparently a bad idea because on Friday I could barely walk. I went shopping with my mom and sister and they were walking behind me laughing hysterically at my attempts to walk normally. And stairs? Forget about it. My knees were not working well. Last Saturday I was finally able to move almost normally, and by Monday I was back at the gym and pain-free.

So last night I decided to tempt fate again, only this time with the "Cardio Kickboxing" class, which I like to describe as "Tae Bo on Steroids". This is one hard-core class. Last night was the first time I made it through without feeling like I was going to die or throw up, or maybe both. However, my rear end is so sore today that it pains me to sit. It hurts more to walk, though, so I'll choose the sitting pain. My left ear is in pain too, but I'm not sure I can tie that one back to the class. I may have slept on that side all night last night to avoid moving and subsequently waking myself up with a jolt of pain.

I really don't know why I do this to myself, other than I must be a glutton for punishment. Aaron always tells me to take it easier, but also gives me a hard time if I'm not at the gym since we pay so much for it. So, next week I'll be back at the "Step and Sculpt" version of hell. I'm just hoping that my body adjusts eventually so that I can do these classes and not feel like I need to swallow a bottle of motrin the next day. Because, seriously? I feel like asking someone to put me out of my misery today. Think I'm overdoing it? Or is the pain a good thing, a la "no pain, no gain"?

Reflections

2006-10-26T10:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's post got me thinking more about when I was younger. Aaron and I were talking about our childhoods this past weekend, and I revealed to him what my life goal was when I was a kid: to be a teenager. I was absolutely looking forward to age 13 more than anything else. To be a teenager was it; the coolest thing that would ever happen to me. At 13 I would be old and sophisticated. I could wear makeup. I could shave my legs. I could wear cool clothes, and go to the mall to hang out with my friends. It would be the best.

I was so excited about getting to be a teenager, that I couldn't even wait to be a "pre-teen". Once, when I was eleven, I told my mom that I was a "pre-teen" and she said no, that 12 was when I was a "pre-teen". So I said fine, I was a "pre-pre-teen". That led to endless teasing of course, but I didn't care. Anything that could remotely link me to being a teenager was fine with me, teasing or not.

Then, of course, the teenage years came and I was miserable. I wasn't allowed to do many of the things I wanted to. Of course I was able to wear makeup in public instead of just during dress-up play. I was able to shave my legs at 12, so that wasn't a big deal any more. But I didn't have that freedom I thought being a teenager would bring me. My parents were still as strict as ever and I felt like I wasn't allowed to do anything. It just wasn't fair!

The teenaged years were also my "awkward period". I was still finding where I fit in and my sense of style. My hair was awful in every picture taken during those years, and my makeup wasn't much better. I was moody. I was angst-filled. I caused trouble at home, not by doing anything that would be considered dangerous or illegal, but basically, I was just being really annoying.

The realization came to me this weekend that for the first half of my life I strived to be 13, and now more than 13 more years have passed since I reached my goal. I'm much happier now than when I was a teenager, thank God for that, and if only I knew how great the post-teenaged years could be I think I would have wished to be 26 instead of 13. 26 is much better.

I just have to keep remembering this instead of getting depressed that another birthday is right around the corner.

Childhood Fears

2006-10-25T09:38:00.000-04:00

I'm a scaredy cat, generally speaking. I'm scared of a lot of things: the dark, spiders, heights, ghosts, and fire, to name a few. Thankfully this list is much shorter than when I was little. When I was a kid I was scared of more things. I had one specific fear that was really bad until I was around 4 or 5, that is pretty ridiculous, and which I'm embarrassed about now. My family still teases me about it because it was so silly. I don't mean to offend anyone with this, so be forewarned. It was just the fear of an imaginative little child.

I was scared of little people.

The first time I encountered a little person was in daycare. The daycare owner's brother and his wife were little people and so was their daughter, who attended the daycare. It really bothered the owner that I was afraid of her niece, so we were asked to leave. It didn't matter how much she was explained to me, she freaked me out. She was older than me, but the size of my little brother.

I thought she was an elf.

This is the only incident of this fear I remember. I may have blocked further incidents from memory. This past summer my grandmother was telling me a story about when we were at the grocery store once, and a little person walked down the aisle we were in. I, apparently, completely lost it. I started crying and hiding behind my grandmother. I can't imagine how embarrassing this must have been for her. My parents too - can you imagine your kid getting kicked out of daycare because she was scared of another kid? I really was a wuss.

I got over the fear, obviously. I don't remember when that happened either, but maybe when I learned that elves weren't real, and that these little people were just that: people. But, for a while there, I was irrationally afraid of little people.

So, am I alone in this? Did any of you have embarrassing and irrational fears when they were little? How about now? What freaks you out?

Delicious Dinner

2006-10-24T20:38:00.000-04:00

Go here.

Print out the recipe.

Make it for dinner.

Seriously? This is super easy and pretty damn delicious! And the apartment still smells wonderful.

I Feel Like a Giant Dork

2006-10-24T08:54:00.000-04:00

(but probably shouldn't)

Last night after dinner Aaron and I were sitting around watching television, when I noticed that he was curiously sniffing the air.

"Do you smell that?" he asked.

"Smell what?"

"Something burning."

I sniffed. "Yeah, actually. I do."

We first deducted that the smell was not coming from within our apartment, so then we headed out into the hall, where the smell was much worse. Then I looked at the light and noticed that the air was a little smoky.
"What should I do?" I asked Aaron and he ran outside to see if there was something burning out there. "Should I knock on the neighbors' doors?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied. "See if any of them burned anything, and maybe that's what I'm smelling."

So I knocked on the next-door neighbor's door, where, it turns out, they were having a birthday party and there were about 20 people there. No burning coming from in there, but they noticed the smell was really bad and the smoke when they came out into the hall (yes, all 20 of them).

Then we knocked on the door across the hall, where a new family had just moved in. They didn't burn anything either, but also noticed the smell and the smoke in the hall. They joined the crowd formed on the small landing trying to figure out what was going on.

Lastly, we knocked on the door of the really shy couple across the hall. The husband opened the door, and looked confused, but assured us that he didn't burn anything and then shut the door in my face. Par for the course there.

Aaron knocked on some of the doors downstairs, but no one down there had burned anything either. We were all starting to feel walls and the ceiling to see if maybe it was inside the walls because it kind of smelled electrical. Then I looked down to see Aaron on his hands and knees sniffing around the heater in the hallway downstairs.

Yes, that's right. There was no fire. The heater turned on and the smell was the heater burning up the dust that was in there. Stinky? Yes. Dangerous? Probably not. Embarrassing? Definitely.

I felt so bad for disturbing all my neighbors' evenings, even though they assured me that we could always disturb them if we smelled something burning. I still kind of feel like a dork about it though. Fire is one of my biggest fears, and so I tend to overreact when I smell something burning. At least they all overreacted a little too, because it really did smell like a fire in the building.

Want to know what makes me feel even worse? The neighbor lady from the apartment next door brought us over a huge slab of birthday cake about an hour later, I'm assuming to thank us for alerting them of possible danger. We've lived there over a year, and last night was the most time we've really spent talking with the neighbors. I kind of feel like an ass. But hey, maybe this is our chance to get to know the neighbors better. Yeah, that makes me feel slightly better, yet still like a giant dork. Gah! This is such an example of my social awkwardness at its worst.

Hardest Conversation To Not Laugh During, Ever.

2006-10-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

What I want to know is, how old were you when you figured out how a library worked? I'm guessing I was probably 5, perhaps younger, but I'll stick with five. So this means I've known how a library works for approximately 22 years now. It doesn't take a genius IQ to figure this out does it? Because if it does, I'm apparently a genius.

Now, this is what brought this to mind today. I was having a conversation with an older woman, I'm guessing she's in her late fifties/early sixties, who has an advanced degree, and who I see a couple of times a week. She saw me reading a book and asked me if it was any good, and indicated that we seem to have the same taste in books. Then she asked me where I got it.

Me: The library.

Her: Oh, you go to the library? How often do you go?

Me: Every week or so.

Her: Well, how much do they charge per book?

Me: Um...nothing.

Her: Just the membership?

Me: Membership is free too.

Her: Wow! How many books can you take at a time?

Me: As many as you want, actually.

Her: And it's all free?

Me: Yes. They have free videos too, but they do charge late fees for those. Fifty cents a day.

Her: That's it? I'm going to have to check this library thing out!

Me: You do that.

Seriously. I had this conversation today. And the woman is definitely older than five. Maybe I'm just assuming "how libraries work" is common knowledge. I could be totally wrong about this, but I just can't imagine that there are a lot of people out there who don't get this.

The Possibility I Chose

2006-10-23T08:44:00.000-04:00

As I was leaving work on Thursday afternoon, I thought I had chosen to spend my Friday running errands in the morning and relaxing in the afternoon. Then some moron rear-ended my sister, and so I re-chose and headed up to my parent's place. She's fine, she was just a little shaken up, so we got a chance to hang out and relax.

Little did I know that it was also harvest dinner at my parents' church that night, so not only did I get to hang out with my family, I also got an early Thanksgiving-like dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. That? Was awesome.

We spent Friday morning lounging around the house, the afternoon shopping and gossiping, and then I headed home and proceeded to do basically nothing for the whole weekend. Well, okay, I did clean parts of the house and we did take the six bags of clothes we had set aside to the Good Will store. But other than that we watched The Breakup, The Fly, and I read a book and a half.

And it was wonderful.

Emeril Has Spicy Nuts

2006-10-19T09:08:00.000-04:00

So! Yesterday I was bored. Actually, I was really, incredibly, mind-numbingly bored, so I decided to play around with the content on my side bar. This is exciting, no?

First of all (even though it’s lower than the other change), notice the banner over there that says that I’m participating in NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month. This means that I’ll be posting every day in November, even the weekends. If you click on that banner, it will take you to the official NaBloPoMo site, which gives the complete details, as well as a list of all NaBloPoMo participants. Should be fun! It will at least be a lot of new blog posts to read next month.

Secondly, I took down my Obsessions/Pet Peeves links. Really, this was for two reasons; one, I never update them, and two, no one really clicked on them anyway. I decided to replace those with a new section, “Recipes of the Month”. These are the recipes that are currently rocking my world. Actually, the recipes up there have been rocking my world for a while now, but they’re among my favorites, so I thought I’d share. I’ll try and update this section every month with new recipes for you to enjoy.

I actually have a somewhat funny story related to one of the recipes. The recipe for Puff Pastry Cheese Twists is from Emeril’s show. The episode on which these appeared had a lot of other great appetizer recipes (they’re linked to on the bottom of the page that the link takes you to), including Emeril’s Spiced Nuts. *giggle*

Now, when we watched this episode it was still early in the morning. So early, in fact, that we were apparently 12 year olds, because this was some hilarious television. We started giggling when he said the name of the recipe. We started laughing when he said “Now, I like my nuts spicy.” We almost fell out of bed laughing when he said something to the effect of, “Mmmmm…now those are some spicy nuts. Those nuts are so good! I love my spicy nuts!”

Seriously? That right there, is hilarious television.

Almost as good as the “olive oil money shots” from Wolfgang Puck’s show. You know, when they would slow down the shot right when he was drizzling olive oil over something, and accompany the shot with some soft-porn-type music?

Now that’s entertainment.

So Many Possibilities...

2006-10-18T08:33:00.000-04:00

and so little time to fit all of them in. So I need help deciding.

I've decided to take Friday off from work because I really need a break. I am so excited I can hardly stand it! Not that it takes much to excite me like this; I was this excited about hamburgers last Friday.

Anyway, so I have this day off, but I don't know what to do with it. I've narrowed it down to three options, all with their pros and cons, but can't choose which one to do. So, I want your opinions.

Option 1: Stay home and run errands that need to be done. This includes dropping off a bunch of stuff to Good Will that's been sitting in my dining room for two weeks now, getting two pairs of pants re-hemmed (these were two fairly new pairs of pants and both left hems fell out..grrrr....), hunting around town for a copy of "The Breakup" to rent, and working out.

Pro: I would get a lot of stuff done that I need to get done, and some things done that I really want to get done.
Con: Not a whole lot of fun and not really that relaxing.

Option 2: Go up north to my parents' house for the day, and hang out with my little sister who will also be in town that day. Okay, my reasons for this are mainly selfish, in that my parents have something that they ordered for me that I want. Also, it's fun hanging out with my sister. But, I won't really get to see my parents unless I head up the night before, which is an option too.

Pro: Fun!
Con 1: Also not relaxing.
Pro: Fun!
Con 2: Have to drive a lot, by myself, which I hate.
Pro: Get loads of free makeup (the thing they ordered). Also, Fun!
Con 3: Missing Aaron.
Pro: Lots of fun! Also get to eat my favorite kind of bagel for breakfast and get delicious lattes. Fun!
Con 4: I wouldn't get a chance to work out, which I really need to do that day, unless of course I hit the gym with my sister. Yeah right, that would totally not happen.

Option 3: Stay home, don't leave house except to go to the gym, make romantic dinner and dessert for Aaron.

Pro: Get done some of the things I need to get done around the house, and I get in my workout.
Con: Possiblity of being very bored.
Pro: Most relaxing of the three options.
Con: Seriously, I get bored when I'm all by myself for too long, which means I'll probably piss Aaron off by calling him about 3 million times that day.

So those are my three options. I also need to add in that there's a strong possibility that we're going to be out of town on Saturday and Sunday (to visit Aaron's grandparents), so that affects my ability to get stuff done this weekend.

I just can't choose. There are things I like about all three options. I'm just horrible at making decisions (also out of ideas for what to write today). So, if you were in my situation, what would you do?

Bound to Happen

2006-10-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

Last night Aaron went grocery shopping. I was at home waiting for him to return, and it just kept getting later, and he still wasn't home. About 30 minutes past when I was expecting him home, he finally called. He was running late because he had to put the spare tire on, because the left rear tire was completely flat. Great. I felt bad for him, because not only did he have to change the tire, but he had to do it in the rain and cold. Poor guy!

He took it in to get the tire fixed this morning, and unfortunately it can't just be patched. We need a new tire. Since the existing tires are almost in need of replacing, he just decided to buy four new tires, an unexpected expense that puts a real set-back in our savings plan. I mean, we do have the extra money and have budgeted for unexpected things like this, it just sucks when something like this happens.

And it happens every year at around this time. Last year it was the car accident. The year before that it was some unexpected wedding expenses. And the year before that it was Aaron losing his job. Since I've had this job, this is the month when I get my raise and bonuses (we get them really early for Christmas), so at least we have the extra money when we need it. I just wish it could either go to something fun (I would love to spend my bonus on a vacation some year) or into savings (where it was planned for this year, and where most of it will still go), instead of to whatever big expenditure fall brings us once again.

**************************************************************************
On a completely unrelated note, I seem to have, lately, an incredibly strong aversion to chicken (no, I'm not pregnant). The thought of eating chicken, touching chicken, or even really smelling chicken is really grossing me out. Usually this only happens with pork (which, still, unless it's in ham or sausage form, I really am not a big fan), but now it's happening with both pork and chicken. Aaron is not happy with this development because he likes his diet to be heavy in both, and gets a little testy if I go too many days without including some sort of meat in our meals.

So, unfortunately, tonight's planned dinner is chicken in order to appease him. But I told him that if he wants it, he's cooking it. He, unfortunately, agreed to this. I was hoping making him cook it would mean we wouldn't have to eat it because he wouldn't want to cook. That totally backfired!

Run

2006-10-16T08:47:00.000-04:00

I'm a horrible runner. I'm not able to run very far at all without becoming seriously out of breath. I get horrible shin splints after I run. Aaron laughs at me when he sees me running - he says it's funny to see me try, and that I run like a girl. (I've got news for him: I am a girl. Thanks for noticing!) I think the longest I've ever successfully run was about 800 meters and that was when I was in 6th grade and was forced to be in a track meet. I'm definitely not fast, so they thought maybe I could do distance. I definitely proved them wrong. I'm just horrible at running.

But, I dream of running. I have dreams where I run for hours at a time. In these dreams I run everywhere. I run to my parents house 80 miles away without ever getting out of breath. I run to work in record time. I never stop running in these dreams, and it's the most fantastic, free feeling I've ever encountered. I wake up feeling incredible and relaxed, all because of running, which is something that stresses me out if I try it in waking life.

Maybe it's just because I've never stuck with it more than one day at a time every few months. Maybe if I really tried I could find that relaxing free feeling that comes with my running dreams.

So, starting in January I'm training for a 5K. I know that most people don't have to train for this kind of event, but I definitely will have to. Who knows, maybe I'll find that free feeling that I'm longing for and I'll start training for a 1/2 marathon after that. I'm kind of hoping that's what happens.

Friday Special

2006-10-13T09:29:00.000-04:00

Today's special is: Random paragraphs that have not too many connections. You're welcome!

I am overly excited about what is happening tonight. We're going out for hamburgers! Seriously, I'm excited about this. Mostly it's because we ran into some friends in a park this weekend and they were cooking hamburgers that smelled delicious, and I've been craving one ever since. Also, I love the pub where we're going for hamburgers, and not only do they have amazing hamburgers (my favorite is one that's a cheeseburger with banana pepper slices...mmmm....) they also have incredible cole slaw and the best long island iced teas in the area (also a 2 long island limit because they're so strong). I'll probably skip the long island because I actually have things to do tomorrow and don't want to be hung over, but I'm definitely going for the hamburger and cole slaw.

Aaron is in charge of dinner a couple of nights a week, which are the nights that I have an exercise class and don't get home until around seven. He's been doing really good cooking dinner on these nights, but last night he fell into his old habit, of smiling at me when I walk in the door and greeting me with a one word question, "Pizza?" (Wow, can you tell that my healthy eating plan is going really well? That's why I'm having yogurt and berries for lunch.) Now, I like pizza and was really happy that we weren't having chicken, because I was so not in the mood for chicken (or brussels sprouts - the planned side dish). The only problem is that the cheeseburger tonight was supposed to be my only "bad" meal this week. Oh, well. Aaron will just have to deal with non-fattening foods for the rest of the weekend.

Speaking of being healthy and going to exercise classes, I went to a cardio kickboxing class last night, and rocked it! My new shoes came earlier this week, so my feet hurt much less than they have been after these classes, which is awesome. I have really high arches, so I definitely need lots of support during classes where there's a lot of jumping (like the whole hour of jumping I did last night). My feet still hurt, but I'm not avoiding walking like I was after last week's class. That's a definite improvement.

Also, during this class I did something to my left hamstring (does it bother anyone else that we refer to part of our bodies as ham-anything?). It's not a pull or a sprain, but it definitely hurts. I think maybe it's just a weird persistent cramp from too many squats.

Speaking of hurting muscles, Aaron made me watch something on television last night that made me gag. Literally. Some baseball player (I think it was Sean Casey) tore his calf muscle and you could totally see it happen. It jiggled. It was gross. I almost threw up in my mouth a little bit. I'm now no longer going to look when Aaron says "Hey, wanna see something totally gross, but kinda cool?" I should have known that lesson without having to learn it the hard way.