Category Archives: Friends & Family

random stuff, part 336

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Aaaand once again, the elusive full-time position at the Giant Software Company slips through my fingers. I never even got a real interview on this one, just an email letting me know that they already hired someone. Fine, ho-hum, whatevah. Meanwhile, there have been several possibilities that have started cropping up for contract jobs at the Giant Software Company, and those might turn out to be promising. My little 100-day hiatus is coming to an end, boo-hoo. What that means is that I can officially start looking for jobs now because I’ll be able to work there for another year starting the Monday after Thanksgiving, and it’d be nice to have something set up and ready to go as soon as I’m eligible to start working there again. So, it’s good to get the respective balls rolling now. (Hee-hee, I said “balls”.)

Oh, that reminds me, did I mention that Dave and I are going to New York for Thanksgiving? My sister (occasional commenter on this here bloggy thing) lives there, so my whole family is going to meet up for a few days. We’re staying at home for Christmas, so this is kind of our one big family holiday gathering for the year. Dave’s never been to NYC before, so I imagine we’ll be doing lots of touristy stuff. I’m really looking forward to it.

In other news, Dave and I saw a Henry Rollins spoken word show last night. Happy sigh. I love that man. (I mean Henry – but Dave too, obviously.) I believe this is the 5th one of his shows I’ve seen. It was great, but I won’t try to recreate any of his stories for you here because it just wouldn’t work and wouldn’t be funny at all. However, if he ever passes through your town, you really should go see him. You won’t regret the money you spent on the ticket, I promise.

Also, as of Tuesday, Dave and I have officially been married for 6 months. And I have to say, besides the whole thing with my job ending suddenly, the depression of unemployment, and worrying endlessly about money because I have no income and feel like a big fat leech since I’m not contributing anything to the household other than doing dishes, laundry and all that insanely boring 1950’s housewife bullsh*t, this has been the happiest 6 months of my life. 🙂 Love you, baby.

smooshed whoopie

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First, a blog note. I’m trying out a few new features to get rid of this one dude who keeps leaving dozens upon dozens of spam comments on my old entries. (And it is one dude, I’ve traced his IP address.) Anyway, since he’s always “anonymous,” one of the things I changed is that you now have to fill out your name and email address to leave a comment. It won’t be displayed and I’m the only one who sees it, but if you’re worried that I’m going to spam you (ha!), you can say that it’s blah@blah.com. I don’t care if it’s a valid email address or not, I’m just hoping it’ll get rid of Mr. Anonymous.

So, a couple of weeks ago there was a discussion on Angie’s blog about a delicacy in Pennsylvania called the whoopie pie. Being the southern-girl-transplanted-to-the-northwest that I am, I had never heard of these or tried them. So Angie, being the sweetheart that she is, mailed a few of them to Dave and me to try. And may I just say how awesome it is to find dessert in your mailbox? I think all bill collectors should start utilizing this tactic immediately, because if they mailed me sugary goodness along with their invoices, I’d be much more inclined to open them promptly. However, if you clicked on Angie’s blog, you probably saw the photo of what whoopie pies are supposed to look like, and by the time we received ours, they were a little bit squashed. Witness:
Smooshed whoopie pies
I know, they look pretty bad (damn you, careless post office employees!), but it really had no affect on their taste whatsoever. They are still all wonderful cakey-and-ultra-gooey-frosting yumminess, as evidenced by the fact that by the time we got the camera out, one of the whoopie pies (the chocolate one) had already disappeared. And Angie, you’re right, they are nothing like moon pies. I’m not sure which one is better – I mean, I do love my moon pies, after all. I think I’ll have to eat a few dozen more of each to be able to properly give an informed opinion.

This is actually not the first out-of-her-way super-nice thing Angie has done for us. She also used this photo that I took (that’s the same mountain in the banner on this page), jazzed up the color and gave us a great 8×10 print of it, which has since been framed and hung up in our front hall. And of course, I am a horrible person and never sent her a thank-you note (much like the several other dozen people who gave us wedding presents who I haven’t mailed thank-you notes to either, and yes, I feel very very guilty about that, and if you’re one of the people who hasn’t gotten one, I swear that you will somewhere before the end of time, it’s just a matter of when I can get off my lazy ass to write them). So this entry is sort of my little Angie shout-out. But really: I will send you something nice in the mail someday, I promise.

Tae-Bo for Pets

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I had lunch today with Janet, the wife of one of Dave’s co-workers (Gabe). It’s funny, we’ve hung out with them on several occasions, and I like them a lot, but it’s always been couples activities. Janet and I have never done anything that was just the two of us. We’ve had dinner at each other’s houses, we went out with them for Janet’s birthday, they came to our wedding, etc., but the husbands were always there too. So today was good because it was interesting just to sit and talk for a couple of hours, to learn a lot more about her, and to relate to someone who’s kind of in the same general life situation as I am. I think I may finally have a normal female friend here in the Northwest (as opposed to Psycho Krissy, who I don’t even talk to anymore because I can’t take the drama), and that’s a very good thing.

And thanks to Gabe & Janet, we now have plans for Halloween – there’s a funky/hippie neighborhood north of downtown Seattle where there will be a “freak parade” at midnight on Saturday night, and we’re all going. So that should be interesting. I volunteered to be designated driver, because I’m nice like that. Also because I seem to have lost the taste for alcohol over the past couple of months, I just haven’t wanted it much at all. Kind of weird, but not that unusual for me. Anyway, that is bound to be interesting.

In slightly ickier news, the other night I noticed two of our cats (Cleo & Greta) circling one of the chairs in the living room, very interested in something underneath it. Knowing it couldn’t be good, I shooed the cats away and scooted the chair over. Underneath it was a teeny-tiny baby mouse. Now, I know that my mother says that baby mice grow up into big mice, and that I should’ve just let the cats have at it and be done with it, but I’m not that cold-hearted. So I called Dave, and we got a big tupperware thing and tried to trap him under it, so I could set him loose outside. Only as soon as I lowered the tupperware, his terror-paralysis suddenly came to an end and he decided to bolt. I ended up pinning him to the floor with the edge of the container. I tried to pick him up (since I had him trapped), and he bit me. He didn’t break the skin, but it hurt, and I still had a minor freak-out about germs and rabies and whatnot. As soon as I dropped him, he took off. After I finished scrubbing my hands with large amounts of anti-bacterial soap, we found him halfway up the living room curtains (he had scaled them like a cat). So Dave used the tupperware lid to shoo him off the curtains and knock him into the container, and I ran him way out into the far part of the yard to set him loose. And as I dropped him off, I told him to have a long, happy life, and to please never come back into my house. I hope he understood me.

Oh, and more cat news: you know the stray orange kitty who comes around our house to eat our cat food but technically isn’t ours? He used to be friendly with all of our cats, but it seems that all of a sudden, our female cats are scared of him – they run from him, and won’t go outside if they see him out there. Beaumont (our one boy cat) is still buddies with him. I know the orange kitty (and yes, that’s the best nickname I’ve got for him so far – if I give him a name, then he’s sort of ours, and so help me God, we do NOT need a fifth cat) is a male because he’s pretty well “equipped”. That’s the other reason why I’m not crazy about him coming in the house – I’ve seen him spraying trees in the yard, and I really don’t want him to do that to my couch. Anyway, I haven’t got actual proof (just a couple of loud fights in the yard where I witnessed shrubs shaking but didn’t see anything), but I suspect that the reason the girl kitties are scared of him all of a sudden is because he’s trying to mount them. And our girls were fixed when they were babies, so they probably have no idea what the hell he’s doing, or they think he’s attacking them. I told Dave, “I’m not sure if it’s a full-on kitty rape situation, or if it’s just some unsolicited humping.” We later decided that Unsolicited Humping would be a great band name. Or even better, as a sign to hang outside of one’s business. Anyway, since he seems to like coming around our house regularly, I don’t know what to do about that, short of trapping the orange kitty and taking him to get snipped, or getting the girls some kitty self-defense lessons. (Meow means meow!) Any ideas? I’m sort of at a loss here.

announcement

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Ok. So. There’s this thing, which has been keeping me sort of preoccupied for the past couple of weeks, and I wasn’t sure whether or not to write about it and share it with the whole World Wide Internets(tm). I asked Dave what he thought, and at first he said it was too personal, then he changed his mind and was like “ehh…” Thanks for the help, honey. I’ve decided that since this little blog o’ mine is the closest thing I have to a diary, I might as well document it for my own personal future reference. So here goes.

Attention world: I am going off birth control.

That’s right. I know some people will probably think it’s too soon, since Dave and I have only been married for five months. But those are probably the same people who thought we were crazy for getting married after only a year. And you know, we both know who we are, and we know what we want. I’ve been calling Dave my “marriage and babies guy” for quite a while, and I know he’s the person I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, so why wait? We aren’t going to be marking days on the calendar or anything, and I think that it takes an average of about a year for most couples to conceive, so we aren’t expecting anything to happen immediately. We’re just going to throw caution to the wind and see what nature has in store for us.

Honestly, I was worried that I was pressuring Dave into the baby thing. I’ve been ready for years, and lately I’ve had to hold myself back from sniffing babies’ heads when I see them at the supermarket. (Um, not like they have babies for sale right next to the canteloupes or anything. It’s just that recently, since I’ve been going to get groceries in the middle of the day, most of the other shoppers are stay-at-home mom’s with their children.) I kept offering him out’s – like, maybe this isn’t a good idea while I’m not working, maybe we should wait until we’re more financially stable or until we’ve been married for at least a year, etc. But he seems to be almost more enthusiastic about this than me. I suppose it makes sense for me to be a little more cautious and nervous about it, since I’m the one whose body is going to go through all sorts of changes and the joy (ha!) of childbirth. But I also know that being a mom is something I truly want to be. And I’m pretty sure that I’ll be good at it – all I have to do is repeat what my mom did, because she’s fantastic.

So, that’s what all of those vague references to doctors were about. I wanted to make sure that I had the ok to go off of birth control, given my past history. It looks like everything is fine and all systems are a go, so to speak, so that’s good. This still feels weird to write about, because we haven’t talked about this with most of our family; although I guess by posting this, a few more people will be in the loop. (Hi!) It also seems a little gross to announce, “Hey everyone! We’re going to be having lots & lots of unprotected sex at our house! Yee-haw!” I know we’re married, so technically that’s allowed, but I’ve never really been one to talk about my sex life, so it feels kind of icky to start now. But like I said, this is my journal, so I have to be honest here.

Anyway, that’s the latest news from our part of the world. How are you?

where is the funny?

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So, I feel like I need to apologize for the fact that my last post was not at all even remotely funny, but hey, I guess that’s just the part of my cool mysteriousness, no? I’m not sure that this will be any funnier, because I’ve been in this very strange dark mood for the past couple of days. I’m frustrated with the job search – or rather, the lack of results from it – and I’m tired of feeling useless because I’m home all day while Dave is at work and I don’t really seem to do anything.* Yesterday I made myself feel slightly better by cleaning, but the house is still a mess, and the cleaning lady is coming tomorrow, so there’s really no point in bothering, is there? Normally, when I feel like this, doing something fun like going shopping for a new outfit or a pair of shoes might make me feel better, but I have this little rule about not spending money on extraneous things when I have no income. Call me kooky.

* Disclaimer: Dave has nothing to do with this mood, and I know that he hates that I feel this way. If anything, the guy is just too damn supportive, because he’s constantly telling me to relax and try to enjoy my time at home and think of it as a “vacation,” and I can’t seem to do that. But really, how sweet is that? It makes me feel even more guilty for spending his paycheck on things we don’t really need. Such as, see below.

So! In an effort to feel less useless and more like I’m taking steps to do something positive for my career, I’ve decided to get yet another certification. I won’t bore everyone with the details because I seriously doubt that most of you care, but this one little thing alone should definitely fatten up my resume quite nicely. Which means, of course, that I now get to go to the bookstore and drop some crazy amount of money on a textbook so I can teach it to myself, because that’s a better option than spending even crazier amounts to take a class for it. (Example: There is a 3-day intensive workshop for this certification, which costs a mere $3000. Holy god. I think I’ll just go buy the $75 book and go at my own pace, thanks anyway.) So yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Wish me luck.

Oh, and about that job that I’m not sure about: I got an email from my recruiter (the guy who set up the interview) with the subject line that said, “good news!” Apparently he wanted to let me know that yes, they’re interested in me, and it’s basically a decision between me and one other person. Um, how is that good news? I mean, yay for me being in the final two, but seriously. That still means there’s a 50% chance that I won’t get it, and really, I think I would’ve been happier not knowing that I was that close and missed it.

In happier news: today is my mom’s birthday. I won’t write a big elaborate shout-out since she doesn’t read this site, but I will say that she’s one of my favorite people on this planet, and I feel sorry for anyone who wasn’t raised by her. (So, basically, the entire world minus me and my siblings.) Yay for mama!

cooking meat in the backyard

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We bought a grill on Saturday. Or rather, Dave bought a grill while I was at home frantically cleaning the house in preparation for that evening’s cookout. It was fun, too. Although we perhaps bought a tad too much food for only 5 people (burgers, hot dogs and chicken – both white and dark meat), and we’re still working through the leftovers two days later. But hey, it’s a grill! On our pretty deck! And now we can have people over for cookouts whenever we want! And I don’t have to do any work because grilling is considered a “manly” thing! Yay!

It’s also been really hot here lately. It’s nothing by my home state’s standards; I realize that it’s in the mid-90’s in Mississippi right now, and they consider that to be cool for this time of year. In fact, I was talking to Kris the other day and when I complained about the heat, she informed that the heat index in Memphis was around 110 degrees, so I should just shut the hell up. But the primary difference is that everywhere in the south is air-conditioned, and no homes here have central A/C, so when it gets over 80 degrees, it starts to get really uncomfortable. Lately, Dave and I have been camping out in our bedroom with the White Trash Window Unit A/C most of the time that we’re home. I found out recently that our house has all of the ductwork and vents for central air, we’d just need to buy the compressor, which is not as insanely expensive as I originally thought. It’ll probably be next year before we can afford it, but still, we are SO going to be getting set up with that before next summer. I don’t like being restricted to one room in our house, and I’m tired of my sinuses freaking out because when we have all of the windows open, it aggravates my allergies. So, central air? Heck yeah. Bring it on.

oh what a week…

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…and it’s only Tuesday. Let’s hammer out the bad news first, shall we? It seems that death abounds.

* My cousin Alphagal’s dog died over the weekend. I shall miss reading Modean’s entries on his dog blog, and it’s always heartbreaking to lose a pet, so my heart goes out to her & SNG.
* My best friend Kris’s grandmother died over the weekend of lung cancer. The good news is that this may finally be what scares Kris into quitting smoking. But still, it’s her grandma, and she’s (understandably) upset, so that’s no good.
* My friend Naina, who’s been having a not-so-fabulous year thus far anyway, lost both her aunt and cousin in a car accident over the weekend. Her uncle was in the car too, he’s stable in ICU. These are relatives that she was extremely close to – she usually introduced her cousin to people as her brother. And I’m pretty sure he was around our age, mid to late 20’s. So that’s just horrible.

In the category of not-really-good news, but not as bad as above:

* Dave’s kitties have a vet appointment this afternoon, because at least 2 of them have tapeworms. And if they share a litter box, that means they probably all have them. Gross, gross, gross. I’m just glad I’m not involved in trying to wrangle 3 cats into the car to go to the vet – that’ll be Dave & Steve’s fun afternoon task.
* We had our house appraised on Sunday, for what is hopefully the final step in the 2-month-long process of trying to get a home equity loan. We need the money for the deck that Steve is building, the driveway we want to put in (good-bye, gravel!), to replace the siding on the house, and oh yeah, to pay for our wedding, so it’s sort of infuriating that they didn’t tell us that we needed the damn appraisal until now, when we started this process back in mid-February. The good part of the appraisal: the house might possibly be cleaner now than it has ever been (I sort of went nuts at the idea of having a stranger evaluating our home). The bad part: it’s yet another delay in this ridiculously long & painful process of getting a loan. I have taken on the role of the Annoying Borrower – I’m calling the loan officer at least twice a day. “Have you gotten the report yet? Has it gone to the underwriters? When do we sign??” I figure that she’s the moron who didn’t inform us up front about all of the documentation that we were going to need, so I feel no guilt whatsoever in nagging her.

In happy news:
* We have an officiant for our wedding, an inter-denominational minister named Reverend Mary. I spoke with her yesterday and liked her immediately. Apparently she really gets to know the couples that she marries before the wedding, so she can make the ceremony very personal. She’s going to give Dave and me homework to do, sort of like a form of pre-marriage counseling, so I think that’s cool.
* Dave has made it 10 days with no cigarettes, so I think he has officially left the “trying to quit smoking” phase and entered the “has officially quit” phase. Yay!
* Last night, we got home and found that Steve had cleaned the garage – and he even built shelves on one of the walls so we have storage space! I was so excited that I could’ve kissed him. Except that he’s about to be my brother-in-law, and that would be weird.
* My old apartment, which I was still paying for because of weird lease circumstances, has been rented to a new tenant, which means I am officially off the hook, and I’ll get refunded for half of this month’s rent. That’s awesome.
* I am getting married in exactly 40 days. Whoo-hoo!