Category Archives: Blah-blah-blah

weekend of sloth

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You know how when you have a weekend trip, and then you go back to work on Monday, it feels like you didn’t get a weekend at all? So then the following weekend, you take full advantage of the whole “sleeping late and doing nothing” thing? I think that’s the only way to explain how lazy we were this weekend. To recap:

a) Friday night, I went to dinner (Thai food) and Target with Kris. She bought detergent and dog food. I got a new laundry basket because ours broke. I was home before 10:00 p.m.

b) Saturday, Kris moved the stuff she borrowed back to our house, because her furniture from Memphis finally showed up. (Aside: I think she hired the slowest movers in history, because it took them 4 weeks and 1 day to get her stuff from Memphis to Seattle. Seriously, 29 days to go 2400 miles? The hell?) So, we have a non-empty guest room now. Hooray. Helping her unload the van took all of about 10 minutes. That night, we got take-‘n-bake pizza and watched “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” It was good.

c) Sunday, I mowed part of the lawn. I just did the little side areas where the riding mower can’t go because it’s too bumpy and/or close to the edges of the lawn. I did that for about an hour, until the mower ran out of gas. Rather than refill it, I just decided it was a sign that I had done enough, so I stopped. (I kind of like thinking of yardwork that way: God doesn’t want me to mow anymore.) Dave didn’t do anything in the yard because he was having some kind of weird hay fever flare-up, so he took a couple of Sudafed, which knocked him right the hell out for a few hours. Later in the afternoon, I went to the grocery store. And that’s all.

I’m attributing all of this laziness to the fact that we were still recovering from last weekend’s trip to New Orleans. Because there is seriously no other justifiable reason as to why we were so damn lazy. But man, it was really nice.

because it's Friday and I'm lazy

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You Were a Koala


You value living life at a slow, peaceful, meditative pace.
You give insightful advice, helping others to overcome obstacles.


Gummy Bears


You may be smooshie and taste unnatural, but you’re so darn cute.


Your Blogging Type is Kind and Harmonious


You’re an approachable blogger who tends to have many online friends.
People new to your blogging circle know they can count on you for support.
You tend to mediate fighting and drama. You set a cooperative tone.
You have a great eye for design – and your blog tends to be the best looking on the block!

Thanks for the inspiration, Cat.

she rakes, she bakes, what can't she do?

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Are y’all getting tired of reading about house stuff? Because that’s really about all that I’ve got right now.

Our appraisal went well, so the home equity loan is all set, and tomorrow is the best part of all: we’re getting central air-conditioning! It seems like no one in the Northwest has air-conditioning because you only need it for maybe a few weeks total out of each summer. But I am a spoiled brat who was raised in the south, and I firmly believe that if the temperature outside is over 75 degrees, you’re supposed to be able to turn on a damn air-conditioner in your house.

Anyway, we aren’t getting a regular ol’ air-conditioner. Oh no. We’re getting a combination A/C and heat pump, which will apparently save us a ton of money in the winter by running our heat on electricity rather than propane (what it currently runs on). And propane is expensive, so the heat pump is a good investment, helps the house’s re-sale value, is better for the environment, yadda yadda. All good stuff.

On Saturday, Dave and I went to our local dinky hardware store, where we bought a new wheelbarrow (yay!) and other yard stuff. When we got home, I did some weed-whacking (hee!) and raking, and started my very own teeny-tiny mulch pile. (I’m sure it’ll grow as time goes on.) Dave started his own little yard project, which is to kill the grass in half of our front yard, so we can see how uneven the ground is there and figure out where we need to redistribute the dirt to make it level. Good times.

Later on Saturday, I went shopping with Kris and bought a couple of cookbooks. Dave and I are making an effort at eating healthier (again), and we’ve been doing pretty well with that for a few weeks now, but I needed some inspiration. Hence the cookbooks. On Sunday, I made oatmeal cookies that were sweetened with grape juice concentrate rather than sugar. They were pretty good, but I think next time I might have to leave out a little juice so I can add just a tiny amount of sugar. Because seriously, if I’m craving something sweet, I just don’t think they’re going to do it for me. They’re ok, just sort of… meh. They taste “healthy,” and not in a good way.

I’ve been strangely hyper lately (see Saturday: “Let’s go to the store! Let’s do yardwork! Let’s go shopping AGAIN!!”), and I’m waiting for the crash when I need to sleep for three days to balance it out. But I’m enjoying the extra energy for now, because I seem to be getting a lot of stuff done. I wonder if maybe the energy is because I’ve been eating less junk? Scary thought, that my body might actually be happier with better sources of fuel in it. Ah, if only I could feel this good on nothing but potato chips and Little Debbie snack cakes… Sigh.

odds and ends, part 423

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There isn’t a whole lot to write about right now. I’ve been pretty stressed this week. We’re trying to get the house all tidied up, because apparently in order to get a home equity loan, we have to first get our house appraised. And we need the home equity loan to pay for new siding, before the house completely rots to pieces. So that’s fun. But I must admit, the siding that Dave and I picked is gorgeous, and I’m really looking forward to it because the house is going to look so much prettier after it’s done. It’s all part of the big De-WhiteTrashification plan.

Anyway, I don’t know if it’s true that clean houses appraise higher, but I’m damn sure not taking the chance. So there’s been a bit of frantic cleaning going on. Hence why we rented the dumpster to get rid of some junk. We also had the roof power-washed because… well, because you have to in our climate or else your roof starts to grow stuff. Like moss. Or shrubs if you let it go long enough. (Seriously, you should see our next-door neighbor’s barn roof. It’s practically got trees sprouting out of it.)

Other random stuff:
* Dave gave a speech at this thing yesterday. Which just goes to show how totally different we are, because he can give a presentation in front of approximately 500 people and it doesn’t really seem to faze him. I, on the other hand, would need to be severely medicated, and even then, I’m not sure I could do it. I’m really proud of him for it, though. He’s such a smartypants.

* Yesterday marked a mini-anniversary for Dave and I, two years since our first date. We went out for steaks. Yum. We also got our anniversary cake. Backstory: The lady who did our wedding cake gives her clients a free 6-inch cake on their one year anniversary. As it turns out, she just had a baby so she forgot about our anniversary on the 15th. I had to email her to remind her, and she dropped off the cake at my office yesterday. And it worked out well, since it was still a pretty special day for us. (Our first date, celebrating Dave’s big speech, etc.)

* I got an email yesterday from a girlfriend of mine back in Massachusetts. We haven’t seen each other in years, but we still email pretty regularly. Apparently she’s pulling a Britney Spears: she just had a little boy back in September, and she’s already pregnant with baby #2. (Not that she’s anything like Britney at all, she seems like a very responsible parent. And her husband seems like a lovely guy, unlike K-Fed.) She knows that Dave and I are trying, so she started her email with, “Hope you won’t get mad at me for this, but….” Wow. Like I could begrudge someone their pregnancy? I mean, yeah sure there’s a bit of a “dammit, no fair!” aspect to it, but I’m still happy for her. She’s not the only person who seems to think that, though – another friend of mine had a pregnancy scare and she said she kept thinking about how upset I was going to be if she had to tell me that she was pregnant. It sort of blows my mind. Are they just being sensitive because they know I want to be pregnant? Or do I give off a really angry and bitter vibe? Because I honestly thought I outgrew my angry and bitter phase back in college. So I’m sort of confused about that.

* There’s been an interesting little development at work, where it seems like maybe I won’t be out of work after June 30th, because the manager of a team I work with seems keen to bring me over to work on his team. I don’t want to talk too much about it and jinx it, but I have a meeting with that particular manager tomorrow to discuss some of this stuff, so y’all keep your fingers crossed for me, because this could be really good.

Aaaand, that’s about it. Hope y’all have a lovely Memorial Day weekend.

because really, it's all about my hair

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I know y’all have just been dying to see before and after pictures of my new haircut, haven’t you? HAVEN’T YOU??

Ok then.

Here’s what it looked like a couple of weeks ago, when Kris and I met up with the girls for a little night out on the town. We were ridiculously overdressed, considering that we ended up in a sketchy techno club downtown. But hey, whatever. We felt purty, and that’s all that matters.



 Please ignore the fact that I’ve got some kinda crazy-eyed thing going on there.

I honestly kind of liked my hair really long like that, but there were so many layers around the bottom, it took forever to style. And I really prefer it if my morning hair routine takes less than 10 minutes. I’m just low-maintenance like that. (Yes, I’m being sarcastic. I do realize there are people in the world who run their fingers through their hair and call it good. I will probably never be one of those people.)

Anyway, I went to my stylist and told her that I wanted to get rid of the layers – I had her cut it just blunt and straight across the bottom. She said afterward that she had been worried it would look too “heavy” that way, but she was pleased with how it turned out.



 I’m pretty pleased with it myself.

Oh, and the next time I think it’s ok to allow a photo to be taken of me squatting like that? Someone please slap some sense into me. God. Hello, thighs!

editing schmediting

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I haven’t had much to write about lately. The problem is, my life really isn’t all that boring, but most of the stuff that’s been happening lately? I can’t write about it here. Let’s review:
* My job, about which there is major drama at the moment and oh my god, y’all, I so wish I could whine about it here – nope, can’t talk about it. At least not yet. (Probably not for a while.)
* My family – some stuff is ok, but I have to be very careful of what I say and who I write about, because I know some family members read this and I don’t want to upset anyone.
* My friends – same as above.

So, if it seems like I write a LOT about trying to get pregnant? That’s why. It’s the one thing going on in my life that I’m pretty free to write whatever I want about it. But please don’t think that I’m being obsessive about it, because I promise that I’m really not.

In light of that, here’s a brief What I Did This Weekend recap, which has absolutely nothing to do with any of the forbidden topics listed above, nor does it have anything to do with trying to get myself knocked up:

First, this was the weekend that we got estimates for new siding for our house, as well as central air-conditioning. Many sleazy salesmen were in our dining room at various points in time, it was very exciting. We figured out which company we like for central A/C, but I need more quotes for siding before I make a decision. I just can’t invest that much money in a company whose salesmen wear enormous gold class rings on their right hands. Can’t do it.

Saturday afternoon, I got a massage. I had a gift certificate from my birthday that I had never gotten around to using, so I finally did. It was heavenly.

Afterward, Dave and I went to a cinqo de mayo party at the home of some friends. It was fun, but I was driving so I had to stay sober. I’m usually fine with driving after one or two cocktails, but I’d had a bad headache earlier that day, and I was scared to mix alcohol with my migraine medicine. So I was good and stuck to either water or diet coke. Although in all honesty, the party probably would’ve been much more fun if I had been drinking. Anyway, I got to catch up with the girls, which is always nice. And we played Cranium – boys against girls, because apparently we’re still in junior high school. (Who knew?) I think the boys won, but I was so tired by the time the game finished that I honestly wasn’t paying attention anymore.

Although I must say that Dave does some hilarious charades. When he was trying to act out “The Friendly Giant” and someone guessed that he was a Very Tall Prostitute… well, let’s just say it was a good thing that I was already sititng on the floor, because it’s where I surely would have landed.

Sunday, I finally finished repairing Kris’s computer – her brother apparently used it when hunting for porn, and it was so full of viruses and spyware that I had to completely reinstall Windows from scratch. I took it over to her place and got it set up for her, and hung out for a while with her and Lucky.

Last night, Dave and I watched “Match Point.” It was a good movie, but man, are you supposed to like any of the characters in that film? Because, um… no. I did not like them. At all.

four is enough

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Last night, Dave and I had a long talk – he was lying on the bed with his head on the pillow, and I was sitting on the bed facing him. At some point, I went to slide off of the bed, and my leg came down in a really weird way, and I banged the inside of my knee on the corner of my nightstand. It was one of those completely improbable how-in-the-hell-did-I-manage-THAT? kind of injuries. It turned into a bruise in less than an hour. And all night long, whenever I’d roll over in bed and my knee would graze the sheet, it would wake me up. Ow. It still hurts today. I can’t cross my right leg over my left.

Moral of the story: I hope our kids don’t inherit the Klutz Gene from me. I don’t know if there’s genetic engineering available for such things, but man, it’d really spare them a lot of pain and embarassment if there were.

As for the subject matter of the aforementioned “long talk” – most of it is of a personal nature that really should remain between Dave and I. My marriage is sacred, after all. The short version?

We aren’t getting a puppy. We have four cats as it is, and that should be plenty to keep me busy.

I mean, the litter boxes alone… you guys just have no idea.