Category Archives: Dave

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.

how to avoid getting hauled off to the pokey

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This past weekend was pretty low-key. Since Dave and I have been doing more than our fair share of home improvements over the past few weeks, we decided that this holiday weekend would be literally that, a holiday. We really didn’t do much of anything, we watched a lot of “Sopranos” on DVD (I now have Dave hooked), played a lot of video games, and took a lot of naps. It was lovely.

Friday night, however, we went to a Canada Day party at the home of one of Dave’s co-workers and his wife. Obviously, they’re Canadian, but we like them anyway. (That’s a joke! I love Canadians! Don’t send me hate mail!) I had a really good time. I had a headache so I volunteered to be our designated driver, which was fun for me because I hardly ever see Dave get drunk. On the rare occasions that he does have a few too many, you can almost guarantee that I’ve had twice as much, so I tend not to notice his drunkenness when I myself am bombed out of my skull. But on the night when all I was drinking was water, it was pretty obvious how much he had imbibed, and it was damn funny. They started playing some sort of drinking game that involves cards, and I think everyone was pretty much completely hammered after that. Good times.

The odd thing about the evening was that well over half of the people in attendance (including me) had lived in Memphis at some point. How they all ended up at a Canada Day party in the Pacific Northwest is beyond me. One of the women there even graduated from the University of Memphis at the same time as me – she majored in a completely different area, so I didn’t know her, but that was still a very odd coincidence. Greatest line of the night, which only my fellow southerners will understand:

Drunk southern guy (talking about the drinking game they were playing): “How did I lose?? I have all kings and aces!”
Slightly-less-drunk southern girl: “Because you’re not in Tunica, jackass!”

On the way home, I got pulled over for running a red light. I was really tired so I admit that I might not have been at my most attentive, but I’m still not sure if I believe that the light was really red or if the cop just wanted to mess with me. But I managed to get off with a warning, thanks to some ever-so-useful tips that I got in college from my friend Becky. She once got pulled over when I was with her – we were 21 at the time and had both been drinking – and the cop let us go without even asking us if we were drunk. These are the tips she gave me on how to avoid tickets, which I have never forgotten, and which I shall now share with you:

1. Be polite. Always say “sir” or “ma’am.”

2. Turn the engine and the radio off as soon as you pull over.

3. Have your window rolled down and your license out by the time the cop gets to the window.

4. Don’t lie and act like you don’t know what you did, just apologize. Or in my case, I genuinely didn’t know what I had done, but when he told me, I told him that if he said that I ran the red light, then I must have, and I was very sorry.

That’s it, really. He looked at my license, asked me if I was heading home to Duvall. I said “yes, sir,” and he told me to be careful because there were a lot of drunks on the road. (I suppose that’s true anytime on a Friday night after midnight, but particularly so on holiday weekends.) I told him that was the reason why I was driving, because my husband had had a few drinks earlier, and I gestured over at Dave in the passenger seat. He thanked me for doing my part (!) and told me to drive safely. The end. Politeness works, folks. Say thank you to Becky the next time this works and you successfully get out of a ticket.

this day in history

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Warning: cheese ahead. Sentimentality ensues.

The mind tends to wander during the morning commute. This morning it occurred to me that today is June 23rd, so it was exactly one year ago today that I started flying to California every week for my job. It was one of the more miserable work-related experiences of my career – Dave and I had just started dating and I was so happy, and being forced to be gone for 5 out of every 7 days felt like torture. I was so lonely and depressed when I was when I was in California, and I felt like there was this big metaphorical rainbow hanging over Seattle, like, “your happiness lies here! Stick around and see what happens!” The weeks went in slow motion, and the weekends flew by at warp speed. However, my leaving absolutely cemented Dave as the best boyfriend I had ever had, because he was the first guy I had ever dated who volunteered to take care of my cat when I went out of town. Sure, there might have been a boyfriend or two in my past who would have grudgingly checked in on her if I had asked or offered bribes, but Dave welcomed her into his house without my even asking him to do so. And considering what a needy little fusspot my Teenie is, that pretty much sealed him into that “oh my god I can’t believe it he’s the most amazing guy I’ve ever met” category. Which, I’m happy to report, is still the category that he lives in today. I don’t know of anyone else who would get out of bed in the middle of trying to take a nap to go fetch some Thai take-out for me, or who would help me clean just to calm my obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Fast-forward to June 23rd of this year, I have a much better job that allows me to stay in town, and I married that fantastic boyfriend so I get to sleep with him every single night – not just on weekends. I’m happier than I ever thought I could be. This morning I’ve been reading some of those emails that we sent each other when I was traveling last summer (yes, I saved them, what of it?), and it’s made me feel all sentimental and squishy. I can’t wait to get home to give my hubby a big smooch. (Sorry, y’all, I know that was really cheesy.)

And while I’m speaking of my fantastic husband, he has volunteered to work from home today while a contractor is installing new baseboards and crown moulding in our bedroom. Dave and I bought all this stuff to fix up our bedroom when we got our new furniture. We moved things around, painted the walls, tore off the old baseboards… and then we realize that neither one of us can cut the new ones into a 45-degree angle so they’ll line up in the corners. It’s freakin’ impossible. So I called around and found a guy who’ll do it for a surprisingly reasonable hourly rate. In a perfect world, it’ll be done by the time I get home from work today. Here’s hoping.

Oh, but just as an aside? The thought of a man I don’t know spending the better part of a day in my bedroom totally freaks me out. Yeeesh, creepy.

newlywed weekend excitement

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As far as my plans for a big exciting weekend that would make for a great blog entry? Yeah, not so much. We went to a little local festival, which was sort of interesting in a “gee, they have funnel cake, but no ferris wheel, what gives?” kind of way. We sat around and people-watched for a while, listened to a semi-OK band, and ate junk food. Then we went home and took a nap. The end. After we woke up, we went shopping and bought a bike rack that will fit on both of our cars – yay! And then it rained for the rest of the weekend so we couldn’t actually ride our bikes – boo!

Sunday, Dave didn’t feel well, so I went shopping by myself. Through the wonders of discount stores, I managed to find myself a nice little summer wardrobe collection for a relatively small amount of money. So that was fun. Then I came home and cleaned (well, not really, I just moved stuff out of the way for the housekeeper, who comes tomorrow) while simultaneously watching “Raising Helen“. Has anyone else seen this? I’m still not sure if I liked it or not. Then, Dave and I went to the supermarket (oooh, see what an exciting, fast-paced life we lead?) and rented that Lemony Snicket’s thing. I think two movies in one day about children who are orphaned after both parents are killed in some horrible freak accident is a bit too much for me. During the second movie, I started making plans in the back of my mind of who will take custody of my as-yet-unconceived children, should Dave and I die in a car accident or a fire or whatever. Because you know what? My kids are not going to end up with either Jim Carrey OR Kate Hudson, and that’s final. Maybe Billy Connolly. But we’ll see.

In other news… Well, there isn’t much other news, except that I don’t feel well today. Dave had some co-workers from out-of-state visiting last night, so he had to go out to dinner with them and do the whole corporate entertainment thing. And since I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep without him, I took 2 over-the-counter sleep aids instead of my usual one. (Awww, isn’t that sweet? Seriously, it’s not like he has to be in bed with me for me to fall asleep, I just get freaked out when I’m in the house by myself. I know I’ve mentioned this before.) So today I have this weird, fuzzy, Tylenol PM-induced hangover, and it’s basically impossible for me to concentrate on anything. Fun! Only 3 hours left of my workday. Sigh.

P.S. I’ve added some more photos to the rehearsal & wedding albums, courtesy of my mom. Unless you’re in them, you probably won’t care. But hey, this is the best picture I have so far of my dress, at least until I get the pics from our wedding photographer. Enjoy.

nesting

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This week has been pretty low-key since the in-laws have departed. Dave and I have been enjoying having the house to ourselves again, and I think we’re going through some kind of cocooning phase. It’s nice. But to that end, there isn’t a whole lot going on right now that would qualify as good blog material. So instead, I’ve updated my sidebar to include a whole bunch of other blogs that I compulsively read almost daily. You might notice, if you click on the links, that a lot of them are what one might call “mommy blogs”. Don’t read too much into that. I’ve already been accused of being pregnant once this week, and I did not respond too kindly to it. Yes, Dave and I want to have kids at some point, but it’s going to be a while before that happens. We probably won’t even start trying until next year at the earliest. So simmer down. When I get knocked up, believe me, Internet, you’ll be the first to know. Meanwhile, the mommy blogs that I’ve linked to just happen to be written by some very funny and creative women. That’s all.

In other news, there will be more wedding photos posted soon, as my mom just sent me a CD with all of her pictures on it. (I was going to post them today, but I left the CD at home.) I know that seems like an odd way to receive digital pictures, but believe me, if you had to try to explain to my mother how to copy files onto her hard drive and then add multiple attachments to an email, you would end up telling her to go to Wal-Mart and have them put the pictures on a damn CD and just send the blasted thing through the regular ol’ postal service. Which is exactly what I did.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I’ll try to do something interesting that will make this blog worth reading on Monday.

routine? really?

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The in-laws fly back to the UK tomorrow. It’s kind of a strange feeling. I mean, on the one hand, I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Steve over the last 3 months, and I think it was really healthy for Dave and Steve, because they didn’t really know each other as adults. So this time has been really good for them because it seems like they’re genuinely friends now, not just brothers. And it was fun to visit with Mags and meet her new boyfriend, Roger. She seems very happy and he seems to be good for her, so that’s wonderful. But at the same time, Dave and I haven’t had more than a day or two on our own for three whole months. So, as good as this visit has been, I’m also really excited to have it back to being just the two of us.

It’s very odd to think of how much my life has changed since the beginning of this year. As of January, I went from living alone for the past 6 years in a series of small, one-bedroom apartments, to living with someone in a large 4-bedroom house, in a town that’s smaller than anywhere I’ve ever lived. And can I just say how much easier it is to keep a one-bedroom apartment clean, as opposed to an entire huge house? The dusting alone is enough to wear me out. So that was already a shock to my system, but then almost as soon as I was getting used to the idea of living with a guy, along comes Steve and I’m suddenly living with two guys. Who tend to be kind of messy. And it isn’t just my space anymore, I have to compromise and share and be reasonable. Which are not things that I’m used to. At all. So it’s been sort of hard for me.

Also, back in February, Dave and I were just starting to get settled into a daily life routine – we’d get home from work in the evenings, go to the gym, come home, cook dinner, watch a little TV and go to bed. After Steve got here, everything shifted. Sometimes we’d cook dinner, most of the time not. The gym suddenly vanished from our to-do list. Plus we’ve had a million other things going on with the home improvement projects, the wedding, the house refinancing to pay for the home improvements and wedding, etc. But now that’s all done. I’m hoping that once we get used to Life as a Couple again, we’ll re-establish that healthy pattern that we were starting to settle into before Steve arrived. Especially with working out, because I sit in an office all day and don’t really get any exercise at work, and I know that when I’m exercising regularly, I’m generally an all-around happier person. So, here’s hoping.

wedding pics

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Wedding pictures are now posted. Whee! And in honor of Sally’s brother, who takes some awesome food pictures, we have a few of our own here, including cake, something that on the menu was referred to as “whole decorated salmon” (and boy, were they not kidding), a dinner roll that got thrown all over the reception hall, and fun with fruit. And frighteningly enough, this isn’t even all of our photos, I’m still waiting for a few people to email me theirs. Oh, and then there’s the photographer we paid, who should be sending me her 400+ photos sometime in the next month or two. Enjoy!