Scenes from the zoo

Posted on October 12, 2010 by Cindy

Because we’ve been back for two days and I still haven’t written about it (my brain, it is not cooperating with me these days), here are some pictures.

Near the entrance to the NC Zoo, there are these enormous life-size statues of elephants. We stopped to take some pictures. My mom saw this photo, and thought it was a real elephant, and she fuh-REAKED out. “Where’s the WALL?!! It could’ve KILLED her!!” Um, no, Mom. I’m pretty sure it’s not going anywhere.

Although if the elephants were real, it would’ve made this moment with my brother all the more awesome.

He’s hilarious. (We were trying to get Catie to agree to sit on the elephant’s trunk for a photo. She refused.)

As for inside the zoo…

Sea lions are awesome.

The flamingo exhibit was hands-down Catie’s favorite. She started asking for them the minute we got there, and she was so excited when we finally found them. She’s normally more of a giraffe/zebra fan, I’m not sure why the sudden obsession with flamingos? Maybe because they’re pink?

I love this picture of my sister & Catie. I love their contrasting hair colors.

And then, of course, the obligatory “we’re going to take some damn family pictures before we leave here.”

I think it’s hilarious how my brother and sister both look all well-rested and healthy, while Dave and I look exhausted, puffy, and pale. Guess which ones are the parents?

P.S. Still no news on the job front. Hoping to hear something one way or the other this week!

How many engineers does it take to hire a technical writer?

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Cindy

I mentioned a while back about how I was interviewing for a job I really want? Well, it’s been a slow process with this company. I applied for the job way back in early August, and I had my first interview with them before Labor Day. And tomorrow, I have my fourth – and hopefully final – interview.

Here’s the one sort of weird thing: this job is with Dave’s company. (If you know who he works for, good for you. I’m not outing his employer on my site.) So even though we’d be doing different things – he’s an engineer, I’m a technical writer – we’d be working in the same office building. Which could be really cool, or really weird. I’m not sure which, but I’m leaning toward cool. Especially since I already know from his experience that the people who work there are generally really awesome, and they’re flexible about letting you work from home when you need to (i.e., if you have a sick kid, etc.), so it would really be an ideal set-up for our family.

Of course, since Dave is an engineer and not in management, he has no say whatsoever as far as whether or not I get the job, which is why I’m now getting pretty nervous. (Where’s the nepotism when I need it?) All I know from him is that they’re interviewing at least 2 other people, so my odds are in the 33% range. I wish he had more “insider info” to give me. Instead, these are the kinds of exchanges we have:

Dave: So, they’re interviewing another docs guy.

Me: They’re interviewing someone named Doc Guy?

Dave: No. A docs guy. You know, someone who creates documents? As in, a writer? That thing you do for a living?

Me: Oh. Right. Well, it would be pretty awesome if there was a tech writer named Doc Guy.

**Both of us die laughing. Nerd humor FTW!**

The HR person who set up the interview told me to allow at least 6 hours for the interview because they want me to meet with several members of the team. I’m taking that as a positive sign. Also, I got the heads-up that at some point, Dave and his boss are going to take me to lunch, which’ll be nice.

So, yeah. Big interview tomorrow. I’m nervous. Cross your fingers, send good vibes, say prayers, light candles, what-have-you. I’d appreciate it. I really, really, really want this job.

a weekend in the mountains

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Cindy

Dave had been saying for a while that he wanted to go away for his birthday weekend. We don’t have the budget for anything major, but luckily, we can go on what feels like an honest-to-God vacation without leaving the state of North Carolina. We had the choice of going to the beach or going to the mountains. Dave picked mountains. And I’m so glad he did.

Not bad, eh?

It’s about a 4-hour drive over to Boone, NC. We stayed in a small town a bit further up in the mountains. Catie did great with the drive until we ended up on this unbelievable winding mountain road full of 180-degree hairpin turns. Luckily, she didn’t get too carsick, but we did have to make an emergency stop on the side of the road when she thought she was going to barf. (We walked about a city block’s length and that seemed to help her shake it off.)

We got to our hotel around sunset on Friday evening. We got snacks from the local Food Lion, checked into our hotel, and settled in for the night. Incidentally, we stayed at Blue Ridge Village, and we loved it there. Full kitchen, washer and dryer in the suite, jacuzzi tub, the works. It felt less like a hotel room and more like a furnished apartment. Totally comfortable and nice. (And no, they didn’t pay me to say that. Although if they want to comp me a room next time we go there, I sure wouldn’t say no.)

Saturday, our plan was to first go to Linville Caverns, then Grandfather Mountain. Due to a spectacular GPS fail that took us on a 30-mile detour, we scrapped that plan and went to Grandfather Mountain first (just because it was there).

I put Grandfather Mountain on our itinerary because they have an Animal Reserve there, and I knew Catie would love that.

I was right, too. She did love it.

The views at Grandfather Mountain are unbelievable. (That’s where I took the picture at the top of this post.) They also have something called a “Mile-High Swinging Bridge” that people can walk across, which was… not so popular with us. I thought I’d be ok until I actually stepped on it. I made it about three steps, then decided nope, can’t do this, and I turned around and bolted back to the mountainside. I’m not sure if it was the bridge itself or me leaving that made Catie freak, but Dave only made it about 5 more steps before she started to cry and said she didn’t like it and wanted to go back. So, none of us made it all the way across the Mile-High Swinging Bridge. And you know? I’m perfectly ok with that.

Once we were done with Grandfather Mountain, we headed over (finally!) to Linville Caverns. That was really, really cool.

I mean, any time you get to hang around rocks that are estimated to be around 22 million years old, and see trout that live in a stream inside a cave, that’s a pretty good day right there. Plus it’s 52 degrees year-round inside the caves, so after being outside in the heat, it felt fantastic.

We were worn out after that, so we headed back to the hotel and got some take-out from a nearby restaurant for dinner. I took Catie swimming in the hotel’s indoor pool after dinner, she loved that. (“The pool is INSIDE?!?!!”)

Oh! Let me back up. Our first night at the hotel, Dave and I had stupidly thought that all three of us could easily sleep in a king-size bed (completely forgetting that Catie tends to sleep sideways and likes to kick in her sleep). It was awful, none of us got a good night’s sleep at all. So on Saturday night, we decided to take advantage of the fold-out couch. You have never seen a three year-old’s mind blown like that. “You mean, the COUCH turns into a BED?!?!! And I can sleep on it?? Are you KIDDING me?!?!!” Between that and the indoor pool, she’s going to think this particular hotel is the site of Crazy Magic Stuff.

Anyway, she slept great on the fold-out couch, and the grown-ups got a decent night’s sleep ourselves.

On Sunday, we packed up and checked out of the hotel, before heading to the Tweetsie Railroad, which is kind of like an Old West-style theme park. The admission rates are crazy expensive, but then all the rides are free after that, so I guess it works out. Catie loved it.

The park is kind of built into a mountain, and we saw that there was a ton of stuff at the very top, but you had to take a chair lift (like at a ski lodge) to get to the top. Catie took one look at the chair lift and said, no way. So, we walked it instead. It was about half a mile, straight uphill, and she didn’t complain about it or ask us to carry her once.

Of course, after we hiked it, we realized there was a bus for people with wheelchairs or strollers. Which we could’ve taken for free. Sigh. Oh well, at least we probably burned off that funnel cake we ate later.

But thank God we didn’t skip the top of the park, because that’s where the petting zoo was located. Which I’m pretty sure was Catie’s favorite part of the entire weekend.

I think this emu thought my camera was food. He got super-close to me with his giant crazy bird eyes, and kinda wigged me out.

After all that, we went back and got on the train, where this is the best picture I got.

Yeah. Not my finest photography moment, to say the least.

Even in spite of the fact that we were all tired and grumpy, we still had to drag Catie out of there, she did NOT want to leave. And of course, she was asleep before we even got on the freeway.

It was really such a fun trip, but it also feels so good to come home. All three of us took the day off today to just veg out and relax. Oh, and Catie and I made Dave a birthday cake today, since he didn’t get one yesterday on his actual birthday. Unless funnel cake counts. And I don’t think it does.

P.S. In case the ridiculous number of photos in this entry isn’t enough for you, all the pictures from our trip are here.

unemployed

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Cindy

Even though I gave two weeks’ notice at my job? My boss did what I sort of expected, and said that Friday was my last day and we’re done. It’s fine because financially we’re ok for a while (and I still get my commission check later this month), and I wasn’t really looking forward to the next couple of weeks anyway.

SO! On that note, here’s a list that I call “Things I’ve done this week while being unemployed”:

* Maintained a clean house. Which is a much bigger deal than you might think.

* Washed, folded, and put away approximately 18 million loads of laundry. (Ok, probably more like 8. But still.)

* Cleaned out my closet. I doubt it would meet Jen’s standards, but I’m still proud of myself.

* Cooked a couple of lovely meals for my family.

* Got Catie’s room ready for winter. Between my sister and my parents, she already has an entire wardrobe for fall and winter, so I sorted through it, and got it all folded and put away. Then I packed away all the clothes she’s outgrown – which makes me unbelievably sad because holy hell, I want another baby girl to wear all of this stuff again. I’d be happy with a boy too, of course, it’s just that whole general-baby-need thing that’s getting me.

* Cleaned up 3 (THREE!!) puddles of cat puke in 3 days. (Seriously, Teenie, WTF?)

* Went for a run this morning. (Side note: I haven’t run for a while, so I thought I’d go back to week 3 of the Couch-to-5K program, and it almost killed me. Clearly, I need to get back to working out more often. On the plus side, though, even though I’ve kind of been slacking on the whole diet-and-exercise thing lately, I’ve still kept off the 8 pounds I lost earlier this summer. I realize that isn’t a huge deal to most people, but I’ll take maintenance over gaining weight ANY DAY.)

* Caught up on almost all of my DVR’ed shows. (LOVE this season of Project Runway so far.)

* Been a hell of a lot more patient with both Dave and Catie, which made me realize that when I’m not happy with my job, that resentment creeps into the rest of my life and manifests itself in really ugly ways. I think I’ve been a LOT nicer this week.

* Bought a new job interview outfit, since my pre-baby dress slacks no longer fit, and wearing maternity pants is just embarrassing.

* Got some pretty encouraging news about two possible jobs. I kind of want one more than the other, but I think I’d honestly be really happy with either one. So y’all cross your fingers for me!

Our Weekend

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Cindy

This weekend, Dave taught Catie how to develop game apps for the iPhone.

She’s totally into it, and taking it very seriously.

She’ll probably design the greatest app since “Words With Friends.”

Oh, and I got an iPhone 4! Which shoots video! Related: we sang happy birthday to my sister, and filmed it since Tracy is currently celebrating her birthday with friends in Italy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_dJWOwLBBU

Of course, it didn’t really occur to me until later that my sister can only access her email on her Blackberry, which doesn’t have YouTube capabilities, so she won’t actually see it until she gets back to the US. Oh well. Happy birthday, Tracy!

We also watched a heck of a lot of Xanadu. (And I learned that if you turn the phone to a landscape setting, it automatically adjusts when you copy it over to your laptop. Nice job, Apple! I won’t make any more oddly narrow videos.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF38NO646cg
(I’m still trying to get a video of her really singing it. So far, she kind of goes quiet as soon as she sees the camera. You can still see her lip-syncing it, but hopefully I’ll get a real video of it soon.)

(Also? This is how she always watches Xanadu – with lots and lots and lots of random questions about the plot.)

Sunday afternoon, we went to see the Wiggles in concert.

At first, Catie wasn’t too sure what she thought about the whole concert thing. But she took the popcorn very seriously.

Honestly? That might’ve been one of the most fun kids’ concerts we’ve been to (and I’ve been to a lot of them). You can tell that these guys have been doing this stuff for 20 years, and they just have fun with it and throw in all kinds of improv lines here and there, which makes it really funny for the adults in the audience.

That said, I’m glad I didn’t take advantage of the chance I had to get closer seats, because Catie got a little claustrophobic from the crowd, so we spent a lot of the show toward the back where it was emptier. She usually reacts that way in crowds, same as Dave, so I wasn’t too surprised by it.

I did manage to get one decent picture of all three of us, although the weird iPhone flash thing makes it look like we’ve been dousing ourselves in self-tanner.

Also? Sweaty. It was HOT in there. I don’t know how those guys on stage do it.

Overall, though? A pretty great time was had by all. But I can’t quite believe it’s Monday already.

weekend recap

Posted on July 18, 2010 by Cindy

Saturday started with a trip to the kids’ hair salon.

It was far less traumatic than the last time we went (I still laugh every time I see those pictures of her screaming in the salon chair; 2 year-old Drama Queen). She was happy to sit in the chair this time.

(That’s not a skeptical face, she had a mouth full of animal crackers. They give each kid a little Dixie cup full of them to snack on while they get their hair cut. Catie kept her cup hidden under her cape and would sneak the crackers out one at a time.)

She even laughed when the lady pulled out a blow dryer, which surprised me.

I honestly thought she’d freak at that point, but she handled the whole thing like a pro.

The kids get a “prize” after their haircut, which in Catie’s case turned out to be a purple rubber bouncy ball – the kind of thing you could get from a vending machine for a quarter. But she freaking loves that ball. You would’ve thought someone had given her the Hope Diamond, the way she reacted.

Since she was so good, afterward we went next door to Subway to get some lunch. It’s kind of a treat for us to eat out together.

Showing off her haircut. Orange lips courtesy of the bag of Doritos she wolfed down.

————————————-

Saturday afternoon, it was my turn for a haircut. My last trip to a salon was back in March, and I never particularly loved the haircut that much. I’ve been feeling very “blah” lately, so I was excited to do something different.

Before:

I thought about doing something drastic and whacking it off chin-length. In the end, I decided to go with taking about 3 inches off. Definitely a nice change, but without being too severe.

After:

I also had my eyebrows done, which always makes me feel better.

Now we just need to get Dave to get his hair cut too. He’s starting to look like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and not in a good way. Catie told him, “Daddy, your hair is growing up too big!”

————————————-

Saturday night, Dave and I took Catie to drop-in daycare and had a little Date Night. We went to see “Inception” – which, for the record, was really good. Although I can’t really describe the movie at all because it’s kind of a brain melter. We went to the 6:30 movie, and it’s 2.5 hours long, so it was 9:15 by the time we got back the daycare to pick Catie up. Not a big deal since they’re open really late on Saturday nights, but it totally messes with the whole bedtime routine. I think we finally got Catie to bed around 10:30, and that was even with skipping her bath and just getting straight into her PJ’s when we got home.

I have to say, that’s another reason I’m looking forward to my parents’ moving here. Someday we’ll be able to do Date Nights without worrying about rushing home, because we can just let Catie spend the night with her grandparents. That’ll be nice. I know my mom is already looking forward to it.

————————————–

Sunday (today), Catie and I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go to the neighborhood swimming pool. Quite a difference from last week, this time I asked Catie if she wanted to go to the pool, and she said, “Yeah! I stick my feet in the water!”

She still only went to the 2nd step, but whatever. I didn’t press her to do anything else – I offered to carry her further into the pool a couple of times, she said no, and I let it go. She’ll do more in her own time.

The rest of the day has involved cleaning the house and conquering the mountain of laundry (3 loads washed & folded so far, 3 more to go). Not very exciting, just your basic real-life stuff.

Still, overall it’s been a really fun weekend. Hope you all had good weekends too.

routines

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Cindy

I’m guessing that most families with two working parents settle into some sort of a routine. It took us a pretty long time of floundering, but I think we’ve finally found our groove.

Dave goes to work really early in the morning – like, crazy early. I think he leaves around 6 a.m.? Maybe earlier? I don’t really know because I’m always asleep. He gives me a kiss goodbye – on the forehead, because I’m usually sleeping with my mouth open, such a sexy little minx am I. And I try to wake up and say a proper goodbye, but it usually comes out like this:

Mmmrrph? Bye, haff a good d… *honk* *pshew*…

What can I say? I’m a heavy sleeper.

Anyway, Dave likes going to work early because he’s the first one there and he can get at least a solid couple hours’ worth of work done before everybody else gets there. Honestly, the extra productivity wouldn’t be worth the early wake-up call for me, but I’ve never been an early bird type.

Meanwhile, Catie and I usually get up around 7:30 on average. We snuggle on the couch and watch cartoons for a little while, then I get her dressed and we set off for daycare. I usually get her there around 9:15 a.m. Then I come back home and get to work.

The perk of Dave heading in so early, is that he can leave work around 3:30 or 4:00 in the afternoon, and pick Catie up from daycare on his way home. He helps me out with the childcare stuff in the evenings (dinner, bathtime), but then he goes to bed around 8 p.m. so he can get up early the next day. Catie doesn’t go to bed until about 9:00 p.m., so I usually handle bedtime on my own. I suppose this means that overall, I do more of the childcare “work” than he does (getting her dressed in the morning, the bedtime routine at night), but he makes up for it by getting up with her on the weekends and letting me sleep in, so that trade-off is fine with me. There was a point, sometime when Catie was 2 years old, that I thought I would never be able to sleep past 9 a.m. again, ever, for the rest of my life. I now often sleep until at least 10 on Saturdays. Which, for the record, is freaking awesome.

I suppose it wouldn’t work for some people – the fact that we all have different bedtimes and wake-up times – but it’s fine for us. Yes, I’m a little jealous of the people whose kids go to bed at 7 p.m. and sleep peacefully all night, and who get to hang out watching prime-time TV with their spouses. But that’s just not how we roll. And that’s ok, we make this work for us.

Still, there are some mornings when Catie wakes up, and she wants her Daddy. And I tell her that sorry babe, he’s already gone to work. She looks out the front window into the driveway, sees that his car is gone, and then she cries that she wants her Daddy. Talk about heart-breaking.

Dave had some insomnia last night so he slept late this morning. Catie was so excited that he was still here when she woke up, she climbed into our bed between us and snuggled up next to him with her head on his pillow. It was so sweet.

Dave got up to shower and get dressed for work, and I told Catie that if she wanted Daddy to take her to school instead of Mommy, she was going to have to hurry and get dressed in the next 5 minutes, or else Daddy was going to have to leave without her. And my normally sleepy-headed child who takes forever to get ready in the morning was dressed with her sneakers on and pigtails up in a heartbeat.

She went to daycare over an hour earlier than usual, and she was delighted to do so, because her Daddy was the one taking her. She kissed me good-bye, and with a “Love you, Mommy, have a good day!”, she was off. The house was completely empty and quiet by 8:00 a.m. That never happens. I actually got to exercise before starting work for the day. That’s a pretty rare occurrence too.

Since Dave was later than usual getting to work, he’s going to have to stay later this afternoon, so I’m going to be picking Catie up from daycare. I already can’t wait to see her. Sometimes a little change in the routine is just what we need.

PooBou.com

Mom. Stepmom. Nerd. Feminist. Pretty good wife. Outstanding ex-wife. I try to keep it light and funny. I'm not always successful.

Category Archives: Dave

Scenes from the zoo

How many engineers does it take to hire a technical writer?

a weekend in the mountains

unemployed

Our Weekend

weekend recap

routines

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