Friday Five

1.  Work still sucks. A lot. I am truly not being paid enough.

2. I rocked our monthly household budget this month. Big time!

3.  As a result, I have already purchased Christmas gifts for both names I drew in A.’s family, A.’s mom, and two out of three of my co-workers. 

4. Normally I purchase my next year’s holiday cards right after Christmas, when cards are on sale for 50–75% off. This is the only way I can afford my Holiday Card Habit. Last year, however, I was ice-fishing with someone, and missed all the sales.

Two weeks ago, I found really pretty holiday cards online and on sale. Normally, they were $20 per box of 16 cards. They were on sale for $1 per box! I am all set for under $10. They arrived earlier this week and they even look great! Woo hoo!

5. I, um, am going hunting with A. this weekend.

I KNOW.

The last time I went “hunting” I was a little girl and it was with my dad. These “hunting” trips consisted of my sisters and I getting dressed from head to toe in hunter orange, heading up to the mountains with my dad, running around all batshit crazy until we were exhausted, eating chili that was cooked over the fire, and heading home.

My dad’s rifle never came out of the sleeve.

This is how I imagine one goes “hunting.”

A. has our course – our ON FOOT course – all mapped out on Google Earth. There is much strategy and sneakiness involved, and not much riding in the truck.

My feet already hurt.

Also, I am really nervous I am going to cry like a blubbering idiot if A. does kill a deer. Also, I am afraid I am going to puke when confronted with all of the activities that follow a successful shot.

Oh, my.

Happy Friday – and HALLOWEEN! – to you!

How Was Your Tuesday?

This was my Tuesday:

Work sucked the very life out of me.

++++

I tried to bring it back with a dinner of Totino's Pizza Rolls (damn, you Tessie!), Ben and Jerry's FroYo Cherry Garcia, and a Whiskey Sour with two maraschino cherries.

++++

It didn't work. All I got was a tummy ache.

++++

I was reminded by this lovely lady that a life of gratitude is a life full of gifts.

++++

I am grateful to and for her.

++++

Too bad I keep forgetting about the time difference every. single. time. I attempt to call her. I am sure she does not believe me when I say I adore her.

++++

I voted! Whoo!!!!!

++++

A. was away at his study group so I got to crush on Steve Martin during his interview on the Daily Show without any teasing. It was awesome.

++++

I swear I will get my shit together soon and write a real post. These "snippets" can only be fun for you for so long, yes?

How was your Tuesday?

To Each Their Own

So, while baking cookies (Peanut Butter Crunchies!) tonight, I got sucked into the 17 and Counting show. The family fascinates me.  I am amazed by the sheer organization of the family, but am also genuinely, equally attracted to, and horrified by, their strong, strict religious views.

The eldest boy, 20-year-old J-something, "proposed" to a young lady (after asking for her hand in marriage from her father, to make sure it was a legit transaction. Ahem.) Apparently they don't date until they are engaged. It is the "path of courtship." They only date the person they are convince they are supposed to marry. They feel pretty strongly that God has arranged all of this and they just needed to be open to his wishes. But this is what I found the most awkward - they aren't even allowed to kiss until their wedding day.

The prohibited kiss made the whole proposal and giddiness of the two lovebirds very, very awkward. I felt bad for them.  It just all felt so -- anticlimantic. (Also - they kept telling each other how much they loved each other, and they had chaperones with them at all times. Whoa.)

They can hold hands, however. And they pretty much strangled each other's fingers in lust/frustration.

But, congrats. If this is truly the path these kids have chosen with honest discernment and entirely of their own volition, without coercion or pressure, then I wish them only blessings and happiness in their life together. I am not being snarky. I mean it.

I, however, am off to give A. a good night kiss [wink, wink] clear the hell out of wedlock.

To each their own.

Friday Five

1. Last night A. and I had my friend, G. (the one I haven't seen in nine years!), over for dinner. It was so fun to spend the night catching up, telling stories and laughing heartily. I hadn't thought about that suburban that caught on fire in years.

2. We've decided to get one more cord of wood this weekend, while the weather is supposed to be nice. I will feel more confident that we have enough to get through the winter after this weekend, though we've already cut, chopped and stacked all the wood we have. The idea of having to do that yet again leaves me in a poopy mood.

3. I am itching to try knitting again. You knitters out there: Do you have any easy, fun patterns for beginners? I have a couple, but I think I'd stick to a pattern I know one you like with much more gusto.

4.a. As I pulled up the lane to the house last night after work, NPR played this story about Rachel Maddow. You guys! She is awesome. (I hope she starts getting more sleep, though.) I was so tickled that I couldn't pull myself away from the radio long enough to run into the house and turn on the stereo, so I sat in my car. I had a "driveway moment!"

4.b. Are any of you members of your local NPR station? A. and I are, and I have to say, I love it.

5. This afternoon I will run to the county courthouse to cast my absentee ballot. I will be traveling for work on Election Day. I am SO DISAPPOINTED that I won't be home to have friends over and watch the results come in with John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. [SNIFF]

Instead, I will be surrounded by colleagues and will have to 1) keep 99% of my opinions to myself and 2) BEHAVE.

So. Boring.

A., however, is looking forward to the peace that will prevail in my absence.

Happy Friday to you!

I Do Not Have a Sore Throat

I DO NOT have a sore throat.

++++

Yay, Tampa Bay Rays!!!!

++++

I DO NOT have a sore throat.

++++

I have an ever-increasing crush on Rachel Maddow. I don't get the MSNBC channel, so every night I get online to watch her show. She's so smart! And funny! And cute!

I mean, look at how poised, collected, and even polite she was when dickhead, former Bush speechwriter, David Frum made an asinine attack:




Adorable, yes?

++++

While discussing a November print project with my boss, I wrote on my face with my pen. NO, I DON'T KNOW WHY I DID THIS. My hopes the raise will come through? A tad deflated.

++++

Actually, I had my pen in my hand and tried to tuck my hair behind my ear and managed to write on my forehead. I still look like a bonehead.

++++

Sunday night was SO FUN. I made spaghetti from scratch while A. whipped up an awesome marinade for last night's moose steaks. (Turned out yummy, but a bit spicy.) All the while, the Red Sox/Tampa Bay game played in the living room and the dogs wrestled all happy like.

++++

I DO NOT have a sore throat.

++++

A very dear friend, whom I haven't seen in nine years or so, surprised me at my office yesterday. SO. THRILLED. I am meeting him for drinks tonight.

++++

A. came home from hunting this weekend with an antelope. Woo hoo!

++++

I have a sore throat. Dammit.

Cozy

I made homemade roasted tomato soup, Autumn Sausage casserole, and Crazy Cake this weekend. Fall is here, and it is time to nest!

++++

It has been snowing lightly all evening. It isn't sticking, but there is the smell of snow and chimneys in the air.

++++

A. and I spent the afternoon chopping and stacking the remaining firewood. We've fired the stove most of the day, and we are toasty warm. We are ready for winter.

++++

A. and I arrived home a couple of hours ago from a "going away" party at my boss's place in honor of my (former) co-worker. I miss him a lot. I don't think I realized just how much of a friend he'd become over the past two years.

I guess I am going to have to start taking lunch hours so I can drag him out to lunch to catch up.

++++

AP, the partner of my best friend, DPR, turned 30 today. Freakin' BABY. So young! He and I caught up with each other on the phone for a bit tonight, and truly my soul is content and light. AP is simply one of the most genuine, loyal and adorable people in the whole world.

Everyone should have someone like AP in their lives.

++++

AP is trying - very hard - to convince me to move A. and I closer to he and DPR when A. graduates. It might be working. At least on me. Hee hee.

++++

The dogs have 3/4 of the couch, I am smooshed into the remaining 1/4 and A. has been relegated to the rocking chair.

Ahem.

++++

I just brewed a lovely cup of tea, Apricot Ginger Black Tea from Good Earth Teas. It is yummy. I usually drink the original Sweet and Spicy tea by Good Earth, but this sounded like a lovely autumn tea. I do love the Sweet and Spicy tea. A very dear friend, a wonderful graphic designer in DC recommended it to me and I've never turned back. Plus, I think of her every time I brew it.

++++

I am warm, cozy, blessed and happy.

Happy Monday to you!

Friday Five

1. We are expected to get 1 - 4 inches of snow this weekend.

2. Yes, snow. Bye-bye, Summer, you shy, finicky motherfucker!

3. Some of the nicknames I've had over the years include:

• Shorty (so original!)
• Freckles
• Spitfire
• Stressa
• T-Rex (my favorite)

4. From the above list, you can accurately deduce that I am a short, freckled ball of stress who can get mighty pissy and doesn't generally like to get pushed around.

5. I used to be one helluva firecracker, but have toned that shit down over the last few years. I miss it. So what if my foot routinely found itself in my mouth? Ha! Small price to pay for having confidence and speaking my mind.

The sole of my shoe is looking mighty tasty. I am tired of being quiet.

Look out!

Happy Friday to you!

Rich

Last weekend, A. and I went up toward the northern part of the state to visit his family. His younger sister and her little boy and six-week-old daughter were there from Santa Fe, as well as his older sister and her two kids so it was kind of a mini reunion. The brand new baby was pretty darn sweet, and the other niece and two nephews were a handful. It was fun and crazy and full and tiring and just right.

The dogs always do really, really well around the kids even though they aren't around them that often. Their tails get stepped on and their ears get tugged and they pretty much just sit there, hanging out. Belle always investigates when a baby is crying. I don't know if it is out of concern or curiosity. She sniffs the baby with her ears perked up, and then sits close by. At one point, during one of her swift runs around the 50 acres of A.'s parent's place, Belle whizzed by Little M. It was a pretty close fly-by, but she did take care not to tackle him. I was pretty proud of them for being such gentle dummies. (Watching Belle run as fast as she can, with absolute grace and -- I swear -- a smile on her face, is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Really, it makes my heart soar.)

But it was an exhausting weekend for A., myself and the dogs! A. and I certainly are not used to the schedule and chaos and noise and constant need for attention that accompanies kids. We both dove right in, though, as we figured it is only a few days and maybe we could ease the burden from his siblings for a few minutes at a time. But, by the end of the long weekend we were ready to head back to our quiet little lives.

And so were the dogs. They were ready to go, and they did not necessarily feel like waiting for us to get going.

(They hopped in there entirely of their own volition.)

(Also: look at those bat ears!)