last work day before the new year!

Ahh, the week after.

Christmas, as I suppose I should start with, was pretty decent. I was sick, as usual (yes, Becky, I am always sick. I know, I know, I need to start taking my vitamins.). But this time I was just sick because I went to the doctor on Friday and he started me on antibiotics for a lymph node infection and it messed my whole system up. I hate amoxicillin. So I was sick. Blegh. Then Christen's grandma went into the hospital on Christmas Eve. So that sucked. But otherwise, it was a good holiday. Not much stress, anyhow. We spent C-mas eve with my dad's fam in Bradenton (yes, I stopped by mom's mom and said hi; every once in awhile I'm a good grandkid). It was an interesting time, and I got to see my cousin which was awesome (and I friend-requested her on MS -- I love having 14-year-old cousins! hehe). I somehow talked Christen into exchanging our gifts on C-mas Eve night, and so that was nice and stressfree. Christmas day we family-hopped, first to my mom's, then his parent's, then his Nana's and finally to the hospital to visit with Grandma before coming home for a nap and to put away all of our stuff.

But ahh, the week after Christmas. When you can go use your gift cards, and buy the stuff on your list that no one got, and play with your video games (yes, I'm a dork. I got Sims 2 Pets for my GBA and that's all I do right now) and read your new books ... Before New Years resolutions and wedding prep and trying to lose 30 pounds ... ahh, so nice.

Tuesday night I got to see Autumn (and Joy and Mel and all of Autumn's fam) and that was super great. She tried on her bridesmaid dress and I daresay she looks amazing and I don't even think she'll need a shred of altering -- not even a hem) and I got home very late and didn't even care. Tonight Shell and I exchanged gifts (she's awesome -- she got me this and this (autographed!) and a couple gift cards for Christen and I to share.)

But that's all I have for tonight. If you'll excuse me, I've got a video game to play. :) Toodles!

YMCA

As scary as it is, I know this guy:

Courtesy of my stupidity

I was doing well at work today. I got here 6 minutes early. I worked diligently all day, and got a lot done.

Then, at 3:56pm, terror struck. I couldn't find my shoes. I had to pee. I take off my shoes while I'm working, and put them on only if I have to go to another floor or if I go to the bathroom. I hadn't been anywhere in 2 hours, and when I went to put on my shoes to go to the bathroom they were gone. I thought my supervisor had taken them, because he's always teasing me about being barefoot. But he wasn't at his desk. I searched my desk, my drawers, his desk, the local desks of people who were on vacation. After 10 minutes, I was crying and shaking because I couldn't find them anywhere. Who would do this to me?

Someone in another department wandered by with them. I had left them in someone's cube 2 hours ago when I was discussing a file. The only reason I had them on at her desk was because I had come from a different floor, and I must have absent-mindedly taken my shoes off while standing there discussing.

I was so embarrassed. My shoes are now properly on my feet, and yes, I did get to go to the bathroom. Now, I'm going home.

Happy holidays!

Book quiz (courtesy of NPR Junkie)

You're To Kill a Mockingbird!

by Harper Lee

Perceived as a revolutionary and groundbreaking person, you have
changed the minds of many people. While questioning the authority around you, you've
also taken a significant amount of flack. But you've had the admirable guts to
persevere. There's a weird guy in the neighborhood using dubious means to protect you,
but you're pretty sure it's worth it in the end. In the end, it remains unclear to you
whether finches and mockingbirds get along in real life.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

So excited!

Going to see Rockapella tonight! Hurrah for Tampa Theatre! Pics to follow :)

Oh happy day

So my neighbor's house has been up for sale for an eon. I don't like my neighbors very much -- I don't really know why; they can be nice. They're friends with my landlord and I always feel like they're spying on me. And when we first moved in they kept telling my landlord when we did something wrong, like when we didn't get garbage service right away because I didn't realize it wasn't included in with the water (like at the last house). And the husband mows my lawn for the landlord (I'm not sure why we're not able to mow our own damn lawn, but whatever) and he doesn't even ask before he traipses through the backyard, even though the dog is back there all the time.
So needless to say (or it would be needless if I would shut up ...obscure Empire Records reference) I'm way excited that they are finally hopefully selling the house and I'm hoping we get cooler neighbors. That would rock.

Part Man. Part Street. 100% Kosher.

Christen and I did some hardcore Christmas shopping yesterday. We finished all except for his parents and my grandmother, and to finish shopping for each other (of course, that's always the last to be done). I'm so happy about that. Not that I was stressing too much, but I like the sense of accomplishment. I'm not one of these people that freaks out about Christmas and gets all stressed about getting everything done. We never put our lights up outside, because I told Christen it was his job this year and it didn't get done. I don't care. We put up the tree and it's beautiful, and then I've just been doing a little shopping at a time. Yesterday I made a list of everything we needed to get and where we needed to go and we drove around and ironed out all the details.
Note: when going Christmas shopping, do not ever wear tight jeans that have a small hole in the crotch. After getting in and out of the car several times, the hole will no longer be small and you will be forced to stop at Kohl's to buy new jeans, and you will only be able to find your size in "long" even though you are only 5'4" so you will have to roll them up. Then you will also decide you need to buy 2 shirts and a cami so that you can change your whole outfit in the car because you reek of smoke for stopping in the cigar shop for 20 minutes to pick out a gift for your fiance's best friend and anyway, your old shirt looks silly with the new jeans.
We found Hebrew Hammer out in the Tampa Best Buy, which is a great find for my best friend's husband. Of course, now I'm going to have to borrow it because I've never seen it and it looks hilarous. I wish I could also find a Chanukah Tonica shot glass or something, but I can't find anything along those lines.

another cold day in paradise

Ugh. I woke up this morning freezing, and it was evidently only 65 degrees. On any other day, I wouldn't have been that cold, but I fell asleep at the wrong end of the bed last night and only had a small corner of a sheet while my other half snuggled up in the comforter at the other end. I shivered around until I found my clothes and started getting ready for the day.

I had a very odd dream last night. I dreamt that my ex and I were still together, and we had two small children - girls, as it were. We were very unhappy, and he had taken to bringing friends over at all hours of the night. Presumably, these are the friends that he has now, because I only knew a couple. Then he started taking up with a girl named Jessica (there are connotations there, but that's its own story) who looked suspiciously like his last girlfriend. So I was taking care of the girls and yelling at him to keep his friends and his girlfriend out of my house, blah blah blah. I take this just to be a "what if" dream. What if we had stayed together even though we were both unhappy, and what if we still evolved into the people we are now while still together ... we were so miserable. The dream was so miserable.

I made such an elf of myself

You have to check this out. And don't pee yourself laughing. :)

Uberdork? Mua?

How the heck do you spell that, anyhow? Mua? Mya? Mwa?

Anywho, I'm reading this:



And it's so good! After I finish I'm totally reading this:

More on the lifefront

It's 10:30(ish). I've been up for hours, and home for just a little bit. We spent the night at Shea & Kyle's last night. Christen went out with the boys and I spent the evening with Shea. It was a lot of fun. I haven't seen her in a couple weeks, so we had catching up to do. We had sushi at the cute little place on Collier Parkway (note: the catepillar rolls there have spicy mayo on them! I couldn't feel my tongue ...) and had wine back at the condo watching TLC and The Truth About Cats and Dogs. Overall, a very nice way to spend the evening. Shea told me I'm probably be killed for letting Shell know we had sushi without her ... :) Love you Shell! Sushi soon, right? :)

Friday was a nice day. I took a second bereavement day so I could help my dad if he needed it when the family came in for the memorial, but I didn't end up going over there so I ended up with a very nice, stressfree day. We bought my wedding ring, which was uber-exciting. I've been looking at this ring since we got engaged, and I couldn't find one anywhere else that I liked as much. So yesterday we bit the bullet and got it. It came with this gorgeous tulip Mikasa vase (befitting us, with the tulips and all) and finally that's done. Christen's ring had to be sent back because they sent the wrong size, so we still haven't received that, but it's on the way. You know the holiday mail season.

Christen thinks I should get a DVD copy of Hebrew Hammer for Richard for Hannakuh. I'm not sure -- I can never tell if he'll think something is funny or not. He's got a great sense of humor, but sometimes you just can't tell. Anybody any votes? Yay or Nay? Otherwise I wanted to get him this shirt:


But I'd have to order it and it won't get here in time.

Most of my other shopping is done. I've been wrapping as I've been buying, so other than finishing up on what I got yesterday, I'm pretty caught up. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go do that now.

Cheers to the season

So I've noticed that the emails that I've written the past couple of days have not been particularly coherent. I think I wrote something to NPR Junky about being wanted in 32 states means they'd be spread a little thin, and then something about not wanting her to be in the witness protection program ... so forgive me. I'm insane this holiday season.

I've bought scotch and cigar paraphernalia for Christen for Christmas. Do you think I'm trying to kill him? Hmm. Oh, and a dress shirt. Nice.

I'm trying slowly to get my Christmas shopping done. I wanted to get Lola a grayhound, but Christen said no. So I got her a toothbrush and some bones instead. I'm hoping she doesn't sniff them out before Christmas and unwrap them -- they've been under the tree for a couple days.

Anyhow, back to incoherence!

Charlie Brown Christmas as performed by Scrubs

long but way worth it:

A lame-o sickie.

I'm so sick. I'm such a baby when I'm sick, too. I know this. I started feeling sick Thursday night. Friday I couldn't even stay at work because I was too sick. I'm going through the stages of a terrible cold -- not the flu, because I'm not throwing up. But a horrible cold. It actually feels exactly like the cold that nearly killed me last December around Shea's wedding.

First stage: sneezing. constantly. You blame it on the dirt, the dust. By dinner time you can't breathe and your head feels heavier than your boobs.

Second stage: You go to work, you can't stop blowing your nose and feeling sorry for yourself. You make it three hours before leaving. You try to enjoy the rest of your work-free day by doing some Christmas shopping instead of going home to wallow, but nothing is fun or interesting, and finally you go home. To wallow.

Third stage: You skip a social event that was very important to you to sleep for 12 hours, waking every few to blow your nose and take more medicine. You don't think the meds are working, but it's peace of mind. You get up the next day feeling like a freight train ran over your face, but you're determined not to let the cold ruin your weekend. You take the box of tissues with you and get a Christmas tree, do some Christmas shopping, and wind up the day feeling better but still horrible sick. Wonton soup for dinner helps though.You skip a friend's Christmas party because you can't bear the thought of getting dressed and going back out.

Fourth stage: You sleep another 12 hours, waking up because your throat hurts so much you resort to sleeping with a lozenge in your mouth. Choking not as worrisome as not being able to swallow. You wake up to cleaning, taking a break every few minutes because you're lightheaded. You have family things that can't be postponed, so you sit, blogging to get your head into actually going out.

More stages to follow, as I milk being sick more than I generally should. It's not my fault I can't breathe, I can't swallow, and I can't generally be up and about for more than 20 minutes or so. I think break is up and I need to go finish cleaning the kitchen.

My life in a nutshell

I know I've been a bad blogger. The truth is, I think I've been avoiding you. I think about you all the time, but you know when you get so far away from something that you think it'll take too long to catch up and you don't know if it's worth it. I always feel awkward going away and coming back. I've been checking on you. So often, if you want to know the truth. But there are so many things that have happened that you know nothing about. So here's what's been going on in the month or so since I've gone away:

-- Thanksgiving was a bit of a bust. The sister spilled red wine all over both of us and then ran her iPod through the washer. The iPod is no longer, although we were able to get all the wine out.

-- My stepmother died. Well, she wasn't really my stepmother because she wasn't married to my dad, but they had been together for 21 years, and if I don't call her my stepmother I don't get the bereavement I think I'm entitled to. She had cancer. They gave her 3 months and she lived 2 years. I don't know that it was enough though. She was in so much pain.

-- Christen continued on without a job for a very long time. As of yesterday, he now has a job, but it doesn't start until Jan 3.

-- I'm mortally sick. I feel like death. Only slightly warmed over.

My very own soundtrack

If Your Life Was A Movie:
Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Play, iPod, etc.)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

Oddly enough, some turned out perfect! :) Some others, not so much. I think it helps that I have so many love songs on my iTunes :)

Opening Credits:
Jitterbug by Cab Calloway

Waking Up:
Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel

First Day of School:
Blah Blah Blah by Rockapella

Falling In Love:
L-O-V-E by Natalie Cole

Sex Scene:
I Saw her Standing there by the Beatles

Fight Song:
Poisoning Pigeons in the Park by Tom Lehrer

Breaking Up:
Sympathy for the Devil by Rolling Stones

Prom:
Open Arms by Journey

Life:
Off the Hook by Barenaked Ladies

Mental Breakdown:
Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon

Driving:
Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day

Flashback:
Small Town Girl by Journey

Getting Back Together:
What a Difference a Day Makes by Billie Holliday

Wedding:
You've got a Friend by James Taylor

Birth of A Child:
Fortunate Son by CCR

Final Battle:
Within You by David Bowie

Death Scene:
Cloud Nine by Evanescence

A poem, untitled, unfinished.

Those are the memories that haunt my thoughts.
The shadowed trees
Lost kisses
Arguments in the quiet of my caves.

I chose to silence them.
So they would cease to play out
in every poem,
every story.

Every word to paper
is reliving.
Retelling
the fortunes of my lost soul.