Things That are Making Me Crazy (Superficial Version)

Since no one wants the lava of crazy that is constantly bubbling in my head lately to spew out and create a Pompeii version of my life, I am going to slowly release some of the pressure by listing the stupid things people do that make me stabby. Count your blessings this isn't a long and rambling post about my l
You're welcome and feel free to add your own.

-When I answer the phone hearing a stranger ask "Who's this?" Learn to stop dialing random numbers or KNOW WHO YOU'RE CALLING!

-That my email is blocked by the spam filter at work even after being promised it would be fixed but I can see bloglines and blogger which are even more time sucking.

-Radio commercials. There is nothing but screaming about sales or "hilarious" voices selling everything from bug spray to waffles. Just play some damn music.

-Being cold. Ok, if it's winter or something I can get over it. But do we really need it to be 60 inside if it's 89 outside? Maybe I should amend this to be air conditioning in general.

-Domestic chores. I just did laundry and there's only two of us. How is the basket full again?

-Snoring. Anyone who has a partner who snores is nodding their head. Everyone else, I hate you.

-Fax Machines.

Now, so you all don't think I'm a hateful crotchety old lady a list of things that are making me happy recently:
Good Indian food cooked by my own little hands (go me!), my snuggly kitties who make me laugh, my sweet husband who doesn't complain about me never taking the trash to the curb or bringing the empty cans back, leaving early on Fridays, finding new blogs that seem to be writing the story of my life, sleeping in two days in a row.

Can I Get a Personal Chef?

I am a horrible cook. There, it's out there. And not in the way that people say it as they serve a gourmet meal but they forgot the home-made chanterelle butter for their home-made rolls. In the, I attempted turkey burgers that turned into little dry, hard lumps, kind of way.


But I'm trying. I've started planning menus each Saturday so I know what's coming up. I also try one new dish a week and it's actually been fun. I have made casseroles, pasta dishes, and some ethnic foods. The one thing I always fail at is meat. I think that I'm so paranoid about under-cooking it I end sucking all the moisture and taste out. But again, I'm trying.


I went grocery shopping last night for a couple things I needed for the week's menus. Mostly boring stuff like mushrooms, applesauce and tortillas. And chicken breast. I stopped at a grocery I don't normally go to because I had some other errands to run which was on the shadier side of town. When gas drops below $2/gal I'll drive to the ritzier neighborhoods but until then, where ever I am is where I get my food.

I wait until the end to pick out my meat because I'm a wuss and it still grosses me out. So I took a breath and stared into the frozen wasteland of pink, slimy chicken. And the first think I lay my eyes on? A lovely package of "Chicken Paws". It's exactly what you think. A sterile white styrafoam tray of pale clammy chicken feet. With toe-nails.
OMG toe-nails. And then I died. The End.

Actually I grabbed a package of a brand I recognized and ran away. I'm supposed to cook chicken tonight in a curry sauce I found and am looking forward to. But those toe-nails will haunt me in my dreams.

Vern and Ernest

Did you ever watch this show?

Hey Vern, It's Ernest

We used to watch it Saturday mornings after PeeWee's Playhouse. It was super silly and there are now like 100 movies based on the character.

*Quick rambling, the movie Earnest Goes to Camp was one of my families favorite movies. I know, sad. But there is a song called "Gee I'm Glad it Raining" which is seriously one of the saddest songs EVER. My sister and I would watch it with tears streaming down our faces. At an Earnest movie. We're so weird.



My bosses are AMAZINGLY nice and take care of me and buy me Cokes and breakfast when I'm tired. One of them constantly says "Know what I mean?" And every single time, in my mind, I add "Vern"



It's a sickness.

I Heart My Family but....

Over July 4th weekend my entire family (all 8 plus a dog) got together at the beach. That in itself is a miracle since we're all busy and have our own lives. We originally didn't think it would happen but my parents sent the word they were going and anyone could join them. And slowly, we all were able to clear our schedules and meet at Pine Knoll Shores.

My dad's cousin has a winter home there and my family is in charge of keeping it up during the summer-awesome! It's a nice 2 bedroom house in a neighborhood walking distance to the beach. Are you doing the math in your head now? 8 people + 1 dog + 2 bedrooms = craziness. My sister and I are both married so throw in a couple in-laws and I dare anyone to try to blend those different schedules. We all brought blow up mattresses for the loft area and theoretically it would have been a fun slumber party type weekend.

We all learned that we love each other but we could never live together again. I am a super old lady and go to bed early. My brother is a grad student and lives in his lab so he's up until 3 or 4 am and sleeps late. My other sister has normalish hours but is a night person and my youngest sister keeps college hours.

We also learned that lots of alcohol does not lead to "inside voices". In the past we've rented a house on the beach so the loud, excuse me "late-night" people can go sit on the beach and scream so us grandma-types can be snoring away at 10pm. Also, when the grandma-types get up at 8 or 9 we can go to the beach and not wake up the sleeping/hung-over beauties. Apparently my mom loves doing dishes early in the morning which is not what you want to hear after 3 hours sleep.

The Captain is not really a beach person and I was surprised that he agreed to go. He also hurt his knee a couple weeks ago so he's been limping around. (He is scheduling his orthroscopic surgery this week!) So it sucked that he was just kind of laying around the house watching TV. Honestly, it upset me more than him. I was bummed that we weren't spending time together during the day and he is a late night person so we didn't really even share a bed/blow-up mattress that much. I'm dealing with some things regarding the move and relocation that all kind of came to a head but it's pretty much impossible to fight while your entire family is around you at all times. But we had a good talk on the drive home and got a lot of things out in the open.

I feel like I'm making it sound bad which it really wasn't. We haven't all been together in forever so the first night we were all screaming laughing and telling stories about each other. We had some awesome dinners and my brother-in-law made a seafood feast Saturday night. I got to take long walks with my mom and giggle late (ok 10pm) into the night with my sisters. The weather was gorgeous and we didn't get any rain until the last day when we were packing up anyway. We agreed that we can't wait to do it again but next time we all get together we're buying an industrial size pack of ear-plugs and less alcohol.

Of course I'm just kidding about the alcohol.

So, How Was Your Month?

I took an un-official blogging break. I moved back in with Captain Awesome, moved to a new city, got a job and a new house. I also had some stuff come up in my life I didn't feel like I could talk about with the whole world. And then, I kind of just got out of the habit of sitting down each night with the computer. I originally started blogging as a way to pass the time while the Captain and I were apart. So it seemed a little counter-productive to spend time away from him to blog.


Now I'm ready to pick it back up so in order to slowly ramp up I'm stealing an idea from the amazing Janet.


Love/Hate New(ish) Job Edition:

Love: The dress code is super casual-jeans everyday if I want!!
Hate: The office is freezing so I usually wear jeans and a cute top... covered by a sweater (ok, hoodie)
Love: When I make a half-ass attempt to dress up I get lots of compliments.


Love: I leave at 4pm Mon-Thurs and 3pm on Fridays
Hate: I have to be there at 7am which means leaving my house at 6:30-too early for me


Love: I pass a Krsipy Kreme on my way to work
Hate: I pass a Krispy Kreme on my way to work and doughnuts don't help me fit into my jeans.


Love: The only other women in the office is the owner's mother so I win for cutest!
Hate: I miss having lots of women around me.


Love: Two words: Overtime Pay.
Hate: I don't make much money since I'm basically a fancy receptionist.


Love: I control the radio and can listen to whatever I want (mostly)
Hate: We're in the sticks so we don't get many signals


Love: Customer service jobs are super fun and I get to meet new people every day.
Hate: For every 10 great people I meet there is 1 crazy or mean person.

Love: I interact mostly with contractors or builders (think muscle-y, tan)
Hate: Although they may be easy on the eyes, working all day in the heat makes them not so easy on the nose.

Love: I have a job! Even though it's not ideal it is mostly pretty great and gets me out of the house. My small paycheck lets me buy the occasional new clothes, iced coffee, groceries...

I really am going to make an attempt to post more regularly and comment on all my favorite blogs.

I Can't Believe I'm Still Complaining

I truely am happy to be in Wilmington with the Captain and our family. I love our new house and it has great potential for fun projects like replacing light fixtures and painting which I love. I got two weeks off to set up the house where I could sleep in (even though I didn't), eat whatever I want, hang out with my SIL, and veg out on the couch during the really hot days.

My FIL has some clients who are looking for a receptionist and I met with them yesterday. They offered me the job on the spot which was flattering. I can't believe I'm about to say this after my super complainy last post but...I don't think I want this job.
Pros: Easy work, off all weekends and holidays, small family-run business, casual dress (shorts and jeans every day!)
Cons: Hours are 7am to 4pm which means up at 5:15 every morning, not actually using my college degree, pay is much lower than I need, place is far out in the sticks, and the worst...
They don't use computers! No computers in the whole place. No email or internet for the entire day. I could look at it as a positive and cleanse myself of my additiction to the tubes and wires of the web. But right now my only reaction is NOOOOOO while waving my fists in to the sky.

I spoke to the owner and we agreed that I could work for about 4 weeks and then we could re-evaluate with no hard feelings. I will be out of the house and bringing a little money in. It will give them time to find someone who wants the job full time. And I may love it and be able to negotiate a higher salary. So I start Monday! What do I wear?!?

Am I Done Yet?

Even though this is my third move in 5 years I always seem to forget how hectic it is. I am a creaature of habit and having piles and boxes of stuff all over the house makes me a little crazy. We also hit a snag with some of the larger appliances in the house including hot water heater, refrigerator and dishwasher which means about 5 minutes of hot water a day, the only working refrigerator in the house is in the garage and no working dishwasher. They're getting taken care of and the Captain worked on the hot water tonight so hopefully that's fixed. But still.....

I had a little pity party today after I just got overwhelmed. I hate not contributing to the family finances and we just keep getting bills. I have applied for a bunch of jobs but I haven't heard back from anyone. On the other hand, there's no way I could be unpacking, cleaning and getting the utilities set up if I was also trying to work a new job. The Captain has been incredible and keeps assuring me that I am helping the family but it's still hard.

On a happier note we had an amazing weekend of seeing friends, going to a baby shower and hanging out with my family. It's so nice to just be able to drive a couple hours to see people instead of flying. The baby shower was for a friend from college and there were a couple other pregnant ladies there. It really makes me realize how much I want to have a baby. But then we're back to the whole "contributing financially to the family" thing.

We've got so many ideas and plans for the future that are all bouncing around, running into each other. We just have to figure out some way to align everything so it makes sense and has some kind of timeline. Like should the Captain go back to school now or later? Baby? Stay in Wilmington or move to an area with more work for the Captain? Should I go back to school? I know everyone goes through this and there's no "right" answer. Right now I'm just going to focus on unpacking, spending time with the Captain and walking on the beach.