Wednesday, October 29, 2008

One of the Downsides of Working with All Men

I got my hair highlighted yesterday for the first time since I've worked here. I think it looks really different. I haven't gotten one comment on it. Does that mean they don't like it? Am I reading too much into the silence? How much credit should I give the male mind?

PS. I love it.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Space Filler

I actually have tons to write about but of course, now that I'm busy I have no time to blog. I promise a weekend update soon but until then I'm borrowing this fun survey from Erin

A Little About Us-The basic facts:

Who is your significant other? Captain Awesome aka Adam

How long have you been together? We started dating in 1999 but have been married since 2002

Dating/Engaged/Married? Married

How old is your S.O.? 28 (pushing 30 as he likes to say)

What’s his/her middle name? Joseph

Who eats more? He eats bigger portions than me. In fact I usually order something I know he likes at a restaurant so he can help me finish it. But I eat more dessert than he does.

Who says “I love you” first? The first time, I don't really know. But we used to IM a lot so it was probably an IM "I love you"

Who weighs more? Captain Awesome

Who sings better? Hmm, I like to think I have a good voice but the Captain loves to make up songs about whatever we're doing. So his songs are funnier.

Who’s older? The Captain by 3 months and 2 days

Who’s smarter? The Captain, no question. Although sometimes I can pull some useless knowledge out of nowhere. And I know more about cooking.

Whose temper is worse? Probably me. But we take turns being in bad moods.

Who does the laundry? Me, it's one of the few chores I enjoy, plus I hate the way The Captain folds clothes.

Who does the dishes? Whoever doesn't cook. Since I cook more, he does more dishes.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me, but we switch sides depending on the room since I don't sleep closest to the door.

Whose feet are bigger? The Captain, size 12 wide. Sneakers are made for my hubby.

Whose hair is longer? Mine. The Captain cuts his own hair with clippers. But his grows faster.

Who’s better with the computer? The Captain knows more about fixing stuff so I guess him.

Who mows the lawn? Now that we have a riding lawn mower with a cup holder, he does.

Who pays the bills? He does. When we got married I asked him to take on that chore and it kind of stuck.

Who cooks dinner? We try to cook together but I'm usually the main chef. We plan our meals together so we both know what's coming up. Then it's a matter of who wants to and who's lazier.

Who drives when you are together? The Captain claims he can't get comfortable when he's not driving and since he usually knows where he's going it works out. That means I get to DJ!

Who pays when you go out to dinner? Since we have joint accounts it doesn't really matter but the waiter usually hands him the check.

Who’s the most stubborn? Me, no question. The Captain is pretty easy going but if he does have an opinion he can be pretty hard headed. I remembering one time he threatened to sleep on the floor since I wouldn't do what he wanted.

Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong? Neither of us!

Whose parents do you see more? His because we live in the same town. We see mine about once a month.

Who named your cats? Our first cat (Kitty Boy) The Captain named. Our second cat came with the name Swiss but she has A LOT of nicknames (Miss, Missy, Moo, Mooberry Muffin, etc). Our third cat we named together after a road in NC (Zingo) because it fit his crazy personality.

Who kisses who first? I think usually me.

Who asked who out? The Captain called me first but I invited myself over to look at bowling shirts (I know, lame.)

Who’s more sensitive? Me times a million

Who’s taller? He is. I forget how tall he is until I see pictures of us and I look like I'm standing in a hole.

Who has more friends? I'm not sure. He has a big group of friends he doesn't see as much. I have a good group in town.

Who has more siblings? He does, but only by 1. I have two sisters and a brother. He has two half sisters and two half brother.

Who wears the pants in the relationship? We like to say we each wear a leg of the pants. I lead on a lot of the day-to-day stuff and he leads on the bigger long-term stuff. Although I'm bossier.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Is There Such a Thing as Non-Crazy Family

My extended family is just plain huge. My mom is one of 8 siblings who are all married and most have kids. She has tons of cousins, aunts, in-laws, out-laws, etc. My dad's family is not that big but they're there. On the Captain's side his father's family is also huge. We're surrounded by relatives.

My immediate family is large-ish especially with the Captain and my bro-in-law but we're all pretty close. I talk to my parents a couple times a week. My sisters and I have marathon phone sessions and love to spend time together. I love my brother but we're just not that close. I think part of it was I went to college when he was in middle school so I missed the fun being friends years. Then when I moved back to my home town he was in college and living his life. We're 5 years apart and haven't meshed our lives together. He's a super genius and in a really hard graduate program so I understand he's busy. I know that we'll get to a point in our lives when we will be closer.

My sisters and I are always blown away by how secretive my mom's family is. There is always some gossip or story that we can't tell one or more family member. Just recently her younger sister and only brother had scary health issues. Instead of getting them out in the open and having your family gather around you and support you, they decided to keep it quiet and deal with it privately. These were not little things like a broken finger. These were big ones, including cancer. Of course, being a family (and a gossipy one at that) people are finding out and spreading the story.

This way of handling illness or bad news is making my head explode. Maybe I'm just enough of a drama queen that I would want everyone catering to me and feeling bad for me if I was in trouble. Or maybe, I know that my family would be the ones I would want to lean on when I was facing permanent injury or death. I know my siblings would make me laugh and hold my hair when I puked. I know I could call them any time for advice, to gossip (we're one of those families too) or just to get out some frustrations. We weren't always sunshine and rainbows. We had our fights and hated each other. But I can't imagine keeping big secrets from them. And I hope I never do.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Huh??

I know I've mentioned before how conservative and, for lack of a better word, redneck my employers are. I don't agree with some of their views on the world and conversation has been tricky around this election but otherwise we co-exist in harmony.

One of the owners is a single guy in his mid to late 30's. He is a huge hunter and has been talking about hunting season for months now. He goes out drinking almost every night with his buddies. They have a group of younger (not gross younger, in their 20's) women who hang out with them for free drinks. His friends come over at closing time any night of the week if they can't drive home since he lives close to their regular bar. Basically he is wilder at 36 than I was at 21.

We were talking about our weekend plans and I mentioned going to the beer fest. It's an afternoon festival at a park where there are bands and beer. Fun but not a wild time. My boss looks me in the eye and says "I'm too old for that wild time." I was so surprised I couldn't think of anything to say. I guess day time drinking is much wilder than night drinking?

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Two Weeks in Five Paragraphs

Hi strangers! Once again I've been neglecting my poor little blog. I wish I could say I've been busy having great adventures but really I just kind of got lost in the real world day to day minutiae.

We had a great time at our friend's wedding and the weekend of being pulled in different directions by our families wasn't as bad as I thought. I know, no one's shocked. I spend a good amount of time with my family and then we got almost everyone together for brunch on Sunday. Five of the Captain's fmily plus three from mine plus us equals a fun brunch. Unfortunately I picked up a cold and Sunday my throat was killing me. I was sick for about 4 days when I couldn't really do anything but blow my nose and attempt to sleep sitting straight up.

I'm still trying to find a job and getting more frustrated by it. I signed up with another temp agency and they've gone MIA on me. I email my contact every week and every week I get a reply that she's "sending out my information" I'm sure the horrible economy isn't helping but come on, I'm educated and young, just give me a chance! I've been filling out applications at the mall to get some extra money for the holidays so hopefully one of those will pan out. And I won't spend all my extra money at the mall. I really can't complain because I do HAVE a job and I have a wonderful husband who supports me.

We've got a couple big things coming up like the Beer festival this weekend. One of the Captain's friends is coming down and we've lined up our driver so we can avoid finding parking. (And avoid a dui) He's a great guy but pretty quiet. He and the Captain will probably do some guy exploring so I won't be "hostessing" all weekend. I've got a new recipe for pumpkin pancakes and plan to dazzle him with my abilities.

The weekend after that is my in-law's 25th anniversary. My sister-in-law and her Grandmother are planning a surprise party for them. My experience in catering and event planning is tripping me up since I feel like they're making some mistakes and making things harder than necessary but I am not in charge. I have offered to help with anything and have not been taken up on it so I'm going to go with the flow if it kills me. I'm very disappointed because I feel like we could make this party great and stay in our limited budget but I'm still the "in-law" and can't really throw my weight around. I've expressed my feelings to the Captain and he agrees with them but all his suggestions have been pushed aside also. I think it will be a last minute scramble but in the end I'm sure my in-laws will not be worried about the fact that there's no glasses for wine and just appreciate the gesture.

All in all I'm still meeting new people here and trying new things. The house is starting to feel like home and I don't get lost every time I leave my house. I've got plans, it's fall and life is pretty good.