I love this time of year. So many changes are taking place, from the first appearance of tiny buds signaling spring to possibilities for Big Things blooming in other areas of my life. So much has been happening and everything shows such promise. I think I really needed the freshness that spring brings to get me out of whatever funk I've been in for a while now.
The surgery I spoke about went well. I have recuperated better than I expected I would. After a week of rest, I had most of my energy back. A week after that and all systems were back to normal (well, at least the ones that were normal pre-surgery). Fingers crossed that this was just what was needed.
A friend directed me to a link about marriage today and how we can learn to observe the behaviors of our significant others and tailor our responses to said behaviors to fit their needs instead of trying to always make it about our own self. The article, published several years ago, is titled: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage and so much of what the author described really rings true in my own marriage. I don't consider the tips in the article to be about manipulation; I think it is about putting someone's needs before your own. After all, isn't that what love is all about? It's a struggle, learning to speak the language of those you love, but the benefit far outweighs the effort.
Happy First Day of Spring. May you enjoy the warmth of the sun on your skin and find pleasure in the colors blooming around you.
Hello, Spring
On Fall, bathing suits and home improvement
Today is the first day of fall and this morning's chilliness definitely announced the end of summer, like a punch in the gut. It's also officially the second half of my work day and I am so tired and hungry. Maybe I should eat something?
I am hoping that a cold front is not scheduled for the first weekend of October. I have my last hurrah of summer beach trip planned and I want to be able to wear my new swimsuit. I made the mistake of trying on swimsuits late last night, since I couldn't sleep anyway, and discovered that most of mine are either too small or make me look like I am trying to be 21 years old all over again. So I got online when I first got to work this morning and bought this one. If it fits. (Please fit.) My size is fluctuating so much lately, that I am having a hard time figuring out what size to buy. I spent all day Saturday going through my clothes and now have 3 big black trash bags full to give to Goodwill. I don't know why I have been hanging on to stuff I used to wear in high school (hello, 10 year reunion that is coming up next year!). I do not think I will ever be that size again, so I was cut throat this weekend and got rid of a lot of things that I used to love. When they still fit.
This weekend was also spent cleaning out our hallway closet and finishing up our master bedroom. Dave installed the baseboards and I applied two coats of polyurethane to them. I painted the closet in that room, too. Now all we need to do is apply one light coat of paint to the entire room and closet and we'll be able to move back in. I can hardly wait until I get to sleep in my king sized bed again. If I get up in the middle of the night for any reason at all, Dave immediately rolls over and claims the entire full-sized guest bed for himself and I have to fight my way back in.
Two Important Updates:
1. My grandma is doing so much better. She's been staying with my mom since she got out of the hospital last week and I know that must be frustrating for both of them. I think she will be moving back into her little cottage very soon and she'll be back to her old tricks, as long as she takes her medication like a good girl.
2. I have kept to my exercising-during-my-lunch-break plan and it is going well. When it is too hot to walk, we have been doing yoga in an empty office using this site. I highly recommend it for people who do not have the time or inclination to go to a yoga studio (like me!) and would prefer to practice on their own time and at their own pace. At $10 a month, it's a very reasonable way to exercise.
Uneasy like Sunday morning.
1. The floor is stained and will be sealed tomorrow, I hope. I am tired of home improvement projects and cannot wait until we can take a break already. Also, I have learned that no project that Dave starts stays within budget. Did you know that polyurethane floor sealant costs $40 per gallon? I didn't either and by the time I picked myself up off the floor and recovered from that dead faint, Dave had already walked away and started cleaning up the rented sander to turn in tomorrow morning. Dave and his improvement projects are going to be the death of me yet. That brings me to...
2. Dave and I have been fighting today. About money. And I am sick and tired of it because it is literally the same fight we always have. I feel like I should say, "wait a minute; let me go find my script." After a lot of yelling, we are at an impasse. Until the next time, that is.
3. My friend, who I was all ready to give another chance after she about blew off our relationship, did not come to visit this weekend like she said she was going to. She did not call or email to say she was or was not coming, therefore I am guessing that she has made the choice I previously described as difficult much easier for me. I wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors as I wash my hands of her. Hopefully, she will eventually learn to treat people a little better.
4. I've been busy today with chores. I did the laundry, washed both dogs, cleaned and replaced the screens on all of our windows, straightened the house, and cooked dinner. For the rest of the day day I plan to do nothing more than read a book and drink some of my newly acquired Black Box wine that is both delicious and contains a convenient spout for easier dispensing. It is also vacuum sealed, so will last up to 4 weeks...though I will most likely have consumed it all by then, if my dealings with Dave continue to be as stressful as they were today.
5. I'm going to go and drink more wine now as I count down the minutes until bed time. I sure hope that next week is a lot easier on me than this one has been.
Isn't it ironic.
We had a busy holiday weekend and alls I can say is, I'm glad we had Monday off or I may not have made it.
Friday I had to work, but Dave had the day off. Since my friend Jill and her family were driving up from Jacksonville, I asked Dave if he wouldn't mind cleaning up the house a bit before their arrival around the time I was to get home from work. He mentioned plans to work on a throwing implement for his Scottish Games Competition on Saturday, but said he'd straighten later. Guess what that translated to? When I walked in at 5, the only room that had been straightened was the garage...which, I guess according to any man, is the most important room in the house. I could have throttled Dave, but I didn't have time, since I got to speed clean after calling Jill and finding out they were 15 minutes from our house. I have never cleaned that fast in my life and I hope I never have to again. And you better believe Dave helped.
We went to dinner with Jill and her husband and 2 year-old daughter and they left to continue their trip to the north end of Atlanta to visit family. I couldn't offer them the spare room unfortunately since Dave and I were using it while finishing the floor in the master bedroom. But I did offer to keep their dog for them and Hershey is so well behaved, we barely knew she was there. Except for the times when my dog Prue kept trying to instigate a fight with Hershey.
On Saturday, Dave and I headed up to the north Georgia mountains for the Appalachian Celtic Festival and Highland Games. He competed with the more advanced group this time while I kept score for the group he used to compete with. I didn't really get to watch him, but I know he got 5th place out of 7. Not bad, considering he was competing against two of the top ranked guys in the nation. I had fun keeping score for a judge who was from Scotland. Man, those accents are sexy!
We didn't get home until late on Saturday and luckily, I did not have to call Jill and tell her my dog had killed her dog. Prue and Hershey seemed to have worked out their differences and become best friends in our absence. Weirdos. We made plans to get together with Jill and her family the next day, along with a friend of mine who is a single mother to a 2 year-old daughter. We ended up going to an art festival at Grant Park in downtown Atlanta and had a great time watching the kids wear themselves out.
On Monday I did nothing in my attempt to recover from all of the activity of the previous couple of days. I love days like that where you have no where to go and can just relax. Dave was bored and kept complaining about it, so I finally hinted to him that the lawn needed mowed so that kept him occupied for a while.
I really do not understand people who complain about being bored. I can always find something to keep me occupied, whether I am reading a book, watching tv, playing on the computer or even daydreaming. Dave drives me crazy with his constant need to be entertained and his inability to sit still for longer than a few minutes at a time.
Late Monday afternoon, Jill and her family came to pick up Hershey and they headed back to Jacksonville. I still think it's ironic that she has kept planning to visit and them putting it off for the three years we've been here, but the few weeks we decide to do major renovations to our bedroom, she finalizes her plans. Guess that's just the way things work sometimes.
Oh, and another funny irony...a car cut us off on the interstate as we were heading to dinner the other night. The vanity plate read: Godlike. The Universe sure has a warped sense of humor!
I did have to call my mom on Monday morning as hurricane Gustav was hitting the gulf coast of Louisianna. A tornado touched down 6 miles from where she lives, but she was still asleep and didn't even know about it! I woke her up and insisted she stay informed about what was going on. Geez, you'd think that a hurricane hitting near you would cause a little bit of concern, but I guess she is used to them. It's so much harder for me to watch all the action on tv now instead of riding it out with those that I love. I hate living so far away from my hometown, especially during hurricane season.
Fay, you are beginning to smell.
When I moved from the panhandle of Florida to Georgia, I figured I would be done with tropically classified storms. And this has been true for the last 3 and a half years I've been here. Until this week, when Fay decided to make an appearance. She is currently sitting on top of north Georgia, and though we really needed rain, it looks like we may get flooding with it. Fay, Fay, go away - you have overextended your stay.
All of this rain is doing two things for which I am not pleased.
1) Fay is making my head hurt. I have nutty sinuses and low-pressure systems make my head feel like it is going to either explode or fall off of my neck.
2) Fay is forcing me to pay more to get to work that I would like. I am driving my SUV instead of my bike, and I am going to need to fill up soon and oh my god that's painful. I am a cheap-skate at heart and do not like paying over $100 for anything, let alone a tank of gas. Man, it's not like I can wear it or show it off or anything.
In other news, Dave is installing wood flooring in our bedroom. I am excited about this because the carpet in there was nasty when we bought the house and has gotten even nastier since. Our dogs sleep in our bedroom with us at night and they are a huge source of dirt and hair and love to wrestle. Berber carpet cannot withstand two energetic labs, especially the cheap stuff the previous owners installed in the master bedroom. So now we will have oak floors and hopefully, my allergies will thank me...err, thank Dave, rather, since he is the one doing all of the work.
The downside of this project is the mess it is making of the rest of our house. We have moved into our guest room and all of the furniture and crap from our bedroom has been strategically placed around the rest of the house. It is currently looking a little cluttered around Casa de Chelle, though the cats are loving all of the new hiding spots that have been created. The other downside: going from sharing a king size bed to a full. Have you seen Dave? He fills a full sized bed by himself, so needless to say, I am awakened several times a night by elbow jabs and cover thievery, oh, and the snoring! Have I told you about the ear plugs I keep stored in my pillow case? I have had to use them only once since we moved rooms, but thank you baby jesus that we even had any, because there are times when Dave sounds like a freight train and it's either ear plugs or strangulation and I would much prefer to keep him around to continue with the home improvement projects and to do all of the heavy lifting. I cannot wait until this project is complete and we can move back into the master bedroom and back into our own sleeping zip codes.
he's always a winner to me
We went to another Scottish Games, this time in Blairesville, GA. The weather was rainy, then it wasn't. But it wasn't hot, and this was a good thing. Dave placed in every event, and finally claimed first place overall in his division. The best part: I got to take the winner home with me.
Baby steps
Thanks for the kind comments on my last post. Gavin is back to normal, with a slightly improved disposition. I think the two days away made him realize just how good he's got it!
*****
Last night, Dave and I took the bikes to dinner. We went to our favorite sushi place that's about 5 miles away from our house. Dave let me lead, and we made it there and back with out any mishaps on my part. And I even had to ride over railroad tracks and a large puddle of water on the road. We definitely weren't traveling as fast as I'm sure Dave would have liked, but he is being patient with me as I take baby steps toward mastering this motorcycle. And I am so happy with the progress I am making! I am no longer apprehensive about the twist throttle or the shifting and can now concentrate a little more on how I should be riding. When to lean and how far when turning. How to sit more comfortably. And soon I may just be able to wave back at the other bikers we pass.
Bikers have a special "wave" that they give other bikers when they pass each other, much like boaters wave at other boaters. When passing another boat, you just give a friendly wave, but on a bike, you are supposed to take whatever hand is closest to the other rider, make the peace sign, and hold you hand down by your side, fingers pointed toward the ground. I have not been able to do this yet, because I usually have a death-grip on the handlebars. But I'll get there, fellow bikers, just give me time.
Because I am not smarter than a Fifth Grader
I have been busy! (and lazy) And that is why there has been no updating.
We had a Chinese businessman and his translator visit at work last week. And we decided it would be a nice gesture to offer them tea while they were here. So I went shopping for a teapot.
Have you ever tried shopping for one specific item that you know you have seen almost everywhere you have shopped in the past, but when you actually need to purchase said item yourself, it becomes elusive? That's exactly what happened.
After hours of searching, I finally found a beautiful tea set in Pier One, along with matching platters that I just had to have. And you know what? No visitors drank any tea.
This weekend, I rested. I was beginning to get a little weary from all of the traveling and excitement that has been occurring in my life lately. So I decided to try and do As Little As Possible this weekend. I think I may have been relatively successful! Dave and I had a nice day Saturday, driving around the area where we live and trying to find boutiques with handmade goods. We failed on that count, though we did discover a plethora of junk at a couple of antique shops. We were competing to find the weirdest thing and I really regret not having brought my camera, because those places are treasure troves for the Strange and Bizarre. I found a published book called something like "A Book About My Cat" where you actually fill in the pages with facts about your cat. Like a baby book. There were places for pictures and even a place for a little bit of fur. It was very disturbing. We found insect candle holders that you hang on the wall, a pillow with a picture of a pug's head on a human body that was dressed like Louis XIV, a religious painting depicting heaven and hell as two opposite worlds bridged by a cross. We may have to go back just for documenting purposes. My brain got too full after a while so we decided to head home. Dave played more of his favorite video game while talking to himself and occasionally yelling at his virtual persona, while I lounged on the couch and read one of my sex books. (That's what Dave calls the romance novels I enjoy reading.)
Sunday, we headed to an open area near Dave's gym where he likes to practice throwing his heavy Scottish-Highland-Games-Competition weights. I do not usually accompany him, but he said he needed "coaching" and he also wanted me to film him so he could see what he was doing wrong. He is very hard to coach because he wants to be perfect and he gets So Angry when he is not. And he yells at himself. But I think progress was made, though I suggested that he start filming himself every time. We need to get a camcorder and a tripod so he can set it up near him and just record his entire practice. And I can stay home.
Last night, we played some of our new game on the XBox. It is the Simpsons Game and it is muy raro. Each character has a separate skill set and you have to work together to complete the levels. At the end, it shows the time it took us to complete the level along with the time it "should" have taken. I think my favorite was when it took us 53 minutes to complete a level that "should" have taken 8. We have decided it is because we are OLD. And this game was written at a 5th grade level. Therefore, as Jeff Foxworthy would point out, Dave and I combined are not smarter than a fifth grader.
Photo Meme
A photo meme of my life, inspired by Bluesleepy. Because I want to be cool like Karyl!
The rule was do an image search on Google using the answers to each of the following questions, and then post one of the search results after your answer. Here's mine:
1. My first car: 1994 Toyota Tercel
(Though mine was missing its passenger's side view mirror and was a pretty sea-green!)
2. Where I grew up: Fort Walton Beach, Florida
God, I miss this place.
3. Where I live now: Atlanta, Georgia
4. My first name: Chelle
That would be sooo tasty right about now.
5. My grandma’s first name: June
June Lockhart=so pretty.
6. My favorite food: Sashimi
Yum!
7. My favorite drink: Ice water with lemon
Boring, I know.
8. My favorite song: "Mandolin Rain," by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
I want this song played at my funeral someday. Yes, I am morbidly weird.
9. My favorite smell: the salty smell of the ocean
Ahhh...
10. My favorite pair of shoes: flip-flops
Wish I was wearing them right now.
11. My first pet: Katie, the cat
Meow!
12. My favorite color: Blue, unless I am wearing it, then Black
This pic is...strange.
13. My least favorite smell: Rotten anything
Ha! Completely unrelated...or is it?
14. My biggest fear: Helplessness
I think this is how Dave pictures our marriage in his mind!
15. My favorite hobby: Reading!
Yay!
Ahhh, sleep...
Dave is sick. He has the same thing I had two weeks ago. So that sleep I'm supposed to be catching up on is. not. happening. I don't want to be a bad wife and insist we sleep separately while he is in agony, but I think I'm going to have to...at least for tonight. I am beginning to feel like a functional zombie and pretty soon I am going to want to kill someone if I don't get a good night sleep.
In other news, my new assistant is catching on quickly and I am ahead of schedule in terms of making the initial post-trade show contact with all of the people we met at the convention in Las Vegas. I am SO GLAD I was able to talk my boss into hiring a full-timer. It is exactly what this marketing department (can you call one person a department?) needed!
The only downfall is that the only managerial experience I have is limited to a shift manager at a shoe store and a high school English teacher. So I will be learning as I go. The plan is to teach her how to do everything I can do. I don't believe in compartmentalizing duties within a department. I am all for sharing the love, baby. I want her to know that I am perfectly willing and able to do the mundane stuff and that I'm not shoveling all that shit-work her way every time there is shit-work to do. Plus, if i train her to do everything, I won't feel so guilty when Dave and I finally figure out where we want to put down roots and he transfers.
Tonight I am supposed to have dinner with a friend I haven't seen in a while, so that should be fun, if I can will myself to be excited by these plans. I just have not been in the mood to socialize lately. I get the itch to make plans with friends and then when it comes time to implement said plans I just feel...blah. Maybe I need a pick me up along the lines of Xanax or Ativan. Or maybe I just need some sleep!
December was...quiet
I only blogged once during the whole month of December. I can't blame it on being too busy or that I didn't have anything to write about. I am just lazy. Therefore, it is official that I am a horrible blogger.
Since I am new to this whole blogging thing, I wonder: do most bloggers blog when they feel like it? Do they schedule their blogging? Do they only blog about something that is blog-worthy?
I'm not really sure what would work best for me. I think I'd rather read what other, cooler people come up with than try and blog myself. Eventually, I'd like this to turn into a journal documenting the lives of my not-yet-born-nor-conceived children. There is only so much you can write about when it comes to owning five pets. Or a Scottish-Gaming husband. Not that I own him. He's just on loan from the 16th century where he would love to be if it weren't for the lack of electricity, running water, or indoor toilets.
I will now attempt to recap my December. I had a surprisingly pleasant dinner with my dad and stepmother, both of whom will never be in contention for "Best Parenting Award". My birthday was wonderful, thanks to my awesome husband. We went to a Falcons game...though I'm not sure the Falcons players were actually present. Centennial Olympic Park was decorated for Christmas, so after the game, D and I played around with my camera a little and I was able to capture some great shots. I am attempting to brush up on my photography skills now that I have a digital camera with a full manual mode and so far it's been a lot of fun. I got a lot of great birthday gifts: a beautiful silver necklace from my in-laws, an awesome sake set from my SIL, a gorgeous green leather purse from D, comfy pj's from my aunt and uncle and their family, flowers and brownies with cream cheese frosting from D, pretty earrings from my friend Emilie, accessories for my Dept. 56 Halloween collection from my mom and other items that were wonderful. I am spoiled rotten, I know.
Christmas was a lot of fun. Mom and my brother were here. We played Guitar Hero and Scategories and drank a lot of tequila. Mom and I went to Stone mountain to check out the Christmas lights. I can't really remember much else and I will totally blame that on all of the tequila!
New Year's Eve, we went to bed before the ball dropped. Because we are THAT EXCITING. And that's a wrap for December. I will have to make it one of my New Year's resolutions to try harder to blog in '08. Though I am making no promises and if I fail this resolution, I plan to place all of the blame on tequila.
