RuPaul's Drag Race

If you have LOGO, try to catch RuPaul's Drag Race. I know it may not be for everyone, but really, it makes me wanna get out my sassiest clothing, pack on my fiercest makeup, do up the hair and strut.

I can't help it. I love it. Sure it makes me feel a little self conscious that some men can pull off sexy better than most women I know, but still, the show is fabulous. Not to mention, the show's full of wonderful catty behavior. Love it!

So, the new season starts on the 1st. BUT they have been playing the last season so it's all I've been watching. :)

One Fish Go- Oh Wait, Make it Two

Dang it. We've lost two fish. One of the little zebra fish and a tetra. Unfortunately only the zebra fish died within the 48 hours of purchase, so I was able to go get him replaced for Evan. Last night one of the little tetras, "disappeared." We eventually found him. So into the great porcelain expressway to animal heaven it went.

No surprise though. I expected to get one or two to bite it before the tank fully settles. Ah well. But at least Evan's getting to learn about all the stuff that goes into fishy care.

Driving and Fish

We went driving again today. We went back to my parents place again. He tried the dreaded turn into the driveway and didn't hit a damn thing. Granted he was turning bright red from not breathing and his knuckles were white but he did it perfectly. I took over driving one we got in. There are other cars in the parking lot and I didn't feel it would be wise to endanger other cars.

On our way out I reminded him to relax and breathe before he got back into the driver's seat. He did well. He even made another right hand turn at a light and went through a four way intersection perfectly. He did end up learning why they call it a blind spot when he initially pulled out into the road. Luckily, I'm now on high alert. So we do have some progress. Huzzah!

I didn't tell Aaron about yesterday's incident. I just told him that we had a nice scare, but didn't tell him about the car's booboo. He would never let poor Evan live it down and it would eventually make him nervous being in the car with Evan and therefore slow down the progress I've accomplished. Sigh.

Oh yes, after the driving lesson Evan finally got his fish. Aaron and I got him a fish tank for Christmas. We finally found a stand yesterday so we set up the tank. And for the fish today. The tank looks really cool. Plus since I've had fish tanks before I can coach him through what he needs to do to take care of them.

These are the fish he got. There's also a sucker fish in there but I can't find a photo of the one he's got.

Wishful Thinking. HA!

Well I suppose I would have been foolish to think my car could have remained unscathed through out this process. Luckily, I anticipated some scrapes, so when it happened I wasn't totally pissed.

Today Evan was on the road. He'd been on the road before but that wasn't the problem. For some reason he blanked out on one of the first things I taught him in the big open parking lots. Turns.

The first thing I taught him once he learned how to make the car move and stop were turns. I spent at least three lessons on just turning left, right, wide turns, sharp turns and even backwards. But today when I had him turn into my parents parking lot, he blanked, freaked and hit the gas when he came in wide on his turn into the lot. He ended up kissing one of the light posts in front of the building! Not the big ones, just one of the small (about three feet tall) light posts at the entrances. The cover to the very small light on the side of my car broke. It could have been worse. I yanked on the wheel to make the car turn more, otherwise it would have hit the damn front. He said he'd pay for the cover. The paint smudge can be buffed out.

The positive side is that no one saw it. My Dad (who's the superintendent of the building) was outside on the grounds but he didn't see it and the light post didn't fall over. Whew.

What hurts is that he's not the only one to have done that. Every few months my Dad has to replace one of the damn things after one of the tenants inevitably knocks one over. They aren't exactly easy to see. My Dad originally told the tenant board to make them white or a brushed silver color since they're right on the edge of a grassy area and in front of bushes. They wanted and went for green. Two weeks and about six posts later, they changed their minds and went with a brown. Not much better. Ah well. Like I said. Today's adventure could have been much worse. Luckily, I think he feels bad enough to not repeat his mistake. And he said he'd pay for the damage.

Oh yes, if you're wondering why I'm doing this; it's because Aaron would scare the hell out of him. But he needs to have a licence if he ever wants to get out of his stinky-ass job; Otherwise, when we move out, he's gonna be screwed.

Dinner, It's What's For Lunch

I feel bad for Aaron when he works. His schedule is all kinds of messed up. He leaves for work at 10:30pm and gets home at about 8:30am or so. If he has an arrest, it's anywhere from an hour later or six hours later. He once had to stay so long he just said friggit and stayed at work. He slept on one of the beds in the break room for the three hours till his shift started up.

But what makes me feel really bad for him is that when he's working he rarely gets to enjoy a meal when he's supposed to have it, or around the time when it's supposed to happen. For example, last night I made roasted chicken, potatoes and a steamed vegetable mix. On a day off he'd love this dinner or on a day when he comes home at a normal time and gets to sleep before 10am. Yesterday was not one of those days. He asked me to wake him for dinner. When I checked in on him he said, he'd get up, but couldn't really eat when he got to the table. I told him to go get some more rest, made him a cup of tea, and packed his dinner up for him so he could have it for lunch. But by the time he had a lunch break at 4am or 5am-ish, he really wasn't in the mood for it. He got a breakfast dish from a diner. Sadly the person making his egg sandwich wasn't really with it and put ketchup on it. The only time he likes ketchup is on fries. No where else. Poor guy. But yes... since he wasn't in the mood to argue, he just ate the thing and felt gross afterward.

This morning when he got home he stayed up for about an hour or so and crashed. He was snoring by 10am. I think I'll surprise him and make a breakfast dish for dinner tonight.

Feeling Jazzy as a Chicken

Ahhh. Despite the fact that today is one of the worst days I've seen in a while (rainy adn windy as heck), I'm feeling pretty good. I have a nice cup of tea. I had a nice light breakfast and the thought of doing the small mound of laundry doesn't bother me in the slightest. And yes, there is a good reason for this.

I HAVE A FINAL INTERVIEW! Yes, on the 8th I will be going in for a final interview with three people this time. Hopefully if all goes well, I will be hearing form them shortly after and I will do a spontaneous tap dance worthy of Danny Kay on crack or cry my wee eyes out. Confidentially, I'm hoping for the former.

But yes, the very thought of coming so darn close has got me feeling pretty nifty. Hell, I may even brave the weather and hit the gym. Gasp!

Dinner With The TwiMoms

Tonight was another fun experience with the TwilightMoms. Yes, I'm one of the "Moms" you may have heard of. The group of women who are obsessed with Twilight even though we're all well past our teenage years.

The group of us living in and around NYC get together about every few months to chat, have dinner, drinks and be girls for a few hours. Tonight was no exception. The restaurant chosen was, in a word, perfect. The place was called Magia e Bevi. The food was great, the music gets loud and the staff encourage loud singing, dancing and playing tambourines. I loved it and it is definitely a place to revisit. Afterwards we hit a bar right next door to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where they're playing rock of ages. The drinking continued but I stopped long before then. I also had to cut out early. Still, it was a nice time. I have a feeling that if I had actually been drinking, there would have been more shenanigans. The night just had that kind of feel to it.

First House Hunting Trip

Aaron and I took a very exciting step this afternoon. We went on our first adventure, house hunting. We went to the Greenwood Lakes area of NY (about 45 minutes out from where we live). We saw saw two houses today. NONE of them work for us.

The first house was what I called the house on the hill. It was a really pretty looking house at the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the lake and the surrounding area. The exterior of the house itself was great. The back yard was a mess, but it was to be expected since it hasn't been "lived " in since it was built. The problem is that a few people seem to have broken into the house since it was built. The inside was not entirely finished, the ceilings were low as hell on the second and third floor. And what the seller listed as, "some cosmetic work needed," was a total lie. The place had to be finished in some parts, one of the windows needed to be repaired and just about all the hanging fixtures needed to be replaced entirely or we'd run the risk of knocking ourselves out. Aaron and I are not tall people. We're both around 5'7" tall. Oh yes and did I mention that the entire layout of the place is awkward at best? I mean there were rooms around the entire place that made no sense whatsoever, which made the necessary rooms ridiculously small. I mean, some of the "bedrooms" were the size of what you'd think of as an office. The master bedroom is a joke. Really. All the bathtubs are spa tubs BUT you'd have to have your knees out of the water to get your feet in the water. They were teeny. Oh yes, the hills to get to the house, terrified me. On the way up, the real estate agent questioned if her car would make it up the hills and she has an older Mercedes and knowing the car, I know the thing has power to it. We'd really both have to get 4x4's to be able to get to the house in the event of any weather other than a dry day. If we lived there, I would have to forbid any children from going out to the front. The angle was just that severe.

The second house we looked at is much smaller but the layout was great and made it look a lot more welcoming. It was really nicely done and staged. We really had no problems with the interior despite some cosmetic work (this time it there were just some scratches to door frames and some of the paint needed retouching in corners) the rooms were a good size, the kitchen was a great size and the bathrooms were great and in good condition. Had we actually seen this house in another area, we would really consider it as a contender. The problem, however, was the neighborhood and the land it's on. There essentially is no land to speak of. The house is right on the road, but the road itself is a one lane road that serves as a two way street. The "back yard," is a small covered concrete block and leads to a rock wall that is the back end of the back neighbor's house. The side yard is a small concrete block that is open to the street. What's left as "land," is dirt. No grass covering, just dirt (today it was mud). The other houses on the street right on top of each other. But the house on the left of it has some space in front of it but it's filled with two car carcases an old boat and a few boat engines strewn around (some covered over with what would be plant growth in the summer). The place itself, really nice. The street, the "back yard" and the neighborhood, terrible.

The real estate agent boiled it down to, this is not the area for us. She immediately deduced that we really want a more family friendly area. Getting a better sense of the town, she's right. She then ran down a few questions to get an idea of what we want in a house and neighborhood. She got the idea really quickly. We also showed her a house that we have seen before to giver her an even better idea. She agreed. So now we're going to hold off a bit before we go out again. She said she'd look around to find homes that are more suitable for us and then get back to us with them.

The cool thing is that we're now officially house hunting! Woohoo!

The Girls + Eddie Izzard= Tie Grr and Jazz Chicken

"Rawr, rawr, driving school."

This was one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time. The girls descended on NYC this weekend for an Eddie Izzard performance. Fantastic. Eddie was sublime as always. He spoke about everything that's ever happened. Really. He covered the creation of language; religion; the dinosaurs; Noah's Ark ("Two tigers, badgers, two geese, two Bees, two cows. How many we got son? Just the tigers Dad.") The Romans; the Spartans; The Ancient Egyptians (they were all very old); God; Jesus, besus (was covered in bees), kesus, desus, zesus, tesus (always mucking around), cesus (was a roman emperor); fog; Wikipedia; Raptors; a Squid ("Seem to be running out ink"); Tie grr; Sharks ("We found a child"); and a Jazz chicken. Latin ("Elephantus?... Quod the F*ck?!")Oh yes and EZ(Zed) Pass. There's quite a bit more like the Ten Commandments, "Thy shall not covet thy neighbor's ox," but I'd be here for hours.

But yes, other than the laughs thanks to Mr. Izzard, hanging out with the girls was fun as always. Cheese and crackers were had. We watched the Family Guy, Vizma finally got to watch "Shawn of The Dead," and got to experience both the subway system and the terrifying thrill ride that are the NYC taxis.

"I'm Going On An Airplane"

My sister-in-law Terri just told me quite possibly one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Munchkin #5 is finally pottty trained. She used a trip to Disney as incentive. Granted, she didn't tell him that they were going to go anyway, but for the last few days, he's surprised her with his trips to the bathroom. Mostly because of what he's been saying. Thing like, "I'm going on an airplane!" and "Mickey I'm going to Disney" and "Hey, Mickey ar you waiting?"

BUT it doesn't stop there. They apparently still have some work to do. He doesn't seem to like touching himself when he pees. So he leans over and hangs on to the back of the toilet lid. His rationale is that if he doesn't touch his penis, he doesn't have to wash his hands. He has tried to argue this point too! HA!

I just had to share this story because it's funny.

Ahhh

I'm feeling soooo much better now. I got a haircut. I got my nails done and a few days ago, I got a facial. AND the best of all my Mom's okay.

A little while ago I wrote about a medical issue someone was having. It was my Mom. during her yearly checkup they found two spots on her mammogram. They did a second round then they did a biopsy. Thank goodness it turned out to be nothing at all. I forgot what they called it, but the two spots were nothing to worry about at all. Phew! She's much better now. The stitches came out today and she's feeling pretty good. The first few days were a little rough for her since she pretty much couldn't move (doctors orders) and she was a little drowsy from the pain killers. I went over and cooked for my parents.

SO now all that's left is for me to land the job (I so hope tomorrow's round two interview goes well) and all will be right in the world.

Ahhhh. Now to watch American Idol. Huzzah!

My Arms Hurt

I got the H1N1 flu shot today at CVS. I felt I should just because of all the children I'm often around. Three of them are actually in kindergarten or in the first grade (lord I feel old now) and well, as anyone who's been around children can tell you, schools are germ factories, so it made sense.

The problem is now I feel like I have a weight on my arm. But the other arm is no better. I was up last night playing Wii tennis so this morning I woke up with my right arm sore as hell. Really. My arm is really sore from a video game! Sigh... Anyhoo, so yeah. Now, both arms are not working as well as they normally do. I feel like they move in slow motion and kind of clumsy. Odd.

2010 Hopes

My hopes for this year are pretty simple and if all goes well, there is no reason why they can't happen.

1) Duh, job.
2) Get my credit rating up a touch more; 640 while "okay," is not good enough.
3) Save up for a downpayment on a house. We're aiming for the $110-$120K mark.
4) Use even more coupons! This past year was a pretty good start as far as shopping smarter. I think I can do better.
5) Family time?
6) Get in better shape. Being a smaller, round shape, is no longer acceptable.
7) By the end of the year actually start looking at houses. Not just on the internet, but actually go out to see houses.


Like I said, not too bad or outlandish. I think these are all fairly attainable. Now lets see how I do.

Ding, Ding! Round Two

Yep I'm in for round two on Wednesday. I'm so psyched!

I'm meeting with two people and if all goes well, I'll be meeting with the CEO shortly thereafter. It's a great organization I'd be working for (PR position) that helps talented young people from Latino, black and Native American communities, so that's an incredibly appealing added bonus to the position.

The only downside is that once again, I'm doing the mini freak out thing. You know, the running through all possible interview scenarios, responses, weaves, highlight possibilities and ways to close the deal, while an incessant stream of "IhopeIgetitIhopeIgetitIhopeIgetit...." just repeats in the back of my mind. Yeah, that one. I'm even breaking out! I'm going to need to do an at home facial tonight. And don't even get me started on the anxiety dreams. Before I got word that I was in for next week, they were kind of mild. You know, your standard, I forgot something I need, kind of dreams. But for the last two days, yeah, they've been getting a bit worse. I haven't remembered many of them but I know I've been waking up every two hours or so. One dream that I did remember had me in a huge and really high chair, unable to reach anything on the gigantic table in front of me. Un-huh. Like I said, anxiety dreams.

I swear, some day I'm going to have to actually put together a collection of my dreams together for a book. But then again, it may lead to me getting committed. Nevermind.

2009

I can't believe 2009 came and went. It really seems like the year flew by. So here's my quick, quick recap of the year.


The year started fairly normal; new marriage, getting used to being together every waking moment. Not bad. It was actually a pretty easy transition. Oh yeah, there was the whole, should I leave my job, should I take a gamble and stay, decision. I took the money and ran.

I got lovely flowers from Aaron at work for Valentine’s Day, tulips and irises. So pretty.

We went to our friend’s Dave and Christina’s wedding and Met Jerry’s new girlfriend, Lisa. Despite my very catty initial assessment, she kinda grew on me. She’s not terrible as a person. She just has terrible taste in fashion and movies.

I finally started working on changing my name legally. It took a bit but I figured out the process. Hint: Start with the social security office.

My last day at work came along. I kinda felt apprehensive about leaving but I did it anyway. In hindsight, even though I’m still looking for work, I still think this was the right move. Considering that there have been two rounds of layoffs since I left... well, I’m just glad I got money for it.

I quickly got on my game rewriting my resume and getting it out there. And I’m still playing the game.

I finally ended up making my wedding photo selections and got that going. I picked up my last book a few weeks ago 

We had our Twilight movie party and had a bit too much fun with an Edward cutout and, “Jizz in My Pants.”

Took in the Orchid Show at the Botanical Garden with my Mom. I got an orchid and it is currently in the process of dying. Good thing the Orchid show is just around the corner.

I walked away from a great job. I still grumble about it but ultimately I think it was the correct decision.

During the summer I picked up my bike and really got into taking the thing everywhere; including my parents place several times a week, trails around the parks and the challenging, sandy trails around Robert Moses and Kismit (long Island).

Michele’s
Took a trip to the strangest city I’ve ever seen, Dallas.

After the summer came one of the most memorable trips ever. Aaron and I went to Italy and Germany.

Italy was fantastic. All of it.

Germany was lots of fun. Aaron beat up on people at the poker table at Spielbank in Alexanderplatz (Berlin). We got to see the really cool giant puppets used in the 20th year celebration of Germany’s unification.

We survived the first round of kiddie parties.

My uncle passed away.

I survived Thanksgiving, as did everyone else.

I went on many job interviews since leaving Newsweek and still nothing.

More kiddie parties.

Christmas brought me several cool gifts, one lame-ass one and a Wii.  Weeee… ouch.

Here’s hoping the New Year brings a new job.