Yowza. What a week. February 22, 2009

The past week started off innocently enough. Work was barreling along and the weekend was fast approaching. That doesn’t happen often.

Then Wednesday rolled around.

I left work a little earlier than usual to go pick Dan up so we could finally enjoy a home-cooked dinner together. We swung by the store on our way home and bought all the ingredients we needed to make a delicious meal. When we got home, however, the front door was wide open and a certain cat by the name of Slider was missing.

All of our stuff was fine. The front door can be a little tricky to shut properly, and it will blow open if you don’t get it right.

We dropped all our groceries and took off to look for Slider. Three hours later, we came home frozen, empty-handed and exhausted. It was incredibly windy and cold, and every squeaky gate or blowing plastic bag made my heart jump into my throat with hope that it was Slider.

When we got home, I made this:

Thursday morning, Dan and I woke up and hit Kinko’s at about 7 a.m. We spent the next three hours papering the neighborhood/looking for the cat. Then we went to our respective jobs.

We looked for Slider again Thursday night. No luck.

Friday afternoon, I got a call from a guy who said he spotted Slider a few blocks from our house. Dan and I were both at work, so we couldn’t do much about it. We looked for him for another hour or so on Friday night, then went home and did some Tae Bo. Yeah.  A few hours later, Dan was on the phone with his dad in the kitchen and he heard meowing. Sure enough, it was Slider, freaked out, filthy and cold. I don’t think we’ve ever been so releived.

We gave that jerk a bath, fed him and he passed out for the rest of the night. The possibility of losing him forever and not knowing what he was up to was awful. I can’t even imagine what people who are missing a child are going through.

Moral of the story: always check to make sure the door is locked and put collars on your animals.

In other news, work has calmed down for me. We got our product out the door on time and in one piece. Dan’s hours should normalize in the next week or so, so more time together is likely in our future.

Whew!

Today is Valentines Day. February 15, 2009

It’s a pretty sappy idea, really; a marketing ploy to get people to buy even more dumb stuff that they don’t need. Stuff like this.

I do want to take a moment, however, to say how thankful I am for my Valentine.

My life would be so completely different without Dan. Every day that we are together, no matter how bad other things are, is a blessing. He is always there to cheer me up, make me laugh, calm me down when I worry too much, cook me really delicious dinners and bring me Gatorade.

I love him, and I wouldn’t trade our love or friendship for anything.

As if eight-plus hours a day weren’t enough… February 13, 2009

I keep having dreams where I am at work. I am sitting at my desk, in front of my computer, staring at the same software that I test every day.

In my dreams, I’m worried because I can’t think of any new tests to do. I sit there, glaring at the home screen, fretting.

I don’t exactly feel tired when I wake up, but I’m definitely not bringing my A-game. I forget where I’ve put things, I get my words mixed up when I’m trying to talk, I stare off into space…

It wouldn’t be SO bad, except it seems that the nights when I’m not dreaming about work, a certain kitten (Slider) decides it’s time to play and refuses to let me rest.

Tonight, I’m taking Tylenol PM.

Why did those five things cost $96? February 12, 2009

Last week was one of those weeks when you run out of all of your toiletries at the same time. Typically, I only have to buy one or two of these items in one shopping trip, but every so often the cycles line up and it’s all gone at the same at once.

I needed:

-Face lotion

-Mascara

-Some powder

-Conditioner

-Hair serum

And some other stuff. Let me tell you, it made for an expensive trip.

I guess I could cut back on some of the things that I use; I could go all Girl Power and quit using the unnecessary makeup, shampoos, conditioners and hair products that clever marketers tell me I have to use to be beautiful.

But I won’t.

I like being a girl. I like smelling nice and having clear skin and soft hair, so I sigh, swipe my debit card and take my things home.

I would ask that instead of giving me a useless pair of cheap headphones for free with my $15 bottle of lotion,  you just give me…more lotion.

Not that anyone cares, but… February 6, 2009

1. I never liked learning about history as a kid. I thought it was boring and pointless, and am extremely ignorant when it comes to past events as a result. I hate it and I’m trying to fix it. Right now, I’m really into World War II.
2. For some reason, employers see fit to give me ridiculous job opportunities that I’m not qualified for. I’ve never turned one down and it hasn’t failed me yet.
3. Entry #2 has taught me how to teach myself all kinds of things by reading books.
4. I’m constantly cruising the Internet to find cheap airfare to…anywhere, even when I don’t plan on traveling.
5. I like to keep my fingernails cut short and painted dark.
6. I’ve decided that, for 30 days, I’m not going to eat any meat that I wouldn’t kill and clean myself. That leaves me with fish, seafood and, at times, certain people.
7. My family moved from St. Peters to Cape Girardeau the summer before my junior year of high school. I moved with the “get in, get out” mentality because I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be starting over for the 100^th time. I greatly regret this and often wonder what friendships I missed out on as a result of my attitude.
8. Over the course of 12 months I: was hired on at a newspaper for my first job, got engaged, graduated from college, moved 1, 400 miles from home to start said job, got married, got laid off from my first job, moved back to Missouri to live with my mother-in-law, got married again in a traditional capacity, moved out of my mother-in-law’s and got a new job. It was exhausting.
9. I really used to enjoy running, then I tore a disc in my back and had to take a break. It’s never been the same since.
10. I recently started playing videogames and even have my own xbox live account. Look me up: starflablingo.
11. I had lost all of my baby teeth by the time I was 10. I got braces when I was 11.
12. I’ve known my best friend for as long as I’ve known my sister.
13. I’ve been stopped by the cops while riding my bike.
14. I’d like to live in a foreign country at some point in my life, preferably somewhere I would be able to learn a new language.
15. I love, love, LOVE breakfast food. You can make anything that’s considered a breakfast food, mix it with any number of other breakfast foods, and it will never be gross. I could eat breakfast all day.
16. I’ve never lived in a single residence for any longer than three years. We were always switching apartments, houses, cities, states. I feel like all the moving has made me a well-rounded person who knows how to adapt, but it also means that I’ll probably never be truly happy if I’m stationary.
17. I don’t think that I’ll ever want to own a home. The idea of being responsible for a yard, mortgage and all the upkeep has no appeal to me. I’d rather rent. It’s easier to leave that way.
18. Dan and I are thisclose to paying off our credit card debt. I can’t wait.
19. I really don’t like horror movies. I can usually handle the blood and guts, but the supernatural unnerves me and I have no desire to watch movies about it.
20. I’ve gotten one traffic ticket so far in my life and I feel like it’s mostly my brother’s fault.
21. I sleep with a fan pointed toward the every single night, no matter the season, and I always have. I like the way the wind feels on my face, and the noise tunes out the cats, neighbors and traffic. Dan hates it.
22. Sometimes I think about going back to school for a degree in computer programming or to become a lawyer, but I know I don’t have the stamina for it at the moment.
23. If I didn’t have Dan holding me back, I’d probably have four or five cats and a dog. Just a little one…
24. I love orange juice and typically drink it straight out of the carton. So, if you ever come over to my house, you might not want to drink the OJ.
25. I wasn’t going to do this survey, but people I respect and like gave me insight into their lives. I thought I’d do the same.

In which I feel human again. February 1, 2009

Dan and I took the trip down to Cape this weekend to visit my mom and dad. It’s the first time we’ve been down there for no other reason than to simply visit in months.  There was delicious food, higher quality wine than we ever buy for ourselves, shopping and movie watching. So relaxing. I don’t care how old you are, sometimes it just feels good to go to your mom’s, dad’s, grandparents’ or some other caring guardian’s house and forget that you’re supposed to be a responsible adult.

While Dan and I were out in the backyard letting the cats run around for a little while one of our very good friends who lives next door came outside. We chatted things up for a few moments, and then she said “You look really relaxed.” And I realized that for the first time in weeks, I really am. Going back home to charge the batteries for 48 will hopefully get me few another few weeks.

In bad news gone good: I woke up Friday and realized that one of my earrings had fallen out in my sleep. I was pretty upset and looked all over the place to find it, as that pair is irreplaceable. My grandparents had bought rough diamonds during a trip of theirs to Israel in the mid ’80s and had a pair of unique studs made for me. I wear them every day because I love them and the backs screw on, greatly reducing their likelihood of falling out. This afternoon when Dan was cleaning, he found the rogue piece of jewelry and the earrings have been reunited. It’s a great relief.

In news regarding stupid things that happen: It appears as though my iPod made a run through the washer. We’re going to give it a few days to dry out. Hopefully it will recover (ha), but it’s looking like we’ll both be in the market for new mp3 players very soon.

In near freakouts: When we were leaving my parents’ house today, we couldn’t get the Honda to start. We tried jumping it, checking the starter, etc. It was extremely frustrating and we were starting to feel rather upset. After further investigation, I realized we were using a copied key we’d had made at Home Depot to start the car, which we’d never done before. I busted out the original, and all was well (HUGE sigh of relief).