Seriously - this is why so little gets done around here...

My Thursday morning...

7:00am - Alarm goes off.
7:09am - Snooze.
7:18am - Snooze.
7:27am - Snooze.
7:36am - Finally get up.
7:37am - Watch a little Today Show.
7:52am - Turn it off when Ann Curry is allowed to speak.
8:00am - Remember that I wanted to make a card for the Poppy Seed Challenge.
8:02am - Rummage through already-made cards and see if anything can be used as a starting point.
8:10am - Realize I'm woefully short on birthday cards.
8:11am - Peruse stamps to see what birthday stamps I have.
8:15am - Remember original purpose for being in the craft room before 9am in my pajamas.
8:16am - Refocus.
8:17am - Work on Poppy Seed card.
8:38am - Set up area to take photograph of card.
8:39am - Search through the house for NavyGuy's good camera.
8:42am - Realize he probably has it in his car, or has just hidden it from me because I tend to forget to put the memory card back in it, and then when he wants to use the camera, he has to retrieve the memory card from my laptop...
8:43am - Finally take a photo of my card using my camera
8:45am - Upload card to computer.
8:46am - Futz with lighting in the photo.
8:50am - Decide that in the photograph, the yellow on my card looks orange, and therefore, I have to make a new card so there's no doubt I have yellow on my card.
9:15am - Finally finish making second card for the challenge.
9:16am - Do another hunt for the good camera just in case I missed it during my first sweep of the house.
9:20am - Admit camera defeat.
9:21am - Reconfigure set-up for photograph so there's no lighting issues this go-round.
9:23am - Upload card to computer.
9:26am - Edit photo and decide lighting is satsifactory.
9:27am - Write blog post for photo.
9:36am - Debate whether blog post makes me sound like a crazy person.
9:38am - Realize that's a moot point.
9:40am - Publish blog post.

There you have it. Almost three hours. And that was a three hours that actually produced some sort of tangible results!

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Tuesday

First off, whoa people. Whoa. It's just a pig. Can the pig-lovers and bacon-eaters find a way to get along? P.S. I love when posts about tea-cup pigs get more comments than an entire week's worth of posts about my actual life. I should really stick to the inane more often. :)

Moving on, I had my first day back at Starbucks. I'd been gone two weeks. Not two months, not two years. And yet, I felt useless. Oh I wasn't rusty making the drinks, and I could still run the cash register, but I wasn't on top of things. My boss had done some rearranging of our supplies, so every time I tried to restock something, I had to root around for a while or just give up and ask her where we kept it now. And there's new paperwork for our cleaning tasks. And next week Starbucks is launching a whole new way to brew coffee (a topic for a later discussion), which all the other baristas have known about for two weeks. And I'm just finding out today. I'd left at the top of my field - the employee everyone else came to with questions, and who everyone counted on - and now, not.

How much more of a transition is it going to be when / if I get back in the classroom full-time? I left teaching at the top of my field. I was teaching an advanced placement class. I was well-respected by my students, my department, my administrators. People came to me for advice, wanted my opinion on lesson plans and classroom management. I, and excuse my blatant lack of humility, was a really freaking awesome teacher. I knew how to change the toner in the copy machine for God's sake - do you know how high that will rank you in teacher world!?!?

And now I've been gone for almost two years. I keep working to get myself back in the classroom, but truthfully, it's absolutely terrifying. For as much as schools haven't changed in two years (hell, two hundred years), I feel vastly behind. I love hearing stories from HistoryGirlie about what's going on at the school I used to be a part of, but it also makes me panic. She talks about technology I'm barely familiar with, being used as an integral part of instruction (using a flip camera to teach geography? say whu?). She tells tales of enlightened discussions and debates over grading and best practices and assessments, and the concepts that are becoming common place in many classrooms. And I don't have insights to add to those discussions anymore. Nor do I even know what the "right answer" is for when a future principal interviews me for a job and asks me my views on grading or best practices or assessments.

Am I going off my nutty here? Who else is currently "not working in their field" (the oh-so-clever euphemism we use to hide the unpleasant truth that we're currently stocking shelves / waiting tables / making coffee or doing anything but what we majored in in college)? Are you worried about the knowledge gap between what you knew then, and what you're expected to know to hold the same job now? Is this just a worry of mine because I'm an anal-retentive (yes, hyphenated) perfectionist who can't bear the thought of completing a job to less than stellar reviews? (Or this is just a worry because I stood around all day searching for the extra coffee filters and using my mind for little else but random worries?)

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Monday

*Met with a new babysitting client today. Apparently, I seemed trustworthy so she and her husband went out for lunch and left me to read a book on their couch while the 15 month old napped. Little one slept soundly for two hours, and I went home a few dollars richer.

*NavyGuy's pox arm is still not right. He checked with the Doc today and Doc thinks perhaps the shot "didn't take." And the conspiracy deepens...

*Tomorrow I go back to Starbucks after a glorious two week vacation. My barista life continues. For how long I don't know - I'm still waiting to get my permanent teaching license so I can go back to subbing, but it's in the hands of the bureaucrats at the moment, so who knows how long it will take. The Starbucks income is dwindling as of late (not only because of my frequent vacationing), but also because now that the holiday season is over, Target has drastically cut back on hours for its employees. So my 30 hours weeks are down to 18, maybe 20 hours if I'm lucky. Which means I'm half excited to go back to work tomorrow to make some moola, half bummed that I have to don the khakis and green apron again.

*The bad news continues - we couldn't go see Tally pup this past weekend. The trainer was hosting an event and didn't think he'd have time to show us around and show off what Tally had learned so far. I almost burst into tears over the whole thing - I miss that dog so much! How is that possible? She's a dog. And I've known her for all of five months. But the house is so quiet without her, and everyday I come up with some new completely irrational legitimate concern. Is Tally adjusting to the new food alright? What if she's not sleeping well at night? What if they aren't cleaning her ears? Lab ears can get very waxy, and what if Tally's ears are getting too waxy? And then she can't hear the lessons they're trying to teach her, and they think she's untrainable, but really, she just can't hear well? NavyGuy is starting to wonder if ten years of an unruly dog would have been less painful than three months of me, without the dog...

What up with all of you? Any news to report? Stories to share? Complaints to lodge?

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Weekend Update

*NavyGuy's back from Red Flag! He returned on Friday night, so we went out to dinner, and then he promptly crashed. Two weeks of night flights and the Vegas lights had taken their toll, and poor NavyGuy was worn out.

*With Tally pup off at training, we could spend Saturday out and about (without having to rush home to let puppy out). Thus, we planned to go to Lynnwood and do some shopping at the big mall, catch a movie, have dinner, and generally relax. Well, we made it as far as the highway when NavyGuy got a call that he had to head down to Oak Harbor and take care of some admin business for the squadron, since all of the higher ups were still in Vegas. 90 minutes after we'd planned to leave, we finally hit the road and made it down to the big city. All in all it was a fun Saturday - some scrapbook store time, a movie, dinner at Macaroni Grill, and some quality time with my NavyGuy :)

*SuperBowl Sunday! NavyGuy and I headed over to a friend's house for a low-key super bowl afternoon. I brought chocolate chip cookies (which I made with slight supervision by NavyGuy... I neglected to soften the butter initially, so then I wanted to microwave the metal bowl it was in to make the mixture a little easier to stir... that's when he got all nervous and felt compelled to babysit my cookie project), and we snacked on wings, taco dip, cookies, and beer. Not even a little bit healthy, but oh-so-footbally. Hooray for the Saints (and Betty White's awesome commercial). Our trip home was more eventful than expected though... we got a bolt in the rear passenger tire. So, I got a tire-changing lesson in the garage at 8:00 at night...

(photos and NavyGuy's commentary to come...)

What's on tap for this week? Tuesday night is a massive pre-deployment meeting for the entire squadron, Thursday is our wives' club meeting (at our house!), and Friday night we jet back to Wisconsin for a week of visiting friends and family! Lots of excitement to come...

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Weekend Update

Not a whole heck of a lot to report to be frank.

Friday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

Saturday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

Sunday - 8 hours at the 'Bucks.

I know - tres exciting. Aside from all the coffee-ing, NavyGuy and I went out to dinner with another couple on Sunday night (yummo bloomin' onion at Outback!), and that's about it.

Please tell me someone else had a more interesting weekend than us...?

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Tally Makes Herself Comfy

Like writing an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of case studies in research wasn't difficult enough...

But Mom, I'd rather sit with you than anywhere else... especially when you're trying to play with that big black thingy that I like to step on...

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Bits and Pieces

*The espresso machine (fancy name = Verissimo) went beserko all over itself at work today. My co-worker Jennifer was in the process of making a drink when the Verissimo started making the most god-awful grinding sound. We opened the contraption to take a look, and the beast gave a loud pop and a spark! She and I nearly had simultaneous heart attacks, and then read the message screen on the machine: piston error. Lucky for me, this all went down about eight minutes before my shift ended, so it became completely not my problem. Ah the joys of just being a minimum wage worker bee... (no, I did feel bad that I had to leave them with a Starbucks incapable of making any beverage with espresso shots... but not bad enough that I was going to stay and fight the Verissimo!)

*There was also the memorable customer who walked up to the counter, looked at the menu boards (which say Starbucks), looked at my apron (which says Starbucks), and looked at the entire coffee area (which SCREAMS Starbucks), and promptly asked in a forlorn voice, "Oh, is this Starbucks coffee?". I wanted to say no, but I was afraid that might make her stay. (Unfortunately, she stayed even after I said yes and then proceeded to bitch about Starbucks coffee during the entire transaction.)

*NavyGuy got his H1N1 vaccine yesterday, and apparently the hospital on base was also handing out anthrax vaccines like candy, so he got himself hooked up. I can't decide whether to be relieved that he's theoretically safe from an anthrax attack, or disturbed that he needs a vaccine to prevent him from a potential anthrax attack.

*Also, just in case you didn't have enough doubts about the United States Navy, let me paint you a picture... Yesterday, NavyGuy was sitting in his jet waiting to take off on a flight. Apparently, some valve on the plane wasn't working. So the mechanics were called in to trouble shoot. And their solution? Bang on the valve with a broom stick. Yup. A broom stick. Isn't it nice to know your tax dollars are being spent wisely?

*I will be completely unreachable between the hours of 11am and 1pm tomorrow. UNreachable. The world can end around me, and I will still be relaxing at the spa getting a massage. No, seriously, not a metaphor - I have a massage tomorrow! NavyGuy's parents got me a spa gift certificate for my birthday last year and I'm finally getting around to using it. And it's gonna be legendary.

*Tally pup also has a big day tomorrow. In anticipation of NavyGuy hopefully getting some time off before he deploys, we want to find a place to board Tally, so we can relax and know she's in good hands while we're gone. I found a "canine resort" that seems awesome, but they require a meeting with potential doggies ahead of time, as well as a temperament test. So Tally has to be on her best behavior tomorrow and win over the resort folk - wish her luck.

What's up with you guys? :)

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De-Christmasfication

We spent much of the day removing all the traces of holiday from the house. I put NavyGuy in charge of the tree, (which I do every year because I hate taking off all the ornaments), and every year I swear I'll never let him near it again because he inevitably screws something up. (Sorry, hun, I love you... but you do.)

This year he broke an ornament (luckily it was one of his own so we avoided bloodshed), and put all of the ornaments into the new ornament storage boxes that I found at Storables.

Which could be confusing because aside from the clumsiness, it sounds like he did everything correctly. Except many of our ornaments already have their own boxes - you know, those nicely labeled Hallmark boxes - which I keep year after year... can you guess where I'm going?

Yup, those boxes are all sitting empty in a rubbermaid container because I failed to supervise NavyGuy closely enough and did not notice that he hadn't put the ornaments in their Hallmark boxes until after he had emptied the entire tree. Had I been more motivated, I would have taken all the ornaments out and re-done the system; instead, the mistake will be corrected come Christmas 2010.

Sigh.

The outside lights still need to come down, and there's a few miscellaneous items that I missed in the first sweep of the house, but for the most part, Christmas is over. Kind of depressing, what with the house looking all empty and boring again. But, it's a chance to bring back all the fun home accessories that have been stored away!

Who else dreads taking down their holiday decorations? Any secrets to making the process less hell-ish?

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Warning:

Do not mix five hours of Christmas shopping with 20 espresso shots.

That was NavyGuy's and my Saturday. We thought powering through and getting everything done as fast as possible would be the least painful means of completing our holiday gift shopping.

Wrong. Oh so very very wrong.

And everything still needs to be wrapped.

And shipped to Wisconsin.

Before Christmas.

In 10 days...

(Is 9:00am too early for a vodka cranberry juice? I'm leaning towards no. Plus I probably still need to hydrate after "EspressoGate 2009.")

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New Food, Free Food, and a Place to Set Food

*Next week Tuesday, Starbucks launches its new holiday drink... the Caramel Brulee Latte. Before we sell any new drinks, we baristas have to practice making them and tasting them, so that we can speak truthfully when guests ask us what they taste like or if we enjoy them. And enjoy them we do! I tasted one for the first time today, and I can tell they are going to be pretty popular. The caramel brulee latte is espresso shots, steamed milk, and a new caramel brulee syrup, all topped with whipped cream and crunchy caramel pieces. The drink is pretty sweet, which is great for those of us who don't jive on regular coffee; for those of you who don't like as much sweetness, just ask for it with fewer pumps of syrup. It's sort of like a caramel macchiato, but the flavors are all mixed together, unlike the more layered macchiato. Even if I didn't work for the company, I'd recommend you try this new holiday treat next Tuesday when it debuts!

*NavyGuy and I had dinner at Applebee's tonight, because the restaurant gave a FREE MEAL to every military veteran today (in case you missed it - it's Veteran's Day people). Not surprisingly, the restaurant was packed, and the bartender we talked to said it had literally been non-stop chaos since they opened the doors at lunch time. I'm not surprised that the Applebee's in our area was so busy, considering there's a Navy base right down the road, but I hope that lots of veterans got to take advantage today. Way to go Applebee's... for saying to all those who've served our country, thank you... and now have some free hot wings and cheeseburgers!

*I've been searching online - for weeks - for a new coffee table for the family room. We have been using my small, rickety, found-it-in-the-hallway-of-a-dorm, 1970s coffee table. And while it's held up okay, before the masses descend in two weeks (Thanksgiving), we wanted to upgrade to something a bit more substantial. So I did what any sensible, 20th century shopper would do - a thorough internet search, comparing prices, sizes, shipping fees, storage capacity, design elements, and NavyGuy's all-important "can it hold my soda can?" test. What did I find? Nothing that fit all of my requirements.

So, losing patience, NavyGuy and I hit Ashley Home Furnishings tonight before dinner, just to see if, on a whim, they might have a solution. I kid you not, 87 seconds after we walked into the store, we found this:The perfect coffee table. (Not, not the sketchy woman lounging on the couch.) It is everything I wanted. Square. Dark-brown. Leather. Ottoman. With storage. In the form of four pull-out drawers, thus creating the perfect combination of being able to set stuff on top of the table, and not having to move all that stuff when you want to access the storage spaces to get at your blanket or stash of Halloween candy you've been hiding from your husband... oops.

Anyway, it's due to arrive on Saturday, and I'm positively giddy. Plus, in order to appease NavyGuy (and meet his one coffee table requirement), I get to shop for a decorative tray tomorrow so he can set his drink on the table without fear of it spilling! This coffee table just gets better and better!

P.S. Tally's still great. Oh, and she agrees with me that the coffee table is awesome.

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Fright Night

Friday night I got home from work at 10. The wind was fierce and I realized as I pulled into the driveway that both garbage cans were missing, and the recycling bin had blown into the front yard.

Drat. It was late at night, pitch black outside (there are no streetlights on our road), and scary windy with leaves blowing and monsters hiding in the trees. I had two options:


1) Go inside, ignore the missing garbage cans, and hope they were still somewhere in the neighborhood (and not the bay) the next morning.

2) Find a flashlight and venture into the abyss to retrieve two garbage cans.

The problem with Option 1 was the risk that I wouldn't be able to find the garbage cans, and NavyGuy would pitch a fit when he got home, because I had been a baby about searching in the dark. And we'd have to shell out moola for new cans. The problem with Option 2 should be obvious - hello?!?!? Pitch black, windy, spooky sounds, swaying trees, monsters and boogeymen hiding in the shadows. It's like I was asking to be stabbed by a guy with a hook for a hand!

But, guess what I chose? Yeah, that's right - I'm the WOAH-man (sound it out). Flashlight in hand (I chose the heaviest one we have in case it needed to be a makeshift weapon), I trudged around the neighborhood until two garbage cans and two garbage can lids were retrieved (because of course the lids had to have flown off in completely different locations as the cans). It was treacherous, and terrifying; one of the cans had managed to roll all the way down the driveway, across the street, and into this open field, ringed with menacing trees. Ugh. I nearly had a heart attack that something was going to pop out of the overturned can.

Luckily, I survived the expedition, and the garbage cans are safely tucked away in the garage...

NavyGuy - you can come home any time now!

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Saturday

So my first day of "singledom" didn't get off to a roaring start as planned. NavyGuy left at 4:30am, and I had stupidly asked him to wake me up when he left so we could say goodbye... thus, my day started pretty early.

By 9am, I had progressed through several TiVo'ed shows from the week (So You Think You Can Dance, Glee, Grey's Anatomy, Top Chef, and The Office... yes, I have amazing television viewing stamina). However, my shopping plan was diverted because it was nasty outside - rainy, misty, foggy, windy - just generally icky. A much better day to spend curled up on the couch, reading, etc.

I did manage to finish one project - cutting out five sets of calendar letters. TWP is making photo calendars for several of her relatives' Christmas gifts this year, and bribed me into making the month letters using my Cricut. (I was actually happy to do it, cuz I love me some alone time with my Cricut.)

NavyGuy arrived in California unscathed. Apparently, he got put on duty watch immediately upon arrival, so he spent the rest of the day shuttling people around from one airport to another (duty watch on these types of mission is less securing the base and more "general group bitch," typically revolving around chauffeuring). NavyGuy was not thrilled. But he's excited to get flying and complete some of his requirements.

Tomorrow's big excitement? I'm going to visit our puppy!!! She'll be six weeks old tomorrow, and the breeder said we were welcome to come out and play with the little ones before we officially bring her home in two weeks. If all goes well, I'll hopefully have some pics to show off... I really hope our pup likes the camera!

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Weekend Update

Dare I say it people? This weekend was... wait for it...

"Legend...

I hope you aren't lactose-intolerant cuz the second half of that word is...

Dary!"

If you get the reference, you already know that NavyGuy and I finally met Ted, Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney, the gang from How I Met Your Mother. I caved and bought Season One when I found it for 20 bucks at Target last week. And that's where our weekend went. Calls were ignored. Chores went undone. Showering... no, we showered, don't worry.

Anyway, the show rocks. We blazed through all 22 episodes of the first season, and debated making a WalMart run at 11pm on Sunday night for the next season, but our last shred of sanity prevailed (I work Monday night anyway, so I can see if Target has it). Like all the other HIMYM fans, we love Barney, and I've most definitely taken to yelling "suit up!" at NavyGuy about fifteen times a day.

Anyone else ever lose 48 hours to a television marathon? What did people do before DVD box sets of television shows?!?!?

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Photo Diary: Thursday

NavyGuy, breakfasting in the early morning, after taking our truck to the car shop. Yes, the donut is pink :)
Puppy preparations are in full swing. NavyGuy's parents sent us a little care package with this fabulous Ikea leash holder.
NavyGuy checking his computer game status the news of the world before heading off for a full day on base.

A balanced lunch is the key to a productive afternoon.

A DIY project in the works.Mom's brilliant suggestion of where - and how - to store a couple of my aprons. Close to the kitchen, but not right out in the main room. And a great use for the key holder that Sister brought me back from her college study abroad in Venezuela.

The remainder of the day mostly revolved around television, and I just didn't have the heart to photograph myself, sprawled across the couch, mindlessly absorbing Glee, How I Met Your Mother, and Top Chef... all as a warm-up for tonight's main event - Jim and Pam's wedding on The Office!!!! So you'll have to just imagine that image... Happy Thursday :)

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Book Club

Last night was my first all-base spouses' book club meeting. We gathered at a Starbucks in Oak Harbor (yes, I drove from work at one Starbucks... to yet another Starbucks). The book of the night was The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins... a detective novel written in 1860. I dutifully got it from the library and made it 32 pages in before admitting defeat and realizing I was not going to finish the book in time.

So, I was that girl when I went to the meeting - the girl who shows up at book club without having read the book. I don't like that girl. My old book club in Wisconsin had that girl (who was also annoying in other ways); she would without fail, show up at every book club meeting with some elaborate sob story about how she hadn't finished the book, and HistoryGirlie and I would roll our eyes at each other, sighing at that girl's ridiculousness.

Hence, I was slightly nervous about going to my first meeting without having read the book; luckily, the book club leader hadn't finished reading it either!!! It ended up being a book club meeting with just three people (myself, the leader, and NatalieW), and 2/3 of us hadn't gotten past the second chapter :) Luckily, we're all book nerds, so we had a nice time just chatting about possible selections for future months, reminiscing about recent books we'd read, and "talking shop" (aka, chatting about life as Navy wives). The book club leader is a more seasoned Navy wife, who's actually lived in both Japan and Scotland, so she was giving Natalie and I some perspective on aspects of Navy life we haven't been through yet.

I kept Natalie at Starbucks long after our leader had to go home and tidy up before her housekeeper came the next day (every silver lining has its cloud...). She and I just kept chatting about our lives, our husbands (who share similar loves of geekery and nature documentaries), and our attempts at navigating the Navy. I always enjoy hearing other how other wives view their husband's service and the Navy lifestyle, so it ended up being a fun evening... even if we never actually talked about the book club book!

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Weekend Update

With both weekend days free from work, it was inevitable that I would start to get a sore throat Thursday night, and have a raging case of swine flu cold by Saturday morning, thereby ruining my grand plans of mega productivity this weekend. Boo hiss. Instead of tackling many a household project, I did a good deal of lounging, reading, tv-ing, and drinking fluids. (Which, if I didn't feel so crusty, would have been a superb weekend.)

Alas, NavyGuy and I did get a few things done around the house. We're up to four pictures hung on the walls in the house, and some laundry was done. We also got free tickets to the Skagit area home tour, where local builders showcase fabulous homes they've built. We toured a beautiful two story home in Anacortes, a home originally built in 1896 that was being remodeled, and a beach house on the southern end of Whidbey Island. The remodel was interesting to see how they restored features in the home while combining modern conveniences; the beach house was cool because it was a 4500 square foot house built on a lot that was only 50 feet wide! The house was super long and narrow (see floor plans here), but the windows made the place feel really spacious (and living smack dab on the water, with sand twelve feet from your back door is sort of worth an unusual home layout). I was afraid that touring other homes would feel like cheating on our new house, or worse, that we'd suffer from buyer's remorse. But luckily, we simply picked up a few decorating ideas - no house envy here.

Back to the grind tomorrow - the literal coffee grind - with a full day of work. But I'm looking forward to Stamp Club starting up again this week, and I'm reading a really good book that will probably keep me up all night... :)

P.S. Anyone know a way to make their husband stop yelling at the football game on TV?

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Tuesday Tidbits

* My sister-in-law has had two Paul Rudd sightings in the past few days. He's filming a movie with Jack Nicholson (who she's also spotted) in Philadelphia, literally right outside her apartment. My jealously knows no bounds.

* Season Six of So You Think You Can Dance starts tomorrow night!!! Of course, I have to work. (Remind me what we did before DVRs?)

* I'm in a book lull. I've started three different ones in the past few weeks and nothing is doing it for me. Suggestions?

* As I currently know many babies, I'm intrigued by the cover of this weeks Newsweek: "Is Your Baby Racist?". HistoryGirlie? TWP? MOH? Any mom opinions on this? Have you heard your little angels spouting racial slurs in between Wonder Pet songs and cow sounds? Are FlowerGirl and Kitty hiding xenophobic tendencies behind those adorable smiles? Like parents didn't have enough to worry about...

* While I've been typing this, NavyGuy has been huffing and puffing and pouting that somehow an important voicemail from our bank got deleted from the home phone. After wasting a good twenty minutes growling and muttering under his breath about this travesty, he found the missing voicemail - on his cell phone. Sigh. Head shake. One more sigh for good measure.

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Ah, life

When there are park rangers and road flares before nine a.m., it's going to be one of those days.


NavyGuy's car died as he was driving to work. The alternator pooped out and he was stranded on one of the curvy backroads between Anacortes and base, so I got a phone call around 7 (and there goes my day to sleep in). He needed to get down to base for a test, so I picked him up, dropped him off on base, and then returned to the stranded car to wait for the tow truck to show up.

When I returned to the car, a local park ranger was checking out the abandoned car. After I assured him that a tow truck was on the way, he proceeded to line the road with red flares to warn approaching cars that NavyGuy's vehicle was not 100% off of the road. (We had tried to push it, but there was no moving it.) No chance of remaining under the radar now that the road flares were involved... every car slowed down to stare at me in my oversized sweatpants, faded fraternity sweatshirt, and flip flops... especially once the tow truck driver arrived and asked me to help divert traffic around the car. Yup, I became a human road flare on Rosario Drive - all my dreams are complete now.

NavyGuy's car should be fixed by tomorrow afternoon. Apparently we'll be getting a new alternator instead of new curtains for the bedroom...

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First Post from the New House!!!

(happy dance)

Yes people, it's really happening. The movers are hauling in all of our worldly belongings, and I'm camped out at the kitchen counter directing traffic and typing my little fingers to the bone. (I'd feel guilty about sitting while they're huffing and puffing, except, a) they're getting paid, and b) I'm too happy to care.) I'm giddy. Positively giddy. By tonight, NavyGuy and I will officially be living in our own house, by ourselves, without ANY roommates, and it will be glorious. I've started putting a a few things away in the kitchen and I'm lovin' being able to decide where I want stuff to go... instead of having to compromise with two Marines who want ample space for their protein shakes and George Foreman grills.

Okay, fine, the Catholic guilt is starting to kick in; I should probably go at least look like I'm doing something. I'll try to throw some pictures up later of the chaos - off to do a happy dance!!! :)

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Tuesday Tidbits

*Only in Washington, can you drive down the highway and see an orange construction sign warning of an "Ecology Crew Ahead." I can't decide if that's really cool, or a really big waste of my state tax dollars.

*Still packing. I swear, this is the last time I'm moving. Ever. No, wait. I'll relocate in the future, but I'm not taking any of my stuff. I'm simply walking out the front door of my current residence, getting on a plane, and moving into my new house where I'll buy all new stuff that someone else will unpack and put away for me. Yup, that's the plan.

*I created a small flood in the back washroom at work tonight. Apparently the drain cannot handle more than one sink being emptied at a time. Lesson learned (and wow does that water flow quickly). Luckily the floor needed a good rinse anyway.

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