Santa

With Christmas just around the corner, I was thinking about Christmases in the past when Santa came to 142 Samoset. I got some fantastic presents from the Jolly old man, but there were some that eluded me.

A short list of toys I still want from Santa

Lite Brite!
I was so jealous of those with Lite Brite's. I wanted one for years and never got one. I think they make them again, in 2008 style. I might just have to buy myself one of the modern ones, but I will never stop lusting after the 1980's ones.

Cabbage Patch Kid Crimp n Curl

I couldn't find a picture of the doll, only the pets, which came later. It was identical to a regular Cabbage Patch kid, but instead of yarn hair it had some synthetic hair that you could crimp or curl and it would stay like that. Oh how I wanted one!

So what are you still waiting for Santa to bring you?

lazy

Andrew's parents have a really nice TV. So we're sitting at his parents house (sans his parents) watching the Pats. And it makes me hate my own television. Too bad we cannot afford to upgrade our TV - that's so far down the list, we might never get to it.

Andrew was still a little sick this weekend, so it was another quiet couple of days for us. We're in Keene (obviously) and it was kind of nice just taking it easy. Next weekend we're installing a new toilet, vanity, sink, medicine cabinet and light fixture, so it will not be relaxing. (okay, so we're going to help Andrew's brother as he installs everything... but still, we won't be sitting on the couch)

In other news, today marks 8 years of us being together. Though our relationship 8 years ago was pretty different than it is today! 8 years is 30% of my life. Kind of strange to think about it like that.

things I learned

I am finally well on my way to recovery. Andrew is a few days behind me, though he (luckily) never got as sick as I did. I learned a few things after 14 days of the plague.

1. Working while sick is a terrible idea. I have 5 sick days a year, so I really can't abuse my sick time. I end up working when I probably shouldn't. I did take 1 day this time, but I probably should have taken 2 or 3. Though my productivity was next to nothing, so I may as well have been at home.

2. The last two episodes of Gilmore Girls season 7 are really sad. I hadn't watched them since they originally aired in May 2007 and when I watched them again last weekend I was sobbing. Exactly like I did when they aired for the first time.

3. I really need to update my DVD collection. When there is nothing On Demand, nothing on TV, and you've seen all your movies 8 billion times, the 72 hours of not getting off the couch can get old.

4. I have renewed my adoration for naps.

5. My voice can squeak. While I learned that for the first time in France (which was probably the last time I was sick), I have relearned that particular lesson. Squeaking while speaking is not sexy.

6. I actually lost my appetite. I never lose my appetite. Ever. I can honestly say this is the first time in my life that I had no desire to eat. (I have made up for that though, don't you worry)

7. Andrew can be really sweet and attentive. When we wants to be.

8. I went through 3 boxes of Kleenex in 3 days. That's technically not a lesson that I learned, but it's got to be some kind of world record.

9. You can mix 800mg of Motrin with Tylenol Severe Cold and not have your liver explode (I in NO WAY condone that. In fact, you shouldn't ever do that. Do Not Mix Your Pain And Cold Medication!)

10. The laptop is your friend when you are sick. Your best friend.

the plauge

I'm positive I have the plague. There is no other possible explanation for how I feel. My doctor told me that colds are "lingering" this year. 12 days of feeling like death warmed over is not "lingering". That is the plague.

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday on the couch. I just couldn't move.

I did learn that a year and a half AFTER I watched the series finale of Gilmore Girls, I can watch it again and still cry like a baby through the entire thing.

Other than that, this cold has sucked. And it needs to go away.

sick

Today is my 7th day of being sick. I'm done with it. Time to get better. The part I find most frustrating is my medication wears off when I'm sleeping so I wake up in the middle of the night, completely unable to breathe or swallow and my throat and ear feel like they are on fire. That's just not fun.

None of this is fun. This is worst cold I have had in years.

I'm exceedingly grumpy.

Mad props to AJG

For reals.

Okay, here's the story. After I got the turkey meatloaf all loafed up, I preheated the oven to 350º, waited till it beeped, popped in my over priced Food Network loaf pan in the oven, set the time for 30 minutes and went back to watch the Gilmore Girls (yes, I watch it every night at 5, despite the fact I own the entire series on DVD. What's your point). 30 minutes later my buzzer beeped again and I mosey on into the kitchen. Hmmm.... odd.... you can't feel the heat of the oven when you're touching the top of the stove. Huh. I open the oven door. Not blast of heat warming up my face. Even odder. I then touch the racks with my bare hands, and conclude that the inside of the oven is NOT actually 350º. I thought I was being a dumbass and somehow turned off the oven when I turned on the timer. So I did the whole thing over again. 30 minutes later, by which time Andrew had come home, I went back. No cooked meatloaf. Crap. Meatloaf went into the fridge.

We called the management company to see if maybe they had shut off the main gas line into our building. Usually whenever they have to do any work they give us a few days notice, and we hadn't seen any fliers. But we called anyway, because we were hoping they just forgot. Nope, they haven't touched anything. So we call Bay State Gas. (we were hoping we hadn't paid them in awhile, and they turned off our gas, but no such luck. We're paid up). They said they'll send someone out within an hour. So I trot off to D&E to get subs for dinner (silver lining to the gas mess - take out for dinner!) and Andrew waits at home. Two and a half hours later the gas man arrives (he said he was caught up in a gas leak in Brockton. I think he was watching the Sox). He and Andrew fiddle wit some things knock on people's doors and do their manly gas man thing (okay, so the gas man was doing his manly gas man thing, Andrew was wandering about). Final story? I have no idea what the technical terms are, but some ball that is supposed to be on the inside of the building is on the outside of the building and it melted, limiting the gas to all the units inside. Apparently we were the only ones to try to use our stove today, because no one else called the gas company. So thanks to Andrew calling Bay State Gas and having them come out here, all our neighbors can use their stove tomorrow.

They should all thank Andrew with a nice bottle of wine, beccause I went to Crate and Barrel today and replaced our wine glasses, since we were down to 1. Yeah, we break a lot of wine glasses.

FAIL

ha ha ha. Read this. It's pretty funny.

I've added it to the sidebar, deleted the New Hampshire Democrat (which will be put back if it is ever resurrected) and Waiter Rant, since he never updates anymore and when he does it has nothing to do with waiter rant.

Enjoy!

busy bee

Another crazy weekend. I took tomorrow as a vacation day, but Andrew has to work. I'm really happy I can sleep in tomorrow. I'm exhausted and the Patriots are going to keep me up past my bedtime. Though the way this game is going, I may go to bed at halftime.

Yesterday we spent a lot of money at Lowe's and bought a new vanity, sink, toilet, and medicine cabinet/light fixture. The first weekend in November everything will be installed. If you haven't seen my turquoise bathroom you've got about two weeks to come view it. Though the bathroom is staying blue at this point, we'll tackle that later. We're still debating whether to do bathfitters or re-tile ourselves and have the tub glazed white. Re-tiling will look better, but we have no idea what we're doing, so there's a huge possibility we will mess it up. We're still debating what to do... I'd like to get it all done now, but it will look much better with what we're going to be doing.

Last night was my cousin's wedding. It was a really nice affair, but it was a late night. And we got up early this morning to head to Keene where we spent a few hours putting the in-laws' new TV together. It's a pretty sweet TV, it made coming back to our little 37" TV hard.

So we're home now, I'm exhausted, the Pats are sucking, and my lips are ridiculously chapped. I'm not at my best right now

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I know some of you will kill me for saying this, but Christmas is just around the corner. And I hate Christmas. People tell me I am too young for Christmas, but really, I think I'm at a perfectly cromulent age to hate Christmas. It's stressful, I never have any idea what to buy anybody, I don't have any money to buy any presents, the only little kid in my life is still grasping the concept of waving at people and not inanimate objects - so clearly she's a little early for Santa, I have classes and finals and papers due up to the week before Christmas... I could go on and on. But I hate Christmas. This year, however, I am going to try something different. I am GOING to enjoy Christmas. I am going to track down that elusive Christmas spirit and I am going to spread happiness and joy and NOT be Scroogerific. I need to start thinking about how I am going to accomplish this feat now, because there's only something like 76 days till Christmas.

Also, Isaac was born and died this week. If you go over to his mother's blog, I encourage you to read from the beginning, or at least from a few months ago. I'd been following his parent's story since this past summer and I was really hoping for a miracle. Sadly, his little life was only 16 minutes, but he managed to do more in his 16 minute life than some people do in a lifetime.

I know we've all seen this before

I know we've all read this forward or seen this video - it's something like 7 years old now. But right now when home prices are plummeting, your 401(k) is worthless, the stock market seems to reach a historic low every day, nothing seems to be working, and everyone is talking about very dark days ahead, I think it's important to remember that we're really incredibly lucky. Even if you're like me and lost 30% of your net worth in the past 6 months...

--> I'm going to see the New Kids in Providence. I'm SO excited to see them again. <--


I went to my yearly Mass today for my grandfather's anniversary Mass. The man who was reading the intentions was going through them and said something to the effect of remembering our Jewish brothers and sisters as they celebrate Yom Kippur. Only he pronounced it Yum Kipper.


Really? One of the Jewish high Holy days, and you can't pronounce it? Yom Kip-pour. This is not a difficult thing to say. Please have enough respect for other cultures that you can pronounce their very holy days correctly.

7 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days

That feels like an eternity to me. Probably because I've been working on a stupid paper for hours on end, and it's only 10% of my grade. But that's a different complaint for a different post.

I've been pretty busy lately, but here are a few things bouncing around inside my head

1. If you live in a colder climate (as I do) and the mornings are at 45 degrees and the days only get to the mid 60's, and you've pulled out the fall jacket, are wearing pants instead of shorts, and frequently pull out the sweaters - PUT AWAY THE SANDALS!!! Do you know how ridiculous you look in long pants, a long sleeve shirt, some sort of sweater/fleece jacket, and sandals? My god, I love the sandals and flip flops as much as the next person, but if it's in the 40's when you leave your house, it is too cold for sandals.

2. Don't not show The Office and Grey's because the Vice Presidential Debate is on. I do want to watch those shows. I don't want to watch Sarah Palin say Maverick 60 trillion times and then wink at the camera. In fact, I'd love it if she could drop off the face of the earth, but apparently that doesn't actually happen to people.

3. I'm writing a letter to Paulson. I'll post it on here soon.

4. I'm sick of people saying they will move to Canada if their favorite candidate doesn't get elected. That's lame. You aren't moving to Canada just because Obama/McCain was elected. If for some reason Palin ever took over, I'd have to resist the urge of swimming to distant shores as well, but I'm not going to harp on it all the time and make myself look like an asshole in the process. On top of that, Canada is not a code word for Utopia. They have their own issues (they are very musguided)

Hmm... I'm sensing some anger in me. I'm gonna go work off this anger on the treadmill.