Pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza – man, that looks weird

You know how you can go for months on end without eating fast food, without craving it or even thinking about it, but then you’re on a trip and you go through a drive-thru and then find yourself craving it?  And, probably, eating more of it?

Yeah, I’m doing that with pizza right now.  I love pizza, but I tend to go overboard and eat ALL the pizza when we get it, so I’ve been avoiding pizza.  But I love pizza, and when Jess suggested pizza for our movie night this week, I thought it was a brilliant idea.  (We watched Mean Girls and Bring It On (she had never seen either) and then Victor/Victoria (which I had never seen) and then the first episode of Crazy Ex Girlfriend (because I can’t be the only person who loves it) and then we were well into the third bottle of wine and called it a night.  It was great.)  The problem is that now I want pizza.  More pizza.  Pizza again.  It doesn’t even have to be good pizza.  I will eat all pizza.

I could go to the one place in town I know about that sells it by the slice (and only buy one slice), but I am also trying to stop eating out for every meal, so I went to the store. My compromise is pizza muffins (cousin to the pizza buns that became one of my food obsessions growing up, along with hot dogs and then toast).  We have tomato sauce, we have mozzarella, and we have English muffins.  That’ll work, right?

Dance the night away

We went to a Van Halen concert last night with Jess and Chuck (thank you again!), and it was awesome.  John was thrilled.  Of course he knew every word to every song, being the giant fan of theirs that he is, but it seems they played a few songs from earlier albums that aren’t usually heard.  Good ones, but not in the usual line-up.  He (and Chuck, who was right there with him in song recognition) couldn’t have been happier.  I knew maybe a third of the songs, but that’s alright with me.  They played most of my favorites (David Lee Roth era, of course, since Dave wouldn’t be caught dead singing a Sammy song), which was VERY alright with me, and they ended with Panama and Jump.

So what’s in my head this afternoon?  REM’s Shiny Happy People.  It’s not a bad thing, I like the song,  but I had two hours of Van Halen last night, live, loud, and really, really good.  (Seriously, they were really good.)  Where’s my well-deserved earworm?

Greetings from Maryland!

We live in Annapolis now!

Not my picture.  Who's had time to take pictures?

Not my picture. Who’s had time to take pictures?

We moved (out and in) last Saturday.  I think you’ll find it marked in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest day ever for us.  Well, maybe the longest hard day.  I’ve been up more hours in a row before, but not working that hard the whole time.  We got up stupid-early to make sure we were first at the truck rental place (not only were we first, we were the only people there), picked up the truck and drove it back to the old apartment, and called Susan and Ken, who had insisted on helping us move out (for which we are eternally grateful).  Their insistence means we had the truck loaded in three hours.  Then we cleaned, turned in our keys (and parked John’s Camaro in the visitor lot – two drivers, two cars, and one truck = return trip), and headed for Maryland.  It took us a little longer to get here than usual, but we showed up about 4pm and met Chuck, whose help was invaluable in discovering that we definitely could not fit the couch through the front door.  I mean, we would have figured that out eventually, but if we hadn’t had Chuck around to help manhandle the couch through every possible angle, it would have taken us much longer to give up.  We left the couch on the curb and continued to unload (2nd floor is WAY preferable to 4th floor).  I finally got around to calling Goodwill to see if they would take the couch, but I nearly left it too late.  I called at 6:45.  They said they’d take it, but they stop taking donations at 7.  Two of our new neighbors practically threw the couch back into the truck, and John and I raced the two miles to Goodwill.  Our couch, which served us well for 13 years, is gone.  Hopefully someone who needs it will pick it up.  In the meantime, we’re couchless.  We finally returned the truck, totally empty, around 9pm, picked up Wendy’s for dinner, and then sat on the floor of the apartment to eat it.  We had almost nothing to sit on.  One papasan chair, one wooden chair.  Oh, and the bathroom was not exactly clean (and neither were we), so we scrubbed it and then scrubbed ourselves, and finally went to bed around midnight.

Sunday, we went to Ikea.  We did NOT go overboard, but we needed workspaces (since we were both working on Monday), and we needed at least a couple more chairs.  So now we own a papasan chair, a wooden chair, two kitchen chairs, and a desk chair.  And two tabletop desks.  We’re still considering how we’re going to replace the couch.  Do we want a new one?  A loveseat?  Two comfy (but not overly large) chairs?  That might be this weekend’s project.  Also to do this weekend: buy a new mattress.  Ours is over 15 years old, and we’re no longer sleeping well on it.

But the apartment!  The apartment is great.  I’ll post pictures after we get past the tornado-wreckage phase of unpacking.

Sometimes you feel like a nut

(Now I want an Almond Joy.)

A friend at work asked me what kind of degrees my interns usually have (or are working on).  Most of them (I’m including interviewees, too) are IT-related, but I’m considering hiring a guy with a sociology degree and a minor in religious studies.  I told my friend that; his response was to tell me I shouldn’t hire another religious nut. (He was clearly joking – no need to be outraged on anyone’s behalf.)

“Having a minor in religious studies does not make him a religious nut.  Wait.  “Another” religious nut?”

“Yeah, like yourself.”

“How, exactly, am I a religious nut?”

“You don’t celebrate Christmas.  Or decorate.”

“I’m an atheist.”

“My point!”

“Are you kidding me?  That might make me an anti-religious nut.  But I’m not militant or anything.”

“I didn’t say you were militant.  Just a nut.”

It was a ridiculous conversation, but there you have it.  I am a nut.

Not quite rainbows and puppies, but I’ll take it

Today was a good day with good things in it.

Thing the first: I wasn’t able to leave work early enough to go for a run before dinner, but I did get out of the office to enjoy the weather a little bit.  I had an appointment in the late morning (quick trim), so I headed out (running late) and rushed over.  Got there just in time.  It was fast, so I felt like I could take some time to myself before going back to the office.  I walked over to Starbucks, picked up an iced chai latte, and sat on a bench with my book for about 15 minutes.  It was SUCH a nice day.  All the trees are still in bloom, I FINALLY saw lots of daffodils, the sky was blue and clear, and the air was warm-ish.  I would have stayed a little longer, but a landscaping company showed up and started making a TON of noise.  It got a lot less peaceful, so I headed back to work.  Just as well, I guess.

Thing the second: My officemate has decided she’s getting too worked up over every little thing, so she’s going to let all those annoyances roll off.   I’m supposed to help her remember that.  It’ll help me remember it, too.  Now we’re listening to soothing sounds on YouTube.  All we need is a palm tree.  (“I just wanna see some paaaalm trees.“)

Thing the third: my friend (and coworker) Stephanie asked me to check on something that hasn’t been working lately, and when we found that it IS working now, she sent this back to me in her emailed reply:

internet high-five

I’m sure it’s not new, but it was exactly what I needed to see, and now I laugh every time I look at it.  (Did I high-five my screen?  Yes.  Yes, I did.  And I might do it again right now.)

Update (8:08pm): I just found out today was National High Five Day.  So many things are clearer now.  Except why, exactly, we have a National High Five Day.  Happy Random Holiday Day!

Long Day

I got home today (tonight) at 9:30.  PM.  It feels later, and I feel like I’ve been away a lot longer, and for some reason I feel greasy.  I need a shower.  I’m pretty sure that’s the humidity.  Today was the first muggy day in months.

I’ve been awake since 5:15.  I think it’s time to end that streak.   I went from boxing to work to an early dinner with John, Molly, and their mom (Molly interviewed with my company this afternoon!), and then straight to meet up with my friends from our neighborhood for about an hour.  We would have stayed out later, but the coffee place kicked us out* at 9, and they all have kids, so we scattered and went home.  It was fun, and today was a pretty good day, but I’m ready to be sleeping.  Shower, then sleep.

*I’d like to say they kicked us out because we were causing a ruckus, but I’d be lying.  They closed.  Hey – we closed that place DOWN.  Four rowdy soccer moms and me.

I like games

Because John’s family knows us so well, we got two copies of the game Geek Out for Christmas.  It seems silly to own it twice, so after playing Lords of Waterdeep with Jess and Chuck on New Year’s Eve (good game, lots of fun), we decided to exchange a redundant Geek Out for that one.

lordsofwaterdeep

Well, we haven’t done it yet, but if we make it to the mall soon, we will.  At least a decision was made.  Margaret, when you decide to start your LARPing career, you should aim for the scary dark-elf-type person on the right for your first costume.  I don’t know who she is, but she looks like she could kick some ass.

We haven’t played Geek Out yet, but it’s a trivia game (that can also be played by two people), so maybe we’ll give it a try this weekend.

geekout

It can’t be that hard

I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but I have been roped into agreeing to do karaoke with coworkers at some future happy hour.  It’s one of those things I can’t really back out of.  I love to sing (haaaaaave you met me?), so I wouldn’t have thought I’d be nervous about this, but I’ve never done karaoke.  I’m more than willing to try it (I think it sounds like fun), but I’m not as comfortable trying it with coworkers.  I like these people, but they’re not my best friends at work.  They’re also not total strangers.  I think I’d be more comfortable in front of total strangers.

Anyway, it’s not that serious, and I’ll manage when the time comes.  That time was supposed to be last night, but the central instigator had to bail (he’d forgotten about his daughter’s Christmas pageant), so I escaped, relieved.  I need more time to figure out what my song possibilities are.  Gotta have options, right?  Now I have more time to overthink this.

I hope I still have friends

I have a list called “Don’t be a jerk”, and all of the items on it are people I need to email.  People I WANT to email.  People I like, people I like to talk to.  People I am NOT currently talking to because, obviously, I’m a jerk.  And I need reminding so that I will not act like one.  I am slowly working my way through this list.  And yes, YOU are on it.  Because I like you and I don’t want to be a jerk to you.  Any more.  (And I’m sorry.)  And perhaps I should stop writing here and start writing that email to you.  Hm, yes.  Good idea.

P.S. I’m using Google Keep for my lists.  I like it.

And now I feel old

I was helping a friend from work with her resume the other day, and she mentioned that she was just doing admin stuff for a couple of years after school, and I gestured to the end date of that section in 2007 and said, “so this is right around graduation?” with the intention of telling her that this probably doesn’t need to be included unless it’s directly relevant to the job she’s applying for, and she said, yes, for high school.  And then I stopped helping her.

Okay, I didn’t stop helping her, but I did pause to feel old.  She’s TEN YEARS younger than me.  What am I, her mentor?  Oh, god, what if I’m her mentor?  I thought we were friends…

Balloons are fantastic

Birthday balloons!

These are from my team.  They arrived shortly after I got in this morning.  Then they sang Happy Birthday (they were goaded into it by someone walking by).  Then they took me to lunch (and told the waiters it was my birthday, so there was more singing) where I had to deal with this indignity:

Don’t ask what’s wrong with my face. It got stuck that way.

Then I got back from my lunch and was greeted with these:

After much confusion (the card only said “Surprise!”) and many texts, Mom finally admitted to sending them.  So I’ve got LOTS of balloons.  Mom’s are coming home with me.  I’ll probably take my work ones home tomorrow.

I think my favorite rendition of Happy Birthday so far was Gaby and Corey’s (sorry, Dad – yours is classic (for us), but hers is cuter).  It comes complete with cha-cha-chas at the end of every line.

It’s been a really nice birthday so far.  I think I’m going to have to reschedule my birthday dinner for another night, though.  I’m completely stuffed from lunch, and I really want lots of Indian food.  I don’t have it in me to enjoy that tonight.  But hey – that means more birthday time for me!

Happy New Year!

I don’t really do resolutions, so I refuse to feel guilty about not going to zumba tonight.  Another day won’t kill me.  We didn’t have a party this year, but Chuck and Jess came over, we had dinner,  we played games (Cards Against Humanity is as fun as advertised, and I will absolutely NOT play it with my parents – sorry, Mom), missed the ball drop because the NY Times live feed froze, stayed up a while talking about Chuck’s job hunting plans, and then we all collapsed.  Speaking of Chuck’s job hunting plans, my one sorta kinda something like a resolution is to get my own hunt going.  There.  I guess I do have one.

Audible gasps from all around, seriously

A couple of weeks ago, our good friend Chuck retired after 30 years in the navy.  It was a really nice ceremony all the way through, but the best part came at the end.  One of his fellow master chiefs stood up to read The Watch (as you do).  It’s sentimental to begin with, but for the most part, it’s like listening to the readings by family members at a wedding.  The readings are nice, and the words are heartfelt (you hope), but you’ve heard them before.

The master chief was introduced, but she bowed out, saying someone more appropriate was going to read it.  Chuck’s son, a brand new seaman apprentice, two weeks out of boot camp, appeared from behind the enormous American flag hanging from the ceiling.  Chuck was taken completely by surprise and choked up immediately.  Cody began to read.

The Watch (with minor adjustments made by Cody):

For thirty years, this shipmate has stood the watch.
While some of us were in our racks at night, this shipmate stood the watch.
While some of us were in school learning our trade, this shipmate stood the watch.
Yes, even before some of us were born into this world, this shipmate stood the watch.
In these many years as war has been waged against us, and as our nation sacrifices blood and treasure, this shipmate stood the watch.
Many times he would cast an eye ashore and see his family standing there, needing his help during those hard times, and yet he stood the watch.
For thirty years, he stood the watch so that we, our families, and our fellow countrymen could sleep soundly in safety each and every night, knowing that a sailor stood the watch.
Today we are here to say, “Command Master Chief, the watch stands relieved, relieved by those you have trained, guided, and led.  Shipmate, you stand relieved.  We have the watch.”

Now read those last couple of sentence again, with one minor adjustment, knowing that Cody is his father’s son.

“Command Master Chief, the watch stands relieved, relieved by those you have trained, guided, and led.  Shipmate, you stand relieved.”  Then he paused, looked up at his dad, and said, “Dad, I have the watch.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  In fact, I’m tearing up just thinking about it. That kid’s good.

It’s not always about baking

Sunday morning, I realized the disadvantages of having a ton of cookies (I will eat ALL THE COOKIES).  I decided to offload some of them at Erik and Margaret’s house (John was not exactly on board with this decision – he’s never thrilled when I give cookies and pies away), where we finally met new baby Will (who wriggled against my shoulder for a while as I held him, puked down my arm and side, and then fell asleep – he made some cute cooing noises, so all is forgiven) and played with Corinne (who gets more adorable every time we see her).  When we got home in the afternoon, John dropped his phone on the porch and smashed the screen into smithereens.  He was overdue for a phone upgrade, so we headed to the Sprint store.  That took the rest of the day.  Seriously, we were there for nearly three hours.  At least two and a half.  There was only one guy working and only one woman in front of us, but she took FOREVER.  Getting a new phone is never quick (it took John about 30 minutes, maybe 40, and he already knew exactly what he wanted), but it doesn’t have to take an hour and a half.  And that’s just after we arrived.  Who knows how long she’d been there before we walked in.  But hey, it’s over, and John owns a new Nexus 5.

Me and Chas at the wedding

I just wrote a post about these pictures and the wedding my friend and I were at and how we danced our asses off, but for some reason it is now lost.  I am going to assume it’s because this is my tablet’s trial run. And my tablet keyboard’s trial run.  So somehow, when I clicked Save Draft, it did not do that.  Like, at all.  So, no story.  Just pictures.  Oh, this is the dress I linked to a few weeks ago.  Love it.

And this is my friend Chastity.

Getting antsy

I just acted as middle-person for a crib hand-off (from friends who are moving to friends who need a crib), and I was struck by how restless I am.  Those guys are moving to Oregon (like, tomorrow), and I have a coworker who’s counting down the days until she never has to come back to work again (she’s not planning on returning once her maternity leave is up).  I’m envious and restless and eager to get moving with our own plans.  Let’s go already!

I’ve probably just jinxed the summer weather – it’ll be cold now

I worked from home today because the guys came to replace the HVAC system (and because it was my turn – John stayed home when the painters came).  Now we have a brand new furnace and A/C!  Very exciting.  And they’re pretty, as these things go.  Shiny, anyway.  Unfortunately, I now have a giant, horrible, throbbing, not-at-ALL fun headache.  To go with my stuffy nose and watery eyes.  They ran the heater for a while to make sure everything was working correctly, so it got really hot and stuffy in here, and I’m tempted to open the windows because it’s so pleasant outside, but I think that would be a mistake.  A HORRIBLE MISTAKE.  And I’m not that dumb.  Today.  Ask me again tomorrow.

I flaked on Jess and her mom about the 5K tomorrow because I feel crappy.  It’s not so much about the 5K as it is about not being very good company and being away from home when I feel crappy.  Nobody likes to be away from home when the highlight of your day is the 15 minutes spent feeling slightly less crappy because you were standing under wonderfully hot water in the shower.

I think staring at tiny letters on a screen is not helping my headache, so I’m going to stop.  Also, I need to congratulate myself on finding the end of the work day.  Is it stupid to drink wine when I feel crappy?  Because I think I would like some wine.

Not again

I think I might be getting sick.  I can’t tell yet if it’s just seasonal allergies, but since John just got over the flu, I’m a little nervous.  My head is a little (not a lot) congested, my throat is sore enough to hurt when I swallow, the lymph nodes right under my jawline are swollen, and I think I had a fever for a little bit during the night – I woke up freezing and shivering and went scrambling for socks and warmer clothes and more blankets.  Everything but the fever could mean allergies – that stuff happens to me every spring.  And fall.  And at random times throughout the rest of the year.  I was planning on running today, but I think I’m not going to.  We have a 5K with Jess in less than a week, but I gave up any hope of a good race a few weeks ago.  Running today wouldn’t help that much, and a day of real rest might.  So I’m going to do nothing.  Almost nothing.  I might go to the library with John.  Maybe.

New floors, a little insanity, and an epiphany

We spent Saturday wincing at all the hammering and other assorted loud noises coming from upstairs as a team of four put in hardwood floors.   Totally worth it, but man, it was loud.  And COLD.  They had windows open up there and a saw set up on the front porch, so they had to keep going outside, meaning the door was always open.  On top of that, it snowed all morning and then my car wouldn’t start, so we just huddled in the dining room with the dogs and lit a fire.  And played on the internet.  And read.  And reshelved books.

Starting Saturday night, we became crazy people who clean.  And clean.  And clean.  And also crazy people who walk into a mattress store and buy a new bed in less than 20 minutes.  And then tie it to the roof of the car and drive home.  On the coldest,windiest day of the year.  (This was Sunday, I think).  And then, because Monday was New Year’s Eve and we were having people over and some of them were spending the night (and this new bed was for the guest room), we became the crazy people who have to run out and buy sheets and then wash them so they can go on the bed.  (This new bed that is a double, which is a size we’ve never owned before, so we didn’t have any sheets that would fit.)  On the day people are actually coming over.  And THEN, because I’m a crazy person who is also an idiot, I went to Wegmans on one of the four worst days of the year to go to Wegmans to get everything we’d need for these people coming over in LESS THAN FOUR HOURS.  What are the four worst days of the year to go to Wegmans?  The day before Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, the day before Easter, and NEW YEAR’S EVE.  It was a madhouse.  And they were completely out of the yummy pre-made dips made of cheesy goodness that I usually get.  Otherwise, I found everything I was looking for.  I just had to fight for some of it.

New Year’s Eve was fun, but as John and I were dragging our tired asses to bed at 2am that night, I came to a realization.  The demographics of our little group have changed.  (Okay, yes, duh – I know.)  Our friends have babies, and babies mean schedules and crying and parents who leave early to put said babies to bed.  All of that is perfectly understandable (and we love their babies and love to see their babies), but if half of our guests are going to go home long before midnight, maybe New Year’s Eve isn’t the best night to have our little get-together.  (Also, DAMN I’m tired today.  2am is entirely too late for me.) Instead, I declare Derby Day to be our day.  It’s always a Saturday (so no one has to work), it doesn’t immediately follow any other holiday (so no one’s exhausted from family and travel), it starts earlier, and there’s no obligation to make it to midnight (although people are more than welcome to stay late).  And it’s fun!

(I think we should try to do a summery picnic thing on the Mall (or somewhere in DC when the weather’s nice), too.  Easier for everyone to get to and also fun!)

That’s what I learned from New Year’s Eve this year.  I’ll show you the screaming sheep I found tomorrow.

Costumes are fun

I’m exhausted from last weekend.  May I have another?  I promise to rest for much of it.  No?  Too bad.

Friday night we went to a costume party.  We were pretty happy with our costumes, but the party was a little awkward at the start.  It got better, and we had a good time.  All that’s minor.  Let’s stick with the important stuff.  For the most part, our costumes were created from things we had at home.  John went as Wolverine.  We had to buy his claws (would you believe we didn’t have a spare set at home already?), but that’s it. 

John realized that I had everything I needed to be Hermione except the wand.  I’d forgotten about the scarf I bought at Universal over the summer.

Not crazy about my hair here. I left in braids all day to get that kinda curly messy younger Hermione look, but I think it came out a little too much like Weird Al.

Classic Hermione pose coming up.  I know!  I know!

Notice I’m holding a wand?  Yup.  That’s ’cause John made me one.  An awesome one.  Because he’s wonderful.

Check it out!  He even burned the Deathly Hallows into the end.  Because he’s the best.

Now, I think our costumes turned out pretty good, but my first choices for us were Dr. Horrible (me) and Captain Hammer (John).  Unfortunately, we don’t have ANYthing we need for those, and we didn’t have enough prep time to get them.  Maybe next year.  I really want to be Dr. Horrible.