he said. she said. a married couple's blog.

Wednesday, November 30

Yeah, we're on lockdown: there's a bomb threat next door and they don't want anyone on the sidewalk. Evidently though, it's OK for people to be inside a building that shares a wall with the threatened one.

[Update 3:00pm: Whatever it was, and we're told it was an "unspecified threat," it's over now. It's nice to know I'll be able to go home later.]

overheard

I grabbed dinner at Panera last night before (my last) tutoring session, and I overheard a ridiculous conversation. It wasn't my fault, the girl was loud and seated at the booth behind me. I'm glad my back was to her because I was holding back laughter the entire time.

Apparently, she just got back from a four day trip to Florence, Italy where she fell in love. She went on and on to the woman she was with about this guy. You see, she'd just been through a bad breakup with a serious-they-almost-got-married boyfriend. She was so happy that she found out she could "love like that again." Now, she's ready to get a job in Italy. But not to be with the new guy. No, that would be silly. Because she feels like something is in the air and that something big needs to happen.

My favorite part though, was when she was talking about a friend of hers who she was no longer really talking to. When she and the previous boyfriend broke up, this girl sent her an email that said she respected their friendship, but she could not be her therapist. Ms Talkative was said to her companion, "she's just jealous because she married the first guy she slept with." I almost spit out my soup at that point.

I was there for 45 minutes, eating, doing soduku, waiting until it was time to go to class and the for the entire time she did not shut up. Now, I know that sometimes I talk a whole lot, but this was just insane. And seriously, I didn't have to even try to hear any of this.

It did make me feel more normal than I usually do, so that was a good thing I suppose.

Sunday, November 27

executed

Thanksgiving dinner went off pretty well. By the morning, my shoulder had settled down a little and was only a little achey, so I was able to help out in the kitchen, making the salad, making vegetables, and lifting the lighter things with my good arm. Aside from the seet potato souffle, everything came out just about perfectly. The souffle was a bit on the flat side, but there was a lot going on in the kitchen (and the oven) at the time, plus I didn't get the egg whites whipped enough. It still tasted fine, though. I think everyone had a good time. I was so busy getting things together and giving Brendan directions in the kitchen, that I didn't really get to talk to anyone. It was fun but stressful getting everything together and hoping that nothing in the house was getting broken or spilled on. I don't know if we'll be hosting another big holiday dinner anytime in the near future.

Wednesday, November 23

again

I am typing this with just my left hand; I dislocated my shoulder. Again. I was coming down the stairs with yet more laundry, and I slipped on one of the last few steps. As I reached back for the banister, it went out. Since I had surgery 2 years ago to stop the frequent dislocation, I haven't really had any problems. Guess my luck ran out.

Fortunately, the hospital is only 5 minutes away. They got me into triage and then a bed really quick. Normally, they want to do xrays before and after they reduce the shoulder, but since I'm pregnant (I fell straight on my ass, btw, the uterus is fine. No pain.), they just went ahead and put the shoulder back. No pain medication or anything, they just slowly lifted it and rotated me back.

So now I'm in a sling, and just directing dinner. Good times.

Tuesday, November 22

panic mode

I've been concentrating so much on getting the kitchen done and things put away that I've forgotten to go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Oops. I do have a turkey (but it's still in the freezer) and pumpkin pie mix. But that's all.

Thankfully (pardon the pun), I'm able to take off tomorrow to get all my shit together. Turkey's coming out of the freezer after work (please remember, Brendan), and I'll hit the store after I'm finished tutoring (Oh yeah, did I mention they sucked me back in for this month. It's good though.). If I can't get everything tonight, I'll try again tomorrow.

Plus, there's a bunch of laundry I have to do -- bed sheets and towels -- since we had to fog the house yesterday since the cats (indoor cats, btw) had mysteriously gotten fleas.

It's been an interesting week, and it's only going to get more interesting.

[UPDATE: 10:30am, grocery shopping is done. Barely. I almost had to go on a mission to find potatoes. Now just hope the turkey defrosts.]

Saturday, November 19

victory!

THE KITCHEN IS DONE!!!!!

Friday, November 18

samurai

Like a lot of people, I have to do my Sudkoku puzzle every day. Today, the Express (the free paper by the Washington Post) introduced a new puzzle (skip to page 67): Samurai Sudoku. It has five overlapping regular 9 block Sudoku grids. I want to start on it right now, but I'm trying to control myself and save it until later.

Thursday, November 17

why?

Whyyyy? (Say it in your best Nancy Kerrigan voice.)

The countertop is in and it looks great. Brendan had a little doubt about the color we chose, but even he was impressed with it. However, the faucet that we chose (at IKEA) doesn't fit in the cabinet! Why do they sell it then? So we still aren't quite up and running.

Sigh.

Wednesday, November 16

anticipation

I have never been so excited to cook dinner. Tomorrow afternoon our kitchen countertops are finally being installed. Thank God. I have been spending so much time today thinking about what is going to be the first thing I make. I still don't know, but the important thing is that it could be anything I want.

No more microwave meals.
No more ordering takeout.

Chinese for dinner tonight was utterly unsatisfying. The restaurants around here aren't anything to speak of either. There is just about every chain restaurant you could imagine... but very few smaller, family owned establishments.

It's not just the cooking that I'm excited about: we'll finally get our dining room back. Right now the table is covered with canisters, applicances, silverware, containers, and there's even more on the floor. It will be nice to finally have it all put away, and to eat at the table again instead of gathered around the ottoman in the living room.

Tuesday, November 15

got a shower invite in the mail yesterday

Crazy: I found out my old roommate from college is pregnant (she's about 8 months).

Crazier: I'm pregnant, too (3 months).*

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*I've been trying to think of a clever way to announce it to the internet, but couldn't come up with a single thing. So this is what you get.

gallery again

The gallery's down for the moment. An upgrade went slightly awry. Hopefully we can fix it and Brendan won't have to start from scratch again.

Friday, November 11

normalizing

Looks like we cashed in on our old house at just the right time:

New data released yesterday show that in the past year, home sales in the Washington region have declined sharply, the inventory of unsold homes is up significantly, and prices have flattened and, in some cases, fallen.

I took a look at what's up on the market in our old neighborhood, and there are way more for sale than there were even in the spring and it doesn't look like they are moving all that fast.

Wednesday, November 9

8 more days

We're still without a kitchen countertop. It's finally being installed on the 17th. Thank God. I am so tired of frozen food, microwave only meals, and eating out. It gets really old. I'm just glad it will be finished by Thanksgiving. Not having a sink by then could be just a little problematic. Of course, I just realized I told my aunt that I'd make a dessert for my grandfather's birthday party on Saturday. Looks like I'm looking for a no-cook recipie. Ideas anyone?