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

Saturday, December 31

We're off to Pittsburgh for the weekend, so a very happy New Year to you all in advance. Since I'm up at 8 am on a Saturday, I doubt I'll make it to the first minute of 2006, but we'll see. Tomorrow, we're spending the afternoon at the Steelers' game. I don't have to tell you that Brendan is extremely excited. Tomorrow will be his Christmas morning.

Thursday, December 29

Gallery Update

The gallery is coming along. I've finally gotten back to it. I'll probably have some of the pictures back up tonight or tomorrow, starting with the cottage trip or the California trip over the summer. We'll see. I've got to get the layout and colors together before I do any of that.

Wednesday, December 28

huh?

On Christmas Eve, we went on the Decorations Tour. The guide had this diary entry from the 1700's she wanted someone to read, someone about the age of the girl who wrote it. She looks at me and asks, "How old are you?" And I totally blank. How old am I? I can't remember. I know I'm older than 25 and not 30. So I say 27. Not the answer she wanted, she wanted 19 or 20. Later Brendan looks at me and says "You're 26 by the way." Sweet Lord.

Wednesday, December 21

again again

So yesterday I'm just turning off the outside light like a regular person and oops, out goes my shoulder again. Unlike the last time, this time was not quick or relatively painless. No, this time we were waiting for four hours. It was not fun. Then the doctor put it back Lethal Weapon style. Nice. So yeah, this time I'm calling the orthopedist.

Friday, December 16

crooked

Tomorrow is Christmas for us and our parents. We're going to be out of town on Christmas; we'll be spending it in Williamsburg. Our last Christmas all to ourselves. We've been (or at least I have been) in a slight panic this week, trying to make sure that we have gifts for everyone. Tonight, I went out to get the last item, and picked up some pretty wrapping paper and tape. Then I came home and attempted to wrap them.

I don't know what happened to me. I used to be pretty good at the whole thing, but tonight I turned into my father. I couldn't cut the paper straight. Nothing seemed to fit around the boxes even though I had just measured them. It was so frustrating. I'm blaming it on the paper -- the pattern is on the diagonal so it makes it hard to cut. Yeah, that's it.

Maybe I didn't get my mother's wrapping genes afterall. She's so good. She could wrap a basketball and it would look perfect. My dad just gets impatient, and cuts paper crooked and too small. The corners never work quite right. I was this close to cutting a piece for each side and taping it on.

And I only wrapped the regularly shaped things and things that fit in boxes. There are still three irregular ones that won't fit in any box we have left to wrap. I'll leave those for Brendan.

Wednesday, December 14

survival

We've made it through all of our holiday parties. No terribly embarrassing stories, either. I am though, usually the source of those and since I wasn't drinking, I didn't stick my foot in my mouth. Last weekend even I got caught up in the spirit. We got our tree, went to two parties and I made like 8 dozen cookies. No Christmas music though. All our cards are addressed, but nothing is mailed yet.

Our tree has so far survived, too; however, it is still undecorated. The cats like to look at it though. It cracks me up. I'll come down the stairs and one will be sitting on the floor and the other on the arm of a couch or chair. They're just admiring it. We'll see what happens when we hang shiny things from it.

Friday, December 9

terrible

Yes, I know, I haven't written anything in a long time. If you're thinking that's because we've been busy, decorating the house for Christmas, buying gifts, sending cards...you'd be totally wrong. Haven't done any of that just yet. Hardly any shopping is done at all, and I just started addressing cards today. And no decorations or tree just yet.

So what has been going on? A whole lot of nothing. I keep meaning to post something, then I forget. When I remember, it's too late. In fact, I was thinking about this very thing yesterday on the bus ride home and I had a whole list of things I was going to write about that I'd neglected to; however, I have forgotten all of it. I knew I should have written it down.

I swear I'm losing my mind.

Today, I'm working from home. While I'm still in my PJs and sitting on the couch with the TV on, I have gotten more things done than I do during the same time at the office. Fewer interruptions.

Tonight is the first of the holiday parties for us -- it is Brendan's office party. Like other people, I'm not the biggest fan of forced socializing, but I'll be OK. His co-workers are nice people. Plus, there's another party tomorrow (after we actually get our tree) and then a cookie exchange on Tuesday. There are more, but we're not going.

Thursday, December 1

add insult to injury

As you know, we can't have DirecTV at our current house. We currently have an almost $200 credit with DirecTV which we cannot seem to get back from them in the form of a check. Everytime we call, the person says OK, we'll put in the computer that you need a refund. It will be 6-8 weeks before you get it. Then 6-8 weeks later we get a statement from DirecTV that we have a credit. Bastards. Makes me want to reach in the phone and choke someone.