dangerblog

An Overwhelming Feeling of Dread

Tomorrow I have to tell my boss that I'm not coming in Thursday and Friday.  I thought I could get away with leaving my Mom in the apartment with Miss Gidge and let her hang out while I went to work the absolute minimum amount of time those two days.  Normally, it wouldn't be a problem to take off work, but we still haven't released the hellish project that I've been working on, and as of today, there were still some small bugs to work out.

I was all close to getting a raise and stuff, so I don't want to make anyone mad at work.  But even more than that, I don't want my Mom to leave when she's only really been here for a couple of days.   As much as I would like the money from working those two days, I think I would rather have my Mom around. 

So I am looking at having to call my boss first thing tomorrow to tell him the bad news.  And I am totally dreading it.  Ugh.  I hate that feeling of dread.

The Long Road Home

So my Mom and I left Florence this morning about 9 AM with her dog Gidget (aka Gidgey aka Miss Gidge) in tow.  I let my Mom drive through South Carolina, which has the least amount of traffic and is the area she is most familiar with.  When I am at my most caffeinated, I can make it from Florence to the Georgia state line in about 2 hours.  Even after she had 2 Red Bulls, it took us nearly 3 hours with my Mom at the wheel (To be fair, we did stop for a couple of bathroom breaks).

The rest of the trip went much faster.  I probably deserve a ticket at this point, but here's my general theory on speeding.  I pick a speed at 9 or 14 more than the speed limit.  Usually, at the beginning of a trip, it's closer to the 9, and my the end, 14.  If I am going 79 in a 70 and cars are continuously blowing by me, I will go up to 84.  If I am in a large group, I may occasionally go up to 89.  But I don't spend a lot of time looking out for cops.  I relax, listen to music, drink my Mountain Dew, eat my Sweetarts/Skittles/Mento's, and kind of space out.  I get a lot of thinking done on these 6+ hour trips.

When we got here, I introduced Miss Gidge to her new surroundings and attempted to get her to go to the bathroom.  Even after hours and hours in the car, I guess it should not surprise me that she was a lot more interested in partaking in the smells of all the neighborhood dogs rather than actually using the bathroom herself. 

After some initial trouble getting her to go up the staircase up to my apartment, she's all settled in now, and has barely made a peep.  If she keeps this up, this is going to be a great week.

And tomorrow, the great Christmas shopping experience continues.

Shop Til You Drop

I'm exhausted and it's only 9 PM. As always, my Mom and I got up at an
obscenely early hour for our annual Christmas shopping extravaganza. We
decided to stay in town for the kickoff, which was at 5:30 AM, and then
go on to Columbia after that for the main part of the day. Otherwise
we'd have to get up at like 2, and then, really, what's the point of
going to bed at all.

We made our first purchase by 5:34 and then went on to our second
planned stop in Florence, which was Sears. Mom was really enthused
about the $10 gift certificates they were giving away, so we stood out
in the cold for 25 minutes so that we might be one of the first 200
people. At 6 AM, they opened the doors and that is when we found out
they were only giving the cards away at the jewelry counter, which was
not near our entrance. All four entrances, in fact, had hordes of
people waiting a long time, so it is a small miracle that no tear gas
was required for the mess that ensued. I got my gift certificate card,
but let's just say that it could have been a little more
well-organized.

After that we charged on to Columbia, where we spent the next 8 hours or
so chasing bargains. I got a few presents for others, a ton of ideas
for what to get Mom, and, despite all promises I'd made to myself, a few
things for myself. I got 7 used CDs for less than $30. Some of these
will replace some tapes that I dearly loved but no longer listen to
because they are...tapes. Some I've never heard. Never fear: reviews
are forthcoming.

A one day sale in an empty Dillards had, amazingly, sale items from
Target. I got an adorable notepad, some matching post-it notes, and a
cute little notebook for $4.

We left the house at 5:10 AM and did not arrive back home till close to
6 PM. It was a long day. So, I'm gonna be a wimp now and go to
sleep...

The Rental Car Experience

Since my Mom is coming back to stay with me after the holidays, I
decided to get a rental car one way to Florence so that she wouldn't
have to follow me back to Alabama. I rented my car from Hertz, and
they've always been pretty good to me in the past.

Well, this time, I asked for a Ford Explorer on their website, but when
I got there, the car waiting for me was a maroon Pontiac Grand Am. With
very dark tinted windows. And chrome wheels. As I stood there, there
was a brief moment where I wanted to say, "Screw it. I'm not up for
complaining today." Then I came to my senses and decided I was not
going to drive the pimp-mobile to South Carolina.

I was really nice to the people working the desk, who really couldn't
understand why I didn't find this vehicle sporty.

In my head, I was rehearsing lines such as: "Um. Excuse me? Would it
be possible to exchange this car for one that doesn't look like I
borrowed it from my pimp?"

I was too much of a wimp to go that far, but....I did get my Ford
Explorer.

It's All Done

The Christmas decorations are up.  My washer and dryer have arrived.  The groceries are bought.  The pot-luck is over.  And, most importantly, my apartment is really, really clean. Now all there is to do is drive 300 miles to South Carolina to be with my Mom to enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

My Mom and I have a tradition.  She is a vegetarian, so there will be no turkey, and thus, no hours of preparation for our meal.  We will have tons of starchy goodness: homemade macaroni and cheese, squash casserole, bread, and this year I will be adding a butternut squash risotto to the mix.  This will take a couple of hours, but it will leave us plenty of time for the all important task of planning our shopping day for Friday.

Mom lives about 2 hours from all the good shopping.  So we will go to bed early on Thansgiving night so we can wake up at like 4 AM, hop in the car and strategically visit the stores in an optimized order such that we arrive at the stores with the best bargains at their opening times.  By the afternoon (or by 10AM), we will tire of the big mainstream malls and start seeking out some lower key gift shops and stuff.

What's your Thanksgiving tradition?

Ouch

It didn't seem like a big deal at all.  My trash can was getting full and it had food in it and it had stopped raining, so I decided to take it on down to the trash can, which is a walk of maybe 100 yards.  Since it was Sunday, the trash can was quite full.  My little bag of trash was not bulky and not heavy, so I had to hurl it into the back of the trash can.

My back apparently did not like that.  And now I am in PAIN whenever I sit up.  I took some Advil, I took a nice hot shower, I did some stretches.  I slept for 7 hours.  And then I woke up, and it was WORSE.

I have never really tweaked my back before, so this is new territory for me, but let me just say, "Oww!"

Christmas in Jenville

I have been hyper-busy working on getting my apartment ready for my Mom's visit.  I've been keeping it super-neat anyway, so I don't have to do much in the way of straightening, but I do plan on doing a thorough cleaning in case she brings her white gloves.

But instead of actually cleaning this weekend, I spent all day Saturday getting ready for Christmas.  I realize to some folks it may seem a little early to be decorating for Christmas. 

Actual conversation overheard while I was sorting through Christmas stuff in my storage closet:

"Why is she getting her Christmas tree out already, Mom?" says the sweet little 6 year old who lives behind me.

"I don't know, honey...I don't know," says Mom with sort of a resigned everyone-in-the-world-is-crazy-but-us tone.

I am thrilled with how it looks after just a day.  Normally I spend an entire weekend in the height of Christmas season working on this stuff, as I have an entire closet full to the ceiling with garlands, wreaths, and well...Christmas stuff. 

Here's a glimpse:

Caffeine for the Holidays

I have been thoroughly enjoying work again now that super-stress mode is over.  I am waking up at 6:30 or 7 so that I can make it to our 8:30 meeting. Which is MUCH better than getting to work before 6:30 on a daily basis.  I feel like I am in heaven. 

So it occurred to me that perhaps I should reduce my caffeine intake since I am no longer working 12 hours a day.  I was up to 2 red bulls (that's been standard for over a year) and 2 20-oz Mountain Dews, which I had given up around June.  For the past few days I have only had 1 Mountain Dew to try to pare it down slowly.  And I have to say, I am feeling a little slug-like.  Ah, but what does it matter?  No more 12 hour days, plus I'm all moved into my apartment...who cares if I am a little sluggish while my body adjusts.

Well, this is why: My Mom is coming to visit right after Thanksgiving!  I am really excited, because she's only come to visit me one other time in my whole adult life. I am really looking forward to showing her my new awesome apartment and showing her around the city.  Yippee!

And then I figured out that Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK, so I have a lot of stuff to do before I leave to see her so that everything will be perfect when we come back to the apartment.  This includes:

• Getting a washer and dryer.
• Cleaning up so that everything will be gleaming when she arrives.
• Getting my favorite chair fixed so that it will not collapse when her dog inevitably attempts to sit in it.
• Decorating for Christmas (yes, technically, not a necessity, but since my Mom has never seen my Christmas decorations and since she will be with me on my standard decorating day, I need to do this before she arrives.)
• Wrapping the presents I've already bought for her.

So....I think I am going to keep the Mountain Dew flowing until I get some of this stuff done. (And other stuff like making food for our annual Potluck).  What's one more week? 

On the Right Track

Last night the most amazing thing happened: I got 9 whole hours of
sleep. For weeks now, even on the weekends, I haven't been able to turn
my mind off, and 8 hours was about the most sleep I could manage.
During the week, it was more like 5 or 6 hours.

That wasn't the only amazing thing that happened yesterday.
Miraculously, I finished my assignment! Well, there's a few minor
things to work out, but for all intents and purposes, it was completed
yesterday around 5PM.

Then I left work, made a quick trip to the grocery store (God forbid I
run out of Red Bull), and was home by 6pm. I watched TV. And took out
my sketch pad. And filled up on crusty baguette with olive oil and aged
balsamic vinegar. And read 2 or 3 chapters of "Jonathan Strange and Mr.
Norrell". And then I went to sleep at like 10:30. Oh, what a wonderful
night.

Shopping at the Fresh Market

The highlight of my weekend (other than the many glorious hours I spent at work) was getting to make a leisurely visit to our new awesome grocery store, the Fresh Market.  If you ever have an opportunity to go to one of these stores, you must go, if only to get some quality balsamic vinegar. 

I normally like to cook a lot, but since I've been working a bunch, I haven't really gotten the chance.  But thankfully, now that we have the Fresh Market, I will no longer have to live on Easy Mac and Lipton Herb and Butter rice (not that I am banishing those guys from my kitchen anytime soon or anything). 

Check out what I got at the grocery this week:

• Grouper St. Jacques (grouper in puff pastry with sun-dried tomatoes)
• Chicken Santa Fe (chicken stuffed with cream cheese and veggies)
• Bourbon Marinated Salmon
• Fresh cut strawberries
• Real fresh mayonnaise (nothing to go with it, but I will FIND a use for it this week)
• a variety of spaghetti sauces that I have never seen at Publix
• and some fresh goat cheese to go in the spaghetti

It totally rocks.