Weekend Update. With 40% More Cake!

We have a lot of cake at our house. Well, we did before last night.

Friday night, Darlene and James came over for a zombie fest – Zombieland and Fido. Zombieland was fantastic. Except at the end. Where the girls were stupid. Sheesh.

We had pizza and our guests brought a chocolate cake and apple pie. This should have been a sign that weekend diet plan was shot to hell.

Saturday was shopping. Big event shopping.

Laptop shopping.

Actually, it wasn’t so much “shopping” as it was going to Best Buy and telling the guy what I wanted and buying it and bringing it home. Rae-rae (defined by Urban Dictionary as a “Polynesian transvestite”, thankyouverymuch) don’t just go buy expensive products without doing her homework.

To start, I had a spreadsheet that listed all of the laptops I thought were pretty. Cause you gotta start somewhere. I had columns for the vendor, model and the price. Then as I read about them, I determined what my priorities were and added columns for them – RAM, hard drive, number of USB ports, did it have a 10 key, did it have a gloss or matte area around the keyboard (fingerprint issues) and what were the overall reviews (good or bad).

In the end, it came down to a Dell Inspiron (in pink) and an Asus (in boring ol' black). I had a print out for each of them, so when we walked into Best Buy and were approached by an eager salesboy, I quickly held up the two printouts, as if to shield the onslaught of selling, and said “I want to see these two laptops and that’s it.”

Uh....well....uh...okay.....

He showed me the Dell (shiny!) then the Asus. I didn’t like the Asus because it has a 10 key, which is nice, but throws the keyboard off center. I want the keyboard centered in front of my screen. Because I am neurotic like that. And I can buy a USB 10 key for $20 and just plug it in when I need it, which is only when I balance the checkbook (which I am refusing to do because BECU blows goats right now and their two statements a month have completely screwed up my register, but don’t get me started…)

Where was I?

Oh yes. The Asus (which I keep pronouncing as “ASSus”. Hee.) It also had keys that were flat, so when you run your fingers over them, it’s more difficult to tell them apart. The Dell has beveled keys. That creates a nice distinction between the keys and therefore, I can type faster.

So, a Dell it was!

I told the salesboy I wanted a pink one, or if they did not have a pink one, a red one would do. He went off to check and came back a few minutes later to tell me all they had in the store was blue. Baby blue. Yuck. He said he even called around to neighboring stores, and there were no pink or red ones. But look how pretty the blue is!

I said thank you, but I want pink, so I’ll just go home and order it online.
And we left.

My instant gratification was squashed.

And even squasheder when I tried to order a pink one online and they were out. But they had red. I like red. And Todd won’t look like a sissy if he has to use it. I’m such a good wife.

Saturday night, we had JD and Alison over for some veggie enchiladas and sangria. They brought a chocolate raspberry torte. Oy. Delicious.

We just sat around and visited. It was a nice low key evening.

And Sunday. The Semi Okay Bowl.
Well, first there was sleeping in until 10:00am, then just laying there with my eyes open staring at the wall for half an hour. That was nice.

Todd and I got all domestic and cleaned and did laundry while waiting for the game to start. He also helped me color my hair, since I can’t do it our clawfoot tub now. I stood on my tiptoes and hung my head into the kitchen sink while he used the extendo faucet to wet my hair and then rinse the color out. He’s a good husband.

The kids hid downstairs in Tyler’s room as they 1) don’t care about football and 3) don’t like the screaming when we watch football. Steve came over right before kickoff and Stephanie joined us at halftime. And they helped us polish off the cake. Gawd bless them. There were also pigs in a blanket, chips, pizza rolls and of course, a veggie tray. To balance it all out.

It was a boring first half of the game, but boy howdy, the Saints were fired up after halftime! I’m sure many people thought the Saints just got lucky by getting to the Super Bowl, but they showed that they can play the game. I did feel bad for Peyton – I just love him, as a quarterback and as the host of SNL. But he has his ring, so let the underdogs have the day in the sun.

And after the game, I headed straight for bed. Not because of my excessive alcohol intake (shocking, I know) but because I think the pretty purple pills that I started on Friday are making me sleepy. They also prevent me from drinking, which is both a blessing and a curse, I guess. No wine for me. Sniff.

I’m very aware that something is amiss with me. I think we were just so cracked out busy the past year that I really didn’t have time to stop and think about how I was adjusting to my new role and my new life. Now that we actually have some downtime (and it's winter again), I find that I get out of bed in the morning, only because I know I can come home and go back to bed that evening. I have absolutely no energy and find it hard to muster any.

There are other symptoms that I talk about with my therapist, so we thought we’d try some medication, maybe just to get me through the SAD season. Those of you who don’t have a SAD season may think it’s a crock, but let me tell you, there are a lot of depressed zombies walking the streets, despite all the coffee, because we have no sunshine for months at a time (although, the last few days have actually been pretty sunny and warm. Weird)

I also bought a dawn simulator, which is recommended for SAD symptoms. The sun doesn’t fully rise here until 7:30am (this month. In December, it was around 8am) so waking up in the dark is hard for someone like me who can sleep for 12 hours straight. A dawn simulator is an alarm clock that gradually lights up, as it leads up to your set alarm time. Once it's the alarm time, the light is at it's brightest, so you wake up slowly. We'll see if that helps my mornings.

So, back to the cake. Yes, I've had a couple of pieces of cake this weekend. Shoot me. But it was totally worth it.

Really? Fantastic.

Our new head coach was fired today.
After one season.

Yeah, that’ll fix everything.

I admit it - the ‘Hawks absolutely blew chunks this season. We ended up 5-11. Just shoot me.

But it was Mora’s first year! And half of our starters were hurt! I would think it takes a bit of time for a brand spankin’ new coach, as well the entire team, to develop a rhythm after such a major change. Hell, ask any Redskins fan about that!

What really, REALLY chaps my hide is that the team CEO tried to keep Mora on board. He knew it wasn’t entirely Mora’s fault. He was willing to try again.

But no. It was the team owner who fired Mora.
Paul Allen.

Aw, gawd.

I already have a HUGE beef with this man – he thought up the SLUT.

So, next season, we get yet another new coach and we then we’ll have a shitty season because everyone is still getting know everyone. And if that coach can't please Allen, he'll get fired and we'll get another new coach and then 2011 will be a shitty season, and so on and so on and so on. That’s going to be AWESOME for team morale!

Go back to buying buildings and snarling traffic, Allen.
Leave the football decisions to the guys who actually know about football.

Braindead

I missed another game! Dammit!

I complete forgot (I KNOW!) that the Seahawks played last night. FOR.GOT.

We got caught up in a movie (Leatherheads – awesome) and then in the midst, had to vacate for a showing, then came back and finished the movie, then ordered pizza and watched another movie (Lords of Dogtown – also awesome), then watched the documentary about that movies, and then went to bed.

And I missed my boys win yet another pre-season game!

I’m sorry, guys. I promise to pay better attention and look at the calendar regularly (the games are on the calendar!) Really.

They play again Thursday. I've got a big post it note on my monitor.

I will not miss this.

Weekend Update

It was a good weekend. Lots of social time, lots of house time and very low stress. I like weekends like that.

Friday night Todd and I hung out the Celtic Swell and decompressed and talked wedding stuff. We even had the waitresses helping. So how can that not be fun?

Saturday, we continued the wedding fun and visited the Sanctuary at Admiral again to get some measurements, look at the tables and arrangements and time the walk down the aisle. We figured out where the chairs would be, where the cake will be, where the jugglers will be.

Just kidding. There will be no jugglers. Sorry.

That afternoon, Todd finished up the new railing on the porch and I detailed the inside of Sportacus, his truck. He’s cleaner than Ruby now. I’m not happy with that. So guess what I’ll be doing this coming weekend?

That night, we traveled to Ballard to see Thornton Creek play at Egan’s. Egan’s is a great little venue with wonderful food and a homey, friendly vibe. We sat with a few of the Millers and visited throughout the show. I’m very lucky that Todd likes them as much as I do. And they seem to like him, too. I also saw some acquaintances I hadn’t seen in years, so I got to tell the whole I’m-getting-married! story again and introduce my fiancé. Who knew there was anyone left that I hadn’t gushed to?!

Sunday, the wedding fun continued as Kim and I went and bought her Best Lady dress. Then we just wandered around and oohed and ahhhed over all the frilliness. I told Kim, whenever I’m in bad mood, I’m just going to go to a bridal shop and hang out. You can’t help but smile when you see the little flower girls running around in their pretty dresses, or the young brides in the big, poofy gowns.

I told Todd a few days ago, I’m almost sad that the wedding is so near. I already miss the conversations about what color theme we should have and do we want a buffet or a family style dinner (family style. Definitely.) All of the decisions we had to make in the beginning and buying my first wedding magazines and ripping out pages of dresses that I liked.

Sigh.

He said I’ll get to experience it again when Kayleigh gets married. I keep asking her if she has a boyfriend yet, but she just rolls her eyes at me.

The rest of Sunday was spent doing some house cleaning, making some dinner and then watching the repeat of the first preseason Seahawks game that originally aired on Saturday but I missed it because I have completely lost my mind and can’t even keep track of when football starts. I hate myself. And now the Seahawks are going to suck this year because I wasn’t there at their very first kick off, in my Seahawks sweatshirt, with my Seahawks coasters, screaming for them to KICK SOME ASS.

Please forgive me, ‘Hawks. I just have a lot going on right now. What the hell was I thinking, planning a wedding during football season?! I promise to not miss any more games. Well, except September 27th’s because that’s my bridal shower and I don’t think football factors into my mother-in-law’s vision of wine and cupcakes and then on November 15th I’ll be drunk out of my gourd on a beach in Kauai, so unless I can find a battery powered TV, no can watch. I hope you guys understand.

Maybe the Seahawks don’t need me, because they beat the Chargers, 21 to 14. We sacked the Chargers’ QB 4 times and made 2 (or 3?) interceptions. That’s a pretty good start to the season.

And all of the games are now on the Google calendar. So, I have no excuse.

Sunday night, Todd and I tried to go bed early, but I got a wild hair to make a present for a friend and then we both laid down, but neither one of us really slept all night. Well, until 5:30 this morning.

Why is that? You lay awake all night, unable to sleep, tossing and turning. Then your alarm goes off, you hit snooze and BAM, you’re out like a light, dreaming and everything, and then you wake with a jolt and you’re late for work. When you should have just gotten up at 4am and gone on in early, rather than continuing to try to sleep, only to actually fall asleep right when you’re supposed to be getting out of bed.

Yes, you could say I’m a bit cranky today.

But my day is almost over, and it hasn’t been too terribly bad. So here’s hoping for a good 10 hours of sleep tonight. Gotta catch up.

Go ‘Hawks.

Weekend Update

My goodness, where does the time go? Seems like it was just Friday, and I was looking forward to relaxing over the weekend. Yeah. It never works out that way.

Friday night was movies with Trish and Dan and pizza. And westerns. Fun stuff. The most relaxing portion of the weekend.

Saturday, we Downings-n-Marsh were all very productive. We cleaned out the carport and took a truckload of stuff to the dump. Kayleigh swept out the carport and Tyler broke down cardboard boxes for recycling. It was a fun family project and the result is no more crap for the rats to hide in! Yay!

After cleaning ourselves up, Kayleigh headed over to a friend’s house for an overnight and Todd and I headed to Canada. Uh, I mean Lynnwood. Which is almost to Canada.

Todd shot some footage of Kyle Steven’s performance at the Comic Stop and afterwards, we had dinner, then attended my first Chinese New Year party. I am a rabbit. That’s my Chinese sign. I like it. I like bunnies. This however, is the year of the Ox. I’m not sure what that means for us rabbits. I met lots of new people, and I think I made my man proud in front of his friends. Especially when I talked about my boobs. When in doubt, talk about yer boobs.

Since the party was in Lynnwood, and it didn’t let out until around midnight, we were up very late. But Todd still got up early Sunday morning to have coffee with his friend, while I slept in, drooling and dreaming until my phone rang and woke me up. Then I got myself together and walked over to my new friend Stephanie’s house so that I could offer up my two cents on decorating ideas for our shopping trip. We weren’t very productive in the shopping department, but it was nice to have some coffee and girl time. She came home with three adhesive back hooks. At least her daughter can hang her coats up now.

By that afternoon, I was quite pooped, so Todd fixed nachos and we curled up on the couch to watch the Un-SuperBowl. Although, it was pretty super. Would have been superer if the Cardinals had won, but oh well. They gave the Steelers (although, some Seahawks fans still tend to say Stealers) a run for their money and that’s better than we all expected.

And after the game I broke out all of my wedding notes and brochures and ripped pages, along with my BRAND NEW LABEL MAKER and spent the next two hours organizing my papers and labeling my Holy-Crap-I’m-Actually-Getting-Married wedding binder while sprawling all over the bed and watching The Office.

Yes, that’s my idea of a great night.

And now I think I have a sinus infection.

My head hurts, my cheeks hurt, my teeth hurt. Ow. I’ve been itching like crazy and it occurs to me that it’s because I’ve been loading up on Sudafed for the past week. My sinuses tend to clog up right as we lay down to go to bed, so I've been popping a Sudafed nightly. Which dries me out. Which makes me itch. At least it’s not lice. But it does indicate a problem of some sort.

(No, not a drug problem. I can stop anytime I want. Really.)

Thankfully, I have yet another doctor’s appointment* this week, so maybe he can prescribe an antibiotic or something to clear it up.

I think you’re all caught up now.



*Not to worry. This appointment is just to represcribe my massages. No biggie.

Weekend Update

TBBE does a great job of laying out the actions of the weekend, which makes it so much easier (and quicker) for me to simply throw in my little random thoughts and tidbits. Because, as I may or may not have mentioned, my new job is surrounded by people who actually adhere to the 30 minute lunch rule (so we're only at work 8.5 hours a day, as opposed to 9) which doesn't leave me a whole lotta time to blog because my blogging includes 20 minutes of self editing.

And I just used up 10 minutes on that paragraph (while eating my salad). Ack.

So!

Did you know that blackberry bushes leave little infected welts on your skin when they poke you? Yeah, I didn't either, or I would have worn gloves when we were cleaning up the bushes next to the carport. Man, my hands hurt today. I've got four major owies. I've been pouring hydrogen peroxide on them, but that's not helping the pain. See why I avoid manual labor? I get hurt. I never get hurt when I'm sitting on the couch watching football. Never.

Unless I pull something while screaming at the TV.

Speaking of which, holy crap, we finally won a game! We beat the 49ers. Which, come on, they were 2 and 5. But hey, we won. Yippee.

Update: 17 minutes left in my lunch. Pardon any typos from here on out.

I got my beautician on last night. I colored Kayleigh's hair bright strawberry so now those blue eyes and freckles stand out even more. I was going to wait to do my hair (dark red) until Thursday, since it's a temporary color and I wanted it bright for Halloween, but I was jealous that K got transformed so I ended up doing my hair, too. I feel like a hottie.

And then I ordered fishnets with built in garters from Amazon this morning, so now I'm just feelin' naughty. My semi-respectable costume (albeit, still slightly trashy) is slowly morphing into Great Big Whore. And I don't care. It will make for good pictures when I'm 75 and looking back at photos and pining for my youth.

And in other news, my calendar is clear this week, as I must start packing. Must. Well, maybe there's a walk in there. And maybe dinner with Jamie. But that's it! I mean it.

**********
Best Quote of the Weekend:

Kayleigh (grabbing a pair of 3 inch black, shiny stilettos at DSW, with a big smile on her face):

"These will definitely make you look like a slut. Try them on!"

Onslaught of Estrogen

And I didn't scream or hurt ANYONE!

Saturday morning began with laying in bed until 9:30am. Because we could. Once up and put together, Kayleigh's friend Stormy showed up, ready to party. As much as a 11 year old can. Full of energy and dimples and 20 questions.

We headed down to Pike Place Market to browse and have lunch.

(Stormy & Kayleigh, with new shiny frog bean bag thingies)

(Look at us smolder!)

After Pike Place, back to the house to prepare for the par-tay. We made a trip to QFC for cake (Oreo), ice cream (vanilla), punch makings (non-alcoholic.......crap) and fruit to accompany the now infamous dutch babies.

Fortunately for me (unfortunately for Kayleigh) only two of her four guests showed up (two had cancelled earlier this week). I guess the Universe thought five girls might be a little too much at this point in my parent-ness. Thank you, Universe. I owe ya a cookie.

The girls played for a bit, we ordered pizza, Todd was banished to the bedroom with a beer and a paintbrush, we started to watch a movie, the bulb burned out in the projector, we had to call on Todd to hook up the back up projector, we had cake and ice cream, we opened presents, we finished watching the movie, the girls bedded down and I retreated to the big people's room. To snuggle with the cute dad.

(In the midst of wishing.....)

(Present: venus flytrap)

At midnight we heard a few thuds and screams, so mean ol' dad had to go upstairs and put the kibosh on the fun. Poo. Apparently Kayleigh fell asleep first - the girls drew on her face. Lots of colors. Very pretty. Didn't get a picture. Sorry.

At 8am, I heard the pitter patter of little feet. Time to get up. Todd walked down to Westwood Village for his Sunday coffee date, and I headed upstairs make breakfast.

The dutch babies were edible, but not very pretty. Again, I forgot to take a picture. I'm really suckin' here, aren't I? Sorry. Anywho, I made a batch of 12 muffin dutch babies. The tops completely deflated, much like a souffle, but the girls took that opportunity to fill the crater with syrup or jam or powdered sugar or all three.

And no, I wasn't thinking ahead.

At 10:30, I was watching the front door, willing Todd to get back from coffee with his friend. I was walking that fine line of telling the girls to PLEASE JUST PICK UP THE MARKERS RIGHT NOW and just saying, Screw it, it's easier to do it myself. (I didn't pick up the markers. I win.)

Todd got home from coffee, I kissed him hello, and updated him on the morning. Then I, maybe a bit too quickly, changed clothes and took off to meet Kim for a walk. Tag! You're it!

To sum up:
I have more patience than I thought I did.
I know how to talk with 11 year olds.
11 year olds think I'm funny. It's oddly validating.
I have even more respect for Todd now. There is NO FREAKIN' WAY I could handle two kids by myself. Where's the relief? Where is that partner who is supposed to be home at 11am so I can get the hell out of here? Where are the hugs when you're ready to snap?

Props to you, baby.
Props.To.You.

And now, we are holed up in the boudoir, watching TV (I know, I know) and winding down from an eventful weekend. The room is painted, but the furniture is still "askew" so we'll take pictures once everything is back in place.

Tomorrow is my second to last day in my position, so I think a few of us will be heading down to Chandler's after work for a beverage or three. Since I'm the one who facilitates the going away potlucks, I don't believe there will a potluck in my honor......since I have not facilitated one.

Sigh.

Okay. 'Night 'night.

And, hey, GO 'SKINS!! GOOD JOB!!

Football. And Then Some.

Well, we FINALLY won a football game! As TBBE said in his blog, apparently we can't wear our Seahawks gear anymore. It seems to jinx the team. Or maybe we need new gear. Maybe I need a sweatshirt without holes in the sleeve from when I accidentally got bleach on it but didn't know until hours later when I was taking it off and my finger slipped through the brand new hole.

What?

Speaking of jinxed, how else do you explain the fact that we JUST SIGNED Koren Robinson, a wide receiver and former Seahawk, but he was inactive this week because of an injury? What kind of injury, you ask?

A knee injury.

Just like Sean Locklear, Deion Branch, and Mo Morris. Maybe someone should take a look at their brand new practice facility. Could be bad grass. Could be a curse. I'm just sayin'....

In any event, we beat the Rams (0-3) We're still in 3rd place in our division, but at least we won a game. Whew.

In addition to an exciting game of football on Sunday, we cleaned the shit out of Todd's dining room and family room. And afterwards, it occurred to me that I didn't take before and after photos. Sigh. But I'll remember when we make our second pass at his office.

It's the funniest thing, every time we clean a room, half of the stuff ends up in the office. If you remember, dear reader, we just cleaned the office a month ago. You would never know it now. So, it all comes full circle. We still have some boxes and bins out in the carport that I'm just itchin' to plow through, but I think the office may have to be sooner rather than later.

Other than that, I think we're out of piles!
What am I going to do now?!

Ooh, that top cabinet of the pantry is a mess. I think it needs a good organizin'.......

It's Gonna Be A Helluva Season

The football gods are not happy.

The Seahawks lost another receiver. Burleson is out for the season. Fantastic. We're also missing Branch and Engram. Plackemeier, our punter, was released today, but that one I'm okay with. He couldn't do squat on Sunday.

Bernard and Babineaux were suspended and didn't play Sunday. Not sure if they're coming back for this week's game. Morris has a sprained knee and will be out for a while.

Sigh.

I do not see the playoffs in our future.

And, okay, let's just forget about the Seahawks for a minute. WVU lost. Redskins lost. Huskies AND Cougars lost. WTF?

And Brady is out for the season? You're kidding me?

Hmmm, it's all very suspicious, all of this bad football juju.

Busy, busy, busy....

Busy weekend, busy at work, busy weekend coming up. Life is just flying by.

Friday night:

Had a football party at Todd's. Go 'Hawks! The margaritas and good company definitely helped my crappy day.

Saturday:

Rough day. No one in the Downing household slept very well on Friday night, for a variety of reasons, so we were all pretty pooped on Saturday.

Todd and I began the day by looking at a house that is owned by Steve's girlfriend.

[chirp chirp]

Weird, you say? Nah. Not really. It's only weird because it's not weird. Know what I mean?

We met both her and Steve at her house then walked around the corner to the house that was for sale. It was very cute and in some ways perfect. But in a few ways, not so much. So we chatted with them for a bit afterward and had some good laughs standing out on the sidewalk in the sun. Steve and Todd have a few similarities so they banter back and forth pretty well. It was nice to see.

That afternoon, we went to Doug & Ann's engagement party. This was supposed to be at a park, but weather wasn't looking too stable, so they moved it to a restaurant/game room/pool hall. The kids were in game heaven and I kicked butt at pool. Apparently I don't need jack-n-cokes to win four games in a row!

After the party, we ran some errands, which included swinging by my apartment to pick up some more clothes. I had every intention (once again) of planting my heels in and staying at my apartment Saturday night, then going back to West Seattle on Sunday. But, as we know, I tend to get all caught up in the hugs and the fun, so I decided to stay with Todd Saturday night as well.

And the kids were going to their uncle's to play games so that left me and Todd....alone. For hours. Hee hee.

We went out to dinner and then swung by the Corner Pocket to play some more pool and watch football on the big screens. And I declared that the Corner Pocket could very well become my next Lock-n-Keel. Except I won't throw up in the Corner Pocket. Promise.

Sunday:

I took a giant step in the relationship. I left Todd's to go have lunch with a friend at Greenlake. Then went back to Todd's. Just like it was an average day. Like I was living there.

And I didn't panic once. NOT ONCE!

After lunch, Todd, Kayleigh and I went school shopping. Bought some supplies and some clothes. And boy howdy, did the mom in me ooze out! I was holding the pants up to her to see if they'd fit. I made her put on a button down over her t-shirt because she hates going into dressing rooms. I bit my tongue when she held a pair of jeans up and exclaimed that she loved them, even though my first thought was, "We wore those in the 80's and they were ugly then and please don't have them in her size." No, no. If she likes them, she likes them and I am not going to be one of those moms who gives their kids a hard time about what they wear. Within reason. No g-strings sticking up out of the jeans. I mean, really.

After shopping, back to the house for MORE CLEANING!

Today's task: Todd's room.

This time, I took before pics. But we're not entirely finished, so you'll have to wait until next weekend for the before/after pics. We didn't get started until around 5, so Todd worked one corner while I worked on the closet.

His waist size has decreased by a few numbers in the last year, so I got rid of his big pants and tidied up what was left over. I may have even consolidated things in order to maybe, um, make room. You know, in case new stuff needs to be put in there. Somewhere down the line. One of these days.

Ahem.

Where was I?

Right! We worked into the wee hours (7pm) then re-heated some pizza and watched some movies. Of course! Cars (by Pixar) and Raising Arizona ("I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!"), which Todd and I both fell asleep during. Pooped we were.

Monday:

Up somewhat early to look at houses. But first, Home Depot.

Ah, the smell of lumber in the morning. Love Home Depot!

We picked up a towel rack for the half bath (because the towel just gets thrown on the countertop and you KNOW Rae-rae can't handle a towel just thrown on the countertop) and a second towel rack for Todd's bathroom. Because some chick has been hanging out there a lot and she's leaving her towels over the shower curtain rod and they're just in the way. So, now she has her own towel rack.

Not panicking. Not at all.

After Home Depot, the houses. Ack. The seemingly-perfect-but-oh-my-gawd-what-were-they-thinking-with-that houses. It is amazing what people will do to a house to get you to buy it. Yes, the marble countertops are pretty and yes, it's a brand new front door, but do you really think I can't smell the smoke in here? Are you going to knock off money so that I can get the carpet replaced? And what are you thinking with that fake wainscoting? You simply glued wood to the drywall. That doesn't count. And by the way, I know you just painted a piece of wood and nailed it above the fireplace. That is not a mantle. You couldn't even sand down the end of the board? Sheesh.

So, the houses sucked.

Onward.

Back to the homestead for more cleaning. Five hours of cleaning. It was a smidge painful at times for Todd, running across mementos and keepsakes, but he was strong and determined and stated more than once that it was time to move on. I kept the piles separated (Goodwill, give to someone, trash), loaded up my car with donations and provided lots of hugs. We ended up clearing off one whole wall of boxes, and although we declared ourselves done for the day, I strayed to the other wall. I just couldn't stop. Just one more box. One more! But Todd's stomach told us it was time to get some food so we headed out for dinner.

And it was then I made the comment that I needed to go to Target to buy something to wear to work on Tuesday. Because I just didn't want to go home.

Luckily, I had a t-shirt with me that would go well enough with the skirt I had worn on Friday so no run to Target was necessary. Which is good because then we wouldn't gotten home in time for the season premiere of Gossip Girl!

Jessica doesn't stay with me anymore. I can blog about Gossip Girl all I want.

After laughing at and mocking Gossip Girl, the very productive Downings (and Marsh) went to bed.

Whew!

Are you as tired as I am?

And here we are, another week. Ah, but a short week! And you know...I don't think I have anything planned for the evenings. Well, laundry tonight, but that's about it.

Whatever will I do with myself?

Movies, Milo, Lingering OCD Symptoms and Instant Gratification

One of the side effects (she says with love) of hanging out with Todd (formerly known as Tbone, which was getting a lot of questions, so we're sticking with his real name from here on out) and his bonafide Movie Friends is that I'm getting exposed to a lot of movies that I've never seen and in some cases, never heard of.

That is one helluva sentence.

The Friday night movies this week were The Specials, with Thomas Hayden Church whom I just love, love, love, and Free Enterprise, which was hysterical, although I think I missed some of the references because I haven't seen a lot of Star Trek and Star Wars and those other star movies. Then last night, Todd and I went to see The Visitor at the Harvard Exit. Very good. A bit bleak, but beautiful.

I also got in some Milo time in yesterday afternoon. Such a cutie.

The baby meter has officially exploded.

Today, I finally grocery shopped. And it took two hours. I couldn't make a decision about anything. I hate those moods. I also found myself straightening the items on the shelves. This tells me I need to take some me time and relax a little bit. Lots of stuff rolling around in the old noggin, apparently.

After grocery shopping (you're just enthralled at this point, aren't you?), I toodled around the house, doing some random projects that I just haven't been able to get to lately. Printed out some pictures, put some other pictures in some frames, swiffered my desk. And then I ran across a coaxial cable and remembered that I had been meaning to check my cable outlet. Rumor has it, I might have free cable.

And whadya know?
I have free cable.

Slight rant:

This would have come in very handy during football season. This free cable includes FSN and ESPN. I could have been watching Monday Night Football, dammit! And most of the Seahawks games were on FOX. I wrestled with rabbit ears for five months! Double dammit!

Anywho, my cable cord is too short, and I can't have my TV just skootched in the middle of the living room for the sake of a clear picture. So I walked down to Radio Shack (it's 70 degrees and sunny as all get out here!) and bought a 25' cable. Instant gratification. Love that.

And it's only Sunday! I have a whole 'nother day off!

I feel like a cat. I just want to lay on the floor in the patch of sunlight and take a nap.

Hmmmm
And why not?

Now What Will I Bitch About During Seahawks Games?

It's finally happened. Shaun Alexander has been released.

If you remember, dear reader, I've done a little complaining about him. Yes, he was great seven years ago, but he's just not the big star he used to be and Holmgren was having a hard time accepting that. He kept relying on Alexander and Alexander just wasn't producing results. And in turn, we were losing games.

Well, now he's gone. Whew.

I don't want to celebrate too much because 1) that would just be mean and you know I'm not mean and 2) I don't want to jinx it and have the two new running backs suck worse than Alexander. So let's just say, here's looking forward to this season and some young, fresh talent.

Yum.
Young, fresh talent.......

*sigh*

I'm so pathetic.

Weekend Update

Dinner club on Friday was nice. Lots of gals, lots of food, lots of girl talk. I ended up staying a few hours. I would have loved to have stayed longer, but my head was still killing me. So much so that, while I laid down around 10pm, I didn't actually fall asleep until after midnight. I hate that.

Saturday, I ended up sleeping until almost 1pm. I guess headaches really drain you. I got up, ate something, then laid back down for two hours. So Saturday was shot.

I did go out to my gal's dinner that evening. My friend would have beaten me if I had bailed. And I treated myself a filet mignon wrapped in bacon. Oh boy. Good stuff. And I don't normally eat steak. But since we went a steak house, well, I got the steak. Could have gotten the salmon, but I have salmon all the time. So I got steak.

Afterwards, I swung by the Fiddler's Inn to join the Sheauns and a couple of other friends for some live music. But the headache was back in full swing by this time, so I was very out of it and just wanted to go home. Which I did. Around midnight.

Sunday, I was up early thanks to my upstairs neighbor. Her mother was packing to leave and apparently is not used to having someone living below her. She made no attempt to be quiet at 8:30am. So like it or not, rested or not, headache or not! I was up early.

I went by Target before heading to Shaun's for the superbowl. And I purchased two new lampshades for The Boudoir. No, no lamps. Just the shades. Baby steps.

Then off to watch the SuperBowl.
And here's where it all goes downhill.

Guess whose inner-alcoholic pushed her off the wagon, face first in the mud, and made her drink an entire bottle of wine by herself? And then gave her a camera?

And guess who hid her phone (no drunk texting!) and keys, but kept refilling her glass until we were completely out of wine?

(And then there's the good, sober Rachelle. Crocheting. Not knitting, mind you! Crocheting. There is a difference!)

Yes, quite the SuperBowl party. Shaun let me vent and cry for what felt like hours after Raechelle and Claudia left. Apparently, I still have some pent up emotions that could only be released with a good Cabernet. And those emotions are now all over Shaun's couch pillows. I should wash those for him.

And yes, the game itself was a shocker. Who knew the Giants would actually win? And the poor Patriots! To go alllllll season, undefeated, only to lose in the SuperBowl? Man. I bet they're in a sad state today.

And here we are at Monday. Yes, I still have a headache, but I now can't determine if it's the migraine or a hangover. I'll re-assess the situation tomorrow.

Football Season Is Over

Well, the Seahawks couldn't do it. They started out amazingly strong against the Packers - two touchdowns off the Packers' turnovers. But that was about it. Poo. And although Jacksonville was doing well, they couldn't beat the Patriots.

My Saturday was spent on the couch, between the Sheauns, yelling at the TV. It was a good way to wrap up the season. I'll watch next weekend, and of course, there will be the superbowl, but it's just not the same without our Seahawks.

At least my weekends are free again. For another eight months.

Pre-season starts in August!

Weekend Update

I had a very nice weekend.

Friday night, I came home from work, gulped down way too much pasta for dinner, then fell asleep on the couch. Woke up, went to bed. Lovely night.

Saturday was the dreaded Redskins/Seahawks game. The Sheans came over to keep me company and we watched with glee as the Seahawks actually made some good plays and won the game. It was touch and go there for a bit as Hasselbeck made some very big boo-boos. So we advance to next week - The Green Bay Packers. Something tells me this will be our last game of the seaon. Call it a gut feeling.

That evening, I had dinner with a co-worker and some of her friends down in Tacoma. Yes, Tacoma. Alllllll the way down in Tacoma. For dinner. Crazy, huh? But it was good to have some girl time.

Sunday was spent mostly in bed. Just cause. It was a good day.

And Sunday evening, one of my gals and I went to see Juno. I had never heard of it, but wanted to see her, so why not? Turns out, it was a fantastic movie. I may even buy it when it comes out on video. Very, very funny.

And in bed early last night.

And here we are today, back at work, back to back to back meetings and I take minutes for all of them. And I'm not the least bit good at it and I hear about how not good I am at it at every meeting. Yet they don't get anyone else to do it. Fun, huh?

Tonight is my massage, tomorrow is walking with the gals, Wednesday I may join Jamie at the spa for a pedi (if I can find room in the budget), Thursday is walking with Jamie and Friday is.....um. I got nothing for Friday. How can I be so busy all weekend, but have nothing planned for the weekend?

I was supposed to have an Actual Date this past weekend, but the guy never called me to make the plan. Can you believe that? He passed THIS up! Silly man. If he calls, I may give him another chance. Maybe.

Feel the power.

2008 Update

I'm sorry to say I have nothing exciting to report.

I hung out at Darragh's on New Year's Eve. He was asleep when I got there, and while he woke up for a bit to partake in champagne and baked brie, he fell back asleep during the movie. I had to wake him at midnight to celebrate. We watched the fireworks on TV.

Funny thing, there was a computer glitch so the fireworks at the Space Needle didn't go off at first. I thought, oh that's a bad way to start off the new year......

And so far, 2008 has been relatively uneventful.

I took my christmas decorations down yesterday. Or, started to. But then McP called, so we went to the beach for a bit, then just lounged around and watched movies the rest of the day. Much better than taking down decorations.

And side note - Children of Men is depressing as hell. I knew it would be bleak but holy crap. At one point, when there was nothing going on but a bunch of gunfire, I excused myself to the bathroom. McP said, "You want me to pause it?" I said, "Um. No. I don't think I'm going to miss anything too exciting." Consider yourself warned.

That's about all I got. Laundry tonight. Maybe hanging out with Jessica on Thursday. A girl's night Saturday. Oh! And the Seahawks play the Redskins on Saturday! My, won't that be a fun game! East coast vs West coast. How exciting! I'm sure the text messages will be flying! I need to find someone with a bigger TV. My little 14" isn't going do this game justice.

Small Football Rant

I pulled my ass out of bed for THAT? Holy crap.

First, am I the only one who thinks Alexander just needs to be benched for the rest of the season? Yes, he made one nice run, got some yardage, woohoo. The rest of the time, I just cussed him out because he can't seem to do anything right. Even the commentators are saying that Alexander is not playing up to that big MVP title he got last year. We do have other players who are so much capable of actually running up field with the ball. Why can't Holmgren see that?

Second, the score today was 0-0 until the fourth quarter. That's three hours of my life I will never get back. It was pretty much a battle of defenses. The Panthers finally got a field goal, then the Seahawks decided maybe they should actually play some football so they got a field goal. Then the Panthers got another field goal, okay, we're three points down. But then they got a touchdown (wha.....?) and it just looked to be freakin' hopeless. Then, in the last three seconds of the game, the Seahawks hussled and wow, got a touchdown. WTF? You couldn't do that in the first three quarters?

*sigh*

You know I love my Seahawks. I really, really do. But come on, boys. What happened? It was windy, yes, I know that sucks. But take a look at the Cleveland game! At least there wasn't a foot of snow on the ground!

Anyway. I'm done. They know I'm upset.

But we'll try again next week against Baltimore (4-9). There may be hope. To my parents - don't you dare plan anything for Sunday at 3pm. I get the TV. The big TV. I got football to watch.

No Words to Describe My Weekend

My god, I've spoiled you people. Two whole days without a post and you're beating down my inbox. I know you won't believe me, but there are things that go on here in Raechelle-land that I don't write about. And it's those things, that I don't write about, that made for a shitty, shitty weekend.

So what can I tell you?

Friday was the Day of the Dead party.
Started out fine, got bad, I drank a shit load of wine, it got even worse.

Saturday I woke up, the worseness continued, I slept until 6pm. I crawled to the couch, watched two Cold Cases, two CSIs, the Bionic Woman, SNL and then went back to bed.

Sunday, I spent the day at Shaun's, wrapped up in a blanket, watching the Colts/Patriots game on one TV and the Seahawks/Bears game on another TV. Came home.

Then Steve came over to bring me some random mail. And he told me he's seeing someone.

(insert crickets chirping here)

She has a three year old daughter.

(more crickets chirping)

I'm fine. Really. Just fine. And oh yes, he sees the irony there. We ended up talking for two hours and it was nice. It felt like we were friends. And to put a big fat positive spin on it, a post break up hurdle has been cleared. One Of Us Is Dating. It's every man for himself now.

Weekend Update

I really don't have anything interesting to report today. But I know how some of you just live for this blog, so here's an update, nonetheless.

I went to the ThorNton Creek show Friday night. Steve is out of town and didn't play with them, so I decided I'd stayed away long enough. It was a good show, and it was nice to see all the Millers again. Not sure if they were exactly "happy" to see me, but everyone was polite to everyone so it seemed okay. The only moment of "oh-crap-I-shouldn't-have-come-here" was when they played Morpheus and MJ said "This is for Raechelle....." and I cried. It's a pretty song. And it brought back a lot of good memories.

Saturday, I shopped all day. New underwear, a curtain rod extender, a pretty red scarf, clothes hangers, colored key covers. Fun stuff. I also got a new cell phone. Which was a colossal pain in the ass. It should have only taken 15 minutes or so, but I was at Car Toys for an hour because the Boy was either stoned or very infatuated with me. He was bumbling around like one of the Three Stooges. He'd print out something write on it, realize he'd written in the wrong area, laugh about it, then have to print it all over again. He felt the need to explain the absolute simplest things to me ("Here's how you turn it on, and here's how you dial a number....") and my lack of interest in him didn't seem to be a deterrent at all. I tell ya, it's hell being so cute.

When I finally left there, my mood was quite sour. And now I'm not sure I even like this new phone. I'll have to buy a new headset because my headset isn't compatible and I hate every ring tone on it so I need to figure out how to download those. The phone was free, but it's going to cost me $100 just to get it how I like it.

That evening, I ventured over the The Eastside for a birthday dinner for a co-worker. Home and in bed by midnight.

Sunday, I hung out at Shaun's and did some laundry while I watched the Seahawks FINALLY PLAY SOME FOOTBALL!! It's about damn time! Even Shaun, the ultimate football curmudgeon, watched most of the game with me. I didn't dare shoot my mouth off last week about the Rams not having won a game yet and we should be able to beat them. No sir. That bit me in the ass with the Saints. But poor Bulger couldn't do squat. He was out for the last two games because he was injured, but it looked like maybe he still wasn't ready to play yesterday. I read that he felt he needed to get in there and help his team, but he didn't seem to really help that much.

And after I left Shaun's I went by a *different* Car Toys to see about exchanging my phone. And the guy had absolutely no interest in my whatsoever. I ended up not exchanging my phone, because it seems that my headset is obsolete now and I won't be able to find a compatible phone at all. And the guy told me about a little hard drive that goes into my phone so I can download ringtones on it ("they're only, like, $10.....") and the little converter where the little harddrive goes in one end and the other end plugs into the USB port on the computer ("and these are only, like, $20.....") so it may not be that expensive after all. Now I just need to find a headset. Because the majority of the conversations I have with my parents are when I'm driving great distances in a lot of traffic. I need my headset.

All and all, in and out in 10 minutes.

And I'm in a damn good mood today. I'm choosing not to analyze why. I woke up happy, which is rare, and so far no one has pissed me off today. Could this be a new way of life for Raechelle? Let's not get ahead of ourselves......We'll just have to see how long this lasts.

Worst Game Yet

Oh, you Seahawks.

You know I support my team regardless of how they're doing. But come on. Really? The plays that were called were just flat out stupid. Even Maddon and Michaels were wondering what the hell Holmgren was thinking. And Alexander? Oh, I've just had it with him. And I've almost had it with Hasselbeck. I'm not going to rip him to shreds, but the boy needs to learn to keep his cool. You can just spot the moment he freaks out. We can't have a quarterback freakin' out all the time. Dude, be a leader. Keep your wits about you. Quit throwing hail marys at every play. No one is there to catch it. Chill out!

Anyway. I'll still support my team. I'll still use my coasters. But I'm not getting my hopes up about a championship of any kind this year. I just don't see it happening.

*sniff*