I’m defeated! I totally lose at the Nablopomo this month! I’m not going to make any excuses at all. I just fail.
I was on a pretty good roll there, almost making it to the halfway point. But then crap came up, as it often does when I have a blog, and it made me withdraw a little bit into my shell. I hate when things from nearly ten years ago rear their ugly heads to make me feel a bit insecure. Truly I have not been as happy as I am right now in a very long time. Everything is going well and right. I have a great girlfriend. My family is ok. We’ll never be great, but we’re all ok and they are all supportive of my life. I have a great job. My son is happy and healthy. My relationship with The Professor is fantastic and he is the best friend I could ask for. Things are good, hell things are great. I have nothing to feel insecure about. But old wounds run deep I suppose.
Today is my day off, so I’ll be continuing on the quest of organizing the apartment. It is getting a little sticky in here, so the a/c is on and the blinds are closed. As soon as the apartment cools off, I’m going to get going on some sort of project.
OH! And today is our three month anniversary! Three months. Yikes. It feels like three years, truly. And yes, we are *that* couple. We were pretty much moved in at six weeks, due to unforeseen circumstances. The original plan was that it would be temporary until I found an apartment, but it worked and we decided to keep living together. But yep! Anniversary. Well Monthiversary. We’re off for Chinese food this evening. If I can find a decent place to go online.
I really did intend on being a good NaBloPoMo participant. I planned on writing insiteful, interesting, entertaining posts every day for the entire month of August. And here I am on day ten, having already missed a day. I had full intentions on writing one of those fantastic posts yesterday, but a couple of things got in the way.
We didn’t get rolled out of bed until fairly late yesterday morning. Atleast, late for me, what with the whole 7 a.m. thing. We headed over toward Saint Paul in the mid-afternoon. W got her hairs cut and we hit up a thrift store for a bit. Completely scored the most fantastic vintage bread box and a few new sweaters. OH! And red shoes! I got fabulous red shoes! I’ll post a photo of them when I have the energy to upload them off the camera.
We spent the evening at the Irish Fair of Minnesota. It is always one of my favorite days of the year, and I got to see one of my top four favorite bands of all time, FLOGGING MOLLY! They put on a fantastic show and I could not keep myself out of the pit. I planned on standing near W all evening and just watching from afar, but the music kind of sucked me in just around when they played Devil’s Dancefloor and I had to get near the front to dance. There’s just something about a good fiddle and tin whistle that makes me need to jump up and down with a bunch of drunk and rowdy bhoys! (The fifth of vodka I sipped throughout the night in my orange juice probably didn’t hurt much either. I’m a light weight anyway, so that was a bit of liquor for me).
Today we haven’t done much of anything. I didn’t even change out of my pajamas until almost 2:00. And the only reason I took them off at all was to leave the house for an hour and see Tipping The Bucket at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. It was a great show, don’t get me wrong, but I have a feeling if W hadn’t already paid for the tickets online, we probably would have just stayed on the couch in our jammas. The show was entertaining and I’m glad we saw it, but we were *that* lazy today.
Now I’m getting ready to go to bed at 10 o’clock because I go into the school tomorrow for paperwork and fingerprinting and what not and some time this week I should get my classroom assignment! Horray! And I think I am just going to pretend I didn’t forget to blog yesterday and continue on with the challenge.
I’m having one of those days. A day when I roll out of bed and instead of changing out of the boxers and beater that I have slept in, I slipped a pair of track pants on over the boxers and put a bra on and that is it. I pulled my hair back off my face with a folded bandanna, but didn’t even bother to get it wet, put any product in it, or run a brush through it. There are tufts of hair sticking up from behind the edge of the bandanna and I don’t care. I laid down on the couch around 11, intended to watch an episode of Shear Genius, and ended up falling asleep until some time after 1. Now I’m about to do the same thing again.
We’re off to a Viking’s game tonight with the tickets that W’s friend gave us. I’m not much of a football person, but it will be fun none the less. Kind of sad because W and I will be sitting in seats in front of each other instead of side-by-side, but it will be fine and you can’t really gripe when you’ve gotten free tickets!
The rest of the weekend is rather unscheduled. Tomorrow, I’d really like to make it over to see Flogging Molly at Irish Fest and we’ve talked about hitting a thrift store at some point to find a coffee pot with an auto programmer on it and so that I can do some “teacherly clothes” shopping. We’ll see though. Maybe I can convince W to just spend the entire weekend in bed with me. Taking naps, of course. Nothing dirty, of course. *wink*
I’ve been brewing plans to make a quilt for our bed for this winter. Partly because I’m tired of fighting W for one of the two undersized blankies that we have on the bed. I want to make it big enough to cover both of us so I can snuggle up closer and not have to worry about it falling off the bed. I know, cheesy. But also because I want to add something of “me” to the apartment.
When I moved out of the house, I left everything for J, my son’s father. He’s not the kind of man who will go out and buy new blankets or household items. He’d just live his life without them. He would have slept on a bed with no sheets or blankets. Not because he’s gross or dirty or lazy. Just because he has a bit of the absent-minded professor thing going on and wouldn’t think to do so. I worry about him sometimes without me living there. The man, literally, may forget to eat. (In fact, I do believe this post has inspired the name of my son’s father for use in this blog. Hence for he will be the Absent-Minded Professor, or just The Professor.)
But I figure a quilt would be a good first thing to add to the apartment. It will be infused with ME!
This morning, I decided to take a walk to the nearest laundromat in order to cash in a twenty dollar bill for quarters. Don’t lecture though, I feel guilty enough about taking the quarters from their machine and not doing my laundry there, but it is incredibly inconvenient for me to haul multiple baskets of laundry six blocks away with the little white cart that we have. So, I hooked Riley up to a leash and walked with $20 rather than the laundry. Significantly less heavy and cumbersome. Unfortunately though, the change machine at the laundromat was out of change. We ended up walking over three miles in total on the trek for quarters, but they are now sitting in the “quarter cup” and there is a load in the machine. I’m determined to get this laundry done!
Especially because…drum roll please….I got the job! I go in Monday for orientation and then I have a few training classes that are necessary to transfer my license to Minnesota. I’ll get my classroom assignment next week. I am so incredibly excited. I so incredibly scared. It’s been a long time since I was in the classroom. Truly since before I got sick last time. And it’s a bit scary. But I’m at a very good place in my life and I’m heathier than I have been in decades. It’s going to be fantastic and exciting and a whole new chapter of my life. Plus it is a good excuse to go shopping for new clothes! Teacherly clothes even. *wink*
After I got the job offer yesterday, we went out to celebrate. I knew that I wanted to have a beer, but other than that I wasn’t very picky, so we ended up at Old Chicago. They have an obscene selection of beer there, and I wanted to get started on their World Beer Tour. Hell, if I’m going to drink beer, I might as well drink beer AND get prizes. Instead of just trying one beer, i tried to Staff Choice flight of beers, which included Grainbelt Premium (one of my personal favorites), Sun Dog Amber Wheat, Surly Furious, and Surly Bender.
I’m still trying to figure out how to dig myself out of the financial mess that I am in. My debts are really not all that big or I would start considering some way to consolidate debt. Unfortunately, the debt that I do have is something that you cannot consolidate, as it is not credit cards or things of that nature. I have some student loans, but I really don’t have a ton of credit cards or anything of that sort. I really just need to get a copy of my credit report and start working my way through it. I almost wish that I had debt that was consolidatable. (Is that even a word? If it wasn’t before, it is now.) I’m going to sit down this weekend and really develop a budget for the next few months, and hopefully I can get myself really on track. There are a few major expenses that need to be lined up over the next six months or so, and if I really pay attention to it all, I am absolutely sure that I can do it. I got some big news this morning that will definitely effect my financial situation in a very positive way, but I don’t really want to post about that right this moment. I do know though that it is going to make the prospect of saving for those major expenses MUCH much easier.
Today was crazy cleaning at the apartment. I scrubbed the kitchen floor, finished up the dishes, put away a shit load of laundry, vacuumed. The only thing left to do is dust the living room, which I plan on doing as soon as I find the damn duster. I must say that cleaning really helps me get my mind focused on things in my life, but today it just wasn’t working.
I’ve been really trying to figure out alot of different things in the last week or so. Nothing life or death, but things that I’d like to work through. So today I was thinking through my monthly budget and trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do financially. I definitely have to figure it out, but it’s not going to come overnight. I’m trying to find some sort of software or a website or something that will help me develop and stick to a budget. Any suggestions?
I celebrated my one month of being a non-smoker on Sunday. I’m already noticing the benefits. My stamina is improving. My sense of smell is improving. My lung capacity is improving. I’ve stopped sounding like Janis Joplin after a fifth of whiskey and two packs of cigarettes every morning, so my voice is definitely improving. Which leads me to the next dilemma….
For the past few years, I have looked at the website for the Twin Cities Women’s Choir every season. I’ve thought about joining and even had it on my calendar a few years. I have recently met Swirlspice and her lovely girl M_tm. They are both members of the choir and I think having them there would make it less intimidating for me. It would really fulfill a few long time goals of mine. It would give me the opportunity to get some damn music back in my life, which really fell to the way side 12 years ago when I got pregnant and dropped out of the UTA music department. It would also give me a chance to meet some women and start finding the possibility of friends. And I’d have a hobby outside of the house, which is always a good thing.
The dilemma comes in with the dates. The choir rehearses on Wednesday nights. Unfortunately, as of right now, I am scheduled to begin an eight week support group on the exact same nights. The support group was my initial plan to start transitioning myself from being so isolated into trying to find some friendships. Truly the choir provides the same thing. The only difference is that I would have to find other outlets for “support”. I think I have made the decision, but who knows if I’ll chicken out at the last minute.
I woke up this morning at 5:45. FIVE FORTY-FIVE. With no alarm clock and with less than six hours of sleep, I was completely awake and unable to go back to sleep. Over the last few years, my body has slowly adjusted to waking before 7:30 in the morning. In my late teens and early twenties, it was hard for me to wake up earlier than 9:30, especially on a night when I didn’t get to bed on time. But now…7:30 is the latest I have slept in months! It gives me a pretty good chunk of time to relax and nurse my pot of coffee, so it’s actually working for me. I’m growing to actually like it.
W won tickets to a baseball game from an office raffle for this afternoon. We drove into downtown and took the train from where we parked to the Metrodome. It was the first time I had been to the dome since elementary school and I had a great time. I was actually pretty shocked. I really didn’t think that I was going to enjoy the game, but I did. I even gave a couple of little hoots and hollers at various points.
I should hear back within the next few days about the teaching gig. All crossable appendages are crossed, and I’ve ever found myself sticking to some strange little superstitions. I would really like to get this job. It’s something I could truly be proud of and I feel like W could be proud of too. I know that it doesn’t truly matter, but I really want her to be proud to answer when someone asks her what I do. I’m trying hard not to put all of my hopes on this job so that I don’t end up heart broken if I get the “We’re sorry” call, but it’s so hard when you want something this badly.
I am getting caught up on this crazy laundry monster that was trying to take over the apartment! By doing two loads a day most of this week, and a huge load last night and another huge load today, I am almost 2/3 done. Believe me. The amount of laundry that had taken over was incredible. I’m not a huge fan of the dryer in the laundry room. It seems that no matter how much laundry is in a load it will not be dry after only one cycle. You have to run it through atleast twice. And me? I’m cheap. I refuse to pay $2.00 just to get a dry pair of jeans. But that tends to mean that while I’m doing laundry, our apartment has clothes hanging EVERYWHERE to finish drying. Any bookcase, table top, or chair back that is available has a pair of jeans or a towel draped across it.
Posted by Amelia on Aug 1, 2008 in
August 2008 NaBloPoMo My lovely and amazing W has decided that we should take part in NaBloPoMo. So what does that mean for you, fine readers? It means that you will have to put up with daily posting in some form or another for the next month. Who in the name of all the gods that be has a decent topic to post about every single day? And to make it even more difficult, The Boy™ is going to be with his grandmother for the month for her annual visitation. I won’t even have pictures and stories about all of our mother/son activities! What the hell will I post about? I’m sure I’ll have a few W stories to entertain you with….but even those only cover about half of the days. The other days I guess I will keep your interest with witty anecdotes of my trips to the market and running errands. Maybe you’ll get an in depth discussion of my personal and household budget, or my plan to get this house in order organizationally! I may even start planning our post RNC vacation!
