Once in a blue moon

I seem to suddenly remember to blog out of nowhere, but usually it is not when I'm near a computer. Once in a blue moon (ok, a little more frequently, but still), the two events line up. So, here we are today.

Life has been good. Of the planning I was doing back in April, we only have yet to finish the carpeting, shed, and screen door. But we have BOUGHT the door :) My garden is glorious. I have five hedge rose bushes, loads of dahlias, dasies, verbeena, petunias, and lots more. It's mostly pink, purple and white, but I can never resist the happy yellow and white of daisies. We put down loads of organic mulch, so the weeds are fairly well under control. I met our backyard neighbor the other day too, which was nice.

I'm on a new weight loss quest. So far, in the last month, I've lost ten pounds. I can't see a difference yet, but some people are saying they can. That is exciting. I'm learning how to eat and cook healthier, and a LOT about moderation. That can be tough.

Paulo and I are looking forward to leaving tonight for a short vacation. We're going to my parents' farm for my niece's first birthday party! It will be nice to get away and relax. Our trip out to Kentucky and Tennessee in May was wonderful. We enjoyed ourselves and really packed a lot into the week. The highlights were visiting with my Kentucky friend and my extended family. My dad happened to be visiting that town too, which was awesome.

Another project I have been working on for some time now is roman blinds for our kitchen. I am delighted to say that I finally finished them last night. Perhaps I will take and post photos sometime. As a new sewer, this was a fairly big project for me, especially since two of them are for side-by-side windows and the fabric has a plaid pattern to it that I wanted to match up on the pair of blinds that touch one another. Paulo hung them very nicely last night and it appears they work great and match up pretty well. That was an exhausting project. I think the next thing I make will be small, just to have a quick victory for once.

Perhaps I'll manage to remember to post after our trip. We have a long drive tonight, between that and little sleep last night, we should have some interesting and funny conversations.

The things I DO have

Well, so I guess I forget too easily, and a month has passed. We've had a busy month, but without too much actual outcome. March was planning month, I guess. We're planning: a new shed, rosebushes, a new screen door, living room carpeting (and maybe the stairs too), a trip to Kentucky and Tennessee, a camping trip, and he's planning to take the GMATs and I'm planning to get a new cell phone on a different network... and all that is just the beginning, I can't even list it all!

I tend to get an adrenalyne rush from planning. I get so excited that I can get carried away. And so I start thinking of the things I want... A new car, a speaker dock for my iPod, a silver bracelet I saw somewhere, a new sofa, a sewing cabinet, a gym membership, a vacation at the beach, a massage, and the list goes on. Not small things! The reality side of my brain knows that this is all someday if I'm lucky stuff, but I dream anyway. Good greif, I'll be thrilled by the new shed! It's just this adrenalyne rush thing.

It isn't that I have to remind myself of the things I do have... I know I'm so lucky in so many ways... The best things, of course, are my boyfriend and my family (not the least of which being my stunningly adorable niece!). But I have a car that runs, a wonderful, cozy home with my boyfriend, a sewing machine, health, TiVo, good food, great friends and a billion other things that I am TOTALLY thankful for.

So now I have to learn to tame my mind. I know it's ok to dream, but I think I scare my boyfriend with all the looking and dreaming I do - I think he thinks I actually want it - like now. So I'll keep planning with him, that's a lot of fun anyway!

So I guess I should actually blog about what's been going on in my life... since I've already said this blog should chronicle the second year of our relationship... I love that blog is a verb.

Well, here is a funny thing that happened to us the other day...

My boyfriend and I went to Burlington Mall the other day. We parked (the lots were packed! on a Wednesday night...) and went into Nordstrom, then out into the mall. First thing we saw was... Santa's house (please, again, note, this was Wednesday, April 2)! And there beside the house... Santa! Himself! He had elves there too! Hm, we thought, strange. The Easter bunny was here a few weeks ago... It's too early for Christmas in July... What's going on???

Then as we walked on, the mall was PACKED! My boyfriend said, "This is like the holidays but it's Wednesday night. What is going on!?" A lot of the people were bundled up like it was still zero degrees out and were carrying shopping bags from christmastime (like the ones Macy's or whoever uses at Christmas). We started feeling like we were in some sort of time warp. We kept shaking our heads like we might knock something loose and realize what was going on. THEN, we were walking past Williams-Sonoma, and they had a window display featuring gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies, and red and green mixers!!! We wordlessly stopped and looked in the window.. then I looked at my boyfriend and he was looking at me... It was like, if it was only one of us seeing all this, I could believe I hit my head or something. But there we were, the two of us... And it was the day AFTER April Fools, and besides all this was a little too elaborate for a mall prank... we just stood there for a good minute looking at the Christmas cookies, a little bit worried.

We walked further on in the mall, and that was when we saw lights, cameras, wires, and swarms of people with headphones on. So it turns out they're making a movie with Kevin James, and there he was, dressed like a rent-a-cop, complete with thick mustache and Segway scooter. We kinda stopped walking cause it was exciting but then some production guy shooed us on cause we were "in the shot"

WOW, so that was surreal and weird and kinda exciting! I was just glad we weren't both simultaneously losing our minds!

I'll sign off and save some stories for another day.

Sickie

What are you like when you're sick? Me, I'm needy. SOOOOoooo needy. Some people are stoic, like my boyfriend, some are whiny, some are just totally withdrawn. I turn into a sad puppy. I want affection, attention, love, pats on the head, whatever. I'll even moan a little after an especially rattling round of coughing to get that little bit of sympathy. Pathetic, I know.

But at work the last three days, I've tried to be stoic about it. Hard to do when you're hacking up a lung and talk like a lifelong smoker (which I've never been), but there you go. I'm not getting the sympathy I want, so I'll go home tonight and feel sorry for myself.

So Lewis Black, in my opinion, is one of the funniest men on earth. He has this bit about Nyquil. "The moonshine of medicine," he calls it. He says, "it comes in two flavors, Red and Green. And it's the only thing in the world that tastes like red and green." Unfortunately, the stuff doesn't work for me anymore, and last night I was loopy as a loon on it.

I can't think of anything else that tastes like green though, can you? I eat green things, but they don't taste green. I'm going to work on this. . .

First post

I've moved around a lot. Online and in real life. This isn't my first appearance in type on the web, not even my first blog. Like apartments and diaries, I find thrill and then comfort in a new blog, then I start getting what I call "root bound". When a plant has lived in its pot long enough that the roots reach the walls of the pot and start winding round and round, it is root bound and ready for a transplant or repotting. And so, frequently, I find myself some new digs and start over.

I have reached a new part of my life now (31 years in) where I think I might find a way to keep myself in one place. I have a man in my life who is perfect for me and I can't imagine not being with him. It is funny in a way - because his job ties him to this area, and my heart ties me to him - so the fact that I don't much like this part of the country has become... well, moot, I guess.

I'm still prone to getting root bound in other ways - my job is smothering me and I can't wait to find a new one, but I'm trying to stick this one out at least till I hit my two-year mark. Employers don't like nomads like me. But at least one part of me is finally experiencing something more enduring. My heart only looks forward now, to each tomorrow with my guy. That makes me think/hope that someday I'll find myself settled and happy with everything else - job, home, maybe even blog.

So, that's why I'm starting this blog now. It's almost an experiment. Let’s see how long I can keep up with it. It isn't really here for any purpose beyond that, and maybe to chase away occasional boredom. I'm sure in the meantime, if I'm good about it, it will also chronicle the second year of my wonderful relationship.