Date Night: Married Style

OK, so remember those days before you got married? Remember dating? I do. I remember the anticipation, picking out just the right outfit, spending hours on hair and make up, making sure I smelled just right, and that my shoes were just the right height so that I wasn't taller than him. The date itself would go on for hours. He would pick me up, we'd go to dinner, a movie, out for drinks, and just spent the evening enjoying each other's company.

Yes, I remember dating.

Married dating is so different. Oh, so different.

Case in point...last night. My dear hubby surprised me last weekend by buying us tickets to a traveling theater company performance of Chicago which was just so exciting because I LOVE musical theater. The show was last night.

Well, me being me, I got so jazzed about going to a play that I absolutely insisted that we dress up for the occasion. I had a new dress that I hadn't had the opportunity to wear yet (I bought it for my high school reunion and then didn't end up getting to go...but that's another story), and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to unveil it in all of its glory.

Tuesday night while the girls were at dance class, I ran to two different stores looking for shoes and jewelry. Of course, I also needed a light jacket because I had nothing that was suitable to wear over my beautiful dress. And I needed some...ahem...foundational garments as well. (Yeah, I was really excited to be going out, right??)

So, last night, I got all showered, made up, hair done, perfumed, and dressed. I made Mike wear one of his few dress shirts, a tie and dress pants. When he tried to put on the sneakers, all it took was one of my looks for him to put them away and dig out his dress shoes. We looked like a nice cultured couple going out for a nice cultured evening.

I only forgot one thing...this is Fargo, North Dakota.

When we arrived at the theater (which was really just our local sports/concert arena converted into a theater) everyone else was dressed SOOOO casual. Our seats were great, but they were elevated in the reserved arena seats, so I had to climb up those steep steps in my new heels. Before the show even started, my feet were screaming. (To Mike's credit, he never ONCE even mentioned that we were completely overdressed in comparison to every other theater patron.)

The show itself was absolutely wonderful!! The two lead actresses who played Velma and Roxie were amazing. The girl who played Roxie completely reminded me of a young Liza Minnelli. The actor who played Amos was hysterical with his rendition of Mister Cellophane! Billy and the chorus were completely engaging in the courtroom number, Razzle Dazzle. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

When we got out of the theater, it was right around 10:00pm, and though we'd enjoyed ourselves, we decided that we were too tired to go out anymore. We drove toward home, stopping only long enough to fill gas and grab McDonalds. Once we got home, I ran downstairs, put on my sweats, scarfed down my food and fell asleep on the couch. Oh, I did get a good night kiss, a quick peck before I went unconscious.

Dating used to be different.

My new dress and jacket.

Look! Heels!!!

Seattle Rain

I tried to get this blog post done both Friday and yesterday, I really did, but well...you know...life got in the way. I really wanted to get it done because dear, dear Barb is in the midst of a transition crisis after her recent move from Austin, TX to Long Island, NY, and something happened here on Friday that actually made me melancholy for Seattle. (Yeah, that doesn't happen often.)

So, Friday morning, I rolled out of bed and onto my computer, and just like magic, I was at work for the day (I work from home every Friday). After about 30 minutes of checking email, I got up to open the curtains covering the patio doors in the living room. What I revealed made me step back for a moment and just stare.

It was raining outside, but not the normal North Dakota pouring rain where the wind blows so hard that most of the time it looks like it's raining sideways. No, this was Seattle rain.

Eight years ago, when we first told everyone we were moving to Seattle, the first reaction was always "Oh, but all that rain!!" We ended up living there for four years, and even now, I still maintain that the weather is Seattle's best kept secret. When it rains in Seattle, it doesn't pour most of the time. It's just the most beautiful light, gentle rain. In the springtime, the clouds are thin enough to be able to tell that the sun is going to make an appearance in an hour or so, and this is just a short shower to make everything look lush and green and full of life.

And there's no wind. None. Not even a little bit.

I could sit on the deck of our third floor apartment and just watch that rain forever. After an hour, sometimes two hours, the rain would stop and the sun would come out, but for the rest of the day, that clean, sweet end-of-the-rain-storm smell would linger in the air.

So when I looked out my North Dakota window and saw Seattle rain, it made me miss Seattle just a little bit, like I do every now and then. And it made me remember that, even though the move had been hard, Seattle had once become home to us.

The transition to a new place takes time....and patience....and sometimes, it takes a lot of exploring to find one or two things that make you feel like you belong.

Seattle did become home. Eventually, Long Island will become home for Barb and her family. It just might take awhile to learn to appreciate the little things that are special about a place...like the Seattle rain.

Love Thursday: Thank you, boys and girls and Norma Zimmer!

So, tonight I was saying goodnight to the girls and a broke into song...

(Just so you know, I tend to do that from time to time when the right inspiration strikes.)

Good night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you

Here's a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true

And now 'til we meet again

Adios, au revior, auf weidersehen.....Good Night!

For anyone who doesn't recognize this, it's the closing song from "The Lawrence Welk Show". Lawrence Welk is something of a folk hero in North Dakota because he's one of the first really famous people to hale from our great state. (We deserve more famous people because this state is just that great...just want to make a note of that!)

So, I'm singing to Marissa as she's trying to say goodnight and escape to her room for her 30 minutes of Nintendo DS before sleep time, and both girls start looking at me like I've suddenly sprouted a second, then a third head. Of course, I then had to explain where the song came from and why it was forever burned into my memory.

I actually love little moments like this because I like sharing memories of my childhood with my girls. Besides, it's good for them to hear about a time when we didn't have five TVs with 3 zillion channels and 4 video game systems in the house. Ya know?

When I was a little girl, we would spend most of our weekends at my maternal grandparents' farm. The farm was about 5 miles outside of a very small town (population less than 2000. Yes, VERY small), and on Sunday evenings after my cousins and I had spent all day outside climbing trees, running through fields, getting dirty, just being kids, we would come in for dinner and then a little bit of TV.

At 6:00pm sharp, however, Papa (Papa is the name I gave my grandfather when I was 3 because I couldn't fathom the idea of two Grandpas. Two Grandmas was fine, but I couldn't have two Grandpa. So one became Papa.)...anyway, Papa would take control of the TV so that he could watch Lawrence Welk. It was his favorite show and he (just like every other self-respecting German in North Dakota) never missed it.

All of us kids found the champagne orchestra and bubble music terribly dull, but would tolerate it because we knew that at the end of that hour, we would be rewarded with "The Wonderful World of Disney". (Oh, the girls were completely fascinated to hear that we didn't have Disney Channel, so WWofD was a highly anticipated event!) Mickey, Donald and Goofy were only an hour of mind numbing cheese away. We always knew it was almost time when the trite little waltz would start to play and the singers would sing those familiar words....

Adios, au revior, auf weidersehen.....Good Night!

Yep, forever ingrained in my mind. It's never gonna go away. Hmmmm....I think that's a good thing.

"That Age"

Yesterday, in my Joy Rush list, I mentioned the fact that my older daughter has reached "that age" where giving me and Dad hugs just isn't cool anymore. Well, that's really only part of the story to being "that age". It turns out that 12 means has lots of advantages and an equal number of drawbacks. I wasn't fully prepared for some of the drawbacks, but more about that later.

On the up side, 12 means increased independence and a higher level of personal responsibility. She's now able to baby-sit her younger sister which means no more hiring a sitter every time I want to step out of the house. When Dad and I want a date night (and we do get a few of those here and there), we pay her, of course, but if I just want to go to the grocery store or run errands without dragging children behind me, I can just go and not worry about them.

She's taking a home economics class in school right now, and has become increasingly interested (and excited) about helping around the house. She is able to cook simple meals (good thing I like grilled cheese and scrambled eggs!), make coffee (bless you, child!!) and she even made Rice Krispy treats all by herself for dessert on Mother's Day (yummy!).

The simple fact that she doesn't have to be supervised in every activity is such a treat for me. The down side, however, has been a true shock to my system. It was bad enough when, about a month into 6th grade, she suddenly began to fight me at every turn about every little thing. I knew nothing about what she should wear or how she should do her hair, couldn't be trusted to help with her homework, and every little suggestion was met with a sarcasm that just made me want to scream. All of these things were bad enough, but what happened the other day just about put me over the edge.

(Ok, first let me say that if she ever finds her way to my blog and reads about this, I may be a dead woman, but I like to live dangerously.)

So, when I signed the girls up for their own internet accounts, I set up the parental controls so that they would send me a report of what web sites they visited, how long they spent online, who was emailing them, and I totally blocked them from IM. I got the report the other day and was not prepared for what I found...searches for topics that, quite frankly, made me blush furiously. I won't go into detail, but one of the words rhymes with "Bilbo" as in Bilbo Baggins, but this one had NOTHING to do with Lord of the Rings. WHAT????? (Now, thankfully, those parental controls appear to have blocked the actual content, but that didn't mean she couldn't type it in and search for it!)

Thank goodness I found this early in the day while said-child was in school or I might have strung her up by her toe nails right there and then. Fortunately for her, I had plenty of time to calm down and plan my strategy for the coming discussion.

That night, when she got home from school, I sent her sister outside to play, and then sat her down with the "we need to talk" introductory statement. I asked her if she knew that I still got reports of her online activity when she is on the internet. Holy cow, I don't think I've ever seen her face that white or her eyes that big.

Of course, she immediately knew what I was talking about. We discussed the fact that this material was not only not appropriate for someone her age, but how looking up things like that on the internet can lead to a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation. Just because information is posted on the internet, doesn't mean it's correct. As we talked further, I found out by probing a bit that the words she was searching for were things she had heard kids talking about at school, and she just wanted to know what they were or what they meant. OK, I can understand that. I knew how it feels to be that kid at school who doesn't get it when the other kids are talking about "stuff". So I told her she could ask me any question about anything, and I would always answer her honestly. I would tell her what things meant, but that didn't mean I thought it was appropriate conversation material and CERTAINLY didn't condone her actually trying any of those things.

Amazingly, this and a few more questions led into a conversation so frank, I couldn't believe afterward that I'd actually been talking to my 12-year-old about topics like this. Again, I won't go into detail (because this is a family show, after all!) but use your imagination and think about the things kids used to talk about in middle school...you'll figure it out.

We talked for about an hour, and when we were done, I think we both felt much better. I also told her that next time she has questions, she needs to come to me. I said I would always tell her the truth and give her the right information. (I really hope she listened and takes me up on it.)

Overall, I felt pretty good about the way I handled it. She understood that I wasn't happy with what she did, but hopefully, I also opened a line of communication with her. There was no yelling, no crying, no screaming, just talking openly and honestly. Whew!

I'm glad it turned out like this, but I just was NOT prepared for this to happen yet. Were we that aware of these things at 12 or is "that age" just coming on earlier now days? I'm not sure.

Tagged by Barb: Love (My Life) Thursday

For those who don't know who Barb is, she's the absolutely wonderful, saintly woman whose blog I have been reading since she started it. She is witty and joyful and quirky and sometimes, her life is crazier than mine which makes me feel so validated. Anyway, I love Barb to death! (I really do love ya girl, and I'm not just saying that to win your meme contest!)

So Barb posted this wonderful list today that she calls a Joy Rush List...read about it for yourself, it'll truly warm your heart:

So, the thing is...blog: Love (My Life) Thursday

Then, she tagged each of her readers, challenging us to create our own Joy Rush list. Sooooooo.....without further ado, here's my attempt at LaDonna's Joy Rush List:

1. Hugs from my girls...I love hugs from both of my girls, but for incredibly different reasons. Paige's hugs are few and far between (because she's "that age" where hugging your parents is just NOT cool) and so when she voluntarily gives me a hug, it feels like such a gift. Marissa, on the other hand, is still young enough to be a snuggler...not as often as when she was younger, but she WILL snuggle with you. Since she's my baby, and in all likelihood, I won't get another one until I have grandkids, I treasure every hug and snuggle since each one may be the last. (You just never know when "that age" is going to strike!)

2. Singing the high notes...Those who have known me for a long time know my love of music and singing. This year, since I decided to go back to school, I had to forgo church choir, but last weekend, I went back and joined them for the last Sunday of this season (my church choir takes summers off). When I sing with the group, I always get to sing the highest parts and I can't tell you how much joy I get out of that. There's just nothing like hanging on that note and hearing the ring after the director cues to cut off. The feeling is like soaring through the sky without ever leaving the ground.

3. North Dakota...When we move to Seattle in 2000, I never would have imagined how much I'd miss North Dakota, but I guess when you're born here, it just gets in your blood. I can totally identify with those penguins that go back to the exact spot where they were born every year to mate, because once we were gone, the pull to come back was so strong. And how could you not love this?

4. My mom and her sisters...They are just about the nuttiest group of women I think I'll ever meet. The older I get, the more I feel like they are my own sisters, rather than my mom and my aunts. Of course, the youngest is only 10 years older than me, so when I was growing up, she really was that older sister I never had. And when all six of them are together, the laughter is never-ending, especially when they start their Tim Conway impersonations! (Right Marjean???) Here they are...don't they look like a fun bunch???

5. The Seattle Waterfront...yes, I know, I just said how much I loved North Dakota and I do! But Seattle wasn't a horrible place to live. In fact, if our family was closer, we might have stayed. And my favorite place of all in Seattle is the waterfront. The energy of the place is just infectious with sites and smells and sounds that completely accost the senses. Pike's Place Public Market (you've probably heard of the Fish Market there) is a gigantic flea market where the fresh cut flowers, organic produce, ethnic food of every kind, homemade jams and jellies, roasted nuts, and a wide variety of arts and crafts are perfectly complemented by the street performers and bustling crowds. Then the waterfront itself is an amazing collage of specialty stores, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, Seattle Aquarium, the old fashioned carousel, and of course the view of Elliot Bay and the ferries. Here, take a look for yourself...

6. Mike's sense of humor...if there's one thing that has never wavered in the past 13 years it's my dear hubby's ability to make me laugh. Here he is (on the right) with my brother-in-law playing with my niece's birthday presents at her birthday party last summer...

We all laughed non-stop over this one for hours!

7. Marissa's approach to life...my baby is going to be a force of nature when she grows up. Not that she isn't now, but when she learns to channel her talents and abilities, there won't be any stopping her. She approaches everything in life with such exuberance and joy it's hard not to share that joy with her. Whether she's singing or dancing or playing or just being Marissa, she throws herself fully into every activity. She also has a social confidence that I never could have had at her age...there is not a social situation that makes her scared, nervous or shy. She'll get up in front of a church full of people and sing a solo at the top of her lungs (and sing it beautifully, I might add) or she'll walk right up to a new group of kids making friends with them instantly. Watching my baby girl as she tackles each new challenge just makes my heart swell with pride and joy.

9. Paige's growth this year...with Paige, elementary school was - well, let's just call it a challenge. Between her struggles with ADHD and a reading disability, she hated school, hated studying, hated homework, hated it all. I would often get calls and emails from her teachers telling me that she was throwing temper tantrums, fighting with other kids, or just being generally disruptive. Going into the 5th grade, she was reading and just barely a 3rd grade level and couldn't write a full sentence. After finally getting her into special ed (don't get me started on why it took until FIFTH GRADE! UGH!) and changing her ADHD meds, she made good progress throughout the year, but I still wondered how in the world the child was ever going to survive middle school.

This year, she started 6th grade at a wonderful public middle school with the most supportive staff I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Between her "team" at school and an amazing child psychiatrist, she has made some truly spectacular strides this year. Now, at the end of 6th grade, not only has she caught up to grade level in her reading (the child who wouldn't even look at a book a year ago has finished the first 5 books of a series called Warriors by Erin Hunter since December) and the behavior problems have completely disappeared, but next year, instead of special ed language arts, she will be in a mainstream English class. Her IEP has been scaled back because she just doesn't need as much support anymore. Last week, I went to a meeting with her teachers and case worker to plan for next year, and every one of her teachers praise her growth and development this year both socially and academically. I'm so proud of my girl and how she's becoming a mature, responsible young woman.

10. Singing in the car...both of my girls have inherited my love of singing and they both are as fond of country music as I am. Whenever Carrie Underwood comes on the radio in the car, all conversation stops and the radio gets cranked up loud so we can all sing at the top of our lungs. I can't wait until the day when the girls can hold harmonies all by themselves!

11. Reality TV shows...yeah, OK, I'm hooked. I especially love the good social competition shows like Survivor and Big Brother. I get practically giddy when one of my favorite players makes an especially good strategic move.

12. My job...I can't help it! I love my job! And I love my corporate giant company!

13. Pictures...I just can't get enough! I take pictures of everything at home, at school, at work...sometimes my kids simply BEG me to put the camera down!

14. My laptop...I don't go anywhere without it. Call it a security blanket if you want, but it's how I like to spend me-time. Yes, I work on a computer all day long, but I love to unwind by web surfing or digital scrapbooking or posting on message boards.

15. My house...for a long time, Mike and I didn't know where we wanted to call home. My job moved us from Bismarck to Seattle and now back to Fargo. For more than 11 years, we rented apartments. Some were very nice, but I just never felt like we were putting down roots anywhere. We bought our house a year and half ago and every time a walk through the front door, I still feel this great sense of relief and joy to know that this house is mine.

Happy Mother's Day

Yes, I'm three days late, but Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful mothers out there...Hi Mom!! I hope you all had a wonderful day and were spoiled beyond belief!

My Mother's Day was far less relaxing that I had originally planned it to be. I had to get up early (which, right there, is a diversion from my preference) because I was singing with the church choir for Mass. It was our last Sunday for the year and so we sang for two Masses, one at 9:15 and the other at 10:45. It was fun to sing with the choir again, I've missed them! (I took most of this year off from choir when I decided to go back to school.)

So, while I was at church, Mike and the girls were making me a nice Sunday brunch...a breakfast casserole made with eggs, bread, cheese, bacon and some crab meat for good measure. YUMMY!!! Well, when I got home, it was all done, but something was very wrong. Mike had a definite grimace on his face. Uh oh...what happened???

Well, as he was taking the bacon out of the oven (we make it in the broiler), he accidentally tipped the broiler pan and spilled hot bacon grease all over his arm. So, what started out with the best of intentions ended up with a trip to the Emergency Room...on Mother's Day. Yep. That's how I spent my Mother's Day!

Mike is actually OK now. The doctor gave him hydracodone for pain and he wrapped it good. The nurse gave me lessons on how to change the dressing and care for the wound. He took painkillers Sunday evening, Monday and yesterday, but today he hasn't had any and the burn is looking MUCH better. It's very blistered, but the blisters have not broken yet. It's not nearly as tender today.

I gave him all kinds of grief over making me spend my Mother's Day in the E.R. Especially considering how often in our relationship I've had to take him to the E.R...when he hurt his back jet skiing, when he got his lip split open "defending my honor" (while we were still dating and I didn't need it!), when he cut his hand open taking the pit out of an avocado....the list goes on. I told him he's used up his entire quota of E.R. visits for the rest of this decade and the next!

So anyway, next year, if he suggests making me breakfast again, I think I'll make reservations for brunch!

Hair, Halee and How's this for a birthday present?

About two years ago, I started getting my hair highlighted. From the first time I came home with highlights, Paige (who has always thought herself to be 10 years older than she really is) has been begging me to let her color her hair. Well, after trying a couple of different places, I finally found a stylist who is DA BOMB-DIGGITY! She seriously rocks! (Hi Halee!)

Two weeks ago when I was in to get my hair done, Halee showed me some new colors she had just ordered. For me, they were pretty out-there colors...pink, yellow, orange, fire-engine red, etc. But she knew that Paige wanted hers done and grinning like crazy, Halee suggested I should let Paige get her hair colored. "Just a couple pieces right in front."

See, Halee loves my girls and she's SOOOO good with them! She even gave Paige her first eye-brow wax a couple weeks ago. (No, seriously, the child NEEDED it! Poor thing has her dad's eyebrows.) And the girls love going to see her because Halee gives them cuts they love (not just your typical kids' cut) and will spend time messing with their hair showing them how to make it look "cool".

Well, yesterday was a banner birthday for Paige. She turned 12, and I've always considered 12 to be a milestone of sorts. I know for me, it kind of marked the end of childhood and the beginning of young-adulthood. More independence, more responsibility, more freedom, more making my own decisions. And I feel like Paige is really entering that phase of her life, too. Dad and I decided that we'd let her mark this birthday with something really dramatic. So here's what she got for her birthday....









































Now, before anyone has a heart attack and says "WHAT did you DO????" it's not permanent! It'll last about 30 washes so about a month. After that, she will have a few blonde highlights because Paige's hair is so dark, we had to highlight before putting in the pink or else the pink would not have shown up at all.

The sunglasses were a gift from Dad. Halee works at the liquor store part time with him, and he had given her a few dollars with instructions to pick out some accessory from Daddy. The glasses, of course, added just the right touch.

As you can probably already guess, Paige walked around all night last night like she was the Queen Bee! And this morning, when I came upstairs at 6:30 to get her up for school, she was already up, dress, and ready to leave. She'd been up for over an hour flat-ironing and primping so that her hair would be just perfect for school. (I guess she was excited to go to school today!) She was already planning the big reveal to her friends, too. Ah, she kills me sometimes!

Here's both girls at dinner last night. While we were eating, I asked Paige if she was disappointed that I didn't make a cake this year. She laughed and said "No way! This is better than any cake!"

I guess Mom did good this year!

Twice in One Day!

So, I go two months without posting and now I post twice in one day. Good grief! But I guess I have lots to say since I've been been silent for so long.

Today is Paige's birthday. She's 12. TWELVE! When did THAT happen? Only one more year of tween left and then she's a full-fledged TEENager....oh, I'm so not ready for this.

On the plus side, at least now she's finally officially old enough to babysit! Wahoo!! I've waited for this day for 12 years! No more babysitters to call and hope to high heaven she's available at the last minute.

She's also old enough to volunteer for the Junior Zookeeper program at our local zoo this year. We filled out her application and will turn it this week Sunday afternoon. I don't know how many applications they get each year or how many they accept, but I really hope she gets this. I know it's something she's wanted to do for ages, so I'm afraid she'll be heartbroken if she doesn't get accepted into the program. Keep your fingers crossed!

I'm picking her up early from school today to take her to get her birthday present. I won't spoil the surprise but I do promise (YES, I PROMISE!) to post pictures tomorrow. It's something she's been begging for since she was in the 4th grade, and I finally decided to cave this year.

In other news, the weightloss is going, but VERY slowly. I've only lost 5 pounds since the first of the year, but I guess that's mostly my own fault. I'm to the point with Weight Watchers that I HAVE to start adding exercise because the points just aren't enough to keep me from starving anymore. But still, 5 pounds is 5 pounds and at least it's in the right directly. On the other hand, I really want to lose 19 more before summer and I have 29 more to my goal weight.

This weekend, we travel to Jamestown for the last dance competition of the year. I guess "last" makes it sound like they compete alot (they only really have two competitions a year), but we've had so much fun with dance classes and performances this year that it is a bit dissapointing to be almost done. Yes, I've even enjoyed it! The fun part is that Jamestown is about midway for many of our family and friends, so several will be making the trip. (If anyone else wants to make a last minute trip to Jamestown on Saturday, here's the info. Paige's group is Middle Kix 1. Let me know if you're coming because I'm planning a group dinner afterward to celebrate her birthday.)

Now that you all are caught up on my little world, I must remember to update more often! Until next time!

RE: Bad Date Olympics

So, yeah....I know. I promised to be more regular about this blogging thing this time and as you can see. It just didn't happen that way. But still. I'm trying, I really am.

One of my favorite things about blogging is that it has allowed me to catch up and get reacquainted with Ei. Ei and I were both deeply ingrained in the theater department in college and lived in the same dorm our last year of school. At the time we both dated men who were....I'm not really sure how to say this...not good for us. How's that for diplomatic? I could say a WHOLE lot more, but I think that covers it pretty nicely.

So now, Ei's latest challenge to her readers is to share a bad dating experience, as she herself is now back into the dating world. (Go girl!!) Considering much of my family reads my blog, I'm wasn't completely sure I wanted to share kind of information here, but what the heck! It's really nothing bad, but still...you know.

So, here goes....

The majority of my dating experience was in college, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that my worst date happened there. I was a Junior and as part of my work-study program, I put in 6 hours a week working the front desk at High Rise (my dorm at the time). My hours were usually midnight to 2am or 2am to 4am, and mostly on weekends. It was really quite entertaining watching girls stumble in trying to act sober as they attempted to locate the Up button on the elevator (they usually got it after 3 or 4 unsteady pokes at it). Then, about 10 minutes later, I'd get to bust their boyfriends as they tried to sneak up the back steps. (No boys after midnight!)

(A quick aside here, that this is probably a long set up for a totally pointless story, but Ei asked!)

During my shifts, there was a young man who would invariably stop by chat (read: flirt). He'd never stay long, but he would always end his visit by asking me if I'd go out with him. He started doing it in kind of a joking way so it took awhile for me to realize that he was serious. I always refused. Over the weeks, he continued to stop, chat, and ask me out...and over time, his requests for a date became more desperate, almost like he was begging.

Now, don't get me wrong, he was a nice enough guy. Very normal, not a stalkerish type (I never saw him other than when I was working the front desk) but he was just so not my type. We had very little in common and I really just couldn't imagine myself going out with him. He was, however, persistent. After probably 3 or 4 months of him asking, I finally said I'd go out with him. (Of course, then I spent the next several days trying to figure out how I could break the date, but that's another story entirely.)

The evening of the date, he took me to dinner....at Pizza Hut. Yes, I realize we were in college and both pretty broke, but even on a budget there were better places in Chadron for a first date dinner than Pizza Hut. Conversation over dinner was stiff and stilted. He tried, I tried, we really tried, but like I said, we had so little in common that there just wasn't much to talk about. His major was something really brainy like chemistry or advanced mathematics, something like that...and well, mine was music. I could really care less about the formulaic calculation of the mathematical center of the universe or some other junk like that.

We were only at Pizza Hut for like 45 minutes but it felt like 4 hours...and it was still light outside when we were finished. The only movie playing in town was something neither one of us wanted to see, it was too early to show up at Hermans or the South 40 (two local bars that were popular hangouts for college kids) and WAYYY too early for any house parties to have started. He asked if we could hang out in my room until later when the bar crowd started to go out. I soooooo did not want this guy in my room, but I reluctantly agreed. (STOP thinking that!!! I told you, this is NOTHING bad!)

Back at my room as soon as we walked in the door, he immediately plops himself down on my bed.

Hmmm....OK, that's how he wants to play it. Nothin's happenin' bud...forget it already.

I walked over and sat on my desk chair on the other side of the room.

We talked a little more, and the conversation was equally as torturous as it had been at Chez Pizza Hut. He kept trying to get me to come sit next to him, and just couldn't get it through his thick skull that it just wasn't gonna go anywhere. He got up and started wandering around my room, examining my personal possessions, and pretty soon, he came over by the desk (where I was still sitting) under the ruse of wanting to look at some of the books on my shelf.

He leaned back against my desk and was grinning down at me....obviously trying to be romantic. I stood up and he reached out....as I ducked under his arm and excused myself to the restroom.

I stayed in there for about 10 minutes and when I came out, he was gone. Thankfully, I was done with that date plenty early enough to call my friends and find out what the plans were for the evening.

And guess what? He never stopped by the front desk again when I was working. Heh.

There ya go, Ei. My entry into the Bad Date Olympics! And you know what? I WILL still get to that meme one of these days!

Meanest Mom in the World

The next time Paige or Marissa give me that look that says "you're the meanest mom in the whole world", I'm going to pull out this article to show them:

'Meanest mom' sells car after finding liquor
Jane Hambleton has dubbed herself the "meanest mom on the planet." After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone - by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

Someone else has already taken that title. Good for you, Jane!!!

Oh, and just to give equal billing, here's the "meanest Dad".

Glad to see there are still responsible parents in the world.

Bill Gates' Last Day

This week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas marks a major milestone for the tech world: Bill Gates delivered his last Key Note address as the President of Microsoft. Most have probably already heard that Bill will be stepping down this summer to spend more time working with the Gates Foundation. It is truly the end of an era.

As Bill (yes, we're all on a first name basis here at MS) delivered his Key Note in Vegas, he thought ahead a bit to what his last day at Microsoft might possibly look like:



You know, when most of us retire, we'll be lucky to get a slide show of old photos set to sappy music. When you're Bill Gates, you get Bono, George Clooney, the NBC Nightly News and the entire Democratic party!

So long, Bill! It won't be the same without you!

Home Improvement (Ar...Ar...Ar!)

As much as I love my husband, home repair has not always been his greatest strength. When we lived in our trailer house in Bismarck, he tried to fix the plumbing when our bathroom shower sprung a leak. That became a disaster of such proportion that his dad ended up coming over to save the day, and the floor in the laundry room still had to be completely replaced. Of course, I haven't really him live that down, and the memory of what has become known as "the plumbing incident" always made the idea of doing home repair and improvement projects a little scary. (There really is something to be said for all of our years of renting apartments when I could pick up the phone and call maintenance when something broke.)

So, a week before Christmas, the girls and I were home one night and suddenly we heard a horrid screeching coming from the basement. Going downstairs to investigate, I found the source of the noise to be our central exhaust fan. Besides being the exhaust for the bathrooms, in the winter, it runs constantly since we turn on the humidifier system attached to our furnace.

Now, we've known for a while that the fan was going to bite the dust real soon. It's been rattling and making some really weird sounds practically since we moved in, but the fact that it chose that particular moment to break down completely was such a thrill for us. To borrow a thought from a fellow blogger who has been fighting with her clothes drier, we really love it when things break down just before Christmas because we are, after all, made of money.

The fact that the central exhaust is necessary to run the humidifier meant that our house has been exceptionally dry for the past couple of weeks. Mike has always been prone to nose bleeds, but has not had many since we moved in. Once the humidifier was out of commission, he started having them again just about every day. This, of itself, was bad enough, but with the fan broken, we also had no exhaust fans in the bathrooms. I won't even go into the details, but lets just say we used A LOT of Febreeze Air Effects spray over the past few weeks.

Wednesday, Mike decided he'd had enough of the nose bleeds and Febreeze, so he took the fan apart and made the ceremonial trip to Lowes to buy a replacement fan. Two hours later he came home completely frustrated. Not only did Lowes have no idea what it was, neither did Home Depot, Fleet Farm, or Menards. What happened to taking care of all my home needs? I know that central exhaust is a little bit unusual, but it's not completely unheard of! So yesterday, Mike continued his quest by trying home heating and cooling companies and had no better luck with them.

I'll skip the details because they involve alot of running from place to place, explaining what he needed, and receiving blank stare replies, but in the end, Mike found out that the only way he could get this part was to go to a company that sells parts like this to contractors. (HUH???? It's a stupid FAN, people! We're not trying to buy explosives or anything!) He goes to this company and they tell him that in order to sell to him, he has to be a contractor...so guess what? Mike now has a general contractor's account with this company. (I guess if we ever have to build, we can buy our own stuff now, right?)

Of course, buying the part was only half the battle. Once he got it home, he realized that the fan he bought was set up exactly opposite of what we needed. (I'm now having flashbacks to the plumbing fiasco.) He proceeds to completely disassemble the casing of this brand new fan and reverse it so that it fits. After a bit of swearing and fumbling, Mike had it reassembled. Amazingly, he took it downstairs, wired it, and it fit right into place and we now have a working exhaust. Our humidity is improved and the bathrooms smell much better!

So, Mike has now successfully completed his first major home repair, and his confidence has be lifted so much that he's been walking around grunting like Tim "The Toolman" Tayler since last night. Unfortunately, if you ever watched Home Improvement, you know how well most of his projects turned out. I have to give him credit, though. This was, by far the most complicated repair we've completed without calling someone to come do it for us, but for now, I still think I'll be keeping him away from the plumbing!