It's Christmas Eve, Bob is out hiking with his friends, and I'm at home doing what he has termed my "womanly duties" of sorting through wedding presents and trying to get things organized. This post will be short; I just thought I'd share with you a brief thought I had while unpacking our beautiful knife set and block from my New York cousins, Jonathan and Alessia.
It's something like an 18-piece set and includes just about anything you could need for standard preparation of any food you'd actually bring home to cook rather than going out and having somebody else cook it for you.
Among this lovely set of knives is a big ol' meat cleaver. I mean one of those that is like 3 inches wide and 6 inches long, the kind you see in horror movies. And no, I didn't think about cleaving food. This is just a small example of the train of thought of people who regularly experience anxiety, are high strung, or watch too many episodes of "Criminal Minds." (Emily Pair, this is for you.)
As I took it out of the little plastic bag and paper sleeve, I look at it and thought, this is exactly the type of knife you see in horror movies. And to continue in that thread, as I looked at it and placed it in its spot in the block, I thought, "Great. Now if anybody breaks in while we're sleeping, they'll go straight for the meat cleaver and hack us to pieces."
Merry Christmas.
*Cue "Psycho" music....
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Marriage: Day 3
Me and Bob have been married for three days now, and although it has been good so far, I have even higher hopes for the future because hopefully we will not always be sick. He has had a nasty cough for about a week now, and I am on week 3 of the crud, now with double pink eye to complete the pretty picture. He's snoozing next to me on the couch right now; apparently our first trip to the grocery store was exhausting.
Our actual wedding day was awesome--if anything went wrong, I didn't know it, and I was only seriously stressed for a period of about 30 minutes when I was wondering WHY the guys were not yet dressed when they were supposed to be on their way to the house for pictures. But we all got there in plenty of time, and the rest of the day was perfect. I believe we may be in the running for Shortest Wedding Ceremony Ever, because the time between when my grandmother was seated to "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Robert Benner" was only 12 minutes. I have the video evidence to prove it. And it was fabulous. If you weren't there, you can read through the ceremony in the United Methodist Hymnal, and that's pretty much it. The same words couples have said for hundreds of years, cause why mess with perfection?
Nobody cried--not that I know of. We both giggled a little bit. Somebody told me afterwards, "I've never seen anybody just so HAPPY to get married before." I think that's the biggest compliment I got all day.
We left for Chattanooga by about 4:15, stopped in Trussville at Olive Garden for dinner, and then went on our way. We stayed at The Chattanoogan, which I thought would be ideal since it was right downtown and less than a mile from the aquarium, but apparently it is in the business downtown section, not the fun downtown section. So there was NOBODY AROUND. It was very quiet, though, and we were able to relax without any loud kids or drunk people wandering through the halls. Food was kind of hard to find, though, especially Sunday morning because everything in the business part is closed during weekends. We eventually found a coffee shop after walking for nearly an hour, and I got a cinnamon croissant and Bob got a double chocolate chip scone, which were both delicious. We walked across the big long bridge (Walnut Bridge I think it's called, something like the longest pedestrian-only bridge in the continental US), walked BACK along the bridge, went to TGIFriday's for lunch (I was high on Mucinex and could barely stand at this point) before going to the aquarium.
Remember how I said there was NOBODY around downtown Chattanooga Sunday morning? Well, that still holds true for Sunday afternoon. It was kind of awesome, though, to have the aquarium be so empty. We could walk at our own pace, didn't have to shove to pet the stingrays or see the penguins, and we could hug and kiss occasionally without getting dirty looks from anybody's parents.
After a much-needed nap, we hiked back down to the river area to find some dinner. We ate at the Big River Grille and Brewery, and ours was one of maybe 5 tables that had people there. It wasn't anything special, but it was a pretty good meal and we enjoyed the quiet and the walk.
Monday we came on home, which was fortunate as my crud was only getting worse. We've spent the last 24 hours moving Bob's stuff into the apartment and trying to get things organized, which is going perhaps a little slower than we'd like, but we're getting there. I've planned out our dinners for the next 2 weeks and we went grocery shopping so tomorrow when I get home I get to fix dinner like a real live house wife.
Here's hoping that we can stop coughing for 6 or so hours tonight to get a normal amount of sleep. It's so nice to have somebody to wake up to in the mornings!
That's all for now, and thanks to everyone who made our wedding so special!
Our actual wedding day was awesome--if anything went wrong, I didn't know it, and I was only seriously stressed for a period of about 30 minutes when I was wondering WHY the guys were not yet dressed when they were supposed to be on their way to the house for pictures. But we all got there in plenty of time, and the rest of the day was perfect. I believe we may be in the running for Shortest Wedding Ceremony Ever, because the time between when my grandmother was seated to "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Robert Benner" was only 12 minutes. I have the video evidence to prove it. And it was fabulous. If you weren't there, you can read through the ceremony in the United Methodist Hymnal, and that's pretty much it. The same words couples have said for hundreds of years, cause why mess with perfection?
Nobody cried--not that I know of. We both giggled a little bit. Somebody told me afterwards, "I've never seen anybody just so HAPPY to get married before." I think that's the biggest compliment I got all day.
We left for Chattanooga by about 4:15, stopped in Trussville at Olive Garden for dinner, and then went on our way. We stayed at The Chattanoogan, which I thought would be ideal since it was right downtown and less than a mile from the aquarium, but apparently it is in the business downtown section, not the fun downtown section. So there was NOBODY AROUND. It was very quiet, though, and we were able to relax without any loud kids or drunk people wandering through the halls. Food was kind of hard to find, though, especially Sunday morning because everything in the business part is closed during weekends. We eventually found a coffee shop after walking for nearly an hour, and I got a cinnamon croissant and Bob got a double chocolate chip scone, which were both delicious. We walked across the big long bridge (Walnut Bridge I think it's called, something like the longest pedestrian-only bridge in the continental US), walked BACK along the bridge, went to TGIFriday's for lunch (I was high on Mucinex and could barely stand at this point) before going to the aquarium.
Remember how I said there was NOBODY around downtown Chattanooga Sunday morning? Well, that still holds true for Sunday afternoon. It was kind of awesome, though, to have the aquarium be so empty. We could walk at our own pace, didn't have to shove to pet the stingrays or see the penguins, and we could hug and kiss occasionally without getting dirty looks from anybody's parents.
After a much-needed nap, we hiked back down to the river area to find some dinner. We ate at the Big River Grille and Brewery, and ours was one of maybe 5 tables that had people there. It wasn't anything special, but it was a pretty good meal and we enjoyed the quiet and the walk.
Monday we came on home, which was fortunate as my crud was only getting worse. We've spent the last 24 hours moving Bob's stuff into the apartment and trying to get things organized, which is going perhaps a little slower than we'd like, but we're getting there. I've planned out our dinners for the next 2 weeks and we went grocery shopping so tomorrow when I get home I get to fix dinner like a real live house wife.
Here's hoping that we can stop coughing for 6 or so hours tonight to get a normal amount of sleep. It's so nice to have somebody to wake up to in the mornings!
That's all for now, and thanks to everyone who made our wedding so special!
Monday, December 12, 2011
5 days to go....
There are five days to go until my wedding and I am fairly sure my brain is slowly leaking out through my ears during the night, for the following reasons:
1. I can hardly finish a sentence. My mother, father, sister, future in-laws, co-workers, and lovely fiance can attest to this. More often than not, I start talking and then say, "....Wait, what was I telling you?"
2. I am having the Stress Dreams. These often resemble nightmares, some more gruesome than others. Last night's was not too bad, just creepy--before I had gone to bed, I realized I had been sitting in the apartment with the door unlocked for a couple of hours, which is highly unusual but understandable as I had had an armful of crap when I walked in. So I made a mental note to check all the closets before I went to bed. In the dream, I was lying in bed staring at the wall when I realized that I had not checked the bedroom closet, which was facing me. I was terrified that somebody was in there, staring at me, waiting for me to fall asleep. So of course I couldn't sleep. When I woke up I realized that I actually HAD been sleeping because the closet is in a different spot, but I didn't feel any more rested.
3. I LOST a pair of tennis shoes in a one-bedroom apartment. WHO DOES THAT? I looked in my closets, in my car, even called my mother to see if they were at her house--no. I eventually found them behind the couch--no idea how they got there.
4. I spent almost 10 minutes looking for my watch this morning before deciding to give up because I had to get to work--and I realized I was wearing it. I have no recollection at all of picking it up, putting it on, or where it was.
The wedding can't get here soon enough; I don't know if it will help at all, being finished with it, but at least I won't have so many things on my to-do list.
1. I can hardly finish a sentence. My mother, father, sister, future in-laws, co-workers, and lovely fiance can attest to this. More often than not, I start talking and then say, "....Wait, what was I telling you?"
2. I am having the Stress Dreams. These often resemble nightmares, some more gruesome than others. Last night's was not too bad, just creepy--before I had gone to bed, I realized I had been sitting in the apartment with the door unlocked for a couple of hours, which is highly unusual but understandable as I had had an armful of crap when I walked in. So I made a mental note to check all the closets before I went to bed. In the dream, I was lying in bed staring at the wall when I realized that I had not checked the bedroom closet, which was facing me. I was terrified that somebody was in there, staring at me, waiting for me to fall asleep. So of course I couldn't sleep. When I woke up I realized that I actually HAD been sleeping because the closet is in a different spot, but I didn't feel any more rested.
3. I LOST a pair of tennis shoes in a one-bedroom apartment. WHO DOES THAT? I looked in my closets, in my car, even called my mother to see if they were at her house--no. I eventually found them behind the couch--no idea how they got there.
4. I spent almost 10 minutes looking for my watch this morning before deciding to give up because I had to get to work--and I realized I was wearing it. I have no recollection at all of picking it up, putting it on, or where it was.
The wedding can't get here soon enough; I don't know if it will help at all, being finished with it, but at least I won't have so many things on my to-do list.
Friday, November 25, 2011
He loves me anyway
There has been a LOT going on in the past month. While Bob and I had wanted to get moved into an apartment before Thanksgiving (or have me moved in and gradually truck his stuff up here) to avoid Christmas traffic around 280, we did not expect to be signing a lease on Halloween. It was a surprise, but a good surprise, and for the past 26 days there have been a lot of revelations.
1. People try to be honest, but they make mistakes, and sometimes you have to pay for their mistakes. We ended up having to pay an additional $100 deposit AFTER signing the lease because our leasing agent made a mistake. Now, I normally would have been extremely upset about this but he had told us in previous conversations that he worked 2 jobs and had a newborn at home, so I understand that brains don't always work at full capacity. But it was still an aggravating situation, and I still don't think it was fair.
2. When you make $8.50 an hour, you can practically feel your money crawling out of your pockets on an hourly basis. As Bob and I still have separate checking accounts, mine is going to take a BIG hit on Dec. 1 due to rent payment. Every time I go to the grocery store or check the mail, I feel the pain of my bank account. However, while I have not been able to contribute much to my savings account lately (and by "much" I mean "any") I have also not taken anything out, and that feels good.
3. If you have warm pajamas and a coffee-maker, you can be perfectly comfortable with the thermostat set on 65.
4. Having a couch makes a huge difference in the comfort level and completeness of your living room. Sitting on a pillow in front of the coffee table makes you look like a broke college student--which is fine when that's what you are, and you're the only person who lives there.
5. If you work 9-6 with two-year-olds, no matter what, you will NOT come home and say to yourself, "I think I'll spend the next 45 minutes fixing dinner from multiple raw ingredients." You're going to say, "What's the fastest, easiest-to-clean thing I can fix?" even if that thing is bagel bites or oatmeal, and you had the same thing for breakfast.
And the revelations just keep coming. I have eaten a LOT of noodles with butter, Kraft macaroni and cheese, sandwiches, oatmeal, and chips for meals lately. Part of the exhaustion may come from the stress of wedding planning, which has gotten better now that I've almost finished my thank-you notes and I finally downloaded the music for the ceremony and reception. We have just three weeks until the wedding and I'm so ready to be done with it all. Bob has been sick, which has not made it easier, but he's getting better and that has helped. He's been able to spend some time at the apartment the past couple of weekends, which brings me to the reason I titled this post "He loves me anyway."
Bob came over Wednesday evening as I was preparing the sweet potato casserole for our Thanksgiving meal with my grandparents in St. Clair county. I had to start with ACTUAL SWEET POTATOES, NOT canned ones, which is a big thing for my family. So I had a lot more to do that I am used to, even though I like to cook and bake. I will typically turn some music on when I'm in the kitchen, and because I'm usually alone, I have no problem dancing and singing along when I'm working. But I've never let Bob see me at this because I didn't want to scare him away. Well, Wednesday night, "Circle of Life" comes on my Pandora station and he looked at me, shook his head, said something to the effect of "You're special." And he left at that.
This is one of the very, VERY few things I have kept from him in the years leading to our marriage (like my blanket. It's still here, just inside my pillowcase.) But the gloves are coming off, and apparently he still wants to hold my hand. This is good.
1. People try to be honest, but they make mistakes, and sometimes you have to pay for their mistakes. We ended up having to pay an additional $100 deposit AFTER signing the lease because our leasing agent made a mistake. Now, I normally would have been extremely upset about this but he had told us in previous conversations that he worked 2 jobs and had a newborn at home, so I understand that brains don't always work at full capacity. But it was still an aggravating situation, and I still don't think it was fair.
2. When you make $8.50 an hour, you can practically feel your money crawling out of your pockets on an hourly basis. As Bob and I still have separate checking accounts, mine is going to take a BIG hit on Dec. 1 due to rent payment. Every time I go to the grocery store or check the mail, I feel the pain of my bank account. However, while I have not been able to contribute much to my savings account lately (and by "much" I mean "any") I have also not taken anything out, and that feels good.
3. If you have warm pajamas and a coffee-maker, you can be perfectly comfortable with the thermostat set on 65.
4. Having a couch makes a huge difference in the comfort level and completeness of your living room. Sitting on a pillow in front of the coffee table makes you look like a broke college student--which is fine when that's what you are, and you're the only person who lives there.
5. If you work 9-6 with two-year-olds, no matter what, you will NOT come home and say to yourself, "I think I'll spend the next 45 minutes fixing dinner from multiple raw ingredients." You're going to say, "What's the fastest, easiest-to-clean thing I can fix?" even if that thing is bagel bites or oatmeal, and you had the same thing for breakfast.
And the revelations just keep coming. I have eaten a LOT of noodles with butter, Kraft macaroni and cheese, sandwiches, oatmeal, and chips for meals lately. Part of the exhaustion may come from the stress of wedding planning, which has gotten better now that I've almost finished my thank-you notes and I finally downloaded the music for the ceremony and reception. We have just three weeks until the wedding and I'm so ready to be done with it all. Bob has been sick, which has not made it easier, but he's getting better and that has helped. He's been able to spend some time at the apartment the past couple of weekends, which brings me to the reason I titled this post "He loves me anyway."
Bob came over Wednesday evening as I was preparing the sweet potato casserole for our Thanksgiving meal with my grandparents in St. Clair county. I had to start with ACTUAL SWEET POTATOES, NOT canned ones, which is a big thing for my family. So I had a lot more to do that I am used to, even though I like to cook and bake. I will typically turn some music on when I'm in the kitchen, and because I'm usually alone, I have no problem dancing and singing along when I'm working. But I've never let Bob see me at this because I didn't want to scare him away. Well, Wednesday night, "Circle of Life" comes on my Pandora station and he looked at me, shook his head, said something to the effect of "You're special." And he left at that.
This is one of the very, VERY few things I have kept from him in the years leading to our marriage (like my blanket. It's still here, just inside my pillowcase.) But the gloves are coming off, and apparently he still wants to hold my hand. This is good.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Changes
Hi guys, I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the lovely changes in our Alabama weather here lately. Since coming home from Ireland I hate Alabama summer weather more than any other--I'd rather stand in cold rain than in the sun and humidity of an August morning in Birmingham.
And now on to more interesting things than weather. First of all, I have a job! It isn't my dream job, but it's related to my field and it's full time. I am a teaching assistant at Covenant Classical School in the two-year-old class. We have NINETEEN kids: Makenzye, Price, Landon, Neel, Chloe, Harris, Anna Lilia, Rhys, Taylor, Gabe, Kinzey, Laylan, Hudson, Kyra, Connor, Lorelei, Cal, Olivia, and Cole. Every single one makes me laugh, roll my eyes, and question my sanity each and every day, and I'm so happy to have the opportunity to work with them.
The other assistant teacher, Stephanie, and lead teacher, Charla, are awesome people to work with every day, too. They make me laugh more than the kids do, and we have so much fun organizing the room, planning lessons, ranting about the kids, and making fun of each other. Stephanie is about 5 years older than me and a mother of two, and Charla is more like 20 years older than me, so we're an interesting crew. I'm totally exhausted when I get home, but it's so much better to be tired from work rather than tired from stress about not working.
On the wedding front, I have now gotten us a photographer, florist, preacher, invitations, and rings. We are down to 67 days. It's time to start addressing invitations and getting my dress altered. It's time to start combining finances, working out living arrangements, finding furniture, and planning for a move. I'm also trying to get used to having almost no free time, whereas before I had almost nothing BUT free time. It's different, but good different.
That's all for now, because I am so tired that I usually go to bed around 9:30 during the week now. So goodnight.
And now on to more interesting things than weather. First of all, I have a job! It isn't my dream job, but it's related to my field and it's full time. I am a teaching assistant at Covenant Classical School in the two-year-old class. We have NINETEEN kids: Makenzye, Price, Landon, Neel, Chloe, Harris, Anna Lilia, Rhys, Taylor, Gabe, Kinzey, Laylan, Hudson, Kyra, Connor, Lorelei, Cal, Olivia, and Cole. Every single one makes me laugh, roll my eyes, and question my sanity each and every day, and I'm so happy to have the opportunity to work with them.
The other assistant teacher, Stephanie, and lead teacher, Charla, are awesome people to work with every day, too. They make me laugh more than the kids do, and we have so much fun organizing the room, planning lessons, ranting about the kids, and making fun of each other. Stephanie is about 5 years older than me and a mother of two, and Charla is more like 20 years older than me, so we're an interesting crew. I'm totally exhausted when I get home, but it's so much better to be tired from work rather than tired from stress about not working.
On the wedding front, I have now gotten us a photographer, florist, preacher, invitations, and rings. We are down to 67 days. It's time to start addressing invitations and getting my dress altered. It's time to start combining finances, working out living arrangements, finding furniture, and planning for a move. I'm also trying to get used to having almost no free time, whereas before I had almost nothing BUT free time. It's different, but good different.
That's all for now, because I am so tired that I usually go to bed around 9:30 during the week now. So goodnight.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Not really that funny
Hey guys, as promised, I didn't abandon the blog, I was just overwhelmed with other things. And here's the thing, I like my posts to be funny. Like really funny, not just make you smile but hopefully get a chuckle and if I'm having a good night, make you snort just a bit. But being that funny is rarely a natural thing. I had never thought about it much until I read some of the FAQ on Hyperbole and a Half (one of the best blogs I've ever read). Allie shares that yes, her entries are hilarious, and she works HARD to make them that way. I'm sure she's really funny in real life, too, but when she's telling a story to her friends, I imagine it probably doesn't come out the way it does when she's spent a month or more going from idea nugget to full comedic wonder. And now that I think about it, most humor writers are probably the same.
Take Dave Barry. He's awesome. True, some of his humor is a little dumb (which is what makes it funny), and he relies a lot on booger, fart, and sex jokes. Those are fairly easy to make, but sometimes it takes revision to decide where to put them. When I write a post, I usually revise it two to three times before I post it. Those jokes don't just happen. It takes careful thought, and involves more editing than I typically put into my college essays.
I say all this so that you understand that when I'm not posting, it's because I am waiting for an idea good enough to spend that kind of time and effort on. I haven't forgotten; in fact, I have a running list of ideas that are just waiting for me to throw a little more exaggeration on top. But work and wedding plans are sucking up much of the ocean that was my creativity, so that now in my free time it's actually more of a creek. I promise I'll be back. Ooh, The Lion King!
Take Dave Barry. He's awesome. True, some of his humor is a little dumb (which is what makes it funny), and he relies a lot on booger, fart, and sex jokes. Those are fairly easy to make, but sometimes it takes revision to decide where to put them. When I write a post, I usually revise it two to three times before I post it. Those jokes don't just happen. It takes careful thought, and involves more editing than I typically put into my college essays.
I say all this so that you understand that when I'm not posting, it's because I am waiting for an idea good enough to spend that kind of time and effort on. I haven't forgotten; in fact, I have a running list of ideas that are just waiting for me to throw a little more exaggeration on top. But work and wedding plans are sucking up much of the ocean that was my creativity, so that now in my free time it's actually more of a creek. I promise I'll be back. Ooh, The Lion King!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)