If anyone is reading this....

I'll be home to attend Fran's wedding in April. It's a quick trip home though. We fly in Friday morning, the 25th and leaving Sunday evening.

Let the cooking commence

After much headache and cussing over 50+ year old pipes Jason installed the plumbing for the new sink/garbage disposal/dishwasher! I did not realize how much I missed having a dishwasher. I love that we have the two drawers to use as it is only the two of us and we can run a much smaller load(a dinner for us) and use less water. Not only is my life easier but I'm doing something good for the environment. I also love that our dishwasher has a sensor dry option along with an anti-bacterial option and a sanitize option. I can kind of be a freak about germs at times.

Here are our loverly counters!

Jason and I made our first official grocery store run spending a whopping $200 on food. We needed a lot of staples that got tossed when the fridge took a poo and was not keeping anything cool.

Our first official meal in the new kitchen? Chili. Yep, I had grand plans for a wonderful, romantic meal but considering the plumbing was not complete until 6pm Saturday evening and we did not sit down to eat until 8:30pm, chili worked fine. I did wake J up to a home cooked breakfast on Sunday morning, complete with cheesy eggs, bacon and french toast. My skills need a little fine tuning after a 4 month cooking hiatus. While I have become a better cook since moving here, I think sometimes I have cooking ADD.

Last night's dinner was better but I used the outdoor grill.

Hallelujah!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow we will have our kitchen counters! It's about time!

I hate Mondays!

Remember the Garfield comic about Mondays? Yeah, that is so me today. I promise I did wake up on the right side of the bed but the moment I sat down at my desk all hell broke loose at work. So tell me, is it Friday yet?

One good thing about this week is I will spend the next 3 days in training for a new paperless system we are implementing which means I'll be away from the phone for 4 hours each day! Ah bliss.

Counters resolved?

Last week I called Lowes, pissed off, to complain about our counters. I spoke to Rusty. I told Rusty I felt we should be compensated for the delay. He told me he would speak to his manager and call me back. Yesterday a week had passed with nary a word from Rusty. I called again. The receptionist put me on hold, came back on the line, asked me who I was holding for and instead of putting me on hold just held her hand over the mouthpiece. Rusty was right there and I could almost hear his head spinning frantically. Receptionist removes hand from mouthpiece and tells me Rusty is checking on my order RIGHT NOW! Of course he is because he totally dropped the ball. Finally, Rusty comes to the phone and tells me he's going to call the subcontractor to see if there is a cancellation and they can squeeze us into the schedule. He promises to call me right back.

10 minutes later he calls to tell me that sorry there are no cancellations, but we are slated for installation Thursday the 21st. It appears the end is in sight. Soon we will be living like normal, average Americans with a functioning kitchen in their homes.

I reminded Rusty of our earlier conversation about compensation. His manager feels it would be better to wait to discuss compensation until after the counters are installed to our complete satisfaction. Basically our counters had better be perfectly level, symmetrical, with nary a scratch, dent, discoloration etc. I'm sure Rusty's manager is hoping we'll forget about the compensation once our counters are in because we'll be bedazzled by our beautiful new counters. Partially true but the manager is in for a rude awakening. Don't screw with a woman who has been eating out for the past 3.5 months hopped up on carbs, fats, preservatives etc. Jason and I are convinced are bodies are going to go into shock when we start, gasp, cooking real meals in our home. Nothing from a box but actual food. Well, that is the goal anyway.

NEXT!

So Tuesday was my previous estimated date of delivery for the bambino I carried in my uterus for approximately 2.5 weeks. Tuesday was a hellish day. In hindsight probably not the best day to take a pregnancy test but I'm a glutton for punishment. I was in a foul mood all day. The bitchiest of the bitchiest bitches. Capped off last evening by the arrival of HER! The evil one, the one I dread seeing each month. However, since my hormones have now evened out I'm not bitchy anymore(well not anymore than normal) and I feel human again. The fact that I also had a much needed brow wax contributed as well.

I picked up my 2nd prescription for Clomid last night along with a refill on my prenatal vitamins. The first script of Clomid made me dizzy and irritable. This time my dosage is double. I really don't want double the dizziness or irritability. I guess we'll see.

One good thing about not getting pregnant in January means a February pregnancy would result in a November birth and that means being home with a bambino all through the holidays.

Now we get to spend more money on PreSeed and Clear Blue Easy ovulation predictor kits. I don't buy the cheap ones either. I like the smiley face version because honestly determining if your line is as dark or darker than the control line is too much to deal with. No smiley face=sex not totally necessary, Smiley face=Sex Fest!

Tornados suck

Sis if you are reading this and did not get my text, yes we are safe. As usual the storms went around us. The worst of the damage was to our west, south and north.

As we watched American Idol followed by House last night the programs were continually interrupted by our local news program providing the latest on the storms. As we watched the red zone edge closer and closer to us my blood pressure started to rise. When the hail began to come down, Jason decided it was time to hide in the closet. I hollered for Teddy and Shadow and pulled them into the closet. It is damn hard to hold a cat, with claws, who is as scared as you. Jason had the flashlight peeking out through the sliding glass doors to watch the hail and see if the hail was denting our vehicles. Cause you know, the cars are more important than life. Typical man. :rolleyes:

As I crouched in the closet listening to the rain and hail echo through the vent with my husband standing in front of two oversized sliding glass doors I could feel the panic rise up. Tornados are not fun, especially at night. When the hail stopped and the rain let up, I let Teddy escape my arms and freed the dog from the torture of having to stay in the closet.

I ventured outside with my camera and took a picture of one of the pieces of hail laying on the concrete. Jason investigated the vehicles more closely and both appeared unscathed. I thought I heard the tornado siren but with the rain, wind and interstate traffic it was hard to hear.

Amy called to check on us. She was hiding in her bathroom with Wookie. When I told her the coast was clear she ventured out to her balcony to have a look see. Suddenly, the tornado sirens in Bellevue started going off, driving her straight back to the bathroom to hide.

The local weather predicted another storm to follow in the wee hours of the morning. Oh joy. They were also reporting on the devastation that had already occured. Union University in Jackson, TN was demolished by the tornado(s) and students were trapped in the rubble. Lives were lost, trees were down, a mobile home had been twisted, and so on and so forth.

This morning our neighborhood, our home, and ourselves were intact. We did not lose any trees nor power. I'm grateful we came through another storm intact. I feel for those people who were not as lucky and are, this morning, trying to pick up the pieces.

Just another fun in night in Nashvegas!

That screaming you heard? That was us!

THE GIANTS BEAT THE PATS, THE GIANTS BEAT THE PATS!!!!

As you may have guessed we were rooting for the Giants in the Superbowl. Amy came over bringing sustenance of cheese dip, veggies and dip and ooey, gooey brownies! We gathered downstairs in front of the TV to graze and watch football, the great American past time. We were quite enthusiastic through the 1st quarter, bored through the 2nd, I almost fell asleep through the 3rd and then the most exciting 4th quarter happened. When the Pats scored their final touchdown I thought the game was over. Cynical Amy told me to have faith(this coming from a woman who hates everything Manning but hates everything Patriots more). We watched, we screamed, we threw up our hands at the TV. "Come on, you totally should have made that catch! I could have made that catch!" LOL. As the 2 minute warning came I had to look away at the start of each play. I prayed to the Lord(yes the Lord totally watches football and I think he likes rooting for the underdog). Then a wonderful thing happened, Eli avoided a sack, they gained yardage and the Giants scored a touchdown! OMG! It was amazing. The Giants held the Pats off in those last 45 seconds to win the Superbowl! So much for that perfect season Pats! HA!

It was magical moment. I did not cry as I did after the Steelers won Superbowl 40 and The Bus could retire on a high note but I think it is amazing that Eli won't have to live in his brother's shadow. He now has a ring of his very own. Oh and Tom Brady, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Fun with Taxes

Saturday Jason and I decided to complete our Federal taxes. FUN! I would have rather had someone pull my fingernails off one by one. We fought, we bickered, we cussed. Rather I cussed and I definitely started the bickering. Part of the problem is Jason is a plodder and I barrel head first. I also read faster than he does so I was getting very impatient waiting for him to read the "explain this" section or "read more" sections. Then we could not find some very important receipts and on and on it went. About 5 hours after we started we finished. I should have walked away numerous times but I sat right there next to him, sighing over every.little.thing. In summary, we finished, we submitted, we both still have our heads attached to our bodies and we did not go to bed angry. Most importantly, we are getting a refund and I was paranoid we would owe.

Thank goodness Tennessee has no state income tax!

Lost is Found!

Last night was the much anticipated season premiere of Lost. It is bittersweet really. Due to the greedy studio execs or whoever controls the purse strings in Hollywood we may only have 8 glorious episodes instead of 16 this season. Dear Hollywood Powers That Be-GIVE THE WRITERS WHAT THEY WANT....THEY DESERVE IT!!!!

I snuggled up on the sofa under a blanket munching on Wendy's that Jason had brought home for dinner and caught up with the re-cap. We did not need the re-cap as we had watched Season 3 on DVD for the 2nd time earlier in the month. I thought the episode was great and in true Lost fashion gave us more questions than answers.

My thoughts:

~The Oceanic 6 are Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Jin & Sun.
~The guy in the coffin at the end of last season is either Ben or Locke.
~Why did Jacob look eerily like Jack's dead father Christian?
~I'm wondering if Jacob is trying to convince Locke to purge the Island again like Ben did with the original Others.
~I think the people on the boat are from Dharma.

Unfortunately, these questions will mostly likely NOT be answered this season due to the damn strike! Maybe if we are lucky and pray to the TV god we'll get a real season over the summer or at least the remaining 8 if the strike is resolved and the writers are able to have all night writing sessions to turn out good quality product.

At least Heroes was able to wrap up the season even though it was cut short.