Too tired for pictures

Hi Everybody!!! (psst...this is where you say, HI DR. NICK!) I just got home from work and I feel the need to tell you all about how much I love my job. No really, I do! The new location opened yesterday, and it's beautiful! It's in an office building in an area kind of like Sandy or Fort Union (only brand new construction), so the area is nice, the building is nice, all that stuff. I've been getting the place ready for about a week and a half now, cleaning and organizing and moving stuff in...made all the more difficult because last Tuesday (right before Thanksgiving) we were moving a cooler from the kitchen in Powell into the car to take it to Easton for the new cafe, (it's one of those glass fronted half size Pepsi cooler things), and something went wrong the first time I picked it up and I sprained my back. Yes, I said the first time I picked it up. I picked it up a few more times that day as well. I never said I was smart. so I've sprained my back really bad, and by the time I get home from work I feel like throwing up or passing out or just dying. But it's almost worth it to get this store going! I took some pictures of it on Wednesday, but the cord for the camera is not sitting next to me on the desk and I hurt too bad to go looking for it. so you'll have to wait a little longer for pictures (I'll get better ones on Monday anyway--we've added stuff).

But I have to say how much I love my job. We didn't tell anyone we were opening on Thursday--we just wanted to open our doors and see what happened while we're training ourselves on procedures and what these particular people are looking for. But we had people coming in before we even opened the doors and they never stopped! Today we frequently had lines out the door and down the hall (we're in our own little suite right by the door to the courtyard between buildings where an inordinate amount of people go to smoke--so they all see us), and we barely kept up. we ran out of soup on both days, roast beef, parmesan, provolone, buffalo chicken, and nearly out of containers. It was awesome. I hope this keeps up because all day, even though I really was in a lot of pain, I kept thinking how lucky I was to have this job and how satisfied and happy I am. Also my boss has already had several problems and surgery on his own back, so he's very understanding and careful that I'm doing what I should be doing (I'm not allowed to lift more than 15lbs, etc). I'm just really really happy!

Oh yeah, and because I mentioned this in the last post I thought I should let you know that we caught things in time and Zoe is Spot Free! Hooray! She's a snotty little thing, but I'm told that that's genetic...^_^

Jimmy's Birthday Party is tomorrow--I told Chris that I'd need more help than usual because I can't move very well and he said, "oh yeah, I forgot to tell you I have somewhere to be at that exact time..." and I said, "that's okay, you can take all 7 five-year-olds with you then!" I hope 7. I only had 2 people tell me yes, so who knows if the other 4 will come or not?

Speaking of that, I need to actually stand up now so I can take Zoe to Walmart with me before Jimmy gets home. Poor kid. I've NEVER actually made his birthday cake. ME. NEVER. He doesn't care though, and thank goodness for that because a big cake hurts my back on the best of days...I can't even imagine what would happen if I tried now!

update

Sorry sorry sorry. I'm very busy. And I'm sick. I'm very busy and sick. And I found a new version of online sudoku which takes up all my computer time. (I mean lets be honest here).

I don't have a lot of time, I have to go to work in ten minutes, but I feel bad I haven't said anything about anything for weeks. so here's a really fast update from Ohio:

My job is great and perfect except for the fact that the new location hasn't opened yet, which means much less money than there should be. Hopefully that will all change very very soon and we will be able to breathe a little easier! Chris finally got a paycheck though, and that's very nice indeed. Also my boss has agreed to sell my faerie cakes at one of the other locations as well as the new one that I'll be in charge of, so that's really cool. I brought in the first bit of them yesterday so I'm anxious to see how they do.

Halloween is MESSED UP here, we were lucky that our neighborhood had trick or treating actually on the 31st, a lot of places didn't, but even then, the time was restricted to 6-8pm, so it wasn't even dark. And on top of that, the whole process was jacked. The best part of Halloween is the walking around the neighborhood in the dusky darkness, knocking on doors and waiting suspensefully for them to open up so you can yell "trick or treat" and then the nice old people say "oh how cute you all are! you scared me!" but no. no fun surprises here in Ohio. You walk along the sidewalk, and every driveway has people in it sitting in lawn chairs with a bowl of candy. You walk up to them, maybe say trick or treat if you feel like it, and they give you candy. then you walk to the next driveway, and the next, and the next. It was weird and dumb. I was thinking all of this as we were going, but I wasn't going to say anything because I didn't think the kids would care all that much (I mean, they were getting a TON of candy for no work at all), but then they both started complaining that it wasn't any fun because they weren't surprising anyone, and Zoe said it was like the cafeteria at her school (which I thought was pretty astute of her). Then they decided they were tired (after only about 30 minutes) and they wanted to go home and go to bed. Early. Oh well, good for me I suppose.

I also had my first choir rehearsal on sunday (I'm the new choir director in case I forgot to tell some of you) and it went very well, I had 4 TENORS and even 2 basses. Unfortunately the Bishop didn't approve all the music I wanted, he said that even though "Though in the Outward Church Below" was in the old hymnbook and was very pretty and upbeat, it still had a "little too much Hell and Damnation" for sacrament meeting. So I said, "but what's Easter without some Damnation?" I got a rather interesting look for that one. Oh well. We're still doing "Come thou Fount of Every Blessing" for Thanksgiving so I'm pleased.

Zoe is out of school (yesterday and today) so I'm taking her to work with me. Poor kid, doesn't even get a vacation! At least it's better than sending her to school with Chris!

Oh yeah, and I have strep, and as soon as I was officially diagnosed I called and got Zoe an antibiotic too, but I found a bunch of spots on her head last night so lets all hope and pray that we caught it in time...I really really don't want her to have to deal with a full break out this first year at the new school.

And last but not least, it's November 4th, so go VOTE!!! I know there's an election because in the last week I've had at least 4 calls EVERY DAY from Edward Norton, Michelle Obama, Obama himself, several Kennedys, and lots of random people from Obama's campaign offices. All with the helpful information of where my voting location is. Funnily enough, I haven't heard a single word from the republicans. I want this over just so everyone can calm down.

mmm...food...

I know right? Stare at it long enough and you start drooling...or noticing that the burger looks rather dry which only leads to fantasizing about the many different ways to dress it up that happen to be in your fridge RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so we're dieting. kind of. Alright, Chris is dieting and I'm too lazy to not to. Why is Chris dieting? Cause I'd rather not put him through school just to have him die of heart disease and diabetes the minute he graduates. So we're watching calories and cholesterol and sugar, and we've learned a new appreciation for our wonderful friend Tivo that lets us fast forward the food commercials. We're doing well, probably mostly because Chris is too busy to eat anything at all, and I'm, again, too lazy to cook with him gone all the time so I just eat salad.

Which reminds me that I haven't written in so long you guys don't even know about my job! My job is completely awesome and I honestly don't know how I got so lucky to get the perfect job, but I did. I work for Dish Mobile Cafe, which brings food into small office buildings that don't have their own restuarants. I'm helping out at a few different locations right now, but in a few weeks I'm going to be managing a new location closer to my house with more hours and better pay than right now, but I'll still be able to put Zoe on the bus and be back with Jimmy by the time she gets home.

Which, in turn, brings me to Zoe. and the bus. The school bus. The big mean school bus full of bullies. I opened the door to meet the bus this afternoon and found that it had just come and all the kids were converging on my lawn (with their mothers) around my poor crying baby. My first thought (other than that the bus was insanely early) was that she'd been hit by the bus, but no, she'd been hit by another kid. It's raining a lot today, and at a big turn she'd lost control of her umbrella and it got a little too close to a bigger girl across the aisle. When this girl passed Zoe to get off at her stop she punched her several times in the leg while yelling unintelligibly. When I got her inside and looked at it it was red and swollen and fist shaped, but it's gone down considerably. Now I know that lots could have happened as far as provocation, but since all the other kids were telling me this girl completely flipped out over nothing, I have to believe them. I called the school and the bus driver supervisors and they said they'd figure out which girl it is (it shouldn't be hard since the buses have assigned seats and we know which stop she gets off at) and talk to the principal. She didn't tell the driver at the time because her regular driver wasn't there and she says they don't do anything anyway. I suppose this is just regular kid bullying and all, but this is my BABY and I'm going to make a big stink about it.

Also, I'm coming to SLC weekend after next to testify at the hearing. I don't remember if I've said much about that here, but Judy (shudder) is suing Buffy (from Haxton Manor), saying that she broke her wrist at work and so Buffy and the state should pay for it. I'm really really unhappy about the whole situation, but I get to go home for a couple days (and Jimmy's coming with me) so that's good. I'm still not sure that it makes up for the inconvenience and uncomfortableness and mess of it all though.

I think I'm going to go to sleep now though, and maybe then I can wake up when Chris gets home from rehearsal instead of falling asleep right when he gets home.

Whew!

We're fine!!! You've all been waiting so patiently for news of our safety, sending all those care-packages and cards, the email alerts for "hill" in the columbus obituaries, the prayers for our safety, well it all worked and we're ok!

No but seriously, that was, um, fun. This first picture is actually from a few weeks ago in a bit rainstorm. It's taken from inside my garage a little before noon. the water flooded everyone's yard up the street from us but it stayed in our ditch where it goes so that was lucky. There's a pipe under the driveway and the water was just as high on the other side.

Then, on Sunday, (Chris' Birthday), we met Ike. The wind was getting pretty bad, but when our cable went out we went outside to see what was going on. The first thing we saw was the shingles flying off the roof as fast as they could. Still not realizing this was Ike Chris borrowed a ladder from a neighbor to climb up and check the damage to the roof before the rain came and soaked through. While he was up there (with me holding the ladder), this happened:


I was standing with the ladder right in front of Zoe's window there, and when I heard it I thought it was the close tree and I couldn't figure out whether to run and have both the tree and the ladder fall on me, or stay where I was and hope it didn't hit me. Unfortunately, my neighbor (who was helping me hold the ladder) decided to run and flung the contents of her coffee cup all over me in the process. I didn't notice at the time because I was so relieved to still be alive. So Chris wisely got off the roof and we all went inside to huddle around the windows.

Here's a better picture of my poor tree. We lost part of another on on the north side of the house, tons of shingles, our cable/internet/phone for a week (which explains why I haven't posted in a while), and our water was rationed. However we never lost our power for which I am extremely grateful considering there are still people in the city without it. We had more that 350,000 people lose their power and it was pretty scary for a while. Ice was in major demand, people were buying it right off the truck, bottled water was flying off the shelves (lots of people here are on wells so they didn't have any water at all). We had potable water but it was such low pressure it took forever to shower and I was really happy I'd already done all our laundry that morning. It was cool though, to see people come together. People were driving around with chain saws to help remove downed trees, businesses were making room in their freezers for other businesses product so it didn't go bad, people had extension cords hanging out their windows so their neighbors could have a microwave and a lamp. Apparently it was a category 1 hurricane still when it reached us, 75mph winds, and though we didn't get the rain the rest of the mid-west got we got harder hit with wind than they did. I think I'm going to get a kit together to keep in the garage--water at least, but a full 72 hour kit wouldn't go amiss I think. I've heard too many horror stories about the freezing winters here.

Ta Da!!

Okay. Here's my house. Half of it anyway. We'll start with the kitchen, since that was put together first. This is looking from the corner where the garage door is over toward my lovely stove and dishwasher. The little cabinet on the right has my microwave on top and it holds my cake pans and pasta dishes. I haven't decided exactly how to set up the little dust catcher on top of the cabinets--I'm using it to store my less used pretty things, but I WILL NOT be putting dumb decorative crap up there that gathers dust and breaks when you clean it. Maybe a plant, but that's as far as I'll go. I like my cute little curtains over the sink, and it's just nice to have a window there at all! When you turn to the left in this picture you come to the next picture,

my Dining Room! No but really it's a nice space for my table and that's the sliding door to the back yard. When we're not using it I push the table more into the corner, but when the Missionaries came over we brought out the 6 foot folding table so we could seat everyone and that fit in the space too, so it's bigger than it looks. The door to the left is the door to the office/laundry room which I don't have a picture of yet because we're using it constantly. I really need to post a picture though because my washer and dryer are the most awesome things e-v-a-r EVAR!!!


Except possibly for my couch. Okay, so when we were here in July we found a great couch at a store by our house and it was on sale for $277, so we put $50 down on it to keep that price until we got here. So we'd been looking around at other stuff to go with it and finally decided we needed to get the couch in the house first. We went to pay the rest and pick it up, and thought, we need to sit on it one more time. We walked over to the corner where it lived, and sat on it, and promptly bought the one next to it instead. This couch, we decided, is the one we would always regret not having bought. It's leather and suede, and the best part is it only cost $20 more than the first one!!! The ottoman was a great find too--we got that from their clearance area for cheap cheap cause it was the last one. It has a little drawer in it and it's leather too. The paintings are from Chris' mom, and I like them the best of anything I've seen from her.


Here's a slightly different view with my piano in it (yes it made it all the way here!) so you can see how cute that is. We still need a few chairs and maybe a rug, but that's going to have to come slowly. I also want a tree in that corner. I don't know what kind of tree, but a tree. and maybe a lamp.

And I just accidentally deleted the other picture for the living room, so I'll have to put that in another post. It was of my front window with the cedar chest and drapes. oh well.





here's the other wall in the livingroom, the front door is on the right, and the door you see on the left is to the water heater and furnace. That's Grandma Matheson's stereo (that was in her kitchen) and it works great AND has a plug in the back that we can plug in our mp3 players!








This is the family room, I'd like to point out how clean it is. We need something on the walls, but other than that this room is very nice and cosy. Well, there's that other thing too. The intake for the a/c is in that room. sooo, everytime the blower kicks on you have to turn the TV up really really loud. We played around with it though, and it looks like if we put a piece of furniture in front of it it will quiet down without blocking the air. Now we just need to find something big enough to block it and thin enough it doesn't block the hallway.


So that's my house, stay tuned for the other half of the house, including Jimmy's race car room and Zoe's new and improved Tinkerbell fabricated room.

Little Boys

Well, not to be outdone by his cousin Sam, Jimmy decided to have a golden speaking moment today as well. Chris is under the weather right now with a bad sinus thing. (either that or he blew out his vocal chords and entire respiratory system at the Utah-Michigan game). So he's coughing stuff up. We were in the car today, and Chris said, "sorry, this is going to be gross" and he leaned out of the door and spit on the street. Jimmy wanted to know what he had in his mouth that he spit out. Chris told him "gross stuff. Mostly boogars." Jimmy got a big smile and said, "Hey! I eat those!!"


Oh yeah. Like I'm gonna kiss him again!

The Gateway Arch

So they're not of the house, but at least they're pictures. This is the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. When we were discussing the trip to Ohio, the subject of the arch came up and I immediately laughed and said NO WAY am I going up in that thing! But then we got there and I realized I simply couldn't waste such a golden opportunity, and what kind of sightseeing traveler would I be if I didn't take the chance to get out of the blasted car! So we went. This is a picture of where we parked. Yes. It really is that far away. And yes that is the Big Muddy. And yes, it is big. and muddy. And quite gross. If you'll notice, the parking area isn't next to the river, it's IN the river. The ground was wet under my car. Very odd. It was also trying to decide whether or not to storm, so the air was so thick with humidity you could chew it.

This is a picture of me on the inside of the arch. I know it's hard to tell but you can kind of get a hint of the weird tiny slanty space up there. It looks like I'm leaning over because I am--nothing up there is a 90 degree angle. I had to beat out two grade schoolers and a toddler to get this picture too, they wouldn't move and since the windows are only big enough for one eye to see out at a time there was a bit of intimidation required to get a good picture.











This is a picture looking straight down from the very top. You can see the shadow of the arch and those triangle things at the sides are the feet of the arch. You'll notice the angle...creepy.












This is a picture of my cuties trying as hard as they can to get washed away into Lake Erie. It was a pretty lake, incredibly big, and lots of sand which surprised me...I don't know why it should but it did. Lakes around Salt Lake worth going to are surrounded by rocks. Little smooth rocks to be sure but rocks nonetheless.







This is our trip to the Zoo. We took more pictures of the zoo, however this one portrays the spirit and theme of our visit so succinctly that I just didn't feel the need to add any more.

We left after 5 hours having seen less than half of the exhibits.


We had to hurry VERY quickly past a certain group of monkeys...doing monkey things...that monkeys really shouldn't do...especially RIGHT in front of the glass...with really smug expressions on their faces...

One final note, the rain last night was crazy! Chris and I were in the laundry room and we heard a weird rushing noise like a plane was landing on the house so we rushed to the front door and couldn't open it because Noah was sailing down the street. I wanted to take a picture but we literally couldn't open anything-windows, doors, anything. There was a big flood warning on the tv telling us not to let our children play in the water. Pretty cool.

Yeah Yeah...

I know. I said I'd post pictures after the truck arrived, and here it's been a week and yet there's no pictures. Give me a break will ya? Let me give you a little taste of what's been going on here and maybe then you'll understand.

First, we were trying to get ready for the Taste of Reynoldsburg--the little fair I was making my start in. This is hard to do when you don't even have a kitchen table. so we had to buy one. Then we realized that I had packed the cake pans on the truck. so we had to buy some. Then we found the cake pans where they were carefully packed and realized that what was on the truck was cookie sheets. so we had to buy some.

Sooo, then the truck came and we actually had tons of people come to help us out and it only took a couple of hours to get it all unloaded. Everything we packed carefully came out perfectly--the piano, the dressers, the stereo, the cedar chest, the castle, the bouquet, etc. But...we kind of used the entertainment center as a wall, and since it's about 6 years old and made of Shopko particle board, it didn't fair so well. We got it kind of propped up now and it even holds the TV! You hardly notice the slant... a few dumb little bookshelves gave up their lives, but the real tragedy is my Dragon--most of you probably never saw him but he was beautiful and sparkly and purple and now he's slightly...less. Mostly on the front. I looked for the piece that broke off so I could glue it back on but there was nothing in the box but dust. Apparently I slacked off a bit when i packed that box. But everything else came through great, dishes, glasses, pictures, everything!

So Chris immediately unpacked the printer so he could hook it up and print off the labels I needed for the Taste, but there was no power cord. At this point we had no choice, so we had to buy one. (are you seeing a pattern here?) Not buy a power cord mind you, a new printer. I'm not so sure that I believe it was an accident because I know for a fact that Chris has been wanting a new printer for some time. He even showed me the one he wanted at sams club (that we ended up buying early tuesday morning). Highly suspicious...

So the Taste. We worked hard, all three of us, and got over 600 peices of baked goods made, wrapped, labeled, and ready for sale. I got a premier spot, away from anyone else selling goodies and right next to a bridal boutique, and at the end of the night I counted everything and discovered that I had made a whopping $91. So now my freezer is full of bars and cookies...I donated a big box of sugar cookies to the police officers who were at the Taste...and we took the banana bread with us on our trip to Cleveland. Oh well.

So the next day we slept until about 10:30, stumbled out of bed and into the car and were a good 100 miles away before we realized we forgot EVERYTHING WE COULD EVER NEED. My mom broke her glasses that morning, so she was a little distracted trying to find a store that could replace them while packing in her sunglasses. Chris assumed I knew what he needed, I assumed he would pack/put in my hand anything he needed, and basically we didn't bring anything necessary except for the kids' swimming suits (which we promptly left at the first hotel). I say we went to Cleveland, but though we went through it's boundaries we never actually saw it. We went to WildWater Kingdom at Geauga Lake. It was SO AWESOME!!! It was kind of stormy, but since it was free and the people at the park said the radar looked good, we decided to give it a shot. The best part was that everyone already at the park thought the storm would get worse so they all left!!! Seriously, we got there about 4 and people were leaving in droves because there had just been lightening so the lifeguards made everyone get out of the water. We went in and found our cabana (my brother in law who set this whole thing up for us got us a cabana! it was so cool!!!) and by the time we had ordered food (brought right to us at our reserved, shaded deck chairs by the wave pool) everything was back open and we played and played and played until they closed at 8. It was a ton of fun, and I don't even like water parks.

So that was a good day until we got back and read Chris' email to find that because of the way they are paying his stipend his financial aid is basically nil. So that combined with the less than stellar launching of my little business means that I have to get a job. Which Stinks. Oh well. We also found out that Jimmy has a spot in the day care at OSU, so that's good. expensive but good. so here's the new plan. I'm going to get a job and work this year, promoting my business in my spare time (there's a few little shows I was invited to participate in), and then by next fall when Jimmy's in kindergarten I can just do Faerie Cakes in the morning and be done when he's done and have the rest of the day with my kids. It seems really big and disappointing to me right now, but really it's just making me take more time to ease into this new thing. All that happened was the window for success closed by quite a lot so I have to take the time to open it again myself. No biggie. The thing I'm most excited for is that bridal boutique I was next to in the Taste wants me to create a dummy cake to put in their shop. That should bring me something good I think!

Anyway, I have more to say, mostly about Kirtland, but I have to put kids to bed now and watch more Olympics!!!!!! (I love olympics).

going and going and going...

We are finally here! Let's see if I can condense the last week down into a post small enough to write before I collapse.

We got the truck loaded on Friday, managing somehow to use just over 10 feet of the truck. I say somehow, but it was completely due to my Dad's awesome Tetris skills. Then we cleaned and cleaned and went to a wedding and cleaned and then we loaded up the cars and took off early Monday morning. We each drove a car loaded to the gills with stuff we urgently needed (or forgot to put on the truck) and had walkie talkies and a huge bag of back up batteries so we could keep each other awake. I thought before we left that that would be a bit superfluous because we had cell phones, but actually I was really grateful we had them with us.

I was also extremely grateful we DIDN'T have the kids with us. I missed them, but I barely made it 600+ miles per day--I can't imaging trying to make that drive with kid friendly music and tiny bladders. (I still had to deal with Chris, but at least he was in a different car!!) Just kidding--although I have to say he insisted on more bathroom breaks than I did. But maybe that was him being sweet and looking out for me cause he knew I was trying to muscle my way through.

Anyway, we stopped in Denver the first night and went to dinner with Nikki and Joel and Nikki's fiance Brian (whom we hadn't met before). It was actually a lot of fun, and we ruined the poor waitress' night by sitting there taking up the table for hours.

The next day we drove through Kansas, which was actually a lot prettier than I thought it would be. That's not saying much, but some parts were quite beautiful. Kansas City MO offered a strange welcome--we started across the bridge that takes you over the Missouri river into the city across the state line, and as soon as we saw the "you are entering Missouri" sign, there was an absolutely horrible smell like lake stink and yellowstone and landfill all combined into one. Then we got out of the car and practically drowned just trying to breathe! We drove through several little thunderstorms, so every bit of the drive was extra humid. We were so tired that we couldn't bear the thought of staying up any longer even to get good KC barbeque. So we went to Dennys. I know. But it was really late and we were so tired!!

So then we drove to St. Louis, and as even though I swore I wouldn't, I simply couldn't pass through the city and not go up in the arch. Well that was interesting from the get go. First of all there's a huge security check point to even get into the ticket office. Well, we had been moving and cleaning, and Chris had his big knife in his pocket. you know, the big giant one that flips open, the one he bought from a cop and was (barely) legal in Utah? Yeah, it's not legal in Missouri. So much so that when Chris tried to surrender it they wouldn't take it because they couldn't be in possession of it either. So we had to go put it in our car which was like two miles away down six miles of stairs and through several clouds, literally on the bank of the Mississippi. So we went back and bought our tickets for the tram. The tram was interesting--8 round cars that supposedly seat 5 people but really were made for gerbils--attached on in a row so they all swing independently from each other. Yes, I said swing. Often. Creakily. The tour guide said that the trip up takes 4 minutes and the trip down takes 3 minutes because gravity is on your side. I couldn't help thinking that I didn't want gravity on my side--I wanted FRICTION on my side. and big fluffy pillows. And WIDE OPEN SPACES!! It was very odd at the top, because it is very very apparent that you are inside the arch. That's hard to describe, but you know how the inside of cool looking buildings is usually nondescript and it's hard to tell that there's a difference until you look out the window? Well the inside of the arch is triangular just like the outside, and you lay on the slanty carpeted walls and look out the tiny slits for windows. We took pictures, but the camera's dead so you'll have to wait.

We drove on and on and on and on and finally we made it to Columbus. It was just at sunset and absolutely beautiful. Since we got here we've been going crazy, unpacking boxes, organizing, baking, shopping, building furniture, cleaning, you name it, and all the while Zoe and Jimmy and running around yelling and screaming and fighting and playing and whining and eating (or refusing to eat). FINALLY, after dinner tonight (saturday) we've got the cable all fixed and working so we can watch the Olympics and check email and, of course, blog.

I have to sleep now, but when we get the truck and the furniture I'll post pictures!

The Proverbial Wire

We're in the final countdown now--the paperwork is all signed with the new tenant, services are canceled, we're eating off paper and plastic, and the end is in sight. It's kind of disgusting how much stuff I have in the kitchen alone. My mom saved up all her newspapers for days and I went through them in just a few cabinets.

I found a cool thing though, well I guess I didn't FIND it so much as decide to trust in a commercial. I took the glass castle that was on my wedding cake over to the UPS store to have them pack it for me. It took about 10 minutes and less than $10 and now I don't have to "worry 'bout a thing." But the real test will be unpacking it in Ohio and seeing how good a job they really did.

And now on top of packing and saying goodbye and all that, now I also have to type up a statement for a deposition. Fun stuff. My former boss is being sued by a former employee of hers who is lying through her teeth about everything including me and my actions. Buffi should have fired her long before this ever happened.

But enough of this nonsense--I have so much crap to do today. It's my goal to have everything packed by tonight, and even though I know that's not going to happen I'm going to do the best I can to alleviate stress at the end of the week.

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!!!

Here's another moment from my beautiful boy.

He put on Zoe's tinkerbell wings and ran around the livingroom yelling,
"I'm TINKERMAN!!! the Fairy Boy!!!!"


Oh yeah. I shoulda known this would happen when I agreed to marry Chris...

Jim Croce

Yesterday I went golfing with the Dispatch Gang, namely Chris, Brett and Carlos. I was worried about it at first because I know that Carlos golfs more than I do, like that's hard, but then I found out that Brett had only gone golfing once before in his life so I figured we were pretty closely matched. I was fairly ok when I first started golfing, but then I fell down the stairs and I hadn't gone in 2 years. When we got to the clubhouse there was a sale on women's golf balls, specially made to accommodate a lower powered swing, and I thought I should give them a try. The fact that they were pink had absolutely nothing to do with it. Brett said I'd lose them so I shouldn't bother, but I figure that I don't ever hit the ball hard enough to lose it so I might as well.

So my first few holes were right by the road (we were on the U course), and I was really rusty so I didn't use my new balls just in case. And I was right. I certainly didn't hit ANYTHING hard enough to lose it. But I didn't do terribly horrible either. By the third hole I decided I could break out the new equipment and I really like them. I don't know if it was just getting back into the swing of things (I just made my own head hurt with that one), or the boost of confidence having a cute girly ball, or if they were really better, but i started doing pretty well. I even got par on 2 holes! I also didn't lose the day, either. Brett did. Ha ha. But not by much, so I shouldn't be mean. I was 20 over, which for 9 holes makes just over 2 extra strokes per hole. Not bad considering I'm so out of practice.

Anyway, the rest of the day I spent in the office packing. I assumed it would be about the same as the last day I spent in the office packing--unfortunately the last time I was just emptying bookshelves and the hardest thing I had to do was decide which of the 37 thousand Mary Higgins Clark books should come with me and which I should take back to the DI where I found them. This time I was packing up piles and piles of papers and notebooks and a basket of laundry probably from when we moved in that got stuck inside a box accidentaly. It seemed like every box and pile had pictures in it, which had to be looked at. I was browsing through one such pile and came across one of my mom holding tiny baby Jimmy at Snowbird. I couldn't see the next one because I was crying all of a sudden for no good reason. Then after that I found my marriage certificate signed by my Dad as the officiator and that set me off too. Even the pile of laundry was difficult because it was so old it had tiny Jimmy clothes from before his gigantic growth spurt that were given to him for various special occasions by various special people. I found a broken key chain my mom brought me from Paris, pictures of Zoe building a snowman in my mom's backyard the week after Jimmy was born. I think you get the idea.

The main problem is, basically, that if I cry on my husband's shoulder, he'll start feeling guilty and get less excited about his wonderful stuff that he's doing. And he shouldn't feel guilty, because what he's doing is for everyone's benefit and if I didn't want to go I would have said that 3 years ago. But I can't cry on my mom's shoulder either because then I'll make her even more depressed and she'll be upset because I'm upset and we'll all be upset together and that would make my last week horrid.

Sooo, instead, I'm going to blog about it so EVERYONE can be upset. That makes sense. No--I'm just crying on a virtual shoulder so that people can scroll down really fast and pretend like they read it while really thinking that I should have just sucked it up like a big girl. So that's what I'm going to do now...after I listen to the appropriate Jim Croce song.

10 days and counting

Columbus

Sooo, I went to Columbus last week. Chris was in some dumb little park in PA working for his brother, and he met me there so we could look around. First of all, as I'm flying eastward, I'm noticing a disturbing trend in the way the ground is getting flatter and flatter. We landed in Chicago, I didn't have to change planes, but I did get to get off and use a REAL bathroom and grab some food. I sat on the plane and looked out the window at the city-it was SO pretty. When we took off we kind of circled around so I got a great view of the biggest city I've ever see, and then we went off over the water. I was practically giggling it was so cool.

So then we got to Columbus and everything was so GREEN. Everywhere you look there's trees and grass and rivers. One of the coolest things, to me anyway, is that there's baskets of flowers on all the lamp posts downtown. Big baskets of pretty flowers! That aren't dead! The airport is only about 4 miles away from our house, so we got there pretty quick thanks mainly to our TomTom. Our neighborhood is very odd. It's not a typical suburban neighborhood. It looks to me like there was a big farm or open field in the middle of a bunch of normal neighborhoods, and someone decided to plop some houses down on it. There's no sidewalks or fences, everything is green green grass and the houses are abnormally spaced. It's really cute and nice, just slightly odd. And full of FIREFLIES!!!!!!!! I've never seen fireflies before, and our block is so full of them! It makes me think of Shakespearian woodsy parties, like Midsummer Night's Dream.

But the house itself is perfect. I was so relieved! The front room is very large, and the carpet all through the house is brand new. The kitchen is nice, with more counterspace than it looked in the pictures. Chris' office is very very long and will work perfect for his office at one end and the laundry at the other. The kids rooms are large and my room is not huge, but comparatively, it's gigantic. There's enough room for everything to fit inside and still have walking space. There's also 2 full size closets. The little bathroom is already painted PURPLE!! ha ha ha ha . The big one is white, but I'm sure I can spruce it up a little. I'm totally in love with my new house, and I wish I could show everybody...sniff. You'll all have to come visit me. So there.

The city is really nice. We're 15 miles away from Ohio State, but it doesn't feel like we're really far away from the center of everything. We looked around everywhere, Campus, just outside of campus, German village, campus, the stadium, campus, and then for kicks we poked around campus for a while. You have to figure a University has to be pretty big to have Barnes and Noble as it's official Bookstore. But it was a beautiful campus, and much the same as the U with all it's quads and cuteness, and much different in all it's lakes and hugeness and blessed flatness. I tell you, if anywhere should be flat, it's a campus and a zoo. We didn't go to the Zoo by the way, although everyone said it's fantastic. We figured we'd wait for the kids and go all together.

We were only there for two days basically, so it was a whirlwind tour, but I'm really glad we went, because now I know a little more about what I'm getting into. Instead of this vague nowhere place called Columbus Ohio, now we're going somewhere I've been before and I liked. I have a kitchen that's already stocked with chips and salsa and even some plastic cups. There's toilet paper in the bathroom and extra lightbulbs in the garage. I'm able to get really excited now--which is good, because if I think too hard about it then I get upset...12.5 days and counting

My son

I have to share something my wonderful son said the other day. We were talking about names, and how they each were named after someone--Zoe Elizabeth after me, and James Robert after my dad. So I asked Jimmy if he knew what his middle name was.

Jimmy: Jimmy
Me: No, that's your nickname. What's your middle name?
Jimmy: Jim
Me: No, your first name is James, your nickname is Jimmy, like how Daddy's name is Christopher but his nickname is Chris. What's your middle name? What's your whole big long name?
Jimmy: I like cheese
Me: That's fantastic. But what's your big big long name?
Jimmy: (shouting) James Robert Hill Put That Down!!!!!!!!

I guess it's true that children are a reflection of their parents. I just wish the mirror was a little more blurred.

Here it is! My name and my logo. However I have to say that all the names suggested by my brothers were absolutely hilarious and well worth a click on the comments link for my last post. Chris spent about 3 hours getting this logo together exactly right and making templates for stickers and things.

Just so no one thinks I'm nuts (like my husband did) faerie cakes are cupcakes. So I can sell pretty much anything I want under this name because cupcakes are so loosely defined. Plus I like that she's a very woodsy faerie, and yet has a cute little star wand. So I can play up either side of the coin depending on who I'm targeting with a specific product. I'm very happy with this.

I think it is time now to post one of the funniest things my daughter has ever said, and for those of you who know her, that's saying a lot. We were talking about onions at lunch the other day:

Jimmy: I'm never gonna cut onions cause I don't ever wanna cry!
Me: You'll have to get your wife to cut all your onions.
Jimmy: I'm never gonna have a wife either!
Chris: Why not? A wife is a great thing to have, they help you all the time and they're nice.
Jimmy: Ok, fine. I'll have a wife. I'll marry Zoe.
Zoe: NO!!! Sorry Jim, we can't get married, you're my brother.
Jimmy: Why not?
Zoe: I don't know.
Me: First of all, ew, and second of all, if the Mommy and Daddy are too closely related, like brothers and sisters or cousins, then the baby usually has birth defects.
Zoe: what does that mean?
Me: It means the baby just doesn't come out right.
Zoe: You mean it comes out your butt?!?!


Yes Zoe, it comes out your butt. A prospect so horrible it's no surprise there's a law against it. Chris laughed so hard I thought parmesan chicken was going to come out his nose if he didn't have a heart attack first! That's my darling daughter for you!

Fine, I'll do it myself.

Okay, so no one wants to help me come up with a name. That's okay, now I don't have to give anyone cookies! I came up with one all by myself, and I think I like it a lot.

"There's No Cake Like Home"

Chris is helping me make a logo, which is slow going because he knows what he thinks it should look like, and I know what I think it shouldn't look like, but I have no idea what I DO want it to look like. He's tinkered with it so that it's pretty good but I think it's still missing something. I tried to put it up here but it's still a pdf and so it doesn't like it. I'll get it up here soon.

I also found out yesterday that the week after we arrive there's a festival called the Taste of Reynoldsburg, and they're going to have tons of booths and advertisement and stuff. Like an Arts Festival of food. I am so excited about this, because there's all kinds of advertisement involved and it will have my business name on it, flyers and signs and everything. People will get to sample my stuff and PAY for it! You can't give anything away for free, everything has to be $1-3, so I'm trying to plan what I'm going to make and how much to charge. Last year 5000 people came to this festival, and while I don't want to end up with boxes of uneaten cookies, I can't run out in the middle!

I'm so excited about this--what a great way to start out my little business!

my own pictures

Okay, so here are some actual pictures from our trip, but don't be too critical of them because a) they haven't been cleaned up yet and b)I didn't take them.


Here are my two cuties, happy as all get out to finally be out of the car and in the weirdest place they've ever been. See what I mean about the logs being impossibly straight and impossibly bent?

I'd also like to point out the expression on my son's face--that's his "excited face". I don't have any of the accompanying audio for the excited face, but hopefully you can use your imagination.













This is a kids ranger talk at Old Faithful about Bison. It was a pretty cool little program that the kids had to attend to get their Junior Ranger badges, and they got to touch the buffalo hide and bones and horns and stuff.

In this picture, please notice Zoe's eyes--they're a little too bright for the picture and her expression. Kinda makes you think of Crazy Eddie...





Family picture by the Yellowstone River, this would be after Chris got a geyser shower and is fairly cold and stinky. I hear some people pay good money for mineral water baths but i don't think this is what they had in mind.










This is lunch at Otter Creek picnic ground, about 3 miles south of Canyon. We had lunch there and then let the kids run around a bit. Not too much because we were about 4 feet away from that nice drop-off to the freezing cold gigantic river, but...

This is, again, very typical attitudes and behaviors from both of my children.






Here's the Grizzly and her cub that we saw by Fishing Bridge. The funny thing is that this picture isn't even zoomed in--they were that close! The cub is so cute and fluffy and he's just like a kid, he tries to follow mama and do what she does and then he gets distracted and has to hurry back to her and pretend like he's been there the whole time.






The movie star at West Thumb.














Moose at Jackson Lake Lodge. This is a mama and the bit of brown you see just behind her rear end is her baby. This is what we saw in the afternoon, but when Chris and I went back later to try to see a doctor about his back we saw them both crossing the road right in front of our car, but it happened too quickly to get a camera out. The baby was so cute though, trying to walk with his mama's dignity but then a little yappy dog in a camper started barking at him and he jumped and ran as fast as his spindly little legs could carry him


Eating ice cream at our Tent Cabins. I have nothing more to say about this picture.














This is something interesting that we saw on the way out of the park. I don't remember what, but we stopped and took a picture. I do remember that right before this Jimmy slammed the door on his own arm and it was incredibly hard to tell whether it was broken and swollen or just cute and baby-fat. He did have a few cuts though and he screamed and cried for a long time.

The Smell of Sulfur, the Roar of the Buffalo

Well, we're back from yellowstone, and I must say that I, for one, am not glad. True, I spent most of the time walking wishing I was sitting and most of the time sitting wishing I was sitting somewhere else, my husband did something horrible to his back, my mom wasn't well, my dad spent his entire trip trying to help out and relax at the same time (which, sadly, never worked), my daughter threw fits at every mention of geysers because of the smell she knew was coming, and my son--well, my son is 4. All the same, it was Yellowstone. One of my most favorite places in the world. We drove up early friday morning through Idaho to the west entrance. I have to say that we only stopped twice for pottys and one of those times was also for lunch so it doesn't count. We went to the visitor's center at Madison to get the kids started on their Junior Ranger badges, which was more of a hassle than I would have thought. The Junior Ranger program is apparently for kids over 5, which the nasty woman told us in a very haughty voice, because you have to be able to read to complete it. Like every kid can read at 5 anyway. So we said what if we read it to him, because he's 4 and a half and if his big sister is going to do it then so is he. She told us that he would actually have to do all of his work because, "Yellowstone really wants the kids to work for themselves and earn these badges" we looked at her like the moron she was and informed her that yes, of course he would do all his own work, what were we anyway? So we got the papers and took pictures of the buffalo and the elk and the bald eagle that we saw and headed on to Old Faithful. I love old faithful, but mainly the inn. I don't know why, I think it's because it's so unlikely. The wood is either insanely straight or insanely bent and it all works out to be fantastically awesome. I usually don't mind that the bathrooms are down the hall either, but this year I had two little ones who can't ever get through the night without getting up at least once. There was also a big mess with my mom's wheelchair, but that's for her blog. We had dinner that night in the cafeteria that's just on the other side of the geyser from the inn. I love that place, it's huge and they have just about everything to eat, from buffalo meatloaf to trout to spaghetti and meatballs. The problem is the aforementioned distance from the inn. Zoe rode the whole way on my mom's chair, but Jimmy walked with Chris and my dad and me informing us very politely the whole way over that he was hungry and tired, "legs hurt...macaroni...legs hurt...macaroni...legs hurt..." you get the idea.



The next day we drove up through Norris and Canyon down to Lake Yellowstone where we were staying in the Lake Lodge Cabins. I like these cabins because you have a bed, a carpet, a bathroom (including a shower, thank goodness), and electricity, and yet you are still in the middle of the woods in a cute little cabin where coyotes eat bunnies all day and night. seriously. We like to stay at Lake because we always take a Jammie Run up the Hayden valley very early in the morning to see the buffalo and usually a bear or two. Well unfortunately it was too early to see many buffalo, and we were two seconds to late on two seperate occasions to see bears. hmph. But we drove up and saw the falls and then up to Mammoth where I haven't been in years. It was Father's Day too so we gave presents and cards and had fun. On the way back for dinner however, after we had split up for the day, Chris and I came across a huge traffic jam, the kind of which is unmistakably labeled "BEAR SIGHTING". We jumped out with all our cameras and kids and ran across the road and saw a Momma Grizzly with her little cub, cute as can be, not 25 yards off the road. So cute! I had just about given up on seeing a bear that trip and boy was I wrong! I've got a bunch of pictures that are unfortunately at this moment in Pennsylvania, so I'll have to post those later. When we got back to the cabin to tell my parents all about the coolest bear sighting ever, we found out that it was my dad who actually spotted the bear in the first place and caused the huge traffic jam. So it was a dream come true for everybody.


After two days at Lake, we went on to the tent cabins at Colter Bay in the Tetons. Zoe asked me and my mom what Tetons means. We told her big pointy mountains. Chris hates camping, and the tent cabins make it a little better, but unfortunately not much, you see, he still has to walk to the bathroom. In the dark. Through the woods. In, again, the dark. In his defence though, the ranger told us that two days before we got there there was a bear in the cabin we were checking into...not the best thing to think of when you remember again that my son is 4! But it was nice because he had been so good in Yellowstone trying to remember that he had to stay on the boardwalks and trails and not run wild because of hot pools and buffalo. In the tetons he could run wild between our cabin and my mom's and not worry about anything. It was so funny though, because he wanted to be everywhere with everybody. If anyone was doing anything other than what he was doing, he would jump up and follow them until they gave him something to do to help. Poor grandpa got the worst of it, mainly because everything he was doing involved the car or the fire, both fascinating subjects for a little boy. I decided that I had to do some dutch oven cooking, so we had huge a breakfast and dinner the day before we left, so big in fact that we basically skipped lunch because we were still snacking on the extra scones. Mmm...scones...

Another fun bit was the breakfast buffet on the last day--they had a huge platter of fruit and I asked the girl who was refilling things if she knew if the fruit had all been cut together. She happened to be the Garde Manger and had done it herself and said yes, but when I explained that I was allergic to cantaloupe she immediately offered to cut me some honeydew seperately. Which I thougth was very nice and I ate the entire bowl she brought me because it was the ripest best melon I've had in a long long time (which is even longer because you can never get honeydew by itself). A few minutes later I started feeling a familiar feeling in my throat and started drinking everybody's water trying to keep breathing! We asked the manager to check if they hadn't been as careful with the honedew as they said and she checked and they followed the allergy procedures with seperate knives and boards and tables, so apparently I am now allergic to ALL melons. poo. I love melons. Maybe someday before I die they'll come up with an allergy cure and then I'll eat melons all day. Especially watermelon. oooh. watermelon. I love watermelon. a lot. a whole lot. Oh well. Till then, I'll just have to eat strawberries.

Well this post is already too long, so I'll end it by saying that we had fun and now we're home and if I don't roast in my own juices I'll post some of our pictures soon.

Contest!

First of all, I'm not sure why "bay area vegetarians" have a site about chocolate chip cookies, but they do.

Secondly and much more importantly, I have recently found out some very interesting things about the Ohio Department of Agriculture's rules about home baked food. As long as it is labeled properly, I can bake things in my own home and sell them anywhere I want to without being inspected or licensed or anything. I can't sell any "potentially hazardous food", the definition of which was drilled into me at culinary school, which includes basically anything that has to be refrigerated, and while I am allowed to sell things like chocolate dipped pretzels, I can't mix pretzels and nuts together and sell them together. I think that has something to do with repackaging trademarked stuff or something like that...

Anyway, what this means is that now instead of having to find a job and a daycare for Jimmy and possibly Zoe after school to bring in the money I need, I can stay home with them and do what I love to do! I am SO EXCITED!!! Don't worry that I think it's going to be easy, it's going to take a lot of work on my part to get stores to carry my stuff, but it'll be totally worth it!

But I need help--I need a name for my little company. I've always liked the name BabyCakes, but unfortunately that's already taken in Ohio. Chris came up with the best name I've ever heard of, Sweet Nothings, but that's already taken also (no surprise there, it's perfect). So I need ideas. I need a name that conveys what I sell and at the same time implies that the impact is negligible. So Sweet Nothings is good because it gives the idea that you can eat the gigantic brownie and yet it's worth nothing caloricaly--it conveys airiness and lightness.

So I know all of you are more creative than me, so lets hear those ideas!



oh yeah, I said a contest...um...okay, whoever has the winning name gets...uh...a plate of tester cookies. Yeah, that's it. So hop to it!

Allison Simpson

So, I've heard about this simpsonizer thing for a long time, but only just decided to try it. So here's me--the picture I used was from last fall so my hair's shorter, but I think it's pretty good!




Here's Chris, I think it's cute! The beard could be a little grayer, but it's good enough! ^_^ I also like how his hand is out as if he's explaining something in a very didactic way.



Here's my little Jim--I don't think his is as good, since it's hard to get that messy hair and rosy cheeks and perpetually backwards pants. But it's cute!



And here's Zoe, looking all cute and adorable and simpson-like. My mom cut her bangs today so we can actually see her eyes now, and it's good. The next thing is to square off the back of her hair so she looks less like a ragamffin--she's insisting on growing it out though. Frankly I think it's adorable. Give it two more inches and even it out a bit and it'll be the cutest cut she's ever had.

I'll probably post again this week before our Yellowstone trip on Friday.

So, starting at the beginning, I had a really bad sinus infection, and the first round of antibiotics didn't work. So the doctor gave me a new one and immediately I started to feel weird--tired and dizzy and weak, and then thursday I was driving back to the office from my last house of the day along I-80, and I looked over at my mirror and instead of seeing my partner Glenda in the passenger seat, I saw this:

I nearly crashed the car! I was seeing things like this all over the road, and it was like mom says how you see in slides instead of movies. I called my doctor when I got home, but of course she was already gone. So I didn't go to work on friday and called the doc and she said that was a very rare side effect so don't take it anymore and the symptoms would go away. Except they didn't. So I went to the ER on sunday so they could check things out and make sure I'm not dying, which I'm not.

I'm crazy.

Apparently I have the sort of mind that gives up after a while (which I'm sure some of you already knew), so starting with being sick for a while, then moving very far away, signing a lease on a house I've never seen in a city I've never been too, dealing with a broken swamp cooler that my landlord is dragging his feet on fixing, two kids who are getting off to a bad start with the summer and already fighting and throwing huge fits, my husband out of town two weekends in a row, working 9 hour days at hard labor, cleaning and packing my house, and then to top it all off a medicine that made me dizzy and confused--my brain gave up and took a vacation.

When they first started talking about making me talk to a crisis worker I thought it was stupid--I'm not crazy, I'm just sick. But this theory actually makes a lot of sense to me, and I'm thinking they're probably right. It sucks though, because I'm not allowed to drive or work until I've seen a psychiatrist and she signs off on me. Which all makes sense, but I don't have to be happy about it. I would like to put in a little plug for my boss now...I think he has to be the nicest boss in the world, I brought him the work release this morning saying I can't work for two weeks, and after the first quick intake of breath all he said was, "don't make coming back to work your first priority, make getting well your first priority. Then coming back to work would be really good"

The weird part about all this isn't the hallucinations. I pretty much know that what I'm seeing isn't real. The hardest part is my swiss cheesy memory. I can't remember what I did and what I thought about--for instance, did I eat dinner or just think about it? Did I call that person or just think about it? Chris says I called him twice yesterday to tell him the same thing, but I only remember the second time. I haven't dared give the kids a bath, because what if I forget they're in there? I've stopped using the home phone because my cell phone records what calls I make so I can keep track (especially useful for when I called my work), and I've reread this blog 5 or 6 times so i don't repeat myself!

It's nice having this time at home with my kids, I only wish I was a little more with it so I could get more done and enjoy it more, but I'll take what I can get!

Welcome to my new house! Isn't it cute? I'd like to point out the nice new siding and the new roof. It's on the corner (to the left of this picture) so there's a bunch of lawn to play on which looks disturbingly green to my utah sensibilities. Note the two car garage which will bring me (I'm told) a world of joy come bad weather season. Not to mention the safety of having the car doubly locked. Moving on...




This is the entry/living room, which was described by Ben as being "not especially spacious, but it will do", to which I have to wonder what exactly he has been smoking, since I know full well he was living in student housing for quite some time and should look on this room with the same awe and wonder that I do, based on the next picture which is of the same room...







See? It's huge! I suppose that it wouldn't look as big if it was the only room of that sort in the house, but since it is accompanied by a family room just down the hall, it's fantastic! I have one room for the clutter that comes with kids and a huge dvd collection, and a nice living room for my piano and china closet so when people come to my house they won't be scared away. The landlord is putting in new carpet (dark charcoal grey) and repainting (we can paint whatever we want to as well ^_^)

I might post more pictures later, but it's freaking out when I try to do lots.

I'm trying to get quotes on moving companies, whether it's worth it to drive ourselves, (which I doubt), or the upack thing, or more of movers. I've done a lot of research on moving scams and reviews and abf comes off really nice. I even read a post from someone who moved her piano with them and packed it really well and nothing bad happened to it. So that's encouraging. I'm really excited about this house though, I wish it didn't entail moving away from here and family, because I want to move NOW, but I don't want to leave yet!

ha ha ha ha ha. Whew. Glad That's over.

Okay, so I finally talked to Buffi and everythings fine and apparently always was. As my mother is always saying, Communication is the Key to Everything! Seriously, every time she watched the Scarlett Pimpernel, she points out that if the husband and wife would just talk to each other, there wouldn't be any problems, and nobody would have to be upset and/or arrested. So the only reason there was a problem was that Buffi was in major training and thusly didn't call me, and also didn't feel a great need to call me because she wasn't upset or anything, she was happy for me and thought everything was fine.

Soooo, anyway. I'm trying to get my house clean before I start my new job, because I'm pretty sure that I won't want to clean other people's messes all day and then come home to my own big mess. So I figure that if my house is really really clean to start with, then all I'll have to do is just keep it that way (which takes a lot less effort). I am optimistic, but I also know that it's not going to last extremely long--hopefully long enough that next time I have to get things back under control again I can just pack it all up in boxes. Lately I've just been throwing it all away. My mom told me to save stuff for a yard sale in the summer, but I don't have anywhere to keep it, and it's worth more to me to have it AWAY than make the 2 bucks it'll bring in June. I told the kids that any toys they sell they can keep the money for themselves--but Jimmy got so excited about that he wants to sell his Thomas tracks. I asked him why, because then he'd be sad his trains didn't have anywhere to do. He told me that he would just buy new tracks with the money he got from selling the old ones. Oops. But hopefully we'll get that sorted out.

My cousin is looking at a house for me today in Reynoldsburg. We are trying really hard to get into the Reynoldsburg school district because they've made a really attractive plan for Zoe's schooling. So I found a house on craigslist the other day that might work. It's 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, backyard, garage, basement, all that stuff. We'll see what Ben has to say after he's been inside it. He drove past it yesterday and said it looked nice, and it's not a split level, which is a point in its favor right there. Several points in fact. Another nice thing is that they don't want to rent it until June, so they would be more willing to work with us I think. It would be really nice to have housing all set up and done--but I don't think it will happen for a while yet.

I shouldn't be doing this.

I'm supposed to be cleaning my house right now, but I thought I would drop a little note to try to get some things down. My boss sent me an email last night in response to the one I sent her telling her I was done. She seems surprised that I would feel that way, blah blah blah. I feel guilty now, but at the same time, still upset. She says she wanted to hear it from me that I was leaving and what was going on, but yet she never called me. She says Judy was making things up and why did I listen to her when I know she makes things up. Well, unless she's psychic, she didn't make it up that Buffi told her I was leaving, because how else would she know? And since Buffi wasn't calling me herself to talk about something I think SHOULD be pretty important, I could only go by what Judy said. I would never have believed half of what she was telling me if Buffi had only called to talk to me herself. If Buffi knows, (and she does, because she told me) that Judy is nuts and makes things up, then why would she rely on her to find out about my quitting and pass things on to me? Why is Judy getting a pass on every stupid thing she does, and I get left in the dark? I'll tell you why, it's because Judy doesn't have kids, and she'll come in whenever Buffi says. She'll grumble and cry and threaten to quit, but she still does. I come in all the time too, but I have refused several times to come in on nights and weekends. The thing of it is, is that even if I didn't have kids, or I always had a babysitter, what makes her think that I always have nothing better to do? I don't make enough at that job to justify being on call. Or to be the manager. Buffi always says she doesn't want another manager besides just her. But she won't BE the manager. She doesn't like it, and she makes everyone else do it. Someone has to be the manager. Someone has to be on call, and make the schedule, and if it's not going to be her then she needs to buck up and hire someone else to do it for her. I shouldn't have been enabling her as much as I was, but I was always kind of hoping in the back of my mind that she'd see what I was doing and make it official. That's not going to happen, and I'm not going to wait around any longer. She thinks I owe her because I got two weeks off for my surgery in January. Funny, I got one day off for my surgery in March, and that was the day OF the surgery. I worked the next 6 days in a row! It's ludicrous and I'm done.

I'm going over there to talk to her today, and my mom wants me to work out the week, but I don't know. I don't want to burn any bridges, but the thought of going back there makes me physically ill.

That is slightly depressing.

Okay, I just googled my name, and you would not believe how many thing came up. Allison Hill is apparently a (bad) neighborhood in PA, an artist, sculptor, finance manager, a photographer, and who knows what else. Allison Wells is a classical singer, a kindergarten teacher, an author, and a 16 year old girl in Hawaii. It's kind of a lot to live up to--I'm going to have to work hard to get my name up there with all the rest of them. If you google my brother he's the first one to come up--however, this is kind of cheating because he has his own website that's CALLED robisonwells.com. And of course, the computer thinks you spelled it wrong.

I don't remember why I just googled my name, except that I'm trying to keep my mind off the job I just left. It doesn't matter, I have a new job, a BETTER job, but it still sends me into a panic to quit--especially when people are so immature about it. Why do people take things so personally? I'm quitting for better pay and better hours, something I accept I'm not going to find in the B&B industry as a whole (until I own my own, of course). I gave notice, I did everything I should have done, and yet my boss is being a baby about it. Maybe it's okay, because now I don't feel guilty about finding another job--instead I'm relieved to be getting out of what is obviously a messed up place. It's the final insult though, because I've been defending my job to my family for months now. Everytime I had to work weird hours, or no hours at all, and my husband or my mom would say, "why do you put up with this? This isn't what your job is supposed to be!" or "I just saw that you could work at McDonalds for more money than you're making." And I defend it, every time. And this is what I get. It makes me sick.

I need to get my mind off it now though, because it's over. Maybe I'll watch Doctor Who...that usually helps.

Underappreciated...at least by me

So, do you want to know the best word in the world? Here it is: Benign. Yup. Here's another good one: fibro adenoma. To start at the beginning, I had a lump removed from my right breast last friday. They had to remove it because it was too big to biopsy. Think about that one for a minute. It's too BIG to stick a needle into. But it makes sense if you think about it, because one part could be benign while the rest is a raging inferno of nastiness. So I had it removed. Let me paint you a picture.

There I am in the little room in my cute little gown and socks with the little sticky stuff on the bottom. A guy comes in to draw blood. Does he start an IV at the same time to limit the amount of poking I will undergo? Of course not. And it hurt. So then a girl comes in whom I met at my first visit to the surgeon two weeks prior when this chickie was on her surgical rotation. Apparently now she's on her anesthesia rotation, and jumped at the chance to start my IV. The first thing she did was numb the skin--which I have learned is a very bad sign because it indicates that they don't know what they're doing. And I was right. She poked around for a while and then did something extremely painful and started to laugh. I looked over and she had blown the vein. There was a HUGE ridgey lump on my hand where my vein should be. She held gauze on it to stop the (external) bleeding, and proceded to laugh and show the other people in the room how funny that was. I don't need to tell you I was not pleased by this. It hurt so bad that I was starting to get a little woozy, and my mom turned to this girl and said, "how many IVs have you started in your life, 3?" She stopped laughing. The next guy didn't seem any more competent at the outset but he did get the needle in first try and it didn't bruise.

Then they took me in the operating room. This sucked so bad, I don't even have words to describe it. They put a blanket over my face and tied my arms down (which was good because I could feel them keep trying to move down and "help") and injected the local. They did give me some happy drugs at the beginning because I remember dozing off a few times. But then they wore off and I remember everything after that. I think I've watched way too many medical shows because I understood way more of what was happening than I wanted to. When the doctor finished and left the nurse to close they started bickering about the proper way to close, "I like to do it this way with a little wrinkle, but Dr. Neumeyer doesn't like that. She's never here when I close so I do it my way anyway." "I like her way of doing it, don't you think you should use an extra stitch there?" "no, it's good, I've done hundreds of these" and on and on and on. By the time I got back to my mom I was so ready to go home and get away from that place. I cried all through the surgery and didn't stop until my mom took me home.

But on the bright side, I am done with it, and they called today and said it was a totally benign fibro adenoma. I have a very orange/purple/green/red bruise where I can't show people, and a dark purple/green bruise covering the back of my hand. Yeah, it's really funny, isn't it.

You know, when you're preparing for this surgery, they tell you how easy it is because it's not into a muscle or organ, so the recovery is really easy. But I don't think the average person realizes how often they use that part of their body on a daily basis. Tearing off a paper towel from the roll, carrying more than two things, bumping into doors, folding laundry (if you can't figure that one out I'm not going to explain it to you), etc. I'm sure I for one, will not be taking those things for granted any more!

Slurpees

My husband won't buy me slurpees anymore. He says that just because I never finish them, I shouldn't get them in the first place. It's really not fair, because he always buys the ones with fake sugar. Gross. So of course I can't finish them, because they're gross. Last time he went to get some, he called me from Sev to ask what flavor I wanted if I didn't like what he picked. He was absolutely astounded that I wanted Coke. Huh? This from the man who practically had to go into rehab to get off the Cola, is amazed that I would want a Coke slurpee. Go fig.

I was looking for a job in Columbus today, and it's looking hairy. There's tons of jobs, that's not the problem, the problem is that I don't know anything about them. When you're looking for work, you weed through the ads looking for places you like, that you trust, that you would feel comfortable telling people you work there. But in a city I've never even visited, what do I do? I don't know the neighborhoods, or the businesses' reputation. It's a total crap shoot, and I don't like it.

I'm not going to write a long blog because the new season of Ghost Hunters is on. ^_^

Cogito Ergo Sum

You're probably wondering why I have called you all together. I have decided that in light of the coming life-changing event that is soon to, you know, change lives, I should record the process. And what better way to record the personal issues of my family than on the internet!

I'll start at the beginning for those of you coming in late. My husband Chris is graduating from the U in May. This is a big deal because he's getting TWO bachelor degrees with honors and all sorts of nifty things, including a "Stole of Gratitude". This sounds a lot like the "Penguin of Knowledge" but stick with me here. It's a very pretty sash you wear around your neck that means basically nothing. You buy it yourself if you want one, but then after you graduate you're supposed to give it to someone you are grateful to--a family member, friend, etc who has supported you in some meaningful way. It's kind of like a gameball. My husband decided he's going to wear one and give it to me--which doesn't mean the sweet thing you're thinking it does--if he gives it to me he gets to keep it himself. Anyway, he's graduating and then he's going to grad school. He's been accepted to The Ohio State University so unless Pittsburgh throws tons of money at him we're moving to Columbus in August.

I'm actually pretty excited to finally know where we're going. We've been talking about this move in very vague, general terms, but now we know exactly where we're going which changes everything. Now I can research schools for Zoe and jobs for myself and get moving quotes and find a house. Ah, house. There's the rub. I have no idea what we're going to do. I do NOT want to go back to living in an apartment again, so we need to find a house to rent. But it's silly to rent a house and not get any equity out of it, so we'd love to buy a house but that's not going to happen. Rent to own might be an option--we'll have to see.

I feel like I have one foot in both places. I'm trying to get that life set up and ready to occupy, while trying to have as much fun as I can here before I leave and never come back. I grew up in Salt Lake, and I think it's beautiful--and of course, familiar. But on the other hand I'm really excited to do something new. The only time in my life I've lived more than 5 miles away from my mother was my senior year of high school when she sent me to Tuacahn in St. George. That was only 9 months, and only 300 miles away and I had a car...and you know, I look back at that time in my life and I have no idea how I came out of it alive. You'd think that I did a lot of stupid things, and don't get me wrong, I did, but I did molly-mormon stupid things. I stayed up way too late and ate too much junk food and drove too fast and kissed THREE boys. It's after I came back that I started the really stupid things--but that's another story. I do wish that I hadn't gone on a credibility destroying rampage the second I got home...

That paragraph kind of got away from me, but the point I was trying to make is that now that I'm at a ripe old age I know that my mother is not only much smarter than I am, but MUCH more capable, and I'm scared silly to move away from her. Luckily I have two incredibly cute kids so she'll have to come visit me all the time if only to see them.

So I'm going to spend the next 5 months having as much Utah fun as I can, which I can only assume involves green jello and sing-alongs.