November is always a fun month for us because it means the holidays are approaching and we are usually gearing up for a trip to Pennsylvania. It also means cooler weather and Thanksgiving and the fair. We had a great November but it was also busy for me as well. That didn't stop me from finding tons of things to love.
Read MoreI think part of my problem is I don’t make time to write. And then, when I finally do, I don’t know how to make the mundane sound interesting. Or how to make a month or two’s worth of information readable without it being a laundry list of this and that.
I always say, “I’m going to do it this month. I’m going to write about something, anything, every day”. Then I spend all day at work on the computer and little tasks at home get in the way and before I know it, the day is over and I can’t even remember half of the little things that sparked even the short thought of, “Maybe I could write about this”.
Sometimes, briefly, I thought about giving up this site but then my stubbornness kicks in. I’ve had this blog for eight years. At this site. And yes, interest has probably waned both on my part and my readers part but at the same time, I don’t like to think of life without it. Partly because I’m resistant to change and partly because this at least is my outlet, even if I only use it sporadically.
So I don’t think I’m going anywhere anytime soon. I just need to give myself a swift kick in the pants to actually START being interesting again.
(Maybe that’s my problem – I’ve done grown up and bought a house and got a real job and just don’t FEEL interesting anymore! Somebody, validate me, please! LOL)
September and October have been rough though I couldn’t specifically tell you why. I feel like these weeks just blew by and thinking back, there are very few moments from them that stand out enough. I’m still working seventy hour weeks or so and have actually been really, really busy during my time at the office. I think that’s part of it all. Work kicks my ass lately and despite the fact that I never wanted to be that person, sometimes, it’s the only thing I’m thinking about, even when I’m not there. Because I want to do a good job. Because I need to be awesome, at everything I do! (All joking aside, I’m kind of serious – I want to rock at my job because it makes me feel like I’m not wasting my life away in a career I hate.)
Early in October, I got this brilliant idea to have a Halloween “gathering”. By deeming it a “gathering”, I figured I could get away with inviting people to my house, feeding them some candy, having them bring their own booze and letting them hang out and play my XBox. Well, I got kind of carried away and now that “gathering” has turned into a “party” of almost twenty-five confirmed guests. And since I seem to think I’m Superwoman or Martha Stewart (or just plain awesome!), I’ve already sailed away on that ship called Overboard and am a little bit knee-deep in a lot of work that I only hope will produce a fabulous celebration.
I made custom spooky wine bottle labels, ya’ll!
It’s a lot of work and I really don’t mind because I was going to put out that kind of effort to decorate our front yard (we like to be that scary house on the block) but the pain is in the details and my perfectionist person just has to learn to let some of the stuff go. Like putting caution tape over the doors in the hallway? Great idea – can’t find my caution tape – DO NOT NEED to go running back to Wal-Mart to get some more. (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been to Wal-Mart this month!)
Regardless, I’m sure it will go over well and since it’s in like two days, I can at least start to feel excited about it, instead of stressed about the fact that nothing’s done (trust me, there’s still a lot to do, but I have a LIST! A list always save the day!).
And yes, my floors were finally fixed which is why I’m ok with having the party. Three months later, the living room is back to normal. Now I just have to pay the guys and get MORE money from the insurance money (something about depreciation costs – God, being a grownup homeowner sucks! I would so get my mom to call for me if she could). They also finally fixed the couch, after two service calls. It still doesn’t feel right to me but I don’t think it ever will unless they replace it completely, which they seem adament about NOT doing. So for now, we’ll just delegate that one to company use only (though, come to think of it, it would make sense to use it every day since neither one of us ever sit in the middle – hmmmm, I guess I do get bright ideas when I finally sit down to write!).
I was finally able to get Sammy’s haircut (hey, you talk about your children, I talk about my dog – just put me in the doggyblogger category). I figured it was probably time when he jumped up and ended up scratching my face with his claws. I could have also gauged it around the fact that he was scooting in circles around the rug in my living room but he does that all the time, especially when company comes over, so perhaps not (“Hey Mom, Sammy learned a new trick!”). Poor thing had to go through the stress of the haircut then the very next day had to deal with the workers sawing and hammering the new floors. I’m sure he needed a Valium or something because Steve said he was so nervous he threw up like five times the day the workers were there. I swear, only we would get the dog that is terrified of loud noises but will bite the shit out of you if you look at him wrong!
The big accomplishment with Sammy though has been that I was able to teach him “Paw!” and “Roll Over!” in the past month. Those were the last two he needed to learn and they were difficult because both required him to do something he didn’t want to do, i.e. submit to us and let us touch his paws. But a good bribe, persistence and praise will make them do anything! Granted, when he gives paw now, even without a treat, he kind of claws at our hands like he’s trying to pull them close to get a treat, but hey, before he growled whenever we even held our hand out. So it’s a step in the right direction!
We really need to take him out of the backyard more. A few weeks ago, we took him to dog park and he seemed to enjoy it. He’s definitely intimidated by dogs bigger than him and I don’t think he understands the “play” signals that the little dogs give off, particularly the ones with high energy. He’s definitely a loner and would prefer to just wander in and out of groups and sniff the grass.
I’ll tell you, we love him to death, but sometimes we just shake our heads and wish we had gotten a normal, overly-friendly goofy dog that we can do almost anything with.
We’ve tossed around the idea of getting another one. To be honest, if we had the room and unlimited funds, I’d adopt every animal I could. I would love to have a few cats and wouldn’t mind taking one of them on because they’re much easier than dogs. Losing Scamper this month was especially hard on me but Steve is really allergic to them and it’s definitely not fair to bring an animal into the house that’s going to make him miserable.
Even Sammy gets to be too much for him sometimes!
So we’re still grooving along! Tonight, my parents are coming over to carve pumpkins and tomorrow we have Tyler’s football game then Friday is the party. So I hope to be back this weekend with some pictures to share because you better believe I’m documenting all this hard party work with photos so I can remember how awesome I really am!
How do you take a picture of humble? Because I should probably do that to!
Have a Happy Halloween everyone and if you’re in the area, feel free to stop by! What’s one more person, right?
I did absolutely nothing today and I’m not ashamed of it.
And when I say absolutely nothing, I mean I woke up, said goodbye to my visitors, laid on the couch in various positions and caught up on various backlogged programs on the Tivo. Most of those backlogged programs included Flipping Out and Chelsea Lately, both of which feature absolutely hilarious and entertaining people. (Yes, I kind of heart Jeff Lewis in all of his absurdity and Chelsea Handler is just hysterical!)
I needed some lay around and relax and not feel guilty about things not being done time.
I didn’t even let myself think of the things I should be doing.
My father, sister and grandmother came in to visit us this weekend. My brother also came down from Myrtle Beach. He got here Wednesday night, the rest of the crowd rolled in Friday afternoon. We’ve had a busy house for the past few days. Thankfully, they are a rather easygoing group so it was a fairly low key weekend but it still is quite a bit of work having people in the house.
Friday evening we just hung out and watched a few movies because I had to work. On Saturday, everybody was slow getting up and moving but when we finally did, we headed out to the Animal Planet Expo that was being held down the street.
I stupidly, but not surprisingly, had not filled up on gas and almost gave myself a heart attack thinking we were going to run out. This is nothing new to the people who know me – I live by the “miles until empty” feature on my dash and the little orange gas light. Normally, when it starts to blink it means I have thirty miles left. And it was blinking. But we were only five miles or so from the gas station. And we were initially riding with the windows down so I thought we were cool. But I failed to remember we had five people in the car and I stupidly tried to accomodate that by turning on the A/C (see: because it was f*ing hot out!). And for about a mile, my car sputtered and complained about not having any gas and my hands were shaking and I was praying that we were going to make it.
And we did! So hopefully, I learn my lesson, though probably not, since I’ve actually ran out of gas before.
Regardless, the expo was fun. It was free and there were all sorts of exhibits there about pets and animals and such. We brought Sammy with so he was super-excited to be out and make all sorts of doggy friends. But it was so damn hot that we only lasted about an hour or so before we had to head home. Gotta love the South!
That was ok though, because we had dinner plans at a local Hibachi restaurant. My father and brother share the same birthday (today actually – HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y’ALL!!!) and since I’ve been too busy (i.e. lazy) to go out and shop, I just took them all out to dinner. And we had a fabulous time! Steve and I love taking people to that place because you get so much food for the price and because it’s an hour or two where we don’t have to entertain people because the chef does it for us. And the food is delicious as well.
We had apple sake and even got my grandmother to take a shot (she sipped it). We had steak and chicken and rice and veggies. They banged drums and gave my dad and brother leis and cupcakes and made them dance on chairs. And it was just a fun-filled, entertaining good time had by all.
On Sunday, we headed to the beach and spent a couple of hours out there. Steve and my youngest brother spent the entire time in the ocean collecting sand dollars and man did we get a shitload of them. At least a dozen or so. So many that I don’t know what I’m going to do with them – perhaps we’ll give them as Christmas presents. After the beach, we headed out for food and ate at a local bakery/deli downtown that I like because they had delicious bread and pastries. Then after that, we headed down to the The Charleston Market (I would guess it’s not PC to call it the Slave Market but that’s how I’ve always known it which wouldn’t make sense since slaves were never actually sold there) so my dad and sister could get souveniers.
Steve and I have always disagreed over flip-flops. I love them and would wear them everyday if I could. He just started wearing them and ONLY if we’re going to the beach and then he will throw them in the car and change once we get to the beach. Well, this weekend, we discovered why most Charlestonians live in flip-flops.
We were in the market, which is open-air. And a normal summer afternoon thunderstorm blew in. Now, we had heard about downtown flooding but we had never been there while it did. And before we knew it, we were standing ankle-deep in water while looking at the trinkets. We just stood around for awhile watching the rain and then finally started wading back to the car. Steve’s sneakers and my grandmother’s slip ons were soaked, but the rest of us, who were in flop flops, were perfectly fine.
It’s so funny to see some people in rain like that too. It was such a downpour that you were basically stuck – you were either going to wait it out or get soaked. And at that point, some people were panicking. Others were just running across the street, soaked to the bone, but grinning like this was an unexpected adventure on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
We were the others. I was having a blast. My grandmother was taking it all in stride but we didn’t want to keep her out too much longer so we packed the cars up and headed to my mother’s place. My mother had cooked dinner and a cake for another mini-birthday celebration and we just spent the evening at her place, hanging out, playing pool and watching TV.
Then, just like that, it was over. Everyone woke up this morning and packed up and went home to their respective places. I laid around because each set of visitors gets harder and harder. We LOVE haivng people in and visiting with them but the mere effort we have to put forth for it has literally drained me of any energy I had left. Yet we still have another set of visitors coming in the beginning of next week.
Next summer, the inn is closed, y’all!
For now, I’m just going to play some video games and spent the last day off recovering from the extended birthday celebration. Then I’m going to go to bed and wake up tomorrow to head to work and try to get things back to normal.
Perhaps at some point, I can start catching up!
