he said she said

We’ve got the change bug bad.  Ever get that antsy feeling that you need to change something in your life?  Nick and I have it.  I put a streak of pink in my hair yesterday so my bug is soothed for now, but he, as a non-girl working in a non-salon doesn’t have that option.  He’s been feeling the job change bug nibbling for months now, but has had no luck finding a different position.  I’m too much of a pansy to enjoy searching for new employment, plus I really super like my coworkers.  It rained awesomely yesterday and today, and the weather made Nick crave someplace with real sun, maybe some warm rain, somewhere that he didn’t feel sad because of the weather.  I think we might wait a small while, and then pick a state and move.  Maybe for 6 months, maybe a year, maybe we’ll stay away for more.  Right now, he wants to try out Florida.  I keep saying words like hurricane, humidity, and h’alligator, but we just might do it.  I don’t know.  Part of me is excited at the prospect of completely new things, but a bigger part of me is panicking at the thought of being so far away from my entire support system.  I need my people, more that others do, I think, and definitely more than Nick does.  My biggest concern is that if/when we do move, if I don’t have anyone I know nearby I will overwhelm him with needing him.   If I have no one to talk to, no one to hang out with and interact with I will drive him to distraction with making him my best girlfriend.  I talk a lot.  I know, you’re all bowled over.  It’s true, I need to talk or I go mad.  Now, he needs downtime, he needs to zone out and sit in his nothing box for an hour every day and I need to talk.  Does this sound like a healthy setup in a new place where he needs quiet time to deal with stress and I need to talk to deal with stress, also in a place where I have no one with whom to talk.  Gee babe, let’s leave tomorrow!

 

Snap, Crackle, POP POP POP POP POP

We love popcorn.  Have I mentioned this before?  I mean, we really love popcorn.  We buy white popping corn in bulk from Winco because we love it so much and eat it in such large amounts.  Last night, we had a conversation that looked like this:

Nick: Popcorn!

Me: Popcorn?

Nick: Popcorn.

Me: Popcorn. . . hmmm.  Popcorn.

Nick: POOOOPPPPPCOOOOORRRRNNNN

And then I went off to the kitchen to make some . . . you know, popcorn.  When I make such a lovely snack, I don’t fill just a bowl, oh no.  That is short-sighted, thinking small, staying inside the box.  I get a brown paper bag and fill it at least halfway.  Nick and I can eat that entire amount in about 4 days, tops.  It gets eaten by the random handful as we walk past the table on various trips across the apartment,  we cuddle it between us like a pet or child while watching a movie, and it sometimes counts as breakfast – salty, crunchy breakfast.

Bair Mahogany was visiting during the Great Popcorn Eloquence, and he watched my preparatory process with interest.  He’d taken some culinary classes in the past.  I talked him through my actions as I made popcorn, old school.

Heat 1/8″ canola or vegetable oil in a thin-sided 3 quart saucepan with lid until it looks like there are little streamers in the oil, then pour in just enough popcorn kernels to cover the bottom of the pan one layer thick.  Put on lid, shake occasionally, wait until shaking the pan elicits no rattling, kernelly noises, then empty pan into bowl or bag depending on your level of badassery.  Sprinkle liberally with salt, put more oil in the pan, and do over until you have enough deliciousness for three days.  Or a movie.  Your call, really.

Bair Mahogany was so moved by my performance and madd skillz that he requested some popcorn to take home to his lovely wife.  I think he became my popcorn-apprentice.  Now all I need is some floss to get the husks out of my teeth. . .  ouch.

 

Sodas bursting in air

Heard earlier today: “Awww, you didn’t blog about yesterdayyyyy!”  Apparently Nick was deeply concerned.

AHEM.  Yesterday we went out to breakfast after a gloriously leisurely morning of shower frolicking.  Webber’s Crossing is delightful and delicious, and before we walked there Nick fed me half a cookie so his epitaph wouldn’t read: Killed By Hypoglycemia (his wife’s).  There followed a nice nap, then we left for his parents’ annual 4th of July bbq party.  It was lamesauce.  Normally it’s a good time: the sun is out, people are laughing and having fun – but this year it was like the low, grey clouds affected everybody’s mood.  So we sneaked out and went home.  At home, we cleaned house furiously, just because we could.  Around 8:30pm we got a call from The Baron inviting us to a parking lot to blow stuff up, so we filled the flask and scampered off to join the fun.  What fun it was.  The boys put firecrackers in assorted fruits (tomatoes, kiwi, watermelon chunks, pineapple chunks), mushrooms, and cans of soda.  The girls put glow bracelets on and did interpretive dances with sparklers.

**Hilarious happenstance report**  Just now Nick’s dad showed up at our door with a basket full of rolls that he made, like he does many Mondays.  However, we were not so very “clothed”, and there was awkwardness with the many doorbell rings and the running and the diving into pants and shirts. . . It’s bad being caught in flagrante delicto by your father, and it’s worse when he figures out that he did just catch you in flagrante delicto.   That is all.  **Hilarious happenstance report**

After just about everything that could be lit had been lit, and after a mushroom fight, we decided to reconvene at a local Shari’s for further nonsense.  Partway there, the plan changed to meeting at our apartment because it was close and did not require purchase.  We were fine with the suggestion because Look!  We cleaned the place earlier and it’s nice! mostly.   All in all, we had a much better evening than we had predicted, and then I went to bed at 1 am.  And Nick went to bed at 1:30.

 

Sadness and Sitcoms

We discovered a tv show we liked, earlier this week.  We don’t actually have a tv (that works) but we watch series on Netflix and it is lovely.  We’d watched about 7 episodes till today, and decided to wrap up our evening with one more.  The show is called the Dresden Files, it’s a fantasy show, there is magic, there are wizards and demons and werewolves and vampires and all manner of nonsense and we’re totally engrossed.  It is just delightful.  EXCEPT tonight’s episode.  It was melodramatic, it was over the top, the use of light was all wrong, the queen vampire looked ridiculous, the main character did so many things completely out of character, that Nick and I were both heartbroken.  We looked at each other every five minutes or so, and said with disbelief, “Did that just happen?  Did they really just do that?  Harry would never do that!  WHY IS THERE SO MUCH LIGHT IN A VAMPIRE-RUN NIGHTCLUB???”  We were very, very upset.

Have you ever experienced this?  You find a scripted series that you heartily enjoy, but halfway through the season something changes and it becomes trite nonsense, instead of highly entertaining, well thought out with awesome comedic timing nonsense?  And then your heart breaks into tiny little pieces, and the evenings of giggles and gasps that you imagined stretching on and on into the dim, fuzzy future are suddenly stolen away from you by someone who thought that the Blair Witch Project had the best cinematography ever.  AND THEN you spiral down into unhappiness and even possibly depression because you thought that this would be something special with your husband to bond over, something to chat about and remember happily, something to look forward to when there’s nothing else planned and YOU’RE SO INCREDIBLY BOREDDDD but now it’s worse than canceled, it’s poorly directed and all the awesome has been made into a caricature of fairy dusted crap.  No?  Okay well then it’s just me.  At least we bonded in our sadness over the metric crapton of suck that was that hour.

 

Nothing Much. . . really.

I finished wrister #1 while watching a tv series on Netflix for Xbox.  I will post pictures when I have both done.

We discovered a tv series we like besides Man vs. Wild – we also like The Dresden Files.  It’s a fantasy series in which the main character is a wizard.  Part of my argument to convince Nick to like it was that Nicolas Cage is one of the executive producers.

 

“A profound quote about friends” – somebody wise and famous

Last night, there was awesomeness.  Last night, we went swimming and we barbecued.  Last night,  we did those things at Nick’s parents’ house and were accompanied by KATIE AND JESSE!  They live about five minutes away from us, but we rarely see them and I’m not sure why.  But, these last two days I’ve seen Katie, and last night was so much fun and very amusing, because Katie is a total card.  I have to confess that i don’t quite know the exact definition of “card” in this context, but I have heard/read it used in a similar context about other people (okay maybe in 19th century novels) and I think I got it right.  We jumped into the pool which was a stunningly perfect 81 degrees, and goofed around and Jesse tried to push Katie in, but she shrieked and pinched him and giggled nervously and then I think she pushed him in.  So I charged at her and suddenly pop!  She was in the water.  Katie doesn’t subscribe to sound effect norms.  don’t box her in!  We even attempted to have a chicken fight, but I kept laughing so hard I fell off of Nick straight forward and drowned him repeatedly by clenching his poor neck with my thighs and holding him underwater.  Eventually the game ended with both of us girls pushing each other in the boobs (they were closest) and falling into the water one after the other.  Katie and Jesse fell first, though.  So we won.  Then Nick got frostbite so he started up the barbecue.  Seriously, when it’s his idea, he loves being the host, making the food, all that jazz.  He glows like a pregnant woman, he’s so proud of himself.

During and after our late dinner we talked about shoes and ships and sealing wax, and almost went on to cabbages and kings but got distracted by sharing drama horror stories, like the time I got unfriended on Facebook.  They talked about the time they got excommunicated.  I am ashamed to say that I believed what I was told about them during that time, and didn’t even think of talking to them and hearing from their own lips what had happened.  It was hours of good talk, and I killed another few mosquitoes on Katie’s boob and arm and leg.  Most of all, I felt vindicated.  Here were people that didn’t think my actions, reactions, and choices were melodramatic or jaded, they even agreed with me.  They told me I wasn’t crazy.  They told me that they understood my decisions.  They told me that I was okay, and that was invaluable.  I started out thinking I’d just ooze wonder and joy at how great it was to spend a large amount of time with these people, and now here I am getting all emotional that they were so kind.  It got dark and late, so we had to go.

Oh!  In the middle of it all, Katie and I were talking about something and the menfolks were talking about something else, but when we rejoined their conversation Jesse said something that Katie had phrased differently shortly previous.  She said, “Hey, I just said that!  We totally agree!”  He said, “Wow, that’s neat.  We should date!  Do you want to go out sometime?”  She looked at her left hand and said, “Yeah!  Oh, I’ll have to ask my husband.”  He said, “It’s okay; I’m married, too. ”  They’re silly together, and funny, and I probably laughed harder at that little interchange than I should have.  But that’s just how they are, HILARIOUS.  I end up helplessly giggling about 85% of the time I am in Katie’s company.  She has a great range of facial expressions and vocal intonations that seem made for comedic purpose.  Jesse has gotten more silly and lighthearted with her, he’ll initiate jokes and go along with whatever bit she’s doing at the time.  I felt rested after the evening with them, and I think that’s remarkable because I had been splashing around in the pool for long enough to exhaust me.  So, at least 5 minutes.

When we were home and in bed and getting dozy, Nick cuddled up to me and whispered a question.  Apparently, the intense conversations about drama earlier in the evening had really shaken him up, and he was trying to reconcile what he remembered of those people with what he now knew of them.  I count times like these as beautiful not because my husband is deeply upset, but because he talks to me and wants me to help.  And I love helping.  I get to cuddle closer (although I’m not sure that’s a physical possibility) and twirl his hair and tell him that he is a good man, and he is honest and truthful.  That those people made their own choices and their behaviors are not reflections of him, nor does it speak poorly of him to have believed them for what they said they were.  I may have said other things but I was pretty tired and mostly asleep so I don’t remember.

 

It took me an entire day to write this. Like, 12 hours

I woke up today in a good mood, there was dozy cuddling and then teeth-brushing. Woo!  Somewhere between the hygiene and now, (like ten minutes later) I have managed to slip into a funk.  I don’t know what is causing it.  Possibly the dream I had that was long and involved and was all about my twin brother and the girlfriend he shouldn’t have, and either her mom or his mom joining forces with her to be really mean to me and try to get him to hate me, too.  In the dream the girlfriend was a piercer and she pierced my daughter’s lip and was really nice and stuff in that context.  Then she and the mom creature stood together and muttered about how I was horrible and mean-hearted and secretly in love with my brother (um ew?) and trying to ruin everything.  My brother was just running around, oblivious to the girl-fights, and wouldn’t or couldn’t hear me when I told him he shouldn’t marry her.  At least in my dream I’m up front and confrontational. . . then followed something about a hospital and one little boy-creature who was sick and had gained a bunch of weight but didn’t show it somehow?  He had eaten a lot of things like jewelry and other heavy, metal objects.  Those objects had to be surgically removed and the process was a lot like the movie we watched last night where one of the creepy bad guys slits a live snake (one of his special pets, too) up the stomach to retrieve something.

OH!  The movie we saw last night!  Nick has realized that I kind of freak out if we don’t go out together once or twice a month.  I also freak out if we don’t see friends, but that’s an entirely different story.  So, he made this realization and planned an evening for us while I was taking a two hour nap yesterday afternoon.  He took me to a local bar thingy that served (prepare yourself) bacon-cheese fries.  Yes, that is potatoes coated in cheese and bacon. I’m not even talking about those fakesause baco’ bits, these were meaty chunks of delicious pig-flesh.  These godlike snacks were to be dipped in thick ranch dip.  And!  The dinner salad they brought out before the main course had cranberries on it.  Um, wow.  Intriguing beers, killer food, in both senses of the word, and pretty affordable, too!  After the dinner we popped by our friends’ house to say hi cos of how long it’d been since we’d seen them all, and were promptly late for the movie.  We went shopping instead, and then went to a different theater that was practically abandoned.  Awesome, yes?

**IMPORTANT EDIT**  On the way to the theater we drove past this adorable, homeless couple huddling together for warmth on the side of the road,  lost and bedraggled.  Later, we realized it was Jesse and Katie.  I then waved until my arm almost fell off.  I was very excited to see them; if you ever see them, toss them a dollar out of the goodness of your heart. **IMPORTANT EDIT**

We watched Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.  It was well done and amusing and pretty and plot-twisty, and if the main character and female lead uttered the words, “mystical, sacred, and destiny” about thirty times too many, I didn’t mind that much.  On top of which, since it was a Disney creation, there was very little on the sexynaughty side.  Plenty of blood, but nowhere near the gore content of many, many others.  The creepy snake guy upset me, though, and once I had to lift both my feet of the ground for a few minutes because he had loosed several of his horned vipers to attack, and if I see snakes on the screen I feel them against my ankles.  My husband is nice and let me prop my feet across him until the snakes were gone.  Phew!

 

TeeeeVEEE

We got a TV!  It requires capitalization because it is huge.  It also does not currently work.  We acquired it from good friends who wanted it out of their garage and had more than enough TV’s to go around, so all we have to do it repair it!  Ha, I keep saying “we” as if I’m going to do any part of this “repairing”.  I will, however, hover very lovingly and offer assistance over and over and over until Nick says , “NO!” enough for me to take it personally and flounce off to the other room to read a book and ignore him very pointedly and then he’ll have to THINK ABOUT WHAT HE’S DONE.  It’s like he’s in timeout, only reverse.  I seclude myself, and he’s being punished somehow.  Anyway, TV!  I’m sure his friend The Baron will be delighted, and I’m glad we can watch movies from his Xbox/Netflix setup while sitting on our couch, as opposed to previous movie-snuggle nights where we completely strip the couch and bed and create an elaborate cuddlepile of couch cushions, bed pillows, and all the superfluous blankets we own.  Ahhh, the luxury of not rearranging EVERYTHING in order to enjoy a movie!  Mmmmm I am squirming around like a happy puppy on the inside at the thought.  Okay so here are a couple of pictures of the gigantor TV with Nick next to it for scale.

These are Nick’s creepy eyes.  It’s an expression he makes entirely by accident, when he wants to look alert.  I coached him into decreasing the creepy for the next one:

I told him to think of watching movies on our huge TV and playing games and stuff.  He smiled happily and his eyes got way less creepy.  I smiled.