Still waiting

Today work was pretty crappy. It's going to be a crazy busy week, and unfortunately tomorrow is Wednesday and I've gotten nothing accomplished except for filling my inbox to capacity so I can no longer receive emails. In the 8 hours I've worked in the last two days (YES, I'm complaining about a part time job) five of those hours have been in pointless and seemingly endless meetings. Is it too early to consider retirement?

I've just finished helping Jacob with one very essential task--holding the shop vac to the ceiling while he drills holes. I guess looking directly into the dust and letting debris fall into your eyeballs is preferable to letting it just fall to the ground and then vacuuming it from there. I'm waiting for my next task, which will probably be equally fun.

It's super cold in the basement, so naturally I took the jacket to my sweatsuit off and put it on Andy like a person would wear. Unfortunately he's a bit too husky for it to fit around him and get both sleeves on, but he seemed to enjoy the feeling of velour on his fur. How could you not?

Late Cards

I'm currently on call in my upstairs living room while Jacob works on the projector in the basement. I'm sure he'll need my help holding something up or using the shop vac while he drills holes, so here I sit, waiting. While I wait I'm trying to address my new years cards. I was way too late to do Christmas cards this year and even my new years cards are going to end up being a month late. So some of you have that card to look for in the mail. Others of you...well, I'll let you enjoy the pictures I took on the way home from Bismarck the other night when I was delirious from fatigue and stress.
Given the choice between the cards I had printed and these photo booth pictures, I'd take photo booth.

I must have the brain of a nine year old because taking these pictures was making me laugh so hard I nearly wet myself.

Wedding!

We've been back for almost a full 24 hours now and I am still exhausted from this weekend.  It was a great weekend, though, and it was nice to be busy with so many fun things to do and people to see.  Despite gorging myself on food at both the rehearsal dinner and reception (mmmm....barbecue....), I was down three pounds in my weigh in for The Biggest Loser today, so overall I'm down a whole pound!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful.  Hannah was a GORGEOUS bride and she and Daniel are so in love.  They are definitely the most loving and affectionate couple I've ever known.  Besides Jacob and I of course:

I'm super happy for them and I'm so excited to officially  have Hannah as a sister.  I don't necessarily like a lot of people (pretend to be surprised), but I love Hannah and I'm so happy she and Daniel are together.  God definitely made them for each other.  Equally exciting is that Andy and Oscar officially have two new cousins, Copper and Kira!

The reception was really fun, and even though I could feel myself sinking into a coma towards the end, I had an incredible time.  It was definitely the who's-who of Trinity, so it was fun to hob nob with the big Trinity families.  After a few Shiners, I'm pretty sure Jacob was rambling on to our old Government teacher about who knows what, and discussed the highlight of his young life--winning the Geography Bee in 8th grade--with our history teacher.  Everyone seemed to be having an awesome time, and there was a TON of dancing all night.  Most of the people who were dancing actually knew what they were doing, so I decided not to make a fool of myself and get out there.

 I'll save my moves for the privacy of my own car, thank you very much.

While we were home, we spent most of our time with Jacob's family.  At one point, his youngest sister Emily (shoutout!) mentioned the blog, and was able to make a shortcut on her iTouch, so my blog is basically an app for her.  She categorizes her apps and my blog was one of two listed under "Humor", accompanied solely by her Fart Studio app.  Honestly, it's humbling to think that I could even be put in the same category as an app that exists only to make the sound of wet farts.  It's like being nominated for an Oscar in the same category as Meryl Streep--you know you'll never win, but you can't believe you're even peers. So thank you Emily.  For thinking of me as a distant second to fart sounds.

Coming home yesterday was a total buzzkill.  Neither Jacob nor I wanted to come home to the cold, and I was just not in the mood to travel.  We've only lived here six months and I've already reached the level of hating to fly that I acquired over the two(ish) years in Findlay.  On the first flight I got progressively more nauseous, and by the time our plane landed, I thought I was going to barf everywhere.  I would've been fine, except we were on a huge plane so it took 45 minutes for us to even be able to get up and get off the plane.  Once I stepped off and got some fresh air, it was fine, but it was a close call.  We hustled to our gate for our connecting flight to Bismarck, only to find out that our flight had been delayed about 45 minutes.  It was annoying, but it gave me a chance to brush up on my Denver Airport conspiracy theories.  My brother informed me of the oddities of the airport, and since I love a good conspiracy, I am now obsessed.  It's pretty interesting stuff.  I know it can all be explained, but it's still worth a read.  Once we were finally able to get on the plane, the pilot announced that one of the latches for the tray table was broken, and according to federal regulations had to be properly secured, so they had to get a mechanic on board.  His exact words were "Hopefully the mechanic will have a spare latch he can just switch out, otherwise we'll just go to plan B, which is just taping it."  Seems to me that if you KNOW you have tape and you're already delayed, just go ahead and tape it, rather than fiddle with trying to find a spare part and then having to fix it, right?  To me that makes the most sense.  Of course everyone else on the plane was thinking the same thing and within seconds of the announcement I heard one guy go "I'll give him this bubble gum right out of my mouth if he wants it!"  That got entirely too many laughs for my taste, and then for some reason, the guy right beside Jacob (a different guy, mind you) turns to us and goes "I've got some gum, if he just wants to use that!"  SURELY YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS.  Somebody JUST used that joke, guy.  This is a plane with 30 people on it.  We all heard the joke once.  Never do that again.  Fifteen minutes later, the latch was fixed (or taped), and we were on our way.  Despite our snidey flight attendant who didn't give me ice with my apple juice (who DOESN'T like it room temperature?), it was a pretty good flight.  We made it back to Bismarck, super hungry, but surprisingly still in good spirits despite the long day of traveling.  Jacob waited at the baggage carousel while I borrowed his jacket (my coat was packed in our checked bag) and ran outside to scrape the ice & snow off the car and drive it around to pick him up.  I knew I was a dead duck (trademark Quinn) when I was in the vicinity of my car, holding down my alarm button and nothing was happening.  Sure enough, minutes later, I came upon my car, battery totally dead.  I ran back inside to talk to Jacob and figure out what we were going to do, only to discover him standing with one other guy, watching the baggage carousel as one lonely bag continued to spin its way around.  The look on Jacob's face (and the absence of our luggage) informed me that the night took another turn and I think that's approximately when the tears started.  Thankfully I was found a good Samaritan working at the Enterprise counter who was willing to help me.  Motivated either by pity, or fear of my mascara stained face, he was able to drive us to my car in a nice warm vehicle (it was in the teens and I had no coat), and Jacob got the car jumped no problem.  Our baggage showed up this morning, so I really can't complain, but it was a VERY rough ending to a great weekend.

Today before I left for work I was given the task of shoveling the driveway.  Not an easy task when the driveway is wide enough for three cars.  It wouldn't have been so bad except that it had been four days worth of accumulated snow that was melting and refreezing, so it was SO ICY.  If I was Johnny Weir, I could have easily done a full routine on this driveway.

I completely lost track of time and after two hours, I realized I was running late for work.  I ran inside to take a quick shower and realized how much of a workout the shoveling had been.  Even though it was only 20 something degrees, I had sweat through my shirt, sweatshirt and THROUGH MY COAT.  I had to peel my clothes off.  It was so disgusting.  I can honestly say I have never sweat that much in my entire life.  Not even standing in the student section during a 4 hour long football game in August.  Gross.  Even right now, about 10 hours later, I'm doing the laundry, and I just put in a load that had the shirt I was wearing.  It's like it's been soaking in a tub all day, that's how wet it was.  I'm sure I was using more effort that necessary to shovel, but it was so hard.  At one point the old man across the street from me was watching me while he was smoking.  He yelled that he didn't think my technique would work, and then proceeded to do the exact same thing on his driveway.


When I got to work today, there were 50+ emails waiting for me from ONE COWORKER ALONE.  Good grief.  It was a little overwhelming because I hadn't even been there 5 minutes and someone told me I had to go to a staff meeting in about 20 minutes.  I'm sure the meeting covered many things that were sitting unread in my inbox, but there was no way to get to all that before the 1 1/2 hour meeting.  I'm starting to realize that the people I work with are actually relying on me to take a huge portion of the workload off them.  I mean, yeah, that's what I was hired to do, but I'd really rather sit around and not be trusted with anything.  I want to have the style of Tom Haverford, but the responsibilities of Jerry Gergich.

House pics

I've been meaning to take pictures of the house now that we're mostly unpacked. Obviously these pictures aren't great since I'm just using the camera on the iPad. I'll try to take better pictures with my camera before too long. Okay enjoy!

Cold Weather Adjustments

Today was extremely cold (I never saw it get above -8) and my poor dogs are really struggling. On the plus side, the miserable cold has finally cured Oscar of his obsession to take walks everyday. Unfortunately the cold is so bad that Andy is refusing to go outside to go to the bathroom and I'm pretty sure he's going to end up with a bladder infection. Just now we decided to take the boys out one more time before bed and decided we should try to bundle them up so they'd stay out long enough to go to the bathroom. Here's what we rigged up. I won't say Oscar loved it, but I can attest to the fact that once clothed, Andy was walking around with a certain swagger.

Andy wore his jacket around the house for another ten minutes before I was able to track him down to take it off. And really, he seemed kinda bummed when I did it.

Back in the Saddle

Well I forgot how much...fun...Jacob is when we own a house.  I love the guy dearly, but all I want to do when I'm home is relax and have a little alone time with the tv.  Do I like to spend time with Jacob?  Of course.  Do I like to spend time with him while he's working on chores?

  Here's the thing.  I hate when I start doing something and then I have to stop to go do another task that I don't feel is necessary.  For example, I've been sitting at this computer for 30+ minutes trying to write this dang thing, and Jacob would say "how about you go through this box?" (which contained non-essential things like notepads and ticket stubs) or "how about you start a spreadsheet so we can plan our vacation for this year?"  Umm.  No.  I'd really rather not.  I want to get this blog done and go to bed.  Yes, I am overly cranky, in case you were wondering, but it's just been like that for the last week and it's driving me bonkers.  I can't even tell you how many times this weekend I'd just be sitting down to watch tv or I'd be cooking and Jacob would be yelling to me that he needed my help.  So I'd put down what I was doing to go help him only to end up standing there for like 30 minutes when he only needed me for about 3.  I was making these Cherry Chocolate Scones over the weekend, and I don't know how many times I had to stop what I was doing and wash my hands off and go help him do something.  It easily took me three times as long as it should have.

Let's get real.  I'm just being a baby because I'm not adjusting well to working and having to rush home, work out, make dinner, clean up and spending no time by myself.  It's driving me insane.  I miss having my days to myself to leisurely work out, run errands and get things ready for dinner.  Now I have to cram everything in right away AND deal with Jacob's overenthusiastic desire to get things done.  ALSO let me just mention I have had this last freaking Harry Potter movie for over A MONTH and have never had the chance to watch it.  Not because I've been that busy, but because every weekend we've been working on chores until late even though MULTIPLE times I've said to Jacob "all I want to do this weekend is watch Harry Potter."  Honestly, I don't think it's too much to ask.  If there was a game he'd want to watch, I would happily do something else while he sat there and did nothing.  Unfortunately that's just not the man I married...Actually he's pretty good about letting me do my own thing, but it's really  hard for me to sit down and relax when he's running around the house, unpacking boxes or setting up wiring or stuff like that.  It's especially hard when we're in the same room.  Somehow, over the last few days, it seems like every time I try to do something non-chore related, somehow Jacob ends up in the same room, unpacking or setting something up.  It shouldn't bother me, but it makes me want to rip each hair off of my body one by one.

Okay I'm going to stop complaining about Jacob now because he's wonderful and I love him and he's great.  I'm just way too cranky and tired to come home from work and only get to cook dinner and do chores.

Today was another extremely cold day, and tomorrow is supposed to be miserable.  On the plus side, I've made it through three straight days of single digit weather, so if anyone is interested in sending me a congratulatory gift basket, message me for my address.

I really need some sort of pick me up to get me out of this funk before bed, and thankfully I've got a friend like Dana to provide me with just the comic relief I need.  I'm not proud to say I watch Dance Moms, but I do.  I'm completely hooked and I think it's hilarious.  One of my favorites is the crazy mom from Ohio and her daughter Vivi-Anne.  They never address the elephant in the room--Vivi's nationality which I assume to be Polynesian.  I'm guessing she's adopted, so if that's the case, good for the crazy mom, because I think that's wonderful.  What's unfortunate is that poor Vivi is being raised by someone who is already allowing her 5 year old daughter to have a mustache.  I don't want to delve into the ethical and moral implications of bleaching or waxing a young child's face, but....help a girl out!  Also, it's incredibly awkward because Vivi's mom owns a dance studio where she is the choreographer and in charge of teaching these young kids how to dance, yet watching Vivi dance is like playing a game of QWOP.


Anyway, here is Vivi in all her glory.  I have to say, just watching this really and truly brought me out of my funk, so thank you Dana.  And thank you, Vivi.

I know she's like 5 and blah blah blah, but she's totally getting upstaged by this gay ginger kid, who's a poor man's Derek from Full House.  (I legit hate when people won't let you embed their videos.  Get over yourself, you jag.  You stole it from someone else!)  Anyways, I hope you enjoy Vivi-Anne.  I know I do.  I also sincerely hope this is enough to entice some of you to watch the show.  I could really use more people to talk Dance Moms with.

Globes Wrap Up

I didn't get to see all of the Golden Globes last night, unfortunately, but what I saw was okay.  Obviously the red carpet was way more interesting to me than the actual show, so that's really the only part I was SERIOUS about watching.  So it stands to reason that during that time Jacob would call down to me about every three minutes, which was kind of driving me insane.  So I may have missed a few people, but from what I saw, here were my favorites and least favorites from the red carpet this year:

Best Dressed:

5.  Emily Blunt--I so completely adored this dress.  I don't think she walked the red carpet, so for that reason alone, I'm putting her at #5 since I can't see the back of the dress.

4.  Claire Danes--If I was a stick thin celebrity, I totally would have worn this.  The hair isn't my favorite, but I couldn't take my eyes of of this dress.

3.  Charlize Theron--I'm not normally one for a hip flounce of any kind, let alone a giant one with bejewels, but you can't deny she looks like a baller.  Oh, to have some South African dancer-genes.

2.  Emma Stone--I've got what may be considered a girl crush on Emma Stone.  I guarantee that somewhere in her home/crack den, Lindsay Lohan is constantly burning her Emma Stone effigy.  I can't even express how much I love this Lanvin dress.  Even though I hated the belt when I first saw it, it makes sense for the designer, and I don't mind it so much now.

1.  Viola Davis--Girlfriend brought it.  She always looks amazing on the red carpet because she sticks to solids and picks these incredible colors that pop so well with her skin tone.  Head to toe, she looks so incredible here.  She definitely showed a lot of younger women how it's done.

BONUS:  I couldn't think of anyone to cut from my list of favorites, so I'm including one extra in my top five.  Evan Rachel Wood.  What is there to say?  The girl is a freakin diva.

Worst Dressed:

5.  Freida Pinto--This PAINS me to write, because I think she's truly one of the most beautiful women on the planet.  If you had asked me before this, I would have said she can do no wrong, but unfortunately that's not true....This dress just is so hideously unflattering.  It makes her look boxy from the front, and from the back it looked like one of the ugly stepsisters.  UGH.  I'm sorry, Freida.  Please don't ever make me do that again.

4.  Piper Perabo--This almost isn't worth mentioning to me because I can't imagine she thought this dress looked good or fashionable.  Surely she and her stylist just decided this would be a great way to get some press, right? 

3.  Lea Michele--OY.  I'm not sure why Lea fights so hard to wear dresses for someone older than her.  I'm also not sure why she loves Marchesa so much.  I know I don't (except for this this and this).  Honey, people can still take you for a serious actress if you dress your age.  You don't have to serve up the crazy posing and try to look like Sandra Bullock.  You work hard, and you can get that Oscar someday, too!  (you won't though)

Just for comparisons sake: 
2.  Dianna Agron--This girl tries so hard to be unconventionally beautiful and it does not work.  Sister, let me tell you something--you're a blond hair, blue eyed 20 something with an obnoxiously sugary voice.  Stick with the traditional looks and you'll be just fine.  Also, this is her second time on my worst dressed list...if I were her, I'd take that as a real wake up call.

1.  Madonna--Gross.  That's really all I can say about her.  This whole look is wrong to me.  I mean, I realize I'm biased because I hate her and how far up her own butt she is, but this look just is terrible.  Also the workout glove phase she's going through?  Yeah, everyone is seeing right through that.  We know your hands are super veiny, Madonna.  But unless you're going to wear sleeves to also hide your Gollum arms, just go ahead and leave your weightlifting gloves at home while wearing couture gowns.

Well I would LOVE to tell y'all about the awkward things that happened today in my new employee orientation that I was in from 9-4, but since I was forwarded the company's policy on social media three different times, I'll just keep my mouth shut.  This is going to be very difficult not to relate work stories, but MESSAGE RECEIVED, HR.  Surely they didn't send that to me because they found my blog right?!  I keep telling myself it's just because of my department and my age, but...alas, I must stop writing about work.

Something work related that I CAN talk about is the weight loss competition some of us signed up to do.  So there are like10-15 of us doing The Biggest Loser, and we each had to put $20 in for the winner, so I'm using it to motivate me to stay in shape these next few months. When I went upstairs to be weighed today, I saw that I had gained two pounds since last weeks weigh in...yikes... Probably has something to do with those three cookies I ate during orientation. No one tell Hannah I may be too fat to fit in my bridesmaids dress this weekend. (It's fine, she's got too much going on this week to read this nonsense.)

I can't even tell you how happy I am to have tv again. Since I use my time and brain wisely, I've already watched three episodes of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.  I missed you, DirecTv!!!!!

Yesterday I was running all around town trying to find shoes to wear for the wedding this weekend, and unfortunately I was unsuccessful (don't tell Hannah that, either), but I managed to score some sweet boots from the Ol Dusty Rose (Herbergers, of course).  Both pairs were only $20 each, so naturally I had to snag them. For some reason the grey ones look super pirate-y in this picture, but they're not like that in person, I promise.

It is so cold here, you guys. I mean, crazy cold. Tonight it was 1 degree when I was coming home from the gym. I just came in from taking the dogs out, and I don't even want to know what the temperature was.  It's gotta be like -5 or so. [EDIT: IT'S -7]  The high Wednesday is supposed to be -1. Poor Oscar needs a coat for real. He's just not meant to be a cold weather puppy.  This cold has me craving warm, hearty meals (perhaps another reason for the extra 2lbs).  Tonight I made 2 new recipes.  One was just a combo of roasted veggies; carrots, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, butternut squash, and parsnips.  The other was a new homemade meatball recipe that I made with spaghetti.  Both were total dudes and not worth the time or effort.  Guess I'll stick to my other meatball recipe and just do roasted green beans or zucchini.  Blerg.