Busy x 10

This new job has me running ragged. It's invigorating but also quite exhausting. Schedule for the next few days:

1. Today: Fly to Maine from Cleveland...total of about 5ish hours with all the stops etc.
2. Land in Maine at 10:30 p.m.
3. Fly home (hour and a half drive), collapse into bed.
4. Friday: Up in the morning to drive to Rob's parents' house (four hour drive) to see my Robbie and my vicious beast.
5. Saturday: Leave my Robbie and go visit my whole fam damily (45 minute drive).
6. Saturday evening: book it back home (four hour drive), do some work, sleep.
7. Sunday: Get up and drive the hour and a half back to the airport to go to Cleveland.

This is seriously more driving in a four-day period than I've EVER driven. FACT.

I'm having fun with the job so far, though, and I really like my coworkers. It's just hard being away from Rob all over again...Everytime I call him I'll say things like, "Don't worry, even though I'm traveling I still love you and I don't want this to break us apart."

Too bad I forgot that this is what I always wanted to hear when he was gone, and he doesn't need to hear it because he KNOWS everything will be okay. So his response is usually along the lines of, "Yep, I know. I love you. Oh, I went to shoot my rifle today..."

I am a huuuuge fan of my soon-to-be husband.

Winner(s)!

Sooooooooooooo without further ado, winner #1 of the giveaway:

THE MRS.!

Runner up (who will get to choose two items of the four left over after Mrs. chooses) is...

REBECCA from [Almost] A Designer!

Congrats!!

To the Mrs.: Send me your choices to prettyyoumaybe [at] gmail [dot] com...shall I remind you that you owe me an email ANYWAY! :)

To Rebecca: After Mrs. has chosen I'll get in touch with you to let you know of the remaining choices.

Thanks for participating everyone, I'll have to do this again! :)

Goodbyes.

Don't forget the giveaway two posts down...tomorrow is the last day! I'll be traveling until around 4-ish Eastern Time, plus some other stuff for work so I might not get to it until later in the evening. Keep your eyes peeled. :-)

I'm traveling for work this week and next week...and maybe the next. It's amazing but after four years of Army, including 14 total months of separation during the deployment, saying goodbye to Rob for four days was absolutely heartwrenching. I actually started to CRY when he left. WTF? Shouldn't this be NOTHING to us? When Rob saw me cry he said, "Well this is your Army PTSD I guess."

I know I shouldn't complain because many of my readers are either dealing with or facing a deployment. I'm sure you all understand where I'm coming from, though.

Well good luck on the giveaway, make sure you enter if you haven't and add a link to me from your blog! :-)

Another Giveaway from The Mrs.!

To get myself a second entry, I'm posting a link to The Mrs.'s blog giveaway!

Click me, dammit!

Does this count, Mrs.?

And don't forget to check out my giveaway below, and feel free to add a link to it on your blog(s)!

Giveaway!

So here it is, my first giveaway.

Up for grabs: some bath/body products made right here in Western Maine! I won these in a silent auction to benefit the local community health organization and the nearby hospital's breast cancer center.

If you win the giveaway, you have your choice of 3 of the following:

1. Small lotion - Tangerine Spice
2. Small lotion - Apple Blossom
3. Small lotion - Angel Type
4. Large lotion - Orange
5. Body Mist - Hyacinth
6. Bar of soap - Fresh Linen
7. Bar of soap - Sandalwood

Just so you are aware, if you prefer strong-smelling bath/body products, these probably aren't for you. The smell is very, very subtle, though definitely still present. :)

To enter, you have to leave me a comment to let me know you are entering, and add a verse of your favorite poem or a favorite quote.

Giveaway ends on Monday, July 27, so get cracking! :)

Gauging Interest...

Hypothetically speaking, if a certain short-haired bespectacled pseudo-bloggeress was to hold, say, a giveaway, that hypothetically included some Maine-made soaps, lotions, body washes, etc...would there, hypothetically, be any interest?

On Honesty, Blogs, and Sofas

I was recently contemplating the psychology of honesty.

I’ve come across blog posts—and, indeed, have written my own—that ask for an “honest opinion” from their readers. I don’t know about the rest of you, but if I ask for an honest opinion on something like a blog post, I really want validation, pure and simple. I want to hear that my idea/situation/opinion is the best one EVER. If I read a comment that offers a side that I don’t really want to hear, I find myself feeling a wee bit put off, even while recognizing full well that I asked for an honest opinion. I’m admittedly an insecure girl and I like to be validated and feel justified in what I do. If I want an honest opinion, I’ll go to my mother, who is full of them, or Rob, who has a knack for telling me exactly what he thinks without sugar-coating it.

I’m not saying in any way that asking for honest opinions on your blog is a bad thing or that everyone craves validation like I do. Rather, I’m interested in the psychology of all of this and how you as fellow bloggers (blogesses?) feel about it.

I want your REAL honest opinions on this…do NOT worry about validating me. You know I mean it because I used RANDOM CAPITALIZATION. FER REALS.

Does anyone else do this, or do you really want honest opinions? Am I insane? Is it any different to ask for an honest opinion on your blog than it is in person? Is it easier to ask faceless people what they think?

Anyway, on to ridiculously exciting things…

Like our new COUCH!

I can’t tell you how EXCITING this was for me (and to a lesser extent, my darling fiancé). In May 2008, we bought a futon from Walmart so that we could have something for people to sit on when we entertain (which, admittedly, is rare). We put it together and were at least marginally happy with it until about six months ago. Turns out Walmart makes the cushions with a whopping one inch of polyurethane foam and the rest is COTTON BATTING. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the extremely complex physical characteristics of cotton batting, it gets flat. Annoyingly so. The futon structure is metal, so every time I sat on it I felt like the metal bars, hardly kept at bay by the paper towel-thin mattress, were doing their very best to go straight up my ass. My back (and ass) actually ACHED after sitting on it.

And before you ask, yes, I just spent a whole paragraph talking about my futon.

Anyway I mosied on over to the local (and ONLY) furniture store and found a lovely microfiber dark-brown couch for only $400. The cushions are all stuffed with foam so they’re at least somewhat more durable (and hopefully un “flat”-able). My only complaint is that the cushions are still somewhat stiff, which I’m hoping will be rectified by sitting my now happy ass, not to mention the respective asses of my fiance and my beast, down on them as much as possible.

A poem...

Author unknown.

----

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
In Soviet Russia,
Poem writes you!

----

Thank you.

Babies.

So I was thinking the other day about the expectations that one has about how one will raise one's children prior to actually having children.

I decided to compile a short list of my personal baby expectations and how I think things will go down when I am ye Grand High Mother. To all you parents out there who may scoff at these, I fully recognize that everything will totally change when I actually have a baby, which is part of the reason that I thought this would be interesting. At the very least, this will give you parents a chance to laugh at my naivite.

1. I will breastfeed. First of all, it's really good for the baby, and second of all, it's FREE. I've heard it's harder than it looks, but hey, motherhood is sacrifice. And if I have the ability to make milk, dammit, someone's going to drink it! These boobies are made for feedin', and that's just what they'll do. However, I will not breastfeed past...oh...let's say one year.

2. My child will use a pacifier. I recently read about someone who refused to give a paci to their infant, and I guess I don't really understand the mentality. Children like to suck on nipple-like objects, why not let them if it provides them some level of comfort? Especially if it provides a few minutes of peace?

3. My child will be vaccinated. I know this is a hot-button issue right now and frankly don't want to get into any heated discussions. I am personally of the mind that vaccines have done wonderful things for humanity, and do not believe many of the claims being made by the anti-vaccine crowd. I will do what I believe is best for my child, and in this case, I believe that it is best to get my child vaccinated.

4. My child will, at a certain age, "cry it out." I am of the mind that once a child reaches a certain age, he/she is perfectly capable of "crying it out." I personally don't believe in picking up a child (again, at a certain age) every single time he/she cries. In my limited experience, it seems that parents "know" when a child is crying for a legitimate purpose and when he/she is merely demanding attention. I hope I will gain this knowledge as well, and learn to tell the difference.

5. When my child has a tantrum, or when I pose a threat ("I'll turn this car around") I will follow through. This one I know could definitely change once I am in the throes of parenthood. I hope that when my child is having a tantrum, I will not indulge them and "ignore" it to the best of my abilities (I think all bets are off in public places!), and that when I say "I will turn this car around," I will have the intestinal fortitude to do so.

--
Those are all that come to mind at this point, but perhaps I will add more later.

Do those of you who are sans bebe have any expectations about parenthood? And for those of you who are with child, do you remember any expectations that changed once your child was actually born?

Wanted to Share.

I took two sort-of engagement photos of Rob and I today, and Lala helped me with some editing!
I'm thrilled with how they came out.

New Banner, finally!

Dash at Anything Oita-Ken, a good friend of mine from college, made me this glorious masthead, of which I am rather fond. Thanks Dash :)

I also had to come up with a different layout as I didn't want my blog to clash with itself (isn't that really the last thing we all want?). So I'm going for a minimalist look to make my banner pop.

I probably should get some actual work done today.

A list

I have a desire to write but don't have it in me to write coherent paragraphs. The remedy? A list!

1. I wish I had a fun banner at the top of my blog. How do you even get those?

2. At the risk of giving TMI, my period is wreaking havoc on my life this month. It's twice as painful, twice as uncomfortable, and actually affecting my behavior as it's never done before. I'm snarky, hot, annoyed, and I have to pee a lot. BOO, uterus.

3. Working from home is great and I love setting my own schedule. I didn't even shower today and woke up at like 10 a.m., and yet got way more done than I ever did sitting on my ass in an office. No lie.

4. I love our new apartment. Every time I get up and walk around I just feel like I'm "home." Now if I could just get a new couch, because this $200 futon from Walmart is about two seconds away from being thrown against the wall by yours truly. I will gather up the strength and do it.

5. Rob came across a huge tool-pants today while walking the Beast. The trail behind our house is a state ATV trail. He walks the Beast there because it's pretty clear of people and ATVs. It's never been an issue that she walks off-leash...ever. Today some d-bag on a bike began to pass Rob and Cypress and Cypress, being a dog, ran toward him. He yelled "HEY, HEY, HEY!" and actually got off the bike to shoo her away (using the bike as a shield), then yelled to Rob "PUT IT ON A LEASH," to which Rob replied, "Fuck you, Spaz." First of all, where do you get off frightening my 60 lb dog with a bike, and second of all, CHILL THE FUCK OUT and KEEP RIDING. My dog can't catch up to you and even if she did, she'd lick you to death and that's about it.

Full disclosure: it is the law on a state-owned trail to have your dog on a leash or at least under voice control (which she is). But we live in Maine and Maine is pretty Beast-friendly. Nobody has ever had a problem with Cypress or any other Beast running free on a trail as long as they aren't pooping all over the place or biting people. Cypress does neither of these. So again, dude, chill out and ride your damn bike.

6. I'm going upstairs to do work.

Oh, Weddings.

I know I said in the previous post that THIS IS NOT A WEDDING BLOG and I intend to keep it that way. But I do have to vent about something that happened this weekend that does pertain to my wedding. So for those of you who detest wedding blogs (you know who you are) feel free to skip this post.

I spent the Fourth at my grandmother's, as is our family's tradition. My grandmother's house is also where I plan to get married. It's right on the ocean (you can literally see across to Canada) and it has a ton of meaning to my family (mostly because my father and his siblings, plus a few other people, actually built it in the 1970s for my grandparents). It's a gorgeous spot and I'm thrilled to spend one of the most important days of my life there. The question has been, where to have the reception. I'd love to have it at my grandmother's along with the wedding, but it might be too small and my grandmother is 93. I really don't want to stress her out with having to deal with 50-80 people in her home. 50-80 DRUNK people. There's a restaurant nearby, a chowder house, that is right on the wharf and is all wood on the inside. My cousin and aunt both had their receptions there. The "problem" with this chowder house is that it's a hot spot for all the hicks in the town so it has that reputation...but without the drunk hicks, it's a beautiful, informal place with a beautiful view and a full wharf leading out to the ocean.

I was hanging out with my cousin and his wife on the night of the Fourth and we found our way to this bar. I mentioned casually that I was considering having my reception there, a statement that was met with derisive laughter. They thought I was joking. My cousin said, "Yeah, THAT would be classy." I was too tired, cranky and shocked to say anything so I just smiled. I went on to say that our wedding will most likely be at my grandmother's, which was met with a similar reaction. His wife said, "Why don't you just go for a destination wedding?"

I thought this was absurdly rude, which wasn't overly surprising for the company I was in but still, a little shocking and frustratingly, enough to make me question my wedding plans. I really don't think that's something that should be done to a blushing soon-to-be bride such as myself. I don't want to have a destination wedding because I finally decided to include my family (as in they will witness the ceremony, which is a change from the initial plans) and I don't want to burden them with coming all the way down to the Caribbean for my selfish ass. Especially seeing as how my grandmother is, as previously mentioned, 93, and would never be able to attend. Rob's grandfather does not fly and would also not be able to attend. Many of our family members have jobs, kids, etc. and can't afford a flight to Jamaica/the DR/wherever. Even if I didn't fly my family down there, I'd still have to pay for our witnesses to come. I don't have that kind of money and will not for many years.

I just don't understand where people get off telling me how I should celebrate MY marriage.

And a fun picture to end, since Dash told me I should include more pictures: