Dreams

Ok, I've been having some really weird dreams lately, and the one I had this morning was too vivid and weird not to share. I'm standing at a counter, trying to get some film out of a camera. I start feeling really sick and break out in a cold sweat. I excuse myself and go into the bathroom. My nose is so stuffy and plugged up that I look in the mirror, up my nose, and am able to see inside this huge black cavity inside my head. What do I see? Lots and LOTS of fettuccine noodles. I mean ALLLLLOT. So I start scooping them out by the handfuls. Some are so far up, I can feel them slide across the back of my eyeballs as I pull them out. Then I felt very relieved that I could breathe much better out of my nose.

Weekend

This weekend was Lilly's baptism. I got bumped from baby-holding duty after she wailed through almost the entire ceremony! Oh well, she needed Mommy's touch. It was a good trip, and nice to see my friends so happy.


I know I mentioned recently how much different country driving is to me now. Since I rented a car this time, I had LOTS of time and gave even MORE thought to this probably very mundane subject. And so, a list:

"Other Charming and Forgotten Subtleties of Country Driving"
or
"I Know I Am Driving in the Country Back Home When..."

1. I am excited to be able to use my brights!
2. I am scared to pass on the "wrong" side of the road.
3. I see dead things.
4. Total count for (mostly) live animals in the road: 2 raccoons, 5 deer, 1 hopefully dead wild turkey.
5. I can't identify the ENORMOUS farm machinery barreling up to the intersection.
6. Gravel roads.
   
7. The car is being pushed around by the wind sweeping across all of the vast, flat farmland.
8. Bug splats.
9. Having plenty of time to look down to text message (when I'm actually in range) because no one else is on the road anyway.
10. Straddling the center line for awhile to avoid broken up asphalt on the edge of the road, or just for the heck of it.
11. I don't realize I'm going nearly 90 because the road is so flat and straight and deserted.
12. I know where THE cop is, as in, likely the only one within at least 10 miles.
13. Huge ditches. Really, like you could fit a semi in there.

I wish I could add this, but it only happens in the summer (and NO it's not summer weather up there yet):

• Swerving around the aromatic trail of manure that fell off some tractor, er, manure spreader some 14 year old was driving.
  

Don't get me wrong, this is not complaining, it actually makes me nostalgic, for whatever weird reason.

Then on the flight back, I sat next to two girls yapping the entire 1 hour and 40 minutes about their average $15,000-$20,000 weddings and how they cut corners so they wouldn't go over their budgets. I couldn't jam my earbuds in far enough.

Happy Mother's Day!

To all of you moms out there and mine!

I just got back from Michigan, I will have a new post about my trip soon!

Small town brain blip

Sometimes I slip back into my small town assumptions, and this morning I did it again. As I was driving to work, I saw a car with some sort of reflector on the roof and it reminded me of people's cars in my hometown with consumer-grade flashing lights mounted on the roof or grill for volunteer firefighters or EMTs, which my parents were for some time. I wouldn't say that gives them leeway to speed into town if they get a call, but I'm sure people do and the rest of us respected what they had to do and didn't question it. We all knew each other, we knew each other's cars and jobs and where everyone lived, and we knew that one Monday a month, there'd be a big ruckus going on at so-and-so's farm so they could practice a fire drill. ANYWAY, so all this went through my head in a second and I thought to myself, "Huh, I wonder why I don't see those kinds of lights on cars anymore?" Duh. Because, perhaps, cities have full time staff for those positions and they are already at the station when the calls come in?! I haven't lived in a town with volunteer firefighters in about 15 years, has this not occurred to me in all this time? Nowadays, or maybe just outside of those small towns, non-marked police cars and civilian vehicles with those lights conjure up fear and suspicion, after hearing about someone in the news who was attacked after being stopped by someone impersonating an officer.

So, I am reminded of the fact that I may as well be living on a different planet now, compared to where I grew up. Each definitely has it's pros and cons, I am very thankful that I had that kind of upbringing, small and safe. I'm glad those places still exist. But I wonder if there could ever be a place that combined the best of both worlds. I'm thinking the closest you could come to it is just living in one or the other at those specific times in your life when you can most benefit from it. And how many times would you have to move back and forth for that? Which times are best to live in which place? What may be the best environment for bringing up kids, might really suck for the parents who are trying to provide for their family, or keep up with their careers. I've had this conversation with more than one person who has grown up in a city, and they insist that I am wrong, that growing up in a city does not automatically put you in danger or subject you to guns, drugs and sex any sooner than anywhere else. But I am still not convinced. It's got to take some finesse, some different kind of parenting, and at least a move to the suburbs to get in a good school district. That's the buzzword here. No more luxury living in the center of it all. But even so, I still don't know how people can manage it. It's still quite an expensive way of life, more so than mine as a single thirtysomething, quite satisfied in my condo in one of the trendiest parts of the city. I just can't wrap my head around how you can "have it all".

I guess lately, I've been finally coming around to the idea of SOMEDAY, EVENTUALLY, having one or two kids. But that doesn't automatically ease the logistical and financial nightmare of it all. I've been and will continue to be worried and mystified about this years before it ever happens. Please someone tell me that it magically works out and that you don't have to suffer for it. And I will not believe you if your advice has anything to do with raising kids in Austria.

MySpace

About a month ago, Fabio gave me his old computer so I could have my own computer time (I've decided he should be called a "computer potato"). It's worked out very well, and I enjoyed setting up my little nook.


I have a very good view from my perch. I was also waiting for the chance to be able to use this neat old tulip lamp from Grandma's house. The curtain rods were from there too, and it was actually hanging the same way from the same rod out on her back porch for many many years. Now it's got a modern kick with a CFL bulb. Bulb and desk are from IKEA. I went back and got a chair from there too (not shown). I'm dying to get a new dining set, the whole dining area needs a more modern look to match the rest of the condo. I saw this at IKEA and am really tempted.

Snacky!

So, a couple of things to love about my new job. Every morning around 11 the snack lady rolls the breakfast cart down the hallway calling out "Snacky!", and I get a very delicious Gala apple, and she tells me to have a nice day. Tomorrow a gaggle of gals are gathering at a restaurant with an outdoor patio overlooking Piedmont Park for drinks/social time. I've also started using the company gym a couple times a week to use the elliptical machine. And after my first few edit sessions, which I was incredibly nervous about, then totally surprised at how smoothly they went, I said, "I can't believe how lucky I've been, that everything has gone so smoothly!" And then I realized I'm not LUCKY, that's just the DIFFERENCE. Ahhhhhhhh. Sorry, it's just true.

I did have a slow day recently where I gave in to the urge to do this on the wall (click to see it bigger):


If you don't get it, click here.

Yesterday, Fabio packed me a lunch and requested that I don't peek until it's lunchtime. He added all kinds of favorites and a note! Very nice!


Sure beats grabbing a can of soup out of my locker on the days I'm not in session! (Do it again, please, please, please, pretty please?)

Happy Birthday, my April Fool!

Reepicheep turns 2 today. I think he will get to sample tuna for this special occasion. The cats got to go on an adventure yesterday to Dr. Becky's office for some shots. They were less than thrilled. Fabio kept me updated through the ordeal by sending me pictures from his phone. Dr. Becky says they are both very healthy, and although Reepicheep weighs 17 lbs, he is not fat, just a big cat! Taiyaki has grown to 9 lbs.

Reepicheep got to go without the carrier, because we (ahem, Fabio) forgot to go borrow another one from his parents.


Taiyaki looks all puffed up because she was pretty scared.


I'm told that by the end of the vet visit, Reepicheep tried to shove himself into the carrier WITH Taiyaki, who was none too pleased because they can't both possibly fit in there!

We had another adventure last Friday, thanks to some complimentary tickets from work to the Hawks/Bulls game. I took Fabio, Steve and Ricky. It was a good game because it was pretty close, especially right at the end, but the Bulls lost. I was actually more interested in all of the entertainment, which you can tell by my video's distinct lack of actual game play. Oh well! Never claimed to be a big sports fan :) It was fun and a very nice work perk!



Gaah! Too bad this site compressed my video so much, it looked a lot better when I was editing it. :( Sorry. -looks better on Facebook.

correction

Funny, a couple of you thought that the picture at the end of the last post was of me, but it's not. I found it by Googling "Easter Praise". The picture is supposed to link back to the place where I found it, which is a blog that provides these types of pictures for your desktop wallpaper and this particular one included Psalm 150 for you to read.

Easter Praise

On Friday, I had to go to the downtown area and was surprised to see that a week after the tornado, there were still several streets blocked off for repair, and there was glass in the streets and junk hanging in trees. I had to park on the top of the Underground Atlanta parking deck, and when I noticed that I could see some of the damage to the taller buildings I whipped out my camera phone and took some pictures. Looks like a lot of blown out windows, and that glass is very thick. A lot of the news I hear is about the damage to CNN, which you can barely see the red sign in the background, so I pointed it out. Click this picture to see it full size.


On a positive note, the reason I had to go downtown was for my court date to finally legally change my last name. For those of you who know my story, I didn't change it 6 years ago for professional reasons, but it's always been something I had to explain to people once I moved down here. Now I can finally let go of all that, and no more explainin'!

Did you have a good Easter? I kind of made a last minute decision to go to church. I haven't missed an Easter service in many years, if ever. But I haven't been going regularly lately and it's really bothered me, because I told myself if I wasn't going to go, I could still make an effort to build my relationship with God at home, but I didn't really do that either. I mean, I pray pretty often, but I wanted to be reading the Bible and stuff like that. Anyway, my point is, I'm really glad I went because it was very uplifting. The sermon from Pastor Foss was very interesting and captivating as always, and the choir went all out and performed as a bell choir while marching up the aisle during the first hymn. They also sang the famous Hallelujah chorus and we were accompanied by a mini orchestra during the whole service. It's fun when it gets so loud you can really belt out those traditional hymns that are so joyous and lively at Eastertime. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

click the pic

More Storms

This is what I was watching on the news last week as I posted:





You can hear the shock/dread in the seasoned meteorologist's voice. But in the end, all that storm did was produce hail.

It may seem silly to keep connecting my drama to the storms, I don't know. To me, it's a surprisingly parallel analogy. So I'm going to go with it.

I felt dread. All of a sudden, things in my life mounted up. I didn't expect it, didn't really see it coming with the intensity that it did. I had a pretty big meltdown, and then I had some time to rest before facing the next big "storm" the following day. I didn't know what would happen, but it looked like it was going to be horrible. I don't know how I can be so sure about something one minute, and feel so sure of a different outcome the next. But the storm came, and though it was far less violent (emotionally) than the first, it still looked like the outcome would be devastating and absolute. I resigned myself to defeat, but somehow, in the eleventh hour, it all turned around. The clouds lifted and I had a "Hallelujah" moment.

I wish that was the end of it, but there are several other storms to weather, and so it goes.