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Day 1 – Debarkation

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It was a dark and stormy…day. We arrived at the port terminal under rain and thunder storms, hoping against hope that it wasn’t a sign of weather to come. The check-in process could not have gone more smoothly (or quickly) and we were very impressed—we were on the ship within a half hour, wandering somewhat aimlessly in the general direction of our room, taking in all the sights.

The ship is actually decorated quite nicely—everything has a literary theme (Frankenstein’s Lab and Phantom of the Opera, for example). This ship is larger than the ship we were on the last time (Holland America’s Zuiderdam) but there are nice (if somewhat gaudy) color-changing “lite brite”-looking signs all over and it’s fairly easy to navigate…although I still get turned around very easily (it will probably be Monday before I know which way to turn once I get off the elevator!).

Our room is just a bit smaller than the last room we had, but the balcony is a bit more private. The bathroom is nice, albeit smaller than our previous one—and we have a tiny shower instead of a tub/shower combo…but it has a detachable shower head and great water pressure!

We also had two completely unexpected surprises waiting for us (well, yes, I guess surprises are generally unexpected, lol). A box of fresh cookies and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries and fancy chocolates were gifted to us on debarkation from some of our Tivo friends! (Thanks Amy and Julie & Jason! You guys rock!)

Then it was off for more exploration—we wanted to hit the spa and internet café to take advantage of any debarkation specials they might be offering. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a private spa/hot tub offering like the Zuiderdam had that Tom was hoping for, but he was mildly impressed with the gym facilities (which was a big deal, now that he works out at least an hour a day). I had decided against any massages, since my previous one (a hot stone massage) was less than impressive in my opinion—so instead opted for the $99 Crazy for Hair (or some similarly-named) package that included color, cut, and style! Ironically, I just got my hair cut last week (who knew I would want to get my hair cut on the cruise?) but I desperately wanted the color, as I’ve wanted to get my hair colored for quite some time (I threatened to do it the entire time Tom was gone and never did). I scheduled it for 10am so I could sleep in!

A funny side story. Tom was out on the mezzanine while I was in making my spa appointment. It took forever (of course, when I decided to make my reservation, there were about six people in front of me who all wanted like four spa treatments) so he was out there for probably 20 minutes. When I finished, he said one of the spa girls had come up to him and asked what he did for a living. He replied that he was an officer in the Marine Corps and she pumped her hand and said “YES! I WIN!” and then went back to tell her friends that she had been correct. He was flattered.

Then it was off to the internet café where we about choked on the prices—although if you bought a package that day, you also got extra minutes, plus were entered into a contest to win 500 minutes…so we’re keeping our fingers crossed. I hated to spend the money, but that cost plus my salon visit totaled about the same as the stupid hot stone massage the last time so all is well.

Then it was time for the life boat muster—the only necessary evil of cruising. It’s not really that bad, but it just seems like such a fustercluck because people don’t really know where to go, people are freaked out they are in the wrong spot, they are worried they’re not doing something right, and many are late in arriving. Ugh. Here we are as disgruntled yet still happy muster attendees:

Of course, to top it all off, it’s hot and muggy and you look like an idiot in the live vest. But then again, everyone looks like an idiot, lol, so we’re all in good company. After that 45 minutes was over (the actual drill takes 15 minutes, but with all the waiting, it was near 45 minutes) we headed back to the room and unpacked a bit since our luggage had already arrived.

Then it was time for a quick freshening up before heading off to the bar for our first Meet & Greet with the folks from Cruise Critic (a cruising forum where there are forums for each ship, which is further broken down into threads for each cruise date, so people can post and meet others who will be on the same cruise). We have been chatting with them for a few months, and of course, internet forums and meeting people on them is nothing new for us…but I hadn’t refreshed my memory on who was who or what people looked like, so I didn’t recognize anyone. Everyone, however, pretty much recognized us, lol. It was only slightly overwhelming trying to meet and talk to everyone, but there were a few couples we hit it off with. The funniest part was taking the group picture—they wrangled some Japanese man to take it, but then everyone started putting their cameras down and he ended up with about 15 cameras he had to use! He was a very good sport about it.

We had to cut the meet short in order to go to dinner—since we have the early seating. (We were teased by our Atlanta friends about being old people eating so early, but both of us don’t want to eat a full meal that late—but if we did that, we’d both want to go to sleep right after dinner! With the early seating, we have time to go back to the room or wherever and relax before going out for the evening.) We had prearranged to sit with other Cruise Critic board members—we figured we might as well sit with less random strangers if at all possible! (I still would have enjoyed sitting at a table by ourselves a little bit more, however.) The food was quite good and we enjoyed everything…

We started with a 2006 Piesporter Michelsberg Riesling Spatlese—which looked to be a later version of the same Riesling we had back on our 2005 cruise (I’d have to check the pictures to confirm).

For starters, Tom had Hickory Smoked Alaskan Salmon, Garnished with Purple Onion Rings, Fresh Dill, and Baby Capers. I had Asparagus Veloute, an asparagus cream soup.

Tom had a lettuce wedge salad and I had the Caesar salad.

For our main courses, Tom had Grilled, Aged New York Sirloin Steak with Three Peppercorn Sauce, Broccoli Roses, and Roasted Red Bliss Potato Wedges. I had Pan Seared Fillet of Tilapia, Herb Butter Sauce with Tomato, Stewed Shallots, and Eggplant Mash.

For dessert, Tom had a Black Forest Gateau with Cherries (damn, I thought I got a photo of that menu but I didn’t!) and I had the highly-recommended-by-anyone-who-has-ever-been-on-a-Carnival-cruise Warm Chocolate Melting Cake served with Vanilla Ice Cream.

I do have pictures of everything, so stay tuned for all the photos when I get home.

After dinner we crashed in the room for a bit, and then went down for some alcohol tasting in the shops. The guy was putting on quite a show and it was a riot to stand there and drink a few of his inspired recipe shots (“How about pineapple and coconut rum plus Baileys! How about mango and pineapple and coconut rum? Any suggestions?”)—and the alcohol was SO cheap we ended up buying about 10 bottles of various yummy things. (Lest you think we are alcoholics, those 10 bottles will last us about a year.) We hoped to win the 10pm drawing—your day’s alcohol purchase paid—but we didn’t.

Then we were just walking around and stopped by the Phantom Theatre where we caught the Welcome Aboard show, which was entirely cheesy with singers and dancers and the Carnival mascot. The comedian wasn’t too bad, but we hope the shows get better.

Heading back to the room, we had to pass through the casino. It’s great because there is a non-smoking section and plenty of 5c and 1c machines. I just do it for the fun, not the hopes of some grand monetary winnings, so I have all the fun I need with nickels and pennies! Anyway, I managed to double my money! I turned my $2 worth of nickels into $4!! WOOHOO! I felt kinda bad because I wasted $1 on the quarter slots, but oh well—I still came out ahead and the 20 minutes I was there was plenty for the night.

Then it was back to the room where we crashed and were in bed by midnight—I had to be up early to get to the spa (they called to reschedule me for 8am in order to give me a free foot and ankle massage—YES, PLEASE!) and Tom always gets up early to work out!

Other than the rain storm upon arrival and the resulting humidity wreaking havoc on my just-straightened hair (I went from sleek and shiny to poufy and wavy by dinner), overall it was a great first day!!

So I made an apple pie today.

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And I now know why I am not a baker—I apparently have no instinct and can’t follow directions.

I had been craving apple pie lately, and had no idea where to buy a “good” one in town, so thought it wouldn’t be that hard to make my own… Ha.

I didn’t want to wait the 15 minutes to bring the pre-made crust (yes, I was cheating!) to room temperature, so microwaved it on defrost like the directions said, but overcooked it so it was melty and soft and wasn’t that nice.

Then I decided to pre-bake it…following the directions for a one-crust pie instead of the two-crust pie. 🙄

I had too many apples, so had to quickly come up with a streusel topping for the leftovers, but we didn’t have enough butter so that was a crapshoot as well.

The three recipes I was looking at all had EXTREMELY varying amounts of sugar and flour, so I winged it. Completely forgetting that someone said to just use the recipe on the dough box.

That said, both of them smelled and looked good…and they passed the taste test, so all was well.

The best thing, though, was that I took the leftovers to our neighbors, the ones who were awesome to me when I sprained my ankles, and he just called to say it was “killer” so I guess I did well. :>>

UGH! Two twisted ankles at 2am!

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2:44am

So long story short, I am dogsitting.

Well, she whines as soon as you put her in the crate for the night, and kept whining. And whining. And whining. Not so badly that I couldn’t fall asleep, however. I just attribute it to the fact she knows her buddy Maggie is here and consequently doesn’t want to be in her crate because she would rather be playing.

Fast forward to just a bit ago, when I wake up because she is being even LOUDER than ever. I don’t look at the clock, but go out on the landing to yell at her to be quiet (she is downstairs but directly below the balcony). As I am yelling at her, she sounds even louder, and like she is moving. I turn around, and there she is—coming up the stairs! Damn dog got out of her crate! I obviously didn’t latch it correctly, and she freakin clawed/forced her way out.

So, I was pissed at myself for not doing it right, and pissed at her for not just sleeping (like my dog does—you could not even latch the door and she wouldn’t try to get out—she knows it’s sleep time). But she’s just a dog so what can you do. So I head down the stairs to take her outside and then put her back in the crate.

And then one of my biggest fears happen—in the dark, in my frustration, I miss the last step and go crashing to the floor. Luckily my head missed the marble fireplace (but my leg must have hit it because there is a nasty scrape and bruise forming). I laid there for a few moments, in utter terror and pain, waiting for the shock to wear off so I can tell if anything was broken.

I was crying from the pain—and it felt like both ankles were twisted, although thankfully not broken. The dog is hovering above me, nosing at me, thinking I am playing. I just want to scream and cry. I manage to crawl on my knees to the kitchen to let the dog out, then hobble back to her crate and make sure she is really locked in.

Then I hobble back up the stairs—in major pain with every step—and take some Aleve, then hobble to bed. It is at this point that I look at the clock and see…it’s only 2am. I was hoping it was later, like 6am, so I could just stay up. Of course at this point, my cat decided to yak up a hairball so I had to hobble around cleaning that up.

I emailed my coworker (from my phone) to let her know I might not be in in the morning if I can’t walk. So then I just laid there, both ankles just throbbing and screaming in pain. I have some movement but it hurts.

I have never technically twisted an ankle before, so I don’t know if it’s a true twist or just a sprain or what. Should I go to the doctor in the morning? Or just keep popping pills? Is it going to hurt me to walk on it?

/off to google

2:49am

I see RICE is recommended. Ugh. I am not sure it’s worth it to go BACK downstairs to get ice. So I may just move to compression with ace bandages since those are in the bathroom. But I don’t even want to get up to get those. I may just go with elevation until morning.

7:04am

Okay, nothing looks swollen at all, but I can barely even stand, let alone walk. Friends are taking me to the doc, as I don’t trust myself to drive. Called my coworker and boss and left messages. I hope the doc can wrap them or give me crutches… I have no idea how I am going to go up and down the stairs a million times this weekend for the dogs.

3:10pm

Well, I am home and waiting for the Vicodin to kick in.

At 8am I showed up to my regular clinic, at which point they told me I had to go to the ER (base, of course) since they didn’t have x-ray facilities. Luckily my friend was able to take me. Let me just say I am not thrilled with the treatment there.

I hobble in, can barely walk or stand, tell the ER person what happened, and she tells me to take a form and “go over there by the window to fill it out.” 88| I should have asked for the wheelchair right then, but I was in too much shock that she didn’t offer. So I hobbled over, filled out the form, hobbled back, and she told me to go have a seat in the waiting room—literally 20 yards down the hallway. At this point my friend was coming back in from having parked the car in BFE, saw my distress, and asked for a wheelchair since I couldn’t walk. A wheelchair appeared immediately. I just wonder why they didn’t think of that themselves when I came in and said “I fell down the stairs and can’t walk.” 🙄

I didn’t have to wait that long before I was taken to radiology, but I had to go back in THREE times to redo x-rays that they messed up. First the tray was in backwards. Then they reused a tray that hadn’t been cleared so I had a wrist on my ankle. Ugh. I know mistakes happen (I mean, after all, that’s how I fell down the stairs) but that was kind of like strike #2.

Then it was back out to the waiting room, where the wait sucked, but it really wasn’t THAT bad—maybe an hour? I got wheeled into the actual ER and layed on the bed. Unfortunately, we were in there for almost two hours just waiting. At about 1:30 my friend went out and asked when we might be seen, just curious (because we saw docs walking around and lots of people not doing anything) and they said they only had one doc on until 2pm. (It would have been really nice had someone told us this when we first came in, or any time while we were waiting.) Interestingly, a doc was there five minutes later. He was nice enough, but he asked me if I had had x-rays taken yet. Um, I take it he didn’t even look at my chart. So he said he had to go check the x-rays and get back with us. Good lord you would think he would have already looked at the x-rays before even coming to see me.

So after another 30 minutes or so he came back and said he didn’t see any breaks so it was probably just ligaments or muscles. He didn’t seem like he was going to say anything else, so I asked him if I was going to get drugs. I asked him if I was going to get my ankles wrapped (he said “when you wrap your ankles” and I was like “Aren’t you going to wrap them for me?”). I asked if I was going to get crutches. It was like he wasn’t clued in AT ALL. I thought he would have came back and said “It doesn’t appear to be broken. We will wrap your ankles, give you Vicodin, and give you crutches.” But I guess I was expecting too much.

Here is my pathetic self leaving the hospital.

Jen on crutches

So, I went in at 8:30 and got out at 2, which is par for the course from what I’ve heard. It wasn’t that bad I guess, just frustrating that no one kept us updated on anything, when there were literally 10 nurses/support staff/etc. wandering around the whole time, talking about what they were doing for lunch, etc.

I thank god for my (our) friend Ursula, who sat with me the whole time. I am thankful she works with her husband in real estate and was able to be away from the office all day. She brought me home, gathered everything I said I would need, and even turned on lights throughout the house so if I fell asleep, there would be lights on when I got up. I am also thankful for my neighbors (Rob and Cindy) who are coming down tonight to let the dogs out. Hopefully I can do it myself later in the weekend but I want to try to stay immobile as much as possible for the first 24 hours.

As far as sleeping on the couch downstairs… it is possible. I would have the laptop (no TV, but could watch movies on the laptop) and a toilet. But my dog would still be upstairs (where her crate normally is). The dog I’m sitting for—her crate is downstairs. So no matter where I am, one dog is on the other floor. So I am in the living room upstairs with the phone, drugs, laptop, TV, pillows, blanket, water, and snacks…until the neighbor comes over at 7:30 to check on me and the dogs.

Unfortunately, Tom has no idea what’s going on. I emailed him at 2am (right after it happened) and then he called when I was on my way to the ER. But while we were at the hospital our phones had to be off so he called like five times and I obviously didn’t answer so he doesn’t know if I have two broken ankles or what. Poor guy, even called my friend’s husband in case he knew anything—which he didn’t either because her phone was off, too.

This just really really sucks. Our cruise is a hair over a month, and I just have this feeling I will not be up to par by then. I mean, I totally hope otherwise, but… with TWO sprained ankles, it’s not like I can walk on one and baby the other. When I walk, I have to walk on BOTH, so I don’t think either one is going to heal as quickly. I am not sure about work, either—I am supposed to keep my feet elevated, but that is impossible at work—and when I asked the doc, he said “just do your best.” What the hell does that mean? Ugh.

So, the Vicodin still hasn’t kicked in and it’s been over an hour.

5:07pm

Well my bosses called to see if I needed anything, so I asked them to bring me Chinese. In the meantime, my neighbor called and said he was bringing down pot roast, so I would be set for a few meals! Rob (our doctor neighbor!) stopped in my kitchen and brought the salt and pepper and silverware. I love him. He also assured me the next dose of Vicodin would help more (it builds up in your system), plus I could also take additional meds on top of it. And that the pain should subside a lot tomorrow. Here’s hoping. And I asked him about the ER doc I had (since he works at the same hospital) and he said yeah, that guy is okay, competent, but not great. Oh, it was also good timing as the dogs were whining to go out. Shortly after he left, my bosses arrived.

9:50pm

Rob has been great. He came down twice, brought me dinner (which will be lunch tomorrow), and brought me other drugs (he’s the doc). I just hate having to ask for help, which I know is ridiculous because I would drop everything to help these neighbors if/when they called. So I know they would do the same for me (which they are doing) but I still hate asking. Like just a bit earlier, I knew I wanted to go to bed, and he hadn’t been back yet for the dogs’ last walk, so I had to call. He was down within two minutes. Then after he left his wife called to tell me her schedule for tomorrow so I would know when I could call. I love them. I love all our friends. They rock.

I am just waiting for Tom to call so I can fill him in. At this point, as far as he knows, I could have two broken ankles…

Sunday, February 3—1:23pm

I am doing even better today—quite a difference from Friday when I swore it would be weeks before I was walking again. I have cut out the Vicodin and am just using Motrin at this point, and I am barely using the crutches. So, it looks like I will be going to work tomorrow, although from past experience, I know that by the end of the day, my ankles will be SORE, since now I am used to having them elevated all day.

Wednesday, February 6—9:25pm

The ankles are getting better. I gave up the crutches Monday night, and just kept taking the Motrin and icing my ankles (and keeping them elevated) at night. Today I gave up the ankle wraps and actually bought a pre-formed ankle wrap from the medical supply place (I have to go back tomorrow to get a second one – they were out of stock). I wasn’t sure how much difference one of these wraps would make, but at the end of the day, the ankle with the wrap hurts less.

So I am walking okay, albeit still slowly—and taking great precaution on the stairs. And I am bruising nicely.

New Year’s Weekend in Raleigh

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https://www.hudson2001.com/scrapbook/2007/rrnye2/

I spent New Years in Raleigh again this year, with the same people we spent it with last year. Of course it really stunk not having Tom there—and everyone REALLY missed him—but I did manage to have a good time! Tom was also able to call at his normal times, so he got to talk to probably 10 different people over the course of the weekend!

One of the first highlights of the trip was finally making it to a Trader Joe’s—if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a very cool grocery store. Andrew was kind enough to tag along and give me his recommendations. I was limited to non-perishable items, so I only spent $50, and when I told Tom, he said “ONLY $50?!” I didn’t have time for a return trip, but I do know that when we make the pilgrimage when he returns, we are taking two coolers. So far, I give thumbs up to the Dark Chocolate Edamame, Buttermilk Garlic Mashed Potato Chips, and some sort of spicy/jalapeno Flatbread that went wonderfully with the horseradish cheese dip. Those things didn’t make it out of Raleigh. The Dark Chocolate Pistachio Toffee gets a major thumbs up and the Asiago Peppercorn bread was okay plain–but much better toasted with a dab of butter and a sprinkle of fresh romano. The sweet potato chips were MEH (I keep thinking I will love them, but they are just okay). On tap (read: not sure if it it will survive until hubby gets home) are Sweet Potato Bisque, Rich Onion Soup, Mint Hot Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Covered Mints, Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels, Piccata Simmering Sauce, and Wasabi & Tamari Almonds. Sorry to blab so much about food, but you KNOW how I am about great grocery stores!!

A second highlight was our “high end dinner” Saturday night at Nana’s—a five course chef’s tasting menu with wine pairings. I knew I wouldn’t be thrilled with the wine, but I wanted to try it. Needless to say I would do the chef’s tasting again in a heartbeat, but would skip the wine completely. The interesting thing was that just reading the menu wasn’t that appealing to me—foie gras, escargot, root vegetables, grouper, cabbage, etc… But OH MY GOD was everything DELICIOUS! Aside from the venison dish, I actually think my favorite was the cold foie gras appetizer! Who would have ever guessed? (If you want to skip right to those photos, click here.)

We had a great dinner at Brasa, a Brazilian Steakhouse that serves you meat on a stick (so very YUMMILICIOUS with just as yummilicious waiters), another fun putt putt outing at Frankie’s (I had two holes in one and still only won by the skin of my teeth!), and a fun girls-only expedition to some, ahem, adult stores for some belated Christmas presents and some Welcome Home gifts. :>

The actual New Years Eve party wasn’t quite as crazy this year, as we only had about 30 people as compared to the 60 last year, but we still had a ball! I managed to stay sober this year, so was able to drive us all home when the party finally broke up about 1am.

Of course, checkout and the goodbye breakfast came too soon—no one ever wants to have to leave! And we’re already all talking about NEXT New Year’s Eve!

Thanksgiving with movies!

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I spent Thanksgiving with our good friends the Mitchell’s. The food was yummy, of course, and it was nice being able to spend the day with friends.

The most bizarre thing to me, however, was that the weather was SO gorgeous. I think it got to 74—and even though I logically knew it was warm out, the Michigan girl hidden deep inside me expected it to be cold and wintry outside! But, since it wasn’t, we decided to watch movies under the stars! They have a projector and screen for outdoors, so I ran home to get some Christmas-themed kids movies and then we sat outside for hours! It did get chilly, but we just brought out the blankets and it was great!

First we had A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, then a Charlie Brown Mayflower one I’d never seen, the kids wanted to skip A Charlie Brown Christmas in favor of The Grinch, and then we moved on to the more adult Christmas Vacation, and then the very adult non-holiday-themed Casino Royale (the newest Bond).

It started sprinkling toward the end, so we had to bring everything inside and finish the movie indoors, but still, a good time was had by all!

I’ve been a bad, bad blogger.

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Yes, I know I haven’t been writing anything lately. And I feel bad.

But it’s just that the longer I take to catch you up, the more stuff happens, and the harder it is to catch up. A catch-22 if you will.

But I know I have to fill you in with some details (obviously the short versions) until I get more time:

  • The animals are fine.
  • Tom’s visit home was wonderful—although too short—and we had a great time with friends in Florida.
  • I am eating healthy (hate to call it dieting) and have lost almost 25# so far (since Tom left).
  • I am still at my job (although that could be a VERY LONG story).
  • I haven’t been seeing too much of my friends around here.
  • I did have family down to visit, and more coming soon!
  • I had computer/general tech difficulties, which kept me frustrated and offline more than usual (although all is well now).
  • It’s finally cooling down here (68 today, but 85 last week).

I promise to try and write more in the upcoming weeks.

A month of miscellaneous updates.

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Wow, it’s been almost a month since I last posted. Nothing much has been going on…just little things here and there.

Well, I did have some major problems with my new Vista computer, but at that point I really wasn’t loving any computer and was keeping my distance so was not online posting about it. What happened? Let’s just say that little things here and there weren’t working right, so I had to do some system restores, then in trying to get those little things to work right, the solutions caused my system to crash and I had to do three (yes, THREE) full system recoveries (which means taking the computer back to day 1) which meant I lost all installed programs…never fun. It’s back up and working now, but it was a very, VERY, VERY traumatic few days. >:(:'(

I’ve had some good times with our friends… a few drinking and hot tub nights over at Roger and Ursula’s and a night out at a local bar with a co-worker (which made me glad I did not really have to live through the dating scene).

I had my vein surgery just about a month ago and it went very well—he said it could not have gone better. I have to go back shortly for a follow-up to make sure it’s still doing well.

We have had more rain and storms this past month than the whole time we’ve lived here, I think. Poor Maggie… and add the 4th of July sounds to that, and miscellaneous noises in the neighborhood? The poor dog must think she’s going nuts.

My job is…well, it’s still just a job. I am not having any fun and some days it’s just dreadful. There’s a long and involved story but suffice it to say I am SERIOUSLY looking for other employment.

And last but not least, Tom and I continue to chat and talk just about every day. He’s online every morning (my morning) from about 8:30 to noon, and he tries to call once a day. If I am up late some nights (mainly on the weekends) we chat around midnight or 1am as well. Right now, we’re counting down the days until he gets here—we’re finally under one month!! :>>

Charleston, SC, with the peeps!

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https://www.hudson2001.com…charleston0507/

I drove to Charleston, SC, to spend the weekend with the peeps! Who are the peeps, you ask? They are the same group of people we spent New Year’s Eve with in Raleigh.

One of the girls was having a surprise 30th birthday party for her husband, and invited us all down for a long weekend…and since it was close enough for me to drive, I just had to go! I took Friday off so I could get there with some time to decompress from the drive (I hate driving, especially when I don’t really know where I’m going, and I knew I would arrive with a headache). I had about an hour to relax at the hotel before my roommate showed up and we ordered chinese/thai for dinner since we weren’t in the mood for pizza. After we ate, we headed to the host’s house for some Wiiiiiii and visiting (and some banana coladas—yummilicious, Eddy!). The schedules were a little off on Saturday due to unforseen circumstances, so we hit the beach for a few hours and had some great food at a place called The Mustard Seed, topping off the night back at the host’s house.

The plan for Sunday was brunch, then a fun park for mini golf and go-karting, Pirates of the Carribean 3, and then the “Memorial Day BBQ” (a.k.a. surprise party). I begged out of the movie to “visit with the girls” and helped get everything set up and ready for the party! He was surprised, so that was good!

The best part about the weekend—aside from meeting Eddy!—was Tom texting me at midnight on Sunday to tell me that his leave dates were changed and he is going to be able to go to Orlando to the Tivo Con with me! (The Con is another huge party/meeting with this same group of people—although usually there are 50+ attendees.) Originally, he was going to be leaving for Iraq the same day I was leaving for Orlando—but after some haggling with fellow marines, he was able to push his leave back!! Of course, everyone was THRILLED, because they can’t wait to see him again—and they know how excited I am about him being able to be there!! When I told them, they all cheered!!

Monday morning was just a quick breakfast with my roommate before heading home. She let me borrow her Garmin Nuvi GPS for the ride home—lots of people in our group have them, and are ESSENTIAL when driving around at out-of-town meets—and Tom and I have been jonesing for one, but I didn’t think they were really that useful or cool because I hadn’t really paid close attention to them. So, Tammy let me borrow hers (she also has one in her car) to see if I really liked it or thought we could use it. And I have to say it really is very cool, but we probably won’t need one until we move somewhere larger where we know nothing about the area…or, if we end up doing more travelling here. It really is SO much easier and less hassle than having printed maps. (One of the best things? If you miss a turn, it will automatically reroute you to get you back on track!)

So, it was a very nice weekend…and it was nice to get out of town, even if it meant I have to make up 8 hours of work (remember, I used all my 2007 vacation to come home at Christmas) and even if I had to drive through Myrtle Beach (yuck). The peeps are always worth it!!

Welcome to Dallas!

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https://www.hudson2001.com…007/dallas0507/

This past weekend I was off to Dallas, Texas, for a birthday party!

The strange part is whose birthday it was—someone I had never even met! It was the mother of one of my new Tivo friends, and it was a surprise 50th party!

To be completely honest, I was actually going more for the abundance of other Tivo peeps that were going to be there—ones I hadn’t met yet, since there is a LARGE Texas contingent that don’t often make it to the east coast meets.

I was picked up at the airport by a new (CJ)) and old (Jeff) friend, where it was off to a yummy Thai lunch. Then it was off to a gaming place where we met up with a bunch of others to hang out, chat, and play games. (While I was there, our friends from home who were watching Maggie, called to say that our garage door keypad died so he couldn’t get Maggie right away—he had to go to the store for batteries!)

Then it was back to the hotel to rest and relax a bit before dinner—everyone was splitting into smaller groups for different restaurants, and our group was going to a mexican place—which was perfect since it was Cinco de Mayo! I was sharing a room with Jennifer, who I had never met. Luckily we got along SMASHINGLY!

The next day was lunch at Mia’s where I was [easily] coerced into trying their famous Brisket Tacos. OMG. TO DIE FOR. Then it was back to the hotel where Jen and I offered our room as Party Central—for peeps to gather and drink between party events (basically to drink cheap drinks instead of paying bar prices) and then watch the Kentucky Derby (complete with mint juleps, courtesy of Jeff #2, aka Smeek, our resident foodie). Here I am with two of the cute boys in attendance, David and Scott. ;D

Then it was time for the birthday party downstairs! During the latter hours of the party, it was off to the Pudding Shack—or, technically, OUR ROOM. :>> You see, a local peep is famous for banana pudding, and since we were all staying at the hotel, they needed a place to keep it cold…so we kept the Party Central and turned in into the Pudding Shack, since the pudding ended up in our tub:

Sunday morning it was time for people to start leaving—the worst part of any meet weekend. Those of us with later flights went to a game park and played mini golf (I beat the guys, YAY!) and rode go-karts.

My weekend in DC

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So it has been pointed out to me that I didn’t explain why I was going to Washington, DC. So…I was going for a bachelorette party for one of the girls I met at the New Year’s Eve shindig in Raleigh. There were to be nine of us in attendance, all of whom I met at the NYE thing. It was a way for me to get out of the house, spend some quality time with some good (new) friends, and have some fun. Except, as you have already read, I wasn’t having much fun prepping to go.

And I have to say that my craptastic luck continued on the trip to DC.

Well, first, the drive down wasn’t bad at all—pretty much a straight shot out 24 then 40 and it took a hair less than two hours. I spent the night there with friends (the people who hosted the NYE party) and they were taking me to the train station in the morning (about a mile from their house). We ate breakfast out in the morning and it was cool.

So I get dropped off at the station at about 10am—the train was due to leave at 10:43. So tick tock, time passes, I chat with another guy whose first trip it was on the train—and as 10:43 approaches, we all go out to wait for the train. (This station is basically a whistle stop—no ticket counter or even a ticket machine and about 10 chairs in the waiting room—it’s in the same building as the DMV!) By the time I got out there, the one guy (whose brother and dad were already on the train) said his brother just called and said they were running late because—are you ready for this—the train hit a car! So they were stopped filling out paperwork and all that jazz (apparently no one was hurt, otherwise surely the trip would have been cancelled).

So by the time the train gets there to pick us up, it’s after noon. But, we figure, not a huge deal, as we’re really only 1.5 hours late. (I wasn’t too worried because our Friday night dinner was planned for 8, so arriving at 6 still gave me plenty of time to get picked up, change, and get to the restaurant.) However, being even that little bit late threw us completely off schedule, which meant we had to stop along the way (I think three times) in order to let the freight trains pass us (single track, they have precedence). Each time, we were stopped for anywhere from 15-45 minutes. So, our little 1.5 hour delay turned into…FOUR HOURS LATE!!! 88|

So I had obviously had missed my ride from the train station (I had been texting everyone with updates) and they told me not to freak out (they knew I was paranoid about traveling around DC) and that the best thing was just to grab a cab to the restaurant…so $20 later, it was almost 9:30 by the time I cabbed it to Benihana. I was a tired puppy, let me tell you. (And so much for worrying about what to pack—I went to dinner in my travel clothes. Of course no one cared, but still.) They had ordered me dinner, so I did have some food as soon as I walked in, but I missed the soup and salad…and the old waitress sucked so bad I didn’t even think about trying to order some sushi—it was all I could do to get a refill on my water.

So, aside from that MAJOR SNAFU, the weekend ended up to be quite fun. We had security knock on the door at 12:30am telling us to quiet down, we had fun shopping at Pentagon City Mall (is that the name?), trying on bras, and eating lunch at Nordstom’s:

…I had a delicious Chocolixir drink at Godiva (thanks, AmyJo), and we had the best Indian meal ever (okay, it was my first Indian meal ever, but it was soooooooooooo good!).

The only bad thing, really, about the whole weekend, was the money situation. I knew ahead of time that we’d be splitting the bills to make things easy—especially since we were all paying for the bride’s meals and drinks (which I had NO problem with)—but in my opinion it ended up VERY lopsided on my part and it was a little hard to stomach. Meaning…my $20 chicken dinner that they ordered for me at Benihana cost me $50 (everyone else ordered lobster, scallops, filet, sake, wine, etc.) so when the bill was split evenly between 12 people, that was my share. 88| And the same thing happened for our Indian dinner—I had a $20 dinner, plus maybe $10 or so for the appetizers, plus I had a half glass of the $35 wine—and my share was $70 (because “the rest of the table” shared two bottles of $45 red wine). 88| 88| That said, I totally don’t mind splitting the bill or paying for the bride—and I agree about not quibbling about $2 here or “I only had 1/3 of that bottle of wine” there….but knowing I was WAY overpaying hurt my pocketbook (I just know that if I ordered something way more expensive, I would definitely chip in a little more). Anyway, I know it will all even out over the course of my lifetime, but it certainly was a big (BIG!) surprise for those meals! By the end of the weekend, I only had $13 cash left.

But I digress… I don’t mean to be whiny about it…it was just something so out of my normal realm of daily life that it really threw me for a loop. And I am not one to make waves (me? confrontational? never!), so I would never think of saying anything (although, I did ask about how much the wine was).

The train ride home was fairly uneventful. And by that I mean we didn’t hit a car. :>> But we did manage to get off schedule (got in 30 minutes late) and I hadn’t locked my ipod in the OFF position…so I only had about an hour’s worth of charge left (when I thought I would have at least four). And I was dead tired but couldn’t sleep. So, I’m thinking even though I hate driving and I don’t want to drive to/through DC…the next trip? I think I’m driving. 😀

So, overall, I’m glad I went. I love love (LOVE!) the girls I was hanging out with—if I could, I would be hanging out with them on a weekly basis (too bad they’re not closer!). BUT, I wouldn’t be clamoring to do the same weekend again anytime soon. Meaning…visit and hang out with the girls, yes. In a New York Minute. But to do all the expensive stuff again…splitting meals completely evenly? I’d have to think about it, then would probably have to say no—only agreeing if we split the bills more fairly.

Comedy of Errors

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So I got off work early (due to construction going on in our office) and figured it would be a good night to take dinner down to Rob and Cindy’s since I had extra time to fuss with it. (I have offered to have them down for dinner, but with their little one, it’s easier to eat down there. So sometimes, we take a meal down there.) So I called and left a message that I could bring down steak or chicken to grill, along with a side.

They called about 5pm and said that sounds good, but they have stuff to grill (brats and burgers), so just bring the side! And that’s where the comedy of errors really starts.

I had been planning on making candied yams to go with the steak/chicken, but that didn’t really seem like a suitable side for brats/burgers, so I went to the pantry to find something that would go better with that meal.

I thought “Oh, green bean casserole sounds good!” but of course I didn’t have all the ingredients (only one can of soup).

So then I thought “Oh, I will just take green beans and put cheese and bacon in them.” Except that the frozen green beans were a little freezer burnt and I won’t do that to friends.

So then I thought “Oh, I will make rice!” but by then I had wasted like 10 minutes trying to decide what I was making—and I was supposed to be there at 5:30—so I didn’t have time to make rice.

So it was back to the candied yams. I turned the oven on to preheat while I started reducing the sauce. I thought I smelled something burning/cooking, but there was nothing on the burner, so I didn’t think much about it. So five minutes later the oven beeps and I open the door and—OH. MY. GOD. I had left a cardboard box in there from my spa party the day before…and the edges were turning black and the plastic covering on the box was melting and there was a bit of smoke pouring out. So I grabbed it and threw it on the floor, had to grab tongs to get out a small piece of cardboard that was actually on the heating element, and then hurried to turn on all the fans and open the doors and windows—the last thing I needed was all the smoke detectors to go off! 88|

It all turned out okay, but it was not the experience I had anticipated!

I love a tired puppy!

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So yesterday was a holiday around these parts—for the military, at least. 🙄 I had asked our friends, Tom and Karen, if/when I could bring Maggie over for a play date because she hasn’t played with any dogs in a long time, and she really needed the interaction. Tom, who had the day off, said I could bring her over Monday for the whole day!

And she had a blast, I’m sure—she loves playing with Venus! I dropped her off at 8am and right away, they were crazy dogs and got sent outside. When I got back at 5:15, they were still crazy, but Tom assured me they had been crashed on the couch before I rang the doorbell.

So, as it happens, I had been invited down to dinner at Rob and Cindy’s, so I put Maggie in her crate when I got home at 5:30. (Normally I would feel bad about that, but since she had been playing all day, I was okay with it.) When I got home from dinner at 7, I tried to get her out to eat dinner—and she was having none of it. I don’t think she even opened her eyes! She was just TOTALLY crashed. I left her crate door open in case she wanted to get out later…but she never did. I tried getting her up around 9:30 to at least potty before bed, but she was still crashed!

This morning at 7:30, I had to poke her to get her up and moving…and she stumbled down the stairs (when normally, she races down!) and went right to her food bowl (she missed dinner, you remember). Then she went out, did her business, then want back up into our bed and slept. I had to carry her to her crate when I left at 8.

I LOVE A TIRED PUPPY! (Especially since I was having a tough time walking last night!!) Tom said I am welcome to bring her over more often, and I think I am going to take him up on it!!

What are your favorite smells?

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Last night, I was spontaneously invited down to dinner at a neighbor’s, and after dinner, they suggested a fire (our first semi warm night in weeks). So he made a fire in their chimnea and it was WONDERFUL! I even love how my clothes and hair smell afterwards. Of course, part of it are the memories it evokes of camping with my family when I was younger…but the smell, oh…the smell.

So this morning I was thinking about smells and wondering what my other top smells are… Campfire is definitely in the top 10, along with fresh lilacs and fresh cut grass. After that, I’d have to include the smell of Eternity (thanks to hubby!) and a Michigan cool-to-warm morning (hard to describe, but it’s a combination of the weather, the trees, the grass, the air—everything). Other than that, there are great smells (lots of cooking and baking smells, to be sure!), but nothing that comes immediately to mind to round out my top 10.

Strange coincidence of the day, v2.

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Earlier tonight I talked to Tom. During our conversation he asked if he could call me at work and I said “Most certainly!!” I then continued and said “You can call me ANYTIME! But, really, don’t #$&@ call me at 3am if you can help it.” 😀

An hour or so later, I was talking to a friend (one we met at New Years in Raleigh), and we were talking about how we really enjoyed talking to one another and how he can always make me laugh…and he told me I can call him any time day or night—except, he said, “Don’t #$&@ call at like 3am.” :))

Of course, I had to tell him what I had said earlier and he got a big kick out of that. We are so much on the same wavelength sometimes it’s frightening.

Strange coincidence of the day!

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So earlier tonight I was catching up on my message board posts, and I clicked on a thread from a recent meet where people were posting their pictures. As I scrolled down, I saw a photo of a group in a hot tub. At just that moment, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but picked it up anyway—and it was one of the people in the photo! The even stranger thing about it is that he had never once called me before that night. Bizarre.

The Saga About My Raise

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The short version is that last Friday, I was told that we would FINALLY discuss my raise/evaluation (which was technically due in November). As I predicted, they were too busy to get to me and other things got in the way—even after John said (around noon) “We haven’t forgotten about you. We will get to it this afternoon.” I know they’re busy, but to me, it sort of implies “We really don’t care that much and your raise isn’t important to us.”

The long version is really long—get ready.

So in the work world, you typically get a review and/or raise on your anniversary, right? You’d agree that’s commonplace? Okay, so on my one-year anniversary (which would be November 2005), nothing happens, nothing is said, no review, no raise, etc. Well, actually, John or Sue might have made some mention, but it was small (so much so that I obviously can’t remember), but I just thought/assumed that after the holidays Sue would get to it. Well, that is right about the time that things got crazy at Coldwell Banker and we were talking about moving and then we did move to the new office (March 2006). STILL nothing had been said about any raise—and we were already four months beyond my anniversary. I was ticked, to say the least. I mean, they kept telling me how great I was and how much they appreciated me—but they apparently couldn’t be bothered to give me a raise. (Now, I know they were busy—even crazy busy at times, especially with the opening of our own office—but you just don’t mess with someone’s raise.)

So one day while John and I were out shopping for the new office, it came up that I hadn’t received a raise. He was surprised, saying that he thought Sue had given me one back in November when it was due. Nope, nada, nothing. At that time, I made the comment that I sort of had an offer to go elsewhere (I hadn’t officially had an offer, but our good friend Roger had suggested that I might come work with him) but that they [John and Sue] had been good to me and I wanted to stay true to them. John appreciated me telling him that, and said he’d have a talk with Sue. A few days later I got that $2.50 raise. Since it was so much, I didn’t really feel I could complain about not having gotten it on/around my anniversary four months prior. (Of course, I still didn’t think it was what I was worth—but honestly, who ever does? 😉 ) But I was still thrilled with the raise.

Fast forward to November 2006, my second anniversary—technically only eight months since my last raise, but remember: my last raise was technically four months late. So, again, no review, no raise, no mention, nothing. Before I left on vacation, John did mention something about it, but of course nothing ever happened and then I was gone for three weeks. Upon my return, nothing was said FOR 2 WEEKS. Finally John brought it up or I mentioned it and he said he was “still working on her” because she feels that raises should now be based on WHEN WE OPENED THE NEW OFFICE, as opposed to WHEN I ACTUALLY STARTED. What the hell? He blathered on about how that’s just the way she thinks and she “just” gave me a raise in March! WHAT THE HELL? was my first thought. I mean, do they not remember that the March raise was technically the PREVIOUS NOVEMBER’S RAISE????? And he said…it’s easier for her to budget if the new girl and me are on the same schedule (which apparently means that the other girl will get her raise two months early, since she started two months after we opened) and something about tax-wise it’s easier and how she just has a hard time thinking about hourly wages because she’s so used to commission.

Needless to say I WAS PISSED. Now, I realize she doesn’t have to give me any raise at all, ever. But with how much they say they love me and how great I am and how they couldn’t live without me, you’d THINK they’d show a little more appreciation. John said something about “How would you feel about $12 an hour?” Yeah, great, that’s another $1.50/hour (a great raise in and of itself), but I think $12 is still SHIT for what I do for them. I joked that I could quit, charge them my regular fees for such things as design, website stuff, etc., and I’d be able to work half as much while making the same amount. They just DO NOT realize how much I do and how hard it would be to find someone who could COMPETENTLY do what I do if I ever left.

To add to this saga, whenever we get together with our friends, the conversation always ends up at real estate…and they ineveitably have to listen to me bitch. And as good friends, Roger (the agent I mentioned above) wants what’s best for me, so he is trying to help me get a raise—and he is the one who pointed out that since we left Coldwell Banker, we have TWICE as many listings (i.e. twice as much work for me)…meaning I should get a raise just for the fact that my workload has at least doubled. Add to that we now belong to three MLS boards (not just our local one) which means an additional 2x the amount of work on 2x the amount of listings as we used to have. The actual saga comes when I mentioned these facts to John, and happened to say that Roger was the one who actually pointed out that information out to me. Well, let’s just say there is NO love lost between the two…so right away, John thinks that Roger is trying to steal me away again and makes a comment to me [to the effect of] “I know how you play us against him.” WHAT? I did that once, and it was not really even playing one against the another—I was being honest and saying that someone else might offer to hire me and left it at that. (That said, I am not sure I could work for a friend—I mean, technically I could, but I would hate to chance ruining our friendship.)

So a week ago Friday I emailed everyone in the office to let them know I was going to be taking Thursday off (when Tom left). It was going to be unpaid, as I have no vacation left. (As a semi sidenote, Wendy and Jennie were completely AGHAST that Sue wasn’t going to give me the time off and I just shrugged it off—technically she doesn’t have to do anything, but I agreed it would have been a nice gesture.) So Wednesday afternoon, I think it was (maybe Tuesday), John emailed me to say that I could use my banked hours for Thursday and then have the remaining time off with pay…and that we’d talk about my raise Friday. Wow, I was completely surprised about the day off, and of course was geeked about my raise.

So, as mentioned earlier, Friday comes and goes with no raise. I did get a call at 8:30 that night (voicemail, actually!) saying “We just realized we forgot…we will do it Monday.” Again, making me feel extremely UNimportant.

And that’s the story.

As I was writing this post, it was 4:30 on Monday afternoon. I had actually written:

Stay tuned, I’m sure the meeting (whever it actually happens—it’s 4:30 today and it hasn’t happened yet) will be a doozy…

Then I got called into the office at about 4:35!

Long story short, I sat down, John basically said “How about $12 like we said?” and Sue said she did appreciate me, even though she doesn’t say it enough…and John agreed with her. We chatted a bit, and that was it! So I have a raise, effective immediately, and all future raises will be March 1.

My new friends are awesome.

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So, I know I never talked about our New Year’s Eve that we spent in Raleigh with the group of friends I had met online (but had never met in person). Now so much time has passed that it seems silly to go back and write about it, so suffice it to say the weekend was probably in our top five weekends of all time! (Tom even agrees with me—he had that much fun! I think he was 100% surprised at how good a time he had.) We got along smashingly with everyone, had an absolute BLAST, and made some great new friends that we can’t wait to see more of.

That said, it was a great thing to do right before Tom left, as they all got to meet him and are now really excited about sending him (and his entire unit) packages. So far, we have about 35 volunteers (of which we have actually only met about 20) and they are COMPLETELY excited about it. There’s even an Excel spreadsheet involved in the planning!

In addition to that, they are all EXTREMELY supportive. I have had numerous offers to call anytime, night or day, home or work, etc. Of course, I am not big on calling people, but I know the offer is there and it means a lot. (I know my friends and family have offered that as well, but to have people I met for one weekend offer that? It really touches my heart.) I may even take some of them up on it sooner or later, you never know…

So, imagine my surprise when Thursday evening—the day Tom left—I got a phone call from one of them. He knew I said I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, but he called anyway because he wanted to cheer me up. He kept me on the phone for over an hour, telling me great stories (about his life in general and stories about people I’d met) and keeping me laughing. Tonight, another one called…just to say hey and to let me know she was serious—I could call her (or her hubby) at any time, day or night, just to say hey or vent or whatever.

So, now, in addition to the great friends I have here locally, I also have great friends across the country. 😀

RRNYE!

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I don’t even know where to start…so I will say that this past weekend had to be one of the best weekends of my life. Seriously. We both had so much fun it was crazy. (This morning wasn’t too fun…but at this point, I’m still recuperating…but it was well worth it.)

So, what happened this past weekend that was so great? RRNYE, that’s what!! And what exactly was RRNYE? A huge group of people I’ve “met” online that were all meeting in Raleigh for a big NYE bash (Rockin’ Raleigh New Year’s Eve)! People came from all across the country and we just had a complete blast!

To start, I was completely nervous about meeting everyone, and welcomed the chance to pick up someone at the airport, so I would have at least met one person in a calm setting! I recognized her immediately, and the meeting went well.

That said, walking into the bowling alley (the first meeting spot) was an entirely overwhelming (wait, OVERWHELMING) experience. Us three walked in, and immediately all heads turned toward us, then all I saw was a mass of people moving towards us in one big rush. There were introductions and hugs and I was trying to place names to faces and trying to remember to introduce Tom, as well.

At dinner that night (we broke off into groups and went to different places—we were dining on Italian), I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but it got easier. It took probably an hour or so before I finally started talking and being more myself. By the time the group lunch and trip to the fun park rolled around (mini golf, go karts, etc.) the next afternoon, we were having a great time and felt way more at ease! I even took a spin on the go-karts, which I haven’t done in probably 15 years!

By the big party, with more than a few drinks in me :)) it felt like I’d known everyone forever and we were having a blast! Everyone made me feel very welcome and I think Tom was surprised at how much fun he had with everyone. The food was great, I had a fun time being a bartender (with another girl who actually was a bartender in a past life), and we had a great White Elephant gift exchange, in which I ended up with a Christmas ornament (perfect!).

The funniest thing, I think, is how many people expressed their hesitance/reservations in meeting me. I’m not quite sure what they expected, but needless to say they were a bit unsure about me. But, apparently, from everything everyone told me (and what I heard from others), I fit right in and they needn’t have worried about me! Anyway, hearing that people’s worries were unfounded and that people actually liked me…well, that made me feel good, because of course I was sorta scared about the whole thing anyway.

The only bad thing was that we didn’t get to say goodbye to people! We sort of rushed out of the party because I wasn’t feeling well (too much to drink!) and honestly it was sort of a blur…and I was thinking we’d get to see them in the morning…but, alas, I was definitely NOT in any shape to go to the planned brunch, and Tom wasn’t much better.

Now, we can’t wait to go to more meets—we loved everyone and can’t wait to spend more time with them!

Our Office Christmas Dinner

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Our Christmas dinner this year was at Port City Chop House—a premier steak house in neighboring Wilmington. I had actually been there once before, in 2004, for a Builder Appreciation dinner when Tom was deployed…and was eagerly anticipating returning with him. The food there is TO DIE FOR.

We started with a few bottles of wine and (I think) five appetizers, including two orders of Oysters Rockefeller, Baked Crab Dip, Sashimi Tuna, and a Crabmeat Cocktail. And more wine. And soups and salads (I had Fresh Mozzarella and Tomato). And more wine. I think everyone got some form of steak, and a few of us got Tide & Tundra, which included a Tristan lobster tail (I think the waiter said it was Australian), and it was the biggest lobster tail I have ever seen in my life!! I also got an Oscar accompaniment. And then we had more wine. And then four “desserts for two” including the Mile High Chocolate Suicide Cake, Colossal Carrot Cake, New York Style Cheesecake, and White Chocolate Créme Brulee. And more wine. 88| (At one point, I asked the waiter just how much wine they stocked, as we were on our [I think] fourth bottle of a particular Reisling and the waiter said they had one bottle left!)

Let’s just say the bill for our table of eight, with tip, was a hair over $800. We would go back by ourselves for dinner (chicken or pasta only) with no appetizers, drinks, or desserts!!

We had a great time, though—we exchanged our gifts and shared a lot of laughs. There are some pictures, too…but we won’t go there. Thankfully Jennie was our designated driver so the ride home was fairly uneventful (except when her husband gave Sue and John a bare moon doing 75 down the highway).

Not a good weekend for food.

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We invited our friends, Tom and Karen, out for dinner Saturday night. We were going to Freddy’s, a local sports bar that has prime rib TO DIE FOR—Saturdays after 5pm only. Tom had previously had it there and said it was the best he’d ever eaten—plus the boys REALLY REALLY love steak—so they were really looking forward to it.

So we get there around 6:15 and when the guys ordered their steak, the waitress said “We’re actually out at the moment. It’s going to be about a half hour.” We asked how they could be out of the special barely an hour after it started, and she said they had had a run on it earlier. Okay… well, we had ordered an appetizer anyway, so we didn’t think a half hour was TOO long to wait—especially since it was going to be SOOOOO good. Both guys ordered it medium rare (this is important for the rest of the story). I then tried to order a sandwich and asked for texas toast instead of the regular bread. She said they were out. Oooookay—half their sandwiches are on texas toast, but whatever. So I said “Just give it to me on the regular bread then.” Oh, no, she says, they were ENTIRELY out of bread! After the issues with the steak, we just had to laugh at them being out of bread as well.

Fast forward AN HOUR, and we finally get our meals—the guy’s steaks were finally (apparently) done. Except that they were too done—meaning both of the steaks were medium to medium well, almost bordering on well done! Tom said it tasted horrible, probably the worst he’s had. Our friend Tom agreed that it was horrible. When the waitress came over to see how everything was, they both complained, said the steak was completely overdone and ruined, and they wanted two more. She said they had gotten the last ones! WHAT? 88| They were out when we got there at 6:15, and then an hour later they were out again? The waitress did say that a bunch of steaks had been sent back earlier because they were cooked wrong…which we’re guessing is why they ran out! The boys ate them anyway, since by that time we were all very hungry.

We just kept talking about it and sorta laughing about it, but the more I thought about it, the more pissed off I got—so I went to get a manager. And guess what? He wasn’t there! Ironically, he had gone to their sister restaurant/bar to get…bread! And no one on the premisis had any authority to take care of us—we had to wait until the manager got back! Thankfully, it was only a matter of minutes before he was back and over to our table. I told him how horrible the steaks were—aside from having to wait an hour, they were completely overcooked and a complete waste. And it was even worse because we had had the prime rib there before and it was absolutely fabulous. He apologized and basically said he would talk to the kitchen so it wouldn’t happen again—and that he hoped we’d give them another chance. He didn’t appear to be saying anything else, so I said “You WILL be taking care of the bill, right?” Oh, yes, of course he was. And of he went.

About five minutes later, the waitress brought our checks and said that the manager had taken….30% off our bills. Wait, excuse me, WHAT? For the steaks to be completely horrible, he only took 30% off our bill? I wasn’t too happy, but figured I just wanted to be done with it and get out of there. Until we saw that he didn’t take 30% off the entire bill, but rather just took 30% off the price of the steak! OH NO NO NO, that was NOT going to fly. And by that point, I was so pissed off that I was not going to accept anything less than a full comp for the two steaks.

Now, let me just say a quick word about our waitress… She was a cute little thing, and she felt HORRIBLE when she had to tell us the steaks would be late, then when we told her they were overcooked, then when we complained about the bill. One time, she looked like she was about to cry. She felt so bad about everything—but as a waitress, what can you do when the kitchen screws up? We made sure to tell her it was not her fault and we knew that—and that she was doing just fine. We also made sure to tell her that we’d be letting the owner know about the whole thing (she’s a fellow realtor and we used to work in the same office) and that she [the waitress] was great!

So when the poor waitress came back over and asked if we were ready with our bills, I said, “Unfortunately, no. I don’t mean to be a bitch about this, but he only took 30% off the steak. That is ridiculous! For two meals that were late in arriving, not cooked as ordered, and not able to be reordered…” She said she’d talk to the manager again. She was back in a few minutes with new bills, with the prime rib completely comped. Thank goodness.

So then we decided to go out for dessert, and we went to our little ice cream place up the street. Our friend, poor guy, ordered his favorite ice cream—and they were out! We had a good laugh about that.

So today Tom and I went out for lunch because we had a coupon for a “buy one get one free” sub at another sports bar. After taking probably 10 minutes to decide what we wanted (they have a huge sandwich menu), we ordered. And within a few minutes, the waitress was back to tell Tom that they didn’t even make his sandwich anymore and she wasn’t even sure why it was still on the menu! 88|

So, overall, not a good weekend for food!

Stymied at every turn!

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So I had THE BEST idea for Christmas gifts for the parents this year…

EXCEPT I didn’t make my mind up until too late that I was going to get it for everyone, so I only had one.

And of course, I wanted the same exact thing…

EXCEPT I couldn’t find it anywhere locally for the same price [I got for the first one] so looked at other similar things (to make life easier)…

EXCEPT the things just weren’t what I wanted so they got returned.

So then I decided to just order what I wanted online…

EXCEPT I found that three stores had it and had to make a decision: Do I shop at the store where I get the absolute cheapest price (but comes with a mail-in rebate)? Or do I shop at the store with a bit higher price, but where I earn almost enough points for a $25 gift certificate? Or do I shop at the store with a middle-of-the-road price that makes for easy returns (just in case)?

So I decided to go with the $25 gift certificate offer…

EXCEPT shipping was 5-10 business days at that store…which, if it happens to be more than 10 days…we’re screwed (since we’ll be on our way to Michigan) and then no one gets presents.

EXCEPT I decided to have it shipped to my office, on the off chance it doesn’t make it in time, they can reship it to me.

I never thought buying two additional presents would be so hard! :>>

A Successful Santa Stalking!

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An online board that I belong to did Secret Santas again this year, and I decided to participate since I actually have become move involved with the board since last Christmas. There was a whopping 115 people participating—including quite a few I didn’t really know—so chances were I’d have to do some “stalking” to do to find [what I hoped] was the perfect gift. (Now, by stalking, I mean researching past posts that person had written, seeing what their interests were, and deciding on a gift.) And on a board that is heavily participated in with subjects of all varieties, this could have been a very lengthy process indeed.

So everyone was excited and counting down the days until the names were drawn! I got someone I didn’t really know, but someone who I had at least heard of and posted semi-frequently! And the stalking began! And as luck would have it, I found a great hint within the first 10 minutes of searching! I kept stalking, however, in the hopes I would find something better, but it never happened—and I thought “Why waste any more time on this when I already have a great gift idea?!”

What was it, you ask? What was the perfect gift? Well, it was pre-Thanksgiving time and there had been a few posts about casseroles—actually, I had started one asking something about the typical green bean casserole…and then due to that thread, someone else started a thread about casseroles in general…to which my person had replied, simply:

Yum! Not only do I like eating them, I like making them.

And from that simple comment, it was off to Amazon! As I tried to decide which of the numerous casserole cookbooks to purchase, it turned out my additional stalking had come in handy—from his comments on Riedel wine glasses, new granite countertops, and a recent visit to a trendy and expensive restaurant, I gathered he had a sense of refinement about him…so I went with the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook Cover & Bake (which I then proceeded to put on my own wishlist!) and a 4-qt Pyrex casserole dish!!

We’re not supposed to open our gifts until December 22, but apparently he has about as much willpower as I do sometimes, and he already opened them and emailed me to thank me—and tell me I did an excellent job stalking!!

Phew!

Now I just have to wait to receive my gift….and wonder what my Secret Santa is learning about me from stalking!

What a cool surprise!

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So I got the mail tonight and there was a small box from my mom. I knew just from the size and shape that it was a “check box” but I knew she wouldn’t be sending me checks! :)) So, imagine my complete and total surprise to open it and find…….pumpkin seeds!! 😀 I had mentioned when they were here visiting that I loved pumpkin seeds but never made them—but that I loved hers! She remembered…and sent me some!

FRANKS, MOM!!! 😉

The Punisher!

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Tonight was a laugh riot—we went to Raleigh with our neighbors/friends, Rob and Cindy, to see Carlos Mencia in his current tour, The Punisher. He’s not a comedian everyone likes or “gets,” so we were really (REALLY!) surprised when we mentioned him in passing and they said they loved them and would love to go to the show with us!!

We went early to hit the mall and Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner. Other than a few snafus with dinner (our waitress must have been new) and directions getting to the venue (we only ended up having to walk about four blocks and were technically five minutes late but the show hadn’t started yet), the evening was an absolute BLAST! I have not laughed so hard in…well, I honestly can’t remember when. By the end of the evening, my stomach hurt from laughing so much and so hard! Now, THAT’S a good night!

Not quite as crazy as last time…

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We had decided a few weeks ago that we wanted to have another party—this time, because a bunch of guys on our street are all deploying around the same time and we wanted to get everyone together before they all left (and before the holiday season occupied everyone’s schedules). We decided to have deep-fried turkey and make it into a potluck.

Of course, we were totally paranoid about throwing the party. I mean, we knew we had had a successful party in the past, but we are always scared that no one will show up and/or people will not have a good time.

Of course, we had nothing to worry about…we ended up with (I think) 22 adults and 14 kids! It didn’t get nearly as crazy as it did before, but everyone had a smashing time. And the turkey was a HUUUUUGE hit—I was surprised at how many people were trying it for the first time!

Oh, and Maggie? She was in pure doggie heaven—all those kids running around and wanting to play with her! Every time I looked around, someone was carrying her or chasing her or playing with her. One time, the kids were playing tag and were scattered, running all over—and she didn’t even know which way to run!! Towards the end of the evening, you could tell she was getting tired, so we put her to bed a little early and she slept straight through the night and didn’t even BUDGE in the morning!!

Long-lost treasure!

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So as I mentioned, mom and David brought down one of my old dressers. Well, of course, all of the drawers were filled to the brim—assorted stuff having accumulated over the multiple years it has sat in the basement waiting for me to have a home of my own to store it in. (It really didn’t matter to mom when I told her that, even though we have a big house, it’s already full to the brim. 🙂 ) So, due to space issues, we ended up giving the dresser away to a coworker—figuring who better than a 4-year-old girl to enjoy a Barbie-pink dresser?

my old pink dresser

But that meant I had to empty out the drawers. And find space to put all that stuff. But oh, did I have a grand time looking at everything, like…

  • A “memory book” detailing “The Blizzard of 1982” — each of us in the class had to write what we did over the three-day surprise snow break and then it was mimeographed (yes, mimeographed—not copied!) for everyone and made into a book. A book with construction paper covers and tied with yarn, but a book nonetheless!
  • An “autograph book” from the last days of school, circa 5th grade (I can tell because my teacher signed it). Heck, I think I had everyone at the school sign it, down to secretaries and janitors, I think! Hilarious. One funny thing? One of the kids in my class signed it…and I swear, his handwriting never changed through our senior year. Two neat things? I obviously carried on getting autographs after school, because both my Grandma Smith and Grandpa Len signed it. :'(
  • A periodic table of the elements from my chemistry class in high school… Why would I keep that? It has a story, of course! Which I remember like it was yesterday. The day our teacher was handing out copies of the periodic table to the class, it was my birthday (technically, it was Friday the 29th, but since we wouldn’t be in school on my birthday, my friends had put in the announcement for Friday). So, because it was my birthday, the teacher gave me his only color copy. I was the envy of the class. (Keep in mind, this was before the prevalence of internet research and color copies. What the teacher gave you is what you had.)
  • A letter from my dad, circa 1994. I haven’t reread this one yet!
  • Two cartons of my pysanky attempts, along with two kistas, an unopened box of dyes from Aunt Marge (I was always waiting until I had my own house/space to make all the dyes…I guess I have that now, don’t I?), and an egg-drying rack.
  • Four photo albums of Tom #1 era pictures. As you can imagine, that had some good and bad memories attached…but they were still fun to look at.
  • Three sticker books! (Don’t tell me you don’t know or remember sticker books…they were ALL the rage.) I still hate to part with these, but why on earth would I keep them?! I should just pass them on to Virginia who would surely love them. After I scan the pages into my computer, of course. 🙂
  • Two books of Sniglets. Yes, you remember Sniglets, too. You can admit it.
  • A brand new soup bowl/plate set that was a gift from my boss back in Traverse City 10 years ago (I’m rounding down).
  • But the best was the photo album Grandma Smith made for me probably 20 years ago…which I thought I had lost. After her funeral this summer, I looked high and low for it and couldn’t find it. I was devastated, because I could remember it clear as day—just not where it was. It was NOWHERE in this house, which meant it hadn’t been at the last house… So when I opened the drawer and found that… Well, it was a good day.

The sad thing? I still don’t know where I’m going to put all this stuff!

Way short version of mom and David’s visit.

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As you will read on the 10/28 entry, I lost my entire well-constructed thread with links and pictures…and there is NO WAY IN HELL I’m in any mood to even try to recreate it, so…without further ado, here’s the short version of their visit.

  1. They brought my old dresser and my old toybox because they were cleaning out the basement and I had to take my old stuff. They filled the toybox with Tom’s beer he requested, which I found funny.
  2. We cooked some great meals, as usual, plus ate at our favorite Thai restaurant. David made some yummy soup from leftovers and mom made Tom his favorite scones.
  3. Maggie LOVED grandma and I think grandma was surprised that she liked Maggie more than she thought she would.
  4. We went to our annual Halloween party/oyster feast at our friend’s house. We wore our new costumes and mom and David wore the scrubs that we had been banned from wearing again. My costume still needs some work, as it’s way too big and not slutty enough for what the costume should be (I couldn’t get enough cleavage).

The end.

P.S. You WON’T believe this, but I lost this post as well…another stupid error in the code. GRRRRR. There has to be something wrong with my cookies because this does NOT happen when I write in my blog at work. >:(

Halloween Costumes and Online Coupons

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So we decided to order new Halloween costumes for this year, as we’ve been “doctors” the past three years…and well, okay, so maybe our party hosts have said flat out that we CANNOT show up in the same scrubs again!!

So, I found the perfect costume at the place I wanted (with a 40% off coupon no less!) back in August, but they didn’t have it in my size. Of course, it wasn’t back in stock by the time the coupon expired, so I started looking elsewhere…and today I finally got my butt in gear (since the party is EARLY this year) and ordered our new costumes.

And you know what the best part was? I searched for a coupon code and found one for 10%…but when I entered it, it gave me 30% off!! WOOHOO! BONUS!

A Surreal Meeting

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For those of you who might not know, I belong to a few online groups where I spend quite a bit of time (different than the ladies I met around the time of our wedding). Anyway, these groups have “meets” every now and again at places across the country, but even though we haven’t been able to make it to any (the major one was in Las Vegas for five days), I spend enough time chatting with these people that it feels like I know them.

So earlier tonight, I happened to read a thread where one of the members said he was at Camp Lejeune.

Huh? What?

I’ve never been shy or hesitant in sharing where I live, so I was very surprised that this guy didn’t know I lived here! Anyway, a few quick PMs and I was on my way to meet him! (Tom was on his way to bed, so he elected not to go.)

The whole thing was so surreal—I was meeting someone I’ve been chatting with for a year! Of course, I had brought my camera to fully document the occasion, so here you go—me and Mike:

tcr combat medic meet

Depending on his schedule, we will meet (all three of us) for dinner before he leaves. I really think the boys will get along well, as they apparently worked on the same technological systems in Iraq. Small world.

UPDATE (inserted here because it felt out of place on the actual date): We never did get to meet for dinner. 🙁