Joey Walnuts

I heart Joey.

I'm sitting here in my robe and Army sweatpants watching Clean House and listening to Dex (I started to type "Joey") chew on his cow hoof. It's certainly an enchanting little evening here at the Mulia house. Oh yes.

Tomorrow at this time I'm likely to be zonked out. It will be my first day at my new job, and for the first 10 days or so, I'll be working full time hours for orientation. I'm excited to be working, but oddly, what I'm thinking about the most is my dog. I feel bad about him being locked up all day. I'm gonna run over at lunch real fast and let him out, but still, he's gonna be pissed. Oh well. It's not forever. And I am going to be WORKING and earning a PAYCHECK. Woohoo! That in itself is terribly exciting. I went in yesterday and met with my big boss and a lady I'll shadow. It was good to talk and get to know them and how things operate. I feel very welcome, which is definitely a good thing. Hopefully orientation goes well, and I pump enough coffee in myself to keep me from passing out on the first day.

I don't know what all the hell else has been going on... On Friday I went to a dinner with a bunch of Army wives. Their husbands are all actually in Joe's company but do different jobs. For some reason hardly any of the dudes that do Joe's job are married. At least the others are accepting me in their circle. It's good. And no one held it against me that I was the only one present without a deployed husband. No one was catty. Good stuff.

Other than that, it's been raining a whole lot. I saw Joe's brother, Alex, for like a minute between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, which was good. On Saturday I worked out and actually got corrected on my squats. You gotta point your toes out, and I know that. But I was nervous about being at the gym for the first time in a while. After being corrected I was even more nervous and messed up my hand placement on the bar. Can you say lop-sided? Damn it. By the third set I got it right but may never do squats in public again. Bah. On Sunday I went to the movies with a couple friends, and that evening I bought a new lawn mower - a Snapper. Yes, I made the executive decision and went for it. I had at least put it past Joe beforehand, and he knew it was imminent. (Our yard is becoming off the chain, and we have nothing to cut it with.) The one I bought is out of stock, but will be in on Thursday. That said, I can be cutting grass by the weekend and am actually a little excited. I'm going to do some planting too. I found a good book at the library about potting plants (versus in the ground so I can take them with me when we move), and I think I'm going to be all southern and plant some tomatoes as well. Like I said, big things happening at the Mulia house. :-)

In neighbor news, I found out my neighbor with whom I had the falling out is actually in the hospital right now. I texted her today to let her know the back hatch of her car was left open in the rain, and I got this response: "Hi. Thank you. I'm actually not at home right now. I haven't been for a while. I've been hospitalized. But thank you for telling me." I dunno. It just seems sort of bitchy. It's probably just me reading into it. For someone who's hospitalized, she sure did take a minute to type several sentences outlining the fact that she's in the hospital. At first I felt sort of bad because I have noticed she's not around, but didn't ask. Honestly, with the weird shit she managed to tell me about her marriage in the short time we were hanging out, I figured she'd left her husband because he cheated. That said, I wasn't about to ask her husband in passing, "Hey, where's Vanessa?" Then came the whole thought process of should I in any way offer to help? I don't think so. They didn't come to me with information or ask for help, and since I don't agree with the way she treats people, I'm not sure I should get into her business all over again. Because let's be honest - I don't want to. There you have it. And that doesn't mean I don't hope she gets better with whatever is ailing her. I do wish her well. Good, bad, or un-Christian, it just isn't my place to give help in this situation.

So anyway. Biggest Loser is about to start, and you know I need to try to get motivated to go back to the gym...where people really ARE watching you while you exercise. :-D

I Heart Not Having TB

Amidst my previously blogged about "winning streak," I had a bit of a concerning TB test. I got the injection on Monday, and by that night I had a faint red ring around the stick. You could say I was worried. Anyway. The ring faded by yesterday, and when I went back today to have the test read, it was negative. Sweet. I could write about the super dry humor of the nurse, Ken, who actually scares me a bit, but it'd take too long to explain him. Just know this: when he first injected me, he made comments about having just had Lasik surgery and not being able to see very well. Then, today, when I inquired about the red ring, he commented on how it was bad and a symptom of TB as he marked my sheet negative.

So finding out I don't have TB was a pretty good part of the day. What made it even better was when the Director of Admissions from the mental health hospital where I just got the new job called me. The DoA is an LCSW and as such, loves a wee MSW...like me. She called to formally welcome me to the team, as she wasn't able to attend my interview. Also, she totally wants me to come in before orientation to talk and show me around. She even wants to take me out to lunch, as she is very excited to have an MSW on the team. That said, we're going to lunch on Monday. I'm a teensy bit afraid, as this goes against my fly-under-the-radar mentality, but I know this sort of networking is good. I'm just not used to this much positive attention at a job, especially one at which I don't yet work. I should probably start re-reading the DSM right now. Oh god.

I heart Scrubs.

Anyway. So like all of my home projects are failing. For some reason, mixing jet black paint is impossible for the folks at both Lowes and Wal-Mart. I've painted my damn media cabinet almost three times now, and aside from the spray paint that was actually black but uneven, each other 'black' was charcoal gray. I'm about to go insane. My other projects involve more sorting and clearing and hauling shit up to the attic on the rickety pull down ladder. So I'm putting it off. The good news is that I finally did the dishes, did some laundry, washed the dog, and cleaned up the garage. However, half the crap I took out of the garage is sitting in the foyer now. That includes Joe's swords. I hate the swords. I loathe them. They're stupid and nerdy. But Joe loves them, and thus they stay, though as soon as I muster up the energy, I'm going to bury them under crap in the attic. :-)

Speaking of Joe, I'd like him to come home now. I miss him. It's weird to think that by the time he comes back I will have accepted a new job, gone through orientation and begun working it regularly. I expected things like that when was gone gone. But he's not gone gone. He's home home just gone for a mini training training. This time a part is a bit different then other trainings, though. He works seven days a week, 13-15 hours a day most days. I really don't talk to him much. Sucks.

To close, let me share a dislike and then a like. My dislike is of these pseudo mortgage company who claim to give aid to those struggling to make their payments. Instead of helping, though, they screw the people, take their money, and run. And this in light of a terrible economic situation nationwide. Bastards. However, a major like I have is Edy's real fruit popsicles. It's taken me years to finally catch on. I definitely recommend them. And yes, they have sugar in them. I don't like all the sugar substitutes. Sure, I eat things with them in it occasionally, but too much just seems like a bad idea. It's not natural, and I've actually read that people who use a lot of the substitutes consume more calories than those who don't because something about the substitutes compromises the body's natural ability to calorie count and feel full. Uh. So yeah, get those popsicles.

The Horror

I finished up our taxes just a little bit ago. As I worked on them, I had Apocalypse Now on in the background. I thought it was very fitting, especially since I put both sets of taxes into their respective federal and state envelopes just in time to see the beatings at the end, complete with Brando's "The horror...the horror." On a side note, when Martin Sheen was young, he was way hotter than either of his goofy sons.

Oh my gosh, Dexter is running around the backyard with a plastic bag in his mouth. And now he's barking at it....

So it was definitely the bag that's been in the very top of the tree in our backyard for God knows how long. Must have finally blown out. I got it away from Dex and realized there was a big brown spider in one of the bottom corners of it. I was trying to get the thing off of the bag so I could put it (the bag) in my recycling, but the spider was stuck...on its egg sack. I scraped it off its sack using the bottom of our fence gate. The spider absolutely did not want to get off. I was impressed by this mother's resolve, wishing all human mothers were so driven in their role. Alas, though, I had to do what I had to do. With the spider went the sack, and all these half alive half translucent baby spiders spilled out. It was so Charlotte's web out there. Crazy. But, since my bug man sprayed recently, they should all be dead very soon.

Yes, so spiders aside it's been busy. I've worked a bit, had a Katie day, got CPR certified again, went to an air show, oh, and got offered (and accepted) another job. It's a part-time job at the mental health hospital three minutes from my house. Hell yeah. They want me to work as close as I can to 29 hours/week, and after I tallied it up, what I'll make part-time at this job is more than what I made full time back at my job (which shall remain nameless) in MO. Of course I don't get benefits, but I can start an IRA or something on my own in the meantime (through the very trusted and stable USAA), and the Army will continue to be my medical savior. Orientation for new job starts April 1. In the meantime, I'm continuing old job, which I thought I was going to quit, but instead am just going to turn over my case and stay on should something come available at a time that doesn't conflict with new job. Double bang for my resume buck. Also, new job is evenings and every other weekend. Kinda blows, but they're very flexible, and this is really the only way to get my foot in the door right now. I was assured that this would be a good move for me, as I'd be considered for internal transfer for full time positions in the future. We shall see. I'm going to start pursuing my license soon as well. The world loves a licensed clinical social worker.

This new job thing has been a very good stroke of luck. At the very least, we have the financial security (at least for now, right?) of the Army, and now I'll finally be really working (not just the contract BS). It really makes me feel thankful now that I can see the light amidst such a dark time for this country. And we're not going to be idiots about the new income. The plan is to take a couple years to pay off all our debt completely (hello, grad school loans!!). That means we'll primarily live off of one income, while using the other to take care of said debt. Additionally, we'll live within or under our means - no flashy new shit, no shopping sprees, and same old ass cars. It's good, and I'm looking forward to getting our money stuff all squared away. The only non-Dave Ramsey part of the plan will be to possibly put money away for a nice trip. :-)

To top off my winning streak here, I got to ride in a helicopter yesterday. I was most looking forward to seeing the F/A 18 at the air show...and then I found out they were doing helicopter rides. My friend and I strapped on our big girl pants and with our husbands away, decided to go for it. For $45 bucks, I got to ride in a UH-1 Huey helicopter (they flew mostly in Vietnam - and were neat to see in a new light as I watched them again in Apocalypse Now earlier today). The ride was amazing. I got to sit in one of the gunner seats, which faces out of the side. Basically, just a seatbelt kept me from falling out of the side of it. It was so cool, though. The pilots - mostly Vietnam vets, etc - flew each group around Columbus for about ten minutes before returning to the airport. I laughed and squeeled and looked out and around as much as I could. It was wonderful. If you ever get the chance, spend the money - it's SO worth it!!!

Black Cleavage

That's right. I actually shot spray paint down the front of my tank top this afternoon as I was working on a home project outside. Folks, don't try to adjust doors on a media cabinet with spray paint in your hand. Put it down first. Seriously.

It's already almost three o'clock, and I feel like I have hardly accomplished anything. Pretty soon I need to shower and get ready to go to dinner with one of my gf's before we go to post for a meeting. Bah. I soooo want to just sit here and relax until I motivate myself enough to start doing more crap around the house. Gosh, I just realized this whole thing is going to turn very whiny if I don't stop. So I'll stop.

Let's talk about military wives. Before I got down here, I heard stories of how mean military wives can be to each other - catty, bitchy women who are poisonous in their jealousy. When I first experienced it myself, I was a bit caught off guard, as I'd rarely talked about Joe's job and what all he does (to anyone other than family and close friends), much less put it in anyone's face. Still, as I've blogged about previously my neighbor was disrespectful to me regarding Joe's work. Today, something similar happened to a friend of mine, and she says even less to other people (those who aren't family or close friends) than I do. Still, this woman (another Army wife) made a comment about her own husband working for his rank with regard to my friend's husband coming in as an E-4 (due to his college education) and having his rank handed to him. Why? Why should that ever be verbalized? I don't understand. And my friend's husband is deployed. Don't pick on a man who's currently overseas doing his fucking job, and certainly don't pick on him to his wife who is back home missing him. Bah. It makes me so mad. It turns out this other woman had in the past pushed her husband to do certain training that he'd told her wasn't for him. As it turns out, my friend's husband has completed the aforementioned training and is leading the military lifestyle this other woman had always wanted. I guess jealousy truly can poison a human being.

I'm jealous in some ways too, but I try no to tear down others because of it. I do understand the poisonous side to it, though, as it is hard to be happy when you're hanging on to things you shouldn't. I'm getting better with things, but I still have issues sometimes with the way I got married. (C'mon, let's beat this dead horse some more.) I'm seeing everyone else do it now - different things done here and there that I wish I could have done. But it's alright. I got married, and I'm with the man I love. The main thing now is a honeymoon. It's very hard to swallow having our lives dictated in such a way that Joe can barely take a weekend trip, much less a honeymoon with me. It's been very difficult lately watching other people get to mark the start of their marriage with travel and truly focusing on each other amidst it, and it's not that I'm not happy for them because I am. I'm just sad for myself. The most traveling we've done together since getting married was moving to Georgia. Think of the act of moving and think of a honeymoon. No comparison!!! Still, I'm not being an asshole, making terrible comments to other people. The pity part does need to stop, though, and I'm continuing to work on it. I know I'll be a happier, better person when I can finally make peace with things. Plus, we may finally get to take a trip in January of next year - two year anniversary honeymoon...ha - so I guess I can use the next nine months to scope out places to go. That said, don't expect a lot for Christmas this year, everyone. :-)

I have to go shower now and get my cleavage back to it's natural, pale color. S'cuse me.

I Just Got a New Water Heater

That's right. By 10:30 a.m. this morning, I had a new tank. Who wants some?? It all began yesterday as Joe was loading the car with his bags and noticed the old tank was leaking out into the garage. It was a kick in the ass that he was able to notice what was occurring but had absolutely no time to help me do anything about it since he had a flight to catch. Damn damn damn. So I saw him off and then returned home and just stared at all the water. I'd already talked to my property manager's maintenance dude, Ron, who sounds like the old man from Family Guy but without the whistle. He was of little to no help in that initial conversation, so I called him back and left a message. It was close to two hours before I heard back from him, and when I did I gave him a tactfully hard time. Long story short, I bought a shop vac (you can get a 6 gal for under $40 from Lowe's) and vacuumed up all the water, as it was beginning to seep through the wall of the garage and into the laundry room. Apparently Ron didn't understand that my garage is not free standing and leaving standing water in it is not a good idea. The idiot. Also he didn't tell me the right valve to shut off. Finally, when one of his minions called me, I was told the right valve, which involved climbing up on a ladder to see over the top of the tank (it's on stilts). I then set up fans for several hours to dry everything out along the walls, and this morning, I got a new set up. Even though I was pissed about the amount of work I had to do as a mere renter, I realize this was a good experience for one day when I'm a homeowner. Yes, yes.

That said, I haven't had a lot of time to miss Joe during the first day of him being gone. But shit it's only been a day anyway.

I really need to be doing work today. My progress notes are due tomorrow for my crap job. Then tomorrow I have to actually work my crap job. God dang it. During the five weeks while Joe is gone, my main goal is to get a real, full time job. I'm also going to finish off my furniture refinishing projects and will set up one of the spare bedrooms as Joe's Army room. All his crap absolutely must have a central location...with a door that I can shut to hide it all. :-) Ooh, and I must also finish the taxes. I made Joe sign everything before he left, but for good measure I also finally have general power of attorney that doesn't expire for two years. That will make life so much easier!!

I also need to start a self-improvement project while Joe is gone by way of working out and eating better. We'd been eating pretty well, but in the last week and a half I've completely fallen off the wagon. Help me, Oprah!

Speaking of while Joe is gone, (which seems to be all this post is about), an MP on post got shot in the leg last night during a routine traffic stop at around 1:00 a.m. They're doing full vehicle searches today along with the usual 100% ID checks to everyone who goes on post, as they're still looking for the shooter. The whole thing is scary, especially since I think a lot of us, myself included, feel that post is the safest place to be. Even just one shooting compromises that feeling. I hope they find the shooter. Recently, a disgruntled post employee burned down the main JAG building, and with help from the feds, they found that bitch. Hopefully, we can go two for two.

To lighten the mood, let's close with this video. I'm sure everyone but my mother has seen it on Facebook already, so Ma this one's for you. It's Dexter!

Joe Needs to Leave

Yes, he needs to just rip off the band-aid and get the hell out of here. I love him dearly, but the anticipation of leaving and being gone for five weeks has him completely rattled. And he's admitted such. Gosh, he's been so mopey and bitchy today that I've nearly come out of my skin. I'm not happy that he's leaving, but I want to at least enjoy the last of our time together. That being impossible, though, means tomorrow just needs to hurry up and arrive, and we need to get this over with. It's just not happening so easily. Joe finally started packing, and literally after about five minutes, he informed me (and not so nicely) that he was going to the gas station to buy chew and snacks for the road. I just stared at him, especially since he put the whole chew thing out there so freely knowing I hate it. Really? Right now? Whatever.

So that's where he is now. Ugh.

Amidst Joe's emotionally sensitive state, we did manage to hit the city's yearly hazardous waste recycling shindig and dropped off empty paint cans and spray bottles for recycling. They also accepted old electronics, etc. It's one thing that makes me happy to live here - knowing there are people that give a damn. I thanked the workers several times for everything they were doing out there.

After that, we hit the post recycling with our paper, cardboard, and tin (that doesn't get picked up through our curbside recycling). Then we swung by the Class Six for wine. The commissary looked bat shit crazy just from the looks of the parking lot, so we dared not go in. Instead, we hit Publix on the way back home. Whatever.

It was hard to really have any rhythm to our day, but we still managed to have a pretty decent evening before the most recent flare up. I cooked a curry dish, and we watched a few favorite TV shows snuggled up with our wine.

I know Joe is just doing the push-away-since-we're-about-to-be-a-part thing, but it sucks. Annnd he's home now. Super duper. I guess I'll go finish getting ready for bed now and crash with my Greg Isle (sp?) book. Turning Angel is pretty awesome. I can hardly put it down. Check it out.

And Stuff You Again, Jemaine

So just a couple days until Joe leaves, and I'm starting to get a little bummed out. I definitely keep the mindset that continued training is a good thing in that it will make him a better soldier. Because hell, that's what this is all about...but it doesn't mean I won't miss him. I don't say too much about it to Joe because I know he doesn't want to leave me either. He's been verbalizing such pretty frequently within the last week, though he definitely wants to further himself as a soldier. However, it didn't help that he watched the military-wide (or is it just Army?) suicide prevention video. Apparently most suicides are born out of spouses leaving while soldiers are away. I assured him I'd be here when he got back because if I wasn't going to see this thing through, I wouldn't have let him move me to damn Columbus, Ga in the first place. I'm pretty sure he knows that.

Anyway. Dexter's outside running around as if he has a playmate, but alas, it's just him tossing his ball in the air and chasing it. How insane. Soon he'll be playing with others, as we'll be attending our Army wives lunch/doggy play date here in a bit. I'll be bringing the gin.

In other news, does anyone ever feel like you're about to drop the ball on everything? I've been putting our bills into an Excel spreadsheet, but for the last couple months, I've still had this panicky feeling like I've forgotten something. As it turns out, my Mediacom payment didn't go through last month, which sent me into a tailspin earlier this week. Bah. Also, trying to make sure I take care of all the little things are adding to this feeling - find a real job, sign up for CPR for the one I've got, reschedule my state merit exam before they suspend me from being an applicant for two years, get the taxes done, and a few weeks ago there were the car tags which involved me crying outside of the tag office as I yelled at Joe on the phone for not completing the one document I left for him to do. Mmm hmm. I guess all these little things are what adulthood really is, and it's pretty symbolic of life in general - maintaining your life's status quo. That's really what we're all fighting for everyday. Feeling sick? Take these meds, do this and that, and finally (hopefully) you'll feel like you did previously - back to normal. Have a fight with someone? Wait it out, talk it out, and you might finally get things back to normal. Forgot to hit the final submit button on our cable bill payment? Review your bank statement, check your bill e-mails, and pay the damn thing off immediately when you realize no, the money never went through. It's sort of depressing to think about, but often times life seems to be about handling a series of crises to get things right again. Has anyone else ever noticed that? When something finally gets taken care of, for example, my Wells Fargo furniture account that kept getting screwed up, it feels truly relieving until you realize that all the work was just to get things back to normal. We work and work and work to get things just the way they were before. Ha. But, I guess as they say, much of life's beauty is in the way things are handled. If that's true, I should have rainbows shooting out of the roof of my house. Or, my house should have burned down a long time ago. I'm not sure.

Life is good, though, right? :-) I'm off to bag up my booze. Happy weekend.

My Snowy Home

I can never get my damn pictures right. I wanted the bottom one on top and vice versa. Damn you blogger site that I can barely work!

Anyway. These are from when it snowed here March 1. South of Atlanta. Holy crap. It was either these or a pic of Dex in the bath tub. That'll be next. :-)

Today was another fast day. I turned in more paperwork to the mental health hospital (for employment), then grocery shopped at Wal-Mart, then took Dex to the dog park on post where some friends set up kiddie pools for the doggies, then grocery shopped at the commissary, then hit a traffic jam straight off of post, navigated around the traffic jam through the ghetto and beat it home to meet the bug man for his quarterly spraying.

The bug man is an interesting guy. During this spraying, he managed to tell me about his poodle who got fixed today, had a gran mal seizure when they started to put him under, and was diagnosed with heart worms. It was a lot coming from a dude I only see every three months. I hope his dog is okay, though.

Joe was late coming home today, but we've managed to hang out a good bit. In fact, Criminal Minds is on and I'm sunburned from the DP, so I'm gonna get this hot laptop off of me and watch TV with Joey. Woot.

Weddings Are Such Joyous Occasions...

So the wedding weekend turned out to be a pretty good time. I swear, though, it was like we were on fast forward for the entire trip. Still, it was great to take Joe with me. He met a ton of new people - my old friends, old family friends, and even new friends who we met at the wedding. In fact, Joe was a real big hit. Everyone seemed to really like him. That, or they were lying very enthusiastically. I'm pretty sure it was him being well-received. For that matter, I guess we both were, as we were asked to join a foursome. We politely declined. The reception seemed to go by really fast. Drinking probably didn't help my time traveling. By 11:00 p.m., I think the band was packing up to leave, to which I believe I protested....to the band. They'd had enough of me by then as I'd previously requested, Primus, Jay-Z, and Beyonce. None of it got played. Oh well. An interesting element to the reception was a photo booth. It was really cool. You could hop in there, and almost do whatever you wanted, especially once the photo booth handler started drinking. When your pictures printed, it printed a double copy, so you could paste a set in a photo album for the bride and groom along with a message. I believe the only set I was in that made the album contained a nipple. It wasn't mine, and I won't say whose it was. But it's definitely in there. Aside from the wedding, Joe and I had fun hanging out with Kristen and Daniel, my (now 'our') friends with whom we stayed. Time just went by too quickly, and I wished we'd had more of it to spend with them. They were a blast at the reception, though. Kristen is nine months pregnant and brings an even clearer meaning to the expression "carries it well." She's beautiful, and it was awesome seeing her dance around and goof off in the photo booth. Fantastic.

We're back home now. The house is a wreck, and we have no food. I spent all of yesterday writing progress notes for my part-time job, and I won't even get paid for the time I spent writing them. I loathe that job. However, I got called to turn in some more paperwork for a hospital gig I interviewed for last week, so hopefully that means something positive, though they "still have not made a decision." For now, I'm stuck with my one crappy case with my very very part-time job. In fact, I have to leave in a little over an hour to pick up my girl and drive her back home an hour away. If she would only cut out the boy talk. I'm really getting close to driving the car into oncoming traffic.

Joe's getting ready to head out of town for five weeks. He leaves Sunday. I thought he was leaving this Monday, and he informed that he actually thought he was leaving Friday. At least I get part of the weekend with him before he heads out. The irony of course is that it's a four day weekend, and he'll be leaving after one day of it. Oh well. I have big plans to finally unpack the last room in the house and set it up properly. Okay, so they aren't big plans, but it's something. My big plan is to have some sort of full time job hooked up well before he gets back. It absolutely has to happen.

I don't know what else. It's been super busy lately, and this time change is making me slow and lethargic. BUT, the sun is shining, and it's a beautiful day, so I'd better get on with it.

My Husband Needs to Sleep

Joe hasn't exactly caught up on sleep after his 24 hour shift the other day. And it's making things around here a little more interesting.

That said, I'm sitting here at our old desktop listening to The Rolling Stone's "She's a Rainbow." I love this song; the arrangement is really beautiful to me. Kind of soothing.

It snowed today for the first time all winter. I'd really given up. Snow doesn't happen much around here - I know; I lived four hours from here for about ten years. Today was really a fluke, but I soaked it up. I woke Joe up once I realized it was snowing (and sticking), and we both went outside with Dexter. I chased Dex around a bit and threw snowballs at him while Joe took a few pics. It was a good time. Dex had never seen snow before, and I think he really enjoyed it - he could dig in it and not get in trouble: same went for him eating the stuff. It must have been heaven for him. :-)

I stayed pretty cozy inside for much of the day, though. Watched some TV and then cleaned up here and there. We still have one whole room that's not put together. I guess it's a second spare bedroom (soon to be Joe's Army crap room), and it's taken a while for me to find the will to do anything with it. Finally, today I hauled some boxes out of it and put them in the attic. It was in doing that that I realize I hoard boxes. I guess I've moved so much in the last few years that I'm fearful when we move again I won't have enough. That, and packing material. I hate buying it, so I've been hoarding it too. I'm really thankful we have an attic or this compulsion could get pretty awkward.

I'm also thankful for my Cuisinart food processor. I got it for my birthday last year (yes, I wanted it) and have finally been using it. The thing is fantastic. Tonight I used it to puree broiled tomatillos and Serrano peppers. Good stuff.

Well anyway. There's a spit cup sitting next to the keyboard that's really starting to piss me off, as are the tiny little hairs stuck to me from giving Joe his weekly trim. I think it's time to shower and finish our taxes...and the laundry...and the rest of the dishes. Oh boy.