Dexy Loves Daddy

Holy crap where does the time go? The week with Joe here was a blur, as was the weekend. This weekend was, as I've previously written, Joe's birthday. After I got off of work on Saturday, we went to a drive-thru Animal Safari in Pine Mountain, Ga. It was a good time, and I'm pretty sure Joe had fun, despite being a bit frightened of some elk that ganged up on him for treats. I got to feed elk too, and we both also fed a giraffe, buffalo, and some long horned cows/bulls/steers. It was badass. Later, in the evening Joe and I met up with another couple at a bar downtown and had a few drinks with them. I have finally met another wife of a dude who works with Joe! Praise Jebus. She seems awesome - a bit older and doesn't take a lot of bullshit. She reminds me of Bethanny on Real Housewives of New York. Smart, no-nonsense, and fun to talk to. I hope we hang out again. I know we'll be seeing them at the ball this Friday.

Speaking of the ball, what the hell do you wear to a ball??? I was going to reuse my most recent bridesmaid's dress, but it is so uncomfortable that I just can bear to think about wearing it again anytime soon. Bah. I've looked around town (zero time to drive to ATL), but everything looks either very promy or very bridesmaid-ish. There have been a few things that are classically pretty and appeal to me, but they happen to be $300-$400. I'm just not interested in spending that kind of money on a dress anymore. That said, my sister is Fed-Exing me some of her dresses so that I at least have a solid back up. I love my sister (and Gene...with or without his Fed-Ex discount).

Anyhow. So Joe's gone again. Driving to post to drop him off, I started to feel pretty sad. To think about him being gone 7 out of 8 weeks just sort of sucks, but I didn't really think I'd get too upset. I didn't cry or anything...just this weird feeling inside. I think it's called sadness. Deep sadness. Oh well. After I dropped him off, I went straight back to work, so I didn't have time to stay sad.

I guess there's not much else. I've been avoiding my neighbor like the plague. I don't know what's wrong with her. We haven't hung out in months. I'm always "busy" when she asks to hang out, and I don't always return her calls. Not just take forever to call her back, but just don't call her back period. Also, I never initiate any sort of communication unless I see them outside, and even then NEVER do I do more than exchange pleasantries. In other words, nothing about what I say or do should lead her to believe I want to continue a friendship, and yet she continues to call periodically. Though I don't answer, she leaves messages asking how I am and stating we should hang out. Together, Joe and I also keep getting invited to her and her husband's bbq's. To be honest, their bbq's blow. Joe and I last went to one in January where we showed up late only to find a tiny group of people finishing up watching the Longest Yard on TV. Thankfully we not only showed up late, but drunk as well.

To close, I can faintly feel someone's bass. That is one of the main reasons that I hate the "dirty" south. What the fuck is up with this gangster bullshit? And why the hell did I hear it the other morning at 8AM when I was getting ready for work? I am seriously developing an anxiety disorder due to this shit. Like as soon as I hear it, my heart starts beating faster and I get pissed. On that note, I'm going to go get ready for bed and turn my fan on high to drown out the reality of where I live.

How Conveeeeeenient

Yes, I found myself gathering the trash this evening in preparation for garbage pick-up tomorrow, and I thought, 'How nice for Joe that tonight is the night he works late.' That makes a month and a half straight of me taking care of the damn garbage/recycling. Speaking of garbage, I'm still not understanding why more people are not recycling. I do not think that it is enough to say that if one doesn't have the curbside pick up, then one cannot recycle. Right now, I do have recycling pick up, but it doesn't pick up paper and cardboard. Instead, I take that stuff to post and recycle it. Growing up, no one picked up our recycling. We have always had bins, and at a young age, my dad got me into using them and going with him to drop off the recycling at our town's center. It is one of the best things that man has done for me. It got me thinking at an early age about where things go. I think a lot of people think once it's gone, it's gone. No more dealing with it or consdering where the stuff goes. It goes to massive dump sites, obviously. We're talking tons and tons of garbage a day. And a great deal of it is stuff that could be recycled, donated, or composted. That makes me so mad, and I wish other people would get a clue. I'll admit that I do lack on the composting, but I recycle and donate the hell out of just about anything I can. I'm also very conscious about the things I buy - the packaging, etc, and I use cloth bags (most of the time) at the grocery store. Am I the greatest? No. Hell no. Other people do far better, and I probably look like a naive asshole compared to them. I try, though, I'm so tired of others doing nothing. Folks, if I may take a religious stance on this for a minute, the Bible not only talks of how live with regard to handling oneself and treating others (to put it simply), but also of how to treat God's earth. Honestly, I hope at the gate there's some mention of "Uh, you really trashed the place down there...and that's not okay." But anyway. At the very least, everyone, picture your kids, grandkids, etc playing in garbage. C'mon. Think of Wall-E or did that just register as 'cute'? All that said, I doubt I have really taken the trash out for six weeks straight because I honestly do not have to take it out weekly. Sometimes it only goes out every other week (even when Joe is home). With all that we recycle, we simply do not generate that much trash. Also, the main light sources in our house use compact flourescent bulbs, and we turn lights off when we're done with them. Generally, within reason I unplug shit when I'm not using it (electric bill is under $40). We don't leave water running during teeth brushing, etc. Our A/C and heat are set reasonably. The dishwasher is set to air dry instead of heat. It goes on, and I will continue to get better and better with this. And one day when I can afford it, I will buy a hybrid. I encourage everyone to try a little harder than you currently do, and if you have any neat ways that you're being green, please post them.

Whew. Okay.

So anyway. Things here are good. Joe's doing a night jump tonight, so that's why he's working late. I still haven't seen him jump (and that's out of a plane for you new folks) but tonight really wasn't worth going to because as Joe put it, "Ideally, you'll hear a plane pass, and then a few minutes later, a bunch of dudes you'll barely see will quietly run past you." While that actually sounds pretty cool, I'm not down for standing in a field in the middle of no where by myself in the dark. This is Georgia. The state.

In other news, Joe's birthday is this weekend. Baby boy turns 25 on Saturday. I've narrowed down that he does not want a cake, does want to go to this Animal Safari place nearby, have a nice dinner together in the evening, and then go for drinks with friends afterward. Should be a good time. I still need to get him a gift...Shit. Then, as I've previously written, Joe leaves on Sunday until Thursday when he comes home for the ball weekend. Then he'll leave three days later on that Monday for two weeks. It goes on and on. Training and training and more training. But the whole summer won't be lost to it because while it's not our honeymoon trip, we are planning to use some of his leave to go down to Destin for a bit. Yeah!! FINALLY. Time off together and not to be used, no offense, spending it with other people. I'm pretty sure married folks need this sort of thing every couple of years or so.

This Post May Suck

I'm about to go outside and weed a flower bed, so I don't have a lot of time to prep my humor and wit for this post. That said, it may in fact suck.

So anyway. I finally made it out of formal orientation at my new job, but am now in more job specific orientation. Though I'm STILL reading policies/procedures, I'm also finally getting to actually shadow folks...and they really don't have a lot of good things to say about the agency. It seems to come with the territory, so I'm not all that scared, and it helps that I'm only part-time. When my 29 hours are up for the week, I get the hell out. Now, however, another full time position has opened up, and my boss keeps trying to get me to take it. Why would I do that, though? They sold me on part-time. I get paid more to work less, and I don't need health benefits. Why in the hell would I switch to working more and making less?? I'm actually sort of scared they'll take away my hours until I agree to taking full time, but they're in such a bind right now needing people that I don't foresee that happening anytime soon. What I need to do is just suck it up and begin my three year trek toward getting licensed (Licensed Clinical Social Worker - LCSW). Once I'm licensed, I can work on post...and they take care of their social workers (I think)!! Yeah, so that's the job stuff. I heart office politics....

In other, better news, Joe is back!! Woohoo. I missed the hell out of him, and I'm so glad he's home. He got back on Friday evening, so we hit our favorite sushi place and then both exhausted, came home to Dex. And what a reception Joe got from Dex. The damn dog ran right past me, straight to Joe. Ha. Yesterday we got so much stuff done. Got the oil changed and tires rotated/balanced on my car, bought plants, paint, and stain at Lowe's, planted plants, took Dex to the dog park, watched a weimaraner puppy get attacked by another dog there (it was fucking awful), AND grocery shopped. I have no idea how we fit all that stuff in, but we did. And it was damn nice to have a partner to do it all with. PS. The weimer puppy is okay. The other dog (a scared, insecure dog), bit the weimer pup by its nose and drug it for a sec. HORRIBLE. You could see the puncture mark, which was bleeding pretty good, in the pup's nose from a tooth. The owners, pissed, took it to the e-vet, so I'm sure it's fine. Nothing fatal.

Today we're sort of chilling. Joe made omelettes this morning, and I think we might weed the flower bed a bit more before we go clothes shopping. I realize all of this sounds terribly boring, but it's nice. Especially since yesterday there was a scare that Joe would have to leave town TODAY for another week of training. It's actually a two week training, but since it's only in ATL, they'd come home next weekend. Instead, Joe's going up for the second week, so he'll leave next Sunday and then be back that Thursday night. Good thing because our ball is on that Friday, May 1 (Joe doesn't look any hotter than when he's in full dress greens). He actually has the whole damn day of the ball off, but I'll be at work until I have to go get my hair done. Damn damn damn. That's what sucks about working when you're married to a military man. Any shred of time he has off I want to take advantage of, but with me working, it's not going to be as easy anymore. Ah well. Not spending every available minute together may be healthier anyway. Joe will get to have his own time at home, as I already do. I'm glad to see both sides of this situation. It still sucks he's leaving again so soon. Time is ticking and eventually he'll be gone for longer than just five weeks.

That said, it's time for me to shut this thing down and hang with Joey!

SEARiously?!

Things I didn't like about today:

-Orientation at work
- Dexter being a douche
- Knowing that I have to go back to orientation again tomorrow

Damn it. I'd thought of more to list, but I forgot them. Perhaps I'm more positive than I'd realized. HA.

It's been a week since I last wrote. Indeed, I did start my new job. As my supervisor told me at our lunch a while back, "Orientation is intense." By intense I thought she meant hard. No, she just meant crammed full of stuff for ten freaking days. In fact, much of it is information that one would learn in most MSW programs. It was in mine, which makes it not new to me, and thus mostly redundant. That in itself might not be too terrible, but the room we're in for eight hours a day has blacked out windows with curtains over them. I guess it used to be a treatment area or something back in the day. It's awful - no sunlight. I experience a lot of rage in there.

I should mention that on my lunch break on my first day of work, I managed to lock myself out of my house and car. I actually had to ask a neighbor I'd never talked to before for a ride back to work. Thank goodness she was sweet and without hesitation, drove me over. (I literally live two minutes from the gate, so it wasn't a big inconvenience.) Still, I thanked her repeatedly. And so amidst work the rest of that day, I negotiated both a way to get a key to my house free of charge (thank you property manager) and to get to said key and back home (thank you Sarah). I took care of it, though, without any of my supervisors at work ever being the wiser. Whew.

The rest of the week went fairly smoothly, though I'm not used to this eight hour day stuff anymore, so by Friday I was pretty tired. I had a glass of wine and watched stuff I'd DVR'd. It was grand. My plan for Saturday was to mow the lawn with my new lawn mower that I'd picked up on Thursday, and then after doing a little research, go plant shopping and do some gardening. That's definitely not how Saturday went.

After I'd unloaded the lawn mower and set it up, I realized one of the wheels remained up in the air while the others were all down. Not cool. I had to take the damn thing back, and new push mowers are HEAVY. Since Joe's still gone, I had to load the damn thing alone. So anyway. I took it back to Sears, where I found that this particular Snapper model has a manufacturer's defect. Sears knew about it way before I picked it up, yet they still let me take it home. First strike. With the help of the first loader dude who got (and not easily) the defected mower out of the car, I got hooked up with a dept manager to pick out a new one. I felt a little weird about picking out a new mower without my research handy, but I did it anyway. Then, as I was being checked out, it became very apparent that the cashier lady was rushing me to get to lunch. She was very curt, and as I tried to ask a question about the transaction on my receipt, she cut me off saying, "It's all there!" She then rushed the manager who came back over and was talking to me some more, as they were about to go to lunch together. Second strike. I tactfully let someone know about that before I went back to the pick-up area. Then, back at the pick up area, I got back in line to wait for my new mower to be loaded. I'd been assured by the manager that the loader would take it out of the box for me and give it the once over. Well, when it was finally my turn, I politely asked the man about taking it out of the box because the first one was defected, to which he replied, "I don't have time for that." Dumbfounded, I informed him that a man inside said I'd be helped. The loader responded with, "Yeah, inside they'll tell you anything." Third strike, and with that, I lost my mind. I literally chucked my purse down, and started simultaneously crying [read: sobbing] and yelling at the man. I told him that it was in fact his job to help. I then told him to just open the box for me and that I'd do it myself since my husband was gone doing military training and no one else would help me. I then told him to get away from the mower because I didn't want his help. He then had the nerve to tell me that I must have already been upset, and I told him yes I was due to the cashier inside. He then told me not to take it out on him. I then reminded him of his own part in things in that he'd informed me he didn't have the time to help me. He responded with "I never said that." I then yelled, "Yes, you did! You just did! Verbatim." A few more words were exchanged. Customers were watching. The loader, scared, hurriedly unpacked the damn mower. Finally, a manager appeared, and so helpfully reminded me that they wouldn't be able to crank it because the mower didn't have gas in it. NO FUCKING SHIT YOU FUCKING IDIOT. ALL I WANTED WAS TO MAKE SURE ALL FOUR WHEELS TOUCHED THE GROUND AT THE SAME TIME. THAT'S IT. Any once over stuff that could be remedied on the spot before I unloaded and reloaded this damn heavy thing by myself all over again was all I wanted. That's it. And maybe to be treated with a teensy bit of respect. I did apologize for yelling at the man. I so wish I could have handled it calmly. I continue to replay it in my head. I'd just never been on the receiving end of so much blatant unkindness in such a small amount of time before. My last words before I left were these to the manager: "A little empathy goes a long way." I later got a phone call from the nice loader who helped me initially, Ed. He'd noticed I was upset and called to apologize and check in on me. I told him everything that happened, and after a few more phone calls on Ed's part, I ended up getting an extra 20% off the mower. When I went back to the store for them to credit me, I gave Ed a big hug. The monetary compensation from Sears was nice, but just the fact that Ed called made all the difference. It's also possible that the big hug I got from that 6'4'' muscular, good looking black man helped tremendously as well. :-)

Then on Sunday I punished myself by going to a yoga mixed with pilates class "Centergy" at Gold's gym. And that was my weekend. I hurt.