********************************

Today I introduced Kev to Vietnamese food!  Delicious!

*on the drive over*

Me: did you see the menu online?  what kind of stuff do they have?

Kev: Oh, I didn’t really look at the menu.  I was looking for reviews.

Me:  What did the reviews say?

Kev: I didn’t really read them.

Me: …

We tried a new (to us) place in Tucker, GA, Called Mint Cafe.  It was so nice – clean, friendly, and a nice selection of food.  We had an appetizer of a pork and shrimp stuffed crispy, eggy crepe, and then I had the pork bun (rice vermicelli noodles, veggies, and grilled pork with sweet and spicy sauce, no peanuts) and Kev had a duck noodle soup.

It’s too bad there aren’t more Vietnamese places close to us – it’s rare that you stuff yourself with food AND feel virtuous at the same time.  The food was fresh and very clean tasting.   A nice change from the greasy pub food we usually indulge in on weekends.

I wasn’t quite brave enough to try one of their dessert cups, though.  They were filled with liquid and things that looked like olives, noodles, seaweed, and…beans?  The lady assured me that it was just a sweet dessert drink, but I passed.  I’ll be brave another day.  We’ll definitely be back, especially to try their sandwiches which sounded so good and were CHEAP on the menu!  Cheap and delicious is our favorite food combination 

******************

Six years ago I accepted a date from a guy I met online.  I had already been out on a couple dates with another guy, who was perfectly nice (even if he did lie about his height), but he was going to Japan for two weeks and hey, a girl’s gotta eat!  I was almost to the point of giving up on internet dating completely – the ONE guy I had met and gone out with that had seemed promising dumped me after two months because “if we got married, we wouldn’t be in heaven together”  (Thus the “no dating mormons” rule was born.)  I was giving this last dating site a chance before I gave up completely.

I accepted a date with a guy named Kevin, even though he was recently divorced and between jobs, because he seemed really nice and funny.

Six years ago tonight was our first date.

I was smitten.

He was smitten.

We were smitteny.

And the rest was history.

I love you, my big, cuddly bear!

Awwww, Kev sent me flowers at work!  And our receptionist totally tricked me, because she told me I had JUNK MAIL delivered, so can I please come up and get it off her desk?  And I’m thinking “junk mail?  who has my address here? *I* don’t even know my address here!”

on the phone

ESC: how did you find out my address here?

Kev: ummmm, it’s called a “website.”

oh.  duh.

I have to say, I love getting flowers.  I know it’s cheesy.  I know I’m supposed to be all FEMINIST POWER! and VALENTINE’S DAY IS A FAKE HOLIDAY MADE UP BY HALMARK AND CHOCOLATE COMPANIES.  But I don’t care.  I will take the flowers.  And I will take everyone’s comments at work about how pretty they are, and how lucky I am, because I spent WAY TOO MANY YEARS being the ugly, unpopular, unloved, boyfriendless, flowerless, dorky, FAT girl, so I need to make up for lost time.

And for the record, I am still dorky and fat, but I have FLOWERS, bitches, so it DOESN’T MATTER!

Happy Valentine’s day!

Unless you hate valentine’s day, in which case HAPPY WEEKEND!

The other bit of excitment going on right now is that I’m considering a new (additional) job opportunity.  Because every little bit helps, right?  I thought about what I could do to bring in a little extra cash – what are my talents?  Where are my strengths?

Well, I did like working in sales – it was just the whole RETAIL HELLHOLE OF DOOOOOM! part that really brought me down.

I’m chatty.  Really, I am!  You can’t shut me up most days!

I like to cook.  *glances at waistline* a LOT.

I like to entertain…but not to CLEAN.

Sooo…what does all this point to?

Why, a Pampered Chef sales rep, of course!

So I’m considering it.  I just sent out a mass email to my local friends (hi!  sorry!) to judge interest.  Though if you are local and did NOT get an email, it’s because I’m a dork.  Let me know if you’re interested.  Basically, I’m asking two questions:

1. Would you be interested in potentially hosting a Pampered Chef party?
2. If you couldn’t host a party, would you be interested in attending one?

All theoretical, of course.  Because if I get a big HELL NO response from everyone, I can drop this right now, before I’ve invested the money in the starter kit.

So that’s kind of exciting, right?  Surely I will keep you all update on this empowering foray into SELF-EMPLOYMENT…all while under the safety of a full time job with a decent paycheck, of course 

Thanks Kev. I forgot to wear a collared top to choir tonight, too. Fortunately, the only person who noticed was our new bass soloist, who is SUPER gay (today he had remants of eyeliner and glitter from some apparently great party last night) and had sported one of his own a couple weeks ago. His comment? “tell your husband I said ‘good job.’”

HICKIES: 100% GAY MALE APPROVED

Today was CHRISTMAS in the mail, as both Netflix (Idiocracy) and my latest Ebay conquest came. What did I win on Ebay? A FURMINATOR. I have been lusting over one of these for a while, especially when vacuuming for the 10th time the wispy dog hair tumbleweeds that collect in the corner of my living room daily. But they’re close to $50 in the store. I managed to find one on Ebay cheaper, and I sniped it from someone who tried to again outbid me in the last minute, but I held out until 5 seconds remaining. TAKE THAT, BITCH! So even including shipping, I saved over $20 – sweet!

So, does it work?

You bet your sweet ASS it works.

And that’s only about 7 minutes worth of work. Not hard work, either. Just gently brushing with no pressure pulled off all that hair. Amazingly, she still has hair left.

And actually looks BETTER, even with her lame haircut, because the furminator takes out all the dull undercoat. So she’s back to looking somewhat shiny again! Hooray!

Now, the REAL test will be when I have to vacuum again.

Due to some fuck ups with scheduling hours and corporate policy BS, I only worked one day this week – monday. So I’m making the most of my days off by cleaning – INTENSE cleaning. Like, COMPANY is coming over, type cleaning. In fact, when I’m done, I just might invite some friends over for lunch, or something. THAT’S HOW CLEAN I WANT THIS PLACE. But instead of overwhelming myself by saying that I’m going to clean the entire condo, I’m going to clean one room every day.

so far:

Tuesday: kitchen, which I had let get in a very sad, dirty state. It is now blissfully clean and thoroughly sterilized. Also did mountain of laundry.

Wednesday: Sunroom, which had become a catch-all for junk, empty boxes, and various bits of paper. Also my yarn and fiber stash, which had TOTALLY lost all organization and logic. All that fixed – even the little table with Sadie’s treats has been cleaned off and organized. I’M THAT GOOD.

still to do:

Thursday: Dining room/Living room. If I can’t get Kev to get all his junk off the dining room table, I’m just going to grab one of the giant rubbermaid bins we have and just toss everything in. And then put it in his manputer room, which is the one room I will NOT be cleaning this week.

Friday: Bedroom/Bathroom. Our bathroom is truly disgusting – covered with dog hair and slimy soap scum. Cleaning bedroom will mostly involve sealing the vacuum space saver bags containing my winter clothes and moving them from out of that corner of the room.

That only leaves our entranceway, which has become cluttered, mostly with costco purchases. It’s all well and good to BUY that flat of bottle drinks, but where does one store it when one has neither basement nor garage? I hope to make Kev help me with this. BECAUSE HE OWES ME, DAMMIT.

Again, I make the promise to myself that once I get the place clean, I WILL WORK TO KEEP IT THIS WAY.

*pause for hysterical laughter*

*still laughing*

*…*

*sigh….are you done yet???*

And if I can…DINNER PARTY! Who wants to come???

we have this kind of conversation a lot…

*fake lavasoap, of some kind

Kev’s been working on his truck all weekend. He comes back in sweaty, dirty and greasy.

uhhhhhh…yum!!!

we were supposed to go to the gym today when I got back from Knitch. Somehow…that just never happened. Such a shame…at least we got our own workout

In other news, I made TRAGIC CHERRY WOECAKES for my knitting group. Otherwise known as chocolate cupcakes with a bit of cherry preserves in them, topped with a chocolate glaze. Silly me forgot my camera, but they were a big hit.

I DID get a picture of dinner tonight, though.

Shrimp and veggie pasta salad. YUM. Don’t you wish you lived here?

yesterday on the phone

Kev: are you going to knitting tonight?

ESC: yeah, and I have to go to church.

Kev: oh? you never said anything about that.

ESC: it’s maundy thursday, and we’re singing.

Kev: geez, you people will look for ANY excuse for a party.

ESC: it’s not A PARTY! It’s a solemn and beautiful service! SHOW SOME GODDAMNED RESPECT FOR YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!!!!

Kev: HAHAHAHAHAAAA! You’re hysterical, you know that? Oh Jesus…

and THAT sums up nicely the past 5 years together. You push my buttons and I get all freaky and weird and push right back. and then you laugh at me. And then I blog about it. Hooray!

I love you, my big cuddly teddy bear!!!