oh, my liver

(FYI, I started this post Saturday morning. It's now Monday night.)

Actually, I haven't really had any beer since Tuesday after work, but I drank enough Saturday and Monday to last awhile. I'd say our booze fest was a success. Alfred and Mike both finished their cases on Monday, and I finished my half case. I think Katie was within a couple of beers, I'm not sure about Maureene. Lucy, Ilya, and Mercedes all joined in for part of the day too. We played a whole bunch of flip cup. Only a couple of puking incidents. Not bad at all. The rest of the week was fun, even though I had to work a lot and couldn't join in in all of the festivities. I could make pizza, though! We had it 5 times total, twice for breakfast. Katie left on Tuesday, and Mike and Maureene left on Thursday. Now it's just us again. But we have pictures!

energizer bunnies!

So yeah, another busy weekend and week. Last Saturday was Ellie's first birthday party, as you may have guessed by the picture. They had a keg of beer and a bunch of Easter eggs hidden around the yard with lots of candy inside. So yeah, a good party. Sunday we spent most of the day with Alfred's family. Robyn wasn't feeling well, so we got to learn how to make their traditional Easter ham loaf and tomato pudding. It came out ok. Not quite as good as when she makes it, but ok.

Every night this week has been full, too. Monday night we went over to Lucy and Phil's for leftover beer and barbecue from their party. Tuesday and Wednesday we scrambled to get various chores and cleaning done for this weekend. We did laundry, ironed, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher, washed dishes, and cleaned the whole house. We have a big weekend coming up: Mike's on leave, so we're having a big get together! He, Maureene, and Katie are coming for a long weekend, and Tony and Cathy are meeting us in Orlando for the weekend. It's going to be quite a boozy weekend. Expect some drunk posts. We'll be in Epcot for Around the World on Saturday, then a Case Day on Monday, and who knows what else. My liver is trembling in fear!

long time, no blog

I know that people aren't checking this as often, most likely because I'm not writing as much. Sorry, it's just tough to find the time right now. Mainly because we still have the internet card that we used on our trip, which Alfred takes to work every day, so I don't have internet access when I get home from work, which is when I generally used to at least start writing my posts. It just seems harder to write now, too. Ah well. Excuses, excuses. Anyway! On with the news of the week!

Celebrations: it was a big week for events. Katie and Ingo kicked it off last Saturday with their wedding, then Katie continued the fun with her birthday on Tuesday. Tony and Cathy were also celebrating their anniversary on Tuesday. Wednesday was both Egee and Max's birthday, which we were able to celebrate with him. Then yesterday we went to Mercedes' birthday party; her birthday is this coming Tuesday. Lots going on.

Work: we're having a Halloween festival, so the other girl I work with has been stressing herself out over that for the past couple of weeks. She's the type to plan things out way in advance and then worry about it for as long as possible. Pretty much the opposite of me in that way. But there's a scarecrow riding a bone motorcycle on display out front now, so that's neat. We have rats living in our ceiling, we put out some poison, and I found a dead rat in our break room on Friday. There's lots of construction going on, so we have lots of shirtless men roaming around, none of whom are worth looking at shirtless. It's a shame.

Weather: suddenly, it's fall. Today's high is only in the 60s, although it's supposed to be back in the 80s later this week. It's a nice change. It makes me want to bake some brownies or something.

I don't think our break in guy was ever arrested. There was an article about the guys who beat him up being arrested, so I have his name, but google doesn't tell me anything about him being arrested.

Another weekend at work, another weirdo

I just say here and watched a woman change her kid's diaper on the seat of the trolley they park out front to attract customers. Um, we do have bathrooms. Just sayin. I'd love to be nosy about this family, they have 2 one-year-old girls, one looks white, the other black. I mean, they could be cousins or something, but I'm curious. But alas, I will not ask. Oh, the grandmother just came in to use the restroom. Hope that trolley seat wasn't too hot for the little girl. It's supposed to be in the 100s today. It was 90 when I got to work at 10:00. Nuts!

So Tony and Cathy and the kids left yesterday. Ella, Mason and I made cupcakes on Thursday night. They helped me measure and pour and everything, then picked colors to dye the cupcakes and helped me decorate them. With sprinkles. Which, in hindsight, was not the best idea. Well, the idea was fine, it was the execution that was the problem. Sprinkles everywhere. Mason went through almost an entire container on 1 cupcake. I got a couple of pictures, I'll have to post them later.

This weekend kicks off our month (or so) of house sitting for Ilya and Mercedes. They're in Spain for a few weeks, so we get to hang out with the kitties. It's a good distraction so we don't have to notice how quiet the house is without guests. Ok, time for my leftover mac and cheese lunch and some more "work."

cathy's pictures

I just downloaded Cathy's pictures and wanted to add hers to Mom's from yesterday. First up, a couple of shots of Mike and Cathy grabbing hold of some double D's. And in Disney World, no less!













I just think this one's cute.

And now, back to the drinking. Luckily Cathy had her camera with her when we were out in search of dessert Saturday night. We made a stop at a gas station at one point to buy more beer (which we then carried up and down the road before hiding it in the bushes in front of the hotel) and for some reason Alfred bought a can of cat food. And then took not one, but two bites.













Ugh. Moving on. They gave us crayons to keep us entertained and out of trouble while we waited for our food. Mike apparently got bored by coloring on the paper table covering and went for Cathy's face instead.

And then I got my water, tried to take a sip, somehow stuck the straw up my nose, and then dumped it into my lap.













And one last group shot. Good times.

my bad

As Katherine pointed out to me today, I haven't posted in 5 days. I've just been so busy having fun and whatnot. Today was my first day back at work since last Thursday, and so along with the end of my 24 hour a day, non-stop fun comes the return of the blog. First up: Orlando!

Everyone flew into Orlando on Thursday, and we headed down there to meet them after we both finally got home from work. Clearly, we did some drinking. Friday we went to Disney!

The kids had a good time, although they got a little tired of walking at times.

That night, more drinking took place. Obviously. I think that was the first night we did a power hour. That hotel had a little balcony that we all crammed onto and got drunk on. We did a whole lot of swimming before that. Ella is a crazy woman in the pool. She swam non-stop for like 2 hours. It's no wonder she's so tiny, she should be eating all day to keep up with the calories she burns.

Saturday Mike and Tony went diving (they took our new waterproof camera case with them, so at some point I can post pictures that they took underwater) and the rest of us hung out at the waterpark at the hotel.

We had to switch hotels that day, then off to a pirate dinner adventure. It was fun, with an extra pitcher of beer. Mason was laughing his head off watching one of the pirates get whipped. How adorable.

And another power hour that night.

Ella helped us keep things tidy. She also earned some good money in tips by pouring us our shots.


We were using our new power hour program on the computer, so we knew that none of us were sober enough to drive by the end. So instead we walked around, up and down the road that our hotel was on, looking for some place to get pie for an early birthday celebration for Mike. Eventually we settled on Denny's, a mere 100 or so feet from our hotel, after walking back and forth for an hour or so. Mike went wading in the retention pool in front of the hotel. Alfred ate cat food. I think there are pictures somewhere.

And then we left. Tune in tomorrow for episode 2: the beach!

power hour live blog: the aftermath

Our shot glasses have been approved for future power hours. Ok, from this sentence on I am not going to edit my typos. We just got off the phone with Tony and Cathy and the kids, Ella wants silly string for her birthday burt she isn't going to tell her mom, cause her mom wil freak out! So I'm totally buying her silly strong. her birthday's coming up. That means my blog-aversary is coming up. Woprd. Our pizza is baking, hopefdully it's awesome. It's a rasta pizza plus half a pizza worth of banana peppers. For those who do not know, rasta pizza is pepperoni, green pepper, and pineapple. It's fantastic. Wow, it's awful how many typos I have. HBowever, it's an authentic representation of the fact that I have completed a power, plus half a beer, plus maybe 2 sups of another. Dang, I keep wanting to correct my speelling but I commited to bot fixing it. Mike just said cream.

belated anniversary

Tony and Cathy's anniversary was last week, the 13th, and I realized that I forgot to blog about it. Looking at the pictures made me want to post some, although I decided to stick with normal ones since we're so young looking, instead of going for the funny ones. We took a road trip out to MN for the wedding, we were so young.

Aw, aren't they cute. I guess that's why they made such cute kids. I don't really remember the cake, but I bet it was good.

Until our own wedding, this was the only picture we had of us together in nice clothes and posing nicely. We used this picture for our wedding announcement in the paper, Robyn gave away frames with this picture in it for rehearsal dinner favors... I feel like we used it more, but I can't remember.

The best part of of this one is Katie. She was only 12. I was 20. One of Tony's relatives on his mom's side thought Katie was me. It was a little embarrassing.

Ok, I know I said no funny pictures, but how could I resist this one?

confession

I'm playing hooky today; I didn't go to work. I had told Alfred that I was hoping for some time off before going back to the museum, because last year I didn't have any break when switching jobs and I felt like that would have been nice. So, lovely husband that he is, he made it his mission to make sure I had a couple of days off this week. I get to stay home today and tomorrow, yay! I've even been productive: I cleaned this morning, played some Legend of Zelda (I beat levels 6, 7 and 8 on the second quest, almost done), exercised, and then baked some cookies.

I'm going to send them to Cathy as a belated birthday gift. Her birthday was July 1. I'm a terrible person. Hopefully the cookies make up for it. They're peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip, by the way. I've decided that those are going to be my signature cookie, so I tried out my first recipe today. They came out pretty well, but I think they could be more peanut buttery. I'll be making more, and since I can't eat dozens of cookies on my own (well, I could, but I shouldn't) I may have to send some to others to taste test. Just a warning.

Dinner Saturday night was pretty tasty - gazpacho, which we made from nice fresh veggies from the farmers market, along with some bread and a Bloody Mary.

And just as I was in the middle of writing this, our lamb meat was delivered!

Happy Birthday Cathy! and, a new job question

Cathy's turning old today! Well, she's already been old, but she's even older today! No, I will not reveal her age. I don't think she reads this, but I don't need her kicking my ass if she ever does. She was pretty good at Wii boxing. I of course have not sent her card and gift yet, mostly because I do not have her gift yet. I have the card at least! I'm a terrible sister in law. Sorry Cathy. Happy Birthday slaw!!

So anyway. (I use both of those words here a lot, I've noticed). I mentioned last week that I need to find a new job, hopefully sometime soon. Well, Alfred and I have been talking a bit about the possibility of me going back to the museum. I talked to Lindsay yesterday (who took over my job when I left) and it turns out she just gave her notice because her husband got a new job and they're moving. I knew she was giving her notice sometime soon, so this wasn't a surprise to me. In other words, this leaves my old job open again.

My old bosses own 3 other tourism businesses in addition to the museum, and have lost all of the office staff for one of the other businesses (other than the book keeper, who works for all 4 companies) within the last couple of months. They pulled my former coworker, Cathy, back over to that company, where she worked before coming to the museum (to replace Lindsay when she left to have Xyla), (are you following all of this?) and apparently plan to keep her over there since she wasn't doing a very good job at the museum. Ok, she sucked. She made my last year there even worse, she just was not cut out for that job. And she has a bit of an abrasive personality. So after talking to Lindsay yesterday, and finding out that Cathy would (most likely) be gone, I'm thinking more seriously about calling my old bosses and talking to them about the possibility of me coming back. I figure I can phrase it more as me coming back to help them out, rather than needing a paycheck and not being able to get another job.

The pros:

• I knew that place inside and out. It would probably be very easy to slip back into the routine and feel comfortable again.
• It would pay more than what I make now, assuming I started back up at what I made when I left (I make about 40% less now than I did then, plus I had more benefits then, including a car)
• Especially during my last year there, I was in charge. I really liked feeling important and being able to make decisions. I liked feeling competent and needed, which I don't really feel at my job now.
  
• I was burned out. Being away from it for a year, I can look back and remember enjoying my job and the museum in general. I even miss it sometimes. Maybe coming back after having some time away will give me a fresh perspective and I'll enjoy it again.
• They're building a new, larger museum across the street from the existing one. New programs are being created, old ones are being revamped, lots of new exciting stuff going on.
• I liked and miss a lot of the people I worked with. Not all of them, but a lot of them.
  

(This is getting long. (That's what she said!) Here, have a doofy looking picture of me to break it up.)
Ok, back to work. The cons:

• My former bosses can be difficult to work with. They're a married couple; one micromanages things to death, the other is so hands-off and changes his mind so frequently that it's hard to keep track of what you're supposed to be doing. Things changed a lot over the years I worked there, becoming much more rigid and adding a lot more procedures, making things more complicated than they needed to be. They've apparently become more controlling over the past year.
  
• Lots going on with a new location means lots of potential stress. Not the least of which would be finding and training enough new guides to staff all the programs. That's tough.
• If in fact Cathy does not return, that would mean I would have to train someone new to replace her. Which I don't mind doing, but it would mean longer hours and more work for me as they're learning and I'm having to do both jobs for awhile.
• There are some people that I would supervise that are difficult to work with. As in, incredibly annoying and demanding and just difficult. Part of the reason I was burnt out.
• If we do move sometime in the next year, traffic would be a bitch.
  

Another thing is that I left a year ago planning to go on to bigger and better things. I feel kind of, I don't know, I guess pathetic, like I'm coming crawling back with my tail between my legs and admitting failure. Like I couldn't make it doing something else after all. I feel a little foolish, I guess.

I just don't know how I feel about it. Maybe if I go into it assuming it's only a temporary thing, it'll be ok. Of course, I don't know how temporary it would be - the rest of the summer? The full school year? And what if I do stay a full year, do I plan to leave after that? I just don't know! Anyone care to give me some advice??

(By the way, I'm writing this Monday at about 6:30 as I wait for Alfred to finish up so we can leave. I'm going to be out of the office all day tomorrow so I'm setting this up to automatically post Tuesday. Cool, huh?)

back to real life

Our trip to Minnesota was awesome. We had lots of fun. We drank a lot, played lots of Uno and Wii, hung out. Thursday night we knocked back an impressive 7 bottles of wine. This isn't the best picture, but it's probably the funniest. Although Cathy has a sequence of 4 or 5 pictures of Tony that are hysterical.

The kids were super cute, of course. We watched some Star Wars, played some beads, several dozen rounds of hide and seek. A couple of times they hid so well we actually didn't find them, but I'm going to assume the 7 bottles of wine had something to do with that.

Also, lots and lots of Wii. Tony and Cathy don't have one (yet), their friend Lisa had just gotten one for her birthday and brought it over for us to play with. We all had sore arms and backs from all the boxing, but hey, at least we didn't just sit on our asses the whole weekend! Me boxing Tony (and losing, if I recall correctly; golf was my game):


Tony and Cathy resolving a marital dispute:


And Ella, with a little backup from Mason and his squirt gun:

I was running!

I went jogging last night after work. 3 miles, it sucked. Actually the first half sucked, the second half was fine, and I felt great when I was done. I wasn't even sore this morning. Considering I haven't jogged in about a month, I thought I did pretty good. Also, I got heckled! A guy a few houses down from us started running next to me, telling me to pick up the pace. I told him I was fine, thanks, and he actually said "sorry, I'm just messing with you," and left me alone. Then I got honked at. Awesome. I was going to post a picture of Forrest Gump running and photoshop my head onto his body, but I don't have any good pictures of my head on this computer. Sorry. I know you're disappointed.

We leave for MN tomorrow! I'm super excited. I hope my liver is prepared for all the drinking we're going to be doing. A couple pictures of last year: the first one is of the boys doing a power hour. For some reason I was super nice and volunteered to be DD. Cathy missed this because she was home sick, I believe. The second picture is Mike and Tony diving in an aquarium, they got to go for free because they're military, so Alfred and I watched. It was fun watching, all the kids who were around got all excited to see the divers in the tank. They found a bunch of shark teeth. Oh yeah, they were in a tank with sharks. We'll miss Mike this year (stupid army), but Katie's coming along, which is nice - built in DD!

Our flight is at 12:30 tomorrow, we get back really late Monday night, and then my parents arrive for a week long visit on Friday. Action packed excitement up in these parts. So I'm not sure how much I'll be posting over the next several days, at least until next Tuesday, but I'll have my laptop with me. Try not to miss me too much! :)