Project - Packing for Rome

Alex and I will be leaving for Rome in two more days.

We are very excited and looking forward to it all. But we find ourselves (as we usually do) short on time for last minute things. Why does there always seem to be an immense amount of 'to do's' right before one leaves for vacation?

Of course, I know that as soon as we get there, we'll realize we didn't need any of the items we brought with us, and need a host of items we either didn't think to bring or decided against bringing. For instance, we bought a hand sanitizer. It's a gel that you rub all over your hands for when you can't wash your hands the conventional way with water and soap. Hmmm...will we really need this? It's anyone's guess. Alex will probably use his because deep down inside he's the 12 year old boy who buys a box of cereal just for the special toy inside (Star Wars Lite Saber cereal spoon) and doesn't finish the cereal. Sigh....shaking of head....sigh. He's prone to purchase and/or use things just because...

I've decided to put a list of items we are taking to Rome. Upon our return from Rome, I will go back to said list and see how many of the items we really used. It will come in handy for future trips and what to pack. Hopefully, I will not become the victim of history repeating itself.

The Maidy Gallery

One of these days, I will learn to post photos on my blog. That day may be sooner than later if Alex has anything to do with it.

We got our wedding photo proof book yesterday. We were both very excited to see the photos. We sat in the car and reviewed the entire book before heading to my sister's house. The photos are great, even though in the journalistsic shots, my mouth is always gaping open because I'm laughing so hard. Gads.

We have till Aug. 23rd to put our album together. We also have a DVD with our photos in it, but I think that we have to wait a year for.

I can't wait to have the finished product in hand! I'm not quite sure why some couples take a long time to put it together. Hehehe.

Inadvertent Lifestyle

Third day in a row without my glasses.

I'm still finding it harder to see the computer screen without them, but I am seeing them nonetheless. I think it's true what I've heard about glasses-that they make your eyes dependent on them and therefore, get worse as time goes by. I didn't start really wearing them till I got to PSA because of the amount of proofing and auditing required in my position.

This past weekend, I inadvertently left my glasses in the car and every day since Monday, I keep forgetting to take them out. My car is outside, I can easily go out to the parking lot and grab them, but why make a solitary trip to the car just for those glasses when I can grab them the next time I have a need to get to the car? Hehehe. This way, I figure I can inadvertently train my eyes to become stronger.

Confessions of the Nutritionally Challenged

I was having a good day yesterday. I was eating very well (healthy).
I had a sandwich, fruit and a human sized portion of ravioli. I even ate the banana I brought to work to have a snack instead of hitting the vending machine.

Alex and I discussed dinner plans. We decided on grilled chicken, very healthy, and very tasty (yes, Alex is the one who attempts cooking in our household).

As is our usual custom on Monday nights, we watch 24 after dinner....but it wasn't quite 8pm yet and we were just flipping through channels when, behold! An ice cream commerical comes on and Alex flips out. Alex is a BIG proponent of dessert and is always asking me to make him cookies. Anyway, this commerical is about Dove ice cream, and now it comes with Dove's chocolate ganache (chocolate mousse) on top of the ice cream. He screams he wants it, and heck, when have I ever passed up an opportunity to eat chocolate.

I'd been good all day, following good sense, and that good sense also told me that in moderation, ice cream wasn't going to be an enemy.

Are you kidding? Ice cream is my best friend! Make a long story short, I ate more than my share of the ice cream. The ganache was delectable, the ice cream under it even more silky and creamy and heavenly.....eh hem...sorry.

I can't help who I am....a chocolate lover, a junk food junkie at heart. Today, I am going for a run...so I can eat some ice cream.

The Swedish Chef

French toast is hard to make - especially if you're Alexander Maidy.

Sunday morning, I got a craving for french toast. I would have made them myself, but Alex jumped in and said he'd do it. I asked him if he knew how...he said he'd look it up on the net. This is when I should have known it would end up being traumatic.

A few minutes later, Alex walked into the kitchen with a piece of paper and started taking out the bowls and things he needed. A minute later I hear, "Damn it!" He'd dropped an egg on the floor (we'd just had the kitchen treated for ants and he dropped a raw egg on the floor! Argh!). I ask if he needs help. "No!" was his stern reply.

A few more minutes later, I hear the whisk going, and milk being put back in the fridge. Everything sounds like he has things under control. Then I hear a string of curses (which I will not repeat) coming from his mouth at the top of his lungs. I think about whether or not I want to enter the kitchen and see what has taken place. While I'm thinking about this on the couch, he says, "Don't come in here...just leave me alone!" Leave him alone? What had I done to him??? Now I want to go and see what's taken place in the kitchen cause a) I'm upset he's yelling at me, and b) I'm frightened because he's yelling.

I go and check out the scene. The bowl in upside down, a pale yellow liquid mixture is all over the floor by the sink. The whisk is on the floor next to the bowl. And Alex is trying to grab up the mixture with a paper towel. I begin to think about the egg mixture on the floor, the ants, the hours of disinfecting, how we're running out of paper towels...etc.

His face turns red when he sees my reaction to the scene and he screams, "just get out of here and leave me alone!"

Newt comes in to investigate as all cats do at the most inopportune time. He gets some on his front paw. Alex picks him up and shoves him the other way.

I walk away from the scene knowing I'll have to go back and clean the area again....because Alex does the 'visual' clean cleaning, which means if you can't see it, then it's clean. The only comment I make before walking away from the scene is for him to use the antibacterial wipes.

40 minutes later, he's on his last piece of french toast on the pan. He's calmer now, and I walk up to him and smile. I put my arms around him and he smiles back.

"Thank you for making the french toast." It was really good too.

Stinky MacFadden

I have not showered in two days...I know, pretty gross. But it's not my fault! Alex didn't get me up in the morning on tiime. He overslept and let me sleep till 7:45am! And I had a 9am meeting at work, which takes me 45 minutes to get to! So I pull on some clothes (they were washed last night, and folded neatlyl on our chair), brush my teeth, put my hair in a pony tail and rush out the door.

Amazingly, traffic today was not bad at all. I got to work in about 35 minutes or so. Had plenty of time for the 9am meeting.

Then at lunch time, I'd planned on getting a burrito bowl for lunch and bring it back to work so I could read my book and eat lunch together when I realize....no wallet. It wasn't till I got in the car I realized it was missing. I decide to trek back home and get the darn thing and skip lunch if I had to....I can't drive without my license!

Then I realize my gas is almost empty. I know I can't make it all the way home. Crap! I call Alex to meet me half way from work and home at a gas station. As soon as I pull into the gas station, my gas light comes on. Wow!

So I meet Alex, get gas in my car, get lunch (drive thru) and head back to work. Then my boss asks me if I want to go on a press run with a co-worker, a field trip of sorts, which I love! And...I get to leave the office at 3:30pm and go straight home from the vendor. Pretty cool huh?

Notice that all the good things start happening after I see Alex...my good luck charm! Hehehe.

Continuity

Someone at work keeps calling me Mrs. Maidy.

The first time I heard it, it sounded completely foreign...and this co-worker had to repeat it with emphasis two more times before I realized that I was being addressed (sorry Alex!).

When I'd finally realized they were talking to me, I wasn't sure how to respond. Should I be the happy, bubbly, my life is complete kind of newly-wed? Or should I try to make the single and in their 30's women at the office not so 'single' with a sarcastic response? Or better yet, should I not react?

"Mrs. Maidy!" the co-worker calls again.
My eye brows automatically knit the 'angry brow' shape, and I turn in my chair to face them and reply, "I'M STILL TAYLOR!"...then go back to my spreadsheet in my happy-land.

I'm sure I will get used to being called Mrs. Maidy (come on! It's just bound to happen), but I think my reaction today was more a reaction to an annoying co-worker.

Also, if one more person asks me, "so do you feel married?" I'm going to ask them, "Do you feel like being punched in the head?"

There is so much pressure to appear still excited, and giddy, and dorkish! I'm beginning to wonder if this is a pre-requisite for a newly wed. Dang!

I'm happy and at peace...I married the man I love, so leave me alone and talk to me about lazy clients, bad hair days, and quark files again...PLEASE.

Death to the Queen!

Pavement ants. Apparently, there are different kinds of pests for the household. We've been visited by one such kind called the Pavement Ant. These are common among homes built on grey slab foundation (according to our on-line research) and hang around places where there is water (e.g. we have some around our toilet, which in itself is not a good sign as this could mean our toilet is an issue as well, or under the fridge, anywhere there is condensation).

At this time, they are just on the floor in two specific areas - bathroom toilet, and under our stove, which makes sense because the two spaces share one common wall. Argh! I just want to be rid of them.

We are having someone come in and professionally treat the inside of our home. The good thing is, it will not only kill ants, but everything else too (except termites - which we DO NOT have)! Alex rattled off some names, but I can't remember them now nor do I care to. I am just glad that it takes care of everything else too. The occasional spider I can deal with which is to have Alex kill it. But ants? Argh!

Sprays just kill the intruders. Ant bait apparently has a shelf life. The people coming to treat the house will visit the house 4 times within a year which include the initial visit, then three additional visits to treat the outside of the house. there is also a 24 hour hot line to call if we see any more intruders, at which point they will come and treat the house again at no cost. We will have a year long guarantee of some sort.

The main focus Saturday will be to kill the queen of the colony. No more eggs, no more pests. Thank goodness we have caught it early. I'm looking forward to a summer spent in peace knowing our home is pest free.

I HATE BUGS! Just ask EJ about how many time we changed rooms at the hotel in the Bahamas.

Mystery Virus

It's like being at the hospital around here at the office lately.

My co-worker, Wendy, came back from Vegas with a terrible cough and cold. She left last Tuesday night to Vegas on vacation. This morning, she came back with a hacking cough! Gads.

Jim and John...other co-workers on my project team have all been sick the last week and a half. Jim had a cold and has been blowing his nose frequently (just getting over it) and John got diagnosed with something like walking pneumonia! I've had the hacking cough and pneumonia in the past and they are not good. For me, they tend to last longer or get worse because I am a smoker. When I've had it, I've been up all night without sleep because lying down made me cough to no end. Not even codine helped. I had to go in for antibiotics last time (October). Poor Alex hardly got any sleep because he could still hear me coughing up a lung in the livingroom!

I'm going to try to stay healthy this week. I'm going to get enough sleep and try not to catch whatever these people here have caught.

And yes, I am quitting smoking when I get back from Rome. This is for health reasons as well as in preparation for something special (hopefully) to begin next year...January.

Adventures with Gut Marty

So now that the wedding planning is over, it's time to start planning for the honeymoon...the trip to Rome. It is only a few short weeks away (2 I think).

Back in January, Alex and I discussed what our next big item purchases would be after the wedding and agreed a dish washer and digital camera had to be next. We would tackle the dishwasher first.

You see, Alex is not a believer in the pre-rinse ritual when loading dishes. I mean, why in the world would anyone want to 'wash' the dishes so that they can 'wash' the dishes in a machine that is supposed to 'wash' the dishes FOR you? I can see this point. However, rules and practices governing the use of a dish washer says to pre-rinse...remove food solid food down your disposal before placing item to be washed in the dish washer.

Alex decided to skip this part, and in a matter of six months from the day we moved into our new home, he broke the dishwasher. There were one too many coffee beans and other things which I don't care to think about that clogged up our machine. Pools of water began collecting inside the washer. I can tell you I was a little more than upset, espeically since two weeks prior to the break down, I'd caught him not pre-rinsing and strongly advised he start doing so or that the machine will break. This isn't the first time I'd 'advised' him on something where he has not followed and another financial loss ensued....there was that other time...I digress.

This past Friday we walked into Best Buy as our first place to start our search. We were met by Marty...the world's largest gut. This was not just a fat person with a bigger than average stomach. This was a gut! His gut started from his chin all the way down to his knees. I am NOT exaggerating. I'm positive it took Alex every energy from every cell in his body not to bust out laughing when he approached us.

I begin to tell Gut Marty what we are looking for (yes, I am the initiator in these situations in the marriage). I also point out to him a couple of machines that we thought may suit our needs. Instantly Gut Marty begins his 'schpeel' on why the higher and more expensive models clean better and are quieter. My ears tune out when people do this to me (talk about crap I did not ask information about).

He talks about sanitizing mode, quiet feature, load capacity...blah, blah, blah. I know that the water does not need to be 500 degrees to sanitize. I also know that load capacity is a non-issue if you load and wash dishes every day. As for the quiet feature...our old dish washer isn't a quiet model but it's never kept me awake or prevented me from talking on the phone with anyone due to loud noise.

Gut Marty realizes he is not going to talk me into a higher model. So he starts in on what a great deal the ones we were looking would be. So then I ask him about all the other possible costs...delivery, removal of old washer, installation, warranties...etc. I wince when Gut Marty goes into all the extras. Then he says he can cut our delivery charge in half if we buy the model that day. I'm upset now because it becomes clear to me that they are using delivery as a profit generating tool on machines that are already marked up for profit. Yes, I'm aware businesses need to make money and all, but this place was going to charge me for everything that needed to be done, like removal of the old dish washer.

We thank Gut Marty for all his 'information' and leave the appliances area. We walk over to the digital camera section and purchase a camera for our honeymoon in Rome. The dishwasher will have to wait till July...to be purchased elsewhere.

Do You Feel Married?

No.

What is marriage supposed to feel like anyway? Should it feel different than being engaged? Hmmm. I guess it's a personal observation. Everyone keeps asking me if I feel married. Did they?

But no, I do not FEEL married. I am happy. I am relieved the wedding day has come and gone. I am excited about our trip to Rome in three weeks. I am very greatful for my family (new and old). I am thankful God gave me the life I have. I am two pounds lighter since the wedding day (angry brows). I am finally going to use the sunless tanning service Wany got me last year for my birthday (the certificate expires 5/27). I am going to cut my long nails as I no longer need them to look pretty. I am going back to life as usual....

April 29th 2005

IT DID NOT RAIN! Hoooray!

Alex and I were ever so greatful that it didn't rain. We both agreed that it must have been our request to my dad to keep the rain from falling if possible. Hehehe.

However, the day did not go without incident. Hmmm...I guess I should start out in chronilogical order:

1) We got lost going to Cantigny Park for photos. The directions we printed out lead us right to a dead end. It didn't make it any better that we had three cars following our car....once, we made a wrong turn and decided to pull into a parking lot and back out on the road. 3 out of the four cars manuvered just fine. My mother must have taken a tour of the parking lot as she took 10 minutes to get back out. We waited for her on the side of the road. Eventually, our wonderful photographer (Jessica) got us to the park. Alex and I are not doing Google directions ever again.

2) After the photos at Cantigny, we realized we'd forgotten to grab our marriage license at the house. We decide to send his parents to the house to pick it up. This creates confusion as now, people are trying to coordinate who should ride with whom and to where, and what roads to take (cause we got lost getting there, we were also going to be lost on the return). Long story short...only one car should have gone back to the house...not three.

3) Late clergy. An hour late! I wasn't a nervous bride till our clergy got caught in traffic, without a cell phone. We were very close to calling EJ's father in at the last minute. Argh. Once the clergy arrived, everything else fell into place.

Everyone had a good time and the food was all eaten up which is always a good sign! Our vows were beautiful, and no, we did not cry.

We got some beautiful pictures as well...and those were just taken by the family. Can't wait to see the professional ones!