Archive for 2009

The Good With the Difficult

Author: Erika

Dec 15

Strange days here at Casa de Mitchell.  We have so many wonderful things coming up that we’re looking forward to, namely:

  • Our 4th wedding anniversary is this Thursday!  We’re celebrating by going to a Seahawks game on Sunday and then going to see Avatar later in the week.
  • Christmas break!  My job gives us two weeks off for Christmas!  Do you have ANY idea how many naps I can take in a two week period?  Glorious.
  • Christmas!  We LOVE Christmas.  We love singing the songs, we love the decorations, we love hanging out with family, and for the first time in two years we can actually afford to give gifts to each other.  Yay Christmas!
  • Ultrasound!  We have our final ultrasound the Monday after Christmas.  The last time we saw Squishy, I was 20 weeks along and by the time we see him next I’ll be 32 weeks along.  We’re SO excited to take a peek at our vibrant little boy.
  • Baby shower!  My very pretty and talented friend is throwing me a baby shower in early January.  We’ve invited a whole bunch of really neat people and I can’t wait to see every single one of them.
  • Baby!  We’re getting close now.  Very close.

As you can see, Wes and I extremely blessed.  Our life is full, rich, and exciting.  That’s not to say, however, that it’s without difficulty.  We have some challenges coming up.

Wes will be starting his job search in January.  He finished school and has been studying like a mad man to get his certifications so that he’ll be more hireable.  He’s got a huge test coming up next week and it’s the biggest hurdle he’s had to jump over so far.

His friend from school has taken it twice already and still has yet to pass it.  To say Wes is taking this test seriously is an understatement.  When he passes it, we’ll be celebrating with dinner and a movie.

With this certification on his resume, he’ll be able to start searching for a job as a software developer.  Not that there’s any pressure for him to find a job, what with our baby being due in ten weeks.

Can we all take a minute to cheer for Wes from the sidelines as he toils in studying, attempting the impossible by finding a good job in a recession?

We have also made the difficult decision to put down our beloved puppy extraordinaire, Doc Holliday.  His appointment is this Saturday.

Fret not, Wes made this decision, not me.  Doc is just ready.  He’s given us the signs we need to feel comfortable that he’s ready to go and so we’ll shower him with love, attention, and treats this last week and then we’ll load him up in the car and take him to his last appointment.

It sucks.  It’s something difficult that’s looming over our heads.  We know he’s ready and that it’s time, but that knowledge doesn’t make it any easier.

That’s all for now from Casa de Mitchell.  We have so much to look forward to, but to get to some of those things we just need to keep pushing forward even when it’s difficult.  But that’s life, isn’t it?  We’ll take the good things, do our best with the difficult, and in the end as long as we end up with our little baby and maybe some eggnog I reckon we’ll be just fine.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

9 Comments
Filed under: Doc Holliday, Work

The Great Bubble Blunder

Author: Erika

Dec 10

Do you remember when I wrote yesterday about my poor frozen washing machine?  Well.  Last night it had the equivalent of the 24 hour flu, what with the vomiting and mess and horror, but now it’s all back to normal and running in tip top shape.

Last night though.  *shudder*  Wes was able to get the hoses leading from the wall-mounted faucets to the washer thawed, but the washer was still unable to get the water to come through.  We concluded this was because something inside the washer was frozen.

To combat this, we decided to run a load of laundry with hot water manually poured into the washer.  This actually worked quite well, and after a rocky start the washer was soon thawing out and humming along quite well.

We congratulated each other and went inside to cook dinner.

Never in our wildest imaginings could we ever have conceived to check to see if the drain hose was likewise frozen.

Oh but it was.  I went out to check the washer and there was an error message in the little digital window and bright white cheerful suds were flowing from the bottom of the washer door onto the garage floor.  The door clicked unlocked and, because I’m curious, I opened the door.

The bloody great deluge!

The bloody great deluge!

In case you’re curious?  If your washing machine starts flashing you ominous error messages and clutching its stomach while saying it’s going to throw up?

Whatever you do, make sure it’s not opening that door.

Unless you have a large bucket handy.  Or just really want to wash your floor with laundry detergent.

Wes was, of course, watching the whole debacle.  This was unfortunate because I happened to be wearing his shoes at the time and it’s entirely possible they wound up as collateral damage thanks to my delay at dodging the great flood of cleanliness.

We wound up with a garage floor that looked like this:

On the plus side, Wes' car's tires were mountain fresh...

On the plus side, Wes' car's tires were mountain fresh...

Because my husband is awesome, he tackled the clean-up (I was excused because of my difficulty at reaching the ground) while I finished dinner.  Wes, being the intrepid troubleshooter he is, refused to give up hope on the washer and, after two more cycles with hot water, was able to defrost the drain pipe and effectively resuscitate our washer.

The question for us now is, what do we do about our garage?  In the four years we’ve owned the house, the garage has never gotten so cold that the washer’s frozen up.

All that’s changed now, so what do we do?  Do we insulate our garage?  Buy a space heater for laundry day?  Wrap our hoses with heat tape and insulation?

These are all big homeowner questions, none of which can be solved with martinis or cookies.  Unacceptable.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

5 Comments
Filed under: Lifestyle | Tagged as:

Seriously, Why Don’t I Have These In My Bathroom?

Author: Erika

Dec 2

hand soapI’m not even sure there’s anything else I can say here other than to tell you these are hand soaps shaped like hands.  I just really want to leave these in the bathroom for my guests on a tidy little plate so I can laugh maniacally when I hear the yelps of confusion.

Can’t you just imagine the profanity and high-jinks that would surely ensue?!

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

8 Comments
Filed under: Just plain nonsense

Geeks vs. Nerds

Author: Erika

Nov 24

Did you know that there actually is a difference between geeks and nerds?  There is, and it’s a big difference.  My husband, the geek king-pin that he is, has made it his mission to school me on this tangible difference.

Heaven help me if I mess up and call him a nerd, because he is SO not a nerd.

I was reminded of this distinction when we watched the new Star Trek movie last night.  I enjoyed the movie, it was a lot of fun, but it was definitely a lot different than the Star Trek series I used to watch with my Dad.  This movie was a lot flashier, with more action and less of an emphasis on technical/scientific jargon.

It used to confuse the heck out me when I was younger, because I grew up a fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek, and couldn’t understand why people chose one with such fervor.  If you ask Wes if he was a Trekkie he will look down his nose at you and scoff.

The reason?  Geeks like Star Wars and nerds like Star Trek, and never the twain shall meet.  I’m sure there are exceptions (like me), but this has turned out to be true among the people I know.  So now, I’m curious:

**Edited to add: I added a third option because, as I said above and Delisa reminded me in the comments, sometimes people like both!**

So, out with it! Are you a geek or a nerd?

  • BOTH! I love them both, so I am clearly the best of both worlds. (35%, 7 Votes)
  • NERD! Star Trek is clearly superior. (15%, 3 Votes)
  • GEEK! Star Wars all the way, man. (50%, 10 Votes)

Total Voters: 20

Loading ... Loading ...

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

5 Comments
Filed under: Blogging and Geekdom | Tagged as:

My Fictional Five

Author: Erika

Nov 12

So, Diane of Dashoff has this lovely thing she’s gotten me into called Girl Talk Thursday.  I don’t plan to do it every week, but the one for this week is so much fun I just had to try it out for myself.

The topic this week is which five fictional characters you’ve always had a thing for.  Being a huge book nerd (and movie nerd) I, of course, started chomping at the keyboard to share mine so here goes!

1.  Louis from Interview with the Vampire.

louis

Of course, it doesn’t hurt at all that Brad Pitt played him in the movie, but I loved him in the book.  So brooding!  So passionate!  So tortured!  He made Twilight’s Edward look like a chump.

2.  Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files.

dresden

Ok, this guy is amazing.  Honorable, brave, courageous, tall, powerful, and funny.  What is not to love? He thinks nothing of sacrificing his time and safety for others, and continually shows incredible moral fortitude.

3.  Dr. Gregory House from House, M.D.

dr house

Ok, he’s cagey alright but he has a delicious squishy middle that I can’t get enough of.  Intelligent, witty, and talented (at diagnostics and music!), he is awesome to watch but I fully admit he’d probably irreparably hurt my feelings in real life.

4.  Roland Deschain from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series.

gunslinger

In the series, Roland is a gunslinger from a time before “the world moved on.”  He’s romantic in that he’s honorable and chivalrous in a world that has forsaken manners.  He’s also a ruthless, cold-hearted son-of-a-gun who’s seen more tragedy and loss than one hundred people.

5.  James Bond, specifically from Casino Royale.

james bond

Laying aside the fact that this is a fantastic movie all around, the James Bond in this film is so deliciously flawed and vulnerable that it gets me every time.  When he says to Vesper “I have no armor left, you’ve stripped it from me.  Whatever is left of me – whatever I am –  I’m yours” it just rips my heart out.

I fully admit that every single guy on this list is tortured and brooding in some way.  This amuses me to no small extent because I married and am deeply in love with the most loving, emotionally well-adjusted man I’ve ever met.  Just goes to show you, I adore all of these guys on paper/screen, but they would all drive me bananas if they were real.

I suppose that’s the point of fiction, then, isn’t it?  To give our minds a chance to go beyond the confines of reality.

Post to Twitter Post to Digg Post to StumbleUpon

12 Comments
Filed under: Memes
« Go Back — View more posts »