Haircut!

I'll have some more pictures from The Continental where my father took Jeff and I for my birthday - the big 34! This isn't the best picture of my new haircut, but I thought it would do for now! Annnnnnd - two more hours till my birthday!

Fear of Troll Like Creatures

Our basement does not connect through our house. The only way in to the basement is to go around the back and through a tiny door that you need to bend over to fit through. This is where our laundry is and while it's only REALLY inconvenient in the winter, it's not that bad all around. Especially when you're used to doing laundry at a laundromat - much like Jeff and I did for the past few years! Anyway, in the basement, there is a "laundry chute", really a hole in the floor in the bathroom that leads to the washer. Supposedly so we can just toss laundry down as we need to. We don't do this because we have a cabinet over the "laundry chute" and instead carry the wash down like normal people. How do troll-like creatures fit in?



Well - "Cat's Eye" of course! The 1985 Stephen King adaption of a movie about a cat who belongs to a little girl and is trying to save her from a troll like creature that hides in the walls. The little troll is trying to kill the girl by sucking out her breath at night, and the cat is trying to stop him. The troll carries this wicked looking sword and it eventually kills the pet canary - something that the mother in the story blames on the cat - and it's just basically a cat and mouse game of this nasty little troll being chased by the awesome tabby cat.

How does this pertain to our basement? Well because there is a HOLE in the floor connecting the basement to our living area, the basement door MUST BE LOCKED when we're not using it. MUST BE. If it is not locked I tend to freak out and fret and obsess that SOMETHING might come through that hole and into our house. And that something will not be a good something - like a cute little baby rabbit or a puppy. No, that something will be a troll like creature and I will so not be a happy camper. I was trying to explain this phobia to Jeff - his rationalization is that NOTHING will get through that hole, and if something does, it won't be anything to be afraid of. My feeling is he's never seen "Cat's Eye" and what if there ARE evil little trolls wandering around? Lily's getting kind of old now, I can't count on her to play defense, especially since she's locked in her own room. So Jeff thinks I'm insane, and the only person who really understands is my sister who when I explained my fear immediately said "Oh, like Cat's Eye". YES! Exactly! Thank you Karen!

Anyone else have a completely irrational fear or phobia based on a completely made up creature? I can't be the only one, right?

Newest Internet Find

Well it's been a long day and Jeff and I are sitting on the sofa and working on our respective laptops. I was actually re-reading some short stories I've written over the past year and seeing how my writing syle has evolved when I decided to just kind of browse Vegas weddings. See, when Jeff and I make it to our ten year wedding anniversary I have every intenion of dragging him off to Vegas and getting married again. Vow renewal I guess. And I want to be remarried by this guy:

That's right people - DRACULA can marry you! And nothing says "commitment" like having a vampire pronounce you man and wife! Here's the description of what your wedding will be like:

"Clutch your sweetheart tightly in our Cemetery as Count Dracula performs your wedding!
Your love is eternal...so celebrate with immortal Count Dracula as your minister. Spirits gather in the fog to witness the vows that will haunt you through all time. You descend into the tomb as the Prince of Transylvania transforms your souls like a bolt of lightning in the Carpathian Mountians. "

Note: typos are not mine, this is a direct cut and paste job from a site that specializes in theme weddings in Vegas. Apparently there is no spellcheck in the tombs of the Carpathian Mountains.

And then I got REALLY into Vegas Weddings and came across this doozy of a picture.

I particularly like the look of horror on the groom's face. Like he sobered up shortly after saying "I Do" and was only just at that moment grasping the choices he had made that day.

Job as a Recruiter

Some of you know that I work part-time as a Recruiter for an elder care agency. What we do is place people in a senior's home as a caregiver or CNA/HHA. The basic premise being that the caregiver is there to assist the senior in maintaining there independence at home for as long as possible. Now anyone who works with the elderly knows that you won't make your fortune at this job, but the hours can be extremely flexible and when you get a client you really bond with, it's just a fun job all around. Now, if I am calling you, I am doing so because YOU called me. Or sent in an inquiry via the internet. I do NOT cold call looking for people to come work for us. Mainly because everyday I work I have a minimum of 30 resumes/applications to sift through, we get a lot of candidates from all walks of life. BUT there are times that I am just completely stunned by the way potential candidates talk to me over the phone. So here's a little cheat sheet for people to follow:

• 1. Remember where you applied. That way when I call you you will have some small idea WHY I am calling and I don't need to explain what my agency does, what the advertisement stated, and what we are looking for.
• 2. Don't laugh at me when I state the rate of pay. I always give out our rate of pay right off the bat. I don't want to waste anyone's time, or my own, so I am going to be very upfront about what we are willing to pay you. And I don't care if you have 10 years experience, the rate of pay is exactly that. The rate of pay.
• 3. If I tell you that I need you to be certified for the position you are inquiring about, its not because I don't like you. Legally we cannot hire someone as a Certified Nursing Assistant if they are NOT certified. See how it was worked into the title? Certified? That's key people!
• 4. If you child/family member/friend is screaming and crying in the background, you might want to call me back. Not just talk louder.
• 5. Do NOT under any circumstances be mean and/or rude to me. Seriously, why would I bring you in for an interview if you just yelled at me about your qualifications?
• 6. We do background checks on all potential candidates. This includes reference checks and CORI checks. If you are at all unsure about if you will get a good reference from a person you listed, don't put that person down as a reference. When I call to check, and oh yes I WILL call, and they tell me that you never showed up for your shifts or they don't KNOW YOU AT ALL. You will not be hired.

Really people, none of this is rocket science! Oh, and if its a full moon out, just turn around and go home. Its not worth your time trying to talk to people over the phone!

Can't you just tell its been one of those days for me? ;-)

Horrible Sense of Humor

I think I have the sense of humor of a twelve year old. I can crack myself up like no ones' business - and I am particularly good at something I like to call "the church giggles". That's laughing during a time when its completely inappropriate to laugh and you just can't help yourself. You know, like during a staff meeting at work, or perhaps during a recital at Symphony Hall where your sister is performing. Anyway, sometimes Jeff is the target of my humor and I am particularly fond of bothering him while he's at work by using the amazing creation of gmail chat. I'm paraphrasing a conversation we had recently, and I was attempting to flirt with Jeff via chat, and apparently failing miserably at it.

Jeff: I'm going to put the turkey in the oven in a few minutes.
Katharine: Is the turkey hot?
Katharine: super hot?
Katharine: hot like you are?
Jeff: no
Jeff: it's cold
Katharine: maybe you could warm it up a little bit
Katharine: HOT TURKEY
Jeff: it's cold
Jeff: very cold, frozen
Jeff: I'll be making a salad too for later
Katharine: Is the salad good or BAD?
Katharine: BAD SALAD
Jeff: dear god
Katharine: Is the salad naughty?
Jeff: I'm not talking to you when you're like this
Katharine: Is the salad fresh? Does it need a time out?
Katharine: NAUGHTY SALAD!!!!

The conversation goes on from there and just really gets worse and worse with Jeff ignoring me as I continue to get more and more ridiculous. At one point I was laughing so hard I had to put my head down on my desk. Hey, don't they say you should try and keep your marriage fresh and fun? That's what I'm trying to do! Jeff says it's just annoying. What do you think?

Tiny Little House

Our little 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house is about 950 square feet. It's pretty small - kind of like a condo alternative. It's perfect for us right now, and even though I get MASSIVE house envy when I see homes like my friends' Helen and Lisa's respective mansions, I still love our house. And I'm trying to find ways to make it more functional in terms of storage space, energy efficient (our house actually has NEWSPAPER in the walls as insulation), and of course, better. However, our house is small, but not the smallest house out there. There are all sorts of websites for tiny houses, and here's one of them:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

It's a site dedicated to building your own tiny house, and then I came across this picture:

How cute! And I really wish I could see the inside - I want to know the layout and how they keep everything from being cluttered! I've also been watching a HGTV show called "Small Spaces, Big Design" and there are some really clever people out there! So for my next project I was thinking we should install sliders on the second bedroom. That way we could have sliders separating the living room and back bedroom, and if we chose, we could open the sliders and make that one room really big - you know, in case we ever want to entertain. But we could also close the room and keep the second bedroom! What do you think?

List

Jeff and I play this game called "Our List" and that's a list of famous people on whom we would, maybe, be allowed to have an indecent affair if we happened to meet. Okay, it's not really a game, but more something I like to tease Jeff with when the mood strikes me. I don't remember every actress on his list, but I'm fairly sure Jennifer Love Hewitt is right on up there! So, on to my own personal list of men I'm allowed to jump if I happen to come across!

1. Kane - yeah I know, he's scary and all but you have to understand just how truly awesome he is. He's KANE! Just ignore the freaky looking contact lense he apparently has in!

2. Cillian Murphy. YUM! He has these amazing blue eyes and he's this freakin' fabulous actor and I would totally not kick him out of bed for eating crackers.

3. Izzy Stradlin from Guns n Roses. Ask my father, I have loved Izzy since I was 15 years old and for that reason alone I HAVE to keep on the list. He's just so amazing!

And now I'm going to be compeltely sappy and say that as much as I tease Jeff about my "list" I think its safe to say that there's not a chance in hell that I'd ever do anything with any of these men on my list. I was going to add more but I really couldn't come up with any others - and yes one reason is that of course the FANTASY is better than the reality. And it took me SO LONG to finally meet Jeff and get married that there isn't a when pigs fly chance I'd jeopardize our relationship. See, I'm a secret softie at heart! Who knew?