Conquering The Couch

Ava has officially learned to climb onto the couch. It is an emotional day for all.

One Mullet Said To Another Mullet...

So this evening I was at the Country Fair which is a mini mart where I was purchasing a new bridal magazine and an iced tea. As I was waiting in a really long line to be checked out, there were two slightly rowdy male mullets in front of me. One mullet said to the other mullet quite loudly, "Any self respecting white male would have punched that N-word in the face." Now, I cannot believe that there are still people that speak this way, let alone say it so loudly in a public place as if they were trying to make sure everyone could hear them. Luckily, there were no African Americans in the store because I would have been even more horrified. I was certainly not the only person who was obviously disgusted. It was such a gross experience.

Pinnochle

I love Pinnochle. It is just the most wonderful card game. My parents taught Steve and I last year and when ever we get together we play. I always thought it was an old persons game because all my great aunts and uncles play. But it is fabulous.

Grandparents

My parents visited this weekend. Ava actually cried for a while after they left. It was so great to know that she actually knows them and wants them to be around. It was a worry of mine that when we moved so far from them that Ava would not know them. Yea!

Pink Floyd Has Returned

On Friday I received a package in the mail. It contained half of my Pink Floyd box set, one roll of developed pictures and a note that must have been written about 2 years ago by the context. It was from a friend I have not spoken to in about a year and a half. I was friends with this girl for a good 5 years. She was not the ideal friend. She had issues and rubbed many people the wrong way. I admit she got on my nerves frequently but I knew her past and why she was this way. She was the girl that required alot of attention and measured her worth by others. She could be petty and treated people differently to their face than behind their back. She had a big jealous streak and was possessive of me friendshipwise.

She could also be very sweet and loyal. She was not afraid to stick up for me and was a good listener even if her advice was often biased to benefit her. She was creative and original and a true music fan.

You may wonder why I would waste time on such a person. I guess in the beginning it was just fun. Later on it was out of habit and her persistence for us to remain close. And honestly when there was no one else around and nothing to prove, she was a blast. We sort of ended our friendship with a two week cross country road trip. It was after this trip that she borrowed my Pink Floyd. The trip was a blast but I will admit as usual she got on my nerves. A couple months after the trip I began dating my now fiancee and father of my daughter. My friend had casually dated him for about a month that previous summer. She described him as fat and not good enough for her. Actually I found out later that she had called him unusually frequently and was frustrated by his lack of response.

After a month of dating my now fiancee I realized that I really liked and cared for him. I told her of the relationship assuming she would not care because of how she spoke about him and the amount of time that had gone by since they dated. She pretended she didn't care and told me I would probably get an STD. After that we didn't really talk much. When she found out I was pregnant through a mutual friend, she called me. I could tell it was just because she wanted to confirm it. She acted as though we were still great friends and and I was happy about it. All this time I had been asking her to return my Pink Floyd and pics from our trip. Following this call I must have called her ten times asking again. Finally I realized I would never get it.

Then two days ago, here it is. She had apparently called my Mom for my address and phone #.
Why would she return it now? With a note that was obviously written 2 years ago by the content? Why no new note? Why no acknowledgement of my baby? She had never even called to see if I was OK or my baby was OK? Is this because she wants to make contact again? Is she just trying to do the right thing? Were the CDs cluttering up her apartment? I guess I should be thankful she finally returned them and I guess I really don't care why.

It is strange how people wander in and out of your life. Sometimes you don't even hear them leave.

The School Cafeteria

So there was a big expose on school cafeteria food on tv. Somewhere about forty five kids got food poisoning from cafeteria food. So the news program toured several cafeterias with health inspectors and found rodent feces, improper food temperatures and general uncleanliness. Then they did a larger study by pulling health inspector reports from two years ago on schools in major cities around the country. All were had major violations 20% or more of the time. Same types of violations...rodents! wrong temperatures! unclean utensils! unclean food containers! They spoke with one school administrator re: hamburgers found 2o degrees under temperature. The administrator said no one would have gotten sick because the were not sitting out long enough. The health inspector disagreed. No apologies, how crazy is that. On national tv this administrator blew it off. I guess I 'll be packing Ava's lunch when she goes to school. Thank God we pay school taxes. We give our children over to strangers for 8 hours a day trusting them with their safety and they can not even give them healthy food.

I guess my "only eat prepackaged food" in high school was not such a bad idea. A bag of chips and an iced tea were probably healthier than anything they were serving.

The Notebook

Can I just say that The Notebook was one of the most romantic movies ever made? I am sorry I did not wait for Valentine's Day to watch it with Steven. Although his mother may be coming that weekend and that really turns down the heat.

New Car Smell

We bought a 2005 Honda CRV today. It is dark blue and fabulous. We drove around for about an hour. It is so exciting, our first real purchase together as a family. I am feeling all mushy about getting married. Ava actually was a bit scared at first. It is amazing that she recognizes the difference of the new car and had to get used to it.

Employment

I am still looking for a job that won't make me want to puke. No success so far. The job hunting process is so icky. Sending all the resumes and writing the cover letters is the worst. It seems as though they never read them anyway. Not to mention the annoying interviews with generic question after generic question. Yuck.

New Cars

I have been neglectful, I know. We have been a bit stressed out this week. Our SUV needs almost 1500 in work in order to pass inspection. This was quite a suprise, we knew we needed brakes but not all the other nonsense. So then we thought, let's just buy a new car. So we have spent the past week checking out vehicles. Tomorrow we will have a brand new Honda CRV. A fabulous dark blue color. We actually did not want a SUV because of the gas usage. But we needed something large enough for frequent travel and something that could handle the snow. Weirdly we were unable to get approved for the Subaru Legacy which was our first choice so we ended up with an SUV anyway. This is my first non American car. I feel a bit guilty and I can just imagine what my grandfather will say.