Lunch at Work

Lunch today was divine. Not the actual food I ate (I had to saw the fish with a knife)...but the company I had. Now I love to have lunch with all my lovely and entertaining co-workers. I enjoy their company immensely. We talk about LOST (where we lose everyone's attention), Idol (where my attention is lost), work, people at work, kids, family, significant others, poke at each others' lunches, etc. It's a nice time. It's like a school cafeteria down there.

But today, Perry came to have lunch with me. It was a part of my Valentine's Day gift. I have worked at my job for over three years now and I have always wanted Perry to come and have lunch with me since he is laid off in the winter...and is home all day! So for Valentine's Day this year we decided to give the gift of a gesture for the other person instead of a physical gift (See my Valentine's Day post for more details). It could be anything...but really it was meant to be something the other person would really love and appreciate.

For example, I (with the help of my brother-in-law) lugged a big wardrobe from the second story of the farm, put it on a truck, and then planted it in Perry's garage. He had wanted this old wardrobe that was upstairs at the farm for YEARS. He wanted it for his garage so he could finally have one central place to put all his hunting clothes, boots, hats, etc. Currently all those items are scattered all over the house and often spark spontaneous scavenger hunts. So that was my gesture. To get the wardrobe into his garage (which was a lot more difficult than it sounds. Ask my brother-in-law...we were both sweating and grunting like crazy over moving that thing.) But now it is Perry's job to find all his stuff and fill the wardrobe...but I enjoy a good scavenger hunt, so maybe I'll help him out. If I get a prize at the end!

Well, his gesture to me was to do things to make my work days better. I got to pick five days in which he would do something to make work easier for me (other than actually going to work and doing my job). Whether it was starting my car, making coffee, making me breakfast, packing my lunch, driving me to work & picking me up...etc. You get the picture. But the one I was most excited about was the fact he would come to work and have lunch with me! I have wanted him to have lunch with me at work and meet my co-workers for the longest time. And today was the day. I will admit, I wish the fish was better, but I was so happy to have him there with me. I just wanted to hug and squeeze him the whole time. He's so darn cute...and he gets so quiet in public...which makes him even cuter (I know, I know...you are being sentimental and gooey here Kristen...I don't care...go gag in the corner.)

I'm just happy, it really made my day to have him come all the way to Rapids. And then the sun came out and it made my day even better.

I have a slight headache...

This morning I woke up and I could feel/hear this little miniature marching band having practice in my head. It wasn't quite light out yet, but the alarm on my cell phone went off...and of course it was under my pillow so I felt like the noise was coming from somewhere in my own head. I snoozed the sucker, but as much as I rolled around and tried to get comfortable...the little marching band kept on practicing and I had to get out of bed.

Now I am not the best morning person to be around. I need a few minutes to adjust myself to the world before I am anywhere near nice. And I am not joking. Ask my family, friends....or just ask Perry...he could tell you lots of fun stories of what happens when my slumber is disturbed. I just detest being woken up. Period. I am a horrendous, snarling, mean bed monster and I can't deny it. So this little marching band in my head was really starting irk me.

But it was my own fault. Last night Perry had class in Wausau and I was sort of excited to have the house to myself and have absolutely no where that I had to be. I came home and started doing laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, etc. Our house had disintegrated into a human sty of crap and I was trying to bring it back to livable conditions. I made a can of Spaghetti-Os for dinner (I know! Spaghetti-Os! I ate them so much in college I never wanted to see them again...but my mom gave me a can last Saturday and it was a nice, yummy trip down memory lane for me)...and I also saw this bottle of wine in my fridge.

See, I have the hardest time leaving leftovers in my fridge too long, or seeing ketchup bottles that are 3/4 empty, or a milk jug that has about a cup left in it. I feel like these items take up unnecessary space in my fridge. I don't know why, but I like to consolidate, pour, move, etc. small amounts of stuff into little containers so it doesn't take up space in my fridge. For some reason...I like it when my fridge looks sparse and compartmentalized. Well, this bottle of wine was huge...it was one of the gigangumous bottles that takes four people to drink. Allison had brought it a few weeks ago and we put a huge dent in it while watching/singing to Mamma Mia! before going out for sushi. We never finished it and it has just been sitting in my fridge, with a glass or two left in it (or so I thought)...just taking up space and taunting me.

So I finished it last night...and there were more than two glasses...I really didn't estimate the contents very well...but I HAD to finish it and get that huge bottle off my bottom shelf. So I drank it while I cleaned, ate Spaghetti-Os, and watched Bones & The Office...and by the time Perry called to tell me he was on his way home...I was tipsy. Okay. I was probably legally drunk. But I was at home in my jammies, in a cleaner house, belly full of Spaghetti-Os...and just content. And GIGGLING! I was laughing and being silly and I was all by myself...I kept calling Perry, talked to my sister, and even had a nice giggly chat with my brother-in-law. Meanwhile, Kairo got an earful of all my cell phone rings as I went through them all to find a new ones to assign to various contacts. I don't think Maggie even moved off her bed or frankly cared what I was doing...I think she was just trying to block out the horrific experience of the vacuum cleaner noise.

When Perry got home I was down right chirpy, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed...talking a mile a minute. And then I crashed as soon as we put a movie on...and then my morning began...with the insane little marching band...and my slight headache.

And to think, I will probably be waking up the next two mornings in Appleton...with a whole UW marching band doing their 5th quarter performance in my head.

Valentine's Day

I know Valentine's Day is over a week and a half away...but I am about to burst at the seams. I really love Valentine's Day. Even when I was single...which was probably high school...my friends and I had dinner or did something for Valentine's Day. To me, Valentine's Day wasn't all about romantic love...it was about spending time or making time for all those who you love in your life. I still will never forget a Valentine's Day in high school where all of us girls decided to have a big dinner to celebrate the big day. It was at Devlin's house and we had quite the group of girls who were attending. Well, Devlin's dad's girlfriend heard what were doing and said, "Aw, that's so sweet, but really, when are the boys coming over?" She was a little flabbergasted that we were having a girls only dinner...it was like she couldn't wrap her mind around the fact that we just wanted to celebrate it together (and to be honest...none of us really had boys...and we didn't care...or maybe looking back I THINK I didn't care...you always look back at the past with a little more of rosy tint than you looked at it when it was happening).

Anyway...let's get back from memory lane here...and look at the present. I have had a boyfriend for six and a half years. We have done the fancy gifts, jewelry, dinners, flowers, electronics, etc. For the past three years we have tried to be a little more creative with our celebration of Valentine's Day. Three years ago I made him a scavenger hunt to find his concert tickets to see Sugarland, he got me a fish named Valentine (RIP my fishy buddy...Vally just passed on to the fish pond in the sky this past Christmas), picked some yellow tulips from our yard (and okay, okay...he did give me a diamond bracelet and ring that year...but I didn't ask!), last year we decided we could only spend five dollars on each other...and we went straight to the dollar store...that was really fun since you can get a pretty nice gift for five dollars...he ended up getting me a little teddy bear, dark chocolates, a new coffee mug, a little plastic basket to hold it all in (which now holds my dryer sheet boxes), and a cute card.

Well this year...we decided on gestures. We thought it would be fun to do something for the other and not just buy something. Now, we did agree that if gesture needs to have something bought for it to happen, that's okay...just nothing outrageous. I have been thinking about this for a few weeks since we decided this and I have come up with two gestures that I plan on doing on Valentine's Day...and lucky for me he has class that morning...so I can get them both done before he gets home.

I'll bet you are wondering what they are, aren't you? I guess you'll just have to e-mail me to find out! Although I know there is a million to one chance that he would ever read this...I'm not taking the chance and writing it here. So if the suspense is killing you...e-mail me or leave me a comment and I will contact you!

Otherwise...happy belated groundhog's day to you all...the rodent saw his shadow...and it really doesn't matter unless he has some control over the cosmos:)!