Sleep and Garbage

I can't seem to get moving this morning. I should be ready to leave in about 7 minutes, but instead I am sitting here with the towel still on my head writing a blog entry.

I've been having serious sleep issues. I have to wake up around 6am. For me to get an ideal amount of sleep, I'd have to go to bed around 10pm. However, most nights Alex doesn't get home until around 10, and so I like to stay up for a little so I actually get to see him. Last night he didn't get home until about 10:30, and so I ended up staying awake until midnight.

Alex doesn't have to wake up until 7:30, and he has the added bonus of not caring if he's tired all day because he is able to sleep an extraordinary number of hours in a row on his days off. If he's lacking any sleep during the week, he sure makes up for it on Sundays. I, on the other hand, simply cannot deal with loud, moody, insubordinate children on little sleep. My teaching suffers, and my temper is shorter.

I'm really not sure how to fix this. Short of him getting a new job with fewer hours, I don't know how else I'd get the sleep I need while still getting to spend time with my boyfriend. Grr.

*****

Last Friday morning, I woke up when Alex was leaving for work so that we could take all of our Thanksgiving and bedroom-painting trash out to the curb. We walked outsided at about 8:30, and the trash truck was already clammoring down the street, almost at our house! I walked quickly to the curb with our kitchen bag while Alex opened the garage to start bringing out some of the other stuff.

We were hurrying, people. It's not like we were moseying along and expecting the trash guys to wait for us. But sheesh, stopping the truck for a minute while we brought some stuff out would have been nice!

However, they did not think so. They took the two bags that we managed to get out there, and then refused to take a box full of trash because the actual box was cardboard and recycling would have to take that.

Me: Erm, well there is food trash and stuff in it. Trash guy: *shrug*

So, take THIS! trash guys! We now have TWO weeks of trash on the curb, and then some! Three giant cans full, a few bags on the side, an old rolled up carpet, more stuff from another weekend of painting, and plenty* for the cardboard guys. So nanny nanny boo boo!

* Including the box from Guitar Hero for Wii, which I bought A for his bday. I. am. Addicted. Also: A rockstar.

Improving Home

Perhaps the best thing that came out of hosting Thanksgiving dinner is that it was just what we needed to finally organizing our disaster of a house. And let me just add in there that I would have been game to do it much earlier, but was having my own secret in-my-head standoff with Alex, because if HE wasn't going to do it, I sure as hell wasn't going to either! Hmph!

So yeah, Thursday morning, we spent about 5 hours cleaning-- actually cleaning-- the house, moving boxes around, EMPTYING boxes, putting things where they are supposed to be rather than where we left them during our last pretend attempt at organization (such as my shoerack, which was supposed to be in our closet room*, but was actually in our guest room because I moved it when I built the closet organizer and never put it back). (* Incidentally, my grandma, who just saw the house for the first time, proclaimed that we should call it our Dressing Room, not a closet room. It's that functional now.)

It is not totally done, but it is at a point where 1) I am not embarassed when people come over, and 2) doing things like painting is actually possible. Incidentally, with my parents' help, we have painted two of the three bedrooms! (Erm, and this is a whoooole nuther story. Short version: it took two entire days to paint our bedroom. And then it still sucked, and my dad had to come over and fix our shitty work.) So I am finally feeling like I didn't move into a piece of shit for some guy. As it turns out, the whole disorganization thing was what was really eating at me! There is still a ton to do, but we've made a dent, at least.

*****

A Conversation

Alex: Did you just drink that Rolling Rock so you'd have a place to stick your flower?

Me: ...

Alex: *sigh* Dork.

Happy Thankspigging

Our First Thanksgiving in the New House turned out well. I don't know what all the hubbub is about-- it wasn't that hard. I guess a lot of prep and cleaning went into it, but when it came down to the cooking, meh. Perhaps if I went more gourmet and less traditional, it would have been more difficult. Oh and also if I had cooked the turkey myself, if my parents hadn't brought two of the side dishes, and if Alex's mom hadn't brought the desserts.

Like I mentioned, I purchased it pre-cooked from Wegmans (love), but it still needed two hours in the oven to heat up. End result: It tasted like turkey. I'm not a huge turkey fan, and no one else I know is, either. I've had brined turkey, seasoned and herbed turkey, roasted turkey, injected turkey, fragrant turkey... they all kinda just taste like turkey to me. I just think turkey is turkey. And, since my dad was the only one who ate dark meat, and he prefers beef anyway, I decided that next year I will just cook a turkey breast and prime rib. Cheers for new traditions!

*****

I have already had my fill of leftovers, and it's only Day 2 post-TG. Yesterday's Menu featured Italian bread French toast with homemade cranberry sauce topping for breakfast, a leftover sandwich for lunch, and turkey croquets with a mashed potato casserole for dinner. I had a leftover canoli and some brie with crackers for breakfast this morning. I keep thinking I should make a soup or something, but as I hardly cook, I do not have a stocked pantry, and therefore would have to go to the store and buy food to cook leftovers... I dunno... seems to defeat the purpose to me.



*****

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for!!!

More pictures of Coconut!


"She don't eat meat, but she sho likes da bone! RUFF!"


Jail Dog


Apparently humans aren't the only ones to enter a Thanksgiving coma...

Desperate Housewife

Since moving in with Alex, I have found that I have serious issues with becoming a "housewife" when I am not actually his wife. It is true that he works 60 or more hours a week, while my hours on the clock are about 35. I get home at 4; he gets home between 10 and 11. I have the two weekend days off, in a row, and he gets Sundays and Tuesdays.

And yet, being the one to clean the bathroom for the third weekend in a row freakin pisses me off.

Even when I lived in my apartment, I had trouble cleaning on a regular basis. My blog entries have chronicled this; my friends and family have witnessed it. Now there are two of us making a mess, joint bills to pay, a dog to take care of, and time and time again, I find myself falling into a wifely role. I do the bulk of the cleaning, I pay the bills, if we are going somewhere, I consider if the dog will need watching and then find someone to do the watching for us.

I am trying so hard not to be a nag, because marriage or not, the nagging is what will truly turn me into a ball and chain. I refuse.

So instead, I do one of the following:
1) I clean and shut up about it.
2) I leave the mess for as long as I can and then start passive aggressively talking about the disgusting state of our house and eventually become so frustrated when he doesn't take the hints, that I end the whole thing in a screechy state of hysterics and tears wherein he becomes so frightened he promises to clean something for godsakes.

I would say that the ratio of the first scenario happening over the second occurs at 3:1, the latter mostly occurring during my PMS week.

And on that note, I have to go clean the kitchen.

Current Weekly Watchings: The Sad Truth

America's Next Top Model
Bionic Woman
Bones
Californication*
Dexter
Gossip Girl
Grey's Anatomy
Heroes
House
Law & Order: SVU
Next Great American Band
Pushing Daisies
Survivor: China
Three Sheets
Weeds
Women's Murder Club**


Eagerly Awaiting:


American Idol
Lost

Surely after reading this list, you are thinking, "Who the hell has time to watch that much TV?" Well, the answer is obvious. I do.

I'll admit, I'm not proud of some of my viewing choices. My watching preferences are, for the most part, mindless. This is how I like them. I actually can't watch any DVR'd mystery shows on weekdays because my mind is too fried to concentrate; I even find myself rewinding the fluffier shows because my brain will flicker in and out and I have no idea what's going on.

This is why I'm not a reader. I like to read, and if I find the right book, I love to read. But sadly, my mind won't allow it. I flip through page after page, only to turn back and read them again because the entire time I was looking at words, I was actually thinking about lesson plans and behavior strategies and bills and birthdays and god how do people quiet their minds enough to get absorbed into a good book anymore?

Thus, I will justify my list by saying the crappy shows are my mental massage, and only the "good" shows*** are for my actual "shutupIcan'thearwhatthey'resaying!" entertainment.

* The season is over, so perhaps I should have listed Season 2 under Eagery Awaiting?
** Stupidest name for a show ever in history.
*** Choose the shows that will make me seem the smartest and most discriminating.