life goes on.

even when it's not recorded in a blog, life moves on. here are some exciting things that started happening mere days after the last time i posted anything:

i got a job.
hank got two jobs, then hardballed a fantastic offer from the job he took.
we bought a house in a fantastic neighborhood i love.
we gutted the main parts of the house.
we slept on an air mattress while we worked on the house for several months.

that pretty much brings us to right now. we're in the final stretch of getting the house fixed up. we're still sleeping on the air mattress. gemma's probably planning how she can run away. my mind's melting away on account of the lack of creature comforts.

shuffle!

last bunch of songs on my itunes shuffle:

closer--hagfish
T.S.R.--against me!
what if we give it away--REM
calloused heart #2--drag the river (sons of bitches are over!)
million bucks--ALL
where is my mind?--the pixies
cruel swing--jawbox
follow the sound--smoking popes
newest industry--husker du
my world--descendents

not bad, but i had my ipod on shuffle in my car driving to st. louis from champaign sunday, and damn! that sucker was really playing all the cuts. and it didn't stop there--the song-to-song transitions were like the mixtape gods themselves had been doing the dj-ing. i wish i could've saved that playlist. c'est la vie.

things i realized this week.

super paper mario is a really really fun game and i'm glad hank bought it for me.

my birthday is this friday and i'm not really looking forward to it at all. i'm looking forward to having a day off and maybe even to the free noodles & company lunch and baskin-robbins ice cream (thanks, birthday clubs!), but i'm really deep down sort of dreading my birthday. i don't want to be 27.

my fingernails are a source of great amusement to children under the age of ten.

the terrible twos are nothin' compared to children aged one-and-a-half.

i miss my dog more than is probably normal. she's really turning into a good dog and it makes me sad that i'm not around every day to see how she's growing up from a rambunctious puppy into a nice girl. this past weekend we were at my mom and dad's and when i told her to go to her home so that i could go back to work at the end of lunchtime, she just walked right over to her cage. no protests or anything. just right over.

On Notice.

On Notice.
Originally uploaded by erin patton.

take note, offenders. you're pissing me off.

frustration.

so, i'd been waiting with bated breath to hear back about a job i'd pretty much been assured i was going to be offered. i didn't want to jinx it. then somehow, it must've jinxed itself. too good to be true, i guess. then again, maybe they were just assholes. i mean, what kind of company does a phone interview, an interview, a full-day second interview, checks all my references, and keeps me waiting around 3 weeks before i'm told to come in to pick up drug testing paperwork, then when i arrive for said paperwork, renegs? wtf?! i mean, if they decided they shouldn't hire for the job right now, then why waste all that time--mine and theirs? i have a serious case of chapped ass about this whole thing.

which brings me to teaching. "those who can't, teach..." is this true? those who can't what? those who can't stomach the bullshit that apparently comes along with industry and business? cuz that's me right about now. i'm considering my options in education. i'm considering my options in everything, really.

there is a guy playing open mic night at picasso's right now who sounds a lot like hayden. neat.

growth.

sprout.
Originally uploaded by erin patton.

things are popping up. interviews, potential opportunities, openings. i'm not going to get into it, because i'm not sure how good any of this looks, and i'm not going to jinx myself. growth is coming though. i can feel it.

i'm also craving spring. i want to be growing things. vegetables, flowers, baby seeds. will i even get to have a garden this year? how depressing if i can't. a job could mean a house, and a house will mean a garden. i can't wait for my very own chunk of land. here's hoping...

back in the saddle, aka germs and puppies.

two months in. jeez, it's been two months since i've posted anything, which is too bad, because a lot has happened. then again, there's been a lot which hasn't happened too. still no "real" job. wednesday i have a second interview with monsanto, so that's good, but it's for a contract job for which i'm overqualified. oh well. it won't be the best, but it'll be better. i mean, the daycare's not the worst job i've ever had, but it's hard work. after this stint, i'll be prepared for nearly any and all distasters of the child-rearing sort once we have our own critters. being spit upon? been there. kicked in the shins? yup. explosive diarrhea followed by fingerpainting with said shit? you betcha. kids are crazy. goddamn crazy. oh, and germy. i probably should've mentioned the germs. TONS of germs.

so mom and dad went to florida with aunt karen and uncle jim last week and i've had the house to myself. what a luxury, to have some of my own time again. they come back tonight. hank came here for the weekend, which was really a good time. friday we went to b.hall's, rented "the departed" from a redbox at the grocery store, and gave gemma a badly-needed shower. the movie was good, but the ending could've been better. the redbox could not have been any better. what a fantastic invention! saturday, larry and debbie came over so we could go to love 'n' care and pick out a goldendoodle puppy. it was so much fun to hold and fawn over all the puppies, and to finally (probably) find out that gemma really isn't a labradoodle, but more likely a goldendoodle as well. we saw her dad again, and as it's winter, he hasn't been groomed so he has a long coat. having not been groomed, he looks EXACTLY like gemma. she's a daddy's girl. the puppy that larry and debbie picked out was pretty cute, but i have to say, i still prefer a more poodley dog mix to one with more golden retriever like the one they got. the new puppy really is a looker though, and they've decided to call her elphaba (like the character in wicked).

the godfather's on tv. being that it's my favorite movie, i'm going to watch it. best. movie. ever. (well, maybe except for the godfather II...)

a quickie.

back from springfield. it's been 15 days since i've been in my own home in champaign, which i suppose isn't really my home anymore. i feel like it is though since that's where my husband and my puppy are, as well as all my things--my wall color, my pictures, my kitchen, my books, waking up in my own bed (with my husband and my puppy), etc. i'm starting to feel homesick, in a big way. i have to remember that i made this decision. i chose this. the alternative was worse.

also, maybe airborne is the best shit ever. from getting-sick on friday to not-getting-super-sick-at-all today, i think it's really kept this nasty sore throat thing at bay. let's see if it works the rest of the week...

new beginnings, a.k.a. the jitters.

i really don't want to go to bed. if i go to sleep, then i'll wake up, and when i wake up, it will be tomorrow, and when it's tomorrow, i have to start my real-world non-grad school life. as much as i hated the lab, at least i knew what was coming.

this first night in bed by myself has me worried. deep down, i know this was the right thing. on the surface, it's hard to reconcile temporary with the long-term. i'll miss so many little things (like our walks with gemma at night, working on my own schedule in the lab, dinner every night with hank, being able to make my own messes, walking around the house in anything i please, even if it does not involve pants, and just being in my own home).

i have to think bigger and better and about the house we haven't bought yet, the kids we haven't had yet, and all the free time and happy memories we're about to make. here's hoping 2007's a good one. off to a fresh start...