Made in Richmond

Maura had cuter hair than me. Ross and I were eating. Matthew was wacky/cute. Matt loved Colonial Williamsburg. Oh, wait. Everything is still the same. It’s comforting, really.

Ross and I spent a lovely Friday evening getting fat. We ate taquitos, fritos, Doritos, Oreos, and other foods ending with “o”. As we gobbled down our O food, we watched our latest NetFlix arrival, West Side Story. I warned Ross that I would be singing for the entire 2 hours and 20 minutes, and he assured me that he remembered the movie and knew the songs, too. How could I have been so stupid?

As we watched the Overture (yes, there is an overture in the movie), he asked me how that song went that the guy and the girl sang to each other.

Ross: Does it go, “When you get stuck between the moon and New York City…”?

Me: No. That’s from Arthur. This movie is a little different.

Realizing the “hilarity” of his mistake, he obviously ran with it, insisting that was the song they sang for each other and kept asking as the movie went on when they were going to sing that song.

As we watched the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks unfold, Ross made an emphatic delcaration.

Ross: Benny and the Jets can never defeat the Sharks. The Sharks are Puerto Rican so they are much cooler.

Me: Benny and the Jets was actually an Elton John song and there is no one in the movie named Benny.

More recgonition of his “hilariousness” ensued and he spent most of the rest of the movie making this declaration. That is, until he got bored and said he was done watching the movie. I fooled him and told him he was going to miss the dramatic climax (keep in mind that this was after everyone has been killed and all of the frantic running, singing, and dancing had commenced). As the credits ran after the somber reconcilliation of the two gangs, I felt some satisfaction for making Ross watch the last few minutes during which I’m sure he was thinking, “When is someone gonna freak out and kill everyone?”

I spent some time last night thinking about why watching movies with Ross is what it is. When agreeing to watch a movie with him, you are agreeing to spend the majority of the movie identifying people for him and correcting his misconceptions about what is going on. I tell myself that this happens, not because he is lacking intelligence, but rather he has so much information packed into his brain from reading the Internet all day that things are bound to get mixed up. Yeah.

No more Spanish. I got confused. So, I guess you will all get Alzheimer’s afterall.

I’ve added a site meter to my blog finally. It’s sad to look at now. Please tell your friends to come read it.

I submitted a volunteer application to the SPCA so I can be a do-gooder.

Cole slaw is delicious.

ALL, yes that would be ALL, of my students passed the Reading and Science tests. 100%. Todo. Every single child that I taught Reading and Science to passed. This is after 100% passed the Writing test in March. Needless to say, I am bouncing off the walls and my principal is very happy with me.

I have changed the settings on my blog to Spanish. This will exercise your brain as you try to make comments. You will thank me later as you realize that my decision has delayed the onset of Alzheimer’s. Thank yous will accepted in the forms of cash, puppies, and diamonds.

I hit a new low today. I have got baby fever to the max. I’m ready. I’m over thinking about myself and just worrying about me. I’m ready to move on in life and be responsible for a child, to take care of someone and raise them in a way that will allow them to make a positive contribution to the world. I look at children as a responsibility given to you by God. It’s like He’s saying, “Here, this is mine. Please take care of it for me.” I’m ready to gladly accept the challenge. But, we’re both not there yet, and if you’re both not ready, then you’re not ready period. It’s obviously not the time and I need to deal with it. Easier said than done, but I’m working on it.

Anyway, Ross is being awesome about the whole thing. He’s being supportive and loving and understanding. And tonight he took me to Friendly’s for dinner. He hates Friendly’s. Most people do. I, however, love Friendly’s. Not for ice cream, but for a full, sit down dinner. I ordered the same thing I’ve been ordering there since I learned how to speak. It was glorious. And Ross let me get a soda, too, even though sodas at restaurants cost $1.50. It’s these small things that show me how just wants me to be happy, and I love him for it so much.

I got a wonderful email from my friend Stephanie today, helping me out with this whole baby thing. She said:
Hello my dear friend
This morning in the shower, which is where I do my best thinking as you may already know, I was thinking of you and our conversation last night. I think you are right where you need to be. You can do a lot of things without guys as I well know, however you can’t make a baby without one. I think there is a pretty good reason for that. I think God has a very special time for your baby when it will have the best dad it can have. Ross isn’t going to be the best dad ever until he thinks he can be, whether that be tomorrow afternoon or 5 years from now. Either way you will have a beautiful baby that will be spoiled by me. I think those are all the wise words I have for this morning. Have a lovely Monday. Day is coming up here on Friday night, feel free to jump in the car with her!….once you have a baby you can’t do that you know.

Love,
Stephanie

For someone so small, she is very wise. Anyway, she’s right. Completely and totally. When the time comes, my wonderful husband will be the best dad ever and our children will be very lucky. I mean, he went to Friendly’s, for Pete’s sake, and he did that for me. Can you imagine what he would do for his own children? I’m a lucky lady.

A year and half ago I was diagnosed with chronic anxiety. My condition caused abnormal stress levels, heart palpitations, and insomnia. Since my diagnosis, I have been on two medications: Lexapro (to help boost my seratonin) and Clonazepam (to be taken at night to help shut of my brain and keep me from fixating on things). Since going on these medications I have realized how normal people react to stressful situations, and I’ve also been blessed with what a real night’s sleep feels like. Since getting on these meds, I’ve been happier, healthier, and much more easy going.

A couple days ago, I ran out of the Clonazepam. Being that it’s the summer and I am considerably less stressed out then than during the school year, I thought I’d just see how would do without taking it for a couple days. Maybe my balanced seratonin levels would be enough to allow me to rest. No go. I didn’t sleep for three nights. I didn’t allow myself to nap on the days in between, thinking that would help. Still no go. The second the lights went out, off my brain went on tangents in every directions while my nervous habits, i.e. rubbing my eyebrows and grinding my teeth, came swooping back to join me. It was maddening.

Not only was I exhausted, I felt weak and disappointed in myself. I hated how I needed a pill to help me go to sleep. I don’t know why I care. My doctor prescribed these for me and told me that when patients have anxiety to the point where they need medication, that’s usually because the coping strategies that other people use aren’t enough for those patients. I got the pills filled and got a good night’s sleep last night. Still, I hate that I might have to be on them forever. Why can’t I just calm myself down, shut up, and relax?

Any thoughts?

I spent my Saturday helping Ross and Ryan prime and paint the PharrOut office over on Main Street. First we primed the walls and then began applying their selected wall color. Let’s just say it’s orange. I think it’ll look awesome once it’s finished, but Ross and Ryan are being girls about it and keep himming and hawing. They can’t do anything about it, though. It’s up there and I’m sure as hell not priming anything again. Hopefully they’ll get it done in time for Scott’s triumphant return from Babytown (yes, the baby was born on Wednesday, it is a girl, she is big, she is super cute, etc. etc.) and the world will be as it should be once again. Let’s just say, ever since Christi went into labor, I have had a very nervous husband and we are all counting the days until the end of Scott’s paternity leave. Anyway, the second coat goes on tomorrow. Not sure if I’ll be there for that part. I mean, I donated like 7 hours of my precious napping/tv watching time to help. I got to make up for lost time tomorrow.

Tonight Ross and I had dinner at the Olive Garden, which was lovely. Many of you know that we are on our supertight budget, but thanks to a gift card from los padres de Remus, we got to treat ourselves to some fine, I-talian cuisine. After gorging ourselves on breadsticks, salad, and other fabulous carbohydrates (and having our first real conversation in many months-meaning we didn’t talk about Star Trek or bikes), we passed our card along to the waitress. The card covered all of our meal, but only about half of our tip. The meal itself cost $22.52. That left us with a $2.48 balance on the card. You’re with me, right? Being the sister of a server, I couldn’t leave that measly little tip-we wanted to go with closer to $5.00. Still with me? So, I proceed to fill in the charge slip and tip the waitress the remaining $2.48, planning on leaving an additional $2.00 in cash for the lovely young lady who kept feeding our fat faces all night. I hope you’re still with me, because that was where Ross’s mind was completely blown. He looked at what I was doing, shook his head and said “No…” (and those of you who know Ross know exactly what that “no” sounded like), grabbed the slip, scratched out what I wrote, and filled in $4.48 on the tip line of the charge slip. The charge slip that showed we only had $2.48 left on the card. Meaning we would have, in fact, owed the server $2.00. $2.00 that I was planning on leaving on the table. $2.00 that Ross insisted we didn’t have to leave on the table because we had written on the slip that we were giving it to our server.

After much yelling/whispering at ultrasonic levels and gesticulating to get my point across, my blood boiling with each smug wag of Ross’s head, the muscles in his face relaxed, his eyes opened wide as if he had just been revealed the secret to eternal youth, and he said “Ohhhhhhhhh.” Flabbergasted, I snatched back the slip, filled in the *correct* amount, tossed the cash on the table, and stalked out of the restaurant. Don’t worry. I took Ross with me.

Moral of the story: If you ever get a check from Ross made out for $1,868,769,980,342.78 I wouldn’t cash it because he probably doesn’t have it, but seems to think it’s ok. I like to think that he’s really just saying, “If I *had* this, I’d give it to you, man.”

Note: I love Ross more than anything. Not in spite of this episode, but because of it.

Our family is crazy-wonderful.

We have no debt.

We both have jobs that we love.

We love the city we live in.

Our friends are beautiful, hilarious, good-hearted people.

We love each other more than anything. And we like each other a crazy amount, too.

We’ve been given far more than we deserve and we know it.