It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's Christmas time!

Although I am incredibly excited for Thanksgiving, and by no means am I overlooking it, I've already got myself in quite the holiday mood.  It started with Kristen putting up her holiday decorations, and lights, a couple of weeks ago.  Yes, you heard that right.  I believe it was Halloween weekend that Kristen decided to put all of her holiday decorations up.  When I asked her why she said why not.  Why only celebrate the season for that short little month between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Hard to argue with that.

Then Friday I bought the Glee Christmas c.d. (yes I still buy c.d.s occasionally) and have been rocking out to it in my car ever since.  Finally yesterday, Matt, Kristen and I ventured south to the Christmas Warehouse Sale.  It sounded like my own personal Heaven, and for the most part it was.  We had never gone before but had heard about it so we decided why not.  If you want to check out some pictures (because I still don't have a working camera) check out http://www.christmaswarehousesale.com/. 

At first it was breathtaking, all of the trees, ornaments, and general merriment glittering in the glorious warehouse lighting.  It was slightly overwhelming, a little like my other holiday staple Holiday Mart, but we quickly picked a route and were off. 

I won't go into detail about everything that we saw, but let's just say there was a lot of junk.  A LOT.  There were tables and tables and tables of ornaments for 50 cents, 99 cents, 1.49 and 1.99.  You can probably imagine the quality of items that they are selling for 50 cents.  Half of it looked like random knick knacks and kid toys that someone poked a hole in, tied a string through, and called it an ornament.

Their trees were expensive.  I even had a 20% off coupon and they were still double the price of Target or Wal-Mart which was kind of disheartening because that is what Matt and I already we wanted to get.  We ended up with a little stuff (a really cute snowman K-State ornament and other random stuff) but in general was not impressed.  The only things that they had that weren't junk were not cheap, they were actually a little expensive.

Overall an interesting experience (the area the warehouse was in was interesting to say the least) and a fun holiday afternoon.  That being said, I probably won't be going back.  Although, when we checked out the lady said that the last weekend they are open they have all of their stuff at least 50% off, so I might be able to be talked into it.....

We stopped at Target on the way home and bought a tree, so don't worry.  There will be plenty of holiday cheer going on at the Sharkany household this year even though Matt wouldn't let me set it up on Saturday.  Scrooge. 

Really?!? What's Pissing Me Off Today

These are just a few of the things that are pissing me off today:

(Keep in mind that I am sick, exhausted, and the only one at work.  This means no sick day, no lunch break, and lots of dealing with people.  Yuck.)

1.  Did turn signals become optional at some point?  I swear the more I drive around here the more instances of this I see.  Last time I checked they were still required, but maybe I missed that memo.  Seriously, is it really that hard to slightly move your hand up or down to signal where you are going?

2. Is it that hard to walk into your kitchen and open/close a cabinet without stomping/slamming?  (You know who you are upstairs neighbor.)

3. Where did the West Wing go on Bravo in the mornings??  Totally throws my whole day off.

4. I HATE BEING SICK!

Lost Identity

I foolishly thought that after the wedding, all of my stress, work, errands, etc. would be done.  I was indeed foolish.  After the honeymoon comes the fun part: changing your name.

I didn't think it would be that bad, I mean seriously how hard could it be to change one tiny, little thing like your last name?  Turns out it is awful and time consuming.  This is a list of what I've done so far (and yes I say so far because even though we've been married for a month, I'm still not done.)

1. DMV - went by one day after work at 5:15 expecting it to be packed and not be able to get in before they close at 5:45 (seriously who closes at 5:45).  I walked in and almost died of shock.  There was not one person in there besides myself and the employees.  Zero.  NEVER HAPPENS TO ME.  I almost peed my pants with excitement when this awful woman comes over and poos all over my dreams.  I don't have proof of my new address on me.  Sidenote - I ALWAYS have some bill or something floating around in my purse.  I chose the day before DMV visit to clean the purse out.  Lesson learned, do not clean out purse.  Anyway, she told me I would have to come back the next day.  I did and waited in line for over an hour.  I hate the DMV.

2. Social Security Office - after finding this hidden gem, I figured I wouldn't have to wait that long.  How many people visit the Social Security office, right?  Wrong.  I waited again for over an hour.  One positive note, they at least have a better waiting system and after pulling a number I waited in my comfy office chair instead of the awful DMV line.  I hate the DMV.

3. Passport- this one actually seemed to be the easiest and is turning out to not be so much.  I found a form on their website that stated that all I had to do was fill out the form, send it with a copy of my marriage license and they would send me a new one.  Wrong.  I got a letter in the mail from the state department stating that this is only the case if I've had my passport for less than a year.  I've had mine for six.  So I have another form, money, and who knows what else I have to send to the government to get a new one.

4. Credit Cards - these seem to be the easiest.  I have contacted two of the four cards I have to get a new one.  (Yes, I have four credit cards.)  I've gotten one in the mail, one I'm waiting on, and I still haven't contacted the other two.

5. Bank cards - I love my bank but they are making me so irritated right now.  I went in last week to get a new debit and ATM card.  Thought it would be easy (paperwork was) and then she tells me okay they should come in the mail in the next 7-10 business days.  And oh yeah, your current cards won't work until you get new ones.  Come again??  You don't realize how much you  use your debit card until you can't.....

6. Work - this is where my lost identity comes into place.  My work couldn't change my name with human resources until I sent them a copy of my new ss card, which I had to wait a week for.  So yesterday I get an e-mail from Chicago telling me that they got my new card and were changing my info.  Then I got an e-mail from IT telling me that they were setting up my new log-in/e-mail and it should be up and running today.  So today I come in and can log in but only my personal e-mail works, and it only works if you e-mail my old address (it gets forwarded) but if you e-mail my new one it gets sent back.  And I can't get into the community's e-mail.  And I can't get into our company database (where we do EVERYTHING).  So I'm sitting here, waiting for my weekend to start (4 days baby!) and can't really do anything.

Is it 5:30 yet??

Today I'm Thankful for St. Anthony

I had a horrible moment yesterday morning.  One of those moments where everything stops around you, and for one second all you can think in your head is, "oh god, what do I do now?"  What happened to me in that moment?

I lost an earring.

This might seem a little dramatic for a lost earring, but you don't understand.  These are diamond earrings, expensive diamond earrings, that were a gift from my husband (although he wasn't that when I got them), did I mention they were diamonds?

I got up yesterday morning the same as always: groggy, eyes a little crusty, left-over make-up a little smeared, and cursing the end of my lovely sleep (well, actually my sleep sucked thanks to my obnoxious new neighbors, more on them later, probably why I was grumpier than usual.)  I took the dog for a walk, still cursing but this time about the cold, came home and took a shower.  After breakfast and a little awful Saturday morning television, I started drying my hair.  That's when I noticed it: one of my ears was naked. 

It was a horrible sight.  I just kept staring at my ear like all of a sudden I would blink and it was just a trick of my imagination, or my sleepy eyes, and I really still had two expensive earrings in.  But it never happened.  I only had one.  So the next step of craziness set in:  hands and knees searching.  I spent the next half an hour on my hands and knees with my head sideways looking all over the carpet to see if I could find it.  I got my coat, hat and scarf out and very carefully inspected them.

At this point I would have kept going but I was already late for week so I left.  When I got home from work, back at it.  I cleaned out my coat closet looking for it, painstakingly pulling every shoe, coat and towel from in there going through them piece by piece.  Next up was my bed, peeling away the sheets and comforters one by one.  Nada mucho.  More hands and knees crawling ensued, with of course nothing to show for it, and then I left for Kristens.  After a few glasses of wine (maybe a whole bottle), Matt stopped by to hang out and bring me home.  On the way home I just blurted it out, and he said okay.  I was like, "umm excuse me?  That's all you're going to say?"  He responds, "I can tell you're upset.  We'll look when we get home, but if you lost it you lost it." 

Hmm... Not exactly the reaction I was expecting, but definitely better.

After we get home, back to the drawing board.  I told Matt that for some reason I had this feeling it was in the bathroom, could be good or bad (drains=evil) so we started there.  While I was on my knees, face twisted around the toilet trying to look behind it, I start telling Matt that I was so upset earlier that I started reciting the prayer to St. Anthony that you say when you can't find something.

Before I can finish "do you want to hear it?"  He blurts out, "is this the back?"  I immediately ran over (well, slid over really because he was about a foot from me in our tiny bathroom) and saw that it was indeed the back to the missing diamond (kind of sounds like a mystery novel...).

My brain started going a hundred miles an hour.  It could still be anywhere, but this was a really good clue.  What seemed like hours later (approximately five seconds in actuality), I spotted it nestled in the crack between the cabinet and the floor.

The mystery was solved!  I found my missing earing as well as a newfound appreciation for St. Anthony!!

I am not thanking god it is friday....

Because I am only half way through my work week!  I have to work all weekend, then Monday-Wednesday.  Yuck!  It doesn't happen very often (I'm pretty sure July was the last time I worked a Saturday) but when it does it sucks.

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for my four day weekend next weekend, but the getting there is awful.  Today has been the longest day EVER and then tomorrow is eight hours, in the office, alone.  BORING.  I better get some good sleep tonight so I don't get cranky.

Let Them Eat Cake

I wish I had some of our wedding cake for an afternoon snack....

I need some sugar baaaad to make it through the end of the day.

Plus, it was so good.  At least the little bite I had when we cut it was good.  That was all I had time for, and then I forgot at our brunch the next day to eat some leftovers.  There is always our anniversary next year...

Nearly Burned The Place Down

Okay, so slight exaggeration.  But seriously, burned the hell out of our dinner last night.  In my defense, we got some new pans for our wedding and while they are expensive (and good quality) they are an adjustment to cook in.  I was making chicken pesto florentine, which seemed easy enough until I went to cook the chicken.  Kristen is my witness, it wasn't my fault.  They cooked less than half the time they were supposed to and they were black.  And smoky (they weren't, but the room sure was.)

So my wonderful, chef extraordinaire husband came home from work at just the right time and saved the day.  Unfortunately I had frozen chicken only at this point, so for round two we had an hour of defrosting then more cooking.  Instead of a wonderful dinner at 7:30, we had a pretty decent one at nine.  Learning things every day.....

In honor of Thanksgiving I am going to give thanks every day (well, every time I post something.)

Today, I am thankful for the little fan above our stove.  Sounds silly until you don't have one and you're fanning the air around the smoke detector in your kitchen every single time you cook anything.  Not fun.

Dancing Through Monday

Kristen and I had a lot of routines while living together.  We would take turns making dinner.  We would take turns buying toilet paper.  We had baby pool Wednesday (which turned in to baby pool thursday) and we had certain shows that we would watch each night.  For someone who loves routine (such as myself) I loved this aspect of our relationship.

Sidenote: At a Halloween party this weekend, I was telling a story to some random about something funny Kristen did on our wedding night (peed in a stairwell.)  I realized halfway through the story that it sounded like by saying "our" wedding night I meant myself and Kristen, not Matt.  My next thought was, how many other people think that I drove to Iowa to legally be married to another woman?  Oh well. 

And yes, gay marriage is legal in Iowa.  Shocking, I know.  My relatives might be country in certain aspects of their lives, but apparently when it comes to equal rights for the gay community they are way ahead of the rest of the country (at least they were the last time that I checked.)

Long sidenote... anyway, one of the routines that we have continued now that we don't live together is watching Dancing with the Stars on Monday nights.  She comes over to our apartment on Mondays after work, we make or order dinner and then we watch the show.  It is a routine lover's dream.  We have a contest where we try to guess the scores before they're given (yeah, we're cool) and the winner of the night has a whole week to brag.  I realized last week that it's not the show that I love each week, it's knowing that unless something big comes up, we have at least one night a week where we hang out and catch up.

I've never been the biggest fan of the show but this season I have a reason to watch: Jennifer Grey.  That first week when she danced to "These Arms of Mine" and lost it during rehearsal, missing Patrick Swayze.... I was hooked.  I love her.  Even last week when she did not do good, I swore that if she got kicked off I would stop watching the show.  The people listened: Audrina went home (and her mom provided an amazing drunken rampage on TMZ about how much better she is than everyone else.)  So let's keep our fingers crossed that Bristol Palin goes back to being an abomination so that she will get kicked off and that Jennifer gets her groove back.