The Slack Ass Blogger Lives!

I would have thought that being out for the summer meant more time to hang out on blogs and write my own, but it's just not working out that way. I'm finding something to do with all my free time. Most of the time what I'm doing is Alex...wait, not that you wanted to know that, but there we go! Haha! Look, I'm just sooo happy that he's in my apartment now--our apartment--hopefully for good now. Every night he's the last sight I see, and every morning he's the first one that greets me to the new day. I can't take that for granted. I love this man like crazy.

Alex DID get the internship, so that's excellent for us. We had to run out and get a second car so that both of us had means of transportation, but I've been steadily saving up for that for years (well, I was saving up for a new car at first, not a second car--but you get the idea). We ended up with a Mazda 3 sedan, with the 2.3 ltr engine (156 hp). WOW! I love this car. I can control my radio from my steering wheel! I know the outside temp! And we can each have two drinks apiece in the car since there are eight (8) cupholders! haha! Ariana insisted that it be the same color as this electric blue she loved on a friend's car, so I tried my hardest to comply. It's a lot of fun to drive the new car. Zoom, zoom! We're now playing the balancing act, though. I have to use the right credit card at the right time to get the bills to arrive by the time that Alex starts getting paid. I don't ever let stuff slide on the credit card, so it's important for me to plan it out so we can pay off whatever we've charged. I have a plan, and it should work. The main problem is that since Alex is on a student visa and can only do the internship due to it being USC's requirement, he must get paid through USC. That means that Michelin pays USC; USC then TAKES 10% (bastards!); then USC gives us the money. So, he gets paid all of twice for the whole summer. Good thing I can budget. It's all working out! I can't even begin to detail to you guys the hell we've been through over the last two or three weeks getting everything straight, though. It would take too long. My sister made the observation that God appears to want to make us work for whatever it is we get, but that it all works out in the end. She seems to have a valid point. We struggle and get roadbumps here and there, but in the end it all works out great.

We have started getting off our lazy, fat asses and are now walking together nearly every night. There's a path nearby that has a swingset and open field in the middle, so we can take the kids there to play while we walk. I have more energy now that I'm walking. I'm eating just as much as before, so there will be no sudden weight loss here. In fact, that's not the goal. Screw the world who might think I'm not the model thin poster child; I'm just aiming for "feeling better," and I've succeeded!

Memorial day weekend will be Grantapalooza. Alex and I will head down to Atlanta while the ex has the kids, and we shall gorge ourselves silly and drink way too much. We will watch lots of movies too because that's normal entertainment for all of us. Grant wants us to meet his Japanese instructor and her husband, so we're all having dinner Saturday night. I swear we'll have the most international table in the restaurant: a Japanese woman, a German (her husband), a Frenchman born in England (Alex), a redneck (Grant), and a half yankee Floridian (me).

Next week, Alex will be sent to Canada--Montreal--for his job. He's having a bit of a struggle comprehending the Quebecan accent. It's quite different from straight French. He'll get the hang of it after experience, though. He seems to really like his job environment and seems enthusiastic about all the tasks assigned to him. I'll miss him when he's gone, and we shall pass like ships in the night...because he gets back on a Friday, and then on Saturday I take off to do AP English lit readings in Louisville. Whew! I'll be gone for a week, and my folks are driving up from Tampa to take care of the kids while Alex is at work and I'm in Louisville. Thank goodness for family!

On the whole, life is fantastic right now. We have money coming in--granted, in a strange and unpredictable fashion, but still!--a new car too, each other, and everybody is healthy. I have time to dedicate to getting Ariana's room organized, finishing up the "integrating Alex's stuff into the apartment" task, helping out friends with their work, playing with kids (we had our first full-family Monopoly game! Ariana won...first I died, then Alex. Yup, our kids are better than us at Monopoly), and reading. Man, I've missed reading! The library is my best friend right now. We found out that we can get five DVDs at a time and have them for a week too, and the selection is amazing. I'm geeking Alex out with some Star Trek: Next Gen shows, and we'll dive into Sex and the City next (I've never seen them, but everybody says I'd love 'em). This bewilderingly happy feeling? Yeah, I can get used to it. I still get my nightly massages, and when I'm up doing work around the house so is Alex even though he has been gone at work all day himself. Alex has a firm belief that if I'm up and on my feet, he should be too. See why I love him?

Anyway, that's the update! I should give you guys another one next week when we return from Grant's house. We both love visiting him. He's a shining example of how the Internet can yield real life friends. We've made so many "real" friends just by starting out talking on the net that I think we've had better luck with decent people here than in day-to-day life! OH! That reminds me though! I have had a great relationship with my officemate Amy all year long, but she won't be returning to Clemson, and I worried that I'd lose her. See, I'm awful--just awful--about making the first move, or the second or third. I don't call on the phone; I don't reach out first. I will email like crazy, but the other person has to do more work to get me to do stuff, and I feel badly about it...but it's just my temperment. I knew I didn't want to lose Amy, but I had no idea how to keep her without her reaching out first. She did instead! We have so much in common. She's a geek like us, and we had her over last week. We fed her silly and did geeky things all night long. She TOOK NOTES on the wines and cheeses I served! Wow. She takes it as seriously as I do. She had given me a challenge: she hates red wine, but she loves white wine (and all other forms of liquor and beer known to man). So, I hunted up a fine Beaujolais, the red wine that thinks it's a white (low tannins, high fruit), from Brouilly and chilled it appropriately. Victory! Before that, I introduced her to a Tavel (dry rose from the Rhone) that she loved, and after dinner, with the chocolate she brought, I gave her a black muscat--a nice sweet red dessert wine. I felt so rewarded by how excited she was by it all. I hate losing friends, and I'm glad she reached out so that we had an opportunity to drag her in and keep her. I'm an odd woman, and it takes a special person to deal with my quirks. It appears she can do it. Woohoo! Go me!

So, in summary, if you can't tell...I'm in a good mood.