Life Update

The major life update is that as of March 31st (happy birthday to me!!), I will be job-free. Not necessarily by choice, but there wasn't much I could do about it. I've been working remotely for almost the last two years for a company based out of Dallas. They hired a new president last year and she wants to have someone working out of the main office in Dallas and I did not want to move there. There were other factors involved with the decision, but that seemed to be the sticking point.

The whole process has been extremely stressful which is what led me to my latest bout of silence on the blog. This situation has made me realize that I tend to become rather hermit-y when things aren't going well. I guess I'm following that old saying, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say it at all!" Meanwhile, my friends I see day-to-day have been getting an earful. And then another earful...

I think probably the worst part has been the uncertainty of everything for several weeks. There have been other sucky parts, but I'll keep that part to myself for now. I was so stressed about it that I eventually got SO sick!! I've never been so sick in my life. I laid in bed for five days straight. I only got out of bed because I had to do our monthly payroll. After which, I promptly climbed back in bed. Thank goodness for Edward, who insisted I go see the doctor. I had been assuming I had the flu and was afraid I had the dreaded swine flu! When I finally went to the doctor, she informed me that I had bronchitis. She then prescribed me two inhalers and some nasal spray and instructions on how long to use them. Now, two weeks later, I'm feeling much, much better.

So, that's the big update. And with the free time I'll have on my hands you may get posts a little more often about random stuff I'm doing around my apartment. Some stuff I'd like to get done while I'm not working:

• Eat through my pantry & freezer. This will give me the opportunity to try out different recipes and eat everything up!!
• De-clutter my apartment! Wow, I'm REALLY looking forward to this. I've already started taking boxes of stuff to give to the Goodwill.
  
• Stick to a budget. I've started making my budget. I'm not sure if I should post it on here because I'm not sure anyone would even care about the particulars. But, I was thinking about trying to make it like a game... LOL - as John put it, "a game with limited resources"!
• Exercise more. With no job, I should be able to exercise more, right?
• Floss more regularly. I just had my cleaning today and again I promised my hygienist Mary that I would be better about flossing. I need to start setting up better habits. Time to write it down, FLYlady-style...
• Take some trips. Already planning on going to Atlanta in June for Oasis and Williamsburg in July for Gulf Games. I am contemplating taking a road trip out there and just killing time for the month in between with friends along the East Coast. I just need to find someone to babysit my kitty for a month!
• Get caught up on my reading & Netflix queue. Not very "productive," but fun!
  
• Go to the beach. I'm gonna work on my tan some... and maybe get some reading done while I'm at it!
  

Anyway, you'll see random notes to myself too as I clear stuff out of the apartment. The blog is the perfect place to record stuff that I don't want to lose! And then you get to see it too! I'm mentioning this because I'm about to post a list of restaurants from a newspaper ad/article that I've had stuck to my fridge for a couple years. I'm ready to throw it out, but I want to make a list of the restaurants in case I ever want to know what was on there.

I have no idea how long it will take to find a new job, but I intend to make good use of my time off and enjoy it!

The View: Kill me now

I never really watch daytime or morning TV. If I do, it's because I'm sick and I'm usually watching "The Price Is Right," although Drew Carey ain't got NOTHIN' on Bob Barker and never will. His personality really falls flat.

That said, my roomie had "The View" turned on when I got out of the shower this morning. After about a minute, I asked her, "Women watch this show every day?! I've been listening to it for a minute and I'm ready to poke my ear drums out!!!!" Who watches that show? Wow. I figure it's gotta be women who are staying at home and don't have girlfriends to talk to? I don't get it. But then, I don't "get" women in general. I've been trying very hard to branch out and try to connect with women more. This morning I got up and went walking with some ladies here at Gulf Games. It was really fun.

No, I'm not sick...

As I shuffled off to bed at the early, early hour of 1:30 AM, Michael put the back of his hand on my cheek.

It was very warm, so I asked him, "Are you feeling okay?"

He said, "Are you feeling okay? This is the second night in a row you've gone to bed early!!" Which got a good laugh from everyone standing around because they know it's so true. I'm usually one of the last to go to bed and I'm typically encouraging everyone to stay up late with me!

I replied, "I'm saving up my energy..." I certainly can't meet up with Greg on Sunday night, go out to dinner with my mom, then fall asleep as soon as we get back to his place! Oh no... I'm sure we'll be up late and I've already thanked him more than once for taking Monday off from work. He's brilliant! And a realist!

OK - off to bed I go!

Only a week left

Only a week left until I get to see Greg again and I can't wait!! Luckily, I'll have something to distract me before then, namely payroll for the next day or two and then games... Lots and lots of games...

I'm heading out to Nashville for Gulf Games on Wednesday and staying there til Sunday around lunchtime. Then I'm hitching a ride down to Atlanta, where I'll be meeting up with Greg and we're going out to dinner with my mom before heading back to his place for the next week.

More things I appreciate about him:
I love that he's somewhat of a planner. He already scheduled Monday off, so he can spend my first day in Athens with me, showing me all the sights and basically being my personal tour guide. We have plans to have dinner with his dad on Tuesday, after work and before gaming. I think the rest of that week is lots of friends and lots of eating, which sounds perfect to me! He's already started planning parts of the longer trip in September, in particular the long weekend we're going to spend in Savannah! It's so nice to be with someone who is pro-active and just takes care of stuff. I mentioned to him once that I've always wanted to go there and then we just made a plan to go. It was so painless!

He lets me call him in the middle of the night. Often, he heads to bed around 1 AM and is totally cool with me calling when I finish up *my* evening, also usually somewhere between midnight and 1 AM, so I am often calling him at 3 - 4 AM Eastern, rousing him from sleep. He'll often talk to me for 30+ minutes. It's nice being able to call him and to hear his voice and catch up. He's a busy bee like me, so often it's hard to match up our schedule during the day, which is why I appreciate that he welcomes my middle of the night calls. In fact, he's about to receive a call from me as soon as I brush my teeth and change into my PJs!

Gulf Games Day #2

Since I worked a lot of the first day of Gulf Games, I half-heartedly tried to make-up for missing out on gaming by playing lots of games. I knew I'd never win "friendliest gamer" if I didn't do something! I ended up not playing *that* many games though, but I had a lot of fun!

The highlight of the day was actually the last part of the evening! Sandi, Frank's wife, led a small group of us in a game of Werewolf! Lately, whenever I've played, I'm actually moderating, so it was nice to actually participate. I also got to play with people I'd never played it with and let me tell you, Frank is good! Jon came out as the Seer first round and Frank also claimed to be the Seer and I was having a tough time trying to decide who to believe. It was tough! Frank was actually a werewolf, so I ultimately chose the right person to vote against!

What was really neat is that Sandi made viewers that have your "card" in them. That way, you don't have to look at a card, you peep inside the viewer to see what you are. There's no worry about other people seeing your card or anything! They were really neat! I am going to have to ask her how she made those and see if I can make some myself!

I played with lots of folks on Friday, which helped me catch up to Mary, who, as a first time Gulf Gamer, was blazing a trail playing with everyone she could! Lucky for me, she was gone most of the day at the Unclaimed Luggage store, so it gave me a chance to catch up a bit. Lucky for her, she found a brand new, super-cute, pink Nintendo DS for $60.

And, the moment that may have made all the difference in my quest to win "Friendliest Gamer," I got Jeff (who normally only ever plays 8 hour games) to play a quick, two player game of, what else? Race for the Galaxy! He already knew how to play, so we managed to crank out a game in about 20 minutes before he headed out for the World of Warcraft Guild Luncheon.

I let him talk me into rutabagas!

On my way in to Huntsville for Gulf Games, I stopped at Niki West's Steak and Seafood in Birmingham. It's a big cafeteria and I found it by calling Dave and having him check his "Roadfood" book for any points of interest in Birmingham. He gave me directions over the phone and it was so easy to find, only about a mile off of the freeway.

The food was pretty tasty. I had a fried pork chop and a few side dishes, my favorite being a broccoli, rice & cheese mixture. I let the guy talk me into rutabagas! I'd never had them before, but they were sweet, surprisingly.

It was definitely worth the stop and I'd go there again!

Here was my dinner:

Going to the South

I'm headed to Alabama in a couple weeks to go to Gulf Games. I have a friend I met in a discussion room on MSN about personal finance. I had posted a message about anyone wanting a referral to ING for $$ to contact me and I think she may have been the only person who did! Lucky for me! Wow, hard to believe that was back in October 2005!

I've never actually met her, but at the beginning we exchanged several LONG emails and got to "know" one another. I keep up with her and her family through her blog. So, I am thrilled to report that I'm going to visit her before I head over to Huntsville for Gulf Games!

I'm going to fly into Jackson, MS on Tuesday night and drive out to her place, spend the night, hang out with her on Wednesday during the day and then drive up to Huntsville that night! I'm so excited to actually be going out to visit her!! I'm also very excited to see her baby, Gabe! He looks super-cute in the photos. It's been a while since I've been around a baby. Oh, babies. They're so darn cute!