Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Day of Thanks, in pictures

So Thanksgiving came and went without a hitch! All the food came out at once, much wine was drank and to quote my honey "Not a single can was harmed in the making if this thanksgiving feast." We had friends over, a hodge-podge of people, most of whom had never met, my mom made it after work for dinner, and some of Chuck's family stopped by throughout the day. There was much debate about how long to cook the turkey, 22 minutes per pound, 17 minutes per pound, till you can wiggle the leg easily. But Chuck trusted his instincts and with a little advice from our friend and restaurant cook Justin, the turkey came out with enough time to rest and be served with the rest of the food. Yum yum yummy! The turkey was moist, the veggies fresh, the potatoes salty and buttery, All in all I'd say for the first time hosting Thanksgiving, it was a success!

I'm going to let the photos taken on the day of thanks tell the story. And seeing as how it is a day of gluttony, most of the photos are of food. Enjoy, salivate, and then go raid your fridge.


I actually found Two Peas in a Pod, whilst shucking the peas from said pods the night before!


Our fridge has never been this full. Nor will it ever be again.


Localy raised, fresh/never frozen, killed the Sunday before the feast, turkey. Isn't she glorious? We named her Maggie.


The Chef, preparing the salads.


I've never been a big fan of cranberries. But I gotta say, when you make them yourself, de-lish!


Canned veggies ain't got nothin' on our fresh greens!


The innards of the turkey, we used them to make gravy. But let me give you some advice, don't ever try to eat a piece. You will never forget the nasty "pop" it makes in your mouth.


Our table. There wound up being so much food there was barely enough room for the diners plates!


The Chef doing the honors!


The happily fed dinner guests.


So it may be a tad morbid and disgusting to take a picture of not only a dead turkey but a fully eaten one as well, but I wanted to show how we devoured the thing!


I turned our bathroom mirror into a place for people to write what they were thankful for. Needless to say it was well received. Among the responses were "I'm thankful there are no clowns here." "I'm thankful for cheese, wine, coffee at 8am." "I'm thankful that all scales are apparently broken and not functioning properly." I'm thankful people will be drinking before eating the stuffing." "I'm thankful for good cooking, friends, my kids."


I think I will be leaving these up for quite a while!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Waste of 45 mintues

So I had an interview today. The company found my resume on monster.com and called me up. It was to sell life/health insurance to seniors. And that was all I knew. Now, it's not like I was jumping out of my skin for this opportunity, but it never hurts to interview. I was supposed to work today but I found someone to take my shift and I chose to take a personal day.

So I got up this morning, put on my only non-cafe black pants and a nice coordinating top and sweater, I even pulled out the curling iron to calm my frizzy ends. And I was ready, confident, calm and set to wow them with my personality and sales ability.

Man, did I set my expectations high. I found the place just fine, in fact I could ride my bike there easily from my apartment. I walk into the building, the stuffy, boring, unspunky building. I get off the elevator and everything is beige. Beige, beige, boring beige. And suddenly my chest tightens and all that is running through my head is "I don't belong here. I don't belong here." So I walk into the office, there is no one at the front desk and I just stand and wait. Then a big man with a deep yet surprisingly loud voice, a lot of hair product in his very little hair comes around the corner and says something about being here for the meeting. Meeting, not interview. Huh, interesting. Then the door opens and the front desk woman comes in along with two other people who are here for the same meeting that I came for. And this is the start of when my expectations came crashing down.

So we are walked into a room that is beige beige beige, given a pamphlet with a bunch of smiling old people on it, and are offered some coffee in tiny styrofoam cups. And the next 45 minutes was me staring at the big man with little hair talking about how this business will never go under and how we can make so much money doing simple things. What I mostly noticed was how drab the place was, with bad, gross fluorescent lighting and it's sad motivational posters. Even the posters were beige. How are you supposed to inspire people with posters that have no color and flare?

What irked me the most is that he mostly focused on the money, without giving us a base salary. Were we going to be making so much a year plus commission, or was it whatever we sold is a portion of what we brought home? He didn't tell us how we spoke to customers, the process of selling the product. Do we just present it and seal the deal and then someone else does all the dirty work? None of this was answered today in my "interview." And I also chose not to ask. I saw no point in asking the questions knowing I didn't want to work there anyway.

I'm thinking of writing to whomever it was that contacted me and telling them that it's false advertising to say I'll be coming in for an interview and then not to interview me!

I learned two things today.
1. I am not going to work for that company. I don't work well on commission. I can sell things but if you don't buy it, no skin off my back. Seniors and retirees are going to need some sort of life/health insurance but I'm not the one to sell it to them. The job entailed many, many things that I don't want to do.
And 2. Beige is the color of a dying, sold-out soul. That is the ugliest dead color I've ever seen. Now, I ask you, why is it that every office is painted that color?! I know offices want to be neutral in color, but there are neutral colors that aren't beige.

So I'm staying in my job, for now. I'm good at it, I like it (most days), I have a great crew, and my regulars are good people. Today was a waste of 45 minutes. But I do know where I don't want to be. And that is in a beige office working on commission.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Simply put

Have you ever heard of StoryPeople?

Click it if you haven't. Click it if you have. And then browse the site. It's wonderful.

One of my favorites went something like this "She cried several times a day. Not because she was sad but because the world was just that beautiful."

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A new chapter

Today is 11-11-10 and I have officially been living with Chuck for 11 days. It's been blissful. I have been staying here since around June or July because it was so effing hot out and I didn't have air conditioning. But with the past 11 days I didn't have another apartment to go to if I needed it. And there is no where else I'd rather be.

I get nervous about moving. Not where I'm moving to but the actual act of moving. What if I can't get all my things in the truck or in the new place, what if something breaks, what if what if what if. But once I'm in the new place all is well. Chuck made the move so smooth for me and eased my mind and all my what ifs about moving.

Once all my stuff was in the apartment Chuck looked at me and said, "I like having all your stuff here. It makes the place so cozy." That made my heart smile. I've hung up pictures, put out my books (sidebar, when packing up ALL my books I realized that I should invest in a nook. All my books into a thing that can fit in my purse rather than in 12 different boxes.) I've also overtaken the closet and have doubled the amount of dishes. But we got everything to fit and make it homey. Our stuff fits in the apartment and we fit together.

I look forward to the holiday season anyway but this year I'm really looking forward to it. Chuck and I are hosting Thanksgiving and are both uber excited to decorate for Christmas! We decorated for Halloween and had those fake spiderwebs all over the balcony. And this year our apartment is going to ooze Christmas! With new sparkely things and old items from childhood.

This is a new chapter in my life, living with Chuck. It flows so easy, it's so much fun! We compliment each other so well and laugh more than I could have imagined.
Me + Chuck + his girls + our apartment = a daily life of wonderfulness!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

VOTE!

And you better believe I did! I proudly stuck that red circle sticker to my chest when I walked out the door. I had kept my sticker from the Obama election until some time this past winter in my wallet. I was a little sad when the sticky finally dried up and it fell off. I was extremely proud that I had something to do with putting that man in office.

Don't complain if you don't vote! And we all know that isn't going to stick. As Americans there is always something to crap on in our government, but if you voted you know you at least did your part.

Now seeing as how I think humor makes everything better, click here. It's pictures from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. That rally was classic! Just as outlandish and ridiculous as nimrod Glenn Beck's rally to restore honor. Only this one was had a sense of humor and people who are willing to fight for equal rights. (Sidebar, I heard someone say once "I think Sarah Pallin has good ideas." My response? "Anyone who doesn't give everyone equal rights does not have good ideas.")

If you didn't know it already, I'm fairly certain you now know where I stand politically. But no matter your views, VOTE!