Probably going to be a rambly mess that I won't edit. Sorry.
Mayhaps I should update more. I always say that and never do.
Just like old times with Kim and Emily
Hung out with Kim and Emily the other day. Went to happy hour at Outback with Emily's husband David and shared a bloomin' onion. I knew how many calories were in that sucker so I ate slowly. The chicken strips and fries were alright. Nothing to write home about. For me, good chicken strips have to be all white meat, have no veins, no fatty parts (or I'll stop eating them once I encounter one), and the breading has to peel off easily. The breading came off for the most part, but not completely. David had something called a Mango Crush that smelled and tasted (according to him) like grapefruit. He called it a Mango Disappointment, or something along those lines.
I showed the girls the video of Alana taking a few steps and they were so thrilled to watch it! David got this glow on his face and was grinning ear to ear. I like David. He's good to Emily, he truly wants to have children with her, and will be a good dad. He loves Alana- LOVES her. He always asks Emily when she's coming over next. When he looks at her, he looks so happy, like he wants children so badly. It's impressive to me because, besides Allen, I've never known a man to be so upfront about wanting children so badly.
We talked a lot, had some good laughs (David likes making fun of people) and went back to Emily's house. Nikki was supposed to meet up with us but ended up spending a good amount of her evening looking at apartments. By the time she was done, she just wanted to be at home. I'm glad Nikki's back, because when I missed an opportunity to see her before it might be months before I got to see her again.
Shopping with a gift card is guilt-free fun!
We then went to the mall to get Starbucks (because silly Kimmy took an allergy pill, got super drowsy, but still wanted to hang out, so she wanted to go somewhere loud with bright lights. The mall- perfect!) and walk around a bit. I got a cheap shirt from H&M (which I have to take back- wrong size, but I HATE parking at that mall and lugging Alana around. Too much effort, time and energy) and spent my Macy's giftcard on a dress.
I love my new dress, I can't wait for an excuse to wear it! It's a shirt-dress with a belt. I could wear it to work but it's very conservative-sexy, if you know what I mean. I'm going to admit, I have three shirt dresses to my name (in storage, no less) and this is the cutest. I love shirt dresses. This one has the best shape. It fits my giant nursing breasts and my new, smaller waist. Fantastic!
The best part- Allen watched Alana. I was away from Alana for 6 hours- a new record. Some moms pawn their kid off on someone regularly or have girls' nights out on a regular basis, but not me. I'm not being a mommy martyr, it's just not that easy for me to constantly find someone to watch her for the evening (and usually the people who volunteer are the people I want to hang out with, go figure).
My sweet little vampire
I have had a biting problem with Alana for the last few weeks. I have lost small chunks of my nipples while nursing her because she now has two top and two bottom teeth that align. I'm proud to say that in the last two days, she has only bit me once, and the girls are healing nicely (they're most resilient than you'd ever think). I love nursing her and didn't want to give it up before two years old and am happy to say that I think our nursing relationship will be okay.
She's still taking a few steps at a time. She realizes what she's doing and decides crawling is much easier, and less scary. It's okay, little girl, you can slow down if you'd like. Realistically, I know she'll be walking and running around before the end of July, but still, slow down little one :o)
Allen's lack-of-career woes
This recession sucks. It's the worse labor market since the depression. What that means for us is that Allen has to take a job that is far below his intelligence, education level, and experience and get a shitty wage to do it. It's a sales job, so they're busting his ass to produce numbers, but he's not actually getting any commission for it. So um, they want him to make sales out of the goodness of his own heart? Yeah fucking right. Sales people do it for the money.
Commission *does* exist at 24 but they structure it intricately so you don't actually earn any. I'd explain how it works, but you'd stop reading. It's way complicated and bullshit. It's essentially draw versus commission, if you know what that is, but WAY more twisted than that.
I know these are the times, but I hate seeing my intelligent, hard-working husband working a job like that when he busted his ass at school for 2 years, working while going to school more than full-time and commuting. And having a wife. And a baby.
His schedule was basically as follows:
M-Th- leave for school at 8. Arrive at 9. Classes on and off until 5. Arrive home at 6. Mix homework time with Alana/Catherine time.
Fri- leave for school at 8. Arrive at 9. Classes on and off until 3. Arrive at work at 4. Work until 11:30, sometimes 1:00 or 2:00. Go to sleep.
Sat & Sun- work from 11-9, no breaks. No lunch (because he was alone). Do homework before, after and during work.
He took anywhere between 14-19 credits every quarter (and even the 14 credit quarter was 4 classes!). In a row. SCIENCE classes with LABS and GROUP WORK with people who lived in Ellensburg. He had a wife and a child. Household duties. Homework. Commuting. To see him go through everything he did (and he only made it so hard on himself so we wouldn't have to live there as long) and to go back to his old job with NO commission and a pay cut sucks. I'm so proud of him just the same. He has the best attitude towards life and someday it will pay off. I complain about his situation more than he does.
In summation, Allen is the shiznit. La fin.
Just like old times with Kim and Emily
Hung out with Kim and Emily the other day. Went to happy hour at Outback with Emily's husband David and shared a bloomin' onion. I knew how many calories were in that sucker so I ate slowly. The chicken strips and fries were alright. Nothing to write home about. For me, good chicken strips have to be all white meat, have no veins, no fatty parts (or I'll stop eating them once I encounter one), and the breading has to peel off easily. The breading came off for the most part, but not completely. David had something called a Mango Crush that smelled and tasted (according to him) like grapefruit. He called it a Mango Disappointment, or something along those lines.
I showed the girls the video of Alana taking a few steps and they were so thrilled to watch it! David got this glow on his face and was grinning ear to ear. I like David. He's good to Emily, he truly wants to have children with her, and will be a good dad. He loves Alana- LOVES her. He always asks Emily when she's coming over next. When he looks at her, he looks so happy, like he wants children so badly. It's impressive to me because, besides Allen, I've never known a man to be so upfront about wanting children so badly.
We talked a lot, had some good laughs (David likes making fun of people) and went back to Emily's house. Nikki was supposed to meet up with us but ended up spending a good amount of her evening looking at apartments. By the time she was done, she just wanted to be at home. I'm glad Nikki's back, because when I missed an opportunity to see her before it might be months before I got to see her again.
Shopping with a gift card is guilt-free fun!
We then went to the mall to get Starbucks (because silly Kimmy took an allergy pill, got super drowsy, but still wanted to hang out, so she wanted to go somewhere loud with bright lights. The mall- perfect!) and walk around a bit. I got a cheap shirt from H&M (which I have to take back- wrong size, but I HATE parking at that mall and lugging Alana around. Too much effort, time and energy) and spent my Macy's giftcard on a dress.
I love my new dress, I can't wait for an excuse to wear it! It's a shirt-dress with a belt. I could wear it to work but it's very conservative-sexy, if you know what I mean. I'm going to admit, I have three shirt dresses to my name (in storage, no less) and this is the cutest. I love shirt dresses. This one has the best shape. It fits my giant nursing breasts and my new, smaller waist. Fantastic!
The best part- Allen watched Alana. I was away from Alana for 6 hours- a new record. Some moms pawn their kid off on someone regularly or have girls' nights out on a regular basis, but not me. I'm not being a mommy martyr, it's just not that easy for me to constantly find someone to watch her for the evening (and usually the people who volunteer are the people I want to hang out with, go figure).
My sweet little vampire
I have had a biting problem with Alana for the last few weeks. I have lost small chunks of my nipples while nursing her because she now has two top and two bottom teeth that align. I'm proud to say that in the last two days, she has only bit me once, and the girls are healing nicely (they're most resilient than you'd ever think). I love nursing her and didn't want to give it up before two years old and am happy to say that I think our nursing relationship will be okay.
She's still taking a few steps at a time. She realizes what she's doing and decides crawling is much easier, and less scary. It's okay, little girl, you can slow down if you'd like. Realistically, I know she'll be walking and running around before the end of July, but still, slow down little one :o)
Allen's lack-of-career woes
This recession sucks. It's the worse labor market since the depression. What that means for us is that Allen has to take a job that is far below his intelligence, education level, and experience and get a shitty wage to do it. It's a sales job, so they're busting his ass to produce numbers, but he's not actually getting any commission for it. So um, they want him to make sales out of the goodness of his own heart? Yeah fucking right. Sales people do it for the money.
Commission *does* exist at 24 but they structure it intricately so you don't actually earn any. I'd explain how it works, but you'd stop reading. It's way complicated and bullshit. It's essentially draw versus commission, if you know what that is, but WAY more twisted than that.
I know these are the times, but I hate seeing my intelligent, hard-working husband working a job like that when he busted his ass at school for 2 years, working while going to school more than full-time and commuting. And having a wife. And a baby.
His schedule was basically as follows:
M-Th- leave for school at 8. Arrive at 9. Classes on and off until 5. Arrive home at 6. Mix homework time with Alana/Catherine time.
Fri- leave for school at 8. Arrive at 9. Classes on and off until 3. Arrive at work at 4. Work until 11:30, sometimes 1:00 or 2:00. Go to sleep.
Sat & Sun- work from 11-9, no breaks. No lunch (because he was alone). Do homework before, after and during work.
He took anywhere between 14-19 credits every quarter (and even the 14 credit quarter was 4 classes!). In a row. SCIENCE classes with LABS and GROUP WORK with people who lived in Ellensburg. He had a wife and a child. Household duties. Homework. Commuting. To see him go through everything he did (and he only made it so hard on himself so we wouldn't have to live there as long) and to go back to his old job with NO commission and a pay cut sucks. I'm so proud of him just the same. He has the best attitude towards life and someday it will pay off. I complain about his situation more than he does.
In summation, Allen is the shiznit. La fin.