Down with the Little People

Well listen to this crap: A judge in NE said a 5' 1" man who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child was "too small" to survive in prison. So, instead of a prison term he received 10 years of probation. Yep, probation. A little slap on his little wrist.

I cannot believe a judge (it was a woman so you know she's gonna get extra backlash but in this case, I have to say it's deserved) would make such an inane decision. There is no logic or justice to it. I wonder how the molested child's parents feel about her ruling. I have to think this is why there are vigilantes who dispense their own brand of justice. Un-freakin'-believable!

To totally switch gears, am I the only person watching tennis' French Open? My husband kids me mercilessly about me being the only person left in America who watches tennis. I enjoy it! I used to play until I tore a ligament in my knee and never had it repaired correctly with surgery. I love to watch Roger Federer, I call him Mr. Smooth. And I'm thrilled to see Martina Hingis playing again, and playing well, after returning from a 3 year retirement.

Down with the Little People

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/down-with-little-people.html

Settling In

Wow, it seems like forever since I've blogged and read my favorite blogs - I've really missed it! Just getting adjusted after the move.

Husband goes off to his new job everyday, full of purpose and energy and I'm stuck in a new place with no friends, no idea how to get anywhere and a big mess to organize. Not to mention waiting around for the numerous cable, phone, internet, etc. people to show up.

I'm sure it will work out, the first month or so is just hard. I told Husband I would appreciate a little empathy and so then I got the forced apology. I don't know why I bother.

Anyway, I'd much rather go read all your blogs and see what you've been doing while I've been unpacking.

Settling In

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/settling-in.html

We Made It!

Woo hoo! We made it to VA yesterday. What a loooong trip. Shortly after we started out, Husband thought a tire was losing air so we stopped at a service station. Sure enough, we had a screw in one tire and had to wait an hour for them to patch the tire.

All the while the car was in the air being worked on, my poor kitties were still in it. I thought it might be even more traumatic to take them out, so we left them in the car in their carrier. LOTS of meowing telling me how pissed off they were when we got back on the road. oops

Then some mops kept falling on the poor dog and so we'd stop and repack the car - thank God we have an SUV, I don't know how else everything and the animals would have fit.

But, we made it to the inlaws in time for cocktail hour - again, thank you God. I was also so thrilled to see the sun and blue sky. Because Columbus, OH is in sort of a valley, it has more cloudy days than Seattle! I won't miss that. It was sad to leave our house though, I did love it. But, on to the next adventure.

We Made It!

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/we-made-it.html

Return of the Locusts

Well, the movers showed up a DAY early - WTH??! So, I was rushing around, trying to pack all the stuff I, the dog and cats would need for the next week. Guess what I forgot? Underwear! Husband was thrilled, me, not so much. Off to Target...

The moving crew had nine guys and it was like locusts descending. Within 2 minutes they had plastic down on all the carpet and cardboard on the hardwood. 5 mintues later there was a guy in every room with boxes beginning to pack. If you've never been through a corporate relocation, they do treat you right with the moving package. You basically stay out of their way while they pack everything, and I mean everything - the garbage in your garbage cans will be packed unless you remember to empty them before the movers show up. At your destination they will unpack every box, hang all the clothes in the closets and set back up every bed as well as computer and exercise equipment.

It's definitely nice but hey, I think it's the least they can do when they're asking you to move every 2-3 years!

So, we'll be on the air mattress tonight - fun fun - and leave for VA tomorrow. We'll be staying with the inlaws for a few days until the movers arrive at our new house. Luckily, they live right around the corner from Panera so I'll be trying to pop in each day and catch up on blogging.

Return of the Locusts

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/return-of-locusts.html

The Big Sum Up

I'm so pretty, oh so pretty! Kelly Nelly Nello of Nello Designs created a fun new look for me based on my love of butterflies. So check out her designs and also her very cool blog, Diary of the Nello. Thanks Kelly!

Mucho thanks-o to all of you who voted on your favorite piece of furniture for my new house! I so appreciated all the feedback. It appears to be a tie between choices #1 (bench) and #4 (console table). I like both of those, too. Kind of leaning toward the console table but haven't made the purchase yet. And, a big "hurrah" to Kelly of "Life as I Know It", for being the first person to correctly guess the furniture pics were from Pottery Barn. Love that store! Don't love their HUGE shipping fees on furniture, though. WTH?!! So, go visit Kelly and tell her how darn smart she is. No flies on that girl.


Husband is FINALLY coming home tonight after 3 1/2 weeks in VA alone. He closed on the house we power-bought in one day yesterday so we're good to go. The movers come on Monday to start packing us up and should be finished Tuesday. Because the asshat movers scheduled two other jobs after that, they won't be moving us into our house in Richmond until Saturday.

This means we - and our 85 lb. dog and two cats - will be staying with my inlaws until then. Crap. They're great people, just have very weird ideas about animals. They've had labs/retrievers ever since Husband was a boy tot, but their rule is any dog (including theirs when they were alive) has to stay in their tiny foyer. I kid you not. What is wrong with these people?? So, I'm going to be very stressed worrying about him and my poor kitties that will be banished to their basement.

The Big Sum Up

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/big-sum-up.html

Thirteen Things I Like the Smell Of

Thirteen Things I Like the Smell Of Bread baking (my fav. Love to slather it with real butter when it's hot out of the oven) Outside after a rainstorm in the summer (there is a certain smell...) The ocean My grandparents' house, especially when Grandma had a pot of tomato sauce simmering on the stove My dog (I'm sure no one else would like the way he smells, but I do, ha ha) Steak on the grill Lancome's Hypnose perfume Chocolate Coffee brewing Lilac bushes Pizza baking in a brick oven Cedar wood Freesia Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Thirteen Things I Like the Smell Of

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/thirteen-things-i-like-smell-of.html

Wordless Wednesday - Help Me!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - KINDA SORTA

OK, there will be pics but I won't be wordless and you must not be wordless either! I need help picking out a piece of furniture for my new house in VA. It really bugs me that the door into the house from the garage opens right into the main hallway. So, I must buy a piece of furniture to make me feel better about this stupid design flaw. The hallway starts at the front door, passes this door from the garage and ends up between the open kitchen and family room. Got it?

So, I want a piece of furniture that I can drop my purse, keys, mail, bills and shoes on/in upon entering the house from the garage. Please check out these pics and tell me in Comments what you like best. My furniture is traditional - simple, clean lines, no country, no contemporary. All suggestions welcome!

Picture below in BLACK.














































































P.S. A big PRIZE to anyone who correctly names what store these pieces are from. OK, not a BIG prize, just a shameless mention in my blog with a link to yours. Sorry, that's all I got.

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Wordless Wednesday - Help Me!

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/wordless-wednesday-help-me.html

They Make 'Em Weird in Hollydumbwood

Today is "News of the Weird" Day:

Tori "Dingbat" Spelling eloped with Dean McDermott to Fiji where they got hitched last Sunday. Whoopee! Apparently this guys really loves her a) fake boobs b) daddy's money or c) lack of brains. He tattooed "Truly, Madly, Deeply, Tori" on his wrist in a juvenile albeit permanent display of misguided affection AND tattooed her PORTRAIT (are you kidding me??) on his shoulder. Wow. This marriage will probably be over before that inking heals.

In other celebrity idiot news, Tom Cruise hit pretty much every TV entertainment show yesterday from The View to David Spade's show mocking TV entertainment shows. He was his usual gushing "I'm high on life and Scientology" self except now he has weird bangs. Hmm. Maybe Katie, excuse me, Kate as she is now to be called because according to Tom "Kate" is a woman's name and we all know he's done made her a woman now, cut his hair in a fit of anger at being left alone mere weeks after giving birth. Go home you self-aggrandizing pathetic excuse for a husband!

And let's not forget poor water logged David Blaine - I refuse to call him an "illusionist" but I will call him "a BIG publicity starved asshat". Oh, where is David Copperfield when you need him?! Despite his Count Dracula looks and catepillar eyebrows, at least he provided some actual entertainment. This guy Blaine, whew, where to start? Purposely stays in the water for 7 days straight preparing to hold his breath even though no one cares if he does or not. Prior to that, he lost 50 lbs. while training for this "stunt" so that his body would use less oxygen under water. Wha??? Before he even attempts the breath holding while freeing himself from "heavy" chains feat 'o magic, his medical team warns him that his liver is damaged and hey, his skin isn't looking too good either. But no, he says he must continue. He doesn't want to disappoint his fans, uh, fan. So, after 7 minutes - two minutes short of his goal - he begins to lose consciousness and they haul his pruny white ass up. And this was shown live people. For like two hours.

Gack

They Make 'Em Weird in Hollydumbwood

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/they-make-em-weird-in-hollydumbwood.html

Monday Memory #8

The front door opened and out she walked. She was only 7 or 8, head bent to the book in her hand, lips moving silently as she read. She walked slowly to the car in the driveway, not missing a step, the ends of her smooth brown pageboy curling sweetly under her chin. I marvelled at her smart outfit; a light gray spring coat, knee length, with black velvet buttons and a matching velvet band in her hair. Her shoes were black patent leather maryjanes which she wore with lacy white ankle socks. "Ah", I thought, "she must be going to church". It was a glorious Sunday morning - bright sunshine, blue sky, birds singing.

The little girl could have been me about 30 years ago. Seeing her read that book with such concentration - not wanting to stop for a second as she walked to the car - brought back such memories for me. I would always take a book in the car with me to read to and from church (of course I wasn't allowed to read while inside church, darn it). It was only a 10 or 15 minute ride from our house to church, but I just had to have a book and couldn't stop reading until we got there or were home again.

Of course this had serious repercussions later in life. I am the most geographically challenged person I know. When I turned 16 and got my drivers license I didn't know how to get from my house to anywhere! How could I, I'd spent all my time in the car with my nose buried in a book instead of looking out the window to see where we were going. None of the streets in the town I lived in for 15 1/2 years looked familiar!

Now that we move every few years, I have the perfect excuse for my lack of direction, "Oh, we recently moved here", I say and continue to say for oh, about two years.

The benefit of all that early reading was great writing and spelling skills which I hope that little brown-haired girl will have, too.

Monday Memory #8

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/monday-memory-8.html

I Need My Freakin' Beadboard

See this lovely kitchen? This is what I have to leave in one week and I've become quite ticked off about it.

Mainly because the ONE thing I asked for in the spec home we're buying is for the builder to put beadboard/wainscoting on the kitchen island and bar like I have here.

If you peer closely at this picture, you can see the vertical slats of wood beautifully stained to match the kitchen cabinets. This is beadboard or depending on what part of the country you live in, wainscoting. I don't care what you freakin' call it, I WANT it. I NEED it.

If you recall from my earlier refrigerator post, Husband insisted he could take care of purchasing the frig for the new house and despite my specific instructions complete with a model # and picture, he failed. That's right, I did NOT get the frig I wanted and I won't even go into the long and convoluted tale about why not (however Husband isn't entirely to blame. I am not to blame at all, let's be clear on that).

So anyway, back to my freakin' beadboard. We have been getting such a runaround from the asshat builder - he'll give us a price by the end of the day, he'll give us a price by the end of the week, he'll have the cabinet people call us directly, blah blah blah. Stall after stall tactic has now morphed into - we'll just have to take care of it ourselves after we move in. And Husband has agreed to this! Crap, I thought he knew me better.

I'm so so angry I could not speak coherently on the phone to Husband this morning. Then I left a long rambling message on our realtor's voicemail, certainly ensuring we will never hear from her again.

Having lived in five homes in the past seven years, I know that for the builder to get this beadboard thing done is incredibly simple. But, if I'm being honest, that's really not the problem. The problem is me feeling so out of control, so lost, so lonely. I'm just trying deperately to latch onto something to make myself feel better. Who would have thought beadboard would be it??

I Need My Freakin' Beadboard

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/i-need-my-freakin-beadboard.html

The Moving Blues

It hasn't been a great week.

Between trying to keep the house pristine for showings and thinking about the big move coming up soon, I've been a little down. I'm very happy for Husband - this is a great promotion for him and he'll really enjoy the job.

I just hate always being the "reactor". I don't like not having control or a say so, and when Asshat Corporation "offers" you a move, it's not like you can say no. And of course I don't want Husband to, but I am getting a little burned out from moving so frequently. This will be move #4 in 6 years. #5 if you count the house we built and got to live in for all of 3 1/2 months before a work move came up.

I get mad sometimes and think, "This isn't what I signed up for! This isn't how my life was supposed to turn out! What about ME?! What about MY career?"

Despite that, I am delirously in love with Husband so while that does make this all worthwhile, I still have a really bad attitude sometimes. LIKE NOW. I really like the new friends I've made here. It's very hard to make friends in a new town and I end up feeling very lonely day after day while Husband happily marches off to his fabulous new job each day.

I need to find something that I enjoy so much that it will keep me really busy. Still searching...

The Moving Blues

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/moving-blues.html

Thirteen Questions

Thirteen Questions

Feel free to answer any or all questions in the comments.

1. Would you rather win the lottery or be guaranteed a long and happy life?
2. Would you rather have a broken arm or a broken leg?
3. Do you prefer sunsets or sunrises?
4. Sunny side up or scrambled?
5. What 3 things would you want with you on a deserted island?
6. If you could be on any reality TV show, which one would you pick?
7. If you could only eat one food for the next month, what would you pick?
8. Would you rather go to France or Germany?
9. If you could say one more thing to a loved one that has passed, what would it be?
10. What is your biggest regret?
11. What is your biggest dream/hope?
12. If you could steal one thing and get away with it, what would you take?
13. What one person makes you the happiest?

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)



Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thirteen Questions

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/thirteen-questions.html

Idol: I MUST Quit You, You Suck

Oh Good Glory! Why can't I just look away, look away?!

Yes, it's Tuesday night and once again I'm watching stupid American Idol. Why can I not quit this show?? This season is so lame. I could be watching hunky Mark Harmon and Somebody Sexy Weatherly on NCIS, but noooooooooo.

Chris D. is going to win and everyone knows it. Including the judges who basically tell everyone but him how bad they suck each week. Why bother even airing any more shows? Can we just announce Chris is the winner and move on to the next season which will hopefully have some better talent.

I heard all of the judges have reupped their contracts for THREE more years. Geesh, kill me now if I have to watch high Paula Dingbat Abdul each week. "Oh, Acey Poo you're just so good and um uh you can sing and wow, uh whew, you just sang and heh, err, um, yea, am I still talking out loud or just thinking in my head? Oh, Simon, {giggle, giggle}. Hey, he pinched me!"

Personally, I think Paris is really good and they don't give her enough credit.

Anyway, poor kitty Hobbes is back from the vet - $717 later and less one tooth. Gack, if you didn't kill me before, kill me now 'cause I don't want to be alive when that credit card bill comes in. Why does this cat - who is only 8 years old by the way - need to have two teeth pulled in two years?? He only eats dry food. And how the hell am I supposed to give him a syringe full of pain meds when he weights 20 freakin' pounds?? I TRIED telling the idiots at the vet's office I would not be able to hold him with one hand and pour drugs down his throat with the other. They just gave me a bunch of inane suggestions like "wrap him in a towel". WTH?! And he just sits there and lets me wrap him in the towel, uh huh. Then I got the "hold his head and the syringe will just go right in his mouth." Stupid, stupid asshats, have you ever had a cat of your own?

Idol: I MUST Quit You, You Suck

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/idol-i-must-quit-you-you-suck.html

Twenty Years Gone By

Wow, I just received info about my High School reunion in Bloomington, IL this summer. Too weird! I'm having a hard time believing it's been 20 years. Why, it seems like just yesterday I had huge bangs and was wearing Jordache jeans and white Keds. I remember being all sweaty and nervous to ask a guy to the Sadie Hawkins dance; I must have picked up and put down the phone 10 times before calling. I wore a big white gown with tiers of ruffles to the prom.

This weekend I went out to eat and just stared, mouth open, at the prom dresses the girls were wearing. I sure as heck never looked that sophisticated nor did I ever show that much skin in public. Holy cow! I couldn't believe the cleavage some of these girls were flashing. They boys still looked really young though, lol. All skinny, didn't know where to put their arms and legs and had a hard time looking their dates in the eyes. Who could blame them with all that bare flesh tempting them?!

Here are some questions from my reunion questionnaire that I thought were interesting. Feel free to share answers from your own high school experience.

1. What teacher or class best prepared you for your life?
English and Speech probably helped the most but no class really prepared me for “real life”. High School in general prepared me by teaching me to communicate and get along with a lot of different types of people.

2. Do you think you’re the same or different than you were in high school?
Both – still a little shy, still like to read a lot and learn but I’m more willing to try new things and not so concerned with whether I fit in or not. Traveling a lot and living in so many different places has made me a lot more independent. Now I better appreciate good friends like the ones I made in high school and still keep in touch with – you know who you are DBs! (My friends and I made up a secret sorority called the "Delta Betas".)

3. What did you do following high school?
I went to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and studied Business Administration. I did an internship in London, England for Merrill Lynch. After college I worked for State Farm Insurance in IL and MD for 10 years creating online applications for agents.
After leaving State Farm, I worked for an internet startup in D.C. When I moved to NY I worked for a publishing company and started doing literacy volunteering which I continued when we moved to Ohio. My husband and I are moving to Richmond, VA in May and I’ll look for something to keep me busy then. Hobbies/Interests – traveling, blogging, cooking, Pilates, reading detective novels

4. Give us a Family Update
I met my husband on a blind date in MD. We got engaged after 3 ½ months of dating and have been married for 6 ½ years. We have a yellow lab Sampson and two cats, Spenser and Hobbes.
My brother John (Class of ’85) is married and living in Tampa, FL. I am the doting Aunt of Nicholas, age 8.

Twenty Years Gone By

http://casalinga.blogspot.com/2006/05/twenty-years-gone-by.html