Friday, December 30, 2005

Turmoil

I've been offered a new job. A bit more money, and I'll still be able to telecommute. It's not a huge raise, but between the salary and the health benefits, I'll be pulling in enough now that I won't have to raid my savings account every month like I've been doing for the last two years (!). But I feel pretty guilty about leaving my current employer in the lurch. My current job is with a tiny, tiny company and I'm the only programmer there, so they'll be pretty screwed until they get someone else in.

And...GG came out to see me on Wednesday. It was just odd. We had a bottle of wine and a pizza, and chatted for a few hours, and then started making out. Unfortunately, it was not great. I mean, the making out was OK, but as for what came after...I think we were both just really nervous and it didn't go well. He was worried about me feeling "used" (since he doesn't know what his future plans are) and I told him that I wasn't expecting any kind of a relationship to come out of this (but dammit, I just REALLY needed to get laid, yanno?). Anyway, we did have sex, sort of. There were a lot of attempts, but he was having problems...um..."standing at attention," if you know what I mean. So it was awkward. I think he tried to make up for it by being very enthusiastic in other areas but it just came off as rough. He spent the night, and of course I couldn't sleep. I just have a big problem with sleeping in the same bed with someone I am not very, very comfortable with. So I only got a few hours' sleep, kind of dozing. I was exhausted yesterday, and then I had all these phone interviews with the new company. So...yeah. Not a great experience. I wish I could just curl up in bed and hibernate for a week or two.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Christmas Eve

Ooooh, I'm so excited. On Christmas Eve I'm going to make a big dinner for the three of us (Babydaddy, Rugrat and I):
  • French onion soup (starter)
  • Roast chicken
  • Sweet potato casserole
  • Brussels sprouts with bacon
  • Bananas Foster (for dessert, obviously) with vanilla ice cream
Of course, Rugrat will probably only eat the chicken and the ice cream, but that just leaves more yummy grub for Babydaddy and I! Mmmm...bananas foster. My favorite dessert.

Monday, December 19, 2005

It's the mooooost wonderful tiiiiime of the year

And why is it so wonderful, you ask? Because:
  • Christmas trees & the "halls" are all decked with holiday cheer
  • My Christmas shopping has been done for more than a week
  • All presents are wrapped and ready to go
  • All my cards have been sent out (about 50 - including color copies of the annual update & photos), with the exception of the one card that I need an air-mail stamp for, since it's going to Belgium
  • All my holiday baking is done
This year I went all-out with the baking. I made a fruitcake (another one; I'm not counting the underbaked one I did a few weeks ago), two lemon pound cakes, peppermint candy-cane sugar cookies, Mexican wedding cookies, almond-orange and almond-raspberry jam thumbprints, break-n-bake chocolate chip cookies (OK, so not EVERYTHING was from scratch, so sue me), and the annual marshmallow fluff fudge. I thought about making shortbread cookies too, but that just kinda seemed like overkill. Heh.

Now all I have to do is pack up the goodies in tins for Rugrat's teachers and the neighbors, and I can officially sit down with a big ol' glass of wine and call it good. Whew!

Monday, December 12, 2005

She's completely insane

CPSIL must have some sort of narcissism disorder. You won't believe this...

I talked to Babydaddy this weekend and told him about the crazy conversation with CPSIL. Apparently, when CPSIL and L split up, they agreed that he would pay for A's daycare expenses and CPSIL would pay for B's daycare. Her whole thing about him not paying for B's daycare? Was because she decided that she didn't want to pay it anymore, and asked him to pay for both A's and B's daycare...and to give her $1500 spousal support. And of course he balked and told her that if she could afford a $1900/month rental house and to go out to concerts and such, she could certainly pay for B's daycare.

That crazy, crazy bitch.

On a happier note, I got ALL my Christmas shopping done on Saturday, and everything is wrapped and ready to go. Yay! I even made lemon pound cakes last night and put them in the freezer. I feel so productive. :-)

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Someone kill me now...

No good deed goes unpunished. It's true.

Last week, crazy pseudo-sister-in-law (hereafter referred to as CPSIL) called and cornered me in her usual way: "What are you doing Saturday?" Well, just as I usually do every other weekend, I had Rugrat. Which I told her. Which she KNEW, because she has the same schedule with her kids. So then she asks me to babysit her four-year-old, B, and because I was cornered and she knew I was going to be home with Rugrat, I felt obligated to say OK. So, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal - he'd come & spend the night, the kids would have fun together, and then CPSIL would owe me and I could get her to babysit for ME sometime when I really needed it (read: when GG is in town and I am absolutely desperate to get laid).

So she drops off B on Saturday at about 5 (not 6:30, like she originally said she would - you know, AFTER DINNER). She assured me that he "will eat anything". I made risotto for dinner. You know, rice. With some chicken and peas and mushrooms thrown in. I figured Rugrat would balk a bit but he'd eat some of it, because it's RICE. And he did. But B...well, B took one look and said, "I don't like it." Rugrat and I explained that it didn't matter because that was dinner, and the rule is, you must take one bite for each year of your age and NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT and if you are still hungry after that, you can make yourself a waffle. B grumbled and procrastinated a lot, but eventually ate his four bites. Rugrat professed to like it, but still only ate six bites (he said he was "being polite" - he didn't really like it). So afterwards, the two of them made themselves some waffles. Fine, no problem. The boys "play" (read: fight) for a while. Then it comes time to get ready for bed. I look at the woefully small pile of clothes that CPSIL brought over and realize that she forgot to send:
  • underwear
  • pajamas
  • socks
  • toothbrush
Lovely. So I gather some of Rugrat's old stuff for B to use. Way to be prepared, there, CPSIL!

Rugrat jumps in the shower and starts cleaning up, but B freaked the hell out and wouldn't get in the shower for love or money. Oh nooooo, he only takes baths. Fine, I figured I'd just ditch the "clean up" idea to keep him from going postal. They get jammies on and we read a couple of books. The boys go to bed. And then for the next hour, B and Rugrat are giggling and whispering and getting out of bed until I finally separate them by making Rugrat go to my room. And Rugrat was pretty exhausted by this point, so he fell right to sleep. But B? B kept getting up and opening the door and I kept telling him to go back to bed, for the next half hour. It was almost 10 PM before he finally settled down.

Next morning, B wakes up at the ass-crack of dawn. Yes, before 7 AM. I hear him in Rugrat's bedroom, hollering at him to "get up, it's time to get up!" Rugrat tries to ignore him for a few minutes, but finally drags his poor sleepy butt outta bed and then they come in to wake ME up. I get them settled down with hot cocoa and waffles and a video, then crawl back into bed. But every half hour or so, I hear them hollering and fighting. I keep having to get up and yell at them to BE QUIET, but B and Rugrat together are like a gigantic ball of crazy, and finally I get up. CPSIL calls around 9 AM and says she's on her way to pick up her little one, and then she'll be out to get B. The boys "play" some more, and basically Rugrat is on the verge of a nervous breakdown from having to deal with B all morning and not getting enough sleep the night before.

CPSIL finally gets here around 10:15 and everything goes to hell in a handbasket. B runs away from her, and then when he finally went back downstairs, something happened where I assume she grabbed him and he lost his balance and hurt his hip. I didn't see it, so I don't know what really happened, but B was in total meltdown phase (although after a few seconds it was that "fake crying" that kids do), and then little A, B's younger brother, comes over and B shoves A, and then A is crying and CPSIL is spanking B and everything is craziness. CPSIL orders B to put on his shoes and B of course refuses. I am sick of it all and just want them out of my house now. So I tell B to put on his shoes, and he glares at me. I ask him if he needs some help, and he glares at me some more. I give him a couple seconds, and then I am done. I go over and put his shoes on him, while he's flailing around, trying to kick me. I give him my "don't fuck with me" voice and tell him not to kick me, and he stops. CPSIL is yelling at him again, and I'm like, OMG, just get OUT of my HOUSE! They finally leave and Rugrat & I breathe a big sigh of relief. I swear to myself that I will never, ever send Rugrat over to her house to be babysat. And I will NEVER get roped in to doing it for her again, either.

And then, here is the kicker. Last night, I was sitting at home watching TV, and CPSIL calls me up. She wants to know if I told Babydaddy that she went to a concert on Saturday night. I said, "Yes, Babydaddy came over on Sunday night for dinner, and Rugrat mentioned that B was here so I told him that B spent the night while you went to a concert." So she gets kind of pissy and is like, "Well, you know every time you talk to Babydaddy about what I'm doing, it gets back to L [her soon-to-be-ex-husband]." So I said, "Well, I didn't know it was a state secret." And she was like, "Oh, I'm not mad at you, but L got all fired up and now he won't give me money for B's tuition [daycare fee]." And I'm like, whatever. I told her I didn't want to be in the middle of it. Her problems with L are NOT my problem. Yes, I can agree that he is being an ass, but if she didn't want him to know that she went out, maybe she shouldn't have gone out. Or she should have left B with her parents or something. Because seriously, doesn't she realize that B would tell his dad that he spent the night at Rugrat's house? L is just looking for any possible thing he can blame her for and that is NOT MY PROBLEM. As far as I'm concerned, if she doesn't want me to tell Babydaddy anything, then she shouldn't tell ME anything, because I don't hate Babydaddy; I am actually friends with him. So I talk to him. About things like the horrific babysitting debacle of 2005. And since he and L are brothers, I am sure he DOES tell L things that I say about CPSIL. But honestly? I just don't care. CPSIL and L are two completely insane people, and their fighting is tearing those poor kids apart, but there's nothing I can do about that, so...I'm done. No more going out with CPSIL and no more doing her favors. No more listening to her crazy man-hungry talk and hearing about how she's stalking her latest flavor of the month. No more pretending to sympathize with her dramas when all I can think is, "You brought this on yourself!" Just...no more.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Oh, excellent!

I came across the coolest video today: Lotion by Greenskeepers. Seriously, you MUST watch it. (Warning: not for the faint of heart, or those who've not yet seen The Silence of the Lambs -- too many spoilers.)

Been a while

I know, it's been a while since my last post. So here's the update, in a nutshell:

Thanksgiving was wonderful, except for the fact that I had horrendous allergies all day and even after taking a dose of Benadryl they wouldn't leave me alone. I tried to nap (because that usually helps immensely) but I must have been too excited about seeing family & stuffing my face, because even with the Benadryl fog I couldn't sleep. The food was, of course, delish. And it was lovely to see my cousin Kelly and his girlfriend and baby. :)

A week later (last Thursday) was my company's annual Christmas party. We're a tiny little company so we all went to see Cirque du Soleil and then out to dinner afterwards in SF. Cirque du Soleil was REALLY cool - lots of amazing acrobatics and gorgeous costumes and just...theatrical spectacle, I guess. I was very impressed with the tightrope walker, who balanced way up high on a skinny little wire while hula-hooping about 20 hoops! Afterwards we went to a tiny Basque restaurant for dinner, and had an outstanding meal. Yay for French food!

Speaking of French food, I made a delicious French onion soup last night for dinner. I invited Babydaddy over for dinner, since I knew there would be plenty (and plus it's really, really good and I spent two hours making it, so I thought it would be nice to let someone else enjoy it, too). Yum. My newest addiction is Gruyere. I've been making toast for lunch, with melted Gruyere on top and some freshly ground pepper - for about the last week. Pretty soon I'll get sick of it (I hope! That stuff is expensive) but for now I'm content to scarf the yummy fattening melted cheese every day. Mmmm....cheese...

Also over the weekend, I made cookies and fruitcake. The fruitcake didn't turn out too well - apparently it wasn't cooked all the way on the bottom because half of it stuck in the pan (the NON-STICK pan) when I tried to pull it out. I guess my toothpicks just aren't long enough, because when I stuck it in after baking for 50 minutes, it came out clean. Next time I'll make fruitcake muffins instead. *sigh*