Expectations

(This posting was originally themed 'Expectations and Entitlement' but by the time I got around to entitlement, the expectations had brought me too much joy and I decided to quit right there.  Lesson learned.) 

Last week brought my friends Katie and Dave a beautiful little gift in the form of wrinkly skin, poopy diapers, and a pretty face with TWO! dimples.  After months of anticipating her arrival, Sophie showed up exactly when she was expected.  I watched as Sophie's new parents stared at her with awe, amazement, and of course love as she yawned, wiggled, and enjoyed her 1st-day-of-life-out-of-the-womb slumber.  Oh!  How an itty bitty person can carve such a gargantuan mark on our souls.

 
Later that week, Matt and I got our own little unexpected bundle of joy to the tune of sloppy water drinking, destruction prone, loves to chase squirrels doggie, Mia.  She is needy, skinny, scared, and FULL of love.  She hasn't left my 5 foot personal space bubble since Saturday.  At the first feeling of abandonment, Mia attempts to flee, victimizing anything in her way (including but not limited to: vases, plants, picture frames, window blinds, window screens). So we bought a crate.  At any rate, loving Mia means being patient, forgiving, and learning how to fix psychological issues within a dog.  But she isn't just a dog; she is MY dog, my buddy, my Mama Mia.

Feels something like an Alien

When you get married, things change.  Some people choose to change their names as a symbol of unity, becoming one flesh, one family.  I did it to prevent my kids from having to endure cheering at their basketball games..."Yeah!  Put it in the bucket, Bird-Pfister!"  "Bird-Pfister, Bird-Pfister, defense, defense!"  It was just the nice thing to do.

I had to change my name on my bank account, credit card, drivers license, social security card, and other important accounts, like my Facebook profile.  Surprisingly, most name-change applications inquired about employment.  The bank lady actually asked me TWICE about my job.  Usually, the painful exchange goes something like this:

"Where are you working?"
"I'm currently unemployed."
"Oh, I'm sorry." (said with much empathy/pity)
"No, really it's ok.  I'm unemployed by choice for now."
"Oh.  So, what do you...do?"

As in, how can you possibly contribute to society by NOT working?!  What do you...do?  It cracks me up.  And then it makes me feel bad.  So, in keeping with relishing and appreciating the time allowed by my unemployment, this post is dedicated to stuff I do, did, or have done lately that I would have not otherwise been able to do during a teacher's workday.

-gave moral support to a friend at 11:00am while she was applying for jobs

-baked bread for the neighbor who just lost her husband

-drove to Houston to see new nugget

-made applesauce

-found cheap couches on craigslist at 1:00pm

-carried couches into house at 1:30pm

-got couch cushions refoamed

-wrote a zillion thank you notes

-gchatted with a friend at work in crisis

-finished these projects:

Matt's arm warmers and 3 pairs of wrist warmers, goes well with unemployed status.

  Sophie's sweater...she should be coming any day now!

I am dually proud and ashamed of this sweater.  Proud because I finished it, ashamed because there are a lot of unexplained bumps and holes.

Things I will do in the future:

-complete job application.

If Bruno says it, it must be True.

My good friend, Bruno, often tells mini-stories that are kind of unbelievable and then ends his statement with, "No, really.  It's true."  He is from Brazil and I think they like to tell the truth in Brazil.  While chatting with him online today, he wrote:  If a good cook is too thin, you can't trust her food.  In my quest to be a good, respectable cook, I will NOT go jogging today.  Baaaaaah!  The idea of me being 'too thin' has never entered my mind before today, but he is my friend and I must heed his advice. 


Thanks, Bruno.  I think I'll go start cooking dinner!

note: Bruno is my very first Brazilian friend, and the only blue eyed Brazilian I know.  I assumed he was Scandinavian when we first met, and thought he was lying to me.  I should have known better.


Me - "What?  You're Brazilian?"  
Bruno - "No, really.  It's true.  I am from Brazil."  

See?  They always tell the truth!

Jog Blog

Since jogging alone is not a social activity, mentally stimulating, or plain entertaining for me, I like to have some company; my little green second hand iPod.  Today was a little different.  While running jogging around my newly discovered lake route, I took out the ear piece closest to the lake, as if to try and hear what the lake was saying.  "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?  My iPod was turned up too loud."  I think it said something like, "You should get out more." 

Talking to Rosa is now an hourly occurance.  Frankly, I think she understands me, which also means she is learning the full extent of just how nutso her Human is.  Case in point; when the Hershey's squeezy bottle refuses to give up it's last tablespoon of chocolate, I open it up and stick my finger in it and pretend it's a bowl of brownie mix.  I HAVE GOT TO GET OUT AND SEE SOME NORMAL PEOPLE. The real problem?   Matt just laughs when I talk to my cat or shamefully lick the last bit of chocolate from the bottle.  And I laugh at him when he rounds the kitchen corner looking like this:

It makes me laugh so hard whenever I see it.  He was training for the Northern Blizzard Smog Jog.  OR He was working on our fireplace and didn't want stuff in his lungs or his eyes.  The result?

 

No wait, that's my applesauce...which was also very enjoyable.

 

The fruit of his hard labor was this:

So maybe my days of solitude aren't so bad; a warm fire, knitting goodies, and eating applesauce.  I'll see what the lake has to say tomorrow.