It's a dark, sad time in the Dater household

Adrian opted not to stay at the jinxed Marriott last night and came home.  I was asleep but vaguely remember hearing some pretty serious swearing coming from him.

I just hope that the below is still intact when I get home from work later:

You may send your condolences to Adrian through this blog!

PS:  A note to Gisele, getting caught on video blasting the receivers isn't a way for your Tommy to have too many friends in the locker room, just sayin'
 

It's the biggest game of the year, and Adrian's team, the Patriots, are playing...

We have the big screen TV all ready...and where will he be watching?  In a hotel room.  Yup, you read that right.  At first he told me that I needed to take Tommy and go watch somewhere else.  Riiight...on a Sunday night, Tommy has school the next day, you are NOT kicking me out of my own house.

I suggested he go to his friend Bob's house.  Nope, because the last time the Pats were in a big game he watched it there and they lost, so now Bob's house is a jinx.  I'm not sure if that means the house, or if maybe Bob is the jinx, or their dog Brady (yes, named after Tom Brady) is a big, hairy jinx.

So a hotel it is.  Let me tell you about past championship games.

Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002, we were newly married.  I always want to watch for the commercials (I work in advertising, I'm interested).  He said the game couldn't be on in the house.  Riiiight, that's not happening, so I holed up in the bedroom to watch while he yelled at me from downstairs that I was ruining everything.  Finally I gave in because it wasn't worth the trouble and turned it off.  My parents called to ask if Adrian was happy about the win and I had to tell them he didn't know they had won.  He spent the rest of the night watching the highlights.

Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004...this is the year Janet Jackson had her wardrobe malfunction and I was VERY pregnant.  Tommy was actually born 9 days later and was NOT named after Tom Brady FYI.  Anyway we were at my sister's house amongst her friends who were rooting against the Patriots if I remember correctly.  Adrian got so worked up (frankly I am amazed he was even there watching) he finished watching the game in the basement alone.

2004 World Series, the Red Sox against the Cardinals, it's the final game, which he had been watching downstairs (I was upstairs, do you see a pattern here) and suddenly I am aware the TV is no longer on downstairs so I go looking for him.  He's pacing in the backyard, in the dark.  Once the Sox finished off the Cardinals I yelled out the window "you can come in and stop acting like a jerk now".  Again, he spent the rest of the night watching the highlights and what he missed whilst pacing in the dark.

We were actually AT game 4 during the 2007 series when the Sox beat the Rockies, so he was fine, all wrapped up in the game and the excitement.  I believe that's the only championship game we have actually watched together.

So tonight, I'll be upstairs watching the game while Adrian is across town at the Marriott.  Likely pacing the halls with the game turned off.  I really hope the Patriots win, otherwise the Marriott will be deemed a jinx and we'll never get to stay in one again.

Go Pats!!!

Random thoughts

I spent the weekend being foiled by fish.  After the drama of the original 5 fish...well, 4 fish died and the last one just up and disappeared...I started the tank over.

New rock, new water, scrubbed the entire tank and plants and stuff down.  Ran the sucker for a week.  I also got a thermometer for the outside of the tank to make sure I wasn't boiling them in there.  Friday we go off to PetSmart for new fish.  Talk to the fish lady a long time, and leave with 3 Tiger Barbs.  She said in 3 weeks we could add other fish but to start with these 3.

Got home, dumped them in, fed them, life is GOOD.  Sunday morning, we flushed 2 of the 3.  Mother Trucker.  BACK to PetSmart where I tell my tale of woe.  Part of the conversation goes like this, AFTER she tests our water and deems it perfect:

FishLady#2:   Do you have your receipt?
Me:  Yes
FL#2:  Do you have the fish?
Me:  The DEAD fish?
FL#2:  Yes, do you have them?
Me:  Why on earth would I still have the dead fish?
FL#2:  Well we can replace them with a receipt and the dead fish.
Me:  Seriously you want me to bring in dead fish carcass?  That's disgusting!
FL#2:  Well most people put them in a ziplock baggie and freeze them to bring in
Me: You want me to put dead fish carcass in my freezer???

Seriously.  I'll buy new fish.  That's just wrong.  So we bought 2 more fish.  As of this morning they all looked pretty good.  Every morning that they are swimming is a huge relief because fishing out those dead suckers is disgusting.  Wish us luck!

Notice to strange men looking to pick up women in bars...

Friday night my friend Leslie and I went to our favorite girls' night hangout, Baker's Street.  Leslie is newly single and sometimes there are some decent pickings.  We scored a table and ordered some drinks and dinner.  Brenda joined us shortly thereafter and we were having a good time. 

This guy approaches the table.  Number one, he has a soul patch.  Gross.  He asks if he can share some space on our table.  Not wanting to be rude we said OK but then I said he had to be quiet and not talk to us...so much for not being rude.  Then his friend walks up and we start chatting with them, but also continuing the conversation the three of us had going on. 

It comes out that I am a People Hater.  Soul Patch asks why I hate people and I said I hate stupid people.  He asks for a frame of reference so I throw out that I don't like people on Capitol Hill who try to tell Americans what they can and can't do.  Gay's should be able to marry and women should maintain the right to choose.  Oh Jesus.  This guy grabs hold and won't let go.  I keep telling him that this was girls' night out and that I wasn't there to discuss politics with a soul patch wearing right winger.  He gets all in my face about why do I care so much what he thinks about me.  Um, I don't.  And anyone who knows me knows I don't give a rat's all WHAT people think of me and my beliefs.  Finally they left.  Good riddance.

Then Brenda had to go...so along come two other losers.  Much younger and much more intoxicated than the first two.  These guys were slurring their words, the one tried to tell us he was a chemist but it came out more like chemicalist...they called Leslie a "stewardess"...Leslie and I looked at each other, determined the night a bust, and went home.

So men...if you approach women in a bar who look like they are having a good time without your presence, have the decency to move on to the next group of gals.  ThankYouVeryMuch.

'Twas three days before Christmas

And Mother Nature dumped a lot of snow
I had one day of work left and didn't want to go.
I wished for a snow day but Todd said "oh no"
If you want a snow day you take PTO!

The Weatherman scared everyone, no one wanted to drive
I made record time to the office, I made it alive!
I got all my work done, I'm not staying 'til five
I'm leaving here early, for this I will strive.

I've got presents to wrap and food to prepare
The guys in my house are of no help, they really don't care.
All the work falls on me, it doesn't seem fair
There would be no Christmas if I were not there.

So tonight I will sort and lable and wrap
Who's idea was it to buy all this crap?
Video games and Lego and Xbox...
Is this what he asked for when on Santa's lap?

As much as I Bah Humbug and act like the Grinch
The reason I do all this work is a cinch
The joy that I see on  my Tommy's face
Is the reason I participate in the holiday rat race.

See, even Mrs. Scrooge can find some holiday cheer
To all of my friends who are far and near
I wish you the very best over the holidays and for the coming year.

PS:  I'll work on my rhyming for next year, I promise!

Bah Humbug

Have I mentioned lately that this time of year is NOT my favorite?  I remember as a kid, the wait between Thanksgiving and Christmas was eternal.  Now it goes by in a flash.  There are several reasons for this:

Grown-ups do all the work.  We shop, we bake, we wrap, we ship, all on top of working a full time job.  There is barely enough time to sleep, alcohol consumption goes up nation-wide (OK, I made that part up), the post office is a nightmare (lucky for me my hubby takes care of that part).  There is just too much to do.

Kids, well, they just sit around and wait.  They circle what they want in the toy catalog, they go see Santa, they want everything they see on TV...it's a long process for them.  Then the big day comes and all of our hard work as parents is demolished in mere minutes. 

I'm not a cook, but I do like to bake or whatever during this time of year.  For the past several years I have made something like 13 batches of Chex Mix, PER YEAR.  This year?  Nada, nothing, big fat ZERO.

Tomorrow is cinnamon roll baking day with my friend Susan.  We are on a time constraint due to the kids getting out of school at 230, their holiday party at 130, yadda yadda.  So tomorrow at 830 we begin the task of rolling out the dough.  Lots of dough.  Dough that I have to have ready by 830 when there is a 2-hour prep window.  I'll be scalding milk at 6am...damn you, Pioneer Woman!!!!

Saturday is cookie day with our friend, Karen.  It's a tradition that Tommy and I look forward to every year.  I'm still not done shopping, I'm not done wrapping, and I'm certainly not done bitching about the holidays.  I vote that we do it once every 4 years, like the Olympics, and people will appreciate it more.

In the meantime I'm off to train Manny the Elf how to scald milk and mix in yeast.  Sh*t.  Yeast that I have yet to buy...ho ho freaking ho.

The shopping mall is like a mine field

I rarely go to the mall.  There are only a handful of stores that can get me there, otherwise I go to the nearby outside mall.  When I DO go to the mall, which happens to be Flatirons Crossing, I have to methodically plot my way through so as to avoid those annoying mall kiosk sales people.

Those people are like vulchers.  They wander out into the walkways and want to squirt lotion on you or crimp your hair or clean your jewelry.  They are highly trained at blocking your path whilst waving about the product they are trying to sell.  It usually goes something like this:

Annoying Kiosk Salesperson (AKS):  Would you like to try some lotion
Me:  No thank you
AKS:  Can I ask you a question?
Me:  You just did and no thank you

I don't like to be purposefully rude, but trying to draw me into some kind conversation by asking me a question...puhlease.  I don't want your product thankyouverymuch.  Go away and let me be. 

It's not like I'm strolling along at a leisurely pace either, I shop with a purpose, I want in and out.  If you see me heading full tilt toward you, don't get in my way or you are likely to become mall road kill.  I detest these AKS so much that I now have a path that involves many escalators and department store detours to avoid the long stretch of AKS.  A trip to the mall now takes twice as long because of the detours.  I suppose I could look at it like an exercise routine.  Or, I could just stay away from the mall, which would make my hubby's wallet very happy.