Archive for the ‘blogging’ Category

Anybody there?

(tap, tap)

Hello?

Helllllloo?

HELLLOOOOO????

(tap, tap)

Bueller?  Bueller?

Oh, imaginary friends, how I’ve missed you so!  We have never been separated so long before and I do have to say that absence definitely does make the heart grow fonder because I just kept thinking as I sat on the phone with AT&T every day yelling at someone in India about my internet connection not working, “Gosh, I wonder what those crazy imaginary friends are up to these days?”

Though, when I tried to explain to the person in India that I needed them to get my internet working STAT because I had thousands of imaginary friends that I was about to lose if I didn’t talk to them soon, I think they purposefully took longer than necessary to get my internet working again.

DON’T JUDGE ME, AT&T!  DON’T JUDGE ME AND MY IMAGINARY RELATIONSHIP WITH THESE IMAGINARY PEOPLE!

Thankfully, a nice technician came out to our house today and pushed some buttons on the little box doo-hickey thingy on the side of our house and said, “You have internet.”

Then I squealed.

Then I jumped in the pool with Bean Man.

Then he squealed.

But, lo and behold, when I sat down at my computer later today, there was still no internet.  So, I took drastic measures.  I got Chris involved.

Getting Chris involved in problems that require speaking to automated systems is always a last resort because he pitches fits like a little girl (no offense, my masculine hubby wubby…).  But, he’s pretty good about stepping in when I’ve had enough and so today I handed the internet problem over to him.

As we sat on the couch tonight in our uber spacious, uber cozy, uber box-filled living room, Chris called AT&T while I sat next to him stuffing my face with Domino’s and watching the Auburn Mississippi State football game (P.S. It took me three tries to spell Mississippi right when I typed that…) (P.S.S.  I just copied and pasted Mississippi into that last sentence so I wouldn’t have to type it again…) (P.S.S.S. DON’T JUDGE ME, AT&T!).  I could tell he got the automated system because he started speaking incredibly slow, which always throws those automated things off.  So, he kept having to repeat himself.

AT&T Automated System:  Please tell me the reason for your call.

Chris:  Technical support.

AT&T Automated System:  I’m sorry, I did not understand that response.  Please tell me the reason for your call.

Chris:  Tech-ni-cal Sup-port.

AT&T Automated System:  I’m sorry, I did not understand that response.  Please tell me the reason for your call.

Chris:  Problem with my internet connection.

AT&T Automated System:  I’m sorry, I did not understand that response.  Please tell me the reason for your call.

Chris:  I’m having a problem with my in-ter-net con-nec-tion.

AT&T Automated System:  I’m sorry, I did not understand that response.  Please tell me the reason for your call.

Chris:  MY SH*T ISN’T WORKING!!!!!

And that, dear imaginary friends, is why we don’t let Chris talk to automated systems.  That is also how we got our internet restored tonight.

Anyway, the long and the short of it is that we have finally moved into our new house and we finally have internet and so I am finally able to talk to you again.  I would love to show you pictures of our new house, but Chris is being a fuddy duddy and won’t let me take any pictures until we get the house looking more organized.  This simply means that I shall wait until he goes to work tomorrow and then I will take pictures and post them to the world wide web.

Speaking of jobs, I still haven’t started mine yet.  Bummer.  But I guess when you’re going to be in a classroom with young adults molding and shaping the minds of tomorrow, they want to make sure you haven’t killed anyone and that you don’t have crack in your back pocket.  So, I did my background check and drug testing this week and pending any problems with those (which would be odd seeing as to how I am afraid of drugs and the only violent behavior I have been prone to is occasionally throwing a Tupperware lid at Chris…), I should start teaching on Monday.  I’m super, super excited.  Super.  Super, super excited.  I even went out today to a teacher supply store and bought decorations for my classroom.  And I may or may not have also bought a black t-shirt with a little red apple on the front pocket…

I cannot confirm nor deny those allegations.

But I did.

Today I also took Bean to meet his new teachers at the daycare where he’ll be going.  I love this daycare.  Love it.  And apparently Bean does, too, because when we got into the classroom he took off and joined the other little dudes for circle time and never even looked around for me.  I just hung back like a lame, hovering parent.  And then I started whispering his name and making him blow me kisses.  And then they suggested that maybe I should wait out in the hallway.  And then I grabbed Bean and ran out of there and hid him under my bed where he will stay until he is either ready to admit that he cannot live without me or until he turns 18 and I can’t legally keep him there any longer.

All in all, it has been a really exciting, nerve-wracking, busy, happy time for our family this past week.  But we are finally getting settled into our new house and with my job starting Monday and Bean heading back to daycare, our schedule should settle down again.

What this means for YOU is that I’m back to my regularly scheduled blogging now.  Every day.  And you can’t make me stop.

So there.

Dear Friends,

There just aren’t enough words to thank you all so very much for your kind comments, emails, Facebook messages, tweets, snail mail, offers of money and printers and computers and DVD players and cameras and all the things in between.  Your outpouring of love, support, and encouragement have made such a dark time much brighter.  It is easy to forgive the bad in the world when there is clearly so much good in it.

Chris, Bean, Big Molly, Lucy, and I are at my parent’s house, filling their clean, quiet home with dirty diapers, bowls of kibble, and lots of noise.  But they don’t seem to mind in the least.  Every need we have had during this ordeal they have met before we even had to ask.  I don’t know what we would do without them.

I haven’t blogged this week because I have been spending some extra time with my family, especially Bean Man.  Though he doesn’t seem to be having any trouble adjusting to all this chaos around him, I can’t help but worry that this time of transition is going to do some deep permanent damage and turn him into a serial killer later in life.  So, to ward that off we are reading lots of books, working lots of puzzles, playing lots of games, singing lots of songs, and watching lots of PBS.  If Sid the Science Kid can’t save you from your serial killer within, who can?

I’m also taking this time to get my own head on straight.  We have lots of things happening right now – all very good things! – and it is a lot for me to take in and adjust to myself.  The break in was just the push we needed to get things moving in our lives and we are in the process of finding a much better house and I am happy to report that I have had TWO job offers this week!  So, I’m taking time to sort through these things and make some decisions for our family.

Next week, I’ll be back with lots of exciting news for you.  But until then, please know that your thoughts and prayers have meant the world to me and we are seeing the effect of them on our lives this week.  Thank you for being kind, generous, loving, empathetic people.  Your warmth has radiated off the computer screen and wrapped its arms around our family.  I will always remember that.

With deepest appreciation,
Katie

When Chris and I first started working with Flosites, the web design company who is designing our new website, the first thing we had to do was answer a huge questionnaire on our style, complete with pictures.  That way, the web designers could get a feel for what we liked and preferred and what would work for our new site.

I knew right away what style I wanted.  I wanted my whole website – no, my whole being – to emulate Anthropologie.  It’s one of my favorite, favorite stores.  I love everything in there.  I love their oddly chic clothes, their old fashioned and still hip home accessories, their trendy and yet classic hobo bags.  Everything about that store’s style makes my heart sing.  I could spend hours in there redesigning and redesigning every compartment of my entire life.

But after spending more time getting to know us through our blog and the rest of our questionnaire, the Flosites designers came back with a harsh reality.

Anthropologie wasn’t really my style.

At first, I wanted to argue.  To insist.  I WAS THAT STORE.  If I was a style, that would be the style I was.  But when I thought harder about it, I sort of saw where they were coming from.  And the glaring fact that brought me back to my senses was that no matter how much I loved that store, no matter how many catalogs I dog-eared, or how many imaginary shopping carts I filled online, I had never bought anything at Anthropologie.

Well, that’s not really true.  One time I bought one little black dress because I was out of town for a bachelorette party and I realized that my dress for our big night out with the bride looked more like a church dress compared to everyone else, so I splurged and bought a brand new dress there in Anthropologie while we were all out shopping.  But I only wore it that one weekend and since then it has hung in my closet, untouched.

(That’s me on the far right with the green clutch.)

Maybe those web designers knew what they were talking about after all.  Darn it.

It ended up being the right choice by Flosites because the look they came up with instead was spot-on perfect and I can’t wait to launch the new site in the next few weeks.  If I were a website, this is the website I would be.  It fits me perfectly.

But, alas, it is very much not Anthropologie.  Nevertheless, I continue to shop their website and occasionally browse through their stores.  And when the cute, trendy, hip counter clerks ask if they can help me, I will still say, “No, thank you.  I’m just browsing.”

I wonder sometimes though what it would be like to free my inner Bohemian.  Hopefully this year we’ll be buying a house and moving again and while the idea of packing up and unpacking again makes my skin crawl, I secretly have been harboring this plan to completely change the style of my house when we move this time.  No more country rose floral rugs.  No more paisley and gingham.  Maybe it’s time to explore the possibilities of brighter colors and flashier prints.  Maybe it’s time to be a little bolder.  Maybe after 27 years, it’s time to change my style.

Though, I do wonder how chic this table cloth would look with spaghetti stains all over it…