Ultranormal

  • And I’m Out!

    \
    They (big thanks to Shawn for organizing it and Andy, Bert and Frank for picking up the tab!) threw an awesome going away party for me Thursday afternoon, which was a great idea, because yesterday I was super sick and just barely made it in to turn in my badge, laptop, blackberry, etc and grab my boxes and mini-fridge.\
    I love the people at AOL, always have. I’ve worked with, literally, hundreds of people in my thirteen years there, and I’m sad that I won’t see them every day now. But, it was definitely time to go. Now, I’m unemployed for two whole days before starting my new job down in Savannah. If I weren’t so sick, I might actually enjoy it!

  • Last day

    Today is Kevin’s last day at AOL. He’d been there for 13 years. Can you imagine? That is the same amount of time spent in school. AOL helped him find his passion, meet like-minded people, travel the world, pay off my student debt (hey, super thanks for that), and develop into an awesome web dude. Over 100 people went to his goodbye party. Which, wow. Thanks, AOL. You’ve been awesome to us, which we’ll always appreciate. Bye now. Have a great summer. Keep in touch!\
    ETA- Oh noes! Kevin doesn’t have the internet attached to his hip anymore. I am going through withdrawal already.

  • La la la

    Amazing what a good window cleaning does to the view. Yes, the cleaners are here and totally worth every penny for doing the jobs I couldn’t/wouldn’t. Whatever house we decide on in Georgia, we must factor in the “Jen is a bad housekeeper” into the budget. Even just twice a year would be awesome, for stuff like behind the washer and dryer. Being able to afford things like this, even though I don’t work, is why I don’t mind Kevin being gone on the occasional anniversary: cuz I’m treated like a princess everyday. 🙂 (Excuse me while I go puke from my cheesiness.)\
    Speaking of which, Brian is sick again. I hope that his leaving the AWESOME AOL school means that he won’t be sick as often. I can hope, right? He got better for awhile, keeping food down and everything, while I got sick. Ugh. Kevin came home early and doctored me right on up. I was much better by the time Brian started bouts number 2, 3, and 4. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he will be all the way better so he can go to school tomorrow, which is his last day. I want him to say goodbye to everyone, plus they are having a goodbye party for him.\
    Call me slow, but I just realized that by renting a house in Savannah, I am going to have to move again, and soon. Waaaah. Maybe I will keep some things boxed up until we get to the “real” house.\
    I still love freecycle, but having to choose which person with their “please pick me” story to give the item to is so… icky. I always thought I wanted to run a charity/foundation/scholarship thingy after we made our first several hundred million (ha), but I kind of take that back. Maybe I should just hire someone to do the picking for my future-imaginary charity, yes?

  • Kevin? Mommy? Dr A?

    Brian gave me the icky stomach bug. I just can’t cope with this type of illness. Give me a cold, a sprained ankle, a headache, something other than this, please.

  • I forgot the mainpoint of my post earlier

    So, where was I? … Oh yes, the Red Cross says that my blood is special and extra-needed and I feel extra motivated to donate more. THEY SHOULD TELL THIS TO EVERYONE. They don’t even need to lie, “Your blood, Ms. Jones, tested positive for virus chryosomethingoranother. We need your blood to treat patients with serious injuries and illnesses.” See? No lying or truth-fudging.\
    In other news, the carpet guys are still here. Kevin is upstairs putting furniture back where it belongs, reassembling one of the kids’ beds even though it is not his responsibility. This means he will be too tired to help me with the “real” to do list later tonight. The good news is that the upstairs carpet looks nice. It’s just light brown. The bad news is the carpet in the basement makes my eyes cross. It’s two-toned berber and is just busy-looking. Oops. The carpet guys also didn’t do one area completely and then work on the second area- they did them simultaneously- which means that my plan of working on the basement when they moved to work upstairs was totally shot. Oh well. More for me to do later.\
    Brian’s got the pukey-sickness again. Ugh.\
    I am about 2.5 seconds away from exploding from the stress.\
    ETA- I just canceled the painters, which is a huge load off. I just couldn’t keep up, moving things from place to place in the wake of/in prep for the various goings on here. Phew. I’mma gonna rest for a bit.

  • I totally empathize with Superman

    For Intl Day of Awesomeness, I donated blood for the first time in years. They tested my blood and told me that I am negative for a common virus, which means my blood is more pure than most (I think they said 95% of the population). This means that my blood is needed for premature babies, cancer patients, and trauma victims. It has been less than a month since I have been able to donate again and I have received at least 6 calls and 3 letters asking for my blood. I really want to donate more… but, you know, I’m busy. First, a bunch of us came down with a stomach virus for 2 weeks and then I had to do the laundry that wasn’t done during those two weeks. Now I am trying to move. But I should totally be out there donating blood and saving some lives. Oy, the pressure!

  • LOL

    Kevin didn’t realize I was being serious about him not having a place to sleep tonight. Teehee. Oh, wait, I mean OOPS.

  • Eureka!

    Oh my heavens! I just realized that Kevin can help me get ready for the new carpet tomorrow after he gets home. Hallelujah. My plan today was to finish up the basement. I am about 5 trips away from being done but I’m TIRED. And I can’t just do it tomorrow because I have the boys’ rooms to finish. Oy. But then I remembered Kevin. Wheeeee.

  • Goings on

    Aunt Margie wants me to keep her updated on the moving situation, so she can have post-traumatic flashbacks to all of the times she moved. Or something. And she wants to make in-jokes about The Lady and Sons, except I don’t know what that place is. I should look it up so I can be giggly with her.\
    I need to start eating the food at the back of the pantry- you know, the oddball stuff that you don’t remember why you bought it. Thankfully I wasn’t in the mood to stock up on canned goods when I went to Costco last month. At least now I won’t be serving canned green beans with every meal.\
    So, I have a ton of boxes now. Thanks, Freecycle of Sterling! I also got rid of my rocking chair and it’s going to a good home. How come I didn’t know about freecycle before? I love getting rid of things AND getting them to a good home. I’ll be sure to join the group in Savannah.\
    On Tuesday, we are getting new carpet in the basement, both sets of stairs, the upstairs hall and the boys’ bedrooms. Preparing for this is a huge pain. My bedroom is the dumping ground for all of the boys’ stuff (toys, clothes, books, linens), the bottom of the hall closet, the stuff on the hall bookshelf, and the random computer storage from the landing. Ugh. My room needs new carpet too, but since all of the stuff has to go somewhere while the carpet is being installed, it will have to wait until the following week so I can shuffle everything to the boys’ rooms. The office is the dumping ground for the basement’s toys, computer, and tv. The laundry waiting to be washed will have to spend the day in the bathroom down there.\
    Kevin is still conferencing. He gets home on Monday to a whirlwind and no place to sleep. The boys have been sleeping with me and since we need to strip their beds for the new carpet, I went ahead and did that already. Oops.

  • Apparently all it takes to get things done quickly is to be able to make decisions quickly. Who knew? (Um, yea, Kevin and I dated for 5 weeks before getting engaged.)\
    A little more than 48 hours ago I was daydreaming about the fancy new carpet I had just ordered and how awesome it would be to finally get the basement back to organized. A day later, Kevin accepted a job offer in Georgia. Since then, I have:

    • sent Kevin off to chat about rails. (Seriously, SXSW is geek Spring Break, this conference sounds like geek Summer Camp.)
    • stressed a bunch about homes and schools and selling and buying and money and traveling and missing my husband and traumatizing my kids and being away from any family.
    • found the neighborhood in Savannah we want to move to (18 minutes from the beach! The BEACH! WHEEEEE!).
    • decided to rent out our house in Va, to weather the downturn a little until it rebounds some.
    • found a property management company, I think.
    • decided to rent a house in Savannah, so I can take my time finding the perfect house for us with in-law accommodations!!
    • canceled the fancy carpet in favor of cheaper carpet.
    • got estimates for some painting and small repairs.
    • decided to just go with the painter who came tonight, without taking a month to ponder all of the implications of this decision.
    • talked with my MIL for hours in which I’ve completely upended all of the decisions Kevin and I made (ha).
    • planned out how to stage the house, what to get rid of, what to offer to a tenant.
    • scheduled and canceled carpet people, cleaners, estimates.
    • rescheduled carpet people, cleaners, and painters.
    • obsessively checked my status on the freecycle group so I can start getting rid of the many things I don’t want to move down to Ga.
    • scrounged to find a specific paint can so I can get more of that color.
    • boxed up dvds, cds, and video games so the workmen can actually get to the area to do their thing.\
      Ugh, I’m tired. Kevin feels bad(ly?) that I am doing this without him. It’s fine though, at least for right now. 🙂 I won’t hesitate to remind him that diamonds are forever, heh, as is our love- woot woot. My other diamond inspired motto: As your love grows, so should your diamonds.