Month: December 2004

Christmas Eve

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I decided to bake a pistachio cake to bring to my mom’s for our Christmas Eve celebrations tonight. It’s in the oven as I type this. I wonder if anyone will like it. I never tried it before until my boss made it for a co-worker’s birthday last year. It’s so simple to make – just add a box of Jello Instant Pistachio Pudding mix to a yellow cake mix and bake as directed on the box. Yummy in my tummy! And if no one eats it, that’s just more for me. ;)

Today’s plan is to leave our place around 3 pm, pick up the kids, visit Joe’s aunt for a little bit, then go to my mom’s. Dinner is at 6 and she’s having pizza and fried chicken. Now that’s my idea of a great Christmas feast: fast, tasty and a diet-destroyer. ;)

After dinner we’ll open presents and goof off until about 9 or so when we’ll head for home where I predict both kids will fall asleep during the ride… or at least the boy since he always does.

When we get home, the kids will freak out over all the changes we’ve made since they visited two weeks ago (last time Joe’s son screeched when he saw the new tv stand; he cracks me up) and then go to bed. I will make every effort to catch tonight’s 11 pm (CST) showing of South Park as it’s the one where they sing all the Christmas songs.

Tomorrow morning we’ll do presents at our place and stay in our PJs all day, and Sunday the kids will go home and we’ll come back to play with our new toys. Then it will all be over. All that muss and fuss for two days. It’s rather funny when you think about it.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Temporarily blind

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Today was the worst day. I was brutally reminded and subsequently thankful for the gift of sight. Sometime around 11 am my left eye starting bugging me to the point that I took out my contact to see if there was something in it, only to learn there was a hole right in the center. I tried putting it back in, but it hurt too much, so I was forced to throw it in the trash.

This is when I found myself in trouble. See, I don’t bring my glasses with me to work, nor do I keep a spare pair of contacts in my desk (although after this incident, I sure as hell will). I was sitting there with super blind vision in my left eye and crystal clear vision in my right. If you aren’t blind like me, you cannot fully appreciate how horrible this is and how badly it messes with your vision. In fact, I could not see properly without either keeping my left eye shut or covering it with my hand. It still hurts, several hours later, from all the stress. But I digress.

Since my vision was screwed, there was no way I could drive home to get another pair of lenses. If I took out my right lens, I’d be truly blind, so that wasn’t an option either. Joe was my only hope, but he was stuck at home waiting for our dining room table to be delivered. The four hour window was 11:30 am – 3:30 pm. He tried calling them to get a better idea of when they planned on stopping by, but customer service was extremely rude toward him and said they had no idea. I’m fairly certain they were lying. I worked for the cable company for a few years and while we may have given people the impression we couldn’t contact our installers in the field, we could. I bet it’s the same for any company that handles deliveries. But whatever. He couldn’t chance leaving since he’d be gone close to an hour and have to take another day off for the delivery. Plus we wanted our table.

So I suffered a few hours more until quitting time which is when Joe finally made it to my office with a fresh pair of contacts. I was never so happy to see clearly in all my life!

I think all the dry air in the office took its toll on my lenses. They’ve been bothering me lately, but I was putting off changing them (they are monthly disposables). Two hours after the left lens went in the trash, I blinked too hard and suddenly I couldn’t see out my right eye anymore. At first I thought the contact had fallen on the floor or something, and I started freaking out because now I really couldn’t see! I soon realized it was stuck under my eyelid. What a crazy day. I did make my coworkers laugh with the tale of my bad contacts, though.

And I can see again… hallelujah!

Oh Christmas Tree

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Christmas Tree We originally planned on buying a fake Christmas tree after the holidays in order to get a good deal on one. However, we were at Home Depot on Sunday and all their trees were 50% off so we got the lovely one in the photo for only $35. It’s 7.5 feet and really pretty. My parents have had the same very small fake tree ever since I can remember and this one kicks its ass.

Anyway, I think the kids will be excited to have a tree … especially when it has lots of presents underneath. :)

It has arrived

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New Couch Well, our sectional has arrived! It’s a little larger than it seemed in the store, so it takes up more space that we originally thought it would, but we don’t care because it’s gorgeous, not to mention super comfy. I’ll take more photos tomorrow in the daylight as the ones here don’t represent the color accurately.

The only complaint I have is how the delivery guys were in such a hurry they were flipping the pieces around carelessly while unwrapping them. I’m not sure if they caused it, but there’s a small hole on the back of the far left section. We told them we want it replaced and they tried to talk us out of it. When we wouldn’t budge, they called someone who they claimed would call us to discuss the issue. When we asked them if we’d have to exchange the entire sectional, they said that someone would call us in a few minutes to discuss swapping just that piece. Then they asked Joe to sign off on the delivery, so he made sure to write on the page that there’s a hole in the fabric and we want the piece replaced to cover our butts so they can’t say we signed off on everything.

Oh, and we never heard back from anyone, so we’re going to have to call them tomorrow. I swear, they better not give us a hard time on this. I don’t care if the hole is small, the fact is I didn’t pay for a couch with a hole in it. If there’s going to be a hole in our couch, we’re going to put it there, damn it!

Dining Set

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Largo Dinette Well, we finally found a dining set we like! Actually, we’ve seen it several times while out looking but wanted to exhaust all available options before making a decision. Everything else we saw was either too big, too fugly, or over our price limit, so we chose the Largo Dinette Collection from Harlem Room Place. We like it because the table has somewhat of a unique look because with the leaf in it’s square. Plus it’s more a cafe style because it sits higher, which we like. I also like how the square pattern on the table-top is a darker wood and almost matches our laminate wood flooring. In addition, the table has a butterfly leaf which means it folds into the bottom of the table which makes it more convenient to change the size.

Since Joe is off on Thursday, we’re having it delivered in time for Christmas. Too bad we can’t seem to find an affordable area rug for the dining room. I really wanted to get one to protect the floor because despite the manufacturer’s claim that it is dent resistant, Joe dropped a roll of painter’s tape on it, and the surface chipped! Can you believe that? And the brand is Mohawk so it’s not cheap flooring either. It seems really sensitive to me, and I’m so glad we didn’t put it in the living room too or I’d really be pissed. Once we get a rug, I will be able to breathe easier.