Limbo

I read my friend Missy’s blog last week and she had a very insightful post about packing and organizing for a life that hasn’t even started yet. After college, like Missy, I started buying household items for a future apartment or house, and packing them up along with other personal belongings hoping that someday soon I would be moving away and on my own.

Later that same day I got home from work and stood in my room looking around at what I have collected over the months since moving back home from college in mid-2004. I realized I had bought a lot of stuff for a future residence. I bought a big boy bed, a bookshelf, a chair, a computer desk, numerous household decorations such as pictures, vases, lamps (I seriously have more lamps than I can shake a stick at – it’s kind of a vice of mine. I love cool lamps… it’s weird, I know), artsy stuff from Ikea, mirrors, and candles. I had such grandiose dreams – living at home with my mom for a short period of time and then moving out with a roommate after having lived at home for 6 months and living happily ever after. That dream soon faded away into oblivion and I stopped buying and organizing for something that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

After living at home for a while, I began to realize that I would not have the ability to move out on my own because a.) I had no more options for roommates as all my friends had found other people to live with, and b.) I was not making enough money to live on my own without a roommate because rent is so outrageous for a one bedroom. Living at home really isn’t all that bad. I can’t complain because my set up is really quite ideal. Cheap rent, I have the entire lower level of my mom’s house to myself, free cable, free internet, free utilities… and I can close off half of the lower level where my bedroom and bathroom are from the rest of the house. And besides, I’m practically living at Matt’s apartment anyway, so I am hardly ever actually living at my house.

I had been off the home decorating kick and buying things for a while until this past weekend when Matt and I went and toured some of the homes in the Parade of Homes booklet. He and I looked at some townhouses in Woodbury. If he and I end up staying in Minnesota, we would more than likely get a townhouse – and just looking for fun gave me the itch to start anticipating a move again – and the move would not even happen until October or November. Then Monday night my mom and I went to Target together and she bought my sister some new dishes for her birthday and she convinced me to buy this lamp (like I need anymore lamps!) that was on clearance. We finished splurging on household items and went home and I started collecting items from my old bedroom upstairs and organizing them into big Rubbermaid containers.

I don’t know if it’s me just wanting to move, or if it’s my Bree VanDeKamp/Martha Stewart obsession with keeping things organized, or if it’s just the Spring Cleaning phase coming into play… Since I can’t quite put my finger on what the deal is, it makes me feel like I’m in limbo – and it’s not just the whole living situation above, but my career and future as well. There are some things I know I am certain of at this point, but not everything. I think a lot of people my age are in limbo at this time of their life. I guess I just have to wait and see what comes my way and hope for the best.

Bathroom Encounters

Rule NUMBER ONE when in the men's restroom: NEVER talk to the guy at the next urinal while you are peeing (mainly if you don't know him).

This has had to have happened to every guy at one point or another in his life - you're having a peaceful piss, and then the guy at the next urinal decides to be all neighborly and strike up a conversation about baseball, or some other masculine topic which I would know nothing about, given my circumstances. You stand there - uncomfortable and trying to pee faster just to get the heck out of there - awkwardly staring at the wall and noticing that the no-talent ass clown next to you is actually trying to make eye contact with you. This brings me to Rule NUMBER TWO: If you happen to be one of those guys who talks to his urinal neighbor, do not try and make eye contact. It's just uncomfortable and gross.

It should be one of those known rules in the bathroom to not talk to anyone (unless you really know them well, but even then you still stare at the wall, not at them), but occasionally you get those rebels who break the rules and make it weird. However, all of the above can be avoided, if you have more than two urinals to take advantage of.

Rule NUMBER THREE: If there are numerous urinals to choose from, always leave a space of one urinal between you and any other guy.

All of this came about because here at work, I only have the option of two urinals and two stalls in the bathroom on this floor. There have been many times where I'll be standing in an empty bathroom doing my business and some clown will come in and stand at the next available space, and strike up a conversation with me like we've been best friends for years. It's uncomfortable. And it's just weird. Don't do it...

Buca

I ventured to Matt’s homestead in O-Town again last night. We went down for the Owatonna Gun Club’s annual roast beef dinner. The food was pretty good and Matt’s dad paid for our tickets, so I couldn’t complain too much. It was everything I could have imagined – small town gun club, small town people, with home cooking. It was quite a nice break from the city for a few hours.

I also got to meet Matt’s newest pride and joy – his 2 week old nephew, Christian. Christian is a little peanut of a baby with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He is quite a sight to see; however, I have to remain loyal to my Lukie… he’s still the cutest little man that I know! But Christian is certainly right up there.

Matt held his “Buca” most of the night and got his “Christian fix”. Matt was so sweet with Christian. He held him in his arms and his hands gently cradled his head. I had never seen Matt hold a baby before, and to be quite honest – it was one of the cutest and most touching things I’ve seen. For those of you who don’t know Matt, he’s very tall, so seeing this tall guy holding a tiny little seven pound infant was adorable.

For someone who said he doesn’t want children, he does a great job of handling one.

It's been a while...

Wow, it's been almost a week since I posted anything on here. I haven't had much to write about I guess! I'll just write a brief recap of this last weeks events and write something with more substance later on, that is if my mind can come up with something interesting...

-My mom's surprise party went off without a hitch! It was a lot of fun and she was very surprised. Her family had come up from Kansas and Iowa to help us celebrate and she was very excited to see them.

-Matt and I passed the 4 month mark... it's gone by fast, but in a good way. ***Ok, ok, ok... because a little whiny someone-who-shall-remain-nameless complained that I put a bad picture up here earlier, I had to post a different one. SO, this is Matt and his co-worker Kari at their skating party last Friday.***

-I interviewed for a Customer Service Manager position here at work. It would be a nice promotion for me and make it more tolerable to stay here for a while longer. I'll find out late next week whether or not I got the job.

-I bought the Oprah 20th Anniversary DVD collection at Target. Oprah sure knows her stuff! And she certainly knows how to make people cry with her human interest pieces. Oh Mattie Stepanek... that story makes me cry every time.

That marks most of the highlights since last Friday. Pretty boring, I know - but I promise to think of something better to put up here!