tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

Well, I have lost 5 pounds since starting with the BodyBugg – and I definitely wasn’t following the program completely. I fully expect to gain all those pounds back in Italy, but it will be so worth it.

On that note, we’re heading to Italy! Of course I have the GlobalEmail package for my Blackberry, so you may even see an update from me while we’re there. Ooooh how exciting!

We are leaving for Italy in two days! I’m very excited. Also exciting is that IA/McHub are going to France next week! I don’t know if she is more excited for me, or if I am more excited for her. I think I get the nicer people and better food overall, but she gets better bread, desserts, hot chocolate, and plus? She has never been to Europe.

Anyway, normally I would be packed about two weeks before lift off. However, traveling with Aaron has forced me to re-evaluate my packing procedure. I was appalled to discover that the pants he planned on taking to Italy were in fact the very same pants he was wearing on Sunday! Of course, part of him helping me learn how to not stress so much over every little teeny tiny thing and just letting go and enjoying life, is actually letting go and not stressing.

So as a compromise I asked him to do the laundry today as he was working from home, so that when I came home we could finalize the packing. With clean clothes. We both win.

And we’re done packing! We each have a carry on roller bag and a backpack. On the way home we’re planning on checking the roller bags, but I gather the baggage belts at the Rome airport are a little iffy, so I’d like to keep everything with us on the way there. I already checked out the in-flight movies, which I’m not too excited about, but I’m looking forward to the in-flight wine, at any rate.

So now it’s just down to waiting! And here’s a big pre-emptive thanks to IA and McHub for looking in on our kitties while we are gone!

Melissa came over today to help me with our foyer project, and I don’t know what I would have done without her. She was an adhesive removing machine. I somehow managed to destroy my right arm and shoulder, and am in immense pain right now. Good thing we are going on vacation so I have an excuse to not continue working on it. However, I have come to the conclusion that I also have to tile the adjoining half bath, so that involves more linoleum removal. Sigh.

There’s still some glue around the edges I need to clean up.

My attempt at a layout.

While we were working on the floor, Aaron went to town on the deck since one of our steps needed to be replaced. So he went off to Lowes to get supplies (and get us all lunch from 5 Guys. Mmmm). As he left, Melissa asked me if I was at all concerned about him going to the toy tool store on his own – wouldn’t he come back with thousands of dollars worth of toys tools he doesn’t really need, like her husband would?

Not Aaron, I said. He drools over the tools but he’s too frugal to go too overboard.

Then he comes home. While we eat, I ask him what he bought.

Turns out he not only bought a circular saw to cut ONE piece of wood, he also bought a table clamp thing to hold the wood!

-Sigh-

Well, I know we will get good use out of them eventually. At least the shop vac he bought can be hung on the wall. And the deck has been repaired.

The grin on his face as he was sawing through his wood was priceless. It’s nice to have a handy husband.

I think everyone has a porno kitty shot in their collection. Here’s Buddy, lying on the couch with us, taken by my phone.

Melissa is coming over tomorrow to help me with the foyer, and I wanted to get a lot of the grunt work done first because that is just way too much to ask of a friend. So I headed down there and went to work. After Aaron was done with his work, he came down to check out my progress. As he was watching me ripping and scraping, I could tell he wanted to help. But he’s not allowed to with his shoulder still in rehab. So he asked what else he could do, and I said, help take out the trash. So he gathered up all the little bits of crap and bagged them, and helped move everything out of the way.

Then he asked me why I was ripping the linoleum out in little strips.

Because, that is what they recommend, I say. Plus, it’s hard as hell to rip out. He couldn’t take it anymore, and asked me to get out of the way. He grabbed the linoleum (in his left hand) and just started wrenching it. I was taking it out in 1′x2′ sections, and there was a 5′x4′ section left. That is what he ripped out, in one go. Just brute forced it all out. It was impressive to watch, and even nicer to know I wouldn’t have to rip that piece out!

I was determined to make even more progress, so he went and got my iPod stereo so I could have some music while I worked. I only made it through one song before I was done for the night. All in all I burned about 600 calories working on the foyer, and we saved $300 by doing it ourselves.

Tomorrow Melissa is going to help finish the scraping, fine tune the layout, and help snap chalk lines. And drink wine. I’m hoping her finer eye for design will make sure the layout is perfect, whereas I would be tempted to say ‘Close enough!’

Of course, now my shoulder hurts.

IA and McHub invited us out to their beloved On The Border tonight, with special guest stars, Mama and Papa IA! I was very excited to meet IA’s parents as I had heard so many stories about them – most recently about her mother’s cooking. I knew Aaron was won over as soon as IA mentioned that her mother’s dinner menu consisted of burgers and gravy. Please, you had him at ‘gravy’.

I loved seeing how IA was a perfect mix of her parents, both in looks and personality. Her parents were absolutely adorable. I totally want to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at their house – it sounds like all kinds of fun.  I want to hear more stories from her childhood and their hilarious work related adventures. My cheeks still hurt from laughing so long all night. They were truly the definition of ‘good people’.

So, IA, thanks for sharing your parents with us! It’s easy to see how you became the wonderful person you are today. And seriously? We don’t have holiday plans.

After dinner, Aaron and I headed to Borders. I met up with him in the Computer aisle, and we had a good chuckle at coming across a book written by a friend of ours. Then, a strange, awkward man wandered into the aisle, and in the midst of Aaron and I making jokes about the book we were perusing, the man started speaking to us. At first I thought he was just speaking to himself, but no, he was attempting to carry on a conversation with us – two people obviously deep into a discussion-slash-laughing fit of our own. He asked us if we were in IT, and I said yes, we both were. He laughed, again awkwardly, and said, “It’s strange to see a woman in IT! We had a girl in our group but she just left!” And I thought, yes, in YOUR group, it must be strange. I wonder WHY she left.

So then he asks us what we do, and I notice that Aaron has somehow slipped away and is now one aisle away from this odd man, facing me, trying not to laugh too obviously. I say we are both developers and the man says he is in networks. Then he goes onto some rant about how to him, there is no difference between .NET and Java, because to install either he just clicks NEXT then NEXT then FINISH. I laugh, uncomfortably. I put the book away and say, “Have a good night!” and I glare at Aaron as I escape. He’s still trying to laugh silently. Thanks for saving me, honey.
So then time goes by and Aaron and I are again in the Computer section, but a different aisle. We’re talking and behind me I hear that same awkward voice saying, “I’m just trying to get to the blue books!” as the odd man reaches past me for the network books. Yes, they are blue. I start typing intently on my Blackberry and slowly move away.

We managed to escape the store with no further encounters.

On the drive home we were randomly reminding ourselves of funny things Aaron has said throughout the years, and again, laughing nearly uncontrollably. My cheeks hurt even more now.

It was an excellent night all around. Well, except for being abandoned and left alone with that strange guy.

According to Google, my sister’s house is well outside the evacuation and fire zone. I think Rachel lives in the same vicinity, as far as I can tell, and she’s home now so, here’s hoping. Of course I haven’t heard from my sister nor do I expect to, but no news is good news, I think?

In other news, we (or at least I) am  preparing for our very quickly upcoming trip to Italy! We’re hitting Florence for four days and Rome for three. I am way more excited for the wine, coffee, and food than I am for the art galleries, and I’m not sure if I should feel bad about that. I would like to see David, and The Birth of Venus, and St Peter’s Basilica but…I feel like the logistics will have to be perfect in order for it all to happen. Although maybe it will rain and we’ll be forced into the museums.

In any case, I can’t freaking wait!

The latest Google map shows the fire in San Diego surrounding my sister’s house, but not touching it. The evacuation path is the shape of a “C” and she’s right in the inner curve of it. How accurate this map is now, I don’t know. The fire perimeter was updated yesterday at 1pm, but the evacuation perimeter, which is closing in on their house, was updated at 11pm.  She’s 2.5 miles directly south of the evacuation perimeter, and the fire perimeter is another mile north of that.

Three miles.

It’s terrifying in the way that makes you numb and non-reactive, because it’s just too much to fathom. How long can you hold your breath for?