Color Scheme

The pink monster must die.
I am so done living with the pink and green circus tent theme in my bedroom. Oh, and the horrid light the pink curtains cast when the sun shines in:
(I have no idea why it's on its side, but you get the idea.)

Now I need to decide on paint, and I need help. I definitely want green, but not the green and pink combo. So, I made some fake rooms on the Sherwin Williams website. They're not my room, but they at least have a vaulted ceiling to give a good idea of what that will look like.

Option A: This was my first choice, but I'm sort of unsure now. Option B: The nice lady at the paint store recommended something like this, based on my glasses frames. I kind of like it.And this is the bed I'll likely put in the room:So, what do you think?

The End of Harry Potter and More Thoughts on Church

First, more thoughts on church. The thing I like best about a good Reformed church service is the words. I went back to Covenant this morning, on my way to Talan's first birthday party. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean by "the words," but it's not that mushy, romantic idea about poetic language. It's more about weight and gravity.

Anyway. I'm going to write about the ending of Harry Potter now, so if you're going to read it and don't want the ending spoiled, quit reading this and go finish the book.

I absolutely loved the ending. I'm the type of person who usually really wants to know the end of a movie or a book before I start, but I had a feeling there would be some surprise to it, so I didn't want to know. I did sort of dread having to wait 700 some pages to know, but it was a quick read.

Okay, the verdict...I LOVED the ending. In my head I kept thinking there were two possible endings...good triumphing over evil with Harry killing Voldemort, or good winning, but at the loss of Harry Potter's life. What a splendid world of magic when you can have both at once! I loved how she decided that it would be cheap for Harry just to win, or to kill Voldemort without having to give of himself. I think it was a great way for good to triumph.

Church

One of my least favorite parts of moving is finding a new church. I know some people don't like the term, but lately I've been church shopping. There's really no good term for it...church visiting, or church trying or church fitting in maybe.

There seem to be two types of churches here. The first is the married people's traditional church with children, and the other is the younger folks' "seeker friendly" church. I'm not sure I fit anywhere at the first type, and the second, well, I'm not sure I can hack it in the long term.

It makes me want to just move back to California. I miss my tiny church with all the friendly people.

House Guests

I've had house guests!

The first in my mom's new Pomeranian puppy, Nemo. She stayed at my house last night, much to the dismay of Princess Pantaloons, while my parents stayed at a hotel. My mom named her that because, as she says, "she's so small, and people might not think she can do much, just like Nemo in the movies."
The second is my nephew, playing in the box my blinds came. He came with his dad, who was installing said blinds. He wasn't terribly photogenic tonight.

The reason he's not wearing clothes, and probably why he's not smiling much either, is that he had just thrown up all over me and himself. He came in with my brother, and looked a little...tired. He looked around a minute, then started crying for apparently no reason. What do you do when a 1 year old starts crying? You pick them up. So, I picked him up. As soon as I did that, he vomited gratuitiously all over my shirt, his clothes, and the floor. It was so disgusting...I couldn't even help my brother clean him up until I changed because I wanted to vomit from the smell. Eeewww.

I was happy to see him though. Later we went outside and played in the street.

Those darn scammers!!

Okay, so someone has locked me out of my e-mail account. Long story short it started with Ebay and ended with me locked out of my regular e-mail. So, if you've e-mailed me since yesterday, I can't get it. I'm not sure when I will be able to.

So, if you want to e-mail me, send it to the same address, but at Gmail instead of Yahoo.

If only the To Catch a Predator guys could work on the Nigerian scammers...

These Are Not My People

I'm not really sure how to put into words what I'm thinking. Basically, the post title sums it up, at least how I'm feeling right now.

When I decided to move, I knew there would be this time at the beginning that would suck. I've moved enough to know that the first year somewhere is basically shit. You don't know people, you have to learn where to buy wine and find a new person to cut your hair, and you are basically in your own head a lot.

This time is a little different because my family is here, but mostly the same. Having my family here has kept me from being insane with loneliness and regret about moving, but these are not my people. Even being with my family reminds me that as much as I love them, we don't always have a lot in common.

Small things remind me that this is a very different place. I can't think of one person I know here who would have heard of the Sopranos, much less seen it so we could talk about it. Instead of calling fertility treatments by their names, people call it "doctoring." I don't know anyone else right now who listens to public radio.

Don't get me wrong, I know those people exist, and probably even here, but right now I don't know where they are. Hopefully soon.

Searching...

I am still job searching, although I've realized that being re-unemployed does have its benefits. I've been getting lots of household projects done, and spent the necessary but annoying amount of time watering the new plants in the yard. It's been insanely hot here (around 98 today, with a ridiculous amount of humidity), and the plants have needed watering almost daily. Yard-keeping is not something that comes naturally to me.

The job searching has been going okay, though not very fruitful yet. I've heard back from some social service agencies, but most just want part-time people. I went to an information session at Citibank today, and realized there is no way I could do phone sales for them. The videos we saw of their retention specialists (people who try to get you to keep your card when you call to cancel), just made it look like a despicable job. It was worth checking out though. I did have to do some math test, but thankfully at the end I got a letter saying I am qualified to work there. I probably failed the math test, but I'm sure I passed the "following directions" and "Filling out forms correctly" tests.

I also handed in a few applications at other places that look interesting...nobody actually had positions though. I arrived too late at a temp. agency to fill out an app., so that's tomorrow morning's activity, along with attaching house numbers and a new mailbox.

There is one position that sounds promising, but it's a ways out yet. It came up in a very roundabout way, when I was already "working" at the online teaching job. Someone in my mom's church had a daughter who was going to be running a government agency here, and looking for people to hire. Long story short I met her on Sunday, and she said she thought I was smart and she just knows we'll work together. That sounds great, but I'd like to have it in writing before I count on it. Until then? Answer phones and maybe substitute teaching.

Another Apartment Sign

"Bee-lieve it, we're a honey of a place to live!"

What is with these signs?

There is a sign in front of an apartment building that says "We're Ozsome. No Lion."

Cataloons

Dave took the liberty of combining my cat's name into Cataloons, and I quite like it.

Anyway, here are some pictures of her doing her favorite thing--make me into her personal pillow. Someday when I figure out how to do video, I'll post some of that. It's incredible--she will actually use both paws to grip your arm, and then move it under her head. She'll snuggle her head up in the palm of your hand, and wrap her arms around so you can't get away. Cats are amazing.
P.S. She is now staying upstairs all the time. Except when the exterminator was here--she hid briefly behind the old fridge in the basement until he sprayed her (accidentally) with the pesticide. Oops!

The sign on the Baptist church near my house says:

"Do you need to re-boot? Remember, Jesus saves."

Jumping back into the pool of candidates

I resigned from my job this morning. To make a medium-length story very short, I had been there for 2 and a half weeks, and had not yet been given any work. It was not worth the 2 hour commute and all that gas.

So, I'm back in the jobseeker pool. I'm not excited about it, but it's better than where I was. I may look for some temp. work, but hopefully something better will come along soon. I've put out a few applications already, but I've learned that the applications to interview ratio, at least so far, isn't all that good.

Princess Pantaloons is sympathetic.

So, do ya'll not like "Princess Pantaloons?"

No one's said anything...

Princess Pantaloons

So I may have come up with a cat name--Princess Pantaloons. For short, maybe Princess Pants. I found it on some cat name list, and the explanation was because the cat was too big for her britches. It seems appropriate. Somehow, perhaps by karma, I got a cat who is pushy, demanding, and generally will tell you exactly what she wants and when.

You don't just pet my cat, she actually uses her nose and arms to manipulate your arm/hand where she wants it. Sheesh.

Like right now, when she's licking the corner of my computer, and pushing my fingers off of the keyboard.

In other news, the job has been a roller coaster. After 7 days on the job, I finally have work to do. It's been a very frustrating week, and this morning I was ready and intending to hand in my resignation. After telling my boss that, suddenly work appeared for me to do. So we'll see...

In general, moving to Sioux Falls has been...interesting. It's been a bit lonely, but it's been great to see the babies. So here are some general things I've noticed:

• People here are fatter and worse-dressed than in CA. In particular, there are TONS more mom jeans. It has inspired me to wear shorts for the first time in many years. It just seems right.
  
• People my age here generally have 2-3 children.
  
• The lunch discussion at work has so far centered around weddings, showers, anniversaries, and how one should, ought to, must, go about planning and hosting these events.
• I have a neighbor who was made slightly crazy by being in Vietnam, and he walks up and down the street talking to himself. Sometimes he stands on his porch and talks to himself. Slightly creepy, but also sad.
• Kids here actually have lemonade stands. They wave at you as you drive by, whether or not you stop.
• The bank people are super-friendly.
• You are expected to say "hi!" to people at work when you pass each other in the hall, regardless of how many times you have previously greeted them. The same applies for the parking lot, lunchroom, and even the bathroom. I'm still learning this.
• Almonds cost $10/pound. Yikes!
• If you buy 8 bottles of wine at the grocery story, you must be having a party. The clerks will comment on each and every bottle past #2. If you buy tonic water, the bag boy will look at you and tell you he doesn't even know what it is.
• Every time I have told someone I moved from CA, they have said "Really? Why?"
• People drive like snails
• A true sign of summer here is that when I went for a ride on the bike trail a few nights ago, I received bugs in the eye and the mouth.