family

Pleasantly Tired (Multimedia)

Hey, folks. How’s it going? I’m OK, just tired. Aidan’s here with me for the summer and the kid asks a billion questions. It can be exhausting. Right now, he and Adam and assembling a complicated-looking Hot Wheels race track thing and it’s so cute to hear them interact!!!

Chris, Matty, and my mom brought Aidan up and spent the weekend in Chicago. They REALLY enjoyed the food, and my mom was thrilled to find her Philosophy stuff (and she bought some for me too)!

Mommy & Me
Mommy & Me on Michigan Ave. It was really windy!

Matt, Chris, Aidan
Matty, Chris, and Aidan

We had a good time. They really enjoyed the food, especially the sandwiches from Bari and the Chicago deep dish pizza:

Chris & Pizza
Chris and the big ole pizza.

Aidan LOVES playing the Wii, and he kicks all of our butts at bowling. Here is he playing the boxing. It’s hilarious:


This is me getting all dressed for a day of touristy stuff.

Hi!

My mom LOVED Navy Pier, even when Aidan was being a banana at times. I think he just got overstimulated, but he liked riding the train and eating cotton candy.

Good Times at Navy Pier

Aidan Looking Scholarly

Mommy & Aidan

Choo-Choo!

Crookshanks is happy to have Aidan here:

Aidan & Crookshanks

And he enjoyed my mom:

Crookshanks Loves Mommy

* * *

Chris brought a bunch of pictures of Aidan from the past couple of months. Here are some highlights:

Enjoying Himself

Paying His Respects

Aidan's Graduation

Aidan's Graduation

* * *

Randomly, in the middle of typing this post, the power went out for a short while. Adam, Aidan, and I took a walk around the block (thank God it’s warm enough to do that!) and then came in and ate dinner after the power came back on. Now Aidan’s watching Chicken Little. It’s gonna be an early night tonight. Because of the rain and a gutter leak RIGHT ABOVE MY BEDROOM WINDOW (that makes it sound like someone’s banging drumsticks on the pane), I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I also got up early, and I have some intense freelance work to start on tomorrow before Aidan wakes up. *yawn*

G’night, y’all.

Comments Off on Pleasantly Tired (Multimedia)

Catching Up

It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it?

A lot’s happened since I last wrote. Looks like November was the last time. Wow, and here it is, already February 2008. I’ve been spending most of my time at my Live Journal, and most of my readership is there, so I don’t really know what to write here!

Hmm, so a quick rundown. Right then.

November
I went to Atlanta for a combination Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration titled Thanksmas, and celebrated it with Adam’s family. I stayed there from 11/19 until 11/24 and it was awesome. The only bad thing was the sore throat, which was the start of several weeks of severe pain for me. :(

December

  • I went to New York City with Adam! I got to see RENT, the tree at Rockefeller Center, and got to hang out with my friend Wanda. It was really cool, even though I was again, sick.
  • I turned 33, saw the movie Juno three times, and ate Jeni’s ice cream for the first time.
  • Adam spent a week with me. We visited my mom for Christmas, and hung out with little Aidan, and generally just had a great time together. I loved having him here.
  • I got a new computer for Christmas!!!
  • Aidan turned five, the best age ever!!!

January
Jetted off to Chicago for the long MLK weekend and gorged myself on America’s Next Top Model and froze my booty off. Adam and I also started doing some cleaning and rearranging to the apartment that will soon be ours.

My sore throat finally stopped hurting at the level at which it was. It was horrible. The thought of it brings back scary pain-filled memories, and I am so scared it’s going to come back. I am not even sure what exactly caused it, but I don’t ever want it again.

2008 is huge for me. I’m moving to Chicago, I’m getting married, and life will be crazy. At least three major life changes this year in store for me, because I will need to find a new job. Which is crazy, I know, with us heading into a recession. But I have to leap now, or I’ll always find a reason to stay here, where it’s safe. And where I’m alone.

My hair is a wreck. A hot mess. I really wish I could go to a salon and have someone give it the help it so desperately needs, but for what I get, it’ll cost me at least $75 and with my budget being so iffy, with it looking like I owe the IRS AGAIN this year (grrrr) and with me trying to save all I can so I can move, I just can’t justify the expense, no matter how crazy my hair looks. That’s what ponytail holders are for.

A massage would be really nice, too….

Okay. Later.

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on Catching Up

299 (Pictures)

Okay, so 299 is still a pretty big number, but when I checked the counter today and it said 299 days until your wedding, I panicked. Just a little. Not because I don’t want to marry Adam, but because of all the PLANNING I have not done recently. So what did I do? I hopped over to theknot.com to check on the planner. Now I am down to 168 things I need to do. Most of it needs to wait until I get some extra cash. And I have not tried on one dress yet. For some reason, the wedding still seemed so far away, but seeing that first number go from a 3 to a 2 is kind of showing me that time is indeed moving. Pretty soon, serious planning will have to take place. I have no idea what that means, but eeek.

Piggy Back! Adam hung out with Aidan over the holidays, and that was a really fun, special time. All Adam had to do was play Alpha Butt for Aidan to warm up to him, but Aidan had been warm to him anyway, and he gave Adam a hug the second he walked in the door. They played together very well, and Adam has a gentle way with Aidan that even I can’t master completely. I don’t know if it still kind of makes Adam nervous, the prospect of being a step-father, but I think he’s going to be a great one. It helps that Aidan’s such a great kid. :)

So, on the one hand, it seems like AGES and AGES until the wedding. I’m ready to settle into life with Adam. I’m ready to not be alone all the time. I mean, it can’t be healthy, how much I like being by myself. I often forget how nice it is to have someone around just to make random observations with, watch TV with, or to even bring me a cup of tea.

But on the other hand, in terms of planning, it seems like it’ll be here in a flash, and I’m not doing a damn thing about it. Eloping sometimes sounds like such a great idea, but I’m not selfish enough to do that, not when there are two families plus lots of friends who want to be there for when Adam and I tie the knot.

So, I shall prevail in the planning. Whenever I actually resume planning. Which will be soon… I think. ;)

(Originally published at Anywhere Is…)

Comments Off on 299 (Pictures)

Bittersweet (Pictures)

Today, I went to a new doctor. I needed one closer to home, and one that wasn’t so insanely busy. I like my old family doctor, but it just wasn’t working out for me anymore. So, this new guy. He is totally cool. Spent at least 30 minutes with me, explaining what was happening and why I felt so bad. He drew diagrams and everything. Told me what he was going to do for me now, and then next steps to take if these didn’t work out. Basically, I have a chronic sinus infection. Chronic because it’s been going on for more than six weeks. The pain is due to all the drainage, my throat apparently looks like a cobblestone road, and the stuff that needs to drain is too thick and it’s all bunching up in my ears. Now I’m on this medicine called Pseudovent 400 for the next month. It is not an antibiotic. It should thin out the stuff that’s too thick to leave me alone. It cost me more than $50, so it had better work! If that doesn’t work, I have an antibiotic in reserve called Levaquin. I’ll be on that for three weeks. If THAT doesn’t work, then I’ll have to go in for a CAT scan, to make sure there isn’t a cyst or something harboring bacteria. So, here’s hoping that I will get better, and SOON. For real this time. At any rate, this new doctor is very cool. Any one who allows hair band music to be played in the office can’t be bad.

* * * * *

The past week was incredible. Spending my birthday and Christmas with Adam was perfect. PERFECT. He spoiled me, too. I spend a great deal of time alone, I forget how nice it is to have someone bring me a cup of Earl Grey with four sugars (yes, I know, Rosa, my SYRUP) just the way I like it. And it’s nice to have someone to cuddle with. I also forgot how many more dishes 2 to 3 people can create. I shudder when I look at my kitchen. He made this grog stuff in the Crock-Pot that smelled amazing, but I’m scared at how hard it will be to clean up.

Adam got me the last Leven Thumps book, so now I have all three of them. Win!

Christmas and all was really amazing for me. Sunday night, Aidan and Adam (adamselzer) got to bond. Here they are being cute together:

Aidan & Adam

They listened to Alpha Butt by Kimya Dawson a lot, and we watched Christmas stuff, and Adam and Aidan got into their stockings. We also had dinner at Outback Steakhouse, which was quite the yum. On the way to dinner, it snowed a bit. Here’s Aidan trying to catch a flake:

Catching a Snowflake!

Aidan would NOT go to sleep Sunday night. I finally just left him in his room. He got up and turned the light on and made a hot mess, which he will need to clean sometime soon. I went to get his stuff out of the closet. There are bells on the closet. The bells jingled. I heard him gasp and go “Santa?” It was the CUTEST THING EVER. But my child is way too smart, he figured out it was me. I hadn’t even been trying to trick him or anything, it just happened. But to hear that little gasp and … “Santa?” Awww.

Monday morning, we all got up and opened gifts. Adam got me a very pretty sweater and this Rent hardcover: [link]. (He also took me out to eat 39385349 times). Aidan really had a great time opening things.

Aidan Opens Presents
Here he is, opening one of his presents from Rosa (meimeigui)

I got this awesome tea from Rosa. One is cookie-flavored. Mmm.

Monday morning, Adam, Aidan, and I to my mom’s. On the way there, we stopped at a Flying J so Adam could get my stepfather some lottery tickets. Adam bought ten for Greg, and one for himself. Adam won $1 on the ticket.

Mommy’s was a lot of fun. Andy (crimsonghost_oh) and Chris (zenosidal) was there, and Aidan was running around and it was chaotic and crazy.

Piggy Back!

Dinner was yummo. Once again, my mac & cheese was a hit. But my dressing was too dry. πŸ™

newlifeinstpaul, this one’s for you:

Christmas Dinner

After dinner, there was a small exchange. Andy gave Aidan a Cleveland Browns fleece shirt, which Aidan LOVES, and he gave me a bag of Cheetohs. I’d been craving Cheetohs for quite some time now, so that made me happy. THEN he gave me a brand new HP Pavilion dv6000 Entertainment PC. Um… whoa? Of course, it’s an investment, which means I need to write a kick ass book. πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ It’s so nice not to be chained to my desk anymore. I am now posting from my futon, and I should probably go ahead and move to my bed. w00t!

Andy had to leave. We waited ’til Greg got home to exchange everything else. Aidan was really excited:

Aidan and Grandmommy's Tree

I would like to note the sweater he is wearing. All this time, I’d been trying to locate an argyle sweater for him. Come to find out, he already had one that my mom had bought him some time ago. I was right, he DOES look handsome in one!

I got sweaters, pajamas, and a $50 gift card to Barnes & Noble from my mom and Greg. Perfect. Chris gave Adam and me cute Longaberger Christmas accessories. Aidan made out like a little bandit, as usual. πŸ™‚ And you know what that little bugger insisted on playing with? This old parrot that repeats everything that he found in the garage. What the ever loving hell? Yes, he got tons of new toys and clothes (check out the two big bags by the tree. Both for Aidan, both full of toys), and he insisted on having that stupid parrot repeat everything he and everyone else said. Oh well. Kids. At least he was having fun. I should have gotten a picture of the parrot.

Greg scratched off the lottery tickets that Adam got him. Seven of the 10 were winners. Remember that Adam’s ticket had been a winner as well. Eight out of 11 lottery tickets bought at the Flying J were winners. What are the odds of that?

Later, Chris and Aidan (and all of the noisy toys, including the parrot) headed back to Columbus, and Adam and I crashed at my parents’. I slept horribly because I was in SO MUCH pain. My mom was warning me about taking so many ibuprofen pills, but I had to do something for relief. Christmas Day was kind of weird because it was the first year I didn’t have anything to open ON Christmas Day. It was still a nice day, sitting around and chatting and watching TV. The drive back was nice and clear. Adam and I got back to Columbus about 4:15 or so, and we spent the evening watching Arrested Development on DVD and drinking champagne. The champagne helped me get to sleep. The pain was still there, but I didn’t care as much.

Champagne

Yesterday, I got a package from Ivy (swankivy)! This girl knows me so well. It’s hard to believe that next summer, we’ll have known each other for ten years. Here was the funny thing. Adam was taking me out to breakfast, and on the way out, I saw the mail truck. Something told me to stop and go to the mailboxes in my building. Adam stayed in the car and made a phone call while I went in. The mail guy saw me and said “You’re Davis! I have a package here for you!” Woohoo! It was the package from Ivy, and it was full of cool stuff such as a Bananagrams game! OH MY GOD. I LOVE playing anagrams, and I love bananas. How freakin’ perfect, right? And… and… she got me this book that’s supposed to be p*rn for women. It’s actually pages of really good-looking men saying things like “The game’s on. That means there should be plenty of parking at the craft show, let’s go!” The best part is that many of the nice, sensitive things in there are things Adam already does for me. *feels spoiled* She also got me 100 sticks of Nag Champa. I haven’t even used all the Nag Champa that she and Andy got me last year, and I have more. This makes me VERY happy. There was a journal, a copy of Firestarter (the book) and some really cool stuff for Aidan. I can’t wait ’til he sees what she got him.

I started to get a bit sad because well, I knew that the next day, Adam would be going back to Chicago. I drank wine, and he drank this special Christmas ale that Andy got him, and watched more Arrested Development. I thought to myself that I could get used to this. I need to go and buy wine. There is this cheap citrus stuff at Marc’s. I can get a bottle for $3.49. Yum.

Today was bittersweet. I was excited about the new doctor, but really upset about Adam leaving. I was grateful for the week we got to spend together (which certainly wasn’t long enough), but angry that it had to come to an end. When will it be time for us to NOT have to say good-bye?

I know that every day is a day closer to when we’ll be together. I know that he is in Chicago pounding those pavements and doing what he can to get me out there ASAP, and building up this new ilfe for us. And I’m here to spend time with Aidan and prepare for yet another HUGE life change that is coming up for me. But now, it’s hard. The good-byes hurt more every time. And my apartment feels so empty now. Sunday night, it felt so perfect.

The good thing is that I have a new computer to customize. And a book to write. It just recently hit me that I got to have a one-on-one consulation with an agent and she helped me plot out a book. That is beyond awesome. Those’ll keep me busy until I see him again… it’s harder when I have no idea when the next time will be, though. πŸ™

Time to get off of here for now. The ole ear/throat pain is pounding, as usual, and work is NOT going to be easy tomorrow.

Ta ta for now.

Comments Off on Bittersweet (Pictures)

Merry Christmas!!!

I am at my mom’s (she’s still upstairs) posting from my BRAND NEW LAPTOP! WIN WIN WIN!!!!! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

Andy is awesome. I’m mobile again!

It’s an investment, however, which means I need to start writing again. Having a laptop will make it so much easier. *grin*

Had a great Christmas Eve. Details soon. Adam’s right next to me on HIS computer. I might beat him with the posting here. πŸ™‚

Still in a lot of pain, but having fun anyway. Pix soon. Bye for now.

Comments Off on Merry Christmas!!!