My Thanksgiving Mulligan

It turns out that I had more than one Thanksgiving epiphany.

Every year, for the past three or four years, before eating dinner my mom has required that we go around the table and everyone say what they are thankful for. In the past few years I haven't taken it too terribly serious because Ric would make a joke and then I would follow up with another. But this year Ric didn't joke. And no one else did either. And when we made it around the table to me, I couldn't figure out how to say what I was thankful for. I know that I'm thankful for my family and my job and Paul and my friends and for life in general, but I just couldn't figure out how to adequately express that. So since I'm much better at expressing myself with the written word rather than the spoken, here's what my heart was properly communicating to my mouth.

I'm thankful for my family who always supports me, no matter what the situation. They may not always agree with the decisions I make, but they always support me. They allow me to make mistakes and grow from them. When I make those mistakes they catch me on my descent and when I succeed they're proud of and happy for me.

I'm thankful for my job because it gave me a sense of security in my life again. It made me feel like I had a purpose again and gave me health insurance for the first time in months.

I'm thankful for Paul because he is hands down the most amazing fiance that any girl could ever ask for. He loves me unconditionally and tels me how much he loves me every day. When I'm with him I'm happy and when I'm not with him I'm thinking of him and looking forward to when I will see him again.

I'm thankful for my friends because they just get me. I don't always see them as much as I'd like but they're the sort of friends who you don't have to be with every day to stay close. I miss them when I haven't seen them but we get together again and things are right back to normal. They, along with Paul and the fam, are all my better halves. The math might not add up correctly but I do not care.

On another note, Paul and I successfully hosted our first dinner party yesterday. Paul's friends from high school, Jess and Zach, came over because Zach is home from Afghanistan for a couple of weeks. Paul and I worked together and in just over an hour produced baked penne, salad, garlic bread, and cocoa crispy treats. An added bonus is that Paul officially has all of his groomsmen in place. Score one for marking an item off the wedding checklist.

A Thanksgiving Realization

When I was still living in Arlington,I believe it would have been in August, I made Paul promise to make me keep a promise to myself. I had decided that I wanted to run a 5K by the end of the year. I had recently stopped going to the gym as much as I wanted and thought that by vowing to run a 5K by the end of the year I would get back into the swing of things. I was wrong. I've been a major gym slacker because of moving and changing jobs and what-have-you that there's no way I could do a 5K by the end of the year. The salt-in-the-wound part of all this is that my first 5K was going to be the Drumstick Dash in downtown Roanoke. It was this morning. I went to the gym yesterday and now I'm in pain because of it. So instead of running a 5K today I'm watching the Macy's parade and later I'll be pouring gravy on everything on my plate. The exception to the gravy rule will be the pumpkin cheesecake that I made last night which, even without gravy, is about 400 calories a slice, I believe. All of this, in one swoop, made me go from feeling happy about Thanksgiving to bad about myself.

My new goal will be the St. Patrick's Day 5K that Roanoke Catholic sponsors. Seeing as it's Paul's Alma Mater, I may be able to convince him to do it with me.

On the bright side, the job seems to be going well. I like the people I work with and, while we're not doing any actual work yet,we're supposed to start soon. I'm definitely working forward to the first paycheck because my Christmas decoration shopping has already gotten a little out of control. Not that I've gotten a lot, I just figure it might be more reasonable to spend that money on gifts.

You Know What Happens When it Rains?

Well do you? I do. When it rains, Paul gathers up about 85% of our non-furniture belongings and moves them out of our apartment because rain makes the Roanoke River rise like CRAZY and nearly flood our apartment. Here's the story...

I went to sleep to the sound of rain and the motor of the water pump outside my window. I woke up at 6:30 for my first day at work to more rain and just as much water pump motor. Since my car was in the shop so that someone could figure out why it's burning oil, Paul drove me to work, passing at least three man hole covers that had popped out of the ground because of too much rain. When I got to work I filled out paperwork for HR and listened to people welcome us. Meanwhile, 20 minutes away in Salem, Paul's breakfast was being interrupted by the fire department telling him that there is a voluntary evacuation going on because the river could likely go over the burm and flood our apartment complex. That's when Paul started gathering and calling his mom and best friend so we could pack their cars with stuff. I soon got a text message saying that we were being evacuated, but not to worry because he was taking care of it. So of course, I spent the next 6.5 hours worried that all of our stuff would be destroyed just 12 days after having moved in.

In the end, the river didn't flood. It crested probably less than a foot away from the top of the burm and our things remained untouched. But they shut the water off for the night and we had to stay at Paul's parents that night.

After that day, it wasn't the moving stuff that annoyed me the most, it was the fact that the property manager out and out lied to us about the flood history. We were told that it hadn't flooded at all in 10 years and that the second floor had NEVER flooded. The reality of the situation is that it flooded in 2004 (there's news footage to proove it) and that the fire department has had to rescue people off the third floor before. So to say that it hasn't flooded in the past 10 years and that the second floor has never flooded in the history of the complex, is a complete lie.

On the bright side, the job is going well. We've done mostly HR stuff for the past couple of days, but we started reading training materials yesterday. There were 30 of us starting at the same time, which is a lot, but I like starting in a big group. We're not in the building that we'll permanently be in yet, but we should be by December 14 (?). I think the best part of it all is that we get free parking because of the building we'll be in. I'm all sorts of pumped. It will be nice to not have to worry about paying for parking like I did at the VA.

Kirstie Alley, Eat Your Heart Out!

I've discovered that when you're not bored out of your mind for the majority of your waking hours and you eat a lot of fast food, it's a lot more difficult to control/lose weight. While I was starving for human interaction for a good part of May 2008-May 2009, I spent my time going to the gym and eating fairly healthy and it resulted in my losing 50 pounds. I have since gained back about 10 pounds and I'm not particularly pleased. I'm not really any more busy than I was last year. In fact, just the opposite. I work maybe 2 hours out of the day and I could be going to the gym with a lot of my free time, but I'm a creature of habit and it's hard to start going back to the gym, especially when it's not on the way home anymore.

My clothes aren't fitting much differently, maybe not differently at all, but somehow just knowing the extra weight is there is making me feel super fat and not terribly attractive.

I start my new job at Social Security on Thursday and I hope that since I'll kind of be following the same work routine as I did last year that I'll be able to get back into my gym habit. Just three days a week would help at this point...and maybe remembering that water is just as good as the grape soda that is currently chilling in the fridge...and saving the Reese's pumpkins that are in the cabinet for a special occasion. And Tuesday can no longer be considered a special occasion. And it would probably help if I went back to not eating after 10 anymore, instead of thinking that a midnight trip to Sheetz "won't be that bad." I need to get back on the wagon, especially since I have a wedding to look hot for in just less than a year. Annie and I are cooking vegan sausage and pasta tomorrow so maybe that will be a good re-introduction to the world of healthy living.

It should benoted that I won't really feel better until I'm running at least a mile again, preferably at the same pace that I was running in June.

On a completely unrelated note, I hate that cooler weather always makes my hands crazy dry. They are currently cracked like crazy and it burns to bend my pointer finger on my right hand.

And Then Paul and Trista Were Banned from Salem Valley 8

Okay, so we weren't really banned from Salem Valley 8...but we could have been. Please continue...

After spending the day spending our Bed, Bath and Beyond gift certificate, decorating the walls and not cooking a single thing, Paul and I decided to go see Paranormal Activity at Salem Valley 8 since it's practically in our back yard and we hadn't seen it yet. However, when we arrived we encountered the weirdest payment difficulty that either of us has ever experienced. I had just taken out my debit card to pay for my and my lovah's movie date when I was told that I, in fact, could not pay with that card because it has the Interlink symbol on the back. Apparently their not accepting this card has something to do with a .50 fee to the company whenever the card is used. Whatever, I'll just use my credit card. I put away my debit card and grab my Citicard, quickly checking the back for the Interlink symbol. Seeing none I handed over the card and said, "This should work." Oh contrare, Ms. Wilkins. You can't use that either because it's a credit card, not a debit card, and they just can't accept those. So, having no cash, our only option was to drive the car right through the ticket booth, thus likely getting us banned from Salem Valley 8. That way we would make it through at least half the movie before the Salem fuzz showed up and hauled us into the slammer. In the end we visited the handy dandy ATM just down the street, but I maintain that option one could have been pretty awesome.

Paranormal Activity, by the way, is pretty creepy. I'm glad I don't live in a two story home with hard wood floors or I might be even more freaked out. I'll feel much better in my single story, fully carpeted apartment.

In other news, I cried at breakfast this morning because Famous Anthony's ran out of home fries AND put peppers in my omelet when I specifically asked for them to be left out. Paul was freaked out and I felt like a wuss. But then we went to Denny's and there were copious amounts of home fries/hashbrowns and we had one of the best breakfasts I've had in a long, long time. We felt bad for not tipping the Famous Anthony's waitress because she was a good waitress and their lack of potato-products was not her fault, but we didn't have any cash so she had to go tip-less.

I meant to talk about the move the other day, but internet was being pretty stupid until yesterday afternoon. All in all moving went well. We've been here for 5 days and the living room, kitchen and bathrooms are all put together. Mine and Paul's room is getting there, but there's still random things that need to be put away. The guest bedroom and dining room are currently holding all the crap that we don't really know what to do with. On the bright side, we have things on the walls in the living room, dining room and bathroom (not a priority, I know, but there was drippy paint that I hated to look at). We officially have a pretty wall sculpture and look impressive and educated with our diplomas hanging side-by-side. Now we just need a couple more wall things for the living room, hall and dining room and something to go above the sink in the kitchen because it's just too white and blank.