This time it’s an account where we’d live in either Washington DC or….

Hmm, some city I think I flew over once… Chicago? Noo…. ended in “polis”….

Minneapolis? No, that’s not right…

Now I remember:

Indianapolis.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I don’t have my hopes up (about 50 things would have to happen for us to be able to move to Indiana, including selling our house in Cheesecake City) but I’m on realtor.com browsing…just for fun, of course.

(Edited to add…Googled “Client Name Indianapolis” and it seems the client site is next to where my mother works.)

(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

(It’s “The Odd Couple Goes to Work”!)

Here’s the second best part: the job also requires that one spend half their time in Somewheresville, England.

Our trip to Indiana was great except for the too short part. One of the highlights for me was running around town with just my mother. While on the hunt for a parking spot, I drove past a mother and daughter (about our ages) and it made me sad that wandering Target’s aisles with my mom is a novelty for me.

Other fun things:

1) Flight of the Valkyries came on the iPod while Gene and I were driving up I-65 in Indiana in our rented cream Mercedes. It was hilarious (to me) because the cars got out of our way super quick.

2) Lunch with my brother.  It is very rare that I get to even talk to him, let alone monopolize his time like that (he’s working two jobs to help support his family – go Bill!)

3) After a super crazy huge dinner with just Gene, Mom, Aunt and I, I got the chance for a few minutes alone with my Aunt (Gene was pulling the car around and Mom was tagging a picture of George W. Bush*). Getting that is even rarer than time with my brother. Since she works in Big Payroll too, she understands what I’m dealing with at work, although I caught myself wanting to say “We’re about to land this big client” or some other Tale of the Workplace but stopped because it’s probably something I’m not supposed to talk about with someone who is With the Competition.

4) Had lunch with Brandy and her older daughter and her twin babies. The twins were born last summer, after I started with Big Payroll, and I hadn’t had the opportunity to ‘meet’ them yet. (B, if you’re reading this, they are adorable and well behaved for being less than a year old).

5) In a surprise that no one could have seen coming, I saw my bridesmaid T with her husband and HER twins, who had just turned two and who I also had not met. I truly don’t remember the last time I saw T – before she got pregnant, I guess, so at least 3 years ago.

(Two of my three bridesmaids have twins and I have my fingers crossed for bridesmaid #3)

6) On the drive home, I was feeling a little under the weather so I bought a couple Nyquil tablets and popped those before we got on the road. Between midnight and at least 7 AM, I remember nothing except stopping once or twice for Gene to rest. By the time we got home I felt much better.

So that was my trip to IN. I can’t believe I made it a year in between visits!

*Nahh, she wasn’t tagging a picture of George W. Bush, but it’s funny to say that so it stays. Until the Secret Service arrests me for it.

(And yes, if I’d been the adult in charge I would have done it, of course…but I am merely a guest star in this episode of A Baby Story so, huzzah!)

G-Dawg is completely my favorite niece. (Yes, she’s also my only niece. But I’m my Auntie Lyn’s only niece so I’m HER favorite, too!). I hope to add her to my collection of Godchildren. Yes, I know. Godchildren, in this instance, really just means that Gene and I are legally responsible for children (other than the Boy) if something happens to Gene’s best friend and his wife. And while it makes a mockery of the religious use of the word “godparent” (I could go on from there but I know at least two of you take the whole Godparent thing seriously so I will stfu out of respect), I just look at it as building my Army of Children Not My Own. Like Angelina Jolie.

* I don’t know who equates to Turtle in this math problem but the concept amused me Thursday night when I started this post and it still amuses me now so it stays.

Yesterday’s annoyances:

1) Got to work early, but later than I’d planned since I was making an early exit and Boss Gwen wasn’t aware of it

2) Car service I’d scheduled for ride to airport did not materialize. Took hoopty cab to airport, cost more than car service, driven by cabbie who had to be coerced to pick up my suitcase. Tipped said cabbie for absolutely no good reason.

3) At Cheesecake Airport, sat next to older lady who would not shut up! Ugh, go buy a copy of People and let me enjoy my laptop (and free Wifi) in peace!

4) Flight from Cheesecake left late, got to Atlanta late (due to weather), 45 minute layover turned into two hours of pacing airport waiting for it to reopen (closed due to weather). Made it to Indiana about 11:30 instead of before 10:00. Mother Nature, phhhhhfffffffttttt.

5) Seatmate on flight from Atlanta stole my cookies! And was not respectful of the “Keep your damn self on your side of the arm rest!” rule.  Isn’t that a universal rule? If I don’t know you, I don’t want to be touched by you. (Oh and!! when she brushed off the crumbs of MY COOKIES she brushed them onto me! Rude!) (And she took any unclaimed packages of cookies she saw as we exited the plane). (Ahem)

Good Things That Happened Yesterday (in order of happening):

1) Dad met me at the airport. It is so nice to be met at the airport.

2) WHITE CASTLE WHITE CASTLE WHITE CASTLE (I think this is the cheeseburger the LOLcats are after)

3) Met GWEN my adorable tiny tiny niece. She is SO cute and I will pester the heck out of her with the camera. Once I wake up.

Second, I wonder what Gene plans to cook for dinner. He was in VA but he’s home now (showed up just as I finished making the bed with clean sheets).

Third, my hives (why do I want to call them scales? or scabies? or rabies?) are recovering remarkably after just two days of Prednisone. Yay!

Fourth, that means that the hives will not be accompanying me on my visit to Exotic Indianapolis. I’ll be in town from late on the 29th until midday on the 4th. YAY! YAY!!!! I plan to pack an entire suitcase with my Illicit Gymbo Stash (gifting it to Brandy), which means that I will need to buy a new wardrobe once I get to Indiana. Actually, that’s not a bad idea. YAY!

(And those are the official dates – I finally booked my flight earlier today. Holy Hell, I miss Indiana and its residents and I am SO excited to finally meet Gwen.)

(I will get to Arkansas, I WILL). (I’m not proud that I have been saying that since 2008). (Also not proud that I am annoyed that my – ?? – step-cousin? – will be there more or less when I want to be there. Not thinking the most charitable of thoughts).

So, yay! Can’t wait to see my beloved family in Indianapolis in July. And that goes double for my beautiful niece, who I cannot wait to meet!

YAY!!!!!

I have seen a few pictures on Michelle’s Facebook and the happy family are adorable! Can’t wait to meet her!

That said, my birthday weekend w/ Mom feels like it happened months ago. I think that part of why I haven’t written lately is that I am still upset that Kansas lost to Northern Iowa. I mean, Northern Iowa??? That game happened when Mom was in town and we watched the last 10 or so minutes (on the laptop), cringing the whole time. We also watched the last few minutes of the Purdue game at the restaurant we went to for my birthday dinner.

We really had a great time and I feel bad that I haven’t written about it. (Hope your feelings aren’t hurt, Mom!) Mom loved IKEA (at least the meatballs) so much that we walked through it twice. Maybe two and a half times. We also walked all around the outlet mall another day and part of a regular mall another day.

I was pretty certain that I was going to dislocate a hip, we walked so much. (Oh, and we also walked the dogs on a long route through my neighborhood, which they loved). Mom, on the other hand, did all of that walking PLUS played with our Wii Fit PLUS walked on the treadmill. Seriously. One night we all went to bed and I hear noise upstairs in the guest room. The next morning Mom announces that she made her own Mii and played with the Wii Fit. We went to bed at midnight. Mom cannot be stopped!

(Thankfully she still helped us put major dents in the cakes plus once or twice a day she’d sit down with a mini cupcake or two. She is my mother after all!)

So, that was my birthday. (Except for the huge bag of bargain books from Books-A-Million that Mom and Dad got me for my birthday, which I am still working my way through and probably will be for awhile). (And!!!! My dad sent along a birthday present for me, which was a Fleetwood Mac concert poster that he found on eBay searching for Eric Clapton. That was such a sweet gift!)

Work is work – Stefania was out of the office all of last week so I was Accounts Payable for a week. I have more respect for her than I ever thought possible – how does she not drink at her desk every day??? Two days into last week I was ready to start stabbing people and by day four I begged Gwen to not make me help accounting anymore. (She said no. Grrrr). So, between the A/P Week and being off for Good Friday (ha! I worked from 9 am until 2 pm anyway) I am so. freaking. behind. (Seriously, Gwen, all I wanted was a few freaking days where I could focus on the awesome reports you make me put together so everyone can ignore them – is that so wrong?).

In entertainment news, Couples Retreat suuuucked. So disappointed. Vince Vaughn as a family man isn’t just fiction, it’s science fiction! I am embarrassed to admit it but I love to listen to the stupid pop station on the radio in hopes that they will play Lady Gaga or Ke$ha. Oh, and we have watched all three seasons of Arrested Development. The first season was great and the other two were not bad. And did I tell you I watched the first season of Californication using Netflix Instant Queue? I hope they put the other seasons on the Instant Queue because I really liked it.

And the dogs – Scooby had his annual vet visit today and – shocker! – he’s getting old. The vet said that one of his teeth may have to be pulled eventually. Beyond that, he is fine – good ears, no fleas, etc. The vet’s office is so fraking expensive. Booper is also doing well although she is slowing down a little too and we need to talk to the vet about her legs when she has her annual visit later this year. Love the puppies, so glad we have ‘em. There was a picture on the wall at the vet’s office of a whippet who was a patient there who lived for 15 years. It’s shocking to think that we adopted both dogs as puppies and now we’re almost halfway through the best case scenario, life wise.

Finally – tomorrow is Macauley/Bill and Michelle’s baby shower. (Wasn’t it like 3 weeks ago that you guys called and said “We’re pregnant! Don’t tell Mom!”). Unfortunately, I wa$ not able to attend but I sent a Chicco travel system in my place. (And a surprise dilly present, muah ha ha).

And, nothing new on the topics of Plan B or The Boy.

I am fine, hope you are too.

Anyway! We just walked in the door from our trip to the Frozen North (and Frozen it was – it snowed in both IN and OH), so now I feel safe in promoting that we weren’t home the whoooole time.

Highlights:

In Indiana, we hung out at Mom and Dad’s house, opened Xmas presents (where I was spoiled – Xmas ’09 was wayyy better than Xmas ’08), ate a tremendous amount (including the traditional family fruit salad, yum), saw “Up in the Air” with George Clooney (recommended!) and saw Brandy and her daughter Sophia. We were in IN for far less time than we were in OH but it was quality time and I would not change it for much (barring actually moving to Indiana, which looked like a possibility in ’09 but not so much now).

The BEST thing I did in Indianapolis: Well, my SIL and I went to CVS on Xmas Day and I got to park in the “Expectant Mother” parking space. I had to take gooood care of SIL because she is carrying…my niece! Yay! (Cannot WAIT to finally shop the girl section at Gymbo – my regular sales clerk will be so confused!)

In Ohio, we did Xmas presents, ate a lot, Gene and his brother went to see Sherlock Holmes (meh, I stayed at the hotel and played Makeover Madness on Pogo), and, as I mentioned previously, I did laundry to get apple goo off my pants (which I should have wiped the apple goo off of before washing, oh well!). I also came to a surprising realization, but that’s a whole separate post. Maybe later.

(Oh, and one of us respectfully requests no Plan B chat over Xmas, please. Babies Not Yet Born = Yes, Babies Not Yet Conceived But Would Live At My House= Try Again Later).

Wanna hear something super cute? So, Gene is XBox friends with my brother, Macauley/Bill. As you know, Bill is going to be a FATHER in May. Due date 5-14. So, whenever Gene goes through his XBox friends list, he sees my baby brother and under his user name is “5-14 A New Era*”

C’mon, say it with me: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

(* I think that’s what it says. Either way, it is adorable).