Sluggish With Crab....mmmmm.....crabbbb....

Against my better judgment, I decided to go out on a limb and talk about what I had for dinner tonight. Not that there's not other stuff that can be talked about, I mean, I did start a new job, quit my old job, and start looking at portable heaters for the house, but this was special.

Backstory: Arlo and I were biking one day up Layton Ave. We passed a restaurant with a large plane attached to the front. Arlo said, "Let's go check out the menu (or something like that.)" He loves it when restaurants post their menus outside the door, it's like window-shopping for him. Anyway, he was excited to point out that they have All-You-Can-Eat crablegs on Wednesday night, market price. Checking on the price for me, he found out that it's usually around $26-28. Normally I'm not a fan of AYCE, as I find I never feel I get my money's worth and the food is usually subpar. However, I must admit I was intrigued, as crab is probably one of the only things I know that I can keep eating for a long time without getting full.

So, as tomorrow's my first "real" day at my new job, not at a training center, I decided it was time to treat both of us to an awesome meal. And did it live up to expectation! Wow! I ate a bucket of crab! It was freakin fantastic! Arlo got AYCE fried chicken, fried fish, and french fries (A.K.A. Arlo's ideal meal), which was also quite tasty. We ate ourselves silly and then came home and practiced the blocks, holds, and other self-defense moves I learned in training today. No, really. It was fun, but kind of sucked with the full stomachs.

Now, it's about 9:00 and Arlo's already asleep on the couch. I've picked out my outfit for tomorrow and am ready to get up butt-early to assure that I'm not late on my first day. I will post after to let everyone know how it goes, and I all I know so far is that my office is in what was the conference room, leading me to question, "Where will we have conferences now?"

Have a good night! I'm going to go put on my pj's so that my belly can expand under the pressure of the two-plus snowcrabs that gave their lives for me. Oh crabs, how I have loved you.

One more thing...I just realized that I mentioned this but never followed up...I decided to quit my job at Louise's Trattoria. I really liked the people I worked with and the customers were nice. I just think that I will be way too busy with the new job for any additional stressors, you know? Plus, it feels weird to me to be the Outpatient Clinic Manager by day and waitstaff by night. So, after this Saturday, no more Louise's, though I am hoping to hang out with some of the people I met there, as they are pretty cool.

See you in about a week!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend Plans

The plan as of right now is to head out of Milwaukee on Wednesday, early afternoon or whenever we can hit the road. We will then sleep somewhere half-way and hopefully be in Baltimore by early afternoon on Thursday. Phay, I don't think we will be able to make Detroit the half-way mark, because that heads us North and would take about 6 hours, when at 6 hours, we should be much closer to home. :(

As with everyone else, we will be with family on Thursday and Thursday night. The "free" days, then would be Friday and Saturday, as we will probably leave Sunday mid-afternoon. Several people have said we could have people over to their place, and I just found out that my brother is not going to be at my mom's place, so we could probably also hang there, so long as we stay in the basement. I propose that we all get together on Friday night and determine the location closer to the date. I would like to just say that we could all come to my mom's place, but as you all know from my going-away party, they can be kind of crazy about having people over. We could go out for food or just order pizza so as to make it as easy as possible.

I think this may be the only way I can see everyone, but if you can't make it to Friday night, we can try to work something out.

Post comments or email me directly at jreit001@umaryland.edu to let me know what you think. Remember, nothing on Facebook!

Oh, and I realize that this is a really boring post (and I still expect a comment, Bill), but needed to get this out and it seems to be the best way to do it, perhaps even better than email so people aren't bombarded with "reply alls". There's nothing too exciting going on right now, as we haven't been to any concerts lately ("Quelle horror, what will Kevin think?!?!"), haven't started my job yet, and have been spending my time being sick and organizing things in the house, two things that NO ONE (except Andrej) would care to blog about. For more excitement, see Arlo's blog. I'm just happy to be on the mend and sitting in a clean house with a fully functioning bathroom sink (there was a snafu with the sink that could be a post in and of it self, I was so inclined, which I'm not).

Talk to you all soon and see you in two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't emphasize my excitement enough!

Warning!!

Do not, I repeat, do not mention anything about the trip home for Thanksgiving on my facebook page. My mom has access to that and checks it, and recently I have become paranoid about her finding out about the trip. Comment all you want here on the blog, but not on facebook. Can't wait to see everyone!!!!!!

I'm a Bit Obsessed With the Leaf Blower

So, I'm pretty sad that I don't have time this morning to use the leaf blower out front to rid the yard of leaves. Leaf blowers are awesome! I compare it to the memories of raking leaves as a kid, and man, so much better now!! We have two very large trees, one in the front and one in the back, and I can't imagine doing it all by hand. And now I don't! Yay leaf blowers! Not that I'm going to do an entire post proclaiming the greatness of these machines. No, there is much to mention. In fact, I will probably forget most of it, and as I'm in a bit of a time crunch, I will be numbering all of the topics in a list format, starting with the most important and moving on down. Notice, I started with the leaf blower. Pretty big stuff! Onto the list!

1. I got a job! I interviewed for the position two weeks ago and when I didn't hear back from them earlier on the day that they told me they'd get to me by, I thought I didn't get it. I was pretty much convinced, and I had spent the morning applying to another batch of jobs. But at around 3:30, AJ called and offered me the job! So, now I will be officially known as Jen Reiter, Psychotherapist/Outpatient Clinic Manager. I will be working with a variety of clients from children with ADHD and ODD to adults with chronic mental illness, psychiatric disorders, drug addiction and mental retardation. I am so excited! I don't start until November 17, so I'm spending this time relaxing, getting new work clothes, reading, and getting a jump on Christmas present creation (see below for more). More to post later on the job front.

2. Halloween! Arlo and I went out for Halloween and had a blast! He was not thrilled with the idea of dressing up when I told him I was really into it, oh, say 3 months ago when we moved. But he warmed to the idea, so much so that I wasn't even planning on doing anything and he asked if we could. We debated between being two present-day dirty hippies a la Bonnaroo, or a lesbian couple, and in the end we went with dirty hippies. My costume was complete with frizzie wig, tattoo around the belly button, long skirt and fairy wings. Awesome! Arlo looked splendid in his Grateful Dead rasta shirt, rainbow glasses and tall hat. We went to a few bars in Milwaukee and ended up at Ma Fishers for the fried food platter. Fun night! For more on Halloween from Arlo's perspective, see his blog at http://arlosbloggitybloggyblog-blog.blogspot.com/

Oh, and we also carved pumpkins, see below! Mine is the scary one.

3. I joined the Y! They had a deal for joining by October 31, so I did it and it's awesome! I have been twice since I joined and I haven't used the pool yet, but I'm very excited to head there tomorrow. I also can't wait for the spinning classes and kick-boxing classes. Arlo signed up with me on a family plan, though his intention is to use the gym more like a spa, going mostly to use the hot tub and sauna when it's really cold in the winter and he needs a good thaw. I, on the other hand, have visions of us sweating together gleefully in a spinning class or encouraging each other as co-spotters. Ah, the idealist. So much fun to dream, so sad when those dreams are dashed!

Alright, best be going. I need to get ready for work now. One last thing. I'm trying something new for Christmas this year. I have an idea of what I want to make everyone for Christmas, but I'm making an offer. If there's something I've given someone else or something you've seen, thought up but don't think you can make (a la Kevin's blanket with sleeves), or something I've made you before and you want another one (like a new pair of pj bottoms), please shoot me an email or post a comment. I will try to honor requests. That being said, if I have my heart set on making you something else, you might get that, so you'll still be surprised come gift exchange time.

Word!