our house!

Finally! Everything is clear now and we picked up the keys to our new home yesterday! I'm sooooo excited! We're planning on moving this weekend. Right now I'm barely transferring utilities and getting things cleaned up over there. Everything was kind of on hold and so I couldn't set up anything until I knew when we'd be there for sure. The house had not been lived in for a few months so there was all sorts of little bugs and spiders. Rodrigo fumigated yesterday.
I was a little disappointed because the "For Sale" sign was just taken down. I wanted them to put a "Sold" sign and take a picture there. Oh well.
I can't wait to be settled in.

feeling: busy!
watching: The shuttle launch
what I should be doing instead of blogging: getting ready to leave

party recap

I ended up going to the meeting/party. I was going to be the only one who wasn't going, so . . . . .you know how that goes. I had a blast! Really. Very surprising. My friend Lizette and I weren't really excited about going but felt obligated. Our plan was "We have dinner and leave"! We even picked the table closest to the door in order to make a quick undetected exit. We got there and our cool boss (we have boring boss and cool boss) was in charge of giving out the drink tickets. Everyone was to get three tickets. She made it so our branch ended up with six tickets each. (One drink per ticket. Non-alcoholic or otherwise.) Plus, whenever we needed refills, she'd go get them for us and let us keep our tickets. Well, our table drank a lot. Not me in particular (I only had 2 margaritas. Ok, four, geesh) since I have lost all tolerance, but as a whole. The dinner was good and much to our surprise the boring boss was turning into lush boss. The awards were given out, speeches made and the music started. Boring-turned-lush boss was one of the first ones up there. One of the ladies that works with us got up too and he was yelling, "That's right. She's the disco queen!" Hilarious! Lizette, our other friend Alfonso, and I couldn't leave once that sort of entertainment started. Boring boss is just so uptight and kind of fake that it was so incredible to see him act the way he was acting. He kinds of reminds me as Steve Carell's character in The Office. Only not funny. Here he was dancing with everyone, telling us this was a par-tee, actually speaking to us about something other than business. I swear, he should start off everyday by taking a few drinks. He's much more likeable that way. He wasn't the only entertaining one either. Everywhere we looked people were letting loose and acting like we were at some sort of club where anyone could act as silly as they wanted. It was so funny because at work, Lizette, Alfonso, Liz (who couldn't show up due to a chicken pox scare) and me are always talking and being silly. Here we were the only ones who weren't dancing and being all rowdy. We were sort of in shock. Cool boss and boring boss don't exactly get along really well and they ended up dancing together. I absolutely took a picture. I don't know whether to frame it, make mugs, make mousepads, or maybe even stamps for our branchs' Christmas cards. One of our other co-workers who ended up dancing by herself at the table no less told her ride to go ahead without her. She said "Yvett will take me home". I didn't get it at first then thought, "Oh, that's me! Uh, sure, I'll take you home. It's the least I can do since I've been laughing at your expense for the last hour or so". When she finally got tired of dancing we all left. I worked today. Had a headache. I'll never drink again. :P
After work, we took the kids to watch March of the Penguins. I loved, loved, loved it! Yes, I was crying in a few scenes. If you're wondering if it's suitable for kids, that's also a yes. When we left it was past their lunchtime so we stopped by here. I really like that the kids love the butter noodles and they'll actually eat all their food. Both of them. All of it. I can't say that about many other places. I've had their Santa Fe pasta, Pad Thai noodles, and the Cappelini Primavera and really liked all of them. The kids like the food, I like the food, it's inexpensive and walking distance from our soon to be ex-home. Well, I have to go put the kids in bed now. Have a good night.

feeling: tired
watching: MTV Cribs
what I should be doing instead of blogging: putting the kids in bed

company party

Our company party is later today. I'm still not sure if I'm going. When we were first told about it everyone was pretty excited. Every other year they were held here and were supposed to have been really fun. Well, this year the "party" is being held in our downtown branch. Plus, it is FOR EMPLOYEES ONLY. That's right. We can't take a guest. Upon hearing that most of us said forget it. I mean, there's going to be dinner, drinks and music BUT we have to be there with our boss. We can hardly stand being with the guy while at work. Ok, there's going to be music which means dancing. So, I don't know who we're supposed to dance with. Each other? In my branch there are 10 women who work there and 3 men. I guess we'll have to make a circle around the guys. Rodrigo was making fun and telling me that we could all just line up against the wall. Girls on one side and boys on the other until one brave boy crosses over and asks one of us to dance. Junior high style. Anyway, we'd pretty much dismissed the party until we found out that some really important guy is coming into town to give a speech and we are all expected to be there. We all apparently turned into street thugs and are expected to "represent, yo". That is to say, the bosses want all of us to show up and show the other branches how we're all pro-company and "team players".
I'd agreed to show up at least for dinner. I thought of what a nice break this would be and how my co-workers and I could finally be out in "regular" clothes for once. Then we received a call from the cool girl boss (not the guy I mentioned above). She told us she wanted all of us to wear black pants and a blue top. Ok, still doable. I have some back capris and a blue sleeveless top that I'd wear with some open-toe shoes. None of which I'm allowed to wear to work. Then we got another call. It was changed to a red top. Even better. I have a cute red top with black print. We were planning what to wear when one of the managers asked if we were kidding. She informed us that the dress was business casual. No jeans, no capris, no open toe shoes, no sleeveless tops.
WHAT?! What kind of party is this? No guests and we're not able to wear what we want. At this rate, I'd rather buy my own dinner. It turns out that is really a meeting that had always been disguised as a party. Since it was always at a restaurant before, it was never taken seriously. My only question is "Are we getting paid for this"? Seriously if I go the only way I'd be able to stand this is if I take a shot everytime the speaker says "valuable" or "great". As bad as all this sounds, I still feel bad if I don't go. Does that make sense? I don't know after all this frustration with the house I could sure use a drink. I'll keep you all posted.

feeling: angry (about the house)
watching: videos
what I should be doing instead of blogging: sleeping

konnichiwa

Yesterday at work, one of the regular clients walked in. He's Chinese. I know because he told me. He'd also previously told me that he speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. So he walks in, waves at me and goes to one of my co-workers. She tells him "Konnichiwa". I thought I'd misheard and looked over. He politely smiled at her, went about his business and when he was leaving my co-worker told him, "Arigatou".
I was mortified.

me to co-worker: Did you just tell him Konnichiwa and Arigatou?
co-worker: Yes, it means hello and thank you.
me: I know what it means, but that's Japanese.
co-worker: And?
me: and he's Chinese.
co-worker: Oh. So, he didn't understand what I just said?
me: Pshh, I don't know.
co-worker: But you understood and you're not Japanese.
me: Oh, so we're going to go around speaking Japanese to everyone? I think he thinks you think he's from Japan. Besides, he speaks English. You speak to everyone else in English.
co-worker: What else does he speak?
me: Cantonese and Mandarin
co-worker: Oh, well then he probably speaks Japanese too.
I was just at a loss for words. Ugh. I think I just sighed and probably smiled after that. I hope that man comes back.

feeling: ANXIOUS
listening to: Guster (Airport Song)
what I should be doing instead of blogging: getting the kids ready to leave

closing

We had our house's closing yesterday. Well, sort of. . .
We were supposed to be there at 10:00 am. Then they called and told us to make it 10:30. Then they called us again and told us to go at 1:00 pm instead. We got there at 1:00 and they still weren't ready for us. They gave the kids some raisin cookies and entertained us with newspapers. (Oh, and by "they" I'm referring to the title company and our realtor)We were finally led into an office. Well, the closing requires signatures from both the buyers and the sellers. It turns out that the seller is out of town. He won't be back until Wednesday. Without his signature the lending company cannot pay the title company and so, we can't have the title yet. We did our part of all the reading and signing. Lots and lots and lots of papers, initials and signatures. The whole time I was running chasing Alec who kept pressing the speaker button on a telephone. He was also crawling underneath the table.
So, anyway, we have to wait until Wednesday night or Thursday until this seller guy goes and gets his end of the deal done. I really hope he was out on business or an emergency or something. If he was out on holiday I'm going to be really upset. Well, I'm upset anyway, but I hope he didn't just decide to go vacation when he knew the date of the closing. I had planned on spending the day today cleaning up the house. My mom had even agreed to go, but now we have to wait. Again. I'll keep you all posted.

feeling: still anxious
watching: Sesame Street
Hey, what gives? the Cookie Monster is singing about eating vegetables. With that guy from the Fugees. I can't remember his name but he's supposed to be "Gone til November" They apparently both love broccoli and carrots. Hmm. .
what I should be doing instead of blogging: trying to keep the kids from hurting each other

desert rose

I was reading this article right now. It's about all the odd names that celebrities give their babies. Most are not something that I'd pick. I reminded Rodrigo that if we were to have a baby, and it was a girl I'd name her Desert Rose. He hates it. He thinks that it's as bad as these celebrity baby names. I think it's lovely, though. I like it because of U2's "In God's Country". There's a part that says "Desert Rose. Dreamed I saw a desert rose dress torn in ribbons and in bows. Like a siren she calls to me." Isn't that pretty? Rodrigo absolutely hates it. It makes perfect sense to me, though. I like the song, the meaning, the words, we live in the desert, it's unique. I love it. He says he'd name a baby "iPod" before he'd name a baby Desert Rose. I tell him that it has meaning and he says that "Pilot Inspektor" must have meaning to Jason Lee but that doesn't make it a good name. Ugh. Not the same thing. He also says that she'd always be called Dessert. I can't believe we disagree with the name of a child that I'm not even expecting. We have the same taste in a lot of things but names are definately not one of them. Coming up with Alec's name was torture. (His middle name is Julian) We didn't agree on any name until after he was born. I wanted Cristian or Nathan and Rodrigo wanted something like Pablo, Gustavo or Rodrigo. Anyway, not that I'm coming up with names or anything, but is Desert Rose really that bad a name? No one but me seems to like it. Am I just as bad as those crazy celebrities? Am I prone to naming a child Audio Science? Moxie Crimefighter?
On a totally different note, I have no idea how we're ever going to get to sleep tonight. We are excited and a little scared because tomorrow it the closing and we're signing our lives away. Oops, not tomorrow but rather later today. I had no idea what time it was. Good night. Really this time.

feeling: anxious
watching: I don't know, some movie
what I should be doing instead of blogging: sleeping

brianna's back

Brianna is back from California! We're busy sorting through the all the souvenirs she brought home, watching home video and hearing about the trip. And hearing about the trip. Then hearing about the trip. Finally hearing about the trip. Have I ever mentioned that my daughter can talk non-stop? She spent yesterday in Phoenix and she's telling me about it as though I didn't live there. It's cute. She's been to California every year since she was two years old but you'd think it was the first time she's ever gone with the way she's still excited. The only difference this time is that she is more tan than she's ever been. I'll post pictures as soon as I can get them from my mom. She PROMISED to make digital copies for me. We'll see. . . For now, I have to go put Brianna in bed. She is super tired. Good night, all.


feeling: glad Brianna is back
watching: The Surreal Life
what I should be doing instead of blogging: getting Brianna ready for bed