Best birthday in a really, really long time!

A big, huge thank you to all my friends and family (not that they ever read my blog or can figure out how to get on the internet without shutting down the computer...sigh...a story for another time) who made my day so very special! Mwah!

Creepy, scary cult and the blinding light...

One hell of a statue. I've been meaning to post a picture of this for some time (so instead I'll provide a handy link), but it's hard to drive and take a picture at the same time. Not to mention unsafe. And since the dog lacks opposable thumbs, she can't work the camera either;> Anyway, when Amanda was in town last weekend, we had her take some pictures as we drove south toward Cincinnati for Oktoberfest (pictures of the scary Jesus statue and Amanda and Kelly wearing chicken hats to follow soon). No matter how hard you try to describe what a 42' statue of Jesus looks like, it's never the same as when you see it for yourself. And being the heathens that we are, we talked about taking pictures of ourselves with the statue growing out of our heads (a la pictures with the W@shington Monument sticking out of our heads) but it would have been very difficult to merge back on to the highway. And unsafe.

So, for those of you who might think there's nothing to do in Ohio, let me assure you, there are big scary statues of Jesus and camouflage chicken hats that will provide hours....well, minutes, I suppose, of entertainment. Come out for a visit! It'll be fun, I promise.

*Onions*

I bought a bag of onions yesterday. Now, this probably doesn't seem like a particularly remarkable event, but for me, buying an entire 3 lb. bag of onions means having reached another stage of adulthood. Adulthood has been a big theme here of late, mostly due to my recent foray into adult issues like financial planning, marriage and now parental health issues. All by my choice, mind you. Well, except for the parental health stuff. I could do without that issue...

Anyway, I'm at the grocery store last night and I need to buy an onion, and they have a bin of really huge onions that I can purchase by unit, or I can buy a 3 lb. bag of smaller ones, which better suits my purpose, but means I have to buy the whole bag. So I look at the price. The 3lb. bag is cheaper than an individual sweet yellow onion (that probably weighs 2 lbs. it's that big) so I put the bag of onions in my cart. And as I am walking through the aisles, I'm reminded of a time when I was little and I thought that willingly putting onions in your food meant you were an adult. See, I wasn't a big fan of onions (most kids aren't) then, and my mom seemed to put a lot in everything we ate. So much so that we were convinced that the meatloaf she prepared had more onions in it than ground beef. Same with the stuffing at T-giving. Even my dad commented that there were too many onions in the meatloaf and he was an adult.

But I digress. So, there I am at the store with a whole bag of onions in my cart. I put them in there, I paid for them and then I took them home with the idea that I will someday use them in my cooking. How did I get here? When did I become a person who sort of likes onions (I still don't like big huge chunks of them and I don't eat them on everything)? And when did I become a person who buys a whole bag of them?

Can I go home now?

Goodness. I just got here and already I want to go home. Part of it is that I have so much to do at work that I just don't know where to start (so I'll blog instead) and the other part is that it is a cool, rainy day that would be much better spent on my couch with a book and my dog and a cup of coffee in hand. The urge to take a mental health day was very real this morning.

Anyway, things have been busy around here. Work, social obligations, a never ending pile of laundry, just to name a few. But none of this stuff is even remotely interesting enough to post here. I don't have any epiphanies to report on, exciting trips to mention or fabulous work opportunities with which to make you all envious (even if it means running with the elephants). Just regular life stuff, despite the business of it all.

Perhaps on Monday I'll have something more interesting to mention. Michael and I will receive the final version of our financial plan (duh, duh, DUH!!!!) tomorrow, so maybe there will be something more post-worthy from that experience.

Thank you and don't forget to Vote for...Cheney?

No, not Cheney, Change. Vote for Change. Michael and I spent a few hours volunteering with America Coming Together on Saturday and we were calling registered Democrats who are elegible to vote by absentee ballot (mostly people age 62+) and before we hung up, the script said "Thank you for your time and don't forget to Vote for Change on November 2nd." And one man I was talking to couldn't hear me very well and he thought I was telling him to vote for Cheney. No, not Cheney. Change. We only made calls for a couple of hours but I'm sure we'll continue to do things like that up until the election. I'm toying with the idea of taking the day off work on election day so I can volunteer at the polls. Maybe a half day b/c election day is only 2 days after our campaign closes and I'll still be running around like a chicken with its head cut off. One thing's for sure--I won't forget to vote for change.

The Fummer Returns....Home

I'm back from my very short vacation in Michigan with Michael and his family and back to the grind at work. I only have a minute to write, but as nice as my vacation was (and it was very, very nice), it's good to be home again. Home with my dog, home where there is cell phone reception and a bathroom that I don't have to share with anyone (except for Michael when he stays with me).

We went sailing, participated in a sail boat race (missed first place by just a hair), made s'mores, read a book, laid in the sand, went swimming, and climbed a big sand mountain (they call it a "dune" but it was definitely a mountain). Very relaxing and enjoyable...

Must dash, but I will try to get a link to some pictures here soon (I'm not sure that we took that many, now that I think about it...).

What's in a name?

Well, everything, if you ask me. And since this is my blog, my opinion reigns supreme here--bwah-ha-ha!

Last week I was helping some co-workers assemble a mailing to some of our rich-y rich donors and I noticed that many of the invitations were addressed to Mr. & Mrs. Man's First Name Man's Last name. I commented that I was so surprised to see that since Mr. Man's First Name & Mrs. Woman's First Name Man's Surname is more common and not as egregiously patriarchal as the first option. This comment sparked a discussion about name changes and was I going to take Michael's last name when we marry. When I said that I wouldn't dream of changing my name, someone commented "Oh, you're one of THEM." Them? Who the hell is "them?" If by "them," you mean someone who doesn't feel bound by the patriarchal tradition of changing one's name to her husband's, then I guess I am one of "them."

Changing your name or not changing your name is a deeply personal decision and each woman (and some men) has to do what is right for her. For me, changing my name would mean losing my identity. I have been K.A.S. for the last 26+ years (28 by the time we get hitched) and my name is just as much a part of me as anything else. I will be K.A.S. for the rest of my life. Michael taking my name or both of us adopting a new name is not really an option as neither one of us wants to change our names. And hyphenation is so not an option. Our names combined are just way too comical, even if we wanted to consider it.

So, after I state my case for not changing my name, I get the "But what about the kids?" question. What about them? Who said we were going to have any? Why do we all have to have the same name? Why do we have to decide right now especially since he/she isn't even a twinkle in my eye? That is a decision to be made when we need to fill out the birth certificate. In, oh, about 5 years. Or more.

The most recent study I read showed that fewer than 20% of women change their names after marriage, but still 20% is nothing to sneeze at. It's approximately 1/5 of all married women, so it's not like keeping my name is all that uncommon, like Lucy Stone keeping her name in the mid-1800's. Although, it's not like I didn't expect people to be surprised (not sure if that's the word I'm looking for), but I guess I didn't expect people to care so much. And it will only get worse as we get closer to actually being married (which is still over a year away). Durr....

Back at the ranch...

The bad thing about vacation is that all this work piles up in your absence and at times it seems like vacation only makes life harder, not easier and more pleasant.  This is not to say that our 4-day weekend in Rehoboth wasn't lovely or pleasant.  Actually, it was very good, and I got to see my favorite people all in one place (except for Hefk--we missed you), eat some really bad stuff (by bad I mean oozing with cheese or fried or sprinkled with powdered sugar), and spend some quality time on the beach with 5 lbs. of sand in my bathing suit. 

But, boy was I tired when we got home!  So we had a low-key weekend and spent some quality time taking naps, going on walks and cooking meals.  Very relaxing.  And now it's Monday (and thank goodness the day is almost over) and here I am at work with a million things to do and never feeling like I can catch up with all of it.  Such is life during campaign season.  I do have a new admin., and I'm very excited about her.  So far, anyway.  She has a great attitude and is smart and good with computers.  Especially navigating our database.  This makes me very happy and reduces my stress level significantly.  Keep your fingers crossed that she works out okay;>

So, that's about it.  Thank you to everyone for a wonderful vacation and I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over Thanksgiving!

A little of this, and a little of that

I really should be doing something work-related, but I'm going to take a few minutes and catch up on some stuff I haven't had time to talk about.

1. I got engaged! We don't have a date yet, but will keep everyone posted. It would help if one of the sites we're interested in would be open when they say they're going to be... Aside from that, I couldn't be happier and I know I couldn't find a better man than Michael.

2. The John-John show last week was awesome! Even though we were standing pretty far from the stage, I was occasionally able to stand on the base of a lamp post (with Michael to help keep me from slipping off) to see, but mostly I was trying to stand on my toes and hope that people with hats and kids on their shoulders would stop moving into my field of vision. And, luckily, I only got one small patch of sunburn. All in all, a very worthwhile experience and I'm glad I took a half day from work to check it out. As for their message, it wasn't anything I haven't heard them say on the news or anything else: roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, increase the number of jobs, increase aid for college tuition, etc. I think Edwards complements Kerry very well and I feel hopeful that we can take the White House.

3. I saw the Pants on Fire mobile a couple of weeks ago when it was in town. Not as many people showed up as I had expected, but then it hadn't been advertised much. Still, it was fun and we got ice cream! And in a conservative town like Cinti, it's even more fun b/c there are more conservatives to piss off around here;>

4. The beach. 5 more days. Crabs to pick, sand in my bathing suit, 4 days with my favorite people all in one place (we'll miss you Hefk). I couldn't be more excited!

Oh dear goddess...

Amish in the City

I'm speechless.

No time to blog

I have exactly one minute to blog and then I have to get some work done. Who knew that getting *engaged* would create such a hoo-ha at the office such that you can't get any work done? But, no time to talk about that right now, I need to get some work done before I go into a 3.5 hour long meeting followed by a meeting at and then running home to grab the dog and driving to Dayton. And while the *fiance* lives in Dayton, the reason I'm leaving work in the middle of the day to go up there is because Kerry and Edwards are going to be there this afternoon for a rally. I really need to stay at the office so I don't get my @ss kicked tomorrow for not getting my work done, but this opportunity doesn't present itself very often. I'll report back tomorrow...If I haven't had my @ss kicked first;>

Have you heard of the NO-CARB Diet for 2004?

NO C-heney

NO A-shcroft

NO R-umsfeld

NO B-ush

and "Absolutely NO RICE!"

Hee hee! So, Michael and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 on Friday night and it was...powerful. After we walked out of the theater, I cried all over M's shirt. Now, I can't do this film justice here on my blog. I would recommend that you see it yourself. But be warned: take some tissues with you.

I will say this, M.M. does go overboard with the whole conspiracy theory thing a la the X-Files in its last couple of seasons. But. So much of what he presents is highly compelling and disturbing and horrific and I could go on and on. Yes, he pokes a lot of fun at Bush. And it's funny. But he recognizes that Bush alone is not responsible for this mess in Iraq. I don't want to spoil it for you, but one of my favorite parts of this film is where M.M. discovers that only one member of Congress has a child serving in the military. So he hangs around waiting for Congress-people to walk by and when they do, he approaches them to ask if they would be interested in having their children enlist in the armed services. He hands out brochures for the various branches and he even has a member of the Marine Corps there to assist him. He actually engages one person in a brief conversation, but the rest pretty much run away from him.


I won't say any more about it other than to encourage you to see it. And remind you to get out and vote. Unless you plan to vote for Bush or Nader, in which case, please stay at home. I'm just teasing...or am I...? No really, I am. Everyone should exercise her/his right to vote (see also A's blog).

Smacked upside the head with Adulthood...

That's Adulthood with a big capital 'A.' And it's really not enough for me to be freaked out and overwhelmed by all of it, so I am going to share that feeling with you, my friends. First, let me say that it was a very positive experience and I am glad I did it. Second, the consultation was free and that was appreciated. But. Despite having been an official adult since the age of 18 (according to the government, not my state of mind)and thinking that I was doing pretty well as an independent person, a young professional, I got smacked upside the head with real Adulthood. Now, you might be thinking, "what is 'real' adulthood, anyway?" Oh, it's stuff like: here's a timeline of you, starting at the age of 26 and let's say you're going to live to be 95, and now let's plot your goals on this timeline. And then you get asked if you plan to have children and how many and when you think you might have them. What!?!? I have to think about this? Are you kidding me? I have to plot when "Kelly Jr." may come along? WTF?!? This is more reality than I am prepared to deal with at the moment.

But it gets worse. Much worse. I (and Michael, too since I dragged him along. Hey, it was free and we may as well take advantage of it), well, we start talking about goals like retirement at a decent age and graduate school for me and things like that, and that stuff was okay. But then S. (the advisor) starts asking things about what our individual life insurance policies are and short- and long-term disability benefits. Eeek! Right now, at this stage of my life, my life ins. is enough to cover my car/student loan debts with a little left over for my parents. But someday I plan to get married and start a family and owe a home, and then I'll be in trouble.

And then I think about Judy and how I could very easily have an accident while out walking the dog and my LT disability is only 60% of my pay (which is a huge cause for concern b/c working in non-profit, 100% of my pay only just keeps me in the black). And I don't have a savings account or a 403(b) or a TDA or any of that stuff that needs to be in place now for future retirement. So...it was a lot to think about. I'm still digesting it all, in fact.

Despite the anxiety attack I thought I might have sitting there and realizing that I have no assets and 2 big debts, it was a very good opportunity to start thinking about what I want out of life and how I'm going to get there. Most of the people that read this blog are well aware of the money issues my parents always seemed to have and I don't want that for myself or my children. And even though money problems weren't the only issues responsible for my parents' pending divorce, it was the one thing I can remember them arguing about time and again. I don't want that to be the case in my relationship with Michael (who, fortunately, grew up without these issues).

So...there it is. Adulthood. When did we get here? I don't really remember how I got here. Michael and I went to Fr!endly's last Saturday for dinner and I got a little nostalgic thinking of Fr!endly's after football/basketball games in high school and a time when our biggest concern was developing our plans for prom. Now I'm faced with developing plans for "Kelly Jr." and retirement...sigh... How did I get here?

Finally joined the techie age...

Thanks to the Best Boyfriend Ever (dammit! that was for you, Ang) I am now the proud owner of a PDA and... I love it. Really. I was so silly for putting it off this long. Of course, now I need to take the time to enter my address book (long an un-alphabetized little notebook purchased from My Sister's Words many moons ago) but then it will all be alphabetized and neatly typed AND I can BEAM the information to someone else's PDA. Whee! And the BBE even came to my office to install stuff and show me how to use it. I might have joined the techie age but that does not mean I can navigate myself thru all this information without LOTS of assistance. Now, if only I could get it to vacuum, I'd be all set.

Well, I survived...

But that doesn't mean I want to do any of that again any time soon. My parents were good (sort of, and it was really great to see my brother get his diploma but I don't need to do that again for a long, long time. I'm just glad to be back and have that experience behind me. In truth, things went fine, but I'm still mentally exhausted from it all and I'm not ready to relive it in my blog. Yet. Maybe never. Hee hee.

So, for now, it's back to the same old, same old.

Running, running, running...

To get everything done before I go on "vacation." Why is it "vacation" and not vacation, you ask? Because I'm going to see my brother graduate from college (a big shout out to Stimpy!) and both of my parents are going to be together in the same place (but not under the same roof) for the first time in almost a year and a half. Unfortunately, their divorce still isn't final, although that wouldn't necessarily make things any easier.

Anyway, I don't consider babysitting my parents a vacation so it's a "vacation." I'm going out of town but it won't be for some non-stop fun and excitement. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very excited for my brother and I am looking forward to seeing my parents and I'm excited about introducing Michael to the rest of my family...it's just...I don't know. Weird. The whole "my parents are going thru a divorce" fall-out isn't complete yet, and everybody's tense about it. But. Michael and I have decided that we are going to have fun this weekend even if no one else is. I'm going to stop complaining about the situation (starting now) and stop complaining about how annoying my parents are (G, I feel a lot better now after our conversation the other day) and just enjoy myself. It's the last time we'll be together as a family, fractured tho it may be, until someone gets married or dies, whichever comes first.

So, I bid you adieu for the next few days. Have to get some work done so I can leave at 4:30 today. Love and miss to all and hope you have a great weekend.

Panties vs. Underwear

So, I come home yesterday and check my mailbox, as usual. Nestled among the circulars, the "Have you seen me?" flier and a solicitation to become a member of Triple A, is a V!ctoria's Secret catalog. Not that there is anything unusual about this since they send them to me about 3 times a month (why bother since I only shop there about twice a year?), but I couldn't help but flip through the pages of pretty underwear and it got me thinking: only VS calls underwear "panties." I never say "panties." Unless I'm talking about how I never say it because I prefer "underwear." Panties just sounds way more sexy than underwear but underwear is way more practical than something called panties. But even when I wear something a little more sexy than plain briefs (even though they were purchased from VS) I still call it underwear.

Normally I have deeper thoughts than this, but I figured this subject would provoke absentee commenters to show me some love. So, which is it: panties or underwear?

Still a cubicle dweller...

So the big move at the office finally arrived and many of us are still unpacking and sorting and finding new places to put everything. While I am in a new location, my cube is configured pretty much the same as it was before except that my big filing cabinet is in a new spot. Not very interesting. And the cube walls themselves are totally disgusting b/c we've had them for 20+ years b/c non-profits are poor and are always getting hand-me-downs from for-profit companies that can afford to buy new stuff every 3 years. Anyway. At least my new cube is close to the fun people in the organization. And I'm not in a pod.

So I guess I should try to get some work done before I leave for the day. I no longer have the excuse that my computer isn't hooked up yet to justify not getting anything done. T.G.I.F.

My boyfriend rocks!

Yes, yes. Gag. Barf. Retch. I know. But he is so awesome and here are a few reasons why:

- he puts up with my tendency to be bossy
- he genuinely likes my dog
- he taught me to drive a car with a manual transmission and doesn't flinch when I stall out or make the car jerk around trying to get into first gear
- is a feminist man who believes in the freedom of choice so much that he went to the March for Women's Lives with me last month
- let me drive his car to work today so he could take my car to get the brakes done someplace across town and then took the bus to get to work this morning
- serenades me with songs (but never THE song from "Cheers")
- introduced me to "The H!tchh!ker's Gu!de to the G@l@xy" and books by @l Fr@nken
- is sweet, kind, super-smart, romantic, and one hot babe!

And so, amidst a chorus of retching sounds, Michael, I love you.

Inefficiency Part II

Well, now I have a title memorandum for my car and once I get my emissions check, I can go get my registration and new plates. You'd think they would offer e-check at the title agency or the license branches but they don't. Instead they want you to drive all over the state of Oh!o to do all this crap and write lots of different checks all in the name of Inefficiency. So, for today, I will get the e-check done and possibly go take my driver's license test (depending on how long the e-check takes). I have studied the rules of the road and took a practice test so I can demonstrate that the only difference b/w the rules of the road in PA and OH are...wait! There is no difference! Even the B.A.C. is the same! Wow...how about that?

Then there's the whole car issue. Most of you know already that my car has been in the shop 3 times in the past week for transmission trouble. The service mgr. says it's all fixed and even offered to drive it home and back as an additional test-drive before returning it to me later today. I hope I don't have to take it back to the dealer again until it's time for another oil change.

I sort of feel bad that the last couple of postings have been so negative, but dealing with the BMV has been a royal pain and last week, I really did have particularly bad luck with the car, dog and apartment. But, the car is (supposedly) better, the dog is better (I'll spare you the details on what I had to do to find out what was wrong with her), and the apartment, well, I haven't figured that one out yet. But. At least I am in good health (knock on wood or rather faux wood and plastic), I have a good job and friends and family are doing well. Relatively well. And we got to go to the March for Women's Lives last weekend and it was awesome! I really couldn't do the experience justice here but I will say that it was even better than I remember it being in '92. I am really excited going forward and expect that the energy from the March will inspire others to get involved b/w now and election day. Love to all!