And This is Why I Love my Husband....

I'm not much of a Valentine's Day fan. Probably because I've never really had a fantastic experience with it. Never anything horrible, like walking in on a boyfriend making whoopie with a random chick, but just never anything spectacular that has really proven to me that Valentine's Day is worth celebrating. It's always been the obligatory red roses, some stupid teddy bear or dinner at some shitty restaurant because he didn't think ahead to make reservations at a great restaurant. Eh, it's just not my thing. I'd rather be surprised with flowers on a random day with a sweet note, it makes more sense. Plus, unfortunately for me Chris was never trained well enough by former girlfriends to MAKE it mean anything. Stupid bimbos. ;-)

Anyway, so even though EVERY year I remind Chris of my feelings on the day, I still get the red roses and the indifferent "I had to do it" shrug. THIS year would be different. THIS YEAR I would hammer it into his head. Either make it meaningful or don't bother. I was bound and determined to make him put some effort into it. Surprise me the day before with really good chocolates and my favorite flowers! Have a fantastic dinner made when I get home (or after Will goes to bed) with a really great bottle or two of wine. Hell, even buy me a plant that I can put in our garden, it'll last longer! THAT'S what it should be about, put just a little though and effort into it and damnit if he can't do that then screw it! I don't want anything! (If you can't tell, that's the spoiled only girl syndrome.) Dad always bought me a gardenia plant (one of my favorite flowers) or wrote a really nice card about how I'm his favorite daughter. You know, out of the one that he has. The point is, make it mean something!

I was very proud of myself this year. Damnit, since he didn't come already trained then I'm going to start training him myself. I was adamant, don't send me the stupid flowers. What I forgot to mention to him was my rant about wanting it to mean something. So, now I'm left with the whole "just don't do it" thing. Crap. So the day rolls around and he starts talking about how his coworkers were giving him hell about not sending me anything. I feel stupid. Now he thinks that I just don't want anything. Ugh, I hate when I forget the other half of my point. I mentally jot this down for next year while I try to play the cool wife and say "Honey, I'm the one that told you not to send me the cliche' red roses while you ignore me for the rest of the night. Don't get me wrong, Valentine's Day is great and all, but only when you put in the effort", halfheartedly trying to explain it.

Ugh. Now I've just screwed myself out of any hope of ever getting anything.

So fast forward a few days later, and I find out that our company has President's Day, off so I immediately tell him that he should take the day off so that we can have a "date day". A WHOLE day to ourselves, that'll fix it! What should we do? A movie? He nixes the idea altogether. Damnit, I really want to see Juno still. "I know!" he says, "Let's cook! All day! We'll go grocery shopping and make our meals for the week!" Damnit. He's missing the point and now I wish that he would just go to work. Ugh.

BUT all is not lost. We decide to go to the Outlet Malls in San Marcos because believe it or not, he's lived here for 13 years and has never gone. Seriously. After I played up the Pottery Barn outlet a whole lot, I convinced him that it's a must do. And you know, while we're there, we may as well get more of the footie pajamas for Will at the Carter's and Gymboree outlets. And, I need to get a couple of shirts at Banana. Maybe a little Kate Spade action? And I need new sunglasses.. and on it goes. After a while, we decided to break for lunch and margaritas and I manage to convince him that I really do like Valentine's Day and my feelings are hurt that he didn't think enough of me to do anything.

All in all? My Valentine's Day present was a pair of sunglasses, 2 pairs of shoes, cute sconces from PB, a couple of shirts from Banana and a very apologetic husband. Not bad for a quick trip. We got a bunch of crap for Will too, but the most interest that he's shown in his new pajamas was when he peed in them this morning. Eh. Thanks, Will.

Ughghghghhh.. I Totally Had My Hopes Up!!!

UGH. I'm so annoyed. I was all set and ready for the big meeting with my boss on Tuesday where I'd let him know that I was out the door. Just in time for Chris to realize that I can't quit yet! What? I KNOW! We both totally forgot that we're doing the Cafeteria Plan through his employer for daycare. The amount that we had already determined was the same as last year, $5000. So far, we've only used $1600 so I have to work until JUNE-ish until the rest of the money runs out or we lose it. (And Chris won't let me lose $5000 just so that I can stay home. Cheap bastard.)

UGH. I'm so annoyed. Oh well. At least there's an end in sight. It was great, last week I was already being snippy and shitty to idiot customers. Last week this idiot kept telling me that it was our company's fault that she failed to keep up with her inventory. She told me that it was our software, therefore OUR responsibility to keep up with her inventory FOR her. Hm. Really. So, in my pre-quit snarkiness I politely told her "Beth, if I were psychic you can bet that I'd use my powers for something other than keeping your inventory in check. It is your responsibility to do this, therefore it is your responsibility to make it right." She was not pleased but you can bet your ass that I was. I was one smug bitch for the rest of the day.

Sigh. Now I have to go back to being nice for another couple of months. Frack! So, another 4 months and THEN I will be freeeeeeeeeee!

To Be or Not To Be....

Oh, one dilemma leads to another... this one is not so hard to figure out. I'm quitting my job to be a stay at home mama. They don't know this yet, but they will by tomorrow. Not only has my satisfaction with my job been dwindling in the last few months (quite rapidly, I might add) but for a while now I've been really feeling like I'm missing out. From 7:00am-6:00pm, I am either sitting in traffic (oh, the beauty of working in glamourous downtown Austin) or I'm at work wishing that I was elsewhere. I have about 45 minutes in the morning with Will and about an hour at night with him. On the weekends, we're so busy cooking, cleaning and running errands that we don't have time to just sit down and be a family.

And how can I sit at a desk all listening to adults twice my age screw up something as simple as checking an itty bitty checkbox a few times a week, then turn around and blame every single person but themselves. Repeatedly. With a complete disregard for other people's feelings, contracts that they've signed, etc., Every single day I have to listen to them tell me that our software is the stupid one. Sure.... totally not a user error. Not saying "Oh, woe is me", it's been my decision to stay for the past 3.5 years, but it's just time to go. I think that we'll still bring him to daycare once a week so that he can play with his friends and Mama can attempt to keep her what is left of her sanity. And have margarita lunches with girlfriends...

Plus, how can I sit there, day after day when I could be taking pictures like this? Even with pink eye he cracks me up!

I'm really hoping that once I leave, I'll be much less frustrated, stressed and exhausted. Well, I'm sure that I'll still be all of those things, but for much different reasons! The kid can run now, you know!

Speaking of the kid, we went to visit my parents this past weekend. We were going to do the whole Mardi Gras thing, but my Mom couldn't get off of work so we went to McAllen instead. It would have really hurt her feelings if we went without her, and there's always next year! We had four whole days of hide and seek, BBQ Shrimp and po boys. YUM.

While we were at my parents' house, Will's eyes started gunking up like he blew his nose in his eyes. Gross. Turns out, he was invited to the pink eye party. And he has an ear infection. Awesome! So he's currently on Augmentin since he just had an ear infection (his first) over Christmas where we got to give him the tasty pink bubble gum flavored Amoxicillin that he adored. Beautiful thing is, Augmentin not only tastes disgusting, but it's famous for tearing up little tummies. Um yeah, when they say that it can cause "stomach aches and a little diarrhea", it turns out that they lied. A lot. What it really means is that searing hot lava shit sprays out of your kid's ass. It's shart city at our house and his room smells faintly like a zoo. We've been trying to battle it by force feeding him yogurt and probiotics, then spackling his little tush with the Butt Paste, so we'll see how it goes. We still have 7 days to go! The good thing is, daycare gets to deal with it during the day! WOOHOO!

Don't think that the irony of the last sentence was lost on me. My days are numbered, I'll have to be a real Mom soon! It's all about Costco, playground and Jenny the dog!

Tomato/Caper Topped Fish

Num num num. I saw this recipe on Barefoot Contessa a few weeks ago, and it looked fantastic. The sauce (not really a sauce... a relish? a compote? dunno.) is nice and briny and I think goes very well with a nice, firm white fish, although she used swordfish. I just grilled the fish with a little salt/pepper and topped it with the sauce. Here's the recipe:

1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 cup chopped fennel (1 bulb)
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
28 ounces canned plum tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chicken stock
2 tablespoons good dry white wine
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

For the sauce, cook the onions and fennel in the oil in a large saute pan on medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the drained tomatoes, smashing them in the pan with a fork, plus the salt and pepper. Simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. Add the chicken stock and white wine and simmer for 10 more minutes to reduce the liquid. Add the basil, capers, and butter and cook for 1 minute more.

It's really easy and very delicious. We served it with salad and steamed broccoli, although I think that it would be really good with a little pasta as well.

I didn't take a picture this time, I was too busy trying to get Will to stop feeding Jenny. I swear, I've never seen that dog refuse food!