End of a Chapter

I’ve clearly done a terrible job of keeping up with Are We There Yet since Shane came home. I really am sorry about that.

The good news is, I am starting a brand spanking new blog that will be updated regularly. My anti-blogging streak is over.

In a crazy turn of events, I landed a job at Fuse as the writer for the Top 20 Countdown.

Life is almost perfect.

Shane and I will be back to the long-distance thing for another 6 months while he finishes up his time in the Army. The cool part is, this isn’t deployment. This is for a dream job that will establish our life on the east coast as well as pay for all the plane tickets we’ll be buying to visit one another.

Please follow my adventures in NYC on my new blog, Mel &The City.

Update

Big announcement/New blog coming soon. Working on a final post to wrap up this one, and a new post to start the next chapter.

Stay tuned.

Meet Cully Gardiner!

Whew! It has been a busy last couple of weeks. With Shane returning to work on Monday after having most of March off, life is back to being my own company during the day. Well, sort of.

We have officially expanded our family to include Mr. Cully Gardiner, a 19 lb. dachshund who we absolutely adore. He is still learning how to do his bathroom business outside, but he is adjusting well here otherwise. We decided to keep the name Cully, as it was already on all of his paperwork. I also did some research on the name and say that “cully” is Gaelic for “handsome.” Needless to say, the name has grown on us and our handsome baby is here to stay.

Cully is 10 months old and spent most of his life with his foster mom Linne, who is also the president of the Texas Dachshund Rescue. His story was that he was seen thrown out of a moving pickup truck on a Texas highway when he was a few months old. He got stuck in a culvert (hence why he was given the name Cully) and had to be rescued by firefighters. Cully has been waiting for a loving home the few months following his rescue, and we are happy to be the lucky couple to take him in!

Cully on the way home from picking him up

My introduction to the world of substitute teaching finally happened a couple of weeks ago. I took a dive into filling in for a middle school choir teacher who was on a field trip. I arrived at the school before Mr. Thompson left, so I got to meet with him before becoming the stand-in choir teacher. He told me I’d have the rest of 4^th period (7^th graders) and then a 6^th grade class, a break period, and then another 6^th grade class to end my day.

I’m happy to report that no one was injured or died and the kids didn’t make me cry. The experience felt more like summer camp than anything, since Mr. Thompson’s afternoon lesson plans were to let the 6^th grade students go outside.

With 20 minutes left to spend with the 7^th graders, a few girls asked me a round of questions. Such nosy preteens.

“Are you married?”

“How old are you?”

“Do you have kids?”

“Have you had any miscarriages?”

It was amusing for sure.

The 6^th grade classes went okay. I don’t know how well it would have gone if I had to keep them busy in the classroom. I was more than happy to unleash the beasts to the playground area.

I haven’t taken on another sub assignment just yet, since I was more concerned with spending time with Shane than babysitting classrooms of children, but I will try to soon. I am hoping for elementary school next time, since I imagine younger kids will be sweeter and easier to handle.

Hm, what else has been going on. Shane and I went to San Antonio the weekend before last and had a blast (see the cute couple below), Shane’s brother Chase came down to visit last week, and I am seeing Lady Gaga tonight with my friend Cathy. I got these tickets over half a year ago (4 days after I got back from Paris actually) and am happy the show is finally here. I can’t quite say I’m one of Gaga’s “Little Monsters” but I am pumped to see her performance. I imagine it will be pretty damn entertaining and glamorous. I still need to figure out what I am wearing, like OMG!

On the Riverwalk in San Antonio

Lastly, I wanted to say that Rob, Shane’s other brother, left for a year-long deployment to Afghanistan on Saturday. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

Cheers!

SXSW is finally here, and I will be leaving for Austin soon. We managed to book the last available room in all of Austin for tonight, so I’m free to drink as much as I want. And with it being St. Patrick’s Day and all, today is sure to be a good one. There are tons of shows I hope to catch and I’ll be in the best of company.

My rugby game against OU on Saturday was a mess. We won 47-22 which is cool and all, but hitting my head as hard as I did in that game wasn’t. To be completely honest, I don’t remember what happened, I just know I opened my eyes and was on the ground, my head throbbing. I was taken out of the game after only playing 30 minutes. I didn’t have a concussion or anything, just lots and lots of frustration. Good times!

In other important updates, Shane and I will soon be expanding our little Gardiner family. That’s right, we are pretty close to adopting a dachshund at last! A dude came to inspect our house yesterday and determined we would make coherent dog owners. We’re just waiting to hear from the fosters of this little guy:

And we’ll see what happens next.

We also recently added a pistol to our household. It took some convincing, but I gave into Shane getting a gun, like everyone else in Texas. Shane has been teaching me all about it and took me to a shooting range yesterday to make me feel more comfortable with the thing. I ended up really liking it, and feel totally cool about having a 9mm in my house. I also feel bad for anyone who ever decides to mess with me, because I now know how to shoot someone in the face.

Shane’s been off almost a week now and it’s been really nice. We’ve been pretty big bums during the day, and our nights have been filled with our new addiction to watching “24.” I guess we tend to catch onto tv shows 5-10 years later, as we also just finished up
”Arrested Development.”

Now through Saturday we’ll be in party mode though. With the king of music fests in town, Shane, and good friends, I think it’s safe to say I’ll be pretty on top of the world.

Oh, and like every St. Patrick’s Day for the past 8 years, I called my grandma earlier to ask her what time I could pick her up and take her to city hall. Why, you ask? To get our butts painted green of course.

See, that cheesy little joke used to be my grandpa’s favorite line every March 17^th, when he’d call me to ask that very same question. Since he passed away in 2003, I’ve made sure to call my grandma every St. Patty’s Day and pull one over on her. So, in the spirit of tradition and everyone’s favorite drinking day, cheers and down those green beers.

It’s party time!

Back From The Dead

Yes, I know. This is unacceptable. I wish I had a good excuse like I got an awesome new job or a new dog I’ve been training to account for why I took a month-long leave from the internet. In fact, I can’t even really tell you what I’ve done the last month, other than going home to Jersey, playing rugby, taking advantage of Netflix and spinning my way to a hot bikini body.

I have fallen captive to my own pity party, opting to watch episodes of Law & Order SVU on repeat rather than actively search for a job. The lack of actual good jobs around here (i.e. waitress, stripper, bartender) has got me in a rut, wondering why I currently have nothing to show for my Bachelor’s Degree. Yeah, okay, so you can blame it on the economy. I got lucky getting a legit job just a couple of months following graduation. Now that I no longer have it, I feel slightly useless. I’m aware it’s silly, but it’s true. I do not know how to do nothing. It drives me insane, and I have very little practice in the sort of funk I find myself in now. People tell me to relax and enjoy this break while it lasts, which I have not been able to do most days. I know a time will come when I’m back to the nine to five, longing for the days when I had no responsibilities other than cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping and making food. But right now, this blows.

Of course life could be worse. I could be dealing with deployment.

Having Shane to have and to hold every day from here on out makes life happy. It’s those hours before and after his lunch that I try to keep busy, which sometimes results in me thinking too much and making myself crazy.

I have started to get my head out of my ass and back on my shoulders where it belongs, though. I finally got my fingerprints done to start substitute teaching, and we’re in the process of adopting a dachshund which will keep me company.

Texas has started to dish out my unemployment benefits, so I’m at least getting paid for working out and watching tv. I also don’t have to feel bad buying concert tickets for a whole slew of good shows coming up (Lady Gaga, Mumford and Sons, Bad Religion, Yelle, Kid Sister, and more…) Going to shows has always made me happy, and with my favorite person in the world here to accompany me, I’ve got a lot to look forward to right now. South By Southwest (SXSW) the biggest music festival of the year in the country (seriously) is starting on Monday, meaning free shows and booze galore. This will be my third year attending, but first with Shane. I am totally pumped, and I know it will be a great time for my mind and heart. Maybe not so much for my liver, but that’s okay.

Shane will have some time off in the coming weeks, which will be good. (Time off, by the way, from his current days of classes on everything from STDs to safety in the home to child development. The Army deems these things important to know for soldiers who have recently returned from overseas). We plan on going to San Antonio for a weekend and maybe even going camping for a few days.

Rugby, my one actual commitment for right now, has been going really well. Shane finally got to see me play a couple of weekends ago, and I didn’t do too shabby. I got to show my husband just how to tackle bitches (that deserves an LOL, but seriously) and introduce him to the 30 new friends I made while he was gone. I am off to Norman, Oklahoma late tonight to play OU tomorrow afternoon. Apparently it’s only a six hour drive from Austin, so we’ll be back late Saturday/early Sunday. This will be my first couple days not with Shane since he’s been home, so I admit I am already feeling a dose of separation anxiety. I’ll try to channel that energy into aggression on the field.

All in all, life is good. I have my days that I feel discouraged in regards to the whole job thing, but I’ve got my health, my husband, a dog on the way, and a whole lot of other things going for me.

So, if I disappear for awhile again, you should be alarmed. It means I am retreating from the world again, and that’s never a good thing. Thanks to those of you who forced me to remember I have a blog, because I remember how much I like to write.

See you on here soon, I promise. For real this time.

I'm Back! (And better than ever)

Hello, I’m back. I didn’t intend to go quite this long without posting, but a series of unanticipated things has occurred as of late. But before I get into that…

For two weeks and three days, Shane has been home. There are times I swear it feels like he never left, while there are others that I get teary eyed just thinking about how much I missed him over the past year. We quickly picked up on our life before he left for war-going out to eat, making food, watching movies, going shopping, and laughing a hell of a lot. My bed is no longer so big, and my nights are never sad. I wake up feeling full of life rather than like part of me is missing. Life, short and sweet, has been awesome.

The day he came home was just as I pictured it would be. Shane would get off of a bus, be in formation, and I wouldn’t be able to see him until the soldiers broke out to find their loved ones. Once the formation dispersed, there he was- my husband on American soil. We walked over to each other, did the hugging and kissing and looking at each other in disbelief thing, went to grab his bags, and away we went. All of my fears and anxiety were erased the second I saw him again.

Hooray!

Since he returned, Shane has had to go into work most days for classes and such. You know, on how not to beat your wife and whatnot. (Seriously) I’m pleased to announce that we are problem-free, and have never been better! Our nights have been filled with an assortment of date nights, hiding away from the world in our apartment, and spending money. In the past couple of weeks, we got a new car for Shane (Mazda 6), a big screen TV for the living room (Chyeaa), and a new wedding ring for me (because I deserve more diamonds after this year, duh!) All of the major purchases are done, thank goodness, because…

I got fired. Yep, that’s right. “Melanie, we’re letting you go. Gather your belongings and leave.” I shit you not. For those of you who don’t know, I got a job on day four of living in Texas at the Fort Hood Sentinel as an account executive. That’s fancy for “sales rep.” So for the past year and a half, I spent my 9 to 5 selling ad space in the official military newspaper of the largest military base in the country. I liked my job…for awhile. I met Cathy who became an awesome friend, and the salary wasn’t too shabby. I liked scoring decent contracts and making money. But as time went on, I cared less and less and that became a little too apparent. I still tried my best though, that’s the thing. I won’t make excuses or rationalize, but I will say that a number of double-standards and a lack of role model leadership directly resulted in last Friday’s climax of the long build-up to the ultimate “fuck you.”

It’s taken me a week, but I accept it. I am unemployed. Sort of.

See, we know I’m not one for sitting around. So last Saturday, while nursing my hangover, I jumped onto the internet and starting applying to all types of random crap. On Monday, I got an email from the head of Human Resources for a local school district inviting me to a Wednesday’s Substitute Teacher Orientation. I went, I filled out paperwork, I went through the training, I am going to start in a couple of weeks. The pay isn’t as fabulous as the glamorous sales rep thing, but it is money and it will be good experience. Supposedly I will be able to work five days a week if I want to, being there are 17 schools in the district and not many subs. Decent enough pay.

So, I got my husband, lost my job, found another tentative one, and here I am. I am doing pretty okay I think.

Shane has a snow day today because of the massive snow storm we got here last night. Two inches has rocked Central Texas, canceling work, schools, and an entire Army base. Stupid, I know, but I’m not complaining! Tomorrow we are going to Austin for the night, so I’m excited for that. And in a week, we are flying home for 10 days to visit. After that, Mrs. Gardiner will be hitting a classroom near you. I anticipate having some good stories to tell!

One Last Thing For Now...

I almost forgot to post this video; I've been wanting to do it for awhile and today seems more than appropriate. I came across this song a couple of months ago, and have been in love with it ever since. It's helped me through these final months! So in the name of me being disgustingly mushy and excited and nervous and loopy, I present you with "Winter Song" by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson. :-)