I am in love...

With my cleaning people.
Its official. Any trepidation, concerns, class-war type feelings have been put to rest.
There is nothing better than walking into your home at the end of the day and seeing that your baseboards have been cleaned, the inside of your microwave was cleaned, the WINDOW SILLS wiped off.
Glorious.
Glorious is the word.

In fact, I got so excited, that I jumped up from my couch after surveying said glory, and promptly rammed my toes into my coffee table. At first, I thought -- OW! -- and it would go away. When I woke up this morning and I had a small sausage instead of a middle toe, I decided it might be a bigger deal than that. I am off to the Dr's. Now, I know that there is nothing that they can do for a banged up toe except to tape it to the next one. Really what I am shooting for is a Dr's note that gives me permission to wear flip-flops in direct defiance of our corporate dress policy.
STICK IT TO THE MAN.
That is what I say.

Other than that nothing new.
Not even listening to anything as this is the first more-than-5-minutes I have spent at my desk all day.

Random musing and Babies R Me

And thus, begins another exciting Monday here in the salt mines I call work.
On the upside - I believe I might actually get some work done as the meeting schedule is not totally insane this week. At least not today or tomorrow -- looking ahead more than one day on a MONDAY is just asking too much.
That and the coffee finally kicked in, so baby steps.

Speaking of baby steps -- BIG NEWS this weekend. One of my best (and oldest) friends Julie and her husband are expecting!!!!!!!!!! The newest member of the Aaronson clan should be making his/her arrival sometime in December. So, this kid is going to have Hanukkah, Christmas AND a birthday in the same month. Good luck balancing that all out -- :)
Kidding of course, I am THRILLED for them. More baby spoiling to be done by crazy Aunt Meghan. And you know that is EXACTLY what I will be.

In other baby related news, still no update on when Nate and Martine get to go bring Noah home. How they are keeping their cool on this one is beyond me. So keeping all the appropriate appendages crossed for a date as soon as possible.

A few other musings on the last weekend - and they are random.

• My cat Bailey, the old one that plays like he can't even jump up on my bed, decided to take on a raccoon, on my porch on Saturday night. And frankly, I think he was winning. Although, I am putting a stop to any late night outside forays for him. Any attempts by him to act old and decrepit are now going to be tossed aside. If you can challenge Ricky the raccoon to a duel on the back porch, your ass is not going to score pity points with me.
• I saw a bumper sticker this morning on the way to work, that said

  Stop Hate. Vote Republican.

  Um. Yeah. I totally consider the republican party the all-inclusive, arms open party when it comes to that sort of thing. Actually made me do a double take on the interstate this morning.
• Why is it that seemingly easy home improvement projects, like hanging a curtain rod for example, are never as easy as they should be? Like when that ONE bracket of the three will not hang correctly? And it makes the whole curtain rod look crooked and janky? I mean, I am no Bob Vila, but in theory, I should be able to drill a hole and get a screw in the wall without needing 4 tries.

So that is about it for today. Pretty random. One of these days we will revist the whole -- WILL MEGHAN EVER DATE AGAIN question. Stay tuned kids. Same bat channel, same bat time.

Now Listening: Give Up by The Postal Service

Does this make me a snob? or just lazy?

I have approached, and subsequently crossed a threshold I thought I would not get to.
I hired a cleaning service.

Yep. Single woman, no kids -- a few cats granted, but it seems I don't have time to keep up.
So starting next week -- and every two weeks after, I have a cleaning lady -- ladies? gentlemen? -- to do the heavy work for me.
Wait, was that stereotypical of me to assume that it would be a woman? My inner femminst is raging right now.
Moving on...

At first I felt bad about it. Like, seriously, what do I have that keeps me from spending a little time and elbow grease keeping the house put together? And then it dawned on me, its not what I don't have (time) but its what I spend doing it (time).
So, in honor of my very precious and important time -- gag -- I went for it.
So I have joined the ranks. And I have discovered that many of my friends have also done the same. That did make me feel better. That and knowing that I wouldn't have to spend half of a Saturday/Sunday every week just trying to catch up. And its not like they are doing dishes or laundry. Just the basics, kitchen, bathrooms, clean the floors and dust.
What else is new?
Not a whole lot. Work is like MACH-80 this week. I have left each night about exhausted from the meetings that I have been attending.
And for the record meetings = no work getting done.
Meetings from 9AM - 4:45 PM Solid = A LOT OF WORK NOT GETTING DONE

Side note: My sister Courtney is a snot.
And I will leave you with that little nuget of goodness.

Now Listening: Not A Pretty Girl by Ani DiFranco

Someone is messing with my car karma

For those of you that are unaware, I am somewhat cursed when it comes to automobiles. I believe this curse to be somewhat unfounded, as I do try to keep the car in good shape. But with my old car for example, any trip to Omaha was certain automotive failure -- brakes go out, tire goes flat... you name it.

Now the bug has been somewhat luckier in that respect. I have replaced more than a few headlights, and there was that chain of car wrecks in which people kept just running into me, but on the whole, the Love Bug vibes have been decent.

Until the last week or so. In the last week I have discovered the following:

• I am 1,000 miles over on my oil change.
• Headlight is out
• Taillight is out
• Check engine light came on.

And then, to add insult to injury. I got a flat tire yesterday. My sisters and I had taken my dad out for lunch for Father' Day. I was heading back to Des Moines from the restaurant, so we said our goodbyes there. I made a quick detour to the ladies room prior to my 3 hour trip, headed outside and noticed my car looking like I had parked in a hole.

Nope. One very flat tire. Of course, I am full from lunch, tired from the night before and its ooh, say 90 some-odd degrees outside.

So my sister Courtney and I go to work.

Melissa it seems, was going to supervise. Which is code for: I have never changed a tire, probably never will change a tire so I will stand around and comment on how freakin' hot it is.

Courtney starts jacking up the car -- in heels no less, no car emergency is worth sacrificing fashion -- and I go about getting the spare out of the car. We get the car jacked up, then realize we cannot get the bolts unscrewed. So over ambles (it's Kansas, they amble there) an older biker guy who was about to get on his rather bad-ass looking motorcycle. Tells Courtney, you have it jacked too high. So, we lower the car down and he gets the bolts started for me. He takes off and we are off to the races. A few minutes later, I have the old tire off, the new tire on and we are in business. Of course, right as I am finishing up tightening the bolts, ANOTHER guy stops and asked if we needed help.

Yeah - thanks Mr. Knight In Shining Armour, we are all set.

Now, covered in sweat, my hands looking like a grease monkey, I am all good to go. Made it home in one piece, and now have one more thing to add to the list of things to get fixed when I get into the shop. Of course, all those things will be cheap. Oh, wait. No they won't. I own the most expensive electric blue plastic in town. Hopefully now, I have paid whatever cosmic penance the Car Gods have meted out for me and I will restore balance to the Automotive Force.

Here's hoping anyway.

Was down in KC for the weekend. Courtney had a little party. Sorta like a Tupperware party, but more like a Slumber Party.

Spoiler Alert: if you are at work, don't go to this site while sitting at your cube.

We had a great time. Went out afterwards and returned home to my sisters amazing interpretive dance skills and mad-karaoke ability. Let's just say that you haven't seen anything until you have seen my little sister sing (and I use that term loosely) "That's What Friends Are For"
Truly a thing of beauty.

And in closing, some pictures from last weeks birthday extravaganza DAY TWO.

That's Martine and I doing a stirring polka at the Piano Bar -- and yes, I said POLKA. No party is complete without one.

Heather and I a few cocktails into the night -- note the purple lips, that's how you can tell :)

And all the girls that came out to help me celebrate.

You can see the rest of the pics here. These were just the best. Translation: the ones where I don't look 1) really intoxicated or 2) really fat.

That should bring you up to date.

Now Listening: Unplayed Piano by Damien Rice

Another year wiser???

And the answer is a resounding no.
Another year, yes.

B-day came and went. Had a good few days courtesy of my friends. Took some time off of work and actually went to the pool -- briefly, very, very briefly -- which I hadn't done since I was like 18 or something.
Watching all these kids play around, enjoying their summer break. And all I could think was I really need to win the lottery.
That would solve ALL my problems.
Right.
Aside from that going down to KC this weekend to see my dad for fathers day and hang with my sisters for a little bit.
Big stuff.
very exciting.

I wish I had more to report or at least was a little more entertaining, but that is all you get on this fine Friday.

I need an off switch

And so begins another week here in the Heartland.
Its a gray, overcast Monday and I have little motivation as I had little sleep last night.
It seems that my teeny brain has decided that the best time to start churning out the deep thoughts is roughly at 11 PM when I turn out the lights.
So, I tried reading. Give the old noggin' something else to mull over. Tried again with the light off at about midnight.
No dice.
Finally gave up, went downstairs and turned on the TV. Finally fell asleep somewhere in the 1:30/2 AM neighborhood.

The cause of said deep thoughts?
I will give you three guesses and the first two DON'T count.
Stoopid boys.

Well, the boy himself wasn't stupid. This mental meandering came as a result of some comments that were out of left field on Saturday night.
What Meghan, could you possibly mean by that?
Well, allow me to tell you.

So this weekend was Winefest here in DSM. Annual wine tasting that has several events over the course of 4 days. I have a good friend that is a wine distributor that is always in need of help to pour for these sort of things, so I agreed to help. In return I got free admission for two of the nights -- the public tastings. One Friday, on Saturday. The Friday is the more casual (and cheaper of the two) 90% wine with a few food spots. The GRAND TASTING -- sounds so pretentious doesn't it? -- is a bigger deal. Tickets are twice the amount from the Friday event and there is more wine and more food.
Saturday I get there as planned. We get set up, and I take a few minutes to scope out scene to see where I want to go when I get some free time. Each table has a sign above it to indicate either the vineyard or the restaurant/catering company.
So I am looking around and I see the table for the restaurant that Joe works at.
Beautiful I think to myself. And some how, I just KNOW that he is the one that will be there. They have 4 stores around town, but I was convinced that he would be the one working the table.
Fast forward about 2.5 hours. I got my break, grabbed my glass and plate and off I went.
I start my tastings and move my way around the concourse, and sure enough there at the Legends table... one ex-boyfriend.
I kept to my original plan of attack and got the rest of the food and wine that I wanted.
I go back to my table to continue my work for the Ridge winery.
BTW -- great Zinfandel, the 2003 York Creek .
Eventually, Joe must have gotten a break because I see him like 2 tables down.
Now I know that I am going to have to see him and be polite. And in fact, that is what happened. We said hello, small talk bullshit and I had to go back to pouring.
So this is towards the end of the night when this goes down. At 9 PM the event technically ended. And about 10 feet from my table, a group of my friends had camped out. Event ended, I poured myself a glass and went to join them. And yes, he was there.
One of the women that were among the group was a lady I had been introduced to like, months ago at the Cafe. I was subsequently re-introduced and we were talking about the festival, our favorites, etc when she says to me out of the blue...

You know, you and Joe belong together.

Couple of mitigating factors here:

• We were at no point in the evening talking about me and Joe
• she did not know that we had dated
• She barely knows me and I only think she knew who he was from the cafe
• She made this determination, and subsequent comment, while a we were standing about 2 feet from one and other.

All these things are running through my mind as I am trying not to choke on the sip of wine I had just taken.
I looked at her and was like,
Um. thanks. We actually did date and broke up about 2 months ago.

Well, then he is being silly -- clearly you belong together.

At that point, I gave up. And I also knew that comment would haunt my sub-conscious for a little bit. And that boys and girls is how a little nugget of unsolicited opinion? statement? can drive a woman to insanity. At least one that tends to over analyze, not that I am like that or anything.
Really.
At all.

Which leads me to the conculsion, that if one could invent an off switch for your brain, I would be like a ga-zillion-aire and not have to deal with crap like this.
I gotta get working on that.

Now Listening: St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley

1, 2, 3 ...

It seems simple.
The sign says

Express Lane: 12 items OR LESS

So, one would surmise that if you should have MORE than 12 items, this is not the lane for you.
Or, if you are some super-huge SUV driving , suburban woman who spent more time getting ready to go to the grocery store then I spend ALL week getting ready combined, then you are clearly exempt from the rule.
So it would seem if you chose to shop at Hy-Vee close to the lunch hour in good ole' West Des Moines.

Whatever.
Literacy. Seems to be a lost art.

Now Playing: Do Or Die by The Dropkick Murphys

Throwing the hat back in the ring?

Hello ether-world.
Work has been pretty nutso the last few days, so I haven't been able to post. I am actually doing this post between printing at least 10 acres of rain forest worth of paper for the mammoth 4 hour meeting I have this afternoon.
I feel so environmental.
Ok, maybe not at all.

So, been doing some thinking -- and I may have come to the conclusion that it is time to think about throwing the proverbial hat back into the proverbial dating ring.
My instant thought is: UGH.
Dating in Des Moines is somewhat like

• finding a needle in a haystack
• wading through a puddle of ick and mire
• drowning in a cesspool

Perhaps I exaggerate just a smidge. But, I am not that far off.
So, even though I still have this lingering icky feeling when I contemplate dating someone new, I think it is time to get back into things. At least start seeing what is out there. Not that I am expecting a huge change from 8 months ago.
Here are some of the options that have been kicked around

1. Online
2. Church
3. Work
4. Street corner

Kidding on the last one.
Lets tackle our options and see how they play out.

Online. Well. Yes. I have been down this road several times with little to no success. Went on a few dates, sorta dated someone in St. Louis (yes, it makes perfect sense) and really watched the whole thing turn into a source of entertainment rather than a viable way to meet people in Des Moines. See shining examples of my various online forays here, here and here.
And then there is the question of which one do you go with?
Match.com
Cupid.com -- has a local site AND -- wait for it -- you can send virtual roses. ooh. hold me back.
perfectmatch.com
eharmony.com aka The Army
or the big daddy
Executive Iowa Dating. Which technically isn't a online service, but doesn't really fall anywhere else. And I have 3 months left on my very pricey subscription.
So many choices. So little time. Not really the case, but still I have to pick one. There is a certain sense of desperation that you sense when you find the same people on multiple sites. And trust me, DSM is small enough that you DO actually run across the same people from time to time.
On a scale of 1-5, (5 being the highest) I would rate the online option as a: 3.5

Church.
Um. yeah. It seems simple enough. Go to church. Find the singles group. See what happens.
But there are two complications in that equation.
1. Go to church. Don't really do that very often. Or really at all. So it seems a little hypocritical. Plus, which church? I was born, raised Catholic, but there are other options. My parents don't really view it that way, but hey. It still raises the whole hypocritical flag.
2. In my personal history, the only people I ever saw or heard about actually going to a church singles group were at least 50+ years old.
This option does not resonate highly with me, I give it: 1.5

Work.
Slippery slope this one. Technically Joe and I met at work. Albeit my partime, 2x a month bartending gig, but work it was. So, I didn't see him every day and restaurants, well, restaurants have enough drama to fuel a soap opera for a whole year, so this wasn't out of the ordinary. Which is why it didn't bother me.
Clearly THAT worked out well.
But when I say work, I tend to think the 9-5 gig that pays the bills. That said, not a lot of people at work that would even capture my interest. And even if they did, its WORK. I suppose if you worked in separate departments it would be ok. And at the new place, we are big enough where that is clearly a possibility. Old job, too small, no way. But this is one that I am not totally comfortable with. Maybe I just need to get over it.
Ranking: 2

And yes, I was kidding about the corner.

And there we have it. Top runner as of right now, Online. Still not sold on any of them as shining examples, but willing to give it a go.
I shall keep you posted.

Oh, and we had Martine's shower on Sunday. Had a ton of fun, and a ton of leftovers -- do I hear anyone begging for some potato casserole? I thought not.
And she got a TON of stuff. I mean a ton. I honestly think they need a new house already, and Noah hasn't even come home yet. Insane. But, it was fun.

Now Listening: I Trust You To Kill Me by Rocco DeLucca & The Burden

And I thought Target had everything

I wish I had a truly riveting story for all of you out there today.
Alas, it has been a rather boring week here in the DSM.
Work has been picking up steam.
Baby shower goodness in full effect
My family cannot plan anything within a 12 hour window.
And the late night text messages/calls have ceased.

So baby shower.
And yes, it has become somewhat of an obsession. Who knows what will happen when I have my own...
Although I don't see that one happening till I am like, 60 -- at which point I will be a medical miracle and famous throughout the world.
I am drifting. Back on topic...

So, we are planning the big party for baby Noah on Sunday. And as I have mentioned, once or twice, or like 1,000 -- Noah is coming from Vietnam. So, we are trying to figure out how to incorporate some aspect of that into the theme, decorations etc.
So, we settled on Vietnamese flags to have around the room.
Small problem. It is Friday. Party is Sunday. I have NO idea where one goes to get something like that. Target certainly doesn't have an international flag aisle. Which is shocking, as I am rarely stumped at the Target. So, can't do online, don't have time. Gonna have to get creative on this one.
Good planning on my part.

But better than my family. Sent Patrick back overseas this morning. At the ass-crack of dawn. And I mean that. The alarm went off at 4:45 AM.
Now, I suppose there are those of you out there that have seen/or see that side of 5AM on a routine basis.
You are insane people. Crazy. Nuts. Off your freakin' rocker.
The only time I see that time on the clock is if I am up from the night before.
I mean, we were driving to the airport -- and certainly not saying much -- and we were out before the coffee shops were open. That my friends, is silly early.
But, I had thought that he would be in last night round' about 6. I thought this because Patrick told me he was leaving at 3 Pm. A 3PM departure plus a 3 hour drive equals round' about 6.
Nope, turns out he LEFT the LV at 6. He had other people to say goodbye to. So dinner got kicked to the curb. We traded it for a few drinks downtown. Had a good time. Got to hang out for a little bit before he took off, which was good.

So that is about it.
I know, I know -- Rock Star life I lead these days.
Green with envy. I can tell from here.

Now Listening: Black to Black by Amy Winehouse