"They Say Taupe Is Soothing"

Yesterday, I threw a little tantrum. It wasn't visible or anything, but it happened. Because I'm not so good with change, and my entire job was moved to a different building... at a different desk... in a different chair! And the bathrooms are on the wrong side of the hall, and the walls are a different color. And I have a different chair!

I threw a little hissy-fit/pity-party for myself yesterday when I sat down in my stupid chair. It leans too far back and it's really wobbly. And everything is different. I felt like Woody in Toy Story when Buzz has his "suddenly-I'm-the-coolest-toy-in-Andy's-room" montage. I actually found "Strange Things Are Happening To Me" from the Toy Story soundtrack on my iPod and played it on repeat. Then I read the book Who Moved My Cheese seven times. Then I watched Pleasantville and identified with the mayor. Then I read Green Eggs and Ham. Then I ran out of examples of media that demonstrate how upset I was that my routine had changed. And now I just want my old chair back.

"I Wondered Where That Went!"

It's moving day here at our office. Our entire group is moving next door to another building. I've packed all my supplies and personal items and tagged them accordingly. But here's the weird stuff I found:

-A basketball (fully inflated)
-An Iron Man cake topper
-An expired coupon for Ballpark Franks (I've been looking for that for months)
-A Michael Scott mousepad (that I totally forgot to mail to AFWingMom for winning the caption contest!)
-A grocery sack full of Coca-Cola product bottle caps and box tops (redeemed for 4500 Coke Reward points and then redeemed for my first pair of Nike Shox)
-A Garfield piggy bank
-A printout of this.
-One nickel and 3 wheat pennies

That's all the interesting stuff. I've already put my 8 cents in my Garfield bank and ripped the expiration date off my hot dog coupon so I can try it this week at the grocery store.

Sharing Your Special Day

I share a birthday with my brother and my mom. I know, I know. That's weird. And we're not twins, and it wasn't on purpose, but that's the way it is. And my brother always told me happy birthday first because he knew I had to say it back to him. It was his favorite way of reminding me that I didn't have my own day. And because my parents didn't want my sister feeling left out, she would usually get a gift too. So it was like a less-awesome version of Christmas. Except we didn't get to sleep in, and we didn't get as many presents.

But the funniest part about sharing a birthday was that every year, without fail, my father would say the same thing to us. "Kids, this year I want to make it about your mom." What that meant is that he didn't have a clue what Mom got us, but he was gonna make sure he got her everything she ever wanted. Wait... let me rephrase that. He was gonna make sure he got her the most random stuff he could think of. So he got her appliances and stuffed animals and stereo systems. He got her furniture and shoes and clothes (as if he knew her size). It was really funny because my mom seemed to like everything she got. Whether she was pretending to like the gifts or she genuinely liked them, I'll never know. But it was fun to watch her open such random things (like a phone charger). If she was pretending to like them, then kudos to her for being so convincing.

Although, now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen that stereo system since she opened it. Or the toaster. Or the singing jewelry box. Or the 5-foot tall stuffed teddy bear. So either someone at Goodwill gets new stuff every December, or she found the receipts.

Every Two Years

My wife and I started dating 7 years ago today. And I proposed 5 years ago today. And our son was born 3 years ago this Saturday. And our daughter was born 1 year ago next Thursday. It seems like we're having some kind of big event every other November. So I guess that means something really cool and life-changing will happen next year at this time.

I hope that means we'll finally get to be on Wheel of Fortune together. Because we would totally win. I once got the puzzle "Thomas Jefferson" with just the "T". And my wife rocks at the toss-ups and the final puzzle. And we would never buy a vowel right before solving the puzzle. And we'd never yell, "Big money!"

Sick Days Can Be Fun Days

I called in sick yesterday. And I felt bad for doing it. I wasn't lying. I emailed my boss and explained that I was feeling better, but thought it best to take one more day to fully recover and make sure I didn't get anyone at work sick. So I wasn't lying or pretending. But I still felt bad. I felt like "being sick" should mean having a fever and staying in bed all day. Or maybe throwing up and not changing out of my pajamas. But I got up at a decent time and took a shower. I straightened up a few messes I'd made over the weekend. And then I played video games all day while my wife was out with the kids. (On a sidenote, she met some other moms at a ranch and my son got to ride a horse and play in a haystack. So I was jealous. I love horses and hay!)

And now I'm grappling with myself on how much information to share with my boss. Do I admit that I felt okay, but I was worried about getting coworkers sick? Or do I just not say anything? Because if I don't say anything, I'm implying that I was deathly ill. Either way I feel like I was dishonest, even though I wasn't.

I'm really having trouble with the fact that I had fun on a day when I called in sick. I feel like I broke the law or something.