Think you know everything?

• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• The average person's let had does 56% of the typing.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
• The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched.
• All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
• No word in the English language rhymes with mouth, orange, silver or purple.
• Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

But it's only...

One of my current frustrations surrounds what I refer to as the "it's only" habit that an organization I volunteer with has a habit of falling into all too often.  As in, "it'll only take an extra few minutes" that drags a meeting on for another hour.  Or, "it's only $X per person" when each individual person in the group didn't have a say in the cost in the first place and may not have budgeted for said expense.

Many of the women I volunteer with in this organization are in professions that traditionally make good salaries or otherwise are a part of a duel income household where the combined income is at a good rate.  These same women forget that some of us live on just our income.  An income in middle-management at a non-profit that is anything but "good".  An income that pays for the necessities and a few of the "luxuries" but that isn't as expendable as others.

While I'm fortunate to have some savings and am by no means destitute, at the same time, I do have to be mindful of what I spend.  Especially since I just bought a new house with the costs that come with moving and setting up a new home.  A home that went from a condo to a single family house.  And, it is afterall the Christmas season and I'm buying gifts for my family which is where my current extra money is going.

But how do you tell those who are better off that coming up with that extra time and money just isn't always possible?  How do we remind them that what may be "only" an extra hour or an extra $25 to them may mean cutting out some of the basics for us?

I guess sometimes going along with what we aren't comfortable doing is really the "only" option available to us.

One Day

An ocean or a puddle?

Who to love

Holiday Weekend Houseguest (Part Two: Having a Guy Around)

Having a guy (or at least this particular guy) around for the weekend took a short time to get used to as I'm used to living alone.  But, after the initial quirk of moving around a two bedroom condo with a tall guy also in residence was...comfortable, relaxing, normal and almost too easy.

We've been friends for several years but not such close friends that we're out of things to talk about.  We were comfortable enough that any silences were just that, occasional silences, with nothing awkward about them.  We could do our own thing (both at home and out with respective friends) as well as be together.

When I got home in the early afternoon Friday afternoon from work, he was there to ask how my day was.  When we decided to go to a late lunch that afternoon followed by a quick errand, it was so normal.  When we sat on the couch after getting home in the evenings, we could veg-out, check out our  respective mobile devises and play a game on his iPad while sitting side-by-side on the couch relaxed and at ease.

When he got back home Sunday evening he even texted me to thank me for a great weekend which prompted a quick conversation.  That was followed by a conversation this evening following up on a conversation we had over the weekend.

It was exactly what I've thought having a guy around the house should be even if he is "just a friend".  Of course I would like him to be more that just a friend but knowing his "type" I know that I'm not likely to stand a chance with him.  The fact that he's, on more than one occasion, asked me to set him up with my friends and expressed interest in other women I know that he views me as just a friend.

And normally I'd be okay with that but I'm at a point where I want to be viewed as the dating type in addition to being the friend type.  I want the comfortable feeling of being with someone where things just feel comfortable and right.

Holiday Weekend Houseguest (Part One: The Basics)

A friend of mine texted this past Wednesday afternoon asking if he could crash at my place for the 4th of July (Thursday) so he could come up and spend time with our friends over the holiday.  He's in the process of moving back up to the greater Chicago area after living in St. Louis for work and is sub-leasing an apartment in between these two cities in the interim.  Since he won't be in his current location for long he hasn't set down roots or made too much of a connection there.  As such it makes more sense for him to stay with a friend up here when he wants to come out with us instead of doing a six hour round trip drive for any plans in Chicago.

When he comes up he usually stays with one or the other of two of our mutual friends.  The friend he stays with most often is his ex-girlfriend and friend of mine who did the dumping in their relationship and with whom he has a lingering friendship with.  Said ex-girlfriend though had a couple dates this weekend so she wasn't too keen on having her ex-boyfirend around for the weekend...hence the text to me.

Given that I have a two bedroom condo with room to spare I was happy to welcome him.  I said yes with the understanding that I had tentative plans with a non-mutual friend the afternoon of the 4th of July but that I might be up for the fireworks with our mutual friends that evening.  In addition I had to work on the morning of Friday the 5th, both of which he was okay with.

So he came mid-day on Thursday, July 4th.  He even asked if he could join me at the afternoon plans I had with my childhood friend and her family.  Of course that made for quite a topic of discussion amongst my friend, her siblings and her husband as I don't usually bring a "plus one" to events with their family even if said guest is just a friend.  On the plus side, it gave me an out to leave this barbecue to join my mutual friends with my houseguest for fireworks elsewhere.


As we drove to meet up for the fireworks with our mutual friends we joked about the rumors that we potentially would be starting by showing up together.  This was only compounded by the fact that the friend he usually stays with was insistent in finding out who he was staying with this weekend.  We both agreed that, while we have nothing to hide nor anything to explain, we didn't want to make an issue of the fact that he was staying with me.  We figured that less can be more and that sometimes it's better to not make an issue of a situation instead of fueling the fire of potential gossip.  Especially with certain members of our group of friends who like to blow things out of proportion.

After meeting up with our friends for the fireworks we had a great time and our arriving at the same time was a non-issue.  One person figured out that he was probably staying with me but didn't seem to care.  That became good on Friday when he decided to extend his visit for another night to join this friend for an outdoor festival / concert which I joined them for that resulted in another night at my place for my houseguest.

Awaking on Saturday, July 6th, I had to head into work for the day and then had a family barbecue in the afternoon / evening.  Certainly my houseguest was welcome to join me later on but I figured he might not want to spend the Saturday evening of a holiday weekend with my family instead of our friends.  Thankfully he had a couple of options for plans up here in Chicago as well as the option to head back home.  To that end I wasn't quite sure if I'd be coming home to company Saturday night or have my place to myself which made for a fun turning of the corner when I got to my sub-division to see his car on the street next to my driveway.

All went well for night three of his visit but made for fun this morning for day four of his visit.  I was supposed to head up to spend time on the boat of two more of our mutual friends today on Lake Michigan.  Not a big deal as my guest did need to head back home after four days "up north".  But it was quite fun when our friend called early this morning to mention that she and her husband needed to take a raincheck on a day out on the lake and asked what I was up to.  I just had to smile at my houseguest as I answered that I was relaxing on my couch without mentioning the cute guy at my side.

4th of July in the Country

Yesterday, I got to relive my childhood.  Growing up, either the weekend before or after the 4th of July was spent at my paternal grandparents farm in north central Illinois with my large extended family and plenty of fireworks driven in from a neighboring state by one of my uncles. This year had me at my great-aunt Irene's home (my grandpa's sister) Saturday evening with my extended cousins for a barbecue and fireworks.  Gotta love the country life!