Creepy-crawly

For those of you who haven't figured it out already from my forays into gardening, I hate tiny, defenseless bugs, worms and arachnids. Yes, I know I'm girlie. Get over it.

I really, really dislike them. My usual MO when I find a spider crawling in our house it to yell for Hubby to come and kill it while standing a safe distance away and helpfully pointing at it until he scrounges up a tissue and takes the little bugger away. Hubby is even the sort that will carry the creature out the front door and attach him (or her) to a welcoming plant outside. Not me.

If Hubby isn't around, which tends to happen when we work opposite schedules Monday through Friday, I bring out the big guns. Our vacuum. I used to try to squish 'em like any normal girl ... by making contact with the bottom of my shoe that I had launched toward the thing from a respectable distance. If you know me, however, you know I love my shoes. And I didn't really feel like knowingly spreading spider guts all over them. Plus, it's messy. Enough said. But with the vacuum's handy attachments, I can suck that spider up while maintaining my four-foot radius. And I ALWAYS run the vacuum a few minutes longer to make sure it can't climb its way back out.

Needless to say, I was not pleased to wake up a new eight-legged friend the other morning.

I keep a glass of water next to my bed for my morning ritual of pill-popping (all legal and prescribed to me, I promise). But before I am ungroggy enough to handle sitting up and facing day, I hit snooze, oh, about a half-dozen times. During one of those times, I felt my hand brush something. Considering the amount of stuff I have sitting next to the bed, I didn't think anything of it. That is, until I woke up enough to take my pill. There, floating in my water was -- I kid you not -- the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. Of course, it could have been the biggest I'd ever seen simply because I'm practically blind without my glasses so I had to hold the glass EXTREMELY close to figure out what the black blob was. Well, that woke me up! But just long enough to take my pill using a different glass and hit snooze once more.

Unfortunately, when I finally grudgingly rolled out of bed. I checked the glass and the "dead" spider was dead no more and had split. Now I'm afraid the spider will come back to taunt me. Just in case, I have the vacuum on stand-by near our bed.

Road trip recap

So you'll have to envision our tour of Wisconsin without the visuals because Hubby has been working very hard and has yet to post his photos.

Our trip was absolutely lovely! We made the rounds of family and friends and even managed to squeeze in a few stops that weren't planned.

We spent our first night with Nikki and her Hubby-to-be, Jon. We met up with them in Milwaukee for some fabulous Mexican food and booze, which was much appreciated because it took us three hours just to navigate through the city of Chicago. I realize road improvements are a necessity, but come on people! You do not narrow a five-lane highway down to one with no warning and no way to exit for 20 miles! While we were crawling through our concrete prison, we discovered the joys of the rental car's satellite radio -- particularly the stand-up comedy channels. We were laughing so hard at the Blue Collar channel (I know, I'm not usually a fan) that we must have looked like we were wayward travelers gone crazy to those angry Chicago drivers.

While we stayed with Nikki and Jon our first night, we had to leave early the next morning to head to Radisson, WI - a town of exactly 222 people in northern Wisconsin. Hubby's grandparents live there, and I must say, it was very cute. Their house was the house typical of all grandparents with interesting knick-knacks, photos and memories.

Because of the sheer number of family members gathering in Radisson, we did not stay at the house. We stayed at a "resort." I use quotes because this was not the type of resort that the Hilton sisters would frequent. It was a fishing resort. It was pretty comfortable except for the fact that it didn't have a phone. Or cell service. But it did have it's own gas pump, which came in handy when we were running on fumes after forgetting to fill up in town. And the single station the TV picked up happened to be playing a program on font and typography when I was bored and had no channels to flip through. I know, I'm a nerd.

After leaving Radisson, we headed to northern Illinois to visit my extended family. During our entire trip, the over-indulgence of drinking did not actually happen in the Land of Cheese and Beer. Nope. It happened in Wisconsin -- by Hubby only. Let's just say that Hubby had a bit too much fun hanging out with my cousin. The next thing I know, he's calling to say he won't make it back to my grandmother's house after all. And the next day? Yeah, I had to pull the rental car over a few times during our travels. I don't think the rental agency would have been too forgiving if we brought back the car all puke-ified.

Finally, we rounded out our trip by returning to Nikki and Jon's. We visited a museum of advertising and design which was hosting a business card design display. It was fabulous! Yep, definitely a nerd! And I occupied my time by throwing my best friend and bride-to-be her first of two bridal showers. Which was fabulous (if I do say so myself), with fabulous alcoholic and non-alcoholic punch and a fabulous assortment of goodies and treats. The men were sooooo jealous of the snacks.

All in all, it was a fun and BUSY trip. Once renowned photographer Hubby gets his photos in order, I'll share those with you as well! Ahhhh, now I need another vacation from my vacation.

Stay tuned for why you should NEVER sell your car on your own. Just trade it in, trust me.

Hiccup!

I'm so sorry for my long absence, my dearest blog readers. No, I did not drown in a vat of beer while clinging to a wedge of sharp cheddar while on vacay. Though we did bring back some tasty dairy delicacies from Mars Cheese Castle, the finest cheese kingdom in state of Wisconsin. I can't begin to tell you how my life has turned upside-down since coming back from the Land of Cheese and Beer. It's like we went to a foreign destination and returned to our normal lives, only while we were gone, someone decided to put everything in different places to confuse us.

We did that once in college. I shared a dorm room with Nikki, and directly above us lived Clare and Diana. For April Fool's Day freshman year, we swapped our door decorations to see how many people we could confuse. Our dorm only had three floors so it's not like it was hard for people to keep track of what floor they were on, but we still managed to find a few people staring blankly at our door, mumbling in confusion.

Anyway .... I've been sidetracked.

I will post more about our trip later once Hubby, the renowned photographer, posts his photos, but in the meantime .... We picked up our Prius Saturday! George the Prius is so amazing. I never though I would refer to a car as "amazing," but I can't short-change him. I drove George off the lot with a whole five miles of experience under his belt. As we were about halfway into the amazingly tedious drive home on the highway, I called Hubby who was in the Focus in front of me. I told him I wasn't stopping the car. I was just going to keep driving, and I would never relinquish the wheel. I'm in love.

Since entering the blogging world, I have decided that most good blog posts have a cliffhanger. Well, here's mine:

Coming soon .... The Midwestern girl makes a LIFE-ALTERING DECISION, calling on the strength of her friends and family to help her out. And she gets a swell vacation to boot!

But first ... Until I feel comfortable discussing my LIFE-ALTERING DECISION, you folks will have to settle for the long-overdue vacay update and the hilarious story of trying to sell our Focus. Stay tuned!

On the road again

In just a few (eight) hours, Hubby and I will hit the road for our Great Wisconsin Extravaganza. I will try to blog once I have an internet connection, but please be patient with me as I won't be really back in action until August 14.

I'm hoping I'll come back with great tales of cheese and beer.

Chivalry is on life support

I realize that what I'm about to blog will probably draw angry comments from feminists (and probably men) around the world ... or just the ones who read this blog. But is it too much to ask for a "gentleman" to offer his seat up to a lady?

I take public transportation to work. Most days, I absolutely love it. I can read, listen to my iPod, zone out or whatever without having to worry about ramming into the bumper of the car in front of me or speeding too fast through the traffic cameras. It's a much more relaxing way to start my morning. If the train's running late, there's not much I can do about it so why not kick back, close my eyes and dream about stopping in for a danish at Panera on my way into the office.

I do not enjoy it, however, when I get on the train and have to stand during the whole ride with my heavy bag while wearing a skirt.

I realize that many women fought very hard for equal rights, and I also realize that if it weren't for them, I would probably spend my days wearing an apron, mending my husband's clothes and baking pies. (Side note: Hubby and I actually did make a pie this weekend, and it is fabulous! It's a peach, blueberry and raspberry pie, and I HIGHLY endorse it. And for someone who rebels when her dessert does not contain chocolate, that says a lot!) But it's just POLITE to offer up your seat! Just like it's polite to hold the door open for the person right behind you instead of letting it swing shut in his or her face. I would offer my seat to an elderly person in a second so why shouldn't able-bodied males offer theirs up to the ladies?

The thing is that there are just some mornings where I don't feel well, and standing and hanging on for dear life just doesn't agree with my body. But because I look normal, no one thinks anything of me standing. Maybe this is my hangup, but I really don't feel like tapping someone on the shoulder to explain my medical history. And what drives me crazy the most is when they obviously avoid making eye contact so they don't feel compelled to get up.

Hubby (as well as all of my/our male friends) always offers his seat up to a woman, but I'm beginning to lose faith in most of the men in my Midwestern metropolis. During my stint living in New York, I always saw men offering their subway seats to women. And Midwesterners are supposed to be the friendly ones.

Maybe their mamas should have taught 'em better.