Archive for November, 2007

Must’ve eaten something weird.

Let’s have a chat about my stranger than strange dreams of late. Monday night I dreamt that my brother was an alligator who was attacking me. Because I love my brother, I will choose to believe he wasn’t trying to kill me, maybe just teaching me a lesson, like don’t hang around with alligators. To defend myself I had to administer several rather nasty blows to his head. After the last blow he went unconscious and turned back into a real boy. I felt extremely guilty and remorseful for what I had done.
Alex: I promise if you were to really turn into an alligator and attack me, I’d let you, because I bet you’d know something I didn’t, like the world was going to end soon and being fatally bitten by my brother/alligator would be far better for me than to live through a nuclear holocaust or something similar.

Wednesday night I dreamt my parents arranged a marriage for me. with my cousin. Not a first cousin, but a distant cousin, who in real life is already married, but really what does that matter? If you’re going to be in an arranged marriage why not a polygamous arranged marriage? I can’t remember if he was already married in the dream. I knew who he was but he looked very different. I can’t even describe how this dream made me feel. I guess the closest I can get is to say it gave me the heebie-jeebies, though in the dream I was rather okay with it all, you know, marrying someone I merely have “friend” feelings for.

I always wonder about dreams. When you come across someone who you know but they look totally different, how do you know they are who they are? It’s like a dreamsical sixth sense, you Just Know. And why do we blame weird dreams on food we’ve eaten, as I’m pretty sure our digestion and subconscious aren’t that closely linked. When do you know if a dream is merely a dream or if it’s from God? I have had dreams that I felt were from God, where I dream of a certain person, awake in the middle of the night and know I should pray for them. I guess it’s like the sixth sense, you know when you know.

LOVE!

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One last post before I head back to the bad internet.

I thought a lot over the past week about how I like taking care of people. A girl that lived on the same hall with me my junior year of college told me that she always knew she could count on me. I think about that compliment a lot. My hope is that people breathe easier when they are around me, that their burdens are lightened and hearts calmed. I truly love taking care of those I love, even those I’ve just met. I want people to feel secure around me, to never worry over my presence, though I’m not vain enough to think I would cause such a flutter. I just adored taking care of my brother this week. I love making his favorite foods, cleaning my basement apartment, washing sheets and towels in preparation. I worry about whether he’s warm enough when he sleeps or if he’s too stressed about homework. I even loved doing the dishes after our meals, which is an extremely rare inkling. Cecilia and Alex started calling me “mom” this week, and I actually like it! Of course I’ll have to work on not getting lost while driving around D.C. to truly complete the package.

So Alex, because I know you read this; thank you for coming here and allowing me to take care of you. Thank you for filling my cup with those perfect hugs and endless giggles. Thank you for your kind words and gentle presence. Thank you for daily showing me what I should expect from every man in my life, for setting the bar. I just can’t believe how much and how fast you’ve grown up. You are one of the greatest treasures of my life and actually the most surprising blessing (considering how fiercely we fought when younger). I seriously already miss you, I missed you as soon as you walked away this morning. This was honestly one of the best weeks of my life! I love you.

LOVE!

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Alex jumps across D.C.

about to go on our trip up to the top of Washington Monument

I’m thankful for my family

and freedom!

LOVE!

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Here’s the deal people, the 411, the inside scoop:

All the Riester cousins are crazy.

and THAT is a fact!

case(s) in point:

Our beautiful prep work for Alex’s arrival

and more prep

while waiting in the WRONG (unbeknownst to us) terminal for Alex

before we ran approximately 10 miles to the next terminal
(I look awkward so that you can see both the “a” and “l” as I was the first two letters of Alex’s name)

YAY he’s here!!

I love him so

having fun in front of the Smithsonian Gallery of Art (he’s sliding down the railing for your f.y.i.)

it was, to be honest, Cecilia’s original thought to slide

and I pretended it was a rollercoaster

more craziness proof to come!

LOVE!

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Here’s the deal people, the 411, the inside scoop;

I’m crazy.

Today I was off from Starbucks (yay), which was/is a very, very good
thing.  I had lots I needed to do to prepare for Alex’s arrival (in
less than 6 hours now, woo!) and also to prepare for Thanksgiving
(thanks for telling me the turkey needs to defrost for 3+ days mom!)  I
haven’t waited until today to do it ALL, thank goodness, but today has
been lurking in the back of my mind for a week now as my emergency free
day.  This morning, I went back to bed after the boys left, JUST
BECAUSE I COULD and it was quite blissful.  As soon as I got up I
sprung into action, which happens, oh, NEVER.  Maybe I should pretend
Alex is coming more often.  So I’m all over the place, washing sheets
and towels, putting away recent purchases, vacuuming, and packing for
the weekend at the TH.  Finally I decide it is time to leave the
house.  Of course, the first stop is coffee, partly because I love it
and need it, and honestly, partly so my coworkers can see how I look
normally, you know, without the dress code and glasses, oh the vanity
of it all.  Once the coffee was obtained I next stopped to get gas. 
While promising my firstborn child as payment, only because I’ve
already paid with both arms and legs, I started with the multitasking. 
I decided that I hadn’t checked my tire air pressure in a while, so
check it I did.  Oh, and I need to check the oil too.  I tried to pop
my hood but it’s a little tricky and I couldn’t quite get it to
cooperate.  I drive over to the air station to fill up my tires (dad,
you are totally allowed to beam with pride right now), and since that
takes, oh 30 seconds, I decide to use the rest of the time to vacuum my
car out.  So ambitious.  I head to the post office and Trader Joe’s to
get some flowers.  I walk back to my car and notice that someone’s hood
is popped, who would leave their….wait a minute!  That’s my car!  I
sheepishly push down my hood as I know that other guy, the one standing
over there, he’s totally watching me.  I call Cecilia just to chat and
remember that I forgot (got it?) to put the tire caps back on, you
know, the ones you take off to fill your tires up.  So much for being
fruitful or a real live adult for that matter.  (dad you are totally
allowed to shake your head in disappointment now).  I’m such a nerd.  I
went BACK to the gas station after running all other errands and found
2 of the 4 caps.  Guess I should add “visit an auto store” to my list. 
I never thought of myself as absent-minded, but maybe I should start. 
My mom said she thinks it’s because I’m trying to balance a lot right
now.  She also thinks I’m cool, so we’re totally gonna believe her on
both of those issues, she knows EVERYTHING and she’s always right.  I’m
being totally serious.

Here’s to hoping you don’t lose any tire caps this weekend!

LOVE!

edit: How could I forget? TODAY is the second year anniversary of my mom’s kidney transplant. I am currently cooking up an entry about that. I LOVE YOU MOM and UNCLE BRUCE!

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Apparently Monday was not fooled by this Veterans Day observance.  It merely moved to Tuesday for me, although I didn’t have off from work at Starbucks yesterday, so I feel as if this was an unfair decision on Monday’s part.  Today was hard, not necessarily awful and not completely unbearable, just frustrating.  Let me start by saying that when days like this happen, I always go back in my mind to try to remember if I did my devotions that morning, because if I didn’t start the day right, usually things go awry.  I look back at my morning and think, “AHA Mandy!  Maybe if you had give God the time tithe of the day, you wouldn’t feel so awkward and helter skelter.”  This is not to say that doing my devotions ensures a good day or that avoiding/forgetting them ensures a bad day.  Today, however, I totally did them! 
I get to Starbucks and everything is going pretty okay.  As things slow down I decide to clean up a bit, wipe the counters down.  The counter where we prepare the frappuccinos is constantly in need of a good wipe-down.  So I go at it, lifting the containers that hold the vanilla powder and chocolate chips that we use.  I also start bantering with my coworker Tim, as it’s what we do, especially since he promised to make me a copy of the new Radiohead cd, oh, about a month ago and I’ve still yet to see the fruits of that promise.  I lift up the container with the matcha powder (for green tea lattes and the like) and am holding it over the sink as I wipe the counter and ridicule Tim, oh the multitasking.  Unfortunately I was holding the container in a somewhat vulnerable spot and promptly spilled matcha powder in the sink.  Tim was laughing so hard he could not continue our extremely important conversation.  Note to self: Don’t do embarrassing things while you are teasing someone.  Matcha powder clumps up when wet and is harder than I thought to clean up.  Things went downhill from there.  A woman customer yelled at us for charging her to put a shot of espresso in her coffee.  The crazy customer that loves our iced lemon pound cake came in, and, that’s always a pleasure.  I am getting better at working on the bar, however, if there are 4 drinks I need to make and I mess up one, I pretty much don’t get over it.  I had to make a eggnog latte today, botched it, botched another drink, then told my assistant manager, “I can’t do this anymore, I just can’t do it.”  I was hoping she wouldn’t take that as my two-weeks notice.  She did not.  I was flustered for another 15 minutes, of course.  I tried making some frappuccino mix so the next shift baristas wouldn’t have to worry about it, but the cube I made them in had a crack.  So not only did I lose 3 pitchers worth of frappuccino, that lost frappuccino spilled all over the dishes I had just washed, rinsed and sanitized.  I then broke a glass sugar shaker that I had just washed, rinsed, sanitized and frappuccino-ed.  PRAISE the LORD, I got off early though and Fran totally shared the piece of marble pound cake she bought with me.  And I got to take a nap.  Tonight I got into a disagreement with Alex and raised my voice.  I always hate that and end up stewing for like an hour when I know he’s over it the second he walks away.  He apologized 10 minutes later though and my day has gotten better since then.  I will say that the lyrics from Amy Grant’s “In A Little While” have been continually running through my head, as they feel like my life. 
I hate for you to have read that complete entry and be thinking, “wow, she’s such a downer.”  Most of these events I found pretty amusing, laughed at and tried to remind myself that tomorrow is another day and my Lord is sovereign over all parts of my life, even the matcha-powder-spilling-parts. 

AND!  PICTURES!  from Loren and Mandy’s excellent adventures!

MOST AWESOME NIGHT. EVER. Loren, in his pure excitement over the Dr. Pepper, chocolate chip pancakes and Wallace and Gromit.

the superior cuisine that night

TRIP TO THE ZOO, YAY! 

metro ride into town, just chillin’.

Loren took this of me.

Love this one.  that face.  the sun. 

when I told him to act scared of the cheetah, naturally

when I told him to react to the fact that “cheetahs are disappearing”

guess who beat feet to catch a metro train only to have to wait another 10 minutes for one?  it’s lovely, i know

LOVE!  

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I’M GONNA BE AN “IN-LAW”!  A sister-in-law, that is.  And this big announcement has, thankfully, NOTHING to do with an iphone, though I’m still bitter about that.  Last night my brother asked a certain Kaitlyn Hills to be his wife and she said yes!  I’m going to have a sister!  Praise the Lord.  I’m honestly so excited!!!  Another Riester girl, can the world handle it?

LOVE!

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If you were expecting or maybe hoping for some fluidity in my posts this week, sorry but there is more disappointment to come.  Working 50 hours as a nanny plus the usual 30 hours at Starbucks this week has me spent.  I cannot tell you how many times a day I think about Alex visiting and how I won’t have to work all day every day for an ENTIRE week, mostly because I can’t count that high. 
However, I do have the day off from Starbucks tomorrow and I have quite a lot planned.  It’s going to have shopping, OH the shopping!  Because we all know I’d like to get all my Christmas gifts, or at least 85% of them, bought BEFORE Thanksgiving.  You know, to avoid the stranger-touch.  I already have a little pile building and it makes me glad.  Speaking of holidays and gladness, I walked into my Starbucks today and couldn’t help but smile.  How can you NOT get even a teensy bit giddy when you walk into Starbuck’s version of a Winter Wonderland?  The bright colors, cutesy signs and let’s not forget holiday cups and sleeves!  Most importantly (in the matter of my sanity) I did NOT hear “Gunslinger” by Tom Fogerty EVER, AT ALL!  I despise that song and you would too if you were forced to listen to it at least twice a day everyday. 

My brother comes in 8 days.  It will only feel like 5 though because time goes more quickly when it’s the weekend and/or your day off. 

Sometime I will devote an entire entry to Starbucks stories, anecdotes about our crazy customers.  So be prepared.  Another likely entry will be about how every guy I ever dated, liked or look at cross-eyed is married/engaged, though I see that as a less fun entry than the Starbucks stories one.  All that to say, if you are male, and would like to get engaged soon, just date me, as it’s a surety that you will be able to make a commitment to someone else after we break up.  (all this said in a matter-of-fact NOT sorry-for-myself tone, I really don’t mind). 

LOVE!

ps I was going to post some zoo-tastic pictures but am currently experiencing technical difficulties.  to be continued….

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so. tired. can’t. go. on.

I have barely recovered from the zoo trip (will upload pictures later), which was oh-so-much fun.  Well except for those wolves whose pee smells like a skunk’s spray, didn’t so much like that.  I seriously had fun, with a 9-year-old.  I’m always surprised by that and I really should start expecting it.  We finally had a “real” dinner tonight and now I remember why that’s not so great in my book.  I get to make the dinner then do all the dishes myself.  I’d rather order pizza. 

I’m addicted to books and ordered 3 from Amazon.com last night. 

Tonight I volunteered at my Starbucks to help set up the holiday stuff (yes I realize it is only November 7).  I was hoping there would be snacks and Christmas music playing, alas, there was not.  There was pretty opera music playing though and we were offered anything in the pastry case and/or drink we fancied.  Loren went with me and was a huge help, though he started chiding my co-worker Tim toward the end.  I think Tim can handle it.  I’m really excited about all the new stuff though, there are about 20 different tumblers (travel coffee mugs) and tons of cute mugs and even some Hanukkah items.  There is this sparkly blue tumbler I have my eye on.  Because everyone needs something sparkly this holiday season.  This is what happens when I start liking something, I secretly hope there will be at least one left after the season is over so it will get marked down and then throw into that my discount and you’ve got yourself a great deal.  I bought some mugs today that had been marked down.  I need to remember that I have approximately 50 coffee mugs in a box in my parents’ basement.  NO MORE MUGS.  Although I don’t recall having any with snowflakes or peppermints on them.

Okay I’m exhausted, why am I still typing? 

good night moon.

LOVE!

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You know how sometimes I’m all “my life is so surreal, I just can’t believe it”?  Well I’m starting to think I actually just live in a Salvador Dalí painting, and while it’s a constant work in progress, really unknowable until recently.  FINALLY I understand, I live in a weird painting where nothing really makes sense, that explains EVERYTHING.  Today was so strange that I’m not sure I can fully convey to you what the woohoo is going on.  Because, and let me assure you, there is MUCH woohoo going on.  First of all, I’ve just come out of a rather peculiar weekend (relationship is usually the word that goes there, “I’ve just come out of a ______ relationship” HA.  People in who’ve been in relationships can’t monopolize that phrase, mwahaha!) where I took a lot of Sudafed to treat my short-term cold.  I also suffered from another malady that, of course, set in just as I was getting over the cold on Sunday.  Being sick + Sudafed + Daylight Savings = Mandy being totally off.  Last night I came home earlier than usual from Cecilia’s as I will be pulling full-time nanny duty for a bit.  I was DEAD TIRED (the caps lock is very necessary here) and barely made it through the dark and lonely drive home.  I kept looking at the clock to assure myself that, yes, it would be totally justifiable to go to bed AS SOON AS I got to my glorious, comfy, inviting bed, because I was going to be arriving at the house around 9.  AHA!  Not so fast Mandy!  I forgot that I forgot (got that?) to set my car clock back, so I REALLY got home at 8.  I believe that is the closest I’ll ever get to time travel, and I’m okay with that.  I get home, drive Alex to his friend’s home then try to figure out what the cheese I’m going to do with Loren today as I had to work for 4.5 hours.  About 98.3% of my mind was shut-down, so I kissed Loren goodnight, and got into bed, where I finished an 18-page letter to my friend Kelly, who is a Peace Corps volunteer in Azerbaijan, but you should already know that.  Finishing the letter took another half hour, but apparently I was up for it.  Kelly, if you’re reading this, please know that I wrote the last half of that letter running on approximately 1.7% of my brain.  While writing I thought to myself that maybe someday I would be able to write a book, as writing a tome disguised as a letter is obviously no problem.  This part of my life will be in a chapter entitled “The Dalí  Years.”  Then I passed out.  And oh how euphoric it was.  Besides waking up at 4:45 AM to use the restroom, it was the best night’s sleep I can remember ever getting. 
Let me just say that I never intend to write this much but halfway through these crazy stories I’m thinking, “I didn’t mean for this to be the WHOLE entry!  I had so much other stuff I wanted to talk about, but I can’t ask people to stick around for 5 more crazy anecdotes that turn into stinkin’ long entries.” 
Anyhoo I go into work with Loren in tow, feeling like I’m living in a movie (a surreal movie, of course!), because, really? who brings the kid they are supposed to be watching to their OTHER job?  I do.  I felt like a single working mother whose babysitter backed out on her and can’t call in sick because we just need my paycheck so much.  right.  I have to say I was a little worried, but it turned out to be okay because Loren quietly sat unnoticed (except by my assistant manager) and played Gameboy.  He barely said a word to me and I was able to give my full attention and devotion to my dear Starbucks customers.  Still it was weird.  I came home with a nap on the mind.  So I cozy up on my couch as Alex is at work and Loren is outside playing football.  I slip in and out of WEIRD sleep, wake up and HOLY MOLY it’s dark out.  It’s all Daylight Savings’ fault.  I rest my case.

So to snap out of my funk I decided Loren and I were to have a night’o'fun becuase it’s just the two of us and there is NO SCHOOL tomorrow.  Chocolate chip pancakes with Dr. Pepper (making me the worst nanny in every other adult’s eyes but the BEST nanny in Loren’s eyes) for dinner that we ate SITTING on the couch while WATCHING a movie with SURROUND sound.  We’re such rebels.  Wallace and Gromit has never looked/sounded so good.

Tomorrow we are headed to the Zoo and perhaps to see The Bee Movie.  Pictures are an affirmative, depend upon it.

LOVE!

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