she said yes

Sister called last night to announce that we're going to have a wedding! (I could almost see her gawking over her engagement ring over the phone.) She says it will be either this summer or this fall, and of course we're going to be there.

They started dating just a few weeks before The Hater and I were married, which will be four years this summer. She hadn't realized it, but I still had some planning books at home. I told her where those were so she could get started. Sister's forte isn't decision making, so this should be exciting practice for her. We talked on the phone for almost an hour last night.

Of course Mom and Dad knew before Sister, and she tells that they spilled the beans to the grandmothers before she knew, too. Dad was on the phone with his mother when she asked him if they were ever going to get married, to which Dad replied, "Funny you should ask that..."

This is going to be fun, Sister. Woo-Hoo!

painting marbles

Most of you know that I work with marbles. Mostly I mix the colors and paint them. Other people with more marble education than I have actually choose what color families to mix, but I do the actual mixing and painting. It's an art and a science, and I'm pretty good at my job. I know enough to know what color families should be chosen, and what colors we will expect to paint the marbles, but mostly all that I do is the painting.

Which is okay, but also slightly boring. There's not a whole lot of opportunities to move up the marble ladder. Up until yesterday I was in the process of interviewing for a job as a marble educator -- teaching both the marble-painters and the owners of the marbles about the painting experience. But all of the vibes I kept getting about that job were bad* so I told the marble boss yesterday that I'd just stick to mixing and painting marbles, not teaching about them. Jaws dropped, eyes bugged, but the one thing I was sure about was that I wasn't sure about that job.

I think letting that one pass was a good decision, even though there aren't many opportunities for marble-painters to move up the marble ladder.

Meanwhile, I've sent a resume and follow-up letter to a different marble boss at another marble company. I heard they were going to have a marble mentor position open to mixers and painters. I don't know a whole lot about this job other than it's based in one building and it would be a grassroots job, lots of hand-holding for people whose marbles were being painted. Much like the marble educator position I wasn't sure about, but this one has better vibes. The only problem is that nobody's contacted me from that place. So although I think it might be a good change, they may not want me. Therein lies the however.

But that's not the twist! Last night after I came home from painting marbles, I received a phone call from someone at another marble factory in town, seeking me out for a marble mentor/coordinator position they would soon be opening. She said it would be like a mentor position ++. She said there would be opportunities for growth and more education. I asked her to email me a copy of the description once the marble details were ironed out.

If you read my blog even quasi-regularly, you'll know I have marble issues of my own. I'm expecting another coat of paint on my personal marbles this spring. It may be that I need to be in a place where I'm slightly bored while that drama is going on. Or maybe it'll be fine and I can go ahead and schedule my marble certification exam and change jobs and save the world.

I don't know. I need some advice, and I don't want any hokey "you have to do what's right for you" nonsense. I know that much. (Let's use a third analogy!!) Do I reach for the gold ring this pass of the merry-go-round, knowing I may not have another opportunity to grab it, knowing if I get up that someone's going to get my horse, knowing that there's currently lots of drama on the carousel and it might be easier to just keep my seat...

You're turn. What should I do?

* Lots of travel, no credit for creativity, marble drama, extra cell phone, and they'd never tell me how much they would pay for my marble expertise.

refuse me

Before Christmas lots of my coworkers had an upper respiratory ick. I told thm I wasn't going to get it. I refused it.

Now they're passing around a stomach bug and fever. I've refused it, too.

But in the interim I think I'm getting the upper respiratory cough/hack/sniffle shuffle, and I'm less than thrilled. There's nothing that makes a day seem longer than when you can only breathe out of one nostril. If I start coughing a lot I'll have to wear one of those really sexy paper masks.

I hear there's supposed to be power in the written word, so I'd like to officially refuse the sickness in my life, from cold to thyroglobulin. I'm done with you. I refuse you. Go away and pester nobody else.

congrats, Boise State!

43-42 in OT-- despite some poor calls in the 4th quarter and a magical hook and ladder, the Broncos prevailed with a classic statue of liberty play! That's what I'm talking about! They went for it!

Serious football like that deserves an undefeated season. Who knew blue astroturf held such magical properties. We'd like to nominate the Boise State coach for Coach of the Year. (He was like the Pete Maravich of football.)

I have one very serious thing to say to the BCS: Boomer! It's time for a college playoff game.

And it means that much more to us that they beat Uglyhoma. Super congratulations from a couple of serious Vols. Thanks for an exciting game; you deserve the W.

resolved: a parade

Hopefully 2006 will be the worst year of our lives. We were ready to mulligan it for a new hand from the beginning. Following the great ones before us (mainly Angry Dissenter and The Vol Abroad), here's the parade of our year in review.

January 2006

I finally admit that I've been abnormally tired for about a year. I think that maybe working out more will give me more energy. I try the Strip Tease workout, which The Hater argued didn't have enough strip to it. It's so dry there's lots of fires in Oklahoma.

February 2006

Our percentage for picking the Oscar winners beats Angry Dissenter's choices. The Hater's wallet is stolen. None of this was actually posted: I went to the family doctor after exercise and changing my sleeping patters didn't change my fatigue. My labs were normal; he said my thyroid was slightly enlarged, but nothing to cause worry. It was the one thing that really worried me, the one thing that was always on my mind; I only knew enough to know that something was wrong, which I didn't think was enough to blog about. Meanwhile, The Hater was dealing with a lot of crap at work.

March 2006

The Hater's fluffy hair. Chocolate oatmeal. Boring posts to cover the fact that I'm absolutely exhausted. March 23rd, the c-bomb drops. My surprise trip to LBG for Sister's birthday and R&R becomes a big ball of cancer.

April 2006

Surery #1: total thyroidectomy. They also took a parathyroid gland, which threw off my calcium; my face and neck tingled for a week. From now on forever I'll be on thyroid medicine and calcium supplementation. The Hater and I decide that there's so much stress in our lives that we would make a great reality tv show.

May 2006

We realize exactly how sucky the low-Iodine diet sucks. We "pimp the prison" and prepare for my first radioactive Iodine (RAI) treatment. I plant some flowers on the porch at a desperate attempt to do something normal. I really enjoyed writing the Roshomon posts with Angry Dissenter; they were the best distraction therapy for being hypothyroid and miserable. I take my first RAI treatment, asking specifically for the Jedi-blend. Meanwhile, I'm getting boatloads of much needed mail, support, prayers, phone calls, emails, etc; The Hater becomes short-order cook extraordinae.

June 2006

I come home from work and fall asleep half on the bed with my pants down. I'm so very exhausted. England doesn't win the World Cup.

July 2006

The day before I got on a plane to go see Angry Dissenter I find out the cancer is back. Surgery #2: a right modified neck dissection. 6 of 20 lymph nodes were positive. We recover slowly and I end up having to get physical therapy for my right arm and shoulder. I still have lots of neuropathic tingles and may have them forever. The Hater's first post of the year is debuted in the form of Hezbollah Haterade.

August 2006

Photo diary of healing scars. The Hater declares war on Microsoft. We begin the second lap of the Low-Iodine Diet; it still sucks. We pen another letter to Phil Fulmer asking him not to stink it up this season.

September 2006

Being hypothyroid again causes me to have nightmares every time I go to sleep. It's football time in Tennessee. Radioactive Iodine dose and isolation #2. We scored tickets to see the mighty Blue Raiders play Uglyhoma. The Hater and I reshelve 1984 in the Current Events section of a local bookstore.

October 2006

The Hater and I celebrate our 7th date-a-versary. I begin to feel human again. I win a scholarship to go to the Inaugural Livestrong Summit in Austin and hang out with Lance and John Kerry. We talk about football.

November 2006

The Hater is robbed of People's 2006 Sexiest Man Alive awards. The Dorks and Sister come to Uglyhoma for Kodak moments. The Hater's parents come to visit the next weekend. I'm still tired.

December 2006

The Hater and I have our first big marital dispute about who to cheer for if Peyton plays against the Titans. We go home for Christmas and have a great visit. I win the fantasy football Super Bowl and get a ring before Peyton. We ring in the new year with blind abandon and resolve not to have any more surgeries.

new year fumbling

UT lost their bowl game to Penn State, 20-10.

On one had we're sad. On the other, we're just tickled their season was better than last year. Coach Fulmer, you're safe for another season in our books. Cutcliffe, you rock.

We're not going to let the loss rain on our '07 parade. We've already had our turnip greens and black-eyed peas, and my second attempt at the haystacks (via the microwave instead of the redneck double boiler). They're cooling and we've decided that '07 has to be better than '06.

I'm super proud to announce that I kept my '06 resolution the ENTIRE year. If you remember, I resolved to let my eyebrows grow back by not plucking (or waxing) them again. And I'm here today, a year later, pleased to report that nary a tweezer came close to my face, much to the chagrin of Sister and the Vietnamese ladies who do my pedicures. Tada.

That one took so much energy that I'm going to make a low-key '07 resolution: I am resolved that we won't have any more surgeries this year. The Hater thinks that's a great resolution; we'll try really hard to keep it.

Here's hoping everybody's year is exactly what they secretly want it to be.