I walked out of work with a fantastic looking guy today, we were laughing and chatting, and waved bye with a promise to see each other tomorrow. Getting in the car I could already tell Chris was upset. Inside I was secretly cheering. Quick to assuage the concerns of my husband, I said “he’s gay, sweety” and we drove home to eat leftovers and Snickers. It was a good night.

Is he really gay? I’m not sure. He’s fun to walk to the bus terminal with, and talk too… and look at of course. Dark eyes, dark hair, stylish clothes, lean and muscled with a come and get me stare. And he’s so not my type. What is? Sandy eyes and hair, rough hands, and a man who has to go fishing on opening weekend.

Doesn’t hurt to enjoy a bit of jealousy though, does it?

Training is slow. It’s a lot of reading, a lot of listening to people talk… and a lot of text messaging. Not me, I wouldn’t think to text message during work. Seriously. That has got to the rudest, most disrespectful thing I have ever witnessed. It wasn’t just the teenagers either…no, Mommy’s, old men, college students… all with their fancy phones hidden under the desk, thumbs whipping back and forth. The trainer had to have seen, it was impossible to miss.

Must not have bothered him much, he never said a word… but oh my, I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut. My phone goes on silent and into my purse, didn’t even bring it out on break… I understand having them on for emergencies, kids and family and the likes… but an entire conversation during our first day of class? So not the time or place. There’s 16 people in my group, I’d say 10 of them text messaged the entire 8 hours we were there. It just boggles my mind.

It’s a good thing Chris and I went out for my job hunting today. While I was in my interview, his old job called and he’s back on starting at 7am tomorrow. That means he was laid off for a grand total of two actual work days. My interview went well, I start next Tuesday at 8am, for a week… and then starting the week after, I believe… my schedule will change to Sunday - Thursday, 6am to 2:30pm. The day wasn’t all good though.

I got so flustered by the woman at the DMV, and I was so hungry… I was rushing through the written test and failed. So I’m studying tonight and going to go try again tomorrow. No failing allowed tomorrow, we can’t afford to watch another $20 be flushed down the toilet. To top that off I got home and my computer wouldn’t turn on. Obviously it’s working now, after much fist failing and screaming at the top of my lungs… but who knows for how long.

Today was truly a trash and treasure day, I made a fantastic gluten free gravy tonight, and considering my total flop with gluten-free dumplings last night… that was a good thing. We found an ironing board, a cutting board, a fruit basket, and the cutest pair of heels at the Salvation Army, all together costing us under $6… And the night ended with a shared shower and ice cream with strawberries. I’m on the fence about all the change… Chris was working, then he wasn’t, now he is… I have a job… it’s a big stress, I hate change… but this is all good, really good.

Having Chris home today was more difficult than I can explain. Being such a creature of habit, I tend to get easily annoyed, and irritated when my routines are thrown off. When the door opened, and he poked his head inside to ask what time I wanted to get up… I groaned. Asking if I was going to take a shower was another bad idea. Constantly barging in on me as I worked on the computer wasn’t the brightest thing he ever did. Pushing me out the door before I ate? Downright deadly. Somehow we managed though. I’ve yet to figure out how we’re going to keep this up for another week… maybe longer.

Hopefully the gardening supplies we bought tonight will give him enough to do during the day that I can cling to some tiny sliver of my normal ways and avoid going crazy. Once we settle in around each other it should be better. Once we got home from running around Chris went to work outside raking up leaves and laying down the first bag of grass seed, while I cooked dinner. He’s got a whole plan for the next few days that includes cleaning up our yard and getting my garden areas ready. I went overboard and purchased a ton of seeds. Cucumbers, bell peppers, lavender, onions, green beans, peas, carrots, squash, cabbage, and a lot more. It may not all fit, and since I’m a first time gardener, I don’t know how well it will work out. Chris is sure of himself though, and has me convinced everything will be fin.

Picking up the seeds was sort of a therapeutic way to deal with throwing out a bunch of food this weekend. I was sick of trying to eat out the end of the gluten, so we just chucked it. Bags of pasta, cans of soup, a box of jiffy mix… nothing expensive or vital… but it felt wasteful. We saved what we could to take out to his Grandma, but I still filled up a shopping bag full of stuff and just threw it out. So now the house is gluten-free save for the top of the fridge, where we keep Chris’ lunch items and the Nutty Bars I just snuck one of.

See, we were out today and I ordered a salad at Subway (and made the guy change his gloves before he touched my lettuce, no cross contamination… yeah right) but it wasn’t filling at all and I was hungry and we were no where close to being done, so we drove through fast food and I got a burger… and ate the bun. Since I had the bun the Nutty Bar was ok, and so was that chocolate that has gluten… and yeah… my 3, maybe 4 days of being gluten free was shot. Maybe I should put some rice cakes and crackers in the car to combat those errand munchies.

So as of right now, I am starting to be gluten free, again. 1 day shortly becomes 1 week, then 1 month, and maybe 1 year from now I’ll be posting that I finally went all the way… who knows. Tomorrow we’re going to go pick up job applications, for the both of us, and I’m taking my written test at the DMV. If all goes well I’ll be scheduling my driving test for the end of the week. Stay off the roads! Or at least watch out for the hungry woman in the white Oldsmobile.

We aren’t embarking on another Grand Adventure. Chris informed me the other night he’d like to stay in Spokane for a while, and after mulling over it, I decided I could live with that. It was hard. I’ve been struggling with a resurgence of old problems (mostly mental health things), and was looking forward to being closer to my Mom and sister while I started undergoing medical treatment for them again. That was my biggest worry, when he said he didn’t want to go. I got through it though. In fact, in a lot of ways it’s a good thing I’m not close to them for this. It will give me a chance to work through it on my own with my doctor. I won’t be able to rely on my mom to answer questions and explain what’s going on. I will have to do it, and by doing so I will get more accurate care. (And thank you, MD, Kelly, and Chi… you three have been keeping me sane by letting me talk about being crazy quietly.)

There are other factors, of course. None of them required moving to Oregon in order to be fixed though. Getting our own place would solve the majority of them. I’d have a bit more control of our home life, instead of being locked in my room all day while Chris is at work…and we could have our own routines, such as dinner together instead of fast food on the bed…do our laundry at home, and all of that jazz. It’s not a secret that I consider myself a domestic diva. I dig housework, organization, and cooking, I enjoy it…and it’s something I can’t really indulge in here at the moment. We can attain privacy, normalcy, and our own lives by getting a place here in Spokane.

That leaves me working. It’s going to have to happen, snow or not. I opened an Etsy shop to make banners in, like MD does, but have yet to make one… I want something that gets me out of the house, socializing with other people, and feeling like I’m bringing in my fair share. It’s not a matter of transportation. We have two vehicles (well, three, but one is being sold to my sister… who is coming to visit on Valentine’s Day!!!), and Chris carpools to work anyways. It’s the snow. Snow is everywhere, and I’m not even used to driving, let alone driving in the snow. This is the last hurdle we have to conquer, and we will…somehow. I plan to be working by the beginning of March.