Charlotte's Web...of Death, Destruction, and Fear

Did you grow up reading the beloved children's story of "Charlotte's Web"? I certainly did. I read the story and loved the animated movie. I used to always rent the movie at the local library. However, now that I am an adult I realize that the author lied to us all. He portrayed Charlotte as some selfless, giving spider who saved a pig's life. Yes, that is very sweet and endearing, but let me tell ya gang....spiders are the devil.

There is a spider whom I refer to as Charlotte, that lives outside and above our front door. (And no she is not a pet, we are not that pathetic!). In the daytime she is completely hidden. I have no idea where she retreats! But at night time it is a completely different story. Charlotte is out and about weaving her miraculous web above our door. I will give it to her, it is a darn good web. It is wide, symmetrical, and I am sure quite beautiful in the eyes of a spider, but to me it is a trap of death, destruction, and fear. Each night she expands her web, but she also likes to vandalize our property (this would be the destruction aspect). We have a mailbox on the bricks next to our door. It has a little metal flap that you can raise and close to conceal your mail. Charlotte loves to play tricks on us and cover the entire mailbox with web....every...single....cotton pickin' night! Every morning when I leave for work I see her web of filth on my mailbox. The poor mail man has to destroy the web just to put mail in our mailbox. I am convinced she does this because she knows it annoys me.

I am not fond of spiders. In fact, I am absolutely terrified of them. I have advanced arachnophobia. If there is a spider of reasonable size in my house and I am alone I leave. I can't even kill it myself. I start having panic attacks and feel like I am going to die. It is so frightening. So Charlotte and I don't have the greatest relationship. I dread coming and going at night because I just know that one of these days she is going to hop onto my head and stifle my breaths with her web of victory.

One positive thing about Charlotte though, she keeps other bugs away. Maybe some day she will right "The Darrs" over our door for us. If she does that, I will consider letting her stay.

Till then,

Life in the Newlywed house

Tonight was a typical night in the Darr home. It began with Drew working on homework while I cooked dinner. What did I cook you might ask? I made Drew's mom's Enchiladas. Boy are they yummy! But I made a reduced fat version using all light/fat-free ingredients. (Except on Drew's I poured on the cheese! Trying to fatten that boy up!). They were quite tasty, but they never seem to taste as good as Julie's. No, I am not only writing that to suck up, it is actually true. Maybe I have the recipe wrong, but I think it is just something about having a mom cook dinner for you that makes it taste better. Maybe someday when we have kids my cooking will improve.

Moving on...

After that Drew did the dishes and then returned to his homework while I proceeded to catch up on chick-flicks on our movie channels. Tonight was Sex and the City. While I do not condone the behaviors or the content of the movie, I do appreciate the friendship of the ladies and of course, the AMAZING costumes. Fabulous. After watching this movie I wanted an immediate make-over. I have been craving a re-invention of my style for a few weeks now. I feel awkward. My summer clothes are too summery, yet I have no fall clothes since I have been residing in Palm Beach the past 4 years. I did manage to pick up two fall numbers at T.J. Max in Indianapolis this past weekend. I love T.J. Max and we do not have one here or within 60 miles. Major bummer. Anyway, more on my makeover later.

After my movie was over, Drew wanted a break from his homework, so we did what we always do: Busted out the Rummikub. Oh how I love and hate this game all at the same time. Drew typically wins. I typically lose. And then I get frustrated and make Drew pick up the game. We play this probably on average 3-5 times a week. Sometimes more if it is a really slow week. I would love to say that tonight I won, but of course that is laughable because Drew won, yet again.

After my defeat, my confidence was even lower than before we played the game. So I said to myself (and to Drew) "By Ned! I'ma give myself a haircut. Right now!". Now folks, Drew put up a good fight. He hid the scissors, he asked me what Future Mary would say to Impulsive Mary about this idea. But both Future Mary and Impulsive Mary decided the time had come and with two snips I gave myself side-bangs. Nice. Real Nice. But I was left unsatisfied. I needed more. So one giant snip later my hair was about 4 inches shorter on the left. I felt invigorated. I cut the other side. Then I cut the back. Finally I paraded my new "do" to Drew and waved the four-inch wad of hair in his face as if it were a huge fan.

We all new this new "married-woman" haircut was coming. It was just a matter of time and money. In the end this cost me very little time and money. So I say "Job well done Mary!".

Ahh...what we do to pinch the pennys.

For now,

Funny Story Gang

Well gang, I got a job today! Oh life has a funny sense of humor (rather the Lord). The job that I was "too professional" for hired me today. Mary (the manager) called me and asked if I was still interested in the job. I said "of course" and then went down to the store for a drug test. When I arrived Mary asked me if I had heard back from any other applications yet, I said no, and said that I was thankful to have this job, because student loans were around the corner. I think she still expects for me to call in before my first shift and say I was hired somewhere else! (Which, trust me, I would if that happened).

Anyway, for now I am thankful. It is a part-time job in a retail shop, but at least it is something. It is a bit of extra cash to help pay for loans.

Onto other news....our dear friend Brett is coming to visit tonight with his lovely girlfriend! We are so excited! We can't wait to see Brett and meet Emily!

As always,

To Be Too Qualified, or Under-qualified? That is the Question!

Yesterday, as you may know if you follow me on Facebook, I had an interview. Out of probably around 40+ applications that I have filled out I finally got 1 call back. I was called back for an interview by a local store that sells all things Saluki. Saluki T-shirts, baseball caps, shot glasses, quilts,---you name it, they sell it! I went in yesterday afternoon for my scheduled interview with a lady named Mary. When I introduced myself as Mary Beth, she asked if that was my first name or a combo of my first and middle. So I went through my whole explanation of "first name in combination with shortened middle name, but I am southern so it becomes one name" so on and so forth. Then she proceeded to tell me that her middle name was Beth, but she hated it when people called her Mary Beth, because she hated that name and thought it was ugly. (Score 3 points on the awkward comments). Anyway, she looked at me, then at my resume, then back at me and laughingly said "You are just REAL professional". Mind you I was dressed up for a job interview, but I was by no means wearing a suit. I had on black slacks, a white button up sleeveless shirt, and a 3/4 length coral cardigan. Then she went on to ask me why I applied for a job at "THIS store" (her emphasis on "this"). I told her that I have applied to a ton of places, but the job market is nasty and this is the first place that has called me back. Then she told me to apply to some hospitals because I was over-qualified for this job. "Can't you get nothin' else with your Bachelor's degree? Don't it all transfer to Illinois?". I just almost laughed. Yes, my thoughts exactly. $80,000 dollars later I have a degree that over-qualifies me for minimum-wage work, but underqualifies me for everything else! (And yes, it does all transfer to Illinois). So I ask you: What is better? Being rejected for being over-qualified or being rejected for being under-qualified? Heck if I know. It's like the story of Goldilocks applied to the American job market.

It's not like my dreams were crushed by not getting this job, but it would be nice to have some income and something to do. In the meantime I shall continue to stretch my creative money-making schemes for all they are worth. Currently I am selling text books from my $80,000 education on Half.com and working for Allaboutyall.com designing custom planners. So, if you by chance need a completely personalized planner made specifically to your liking, just send a message my way!

Much Love,

To the Sweetest Lil' Old Couple in Carbondale

A few days ago Drew and I posted on Craigslist that we wanted a full mattress and box springs set that was in good condition for under $100. (We have some friends coming in this weekend for a night, so we wanted a place for them to sleep in our guest bedroom). Within about an hour of our post we recieved an email that said "we have a full mattress in great condition! Call us!", so I made Drew call them. (Hey, you never know what kind of freak Craigslist puts you in contact with). Drew hung up the phone and told me he talked to the sweetest couple ever. They said they wanted to get rid of the full because they got a bigger bed, but only wanted $30 for the mattress, box springs, headboard, (any or all of it) and that they would "warsh some sheets too" if we wanted those! I laughed and then said SOLD. (Please, you can't even buy an air mattress for $30 anymore folks!). So today we ventured over there...

There home was only about 20 minutes away, but in Carbondale, that is a day trip. It was a beautiful drive though! We were surrounded by rolling hills of farmland, with corn, silos, and cows. We pulled up to their adorable little double-wide and were greeted by the two sweetest people. They helped us move the mattress and box springs, gave us a bed frame,  and asked if there was any other furniture we needed or wanted. Their home smelled lovely and I commented on it and the lady told me that they have a candle business and that I was smelling their candles. I proceeded to say how wonderful they smelled and how much I love candles. She immediately asked me what were my favorite scents and I said "Cinnamon, fall harvest, and vanilla". It was not 5 minutes later that she came outside with a gift bag full of three candles: cinnamon, fall harvest, and vanilla. They were beautiful and smelled SO GOOD! I was so grateful. After that they invited us back to their home anytime for a visit and wanted to introduce us to their kids who are around our ages. We said our good-byes and parted and as we were pulling out of the driveway the lady yelled "you kids be safe and be careful! Bye!". They were just adorable!

So to the Sweetest Lil' Old Couple in Carbondale:

Thank you for giving us a great mattress and candles! Thank you for being so kind and welcoming. You made us feel at home in this strange town and reminded us that there are still really kind people in this world. Thank you for making our day so good and thank you for making the lives of others so good. We hope to be just as kind to strangers as you were!

Love,