Katie's Amazing House Cleaning Service

I just hired a cleaning lady! I'm so excited. My apartment was an absolute sty. I kept planning to clean it, but couldn't muster the initiative. Finally I promised myself if I would at least straighten things up and put everything where it goes, then I would hire someone to do the actual cleaning (sweeping, mopping, cleaning the tub, etc.).

I looked on Craigslist and finally found someone available to clean in the afternoon/evening. Katie came by today to look around and set a price. It was the exact price I was hoping to pay! She will come once a month and do all the stuff I hate doing.

Why do good things happen to bad people?

(That title is totally tongue-in-cheek, btw.)

I got some juicy news at work this week. It kind of has me reeling.

Back in June, I posted some personal ads on Craigslist, just looking to go out on dates. I went out with one guy and had an okay time. I told a co-worker/friend about it. She was in the process of divorcing and was a little out of sorts. She decided to do it, too. (She also decided to start wearing low-cut tops now and then because I sometimes wear tank tops that show some cleavage. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so they say.)

Anyway, she met a guy sometime in late July or August. He moved in in early September. I gave her a stern talking-to, but she was really happy and seemed to have this well thought-out. Things continued going well in their relationship, and she mentioned that they were taking a trip to Houston this past Friday.

Monday and Tuesday at work she only worked half days because of jury duty, but while she was there, she didn't say more than "good morning" to me and I wondered why. I found out on Wednesday. Another co-worker told me that the trip to Houston was her honeymoon! They got married Friday morning at the JP!

I was so shocked! That's why she was avoiding me. She said she was afraid to tell me because she thought I'd be mad. Of course, I wasn't mad. I told her at least she was making it official and God would be happy she's no longer living in sin. Lol.

So, I was of two emotions about this: hurt and jealous. Hurt because she didn't tell me herself, but I was able to get over that after we talked. Jealous because what the hell? Here I am trying to do everything right and along comes a person having sex on the first date and shacking up and now she's happily married. I know exactly the point where we differed. I've corresponded with seemingly nice guys from the Internet, but when they start talking dirty, I'm out of there. She, however, thought it was great and continued on. I slept with a guy on the first date and was wracked with guilt. And you can't really go back to hand-holding after that.

I know I'm not going to abandon my values hoping I'll have the same success she's had, but it's still quite frustrating. I'm pretty sure I'll meet someone eventually, but even if I don't, deep down I'm okay. This situation rattled me, yet I think it also helped to ground me.

Clueless, that's me!

So, remember this post about my meeting a fellow scooterist for the first time? Well, I found out today just who that was that I met. It was Ryan Delahoussaye, the violinist from Blue October. People who are famous should be made to wear special buttons so out-of-the-loop folk like me will know who they are. I hope he didn't feel slighted when I didn't know who he was. It's not like he told me his full name or even mentioned that he was in a band. Ah, well.

I found out who he was on today's scooter ride. We finally got two more members in the scooter group, one of whom is another member of the band, Jeremy Furstenfeld.

The ride was great, btw. We went to Gruene, looked around and had lunch at the Gristmill.

Accident-free scooter group ride

Went on my second scooter group ride yesterday.

The 78666 Scoots group rode to Lockhart, TX for some good ol' BBQ. We went to Smitty's Market, one of 4 famous barbecue joints in town. It was delicious! I was not sure what to expect as I had heard it's just meat only: no sauce, no sides, just bread or crackers. Very different from typical Dallas bbq where sauce and sides are king. I'm pleased to report that I loved it. I can't wait to go back again. By the way, you can purchase cheese, onion, pickles, and peppers. Cole slaw, too, I think.

The ride was about 20 miles. We had beautiful weather. It was a great time all around. Fred and Jamie are fun people. Despite all the cards we've been handing out, there was still just the three of us. Hopefully more will join us soon.

I'm officially old

It's official. I've become that lady. It's 7:45 pm and I just called the complex security officer to complain about some rotten kids and their music. In my defense, they are blasting Nickelback outside. I can't tell if it's someone at the pool or if it's someone playing it off their balcony, but either way it's loud and it sucks. I might be more forgiving if it was something decent or if it was just bass coming through the walls. Nope, I can hear every blessed (and lame and poorly sung) word. I would also be more forgiving if I hadn't chosen this apartment complex because they bill themselves as "a quiet community" and the leasing agent hadn't said at least three times how they don't tolerate loud music, loud cars, or loud anything. Well, this is loud and I'm not going to take it anymore. Damn college kids!

My first group ride

I'm back from my inaugural scooter group ride. How was it, you ask? It was nice, then fun, then awesome, then horrible, then "God, please just let me get home okay," then "Thank you, God, for answered prayers."

Fred and Jaime and I met at 7 this morning to ride up to Austin. It was a nice ride on backroads. Some curves, nice speed. The weather was great. There had been rain predicted, but we didn't have any.

We got to Austin and met up with the scooter group for breakfast. They were a pretty cool lot. The leader, Pursuit, arrived about a half-hour late, and then proceeded to confirm my suspicion that he is an arrogant ass. He's not rude really, just arrogant and a little ignorant.

Anyway, we went on the ride which was from the restaurant up to the top of Mt. Bonnell. The views were just beautiful. Parts of the ride reminded me of Lakewood near my old apartment. The ride itself was a tough one. There were many sharp curves and steep hills. Pursuit was on a 50cc scooter, but it can really cook and he had us at a speedy pace.

We stopped at the top of Mt. Bonnell for a few minutes, then went for the second half of the ride and that's when it went bad. Thank God I didn't see it happen. I rounded a curve and saw that the people in front of me were stopping and dismounting. I saw one of our riders on the ground. It was so awful. Thankfully the guy wasn't completely messed up since he wasn't wearing any protective gear at all, but either his leg or ankle was clearly broken. I didn't get too close; I couldn't stand it.

Several people went to his aid and one guy was like a machine, taking charge and doing all the right stuff. The ambulance came and worked on hurt guy for a while. Pursuit had gone to help guide the ambulance to where we were and ended up near me kind of hanging back from the action. I looked over after a few minutes and he was bawling! So much for all that bravado at the restaurant. I went over and hugged him and we all tried to comfort him. He was feeling guilty for going so fast and feeling bad for his friend being hurt. I felt sorry for him. He's still kind of an ass, but I hope he's able to get over this. It was just an accident after all.

Fred and Jaime and I waited until hurt guy was stable in the ambulance and the police cleared the scene, then we headed home. I was so shaken up. I had calmed down quite a bit while we waited, but I was still nervous getting back on the scooter. Of course, I almost wiped out heading back up the hill. I went off the road onto the grassy shoulder, but I was able to stop before I hit the guardrail. Jaime told me to be calm, take a deep breath, and then I was ready to go. It was a shaky ride back. I kept thinking about hurt guy and how it must have looked when he went down. Again, I'm so glad I didn't actually see it. I'm sure I would have gone down, too.

We got back to San Marcos safely. That's where the thanks for answered prayers come in. Now I'm on the couch and I don't think I'm going to get up for a very long while. I really should go to church since I didn't go yesterday and since I have so very much to be thankful for. I just don't have it in me, and I hope that God will understand that. I'm sure He will. He knows my heart.

Sunday, busy Sunday

(No, I'm not dead. I'm just lazy.)

Yesterday was a big day. I met with the organizer of (78)666 Scoots and his wife. I had been looking off and on for someone to start a scooter club here in town and had finally told myself to bite the bullet and start my own. Well, lo and behold, there was a group waiting for me. The organizer (let's call him Fred) just started it at the beginning of July. I missed the first meeting, but he emailed me and after a little correspondence we decided to meet. We talked about some ideas for the group, and we had several of the same ideas (putting cards on scooters, the meeting place, routes to ride). And then we found out Fred and I have the same birthday. Freaky! The three of us are going to ride to Austin on Sunday morning to join up with Austin Scooter Club on their ride. I'm excited!!

After meeting with Fred and Jamie, I headed to the Cathedral to help serve breakfast with the young adults. That was alot of fun. I got to have more extended conversations with a couple of the members than I had been able to at bible study, and they invited me to join the planning committee. So now I'm going to help plan events and such and meet even more people. I'm excited about that, too!! Everyone in the group is really nice. Even the one girl who has been kind of stank was nice and asked if I am planning to participate in an activity she's helping chair.