December 1—I can't make jokes about being single anymore.
Today the Silver Fox asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. That conversation of course went as smoothly as could be expected. I'd post it here, but it's too revolting. Besides, it's none of y'all's damn business. So. He later took me to his neighborhood bar and introduced me to his friends. It was cold and rainy, but I somehow managed not to slip or spill my whiskey. I did nearly walk in on someone in the restroom, nearly fail to figure out how to work the lock on said restroom door, fail to locate paper towels and had to dry my hands on my pants, and then proceed to freeze my ass off and sulk a bit as a result, but overall, it wasn't a bad night. No night involving whiskey is ever a bad night.
December 2—I'm going back to gift bags.
I had two incidents today, one worse than the other. The Silver Fox and I went to Madam Mam's for lunch while house hunting, and he bumped into the table and sloshed jasmine tea everywhere. I got soaked, and we had to move to another table. That was not my klutzy incident, but it was certainly noteworthy. It was certainly a bigger mess than my other klutzy incident, which was definitely entirely my fault.
I spent most of the last week or two helping the Silver Fox house hunt. While not driving around, we spent some quality time together. As I said, he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said yes. That's a good thing since I already bought his Christmas presents. I actually bought three items: I was going to go with one or two, but then I changed my mind and couldn't get rid of one of them, so now he gets three gifts. I can't explain here since he'll see; I'll tell the full story after Christmas. Anyway, two of his gifts have awesome packaging but can't really be neatly wrapped and are going in a giant gift bag together. Tiring of gift bags, since pawing through them is not as fun as tearing off wrapping paper, I decided I wanted the third gift to be placed in a box and wrapped with a pretty ribbon and bow. I had some white tissue paper with red snowflakes on it leftover from another gift bag (STFU) and decided to coordinate with red wrapping paper with white snowflakes. I visited three stores trying to find it: The Container Store had something similar to what I had in mind but charged nearly twelve bucks for it (WTF), but at least I found a paper box for the gift while I was there; Michael's had nothing (though at least I ruined a Christmas display while I was in there); Party City had what I was looking for at a cheap price. I went home and put the gift in the box and then wrapped it. For the first time. I miscalculated the size of the wrapping paper and didn't have enough to wrap the box. Naturally, I made it worse when I tried to fix it.
One end of the box looked like this:
The other end, however . . .
That was where I didn't have enough paper to make the points meet and tried to fix it by slapping a small square of paper underneath:
I looked at the disastrous results and laughed. I briefly contemplated just leaving it and giving it to him like that since it's hilarious, but I just couldn't. So I hopped into the car, drove back to Party City, bought another roll of gift wrap (luckily I had a different cashier this time and didn't have to explain why I was back so soon), and began again. It went better this time:
I then set to work creating a bow. In keeping with the snowflake theme, I took some stretchy, metallic white ribbon and made a bow. It took at least half an hour to get the damn thing shaped the way I wanted it—let's just say it's a good thing I had plenty of extra ribbon—but I think it turned out well:
I am so fucking proud of that bow. I could just sit here and look at it all day. I'll have to see to it that the Silver Fox never actually opens the gift but just looks at it.
December 3—I should have just bought bacon.
I helped the Silver Fox move some of his stuff into his storage building today. Naturally, it was raining. Surprisingly enough, I didn't slip and faceplant. I did, however, snag my trench coat on every possible item.
I brought some pancakes with me to eat after we'd finished moving stuff; I feel a little guilty with him paying for food all the time, even I do the driving. I would have preferred to have brought bacon and eggs since reheated pancakes aren't that great, but I didn't have any bacon, only had three eggs, and had spent my money on wrapping paper (ahem) anyway, so pancakes it was. I made some regular pancakes and some which spelled out his name. The first letter was for some reason difficult; I had to make about a dozen before I got it right. Luckily, it worked out, and he smiled when he saw them. Regrettably, I got maple syrup all over my fingers and tracked cat hair onto my plate. Crap.
December 6—My Facebook Status from Today
The Silver Fox and his roommate were carpooling to work yesterday when his roommate's car died, so I gave them a ride to work this morning. They were only there for four hours, so rather than drive all the way home and then come all the way back, I did some errands. I went to HEB and got a Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccino: If you haven't tried their stuff, it's delicious. Then I spent the next three hours trying to find a Scrabble dictionary since the Silver Fox is a huge Scrabble fan. Last night we played and squabbled over it, resulting in me telling him I didn't want to play him anymore since he gets too competitive. Nevertheless, I knew he'd love the dictionary, which for some reason is not included with the game and is also not, apparently, sold in toy stores alongside the game. I tried a couple of toy stores and bookstores with no luck. I also got completely lost trying to find Barton Creek Mall. I've only been there about twice since it's nowhere near my house, and I hate malls anyway. I finally located the Scrabble dictionary, among other Scrabble books which I resisted purchasing, at the Barnes and Noble in the Arboretum. I got about three comments on it in the store. Since I was mostly buying it out of irritation, the conversations pretty much went "Oh, is that a Scrabble--" "Shut up!" No, not really. I behaved myself, while still conveying that my boyfriend is a Scrabble dick. Ahem. Anyway, I bought a gift bag and tissue paper in The Container Store across the street, and I dug through my bag till I found a pen so I could inscribe the book. I couldn't think of anything sweet to say, and then I figured the Silver Fox wouldn't have believed it anyway due to last night's Scrabble squabble, so I gave up on the inscription and just wrote "Fuck you." In my illegible chicken scratch, naturally. Then I went down to where he was working, hung out till he was done, and handed him the bag. He guessed immediately that it was a Scrabble dictionary--damn--but of course fell in love with it. Luckily, he laughed out loud at the inscription, which, as my friend Chris observed, "sound[ed] like [me]."
Anyway, after dropping off the Silver Fox's roommate at the auto shop to collect his expensively repaired car, I helped the Silver Fox house hunt. He took me to BurgerTex for lunch. BurgerTex serves you a plate with your hamburger patty on a bun, and then you visit a buffet to put whatever you want on your burger. I went through the line to put on lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, and pickle relish. When I had just finished, I realized I'd forgotten to get a small paper cup of ketchup for my fries, so I went back around and held the paper cup under the ketchup nozzle, whereupon the ketchup squirted onto my thumb. I swore quietly, tried again, and drowned my thumb in ketchup again. I swore a bit more loudly, filled the paper cup with ketchup properly, looked around for a paper napkin, failed to locate one, and so sucked it up. Literally. I stuffed about three fries into my mouth to ease the overwhelming ketchup taste, but it was still quite gross.
Of course, when I got home that night, I told my dad the whole story, which he found completely predictable.
"And then I just licked all the ketchup off my thumb," I said.
"I know you did!"
"Of course I did! What choice did I have?"
Anyway, that aside, it was a pleasant lunch, plus we were able to locate a couple of possible houses for him. Tomorrow may go better. If it doesn't involve spilling a tablespoon of ketchup down my thumb, it'll be a better day than today.
December 12—He uses the smoke detector as his timer.
I baked an enormous quantity of chocolate covered gingerbread men today to take to work tomorrow. That of course involved the usual splats and spills, but the cookies turned out well. The catastrophe was later, when I attempted fried cheese wontons and stuffed jalapeños. The fried cream cheese wontons didn't collapse in the pot as I feared, but I did rather overcook them due to trying to make more as one batch cooked, and they cooked faster than I expected. They were still fairly tasty, but I think in the future, I'll just pay the six bucks for them at my local Chinese takeaway. The jalapeños went better, but not without putting up a vicious fight that left my eyes and nose streaming over the sink. Then, of course, my dad and I engaged in the usual battle over bacon cooking time: He insists it has to be burned to a crisp in order to be done; I disagree. Whatever; I hardly left him any anyway.
December 13—We needed Cogsworth, I suppose . . .
I stayed at the Silver Fox's place last night in preparation for heading to work together this morning. That did not go as planned. I neglected to set my phone alarm at all, and he set his for the wrong time. We woke up at the time we were supposed to leave, and that only because somebody texted him and woke him up. There was a mighty stampede out the door, and then we got stuck in traffic in the rain on the highway and wound up being late anyway. Still, at least I didn't do anything clumsy at the load in other than the usual tripping on air pockets.
I showed up at the Silver Fox's this evening to pick him up for work. I knew something was askew when his roommate answered the door instead of him. I went to the Silver Fox's room, rapped on the door, entered, and found him asleep. I woke him gently and deduced he was sick. He called in sick to work, which he almost never does, and I of course freaked out and worried the whole night. As soon as we signed out, I made a bee line for Kerbey Lane, where I purchased a to go order of chicken tortilla soup with jalapeños on the side. I went home and collected my thermometer, heating pad, cold medicine, hot tea, honey, and my cuddly green blanket. I sped back to the Silver Fox's in the rain and found him inside and almost all better. Crap. I was glad he was feeling better, of course, but he had in fact gotten up after I left for work, made some soup, and mostly healed himself. Still, he appreciated my attempt, and at least I can now quit worrying.
December 20—Red Light District
Today I was working a small call at the Long Center and had to go up on the catwalk to work on some lights. In the process, I dropped my flashlight out of my pocket. Being dark on the catwalk, I of course could not locate it. I scoured the place, but no dice. Since I am working tomorrow at the Erwin Center and will most likely need my flashlight, I simply purchased a new flashlight after work today. I called the Silver Fox to ask where I could buy a flash light on the way back to his place, and he told me where there was an Academy that was on my way. I first stopped off to purchase a Christmas present for him, which I buried in my back seat, and then I set about getting lost finding the Academy. I eventually did and then spent twenty minutes trying and failing to locate one just like my old one. The best I could manage was some overpriced thing whose light came in three different colors (red, white, and blue). I didn't need the extra colors, but I think I'll just leave it on red all the time because it's the most likely to bother my coworkers.
I worked the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show today at the Erwin Center. I was not on audio as I rather expected to be; instead I was on grid, which involved mostly pulling cable. I whacked my head on a motor (not very hard, just enough to embarrass myself) and tangled myself in electrical tape several times, but I had no other mishaps. I did not, however, get any sleep when I got home since I was so busy doing Christmas gift wrapping and cooking and so on. It's okay; it'll be a great Christmas.
December 23—Not another "Who?" moment . . .
I worked a load out at the Long Center tonight, where the headline performer complimented me on my sweater, asked me about knitting and learning how to knit and knitting patterns and so on . . . which was awesome . . . except, me being me, I did not recognize her until she gave me her email address. I suck.
December 24—'Twas the Night Before Xmess
This being Christmas Eve, I spent most of it doing Christmas dinner prep and gift wrapping. I spent some time at the Silver Fox's house and brought him, his kids, and his roommate some fresh cookies, which one of the above promptly dropped on the nasty carpet. I'm glad it wasn't me. I may or may not have stepped on it and ground it in later when I reached to pick it up. STFU.
My dad spent most of Christmas Day sleeping, until I pounded on his door and bellowed "What are you doing in there? I want to open presents!" We had a most delicious roast turkey with stuffing, squash, potatoes, cranberries, and plum pudding drowning in brandy. I spilled everything everywhere--of course--and then cleaned up before heading over to the Silver Fox's house. They had opened their presents already (the Silver Fox especially liked one of the two vintage Dobbs fedoras I gave him; it looked just like one belonging to his late grandfather), which left mine and one more for him from me (a giant ladle). I opened my predictable whiskey bottle, thanked him for the frying pan, and then he and his daughter and I played some Scrabble. It was a good Christmas.
Today, the Silver Fox and I ran around in his back yard, sword fighting with sticks until I had an accident. I ripped the skin off the base of my left ring finger. Ouch. As they say, it's all fun and games till someone loses an eye.
December 30—This is why you pay to have yard work done.
I went with the Silver Fox this afternoon to do yard work at his friend's house. He's hoping to move in when she moves out in a couple of days, so he was helping clean up beforehand. I tagged along and went after some brush with some garden shears, with which I naturally made a few threatening gestures in the direction of the Silver Fox every time he misbehaved. I may or may not have accidentally demolished half a lantana. Oh well.
Later, we went to the store and gathered supplies for a party later. All the people who were supposed to show up and help the Silver Fox's friend move showed up only for the party part. Of course. Still, we had a nice time, and good food was had, and there were two sweet kitties to be petted. My favorite part was still leaving and driving my rather sloshy Silver Fox home, where we took much-needed showers and passed out.
I went to the Silver Fox's this evening, hauling ingredients to make punch, which we did while playing Scrabble (predictably). I meant to bring macaroni and cheese with me, but I made the mistake of trying a new recipe, and I was out of macaroni and had to use curly noodles instead, which is just not right. Also, I was late getting there since I kept forgetting stuff when I was trying to leave, so we failed to have hamburgers as planned. Still, the punch was tasty, and we can have the burgers tomorrow, if I'm not late leaving the house then as well.
