update

I told Perfect on Paper guy I didn't really see a romantic future with us.  The next day he contacted me and asked me to be a personal reference on some job applications he was filling out...I had to decline on the basis that I don't really know him that well.

Bizarro right?!

oh just me, oversharing on the internet again...

Okay so Friday was date number five with Perfect on Paper.  I've really been trying to be open minded and keep on even though I don't really feel much of a click or spark, because, really, he's perfect (on paper).  Sure, a little sappy, dorky and awkward, but obviously harmless and well meaning. I felt like rejecting him based on a less than stellar first impression was being too picky and all of my friends seemed to agree and were even rooting for him.  We'd gone out on four dates-- the first three I was kind of like "meh" but then the fourth date we had a lot of fun and I thought I might be warming up to him a bit more. So I agreed to a fifth date.  It was supposed to be bowling, but at the last second he suggested that I come over to his house and he made me dinner and then we watched a movie.  It had been a long stressful week, so that option sounded more appealing than a noisy bowling alley and I agreed.

I'm not going to give a whole recap of the date, but I'll give you some random details.  This is what I am good for as the token single girl in nearly all of my social circles.  Married people love to hear how hard and ridiculous it is to be dating in your thirties.  So here goes-- my pain is your amusement:

• His house was really nice.  He had described it as a townhome, but it was really more like a condo.  He allowed me to full on snoop through the whole place while he was cooking dinner.  The whole place was builders white-- not a drop of paint on the walls.  He had nice furniture, and lots of random knick knacks and pictures from his travels around the world.  His powder room had adult wipes sitting on top of the toilet, which is something I would have put away if I was expecting company.  He had a study that was filled with fitness equipment and a huge shelf with hundreds of cds.  I thought that was a testament to what generation he is from (he's 38).  Other than Counting Crows cds, I can't remember the last time I bought a physical cd and put it on a shelf.  The whole place was very clean and tidy and nicely decorated, considering it is a bachelor pad.
• On a plus side, he got me flowers. 
• He kissed me, or attempted to kiss me, roughly 28937423 times.  Not like, make-out let's-get-it-on kissing, but like kisses on the forehead, or the cheek or the top of my head.  Unremittingly.  Like, five fast kisses in a row the way a grandma might kiss her six month old grandchild if she hadn't seen him in a while.  Taking my coat required a kiss on the cheek.  Laughing about how we have almost matching Columbia coats required a kiss on the forehead.  Handing me a fork at dinner required multiple cheek kisses.  I'm not a touchy feely person in general, so that got old fast.  Really fast. (Although I do feel like I should explain that despite all of that he didn't cross the line into getting handsy or inappropriate... just odd and discomforting).
• Referred to me as "madam" repeatedly which made me feel like I was 100 years old.  Also referred to me as "sweetie" repeatedly which made me feel like I was 4 years old.
• Dinner was really nice and actually delicious.  I was impressed-- salad, salmon with some kind of really wonderful gingery marinade, and couscous.
• Dinner conversation was what I now understand to be the usual-- lots and lots and lots of talk about his work.  I understand that discussing your job is always the path of least resistance and an easy default to keep conversation going, but now that it's our fifth date and I'm hearing the same auto insurance stories over and over... it's just dull and tiresome. 
•During the movie he put his arm around me, which was acceptable. Then he started sniffing my head and hair.  I got the impression that he thought this would be a charming thing to do but finally I had to be like "Are you sniffing me?! Can you please stop?!"
• After the movie was over,  he said he had a confession and told me that when we had first made plans to go bowling he went one afternoon and did a practice run to make sure his skills were up to par.  I thought was straddling the border of sort of sweet, sort of bizarro. 
• But THEN he said he had a second confession-- that our last date when I leaned to get out of his car that my pants had slipped down and some of my butt had ended up hanging out of top of my pants...  I was so creeped out and told him so.  WHO SAYS THAT?!  Like really.  I mean, it happened and you noticed, but why are you telling me now?   That was when I figured I needed to wrap things up and get outta there.
• The good night kissing was the absolute nail in the coffin.  I was trying to make the best of a bad situation, but there was no salvaging anything in that department.  His glasses stabbed me in the eye, and at one point his entire mouth was wrapped around mine-- like both of my lips were inside his mouth.  Then he pulled away and said "Someone's breathing is getting a little fast".  I think in his head he thought that might come out seductive and mysterious, but at that point it was just comical.  If my breathing was fast, it was because I was gasping for air as he attempted to perform CPR on me.

Okay, that turned out a little meaner than I meant for it to be...  but.. it is what it is.

Saturday after many, many texts recapping his favorite parts of the evening and trying to get me to commit to hang out again Saturday and/or Sunday, I had to tell him that his intensity was terrifying and that I needed some space.  His response was that he never meant to make me feel uncomfortable and that he would respect my wishes.  I'm inclined to ignore him and hope he goes away, but I have been advised that I need to man up and make sure he's clear that I am 100% uninterested.

So I guess this is the first time that I am officially breaking it off because he has no game.  At all.  I don't know how to explain it, but I guess it's much more intriguing to hold a little back.   My friend The TrueDeeva got to hear all about him when we met up on Saturday.  She thinks he lacks swagger.  You want a guy that interested enough, but still holding back some to keep you interested.  Clearly-- not Perfect on Paper.  Anyways, after we had a few laughs about my date we had a nice conversation about internet dating, dating with kids, dealing with the fathers of our kids and all of the drama they bring.  As usual, I left wishing we got together more.  She's sharp, and witty and confident and in the past year or so she's turned into an internet dating maven (quote of the evening: "I'm all about being open minded!" she declared.  "I'm dating short guys, fat guys... even white guys!").  She sort of re-energized me to get back out there and stay positive and keep having fun.

Anyways, feel free to comment.  Happy Monday.

Rambling on about various things...

Gah... I stayed up/slept way too late this weekend. Now it's 11 and I'm wide awake. Getting up tomorrow should be a disaster.

I need a few cards for different things, so I pulled out my stamps and papers over the weekend and got busy. I actually didn't end up making any of the cards I will need soon (typical), but I did make these: It's not totally clear, but the card base is black. It gets lost against the black table. The onesie was my first attempt at using the blender pen.

You can't see very well from the picture but the top part is grey cardstock dry embossed polka dots leftover from another project. I did a few different variations of this one with different sentiments. The sentiment stamp was a buck from Michael's.

(this one kind of drives me crazy if I look at it too long because nothing on it is cut straight or centered. But I really loved that stamp-- another dollar bin find at Michael's.)

I had a great weekend. Friday night my parents were kind enough to keep Isaac overnight so I could have another date with Perfect on Paper guy. Then Saturday Isaac's dad asked if he could take him for the afternoon/evening even though it wasn't his weekend because he wanted to take Is to a birthday party. So I ended up with an unexpected Saturday night to myself too. I went to University City and (after trying to park for seriously like 40 MINUTES) I met up with my friend The TrueDeeva... and we had a great time catching up. I will go into more detail about my date and my visit with her in a another blog post. Oddly, they will be somewhat related. It was great fun, but on the way home I got a text message and was reaching for my phone to glance at it. I must have swerved off the road a bit when I was reaching it and the next thing I knew, there were lights behind me. It's actually been quite a while since I've been pulled over. I got off with a warning, thankfully. I definitely left my phone in my purse and threw it in the back seat for the rest of the way home.

In other news, how adorable are these:

shoes that we got for Isaac's baby brother? I know his dad will like them, because he used to buy Isaac ones that were very similar. I used to get so mad at him when Isaac was a baby, because I would need diapers, formula, etc and he would always show up with fancy sneakers. When we were at the Puma outlet I couldn't resist the chance to bring it full circle.

Hey..

Check out my sister's blog to see some great pictures she took for Isaac's Flat Stanley project. Just do it, OKAY!

good news

Isaac is a big brother.

Yeah, that was how I found out too. He gets in the car today and says "Good news mom! Auntie {what he calls dad's gf} had a baby, so I'm a big brother!"

I was shocked, because for various reasons his dad had decided not to tell me she was expecting, and simply left Isaac to deliver the news, but I'm happy for them. I have always hoped that Isaac would have a sibling, and Isaac has always wished for a little brother. If I can get his dad to take some pics of the two of them I will post them.

So yeah... kind of a mix of a ton of emotions.... I may or may not blog more about this in the future...

well....

Bad news:

I just started classes again for the spring semester. Six hours a week of night class (plus a 40ish minute commute each way twice a week) is looking like a bit more than I can handle without a serious hit to my sanity. It's going to be an exhausting semester.

Good news:

Both of my classes are really interesting. I have Strategies for the English Language Learner which is taught by someone who is actually an ESL teacher. The other class is a math methods class which is taught by a principal in a local school district. I really think I am going to enjoy both of the classes and take away a lot from them. Also, as much as I love being a teacher, I also really enjoy being a student. I'm glad that teaching is a profession that requires you to be a lifelong learner.

Good news:

I have lost ten pounds since Christmas from cutting out sweets, eating more veggies, fruits and whole foods and working out.

Bad news:

I didn't work out ONE TIME this week. And I had a serious brownie binge this week. I swear, it's like when one thing in my life gets out of balance (for example, starting up classes again) everything else just goes to hell.

Good news:

I have a fabulous first grader who is a star reader. He even went and read to some kindergarteners as a special reward the other day (he choose a book about hockey to read to them. I'm sure they were thrilled.) We seem to have gotten over the phase of terrible behavior at school we were going through, which is such a relief.

Bad news:

He has been sick for more than ten days. He is better now than he was last weekend, but lots of coughing, runny nose, sore throat, etc. etc.

Blah...

Tee-hee

My mom picked me this cute little Valentine's Day Decoration:

Someone in my house gets a kick of rearranging them on a regular basis... =)