Time is Getting Away From Me

These weeks seem to be flying by much to quickly. I can't believe it's almost September. I mean, honestly. Football starts next week. I am so not ready for this.

Not to mention that I keep forgetting to write here. I always think "I'll write when I get home" or "I'll write in the morning", but then I never do because I'm busy. This week alone we've had to prepare for unexpected out of town guests, take Gabbie to urgent care about a rash that had to be diagnosed before she was allowed back to daycare (she's allergic to my mom's laundry detergent - mom had washed a new outfit she bought for her and the rash disappeared shortly after we stripped her and gave her a bath), then Gabbie didn't sleep for 2 days which just about killed me.

Also, we've had to deal with the most annoying situation ever from our power company. We got a letter in the mail two days ago stating that they couldn't verify Aaron's identity, so unless he provided them with documents proving his identity, social security number, and ownership of the house, they were going to turn off our power on September first. Nothing like short notice before they SHUT OFF OUR POWER. And it's not like we didn't pay our bill or something that would seemingly justify this, or that they had given us any prior notice. I think this whole situation is completely unacceptable.

Admittedly, I'm deep in the throes of PMS, so add in very little sleep and once again I'm no fun to be around this week. But I'm working on good karma by being nice to others. It at least can't hurt. I'm excited today that our division at work is doing community service in the form of freshening up the multipurpose room at a local family shelter with paint and a good deep cleaning. I'm making Aaron one of his favorite dinners tonight, and since I'll be home early, I'll also be doing a good deep cleaning of kitchen and family room before he gets home. Gabbie finally slept last night, so I might take her to the park today for some fun. We all deserve it.

I'm also getting donuts for breakfast this morning. I definitely deserve them after this week.

Once again with the tidbits

It may only be Tuesday, but this week has been crazy already. The reasons for this include:

1. Gabbie is starting in the toddler room in daycare this week. They move them up gradually, and she’s only on day two, so she’s spending two hours there this morning. I just can’t believe my itty bitty baby is big enough to be in the toddler room already. That said, it’s also amazing how big she looks next to the babies in the baby room. It’s definitely time for her to move on, but it’s a little hard on all of us, especially since she loves her baby room teachers so much. They’re sad she’s moving up too. (Of course, it doesn’t help that I have a horrible case of PMS in the middle of all of this sadness.)

2. This weekend we bought a new range and refrigerator for our kitchen, which I expected but not quite so soon. That’s totally fine with me, though. I’m really excited to get them in, but they won’t be delivered for another two weeks. They had to order them since we wanted black and apparently all anyone carries anymore is stainless steel. I just didn’t want to have to deal with that many fingerprints on my appliances. However, we do have to do some work on the kitchen in order to get the refrigerator to fit, so there will be some demolition this week/weekend, not to mention some plumbing since we will now have an icemaker/water dispenser. We did manage to buy one of the biggest refrigerators on the market, but we got it for a steal because they had it priced incorrectly in their system. Score one for us!

3. Speaking of house stuff, we’re painting this weekend. We’re starting with our bedroom, and I’m having trouble deciding on colors. I want something kind of like Tiffany Blue, or Martha Stewart’s Vintage Map color (it’s about halfway down the page), but I can’t decide how light or dark to go. Our furniture has a deep brown finish, and we’re doing white accents. I just can’t wait to get something painted, because our house is all various shades of beige leftover from the previous owners. Then we just have to decide what color to paint Gabbie’s room (yellow or purple), both upstairs bathrooms, the kitchen (I’m thinking a kind of avocado green), the dining room, and the family room (the most contentious room colorwise – we can’t seem to come to an agreement). There are plenty of other rooms to paint too, but the spare bedroom will be last and dependent on “future baby”, which is what we call the hypothetical second child right now.

Nice Save

I don’t know why, and I hate complaining, but it seems like every week lately has been one of those weeks. Two weeks ago I was feeling completely overwhelmed and Aaron and I were constantly bickering. Last week was the crazy daycare week, where the building caught on fire and they found out they needed to remove asbestos, all in one day! This week has been one big bag of blah. Throw in mastitis (which has thankfully been cured, finally) and just a general annoyed-at-the world thing, and I’m sure you’d find me an absolute joy to be around these days. Sure, there have been one or two good days, but mostly I’ve been a big ol’ crab, and even I’m sick of it.

This morning Aaron was teasing me a little about how I walk with a heavy step, because I noticed Gabbie was doing the same thing. Then he commented on how she was also like me because she always gets things on her clothes that stain, and now we’re going to have to go buy her new things (when really, she mostly needs new things because she’s outgrowing everything right now). He kept on going, picking on and needling me until I wanted go smack him, but instead I decided to stick up for myself.

“That’s enough negatives for me today, thankyouverymuch. Now you have to pay me three compliments to make up for it, Handsome.” (Yes, I do have annoying pet names for Aaron. Sorry.)

So he started ticking them off for me. He loves me because I’m smart, beautiful, a good mother, and an excellent cook (I knew I won him over the old fashioned way – through his stomach). He can’t imagine spending his life with anyone else, and he feels lucky that he ended up with a catch like me.

Well played, Mister Man. Well played.

(My day has been much better since then, as you can imagine.)

A Few Monday Tidbits

Mondays suck. Everyone knows this. Just thought I’d restate the obvious.

Do you want to know something I feel bad about? (I’m telling you whether you do or not, actually.) I feel bad that my work pays a lot of money to run the air conditioning for our office, and then I warm it right back up with my space heater. It was seriously 66 degrees in here earlier, which is slightly ridiculous, especially since we’re all dressing for the hot summer weather that has finally arrived. I wore flip flops (fancy office ones like these) and my toes are seriously blue.

Speaking of seriously blue – if you watch True Blood, have you noticed how much more pale everyone is? During last night’s episode Bill was so pale he was almost blue at one point. Anyway, that was one seriously good episode, and it’s hard to wait for next week. I’m also sad that there are only 3 new episodes left this season. Finally, what is up with the Jessica/Hoyt story line? It wasn’t in the books, and I don’t get the necessity of it other than continuing to use a character they made up in the first season.

I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of the kittens this weekend. I’m explain more about them tomorrow, but suffice it to say I’m missing their absolute cuteness.

You can roll your eyes at me if you want (the nice thing is I can’t see it through the computer), but last week I joined FlyLady. Aaron is much busier at work these days, working long hours and being constantly busy during those hours, and so I need to pick up the slack a little around the house. Trouble is, he’s the good housekeeper in our family, and I have no idea what to do. I really like this system so far because it basically tells me what to do, so I don’t have to make any decisions. So far the dishes have been done every night before bed (which is different) and I’ve done at least one load of laundry every day (and put it promptly away, which is also different). Not that I live in squalor usually, it’s just that having a toddler tends to take up all my time. This is already helping to make things easier around the house, so I’m enjoying it. We’ll see if it continues to go so well. I tackle my first “hot zone” tonight.

Oh, Right. We Bought a House.

And here it is:

We went to look at this house just for fun - we couldn't believe the price for the size and neighborhood. We were sure there was something wrong with it, but we thought we'd go look because we were so curious. 

I started falling in love while I was walking up to the front door. Then I opened the door and saw this:

The living room 

I looked at Aaron, and that's when he knew we were in trouble, because I had already fallen completely in love with the house. One look, and I was already sold.

If you turn to the right when you walk through the front door, you see this:

It's a den/dining room/bonus room. Currently it houses boxes, but it will eventually be our formal dining room (if I have my way) or office (if Aaron has his way).

Off of the living room is the kitchen:

I absolutely love all the counter space. The dishwasher has already been replaced, and the stove, refrigerator, sink, and countertops are following sooner than later. 

Just past the kitchen is the eating area and the family room:

The family room extends around the corner and is about twice the length you see here, and full of windows. It's my absolute favorite room in the house.

We're currently doing a lot to this floor - we put in new door knobs/deadbolts (you never know who out there has a spare key), we're replacing appliances, light fixtures, painting, perhaps adding more wood floors (I hate the carpets - they pill, fuzz, and show every speck of dirt), adding new window treatments, and maybe even buying new furniture. Being a home owner is both fun and expensive!

Also on the first floor are a half-bath/mud room and the laundry room. Off of the living room is the staircase to the second floor, which I'll share tomorrow...

Seriously!?! (alternate title: Out of Season my Rear!)

Last week Gabbie went from having sandals that fit to having sandals the edge of which her toes hung over. Seriously, it happened just about over night. So, we needed new sandals. I mean, it just reached the 80s/90s here, it’s like summer just got here in August. It will probably be hot for a while, too. She really needed new sandals, like, last week.

Except, apparently, according to retailers, sandals are “out of season” (that’s what the lady at Stride Rite told my mom when she called). Rain boots? Check. Full-coverage dress shoes in fall colors? Check. SNOW BOOTS? Double check. Sandals? Nilch. Nada. None. You have got to be kidding me! Since when is August not sandal season? I plan on wearing my sandals through October if I can help it; I’m sure that because the hot weather started so late, it will still be warm enough then. Gabbie is still wearing shorts and sleeveless rompers.

Thank the Lord she doesn’t need a bathing suit (I hope, she hasn’t tried hers on yet – it might be too small already too).

And it's only Monday (except I totally thought it was Tuesday - I'm a day off again)

Over the weekend I seemed to have developed a nice case of mastitis. Exciting, no? Especially for someone who weaned their baby (toddler) 2 1/2 weeks ago. I'm on an antibiotic starting today that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, which is awesome. Thankfully I only have to take it 4 times a day for a week.

If you follow me on twitter or are my Facebook friend, you may have seen my tweet from earlier about daycare. When I walked in this afternoon to pick up Gabbie, I noticed a cloud forming near the ceiling above the sign-in table. Upon closer inspection the nearly 5-foot diameter cloud of smoke was coming from a scorched-looking light fixture. Awesome. So, I went into the baby room and told the teacher, who then pulled the fire alarm and took the remaining babies outside where all of the other children were playing already. I asked if they needed anything, but they had it under control so Gabbie and I hightailed it home.

Once we got here, I decided to check my email, where I was informed that they had discovered asbestos tile in the toddler room (they're recarpeting and retiling this week), which is safe now, but which will be removed on Wednesday. They're going to relocate the kids for the week, but I think I'll keep Gabbie home anyway. Just one of those things, I guess, and my mom and Aaron both agreed with me. My mom is thankfully willing to come and provide childcare, but still. This week is pretty much a wash from the get-go. And I'm sick enough that I just want to crawl in bed anyway, but all of this makes me want to bury my head under the pillow and hide.

Swears, Etc.

All day on Tuesday I was convinced it was Wednesday. I even scheduled some appointments for the next day – Thursday – thinking that “I’ll do these tomorrow”. So, as I stated yesterday on twitter, you can imagine my disappointment when the actual Wednesday rolled around. It was like my week was an extra day long! And I seem to be stuck on this train of thought – just a few minutes ago I found myself thinking that today was Friday. I guess I’m just ahead of my time. (I’m here all week!)

There’s a slight incline leading up to the door at Gabbie’s daycare, which I never notice until it’s the day after a good workout. Ouch! My legs are really, really tired from my run last night, but the rest of me feels excellent.

Damn, there was something else awesome I was going to tell you about, but I can’t remember what it was. I have a system, you see, where I remember a number that corresponds to the number of things I’m doing. If I don’t write down a grocery list, I’ll remember that there are X number of items to get, and it usually works. Usually. So there were 3 things to tell you today (the post-workout soreness is a bonus item. You’re welcome.), but I can only remember what 2 of those things are. So, it’s not a fail-proof system is what I guess I’m saying.

So, swears. Yes. We’re trying to reduce the number of swear words we say because of the whole “little pitchers have big ears” thing. Gabbie comprehends so much these days that we’re finding ourselves having to be very careful what we say. For instance, the other day Aaron said the word nurse (which we stopped doing 2 weeks ago now) in passing, and Gabbie popped the pacifier out of her mouth and came running across the room toward me. Good thing she also understands the meaning of the word “no”. Anyway, so we’re trying not to swear and I’ve been doing a pretty decent job of it, until the other night when Aaron scared me nearly to death. I was cuddling Gabbie back to sleep in the chair in her room. It was pretty dark, and in her closet is the opening to the attic which completely creeps me out for no particular reason other than it just does. So, I was sitting there rubbing her back and humming a lullaby, and my eyes were closed. Aaron, apparently wanting to see if I needed any help, snuck into the room somehow avoiding every squeaking floorboard, and was standing over me (and directly in front of the attic opening) when I decided to open my eyes. That’s when I let two swear words (one starting with an f and another with s, both preceded by the word Holy) fly loudly, waking up Gabbie again in the process, and jumped nearly a foot out of the chair.

Aaron offered to take over getting her back to sleep (smart man), and I laid in bed for nearly an hour while my heart slowed to normal speed and moved down out of my throat. He’s never allowed to do that again. EVER.

Weekend Snippets

Saturday morning we go to the coffee shop where Aaron and I met. My old boss is there and says “hi.” My mom is saving a table. I am grabbing our order and trying to reign Gabbie in. She is only interested in running around and saying “hi” to people, who would rather stay lost in their book or conversation. I spend more time chasing her around and trying to get her to cooperate than sitting and chatting. Having a toddler is exhausting.

Gabbie sleeps for the whole 90 minute drive from my parents’ house to home. She rouses slightly as I get her out of her car seat, but then continues to snooze, her sweaty head resting on my shoulder. I didn’t think it was possible to miss her when she was just feet away, but it happens to be the case any time we’re on a long car ride. I just want to cuddle her like this all the time. Having a toddler is wonderful.

She is patient as we wait for a table and then for our food to arrive, a process that takes over an hour. The only thing she demands is more teddy grahams, which I’m thankful were in her diaper bag. She sits and chews, watching all the different people crammed inside this small diner, already an expert people-watcher. She smiles and acts shy when they pay her any notice, reaching out for me for security, but she loves the attention. Our food finally comes, but she’s already eaten her fill, so she plays quietly in the high chair while we eat and chat. Having this toddler is amazing.

She struggles with me while I’m trying to get her to go to sleep. She wants things to be just so before she’ll submit. Sometimes it’s an extra binky to hold on to, other times the blanket is not wrapped around her just right. This time it’s that she wants to be in the rocking chair, not on the couch. Once I’ve done the dance and figured out what will work tonight, she’s asleep in minutes, but it doesn’t last. She wakes up again four times during the night, and at quarter to six in the morning I finally give up and take her down to cuddle on the couch. She’s back asleep in seconds; this is what she wanted. Having a toddler is confusing.