Chicago Chick

Wasabi on the Walls

I had grand plans for this weekend, but as usual the thing on my to do list didn't all get done.  I'm sure it's a function of what was on my "To Do List" and not that I (or my husband) was a slacker.  The thing with lists is that they don't account for things that could and do happen.

Although my list for this weekend included getting a majority of the living room/kitchen painting complete, it did not include my 3 year old touching a scorching 300 watt light bulb that was being used to light the area being painted.  David and I are both beside ourselves with guilt so before anybody calls DCFS, I cannot imagine that a federal agency could make us feel worse than we already do.  It was one of those moments when the pain of hearing your child cry for an hour makes you feel like an incompetent and undeserving parent.  Just writing about it now - nearly 12 hours later - brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.

Our 3 year old is fine now and the only reminder of the incident is a blister on his right hand and a lesson learned NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING HOT OR ANYTHING THAT MOM AND DAD SAID NOT TO TOUCH.  Unfortunately, the 2 year old hasn't seemed to learn the same lesson as he is still mesmerized by the painting lamp (now put high on a shelf where even I cannot get to it).  The 3 year old is sleeping comfortably with the aid of lots of milkshakes, cookies, and anything else he wanted.  It's amazing what parental guilt will make you give into when your child is crying.

Alas, the walls are not completely finished.  There are 2 walls that are half covered with the paint color we selected - Wasabi - a greenish yellowish color that looks pretty good on the walls despite what the color sample looks like on line.  Actually, it looks exactly like the color of wasabi.  It's been a challenging weekend but I'm ready for the coming week and looking forward to next weekend where it will NOT include any painting or unpacking - "To Do Lists" be damned!

Why The Suburbs Aren't Always Better

I think my feelings about moving to the suburbs are pretty well documented in my blog.  I wasn't happy to leave the city - the place where I grew up - for the suburbs - a place where I spent 4 years of my life during high school.  In recent months I have started to change my mind about the suburbs and I really started to like living out here.  Truth be told, it really isn't that far from the city (5 minutes) and I like the preschool that our 3 year old attends.

Today, I started a backward slide towards my feeling about the suburbs.  It started at 3:00 this morning when the neighbor's dogs (3 very LARGE dogs) started barking and barking and barking.  It's not something that's new and the buster has called the police on more than one occasion.  This morning, it bugged me that the barking woke me up especially since I haven't been sleeping well lately.  Then there is the family who live kitty-corner from us who have a pit bull and don't put the animal on a leash.

This afternoon, we took the boys for a car ride and came back to the neighbors burning garbage in their backyard.  It wasn't just the burning of the garbage that bugged me, it was the fact that they were burning it so close to our wooden fence; the ashes were wafting into our yard and landing on my cloth convertible top; and the open flames were high enough that they were probably melting the power lines that they decided to burn their crap directly under.  Suddenly, my head just started to pound and I felt sick.

We have moved to the suburbs to get away from the neighbors who let their dogs poop in our front yard and kids who were rowdy.  Actually, that is why David wanted to buy a house in the suburbs.  Personally, I didn't notice the dog poop - I would see people pick up after their animals - and rowdy kids riding their bicycles up and down the street made me think of my happy Chicago childhood.  When I saw the large, open flame in our neighbor's back yard and smelled the melting plastic smell, I just lost it and I called the police.

My blood started boiling when the police officer showed up and stopped by the neighbor's house and DID NOTHING!!!!  I spoke to the officer and it is legal for the neighbor to burn the garbage in the backyard.  It's legal as long as it's in a fire pit and it's covered (which it wasn't when he began but was when the police showed up.  Seriously, if David insists on staying in the 'burbs we are moving to another suburb where people frown on burning garbage in their back yards.

What a Difference a Year Makes

A year ago, the turmoil in my life which seemed to come out of nowhere started.  It was the beginning of putting our house on the market; looking for a new house; dealing with the autism witch-hunt; and the huge fall out with someone very important in my life.  March 2007 was the beginning of a very tough year.  Things weren't easy before March 2007 because we had a 2 year old and a 1 year old but after the events of March 2007, things seemed nearly impossible.  By April I really thought that I would not survive another month - it was maddening.

And, now I look back on all that happened and I have to say that I truly cannot believe we made it through that period intact.  Usually I would look back and say that it wasn't that bad and maybe I'm still too close to the events, but it was hands down the WORST experience in my life.  I'm glad we survived as a family - but I cannot help but see how profoundly those events have changed me - especially the fall out with the person very important in my life.  Things are much better with that person now and it's almost like the fall out never happened.  But, I'm different.

I'm less sure of myself in the decisions that I make - personally and professionally.  I'm less sure of myself, in general, and it will be tough to build that back up again.  After all, the events of what happened to begin the roller coaster ride a mere 12 months ago, should never have happened.  But they did and we're okay.  As a family we are better than okay and in the end, isn't that all that matters?

An Easter Like None Other

This has been an interesting Easter so far.  Easter for me has traditionally been a holiday that I spend with my extended family, but this Easter my parents and aunts are in another state; my sister is holed up at home with a new baby; my brother is living in another state; my sister in-law and niece are doing nothing; and my nephew is in the military in Virginia.  For the first time that I can remember, my family is not getting together for Easter.

Oddly enough, David has not made any noise about spending Easter with his parents.  It figures that the first holiday that my family isn't doing Easter together that David isn't interested in doing Easter with his family.  I think that this is a sign of times to come because my parents were the ones that made sure that we all got together.  This year we're just scattered and busy and whatnot.  We're in a time of flux with parents moving out of state; my sister just having a daughter; and us getting settled into the new place.

I am hoping that the coming holiday will not be like this and if we're settled into the new house, I will make sure that isn't the case.  Today will be filled with Easter mass and Easter baskets, but other than that the day will be like any other Sunday.  Besides, I have another closet to organize. * sigh *

Broken Nails and Bruised Hands

In my quest to be organized, we decided that an investment in closet organizers from The Container Store.  It started innocently enough and this past Sunday we purchased them and picked them up.  On Monday, David installed the top track from which the main brackets hang from and later that evening - after work - I started putting the closet together.

It was a simple design with double hanging rods and 4 pull out drawers in the middle.  Looking at the design that was created one would think that it would take at most an hour or so to assemble.  Looks are deceiving because it it took me 2 whole days to assemble the closet, mainly because we ended up using the drawing as instructions.  I'm not sure if that's the way you're supposed to do it, but that was pretty much the only instructions we received with our stuff.

After 2 days, I have ONE of the two closets assembled and have a bruised hand (don't ask) and a couple of broken nails to show for it.  That and a beautiful closet that is ready for our clothes.  I started putting some of our clothes in the closet and realized that the closet doesn't match our clothes, meaning that the clothes hanging on wire hangers makes the closet look awful.

Where Did All This Stuff Come From?

One advantage (or disadvantage) there is to living in a house owned by relatives is that your move to a new house can be spread over more than one day.  I say it's an advantage because there's less stress, but it's also a disadvantage because sometimes the motivation to keep moving your crap out wanes.  I take that back about the stress; you don't want to piss off your generous relatives so there's stress about that.

I think David had finished moving all of our stuff out of the old house.  At least I hope he's finished because there is so much crap in our new house that the kitchen island is covered with stuff.  I have no idea where we're going to put this stuff and I am sure that most of it will end up in the garbage, but just looking at it I have no idea where to start.

I've been taking the train into work for the past couple of days instead of working from home.  I'm not trying to avoid sorting through the crap that has followed me, but instead have things to do where I need to meet with other people.  After the first day in the office it wasn't hard to figure out the personalities and the group dynamics of the practice I am in.  And no matter what your personality or what your role in the group is, we all agree on the same thing.  Moving stinks and you should throw away things you don't use or need.  According to one of my cohorts, "If you're not going to die with it, then don't buy it 'cuz ya don't need it!"  Well said.

Am I Going to Get a Bath Today

It's nearly 5:00 pm on this lovely Saturday and I've managed to accomplish only 2 of the things on my list.  Granted those 2 things are items that were scheduled for 7:45 and 8:30 am and since then I have accomplished nada on my list.  Okay, so maybe today wasn't a complete loss because the blinds we ordered from Empire came and were installed.  I originally thought it would be a little wonky to order the blinds from them, but their service is actually very good and their prices are good too.  The blinds are beautiful.

We also got the locks changed in the house and the boys have been fed and are napping.  Then, there is the fact that I took the time to set up 3 Skype accounts and then set up the the webcams and tested them to see which one was better.  I also typed up e-mail instructions for my ma and sent them to her and then walked her through setting up the forwarding feature of her old e-mail address to her new one.  All of these items were not on my list of things to do.  The first item on my list of things to do was to take a shower which I haven't gotten to yet.  Maybe I'll get one tomorrow.

Ugh - You STILL Suck!

I spoke too soon - the Comcast transition did NOT go well.  We received a bill yesterday and were overcharged a little over $100.00.  We were charged a new service installation fee and a fee for cable.  Uh - we don't even HAVE cable service.  Seriously, it's ridiculous.  The last straw would be for me NOT to get the over billing credit that the customer service representative said I would be getting.  Never mind that I entered my phone number into their automated customer service system THREE times or that I waited for 5 minutes to speak to a live person or that when I did speak to the live person, she asked for my phone number AGAIN.

But I swear if the credit isn't applied to my account and I see it on my next month's bill my head will explode and Comcast and I will surely be through.  Yes, fine folks Comcast will be dead to me!  I wonder if Direct TV offers Internet service.  Hmmmm. . .

Could Luck Be Smiling On Me?

Today I was able to plug in our wireless router and * POOF * I had Internet service.  Yesterday the Direct TV guy came and the boys were able to watch 15 minutes of a PBS Kids show.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a good night's sleep last night because I was able to sit on the couch and watch TV.  I'm thinking that my reasons for not sleeping well are due to the fact that I cannot shut my mind off.  Then I decided to watch TV to try to go to sleep and end up watching something interesting.  The result is that I'm awake until 3:00 am - not good.

Still, the events of the past week have been scary - scary in a good sense.  I say scary because things are looking better everyday.  Remember the post about moving that I wrote this past September?  Picture the exact opposite of that move where things go ridiculously smoothly, don't cost as much as I expected, and as of day 2 of the move most of the boxes have been cleared or unpacked.  As of 2:00 the day of the move the beds were put together and the boys were fitfully napping on them.  As of day 2 of the move, all the china and crystal have been washed and put into the china cabinet; the cable is up and running; and a lot of extra stuff has been put away.

Then there are the cats - yes, we have cats (THREE of them).  With every move 2 of the 3 cats are out of their skulls for weeks on end.  With this move, only 1 is even slightly bothered.  The boys are eating and sleeping on their regular routine even though our move spanned the "Spring forward" time change.  With all the good stuff happening, which is a welcome contrast from the last time we moved or closed on our house, I am afraid that something not so great will happen to counter balance it.  But, I suppose I can think of all the good stuff as payback for the crappy stuff that's happened in the past year.

Clutter, Clutter Everywhere

Can I tell you wonderful folks about the restful night sleep I got for the first time in a zilllion years?  I'm not sure if it's because I was so exhausted from moving or from dealing with either boy's tantrums.  But, who cares because I slept through the entire night without so much as a trip to the loo.

Then there's the clutter which I surely would have tripped on if I attampted to go to the bathroom.  Subconsciously I must have known that.  The one thing that sucked about sleeping so well last night was the dream I had about the nightmare client.  Yep, after posting about them yesterday, they have seeped into my head.

Hanging On To My Optimistic Tendancies

I've begun the process of scheduling the transfer of services such as Comcast and Direct TV from the Temp house to the new house and I'm a little worried.  Worried because the Comcast transfer 6 months ago was a complete mess.  I say complete mess because it disrupted my ability to work and at the time I was in sales and depended on my Comcast Internet to work properly.  I lost a week and a half of time (it felt like a month so).  To top it off, the billing issues that I had - because they changed the account number on me and didn't tell me - were not resolved until December 2007/this past January.

Direct TV had a much smoother transition and it made me wish that they offered high-speed Internet.  For now we're going with Comcast for the Internet, but I've already gotten quotes for competing services.  I consider myself an optimist but in this case I've already been burned more than once and want to be prepared.

David finally has seen what I meant about hiring movers and has done some work getting quotes from a couple of local moving companies.  I think he sees how awful trying to move yourself while trying to take care of 2 toddlers is.  Plus, the quotes he received were much lower than he thought and even gives him some spare cash from the budget number that we agreed on.

I'm hoping that this move goes much smoother, but I'm still aiming low with my expectations.  It's sad that is the case but I've come to learn that I shouldn't expect commodity services such as Internet to have stellar customer service.

It's a Juggling Act

We're moving forward with purchasing a house - one with a yard, a fence, and a basement.  Although I've been through this process before, I've forgotten how much coordination it takes.  There are loan papers and personal information to send out to the mortgage company; there are appraisers to talk to; moving to coordinate; and so on.  In the meantime, I'm working on a project where lately I've felt like I've been drowning.  Okay, maybe drowning isn't a good word - it's more like spinning my wheels.  But, at the end of the day I've found that I don't think about work.

That's right - by the time I leave the parking lot I've focused on other things.  I think it's because I have a lot to do outside of work, but I'm hoping that it means that I compartmentalize my life better.  There are a lot of career things that I'm concerned about but that stuff has been prioritized after the kids, buying a house, and current work stuff.

I wonder if it's all going to come crashing down.  I mean the things you don't plan for but know you should, usually come back to bite you in the ass.  At least, they do for me.  But right now I don't have time to address the career stuff with all that's going on.  Somehow it all works out and I am finding that to worry is counter-productive and a waste of energy.

Hi My Name is Irene, and I'm an Overprotective Parent and Over-Extended Person

It has been quite a weekend - we're still taking part in what can only be labeled as the "worlds longest move".  I spent the weekend packing more stuff and David spent a good majority of the weekend UNpacking as well as scrubbing the floors at the Temp House.  My husband is really good at doing floors whereas I suck at that stuff.  Apparently, I don't "do" it right and you have to wash with one rag and then dry with another.

I don't think I've ever looked forward to a Monday as I have this past weekend.  For me, Monday means that I go back to work - something that doesn't ever seem to change and even though it isn't exactly a 9 to 5 type of job, it's somewhat predictable.  I spoke to the principal at Nick's school today and she was encouraging although she did agree with the preschool teacher's belief that Nick wasn't ready for preschool.

She talked about different options which is not something that the preschool teacher seemed to do.  It was helpful and made calmed my angst a bit.  Actually, my angst was put to bed by Friday after I called a few area preschools and made appointments to view their classes.  As usual, the anxiety that I feel when an issue presents itself is calmed when I do something about it.  I'm not the kind of person who is happy just worrying and wringing their hands - I have do to something in addition to worrying and wringing my hands.  Can you say Overachiever?

Today the movers are coming to take the rest of the things that didn't get moved.  I am hoping that today will be the end of the very long moving experience and I am hoping that the next time we move - March of 2008 - David will agree with me and hire movers.  This entire moving process has spanned one to many weekends and even though money can be saved by moving yourself, it is better to be lighter in the wallet than heavy in the heart.

This week should be closure to a lot of open items that seemed to be open since March of this year and I will be happy once they are resolved.  I am very much the kind of person that thinks that they can do anything that they set their mind to, but somethings are not worth setting your mind on to accomplish.  For now, I will just cross my fingers and say a silent prayer that things go well.  Otherwise, you will be reading about me in the local Chicago newspapers under a headline that reads "Local Woman Lost Her Mind.  She Bit Off Way More Than She Could Ever Chew!"

I'm Tired, So What Else is New?

I'm tired.  No, scratch that - I am EXHAUSTED!  It isn't just the move and it isn't just work or the kids or David (or the fact that he didn't want to hire movers - yes I'm still mad).  It isn't the fact that I feel completely lost.  Lost, as in, I don't know who I am because I'm going through yet another big change that is completely self-imposed.

Sooner or later I would like to have what I would consider a "boring" year.  No job changes, no babies, no pregnancies, no large family blow-outs, and no moving.  I would be happy if 2008 included only the ONE big event - the move to our new and hopefully LAST house that we will buy.  If I could also have an end to world hunger, the mommy wars, and Heidi and Spencer's engagement that would be nice too.  But, being that those 3 things are on the list of "Nope, Never Gonna Happen" I would settle for just the one big event in 2008 for me.

This Sunday the movers that I hired are coming to take the rest of our stuff to the house that we're renting.  The house that we're renting will now and forever be referred to as the "Temp House" because I'm tired of typing out "the house that we're renting" when I refer to it.  We close on the sale of our place the week after next and I will officially no longer be a resident of Chicago.  Ugh - I threw up a little in my mouth when I said that.

So far the commute from the Temp House in a nearby suburb to our condo (where I shower and do some work) hasn't been that bad.  However, when you leave the suburbs at 5:00 am there really should not be a traffic problem.  Life should get a little bit easier on Friday when the Comcast people come to transfer my Internet service to the Temp House.  Yeah, after it took them 3 days to restore service at our condo and I was left with absolutely NO Internet anywhere to do work.

I Survived the Weekend and All I Got Was a Headache

Nothing tests a marriage like moving, the birth of a child, decorating a home on your own, and anything related to money.  It's Monday morning and I was never so happy to get up to go to work as I was this morning.  Granted, I needed to get back to the condo to reconnect Internet service so that I could use it for a week - because it's getting reconnected at our place this Friday.  Still, it's up and running should I need to work early or late and don't want to feel unsafe working in the rented office I have.

This weekend was full of angst, yelling, headaches, and oh yeah - more yelling.  I've come to the realization that are given a lesson to learn and if you don't learn it, but live through it, you get that lesson again (and again and again).  From this experience I've learned that there are somethings that are best "outsourced" to a company outside of your family such as moving.  It's always best to hire movers even though your husband is convinced that he can do it.  This is so because after a 3 day weekend of moving, we are still not completely moved.

Yep - there are still things that need to be packed (mostly my fault because I left packing to my husband who was convinced that he could do it) and the storage area we have is still completely full.  On Saturday I finally put my foot down and hired movers to pick up the remainder of the items and the movers are scheduled to be at our place this coming weekend.  I am hoping that this will be the last of it because I honestly cannot take any more.

I lost it twice this weekend - once on Sunday morning and once Sunday afternoon.  Both times my husband looked at me like I was crazy and that there was nothing wrong.  Never mind that at the time we didn't have Alex's crib assembled and we were all sleeping in our king-sized bed, really the box springs with the mattress.  Never mind that we're eating with plastic utensils and paper plates that I thought to buy late at night on Saturday when we realized that while we were sitting down for dinner and didn't have anything to put dinner ON.

I am hoping that this morning I can take some time to organize my thoughts because on the way to work this morning I had an epiphany - something that usually takes place when I'm under a lot of stress.  That "ah-ha" moment unfortunately never really seems to take place at a time when I can just sit and pull myself together.

This Too Shall Pass - Maybe

Here is a great piece of advice: never say that things can never get worse.  Why?  Because it's not true - things can always get worse and a lot of times they usually do.  I firmly believe that all the crappy days that I've had in the past have been preparation for today - hands down the WORST DAY IN MY LIFE up until now.  I say "up until now" because I never know what tomorrow could bring.  The picture to the left is what I look like now (a la South Park) after the past week's events.

I took yesterday and today off because Nick started preschool yesterday morning, we've got this moving thing going on, and my normally logical husband decided that we shouldn't hire movers and that he and his brother would do the move.  What happened was that I ended up doing a training session for a potential customer Thursday morning and completely missed Nick's first day of school.  I was okay with giving up the first half of my day because if we do land this client, it could mean a nice check for me (read: a nice chunk of change to add to the boys' college fund).

But, by Thursday afternoon I was still working because another potential client who assured me over and over that they would not need an overview training session could figure out the application by themselves.  Seriously - I knew something like that was going to happen, but what could I do?  It's not like me to be rude to someone overtly.

After catching up on my voice mail messages, I find out that the management company that manages our soon-to-be-sold condo did not send the "paid in full" letter that I paid $100.00 for them to send to my attorney.  However, on the bright side, we have a closing date and the selling-our-condo-nightmare phase of my life seems to have an end date.  Apparently, the guy who owns the management company and who has done a crappy job with managing our condo building does not return phone calls.  I swear if this holds up our closing I am going to scream.

This morning, I'm trying to work on something for another potential client - yes, I am fully aware that I took today off - and the Internet craps out on me.  David returns from his latest round of loading the rental truck to tell me that the Comcast guy is downstairs disconnecting our service.  After screaming at David to run downstairs and tell the guy not to touch anything, I call the lovely people at Comcast.  I'm livid because (1) not only am I working on my day off but (2) I specifically called Comcast this morning at 6:30 am to make sure that they are not disconnecting our service.  It's 3:30 in the afternoon and I still have not received a call from the lovely folks at Comcast.

I haven't talked to David about how the move is going because after getting some surprise news that his older brother - who I'm not a big fan of - was going to be helping out even though David never asked him to help, I thought it best that I just let David think about how right I was that we hire movers and how idiotic his idea to veto me and try to move our stuff by himself was.  I'm not looking forward to the coming weeks and right now I am beyond angry.  I just wish I had a way to try to displace my anger because it's really eating away at me.  I suppose I can take comfort in knowing that this too shall pass - and that something worse will happen and make this day look not so bad after all.

Short Weeks Always Seem to Equal More Work

I love to work - it's crazy but true.  When I was working in consulting, I would get stir crazy when I was unassigned and would have to sit on the bench.  Some of my co-workers were really good at sitting on the bench because they reasoned that 1) we were still getting a full paycheck and 2) when we were on a project we would work a zillion hours.  In the end, it would all even out.

Still, being on the bench to me meant that there was a chance that I could get laid off and getting laid off is my own version of hell.  Luckily, that's never happened - knock on wood.  The thing about long weekends when I was in consulting and on a project was that they were just that - long.  I was the crazy who, by noon on the 3rd day off, was ready to go to work.  I mentally made lists of the things that I needed to accomplish during the shortened week and, spaz that I am, would get most of the stuff done before the first day of the shortened week ended.

For some reason Labor Day this year was not like that.  Here I am thinking that I really could have used another day off and I'm not quite sure why.  I think it maybe because I feel like I'm in some sort of strange "holding pattern".  We move this coming weekend and Nick starts preschool on Thursday of this week.  Add to that the fact that I have a training session that I need to lead for work and I'm a bit clueless on how it's going to go.  There's just a lot that seems to be going on.

For the most part we are packed, but there is still a lot to do.  I think that after the move on Friday when all our big items will be at the house we're renting from my aunt and uncle, I will have a better idea of what is left to do.  We don't close until the end of this month, so we have time which is the way I like it.  That mad scramble at the end of a given timeline is not something I enjoy so I work very hard to make sure that there is a fair amount of time should something go wrong.  But, for whatever reason this year's long Labor Day weekend makes it seem that I have less time to get more tasks accomplished.

The Irene Comedy Show

Life has gotten awfully complicated lately what with the move, Nick's birthday, and the newly hired sales person I am working with at work.  It seemed as though once we sold our place the stream of things to do has become endless.  Nick turns 3 this week and next week we have his first day of preschool followed by moving day right after.  Never mind that we haven't finished packing - actually, we've barely put a dent into packing - and I still have to call the utility companies.

So, in between phone calls, e-mails, and scheduling AND planning meetings I've taken the liberty of using any spare 5 minutes I can get calling people like the ISP provider and the cable company.  It's actually kind of fun because nobody believes me when I tell them that I need to transfer service and that in 6 months I will be talking to them again to transfer service yet again.  The whole house situation is comical, although it wasn't that funny at first.

Luckily, my aunt and uncle are okay with us renting their home for 6 months instead of buying it.  Truthfully I would have bought their house if it weren't on a busy street - when I say busy, I mean BUSY.  The thought of the nightmares of the boys getting hurt is enough to make me reconsider.  My first call was to the wonderful people of Comcast where my call was answered by Racquel.

Racquel was really helpful.  It made it even better that she was a willing participant in the off handed comments that I made about our moving situation.  Here's a snippet of our conversation:

Racquel: So, we can reach you at 312-555-1212 the day of the transfer?
Me: Oooh, that's my husband's cell phone number which he does NOT answer EVER.  Can you put down my cell number 312-555-2222?
Racquel: Sure.
Me: Why is it that they don't answer their phones?  I mean you could be bloody and dying on the side of the road and they won't answer their cell phones.  But, now if YOU don't answer your cell phone when they call, you end up catching all sorts of grief?!?
Racquel: Oh that's funny.  I don't know why that is.  My boyfriend says that he never answers the phone unless he sees that it's my number.  And the times that he doesn't answer his phone and he sees it's my number, he figures I'll just call someone else.
Me: My husband says the same thing.  Now if I WANTED to talk to someone else, dontcha think that I would have called someone else instead of wasting my time?

The conversation went back and forth like that.  And, it was a nice 5 minute break from my life.  In the end, Racquel wished me well and hoped that my move was as fun as the phone call she was having with me.  I told her, that it's only fun if you're moving with strangers.  If you're moving with people who know you it's just work and whining wondering when they can get something to eat.  It's annoying because it's a 10 minute cycle of work, whining, and wanting something to eat.  She suggested that I make up hats with a sandwich dangling in front of the visor.

Hmmmm, maybe she's on to something.  This moving this is really stressful, but calling the utility companies and ISP to change service is actually kind of fun.

Well, At Least it's Progress

After writing about how I did no packing yesterday, I took some cold medicine and promptly passed out on the couch.  The thing about living in a small space is that you are seldom alone and after about 30 minutes, I woke up to a cold little finger poking me in the nose.  The funny thing is that I loved the cold little finger poking at me because it was attached to one of my 2 favorite "little people with sticky fingers" who lives with me.

It was just as well that I got up because I was feeling really guilty about not doing anything.  Before lunchtime, I had packed the remainder of the breakable tchockies or what David calls dust collectors, and had packed up the hall closet and the master bedroom closet.  I also finished taking down all but 1 picture and packed them away.  I was hoping to get to the remaining picture, the shelves and mirrors, and the summer clothes that we won't be needing for very much longer but I just ran out of steam.

Instead, I put together a tricycle for son number one whose birthday is next week.  For whatever reason I am the one who always ends up putting things together that require assembly such as cribs, bathroom shelving, a grill, etc.  I have no idea why that is, but it is.  I'm not the one who does any of the painting and I'd like to keep it that way.  It wasn't the most productive week I've ever had and I think I can safely say that it was one of the worst weekends I've had - only because I was sick.

David took son number one for a ride on the tricycle, which by the way is made in China.  I suppose we're safe unless either of the "little people with sticky fingers" decided to start gnawing at the paint.  Had I known it was going to be made in China, I honestly would have ordered a different one.  Chinese manufacturers and I are not friends anymore after those recalls.  Still, it was cool to see son number one watch as I assembled his birthday present and then later get on it to pedal his first foot unassisted.  He was so proud of himself and in the end, it was a great weekend.

Put DOWN the "To Do" List

I didn't get much sleep last night and it may have to do with the angst I feel about packing up a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom place that David and I have lived in for the past 5 years.  In those 5 years we've accumulated a lot of stuff, not to mention that we doubled in size by adding 2 little ones to our household.  Personally, I like to think that I didn't get much sleep last night because in an effort to relax yesterday I had a half glass of wine.

Being the light-weight drinker that I've become, a half glass of wine makes me ridiculously sleepy (and pretty darned tipsy).  I ended up taking a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day while David cleaned out the fridge and the boys watched some kid friendly television.  Unlike one mother, who shall remain nameless, I think it's important to have at least one parent fully functioning if you're going to do something like getting remotely tipsy.  Actually, I was pretty shocked that it only took a half glass of wine.

Last night I was getting ready for bed and I couldn't shake the mental "To Do" list that kept replaying in my my head.  You know, things like call the utility companies; see if the ISP that we use is available at my aunt and uncle's place; decide what to do with the Direct TV; and on and on.  I swear I could not get that list of stuff to quit replaying in my head once I was in bed under the comfy covers.  It really sucks being an adult and the fact that we will be moving once this year and then again early next year makes it infinitely sucky to be an adult.

Honestly, I'm thinking that I need to find the someone who issued me my "you are now an adult" membership card so that I can give it back to them.  I have no idea when this happened - this becoming an adult thing.  I just know that even when I was 6 years old I didn't want to grow up.  This whole thing is a sham and it was foisted upon me without my permission.  I need to add "quit the adult club" on my To Do list just as soon as I finish calling those utility companies.