Random Thoughts Tuesday

I am forgetful. I am beyond forgetful.  I am kicking myself at this very moment because, once again, for like the 6th month in a row, I am nearly falling asleep ALL DAY LONG because my dumb ass forgets that I need a monthly B12 injection until I start feeling the ramifications of skipping my B12 injection.  Awesome.  I was supposed to grab this while I was home for the weekend, but I forgot (*gasp*) and now I'll have to wait until this weekend when my husband heads up this way.  This means that I will have to give laymen's directions as to where they are hiding...which is sure to cause some sort of bickering.

I can't wait until our family is back together again.  My husband is stressed.  My father-in-law is getting annoyed by the presence of additional people in his home for 2 months.  My daughter is moody...PMS type moody, actually.  It's like an emotional toddler roller coaster that nobody told me to freaking buckle up for.  I know she's all sorts of confused right now because we're at grandmas, then we're home, then grandma's, then home, then grandma's then home, blah blah blah.  It's caused her to become a huge Momma's girl, which is kind of nice and kind of suffocating.  I'm currently taking advantage of the fact that I have my mother-in-law there and willing to let me go out after pumpkin is in bed.  I'm catching up with friends and I'm enjoying some time to myself in the evenings.  Maybe I'm the only one not suffering right now.  That either makes me completely selfish or in-human.  I'm not sure which is worse.

While driving down the road the other day I nearly ran into an idiot.  For realsies.  I'm on a 6 lane road doing about 55 mph and this moron goes running across all 6 lanes of traffic to get to the other side.  Once he gets across the road (after causing several of us to slam on our brakes), he walks calmly into the Psychic Shop right there. Yup, the Psychic Shop.  I wouldn't lie.  I hope she told him he should stop pressing his luck.

That reminds me...Why did the idiot cross the road?

Just kidding. Lame, I know.  I couldn't resist though.

Did I mention yet that Meadow got into a jar of Vicks a week ago?  If not, yup, she did.  Funniest and most frustrating experience ever.  She emptied the entire tub of it (which really, is just Vaseline) onto her head.  She looked like a total greaser.  You wouldn't even believe it.  I think I kept all of my Facebook friends & family entertained that weekend as I posted updates and asked for help.  It was on about 1/2 of her head, then I tried washing it out with regular shampoo (4 times), but no luck.  The warm water actually spread it so that it covered all of her hair.  It's the hot new look, I tell ya.  Then I tried dish soap, 4 times, before realizing, "hello idiot, you buy Method, this wouldn't harm a fly."  Then once more, I washed her hair w/regular shampoo.  After a few hours and some googling, we tried rubbing cornstarch into her hair and then washing that out with my clarifying shampoo.  This didn't do a darn thing.  Then later that night, I did the cornstarch and clarifying shampoo again a few more times...nothing.  Took her to a local hair chain the next day and they said for $3.00 they could try their clarifying shampoo, which would probably be stronger than mine.  They washed her hair like 6 more times and it was about 50% better than when we walked in, but still looked pretty nappy.  By now, she's pissed and her poor little head hurts, and I'm praying to God that she's learned her lesson and won't ever put anything in her hair again (doubtful).  We decide to just let it wear out, just wash it in the evening during her bath.  This started Saturday morning and by the following Saturday, she looked pretty good.  I can tell, because I know...but no one else would notice.  The best part is she's earned a new nickname...Slick.  I hope it sticks. She totally deserves it.

I was doing really great with my eating and everything...for about a month.  I had only lost like 5 lbs, but my pants were fitting great and my muffin top was gone.  I LOVED not having a muffin top!  Who wants baked goods stapled around their waist, right?  Last Tuesday night, my grandparents, whom we see like every 4 years, wanted to meet all of the family at a restaurant about 1/2 way between us for dinner.  Oh. My. God.  Seriously...if you ever see a restaurant the shape of a barn, run the other way...I kid you not when I say that if you don't, you will most definitely come out Moo'ing.  My stomach HATED me that night after the food that they served.  Everything was just filled with salt and fat and fat and salt.  Blah.  Makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it.  Also...I am NOT exaggerating when I tell you that my muffin top was back the very next morning and that bastard is like glued on this time.  Maybe Goo Gone would work...?

Thanksgiving Eve, I met up with my oldest friend.  We've been friends since 6th grade and were pretty much inseparable for about 4-5 years even though our families kept moving all over.  We spent the summers together and as many weekends as we could.  It was FABULOUS to meet up with her.  Just this past year, she moved to the town we are moving back to.  For the 1st time in our entire relationship, we will actually live in the same town.  I don't even know what to think of that.  We've always been the type of friends that go for a couple years even without talking and are always able to still pick right back up with each other without missing a beat.  Hopefully, now that we'll actually be near each other, we'll be able to get back to the way things used to be.  She now has a daughter that is just a little less than 2 years younger than Meadow and how cool would it be if our kids could grow up together?

With my childhood BFF in my life again and the BFF that I'll never part with (you know who you are!), I feel unstoppable!  :)

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Currently Listening To:

Love Song by 311

It's been stuck in my head all day.  Not sure why.

Back to our Roots...

When my husband and I first moved in together (9+ years ago), our first apartment was in the town he grew up in.  Then when we bought our first house, it was in that same town.  When we sold that house (3 years later) and moved 30 minutes south to be closer to both of our offices, my mother-in-law bought the house from us simply for the view (3,000 acres of state land in the backyard).  After living in our 2nd house for 4 years, we gave that up as well and moved even closer to my husband's work...which put us about 1 1/2 hours from our family and friends.

Do you ever feel unsettled where you are...whether it's at home, about life in general, your current situation?  That's how I've felt for quite awhile.  When we first moved closer to my husband's work early this year, I was fine, but once all of that happened with my diagnosis and all of that...I no longer felt content with where we were.  I just ignored this feeling and figured it was from being off work, out of my routine, and not feeling well.

Since I've been staying with my mother-in-law for almost 2 months while being back to work, I've been such a happy girl.  Not necessarily happy about being back to work, lol, but happy again like I haven't been in years.  I finally feel like my old self again and recently discovered it's from being back in our hometown and surrounded by the people we love.  However, we knew that we couldn't continue living like we were, with me and Meadow living with family during the week and only home on the weekends...but my work was still refusing me a transfer.

About 10 days ago, I started telling my husband how happy I was again and how much I'm enjoying being back "home."  I told him that I felt like we should move back if the opportunity should prevent itself (since his job is in limbo and all).  At first he resisted...a lot.  So this past Monday, I had started looking into typing up a resignation letter for work and found out who it needed to go to.  I was going to hand this in the very next day.  The whole situation didn't feel "right" and I didn't think it was what we should be doing...but I knew it was what our family needed because we just couldn't go on the way we'd been.

Later, that same day, my husband called me at work and told me not to do it.  He'd had a change of heart and he'd decided he'd give up his job so that we could move "home."  I was SO excited I thought I was going to jump out of my skin!  Ecstatic doesn't even begin to describe it.

Of course, making this decision changed everything...but I'm ok with that.  It means that if nothing happens at my husband's work by the end of January (he's waiting for a transfer to their new sister company but the relationship between management at the two companies has become strained and is an issue) he will be quitting...unless he's laid off before then, of course.  Since he will no longer be at his high paying job, this means we can no longer afford for me to think about staying home with Meadow.  I'm ok with this.  I will be staying at my job, that pays relatively well for what it is, and my husband will find something with better hours in town because once my hourly restriction falls off, my hours are going to get crazy.

It is a complete role reversal...he'll be the one doing all of the school pick-ups and drop-offs while I'll be the one working more but I think this is going to work for us.  We are really enjoying the idea of going back to a "simpler" life and not having so much stressors.  Plus, we'll be by our family and friends again - our support group - the people that really make us happy.  So we feel like it's a worthwhile exchange and are very much looking forward to the change of pace.

Even better news...after only a week of looking, we found the PERFECT house for us to rent.  In the future, the owner said we could even do a land contract if we still love the house.  My husband and I have always been huge water people...so this is fabulous.  We found a house on a lake in the "lake town" we are moving back to.  We are beyond ecstatic.  When you drive up, the house is nothing special...looks like a plain old ranch that happens to be on a lake.  When you step inside, you are AMAZED.  It has a huge, open living room and kitchen with vaulted ceilings and huge beams running across the ceiling.  It has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and is about 2300 square feet with windows all along the lakeside of the house, providing an amazing view.

So...that's what I've been up to.  Sorry I've been so distracted and absent, but I've had good reason.  We are very excited about moving back to our roots and where we've always been happiest so I'm sure you will hear more about it in the next few weeks as things start to wrap up.  It feels so good to finally be following my heart again!
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Currently Listening To:
Beautiful Day by U2

Random Thoughts Tuesday

1)

My husband gave me the green light to quit my job.  Why am I sort of freezing up now?  Isn't this what I've been waiting for?  Anyone that's been reading my blog for any length of time knows that's been my plan/goal to begin with.  I think I have the teeniest case of "The grass is always greener on the other side."  Ok...so maybe that's not true.  It's a HUGE case of it.  In every aspect of my life.  It's horrible. LOL

2)

I got a Blackberry earlier this year when I switched from Sprint to T-Mobile.  I had a Palm Centro with Sprint and I loved it, so it felt natural to switch to the Blackberry at the time.  Especially since I had intended on reconnecting to the network with my phone if I went back to work and they only connected to Blackberrys now.  So I got a Blackberry.  And I hate it.  I hate to say that out loud because people look at me like I just say I killed my own dog or something...but it's true.  I hate my Blackberry.  I really do.  I bought it for only $10 since we got a discount through my husband's employer and I never connected it to the Blackberry network because I didn't need to until I was returning to work.  Now that I'm back to work, I don't want to be connected to work.  At all.  LOL.  When I walk out the door, I want to leave all that crap there and not think about it until tomorrow morning.

The fact that I hate this $300 (?) phone (his selective memory allows him to forget the fact that it cost us $10) that is still pretty new is outrageous to my husband and he's so frustrated that I didn't just pick a simpler phone at the time.  Now, all I want is a phone easy for texting...the rest, I could care less about.  Text maniac, I am, though.  I told him next time I'm making a large purchase, I'll consult my crystal ball to see how I'll feel about my choice a few months down the road.

3)

I got a new phone yesterday.  Finally, after bitching about mine for months and months...see #2.  So, I now have a Gravity 2, from T-Mobile and so far, I'm liking it.  I am back to a full keyboard and that makes my flaming, texting fingers happy.  So, those of you that are my real life friends as well, watch out...I'm back in action.  ;) You've been warned.

4)

Speaking of which (see #2 & #3), I now have a Blackberry Flip for sale.  Interested???  No?  What the hell, worth a shot.  Maybe I can sell it to one of the crackberry addicts I work with...

5)

I've decided that Starbucks needs an office or room in the back of their store for employees.  I've never been in the back of a Starbucks, so I really have no idea what is back there.  I'd imagine it's a storage room of sorts.  I've certainly been spending plenty of time in Starbucks in general lately...especially the one right by my office...and this is just something I've observed.  Last week, I was sitting in Starbucks and there was an employee making some decorations for the store at the table I usually sit at.  No biggie...I could care less.  So long as I can sit near a plug, I'm happy.  Then, more and more employees come in and eventually they've taken all of the tables except for 1 and put them together in the middle of the room and are having a store meeting.  During business hours.  I'm cool with that...I understand having to do this during business hours...but they were using ALL the tables.  The one that they had left alone was being occupied by two kids that came with some of the employees.  I was in one of the lounge chairs during this meeting and a guy that had been sitting at a table got up and sat in the other lounge chair next to me once they stole all the extra chairs from his table.  At that point, I looked at him and said I felt like I was crashing a party...it was all kind of bizarre.

Then, tonight while I'm here, there is a 4 seater table by a wall (with a plug) and it is occupied by 1 employee conducting a job interview.  All of the other tables in the store were occupied as well.  I ended up joining a table where a student was being tutored...but I couldn't use my laptop for the first 60 minutes that I was here because of the plug situation.  About 30 minutes of this time, the table was unoccupied but was covered with Starbucks literature...so nobody could sit at it anyway.

It just seems that having an area in the back of the store available for employees to conduct these types of things would be much more pleasant for the customer.  Granted, I did enjoy eavesdropping on their store meeting a bit...but they had several customers come in and purchase coffee during the meeting that may have intended on staying for a bit had their been a seat available.  So, you head honchos at Starbucks...you might want to do something about this.  If you'd like to pay me for spotting this situation and bringing it to your attention so that you can improve your customer service, you know how to contact me.  ;)

6)

In all the time I've been spending at Starbucks (see #5) to meet the needs of my internet addiction with their free Wi-Fi, it seems I've developed a coffee addiction as well.  This could be a problem...

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Currently Listening To:

You and I by Ingrid Michaelson

I know I've mentioned her before...I adore her music.  I just love this song. It's so playful and cute.

Okay - and I'll be honest, my fave part of the song is "maybe I think you're cute and funny, maybe I wanna do what bunnies do with you, if you know what I mean."  Makes me giggle every time.  You know, I'm mature like that though.